#156 - Pink Moon, Nick Drake

"Nick Drake's final album overflows with bleak, gorgeous folk songs that manage to be both lush and harrowing. His spare guitar strumming and far-away voice somehow sound fully orchestrated. Simple, stark and stunning -- this is some of the finest music you'll ever hear come out of an acoustic guitar." (real music guide)


#155 - The River, Bruce Springsteen

"This double-disc finds Springsteen mixing the dour disillusionment that permeated Darkness On the Edge of Town with confident, light-hearted stabs at love, and one style is just as winning as the other. Songs such as "Hungry Heart," "Fade Away" and "The River" are timeless classics that remain live favorites. The River is required listening for any fan." (real music guide)

#154 - MTV Unplugged In New York, Nirvana

"Released a few months after Kurt Cobain's death in 1994, this record served as a sort of kick in the teeth to anyone who might have doubted Nirvana's strength as musicians. Stripped-down covers of well-chosen songs are aligned with desolate takes on their own material -- the result is stunning." (real music guide)

#153 - Pearl, Janis Joplin

"Janis Joplin's second masterpiece (after Cheap Thrills), Pearl was designed as a showcase for her powerhouse vocals, stripping down the arrangements that had often previously cluttered her music or threatened to drown her out. Thanks also to a more consistent set of songs, the results are magnificent -- given room to breathe, Joplin's trademark rasp conveys an aching, desperate passion on funked-up, bluesy rockers, ballads both dramatic and tender, and her signature song, the posthumous number one hit "Me and Bobby McGee."" (allmusic guide)