John Clark's Most Important Records for Aspiring Musical Artists (Unabridged)

I've listened to well over 300 records released between 1955 and the present. I listened (and continue to listen) to these records with the goal of learning how to make great music. What better way than to listen to those records that the either the public or the musIcal community have lauded as classics? I based my decisions regarding the records to which I would listen based on the recommendations of several different sources, predominately critical voices such as Pitchfork, the NME, Rolling Stone, and Christgau, as well as personal sources, including my parents, my guitar teacher, and my musically inclined friends. These are the records that I found to provide the greatest examples, standards, formulas, etc in creating great music. For me, listening to these records was similar to the experience of the liberated man in Plato's allegory of the cave. Now that I've listened, I can never go back, and I feel compelled to enlighten as many aspiring artists as possible.