100 Best Albums of All Time: 60-41

Here's the next installment of this list! We're cracking the top 50 on this one, so things are starting to get really good. If you're so inclined, check out my previous installments, too. Remember: I'm a formalist, so most of the albums here were placed because of exemplary musicianship, composition, and arrangement. Read and enjoy! 

60.) All Things Must Pass - George Harrison (1970): Graceful, beautiful, and bound with some of the loveliest pop hooks of the 70's, this is truly Harrison's magnum opus. And while it's a little long and a little verbose (Phil Spector's "wall of sound" is in full bloom here), this is a collection of intensely personal songs. In my opinion, the best any Beatle ever did on his own.  

59.) Manassas - Manassas (1972): Swirls of southern-fired psychedelia radiate from this record; a corona of sunburst and easy melody. The vocals are lazy but tightly harmonized, the instrumentation feels off-the-cuff but incredibly professional, and everything slots together wonderfully. This is, arguably, the best country-rock album ever made.

58.) Magic Touch - Stanley Jordan (1985): This was the first jazz guitar album I ever owned, and it's certainly one of the finest. Jordan's licks and improvised solos solidify him and this album as one of the greats. The highlight? An airy exploration of "Eleanor Rigby" that is hauntingly beautiful. Bonus? That cheesy cover. I mean...how much more awesome can you get?  

57.) To Pimp A Butterfly - Kendrick Lamar (2015): A foray into the infinite cosmos of rap's potential, Butterfly is a multifaceted wonder. If you appreciate the avant-garde, especially when it comes in such funky packaging, then this should be high on your list. It is weird, wild, and wonderful. Check it out.

56.) Help! - The Beatles (1965): This is, in my opinion, the Fab Four's best straight pop album. From here on out, things get darker and more bizarre. But for a moment? Help! was the pinnacle of their career. It's bubbly, bright, and brilliant. 

55.) Fulfillingness' First Finale - Stevie Wonder (1974): What a treat this album is. Mesmerizing funk, playful pop, and gentle R&B intertwine and create some seriously smooth tunes. (And "You Haven't Done Nothin" is the catchiest criticism of the Nixon administration in existence.)

54.) Please Please Me - The Beatles (1963): Damn, what a debut. With this, The Beatles exploded onto the scene. Unpolished and giddy after years of playing dingy clubs throughout Germany, the Fab Four's first record practically bursts at the seams. Everything is hot and anxious. This is one heck of a rock & roll firecracker. 

53.) Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (1975): Born to Run is one of the finest pop-rock records of the 70's. The arrangements are epic, Bruce's vocals are wily and unhinged, and the lyrics are some of the best of all time. "Thunder Road," "Backstreets," and "Jungleland" are, in a word, masterpieces.

52.) Heartbreaker - Ryan Adams (2000): The genius here is how easy Adams makes it seem. The offhanded poetry of his lyrics, the casual competence of his musicianship, is invigorating. Yet it's also inviting. There's bottomless warmth here, and you'll be hard pressed to find a more artistically rounded turn-of-the-century country album.  

51.) Recovery - Eminem (2010): In terms of sheer flow, of outrageous cutthroat lyricism, Recovery might be the best rap album ever made. Although it's outshined by plenty of other more musical rap records, this one is still mighty impressive. When it's hot, it blazes. When it's intimate, it's right in your ears. And when it succeeds, it soars. "Not Afraid" is Eminem's comeback anthem, and deep cuts like "Talkin' 2 Myself" and "25 to Life" are terrific.

50.) Jazz in Silhouette - Sun Ra and his Arkestra (1959): It's boppy, it's groovy, it's innovative, and it's got some of the best musicianship of the 1950's. Silhouette reminds me of city traffic, brassy and blatty and bustling. Solos scream by like frantic taxis, and there's an earthy hum tying it all together. This album is truly, wonderfully, alive. 

49.) Solitude Standing - Suzanne Vega (1987): Listen to the first track - an unshakable little pop hook delivered with honey-sweet vocals - and tell me this isn't fabulous. The rest of the record is a treasure trove of lilting melody, effective instrumentation, and melancholic lyrics. Getting lost in Vega's silky voice and cutting imagery is impossible to avoid.

48.) Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - The Flaming Lips (2002): The beautiful weirdness of this album is encapsulated perfectly by its title. The phrase is oddly poetic, like a line from some obscure John Lennon song. And indeed, there are many parallels to be made between The Flaming Lips and The Beatles, and this record communicates them all: Mystic psychedelia, inventive storytelling, playful hooks, understated arrangements, and a sacred chemistry between band-mates. This is an ambitious record, full of bubblegum philosophizing and groovy science-fiction.

47.) Who's Next - The Who (1971): Although The Who's career is stuffed with iconic music, this is their ultimate statement. It's a pump-your-fists kind of album, a scream-until-your-voice-goes-hoarse album, a sweat-in-your-eyes-but-who-the-hell-cares album. While other rockers at the time were becoming more melodic, The Who decided to harness the raw power they already had. Daltrey's voice is a roar, Entwistle's bass a thunderclap, Moon is a human stampede on the drums, and Townshend just wails away on that guitar. 

46.) The Beatles - The Beatles (1968): Not every tune works, not by a long shot, but this self-titled collection known popularly as The White Album is one of the most iconic albums ever made. While it's a heaping, meandering slew of songs, there are an ample amount of diamonds to mine. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Happiness is a Warm Gun," "Blackbird," "Back in the USSR," and "Helter Skelter" are infamous. But in spite of its occasional failure, this is still fascinating stuff. 

45.) Short Stories - Harry Chapin (1973): The pantheon of folk-rock is full of solid songwriters and albums - picturesque lyrics, strong vocals, and enchanting arrangements. Standing at the top of this mighty mountain is Chapin's Short Stories. It's a musical and emotional roller coaster, rocketing you to dizzying heights and plummeting to sickening lows. You'll chuckle, you'll cry, and you'll fall in love with these characters. But best of all? You'll sing along. (Track seven, "Mr. Tanner," is one of my all-time, top ten, favorite songs. Seriously.)

44.) The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses (1989): In all honesty, I'm not one-hundred percent certain why this album works as well as it does. Everything just...fits. That's about as direct as I can be. This is the ultimate post-punk pop-rock record of the 80's. Fuzzy guitars, jingly-jangly percussion, and hooks so nonchalantly pleasant you'll be whistling them for days. It's a musical ray of sunshine.

43.) Heart Like A Wheel - Linda Ronstadt (1974): Some artists just ooze soul. Stevie Wonder. Jose Feliciano. Joss Stone. But on the other side, where the grass is bluer? There's Linda Ronstadt. She's the saucy songstress who's unafraid to not only wear her heart on her sleeve, but tattoo it to her wrist. This record is a satisfying sprint through the weedy wilds of country-pop, intermittently sad and sassy.

42.) My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Kanye West (2010): This is the pinnacle of West's decadent musical excess. Every track is slathered with layer upon layer of vocals and synths and hooks and instrumentation. And you know what? It's fantastic. Everything grooves on without letting up, keeping you hypnotized from the album's first words to its final, half-hearted applause. Six years have gone by, and I'm still entranced by "Runaway," "Monster," and "Lost in the World." This is, and may always be, the best rap record of the 2010's.

41.) Led Zeppelin IV - Led Zeppelin (1971): Wanna know how to start a rock album? With Robert Plant's fluorescent voice echoing in your skull. After that, it gets even better. Jimmy Page is maybe the best rock guitarist of all time (his chemistry with John Paul Jones is sublime), and here his riffs and solos are eternal. That acoustic melody in "Stairway to Heaven"? Unforgettable. But this is a record with iconic moments across the board, especially thanks to John Bonham's led-heavy drumming. The beginning of "When the Levee Breaks"? The intro to "Rock and Roll"? Some of this century's most imitated beats. Which makes sense. This is a phenomenal collection of songs, and one of my personal favorite entries on this list.