How the hell do you choose your own personal top ten albums ever?

My top ten changes very slowly and organically indeed so I usually don't have that problem.

But with others it may be more effective to jot down the first ten which come to mind.

It's not something I've considered in probably years. I did a top 200 around Christmas time for a friend of mine who asked me to, but that was so much easier.

I think what I would do is think of the ones that should absolutely, unequivocally, whatever-mood-I'm-in, applying the most stringent personal standards, be on there. If there's less than 10 of those then fill it up with whatever takes my fancy or (in this case) would impress/annoy readers. If there's more than 10, the trouble starts!

The absolute thing not to do is actually look at yr record collection - if it doesn't leap to mind, it shouldn't be on the list surely?

My caveat in all this is that I don't listen to albums much so my "Top 10" probably hasn't changed in years.

pick one from each year to make a shortlist
then score each track on each album out of ten
add up those scores to create total scores for each album
go down pub
get pissed
after last orders scribble actual top ten just based on the first ten that come to mind there and then

Nick!

1. Giant Steps
2. an Embrace album

and you're away!

yes Nick should let us compile his top 10 for him

OK, compile my top ten for me!

4. Laughing Stock
5. Hex
5. Brown album or In Sides

this is peasy

I prefer Sniv to Brown!

6 the new 65dos

pick one from each year to make a shortlist

1987: Floodland, Sister, Calenture, Horse Rotorvator (and those are the first that come to mind without looking them up) - you know what? I quit. I can't. I won't.

7. SAW II
8. Spirit Of Eden
9. Supper's Ready
10. Woodface

7 'spirit of eden'

xpost bah

I've never heard Woodface and I don't even know what Supper's Ready is.

sorry mixin you up with that other dude

If I was uncomfortable with my rockist leanings, I'd cry.

i think albums are one of those 'what were they thinking' things. most of them are rubbish.

take 'future days', wot i am listening to now. only two tracks are any good, and yet it is in my top 15.

This is the 200 I did about six months ago. It's interesting seeing what I've fallen in love with in the last six months that's notable by its absence here.

Aaliyah - Aaliyah
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2
Aphex Twin - Richard D. James Album
A.R. Kane - “i”
Asian Dub Foundation - Community Music
Associates - Sulk
At The Drive-In - Vaya
Augie March - Strange Bird
Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour Of Bewilderbeast
Bark Psychosis - Hex
Bark Psychosis - //Codename:Dustsucker
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Beastie Boys - Paul’s Boutique
Beastie Boys - Check Your Head
Beatles - Revolver
Beatles - White Album
Beatles - Abbey Road
Belle & Sebastian - If You’re Feeling Sinister
Beta Band - The 3 EPs
Big Star - Third / Sister Lovers
Bjork - Debut
Black Grape - It’s Great When You’re Straight… Yeah!
Blue Nile - Hats
Blur - Parklife
Boo Radleys - Giant Steps
Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun
Bowie, David - Ziggy Stardust
Bowie, David - “Heroes”
Bowie, David - Low
British Sea Power - Open Season
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
Brubeck Quartet, The Dave - Time Out
Buckey, Jeff - Grace
Bush, Kate - The Hounds Of Love
Byrds - Younger Than Yesterday
Can - Ege Bamyasi
Can - Future Days
Cave, Nick - The Boatman’s Call
Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole
Clash - London Calling
Clientele - The Violet Hour
Cocteau Twins - Treasure
Cocteau Twins - Heaven Or Las Vegas
Congos - The Heart Of The Congos
Cure - Disintegration
D’Angelo - Voodoo
Davis, Miles - Kind Of Blue
Davis, Miles - In A Silent Way
Davis, Miles - Bitches Brew
De La Soul - 3ft High & Rising
Delgados - Hate
Disco Inferno - D.I. Go Pop
Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I
DJ Shadow - ...Endtroducing
Dodgy - Homegrown
Drake, Nick - Five Leaves Left
Echo & The Bunnymen - Ocean Rain
Elbow - Asleep In The Back
Elliott, Missy - Miss E… So Addictive
Elliott, Missy - Under Construction
Embrace - Drawn From Memory
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
Eno, Brian - Another Green World
Eno, Brian - Music For Airports
Eno, Brian and Byrne, David - My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts
Fela Kuti - Expensive Shit / He Miss Road
Fennesz - Endless Summer
Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
Four Tet - Pause
Fugazi - Repeater + 3 Songs
Fugazi - The Argument
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
Funkadelic - Standing In The Verge Of Getting It On
Funkadelic - One Nation Under A Groove
Gang Of Four - Entertainment
Gang Starr - Step In The Arena
Gaye, Marvin - What’s Going On
Genis/GZA - Liquid Swords
Gibbons & Rustin Man, Beth - Out Of Season
Godspeed You Black Emperor - F# A# (Infinity)
Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
Guillemots - Through The Windowpane
Guns N’ Roses - Appetite For Destruction
Hancock, Herbie - Headhunters
Harvey, PJ - Rid Of Me
Hayes, Isaac - Hot Buttered Soul
Head & The Strands, Michael - The Magical World Of The Strands
Hendrix Experience, The Jimi - Are You Experienced?
Hendrix Experience, The Jimi - Axis: Bold As Love
Hendrix Experience, The Jimi - Electric Ladyland
Hubbard - Freddie - Red Clay
Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows
Jackson, Michael - Thriller
Jaga Jazzist - A Livingroom Headrush
Jane’s Addiction - Ritual De Lo Habitual
Jay-Z - The Blueprint
King, Carole - Tapestry
Kyuss - Welcome To Sky Valley
Lambchop - Nixon
Lambchop - Is A Woman
Led Zeppelin - I
Led Zeppelin - II
Lo-Fidelity Allstars - How To Operate With A Blown Mind
Love - Forever Changes
Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame
MAKE-UP - Save Yourself
Manitoba - Up In Flames
Marley & The Wailers, Bob - Exodus
Massive Attack - Blue Lines
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Mayfield, Curtis - Curtis
Mayfield, Curtis - Superfly
MC5 - Kick Out The Jams
MC5 - High Time
Mercury Rev - See You On The Other Side
Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther
Mingus, Charles - The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady
Mitchell, Joni - Blue
Mogwai - Rock Action
Morgan, Lee - The Sidewinder
Morphine - Cure For Pain
Mos Def - Black On Both Sides
Mountain Goats - Tallahassee
Mouse On Mars - Iaora Tahiti
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Nas - Illmatic
Necks - Drive-By
‘O’Rang - Herd Of Instinct
Orbital - Orbital (Brown)
Orbital - Snivilisation
Orbital - In Sides
O’Rourke, Jim - Eureeka
O’Rourke, Jim - Insignificance
Outkast - Aquemini
Outkast - Stankonia
Pablo, Augustus - King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown
Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Pixies - Surfer Rosa / Come On Pilgrim
Plaid - Rest Proof Clockwork
Polar Bear - Held On The Tips Of Fingers
Portishead - Dummy
Primal Scream - Screamadelica
Primal Scream - XTRMNTR
Prince - Sign O’ The Times
Prodigy - Music For The Jilted Generation
Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
Public Enemy - Fear Of A Black Planet
Pulp - Different Class
Queens Of The Stone Age - Rated R
Radiohead - OK Computer
REM - Automatic For The People
REM - New Adventures In Hi-Fi
Ride - Nowhere
Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
Roots Manuva - Awfully Deep
Royal Trux - Accelerator
Ruts DC - Rhythm Collision Dub
Screaming Trees - Dust
Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
Six.By Seven - 04
Sly & The Family Stone - Stand
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse
Specials - Specials
Spiritualized - Laser Guided Melodies
Spiritualized - Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
Springfield, Dusty - Dusty In Memphis
Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
Streets - Original Pirate Material
Sugababes - Angels With Dirty Faces
Super Furry Animals - Radiator
Super Furry Animals - Guerilla
Talking Heads - Fear Of Music
Talking Heads - Remain In Light
Talk Talk - The Colour Of Spring
Talk Talk - Spirit Of Eden
Talk Talk - Laughing Stock
Teenage Fanclub - Grand Prix
The The - Mind Bomb
Tortoise - Standards
Tribe Called Quest - The Low-End Theory
Tricky - Maxinequaye
Underworld - Second Toughest In The Infants
Verve - A Storm In Heaven
Verve - A Northern Soul
Waits, Tom - Rain Dogs
Waits, Tom - Mule Variations
Walker, Scott - Tilt
Welch, Gillian - Time (The Revelator)
Wilco - Being There
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Wire - Chairs Missing
Witness - Before The Calm
Wolf, Patrick - Wind In The Wires
Wonder, Stevie - Songs In The Key Of Life
Wu-Tang Clan - Enter The 36 Chambers
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One
Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
Young, Neil - After The Goldrush

mind you even individual tracks are a bit old-hat. track four has good bits, and less good bits.

xpost thaaaaaanks

Dodgy - Homegrown

amirite

SHOW US YOUR TOP 15 QUITNEY

That's got some killer tunes on it, dude!

sorry that wasn't meant to be all caps

GET YOUR TOP TENS OUT FOR THE LADS.

i reckon his top 10 is half rolled up toilet paper

LET'S PUT TOGETHER QUITNEY'S TOP 15 ALBUMS EVER

1. Yours Truly Angry Mob

too recent

boc - music has the right to children
daft punk - homework
carl craig - more songs
chemical bros - exit planet dust

cupid & psyche 85
paul's boutique
homework
more songs about buildings and food
maxinquaye
future days
discovery
stranded
country life
nation of millions
endtroducing
supa dupa fly
song cycle
in sides middle of nowhere
SAN DIEMAS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RULES

man fuck a BOC are you nutsy?

boc - music has the right to children

I don't remember that Blue Oyster Cult album

LOL @ more songs about buildings and future days

middle of nowhere

lol hanson

most of those are sentimental choices.

Discovery isn't going to be in my top 10 albums of the 00s

how to choose it = recognise that the entire concept is a crock of shit b/c even if you can pin down what albums you love more than others, it's necessarily going to be in permanent flux anyway - so then just go w/ something random/what you love now.

that, or have a default list of albums you don't actually necessarily ever listen to.

Alex, for such a relentless poptimist you're the most miserable git in the world, sometimes.

i'm very happy right now!

he's right tho (xp)! i'm quite anti-album tho

nick you haven't done this for years because deep down you probably know it's not really worth the bother. and we surely got at least half of your top ten right anyway i bet.

a default list of albums you don't actually necessarily ever listen to.

-- lex pretend, Tuesday, 19 June 2007 11:17 (16 minutes ago)

Some truth to this.

But not necessarily as negative as this is painted. If music=identity, which surely it does in formative years - then certain favorites may well not actually be played very often - but can be thought of as favorites still - or dear old friends.

Perhaps because these old friends take us back to times we can no longer revisit

yeah i didn't actually mean my post to be negative, it's not as if i haven't done it. but thinking about "my favourite song right now" >>>>>> thinking about "my favourite 10 albums ever", always

(it is 'open toes' by katharine mcphee, fyi. "i'm loving these slingback shoes, i like the way they stay loose - i could wear 'em all day and listen to the click-clack, shoes like these make me hate flats. hey, let's go - if they’re not too high, too low, i'll take 'em home...")

yeah popjustice are all over that mcphee song too

no it's 'over it' which they're all over (not that that's not amazing as well! but i'm just in more of a skittery r&b hot beat mood than a heartrending teenpop ballad one right now)

oh i'm sure the thing i read on there was all about shoes

stuff which comes to mind immediately (i think i'd start with artists which must be in the top ten and choose albums later):

keith jarrett - sun bear concerts
nick drake - five leaves left
joni mitchell - hejira
talk talk - laughing stock or spirit of eden
neil young - on the beach or after the goldrush
joy division - les bains douches
yo la tengo - electropura
swell - 41
the smiths - the world won't listen
wipers - youth of america
mary margaret o'hara - miss america

shit it's already one too many...

I do this by giving a mental Pitchfork rating to each album, grabbing all of those that get 9.9 or 10.0, and then ordering them.

1) Mansun - Six 2) Cardiacs - Guns 3) Cardiacs - Sing To God 4) Yes - Relayer 5) Talk Talk - Spirit Of Eden 6) Blur - 13 7) SFA - Rings Around The World 8) Hood - Rustic Houses Forlorn Valleys 9) Oceansize - Effloresce 10) Duran Duran - Rio

no wait 10) Ride - Going Blank Again (re-issue w/bonus trax)

Blimey

those bonus tracks are some kinda somethin'.

Rings Around The World? You ARE young.

Maybe Ulver - Blood Inside or The Electric Soft Parade - The American Adventure would have made it on another day. RATW is pretty much perfect, no matter how old I am.

It's no Guerilla.

Hmm, well, I just prefer the songs (and the sequencing) on RATW, I guess. I also think there's far more going on, far more sonic and songwriting ambition. I suppose a few people found it tacky.

BACK to the subject, then, Nick, are you any closer to working out how you're gonna do this?

The last time I did something like this - a long time ago - I simply picked the last 10 albums that I could remember putting on just because I wanted to hear them (ie., no first listens or listens for review) and playing in full.

blueski (and the ancient Greeks) has the right basic idea: make a preliminary list of a bunch you'd happily listen to RIGHT NOW -presuming you're currently sober. Then, play 'em next time you're drunk and see which ones make the cut. If you find you can't eliminate any, either (a) switch to something harder - something illegal, if necessary; (b) keep drinking and try again when hung over, or (c) say fuck it and grab 10 at random.

NICK'S TOP SIX:

1. Stooges - Raw Power (1997 remaster)
2. Oasis - (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
3. The Killers - Hot Fuss
4. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
5. Rush - Vapor Trails
6. The Flaming Lips - At War With the Mystics

I spent a few minutes thinking about this today, then shrugged and got back to work.

I recall making a top ten back in my early 20's that included three Beat Happening albums. A cautionary tale.

I still have a soft spot for Black Candy and Dreamy, but yeah, top 10, not so much.

I think I've finally settled on Smiley Smile being my record. Not the "best", these days only listen about once a year, but it's my record.

I think the easiest way to make a top 10 albums list is this:

1) Go through your collection and review your artists, which ones you think are essential, etc.
2) Narrow down to your top 10 artists, ever - your 10 desert island artists
3) Choose your favorite album by each artist, playing thru albums if you need help

I mean, right offhand, I know my list would include Bowie, the Cure, and Talk Talk - that's fucking easy. The rest of the top ten, I dunno, I'd have to think it over.

The hard part is choosing albums, then - I have no idea what my Bowie or Cure albums would be (as there are different favorites for various moods, et al.) - although my fav Talk Talk has to be The Colour of Spring, overall I think

in which case, if you love an artist for their entire discography, it might be easiest (and even most accurate) to nail down your "favorite" as the one that best encapsulates what you absolutely LOVE about each artist

for example, Talk Talk did a great pop album with It's My Life as well as two great "post" "rock" albums with Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock, and my dilemma is that I love all three albums nearly equally - I would give each of them a 9.5 to 10.0 on the "Pitchfork scale" mentioned above, for example

How to solve this?

I choose The Colour of Spring, which very well captures the excellent pop song aesthetics of the band as well as hints toward the later greatness to come on the '88 and '91 albums

PROBLEM SOLVED.

...in which case, the Cure album that comes immediately to mind as capturing the overall "Cure aesthetic" for me...has got to be Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me

I hope that helps a bit, Nick

i've got a top 171, in order. it was just an exam-avoidance scheme, i wondered if I could do a top 20, then a top 50, then a top 100, and since then I've added 71 albums to the top 100 which has pushed it out to a 171. keep revising it whenever I listen to anything on it or anything really good. I added 'The Isaac Hayes Movement' today (140) and remembered 'In Sides' too, placed it at 86.

obviously the actual difference between, say my number 114 (Slanted & Enchanted) and number 115 (If I Could Only Remember My Name) is pretty meaningless, but I can say I definately prefer them to MOST below, but MOST above I prefer. it's entirely approximate and arguable but, really.

i'm with lex, when i do get the list bug, the more slapdash and ephemeral the process is the more correct it feels most of the time. my considered, mathematical top ten is always liable to be based on the same old boring mental markers that owe more to stubbornness and nostalgia than here-and-now enjoyment. breaking through your own crust is hard.

My top ten is rather stable. The top ten has been the same since "Temple Of Low Men" overtook "OK Computer"'s tenth position around 5-6 years ago.

you do surprise me!

today i take out 'country life' and replace with 'the chronic'

Quartz remains at 8th in my list and has done for 6 years now (it was in 7th prior to that). On a number of occasions i had thought about introducing any number of rocks with feldspatholids to my top 10 but i could never really get round the whole problem of a) did they deserve to be in an all time top 10 that would reflect my personality to all and sundry, esp hot girls, and b) the whole silica-undersaturated thing, because, as even a cursory reading of Schiano, P., J. M. Eiler, I. D. Hutcheon, and E. M. Stolper should have told us, feldspathoids cannot coexist with in a stable association with quartz.

it turns out the hot girls weren't really bothered either way. also they weren't quite as hot as you initially thought.

i have top100 for you

100. Led Zeppelin - IV
99. De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig – Parels Voor de Zwijnen
98. Fairport Convention – Liege & Lief
97. Dragonwyck – Chapter 2
96. Richard Youngs – Advent
95. Klaus Schulze – Irrlicht
94. Peter Brötzmann – Machinegun
93. The Hold Steady – Seperation Sunday
92. Velvet Cacoon – Genevieve
91. Brian Eno – Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)

90. Butthole Surfers - Locust Abortion Technician
89. Can – Future Days
88. Chris Corsano/Paul Flaherty/C. Spencer Yeh – A Rock In The Snow
87. Comus – First Utterance
86. Charalambides – Unknown Spin
85. Ghostface Killah – Supreme Clientele
84. Whitehouse – Ascetitcists
83. Mouthus – The Long Salt
82. Death Unit – Infinite Death
81. Skullflower – IIIrd Gatekeeper

80. The Fall – Hex Enduction Hour
79. Wolf Eyes – Slicer
78. Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
77. Kousokaya – 1st
76. The A Band – Artex/A Lot
75. Magik Markers – For Sada Jane
74. Whitehouse – Erector
73. Double Leopards – Out of One, Through One and to One
72. Paul Flaherty – Whirl of Nothingness
71. Throbbing Gristle – Heathen Earth

70. Charlemagne Palestine – Strumming Music
69. Lambsbread – Trash Diet
68. Taj Mahal Travellers – August 1974
67. Comets On Fire – Blue Cathedral
66. Dredd Foole – A Long, Losing Battle with Eloquence and Elegance
65. Nurse With Wound – Soliliquy for Lilith
64. Public Image LTD. – Metal Box
63. Boredoms – Vision Creation Newsun
62. Skullflower – Carved Into Roses
61. David Bowie – Hunky Dory

60. Aaron Dilloway – Beggar Master
59. AMM – The Crypt
58. Wolf Eyes & Anthony Braxton – Black Vomit
57. Faust – So Far
56. Harry Pussy – Harry Pussy
55. Pedestrian Deposit – Vestige
54. Nico – The End
53. Hototogisu – Prayer Rug Excorcism
52. Graveyards – Breath Stop
51. Kan Mikami - 1979

50. Hototogisu – Chimärendämmerung
49. Mainliner – Mellow Out
48. Fushitsusha – Double Live
47. Outkast – ATLiens
46. Alvin Lucier – I Am Sitting In A Room
45. Earth – Extra-capsular Extraction
44. Charlie Draheim – Possession
43. High Rise – II
42. Last Exit – Köln
41. Darkthrone – Transilvanian Hunger

40. The Velvet Underground – White Light/White Heat
39. Wu Tang Clan – Enter The Wu Tang (36 Chambers)
38. The Stooges – The Stooges
37. Can – Tago Mago
36. Paavoharju – Yha Hamaraa
35. Miles Davis – In A Silent Way
34. Flower Travellin’ Band – Satori
33. Julie Mittens - recorded june 20 2005
32. Fennesz - Endless Summer
31. Leviathan – Verräter

30. Prurient – Black Vase
29. The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground & Nico
28. Stone Harbour – Emerges
27. Sunn O))) – Black 1
26. Dr. Dre – The Chronic
25. Jacks – Vacant World
24. Charalambides – Joy Shapes
23. Les Rallizes Denudes – Heavier than a Death in the Family
22. John Coltrane – The Olatunji Concert
21. Lurker Of Chalice – Lurker Of Chalice

20. Joy Division – Closer
19. Sunburned Hand Of The Man – No Magic Man
18. 13th Floor Elevators – Easter Everywhere
17. Magik Markers – A Panegyric to the Things I Do Not Understand
16. The New Blockaders – Gesamtnichtswerk
15. Wolf Eyes – River Slaughter
14. Raekwon – Only Built For Cuban Linx
13. Borbetomagus – Barbed Wire Maggots
12. Prurient – Pleasure Ground
11. Wolf Eyes – Human Animal

10. Bardo Pond – On The Ellipse
9. Hair Police – Constantly Terrified
8. Pedestrian Deposit – Fatale
7. Les Rallizes Denudes – Live 77
6. Jerry Lee Lewis – Live at the Star Club
5. GZA – Liquid Swords
4. The Stooges – Fun House
3. Double Leopards – Halve Maen
2. Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures
1. Fraction – Moonblood

Are you Bjork?

it turns out the hot girls weren't really bothered either way. also they weren't quite as hot as you initially thought.

-- blueski, Thursday, 21 June 2007 11:44

you got that right, la

(xxxp) Like a good tune do you?

Well Rumours was in there.

I hope that guy never meets Geir on a dark night

Some amelodic rhythm dominate punch-ups would certainly ensue.

haha

yea i like a goood tune, yes

Geir, what is your entire top ten?

When I did this about a year ago, I picked an album that was influential on me when I was younger (the first Digable Planets, basically my "favorite album ever" when I was 14), one that sort of exists in a league of its own for me (Music for 18 Musicians), and the rest were basically nothing more than my favorite album by my all-time favorite artists (Court and Spark, Daydream Nation, Dots and Loops, Friends, Katy Lied, TNT, and Wowee Zowee); in some cases I like another album by the same band almost as much as the one I chose. That list is missing one, but I don't remember what it was.

it was the soundtrack to popeye

if i were to do this, which i won't, i would just try to remember the top ten album listening experiences in my little memory bank and pick those albums. i think listening to an album with the idea in mind that this is possibly going to be the pinnacle of your musical enjoyment tends to set yourself up for disappointment.

When I make these lists I usually try to imagine myself playing the albums and imagining how pumped I would be to hear them. Would be nice to set aside some time and listen to Meat Puppets instead of making sure I hear the new Spoon.

Wow, yes, "Up On the Sun" might be in my Top 10

I'm a Meat Puppets II man.

Speaking of Meat Puppets, the new album with Cris reinstated has gone up on emusic. 30 second samples sound a bit like the country-hop stuff on II but recorded like Monsters.

Have you heard it, Chris?

okay why not

5 Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth
4 Dinosaur Jr - You're Living All Over Me
3 Guided by Voices - Bee Thousand
2 My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything
1 Galaxie 500 - On Fire

mmm...

Nick likes SFA? Wow. A pleasant disappointment.

When I do a top 10 Jewish music list at the end of the year, I like to fuck up the context completely. One entry might be a track, the next an album, and the next an event. Makes it seem closer to how I actually feel.

Also: Everytime someone ranks On the Beach above After the Gold Rush, God kills a kitten. Ditto for every time Hejira is placed above Blue. That's right, alex in manhattan, you are responsible for two kitty deaths.

"Everytime someone ranks On the Beach above After the Gold Rush, God kills a kitten. Ditto for every time Hejira is placed above Blue"

then clearly kitty-slaying is the ony rational thing to do!

Geir, what is your entire top ten?

1. Genesis: Selling England By The Pound
2. XTC: Skylarking
3. Depeche Mode: Construction Time Again
4. Genesis: Foxtrot
5. Beach Boys: Pet Sounds
6. Depeche Mode: Black Celebration
7. Crowded House: Woodface
8. The Zombies: Odessey & Oracle
9. Aztec Camera: High Land, Hard Rain
10.Crowded House: Temple Of Low Men

No Beatles ("Sgt. Pepper" is at number 12, between Genesis' "A Trick Of The Tail" and "OK Computer")

but i didn't rank on the beach above after the goldrush! and i should have mentioned blue together with hejira. ditto with pink moon and five leaves left. to choose between those albums is almost impossible. it would really depend on my mood.