every now and then my friends ask me this question and it always has the same effect on me: i pause dumbly and realize that i don't really know, and then i have to bullshit an answer so they don't stare at me like i'm some asshole. i don't think i have an all-time favorite album as much as i have many albums that stick to me for a long period of time. the closest thing i have to a favorite, though, is probably 1999 by prince. the album positively radiates with energy and the feeling of being alive, it's probably the best thing i've ever listened to
honorable mentions at the moment go to mambo nassau (entirely different sound, but a favorite for many of the same reasons) by lizzy mercier descloux, pastel blues by nina simone (beautiful, unforgettable, difficult to describe meaningfully), and either angst in my pants by sparks or dragging a dead deer up a hill by grouper. oh and the shape of jazz to come by ornette coleman as well. ‘lonely woman’ is one of the most powerful songs i've ever heard; it's a shame that i got into his material only months before his death, though. i haven't really listened to much else from his discography, but the few things i've heard from him are breathtaking
albums that i've loved in the past are largely considered /mu/ staples that i listened to in my adolescence, like madvillain, kate bush's the dreaming, neutral milk hotel, and pre-yanqui gy!be. i believe i also listened to a lot of metal (errant death/doom/black metal bands mostly) but i kind of fell out of that i think. not that those albums aren't good or that i don't listen to them occasionally, but they're not really that high up on my favorites list anymore.