04/03/2025
Just for the fun of it, I decided to see if I could come up with 100 records from my collection that I truly adore without looking at my shelves. I hit 100 pretty easily, and I regret that I hit my target before including lots of great records, but these were the first 100 that came to mind as favorite albums. When I alphabetized the list, it turns out I was only missing artists for I, U, and X. Sorry to Isaac Hayes and Uriah Heep... I don't think I have a single record from an X-named artist. How many of these have you listened to?
A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders
AC/DC - Back in Black
Alan Parsons - Eye in the Sky
Alan Parsons - Pyramid
Albert King - Truckin
Amorphous Androgynous - We Persuade Ourselves We are Immortal
Andrew Bird - Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs
Average White Band - Average White Band
Babe Ruth - First Base
Bela Fleck - My Bluegrass Heart
Billy Paul - War of the Gods
Bobby Charles - Bobby Charles
Boston - Boston
Caldera - Dreamer
Caldera - Time and Chance
Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
Chic - C'est Chic
Clark Sisters - Is My Living in Vain
Crosby, Stills, and Nash - Crosby, Stills, and Nash
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
David Bowie - Young Americans
Deodato - Prelude
Dexter Wansel - Life on Mars
Dire Straits - Dire Straits
Donald Byrd - Caricatures
Dorothy Ashby - Afro Harping
Duran Duran - Rio
Earth Wind and Fire - Greatest Hits Vol. II
Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - Tarkus
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Frank Zappa - Apostrophe
Frank Zappa - Hot Rats
Frank Zappa - Joes Garage Acts 1, 2, and 3
Gentle Giant - Octopus
Heart - Dreamboat Annie
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass - Whipped Cream and Other Delights
Herbie Mann - Wailing Dervishes
Jean Luc Ponty - Cosmic Messenger
Jean Luc Ponty - Imaginary Voyage
Jeff Beck - Blow by Blow
Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick
Jim Hall - Concerto
Kansas - Leftoverture
Klaatu - Klaatu
Koko Taylor - Queen of the Blues
Kool and the Gang - Ladies Night
Kool and the Gang - Open Sesame
L.T.D. - Something to Love
Leo Kottke - Best Of
Lew Tabackin - Trackin
Madonna - True Blue
Mandrill - We Are One
Medeski, Martin, and Wood - Shack Man
Meshuggah - Immutable
Michael Jackson - Off the Wall
Michael Jakson - Thriller
Michael Urbaniak's Fusion - Atma
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Nektar - Remember the Future
Ohio Players - Skin Tight
Outkast- Speakerbo###/The Love Below
Oysterhead - The Grand Pecking Order
Parliament - The Mothership Connection
Paul Winter - Canyon
Pete Francis - So They Say
Phish - Farmhouse
Phish - Round Room
Phish - Story of the Ghost
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Queen - Greatest Hits
Return to Forever - Romantic Warrior
Rufus and Chaka Khan - Ask Rufus
Santana - Moonflower
Simon and Garfunkel - Sounds of Silence
Steely Dan - Aja
Steely Dan - Can't Buy a Thrill
Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
Sun Ra Arkestra - In the Orbit of Ra
Supertramp - Breakfast in America
Supertramp - Crime of the Century
The Beatles - Abbey Road
The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Beatles - The White Album
The Bee Gees - Main Course
The Bee Gees - Saturday Night Fever
The Nite-Liters - The Nite-Liters
The O Jays - The Backstabbers
The Who - Quadrophenia
The Who - Who's Next
Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits
Tower of Power - In The Slot
Volcano Choir - Unmap
WAR - Platinum Jazz
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Yes - Fragile
Yes - The Yes Album
Zero 7 - The Garden