Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by
Strangel 
These albums are my favourites. This is not meant to be a 'Greatest Album's' chart, although I would strongly argue for each of my chosen albums in being considered for a greatest albums list. My interest is more toward the alternative/indie and electronic genres with a tendency toward experimentation in the music. I also need to be able to comfortably immerse myself in the music. So while I appreciate, and want to explore the work of Autechre (for example), I get far more pleasure from listening to Burial which has more reverie to the sound rather than almost pure math and tech. Aphex Twin, in fact, manages to bridge these aspects perfectly.
It might be noted that Radiohead dominates the list which simply expresses my belief that they have the uncanny ability to release album after album of near perfect alternative music, shifting the landscape of what's possible whilst always remaining relevant. I don't apologise for this. They are that good.
- Chart updated: 09/27/2024 14:15
- (Created: 07/04/2016 14:26).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 34 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 89 out of 100 (from 53 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from the 2010s. (Remove this filter)
Rating: 97/100
ALBUM HIGHLIGHT: For me it's probably the title track Amok. At first it seems a simple little closing track. After some listens you realise that there are many intricacies. Eventually you nod your head at how all the components that generate from previous layers of silence somehow, inexplicably work as a whole, fitting in just as they should. Other songs such as Default show this same mastery but Amok does it for me due to the subtleties.
Another highlight is the use of Yorke's voice on this album. It plays with his ethereal qualities as his voice comes at you from a distance, in the background, before moving to the foreground or supporting his own main vocal. The opening and closings tracks both demonstrate this personal highlight. [First added to this chart: 07/05/2016]
Rating: 95/100
ALBUM HIGHLIGHT: The prominent orchestral arrangements. [First added to this chart: 07/05/2016]
As the English writer Mark Fisher so evocatively puts it;
“Burial's London is a wounded city, populated by ecstasy casualties on day release from psychiatric units, disappointed lovers on night buses, parents who can't quite bring themselves to sell their Rave 12 inches at a carboot sale, all of them with haunted looks on their faces, but also haunting their interpassively nihilistic kids with the thought that things weren't always like this. It is like walking into the abandoned spaces once carnivalised by Raves and finding them returned to depopulated dereliction. Muted air horns flare like the ghosts of Raves past. Broken glass cracks underfoot. MDMA flashbacks bring London to unlife in the way that hallucinogens brought demons crawling out of the subways in Jacob’s Ladder’s New York. Audio hallucinations transform the city’s rhythms into inorganic beings, more dejected than malign. You see faces in the clouds and hear voices in the crackle. What you momentarily thought was muffled bass turns out only to be the rumbling of tube trains”.
Some of the purely ambient tracks kick off this album which makes for a long intro to the subtle beats of my preferred tracks and prevent the album from being a top 10 contender for me. [First added to this chart: 01/23/2024]
Sure, it suffers a little for not having the 'fullness' of sound that they are capable of but I just love their willingness to explore new territory. I find myself returning to this album time and again on my train commute as it works so well when closing out the world around.
Rating: 95/100
ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS: For sheer transcendent beauty; Codex, which needs more recognition as a Radiohead classic.
For the audiophiles who love masterful layers of cacophonous instrumentation; Bloom - it will have your mind swirling. [First added to this chart: 07/05/2016]
But then I stumbled across Immunity while exploring the Metacritic website and was intrigued by the overwhelmingly positive reviews. It grabbed me immediately with its driving baselines and the sizzling, fizzing electronic beats that have you immediately in the zone. It's as if you take off on a journey into outerspace, not in a rocket, but a smooth moving aircraft that breaks through the earth's atmosphere at the midpoint of the album when track 5, Abandon Window, gently appears and you can shut off the engines and drift through space and into a sublime orbit as Form By Firelight, the 6th track takes over. Throughout the album Hopkins has managed to conjure an otherworldly ambience that brings me back to the album whenever I am looking for a complete disengagement from the rat-race.
I have listened to Hopkins' earlier stuff and he seems to be evolving his sound more and more which makes me eager to hear what he produces in future releases.
Rating: 95/100
ALBUM HIGHLIGHT: The sizzling, fizzing beats are at their best on Open Eye Signal. [First added to this chart: 07/05/2016]
Rating: 93/100
ALBUM HIGHLIGHT: There's something alluring about the quirky nature of the musicianship. It's unconventional without being messy, cluttered, or distracting, and never loses its catchiness. Fitzpleasure and Breezeblocks capture this best I reckon. [First added to this chart: 07/05/2016]
1) It has very engaging atmospherics ranging from distantly dreamy to psychedelically fuzzy with it's layers of guitar coming to the fore in certain songs.
2) It is a complete album of exceptional songs without a filler or mediocre moment.
It's also lyrically elusive in a good way. Bradford Cox's vocals seem a half dimension away. I was lucky enough to see them play in support of this album in a small intimate venue and they impressed with their stage presence.
Rating: 91/100
ALBUM HIGHLIGHT: The outro guitar build to Desire Lines is immense and you know it's good when you want it to continue when the finish comes. [First added to this chart: 07/05/2016]
RATING: 91/100
ALBUM HIGHLIGHT: Dawn Chorus is too immediate in its attraction for me to singularly point it out as the highlight as most reviewers are. I like the tracks that seep in slowly and capture your attention when you least expect it. At the point of writing this the track ‘Twist’ has serenaded my subconscious particularly its late-song transition which sweeps in on the back of some breezy synths and breaks out with foreboding lyrical imagery of an empty car in the woods with the motor left running. [First added to this chart: 08/14/2019]
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
Decade | Albums | % | |
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1930s | 0 | 0% | |
1940s | 0 | 0% | |
1950s | 0 | 0% | |
1960s | 6 | 6% | |
1970s | 7 | 7% | |
1980s | 5 | 5% | |
1990s | 29 | 29% | |
2000s | 34 | 34% | |
2010s | 17 | 17% | |
2020s | 2 | 2% |
Artist | Albums | % | |
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Radiohead | 8 | 8% | |
Aphex Twin | 4 | 4% | |
Metallica | 4 | 4% | |
Tool | 3 | 3% | |
The Beatles | 3 | 3% | |
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds | 3 | 3% | |
Pearl Jam | 3 | 3% | |
Show all |
Country | Albums | % | |
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42 | 42% | |
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41 | 41% | |
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6 | 6% | |
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5 | 5% | |
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3 | 3% | |
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1 | 1% | |
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1 | 1% | |
Show all |
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
Biggest climbers |
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![]() A Moon Shaped Pool by Radiohead |
![]() The Velvet Underground & Nico by The Velvet Underground & Nico |
![]() Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division |
Biggest fallers |
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![]() Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles |
![]() Ghosteen by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds |
![]() Absolution by Muse |
New entries |
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![]() by The Smile |
Leavers |
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![]() by The Beatles |
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings

where:
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Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 53 ratings for this chart.
Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
---|---|---|---|---|
85/100 ![]() | 02/15/2025 09:18 | ![]() | ![]() | 89/100 |
90/100 ![]() | 06/12/2024 20:18 | C0NB9NN | ![]() | 85/100 |
90/100 ![]() | 06/10/2024 10:58 | ![]() | ![]() | 85/100 |
90/100 ![]() | 11/19/2023 10:55 | ![]() | ![]() | 78/100 |
95/100 ![]() | 06/17/2020 14:47 | ![]() | ![]() | 91/100 |
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This chart is rated in the top 5% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 88.7/100, a mean average of 86.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 89.2/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 16.7.
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
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Yeah, just like a few others, I'd wish the Radioheads could spread out a bit more. But it's forgivable because of some of the descriptions, always a win in my book.

Yeah, as I mentioned in the comments, a lot of bourbon and pot was had while listening to The Doors. It doesn’t detract from the fact that I love the album. Roadhouse Blues got played a lot in the mix around then and I completely forgot it was on Morrison Hotel which, as an album I didn’t take to as much. We probably played the song in addition to LA Woman on a regular basis. Funny what memories do.
Very well thought out chart. I can start to picture where you go when you listen to these albums. Personally I don’t like Radiohead, but I don’t see that as a problem on your chart, as when you think an artist is good, they’re good.
I’d hate to be that one person, but Roadhouse Blues is on Morrison Hotel, not L.A. Woman.
17 albums in common.
Love your chart! I agree on amok it is a very underated album.
I like your chart. Have a lot Artists and Albums in common.

Good list! We share the Radiohead "problem". I suggest you to dive into some older Krautrock and Ambient music. You will find a lot of Radioheads work is influenced by that stuff and there are some gems to be found.
We have 31 albums and 21 artists in common... It's very funny!
I find your chart very interesting and complete. You have musical tastes very similar to mine. Radiohead is one of my favorite bands!
I'm glad you like Icelandic music: Sigur Rós and Björk. I agree with you that "Vespertine" is Björk's best album: It's a real masterpiece. You put a lot of recent music in your chart and it's nice to see AMOK of Atoms For Peace in your rankings. This is surely one of Thom Yorke's underrated albums. I'm really happy to see artists not very well known as Burial, Nick Cave or Amon Tobin who are part of my favorite artist. The 90s are really well represented in your chart with great artists like Nirvana, Aphex Twin, Tool or Massive Attack. Really very good job and very good choice!

Good choices, great descriptions, great diversity (even with 8 Radiohead albums!). I particularly appreciate the presence of some electronic (Four Tet, Jon Hopkins, Burial...) among all the rock picks.

I don't agree with your top ten, or some other picks, or (as has been noted by others) the excess of Radiohead, but who gives a shit about my opinion. I love the passion in your descriptions and the personalized responses. Great chart!
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Best Artists of the 1990s | |
---|---|
1. Radiohead | |
2. Nirvana | |
3. The Smashing Pumpkins | |
4. Neutral Milk Hotel | |
5. Oasis | |
6. My Bloody Valentine | |
7. Pearl Jam | |
8. R.E.M. | |
9. Nick Cave | |
10. Björk | |
11. Weezer | |
12. Richard David James | |
13. Pavement | |
14. Portishead | |
15. Jeff Buckley | |
16. Blur | |
17. Elliott Smith | |
18. Nas | |
19. Red Hot Chili Peppers | |
20. Massive Attack |