Top 40 Greatest Music Albums
by 
Timhop 
- Chart updated: 04/21/2021 19:15
- (Created: 12/05/2014 09:15).
- Chart size: 40 albums.
There are 3 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 40 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 86 out of 100 (from 4 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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There is simply no way this could NOT be my number one album. I was lucky enough to have three older brothers who had great taste in music. I first heard this album when I was 7 years old, and from the first listen was totally captivated by its sound. I would listen to it extremely loud when no-one else was at home. I got a peverse thrill in thinking it was unsettling the neighbours. A masterpiece.
[First added to this chart: 12/05/2014]
Year of Release:
1973
Appears in:
Rank Score:
59,928
Rank in 1973:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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In the mid eighties I lost all interest in current music. It all seemed so lame: Modern Talking, OMD, AHA, all that junk. Only a few eighties bands like Talking heads and the Waterboys really held interest for me. I went back in time and began digging around in record shops to expand the musical grounding my brothers had left for me: Dylan, Neil Young, Van Morrison, David Bowie, Rodriguez, Floyd. This album changed everything. I’ll never forget where I was and who I was with when I first heard it.
[First added to this chart: 12/05/2014]
Year of Release:
1997
Appears in:
Rank Score:
63,496
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Rank in 1990s:
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A truly remarkable record of deep introspection, layered with all kinds of transcendental imagery from his Belfast childhood. Nothing quite like it had ever been done before, and he never did anything quite like it again, except perhaps on snatches of Veedon Fleece.
[First added to this chart: 12/06/2014]
Year of Release:
1968
Appears in:
Rank Score:
16,278
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Comments:
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This guy and Nick Drake were introduced to the older generation of guitarists in the town I live in South Africa in the early 70's, and had a huge influence on many of them, and later on me too. A great, hugely under-rated album, dark, woozy and brooding, with fantastic double-bass by Danny Thompson.
[First added to this chart: 12/05/2014]
Year of Release:
1973
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,426
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Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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This album really was a vindication for me. It took all that bland 80s junk and blew it right out the water. Listening to it was an intense, cathartic, almost spiritual experience. Its banks of layered acoustic guitars, violins, pianos and brass set it apart from anything else in 1987. That was the year I first heard it, although it was released in 85. It remains one of my all-time favourites, and I think Mike Scott and Karl Wallinger were one of Britain’s all-time great song-writing teams, even though their partnership was all-too brief. Just listening to it now and realise I really have to bump it up my chart a bit...
[First added to this chart: 12/05/2014]
Year of Release:
1985
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,886
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I wish the production on this album had been more like that of Five Leaves. I prefer the songs on here to Five Leaves, but it's all a bit over-produced. Should have been just him and John Cale. Just listen to how Cale elevated Northern Sky from a lovely little song into something truly marvelous. I really wore the grooves on that track of my LP out!
[First added to this chart: 12/06/2014]
Year of Release:
1971
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,681
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Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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Loved this album since i first heard it at aged 8 or so. By far his best IMO.
[First added to this chart: 12/06/2014]
Year of Release:
1972
Appears in:
Rank Score:
43,214
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Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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The most criminally under-rated of Van's later slew of albums, all of which sought a kind of transcendental spirituality. This was the one that nailed what he had been trying to do on albums like Inarticulate Speech of the Heart and Sense of Wonder. It all hangs together perfectly, while the earlier attempts just never gel, with too many out of place tracks. Side one ends on a dark existential note, and side two then lifts you up. I'm not a Christian, and you don't have to be one to be affected by this marvelous 'armchair for the soul' of an album.
[First added to this chart: 12/06/2014]
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Nothing Gabriel has done that has touched this album, for me anyway. Not a bad song on it. Maybe not as 'progressive' as his earlier stuff, but hey... Maybe he just got better at writing songs.
[First added to this chart: 12/06/2014]
Year of Release:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
7,098
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Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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Stunning double album. The best double album ever made, in my view.
[First added to this chart: 12/06/2014]
Year of Release:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
30,792
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Total albums: 17. Page 1 of 2
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Top 40 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1960s | 3 | 8% | |
| 1970s | 12 | 30% | |
| 1980s | 13 | 33% | |
| 1990s | 9 | 23% | |
| 2000s | 1 | 3% | |
| 2010s | 2 | 5% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Van Morrison | 3 | 8% | |
| Tom Waits | 3 | 8% | |
| Leonard Cohen | 2 | 5% | |
| Nick Drake | 2 | 5% | |
| U2 | 1 | 3% | |
| Pink Floyd | 1 | 3% | |
| Fleetwood Mac | 1 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 40 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 13 from 31st to 18thLost In The Dream by The War On Drugs |
| Up 3 from 20th to 17thNaturally by J.J. Cale |
| Up 3 from 19th to 16thPoetic Champions Compose by Van Morrison |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 6 from 13th to 19thCold Fact by Rodriguez |
| Down 3 from 17th to 20thSo by Peter Gabriel |
| Down 3 from 18th to 21stLondon Calling by The Clash |
| New entries |
|---|
| Bloom by Beach House |
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Top 40 Greatest Music Albums ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
N.B. The average rating for this chart will not be reliable as it has been rated very few times.
Showing all 4 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 06/12/2021 12:19 |  Goliath | 351 | 86/100 |
| ! | 04/14/2018 08:21 | Ulf | 186 | 80/100 |
| ! | 12/24/2014 02:43 |  benpaco | 142 | 85/100 |
| ! | 12/18/2014 16:40 |  BasdeWit97 | 448 | 89/100 |
Top 40 Greatest Music Albums favourites
Top 40 Greatest Music Albums comments
Showing all 2 comments |
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From Ulf 04/14/2018 08:21 | #212856
Great chart and comments
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From benpaco 12/24/2014 02:43 | #130022
benpaco 12/24/2014 02:43 | #130022
While largely generic, there's a lot here, even in your top 10, that is surprising and interesting. Will be cool to see where it goes!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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| Best Artists of the 1980s | |
|---|---|
| 1. The Smiths | |
| 2. Prince | |
| 3. Pixies | |
| 4. The Cure | |
| 5. Talking Heads | |
| 6. U2 | |
| 7. Metallica | |
| 8. Kate Bush | |
| 9. R.E.M. | |
| 10. The Stone Roses | |
| 11. Sonic Youth | |
| 12. Michael Jackson | |
| 13. Bruce Springsteen | |
| 14. Iron Maiden | |
| 15. Prince And The Revolution | |
| 16. Tom Waits | |
| 17. Joy Division | |
| 18. New Order | |
| 19. Talk Talk | |
| 20. Rush |
