Beatles – “A Hard Day’s Night” (1964)
Jean Jacques Perrey – “The Amazing New Electronic Pop Sound of Jean Jacques Perrey” (1968)
Prince – “Dirty Mind” (1980)
Shonen Knife – “Burning Farm” (1983)
Naked City – “Torture Garden” (1990)
My Bloody Valentine – “Loveless” (1991)
Sonic Youth – “Washing Machine” (1995)
Aphex Twin – “The Richard D. James Album” (1996)
Plone – “For Beginner Piano” (1999)
the Softies – “Holiday in Rhode Island” (2000)
Sunroof! – “Cloudz” (2003)

those are the ones that, today, i couldn’t imagine living without. but thats already 10 and i still want to include the Beach Boys “Pet Sounds” and De La Soul’s “3 Feet High and Rising” and the Ramones’ “Rocket to Russia” and Secret Mommy’s “Mammal Class” and holy shit, there’s not even any James Brown or Autechre on there. see, it’s impossible to really do an accurate list, several HUGE things (r&b, soul, punk, hip-hop, breakcore, etc) are hideously under-represented because those genres produce great singles rather than great albums, and of course 1 year from now my list will be totally different, the usual disclaimers, etc etc

So, with the caveats that (A) it’s a list of faves, not “bests”, and (B) I’d probably choose an largely different list tomorrow:

The Clash- London Calling
The Pixies- Dolittle
The Beach Boys- Friends
The Beatles- Revolver
Public Enemy- Fear Of A Black Planet
Elvis Costello & The Attractions- This Year’s Model
Sam Cooke- Night Beat
A Tribe Called Quest- Midnight Marauders
Glenn Gould- Goldberg Variations (1955 recording)
John Coltrane- Africa/Brass

Heh heh.

Now that I think about it, so have I. From September-October of 1996 I walked the 333 miles from Mt. Washington, New Hampshire to Mt. Katahdin, Maine. It got dark real early, and I often found myself having to bed down hours before I was interested in going to sleep. So I carried a CD player and alloted myself six CDs. I remember that I brought Graceland, Dave Matthews Band’s newly-released Crash, and 99.9 F°. I think Ani DiFranco’s Out of Range, too. I think part of why I picked the discs was because I liked them, but I’m certain that part of it was wanting to have a great list of albums to name when people asked me what six that I brought.

Nirvana’s Unplugged, Beatle’s White Album, Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper’s, Madonna’s Greatest Hits (that was my wife’s idea), Beastie Boys’ License to Ill, Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, Crosby Stills Nash and Young’s Deja Vu, Led Zeppelin IV and Houses of the Holy, Pink Floyd’s The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon, and no collection is complete without ‘Weird’ Al Yankovic’s Running with Scissors.

1) Bob Dylan – Blonde on Blonde
2) Del McCoury Band and Steve Earle – The Mountain
3) Johnny Cash – Folsom Prison Blues
4) Cat Stevens – Tea for the Tillerman
5) Metallica – Ride the Lightning

Maybe not as interesting, but I would have to agree that these albums have had the most influence on me more than any others that I have listened to in my life.

Doesn’t that apply to pretty much every album recorded between 1969 and 1975?

When I was a teen-ager I wanted to be Mick Jagger but I wanted to look like Arik Einstein.

Seven out of ten are Americans. Graham Parker and Elvis Costello are Brits, and Serge is French. Check out his naughty (for American AM radio circa 1971) heavy breathing duet with wife Jane Birkin on “Je t’aime moi non plus” (I love you. Me neither.) Ooh la-la!

Nine out of ten are male. Sam Phillips is a female.

Two out of ten are Jews. A teen-aged Serge Gainsborg was Jewish and survived the Holocaust in France but had to wear a yellow star. There is also Eric Carmen, who sang and wrote all of the ‘Berries hits.

One out of ten is black. The lead singer, main songwriter and co-producer of Forever Changes was Arthur Lee. Forever Changes is really his album.