The 101 Greatest Records I Have Ever Heard
While this is mostly an arbitrary task, I wanted to challenge myself with a thought experiment. This list below is not “my favorite albums” or my “desert island discs.” It is 101 of the greatest albums I have ever heard in my life. This means that having scanned through my collection of thousands of albums, I have narrowed down the ones that I consider to be the greatest I have heard.
I think what is more telling than the albums included here are the ones that are not included. There is a psychological process involved that labels certain albums as “having to be on this list” that cannot be excluded. However, I also tried to avoid the trap of only listing albums by my very favorite artists. Such a list would be too narrow in scope. Bearing that in mind, I have set the following constraints for this list:
No more than five albums by a single artist (only The Beatles and Bob Dylan have that distinction)
No greatest hits, soundtracks, or compilations - the content must have been conceived of as an album by the artist
Live albums are included only if they were released as an “album” within the standardized canon of a band and not a later compilation or collection (i.e. the Grateful Dead’s Europe ‘72 is included, but John Coltrane’s The Complete Live at the Village Vanguard 1961 is not)
While the list is predominantly rock music I have also included my favorites from other genres, including jazz, classical, and bluegrass. The albums chosen do represent my favorites of the genre; however, they are truly amongst my favorites and are worth inclusion, not only included by necessity. I think there is also a nostalgic component, as well - I often feel more connection to the first album I heard by an artist or a memory I associate with it, rather than an objective lens of which album is better written or constructed. For example - is Blonde on Blonde better than Highway 61 Revisited? Probably - it is a more complex effort, a far-reaching achievement; yet, Highway 61 was my entry point for Bob Dylan, and will always be my favorite. I try to defer to my gut feeling rather than an intellectual argument.
But, as I said, the omissions in the list are glaring. The Cure is not represented, nor is Thelonious Monk. No contributions from Eric Clapton, one of my favorite guitarists, or New Order, one of my favorite bands. No PJ Harvey, Minutemen, or Black Flag. At the end of the day, if I had to choose between, say my fifth favorite Beatles album and my very very favorite Clapton album, I opted for the Beatles. If this is a fair choice is debatable, but it is the mindset I used, and thus representative of my point of view. With that lens in mind, this list is truly my list. Please forgive the glaring omissions.
So here is my list, prioritized from 1 to 101, of the greatest albums I have ever heard in my life. Thus far, that is. Who knows what kinds of a list I will produce a year from now, ten years from now, or even next week, for that matter? That is the fun part - it is more of a snapshot into my mind and a statement of my values, for better or worse.
Abbey Road - The Beatles
Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan
Bach: The Goldberg Variations (1955) - Glenn Gould
Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
Revolver - The Beatles
Kid A - Radiohead
Bach: Cello Suites - Pablo Casals
Blonde on Blonde - Bob Dylan
Low - David Bowie
Whiskey Before Breakfast - Norman Blake
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 - von Karajan / Berlin Philharmoniker
A Love Supreme - John Coltrane
The Argument - Fugazi
Electric Ladyland - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
American Beauty - The Grateful Dead
Fear Of Music - Talking Heads
The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths
Blues And The Abstract Truth - Oliver Nelson
Zombie - Fela Kuti
Thriller - Michael Jackson
The Man Machine - Kraftwerk
The Beatles (aka “White Album”) - The Beatles
Bitches Brew - Miles Davis
Beggar’s Banquet - The Rolling Stones
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Station To Station - David Bowie
In On The Kill Taker - Fugazi
Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division
All Things Must Pass - George Harrison
Innervisions - Stevie Wonder
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 - Bernstein / NY Philharmonic
Led Zeppelin IV (aka Untitled) - Led Zeppelin
Study In Brown - Clifford Brown & Max Roach
This Year’s Model - Elvis Costello
In Utero - Nirvana
Blackstar - David Bowie
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band - The Beatles
A Charlie Brown Christmas - Vince Guaraldi
Meat Is Murder - The Smiths
Remain In Light - Talking Heads
Forever Changes - Love
OK Computer - Radiohead
Under The Iron Sea - Keane
The Velvet Underground And Nico - The Velvet Underground
Out To Lunch - Eric Dolphy
Tommy - The Who
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere - Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Marquee Moon - Television
The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars - David Bowie
Europe ‘72 - The Grateful Dead
Computer World - Kraftwerk
The Downward Spiral - NIN
Tago Mago - CAN
Chicago Transit Authority - Chicago
LA Woman - The Doors
Transformer - Lou Reed
MTV Unplugged In New York - Nirvana
Rubber Soul - The Beatles
Songs Of Love And Hate - Leonard Cohen
Bringing It All Back Home - Bob Dylan
Expensive Shit - Fela Kuti
Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd
Live At Leeds - The Who
On The Corner - Miles Davis
Let It Bleed - The Rolling Stones
John Wesley Harding - Bob Dylan
Horses - Patti Smith
Beethoven: Symphonies No. 5 & 7 - Kleiber / Wiener Philharmoniker
Songs In The Key Of Life - Stevie Wonder
April In Paris - The Count Basie Orchestra
Church Street Blues - Tony Rice
The Stooges - The Stooges
Meditations - John Coltrane
Closer - Joy Division
Aqualung - Jethro Tull
Nevermind - Nirvana
Animals - Pink Floyd
The Shape Of Jazz To Come - Ornette Coleman
Hitchhiker - Neil Young
Blood On The Tracks - Bob Dylan
The Wall - Pink Floyd
Here To Stay - Freddie Hubbard
The Idiot - Iggy Pop
The Allman Brothers At The Fillmore East - The Allman Brothers
Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra / Music for Strings, Percussion, And Celesta - Reiner / Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Come Swing With Me - Beverly Kenney
The Stranger - Billy Joel
Houses Of The Holy - Led Zeppelin
Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables - Dead Kennedys
Quah - Jorma Kaukonen
Out Of Step - Minor Threat
The Score - The Fugees
At Folsom Prison - Johnny Cash
Combat Rock - The Clash
Harlem Street Singer - Rev. Gary Davis
Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys
Genius + Soul = Jazz - Ray Charles
Candy-O - The Cars
Live Rhymin’ - Paul Simon
Berlin - Lou Reed
The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady – Charles Mingus
