The Mojo Collection

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Various Mojo Magazine. The Mojo Collection

Contents

The Album Is Dead!? Long Live The Album!

What Have We Here?

The Beginning

Frank Sinatra. The Voice Of Frank Sinatra. The Voice Of The Century pioneers the vinyl pop LP

The 1950s

Peggy Lee. Black Coffee. Who would have thought Norma Deloris Egstrom would have had a voice like this?

Julie London. Julie Is Her Name. Intimate and sensual torch song motherlode

The Four Freshmen. Four Freshmen And Five Trombones. Best album by vocal group that influenced The Beach Boys

Ella Fitzgerald. Sings The Cole Porter Songbook. The great American voice meets the great American composer

Frank Sinatra. Songs For Swingin’ Lovers. Sinatra’s sophisticated cool peaks at the dawn of rock’n’roll

Johnny Burnette And The Rock’n’Roll Trio. Johnny Burnette And The Rock’n’Roll Trio. Neglected classic from the birth of rock’n’roll

Sonny Rollins. Saxophone Colossus. Saxophonist comes of age …

Miles Davis. Birth Of The Cool. Young bop trumpeter and hip arrangers invent cool jazz

Nat ‘King’ Cole. Love Is The Thing. Gorgeous, moody and romantic in the extreme

Mose Allison. Back Country Suite. Debut album from a pianist/trumpeter/vocalist who would influence not only jazzmen but also The Who

Nina Simone. Jazz As Played In An Exclusive Side Street Club. Neither, says the lady, jazz, nor her debut. Either way, it heralded a singular talent

The Crickets. The ‘Chirping’ Crickets. First album by one of the giants of modern popular music

Billie Holiday. Lady In Satin. The life of jazz’s greatest singer, laid desperately bare

Mahalia Jackson. Live At Newport 1958. Maybe the most famous gospel album of all time

Frank Sinatra. Come Fly With Me. Sinatra’s first and best collaboration with Billy May

Frank Sinatra. Sings For Only The Lonely. The greatest of Sinatra’s suicidal mood albums

Marty Robbins. Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs. The first successful C&W concept album

Ornette Coleman. The Shape Of Jazz To Come. The influence of chaos …

Miles Davis. Kind Of Blue. Masterclass in modal improvisation. Whatever that is

Charles Mingus. Mingus Ah Um. Brawny, belligerent and beautiful, the jazz composer’srootsy modern masterpiece

The 1960s

Billy Fury. The Sound Of Fury. Driving debut from the UK’s only decent answer to Elvis,the man who had more hits in the ’60s than The Beatles

Elvis Presley. Elvis Is Back! The best rock’n’roll LP between Buddy Holly’s deathand the rise of The Beatles

Joan Baez. Joan Baez. As important as Dylan in popularising folk music inthe ’60s

Miles Davis. Sketches Of Spain. Trumpeter and arranger combine gloriously on timeless,impressionist orchestral jazz

Oliver Nelson. Blues And The Abstract Truth. Jazz philospher creates a bracing new blend of musicalcolours to inaugurate the 1960s

Jimmy Smith. Back At The Chicken Shack. Hammond-led groove that spawned soul-jazz andbecame one of Blue Note’s biggest sellers

Bill Evans Trio. Sunday At The Village Vanguard. An innovative pianist finds his niche and makesjazz history

Ray Charles And Betty Carter. Ray Charles And Betty Carter. Masterly easy jazz vocal duets between the Genius OfSoul and Betty Bebop

Charles Mingus. The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady. Some say it’s the best jazz record ever made. Mingusthought it was folk music. Whatever it is, it’s brilliant

James Brown. Live At The Apollo (Vol. 1) A benchmark for thrilling soul performance, and thefirst of Brown’s enormous selection of live albums

Sam Cooke. Night Beat. A pivotal moment in soul history

Koerner, Ray And Glover. Blues, Rags And Hollers. Lo-fi early ’60s blues from influential American stylists

The Holy Modal Rounders. The Holy Modal Rounders. America’s first truly underground group blend old-timebanjo music, bluegrass and traditional folk with aunique vision

Davy Graham And Shirley Collins. Folk Roots, New Routes. A seemingly bizarre pairing of folk song’s English roseand an inventive young guitar genius

The Rolling Stones. The Rolling Stones. British beat moves up a gear; Jagger wanted to makethis LP ‘the best ever by a British group’

Dusty Springfield. A Girl Called Dusty. The debut album, recorded only months after the splitof The Springfields

The Beatles. A Hard Day’s Night. Rock’n’roll grows up as the Fabs write all of their thirdalbum

The Animals. The Animals. Provincial British R&B, as dirty and sweaty as thegroup’s ill-fitting suits

Eric Dolphy. Out To Lunch. Tour de force of articulate free jazz

John Coltrane. A Love Supreme. More than a jazz milestone, a landmark in music

The Beach Boys. The Beach Boys Today! A teenage surf-band starts to grow up strange

The Sonics. Here Are The Sonics. Before they made The Sonics they broke the mould

Bert Jansch. Bert Jansch. Possibly the very first British singer/songwriter album

Jerry Lee Lewis. Live At The Star Club, Hamburg. The Killer invents garage punk with a little help fromthe Nashville Teens

Them. Them. Future superstar Van Morrison arrives with an influentialslice of garage blues

Jackson C Frank. Jackson C Frank. American troubadour records prototype singer-songwriter LP, influencing Nick Drake, Simon &Garfunkel, Sandy Denny and others in the process

BB King. Live At The Regal. Widely regarded as the greatest ever live blues album

Bob Dylan. Highway 61 Revisited. Dylan’s experiments with rock backings reach fullfruition

Otis Redding. Otis Blue. The definitive Southern soul album

Herb Alpert And The Tijuana Brass. Going Places. Fifth album from MOR kings, six weeks at Number 1

Vernon Haddock’s Jubilee Lovelies. Vernon Haddock’s Jubilee Lovelies. The most obscure album ever made

Sun Ra. The Magic City. Pioneering big-band free jazz

The Mamas And The Papas. If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Your Ears. The group who were the epitome of hippy become acommercial sensation musically, visually andcommercially

The Monks. Black Monk Time. Five GIs dressed as monks make garage rock inGermany. Strangely obscurity ensues

The Rolling Stones. Aftermath. The Stones take a quantum leap beyond recycled R&B

The Beach Boys. Pet Sounds. In 1995, MOJO contributors voted it the ‘GreatestAlbum Of All Time’

John Mayall’s Blues Breakers. Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton. The commercial breakthrough of British blues

The Beatles. Revolver. The next great leap forwards for the Fab Four

The Association. And Then … Along Comes. Classy, harmony pop, and one of the most-played songsof all time

David Blue. David Blue. Unexpectedly caustic debut from former Dylan affiliate

Bob Dylan. Blonde On Blonde. Translucent poetic imagery and steaming Chicago blues –the single most convincing case for Dylan’s genius

The Byrds. Fifth Dimension. Splicing Dylan, jazz and quantum physics. And whynot?

The Kinks. Face To Face. Ray Davies’s satirical gaze – here turned on himself –finds its first full expression in album format

The Butterfield Blues Band. East-West. US blues rock pioneers. At the crossroads, but headedfor the upper stratosphere

Duke Ellington. Far East Suite. Jazz composer giant still hitting the heights 40-oddyears into his career

Bobby Darin. If I Were A Carpenter. Former teen idol reinvents himself for the third timewith a Tim Hardin song

The Doors. The Doors. A great mess of an artist, Jim Morrison, captured in allhis wild majesty

The Lovin’ Spoonful. Hums Of The Lovin’ Spoonful. Much-loved ’60s hitmakers’ finest album, packed withclassic songs by John Sebastian

Fred Neil. Fred Neil. Recluse comes out of hiding long enough to leaveindelible footprint in the sands of pop history

The Left Banke. Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina. Fey New York band combine pop with chamber music

Aretha Franklin. I Never Loved A Man The Way I Loved You. Breakthrough of a soul legend

The Velvet Underground. The Velvet Underground And Nico. New York’s brutally realistic, genre-spawning riposte tothe West Coast dream of psychedelia

Merle Haggard And The Strangers. I’m A Lonesome Fugitive. All hail the first New Traditionalist

The Mothers Of Invention. Freak Out. Rock music’s first double album takes in blues, R&B,doo-wop, rock, surrealist satire and La Monte Young

Jimi Hendrix Experience. Are You Experienced? Landmark debut from rock’s original wild axe-man

Tim Hardin. Tim Hardin 2. Second album by the errant young singer-songwriter,many of whose songs have become standards

The Beatles. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The most famous rock album of all time

Donovan. Sunshine Superman. Donovan, at his peak, shakes off the junior plasticDylan tag. Nobody shouts Judas

The Monkees. Headquarters. TV’s phoney-rockers prove they can make their ownmusic

Pearls Before Swine. One Nation Underground. Ukulele protégé beats Dylan, signs to eccentricNew York jazz label and records classic psychedelic-folk debut

Small Faces. Small Faces. The Small Faces’ second album proper took a subtle,organic approach to psychedelia

Albert King. Born Under A Bad Sign. Breakthrough album for an unorthodox blues giant

The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. Part One. Drug-free psych made to satisfy the lusts of an eccentricmillionaire

The Electric Prunes. Underground. Dissolution around the corner, dark psychedelic visionaries– briefly – reach flashover

Etta James. Tell Mama. The toughest female soul voice of the ’60s gets the fullMuscle Shoals treatment

Pink Floyd. The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. London’s underground goes overground with a mix ofplaypen pop and grown-up acid rock

Jefferson Airplane. Surrealistic Pillow. San Francisco’s psychedelic secrets get their first airing

The Thirteenth Floor Elevators. Easter Everywhere. Alleged to get you high even when you’re straight

The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. Gorilla. Debut from Britain’s best comic-rock troupe

Country Joe And The Fish. Electric Music For The Mind And Body. Pioneers of psychedelic-protest mix acid and satire

The Hollies. Butterfly. As close as they came to a classic

Frank Sinatra. Francis Albert Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim. The Voice Of The Century’s last consistently great vocalperformance

Tim Buckley. Goodbye And Hello. Landmark in the shift from folk to singer-songwritingmusic

Buffalo Springfield. Buffalo Springfield Again. Landmark album recorded in the brief space betweeninventing West Coast rock and falling apart

Country Joe And The Fish. I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die. San Francisco scenesters’ second, an essential acid rockmilestone

Cream. Disraeli Gears. The great virtuoso excess starts here

Kaleidoscope. Tangerine Dream. One of the very few genuine British psychedelicalbums

The Moody Blues. Days Of Future Passed. Birmingham beat group turn into lush art-rockers

Jimi Hendrix Experience. Axis Bold As Love. Hendrix gets trippier

Jefferson Airplane. After Bathing At Baxter’s. A defiant statement of the possibilities of acid rock

Traffic. Mr Fantasy. Pastoral debut from the crushed velvet heart of hippyEngland

The Appletree Theatre. Playback. Saturday Night Live meets Sgt. Pepper in an innovative –and irreverent – theatrical concept album

Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band. Safe As Milk. Howlin’ Wolf projected into the future. Extraordinarydebut from one of rock’s premier league eccentrics

Leonard Cohen. The Songs Of Leonard Cohen. Definitive harbinger of bedsit melancholia

Fleetwood Mac. Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac. Young Brit-blues master Green in excelsis. Not much todo with the Californian edition of Fleetwood Mac

Love. Forever Changes. An unclassifiable trove of bittersweet pop

Nirvana. The Story Of Simon Simonpath. Sumptuous soft-psych classic from the original UKNirvana

Bobbie Gentry. The Delta Sweete. Her great lost concept album

The Incredible String Band. The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter. Celtic minstrels record their psychedelic masterpieceand copyright the concept of ‘getting it together inthe country’

Tom Rush. The Circle Game. Pivotal bedsit folk album that – though largely builtaround covers – helped herald the arrival of thesinger-songwriter

The United States Of America. The United States Of America. The electronic rock revolution starts here

The Byrds. The Notorious Byrd Brothers. Recorded amid group turmoil, this unexpectedlyemerged as their most gentle and reflective work

The Zombies. Odessey And Oracle. Gorgeous album, overlooked in the UK, since acknowledgedas a key example of British psychedelia

Johnny Cash. Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison. Cash’s big-time comeback, after five years of decliningsales and battles with pills and the law

Flat Earth Society. Waleeco. Teenage prodigies create Willy Wonka-style curio

Magic Sam. West Side Soul. The record that announced a new generation ofAmerican electric blues

Billy Nicholls. Would You Believe. Long-lost harmony-laden psych-pop rarity

Simon & Garfunkel. Bookends. Massively successful breakthrough album for formerfolkies

Harper’s Bizarre. The Secret Life Of … A much underrated vocal group, smooth but perverse

Iron Butterfly. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. Herein the Iliad and Odyssey of heavy metal jamming

Ill Wind. Flashes. Boston hippy intellectuals make one-off psychedelicclassic

Os Mutantes. Os Mutantes. Eccentric Brazilian trio invent South American psych

Small Faces. Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake. Mods go prog on loveably nutty concept album incircular tobacco-tin sleeve

The Beach Boys. Friends ‘I haven’t talked to anyone who’s discovered Friends,’says Beach Boy Bruce Johnston. ‘They think it’s aTV show.’

Dr John, The Night Tripper. Gris-Gris. The record that transformed session player MacRebennack into post-hippy psychedelic voodoo kingDr John

J.K. & Co. Suddenly One Summer. Dreamy psychedelia from Canada! Now a cult classic

The Millennium. Begin. Ambitious, avant-garde but accessible West Coastgenius from a legendary cult figure

The Band. Music From Big Pink. Astonishing debut from Dylan’s backing band, a soulfulthrowback completely against the grain of the times

Blue Cheer. Outsideinside. Second album by San Francisco lysergic hard rockoutfit who sowed the seeds of punk and grunge

Nilsson. Aerial Ballet. The Beatles’ favourite songwriter shines

David Ackles. David Ackles. A former toilet-factory security guard taps into theAmerican heartland in a classic debut

The Byrds. Sweetheart Of The Rodeo. The Byrds unintentionally kickstart the country rockboom of the early ’70s

The Jeff Beck Group. Truth. A great band built on shifting sand export the bluesback to America

Whistler, Chaucer, Detroit And Greenhill. The Unwritten Works Of Geoffrey, Etc. Showcase of the sophisticated scene in Ft Worth, Texas

Jimi Hendrix Experience. Electric Ladyland. Mould-busting double disc set, notorious in the UK forits gratuitous naked-lady-lined gatefold

The Outsiders. CQ. Dutch psychedelic beast touches on love, murder,revenge – and space travel

Pentangle. Sweet Child. The UK’s folk rock supergroup make their definitivework

The Beatles. The Beatles. The White Album

The Kinks. The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society. Chart success on the wane, Ray Davies conceives one ofthe quintessentially English pop albums

The Smoke. The Smoke. Forgotten American psych-pop in thrall to The Beatlesand dedicated to Stuart Sutcliffe

The Beau Brummels. Bradley’s Barn. Psychedelic San Franciscan pop outfit turns up inNashville. With creamy results

The Insect Trust. The Insect Trust. Hippy visionaries who deserve to be in the dictionaryunder ‘eclectic’

The Open Mind. The Open Mind. London hippies make the world’s first heavy metalalbum

Euphoria. A Gift From Euphoria. Two musical nomads take psychedelic rock, bluegrassand orchestral ballads into lasting obscurity

Gandalf. Gandalf. Bar band record hypnotic one-off psychedelic classic

The MC5. Kick Out The Jams. Bucking tradition, these Motor City rock revolutionariesreleased a live album as their debut

Silver Apples. Contact. Second album from pioneers of loops and ambience.Now active again after belated recognition

Bee Gees. Odessa. Red velvet-covered double which almost killed them

Quicksilver Messenger Service. Happy Trails. Hippies get heavy, live and loud

The Flying Burrito Brothers. The Gilded Palace Of Sin. Gram Parsons’ finest work: fusing soul, country andR&B in one package

Tommy James And The Shondells. Cellophane Symphony. Bubblegum pin-up becomes psychedelic pop composer

Dusty Springfield. Dusty In Memphis. Landmark white-soul session that almost didn’t happen

The Youngbloods. Elephant Mountain. New York quartet go West to make sprawling Sgt.Pepper-inspired masterpiece

The Who. Tommy. Huge double concept-album, the first rock opera,spawning a movie, an orchestral spin-off and a stagemusical

Richie Havens. Richard P Havens 1983. Double folk apocalypse from the Woodstock Freedomman

Neil Young. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. First electric album with Crazy Horse blueprinted theguitar-driven sound that would later inspire grunge

Burt Bacharach. Make It Easy On Yourself. Having conquered the Brill Building, Broadway andmovies, Burt becomes a reluctant pop star

Creedence Clearwater Revival. Bayou Country. Second album from San Francisco’s own Southern boys

Crosby, Stills & Nash. Crosby, Stills & Nash. One moment of harmony begot a rollercoaster career

Judy Henske & Jerry Yester. Farewell Aldebaran. The definitive space-blues-Arthurian-bubblegum album

Kaleidoscope (US) Incredible. Apogee of these undervalued American avatars of acidrock comes with Middle-Eastern spice

Jeff Beck. Beck-Ola. Career high point for mercurial guitar genius

Fairport Convention. Unhalfbricking. The record that sowed the seeds of British folk rock

Procol Harum. A Salty Dog. Procol Harum remain a greatly undervalued band, andthis was undoubtedly their finest hour

Jethro Tull. Stand Up. Featured a pop-up likeness of the group in the gatefold.Sadly, a marketing wheeze that never caught on

Elvis Presley. From Elvis In Memphis. Hot from his TV comeback, The King exorcises thefrustration of his wasted years in Hollywood

Fleetwood Mac. Then Play On. The last and greatest recording of the Mac’s first phase

The Beatles. Abbey Road. Glorious almost-swan-song for the ultimate pop group

Jack Bruce. Songs For A Tailor. Ex-member of the world’s first supergroup boldlyfollows his muse into the realms of jazz rock

Chicago Transit Authority. Chicago Transit Authority. A benchmark for brass and guitar-fuelled jazz rock

Scott Walker. Scott 4. Former heartthrob sheds last remaining fans with onlyentirely self-written album

The Stooges. The Stooges. Debut from Michigan misfits, regarded by most as theworld’s punk pioneers

Van Morrison. Astral Weeks. Van’s first official solo album went beyond blues rock toa magical place many have tried to revisit since

King Crimson. In The Court Of The Crimson King. A bunch of unknown British jazz rock virtuosos andtheir pet wordsmith define prog rock with their ambitiousdebut

Frank Zappa. Hot Rats. Instrumental, jam-heavy fusion masterpiece

Alexander Spence. Oar. Among the most enigmatic solo albums in all of popmusic

The Mandrake Memorial. Puzzle. Psychedelic delight from Philadelphia

The Grateful Dead. Live/Dead. The Dead at their improvisational best

Kevin Ayers. Joy Of A Toy. Urbane ex-Soft Machine chap goes to Majorca andpens a slice of classic ‘anglodelica’

Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band. Trout Mask Replica. The most radical-sounding record of the 1960s

Creedence Clearwater Revival. Green River. Third album from archetypal roots-rockers highlightsthe internal schisms forming

Fairport Convention. Liege And Lief. The first British electric folk album

The 1970s

Simon & Garfunkel. Bridge Over Troubled Water. A generation-defining, multi-platinum farewell tothe ’60s

The Band. The Band. The definitive Americana classic

Syd Barrett. The Madcap Laughs. Pink Floyd’s usurped front-man makes his first soloalbum. Somehow

Miles Davis. Bitches Brew. Davis’s first full-blown excursion into jazz rock

Little Milton. If Walls Could Talk. High point of this giant of soul blues

The MC5. Back In The USA. The band’s taut, foot-to-the-floor second LP; aprecursor to punk adrift in a climate of hippy rock

Laura Nyro. New York Tendaberry. The second in a classic trilogy from a highly individual singer and songwriter

Honeybus. Story. Ditched by their leader, classic neglected pop band produce their only album – and it’s a stunner

Van Morrison. Moondance. For the follow-up to the legendary Astral Weeks, Vanchanged direction, and not for the last time

Rodriguez. Cold Fact. Downbeat debut from modest Detroit singer-songwriterfinds a warm reception down under

Black Sabbath. Black Sabbath. The smelting house of heavy metal

The Who. Live At Leeds. What the rock opera pioneers really sounded like. Oneof rock’s live milestones

Free. Fire And Water. Young, British R&B band craft song that echoes roundthe world for 30 years. Fortunately, it’s on their bestalbum

Deep Purple. Deep Purple In Rock. The UK’s proto-heavy metal scene spawns a monster

John Phillips. John, The Wolfking of LA. Papa goes solo

The Soft Machine. Third. London underground mavericks journey into jazz rock

Traffic. John Barleycorn Must Die. Pop band’s curious folk soul experiment

The Carpenters. Close To You. The unfashionably sunny brother–sister duo trulyarrives, platinum sales result

The Moody Blues. A Question Of Balance. The finest hour of the forgotten emperors of portentouspop

Black Sabbath. Paranoid. It defined them, and heavy metal, for all time

Santana. Abraxas. Santana take in jazz alongside staple Latino blues rock.The first world music crossover success?

Lindisfarne. Nicely Out Of Tune. Geordie folk rockers arrive with a debut of charismatic,rough-hewn magic

Spirit. The 12 Dreams Of Dr Sardonicus. A surreal trip, potent as purest California sunshine

Family. Anyway. Turning point from prog rock to unlikely pop stardomfor early ’70s style-straddlers

Vashti Bunyan. Just Another Diamond Day. Ex-starlet makes poignant record of her horse-drawnodyssey to the Hebrides, finally finding an audience30 years on

James Taylor. Sweet Baby James. Sophomore disc by the unassuming bard of bedsitter-land that begat the singer-songwriter movement

John Lennon. John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. He kicks the ’60s into touch and invents angst rock

James Brown. Sex Machine. The refining of bass-heavy funk, and definitiveevidence of the rapid evolution of Brown’s music

Derek And The Dominos. Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs. A flop when first released: now widely regarded as theheight of Clapton’s achievements

The Grateful Dead. American Beauty. Minimalist rootsy opus from mellowing masters of theelongated jam

George Harrison. All Things Must Pass. A chart-topping triple set that sounds better and betteras time goes by

The Stooges. Fun House. Stooges’ sophomore album anticipated the densemetallic sound of punk, goth and industrial music

Emitt Rhodes. Emitt Rhodes. The best LP that Paul McCartney never made

Fela Kuti. Fela’s London Scene. Funky music sho’ ’nuff turns Africa on

Essra Mohawk. Primordial Lovers. Second album by former Frank Zappa protégé; ravereviews, no sales, cult legend

Yoko Ono. Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band. Companion set to Lennon’s solo debut that could havebeen recorded tomorrow

Carole King. Tapestry. Brill Building contract songwriter makes successfultransition to solo artist, and sells 10 million albums intwo years

Serge Gainsbourg. Histoire De Melody Nelson. French master of outrage crafts mould-breaking suitefor rock band and orchestra. Nobody notices

Eugene McDaniels. Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse. Lost masterpiece of funky social commentary from ‘theblack Bob Dylan’

Elvis Presley. Elvis Country (I’m 10,000 Years Old) His last truly great album

Anne Briggs. Anne Briggs. Belated debut from singer who exiled herself toobscurity

Caravan. In The Land Of Grey And Pink. The quintessential Canterbury album

David Crosby. If I Could Only Remember My Name. With CSN&Y at their commercial zenith, Crosby cutscontroversial experimental mood piece

The Flamin’ Groovies. Teenage Head. Fashion-disdaining San Francisco rock’n’rollers’ thirdand most influential album

Bert Jansch. Rosemary Lane. Released at the height of electric folk rock in Britain,Bert’s stripped-down masterpiece was criminallyignored

Paul And Linda McCartney. Ram. Bruised ex-Beatle comes out of hiding with his newmissus

The Rolling Stones. Sticky Fingers. The centrepiece of the great Stones triptych found themat their most rootsy and American

Bridget St John. Songs For The Gentle Man. Exquisitely arranged folk album by unheralded contemporaryof John Martyn and Nick Drake

Loudon Wainwright III. Loudon Wainwright III. Debut by Canadian folk-singing specialist in socialcommentary and wry observation

Link Wray. Link Wray. Guitar godfather takes acoustic guitars and dobros on ajourney up country

Michael Hurley And Pals. Armchair Boogie. Second album from the folk troubadour, the ultimateoutsider

Bill Withers. Just As I Am. Recorded while he was still working in a factorymaking toilet seats for jet planes

The Beach Boys. Surf’s Up. A career-saver and the boys’ best post-Brian achievement

The Allman Brothers Band. At Fillmore East. It made them national stars and launched theSouthern rock movement

The Move. Message From The Country. Heavy, genre-busting pop music bearing the seeds ofthe Electric Light Orchestra

Joni Mitchell. Blue. Spare. Tender. Moving. Perfect

The Who. Who’s Next. A classic album snatched from the ashes of a conceptualtower of Babel

Beaver and Krause. Gandharva. Synthesizer pioneers employ the acoustics of a SanFrancisco cathedral for cultish ambient jazz suite

Funkadelic. Maggot Brain. Eco-friendly funkateers marry psychedelic rock to awhacked-out soul groove

Marvin Gaye. What’s Going On. The last great Motown record from Detroit and theirfirst overtly political soul album

John Lennon. Imagine. Lennon’s greatest solo success, produced amid domesticharmony before he and Yoko fled the UK for ever

Shirley Collins And The Albion Country Band. No Roses. Perhaps the single best English electric folk set

The Master Musicians Of Jajouka. Brian Jones Presents The Pipes Of Pan At Jajouka ‘The menace of darkness outside the circle of firelight,’according to Rolling Stone

Van Der Graaf Generator. Pawn Hearts. The sound of the underground at its most unpredictable

Mickey Newbury. Frisco Mabel Joy. Gritty songwriter crafts dark, stormy songs to the soundof the rain

Led Zeppelin. IV. Their fourth, untitled album – also known as ‘FourSymbols’ – turned them into untouchable superstars

Sly & The Family Stone. There’s A Riot Goin’ On. Drug-addled weirdness and tuneful hits combine onone of pop’s most perplexing records

Wings. Wildlife. McCartney’s forgotten folly

David Bowie. Hunky Dory. The birth of a superstar

The Faces. A Nod’s As Good As A Wink. The quintessential lad rock knees-up

Terry Callier. What Color Is Love. Magisterial jazz/folk/soul meisterwerk from the lostgenius of Chicago soul

DR Hooker. The Truth. Connecticut hippy philosopher concocts homemadepsych funk masterpiece

Bread. Baby I’m-A Want You. The fourth, most polished and best-selling of the soft-rock kings’ five albums

JJ Cale. Naturally. Magical debut from the man who came to epitomisethe term ‘laid-back’

Nilsson. Nilsson Schmilsson. A less whimsical, more gruff Nilsson has his first bigsuccess

Isaac Hayes. Black Moses. Fourth album of seductive self-indulgent soul with abittersweet undertow

Don McLean. American Pie. Anyone for a money-spinning albatross?

Al Green. Let’s Stay Together. Secular or sacred, he was soul’s most seductive singer

Neil Young. Harvest. It transformed him into a singer-songwriter superstar, arole he has been systematically dismantling ever since

Manassas. Manassas. CSN&Y renegade forms crack team whose legacy is thisexemplary double

Big Star #1 Record. Debut by legendary underachievers whose influence canbe heard in REM, Teenage Fanclub and TheReplacements

Deep Purple. Machine Head. The album which brought us Smoke On The Water, thealma mater of every other ’70s school rock band

Mellow Candle. Swaddling Songs. Overlooked folk classic. Yours for upwards of £500

The Rolling Stones. Exile On Main Street. The record that distilled the Stones’ mystique, oftenhailed as the greatest rock album ever made

Rory Gallagher. Live In Europe. Gallagher was the first real Irish rock star, this his onlyUK Top 10 album

Spring. Spring. Brian Wilson borrows the immaculate sound andemotional focus of The Beach Boys’ late ’60s work for agirl group gem

Wishbone Ash. Argus ‘The British Allman Brothers’ surprise themselves byrecording a classic

Stevie Wonder. Music Of My Mind. Stevie meets Tonto for electro

David Bowie. The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars. The alter ego has landed

Aphrodite’s Child. 666. A double helping of Greek rock opera

The Everly Brothers. The Stories We Could Tell. Rock’n’roll duo retrace their upbringing on this countrifiedsuper-harmony excursion

Alice Cooper. School’s Out. Cooper’s commercial breakthrough included an instantteen rebellion anthem

Randy Newman. Sail Away. The world’s most sardonic liberal debunks God andAmerica, and nearly charts

Jorge Ben. Ben. Peak for Brazilian superstar who energised the bossanova

Yes. Close To The Edge. Yes pull together their influences – pop, jazz, classical –to deliver one of progressive rock’s most convincingextended pieces

Black Sabbath. Vol 4. Birmingham’s heaviest sons record in a blizzard

Sandy Denny. Sandy. Fairport Convention singer goes it alone and hitspaydirt with second album

Genesis. Foxtrot. Prog rock mavericks reach early creative peak

Can. Ege Bamyasi. A more questing but approachable music fromGermany

Captain Beefheart And The Magic Band. Clear Spot. His most accessible offering. Includes ballads!

Bobby Charles. Bobby Charles. Enigmatic teenage writer of rock’n’roll standardsresurfaces after years in the wilderness to jam withThe Band

Focus. Focus III. Look mum, virtuoso Euro classical – prog fusion!

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Will The Circle Be Unbroken. Great down-homers meet their country heroes

Lou Reed. Transformer. Reed’s commercial breakthrough was powered by thisirresistible broadside from the Wild Side

Bob Marley & The Wailers. African Herbsman. The conjunction of Lee Perry and The Wailers resultsin a definitive moment in reggae history

Nick Drake. Pink Moon. Beyond folk, beyond singer/songwriterly convention, astark, redemptive – and final – missive from an elusivetalent

Michael Viner’s Incredible Bongo Band. Bongo Rock. The most important record in late twentieth-centurypop? Quite possibly. Read on …

Steely Dan. Can’t Buy A Thrill. Wryly cynical songs buffed to an impeccable shine

Stevie Wonder. Talking Book. The second instalment from Stevie’s purple patch

John Martyn. Solid Air. Weightless, melancholy folk jazz never bettered by itsmaker

Pink Floyd. The Dark Side Of The Moon. A cult band goes stellar. At 30 million copies andrising, it’s still the biggest selling album ever by aBritish band

Mahavishnu Orchestra. Birds Of Fire. John McLaughlin’s virtuoso heavy-hitters deliverfusion’s most explosive moment

Roxy Music. For Your Pleasure. Roxy’s crowning glory, created as Ferry’s autocraticstyle clashed with Eno’s urge to experiment

Terry Reid. River. Downbeat and dreamy curio from an unrequited nextbig thing

The Wailers. Catch A Fire. The first crossover reggae album announces a new forcein world pop

Mike Oldfield. Tubular Bells. Teenage social misfit’s debut expands the horizons ofthe electric guitar like no one since Hendrix

Planxty. Planxty. The band who changed the face of Irish music

Can. Future Days. A chill-out classic long before the term was coined

Iggy Pop & The Stooges. Raw Power. The Stooges’ last gasp, this time with new patronDavid Bowie

Donny Hathaway. Extension Of A Man. The last and most ambitious solo album recorded bythe troubled soul genius before his suicide in 1979

Sly & The Family Stone. Fresh. Long-awaited follow-up to Riot revealed that even anincapacitated Sly could be more alive than most

Todd Rundgren. A Wizard, A True Star. Blue-eyed soul man takes a trip

Stevie Wonder. Innervisions. Mid-point of his great creative eruption

New York Dolls. New York Dolls. Rough-hewn punk primer

Elton John. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. The second of seven consecutive US Number 1 albumsunderlined his status as a global superstar without peer

Emerson, Lake And Palmer. Brain Salad Surgery. The master showmen of prog rock reach their creativeand commercial zenith

The Isley Brothers. 3+3. Two generations of a great soul band come together

Tangerine Dream. Atem. One giant step for ambient music

The Who. Quadrophenia. Another four-sided enigma from Pete & Co

Paul McCartney And Wings. Band On The Run. The fraught fifth post-Beatles release that restoredMcCartney’s worldwide reputation

Dan Penn. Nobody’s Fool. Debut solo album from stellar back-room boy, one ofthe decade’s great songwriters

Eno. Here Come The Warm Jets. Patenting glam punk on rush-recorded solo debut

Gram Parsons. Grievous Angel. A touchstone of alternative country

Tangerine Dream. Phaedra. With one bound, the guitar becomes obsolete

Lamont Dozier. Black Bach. Euphoric, string-powered soul from revered Motownwriter and producer

Roy Harper. Valentine. Folk rocker’s most vivid and enduring collection

Richard And Linda Thompson. I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight. His emergence as the major folk rock artist of hisgeneration and hers as the finest interpreter of hissongs

10cc. Sheet Music. Clever pop-single craftsmen make great album

Robert Wyatt. Rock Bottom. His second solo album, and debut for RichardBranson’s burgeoning hippy-rock label

Average White Band. Average White Band. Average? Not hardly

Neil Young. On The Beach. Young dreamily combines personal and political horrorand creates his masterpiece. But nobody gets it

Blue Öyster Cult. Secret Treaties ‘Heavy metal’ before it got speedy. The working titlewas Power In The Hands Of Fools

Supertramp. Crime Of The Century. Pop-prog rockers regroup, rethink and create a conceptalbum that propels them towards stadium stardom

Millie Jackson. Caught Up. Potent combo of lubricious talk and deep soul

King Crimson. Red. Studio swansong from the most radical Crimson line-up

The Raspberries. Starting Over. Last and greatest album by terminally misunderstoodUS power popsters

Queen. Sheer Heart Attack. Imaginative third album triumph for over-the-top poprockers

Genesis. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. Eccentric English prog rockers hit NYC

Dr Feelgood. Down By The Jetty. Scorching live act’s debut gives pub rock a good name,inspiring punk along the way

Jackson Browne. Late For The Sky. A painful coming of age for the poster boy and poetlaureate of California’s singer-songwriter set

Gene Clark. No Other. Taking singer-songwriter rock to its logical extreme, oneof the most extravagant productions of the era

Led Zeppelin. Physical Graffiti. Led Zeppelin’s first for their nascent label, Swan Song,was preceded by over one million advance orders

Bob Dylan. Blood On The Tracks. Dylan’s astonishing return to form, a suite of songsprompted by the emotional fallout of his failingmarriage

Neil Young. Tonight’s The Night. Young’s painful, personal requiem to Crazy Horseguitarist Danny Whitten and roadie Bruce Berry

Guy Clark. Old No. 1. A Lone Star answer to Nashville’s Outlaw movement,possibly the best country folk album of the 1970s

Curtis Mayfield. There’s No Place Like America Today. The former Impression brings biting social commentary,messages of hope and love songs

Eno. Another Green World. Instrumental-dominated release which provided Bowieith his Berlin trilogy template

Glen Campbell. Rhinestone Cowboy. A precise, multi-million-selling second chance

Dion. Born To Be With You. Both born in the Bronx, Dion DiMucci and PhilSpector team up for a mouthwatering album

Al Green. Al Green Is Love. Green’s comeback album after serious injury

Jade Warrior. Waves. Obscure British instrumental duo cut sonic hymn tooceans, whales, truth and beauty

Paul Simon. Still Crazy After All These Years. The summit of Simon’s post-Garfunkel creative surge

Queen. Night At The Opera. The pinnacle of Queen’s achievements, a monstrous,marvellous magnum opus

Peggy Lee. Mirrors. Autumn-years rumination makes high art of high camp

Bob Marley & The Wailers. Live. Transcendent, career-defining show caught on record

Joni Mitchell. The Hissing Of Summer Lawns. Joni stays two steps ahead of the competition

Patti Smith. Horses. Rimbaud goes garage, a new way forward with a poet’sdebut album

Keith Jarrett. The Køln Concert. At three million copies, this improvised live recording isthe biggest selling piano record ever

June Tabor. Airs And Graces. Tabor’s first serious album release established her asEngland’s premier female interpreter of traditional song

Thin Lizzy. Jailbreak. The record that established Lizzy as the rockers whoeven the punks could love

Kiss. Destroyer. Fourth studio album by stack-heeled New York cartoonrockers is their first to top the million mark in the US

Steve Miller Band. Fly Like An Eagle. Charisma-free, but classy, the cosmic hippy/down-homeR&B crossover

Ramones. Ramones. Four skinny jerks from New York tear down rock musicand start again

Aerosmith. Rocks. Their sex-and-drugs-fuelled fourth album is the nearestthing yet to a rock festival on record

Parliament. Mothership Connection. The Parliafunkadelicment thang goes universal asClinton marries serious funk to a comic-book tale

Rush. 2112. Half hard-rock thumper, half concept album thatspawned numerous sci-fi metal imitations. Side onefeatures Alex Lifeson tuning up in a cave

Boz Scaggs. Silk Degrees. Slick and soulful music for satin-sheet-sliding. Allegedlycaused hump (!) in the US population graph

Stevie Wonder. Songs In The Key Of Life. Only the third album ever to enter the US charts atNumber 1 (after two by Elton John), where it stayedfor 14 weeks

Abba. Arrival. Abba’s fourth album irrevocably transformed themfrom Swedish pop curiosity to worldwide phenomenon

The Eagles. Hotel California. Erstwhile proponents of that Peaceful Easy Feeling getreal and metaphorical too

Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson. Ain’t That A Bitch. Smash-hit disco comeback by veteran bluesman

Boston. Boston. Super-melodic AOR, custom-built for US radio, soldzillions

David Bowie. Low. The first of Bowie’s ‘Berlin’ trilogy of collaborationswith Brian Eno

The Damned. Damned Damned Damned. The first British punk album

Fleetwood Mac. Rumours. Internal romantic fall-out creates an AOR milestone,and Fleetwood Mac’s first trans-Atlantic chart-topper

Television. Marquee Moon. Not quite art rock but not quite prog or punk, the cultUS outfit produce one of rock’s most accomplisheddebuts

The Clash. The Clash. Soundtrack to 1977’s ‘Summer of Hate’ and the totemicalbum of the English punk insurrection

Kraftwerk. Trans-Europe Express. Landmark Euro-electronica. The future starts here

The Beatles. Live At The Hollywood Bowl. Sounds like a beat group inside one of Concorde’sengines. Fantastically exciting

Tom Waits. Small Change. Recorded live in the studio, the jazziest of Waits’ albums

Muddy Waters. Hard Again. A career-defining masterpiece of Chicago blues in onegreat – and final – burst of creativity

Cheap Trick. In Color. Boisterous, hook-laden missing link between ’60sBritish pop and American arena rock

Dennis Wilson. Pacific Ocean Blue. The Beach Boy least-likely-to delivers the band’s firstsolo masterpiece

Ian Dury. New Boots And Panties!! Thirty-five-year-old wordsmith and art teacherbecomes roguish uncle to the nation

Richard Hell And The Voidoids. Blank Generation. New York punk innovator belatedly makes LP. Tooclever by half for most punks

Iggy Pop. Lust For Life. Iggy’s acknowledgement as punk’s founding father ismarked with his first Top 30 UK hit

Steely Dan. Aja. Steely Dan’s most sophisticated and commerciallysuccessful work, a masterpiece of session layering

Johnny Thunders And The Heartbreakers. L.A.M.F. The only punk band who could sing about the street-gang lifestyle with authority

Electric Light Orchestra. Out Of The Blue. The least fashionable band of its day reach preposterouspeak

Sex Pistols. Never Mind The Bollocks – Here’s The Sex Pistols. Punk rock crash-lands in the mainstream, just as theSex Pistols fall apart

Jacques Brel. Brel. Belgium’s great chansonnier bids adieu

Suicide. Suicide. Proto-punk electronic rock’n’roll; Elvis and The Seedswith the technology of tomorrow

Throbbing Gristle. Second Annual Report. A lo-fi industrial blueprint from the heart of the DeathFactory

Roberta Flack. Blue Lights In The Basement. The fifth gold album by the most impassive of the greatsoul divas

Billy Joel. The Stranger. Italian guy with chip on shoulder finally hits thebig time

Townes Van Zandt. Live At The Old Quarter, Houston, Texas. The late legendary Texan troubadour’s live masterpiece

Gerry Rafferty. City To City. Bolshy, reclusive songwriter’s landmark of Scottish softrock. Immortalised by a sax motif

The Adverts. Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts. Punk pioneers leave it too late to make their mark onalbum, but do it anyway

Nick Lowe. Jesus Of Cool. Pub rocker and honorary punk crests the New Wave

Buzzcocks. Another Music In A Different Kitchen. Definitive New Wave pop album: rousing hooks, racetrackriffs, experimental leanings

Pere Ubu. The Modern Dance. Singular, uncompromising art punk debut

Van Halen. Van Halen. Hard-rock colossus blows the competition out ofthe water

Kraftwerk. The Man-Machine. The Düsseldorf Dynamos add a sardonic politicaloverview to their romantic-realist style

Steve Reich. Music For 18 Musicians. American composer creates his most importantcrossover work

Willie Nelson. Stardust. At 55, the touchstone country songwriter goesBroadway and Hollywood with smash-hit results

Bruce Springsteen. Darkness On The Edge Of Town. After suing his manager, Springsteen rages. The carsare metaphors, the darkness is real

Talking Heads. More Songs About Buildings And Food. Itchy agit-pop angst meets Egghead

Blondie. Parallel Lines. Skinny-tied New Yorkers combine punk, New Waveand disco to world-beating effect

Wire. Chairs Missing. Raising the stakes in the UK post-punk scene

The Police. Outlandos D’Amour. Unlikely stadium rock band’s debut

Siouxsie And The Banshees. The Scream. Fiercely individualistic punks arrived late with debutalbum; it still sounded way ahead of its time

The Jam. All Mod Cons. The Jam establish themselves as the class of ’76’s mostpopular graduates

X-Ray Spex. Germ Free Adolescents. Pointed social critique wrapped up in punky, three-minute pop

Marvin Gaye. Here, My Dear. Marvin’s raw soul-opera memoir. Might be his verybest work

Stiff Little Fingers. Inflammable Material. The first great UK punk record to emerge from theprovinces

Brian Eno. Music For Airports. Sound specifically devised to suit a particular spaceushered in the era of ambient music

The Roches. The Roches. Heady mix: the three sisters’ punk folk debut producedby King Crimson’s Robert Fripp

Lowell George. Thanks, I’ll Eat It Here. Solo jaunt for Little Feat star with a tragic outcome

Sister Sledge. We Are Family. On a working sabbatical from Chic, Edwards–Rodgerswrote and produced a disco classic

Joy Division. Unknown Pleasures. Punk’s darkest forces reach Manchester and signal anew grey dawn

The B-52’s. The B-52’s. Courageously-coiffured Southerners playing toy instrumentsinvade the New York punk scene. With hilariousresults!

AC/DC. Highway To Hell. Aussie rockers finally break the States six months beforethe death of vocalist Bon Scott

Chic. Risque. After a clutch of hit singles, the Chic groove moves upa gear. Get down to the perfect beat

Ry Cooder. Bop Till You Drop. Cooder’s flair and care have an odd covers collectionsinging with one sweet voice. World’s first digital rockalbum, allegedly

Bob Dylan. Slow Train Coming. Dylan in born-again Christian album shock!

Gang Of Four. Entertainment! Clangorous, post-punk, post-Marxist masterpiece putdanceability on the New Wave agenda

Al Green. The Belle Album. The Reverend Al ascends the pulpit to deliver a soulfulsermon on life, love and God

Gary Numan. The Pleasure Principle. Gary Numan’s first ‘official’ solo album, establishinghim as the first international synth pop star

The Residents. Eskimo. Anonymous San Franciscan art pranksters break thecommercial ice with their vision of life up North

The Slits. Cut. The band nobody wanted to sign defy detractors withthe most sophisticated album of 1979

Marianne Faithfull. Broken English. A ’60s icon shreds her past

Madness. One Step Beyond. Debut album from the Southern branch of the skarevival

The Specials. Specials. Cracking debut from Coventry’s punk ska innovatorsand social commentators

Pink Floyd. The Wall. Claustrophobic double concept album whose bleakthemes appeared to permeate its makers

The Clash. London Calling. A seismic shift from punk recasts them as a kind ofrockabilly, pop, reggae jukebox

The 1980s

Elvis Costello And The Attractions. Get Happy!! Twenty golden nuggets of Stax-influenced pop

The Cramps. Songs The Lord Taught Us. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome psychobilly –and one of the most exciting live outfits ever

Smokey Robinson. Warm Thoughts. A soul legend grows old gracefully

X. Los Angeles. LA’s accessible and influential answer to New York andLondon punk

Linton Kwesi Johnson. Bass Culture. Anglo-Caribbean dub poetry. Sounds good, kicks likea mule

Magazine. The Correct Use Of Soap. Gloomy art rockers’ happiest hour

Peter Gabriel. Peter Gabriel (III) Gabriel astounds with his third and best solo album

AC/DC. Back In Black. With Bon Scott dead, AC/DC unleash their newfrontman – and catapult to megastardom

Echo And The Bunnymen. Crocodiles. Universally lauded debut from the group nearlycalled Mona Lisa And The Grease Guns who madeovercoats hip

The Soft Boys. Underwater Moonlight. Second from cult Cambridge crew led by RobynHitchcock, inheritor of Syd Barrett’s mantle of strange

David Bowie. Scary Monsters. The Thin White Duke: reborn for the ’80s!

Dead Kennedys. Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables. Baroque punk venom from San Francisco

Killing Joke. Killing Joke. Apocalypse now: landmark debut from post-punk’sscariest group and the godfathers of industrial gothic

Talking Heads. Remain In Light. David Byrne looks to Africa, lightens up, influences ageneration of musicians and sells very few records indeed

Nic Jones. Penguin Eggs. Melody Maker’s Folk Album Of The Year takes theEnglish folk revival to a new level of contemporaryrelevance

Motorhead. Ace Of Spades. Metal’s excess and punk’s attack; Lemmy’s filthy, speed-propelled, biker rock zenith

The Jam. Sound Affects. Pop psychedelia meets the Gang Of Four: Weller’s greatpost-punk statement is his most sophisticated album

Phil Collins. Face Value. Genesis drummer launches solo career fuelled bymarriage breakdown

Dick Gaughan. Handful Of Earth. Folk Roots magazine’s ‘Album of the ’80s’, re-establishedthe passionate Scot as one of Britain’s most committedfolk singers

The Birthday Party. Prayers On Fire. A terrifying cartoonish trip to rock’s psychotic edge

Journey. Escape. Former jazz-rockers deliver AOR colossus. It spent overa year in the US Top 20

The Human League. Dare. Self-conscious synth minimalism evolves into chart-topping New Romantic ear candy

The Police. Ghost In The Machine. Truly global rock from a disintegrating group who usedtheir frustration to create a deeply ambitious album

Soft Cell. Non Stop Erotic Cabaret. The mother of all synth pop albums, cloaked indesperation and fuelled by MDMA

Black Flag. Damaged. A US hardcore milestone, marking the vocal debut ofHenry Rollins

Iron Maiden. Number Of The Beast. Eddie’s mates go from Brit-metal hopefuls to globe-straddling concern

Toto. IV. Muso sextet named after the dog in The Wizard Of Ozclean up at the 1982 Grammys

Marshall Crenshaw. Marshall Crenshaw. A walking encyclopedia of ’50s and ’60s rock and R&B,Crenshaw mounts a one-man revolution against ’80sslickness

The Cure. Pornography. Most bands are happy when they make their greatestalbum. The Cure broke up

John Cale. Music For A New Society. Ex-Velvet Underground man’s tenth album and, deliberately,the hardest sell of them all

Kate Bush. The Dreaming. From pop star to cult artist in one peculiar, brilliantalbum

The Psychedelic Furs. Forever Now. After critical panning of their second album, British post-punk outfit make a do-or-die plunge Stateside

The Dream Syndicate. The Days Of Wine And Roses. A fanfare from California’s Paisley Underground, aguitar rock anomaly in synth-dominated times

Donald Fagen. The Nightfly. Steely Dan frontman fashions affectionate tribute to his‘faux-luxe’ jazz-fan adolescence

Michael Jackson. Thriller. A motherlode of hit singles – seven out of nine tracks.One of the biggest albums in pop history

U2. War. U2’s coming-of-age album, epic and compelling

Aztec Camera. High Land, Hard Rain. Aztec Camera’s debut album, a romantic counterpointto the post-punk scene

Billy Bragg. Life’s A Riot With Spy Vs Spy. Cheaply made, budget-priced, half-a-debut launches apunk folk hero

King Sunny Ade. Synchro System. The first African pop album to be recorded in London

REM. Murmur. Pivotal work of the ’80s American rock renaissance,finding perfection in understatement

Tom Waits. Swordfishtrombones. Barfly troubadour Waits takes the weird way out of acul-de-sac

Ruben Blades. Buscando America. The first crossover salsa album, and a calling card for amajor Hispanic star

Bruce Springsteen. Born In The USA. Springsteen mingles big heart and big ideas and goesglobal

The Specials. In The Studio ‘Difficult’ third album helped to liberate a politicalfreedom fighter and spelled the end of 2-Tone

SOS Band. Just The Way You Like It. The birth of one of the ’80s’ most distinctive sounds

Hüsker Dü. Zen Arcade. Minneapolis trio emerge from the highly-chargedearly ’80s US hardcore scene with winningly melodicdouble set

Lloyd Cole And The Commotions. Rattlesnakes. Glasgow University graduates plunder four decades ofmusic and Eng. Lit. to produce clever and successfuldebut

Julian Cope. Fried. Former Teardrop’s experiment in acoustic psychedeliawent unappreciated in the age of The Thompson Twins

Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Welcome To The Pleasure Dome. The extravagant soundtrack to the biggest UK sensationof 1984

The Minutemen. Double Nickels On The Dime. Ferociously articulate speed funk and political shoutingfrom California

Dire Straits. Brothers In Arms. The first CD to sell a million, statistics and reputationhave served to obscure its artistic worth

Prefab Sprout. Steve McQueen. Majestic second album from County Durham’s finest

Kate Bush. Hounds Of Love. Crowning glorious album from the UK’s most influentialfemale artist ever

Dexy’s Midnight Runners. Don’t Stand Me Down. Chart-topping young soul rebels make their mostambitious album; sales plummet and acclaim eludesthem

The Fall. This Nation’s Saving Grace. Raucous, long-serving Mancunian showers add a hintof California sun, get a decent producer and hit acareer peak

The Waterboys. This Is The Sea. They called it ‘The Big Music’. They were right

The Cult. Love. The Big Rock epic that brought goth to the masses withthe classic ’80s anthem She Sells Sanctuary

The Jesus And Mary Chain. Psychocandy. Studied rebellion from leather ’n’ Ray-Ban’s-clad feedbackFührers

Shaun Davey And Rita Connolly. Granuaile. The most accessible of his singular folk rock/orchestralepics

Robert Cray. Strong Persuader. A million-seller and Grammy-winner, the biggest bluesrecord of the ’80s

Anita Baker. Rapture. From waitress to ’80s soul phenomenon and homeagain in eight years

Big Black. Atomizer. Fly in the ointment: Steve Albini’s noise-rockprovocateurs stir up the US underground

The Bulgarian National Radio And Television Chorus. Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares. World music that inspired Californian hippies then,over a decade later, topped the UK indie charts

Peter Gabriel. So. Eleven years after Genesis, his Grammy-winningworld/pop/dance hit harvest

The Smiths. The Queen Is Dead. The Smiths’ most rounded album saw them establishedas the most celebrated independent band of the decade

Run DMC. Raising Hell. Rap momentarily mates with metal and is propelledoverground

Elvis Costello. Blood And Chocolate. Underrated career peak featuring the garage sound of‘a band falling apart’

Paul Simon. Graceland. After a decade in the wilderness, Simon’s songwritinggifts are reinvigorated with the energy of Africanmusic

XTC. Skylarking. The artistic and commercial renaissance of Swindon’sfinest

Beastie Boys. Licensed To Ill. The Never Mind The Bollocks for the ’80s hip hopgeneration

The The. Infected. One young Londoner vents his brooding spleen atThatcher’s Britain

Jane Siberry. The Walking. A singular vision explodes across an expansive canvas;Canada’s secret is delivered to the world

U2. The Joshua Tree. Irish band imagines a mythic America of frontier spiritand spiritual quest

Prince. Sign O’ The Times. Prince’s eighth album was a self-made Technicolorsprawl that netted three US Top 10 singles

Butthole Surfers. Locust Abortion Technician. Psychedelia and punk in a pre-grunge union

Slayer. Reign In Blood. Third album by devil-bothering LA thrash metal squadsends moral majority into a tizzy

The Replacements. Pleased To Meet Me. Fifth album from the dishevelled, influential alternativerockers, now reduced to a trio

LL Cool J. Bigger & Deffer. Ladies’ man breaks rap wide open while manager Sean‘Puffy’ Combs takes notes in the wings

Def Leppard. Hysteria. Multi-platinum soft-metal Brummies dodge the worstluck of their career to produce their best album

Guns N’ Roses. Appetite For Destruction. Full-length debut by LA guttersnipes blends the spirit ofthe Stones, vintage Aerosmith and the Pistols

The Smiths. Strangeways Here We Come. The Smiths’ swansong brimmed with images of death

Depeche Mode. Music For The Masses. The most subversive pop group of the age finally tireof pop

Bruce Springsteen. Tunnel Of Love. Springsteen veers from stadium-sized music andsocio-political context to sing of men and women, loveand fear

George Michael. Faith. Former teen idol comes good on his solo debut, in awelter of lust and pained remorse

Dinosaur Jr. You’re Living All Over Me. The blueprint for dysfunctional, post-hardcore alt.rock

Boogie Down Productions. Criminal Minded. The third part of hip hop’s second ‘holy trinity’: the‘golden age’ started here

Ultramagnetic MC’s. Critical Beatdown. An unfairly neglected yet influential classic from theheyday of New York hip hop

Leonard Cohen. I’m Your Man. Comeback which redefined the erstwhile king of thebedsit bards as a careworn, comic observer of modernmores

Tracy Chapman. Tracy Chapman. An ’80s one-off, the black female folk singer whoseintimate style went global

The Go-Betweens. 16 Lovers Lane. UK-resident Australians return home to finally makethe feelgood pop album they’ve threatened throughouttheir 10-year career

Talk Talk. Spirit Of Eden. For their fourth album a London-based pop bandtravel to previously uncharted territory

Mary Margaret O’Hara. Miss America. First – and, to date, final – album of idiosyncraticavant-torch songs from a thoroughly singular artist

Keith Richards. Talk Is Cheap. Stone going it alone makes best Stones album in ages

Sonic Youth. Daydream Nation. Artful noiseniks’ sprawling double set, awash withinspired avant-rock squall, fractured classic rock, andineffable NYC cool

My Bloody Valentine. Isn’t Anything. FX-laden noiseniks torch the late ’80s UK independent scene

Steve Earle. Copperhead Road. Gravel-throated country singer hits paydirt with hisleast country record

NWA. Straight Outta Compton. Album that took gangsta rap out of the undergroundand onto the front pages after attracting attention fromthe FBI

New Order. Technique. New Order’s post-acid house masterpiece revealed thepotential of electronic pop to move both the soul andthe feet

XTC. Oranges And Lemons. Nine albums in and XTC aren’t getting any worse

De La Soul. 3 Feet High And Rising. Dazzling debut from three Amityville, NY friendswhich turned hip hop on its head

Pixies. Doolittle. The band who perfected the ‘quiet-LOUD-quiet’ styleof rock should have been more than just an alternative

Bonnie Raitt. Nick Of Time. Perennial promotion contender belatedly makes it intothe big league with smooth, modern blues collection

The Stone Roses. The Stone Roses. The album that heralded the start of the 1990s: old-fashioned psychedelia meets a newly fashionabledrug – ecstasy

Tom Petty. Full Moon Fever. His first solo outing featured a stellar cast – and acouple of Heartbreakers

Aerosmith. Pump. A textbook study on how to follow the rock comebackof the decade

The Blue Nile. Hats. Enigmatic masters of Glaswegian film noir finallydeliver a masterpiece

The Jungle Brothers. Done By The Forces Of Nature. A less bracing, more embracing companion for PublicEnemy’s Fear Of A Black Planet

Virgo. Virgo. Rare, mysterious and unfeasibly beautiful deep house

Beastie Boys. Paul’s Boutique. Misunderstood and oft-overlooked, the Beasties’ secondalbum is one of hip hop’s finest

The 1990s

The Sundays. Reading Writing And Arithmetic. Cocteau Twins + The Smiths = startling debut from abetter class of bedsit band

The Cowboy Junkies. The Caution Horses. Toronto country disciples return with a second albumso lonesome it could cry

Public Enemy. Fear Of A Black Planet. The most sustained onslaught of polemic in blackAmerican music since The Last Poets

World Party. Goodbye Jumbo. One-man repository for pop’s golden moments downloadsa troveful

Jane’s Addiction. Ritual De Lo Habitual. Third – and last – studio album from the visionaryalternative rockers dubbed ‘the thinking man’s metalband’

The La’s. The La’s. Charmed, ’60’s-influenced pop, from a man who likedto saw at the branch he was sitting on

Happy Mondays. Pills ’N’ Thrills And Bellyaches. Acid house decisively re-routed into rock music

Primal Scream. Screamadelica. One of the top five all time reasons to take ecstasy? Screamadelica

Massive Attack. Blue Lines. It invented trip hop and remains the only truly greatBritish hip hop LP

Slint. Spiderland. Slint’s second, final and massively influential albumhas been elevated to near-mythical status since its low-key release in 1991

Electronic. Electronic. Mancunian supersideproject produce a debut that livesup to the hype

Crowded House. Woodface. Smart, brooding pop from Oz

Simply Red. Stars. Rapturous white soul bypasses fashion and criticalopprobrium

Nirvana. Nevermind. It blew the ’80s away and became the most influentialrock album of the ’90s

Red Hot Chili Peppers. Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Careening out of tragedy, the thunderously funky,emotionally volcanic Peppers become stars

Nine Inch Nails. Pretty Hate Machine. Trent Reznor’s debut album teaches us how to danceand carry our angst well all at the same time

A Tribe Called Quest. The Low End Theory. Rap – meet jazz

Matthew Sweet. Girlfriend. Sweet ditches the session players and roughens up hismeaty power pop anthems for his third album

Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Weld (with Arc) An artist of extremes celebrates the noise, power andpain of his electric guitar

Teenage Fanclub. Bandwagonesque. Breakthrough album from the Glasgwegian quartetwho were darlings of the early ’90s indie rock scene

U2. Achtung Baby. Out with the pomp and in with the irony, it’s a new,dancefloor-friendly U2

Cypress Hill. Cypress Hill. An alternative history for gangsta rap would have startedhere … had anyone been able to match the concept

Khaled. Khaled. The first Arabic crossover album, Algerian rai with aWest Coast sheen

Pearl Jam. Ten. The stadium rock side of the Seattle grunge explosion

k.d. lang. Ingénue. Unconventional country star swaps twang for torchsongs, and the world falls at her feet

PJ Harvey. Dry. Rock’s rude health in the early ’90s was confirmed bythe arrival of a unique voice from the West Country

Pavement. Slanted And Enchanted. Crypto-campus alt-rock intellectuals discover songs

The Black Crowes. The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion. Propelled to stardom with their massive-selling debut, the road-weary Crowes dig deeper for their follow-up

Baaba Maal. Lam Toro. Africa goes techno

Lemonheads. It’s A Shame About Ray. Boston indie scenester’s finest hour invents ‘bubble-grunge’,accidentally

Eric Clapton. Unplugged. The MTV format gives Clapton the biggest album ofhis life

Paul Weller. Paul Weller. Solo debut heralding Weller’s creative and commercialrebirth

REM. Automatic For The People. The dark, folky, muted record that made them theworld’s biggest band

Aphex Twin. Selected Ambient Works 85–92. Debut double collection by techno Mozart

Dr Dre. The Chronic. The record that changed a genre forever

Ice Cube. The Predator. A bile-spitting monster of a record recorded in responseto the 1992 LA rebellion

Stereo MC’s. Connected. One of the most influential records in the history oflate twentieth century British music

Brad. Shame. Down-time Pearl Jam side project yields unexpectedtreasure

Aimee Mann. Whatever. Though it failed to chart, it put her on top of thesuddenly much-discussed heap of American singer-songwriters

Orbital. Orbital. Techno as protest song, soul music and festival crowdpick-me-up

The Palace Brothers. There Is No-One What Will Take Care Of You. Discordant debut set of haunting back-porch insurgencyfrom quasi-religious strummers

Björk. Debut. Not strictly her debut, but a new beginning forIceland’s most extraordinary export

Smashing Pumpkins. Siamese Dream. Chicago outfit fill stadiums with their prog-tinged takeon quiet/LOUD! grunge

Sheryl Crow. Tuesday Night Music Club. Belated debut reveals classic rock’n’roller, pithy in everyword and note

The Breeders. Last Splash. An ad-hoc indie supergroup eclipse their parent bandsthen blow it

Uncle Tupelo. Anodyne. Full of gorgeous, if cryptic, songs, it managed to reinventAmerican roots music while sounding absolutelytimeless

Wu-Tang Clan. Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) The record that changed the rap music industry. Again

Ali Farka Toure With Ry Cooder. Talking Timbuktu. West Africa’s leading bluesman meets a West Coastslide guitar legend

Giant Sand. Glum. Prolific Arizona combo deliver their ill-fatedmasterpiece

Morrissey. Vauxhall And I. Reining in the bitterness for the warmest, most expansivealbum of his solo career

Hole. Live Through This. Savagery, dislocation, tormented devotion; released inthe month of Kurt Cobain’s suicide

Blur. Parklife. Britpop starts here. Possibly. Even if not, it’s a sneery,snotty English classic

Ted Hawkins. The Next Hundred Years. One of the most soulful voices ever recorded; gainedbelated recognition near the end of a troubled life

Everything But The Girl. Amplified Heart. A near-death experience gives the duo new life

Jeff Buckley. Grace. The only completed album by one of rock’s most giftedpractitioners

Oasis. Definitely Maybe. Noisy arrival of back-to-basics pop mythologists

Manic Street Preachers. The Holy Bible. Turbulent, seething and relentlessly dark; the Welshideologues’ most urgent album was wilfully out of stepwith Britpop

Portishead. Dummy. West Country collective’s debut fuses hip hop, torchsong and soul, accidentally sparking a key musicaltrend of the late ’90s: trip hop

Offspring. Smash. Orange County nerds kickstart the punk-pop pick-up

Songhai. Songhai 2. Roots music? This is roots-of-everything music

Nas. Illmatic. Perhaps the perfect debut, and a generally acknowledgedhip hop classic

The Notorious B.I.G. Ready To Die. A masterpiece all too often overlooked because itseemed to prophecy the death of its maker

Leftfield. Leftism. Proof that the dance music scene could produce albumsof variety, innovation and depth

PJ Harvey. To Bring You My Love. Woman from the West Country pitches a Wang DangDoodle. Result: hair-raising sensuality

Elastica. Elastica. A feisty debut from Britpop’s three-girl, one-boy sensation,owing – quite literally on some tracks – a cleardebt to late ’70s New Wave

Guided By Voices. Alien Lanes. The eighth full-length album from prolific lo-fi tune-smiths lifts them out of obscurity

Radiohead. The Bends. Bruising second album proves a sleeper hit transformingthe fortunes of former critics’ whipping boys

Pavement. Wowee Zowee. US indie darlings confound critics with their ‘difficult’third album, the most diverse and eccentric of theircareer

Alanis Morissette. Jagged Little Pill ‘The top-selling debut by a woman ever’ was, in fact,her third

Oasis (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? In the mid-’90s, the UK could sing along to every track

Pulp. Different Class. The most durable dues-payers ever finally go topper-most with sardonic wit and hangdog tunefulness

The Auteurs. After Murder Park. As Britpop rages, England’s most unjustly neglectedsongwriter quietly makes the best British rock album ofthe decade

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan And Michael Brook. Night Song. The final international album by the greatest devotionalsinger modern Pakistan has produced

Fugees (Refugee Camp) The Score. They made it look easy, but becoming the biggest hiphop band in the world was anything but

Underworld. Second Toughest In The Infants. Iconoclastic and arty trio create new type of intelligent,elegant – and popular – prog-techno

Maria McKee. Life Is Sweet. For her third solo album, she unleashed the full force ofher ferocious talent, and nobody noticed

RL Burnside. A Ass Pocket of Whiskey. Mississippi Delta blues king rucking in the street withNoo Yawk punks

DJ Shadow. Endtroducing … A triumph for vinyl recycling. And hip hop

Belle & Sebastian. If You’re Feeling Sinister. Fey Glaswegian indie heroes born on a college music-business course

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. The Boatman’s Call. The black-clad bard strips down to bare essentials

Supergrass. In It For The Money. Ivor Novello-award-winning Oxford trio find lifebeyond Britpop on bruising second album

Fountains Of Wayne. Fountains Of Wayne. Sharp songwriting and exuberant production from aband who took their name from a garden shop

Jerry Garcia Band. How Sweet It Is … Jerry Garcia resoundingly demonstrates that there’s lifeafter the Dead

Ron Sexsmith. Other Songs. The shy Canadian songsmith makes one for the ages

Radiohead. OK Computer. Oxford band cut unpredictable third album only tofind it voted Greatest Album Ever Made

The Buena Vista Social Club. The Buena Vista Social Club. Cuba’s pre-revolutionary musicians strike gold in thelast-chance saloon

Spiritualized. Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space. Two years in the making, their most exploratory andmost commercially successful album

Cornershop. When I Was Born For The 7th Time. Shambling, eternally underachieving, Anglo-Indianindie also-rans surprise everyone

Bob Dylan. Time Out Of Mind. Dylan’s most compelling work in years found himwracked with romantic distress

The Verve. Urban Hymns. Three albums in and – despite internal turmoil – TheVerve find the perfect fusion of craft and feel

Rakim. The 18th Letter / The Book Of Life. A remarkable comeback album and hits package fromthe greatest emcee of all time

Stina Nordenstam. People Are Strange. Allusive, Swedish songstress finds herself laid bare inother people’s songs

Air. Moon Safari. Faux-naïf aural bubble-bath spearheading the late ’90sFrench invasion of the British charts

Madonna. Ray Of Light. Commercial and cool, danceable, moving: her lucky13th album made Madonna hip again

The Handsome Family. Through The Trees. Breakthrough album from US country gothic husband-wife team

Boards of Canada. Music Has The Right To Children. Cerebral, laid back electronica with a soul rooted in thepast

Gillian Welch. Hell Among The Yearlings. Old-style country music with dirt under its fingernailsand murder in its heart

Lauryn Hill. The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill. The album which fulfilled all of Hill’s promise withThe Fugees made her the most successful femaleGrammy winner in history

Fatboy Slim. You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby. The most successful British dance album in theworld … ever?

Ravi Shankar. Live At Monterey. Cultural melting pot reaches boiling point

Beck. Mutations. The wild card in Beck’s far-from-orthodox pack

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. I See A Darkness. Blues-styled testaments on life and the world’s shortcomingsfrom a former Palace brother

Steve Earle & The Del McCoury Band. The Mountain. A mean, clean tribute to a bluegrass legend

XTC. Apple Venus Volume 1. XTC record again after a seven-year pause, creating aresplendent compositional triumph

The Roots. Things Fall Apart. The coming of age of a hip hop institution

Blur. 13. Damon’s heartbreak confidential – Graham’s nervousbreakdown

Low. Secret Name. Breakthrough album for Minnesota lo-folk trio

Ben Folds Five. The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner. The piano-based power trio goes out with aCinemaScopic bang

Moby. Play. No escape in the summer of ’99 as Moby is playedeverywhere

The Flaming Lips. The Soft Bulletin. More than 15 years into their career: an accessible,commercial, brilliant record

Travis. The Man Who. Change of direction transforms Scottish pop hopefulsinto soul-baring success

The Beta Band. The Beta Band. Maverick Scots’ debut in ‘not as bad as they said itwas’ shock

Mary J Blige. Mary

Mos Def. Black On Both Sides ‘Speech is my hammer/Bang the world into shape/Nowlet it fall …’

Cut Chemist & DJ Shadow. Brainfreeze. Two mad vinyl scientists change the way peoplethought about funk singles

Iggy Pop. Avenue B. In which the Naughty Little Doggie gets divorced

The 2000s

Shelby Lynne. I Am Shelby Lynne. New musical direction that reaches heights previouslyhidden

Sigur Ros. Agaetis byrjun. Spellbinding other-worldly symphonies from Icelandicsoundbenders

Coldplay. Parachutes. From Yellow to gold to multi-platinum

Harold Budd. The Room. Open a Budd and chill …

Ryan Adams. Heartbreaker. Visionary rock troubadour stripped bare

Afterlife. Simplicity 2000. Ibitha uncovered …

Esbjörn Svensson. Good Morning Susie Soho. Swedish trio maps out a possible future sound of jazz

PJ Harvey. Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea. Big love, raw sex

Jeff Mills. Metropolis. Techno heavyweight thrusts the future of the futuremusic into realms far beyond the dancefloor by creatingan original score and edit to Fritz Lang’s silent-filmclassic

Roni Size Reprazent. In The Mode. A neglected masterpiece that should fulfilled all thegrand promises drum and bass had made

OutKast. Stankonia. Rap reinvented as P-Funk by a Georgia duo constantlyduelling between the musically sacred and the secularlyprofane

Lambchop. Nixon. Lo-fi Americana collective’s big production hit

Rachid Taha. Made In Medina. Forget chronology: Led Zeppelin knew nothing aboutNorth African music until they heard this

Rufus Wainwright. Poses. Oscar Wilde meets Mozart in this lush diary of a boy’scoming of age in NYC

Nitin Sawhney. Prophesy. Transcending the Asian Underground tag, Sawhney’sfifth album is the most global-aware, all-encompassingLP you’ve ever heard

The White Stripes. White Blood Cells

Mercury Rev. All Is Dream. Baroque’n’roll as ideas and orchestration meet in analbum of sobering beauty

The Strokes. Is This It. Impossible glamour that starts in a basement and endsin huge acclaim. It is ‘it’

Spiritualized. Let It Come Down. The Spaceman, out in a place of his own

Saul Williams. Amethyst Rock Star. Spoken word meets rap and rock, with Rick Rubinmanning the boards: but it’s not thatstraight-forward …

Cesaria Evora. Sao Vicente Di Longe. Grandmother from Cape Verde gets to record in Rio DeJaneiro and Havana, but still manages to sound heartbroken

Orlando Cachaito Lopez. Cachaito. Debut album from the only person to have appearedon every single track recorded under the umbrella ofthe Buena Vista Social Club

Jay-Z. The Blueprint. A modern milestone in the increasingly blanded-outworld of mainstream rap

Gillian Welch. Time (The Revelator) Third album, first own-label release, from acclaimedL.A. ppalachian

Brendan Benson. Lapalco. Power pop wonderboy gets dropped from the majorsonly to return five years later with an indie gem

Salif Keita. Moffou. The golden voice of Mali gets back on track after yearsin the wilderness

Afel Bocoum, Damon Albarn, Toumani Diabate And Friends. Mali Music. Blur man takes time out, goes to Africa, makes record.Gallagher brothers not particularly impressed

Tom Waits. Alice. Balladeer pulls influences from his career to createsomething new

Eminem. The Eminem Show. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it: but while The EminemShow is a repeat, the next episode will be worth tuningin for

The Flaming Lips. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Their most accessible album yet … excepting the Sonytitles

The Vines. Highly Evolved. The future of rock … ?

Bruce Springsteen. The Rising. Bruce articulates post 9/11 America

Solomon Burke. Don’t Give Up On Me. The King of Soul & Rock is in exile no more

Aimee Mann. Lost In Space. Desolation never sounded so gorgeous

Coldplay. A Rush Of Blood To The Head. Coldplay cement their position as the biggest Britishband in the world

Roddy Frame. Surf. Low-key acoustic album reaffirms Frame’s songwritingalchemy and revives ailing critical fortunes

Orchestra Baobab. Specialist In All Styles. The kings of old-timey West African Cuban music makea triumphant return of fifteen years in the wilderness

Beck. Sea Change. Where was his dance machine and his music? Mourning– and we’re all that bit more blessed because of it

Devendra Banhart. Oh Me Oh My … The Way the Day Goes By the Sun Is Setting Dogs Are Dreaming Lovesongs of the Christmas Spirit. Four-track patchwork of vagrant acoustic beauty andspookery that spearheaded a new folk revolution

Jurassic 5. Power In Numbers. Most successful album – commercially as well asmusically – from a band dedicated to reminding rapwhat it’s lost

Johnny Cash. American IV: The Man Comes Around. Cash does covers and makes them his own

Common. Electric Circus. Sprawlingly eclectic masterpiece that demands a reevaluationof what hip hop is

Röyksopp. Melody A.M. The finest music to have come out of Norway since …well, ever actually

HKB Finn. Vitalistics. A journey of self-discovery and enlightenment throughmusic, HKB Finn’s debut is an as-yet buried treasure

Missy Elliott. Under Construction. One of rap’s most futuristic visionaries goes back to theold school, and finds that understanding your historymeans you function better in the present

Youssou N’Dour. Nothing’s In Vain (Coono Du Reer) The biggest name in African music returns to his rootsmajestically

Calexico. Feast Of Wire. Acclaimed fourth album (twice that number countingtour-only CDs) from desert rock duo and guests

Willie Nelson. Crazy: The Demo Sessions. Fifteen of Nelson’s earliest demos from 1961–66,digitally restored and remastered

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Nocturama. Cave struggles through the emotions once again

The White Stripes. Elephant. Forward to the past as Jack ’n’ Meg go both global andsupremely lo-fi

Luther Vandross. Dance With My Father. Late in a short life, the finest soul interpreter of hisgeneration produces his best work in 10 years

Franz Ferdinand. Franz Ferdinand. Caledonian art school quartet disinter PostcardRecords’ DIY art funk and add a dash of chiselled-cheekbone hauteur

Loretta Lynn. Van Lear Rose. Forty-five years into her career country music’sGrande Dame allows Jack White to produce her mostconfessional work

Madeleine Peyroux. Careless Love. After an eight-year absence, America’s most reluctantsongbird returns

Brian Wilson. Smile. Thirty-seven years later and with a different band, themythical Great Unfinished Album is finished

Arcade Fire. Funeral. Heavily augmented Quebecois septet’s cathartic debutreinvents emotional art rock for the twenty-first century

Antony and the Johnsons. I Am A Bird Now. Torch songs of androgyny, transgender issues and griefwin the 2005 Mercury Music Prize. No, really

Richard Hawley. Cole’s Corner. Stalwart talent finds truth in a love letter to Sheffield

Sufjan Stevens. Come On Feel The Illinoise. The best indie-folk modern classical Broadway-musicalcantata in existence

José González. Veneer. Swedish-born folk troubadour seduces post-rave crowdvia the small screen

Arctic Monkeys. Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. Sheffield youth team’s barbed knock-out blow leads toworld domination

James Hunter. People Gonna Talk. Career breakthrough album for the soulful Essex rhythm& blues singer, recorded totally live in the studio

The Raconteurs. Broken Boy Soldiers. Jack White, Brendan Benson and some Greenhornesform Great Lakes powerhouse power-pop supergroup

Guillemots. Through The Windowpane. The rebirth of sweeping, experimental British rock music

Midlake. The Trials Of Van Occupanther. From Texas’ university town of Denton, folk-rock takesa magically arcane diversion

Amy Winehouse. Back To Black. With the best British soul record for almost 20 years, abig-haired, foul-mouthed star was born

The Good The Bad & The Queen. The Good The Bad & The Queen. Damon Albarn and stellar cronies’ bittersweet hymn toWest London, England and the World

Grinderman. Grinderman. The little girls don’t know, but the gentlemen understand:Nick Cave and co perfect grown-up rock’n’roll

LCD Soundsystem. Sound Of Silver. Thirty-something New Jersey music nerd makes dance-rock concept album for disposable MP3 teen generation

Mojo miscellaneous

The Easy Life

Further reading:

The Single Life

SKA

Various

Various

Various

Prince Buster

ROCK STEADY & EARLY REGGAE

Various Artists

U-Roy & Friends

Various

Lee Perry & The Upsetters

ROOTS REGGAE

Big Youth

Augustus Pablo

Burning Spear

Horace Andy

DANCEHALL AND BEYOND

Buju Banton

Sizzla

Luciano

100 Great Soundtracks

Various Artists

Doris Day with Harry James And His Orchestra

Joseph Gershenson And The Universal-International Orchestra

Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald

Elmer Bernstein

George Duning

Various Artists

Johnny Green And The MGM Studio Symphony Orchestra And Chorus

Elvis Presley

Johnny Mandel

Various

Jerome Moross

Luis Bonfa and Antonio Carlos Jobim

Bernard Hermann

Duke Ellington And His Orchestra

The Modern Jazz Quartet

André Previn

Henry Mancini

Cliff Richard

Original Film Cast

Billy May

John Barry

Henry Mancini

Elmer Bernstein

Various Artists

Burt Bacharach

Elmer Bernstein

Quincy Jones

Various Artists

Various Artists

Burt Bacharach

Johnny Williams/André And Dory Previn

Ennio Morricone

Manfred Mann

Various Artists

Quincy Jones

Michel Legrand

Lalo Schifrin

The Association

Various Artists

Various Artists

Arlo Guthrie

Burt Bacharach

Roy Budd

Various Artists

Various Artists

Various Artists

Various Artists

Booker T Jones

Various Artists

Isaac Hayes

Various Artists

Various Artists

Curtis Mayfield

Various Artists

Nino Rota

Ennio Morricone

Marvin Gaye

Various Artists

James Brown

George Martin

Various Artists

Slade

The Staple Singers

Bernard Hermann

Rose Royce

Bill Conti

Tangerine Dream

Various Artists

John Williams

The Band

Popol Vuh

Various Artists

Various Artists

Various Artists

Vangelis

Tom Waits And Crystal Gayle

Ryuichi Sakamoto

Various Artists

Vangelis

Prince

John Cafferty And The Beaver Brown Band

Talking Heads

Various

Ennio Morricone

Various Artists

Ry Cooder

Dave Grusin

Herbie Hancock

John Barry

Various Artists

Joe Jackson

Vladimir Cosma

Various Artists

Various Artists

Various

Angelo Badalamenti

Various Artists

Various Artists

Various Artists

The Best Of The Best Ofs

Various Artists

Robert Johnson

Hank Williams

Various Artists

Various Artists

Various Artists

Elvis Presley

Chuck Berry

Little Richard

Jerry Lee Lewis

Fats Domino

Various Artists

Lonnie Donegan

Buddy Holly

Muddy Waters

The Everly Brothers

Various Artists

Various Artists

Little Anthony And The Imperials

Jackie Wilson

The Shadows

Johnny Kidd And The Pirates

Various Artists

John Lee Hooker

Various Artists

Bo Diddley

Various Artists

Roy Orbison

Various Artists

Various Artists

The Beatles

The Beatles

The Kinks

Howlin’ Wolf

The Four Seasons (Featuring Frankie Valli)

Various Artists

Various Artists

Various Artists

The Hollies

Various Artists

Sandie Shaw

The Move

Manfred Mann

Various Artists

The Rascals

Various Artists

Booker T And The MGs

Sam And Dave

Diana Ross And The Supremes

James Brown

The Fifth Dimension

Various Artists

Various Artists

Santana

Various Artists

Various Artists

Elton John

Various Artists

Cat Stevens

The Eagles

T. Rex

Various Artists

Slade

Various Artists

KC And The Sunshine Band

Various Artists

Various Artists

Bad Company

Various Artists

Various Artists

Various Artists

Rod Stewart

Status Quo

Earth, Wind & Fire,

Billy Joel

Bob Seger

Queen

Various Artists

Various Artists

The Pretenders

Various Artists

Various Artists

Various Artists

Hall And Oates

Soft Cell

Eurythmics

Wham!

Various Artists

Various Artists

Madonna

Various Artists

Various Artists

Various Artists

The Beach Boys

New Order

Various Artists

The Beautiful South

Various Artists

The Beatles

Various Artists

Index

Acknowledgements

Copyright

Отрывок из книги

The Album Is Dead!? Long Live The Album!

An introduction to The MOJO Collection

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Further reading: Sweet Soul Music (Peter Guralnick, 1998); Otis Redding (MOJO Heroes) (Geoff Brown, 2002); www.otisredding.com

Download: iTunes

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