Recommended Albums

Albums - remember those? No, not necessarily vinyl - I prefer CDs. But I'm talking about a well thought-out and well put-together set of songs by a single artist or group. This is an evolving list of albums that I recommend you check out. These are the "best of the best" - it's a bit of a cop out to just say "everything by Bob Dylan", etc. They are ranked (somewhat roughly) within the year of release. If you seem to like the same types of music and have a recommendation, let me know! -- moehlis@engineering.ucsb.edu

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  • Pre-1967
    Moondog [Prestige] (1956)
    Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959)
    Beatles - Help! (1965)
    Beatles - Rubber Soul (1965)
    Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
    The Byrds - Turn! Turn! Turn! (1965)
    Beatles - Revolver (1966)

  • 1967
    1. Velvet Underground & Nico
    2. Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced?
    3. The Doors - The Doors
    4. Pink Floyd - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
    5. Cream - Disraeli Gears
    6. Jimi Hendrix - Axis: Bold as Love
    7. Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat
    8. Nico - Chelsea Girl
    9. Country Joe and the Fish - Electric Music for Mind and Body
    10. Love - Forever Changes
    11. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
    12. Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow
    13. The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour
    14. Moby Grape - Moby Grape
    15. Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding
    16. Vanilla Fudge - Vanilla Fudge
    17. Jefferson Airplane - After Bathing at Baxter's
    18. Captain Beefheart - Safe as Milk
    19. Kaleidoscope [UK] - Tangerine Dream

  • 1968
    1. The Beatles - White Album
    2. Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
    3. The Kinks - The Village Green Preservation Society
    4. Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen
    5. Pink Floyd - A Saucerful of Secrets
    6. Wendy Carlos - Switched On Bach
    7. United States of America - United States of America
    8. Traffic - Traffic
    9. The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
    10. Taj Mahal - The Natch'l Blues
    11. Cream - Wheels of Fire
    12. The Soft Machine - Volume One
    13. Jefferson Airplane - Crown of Creation
    14. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
    15. Silver Apples - Silver Apples
    16. The Electric Prunes - Mass in F Minor
    17. Dr. John - Gris-Gris
    18. The Electric Prunes - Release of an Oath

  • 1969
    1. The Beatles - Abbey Road
    2. The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground
    3. Frank Zappa - Hot Rats
    4. The Who - Tommy
    5. Miles Davis - In a Silent Way
    6. Fairport Convention - Liege & Lief
    7. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
    8. The Kinks - Arthur
    9. Fairport Convention - Unhalfbricking
    10. Sly and the Family Stone - Stand
    11. Led Zeppelin - II
    12. Van Der Graaf Generator - The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other
    13. The Stooges - The Stooges
    14. Led Zeppelin - I
    15. Can - Monster Movie
    16. Crosby, Stills & Nash - Crosby, Stills & Nash
    17. Terry Riley - Rainbow in Curved Air
    18. Kevin Ayers - Joy of a Toy
    19. The Soft Machine - Volume Two
    20. Jefferson Airplane - Volunteers
    21. Alice Cooper - Pretties For You
    22. Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
    23. Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies - The American Metaphysical Circus
    24. Euphoria - Gift from Euphoria
    25. The Flying Burrito Brothers - The Gilded Palace of Sin
    26. Kaleidoscope [US] - Incredible!

  • 1970
    1. Miles Davis - A Tribute to Jack Johnson
    2. The Move - Shazam
    3. Spirit - Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus
    4. The Velvet Underground - Loaded
    5. John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band
    6. The Stooges - Fun House
    7. The Beatles - Let It Be
    8. The Who - Live at Leeds
    9. Jethro Tull - Benefit
    10. John Cale - Vintage Violence
    11. Syd Barrett - The Madcap Laughs
    12. John McLaughlin - Devotion
    13. Can - Tago Mago
    14. Grateful Dead - American Beauty
    15. George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
    16. Kris Kristofferson - Kristofferson
    17. The Kinks - Lola vs. the Powerman & the Money-Go-Round, Pt. 1
    18. Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother
    19. Van Der Graaf Generator - H to He, Who Am the Only One
    20. Grateful Dead - Workingman's Dead
    21. Magma - Magma
    22. Nick Drake - Bryter Layter
    23. Popol Vuh - Affenstunde
    24. Tangerine Dream - Electronic Meditation
    25. Yes - Time and a Word
    26. Led Zeppelin - III
    27. Syd Barrett - Barrett
    28. Tim Buckley - Starsailor

  • 1971
    1. Led Zeppelin - IV
    2. Jethro Tull - Aqualung
    3. John Cale - Church of Anthrax
    4. Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
    5. Eugene McDaniels - Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse
    6. Flower Travellin' Band - Satori
    7. Van Der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts
    8. David Bowie - Hunky Dory
    9. Serge Gainsbourg - Histoire de Melody Nelson
    10. Roy Harper - Stormcock
    11. Genesis - Nursery Cryme
    12. The Who - Who's Next
    13. Brainticket - Cottonwoodhill
    14. Pink Fairies - Neverneverland
    15. Kevin Ayers - Whatevershebringswesing
    16. T. Rex - Electric Warrior
    17. Leo Kottke - 6- and 12- String Guitar
    18. Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
    19. Kraftwerk - 1
    20. Faust - Faust
    21. Leo Kottke - Mudlark
    22. Ash Ra Tempel - Ash Ra Tempel

  • 1972
    1. David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
    2. Faust - So Far
    3. Big Star - #1 Record
    4. Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick
    5. Matching Mole - Matching Mole
    6. Aphrodite's Child - 666
    7. Lou Reed - Transformer
    8. Wendy Carlos - A Clockwork Orange
    9. Yes - Fragile
    10. Budgie - Squawk
    11. Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire
    12. Lou Reed - Lou Reed
    13. Can - Ege Bamyasi
    14. T. Rex - The Slider
    15. Deep Purple - Machine Head
    16. Miles Davis - On the Corner
    17. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
    18. Roxy Music - Roxy Music
    19. Neu! - Neu!
    20. Nick Drake - Pink Moon
    21. Cluster II
    22. Van Dyke Parks - Discover America

  • 1973
    1. Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
    2. Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
    3. Lou Reed - Berlin
    4. King Crimson - Larks' Tongues in Aspic
    5. Jethro Tull - A Passion Play
    6. Robert Fripp and Brian Eno - No Pussyfooting
    7. Hawkwind - Space Ritual
    8. Gong - Flying Teapot
    9. The Who - Quadrophenia
    10. Magma - Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh
    11. The Stooges - Raw Power
    12. Genesis - Selling England by the Pound
    13. Faust - Faust IV
    14. Vangelis - Earth
    15. The Cosmic Jokers - The Cosmic Jokers
    16. Faust - The Faust Tapes
    17. Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
    18. Todd Rundgren - A Wizard/A True Star
    19. Kevin Ayers - Bananamour
    20. Rick Wakeman - The Six Wives of Henry VIII
    21. Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company - "
    22. Gong - Angel's Egg
    23. Shaun Harris - "

  • 1974
    1. King Crimson - Red
    2. Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom
    3. Peter Hammill - In Camera
    4. Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
    5. Yes - Relayer
    6. Jorma Kaukonen - Quah
    7. Harmonia - Harmonia
    8. Roxy Music - Country Life
    9. Yahowha 13 - I'm Gonna Take You Home
    10. Utopia - Todd Rundgren's Utopia
    11. Big Star - Radio City
    12. Miles Davis - Dark Magus
    13. Yahowha 13 - Penetration: An Aquarian Symphony
    14. Be Bop Deluxe - Axe Victim
    15. Popol Vuh - Einjager & Siebenjager
    16. Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets
    17. Gong - You
    18. Jackson Browne - Late for the Sky
    19. Magma - Kohntarkosz
    20. Father Yod and the Spirit of '76 - Contraction
    21. Glen Campbell - Reunion: The Songs of Jimmy Webb

  • 1975
    1. Brian Eno - Another Green World
    2. Mike Oldfield - Ommadawn
    3. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
    4. Magma - Live
    5. The Dictators - Go Girl Crazy!
    6. Patti Smith - Horses
    7. Shakti - Shakti With John McLaughlin
    8. Neil Young - Tonight's the Night
    9. Neu! - Neu! '75
    10. Chris Bell - I Am The Cosmos
    11. Kraftwerk - Radio-Activity
    12. Van Der Graaf Generator - Godbluff
    13. Jethro Tull - Minstrel in the Gallery
    14. Budgie - Bandolier
    15. Elton John - Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy

  • 1976
    1. Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygene
    2. The Modern Lovers - The Modern Lovers
    3. David Bowie - Station to Station
    4. La Dusseldorf - La Dusseldorf
    5. 801 - Live
    6. The Ramones - The Ramones

  • 1977
    1. Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks
    2. Wire - Pink Flag
    3. Television - Marquee Moon
    4. David Bowie - Low
    5. Pink Floyd - Animals
    6. The Damned - Damned, Damned, Damned
    7. Richard Hell and the Voidoids - Blank Generation
    8. The Clash - The Clash
    9. Iggy Pop - Lust for Life
    10. The Stranglers - No More Heroes
    11. Suicide - Suicide
    12. Hawkwind - Quark, Strangeness and Charm
    13. The Stranglers - Rattus Norvegicus
    14. Tim Blake - Crystal Machine

  • 1978
    1. The Rutles - The Rutles
    2. Siouxsie and the Banshees - The Scream
    3. X-Ray Spex - Germ Free Adolescents
    4. Kraftwerk - The Man-Machine
    5. Brian Eno - Music For Airports
    6. Jay Ferguson - Thunder Island
    7. La Dusseldorf - Viva
    8. Johnny Thunders - So Alone
    9. Jean Michel Jarre - Equinoxe
    10. Kate Bush - Kick Inside
    11. Plastic People of the Universe - Egon Bondy's Happy Heart Club Banned
    12. This Heat - This Heat
    13. The Rezillos - Can't Stand the Rezillos

  • 1979
    1. Pink Floyd - The Wall
    2. Robert Fripp - Exposure
    3. The Clash - London Calling
    4. Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
    5. The Damned - Machine Gun Ettiquette
    6. Gang of Four - Entertainment!
    7. The B-52's - The B-52's

  • 1980
    1. Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
    2. X - Los Angeles
    3. Talking Heads - Remain in Light
    4. Feelies - Crazy Rhythms
    5. Public Image Ltd. - Second Edition
    6. Holger Czukay - Movies
    7. Joy Division - Closer
    8. Suicide - The Second Album
    9. The Pretenders - The Pretenders
    10. Daryl Hall - Sacred Songs

  • Post-1980
    King Crimson - Discipline (1981)
    The Raincoats - Odyshape (1981)
    Brian Eno/David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981)
    X - Wild Gift (1981)
    Glenn Branca - The Ascension (1981)
    Rush - Moving Pictures (1981)
    Leo Kottke - Guitar Music (1981)
    Nick Mason - Fictitious Sports (1981)
    Laurie Anderson - Big Science (1982)
    Lou Reed - The Blue Mask (1982)
    Descendents - Milo Goes to College (1982)
    Terry Riley - Descending Moonshine Dervishes (1983)
    Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes (1983)
    New Order - Power, Corruption & Lies (1983)
    Rolling Stones - Undercover (1983)
    Husker Du - Zen Arcade (1984)
    The Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime (1984)
    Jean Michel Jarre - Zoolook (1984)
    Univers Zero - Uzed (1984)
    Replacements - Let It Be (1984)
    Laurie Anderson - United States Live (1984)
    Metallica - Ride the Lightning (1984)
    The Raincoats - Moving (1984)
    Meat Puppets - II (1984)
    The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace (1985)
    Marillion - Misplaced Childhood (1985)
    Plasticland - Plasticland (1985)
    Meat Puppets - Up On the Sun (1985)
    Ryuichi Sakamoto - Esperanto (1985)
    Yngwie Malmsteen - Marching Out (1985)
    Butthole Surfers - Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac (1985)
    Firehose - Ragin', Full-On (1986)
    Killdozer - 12 Point Buck (1987)
    Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me (1987)
    Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking (1988)
    Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (1988)
    Lard - Power Of Lard [EP] (1988)
    Indigo Girls - Indigo Girls (1989)
    Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique (1989)
    Philip Glass - Solo Piano (1989)
    Mike Oldfield - Amarok (1990)
    Lard - Last Temptation of Reid (1990)
    David Borden - The Continuing Story of Counterpoint, Parts 1-4+ (1990)
    Megadeth - Rust In Peace (1990)
    House of Large Sizes - Heat Miser (1990)
    Jane's Addiction - Ritual de lo Habitual (1990)
    My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (1991)
    Slint - Spiderland (1991)
    Nirvana - Nevermind (1991)
    Pearl Jam - Ten (1991)
    Stereolab - Peng (1992)
    Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine (1992)
    PJ Harvey - Dry (1992)
    Nirvana - In Utero (1993)
    Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville (1993)
    The Flaming Lips - Transmissions from the The Satellite Heart (1993)
    Suede - Suede (1993)
    The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream (1993)
    Elektric Music - Esperanto (1994)
    Radiohead - The Bends (1995)
    Royal Trux - Thank You (1995)
    Radiohead - OK Computer (1997)
    Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998)
    Radiohead - Kid A (2000)
    Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump (2000)
    Dictators - D.F.F.D. (2001)
    Air - 10,000 Hz Legend (2001)
    Brian Wilson - Smile (2004)
    Radiohead - In Rainbows (2007)
    Flight of the Conchords - Flight of the Conchords (2008)
    Fleet Foxes - " (2008)

  • Honorable Mention:
    Fela Kuti - I find it difficult to rank Fela's albums, all of which, that I've heard at least, are remarkable. Well, someday I hope to work them into the above listings.

  • Some Great Compilations:
    Sandy Bull - Re-Inventions
    Simon and Garfunkel - Collected Works
    Mott the Hoople - Ballad of Mott: A Retrospective
    Birdsongs of the Mesozoic - Dawn of the Cycads