top 50 of the last 50 years

[john williams]

Ornette : Ornette Coleman (1962)
Monk’s Dream : Thelonious Monk (1963)
Spiritual Unity : Albert Ayler (1964)
Point of Departure : Andrew Hill (1965)
Spirits Rejoice : Albert Ayler (1966)
Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy : Sun Ra (1967)
Miles Smiles : Miles Davis Quintet (1967)
Eternal Rhythm : Don Cherry (1969)
Fun House : The Stooges (1970)
Ethiopiques Volume 14: Negus of Ethiopian Sax : Getachaw Mekurya (1970)
Lick my Decals Off Baby : Captain Beefheart (1970)
Tago Mago : Can (1971)
So Far : Faust (1972)
Pakistani Pomade : Alexander Von Schlippenbach (1973)
Radio City : Big Star (1974)
Expensive Shit : Fela Kuti (1975)
Zombie : Fela Kuti (1977)
Dub Housing : Pere Ubu (1978)
154 : Wire (1979)
Closer : Joy Division (1980)
Doc at the Radar Station : Captain Beefheart (1980)
Slates : The Fall (1981)
Live 1981-82 : The Birthday Party (released 1999)
Hex Enduction Hour : The Fall (1982)
Pokkeherrie : The Ex (1985)
Room of Lights : Crime and the City Solution (1986)
Joggers and Smoggers : The Ex (1989)
Pod : The Breeders (1990)
Scrabbling at the Lock : The Ex and Tom Cora (1991)
Goat (1991) or Liar (1992) : The Jesus Lizard (can’t choose between these two)
Clyma Est Mort : The Dead C (1992)
Harsh Seventies Reality : The Dead C (1992)
Newfoundland : AMM (1993)
What Fun Life Was : Bedhead (1994)
Meadville : David Thomas and Two Pale Boys (1997)
Ocean Songs : The Dirty Three (1998)
Pennsylvania : Pere Ubu (1998)
The Marshall Suite : The Fall (1999)
Teenage Snuff Film : Rowland S Howard (1999)
After Appleby : Evan Parker/Barry Guy/Paul Lytton/Marilyn Crispell (2000)
± : Poire_ z (2002)
Turn : The Ex (2004)
A View from the Window : Keith Rowe / Axel Dörner / Franz Hautzinger (2004)
Erstlive 005 : Keith Rowe / Toshimaru Nakamura / Thomas Lehn / Marcus Schmickler (2005)
Moa Anbessa : Getachew Mekuria + The Ex and Guests (2006)
For Philip Guston/Morton Feldman : Julia Breuer / Matthias Engler / Elmar Schrammel (Wergo) (2008)
Popcrimes : Rowland S Howard (2009)
2 Seconds / B Minor / Wave : Michael Pisaro/Taku Sugimoto (2010)
Catch My Shoe - The Ex (2011)
Asleep, Street, Pipe, Tones : Michael Pisaro (2011)

[jon abbey]

so this was a good thread I forgot about and just stumbled upon.

[Dan Warburton]

Good to see it bumped.. but I feel even less inclined to try and find 50 myself than I was four years ago! Would be nice to see other folks' selections though

[SqDanceCallingSteve]

If I had a few days off this month I might consider doing this.

But IF I HAD, my list would include
Sergey Kuryokhin -- Some Combinations of Fingers and Passion
Djivan Gasparyan -- I Will Not Be Sad in This World
a Harry Partch compilation
and the three Rhino doo wop boxes

[MRS]

What Fun Life Was : Bedhead (1994)

Just reading through this thread, one of my favorite records ever, from an an era/area where I've never had much interest. But riveted cymbals...

[fractious]

this is so tough so to make it easier: no classical records (apologies Olah and Feldman), no compilations of previously recorded works, just the LP's. One album per artist.

Umm

Love - Forever Changes (1967)
Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica (1969)

Miles Davis - Bitches Brew (1970)
Chico Buarque - Construção (1971)
Joni Mitchell - Blue (1971)
Kaoru Abe - Mort à crédit (1976)
Fernando Grillo - Fluvine (1976)
Polly Bradfield - Solo Violin Improvisations (1979)
Robert Ashley - Automatic Writing (1979)

Sonic Youth - Confusion is Sex (1983)
Pixies - Surfer Rosa (1987)
Arthur Russell - World of Echo (1986)

Herbert Distel - La Stazione (1990)
Paul Dolden - The Threshold of Deafening Silence (1990)
Talk Talk - Laughing Stock (1991)
Slint - Spiderland (1991)
Nirvana - Nevermind (1991)
Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (1993)
Maniac - The World of a Psycho (1994)
Government Alpha - Funeral Procession (1995)
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing... (1996)
Jeff Mills - Live at the LIquid Room Tokyo (1996)
N.O.D. - Niggaz of Destruction (1996)
Mo*Te - Life in a Peaceful New World (1996)
Everyone Asked About You - Everyone Asked About You (1997)
The Shadow Ring - Hold Onto I.D. (1998)
Kazumoto Endo - While You Were Out (1999)
American Football - American Football (1999)

The Dead C - The Dead C (2000)
Radiohead - Kid A (2000)
cLOUDEAD - cLOUDEAD (2001)
Manuel Mota - For Your Protection Why Don't You Just Paint Yourself Real Good Like an Indian (2001)
William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops (2002)
Sun Kil Moon - Ghosts of the Great Highway (2003)
Nikos Veliotis, Taku Sugimoto, Kazushige Kinoshita, Taku Unami ‎– Quartet (2004)
Sachiko M, Toshimaru Nakamura, and Otomo Yoshihide - Good Morning Good Night (2004)
Animal Collective - Feels (2005)
David Thomas Broughton - The Complete Guide to Insufficiency (2005)
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (2005)
Sunshine Has Blown - Sunshine Has Blown (2006)
Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala (2007)
The National - Boxer (2007)
Bhob Rainey, Ralf Wehowsky - I Don't Think I Can See You Tonight (2007)
Kevin Drumm - Imperial Distortion (2008)
Graham Lambkin + Jason Lascalleet - The Breadwinner (2008)

DJ Rashad - Just a Taste (2010)
Diamond Black Hearted Boy - Zero (2013)
Hideaki Shimada - Septet//2013 (2014)
MURAL - Tempera (2014)
Sufjan Stevens - Carrie and Lowell (2015)
Reed Evan Rosenberg / Ethan Tripp - Medium Rude (2016)
Aaron Dilloway - The Gag Tape (2017)

[fractious]

...aaaand goddamit i forgot bedhead lmao

[onion]

Hip-hop is less than 50 years old, but it's a lot easier to do and I think the genre (not only isolating it to a single genre, but this genre specifically) is more fitting to narrow down and make a good list. Yes, I have a heavy east coast bias and yes, I have listened to a lot of hip-hop after 2005. There is a good 30 more essential albums that didn't make the cut.

Eric B & Rakim - 1987 - Paid In Full
Boogie Down Productions - 1987 - Criminal Minded
Big Daddy Kane - 1988 - Long Live The Kane
NWA - 1988 - Straight Outta Compton
Public Enemy - 1988 - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back
De La Soul - 1989 - 3 Feet High and Rising

A Tribe Called Quest - 1990 - People's Instinctive Travels
Ice Cube - 1990 ‎– AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
Kool G Rap - 1990 - Wanted Dead or Alive
Main Source 1991 - Breakin Atoms
Dr. Dre - 1992 - The Chronic
Geto Boys - 1992 - Geto Boys
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - 1992 - Mecca and the soul brother
Showbiz & AG - 1992 - Runaway Slave
A Tribe Called Quest - 1993 - Midnight Marauders
Black Moon - 1993 - Enta Da Stage
KRS ONE - 1993 - Return of the Ol Boom Bap
Wu-Tang - 1993 - Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Jeru - 1994 - The Sun Rises In The East
Nas - 1994 - Illmatic
Notorious BIG - 1994 - Ready To Die
2pac - 1995 - Me Against The World
Group Home - 1995 - Group Home
GZA - 1995 - Liquid Swords
Mobb Deep - 1995 - The Infamous
Raekwon - 1995 - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
Dr. Octagon - 1996 - Dr Octagynacologist
Fugees - 1996 - The Score
GhostFace Killah - 1996 - Ironman
Jeru - 1996 - Wrath of the Math
Capone-N-Noreaga - 1997 - The War Report
Company Flow - 1997 - Funcrusher Plus
Big Pun - 1998 - Capital Punishment
Gang Starr - 1998 - Moment Of Truth
Arsonists - 1999 - As The World Burns
Dr. Dre - 1999 - Chronic 2001
Handsome Boy Modeling School - 1999 - So...How's Your Girl
Mos Def - 1999 - Black On Both Sides
MF DOOM - 1999 - Operation Doomsday
Prince Paul - 1999 - A Prince Among Thieves
The Roots - 1999 - Things Fall Apart

Binary Star - 2000 - Masters Of The Universe
Blackalicious - 2000 - Nia
Common - 2000 - Like Water For Chocolate
GhostFace Killah - 2000 - Supreme Clientele
Cannibal Ox - 2001 - The Cold Vein
El-P - 2002 - Fantastic Damage
Immortal Technique - 2003 - Revolutionary Vol. 2
Madvillain - 2004 - Madvillainy
Edan - 2005 - Beauty and the Beat