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Somewhat lost between their iconic debut and the all time classic London Calling is the Clash’s sophomore effort. Even by album two they were starting to outgrow the limitations of punk and proving that although slightly rough around the edges they had slightly grander ideas than many of their peers. Some may cry sell out when the album features something besides poorly played guitar, bass, and drums, but the boys were growing rapidly. A beautiful bridge to their ultimate triumph.
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98. Janis Joplin - Pearl
Released three months after her death, Pearl is one of rock’s greatest what-ifs. Substantially better than her previous solo album and anything with Big Brother for that matter, Janis is out to conquer the world here. She even got a #1 single out of Kris Kristofferson’s “Me and Bobby McGee”. Pearl also featured signature tunes like “Move Over”, “Cry Baby”, “Mercedes Benz”, and “Get it While You Can”. Her vocals always seemed far outsized her music but with Pearl everything synced up beautifully. “Benz” wound up being the last thing she ever recorded, and producer Paul A. Rothschild was wise to keep it acapella.
97. Frank Zappa - Over-Nite Sensation
Zappa’s best album is virtually inseparable from its follow up Apostrophe, which was recorded at the same time. More noticeably obscene than his previous albums, musically it is among his absolute best. With this cast of musicians, he somehow makes the ridiculous complexity sound simple. Seriously, can anybody play the riff to “Zombie Woof”? It might be a coin toss which of the two albums you prefer but this gets the edge. Zappa makes the silly and juvenile epic with “Dinah Moe Humm”, “Dirty Love”, and the incredibly impressive closer “Montana”.
96. Uriah Heep - Demons and Wizards
For much of my younger life I considered Uriah Heep to be a poor man’s Deep Purple. As if we could only have one awesome hard rock 70s band with an organist. There were definitely some jams on the first three Heep albums (well maybe there’s jams on Salsbury), but Demons and Wizards was easily their best complete album. “Easy Living” became the band’s one and only top 40 US hit, and for many would be their most iconic song. As much as that song may rock, it is shit like “Circle of Hands”, “Rainbow Demon” and “The Wizard” that make this the best in their discography.
95. Joe Jackson - Look Sharp
There are no shortages of great debuts in the 70s, and the end of the decade was defined by “New Wave” which although describing a new genre could also be taken quite literally. Joe Jackson took the snark of British punk but with tight songwriting that wouldn’t have been out of place on a Kinks or Jam album. Jackson came equipped with a careers worth of classics right out of the gate, “Got the Time”, “Is She Really Going Out With Him?”, “One More Time”, and the title track are just some of the many highlights.
94. Waylon Jennings - Dreaming My Dreams
Whenever the all too common refrain of people saying “I don’t like country” comes up I wonder just how much 70s stuff they listened to. I won’t mince words when I say country music was never better than in the early to mid-70s and some artists were dropping masterpieces like clockwork. I’m not sure if Waylon Jennings is my favorite country artist ever, but if he isn’t I’m not sure who is. As tempting as it is to load this list with 4-5 of his albums, I have to judiciously spread the love. Dreaming My Dreams is my pick for his best. He was the rare Nashville artist that negotiated the right to produce his own albums. “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way” became a #1 Country single and is my pick for my favorite Jennings song ever. The man helped define and lead the outlaw country movement and he never had a stronger collection of songs than here.
93. Talking Heads - ‘77
Among the many bands to debut in 1977, David Byrne and company were in a class by themselves. “When Love Comes to Town” starts off their brilliant debut with a bit of island rhythm. The rest of the album showed a band far more developed than their years would indicate. They laid the groundwork for what would later be called alternative rock. I am convinced “Psycho Killer” might be the most licensed to movie/TV song of all time, becoming something of a cliche in itself.
92. T Rex - Electric Warrior
The most iconic album from the very iconic Marc Bolan and company, Electric Warrior is all you need to know about British glam rock in the early 70s. In fact after doing something of a deep dive on the period this past year I was left with the conclusion that well this is about as good as it got. “Bang a Gong” might be their best remembered song, but “Cosmic Dancer” is easily my favorite.
91. The Beatles - Let it Be
The greatest band of the sixties (and possibly all time) had one last hurrah at the dawn of the new decade. It is not the glorious swan song that Abbey Road wound up becoming but a disparate mish mash of ideas cobbled together from a tumultuous group of sessions. The title track is forever and always my favorite Beatles song and has a legitimate claim as being the greatest song ever written. It picks up in many ways from where the White Album left off while also hinting at the first few solo records Paul, John, and George would release. The album might not have had the immediate impact much of their previous work did, but it would serve as a source of inspiration for the decades that followed.
90. Derek and the Dominoes - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
Love sick and really into heroin Eric Clapton grabbed Duane Allman and the majority of Delaney and Bonnie’s band to make a double album about how much he wanted to bang his best friend’s wife. The lore is deep in this album but what makes it so remarkable is how it bares so little resemblance to other Clapton or Allman Brothers for that matter. Always revered as a guitar god, Clapton’s vocals were never better than on this album.
89. Al Di Meola - Casino
Al Di Meola’s third studio album isn’t radically different from his first two, just more of the same near perfect guitar heavy Latin inspired fusion. The highlight is the acoustic “Fantasia Suite for Two Guitars”. However any fear that Al had run out of ideas after the masterpiece of Elegant Gypsy were unfounded. “Egyptian Danza” quickly shows there are more musical directions to go, and honestly when you got Steve Gadd backing you, the sky is the limit.
88. Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
After the commercial and artistic breakthrough of Talking Book, Stevie Wonder found himself getting more politically and socially aware on Innervisions. “Higher Ground” is a worthy follow up to “Superstition”, but Stevie finds himself dabbling in Latin with “Don’t You Worry About a Thing” and elastic funk on “Too High”. This showed Wonder expanding his sound and consciousness, one of the all time greats hitting his stride. At this point it really seemed like he could do no wrong, a practically perfect album that can make you groove and think.
87. Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
The final Genesis album with Peter Gabriel was the third consecutive masterpiece from the band. It was a concept album (of course) about a Puerto Rican hustler in New York, or so I’m told, I’ve never had a single solitary clue what the hell anything was about. The first half of the album is much more dedicated to harder rocking and shorter songs. There is a glimpse into what the future of Genesis and Peter Gabriel would hold here, and this was the first time they even came close to having single material. “In the Cage”, “Carpet Crawlers”, and my personal favorite “Counting Out Time” are still a bit odd, but they sound like Ramones songs compared to some of the arrangements on Foxtrot and Selling England. The second disc is much more atmospheric and predominantly instrumental, giving a very comprehensive guide to what made this band so great.
86. Television - Marquee Moon
Marquee Moon is the most guitar-centric album of the New Wave boom of 1977. Tom Verlaine and company aren’t afraid to venture into long instrumental sections yet somehow this never seems to touch on the excessive prog rock that all those punks were determined to rebel against. Along with Talking Heads, Television helped the art school generation of musicians inspire another wave of imitators for decades. There were no shortage of great debuts in ‘77 and this certainly is one of them.
85. Todd Rundgren - A Wizard, a True Star
After the success of Something/Anything, Todd Rundgren went in an utterly bizarre and brilliant direction with his next album. He barely gives the listener a chance to catch his breath on the ADD inspired first side of the album. This is all over the place in only the most brilliant of ways. One would think after a double album he might have been running out of ideas, but Todd was not even close to emptying the tank. There’s enough going on here to fill a trilogy's worth of ideas.
84. The Ramones - Ramones
It can be debated when punk actually began, what is undeniable is that these four guys from New York defined the genre. Keeping things as simple as possible they churned out bop after “Blitzkrieg Bop”s. The all-killer no-filler approach was a direct response to the bloated grandiosity of prog rock, and for many people it was the shot in the arm rock music needed. These guys weren’t rock stars, they were just four dudes playing music they dug. It brought rock back to the garage and the basement.
83. Neil Young - Tonight’s the Night
After two of his close friends died of a heroin overdose within 6 months of each other, Neil Young was a broken man. He recorded Tonight’s the Night as a drugged out venting session for his grief and his label rejected it for two years. The final album is as raw and emotional as Young ever got on record, his voice cracks, and the songs are barely held together. This is an artist rapidly disintegrating before our eyes, yet somehow it’s utterly brilliant. Some of his albums may have absolutely sounded better, but nothing sounded quite as honest and vulnerable as this.
82. Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
Sabbath picked up right where they left off on Paranoid for their third and best album. Take your pick, “Sweet Leaf”, “Children of the Grave”, “Lord of This World”, and “Into the Void” are all among the best things Iommi and company ever came up with. There are no shortage of classic riffs and songs from a band who was still sort of inventing it as they went along. After birthing all of heavy metal and laying the groundwork for doom metal, “Sweet Leaf” would be the definitive calling card for the yet to emerge stoner metal subgenre.
81. Muddy Waters - Hard Again
Before Jack White and Rick Rubin started digging up still living corpses to re-invigorate their career Johnny Winter hooked up with his idol Muddy Waters. The album kicks off with a long standing Waters number, but given the exuberant and enthusiastic background wailing of Johnny Winter “Mannish Boy” never sounded better. The rest of the album takes a hard hitting blues approach to an album of timeless classics. It was the best studio album Muddy Waters got to make, and one of the testaments of raw, uncut blues at its purest source. This was the real deal, not some kids from England re-appropriating it. Rarely did the blues legends get this opportunity to make a hard hitting album, but Muddy did, and the result is timeless perfection.
80. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd
Skynyrd’s debut album is one of the hallmarks of classic 70s rock. Containing the monstrous genre defining songs “Tuesday’s Gone”, “Simple Man”, and of course “Freebird” which still shows up on the shortlist of the greatest solos in rock and roll history. It took until this year to realize the sequencing of beginning the album with “I ain’t the ONE”, “TUEsday’s Gone” and “Gimme THREE Steps” very slick boys. They might not have originated southern rock, but hard to deny they didn’t perfect it.
79. Billy Cobham - Spectrum
After playing with Miles Davis and later the Mahavishnu Orchestra (among many others), Billy Cobham eventually got to make his own contribution to fusion. His first solo album was recorded over two days and reportedly features almost exclusively first or second takes. Hell Tommy Bolin (who plays his ass off here) even broke a string on “Taurian Matador” and just kept playing. As one would expect from a jazz album fronted by a drummer, Cobham is an absolute beast on this. “Stratus” became the album’s most enduring track, serving as the primary sample in Massive Attack’s “Safe from Harm”.
78. Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells a Story
Rod Stewart’s best albums were always a random mix of originals and dirty cover versions. It’s just that on Every Picture Tells a Story both of those elements were at their peak. “Maggie May” and “Reason to Believe” are possibly one and two of his best songs, and his cover of “(I Know) I’m Losing You” is damn well show stopping, particularly Mick Wall’s drum solo. Before moving to Atlantic and going disco, Stewart was on an absolute roll between Faces and his solo career. Like Phil Collins in the 80s Stewart somewhat blurred the lines between his solo work and band albums with Faces, but regardless of the name on the album, he was never better.
77. Patti Smith - Horses
The first words on Patti Smith’s debut were “Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine.” One of the great debuts in music, Patti Smith was truly unlike anyone else in 1975. More a poet than a rock star the songs are loose in structure and feature borrowed choruses and more than a few rough edges. Whatever the ingredients it added up to one of the most impressive debut albums ever which still hits hard 50 years on.
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76. Allman Brothers Band - Eat a Peach
The last Allman Brothers album to feature Duane Allman was assembled as part follow-up to their Fillmore album and part tribute to Duane. The new songs showed they were just hitting their stride as songwriters, and the supplemental material from the Fillmore concerts showcased all the best elements of the band. In fact the more I listen to both, I believe they saved the best from those recordings for this. Specifically “One Way Out” and “Les Brers in A Minor”. For my money though it couldn’t have gone out on a higher or more poignant note than Duane’s instrumental “Little Martha”.
75. Kiss - Rock and Roll Over
For my money this was the finest album the original lineup gave us. Top to bottom this album is great. Paul was absolutely on a roll, “I Want You”, “Take Me”, “Mr. Speed”, and perhaps the greatest of all Kiss songs “Making Love”. That last one in particular gets my vote for Ace’s best solo. “Calling Dr. Love” became one of Gene’s all time classics while “Love ‘em Leave ‘em” might be his finest of many songs about groupies. “Hard Luck Woman” was Paul’s attempt to write a Rod Stewart ballad, hence why he gave it to Peter. Surrounded by such greatness, even “Baby Driver” works.
74. Elvis Costello and the Attractions - Armed Forces
Elvis Costello’s last album of the 70s was his third straight masterpiece. Nick Lowe’s influence was more noticeable this time around as the album has a much more polished pop sheen than his previous two albums, and also ends with a cover of Lowe’s “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding”. Costello the songwriter was far from running out of steam though as “Accidents Will Happen” and “Oliver’s Army” remain two of his all time best songs.
73. Bob Marley and the Wailers - Natty Dread
For my money this is Bob Marley’s finest album and by extension the best reggae album ever made. It retains all of his socio-political commentary with a stronger set of songs. “Rebel Music”, “Revolution”, and “Lively Up Yourself” are all among his best, but the highlight is “No Woman, No Cry” which might barely be recognizable in its original studio version. Like Fela Kuti, Marley found a way to get his messages across under some infectious grooves.
72. Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols
There were no shortage of great punk albums made in 1977, and more still that got lumped into the same category by a loose association, but the be all and end all definitive punk album is, was, and forever will be the Sex Pistols’ debut. This was the original band that simply gave no fucks whatsoever. They intentionally tried to piss off everyone they could including each other, label execs, TV show hosts, British royalty, and their own manager. They were created to be provocative and push buttons but the monster grew out of control and imploded on itself shortly after their one triumphant shake up of the rock establishment. This one album carried more weight than the majority of artists' entire careers. They were the poster children of the punk movement and delivered it in a chaotic, energetic, snarling, and abrasive manner.
71. Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
Following Houses of the Holy and the massive tour that went with it Zeppelin found themselves with something of a backlog of songs. Physical Graffiti comes across almost as a tale of two albums, adventurous new sounds that they were experimenting with, complimented by older material that didn’t appear on their previous three albums. At times some of those older songs sound like outtakes, but the songs written specifically for this album are damn near the best they ever came up with. “Ten Years Gone”, “In My Time of Dying”, and of course “Kashmir” all became instant classics. Those three songs with “In the Light” might have made for a pretty solid album in their own right, but luckily there’s so much more.
70. Roxy Music - Country Life
I’ve had a surprising amount of debates with people about Roxy Music. Nearly everyone who has bothered to listen to them is a fan, but damned if people seem to agree on what their best album is. As great as the other two albums on this list are, this debate is an open and shut case. Country Life wins the battle by the time “The Thrill of It All” ends, which you might recognize as the opening track. They had found the perfect balance between their early artiness and their later new romantic period. Along the way they happened to craft the best songs of their career, this is where everything just came together.
69. Elton John - Elton John
Elton John’s self-titled breakthrough was his first album released in America, and people rather understandably lumped him in with the mellow singer-songwriter crowd after his first hit “Your Song”. Listening to the rest of the album it’s clear that Elton John was a lot more diverse than that. This album is probably his most indebted to folk music, full of strings and ballads. There is a little country, gospel, and a few upbeat rock songs. Can’t say I’ve heard an Elton album more than this, and it easily stands among his very best. I have many childhood memories of listening to “The Greatest Discovery”, “The Cage”, and “The King Must Die” on repeat. Great as the album is, Elton was only getting started.
68. Badfinger - Wish You Were Here
Badfinger is known for quite a few things today. Yet their lasting legacy is as the most unlucky band ever. When two of your founders and lead singers and songwriters commit suicide, it casts a long and tragic shadow over your existing music. Badfinger were considered by quite a few to be the heir apparent to The Beatles throne. They were signed to Apple Records and their first single “Come and Get It” was even penned by Paul McCartney. Anyone whose heard “No Matter What” which should include everybody, can attest that the Beatle comparisons weren’t entirely unwarranted. Following the also neglected album Ass, the band were off to bigger and better things at Warner Bros. Badfinger was slowly distancing themselves from the big brother shadow of the Fab Four, and a new record contract seemed to be the first step in that. Their second, and ultimately last Warner album would be Wish You Were Here. Recorded with Chris Thomas as producer, it showed all four members coming into their own as songwriters. It is also the most cohesive “album” the band made. Every song fits together, compliments each other, and should have been the crowning achievement of one of the era’s best bands.
67. Boston - Boston
Boston’s self-titled debut is a greatest hits album. I’ve said that before about some albums sounding “like a greatest hits” but Boston actually is. Every track on this album has gotten heavy rotation and is all instantly recognizable on first listen. This is textbook arena rock, featuring one of the absolute greatest unheralded voices in rock, the late Brad Delp. This was Tom Scholz’ show though as he worked his sweet studio magic in addition to playing several instruments and writing nearly everything.
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66. Randy Newman - Sail Away
When Sail Away was released Randy Newman already had a reputation as a songwriter first and a musician second. His previous album 12 Songs contained several numbers that were hits for other people. Sail Away was the album where he took center stage as a performer. The songs feature his sardonic wit, particularly on the opening title track, but it’s his arrangements that help give this album a much richer sound than his previous albums. It is impossible not to hear “Burn On” without thinking of the opening of Major League, this is a must own.
65. Mahavishnu Orchestra - Inner Mounting Flame
Anyone who ever formed a band might get sick learning that John McLaughlin put his fusion group together who rehearsed for one week before playing a couple of gigs and getting a record deal. Releasing and recording their first album all in the same year. Listening to it for the first time you would think these songs had been around forever. Everything sounds absolutely perfect right out of the gate. I guess sometimes it really is about the personnel. Although inspired by his work with Miles Davis, McLaughlin was on to something else here. Much more virtuoso heavy, with complicated time changes and much tighter than the sprawling Davis jams. It helped having Billy Cobham keeping the beat, but he is taking just as many chances to solo over the music as anyone else. Any prog band that borrowed from fusion owes a royalty check to the Mahavishnu Orchestra.
64. Jethro Tull - Aqualung
Although they already had one great album (Benefit) under their belt, Aqualung was the album that cemented their status as FM rock gods. They were moving further away from their blues roots and exploring progressive rock territory, which only made sense when your main gimmick is having a flute player. These songs were just stronger than any Ian Anderson and company had come up with previously. The title track features one of the great classic rock guitar solos, and I can’t find enough great things to say about “Wind Up”. Between those book ends are an album that reads like a greatest hits, “Up to Me”, “Cross Eyed Mary”, “Locomotive Breath”, “My God” and “Hymn 43” could easily be their best song on any other album.
63. Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
I’m sure by now you’re aware that Led Zeppelin was pretty fucking awesome. Their first album to be blessed with an actual title continued their rapid evolution. They attempt funk and reggae to characteristically brilliant results. “No Quarter” is the crowning achievement of John Paul Jones, one of those songs I've heard a million times yet somehow keeps getting better. It might be a toss up between that and “Rain Song” as the album’s best track. It was clear that Zeppelin could do no wrong by this point musically.
62. Herbie Hancock - Headhunters
Chicago’s own Herbie Hancock’s most famous album might very well have been my introduction to jazz. On the short list for some of the best jazz ever it continued the funky experimentation of his Warner Bros recordings. However this was much more refined, less spaced out and filled to the brim with hooks. “Chamelon” alone has enough for an entire album’s worth. The new sound proved very successful and helped launch the next phase of Hancock’s career.
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61. Yes - Fragile
The Yes Album was a huge commercial breakthrough, but with Fragile, Yes made a tremendous leap forward. The classic lineup was set with the addition of Rick Wakeman, and they each got a song of their own, Steve Howe’s “Mood for a Day” was easily the best. In between were four of the bands most iconic songs. Take your pick here, “Roundabout”, “Long Distance Runaroud”, “South Side of the Sky”, and “Heart of the Sunrise” can easily be considered not just the best song on the album but the band’s best song as well.
60. Elvis Costello - My Aim is True
Another in the long list of artists who made their debuts in 1977, Elvis Costello would never sound as primitive. This was before he hooked up with his regular backing band The Attractions. He had the energy of the punk artists but the music was decidedly more accessible and diverse. Costello loved ballads, reggae, and country music and it all comes together in a brilliant debut which would get lumped into the punk/new wave category somewhat unfairly. Along the way Costello showed that he might be the best lyricist since Dylan, and he followed up that initial promise with no less than five other masterpieces. Later Costello would have a slicker sound and a little more polish and production values, but wouldn’t quite have the urgency of this debut, which contains some of the best songs he or anyone else would ever write.
59. Genesis - Foxtrot
Genesis was simply the greatest of all the original prog bands. Specifically the albums with Peter Gabriel, and Foxtrot was their first masterpiece. “Watcher of the Skies” is about as heavy as the band ever got, but in a uniquely Genesis sort of way. “Horizons” was a beautiful instrumental that more directly highlights their classical influences. The crowning achievement still has to be “Supper’s Ready” which was part of a long series of side long epics being churned out. For all the awesomeness of this album, these guys were just getting started.
58. Curtis Mayfield - Curtis
Curtis Mayfield’s first solo album was a historic landmark in black music. Rapidly expanding on some of his protest songs with The Impressions, Mayfield made a defining statement. Musically the album is lush and beautifully arranged, and has more than once been compared to Sgt. Peppers. Mayfield isn’t afraid to let his music speak for itself and even on some of his most political tracks he allows the music and arrangements to take center stage. Soul music was arguably never better than in the early 70s and this is a big reason why.
57. Crosby, Sills, Nash, and Young - Déjà Vu
CSN avoided the sophomore slump by recruiting Neil Young into the fold for their second album. Although Young only contributed two songs to the album, he undoubtedly motivated everyone else to step up their game appropriately. “Helpless” is one of his absolute best songs, and could never have sounded this good on a solo album. The rest of the group take turns playing musical one-upsmanship on the other tracks. Take your pick, there isn’t a weak song among the bunch.
56. John Lennon - Imagine
John Lennon’s second post-Beatles solo album seemed to be more the crowd pleasing offering the public wanted. He allowed Phil Spector to go crazy with orchestral arrangements and delivered a set of songs that were just slightly more accessible. There is a sense of optimism, but Lennon is still angry, insecure, bitter, and disillusioned. The title track might have been the most uplifting song he ever wrote, and it’s hard to find a happier sounding song than “Oh, Yoko” but in between is a man still coming to grips with his emotions, it’s just that the backdrop is a lot more lush.
55. The Who - Who’s Next
The Who certainly made a few good albums in the 60s, but they waited until the next decade to do their best. Who’s Next was originally conceived as another concept album to follow up Tommy, called Lighthouse. No one seems to have any idea what the hell it was about and following a nervous breakdown from Pete Townsend the idea was officially scrapped. From those original songs were a few great moments which were culled and reworked into their finest album. On both “Baba O’Riley” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again?” Townsend showed off his new fascination with the synthesizer and it has rarely been used that well in rock music. In between those career defining songs are a host of the band’s best. John Entwistle even got a minor hit out of “My Wife” , the one song not written by Townsend.
54. Queen - Queen
The greatest band of all time didn’t waste any time making their claim for that throne. A much heavier and grandiose album than many of their successors, Queen’s debut is a revelation for anyone who only knows the band via greatest hits collections. Even their first single “Keep Yourself Alive” demonstrated how advanced Brian May’s concept of harmony was, but May’s finest hour is most likely “Great King Rat” where he officially joins the ranks of guitar immortality. There is a rawness to this album in the production that’s brilliantly juxtaposed with the progressive songs of ever shifting dynamics. I’m forever incapable of saying enough good things about this album or this band.
53. Bruce Springsteen - Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ
I used to think of Greetings from Asbury Park as some sort of historical artifact. Springsteen had to start somewhere, and this mess was an admirable first shot. The more I’ve heard it, the greater it’s become. What’s incredible is that it sounds like a collection of epics, similar to his second album, yet every song is shorter and more concise. It’s just that Springsteen was cramming so much into every song it’s truly staggering. He might not have hit the commercial pay day his label was hoping for, but the fact that several of these songs became hits for others showed that the song writing skills were certainly there. At the end of the album it just seems like this was someone who had a whole hell of a lot to say, it just took the public awhile to finally start to listen.
52. Jackson Browne - Late for the Sky
Calling an album a slow burn might not make much sense when it is only about 40 minutes long. However Browne’s best album is one that I never outright disliked but never seriously considered among his best for years. However over time I gave it another listen, then another, then another and well I am fully convinced he never did better. After essentially emptying the vaults of old songs, Browne started from scratch here with 8 new songs. Recorded quickly and on the cheap after the high costs and disappointing sales of For Everyman, the pressure wound up producing his best work. The title track, “Fountain of Sorrow”, and “Before the Deluge” are all over 5 minutes and not a second too long.
51. Steely Dan - Aja
To me, and many others this is the best Steely Dan ever sounded on an album, and features some of the finest musicianship ever recorded in the context of a rock album. The title track alone would go down as the greatest drum performance ever captured on record. “Peg” is still the catchiest song Steely Dan ever put out, with those sweet Michael McDonald vocal harmonies and an iconic guitar solo. There isn’t a wasted moment on the album and forever stands as the high water mark of one of the decade's most idiosyncratic duos.
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