agreed and I'm not surprised it wouldn't make your own list. I'm more surprised that you would pick it to single out on the list if only because in theory its so up your alley.

I'd disagree, I find even the Dead studio albums to be considerably more entertaining, let alone their live records.

Obviously we'd all make this list differently, but it's a pretty good catch-all.

I definitely wouldn't have JAMC or The Replacements in mine. No Flying Burrito Bros, either, even though that is a great album, and it is miles better than anything I've ever heard by the dead.

i'd take off the grateful dead and r.e.m. but that's because i just don't like em.

san quentin is an excellent choice.

i haven't heard that sam cooke comp, but i've got the the man who invented soul.

Here's the skinny on those and why they didn' t make it.

Nirvana - He's my age and we all know that album

Let it Be - I like Tim more, and that' s probably just a fact of personal preference but I'd agree with you that Let It Be probably captures the Replacemtns more as an artistic statement.

The Byrds - I thought there was enough countryish rock on there, and I disagree with you on the merits of American Beauty vs. those included. AB is one of those albums that I think if you can manage to get past the preconceptions we all have of the dead and listen to the music on that album as if it happened in a vacuum, it's stellar.

Hendrix - I feel like he's one of the few artists that the casual fan of our age is pretty familiar with. Even more so than the Beatles or the Stones. Essential no doubt but I think everyone has an idea of Jimi's sound. Whereas the Beatles and Stones in my opinion aren't really all that well-represented by what the causal fan knows.

The Band - S/t - I felt like I could put almost any of their albums and it would have been fine as my appreciation between albums is slight. So I just went with the one that is most cited, but I'd agree that the The Band is a better album.

St. Dominic's Preview - This was a top 5 album for me on listmania. I love it, and I should have just included it in retrospect. I didn't know what to do with Van so again I took an easy route and just left him off completely.

Television - Should have been on there, but I felt like punk was decently well represented so it narrowly missed the cut.

Aretha - Whoops.

Yeah, in many ways Nevermind is included when you listed Doolittle anyway. If I had to choose between the two I would've gone the way you did too.

And it is all about personal preference. There's not much to argue on your list, but I felt the need to argue anyway. And yeah - trade off Dusty for Aretha definitely.

And with all the jazz discussion, I cannot believe that nobody (including me) has yet to mention anything by Thelonious Monk.

(Or did I miss it?)

Yeah, I'm not trying to argue for my selections as much as I'm trying to "show my work" as my 4th grade math teacher would say.

FWIW, he's listened to Exile and this was his comment, "this album is awesome and it doesn't have a single stones hit on it."

Good call.

Sub out A Love Supreme or Blue Train for Brilliant Corners, and you're set.

I took the "25 Rock N' Roll" literally and assumed Aretha didn't qualify. Its a great record for sure. If I were going to choose one soul record though, it would be a Curtis Mayfield or Stevie Wonder album but I'd pick all three over many on the list. Thelonius Monk is a good call.

I'd put Darkness or even Live In New York over E Street Shuffle but that's just me.

Also Muswell Hillbillies over Village Green

i just got that album. i should probably check it out.

What side of the table should your friend sit on while listening to these albums?