Your own ultimate list of albums...only ten!

[Davey the Fat Boy]

Odessey and Oracle
The Beatles Second Album
Nilsson Sings Newman
Pet Sounds
For the Sake of the Song
Magical Mystery Tour
John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman
Plastic Ono Band
Bringing it all Back Home
Arial Ballet

Not bad.

Altho' I bought that Nilsson Sings Newman a couple of years ago and couldn't believe how lacklustre it was.

If you have any interest in trying again - listen with headphones, and approach it the way people who like ambient music would tell you to approach that music.

[naughty boy]

Ok D!

[BARON CORNY DOG]

If you have any interest in trying again - listen with headphones, and approach it the way people who like ambient music would tell you to approach that music.

To wit

In January this year I had an accident. I was not seriously hurt, but I was confined to bed in a stiff and static position. My friend Judy Nylon visited me and brought me a record of 18th century harp music. After she had gone, and with some considerable difficulty, I put on the record. Having laid down, I realized that the amplifier was set at an extremely low level, and that one channel of the stereo had failed completely. Since I hadn't the energy to get up and improve matters, the record played on almost inaudibly. This presented what was for me a new way of hearing music - as part of the ambience of the environment just as the colour of the light and the sound of the rain were parts of that ambience. It is for this reason that I suggest listening to the piece at comparatively low levels, even to the extent that it frequently falls below the threshold of audibility.

[Muskrat]

No order, other than in which they occur to me. And no "greatest hits"

Duane Eddy - Especially for You
Charles Mingus - Blues and Roots
Tommy Dorsey - Hawaiian War chant
Steve Miller - Sailor
Modern Jazz Quartet - The Last Concert
Ray Charles - The Genius of...
Bud & Travis -- Live at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium
Joanie Sommers with Laurindo Almeida (got to have a woman in there somewhere)
Jefferson Airplane -- Surrealistic Pillow

...and a new one I'm hooked on
Elise Lagrow -- Playing Chess
(though I wish she'd changed it to "boy", unless...)

[pig bodine]

Miles Davis - The Complete On the Corner Sessions
The Great Concert Of Charles Mingus
John Coltrane- Meditations
Eric Dolphy -At the Five Spot
Horace Tapscott - The Dark Tree 1 & 2
Dadawah - Peace & Love
Black Sabbath - Sabotage
Stooges - Raw Power
Sly & the Family Stone - There’s a Riot Going On
Gygory Ligeti -Clear Or Cloudy

[joklend]

Autechre - Amber
Coil - Ape of Naples
Kraftwerk - Trans Europa Express
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works II
Biosphere - Substrata
Scott Walker - Scott Three
Miles Davis - In a Silent Way
Alice Coltrane - Lord of Lords
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
Public Image Ltd - Metal Box

[George P. Smackers]

Rock and roll only, chronological:

Here's Little Richard, Little Richard
Live at the Star Club, Jerry Lee Lewis
Here are the Sonics!!!, The Sonics
Fun House, Stooges
Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, Various
Ramones,The Ramones
L. A. M. F., Heartbreakers
Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash, or Let It Be, or Tim, or Pleased to Meet Me, The Replacements
Flip Your Wig, Hüsker Dü
Blisters in the Pit of My Heart, Martha

[Nikki Gradual]

10 albums that completely redefined my listening/buying habits after hearing them (in roughly the order that happened)

The Strangkers - Black & White
Wire - Chairs Missing
Conflict - It’s Time To See Who’s Who
The Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed
Pink Floyd - Relics
Traffic - Last Exit
Billie Holiday - Lady Sings the Blues
Fairport Convention - Liege & Lief
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Greatest Hits
VA - Nuggets

[Moleskin]

Twelve Dreams of Dr Sardonicus
Astral Weeks
Crosby, Stills and Nash
River (Terry Reid)
If Only I Could Remember My Name
Don't Stand Me Down
Spirit of Eden
What Color is Love
Just As I Am
Music From Big Pink

[WG Kaspar]

Rembetiko OST
Gioconda's Smile
A Kind of Blue
A Love Supreme
Wish You Were Here
Let It Bleed
Astral Weeks
From The Lion's Mouth
Tindersticks
Spirit Of Eden

[Nuts]

This is really hard -
Elvis Costello - Get Happy
Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All
Love - Forever Changes
The Beatles - The White Album
Deep Purple - Fireball
Stone Roses - Debut
Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon
Queens Of The Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf
Radiohead - OK Computer
Monkees - Head

[Graham Murakami]

Even limiting to one per artist it's still difficult:
Currents - Tame Impala
The Queen is Dead - the Smiths
Vauxhall and I - Morrissey
Absent Friends - Divine Comedy
Fear of Music - Talking Heads
Thunder, Lightning Strike - The Go! Team
Deerhoof - The Magic
Tusk - Fleetwood Mac
London Calling - the Clash
Bridge over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel

[Davey the Fat Boy]

Pleasures of the Harbour

It’s a masterpiece, isn’t it?

Without a doubt. Number one for me.
Seven very fine (at least) songs, each with its own distinctive sound and arrangement that perfectly reflects the lyrics. I've Had Her is a thing of stunning beauty, a top ten song for me. The title track not far behind, Miranda, the Party, Outside of a Small Circle of Friends - Only Flower Lady and Cross My Heart dip a little, but still better than the best tracks on many albums.

“Yes” all around - with the only small disagreement being that I’d put “Cross My Heart” up there with the best.

I put Townes Van Zandt’s “For The Sake of the Song” on my list of ten (and might have included Pleasures had you not presented me with the option of a sneaky 11th choice merely by agreeing with you) - and indeed, I see these two albums almost as a mini-genre unto themselves. There are only a small handful of singer-songwriters who could actually be called “poets” without hyperbole. Of those, only Ochs and Van Zandt ever made records as baroque as the two albums we’re discussing. I wish more had tried.

[Jumper K]

The Message
Eternally Yours
The Bronx
Black Sunday
Payin the Dues
Emergency Powers
Maxinquaye
Whiskey for the Holy Ghost
Live at the Star Club
Scared Straight

[Oscar]

Eyeless in Gaza - Photographs as Memoires

Really!!?

[joklend]

Knives Replace Air is one of the great post punk tracks.

[Oscar]

[Darkness_Fish]

Eyeless in Gaza - Photographs as Memoires

Really!!?

Why not? From start to finish it's pretty much an unrestrained, uncontrollable rage of emotion. With nice synths, lovely guitars, and incoherent vocals.

[Oscar]

Eyeless in Gaza - Photographs as Memoires

Really!!?

Why not? From start to finish it's pretty much an unrestrained, uncontrollable rage of emotion. With nice synths, lovely guitars, and incoherent vocals.

One of my favourite albums throughout the 80's... along with Caught In Flux. I still adore their misery. And still some of my alltime favourite tracks... No Noise from this album, Invisibility, Kodak Ghosts Run Amok, The Feelings Mutual...

[Darkness_Fish]

Really!!?

Why not? From start to finish it's pretty much an unrestrained, uncontrollable rage of emotion. With nice synths, lovely guitars, and incoherent vocals.

One of my favourite albums throughout the 80's... along with Caught In Flux. I still adore their misery. And still some of my alltime favourite tracks... No Noise from this album, Invisibility, Kodak Ghosts Run Amok, The Feelings Mutual...

Blimey, I don't think I've ever encountered a positive opinion on this site about an album I dearly love. I automatically replied in the defensive, expecting cynicism. Some of their recent stuff isn't that shabby, either. Not in the same league or style, but quite distinctive and well worth a listen.