“Favorite” album/“Best or most popular album”

Backstreet Crawler
Favourite & Best: 2nd Street

 

The Doors
Favourite: Strange Days
Best: The Doors

 

Yardbirds
Favourite & Best: Yardbirds UK 66'

 

Janis Joplin
Favourite & Best: Pearl

 

Frank Zappa

Favorite: Zappa In New York

Best: One Size Fits All

 

Forum Favourites—

The Beatles

Favourite: Revolver
Best: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

The Rolling Stones

Favourite: Let It Bleed
Best: Sticky Fingers

The Kinks

Favourite: Arthur
Best: Village Green Preservation Society

The Who

Favourite: Quadrophenia
Best: Who's Next

Led Zeppelin

Favourite: Physical Graffiti
Best: IV

Pink Floyd

Favourite: Wish You Were Here
Best: The Dark Side Of The Moon

David Bowie

Favourite: Station To Station
Best: The Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars

Bob Dylan

Favourite: Highway 61 Revisited
Best: Blood On The Tracks

Neil Young

Favourite: On The Beach
Best: Harvest

Grateful Dead

Favourite: American Beauty
Best: Workingman's Dead

 

radiohead: best: ok computer
favorite: in rainbows
blur: best : parklife
favorite: blur
alice in chains: best: dirt
favorite: tripod
the stranglers: best; rattus
favorite: black and white
the jam: best: all mod cons
favorite: setting sons

 

beach boys: best: pet sounds
favorite ties: sunflowers; smile sessions

 

Pixies
Best - Doolittle
Favourite - Trompe Le Monde

Pavement
Best - Crooked Rain,Crooked Rain
Favourite - Slanted And Enchanted

The Smiths
Best - The Queen Is Dead
Favourite - Strangeways Here We Come


Arcade Fire
Best - Funeral
Favourite - Neon Bible

The National
Best - Boxer
Favourite - Alligator

Led Zeppelin
Best - IV
Favourite - Led Zeppelin

The Rolling Stones
Best - Sticky Fingers
Favourite - Tattoo You

 

VERY solid list. Would agree with every "best" selection". Interesting how the favorites are beginning to be similar choices among people, and yet not the bet/most popular/recommended albums. Perhaps the popular ones have had too much exposure or listening time for some of us! Thanks for all of your contributions. I've got some listening to do on some recommendations. Keep 'em coming!

 

Hard to debate this one! Though Five Live Yardbirds is pretty great too...

 

The Beatles:
Favorite: Abbey Road
Best: Abbey Road or St Pepper

Elton John:
Favorite/Best: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

George Michael:
Favorite: Older
Best: Listen Without Prejudice, vol 1

 

Another REALLY solid list. Forum favorites - has this already been a poll? I agree with every single one of the choices in the best category. I myself would recommend American Beauty by the Dead to a newcomer before Workingman's Dead. My favorite LP of theirs is Live/Dead (remember, live LP's are "allowed"!).

This "best" list is becoming useful - at the very least, any retailers who carry vinyl should be stocking these "best" albums (or they should always be in print!) to underscore the importance of these releases. Thanks to all for your lists...

 

Another Village Green fan here.... so many great cuts on that album!
Also, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath has been my favorite Ozzy era album from the day I bought it.

 

The Cure
Favorite album: Disintegration
For someone new: Wish

The Jesus and Mary Chain
Favorite album: Darklands
For someone new: Psychocandy

Big Star
Favorite/For someone new: #1 Record

The Replacements
Favorite: Tim
For someone new: Let It Be

A Tribe Called Quest
Favorite: The Low End Theory
For someone new: Midnight Marauders

Boards of Canada
Favorite: Music Has the Right to Children
For someone new: Geogaddi

The Ramones
Favorite: Rocket to Russia
For someone new: Ramones

Pink Floyd
Favorite: Meddle
For someone new: The Dark Side of the Moon

Rush
Favorite: A Farewell to Kings
For someone new: Moving Pictures

Metallica
Favorite: Ride the Lightning
For someone new: Master of Puppets

Streetlight Manifesto
Favorite: Everything Goes Numb
For someone new: Somewhere in the Between

Black Sabbath
Favorite/For someone new: Paranoid

Gonna stop now...

 

When I listen to ITCOTCK I always wonder what it must have been like hearing it for the first time in that period of music.

Heartbeat City is my favorite, but there are no wrong answers here.

My opinion as well. Hounds of Love is a masterpiece, but The Sensual World is my personal favorite.

 

The Doors
Best - The Doors
Favorite - The Soft Parade

Wings
Best - Band on the Run
Favorite - Venus and Mars

Beach Boys
Best - Pet Sounds
Favorite - Sunflower

Joni Mitchell
Best - Blue/Court and Spark/Hejira
Favorite - The Hissing of Summer Lawns

Pink Floyd
Best - Dark Side
Favorite -Wish You Were Here

Neil Young
Best/Favorite - Harvest

John Lennon
Best/Favorite - Imagine

George Harrison
Best/Favorite - All The Must Pass

 

Laurie Anderson

Best/Popular: Big Science
Favorite: Mister Heartbreak and Strange Angels

 

Tears For Fears

Best: Songs From The Big Chair
Favorite: Seeds Of Love

 

Elvis Costello

Popular: My Aim Is True
Favorites:
This Year's Model
Armed Forces
Get Happy

 

Paul Weller

Favorite album: Paul Weller (S/T)
Most popular (not necessarily his best, IMO): Stanley Road

 

Back for a few more...

1.Peter Townsend...

Favorite : Who Came First (1972)...by over dubbing himself PT became a one man band & on side 1 he managed the delicate balance of brutality & beauty, alas the sound he had been seeking lo all those years & in process crafted music that out classed all 70s Who efforts

Best : Rough Mix (w/ Ronnie Lane) (1977)...a subdued under rated master work, akin to pop skiffle in its delivery

2.Steely Dan

Favorite : Countdown To Ecstasy (1973)...Savaging all kinds of counterculture lifestyles from Middle-Eastern religion fanaticism, idle rich kids & plenty of sex drugs & rocknroll SD managed to turn The Bands sophomore record upside down, where the Bands record invited us to see Americas beauty CTE showed us it was impossible to join straight America & in the end asked the question why would you want to in the first place & created a sound that was so groovy

Best : Pretzel Logic (1974)...the dark tales of mortality & characters living on the fringe were still present but now Fagen & Beckers music took on a precise & deadly pop sheen - A+

3.Otis Redding

Favorite : Dictionary Of Soul (1966)...from the cover art to the music in the grooves DOS was Otis setting out to define the genre & he did exactly that on this Soul masterpiece

Best : Live In Europe (1967)...possibly the "greatest" live record ever released, after Otis & band get started the hits just keep rolling & the Soul freight train of Otis Redding & Booker T. & MG's bring it all to a exhilarating & transcendent close with the definitive version of "Try A Little Tenderness"

4.Jerry Lee Lewis

Favorite : Ole Tyme Country Music (1956/1970)...don't be put off by the cruel moniker this is one long rockin' barrelhouse stomp of The Killers Sun auditions

Best : Since we can't use compilations, same as above

5.Cream

Favorite : Fresh Cream(1966/67)...the sound of Country Blues juiced with Eric Claptons English electricity held in place by Jazz eccentrics Jack Bruce & Ginger Baker, a awesome sound!

Note: for maximum impact seek out the mono mix

Popular : Disraeli Gears (1967)

6.Allman Bros.

Favorite : Eat A Peach (1972)...half studio & half live, the "Endless Boogie" didn't just run out it was stopped dead in its tracks when Duane slammed his Harley into the side of a 18 wheeler & on EAP the ABB crafted their finest music from "Ain't Wastin' Time No More" "Melissa" & the golden sunshine of "Blue Sky" until the back porch Southern utopia of Duane's "Little Martha" a fitting close & farewell to one of the greats

Popular : At Fillmore East (1971)...a stellar live record that made the band super stars & for a time gave ABB the title of "America's Most Popular Band"

 

Fav,Temptin Temptations-by 1965 the classic group was coming into their own as frontline performers and this LP showcased them...Never Ending Impressions-Curtis,Sam and Fred are at the top of their vocal powers on this classic album,the vocal range is outstanding as are the mixture of songs from the hits[I'm So Proud-A Woman Who Loves Me]to the standards[Satin Doll-Lemon Tree].

 

Beatles
Favorite/Best: REVOLVER

Paul McCartney
Favorite: RAM
Best: BAND ON THE RUN

John Lennon
Favorite: IMAGINE
Best: PLASTIC ONO BAND

George Harrison
Favorite/Best: ALL THINGS MUST PASS

Ringo Starr:
Favorite/Best: RINGO

REM
Favorite: FABLES OF THE RECONSTRUCTION
Best: DOCUMENT

Kinks
Favorite: VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY
Best: SOMETHING ELSE

Who
Favorite: THE WHO SELL OUT
Best: WHO'S NEXT

Rolling Stones
Favorite: THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST
Best: EXILE ON MAIN STREET

 

Excellent writing and analysis! This kind of post makes me want to have conversation. I agree with your comments, even though my favorites may differ from yours. Bravo!