All-Time Top 1000 Albums

by Colin Larkin

What's the greatest album of all time? There are as many opinions as there are people, but this book gets as close as possible to an answer. This is the chart of charts, the poll of polls: two years' worth of accumulated votes collected from all over the world by post, telephone, fax and over the Internet. With more than 200,000 votes it represents a vast range of views and opinions, from critics, journalists and the people who really count: the fans. There's an entry for each of the 1000 albums, including a full track listing, chart positions and album cover. There are lists by genre, lists by key artists, recommended box sets, forgotten classics and - new to this edition - the top 100 singles of all time.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Reference

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Colin Larkin is a British music writer. He founded and was the editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Along with the ten-volume encyclopedia, Larkin also wrote the book All Time Top 1000 Albums, and edited the Guinness Who's Who of Jazz, the Guinness Who's Who of Blues, and the Virgin Encyclopedia of Heavy Rock. He has over 650000 copies in print.

Reviews

[Patrick Neylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Larkin collates all the serious lists of 'top albums' and makes a master list. In that sense it's an objective list, but the write-ups of the records themselves are opinionated, as they should be. That said, he's got something good to say about everything, and he can't like them all. Such encyclopedic knowledge is impressive, and the reviews contain enough warmth and humour, even the bad ones (definition of a bad review: one I disagree with).

Take the list with a pinch of salt (the best five albums of all time are shared between the Beatles and Radiohead), but the positions don't matter. It's a list of 1000 great albums with enough to get you interested in finding something new. That's the real point.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 2 out of 5]

Miscellany and memory from an octagenarian glider retired from fighting for integration in Detroit public schools and beyond. A quick, light read with some experiences flying the Pacific theater in WW II.