Favorite CDs

Artist Album Title Best Song My Thoughts

AC/DC	Back in Black	You Shook Me All Night Long	The best heavy metal album of all time.
The Band	The Band		The origins of roots rock.
Barenaked Ladies	Gordon	Brian Wilson	Stunning debut album, never to be equalled by the band.
The Beach Boys	Pet Sounds	God Only Knows	Wilson's arrangements and production inspired Sgt. Pepper's and augured in a new era of rock music.
The Beatles	Rubber Soul	In My Life	One amazing songs after another.
The Beatles	Revolver	Here, There and Everywhere	Almost the equal to Rubber Soul.
The Beatles	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band	A Day in the Life	Studio wizardry at its best; regretfully helped launch Prog Rock.
The Beatles	Abbey Road	Here Comes the Sun	Most fully realized Beatles album. Side two makes art out of frustrated songwriting ideas.
The Beatles	The Beatles	Blackbird	At times disjointed, this remains an overwhelming tour de force by the greatest band of all time in the midst of implosion.
David Bowie	The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars	Moonage Daydream	Exploration of alienation (cheap pun) and sexuality that inspired artists of every genre.
David Bowie	Hunky Dory	Changes	Delightfully understated (for Bowie) album of great songs.
Billy Bragg	Talking to the Taxman About Poetry	Greetings to the New Brunette	Wonderful mix of the personal and the political, and a big musical step forward for the Barking Bard.
Billy Bragg	Worker's Playtime	Must I Paint You a Picture	One of the greatest break-up albums of all-time, featuring razor sharp lyrics and superb production.
Jackson Browne	Saturate Before Using	Doctor My Eyes	Great debut album for the prototypical sensitive singer-songwriter (well, see James Taylor too).
The Byrds			Roger McGuinn's 12-string and David Crosby's harmonies influenced countless artists.
Tracy Chapman	Tracy Chapman	Fast Car	Impassioned debut.
Eric Clapton	Slowhand	Lay Down Sally	Strongest effort by best guitar player of all time.
The Clash	The Clash	Career Opportunities	Combining the punk ethos with political lyrics and intelligence, The Clash were the best band of the 1970s.
The Clash	London Calling	Lost in the Supermarket	The best punk album of all time.
Lloyd Cole	Love Story	Like Lovers Do	Uncharacteristally upbeat effort, with tasteful production and unstoppable melodic hooks.
The Connells	Ring	'74-'75	The stars must have aligned as this effort far outshines everything else they've ever done.
Elvis Costello	My Aim Is True	Alison	The greatest debut album of all time.
Elvis Costello	Armed Forces	(What's So Funny About) Peace, Love and Understanding	Less misogynistic vitriol than his other early efforts and enough lyrical wit for an entire career.
Elvis Costello	King of America	Brilliant Mistake	Declan McManus says goodbye to Elvis and hello to domestic bliss. My very favorite album.
Elvis Costello	Spike	God's Comic	Another tour de force. A bit uneven, but every song is inspired.
Elvis Costello	All This Useless Beauty	All This Useless Beauty	Songs originally written by EC for other singers. Stellar production and stupendous vocal performances.
Counting Crows	August and Everything After	Anna Begins	Adam Duritz can be overwrought at times, but his passion seems genuine and his performances and lyrics here are remarkable.
Creedence Clearwater Revival	Willie and the Poor Boys	Down on the Corner	Fogerty copped a bogus Bayou image, but it worked against all odds. Simply great stuff.
Marshall Crenshaw	Marshall Crenshaw	There She Goes Again	One perfect power pop gem after another.
Crosby, Stills and Nash	Crosby, Stills and Nash
Duran Duran	Rio	Save a Prayer	Not just a bunch of pretty boys, this album is terrific.
Bob Dylan	The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan	Don't Think Twice, It's All Right	The greatest political album of all time.
Bob Dylan	Another Side of Bob Dylan	My Back Pages	Don't put him in a box -- THE album which allowed songwriters to write intensely personal lyrics.
Bob Dylan	Blonde on Blonde	One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)	Contains some of the most fully realized lyrics of his career.
Bob Dylan	Highway 61 Revisited	Like a Rolling Stone	Dylan electrifies the world.
Bob Dylan	Bringing It All Back Home	It's All Over Now, Baby Blue	Dylan at his peak.
Bob Dylan	Blood on the Tracks	Tangled Up in Blue	His one truly amazing achievement in the 1970s.
Marvin Gaye	What's Goin' On	What's Goin' On	The best R&B album of all time is also profound and political.
Emmylou Harris	Wrecking Ball	Sweet Old World	Daniel Lanois' production and Emmylou's heartbreaking vocals are simply stunning.
Jimi Hendrix	Are You Experienced? or Electric Ladyland
John Hiatt	Slow Turning	Slow Turning	Here's the story of a man who plumbed the depths only to survive and find happiness.
The Housemartins	The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death	I Can't Put My Finger On It	80s Brit Pop at its best. Devilish lyrics to boot.
Indigo Girls	Rites of Passage	The Power of Two	Most fully realized effort their career. Wonderful production.
Joe Jackson	Look Sharp!	Sunday Papers	Great New Wave, delicious lyrical bite.
The Jam	All Mod Cons	David Watts	Only other punk band besides the Clash whose lyrics mean anything.
The Jayhawks	Tomorrow the Green Grass	Blue	Heartland harmonies hard to beat.
Billy Joel	The Stranger	Scenes From an Italian Restaurant	Although the Nylon Curtain was great, this was the peak of his career which would be mostly ruined by too much fame.
Elton John	Goodbye Yellow Brick Road	Harmony	So many classic songs, it makes the list despite the filler.
Carole King	Tapestry	It's Too Late	Brilliant songwriting.
Led Zeppelin	Led Zeppelin IV	Misty Mountain Hop	Although I can't listen to it anymore, a stellar achievement.
Lyle Lovett	Lyle Lovett and His Large Band	I Married Her Just Because She Looks Like You	Bravura melding of blues, country, folk and pop.
Paul McCartney	Band on the Run	Band on the Run	Almost as good as the Beatles.
Joni Mitchell	Blue		Inspired every female singer-songwriter since its release.
Van Morrison	Astral Weeks
Van Morrison	Moondance	Moondance	It doesn't get much better than this.
Moxy Fruvous	Bargainville	B.J. Don't Cry	Hilarious, political and great four-part harmonies.
Nirvana	Nevermind	Smells Like Teen Spirit	The album that killed hair metal.
Graham Parker	Squeezing Out Sparks	You Can't Be Too Strong	Acid-tongued pub rock at its best.
Pink Floyd	Dark Side of the Moon	Brain Damage	A sonic adventure.
Pink Floyd	The Wall	Comfortably Dumb	Best concept album of all time.
The Police	Outlandos d'Amour	So Lonely	Great debut mixing pop, punk and ska.
Prince	Sign o' the Times	I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man	Magnum opus in a career of brilliant work.
Queen	A Night at the Opera	Bohemian Rhapsody	More genres represented on this album than any I've ever heard.
Radiohead	The Bends	High and Dry	Best rock album of the 90s.
Radiohead	O.K. Computer	Paranoid Android	This band is in another universe compared to everyone else in music today.
Lou Reed	New York	Dirty Blvd.	Brutal, stark and powerful.
R.E.M.	Murmur	Talk About the Passion	My favorite R.E.M. album -- unpolished but utterly charming.
R.E.M.	Automatic For the People	Nightswimming	Powerful ruminations on AIDS and death.
The Rolling Stones	Exile on Main Street	Tumbling Dice	Before Mick becamea caricature of himself.
Simon and Garfunkel	Bookends	America	If only we could freeze time and have them make 5 more albums like this.
Simon and Garfunkel	Bridge Over Troubled Water	Cecelia	Great swan song.
Elliott Smith	XO	Waltz #2 (XO)	More tales of beautiful losers, this time in Beatlesque grandeur.
The Smiths	The Queen Is Dead	Cemetery Gates	More of a singles band than an album band, this was their best effort. Positively droll.
The Specials	The Specials	A Message to You Rudy	Best ska album of all time.
Bruce Springsteen	Born to Run	Thunder Road	His best album.
Bruce Springsteen	Greetings From Asbury Park
Bruce Springsteen	Darkness of the Edge of Town	Badlands	It's not Born to Run, but it's close.
Squeeze	East Side Story	In Quintessence	One great pop gem after another.
Steely Dan	Aja	Josie	At times a bit self-indulgent, but always challenging and inventive.
Cat Stevens	Tea For the Tillerman	Father and Son	Unique voice, shame about the conversion (and subsequent end of career).
Sting	...Nothing Like the Sun	Englishman in New York	Career best just before Rod Stewart-like descent.
Supertramp	Breakfast in America	Goodbye Stranger	First album I ever owned. Still great.
Matthew Sweet	Girlfriend	Girlfriend	Power pop doesn't get better than this.
Talking Heads	Remain in Light
James Taylor	Sweet Baby James
Richard and Linda Thompson	Shoot Out the Lights	The Wall of Death	Haunting lyrics and performances.
Richard and Linda Thompson	I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
U2	War	New Year's Day	War is indeed raw, but terrific.
U2	The Joshua Tree	In God's Country	Tour de force.
The Velvet Underground and Nico	The Velvet Underground and Nico	There She Goes Again	Seminal album influencing all future (truly) alternative musicians.
Loudon Wainwright III	History	The Picture	Confessional folk album is a stunning achievement.
Tom Waits	The Heart of Saturday Night	Please Call Me Baby	He may be a drunken slob, but he's a genius.
The Who	Tommy	Sally Simpson	The second best concept album of all time. Loads of fun.
The Who	Who's Next	Behind Blue Eyes	This isn't a greatest hits album?
Stevie Wonder	Innervisions
Stevie Wonder	Songs in the Key of Life
World Party	Goodbye Jumbo	Put the Message in the Box	The Beatles meet the Stones meet Dylan.
Neil Young	Harvest	Old Man
Neil Young	Rust Never Sleeps