Payn's Ponderings... Top 10 Essential Albums

[payn]

Greetings,

So, local public radio channel The Current is doing their spring drive. They collect ballots from listeners and the public and compile a list to play on the radio/stream for a week as they count down. It's a lot of fun listening to see when your songs/albums drop. In the past they have done; top 893 debut albums, top 893 songs of all time, top 893 bands, etc...

This year it is top essential albums of all time. The ballot only allows 10 (which is very very difficult to come down to for me...) so for this thread that's our rule. What are your top 10 essential albums of all time. (By essential I'm guessing it's albums you cant live without. What are you taking to your deserted island?) This is about albums so keep that in mind as the complete work and not just folks you really like!

Mine.

1. Tom Waits-Rain Dogs
2. George Harrison-All Things Must Pass
3. Led zeppelin II
4. Beastie Boys-Paul's Boutique
5. Pharcyde-Bizarre Ride II
6. Wilco-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
7. Buena Vista Social Club
8. Johnny Cash-American Music Vol. IV
9. Dwight Yokham Guitars, Cadillacs, etc...etc...
10. B-52's-Self Titled

*I reserve the right to change this for the next week or so while I have time to change my Current ballot.

Cheers!

Complied playlist

 

[Jacob Lewis]

Sure, I'll play.

These are the albums I go back to year after year and keep in the rotation. I never tire of hearing them, and I always get the same emotional response and/or satisfaction when I listen to them. (And in no particular order.)

1. Megadeth - Rust in Peace
2. Skid Row - Slave to the Grind
3. Amon Amarth - Twilight of the Thunder God
4. Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death
5. Judas Priest - Painkiller
6. AC/DC - Fly on the Wall
7. Lamb of God - Sacrament
8. Fear Factory - Genexus
9. Suicidal Tendencies - Suicidal for Life
10. Anthrax - Sound of White Noise

Damn! I knew 10 wouldn't be enough... we're gonna need a bigger island.

 

[Hex08]

Not necessarily in order, and not using any greatest hits albums:
1. Nirvana - Nevermind
2. Metalica - The Black Album
3. Flogging Molly - Drunken Lullabies
4. Billy Joel - Glass Houses
5. Ramones - Ramones
6. Guns n' Roses - Appetite for Destruction
7. Aerosmith - Toys in the Attic
8. U2 - Rattle and Hum
9. Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies (almost went with From the Inside)
10. Fleetwood Mac - Rumors

Honestly, there are so many albums I love that a top 10 list is hard to come up with

 

[Cadence]

Are greatest hits albums cheating?

 

[payn]

Are greatest hits albums cheating?

Kinda, but if a particular greatest hits album is so good its on your top 10 best albums go for it. I'll blow a raspberry if all 10 on your list are greatest hits tho

 

[Jacob Lewis]

Are greatest hits albums cheating?

Yes. Yes, it is.

 

[Cadence]

Kinda, but if a particular greatest hits album is so good its on your top 10 best albums go for it. I'll blow a raspberry if all 10 on your list are greatest hits tho

Probably half the albums I ever owned (CD, Cassette, etc...) were greatest hits ones. But I can see which originals had the highlights.

 

[payn]

Probably half the albums I ever owned (CD, Cassette, etc...) were greatest hits ones. But I can see which originals had the highlights.

As a good exercise, perhaps start with your favorite greatest hits and then look through that artist's catalogue. Find the album that has the most songs you like. Give it a listen and see if that a good selection.

I know its out of fashion now, but I'm a big fan of the album.

 

[Mallus]

Are soundtracks & cast albums allowed?

 

[payn]

Are soundtracks & cast albums allowed?

Oh absolutely! Now I have to consider if the Singles soundtrack can bump anything on my list