Note that I said MY favorite rock albums, not indisputably the greatest rock albums of all time. Who am I to decide that? So if your favorite album isn’t on here, don’t take it personally. We just have different tastes. At one point in my life I thought that all my peers liked more or less the same stuff. And to a greater or lesser degree, there’s some truth to that. (I used “rock” to encompass both rock and blues. If I didn’t qualify it, I’d be throwing in at least one jazz album).

But I recall a place I worked maybe 20 years ago. There was a young woman and a young African-American guy. Her record collection was all Joni Mitchell-type stuff, his was hip-hop and Prince. Some crossover? Sure. But clearly their top ten list would not include, say, Eric Clapton.

If I analyze my own list – which I’d never before done – I note that it starts out pretty bluesy then halfway through becomes less so to the point of it pretty much disappearing. I note too that none of these is new, the most recent having come out in 1976. I still listen to new stuff as often as I can. But I do not listen to albums all the way through as much as I used to in the old days. And for me I just find it increasingly difficult to find albums that are great all the way through.

And that’s what these albums have in common. Across all the albums, very little of what i would call filler. Some of these I listen to more than others. But I would take any of these to a desert isle .

Lastly, I had a choice on this post on whether to do them all in one post – which I did – or in two posts and add in some tracks you could listen to. I compromised by naming key tracks that you can listen to on Spotify, YouTube, etc.

I welcome your comments and YOUR top ten lists.