Inspired by who knows what devilry, the I Love Music forum exploded to life overnight as longtime posters published their 30 or 50 favorite albums. What it improved, after I’d glanced at a half dozen lists, is that ILM has (un)predictably eclectic tastes. I published a version of this list in 2015; this version reflects updates. Ask me again in five years.
1. Prince – Controversy
2. Jorge Ben Jor – África Brasil
3. Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music – Street Life: 20 Great Hits
4. Public Image Ltd – Second Edition
5. Ghostface Killah – Supreme Clientele
6. Peter Gabriel – So
7. Aaliyah – Aaliyah
8. Electronic – Electronic
9. Alexander O’Neal – Hearsay
10. Sleater-Kinney – The Hot Rock
11. Rosanne Cash – King’s Record Shop
12. Steely Dan – Gaucho
13. Pet Shop Boys – Please
14. Aretha Franklin – Spirit in the Dark
15. René & Angela – Street Called Desire
16. Maxwell – BLACKsummers’night
17. Wire – The A List
18. The Cure – The Head on the Door
19. A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory
20. The Go-Betweens – Oceans Apart
21. Change – The Glow of Love
22. DJ Quik – The Book of David
23. Joni Mitchell – Hejira
24. Suede – Dog Man Star
25. Everything But The Girl – Walking Wounded
26. Kylie Minogue – Fever
27. DJ Sprinkles – Midtown 120 Blues
28. Willie Nelson – Shotgun Willie
29. The B-52’s – Cosmic Thing
30. Psychedelic Furs – Forever Now
31. Garbage – Version 2.0
32. Eno/Cale – Wrong Way Up
33. Duran Duran – Rio
34. Miranda Lambert – The Weight of These Wings
35. Dolly Parton – The Essential Dolly Parton
36. Sugar – Copper Blue
37. The Chills – Submarine Bells
38. Jesse Ware – What’s Your Pleasure?
39. The Human League – Dare
40. Lil Wayne – Tha Carter II
41. Erykah Badu – New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
42. Amy Grant – Heart in Motion
43. Roisin Murphy – Overpowered
44. 808 State – Ex:el
45. Ice Cube – Amerikkka’s Most Wanted
46. Utah Saints – Utah Saints
47. Sinead O’Connor – I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got
48. Jazmine Sullivan- Reality Show
49. Gilberto Gil – Expresso 2222
50. Miles Davis – Get Up With It
Humanizing The Vacuum 
Oh sheez- Some of yours overlaps so I want to extend mine to others that I think are unknown to english citics, underrated, downgraded or not-so-mentioned or directly forgotten; whatever. I still listening and give me a great joy. I could triple this. Out of the tip of my hat and in no order:
. Rickie Lee Jones – Pirates
. Pretenders . Singles
. Mano Negra . Casa Babylon
. Novos Baianos. Acabou Chorare
. Steely Dan . Countdown to Ectasy
. Caetano Veloso. Cores, Nomes
. Charly Garcia . Yendo de la cama al living
. Virus . Locura
. Pj Harvey . To Bring You My Love
. Bjork. Vespertine
. Joe Jackson . Night and Day
. Jorge Ben. Jorge Ben – Que Maravilha (Box Set)
. Talking Heads. Sand In The Vaseline – Popular Favorites 1976-1992
. Lucinda Williams. Essence
. Sam Cooke. Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963
Paulinho da Viola . A Dança da Solidão
. Joao Bosco. Caça à Raposa
. Flaming Lips. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (laugh haters, If Miyazaki had a sound it would be this)
. Tom Petty : Full Moon Fever
. Rita Lee. Fruto Proibido
. Travelling Wilburys, Vol. 1
. Tanita Tikaram. Ancient Heart
. Madonna. Erotica
. John Coltrane . A Love Supreme
. Brazil Classics 1: Beleza Tropical
. Stevie Wonder. At the Close of a Century (Box Set)
. Milton Nascimento & Lo Borges . Clube da Esquina
. Djavan. Luz
. Tropicália: ou Panis et Circencis
. Tribalistas
. Los Abuelos de la Nada . Vasos y besos
. Café Tacvba. Avalancha de exitos
Amy Grant? There has to be a story behind that. I never would have expected to see a CCM album on your list.
It’s not, though. It’s a pop album and I love it to pieces.
Me too. She’s actually a pretty decent person for a CCM artist and relatively progressive in some of her actions.
A great list! I share 16 of those and I’m “well chuffed” to see that you and I share opinion on the best Prince album! One that few fans cite, to my astonishment. The first time I scanned the list, I forgot that I also have “Utah Saints!” Whoops. And in spite of my many Go-Betweens albums, I still don’t have that one. And you shame me as I still don’t have any Jorgé Ben! Though the best album in there just might be the astonishing “Overpowered” by Róisín Murphy! I bought her debut album, “Ruby Blue,” after liking her Pulp cover B-side on the “Bad Cover Version” single and loved it. So when I saw “Overpowered” in the used bins, I bought it without hesitation. W-o-w!! That album should have been the new “Thriller,” only with much better songs! What went wrong there???!!
Get ready to collapse when you learn what Róisín Murphy said a few days ago.