The N&G Top 500 Albums of All Time!!!

37.Marillion “Misplaced Childhood” 1985
Respect. Left-field, IMO, for a top 50 of all time, but superb album nonetheless.

I imagine Marillion's name is more commonplace in the UK than the states but I came to Marillion during a deep prog phase in my early 20's. Actually, I keyed in on them because of Pete Trewavas involvement in the prog supergroup Transatlantic (who I in turn keyed in on b/c of my appreciation for The Flower Kings, Spock's Beard, and Dream Theater).

But Fish-era Marillion (esp. Misplaced Childhood and Clutching at Straws) and at least Brave/Afraid of Sunlight from Hogarth-era I'll def fuck with.

Misplaced Childhood as an album is such a mood. Fish's voice is singular, his lyrics poetic and literate, and the music a beautiful complement to his contributions.
 
#1

The Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed

I kind of surprised myself with this decision as I made the list. But as I considered everything about it, it rose to the top.

There's not an album with a better opener/closer combo than this in my humble opinion.
(Gimme Shelter / You Can't Always Get What You Want)
And, Gimme Shelter might just be the best rock song of all time. It still raises the hair on my arms in parts, even though I have heard it countless times. Of course Merry Clayton is such a gem here, and the "woo!" we hear on mic by one of the Stones after her flat-out amazing vocal reach near the end is all so legendary. The song itself is drenched in vibe, it's hard (for me) to describe...and the band is just amazing.

I don't find any filler on this album; it's damn close to perfect...and yet if I did this list in 10 more years, maybe a different record lands the top spot.
Have you watched the 2013 documentary 20 Feet from Stardom (it's been discussed on N&G in the past)? If not, it highlights background singers and in it they interview Merry Clayton, who sang the female vocals on Gimme Shelter, and talk about its creation. Besides that, they play her isolated vocal cuts. Really worth watching as a whole, but that part you'd definitely enjoy and the vocal track will get those arm hairs a-wigglin'!
 
As much as I love Let It Bleed, I could live my life never hearing YCAGWYW again and be completely fine. As far as complete albums go, I always preferred Sticky Fingers.

You’re both wrong. Exile all the way and twice on Sundays.

I agree and I’ve actually put Beggars Banquet in as my number 2 for the stones...

I seriously wish I could have put Let it Bleed, Exile, Beggar's AND Sticky as my #1. I mean seriously, what a run of albums.
 
Have you watched the 2013 documentary 20 Feet from Stardom (it's been discussed on N&G in the past)? If not, it highlights background singers and in it they interview Merry Clayton, who sang the female vocals on Gimme Shelter, and talk about its creation. Besides that, they play her isolated vocal cuts. Really worth watching as a whole, but that part you'd definitely enjoy and the vocal track will get those arm hairs a-wigglin'!
Oh yeah, I've watched it a couple times...the entire movie is so great and that iso vocal is truly sublime.
 
1-50: One album per; personal preference weighted heavily, but the list is not in order of pure personal preference; personal preference ranking adjusted to give a nod to any critical/historical importance that I think deserved/required it. No live albums, no comps.
**********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Here is 26 - 50

26: Soundgarden ~ Down On The Upside (1996)
“Hard headed fuck you all
Just add it up to the hot rod death toll”

27: The Allman Bros. ~ At Fillmore East (1971)
“Sometimes I feel, sometimes I feel,
Like I been tied to the whippin' post.
Tied to the whippin' post, tied to the whippin' post.
Good Lord, I feel like I'm dyin'.”

28: The Smiths ~ Meat Is Murder (1985/ US Release)
“I am human and I need to be loved
Just like everybody else does”

29: Tool ~ Aenima (1996)
“Well now I've got some advice for you, little buddy
Before you point the finger, You should know that I'm the man
And if I'm the man, Then you're the man, and He's the man as well
So you can point that fuckin' finger up your ass.”

30: Big Head Todd & The Monsters ~ Midnight Radio (1990)
“Who ever told you it's your right to be alive?
If your heart is breaking, you are lucky to be in love”

31: The Choir ~ Circle Slide (1990)
“I've got a cause I should surely defend, I hope you will agree
I've got a tire I would love to suspend
I'm searching for a tree”

32: My Morning Jacket ~ Evil Urges (2008)
“Then I saw a new Heaven, Formed in the bleeding light of dusk
All souls, all faiths, Always we were one”

33: Elvis Costello ~ Spike (1989)
“One day you're going to have to face
A deep dark truthful mirror”

34: Afghan Whigs ~ Gentlemen (1993)
“You're saying that the victim doesn't want it to end
Good, I get to dress up and play the assassin again
It's my favorite
It's got personality”

35: Ben Harper ~ Fight For Your Mind (1995)
“But I'd rather walk alone, than chase you around
I'd rather fall myself than let you, drag me on down”


36: Lemonheads ~ Come On Feel The Lemonheads (1993)
“Gotta own up on my own somehow
Toss the beginning and try to live it down”

37: Whiskeytown ~ Pneumonia (2001)
“Used to feel so much, now I just feel dumb”

38: Deftones ~ White Pony (2000)
“Go get your knife, go get your knife
Now kiss me”

39: Digable Planets ~ A New Refutation Of Time & Space (1993)
“Ah yes, planets got the blessed
Beats are played on Friday to get Monday off your chest”

40: Foo Fighters ~ The Colour & The Shape (1997)
“I was always caged but now I’m free”

41: Ben Folds 5 ~ The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner (1999)
“Sometimes I get the feeling, That I won't be on this planet
For very long
I really like it here, I'm quite attached to it
I hope I'm wrong”

42: George Michael ~ Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1. (1990)
“It's hard to love, there's so much to hate”

43: Bjork ~ Post (1994)
“And if you complain once more
You'll meet an army of me”

44: The Hotelier ~ Home, Like No Place (2014)
“Try to take out my claws expect a visceral reaction
Try to muzzle me up, I'll lash out, I'll bite back and
Keep my options open
For fear of becoming housebroken”

45: Sting ~ The Soul Cages (1990)
“What good is a used up world and how could it be worth having?”

46: Death Cab For Cutie ~ Transatlanticisim
“God damn the black night, with all its foul temptations
I've become what I always hated when I was with you then”

47: Frightened Rabbit ~ Pedestrian Verse (2013)
“All our secrets are smothered in dirt
Underneath paving stones, lying waiting to be told
Some stay hidden, whilst some get found
Like a long lost soul, like a skull beneath the ground

48: The Mountain Goats ~ The Sunset Tree (2005)
“And way out in Seattle, young Kurt Cobain
Snuck out to the greenhouse, put a bullet in his brain
Snakes in the grass beneath our feet, rain in the clouds above
Some moments last forever, but some flare out with love love love”

49: Live ~ Throwing Copper (1994)
“I talk of freedom, you talk of the flag
I talk of revolution, you'd much rather brag”

50: Adam Again ~ Dig (1992)
“There was a time when I might have surrendered,
But not now.”
Evil Urges - nice! (y) 💜
 
List submitted! Spent too much time putting this together but really enjoyed going back and listening to some very old favourites, remembering why I love them in the first place, and reliving some old memories associated with them. I started some write-ups but they got long, wordy, and out of hand so I think I'll just post the list and maybe do some short write-ups later.

I also went with personal favourites and albums that meant the most to me over my life so far. I think that's the only really honest way to do it. Didn't limit number of albums by an individual artist; favourite bands are favourite bands for a reason. Albums that led were gateways to certain genres, styles, or (especially) life experiences got tons of bonus points. #27, for example, was my favourite album in high school and almost single-handedly taught me how to play guitar, so even if I don't listen to it as much anymore, its impact on me was immense. Same for albums that remind me of a specific time and place in my life (#26, noraebang when I first moved to Korea with all the people I met there; #41, doing karaoke with my restaurant coworkers in the early '10s. I'm spotting a trend). As a result, I basically decided to omit albums I only heard or really got into in the last couple of years; I don't think it's really a long enough time to consider anything I've loved since then an "all-timer" (though I did make two or three exceptions). This list would probably look a lot different in ten years.

A couple quick stats:
  • 24 albums from the '00s. Not surprising, I suppose, considering that covers my high school and most of my university years--followed by 10 from the 2010s, 8 from the '70s, 6 from the '60s, and only one each from the '80s and '90s (though I've opened up a lot to records from those decades recently, I don't love any enough to make the list).
  • 27 albums by American or primarily American artists, 15 Canadian or primarily Canadian albums, 5 from Britain, 1 album from Sweden, 1 from Germany, and 1 from America and Britain.
  • 3 artists each have 3 albums, and 5 artists have 2 albums.
Here's the bottom half of the list.
View attachment 78948

26. Paul Simon - Graceland
27. Coheed and Cambria - In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
28. My Morning Jacket - It Still Moves
29. The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute
30. Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
31. Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
32. James Blackshaw - Love is the Plan, the Plan is Death
33. Joe Pug - Nation of Heat
34. Cat Stevens - Teaser and the Firecat
35. Grateful Dead - American Beauty
36. Kevin Morby - Singing Saw
37. Timber Timbre - Timber Timbre
38. Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator)
39. mewithoutYou - It's All Crazy! It's All False! It’s All a Dream! It’s Alright!
40. A Silver Mt. Zion - He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms
41. The Band - Northern Lights - Southern Cross
42. Arcade Fire - Funeral
43. Coheed and Cambria - The Second Stage Turbine Blade
44. Opeth - Ghost Reveries
45. Neil Young - Harvest
46. Owen Pallett - Heartland
47. Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
48. Nils Frahm - Spaces
49. Robert Plant & Allison Krauss - Raising Sand
50. Destroyer - Kaputt
And the rest.

bjorgen1-25 (1).jpg

1. Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog (2007)
2. Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
3. The Clash - London Calling (1979)
4. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven (2000)
5. Ken Reaume - Ken Reaume (2003)
6. Joanna Newsom - Ys (2005)
7. Mastodon - Crack the Skye (2009)
8. The Band - Music From Big Pink (1968)
9. My Morning Jacket - At Dawn (2001)
10. Joni Mitchell - Blue (1971)
11. Feist - Metals (2011)
12. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues (2011)
13. Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days (2004)
14. Wilco - Summerteeth (1999)
15. My Morning Jacket - Z (2005)
16. Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks (1975)
17. Bill Callahan - Dream River (2013)
18. Nap Eyes - Whine of the Mystic (2014)
19. Murder By Death - In Bocca al Lupo (2006)
20. mewithoutYou - Brother, Sister (2006)
21. Murder By Death - Who Will Survive, and What Will Be Left of Them? (2003)
22. The Band - The Band (1969)
23. James Blackshaw - The Cloud of Unknowing (2007)
24. Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)
25. Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967)
 
Respect. Left-field, IMO, for a top 50 of all time, but superb album nonetheless.

I imagine Marillion's name is more commonplace in the UK than the states but I came to Marillion during a deep prog phase in my early 20's. Actually, I keyed in on them because of Pete Trewavas involvement in the prog supergroup Transatlantic (who I in turn keyed in on b/c of my appreciation for The Flower Kings, Spock's Beard, and Dream Theater).

But Fish-era Marillion (esp. Misplaced Childhood and Clutching at Straws) and at least Brave/Afraid of Sunlight from Hogarth-era I'll def fuck with.

Misplaced Childhood as an album is such a mood. Fish's voice is singular, his lyrics poetic and literate, and the music a beautiful complement to his contributions.


Here’s my rationale for that pick....

37/

Marillion “Misplaced Childhood” 1985

One of my first loves ..it was like a home run when this proggy unit started having hit singles in the desolate 80’s charts ..and a number 1 album..with a concept album ..two sides of continuous music ..I still know every word by heart ..never as good without Fish ..awesome love too

Factoid- Misplaced Childhoodwas Marillion's first full concept album consisting of two continuous pieces of music on the two sides of the vinyl record. The story has thematic elements of lost love, sudden success, acceptance, and lost childhood, along with an upbeat ending. As Fish explains, he conceived the concept during a 10-hour acid trip.629A692B-5D5E-44CE-AEAB-052F2854F88F.jpeg
 
This seems like it could change by the minute, but I went with the theory of going with the albums that are outstanding and I reach for over ones that I know are outstanding but just don't feel like playing that much. These are my favorites....for now.
View attachment 79130
I've seen a few people post collages like this with the list on the right. What app/program are y'all using to make these?
 
What can I say, I'm a product of the 90's... Not sure when I'll get to 20-11. My puppy was not happy about how long I was in front of the computer after work.

Black Sabbath: Paranoid (1970) Metal
Black_Sabbath_-_Paranoid.jpg

Funnily enough, Paranoid might have been my gateway into metal much as it served the same service to teenagers of the 1970’s. In early 2001, I was in eighth grade and enduring easily the most miserable year of my existence when somebody lent me a copy. I can alway pinpoint the exact moment because my friends and I were so bored by SuperBowl 35 that we shut it off, turned Paranoid on and played pool instead.

29) Fugazi: The Argument (2001) Post-Hardcore, Punk
Fugazi_-_The_Argument_cover.jpg

Discovered while I was in grad school at the beginning of the 2010’s via their influence on the rap collective Doomtree (and Cecil Otter’s Wu-Tang Mashup), Fugazi’s later albums combined hardcore with the indie rock flourishes that I had grown up around and helped prepare me for a decade’s worth of excellent post-punk. Just important as dynamic guitarwork and tightly-wound drumming are Ian Mackay’s lyrics. The Argument serves as an unapologetic critique of late-stage American capitalism. Songs like “Cashout” and “Life and Limb” became anthems during a decade that was lived within the activist circles of Southern California.

28) Pavement: Brighten the Corners (1997) Indie Rock
BrightentheCorners.jpg

I went back and forth between Wowee Zowee and Brighten the Corners. The former is the White Album of the 90’s-- a messy masterpiece of shambling ambition and is probably the Pavement album that most often winds up on my turntable. That said, Brighten the Corners is the pick because every single song on this album is flawless. A band that was known for its spiraling staircase of melodies and disjointed song structures had perfected their power by 1997 and released their Abbey Road.

27) Jamie XX: In Coulor (2015) Electronic
Jamie_xx_-_In_Colour.png

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I stumbled into Jamie XX’s Sunday evening Coachella set in April of 2015. In Coulor had yet to be released and this was to be it’s coming out party. All 42 minutes were revealed song by song in slow motion-- because my friends and I were on several tabs of acid. And over the course of that journey, we couldn’t help but wonder… are the textures on this album as utterly breathtaking as they feel, or this acid simply that good. The answer, of course, is that those things were not muturally exclusive. And so during a 2015 that is in contention for my favorite year of music, In Coulor not only stood out-- it pushed my taste in electronic music forward.

26) Blur: 13 (1999) Alt-Rock
13_%28Blur_album_-_cover_art%29.jpg

Like your normal teenage American, I had no idea who Blur was during the nineties. Damon Albarn’s band was little more than a one hit wonder (Song 2) in these parts-- particularly in the suburban sprawl of middle America. That changed when the Gorillaz blew up in the 2000’s because, while Blur will never touch Albarn’s animated band in the American zeitgeist, the music junkies among us were suddenly curious. Think Tank became a regular go-to in late high school when I needed to push away the insomnia, but also borders on being a Gorllaz prequel. Thus, 13 is the pick because it best encapsulates all the things I appreciate most about Blur-- whether that be twacked out, fuzzy out guitars (Bugman, 1992), subtle pop melodies (Coffee & TV) or hypnotic, looping electronics (Trailerpark, Carmel).

25) Vince Staples: Summertime 06’ (2015) Rap
Summertime-06.jpg

College kids these days have it so good. I mean, sure, tuition rates are still outrageous and political correctness on campuses is as prevalent as AIDS in the late 80s.... but at least they don't have to suffer through Lil’ Jon shouting “til the sweat drip down my balls” every time they attend a party. This generation of rappers just does bangers better. Summertime 06’ heavily utilizes auto tune AND is full of tunes aimed for the club. So how can I love something so much when it’s comprised of everything I once claimed to despise? Well, A) Staples flow is jagged but sharp, his lyrics brutal but smart, and B) the bangers and the auto-tune are compartmentalized; they serve different functions. More importantly, C) this album is simply visionary-- a gamechanger that shuffled both my personal taste and the sounds that came after.

24) Sonic Youth: A Thousand Leaves (1998) Art Rock
Sonicyouthathousandleaves.png

Richard Linklater is one of my favorite directors and his films were a staple of my adolescence. Like most works within Linklater’s filmography, the lost-to-time Suburbia (it was never even released on DVD) utilizes a killer soundtrack to set the mood… and nothing quite sets a mood like Sonic Youth. I was instantaneously obsessed upon hearing “Sunday” cross the screen. But because All-Music pointed to Daydream Nation as their clear cut masterpiece, that was where my virus-tainted Limewire resources wound up pointed.

It wasn’t until college that I obtained a copy of A Thousand Leaves and fell in love. The audacity of the drifting, eleven minute “Hits of Sunshine (for Allen Ginsberg), the beautiful melodies buried in distortion (Karen Klotrane), everything related to Steve Shelly. I was blown away; my perception of indie rock forever shattered. Sonic Youth ranks within my top 10 discographies, and I have a very hard time choosing between Murray Street, Washing Machine, and A Thousand Leaves. Leaves gets the nod despite arguably being the most flawed of the three because it served as the origins of my love.

23) White Stripes: Elephant (2003) Garage Rock, Blues
Elephant%2C_The_White_Stripes.png

My dad played Paul Butterfield and Eric Clapton a lot during the early portions of my childhood. Needless I was familiar with the blues from a young age. However, I didn’t meet garage rock until my freshman year of high school when the local pop-punk station played Dead Leaves on the Dirty Ground. I had my friend’s older sister take us to Sam Goody where I purchased both White Blood Cells and De Stijl. My friend (who to this day mostly listens to rap) caveched the whole car ride home about the noise emitting from the car speakers but I was HOOKED. Both of those albums are phenomenal, but it was Elephant that sealed the White Stripes as one of the most important bands of the 00's and my adolescence.

22) Eminem: Slim Shady LP (1999) Rap
Eminem_-_The_Slim_Shady_LP_CD_cover.jpg

I was in a puberty drenched locker room crowded with sweaty 7th graders when somebody asked “what do you think of Eminem”. Of course what I heard was “what do you think of M&M” and immediately pondered “what rapper would name themselves after a candy”? The following summer, I was in the midst of long bus ride to my YMCA summer camp when a pudgy black kid handed me a walkmen loaded with the Marshall Mathers LP. For the next week, that walkman was passed between sweaty palms like sacred treasure and by the time when got back to our parent’s houses, Eminem’s second album was sold out nationwide. I would up having to settle for an edited copy of the Slim Shady LP. The inescapable hits of the sophomore releases may not have been there, and my copy of Slim Shady later wound up snapped in half by my father (after my younger brother’s friend cried to his parents about naughty language), but time has been very kind to Eminen’s debut... well other than maybe the blatant homophobia.

21) Marilyn Manson: Mechanical Animals (1998) Alt-Rock
Marilyn_Manson_-_Mechanical_Animals.png

The best concert I’ve ever seen in my life was a Marilyn Manson show at a small Denver venue the day after George Bush was re-elected. It was a communal exercise in catharsis in which Manson and his band raged for 3 hours. Props to my mother. She HATED his music, but after seeing Bowling for Columbine figured he was a lot less offensive than say, Eminem. I went through at least 3 copies of Holywood as a teenager, and still turn to Anti-Christ when I want a change-up in my workout routine, but Mechanical Animals is the album that shaped my taste in music.

Nine Inch Nails, Bowie, the Smashing Pumpkins… all bands that I was led to from this starting point. In fact, Corgon served as an official advisor to Manson on Mechanical Animals and was the person who encouraged him to double down on the Pink Floyd meets glam rock vibe. Gorgeous guitar work, potent lyrics and one very underrated bassist add up to an alt-rock triumph. It’s funny to think that this album (and its cover) stirred such controversy in the late 90’s and sad to think its legacy might be lost to time because Manson’s addictions eventually got the best of him and turned him into a walking punchline.
 
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Just for you, I will post my list in full ^_^
  1. Portishead - Third (2008)
  2. Radiohead - In Rainbows (2007)
  3. Death Grips - Year of the Snitch (2018)
  4. Gorillaz - Gorillaz (2001)
  5. Mitski - Be the Cowboy (2018)
  6. Laura Stevenson - Cocksure (2015)
  7. Gorillaz - Demon Days (2005)
  8. Jeff Rosenstock - Worry. (2016)
  9. Daft Punk - Discovery (2001)
  10. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach (2010)
  11. Radiohead - OK Computer (1997)
  12. Björk - Debut (1993)
  13. David Bowie - Station to Station (1976)
  14. Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition (2016)
  15. Clarence Clarity - No Now (2015)
  16. MGMT - Congratulations (2010)
  17. Blur - 13 (1999)
  18. Radiohead - Amnesiac (2001)
  19. Songs: Ohia - Didn't It Rain (2002)
  20. Carly Rae Jepsen - E•MO•TION (2015)
  21. Death Grips - The Powers That B (2015)
  22. Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues (1983)
  23. The Beatles - The Beatles (1968)
  24. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam (2007)
  25. Cage the Elephant - Melophobia (2013)
  26. The Cardigans - First Band on the Moon (1996)
  27. Childish Gambino - "Awaken, My Love!" (2016)
  28. Björk - Post (1995)
  29. Hot Chip - Why Make Sense? (2015)
  30. Mindless Self Indulgence - Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy (2000)
  31. Björk - Homogenic (1997)
  32. Blur - Parklife (1994)
  33. Denzel Curry - TA13OO (2018)
  34. The Beatles - Rubber Soul (1965)
  35. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles II (2010)
  36. First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar (2012)
  37. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland (1968)
  38. The Beatles - Abbey Road (1969)
  39. Kendrick Lamar - DAMN. (2017)
  40. La Roux - La Roux (2009)
  41. Blur - Blur (1997)
  42. Childish Gambino - Because the Internet (2013)
  43. The Stooges - Fun House (1970)
  44. Jamie T - Carry On the Grudge (2014)
  45. Grace Jones - Nightclubbing (1981)
  46. Death Grips - Exmilitary (2011)
  47. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (2008)
  48. System of a Down - Toxicity (2001)
  49. Pixies - Doolittle (1989)
  50. Aphex Twin - Richard D. James Album (1996)

I adore your list.
 
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