1. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – “Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus”
2. Tom Waits – “Blood Money”
3. Johnny Cash – “American V: A Hundred Highways”
4. Leonard Cohen – “Dear Heather”
5. Placebo – “Meds”
6. Tom Waits – “Orphans”
7. Radiohead – “In Rainbows”
8. Pureape – “Screenplay”
9. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – “No More Shall We Part”
10. Ute Lemper – “Punishing Kiss”

Wow — That was hard. >'.'<

OK I might give you my own list, but being very subjective (some albums are not musically the best ever, but they are in my top 10 for a lot of other reasons), i'm wondering how interesting this is for anyone else than me... whatever:

- the beatles / abbey road
- the beatles / sergent pepper's lonely hearts club band
- the beatles / white album
- the beatles / revolver
- depeche mode / barrel of a gun
- level 42 / level 42
- john cage / in a landscape
- ryuichi sakamoto / bttb
- the funk brothers / Standing in the shadows of motown
- sean lennon / friendly fire
- the doors / la woman
- rem / monster

yes i know it makes 12. sue me :-)

dr

Tool: Lateralus
Sigur Rós: ()
Tocotronic: K.O.O.K.
Isis: Panopticon
Neurosis: Enemy of the sun
Nick Cave: No more shall we part
Einstürzende Neubauten: Silence is sexy
Refused: The shape of punk to come
Nine Inch Nails: Fragile
Radiohead: Amnesiac

which does not mean that "older" albums are not better, they just did not arrive in my head (yet). There are so many...

Beatles - White Album
Beatles - Abbey Road
Beatles - Rubber Soul
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV
Doors - LA Woman
Doors - Morrison Hotel
Oasis - Definitely Maybe
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
Guns N Roses - Appetite for Destruction

...or something like that.

a bit skewed to the more recent, and perhaps not "the best of all time" but 10 albums i can't imagine living without:

Sarah McLachlan "Mirrorball"
Radiohead "Kid A"
Nickel Creek "Why Should the Fire Die?"
Smashing Pumpkins "Siamese Dream"
Beck "Odelay"
Wilco "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot"
Howard Shore "Lord of the Rings Soundtrack"
Beatles "Magical Mystery Tour"
Pink Martini "Hang on Little Tomato"
Bjork "Homogenic"

Probably I don't listen to all of this daily, but my favourites are:

1. DMB - Crash
2. The Blues Brothers OST :-)
3. Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
4. RATM - Rage Against the Machine
5. Michel Petrucciani - Michel plays Petrucciani
6. Nirvana - Nevermind
7. Subsonica - Microchip Emozionale
8. Cinematic Orchestra - Man with a movie camera
9. Mars Volta - Amputechture
10. Daft Punk - Alive

Come on paul, from all the beatles albums, the only one you pick is the overrated, mccartney's mind-controlled magical mystery tour?

please, think again :-)

dr

This is hard!

Beatles - Abbey Road
Clash - London Calling
Death Cab for Cutie - Plans
Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
Radiohead - Kid A
Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
Tom Waits - Closing Time
Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
Wilco - Being There
Yo La Tengo - Electr-o-Pura

(This is setting jazz albums aside.)

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Alice Cooper - Pretties For You
Terry Riley - In C
Karma Moffett - Golden Bowls
Pepe de la Martrona - Grands Cantaores du Flamenco - Collection Dirigee par Mario Bois / Volume 1
Glenn Gould - Mozart - The Complete Piano Sonatas
Fred Frith - Guitar Solos
The Erguner Brothers - Prelude to the Ceremonies of the Whirling Dervish
Jimmy Scott - All the Way
Anthology of American Folk Music (edited by Harry Smith)

impossible but kind of fun

pbc

All ideas, theories and statements are subject to change without notice.

Top Ten based on the music or the quality of the type and design on the cover?

In no particular order:

The Cure – Disintegration
Pink Floyd – Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live
George Solti & The Weimer Philharmonic – The Complete Ring Cycle
Poe – Haunted
The Cure – Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
Prince – Purple Rain
Snake River Conspiracy – Sonic Jihad
Vladimir Ashkenazy – Rachmaninov: The Symphonies
Vladimir Ashkenazy – Beethoven: Piano Concertos
Dimmu Borgir – Death Cult Armageddon

Far too difficult. So how about 5 per decade for the "Desert Island iPod"?

50s
Elvis: Sun Sessions
Johnny Cash: Sun Sessions
Little Richard: Here's Little Richard
Best of Chess records
Miles Davis: Kind of Blue
60s
Beatles: White Album
Beatles: Rubber Soul
Beatles: Revolver
Kinks: Village Green Preservation Society
Velvet Underground: & Nico
70s
Clash: London Calling
David Bowie: Ziggy Stardust
Nick Drake: Pink Moon
Rutles: All you need is Cash
Nick Lowe: Jesus of Cool
80s
Echo & the Bunnymen: Porcupines
Wedding Present: George Best
Julian Cope: World Shut your Mouth
Pixies: Doolittle
SoftBoys: Underwater Moonlight
90s
Air: Moon Safari
Stereolab: Emperor Tomato Ketchup
Luna: Bewitched
Beck: Mutations
Yo La Tengo: Painful
00s
Radiohead: Amnesiac
New Pornographers: Twin Cinema
Andrew Bird: Mysterious Production of Eggs
Ween: White Pepper
Stars Of The Lid: And Their Refinement Of The Decline

Subject to change daily.

In no particular order

Patti Smith: Horses
Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here
Randy Newman: Sail Away
White Stripes: Elephant
Kate & Anna McGarrigle: French Record
Neil Young: Harvest
Jolie Holland: Escondida
John Lennon: Plastic Ono Band
The Kinks: You've Really Got Me (Greatest Hits)
Beck: Odelay

More than ten albums would qualify for my top ten, so this is arbitrarily narrowed down based on my current mood.

David Thomas & the Pale Orchestra – Mirror Man
Vainio Väisänen Vega – Endless
Lydia Lunch & Rowland S. Howard – Shotgun Wedding
Bastro – Diablo Guapo
Nick Cave – Tender Prey
The Gun Club – The Fire of Love
Hüsker Dü – Zen Arcade
Sonic Youth – Confusion is Sex
The Stooges – Fun House
Ada Falcón – con Francisco Canaro y su orchestra

Note on The Gun Club - The Fire of Love: I mixed the first live shows of this band in LA and was friends with them. When Slash Records gave them an accounting after several years they told them they had sold 1500 copies of this record. Between that and other bands that were screwed over by Slash a class action lawsuit was filed that included The Gun Club, The Dream Syndicate and Fear amongst others. I don't know the results of the suit.

Like Van Morrisson said, "Music is spiritual, the music business is not."

pbc

All ideas, theories and statements are subject to change without notice.

I can't resist...

Genesis, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
The Violent Femmes, self titled
The Smiths, Meat is Murder
The Kinks, The Kink Kronikles
Yes, The Yes Album
Jens Lekman, Oh, you're silent, Jens
Lambchop, Nixon
Peter Gabriel, Up
The Coctails, Early Hi-Ball Years
Belle & Sebastian, If You're Feeling Sinister

No particular order. While some of these are absolute, about half are subject to change given more than two minutes of reflection.
Like, how come there's no Talking Heads in that list? No Galaxie 500? No Willie Nelson, no Mountain Goats, no Floyd, et cetera et cetera peter cetera... And then all the jazz: Louis Armstrong, Ahmad Jamal, Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, Jimmy Smith...

And then, of course, there's always my music

Yes, impossible. Top 5 might have been easier.

Talking Heads "Remain In Light"
Talking Heads "Fear Of Music"
Eno/Byrne "My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts"
Billy Cobham "Spectrum"
Jeff Beck "Wired"
Joni Mitchell "Wild Things Run Fast"
Jazzanova "In Between"
Sly & The Family Stone "Fresh"
Jan Hammer "The First Seven Days"
Mechelle N'degeocello "Plantation Lullabies"

REMAIN IN LIGHT changed my life.
Plus all of Eno's Ambient Works,
King Crimson's "Beat", "Discipline",
Prefuse 73, Flying Lotus, Mosdef, 4Hero,

This is fun. Here are mine (also in no particular order):

Jeff Buckley :: Grace
Antony and the Johnsons :: I'm a bird now
Antony and the Johnsons :: Antony and the Johnsons
Joy Division :: Still
Depeche Mode :: Violator
Radiohead :: OK Computer
Suicide :: Suicide
Wim Mertens :: Maximizing The Audience
Simeon the Holt :: Canto Ostinato
John Cale :: BlackAcetate

Crowded House "Together Alone"
Crowded House "Temple of Low Men"
Neil Finn "Try Whistling This"
Neil Finn "One Nil"
Beatles "Revolver"
Beatles "Rubber Soul"
Peter Gabriel "Us"
Peter Gabriel "II"
David Sylvian "Dead Bees on a Cake"
David Sylvian & Robert Fripp "The First Day"

The List (part a):

Blonde on Blonde — Bob Dylan
Highway 61 Revisited — Bob Dylan
Time Out of Mind — Bob Dylan
Moondance — Van Morrison
Astral Weeks — Van Morrison
Wish You Were Here — Pink Floyd
Rubber Soul — The Beatles
Abbey Road — The Beatles
Paranoid — Black Sabbath
Back in Black — AC/DC
Tapestry — Carole King
Horses — Patti Smith
I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You — Aretha Franklin
Kind of Blue — Miles Davis
Bitches Brew — Miles Davis
In the Wee Small Hours— Frank Sinatra
Graceland — Paul Simon
The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust — David Bowie
Exile on Main Street — The Rolling Stones
Led Zeppelin IV — Led Zeppelin
London Calling — The Clash
The Joshua Tree — U2
Achtung Baby— U2
Purple Rain — Prince
Document — R.E.M.

Rated WN (subject to change Without Notification)

1. tim :: the replacements
2. ziggy stardust :: david bowie
3. bad music for bad people :: the cramps
4. oh, you're so silent, jens :: jens lekman
5. the gossip :: the gossip
6. psychocandy :: the jesus and mary chain
7.the smiths :: the smiths
8. purple rain :: prince
9. unknown pleasures :: joy division
10. the scream :: siouxsie and the banshees.
s.e. myers

Cassettes, Eben, you missed cassettes! ;-)

With all the other caveats that have been expressed (particularly "no particular order" and "subject to whimsical change"), here's my list:

1. Tubular Bells - Mike Oldfield
2. Koyannisqatsi (OST) - Philip Glass
3. Court and Spark - Joni Mitchell
4. Bloody Tourists - 10CC
5. Saturday Night Fever (OST) - Various
6. Streetlife Serenader/Turnstiles/52nd Street/Nylon Curtain - Billy Joel
7. Birth of the Cool - Miles Davis
8. Stoned Soul Picnic - Laura Nyro
9. Spartacus and Gayaneh Ballet Suites - Aram Khachaturian (I've got an old Vienna Philharmonic recording with the composer conducting)
10a. Still Life (Talking) - Pat Metheny
10b. World Machine - Level 42
10c. Indigenous - Dougie Maclean
10d. The Dance - Fleetwood Mac
10e. Sailing to Philadelphia - Mark Knopfler
10f. Duke - Genesis
10g. (put any or all album name(s) here) - Steely Dan
10h. Bump City - Tower of Power
10i. 2:00 a.m. Paradise Cafe - Barry Manilow
10j. Let It Roll - Little Feat

1. Stain - Living Colour
2. Misplaced Childhood - Marillion
3. Moving Pictures - Rush
4. Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
5. Hemispheres - Rush
6. Graceland - Paul Simon
7. The Joshua Tree - U2
8. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back - Public Enemy
9. Chicago Bound - Jimmy Rogers
10. Tunnel of Love - Bruce Springsteen

Can't really call out 10 albums, but here are some favorites of mine that are different

The Name of This Band is the Talking Heads (live double album)
Peter Gabriel Plays Live (another live double album)
Essence - Lucinda Williams
Return of The Grievous Angel - tribute to Gram Parsons
Soul of the Tango - Yo Yo Ma
Bach: Cantates pour Alto - Andreas Scholl
Vivaldi: Stabat Mater - Christopher Hogwood's recording
I also like the Hotel Costes series when working...

1/ smashing pumpkins - siamese dream
2/ weezer - blue album
3/ nirvana - nevermind
4/ pearl jam - vs.
5/ wyclef jean - the carnival
6/ U2 - rattle & hum
7/ counting crows - august & everything after
8/ john legend - get lifted
9/ jay z + dangermouse - the gray album
10/ bodeans - love & hope & sex & dreams

1.) John Coletrane, Giant Steps
2.) Thelonius Monk, Misterioso
3.) Chet Baker, Bread, Butter & Champagne
4.) Dusty Springfield, Dusty in Memphis
5.) Wire, Chairs Missing (also The Jam, Sound Affects, also Television, Marquee Moon)
6.) David Bowie, Young Americans (also Hunky Dory)
7.) Funkadelic, One Nation Under a Groove (also Stevie Wonder, Songs in the Key of Life)
8.) Van Dyke Parks, Song Cycle (also The Band, Music from Big Pink, also Bob Dylan, Blonde on Blonde, also Beach Boys, Pet Sounds)
9.) Robert Wyatt, Rock Bottom
10.) The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground and Nico
11.) Nina Simone, Little Girld Blue
12.) Black Sabbath, Master of Reality (also Led Zeppelin, Houses of the Holy, also Amon Düül II, Yeti)

This excludes some wonderful classical recordings that are not really albums, and also some great vocalists that tended to issue hits on multiple recordings. I mean, what was Billie Holiday’s Best Album?

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Source Tags and Codes
Beatles - Rubber Soul
British Sea Power - The Decline of British Sea Power
Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic
Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump
King Crimson - Red
Pink Floyd - Meddle
Radiohead - Kid A
Soundgarden - Superunknown
The Who - Who's Next

A few dozen others belong here too; this is mostly just a random selection out of the top 50 or so.

One of the hardest lists to compile, too many get left off, but as it currently stands:

Bauhaus // Burning from the inside
Björk // Vespertine
Depeche Mode // Violator
The Mars Volta // De-Loused In The Comatorium
Michael Jackson // Off the Wall (It somehow manages to get a lot of playtime)
Miles Davis // Big Fun
Mirror // Under the sun/Places of Light
Nine inch Nails // Pretty Hate Machine
Pink Floyd // Animals
Radiohead // Kid A

Alphabetical order seemed appropriate.

How do you choose !?

I know my top 10 would contain at least these two, but beyond this I just don't know how to choose. Part of the problem is my listening tastes are all over the map. But if this is some sort of desert island list... I'll have to think some more.

Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin IV
Led Zeppelin, Houses of the Holy

^ I left off Big Star because I couldn't decide. There are lots of great groups that didn’t ever pull off a truly solid album too. And then all the vocalists that had compilation after compilation because the format was single hits.

Ani DiFranco - Dilate
The Arcade Fire - Funeral
Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
The Kills - Keep On Your Mean Side
Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over the Sea
The White Stripes - Elephant
Wilco - A Ghost is Born

Others have already said it, but... dang, Eben, this is hard! OK, I won't pretend to pick the top albums of all time and all genres... I'm sticking to music from popular genres, and then mostly by English-speaking (er, singing) musicians, from the last 58 years or so...

The first 10 items are the list I was going to post... But I couldn't leave so many other great albums out, so I added four more groups of ten. Do compilations count? I've got some in here, each followed by an asterisk (*)... No particular order.

The Beatles, The Beatles (a.k.a. "The White Album")
The Who, Live At Leeds (in any of its three incarnations)
Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin (a.k.a. "I")
The Ramones, Rocket to Russia
Derek and the Dominos, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here
Pat Metheny, 80/81
Muddy Waters, Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live
Pixies, Doolittle
Chuck Berry, The Great Twenty-Eight*

PJ Harvey, Dry
Wire, Pink Flag
Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Live Rust
Little Richard, 18 Greatest Hits*
Various Artists, Hitsville USA: The Motown Singles Collection 1959-1971*
Yo La Tengo, I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One
The Beatles, With The Beatles (i.e., the original U.K. release)
The Rolling Stones, Beggars Banquet
The Breeders, Pod
Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti

The Who, Quadrophenia
The Beatles, Abbey Road
The Kinks, Ultimate Kinks*
Throwing Muses, The Real Ramona
Muddy Waters, The Chess Box*
Guided By Voices, Under the Bushes Under the Stars
Miles Davis, Kind of Blue
Ray Charles, The Birth of Soul: The Complete Atlantic Rhythm & Blues Recordings, 1952-1959*
David Bowie, Changes One*
Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville

The Band, The Band
X, Wild Gift
Neil Young, Harvest
Big Brother and the Holding Company, Cheap Thrills
Led Zeppelin, III
Joni Mitchell, Blue
The Who, Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy*
Talking Heads, Sand in the Vaseline: Popular Favorites 1976-1992*
The Rolling Stones, Some Girls
Aretha Franklin, Aretha's Gold*

Devo, Freedom of Choice
The Who, The Who Sell Out
Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
The Beatles, Rubber Soul (the U.S. version)
The Eagles, Hotel California
Nirvana, Nevermind
Joni Mitchell, Shadows and Light
The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced?
Warren Zevon, Warren Zevon
Sleater-Kinney, Dig Me Out

What a fun thread. Just a note on Paul’s mention of Anthology of American Folk Music (edited by Harry Smith). This is expensive but well worth it. Much of this music is of improvised form and truly amazing.

Joni Mitchell, Blue. (Sigh) I remember wagging that home from Sound Warehouse and getting made fun of. Funny, it ended up at my girlfriend’s place. Twenty-two years later we still love it. Nina Simone’s Little Girl Blue has an interesting convergence with River in that they both weave Good King Wenceslas into the songs. Sad X-mas anyone?

The Number 1 album of all time:

The Fragile, by Nine Inch Nails

My current top 10, subject to change:

The Division Bell - Pink Floyd
Animals - Pink Floyd
No Boundaries - Michael Angelo
Strange Beautiful Music - Joe Satriani
Flower of Disease - Goatsnake
Master of Reality - Black Sabbath
Panopticon - Isis
Leading Vision - Gorod
The Odyssey - Symphony X
Monotheist - Celtic Frost

@ Ricardo

Guided By Voices, Under the Bushes Under the Stars

Besides being fortunate enough to see these guys about 15 times starting with the bee thousand tour, I was able to pick up Bob’s signed copy of UBUS from his ebay auction.

Hats off, James. You da man! I only got to see GBV once, but it sure was worth it.

And as for Joni Mitchell, I never made the connection between "River" and "Good King Wenceslas" until now... Whattaya know.

I heartily agree with your comment about the Harry Smith Anthology... It's a treasure trove.

I agree. It was hard. I actually started with 5 and then had to cave-in to 10. Like many of you I don't doubt my list might change next week. I am not sure why, but listening to Brian Eno - Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy, made me think of it. It just got in and amongst me.

Hard ain't the word! I look at everyone else's list, find one of my faves, and think "geez, why didn't I have that on my list?"

(Um, except for the Beatles -- I saw them on Ed Sullivan and, ah, wasn't impressed. Zep has their moments, but not on my list. As we say, YMMV....) :-)

Some random plays from this evening (after the hockey game....)

Panta Rei
Eagles
James Keelaghan
Leonard Cohen
Checkfield
Acoustic Alchemy
Oysterband
Relativity/Phil (yes, he's a relation) Cunningham
Michel Petrucianni

Pinch - Underwater Dancehall
Burial - Burial
Burial - Untrue
Lee Scratch Perry - Arkology Reel 1-3
Abyssinians - Satta Massagana
Photek - Form and Funktion
Klute - Fear of People
The Clash - London Calling
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
Joy Division - Closer

Innovati gives me an idea: the n.1 album of all time. I actually find it easier.

mine is:

(tadaaammmm)

ABBEY ROAD

by the beatles. total masterpiece, musical perfectness, groundbreaking album with the first ever one-track musical piece on side b.

(yeah, you of course have to say *why* this is n.1)

dr

Linda, what I liked about your list is how you split your tenth item into ten albums: 10a, 10b, 10c, etc. :-)

And yeah, I too look at everybody else's lists, see a record I like and think, "Oh no, I left that out!"

And heck, I left out John Lennon's "Rock And Roll," and Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours," fer instance... and... and... {Drags hand away from keyboard and towards the mouse, to press the "Post comment" button}

Total lifetime plays (estimated):

1. Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus - Olivier Messiaen: John Ogdon/Peter Hill, piano
2. Mysterious Traveller - Weather Report
3. "Bird" is Free - Charlie Parker
4. The Inner Mounting Flame - Mahavishnu Orchestra
5. Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix Experience
6. Aftermath - The Rolling Stones
7. Vintage Hawaiian Music (1920s-30s, compilation of downloads)
8. Sonata for Cello and Piano; Sonata for Violin and Piano; Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp; Syrinx - Claude Debussy: Gendron, Françaix, Grumiaux, Hajdu, Bourdin, Lequien, Challan.
9. Blue Afternoon - Tim Buckley
10. Astral Weeks - Van Morrison

Several of my favourite genres and artists aren't represented, as I listen to them spread out over many albums.

lay back and groove on a rainy day

That's got to be up there with love your neighbor as yourself. ;^)

In no particular order...

Screaming Trees - Dust
Soul Coughing - Irresistible Bliss
Amon Tobin - Chaos Theory
Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
Brant Bjork - Brant Bjork & The Operators
Cake - Prolonging The Magic
Kyuss - Blues For The Red Sun
Queens Of The Stone Age - Queens Of The Stone Age
Masters Of Reality - Welcome To The Western Lodge
The Pietasters - Oolooloo

jupiterboy... also some great vocalists that tended to issue hits on multiple recordings. I mean, what was Billie Holiday’s Best Album?
-------------------

that's true. Son House, Blind Willie Johnson, Robert Johnson and Bukka White didn't really release albums (at least not in their prime)

I don't know that I have exactly one set of favorites, but I've often thought that if you had to choose one album to represent 20th century American music, "Ella and Louis" would be it. All the best is there: jazz, the two greatest performers, the great "standards" of Gershwin, Porter, etc.

In rock, my favorites are Chuck Berry, Little Richard, early Elvis, Beatles and Paul Simon. The performers I have loved listening to most are Ray Charles and B.B. King, whom I have heard live whenever I could.

"Ella and Louis" is pretty classic. Great choice.

I suppose the longer you've been alive and the more wide-ranging your tastes, the harder this could be. I can't come up with a definitive Top Ten. Think of this as Ten off the Top [of my head]. They'd certainly be on any list of contenders.

In no particular order:

Emerson String Quartet - The Haydn Project
John Coltrane - Giant Steps
Weather Report - Heavy Weather
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out
Pat Metheny Group - Letter from Home
Roxy Music - Avalon
James Taylor - Greatest Hits
Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues (or More Songs about Buildings and Food, I can't decide)
Elvis Costello - Imperial Bedroom (or My Aim Is True, again I can't decide)
Paul Simon - Graceland

There are several albums mentioned above that when I read them I thought, "oh man that is a great album; I had forgotten about that one." I've left all those out since I clearly don't listen to them enough to remember them myself.

My list would be some arrangement of the following, depending on my mood:

Jeff Buckley - Sketches for My Sweatheart the Drunk (posthumous)
The Black Keys - Attack & Release
Rage Against the Machine - Evil Empire
Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisted
Tom Waits - Mule Variations
The Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed
311 - Don't Tread on Me
Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain
Various - Bird Up: The Charlie Parker Remix Project
MF Doom & Danger Mouse (as DangerDoom) - The Mouse and the Mask
Phish - Hoist
Incubus - Morning View
Cake - Fashion Nugget

So glad to see so much Radiohead, Miles, and Heads in all these lists!

Yeah, Talking Heads should have been on my list too. David Byrne played here at the Folk Festival a few years ago -- just amazing live.

And Bo. RIP

At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command
Criteria - En Garde
Elliott Smith - s/t
Fiona Apple - Tidal
Margot and the Nuclear So and Sos - The Dust of Retreat
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Radiohead - Kid A
Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope
Weezer - Pinkerton
Weezer - s/t (1994)

@ Kent

I almost put Avalon on mine—it plays so well from top to bottom.

@ Jason

MF Doom is sooo good. What do you think about his sending out other people to perform as himself?

I see a smattering of Eno fans, but am I wish more people could fall for Robert Wyatt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwXhixbpiD8&feature=related

I would have to post the "right now" list because there's no such thing as all time, it changes constantly. But here are albums I never grow tired of listening to. I'm sorry I can't get it down to 10:

Clash: London Calling (this will never leave the list, it's the best album EVER)
Radiohead: KidA
Elvis Costello: Armed Forces
Jeff Buckley: Grace
Johnny Cash: American Recordings IV
Sly and the Family Stone: Anthology
Beatles: Abbey Road and/or White Album
Until the End of the World soundtrack
Talking Heads - Fear of Music
Patti Smith - Horses
Beck - Odelay or Guero or One Foot in the Grave
REM - Automatic for the People

Have you seen The Future is Unwritten?

My current favorite album is Kind of Blue - Miles Davis

Off the top of my head:

The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
Ocean Rain - Echo & The Bunnymen
Emperor Tomato Ketchup - Stereolab
Screamadelica - Primal Scream
Music For Space Tourism Volume 1 - Visit Venus
House of Love (Butterfly Album) - House of Love
Loaded - Velvet Underground
The Three EPs - The Beta Band
Penthouse - Luna
Various - Blue Note Rare Grooves

According to my ipod these are the most listened to, in order (note the ipod is only 1.5 years old):
1 Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther
2 Sparrow House - Falls
3 Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
4 Sufjan Stevens - Come on Feel the Illinoise
5 Sufjan Stevens - Greetings from Michigan
6 Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
7 Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
8 Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Letting Go
9 Chad VanGaalen - Infiniheart
10 Grizzly Bear - Yellow House

Funny because I wouldn't have thought of some of those, but it doesn't seem terribly far off of my favorites from the past year and a half.

I'd like to add to the list the following:
REM - Out of Time
I'd also consider Wilco, Radiohead, M. Ward, Talking Heads, Luke Temple & Sigur Ros in my tops as well.

Ah, another Chad fan! He's local to me, and a nice guy. :-)

Keb Mo, Just Like You
Ricardo Silveira, Sky Light
Jonathan Butler, Heal Our Land
Mark O'Connor, Elysian Forest
Billy Joe Walker, Jr., Painting Music
Craig Chaquico, Acoustic Highway
Andrea Bocelli, Sogno
Guido Luciani, Azucar
Roy Orbison, Mystery Girl
St. Petersburg Male Chorale (Igor Usakov), Russian Folk

As to the island just give me a plug in for the Ipod, pen and paper y una cerveza fria!
Michael

Woops gotta have at least one woman in there... any Anne Murray CD would do just fine

Terry Riley - A Rainbow In Curved Air
Terry Riley - Les Yeux Fermes / Lifespan
Bill Laswell - Hear No Evil
Radiohead - OK Computer
David Byrne & Brian Eno - My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts
Miles Davis - On The corner
Angelite & Huun Huur Tuu - Fly Fly My Sadness
Beck - Sea Change
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
Led Zeppelin - Houses Of The Holy

Excellent Ch - Terry Riley and Huun Huur Tuu. I saw the show from the Angelite and Huun Huur Tu album at UCLA. Really weird. The audience was full of loud college students making the ape sound. Very strange but great.

I was going to post a Huun Huur Tu LP but I couldn't make up my mind which one. I guess if I had to pick my favorite LP by them it would be "The Orphan's Lament". If you are interested in Tuvan throat singing then may I suggest "Tuva Voices from the Center of Asia" on Smithsonian Folkways. These are field recordings of the folk music that their music derives from. Really great.

If you are interested in harmonic singing in general then Corsican folk singing is very interesting. They have a tradition where the bass voice sings multiple notes.

Overall I would say that my favorite music is by the Roma people around the world. The dispossessed always seem to have the best music, perhaps because that's all they have left.

If you are interested in that then Romica Puceanu (kind of like the Amalia Rodrigues or Edith Piaf of Romania) is a great place to start.

The film Latcho Drom (which I know is avaiable on video) is the story of the Roma told through music. It starts in India and then progresses through time ending up in the jazz clubs of Europe and America. Really beautiful and a great soundtrack. The film Vengo shows the lives of Roma in Southern Spain who are involved in flamenco. Great soundtrack.

pbc

All ideas, theories and statements are subject to change without notice.

yes, Latcho Drom is a wonderful film and soundtrack. The (opening?) scene in India with candles on the tree is one of the most
beautiful visions in cinema. Those gypsies know how to party.

Thanks for the tip on the Cosrican tradition; i'm not familiar with that.

Difficult choice. But my all-time-best list would certainly include these:

U2 - Joshua Tree
NoMeansNo - Wrong
Radiohead - Kid A
Beatles - Abbey Road

Can't decide about the rest for now.

Rather than list my ten best of all time, I'd rather list the 10 most important albums when I was a youngster and playing in a lot of bands:

10 From My Formative Years...

Surrealistic Pillow : Jefferson AIrplane
After Bathing at Baxters : Jefferson AIrplane
The Doors : The Doors
Truth : Jeff Beck
Disraeli Gears : Cream
Wheels of Fire : Cream
Are You Experienced : Jimi Hendrix Experience
Harmony Row : Jack Bruce
Europe 72 : Grateful Dead
Hot Tuna : Hot Tuna

I'm finding that as soon as I start thinking beyond pop music, which I listen to less and less often, this question becomes impossible. I wonder why that is?

Pop music is mostly made for the wrong reasons, distributed by the wrong people, and is based on the wrong premise, that musicians should be elevated in status. In traditional communities musicians were no more important than bakers. Musical famillies served their function, as did the blacksmith.

That being said, tremendous amounts of talent have been drawn to pop music and some wonderful music has been made, yet it mostly doesn't interest me and hasn't for many years.

pbc

All ideas, theories and statements are subject to change without notice.

Paul

Stumbled onto Huun Huur Tu while I was looking at Besh O Drom. Some how I got to HHT from there and fell in love with Legend by HHT. Neat type on the CD too. The best HHT though is the Best Live. Amazing!

Michael

I've been a fan for quite some time.

Besh o Drom eh? A Roma music fan? Man I have so much Roma music, from Asia all the way through Europe. My favorite from Hungary would probably be Taraf de Haidouks. There is a very haunting piece from them where an old man uses a special technique on the violin: he strips it of all but one horsehair and then plays the most haunting song you have every heard. Really amazing.

Here's a cool link from You Tube with their piece in Latcho Drom. There are other examples there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQn6Qb-9mD8

pbc

All ideas, theories and statements are subject to change without notice.

My favorite... almost could not find it as it has been months since I saw it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0KUTj7vNS0&feature=related

I lost count of the cross cultural influences. I think I felt the presence of a university marching band at one point.

Michael

Good day folks. Top 10s are always tough. Here's my humble selection, in no particular order.

Radiohead - The Bends
Lifetime - Jersey's Best Dancers
The Weakerthans - Fallow
Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity
Mogwai - Come On Die Young
Pieces Of April Soundtrack
Cave In - Until Your Heart Stops
Talib Kweli - Quality
Aphex Twin - Richard D James
Doves - The Last Broadcast

Djohan.

Subject to change at any given moment:

1. The Beatles - The Beatles
2. George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
3. Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
4. Big Star - #1 Record
5. Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
6. Pretenders - Pretenders
7. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Armed Forces
8. R.E.M. - Murmur
9. U2 - The Joshua Tree
10. Sparklehorse - Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot

OK, wait, it could also be:

1. The Beatles - Abbey Road
2. Eagles - Hotel California
3. The Clash - London Calling
4. Lou Reed - The Blue Mask
5. Badfinger - Wish You Were Here
6. Pixies - Trompe Le Monde
7. The Who - Who's Next
8. The Replacements - Tim
9. Suzanne Vega - Suzanne Vega
10. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

I’m finding that as soon as I start thinking beyond pop music, which I listen to less and less often, this question becomes impossible. I wonder why that is?

I can think of a bunch. I think the idea of the "album" is a carry over from a 70's rock outlook on the world. That time has passed even if it did leave a mark.

To ask my neighbor's kid this "10 Album" question would be to make ( probably ) a very wrong assumption about how she listens to music, what it means to her, and even about how she buys ( or doesn't buy ) music.

A person who grew up with 78's or 45s might also have no real relationship to the question.

My grandfather listened only to classical & opera on his reel to reel player.

Similarly if what you like is not rock or jazz but ethnic recordings, or classical or medieval or anything outside of this recent but dying phenomena the question probably also comes across as loaded, false, or both.

Palace music/Lost Blues and other songs
Guided by voices/Do the collapse
Joy division/substance (I know it's a best of, that's all I had, well until it disappeared from my share house)
You am I/Hourly daily
Birthday party/Junkyard
Pere ubu/The modern dance
Crowded House/Recurring dream (I know, another uncool best of)
Pixies/Doolittle
The Shins/Oh inverted world
Sufjan Stevens/Come on feel the Illinoise

I know this ignores all the food groups (Beatles, Stones, Radiohead, Bob Dylan, U2 blah blah) but if you can't list the albums you'd actually put on to listen to because you feel the need to include all the Rok klassiks that sit there getting dusty, what's the point?

I don't think that I need to provide a list, but I'm glad someone has made a post that makes us forget ourselves geeking out about typefaces for at least a few minutes. Hooray!

You know those CDs you can find that are a collection of the best of? Well, since I find it impossible to list just top ten LPs I've chosen to list these top ten artists Best of:

Beethoven
Mozart
Rolling Stones
Beatles
James Brown
Velvet Underground
Dwight Yokoam
Robert Johnson
Amy Winehouse
Talking Heads

I had completely forgotten about "Amon Tobin - Chaos Theory", what a brilliant album. And "Venetian Snares - Rossz Csillag Alatt Született"

Sorry guys! Here's my top 24 +

Amon Tobin - Supermodified
Air - Moon Safari
The Beach Boys - Friends
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Serena Maneesh - Serena Maneesh
Dj Shadow - Endtroducing
Madlib - Shades Of Blue
Miles Davis - Birth Of The Cool
Manitoba - Up In Flames
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
The International Tussler Society - Motorpsycho presents: The International Tussler Society
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
The Cinematic Orchestra - Motion
Velvet Underground - Velvet Underground & Nico
Stereolab - Sound Dust
Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
Nas - Illmatic
Sarah Hepburn - Stars & Haze
Madvillain - Madvillainy
The Loch Ness Mouse - Key West
Mayo Thompson - Corky's Debt To His Father
The Lionheart Brothers - White Angel Black Apple
Bill Evans - Waltz For Debby
The Beatles - The White Album

Disclaimer: I love Madlib's "Mind Fusion" series as well as almost anything by J Dilla, Niel Young, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzie Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Sun Ra, Dolly Parton and Claude Debussy.

There's so much I've left out. I've got to mention these as well:
Royal Trux, Dennis Wilson, Louis Armstrong, Soul Junk, Bjørk, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Aim (Andy Turner), The Game...

some albums/artists that are still missing:
Madonna "Ray of Light"
Ricky Martin "Vuelve" (although I might have chosen "Unplugged" for "Fuego de Noche...") and yes, i said Ricky Martin >^p
Bob Marley "Legend"

and a colleague mentioned
Grateful Dead "Old and in the Way"
Allman Brothers "Live at Philmore East"
Little Feet "Waiting for Columbus"
Paolo Nutini "These Streets"

I’m finding that as soon as I start thinking beyond pop music, which I listen to less and less often, this question becomes impossible. I wonder why that is?
I think because the "album" is such a pop concept that it's hard to think of other styles of music within this framework.

And Reggae and its earlier forms thrived on the 45RPM format.

This Is Reggae Music: The Golden Era 1960-1975 is a CD box set that is worth twice the price.

After a few more days I still can't come up with a list. This really is impossible. I'm a mood listener. I can't choose. I would like to just have one of each of your lists and that would suit me just fine. Ehe.

Here's a pretty representative 10 of my favorites, most of them older.

Dave Douglas: "Tiny Bell Trio"
Charles Mingus: "Tijuana Moods"
Duke Ellington: the Newport concert 1956
Thelonious Monk & Pee Wee Russell: the Newport concert 1963
Freddy Merkle: "Jazz Under the Dome"
Ray Charles: all the small-band instrumental Atlantic sessions
Ornette Coleman: "Tomorrow is the Question"
Gary Burton: "Genuine Tong Funeral"
Japanese accordion player Mie Miki's "French Baroque Music" CD, with works by Jean-Philippe Rameau, Franqois Couperin, Louis-Claude Daquin

Except for some wordless singing on "Tijuana Moods," there's no vocal in this list, in sharp contrast to most folks' selections here.

I found that once I began pushing words around every day (printer, designer, editor, proofreader, etc), I could no longer listen to vocal music. I have a handful of jazz recordings with singers (Annie Ross, Jimmy Rushing), but I still do not like music with words, unless the words are in a language I do not understand. Even in the most casual settings.

I know that cuts me off from lotsa good music, but I just have too many words in my head between what I do at work and what I read and the talk I hear from people. I need/prefer the abstraction of music without words.

powers

I feel the same way for a different reason. I rarely listen to music with words I can understand. I also prefer the abstraction. The way I prefer to experience music now has changed from foreground to background.

pbc

All ideas, theories and statements are subject to change without notice.

This is very difficult to compile! I like Rich's solution, by decade!

I would really need to sit and think about this for awhile to create an accurate top ten, but I'll just go with what is fresh in my mind. No particular order:

The Beatles - Abbey Road
The Autumns - Angel Pool
Radiohead - OK Computer
Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production of Eggs
Jolie Holland - Catalpa
Bauhaus - Mask
The Cure - Pornography
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
Sigur Ros - ( )
Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days

I can't forget my guilty pleasures which are ESSENTIAL to my own collection, and to the history of the western world:

Def Leppard - Pyromania
Journey- Escape
Wings - Band on the Run
Micheal Jackson - Off the Wall

In some kind of order

Nirvana - Bleach
Pearl Jam - Binural
Queen Adrena - Dirt
Pixies - Doolitle
Nirvana - Morituri Salutant
Mathew Good Band - The audio of being
Jeff Buckley - Mystery White Boy
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese dream
Frank Black and the Catholics - Honeycomb
Paerl Jam - Ten

Will

The Jesus & Mary Chain - Honey's Dead
The Pixies - Doolittle
Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam
The Clash - London Calling
Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine
Future Kings of Spain - Nervousystem
Radiohead - IN_RAINBOWS (probably just cos I listened to the rest so much!)
Tom Waits - Closing Time
Snow Patrol - Final Straw
Bran Van 3000 - Glee
---and way too much more to even fit----

@Sebastian - That Refused - Shape of Punk to Come album R O C K S !!!

In no special kind of order

Shake your money maker- The Black Crowes
Brothers in arms - Dire Straits
Mingos & os samurais- Rui Veloso (Portuguese band)
Ao vivo na antena 3- Xutos & pontapés (Portuguese band)
Vulgar display of power - Pantera
Mano a mano- Resistência (Portuguese band)
Use your illusion (1/2)- Guns N' Roses
Metallica- Metallica
Nevermind- Nirvana
Rattle and hum- U2

António Fonseca

lay back and groove on a rainy day

Ain't no use in getting uptight.

Nirvana - Morituri Salutant

Bootlegs! That's a whole 'nother category. :-)

I’m a mood listener. I can’t choose.

I am with you there. I don't want to be forced to listen to my top ten in order - at all.

But what happened to me is put the Eno on and it was like an old friend. And I thought: "This really is special to me.", or something a bit like that. I was actually surprised by my reaction.

It is gratifying to see a thread take off like this. Even if it's off topic for the site. And it's also great to hear what you all are into. It will be fun to explore my fellow Typophile's favorites later.

It is odd how you can hear a recording so many times that it becomes part of your head. At some point you stop listening to it because you know it. Giant Steps, for example. The difference between listening to it and remembering it is almost the same thing—it has been loaded into the meat walkman/iPod.

Fun and odd link

http://www.music-map.com/

Back around college days, I used to go to sleep with a song in my head and then wake up in the morning with another track a little further along the same album playing in my head. I'm sure I just played the whole thing over and over in my mind all night long.

Doesn't happen so much any more since I usually listen to classical now.

It is odd how you can hear a recording so many times that it becomes part of your head.

And the spaces between the songs no less than the songs - when you know exactly when and on what pitch each next song will start up. Once it's that ingrained, stopping play of the album between songs almost seems as jarring as stopping in the middle of a song.

Some more obscure selections. No, I can't count ...

Talking Heads, '77
Quicksilver Messenger Service, eponymous first LP
Small Faces, Ogden's Nut Gone Flake
Blues Project, Projections
Jeff Beck, You Had It Coming
Pat Metheny, Offramp OR 80/81 OR One Quiet Night
Brian Eno, Music for Films OR Hybrid (w/Michael Brook)
Kinks, Face to Face OR Muswell Hillbillies
Moby Grape, eponymous first LP
Procol Harum, Shine on Brightly OR A Salty Dog

Current favourites

Chic, Live at the Budokan
AC/DC, If you want blood...
Johnny Cash, Folsom Prison and San Quentin
Kate Bush, Never for ever
Kiss, Alive!
Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti
Michael Jackson, Thriller
Mylo, Destroy rock and roll
ZZ Top, Eliminator
ABBA, Gold (compilation, sorry)

i went more for the ones that hit me hardest when i first heard them, not so much current rotation, tho i still love them all. i have to "turn it up to 11" as they say in spinal tap, and add:

Magical Mystery Tour
by the Beatles.

Adham Shaikh & Tim Floyd - Drift
Cluster & Eno - Cluster & Eno
KLF - Chill Out
Sounds from the Ground - Kin
The Orb - Adventures beyond the Ultraworld
Biosphere - Substrata
Roedelius - Aquarello
Cluster - Live USA 1996
Brian Eno - Music for Airports
REM - Dead Letter Office

Absolutely impossible!... perhaps if it was top10 of an specific style or this:

Top 10 Artists: (no specific order)

Pink Floyd
Dream Theater
Radiohead
Muse
Metallica
Pearl Jam
Red Hot Chili Peppers
A Perfect Circle
Tool
...
this feels so incomplete that I'll leave the last space for the other ones!

lol... just realized I only covered alternative rock & Metal.

Must be my mood... Metallica are playing right now here in Portugal and I'm Going to a MUSE concert tomorrow. CAN'T WAIT

@ sihep

I might have some of those cluster and Roedelius recordings on original Sky label wax if you are interested.

And I love that version of King of the Road on Dead Letter Office.

Interesting - perhaps you can "share" the recordings?

POLITICALLY CORRECT: the worship of form over content…

pbc

All ideas, theories and statements are subject to change without notice.

Interesting - perhaps you can “share” the recordings?

POLITICALLY CORRECT: the worship of form over content…

You bring up an interesting point. There is a collector side to it all that makes a fetish of the gear etc, which is silly. Being in the middle of life, and somewhat over it all, I tend not to question things that bring enthusiasm to life however.

Now there is also a legitimate lament over the loss of information and emotional engagement that goes hand-in-hand with increasingly lower quality playback, mastering, compression and all that. For example, I’ve been listening to the 4 Men with Beards remaster of Chairs Missing. Playback equipment aside, the level of clarity and separation in the recording on vinyl is much much better than any CD recording of the music I have ever heard. That applies to many CD recordings of music I dearly love. So my point is that it IS worship of content, and the form is secondary. I would be less interested in buying Scott Walker 3 on vinyl because the digital version is really good.

To share? Well, we don’t share our fonts, and I tend to view the music the same way. Still, I’m usually working on some level to get a good process for transferring higher quality vinyl recordings to a digital format, and view a good mix CD as a love letter that demonstrates a level of care and desire for communication that I believe is worth the effort. What I really love is the traditional playing of sides, where people sit around and have a meal together and progressively choose a side of an LP to listen to. That is a good sort of sharing, secondary to actually playing music together.

One last point. I find that the ability to sit down and become engaged with music is very important. In particular, if I am so stressed and put upon that I can’t make that connection there are probably other nuances of life I’m missing out on as well. Being a bit anti-consumer, I set out in 1997 to put together a mid-fi playback system that would be durable beyond the life expectancy of the average rack unit, not cost more than the average rack unit, and have the ability to engage me emotionally with the music in a way that would improve the day-to-day life of the house for everyone. Eleven years and 5 sets of tubes later, I have zero regrets.

Note: The above mentioned records are part of a payment/gift given to me by some musician friends in return for designing packaging. There are 30 or so recordings in all—mostly Cluster and Roedelius. I like some of them but would gladly get rid of them before I move. Being rare and worthy of preservation, finding the right home for them is a mission.

@glytch

Quicksilver Messenger Service's "Happy Trails" is a much better representation of their music, which really only sounded good live, and without Dino Valente.

Good to see Blues Project and Moby Grape on your list. Add the Butterfield Blues Band, and "Stand Up" by Jethro Tull and your on to something!

JamesM

I don't have time to winnow this down to ten.

Anouk - Urban Solitude
Huckleberry Finn - 올랭피오의 별 (Ollaengpioeui Byeol; "Star of Olympio")
Emiliana Torrini - Fisherman's Woman
Guano Apes - Walking on a Thin Line
Deftones - White Pony
Kent - Vapen & Ammunition
Krezip - Days Like This
Lisa Miskovsky - Fallingwater
Radiohead - OK Computer
Siobhán Donaghy - Ghosts
Лама (Lama) - Мені так треба (Meni tak treba; "I need it so")
자우림 (Jaurim) - Ashes to Ashes

This is a very skewed selection of my music preferences. I have not listened to full albums of most of the tracks I listen to, such is the age of single track downloads. I very rarely listen to an entire album in the intended track order anyway. If I gave a list of my favourite tracks, favourite singles, favourite artists, or favourite performances, you would get very different pictures of my musical prefences in each of the cases. And probably get wildly different answers each time you asked.

jupiterboy - I like what my post provoked. Well said.

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.
- William Shakespeare

pbc

All ideas, theories and statements are subject to change without notice.

the 4 Men with Beards remaster of Chairs Missing What's that? It sounds very interesting. This is the Wire album, correct?

Just one of a few very dedicated labels that are bringing back and cutting high quality wax. Oddly, I’ve been able to put in requests over the last several years and have seen a good number of them become available. Also tearfully received is John Cale’s Paris 1919, and the Sundazed release of Song Cycle. Check it out. As we go up we go down

http://www.forcedexposure.com/labels/4.men.with.beards.html

You will be very pleased to see a good selection of T-Rex is on the list.

@Jupiterboy
Many thanks but I’ve now got pretty much all of them on CD (mostly from obscure Japanese label Captain Trip). Hadn’t actually heard of Cluster but saw them playing live at the Paradiso in Amsterdam (as part of the 'Sonic Acts' festival) a couple of months ago and was completely blown away – one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen. There’s a short clip at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2hls_s98X4

I've been thinking about this for days, there's no sign of me coming up with a definitve list, and I'm going on holiday tomorrow, so here's a few…

Roy Harper - Stormcock, Flat Baroque and Berserk or Flashes From the Archives of Oblivion

Dylan - Blood on the Tracks

Led Zeppelin - 1

Neil Young

Joni Mitchell

and some Gong (for late at night)