Masterpiece Albums

that are reviewed on this site

This is a list of Albums that appear on this site and receive the highest rating possible. It is of course rare top have an album that is perfectly consistent with all great songs or overly ambitious and ahead of tis time, but each one of these is pretty much perfect in my opinion and I consider it a masterpiece. They are listed alphabetical here by Artist, and if multiple entries they are chronological; ordered lists of exact favorites are elsewhere. Go listen to them and get ‘em! These are the albums that will enrich your life.

*** = New Addition, like last 6 months

96 - 100% Albums

(62 so far)

Algiers – self-titled (2015)

Arcade Fire, the – Funeral (2004)

Berry, Chuck – Berry is on Top (1959)

Blondshell - self-titled (2023)***

Built to Spill – Perfect From Now On – (1997)

Built to Spill – Keep It Like a Secret (1999)

Can – Future Days (1973)

Case, Neko – Middle Cyclone (2009)

Death Grips – Bottomless Pit (2016)

Dogbowl - Cyclops Nuclear Submarine Captain (1991)

Fiasco, Lupe - Drogas Wave (2018)***

Fiery Furnaces - Gallowsbird’s Bark (2013)***

Fugazi - Repeater (1990)

Fugazi - Red Medicine (1995)

Germano, Lisa – Happiness (1993)

Germano, Lisa – Geek the Girl (1994)

Hanson, Cory - Western Cum (2023)***

Herndon, Holly - Proto (2019)

Husker Du – Zen Arcade (1984)

Husker Du – Warehouse: Songs and Stories (1987)

Injury Reserve - By the Time I Get to Phoenix (2021)

Kinks, the - The Village Green Preservation Society (1968)

Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti (1975)

Love – Forever Changes (1967)

Low - I Could Live In Hope (1994)

Low - Trust (2002)

Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible (1994)***

Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime (1984)***

Modern Lovers, the – The Modern Lovers (1976)

Morphine – Good (1992)

Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree (2006)***

New Pornographers, the – Electric Version (2003)

O’Hara, Mary Margaret - Miss America (1988)

Pere Ubu – The Modern Dance (1978)

Perfume Genius – Ugly Season (2022)

Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967)

Pixies – Surfer Rosa (1988)

Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)

Public Enemy – Fear of a Black Planet (1990)

R.E.M. – Life’s Rich Pageant (1986)

Rolling Stones, the – Sticky Fingers (1971)

Rolling Stones, the – Exile on Main Street (1972)

Sault - Rise (2020)***

Slint - Spiderland (1991)***

Soft Boys – Underwater Moonlight (1980)

Sonic Youth – Sister (1987)

Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation (1988)

Spoon – Girls Can Tell (2001)

Stern, Marnie - self-titled (2010)

Talking Heads – More Songs About Buildings and Food (1978)

Talking Heads – Remain in Light (1980)

These New Puritans – Hidden (2010)

Tortoise - Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1996)***

Tragically Hip, the – Fully Completely (1992)

Tropical Fuck Storm - A Laughing Death In Meatspace (2018)

Tribe Called Quest, A - Midnight Marauders (1993)***

TV On the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain (2006)

Velvet Underground, the – The Velvet Underground and Nico (1967)

Wire – 154 (1979)

Wonder, Stevie - Songs In the Key of Life (1976)

XTC – English Settlement (1982)

XTC – Skylarking (1986)

Yo La Tengo - I Can Here the Heart Beating as One (1997)***

90 - 95% Albums

(153 albums so far)

Aesop Rock - The Impossible Kid (2015)***

Aesop Rock - Integrated Tech Solutions (2023)***

Alcest - Moon Scales (2010)

Algiers – Underside of Power (2017)

Aloha – Home Acres (2010)

Amen Dunes - Love (2014)

Amen Dunes - Freedom (2018)

Arcade Fire, the – Neon Bible (2007)

Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think… (2015)

Bailey Rae, Corinne - Black Rainbows (2023)***

Bergman, Natalie - Mercy (2021)***

Besnard Lakes, the - Coliseum Complex Museum (2016)

Big Star – Radio City (1974)

Black Angels, the - Directions to See A Ghost (2008)

Black Flag - Damaged (1981)***

Black Keys, the - Rubber Factory (2004)

Black Midi - Schlagenheim (2019)

Black Thought / Danger Mouse - Cheat Codes (2022)

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (2007)

Books, the – Lemon of Pink (2003)

Brown, Danny – Old (2013)

Bowie, David - Ziggy Stardust (1972)

Bug, the - Fire (2021)***

Built to Spill - Ancient Melodies of the Future (2001)

Calexico – The Black Light (1998)

Calexico – Garden Ruin (2006)

Can – Ege Bamyasi (1972)

Case, Neko – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (2006)

Case, Neko – The Worse I Get, The Harder I Try… (2013)

Cave, Nick - From Her to Eternity (1984)***

Cave, Nick - The Good Son (1990)***

Cave, Nick - Henry’s Dream (1992)***

Cave, Nick - Skeleton Tree (2016)***

Cocteau Twins – Head Over Heels (1983)

Cocteau Twins – Blue Bell Knoll (1988)

Cohen, Leonard - I’m your Man (1988)

Comet is Coming - Channel the Spirits (2016)***

Coyne, Kevin – Marjory Razorblade (1973)

Cream – Disraeli Gears (1967)

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Willie and the Poorboys (1969)

Daughters - You Won’t Get What You Deserve (2018)

Dead Can Dance – Spleen and Ideal (1985)***

Dead Can Dance – The Serpent’s Egg (1988)***

Death Grips – Ex Military (2011)

Doors, the - self titled (1967)***

Doors, the - Strange Days (1967)***

Doves – The Last Broadcast (2002)

Dream Syndicate, the - The Days of Wine and Roses (1982)***

Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime (1994)

Fiery Furnaces, the - Blueberry Boat (2004)***

Fiery Furnaces, the - Window City (2007)***

Feelies, the - The Good Earth (1986)

Fleet Foxes - Shore (2020)

Floating Points – Elaenia (2015)

Fugazi - Steady Diet of Nothing (1991)

Fugazi - In On the Kill Taker (1993)

Fugazi - The Argument (2001)

Game Theory – Lolita Nation (1987)

Gatley, Katie - Fawn / Brute (2023)

Germano, Lisa – On the Way Down From Moon Palace (1991)

Germano, Lisa – Excerpts from a Love Circus (1996)

Germano, Lisa – Slide (1998)

Gunn, Steve - Other You (2021)***

Harvey, Pj - To Bring You My Love (1995)***

Harvey, Pj - I Inside the Old Year Dying (2023)***

Hendrix, Jimi – Are You Experienced (1967)

Holter, Julia – Loud City Song (2013)

Hoop, Jesca – Memories are Now (2017)

Husker Du - Flip Your Wig (1985)

Interpol – Our Love to Admire (2007)

Jesus and Mary Chain, the – Psychocandy (1985)

Jesus and Mary Chain, the – Honey’s Dead (1992)

King’s X – Gretchen Goes to Nebraska – (1989)

Kinks, the - Something Else (1967)

Kinks, the - Arthur (1969)

Kinks, the - Muswell Hillbillies (1971)

Kwali, Talib - Liberation Two (2023)***

Lightning Bug, the - A Color of the Sky (2021)

Lanegan, Mark - The Winding Sheet (1990)

Lanegan, Mark - Field Songs (2001)

Led Zeppelin – 4 / Zoso (1971)

Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy (1973)

Love – Love (1966)

Love – Da Capo (1966)

Low - Long Division (1995)

Low - Things We Lost in the Fire (2001)

Manic Street Preachers, the - Everything Must Go (1996)***

Molina, Juana - Un Dia (2008)***

Morphine – Cure for Pain (1993)

Morphine - Like Swimming (1997)

Mountain Goats - Zopolite Machine (1994)***

Mountain Goats - Bleed Out (2022)***

Nas - Illamtic (1994)***

New Pornographers, the – Mass Romantic (2000)

Nirvana – In Utero (1993)

O’Connor, Sinead - The Lion and the Cobra (1987)***

Pere Ubu – Dub Housing (1978)

Pere Ubu – The Art of Walking (1980)

Perfume Genius – Put Your Back N2 It (2012)

Phosphorescent - Revelator (2024)***

Pink Floyd - A Saucerful of Secrets (1968)

Pink Floyd - Wish you Were Here (1975)

Pixies – Doolittle (1989)

Pixies – Bossonova (1990)

Pixies – Trompe La Monde (1991)

Plains - I Walked With you A Ways (2022)

Police, The – Zenyatta Mondatta (1980)

Police, The – Syncronicity (1983)

Priests – The Seduction of Kansas (2019)

Public Enemy – Muse Sick N Hour Message (1994)

Queens of the Stone Age – Queens of the Stone Age (1998)

Queens of the Stone Age – Rated R (2000)

R.E.M. – Murmur (1983)

R.E.M. – Document (1987)

Robertson, Robbie – Robbie Robertson (1987)***

Rolling Stones, the – Between the Buttons (1967)

Rolling Stones, the – Let It Bleed (1969)

Run the Jewels – s/t (2013)

Run the Jewels – RTJ2 (2014)

San Fermin – s/t (2013)

Shabazz Palaces - Black Up (2010)

Shellac - At Action Park (1994)

Shins, the - Oh! Inverted World (2001)

Sonic Youth – Confusion Is Sex (1983)

Sonic Youth – Goo (1990)

Sonic Youth – Dirty (1992)

Sonic Youth – A Thousand Leaves (1998)

Spellling - The Turning Wheel (2021)***

Spoon – Kill the Moonlight (2002)

Sparklehorse - It’s A Wonderful Life (2001)***

Stern, Marnie - In Advance of a Broken Arm (2007)

Talking Heads – Fear of Music (1979)

Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler / The Dream (2011)***

Thee Oh Sees - Mutilator At Last (2015)***

Tortoise - TNT (1998)***

Tragically Hip, the – Up to Here (1989)

Tragically Hip, the – Day for Night (1994)

Troller – Graphic (2016)

Tubs, the - Dead Meat (2023)***

TV On the Radio - Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes (2004)

U.S. Girls – Half Free (2015)

Vampire Rodents - Lullaby Land (1993)

Van Etten, Sharon - Remind Me Tomorrow (2019)

Veils, the - And Out of the Void Came Love (2023)***

Velvet Underground, the – White Light White Heat (1967)

Walker, Ryley - Course in Fable (2021)***

War On Drugs – Slave Ambient (2011)

Wire – Chairs Missing (1978)

Wonder, Stevie - Talking Book (1972)

XTC – Drums and Wires (1979)

XTC – Black Sea (1980)

Yo La Tengo - May I Sing with Me - (1992)***

Yo La Tengo - Painful (1993)***

Yo La Tengo - Electr-O-Pura (1995)***