The magazine did regular Reader's Polls and they make interesting reading as a snap shot of the time and what was and wasn't popular. The majority of the top 10 are 1960s albums with only the Eagles being a relatively recent release. Funny that a poll for 'album of the century' includes nothing pre-1967!
Almost very album in the 50 is a classic, interesting to see Mike Nesmith in at 23. Love being #1 is amazing really and shows how well regarded that album was even seven years after its release. It's gone on to be recognised as something of a lost classic, of course. Layla too didn't really sell well on its initial release, failed to chart in UK and made #16 in USA but in the intervening 5 years was already being regarded as a classic.
One obvious omission here is no Dark Side Of The Moon, no Genesis, Jethro Tull, Yes, ELP or Led Zeppelin, despite selling millions of records they can't have had enough votes for any of their albums to make the top 50. That being said, I'd happily play any of thee albums right now, so timeless are they.
- Forever Changes - Love
- Happy Trails - Quicksilver Messenger Service
- Desperado - Eagles
- Live Dead - Grateful Dead
- Notorious Byrd Brothers - Byrds
- Layla & other assorted love songs - Derek & the Dominos
- Electric Music for the Mind & Body - Country Joe & the Fish
- Blonde on Blonde - Dylan
- Astral Weeks - Van Morrison
- Grievous Angel - Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris
- American Beauty - Grateful Dead
- California Bloodlines - John Stewart
- Sailing Shoes - Little Feat
- After the Goldrush - Neil Young
- Sgt Pepper - Beatles
- If Only I Could Remember My Name - David Crosby
- Highway 61 Revisited - Dylan
- Crosby, Stills & Nash - Crosby, Stills & Nash
- Surfs Up - Beach Boys
- Pet Sounds - Beach Boys
- For Everyman - Jackson Browne
- L.A. Woman - Doors
- And the Hits Just Keep on Coming - Mike Nesmith
- Buffalo Springfield Again - Buffalo Springfield
- Electric Ladyland - Hendrix
- Eagles - Eagles
- "Skull & Roses" - Grateful Dead
- Everybody Knows This is Nowhere - Neil Young
- Trout Mask Replica - Capt Beefheart
- A Good Feeling To Know - Poco
- Countdown to Ecstasy - Steely Dan
- Workingman's Dead - Grateful Dead
- Moondance - Van Morrison
- "White Album" - Beatles
- The Band - The Band
- Tago Mago - Can
- After Bathing at Baxters - Jefferson Airplane
- Dixie Chicken - Little Feat
- Live at the Fillmore - Allman Brothers
- I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight - Richard & Linda Thompson
- Who's Next - The Who
- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
- Tommy - The Who
- Hot Rats - Zappa
- Beggars Banquet - Rolling Stones
- Boz Scaggs - Boz Scaggs
- Piper at the Gates of Dawn - Pink Floyd
- Sailor - Steve Miller Band
- Music from Big Pink - The Band
- Sweetheart of the Rodeo - Byrds
