Personal Top 100 Greatest Albums of All Time

[prodigalgodson]

As a corollary to the new year's thread on Film Discussion...


Blue Train (John Coltrane, 1958)
Relaxin' (Miles Davis Quintet, 1958)
Kind of Blue (Miles Davis, 1959)
The Shape of Jazz to Come (Ornette Coleman, 1959)
Sketches of Spain (Miles Davis, 1960)
My Favorite Things (John Coltrane, 1961)
With the Beatles (The Beatles, 1963)
Highway 61 Revisited (Bob Dylan, 1965)
Blonde on Blonde (Bob Dylan, 1966)
Meditations (John Coltrane, 1966)
Os Afros Sambas (Baden Powell and Vinicius de Moraes, 1966)
Pet Sounds (The Beach Boys, 1966)
Revolver (The Beatles, 1966)
Interstellar Space (John Coltrane, 1967)
Magical Mystery Tour (The Beatles, 1967)
Songs of Leonard Cohen (Leonard Cohen, 1967)
Straight, No Chaser (Thelonious Monk, 1967)
The Velvet Underground & Nico (The Velvet Underground, 1967)
Astral Weeks (Van Morrison, 1968)
The Beatles (The Beatles, 1968)
Abbey Road (The Beatles, 1969)
The Band (The Band, 1969)
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (Neil Young & Crazy Horse, 1969)
In a Silent Way (Miles Davis, 1969)
Nashville Skyline (Bob Dylan, 1969)
Townes van Zandt (Townes van Zandt, 1969)
The Velvet Underground (Townes van Zandt, 1969)
All Things Must Pass (George Harrison, 1970)
Bitches Brew (1970)
Desertshore (Nico, 1970)
Plastic Ono Band (John Lennon, 1970)
Ptah, the El Daoud (Alice Coltrane, 1970)
Sunflower (The Beach Boys, 1970)
Blue (Joni Mitchell, 1971)
First Light (Freddie Hubbard, 1971)
Hunky Dory (David Bowie, 1971)
Jack Johnson (Miles Davis, 1971)
Journey in Satchidananda (Alice Coltrane, 1971)
Songs of Love and Hate (Leonard Cohen, 1971)
Universal Consciousness (Alice Coltrane, 1971)
What's Going On (Marvin Gaye, 1971)
The Late Great Townes van Zandt (Townes van Zandt, 1972)
Return to Forever (Chick Corea, 1972)
World Galaxy (Alice Coltrane, 1972)
The World Is a Ghetto (War, 1972)
Inspiration Information (Shuggie Otis, 1974)
Moto Grosso Feio (Wayne Shorter, 1974)
On the Beach (Neil Young, 1974)
Sama Layuca (McCoy Tyner, 1974)
Veedon Fleece (Van Morrison, 1974)
Agharta (Miles Davis, 1975)
Blood on the Tracks (Bob Dylan, 1975)
The Hissing of Summer Lawns (Joanie Mitchell, 1975)
Native Dancer (Wayne Shorter & Milton Nascimiento, 1975)
A Quiet Storm (Smokey Robinson, 1975)
Still Crazy After All These Years (Paul Simon, 1975)
Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd, 1975)
Desire (Bob Dylan, 1976)
Station to Station (David Bowie, 1976)
Dancing in Your Head (Ornette Coleman, 1977)
Dark Magus (Miles Davis, 1977)
Low (David Bowie, 1977)
Television (Marquee Moon, 1977)
Hear, My Dear (Marvin Gaye, 1978)
Long Live the Kane (Big Daddy Kane, 1988)
Original Gangster (Ice T, 1991)
A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (Black Sheep, 1991)
Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (Wu-Tang Clan, 1993)
Doggystyle (Snoop Dogg, 1993)
The Infamous (Mobb Deep, 1995)
Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... (Raekwon, 1995)
Hell on Earth (Mobb Deep, 1996)
Ironman (Ghostface Killah, 1996)
Reasonable Doubt (Jay-Z, 1996)
Time Out of Mind (Bob Dylan, 1997)
Aquemini (Outkast, 1998)
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (Lauryn Hill, 1998)
The Pillage (Cappadonna, 1998)
Operation: Doomsday (MF DOOM, 1999)
Nina SImone's Finest Hour (Nina Simone, 2000)
Supreme Clientele (Ghostface Killah, 2000)
Take Me to Your Leader (King Gheedorah, 2003)
Funeral (Arcade Fire, 2004)
The Pretty Toney Album (Ghostface Killah, 2004)
Hell Hath No Fury (Clipse, 2006)
Marcberg (Roc Marciano, 2010)
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Kanye West, 2010)
Insect (Insect, 2012)
Reloaded (Roc Marciano, 2012)
Blank Face (Schoolboy Q, 2016)
HBO (Mach Hommy, 2016)
Honor Killed the Samurai (Ka, 2016)
Dump Gawd: Hommy Edition (Mach-Hommy, 2017)
Rosebudd's Revenge (Roc Marciano, 2017)
RR2: The Bitter Dose (Roc Marciano, 2018)
Tiny World 1.0 (Wallace D Wattles, 2018)
Bandana (Freddie Gibbs & Madlib, 2019)
Mt. Marci (Roc Marciano, 2020)
Floating Points (Floating Points & Pharoah Sanders, 2021)
A Martyr's Reward (Ka, 2021)

[prodigalgodson]

Thanks Travis, haha.

[Torgo]

As a corollary to the new year's thread on Film Discussion...

I always find it fascinating how no less than 95% of your favorite music released after 1978 (!!), and almost every single album post-1997 stems from the genres of Hip-Hop (and whatever gets called R&B at that time +adjacent), given your taste in film. (Biased much?, Torgo?) I would just expect some more experimental stuff, wild genre combinations, or at least Pitchfork & Fantano titles to appear there
Most of the names I do recognize, on Insect - Insect from 2012 I couldn't even find info (only .. this?, seems unlikely). Correct name and year there?

80s truly were a bad time for anything, huh

[prodigalgodson]

I always find it fascinating how no less than 95% of your favorite music released after 1978 (!!), and almost every single album post-1997 stems from the genres of Hip-Hop (and whatever gets called R&B at that time +adjacent), given your taste in film. (Biased much?, Torgo?) I would just expect some more experimental stuff, wild genre combinations, or at least Pitchfork & Fantano titles to appear there
Most of the names I do recognize, on Insect - Insect from 2012 I couldn't even find info (only .. this?, seems unlikely). Correct name and year there?

80s truly were a bad time for anything, huh

Haha, well Wu-Tang and hip-hop in general were really what got me serious about music. When I was in college I made a few rap projects, and at the time I went through about.com's top 100 hip hop albums list. Then for several years after I pretty much exclusively listened to rap with some Dylan, Davis, and Young thrown in. I've always been a very lyrically oriented listener, and rap just offers some of the most dense, thoughtful, and personal lyricism in songwriting, plus the frankly undeniable cool factor (well, maybe less so these days). What someone like Roc Marci does with the English language is nothing short of revolutionary if you really understand it, it can almost re-wire the brain in a way I haven't experienced with any other music.

My music knowledge is also far more limited than my film knowledge (although almost all these albums I've sat with and listened to many, many times as opposed to the more discrete experience of film-watching). And I feel like aesthetically my palate is a lot narrower, I'm more inclined to kneejerk "nah" reactions than with other media. I'll read a description of something in a Pitchfork list and think it sounds awesome, but my experience listening to it won't match what the reviewer describes in any way, whether due to a lack of context on my part, overconceptualization on the writer's, or a genuine phenomenological gap between our experiences, I don't know. There are also some genres I haven't really explored at all, like country or metal. I'm sure the more time goes by, the more diverse the list will be, but rap is so close to my heart I imagine it'll always be overrepresented.

Fair question on Insect, honestly I wasn't expecting anyone to read the list that closely lol. It's actually an ambient album made by a couple friends of mine shortly after high school that cast a big shadow over one of my summers in college. I don't think it's available online anywhere, I have it on a physical CD. One of those friends also made Tiny World from this list, which is also the source of most of the music I used for Night and Smog in 2020.

Haha, yeah I really don't care for the 80s sound, but I also haven't done much exploring of the biggest names, eg Prince, Eno, Bush. I'm sure I'll find something to fill the gap.

[Pretentious Hipster]

Some 80s work I love (10/10s)

Hermann Nitsch - Island: Eine Sinfonie in 10 Sätzen (1980)
Joy Division - Closer (1980)
Steely Dan - Gaucho (1980)
This Heat - Deceit (1981)
Kate Bush - The Dreaming (1982)
Daniel Johnston - Hi, How Are You: The Unfinished Album (1983)
The Chameleons - Script of the Bridge (1983)
Roland Kayn - Tektra (1984)
Killing Joke - Night Time (1985)
Kate Bush - Hounds of Love (1985)
Swans - Holy Money (1986)
Pieter Nooten & Michael Brook - Sleeps With the Fishes (198
Skinny Puppy - Vivisect VI (1988)
Pet Shop Boys - Introspective (1988)
Instrumental et chœur sénégalais de Keur Moussa - Sénégal: messe et chants au monastère de Keur Moussa (1989)

[prodigalgodson]

Thanks PH! I've listened to The Hounds of Love a few times and enjoyed it a lot, but still feel I don't have a great grasp on Bush's aesthetic. Joy Division's another major name I haven't listened to at all. Haven't heard of about half these names.

[Torgo]

Not going for Swans' Children of God and not Filth either must be a felony

[Pretentious Hipster]

Not going for Swans' Children of God and not Filth either must be a felony

Those are 9/10s along with cop :p I just think that holy money stands above the rest