The 150 Greatest Albums I Could Think Of When I Wrote This
Recently I was trying to find some new music and thought that some best album lists might be a good resource. Needless to say, I was disappointed. The most prominent of these lists is The Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. While I own over 100 of the 500 albums on this list, I certainly wouldn’t put most of them in my top albums list. Then I thought to myself that I could make a much better list. After perusing my music collection of around 2000 albums, I decided I was moderately qualified to make such a list. So, I attempted my own. I’ll say now that I am almost as disappointed with my list as all the others I found. When you really get critical, it’s easy to find flaws in most albums. Just to make my list more interesting and probably even more flawed, I decided to make a few rules. First of all, I would limit the amount any band could be on the list. Yes Rolling Stone, the Beatles were good, but you don’t have to put all or most of their albums on the list. I tried to limit each band to 3 times, but I think I put King Crimson of 4. Technically King Crimson had such diverse line-ups over time that they could be considered several different bands. The second rule was that I had to pick at least one album for every year between 1964 and 2008. Obviously this is problematic for the years that I don’t have many albums of a high caliber or many albums at all, but it made for some fascinating additions. Third, the albums would be organized by year as ranking them would be virtually impossible. Fourth, no greatest hits or best of albums. If the best thing a band has is a greatest hits album, they don’t deserve to make it on a best albums list. Live albums are allowed as the songs can be very different from the regular albums. Finally, I had to limit my list to 150. I think that is a reasonable subsection of a 2000 album collection. So, without further ado, the list:
The 150 Greatest Albums I Could Think Of When I Wrote This
2008
Detektivbyrån – Wermland
2007
Fishtank Ensemble – Samurai Over Serbia
Valkyrien Allstars – Valkyrien Allstars
2006
The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
Smoosh – Free to Stay
2005
Fiona Apple – Extraordinary Machine
The Tiny – Close Enough
2004
The Dresden Dolls – The Dresden Dolls
Haggard – Eppur Si Muove
Rasputina – Frustration Plantation
Tanya Donelly – Whiskey Tango Ghosts
2003
Belle and Sebastian – Dear Catastrophe Waitress
Camera Obscura – Underachievers Please Try Harder
Harmonious Wail – Gypsy Swing
Natalie Merchant – The House Carpenter’s Daughter
2002
Flogging Molly – Drunken Lullabies
Hedningarna – Hippjokk
2001
Angizia – 39 Jahre Für Den Leierkastenmann
Bill Jones – Panchpuran
Blackmore’s Night – Fires at Midnight
Värttinä – Ilmatar
2000
The Be Good Tanyas – Blue Horse
Eleni Mandell – Thrill
Emmylou Harris – Red Dirt Girl
Gjallarhorn – Sjofn
Miranda Sex Garden – Carnival of Souls
1999
Fleming and John – The Way We Are
Garmarna – Vengeance
Indigo Girls – Come On Now Social
Tanglefoot – Full Throated Abandon
1998
Belle and Sebastian – The Boy With The Arab Strap
Bic Runga – Drive
Kate Rusby – Hourglass
Natalie Merchant – Ophelia
Nightwish – Oceanborn
1997
Angizia – Das Tagebuch der Hanna Anikin
Loreena McKennitt – The Book of Secrets
1996
Jerry Garcia and David Grisman – Shady Grove
Rasputina – Thanks for the Ether
Squirrel Nut Zippers – Hot
Steeleye Span – Time
1995
Jill Sobule – Jill Sobule
No Doubt – Tragic Kingdom
Various Artists – Jesus Christ Superstar: A Resurrection
1994
The Cranberries – No Need to Argue
Davka – Davka
Frente – Marvin the Album
Garmarna – Vittrad
Jewel – Pieces of You
1993
Belly – Star
Björk – Debut
Oysterband – Holy Bandits
1992
Blind Melon – Blind Melon
Cyndi Lauper – A Hat Full of Stars
Tori Amos – Little Earthquakes
1991
Ozric Tentacles – Strangitude
Peter Ostroushko with Dean Magraw – Duo
Sarah McLachlan – Solace
1990
Alison Krauss – I’ve Got That Old Feeling
Depeche Mode – Violator
Jane’s Addiction – Ritual De Lo Habitual
1989
Boiled in Lead – From the Ladle to the Grave
Indigo Girls – Indigo Girls
1988
Queensrÿche – Operation Mindcrime
Tracy Chapman – Tracy Chapman
1987
The Pogues – If I Should Fall From Grace With God
Sinéad O’Connor – The Lion and the Cobra
1986
Paul Simon – Graceland
REM – Life’s Rich Pageant
1985
Boiled in Lead – Bold Ned
Suzanne Vega – Suzanne Vega
Tom Waits – Raindogs
1984
Cyndi Lauper – She’s So Unusual
The Pogues – Red Roses For Me
Queensrÿche – The Warning
1983
Marillion – Script for a Jester’s Tear
Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes
1982
Cocteau Twins – Garlands
Kate Bush – The Dreaming
1981
King Crimson – Discipline
Renaissance – Camera Camera
Silly Wizard – Wild and Beautiful
1980
The Buggles – Age of Plastic
The Cure – Boys Don’t Cry
David Bowie – Scary Monsters
1979
Pink Floyd – The Wall
The Roches – The Roches
Steve Howe – The Steve Howe Album
1978
Kate Bush – The Kick Inside
1977
Heart – Little Queen
Jethro Tull – Songs From the Wood
Peter Hammill – Over
1976
Bob Dylan – Desire
Folque – Vardoger
1975
Elf – Trying to Burn the Sun
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Dream
Renaissance – Scheherazade and Other Stories
1974
Gentle Giant – The Power and the Glory
Queen – Queen II
Shawn Phillips – Furthermore
1973
Ken Hensley – Proud Words on a Dusty Shelf
King Crimson – Larks Tongues in Aspic
Melanie – At Carnegie Hall
Uriah Heep – Sweet Freedom
Steeleye Span – Parcel of Rogues
Yes – Tales from Topographic Oceans
1972
Curved Air – Phantasmagoria
David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
Genesis – Foxtrot
Gentle Giant – Octopus
Jethro Tull – Thick as a Brick
White Witch – White Witch
Yes – Close to the Edge
1971
Genesis – Nursery Cryme
Incredible String Band – Liquid Acrobat as Regards the Air
John Hartford – Aereo-plain
Shawn Phillips – Collaboration
Uriah Heep – Look at Yourself
Van Der Graaf Generator – Pawn Hearts
1970
Cat Stevens – Mona Bone Jakon
Emerson, Lake, and Palmer – Emerson, Lake, and Palmer
King Crimson – Lizard
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Uncle Charlie and His Dog Teddy
Steeleye Span – Hark! The Village Wait
Uriah Heep – Uriah Heep (American version of Very ‘Eavy Very ‘Umble)
Van Der Graaf Generator – H to He Who Am the Only One
1969
Deep Purple – The Book of Taliesyn
Fairport Convention – Liege and Lief
Irish Rovers – The Life of a Rover
King Crimson – In the Court of the Crimson King
Nick Drake – Five Leaves Left
Pentangle – Basket of Light
Pink Floyd – Ummagumma
Tim Hart and Maddy Prior – Folk Songs of Olde England Vols. 1 & 2
1968
The Beatles – White Album
Jefferson Airplane – Crown of Creation
Joni Mitchell – Song to a Seagull
The Soft Machine – The Soft Machine
1967
The Incredible String Band – 5000 Spirits of the Layers of an Onion
The Monkees – Headquarters
The Nice – Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack
Nico – Chelsea Girl
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Ricochet
Pink Floyd – Piper at the Gates of Dawn
1966
The Beatles – Revolver
Donovan – Sunshine Superman
The Hollies – For Certain Because
Simon and Garfunkel – Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme
1965
The Lovin’ Spoonful – Do You Believe in Magic
1964
Buffy Sainte-Marie – It’s My Way