All Time Top Ten Albums of All Time

Okay, we have some real out and out music fans on here, so I am curious, do you write lists or make a mental note of your all time desert island discs ala Hi Fidelity ?

Here's mine

1. Dusty Springfield - In Memphis
2. Simple Minds - New Gold Dream
3. Suede - Dog Man Star
3. The Stone Roses - Stone Roses
4. The The - Dusk
5. Sugar - Copper Blue
6. The Blue Nile - Hats
7. Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
8. Gay Dad - Leisure Noise
9. The Sundays - Reading, Writing & Arithmetic
10.Massive Attack - Blue Lines

Okay, pretty conservative and not too underground, probably quite mainstream, but these are the ones I could not do without.

This is a bloody difficult list for me to make because my tastes change so rapidly. So I guess this is a list of the albums that have stuck with me the longest, and the ones I expect to still be listening to when I'm an old man. These aren't, however, in a strict order, though it is loosely in descending order from last to best.

The Beatles - Revolver
I first heard it when I was 12, which, admittedly, was only 10 years ago. But Revolver was also the first album I purchased myself. It's the only Beatles album I don't skip tracks on. And seriously, how can you make a top 10 list and not put the Beatles on it?

Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True
I only like two Costello Albums really: his first two. And it's this one I listen to the most.

Joe Jackson - Jumpin' Jive
I'm not really as big a fan of Joe Jackson as I used to be, so it's no surprise that the album of his that's stuck with me is actually an album full of covers. It's all swing classics from the 40's made famous by Louis Jordan. I've tried to collect all the original versions of these songs, but I always just end up listening to JJ's album.

Steely Dan - Gaucho
Steely Dan was the first musical thing I got seriously obsessive about, I've still got hundreds of gigabytes of concert bootlegs I scoured the internet for, I don't have any of the compilations but I've got all the albums and all the solo projects. I don't listen to them very often anymore, rarely in fact, but Gaucho is still my favorite of all Steely Dan's work. It got me through some really rough [emotional] patches of my teenage life.

Belle & Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress
I don't think I could get away with making a list like this and not include B&S. I chose DCW because it was the album of their's that finally forced me to like them, and because it spawned what I consider the greatest EP ever made, Books. Can we have a Top 10 EP list next? 4 of my slots are already taken up by The Go Away Birds...

Mirah - You Think It's Like This But It's Really Like This
The funny thing about this record is that it's the only one by this artist that I like. But it's just so damn sexy!

Donald Fagen - The Nightfly
I tried not to include the same artist twice on this list, and so The Nightfly is a stretch of that rule (Donald Fagen is half of Steely Dan), but this album is just lovely. I've owned it since high school, I still stick it on the phonograph quite regularly.

Rickie Lee Jones - Pirates
I don't listen to RLJ much anymore, except Pirates. I've played it so much that I had to repurchase the LP because I wore the first one out.

Camera Obscura - Underachievers Please Try Harder
This is the first Obscura album I owned and listened to. Purchased on a whim when I was ordering She & Him's Volume One from Merge, almost purely because I though the girls on the cover were so darling. I just wanted to hang it on my wall. Alas, it turned out to be one of my all time favs.

Elephant - In The Moon
The first group I know of where Michael John McCarthy and Catherine Ireton worked together produced only this album. I think that if I had to pick an absolute favorite, it's this one. It's my favorite style of music, written by my favorite lyricist, sung by my favorite vocalist.

Honorable Mention: God Help The Girl
I love it more than you do. Nonetheless I couldn't figure out how to fit it into my list.

this obviously isn't a definitive list, but I'll give it a shot:

(for the purposes of this list, I'll try and keep it to one album per artist... even though my favorites could all probably come from VU, Dylan and B&S). And I'll leave off CO, because I can't pare it down enough.

1) The Velvet Underground - "Loaded"

2) Built to Spill - "Perfect from Now On"

3) Liz Phair - "Exile in Guyville"

4) Nine Inch Nails - "Pretty Hate Machine"

5) Belle & Sebastian - "Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant"

6) Bob Dylan - "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan"

7) Pink Floyd - "Dark Side of the Moon"

8] Sunny Day Real Estate - "Diary"

9) Dinosaur Jr - "You're Living All Over Me"

10) Bruce Springsteen - "Darkness on the Edge of Town"

Honorable mentions: Mazzy Star - "She Hangs Brightly", The Grateful Dead - "American Beauty"

I love lists and the order probaly changes but here they are

1. The Velvet Underground And Nico Banana Album
2. Camera Obscura My Maudlin Career
3. Oasis Definitely Maybe
4. Nancy Sinatra + Lee Hazlewood Nancy + Lee
5. The Beatles The White Album
6. Jesus And Mary Chain Psychocandy
7. Primal Scream Vanishing Point
8. David Bowie Ziggy Stardust + Spiders From Mars
9. Stone Roses Stone Roses
10. The Smiths Meat Is Murder

Can't believe there is no room for New Order or Joy Divison or well you know what I mean 10 isn't enough.....

i too love lists but i'm always horrible at them cause i can never pinpoint my "top" albums without breaking it into genres...but i will give this a try and put my personal essentials to how my music taste has evolved (or devolved..)
.. but these are not in any particular order

1. huey lewis and the news - sports = my first musical passion as a youngster.. i was 10 when i heard it on my uncle's 8-track and was enraptured immediately

2. camera obscura - underachievers = was introduced to me at a real low point in my career by a great co-worker and was listened to on repeat at werk for, at the very least, 3 weeks (until i bought LGOOTC)

3. sam roberts - chemical city = one of my favourite summers was getting this disc and taking it camping to listen repeatedly and then seeing him live several weeks later

4. beatles - abbey road = i know its a staple for lots of people but i remember this well from my parent's record collection... even named my daughter Abbey!

5. wilco - sky blue sky = this album really surprised me how much i grew to love it despite my first impression of blah. it now makes it feel like warm summers even in the coldest part of winter {cheese-alert}

6. neil young - harvest = its like a greatest hits album for me.. my wife still says he sounds like Kermit

7. big star - no.1 record = great album.. always fun to listen to

8. matt mays - Matt Mays & El Torpedo = another canuck that i've even had the pleasure to meet at an after-show party.. was a little "almost famous" kind of pathetic mooning over him going on around us but he seems like a normal enough guy.. i think "on the hood" is my unofficial theme song

9. simon and garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water = i love this album.. so many great tracks.. cecilia, customer satisfied, baby driver, boxer..

10. beach boys - pet sounds = i have a hard time picking a beach boys album but this has some of my favourite tunes by them.. i find their albums for me are a mix of super songs filled in with mediocrity and a few are just dull.. i remember thinking that they should've waited to release an album once they made enough top-notch material but they pumped out so many so close together.. freakin writing machines those guys..

honourable mentions to GHTG and TFC.. alot of the newer stuff i'm listenin to has only to stand the test of time to see how much i play them.. my list of currently playing albums would be totally different..

tonybolony wrote:

honourable mentions to GHTG and TFC.. alot of the newer stuff i'm listenin to has only to stand the test of time to see how much i play them.. my list of currently playing albums would be totally different..

same here. only three of the albums on my own list have i listened to this month, in fact.

oh and also, Sports was one of my first cds, knicked it from my parents (along with Steve Miller Band Greatest Hits 74-78) when i was about 6.

Yeah... I pretty much only put albums that have stayed with me for a long time. Some of them I don't really even listen to very often (like "Diary") but made such an impression on me years ago, that I feel that they deserve to be on the list.

One of that I forgot was A Tribe Called Quest - "The Low End Theory". Never get sick of that album.

Also... "Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus" Must have listened to that album 300 times when I was 15-16. Never been a huge jazz guy, but my copy of that album is in tatters.

Fairly eclectic and suprising mix here people. Not what I expected at all.

Its get really hard trying to keep this to 10 tho huh ?

Hope others add there list, its good to get a few ideas for some added listening, for example I forgot about J&M Psychocandy and I also keep meaning to buy Nancy & Lee. A Tribe Called Quest reminds me to dig out De La Souls 3 feet High ... for some reason I always think of both bands when either of them is mentioned.

Maybe we should start another thread with your "current listening to" albums

Tony ?

derek wrote:

Also... "Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus" Must have listened to that album 300 times when I was 15-16. Never been a huge jazz guy, but my copy of that album is in tatters.

Did I put Dave Brubeck's Time Out on my list? No? It was in the running. Got it hanging on the wall next to a Kandinsky.
I'm not a huge fan of pure jazz either, but as my list indicates I tend to gravitate toward jazz-centric styles. I like music that requires finger broken fingers to play...

In no particular order, these are the ones that I would grab from my collection in a fire:

The Zombies - 'Odessey and Oracle'
Beach Boys - 'Pet Sounds'
John Philips - 'John The Wolf King of LA'
Saint Etienne - 'Foxbase Alpha'
B&S - 'Tigermilk'
Beatles - 'Abbey Road'
Serge Gainsbourg - 'L'Histoire De Melody Nelson'
Ennio Morricone - 'Mondo Morricone'
The Byrds - 'Notorious Byrd Brothers'
Camera Obscura - 'Biggest Bluest Hi Fi'

the heck with 10...some of us have 100 or more can't-live-without-albums..here's 25 of mine:

Cranes - Wings Of Joy
The Sundays - Reading Writing & Arithmetic
Ladytron - 604
Au Revoir Simone - The Bird Of Music
Brittle Stars - Brittle Stars
Berlin - Pleasure Victim
Dire Straits - Love Over Gold
Camera Obscura - Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi
The Doors - The Doors
Mazzy Star - She Hangs Brightly
The Innocence Mission - Glow
Napalm Death - Harmony Corruption
Steve Roach - The Magnificent Void
Morbid Axe - Grind Up Your Ass
VNV Nation - Burning Empires
The Who - Who's Next
Din Fiv - Escape To Reality
The Cranberries - Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We
BlutEngel - Seelenschmerz
Clan Of Xymox - Twist Of Shadows
Michael Stearns - Encounter
Metallica - Garage Days Re-Revisited
Mortician - Hacked Up For Barbecue
Pearl Jam - Ten
Judas Priest - British Steel

I have a few DJ Frankenstein mixes I've made by opening up 5 to 10 of the above and others (Bach, Beethoven, Diamanda Galas, Ifwhen, Nurse with Wound, Masonna, Birchville Cat Motel, etc..) in multiple instances of Winamp, all playing at the same time, fading up and down the levels and balances left to right, and recording the lot..the contrast is awesome after a few beers..hehehe..

sixthofmay wrote:

the heck with 10...some of us have 100 or more can't-live-without-albums..here's 25 of mine

That would be one hell of a party on your desert island

nice to see some innocence mission in there,i am a fan of befriended and birds of my neighborhood.......you cant do this,even if you pick you top 10 artist..and when you consider bowies imput,x amount of great albums up til lodger...costello,young,dylan,orange juice,the smiths,b&s,camera obscura...and on and on..i used to say my fav 3 are
blood on the tracks
king of america
forever changes

but i`m not sure i can even say that now...

graeme wrote:

nice to see some innocence mission in there,i am a fan of befriended and birds of my neighborhood.......you cant do this,even if you pick you top 10 artist..and when you consider bowies imput,x amount of great albums up til lodger...

I forget when Lodger came out now...I am basically a fan of absolutely everything of Bowie's up until (and including) Young Americans. And the 2003 album, Reality, is pretty great. I tried to stick a Bowie album in my list......think if I had one or two more slots, I'd stick Hunky Dory in there. Maybe Pinups. Or, I Dig Everything? I think that's why he's not on my list, I couldn't pick a fav.

I agree with the one album per artist policy but I have had to cheat a bit by including a few either/or selections where a band has produced 2 masterpieces and its too difficult to say which is best.

1. Beatles - Revolver
2. Beach Boys - Pet sounds
3. Velvet Underground & Nico - VU & Nico
4. Nick Drake - Five leaves left
5. Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
6. The Smiths - Meat is Murder/The Queen is Dead
7. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
8. Ride - Going blank again
9. Radiohead - The Bends/OK Computer
10. Camera Obscura - Underachievers please try harder/Let's get out of this country

DR K great choices

First time i seen Ride play was at Camden falcon and they were setting their own gear up round about Chelsea Girl time I love Ride and Idha