My Favourite Albums

This might be the most genuinely creative and unique albums ever made. Once you get the point of what Talking Heads are trying to make here, it just gets you: this is experimental rock with a huge influence drawn from ethnic African music. What this means is the album is full of rhythmic experimentation mixed with their trademark complex and unusual melodies, for a common Western listener everything here sounds completely alien and out of this world with the first listen. It takes some time to get used to, and when you do... it's one of the greatest albums ever created by man.

The production by Brian Eno is pitch perfect, no other album sounds as good as this.

This is it. Smile was supposed to be the greatest, most ambitious progressive pop rock album ever, but it turned out to be so huge task to finish they could never do it properly as planned. After nearly 50 years of tinkering, this is probably the best we'll ever going to get: a near complete reconstructed version from 2011. Had this album been released back in the mid 60's, it would have rocked the world. This could've been the Dark Side of The Moon and Thriller of the 1960's, but it wasn't meant to be.

A very bizarre, creative and unique album that will kick you in the nuts and make you come back for more. This is delicious avant garde folk rock like no other, there's nothing like Comus at their peak.

You thought Mark Hollis had finished the job with Talk Talk? Nope, he still had one album to go. He went even more minimalist with this one, and it's on par with the best Talk Talk albums. The silence plays a big part in this kind of calm and relaxing improvisational music.

As far as I can tell, this is the most extreme album Nico ever produced. Like this is full of that beautiful authenticity she was known for, there's this brutal harmonium and the darkly beautiful psychedelic production and even hints of classical music. Like holy balls did Nico go from one extreme to another in such a short time period. I love them both, but this side of the spectrum is more rich and slightly more intriguing in my ears.

The culmination of the experimental phase of Talk Talk, an art rock masterpiece where the pure silence is just as important element of the overall experience than any other piece in the puzzle.

I am in love with Desertshore. This may be avant garde, but it's lightyears from your bog-standard progressive music. Nico's music is very, very bold and super striking, there's no bells or whistles. When something happens, you really want listen and hear it for yourself. I don't know the name of the brutal instrument that plays in the background, but whoever came up with it is a genius. Listening to Desertshore is more like a religious experience.

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.

The 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.

Like the title says: it's all about chilling out and having some good time. In other words it's a kinda concept album about a car trip from one place to another with lots and lots and LOTS of sampling and imaginative soundscapes.

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.

This album I just fell in love with today. Bitches Brew is one of Miles Davis's most experimental albums, and it sure delivers, like there's all kinds of weird polyrhythms going on, then there's scales and chords mixed together in various interesting ways, etc. This is something else, there's nothing like Bitches Brew.

Nico is... almost godlike. The End is not as bold as Desertshore, but more psychedelic and dreamlike. Nevertheless, the music is out of this world and full of genuine authenticity and emotion.

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.

Ted Greene was a truly brilliant guitar player. The man could spontaneously improvise a masterpiece such as this combining ideas from baroque, blues, jazz and rock music with his own technical mastery and chord wizardry. This is one of the best instrumental guitar albums ever, and the man basically had to be forced to sit down and record it.

I think the band made a right choice after their last hit album. They were already an established band at this point, so they knew they could do whatever they wanted and went for more forward-thinking and artful style. Spirit of Eden is a minimalist art rock album with more slowly, thoughtful and atmospheric style than anything they had released before. Today we call this post-rock, but back then they had no clear definition for this kind of genre-bending music.

This behemoth of an album is over two hours long marathon full of all kinds of experimental drone ambient shit. That's insanely awesome, but it's still over two hours, man. That's why it's not any higher on the list.

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 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.

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.

This is absolutely hardcore. I mean two of the greatest living (at the time) jazz pianists play together like it's Christmas, and both are doing some of the best playing of their career.

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.

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.

Until you have listened to this album you probably won't even understand how amazing it is. I don't think there's many albums that sound anywhere near as good as this, let alone better. Music wise it's the same. This is definitely one of the greatest albums ever regardless of the genre.

An album consisting of one psychedelic song in five parts. Zero filler, all killer. Unlike many albums above, I just listened to this one and it has no special place in my heart other than being a masterful and enlightening listening experience.

Oh, my God. This is album is beautiful. I originally put this very low on my list, but as I listened to it further and further I found myself raising it higher and higher, Gone to Earth is so brilliant. The production is one of the best I have ever heard in my life.

One of the most enjoyable prog rock albums ever. I'd say the only downside here is the cold synth tone. Allan Holdsworth on the other hand nails the guitars once again.

Wide variety of sounds and atmospheres. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be feeling while listening to this album, but that's just the beauty of it.

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.

I'm sorry, Iron Maiden. This endlessly exciting and highly innovative album makes you sound old and tired.

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.

One of their huge magnum opuses and presumably the most popular album they ever released - but not the best. There aren't many bands like Beach Boys, combining lovable and subtle songwriting with complex harmonics and 50's style group vocals.

Less black metal and more folk/viking oriented than their later albums. I think this is where they were at their best, this and Kivenkantaja. Every song is a winner here.

The king of gothic synth pop. All the songs are memorable as they come, but they also feel very meaningful, smart and authentic. Depeche Mode weren't trying to please anyone here, but make the best possible music they ever could, and they sure did.

Close to their best album. This is almost as cheerfully creative and memorable. Uchu easily beats most albums released even around its own time.

This has to be the most metal album that isn't actually metal. The Seer is full of dread and horror, it goes even apocalyptic at times without ever feeling self-indulgent or phony. This is absolutely terrifying album, but in the best ways imaginable.

This is the ultimate Björk experience. I don't think she ever surpassed this album, and very few people even could. Where could one possibly even go from here?

I honestly love, love, love this album, but Vespertine is too hard nut to crack even for Isn't Anything.

A small neo-prog gem nobody knows but me. I think this is one of the best, and their only particularly good album. This thing I used to listen nonstop back when it was new, and sometimes I still do.

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!

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.

I just love the chilling and relaxing atmosphere of this album. It's probably way more accessible than their earlier outputs, but it's none more satisfying. The dreamlike production is incredible work of art in itself.

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.

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.

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.

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. Aside from Metal Fatigue Allan was at his best during late 90's and early 2000's, so you know it's mind-blowing stuff.

All the best songs are here. The live performance was amazing.