In 1987 I found an 'All Time Album Top 100' in the Dutch OOR's Music Magazine .   Up to that time I was very much into Progressive rock; Artists / Bands like Genesis, Alan Parson's Project, Marillion, Peter Gabriel etc..  For some reason, it was time for something new or extra, but where to start, there are so many CD's and what is good and what is not? At that point, the 'All Time Album Top 100' came in handy. I went to the music library and, over a longer period of time, I borrowed almost all albums that were in the Top 100, and also those on the lists of the critics, out of which the Top 100 was compiled. Of course I also borrowed a lot of music that I did and do not like, but hey, you've heard probably the best of that artist or band, so that makes your selection a lot easier, knowing what you don't like, brings you closer to what you do like.

All this new stuff I'd never heard of, The Velvet Underground, The Doors, all kinds of folk, ethnic and minimal music, I entered a complete new world. I even started to listen to classical music, the beautiful Cello Suites of Johan Sebastian Bach, compositions of the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, etc. . Not to forget all these beautiful film/movie soundtracks.

Because the 'All Time Top 100 Albums' was such an inspiration to me, I decided to collect more 'All Time Top 100 Albums Charts' from the internet (most of them from Rocklist.net) and put all CD's in a database, in alphabetical order and by year of release, and added the ratings from All Music Guide (AMG) to make my selection easier.

In May 2002 I was looking for a new hobby, something to keep my mind of the daily job. Being too old for a scrap book on Britney Spears and too young for a stamp collection, I decided to make a web site. But what do you put on a web site? It had to be something useful to myself (to keep the thing going) and to others.

What better to do than to give the world access to the information which gives me so much inspiration and encourages me to discover new and interesting music, maybe it will inspire and encourage others as well?

So I decided to put the entire list of 'All Time Top 100Albums Charts' on the net, charts from the US, UK, The Netherlands & Belgium.

I also collect reviews on the albums so you get them all in one view, reviews from AMG, Barnes & Noble, Rolling Stone, New Musical Express and others. Over a longer period of time, I will link most of the album titles to a page with reviews on, and sound fragments from the albums.

To each linked album title I add the following information:

	AMG rating, as given by the reviewers of All Music Guide, with a maximum of 5 stars
V	Means that the album is part of my collection
T!P	TIMEPIECE! Means that the album is part of my collection and strongly recommended by me, whatever that means... for you to find out ;-)
ABC In alphabetical order, all the albums mentioned in the All Time Top 100 Albums Charts. ABC makes it easy to find more albums of the same artist / band which might be worth having in your collection as well. It shows what the AMG rating for the albums is, what the year of release is, and if I consider it being a Timepiece (as long as the album is part of my collection). Decades Ordered by decade and year of release, all the albums mentioned in the All Time Top 100 Albums Charts. Decades makes it easy to see which important albums were released during the same year or decade. It also gives you the opportunity to discover new artists / bands or re-discover those you had forgotten of. The same as ABC, it shows what the AMG rating for the albums is, what the year of release is, and if I consider it being a Timepiece (as long as the album is part of my collection). Picks Some of my favourite albums that are not mentioned in the All Time Top 100 Albums Charts, but hopefully will be in the near future.

© Frank Steven Groen