Snarf Zagyg
Notorious Liquefactionist
The theme of the thread is about essential albums. Albums construction in it's entirety and not just good artists and/or tracks. Many on this list are so narrow in scope that albums will land on it, not because they are great start to finish, but due to lack of option/competition.
I mean, lets take top 10 women pop singers post 2015. I can maybe think of one album in this category. A lot of music isn't produced by the album anymore but by the single. So, selection will be more based on the most hits than by having a great album. In spirit of the thread, its likely even more difficult than just a top 10 albums of all genres, IMO.
When you think of it in terms of great albums, you can weed out many great artists and albums because often singles are easier to produce. Thinking in entire album terms, actually makes this assignment easier than folks think, while still being very challenging.
I think that this is an important element - or it was for me. To be honest, it does rule out a lot early music IMO, since the "album" as a technological concept didn't arrive until the 50s and as an artistic concept (as opposed to singles, put together) until the 60s.
Arguably, the rise of streaming has led to a decline in the "essential" nature of the album. I think that many artists today still put out cohesive albums, influenced by the past, but I'm not sure how long that will continue.
Anyway, it was decidedly necessary for me to think about the album as a whole as opposed to just good music- they are very different things.