Top 64 Greatest Music Albums by ForegroundNoise

My old tutor sits opposite me, the wrinkled contours of his face and erratic white wisps of hair blurring the boundaries between him and the old mahogany office surrounding us. Before he speaks, he seems for a moment to be no less a part of the furniture than the armchair he sits in. He starts suddenly, a thought occurring to him.

“Do you remember that first classics society meeting, right when you first got here? Where you had to bring a poem or painting or something and talk to us all about it?” The words break the silence in a flurry, as if he’s afraid someone is about to catch him in the act.

“Yes.” My tone betrays my anticipation.

“Well, I bet no-one ever told you what that whole thing was really all about did they?” He is leaning in now, the smile plastered across his face so infectious it starts to illuminate the dark room.

“You see the problem is, is that everyone is looking the art. There, ha!” he nods to himself; a finger points upwards. “That’s your first mistake.” I raise an eyebrow in response, but he is submerged in thought, eyes cast down to the carpet.

“Some people are worried about the art. They want the right bit of art not the wrong bit; they want to show off how clever they are that they know this bit of art and you don’t. Some aren’t so fussed about it; they just pick whatever they like. Some even take a look at it all and think ‘No not for me, I don’t think so’, and try and take the whole thing apart. Show us a scrap of paper with a scribble on it. ‘I’m not playing your game’ - oh yes you are! See what they don’t know, is that as soon as they were invited to play they were playing it. All of us were. The art was never the important bit, I was never looking at the art, I was looking at YOU.”

With the final word his eyes move back to me. The finger points forward.

“Yes, you, there! Whatever you picked, whatever you did, you can't help but give us a reflection of yourself. That's what I was looking for. Not the art. I wasn’t looking at what you were saying about it. I was looking at what it was saying about you.”

***

I've fallen out of love with this chart in recent times, probably because there's something a little too overwhelming in having to represent my favourites out of every album ever. The problem that arises with these colossal, era-spanning anthologies is that they find it hard to strike a balance between acknowledging the cultural context and subsequent limitations of some of these records, and just eulogising the past.

Lately I've found it much more rewarding to focus on my decade and year charts so this one might be left to gather dust for a while. As of 2021/05/13 I've given up trying to order these from best to bestest, and instead have decided to list out some favourites ordered (roughly) by genre; this is NOT in order of favourite to 64th favourite. More extensive decade lists to follow as soon as I can.

Much love,
FN xx

• Chart updated: 03/21/2024 14:45
• (Created: 09/28/2017 14:21).
• Chart size: 64 albums.

There are 48 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 64 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 93 out of 100 (from 86 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.

• Summary
• Composition
• Ratings
• Favourites
• Comments
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1. (=)

All The Pretty Little Horses 

 Current 93

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___________________________________________________________________________

progressive folk • psychedelic folk • freak folk

(Dawn, 42:08)

"Chastity chaser virile for the virgin's virtue
Excite her exciter you better go before you bleed and he hurts you"
___________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 05/19/2021]

Year of Release:

1996

Appears in:

55 charts

Rank Score:

479

Rank in 1996:

62

Rank in 1990s:

547

Overall Rank:

3,122

Average Rating:

 74 (68 votes)

Comments:

4

2. (=)

First Utterance 

 Comus

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neofolk

(Durtro, 55;27)

"I see the twinkling stars
I drop a photograph
I bend to pick it up

My heart leaps as I see your face
Stare up at me from the paper
As if still alive on this earth
When I return my eyes to the stars
They gather
They pucker
And are blind
And are blind"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 10/16/2018]

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

198 charts

Rank Score:

1,577

Rank in 1971:

33

Rank in 1970s:

239

Overall Rank:

1,123

Average Rating:

 79 (192 votes)

Comments:

13

3. (=)

Stormcock 

 Roy Harper

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progressive folk

(Harvest, 41:25)

"What a lovely day
What a day to play
At living

What a mess we make
What a trust we break
Not giving
Our wings to our children

O how we fail them
O how we nail them"
___________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 10/16/2018]

Year of Release:

1971

Appears in:

128 charts

Rank Score:

847

Rank in 1971:

45

Rank in 1970s:

375

Overall Rank:

1,965

Average Rating:

 79 (127 votes)

Comments:

6

4. (=)

Ys 

 Joanna Newsom

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chamber folk • progressive folk

(Drag City, 55:38)

"In bodies that don't keep
Dumbstruck with the sweetness of being
Until we don't be"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 10/28/2017]

Year of Release:

2006

Appears in:

749 charts

Rank Score:

9,287

Rank in 2006:

2

Rank in 2000s:

28

Overall Rank:

171

Average Rating:

 82 (827 votes)

Comments:

85

5. (=)

Pink Moon 

 Nick Drake

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contemporary folk

(Island, 28:22)

"Which will you hope for?
Which can it be?
Which will you take, now
If you won't take me?"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 11/03/2017]

Year of Release:

1972

Appears in:

1,502 charts

Rank Score:

20,137

Rank in 1972:

3

Rank in 1970s:

15

Overall Rank:

50

Average Rating:

 87 (1,805 votes)

Comments:

142

6. (=)

Parallelograms 

 Linda Perhacs

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___________________________________________________________________________

psychedelic folk

(Kapp, 39:50)

"Sometimes I wonder
Should I wake him to see
All those bright bubble drops
In the still slickened streets,
Sometimes I wonder
Has he ever really seen them?

Sometimes I wonder
Has he ever really seen me?"
___________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 05/19/2021]

Year of Release:

1970

Appears in:

101 charts

Rank Score:

883

Rank in 1970:

47

Rank in 1970s:

364

Overall Rank:

1,897

Average Rating:

 80 (113 votes)

Comments:

8

7. (=)

Desertshore 

 Nico

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____________________________________________________________________________

avant-folk • chamber folk

(Reprise, 29:44)

"You are beautiful and you are alone"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 02/10/2019]

Year of Release:

1970

Appears in:

250 charts

Rank Score:

2,234

Rank in 1970:

25

Rank in 1970s:

180

Overall Rank:

802

Average Rating:

 78 (282 votes)

Comments:

18

8. (=)

The Dance Of The Moon And The Sun 

 Natural Snow Buildings

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____________________________________________________________________________

drone • psychedelic folk • avant-folk

(n/a, 157:12)

"And she sat down into the room,
Then cry, cry, then fell asleep"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 05/19/2021]

Year of Release:

2006

Appears in:

88 charts

Rank Score:

584

Rank in 2006:

46

Rank in 2000s:

447

Overall Rank:

2,654

Average Rating:

 78 (91 votes)

Comments:

14

9. (=)

Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished 

 Avey Tare & Panda Bear

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neo-psychedelia

(Animal, 60:38)

"I told the baker's daughter that I didn't want the water
She only likes it when I beg, so I expect she's waiting"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 05/19/2021]

Year of Release:

2000

Appears in:

177 charts

Rank Score:

1,519

Rank in 2000:

23

Rank in 2000s:

184

Overall Rank:

1,170

Average Rating:

 79 (318 votes)

Comments:

24

10. (=)

The Glow Pt. 2 

 The Microphones

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indie folk • psychedelic folk • lo-fi / slacker rock

(K, 66:10)

"I faced death
I went in with my arms swinging
But I heard my own breath
And I had to face that I'm still living"
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 10/01/2017]

Year of Release:

2001

Appears in:

637 charts

Rank Score:

8,496

Rank in 2001:

6

Rank in 2000s:

32

Overall Rank:

192

Average Rating:

 84 (773 votes)

Comments:

58

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Total albums: 64. Page 1 of 7

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Top 64 Greatest Music Albums composition

Decade	Albums	%
1930s	0	0%
1940s	0	0%
1950s	0	0%
1960s	5	8%
1970s	18	28%
1980s	8	13%
1990s	16	25%
2000s	13	20%
2010s	4	6%
2020s	0	0%

Artist	Albums	%
Milton Nascimento / Lô Borges	1	2%
cLOUDDEAD	1	2%
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band	1	2%
Alice Coltrane	1	2%
Avey Tare & Panda Bear	1	2%
The Fall	1	2%
Amon Düül II	1	2%
Show all

Country	Albums	%
	31	48%
	19	30%
	4	6%
	3	5%
	2	3%
	2	3%
	1	2%
Show all

Top 64 Greatest Music Albums chart changes

Biggest climbers
Up 4 from 37th to 33rd You're Living All Over Me by Dinosaur Jr.
Up 4 from 36th to 32nd Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth

Biggest fallers
Down 2 from 32nd to 34th Loveless by My Bloody Valentine
Down 2 from 33rd to 35th Mogwai Young Team by Mogwai
Down 2 from 34th to 36th Spiderland by Slint

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• AOTYs ranked by Onater (2018)
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• Top 50 Greatest Music Albums by luis (2014)
• Top 40 Greatest Music Albums by 112806 (2023)

Top 64 Greatest Music Albums similarity to your chart(s)

Top 64 Greatest Music Albums ratings

Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 86 ratings for this chart.

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Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
85/100	01/06/2023 08:58	Johnnyo	2,014	80/100
95/100	07/09/2022 03:54	leniad	686	85/100
85/100	04/09/2022 08:31	Applerill	976	75/100
100/100	11/09/2021 18:39	seb7	105	91/100
80/100	05/29/2021 02:00	sirps	1	80/100

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 1% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 93.4/100, a mean average of 93.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 94.2/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 7.7.

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Top 64 Greatest Music Albums favourites

Showing latest 20 members who have added this chart as a favourite | Show all 22 members

seb7

sirps

RomanRelic

ssteve

Joeingram

Keatownrodriguez

tk421ucopy

Paule

joshbrooker2001

IgnacioJoaquin

PinkZeppelin

jdenny2018

scwrlw

PaperVinnie

DJENNY

AAL2014

DeusExMackia

grogg

batlord210

Repo

Top 64 Greatest Music Albums comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 48 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Maximum Rated First | Longest Comments First
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From Hayden 02/17/2023 15:37

Thanks— hoping you find a couple gems in there (a lot suit your chart's taste— I think you'll find at least 4-5 records you'll really enjoy). I've been meaning to update that chart for quite some time. Needs a bit of a new coat of paint— maybe in a month or two. One of the main concepts for that chart was originally 'uniquely/weirdly made albums', but I like what it turned into. Bit of a different world going on with those cuts.

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

85/100

From Johnnyo 01/06/2023 08:58

Really good chart

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

95/100

From leniad 07/09/2022 03:55

love your chart, some albums i like that never swa so high in others list

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

100/100

From seb7 11/09/2021 18:39

Man, I love this chart.

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

80/100

From sirps 05/29/2021 02:00

Very nice, lots of interesting stuff!

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

95/100

From Jbalbinolr 05/02/2021 15:46

Amazing chart, I love the presentation and short descriptions

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

100/100

From HotZappsBoogaloo 04/26/2020 18:48

I could instantly tell I was going to give this chart 100

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

95/100

From urmom22 02/13/2020 10:08

Thanks for the chart comment. Love all the album notes too!

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

95/100

From AMEIER 01/12/2020 22:16

First of all, thank you so much for your comment in my page! I really was touched by your words.
About your chart here, I have to admit that I don't know 80% of this. The ones I do I know the value and know that they are great! Also, I feel like you are a powerhouse of music knowledge and would love to keep trading more information and passion for this! Last but not least, wish you to complete this with 100 albums. cheers!

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

100/100

From pa 10/30/2019 17:30

thanx mate :)

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)

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