Greatest Album of All Time

panerista · Aug 7, 2013

Most tend to argue Sgt. Peppers, Revolver, Dark Side of the Moon, maybe Led Zeppelin 4?

What are your desert island albums? (Say 5 of them)

Mine
Beatles - Revolver
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magic
Led Zeppelin II
Arcade Fire - Funeral

wordsworth · Aug 7, 2013

Pink Floyd – Dark Side Of The Moon
Terry Reid – Seed Of Memory
Ozark Mountain Daredevils – It'll Shine When It Shines
Genesis – Foxtrot
Kate Bush – Aerial

Not sure if this would be my top five next year, next month or even next week but they're all great records.

Scepticalscribe · Aug 7, 2013

Is there an assumed time limit to the title "Greatest Album of All Time?"

In other words, do you mean the 20th century, or 21st century, or merely music since rock music evolved....or since the phonograph and its attendant technology were developed by Thomas Edison in the late 19th century......

If the incredibly elastic term 'of all time' is used, - which is very generous, mind-bogglingly so - may we assume that music from the 19th century is included, (there, I'd have to contemplate Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony which is sublime, and utterly magnificently, magisterial), or the 18th, when W. A. Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro' would strike me as one of the most incredible, creative, and symphonically perfect musical compositions in all of musically recorded history?

mobilehaathi · Aug 7, 2013

It isn't clear to me that music from different genres is comparable or that it is even appealing to designate a "best."

Then there is the question of who is performing, another complication in my mind. I can't read music, so I must judge a work based on its performance.

Sorry, you probably didn't desire such a picky and obnoxious post.

HE15MAN · Aug 7, 2013

Korn - Korn
Slipknot - Slipknot
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Opeth - Still Life
Stone Sour - Stone Sour
Dry Cell - Disconnected

Thraun · Aug 7, 2013

Soundgarden - Louder Than Love

That is all.

Huntn · Aug 7, 2013

Abbey Road. LedZepp up there too.

Dulcimer · Aug 7, 2013

Imagine or Double Fantasy — John Lennon (& Yoko Ono)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band — The Beatles
Dangerous — Michael Jackson
The Reminder — Feist
The Wall — Pink Floyd

MacNut · Aug 7, 2013

Greatest album is generational and very subjective. There will never be a greatest.

Jessica Lares · Aug 7, 2013

I don't get the whole deserted island thing. You have power to begin with, just bring the iPod.

Abbey Road - The Beatles
Definitely Maybe - Oasis
Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
The Stranger - Billy Joel

And then one of the Beach Boys greatest hits, because why wouldn't they be relevant when you're stranded on an island?

And yeah, you can't really say "the best album of all time", because we're all from different decades and generations.

firedept · Aug 7, 2013

Favorite is Classic Rock. Do enjoy some Alternative these days though.

AC/DC - Back In Black
Led Zeppelin - IV
Beatles - Abbey Road
Journey - Time
Jethro Tull - Aqualung

ValSalva · Aug 8, 2013

MacNut said:
Greatest album is generational and very subjective. There will never be a greatest.

When in only a few posts the top albums go from Swedish tech death metal to Michael Jackson (I personally never understood the whole Michael Jackson thing) then I'd have to say you are absolutely right!

Goftrey · Aug 8, 2013

A few that spring to mind;

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
James Gang - Yer' Album
Led Zeppelin - III
The Black Keys - Brothers
The Beatles - The Blue Album
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Mojo
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Coldplay - X&Y

dec. · Aug 8, 2013

I'm somewhere between (old school-)Prog Metal, Industrial, Synth Pop, Prog Rock and other stuff. Albums that have aged extremely well for me and therefore are proven Island material are:

WatchTower - Control and Resistance
Tangerine Dream - Ricochet
a-ha - Hunting High and Low
Mercyful Fate - Don't Break the Oath
Marillion - Seasons End

(I'd have at least another 20 or 30 I could easily list)

Mr. McMac · Aug 8, 2013

My favorites reflect my age

Just a few out of countless many

The Who - Who's Next
The Beatles - Revolver (Original American Release)
Led Zeppelin - 1
Jefferson Airplane - Crown Of Creation
Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet
Procol Harum - A Salty Dog
Grand Funk - The Red Album
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde
The Band - Music From Big Pink
The Patti Smith Group - Easter
etc, etc....

MacNut · Aug 8, 2013

I have noticed that most of these "best albums" are rock bands of some generation. Most of these groups would not crack the top 50 in the huge scale of music over the past 200 years.

Scepticalscribe · Aug 8, 2013

MacNut said:
I have noticed that most of these "best albums" are rock bands of some generation. Most of these groups would not crack the top 50 in the huge scale of music over the past 200 years.

My point exactly and I agree with you entirely.

Either the thread title should be amended (to read something along the lines of 'what do you think are the greatest rock albums in history'?) or- it should be made clear that the discussion is not confined to a specific musical preference such as rock (admittedly, one that was hugely influential), and neither is it confined to a specific time period.

A discussion that conflates rock music with 'the greatest album of all time' runs the risk of missing the point, I think. As it happens, I have no quarrel with discussing great rock albums, - and even agree with some of the selections mentioned above - but, to be honest, there is more to great music than rock.

Peace · Aug 8, 2013

DSOTM-Pink Floyd

Led Zeppelin III

The Beatles White Album

Apple fanboy · Aug 8, 2013

Surly this one has to be in there?

firestarter · Aug 8, 2013

Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin 3
Rush - Power Windows
John Lennon - Imagine
Kate Bush - Hounds Of Love
Perfume - Triangle
Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell
Boney M - Nightflight to Venus

vrDrew · Aug 8, 2013

MacNut said:
I have noticed that most of these "best albums" are rock bands of some generation.

That is true.

But it is also worth considering that the concept of a music "album" really only existed for a relatively short period of musical history. The long-play 33 ⅓ rpm vinyl album was only invented in 1948, and didn't gain widespread acceptance till more than a decade later. By the mid 1980s we had CDs, and by the late 1990s we had mp3 files.

The constraints created by the LP format played a very large part in their creation by the (rock) bands of the era. Great thought was given to the order in which the tracks were arranged on the album, and frequently special attention was given to the track just prior to the halfway point - often cueing the listener that it was time to get up and flip the record over. Great effort - and sometimes expense - was given to the artwork on the cover, which at about 12 1/2 inches square was big enough to properly display images that the band felt would best reflect the artistic, and commercial, interests of the band.

Never is a long time. But I seriously doubt that anyone will ever create a musical album quite the way artists did in the period between ~ 1960 and 1984.

panerista · Aug 8, 2013

vrDrew said:
That is true.

But it is also worth considering that the concept of a music "album" really only existed for a relatively short period of musical history. The long-play 33 ⅓ rpm vinyl album was only invented in 1948, and didn't gain widespread acceptance till more than a decade later. By the mid 1980s we had CDs, and by the late 1990s we had mp3 files.

The constraints created by the LP format played a very large part in their creation by the (rock) bands of the era. Great thought was given to the order in which the tracks were arranged on the album, and frequently special attention was given to the track just prior to the halfway point - often cueing the listener that it was time to get up and flip the record over. Great effort - and sometimes expense - was given to the artwork on the cover, which at about 12 1/2 inches square was big enough to properly display images that the band felt would best reflect the artistic, and commercial, interests of the band.

Never is a long time. But I seriously doubt that anyone will ever create a musical album quite the way artists did in the period between ~ 1960 and 1984.

Good analysis. As much as I hate to admit it, Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is probably the best example of what you're describing in terms of deliberate track order and arrangement I have heard in some time.

4JNA · Aug 8, 2013

vrDrew said:
...Great effort - and sometimes expense - was given to the artwork on the cover...

a small smidge of me on the inside misses the covers. beautiful things they were especially when you were flipping through them in the record store. row after row, pulling them toward you fast enough to get through, but not so fast as not to be able to read the squiggly bits. nice, but gone that habit is.

AustinIllini said:
Good analysis. As much as I hate to admit it, Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is probably the best example of what you're describing in terms of deliberate track order and arrangement I have heard in some time.

i lived through that whole sorry mess that was 'track order and arrangement' and can honestly say i never really got it. love music, love art, love art as music and so on. with the exception of a few works that actually were stories or pieces meant to be heard in order, the rest were a bunch of songs in exactly the wrong spots. they ALWAYS got it wrong, which is why i spent so much of my early years making mix tapes. good songs in a good order, screw the record companies and radio play.

yes, i'm having a senior moment, thanks for noticing. now get off my lawn.

afireintonto · Aug 9, 2013

But i'm only 23, what do i know about music?

Scepticalscribe · Aug 9, 2013

vrDrew said:
That is true.

But it is also worth considering that the concept of a music "album" really only existed for a relatively short period of musical history. The long-play 33 ⅓ rpm vinyl album was only invented in 1948, and didn't gain widespread acceptance till more than a decade later. By the mid 1980s we had CDs, and by the late 1990s we had mp3 files.

The constraints created by the LP format played a very large part in their creation by the (rock) bands of the era. Great thought was given to the order in which the tracks were arranged on the album, ....... Great effort - and sometimes expense - was given to the artwork on the cover, [to] display images that the band felt would best reflect the artistic, and commercial, interests of the band.

Never is a long time. But I seriously doubt that anyone will ever create a musical album quite the way artists did in the period between ~ 1960 and 1984.

Excellent and thoughtful post, and I agree with you to a large extent.

But sometimes music influences - or dictates the form of technology used - every bit as much as the technology available influences how music is presented for popular consumption.

One of the reasons I referenced L van Beethoven's stunning Ninth Symphony (apart from it simply being a sublime piece of music) is that it was used as the reference point for what a single CD should be able to hold when standards were set for the manufacture of CDs in the late 1970s & very early 1980s.

4JNA said:
a small smidge of me on the inside misses the covers. beautiful things they were especially when you were flipping through them in the record store. row after row, pulling them toward you fast enough to get through, but not so fast as not to be able to read the squiggly bits. nice, but gone that habit is.

i lived through that whole sorry mess that was 'track order and arrangement' and can honestly say i never really got it. love music, love art, love art as music and so on. with the exception of a few works that actually were stories or pieces meant to be heard in order, the rest were a bunch of songs in exactly the wrong spots. they ALWAYS got it wrong, which is why i spent so much of my early years making mix tapes. good songs in a good order, screw the record companies and radio play.

yes, i'm having a senior moment, thanks for noticing. now get off my lawn.

I'm enjoying your 'senior moment'. Lovely post.

As a teenager, I well remember the joy of free days, half-days from school, or breaks of a few days (such as Hallowe'en) when one would race into what we then called 'record shops', and, as you so well express it, flip through and rummage through the assembled albums (in the well stocked shops these were arranged alphabetically), at speed (but not without rapidly reading the detailed material on album covers), and, perhaps, plan a purchase.

Greatest Album of All Time

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