The 2014 All-Time Albums Poll - The FINAL, Final Results

[Listyguy]

A silence, caused by pure shock, has fallen over the forum. No one dares to say a word. The album that everyone thought could propel itself into the top 20, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" has barely gained places since 2011.

[Jirin]

That's a relief.

I expected it to fall in the 40-45 range.

[Harold]

A silence, caused by pure shock, has fallen over the forum. No one dares to say a word. The album that everyone thought could propel itself into the top 20, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" has barely gained places since 2011.

Still the highest-ranked album of the current decade, by far, and the only one in the top 100. It's also the second-highest ranked hip-hop album (It Takes a Nation of Millions will be the highest).

Also, I'm pretty sure Yeezy would appreciate the album's position...

[DocBrown]

A silence, caused by pure shock, has fallen over the forum. No one dares to say a word. The album that everyone thought could propel itself into the top 20, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" has barely gained places since 2011.

I'm trying to keep editorial asides to a minimum (since after all I do own the whole damn newspaper for now) but I do notice a trend as I put together these pages. While our rap fans tend to be very vocal contributors, they represent a core group of fifteen to twenty voters. So MBDTF gets 22 votes, but it's bracketed by more mainstream fare taking 24, 25 even 27 votes. Throughout the survey that's held true, fewer votes for each rap selection than its neighbours, but higher relative placements. So there's no disappointment in not seeing gains for these albums, it just reflects that some of us (mea culpa) aren't going to be in those voting blocs.

[bootsy]

A silence, caused by pure shock, has fallen over the forum. No one dares to say a word. The album that everyone thought could propel itself into the top 20, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" has barely gained places since 2011.

I'm trying to keep editorial asides to a minimum (since after all I do own the whole damn newspaper for now) but I do notice a trend as I put together these pages. While our rap fans tend to be very vocal contributors, they represent a core group of fifteen to twenty voters. So MBDTF gets 22 votes, but it's bracketed by more mainstream fare taking 24, 25 even 27 votes. Throughout the survey that's held true, fewer votes for each rap selection than its neighbours, but higher relative placements. So there's no disappointment in not seeing gains for these albums, it just reflects that some of us (mea culpa) aren't going to be in those voting blocs.

Me being one of them even though I'm new and haven't been very vocal. I love MBDTF but I still would have ranked Late Registration over it for Ye's best album. Man I regret not doing a list. This is fun.

[Pierre]

Well, I'm relieved to know that It Takes a Nation will remain the highest-ranked hip-hop album. It deserves its spot since 1988 and as good as MBDTF is, it's just not enough yet. That's a masterpiece, of course, but I think it's not as good as Public Enemy's.

[bootsy]

Well, I'm relieved to know that It Takes a Nation will remain the highest-ranked hip-hop album. It deserves its spot since 1988 and as good as MBDTF is, it's just not enough yet. That's a masterpiece, of course, but I think it's not as good as Public Enemy's.

For me the highest ranked hip-hop album and the highest ranked album period would be Illmatic. It Takes A Nation would have been second most likely for me but Illmatic is tops for me.

[chevisan]

Well, there are 3 Bjork albums in the top 100 after all ! That's a nice surprise. What's more surprising is that Post is above Homogenic (at least for me).

PD: My top 25 are still in the game . It seems I have similar tastes as the consensus.

[Jackson]

Woah, that's a huge fall for Odessey and Oracle. Wonder if it's just the different composition of voters, or did people drop it?

[Nassim]

Well, I'm relieved to know that It Takes a Nation will remain the highest-ranked hip-hop album. It deserves its spot since 1988 and as good as MBDTF is, it's just not enough yet. That's a masterpiece, of course, but I think it's not as good as Public Enemy's.

For me the highest ranked hip-hop album and the highest ranked album period would be Illmatic. It Takes A Nation would have been second most likely for me but Illmatic is tops for me.

Illmatic is actually one of the few non Kanye hip-hop album that is doing better in our poll than in AM. The other top 200 hip hop albums (Stankonia, Enter the Wu Tang, Paul's Boutique, 3 Feet High and Rising and most likely both Public Enemy albums are at least 20 spots behind their AM rank).
That makes good kid, m.A.A.d. city's result even more impressive though !

I'd say electronic music is the usual big loser in our poll though, but I'm happy that Four Tet's Rounds made it to our top 500 and Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin had one great showing both.
But I will add The Chemical Brothers to my list of bands criminally underrated around here (and I'm pretty sure that will show in this week's bracketology).

[bootsy]

Well, I'm relieved to know that It Takes a Nation will remain the highest-ranked hip-hop album. It deserves its spot since 1988 and as good as MBDTF is, it's just not enough yet. That's a masterpiece, of course, but I think it's not as good as Public Enemy's.

For me the highest ranked hip-hop album and the highest ranked album period would be Illmatic. It Takes A Nation would have been second most likely for me but Illmatic is tops for me.

Illmatic is actually one of the few non Kanye hip-hop album that is doing better in our poll than in AM. The other top 200 hip hop albums (Stankonia, Enter the Wu Tang, Paul's Boutique, 3 Feet High and Rising and most likely both Public Enemy albums are at least 20 spots behind their AM rank).
That makes good kid, m.A.A.d. city's result even more impressive though !

I'd say electronic music is the usual big loser in our poll though, but I'm happy that Four Tet's Rounds made it to our top 500 and Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin had one great showing both.
But I will add The Chemical Brothers to my list of bands criminally underrated around here (and I'm pretty sure that will show in this week's bracketology).

to the Electronic music. I'm happy that Four Tet, The Chemical bros, Daft Punk and Aphex Twin made the list but would have loved to have seen more.

[Jackson]

It would be interesting to do a rap specific albums poll on the forum. I don't think MBDTF would finish second in that I assume Illmatic and 36 Chambers, at least, would rank higher in that format, as MBDTF likely attracts more cross over voters.

[bootsy]

It would be interesting to do a rap specific albums poll on the forum. I don't think MBDTF would finish second in that I assume Illmatic and 36 Chambers, at least, would rank higher in that format, as MBDTF likely attracts more cross over voters.

It would be in my top 10 for sure but MBDTF is more than a hip hop album. It's like a music event album, like a pop album. Like saying Thriller is an R&B album when we all know it's much more than that and neither is a knock on hip hop or R&B but those albums can't be put into one category.

[Pierre]

]I'd say electronic music is the usual big loser in our poll though, but I'm happy that Four Tet's Rounds made it to our top 500 and Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin had one great showing both.
But I will add The Chemical Brothers to my list of bands criminally underrated around here (and I'm pretty sure that will show in this week's bracketology)[/b].

to the Electronic music. I'm happy that Four Tet, The Chemical bros, Daft Punk and Aphex Twin made the list but would have loved to have seen more.

Oh my, how I would like to see more love for electronic music. The godfathers Underworld and Orbital, the drum'n'bass, 80s house even aside from New Order... But it does look like it's harder for people to love than even jazz. I will never understand why.

[DocBrown]

# 65
Jimi Hendrix
Electric Ladyland
1968

No. of Voters 24 Score 1447.34
Rank in AM 3000 24
Rank in 2011 Poll 48
Top Fans Chevisan (15), Listyguy (17), Whuntva (23)

The highest achievement of Hendrix short career. While he was discovering the studio trickery and expanding his limits he made the perfect druggy album. And with his usual mastery on electric guitar, showcased on the four-part solo on “All Along the Watchtower”: 1º bluesy with string bending 2º with slide and echo 3º with his landmark wah wah 4º with crazy funky rhythm.
An RYM review by Honorio

# 64
Joy Division
Closer
1980

No. of Voters 27 Score 1448.47
Rank in AM 3000 40
Rank in 2011 Poll 88
Top Fans Michel (2), LiveinPhoenix (8), Chris K (15)

This one has always felt dangerous to even listen to. I feel like I’m getting sucked into a whirlpool whenever I hear this album. Eternally creepy and mystical.
A comment by LiveinPhoenix

# 63
Simon and Garfunkel
Bridge Over Troubled Water
1970

No. of Voters 29 Score 1464.17
Rank in AM 3000 122
Rank in 2011 Poll 61
Top Fans Miguel (2), Henry (12), DocBrown (14), BonnieLaurel (14)

In 1973, when Capital Radio became the first ever (legal) commercial music broadcaster in the United Kingdom, Richard Attenborough launched the station by welcoming listeners and then playing, as the very first record, Simon & Garfunkel. Until well into the Eighties, whenever Capital and many other stations polled listeners on their all-time Top 100, "Bridge Over Troubled Water" would invariably be voted Number One. It had a broad appeal. Back in the Sixties, Simon & Garfunkel were the rockers your parents liked. Not just put up with, but really liked: Nestling among the Ray Conniff LPs and Fiddler On The Roof cast album, you could usually find a Bookends or Sounds Of Silence, and well played, too. I once made Paul Simon visibly bristle when I said airily that a lot of suburban couples with two on the aisle for Hello, Dolly! listened to their eight-tracks of Bridge Over Troubled Water while driving to the theatre. But he conceded the essential truth of the observation. The Bridge album became one of the biggest sellers of the rock era, and in 1970 its title track hit Number One on the Billboard Hot 100. It marked the high point of the Simon & Garfunkel collaboration - and also the end.
Mark Steyn, from steynonline.com

# 62
Leonard Cohen
Songs of Leonard Cohen
1967

No. of Voters 26 Score 1464.23
Rank in AM 3000 165
Rank in 2011 Poll 91
Top Fans Henrik (1), Miguel (7), McJagger (8)

He was signed to Columbia records by a maverick talent scout, John Hammond, the A&R man who had taken similar 'risks' on unknowns Billie Holiday and Bob Dylan. Cohen's debut album, Songs of Leonard Cohen, was soon on the shelves. It left few doubts as to Cohen's main inspiration - women - containing, perhaps a little uncharitably, a song about his long-suffering love from Hydra, 'So Long Marianne', but beginning with an ode to a newer flame, Suzanne.
The 32-year-old Cohen liked variety. He befriended Lou Reed, who introduced him to the decade's most enigmatic blonde, Nico. And his frustrated attempts to snare her would also prove inspiration for a song
From an article by Nick Paton Walsh in The Observer, October 14, 2001

# 61
David Bowie
Low
1977

No. of Voters 26 Score 1464.39
Rank in AM 3000 90
Rank in 2011 Poll 54
Top Fans Chris K (18), McJagger (24), Harold (37)

Despite a few really bad days we had quite a lot of fun making Low, especially when all the radical ideas were making sense and things were starting to click. I remember after a couple of weeks of recording I made a rough mix of the entire album so far and handed a cassette of it to David. He left the control room waving the cassette over his head and grinned ecstatically saying, "We've got an album, we've got an album." I have to qualify that statement by saying that at the beginning, the three of us agreed to record with no promise that Low would ever be released. David had asked me if I didn't mind wasting a month of my life on this experiment if it didn't go well. Hey, we were in a French chateau for the month of August and the weather was great!
Co-Producer Tony Visconti, interviewed in Uncut magazine,1999

[Jackson]

]I'd say electronic music is the usual big loser in our poll though, but I'm happy that Four Tet's Rounds made it to our top 500 and Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin had one great showing both.
But I will add The Chemical Brothers to my list of bands criminally underrated around here (and I'm pretty sure that will show in this week's bracketology)[/b].

to the Electronic music. I'm happy that Four Tet, The Chemical bros, Daft Punk and Aphex Twin made the list but would have loved to have seen more.

Oh my, how I would like to see more love for electronic music. The godfathers Underworld and Orbital, the drum'n'bass, 80s house even aside from New Order... But it does look like it's harder for people to love than even jazz. I will never understand why.

Seconded. I would buy the argument that it's more of a singles than an albums format, but it's not like electronic music rules the singles polls either. It was nice to see Avalanches and Aphex Twin with some decent placements.

[Listyguy]

I may say this every time a Hendrix album appears, but it remains true: Eletric Ladyland is too low.

[Gillingham]

I am always surprised by the low appreciation of electronic music as well. Both on AMF and in the AM top 3000.
It's hard to understand why an electronic giant like Autechre, probably the epitome of IDM, hasn't ever been in the top 1000 of our album lists. Of course, they have a lot to choose from and all albums have their fans and doubters, but a Tri Repetae or even LP5 should be accesible enough for a place like this without being a tiny bit dated like Incunabula.

[DocBrown]

# 60
David Bowie
Hunky Dory
1971

No. of Voters 25 Score 1476.43
Rank in AM 3000 63
Rank in 2011 Poll 41
Top Fans Sjner (11), Michel (12), Honorio (12)

In 1971, singer-songwriters were very much a la mode – in a way Hunky Dory is Bowie’s Tapestry or Madman Across The Water, albeit with themes that encompassed art, gender, other lifeforms and general strangeness. All the component parts of the Spiders From Mars are in place – Mick Ronson, Woody Woodmansey and Trevor Bolder. Although Bowie tackled some “less complicated piano parts” due to “(inability)” as he wrote on the sleeve, it is session player Rick Wakeman who gives the album its pastoral flavour.
From BBC.co.uk

# 59
Pink Floyd
Wish You Were Here
1975

No. of Voters 26 Score 1483.33
Rank in AM 3000 207
Rank in 2011 Poll 70
Top Fans Chambord (4), Kingoftonga (7), Listyguy (8), Chevisan (10)

Consider the legacy of Wish You Were Here - the album is thematically unified around the concept of absence in one form or another, but lyrically polarized; the Floyd waxed poetic about their past, while exposed an increasingly cynical present. This album was also meticulously constructed, even labored over in the studio, yet somehow musically it unfolded in broad dramatic strokes underscored by an outpouring of creative tension and heartfelt performances.
by Paul Powell Jr., at brain-damage.co.uk

# 58
Elvis Costello
This Year’s Model
1978

No. of Voters 26 Score 1487.92
Rank in AM 3000 81
Rank in 2011 Poll 62
Top Fans Otisredding (7), DaveC (16), Brad (19)

I think Costello’s influence has pervaded the entire indie/alt/non-mainstream corner of the industry. But it’s more to do with his overall attitude and approach—the willful outsider dedicated to celebrating what’s admirable among his predecessors even as he holds them accountable for their excesses. His actual songwriting might be too rapid-fire wordy to emulate effectively, and the Attractions are really just too stinkin’ good—as individual musicians and as a unit—for anyone to rip off with any accuracy.

That’s been my takeaway throughout this latest This Year’s Model binge—the Attractions were quite simply one of the best backing groups in the history of rock. Nowhere is that more clear than on “Lipstick Vogue”, a runaway train of a song built on Bruce Thomas’ propulsive bass part, which rumbles along underneath the song but still manages to achieve a Paul McCartney-esque harmonic quality. Drummer Pete Thomas plays like a marginally more contained Keith Moon, and Steve Nieve’s keyboard add icy flourishes to Costello’s romantic paranoia. By the time the song is over, you’re pretty well drained—and it’s only been three and a half minutes.
Eric Klinger at Pop Matters, April 27, 2012

# 57
Lou Reed
Transformer
1972

No. of Voters 28 Score 1523.67
Rank in AM 3000 87
Rank in 2011 Poll 72
Top Fans Otisredding (16), Romain (17), Honorio (23)

Thirty years on, Transformer still sounds startlingly fresh, free from many of the clichés that taint other similarly minded records of the period. It also works as an interesting diversion from most of VU's work: where they clearly had a full-band aesthetic, and often leaned toward the avant-garde, Transformer took the strong pop undercurrent that ran throughout their records and indulged. It's still fascinating to hear Reed outside the messy underproduction of the Velvets, yet even with Bowie and Ronson broadening the arrangements, Transformer feels remarkably natural. Their production work was so loaded that, were it not for the incredibly focused songs beneath, it might have been overbearing. But with a solid base, the ornate arrangements help bring these songs to life, lending Reed's music a broader palette. Lou himself, by contrast, sounds as intimate as ever on the record's more sedate tracks, crooning in a sensitive lilt that maintains his blissful, effortless cool.
By Matthew Stephens in Pitchfork, March 11, 2003

# 56
Wilco
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
2002

No. of Voters 29 Score 1530.29
Rank in AM 3000 71
Rank in 2011 Poll 56
Top Fans DocBrown (3), Chris K (14), Nick (17)

In the years leading up to the recording of Wilco’s fourth studio album, the Irdial set was a staple in frontman Jeff Tweedy’s car stereo. The singer was especially intrigued by the compilation’s fourth track, “Phonetic Alphabet – Nato,” in which an alleged Mossad agent repeatedly speaks out the abbreviation “YHF.”
The agent’s accent is tough to assign, though she delivers each word in a cold, comprehensible monotone: “Yankee…hotel…foxtrot…”
Tweedy would later explain his fascination with The Conet Project to Chicago Tribune music critic Greg Kot: “There is nothing more abstract to me than the idea of a country. These solitudes exist so apart from one another in this sea of white noise and information. And the beautiful thing is they keep transmitting to each other in the hope that somebody is going to find them,” he said.
“And the beauty is that people still do, still find some meaning in another person, in a relationship, find some way to communicate, even though more often than not it’s in a way that’s not what they intended. Because some communication is better than giving up or not communicating at all.”
From an article by Jaymie Baxley in the American Songwriter, April 23, 2012

[Listyguy]

To the missing fans of the Pink Floyd album: I wish you were here. (Sorry, I felt the need to be punny)

[bootsy]

To the missing fans of the Pink Floyd album: I wish you were here. (Sorry, I felt the need to be punny)

All that's left is to get to the dark side of the moon. Hey I tried.

[DocBrown]

# 55
Stevie Wonder
Songs in the Key of Life
1976

No. of Voters 56 Score 1533.7
Rank in AM 3000 50
Rank in 2011 Poll 76
Top Fans BonnieLaurel (4), Nicolas (15), Henrik (18)

The majority of the tracks on Songs in the Key of Life are expansive and lushly layered affairs, carefully crafted around Wonder’s lyrics. He is unafraid to carry out the occasional gospel-like refrain to boundless ends while the listener can’t help but be swept up in these moments. Meanwhile, Wonder’s voice is as powerful as his instrumental prowess, moving from a shout to a whisper with authority and ease, capturing raw emotion and framing gentle subtleties in ways that many artists have attempted to emulate but have never quite captured.
In the end, Songs in the Key of Life is the sprawling vision of a man whose sight has been rendered infinite by the power of love and faith.
by John Kreicbergs, Pop Matters, December 15, 2002

# 54
Public Enemy
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

1988

No. of Voters 25 Score 1534.81
Rank in AM 3000 19
Rank in 2011 Poll 65
Top Fans Otisredding (6), Bruno (16), PlasticRam (17), Jackson (17)

Since PE show sound reasoning when they focus on racism as a tool of the U.S. power structure, they should be intelligent enough to realize that dehumanizing gays, women, and Jews isn't going to set black people free. As their prophet Mr. Farrakhan hasn't overcome one or another of these moral lapses, PE might not either. For now swallowing the PE pill means taking the bitter with the sweet, and if they don't grow up, later for they asses.

Nation of Millions is a declaration of war on the federal government, and on that unholy trinity--black radio programmers, crack dealers, and rock critics.
From a review by Greg Tate in The Village Voice

# 53
Prince
Sign ‘O’ the Times
1987

No. of Voters 23 Score 1537.59
Rank in AM 3000 30
Rank in 2011 Poll 50
Top Fans Romain (2), Moonbeam (8), Stone37 (9)

Purple Rain had been a Moment, and unlike other superstars of the era, Prince knew that he couldn’t just come back and make something bigger than that. So he went a different route instead, turning towards a flowery, vaguely Beatles-informed smooth-rock psychedelia, a sound that didn’t come as naturally to him as the muscular new-wave funk-pop that had made him famous. Sign “O” The Times, which Prince had wanted to make a triple-album at first, didn’t serve as a return to Purple Rain-era sales dominance, but it did something arguably even more valuable. It crystallized all the artistic experimentation of those previous two albums into something huge and tangible, displaying Prince as a musical adventurer without equal. Prince tries out a ton of different musical ideas on the album, and he nails almost all of them. It’s a thing to behold.
by Tom Breihan in Stereogum, March 30, 2012

# 51(tie)
My Bloody Valentine
Loveless
1991

No. of Voters 22 Score 1546.26
Rank in AM 3000 64
Rank in 2011 Poll 63
Top Fans Pierre (1), Jackson (1), three at 13

By this time, Kevin Shields was less a bandleader than a mad scientist, constantly developing and tinkering with new sounds. He played virtually every instrument (the lone exception being Ó Coísóig's minute-long "Touched") and obsessively tinkered with the smallest details. And the genius of Loveless is its mix, the exact proportions of one sound to the next. The highlights that led off the two EPs are the tentpoles, but really, Loveless is all highlights. I've heard many thousands of albums in my life and it's one of the few that strikes me as being essentially perfect. It's also the album that has turned two generations on to the wondrous possibilities of sound as sound. It's hard to imagine someone like Fennesz getting anywhere near as much traction among indie music fans if Loveless hadn't taught them how to listen for the emotional possibilities of texture. It remains a landmark that hasn't aged a day.
By Mark Richardson in Pitchfork, May 11, 2012

# 51(tie)
Paul Simon
Graceland
1986

No. of Voters 27 Score 1546.26
Rank in AM 3000 74
Rank in 2011 Poll 57
Top Fans VanillaFire1000 (1), Miguel (3), PlasticRam (6)

In the summer of 1984, a friend gave me a cassette of an Album called Gumboots: Accordion Jive Hits, Volume II. It sounded vaguely like ‘50’s rock ‘n’ roll out of the Atlantic Records school of simple three chord pop hits… it was very up, very happy music - familiar and foreign sounding at the same time… In fact, the album turned out to be “township jive” or “Mbaqanga” – the street music of Soweto, South Africa.
Paul Simon, from the liner notes of Graceland

[DocBrown]

To the missing fans of the Pink Floyd album: I wish you were here. (Sorry, I felt the need to be punny)

Hey, Listy, I don't have the energy left for my usual delivery of puns. You take it, dude.

[Pierre]

And "Loveless" finally bites the dust. Gosh, it barely missed the top 50, that's frustrating!

And only 22 voters in total? I guess I must be thankful it even got that high in the first place...

[bootsy]

Gettin ready for that Beatles/Rolling Stones onslaught.

[Sweepstakes Ron]

Gettin ready for that Beatles/Rolling Stones onslaught.

Hey, and Dylan's still got four albums in.

[Zorg]

I am always surprised by the low appreciation of electronic music as well. Both on AMF and in the AM top 3000.
It's hard to understand why an electronic giant like Autechre, probably the epitome of IDM, hasn't ever been in the top 1000 of our album lists. Of course, they have a lot to choose from and all albums have their fans and doubters, but a Tri Repetae or even LP5 should be accesible enough for a place like this without being a tiny bit dated like Incunabula.

Hopefully this is a trend that's changing though? In recent years, people like Jon Hopkins, Burial, Todd Terje, Actress, Flying Lotus etc have slowly entered critical consciousness.

[bootsy]

Gettin ready for that Beatles/Rolling Stones onslaught.

Hey, and Dylan's still got four albums in.

True.

[Gillingham]

I am always surprised by the low appreciation of electronic music as well. Both on AMF and in the AM top 3000.
It's hard to understand why an electronic giant like Autechre, probably the epitome of IDM, hasn't ever been in the top 1000 of our album lists. Of course, they have a lot to choose from and all albums have their fans and doubters, but a Tri Repetae or even LP5 should be accesible enough for a place like this without being a tiny bit dated like Incunabula.

Hopefully this is a trend that's changing though? In recent years, people like Jon Hopkins, Burial, Todd Terje, Actress, Flying Lotus etc have slowly entered critical consciousness.

Yes, and Andy Stott and Four Tet too. Or the recent comebacks of Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin. But that's still just a handful of names and critics have always appreciated one or two electronic artists at a time.
And then there's the general public who still don't really buy into a more broad pallette of electronic music.

So I don't think a lot will change soon, to be honest.

[Pierre]

I am always surprised by the low appreciation of electronic music as well. Both on AMF and in the AM top 3000.
It's hard to understand why an electronic giant like Autechre, probably the epitome of IDM, hasn't ever been in the top 1000 of our album lists. Of course, they have a lot to choose from and all albums have their fans and doubters, but a Tri Repetae or even LP5 should be accesible enough for a place like this without being a tiny bit dated like Incunabula.

Hopefully this is a trend that's changing though? In recent years, people like Jon Hopkins, Burial, Todd Terje, Actress, Flying Lotus etc have slowly entered critical consciousness.

Yes, and Andy Stott and Four Tet too. Or the recent comebacks of Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin. But that's still just a handful of names and critics have always appreciated one or two electronic artists at a time.
And then there's the general public who still don't really buy into a more broad pallette of electronic music.

So I don't think a lot will change soon, to be honest.

Agreed. And if those recent acts do enjoy some recognition, I feel like older artists have more trouble, except for the token "one or two" that were critical darlings from the start.

[DocBrown]

Number 50
Television
Marquee Moon
1977

No. of Voters 25 Score 1550.43
Rank in AM 3000 23
Rank in 2011 Poll 31
Top Fans Zorg (1), McJagger (1), SJner (10)

Guitars: it's impossible to review any Television release without discussing the boy's toys; and TV have two world-class exponents of the craft. Tom Verlaine could (and should) have a book written about his stinging sci-fi tone and dazzling Fender Jaguar explorations. He lies somewhere between Richard Thompson and John Coltrane. Less is said of Richard Lloyd, but anyone who's seen them live will attest to his skill. The first solo on Marquee Moon belongs to him (''See No Evil'') and it's a testament to melodic economy. Verlaine only exceeds him in terms of out-thereness. What, of course, is really important is how the two work together. Underpinned by Fred Smith's redoubtable bass and Billy Ficca's clattering toms, it's part psychedelia, part existentialist verse, part gritty rock 'n' roll voodoo, part sentimental bluster and wholly, radically new.
From a BBC review byChris Jones, 2003

Number 49
U2
Achtung Baby
1991

No. of Voters 27 Score 1555.94
Rank in AM 3000 82
Rank in 2011 Poll 60
Top Fans Chevisan (19), Chris K (20), Chambord (21)

Bassist Adam Clayton admitted in Bill Flanagan’s biog U2 At the End of the World, constant touring in each other’s pockets had taken its toll: “We had to decide how much we liked each other… I’m not saying that was easily resolved.”
But “One” rescued them. U2 were struggling to come up with anything all four felt was good enough. Bored of hammering at a demo called “Sick Puppy” (that later morphed into “Mysterious Ways”), Edge hit on an off-the-cuff chord progression that would become “One.”
"At the instant we were recording it, I got a very strong sense of its power,” Edge told Irish journalist Neil McCormick. “We were all playing together in the big recording room, a huge, eerie ballroom full of ghosts of the war, and everything fell into place. It was a reassuring moment, when everyone finally went: ‘Oh great, this album has started.’ It's the reason you’re in a band - when the spirit descends upon you and you create something truly affecting. “One” is an incredibly moving piece. It hits straight into the heart.”
By Michael Leonard at Gibson.com, October 24, 2013

Number 48
Van Morrison
Astral Weeks
1968

No. of Voters 28 Score 1568.19
Rank in AM 3000 15
Rank in 2011 Poll 58
Top Fans Antonius (1), McJagger (6), Miguel (18)

Van Morrison is interested, obsessed with how much musical or verbal information he can compress into a small space, and, almost, conversely, how far he can spread one note, word, sound, or picture. To capture one moment, be it a caress or a twitch. He repeats certain phrases to extremes that from anybody else would seem ridiculous, because he's waiting for a vision to unfold, trying as unobtrusively as possible to nudge it along. Sometimes he gives it to you through silence, by choking off the song in midflight: "It's too late to stop now!"
It's the great search, fueled by the belief that through these musical and mental processes illumination is attainable. Or may at least be glimpsed.
Lester Bangs, from “Stranded”, 1979

Number 47
LCD Soundsystem
Sound of Silver
2007

No. of Voters 24 Score 1622.2
Rank in AM 3000 107
Rank in 2011 Poll 64
Top Fans BleuPanda (3), Nick (7), Nassim (9)

Even though it's difficult to imagine Murphy ever exhorting, "Everybody dance now," musically he owes a huge debt to house-music masters like Clivilles and Cole. Putting aside the world-weary Bowie-meets-Byrne vocals, the bulk of the tracks — "Innocuous," "Us v Them," "Sound of Silver" — could be lost late-Eighties dance classics. But somehow it all holds together as an album (the New Wave-y tunes "Someone Great" and "All My Friends" help), and by the end, ex-indie-rocker Murphy comes full circle, returning to his roots with the Pavement-meets-Morrissey comic lament "New York I Love You but You're Bringing Me Down."

By Jonathan Ringen in Rolling Stone, March 9, 2007

Number 46
R.E.M.
Murmur
1983

No. of Voters 27 Score 1648.97
Rank in AM 3000 62
Rank in 2011 Poll 55
Top Fans SJner (5), Brad (6), Chris K (12), VanillaFire1000 (12)

After an incompatible demo session with the established producer Stephen Hague, the band reverted back to Mitch Easter, alongside his friend and co-producer Don Dixon, who had worked on their earlier ‘Chronic Town’ EP.
The result of their efforts was a record free of constraints. Peter Buck’s rhythmic guitar is stripped of cliché and conventions, intertwining with Mike Mills’ melodic baselines, and punctuated by Bill Berry’s drum beats. It is not surprising to hear that much of ‘Murmur’ was recorded first take.
Whilst its sound would go on to inspire the likes of Nirvana and Radiohead, ‘Murmur’ is something of an anti-rock record. It took elements of folk and country and added pop sensibilities to create a sound that was unique yet highly accessible to those who heard it. Above all else, it is the carefully crafted subtleties within it that have made it such a highly referenced influence of such acts.
By Stuart Holmes in Clash, December 4, 2013

[Jirin]

Is there really a bias against electronic music? Anything that critics are actively raving about tends to get at least some love on this site, and the less hooky electronic stuff doesn't get as much critical attention. I think that some people, to varying extents, subconsciously question any urge they have to place things that don't get critical love on the same level as things that traditionally do. Like a subconscious 'Safety in numbers', seeing other people rave about something you like amplifies your positive feelings toward it, and seeing them rave about something you dislike amplifies your negative feelings (Yeah, guilty).

[DocBrown]

Number 45
Portishead
Dummy
1994

No. of Voters 30 Score 1683.55
Rank in AM 3000 68
Rank in 2011 Poll 53
Top Fans Henrik (2), Chambord (2), DaveC (8)

True, the constituents that make up much of this collection are easily traced – back to dub, to soul, and especially to hip hop; the array of scratch effects, loops and samples (the best being the slurry use of Johnnie Ray’s version of I’ll Never Fall in Love Again, on Biscuit) betraying its makers’ affections for very terrestrial traits. But it’s the manner in which the pieces come together that makes Dummy special to this day. While 16 years old, it sounds remarkably fresh – perhaps because its minimalist design has been recently returned to the Mercury winners circle by The xx; perhaps because the mixture of this backdrop with the vocals of Beth Gibbons remains one of pop music’s most compelling combinations.
While producer Geoff Barrow is the heart of Dummy, and Adrian Utley another just-as-vital organ, the soul is Gibbons.
By Mike Diver at BBC.co.uk, 2010

Number 44
Radiohead
The Bends
1995

No. of Voters 27 Score 1691.38
Rank in AM 3000 80
Rank in 2011 Poll 36
Top Fans Chambord (1), DaveC (3), Daniel (7)

The Bends was essentially split between these poles: warmth and tension; riffs and texture; rock and post-rock. The tricks employed by "Planet Telex" were rarely bested on it-- only arguably by "Just"-- while the "High & Dry" version of the band was topped at every turn here, especially on "Street Spirit (Fade Out") and "Fake Plastic Trees". Even B-sides such "Bishop's Robes" and "Talk Show Host" come close to matching "High".
To many fans, this more approachable and loveable version of the band is its peak. I can't agree, but the record is still a marvel. It feels, with hindsight, like a welcome retreat from the incessant back-patting and 60s worship of prime-period Britpop and a blueprint for the more feminine, emotionally engaging music that would emerge in the UK a few years later-- led by OK Computer.
By Scott Plagenhoef, from Pitchfork, April 16,2009

Number 43
Bob Dylan
Bringing It All Back Home
1965

No. of Voters 27 Score 1709.01
Rank in AM 3000 76
Rank in 2011 Poll 37
Top Fans Listyguy (4). Stephan (5), SJner (9), PlasticRam (10)

my songs are written with the kettledrum in mind/ a touch of any anxious color… i have given up at making any attempt at perfection/ the fact that the white house is filled with leaders that’ve never been to the apollo theatre amazes me. why allan ginsberg was not chosen t read poetry at the inauguration boggles my mind… I accept chaos. I am not sure whether it accepts me.
Bob Dylan, from the cover art

Number 42
Love
Forever Changes
1967

No. of Voters 27 Score 1714.39
Rank in AM 3000 52
Rank in 2011 Poll 33
Top Fans SJner (2), Otisredding (8), Harold (9)

A cult album, misunderstood and ignored when it was released. At the exact time (1967) and place (California) of hippie splendour there was Arthur Lee, a man who didn’t share that cosmic happiness. “Sitting on a hillside / watching all the people die / I’ll feel much better on the other side”. And he found the right way to express it, with acoustic guitars and strings. But nobody wanted to hear it at the time…
An RYM review by Honorio

Number 41
Stevie Wonder
Innervisions
1973

No. of Voters 26 Score 1715.51
Rank in AM 3000 46
Rank in 2011 Poll 16
Top Fans Sonofsamiam (2), Henry (8), Honorio (9)

The test for whether or not an album is a classic has more to do with lasting appeal and endurance than instant impact. In 1973 Stevie Wonder’s “Innervisions” hit hard immediately, first. America was grappling with racism, poverty and a rampant drug epidemic, among other issues. At 23, Wonder was already a seasoned musician with several albums released as a musical wiz kid and as a fresh-faced adult. With a newfound cultural awareness and drive to push society forward, Stevie was fearless in addressing all the aforementioned issues.
Now jump to present day. Songs like “Living for the City” and “Higher Ground” are still ripe anthems, particularly spot-on today in this post Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman era our nation’s in. Critically acclaimed, of-the-moment film “Fruitvale Station” -- about Bay-area Black man Oscar Grant, then 22, being wrongly gunned down by a white police officer -- could have easily been tracked to “Innervisions.”
Brad Wete, Billboard, August 3, 2013

[PlasticRam]

I was randomly thinking about this comment hours after I made it and only then it came to me that it was inappropriate. It's really just my opinion, I shouldn't have brought it to other people's attention especially here, and on top of it all I misspoke, the statement was slightly incorrect. So I'm just gonna say I'm sorry for any harm I may have caused, I will surely not bring up politics ever again on this sub-forum at least.

[bootsy]

The test for whether or not an album is a classic has more to do with lasting appeal and endurance than instant impact. In 1973 Stevie Wonder’s “Innervisions” hit hard immediately, first. America was grappling with racism, poverty and a rampant drug epidemic, among other issues. At 23, Wonder was already a seasoned musician with several albums released as a musical wiz kid and as a fresh-faced adult. With a newfound cultural awareness and drive to push society forward, Stevie was fearless in addressing all the aforementioned issues.
Now jump to present day. Songs like “Living for the City” and “Higher Ground” are still ripe anthems, particularly spot-on today in this post Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman era our nation’s in. Critically acclaimed, of-the-moment film “Fruitvale Station” -- about Bay-area Black man Oscar Grant, then 22, being wrongly gunned down by a white police officer -- could have easily been tracked to “Innervisions.”
Brad Wete, Billboard, August 3, 2013

Martin was beating Zimmerman MMA style when Zimmerman shot him. Sorry to stir up controversy, but I just had to comment on this cos I just watched like 60 hours of footage from that trial.

Yeah you certainly did that and you don't know what you are talking about AT ALL.

[Harold]

If you want to continue this discussion, please take it OFF THE ALBUM POLL RESULTS THREAD, PLEASE.

Thank you.

[DocBrown]

Number 40
The Doors
The Doors
1967

No. of Voters 30 Score 1725.25
Rank in AM 3000 27
Rank in 2011 Poll 59
Top Fans Jirin (4), SJner (17), Michel (20)

Light My Fire" was the cut that topped the charts and established the group as stars, but most of the rest of the album is just as impressive, including some of their best songs: the propulsive "Break on Through" (their first single), the beguiling Oriental mystery of "The Crystal Ship," the mysterious "End of the Night," "Take It as It Comes" (one of several tunes besides "Light My Fire" that also had hit potential), and the stomping rock of "Soul Kitchen" and "Twentieth Century Fox." The 11-minute Oedipal drama "The End" was the group at its most daring and, some would contend, overambitious. It was nonetheless a haunting cap to an album whose nonstop melodicism and dynamic tension would never be equaled by the group again
Review by Richie Unterberger at AllMusic

Number 39
Tom Waits
Rain Dogs
1985

No. of Voters 28 Score 1733.12
Rank in AM 3000 102
Rank in 2011 Poll 66
Top Fans Jirin (3), Nicolas (10), Chevisan (17), McJagger (17)

The middle album of the trilogy that includes Swordfishtrombones and Franks Wild Years, Rain Dogs is Waits's best overall effort. The songs are first-rate, and there are a lot of them - 19 in all, ranging from grim nightlife memoirs ("9th and Hennepin," "Singapore") to portraits of small-time hustlers ("Gun Street Girl," "Union Square") to bursts of street-corner philosophy ("Blind Love," "Time"). The album also contains the original version of "Downtown Train," which Rod Stewart turned into a smash hit. The image of "rain dogs" - animals who've lost their way home because the rain has washed away their scent - is an appropriate symbol for the entire cast of characters Waits has brought to life over the years, and this album has thus far proved to be his most enduring effort.
by Daniel Durcholz, quoted at tomwaits.com

Number 38
Neil Young
After the Gold Rush
1970

No. of Voters 30 Score 1754.64
Rank in AM 3000 48
Rank in 2011 Poll 22
Top Fans Jirin (5), Nicolas (11), Honorio (22)

This ornery, cussed aspect of Young's character has undoubtedly helped him surmount the various health problems that have assailed him through the years. As a child he was afflicted by polio, after which he was forced to learn how to walk again at the age of six; he has been troubled by epilepsy since his early 20s, has undergone several spinal surgeries, has been treated for a brain aneurysm, and still has trouble from a condition called hyperacusis, a hearing complaint that renders him overly sensitive to certain frequencies.
That could serve as an apt metaphor for Young's art, particularly the songwriting that seems to come so naturally to him. It's almost as if he's a human radio receiver, able to tune into events involuntarily, on an emotional level.
"I'm not sure that everything I write is mine," he has claimed. "I think some of it just comes through me. Writing is not like thinking: thinking involves logic, and when I'm writing a song, I try not to judge what I'm doing until I'm finished. I try to be open and follow the muse wherever it goes. And if it's not around, I don't push it. There's no sense in trying to fan a flame if there's no flame."
From an article by Andy Gill in The Independent, May 29, 2009

Number 37
The Strokes
Is This It
2001

No. of Voters 29 Score 1764.06
Rank in AM 3000 41
Rank in 2011 Poll 32
Top Fans Nick (8), MaximumBeef (11), Chambord (18)

Touted by the press as "the forefathers of a bold new era in rock," "the greatest rock band since the Rolling Stones" and "the second coming of the Velvet Underground," the Strokes have nowhere to go but out of style. And the album only came out last week! So why all the fanfare? Are they really that good? Of fucking course not. There is no bold new era in rock; the Rolling Stones have yet to be contended with; and if there ever is a second coming of the Velvet Underground, they won't be doing second-rate imitations of Lou Reed.
The Strokes are not deities. Nor are they "brilliant," "awe-inspiring," or "genius." They're a rock band, plain and simple. And if you go into this record expecting nothing more than that, you'll probably be pretty pleased. See, while I can't agree with the Strokes' messianic treatment, I'd be lying if I said I thought Is This It was anything other than a great rock record.
From a Ryan Schreiber review in Pitchfork, October 14, 2001

Number 36
The Beatles
Rubber Soul
1965

No. of Voters 28 Score 1764.06
Rank in AM 3000 29
Rank in 2011 Poll 17
Top Fans Stone37 (7), Whuntva (8), Bruno (9), Henry (10)

Lennon, whose personality and leadership has been strongly at the fore throughout the early Beatles, really raises his game on Rubber Soul, with such thoughtful, breakthrough classics as Norwegian Wood (which showcases Harrison on a sitar), Nowhere Man, Girl and the utterly majestic In My Life (replete with George Martin’s flighty harpsichord solo), surely one of the most perfect songs ever written.
Lyrically, McCartney lags behind, but in some ways his lighter, poppier songs help keep Rubber Soul fresh and bubbly, while his melodic bass-playing takes a huge leap forward, propelling everything. There is a crisp innocence about this album, a sense of sweet delight and joyful discovery.
By Neil McKinnon, The Telegraph, September 7, 2009

[Rocky Raccoon]

Rubber Soul was actually No. 17 in the 2011 poll, so this is a bit of a drop.

[Nick]

As much as I LOVE The Beatles, "Rubber Soul" is finally around where it deserves to be. The other four Beatles masterpieces are just a cut above "Rubber Soul", and the 35-40 range is much more fitting than the top 20 of all time.

[Maschine_Man]

Really enjoying the list so far, will be looking at it closer in the next few days. Happy to see 3 Bjork albums in the top 100!

On a sad note, Mark Bell (producer of all post-Homogenic Bjork albums & LFO member) has just passed away : (

[DocBrown]

Number 35
Miles Davis
Kind of Blue
1959

No. of Voters 27 Score 1781.93
Rank in AM 3000 44
Rank in 2011 Poll 26
Top Fans Schaefer.tk (2), DocBrown (4), Michel (8), Antonius (8), Chambord (8)

Kind of Blue flows with all the melodic warmth and sense of welcoming, wide-open vistas one hears in the most universal sort of song, all supported by a rigorous musical logic. For musicians, it has always been more than some beautiful music to listen to, although it’s certainly that. It’s also a how-to, a method for improvisers that shows them how to get at the pure melody… If we keep listening to it, again and again, throughout a lifetime – well, maybe that’s because we sense there’s still something more, something not yet heard.

Or maybe we just like paying periodic visits to heaven.
Robert Palmer, in the liner notes to the 1997 CD remaster

Number 34
The Rolling Stones
Let it Bleed
1969

No. of Voters 30 Score 1783.81
Rank in AM 3000 33
Rank in 2011 Poll 46
Top Fans Antonius (16), Stephan (18), Harold (24)

And yet it's the first and last of Let It Bleed that seem to matter most. The frightening desperation of "Gimmie Shelter" and the confused frustation of "You Can't Always Get What You Want" give the lie to the bravado of "Midnight Rambler" or "Live With Me." Not that those songs don't work — they do, of course, as crunching, soaring dreams of conquest and pop supremacy... It's a long way from "Get Off My Cloud" to "Gimmie Shelter," a long way from "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" to "You Can't Always Get What You Want."
"Gimmie Shelter" is a song about fear; it probably serves better than anything written this year as a passageway straight into the next few years. The band builds on the dark beauty of the finest melody Mick and Keith have ever written, slowly adding instruments and sounds until an explosively full presence of bass and drums rides on over the first crest of the song into the howls of Mick and a woman, Mary Clayton. … When Mary Clayton sings alone, so loudly and with so much force you think her lungs are bursting, Richard's frames her with jolting riffs that blaze past her and take it back to Mick. Their answer and their way out matches the power of the threat: "It's just a shot away, it's just a shot away ... it's just a kiss away, it's just a kiss away." The truly fearful omen of the music is that you know just a kiss won't be enough. This song, caught up in its own momentum, says you need the other too.
You remember the Stones' girls, the common, flirty (or was it "dirty"?) machine operator of "The Spider and the Fly," or for that matter the poor girl back home who said "when you've done your show go to bed"? They're all still here on Let It Bleed, with their masks on so you can use them — all the cooks and maids, upstairs and downstairs, in "Live With Me," or the presumably well-mangled victims of The Midnight Rambler. But the real women of this album seem to be women who can shout like Mary Clayton — gutty, strong, and tougher than any of the delightful leering figures that are jumping out of the old Stones' orgy. She can stand up to Mick and match him, and in fact, she steals the song.
By Greil Marcus in Rolling Stone, December 27, 1969

Number 33
Michael Jackson
Thriller
1982

No. of Voters 30 Score 1801.49
Rank in AM 3000 26
Rank in 2011 Poll 52
Top Fans BonnieLaurel (1), Bruno (3), Schaefer.tk (8)

For all its record-setting accomplishments, the thing which never ceases to amaze me is that Michael Jackson pulled off what is perhaps the rarest trick in any field: After more than a decade of being an absolutely huge superstar, top of his field, sure-thing Hall of Famer, etc., he somehow found an extra gear and suddenly transcended mere superstardom, redefining the very notion of how big someone in his field could be. Try imagining J.K. Rowling suddenly coming out with a series of books that were so much better and more popular than the Harry Potter books that they rendered them a mere footnote to her career and you'll get the idea of what Michael Jackson accomplished with "Thriller."
By Steve Greenberg in Billboard, November 29, 2012

Number 32
Fleetwood Mac
Rumours
1977

No. of Voters 28 Score 1850.42
Rank in AM 3000 58
Rank in 2011 Poll 68
Top Fans Daniel (16), Chambord (17), VanillaFire1000 (21)

It was also a bellwether of glimmering Californian possibility, the permissiveness and entitlement of the 70s done up in heavy harmonies. By the time it was made, the personal freedoms endowed by the social upheaval of the 60s had unspooled into unfettered hedonism. As such, it plays like a reaping: a finely polished post-hippie fallout, unaware that the twilight hour of the free love era was fixing and there would be no going back. In 1976, there was no knowledge of AIDS, Reagan had just left the governor's manse, and people still thought of cocaine as non-addictive and strictly recreational. Rumours is a product of that moment and it serves as a yardstick by which we measure just how 70s the 70s were.
And then there's the album's influence. Though it was seen as punk's very inverse, Rumours has enjoyed a long trickle-down of influence starting from the alt-rock-era embrace via Billy Corgan and Courtney Love to the harmonies and choogling of Bonnie "Prince" Billy and the earthier end of Beach House. Rumours set a template for pop with a gleaming surface that has something complicated, desperate, and dark resonating underneath.
Jessica Hopper in Pitchfork, February 8, 2013

Number 31
U2
The Joshua Tree
1987

No. of Voters 28 Score 1850.86
Rank in AM 3000 39
Rank in 2011 Poll 40
Top Fans Chris K (3), Rocky Racoon (12), Whuntva (13)

U2's sonic trademarks are here: the monumental angst of Bono's voice, the driving pulse of Adam Clayton's bass and Larry Mullen Jr.'s drums and the careening wail of the Edge's guitar. But for every predictably roaring anthem there's a spare, inventively arranged tune, such as "With or Without You," a rock & roll bolero that builds from a soothing beginning to a resounding climax.
The band still falls into some old traps: Bono's perpetually choked-up voice can sound overwrought and self-important; some of the images (fire and rain, say) start to lose their resonance after a dozen or so uses; and "Exit," a recited psychodrama about a killer, is awkward enough to remind you that not even Patti Smith could regularly pull off this sort of thing.
More than any other U2 album, though, The Joshua Tree has the power and allure to seduce and capture a mass audience on its own terms.
From a review by Steve Pond, Rolling Stone, April 9, 1987

[whuntva]

Ok. I KNOW I'm a biggest fan of Joshua Tree. I had it at #13, higher than GucciLittlePiggy's #14.

Just sayin'.

[Jirin]

Great to see Rain Dogs moving up.

I'm pretty sure I ranked it #3 though.

[Jackson]

As much as I LOVE The Beatles, "Rubber Soul" is finally around where it deserves to be. The other four Beatles masterpieces are just a cut above "Rubber Soul", and the 35-40 range is much more fitting than the top 20 of all time.

I wouldn't mind a further drop in the next poll...it still bested Forever Changes, Astral Weeks, Odessey and Oracle, Village Green etc., which IMO are far deeper 60s psychedelic albums.

[Jirin]

Rubber Soul currently lies at #182 at my list. I see it as a good album with great singles more than a great album. Like, I easily put Norwegian Wood, In My Life, If I Needed Someone toward the top of an all time list. But the pacing of the album is a little off and there's a lot of songs on the album that clunk a bit or just come off as 'Average Beatles'.

[DocBrown]

Number 30
The Rolling Stones
Beggars Banquet
1968

No. of Voters 29 Score 1857.72
Rank in AM 3000 28
Rank in 2011 Poll 39
Top Fans Stephan (6), Stone37 (8), Rocky Racoon (9)

Working for the first time with American producer Jimmy Miller, the Stones are here at their sharpest. Keith Richards reclaimed responsibility for the group after a troubled year, recording several basic tracks at home on cassette; hence the gloriously wonky backings on several cuts.
However, Beggars Banquet sometimes struggles to meet the standard set by Sympathy for the Devil, its opening track. From its shimmeringly effective piano, bass and conga introduction, its marriage of highly sensual music and provocative lyrics has to be one of the greatest in rock.
From a BBC review by Darryl Easlea, 2007

Number 29
Jimi Hendrix
Are You Experienced?
1967

No. of Voters 30 Score 1884.91
Rank in AM 3000 13
Rank in 2011 Poll 35
Top Fans Jirin (1), Rocky Racoon (3), Listyguy (3), Bruno (10)

It wouldn't have meant much, however, without his excellent material, whether psychedelic frenzy ("Foxey Lady," "Manic Depression," "Purple Haze"), instrumental freak-out jams ("Third Stone from the Sun"), blues ("Red House," "Hey Joe"), or tender, poetic compositions ("The Wind Cries Mary") that demonstrated the breadth of his songwriting talents. Not to be underestimated were the contributions of drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding, who gave the music a rhythmic pulse that fused parts of rock and improvised jazz. Many of these songs are among Hendrix's very finest; it may be true that he would continue to develop at a rapid pace throughout the rest of his brief career, but he would never surpass his first LP in terms of consistently high quality.
From a review by Richie Unterberger at AllMusic

Number 28
Marvin Gaye
What’s Going On
1971

No. of Voters 30 Score 1899.57
Rank in AM 3000 6
Rank in 2011 Poll 25
Top Fans Antonius (2), Schaefer.tk (2), Bruno (4), Nicolas (5)

After hearing a preliminary mix of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, with its unabashedly passive advocacy for peace and love, Motown head Berry Gordy refused to release the record. Gordy wasn't offended by Gaye's embrace of countercultural politics—Stevie Wonder had already released a few decidedly bleeding-heart singles such as "Heaven Help Us All" and a cover of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' In The Wind." No, what really offended his sensibilities (and caused him to infamously dub the LP "the worst record I've ever heard") was its absolute cohesiveness as an album. With What's Going On, Gaye presented to Gordy, who ran Motown as if it lived and died by the hit single, what might be considered the studio's first concept album.
By Eric Henderson in Slant, November 10, 2003

Number 27
The Rolling Stones
Sticky Fingers
1971

No. of Voters 29 Score 1908.27
Rank in AM 3000 47
Rank in 2011 Poll 38
Top Fans Listyguy (7), Honorio (8), Stone37 (11)

The man is a stylist as opposed to a singer. He has always lacked power and range: on 15 albums he has never really grabbed hold of a note and let it ring. At his best, he sings around the notes — plays with them — dancing in and out with precision.
Or, he can let himself go entirely, with no attempt at stylistic posturing and thereby achieving an almost incredibly naturalism. But, on "Wild Horses," there is a point in which the only thing that will work is a good note, well sung, sustained and sufficient to stand on its own. It is not to be found. A musical attitude is not a replacement for a musical style and style is not a replacement for essential technique, which is what is missing here.
…On Sticky Fingers, it doesn't really sound like they are doing what they want to. Play "Brown Sugar" and then play any opening cut from the first five albums. The early ones are sloppy, messy, and vulgar. They are brash and almost ruthless in their energy. And they sound real. By comparison "Brown Sugar," for all its formal correctness is an artifice. Ultimately they sound detached from it, as they do from all but a few things on Sticky Fingers.

From a review by Jon Landau in Rolling Stone, April 23, 1971

Number 26
Radiohead
Kid A
2000

No. of Voters 30 Score 1937.62
Rank in AM 3000 36
Rank in 2011 Poll 28
Top Fans Chris K (2), GucciLittlePiggy (2), Nick (11)

The unbearable heaviness of being Radiohead continues. Following the equivalent birth pains of a medium-sized galaxy, 'Kid A' arrives amidst the most fantastic stories of artistic constipation: abortive recording sessions, writer's block, band members wondering just what the hell it was they were meant to be doing, Doomsday scenarios around every corner. Seemingly overwhelmed by the exorbitant praise heaped upon 'OK Computer', Radiohead elected to get in touch with their avant-garde side, that time (dis)honoured escape clause in the white liberal rock star's lexicon of How To Deal With Success. But although they might disavow the process, Radiohead have been complicit in their own deification through sheer aptitude. Now, predictably, in attempting to reinvent themselves as a more elusive entity, they've made a record that by its mere existence will only heighten the intrigue and intensify their global cult.

From an NME review, September 12, 2005

[Live in Phoenix]

Man, regardless of my issues with Rolling Stone reviews nowadays (like idolatry toward the old rock heroes), their older reviews sound like they're pretentious college professors.

[Zorg]

Hehe. Goodbye Stones.

(P.S. Always amazed that Exile makes its way first every time in these sorts of polls. Though there was that one 70s poll I think where Sticky Fingers beat Exile, which made me very happy).

[Gillingham]

Hehe. Goodbye Stones.

(P.S. Always amazed that Exile makes its way first every time in these sorts of polls. Though there was that one 70s poll I think where Sticky Fingers beat Exile, which made me very happy).

They all climbed nicely compared to 2011. Hope the same holds true for Exile.

[DocBrown]

Number 25
The Rolling Stones
Exile on Main St.
1972

No. of Voters 30 Score 1982.82
Rank in AM 3000 7
Rank in 2011 Poll 29
Top Fans Gillingham (4), Antonius (6), Stephan (11)

For the purists among us, though, the original version of Exile on Main St, in all its ragged, full-on, rock'n'roll swagger, is all we need. "This is just a tree of life," said Tom Waits, when he selected it as one of his all-time favourite records a few years back. "This record is a watering hole." On the documentary, Caleb Followill from Kings of Leon is taken aback to discover the album was recorded in France. "I literally thought they were in Memphis, going out every night eating barbecue and partying." Which is exactly what it sounds like.
By Sean O’Hagan in The Observer, April 25, 2010

Number 24
Bob Dylan
Blood on the Tracks
1975

No. of Voters 30 Score 1994.82
Rank in AM 3000 20
Rank in 2011 Poll 20
Top Fans Otisredding (5), Stephan (10), Henry (11)

I got the distinct feeling Bob wasn’t concentrating,” (Eric) Weissberg recalled, “that he wasn’t interested in perfect takes. He’d been drinking a lot of wine; he was a little sloppy. But he insisted on moving forward, getting onto the next song without correcting obvious mistakes.”
The half-cut legend’s disdain for studio convention was driven home to a shocked Weissberg when they listened to a playback of their first effort, “Simple Twist Of Fate”: “In the middle of it all, Bob starts running down the second song for us. He couldn’t have cared less about the sound of what we had just done. We were totally confused, because he was trying to teach us a new song with another one playing in the background.” Weissberg, a session veteran, tried to stay calm. “I was thinking to myself, ‘Just remember, Eric, this guy’s a genius. Maybe this is the way geniuses operate.’”
By Nick Hasted in Uncut, January 2005