Velvet Underground
Their soul album. The songs still can't help but move, even when they're lullabies.

REM - Fables of the Reconstruction
It's their weirdest album, and maybe their best. It could use a little more rock, but Life and How to Live it is their best take-off on a Keith Richards riff and the songwriting never seems lazy. Peter Buck always said he hated Wendell Gee because the backing track was boring, but has he ever compared it to the song Low, or half of the songs on New Adventures in Hi-Fi? Maybe Peter Buck is getting boring.

Prince - Dirty Mind
Sexy, and the second best party album ever. When his lyrics get too serious, they start to suck and he can't be serious about any song here.

Mercury Rev - Deserters Songs
Haunting, and very much an Upstate New York Winter record. The guitars/saws sound like snowstorms.

Pulp - His-n-Hers
Best party album

Richard Hell and the Voidoids - Blank Generation
Best guitar playing

Bob Dylan - Highway 61
He's best when he's nasty and he's at his nastiest here (the new one isn't very nice either).

Replacements - Tim
Yes, Let it Be rocks harder and gets me psyched, but this is the one that has songs on it. They're still silly, they're more moving and they're still a punch in the face. I saw Westerberg play a few months ago and he played every song he's ever written and these were the ones that got me the hardest. Actually, and honestly, Let it be is just as good, and Hootenanny aint too bad either. Pleased to Meet Me has great songs too, and really, Fuck School is the best song ever, pretty much. And that's on what? Stink?

Rolling Stones - Exile
They're best when they're fucked up and they're really fucked up here.

Flaming Lips - in a Priest Driven Ambulance
A cross between their 80's indie punk and their 90's psych beach boys.