Your top albums of ALL TIME

[Ian Barker]

I'm working through a bunch of albums trying to make my list of all time best albums, and I thought I would see what kind of input CA has to offer

(i'm sure this thread has been done a million times, but hey, still fun!)

All I know for sure about my list is 1. Radiohead - OK Computer and 2. The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute. I'm one of those guys who never gives out "10s" (because nothing is perfect), but if I were forced to give a 10 it would be to those two albums.

Anyways let me know what your all time favs are!

Oh, and youtubes, album covers or at least short descriptions are appreciated. When people just see a long list of albums they usually just ignore it.

[Dusty]

I never give 10's unless something stands the test of time.

My rationale is that if I love something enough to listen to it 10, 20, 30 years after the fact...it's a damn 10. Doesn't really matter if EVERY OTHER PERSON ON THE PLANET considers it a 1, if I like something for that long, it's definitely a 10.

That all said, it's supremely hard to ever pick a "favorite album of all time" for me, because depending on my mood it would shift.

First thing that hits my mind, though...the album that has the MOST memories attached to it would be:

Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance


That is the first 2 songs (intro+song) off of the album, and within seconds you know it's a classic.
I DARE anyone to listen to that song and not feel the metal flowing through their veins. Even if you HATE heavy metal, it's basically impossible. If you deny, you are an alien or a zombie or all of the above.
And the album, in general, just contains the best of the best of them...pretty much at their peak. Any Priest fan is gonna have their favorite album (usually British Steel), but this was the one where I think their style really shined the brightest. If someone asked "What does Judas Priest sound like?", I'd tell them to pick a song from this album.

Following a close CLOSE 2nd
Iron Maiden - Powerslave


Highlight of the album for me is this song, Rime of the Ancient Mariner...which is based off of the poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
It's 13+ minutes of ABSOLUTE musical perfection. The link above is live footage and it sounds precisely like the studio track. Maiden have an incredible legacy of music and they have influenced millions.

[OmenSpirits]

Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin' On".

Will exist even after man destroys himself.

[tobbA]

Well, the only one I can genuinely say is my fav album ever is Blue Blood by X Japan.

[JDSart]

The first 5 Metallica albums are metal perfection, they could have started making jpop after the black album and still keep my respects forever.

Watching them live in Caracas, just the opening with ecstasy of gold/Creeping Death followed by For whom the bells Tolls ( my favorite song ever)... it was pure epic bliss, i´d give up sex for that if id had to choose. Best night ever.

[Raoul Duke]

I listened to these albums so much I had to retire them.

[OldJake666]

I'd have to post literally hundreds of albums to make it a comprehensive list. Here are some bare essentials.










Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun






King Crimson - In The Court of the Crimson King





Those are all absolute masterpieces. And that's coming from a collection of thousands of albums.

[Flake]

I realise it's kinda heresy but I always thought "Dark Side of the Moon" was way inferior to "Wish you were Here" or "The Wall".

I'd have to trade "After the Goldrush" for "Weld".

All great albums, just my 2p worth.

[OldJake666]

I highly disagree. I'd put Animals over WYWH and The Wall would be far behind many other Floyd albums for me, including Meddle and Pipers at the Gates of Dawn. AtGR is far and away my favorite Neil Young album, excluding some of his live ones.

[Flake]

Fairy nuff.

I think I enjoyed "Weld" so much because it was an old fart called Neil Young at the height of the grunge era and it demonstrated so perfectly that it was all about songs.
Throw in a distortion pedal and some feedback, you now have a classic grunge album.

The Floyd.

I love "Wish you were Here" so much.

Then Comfortably Numb.
Best. Guitar playing. Ever.

I feel lists like this are heavily context dependent.

I will never be able to listen to Funkadelic without grinning a little bit just because of what they represent for me y'know?

[OldJake666]

Okay... Here's a hastily compiled list of 100 albums. I'm sure I'm missing some big ones but here are 100 albums that I love a whole damn lot. Some of them are major masterpieces for sure. I'm not going to bother ordering them, so they're alphabetical.

Agalloch – The Mantle
Alcest - Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde
Alice in Chains – Dirt
Arcade Fire – Funeral
Arvo Pärt - Tabula rasa
Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath – Master of Reality
Black Sabbath – Paranoid
Black Sabbath – Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks
Bob Marley – Exodus
Can – Tago Mago
Comus - First Utterance
Cream - Disraeli Gears
Crosby, Stills & Nash - Crosby, Stills & Nash
Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young – Déjà vu
David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
David Bowie – Hunky Dory
David Bowie – Station to Station
David Sylvian – Secrets of the Beehive
Dead Can Dance – Within the Realm of the Dying Sun
Devin Townsend – Terria
Earthless – Rhythms from a Cosmic Sky
Genesis – Selling England by the Pound
Genesis - Foxtrot
George Harrison – All Things Must Pass
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – F#A#(infinity)
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
Isis – Panopticon
Jeff Buckley – Grace
Jethro Tull - Aqualung
Jethro Tull – Thick as a Brick
Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced
Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
John Lennon – Plastic Ono Band
Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures
Kayo Dot – Choirs of the Eye
King Crimson – Discipline
King Crimson – In the Court of the Crimson King
King Crimson – Larks Tongue in Aspic
King Crimson – Red
Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin II
Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV
Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti
Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate
Leonard Cohen – Songs from a Room
Massive Attack- Mezzanine
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
Neil Young – After the Goldrush
Neil Young – Harvest
Neil Young – Live Massey Hall
Neurosis - Through Silver in Blood
Nick Drake - Bryter Layter
Nick Drake – 5 Leaves Left
Nick Drake – Pink Moon
Opeth – Still Life
Pink Floyd – Animals
Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon
Pink Floyd – Meddle
Pink Floyd – Pipers at the Gates of Dawn
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here
Porcupine Tree – In Absentia
Porcupine Tree – Stupid Dream
Portishead – Dummy
Radiohead – In Rainbows
Radiohead – Kid A
Radiohead – OK Computer
Radiohead – The Bends
Red House Painters - Red House Painters [Rollercoaster]
Scott Walker – Scott 3
Scott Walker – Scott 4
Sigur Ros – ( )
Sigur Ros – Agaetis Byrjun
Sigur Ros – Takk
Slowdive – Souvlaki
The Beatles – Abbey Road
The Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour
The Beatles – Revolver
The Beatles – Rubber Soul
The Beatles – Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
The Cure – Disintegration
The Cure – Pornography
The Doors – The Doors
The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
The Who – Who’s Next
The Zombies – Odyssey and Oracle
Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
Tom Waits - Small Change
Ulver - Bergtatt: Et eeventyr i 5 capitler
Ulver - Kveldssanger
Ulver – Perdition City
Ulver – Shadows of the Sun
Van Der Graaf Generator – Godbluff
Van Der Graaf Generator – Pawn Hearts
Yes – Close to the Edge
Yes - Fragile

[JFierce]

The only "Album" that has stood the test of time and tastes for me is Streetlight Manifesto Everything Goes Numb. Still love every song on it.

[JDSart]

Heaven and Hell, Mob rules, Dehumanizer by Black Sabbath DIO was a beast, him and Sabbath were such a great match, i could listen to those songs everyday and not get bored, i have the Dio years compilation and always listen to it when anoyed at work and never fails to bring up my mood.

I think Sabbath with Ozzy was a good band, with Dio they turned it up to 11. Not that i dislike Ozzy at all but its a bit of a shame people just stop there when mentioning the band, specially since they are understimating the talent of Iommi and Buttler who did mighty fine without Ozzy.

Lateralus by Tool is one of my new favorites, i can´t listen to a song or in not the proper order, i have to listen to the whole album everytime.

And then there where three by Genesis Peter Gabriel days were great, but Collins were also great in a different way, full of amazing drums.

[bcarman]

The only "Album" that has stood the test of time and tastes for me is Streetlight Manifesto Everything Goes Numb. Still love every song on it.

Time! I feel older every day.

Favs are always impossible but Allman Brothers "Eat a Peach" may have launched my real musical life. I posted that the cover was also instrumental (no pun intended) in launching my illustration career.

[JFierce]

Yeah not so much as time in a long stretch over my whole life. Just about a decade, which for my music tastes is surprising.

[Ian Barker]

A few more albums that will feature highly on my list:

The Clash - London Calling


Beach Boys - Pet Sounds


Tim Hecker - Radio Amor

[Shahan]

Top 5 ( just my two cents )

1. Pink Floyd - The Wall
This will always be number one for me, I'm in love with this album. Counting the concept behind it, the "expierience edition" and the movie that gave me goosebumps... It doesn't get better than this, for me, as an album as a whole I don't think anything has been so well done. If you guys know of something similar to the magnitude of what The Wall is let me know. I admit I know very little about music.


2. The Mars Volta - Frances The Mute
This album all around is haunting and not for the impatient listener. It has 5 minute long fills of noise and spooky stuff. But this is my number 2 mainly for the song 31 minute taste of heaven that is the last track(s) Cassandra Gemini! Give Cassandra Gemini a full listen when you have the chance, let me know what you think.


3. Complex Full of Phantoms a split album with the bands Tera Melos and By the end of Tonight

First of all both of these bands are INSANE and Tera Melos may be my favorite band of all time. This may also be one of the most underrated albums for 2007... It is just a great band and the track by Tera Melos called "Last Smile for Jaron(Jeron)" ...omg.. that pushed me over the edge to buy the album as FLAC and keep it and treasure it...

Here is Tera Melos' side of the album = http://teramelos.bandcamp.com/album/drugs-complex <- Listen to last track, that's "Last smile for..."

By the end of Tonight's side is pure simplistic awesomeness but youtube probably has some of it streaming.

4. Cizaña De Los Amores by Omar Rodriguez Lopez


Omar is the guitarist for The Mars Volta his SOLO CAREER is prodigious and awe inspiring...
I post the album art for this one because ..i mean just look at it...
Words cannot describe how I feel when you listen to Track 4 and Track 5 back to back...
listen here: http://omarrodriguezlopez.bandcamp.c...-de-los-amores
if you have the time.


5. The Parallax Hypersleep Dialogues by Between The Buried And Me

I'm gonna be honest ..the name of this album kinda hooked me. But seriously I love everything by this band, they're an extremely dedicated band... This albums relatively new and I honestly didn't know what to for #5 ... Korbyn took most of mine >_< so I thought I just post something different.
Court of the Crimson King is blooddddyyyyyy amazingggg...

---

Yeah that's all.

...yes i like colors. i think it may help things stand out and make it easier to read...
...i hope..

EDIT: OH and this band called Brainiac...



Electro-Shock For President EP - by Brainiac would be my #6 or w/e ... idk this is just another great album I thought I'd share. The first track "Fresh New eyes" kicks off with a raw and catchy dreary pinching rock song... so good.

ALSO I understand a LOT of this stuff may not be your "bag" , you probably won't like this stuff... most people.
I mean for chrissake I think this shit is good... Melt Banana - Initial T ... idk how i grew to like these songs....... i do..not ..know

[madbot]

Kid A // OK Computer // In Rainbows (Radiohead)
No Balance Palace // Passengers (Kashmir)
Harvest // Mirrorball (Neil Young)
Abbey Road // White Album // Sgt Pepper (The Beatles)
Songs for the Deaf // Rated R (Queens of the Stone Age)
Ghost in the Machine // Synchronicity (The Police)
Achtung Baby // All That You Can't Leave Behind (U2)
Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness (Smashing Pumpkins)
Parachutes (Coldplay)
Grace (Jeff Buckley)
The Kingdom of Rust (Doves)
The Seldom Seen Kid (Elbow)
Dark Side Of The Moon (Pink Floyd)
Vs (Pearl Jam)
Pet Sounds (Beach Boys)
Cosmos Factory (CCR)
Superunknown (Soundgarden)
Tiny Music (Stone Temple Pilots)
Monster (REM)
Nevermind (Nirvana)
Master of Puppets (Metallica)
AEnima (Tool)
Hourly Daily (You Am I)
Moonfire (Boy & Bear)
Moo You Bloody Choir (Augie March)

[D.Labruyere]

I highly disagree. I'd put Animals over WYWH and The Wall would be far behind many other Floyd albums for me, including Meddle and Pipers at the Gates of Dawn. AtGR is far and away my favorite Neil Young album, excluding some of his live ones.

Nobody ever seems to pick the division bell or the final cut. Or atom heart mother for that matter. But I would agree, The Wall would be far behind for me and animals would be on the top list. I think I'd put The division bell on number one. Perhaps dark side of the moon after that. I wonder, would anybody put down Ummagumma as there favorite?

[Angel Intheuk]

Let's get some females on here...my all time faves and inspirations


Tori Amos - Boys for Pele





Joni Mitchell - Ladies of the Canyon

Amazing live version of Woodstock...



Bjork - Post + Homogenic (because I can't choose)

[OldJake666]

Top 5 ( just my two cents )

1. Pink Floyd - The Wall
This will always be number one for me, I'm in love with this album. Counting the concept behind it, the "expierience edition" and the movie that gave me goosebumps... It doesn't get better than this, for me, as an album as a whole I don't think anything has been so well done. If you guys know of something similar to the magnitude of what The Wall is let me know. I admit I know very little about music...

Hmmm... Well there really aren't any. There are some other epic concept albums but none that I can think of that create the same depth of reality. One album that comes to mind is Bowie's Ziggy Stardust. Besides being an amazing album, it makes me think of The Wall because they made a play and a movie based off of it.

Another album is Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway which is another complex concept double album that featured lots of stage theatrics like The Wall.

Seeing as you have some metal on your list you might enjoy Ziltoid the Omniscient and Deconstructed by Devin Townsend, both of which are basically comedy albums but are very densely produced and are concept albums that actually tell a story.

Also, now that I think of it, Godspeed's Lift Your Skinny Fists may not be a concept album but it has the same emotional power and grandure as The Wall.

You might like Porcupine Tree's The Incident, which in my opinion is actually one of the worst PT albums but is a concept album and actually has a very similar flavor to The Wall.

Supertramp's Crime of the Century is a great album and one that probably deserved to be on my top 100 but I forgot about it. It's proggy but accessible and was flawlessly produced. It's similar to The Floyd in some ways.

That's all I can think of for now. Radiohead's Ok Computer also reminds me of that era of Floyd but I'm sure you already have it.

[AvP]

The ones above are very good examples, the only other that I can think of that has a Floyd feel to it, is Dream Theatre's Octavarium.

[Shahan]

@Jacob Kobryn Woah I liked Bowie and Genesis but never listened to those before, thanks.
I got my hands on a few that you mentioned. Devin Twonsend's Ziltoid is awesome! Funny and heavy. and as for Godspeed You Black Emporor... haha i love that album had it for a while now.
The incident is their worst?(listening now)

hm i guess there are really concepty albums ... and then really good albums in general... If i had to make a statement to say about it:
Not all concept albums are great but most awesome/epic/timeless/beloved albums are concept albums(albums with stories)...
at least in my experience. I think it adds so much more than just having songs on a list. come to think of it most of the stuff i listen to is loosely concepty.. as in... there is a evident story behind and in front of the lyrics/songs.
I like Coheed and Cambria which is concept album gold(i think) ) . i like their comics too.
----
Also anyone have any Original Soundtracks as their fave albums?

The OST for The Deer Hunter was good.

OST for Book of Mormon is reallllly good in my opinion.

Riz Ortolani - Cannibal Holocaust OST, only for the main theme, some of the other songs are okay. the mains good on its own.

-Shaun of the Dead soundtrack


OO and video game soundtracks.
-Any Nobou Uematsu , guy is a god (Final Fantasy games)
-Streets of Rage sound tracks for 2 or 3 are SO damn good.

-the Pokemon Red(or blue) Version OSTs are apart of my music folder i can proudly say. but i guess thats mostly nostalgia for me.
basically ALL the Final Fantasy games and Dissidia's remastered versions take the cake for me there.

There may be more deserving soundtracks than this for "TOP ALBUMS OF ALL TIME"
anybody?

[timpaatkins]

Just to throw in a few more amazing concept albums you have The Whos Tommy and Quadrophenia

[Ian Barker]

Check out Mew - And the Glass Handed Kites. Most of the album flows together as one song. It's one of my all time favs

[D.Labruyere]

Had nothing to do, so here is a list of 100 albums I am currently listening (in random order)

16 horsepower - 16 horsepower


airbag - identity


antimatter - leaving eden


balmorhea - balmorhea


Beethoven - violin sonata no.9 and 10


beirut - gulag orkestar


ben klock - one


bill ryder jones - if


bobby womack - midnight mover


bonnie 'prince' billy - wolfroy goes to town


brahms - symphony no.2


DAAU - The shepherd's dream


De La Soul - 3 feet high and rising


Godspeed You! Black emperor - Yanqui U.X.O


Gold Panda - Lucky shiner


Gorillaz - demon days


Spacemonkeyz - laika come home


Handwrist - all flesh is grass and all its grace is as the flower of the field


Henryck Gorecki - Miserere


Junior Boys - So this is goodbye


Kula Shaker - K


Lamb - 5


Little Dragon - Little Dragon


Long Distance calling - Long distance calling


Mahler - Symphony no.10


Marcel Fengler - Berghain 05


Mc Hammer - Please Hammer don't hurt 'em


Mud - let's have a party


Noah and the Whale - The first days of spring


Oasis - Masterplan


Pete Philly and Perquisite - Mystere repeats


Pink floyd:
the final cut


the division bell


a momentary laps of reason


dark side of the moon


Planningtorock - W


Plastic Bertrand - King of the Divan


Plastikman - sheet one


Plastikman - consumed


Radiohead - the king of limbs


Signe Tollefsen - Hayes


Slade - You Boyz make big noize


Sly & the family stone - dance to the music


The boomtown rats - the boomtown rats


The cat empire - two shoes


The Flashbulb - Arboreal


The hundred in the hands - the hundred in the hands


Kyteman - the hermit sessions


The temptations - wish it would rain


those poor bastards - country bullshit


tokimonsta - creature dreams


tool - 10.000 days


triggerfinger - all this dancing around


U.F.O - seven deadly


Venetian Snares - Rossz csillag alatt született


Wim Mertens - Educes me


Muddy Waters - The Johnny Winter Sessions


Dave Brubeck - Take five


deus - worst case scenario


oh no ono - yes


Len Faki - Berghain 03


Fink - Biscuits for Breakfast


boemklatsch - bonafied


C-mon & Kypski - vinyl voodoo


Gare du Nord - in search of excellounge


st germain - tourist


Das Pop - I love


richard bona - reverence


marcus miller - Free


Jan Garbarek - Officium


laura marling - Alas, I cannot swim


Le Le - La Bouche


De jeugd van tegenwoordig - de machine


tinariwen - Bamako


pantha du prince - black noise


prince - purple rain


Siouxsie and the banshees - once upon a time


stereophonics - just enough education to perform


the tallest man on earth - the wild hunt


unkle - war stories


vive la fete - nuit blanche


woven hand - ten stones


xavier rudd - solace


Wu Man - Chinese music for the Pipa


A.A. Bondy - Believers


blockhead - music by cavelight


Arvo Pärt - Lamentate


barry white - I've got so much to give


planetary assault systems - temporary suspension


arts the beatdoctor - transitions


kruder and dorfmeister - The K & D Sessions


Krzysztof Penderecki - symphony no 1


emilie simon - March of the penguins


moloko - statues


modeselektor - Hello mom!


new cool collective - bring it on


air - late night tales:air


zita swoon - I paint pictures on a wedding dress


eels - beautiful freak


admiral freebee - admiral freebee


myrath - tales of the sands


infectious grooves - The Plague That Makes Your Booty Move...It's the Infectious Grooves


radiohead - hail to the thief

[henri]

i have a text file from a couple of years back with like 500 albums on it but i'm not gonna post it here. so here's a dozen from the top of my head

new order - substance 1987
drexciya - neptune's lair
pet shop boys - behaviour
the associates - fourth drawer down
luomo - vocalcity
john maus - love is real
junior boys - last exit
goblin - tenebre
arthur russell - calling out of context
omd - dazzle ships
serge gainsbourg - L'Homme à tête de chou (copypasted this, can't make those fucking characters)
suicide - the second album
prince - dirty mind

my laptop's about to explode from all the youtubes on this page, but here's one more. i've to listened this tune over the years at least thousand times


edit: all pink floyd albums after syd barrett's departure suck ass

[Steamhat]

May as well add a few comments upon albums that cannot be ignored...

this utter beauty, Mastadon's Crack the Skye

the whole album seems so alien yet so easy to listen to, flowing with each track together into something not too long, not too short, perfectly constructed and not ever getting boring.

This photoshop monstrocity belongs to Protest the Hero's Kezia

metal may not be your cup of tea, but my goodness this album cannot be ignored, yes the message doesn't extend further than 'oppression is bad' but i'll be damned if it isn't amazingly done

Just listen to the first song's intro... it will crush your mind... keep listening and you should be amazed at how good this album is

the Ocean's Anthropocentric is utterly awesome, if you can forgive the underlying christian indoctrination hate, you should be astonished by the shear power and grace of this album.

think i'll just mention a good as all hell soundtrack

Thomas Newman is absolutely amazing, able to harness so many emotions and styles that you have no soul if you're a fan of working music of a certain feel with an artpiece of a certain feel. This being the OST to Lemeny Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events

[Contest10]

Tool - 10,000 days is one of my favourites. I also like the band 'The XX' a lot, I'm hoping they'll release a new album soon.

[jetpack42]

I'm torn between My World and My World 2.0.