Looking back, I can definitely appreciate his body of work, but I have to admit that the music doesn’t truly resonate with me. This happens sometimes—artists you try to connect with, but there’s just no real match.
Hopefully, the following overview of my favorite albums still provides a glimpse of what I consider great music from 1966 to 2016. Even though not all years are equal. I can’t even come up with ten good albums for 2002, while 1991 overwhelms me with masterpieces that could have all taken the top spot.
For certain years, I went with fifteen records. The reason is simple. The lists of fifteen represent exceptionally good years where a top ten wouldn’t suffice.
The compilation is based on frequent listening over the past four to five years. And that’s quite impactful. Sometimes I arrive at painful, if not confronting, conclusions. The album I once thought was fantastic sounds rather thin or downright disappointing in 2023.
In 1976, I received Neil Diamond’s Beautiful Noise as a gift, and in 1977, I purchased Rush’s A Farewell To Kings. Over time I noticed that the artistic quality of both albums gradually diminished. Undoubtedly, this is because I’ve since heard a lot of other music and witnessed musical developments. The standard for what I thought was great back then, and what I still think is great now, has gradually shifted.
The reverse is of course much nicer. That decades later, completely unexpectedly, the true artistic scope reveals itself to you. Van Halen’s debut turns out to be a more than pleasant rediscovery. In 1978, the American band with the Dutch brothers was one of the hard rock records I listened to. Recently I noticed how good and unique this record still is after all these years.
Still, you have to dare to be critical of so-called classics. To my own surprise, Nick Drake is absent from the lists. When I recently put his lp’s on the turntable, I noticed that each work is just a collection of songs; the album structure with a beginning and an end is somewhat lacking. That pinches, no matter how beautiful those songs are of course.
Being critical in listening means not only reevaluating but also continuing to (re)discover. I’ve encountered people who have remained stuck in their musical past, clinging to what they already know. Creating album lists based on memory, on what you thought was good back then, is too simplistic for me. You live in the present, not the past. The judgment of the past is usually colored by nostalgic sentiment.
When I listen to music, I don’t differentiate between genres and styles. Besides pop music, the year-end summaries below include jazz, jazz rock, and even soundtracks. Music is music. That’s easy to say. But when you realize the often vastly diverse variety within a year, capturing a chronological preference becomes quite challenging. Sometimes nearly impossible. In many cases, a new confrontation occurs: a collision between emotion and reason, between heart and mind.
Finally, I come to the question of what such a list is all about. As far as I’m concerned, records that touch me personally in one way or another. Not for albums that I am supposed to like, are historically important or influential.
I listen to music in the evenings. That’s when there’s time and tranquility to really sit down and engage with it. Because that’s what it is. Sitting, listening, taking in the music, possibly gaining new insights as a side effect. In that regard, it helps when you can engage in extensive discussions about a wide range of albums with like-minded individuals. Especially when someone can explain, with substantive arguments and experience, why you should give that one lp a listen.
The lists below don’t include live albums. In many cases, they’re essentially a ‘best of’ collection from an artist (except for the previously unreleased songs on Neil Young’s Time Fades Away and Mahavishnu Orchestra’s intended studio album Between Nothingness & Eternity).
But consider these overviews primarily as a journey of discovery from 1966 to 2016. There will be records in there that you might not know, or artists you’ve never heard of. The most important lesson: you truly learn to appreciate an album when you don’t judge too quickly and give yourself the time to get to know it well. As with everything in life. Records Are Like Life is an album by the singer-songwriter Andy Pratt.
2016
1 David Bowie – ★
2 Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
3 Gonjasufi – Callus
4 Jett Rebel – Truck
5 Wire – Nocturnal Koreans
6 Underworld – Barbara, Barbara, We Face A Shining Future
7 Bob Dylan – Fallen Angels
8 A Tribe Called Quest – We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service
9 The Rolling Stones – Blue And Lonesome
10 Discohen – Popular Positions
2015
1 Jeff Bridges – Sleeping Tapes
2 Dr. Dre – Compton (A Soundtrack By Dr. Dre)
3 Wire – Wire
4 Lana Del Rey – Honeymoon
5 Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly
6 Deeldeliers – Deeldelirium
7 Bob Dylan – Shadows In The Night
8 Death Grips – The Powers That B
9 Kreng – The Summoner
10 Guilty Simpson – Detroit’s Son
2014
1 Temples – Sun Structures
2 Hallo Venray – Show
3 Wand – Ganglion Reef
4 Timber Timbre – Hot Dreams
5 Liars – Mess
6 Anderson Paak – Venice
7 St. Vincent – St. Vincent
8 Jack White – Lazaretto
9 Thurston Moore – The Best Day
10 Swans – To Be Kind
2013
1 Anouk – Sad Singalong Songs
2 Chelsea Light Moving – Chelsea Light Moving
3 Flaming Lips – The Terror
4 David Bowie – The Next Day
5 Goldfrapp – Tales Of Us
6 Queens Of The Stone Age – Like Clockwork
7 David Carbonara – Mad Men On The Rocks (Music From The Television Series)
8 Death Grips – No Love Deep Web
9 Distel – Puur
10 Fuzz – Fuzz
2012
1 Giant Giant Sand – Tuscon
2 Scott Walker – Bish Bosch
3 Liars – WIXIW
4 X-TG – Desert Shore / The Final Report
5 Lana Del Rey – Born To Die
6 Mark Lanegan Band – Blues Funeral
7 Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid, M.A.A.D City
8 Kreng – Works For Abbatoir Fermé 2007-2011
9 Lou Doillon – Places
10 Dr John – Locked Down
2011
1 Lou Reed & Metallica – Lulu
2 Timber Timbre – Creep On Creepin’ On
3 Wire – Red Barked Tree
4 DeWolff – Orchards/Lupine
5 Tom Waits – Bad As Me
6 Beastie Boys – Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
7 Israel Nash Gripka – Barn Doors And Concrete Floors
8 Other Lives – Tamer Animals
9 The Fall – Ersatz GB
10 dEUS – Keep You Close
2010
1 Lilian Hak – Old Powder New Guns
2 Massive Attack – Heligoland
3 Tame Impala – Innerspeaker
4 Gonjasufi – A Sufi And A Killer
5 The Dead Weather – Sea Of Cowards
6 Liars – Sisterworld
7 The Fall – Your Future Our Clutter
8 Howe Gelb & A Band Of Gypsies – Alegrias
9 Paul Weller – Wake Up The Nation
10 Swans – My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky
2009
1 Timber Timbre – Timber Timbre
2 Ramona Falls – Intuit
3 Monsters Of Folk – Monsters Of Folk
4 Arctic Monkeys – Humbug
5 Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
6 Benjamin Biolay – La Superbe
7 This Immortal Coil – The Dark Age Of Love
8 David Sylvian – Manafon
9 The XX – The XX
10 M. Ward – Hold Time
2008
1 Portishead – Third
2 Department Of Eagles – In Ear Park
3 Nicole Atkins – Neptune City
4 dEUS – Vantage Point
5 Oasis – Dig Out Your Soul
6 Last Shadow Puppets – The Age Of Understatement
7 The Black Crowes – Warpaint
8 Einstürzende Neubauten – The Jewels
9 Wire – Object 47
10 These New Puritans – Beat Pyramid
2007
1 Radiohead – In Rainbows
2 Liars – Liars
3 Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Raising Sand
4 Throbbing Gristle – Part Two The Endless Not
5 Einstürzende Neubauten – Alles Wieder Offen
2006
1 Tom Waits – Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards
2 Liars – Drum’s Not Dead
3 Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
4 Bob Dylan – Modern Times
5 Patrick Watson – Close To Paradise
6 Scott Walker – The Drift
7 Amy Winehouse – Back To Black
8 Mark Lanegan & Isobel Campbell – Ballad Of The Broken Seas
9 Sibylle Baier – Colour Green
10 J Dilla – Donuts
2005
1 Sufjan Stevens – Come On Feel The Illinoise
2 Ry Cooder – Chavez Ravine
3 Nine Horses – Snow Borne Sorrow
4 The Modey Lemon – The Curious City
5 Einstürzende Neubauten – Grundstück
6 Madonna – Confessions On A Dance Floor
7 The Rolling Stones – A Bigger Bang
8 Low – The Great Destroyer
9 Antony & the Johnsons – I Am A Bird Now
10 dEUS – Pocket Revolution
2004
1 Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus
2 The Veils – The Runaway Found
3 Tom Waits – Real Gone
4 Liars – They Were Wrong So We Drowned
5 Mark Lanegan Band – Bubblegum
6 JJ Cale – To Tulsa And Back
7 Einstürzende Neubauten – Perpetuum Mobile
8 PJ Harvey – Uh Huh Her
9 Nurse With Wound & Jim O’Rourke – Angry Eelectric Finger 1: Tape Monkey Mooch
10 Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Damage
2003
1 The Modey Lemon – Thunder + Lightning
2 Broadcast – Haha Sound
3 Benjamin Biolay – Négatif
4 Massive Attack – 100th Window
5 King Crimson – The Power To Believe
6 Wire – PF456 Redux
7 David Sylvian – Blemish
8 Mars Volta – De-loused In The Comatorium
9 The Strokes – Room On Fire
10 Goldfrapp – Black Cherry
2002
1 Liars – They Threw Is All In A Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top
2 Johnny Cash – The Man Comes Around
3 Sonic Youth – Murray Street
4 Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Plastic Fang
5 Black Dice – Beach Canyons
2001
1 Bob Dylan – Love And Theft
2 The Strokes – Is This It
3 Brian Eno & J. Peter Schalm – Drawn From Life
4 Vincent Gallo – When
5 David Thomas and Two Pale Boys – Surf’s Up
2000
1 Goldfrapp – Felt Mountain
2 16 Horsepower – Secret South
3 Broadcast – The Noise Made By People
4 Einstürzende Neubauten – Silence Is Sexy
5 Yo La Tengo – And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out
6 Calexico – Hot Rail
7 The Fall – The Unutterable
8 Queens Of The Stone Age – Rated X
9 Primal Scream – XTRMNTR
10 The Horrors – The Horrors
1999
1 Hans Zimmer – Thin Red Line (Original Soundtrack)
2 Daan – Profools
3 Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Acme Plus
4 7Zuma7 – Deep Inside
5 David Sylvian – Dead Bees On A Cake
6 Calla – Calla
7 Tom Waits – Mule Variations
8 XTC – Apple Venus Vol. 1
9 Mambo Chillum – Mambo Chillum
10 Coil – Musick To Play In The Dark
1998
1 Soulwax – Much Against Everyone’s Advice
2 Massive Attack – Mezzanine
3 Tricky – Angels With Dirty Faces
4 Firewater – The Ponzi Scheme
5 Elliott Smith – XO
6 Madonna – Ray Of Light
7 PJ Harvey – Is This Desire?
8 Calexico – Black Light
9 Air – Moon Safari
10 Mercury Rev – Deserter’s Songs
1997
1 Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – The Boatman’s Call
2 Portishead – Portishead
3 Trans Am – Surrender To The Night
4 Spiritualized – Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
5 Bob Dylan – Time Out Of Mind
6 U2 – Pop
7 Buena Vista Social Club – Buena Vista Social Club
8 The Rolling Stones – Bridges To Babylon
9 Broadcast – Work And Non Work
10 De Kift – Gaaphonger
1996
1 Shock Headed Peters – Tendercide
2 dEUS – In A Bar Under The Sea
3 Girls Against Boys – House Of GVSB
4 Tortoise – Millions Now Living Will Never Die
5 Tricky – Pre-Millennium Tension
6 Beastie Boys – The In Sound From Way Out
7 Meat Beat Manifesto – Subliminal Sandwich
8 Squarepusher – Feed Me Weird Things
9 Barry Adamson – Oedipus Schmoedipus
10 Beck – Odelay
1995
1 PJ Harvey – To Bring You My Love
2 David Bowie – 1.Outside
3 Tricky – Maxinquay
4 Kyuss – And The Circus Leaves Town
5 Wolfgang Press – Funky Little Demons
6 Boss Hog – Boss Hog
7 Neil Young – Mirror Ball
8 Tindersticks – Tindersticks II
9 Scott Walker – Tilt
10 Sonic Youth – Washing Machine
1994
1 Jeff Buckley – Grace
2 Portishead – Dummy
3 Giant Sand – Glum
4 Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Let Love In
5 Motocaster – Stay Loaded
6 Beck – Mellow Gold
7 Kyuss – Welcome To Sky Valley
8 Consolidated – Business Of Punishment
9 Soul Coughing – Ruby Vroom
10 Harry Pussy – Harry Pussy
1993
1 Depeche Mode – Songs Of Faith And Devotion
2 Barkmarket – Gimmick
3 Pond – Pond
4 Posies – Frosting On The Beater
5 Einstürzende Neubauten – Tabula Rasa
6 Nirvana – In Utero
7 PJ Harvey – Rid Of Me
8 Guru – Jazzmatazz
9 Tom Waits – The Black Rider
10 Snoop Doggy Dogg – Doggstyle
1992
1 Swell – Well?
2 Kyuss – Blues For The Red Sun
3 Brian Eno – Nerve Net
4 Sonic Youth – Dirty
5 Spiritualized – Lazer Guided Melodies
6 Meat Beat Manifesto – Satyricon
7 Beastie Boys – Check Your Head
8 The Black Crowes – Southern Harmony And Musical Companion
9 Silverfish – Organ Fan
10 Lou Reed – Magic & Loss
11 Screaming Trees – Sweet Oblivion
12 PJ Harvey – Dry
13 Flaming Lips – Hit To Death In The Future Head
14 Pavement – Slanted And Enchanted
15 Bassholes – Blue Roots
1991
1 Talk Talk – Laughing Stock
2 Urban Dance Squad – Life ’n Perspectives Of A Genuine Crossover
3 Coil – Love’s Secret Domain
4 U2 – Achtung Baby
5 Nirvana – Nevermind
6 Slint – Spiderland
7 Rain Tree Crow – Rain Tree Crow
8 Soundgarden – Badmotorfinger
9 Wir – The First Letter
10 Ice Cube – Death Certificate
11 Naked City – Torture Garden
12 Barkmarket – Vegas Throat
13 Wolfgang Press – Queer
14 My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
15 Jesus Lizard – Goat
1990
1 Sonic Youth – Goo
2 Deee-Lite – World Clique
3 John Cale & Lou Reed – Songs For Drella
4 Beasts Of Bourbon – Black Milk
5 Paris – The Devil Made Me Do It
6 Crime & The City Solution – Paradise Discotheque
7 Wire – Manscape
8 Meat Beat Manifesto – 99%
9 Stereo MC’s – Supernatural
10 The Serenes – Barefoot And Pregnant
1989
1 Nomeansno – Wrong
2 Urban Dance Squad – Mental Floss For The Globe
3 Bastro – Diablo Guapo
4 Bob Dylan – Oh Mercy
5 De Artsen – Conny Waves With A Shell
6 Nomeansno – Small Parts Isolated And Destroyed
7 Lou Reed – New York
8 Mark Lanegan – The Winding Sheet
9 Lul – Autolocation
10 Pussy Galore – Dial M For Motherfucker
1988
1 Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation
2 The Wolfgang Press – Bird Wood Cage
3 Pixies – Surfer Rosa
4 Honolulu Mountain Daffodils – Tequila Dementia
5 Dinosaur Jr – Bug
6 Talk Talk – Spirit Of Eden
7 Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
8 My Bloody Valentine – Isn’t Anything
9 Pere Ubu – The Tenement Year
10 Wire – A Bell Is A Cup Until It Is Struck
1987
1 Sonic Youth – Sister
2 David Sylvian – Secrets Of The Beehive
3 The Underneath – Lunatic Dismantler Of The Dawn
4 Wipers – Follow Blind
5 Dukes Of Stratosphear – Psonic Psunspot
6 Wire – The Ideal Copy
7 The Replacements – Pleased To Meet Me
8 Big Black – Songs About Fucking
9 Einstürzende Neubauten – Fünf Auf Der Nach Oben Offenen Richterskala
10 Tom Waits – Franks Wild Years
1986
1 Sonic Youth – Evol
2 Camberwell Now – The Ghost Trade
3 Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Your Funeral My Trial
4 The Feelies – The Good Earth
5 The Fall – Bend Sinister
6 David Sylvian – Gone To Earth
7 The Cramps – Stay Sick
8 Wolfgang Press – Standing Up Straight
9 Nomeansno – Sex Mad
10 Big Black – Atomizer
1985
1 Shock Headed Peters – Not Born Beautiful
2 David Byrne – Music For The Knee Plays
3 Tom Waits – Rain Dogs
4 Ry Cooder – Paris, Texas (Original Soundtrack)
5 The Fall – This Nation’s Saving Grace
6 Sonic Youth – Bad Moon Rising
7 Dead Kennedys – Frankenchrist
8 Einstürzende Neubauten – 1/2 Mensch
9 Anne Pigalle – Everything Could Be So Perfect
10 Jesus & Mary Chain – Psychocandy
1984
1 David Sylvian – Brilliant Trees
2 Echo & the Bunnymen – Ocean Rain
3 Scott Walker – Climate Of Hunter
4 Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – From Her To Eternity
5 Laurie Anderson – Mister Heartbreak
6 The Gun Club – Las Vegas Story
7 The Fall – The Wonderful And Frightening World Of The Fall
8 John Cale – Carribean Sunset
9 Holger Hiller – Ein Bündel Fäulnis In Der Grube
10 Swans – Cop
1983
1 Wipers – Over The Edge
2 Tom Waits – Swordfishtrombones
3 Shriekback – Care
4 Einstürzende Neubauten – Zeichnungen Des Patienten O.T.
5 The Rolling Stones – Undercover
6 The Fall – Perverted By Language
7 Duet Emmo – Or So It Seems
8 Mick Ness – De Ark
9 Sonic Youth – Confusion Is Sex
10 Peter Hammill – Patience
1982
1 Laurie Anderson – Big Science
2 Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band – Ice Cream For Crow
3 Comsat Angels – Fiction
4 Lou Reed – The Blue Mask
5 Lemon Kittens – The Big Dentist
6 The Gun Club – Miami
7 XTC – English Settlement
8 The Birthday Party – Junkyard
9 Mission Of Burma – Vs.
10 Cabaret Voltaire – 2×45
1981
1 This Heat – Deceit
2 Brian Eno & David Byrne – My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts
3 A Certain Ratio – To Each
4 Echo & the Bunnymen – Heaven Up Here
5 The Birthday Party – Prayers On Fire
6 Comsat Angels – Sleep No More
7 John Cale – Honi Soit
8 Second Layer – World Of Rubber
9 Ludus – The Seduction
10 Gang Of Four – Solid Gold
11 Material – Memory Serves
12 The Cure – Faith
13 Einstürzende Neubauten – Kollaps
14 Television Personalities – And Don’t The Kids Just Love It
15 Peter Hammill – Sitting Targets
1980
1 Talking Heads – Remain In Light
2 Joy Division – Closer
3 Echo & the Bunnymen – Crocodiles
4 Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band – Doc At The Radar Station
5 The Feelies – Crazy Rhythms
6 The Sound – Jeopardy
7 MX 80 Sound – Out Of The Tunnel
8 Japan – Gentlemen Take Polaroids
9 Bruce Springsteen – The River
10 Tuxedomoon – Half-Mute
11 Dead Kennedys – Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables
12 Comsat Angels – Waiting For A Miracle
13 The Cure – Seventeen Seconds
14 The Pretenders – The Pretenders
15 Alex Chilton – Like Flies On Sherbert
1979
1 Pink Floyd – The Wall
2 Wire – 154
3 Gang Of Four – Entertainment!
4 Lee Clayton – Naked Child
5 Magazine – Secondhand Daylight
6 Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures
7 This Heat – This Heat
8 Japan – Quiet Life
9 Supertramp – Breakfast In America
10 Talking Heads – Fear Of Music
11 David Bowie – Lodger
12 Stiff Little Fingers – Inflammable Material
13 Robert Fripp – Exposure
14 Throbbing Gristle – 20 Jazz Funk Greats
15 The Pop Group – Y
1978
1 Talking Heads – More Songs About Buildings And Food
2 The Rolling Stones – Some Girls
3 Magazine – Real Life
4 Pere Ubu – The Modern Dance
5 Neil Young – Comes A Time
6 Dire Straits – Dire Straits
7 Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band – Shiny Beast
8 Van Halen – Van Halen
9 Bob Dylan – Street-Legal
10 Annette Peacock – X-Dreams
11 Mothers Finest – Another Mother Further
12 Elvis Costello & the Attractions – This Year’s Model
13 Gerry Rafferty – City To City
14 Wire – Chairs Missing
15 Big Star – 3rd
1977
1 Steely Dan – Aja
2 Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
3 Sex Pistols – Never Mind The Bollocks! Here’s The Sex Pistols
4 Television – Marquee Moon
5 Iggy Pop – The Idiot
6 Suicide – Suicide
7 The Damned – Damned Damned Damned
8 John Martyn – One World
9 Pink Floyd – Animals
10 Randy Newman – Little Criminals
11 David Bowie – Low
12 Brian Eno – Before And After Science
13 Wire – Pink Flag
14 Electric Light Orchestra – Out Of The Blue
15 Brand X – Moroccan Roll
1976
1 Genesis – A Trick Of The Tail
2 Eagles – Hotel California
3 Steely Dan – The Royal Scam
4 Weather Report – Black Market
5 David Bowie – Station To Station
6 The Rolling Stones – Black And Blue
7 The Modern Lovers – The Modern Lovers
8 Bob Dylan – Desire
9 Led Zeppelin – Presence
10 Hermann Szobel – Szobel
1975
1 Bruce Springsteen – Born To Run
2 Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here
3 Bob Dylan – Blood On The Tracks
4 Queen – A Night At The Opera
5 Kraftwerk – Radio-Aktivität
6 Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti
7 Mahavishnu Orchestra – Visions Of The Emerald Beyond
8 Brian Eno – Another Green World
9 Van Der Graaf Generator – Godbluff
10 Neu! – Neu! ’75
11 Bob Dylan & The Band – The Basement Tapes
12 John Cale – Helen Of Troy
13 Randy Newman – Good Old Boys
14 Neil Young – Zuma
15 Soft Machine – Bundles
1974
1 King Crimson – Red
2 Neil Young – On The Beach
3 Frank Zappa – Apostrophe
4 Steely Dan – Pretzel Logic
5 Genesis – The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
6 Peter Hammill – The Silent Corner And The Empty Stage
7 Henry Cow – Unrest
8 Brian Eno – Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy
9 Tom Waits – The Heart Of Saturday Night
10 King Crimson – Starless And Bible Black
11 Gene Clark – No Other
12 Big Star – Radio City
13 Sam Rivers – Crystals
14 Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band – Bluejeans & Moonbeams
15 Robert Wyatt – Rock Bottom
1973
1 Pink Floyd – The Dark Side Of The Moon
2 Brian Eno – Here Come The Warm Jets
3 Beach Boys – Holland
4 Lou Reed – Berlin
5 Steely Dan – Countdown To Ecstacy
6 Iggy & The Stooges – Raw Power
7 John Cale – Paris 1919
8 Neil Young – Time Fades Away
9 Mahavishnu Orchestra – Between Nothingness & Eternity
10 The Rolling Stones – Goats Head Soup
11 Tom Waits – Closing Time
12 Andy Pratt – Andy Pratt
13 John Martyn – Solid Air
14 Return To Forever – Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy
15 Roxy Music – For Your Pleasure
1972
1 The Rolling Stones – Exile On Main Street
2 David Bowie – The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
3 Lou Reed – Transformer
4 Roxy Music – Roxy Music
5 Can – Ege Bamyasi
6 Faust – So Far
7 Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band – The Spotlight Kid
8 Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band – Clear Spot
9 Steely Dan – Can’t Buy A Thrill
10 Neu! – Neu!
11 Captain Beyond – Captain Beyond
12 Annette Peacock – I’m The One
13 Stephen Stills Manassas – Manassas
14 Miles Davis – On The Corner
15 Weather Report – I Sing The Body Electric
1971
1 The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers
2 Paul & Linda McCartney – RAM
3 David Crosby – If I Could Only Remember My Name
4 Mahavishnu Orchestra – The Inner Mounting Flame
5 Can – Tago Mago
6 Van Der Graaf Generator – Pawn Hearts
7 Beach Boys – Surf’s Up
8 Earth & Fire – Earth & Fire
9 Mickey Newbury – Frisco Mabel Joy
10 Ornette Coleman – Love Call
11 John Cale & Terry Riley – Church Of Anthrax
12 Santana – Santana
13 Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On
14 David Bowie – The Man Who Sold The World
15 The Baby Huey Story – The Living Legend
1970
1 Neil Young – After The Goldrush
2 Miles Davis – Bitches Brew
3 Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band – Lick My Decalls Off Baby
4 Stooges – Fun House
5 Spirit – Twelve Dreams Of Dr Sardonicus
6 Van Der Graaf Generator – H To He, Who Am The Only One
7 Velvet Underground – Loaded
8 King Crimson – In The Wake Of Poseidon
9 Black Sabbath – Paranoid
10 Amon Düüll – Yeti
11 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Déja Vu
12 Deep Purple – In Rock
13 Twink – Think Pink
14 Can – Soundtracks
15 The Band – Stage Fright
1969
1 Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band – Trout Mask Replica
2 The Beatles – Abbey Road
3 Santana – Santana
4 Tony Williams Lifetime – Emergency
5 King Crimson – In The Court Of The Crimson King
6 Iron Butterfly – Ball
7 Soft Machine – Volume Two
8 The Stooges – The Stooges
9 Kak – Kak
10 Silver Apples – Contact
11 Chicago – Chicago Transit Authority
12 Led Zeppelin – 2
13 Free – Free
14 Steve Miler Band – Brave New World
15 The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed
1968
1 The Beatles – The Beatles
2 The Band – Music From Big Pink
3 United States Of America – United States Of America
4 Mothers Of Invention – We’re Only In It For The Money
5 Spirit – Spirit
6 Spirit – The Family That Plays Together
7 The Byrds – The Notorious Byrd Brothers
8 Neil Young – Neil Young
9 Graffiti – Graffiti
10 Peter Brötmann Octet – Machine Gun
11 Millennium – Begin
12 Sly & The Family Stone – Dance To The Music
13 Silver Apples – Silver Apples
14 Kim Fowley – Outrageous
15 Terje Typdal – Bleak House
1967
1 Love – Forever Changes
2 Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band – Safe As Milk
3 The Doors – Strange Days
4 The Doors – The Doors
5 Clear Light – Clear Light
6 The Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour
7 Archie Shepp – The Magic Of Ju-ju
8 Velvet Underground & Nico – Velvet Underground & Nico
9 Jimi Hendrix Experience – Axis Bold As Love
10 The Rolling Stones – Between The Buttons
11 The Beatles – Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
12 Scott Walker – Scott
13 Cream – Disraeli Gears
14 The Who – Sell Out
15 The Byrds – Younger Than Yesterday
1966
1 Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
2 The Beatles – Revolver
3 The Mothers Of Invention – Freak Out
4 Bob Dylan – Blonde On Blonde
5 John Coltrane – Meditations
6 The Monks – Black Monk Time
7 The Rolling Stones – Aftermath
8 Cecil Taylor – Unit Structures
9 John Coltrane – Ascension
10 The Byrds – Fifth Dimension
