To celebrate our 30th anniversary and all the great music that made the past three decades special, MAGNET contributors past and present chose their 30 favorite albums released between 1993 and 2022. The only rules were that each record has to be a full-length and that no artist could be represented more than once in the same incarnation. We’re posting these lists throughout the rest of the year.
Patrick Berkery, contributing writer
1) Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers Echo (Warner Bros.), 1999
2) Tom Petty Wildflowers (Warner Bros.), 1994
3) Gillian Welch Time (The Revelator) (Acony), 2001
4) Elliott Smith Figure 8 (DreamWorks), 2000
5) Jellyfish Spilt Milk (Charisma), 1993
6) Portishead Third (Island/Mercury), 2008
7) A Girl Called Eddy A Girl Called Eddy (Anti-), 2004
8) Bob Dylan Time Out Of Mind (Columbia), 1997
9) Allen Toussaint The Bright Mississippi (Nonesuch), 2009
10) David Bowie Blackstar (ISO/Columbia/Sony), 2016
11) Brendan Benson The Alternative To Love (V2), 2005
12) Bernard Butler People Move On (Creation/Columbia), 1998
13) Wilco Being There (Reprise), 1996
14) The New Pornographers Mass Romantic (Mint), 2000
15) Shelby Lynne I Am Shelby Lynne (Mercury/Island), 1999
16) Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band Body And Shadow (Blue Note), 2017
17) Jessica Pratt On Your Own Love Again (Drag City), 2015
18) Urge Overkill Saturation (Geffen), 1993
19) Steve Lacy Gemini Rights (RCA), 2022
20) Fountains Of Wayne Fountains Of Wayne (Scratchie/Tag/Atlantic), 1996
21) Sam Phillips Omnipop (It’s Only A Flesh Wound Lambchop) (Virgin), 1996
22) Phoenix United (Source/Astralwerks), 2000
23) The Jayhawks Tomorrow The Green Grass (American), 1995
24) The Tripwires House To House (Spark & Shine), 2009
25) Sloan Navy Blues (Murder), 1998
26) Michael Kiwanuka Kiwanuka (Interscope), 2019
27) MGMT Little Dark Age (Columbia), 2018
28) The White Stripes White Blood Cells (Sympathy For The Record Industry), 2001
29) Andy Shauf The Party (Anti-), 2016
30) Robert Finley Goin’ Platinum (Easy Eye Sound), 2017
