Your Top 5 Favorite Rock Albums Of All-Time

[Mirror Image]

I figured this might be a neat idea for a thread (perhaps not ). Anyway, I'd love to see all of your lists for your 'Top 5 Favorite Rock Albums'. Also, if you want (certainly not necessary), but I'd love to know why you chose each album and what personal significance they have had in your life.

I suppose I'll go first...

(In no particular order)

1. Genesis: Wind & Wuthering



This may have been the first Genesis I heard properly (I could be misremembering of course). My dad played this for me on LP and back then he had quite a sweet stereo setup (he still does, but his record player isn't hooked up). By the opening measures of Eleventh Earl of Mar I was absolutely floored. It was so unlike any rock music I had heard before. The music was sophisticated, deeply emotional, complex, harmonically opulent, but there was this feeling of wistfulness that permeated much of this album. Of course, I would go on to become a full-fledged Genesis fan by backtracking and hearing the Gabriel albums, which also blew my mind, but in a different way than Wind & Wuthering did. I always look upon this album with great fondness as it represents a time of musical discovery for me not only as a listener, but also as a guitarist and percussionist (in the junior high band).

2. King Crimson: Beat



After becoming enamored by Genesis' Wind & Wuthering (and discovering the rest of their albums), this album from King Crimson was another revelation. My dad told me my guitar playing around this time reminded him of Robert Fripp and, of course, naturally, my reaction was "Robert who?" Neal And Jack And Me opened Beat and I was hooked immediately. All of these polyrhythmic things that were happening in this music and not to mention the general weirdness of it was what drew me in. Then came on the 'love song', if you will, Heartbeat. Here was a strange piece of music disguised as a 'pop song'. I had just never heard anything like it. By the time the album reached Waiting Man, I truly felt that this was some of the most brilliant rock music I had ever heard and I still feel this way 22 years later.

3. Pink Floyd: Animals



This was one of those albums that I had to take in small doses initially as I didn't quite like it like The Wall or Dark Side of the Moon. I suppose a part of this was the fact that I simply didn't 'get it'. It was densely layered, aggressive, and turbulent. I heard this album when I was 15 or 16 and it took me until I was about 21 or so to understand it. I wouldn't say it's better than The Wall, but it has affected me on a more personal level than any Pink Floyd and this is why I single it out as being one of those albums that has proven to be something I needed to grow with, because I did feel something unique and intense in the music. It's now my favorite Floyd album, but it did take me a long time to appreciate, and, eventually, love it.

4. The Police: Synchronicity



Here was another band that have always found a way to get under my skin --- somehow. I think they're one of the most intelligent and gifted 'pop' bands of any generation. It's amusing The Police started off as a punk band, but when they brought guitarist Andy Summers in, the dynamic of the music and the band itself changed. Summers brought a jazz sophistication to the band and, harmonically, this is why I was attracted to this band. They were doing things in the span of 3-4 minutes that most bands could never pull in that kind of timeframe. Synchronicity remains my favorite album of theirs and, of course, there are a few songs I don't like (Mother and Walking In Your Footsteps), but the rest of the album, especially 'side two' is incredible. This is an album that has never been kept too far away from my CD player.

5. Steve Hackett: Voyage of the Acolyte



I'll let my review here do the talking. And, no, I'm not trying to sneak in another Genesis album.

[Ken B]

I don't have 5. I might scrounge up a few if I try, cheating with greatest hits albums.

Pet Sounds

Greatest Hits, Depeche Mode

Gold Records, Elvis Presley


The Presley was a constant companion in from age 11, partly due to a girlfriend. The Beach Boys are the only rock group I listened more to after high school than during, and PS is just the greatest rock album.

[San Antone]

I agree about Pet Sounds, great album and my #1 favorite.  Next on my list would be Revolver.  I often think of these records together since they came out within months of each other and I must have bought them at the same time because I can remember listening to them back to back.

Next would be Something Else by The Kinks.  I liked The Kinks more than any of the other British bands, with the exception of The Beatles, at the time.  The song "Waterloo Sunset" is just magnificent and its appearance on this record was enough to get it on my list.  Jimi Hendrix's Are you Experienced? and Led Zeppelin I finish out my list of five.

But as with Ken, Pet Sounds is the album of all these that I listen to more than the others.  I'll also add that all of these bands made records which I could have substituted on this list.

[Karl Henning]

Off to clean some snow off the cars, or I would scare up the album covers 

Robt Fripp — Exposure.  Just (in the parlance of our times) blew me away the first I heard it, both the musical statements, and the structure of the album.

Genesis — Duke.  Sounded astonishingly fresh and punchy from the start, and then a friend took me to hear the band at MSG, more or less clinching my fondness for the album.

Zappa & The Mothers — Uncle Meat.  Both like and unlike Exposure, this beguiled me from start to finish, the detail, the tone, the variety of the music.

King Crimson — Larks Tongues in Aspic.  The first KC album I ever heard, fixed me with its glittering eye, so to speak, musically.

Fleetwood Mac — Tusk.  Unlike all the others, this nonplussed me the first I heard it.  But I have come back to it, and fallen hard.

[Sergeant Rock]

Grateful Dead: Two From the Vault



On 23 November 1968 I became a Deadhead when I heard the Dead live for the first time. It was at an unplanned, unscheduled and free show (no admission was charged) at Ohio University, Athens Ohio. It was not recorded and it is one of the few shows where no set list is available (the band members, asked about it years later, couldn't recall which songs or the order). But this album comes close to what I think was played that evening. It even features the final song being cut short, like it was around midnight in Athens, when the powers that be turned off the band's electricity to subtly encourage the band to call it a night 

Big Brother and the Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin: Cheap Thrills



I spent a year of my life on the DMZ in Korea (Nov 69 to Oct70). Every fourth day for a year I pulled a 14 hour night shift, alone, in the message center at Brigade headquarters. Janis and Company kept me company. I've heard this album more than any other in my life, and it never gets old. Joplin's voice raw and savage, and heartbreaking.

Blondie: The Best of Blondie



Punk, New Wave, Power Pop, call it what you will, but that combination of styles, including a nostalgic wave back at Phil Spector and those early 60s girl groups, was irresistible in 1977. Picking just one album to cover all the bases is impossible so a compilation will have to do. Sorely miss "X-Offender" and "Denis" though.

Emmylou Harris: Wrecking Ball



My favorite singer period. Although known primarily as an alt country artist she suddenly veered into rock territory in 1995 with this Daniel Lanois produced album. It took me a while to warm to it (at first I stubbornly refused to follow where she was going at this point in her career, feeling she was betraying her country/folk roots) but Mrs. Rock played it constantly for months until I was worn down finally and accepted it. Now I think it one of the best things Emmylou's ever done.

Van Morrison: Bang Masters



I could choose with no hesitation at least a half dozen Van the Man albums. Love them all. But only Bang Masters has his one great pop hit, "Brown Eyed Girl", my favorite single of all time, and a song that brings back 1967 with startling clarity.

Sarge

[North Star]

CCR has always just been that compilation to me, but since that's probably cheating, here's five others All of these were a big part of my childhood's soundtrack
      
      

[TheGSMoeller]

Emmylou Harris: Wrecking Ball



My favorite singer period. Although known primarily as an alt country artist she suddenly veered into rock territory in 1995 with this Daniel Lanois produced album. It took me a while to warm to it (at first I stubbornly refused to follow where she was going at this point in her career, feeling she was betraying her country/folk roots) but Mrs. Rock played it constantly for months until I was worn down finally and accepted it. Now I think it one of the best things Emmylou's ever done.


Sarge

Sarge wins.

[Sergeant Rock]

CCR has always just been that compilation to me, but since that's probably cheating, here's five others

Nicely done    If I would have thought of a way to get six in, I would have included Dire Straits too. Only mine would've been Making Movies.

Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

Sarge wins.

Thank you. It was a hard won race but someone had to come in first, and Emmylou deserves it 

Sarge

[vandermolen]

Difficult to choose

Beatles: White Album (important part of 'growing up' for me plus the sheer genius of the songwriting)

Jimi Hendrix: Electic Ladyland (not just for the LP double cover spread!  )

Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here (associate this with university and wonderful music)

Supertramp: Even in the Quietest Moments (especially for the title track and 'Fools Overture' which is rather powerful with its Churchill and Big Ben quotations)

ABC: The Lexicon of Love (the song 'Poisoned Arrow' came just at the 'right time' for me - I played it over and over again...enough said! 

Many other possibilities: Chicago Transit Authority etc

[Mirror Image]

Off to clean some snow off the cars, or I would scare up the album covers 

Robt Fripp — Exposure.  Just (in the parlance of our times) blew me away the first I heard it, both the musical statements, and the structure of the album.

Genesis — Duke.  Sounded astonishingly fresh and punchy from the start, and then a friend took me to hear the band at MSG, more or less clinching my fondness for the album.

Zappa & The Mothers — Uncle Meat.  Both like and unlike Exposure, this beguiled me from start to finish, the detail, the tone, the variety of the music.

King Crimson — Larks Tongues in Aspic.  The first KC album I ever heard, fixed me with its glittering eye, so to speak, musically.

Fleetwood Mac — Tusk.  Unlike all the others, this nonplussed me the first I heard it.  But I have come back to it, and fallen hard.

A fabulous list, Karl. It seems your inclinations towards progressive rock mirror my own. I've always been drawn to this style of rock music. I suppose it has something to do with it's experimental nature and the fact that these groups were creating music that transcended the notions of what rock music could be.

[Mr. Minnow]

Sticking to one album per artist (as it would be pretty much all Cardiacs otherwise):

Cardiacs - On Land and in the Sea



Along with Sing To God this is the album that many fans cite as their finest. Too many highlights to mention them all but The Duck and Roger the Horse and Buds and Spawn are quintessential Cardiacs, and closing song The Everso Closely Guarded Line would surely make many a progger's heart swell. 



Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts



Still their best album IMO, due in no small part to A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers, but the other songs don't slack either.



King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King



A classic from the day it was released, and so it remains.



Xhol Caravan - Electrip



One of the greatest Krautrock albums, a wonderful blend of prog/psych/jazz.



Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica

   

A double album with not a dull moment from start to finish. His best and most experimental album. Great stuff. 

[San Antone]

Jimi Hendrix: Electic Ladyland

Great choice.  I could have easily chosen it instead of his first LP, but at the time, AYE made such an impact on me it looms larger in my memory.

Van Morrison: Bang Masters

I could choose with no hesitation at least a half dozen Van the Man albums. Love them all. But only Bang Masters has his one great pop hit, "Brown Eyed Girl", my favorite single of all time, and a song that brings back 1967 with startling clarity.

Yep, me too. 

[bwv 1080]

Today it's

Burzum - Filosofem
Godflesh - Hymns
Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 2
Swans - Great Annihilator
Agalloch - The Mantle

[Holden]

Dire Straits: Communique

Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here

The Doors: LA Woman

Lou Reed: Rock n Roll Animal

Peter Gabriel: So

[Marc]

Normally I would pick 5 albums of The Beatles, but I decided to give other artists a fair share...

The Beatles - Revolver (1966)
Joy Division - Closer (1980)
The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground (1969)
The Doors - The Doors (1967)
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left (1969)

All boys apparantly, except of course for Moe Tucker.

It's not easy to say 'why', but... most of this stuff just managed to touch my soul in my younger years, and it never changed.

[Pat B]

I have a top 3, to which I added two, but I'm not saying which ones.

Chronological order:

The Velvet Underground: Loaded
Yaz: Upstairs at Eric's
Smashing Pumpkins: Siamese Dream
Neutral Milk Hotel: In the Aeroplane over the Sea
TV on the Radio: Return to Cookie Mountain

[Pat B]

The Beatles - Revolver (1966)
Joy Division - Closer (1980)
The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground (1969)
The Doors - The Doors (1967)
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left (1969)

All boys apparantly, except of course for Moe Tucker.

I picked a different VU album and considered Unknown Pleasures — but can't argue with your choices!

[Marc]

[...] but can't argue with your choices!

Funny, Yazoo's debut album was one of my first 'bubbling unders'.

[DaveF]

Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left (1969)

Not Pink Moon?  (+1 for Revolver, BTW.)