my all time favorite albums

For those of you who aren't aware... I love lists.  I love ranking things.  I love putting things on a spreadsheet, and moving them up and down, higher than this one, lower than that one, giving myself a definitive list of what's best in any category. 

Entertainment Weekly declared this the best album of
all time.  I disagree.  In fact, there is nary a Beatles
album on my entire list.

Entertainment Weekly gave their list of the 100 Greatest... in everything. 
--Their 100 Greatest Movies (Citizen Kane)...
--Their 100 Greatest TV Shows (The Wire)...
--Their 50 Greatest Plays (Death of a Salesman)...
--Their 10 Greatest Musicals (Guys & Dolls)...
--Their 100 Greatest Books (Anna Karenina)...

and finally.

--Their 100 Greatest Albums (The Beatles' "Revolver")...

I have my list of my movies... I am sure I could throw down a quick list of 25 favorite books (probably not 100... just being real)... And probably my favorite 50 or so TV Shows...

But my favorite albums?  At first, it was easy.  I thought "Eh, my top 25 and that's it..."  Well, when I got to 34, I thought "Oh, well... my favorite 50, right?"  And when I had listed 71, I thought, "Well, geez... guess we are going to 100..."

And when I got to 127, I decided that in order for it to not just become a list of all the albums I liked, I had to make a cutting off point... there had to be hard decisions made.  There had to be cuts.  Some artist, some band, some CD or record or tape would be left off to the side.  It had to be difficult to cut.

Then, I had to establish some rules... just because I dearly love a few songs on the album doesn't mean that I love the whole album.  Hence, the exclusion of "New Miserable Experience" by the Gin Blossoms.   Also, just because I love a few songs on the album doesn't mean I know the whole album well... thus, the exclusion of "The Dutchess" by Fergie.  No, I'm not kidding.

That's difficult too... because sometimes there are tunes you want to mention, and discuss... but that's for the 100 Favorite Songs list.  No, I actually don't have one... not yet, anyway...

And, well... sometimes I just found at least 100 albums I loved more than "Chase the Sun" by The OC Supertones or "Slippery When Wet" by Bon Jovi.  I know, sacrilege. 

Yes.  I think this album is fun.  I mean, its not like the
video for "Fergalicious" has 115 plays on my iPod.  I
mean, that would be silly, right?  Haha... uh... I mean,
who would have that.  That's dumb.  Um... next topic.

Another rule?  I have to either own, or have owned the album in some form... maybe I had the record album when I was a kid, and haven't upgraded... or the cassette that I haven't replaced on CD... or maybe I don't own the CD, but I have a copy in iTunes... or, more than likely, I just own the CD. 

In ranking these albums, I had to decide what they meant to me, how much I loved the entire body of work, and it especially helped if I had a special memory or a season in my life I could attach to it. 

This could also be any kind of album, any genre, any style.  It might be a greatest hits compilation, it might be a compilation of just random artists, or maybe its a soundtrack of tunes.  Doesn't matter, its my list.

Finally... well, its my list.  Love it, hate it, agree, disagree... I would hope that going through my list will spur some of your own memories for yourself...

Starting Monday night... my favorite 100 albums of all time...