‘70s Crash Pad

Exile on Main St. might be the critic’s choice, but Some Girls outpaces it thanks to its more focused performances and musical influences.

Some fans will say Fanny Hill is their best, but this album kills from start to finish. “Special Care” smokes the original by Buffalo Springfield.

The greatest double album ever recorded, period.

The greatest guitar solo of all time is in “My Sharona.” The entire album is a gas.

Never bettered.

Lindsey Buckingham inverts the band and comes up with something the kids will appreciate 20 years later.

This and Donna Summer’s Bad Girls are a crash course in disco.

This and Saturday Night Fever are a crash course in disco.

My third favorite Billy Joel album, after The Nylon Curtain and Glass Houses.

Like Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson’s debut is his best. He’d explore all sorts of musical avenues through the years, but for a pure pop experience, there’s no better place to start.

As legendary as you’ve heard and read. An absolute mindfuck if you listen to it on headphones when you’re feverish. “You Can’t Have Me,” “Big Black Car,” and “Thank You, Friends” are every bit as bizarre as the other tracks that always get written about instead.

This, Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway are all fantastic pre-arena Macca. “Long Haired Lady” is amazing, “Monkberry Moon Delight” was Paul completely off the rails in a creative fashion, and “Eat at Home” was about oral sex. Not a bad track on here.

The only Peter Gabriel album I need (though I own others). Lots of different ideas here, with 95% of them working. The melodies are also great, something Gabriel seemed to eschew as his self-titled albums went along.

My ticket into Faust. I read about this album and its history and thought it sounded amazing as a concept. Upon hearing it, I loved it as much as I hoped I would. I have this as a vinyl repress with the original artwork on the front.

Lou Reed’s finest solo LP, bar none. An album of love, sketchy characters, illicit and illegal pleasures, the music biz, and redemption.

The first Rush album I ever bought remains my favorite.

My favorite Bowie album.

The brass and choir make the title suite memorable. My favorite PF album.

He never did better, though he often came close.

Steve Priest? Steve Priest.

If I never hear “Stairway to Heaven” again, I’ll be fine.

No, it’s not Aja.