Top 40 albums, take two

I've thought it over and realize that I should just have some guidelines:

1. 1 album per band (hard to do w/r to my favorite bands but I'll give it a go)
2. No "Greatest Hits" albums
3. Live albums are ok if they are really good and distinct as live albums (you'll see my example below)
4. Soundtracks are ok (but I don't think I can have more than 1 on my list, absent special circumstances)

So, I want to further define what the list means. It is the 40 albums most important to me. Not necessarily the 40 most "important" albums I own ( as in important in a global sense), but the albums that have been most important to me historically. This means that an album may be less important to me now, but if it was at some point really important to me or I really really loved it, it at least merits consideration. Also, when choosing the one album from a certain band to include, I will include my favorite one, not necessarily the one I think might generally be considered the "best". Ok, here goes:

Nevermind - Nirvana
OK Computer - Radiohead
The Process of Belief - Bad Religion
Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys
Paul's Boutique - The Beastie Boys
Abbey Road - The Beatles
Odelay - Beck
London Calling - The Clash
Take Five - Dave Brubeck
Under the Table and Dreaming - Dave Matthews Band
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - The Flaming Lips
Welcome Interstate Managers - Fountains of Wayne
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
American Idiot - Green Day
Appetite for Destruction - Guns N' Roses
Lost and Gone Forever - Guster
Turn on the Bright Lights - Interpol
Utonian Automatic - Isotope 217
Nothing's Shocking - Jane's Addiction
Blue Train - John Coltrane
Houses of The Holy - Led Zeppelin
What's Goin' On - Marvin Gaye
Bitches Brew - Miles Davis
Double Nickels on the Dime - The Minutemen
Signals, Calls & Marches - Mission of Burma
Slanted & Enchanted - Pavement
Vs. - Pearl Jam
Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
Surfer Rosa - The Pixies
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back - Public Enemy
Pulp Fiction - Soundtrack
Document - REM
Californication - Red Hot Chili Peppers
When I Woke - Rusted Root
Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - Smashing Pumpkins
Superunknown - Soundgarden
Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads
Joshua Tree - U2
White Blood Cells - The White Stripes
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco

So, now I've gotten it to 40. My next task will be to think about whether I can put it into some order, or maybe even say something about each album.

my non-sleeping daughter, Eliot Spitzer, Top 40 albums

I think the Banana might finally be asleep. She should be, it's been almost 1.5 hours since I last went into her room, and more than 2 hours since I first attempted to put her down for bed. She just started sleeping in a "big girl" bed a few nights ago, and is having adjustment trouble. As for me, I have had a pretty miserable time this evening. I told her after the second time I came back that that was it and I wasn't coming back in, and I meant it. Still, listening to her call to us makes my head want to explode. Am I being heartless? I don't think so - I just think that she needs to learn how to fall asleep on her own. She finally seems to have stopped crying - hopefully not emptionally scarring her too much. She fell asleep eventually, but I still feel a little like I'm made of glass at the moment.

On the Eliot Spitzer thing, not too much to say other than to observe that he is another loathsome hypocritical political sleaze. I'm not sure which part I think is the worst - the hypocrisy (crimefighter hoisted on his own petard, much to the schaudenfreude of corporate types everywhere), the stupidity (thinking that as the f$%^ing GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK he would be able to get away with visiting prostitutes on a regular basis and funneling $ all over the place), or (not to sound too old-fashioned) the criminality and immorality of the whole thing. I think I liked him a few years back, now not so much.

I was talking with a work friend/colleague recently about Top 40 albums lists. Not sure why 40, but it was an interesting discussion because it made me realize I have over the past few years been thinking about favorite songs, not favorite albums. I'm going to try to rectify that though, by coming up with a list of my own Top 40. Actually putting them in order seems like it might be a huge challenge, so we'll see how that goes. In the interim, here goes (in no particular order, except slightly alphabetical):

Nevermind - Nirvana
OK Computer - Radiohead
Kid A - Radiohead
The Process of Belief - Bad Religion
Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys
Paul's Boutique - The Beastie Boys
Check Your Head - The Beastie Boys
Abbey Road - The Beatles
Sgt. Peppers - The Beatles
Odelay - Beck
London Calling - The Clash
Take Five - Dave Brubeck
Under the Table and Dreaming - Dave Matthews Band
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - The Flaming Lips
Welcome Interstate Managers - Fountains of Wayne
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
American Idiot - Green Day
Appetite for Destruction - Guns N' Roses
Lost and Gone Forever - Guster
Turn on the Bright Lights - Interpol
Utonian Automatic - Isotope 217
Nothing's Shocking - Jane's Addiction
Blue Train - John Coltrane
My Favrite Things - John Coltrane
The College Dropout - Kanye West
Houses of The Holy - Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin II - Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin I - Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin III - Led Zeppelin
The Sidewinder - Lee Morgan
Frances the Mute - The Mars Volta
What's Goin' On - Marvin Gaye
Bitches Brew - Miles Davis
Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
On the Corner - Miles Davis
Double Nickels on the Dime - The Minutemen
Signals, Calls & Marches - Mission of Burma
Slanted & Enchanted - Pavement
Vs. - Pearl Jam
Ten - Pearl Jam
Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
Surfer Rosa - The Pixies
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back - Public Enemy
Pulp Fiction Soundtrack
Document - REM
Automatic for the People - REM
Californication - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Blood Sugar Sex Magik - Red Hot Chili Peppers
When I Woke - Rusted Root
Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - Smashing Pumpkins
Superunknown - Soundgarden
Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads
Joshua Tree - U2
White Blood Cells - The White Stripes
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco
Being There - Wilco
Blues & Roots - Charles Mingus

OK, that's actually 57 albums. I'll narrow it down at a later date.