Like Stavros' thing, cept with albums

1963: Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
1964: The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night
1965: Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisted
1966: The Beatles - Revolver
1967: The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour (US Version)
1968: The Kinks - The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society
1969: Grateful Dead - Aoxomoxoa
1970: Syd Barrett - The Madcap Laughs
1971: Pink Floyd - Meddle
1972: Steely Dan - Can't Buy a Thrill
1973: Steely Dan - Countdown to Ecstasy
1974: Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic
1975: Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
1976: Steely Dan - The Royal Scam
1977: Steely Dan - Aja
1978: Elvis Costello & The Attractions - This Year's Model
1979: Gang of Four - Entertainment!
1980: The Soft Boys - Underwater Moonlight
1981: Josef K - The Only Fun in Town
1982: The Fall - Hex Enduction Hour
1983: R.E.M. - Murmur
1984: The Smiths - The Smiths
1985: Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen
1986: The Housemartins - London 0 Hull 4
1987: Lyle Lovett - Pontiac
1988: Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
1989: De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising
1990: They Might Be Giants - Flood
1991: Richard Thompson - Rumor and Sigh
1992: Pavement - Slanted & Enchanted
1993: Blur - Modern Life is Rubbish
1994: Blur - Parklife
1995: Pulp - Different Class
1996: Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup
1997: Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - Barafundle
1998: Soul Coughing - El Oso
1999: The Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I
2000: Radiohead - Kid A
2001: Daft Punk - Discovery
2002: mclusky - mclusky Do Dallas
2003: The Exploding Hearts - Guitar Romantic
2004: mclusky - The Difference Between Me and You Is That I'm Not on Fire
2005: The Decemberists - Picaresque
2006: The Format - Dog Problems
2007: Battles - Mirrored (HM: Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare)
2008: Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster (HM: Laura Marling - Alas, I Cannot Swim)
2009: Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (HM: P.O.S. - Never Better)
2010: Los Campesinos! - Romance is Boring (HM: Beach House - Teen Dream)
2011: Los Campesinos! - Hello Sadness (HM: The Horrors - Skying)
2012:

Yeah, no alarms and no surprises here if you've heard me rattle on about any of these albums anywhere else on the forum.

I only did honorable mentions for the years that I was on this forum, and doing lists for Treefingers.

1980s
1980: Joy Division - Closer
1981: Rush - Moving Pictures
1982: X - Under the Big Black Sun
1983: Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes
1984: Meat Puppets - Meat Puppets II
1985: Rites of Spring - Rites of Spring
1986: Scratch Acid - Just Keep Eating
1987: Swans - Children of God
1988: Galaxie 500 - Today
1989: The Young Gods - L'eau rouge

I did a list of these a while back at the request of a friend of mine. I only covered 1963 (hard to focus on albums before then, since things were so much more single-oriented) through 1998 (the last year I was really buying albums). Although I'm now going to add a 1962 choice, since there's a pretty obvious one. I'll leave in some of the comments I made.

1962 - Ray Charles: Modern Sounds In Country & Western Music
1963 - Bob Dylan: The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
1964 - The Beatles: A Hard Day's Night (UK version)
1965 - The Beatles: Rubber Soul (US version)
1966 - The Beatles: Revolver (UK version)
1967 - The Creation: We Are Paintermen
1968 - The Beatles: The Beatles (The White Album)
1969 - The Hollies: Words And Music By Bob Dylan
1970 - Badfinger: No Dice

(Incredibly crowded year. All Things Must Pass, Jesus Christ
Superstar, Doris Troy, Cosmo's Factory, John Lennon/Plastic Ono
Band...)

1971 - Paul McCartney: Ram
1972 - Big Star: #1 Record
1973 - Paul McCartney & Wings: Band On The Run
1974 - Big Star: Radio City
1975 - Bob Dylan: Blood On The Tracks
1976 - Peter Frampton: Frampton Comes Alive

(Feels a little like cheating to name a live album of non-new
material, but it's clearly the best thing to come out that year.)

1977 - Elvis Costello: My Aim Is True
1978 - Cheap Trick: At Budokan

(Man, I did it again.)

1979 - Paul McCartney & Wings: Back To The Egg

(Another incredible year. Look Sharp, Off The Wall, Armed Forces, The
B-52s. Any of those would have bested At Budokan.)

1980 - Squeeze: Argybargy
1981 - The Kinks: Give The People What The Want

(A very weak year. I actually considered the debut EP by The Effigies,
and it's like ten minutes long.)

New comment: At this point I'm seriously considering changing my choice for this year to The Keys Album by The Keys, which I only heard fairly recently.

1982 - Marshall Crenshaw: Marshall Crenshaw
1983 - Roman Holliday: Cookin' On The Roof
1984 - Run-DMC: Run-DMC
1985 - Run-DMC: King Of Rock
1986 - Paul Simon: Graceland

(The last year that was chock full of great albums. Talking With The
Taxman About Poetry by Billy Bragg is my number two album of the
decade. There were also Press To Play, Raising Hell, Skylarking, and
Crowded House.)

1987 - The Proclaimers: This Is The Story
1988 - Traveling Wilburys: Volume 1
1989 - De La Soul: Three Feet High And Rising
1990 - A'Me Lorain & The Family Affair: Starring In...Standing In A Monkey Sea

(She was a one-hit wonder with a pop-dance single called "Whole Wide
World" which you might remember, but the album it came from is much
more interesting and diverse than you'd expect.)

1991 - Billy Bragg: Don't Try This At Home

(This was actually a letdown from his previous two albums. I guess
1991 was a letdown, too.)

1992 - Ringo Starr: Time Takes Time
1993 - PM Dawn: The Bliss Album
1994 - Continental Drifters: Continental Drifters
1995 - Ben Lee: Grandpaw Would
1996 - Susanna Hoffs: Susanna Hoffs
1997 - Bob Dylan: Time Out Of Mind
1998 - Continental Drifters: Vermillion

EDITED TO ADD: The whole best/least best of the decade thing seems to have become a standard, so here goes:

60s:

Best: Revolver (by a nose over the White Album)
Least Best: Modern Sounds...

70s:

Best: Back To The Egg
Least Best: At Budokan

80s:
Best: Graceland
Least Best: Give The People What They Want (or The Keys Album, if I go that way)

90s:

Best: Grandpaw Would
Least Best: Don't Try This At Home

2011: Thundercat - Golden Age of the Apocalypse
2010: Delorean - Subiza
2009: Dam-Funk - Toeachizown
2008: Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
2007: Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
2006: Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
2005: Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
2004: Madvillain - Madvillainy
2003: White Stripes - Elephant
2002: The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
2001: Daft Punk - Discovery
2000: D'angelo - Voodoo
1999: Flaming Lips - the Soft Bulletin
1998: Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
1997: Radiohead - OK Computer
1996: Belle and Sebastian - Tigermilk
1995: D'angelo - Brown Sugar
1994: Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
1993: Wu Tang Clan - 36 Chambers
1992: Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92
1991: A Tribe Called Quest - Low End Theory
1990: Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks
1989: Pixies - Doolittle
1988: Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back
1987: Matt Molloy - Stony Steps
1986: Paul Simon - Graceland
1985: Matt Molloy - Contentment is Wealth
1984: Prince - Purple Rain
1983: Isley Brothers - Between the Sheets
1982: Michael Jackson - Thriller
1981: Luther Vandross - Never Too Much
1980: The Brothers Johnson - Light Up the Night
1979: Michael Jackson - Off the Wall
1978: Matt Molloy, Paul Brady, Tommy Peoples - Molloy, Brady, Peoples
1977: The Crusaders - Free as the Wind
1976: George Benson - Breezin'
1975: Earth, Wind & Fire - That's the Way of the World
1974: Hubert Laws - In the Beginning
1973: Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
1972: Nick Drake - Pink Moon
1971: Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
1970: Nick Drake - Bryter Layter
1969: Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
1968: Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
1967: Jimi Hendrix - Axis: Bold as Love
1966: The Beatles - Revolver
1965: John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
1964: Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto - Getz/Gilberto
1963: Thelonious Monk - Monk's Dream
1962: James Brown - Live at the Apollo
1961: John Coltrane - My Favorite Things
1960: John Coltrane - Giant Steps
1959: Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
1958: Bernard Hermann - Vertigo (OST)
1957: Miles Davis - Round About Midnight

I'm gonna get out of my element if I get too much earlier

Not a jazz fan, huh?


... umm, so have you, like, not heard any post-1998 album or something? Or have you never heard of downloading?


What? How in the world would it be 'cheating' to name a live album as your favourite of the year?

im more worried about the guy who thinks the peter frampton live album is clearly the best thing from 1976

Not counting EPs, bootlegs, or compilations:

1964 = "Beatles For Sale" - Beatles
1965 = "Love Supreme" - John Coltrane
1966 = "Revolver" - Beatles
1967 = "Are You Experienced" - Jimi Hendrix
1968 = "At Folsom Prison" - Johnny Cash
1969 = "Led Zeppelin I" - Led Zeppelin
BEST OF DECADE = "AT FOLSOM PRISON"
LEAST BEST = "BEATLES FOR SALE"

1970 = "Black Sabbath" - Black Sabbath
1971 = "Tago Mago" - Can
1972 = "Ziggy Stardust" - David Bowie
1973 = "Dark Side of the Moon" - Pink Floyd
1974 = n/a
1975 = "Wish You Were Here" - Pink Floyd
1976 = "801 Live" - 801
1977 = n/a
1978 = "Ambient 1: Music For Airports" - Brian Eno
1979 = "Unknown Pleasures" - Joy Division
BEST OF DECADE = "UNKNOWN PLEASURES"
LEAST BEST = "801 LIVE"

1980 = "Iron Maiden" - Iron Maiden
1981 = "Sleep No More" - Comsat Angels
1982 = "Thriller" - Michael Jackson
1983 = "The Crossing" - Big Country
1984 = "Purple Rain" - Prince
1985 = "The Head On The Door" - The Cure
1986 = "Master Of Puppets" - Metallica
1987 = "Heaven's End" - Loop
1988 = "The Whitey Album" - Ciccone Youth
1989 = "Disintegration" - The Cure
BEST OF DECADE = "DISINTEGRATION"
LEAST BEST = "THRILLER"

1990 = "The Devil Made Me Do It" - Paris
1991 = "Just For A Day" - Slowdive
1992 = "Killing Time" - Bleach
1993 = "Souvlaki" - Slowdive
1994 = "This Way Out" - Idaho
1995 = "Pygmalion" - Slowdive
1996 = "Meet the Tenchi Muyo" - Various Artists
1997 = "Akathisia" - Hovercraft
1998 = "Per Aspera ad Astra" - Stars of the Lid
1999 = "This Is the Way It Goes and Goes and Goes" - Juno
BEST OF DECADE = "SOUVLAKI"
LEAST BEST = "PYGMALION"

2000 = "Flood" - Boris
2001 = "Quiet Is the New Loud" - Kings of Convenience
2002 = "From Filthy Tongues of Gods and Griots" - Dalek
2003 = "Feedbacker" - Boris
2004 = "The Thing Which Soloman Overlooked" - Boris
2005 = "The Lone Gunman" - Idaho
2006 = "Altar" - Sunn O))) & Boris
2007 = "Dead Sea Parting" - Take Pills Die
2008 = "Terrorist" - Take Pills Die
2009 = "Primary Colours" - The Horrors
2010 = "The Fool" - Warpaint
BEST OF DECADE = "ALTAR"
LEAST BEST = "FROM FILTHY TONGUES OF GODS AND GRIOTS"

2011 = n/a
2012 = n/a
BEST OF DECADE = n/a
LEAST BEST = n/a

Reminder: Songs in the Key of Life came out in 1976

2012: Chairlift - Something
2011: CunninLynguists - Oneirology
2010: Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles II
2009: Passion Pit - Manners
2008: Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
2007: The National - Boxer
2006: Blue October - Foiled
2005: Coheed and Cambria - Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV
2004: Marillion - Marbles
2003: Stars - Heart
2002: Frou Frou - Details
2001: Pendragon - Not of This World
2000: Porcupine Tree - Lightbulb Sun
1999: Fish - Raingods With Zippos
1998: Steve Hackett - Darktown
1997: Marillion - This Strange Engine
1996: Pendragon - Masquerade Overture
1995: Radiohead - The Bends
1994: Marillion - Brave
1993: Pendragon - The Window of Life
1992: Joe Satriani - The Extremist
1991: Marillion - Holidays in Eden
1990: Fish - Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors
1989: Marillion - Seasons End
1988: Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman
1987: Marillion - Clutching at Straws
1986: Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time
1985: Marillion - Misplaced Childhood
1984: Marillion - Fugazi
1983: Marillion - Script for a Jester's Tear
1982: Dire Straits - Love Over Gold
1981: Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
1980: Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden
1979: Steve Hackett - Spectral Mornings
1978: Camel - Breathless
1977: Pink Floyd - Animals
1976: Camel - Moonmadness
1975: Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
1974: King Crimson - Red
1973: Genesis - Selling England By the Pound
1972: Genesis - Foxtrot
1971: Led Zeppelin - IV
1970: Black Sabbath - Paranoid
1969: King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
1968: Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
1967: Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed

That guy wins for the 60's, joe c wins for the 80's and batman wins the 90's. The rest of you suck and I hate you.

No...I mean, I don't dislike jazz or anything, but I don't know jazz well enough to really be picking my favorite albums of those years among jazz stuff.



I certainly have downloaded albums from more recent than that, but it's much more limited than what I used to buy. So, again, I don't really feel comfortable extending the list past then when I know there are a lot of albums that I'd like which I've either never heard or only heard once or twice. Not saying I'll never extend it, but for now the albums I've downloaded don't seem as real as the ones I owned on vinyl.



Because it's not really a collection of new songs. (I suppose if I were picking something like Running On Empty or Rust Never Sleeps it wouldn't feel like cheating at all.) It's almost sorta like picking a greatest-hits album, which I certainly would consider ineligible.

1970's
1970: Paranoid- Black Sabbath
1971: What's Goin' On- Marvin Gaye
1972: Ziggy Stardust- David Bowie
1973: Quadrophenia- The Who
1974: Red- King Crimson
1975: Blood on the Tracks- Bob Dylan
1976: Songs in the Key of Life- Stevie Wonder
1977: Marquee Moon- Television
1978: This Year's Model- Elvis Costello
1979: London Calling- The Clash

Best of the decade: Red.

1980's
1980: Closer- Joy Division
1981: Discipline- King Crimson
1982: The Number of the Beast- Iron Maiden
1983: Swordfishtrombones- Tom Waits
1984: Let It Be- The Replacements/Double Nickels on the Dime- Minutemen
1985: Rain Dogs- Tom Waits
1986: Master of Puppets- Metallica
1987: You're Living All Over Me- Dinosaur Jr.
1988: Spirit of Eden- Talk Talk
1989: Disintegration- The Cure

Best of the decade: Disintegration.

ooh, idea

60s
best: John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
least best: James Brown - Live at the Apollo

70s
best: Nick Drake - Pink Moon
least best: Nick Drake - Bryter Layter

80s
best: Matt Molloy - Stony Steps
least best: Isley Brothers - Between the Sheets

90s
best: Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
least best: Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks OST

00s
best: D'angelo - Voodoo
least best: White Stripes - Elephant

man, each "least best" tore me apart, especially the 60s and 70s

The worsts of the two decades I've done are This Year's Model and Discipline.

God bless!


I'll let that slide since you imply that it's at least good.