This is a list of the best albums I have encountered with links to their respective reviews. Full length studio albums only, no live performances unless recorded as an album or released as new compositions, EPs, compilations, mixes or soundtracks, etc.
Albums are sorted by a combination of track averages, album flow and personal preference. These rankings are purely reflective of personal listening experience, enjoyment and intellectual response with no claim of objectivity, considering art as subject. Some examples are depicted below.
- Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica (1969)
- The Stooges - Fun House (1970)
- FLUX Quartet - Feldman Edition 6: String Quartet No. 2 (2002)
- Tim Buckley - Starsailor (1970)
- Anthony Braxton - Five Pieces 1975 (1975)
- Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica (2011)
- John Coltrane - Sun Ship (1971)
- Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime (1984)
- Death - Human (1991)
- Eddie Palmieri - Unfinished Masterpiece (1975)
- Albert Ayler Trio - Spiritual Unity (1965)
- Wipers - Youth of America (1981)
- Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (1980)
- Black Sabbath - Paranoid (1970)
- Anthony Braxton - New York, Fall 1974 (1975)
- The Residents - Meet the Residents (1974)
- The Peter Brötzmann Octet - Machine Gun (1968)
- The Sundays - Reading, Writing and Arithmetic (1990)
- The Smiths - The Smiths (1984)
- Genesis - Selling England by the Pound (1973)
- Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band - Lick My Decals Off, Baby (1970)
- Elliott Smith - Roman Candle (1994)
- People Under the Stairs - O.S.T. (2002)
- Pere Ubu - Dub Housing (1978)
- Sun-Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra - Atlantis (1969)
- Tim Buckley - Lorca (1970)
- Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959)
- The Stooges - Raw Power (1973)
- Groundhogs - Split (1971)
- Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left (1969)
- Queens of the Stone Age - Queens of the Stone Age (1998)
- Iannis Xenakis - Persepolis (1972)
- Charles Gayle - Repent (1992)
- Frank Sinatra - Where Are You? (1957)
- Roland Kayn - Tektra (1984)
- R.E.M. - Murmur (1983)
- John Coltrane - Ascension (1965)
- SPK - Leichenschrei (1982)
- Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963)
- Van Morrison - Astral Weeks (1968)
- Eric Dolphy - Iron Man (1968)
- Red House Painters - Down Colorful Hill (1992)
- The Fall - Grotesque (1980)
- Anthony Braxton - Seven Compositions (Trio) 1989 (1990)
- The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat (1968)
- King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King (1969)
- David Holland Quartet - Conference of the Birds (1973)
- Morton Feldman - Routine Investigations etc. (1994)
- Richard Abrams - Levels and Degrees of Light (1968)
- Two Inch Astronaut - Bad Brother (2013)
- Tom Prehn Kvartet - Tom Prehns Kvartet (1967)
- The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (1966)
- Wipers - Over the Edge (1983)
- John Coltrane - Giant Steps (1960)
- Nirvana - In utero (1993)
- Nick Drake - Pink Moon (1972)
- The Frank Wright Quartet - Your Prayer (1967)
- Bob James Trio - Explosions (1965)
- The Zbigniew Namysłowski Quintet - Winobranie (1973)
- Death - Leprosy (1988)
- Andrew Hill - Compulsion (1965)
- Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra - When Sun Comes Out (1963)
- Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band - Doc at the Radar Station (1980)
- The Beatles - The Beatles (1968)
- Butthole Surfers - Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac (1984)
- Charles Mingus - Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (1964)
- The Keith Tippett Group - Dedicated to You, But You Weren't Listening (1971)
- Dead Kennedys - Plastic Surgery Disasters (1982)
- Two Inch Astronaut - Foulbrood (2014)
- Tim Berne - Fractured Fairy Tales (1989)
- Pixies - Doolittle (1989)
- B12 - Electro-Soma (1993)
- Joy Division - Closer (1980)
- Yes - Close to the Edge (1972)
- The Stranglers - Rattus Norvegicus (1977)
- Radiohead - Amnesiac (2001)
- Nico - The Marble Index (1968)
- Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West (1997)
- Giuseppi Logan - The Giuseppi Logan Quartet (1965)
- Gang of Four - Entertainment! (1979)
- Thelonious Monk - Solo Monk (1965)
- A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders (1993)
- Suicide - Suicide (1977)
- Miles Davis - Bitches Brew (1970)
- Aphex Twin - Richard D. James Album (1996)
- Frank Zappa - Hot Rats (1969)
- Henry Grimes Trio - The Call (1966)
- Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance (1978)
- The Ornette Coleman Double Quartet - Free Jazz (1961)
- Ernest Bloch / Kocian Quartet / Ivan Klánský - The Two Piano Quintets (2003)
- Wipers - Is This Real? (1980)
- Black Country, New Road - For the First Time (2021)
- Failure - Fantastic Planet (1996)
- Sambrasa Trio - Em som maior (1965)
- Besombes-Rizet - Pôle (1975)
- Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners (1957)
- YMO - BGM (1981)
- Manfred Schoof Sextett - Manfred Schoof Sextett (1967)
- Arditti String Quartet - Sreichquartett Op. 3; Lyrische Suite (1994)
- Michio Miyagi - 宮城道雄名曲選集 (Masterpieces of Koto) (1956)
- Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy (1973)
- Joe Jackson - Look Sharp! (1979)
- Karlheinz Stockhausen - Gesang der Jünglinge; Kontakte (1962)
- Roy Haynes, Phineas Newborn, Paul Chambers - We Three (1959)
- Dyzan - Electric Silence (1974)
- Oneohtrix Point Never - R Plus Seven (2013)
- Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris (2007)
- Bastard - Wind of Pain (1990)
- Electric Wizard - Dopethrone (2000)
- Paul & Linda McCartney - Ram (1971)
- Radiohead - OK Computer (1997)
- Claudio Arrau - Études Opus 10; Allegro de concert Opus 46 (1956)
- Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream (1993)
- The Pop Group - Y (1979)
- Etron fou leloublan - Batelages (1977)
- Failure - Magnified (1994)
- Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel (1980)
- Collegium Vocale Gent - Weinen, Klagen... Cantates BWV 12, 38, 75 (2005)
- The Strokes - Is This It (2001)
- Elliott Smith - Elliott Smith (1995)
- Leonidas Kavakos / Péter Nagy - Sonate posthume; Tzigane / Impressions d'enfance; Sonata No.3 (2003)
- The Smiths - Meat is Murder (1985)
- Frank Sinatra - Watertown (1970)
- Louis Prima - The Wildest (1956)
- The Doors - Strange Days (1967)
- Marty Robbins - Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs (1959)
- Michael Hurley, The Unholy Modal Rounders, et al. - Have Moicy! (1976)
- Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (1992)
- Death Grips - The Money Store (2012)
- John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (1965)
- XTC - Drums and Wires (1979)
- Steve Roach - Structures From Silence (1984)
- Klangforum Wien / Peter Rundel / Wolfgang Mitterer - coloured noise (2006)
- Pixies - Surfer Rosa (1988)
- Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Charles Dutoit / Martha Argerich - Klavierkonzert Nr.1 b-moll (1971)
- ICP Orchestra - Groupcomposing (1971)
- The Charlie Mingus Jazz Workshop - Pithecanthropus Erectus (1956)
- Faust - Faust (1971)
- Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959)
- Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - Safe As Milk (1967)
- Maurice Béjart / Pierre Henry / Alain Cuny - Orphée (1960)
- Clifford Brown and Max Roach - Study in Brown (1955)
- Radiohead - In Rainbows (2007)
- Archie Shepp / Bill Dixon Quartet - Archie Shepp / Bill Dixon Quartet (1963)
- The Mothers - The Grand Wazoo (1972)
- Pixies - Bossanova (1990)
- Nine Inch Nails - Bad Witch (2018)
- Arditti Quartet / Anton Webern - The Complete String Trios and Quartets (1991)
- Lil Ugly Mane - Volcanic Bird Enemy and the Voiced Concern (2021)
- XTC - Skylarking (1986)
- Primus - Pork Soda (1993)
- The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
- Radiohead - The Bends (1995)
- Cat Stevens - Tea for the Tillerman (1970)
- People Under the Stairs - Question in the Form of an Answer (2000)
- The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead (1986)
- Cat Stevens - Teaser and the Firecat (1971)
- Iggy Pop - The Idiot (1977)
- The Mothers of Invention - Uncle Meat (1969)
- Devo - Duty Now for the Future (1979)
- God - The Anatomy of Addiction (1994)
- The Beatles - Revolver (1966)
- Swans - Filth (1983)
- X - Los Angeles (1980)
- Anthony Braxton - Town Hall 1972 (1972)
- Karen Phillips - The Viola in My Life; False Relationships and the Extended Ending (1971)
- Shibusashirazu - 渋星 (Shibuboshi) (2004)
- Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring (1986)
- Talking Heads - Remain in Light (1980)
- Aki Takahashi et al. - (Last Composition) Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello (2011)
- Nino Nardini & Roger Roger - Jungle Obsession (1972)
- Talk Talk - Laughing Stock (1991)
- Tyler the Creator - Igor (2019)
- Slayer - Reign in Blood (1986)
- Godspeed You Black Emperor! - F♯A♯∞ (1997)
- John Coltrane - Coltrane's Sound (1964)
- Miles Davis - Get Up With It (1974)
- The Stooges - The Stooges (1969)
- Carmell Jones - The Remarkable Carmell Jones (1961)
- John Coltrane - The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording (2001)
- Deftones - Deftones (2003)
- Talk Talk - The Party's Over (1982)
- Igor Wakhévitch - Docteur Faust (1971)
- Françoise Hardy - Le premier bonheur du jour (1963)
- Nirvana - Nevermind (1991)
- King Crimson - Red (1974)
- Relient K - Forget and Not Slow Down (2009)
- Stan Getz & João Gilberto featuring Antônio Carlos Jobim - Getz / Gilberto (1964)
- INU - Meshi Kunna! (1981)
- Insides - Euphoria (1993)
- Romanesca et al. - Violin Sonatas (1994)
- Friedrich Gulda His Piano and Big Band - From Vienna with Jazz (1964)
- Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden (1988)
- Albert Ayler - Prophecy (1975)
- Failure - Comfort (1992)
- Moss Icon - Lyburnum Wits End Liberation Fly (1993)
- Paul Clayton - Whaling and Sailing Songs From the Days of Moby Dick (1956)
- Madvillain - Madvillainy (2004)
- The Doors - The Doors (1967)
- ICP Orchestra - Jubilee Varia (1999)