Having completed my Best Albums of 2021 report earlier this week, I am reminded that it has been awhile since I’ve updated my running list of most-loved albums, so I’m going to remedy that situation today. As I’ve noted for background before, I’ve been keeping lists of my favorite albums since the very early ’70s, when I was a grade school Steppenwolf fan. My tastes have evolved dramatically over the years (though I still like Steppenwolf), so I review and update this list periodically, dropping things that haven’t aged well, and adding new things that excite me and seem to have staying power.
For many years, this was a “Top 100 List,” but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve felt entitled to expand the roster beyond the century mark, since I’ve listened to a whole lot more music now than I had when I was a whole lot younger. I also used to exclude “Greatest Hits” and other compilation or live albums, but I’ve gotten less uptight about that, too, since for some artists, their best work may have appeared on singles that only saw long-form release via “Best Of” collections.
So here’s the update, in alphabetical order by artist name. Maybe you’ll be reminded of some old favorites and give ’em some nostalgia spins. Or maybe you’ll find something new to rock your home world. Or maybe you’ll just sigh and wonder what the hell goes on in my head to produce an all-over-the-place listing like this. It’s all good. As is the music.
- 54-40: 54-40
- Arab Strap: As Days Get Dark
- Asian Dub Foundation: Rafi’s Revenge
- Bauhaus: The Sky’s Gone Out
- Bee Gees: Main Course
- Birthday Party: Mutiny/The Bad Seed
- Blacc, Aloe: All Love Everything
- Bogmen: Life Begins at 40 Million
- Bongwater: The Power of Pussy
- Bonzo Dog Band: Keynsham
- Bonzo Dog Band: The Doughnut in Granny’s Greenhouse
- Bowie, David: Low
- Bowie, David: “Heroes”
- Bowie, David: Lodger
- Buggy Jive: The Buggy Jive Mix Tape
- Buggy Jive: The B-Side
- Burning Spear: Marcus Garvey
- Bush, Kate: Hounds of Love
- Butthole Surfers: Hairway to Steven
- Butthole Surfers: Locust Abortion Technician
- Camberwell Now: All’s Well
- Cave, Nick and the Bad Seeds: Henry’s Dream
- Chap: Mega Breakfast
- Christian Death: Catastrophe Ballet
- Chrome Hoof: Pre-Emptive False Rapture
- Clash: Combat Rock
- Clash: London Calling
- Cleveland, Reverend James: Sings Songs of Dedication
- Clutch: Book of Bad Decisions
- Clutch: Elephant Riders
- Clutch: Robot Hive/Exodus
- Coil: Horse Rotorvator
- Coil: The Ape of Naples
- Collins, Phil: Face Value
- Coup: Sorry to Bother You
- Coup: Sorry to Bother You: The Soundtrack
- Cramps: Bad Music for Bad People
- Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young: Déjà Vu
- Culture: Two Sevens Clash
- Cup and Ring: Cup and Ring
- Dälek: Absence
- Dälek: Gutter Tactics
- Death Grips: Ex-Military
- Death Grips: Government Plates
- Devo: Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo
- Dogbowl: Flan
- Dogg, Snoop: BUSH
- Dolenz, Micky: Dolenz Sings Nesmith
- Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment: Surf
- Dry Cleaning: New Long Leg
- Dunnery, Francis: Tall Blonde Helicopter
- Eagles: Desperado
- Einstürzende Neubauten: Haus der Lüge
- Einstürzende Neubauten: Halber Mensch
- Emerson, Lake and Palmer: Tarkus
- Emerson, Lake and Palmer: Brain Salad Surgery
- Eno, Brian: Here Come the Warm Jets
- Eno, Brian: Another Green World
- Eno, Brian: Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)
- Fairport Convention: Unhalfbricking
- Fairport Convention: What We Did On Our Holidays
- Fall: Hex Enduction Hour
- Fall: Slates (EP)
- Fall: The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click)
- Fall: Imperial Wax Solvent
- Family: Bandstand
- Family: Fearless
- First Aid Kit: Stay Gold
- First Aid Kit: Ruins
- Fleetwood Mac: Future Games
- Fleetwood Mac: Rumours
- Focus: Live At The Rainbow
- Funkadelic: Maggotbrain
- Gabriel, Peter: Peter Gabriel (III/Melt)
- Gang of Four: Entertainment!
- Gang of Four: Songs of the Free
- Geils, J. Band: Freeze Frame
- Genesis: Duke
- Genesis: Abacab
- Genesis: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
- Genesis: Wind and Wuthering
- Good Rats: Tasty
- Grateful Dead: American Beauty
- Grateful Dead: Workingman’s Dead
- Hall, Daryl: Sacred Songs
- Hanslick Rebellion: The Rebellion is Here
- Hitchcock, Robyn and the Egyptians: Element of Light
- Hogg: Solar Phallic Lion
- Hogg: Self-Extinguishing Emission
- Human Sexual Response: Fig. 14
- Human Sexual Response: In a Roman Mood
- Hüsker Dü: Zen Arcade
- Jarre, Jean-Michel: Equinoxe
- Jesu/Sun Kil Moon: Jesu/Sun Kil Moon
- Jethro Tull: Songs From the Wood
- Jethro Tull: Heavy Horses
- Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick
- Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures
- Joy Division: Closer
- Juluka: Scatterlings
- Kamikaze Hearts: Oneida Road
- Kaukonen, Jorma: Quah
- Keineg, Katell: Jet
- Killdozer: Twelve Point Buck
- Killers: Imploding the Mirage
- Killers: Pressure Machine
- King Crimson: Starless and Bible Black
- King Crimson: In The Court of the Crimson King
- Kraftwerk: Minimum-Maximum
- Kurki-Suonio, Sanna: Musta
- Lateef, Yusef: Eastern Sounds
- Lateef, Yusef: The Complete Yusef Lateef
- Laurels, L
- London, Theophilus: Bebey
- Magma: Üdü Ẁüdü
- McCartney, Paul: McCartney II
- McCartney, Paul: McCartney III
- Meat Loaf: Bat Out of Hell
- Minutemen: Double Nickels on the Dime
- Mitchel, Joni: For the Roses
- Mitchell, John Cameron and Stephen Trask: Hedwig And The Angry Inch
- Mos Def: The Ecstatic
- Mould, Bob: District Line
- Napalm Death: Time Waits For No Slave
- Napalm Death: Utilitarian
- Napalm Death: Apex Predator — Easy Meat
- Napalm Death: Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism
- New Order: Movement
- New Order: Power, Corruption and Lies
- Nyman, Michael: A Zed and Two Noughts (Original Soundtrack)
- Palmer, Robert: Pride
- Phair, Liz: Exile in Guyville
- Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon
- Pink Floyd: Animals
- Pink Floyd: The Wall
- Presley, Elvis: Peace In The Valley: The Complete Gospel Recordings
- Public Enemy: Fear of a Black Planet
- Public Enemy: Apocalypse ’91 . . . The Enemy Strikes Black
- Public Enemy: What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down?
- R.E.M.: Life’s Rich Pageant
- Renaldo and the Loaf: Songs for Swinging Larvae
- Replacements: Let It Be
- Residents: Animal Lover
- Residents: Demons Dance Alone
- Residents: Wormwood
- Richman, Jonathan: It’s Time For . . .
- Richman, Jonathan: Ishkode! Ishkode!
- Rolling Stones: Exile on Main St.
- Rolling Stones: Tattoo You
- Rundgren, Todd: Healing
- Run The Jewels: RTJ4
- Sepultura: Roots
- Shah, Nadine: Kitchen Sink
- Simon & Garfunkel: Sounds of Silence
- Simple Minds: Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Call
- Snog: Last of the Great Romantics
- Snog: Lullabies for the Lithium Age
- Sparks: A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip
- Special A.K.A.: In the Studio
- Steely Dan: Aja
- Steely Dan: The Royal Scam
- Steppenwolf: Gold
- Swans: Filth
- Swans: Holy Money
- Talking Heads: Fear of Music
- Tastee, Gay: Songs for the Sodomites
- Television Personalities: Closer to God
- Ten Years After: Cricklewood Green
- The The: Soul Mining
- This Heat: Deceit
- Tosh, Peter: Mama Africa
- Tosh, Peter: Equal Rights
- Tracey, Stan Quartet: Under Milk Wood: Jazz Suite
- Tragic Mulatto: Italians Fall Down and Look Up Your Dress
- Tsukerman, Slava et. al.: Liquid Sky (Original Soundtrack)
- Utopia: Utopia
- Utopia: Swing to the Right
- Various Artists: If You Can’t Please Yourself You Can’t, Please Your Soul
- Various Artists: The Harder They Come (Original Soundtrack Recording)
- Wailer, Bunny: Blackheart Man
- Wall of Voodoo: Happy Planet
- Wall of Voodoo: Seven Days in Sammystown
- Wasted: We Are Already in Hell
- Weasels: Uranus or Bust
- Weasels: The Man Who Saw Tomorrow
- Who: Who’s Next
- Who: Tommy
- Wings: Band on the Run
- Wings: Venus and Mars
- Wire: The Ideal Copy/Snakedrill
- Wire: It’s Beginning To And Back Again
- Wishbone Ash: Argus
- Xiu Xiu: Angel Guts: Red Classroom
- Xiu Xiu: Girl With Basket of Fruit
- XTC: Black Sea
- XTC: English Settlement
- Yes: The Yes Album
- Young, Neil and Crazy Horse: re-ac-tor
- Zappa, Frank and the Mothers of Invention: One Size Fits All
- Zappa, Frank: Joe’s Garage, Parts I, II and III
I did make an Island records thing in 2005! In two parts because I had to describe them all. 53 albums because I was born in ’53. I picked no compilation albums (so no The Harder They Come)
https://www.rogerogreen.com/2005/10/18/island-records/ and https://www.rogerogreen.com/2005/10/19/island-records-part-2/
Four albums in common with your list. Deja Vu-CSNY; Gabriel 3; Band on the Run; and Royal Scam, which I own on, of all things, cassette. Some common artists: REM, Talking Heads, and King Crimson. Discipline beat out Court because the song Indiscipline was the unofficial song of FantaCo.
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Ooo, fun . . . and great lists!!!
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I might have to try this, but it’d be damn hard. There are some I haven’t played in years because they’re only on vinyl, re-ac-tor for one. Face Value for another. Aja, Swing To The Right, The Wall.
One that would ABSOLUTELY be on mine is Peter Gabriel’s third album. I have it on vinyl in German.
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I think if I tried it from scratch right now, it would be really, really hard indeed. But having first started doing this on a typewriter when I was a kid and only owned maybe 25 albums or so, each iteration over the past half-century has essentially been looking at a prior list and editing . . . so that helps!
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Nice list.
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Thanks!
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