I was thinking about my favourite and least favourite albums by each of my top bands/artists recently and thought it would be quite interesting to do a thread on the subject.
Hopefully this should be relatively straightforward, I'll post my favourites list below as a guide which should help. All artists/bands are welcome, and you can do as many or as few as you like. I suspect more people will want to do their favourite albums, but I thought including least favourites as well would add an extra dimension - it might seem 'negative' but I think it's interesting to read why an album by an artist a person likes or loves doesn't click with them, or why it ranks last.
I'll start with my favourites list. For an artist to be included on my list I feel I have to own at least two albums by the artist, and have included longer descriptions for those who I have more than three albums from, although this is a personal preference and there are no fixed rules as to who you can choose to do. So without further ado:
Favourite Albums by Artist
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here
Just edges out The Dark Side of the Moon as my favourite. I think the flow of the latter album is unparalleled, but I absolutely love every note of this album and it contains Shine On You Crazy Diamond, which is probably my favourite song of all time.
Eagles – Hotel California
Absolutely love every song on this album! I wrote loads more about it in the Eagles albums thread so here I’ll just say I love the rockers and the ballads every bit as much. Great though the hits are, I feel The Last Resort is the jewel in the crown and it was an absolute privilege to see Don perform it live. Desperado is my second favourite record though, and sometimes comes close to toppling HC!
Don Henley – The End of the Innocence
I feel this is the most consistent of Don’s albums – I could live without Shangri-La and to a lesser extent How Bad Do You Want It, but I really like everything else and the opening and closing tracks are two of his absolute highlights of his solo career. Right now Cass County is probably my second favourite, although I’ve yet to listen to Inside Job and am new to most of I Can’t Stand Still.
Led Zeppelin – IV
A tour de force of everything Led Zeppelin were great at! Four Sticks is a cool track and I could say the same thing about Physical Graffiti too, but there’s a couple of tracks I’m not so crazy about on there whereas I love this whole record.
Dire Straits – Love Over Gold
Not a popular opinion, but to me this is their best and most consistent album. Telegraph Road is in my opinion Mark Knopfler’s finest hour (okay – quarter of an hour!) and the other tracks are all very strong. The songs are lengthy, but each one has its own unique character.
Mark Knopfler – Sailing To Philadelphia
The best and most consistent solo Knopfler record, many great songs and I think he is at his best here as both a songwriter and a guitarist. Along with Long Road Out Of Eden, it’s probably my favourite record from 2000 onwards.
Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
My favourite, hands down! Have loved this as long as I can remember (I reckon it’s probably the album I’ve listened to most times in my life) and I cannot imagine any of their other records toppling it. The self-titled ‘White Album’ is my second favourite.
Neil Young – Rust Never Sleeps
Half of this album is solo Neil and half of it is with Crazy Horse. This is no accident – the combination of superb acoustic and electric material is one reason this album is my favourite! My favourite solo album is After The Gold Rush; my favourite Crazy Horse record is Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.
Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks
This is my favourite Dylan album, there is very little in it between this and the equally superlative Highway 61 Revisited but it was the first one I heard and therefore it’s that little bit more special to me. It also helps that it is perhaps the greatest breakup album ever penned.
A few others:
Deep Purple – Machine Head
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd
Wishbone Ash – Argus
Genesis – Selling England By The Pound
Joe Walsh – But Seriously, Folks
Rush – Moving Pictures (could be Permanent Waves on another day though)
I have my least favourites already written up and will post those soon as well.