So, my brother invited me to put together my own personal list of the 50,75 or 100 top albums of all time. Someone he knows is going to compile lists from a bunch of people and then the lists will be compiled, ranked, weighted and otherwise munged into a final definitive list, or something. Being a total sucker for rankings and lists and ranked lists of albums, I jumped at the chance.
So, here they are:
- Sonic Youth : Daydream Nation
- Pavement : Slanted and Enchanted
- Joni Mitchell : Blue
- Liz Phair : Exile In Guyville
- My Bloody Valentine : Loveless
- Miles Davis : Kind Of Blue
- Talking Heads : Remain In Light
- Neutral Milk Hotel : In An Aeroplane Over The Sea
- Pixies : Surfer Rosa
- Pink Floyd : Dark Side Of The Moon
- Led Zeppelin : II
- Beatles : Abbey Road
- Fleetwood Mac : Rumors
- The Beatles : Revolver
- Rolling Stones : Let It Bleed
- AC/DC : Back In Black
- Pink Floyd : Wish You Were Here
- The Cure : Disintegration
- U2 : The Joshua Tree
- The Beatles : The Beatles (white album)
- Pavement : Crooked Rain Crooked Rain
- Big Star : #1 Record
- The Pretenders : The Pretenders
- Cowboy Junkies : The Trinity Sessions
- The Cure : Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
- Led Zeppelin : Houses Of The Holy
- Van Morrison : Moondance
- REM : Reckoning
- Nirvana : Nevermind
- Sonic Youth : Sister
- Sea And Cake : Nassau
- Yo La Tengo : Electr-O-Pura
- Violent Femmes : Violent Femmes
- Elliot Smith : XO
- A Tribe Called Quest : Midnight Marauders
- Bauhaus : In The Flat Field
- Jimi Hendrix : Axis: Bold As Love
- Stereolab : Emperor Tomato Ketchup
- Led Zeppelin : Physical Graffiti
- Black Sabbath : Paranoid
- The Beastie Boys : Ill Communication
- Crosby Stills and Nash : Crosby Stills and Nash
- Robyn Hitchcock : Eye
- Dave Brubeck : Time Out
- Pavement : Wowee Zowee
- Pink Floyd : Animals
- The Beatles : Rubber Soul
- Rolling Stones : Exile On Main Street
- The Doors : The Doors
- Cream : Disraeli Gears
- Peter Gabriel : So
- Fleetwood Mac : Fleetwood Mac
- The Doors : Strange Days
- Big Star : Radio City
- Bob Dylan : Highway 61 Revisited
- Slint : Spiderland
- Pixies : Doolittle
- Jane's Addiction : Nothing's Shocking
- Nick Drake : Pink Moon
- King Crimson : Discipline
- Yes : The Yes Album
- Rush : Moving Pictures
- ZZ Top : Tres Hombres
- Stevie Ray Vaughan : Texas Flood
- The Cars : The Cars
- REM : Murmur
- U2 : War
- Pixies : Come on Pilgrim
- Steely Dan : Aja
- The Cure : Seventeen Seconds
- The Feelies : Crazy Rhythms
- Replacements : Let It Be
- The Police : Zenyatta Mondatta
- Yo La Tengo : Fakebook
- Stereolab : Peng
- Gillian Welch : Time, The Revelator
- PJ Harvey : Rid Of Me
- Lilys : A Brief History of Amazing Letdowns
- Spoon : Girls Can Tell
- Superchunk : No Pocky For Kitty
- Dinosaur Jr. : You're Living All Over Me
- Gillian Welch : Revival
- Sunny Day Real Estate : Diary
- The Shins : Chutes Too Narrow
- Big Black : Songs About Fucking
- Codeine : Frigid Stars
- Tortoise : Millions Now Living Will Never Die
- Wilco : Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
- The Flaming Lips : The Soft Bulletin
- Robyn Hitchcock : I Often Dream of Trains
- Gastr Del Sol : Camofleur
- A Tribe Called Quest : Low End Theory
- Son Volt : Trace
- Grandaddy : The Sophtware Slump
- Death Cab For Cutie : Transatlanticism
- Modest Mouse : The Lonesome Crowded West
- Polvo : Cor-Crane Secret
- Buena Vista Social Club : Buena Vista Social Club
- Archers of Loaf : Icky Mettle
- Beck : Mutations
I made this Friday and Saturday. And looking at it now, while everything's probably within 5 spots of where it oughtta be I can see a few things I'd change; like, I'd probably move Midnight Marauders down a few spots and Pink Moon up a few, and I'm a little ambivalent about some of the lower spots. But I'll just go with this, because I know that overall it's mostly right. I'd probably never be 100% happy with it - it's something I could fine-tune forever. Maybe I'll revisit it in a year.
Yeah that’s what we’re doing, taking a look at the list after a year has passed. Bryan has changed his list I think three separate times in a year, and expanded it to 250. Its a futile pursuit, but when you put ‘#1 Record’ in the top 25, you increase the chances someone else will come to the realization that the world is a much smaller place.
Jeeminy! Quite a list. I’ve only even heard of a few of those. Glad you had Gillian Welch on it. There’s hope for you yet, youngster.
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