[babyBlueSedan]

Some who haven't been mentioned:

Guided by Voices - both Bee Thousand (7) and Alien Lanes (8 )
Scarface - The Fix (7), though the Diary is nearly as good
Songs: Ohia - Magnolia Electric Co (9)

Almost:
Dinosaur Jr - Bug is probably still my favorite, but there are days I think Beyond (8, and after a 10 year hiatus) is better

Also want to shout out Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds even though they've already been mentioned. I've been listening to them nonstop the last couple days and I would argue their best 9 or 10 albums aren't among their first five.
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And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.

[O.T.]

Interestingly there seems to be dispute about the best album of those artists that were already mentioned, so several artists and bands were maybe in their best phase after album five.
My picks:
Elvis - The NBC TV Special
Beatles - Revolver
Grateful Dead - Blues for Allah
Joni Mitchell - Hejira
Steely Dan - Gaucho
Prince - Sign o' the times
Bob Dylan - Modern times
Caetano Veloso - Joia
Elis Regina - Falso Brilhante
Dorival Caymmi - Caymmi (His last one!)
So we might agree about the artists, but not necessarily about the albums.
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"But really, the thing that propels me through music is the emotional reality of it."
Jerry Garcia

[revolver94]

beach boys (pet sounds) [does this really count?]
sufjan (carrie & lowell)
bowie (low)
anco (feels)
guided by voices (alien lanes)
beatles (revolver) [see beach boys]
dirty projectors (bitte orca)
dylan (highway 61)
spoon (ga ga ga ga ga)

this is an interesting q -- wish i had more interesting answers
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My top songs of the 2010s
and
Spotify link

Last.fm

[SquishypuffDave]

If I'm in that mood, Scott Walker.

Porcupine Tree fits too. The Gavin Harrison era was some next-level freshness.

Also, since In Rainbows and Hail To The Thief are my favourite Radiohead albums, I technically should include them, even though that feels wrong for some reason. I suppose I'm more thinking of artists "hitting their stride" late in the game.

[saltysurprise]

Michael Jackson (Bad)
The Beatles (Sgt Pepper)
The Rolling Stones (Exile On Main St)
Fleetwood Mac (Rumours)
The Cure (Disintegration)
Radiohead (In Rainbows -arguably)
Green Day (American Idiot)
The Flaming Lips (The Soft Bulletin)
Paul Simon (Graceland)
Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon)
RHCP (Between Californication and Stadium Arcadium)
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Stay noided

[hazeld]

David Bowie (Station to Station was 10th, Low was 11th)
Stevie Wonder (Innervisions was 16th)
Beach Boys (Pet Sounds was 11th, Surf's Up was 17th)
Miles Davis (Bitches Brew, In a Silent Way, and On the Corner were god knows what LP)
John Coltrane (Ascension was close to his 20th I believe)
Kraftwerk (TEE was 6th)
Brian Eno (Ambient 1 was 6th)
King Crimson (Red was 7th)

might update later

[Komorebi-D]