Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by 
desh79 
- Chart updated: 12/22/2023 12:45
- (Created: 12/22/2016 10:22).
- 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 90 out of 100 (from 73 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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Each generation has its collective moment of optimism followed by a rude awakening, and few arguably came as bitter and traumatic as the Summer of Love of 1967 culminating in two years of riots, assassinations, Altamont and the Manson murders. I'm not suggesting that there's a causal link here, but if my (so far) 40 years on this planet have taught me anything, it's that the good times rarely last and that something unpleasant is always lurking around the corner.
I have no idea whether that makes me a pessimist or simply a realist, but it might help to explain why I love Forever Changes so much. Yes, a very many people have waxed lyrically about Forever Changes's "prophetic" qualities - how it more or less "foresaw" all the stuff that would follow that great big party the year 1967 was supposed to have been (looking at that year's musical output, I'm actually inclined to agree) - thus it's not an entirely original thought to put down here, but this album is basically the musical embodiment of the idea that All Is Not Well so it makes perfect sense to rank an album that reflects a very significant personal outlook of mine as my favourite album of all-time.
Forever Changes was an album I listened to over and over again when I was in my mid-teenage years. I loved the way it juxtaposed beauty and ugliness. The way the music would suddenlt jolt and turn. I was already at a stage where the traditional verse-chorus-verse structure started to bore me, and so I absolutely jumped at anything that had something approaching disruption, pianoforte, anything that broke the mould.
Forever Changes has these moments aplenty. The way The Good Humour Man ends, or the way The Daily Planet's entire verse structure suddenly changes tack into something else entirely. There are "old-fashioned" pop songs too, like Alone Again Or, but not without some very bittersweet lyrics where the hippie outlook of "You know that I could be in love, with almost everyone/I think that people are the greatest fun" is immediately followed by a straightlaced "And I will be alone again tonight, my dear". All Is Not Well.
Some lyrics are, admittedly, signals from Captain Obvious. "Sitting on a hillside/Watching all the people die/I'll feel much better on the other side" was something I deemed the epitome of cool at the age of 16, now I feel like Arthur Lee is beating me to a pulp with the Metaphor Stick, but still, as far as allusions to the Vietnam war go there are certainly weaker lines of prose out there, and all things considered The Red Telephone - particularly its final third - is still a majestic, magnificent and haunting piece of work.
There are other reasons I love this album. For instance, its willingness to be unashamedly sentimental every now and then, like on Andmoreagain. That song is cheesy as hell, but then again there's a part of ME that is cheesy and sentimental and sappy-romantic. Plus, behind Forever Changes's layers of cynicism, Andmoreagain illustrates that there's a childlike innocence that makes the whole thing even more endearing to me.
Chances are the juxtaposition between beauty and ugliness are prone to some kind of personal demons Lee was fighting at the time (and his later biography tragically suggests that this battle went on for several decades), but as with so many very personal works of art, Forever Changes has a universal quality that means that even some German kid living in Cambridge in the mid-1990s could feel addressed and comforted by it. [First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
I have no idea whether that makes me a pessimist or simply a realist, but it might help to explain why I love Forever Changes so much. Yes, a very many people have waxed lyrically about Forever Changes's "prophetic" qualities - how it more or less "foresaw" all the stuff that would follow that great big party the year 1967 was supposed to have been (looking at that year's musical output, I'm actually inclined to agree) - thus it's not an entirely original thought to put down here, but this album is basically the musical embodiment of the idea that All Is Not Well so it makes perfect sense to rank an album that reflects a very significant personal outlook of mine as my favourite album of all-time.
Forever Changes was an album I listened to over and over again when I was in my mid-teenage years. I loved the way it juxtaposed beauty and ugliness. The way the music would suddenlt jolt and turn. I was already at a stage where the traditional verse-chorus-verse structure started to bore me, and so I absolutely jumped at anything that had something approaching disruption, pianoforte, anything that broke the mould.
Forever Changes has these moments aplenty. The way The Good Humour Man ends, or the way The Daily Planet's entire verse structure suddenly changes tack into something else entirely. There are "old-fashioned" pop songs too, like Alone Again Or, but not without some very bittersweet lyrics where the hippie outlook of "You know that I could be in love, with almost everyone/I think that people are the greatest fun" is immediately followed by a straightlaced "And I will be alone again tonight, my dear". All Is Not Well.
Some lyrics are, admittedly, signals from Captain Obvious. "Sitting on a hillside/Watching all the people die/I'll feel much better on the other side" was something I deemed the epitome of cool at the age of 16, now I feel like Arthur Lee is beating me to a pulp with the Metaphor Stick, but still, as far as allusions to the Vietnam war go there are certainly weaker lines of prose out there, and all things considered The Red Telephone - particularly its final third - is still a majestic, magnificent and haunting piece of work.
There are other reasons I love this album. For instance, its willingness to be unashamedly sentimental every now and then, like on Andmoreagain. That song is cheesy as hell, but then again there's a part of ME that is cheesy and sentimental and sappy-romantic. Plus, behind Forever Changes's layers of cynicism, Andmoreagain illustrates that there's a childlike innocence that makes the whole thing even more endearing to me.
Chances are the juxtaposition between beauty and ugliness are prone to some kind of personal demons Lee was fighting at the time (and his later biography tragically suggests that this battle went on for several decades), but as with so many very personal works of art, Forever Changes has a universal quality that means that even some German kid living in Cambridge in the mid-1990s could feel addressed and comforted by it. [First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
Year of Release:
1967
Appears in:
Rank Score:
17,180
Rank in 1967:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
150
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Sit down and I shall tell you a tale.
In Cambridge - Cherry Hinton, to be precise - lived an old man called Roger. According to local folklore (and thus something to be taken with a sizeable pinch of salt), he installed bear traps in his front garden to repel unwanted visitors from far and wide. Apparently he liked a pint at the Six Bells pub, somewhere in the area around Mill Road (the "wrong" side of Reality Checkpoint - the C.O.M.M.O.N. that Alt-J, another great Cambridge band, sang about in Bloodflood). He passed away at some point in the mid-00s, news which caused no little despair since this old man, who by all accounts was a bitter recluse in his final years, also happened to be almost singlehandedly responsible for one of the greatest works of art of the 20th century.
Wind back to the mid-90s, when I was 16 or 17 - a colleague of my dad's gave me a copy of Piper on tape. I had heard about this album. I already owned some of Pink Floyd's discography. I loved The Wall, had not quite dug deep enough into Dark Side to really appreciate its genius, thought Careful With That Axe Eugene was a really funny song. I was aware that the group was once led by a guy called Syd Barrett, who took too much acid and was kicked out of the band, End of Story.
Little did I know that Piper is just incredible. Lyrically it's on a level with Lord Byron and Lewis Carroll. Whimsical and profound at the same time - that weird mixture of earthiness and grandiosity that, for some reason, only the English can manage to pull off. And musically, it was such a revolution that it practically invented the genre of Psychedelic Rock. That stuff was already 30 years old, yet I had never heard anything like it! Yes, Revolver had Tomorrow Never Knows, but Piper had Pow R Toc H, it had Bike, it had Astronomy Domine. While Sgt.Pepper-era Beatles and other psychedelic acts consciously searched out their influences, the Floyd almost existed by themselves, in a vacuum. The best art usually does.
Said colleague, by the way, claimed to have been a member of Jokers Wild, the band David Gilmour belonged to before Pink Floyd beckoned, as it became clear that Syd's mental decline was simply too much to handle for everyone involved (and the way Syd was treated was something everyone involved came to regret bitterly later on). Of course, in Cambridge you're always going to meet somebody who claims to have hung out with least one member of the Floyd in the 1960s, but I'm actually inclined to believe them, because Cambridge really is the sort of town where everybody knows each other, especially within the same age group.
Anyway, Roger? The old man, who was once known as Syd? I hope he won his decades-long battle against mental illness and that he died a happy man. It's the least he deserved. [First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
In Cambridge - Cherry Hinton, to be precise - lived an old man called Roger. According to local folklore (and thus something to be taken with a sizeable pinch of salt), he installed bear traps in his front garden to repel unwanted visitors from far and wide. Apparently he liked a pint at the Six Bells pub, somewhere in the area around Mill Road (the "wrong" side of Reality Checkpoint - the C.O.M.M.O.N. that Alt-J, another great Cambridge band, sang about in Bloodflood). He passed away at some point in the mid-00s, news which caused no little despair since this old man, who by all accounts was a bitter recluse in his final years, also happened to be almost singlehandedly responsible for one of the greatest works of art of the 20th century.
Wind back to the mid-90s, when I was 16 or 17 - a colleague of my dad's gave me a copy of Piper on tape. I had heard about this album. I already owned some of Pink Floyd's discography. I loved The Wall, had not quite dug deep enough into Dark Side to really appreciate its genius, thought Careful With That Axe Eugene was a really funny song. I was aware that the group was once led by a guy called Syd Barrett, who took too much acid and was kicked out of the band, End of Story.
Little did I know that Piper is just incredible. Lyrically it's on a level with Lord Byron and Lewis Carroll. Whimsical and profound at the same time - that weird mixture of earthiness and grandiosity that, for some reason, only the English can manage to pull off. And musically, it was such a revolution that it practically invented the genre of Psychedelic Rock. That stuff was already 30 years old, yet I had never heard anything like it! Yes, Revolver had Tomorrow Never Knows, but Piper had Pow R Toc H, it had Bike, it had Astronomy Domine. While Sgt.Pepper-era Beatles and other psychedelic acts consciously searched out their influences, the Floyd almost existed by themselves, in a vacuum. The best art usually does.
Said colleague, by the way, claimed to have been a member of Jokers Wild, the band David Gilmour belonged to before Pink Floyd beckoned, as it became clear that Syd's mental decline was simply too much to handle for everyone involved (and the way Syd was treated was something everyone involved came to regret bitterly later on). Of course, in Cambridge you're always going to meet somebody who claims to have hung out with least one member of the Floyd in the 1960s, but I'm actually inclined to believe them, because Cambridge really is the sort of town where everybody knows each other, especially within the same age group.
Anyway, Roger? The old man, who was once known as Syd? I hope he won his decades-long battle against mental illness and that he died a happy man. It's the least he deserved. [First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
Year of Release:
1967
Appears in:
Rank Score:
9,574
Rank in 1967:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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I had a lot of "Who was more influential, the Beatles or the Velvet Underground?"-discussions on the playground (or the smoker's section at my sixth form, and yes, they really had a smoker's section at my sixth form). I made the point that, while the Beatles made a certain type of rock music popular, the Velvet Underground effectively proved that rock music can be art and that you don't have to enjoy commercial success in order to be influential. (Can I quote Eno here or has that by now become a totally hackneyed, cliched thing to do when talking about this album?)
Admittedly, I was alone in making that point (and come to think I was actually the person who started the argument every single time), but I was right, dammit!
That aside, I was exposed to this album at a relatively young age and it undeniably had a massive influence on the way I approach music. [First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
Admittedly, I was alone in making that point (and come to think I was actually the person who started the argument every single time), but I was right, dammit!
That aside, I was exposed to this album at a relatively young age and it undeniably had a massive influence on the way I approach music. [First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
Year of Release:
1967
Appears in:
Rank Score:
46,152
Rank in 1967:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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The only thing I could fault this album for, and this has nothing to do with the actual quality of the output, is that it played a huge part in fuelling the bullshit myth that "Great art has to arise from ARGUMENT and CONFLICT!" because, by jove, were the Beatles in conflict with each other when they made this album. Cue lots of musicians, actors, film directors, literary writers, etc. thinking "Hey, I have to be a total a**hole to everyone around me and I will automatically make great art!". Of course, the myth precedes the White Album (as anyone who belonged to Richard Wagner's circle of friends would probably testify), but I would suggest it didn't really help.
But that aside, the White Album is the Beatles' magnum opus. It's definitely a masterpiece. It even has the obligatory annoying singalong ditty that you really ought to dislike but can't help but, well, maybe not love but at least appreciate (Revolver had Yellow Submarine, Sgt. Pepper had Mr. Kite, this has Obladi Oblada). [First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
But that aside, the White Album is the Beatles' magnum opus. It's definitely a masterpiece. It even has the obligatory annoying singalong ditty that you really ought to dislike but can't help but, well, maybe not love but at least appreciate (Revolver had Yellow Submarine, Sgt. Pepper had Mr. Kite, this has Obladi Oblada). [First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
Year of Release:
1968
Appears in:
Rank Score:
43,320
Rank in 1968:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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[First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
Year of Release:
1967
Appears in:
Rank Score:
29,179
Rank in 1967:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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[First added to this chart: 12/23/2016]
Year of Release:
1967
Appears in:
Rank Score:
50,924
Rank in 1967:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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[First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
Year of Release:
1966
Appears in:
Rank Score:
57,058
Rank in 1966:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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[First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
Year of Release:
1966
Appears in:
Rank Score:
45,162
Rank in 1966:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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[First added to this chart: 12/23/2016]
Year of Release:
1968
Appears in:
Rank Score:
18,716
Rank in 1968:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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[First added to this chart: 12/23/2016]
Year of Release:
1967
Appears in:
Rank Score:
7,328
Rank in 1967:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 12. Page 1 of 2
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1960s | 12 | 12% | |
| 1970s | 27 | 27% | |
| 1980s | 17 | 17% | |
| 1990s | 29 | 29% | |
| 2000s | 12 | 12% | |
| 2010s | 3 | 3% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
|
| The Beatles | 4 | 4% | |
| R.E.M. | 4 | 4% | |
| The Doors | 3 | 3% | |
| Pink Floyd | 3 | 3% | |
| Radiohead | 2 | 2% | |
| The Residents | 2 | 2% | |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor | 2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
46 | 46% | |
| |
38 | 38% | |
 |
6 | 6% | |
| |
3 | 3% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
 |
1 | 1% | |
 |
1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings
90/100 (from 73 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 73 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 100/100  | 03/03/2023 22:06 | Rm12398 | | 89/100 |
| 85/100 | 01/04/2023 22:24 | Moondance | | 84/100 |
| 95/100 | 01/04/2023 17:41 | Johnnyo | | 79/100 |
| 90/100 | 05/28/2022 12:34 |  Brandon8 | | 88/100 |
| 95/100 | 04/02/2022 06:28 |  seb7 | | 91/100 |
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 89.9/100, a mean average of 90.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 90.5/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 7.0.
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
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100/100
From Rm12398 01/05/2023 01:59
Really loved reading the write ups and the stories as to why these albums have resonated so much with you over the years. Great list!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
85/100
From Moondance 01/04/2023 22:29
A very interesting chart that spans the decades and reveals a unique musical taste ~ and the comments add flavour to your selections ~ which is always a nice BEA touch.
It was refreshing to see Lou Reed's 'New York' in there along with 'Transformer'.
An extra bonus point for including one album from south of the equator.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
95/100
From Johnnyo 01/04/2023 17:42
Great chart. Love the selections but also the work that has gone into putting this together. Cudos.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
95/100
From seb7 04/02/2022 06:28
seb7 04/02/2022 06:28
Cool list with a lot of fun picks and a lot of similar choices. Maybe a little rock-centric, but thats just me
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From TroutMaskGreg 11/26/2021 12:07
Great list (and agree with CharlieBarley that I also like the included notes!) Always good to see Devo in a list on here and amazing to see The Residents included, one of my favourite bands! Definitely got some more bands / albums that I'll be checking out from your list too, and also revisiting some classics that I haven't heard for a while - starting with The Madcap Laughs (it's been too long since I heard that fantastic album!)
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From 
Tha1ChiefRocka 11/27/2020 01:31
Tha1ChiefRocka 11/27/2020 01:31
I don't know why I never rate people's charts; especially one's that I like. Better late than never I suppose :) Loving the Susumu Hirasawa pick, and your notes are well done.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
95/100
From Larcx13 11/11/2020 17:07
Larcx13 11/11/2020 17:07
Very interesting choices! Love the work you put in some of these texts.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From 
Crhmgs 11/11/2020 08:59
Crhmgs 11/11/2020 08:59
Great chart! i love that you included some OST's from movies and games. There are some pretty interesting picks, i gotta listen to a lot of these records!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
95/100
From leniad 10/28/2020 19:08
charis missing, good taste
good chart!!!1
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
90/100
From 
ExTeaSea 10/24/2020 19:45
ExTeaSea 10/24/2020 19:45
Commenting again! Haha. I need to listen to that Love album again. Godspeed is great! Love REM. Love Big Science by Laurie Anderson, keep moving it up my main chart. White album is fantastic obviously, I even use to consider it my all time favorite but I rarely listen to the Beatles anymore. 17 artists in common, nice!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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