You're a better man that I. I can't give you TOP 3. I can give 3 faves right off the top of my head, though;

Larks' Tongues in Aspic - King Crimson
Animals - Pink Floyd
Who's Next - The Who

Not my TOP 3, just 3 faves without thinking...

We definitely have different musical taste.

Robert Cray - Sweet Potato Pie
Taj Mahal - An Evening of Acoustic Music
Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road

and I had to add

Gillian Welch - Time the Revelator

Great subject! I hope we get lots of responses!

(rated)

Evidence of my dorkdom. Randy Newman, "Sail Away"; Bob Dylan, "Love & Theft"; Hem, "Rabbit Songs." Three is extraordinarily hard.

This kind of post is catnip to the OS krewe. I'll play, but only for the 3 in highest rotation currently:

1. Michael Franti - Yell Fire
2. Rolling Stones - Tattoo You
3. Pretenders - Learning to Crawl

Oh, I love Pretender's "Learning to Crawl" Honey Child!

Sidney Bechet Masters of Jazz
Andres Segovia vol.1 All-Bach Collection
Abba's Greatest Hits

Oh - sooooo hard to pick only three! My number 1 is a keeper, but for the other two, I'll probably change my mind later.

1) Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
2) Radiohead - In Rainbows
3) Boston - (self-titled one)

Is it only one entry per customer? 'Cause I can surely come back and post my other 9,337 favorite albums.

Overlooking things like historical significance ie - Sgt Peppers, Pet Sounds, Never Mind the Bullocks, I could list some favorites. Maybe Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, Bruce Springsteen's Wild Innocent and E Street Shuffle, and Lou Reed's Berlin.

This is pretty hard. Three, huh? This list could change by next week.

(1) Jolie Holland - Escondida
(2) NOFX - Punk in Drublic
(3) (tie) Rosebud-Bullets - Myshkin's Ruby Warblers
(3) (tie) Brandi Carlile - Brandi Carlile
(3) (tie) Brandi Carlile - The Story

could NOT do that!

off head (off with her head!):

Bruce Springsteen Nebraska
Michael Jackson Thriller
Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique

Three faves: The Kinks, Lola versus Powerman and The Moneygoround; Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense; and U2, Joshua Tree. Faves in the sense of "never tire of listening to them".

The Beatles - Live at the BBC
Los Lobos - Just Another Band from East L.A.
Van Morrison - Wavelength

Excellent question!

Very tough.

1. Genesis - Second's Out
2. Franz Liszt - B minor Sonata
3. Astor Piazzolla - Tango: Zero Hour

Can't you make it 10,003?

Sun Kil Moon—Ghosts of the Great Highway
Donald Fagen—The Nightfly
Jackson Browne—The Next Voice You Hear—The Best...

Bonus
Jeff Beck—Jeff

Van Morrison--Moondance
Keith Jarrett--Koln Concert
Duke Ellington--And His Mother Called Him Bill
Songs of Angels--New London Consort (I know that's 4 but I'm really bad at math and the last one is relatively obscure but I good find perfect for writing. . .)

If I thought about it longer--or if I answered this on a different day--I might list 3 totally different records. But these are definitely favorites.

Elvis Costello - Armed Forces
Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
Dave Brubeck - Take Five

I don't know if you are familiar with Kate Campbell (another favorite), but as you live in Chattanooga, you might like her song "See Rock City." ;)

Ugh.
I will show my age and proclivities...

1. Queen - Innuendo
2. Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine
3. Ramones - Ramones Mania

Runners Up - Stand By Me Soundtrack, Ministry - Twitch, Barenaked Ladies - Stunt and Cure - Disintegration.

I know. I have issues.

Oh Geez, only three huh? Well here goes (and in no particular order):

1. Abbey Road - The Beatles
2. Prozac Nation - Bellevue Cadillac
3. Aqualung - Jethro Tull

And leading up the "Well what abouts ..." would be
a. At Last! - Etta James
b. Rock Spectacle - Bare Naked Ladies
c. Untitled/Unissued - The Byrds

And about a hundred others

I would be very, very, very crazy on a desert island, if cocktail party chat was predictive: I'd have nothing to read, nothing to listen to, and no one to talk to because I could not for the life of me shortlist my preferences. Sigh.

I must fix this! But I'll have to get back to you. Three *is* a magic number, but it'll take some work. (rated/appreciated)

Amending my entry:

Further bonus albums (after discussion with Mr. Kasten)

Concrete Blonde - Bloodletting
The Doors - The Doors (or Waiting for the Sun)
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
U2 - Joshua Tree

Seriously, I need to go to bed now. See what you did!?!

Dude, I'll tell you my top three, but first, I really need to know why you picked those three. More info please!!!!!!!!

Okay, here we go:

Now:
1) a tie for the heaviest rotation in my catalogue: Beck's Sea Change (yes, still) and anything by either the Shins or the Dresden Dolls
2) Santogold by Santi
3) a tie: Van Lear Rose by Loretta Lynn / Jack White and Consolers of the Lonely by the Raconteurs

Then:
1) Disintigration by the Cure and everything glam/David Bowie
2) Sandanista by the Clash
3) Laurie Anderson--I know this will raise eyebrows, but she was the original post-beat poetry slammer and she did it with an electric violin. That's the definition of punk, in my book!

Wayback Machine:
1) Pachelbel Canon, recorded on 'original' instruments by the early music group called Voices of Music--see it here--perfection!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvNQLJ1_HQ0

2) "L'estampida" --a collection of dance tunes by the Dufay Collective

3) Pretty much any French noëls from 15o0s-1700s

4) and I can't leave off American shaker tunes--the likes of which are getting some hot airplay right now thanks to the funky little breakout band called Fleet Foxes. Their choral polyphony is gorgeous and rivals REM, the Beach Boys, and the Beatles, which is a damned tall order.

This was fun to do, even if I cheated from start to finish. At least I know what's spinning on my desert island now.

Does it have to be vinyl? No? good.

David Rovics' Hang A Flag in the Window (see him in person, the man's magic. It's not the voice, the guitar, or the lyrics. It's a full-body, all-chakras-spinning cure for depression magical performance.)

Attila the Stockbroker, Live in Belfast (but that's a hard call. His Poetic License hasn't lapsed. "Poetry's not boring - though some poets bore you" - rock on, John!)

Enter the Haggis, Northampton (I dare you - I *DARE* you to hear One Last Drink without dancing. Listen here: http://www.enterthehaggis.com/northampton.cfm)

Laura Nyro's: Gonna Take A Miracle
Steely Dan: Can't Buy A Thrill
Jessie Collin Young: Song for Julie

Very hard to chose just three...

1. John Barry: Out of Africa Soundtrack

2. Neil Young: Unplugged

3. David Bowie: David Live

Here's a funny thing (literally): If "any genre" is the really case, then for me there's a single record that's clearly the TOP 1: Firesign Theatre's Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers. One of the densest, most sophisticated, and funniest records ever.

Hello, thanks for this opportunity:

Kid A - Radiohead

Live at the Filmore - Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention

Weasels Ripped my Flesh - Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention

Jeez, this is hard.....I can only vouch for RIGHT THIS SECOND. Ask me this a few minutes from now and the answer will be different.

1. Whiskeytown -- "Stranger's Almanac"
2. Aimee Mann -- "I'm With Stupid"
3. Fun Lovin Criminals -- "Come Find Yourself"

I posted this Top Five on JoeinAustin's blog last week,

1. Rolling Stones: Exile on Main St.
2. Another Side of Bob Dylan
3. AC/DC: Powerage
4. The Stooges: Funhouse (I'm actually one of the 3,000 owners of the rare, limited edition Complete Funhouse Sessions 6 disc box set!)
5. Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks
5. The Who: Quadrophenia
(I know, I can't count!)

I'm not really sure how nothing by PJ Harvey, Mott the Hoople, The Replacements, The Verve, Bob Marley, Oasis, or David Bowie made it onto that list, but the Top Five is a hard one to crack!

I guess to pare it down to three, I'd knock out The Sex Pistols and The Stooges and The Stones because the others have so much more "personal" value. I'd maybe even have to figure out a way to sneak The Replacements' "Tim" in there now, that it's just been reissued!

glad to see the love for The Soft Bulletin, Los Lobos (I think their best is Kiko, though) and Stop Making Sense. All three of those acts/albums would make my top 20...
but 3...

1. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
2. Outkast - ATLiens
3. Bjork - Homogenic

I'm old-fashioned. So two are from the dusty piles of long-discarded vinyl:

Abbey Road--The Beatles
The Wall--Pink Floyd

For RIGHT! NOW!, I get a stupid, stupid smile on my face every time I put Mika's "Life in Cartoon Motion" into the car's CD player, and while I'm listening to his happy boppy tunes, all's right with the world.

I'm old-fashioned. So two are from the dusty piles of long-discarded vinyl:

Abbey Road--The Beatles
The Wall--Pink Floyd

For RIGHT! NOW!, I get a stupid, stupid smile on my face every time I put Mika's "Life in Cartoon Motion" into the car's CD player, and while I'm listening to his happy boppy tunes, all's right with the world.

Verbal Remedy - MIKA! I LOVE MIKA! I thought I was the only person this side of the Prime Meridian who knew who he *was*! Okay. /fangirl

Sandman- Love this top three. Skylarking is definitely a winner. Can't go wrong NMH and the Lips, either. I remember seeing the Lips open for the Butthole Surfers in the mid-80's and thinking they were the strangest thing ever. God bless Okies! Today being a diff day from the day I did my top five, and having just survived ACL Fest, here is my top 3. I'm sure it will change tomorrow.

Neko Case- Blacklisted
Danielson- Ships
Beck- Midnite Vultures

1970's top three:

Steely Dan: Can't Buy a Thrill
The Who: Quadraphenia
Traffic: John Barleycorn Must Die

1980's top three:

Talking Heads: The Name of This Band
Elvis Costello: My Aim Is True
Blondie: Parallel Lines

1990's top three:

Lucinda Williams: Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Cracker: Kerosene Hat
REM: Fables of the Reconstruction

Current top three:

Chuck Prophet: The Hurting Business
Michael Franti and Spearhead: Everyone Deserves Music
Elvis Costello: Imperial Bedroom

I know, I cheated big time, but I couldn't help it.

mjcochrane:

I LOVE "The Hurting Business"!!--I was just commenting on it and recommending it over on the other Top Three(unheard) blog posting today! It's dark, dark masterpiece, isn't it?

Blake:

You're so right about CP and The Hurting Business. My wife and I saw him a couple of years ago at Cafe du Nord (very small venue) and he blew the place up. Saw him sit in with Lucinda Williams sometime prior to that at the Fillmore -- ditto. If I had made this post six months ago, I would have listed "No Other Love" instead of the "THB." If I revise this list, I might add "The Age of Miracles."

Here's my first stab posting at a URL link on OS, so all the other kids can learn about Chuck Prophet and his iconoclastic magnificence:

http://henning.unsavoury.net/prophet/index.htm

By the way -- thanks for reminding us of The Replacements -- I have to go find the reissued Tim -- thanks for that.

Ps--I'm somewhat sure the photo of me that I use for my profile photo here is from a sxsw day party that Chuck, among many others, was playing. It would have been touring in support of "The Hurting Business" if I'm right.

pps--The bonus tracks for "Tim" are phenomenal. The ones for "Pleased to Meet Me," not so much.

Just so everyone can see what Verbal & I are on about:
Mika - "Grace Kelly"

Great song?
Or the GREATEST song?

Derrick and the Dominoes (eric clapton) Layla
In my opinion the greatest r & r album ever.

Van Morrison, Moondance

Joni Mitchell, Ladies of the Canyon

Wow, I only get three? Yikes.

1. The Beatles, Rubber Soul
2. Letters to Cleo, Wholesale Meats and Fish
3. Guided by Voices, Alien Lanes

I dig your first and third choices too, but in place of "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" I would go with Will Cullen Hart's Circulatory System.

Rob StA - I swear that in a previous life I was Georgie Tirebiter, but Bubbles never gave me the time of day.

Rob St. A brought up the Firesign Theatre. While it deserves its own thread, the best Firesign Theatre albums clearly are:
1. I Think We're All Bozos On This Bus
2. Everything You Know Is Wrong

I know the latter is a dark horse choice, but I haven't been able to get some of the lines out of my head for thirty years.

This is excruciating. I'm overly influenced by the fact that I just saw Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Costello and Jackson Browne sing together at a Seva Foundation benefit. Bonnie and Elvis did a duet on "Love has no Pride" that would be my ONE song ever, if I had a recording of it.

It did make me realize that in the late 70s, 3 of my top 5 favorite records were My Aim is True, Late for the Sky and Streetlights (the other two were Springsteen's "The Wild, the Innocent..." and Al Green's "Call Me."

I could NOT leave Springsteen out of my top 3, but...those 5 are still tied. But I'd like to be on the desert island with a lot of you, because you'd fill out the reset of my list!

Too hard, whine, whine.
Here's Three That Must Be Named from the last few years:
1. In Rainbows-Radiohead
2.The Crane Wife - Decemberists
3. Broken Boy Soldiers -The Raconteurs
And because I can't go anywhere without a movie soundtrack, howzabout the one from Moulin Rouge.

Well, I could put everything Bonnie Raitt ever did on random play and remain happy.

Joni Mitchell Blue - It still makes me cry like it was my first Christmas away from my family

White Album - The Beatles

Workingman's Hero, favorite song on John Lennon/The Plastic Ono Band

The self-titled It's a Beautiful Day, because I still feel like anything is possible when I hear it.

Oddly, I like Southern Culture on the Skids

Blue - Joni Mitchell
What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
Entertainment! - Gang of Four

3 is too few - so much good stuff left out.

I'm re-posting a new top 3. I made a horrible mistake.

I made a list on my blog as well, because 3 is just impossible. Even top 10 is hard because there are hundreds of great albums.

Guerilla - Super Furry Animals
Regatta de Blanc - the Police
It takes a nation of millions... - Public Enemy.

Three? THREE? Are you kidding me? I'd have trouble picking 3 from each genre. Can I do genres? I saw somebody else cheated by doing decades...and it's made worse because I read other peoples' lists and go "Oh, yeah, I'd have to that THAT one!"

So, OK. Um.

I can't do this. Between the spousal unit and myself, we have nearly a thousand albums. Picking 3 out of that is cruel and unusual punishment!

OK, here goes (and like many others, this could change in the next 5 minutes):

The Captain, Kasey Chambers
Doolittle, the Pixies
Nothing Shocking, Jane's Addiction

And my two cheats:
Fumbling Toward Ecstasy, Sarah McLachlan
If I Should Fall From Grace With God, The Pogues

Well, I guess it depends on whether you mean albums, or tracks, don't it? Because my favorite albums don't necessarily contain my favorite tracks, just like my favorite authors haven't necessarily written my favorite books.

So for albums, it would be:

Led Zeppelin III, Led Zeppelin
Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen
Miles Davis, Kind of Blue

But my favorite tracks would be kinda different:

Suite #3 in G, II-Air ("Air on a G String") , J.S. Bach
"Gimme Some Lovin'", Spencer Davis Group
"When the Levee Breaks," Led Zeppelin

now i have all these songs clamoring in my head

1. Live at San Quentin - Johnny Cash
2. Who's Next - The Who
3. Exile from Guyville - Liz Phair

Echo & The Bunnymen – Ocean Rain (Just saw them play this album tonight at Radio City Music Hall w. an orchestra)
Thomas Dolby – Golden Age of the Wireless
Soundtrack to Sweeney Todd

#1 is easy. narrowing to three is hard. i'll try:

Graham Parker: Squeezing Out Sparks
Rickie Lee Jones: Rickie Lee Jones
Warren Zevon: Warren Zevon
Neil Young: Rust Never Sleeps (I guess. Or Decade, or . . . so many)
The Clash: London Calling
The Band, etc: The Last Waltz

OK, I'll accept six.

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THIS DOES TO SOMEONE WITH A SHORT ATTENTION SPAN???

How can one possibly stop at 3? I love John Hiatt, Best of the A&M Years, James Galway and Marissa Robles playing Debussy, Mothers of Invention We're Only in it For the Money.

Now if that isn’t a mixed up list I don't know what is. BTY, I posted earlier today on my current favorite musician - http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=25692 under the title A Little Music Goes A Long Way. I'd love to hear your impressions.

I would find it almost impossible to kock it down to three

http://www.querytools.net/GreatAlbums.htm

But I supposed Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run, and Lou Reed's Berlin.