Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by 
slatsheit 
I've tried to put this chart together the way that I believe everyone should: 1) ***no*** limitations on the number of albums by a single artist, because that would automatically make the chart a bald-faced lie (at least in my case), and 2) to rank every album meticulously in terms of desert island standards, rather than some sort of objective evaluation - with every single rank number, "hm, if I can only take this many albums with me to the desert island, would I rather have this album, or some other album I haven't included yet?" The desire to be absolutely honest with myself and others has led (and will continue to lead, until I die) to numerous revisions.
In terms of how I personally rate albums, I personally consider there to be four levels of "5 stars." The first three, I give 100 ratings to on this site; the others (more numerous) get 95s. 4.5s get 90s, 4s get 80 or 85, 3.5s get 70 or 75, 3s get 60 or 65, and so on. My ratings tend to trend higher on average than most here because if I listen to an album, something grabbed me that made me want to listen to it.
But I digress. #1-15 I would consider 5+++, #16-34 is 5++, 35-75 is 5+, and everything below (and everything contained on my "101-200" and "201-241" custom charts) is a straight 5.
I'm a self-proclaimed Gen X curmudgeon. I hate hip-hop and everything significantly influenced by it on principle - too meta and too non-musical, and I can't stand the non-stop foul language and degradation. That said, it's absolutely not a racial thing - I love and esteem plenty of r 'n' b, soul, and jazz. The first two of those three genres tend to be underrepresented here compared to my actual tastes because those genres are more singles-oriented. Jazz will probably grow in representation in time - up to this point, I generally haven't evaluated the jazz I like vs. the pop/rock because they're so apples and oranges. I do have to cop to having heard far fewer jazz albums than pop/rock albums (hundreds vs. thousands). I like classical more than jazz, and love certain pieces more than some of the pop/rock albums included here. However, classical is virtually impossible to rate in terms of albums, because classical albums are about performances, whereas I approach classical by finding a performance I like and listening to that, whereas my sense of classical favorites is a matter of pieces, not performances. If pop/rock vs. jazz, is apples and oranges, pop/rock vs. classical is apples and sweet potatoes. In terms of the album-oriented stuff I do like, I strongly believe that there was a precipitous drop-off in music in general after about 1988. Shoegaze and Radiohead's OK Computer are the only developments since which are both 1) original and 2) worthwhile. Everything else that is good is synthetic of prior styles. That's not necessarily a bad thing - there are many very good albums in such veins.
- Chart updated: 04/12/2025 01:45
- (Created: 11/08/2024 01:17).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
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Obviously not a lot of variety on this album, but the production and arrangement idiom are incandescent. So much that is great about this album – the great use of reverb, the strings, the soprano saw, the angelic backing vocals, Marvin’s great gospel vocals and falsetto scatting, his spoken-word monologues, the wise, almost shamanistic or preacherly “when I look at the world” lyrics, the deep emotion of the songs – just such a towering masterpiece. “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)” certainly stands out for the greater dominance of the bass and Marvin’s smoldering anger. It has a special place in my heart. Even more of a divergence is the conga-and-flute-driven “Right On,” which provides a positive change-up in the middle of the album. The whole world doesn’t need me to tell it how great of a transcendent masterpiece the title track is, nor the somewhat lesser but still fantastic “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology),” even though it’s hard to hear the latter without thinking of Robert Palmer’s cover. So many other gems, though. “Save the Children” is incandescent in its message and music and gives me goosebumps in the best way. “What’s Happening Brother” somewhat recycles the title track on some levels while being almost more beautiful. “God is Love” and “Wholy Holy” are beautiful expressions of Marvin’s faith. I love how the side one tracks flow into one another. Just a transcendent, toweringly gorgeous album. Marvin’s breaking-heart consoling embrace of the entire world, and especially of the African American community. As powerful as the greatest classical music pieces. Love love love it – in fact, so much I have to raise it a spot or two in order to be honest. In fact, given the heart that’s here, it’s going above Pet Sounds and DSOTM.
[First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1971
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Rank Score:
19,481
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Not a hip choice, but its obsidian grandeur is simply undeniable. Of course, DSOTM is rooted in Roger Waters’ desire to depict as many major themes as possible – money, war, death, insanity, but it’s the execution that makes it so special – the rich perfection of production, the sense of space, the enveloping gorgeousness. Like Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions, which came out the same year, it segues from track to track, but far more smoothly and musically (not just cross-fading). The languid tempos on most of the tracks bely the urgency of the topics, suggesting a soporific denial in most of us of their importance. While the synthesizers and 3D production suggest a space-aged futurism, the female soul singers, the gorgeous sax, and Gilmour’s virtuosic eruptions root it in bluesyness – once again, the sense of totality, of drawing in the entire world. Very few albums have the unified sense of a immersive and cohesive experience that this one does. It’s beautiful, it’s dark, it’s profoundly impressive. Post-Syd Pink Floyd is extravagantly overrated on this site, but this album is not.
[First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1973
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Rank Score:
62,262
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This album has grown and grown on me in the 33-odd years I've been listening to it. A dramatic rock 'n' roll masterpiece, and forever cool. Bowie didn't need to grow beyond something this great, and yet he did, which is why he's number two in my book after only The Beatles. Of course Mick Ronson is huge to the triumph of this record, with his absolutely ripping-for-’72 guitar tone and playing and his orchestrations – very much a collaborative effort. My favorite here is the soaring “Moonage Daydream,” with its fantastic Ronson guitar work; shortly after it, the rampaging “Suffragette City,” and the myth-making rock glory of “Ziggy Stardust.” Then the super-cool “Soul Love,” of course elevated by concrete-ripping guitar from Ronson, then the dramatic rock masterpiece which is “Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide.” “Five Years” is a brilliantly-written song, carried off by Bowie with striking commitment for a sci-fi scenario. “Starman” took a while to grow on me, as I didn’t realize it was a huge hit in the UK, but it’s a tremendous anthem, with the cool Bowie acoustic and Bolder bass verses as well. “Hang on to Yourself” is tremendously fun glam-boogie, the balladry of “Lady Stardust” solidifies the album’s glam bonafides, and “It Ain’t Easy,” while usually cited as the weakest track, is actually quite well-performed, with great guitar work from Ronson. I dig it. “Star” is the weakest track for me, and it *still* has that ripping (sorry for using that word so much) guitar work from Ronson, and Lennon-esque melodic singing choices from Bowie. In short, a masterpiece from beginning to end, and one of the rock era’s most important albums for sure.
[First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1972
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Rank Score:
44,866
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I love The Stones' catalog prior to this album as well - my top five is The Beatles, Bowie, Nick Drake, The Stones, and Joy Division, with Slowdive peeking in just outside - but this album is on an even higher level of lived-in resonance than what they had done before. The album rocks throughout atop Keith’s omnipresent open-tuned Tele rhythm work. And it’s all about rhythm. The band touches on hard rock (“Rocks Off,” “Happy,” “All Down the Line,” “Soul Survivor”), blues (Slim Harpo’s “Shake Your Hips,” Robert Johnson’s “Stop Breaking Down,” “Turd on the Run,” “Ventilator Blues”), gospel (“Sweet Black Angel,” “I Just Want to See His Face”), country (“Sweet Virginia,” “Torn and Frayed,” “Loving Cup”), and full-band r & b (“Let It Loose,” “Shine a Light”), but many of those examples involve the cross-blending of several genres. As I said, what most makes the album is that The Stones establish on every track that they are ***masters*** of everything they touch – every single style they do here, they make their own, and convey resonantly that, on some level, they have lived this music. It’s a mastery even more profound than what they had achieved on their three prior masterpiece studio albums. The ’63 Stones would have been absolutely elated if they heard this album then and learned how good they would end up at what they were doing (and Brian would have been jealous as hell that he didn’t live to play on it) then, and at everything else as well. Some have complained about the use of horns being too pervasive on the album, which is like complaining that the Sistine Chapel ceiling has too much of the color blue or some such nonsense. Fantastic female backing vocals ornament many of the tracks. Much is made of the lo-fi, grimy character of the production (especially after the gleaming polish of Sticky Fingers) and Jagger’s vocals being overwhelmed in the mix, but that’s part of its character and its roots in older forms, and a huge part of the greatness of the album. Of course, the masterpiece among many masterpieces is the absurdly great laid back rhythm groove of “Tumbling Dice,” but “Shine a Light” absolutely gives it a run for the money as the best track. But this is the best double album of all time in that every single track is a gem. No exceptions.
A word about the subsequent Goats Head Soup – that album was so disappointing to so many critics and fans because it was supposedly so much less ambitious and “lazy.” It is universally considered the end of their winning streak. Well, naturally, it’s not the masterpiece its four predecessors were, but it’s still a fantastic, 4.5-star album, their last album aside from Some Girls to approach being a masterpiece. Yes, it’s a musical expression of world-weariness, but that character is hard-won, and in its often-non-rocking character and mix of stylistic explorations, is best seen as a return to the style of an album like Between the Buttons, through the lens of what they’d been through, and how they’d grown, musically in the intervening years. Some critics thought It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll was better, which shows that some critics were abject idiots. [First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
A word about the subsequent Goats Head Soup – that album was so disappointing to so many critics and fans because it was supposedly so much less ambitious and “lazy.” It is universally considered the end of their winning streak. Well, naturally, it’s not the masterpiece its four predecessors were, but it’s still a fantastic, 4.5-star album, their last album aside from Some Girls to approach being a masterpiece. Yes, it’s a musical expression of world-weariness, but that character is hard-won, and in its often-non-rocking character and mix of stylistic explorations, is best seen as a return to the style of an album like Between the Buttons, through the lens of what they’d been through, and how they’d grown, musically in the intervening years. Some critics thought It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll was better, which shows that some critics were abject idiots. [First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1972
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Rank Score:
20,268
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I don't like putting this one this high either because it isn't hipster (nor reflective of me as a person and music connoisseur) enough, but once again, I cannot deny it. For me, unlike most folks out there, this is pretty much absolutely immune to the "don't ever need to hear it again" phenomenon. The narrative usually goes that “Led Zeppelin were untouchable for their first six albums,” and to regard that stretch as the best six-album run ever, etc. Well, yeah, I have three of them in my top 100, and they are all fantastic, but to me, this is absolutely the mountaintop. The first two albums (the other two I have in my top 100) have their own sound and charm, are great in and of themselves, and diverge in sound and approach to most of this one, and the third obviously changed things up considerably and interestingly. On the other hand, one could argue that Houses and Physical Graffiti built on and expanded upon what they did here, but to me, that was *clearly* a lesser band by virtue of Robert Plant’s loss of the top end of his range (e.g. listen to the strained high notes on “The Song Remains the Same”), less puissant and less creative than what they did here. And they did so many different things! My favorite track here is the opening “Black Dog,” with its amazingly creative rhythm as created by John Paul Jones (probably the single greatest achievement of his distinguished career) and the unstoppable Page riffage. Love it. “Rock and Roll” has perhaps become a little bit underrated. The lumbering dinosaur shows definitively that yes, it can absolutely rock and roll as opposed to just “rocking,” hammering, or headbanging. Of course Bonham ripped off Little Richard’s drummer from the beginning of “Keep a-Knockin’,” but his brawny drum work makes that approach even better, Plant’s high vocals soar, and the band as a whole just cooks. “The Ballad of Evermore” includes one of the very, very few guest artist cameos on an LZ album, and it’s brilliant and perfect – the late, transcendently great Sandy Denny contributing co-lead vocals (as a side observation, this freaking album has sold 24 million copies in the US alone. Most of the people who have purchased it must be drooling idiots, because none of Denny’s three albums with Fairport nor any of her solo albums have sold jack. They should have *all* gone platinum, at least, as a result of the exposure here – absolute horse poop that they didn’t. I’m actually on the verge of working myself up to a physical temper tantrum writing this, it pisses me off so much and is so profoundly unjust). Great mandolin work from Page, and very welcome fantasy nerd lyrics from Plant that serve to elevate the artistry of the band. Little need be said about “Stairway,” with its fantastic arrangement and song-long build up in instrumentation. The imagery is obviously great, but I’m no fan whatsoever of the subject matter of the song and what Plant and Page are recommending. “Misty Mountain Hop” has a swinging hard rock groove, very cool. That’s the thing with Zep – they could *really* swing it when they wanted to. “Four Sticks” is underrated, with its challenging rhythms, eastern influence that far predates “Kashmir,” Page’s clanging 12-string chords, and the synth work at the end. “Going to California” is gorgeous, with wonderful singing from Plant, a very fitting tribute to Ms. Mitchell. “When the Levee Breaks” hammers things home with Bonham’s pile-driving drumbeat (and that absolutely inevitable high-hat throughout) and Page’s churning guitar work. I will admit that that final track is a bit of a caveat to what I said about the album being immune to being overplayed – I’ve gotten a wee bit weary of it, and it’s been sampled way too many times at this point. But there are very few albums in the history of pop/rock music that can compete with it on a track-for-track basis. I do have to knock it down a handful of places in terms of personal preference due to my “Stairway” resistance and “Levee” ennui, but it’s still monumentally great.
[First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1971
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Rank Score:
40,083
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Part of why this album has fallen from favor is that people don't appreciate "This Song is Over" enough. It's just as good as the other multiple pillars of this album, and the supporting tracks operate at a stratospheric level as well. The greatness of the pre-Tommy era notwithstanding, this is simply The Who at their most powerful.
Of course much is made of this being the “remains” of Pete Townshend’s Lifehouse project. I don’t care about that. What I care about is that it features 1) forward-looking usage of synthesizers and early forms of sequencers, 2) ripping distorted guitar work from Pete on a level only otherwise found on Live at Leeds, but not nearly as muddy, 3) very strong rock vocals from the once-rather-limpid Roger Daltrey, 4) the best drumming of Keith Moon’s career (!), and 5) an absolutely fantastic set of songs. “Behind Blue Eyes” is probably my favorite, with its introspective lyrics, Daltrey handling the ballad-tempo material with a masculinity that is both vulnerable and fierce, and especially that climax of Pete windmilling the freak out of his guitar – one of the most violently intense guitar moments in the history of rock, for sure. Not far behind at all is the masterpiece “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” with its great synth patterns, slashing guitar work, incredible fills and soloing from Moon, and Roger’s scream at the end. So powerful. “Baba O’Reilly” of course contains the most impressive synth work on the album, and rocks like nobody’s business. The aforementioned “This Song is Over” is a soaring, majestic masterpiece which provided the basis (or should have) for the ‘80s arena rock of U2. “I sing my song to the free/To the free!” Love it. “Bargain” is another fantastic rock track, elevated greatly by Pete’s tender vocals in the bridge. The other four tracks are less ambitious, but still fantastic – the romp of “Goin’ Mobile,” the knowingly melancholic “Love Ain’t for Keepin’,” John Entwistle’s horn-accented “My Wife,” and the dynamically anthemic “Gettin’ in Tune.” In all, a bracing hard rock journey far more impressive than their two surrounding, finished rock operas ever were. [First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Of course much is made of this being the “remains” of Pete Townshend’s Lifehouse project. I don’t care about that. What I care about is that it features 1) forward-looking usage of synthesizers and early forms of sequencers, 2) ripping distorted guitar work from Pete on a level only otherwise found on Live at Leeds, but not nearly as muddy, 3) very strong rock vocals from the once-rather-limpid Roger Daltrey, 4) the best drumming of Keith Moon’s career (!), and 5) an absolutely fantastic set of songs. “Behind Blue Eyes” is probably my favorite, with its introspective lyrics, Daltrey handling the ballad-tempo material with a masculinity that is both vulnerable and fierce, and especially that climax of Pete windmilling the freak out of his guitar – one of the most violently intense guitar moments in the history of rock, for sure. Not far behind at all is the masterpiece “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” with its great synth patterns, slashing guitar work, incredible fills and soloing from Moon, and Roger’s scream at the end. So powerful. “Baba O’Reilly” of course contains the most impressive synth work on the album, and rocks like nobody’s business. The aforementioned “This Song is Over” is a soaring, majestic masterpiece which provided the basis (or should have) for the ‘80s arena rock of U2. “I sing my song to the free/To the free!” Love it. “Bargain” is another fantastic rock track, elevated greatly by Pete’s tender vocals in the bridge. The other four tracks are less ambitious, but still fantastic – the romp of “Goin’ Mobile,” the knowingly melancholic “Love Ain’t for Keepin’,” John Entwistle’s horn-accented “My Wife,” and the dynamically anthemic “Gettin’ in Tune.” In all, a bracing hard rock journey far more impressive than their two surrounding, finished rock operas ever were. [First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1971
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Rank Score:
21,752
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As good as acoustic folk gets. Fantastic songwriting, emotionally naked vocal performance, and great accompaniment. Of course she had to expand her idiom and approach after this. She couldn't top it because no one could.
Of course this album has been praised for its extreme confessional nature, including Joni’s sometimes negative self-assessment, but that wouldn’t be worth much in and of itself if she weren’t also an artful lyricist, and the lyrics here are masterful. But even that wouldn’t be enough if the music weren’t also gorgeous. While Joni’s great guitar and piano work remain at the center, but the variety of arrangement also features Russ Kunkel on occasional drums, Steve Stills on guitar and bass on “Carey,” Sneaky Pete Kleinow on slide, James Taylor contributing guitars on several songs, and Joni’s own work on Appalachian dulcimer on “A Case of You.” While every track is of masterpiece quality, I like “Carey” a bit less than the others, but it is elevated by Joni’s beautiful self-harmonization in the chorus. “This Flight Tonight” is probably my least favorite, but it’s still great, again by virtue of Joni’s wonderful singing and important lyrical moments. On the other hand, “My Old Man,” “Little Green,” and “California” are gems, and each of the other five tracks – in escalating quality, “All I Want,” “The Last Time I Saw Richard,” “Blue,” “River,” and best of all “A Case of You” is an uber-masterpiece, any one of which should have made Joni a songwriting and performance legend all by itself. I love her cold-water soprano, the melancholy minor keys to which she turns at many points, and her unmatched commitment to her material. A quantum leap past the already-stratospheric standard she had established on Ladies of the Canyon. [First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Of course this album has been praised for its extreme confessional nature, including Joni’s sometimes negative self-assessment, but that wouldn’t be worth much in and of itself if she weren’t also an artful lyricist, and the lyrics here are masterful. But even that wouldn’t be enough if the music weren’t also gorgeous. While Joni’s great guitar and piano work remain at the center, but the variety of arrangement also features Russ Kunkel on occasional drums, Steve Stills on guitar and bass on “Carey,” Sneaky Pete Kleinow on slide, James Taylor contributing guitars on several songs, and Joni’s own work on Appalachian dulcimer on “A Case of You.” While every track is of masterpiece quality, I like “Carey” a bit less than the others, but it is elevated by Joni’s beautiful self-harmonization in the chorus. “This Flight Tonight” is probably my least favorite, but it’s still great, again by virtue of Joni’s wonderful singing and important lyrical moments. On the other hand, “My Old Man,” “Little Green,” and “California” are gems, and each of the other five tracks – in escalating quality, “All I Want,” “The Last Time I Saw Richard,” “Blue,” “River,” and best of all “A Case of You” is an uber-masterpiece, any one of which should have made Joni a songwriting and performance legend all by itself. I love her cold-water soprano, the melancholy minor keys to which she turns at many points, and her unmatched commitment to her material. A quantum leap past the already-stratospheric standard she had established on Ladies of the Canyon. [First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1971
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Rank Score:
16,667
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Side two is absolutely perfect, and the title track is pretty fantastic as well. The best prog album, symphonic or otherwise, of all time. I’ll be frank; Yes’s material from this time has a certain hoariness to it, with Howe’s sometimes squawky guitar work (wish his favorite guitar wasn’t the Gibson 275, which wasn’t nearly as well-suited to what he was doing musically as he thought it was – listen to his great Tele work on Relayer and Drama), Wakeman’s Mellotron and mini-Moog tones, Squire’s fat bass sound, and Bruford’s boxy-sounding snare. It’s very much of-its-time (note: as a sidelight, the most sonically timeless that the band ever sounded in its first pre-solo albums hiatus run was probably on the album which is most often dismissed as a deadweight time capsule artifact – Tales of Topographic Oceans – really, listen to it for the instrumental and production sonics. It’s really lovely. Too bad the songwriting isn’t better as a whole.). But I rather like that, most of the time, in terms of how it transports me to another time, another place, and many of the passages on this album in particular have a unique beauty to them. My favorite aspects of this album are as follows. First, the great relentless rock groove of “Siberian Khatru,” with the great cross-riffing interplay of Wakeman’s roaring keys, Howe’s filigrees, and that mighty Squire bassline, the Wakeman harpsichord solo, the band’s brilliant vocal harmonies and counterpoints, with Bruford’s fantastic fills stirring up the tension, and the way the climax builds and breaks back into the groove and Howe’s great guitar solo. Best thing Yes ever did. But “And You and I,” with its lovely acoustic passages building into and out of the gorgeous “Eclipse” section, with Bruford’s dramatic beats, Wakeman’s gorgeous Moog and Mellotron, and Howe’s soaring slide guitar work, and its final brief climax and denouement, comes quite close. A beautiful love song from Yes? The side-long title track isn’t as phenomenal as those two tracks, but it’s still fantastic, a major musical achievement, with its various contrasting sections, the ambient opening, the controlled chaos when the band crashes in, the gorgeous vocal sections, and Wakeman’s mighty pipe organ work. The album as a whole is symphonic prog’s summit from which the world below may be surveyed at leisure.
[First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1972
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Rank Score:
14,118
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How to rank the Nick Drake albums, when they’re all stuffed with masterpiece tracks of the highest order? To be honest, the best stuff here – eight of the tracks – are as good as Nick Drake’s records ever got. He was absolutely right to be furious – to be broken as a human being, to be quite honest – that this album didn’t make him famous. The orchestrations here, on tracks like “Hazy Jane I,” are even better and more lush than on Five Leaves Left. The sax on “At the Chime of a City Clock” and the soulful female singers on “Poor Boy” actually make the argument that this was a harbinger of Dark Side of the Moon, and certainly serve to expand the cinematic sweep of those songs. “Introduction” is as gorgeous of a flowing instrumental as you’re going to find on any pop/rock album, and “Sunday” has significant emotional heft as well. Paul Harris’s piano work on “One of These Things First” deserves a mention, but what solidifies this album as one of the greatest of masterpieces are John Cale’s lovely viola and harpsichord work on “Fly,” and especially his brilliant keyboard arrangements (piano, organ, and celeste) on the transcendent “Northern Sky,” the single greatest track in the Nick Drake catalog. It makes my spine tingle every time I hear it (which is often). In spite of all of the stratospheric highs, this is not my favorite Nick album, because “Bryter Layter” reminds me of incidental music from the Scooby-Doo cartoon, and I find “Hazy Jane II” great in terms of Drake’s lyrics and vocal performance, but the otherwise great Richard Thompson kinda sabotages it with his rather dopey aw-shucks Strat fills. Still one of the greatest albums ever made. I’ve talked about the arrangements and guests a lot, but it still all comes down to Nick’s celestially good songwriting and vocal and guitar performance. And let's be real - he's still nowhere near famous enough.
[First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1971
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Rank Score:
5,824
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This has actually become underrated in recent decades. Come on. "She's the One" is the weakest of the 8 tracks here, and it's still great. The title track, "Thunder Road," "Jungleland," and "Meeting across the River" (yes!) are absolute masterpieces. A lot of folks believe that pop/rock music began in ’65. Well, “rock” began as distinct from “rock-n-roll” with The Beatles, but of course a lot of the early rock-n-roll, r & b, girl group stuff, Roy Orbison, the Everly Brothers, Phil Spector, et al. was fantastic and deserves far more credit. Bruce obviously loved all that stuff, and elected to shift from the more laid-back, desultory styles of his first two albums to attempt to encapsulate everything that was great about all of that diverse music into his own passionate rock voice and hard rock guitar. He got better drummers (Ernest “Boom” Carter for the title track single, and Max Weinberg for the rest – and for the rest of the E Street Band’s existence), replaced the unreplaceable jazziness of David Sancious with virtuoso (if somewhat buttoned-up) pianist Roy Bittan, and added a second guitarist in Steve Van Zandt. This is a song-cycle about urban efforts to escape. I don’t necessarily like Bruce the Heartlander – these songs are lyrically and musically very urban in their perspective and sound. Bruce of course worked obsessively to make this a masterfully-produced album, imitating the Phil Spector sound (complete with glockenspiels) in the context of his slashing guitar work. “Born to Run” rocks with anthemic hugeness, dramatic and gripping. Absolutely makes the top ten – and probably top five – of the list of ’75-’76 Songs That Argue That Punk Wasn’t Necessary at All (I like punk; I just find that exercise interesting). “Thunder Road” is also a classic anthem, but taking more of a build-up approach. I love the coda to that one with its slamming guitars and valedictory melody. “Jungleland” is a rock opera masterpiece, an urban tragedy that otherwise harkens back to the epics of The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle (which were a lot more sanguine). It rocks like nobody’s business and tugs the heartstrings at others. And Clarence gets time to stretch out with a lengthy, elegiac tenor sax solo. A huge musical achievement. “Meeting across the River” features freaking Richard Davis on double bass, Randy Brecker’s echo-laden trumpet, and Bittan’s piano over Bruce’s passionate declamation of a dream-making but malfeasant deal which is sure to end in disaster. Another urban masterpiece, and a great lead-in to “Jungleland.” “Backstreets” is another dramatic set-piece gem, with passionate dynamics and vocals, a song to the gal that got away. “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” is the one ode to fun of sorts here, with its great horn charts and shuffling groove, but Bruce still breaks out into that elegiac howl in the bridges. “Night” rather emulates the title track, but that’s a good thing. It’s a bit faster, more urgent, which is also good. “She’s the One” of course does the Bo Diddley thing. As I said, weakest thing here, and it’s still very good (certainly better than at least half of the tracks on Darkness on the Edge of Town). In short, a masterpiece album, a more serious and grounded take on the rock drama of Ziggy Stardust. On the knife edge of being the romantic rock masterpiece of all time, but with dark shadows of tragedy and melancholy threatening the dream and making it an even more spectacular achievement. Hype machine, nothing. This was and is the real deal.
[First added to this chart: 11/08/2024]
Year of Release:
1975
Appears in:
Rank Score:
15,866
Rank in 1975:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 36. Page 1 of 4
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 1 | 1% | |
| 1960s | 40 | 40% | |
| 1970s | 36 | 36% | |
| 1980s | 17 | 17% | |
| 1990s | 5 | 5% | |
| 2000s | 1 | 1% | |
| 2010s | 0 | 0% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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| The Beatles | 8 | 8% | |
| Pink Floyd | 4 | 4% | |
| The Rolling Stones | 4 | 4% | |
| Stevie Wonder | 4 | 4% | |
| Nick Drake | 3 | 3% | |
| David Bowie | 3 | 3% | |
| Bruce Springsteen | 3 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
There have been no changes to this chart.Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similar charts
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mojo Readers: The 100 Greatest Albums Ever Made | Mojo | Overall chart | 1996 |  |
| AllMusic's Greatest Albums | musicologist97 | Custom chart | 2019 |  |
| Ya joking? Should've been higher! All Time edition |  Purplepash | Custom chart | 2025 |  |
| BEA Top 100 Reorganized According To My Taste | bonnequestion | Custom chart | 2025 | |
| 200 Greatest albums of all time (1 - 100) - Uncut 2016 | Johnnyo | Custom chart | 2020 | |
| 200 Greatest Albums of All Time | Uncut | Overall chart | 2016 | |
| My Personal Ranking of Best Ever Albums' Top 100 |  Xxnu99etxX | Custom chart | 2022 | |
| Going With My Gut: The Overall Chart Top 100 Re-ranked |  CharlieBarley | Custom chart | 2024 | |
| Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | album guru joe | Overall chart | 2013 | |
| BEA+RYM Overall Rank | Imaybeparanoid | Custom chart | 2017 |  |
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums similarity to your chart(s)
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings
89/100 (from 5 votes)
where:
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N.B. The average rating for this chart will not be reliable as it has been rated very few times.
Showing all 5 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
100/100  | 08/18/2025 04:18 |  LadyGodiva | | 97/100 |
 90/100 | 04/02/2025 10:14 |  pedro1976 | | 85/100 |
| 90/100 | 04/01/2025 00:42 |  Arthurknight | | 89/100 |
| 90/100 | 01/29/2025 12:20 |  SomethingSpecial | | 85/100 |
| 100/100 | 12/14/2024 22:44 |  Rhyner | | 99/100 |
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100/100
From LadyGodiva 08/18/2025 04:16
LadyGodiva 08/18/2025 04:16
Nice list - lost of albums that I love here :) A little Beatles heavy but hey… you love what you
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90/100
From Arthurknight 04/01/2025 00:34
Arthurknight 04/01/2025 00:34
Thanks for pointing out the Overall Chart and how it can be distorted. It's true, technically, but this would be a much more valid critique of me making custom charts for certain genres instead of placing their best in the greatest. Right now, they're hardly counting for the Overall Chart, when they could be counting a lot more. I've thought about that a little bit over the years since the website as a whole has a massive rock bias as it stands, but it doesn't outweigh how annoying it is for me to try and compare them in good faith (I, like you, have my genre preferences).
You've made me think a little bit about that line in my description. It's been there for over a decade now and had you strolled in at the start and said what you've said it'd ring a lot more true. Back then, I enforced it on myself to get away from a list that had double ups on double ups. It was also part of an impetus to go and listen to new things. Today, all the albums in the list are -- I think -- 5/5 records, and consequently there's actually a very small cross section of possible records I could consider that this rule presently excludes, here they are:
The Beatles - The Beatles [White Album]
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun
David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
David Bowie - Station to Station
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Good Son
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
The Fall - Hex Enduction Hour
Guided by Voices - Alien Lanes
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
The Velvet Underground - White Light / White Heat
The Wrens - Album 4.5 (bootleg wouldn't qualify)
Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones
Neil Young - After the Gold Rush
Neil Young - Tonight's the Night
Would I add any of them to my list though? Maybe like 1 or 2 at any random given day, or certainly I'd be more likely right after listening to one of them, but I think they fight against my no. 100 on pretty equal footing and there's at least as many more left out that are from artists not in the list at all. This is a result of 10+ years of such a rule. I just have a very wide tastes now and I kind of like it that way. It doesn't mean anything really because I'd still defend the rule as it stands but food for thought. Interested in hearing more from you mate keep in touch.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
90/100
From Arthurknight 03/26/2025 08:27
Arthurknight 03/26/2025 08:27
Thanks for your comment. I wouldn't describe our tastes as majorly divergent, at least not from where I'm sitting. There's only a handful of records in your list I don't rate at least an 8, and many more I utterly adore.
Regarding the one artist limit, I can see why you might take issue with it considering the effect it would have on your list, but I'll hazard a minor challenge to your reasoning. You -- correctly -- dismiss the premise of objectivity in the construction of your list, and instead defer to your heart. I do so too, but isn't there a tension here with how you rationalise what a list should be?
I don't have a problem with your rules per se; do your thing. However, you argue that a list with restriction is in some way a lie. You then go on to volubly articulate all the ways your own list is limited in favour of how you personally imagine and derive joy from music. My point being, we are both using the list to document and convey us and how we see our own tastes, far more so than making a claim to what is good. It seems you're aware of that but it's lost on me you'd consider my version of how to demonstrate mine somehow me lying to myself.
Simply put, I kind of figure that when someone sees I like Neil Young's On The Beach that they can also figure I like the rest of catalogue; and if they're so curious as to what extent that information is readily available on my profile. Moreover, it's compelling for me to make that commitment to a favourite by an artist that I could otherwise proliferate my list with indiscriminately, and it frees me up to self-express a modicum more and to make recommendations.
A list can do more than one thing at a time.
In any case, I enjoyed reading through your list. I appreciated picks like New York Tendaberry and the wild self-reporting of being a Gen-Xer (with that Joe Jackson live album, I promise you we can tell), however I am also left without anything new to go discover which leaves me wanting.
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