#50 - Astral Weeks, Van Morrison

"Astral Weeks was recorded in less than 48 hours with an all-star jazz backing band that Van Morrison didn't know. Yet, it remains one of the greatest albums in the history of popular music. Over an ardent mix of jazz, folk and Celtic rock, Morrison's impassioned, gospel-rich vocals wind their way around words, breathing life into them. A stunning body of work." (real music guide)

#49 - The Band, The Band

"The Band's second album has two songs always on the radio: the stomping "Up On Cripple Creek" and the monumental "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down." While these are great, landmark songs, "When You Awake," "Whispering Pines" and "Across the Great Divide" are among the Band's best songs. Basically any time Richard Manuel is singing you should be listening." (real music guide)

#48 - Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin

"Zeppelin treat many of the songs on Physical Graffiti as forays into individual styles, only occasionally synthesizing sounds, notably on the tense, Eastern-influenced "Kashmir." With John Paul Jones' galloping keyboard, "Trampled Underfoot" ranks as their funkiest metallic grind, while "Houses of the Holy" is as effervescent as pre-Beatles pop and "Down by the Seaside" is the closest they've come to country." (allmusic guide)

#47 - Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J., Bruce Springsteen

"Springsteen's debut firmly established him as a potent songwriter and a talent to watch. As songs such as "Growin' Up and "Spirit In the Night" demonstrate, Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ bubbles with all the hunger and enthusiasm befitting a young, newly signed artist. Greater things would follow, but Greetings… certainly set some high standards." (real music guide)

#46 - Car Wheels On A Gravel Road, Lucinda Williams

""Drunken Angel" is just one of the best rock 'n' roll casualty songs ever written. Work in her pronunciation of the word "derelict" and a perfect arrangement that finds the middle ground between Stones-y slop and alt country warmth, and you could listen to this one 10 times in a row and never get bored. There's a reason critics fall over themselves to praise this woman." (real music guide)

#45 - White Ladder, David Gray

"Gray originally released White Ladder himself, after being dropped by EMI. The record was an immediate hit, eventually even breaking in the US after pal Dave Matthews put it out Stateside on his ATO label. The album features Gray's tender songs accompanied by lite techno beats. "Babylon" was the hit." (real music guide)