The best 10 albums ever made ACCORDING TO YOU!

brianlux

OK, Rolling Stone can keep their top ten list.  Let's see yours.  What do you think are the 10 best albums ever made?  Not necessarily your 10 favorite, but the best 10 records based on influence on music, songwriting, composition, musicianship, and impact of soul/feeling/expression on listeners.

I'm listing mine alpha by artist/band because at this level, this differences are tissue paper thin:

The Beach Boys:  Pet Sounds

The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

The Beatles: Revolver*

Johnny Cash:  At Folsom Prison**

John Coltrane: A Love Supreme

Miles Davis:  Kind of Blue***

Bob Dylan:  Highway 61 Revisited****

The Jimi Hendrix Experience:  Are You Experienced

Robert Johnson:  King of the Delta Blues

Carole King: Tapestry

*George saw Rubber Soul and Revolver as parts A and B, almost like a double album.  I agree, so pretty hard to pick.  Abbey Road is right up there too.

** So much wanted to go with Willie Nelson's, Redheaded Stranger, but too much personal  preference.  But are GREAT!

*** Could just as equally gone with Bitches Brew.  Tough choice!

**** Beats Blonde on Blonde but barely!

Tim Simmons

Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
The Beatles - Revolver
Nirvana - Nevermind
REM - Reckoning
Otis Redding - Otis Blue
Radiohead - Kid A
NWA - Straight Outta Compton
Burial - Untrue
Frank Ocean - Blonde

Loujoe

some good ones in here. I'll flip to a random 10 and list:
Bowie-hunky dory
Randy newman-sail away
Queen-sheer heart attack
Joy division-unknown pleasures
X-wild gift
Pet shop boys-behavior
D'Angelo-brown sugar

Afrika Bambaataa and the soul sonic force-Planet Rock the Album

Deep purple-machine head
Solomon Burke-rock and soul

(I only know 2 from above list)
I'll try to come up with my own later.

rgambs

Harvest- Neil Young

Ten or Vs- Pearl Jam

Led Zeppelin- take your pick

Have to think about more

2-feign-reluctance

Pearl Jam - Vs.
Blind Melon - Blind Melon
Supergrass - In It For The Money 
U2 - War
REM - Out Of Time
Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti 
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere
The Replacements - Tim or Pleased To Meet Me *struggled to pick one 
RUN-DMC - RUN-DMC
The Beatles - Sgt. Peppers 

MedozK

Loujoe said:

some good ones in here. I'll flip to a random 10 and list:
Bowie-hunky dory
Randy newman-sail away
Queen-sheer heart attack
Joy division-unknown pleasures
X-wild gift
Pet shop boys-behavior
D'Angelo-brown sugar

Afrika Bambaataa and the soul sonic force-Planet Rock the Album

Deep purple-machine head
Solomon Burke-rock and soul

(I only know 2 from above list)
I'll try to come up with my own later.

Love that book. It has helped my increase my music knowledge by pointing me in directions that I might not have went myself.

ST66483

Beatles - White Album
Sparks - Kimono My House
Led Zeppelin - III
Bjork - Debut
Beastie Boys - License to Ill
The Cure - Disintegration 
Lou Reed - New York
Neil Young - Live Rust
Prince - One Night Alone
Tom Waits - Small Change

goldrush

2-feign-reluctance said:

Pearl Jam - Vs.
Blind Melon - Blind Melon
Supergrass - In It For The Money 
U2 - War
REM - Out Of Time
Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti 
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere
The Replacements - Tim or Pleased To Meet Me *struggled to pick one 
RUN-DMC - RUN-DMC
The Beatles - Sgt. Peppers 

Great list

drakeheuer14

Pearl Jam - Ten 
Audioslave - Audioslave
Rare Creatures - Rare Creatures
Frank Sinatra - My Way
Janes Addiction - The Great Escape Artist 
Shinedown - Leave a Whisper
Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced 
Foals - Everything Not Saved Will be Lost (pt. 1)
The Growlers - Hung at Heart
Arctic Monkeys - Live at Royal Albert Hall (I think this should count!) 


Personal favorites. In no particular order though. 

cp3iverson

-The Replacements - Let it Be
-Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
-The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
-The Twilight Singers - Blackberry Belle
-The Gaslight Anthem - The 59’Sound
-Pearl Jam - Ten
-Sunny Day Real Estate - How it Feels to Be Something On

-Radiohead - In Rainbows
-Prince - Purple Rain
-Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American

cp3iverson

2-feign-reluctance said:

Pearl Jam - Vs.
Blind Melon - Blind Melon
Supergrass - In It For The Money 
U2 - War
REM - Out Of Time
Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti 
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere
The Replacements - Tim or Pleased To Meet Me *struggled to pick one 
RUN-DMC - RUN-DMC
The Beatles - Sgt. Peppers 

Didnt know you were a ‘Mats fan!   I could argue that Tim or PTMM are equally as great as Let it Be.  That’s tough. 

hrd2imgn

Since it is my list 

PJ - No Code
Metallica- Master Of Puppets
FNM - The Real Thing
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Soundgarden - Superunknown
TOTD - TOTD
Alice in Chains - Dirt
Acdc Back in Black
MJ - Thriller 
Live  - Throwing Copper
NIN -  Broken
EXPLOSIONS - The Earth is not a cold dead place
Coldplay - A Rush of Blood ti the Head
MMJ - It Still Moves
Thievery Corp. Radio Retaliation 
U2 Joshua Tree
HENDRIX - The Blues
Janes Addiction - Ritual de lo Habitual
Def Leppard- hysteria
Train - Train
Enya - sheppard Moons
Mazzy Star so tonight that i may see
Them - The story of Them
Spacemen 3 taking drugs to make music to take drugs to
Yanni- Voices
Aerosmith - GH1
Zucchero - Zucchero
Tool - Fear Innoculum
Zep X
Any Beatles compilation like Love

I think thats is 10, I probably need about 10 more

brianlux

cp3iverson said:

-The Replacements - Let it Be
-Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
-The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
-The Twilight Singers - Blackberry Belle
-The Gaslight Anthem - The 59’Sound
-Pearl Jam - Ten
-Sunny Day Real Estate - How it Feels to Be Something On

-Radiohead - In Rainbows
-Prince - Purple Rain
-Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American

cp3iverson said:

2-feign-reluctance said:

Pearl Jam - Vs.
Blind Melon - Blind Melon
Supergrass - In It For The Money 
U2 - War
REM - Out Of Time
Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti 
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere
The Replacements - Tim or Pleased To Meet Me *struggled to pick one 
RUN-DMC - RUN-DMC
The Beatles - Sgt. Peppers 

Didnt know you were a ‘Mats fan!   I could argue that Tim or PTMM are equally as great as Let it Be.  That’s tough. 

I can't believe I didn't put a Mats on my list.  Probably because in reality, Pleased to Meet Me is their best, yet one I don't love nearly as much as Let it Be or Tim.  But in the big picture, much as all of those are MUST HAVE records for me, I don't see that they broke any ground like, say, Are You Experienced or Highway 61 Revisited.

This 10 best business is tough!

Great lists all, by the way! 

BrainofBGA

Pearl Jam - Vitalogy 
QotSA - Songs for the Deaf
Beastie Boys - Paul’s Boutique
You Am I - Hourly Daily
Grinspoon- Guide to Better Living
Kiss - Alive!
Spiderbait - Ivy and the Big Apples
Tool - Lateralus
RHCP - Stadium Arcadium 
Fleetwood Mac- Rumours

these are some albums I keep coming back to lately. They’re the ones I really enjoy listening too. I could add Rolling Stones, Beatles, the Who but I’d be putting them in based on what other people might have on their list. 

brianlux

hrd2imgn said:

Since it is my list 

PJ - No Code
Metallica- Master Of Puppets
FNM - The Real Thing
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Soundgarden - Superunknown
TOTD - TOTD
Alice in Chains - Dirt
Acdc Back in Black
MJ - Thriller 
Live  - Throwing Copper
NIN -  Broken
EXPLOSIONS - The Earth is not a cold dead place
Coldplay - A Rush of Blood ti the Head
MMJ - It Still Moves
Thievery Corp. Radio Retaliation 
U2 Joshua Tree
HENDRIX - The Blues
Janes Addiction - Ritual de lo Habitual
Def Leppard- hysteria
Train - Train
Enya - sheppard Moons
Mazzy Star so tonight that i may see
Them - The story of Them
Spacemen 3 taking drugs to make music to take drugs to
Yanni- Voices
Aerosmith - GH1
Zucchero - Zucchero
Tool - Fear Innoculum
Zep X
Any Beatles compilation like Love

I think thats is 10, I probably need about 10 more

That's OK, I suck at math as well. 

Spiritual_Chaos

Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
Neil Young - Harvest
Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile
PJ Harvey - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
Joakim Thåström - Skebokvarnsv. 209
Jeff Buckley - Grace
Leonard Cohen - I'm your man
ABBA - The Visitors
The Doors - Waiting for the Sun or Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hil
Nirvana - Nevermind

Now, morning meeting at work so can't think about it more. This I guess is more favorite albums than "best albums". Who cares.

eddiec

Joni Mitchell- Blue
Jeff Buckley- Grace
Van Morrison- Astral Weeks
Ryan Adams- Gold
Pink Floyd- DSOTM
Dylan- Blood on the Tracks (I prefer the NY sessions)
Beatles- Sgt. Pepper's
Led Zeppelin- IV
Steely Dan- Aja
Neil Young- Harvest

Damn. This is tough. Just went back and bumped U2 for Neil. 

rgambs

eddiec said:

Joni Mitchell- Blue
Jeff Buckley- Grace
Van Morrison- Astral Weeks
Ryan Adams- Gold
Pink Floyd- DSOTM
Dylan- Blood on the Tracks (I prefer the NY sessions)
Beatles- Sgt. Pepper's
Led Zeppelin- IV
Steely Dan- Aja
Neil Young- Harvest

Damn. This is tough. Just went back and bumped U2 for Neil. 

That's a good list, right there, and a good decision on the bump.  Hard to argue against any of them, Steely Dan isn't my favorite, but it was a classic record.  Some of the lists I've seen here are populated with bands I haven't even heard OF, let alone heard lol

Good to see Harvest getting some votes, it's a crazy good album of songwriting, performing, and producing.

dankind

Well, today it’s ...

Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters (it doesn’t need to withstand the test of time, IMO, because it’s already timeless)

Beach Boys, Pet Sounds

The Cure, Disintegration

Jethro Tull, Thick as a Brick

Bob Marley & the Wailers, Catch a Fire

Pink Floyd, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Public Enemy, Fear of a Black Planet

Red Hot Chili Peppers, By the Way

Slayer, Reign in Blood

Tom Waits, Swordfishtrombones

F Me In The Brain

I struggle with this because the request was for "the best 10 records based on influence on music, songwriting, composition, musicianship, and impact of soul/feeling/expression on listeners"

Not even sure how to put together a list like that....I don't consider all of those things when thinking of my favorites.  (Don't consider most of those factors when listening, usually?...)

Like reading what others feel as the best, some great music there and some music for me to check out to see if I enjoy.

dankind

F Me In The Brain said:

I struggle with this because the request was for "the best 10 records based on influence on music, songwriting, composition, musicianship, and impact of soul/feeling/expression on listeners"

Not even sure how to put together a list like that....I don't consider all of those things when thinking of my favorites.  (Don't consider most of those factors when listening, usually?...)

Like reading what others feel as the best, some great music there and some music for me to check out to see if I enjoy.

Yeah, mine could change daily, for sure.

I guess a good exercise to come up with a good list for me would be to do this every day for a while and see which 10 repeat themselves the most.

So many I knocked off of this list because they weren't exactly influential or I had another on the list in the same vein (e.g., Beefheart and Zappa fell off because I already had Apple and Waits; Sabbath, Deep Purple, Zeppelin passed over for Tull). Also, how the hell do you decide on a best album by Hendrix, Prince, Bowie? (That last one is especially difficult.)