Also, This no doubt will be controversial, but the Cranberries first album Everybody else is doing it so why can't should be there

Oh, and Year Zero by Bawl - massively underrated

Does anyone else remember Immigrant, Emigrants and Me by the Power of Dreams? What a fabulous album that was... And The Fat Lady Sings? But, IMO, by far and away the best Irish album ever released (and I am AMAZED it hasn't come up yet) is Daniel's latest opus, The Jukebox Years...

I'm pretty aurprised The Stars of Heaven haven't got a look in either yet. As for Live and Dangerous, I wouldn't be a Lizzy fan per say, but it is one of the finest live albums ever, forget just Ireland. I reckon it'll get a lot of votes. Power of Dreams were one of a posse of bands from around that time who looked like they were going to do great things but never really broke through. It include The Fat Lady Sings, POD, Stars Of Heaven in there. Never really listened to any Bawl. Any use?

To Enricho, It doesn't matter when the last time the album was played, the poll is the best Irish albums, who cares when last it was played, how many times it was played who it was played with - it's just a good album. so be it.

one of my favorite albums is loveless by my bloody valentine haven't listened to it in ages but this thread has made me dig it out again and renew my love for it i love when that happens!

Loveless was/is groundbreaking from a production point of view but its hard work, which I'm not sure is what makes "A Great Irish Album", but thats one opinion only. Mine would have to include Therapy? Troublegum, The Chieftans "Another Country", Planxty and Moving Hearts,...maybe those are too obvious a choice...Donal Lunny, Paul Brady's Back To The Centre.Maybe not number one to five but worth considering above Whipping Boy for songwriting. Number 1 in my book is without doubt Rosin Dubh, the 1979 Thin Lizzy tribute to Irish music. Aside from "S&M"(one opinion only!),its flawless. Coolest Irish album cover by far aswel ...hell Axl Rose got it as a tatoo(it was designed by Jim FitzPatrick, the guy who drew the famous Che Guevera face, he did'nt want to copyright his Che face, hence its frequent use on fashion items such as RATM records and T-shirts. I'll get me coat now then)

Personally, I rate Live and Dangerous, but Enricho raises an interesting point about some of the albums that will feature heavily in this poll. Some of it will be "coffee Table" music, stuff that is in a great many collections, which is highly rated but rarely listened to. Ladies & gentlemen, I give you Astral Weeks. I'm not a fan by any stretch, but this albu continues to amaze me. Next time you see it in someones collection, ask them thwe last time they played it? If they reply "All the time, man", follow it up with "Name 2 tracks". You'd be amazed the number of people who say they love it but rarely if ever listen to it. That said, the fact that people don't listen to it doesn't take away from the fact that it might be a great album (Loveless by MBV being a case in point.)

I think a lot of people wont agree on that one. I've listened to Loveless more times than any other album. Normally after a few listens of album you get tired of it but I think loveless is one of those albums that gets better everytime you listen to it.

I'm surprised more of you aren't listing Astral Weeks. I listen to Van Morrison all the time. Haha, I'm actually listening to him right now.

Dudes, the only live thing on 'Live and Dangerous' is the crowd noise. So I heard anyway

Astral Weeks is class alright. My brother had a copy that used to listen to but I recently picked up a copy for myself to cherish and secretly lick when no one is watching.

The whole "coffee table music" discussion is interesting. Sure all of us have gone out and bought an album at least once because we knew it would look cool in our CD collection. The fact that you would regularly listen to an album to is a sure sign that you genuinely like that album but I don't think its true in 100% of cases. Some music you can listen to everyday, in work, doing the ironing, driving the car whatever. Other music, you really have to be in the mood for. I rarely listen to "Love Supreme" by John Coltrane but that doesn't mean I love it any less. Its worth owning for the two to three times a year I dig it out. On the other hand I bought Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" because its supposed to be the definitive Jazz record, the one that everybody is supposed to own but it left me kind of cold. I never listen to it.

Are you serious about Live & Dangerous, Cormac? Well you live and learn.

The polling booth is now open for you to vote for your top 5 Irish albums of all time. The overall top 50 compiled from votes received will be published on the site on May 15th, that being the same day as the mighty CLUAS 5th birthday gig which will be taking place in Whelan's. More info on the gig and its (absolutely fab) line-up will be announced later in the month. But in the meantime get out there and submit your vote. And here’s the page you have to get yourselves over to: http://www.cluas.com/bestalbums/ eoghan

great to see The Tycho Brahe 'Love Life' in there. It is on good old CD-WOW.com for a tiny £8.99 http://www.cd-wow.com/detail_results_unsigned.php?product_code=10710 and they deliver for free - it really is a cracker. and horsedrawn wishes ... another cracker