Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by JamesMowbray 
- Chart updated: 01/22/2022 11:45
- (Created: 11/11/2016 14:58).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 4 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 89 out of 100 (from 25 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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[First added to this chart: 11/11/2016]
Year of Release:
1966
Appears in:
Rank Score:
56,944
Rank in 1966:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
477
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[First added to this chart: 11/11/2016]
Year of Release:
1967
Appears in:
Rank Score:
50,805
Rank in 1967:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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[First added to this chart: 11/11/2016]
Year of Release:
1969
Appears in:
Rank Score:
65,427
Rank in 1969:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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The White Album is probably the most artistically successful and influential album that is also a complete mess. The range of ideas on display is kind of staggering and the execution is mostly just as impressive. While I'm glad this whole thing exists, the weaknesses of a good proportion of the tracks on here do make you wonder if a brutal edit may have improved the overall experience.
Opener 'Back in the USSR' starts things off on a massive high. The sound effects of engines add levels of tension to an already paranoid sounding guitar line. The chorus gives things a poppy 60s sound, but with the overall sound and the lyrics something just seems kind of off separating it from the more shallow sounding tracks that it deviates from. ‘Dear Prudence’, betters this track. The transition between the two very different tracks is brilliantly executed. Again there's a more nervous and negative feel to this track than you'd be used to before and after this point. The distant sound of John's voice, as well as the two notes that make up most of the guitar work emphasise this affect. As the track progresses more and more instrumentation is added until the overall sound is huge. The buildup is particularly subtle and sometimes involves elements dropping out in order to let new ones in. It leads to a magnificent finale with the same vocal line being heard completely differently at the end of the track. ‘Glass Onion’ finishes up a trio of great songs. The weirder percussion, lyrics and guitar work give a very odd feel to the track, and it feels very much like the spiritual successor to I am the Walrus, even if it's not as good.
‘Ob-la-di Ob-la-da’ is the first track that shows the lows of the record. The dull and emotionless guitar that just plods through the whole track kills all of the momentum that the last few tracks had done such a great job building. The lead and backing vocals are really quite annoying, as are the instrumental embellishments and sound effects. It's still better than ‘Good Day Sunshine’, but what isn't? ‘Wild Honey Pie’ has a much more interesting and unexpected sound to it, but at under a minute it doesn't recover much from what ‘Ob-la-di Ob-la-da’ caused the record to lose in its early stages. ‘The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill’ is another irritating track. The verses sound alright for the most part, until they introduce the higher pitched voices, and you're just waiting for the chorus to end every time it appears.
Just when it looks like the quality is collapsing, we are hit with an absolute classic in ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. The verses both lyrically and in their general sound so dejected, and the layers of guitars each individually build on this. These hold up through the chorus, but the emotion in the lyrics shifts towards confusion and sadness, somewhat switching up how the same guitars start to sound. The guitar solo in the middle of the track runs so well with the themes, it almost feels like another vocal verse. The track is one of the few where the overused fade out technique feels entirely justified, you pay attention to every moment as it drifts away.
‘Happiness is a Warm Gun’ is also a great, though thoroughly strange track. Yet again the odd lyricism coupled with the emotional sounds of the guitars builds a much darker atmosphere than you’d expect from the Beatles. The structure of the track is radically different from other Beatles track, going from one movement to the next instead holding a semblance to verse-chorus-verse etc. ‘Martha My Dear’ starts as a much more straightforward piano led track, aided by the sound of strings and brass instruments to elevate it beyond the usual Beatles piano ballads. Guitars enter in the chorus to give a much freer feel to the track. It is an example of how well Beatles tracks could remain so personal sounding, even after going through extensive production.
The album takes a slower turn starting with ‘I’m So Tired’. The repetition of that line hits harder every time you hear it. As with ‘Martha My Dear’, things build up massively for the chorus to give more weight to the vocals when they change up. Next up, ‘Blackbird’ is a lovely and emotional track from Paul. The more barebones feel makes it stand out from the tracks surrounding it, and perfectly complement the mix of hope and sadness in the lyrics. But things start to go wrong again with ‘Piggies’. The track is mediocre, the vocal delivery and guitar work is decent, but that harpsichord just derails everything.
‘Rocky Raccoon’ suddenly transports you round a campfire out of absolutely nowhere. The story it tells is compelling and well delivered by Paul. But since this is the White Album, various other instruments are added in the mix as the track progresses, until you end up listening to the track in an old western saloon. Next track, ‘Don’t Pass Me By ‘isn’t anything amazing, but it’s pretty harmless. As one of Ringo’s better efforts for the band it has likeable lyrics and vocal style, and the chorus is quite nice, but once you’ve heard the first half you’ve heard it all and the second half of the track is pretty much just a repeat of what’s already been.
With ‘Why Don’t We Do It In The Road’ the nervous energy returns, the brief track mixes the piano and bass to sound fairly threatening and has the kind of lyrics you wouldn’t expect to hear of a Paul track. By comparison the breezy effort of ‘I Will’ calms things down. It’s a nice little track that’s suitably short as it seems to run into a creative dead end pretty quickly. Closer of the first disk ‘Julia’ is one of the better tracks on the side. The song primarily about Lennon’s mother feels very personal, and the guitars very intimate.
The second disk kicks of with ‘Birthday’, a fun track that echoes the band’s earlier works. Unfortunately, a lot of the second half of the track feels fairly redundant, which feels like a bit of a waste of time on an album this long. ‘Yer Blues’ is a much more atmospheric piece. Though the lyrics are so far over the top, they do work with the repetitive nature of the guitars and the sudden instrumental breaks to build very negative mood. The track goes on a bit but this feels necessary to force the listener to get wrapped up in the mood of the track. ‘Mother Nature’s Son’ is a nice, acoustic guitar driven track, but it feels outdone by similar tracks on the album like ‘Blackbird’ and ‘Martha My Dear’ where the emotional elements hit harder.
‘Everybody’s got Something to Hide Except me and my Monkey’ is another more fun track but doesn’t really go anywhere all that interesting in its short runtime. ‘Sexy Sadie’ is a similarly good track that also fails to do anything incredible. For any other band this would be fine, but for the Beatles to having a run of five tracks where none are extraordinary is something of a rarity. The good news is that an extraordinary track does appear immediately after with ‘Helter Skelter’. Easily the loudest track in the Beatles’ catalogue and maybe the loudest in the world of pop music at the time of release, it demands your attention as much as it demands that you turn up the volume. Hearing the Beatles function as a completely different kind of band shows the versatility of all members, Ringo detractors ought to remember the enormous number of styles that he successfully drummed over. The track gets crazier as it goes on, at the three-minute mark, horns, as well as a general sea of noise, take over the track completely. The fade out and fade back in lets you appreciate once again just how loud and nasty those guitar sound.
continued on 60s decade chart [First added to this chart: 11/11/2016]
Opener 'Back in the USSR' starts things off on a massive high. The sound effects of engines add levels of tension to an already paranoid sounding guitar line. The chorus gives things a poppy 60s sound, but with the overall sound and the lyrics something just seems kind of off separating it from the more shallow sounding tracks that it deviates from. ‘Dear Prudence’, betters this track. The transition between the two very different tracks is brilliantly executed. Again there's a more nervous and negative feel to this track than you'd be used to before and after this point. The distant sound of John's voice, as well as the two notes that make up most of the guitar work emphasise this affect. As the track progresses more and more instrumentation is added until the overall sound is huge. The buildup is particularly subtle and sometimes involves elements dropping out in order to let new ones in. It leads to a magnificent finale with the same vocal line being heard completely differently at the end of the track. ‘Glass Onion’ finishes up a trio of great songs. The weirder percussion, lyrics and guitar work give a very odd feel to the track, and it feels very much like the spiritual successor to I am the Walrus, even if it's not as good.
‘Ob-la-di Ob-la-da’ is the first track that shows the lows of the record. The dull and emotionless guitar that just plods through the whole track kills all of the momentum that the last few tracks had done such a great job building. The lead and backing vocals are really quite annoying, as are the instrumental embellishments and sound effects. It's still better than ‘Good Day Sunshine’, but what isn't? ‘Wild Honey Pie’ has a much more interesting and unexpected sound to it, but at under a minute it doesn't recover much from what ‘Ob-la-di Ob-la-da’ caused the record to lose in its early stages. ‘The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill’ is another irritating track. The verses sound alright for the most part, until they introduce the higher pitched voices, and you're just waiting for the chorus to end every time it appears.
Just when it looks like the quality is collapsing, we are hit with an absolute classic in ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. The verses both lyrically and in their general sound so dejected, and the layers of guitars each individually build on this. These hold up through the chorus, but the emotion in the lyrics shifts towards confusion and sadness, somewhat switching up how the same guitars start to sound. The guitar solo in the middle of the track runs so well with the themes, it almost feels like another vocal verse. The track is one of the few where the overused fade out technique feels entirely justified, you pay attention to every moment as it drifts away.
‘Happiness is a Warm Gun’ is also a great, though thoroughly strange track. Yet again the odd lyricism coupled with the emotional sounds of the guitars builds a much darker atmosphere than you’d expect from the Beatles. The structure of the track is radically different from other Beatles track, going from one movement to the next instead holding a semblance to verse-chorus-verse etc. ‘Martha My Dear’ starts as a much more straightforward piano led track, aided by the sound of strings and brass instruments to elevate it beyond the usual Beatles piano ballads. Guitars enter in the chorus to give a much freer feel to the track. It is an example of how well Beatles tracks could remain so personal sounding, even after going through extensive production.
The album takes a slower turn starting with ‘I’m So Tired’. The repetition of that line hits harder every time you hear it. As with ‘Martha My Dear’, things build up massively for the chorus to give more weight to the vocals when they change up. Next up, ‘Blackbird’ is a lovely and emotional track from Paul. The more barebones feel makes it stand out from the tracks surrounding it, and perfectly complement the mix of hope and sadness in the lyrics. But things start to go wrong again with ‘Piggies’. The track is mediocre, the vocal delivery and guitar work is decent, but that harpsichord just derails everything.
‘Rocky Raccoon’ suddenly transports you round a campfire out of absolutely nowhere. The story it tells is compelling and well delivered by Paul. But since this is the White Album, various other instruments are added in the mix as the track progresses, until you end up listening to the track in an old western saloon. Next track, ‘Don’t Pass Me By ‘isn’t anything amazing, but it’s pretty harmless. As one of Ringo’s better efforts for the band it has likeable lyrics and vocal style, and the chorus is quite nice, but once you’ve heard the first half you’ve heard it all and the second half of the track is pretty much just a repeat of what’s already been.
With ‘Why Don’t We Do It In The Road’ the nervous energy returns, the brief track mixes the piano and bass to sound fairly threatening and has the kind of lyrics you wouldn’t expect to hear of a Paul track. By comparison the breezy effort of ‘I Will’ calms things down. It’s a nice little track that’s suitably short as it seems to run into a creative dead end pretty quickly. Closer of the first disk ‘Julia’ is one of the better tracks on the side. The song primarily about Lennon’s mother feels very personal, and the guitars very intimate.
The second disk kicks of with ‘Birthday’, a fun track that echoes the band’s earlier works. Unfortunately, a lot of the second half of the track feels fairly redundant, which feels like a bit of a waste of time on an album this long. ‘Yer Blues’ is a much more atmospheric piece. Though the lyrics are so far over the top, they do work with the repetitive nature of the guitars and the sudden instrumental breaks to build very negative mood. The track goes on a bit but this feels necessary to force the listener to get wrapped up in the mood of the track. ‘Mother Nature’s Son’ is a nice, acoustic guitar driven track, but it feels outdone by similar tracks on the album like ‘Blackbird’ and ‘Martha My Dear’ where the emotional elements hit harder.
‘Everybody’s got Something to Hide Except me and my Monkey’ is another more fun track but doesn’t really go anywhere all that interesting in its short runtime. ‘Sexy Sadie’ is a similarly good track that also fails to do anything incredible. For any other band this would be fine, but for the Beatles to having a run of five tracks where none are extraordinary is something of a rarity. The good news is that an extraordinary track does appear immediately after with ‘Helter Skelter’. Easily the loudest track in the Beatles’ catalogue and maybe the loudest in the world of pop music at the time of release, it demands your attention as much as it demands that you turn up the volume. Hearing the Beatles function as a completely different kind of band shows the versatility of all members, Ringo detractors ought to remember the enormous number of styles that he successfully drummed over. The track gets crazier as it goes on, at the three-minute mark, horns, as well as a general sea of noise, take over the track completely. The fade out and fade back in lets you appreciate once again just how loud and nasty those guitar sound.
continued on 60s decade chart [First added to this chart: 11/11/2016]
Year of Release:
1968
Appears in:
Rank Score:
43,236
Rank in 1968:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 4. Page 1 of 1
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 2 | 2% | |
| 1960s | 17 | 17% | |
| 1970s | 16 | 16% | |
| 1980s | 8 | 8% | |
| 1990s | 9 | 9% | |
| 2000s | 17 | 17% | |
| 2010s | 26 | 26% | |
| 2020s | 5 | 5% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
|
| Radiohead | 6 | 6% | |
| David Bowie | 5 | 5% | |
| The Beatles | 4 | 4% | |
| Bob Dylan | 4 | 4% | |
| Joanna Newsom | 3 | 3% | |
| Swans | 3 | 3% | |
| My Bloody Valentine | 2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 11 from 26th to 15th The Glow Pt. 2 by The Microphones |
| Up 11 from 20th to 9th Loveless by My Bloody Valentine |
| Up 9 from 64th to 55th Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 7 from 91st to 98th Isn't Anything by My Bloody Valentine |
| Down 6 from 69th to 75th John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band by John Lennon |
| Down 6 from 72nd to 78th The Ooz by King Krule |
| New entries |
|---|
 Pluperfect Mindby Dear Laika |
| We Had Good Times Together, Don't Forget That by Sewerslvt |
| Future Days by Can |
| Close To The Edge by Yes |
| First Utterance by Comus |
| Leavers |
|---|
 The Times They Are A-Changin'by Bob Dylan |
| Crap Shit by Girls Rituals |
| Pure Comedy by Father John Misty |
| Another Green World by Brian Eno |
| Bloom by Beach House |
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings
89/100 (from 25 votes)
where:
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.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 25 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
90/100  | 03/12/2022 15:59 |  hoyquarlow | | 88/100 |
95/100 | 02/18/2022 18:48 |  Cytoma | | 90/100 |
90/100 | 01/24/2022 16:46 | Johnnyo | | 80/100 |
85/100 | 01/23/2022 22:45 |  NowhereMan | | 82/100 |
 95/100 | 12/03/2021 06:37 |  Tamthebam | | 85/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some charts can have several thousand ratings)
This chart is rated in the top 3% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 89.4/100, a mean average of 90.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 90.8/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 6.6.
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
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90/100
From Johnnyo 01/24/2022 16:46
Very nice chart indeed
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From Kurtco 02/21/2019 05:52
One of the great chart I've ever seen on this site...
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
85/100
From 
ForegroundNoise 10/28/2018 23:59
ForegroundNoise 10/28/2018 23:59
Some really nice picks here and appreciate the depth with which you've made your track by track notes, if it seems a little random as to which ones you've given writing to. Can't wait for more!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
90/100
From 
DommeDamian 12/17/2017 21:34
DommeDamian 12/17/2017 21:34
I may not always agree with you, but your taste is brilliant!
Plus your Illmatic description is just wow
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
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| Best Ever Artists | |
|---|---|
| 1. The Beatles | |
| 2. Radiohead | |
| 3. Pink Floyd | |
| 4. David Bowie | |
| 5. Bob Dylan | |
| 6. Led Zeppelin | |
| 7. The Rolling Stones | |
| 8. Arcade Fire | |
| 9. The Velvet Underground | |
| 10. Kendrick Lamar | |
| 11. Nirvana | |
| 12. Neil Young | |
| 13. The Smiths | |
| 14. Miles Davis | |
| 15. The Beach Boys | |
| 16. Kanye West | |
| 17. Pixies | |
| 18. R.E.M. | |
| 19. Jimi Hendrix | |
| 20. Bruce Springsteen |