In the years I’ve done this blog, I have wasted a huge amount of your time, and even more of mine.
One thing I’ve frequently hinted at is what I consider to be the greatest albums ever made. I even said how I felt about Rolling Stone’s top ten, album by agonising album.
But what are my picks for the ten greatest albums of all time?
Spoiler warning. I have eleven. Because Revolver is the greatest album ever made.
Revolver set the template for every album that has come after, in stylistic variation, innovation and song quality.
Despite a dud and a song that sounds like it’s beamed in from another album, the remaining songs are still so perfect that no album can touch it.
So behold, the top ten greatest albums ever made (apart from Revolver) in my opinion!
(By the way, it would be asinine of me to put them in any sort of order, so I’ve done them chronologically).
The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed (1969)

Of the Stones’ four consecutive classics, this is the best. It’s bookended by the greatest opener and closer of a Stones album ever. ‘Gimme Shelter’ is the howling death of the hippie dream at Altamont, ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ its eulogy. In between comes ‘Midnight Rambler,’ which may be the best song to listen to when you’re on a train, for whatever that’s worth.
The Who – Who’s Next (1971)

Sandwiched in between two legendary conceptual doubles, Who’s Next is an astonishing power-pop album. It’s loaded with Pete Townshend’s biting guitar, but this album is a stick of rock with melody running all the way through it. The ageless ‘Baba O’Riley’ has the gall to hold back the guitar for several minutes and ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ possibly the quintessential 70s Who song. Even John Entwistle gets a great shot in with the wry lyric and stabbing horns of ‘My Wife.’
John Martyn – Solid Air (1973)

John Martyn is someone that typically only musicians are aware of – a legitimate maverick who’d completely change styles between albums. Solid Air the shortest on this list, but it’s airtight – a rare show of restraint given that his live versions of ‘Rather Be The Devil’ frequently tripled the six minutes it runs for here. Everything else has a chilled-out, moonlit atmosphere, particularly the double bass and sparkling keyboards of the title track.
Bob Dylan – Blood On The Tracks (1975)

Every now and then, Dylan will let you see behind the mask and this divorce-themed record has always resonated more with me than any of his speed-fried 60s beat poetry. No more are you digging around for pearls of wisdom amongst lunacy, now it’s blatant on ‘Idiot Wind’ – that’s ‘blowing every time you move your teeth.’ To this day, every time I hear ‘Tangled Up In Blue’ I find another layer to its lyric – just a couple of years ago I realised that the verses are themselves tangled; re-arrange the order and suddenly a coherent story is formed. Mind blown.
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (1975)

This is the only album on this list which could survive on the strength of one piece, the immortal ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ – the mood, the keyboards, that haunting ‘Syd’s theme’ guitar part, the lyrics, the passion. It takes nine whole minutes before the vocals even kick in yet doesn’t drag for a second. It’s testament to the creative peak they were going through that the remaining three tracks – the sardonic ‘Have A Cigar,’ the dusty groan of ‘Welcome To The Machine’ and the heart-rending acoustic title track – are almost as good.
Bruce Springsteen – Born To Run (1975)

It’s easy to write much of this record off as being cheesy, but that’s one of is best qualities – I’ve never heard a record with such honesty and heart, things you can find in every song, from the desperate loser of ‘Meeting Across The River’ to the heartbroken ‘Jungleland,’ from the careening title track to the skyscraping ‘Backstreets.’
Joy Division – Closer (1980)

Admittedly, this is an album that I don’t really have a passion for anymore, unlike the rest of this list. But even from a distance, I can appreciate the art of it, the way the band and Martin Hannett created something truly unique with Closer. Even if it no longer hits home with me any more, there is real emotion here, ‘The Eternal’ taking their music to places it had never been before.
R.E.M. – Automatic For The People (1992)

Much of R.E.M.’s earlier stuff had a soothing quality just from the chordal and melodic structure, but on this mortality-themed album, that’s taken to its logical conclusion. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard so comforting a record – the album’s textured with mandolin, string sections and a general warmth. They never equalled it, but it’s a long way down from greatness.
Refused – The Shape Of Punk To Come (1998)

Taking hardcore punk and adding a widescreen sensibility, with jazz, electro and metal sensibilities for taste, no other punk record can touch this one for ambition, creativity and potency. ‘New Noise’ became an anthem for a generation, the centrepiece on an album of explosive aggression (‘The Refused Party Programme’), barely restrained violence (‘Liberation Frequency’) and cinematic strings (‘Tannhauser/Derive’).
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus (2004)

After dividing his career between softer albums and darker ones, Cave realised he could have his cake and eat it, packaging a disc’s worth of each in one generous double. That the quality control remains so high is unlikely – that he hit a career peak on his 13th album is miraculous. The albums compliment each other perfectly; the snarling opener ‘Get Ready For Love’ balances with hymnal closer ‘O Children,’ the sardonic ‘Hiding All Away’ ricochets off the pleading ‘Carry Me,’ and ‘There She Goes, My Beautiful World’ is the greatest song he’s ever recorded.
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