Over the years I have avoided doing a "Best Album" list. I've shown which albums I'd give an A+ (32 in total) and which are best of the decade, but not overall. Likewise, I've done 100 of the century, or a beginner's guide - but these aren't personal lists either, so much as they are road maps for others.
So here's what I personally think are the 100 Best Albums of All Time. Note that there are no classical recordings or musicals on the list, due to difficulties those would impose. Nor are there any compilations, greatest hits, or anthologies allowed - just LPs.
1. The
Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967
Of
course Sgt. Peppers is the top of the
list. Every note rings with perfection on thirteen inspired tracks of
innovative rock brilliance. With this album rock moved into a new era, and
stood triumphant with such tracks as the psychedelic pop of “Lucy in the Sky
with Diamonds, the sitar-driven Harrison contribution “Within You Without You”,
and the epic “A Day in the Life”.
2. The
Beach Boys, Pet Sounds, 1966
It
opens with a saccharine jingle, and then a snare-shot lets you know this isn’t
a typical surf album. “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” is just the opener of the
incredible sonic and harmonic journey. “God Only Knows” may be the best love
song ever written, and that’s before you get to the moving “I Just Wasn’t Made
for These Times” – Wilson’s personal cry.
3. Marvin
Gaye, What's Going On, 1971
Socially-conscious
soul – Marvin Gaye created a masterpiece on this 1971 album. With a
suite-quality, the short (thirty-five minute) offering packs an immense amount
of groove and beauty into a small space. “What’s Going On” is the most famous
track; “Mercy Mercy Me” deserves equal praise. The coda of “Inner City Blues
(Makes Me Wanna Holler)” is a great finale.
4. James
Brown, Live at the Apollo, 1963
“The
hardest workin’ man in show
business…” It’s a rare live album where you like listening to the spoken tracks
– but the frenetic energy of Brown’s performance is felt on every track. “Try
Me” has the audience erupt on the first word, before turning up the heat on
“Think” and moving on to the inconceivable
ten-song medley that starts and ends with “Please Please Please”.
5. Miles
Davis, Kind of Blue, 1959
Kind of Blue
is universally praised at the greatest jazz album ever, and it’s easy to see
why. The modal jazz pioneered moved the genre away from bop, towards a lusher
sound. Backed by Adderley, Coltrane, and Bill Evans, Davis is in rare form on
tracks “So What” and “All Blues”, while hinting at where the improviser is
headed next on the Latin-tinged “Flamenco Sketches”.
6. John
Coltrane, A Love Supreme, 1964
A
swirl of celestial notes, Coltrane made this album as a sincere offering to a
higher power that lets him make music. Gorgeous and uplifting, Supreme has Coltrane sharing the
spotlight with the best, McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones included. A four-part
suite, it opens with the tingling “Acknowledgement” before going all-out on
“Pursuance” and elevating the soul on “Psalm”.
7. Daft
Punk, Discovery, 2001
It
is nearly impossible to not move with the French duo Daft Punk’s Discovery. Setting the tone for the 21st
century of dance, the electronic group gets you swaying on “One More Time”
before moving into more reflective notes, such as “Something About Us”. But it
hooks you back on the groove with “Too Long” playing you out and into a new
musical era.
8. Van
Morrison, Astral Weeks, 1968
The
Northern Irish Morrison is known on the radio for “Brown-Eyed Girl” which is a
shame, since any track on Weeks could
clobber the earlier pop offering. Unapologetically unique and innovative, the
album opens with “Astral Weeks” setting the acoustic tone. The first side ends
on “Cypress Avenue” signaling the loss that defines the back half including
“Slim Slow Slider”.
9. Stevie
Wonder, Talking Book, 1972
While
Innervisions may be the more
artistically worthy choice, Book has
one thing the other doesn’t: joy. “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” opens the
album with unsurprisingly bright happiness. Wonder jams on to lower and more
cynical places, hitting the peak of both on “Superstition” before re-elevating
on “I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever”.
10. Led
Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin IV, 1971
About
a quarter of Zeppelin’s output is acoustic. The album has plenty of heavy metal
cred – just listen to “When the Levee Breaks” – but has some of their best
acoustic work as well, for example “Going to California”. Of course the supreme
blending of the two, which became their signature tune “Stairway to Heaven”,
shows how great it can be when rock’s two worlds meet.
11. David
Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, 1972
A
straight-ish forward story of an alien rocker who becomes too glammed-out and
decadent, Bowie brings the rock on “It Ain’t Easy” but throws in some ballad
work that seems perfectly in place on “Ziggy Stardust” and, of course, provides
the tragic ending of “Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide”.
12. AC/DC,
Back in Black, 1980
“Shoot
to Thrill” is the ultimate distillation of hard rock. Aussie rockers AC/DC
showed a new way into the 1980s with heavy tracks that still could get airtime:
the double-whammy of “Back in Black” followed by “You Shook Me All Night Long”
puts Black in a category of its own.
13. Guns
n Roses, Appetite for Destruction, 1987
You
feel you’re in an arena for the entirety of Appetite’s
unrepentant glorification of sex, drugs, and rock. “Sweet Child O’ Mine” is the
anthem, but “Nightrain” deserves the ‘Makes You Want to Be a Rock Star’ award.
“Rocket Queen” screws subtlety and overlays a solo with actual sex.
14. PJ
Harvey, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, 2000
Audaciously
opening with “Big Exit” Harvey quickly shows off her rock chops. The
quintessential early aughts sound moves through the pensiveness of tracks like
“Beautiful Feeling” and ends on the affirmative sound of “We’ll Float”.
15. The
Who, Who's Next, 1971
Having
finally mastered what became “Underture” on Tommy
The Who now moved to new sounds. “Baba O’Reilly” captures a new openness of
sound. “Behind Blue Eyes” portrays a sympathetic villain, while “Won’t Get
Fooled Again” provides an anthem of shoulder-shrugging.
16. Allman
Brothers, At Fillmore East, 1971
“Statesboro
Blues” opens the collection of jam sessions, and suggests a typical live album.
Wrong. “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” clocks in at thirteen minutes of Duane
Allman’s guitar virtuosity, followed by the twenty-three minutes of “Whipping
Post”. It paved the way for many to follow.
17. The
Zombies, Odessey and Oracle, 1968
Oracle
is the highlight of a small subgenre called ‘Baroque Pop’. It’s easy to see the
appeal of lavish orchestration backing the stunning harmonies of tracks such as
“Brief Candles” and “Changes”. The last track, however, “Time of the Season”,
is pure psychedelic rock.
18. Nick
Drake, Five Leaves Left, 1969
The
folk-rock sound took a turn for the minor-key with Drake. Brooding,
melancholic, and apprehensive in tone, tracks such as “Three Hours” and
“Cello Song” remind you that every sunny day casts many shadows. In the end the
brightness of “Saturday Sun” wins out.
19. Love,
Forever Changes, 1967
Rivals
of the “band across the street” (in this case, The Doors) Forever is an extraordinary one-off. Feeling the influence of Herb
Alpert on “Alone Again Or” they move on to stranger pastures in “The Red
Telephone” and “The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This”.
20. Nas,
Illmatic, 1994
In
the early nineties hip-hop was dominated by the West coast sound of N.W.A. Nas
brought the scene back to the East coast on “New York State of Mind” and
“Memory Lane (Sittin’ In Da Park)”. But
it’s not all a postcard – he shows he can go deep on tracks like “Represent”.
21. Keith
Jarrett, The Koln Concert, 1975
Jarrett
left behind the jazz fusion of heavy guitars and wailing horns to make this
impossibly beautiful album in 1975. Just solo piano, for over an hour, we remember
what jazz had originally been about on tracks “Part I” and “Part II A”.
22. Jefferson
Airplane, Surrealistic Pillow, 1967
Grace
Slick’s voice gives much of the power to Jefferson Airplane, especially on its
two hit tracks “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit”. The rest of the album,
however, is just as good if not as famous, and captures the counter-culture
sound.
23. The
Strokes, Is This It?, 2001
The
faded fuzz of The Strokes’ debut set the standard for indie rock. “Soma” may be
the best track on the album, even if “Last Nite” became the radio DJ favorite;
ironically the album started to shift power from the industry anyway.
24. The
White Stripes, Elephant, 2003
As
indie rock became increasingly fascinated by their own bellybuttons in came The
White Stripes to inject a much-needed blues-rock. “Seven Nation Army” is darker
than it sounds, and “The Air Near My Fingers” blasted the notion that rock in
aughts had to be airy and light.
25. Ravi
Shankar, Three Ragas, 1956
To
Western ears Shankar just sounds ‘Indian’, as old as the Ganges. But Shankar
actually radically modernized North Indian music, and the sound of the sitar
particularly. Tracks like “Raga Jog” and the slow-burn of “Raga Simhendra
Madhyamam” made huge strides.
26. Cannonball
Adderley, Somethin' Else, 1958
Miles
Davis was just about done being anyone else’s sideman in 1958. Luckily, this
recording captures him with Adderley and Art Blakey taking a last look at bop.
Standards like “Autumn Leaves” and “Love for Sale” get the royal treatment as a
result.
27. Sasha,
Global Underground 013: Ibiza, 1999
The
late-nineties rave and club scene was one of unprecedented musical fertility.
Sasha is arguably the most adept DJ in the world of techno, and on Ibiza he mixes and manipulates tracks
like “Deep Progress” and “Xpander” into a concentration of the Spanish party
scene.
28. Clifford
Brown and Max Roach, Clifford Brown and Max Roach, 1955
It’s
a bop masterwork, but also one of the first LPS that actually felt like it benefited from a full forty minutes. “Daahoud” and “Joy Spring” have become
standards, a fitting legacy to Brown, who died in a car crash a year later,
while Roach went on to help ease jazz into the 60s.
29. Ry
Cooder and V.M. Bhatt, A Meeting by the River, 1993
“Longing”
sounds as though it would be perfectly at home in a Bollywood film. The extraordinary
“Ganges River Blues” shows the flip side to the coin, with Bhatt’s Mohan Veena
matching perfectly with Cooder’s bottleneck, and a driving, pulsing tabla.
30. Duke
Ellington, Ellington at Newport, 1956
This
album is actually studio chicanery – four of the five tracks weren’t live,
including “Newport Up” that helped revitalize the Duke’s swinging career. The
one live track, “Diminuendo in Blue and Crescendo in Blue” captures the sound
of one of the century’s best composers.
31. Woody
Guthrie, Dust Bowl Ballads, 1940
Guthrie
laid the foundations in this remarkable work (originally released in a package
of 78s). The tune of “Talking Dust Bowl Blues” was copied by Dylan, Seeger, and
Van Ronk, while “Pretty Boy Floyd” sang the praises of the outlaw, made notorious
by the song.
32. Les
McCann and Eddie Harris, Swiss Movement, 1969
A
bit of soul music goes a long way in this live jazz album. “Compared to What”
brings up Vietnam, and became a hit, while “Cold Duck Time” is more typical.
It’s all the more remarkable since many of the musicians hadn’t played together
before.
33. Tangerine
Dream, Rubycon, 1975
The
moog synthesizer and mellotron show off in this German techno album. “Part 1” verges on the ambient and sci-fi
side of things, while “Part 2” puts an eerie beat to the sounds before
returning to the feel of a spacecraft on a trip beyond the stars.
34. Anais
Mitchell, Hadestown, 2010
Mitchell’s
folk album combines the story of Orpheus with a New Orleans sound (evident in
tracks like “Way Down Hadestown”) and some powerful guests including Ani
DiFranco and Justin Vernon, whose voice may convince you of mythical powers on
“Epic (Part 2)”.
35. The
Rolling Stones, Exile on Main Street, 1977
The
Stones had a number of great albums, but it all came together in the swirl of
boogie blues-rock goodness on Exile.
“Tumbling Dice” slowly builds into something tantamount to an anthem, while
“Soul Survivor” reminds us why we like them in the first place.
36. The
Beatles, Abbey Road, 1969
It
opens with unique sound of “Come Together” referencing the origins of rock with
Chuck Berry. The back half of The Beatles’ swansong is an impressive medley,
including Ringo’s only drum solo on “The End”.
37. Moby,
Play, 1999
Moby’s
Play should be credited with making
the post-modern accessible to the wary. “Porcelain” overlays a haunted piano
over fuzzy echoing lyrics about death, while a toe-tapping beat reminds you
this is music. “Run On” combined house music with a gospel-blues sound.
38. Led
Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti, 1975
Most
double albums go on too long, but not so Zeppelin’s final success. The group
gets to play around with Plant’s vocals and Page’s guitar on gems like “In the
Light” and the perennial favorite, “Kashmir”, without losing sight of their
sound.
39. Talking
Heads, Stop Making Sense, 1984
“Hi.
I have a tape I want to play you” begins David Byrne. It’s hard to nail down
The Talking Heads to one studio album, which makes this live performance so
rewarding, as it has all of their best tracks, like “Psycho Killer” and “Life
During Wartime” performed with tremendous energy.
40. The
Clash, The Clash, 1977
London Calling
is an exercise in what happens when you throw in everything, including the
kitchen sink, and pour it into an album. The
Clash is punk rock with jagged edges, some reggae influences, and
in-your-face disregard on tracks like “Clash City Rockers”.
41. The
Kinks, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, 1968
The
Kinks moved from British invasion band into concept albums about the British
experience. Society captured the loss
of the British way with winks (“God save the little shops, china cups, and
virginity”) but sincerity as well, for example “People Take Pictures of Each
Other”.
Pete Seeger may be the first person who got Carnegie Hall to do a sing-along. A mix of folk songs, protest songs, and civil rights anthems, the reverberations of the joyous, defiant concert hall are enough to lift any spirit. Besides the title track, "Guantanamera" is a gem.
43. A
Tribe Called Quest, The Low End Theory, 1991
Jazz
and hip-hop finally meet on this abstract album with Q-Tip and Pfife Dawg. Jazz
bass lines and beats mix together strikingly, while the final track,
“Scenario”, launched Busta Rhymes’ career (besides being one of the best posse
cuts ever).
44. The
Modern Lovers, The Modern Lovers, 1976
The
Boston-based group invented punk, but the work was shelved until the success of
others convinced the producers to release the album. Singer Richman provides
lyrics about being an outcast and living in the Massachusetts burbs in
“Roadrunner”.
45. DJ
Shadow, Endtroducing....., 1996
Shadow’s
album is forever enshrined in the Guinness Book of World Records as the first
album to be comprised solely of samples. Diverse, yet unified, the track
“Midnight in a Perfect World” captures the nineties’ brief fascination with
trip-hop.
46. Alanis
Morissette, Jagged Little Pill, 1995
“Do
I stress you out?” Morissette opens in “All I Really Want”. The best-selling
album heralded a return of female singer-songwriters who were also rockers,
somewhat absent in the eighties. Feminism had a powerful new, Canadian, voice.
47. Carole
King, Tapestry, 1971
Initially
part of a song-writing duo with Gery Goffin, King broke out on her own in this
landmark. “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” had been a hit when belted
by Aretha Franklin, but in the sincere tones of its writer, it reaches new
earnestness.
48. Sam
Phillips, Fan Dance, 2001
Phillips
has a smoky, bourbon voice. Produced by then-husband T Bone Burnett, Dance has great lyrics to back the
production. Alt-rock and country seem to blend on tracks like “How to Dream”
while other offerings present glimpses, or sketches, of a Phillip’s private
musical world.
49. Sex Pistols, Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols, 1977
'Bollocks' is a snarl that echoes through the decades. More audacious than anything else at the time, lead singer Johnny Rotten brought a healthy measure of discontent to the English way of life on tracks like "God Save the Queen". Even the album cover was charged with obscenity.
50. Bruce
Springsteen, Born in the USA, 1984
Expanding
from, but still firmly rooted in, New Jersey themes, U.S.A. is slicker than anything else Springsteen ever did. “Dancing
in the Dark” became the Grammy-winning single, but the whole album is full of
standing-on-your-own manifestos.
51. Queen,
A Night at the Opera, 1975
Of
course “Bohemian Rhapsody” has become the signature track, but don’t be too
quick to overlook the other seriously heavy rock tracks on Opera. It’s not all screaming guitars though: Mercury has his fun,
too, on Victorian-inspired ditties sprinkled throughout.
52. Neko
Case, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, 2006
Alternative
country has a history going back to outlaws like Willie Nelson and Waylon
Jennings, and Case has more in common with these lyricists than, say, Patsy
Cline. “Maybe Sparrow” is two-and-a-half minutes of the contemporary
alt-country scene, refined.
53. Big
Star, #1 Record, 1972
Power
pop wanted to replace the void left by The Beatles, and Big Star was among the best. “The Ballad of El Goodo” is characteristic of the sound, but the album
has many great tracks.
54. Beck,
Sea Change, 2002
Influenced
by personal sorrow as much as by French rocker Serge Gainsbourg, tracks like “Paper
Tiger” are menacing, and introspective at the same time. Beck worked wonders
outside of the mainstream.
55. Gustavo
Santaolalla, Ronroco, 1998
Santaolalla
has been quietly introducing us to the sounds of Argentina without fuss
(despite winning two Academy Awards). “Iguazu” shows off why we should pay more
attention.
56. The
Bothy Band, Old Hag You Have Killed Me, 1976
Much
of the traditional music from Ireland is trite. But on tracks like
“Fionnghuala’s Bothy” you know immediately that The Bothy Band, the originators
of the phenomenon, are the real deal.
57. The
Doors, The Doors, 1967
Jim
Morrison hadn’t yet become a parody of himself, and the band rocked with a
dangerous fury on tracks like “Break on Through”. The rest of Doors is held up with those epic organ
jams.
58. The
Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground and Nico, 1967
From
the scene of Andy Warhol, The Velvet Underground broke open a whole new sound
of experimental rock with songs like “The Black Angel’s Death Song” redefining
‘menace’.
59. The
Stone Roses, The Stone Roses, 1989
In
the late eighties England, specifically Manchester, decided to forsake the
popular hair metal sound, and return to the sixties, ironically defining the
nineties, on tracks like “Waterfall”.
60. Fiona
Apple, When the Pawn..., 1999
A
number of singer-songwriters in the late nineties helped bring the piano back
to rock, exiled for over a decade. Apple’s “On the Bound” created a sound that
influenced a great many more.
61. Simon
and Garfunkel, Bridge Over Troubled Water, 1970
Assorted
tracks run the gamut in their final collaboration, perhaps none being better
than simple lament, “The Only Living Boy in New York” where Simon considers the
City without Art.
62. U2,
The Joshua Tree, 1987
“I
Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” created a new type of rock song many
bands are still indebted to to this day. Bono’s pleading vocals were only just
beginning, though.
63. David
Bowie, Hunky Dory, 1971
At
the start of his many personas Bowie created an album that focused on being a
misfit and defiantly standing up to the normals, most notably on the opening
“Changes”.
64. The Band, Music from Big Pink, 1968
The backing band for Bob Dylan went into upstate New York, and in a barn affectionately dubbed 'big pink' recorded their first album, with the most notable track being 'The Weight'.
65. T.
Rex, Electric Warrior, 1971
Nothing
else quite sounded like T. Rex. “Bang a Gong (Get It On)” became a hit, but the
whole album is full of tracks just as good, if not better.
66. Paul
Simon, Graceland, 1986
Working
with black South Africans during apartheid was bold enough, but not as bold as the
sound on tracks like “The Boy in the Bubble”.
67. Quicksilver
Messenger Service, Happy Trails, 1969
Part murky live album from the depths of the San Francisco counterculture
(“Where You Love”), part studio guitar work, this album seizes hold of the late sixties
in one record.
68. Roxy
Music, Avalon, 1982
So
much of the eighties sounds like Avalon
and so little is as good. Roxy Music left their art rock (and Brian Eno) behind
and turned on the synthesizers on tracks like “More Than This”.
69. Jeff
Buckley, Grace, 1994
“Buckley
had a voice like an oversexed angel” claimed Rolling Stone in a review. Tracks
like “Eternal Life” get away from the high notes, and let the guitars show off.
70. Bonnie
Prince Billy, I See a Darkness, 1999
Melancholic
at the best of times, this indie milestone isn’t entirely gloomy and sad. There
are moments when he almost seems upbeat, “Nomadic Revery (All Around)”, for
example.
71. The
O'Jays, Back Stabbers, 1972
Philadelphia
soul ambassadors The O’Jays brought the strings and horns to their funky love
songs, with no greater testament to the power of world brotherhood than “Love
Train”.
72. Jethro
Tull, Aqualung, 1971
Often
derided for their flute solos, prog rockers Jethro Tull sing of tramps like
Aqualung among a cast of homeless characters. “Wind Up” displays the album’s
other, atheist, theme.
73. Ted
Hawkins, The Next Hundred Years, 1994
Hawkins
lived on the streets, singing on the corner, and his voice shows it. Put in the
studio as an old man the blues strains of “Big Things” are powerful testaments to the
inspiration of music.
74. The
Decemberists, The Crane Wife, 2006
Mixing
accordions, melodicas, and Colin Meloy’s indie lyrics, The Decemberists created
a sort of a concept album, with tracks such as “Summersong” echoing the
decade’s hipster scene.
75. The
Chemical Brothers, Dig Your Own Hole, 1997
“Block
Rockin’ Beats” brought the big beat sound to a wider audience, and, with the
rest of the album, created a template for what would eventually become popular
techno forms like dubstep.
76. Arcade
Fire, Neon Bible, 2007
Canadian
rockers Arcade Fire became indie royalty with Funeral, but their second release captures their essence even
better, while “No Cars Go” presages their next stage.
77. Captain
Beefheart and His Magic Band, Trout Mask Replica, 1969
The
height of art rock, Replica was
produced by Zappa, and recorded in a few hours. But don’t be fooled: the band
spent eight months perfecting songs like “Neon Meate Dream of a Octafish”.
Often regarded as Dylan's masterpiece, the opening track 'Like a Rolling Stone' is certainly a high-water mark for Dylan's lyricism. The sprawling ending doesn't suck too much.
79. Stevie
Wonder , Innervisions, 1973
Magnificent
in range and crystalline precision, Innervisions
avoids the lengthy jams that mar many of Wonder's works. Social justice is still
there, though, on “Living for the City”.
80. Led
Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin, 1969
Zeppelin
created heavy metal with “Good Times Bad Times” ushering in a new rock era.
81. Charlie
Mingus, Mingus Ah Um, 1959
Using
cutting edge style Mingus looks back on the works of Ellington, “Jelly Roll”,
and others.
82. Curtis
Mayfield, Superfly, 1972
Combining
funk and soul on “Superfly” made for a new, influential sound for the seventies.
83. Pink
Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon, 1973
Engineering
obsession led to landmark prog rock tracks like “Money” and became a huge hit.
84. Led
Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II, 1969
Jimmy
Page’s best guitar work is on II,
“Whole Lotta Love” proving they were here to stay.
85. Prince
and the Revolution, Purple Rain, 1984
“When
Doves Cry” famously has no bass line, but the whole album still makes you move.
86. The
Cars, The Cars, 1978
As
responsible for new wave rock as anyone, “Good Times Roll” shows it’s a good
thing.
87. Pentangle,
Basket of Light, 1969
Psychedelic
rock meets folk, “House Carpenter” results, and all is well.
88. Tom
Petty and the Heartbreakers, Damn the Torpedoes, 1979
“Refugee”
put Petty firmly in the rock immortals category, along with every other track.
89. The
Meters, Rejuvenation, 1974
Funky
but able to experiment, “Hey Pocky A-Way” became a standard funk track.
90. Lennie
Tristano, Lennie Tristano, 1956
Tristano
blends live and studio overdubbing, with results like “East Thirty-Second”.
91. Art
Pepper, Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section, 1957
Supposedly
Pepper had no idea he’d be recording “Straight Life”, or any other songs, that
day.
'Hotel California' gets the airtime of this forty minute ennui tribute.
93. Bruce
Springsteen, Born to Run, 1975
“Born
to Run” grabs hold of a feeling and doesn’t let go, riding a crescendo to glory.
94. Richard
and Linda Thompson, Shoot Out the Lights, 1982
Their
marriage fell apart while recording, creating bitter masterpieces like “Wall of
Death”.
95. Paul
Desmond, Take Ten, 1963
More
adventurous than Time Out, Desmond
shows off cool jazz with “Embarcadero”.
96. Black
Sabbath, Paranoid, 1970
Some
of the thematically darkest rock at the time, “Paranoid” became a rock classic.
97. Sun
Ra, Jazz in Silhouette, 1959
Remarkably
avant-garde with songs like “Ancient Aiethopia”
Sun Ra defined a new sound.
98. Fairport
Convention, Liege and Lief, 1969
Thompson
and Sandy Denny pair well in an album of electrified traditionals like “Tam Lin”.
99. Emerson,
Lake and Palmer, Brain Salad Surgery, 1973
Prog
rock superstars show off their skills on songs like “Karn Evil 9: 1st
Impression, Part 1”.
100. Led
Zeppelin, Houses of the Holy, 1973
Straying
from their roots, attempts like “No Quarter” showed Zeppelin could experiment.
1 comment:
damn thats crazy
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