50 OF THE BEST HI-FI ALBUMS FOR AUDIOPHILES

It was supposed to be so easy. We didn’t even set ourselves the task of picking the absolute, definitive best 50 albums for audiophiles – and in reality this is just a selection of records from a collection of hundreds or thousands – but still it felt close to deciding which of your limbs you’d least mind being torn off by a bear.

We did, however, manage to compile the following list of 50 albums we feel span genres, styles of production and sonic character rather well. If nothing else, they’ll give your multi-room hi-fi a workout and, hopefully, broaden your musical horizons at least a little.

1 RADIOHEAD – HAIL TO THE THIEF (2003)

Following a pair of heavily electronicinfused records in Kid A and Amnesiac, Radiohead here effectively returned to being a five-piece guitar band without forgoing the experimentation or genre blurring that made the aforementioned records so comprehensively seminal. Plus initial vinyl pressings played at 45rpm for additional willfulness points.

2 MILES DAVIS – BITCHES BREW (1970)

Miles Davis made his opinions on the term fusion as a descriptor for this period of his music stingingly clear. Nonetheless, Bitches Brew blended modal jazz with, essentially, a rock rhythm section to rebirth the fomer’s position as the wildly influential genre it had always been.

3 MY BLOODY VALENTINE – LOVELESS (1991)

Arguably the poster album for shoegaze, Loveless is a masterpiece combining elephantine riffs with dream-pop haze, awash with reverb and overdriven guitars – and complemented by an equally iconic sleeve of cherry-drop psychedelia.

4 PINK FLOYD – WISH YOU WERE HERE (1975)

Can you really call yourself an audiophile if you don’t own a copy of Wish You Were Here? Well, yes, of course you can, but most audiophiles own one regardless.

5 THE BEATLES – ABBEY ROAD (1969)

There are of course more experimental and, some might say, more interesting Beatles albums than this. But even