| The Rolling Stones Hot Rocks | 4.5 |
| The Beatles Live At The BBC | 3.5 |
| Al Stewart Year of the Cat | 4.0 |
| James Taylor Greatest Hits | 2.5 |
| Carole King Tapestry | 3.5 |
| Bright Eyes I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning | 3.5 |
| Pavement Terror Twilight | 3.0 |
| The Wrens Silver | 3.5 |
| Philip Glass Glassworks | 3.5 |
| Steve Reich The Desert Music | 4.0 |
| Glenn Branca The Ascension | 3.0 |
| Sonic Youth Kill Yr Idols | 3.5 |
| Sonic Youth Confusion Is Sex | 2.5 |
| Sonic Youth A Thousand Leaves | 4.0 |
| Unwound Challenge For a Civilized Society | 4.0 |
| Passion Pit Gossamer | 2.5 |
| Sigur Ros ( ) | 3.0 |
| Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions | 3.5 |
| Led Zeppelin Celebration Day | 3.5 |
| The Rolling Stones Let It Bleed | 4.0 |
| The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers | 4.5 |
| The Rolling Stones Exile on Main St. | 4.5 |
| The Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet | 3.5 |
| The Beatles 1 | 3.5 |
| The Beatles Past Masters, Vol. 1 | 4.0 |
| The Beatles Past Masters, Vol. 2 | 4.5 |
| The Beatles Yellow Submarine | 3.5 |
| Queen Queen | 3.0 |
| Fleetwood Mac Greatest Hits (Warner Bros) | 3.5 |
| Supertramp Indelibly Stamped | 2.5 |
| Elliott Smith Either/Or | 3.5 |
| The Microphones It Was Hot, We Stayed In The Water | 3.5 |
| The Microphones Mount Eerie | 3.0 |
| The Microphones The Glow Pt. 2 | 4.0 |
| Nick Drake Bryter Layter | 4.0 |
| The Walkmen A Hundred Miles Off | 3.0 |
| Paul Simon Graceland | 4.0 |
| Faith No More Angel Dust | 3.0 |
| Operation Ivy Energy | 3.5 |
| The Band The Band | 4.5 |
| Manic Street Preachers The Holy Bible | 4.0 |
| Streetlight Manifesto Everything Goes Numb | 3.5 |
| Jeff Buckley Grace | 3.5 |
| Public Enemy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back | 4.5 |
| Refused The Shape Of Punk To Come | 4.0 |
| Nick Drake Pink Moon | 4.5 |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada | 4.0 |
| Nas Illmatic | 3.5 |
| Wu-Tang Clan Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) | 4.0 |
| Fripp and Eno No Pussyfooting | 3.5 |
| Fripp and Eno Evening Star | 4.0 |
| Neil Young Le Noise | 3.5 |
| The Fall This Nation's Saving Grace | 3.5 |
| Pere Ubu Dub Housing | 4.0 |
| Pere Ubu The Modern Dance | 3.0 |
| Deerhunter Weird Era Cont. | 4.0 |
| Deerhunter Microcastle | 3.5 |
| The Allman Brothers Band At Fillmore East | 3.5 |
| Grateful Dead From the Mars Hotel | 2.5 |
| Grateful Dead Aoxomoxoa | 3.5 |
| Misfits Static Age | 4.0 |
| King Crimson Three of a Perfect Pair | 3.0 |
| King Crimson Beat | 3.5 |
| King Crimson Discipline | 3.5 |
| King Crimson Lizard | 3.0 |
| The Mars Volta Scab Dates | 3.0 |
| Coldplay A Rush of Blood to the Head | 3.0 |
| The Postal Service Give Up | 3.5 |
| Iron And Wine Kiss Each Other Clean | 3.0 |
| Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues | 4.0 |
| The Olivia Tremor Control Music From The Unrealized Film Script | 3.5 |
| Barenaked Ladies Everything to Everyone | 4.0 |
| T. Rex The Slider | 4.0 |
| Swans Filth | 3.5 |
| Swans Soundtracks for the Blind | 4.0 |
| Howlin Wolf Moanin' in the Moonlight | 4.0 |
| Metallica Master of Puppets | 4.0 |
| Swans The Seer | 4.0 |
| Misfits Legacy Of Brutality | 4.0 |
| St. Vincent Strange Mercy | 4.0 |
| Richard Hell and The Voidoids Blank Generation | 3.0 |
| David Bowie David Bowie | 2.0 |
| David Bowie Pin Ups | 3.0 |
| Aphrodite's Child 666 | 4.0 |
| Iggy Pop Lust For Life | 4.5 |
| Liz Phair Exile In Guyville | 4.5 |
| Jethro Tull Thick as a Brick | 3.5 |
| Jethro Tull Benefit | 3.0 |
| Jethro Tull Stand Up | 2.5 |
| Jethro Tull This Was | 2.5 |
| T. Rex Electric Warrior | 4.0 |
| If only more of it were like the first song and the eighth one... |
| Sleepytime Gorilla Museum Grand Opening and Closing | 3.5 |
| Queens of the Stone Age ...Like Clockwork | 4.5 |
| I knew they had it in them to make a really great, coherent record, but *damn*! This is one of the high points of hard rock from any era, a record to improve QotSA's back-catalog (especially Them Crooked Vultures, which anticipates this album on many levels) because from now on, we'll know this is where Homme's uneven moments were headed. |
| The Jesus Lizard Goat | 4.0 |
| Harry Nilsson The Point! | 3.5 |
| Elvis Presley Elvis Presley | 3.5 |
| Elvis Presley The Sun Sessions | 4.0 |
| Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison | 4.0 |
| Chuck Berry Chuck Berry Twist | 3.5 |
| David Bowie Heathen | 3.0 |
| of Montreal Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? | 3.5 |
| Phoenix (FRA) Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix | 3.0 |
| Portugal. The Man It's Complicated Being a Wizard | 4.0 |
| Portugal. The Man Waiter: ''You Vultures!'' | 3.5 |
| Portugal. The Man Church Mouth | 3.0 |
| Portugal. The Man Censored Colors | 4.0 |
| The Shins Wincing the Night Away | 3.0 |
| Kanye West The College Dropout | 3.5 |
| Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy | 4.0 |
| Jay-Z The Blueprint | 4.0 |
| Brian Eno and David Byrne My Life in the Bush of Ghosts | 4.5 |
| The Mars Volta Tremulant | 3.5 |
| The Mars Volta Octahedron | 3.0 |
| The Mars Volta The Bedlam in Goliath | 3.0 |
| The Mars Volta Amputechture | 3.5 |
| The Mars Volta Frances the Mute | 4.0 |
| The Mars Volta De-Loused in the Comatorium | 4.0 |
| Coheed and Cambria The Second Stage Turbine Blade | 3.0 |
| Nirvana Live at Reading | 4.0 |
| The Beach Boys Endless Summer | 4.0 |
| The Orb Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld | 3.0 |
| Fugazi 3 Songs | 4.0 |
| Oliver Nelson The Blues and the Abstract Truth | 4.5 |
| Thelonious Monk Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane | 3.5 |
| Titus Andronicus The Monitor | 3.5 |
| AFI Decemberunderground | 2.5 |
| Circa Survive Blue Sky Noise | 3.5 |
| Porcupine Tree Fear of a Blank Planet | 3.0 |
| The Cassettes 'Neath the Pale Moon | 3.0 |
| Jawbox For Your Own Special Sweetheart | 4.5 |
| Shudder To Think Pony Express Record | 3.5 |
| Neil Young Tonight's the Night | 4.5 |
| The Supremes The Ultimate Collection | 4.0 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magik | 3.5 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication | 3.0 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Stadium Arcadium | 3.0 |
| Randy Newman 12 Songs | 4.0 |
| St. Vincent Actor | 4.0 |
| Kate Bush The Kick Inside | 3.5 |
| Philip Glass Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (soundtrack) | 4.0 |
| Deafheaven Sunbather | 3.5 |
| Sonny Rollins Tenor Madness | 3.5 |
| Miles Davis Someday My Prince Will Come | 3.0 |
| Miles Davis Sketches of Spain | 3.5 |
| Miles Davis On the Corner | 3.5 |
| Cannonball Adderley Somethin' Else | 4.5 |
| Burial Untrue | 4.5 |
| Simon and Garfunkel Bridge Over Troubled Water | 3.5 |
| Simon and Garfunkel Bookends | 4.0 |
| The Beach Boys Wild Honey | 4.0 |
| The Beach Boys Today! | 4.0 |
| The Beach Boys Smiley Smile | 2.5 |
| The Beach Boys Pet Sounds | 4.5 |
| The Beach Boys The Smile Sessions | 5.0 |
| Brian Wilson Smile | 4.0 |
| Brainiac Hissing Prigs in Static Couture | 4.0 |
| Latyrx The Album | 4.0 |
| Blackalicious Nia | 3.5 |
| Big Star Third/Sister Lovers | 3.5 |
| Ben Webster Soulville | 3.5 |
| Beck Sea Change | 3.0 |
| Battles Mirrored | 3.0 |
| The Avalanches Since I Left You | 4.0 |
| ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead Madonna | 3.5 |
| ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead Source Tags and Codes | 4.0 |
| Tom Waits Rain Dogs | 4.5 |
| Roger Waters The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking | 4.0 |
| Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our | 4.5 |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor Yanqui U.X.O. | 3.5 |
| Roxy Music For Your Pleasure | 4.0 |
| Tangerine Dream Phaedra | 3.5 |
| Faust Faust | 4.0 |
| Faust Faust IV | 3.0 |
| Can Monster Movie | 3.0 |
| Can Future Days | 4.0 |
| Can Ege Bamyasi | 4.5 |
| Can Tago Mago | 4.5 |
| Violent Femmes Violent Femmes | 3.0 |
| Black Sabbath Sabbath Bloody Sabbath | 3.5 |
| The White Stripes White Blood Cells | 4.0 |
| The Strokes Room on Fire | 3.0 |
| Pixies At the BBC | 3.5 |
| Cap'n Jazz Shmap'n Shmazz | 4.0 |
| I Hate Myself 4 Songs | 4.0 |
| I Hate Myself 10 Songs | 4.0 |
| Jawbreaker Bivouac | 3.0 |
| Wes Montgomery The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery | 4.5 |
| Roy Harper HQ | 3.5 |
| Meat Puppets Meat Puppets II | 3.5 |
| Nirvana MTV Unplugged in New York | 4.0 |
| Nirvana Bleach | 3.0 |
| The Breeders Pod | 3.5 |
| Nine Inch Nails The Fragile | 3.5 |
| Nine Inch Nails Pretty Hate Machine | 3.0 |
| Nine Inch Nails The Downward Spiral | 4.0 |
| Eleventh He Reaches London Hollow Be My Name | 4.0 |
| Them Crooked Vultures Them Crooked Vultures | 3.0 |
| Queens of the Stone Age Era Vulgaris | 3.5 |
| Queens of the Stone Age Lullabies to Paralyze | 3.0 |
| Queens of the Stone Age Songs for the Deaf | 4.0 |
| Queens of the Stone Age Rated R | 4.0 |
| Queens of the Stone Age Queens of the Stone Age | 3.5 |
| Kyuss ...And the Circus Leaves Town | 3.5 |
| Kyuss Blues for the Red Sun | 4.0 |
| Kyuss Welcome to Sky Valley | 3.5 |
| Tool 10,000 Days | 3.0 |
| Tool Lateralus | 3.5 |
| Tool Undertow | 3.5 |
| Tool Ænima | 4.0 |
| Sunny Day Real Estate Diary | 3.5 |
| Unwound Leaves Turn Inside You | 4.5 |
| Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique | 4.0 |
| Mark Hollis Mark Hollis | 4.5 |
| Talk Talk Laughing Stock | 4.5 |
| Talk Talk Spirit of Eden | 4.0 |
| Michael Hedges Aerial Boundaries | 4.0 |
| Michael Hedges Breakfast In The Field | 4.0 |
| Fats Domino Walking to New York: Greatest Hits | 4.5 |
| Stevie Wonder Looking Back | 4.0 |
| Stevie Wonder Talking Book | 4.0 |
| Stevie Wonder Innervisions | 4.5 |
| Prince Sign o' the Times | 4.0 |
| Prince Purple Rain | 4.0 |
| The Stone Roses The Stone Roses | 4.0 |
| Oasis Definitely Maybe | 3.0 |
| Oasis (What's the Story) Morning Glory? | 2.5 |
| Coldplay Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends | 3.5 |
| Ry Cooder Paris, Texas OST | 4.0 |
| Supertramp Breakfast in America | 3.0 |
| Supertramp Crime of the Century | 3.0 |
| Graham Parker Squeezing Out Sparks | 3.5 |
| Nick Lowe Labour of Lust | 3.5 |
| Otis Redding The Immortal Otis Redding | 4.0 |
| Robert Wyatt Rock Bottom | 4.0 |
| Brian Eno Thursday Afternoon | 3.5 |
| Brian Eno Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) | 4.0 |
| David Bowie Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) | 4.0 |
| David Bowie The Next Day | 3.5 |
| Tom Waits Swordfishtrombones | 4.5 |
| Bob Dylan Time Out of Mind | 4.0 |
| Bob Dylan Love and Theft | 3.5 |
| Phil Ochs Chords of Fame | 3.5 |
| Cat Stevens Tea for the Tillerman | 2.5 |
| Elton John Greatest Hits 1970-2002 | 4.0 |
| Derek and the Dominos Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs | 4.5 |
| Cream Disraeli Gears | 3.5 |
| Cream Fresh Cream | 2.5 |
| Phil Spector Back to Mono (1958-1969) | 4.0 |
| Red House Painters Red House Painters | 4.0 |
| Ride Nowhere | 2.5 |
| Polvo In Prism | 3.5 |
| Slint Tweez | 3.0 |
| Slint Spiderland | 4.0 |
| Slint Slint | 3.5 |
| Mahavishnu Orchestra The Inner Mounting Flame | 3.0 |
| Herbie Hancock Maiden Voyage | 4.0 |
| Weather Report Weather Report | 3.0 |
| Weather Report Heavy Weather | 3.5 |
| Thelonious Monk Monk. | 3.5 |
| Thelonious Monk Brilliant Corners | 4.0 |
| Thelonious Monk Monk's Dream | 4.5 |
| Charles Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus | 3.5 |
| Charles Mingus Mingus Ah Um | 4.0 |
| Interpol Our Love to Admire | 3.0 |
| Interpol Antics | 3.5 |
| Interpol Turn on the Bright Lights | 4.0 |
| Dream Theater Images and Words | 3.5 |
| King Crimson VROOOM | 3.0 |
| Mission of Burma Vs. | 4.0 |
| Mission of Burma Signals, Calls, and Marches | 4.5 |
| Minutemen Double Nickels on the Dime | 4.0 |
| Jimmy Buffett Songs You Know By Heart | 3.0 |
| The Smiths The Queen Is Dead | 3.5 |
| Echo and The Bunnymen Songs to Learn and Sing | 3.0 |
| Metallica Kill 'Em All | 3.5 |
| The Police Reggatta de Blanc | 3.5 |
| The Police Outlandos d'Amour | 3.5 |
| James Taylor James Taylor | 3.5 |
| The Mothers of Invention We're Only in It for the Money | 3.0 |
| The Mothers of Invention Freak Out! | 4.0 |
| America History: America's Greatest Hits | 3.5 |
| Steve Reich Early Works | 3.5 |
| Don't think them as compositions. Think of them as field work. |
| Steve Reich Octet/Music For a Large Ensemble/Violin Phase | 4.0 |
| Steve Reich Proverb/Nagoya Marimbas/City Life | 4.0 |
| Steve Reich Different Trains/Electric Counterpoint | 4.5 |
| Steve Reich Music for 18 Musicians | 5.0 |
| Rush 2112 | 3.0 |
| Lou Reed Walk on the Wild Side: The Best of Lou Reed | 3.5 |
| Patti Smith Horses | 5.0 |
| New York Dolls New York Dolls | 3.0 |
| Iggy Pop The Idiot | 3.5 |
| Cocteau Twins Treasure | 3.5 |
| Kate Bush Hounds of Love | 4.5 |
| Bjork Post | 4.0 |
| Portishead Portishead | 4.0 |
| Portishead Dummy | 4.0 |
| The Wrens The Meadowlands | 5.0 |
| The Wrens Secaucus | 4.5 |
| Brant Bjork Jalamanta | 4.5 |
| Brand New The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me | 3.5 |
| Boston Boston | 3.0 |
| Brainiac Bonsai Superstar | 4.0 |
| Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works Volume II | 4.0 |
| Aphex Twin Richard D. James Album | 3.0 |
| Aphex Twin ...I Care Because You Do | 3.5 |
| Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works 85-92 | 4.5 |
| Squarepusher Hard Normal Daddy | 4.0 |
| Boards of Canada The Campfire Headphase | 4.0 |
| Boards of Canada Geogaddi | 4.5 |
| Boards of Canada Music Has the Right to Children | 4.5 |
| Bo Diddley His Greatest Sides, Vol. 1 | 4.5 |
| Bloc Party Silent Alarm | 4.0 |
| The Beta Band The Three EPs | 4.0 |
| Beck Mellow Gold | 3.5 |
| Beck Odelay | 3.0 |
| Baroness Red Album | 4.0 |
| The Band Music from Big Pink | 4.5 |
| The B-52s Wild Planet | 3.5 |
| The B-52s The B-52's | 4.5 |
| At the Drive-In Acrobatic Tenement | 3.0 |
| Art Blakey Caravan | 3.5 |
| Art Blakey A Night in Tunisia | 4.0 |
| Arctic Monkeys Suck It and See | 2.5 |
| Arctic Monkeys Humbug | 3.5 |
| Arctic Monkeys Favourite Worst Nightmare | 3.5 |
| Arctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not | 4.0 |
| Archers of Loaf White Trash Heroes | 4.0 |
| Haven't heard anything else by them, but this album is absolutely brimming with ideas and daring. Bachman's voice runs quite a range, from his delicate, fragile falsetto in Dead Red Eyes to his Joey Ramone affectations in the mesmerizing title track. |
| Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion | 3.5 |
| American Football American Football | 3.0 |
| Alice in Chains Jar of Flies | 4.5 |
| Alice in Chains Alice in Chains | 4.0 |
| Alice in Chains Dirt | 3.5 |
| The Cure Disintegration | 3.5 |
| AFI The Art of Drowning | 3.5 |
| AFI Black Sails in the Sunset | 3.0 |
| DJ Shadow Endtroducing..... | 5.0 |
| The Blood Brothers ...Burn, Piano Island, Burn | 4.5 |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven | 4.0 |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor F♯ A♯ ∞ | 5.0 |
| Sigur Ros Agætis byrjun | 4.0 |
| Thurston Moore Trees Outside the Academy | 3.5 |
| Band of Horses Cease to Begin | 2.5 |
| Band of Horses Everything All the Time | 3.0 |
| Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes | 4.0 |
| Fleet Foxes Sun Giant | 4.5 |
| The Field From Here We Go Sublime | 4.0 |
| The Doors Morrison Hotel | 3.5 |
| The Doors Strange Days | 3.0 |
| The Doors The Doors | 3.5 |
| Iron Butterfly In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida | 2.0 |
| I'd only recommend this if you're interested in the early development of hard rock. Compared to its contemporaries, it's poorly stitched together and simply has no energy. And the vocals sound a little like Creed's. Disturbing. |
| Jethro Tull Aqualung | 3.5 |
| The Jesus and Mary Chain Psychocandy | 2.5 |
| The Velvet Underground Loaded | 3.5 |
| The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground | 3.0 |
| The Velvet Underground White Light/White Heat | 3.5 |
| The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground & Nico | 4.0 |
| John Cale Paris 1919 | 4.5 |
| John Cale Vintage Violence | 3.5 |
| Ringo Starr Goodnight Vienna | 3.5 |
| Ringo Starr Ringo | 4.5 |
| George Harrison All Things Must Pass | 3.5 |
| George Harrison The Concert for Bangladesh | 4.0 |
| John Lennon Rock 'n' Roll | 2.5 |
| John Lennon Imagine | 4.0 |
| John Lennon John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band | 4.5 |
| Wings Band on the Run | 4.5 |
| Buffalo Springfield Retrospective | 3.0 |
| Stars of the Lid The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid | 4.5 |
| Harold Budd and Brian Eno Ambient 2 - The Plateaux of Mirror | 4.0 |
| Brian Eno Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks | 4.0 |
| Brian Eno Ambient 4: On Land | 4.0 |
| Brian Eno Ambient 1: Music For Airports | 4.0 |
| Brian Eno Discreet Music | 3.0 |
| Brian Eno Here Come the Warm Jets | 5.0 |
| Eno's first album picks up from the rough, droning sounds of the VU and Roxy Music but adds something those bands lacked: sheer joy at creation. It's not easy to carry through this kind of carelessness with conviction, which is a shame, since that's such an important part of what pop music is about. |
| Brian Eno Another Green World | 4.5 |
| Tortoise Tortoise | 4.0 |
| Tortoise TNT | 4.0 |
| Tortoise Millions Now Living Will Never Die | 4.5 |
| Mogwai Young Team | 3.0 |
| Explosions in the Sky Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die... | 4.0 |
| Explosions in the Sky The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place | 3.5 |
| Giant Squid The Ichthyologist | 4.0 |
| Jean-Michel Jarre Oxygene | 4.0 |
| Neurosis Through Silver in Blood | 2.5 |
| Mastodon The Hunter | 3.0 |
| Mastodon Crack the Skye | 3.5 |
| Mastodon Remission | 4.0 |
| Mastodon Blood Mountain | 4.0 |
| Mastodon Leviathan | 5.0 |
| ISIS Panopticon | 4.0 |
| ISIS Oceanic | 4.5 |
| Sufjan Stevens Illinois | 4.0 |
| Iron And Wine The Shepherd's Dog | 4.5 |
| His Name Is Alive Mouth By Mouth | 4.0 |
| Grateful Dead Blues for Allah | 3.5 |
| Grateful Dead Workingman's Dead | 2.5 |
| Grateful Dead American Beauty | 4.0 |
| Gentle Giant Octopus | 3.5 |
| Frodus And We Washed Our Weapons In The Sea | 4.0 |
| Frodus Conglomerate International | 3.0 |
| The Strokes Is This It | 4.0 |
| Franz Ferdinand Franz Ferdinand | 4.0 |
| Fiona Apple The Idler Wheel... | 4.0 |
| Fiona Apple Tidal | 3.5 |
| Shellac At Action Park | 3.0 |
| Weezer Pinkerton | 4.0 |
| Weezer Weezer | 3.5 |
| The National Boxer | 4.0 |
| The National Alligator | 4.0 |
| The National High Violet | 4.5 |
| The Walkmen Bows + Arrows | 4.5 |
| This album's wavering organ throughout makes this a parallel world to "Everyone Who Pretended..." with its music box piano, but Bows + Arrows keeps up the drive, roughness, and power its predecessor was too often wanting. And I'm not even that big a fan of "The Rat"--I prefer all but maybe 3 songs on the album to it. |
| The Walkmen Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone | 3.5 |
| Spoon Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga | 3.5 |
| Spoon Transference | 3.5 |
| Spoon Series of Sneaks | 4.0 |
| Spoon Girls Can Tell | 4.0 |
| Spoon Kill the Moonlight | 4.0 |
| Spoon Gimme Fiction | 4.5 |
| The Police Zenyatta Mondatta | 4.0 |
| The Police Synchronicity | 4.5 |
| Nirvana In Utero | 4.0 |
| Nirvana Nevermind | 3.5 |
| Pixies Trompe Le Monde | 3.5 |
| Pixies Bossanova | 4.0 |
| Pixies Come On Pilgrim | 4.0 |
| Pixies Doolittle | 4.5 |
| Pixies Surfer Rosa | 4.0 |
| Despite the gorgeous ugliness of the first half, more casual and spontaneous than Doolittle, Cactus is my favorite track--it's a perfect translation of old-school blues longing to a pop rock idiom, which Cobain tried at but never achieved quite as well. I can do without the last few songs, mostly. |
| Neutral Milk Hotel On Avery Island | 4.0 |
| Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane Over the Sea | 5.0 |
| Mew And the Glass Handed Kites | 4.0 |
| Mew A Triumph for Man | 3.5 |
| Hoover The Lurid Traversal of Route 7 | 3.5 |
| Modest Mouse Sad Sappy Sucker | 3.0 |
| Modest Mouse Everywhere and His Nasty Parlour Tricks | 4.0 |
| The Shins Chutes Too Narrow | 3.0 |
| Arcade Fire Neon Bible | 3.5 |
| Arcade Fire The Suburbs | 3.5 |
| Arcade Fire Funeral | 4.5 |
| The Blood Brothers Crimes | 3.5 |
| The Dismemberment Plan Change | 4.0 |
| The Dismemberment Plan Emergency & I | 4.5 |
| Van Morrison Moondance | 4.0 |
| Van Morrison Astral Weeks | 4.0 |
| Roy Harper Stormcock | 4.5 |
| The Dave Brubeck Quartet Time Out | 4.5 |
| Off Minor Some Blood | 4.0 |
| Off Minor Innominate | 4.0 |
| Off Minor The Heat Death of the Universe | 4.5 |
| Saetia A Retrospective | 4.0 |
| Circle Takes the Square As the Roots Undo | 3.0 |
| Steely Dan Katy Lied | 3.5 |
| Steely Dan The Royal Scam | 3.0 |
| Steely Dan Pretzel Logic | 4.0 |
| Steely Dan Countdown to Ecstasy | 4.0 |
| Steely Dan Aja | 4.5 |
| Chicago Chicago Transit Authority | 3.5 |
| Chicago Chicago II | 4.0 |
| The Books Thought For Food | 4.0 |
| Bob Marley and The Wailers Legend | 3.5 |
| B.B. King Live at the Regal | 3.5 |
| At the Drive-In In/Casino/Out | 3.5 |
| At the Drive-In Vaya | 4.5 |
| At the Drive-In Relationship of Command | 4.0 |
| Black Sabbath Vol. 4 | 4.0 |
| Black Sabbath Master of Reality | 4.0 |
| Black Sabbath Paranoid | 4.5 |
| Black Sabbath Black Sabbath | 3.5 |
| Iron Maiden Iron Maiden | 3.5 |
| Big Star #1 Record | 3.0 |
| Big Star Radio City | 4.5 |
| Mike Oldfield Tubular Bells | 3.5 |
| Genesis Selling England by the Pound | 3.0 |
| Genesis The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway | 3.5 |
| Van der Graaf Generator Godbluff | 4.0 |
| King Crimson Red | 4.5 |
| Talking Heads Stop Making Sense | 4.0 |
| Gang of Four Entertainment! | 4.0 |
| Wire 154 | 4.0 |
| Wire Chairs Missing | 5.0 |
| Wire Pink Flag | 4.5 |
| Ramones Ramones | 3.0 |
| Broken Social Scene You Forgot It in People | 4.0 |
| TV on the Radio Return to Cookie Mountain | 4.5 |
| TV on the Radio Dear Science | 3.5 |
| Led Zeppelin Presence | 3.0 |
| Led Zeppelin In Through the Out Door | 3.0 |
| Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy | 3.5 |
| Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin III | 4.0 |
| Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV | 4.0 |
| Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti | 4.0 |
| Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin II | 4.0 |
| Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin | 3.5 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness | 3.5 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Gish | 3.5 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream | 4.0 |
| Boris Pink | 4.0 |
| Boris Heavy Rocks | 4.0 |
| Massive Attack Mezzanine | 4.0 |
| Massive Attack Blue Lines | 3.5 |
| Massive Attack Protection | 4.0 |
| The Coral Magic & Medicine | 3.5 |
| The Coral Nightfreak and the Sons of Becker | 4.0 |
| Fleetwood Mac Rumours | 4.0 |
| Elvis Costello My Aim Is True | 4.0 |
| Elvis Costello Armed Forces | 4.5 |
| Elvis Costello This Year's Model | 5.0 |
| You're welcome to your copy of My Aim Is True. The Attractions make Clover sound like a Saturday night bar band (which is probably what they were going for, but that doesn't mean I have to prefer it), and I like the lyrics and songwriting better too. |
| Elvis Costello Trust | 4.0 |
| My Bloody Valentine Isn't Anything | 3.5 |
| My Bloody Valentine m b v | 4.0 |
| My Bloody Valentine Loveless | 4.5 |
| Midnight Oil Diesel and Dust | 4.0 |
| Radiohead The King of Limbs | 3.5 |
| Radiohead In Rainbows | 4.5 |
| Radiohead Hail to the Thief | 3.5 |
| Radiohead Amnesiac | 3.5 |
| Radiohead Kid A | 4.5 |
| Radiohead OK Computer | 4.0 |
| Radiohead The Bends | 4.0 |
| Radiohead Pablo Honey | 2.5 |
| Wilco A Ghost Is Born | 4.0 |
| U2 How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb | 2.5 |
| Wilco A.M. | 2.5 |
| U2 October | 2.5 |
| U2 No Line on the Horizon | 2.5 |
| U2 All That You Can't Leave Behind | 3.0 |
| Wilco Being There | 3.5 |
| Wilco Summerteeth | 3.5 |
| U2 War | 3.5 |
| U2 The Joshua Tree | 4.0 |
| U2 The Unforgettable Fire | 4.0 |
| Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot | 4.5 |
| U2 Achtung Baby | 4.5 |
| U2 Boy | 4.5 |
| Pink Floyd The Final Cut | 3.5 |
| Pink Floyd Animals | 4.0 |
| Pink Floyd The Wall | 4.0 |
| Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here | 4.5 |
| Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon | 4.0 |
| Pink Floyd Obscured by Clouds | 3.0 |
| Pink Floyd Atom Heart Mother | 2.5 |
| Pink Floyd Meddle | 4.0 |
| Pink Floyd Ummagumma | 3.5 |
| Pink Floyd A Saucerful of Secrets | 2.5 |
| Pink Floyd The Piper at the Gates of Dawn | 4.0 |
| The Who Who Are You | 3.5 |
| The Who Quadrophenia | 4.5 |
| The Sonics Here Are the Sonics | 3.5 |
| The Who Who's Next | 4.5 |
| The Who My Generation | 4.0 |
| Warren Zevon The Best of Warren Zevon: A Quiet Normal Life | 4.5 |
| Eagles Hotel California | 3.0 |
| Eagles Long Road Out Of Eden | 2.5 |
| Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Damn The Torpedoes | 3.0 |
| Bruce Springsteen Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. | 3.5 |
| Bruce Springsteen Darkness on the Edge of Town | 4.0 |
| Bruce Springsteen Born to Run | 4.5 |
| Bob Dylan Desire | 3.5 |
| Bob Dylan Blood on the Tracks | 4.5 |
| Bob Dylan John Wesley Harding | 4.5 |
| Dylan's not kidding when he says Harding "was never known to make a foolish move"--the wisest thing the bandit did was to get out of his own song by the third stanza, before his story got too morally ambiguous. Much of the album is built on unresolved fragments and haunting half-scenes, which at their best have all the surreality of earlier albums without some of the excess. |
| Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde | 4.0 |
| Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited | 4.5 |
| Bob Dylan Bringing It All Back Home | 5.0 |
| Casual paranoia ("phone's tapped anyway..."), drugs, wage slavery, xenophobia, mass voicelessness, instability of self, the destabilization of American heteronormativity, corruption within the family unit, Christ kitsch, the blues, the scariest false start in popular music, and the profundity of silence, for a start. Highway 61 Revisited has several of these things, but not with the same cohesiveness or sustained intensity. And I wonder what it means that "Live Minus Zero" and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" start off with the same chords. |
| Bob Dylan Another Side of Bob Dylan | 4.0 |
| Bob Dylan The Times They Are A-Changin' | 4.0 |
| Bob Dylan The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan | 4.0 |
| Bob Dylan Bob Dylan | 3.0 |
| David Bowie Lodger | 3.5 |
| David Bowie "Heroes" | 5.0 |
| David Bowie Low | 5.0 |
| David Bowie Station to Station | 4.5 |
| David Bowie Young Americans | 3.5 |
| David Bowie Diamond Dogs | 2.5 |
| David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars | 4.5 |
| David Bowie Hunky Dory | 4.0 |
| David Bowie Aladdin Sane | 4.5 |
| David Bowie The Man Who Sold the World | 3.0 |
| David Bowie Space Oddity | 3.0 |
| John Coltrane My Favorite Things | 4.0 |
| John Coltrane Blue Train | 4.0 |
| John Coltrane Giant Steps | 4.5 |
| John Coltrane A Love Supreme | 5.0 |
| Miles Davis Relaxin' With the Miles Davis Quintet | 3.5 |
| Miles Davis Miles Ahead | 4.0 |
| Miles Davis Miles Smiles | 4.5 |
| Miles Davis Birth of the Cool | 3.5 |
| Miles Davis Jack Johnson | 4.0 |
| Miles Davis Bitches Brew | 4.5 |
| Miles Davis Kind of Blue | 5.0 |
| Miles Davis In a Silent Way | 4.5 |
| Throbbing Gristle 20 Jazz Funk Greats | 4.0 |
| The Stooges Raw Power | 4.0 |
| The Stooges The Stooges | 3.0 |
| The Stooges Fun House | 3.5 |
| Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols | 3.5 |
| The Clash The Clash (US version) | 4.0 |
| The Clash London Calling | 5.0 |
| Neil Young Time Fades Away | 4.5 |
| Neil Young Comes a Time | 4.0 |
| Neil Young Ragged Glory | 4.0 |
| Neil Young Freedom | 4.0 |
| Neil Young Everybody's Rockin' | 2.5 |
| Neil Young Hawks & Doves | 3.5 |
| Neil Young Re-ac-tor | 3.0 |
| Neil Young Rust Never Sleeps | 5.0 |
| Neil Young American Stars 'n Bars | 4.0 |
| Neil Young Zuma | 4.0 |
| Neil Young On the Beach | 4.5 |
| Neil Young Harvest | 3.5 |
| Neil Young After the Gold Rush | 4.0 |
| Neil Young Neil Young | 3.0 |
| Neil Young Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere | 5.0 |
| Joy Division Closer | 4.0 |
| Joy Division Unknown Pleasures | 4.0 |
| Squeeze Singles – 45's and Under | 3.5 |
| XTC Drums And Wires | 3.5 |
| XTC Black Sea | 4.5 |
| XTC English Settlement | 4.0 |
| XTC Skylarking | 3.0 |
| The Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots | 3.5 |
| The Flaming Lips The Soft Bulletin | 4.0 |
| The Jimi Hendrix Experience Axis: Bold as Love | 4.5 |
| The Jimi Hendrix Experience Are You Experienced | 3.0 |
| Egg Hunt Egg Hunt | 4.0 |
| Embrace (US) Embrace | 3.5 |
| Minor Threat Complete Discography | 4.0 |
| Fugazi 13 Songs | 4.0 |
| Fugazi Furniture | 4.5 |
| Fugazi Steady Diet of Nothing | 4.0 |
| Fugazi Repeater | 4.0 |
| Fugazi End Hits | 4.0 |
| Fugazi Red Medicine | 4.5 |
| Fugazi In on the Kill Taker | 4.5 |
| Fugazi The Argument | 5.0 |
| Fugazi's latest LP (but not last, Canty Lally Mackaye Picciotto willing) is their richest and most internally conflicting release, I suspect because the members let haunting, catchy, nocturnal melodies gradually enter into and warp the grooves they've relied on since their beginning. The effect is that The Argument sounds like being lulled to sleep for all the wrong reasons. Companion EP Furniture +2 is a must, and I'm not convinced the band made the right decision when they released it separately from this. |
| Ugly Casanova Sharpen Your Teeth | 4.0 |
| Modest Mouse Building Nothing Out of Something | 5.0 |
| Modest Mouse No One's First, and You're Next | 4.0 |
| Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica | 4.5 |
| Modest Mouse Good News for People Who Love Bad News | 3.0 |
| Modest Mouse We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank | 3.5 |
| Modest Mouse The Lonesome Crowded West | 4.5 |
| Modest Mouse This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About | 4.0 |
| Built to Spill Perfect from Now On | 3.5 |
| Built to Spill There's Nothing Wrong with Love | 4.0 |
| Pavement Brighten the Corners | 3.5 |
| Pavement Wowee Zowee | 4.0 |
| Pavement Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain | 4.5 |
| Pavement Slanted and Enchanted | 4.0 |
| Sonic Youth Dirty | 3.5 |
| Sonic Youth Goo | 3.5 |
| Sonic Youth Daydream Nation | 4.5 |
| Sonic Youth Sister | 4.0 |
| Television Adventure | 3.5 |
| Television Marquee Moon | 5.0 |
| Yes Close to the Edge | 4.5 |
| Yes Fragile | 3.5 |
| Yes The Yes Album | 3.5 |
| Guided by Voices Alien Lanes | 4.5 |
| Guided by Voices Under the Bushes Under the Stars | 4.5 |
| Guided by Voices Propeller | 3.5 |
| Guided by Voices Bee Thousand | 5.0 |
| R.E.M. New Adventures in Hi-Fi | 4.5 |
| This is the crystallization of everything R.E.M. had been doing since Out of Time. The studio songs have the atmospherics of Automatic for the People without that album's occasional ponderousness. And the live rockers make up entirely for Monster. |
| R.E.M. Automatic for the People | 4.0 |
| R.E.M. Out of Time | 3.5 |
| R.E.M. Green | 3.0 |
| R.E.M. Document | 4.0 |
| R.E.M. Lifes Rich Pageant | 4.0 |
| R.E.M. Fables of the Reconstruction | 4.5 |
| R.E.M. Reckoning | 4.5 |
| R.E.M. Murmur | 5.0 |
| King Crimson Starless and Bible Black | 3.0 |
| King Crimson Larks' Tongues in Aspic | 4.0 |
| King Crimson In the Wake of Poseidon | 3.0 |
| King Crimson In the Court of the Crimson King | 4.0 |
| Talking Heads True Stories | 2.0 |
| Talking Heads Little Creatures | 3.0 |
| Talking Heads Speaking in Tongues | 4.0 |
| Talking Heads Remain in Light | 4.5 |
| Talking Heads Fear of Music | 4.0 |
| Talking Heads More Songs About Buildings and Food | 4.0 |
| Talking Heads Talking Heads: 77 | 3.5 |
| Talking Heads The Name of this Band Is Talking Heads | 5.0 |
| The Rolling Stones Between the Buttons | 4.0 |
| The Rolling Stones Aftermath | 4.0 |
| The Rolling Stones Out of Our Heads | 3.5 |
| The Beatles Let It Be | 4.0 |
| The Beatles Abbey Road | 4.5 |
| The Beatles The Beatles | 4.5 |
| The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour | 4.5 |
| The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | 4.0 |
| The Beatles Revolver | 5.0 |
| The Beatles Rubber Soul | 5.0 |
| The Beatles Help! | 4.0 |
| The Beatles Beatles for Sale | 3.5 |
| The Beatles A Hard Day's Night | 4.5 |
| The Beatles With the Beatles | 3.0 |
| The Beatles Please Please Me | 3.0 |
