"We make ourselves lists in order to know if we think what we think. I’ve wondered for years—while feeling uncomfortable with the wondering—whether there are any 'perfect recordings.' Obviously, there aren’t. But there are records that had a significant impact on me, as both a musician and a listener, and it seemed like something would come out of arraying them as a list. Maybe. 'Perfect' is an appealing word when compared to 'best': it’s patently ridiculous, but it also hints at the mystical belief that there are no mistakes. ... So here are the five volumes of lists, as Twitter timelines and Spotify playlists; they are also available to stream as a single Rdio playlist featuring all two hundred songs. Because of catalogue holes and a few cursor mistakes, all three lists are slightly different. No single answer, then, which feels right."
New Yorker
