I actually keep a "top 25 songs of all time" playlist on my iPod, which I modify slightly from time to time. But albums is a bit more complicated. But here goes. It's not in any sorted order, just albums as they occur to me, with some back-tracking along the way. Certainly it's not a ranked ordering.
1. Beatles - "Help" (the 14-song UK version, which has all of the US album (minus the soundtrack snippets), plus other songs that were on the US "Yesterday and Today" album)
2. Rolling Stones - "Let It Bleed"
3. The Who - "Tommy"
4. The Who - "Who's Next"
5. Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Cosmo's Factory"
6. Pink Floyd - "Dark Side of the Moon"
7. Rod Stewart - "Every Picture Tells A Story"
8. AC/DC - "Back In Black"
9. Prince - "Purple Rain" (I was very tempted to pick "Dirty Mind" instead, but ended up opting for PR.)
10. David Bowie - "Ziggy Stardust"
11. Derek and the Dominoes - "Layla"
12. Rolling Stones - "Exile on Main St"
13. Beatles - "Sgt. Pepper" (It's hard to NOT include several others, such as Revolver, Rubber Soul, and the White Album, so maybe one will sneak in later....)
14. The Ramones - "Rocket to Russia" (here is where it would make sense to pick their 30-song greatest hits album - Ramones Mania)
15. Rancid - "And Out Come the Wolves" (Everything just clicked for this album - the whole thing is a gem.)
16. The Clash - "The Clash" (first US album, great from beginning to end)
17. Little Feat - "Waiting for Columbus" (OK, as a double live album maybe it's cheating. But the playing and sound quality are top-notch.)
18. The Faces - "A Nod is as Good as a Wink, etc." (If you combine Rod Stewart's solo albums and the Faces albums, there is no better string of great work from between 1969 and 1972.)
19. Crosby, Stills, and Nash - first album (OK, this was a toss-up with Deja Vu, which added Neil. But Suite: Judy Blue Eyes has to be included somehow....)
20. Nick Lowe - "Labour of Lust" (a brilliant collection of songs, with Dave Edmunds and the rest of the Rockpile band. But how to choose a Dave Edmunds album???)
21. Dave Edmunds - "Tracks on Wax" (OK, I figured a way... A narrow edge over "Repeat When Necessary". Same band as item 20, above)
22. The Police - "Outlandos d'Amour" (Or however its spelled. Hard to pick one Police album, but I like the greater edginess of their first album.)
23. Elvis Costello - "My Aim Is True" (Even if the Attraction didn't play on this first album, it's still probably his best collection of songs.)
24. B. B. King - "Live At Cook County Jail" (Ah, the ambience of a great live venue.....)
25. Bruce Springsteen - "Born to Run"
A few great individual songs that didn't make it, plus a few other artist regrets:
- Badfinger - a bit too erratic, but "No Matter What" and "Baby Blue" are both on my top 25 songs list
- Humble Pie - a guilty pleasure. "Shine On" with Peter Frampton on vocals is a great tune.
- "All Right Now" by Free
- What, no Cream? No Allman Brothers? I tried to kill two birds with "Layla".....
- TYA and ELO are both favorites of mine (certainly in the three-letter nick-name category), but no single albums stood out
- I was also tempted by James Brown, "Live at the Apollo" - he's another good argument for a greatest hits exception
- I also regret not being able to include any Lou Reed or VU - "Sweet Jane" is on my top 25 songs list.
- Not enough modern music, I know. Eve 6's first album is a contender. And Sublime's self-titled album is also (their second?) And I'm super impressed with the cohesiveness of One Republic's "Waking Up", which is pretty brilliant, even if I'm not a big fan of the vocal style.