[rexhamer]

What a great idea for a thread. I had a ball going through my collection and reminiscing. As others have said, impossible to pick one. In fact, I had a hard time narrowing it down to ten - so I added an honorable mention section. Here they are, in rough chronological order, and a little on why:

1. Phil Ochs - "Pleasures of the Harbor". Probably many have not even heard of him. He was a protest singer in the 60's ( a la Dylan), but switched gears for this album. The title cut is one of the most beatiful ballads ever recorded.
2. Neil Young - "Harvest". Stellar from first to last cut. The culmination of three tremendous albums in a row. "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" and "After the Gold Rush" could easily have made this list as well.
3. Steely Dan - "Can't Buy A Thrill". The first album that I ever bought. Steely Dan was huge for me in college.
4. Pink Floyd - "Dark Side of the Moon" What more could I add that hasn't already been said. Close the door, switch on the black light, turn on the stereo and light up. Aahh - UMass in the 70's.
5. YES - "Yessongs" A live album that doubles as a greatest hits. This is sort of cheating because it is a three disc set. Another great album for the dorm room - are you detecting a pattern here?
6. Joni Mitchell - "Court and Spark" Required reading for any music collection.
7. Springsteen - "Born to Run". You were considered hip if you were into Springsteen before this album. Afterwards he belonged to everybody. This LP put him on the cover of Time & Newsweek. And the rest is history.
8. Little Feat - "Waiting for Columbus". Another live album that serves as a greatest hits at the time. The band at its peak before the death of Lowell George. Never the same since.
9. The Smiths - "The Smiths". Hard to pick one out of so many great albums. This is their debut. Let the mopeing begin!
10. U2 - "Joshua Tree" Already had a number of good albums under their belt, this one brought them to a new level.

Honorable Mention:
Beatles - almost any album, espercially the early ones.
Doors - "Morrison Hotel". "I woke up this morning and I got myself a beer".
Led Zepplin - "Led Zepplin II"
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"
Jethro Tull - "Thick as a Brick".
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - "Brain Salad Surgery"
R.E.M. - "Murmur".
Allman Brothers - "Eat A Peach".
Thin Lizzy - "Jailbreak"
Traffic - "Low Spark of High Heeled Boys"
Stevie Wonder - "Songs in the Key of Life"
Waterboys - "Fisherman's Blues".
Woodstock - Original Soundtrack (from the 60's, not the recent stuff)

And just so you don't think I am an old fart:
Pete Yorn - "Musicforthemorningafter"
Bush - "Sixteen Stone"
Cavedogs - "Joyrides for Shut-Ins"
The Strokes - "Is This It?"

Please don't ask me to come up with a favorite single. I think my head would explode!