My Favourite Albums

Hauntingly beautiful rock album. On paper Marbles is way too long for its own good, should be boring and stuff... but it isn't anything like that. The music here is nothing short of hypnotic and captivating, perfectly suited for its overblown running time. Most of the songs here are among their best ones, and epic Ocean Cloud especially is one of my favourite rock songs of all time.

I used to be a huge fan of Fish-era Marillion and in my fanboyish rage dismissed their later albums, but Marbles finally opened my eyes. Hogarth-era Maillion is less raw and unpolished than the original one, but it feels even more subtle, modestly elegant and well-aged, like a good wine. Marillion is one of the best active prog bands out there, and it most probably will stay that way no matter who's the singer.

Best live album ever. Considering how good Straits were live, it's shouldn't come as a surprise that I also think it's one of the best albums ever.

I had already forgotten how much I loved Edgar Froese until I recently had accidental pleasure of listening to his early solo albums again. These are actually much better than the albums he made with Tangerine Dream. I guess this type of improvised ambient music works better when done solo.

Generator at their bleakest. I've read this was the type of music they were originally going for, but the record company wanted something more happier and warm-sounding. In hindsight the band was right, since this is universally hailed as their masterpiece and one of the finest comeback albums of all time.

Klaus Schulze is another German giant I've loved for years now. He's the only one of the old guard that has managed to keep his quality consistently high even after all these years. This is his best album ever, and the latest re-release with bonus material is even more awesome.

The mother and father of all classic rock albums. Seriously, some of the best rock songs ever are present here, every track on this album is classic one way or another.

Love Over Gold is the most non-commercial album Straits did, mixing their brand of pub rock with jazz and prog influences. Sadly, they never got this good or adventurous again after this.

Another one from Klaus. Would you believe this is actually soundtrack to a porn film? Judging by the music alone, the film itself must be the most awesome trippiest film ever made!

Prog from Australia with a huge amounts of nice guitar melodies and memorable songs. I reckon they changed their style radically after this and have never made anything nearly as great again.

This is basically a record full of soloing, not just with a guitar but violin, saxophone, drums, bass... And not just that, but it's also ridiculously enjoyable and groovy jazz rock album that has truly stood the test of time.

The most relaxing album of all time. Too bad the artist decided to delete all their catalog when they broke up, so this one is quite difficult to find physically.

I remember listening to this melancholic rock album as soon as it got out. It struck me immediately like a lightning, there's not a single bad song. I know they have done lot great stuff before and since, but nothing comes close to this masterpiece.

This is my favourite metal album of all time. This is where the art of Maiden was masterfully refined to the max without any sign of weakness. In fact, even the weaker songs here are some of my favourites of all time.

Surprise!

Synth pop with a mix of cheesy 80's hard rock edginess doesn't get much more fun and catchy than this. It's Japanese anime stuff, yes, but the music was always the best thing in this show to begin with.

Good stuff. I love it to death.

One of the most enjoyable prog rock albums ever.

You want some guitar? This here's probably the finest ever guitar album ever made. It's like having Beethoven, Mozart and Bach jamming, the quality is so good you wouldn't believe it. The reason it's this low is because I haven't been listening to it as often as the others above it, some of which have been on my playlist since I was a teenager.

This record pretty much revived the whole doom metal genre back in the early 2000's. It really isn't that hard to see why, since the album is as flawless as it gets. I love it.

The finest album WASP has managed to put out so far, and most probably will stay that way, since Crimson Idol is a masterpiece. Not just as a metal album, but concept too. The story itself is full of drama and powerful symbolism and allegories most similar records usually lack. Blackie knew damn well his concept albums.

The crowning achievement of technical thrash metal. There's very few better metal albums than this in existence even today. It gets even better when you actually try out, play it with an instrument and really understand the quality of the songwriting here. That's how I became a fan of Coroner.

Even though it's called "metal", it's actually experimental fusion-jazz. In my opinion this is Allan at his best, the man has so unique style and crazy refined technique that you can pretty much pinpoint every song he has played in.

One of the most awesome live records ever produced. Allan was at his best during late 90's and early 2000's, so you know it's mind-blowing stuff.

Some of the world's leading fusion musicians join their forces to create something insanely cool, and the result is just that and much more. Even though I thought I knew everything Allan Holdsworth and Frank Gambale had to offer, I just keep finding more and more of this good stuff.

Note. This album is so full of information it's almost unlistenable for people not familiar with this kind of stuff.

The cover of this album says it all: long-haired metal dude fighting a motorcycle ninja in a dystopian Brazilian favela. This has all the best bits of both European and American power metal, but none of their weaknesses. The result is as flawless and fun as it sounds.

One of the greatest albums ever, regardless of musical genre.

You want some more guitar? It doesn't get much better than this!

Words cannot describe how much I adore this album. It's just so good, like anything on this list of mine. Every time I listen to The Headless Children I just find something new to love.

Masterpiece of jazz-prog with surprisingly dark edge to it. Not until lately did I actually read the lyrics, and the album got even better in my mind because of them. One of the greatest rock albums ever made.

If it wasn't for that one annoying song, this would be my favourite metal album of all time. Of course I'm talking about that stupid "Can I Play With Madness". What were they thinking!?

In my opinion this is the best thing Rush has ever released. It's a live album, with the best songs of my favourite era of theirs. Even the live performances are top notch.

Simply put, the greatest video game OST ever made. I can't think of any other that comes even close.

The best of Tangerine Dream.

French answer to Klaus Schulze and Edgar Froese. Pretty damn good space music, but damn rare and expensive.

Nobody has ever done another similar album, not even Devin Townsend himself. This must one of the angriest, most insane metal records ever made, and I don't mean just the songwriting and the performances, but the production too. It's all crazy, but also crazy good!

Want to know my gut reaction when I first heard it back in the late 90's?

"How many hands and feet does that drummer really have!?"

Rush can do no wrong. Here they perfected their 80's synth-oriented approach, and I just love it to death, even if it is a little outdated production-wise.

I had forgotten about this one. At one point of my life I used to listen to this beast constantly. There's not a single weak song, but the whiny singing might get on somebody's nerves.

This album used to be my favourite from Froese, but I guess I've grown a little out of it over the years. David Bowie was a huge fan of this record, and for a very good reason.

For many people this is pretty much one of the best metal records ever made, but I find one or two of the songs rather mediocre, so It's not the best for me. Regardless, Dave and the boys were on the top of their game here, the soloing of Marty Friedman is still insanely as creative and timeless as guitar melodies ever come. The dude is still known for his work here, even after everything great he's been doing all these years.

The first masterpiece of Iron Maiden.

More atmospheric Generator. Originally they wanted to make a way rawer two-disc album, but the record company didn't accept the plans. In hindsight the record company people might have been right, since this is just amazing prog album and made them relatively "big".

I remember reading that Flemming Rasmussen wasn't happy with Master of Puppets, since they had so tight deadline and had to rush it to the markets, so he decided to use the original plans here. The result is crazy good melodic thrash metal with only one weaker song, and even that's a cover. The band has never made anything remotely this good since.

After some of the more spaced out albums Pink Floyd decided to make something more simple, but just as great as those albums were. The result is a masterpiece, loosely based on Animal Farm by George Orwell.

The final masterpiece of Fish-era Marillion. I remember this being tougher album to get into than the previous ones, but now I think they seriously matured and finally found their own voice here.

This is where King Crimson started to get really damn good.

My ultimate gym soundtrack. This album is so intense it will make you train like a champ just by listening to it.

More spaced out synth experimentation.

I think this must have been one of the first albums I ever got. The style is epic pagan metal with lots of choirs and stuff, it's still one of the best ever in the genre. The band changed their style significantly after this, so this remains their greatest achievement in my eyes.

This is a no-brainer. Metallica hasn't made anything remotely this good again.

Dio joined Sabbath and helped them to rise again to the top with the help of Martin Birch. This album not only revived one of the greatest bands ever, it also helped to breath new life to the whole genre back in the early 80's.

It's called "King" for a reason.

The single best thing Saxon has ever done. The title track alone makes this thing a must.