Top 5 Favorite Albums from Any Decade

Paris Gothika

New Member
1. The Doors-Strange Days, 2. AC/DC-Highway to Hell, 3. Cradle of Filth-Thornography, 4. Bjork-Post + 5. Guns n Roses-Appetite for Destruction
 
Wow, I'm really going to show my age on this one. I am loosely basing this on most times played in my life;

1. Led Zeppelin IV
2. Abbey Road - You know who.
3. Aqualung - Jethro Tull (one of the great album covers of all time also)
4. Paranoid - Black Sabbath
5. (tie) Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John, The Allman Brothers Live At The Fillmore East

Honorable Mention: Who's Next - The Who
 
I guess my self imposed rules for "favorite" would have to be:

1. I'm happy to hear it come on, no matter what the circumstances
2. I'd prefer to listen to it all the way through, not just hear individual songs
3. There's not a single track on it that I don't like

So.... that's a tough couple of yardsticks to measure up to. But after giving it some thought, and not trying to put them in any particular order, I'd have to go with:

Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 Stillness (about 7 of the songs on this are continually on top of my iTunes "# of plays" list)
The Alan Parsons Project The Turn of a Friendly Card
Santana Santana III
Elton John Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
The Doobie Brothers Takin' It To The Streets

There are few albums that might rotate into the above list depending on my mood or circumstances. They all meet rules 2 and 3, but not always #1. Trouble is, I don't know which of the five albums listed above I would bounce out of the list....they are all tremendous records in my book.
Stevie Wonder Innervisions
Pretty much any Tijuana Brass album beginning with Going Places
Sergio Mendes & Brasil '77 Primal Roots
Cheap Trick In Color
Burt Bacharach Burt Bacharach

And a couple of others that were on the list at one time, but I've heard them so much that I'm pretty tired of them:
Fleetwood Mac Rumours
Boston Boston

There are probably others that I'd add to any of these three lists if I had my collection in front of me but those are the ones that pop to mind. And there are a TON of albums that might make the list but they violate rule #3 with just one song. (Sergio's Pais Tropical and Fool on the Hill come to mind).
 
Horizon- Carpenters (alternate choice, Close to You)
Off the Wall- Michael Jackson
Amy Grant- Hearts in Motion (alternate choice, Home for Christmas)
Sting- Ten Summoners Tales
Chris Tomlin- See the Morning
 
Only five? Hoo boy...

Francis Albert Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim
Claus Ogerman-Gate of Dreams
Steely Dan-Aja
Harry Nilsson-A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night
Rickie Lee Jones-Pirates
 
Tough one, but without thinking too hard about it I would say...

Carole King - Tapestry
Olivia Newton-John/ELO - Xanadu soundtrack
Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazelwood - Nancy & Lee
Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual
Elton John - Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy

These five albums each have a great personal/sentimental attachment beyond the music itself.
 
I can't even narrow it down and pick 50 favorites, let alone five. :wink: I listen to way, way too much to pick five. And my top 5 today won't be the same next week or next year. I have a few I considered "desert island" albums from years past that I can barely stomach playing anymore. :laugh:
 
I can't even narrow it down and pick 50 favorites, let alone five. :wink: I listen to way, way too much to pick five. And my top 5 today won't be the same next week or next year. I have a few I considered "desert island" albums from years past that I can barely stomach playing anymore. :laugh:
I concur with you Rudy I am the exact same way. To us we have too many favorites to just narrow Down to five
 
1. Joni Mitchell "Blue"
2. Jeff Beck "Blow By Blow"
3. Bruce Cockburn "Humans"
4. Fleetwood Mac "Tusk"
5. Steely Dan "Aja" Matt Clark Sanford, MI
 
Mine change around, but these have pretty much stayed on the list:
The Beatles, “Revolver”,
Steely Dan,”Pretzel Logic”,
TJB, “WCAOD”,
Pink Floyd, “Dark Side of the Moon”,
The Band, “Rock of Ages”
 
Tough one, but without thinking too hard about it I would say...

Carole King - Tapestry
Olivia Newton-John/ELO - Xanadu soundtrack
Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazelwood - Nancy & Lee
Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual
Elton John - Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy

These five albums each have a great personal/sentimental attachment beyond the music itself.
I'm a huge fan of Dancin' with the Tubes. One of my all time Olivia favorites. Wish they'd expanded her part and cut them out for an extended release.
 
I guess my self imposed rules for "favorite" would have to be:

1. I'm happy to hear it come on, no matter what the circumstances
2. I'd prefer to listen to it all the way through, not just hear individual songs
3. There's not a single track on it that I don't like

Good rules for 'favorite', Mike. Kinda the way I see it too. Not sure about #1 in the sense that life itself is unpredictable, but 2 and 3 are a definite.
This took some time for me to do. Some serious thinking. Top FIVE? There's just no way. I mean... I'm not even going to try. As Rudy said earlier, I might be able to make a top 50, but not a top five. There's simply too many albums that I could never give up, too many that I enjoy start to finish, and too many that I like too much to narrow down by song elimination. But if we're going by the #3 rule, it makes it a little easier. In no particular order:

Herb Alpert: S.R.O., Sounds Like..., Main Event Live, Rise, Magic Man, Fandango, Blow Your Own Horn, Music Volume 1
Grover Washington, Jr.: Winelight, Inside Moves
Earl Klugh: Wishful Thinking, Sudden Burst of Energy
Lee Ritenour: Rit, Rit 2, Harlequin, Earth Run, Color Rit
Dave Grusin: Night Lines, Migration
Steely Dan: Aja, Gaucho
Donald Fagen: The Nightfly
A.J. Croce: A.J. Croce, That's Me In The Bar
Jim Croce: You Don't Mess Around With Jim, Life and Times, I Got A Name
Al Stewart: Modern Times, Year of the Cat, Time Passages, 24 Carrots, Last Days of the Century
Chicago: Hot Streets, 16, 17, 18, Night and Day (Big Band)
Peter Cetera: World Falling Down
Bill Champlin: Runaway
Joe Satriani: Surfing With the Alien
Styx: Equinox, Paradise Theater
Dennis DeYoung: Back to the World, 10 On Broadway
Petra: Not of This World, On Fire!, Beyond Belief, No Doubt
Michael W. Smith: The Big Picture
Amy Grant: Unguarded
Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Billy Joel: The Stranger, 52nd Street, Glass Houses, Songs In The Attic, The River of Dreams
Paul McCartney: Tug of War
The Cars: Heartbeat City
Ric Ocasek: This Side of Paradise
Belinda Carlisle: Runaway Horses, Heaven on Earth
Christopher Cross: Another Page
Glenn Frey: Soul Searchin'
Dan Fogelberg: Phoenix, The Innocent Age, Windows and Walls, Twin Sons of Different Mothers
Kenny Rogers: The Gambler
Kenny Chesney: Be As You Are (Songs from an Old Blue Chair)
Jimmy Buffett: Changes In Latitudes Changes In Attitudes, License to Chill
 
Good rules for 'favorite', Mike. Kinda the way I see it too. Not sure about #1 in the sense that life itself is unpredictable, but 2 and 3 are a definite.
This took some time for me to do. Some serious thinking. Top FIVE? There's just no way. I mean... I'm not even going to try. As Rudy said earlier, I might be able to make a top 50, but not a top five. There's simply too many albums that I could never give up, too many that I enjoy start to finish, and too many that I like too much to narrow down by song elimination. But if we're going by the #3 rule, it makes it a little easier. In no particular order:

Herb Alpert: S.R.O., Sounds Like..., Main Event Live, Rise, Magic Man, Fandango, Blow Your Own Horn, Music Volume 1
Grover Washington, Jr.: Winelight, Inside Moves
Earl Klugh: Wishful Thinking, Sudden Burst of Energy
Lee Ritenour: Rit, Rit 2, Harlequin, Earth Run, Color Rit
Dave Grusin: Night Lines, Migration
Steely Dan: Aja, Gaucho
Donald Fagen: The Nightfly
A.J. Croce: A.J. Croce, That's Me In The Bar
Jim Croce: You Don't Mess Around With Jim, Life and Times, I Got A Name
Al Stewart: Modern Times, Year of the Cat, Time Passages, 24 Carrots, Last Days of the Century
Chicago: Hot Streets, 16, 17, 18, Night and Day (Big Band)
Peter Cetera: World Falling Down
Bill Champlin: Runaway
Joe Satriani: Surfing With the Alien
Styx: Equinox, Paradise Theater
Dennis DeYoung: Back to the World, 10 On Broadway
Petra: Not of This World, On Fire!, Beyond Belief, No Doubt
Michael W. Smith: The Big Picture
Amy Grant: Unguarded
Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Billy Joel: The Stranger, 52nd Street, Glass Houses, Songs In The Attic, The River of Dreams
Paul McCartney: Tug of War
The Cars: Heartbeat City
Ric Ocasek: This Side of Paradise
Belinda Carlisle: Runaway Horses, Heaven on Earth
Christopher Cross: Another Page
Glenn Frey: Soul Searchin'
Dan Fogelberg: Phoenix, The Innocent Age, Windows and Walls, Twin Sons of Different Mothers
Kenny Rogers: The Gambler
Kenny Chesney: Be As You Are (Songs from an Old Blue Chair)
Jimmy Buffett: Changes In Latitudes Changes In Attitudes, License to Chill
Now that's what I Call A great variety I see many titles here that have tracks I play in regular rotation on the radio Good Choices
 
Beatles Revolver
B66 Equinox
Allman Brothers Fillmore East
Steely Dan Countdown To Ecstasy
Genesis Trick of The Tale
 
Had to expand it to 8... (no particular order)

SOUL MESSAGE / Richard Groove Holmes (Prestige)
WE AND THE SEA / Tamba 4 (A&M)
QUIET KENNY / Kenny Dorham (New Jazz)
ADAMS APPLE / Wayne Shorter (Blue Note)
ESP / Miles Davis
JAZZ SAMBA / Stan Getz / Charlie Byrd (Verve)
WHITE ALBUM / Beatles (Apple)
SRO / Herb Alpert & TJB (A&M)
 
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