Your Top 10 Favourite Albums of All Time, Ever!: The Thread

[acrow]

yeah, the lists are almost as boring as the people commenting that they don't like the lists.

[Birdie]

NOW WITH ADDED COMMENTARY

Want 1        Rufus Wainwright  -   Blown away when I first heard 'I don't know what it is'; only decided to listen to Rufus after reading an article in a Sunday paper.
Want 2       Rufus Wainwright - Cos it's great.
Hot Fuss      The Killers    - Every track is great, despite the undercurrent of violence against women
Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters        The Twilight Sad   Love that wall of sound.  And Scotchness.
KC Rules OK     King Creosote         Has the first KC track on that I ever heard (Bootprints) and I fell in love with Kenny.
Painted from Memory   Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach   Lush.
The Sensual World        Kate Bush    Because it was on a loop when I first got it.
Gossip in the Grain      Ray LaMontagne    Cos is has I  Still Care for You and A Falling Through on it.  One of these I play on the ukulele.

I'm not sure the commentary makes the selection less dull...

[Paaaaul]

yeah, the lists are almost as boring as the people commenting that they don't like the lists.

The internet is full of dull websites made of lists.
The best thing about this site is people engage with each other and get into discussions about arts and social issues in an irreverent but often illuminating way.
Lists of stuff you like don't inspire or really interest other people. By adding something personal to it you can change a reader's day by producing an emotional response,or illuminate something they might enjoy.
Famous Mortimer's post in this thread is brilliant which is why I keep looking back in here to see if anyone else does something similar.

[Birdie]

Well that told me.

[Famous Mortimer]

Nico - The Marble Index
The Raincoats - Odyshape

Not heard those in years. I remember when the Velvets did their reunion tour, which must be 20 years or so ago, and the music papers had articles about their old stuff. That Nico album still doesn't really sound like anything else.

[Epic Bisto]

UPDATED WITH MY THOUGHTS ABOUT EACH OTHER FOR YOU MOANING MINNIES OUT THERE

Atomic Rooster - Death Walks Behind You
A heavy and underrated album from the early 70s, with some catchy organ parts and dynamite drumming. "Tomorrow Night" is a particular highlight.
Bark Psychosis - Hex
Ideal for Autumn and always good to wind down to.
Can - Tago Mago
Always adventurous, the tightest rhythm section on record, and hell I even love "Peking O" for Damo's mind melting weirdness.
Miles Davis - Get Up With It
Ideal for Winter, and at over two hours long, it's got something for everybody. "He Loved Him Madly" is the top track off the album for me.
The Grateful Dead - Anthem Of The Sun
Before they decided that they were CSNY without the harmonies, they were quite an inventive psych group. This album weaves through  various live and studio performances and is an aural delight from start to finish. It's also the only Dead album where the drumming is quite good.
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
THE Summer album for me. Also, "To Here Knows When" is on it.
Nico - The Marble Index
A beautiful gothic masterpiece, with hardly any duff tracks. The "Frozen Borderline" compilation features this, the "Desertshore" follow-up and a complete batch of solo demos for both showcasing the massive amount of effort John Cale put into these albums. Nico's stripped-down originals sound radically different and equally beautiful.
The Raincoats - Odyshape
Controversial opinion here, but this is miles better than the first album, and that was pretty good. A group that were constantly evolving and changing throughout their brief career, with "Odyshape" being a particular and radical step up.
Steve Reich & Musicians - Music For 18 Musicians
The album that changed how I thought about music ever since - how it effects your emotions and what you actually want to get out of music, etc. I blubbed like a baby when I first heard it. I don't know why, maybe it was too much for me, but I enjoyed it.
Terry Riley - A Rainbow In Curved Air
Never gets boring, and always fun to listen to. Hearing "Poppy Nogood" for the first time was another life-changing experience.

[BlodwynPig]

Atomic Rooster are underrated across the board - a phenomenal outfit with top class players - I actually like the Chris Farlowe period. Proper rock outfit with a hint of their psych roots.

The Bark Psychosis album is a real curiosity, tracks from the album have featured on ambient compilations and quite right too, but there is a darker shade to the music that sends you into a melancholic whirl.

Tago Mago is a timeless album that sounds just as groundbreaking now as it did when I first heard it 20 years ago. The sound of primordial howling primitives on peyote.

[Natnar]

Now with added comments.

Kate Bush - The Dreaming
Certainly the pinnacle of her career. Music as it should be, interesting, intelligent and barking mad.
Favourite Track - either All The Love or Get Out Of My House

Jeff Wayne - War Of The Worlds
I basically grew up listening to this album. There's still nothing else quite like it (well apart from the so-so Next Generation version from last year)
Favourite Track - The Spirit Of Man

Fleetwood Mac - Tango In The Night
Just has the edge over Tusk for me as it's a more consistent album. If you want an example of a perfect 80's pop album then Tango is it
Favourite track - Mystified

Peter Gabriel - So
Some think that Gabriel sold out on this album but again i think this is just a really good pop album
Favourite Track - Mercy Street

The B-52's - Bouncing Off The Satelltes
Probably their most underrated album although for me it's a very close call between this album ad Cosmic Thing but this wins out as it's got my favourite B-52's track of all time on it.
Favourite Track - Ain't It A Shame

Eurythmics - Savage
For me Eurythmics are one of those frustrating bands that started off pretty interesting and got blander as their career went on.  However, Savage was a blip in the blandness and for a brief moment they went back to making dark and edgy music
Favourite Track - Savage

Suzanne Vega - Nine Objects Of Desire
One of those few albums that doesn't have a weak track on it at all.Some maybe prefer her earlier more acoustic albums but i prefer her later weirder period
Favourite Track - Thin Man

Laurie Anderson - United States Live
It its nearly 80 tracks and 4.5 hours long but it's worth the listen. Most of the tracks from her early albums can be found on here in some form and there's an 11 minute version of O Superman as well
Favourite Track - Song For Two Jims

Bjork - Selmasongs
IMO Bjork's peak, i don't think any of her more recent albums come close to this.
Favourite Track - New World

Sam Brown - 43 Minutes
For me Sam Brown has to be one of the most underrated female singer/songwriters out there. This album is a perfect suite about how the death of a love one can affect a person's life.
Favourite Track - Fear Of Life

If we're allowing more than one album per artist then my top ten would be

Kate Bush - The Dreaming
Kate Bush - Hounds Of Love
Jeff Wayne - War Of The Worlds
Fleetwood Mac - Tango In The Night
Kate Bush - The Sensual World
Peter Gabriel - So
Fleetwood Mac - Tusk
The B-52's - Bouncing Off The Satellites
Eurythmics - Savage
Suzanne Vega - Nine Objects of Desire

[Paaaaul]

I better chuck my ha'penny into this thread now.

Can - Tago Mago
Another vote for this magnificent beast.
I've only got into Krautrock in the last few years despite owning and loving Julian Cope's Krautrocksampler since it was first released. He is one of the best music writers in the world, capable of getting across the feelings that music can invoke in a way that few are able.
Tago Mago is a journey - a long journey - starting somewhere that resembles a post-apocalyptic version of the world we know now, and heads into a weird vortex of sounds and feelings. The first half resembles music as most people would recognise it, and the second half is music as made by alien wildlife.

Robert Pollard - From A Compound Eye
Robert Pollard is the greatest songwriter the world has ever seen, and this is his best album.
He releases 5 or 6 albums a year under a number of different guises, and most of them are tremendous.
From A Compound Eye was his 'comeback album' after Guided By Voices split up in 2004, and is a sprawling 28 track double album that covers the gamut of rock music. It has pop songs, full-on rockers, mini prog pieces, punk thrashes and weird psychedelia, and manages to coalesce into a coherent whole that rides you like a rollercoaster.
Some people will tell you that Robert Pollard releases too much music and doesn't have any quality control. The fact is that Robert Pollard is on a different level to the rest of us and his music rarely reveals its full beauty over the short-term to those of us rolling in the mud below. I've enjoyed this album for about 5 or 6 years, but only in the last 18 months has the true majesty of it really hit me.

Love - Forever Changes
Most people who love music seem to know and love this Love album. I think it's their best. A billboard showing the nastiness of life alongside the highway of 1967 hippy-lovin'. The whole album flows beautifully from the incredible opener, Alone Again Or, to the epic closer - You Set The Scene.
I would also urge people to check out the rest of their albums. They all have something worth hearing. I would especially recommend their debut album which is a fantastic collection of Stones-y blues rockers, and Out Here - an overlong and occasionally ridiculous double album stuffed with some sublime songs that,at their best, rival Forever Changes.

The Boo Radleys - Giant Steps
A heartbreaking and uplifting album clearly written by a man going through a period of depression and agoraphobia. Most people will have heard at least a track or two from this album, but out of context they lose their power. Lazarus was a fantastic single but when you hit it three-quarters of the way through the journey of the album it is a monumental moment of clarity,relief and resolution. I think it probably emotionally exhausted Martin Carr which is why the following release, Wake Up!, was so half-arsed.

Beastie Boys - Check Your Head
Paul's Boutique was where the Beasties lay out the blueprint for their future, but the following album, Check Your Head was really the one where they showed what they could do. It lurches all over the place stylistically but never tips over. Total fun, but with real soul.

The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
I first discovered Pet Sounds in my late teens, coinciding with the first of many breaks in my heart.
With the beautifully lush production on here, it can be hard at first to hear how open and raw Brian Wilson is.
I return to this every few years and its power never diminishes.

Ramones - Leave Home
The first three Ramones albums are all incredible. They mix bubblegum with razor-sharp guitar riffing into a frenzied aural amphetamine.  Leave Home is, for me, the greatest of these albums largely due to the songs on it. Pinhead, Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment, Commando and their cover of California Sun are all classics and put most of the UK punk scene to shame.
If you haven't heard these albums, I recommend getting the All The Stuff And More 1&2 compilations rather than the newer remasters which slightly neuter their power.

David Axelrod - Songs Of Experience/Songs Of Innocence
I'm going to treat these two albums as one, as they are basically the opposite faces of the same coin.
David Axelrod's output in the late 60s and early 70s deserves a wider audience. He fused jazz and rock to create something warm and poignant, and these two short albums are full of sounds that later went on to sampled for hip-hop records such as...

DJ Shadow - Endtroducing...
This album is an enigma. It is largely created out of other people's records but has a sound all of its own. I bought this on the strength of Changeling appearing on a magazine's cover-mounted cassette and when I discovered it was the weaker tracks I knew I would get lost in Endtroducing for a very long time. I've bought this album at least 10 times over a number of formats, sometimes because my craving to listen to it was so great that I couldn't wait for a couple of days to get home to my CDs, and frequently just to give to friends.
Shadow's fire burned very hot for a while and it's very sad how dull and generic his modern records sound.

Boston Spaceships - Let It Beard
A few years after Guided By Voices split, Robert Pollard needed a new rock band to replace that hole in his life, so he created Boston Spaceships. They made 4 excellent albums, and then when Bob could see the GbV reunion on the horizon, he decided to end the Boston Spaceships project with a bang. Another double album as varied and weird as From A Compound Eye but with a much beefier sound, it ended the exile period of his most famous band in the same glory that Compound Eye had started it.  J Mascis and Colin Newman both appear on this album but are happy to take a back seat and add a little texture to this multicoloured rock quilt. The sheer quality from start to end of this long-ass album is unbelievable.


I'm glad the OP limited this to ten albums. I could easily come up with another ninety albums that mean as much to me as the above.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Now with comments

REM - Automatic for the People - Just perfect from start to finish, American folk rock that transported me to American suburbia when I first got it aged 16 (my first ever album purchase, so one of the reasons it's my favourite of all time) and still does. And SIX singles.
Kate Bush - Hounds of Love - Her most cohesive and consistent album, and it opens with two of her best songs. Like the contrast of side A and B too.
Crowded House - Together Alone - This should have made them as big as REM. Gloriously intricate guitar pop.
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead - Having "Never Had No One Ever" and "I Know It's Over" side by side was a bad choice, and "Vicar in a Tutu" is shit, but otherwise it's a musical and lyrical joy.
Radiohead - The Bends - Another album that had loads of singles. I think this is what they do best, powerful alt rock and ballads with great lyrics
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours - Owes as much to the producer as the band. Just a perfect distillation of 70s California rock. John MCvie and Mick Fleetwood are vital to the sound (especially the second half of The Chain), but it's really a Nicks/Buckingham/C. McVie album
Stone Roses - Stone Roses - the best debut album ever. Every song is note perfect, and what a fantastic song to end on.
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes - Folk rock that really makes you feel like you're at a hispter bar up in the American mountains somewhere
Suede - Suede - The only album of theirs I really like, and it's brilliant. Two cracking openers and some unique lyrics throughout. You can tell the influences but it's still a distinctive sound.
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here - An album you really can't stop once you've started it, it flows so brilliantly. The WHOOSH bit that goes into the title track is one of the greatest ever effects on an album

[bigfatheart]

My list, now with explanations.

Big Star - Radio City - My favourite album of all time, just twelve perfect pop songs that I can't imagine getting tired of. I'm not a muso by any stretch of the imagination so some of my descriptions are going to be cack-handed, but I love the guitar sound on this album, it just feels right, and there's enough of the 'Third/Sister Lovers' weirdness creeping in to make it all very interesting.
Descendents - Milo Goes to College - One of the few albums I listened to in my teenage years that I'm not that embarrassed about and still love, and if anything it transports me back to that time; I'd say it's a near-perfect picture of what it's like to be a hormonal, angry teenager, for better or worse - there's a little homophobia and a lot of misogyny to put up with, for a start. But I can forgive it because it doesn't feel spiteful so much as it feels like part of that mindset, and yeah, it helps that the songs are good.
The Dirtbombs - Ultraglide in Black - My favourite party album. Garage punk covers of soul songs, pretty much my two favourite genres thrown together. Lovely.
Fugazi - The Argument - My favourite 'mellow with a sense of dread underneath' album, similar to Forever Changes or something like that. Not in sound, in mood. The fact that I'm not a muso always helps with Fugazi, because more than any other band I always find myself listening to their guitar interplay and being taken aback by it. Especially on this album, hence it making my list.
New Bomb Turks - Scared Straight - I wouldn't make any claims for greatness on this one, although it is good, because this is more of a personal choice. I'm mostly into the whole garage rock/punk thing, and the New Bomb Turks are one of my favourite bands in that vein, but with this it was just a case of it being an album I bought to cheer myself up when I was a bit miserable about moving back home after Uni. It brings back a lot of memories of starting to come back out of my shell after being a bit down for a month or so, picking up on little lines that seemed clever, noticing a hook that had passed me by, and slowly realising I'd listened to nothing else for weeks and I now knew the album off by heart. Plus, 'Telephone Numbrrr' is a near-perfect pop-punk song.
Oxbow - The Narcotic Story - I bought this after reading a review of an Oxbow live show in Kerrang, of all places, when I was about fourteen and thinking they sounded interesting. It actually took me about four years to buy it, because I never saw any of their stuff in the shops, but eventually I saw this, got it home, couldn't remember why I'd thought they were cool in the first place so went in with a completely blank slate and was absolutely blown away. It took me ages ot get my head around it, it was nothing I'd ever heard before. Of course now, having heard more of their stuff, it's probably the most conventional thing they've done, but this is the album that I always go to to get that thrill.
Randy Newman - Good Old Boys - I don't really care much about lyrics, so I find a lot of singer-songwriters dull, but I always get over that with Randy Newman. This is his best combination of old-timey music and clever, funny lyrics.
The Replacements - Let It Be - Another album I know off by heart, in my head anyway. Just a great collection of songs.
Sparks - Kimono My House - This doesn't need explaining.
Wire - Pink Flag - The perfect punk album.

As you can see, I got bored of my own pretentious whitterings halfway through.

[The Strig]

Sorry, all 10 are Panini Albums. World Cup 86, Smash Hits and He-Man & The Masters of The Universe (I waited 3 sodding years for a "battlecat having a poo" sticker) are my favourites.

[checkoutgirl]

[garbed_attic]

NOW WITH ADDED COMMENTARY!!!

Cardiacs - A Little Man and a House and the Whole Wide Window

My favourite album of all time and, as such, I find it hard to put precisely into words quite why I love it as much as I do. I like the jilted, unhinged everyman narrative voice that Tim adopts and which he loses as he moves into greater grandiosity with later albums. The emotional combination of melancholy and mania, with bursts of indignant and self-doubt, is pretty close to my own emotional landscape, I think. William D. Drake's keyboard/ organ playing brings a classical sensibility to proceedings, but all-in-all its a skittish and jumbly affair, with time signature changes and fast tempos. Still, the regular 4/4 'Is This The Life?' is just about the most majestic song I've ever heard and I should probably just listen to it all the time as it almost instantly stops me worrying and takes me out of myself. The album manages to engage on this big holistic level (NATURE! WAR! SOCIETY!) while also tapping into the banality of everyday life with its petty concerns and grievances. It has lots of pomp and circumstance, but is clever enough to undercut this with a degree of self-parody. It's also great to exercise to.

Paul Simon - Graceland

The album I listened to over and over again as a child and so is inextricably intertwined in my mind with both Christmas and the Summer holidays. It probably is a bit appropriative and Simon was cocky to think that the cultural embargo against South Africa didn't apply to him, but the compositions are so joyous and the drums so loud (annoying diminished in the remaster) that's it's hard to think about that to much when actually listening to it. Simon's voice is soft and knowing and faintly ironic, but always just a bit too sad and reflective to sound totally smug. It's almost impossible not to move around to the music - the rhythms are incredible. The backing singers are amazing and sound pretty convincingly like an angelic chorus. There are all sorts of pleasing sounds. Apart from losing momentum near the end, it's a masterpiece.

The Residents - Demons Dance Alone

This is known as the album that heralded a new maturity for The Residents and if they weren't quite so silly as they are, it would almost be dour. It's essentially a concept album about grief, loss and regret through character studies and this brings a humanism to the work that's pretty lacking in early Residents stuff. What helps with this immensely, is that fact that Molly Harvey sings about half the album and is on just incredible form - her voice can sound unhinged and desolate one moment and then utterly beguiling and warm the next. I think this album is the reason that many fans love Molly as much as they do. The Singing Resident is on good form himself, varying his delivery from whispering to screeching to spoken word sleaze. Basically though, it's the album in which the Residents use conventional song structures while not doing cover versions. As such, their memorable, catchy melodies come to the fore, but the weirdness of individual sounds and lyrics are still retained. Some of the songs actually sound pretty and there is a perfect juxtaposition between ugliness and beauty. 'The Weatherman' is one of the loveliest things I have ever heard. Still, a bit of a toss-up between this album and Not Avaliable, which represents the Residents are their most obscure and ambitious and has some deeply awesome saxophone parts, but Demons Dance Alone is the album I come back to time and time again, so here it is.

The National - Alligator

I'm a sucker for shimmer, intertwined guitars, so there's that, but I also like emasculated male narrators (I'm a big John Cheever fan) so that also appeals! It's very self-mythologising and sometimes takes itself a little seriously perhaps (these traits have become more emphasised over the albums that have followed IMO) but Berringer's voice carries ever last word of it off, sounding wry and troubled and wine-soaked. Also, it never stays maudlin for too long, but ratchets up the volume and crunchiness of the guitar for some good hollerin' in the choruses. It all comes together very tightly and convinces. It's also the album I associate with my first relationship through sixth form and uni, so it holds quite a bit of personal meaning too.

R.E.M. - Fables of the Reconstruction

I like my R.E.M. moody and odd, like a troubled, surly Southern raconteur, so Fables is the album for me. The lyrics are mumbled yet strident and tend towards the intuitive, though have a more concrete sense of place than on Murmer and maybe Reckoning. This is the closest R.E.M. came to post-punk and at times Buck's guitar playing sounds discordant and taut, rather than melodic, as usual. It has some odd character studies and feel oddly dirty and raw. Stipe was apparently quite addled and paranoid during this period and the band close to splitting up and it comes through.

Tom Waits - Rain Dogs

Perhaps a man's (or woman's!) first Waits album is the one he (or she!) falls in love with. The piano is bolshy and jangly and the stories tall. It manages to sound a little scary and rough-around-the-edges while remaining in the realm of bedtime stories and fairytales. Waits' sentimentality is balanced by his caustic humour and there's a deeply enjoyable oompa circus feel to the songs which are straight-out ballads, which are lovely. Waits' voice is gruff and pirate-like and you sound like you're in safe hands, sort of.

Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick

Prog-folk! The magic of banal Britain! It's very ambitious and aggressively self-defeating at the same time! The harmonies are complex, but appealing and the lyrics wry, without tipping into whimsy. It undercuts its own pretension marvellously, implores you to sing along and feels like a proper musical experience, with remaining deftly whistleable.

Decemberists - Picaresque

Supplanting Big Star for today. Sometimes I find the Decemberists a little too knowing and distanced, but if one allows oneself to get caught up, this is a rollicking adventure of the highest order. Meloy writes unreliable narrators better than anyone and has a bizarre habit of making sing-along folk-alt-rock out of material like infanticide, rape and murder, more often encountered in horrorcore (and, of course, traditional folk - which is the influence here). It moves along at a brisk pace, even when the songs are long, with complex arrangements with nary a note out of place. There's some killer accordion and it's all a lot of fun.

Eels - Electro-Shock Blues

How to stretch pop to its breaking point. Sometimes a little thin and reedy, but often very gratifying, with unusual sounds and production and some nice screechy sax and charming music box melodies. It's astonishingly personal and earnest, while not being cloying and that's a difficult thing to pull off when you've had a life as filled with family tragedy as Everett. It's a very soothing album about death, basically, while having moments of unexpected funk. A bit maudlin in places, but justifiably so. It also makes great accompaniment to playing the original version of 'Doom'.

Oingo-Boingo - Dead Man's Party

Killer tunes. Killer lyrics. Infectiously enjoyable. Not a bad track. An amazing, perhaps perfect, party album. I don't massively emotionally invest in it, but it feels really good to my ears. So much fun.

[Onken]

1. Guyer's Connection ‎– Portrait (1983)



2. VHS Head ‎– Trademark Ribbons Of Gold (2010)



3. Cluster ‎– Zuckerzeit (1974)



4. Moderne ‎– L'Espionne Aimait La Musique (1983)



5. Autechre ‎– LP5 (1998)



6. Duran Duran ‎– Seven And The Ragged Tiger (1981)



7. Alva Noto ‎– Xerrox Vol.2 (2009)



8. B12 ‎– Electro-Soma (1993)



9. Julia Holter ‎– Ekstasis (2012)



10. Brothomstates ‎– Claro (2001)

[Noodle Lizard]

Oh, this is back, is it?  Tricky because my favourites change constantly, but these are probably the ones which have impacted my taste in music the most.

In no particular order:

Uroboros - Dir en grey

This is a band I got into primarily on the basis of their live performance, and that show was at the beginning of their tour for this album.  Coincidentally, it's also their best I think, and I've still not heard anything quite like it.  It totally transcends the limitations of a scene which is often repetitive and stagnant.  I could've chosen another album or two by them, but I think this one's the most robust overall.  Extreme, yet accessible, ugly yet beautiful etc.  It's bloody great from start to finish.

Ys - Joanna Newsom

I'd known about Joanna Newsom from her first album, The Milk-Eyed Mender, and while I liked songs from that I figured she might be something of a one-trick pony.  But no, fuck me.  I gave this a listen pretty much on a whim and was fucked sideways from the opening lines of the first track, Emily (which is her best song, as far as I'm concerned).  And it never really lets up.  Five, long, incredibly intricate tracks which I don't think I'll ever fully get my head around, but I love every second of it.

Tabula Rasa - Arvo Part

This is one of the albums which completely changed my perception of classical music.  Just gorgeous.

The Mollusk - Ween

I honestly never expected to be a Ween fan.  I'd heard about them in passing, heard a couple of their songs I think, but I always assumed they were in that Phish school of wanky stoner hippies.   How wrong I was.  This and Chocolate & Cheese were the first albums of theirs I listened to, and this is still my favourite I think.  To nail so many different styles of music without ever feeling derivative or smug ... fuck.  There's truly not a bad second on this album.  First time I gave it a spin I actually cancelled dinner plans so I could keep listening to it.

Dusk & Her Embrace - Cradle Of Filth

I know they're something of a joke now, but this album (alongside V Empire and Cruelty & The Beast) holds a very dear place in my heart.  They were my first proper introduction to extreme music (and I guess I sort of jumped in at a bit of a deep end since even the most hardened metalheads find Dani's voice grating), which opened the floodgates for a huge part of my life.  Not only that, it's a bloody great album, seriously.  Wonderfully atmospheric, astonishingly clever lyrics, some genuinely beautiful musical passages - there's really nothing it sets out to do that it doesn't excel at.  Don't let their reputation put you off, this is a truly excellent record.

Self-Titled - Mr Bungle

It was tough to choose between this and a Zappa or Beefheart record as far as what started getting me into "experimental" music, but I think this is the one that immediately resonated with me the most.  The fact that they were only 18 or 19 when they wrote it still confounds me to this day, it's an incredibly ambitious record.  Bungle didn't put out a bad album, but this was the first one I heard and so it makes the list.

Terria - Devin Townsend

It was very hard to choose just one Devy album as he's spanned so many different styles and approaches, but I think this is probably the most enjoyable listen.  Just beautifully simple, elegant soundscapes combined with catchy-as-all-fuck choruses and some of the most impressive yet unwanky guitar-work I've heard.  It's a gorgeous, powerful album.

I could just as easily have chosen Deconstruction or SYL's Alien, but I think this one's the most evocative of what makes Devy great to me.

Meddle - Pink Floyd (hard choice between this and Ummagumma)

For me Floyd were an early and soft introduction to experimental music which bands like Mr Bungle and Naked City would later expand upon.  Of course they're not at all alike, but at a young age Floyd were responsible for opening my mind somewhat to how song composition could transcend the structure I was used to.  Also Gilmour's guitar sound is nearly unmatched, as far as I'm concerned.  Meddle is probably my favourite of theirs, when all's said and done.

The Seer - Swans

There's really not much I can say about this one, it simply has to be listened to.  In one go.  Then again.  No matter your taste, I can't imagine anyone not being profoundly affected by this one (for good or ill).

Murder Ballads - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

This probably isn't the best Bad Seeds album overall, but fucked if it isn't my favourite.  Dark, funny, bleak, disturbing, clever and just pure fucking cool.  There's not a single note I would change (okay, maybe I'd lose Crow Jane).  So many absolutely perfect musical choices on this album, fucking hell.

Ugh, feels like there are so many I'm missing out.  Also a lot of my favourite musicians just haven't had any one consistently brilliant album, but it seems unfair to ignore them.  Doesn't matter, nobody's gonna be listening to any of these based off my recommendation anyway.

EDIT:  I'm actually surprised that nearly all my choices are post-1990.  Huh.

[greenman]

Its a top 25 but you seriously didn't just want to see me list the Roses, Drake, Talk Talk, Floyd and Tago Mago did you? there are even some black people in there.

Listed chronologically to make it clear theres no Beatles or Beach Boys involved, that 1991 pisses on 1967 and that I stopped following new musical that closely around the millenium. I could do write ups but would you be able to stand this tone without punching me?

The Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed
Miles Davis - In  a Silent Way
Pink Floyd - Ummagumma Live disk
Nick Drake - Bryter Layter
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
Can - Tago Mago
Faust - So Far
Little Feat - Dixie Chicken
Popol Vuh - Einsjager & Siebenjager
Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
Neu - Neu 75
Pink Floyd - Animals
Joy Division - Substance
Brian Eno and David Byrne - My Life In The Bush of Ghosts
Vangelis - Blade Runner
Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden
Spacemen 3 - The Perfect Prescription
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
Talk Talk - Laughing Stock
Primal Scream - Screamadelica
Massive Attack - Blue Lines
The Stone Roses - Turns to Stone
Mercury Rev - Boces
Bark Psychosis - Hex
Micheal Head and the Strands - Magical World of the Strands

[Famous Mortimer]

Its a top 25 but you seriously didn't just want to see me list the Roses, Drake, Talk Talk, Floyd and Tago Mago did you? there are even some black people in there.

I know it was a few years ago and loads of other people have ignored it, but from the first post:

THE ONE RULE, obey it or not: you're only allowed one album per artist. So don't go listing seven albums on trot by The Vaccines or whatever shit you're into.

[Onken]

"I love music much more than any of you so I deserve 25."

[Famous Mortimer]

Blimey, I wish I could find the old thread we did about this, as I would probably just rip that thread off. It's sad that I don't remember what some of my favourites are, which I think warrants a lot of listening.

Godspeed You Black Emperor! - "Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antenna To Heaven"
Because nothing bent my brain the first time I heard it like this one did, and still does when I pop it on.

Pixies - "Surfer Rosa"
Not heard this album in years and may not do for years more, but it's hard to overstate the effect this had on the teenage me. Walking back from the record shop, put this on my walkman (tape) and by the time I got to the bus stop I was a fan of this band for life. Yet I had no desire to see their reform tour a few years ago, would have been too painful.

Jandek - "Ready for the House"
Just because I could listen to this every day for a million years and never figure it out. Maybe there's nothing to figure out.

Cassette Boy - "The Parker Tapes"
Without wanting to give our very own Robot De Niro a swelled head, I've played the crap out of this album down the years. "Fly Me To New York" is a regular when I do mixes for people, or when I did my Desert Island Discs for a pub night my mate put on.

Stars of the Lid - "...and Their Refinement of the Decline"
The first time I heard this (as a result of someone on here, I think) I hated it. I couldn't figure out why anyone would want to listen to something like this where nothing seemed to happen - and I'm a big fan of drone music. I deleted it and thought nothing more of it, until about a year later when out of the blue I saw it on some blog I was following and gave it another go. Absolutely adored it the second time. God knows why.

Can - "Tago Mago"
I know Ege Bamyasi is supposed to be their prime achievement, but I had this one at Uni and played it hundreds of times, where I've played Ege... about three times. One of the rare albums that still sounds great quiet (which is handy when it's 3am, you can't sleep but everyone else in your house can).

Lift To Experience - "The Texas - Jerusalem Crossroads"
I'm lucky in that main LTE guy is, last time I checked, seeing a girl from just up the road from me, so he plays more gigs in this area than he might elsewhere. Aces when he's electric, but not so good when he did an acoustic set recently, which was so quiet it was a struggle to hear more than halfway back in the not-terribly-big venue he was at. Anyway, this album fucking storms it.

Big Black - "Songs About Fucking"
Again, "Atomiser" is seen as their best achievement, but when I was 17 and my mate said "my big brother has tons of the sort of noisy shit you like, come round and borrow some of his stuff", this was the album he had, so this was the album I taped and played to death. A band who absolutely did not give a fuck.

Spacemen 3 - "Playing With Fire"
I realise as the years go on this has the same place in my heart as "Surfer Rosa", in that although I love it and could hum along to every note of the damn thing, I haven't actually listened to it in years (I listen to "Recurring" more often, for no good reason). Anyway, this is the album I usually tell people is my favourite, whenever I get asked.

Slint - "Spiderland"
This is usually my no.2. Inspiration for a million boring post-rock bands, I have Steve Albini's "Rebellious Jukebox" column for Melody Maker to thank for me getting into this. I'd love to read those old columns again, they were great.

Interesting to look back at this from four years ago - I think I picked several of them for personal historical significance, and haven't listened to them once in the intervening time. I mean, I've played "Within And Without" by Washed Out more than anything on this list in the last four years, but I don't see that making my all-time top 10 (although I really like it). Curious one, this. "Spiderland" and "Ready For The House" are absolutely cast-iron locks for my lifetime top 10, but the rest of them? How much do I love "Surfer Rosa" if I've not played it once in half a decade?

[Milverton]

Playlists have ruined albums for me, but...



... is my all-time favourite.

Then Station to Station, then... more 70s Bowie. Errr... Strangeways, probably. Ten New Songs is great. John Wesley Harding? Highway 61 Revisited? Neutral Milk Hotel is terrific  but I have to be in the right mood. Oh, the best Beatles "album" is the US version of the Magical Mystery Tour.

Now I chop them up its hard to choose.

[greenman]

I know it was a few years ago and loads of other people have ignored it, but from the first post:

That always seems like a weak stipulation to me, "your favourite albums except ignore some of them", guess I broke some rule by including a couple of compilations although there both all non album stuff.

As I said with just 10 it would have been a pretty boring list, at least with 25 theres some stuff on it that people might not have heard or bothered with in recent years.

[Brundle-Fly]

8. B12 ‎– Electro-Soma (1993)

Good call, Onken! Nice to know I wasn't alone.

[Famous Mortimer]

That always seems like a weak stipulation to me, "your favourite albums except ignore some of them".

As I said with just 10 it would have been a pretty boring list, at least with 25 theres some stuff on it that people might not have heard or bothered with in recent years.

The flipside is, limiting it makes it an interesting choice, otherwise the thread could be called "list as many of your favourite albums as you can be bothered to". I mean, I don't expect all these lists to be interesting (heck, mine is full of angsty young white men playing guitars and not much else), but...er, I can't be bothered to debate this any more. I'm not your Dad, write what you like.

[Nobody Soup]

Murder Ballads - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

This probably isn't the best Bad Seeds album overall, but fucked if it isn't my favourite.  Dark, funny, bleak, disturbing, clever and just pure fucking cool.  There's not a single note I would change (okay, maybe I'd lose Crow Jane).  So many absolutely perfect musical choices on this album, fucking hell.

no, I think it probably is the best bad seeds album. it seems to have come right at the crossroads of his two styles, it's got the twisted humour and the slightly more traditional leanings of the later stuff but it's got a bit more menace and when he's being properly grim and dark here it also feels sincere. I think the great stuff to filler ratio is lower than on most of his other albums too.

[Jockice]

1 Back In Denim, Denim.
2 More Specials, The Specials.
3 The Queen Is Dead, Smiths.
4-10 variable. But the first three are set in stone in case anyone ever asks me. Which does occasionally happen.

[greenman]

The flipside is, limiting it makes it an interesting choice, otherwise the thread could be called "list as many of your favourite albums as you can be bothered to". I mean, I don't expect all these lists to be interesting (heck, mine is full of angsty young white men playing guitars and not much else), but...er, I can't be bothered to debate this any more. I'm not your Dad, write what you like.

I did.

[The Boston Crab]

Top 10 albums you feel represent something about you that other people NEED to know. Number 6 will make you completely reevaluate your opinion of the OP!

[Entropy Balsmalch]

ALBEMS ARE FOR LOSERS!

I'm going to do a "Top 100 Spotify Playlists off all time!" thread.

[Entropy Balsmalch]

Top 10 albums you feel represent something about you that other people NEED to know. Number 6 will make you completely reevaluate your opinion of the OP!

Ha! I always think this whenever I see a list of albums.

I actually genuinely refuse to believe Neutral Milk Hotel exist outside of these lists.

Have you heard what comes out the speakers when you try and listen to their stuff? It's like someone's paniced and let the cleaners have a go.