These are albums whose musical excellence, production value and mind blowing musical moments make them the best to listen to on headphones. Here's my top fifteen, listen to the whole bunch in a row on headphones if you want to reach Nirvana. The ranking is not necessarily in the order I like each album, but ranked by the sonic experience each provides when listened to on headphones.

1. Yes, The Yes Album
2. Uriah Heep, Look At Yourself
3. Pink Floyd, The Dark Side Of The Moon
4. The Moody Blues, To Our Children's Children's Children
5. Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin I
6. Deep Purple, Machine Head
7. Uriah Heep, Demons And Wizards
8. Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin IV
9. Blue Oyster Cult, Tyranny And Mutation
10. Asia, Arena
11. Nektar, Remember The Future (but tape it from vinyl if you can because the CD mastering is supposed to be messed up)
12. Rush, A Farewell To Kings
13. The Beatles, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - I had to include the first real headphone-oriented album
14. Free - Free At Last
15. Spirit - The Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus

ZZ-Top, Greatest Hits

How funny, ScottN, cuz I was thinking of that very CD Monday on my way to work. That is, if you're talking about the one with like 20 or so songs and has that bleached blonde on the back cover with the stack of film (or is it tape?) canisters with each song's name on them. I'd like to get that one again but it's not remastered still.

Jean-Michel Jarre -- Oxygene and Equinox
Kraftwerk -- Autobahn (The "Autobahn" side, anyway, I never listen to the other side}
Vangelis -- Albedo 0.39

One of my favorite songs to listen to on headphones is "I Am the Walrus" by The Beatles. The first part of this song is in mono. Then just before you get to the line "Sitting in an Enlish Garden", all the sound goes into, I think, the left channel. Then it slowly fills out again in stereo. There's a lot of interesting things going on in that song.

Off the top of my head, two album I've enjoyed listening to on 'phones are Fear of a Black Planet by Public Enemy and Megatop Phoenix by Big Audio Dynamite.

By the way, Mark, I've never understood your mania (fetish?) for digital remasterings. I don't guess I hear any real difference. To me it's the songs and the bands' performances of the songs that are important.

That's the one, MarkN! I use it when I need to crank out some documentation.

"Tubular Bells", by Mike Oldfield. A small smidgen of this double-sided piece was used in "The Exorcist."

The 10 CDs I've made so far with my new CD burner (song lists coming soon).

Here are the lists of songs for the first five discs!

Disc One:

Why Part 2 ; Collective Soul
In My Life ; Chantal Kreviazuk
Life's Gonna Suc|< ; Denis Leary
I've Got You Under My Skin (Live) ; Diana Krall
Baby Got Brak ; The Great Luke Ski
Not Gon' Cry ; Mary J. Blige
Stan (Live) ; Eminem & Elton John
The Boys Are Back In Town ; Everclear
Fuc|< The Police (Live) ; Rage Against The Machine
The Rodeo Song ; Gary Lee & Showdown
You're Breaking My Heart ; Harry Nillson
Casino Royale ; Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
How Do I Deal ; Jennifer Love Hewitt
Weenie In A Bottle ; Rick, Larry, & Jennifer
Heroes ; The Wallflowers
Grenades ; White Geezer
The Tower That Ate People ; Peter Gabriel
Dungeons & Dragons - The Dead Ale Wives

Disc Two:

Steppenwolf - Magic Carpet Ride
From Good Homes - Cool Me Down
Drivin' Blind - Little Feat
In The Mood - The Brian Setzer Orchestra
Never Gonna Let It Go - Tina Moore
A Thin Line Between Love And Hate - H-Town
Much At All - Susan Werner
Blue on Black - Kenny Wayne Shepard
Not An Addict - K's Choice
N 2Gether Now - Method Man feat. Limp Bizkit
Southside (Remix) - Mody feat. Gwen Stefani
Like Lovers (Holding On) - Texas
Bitter Boy - Truck Stop Love
X - Xzibit
Satisfaction Skank - Fatboy Slim vs. The Rolling Stones

Disc Three:

(ONE) Pets by Porno 4 Pyros
(TWO) Quality Control by Jurassic 5
(THREE) Detachable Pen!s by King's Missile
(FOUR) One Man Army by Our Lady Peace
(FIVE) Someone Who Is Cool by The Odds
(SIX) Anything, Anything by Buckcherry
(SEVEN) What's My Name by DMX
(EIGHT) Whoever You Are by Geggy Tah
(NINE) Flood by Jars of Clay
(TEN) Pure Reality by Lotus
(ELEVEN) Turn The Page by Metallica
(TWELVE) Powertrip by Monster Magnet
(THIRTEEN) Vulcan by Snake River Conspiracy
(FOURTEEN) Connected by Stereo MCs
(FIFTEEN) The Girl's Insane (Remix) by The Januaries
(SIXTEEN) Totalimmortal by The Offspring
(SEVENTEEN) Debbie by Throwing Toasters

Disc Four:

1. Here and Now - Letters To Cleo
2. Loser - 3 Doors Down
3. Cop Killer - Body Count
4. Hell Isn't Good - D.V.D.A.
5. It's Good To Be Alive
6. Shock The Monkey - Ozzy Osbourne w/ Coal Chamber
7. Butterfly - Crazy Town
8. Cars - Fear Factory
9. Cornflake Girl - Tori Amos
10. The World Is Not Enough - Garbage
11. Mrs. Robinson - The Lemonheads
12. Same Ol' G - Ginuwyne
13. Illumination - Henry Rollins Band
14. Let's Go All The Way - Insane Clown Posse
15. 6 Underground - Sneaker Pimps
16. Bad, Bad, Boba Fett - The Great Luke Ski
17. Sunshine Superman - Jewel
18. Breakfast At Tiffany's - Deep Blue Something

Disc Five:

1: Sweet Child Of Mine - Sheryl Crow
2: Star Wars Trilogy Homesick Blues - The Great Luke Ski
3: Murder Or A Heart Attack - The Old 97s
4: Enjoy The Silence - Failure
5: The Freshmen - Verve Pipe
6: Black Velvet - Alanah Myles
7: Letting the Cables Sleep - Bush
8: Leaving On A Jet Plane - Chantal Kreviazuk
9: Mr. E's Beautiful Blues - The Eels
10: Your Song - Elton John
11: More Than I Can Give - Jane Jensen
12: Peace Not Greed - Kottonmouth Kings
13: Girl On TV - LFO
14: Freak Of The Week - Marvelous 3
15: No Shelter - Rage Against The Machine
16: Five Years - Tom Smith
17: Your Woman - White Town

When listening to /i{Look At Yourself} on headphones, when David Byron sings the lyric "North, South, East or West", each word seems to come to the listener from each of the given directions. That's pretty cool.

I agree that Equinox sounds great on headphones – even if it’s not you who’s wearing them! Years ago I sat opposite a guy on the train who had his phones cranked up way too loud but for once I wasn’t complaining because of the stunning music I could hear. It’s the only time I’ve ever plucked up the courage to speak to someone at the end of the journey and ask what he was listening to.

Steppenwolf - Magic Carpet Ride
This is my favorite song of theirs, and whenever I hear it I always think of that beer commercial from the early 90s where that guy's on the beach, he pours the beer (I forget the brand), it starts to snow above him and there's that infinitely beautiful, gorgeous, blackhaired überbabe wearing a yellow piece of string and two bandaids of a swimsuit and who rises up in slooooow motion. That babe had the most perfect woman's figure ever! Laetitia Casta comes a close second.

A good song's so much better when it's got an important, signifigant memory like THAT attached to it!

Hear! Hear!

Uh, what song was playing, again? I wasn't paying attention. "Magic Man' or something like that.

Zephram Cochrane in "First Contact" liked it as well.

The commercial?

Discs 6 thru 10!

Disc Six:

Brothers In Arms by Dire Straits
Hanging By a Moment by Lifehouse
Stupify (Fu Forbidden Little Nicky Mix) by Disturbed
We Didn't Start The Fire by Billy Joel
All The Young Dudes by Jill Sobule
Jack & Diane by John Mellencamp
Do it Again by Smash Mouth
Fork In Da Road by Lost Factor
Frozen by Madonna
Pink Moon by Nick Drake
Luka by Suzanne Vega
Pride & Joy by Stevie Ray Vaughn
Little Fish, Big Fish by P.J. Harvey
Hey Pretty by Poe
Smooth by Santana & Rob Thomas
One Step Closer by Linkin Park
It Had To Be You by Harry Conick Jr.
On The Outside by Stain'd feat. Fred Durst

Disc Seven:

01 The Great Luke Ski - Fanboy
02 Amanda Marshall - Birmingham
03 Nina Gordon - Tonight and the Rest of My Life
04 Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - American Skin (41 Shots)
05 Chris Issak - Solitary Man
06 Tears For Fears - Break It Down Again
07 America - Horse With No Name
08 Guitar Man - Bread
09 The Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup
10 Fuel - Hemmorage (In My Hands)
11 Unknown - What If God Smoked Cannabis
12 Merril Bambridge - Mouth
13 Paul Simon - Kodachrome
14 Smashing Pumpkins - Everlasting Gaze
15 XTC - Dear God
16 John Williams - Duel of the Fates
17 The Great Luke Ski - Mystery Science Theater Picture Show

Disc Eight:

1) The Ghost of Tom Joad (Live) * Rage Against The Machine
2) We Have Ways * World Entertainment War
3) Uncle Fucka (Shut Yo Face) * Trick Daddy feat. Tre+6 and Trina
4) Flaming Youth * The Chad Mitchell Trio feat. John Denver
5) What It's Like * Everlast
6) Wander This World * Johnny Lang
7) The Mummer's Dance * Loreena McKennit
8) Out of the Darkness * Republica
9) Riches to Rags (MMMKay) * Nappy Roots
10) Right Now * Garth Brooks
11) Psycho Chicken * The Fools
12) Meet Virginia * Train
13) Tuesday Afternoon * The Moody Blues
14) Without a Face * Rage Against The Machine
15) Rock Superstar * Cypress Hill
16) Cruisin' * Huey Lewis & Gwenyth Paltrow
17) Tubular Boobular * The Cast of MST3k

Disc Nine:

I Wanna Be Sedated = The Offspring
Ina Gadda Da Vida = Iron Butterfly
A Taste Of Honey = Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
Insane and the Brain = The Great Luke Ski
Danny's Song = Anne Murray
Silence = Delerium w/ Sarah McLachlan
Land of Confusion = Genesis
Little White Dove = Jess Klein
Farm on the Freeway = Jethro Tull
Classical Gas = Mason Williams
Testify (Live on Conan O'Brien) = Rage Against The Machine
Breakdown = Tantric
Use The Force = The Great Luke Ski
Suicide is Painless (Theme from M*A*S*H*) - Unknown
I Wanna Be Sedated = The Ramones

Disc Ten:

I Creep - Radiohead
II Spark - Tori Amos
III Steal my Sunshine - Len
IV Snoop Bounce - Snoop Dogg feat. Rage Against The Machine
V The Kids Aren't Alright - The Offspring
VI The Music Sounds Better With You - Stardust
VII She's So High - Tal Bachman
VIII Harvey and Sheila - Allan Sherman
IX I Think God Can Explain - Splendor
X My Baby Got Shot - Verbena
XI Moment of Weakness - Bif Naked
XII Song #2 - Blur
XIII On the Shoulders of Freaks - Henry Phillips
XIV Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (Live) - Sarah McLachlan
XV Back That Ass Up (South Park version) - Big Gay Al
XVI Right Now - SR-71
XVII What's Up Spock? (DS9 Remix) - The Great Luke Ski
XVIII The Next Degree - Unsung Heroes
XIX I Wanna Rock - Twisted Sister
XX Champagne Supernova (Live Cover) - Ben Folds Five

Daaamn, Brian. Lotta good stuff there, man. I'm impressed.

I'll say. Even I couldn't come up with that much!

Benn: Aw, thanks. *blushes*

Can I nominate a headphone single? Martin Grech’s Open Heart Zoo is stunning played loud through headphones and, on a good day, can drive me to floods of tears. (British readers may know the song as the Lexus car ad – the one where the guy’s driving through an apparently empty town with beautiful music [with a high pitched male vocal] playing in the car, then he stops, opens the car door and the town is actually packed with people.)