A couple of decades back, I once asked some co-workers to all compile a list of their ten all-time most favorite songs, and the general reaction was like I had asked them which of their children they would not mourn if they died. What was meant to be a fun and quick exercise turned into prolonged, soul-wrenching anguish for many.
Similarly, a conversation started recently when Robert Pollard of Guided by Voices posted online the 50 albums he chose when polled for Rolling Stone’s most recent “Greatest Albums of All Time” list. Among my Record Store Day group, we decided to create our own lists. And, yes, working on my own list had the soul-wrenching anguish of offering your first-born up for the slaughter.
There were some guidelines I imposed on myself. Only one album per artist, lest it become all Beatles and Velvets. Also, I did not allow myself to include any single-artist compilations. I did include one compilation, Nuggets, as that contains only records which were non-album singles and from a wide variety of artists. Also, precedence had already been established, as this collection appeared in all the “Greatest Albums” books I had as a kid which caused an explosion in my musical interests. Then again, another book which broadened my horizons was The Worst Rock n’ Roll Records of All Time by Jimmy Guterman and Owen O’Donnell.
And now the list, followed by my thoughts…
- VU: s/t (3rd)
- Beatles: Revolver
- Replacements: Tim
- They Might Be Giants: Flood
- R.E.M.: Document
- Wire: Chairs Missing
- Beach Boys: Pet Sounds
- Urge Overkill: Saturation
- Sloan: One Chord to Another
- Van Morrison: Astral Weeks
- Ithaca: A Game for All who Know
- My Bloody Valentine: Loveless
- Elvis Costello & the Attractions: Get Happy!!
- INXS: Kick
- Paul Simon: Graceland
- Tom Waits: Raindogs
- Los Lobos: Kiko
- Big Star: #1 Record
- X: Wild Gift
- T. Rex: Electric Warrior
- Pixies: Doolittle
- Sandy Denny: Northstar Grassman and the Ravens
- Steely Dan: Countdown to Ecstasy
- Lazy: The Lazy Music Group
- The Rolling Stones: Let It Bleed
- Portishead: s/t
- The Kinks: The Kinks Are the Village Green Appreciation Society
- Elliott Smith: Either/Or
- Bowie: Station to Station
- The Residents: Commercial Album
- Radiohead: Amnesiac
- Mudhoney: Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge
- Os Mutantes: Os Mutantes
- The Monkees: s/t
- 13th Floor Elevators: Easter Everywhere
- The Jesus & Mary Chain: Honey’s Dead
- New York Dolls: s/t
- Primal Scream: XTRMTR
- Beastie Boys: Paul’s Boutique
- Depeche Mode: Violator
- Love & Rockets: s/t
- Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968
- Badfinger: Straight Up
- Bongwater: The Big Sell-Out
- Black Sabbath: Master of Reality
- Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here
- 808 State: Ex:El
- Ministry: The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste
- Gene Clark: With the Gosdin Brothers
- Blur: The Great Escape
- The Apples in Stereo: The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone
- Stereolab: Margerine Eclipse
- The Byrds: Mr. Tambourine Man
- Yo La Tengo: And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
- The Zombies: Odysey and Oracle
- Otis Redding: The Immortal Otis Redding
- Ween: The Pod
- Yes: 90125
- The Moon: s/t
- Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
- Fugazi: 13 Songs
- The Beta Band: Hot Shots Part II
- Blackalicious: Blazing Arrow
- Dusty Springfield: Dusty in Memphis
- Kevin Ayers: Bananamour
- Guided By Voices: Do the Collapse
- Echo & the Bunnymen: Ocean Rain
- Cocteau Twins: Heaven of Las Vegas
- Wendy & Bonnie: Genesis
- Kangaroo: s/t
- The Left Banke: Walk Away Renee / Pretty Ballerina
- The Small Faces: (2nd self-titled)
- Teenage Fanclub: Songs from Northern Britain
- Honeybus: s/t
- The Primitives: Lovely
- Mellow Candle: s/t
- Talking Heads: Fear of Music
- Fiona Apple: When the Pawn…
- Grateful Dead: Anthem of the Sun
- Beck: Odelay
- Fairport Convention: s/t
- Concrete Blonde: Free
- Syd Barrett: The Madcap Laughs
- The Judybats: Pain Makes You Beautiful
- Bobbie Gentry: The Delta Sweete
- King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King
- J. Dilla: Donuts
- The Beau Brummels: Introducing
- Simon & Garfunkel: Bridge Over Troubled Water
- Sonic Youth: Goo
- The Magnetic Fields: The Charm of the Highway Strip
- The Clash: London Calling
- Broadcast: Spell Blanket
- Throbbing Gristle: D.O.A.
- The Bee Gees: 1st
- Squeeze: East Side Story
- Prince: Parade
- Bjork: Medulla
- Stevie Wonder: For Once in My Life
- The The: Dusk
My first immediate gut reaction: that list is awfully white, which depresses me. I think one issue for me is the rock, R&B and soul I listen to is largely singles-based. Still, I am baffled by how Caucasians so dominate this list when I listen to so much Ray Charles, Staples Singers, Prince, Little Richard and TV On The Radio. But let me tell you, it I had allowed the four-CD complete Atlantic sides by Ray Charles or the 9-CD Complete Stax/Volt Singles, those would have dominated the competition.
I should also point out this list (as indicated by the title) are my thoughts as of an exact moment in time. And yet, I can’t imagine anything ever displacing my top two choices, or even reverse those positions. The first is hard wired into my DNA and the second expanded my mind more than possibly anything else in any medium.
Another major contributor to my musical education was CDs and cassettes borrowed from my local public library, which is why I will always support that institution. Without such access to these albums, it would have taken me much longer to discover Raindogs, Graceland, And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out, Do the Collapse, The Charm of the Highway Strip, various albums by Stereolab, and the solo works of Syd Barrett.
It is inevitable the list is dominated by alt-rock of the late 80’s and early 90’s. I am as guilty as anybody else of most loving the music of an era when I had the most free time. I wish I had compiled a list like this at that time, as I’m sure the results would have been significantly different. I’m sure it would be even less diverse.
As regards that particular vein of college rock, some albums are on the list more because of the influence they had on me than the actual quality of the music itself. A key example is the self-titled Love & Rockets album from 1989. I deeply love this group, but I’ll concede they have at least two titles objectively better than the one I chose. But this one just happens to be the first album I bought of this type of music, and that was after roughly a year of near-hermitude when I listened almost exclusively to The Beatles.
Some artists are conspicuous by their absence. It was only after the list was finished that I realized there wasn’t any Dylan, and I own many of his albums. Funny, but as much as I love so many individual tracks by him, this exercise made me realize I don’t actually love any of his albums. Yeah, Blonde on Blonde is iconic and has only one song one it I actively dislike (I’m looking at you, “Rainy Day Women”), but I don’t actually love it.
I also want to single out Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, as this has a similarly odd place in my heart. This is a work which has fascinated me endlessly, yet I feel I am more intrigued by it than feel any genuine affection. If nothing else, it does fill me with awe, no matter how many times I spin it. But it is the only work on this list that seems to be outside of rock albums entirely. I can’t fully articulate my feelings, but this is such a unique animal as to defy ranking and categorization.
A final note concerning another omission which surprised me, and that is Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band. That was another staple of those “Greatest Albums” lists, inspiring me to buy a copy and then struggle for more than three decades to appreciate it. I may not actually like it, but I have a weird obsession with it and have heard it more times all the way through than many of my most favorite records.
Update (1/26/2025): Less than 24 hours later and I’m already embarrassed by records I somehow left off, such as these, off the top of my head:
Air: The Virgin Suicides
Public Enemy: Fear of a Black Planet
Aimee Mann: Bachelor No. 2
Charlotte Gainsbourg: I.R.M.
Iron & Wine: Woman King (yeah, it’s an E.P., but it is longer than some Elvis LPs)
The Pogues: Waiting for Herb
Charlatans UK: Some Friendly
No Joy Division or New Order
No Sly & the Family Stone
Sparks: Lil’ Beethoven
Little Richard’s debut
No Kraftwerk
Calexico: Feast of Wire