The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (1966)

This album is a desert island disc if there ever was one. It generates enough beauty, regret, nostaliga, loss, and hope in 12 songs to sustain a lifetime of musical enjoyment.

If there's anyone in your life who still labors under the illusion that The Beach Boys only sang about cars, surfing and women-as-objects, please do them a favor. Sit them down and play this record for them. Let them hear the sweet horny longing of Wouldn't It Be Nice, or the rueful, misunderstood narrator of I Just Wasn't Made For These Times, or the love-through-the-fear-of-loss anthem God Only Knows. And then defy them to find a song about cars or surfing. Defy them to call The Beach Boys vacuous!

(Or if you aren't especially confrontational about music, just remind them gently about this album's existence and themes. Either way.)

Fave Song: God Only Knows

Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique (1989)

To start off, it's got a great title. This is the Beasties most consistently enjoyable and listenable record. It's also what every music nerd hopes to see, that is, an intelligent, expectations-subverting follow-up to a massively-successful-but-vacuous record. Add in the fact that it was underappreciated at its time, and you've got greatness.

We start with a bizarre shout out to all sorts of girls, including "the stewardesses flying around the world" and end with a mind-blowing 15 minute, 9 part pastiche of song bits. In between there are such classics as Hey Ladies, Egg Man, and Shake Your Rump.

Never say never, but the pure diversity of sound on this record may never be duplicated. Produced (by the Dust Brothers) in a time before anybody had a legal hold on sampling, you'll hear Bob Dylan, the Beatles, and Johnny Cash samples among countless others. It's funny, crazy, weird, and full of odd references (Issac Newton, Chuck Woolery, Fruit Stripe Gum, etc.).

Fave Song: The Sounds Of Science

The Beatles - Abbey Road (1969)

The Beatles' final work together (though released before Let It Be, this was chronologically the final album they recorded) is a doozy. The hit singles are there: Something, Come Together, Here Comes The Sun (the fact that two of these are George Harrison compositions show that he had come into his own as a songwriter), but the treat is the side two medley that runs from the gorgeous 3-part harmonies of Because to the very fitting The End. How many artists control their career so well as to ensure that the final words they record are "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make"?

(Actually the real final words are "and one day I'm gonna make her mine, oh yeah, one day I'm gonna make her mine" because of a mistake that tacked Her Majesty to the end of the album and created the hidden bonus track phenomenon as we know it.)

Fave Song: Because

The Carpenters - Love Songs (1997)

As a greatest hit collection, it's imperfect (no A Kind Of Hush or Let Me Be The One) but you won't find another Carpenters' album or compilation with this sort of consistency. And though their reputation is that of sappy balledeers, the title of this CD is somewhat subversive since roughly half of these songs are about the negative side of love.

Fave Song: I Need To Be In Love

The Hopefuls - The Fuses Refuse To Burn (2004)

Read a full review here.

I know it's kinda bold to put such a recent release on an all-time list, but two years on and I have yet to sicken of these songs. I've seen the Twin Cities supergroup in concert 10 times and would still go if they were playing somewhere tonight. The disc itself contains ten crackerjack power pop songs that latch onto your brain and don't let go. From an extended story of the birth and death of a relationship (Holiday, Drain The Sea, Whisper, Trust Fund, Stoned Again) to a lyrical ode to a nonexistent girlfriend (Imaginiary) to the pop rush of Shy and Motobike, the band's two songwriters take turns one-upping each other until they're exhausted and can rock no more.

Fave Song: Shy

Jimmy Eat World - Clarity (1999)

There was a time when I thought this album brought me luck. It always seemed to be on the stereo when I received good news. Maybe there was some mystical connection, or maybe I just played it all the damn time!

Fave Song: Lucky Denver Mint

Billy Joel - The Stranger (1977)

You'd be hard-pressed to find an album with a higher percentage of hits than this blockbuster from Mr. Joel. Five of the nine songs (Movin' Out, The Stranger, Just The Way You Are, Only The Good Die Young and She's Always A Woman) were bonafide hits and 3 others (Vienna, Scenes From An Italian Restaurant and Get It Right The First Time) deserved to be (the overlong closer Everybody Has A Dream wouldn't sound good on the radio). This is my number one choice for an album to put on and sing along with from beginning to end.

Fave Song: Scenes From An Italian Restaurant

Elton John - Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy (1974)

This is one of two albums (James Taylor's Greatest Hits being the other) on the list that my mom introduced me to. Though it never got much play on Saturday morning cleaning sessions (that was saved for Greatest Hits), Captain Fantastic was always a object of childhood fascination for me.

The record is about Elton (the Captain) and lyricist Bernie Taupin (the Cowboy) and their early days trying to make it as songwriters and dreaming of stardom. Songs like Writing, Bitter Fingers, (Gotta Get A) Meal Ticket address this directly. Other songs, such as We All Fall In Love Sometimes, the title track, and Someone Saved My Life Tonight (which is about Elton's near miss marriage) refer to the feelings and events of the time.

From the complicated cover art to the sometimes cryptic poetry of the lyrics to the insinuating melodies, this is a record you could get lost in.

Fave Song: Writing

Madonna - The Immaculate Collection (1990)

This is the best greatest hits collection ever released. I have a few preferences when it comes to best ofs: 1) make it chronological (or at least put serious thought into flow and pacing) and 2) only include new songs if they're up to snuff. There are several other rules, but these are the most important. The thing about TIM is that it blatantly breaks one of the rules and still manages to transcend.

From Holiday (song 1) to Vogue (song 15), this album is flawless. Though the chronological ordering offers little in the way of evolution, who needs growth when all the songs are so classic? The Beatles, Beach Boys, and Michael Jackson have had greater numbers of perfect hits, but no compilation thus far has captured an artist so well. Sure, Justify My Love (new song #1) is mostly just heavy breathing and Rescue Me (new song #2) is kind of boring, but they're just the after-dinner mints. The meal was the important part.

Fave Song: Crazy For You

Ronnie Milsap - 40 #1 Hits (2000)

Ronnie Milsap is a blind, piano-playing country singer who doesn't write his own songs. He has had (as evidenced by the efficient title) 40 number one country hits, but there are actually 43 songs on these two discs. Yes, it's country, but never have I heard such soulful country. The songs are simple, but never fail to hit emotional highs and lows, thanks to Ronnie's brilliant interpretive arranging and singing.

Fave Song: There's No Getting Over Me

Roxy Music - Avlaon (1982)

I recently saw a quote where lead singer Bryan Ferry admitted to the band being on copious amounts of drugs when this was recorded. Big surprise. This album is like the aural equivalent of a trippy dream.

The cover features an armor-clad warrior and his hawk looking out over a vast body of water, with the clouds reflecting in it. It seems like a lost scene from an early Ridley Scott movie, and it fits the music perfectly. From the amazing More Than This to introspective instrumentals like India and Tara, there's a sustained otherworldly quality to the album. Bryan Ferry's voice is a treasure; the dictionary-definiton of Romantic.

Fave Song: More Than This

Paul Simon - Hearts And Bones (1984)

Read a full review here.

In the grand tradition of singer-songwriter divorce albums comes Hearts And Bones. Being a divorce album the theme is, of course, heartbreak and loss. In Allergies likens falling in love to an allergic reaction. When Numbers Get Serious, Song About The Moon, and Cars Are Cars are all bouncy tunes that stretch metaphorically. They are respectively about divorce settlements, writing about your pain, and wishing for simplicity. Train In The Distance is a grass is always greener rumination on Simon's first marriage. Finally, Hearts And Bones sums up Simon's marriage to Princess Leia, wherein the couple falls in love, runs into trouble, then splits to "speculate who had been damaged the most." It's the kind of story song Simon excels at. In fact, he spends this entire unappreciated album excelling.

Fave Song: Think Too Much (a)

Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream (1993)

When I first bought this record (in high school) it sounded completely alien to my ear, and I was scandalized by the fact that there was actually a song called Silverfuck. So it took awhile to get through to me, but once it clicked I couldn't imagine anything more powerful or beautiful.

This is a record that I love so much I bought it again when they re-released it with expanded liner notes. Liner notes! And barely comprehensible ones at that. That's the thing about your favorite records; you'll look for any excuse to buy them again, and even when you see them at the store, you just have to pause for a second.

Using the quiet loud dynamic to great advantage, this album features songs that straight-out rock, like Rocket and Geek U.S.A., and songs that are more introspective and quiet, like Quiet and Mayonnaise. The album is profane, sacred, alien, and all about love, appropriately enough.

Fave Song: Luna

Sting - Mercury Falling (1996)

My freshman year of college I discovered/re-discovered The Police, and so when Sting came out with a new album I had to get it. I knew some of his solo hits, but this was the first CD of his that I owned, and it will always be my favorite.

It starts with the words of the title, and ends with them as well. You've gotta love that. In between there are gentle, catchy songs about various states of relationships. I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying is a great faux-country divorce song and I can't tell you how many times All Four Seasons has gone through my head when I'm baffled by a girl.

Fave Song: I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying

Matthew Sweet - In Reverse (1999)

Matthew Sweet always seemed to have a Beach Boys fixation, but he goes all out on this album, even recording some songs with the same musicians who played on Pet Sounds. The results are gorgeous, with walls of sound, choirs of Matthews and brilliant melodies.

Fave Song: Untitled

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (1984)

Fave Song: What A Day That Was

James Taylor - Greatest Hits (1976)

Fave Song: Mexico

'Til Tuesday - Everything's Different Now (1988)

I found this on vinyl in my college radio station's collection, borrowed it, became obsessed and then decided to "borrow" it permanently. This was 'Til Tuesday's third and final album and featured Aimee Mann's songwriting skills coming into full blossom (along with some famous help: Matthew Sweet and Elvis Costello both have writing credits).

Every song is about love, and since it's Aimee Mann, there's only one ray of hope about the topic on the whole album (the last song, How Can You Give Up). The rest of the songs have titles like Why Must I, Long Gone (Buddy) and Crash & Burn. This is my choice for the ultimate breakup album. It's brilliant from start to finish.

Fave Song: Rip In Heaven

Weezer - Weezer (1994)

I wasn't much educated on pop music in 1994, but I did work in the K-Mart electronics department. One of my co-workers bore an uncanny resemblance to Rivers Cuomo in the Buddy Holly video. Another co-worker recognized this, taped it, and brought it into work.

At first I watched it just for lookalike factor, then because the video was so damn clever, and then because I couldn't get the song out of my head. I bought the album, and it became one of the first records I ever got obsessed with.

Fave Song: No One Else

XTC - Nonsuch (1992)

When I first got Nonsuch I was still an XTC novice and I mistook it for a best of collection. That's how good it is, from the cryptic opener The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead to the elegiac closer Books Are Burning. In between there are songs about monkeys being smarter than men, jealousy, unfair romantic relationships, falling in love, a girl playing on a toy horse, and war-mongering.

This was the last record XTC made before embarking on a 7 year strike, but is was almost enough to last that whole time.

Fave Song: Dear Madam Barnum