THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

You thought listing your best films was tough?

For this, I'm suggesting we do decades; 50s through 90s. After that, we're in the streaming era and albums lost their relevance, to a large extent (my view). Add 2000s and 2010s if you insist. Also pick best live album of all time and best album of all time.

My go (and this is already wrong!):

Best Album of 1950s
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue

Best Album of 1960s
The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico

Best Album of 1970s (this was the hardest of all!)
Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate

Best Album of 1980s
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses

Best Album of 1990s
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Best Live Album
James Brown - 'Live' at the Apollo

Best Album of All Time (can be one listed above, or can transcend decades)
David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars

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I don't need your ill-informed, half-baked, idiotic opinions. I have plenty of those myself.

Is there any music before 1976 and after 1982?

Oi why no 2000s or 2010s option for the young folk EDIT: should have read the OP properly

Will need to have a proper think about this as there are so many good albums especially in the 90s!

I know it is too early in the 2020s to be talking about a best anything but Sam Fender's latest Album 'Seventeen Going Under' is proper good. Serious old school vibes of that guy - a really good song writer with actual emotion depth in his music. Gives me Bruce Springsteen vibes , which isn't surprising as Sam Fender has said many times he loved the Boss's music and it was a huge inspiration on him.

Following the keyser soze format

Best Album of 1950s
Nat King Cole - Penthouse Serenade

Best Album of 1960s
The Doors - The Doors

Best Album of 1970s
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

Best Album of 1980s
Peter Gabriel - So

Best Album of 1990s
Alanis Moressette - Jagged Little Pill

Best Live Album
Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York

Best Album of All Time (can be one listed above, or can transcend decades)
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

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Best Album of 1950s
Elvis Presley: Elvis At Sun

Best Album of 1960s
The Velvets: The Velvet Underground & Nico

Best Album of 1970s
AC/DC: Let There Be Rock

Best Album of 1980s
The Jesus And Mary Chain: Psychocandy

Best Album of 1990s
Teenage Fanclub: Bandwagonesque

Best Album Of 2000's
Elbow: The Seldom Seen Kid

Best Album Of 2010's
Sleaford Mods: Divide And Exit

Best Live Album
The Velvets: 1969: The Velvet Underground Live

Best Album of All Time
The Stones: Exile On Main Street

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Best Album of 1950s
Did music exist then?

Best Album of 1960s
As above.

Best Album of 1970s
The Clash - London Calling

Best Album of 1980s
Operation Ivy - Energy or The Cure - Disintegration

Best Album of 1990s
Blink 182 - Enema of the State

Best Album of 2000s - now we are talking
My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade

Best Album of 2010s
The Wonder Years - Suburbia I've Given You All and Now I'm Nothing

Best Live Album
Nirvana - MTV Unplugged

Best Album of All Time
At the time American Idiot was a masterpiece to me, but The Black Parade is the most important emo album ever and probably the album I've listened to the most! I can't wait for them to fund a new striker next summer #MCrmy

Best Album of 1950s
Elvis Presley - Elvis Presley

Best Album of 1960s
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King

Best Album of 1970s
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

Best Album of 1980s
Human League - Dare (but run very close by Paul Simon - Graceland)

Best Album of 1990s
Radiohead - OK Computer

Best Album of 2000s
Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

Best Live Album
Thin Lizzy - Live and Dangerous

Best Album of All Time (can be one listed above, or can transcend decades)
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

This was so difficult.
The only way for me to choose just one album per decade, was by how many times I've listened to them over the years, and which ones are the collecton of songs with the fewest less-brilliant tracks on that I would skip.
Hence Wish You Were Here wins out for me over Dark Side of the Moon, or Ramones, or Never Mind The Bollocks etc. for the 70s, as I never skip any tracks on it - it's perfect from start to finish, especially how it starts & ends.
So if I had to keep only one album from my collection for each category below, and only listen to those 9 albums for the rest of my life, today they would be these:

Best Album of 1960s
Switched-On-Bach - Wendy Carlos

Best Album of 1970s
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

Best Album of 1980s
I Just Can't Stop It - The Beat

Best Album of 1990s
The White Room - The KLF

Best Album Of 2000's
Black Cherry - Goldfrapp

Best Album Of 2010's
Group Therapy - Above & Beyond

Best Album Of 2020's so far
Ex Machina - Metrik

Best Live Album
It's Alive - Ramones

Best Album of All Time
Out of the Blue - ELO

While Wish You Were Here is perfect for all of its 5 tracks, Out of the Blue wins out for me as it's a double-album of no fewer than 17 superbly written, arranged, performed & produced songs that I can enjoy from start to finish without reaching for the 'skip to next track' button more than once whenever I'm not in the mood for 'The Whale'.
And even though I've heard Mr Blue Sky played on the radio so many (too many) times that I'd gladly never hear it on its own again, when it comes up as the final movement of 'Concerto for a Rainy Day', I always let it play because it's in its perfect context there.
On another day I'd probably pick Wish You Were Here for its 44 mins of perfection, but I've already chosen it for the 70s, so it's Out of the Blue that gets the nod for the even longer enjoyment I get from its 65 mins (out of 70 mins = 92.86% ) of perfection.

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