Over at my substack (just a few months old now), I posted my top 100 albums. I got some great responses there and on Facebook as to what I was missing (and some kind words about my choices as well). As such, I decided it would be best to expand my list to my favorite albums of all time–so I went for 200! I know a few things are missing, such as the Beatles. I was a huge fan of the Beatles back in college, but my enthusiasm for them died after reading a few biographies of the band. I realize that Sgt. Pepper’s and Magical Mystery Tour are both extraordinary, but I won’t go back to those album unless I’m preparing for something academic.

So, this list, is obviously deeply personal. But, these are the 200 albums I go back to, over and over again. I’ve tried to be faithful to my life as a 55-year old, recognizing what I’ve loved continuously. So, for example, I was a huge ELO fan as a kid, but that’s not stuck with me, even though I recognize the brilliance of Jeff Lynne.

So, I’m not trying to dismiss anything by their absences, only praise what I love. Another caveat–I’m leaving off surf bands (The Madeira and Lords of Atlantis) and jazz acts (Dave Brubeck and Miles Davis). I’m also leaving out The Shadows–of whom I’ve only recently become a fan.

One last note, I typed these out in Microsoft Word, and, for some reason, Word failed to alphabetize them or align them perfectly. I’m not sure how to fix the latter problem. The former problem just sort of cracks me up–so I’m leaving as is.

The List:

ABC, Lexicon of Love

Airbag, All Rights Removed

Airbag, Disconnected

Anathema, We’re Here Because We’re Here

Anathema, Weather Systems

Astra, The Black Chord

Ayreon, The Human Equation

Ayreon, Universal Migrator

Beach Boys, Pet Sounds

Big Big Train, English Electric

Big Big Train, Grimspound

Big Big Train, Second Brightest Star

Big Big Train, The Difference Machine

Big Big Train, The Grand Tour

Big Big Train, The Underfall Yard

Blackfield

Blackfield II

Bryan Ferry, Boys and Girls

Catherine Wheel, Happy Days

Chicago, Chicago Transit Authority

Chris Squire, Fish Out of Water

Cosmograf, Capacitor

Cosmograf, Man Left in Space

Dave Kerzner, New World

Dave Kerzner, Static

Dave Matthews Band, Before These Crowded Streets

Dave Matthews Band, Crush

Days Between Stations, In Extremis

Echo and the Bunnymen, Heaven Up Here

Echo and the Bunnymen, Ocean Rain

Enochian Theory, Life and All it Entails

Flower Kings, Flower Power

Flower Kings, Paradox Hotel

Flower Kings, Space Revolver

Frost*, Day and Age

Frost*, Experiments in Mass Appeal

Frost*, Milliontown

Galahad, Beyond the Realms of Euphoria

Galahad, Empires Never Last

Gazpacho, Fireworker

Gazpacho, Night

Gazpacho, Tick Tock

Genesis, A Trick of the Tail

Genesis, Duke

Genesis, Foxtrot

Genesis, Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

Genesis, Selling England by the Pound

Glass Hammer, At the Gate

Glass Hammer, Dreaming City

Glass Hammer, Inconsolable Secret

Glass Hammer, Valkyrie

Haken, The Mountain

Iamthemorning, Lighthouse

Icehouse, Measure for Measure

INXS, The Swing

IZZ, Crush of Night

IZZ, Everlasting Instant

IZZ, I Move
Laura Meade, Most Dangerous Woman in America

IZZ, The Darkened Room

Jethro Tull, Benefit

Jethro Tull, Minstrel in the Gallery

Jethro Tull, Thick as a Brick

John Galgano, Real Life is Meeting

Kansas, Leftoverature

Kansas, Point of No Return

Kansas, Song for America

Kate Bush, Aerial 

Kate Bush, Hounds of Love

Kevin McCormick, Squall

Kevin McCormick, With the Coming of Evening

King Bathmat, Overcoming the Monster

Led Zeppelin I

Led Zeppelin II

Led Zeppelin IV

Led Zeppelin, Houses of the Holy

Love Spit Love

Lush, Spooky

Marillion, Afraid of Sunlight

Marillion, Brave

Marillion, FEAR

Marillion, Marbles

Mew, And the Glass Handed Kites

Moody Blues, Days of Future Passed

Muse, Origin of Symmetry

My Bloody Valentine, Loveless

NAO, Fog Electric

NAO, Grappling Hooks

NAO, Grind Show

NAO, The Third Day
NAO, United Wire

Natalie Merchant, Leave Your Sleep

Neal Morse, Testimony

Neal Morse, Testimony II
No-Man, Love You to Bits

New Order, Low-life

No-man, Schoolyard Ghosts

Nosound, Lightdark

OAK, False Memory Archive

Oceansize, Effloresce

Oceansize, Everyone Into Position

Oceansize, Frames

Ordinary Psycho, The New Gothick
Ordinary Psycho, Volume II

Pearl Jam, Vs.

Peter Gabriel III

Peter Gabriel, Security

Peter Gabriel, SO

Phish, Billy Breathes

Pink Floyd, Animals

Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon

Pink Floyd, Meddle

Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here

Porcupine Tree, Fear of a Blank Planet

Porcupine Tree, Lightbulb Sun

Porcupine Tree, Sky Moves Sideways

Pure Reason Revolution, The Dark Third

Queen II

Queen, A Night at the Opera

Radiohead, Kid A

Rhys Marsh, October After All

Riverside, Love, Fear, and the Time Machine

Riverside, Out of Myself

Riverside, Second Life Syndrome

Riverside, Wasteland

Roxy Music, Avalon

Rush, 2112

Rush, A Farewell to Kings

Rush, Clockwork Angels

Rush, Grace Under Pressure

Rush, Hemispheres

Rush, Moving Pictures

Rush, Permanent Waves

Rush, Power Windows

Rush, Snakes and Arrows

Sanguine Hum, Diving Bell

Sarah McLachlin, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy

Simon and Garfunkel, Bookends

Simple Minds, New Gold Dream

Simple Minds, Sons and Fascination

Simple Minds, Sparkle in the Rain

Sixpence None the Richer

Smashing Pumpkins, Siamese Dream

Sound of Contact, Dimensionaut

Steven Wilson, Grace for Drowning

Steven Wilson, Hand Cannot Erase

Steven Wilson, Insurgentes

Steven Wilson, Raven That Refused to Sing

Stone Temple Pilots, Tiny Music

Talk Talk, Laughing Stock

Talk Talk, Spirit of Eden

Talk Talk, The Colour of Spring

Tears for Fears, Elemental

Tears for Fears, Everybody Loves a Happy Ending

Tears for Fears, Songs from the Big Chair

Tears for Fears, The Hurting

The Connells, Boylan Heights

The Cure, Blood Flowers

The Cure, Disintegration

The Cure, Head on the Door

The Cure, P-ography

The Cure, Wish

The Fierce and the Dead, Spooky Action

The Fierce and the Dead, If It Carries On Like This

The Sundays, Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic

The Tangent, A Place in the Queue

The Tangent, Auto Reconnaissance

The Tangent, Le Sacre du Travail

The Tangent, Proxy

The Tangent, The Music that Died Alone

Thomas Dolby, Golden Age of Wireless

Thomas Dolby, The Flat Earth

Tim Bowness, Butterfly Mind

Tim Bowness, Flowers at the Scene

Tim Bowness, Late Night Laments

Tim Bowness, Lost in the Ghostlight

Tin Spirits, Scorch

Tin Spirits, Wired to Earth

Tori Amos, Little Earthquakes

Tori Amos, Under the Pink

Traffic, John Barleycorn Must Die

Traffic, Low Spark of High Heeled Boys

Traffic, Mr. Fantasy

Traffic, Traffic

Transatlantic, SMPT:e

Transatlantic, The Whirlwind

U2, October

U2, The Joshua Tree

U2, Unforgettable Fire

Ultravox, Rage in Eden

Ultravox, Vienna

Vertica, The Haunted South

XTC, Black Sea

XTC, Skylarking

Yes, 90125

Yes, Close to the Edge

Yes, Drama

Yes, Fragile

Yes, Relayer

Yes, The Yes Album