I am slowly -- very slowly -- compiling a list of my favorite 999 albums from 1951 to the present, playing by the same rules as the 99 albums list (no best-of compilations, etc). I'm doing this a year at a time. This is the third shortlist, and my first post-stroke list: my 1979 top 137 (the first twenty to twenty-five will probably make the final list). This is my age fifteen list; subsequently, this is a long list.
(previous lists:
1989
1999)
1979
- Henry Cow, Western Culture
- Gang of Four, Entertainment!
- Tin Huey, Contents Dislodged During Shipment
- Talking Heads, Fear of Music
- Wire, 154
- Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Armed Forces
- Joy Division, Unknown Pleasures
- The Slits, Cut
- The Clash, London Calling
- Buzzcocks, Singles Going Steady
- Graham Parker, Squeezing Out Sparks
- The Soft Boys, A Can of Bees
- The Contortions, Buy
- Marianne Faithfull, Broken English
- Sweeney Todd, Original Broadway Cast
- Motörhead, Overkill
- Linton Kwesi Johnson, Forces of Victory
- The Specials, Specials
- Joe Jackson, Look Sharp!
- Swell Maps, A Trip to Marineville
- Art Bears, Winter Songs
- P-Model, In a Model Room
- XTC, Drums and Wires
- Univers Zero, Heresie
- Tubeway Army, Replicas
- This Heat, This Heat
- The Desperate Bicycles, Remorse Code
- Pere Ubu, New Picnic Time
- The Pop Group, Y
- Betty Carter, The Audience with Betty Carter
- Conventum, Le bureau central des utopies
- Annette Peacock, The Perfect Release
- Hubert Félix Thiéfaine, Autorisation de Délirer
- Poison Girls, Hex
- Black Randy & the Metrosquad, "Pass the Dust, I Think I'm Bowie"
- Holger Czukay, Movies
- David Bowie, Lodger
- The B-52's, The B-52's
- Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Press Color
- James Blood Ulmer, Tales of Captain Black
- Nick Lowe, Labour of Lust
- Godley & Creme, Freeze Frame
- Patti Smith Group, Wave
- Chrisma, Hibernation
- The Jam, Setting Sons
- ABBA, Voulez-Vouz
- The Stranglers, The Raven
- Supertramp, Breakfast in America
- Kevin Coyne & Dagmar Krause, Babble
- Spherical Objects, Eliptical Optimism
- Carnascialia, Carnascialia
- Fingerprinz, The Very Dab
- Johnny Osbourne, Truths and Rights
- Red Crayola, Soldier Talk
- Hermeto Pascoal, Zabumbê-bum-á
- Sam Rivers, Waves
- Ras Michael & The Sons of Negus, Love Thy Neighbour
- The Toms, The Toms
- Essential Logic, Beat Rhythm News
- Sun Ra, Sleeping Beauty
- Ann Steel, Ann Steel
- The Adverts, Cast of Thousands [remixed version]
- Patrik Fitzgerald, Grubby Stories
- Prince Far I, Cry Tuff Dub Encounter Part 2
- James White and the Blacks, Off White
- Bruce Woolley and The Camera Club, English Garden
- Madness, One Step Beyond…
- Nina Hagen Band, Unbehagen
- Prince Far I, Dub to Africa
- Arachnoid, Arachnoid
- Moondog, A New Sound of a Old Instrument
- Henry Threadgill, X-75, Vol. 1
- Anthony Moore, Flying Doesn't Help
- Marquis de Sade, Dantzig Twist
- Fela, Unknown Soldier
- The A's, The A's
- Michael Jackson, Off the Wall
- Sun Ra, Disco 3000
- The Last, L.A. Explosion!
- Earth & Stone, Kool Roots
- Culture, Showcase
- Doll by Doll, Remember
- Yachts, Yachts
- Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Selbstportrait
- Renaldo & The Loaf, Play Struvé & Sneff
- Art Ensemble of Chicago, Nice Guys
- Magazine, Secondhand Daylight
- Yellow Magic Orchestra, Solid State Survivor
- The Ruts, The Crack
- The Crass, Stations of the Crass
- The Beat, The Beat
- The Fall, Live at the Witch Trials
- Fashion, Product Perfect
- The Nits, Tent
- Buzzcocks, A Different Kind of Tension
- The Slickers, Break Through
- Punishment of Luxury, Laughing Academy
- The Raincoats, The Raincoats
- Sam Rivers, Paragon
- Siouxsie and the Banshees, Join Hands
- Dave Edmunds, Repeat When Necessary
- The Laughing Dogs, The Laughing Dogs
- Cowboys International, The Original Sin
- Keith Hudson, Nuh Skin Up Dub
- Andrew Cyrille / Jeanne Lee / Jimmy Lyons, Nuba
- Judie Tzuke, Welcome to the Cruise
- Ma Banlieue Flasque, Ma Banlieue Flasque
- Air, Air Lore
- Steel Pulse, Tribute to the Martyrs
- Malicorne, Le Bestiaire
- Ian Dury, Do It Yourself
- Fleetwood Mac, Tusk
- Günter Schickert, Überfällig
- Plastic People of the Universe, Jak bude po smrti
- Joe Jackson, I'm the Man
- Tom Verlaine, Tom Verlaine
- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Damn the Torpedoes
- ZZ Top, Degüello
- Vortex, Les Cycles de Thanatos
- Bill Nelson's Red Noise, Sound-on-Sound
- Zé Ramalho, A Peleja do Diabo com o Dono do Céu
- Fischer-Z, Word Salad
- Honeyelk, Stoyz Vi Dozeveloy
- Naná Vasconcelos, Saudades
- The Romantics, The Romantics
- Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers, Bustin' Loose
- Mikey Dread, Dread at the Controls
- Joni Mitchell, Mingus
- Dennis Brown, Words of Wisdom
- Pelle Miljoona, Viimeinen syksy
- The Dickies, Dawn of the Dickies
- Old and New Dreams, Old and New Dreams
- Thomas Leer & Robert Rental, The Bridge
- Codona, Codona
- Adam and the Ants, Dirk Wears White Sox
- Culture, International Herb
- John Stewart, Bombs Away Dream Babies
We have near-zero overlap. I've bought Joe Jackson albums, but only after 1981 or so, and I didn't discover the Dickies until I found a discarded promo 45 of "Nights in White Satin" in the wastebasket at the campus radio station in Statesboro, Georgia around 1981 or 1982.
Scraps
"Nights in White Satin" is my single favorite punk cover ever.
I have that single, and I have the live version on "We Aren't the World," and they're different. I love both of them and would not want to be forced to choose between them.
Though I would be hard pressed to choose between that and "My Way" as the best punk cover. Sid lived it, and I've always said Sinatra had a fuck of a nerve to touch it after that.
You and I, on the other hand, have lots of overlap; in fact, Western Culture would also be my #1 pick. It's copyright 1980, though....
I've never managed to acquire a taste for Babble. Must try again when I get a turntable.
Scraps
I'm going by rateyourmusic's dates.
And, yeah! I don't know if I've ever matched Western Culture before.
Jordan
I've heard about 30 of these and loved all but a couple of them. You seem to have a soft spot for the no-wavey albums that have generally been dismissed as not really worthy of the canon - I like that.
Wow. I've heard of about 80% of these albums, and in that group we have about a 95% overlap. Not that I ever fooled myself that I was the only person in the world who listened to the Specials *and* Sam Rivers.
Scraps
The thing is, Jordan, as time goes on, I find that I really don't care what the received wisdom is. Well, not exactly don't care; probably there's a reason when the rating is bad. But I listen anyway. Sometimes I find that the consensus is wrong (Beat Rhythm News, etc).
Scraps
Ed, we have a long history of agreement.
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