KXCI's Top 100 Albums of All Time - Final Updated List

WGH · « **on:** 21 Mar 2008, 02:23 pm »

Actually all this week KXCI has been playing the top 913 albums of all time, but they are down to the top 100.
Live web streaming of the countdown, which ends today (Friday) at 6:00 Tucson Time (no daylight savings time here).
http://kxci.org/

It's also a pledge drive so you have to endure more talking than usual, but no commercials.

The list of the top 913 albums is here:
http://www.kxci.org/blog/kxciblog.html
as voted on by 30 of KXCI's deejays.

Here is how the first 100 worked out:

1. The Beatles, Abbey Road
2. The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
3. Miles Davis, Kind Of Blue
4. The Beatles, The White Album
5. The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds
6. The Clash, London Calling
7. The Beatles, Revolver
8. Buena Vista Social Club soundtrack
9. The Harder They Come soundtrack
10. Bob Dylan, Blonde On Blonde

11. Nirvana, Nevermind
12. U2, The Joshua Tree
13. Marvin Gaye, What's Going On
14. Bob Dylan, Blood On The Tracks
15. The Rolling Stones, Exile On Main Street
16. Fleetwood Mac, Rumours
17. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Will The Circle Be Unbroken
18. Chuck Berry, The Great Twenty-Eight
19. Neko Case, Blacklisted
20. Robert Johnson, King Of The Delta Blues Singers Vol. 1

21. Lucinda Williams, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
22. George Harrison, All Things Must Pass
23. Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense
24. The Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers
25. Joni Mitchell, Blue
26. Beck, Odelay
27. Cat Stevens, Tea for the Tillerman
28. Neil Young, Harvest
29. David Bowie, The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust…
30. The Sex Pistols, Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols

31. The Rolling Stones, Let It Bleed
32. Jimi Hendrix Experience, Electric Ladyland
33. Johnny Cash, American Recordings I
34. Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited
35. Paul Simon, Graceland
36. The Beatles, Rubber Soul
37. The Beatles, Let It Be
38. Johnny Cash, At Folsom Prison
39. The Velvet Underground, Velvet Underground And Nico
40. Tracy Chapman, Tracy Chapman

41. Simon and Garfunkel, Bridge Over Troubled Water
42. U2, Achtung Baby
43. Ray Charles, Birth of Soul: The Complete Atlantic R&B Recordings
44. Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks, Buckingham Nicks
45. Minuteman, Double Nickels on the Dime
46. Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska
47. Crosby Stills and Nash, Crosby Stills and Nash
48. James Brown, Live At The Apollo (1963)
49. The Beatles, Help!
50. Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

51. Joni Mitchell, Court and Spark
52. Van Morrison, Astral Weeks
53. O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack
54. Janis Joplin, Pearl
55. John Lennon, Imagine
56. Michel Jackson, Thriller
57. Tom Waits, Rain Dogs
58. Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto, Getz/Gilberto
59. Bruce Springsteen, Born To Run
60. Radiohead, OK Computer

61. Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
62. Tom Waits, The Heart of Saturday Night
63. The Traveling Wilburys, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1
64. Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon
65. Jimi Hendrix, Are You Experienced?
66. Eric Clapton, 461 Ocean Boulevard
67. The Flaming Lips, The Soft Bulletin
68. The Beatles, Meet the Beatles
69. R.E.M., Document
70. Little Feat, Dixie Chicken

71. Grateful Dead, American Beauty
72. Patsy Cline, The Ultimate Collection
73. R.E.M., Murmur
74. Steve Earle, Guitar Town
75. AC/DC, Back in Black
76. Elvis Presley, The Sun Sessions
77. Neil Young with Crazy Horse, Rust Never Sleeps
78. Hank Williams, The Complete Hank Williams
79. David Bowie, Diamond Dogs
80. John Coltrane, A Love Supreme

81. Jimi Hendrix Experience, Axis: Bold as Love
82. Prince, Purple Rain soundtrack
83. Queen, A Night at the Opera
84. Ray Charles, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
85. The Beatles, With The Beatles
86. The B-52's, The B-52's
87. Calexico, Feast of Wire
88. Brian Wilson, Smile
89. Buffalo Springfield, Buffalo Springfield
90. Emmylou Harris, Red Dirt Girl

91. Moby, Play
92. The Doors, The Doors
93. Rainer, The Westwood Sessions
94. Stevie Wonder, Songs in the Key of Life
95. The Blues Brothers soundtrack
96. Buck Owens, I've Got A Tiger By The Tail
97. The Dusty Chaps, Honky Tonk Music
98. Stevie Wonder, Innervisions
99. Patti Smith, Horses
100. Talking Heads, Remain in Light

Edit: Put the top 100 in the proper order.

ted_b · « **Reply #1 on:** 21 Mar 2008, 02:50 pm »

I own 70 of them (gotta get to work, I guess). Interesting anytime some one puts one of these together. In this case, clearly (in my mind) a big Johnny Cash and Stevie Wonder fan (or maybe cuz those are the ones I don't own

). I'm pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of Car Wheels, Dixie Chicken and Document. And no one is a bigger Beatles fan than I am, but Meet The Beatles? Really? It's not even a EMI catalog release.

WGH · « **Reply #2 on:** 21 Mar 2008, 03:13 pm »

The list was put together and voted on by KXCI's dj's, there are about 90 passionate on-air volunteer dj's with all types of musical tastes with accounts for the eclectic mix of music.

The entire 913 top albums are here:
http://www.kxci.org/blog/kxciblog.html

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #3 on:** 21 Mar 2008, 03:24 pm »

Quote

Here is the top 100, you have to listen to find out which one wins.

I'll take a guess....this will be #1 .....

soundbitten1 · « **Reply #4 on:** 21 Mar 2008, 03:48 pm »

Quote from: lonewolfny42 on 21 Mar 2008, 03:24 pm

Quote
Here is the top 100, you have to listen to find out which one wins.

I'll take a guess....this will be #1 .....

It came in first here ...

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5938174/the_rs_500_greatest_albums_of_all_time

Bill Baker · « **Reply #5 on:** 21 Mar 2008, 03:55 pm »

I'm a long time Pink Floyd fan and Dark Side of the Moon has been in the top 100 since the day it was released.

I am in no way a Beatles (never have been) fan but if I had to guess, they will take the top spot or at minimum, be in the top 3.

JoshK · « **Reply #6 on:** 21 Mar 2008, 04:04 pm »

I am with you Bill.

I was surprised to see Calexico's Feast of Wire on that list, I love it but I wouldn't think it had enough popularity to be that high up in any ranking. Then I saw it was a Tucson radio station. That makes sense then.

JoshK · « **Reply #7 on:** 21 Mar 2008, 04:06 pm »

I like Beck, but is Odelay a top 100 of all time? I wouldn't say so.

And who's album is Nebraska? Not Josh Rouse is it?

mcullinan · « **Reply #8 on:** 21 Mar 2008, 04:07 pm »

Nirvana Nevermind is in the top 10... They are still pumping out imitators today.

JoshK · « **Reply #9 on:** 21 Mar 2008, 04:09 pm »

Weird list, is it a user's ranking?

152. Cat Power, The Greatest

Really? I thought this sucked.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #10 on:** 21 Mar 2008, 04:11 pm »

Quote from: JoshK on 21 Mar 2008, 04:06 pm

I like Beck, but is Odelay a top 100 of all time? I wouldn't say so.

And who's album is Nebraska? Not Josh Rouse is it?

Bruce Springsteen.....

JoshK · « **Reply #11 on:** 21 Mar 2008, 04:12 pm »

Quote from: mcullinan on 21 Mar 2008, 04:07 pm

Nirvana Nevermind is in the top 10... They are still pumping out imitators today.

It most certainly is an iconic album from our generation. I was living in the Seattle area at that time. It was definitely not the first album of its type, but arguably the album with enough appeal to stretch out to the world. I mean my best friend who grow up in Casablanca Morocco was listening to it in his teen years.

gbeard · « **Reply #12 on:** 21 Mar 2008, 04:12 pm »

Quote

I'm a long time Pink Floyd fan and Dark Side of the Moon has been in the top 100 since the day it was released.

I am in no way a Beatles (never have been) fan but if I had to guess, they will take the top spot or at minimum, be in the top 3.

A "Dark Side" fan, but no Beatles? Dammit man, what were you smokin' at summer camp anyway?!?

aa

I don't agree with quite a few of the choices, but I sure would like to find a copy of Buckingham Nicks. I've been looking a long time...

mcullinan · « **Reply #13 on:** 21 Mar 2008, 04:12 pm »

They are always weird. Its based on a committee of 5, 10, 100 people?? Some peoples personal tastes can be obscure and Im sure their top albums are never on the list.
Mike

mcullinan · « **Reply #14 on:** 21 Mar 2008, 04:17 pm »

2 REM albums. I would agree with Murmur, but Document.. hmm
Mike

dwk · « **Reply #15 on:** 21 Mar 2008, 04:27 pm »

Quote from: mcullinan on 21 Mar 2008, 04:17 pm

2 REM albums. I would agree with Murmur, but Document.. hmm
Mike

Yeah, I thought that was odd - I'd have put Automatic and probably Reckoning before Document, although I can see an argument that Document has become topical again.

ted_b · « **Reply #16 on:** 21 Mar 2008, 05:15 pm »

Quote from: gbeard on 21 Mar 2008, 04:12 pm

Quote
I'm a long time Pink Floyd fan and Dark Side of the Moon has been in the top 100 since the day it was released.

I am in no way a Beatles (never have been) fan but if I had to guess, they will take the top spot or at minimum, be in the top 3.

A "Dark Side" fan, but no Beatles? Dammit man, what were you smokin' at summer camp anyway?!? aa

I don't agree with quite a few of the choices, but I sure would like to find a copy of Buckingham Nicks. I've been looking a long time...

Last time I checked it was not yet released on cd (it's only been 25 yrs since the introduction of perfect sound forever).

Rhino promised it 5 years ago, then nothin'. There's always needledrops and other seedy illegal issues.

Wayner · « **Reply #17 on:** 21 Mar 2008, 07:04 pm »

O.K. Computer ahead of Pink Floyd DSOTM? Radiohead aint got 'nothin on anybody. IMHO...They blow big time.

Wayner

mcullinan · « **Reply #18 on:** 21 Mar 2008, 07:44 pm »

Quote from: Wayner on 21 Mar 2008, 07:04 pm

O.K. Computer ahead of Pink Floyd DSOTM? Radiohead aint got 'nothin on anybody. IMHO...They blow big time.

Wayner

Well... I think the Radiohead album OK Computer was an incredible breakthrough... I also love Pink Floyd, cept i like ABITW

Mike

WGH · « **Reply #19 on:** 21 Mar 2008, 08:04 pm »

The KXCI volunteer dj's are an interesting mix of people and range in age from 15 to 60 years old, the only thing they have in common is their love of music. Earlier this week while pitching for the pledge drive, two dj's from different late night shows were playing the albums on the list and saying the same thing you guys are saying, like "no way this album should be ahead of that album".

I will be surprised if the 1 and 2 spots don't include the Beatles and Pink Floyd.

A lot of the songs played are from KXCI's vast vinyl library, in fact the last 6 songs played before the Democracy Now lunch hour break were all on vinyl! Not many stations do that anymore.