1. In The Aeroplane Over The Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel

This overlooked masterpiece is a terrifying montage, a trip through tales of broken childhoods. It takes the stance that children are born innately good, and then society breaks them. This album means so much to me, more than I can really express. It’s catchy and it’s profound, it’s one of those pieces of artwork that elude categorization or definition.
Best Songs: In The Aeroplane over the Sea, Oh Comely, Two Headed Boy Part 2.
2. Revolver – The Beatles

This is the absolute best from arguably the greatest band in the history of popular music. This album The Beatles at their best, from brilliant songs like Eleanor Rigby and Tomorrow Never Knows, where The Beatles inadvertently invented techno music, with the first drum loop in popular music. The only weak spot is the song Yellow Submarine, which isn’t that bad of a song, but in relation to the others, is poor.
Best Songs: Eleanor Rigby, For No One, I Want To Tell You, Tomorrow Never Knows
3. Highway 61 Revisited – Bob Dylan

What can I say? This album radiates brilliance. Bob Dylan is arguably the greatest songwriter of the 20th century. At his best, his lyrics are unmatched. He became the voice of a generation, and when he got bored with that, he turned on an electric guitar and pissed off his folk fan base. No other artist has worked so tirelessly to avoid labels as Bob Dylan.
Best Songs: Like a Rolling Stone, It Takes A Lot to Laugh It Takes A Train to Cry, Queen Jane Approximately, Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues.
4. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars – David Bowie

This is the album that made Bowie famous, and with good reason. There are spots of this album where it is pure operatic ecstasy, where his songwriting talents really shine through. On this album, Bowie combines all his influences and creates a masterpiece.
Best Songs: Five Years, Starman, Lady Stardust, Ziggy Stardust
5. Exile on Main St. – The Rolling Stones

This could possibly be the great American album. And it was made by some British louts. That’s the paradox of The Rolling Stones, they are some of the best interpreters of American music. And though it all went downhill in the 80s for them, their stuff in the 60s and 70s, at its best, can hold up with anything else made in those decades. This album is raw, edgy and full of energy, and is their greatest.
Best Songs: Tumbling Dice, Sweet Virginia, Let it Loose, Shine a Light
6. OK Computer – Radiohead

God, it took me a while, but I’ve totally fallen in love with this album. I’ve heard some people say that this is the last great album, that after this, we’ve reverted to a pre-Beatles era of singles, all thanks to MP3s and such, where overall album quality doesn’t matter, and that the rest of the songs on the album are just filler. I could agree with that somewhat. Whatever it is, this album is a gospel of the computer age. It wouldn’t have worked in any decade before the 90s. Its tones of nihilism and apathy are perfect for our age. Its saying: hey, the machine is fucked up, we both know that, so lets dance!
Best Songs: Paranoid Android, Karma Police, No Surprises
7. Bee Thousand – Guided by Voices

This album is pure, low tech, songwriting. As soon as you hear it, you know it wasn’t recorded in a studio, but my god, the songwriting is brilliant. It’s one of the key albums of the Indie Rock scene in the 90s. Most bands exploit and use a lot of their hooks and melodies twice, but not on this album, clocking in at 36 minutes and 20 songs, it shows someone rejoicing in songwriting.
Best Songs: Tractor Rape Chain, Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory, Ester’s Day, I Am A Scientist.
8. Odessey and Oracle – The Zombies

The album exudes joy. Listening to it, I wonder why the Zombies aren’t more popular. This album is without a doubt one of the top ten albums of the 60s. In terms of the main stream, not many people have heard it, and that’s a shame. This is the most ‘sixties’ sounding album out there.
Best Songs: Care of Cell 44, Brief Candles, Changes, Butcher’s Tale, Time of the Season.
9. Five Leaves Left – Nick Drake

This debut from the unfortunately short-lived singer songwriter Nick Drake is absolutely brilliant. Nick Drake’s fate was that of Emily Dickinson and Van Gogh, his fame achieved only after his death. It is a beautiful and tender masterpiece.
Best Songs: Time Had Told Me, River Man, Way to Blue, Fruit Tree.
10. The Velvet Underground & Nico – The Velvet Underground

This album is the root of everything indie, everything punk, everything outside the fringe of mainstream rock. 1967 was the fabled ‘Summer of Love’, it was the height of the hippie movement. That year, the two most influential albums of the latter part of the 20th century were released. One of them was The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which revolutionized studio recording techniques and the idea of a ‘concept album.’ The other album was this one, an experimental art rock album by a band managed by Andy Warhol. This album shows their great range.
Best Songs: I’m Waiting for the Man, Venus in Furs, All Tomorrow’s Parties, Heroin.