“What really matters is what you like, not what you are like.”
– Nick Hornby, High Fidelity (1995)
Readers who have enjoyed our interviews from time to time know that we typically ask artists to share their five favorite albums of all time at the end of our conversations with them. No matter who the artist is, it’s always fascinating to discover which long players have impacted their personal and professional lives. A few of our interview subjects have even scoffed at the standard five-album limit, rattling off upwards of a dozen or so titles and second-guessing if they’ve made the right choices.
Today, and considering that we’re still in the midst of the year 2020, we’re excited to reveal our writers’ respective lists of their 20 all-time favorite albums. We all reserve the right to change our minds about these choices in the future, but for now, here are the indispensable albums that we can’t live without and the reasons why.
Explore Sarah Paolantonio’s 20 favorites below, click the “Next” button at the bottom of the page to browse the lists or return to the main index.
Big Brother & The Holding Company | Cheap Thrills
Columbia (1968)
My favorite sound is James Gurley’s guitar on Cheap Thrills. Thought of as a live album, the sounds of the crowd were added later. “Ball and Chain” was the only one recorded in front of an audience at Winterland. Like the cover art by R. Crumb, Cheap Thrills is organized chaos. Blood, sweat, sex, and loneliness might be the most explored themes of life in music, but no one does it like Big Brother.
Miles Davis | In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk, Complete
Columbia/Legacy/Sony International (2003)
Recorded in San Francisco in 1961, this collection captures four hours of hard bop and post-bop: rhythm and improv heavy jazz featuring sax and piano with Miles on trumpet blowing everyone out of the water. Like many, Miles Davis was my entry point to jazz and as I continue to explore the genre he remains at the top of a long list. Blackhawk is an excellent place to start for newcomers: put it on while you clean, write, organize, drive, cook, and fall in.
Dr. Dog | Easy Beat
Park the Van (2005)
Back when they were making more experimental psychedelic pop music, Dr. Dog released Easy Beat. Fellow Dr. Dog fans are hard to come by once you leave the Philadelphia area. Recorded at home with an eight-track tape, Easy Beat is rooted in dissonance and guitar solos that would make George Harrison proud. As a band their greatest strength is rooted in dual lead vocalists, Scott McMicken and Toby Leaman, one pop, one raspy and raw. Fate is their masterpiece, but Easy Beat captures their core.
Bob Dylan | Bringing It All Back Home
Columbia (1965)
I’m never done listening to Bringing It All Back Home. The first record in the classic Bob Dylan trio delivered upon us in 1965 and 1966, it’s more than electric. A lot of people have a lot of opinions about Bob Dylan and I want to hear all of them. It’s my life goal. Any woman not busy being born is busy dying.
Father John Misty | Pure Comedy
Bella Union/Sub Pop (2017)
Pure Comedy is an hour-long collection of apocalyptic ballads recorded before anyone thought Trump would win the 2016 election and released just a few months into his administration. It’s about the politics of delusion, calls out hipsters and homophobes, and is a soundtrack to a downfall in progress.
While touring his debut, 2012’s Fear Fun, I sidled up to Josh Tillman in the Red Room Bar below The Black Cat venue in Washington, D.C. and after a brief exchange he gave me a hug; it was like hugging a tree. As depraved as Pure Comedy is, it wraps me in the comfort of a perverse reality not everyone is willing to acknowledge.
The Vince Guaraldi Trio | A Charlie Brown Christmas
Fantasy (1965)
When December comes, there’s only one thing I want to hear and it’s A Charlie Brown Christmas. San Francisco jazz giant Vince Guaraldi is known for soundtracking the Peanuts gang. The sound is unmistakable even if jazz isn’t your bag, and has become a mainstay in the holiday genre. Including a Christmas record on this list seems ridiculous, but so is living without it.
Jefferson Airplane | Surrealistic Pillow
RCA Victor (1967)
Jefferson Airplane is the first psychedelic band I fell in love with when I was sixteen. Since then I’ve always wanted to move to California and disappear into a hippie paradise. Grace Slick brought “White Rabbit” and “Somebody To Love” to Airplane and rocketed them into sustained success. But it’s the rest of the record I return to most often. My favorite song of all time, “Today,” is the dark, humming pulse of a stoned afternoon. Slow down and play it again.
Led Zeppelin | Houses of the Holy
Atlantic (1973)
Led Zeppelin is the first band I ever loved: eighth grade. I wrote my college entrance essay on LZ II and fell in love with LZ III soon after. It’s impossible for me to pick one. Every few years my lineup changes, but right now it’s Houses of the Holy. I could try and understand Page’s tricks—vari-speed, compression, and pitch dropping—but instead I reach for “No Quarter,” where John Paul Jones takes on the bass with keys. It creates a deep, swamp of electricity, and this is where I live.
Joni Mitchell | Miles of Aisles
Asylum (1974)
The live record is the ultimate playlist, chosen by the artist themselves with alternative, one-of-a-kind renditions of hits and misses. As far as Joni Mitchell studio albums go, Blue is the obvious choice, Ladies Of The Canyon a close second. Miles of Aisles was recorded while Mitchell was touring Court & Spark and allows me to have it all. Aisles is home to my favorite version of one of my all-time favorite songs: “Cactus Tree” tells the story of a woman who fears a man will ask her for eternity...but she’s too busy being free.
Joanna Newsom | The Milk-Eyed Mender
Drag City (2004)
When I saw Joanna Newsom perform live in 2019, I knew I was in the presence of a genius. It took me years to come around to her records and it all started with her full-length debut on Drag City, The Milk-Eyed Mender. Her music is not for everyone but to those folks I say, read the lyrics as you listen. Newsom is a complex, brilliant musician that exceeds any expectations of what a songwriter can do, unique to her core.
Nirvana | Nevermind
DGC (1991)
It feels ridiculous to include this record on a list of my 20 favorite albums of all time because it’s so played, but to forget it would be a lie. My favorite fact is that Dave Grohl was twenty-two years old when he drummed on Nevermind. And the only thing that hits harder is my favorite track, the quiet “Something In The Way.” It does what all art should do: it grabs you with wet hands and forces you to look.
Liz Phair | Exile in Guyville
Matador (1993)
The moment “Fuck and Run” was put on a mix CD for me in high school was the moment. It came again later when I read Gina Arnold’s 33 ⅓ edition on Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville, interpreted by many as a track-by-track feminist response to The Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main St. (1972). The songs are full of sexuality and liberation, like the photo on the cover suggests. They simultaneously make me want to striptease and build a PowerPoint outline on feminist rage and desire.
Elliott Smith | Elliott Smith
Kill Rock Stars (1995)
I love the way Smith takes a familiar folk sing-along and pushes it entirely out of view: “Waking you up to close the bar...bartender singing ‘Clementine’ / while he’s turning around the open sign.” I see Smith’s head resting on the bar, and then in “St. Ides Heaven,” walking around drunk every night. Somber and sullen, Elliott Smith soothes me and, to everyone’s surprise, always cheers me up.
The Specials | The Specials
2 Tone (1979)
Produced by Elvis Costello, The Specials is a blueprint for first wave British ska. Many tracks are covers of traditional Jamaican ska standards by Cecil Campbell, Toots Hibbert, Clement Seymour, and others. The version on streaming services has a different track listing than the original LP but still captures the two-tone energetic thrust of the original. By far my favorite music to dance to even if I look like an idiot, it’s my ultimate party record. Gimme those horns!
Titus Andronicus | The Monitor
XL (2010)
For an hour-long concept record about The Civil War, The Monitor is a lot of fun. For me it comes at the five-minute mark when the piano comes in on “A Pot In Which To Piss.” The songs are long (“Pot” is just under nine minutes), there are excerpts of speeches from Abraham Lincoln, William Lloyd Garrison, Jefferson Davis, and Walt Whitman. Sonically it’s complex and textured. It’s not a record I listen to often but is one I always listen to all the way though.
tUnE-yArDs | w h o k i l l
4AD (2011)
The loop artistry of Merrill Garbus knows no bounds. w h o k i l l is a standalone and won the coveted No.1 spot on The Village Voice’s Pazz & Jop end of year poll in 2011. It’s hard to believe it has aged at all because every time it sounds like something you’ve never heard before. Lyrics will catch you off guard. You’ll dance, you’ll wonder where it’s leading you, and then you’ll dance some more.
The Velvet Underground | Loaded
Cotillion (1970)
For my 30th birthday I got my first tattoo: the pink clouds from the cover of Loaded on my right shoulder blade. It’s hard to choose a favorite Velvets record because there’s only four and each one does something the other can’t. Loaded is a snide answer from Lou to the record company’s request: “deliver us an album loaded with hits!” Part the clouds and descend the subway stairs into The Velvets’ pungent portrait of New York City.
The White Stripes | Elephant
V2/XL/Third Man (2003)
Whenever I’m feeling down or angry, I test out my stereo to see how loud it can go (not loud enough) and wait for the solo on “Ball and Biscuit.” The twist in Jack White’s guitar smooths my edges every time. It’s a concept record about the death of the American sweetheart, relies on The White Stripes color code—black, white, and red—and smashes anything you thought you knew about delta blues and garage rock. Elephant is an indie rock cannon and beloved by all, but I love it more.
Wilco | A Ghost Is Born
Nonesuch (2004)
Everything you need to know about A Ghost Is Born is in my 15th anniversary write-up right here. What I didn’t squeeze into that piece is how much I personally love Wilco. They are my favorite modern band and I don’t tolerate any naysayers. I’ve traveled out of state three times to see them and could go on and on. AGIB too often takes a backseat to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002), but, to me, remains the high point of their creative, colorful discography.
Neil Young | On the Beach
Reprise (1974)
On the Beach is my third arm. I always feel it. I wait for the few seconds on the title track when Young lets his guitar wobble, just a little bit, up a few notes and back down. This is the soundtrack to my preferred beach day: clouds, steady wind, and no one else.