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INHAILER RADIO'S TOP 500 ALBUMS OF ALL-TIME: (#150-126)

  • Writer: Jay Burgin
    Jay Burgin
  • Feb 26, 2021
  • 4 min read

Updated: Mar 29, 2021

This is the 15th post in this series. Click here to start from the beginning: Inhailer's Top 500 Albums of All-Time: (#500-476)


Every Friday, Inhailer is counting down our totally objective, completely undisputed, most-correct list of the Top 500 albums of all time. We're doing so in bite-size chunks of 25 albums (nobody has the energy in their thumbs to scroll through 500 albums in one sitting). Last week we continued our countdown with the likes of A Tribe Called Quest, The Cure, and Big Star. This week we continue with Nos. 150-126. The ask was simple: excluding compilation albums, what are the 500 best albums of all-time, ranked? Here's the fifteenth list in the countdown:


150. Elvis Costello - My Aim is True (1977)

A little known songwriter named Declan MacManus called in sick to his day job clerking to record a debut album with backing band Clover, launching his rise to stardom.

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149. Spacemen 3 - The Perfect Prescription (1987)

This 'ecstasy symphony' of quirky neo-psychedelia simulates the experience in its spacey grandeur.

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148. Groove Armada - Vertigo (2000)

Intentionally ambiguous in form but meticulous in sound, their work is as much ambient pop as it is shoe-gaze.

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147. Sly and the Family Stone - There's A Riot Goin' On (1971)

Sly abandoned the R&B pop format with brilliant pysch funk songs like "Family Affair," "Spaced Cowboy," and "Time."

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146. Fiona Apple - When the Pawn... (1999)

For her sophomore album, Apple created a new vision of the singer songwriter. Oh, and read the whole album title, we'll wait.

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145. Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994)

Do do do do do doooo, do do do do do do do dooooooo. Can you hear this catchy indie rock cut your hair?

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144. Frank Ocean - Channel ORANGE (2012)

Orange was the color Ocean associated with the summer he feel in love, synesthesia wrapped up in shimmering bedroom R&B.

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143. The Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die (1994)

Halfway through recording his debut album, Biggie's producer (P. Diddy) was fired by his record label. Luckily, the work was not lost the A&R shuffle.

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142. Beyoncé - Lemonade (2016)

Today's queen of pop showed an unapologetic blackness that was deeply and painfully informed by knowledge of black history, identity, and culture.

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141. Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica (2000)

Named after an easter egg in Blade Runner, this alternative masterpiece is just as disorienting, cold, and moody as Ridley Scott's magnum opus.

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140. 2PAC - All Eyez On Me (1996)

The last album released before his tragic death, 2Pac cemented his legacy with the first ever mainstream double album in hip hop.

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139. Chicago - Chicago Transit Authority (1969)

Before all of the cheesiness, CTA captures a tight blend of jazz and rock. The band even took a royalty cut in order to release their debut as a double album.

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138. Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children (1998)

A pastiche of detuned synths, field recordings, and clunky samples, this album was crucial in developing the genres of electronic and digital music.

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137. Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People (2002)

Kevin Drew fronted an eleven piece ensemble that explored the limits of density of the indie rock sound.

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136. Mort Garson - Mother Earth's Plantasia (1976)

You could only find this record if you bought a houseplant from an LA plant store or a Simmons mattress from a Sears outlet. Still, against all odds, the album became a cult classic; and, it helps your plants grow.

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135. Mew - Frengers (2003)

Danish indie rock band perfectly captures the discomfort of being in the middle; they are not quite a friend, but not quite a stranger.

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134. The Who - Who's Next (1971)

The Who assembled anthems like "Baba O'Riley," "Behind Blue Eyes," and "Won't Get Fooled Again" on arguably the most even-keeled of classic rock albums.

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133. Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)

Flavor Flav and Chuck D set out to match Marvin Gays, making the hip hop equivalent of "What's Goin' On." What resulted was sharp-tongued social commentary via hard-hitting rhymes.

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132. LCD Soundsystem - Sounds of Silver (2007)

James Murphy shaped the archetypal album in the elusive "dance punk" category with his trademark punchy, East Coast electronica.

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131. Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland (1969)

Hendrix self-produced his only double album that featuring extreme exploration of what the electric guitar can be. It scorches from Voodoo Chile to Voodoo Child.

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130. Howlin' Wolf - Moanin' in the Moonlight (1959)

This is almost certainly the most influential blues album of all-time, and it features the premiere cast of blues players, including Ike Turner, Otis Spann, and Willie Dixon.

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129. Jonathan Richman - I, Jonathan (1992)

The soft side of punk shines through on Jonathan Richman's idiosyncratic, quirky art rock (read as: the awkward opening act in a high school battle of the bands).

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128. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band (1967)

Okay, bare with us. Sgt. Pepper's aesthetic statement is legendary. Its studio innovation is excellent. Its songwriting... isn't their best.

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127. Randy Newman - Good Old Boys (1974)

Newman expanded his palette, adding MOOG synthesizers, heavy background vocals, and layered Rhodes pianos over his already-iconic singer-songwriter schtick.

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126. Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959)

The crown jewel of free jazz was a sea change for the genre, proving that radical and expanded formations of jazz could reach audiences provocatively.

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Want to listen to our choice cuts from this list? Follow our countdown playlist on Spotify!

Stay tuned for Inhailer Radio's next installment in the totally objective, completely undisputed, most-correct list of the Top 500 Albums of All-Time. Disagree with our rankings? Definitely don't @ us on our Facebook and Instagram. Next week: #125-101.

 
 
 

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