Music has always been my number one passion - I love making it and listening to it.

Compiling a list of top albums is hard, almost impossible, because I simply love so much music. Also, there are albums that I absolutely loved in the past but don't anymore due to evolving tastes.

What I've done here is put together a Top 50 list of albums that I love AND that I still listen to. Each one of these has been listened to (either in its entirety or certain tracks) more than a few times during the last year. I've also set a limit of one album per band/lead artist, because if I didn't you'd be seeing a ton of Brian Eno, Harold Budd, and Daniel Lanois (but even with this limit, these three musicians show up multiple times).

Most of these albums are from the mid '80s and on. It's not that I don't like music that is older, it's just that I prefer newer music. Music is an intensely person thing for me, and there is a lot of nostalgia involved in many of these choices. I catalog my life according to what music I was listening to when certain things happened.

By the way, there is no jazz or classical on the list. I'll just get that out of the way right now.

Anyhow, on with the list...