Name a few albums which helped determine your musical tastes

Music that opened my eyes to different directions (in order):
Simon & Garfunkel - Bookends; The Who: Who’s Next; Yes: Close To The Edge; Elvis Costello: Imperial Bedroom; Peter Gabriel 3; Debussy’s Tonal Works- my introduction to classical; REM: Chronic Town - single-handedly saved the world from White Snake; Jane’s Addiction: Ritual de lo Habitual; Beethoven’s 9th - one of those epiphanal moments; Radiohead: OK Computer; The Shins: Oh, Inverted World; Ralph Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis; Sun Kil Moon: Ghosts of the Great Highway; Sufjan Stevens: Illinois; Gorecki’s 3rd

Now this is an interesting question! I’ll probably have a boring answer, but the question is fascinating.

This is slightly odd for me, because my life has two very distinct parts. I’m going to focus on the things that have shaped me in the second part. Nothing in the first part is worth focusing on, and not much in it was worth listening to (and I don't just mean the music).

• Gillian Welch / Revival
• Greg Brown / Slant 6 Mind
• Townes Van Zandt / Rearview Mirror
• Wilco / Summerteeth
• Jim White / No Such Place
• Beatles / Rubber Soul
• Mississippi John Hurt / (can’t remember the album name)
• Alligator Records / (I think it was their 20th Anniversary compilation)
• Miles Davis / Kind of Blue
• Derek & The Dominos / Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs
• Frank Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim / Francis Albert Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim
• Neil Young / Harvest Moon
• Rufus Wainwright / Poses
• Spoon / Kill the Moonlight
• Van Morrison / Astral Weeks
• Bob Dylan / Time Out of Mind

There are others, but I imagine this list is already long enough nobody will read it. :)

Bb king
clarence brown
muddy waters
johnny winter
etta james
Some country...waylon, willie
captain & tenile

ratt
twisted sister
riot
tank
raven
Motörhead 
spartan warrior
crossfire
samson

mercyful fate
bathory
venom
napalm death
satan jokers
celtic frost

the list goes on and on and on and......

Kate Bush - Kick Inside
Graham Parker - Stick to Me
Any Dylan after 1966
Roxy Music Avalon
Willy DeVille - Miracle
GNR Use Your Illusion 1&2
Clapton - Slowhand
Van Morrison - Wavelength
Willie Nile - Willie Nile
The Band - The Last Waltz
REM - Automatic for the People
Concert for Bangledesh
Against Me - New Wave
Social Distortion - Sex Love Rock and Roll
Elvis Costello - Get Happy
Warren Zevon - Sentimental Hygene
Bruce Cockburn - World of Wonders

Kind of Blue
Lust for Life
Allman Brothers at Filmore East
Dark Side of the Moon
Swiss Movement
Absolutely Free
Highway 61