Music

Music Reviews

Here is nearly every review I have written about the recorded music I have listened to in my life, sorted by year.

Below the table you will eventually find my attempt at creating definitive lists of the best rock, jazz and maybe even “classical” music I’m aware of. But this is work in progress.

How to Read This Table

You can’t take any rankings seriously from any year after 2006. In 2006 I got rid of my internet connection (and didn’t get a new one for 4 or 5 years). My only source of music news was Exclaim! and that remained somewhat true for a few years after that. Occasionally, I look at Best of lists for a given year, but I haven’t paid much attention in the last decade in particular.

But you really shouldn’t take any of the 21st century rankings seriously. I didn’t start listening to contemporary music with any kind of regularity until I was in my late teens, before that it was Oldies and Classic Rock. So the rankings prior to 2000 are significantly more definitive than the 21st century rankings.

I am an album fan and prefer albums, but the LP didn’t come around until the 1940s and wasn’t fully adopted until a decade later. So, if you are interested in what I think about popular music or jazz released prior to the 1950s, you’ll usually have to click through to the page to see my rankings of individual records, which are separate from the overall lists of albums/works.

202420232022:
1. Joe Policastro: Sounds Unheard
2. Trevor Dunn: Seances
3. The Mars Volta
4. Wilco: Cruel Country
5. South Park 25th Anniversary
6. Jazz Sabbath, Vol. 2
2021:
1. Bob’s Burgers Vol. 2
2. GY!BE: G_d’s Pee at STATE’s End!
3. Tomahawk: Tonic Immobility
4. Glutenhead: Palmerston

2020:
1. Fiona Apple: Fetch the Boltcutters
2. Guga Stroeter, Lucio Agra, Renato Soares – Computador do Amor
3. tētēma: Necroscape
4. Jazz Sabbath
5. Scott the Hoople: NEIL
6. Pearl Jam: Gigaton
2019:
1. Joe Policastro: Nothing Belongs Here
2. Tool: Fear Inoculum
2018:
1. Missing Waves: Post-Crash (7/10)
2. Rabbit Rabbit: Black Inscription
2017:
1. Godspeed You! Black Emperor: â€œLuciferian Towers”
2. Bob’s Burgers Music Album
3. Joe Policastro: Screen Sounds
4. Ex Eye
5. Vijay Iyer Sextet: Far From Over
6. Panzerballet: X-Mas Death Jazz
2016:
1. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Skeleton Tree
2. Radiohead: A Moon Shaped Pool
3. The Dillinger Escape Plan: Dissociation
4. Joe Policastro: Pops!
5. The Bad Plus: It’s Hard
6. Weaves
7. Free Salamander Exhibit: Undestroyed
8. Wilco: Schmilco
2015:
1. Steve Coleman & the Council of Balance: Synovial Joints
2. Vijay Iyer: Break Stuff
3. The Visit: Through Darkness Into Light
4. Mary Halvorson: Meltframe
5. Wilco: Star Wars
6. The Bad Plus Joshua Redman
7. Godspeed You! Black Emperor: â€˜Asunder, Sweet & Other Distress’
8. Rabbit Rabbit Radio Vol. 3 – Year of the Wooden Horse
9. Faith No More: Sol Invictus
10. Battles: La Di Da Di
2014:
1. tetema: Geocidal
2. Tinariwen: Emmaar
3. Parquet Courts: Sunbathing Animal
4. Thurston Moore: The Best Day
5. Robert Ellis: Lights from the Chemical Plant
6. Scott Walker, Sunn O))): Soused
7. Daniel Lanois: Flesh & Machine
8. Tord Gustavsen Quartet: Extended Circle
9. Beck: Morning Phase
10. John Hiatt: Terms of My Surrender

2013:
1. Hilary Hahn: In 27 Pieces: the Hilary Hahn Encores (9/10)
2. Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society: Brooklyn Babylon
3. The Dillinger Escape Plan: One of Us is the Killer
4. The Mary Halvorson Septet: Illusionary Sea
5. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Push the Sky Away
6. Deafheaven: Sunbather
7. The Flaming Lips: The Terror
8. Rabbit Rabbit: Rabbit Rabbit Radio, Vol. 1
9. Julian Lynch: Lines
10. Dave Holland: Prism
2012:
1. Godspeed You! Black Emperor: â€˜Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!
1. Scott Walker: Bish Bosch
3. Fiona Apple: The Idler Wheel
4. John Zorn: The Gnostic Preludes
5. Hilary Hahn, Hauschka: Silfra
6. The Mars Volta: Nocturniquet
7. Dirty Projectors: Swing Lo Magellan
8. Jack White: Blunderbuss
9. Failure Epics
10. Weasel Walter, Mary Halvorson, Peter Evans: Mechanical Malfunction
2011:
1. PJ Harvey: Let England Shake
2. Dave Douglas & Brass Ecstasy: United Front: Brass Ecstasy Live at Newport
3. The Book of Mormon
4. Peter Gabriel: New Blood
5. Tom Waits: Bad as Me
6. Bill Frisell’s 858 Quartet: Sign of Life
7. Man Man: Life Fantastic
8. Erik Friedlander: Bonebridge
9. Esmerine: La Lechuza
10. Weasel Walter, Mary Halvorson, Peter Evans: Electric Fruit
2010:
1. The Element Choir at Rosedale United
2. Nels Cline: Dirty Baby
3. The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights
4. Elvis Costello: The National Ransom
5. Peter Gabriel: Scratch My Back
6. The Claudia Quintet: Royal Toast
7. Jason Robinson: Two Faces of Janus
8. Grinderman 2
9. Bill Frisell: Beautiful Dreamers
10. theHEAD: Trojan Jazz Festival
2009:
1. Dave Douglas: Spirit Moves
1. Masada Quintet: Stolas
3. Dave Douglas: A Single Sky
4. Olga Konkova: Improvisational Four
5. The Flaming Lips: Embryonic
6. Wilco: Ashes of American Flags
7. Simard & Fabi: Dvorak, Poulenc, Grieg
8. St. Vincent: Actor
9. Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca
10. Do Make Say Think: Other Truths
2008:
1. Bill Frisell: History, Mystery
2. Man Man: Rabbit Habbits
3. The Mars Volta: The Bedlam in Goliath
4. Christina Petrowska Quilco: Ings
5. Fred Eaglesmith: Tinderbox
6. Black Mountain: In the Future
7. Beck: Modern Guilt
8. Stephen Malkmus: Real Emotional Trash
9. Listening Part: Who Are We Missing
10. Ry Cooder: I, Flathead
2007:
1. Tomahawk: Anonymous
2. PJ Harvey: White Chalk
3. Steve Coleman: Invisible Paths
4. Erik Friedlander: Block Ice & Propane
5. Wilco: Sky Blue Sky
6. Radiohead: In Rainbows
7. The Bad Plus: Prog
8. Grinderman
9. Ry Cooder: My Name is Buddy
10. The White Stripes: Icky Thump
2006:
1. Scott Walker: The Drift
2. Joanna Newsom: Ys
3. TV On the Radio: Return to Cookie Mountain
4. Battle of Mice: A Day of Nights
5. Pearl Jam
6. Bob Dylan: Modern Times
7. Keith Jarrett: The Carnegie Hall Concert
8. Ben Goldberg: The Door, The Hat, The Chair, The Fact
9. Oliver Knussen: Requiem
10. Beck: The Information
2005:
1. Ry Cooder: Chavez Ravine
2. The Mars Volta: Frances the Mute
3. Petra Haden Sings The Who Sell Out
4. Bill Frisell: East/West
5. Bill Frisell: Richter 858
6. Konono No.1: Congotronics
7. The White Stripes: Get Behind Me Satan
8. Dave Douglas: Keystone
9. Queens of the Stone Age: Lullabies to Paralyze
10. Wilco: Kicking Television
2004:
1. Nick Cave: Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus
2. Wilco: A Ghost is Born
3. Secret Chiefs 3: Book of Horizons
4. Bjork: Medulla
5. Trevor Dunn: Sister Phantom Owl Fish
6. Acoustic Ladyland: Camouflage
7. TV on the Radio: Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes
8. Valley of the Giants
9. Drive-By Truckers: The Dirty South
10. Iron & Wine: Our Endless Numbered Days
2003:
1. Radiohead: Hail to the Thief
2. Do Make Say Think: Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn
3. The White Stripes: Elephant
4. Pearl Jam: Lost Dogs
5. Tomahawk: Mit Gas
6. Kid Koala: Some of My Best Friends are DJs
7. Bill Frisell: The Intercontinentals
8. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Fever to Tell
9. Virgil Shaw: Still Falling
10. DirtyThree: She Has No Strings Apollo
2002:
1. Godspeed You! Black Emperor: Yanqui U.X.O.
2. Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
3. Beck: Sea Change
4. Oliver Knussen: Violin Concerto
5. Sigur Ros: ()
6. Augusta Read Thomas: In My Sky at Twilight
7. Do Make Say Think: & Yet & Yet
8. Tom Waits: Blood Money
9. Tom Waits: Alice
10. John Paul Jones: The Thunderthief
2001:
1. Fantomas: The Director’s Cut
2. The White Stripes: White Blood Cells
3. Bjork: Vespertine
4. Tool: Lateralus
5. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: No More Shall We Part
6. The Beta Band: Hot Shots II
7. Tomahawk
8. System of a Down: Toxicity
9. Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire: The Swimming Hour
10. Low: Things We Lost in the Fire
2000:
1. Godspeed You! Black Emperor: Lift Yr. Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven!
2. Pearl Jam: Binaural
3. Badly Drawn Boy: The Hour of the Bewilderbeast
4. At the Drive-In: Relationship of Command
5. Deftones: White Pony
6. Kid Koala: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
7. Ween: White Pepper
8. Erykah Badu: Mama’s Gun
9. Queens of the Stone Age: [Rated] R
10. Joanne Brackeen: Popsicle Illusion
1999:
1. Mr. Bungle: California
2. Nigel Kennedy: The Kennedy Experience
3. Wilco: Summerteeth
4. Sigur Ros: Agaetis Byrjun
5. Fantomas
6. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy: I See a Darkness
7. Fiona Apple: When the Pawn…
8. The Flaming Lips: The Soft Bulletin
9. The Beta Band
10. The Dismemberment Plan: Emergency & I
1998:
1. Godspeed You! Black Emperor: F#A# Infinity
2. John Zorn: The Circle Maker
3. Tortoise: TNT
4. Converge: When Forever Comes Crashing
5. PJ Harvey: Is This Desire?
6. Refused: The Shape of Punk to Come
7. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
8. At the Drive-In: In/Casino/Out
9. Mark Hollis
10. Secret Chiefs 3: Second Grand Constitution & By-Laws
1997:
1. Radiohead: OK Computer
2. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: The Boatman’s Call
3. The Flaming Lips: Zaireeka
4. Yo La Tengo: I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One
5. Bjork: Homogenic
6. Mogwai: Young Team
7. Blur
8. Built to Spill: Perfect From Now On
9. Great Jewish Music: Burt Bacharach
10. Ween: The Mollusk
1996:
1. Tortoise: Millions Now Living Will Never Die
2. Beck: Odelay
3. Neurosis: Through Silver in Blood
4. Converge: Petitioning the Empty Sky
5. The Make Up: Destination Love
6. Wilco: Being There
7. Sepultura: Roots
8. Pearl Jam: No Code
9. Dirty Three: Horse Stories
10. Neutral Milk Hotel: On Avery Island
1995:
1. Mr. Bungle: Disco Volante
2. Blind Melon: Soup
3. Whiskeytown: Faithless Street
4. Scott Walker: Tilt
5. Radiohead: The Bends
6. Meshuggah: Destroy Erase Improve
7. The Geraldine Fibbers: Lost Somewhere Between the World & My Home
8. Pavement: Wowee Zowee
9. Faith No More: King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime
10. The Flaming Lips: The Clouds Taste Metallic
1994:
1. Masada: Alef
2. Ween: Chocolate & Cheese
3. Nas: Illmatic
4. Soundgarden: Superunknown
5. Beck: Mellow Gold
6. Pavement: Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
7. Emperor: In the Nightside Eclipse
8. Blur: Parklife

9. Nick Cave & the Bad Sees: Let Love In
10. Bark Psychosis: Hex
1993:
1. Bill Frisell: Have a Little Faith
2. Pearl Jam: Vs.
3. Smashing Pumpkins: Siamese Dream
4. Archers of Loaf: Icky Mettle
5. PJ Harvey: Rid of Me
6. Nirvana: In Utero
7. Henry Gorecki: “Kleines Requiem fur eine Polka”
8. Blur: Modern Life is Rubbish
9. Liz Phair: Exile in Guyville
10. Bikini Kill: Pussy Whipped
1992:
1. Faith No More: Angel Dust
2. Tom Waits: Bone Machine
3. Pavement: Slanted & Enchanted
4. REM: Automatic for the People
5. Pantera: Vulgar Display of Power
6. Ministry: ΚΕΩΑΛΗΞΘ [Psalm 69]
7. GWAR: America Must Be Destroyed
8. The Jesus Lizard: Liar
9. Kyuss: Blues for the Red Sun
10. Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes
1991:
1. Slint: Spiderland
1. Talk Talk: Laughing Stock
3. Nirvana: Nevermind
4. Massive Attack: Blue Lines
5. My Bloody Valentine: Loveless
6. U2: Achtung Baby
7. Mr. Bungle
8. Atheist: Unquestionable Presence
9. Phillip Glass: String Quartet No. 5
10. Sofia Gubaidulina: “In croce”
1990:
1. Public Enemy: Fear of a Black Planet
2. A Tribe Called Quest: People’s Instinctive Travels & the Paths of Rhythm
3. Fugazi: Repeater
4. Pantera: Cowboys From Hell
5. God-Ween-Satan
6. Bathory: Hammerheart
7. Marty Ehrlich: The Traveller’s Tale
8. Ride: Nowhere
9. Slayer: Seasons in the Abyss
10. Primus: Frizzle Fry
1989:
1. Pixies: Doolittle
2. Lou Reed: New York
3. Faith No More: The Real Thing
4. The Cure: Disintegration
5. Beastie Boys: Paul’s Boutique
6. The Stone Roses
7. The Creatures: Boomerang
8. Kate Bush: The Sensual World
9. Nine Inch Nails: Pretty Hate Machine
10. Pestilence: Consuming Impulse
1988:
1. Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden
2. Pixies: Surfer Rosa
2. Sonic Youth: Daydream Nation
4. Dinosaur Jr: Bug
5. Cowboy Junkies: The Trinity Sessions
6. The Pogues: If I Should Fall From Grace with God
7. Public Enemy: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
8. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Tender Prey
9. Living Colour: Vivid
10. NWA: Straight Outta Compton
1987:
1. Guns ‘n’ Roses: Appetite for Destruction
2. Dinosaur Jr: You’re Living All Over Me
3. Sonic Youth: Sister
4. Prince: Sign o’ the Times
5. REM: Document
6. Death: Scream Bloody Gore
7. Blind Idiot God
8. fIREHOSE: If’n
9. Big Black: Songs About Fucking
10. HĂŒsker DĂŒ: Warehouse
1986:
1. Metallica: Master of Puppets
2. Slayer: Reign in Blood
3. Ennio Morricone: The Mission
4. Run-DMC: Raising Hell
5. Candlemass: Epicus Doomicus Metallicus
6. Saccharine Trust: We Became Snakes
7. Mauricio Kagel: String Quartet III
8. Bad Brains: I Against I
9. Sonic Youth: EVOL
10. Beastie Boys: Licensed to Ill
1985:
1. The Pogues: Rum, Sodomy & the Lash
1. Possessed: Seven Churches
1. Tom Waits: Rain Dogs
4. Mekons: Fear & Whiskey
5. Celtic Frost: To Mega Therion
6. Slayer: Hell Awaits
7. HĂŒsker DĂŒ: New Day Rising
8. Oliver Knussen: Higglety Pigglety Pop!
9. The Jesus & Mary Chain: Psychocandy
10. Gothic Voices: A Feather on the Breath of God
1984:
1. Metallica: Ride the Lightning
1. Run-DMC
3. HĂŒsker DĂŒ: Zen Arcade
4. Violent Femmes: Hallowed Ground
5. Minutemen: Double Nickels on the Dime
6. Cocteau Twins: Treasure
7. REM: Reckoning
8. This is Spinal Tap
9. Meat Puppets II
10. Fat Boys
1983:
1. Metallica: Kill’em All
2. Tom Waits: Swordfishtrombones
3. Minor Threat: Out of Step
4. REM: Murmur
5. Violent Femmes
6. Minutemen: What Makes a Man Start Fires?
7. The Police: Synchronicity
8. Talking Heads: Speaking in Tongues
9. Philip Glass: Koyaanisqatsi
10. The The: Soul Mining
1982:
1. Lenny Breau: Live at Bourbon St.
1. The Dream Syndicate: The Days of Wine & Roses
1. Glenn Gould: The Goldberg Variations
1. Sofia Gubaidulina: Sieben Worte
1. Mission of Burma: Vs.
6. Kate Bush: The Dreaming
7. Iron Maiden: The Number of the Beast
8. Album: Generic Flipper
9. The Fall: Hex Enduction Hour
10. Angry Samoans: Back From Samoa
1981:
1. Glenn Branca: The Ascension
2. Henryk Gorecki: “Misere”
3. Mauricio Kagel: “Finale”
4. King Crimson: Discipline
5. Black Flag: Damaged
6. The Raincoats: Odyshape
7. David Byrne, Brian Eno: My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
8. The Birthday Party: Prayers on Fire
9. This Heat: Deceit
10. Siouxsie & the Banshees: Juju
1980:
1. Talking Heads: Remain in Light
2. David Bowie: Scary Monsters
3. Dead Kennedys: Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
3. Joy Division: Closer
5. Bauhaus: In the Flat Field
6. Henryk Gorecki: Harpsichord Concerto
7. The Ganelin Trio: Ancora Da Capo
8. Siouxsie & the Banshees: Kaleidoscope
9. The Feelies: Crazy Rhythms
10. Motörhead: Ace of Spades
1979:
1. The Clash: London Calling
2. Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures
3. Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Rust Never Sleeps
4. Phillip Glass: Satyagraha
5. Pink Floyd: The Wall
6. Gang of Four: Entertainment!
7. Public Image Limited
8. David Bowie: Lodger
9. Motörhead: Overkill
10. James Chance & the Contortions: Buy
1978:
1. Wire: Chairs Missing
2. Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
3. Talking Heads: More Songs About Buildings & Food
4. Pere Ubu: Dub Housing
4. Pere Ubu: The Modern Dance
6. The Clash: Give’em Enough Rope
7. Grupo Irakere
8. Judas Priest: Stained Class
9. X-Ray Spex: Germ Free Adolescents
10: Tom Robinson Band: Power in the Darkness
1977:
1. David Bowie: Low
1. Richard Hell & the Voidoids: Blank Generation
1. Television: Marquee Moon
4. The Clash
5. David Bowie: “Heroes”
6. Damned Damned Damned
7. Wire: Pink Flag
8. Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols
9. Van Der Graaf: The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome
10. The Stranglers: No More Heroes
1976:
1. Phillip Glass: Einstein on the Beach
2. Ramones
3. David Bowie: Station to Station
4. Bob Dylan: Desire
5. The Modern Lovers
6. Joni Mitchell: Hejira
7. Jaco Pastorius
8. Rush: 2112
9. Bunny Wailer: Blackheart Man
10. Henryk Gorecki: Symphony No. 3
1975:
1. Keith Jarrett: The Koln Concert
2. Pink Floy: Wish You Were Here
2. Neil Young: Tonight’s the Night
4. Bob Dylan: Blood on the Tracks
5. Led Zeppelin: Physical Graffiti
6. Brian Eno: Another Green World
7. Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Zuma
8. Henry Gorecki: “Amen”
9. The Dictators: Go Girl Crazy!
10. Patti Smith: Horses
1974:
1. Genesis: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
2. Brian Eno: Here Come the Warm Jets
2. King Crimson: Red
4. Neil Young: On the Beach
5. King Crimson:
Starless & Bible Black
6. Brian Eno: Taking Tiger Mountain
7. Philip Glass: “Music in 12 Parts”
8. Richard Thompson, Linda Thompson: I Want to See the Bright Lights at Night
9. Joni Mitchell: Court & Spark
10. Gil-Scott Heron, Brian Jackson: Winter in America
1973:
1. Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon
2. The Who: Quadrophenia
3. King Crimson: Larks’ Tongues in Aspic
4. Led Zeppelin: Houses of the Holy
5. David Bowie: Aladdin Sane
6. New York Dolls
7. The Stooges: Raw Power
8. Herbie Hancock: Headhunters
9. Can: Future Days
10. Lou Reed: Berlin
1972:
1. Miles Davis: On the Corner
1. The Rolling Stones: Exile on Main St.
3. Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick
4. David Bowie: The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars
5. Genesis: Foxtrot
6. Keith Jarrett: Facing You
7. Yes: Close to the Edge
8. Can: Ege Bamyasi
9. Klaus Schulze: Irrlicht
10. Gentle Giant: Octopus
1971:
1. Miles Davis: A Tribute to Jack Johnson
1. Led Zeppelin: [Four Symbols]
1. Sly & the Family Stone: There’s a Riot Goin’ On
4. David Bowie: Hunky Dory
5. Black Sabbath: Master of Reality
6. Gentle Giant: Acquiring the Taste
7. Can: Tago Mago
8. Philip Glass: “Music with Changing Parts”
9. Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood of Breath
10. The Mahavishnu Orchestra: The Inner Mounting Flame
1970:
1. Black Sabbath
1. Miles Davis: Bitches Brew
1. Derek & the Dominoes: Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs
1. The Who: Live at Leeds
5. Black Sabbath: Paranoid
6. Neil Young: After the Gold Rush
7. John Lennon: Plastic Ono Band
8. Led Zeppelin III
9. The Allman Brothers Band: Idlewild South
10. The Grateful Dead: American Beauty
1969:
1. The Beatles: Abbey Road
2. King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King
3. Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
4. The Allman Brothers Band
5. The Grateful Dead: Live/Dead
6. Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band: Trout Mask Replica
7. Tim Buckley: Happy Sad
8. Led Zeppelin
9. The Flying Burrito Brothers: The Gilded Palace of Sin
10. Miles Davis: In a Silent Way
1968:
1. The Beatles
2. The Velvet Underground: White Light/White Heat
2. Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention: We’re Only in It For the Money
4. The Band: Music from Big Pink
5. Blue Cheer: Vincebus Eruptum
6. The Soft Machine
7. The United States of America
8. Silver Apples
9. Van Morrison: Astral Weeks
10. The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Electric Ladyland
1967:
1. The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
1. The Velvet Underground & Nico
1. Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention: Absolutely Free
4. The Doors
4. The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Are You Experienced?
4. The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Axis: Bold as Love
7. The Byrds: Younger Than Yesterday
8. Pink Floyd: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
9. Love: Forever Changes
10. The Who Sell Out
1966:
1. The Beatles: Revolver
2. Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde
2. Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention: Freak Out!
4. Miles Smiles
5. The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds
6. Phillip Glass: String Quartet No. 1
7. The Byrds: Fifth Dimension
8. The Rolling Stones: Aftermath
9. Donovan: Sunshine Superman
10. The Blues Project: Projections
1965:
1. The Beatles: Rubber Soul
1. Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited
1. John Coltrane: Ascension
4. Bob Dylan: Bringing it All Back Home
5. Alberto Ginastera: Harp Concerto
6. Wes Montgomery & the Wynton Kelly Trio: Smokin’ at the Half-Note
7. The Beatles: Help!
8. The Byrds: Mr. Tambourine Man
9. Luciano Berio: Laborintus II
10. Albert Ayler: Spirits Rejoice
1964:
1. John Coltrane: A Love Supreme
2. The Beatles: A Hard Day’s Night
3. Another Side of Bob Dylan
4. The Great Concert of Charles Mingus
5. Bob Dylan: The Times They are a Changin’
6. Beatles For Sale
7. Herbie Hancock: Empyrean Isles
8. Sam Cooke: Ain’t That Good News
9. The Supremes: Where Did Our Love Go?
10. Bernard Herrmann: Marnie
1963:
1. The Beatles: Please Please Me
1. Charles Mingus: The Black Saint & the Sinner Lady
3. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
4. With the Beatles
5. Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus
6. Sandy Bull: Fantasia for Guitar & Banjo
7. Miles Davis: Seven Steps to Heaven
8. James Brown: Live at the Apollo
9. Tristan Keuris: String Quartet No. 1
10. Sam Cooke: Night Beat
1962:
1. Wes Montgomery: Full House
1. Ahmed Abdul-Malik: Sounds of Africa
3. Ray Charles: Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music
4. John Coltrane: Ole Coltrane
5. Hans Werner Henze: Symphony No. 5
6. Bill Evans, Jim Hall: Undercurrent
7. Bob Dylan
8. Ray Charles: Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music Vol. 2
9. Maurice Durufle: “Fugue sur le thĂšme du Carillon des Heures de la CathĂ©drale de Soissons”
10. The Beach Boys: Surfin’ Safari
1961:
1. John Coltrane: My Favorite Things
2. John Coltrane: Live at the Village Vanguard
3. The Music of Ahmed Abdul-Malik
3. Bill Evans: Sunday at the Village Vanguard
3. George Russell: Ezz-thetics
6. The Bill Evans Trio: Waltz for Debby
7. Eric Dolphy, Booker Little, Mal Waldron, Richard Davis, Ed Blackwell: At the Five Spot, Vol. 1
8. Miles Davis: In Person Saturday Night at the Blackhawk, San Francisco Vol. 2
9. The Gil Evans Orchestra: Out of the Cool
10. John Coltrane: Coltrane Jazz
1960:
1. John Coltrane: Giant Steps
1. Miles Davis, Gil Evans: Sketches of Spain
1. Bernard Herrmann: Psycho
4. Jimmy Smith: Back at the Chicken Shack
5. The Bill Evans Trio: The 1960 Birdland Sessions
6. Bernard Herrmann: The 3 Worlds of Gulliver
Click through for singles
1959:
1. Miles Davis: Kind of Blue
2. The Dave Brubeck Quartet: Time Out
3. Ornette Coleman: The Shape of Jazz to Come
4. Charles Mingus: Mingus Ah Um
5. Chuck Berry is On Top
6. Bernard Herrmann: North by Northwest
7. Ritchie Valens
8. Jazz Portraits: Mingus in Wonderland
9. The Genius of Ray Charles
Click through for the singles
1958:
1. Bo Diddley
1. Miles Davis: Milestones
3. Miles Davis, Gil Evans: Porgy & Bess
4. Buddy Holly
5. Basie
6. Bernard Herrmann: The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
7. Frank Sinatra: Come Fly with Me
8. Duane Eddy: Have Twangy Guitar, Will Travel
9. Buddy Holly: That’ll Be the Day
10. Perry Como: Saturday Night with Mr. C.
Click through for singles
1957:
1. Here’s Little Richard
2. Chuck Berry: After School Session
3. Thelonius Monk: Monk’s Music
4. Charles Mingus: The Clown
5. Miles Davis: ‘Round About Midnight
6. John Coltrane: Blue Train
7. Miles Davis: Miles Ahead
8. Thelonius Monk Quartet with John Coltrane
9. Dizzy Gillespie at Newport
10. The Chirping Crickets
Click through for singles
1956:
1. Elvis Presley
2. Charles Mingus: Pithecanthropus Erectus
3. Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps: Bluejean Bop!
4. Mingus at the Bohemia
5. Ellington Live at Newport
6. Dizzy Gillespie: Birks’ Works
7. Elvis
8. Johnny Smith: Moonlight in Vermont
9. Harry Belafonte: Calypso
10. The New Miles Davis Quintet
Click through for singles
1955:
1. Glenn Gould: The Goldberg Variations
2. Lee Knotiz: Subconscious-Lee
3. Errol Garner: Concert by the Sea
4. The Eminent JJ Johnson Vol. 2
5. Hans Werner Henze: Symphony No. 4
6. Aaron Copland: “Canticle of Freedom”
7. Andres Segovia: Bach; Villa-Lobos; Castelnuovo-Tedesco; Granados
8. Glenn Gould: String Quartet
9. Bernard Herrmann: The Trouble with Harry
10. Bernard Herrmann: Prince of Players suite
Click through for singles
1954:
1. Rock with Bill Haley & the Comets
2. Bernard Herrmann: Garden of Evil
3. Charles Mingus: Jazzical Moods Vol. 1
4. Jacques Brel et ses chansons
5. Bernard Herrmann, Alfred Newman: The Egyptian
6. Ella Fitzgerald: Songs in a Mellow Mood
7. Igor Stravinsky: “Two Poems of Konstantin Balmont”
Click through for singles from 1954
1953:
1. Hank Williams: Memorial Album
2. JJ Johnson with Clifford Brown
3. Lukas Foss: Piano Concerto No. 2
4. Maurice Durufle: “Chant DonnĂ©: Hommage Ă  Jean Gallon”
Click through for the singles of 1953
1952:
1. Thelonius Monk: Genius of Modern Music Vol. 2
2. Bird & Diz
3. Bernard Herrmann: Five Fingers
4. Bernard Herrmann: The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Click through for the singles of 1952
1951:
1. Bernard Herrmann: The Day the Earth Stood Still
2. Thelonius Monk: Genius of Modern Music
Click through the singles of the singles of 1951
1950:
1. Hans Werne Henze: Symphony No 3
2. Ella Sings Gershwin
3. Aram Khachaturian: “Triumphal Poem”
Click through for the singles of 1950
1949:
1. Billie Holiday: “Them There Eyes”
2. Billie Holiday: “‘Tain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do”
Billies Holiday: “You’re My Thrill”
1948:
1. Billie Holiday: “I Loves you Porgy”
2. Billie Holiday: “My Man (Mon Homme)”
3. Peter Mennim: Symphony #4
1947:
1. Thelonius Monk: The Genius of Modern Music
2. Aram Khachaturian: Symphony No. 3 ‘Simfoniya-poema’
3. Memphis Minnie: “Three Times Seven Blues”
4. Louis Armstrong: The Complete New York Town Hall & Boston Symphony Hall Concerts
5. Billie Holiday: “Easy Living”
6. Billie Holiday: “Solitude”
7. Memphis Minnie: “I’m So Glad”
1946:
1. Micheal Tippett: String Quartet No. 3
2. Arthur Honegger: Symphony No. 3 ‘Symphonie Liturgique’
3. Memphis Minnie: “Shout the Boogie”
4. Paul Hindemith: “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d: A Requiem for Those We Love”
5. Billie Holiday: “Good Morning Heartache”
1945:
1. Bernard Herrmann: Hangover Square
2. Sidney Bechet: “Save it, Pretty Mama”
3. Billie Holiday: “Don’t Explain”

1944:
1. Bela Bartok: Sonata for Solo Violin
2. Billie Holiday: “Billie’s Blues”
3. Billie Holiday: “Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)”
1943:
1. Bernard Herrmann: Jane Eyre
2. Memphis Minnie: “Looking the World Over”
3. Lukas Foss: Piano Concerto No. 1
1942:
1. Arnold Schoenberg: Piano Concerto Op. 42
2. Maurice Durufle: “PrĂ©lude et fugue sur le nom d’Alain”
2. Paul Hindemith: Ludas Tonalis
4. Michael Tippett: String Quartet No. 2 in F sharp
5. Aram Khachaturian: Gayane Suite
6. Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra
7. Alexander Brott: “Ritual”
1941:
1. Bernard Herrmann: Citizen Kane
2. Memphis Minnie: “In My Girlish Days”
3. Earl Hines’ Orchestra: “The Earl”
4. Memphis Minnie: “Can’t Afford to Lose My Man”
5. Memphis Minnie: “My Cage is Going Up”
6. Memphis Minnie: “Moaning the Blues”
7. Memphis: “Please Set a Date”
8. Memphis Minnie: “Killer Diller Blues”
9. Memphis Minnie: “Me & My Chauffeur Blues”
1940:
1. John Cage: “Second Construction”
2. Horace Henderson & His Orchestra: “Kitty On Toast”
3. Raymond Scott: “At an Arabian House Party”
4. Dmitri Shostakovitch: Quintet for Two Violins, Viola, Cello & Piano in G minor
5. Earl Hines’ Orchestra: “Boogie Woogie on St. Louis Blues”
6. Benny Carter: “Sleep”
6. Benny Carter & His Orchestra: “Fish Fry”
6. Benny Carter & His Orchestra: “Night Hop”
6. Benny Carter & His Orchestra: “Pom Pom”
6. Benny Carter & His Orchestra: “Slow Freight”
1939:
1. Paul Hindemith: Sonata for Viola & Piano
2. Karl Amadeus Hartmann: Concerto Funebre
3. Earl Hines Orchestra: “The Father’s Getaway”
4. Billie Holiday: “Strange Fruit”
5. Billie Holiday: “Fine and Mellow”
6. Benny Carter & His Orchestra: “Melancholy Lullaby”
6. Benny Carter & His Orchestra: “Riff Romp”
6. Benny Carter & His Orchestra: “Shufflebug Shuffle”
6. Benny Carter & His Orchestra: “When Lights Are Low”
10. Earl Hines: “Piano Man”
1938:
1. Benny Carter & His Orchestra: “Blue Light Blues”
1. Benny Carter & His Orchestra: “Farewell Blues”
1. Earl Hines’ Orchestra: “Solid Mama
”
1937:
1. Dmitri Shostakovitch: Symphony No. 5
Click through for the singles of 1937
1936:
1. Anton Webern: Variations for Piano
2. Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra: “Jim Town Blues”
3. Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra: “Grand Terrace Swing”
4. Memphis Minnie: “I’m a Bad Luck Woman”
5. Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra: “Stealin’ Apples”
6. Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra: “Christopher Columbus”
7. Memphis Minnie: “Hoodoo Lady”
1935:
1. Charles Ives: “The Unanswered Question”
2. Karl Amadeus Hartmann: Simplicius Simplicissimus
3. Memphis Minnie: “Chickasaw Train Blues”
4. Michael Tippett: String Quartet No. 1
5. Memphis Minnie: “Jockey Man Blues”
6. Memphis Minnie: “Moonshine”
7. Memphis Minnie: “Doctor Doctor Blues”
8. Paul Hindemith: Mathis der Maler
9. Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra: “What a Little Moonlight Can Do”
1934:
1. Earl Hines’ Orchestra: “Harlem Lament”
2. Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra: “Hotter than ‘ell”
3. Memphis Minnie: “Squat it”
4. Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra: “Big John’s Special”
5. Earl Hines ‘ Orchestra: “Ridin’ a Riff”
6. Earl Hines’ Orchestra: “Cavernism”
7. Earl Hines’ Orchestra: “Rosetta”
8. Gustav Holst: Scherzo
9. Alexander Glazunov: Concerto for Alto Saxophone & String Orchestra in E-flat major
1933:
1. Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra: “Queer Notions”
2. Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra: “Can You Take It?”
3. Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra: “King Porter Stomp”
4. Memphis Minnie: “My Butcher Man”
5. Horace Henderson & His Orchestra: “Happy Feet”
6. Arthur Honegger: Symphonic Movement No. 3
7. Edward Elgar: “Mina”
1932:
1. Maurice Durufle: Suite
2. Earl Hines’ Orchestra: “Love Me Tonight”
3. Edward Elgar: Impromptu
1931:
1. The Savannah Syncopators: “Radio Rhythm”
2. Skip James: “I’m So Glad”/“Special Rider Blues”
3. Skip James: “Jesus is a Mighty Good Leader”/“Be Ready When He Comes”
4. Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra: “My Pretty Girl”
5. Skip James: “How Long ‘Buck’”/“Little Cow & Calf is Gonna Die Blues”
6. The Baltimore Bell Hops: “Hot & Anxious”
7. Skip James: “Devil Got my Woman”/“Cypress Grove Blues”
8. Skip James: “22-20 Blues”/“If You Haven’t Got Any Hay Get on Down the Road”
9. Skip James: “Cherry Ball Blues”/“Hard Time Killin’ Floor Blues”
10. Skip James: “Drunken Spree”/“What Am I To Do?”
1930:
1. Maurice Durufle: PrĂ©lude, adagio et choral variĂ© sur le theme du ‘Veni Creator’
2. Ernest MacMillan: “Two Sketches for String Quartet Based on French Canadian Airs”
3. Memphis Minnie: “New Bumble Bee”
1929:
1. Charles Ives: Orchestral Set No. 1 ‘Three Places in New England’
2. Memphis Minnie: “When the Levee Breaks”
3. Earl Hines’ Orchestra: “Chicago Rhythm”
4. Francis Poulenc: “Aubade”
5. Gustav Holst: “12 Humbert Wolfe Settings”
1928:
1. Earl Hines: “A Monday Date”
2. Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five: “Fireworks”
3. Leos Janacek: From the House of the Dead
4. Earl Hines: “Stowaway”
5. Earl Hines: “Chimes in Blues”
6. Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five: “Skip the Gutter”
7. Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five: “Two Deuces”
8. Louis Armstrong & Earl Hines: “Weather Bird”
9. George Gershwin: An American in Paris
10. Leos Janacek: String Quartet No.2 ‘Intimate Letters’
1927:
1. Karl Amadeus Hartmann: Sonata No. 1 for Violin
2. Karl Amadeus Hartmann: Sonata No. 2 for Violin
3. Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra: “Sensation”
4. Karl Amadeus Hartmann: Suite No. 1 Violin
5. Karl Amadeus Hartmann: Suite No. 2 for Violin
6. Leos Janacek: Glagolitic Mass
7. Paul Hindemith: “Kammermusik No. 7”
8. Paul Hindemith: “Kammermusik No. 6”
9. Gustav Holst: “Egdon Heath”
10. Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra: “Livery Stable Blues”
1926:
1. Alban Berg: ‘Lyric Suite’
2. Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra: “Hot Mustard”
3. Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra: “The Chant”
4. Leos Janacek: “Cappriccio”
5. Maurice Durufle: Scherzo
6. Leos Janacek: Sinfonietta
1925:
1. Paul Hindemith: “Kammermusik” No. 4
2. Paul Hindemith: “Kammermusik” No. 5
3. Leos Janacek: Concertino
4. Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra: “Sugar Foot Stomp
5. George Gershwin: Concerto in F
6. Paul Hindemith: “Kammermusik” No. 3
1924:
1. George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
2. Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 7 in C
3. Arthur Honegger: Symphonic Movement No. 1 Pacific 231
4. Fletcher Henderson & His Club Alabam Orchestra: “Tea Pot Dome Blues”
5. Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra: “Copenhagen”
6. Leos Janacek: “Mladi”
7. Paul Hindemith: Kammermusik No. 2
8. Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra: “Shanghai Shuffle”
9. Leos Janacek: Rikadla
1923:
1. Arnold Schoenberg: Suite for Piano
2. Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 6 in D minor
3. Leos Janacek: String Quartet No. 1 ‘Kreutzer Sonata’
4. Leos Janacek: The Cunning Little Vixen
5. Paul Hindemith: Sonata for Viola No. 3
6. Ferruccio Busoni: “Short pieces for the cultivation of polyphonic playing on the piano”
7. Leoơ Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen Suite
8. Frederick Delius: “Intermezzo” from Hassan
1922:
1. Paul Hindemith: Sonata for Viola & Piano
2. Paul Hindemith: “Kammermusik” No. 1
3. Paul Hindemith: “Kleine Kammermusik”
4. Gustav Holst: “Fugal Overture”
5. Paul Hindemith: Suite 1922
6. Leos Janacek: “15 Moravian Folksongs”
7. Gustav Holst: The Perfect Fool [suite]
8. Paul Hindemith: Sonata for Viola No. 2
1921:
1. Gustav Holst: “The Lure, or The Moth and the Flame”
2. LeoĆĄ Janáček: KĂĄĆ„a KabanovĂĄ
3. Gabriel Faure: Nocturne No. 13 in B minor
4. Aaron Copland: “Four Motets”
4. Aaron Copland: Petit Portrait
4. Aaron Copland: “Three Moods”
7. Ernest MacMillan: String Quartet in C minor
8. Erik Satie: “La belle excentrique”
9. Gabriel Faure: Barcarole No. 13 in C
1920:
1. Paul Dukas: “La plainte, au loin, du faune
”
2. Arthur Honegger: “Pastorale d’étĂ©â€
3. Erik Satie: “Trois petites piĂšces montĂ©es”
4. Erik Satie: “Premier Menuet”
1919:
1. Charles Ives: Orchestral Set No. 2
2. Charles Ives: Piano Sonata No. 2 “Concord”
3. Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 in E-flat
4. Paul Hindemith: Sonata for Viola & Piano
5. Leoơ Janáček: The Diary of One Who Has Disappeared
6. Ralph Vaughan Williams: “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis”
7. Edward Elgar: Piano Quintet
8. Erik Satie: Nocturnes
9. Paul Hindemith: Sonata for Solo Viola
10. Edward Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor
1918:
1. Leoơ Janáček: Taras Bulba
2. Igor Stravinksy: Ragtime
3. Edward Elgar: String Quartet in E minor
4. Frederick Delius: “A Song Before Sunrise”
1917:
1. Charles Ives: Violin Sonata No. 1
2. Charles Ives: Violin Sonata No. 2
3. Paul Hindemith: Sonata for 10 Instruments
4. Gustav Holst: 4 Songs
5. Paul Hindemith: Violin Sonata in G Minor
6. Frederick Delius: “To be sung of a summer night on the water”
7. Erik Satie: Sonatine bureaucratique
8. Alexander Glazunov: Concerto No. 2 in B for piano & orchestra
1916:
1. Charles Ives: Symphony No. 4
2. Charles Ives: Violin Sonata No. 4 “Children’s Day at the Camp Meeting”
3. Gustav Holst: The Planets
4. Igor Stravinsky: Renard
5. Frederick Delius: Violin Concerto
6. Frederick Delius: Dance Rhapsody No. 2
7. Frederick Delius: “Late Swallows”
1915:
1. Claude Debussy: Etudes
2. Erik Satie: “Avant-derniĂšres pensĂ©es”
3. Gabriel Faure: Nocturne No. 12 in E minor
4. Igor Stravinsky: Berceuses du chat
5. Gabriel Faure: Barcarole No. 12 in E-flat
1914:
1. Leos Janacek: Violin sonata
2. Charles Ives: Violin Sonata No. 3
3. Erik Satie: “Sports et divertissements:
4. Leos Janacek: The Eternal Gospel
5. Alexander Scriabin: “Vers la flamme”
6. Erik Satie: “Les trois valses distinguĂ©es du prĂ©cieux dĂ©goĂ»tĂ©”
7. Claude Debussy: Berceuse héroïque
8. Erik Satie: “Heures sĂ©culaires et instantanĂ©es”
9. Igor Stravinsky: The Nightingale
10. Ralph Vaughan Williams: “The Lark Ascending”
1913:
1. Erik Satie: “Descriptions automatiques”
2. Erik Satie: “Embryons dessĂ©chĂ©s”
3. Edward Elgar: Falstaff
4. Charles Ives: “General William Booth Enters into Heaven”
5. Claude Debussy: Préludes Book II
6. Erik Satie: “Chapitres tournĂ©s en tous sens”
7. Erik Satie: “Croquis et agaceries d’un gros bonhomme en bois”
8. Erik Satie: “Vieux sequins et vieilles cuirasses”
9. Gabriel Faure: Nocturne No. 11 in F-sharp minor
10. Erik Satie: “Les pantins dansent”
1912:
1. Erik Satie: “VĂ©ritables prĂ©ludes flasques (pour un chien)”
2. Erik Satie: “PrĂ©ludes flasques (pour un chien)”
3. Leoơ Janáček: “The Fiddler’s Child”
4. Frederick Delius: “Summer Night on the River”
5. Frederick Delius: “On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring”
6. Erik Satie: 2 RĂȘveries nocturnes
7. Paul Dukas: “Fanfare pour prĂ©cĂ©der La PĂ©ri”
1911:
1. Enrique Granados: Goyescas
2. Edward Elgar: Symphony No. 2 in E♭
3. Alexander Glazunov: Concerto No. 1 in F minor for piano & orchestra
4. Charles Ives: Symphony No. 3 ‘The Camp Meeting’
5. Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 4 in A minor
6. Paul Dukas: La PĂ©ri
7. Gustav Holst: “Invocation”
8. Erik Satie: “En habit de cheval”
9. Leos Janacek: “Moderato”
10. Igor Stravinsky: “Four Russian Peasant Songs”
1910:
1. Charles Ives: Symphony No. 2
2. Englebert Humperdinck: Konigskinder
3. Claude Debussy: Préludes Book I
4. Gabriel Faure: 9 Preludes
5. Claude Debussy: “La plus que lente”
6. Edward Elgar: Violin Concerto in B Minor
7. Frederick Delius: “Intermezzo” from Fennimore und Gerda
1909:
1. Arnold Schoenberg: “Drei Klavierstucke”
2. Alban Berg: Piano Sonata
3. Ferrucio Busoni: “Berceuse elegiaque”
4. Gabriel Faure: Barcarole No. 9 in A minor
5. Paul Dukas: “PrĂ©lude Ă©lĂ©giaque sur le nom de Haydn”
6. Leos Janacek: “Narodil se Kristus Pan”
7. Claude Debussy: “Le petit NĂšgre”
8. Claude Debussy: “Hommage Ă  Joseph Haydn”
9. Gabriel Faure: Impromptu No. 5 in F-sharp minor
1908:
1. Gabriel Faure: Nocturne No. 10 in E minor
2. Gabriel Faure: Nocturne No. 9 in B minor
3. Claude Debussy: Children’s Corner
4. Edward Elgar: Symphony No. 1 in A♭
5. Erik Satie: “12 Petits Chorals”
6. Gustav Holst: “Hymns from the 7. Rig Veda”
8. Frederick Delius: “In a Summer Garden”
9. Erik Satie: “Aperçus dĂ©sagrĂ©ables”
1907:
1. Alexander Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 5
2. Claude Debussy: Images Book 2
3. Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 3 in C
4. Frederick Delius: “Brigg Fair: An English Rhapsody”
5. Frederick Delius: “Cynara”
6. Gustav Holst: “A Somerset Rhapsody”
7. Gustav Holst: “The Heart Worships”
8. Erik Satie: “Nouvelles piĂšces froides”
1906:
1. Alexander Glazunov: Symphony No. 8 in E-flat
2. Gabriel Faure: Barcarole No. 8 in D-flat
3. Gabriel Faure: Impromptu No. 4 in D-flat
4. Edward Elgar: The Kingdom
5. Erik Satie: Passacaille
6. Erik Satie: “PrĂ©lude en tapisserie”
7. Maurice Ravel: “Cinq melodies populaires grecques”
1905:
1. Claude Debussy: Images Book 1
2. Claude Debussy: “Suite bergamasque”
3. Leos Janacek: “1.X.1905 ‘From the Street’”
4. Gabriel Faure: Barcarole No. 7 in D minor
5. Gustav Holst: “A Song of the Night”
6. Leos Janacek: On an Overgrown Path
7. Edward Elgar: Introduction and Allegro
1904:
1. Alexander Glazunov: Concerto for Violin & Orchestra
2. Erik Satie: “Le Piccadilly (La transatlantique)”
3. Claude Debussy: “L’isle joyeuse”
4. Claude Debussy: “Masques”
5. Edward Elgar: “In the South (Alassio)”
6. Enrique Granados: Allegro de concierto
7. Gustav Holst: 6 Songs
8. Gabriel Faure: Impromptu in D Flat
1903:
1. Erik Satie: “3 morceaux en forme de poire”
2. Claude Debussy: Estampes
3. Maurice Ravel: String Quartet
4. Gustav Holst: “Indra”
5. Claude Debussy: “D’un cahier d’esquisses”
6. Edward Elgar: The Apostles
Erik Satie: “Je te veux”
7. Alexander Scriabin: Piano Sonata No. 4
8. Alexander Scriabin: Poem #1 in F-Sharp
1902:
1. Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D
2. Claude Debussy: Pelleas et Melisande
3. Paul Dukas: “Variations, Interlude & Finale on a Theme by Rameau”
4. Leoơ Janáček: JenƯfa
5. Alexander Glazunov: Ballade in F for orchestra
6. Charles Ives: Symphony No. 1 in D Minor
7. Gabriel Faure: Nocturne No. 8 in D-flat
8. Gabriel Faure: “8 Pieces breves”
9. Erik Satie: “Poudre d’or
1901:
1. Paul Dukas: Piano Sonata in E-flat minor
2. Frederick Delius: “A Walk to the Paradise Garden”
3. Erik Satie: “Le poisson rĂȘveur”
4. Claude Debussy: “Pour le piano”
1900:
1. Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 1 in E minor
2. Edward Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius
3. Alexander Glazunov: The Seasons
4. Erik Satie: “Reverie du Pauvre”
5. Gustav Holst: Symphony in F Major, Op. 8 “The Cotswolds”
6. Alexander Glazunov: Chant du Menestrei in D major for cello & orchestra
7. Erik Satie: “Verset laĂŻque & somptueux”
1899:
1. Frederick Delius: “Paris: the Song of a Great City”
2. Edward Elgar: Enigma Variations
3. Erik Satie: “Jack in the Box”
4. Gustav Holst: “Walt Whitman”
5. Maurice Ravel: “Pavane pour une infante defunte”
1898:
1. Edvard Grieg: Haugtussa
2. Gabriel Faure: Nocturne No. 7 in C minor
3. Gustav Holst: Four Songs
1897:
1. Paul Dukas: L’apprenti sorcier
2. Erik Satie: PiĂšces froides
3. Frederick Delius: “La Calinda” from Koanga
4. Erik Satie: “Caresse”
5. Erik Satie: Gnossienne No. 6
6. Gustav Holst: “A Winter Idyll”
7. Erik Satie: “Petite ouverture Ă  danser”
1896:
1. Gabriel Faure: Barcarole in E-flat
2. Gabriel Faure: Dolly
1895:
1. Gabriel Faure: Theme et variations in C-sharp minor
1894:
1. Gabriel Faure: Nocturne No 6 in D♭
2. Gabriel Faure: Barcarole No. 5 in F-sharp minor
3. Erik Satie: “PrĂ©lude de la porte hĂ©roĂŻque du ciel”
4. Gabriel Faure: Valse-Caprice No. 4 in A-flat
5. Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov: Caucasian Sketches, Suite No. 1
6. Alexander Glazunov: ‘Concert Waltz’ No. 2 in F for orchestra
7. Leoơ Janáček: “Jealousy”
1893:
1. Claude Debussy: String Quartet
2. Jean Sibelius: Lemminkainen Suite
3. Jean Sibelius: Karelia Suite
4. Erik Satie: Danses gothiques
5. Erik Satie: Trois Gnossiennes
6. Antonin Dvorak: Sonatina in G
7. Gabriel Faure: Valse-Caprice No. 3 in G-flat
8. Gabriel Faure: Requiem
9. Englebert Humperdinck: Hansel und Gretel
10. Erik Satie: PrĂ©lude d’Eginhard
1892:
1. Jean Sibelius: Kullervo
2. Erik Satie: Prelude #3 for Le Nazaréen
3. Erik Satie: “FĂȘte donnĂ©e par des chevaliers normands en l’honneur d’une jeune demoiselle (XIe siĂšcle)”
4. Edward Elgar: “Serenade for Strings”
5. Frederick Delius: “Prelude” from Irmelin
1891:
1. Erik Satie: “Le Fils des Ă©toiles”
2. Erik Satie: Gnossienne No. 4
3. Erik Satie: PremiÚre pensée Rose+Croix
4. Claude Debussy: Arabesque No. 2. Allegretto scherzando
5. Alexander Glazunov: Meditation in D for violin & orchestra
6. Gabriel Faure: Cinq mĂ©lodies “de Venise”
1890:
1. Cesar Franck: String Quartet in D
2. Enrique Granados: Danzas espanolas
3. Frederick Delius: “Three Small Tone Poems”: ‘Summer Evening’; ‘Sleigh Ride’
4. Claude Debussy: “Tarantelle styrienne”
5. Claude Debussy: Nocturne
6. Claude Debussy: “Ballade slave”
7. Claude Debussy: RĂȘverie
8. Claud Debussy: Fantaisie for piano & orchestra
9. Claude Debussy: Mazurka
10. Claude Debussy: “Valse romantique”
1889:
1. Atonin Dvorak: Symphony No. 8 in G
2. Edvard Grieg: Six Songs
3. Erik Satie: Ogives
4. Erik Satie: Gnossienne No. 5
1888:
1. Erik Satie: Gymnopédies
2. Richard Strauss: Violin Sonata in E-flat
3. Claude Debussy: Arabesque No. 1. Andantino con moto
4. Emmanuel Chabrier: Suite Pastorale
5. Leos Janacek: Idyll
6. Gabriel Faure, Andre Messager: “Souvenirs de Bayreuth”
7. Alexander Glazunov: “Slavonian Feast”
8. Cesar Franck: “Psyche”
1887:
1. Erik Satie: Sarabandes
2. Leos Janacek: “Na pamatku”
3. Gabriel Faure: Piano Quartet No. 2
4. Erik Satie: Valse-Ballet
5. Leos Janacek: Suite for Strings
6. Edward Elgar: “March in D”
7. Erik Satie: Fantasy-Valse
8. Gabriel Faure: “Clair de lune”
1886:
1. Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov after Modest Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain
2. Cesar Franck: Sonata in A for violin and piano
3. Gabriel Faure: Barcarole No. 4 in A-flat
4. Edward Elgar: “Enina Valse”
1885:
1. Gabriel Faure: Barcarole No. 3 in G-flat
2. Gabriel Faure: Barcarole No. 2 in G
1884:
1. Gabriel Faure: Nocturne No. 5 in B-flat
2. Gabriel Faure: Nocturne. No. 4 in E-flat
3. Edvard Grieg: Seks Songs
4. Erik Satie: Allegro
5. Gabriel Faure: Valse-Caprice No. 2 in G-flat
6. Henri Duparc: “La vie antĂ©rieure”
7. Edvard Grieg: From Holberg’s Time: Suite in olden style
1883:
1. Gabriel Faure: ÉlĂ©gie
2. Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F
3. Gabriel Faure: Impromptu No. 3 in A-flat
4. Henri Duparc: “Testament”
5. Leo Delibes: Lakme
6. Henri Duparc: “Lamento”
7. Gabriel Faure: Impromptu No. 2 in F minor
8. Emmanuel Chabrier: España
9. Gabriel Faure: Mazurka in B-flat
1882:
1. Gabriel Faure: Nocturne No. 3 in A-flat
2. Gabriel Faure: Valse-Caprice No. 1 in A
3. Henri Duparc: “PhidylĂ©â€
4. Cesar Franck: “Le Chassure Maudit”
1881:
1. Gabriel Faure: Impromptu No. 1 in E-flat
2. Gabriel Faure: Messe des pĂȘcheurs de Villerville
1880:
1. Gabriel Faure: Nocturne No. 2 in B
2. Antonin Dvorak: Violin Sonata in F
3. Gabriel Faure: Barcarole No. 1 in A minor
4. Claude Debussy: “Danse bohĂ©mienne”
5. Gabriel Faure: Romances sans paroles
1879:
1. Charles Gounod: “Funeral March of a Marionette”
2. Antonin Dvorak: Violin Concerto in A minor
3. Henri Duparc: Le manoir de Rosemonde
4. Gabriel Faure: Piano Quartet No. 1
18781877:
1. Gabriel Faure: Ballade in F-sharp
2. Gabriel Faure: “Clair de lune”
1876:
1. Edvard Grieg: Peer Gynt
2. Cesar Franck: “Les Eolides”
1875:
1. Gabriel Faure: Nocturne No. 1 in E flat
1874:
1. Henri Duparc: “ElĂ©gie”
2. Henri Duparc: “Extase”
3. Cesar Franck: “Redemption”
187318721871:
1. Henri Duparc: “La Fuite”
2. Henri Duparc: “La Vague et La Cloche”
1870:
1. Henri Duparc: “L’Invitation Au Voyage”
2. Henri Duparc: “Au pays oĂč se fait la guerre”
1869:
1. Henri Duparc: “Le Galop”
2. Henri Duparc: Sérénade
3. Henri Duparc: “Romance de Mignon”
4. Henri Duparc: “Soupir”
5. Henri Duparc: “SĂ©rĂ©nade florentine”
1868:
1. Edvard Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor
2. Henri Duparc: “Chanson Triste”
1867:
1. Edvard Grieg: Violin Sonata No. 2 in G
18661865:
1. Edvard Grieg: Violin Sonata No. 1 in F
186418631862:
1. Franz Liszt: ‘Mephisto’ Waltz No 1: “The Dance in the Village Inn”
18611860
1859:
1. Charles Gounod: Faust
1858:
1. Hector Berlioz: Les Troyens
185718561855
18541853185218511850
18491848184718461845
1844:
1. Frédéric Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor
18431842:
1. Carl Czerny: Op. 686, Grande sonate pour piano et violon
1841:
1. Hector Berlioz: Les nuits d’ete
1840
1839:
1. Frédéric Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor
183818371836:
FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 1: Étude in A-flat major ‘Aeolian Harp’ or ‘Shepherd Boy’
FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 2: Étude in F minor ‘The Bees’
FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 3: Étude in F major ‘The Horseman’
FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 7: Étude in C-sharp minor ‘Cello’
FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 12: Étude in C minor ‘Ocean’
1835:
1. Gaetano Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor
1834:
FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 4: Étude in A minor
FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 5: Étude in E minor ‘Wrong Note’
FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 6: Étude in G-sharp minor ‘Thirds’
FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 8: Étude in D-flat major ‘Sixths’
FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 9: Étude in G-flat major ‘Butterfly’
FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 10: Étude in B minor ‘Octave’
FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 11: Étude in A minor ‘Winter Wind’
18331832:
FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 3: Étude in E major ‘Tristesse’ or ‘L’adieu’
FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 4: Étude in C-sharp minor ‘Torrent’
FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 7: Étude in C major ‘Toccata’
1831:
1. FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 12: Étude in C minor ‘Revolutionary’
1830:
FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 1: Étude in C major ‘Waterfall’
FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 2: Étude in A minor ‘Chromatic’
FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 5: Étude in G-flat major ‘Black Keys’
FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 6: Étude in E-flat minor ‘Lament’
1829:
FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 8 Étude in F major ‘Sunshine’
FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 9: Étude in F minor
FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin: No. 11: Étude in E-flat major ‘Arpeggio’
1828:
1. Frédéric Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 1 in C minor
1827:
Carl Czerny: Marche funebre sur la mort de Beethoven
18261825
1824:
1. Carl Czerny: “Variations Concertantes pour Pianoforte et Violon sur un thĂšme de Jean-Baptiste Krumpholz”
2. Carl Czerny: Sonata No. 3 in F Minor
1823:
1. Ludwig van Beethoven: “33 Variations on a waltz by Anton Diabelli”
2. Ludwig van Beethoven: Bagatelles
182218211820
1819181818171816:
1. Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 28
1815
181418131812:
1. Ludwig van Beethoven: Allegretto in B-flat for piano trio
18111810:
1. Carl Czerny: Sonata No. 1 in A Flat
1809:
1. Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Trio “Ghost”
18081807:
1. Carl Czerny: Grande sonate pour piano et violon
1806:
1. Carl Czerny: 20 Concert Variations in D for Piano & Violin on a Theme by Krunphol
1805:
1. Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 19
18041803:
1. Johann Nepomuk Hummel: Trumpet Concerto in E
1802:
1. Ludvig van Beethoven: “Eroica Variations”
Ludvig van 2. Beethoven: Six Variations on a Theme in F
18011800:
1. Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor
1790s in Music:
1. Joseph Haydn: Die Schopfung
2. Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 92 in G ‘Surprise’
3. Ludvig van Beethoven: “Piano Concertos of the 1790s”
4. Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 104 “London”
5. Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 103 in E-flat ‘Drumroll’
6. Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 4
7. Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 93 in D
8. Joseph Hayden: Symphony No. 95 in C minor
9. Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 101 “Clock”
10. Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 99 E-flat
1780s in Music:
1. Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 82 in C major “The Bear”
1. Joseph Haydn: Die Sieben letzen Worte
1. Joseph Haydn: String Quartets “Russian”
4. Joseph Haydn: Keyboard Sonata No. 51 in E-flat
5. Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 83 in G minor “The Hen”
6. Joseph Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 2 in D
7. Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 85 in B flat “The Queen”
8. Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 84 in E-flat “In nomine domine”
9. Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 87 in A
10. Joseph Haydn: Keyboard Concerto No. 11 in D
1770s in Music:
1. Joseph Haydn: String Quartets, “Sun”
2. Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 45 in F-sharp Minor “Farewell”
3. Joseph Haydn: Keyboard Sonata No. 40 in E-Flat
4. Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 46 in B
5. Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 44 in E minor “Trauer”
6. Joseph Haydn: Keyboard Sonata No. 39 in D
7. Joseph Haydn: Keyboard Sonata No. 41 in A
8. Joseph Haydn: Keyboard Sonata No. 48 in C
9. Christoph Gluck: Iphigenie en Tauride
10. Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 47 in G
1760s in Music:
1. Joseph Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 1 in C
2. Joseph Haydn: Keyboard Concerto No. 2 in D
3. Joseph Haydn: Keyboard Concerto No 6 in F with violin & strings “Double Concerto”
4. Johann Baptist Georg Neruda: Concerto in E-flat for Trumpet & Strings
1750s in Music
1740s in Music:
1. Johann Sebastian Bach: The Goldberg Variations
2. Johann Sebastian Bach: Mass in B minor
3. George Friedrich Handel: Belshazzar
4. Johann Sebastian Bach: Concerto for two Harpsichords
5. Johann Sebastian Bach: “Preludes and Fugues, & Fantasias of the 1740s”
6. Georg Friedrich Handel: Messiah
7. Georg Friedrich Handel: Solomon
8. Georg Friedrich Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks
1730s in Music:
1. Johann Sebastian Bach: Harpsichord Concertos
2. Johann Sebastian Bach: “Italian Concerto”
3. Johann Sebastian Bach: “Overture in the French Style”
4. Johann Sebastian Bach: “Nun danket alle Gott”
5. Johann Sebastian Bach: “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott”
6. Johann Sebastian Bach: “Komm, sĂŒĂŸer Tod, komm selge Ruh”
1720s in Music:
1. Johann Sebastian Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier
2. Johann Sebastian Bach: St. John Passion
3. Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Concertos
4. Johann Sebastian Bach: “The French Suites”
5. Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonatas & partitas for solo violin
6. Johann Sebastian Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D minor
7. Johann Sebastian Bach: St. Mathew Passion
8. Johann Sebastian Bach: “Brandenburg” concertos
9. Johann Sebastian Bach: “Preludes and fugues of the 1720s”
10. Johann Sebastian Bach: Trio sonatas for organ
1710s in Music:
1. Johann Sebastian Bach: Cello Suites
2. Johann Sebastian Bach: “Preludes & Fugues of the 1710s”
3. Johann Sebastian Bach: “The English Suites”
4. Johann Sebastian Bach: Concerto in D minor
5. Georg Friedrich Handel: Water Music
6. Johann Sebastian Bach: Toccata, Adagio & Fugue in C
7. Giuseppe Torelli: Trumpet Sinfonia in D
1700s in Music
1690s in Music1680s in Music1670s in Music1660s in Music1650s in Music
1640s in Music1630s in Music1620s in Music1610s in Music1600s in Music
1590s:
1. Giovanni Gabrieli: Sacrae Symphoniae
1580s in Music1570s in Music1560s in Music1550s in Music
1540s in Music1530s in Music1520s in Music1510s in Music1500s in Music
1400s in Music1300s in Music1200s in Music1100s in Music1000s in Music
My ratings of music published/released throughout human history

Here is a guide to my rating system:

  1. Transcendentally awful
  2. Awful
  3. Bad
  4. Below Average
  5. Average
  6. Above Average
  7. Good
  8. Very Good
  9. Great: Near-Perfect or Near-Transcendent
  10. Perfect and/or Transcendent

Core Curriculum

I have listened to a lot of music in my life, enough to think I know what people should listen to if they want to understand certain genres of music.

So I present here three lists of essential albums (or pieces, in the case of western art music) which give the listener an understanding of these genres. And I present them in authoritative order, meaning that the first list is for the genre I know the most about, the second I know a little bit less about and the third I know far less about.

Core Curriculum for Pop Rock Music

Core Curriculum for Jazz

Core Curriculum for Western Art Music (aka “Classical”)

As you can see there isn’t anything for Hip Hop, nor is there for electronic music or dance music (often lumped together). I know nothing about these genres and do not pretend to know anything.

As for genres such as blues and folk (and basically any “roots” genre), I know a fair amount about these genres but choose to omit lists for both of them for two reasons:

  • I don’t know enough to get truly authoritative, especially when it comes to before 1960 or so AND
  • So much of what I know about these genres comes from my experiences of pop rock music, and its sources.

I hope you find these lists useful. If not, please comment.