Greatest albums of all time

[Prospero]

Over the weekend one of the BBC music stations, radio two, devoted hours to a countdown of what listeners had voted to be the "best albums of all time." Pretty controversial choice and surely influenced by your age and generation.

What would you have chosen as your top three maybe - and what is sorely missing from the list. Oh and why?

The Top 100 Favourite Albums in full:
1 Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head
2 Keane - Hopes & Fears
3 Duran Duran - Rio
4 Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon
5 Dido - No Angel
6 The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
7 Pet Shop Boys - Actually
8 The Beatles - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
9 U2 - The Joshua Tree
10 Queen - A Night At The Opera
11 Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
12 Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV
13 The Police - Synchronicity
14 Madonna - True Blue
15 James Blunt - Back To Bedlam
16 Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run
17 Adele - 21
18 Oasis - Definitely Maybe
19 Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
20 George Michael - Faith
21 Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms
22 Electric Light Orchestra - Out Of The Blue
23 Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell
24 Kate Bush - The Kick Inside
25 Kylie Minogue - Fever
26 Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
27 Michael Jackson - Thriller
28 Paul Simon - Graceland
29 Billy Joel - An Innocent Man
30 Kinks - The Kinks
31 Guns N Roses - Appetite For Destruction
32 Pulp - Different Class
33 The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
34 Stevie Wonder - Songs In The Key of Life
35 Take That - Beautiful World
36 Blondie - Parallel Lines
37 ABBA - Arrival
38 Prince - Purple Rain
39 The Eagles - Hotel California
40 The Human League - Dare
41 Supertramp - Breakfast In America
42 R.E.M. - Automatic For The People
43 Wings - Band On The Run
44 Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
45 Joni Mitchell - Blue
46 Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet
47 Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
48 Robbie Williams - I've Been Expecting You
49 Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
50 Neil Young - Harvest
51 Carole King - Tapestry
52 The Verve - Urban Hymns
53 Celine Dion - Falling Into You
54 The Who - Tommy
55 Donna Summer - Bad Girls
56 George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
57 Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane
58 Bob Marley & The Wailers - Exodus
59 Donald Fagen - The Nightfly
60 Gerry Rafferty - City To City
61 David Bowie - Let's Dance
62 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Déjà Vu
63 Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True
64 Roxy Music - Flesh and Blood
65 Steely Dan - Can't Buy A Thrill
66 Culture Club - Colour By Numbers
67 David Gray - White Ladder
68 Bryan Adams - Reckless
69 Neil Diamond - Beautiful Noise
70 Phil Collins - Face Value
71 Genesis - Invisible Touch
72 Barbra Streisand - Guilty
73 Frank Sinatra - Songs for Swingin' Lovers!
74 Simply Red - Stars
75 Van Morrison - Avalon Sunset
76 Rod Stewart - Atlantic Crossing
77 Sade - Diamond Life
78 Buddy Holly & The Crickets - The Chirping Crickets
79 Whitney Houston - Whitney Houston
80 Michael Bublé - Crazy Love
81 Shania Twain - Come On Over
82 Emeli Sandé - Our Version Of Events
83 Elvis Presley - Moody Blue
84 Bee Gees - Spirits Having Flown
85 Eric Clapton - Slowhand
86 The Pretenders - The Pretenders
87 Eurythmics - Be Yourself Tonight
88 The Carpenters - A Song For You
89 John Lennon - Double Fantasy
90 Don McLean - American Pie
91 Chic - C'est Chic
92 Aretha Franklin - Lady Soul
93 Daryl Hall & John Oates - Private Eyes
94 Earth, Wind & Fire - I Am
95 The Doobie Brothers - Minute by Minute
96 Lionel Richie - Can't Slow Down
97 Diana Ross - Diana
98 Paul McCartney - Pipes Of Peace
99 Dionne Warwick - Heartbreaker
100 Cee Lo Green - The Lady Killer

[ralyear56]

Led Zeppelin 4 followed by Dark side of the Moon.

[Prospero]

For me the paucity of Dylan is a severe omission.. plus no Tom Waits. And only one Beatles album. And where are the great soul singers - like Aretha or Otis?

And I cannot beleive so many people love the whiney dirgy songs of Coldplay. But, there we are....

[BalconyMan]

Rainbow - Rising and their 1977 live album On Stage is definately missing
Why? They are deep, timeless and extremely melodical.

[DrinksMcGee]

Frank zappa- overnight sensation
The residents- commercial album
Meatloaf- bat out of hell
Kraftwerk- radioactivity
Celtic frost- to mega therion

Those are the top five for me

[Prospero]

Never heard of celtic frost - but will check them out

Two Springsteen albums that I'dlike to have seen in there "The Rising" and "The River" plus only one Joni Mitchell?

[DrinksMcGee]

Never heard of celtic frost - but will check them out

Two Springsteen albums that I'dlike to have seen in there "The Rising" and "The River" plus no Joni Mitchell?

Yeah they're not like the other 4 on my list

[robertlouis]

That's the easy listening maybe the lazy listening top 100. No Revolver, Rubber Soul or the White Album. One Joni Mitchell, One Dylan. Nothing from The Band.

And Dido - DIDO! - in the top five. It's bollocks. Predictable, but bollocks nevertheless.

[Prospero]

Youdon't care for that music then RL? Don't hold back....

well it is Radio 2 which means middle class, early middle aged and white...

if I did a top 100 - impossible - it would have very few of those albums on it. It would have folk, jazz and classical and the order would be damn nigh impossible.

[robertlouis]

Youdon't care for that music then RL? Don't hold back....

well it is Radio 2 which means middle class, early middle aged and white...

if I did a top 100 - impossible - it would have very few of those albums on it. It would have folk, jazz and classical and the order would be damn nigh impossible.

Spot on. No Doors, no Forever Changes and the only Neil Young is the maudlin Harvest, only one Springsteen ( though it is the best).....

Agree with you about broadening the definition. Mine would probably be about 50% classical. I've recently acquired a new collection of Mahler's Symphonies conducted by the mercurial and often brilliant Ghergiev. Wonderful interpretations, especially the sweepingly melancholy 9th and a version of the often turgid 8th which makes it live anew.

And I would also have Schubert's String Quintet, Sibelius 5th by Rattle and his 7th by Ashkenazy. Quite a lot of Beethoven, and just as much Shostakovitch, a smidgin of Vaughan Williams and a ton of Brahms. Plus a lot of oratorio. Of the modernists, only Ives and Stravinsky. My ears just can't tune into wilful cacophony.