Although the top ten list, or lists in general are fairly cliche, I figure it’s a good way to introduce whatever readers there are right now to my own musical preferences. When we’re talking rock n’ roll, I could go on for hours, but I’ll try to keep this short and get to the point.

10. The Band-The Band

Often times referred to as the “Brown Album,” the second effort by The Band is their most consistent in their catalogue. It is also features some of their most famous songs, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “Up on Cripple Creek,” and “Rag Mama Rag.” Not only that, but it also has the three singers, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, and Levon Helm in fine voice. The album is a landmark in versatility, featuring the swampy rock groove the band made famous, as well as more intricate tunes like the haunting, “Whispering Pines.” If you want to hear a group of superb musicians hitting their stride, look no further than this album. It’s a testament to American roots music, and that’s not too shabby for a bunch of Canadians, eh?

9. This Year’s Model-Elvis Costello

There was a time, a long time ago, when Elvis Costello was angry. This album, released in 1978, came along during the heart of the punk/new wave revolution of the late 70’s. Under the production of Nick Lowe, Costello unleashed a fury of angry and hungry rock n’ roll that any punk purist could appreciate. It also helps that he was backed by some of the best musicians that the punk movement had to offer. The Attractions featured Pete Thomas on drums (listen to the fills on “Lipstick Vogue”), bassist Bruce Thomas, and keyboard wizard Steve Nieve, and they all played with punk fury, but with soul band precision. This album found Costello at his most moody, and while he’s had other artistic peaks, this album remains his calling card.

8. Elephant- The White Stripes

While the fear of rock n’ roll being stagnant has been around for decades, it was never more so in the late 90’s. After grunge had run it’s course, what was left in its wake were terrible mainstream post-grunge bands like Creed and Staind. The rap/rock hybrids of Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach, et al, were also an unfortunate blip on the mainstream rock radar. Then Jack White hit the scene, and the White Stripes took off as a duo with blues fury that brought rock n’ roll back to its roots. White Blood Cells got them noticed, but it was the masterpiece, Elephant, that blew them into stardom. With “Seven Nation Army,” “The Hardest Button to Button,” and “Ball and Biscuit,” The White Stripes brought a whole new generation to the blues, which is really what great rock n’ roll always does. In guitar circles, Jack White may not be a technical wizard like Eddie Van Halen, but his playing recalls a simpler grit of Robert Johnson and the force of Jimmy Page. Long live Jack White, the voice of the 2000’s.

7. Darkness on the Edge of Town-Bruce Springsteen

Starting off with the martial beat and fierce energy of “Badlands,” this 1978 effort from the Boss found him in a darker, bleaker, harder mood than his previous effort, Born to Run. Gone were the Phil Spector-ish wall of sound effects, and larger orchestrations. In their place was a band playing harder and louder than they ever did before. There was no hope on this record, just harsh reality of what happens when hope and dreams die. This record features the incidiary father/son song “Adam Raised a Cain,” the heartbreaking story of “Racing in the Street,” the bleakness of  “The Promised Land,” and the outright desperation of “Prove It All Night.” In sound, this may not be a brother to the punk movement, but it is certainly a cousin.

6. Rubber Soul-The Beatles

There are so many damned Beatles records one could pick as their artistic peak. The unfortunate part for list compilers is what’s fortunate for listeners. They kept topping themselves. This record was a huge step for the Fab Four in becoming artists rather than popsters. With songs like “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown),” “Girl,” “Nowhere Man,” and “In My Life,” this may be the album in the Beatles catalogue with the best contributions from John Lennon. Not that Paul and George didn’t hold their own. This album was a statement: Pop can be serious art. Everything released after in the 1960’s owes this album big time.

5. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars- David Bowie

It’s hipper to like other albums in the Bowie catalogue. It’s even less hip that this is a “concept” album, a term and idea which I normally have reservations about. Mostly due to that most records with a conscious attempt at a story usually end up being too grandiose and self serving (see The Wall and Tommy). This record is his best, though, and it’s what made him a rock star. The production values on this record are pristine and Mick Ronson’s heavy, yet intricate guitar playing is showcased at the forefront. Songs like, “Moonage Daydream,” “Ziggy Stardust,” and “Suffrigette City,” really bring this home. This would be one of the records I’d pick to take along with me on a desert island, after repeated listens, the album never gets old, never wears out, and like all other great works, there’s always something new to discover.

4. Highway 61 Revisited-Bob Dylan

The second of his “electric” albums, this may be the tightest. Starting out with a snare drum crack like a shot to the head, “Like a Rolling Stone” may indeed be the greatest opener to an album all time, and may indeed be the best song of all time. To think, Al Kooper’s famous organ riff almost didn’t make the cut, due to the fact that he didn’t even know how to play it, and that the track that you hear is the only time in the studio the band actually made it through the whole record. Dylan had really come into his own here, making rock n’ roll and folk and the imagery of the beats all come together as one. It’s a high flying, death defying act that Bob nearly never got through. If you don’t own a copy of this record, you don’t know rock n’ roll, and I’d severely question your musical tastes. Many have tried to imitate, but there is only one, and if you’ve never listened to Bob Dylan in your life, you need to start here.

3. Born to Run- Bruce Springsteen

The one long American summer night. This is a concept album, even though there is not a concept, really. It’s dedicated to the wonder, majesty, and romance of the summer time. Author Michael Chabon says of his own work, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, that he wanted to write a book dedicated to the summer, like the poets of summer, like Bruce Springsteen. It’s really no coincidence that so many in the literary world share a love for Bruce. His eye for detail, phrases like, “The bare foot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge, drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain,” could come out of any well written novel. The album starts with an invitation, “Thunder Road,” an invitation to come along to parts unknown with only the beat up Chevy and rock n’ roll itself as salvation.

2. Revolver- The Beatles

Predictable? Yes. It’s absolutely predictable that on any list of greatest rock n’ roll albums, that a Beatles album should be at the top of the list, or at least near it. There is a reason, and it’s quite simple. No other band, artist, or act, has a song book that can match the amazing consistency of the Beatles. And Revolver, quite simply, is the Beatles at their best. George Harrison makes two wonderful contributions in “Tax Man,” and “I’ve Got to Tell You.” The wonderful double guitar jangle of “And Your Bird Can Sing” would influence everybody, even Thin Lizzy. This is one of the best contributions of Paul McCartney, and although one could argue that his best contribution to the Beatles was actually keeping them together through the later years, and practically forcing the group to make “Abbey Road,” here, Paul’s songwriting is at it’s peak. “For No One” and “Eleanor Rigby” are heartbreaking and the latter may be his best vocal performance among many. Paul could really sing, and is in my opinion, the best rock n’ roll vocalist of all time. “Sgt. Pepper” would come after, and then nothing would be the same, but this album is just a collection of 14 really great rock n’ roll songs that few could ever come close to matching.

1. Exile on Main St.- The Rolling Stones

If an alien were to land on Earth and it wanted to know what this thing called rock n’ roll was all about, I’d give him this record. It’s a double record, that sounds like it was made by five guys with a death wish. It is what all great rock n’ roll should be. Not too serious lyrically, almost ready to fall apart, and swings like a mother fucker. Other bands were around that were certainly heavier musically, had better musicians, but none could roll like the Stones. From start to finish, this record is everything that rock n’ roll should be. It’s loose, it’s dirty, it’s savagely rooted in the blues, and you can dance to it, too. Tell me that you can’t move your ass to a song like “Tumbling Dice” or “Happy.” It’s Keith Richards’ greatest artistic statement on guitar, and while other Stones albums are great, this is why they call them the “greatest rock n’ roll band in the world.” For further exploration on this album, see my lengthy review below.

Notable Exceptions:

There are many great records I left off the list. You could really include most of the Beatles catalogue, a whole score of albums from Bob Dylan (especially Blonde on Blonde, my personal favorite), and many Stones albums. There are many other great rock n’ roll albums from many great artists, and your top ten list might be completely different from mine. That’s what’s great about rock n’ roll.