Perfection no doubt is a funny word. What does make an album perfect? Willy opens with one of CCR's best singles of all time and it only gets better from there. "It Came Out of the Sky" may be CCR's best non-hit. "Cotton Fields" and "Midnight Special" are two solid renditions of Leadbelly classics. And "Effigy" is a powerful finale. This album just is. Nothing else can describe it

I remember when I got this album. I also remember about two months later when I finally took it out of my stereo. This was Rock & Roll, pure, unadulterated teenager Rock & Roll. This was an update on your daddy's Rock & Roll, and reminded that even though it's no longer the 60s, teens still can't get no satisfaction. Just now, it's all because of answering machines and androgyny. How quaint.

How do you describe your favorite album by your favorite band? Honestly, how? I'm not sure I can, so I'm not even going to try.

After what the band felt was a disappointing London session for its previous album, R.E.M. went full-force with the guitars. Every track, even the silly and thrice-rejected "Just a Touch" has its moment, slyly working its way into your brain before you move onto the next one. Cohesive and jubilant, Lifes Rich Pageant succeeds in every place, an achievement R.E.M. would fail miserably duplicating.

I feel cliche including this on my list. The album is great. No easy way around in. Jeff Mangum's songwriting is at its peak; the music is serene; the album cover is prophetically awkward. I have no idea what I mean by any of that, but it sounded good so I wrote it.

The lost gem of the 80s. There were a few albums I would have above this, but unfortunately none of them came up when I searched. Scott Miller is the genius that Alex Chilton gave up after Third. No one else can write such simple pop so effortlessly and yet so original. Miller's only problem is that he's too smart for everyone else and isn't afraid to show it off. Least accessable pop album ever.

People seem to forget that the Kinks came stateside around the same time the Beatles and the Stones did. People also just don't know how amazing their output was before they finally made American radio with Lola. This album is pure 60s British pop-rock at its finest. A little from the Beatles, a little from the Stones, and a lot that every other British band since them has taken away.

Mission of Burma released one album before breaking up in 1983. 19 years later they reunited and released what is by far the best record of the millennium. Mature in their 20s, it's hard to believe they've grown. But what is harder to believe is how they've improved. Just as punky when they want, but they can mix it up. What's hardest to believe is how they're still 10 years ahead of their time.

Kurt Cobain's favorite rock band (The Vaselines are pop). The title track is, for lack of a better word, epic. Every other song rocks too. The Oregon punk scene in the 1980s may be the most underappreciated in the United States. Greg Sage is a lyrical and music genius and failure to recognize that should be a crime.

Maybe it's because I live in Texas or maybe it's because this truly is lo-fi's greatest album, but I can't get enough of this. John Darnielle can tell a story like it's nobody's business. Or he could tell 14.