Difficult to pick just one album, but would have to go with Hounds Of Love / Kate Bush. Loved it since the day it came out and is still always there in my "top 5 albums" .

Quintessentially Beatles. Charm, wit, melody, screaming rock 'n' roll vocals, pretty English vocals, and side two. An unbeaten feast.

Although, surprisingly maybe, I don't much like any of their other stuff.

it's almost 20 years old!
Doolittle by Pixies has been my fave or thereabouts for two decades now.

It struck a chord when I was 17 which remarkably resonates ever more strongly 20 years down the line.

Over the course of ten simple but perfectly formed songs, Lawrence looks back ruefully over his childhood and ten years of cult acclaim and total commercial failure. But also manages to look forward hopefully to the future.

The subsequent critical acclaim and total commercial failure of the first Denim album and Lawrence’s apparent mental, physical and musical (Go Kart Mozart anyone?) decline only makes it all the more poignant. This is as far from Landfill™ as it’s possible for indie to get.

Terrible title though.

It has changed over the years from Exile on Main Street to St.Dominic's Preview to No Other (for a while) but the one I always come back to is George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, the defining achievement of any of the Beatles solo output and a match melodically for anything the four did together

if I have to pick one (which I assume I do, hence the thread) then it'd be No Cities Left by The Dears.

I know to most people they're one of those bands you've heard of but couldn't distinguish from countless others and I'm the first to admit that all their other albums are little better than average.

However, this album is astonishing. It has fantastic melodies, it's full of invention and the attention to detail in choice of instruments and production is truly amazing. I've no idea how many times I've listened to it but every time I discover something I hadn't noticed before.

A quick look after 4 months of owning and listening to an ipod shows that this is the album I come back to the most.

Unlikely to be adapted into a Broadway musical, seeing as the main character's dick gets cut off and stolen by a raven. Still great though

by the Stooges - Down On The Street was a revelation when I first heard it and I hear something new in it every time. PLus the performance of it at Don't Look Back was by far the best thing i have ever seen

...it's Some Girls. But tomorrow it could well be The Stone Roses.

The Swedish psychedelic rockers third album was an absolute classic with tunes that The Who would have been proud of. Amazing songwriting, riffs, choruses you can't dislodge from your head for months after first hearing and every track a possible single - the mark of a great album.

The music press were right behind them at this point, great reviews, some unbelievable gigs (imagine a band on stage that would make The Who and The Clash seem static) - other musicians rated them - Noel from Oasis took them on tour, Mani and Primal Scream loved them, even the delectable Kate Hudson declared herself a fan.

Shame that they never capitalized on the good will and support, mainly due to the fact of them being slightly older and more shall we say individual. Walking out on an interview with that complete twat Zane Lowe on MTV2, although admirable, didn't help them get their videos shown though.

... with 69 Love Songs.

I only bought it because I'd regognised the cover from a Top 50 albums of the year list in Melody Maker, whilst walking through Virgin on Northumberland Street in Newcastle.

To produce a 3-CD abum full of wit & melancholy; encompass all the emotions of love from 'love to hate' to 'hate to love'; and each track never lasting longer than it needs to always leaves me breathless.

I can think of only one track that don't like (and even then, it's more a mild dislike than anything), and considering there are 69 songs to choose from, is something of a minor miracle.

but I don't. For me the greatest album ever recorded is The Wall by Pink Floyd.

Violator - Depeche Mode

Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe said that they felt like giving up after hearing this - which, I think, was a compliment.

Effortless, dignified and confident. A band at the top of their game. The entire album just glides - even when the tempo swings from the glam stomp of Personal Jesus to the phat grunty electro of World in my Eyes and then the sleepy, near-death experience that is Waiting for the Night. And Enjoy the Silence is still a perfect pop song. Overall it has a polished feel that reflects the obsessive care taken to get it just...so. Even the lyrics stack up - which is not a strong point generally with this band.

"You wear guilt like shackles on your feet - like a halo in reverse" (from "Halo"). Oh yes and there is the usual smattering of pain and suffering etc as well as spooky interludes sampling the Eraserhead baby. Not many laughs but it is a very satisfying meal for hungry ears.

Just called "Traffic", it is almost always overlooked, but is a fantastic album full of great songs. The musicianship is top notch & Steve Winwood is unbelieavbly great, whether he's singing, playing guitar or playing keyboards. It was the first album I ever owned &, after nearly forty years, I still play it frequently.

Roy Harper's HQ. Released in that hot summer of 1975, it's one a still dig out every now and then and still get a frisson from.

I'll have this: it lasts for under 40 minutes, all the songs on it bar one are covers, it's far from their best known work...but I'll have it every time. As loud as possible.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beat-Soul-Everly-Brothers/dp/B0009A6MVC/ref=sr_1...

And that's my review on Amazon, under the name of M.T. Finger.

Hejira is my favourite album. Why? Superb songs, with lyrics that are brimful of wit, wisdom, passion, extraordinary imagery, sublime chord changes; they're both minimalist and expansive; solipsistic and transcendently about the human condition. The musicianship is unimprovable throughout (and that includes Joni's stunning rhythm guitar), while her singing is magisterial. Look, she's made me spout a load of purple prose probably fit only for pseuds' corner. Ah well. Hejira it is.

for me its the timeless,endlessly playable "Solid Air" by John Martyn. Well for this week anyway.

Bryter Later. Difficult to pick from the three really but this was my first introduction to Nick Drake in the late Seventies - I still have the original LP's. Perhaps not the purest Nick - that would probably be Pink Moon. But there is more light and shade on Bryter Later. Oh and it has Northern Sky - perhaps my favourite song of all time.

Quite often it's 'Exile On Main St' but this week it might be 'The Beatles'. I think it's the playfulness, inventiveness, variety of styles and emotional range. It helps that I never had my own copy until recently and I am currently infatuated with it. But I always had a soft spot for that one.

The greatest pop album ever.

Ultimate 80's production from Trevor Horn and team but it absolutely refuses to sound dated. Its lyrics use language in what was then was a very new way and are almost as good as Jarvis's or Morrissey's and the album is full of fantastic tunes. There is not a duff note on the record let alone a bad song.

And it is one of pop music's truly revolutionary moments. Bye bye boring old guitars. In a blink of an eye the new wave morphed into new pop.

And another thing.....truly iconic sleeve design.

"If I was given a pound for the moments I'd missed
And got dancing lessons for all the lips I should have kissed
I'd be a millionaire
I'd be a Fred Astaire" Bang!

Although I prefer Five Leaves Left

Mind you, if I look at my last.fm listening habits, Richard Hawley's Coles Corner has been a stalwart for the past couple of years

between

Sparks - Kimono my House - just a classic album, so many great songs and just different from anything else then and now.

Icicle Works - The small price of a bicycle - long-time Icicle Works/McNabb fan and this has some of the best singles on it, plus the album tracks allow the band to try out different styles that all work. Very much of the '80s but still stands up.

Bonzo Dog Band - Hard to pick which one but possibly the Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse, although Gorilla comes a close second. humour does belong in music, especially when played by fantastic musicians.

My vote has to go to Blood On The Tracks...

Lush, bizarre, funny and moving

...because is still speaks to me after all this time while simultaneously reminding me of who I was when I first heard it and saw my life transform.

I hardly ever listen to it now, mainly because I like to have it preserved for when I really, really need it.

You can´t have only one, it depends on your mood, time of day, where you are in life, if your moving around or sitting down....Oh alright then ! A Black and White Night: Roy Orbison and guests

King of the Delta Blues Singers - Robert Johnson

It's a compilation, and the cover is a painting based on the fact that (at the time of original release) no-one knew what he looked like. There are more complete sets of his work, and this one misses key tracks, but it is just a perfect album in terms of sequence and feeling, and I believe I will never find anything I like better, even though there are many others that I cherish and listen to as much.

Can't fault it really and it will always sum up a period when life seemed very exciting. Screamadelica runs it a close second though for exactly the same reasons.

Find a place in your heart for Kraftwerk's Trans Europe Express, the perfect response to anyone who says that electronic music is soulless

Back in 1971, aged 14, when I first heard this, I couldn't believe what I was hearing - it made all the other Prog Rock I'd been exposed to that year seem ever so polite by comparison. Saxes wailed, Hammill screeched like a banshee, the words were bloody terrifying, and there were sounds that I still can't figure out - as if they came from some Lovecraftian dimension of musical terrorism enacted by demons. And nearly every year since then, I've dug out first the LP, then the first CD issue, and now the much-better remastered CD, and played it at least half a dozen times before returning it to the shelf. And I still find it deliciously terrifying, and the biggest treat I can ever give my ears. An absolute masterpiece.

The Bends by Radiohead is just such a complete album (no skipping required) that I always find myself coming back to it.

Agree with Doolittle posted above as another good one for similar reasons to The Bends - you can listen to the whole thing without getting restless.

For me nothing comes close to The Stone Roses by the Stone Roses. Never tire of listening to it, never skip a track. Also contains my favourite ever moment of music on my favourite track, I am the Resurrection, at around 2m25s, where lamentation switches to exultation - exhilarating.

The only album where I specifically listen to the percussion too.

I never tire of the tunes, the beauty and the lovely oddness that this has despite being the purest of pop.

... difficult one. The awful Sly and the Family Stone gig at Bournemouth is sufficiently far away for me to say There's A Riot Going On again. I love the swampy, messed up quality an awful lot.

Sleek, pulsing, crepuscular... just perfect.

by The Jimmy Giuffre Trio.
Clarinet/sax, bass and Jim Hall's peerless guitar. Recorded when I was 8 and I've loved every note since I first heard it 10 years later.
My All - side 2 Track 1 - is just perfect.

nick Cave and the bad seeds- The Boatman's Call

or it could be the double album Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus,

then again i do love Pixies - Doolittle

and Pink Floyd - Wish you were here

and Tom Waits - in the heart of Saturday Night .

i used to be be decisive ....

how nice is it to read a thread that is nothing but positivity and enthusiasm. A break from "Most Annoying Blank" type threads (my vote: Long lists of everything that's wrong with the world).

Now, back to your scheduled programme.

been watching the news to often !

I really can't decide on one, just one, for all time.

Right now I'll say Ghost in the Machine by The Police.

That's the first one I'd buy if I had to replace all my music from scratch.

No contest.

it's Pet Sounds. There are some moments on that record that make you think it is perfection.

Plus, it's got a couple of duff (ish) tracks - Sloop John B and the title track, but somehow that doesn't diminish it.

...Quadrophenia...

Closely followed by "Wish You were Here" and Physical Graffiti". I was 4 when the first came out and 5 for the latter two, whatever that might mean.

It has to be Costello.
Difficult to decide between "Imperial Bedroom" and "King of America" but current fave has to be "KOA"

And for me King of America is my favourite album of all time.

I assume compilations don't count - if they do it would be Simon and Garfunkels greatest hits.I will probably get pilloried on this site but to me they were better than the Beatles.

Agree with Paul Vincent about Van Der Graaf Generator - they blew me away at the same time and I remember seeing them live in Birmingham at the Locarno. What a brilliant band. I want to invest in some Peter Hammill solo stuff particularly the first 3 or 4 albums with the bonus material. Any of the later stuff any good?

well you said no messing about

The first Specials album is the one I always go back to and still sounds fantatstic today, its just full of classic 3 minute pop songs.

The Specials were probably also the best gig I ever saw at the Bristol Locarno, with the Selecter and the then unknown Dexys as support. Awesome night.

Got to be Station to Station but always love Blood on the Tracks and King of America. But Station to Station just stuns me every time

by Bruce Springsteen. My unfailing 'go to' album anytime. It bridges the earlier, more wordy work and the later more concise songs but it retains the stories, characters, epic scale and human foibles he chronicles so well. 7* on a scale of 5.

Had loads of Dylan albums but sold them when I realised I was only playing CDs. This was the only one I replaced and keep coming back to. There are many artists I love but still this album still intrigues me the most.

does it for me. Paul Weller at his finest, although Primal Scream - Vanishing Point runs it a close second..

...of Fatima Mansions as 'the most criminally neglected band' (much as I love them), I'll throw my hat in the ring with "I Was The King, I Really Was The King" by Animals That Swim.

When attempting to sell ATS to friends (before I got tired of trying and gave up, resigned to keeping them a private pleasure), I used to say they were like Tindersticks on happy pills - beautifully crafted narratives in the lyrics, tunes to die for, and the glorious trumpet work of Del Crabtree (who also blew up a storm on Bark Psychosis' "Hex", which would be in my top 10).

"East St O'Neill" is the most beautiful account of urban ghostliness imaginable ('On wet days, the ghost sits in the kitchen... he's not grey or wraithlike, but bright and solid like a new bike'), and "The Greenhouse" should have been Number 1 for a year, and the rest... ah, the rest are bloody marvellous, too.

robert johnson and sly crack ( no pun intended) a mention

no aretha, ray charles , james brown, prince, hendrix,

After The Goldrush

..but it's a Sunday, so it might have been Solid Air, or A Love Supreme, or Blonde On Blonde, or Koyaanisqatsi

Monday morning? A Southern Rock Opera or Europe 72. Tuesday? Stand In The Fire. Wednesday? Neu. Thursday? The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. Friday? Henry The Human Fly or Sweetheart Of The Rodeo. Saturday? Maggot Brain or Second Toughest In The Infants.

No messing about: I can't just pick one, ever. Ask me for my top five - I'll only give you three because I hope I haven't discovered the other two yet.

...by Steely Dan
I could go on for hours. A work of true genius by the mighty Becker and Fagen (and A-list supporting players) at their absolute peak.
I listen to it again and again and again and never tire of it. (The DVD in the Classic Albums series is fantastic too).

I am a big Sparks fan and I am thrilled that the Mael brothers are able to make an album that has to be their best.It is best listened to on headphones.

Tis a tough one, but I'd have to go with The Con by Tegan and Sara, it really strikes a chord both lyrically and melodically. It's very insightful, layered, inspiring, creative, thoughtful and thought-provoking. A close, joint-second would be Bone Machine by Tom Waits and the Here Comes the Night recordings by The Frames.

It transfixed me at the age of 17, when I bought it back from WH Smith in Watford and put it on my record player, and it continues to do so today, whether on CD or iPod. The past, present and future of rock'n'roll, all wrapped up in 45 glorious minutes.

Loads of favourites, but the one I always come back to is 'Hunky Dory'. An absolute masterpiece.

Tom Waits - Heart of Saturday Night. I missed it first time round due to being 4 years old, but was introduced to it by a chap I worked with around 10 years ago. My son had just been born, and I was doing a 3 hour round trip to work, and this album accompanied me every step of the way. I love the feel of the record, the lyric of the record, everything. TW in general I love, including his more 'challenging' albums, and I got to see him in Edinburgh earlier this year which was awe inspiring, but this record just gets me every time.

I know it is a whole new thread of its own, but I'd want my gravestone to read "If I exorcise my devils, well my angels may leave too. When they leave, they are so hard to find". Perfect.

there can be only one!
Impossible really isn't it?
I am surprised that Revolver hasn't been mentioned yet - it would be close for me. Along with Pretzel Logic, Blood on the Tracks, and the more obscure choices of Ride's Going Blank Again, and Microdisney's The Clock comes down the stairs.
But the tyranny of the Ipod means I rarely listen to whole albums anymore... My favourite track would probably be Tomorrow never knows.

Born in Manchester in 65 my favourite has to up the post-punk massive quotient here...

Unknown Pleasures - surely the strongest debut album of all time. Perfect from start to finish, and they didn't even bother to put Transmission on it!

'Iconic sleeve design' too

C'est la Guerre just ran 3rd in this year's Melbourne Cup (that's a horse race). First round on Mark methinks

Sea Change, although a couple of his albums are contenders. is this the only nomination from the last ten years?

Predictable indie kid choice - but still the one I come back to. Still the one that opened up a whole new world. The record that saved my life!

just never dates.

"A thing of such beauty, must be called love"

Im going to plump for Metallica's Master of Puppets which probably tells you a few things:

am still emotionally and neurotically 17 years old
probably need to get out more
am likely as anything to be posting on the "wrong" website

But I love it and if you dont agree you're wrong etc etc

A favourite album would have to be a Beatles album, no doubting it, infact, if the question was 'name your fave non-Beatles album' it would be a lot easier to answer it: 'Sound Affects' by the Jam, 'Hunky Dory' -Bowie, 'Entertainment' by Gang of Four, 'In Utero' by Nirvana, 'Unknown Pleasures' by Joy Division or 'Sticky Fingers' by you bloody know who. That is of course not counting 'best of' albums, because 'Who's Best' 'Best of Bob Marley' and scores of others would be in the running. BUT.............I could narrow it down to one after a lot of hair pulling! But as far as BEATLES albums, it gets very messy.

I would have to, again after a lot of hair pulling and teeth extraction, have to pick two albums, and regretfully leave two others out. The two runners up would have to be 'Abbey Road' and 'Pepper', because I think both those albums are classics that surpass anything any other band in the history of rock have produced.

My TWO faves are: The White Album and Revolver. The White album simply because it has tracks on it in which the band members are pretty much shining as solo artists, but with the other three members supplying the best backing instrumentation and harmonies I could ever know: John Lennon shines on this album more than any other, from the poignant beautiful delicate 'Julia' and 'Dear Prudence', to the weird and spectacular 'Bungalow Bill', 'I'm So Tired' and 'Sexy Sadie' and 'Glass Onion', to the in your face rock and rollers like 'Yerr Blues' and 'Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except For Me and My Monkey'. George hits one of the best songs of his entire career with Clapton's out-of-this-world lead guitar on 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps', and gives us a unique post-pyschedelic slice of 'Savoy Truffle' and 'Piggies', plus the underrated ballad 'Long Long Long'.

McCartney gets the most weirdest and wildest here as well with 'Why Don't We Do It In The Road', the unfinished but catchy and bizarre 'Rocky Raccoon' and the short and insane 'Wild Honey Pie'. He pummels us with arguably one of the 1960's most heavy rockers 'Helter Skelter' (which is up there with Zeppelin in my view) and then takes us down with uncharcteristically 'uncorny' ballads such as 'I Will' and 'Blackbird'.

So you get the 'solo' Beatles, but you also see them pull together, as a 'band' on 'Yerr Blues' (done in a different studio, a small one, and almost entirely live), on 'Birthday' (even Yoko joins in!), 'Back in the USSR' and on 'Helter Skelter'.

It also has one of my 'top five' Beatles songs EVER on it: 'Happiness is a Warm Gun'. So there's solid reason for THE WHITE ALBUM to be one of my all time faves.

And of course 'Revolver'! Truth be told, if I had to choose between the two albums this would probably win out, purely because it drips with psychedelic acid weird and wonderfulness. 'Taxman' is the first song in the (albeit waning) 'Beatlemania' stage of their career to open an album with a song not about boy/girl, instead the listener gets a wild rock song, laden with the trademark harmonies, about........taxes!

Then one of the reasons why they stopped touring: 'Eleanor Rigby' (how could you play this live in 66?), with it's despondant lyric, gloomy but alive in sound and texture. Cynicism is firmly planted in the Beatlemaniacs head when my 2nd 'top 3' Beatles song EVER appears. 'I'm Only Sleeping' is just hypnotic, with the sedating drawl of Lennon's ode to peaceful 'outside of society' ode. backwards guitars, backing vocals that send tingles down your spine, and a backbeat that just skips along in an acid haze.

The mighty 'She Said She Said' and 'And Your Bird Can Sing' are just epic acid rock pieces, with lyrics that fall away from the puppy love the band were turning out only two years earlier! 'Here There and Everywhere', with the harmonies echoing every lyric, is probably my favourite McCartney ballad, and Lennon said years later it was his fave song from the entire Beatles catalogue. Even a fave album has a low point and 'Yellow Submarine' is the only track on the album I can happily skip, but to some (kids particularly) it is a classic.

'Got to Get You into My Life' out-Motowns Motown and always inspires me, and makes me think romantic love can exist (as corny as that sounds)....the dissolve into psychedelic guitar at the end is particularly epic. Similarly 'Goodday Sunshine' does the same, and it's just pure pop gold, polarlised by the forlorn and masterful 'For No One'. 'Doctor Robert' again shows the new evolved Beatles in full flight as a band, singing about a speed medico, and the harmonies and foray into dischords of 'I Want to Tell You' just blow me away.

Then you get the world's first techno track, 'Tomorrow Never Knows'! Groundbreaking on almost every level, looming, ominous, dangerous, droning, beautiful. The hypnotic sitar drawl and the drumbeat 'loop', compounded by everything from backwards guitar to toy piano at the end....Lyrically, the Beatles are coming of age, but I'll just make it easy and say I fucking love this song! And how many times have we heard it duplicated in the last ten years? I don't think the U.K music scene could live without it sometimes. This finale to this great album heralds the new Beatles, and it would have been just so fantastic if 'Strawberry Fields' was on it, because that's my favourite Beatles song and it wasn't recorded too long after this album.

Nuff said, I gave youa review when you just wanted a name, but fuck it, I enjoyed dissecting it anyhoo. Anyone who agrees can chat with me at davoid_dixon@yahoo.com.au.

-ziggy.

I can't help it. Over the years (decades even!), this is the one I keep returning to and always hear something new on.

Otis Blue runs it close and so does the Stones 1st album. Oh and I never tire of Benny Goodman Live at the Carnegie Hall in 1938. Eclectic or just plain weird?

Hard to pick just one but i would have to go for the Manics Holy Bible.

Not really a single album but available for so long on a 2 for 1 CD format it virtually has become a double album - no collection should be without it.

I have a real problem picking my favourite is so it pretty well comes down to 'what albums do I never tire of listening to?' - albums that I'll put on, and then simply feel the need to play over again as they are in some way addictive.
So skipping over the forever changing favourite ('Abbey Road', 'Sgt Peppers', 'Hunky Dory', 'Animals' ,'Hounds Of Love'), I find myself faced with a (four-sided) coin toss to decide if 'Permanent Waves' (Rush), 'Rain Dogs' (Tom Waits), 'Kid A' (Radiohead), or 'California' (Mr Bungle) is my current favourite...
...damn it! it's goig to have to be 'California' by Mr Bungle - at least for today that is. Not a grower - I liked it instantly and played it again imemediately - and not a duff track. I almost feel it's too short, as it always leaves me wanting more, and yet I'm sure anything extra would be superfluous and weigh it down. Simply marvellous.

c'mon folks, the Rush albums from the seventies are the greatest! Fly By Night, Caress of Steel, 2112, A Farewell to Kings, Hemispheres - i secretly play them in my shed and hope that my secret will not be revealed to the priests in the temple of syrinx! My missus has found out though and just shakes her head sadly...

Station to Station. 37 Minutes of absolute perfection. Not a note wasted. Even the train sounds good!

Born to Run (and Thunder Road is my all-time favourite track). very surprised it's only got 2 votes so far.

I know it's not the greatest album ever made but it's the one that's had the biggest impact on me and made me the woman I am today! 4 classic pop singles, and a bunch of filler - but what filler!

By The Cardigans. Simply gorgeous.