You’ve skipped the excellent Obscured By Clouds (between Meddle and Dark Side). Plus, if you include The Wall, why leave off the superior The Final Cut?
‘Round About Midnight
Miles Ahead
Milestones
Porgy and Bess
Kind of Blue
Sketches of Spain
Someday My Prince Will Come
Quiet Nights
Seven Steps to Heaven
E.S.P.
Miles Smiles
Sorcerer
Nefertiti
Miles in the Sky
Filles de Kilimanjaro
In a Silent Way
Bitches Brew
Jack Johnson
Live-Evil
On the Corner
Or The Wailers
Catch a Fire
Burnin’
Natty Dread
Rastaman Vibration
Exodus
Kaya
Survival
Uprising
Confrontation
Funnily enough, the other day in a moment of casual vinyl festishism, I assessed which artists I had the most records by. Half a dozen by your Bob, Bowie, Joni, Stevie, Dan and FZ, but Miles won by, well miles. So I’m with Junior.
After Miles, the artist I have most albums by is John Coltrane. Excluding those albums released after his contract had expired or after he died, how about this as a run?
Cattin’ With Coltrane And Quinichette
Coltrane
John Coltrane With Red Garland Trio
Soultrane
Blue Trane
Giant Steps
Coltrane Jazz
My Favourite Things
Olé Coltrane
Africa/Brass
Impressions
Ballads
Coltrane
Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman
Live At Birdland
Crescent
A Love Supreme
The John Coltrane Quartet Plays
Kulu Sé Mama
Ascension
Meditations
Expression
I accept the listener might struggle to keep up by the last four.
The Ramones
Leave Home
Rocket To Russia
Road To Ruin
topped off by It’s Alive
End Of The Century and Pleasant Dreams nearly maintain the onslaught, but fall just short.
After that, sadly, it was ever diminishing returns with no album being quite as complete
Maybe I should try again but all the rawness had gone, less Marr more Morrissey and the songs are less jangly which to me are all bad things. The misery was always great in fact I’m hard pushed to find a Smiths song I enjoy more than “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” but somehow Strangeways seems just miserable and dull. To me “Meat is Murder” is peerless and by far their best
Your first instinct is usually right. The jangle, the fun, the rawness, the impishness, the inventiveness and the tunes had all dipped. Clearly OOAA but not many people cross the “Isn’t Strangeways a bit shit?” divide.
Well. When Stangeways came out I was non-plussed. It was not the same! It was different! No jangle or at least very little. Plenty of miserableness though. And soon it grew on me.
It might be my fave Smiffs album now. Maybe it’s just not been around quite as long as the others but it’s got legs.
Ha! That explains my headscratching at the list of Coltrane and Davis albums above. For me it’s just music you think you ought to like because some blokes with beards have told you you should.
It’s a de facto Genesis defence! Personally i love them up until Steve Hackett leaves, but i lived at least half of my life hating everything about them.
Miles and Coltrane? I love about a handful of albums by each. But do i find myself reaching for ESP, Ascension, Miles Smiles or On the Corner? Not so much.
OOT is probably my least favourite on the list, but when it has things like Country Feedback and Texarkana on I can’t say it doesn’t belong in the run.
I do disagree with you about OOT. I think it is great. As is Monster. But I have no love for New Adventures in HiFi, and haven’t listened to Murmour in years (decades?) so clearly it does little for me.
OK, now I have to defend Monster. Apart from Let me In I think it is great. Very different from what went before I accept, and maybe not an “REM” record but heavy pop and much of its time.
White Music
Go 2
Drums and Wires
Black Sea
English Settlement
Mummer
The Big Express
Skylarking
Oranges & Lemons
Nonsuch
Apple Venus Volume 1
Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)
Yep – and each one better than the previous apart from Wasp Star – Andy Partridge is on record as agreeing (perhaps AV 1&2 should have been a mind boggling final Double Album)
David Bowie/Space Oddity
The Man Who Sold The World
Hunky Dory
The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
Aladdin Sane
Diamond Dogs
Young Americans
Station To Station
Low
“Heroes”
Lodger
Scary Monsters And Super Creeps
Also…
1999
Purple Rain
Around The World In A Day
Parade
Sign O’ The Times
Lovesexy
I would definitely have DM, but Controversy’s a bit hit-and-miss for me. I was actually tempted to tag Batman on the end; I think it’s a great album, but I feel I might be alone in this.
I considered Batman too, I know I loved it at the time but I haven’t heard it in ages (I only have it on vinyl and my stereo system is in need of some TLC).
I love Controversy more than Dirty Mind, perhaps more hit-and-miss, but the “hits” are better than on Dirty Mind IMO.
Electric Chair, The Future, Lemon Crush – all awesome. The ballads are 80s-tastic too. And it reminds me of a time when a new Batman movie was pretty much the most exciting thing that could possibly happen in life.
But..we’re talking about album runs. He has many other fine, and occasionally great, albums in his canon, but they tend to be isolated, whereas the sequence more or less between 1980 and 1989 is just about peerless. And for what it’s worth, The Gold Experience is better than Emancipation.
The Man Who Sold The World
Hunky Dory
The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
Aladdin Sane
Pin ups (A cover album, but what a cover album)
Diamond Dogs
Young Americans
Station To Station
Low
“Heroes”
Lodger
Scary Monsters And Super Creeps
Lets dance
This little lot went from 1970 – 1983 – what a run.
If this is a competition Mak wins with his post but assuming nominations are still open
Paul Simon
There goes Rhymin Simon
Still crazy after all these years
One Trick Pony
Hearts and Bones
Graceland
The rhythm of the saints
and for having the good grace to thank Stevie Wonder for not releasing an album the year he won a grammy for Still crazy
As an alternative how about a second theme of runs of albums broken by a turkey and then continued (Prince i’m looking at that Batman soundtrack….. Mr Costello this could be your moment….)
The Freewheelin Bob Dylan
The Times They Are A-Changin
Another Side of Bob Dylan
Bringing It All Back Home
Highway 61 Revisited
Blonde on Blonde
John Wesley Harding
Nashville Skyline
Rattus Norvegicus (1977)
No More Heroes (1977)
Black and White (1978)
The Raven (1979)
The Gospel According to the Meninblack (1981)
La Folie (1981)
Feline (1983)
Aural Sculpture (1984)
I’d make a case for the most recent mini-run of White Chalk, Let England Shake! and The Hope Six Demolition Project, but combined with your list, that only leaves Uh-Huh Her to make the complete set.
As time goes by, the more I believe Everything Must Go is their finest album. The songwriting is finely honed, the band are cooking, there are only a couple of guest appearances and the solos are largely performed by Becker and Fagan themselves. You will go a long way to hear finer bass playing and Fagan’s singing is at its best. Things I Miss The Most, Godwhacker, Green Book, Lunch With Gina and Everything Must Go are superlative songs, Slang Of Ages is the slimiest track committed to vinyl and the backing vocals are utterly gorgeous throughout, but most especially on Pixeleen where Carolyn Leonhart effectively makes it into a duet.
It is also the only album I know that sounds even better in reverse order. Try it.
Great! Weiskopf’s solo at the beginning of the title track is the perfect start and before long, you’ll be luxuriating in the gleeful intertwined guitar playing of Hugh McCracken and Jon Herington. Have fun.
heading out for a few rums in Alicante….. then home to get the headphones on….. I’m really looking forward to hearing it in reverse…. haven’t listened to the album for ages.
p.s…….I’ve just compiled the tracks in a playlist in reverse order in case I can’t work it out later……
There’s very little wrong with any of their albums, but I do think the classic era ones benefit from the great variety of players they used, and especially the guitarists. I’m not a fan of Walt’s lead playing – too much aimless noodling.
I agree, it works better in reverse….. I have to give it a few more listens, as it’s an album I’ve definitely neglected considering how much I listen to, and love, their earlier albums…. thanks for the tip Tiggs.
I’ve done it too and am astonished how this apparently simple trick of reversing the sequence shows this album in a new light. And it pushes the dreaded Blues Beach further back in the running order (I’ve always found the hook in BB a bit cloying, think this high-pitched milkman-whistling synth line doesn’t help).
Tried it on Sunken Condos as well, an album that needs enlivening if we’re honest, and that was a good move. This Ghetto thingy needs skipping, though, whatever way round you listen to the album.
Seems to me that, whereas in the 70s, say, we were presented with 2 sides of an LP and any manipulation of sequence was a pain, the CD era has made backwards playback a doddle. Crucially, the crux is, it freshens up the back end of of CDs and additionally, given that albums tend to be front-loaded, the running order tends to make the tracks better and better.
That’s the theory so far anyway. Great spark of inspiation @Tiggerlion, thanks. I shall be trying out lots more.
I regard Blues Beach as a piss-take. They released it as a single because it is so basic. Walt doesn’t even try on the solo. It’s also too close to The Last Mall. In reverse order, you don’t notice so much because The Last Mall is such a suitable ending.
My solution for Sunken Condos is to simply leave Ghetto out. It’s still a forty minute album.
Many moons ago, there was a thread about improving albums by removing one track. There were loads of great examples.
Ditto for the Dan. Not one dud album. You can argue whether TRS or Aja is the best but really, what a body of work. Is there one genuinely crap song anywhere?
My favourite band:
All their albums
(Although, to fend off fanboy accusations, I will exclude the Lp of studio floor scrapings released following the premature demise of the singer/guitarist/main songwriter..)
A peerless string from Bill Nelson in his various incarnations.
Axe Victim
Futurama
Sunburst Finish
Modern Music
Drastic Plastic
Sound On Sound
Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam
The Love That Whirls (Diary Of A Thinking Heart).
Elvis Costello from My Aim Is True to Punch The Clock (excluding Almost Blue of course).
Paddy McAloon from start to present.
Van the Man from Astral Weeks to Beautiful Vision
Squeeze from ArgyBargy to Ridiculous.
Alright, if you’re going to be pedantic then it’s 2 great runs. Almost Blue is a rotten album though – maybe more due to my aversion to country generally rather than any problem with the execution.
Black Celebration
Music for the Masses
Violator
Songs of Faith and Devotion
Ultra
Not to say that the albums either side aren’t good – but, so far, this 1985-1998 period is a definite plateau of high quality Depeche Modeness. If I was new to the band, I would start with Violator and work outwards.
I wondered about peeling away the outer two as well – so I do see your point. I just couldn’t do it though, BC and U have some very high quality moments.
Songs is so embedded in my head, i find myself playing and getting more out of Ultra these days. I just miss out the instrumentals, which have always broken the flow for me.
I have nothing pre Songs tho. They seem a different band.
I hadn’t thought about that before. Shortish instrumental “interludes” are peppered all over most DM albums to link things and/or create an atmosphere (Violator is the best example) but SOFAD is a collection of separate songs. They didn’t do that again until Delta Machine in 2013.
Interesting – and a bit early to call on SFA who are a very slow burner- I like all their stuff but I’d go with Fuzzy Logic, Radiator, Guerilla, Mwng – and Guerilla I think is a massively underrated album
Never took to Fuzzy Logic, although I’m considering last years reissue. I reply like rings and phantom, they have some of their better songs on them. Its only Love Kraft that lets the side down in my opinion (although it has some great moments on it).
An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down (solo)
First Step (Faces)
Gasoline Alley (solo)
Long Player (Faces)
Every Picture Tells a Story (solo)
A Nod Is As Good As a Wink… to a Blind Horse (Faces)
Never a Dull Moment (solo)
Ooh La La (Faces)
This band doesn’t get enough credit. Look at this catalogue though, where they tailed in, hit their stride, got Pastorius, had a few wobbles, before tailing off again. Hell, there are 10 good albums. Lovely production on the LPs too, satisfying rock and jazz sensibilities. Remarkable.
Weather Report (71)
I Sing The Body Electric (72)
Sweetnighter (73)
Mysterious Traveller (74)
Tale Spinnin’ (75)
Black Market (76)
Heavy Weather (77)
Mr. Gone (78)
8.30 (79)
Night Passage (80)
Bubbling under: Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return To Forever, Herbie Hancock
Weather Report was always about power shifting between the reserved, tart Shorter and the Germanic, heavy (Richard Williams) chocolate cake gooey (Karl Dallas) Zawinul, who could also pen a hit or two. I think any of those Tin Pan Alley guys would have been proud of Remark. Add to this the latter’s growing alliance with new boy and co-producer Pastorius, and Shorter seemed all-but eclipsed at the time of Heavy Weather.
But the subsequent Mr. Gone was still almost prime time WR, their prog album, despite Zawinul’s penchant for primary-colour, plasticky-sounding synths. 8.30 was clearly a stop gap (so hardly counts), but they did the trick again on Night Passage. Gorgeous sax bits on it.
Yes, I’m rooting for Shorter, just like Tigg, further upthread, is rooting for Everything Must Go. I do admit that the band quality dipped markedly after this album.
Give Procession another listen. It’s a fine album and fits right in with the diversity of styles they adopted from first to last. I saw them touring that album and Omar Hakim was out of this world.
Also, I love 8:30. The version of Black Market that opens the show is off the charts, especially when Pastorius and Erskine kick it up a gear at the beginning.
Jackie Leven: 1994 – 2003
Nine winners in ten years.
Try this little lot – “you’ll be sadder but wiser”
The Mystery of Love Is Greater Than The Mystery of Death (1994)
Forbidden Songs of The Dying West (1995),
The Argyll Cycle, Volume One (1996),
Fairytales For Hardmen (1997),
Night Lilies (1998)
Defending Ancient Springs (2000)
Creatures of Light And Darkness (2001)
Shining Brother, Shining Sister (2003),
A.M.
Being There
Summerteeth
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
A Ghost Is Born
Kicking Television
Sky Blue Sky
Wilco (The Album)
The Whole Love
Star Wars
Schmilco
(Feel free to throw in the Mermaid Avenue albums as well)
Not a single dud among them, beginning to present day.
Astral Weeks
Moondance
His Band and Street Choir
Tupelo Honey
St Dominic’s Preview
Hard Nose the Highway
Veedon Fleece
Emmylou
Pieces of the Sky
Elite hotel
Luxury Liner
Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town
Blue Kentucky Girl
And if you what one still underway, having listened to her new album all day today I’d suggest Laura Marling’s run of her first six albums is pretty damn impressive.
Tanx could comfortably sit on the end of that list.
Under-rated and, initially at least, sounds a bit half-baked and un-even. Persevere with it and it is rockier, more variety and more rewarding (at least in my little world it is)
Got the album, cd, cd remaster and the Left Hand Luke alternate cd, plus original singles etc, but creating a decent album from extras, while missing out the duff tracks feels like cheating, despite the temptation to burn myself a cd of the tracks listed above (but then l’d have to make and print myself a cover, to be stored away with the rest of my Bolan stuff, as my madness shows no signs of stopping in the near future).
In a way, Bolan had too much power at the time of Tanx. He should have been persuaded to put the two big singles on just as he did with The Slider. Born To Boogie is just out of place. Pretend being a ‘suit’ and make Tanx better.
OK, l’ve crumbled (as l knew l would). CD and cover done and dusted. I did however, include Born to Boogie, Sunken Rags and Life is Strange, though Tenement Lady, Rapids, and Mister Mister never made the cut. The Solid Gold Easy Action single was also added. I’ll see how it all fits together over the next few days.
Let me know if works out better than mine. I really love Sunken Rags but regard it as a Slider leftover. (I’ve rearranged Slider more than once to find room for Rags and Cadillac but never successfully improved it.) I’ll look at Life Is Strange again.
If you really enjoy those three then you need to hear the 80s stuff and the stuff they have done in the 21st century.
Wire have a new LP and are touring this year – they’re brilliant live but don’t expect to hear old stuff – they occasionally chuck an old song or two in but they will probably play mostly new stuff which to be fair – is something they have been doing for 40 years
Disowned… I get the impression he doesn’t know or care about any of his old records, let alone own physical copies. In the 30 Century Man film he made clear, by accident, that after the press playback of Tilt he had no intention of ever hearing it again.
Reading Mike Watkinson and Pete Anderson’s Scott biography ‘A Deep Shade Of Blue’, it is clear that Scott recorded those cover albums under suffrance, as the record company, Philips, had him under contract and demanded that he make albums to fulfil the contract, but refused to issue any of Scott’s original songs.
He wasn’t happy with anything released under his name between Til The Band Comes In and Climate Of Hunter.
Even the Walker Brothers reunion was something done as a favour to John and Gary rather than any creative urge. It was only when GTO Records left them to it after the first 2 reunion albums (all covers) stiffed that Scott got to do things his own way again with his 4 contributions to the Nite Flights album.
I object. The Black Rider, Mule Variations, Blood Money, Alice, Real Gone and Bad As Me are all wonderful to my ears. You’ve also missued out One From The Heart. The only Tom Waits album I struggle with is Frank’s Wild Years and at least half of that is more imaginative and awe inspiring than any other act.
…I didn’t include One From The Heart, as I viewed it as a collaboration (see re David Sylvian above).
I will revisit The Black Rider, since that was the only reason I stopped the run. Maybe I don’t remember it fondly erroneously and/or it just doesn’t resonate – perhaps because its source is a stage play.
Should also have included every Roxy Music studio album!
Oh, I think the TW run can start with ‘The Heart of Saturday Night.’ That would mean a run of eight albums including ‘One from the Heart’ which contains ‘I Beg Your Pardon’ one of my favorite ever songs.
This Was (1968)
Stand Up (1969)
Benefit (1970)
Aqualung (1971)
Thick as a Brick (1972)
A Passion Play (1973)
War Child (1974)
Minstrel in the Gallery (1975)
Too Old to Rock ‘n’ Roll: Too Young to Die! (1976)
Songs from the Wood (1977)
Heavy Horses (1978)
Stormwatch (1979)
Relistened a few times and it “ain’t bad”. The downside is, it starts rather indifferently with a cardboard cutout of what Tull albums sound like and side one finds it difficult to pick up after that. Plus, Mr Megalomaniac decided he could play bass. Yeah, well, he can a little but his lines are sanitised (for want of a better word) and bounce, grit and swoon are absent from his repertoire. And it’s all upper register. Plays too many notes too. Bad decision in terms of the very good bassists Tull had had.
Side two is much better and contains Old Ghosts, then one of their best-ever tracks Dun Ringill, followed by tracks with decent bass on them (Glascock). On balance, I’d say Anderson let the side down here for want of a bass player.
30 years and counting of high-quality output from Cowboy Junkies (though I can’t vouch for the mid-noughties stuff as I have yet to hear it). The first 10 are a tremendous catalogue by any standards IMHO.
1986 Whites Off Earth Now!!
1988 The Trinity Session
1990 The Caution Horses
1992 Black Eyed Man
1993 Pale Sun Crescent Moon
1996 Lay It Down
1998 Miles from Our Home
1999 Rarities, B Sides and Slow, Sad Waltzes
2001 Open
2004 One Soul Now
2005 Early 21st Century Blues
2007 At the End of Paths Taken
2007 Trinity Revisited
2010 Nomad Series, Vol.1 Renmin Park
2011 Nomad Series, Vol.2 Demons
2011 Nomad Series, Vol.3 Sing in My Meadow
2012 Nomad Series, Vol.4 The Wilderness
Roxy Music isn’t it? From the debut to Avalon. Never less than excellent. The later albums have endured rather well despite not previously being held in such high esteem as the early, edgier works.
If you stick to the original vinly studio albums, thereby missing out Stop Making Sense, you do not go wrong. Less is more with Tongues and Naked (hurrr)
I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You
Aretha Arrives
Lady Soul
Aretha Now
Aretha In Paris
Soul ’69
This Girl’s In Love With You
Spirit In The Dark
Aretha Live At Filmore West
Young, Gifted And Black
Amazing Grace
Hey Now Hey (The Other Side Of The Sky)
um.. but.. er.. how come its taken this long & down to me to post indisputable winner!!? which is (of course) Little Feat, Sailin’Shoes, Dixie Chicken, Feats Don’t Fail me now & The Last Record Album… What’s wrong with you people?
Would agree with the first four Feat albums – the debut in particular is a thing of beauty – but I think The Last Record Album marked a slide into jazz-rock doldrums, aside from the peerless Long Distance Love obviously.
What do mean Jazz-Rock? Night & Day is the only track on TLRA with a bit of a wig-out and what a superlative drum solo as a reprise! Can I ask what you consider The Fan to be? is that not Jazz-Rock? Got No Shadow from Sailin’s Shoes has a touch of the jazz about it and there is no end of freakery on their debut.
TLRA is a perfectly balanced album with numerous voices and styles fusing beautifully across eight tracks and under forty minutes. The guitars are almost as one throughout and the rhythm section is at its peak, regardless of Richie’s injury. I give it 10/10.
Remarkable lack of perspective in these lists: Talking Heads? To claim that Little Creatures is to be spoken in the same breath as Remain In Light is a denial of everybody’s best hopes. Same for Costello; it’s over by Trust. The Bowie lists are fandom talk only. Come on, let’s try harder.
Aw. Little Creatures is superb. Very different to Remain in Light (which runs out of steam halfway through side two) but show me a quirkier, sunnier, lovelier pop album driven by a juggernaut of a rhythm section than Little Creatures.
The problem with LC, if there is one, is that it’s ProTooled to the knackers – which is why it was so great that True Stories began with what sounded very much like a band rocking out in the studio together.
RIL’s second side has a different sort of hypnotic brilliance from the first. The rhythm track of Seen and Not Seen is butt-moving magic.
I far prefer Little Creatures to Remain In Light. It’s got proper, catchy pop songs. Not a duff tune on it. RIL is boring. (And True Stories is just shite).
Remain in Light is an album I return to quite often. If it was released now, it would still sound grrreat, particularly the first three dancey songs. Speaking in Tongues is also very strong. Funny that Burning Down the House was not a chart smasheroo at the time but has become one of their best known songs.
Mind unchanged. Horrible. “Their best single”? Ha! I beg to differ. Please, please, please let me differ. Better than Psycho Killer, Take Me To The River, Once In A Lifetime, Burning Down The House, This Must Be The Place, Slippery People, Girlfriend Is Better, The Lady Don’t Mind, Road To Nowhere and And She Was? No. No. No. No. That’s thrice no and one for luck.
I like it because it is the closest to Talking Heads live, at least when I saw them 1978/9. They were raw, visceral and deranged, especially Byrne’s vocals. Play it loud.
This is a great thread, but I think we’re being generous to some musical royalty with the proposed runs. I would humbly propose that we re-examine the following at least:
Stevie Wonder – Fulfillingness is the weak link in that run. I don’t think it’s that good.
Bob Dylan: Nashville Skyline is a pleasant piece of diversion (sips Earl Grey) and makes a nice soundtrack to winding down after a long day. But it’s not a great album.
Led Zeppelin: I must have a different copy of Houses of the Holy than other folk. The one I have has two really good songs and a whole lot of filler, including something that appears to be a lumbering attempt at reggae. These days I think they only made one great album after 1971. There, I’ve said it.
The Rolling Stones. I love the Stones, but someone is going to have to convince me that Goat’s Head Soup, It’s Only Rock & Roll and – especially – Black & Blue are great albums. Their run (and it’s a truly great one) was 1968-72.
David Bowie – Lodger isn’t a great album. It isn’t. Look into your heart. You know this to be true.
Stevie Wonder: Yes, FFF is the weakest but it’s still pretty good, so you’re wrong.
Led Zeppelin: Personally I only rate the first four LZ albums.
Rolling Stones: Beggar’s Banquet to Exile on Main Street, not forgetting Get Yer Ya Yas Out. The signs were there on Exile, to be honest. A bit of self-indulgence on that one.
Bowie: Space Oddity to Heroes. Still not in favour of Lodger, and that’s assuming we’re not including live albums, because David Live is pretty rotten though Stage is OK.
Grumpy’s not wrong about the Stones only being a great albums band from 68 to 72. Black and Blue is a stinker apart from Hand of Fate and Crazy Mama.
The Zep’s fifth album, while not quite Black and Blue, has as much filler as killer. The Crunge is just a cod-funk jam ffs, even if Percy wants to dress the lyrics up as some kind of stream of consciousness on the lyric sheet.
The Dame, bless him, would have been the first to admit that Space Oddity wasn’t up there with his best work. God knows he’s good, but…
leave Stevie alone, FFF hangs together as a great collection of songs and melodies. Maybe a 9 where TB and Innervisions are 10, but that’s just fine.
Definitely concur with you on the Wonder, the Bowie, and the Zep.
I do enjoy those Stones albums, even though they’re patchy, but so was Exile.
What I can’t agree with you on is Nashville Skyline (and presumably you see John Wesley Harding similarly). This was the hitherto angry and cocky intellectual bard extending his reach (by reigning in) and demonstrating his respect for his “roots”, which he’d do again in the 90s with Good As I Been To You and World Gone Wrong. He’s a singular talent and a great man, and normal condiderations of product sequence and career thrust hardly apply anyway.
This from someone old enough to have grown up with 60s Dylan but who didn’t “get” him until the 80s.
Sorry for the delay in replying! To be honest, I don’t see JWH and NS to be that similar. I agree that they both come from a desire to respect his roots, but I these days think the former is probably his best album – it’s a remarkably mature record for someone so young. But the latter is more self-indulgent. Nashville hangs together as an album – I prefer listening to it more than other Bob albums with better reputations (Hello Desire and first four albums!), but it’s not a great record. Too much filler – Country Pie, Peggy Day and I’ve never been fond of Lay Lady Lay. There are some quiet gems though: Tonight I’ll be Staying Here With You is lovely. But JWH is all gems.
At time of logging in the question at the head of this post is answered by the one directly below it in Recently Updated; Look at Yourself / Demons and Wizards / The Magician’s Birthday.
Mak says
Stevie Wonder –
Music of My Mind (1972)
Talking Book (1972)
Innervisions (1973)
Fulfillingness’ First Finale (1974)
Songs in the Key of Life (1976)
Rigid Digit says
Bang! Straight in there.
That’s going to take some beating
Mike_H says
Gets my vote.
SixDog says
LZII
LZIII
LZIV
Houses of the Holy
fitterstoke says
…and Physical Graffiti…..and Presence….
fitterstoke says
The Yes Album
Fragile
Close to the Edge….
And for the hardcore….
Add Topographic Oceans and Relayer to those three….
Baskerville Old Face says
Not forgetting ‘Yessongs’ in the middle.
redpob says
Meddle
DSOTM
WYWH
Animals
The Wall
Jackthebiscuit says
I could quibble about including the wall, but that is a seriously good run of albums.
Gary says
You’ve skipped the excellent Obscured By Clouds (between Meddle and Dark Side). Plus, if you include The Wall, why leave off the superior The Final Cut?
Bartleby says
Personally I’d go Atom Heart Mother to Final Cut. Superb.
fitterstoke says
Personally I’d go for Saucerful…. To Animals.
Junior Wells says
Miles Davis
‘Round About Midnight
Miles Ahead
Milestones
Porgy and Bess
Kind of Blue
Sketches of Spain
Someday My Prince Will Come
Quiet Nights
Seven Steps to Heaven
E.S.P.
Miles Smiles
Sorcerer
Nefertiti
Miles in the Sky
Filles de Kilimanjaro
In a Silent Way
Bitches Brew
Jack Johnson
Live-Evil
On the Corner
Or The Wailers
Catch a Fire
Burnin’
Natty Dread
Rastaman Vibration
Exodus
Kaya
Survival
Uprising
Confrontation
nickduvet says
Funnily enough, the other day in a moment of casual vinyl festishism, I assessed which artists I had the most records by. Half a dozen by your Bob, Bowie, Joni, Stevie, Dan and FZ, but Miles won by, well miles. So I’m with Junior.
Junior Wells says
Yeah me too – apart from that other Bob. Not a bad run of albums either.
Moose the Mooche says
Agree to both Miles and Mr Bob.
Mike_H says
Missed one out from Miles:
His soundtrack for Ascenseur Pour L’Échafaud (Elevator To The Gallows), a little 25 minute gem.
Tiggerlion says
Jazz Track has that soundtrack as side one, with a side two of three pieces lasting twenty minutes, including Stella By Starlight.
Tiggerlion says
After Miles, the artist I have most albums by is John Coltrane. Excluding those albums released after his contract had expired or after he died, how about this as a run?
Cattin’ With Coltrane And Quinichette
Coltrane
John Coltrane With Red Garland Trio
Soultrane
Blue Trane
Giant Steps
Coltrane Jazz
My Favourite Things
Olé Coltrane
Africa/Brass
Impressions
Ballads
Coltrane
Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman
Live At Birdland
Crescent
A Love Supreme
The John Coltrane Quartet Plays
Kulu Sé Mama
Ascension
Meditations
Expression
I accept the listener might struggle to keep up by the last four.
duco01 says
Yes, a great call, Tigger – a run of sustained creative brilliance (but the Blue Note album is “Blue Train”, not “Blue Trane”!)
Tiggerlion says
Four candles!! I’m having a bad day. 😒
Junior Wells says
Yes thought of Trane too. Truth be told there is a stack of Jazzers with consistently high output. Duke. Count. Monk. Bill Evans ….
Rigid Digit says
The Ramones
Leave Home
Rocket To Russia
Road To Ruin
topped off by It’s Alive
End Of The Century and Pleasant Dreams nearly maintain the onslaught, but fall just short.
After that, sadly, it was ever diminishing returns with no album being quite as complete
Moose the Mooche says
I used to have all 4 of those albums on a C120 . Yisss!
Dave Ross says
All of The Smiths up to and not including the woeful “Strangeways”
Leedsboy says
I’m with Dave. The Smiths. Including the comps as well.
Black Type says
I think Strangeways is one of their best. And so do they.
MC Escher says
I think it is their best
Ah looking down I see I’m not alone.
Rigid Digit says
Strangeways, Woeful?
Best of the bunch for me
Leedsboy says
To clarify – I’d include Strangeways as well.
Bartleby says
For me, there was a better album to be made from the best of Strangest and the entrails that ended up on Louder than Bombs.
Moose the Mooche says
Strangeways woeful…. you’re dead to me.
*sits on roof for a few days*
Native says
Strangeways my favourite Smiths album.
Dave Ross says
Maybe I should try again but all the rawness had gone, less Marr more Morrissey and the songs are less jangly which to me are all bad things. The misery was always great in fact I’m hard pushed to find a Smiths song I enjoy more than “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” but somehow Strangeways seems just miserable and dull. To me “Meat is Murder” is peerless and by far their best
Bartleby says
Your first instinct is usually right. The jangle, the fun, the rawness, the impishness, the inventiveness and the tunes had all dipped. Clearly OOAA but not many people cross the “Isn’t Strangeways a bit shit?” divide.
Freddy Steady says
Well. When Stangeways came out I was non-plussed. It was not the same! It was different! No jangle or at least very little. Plenty of miserableness though. And soon it grew on me.
It might be my fave Smiffs album now. Maybe it’s just not been around quite as long as the others but it’s got legs.
Tiggerlion says
Strangeways is the only one I can stand because I hear less Morrissey and more of the band. Odd that, isn’t it?
Bartleby says
Stones from Beggars Banquet to Some Girls is pretty ace.
Sabbath from the eponymous debit to Sabotage – 6 of the best.
Rush – 2112 to Kings to Exit Stage Left (or Moving Pictures if you discount live albums) made the late 70s bearable.
Genesis from Trespass to Wind and Wuthering – no duds, if you like that sort of thing.
John Martyn – Bless the Weather to Grace & Danger – top knotch
MC Escher says
“if you like that sort of thing”
Ha! That explains my headscratching at the list of Coltrane and Davis albums above. For me it’s just music you think you ought to like because some blokes with beards have told you you should.
Bartleby says
It’s a de facto Genesis defence! Personally i love them up until Steve Hackett leaves, but i lived at least half of my life hating everything about them.
Miles and Coltrane? I love about a handful of albums by each. But do i find myself reaching for ESP, Ascension, Miles Smiles or On the Corner? Not so much.
Baron Harkonnen says
The Stone Roses to err, The Stone Roses.
Moose the Mooche says
London 0 Hull 4 to The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death… a very imperial period.
Kid Dynamite says
R.E.M
Murmur
Reckoning
Fables Of The Reconstruction
Lifes Rich Pageant
Document
Green
Out Of Time
Automatic For The People
Monster
New Adventures
…ten albums, not one of them any worse than Very Good
dai says
Remove Out of Time and Monster
Carl says
That would mean the run ends at Green.
Though I don’t disagree with you about OOT, but I do about Monster.
Kid Dynamite says
OOT is probably my least favourite on the list, but when it has things like Country Feedback and Texarkana on I can’t say it doesn’t belong in the run.
paulwright says
I do disagree with you about OOT. I think it is great. As is Monster. But I have no love for New Adventures in HiFi, and haven’t listened to Murmour in years (decades?) so clearly it does little for me.
Baron Harkonnen says
I have `em all including what came after. The only one I would remove – `Monster`.
Wheldrake says
I agree. Monster, bar a few tracks, is woeful. It’s the one misstep in that list, which is otherwise correct.
paulwright says
OK, now I have to defend Monster. Apart from Let me In I think it is great. Very different from what went before I accept, and maybe not an “REM” record but heavy pop and much of its time.
Hawkfall says
Autobahn
Radioactivity
Trans Europe Express
The Man Machine
Computer World
Locust says
White Music
Go 2
Drums and Wires
Black Sea
English Settlement
Mummer
The Big Express
Skylarking
Oranges & Lemons
Nonsuch
Apple Venus Volume 1
Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)
The Good Doctor says
Yep – and each one better than the previous apart from Wasp Star – Andy Partridge is on record as agreeing (perhaps AV 1&2 should have been a mind boggling final Double Album)
Black Type says
Inevitably…
David Bowie/Space Oddity
The Man Who Sold The World
Hunky Dory
The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
Aladdin Sane
Diamond Dogs
Young Americans
Station To Station
Low
“Heroes”
Lodger
Scary Monsters And Super Creeps
Also…
1999
Purple Rain
Around The World In A Day
Parade
Sign O’ The Times
Lovesexy
Locust says
I’d add Dirty Mind and Controversy to the beginning of that list, personally.
Black Type says
I would definitely have DM, but Controversy’s a bit hit-and-miss for me. I was actually tempted to tag Batman on the end; I think it’s a great album, but I feel I might be alone in this.
Locust says
I considered Batman too, I know I loved it at the time but I haven’t heard it in ages (I only have it on vinyl and my stereo system is in need of some TLC).
I love Controversy more than Dirty Mind, perhaps more hit-and-miss, but the “hits” are better than on Dirty Mind IMO.
Bingo Little says
Batman is comfortably my favourite Prince record.
Electric Chair, The Future, Lemon Crush – all awesome. The ballads are 80s-tastic too. And it reminds me of a time when a new Batman movie was pretty much the most exciting thing that could possibly happen in life.
Tiggerlion says
Seconded. Add Batman to the list.
Junior Wells says
Yes to DM and C/Betsy to me where his sound was fully realised. And the omission of Emancipation is a sin.
Black Type says
But..we’re talking about album runs. He has many other fine, and occasionally great, albums in his canon, but they tend to be isolated, whereas the sequence more or less between 1980 and 1989 is just about peerless. And for what it’s worth, The Gold Experience is better than Emancipation.
Jackthebiscuit says
David Bowie – This would be my run of albums :
The Man Who Sold The World
Hunky Dory
The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
Aladdin Sane
Pin ups (A cover album, but what a cover album)
Diamond Dogs
Young Americans
Station To Station
Low
“Heroes”
Lodger
Scary Monsters And Super Creeps
Lets dance
This little lot went from 1970 – 1983 – what a run.
fitterstoke says
I’d have to lose Let’s Dance….but otherwise, couldn’t agree more….
(Edit: just read Black Type’s entry above…..sorry!)
Carl says
Roy Harper had a golden run with:
Flat, Baroque and Berserk
Stormcock
Lifemask
Valentine
HQ
Bullinamingvase
The Unknown Soldier
Work of Heart
sjmaynard says
If this is a competition Mak wins with his post but assuming nominations are still open
Paul Simon
There goes Rhymin Simon
Still crazy after all these years
One Trick Pony
Hearts and Bones
Graceland
The rhythm of the saints
and for having the good grace to thank Stevie Wonder for not releasing an album the year he won a grammy for Still crazy
As an alternative how about a second theme of runs of albums broken by a turkey and then continued (Prince i’m looking at that Batman soundtrack….. Mr Costello this could be your moment….)
Black Type says
I refer the honourable gentleman to my earlier comment.
Sewer Robot says
You mean the Bowie list where you conveniently skipped Pin Ups in order not to break the run?😉
Black Type says
No, I meant the comment about ‘that Batman soundtrack’. Pinups slipped my mind, but I would definitely include it in the run – it’s ace.
MC Escher says
Batman is awesome dude
MC Escher says
I am not fourteen BTW although my previous post might imply it
Moose the Mooche says
If you look up the word Imperial in the dictionary it ought to say Clouds to Hejira. I mean…. my God.
Bartleby says
Don Juan pretty good too.
nickduvet says
Yes, any serious Joni collection needs Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter imho
dai says
Done this many times before but :Neil Young pick any 4 or 5 in the 70s.
Beatles Help! To Abbey Road.
Boss : Greetings to Tunnel of Love
Etc
RedLemon says
Hard Days Night can go on there too.
Tiggerlion says
So can With The Beatles. I don’t care what anyone says, it is magnificent wide-eyed pop music.
Are we excluding Yellow Submarine as not really a Beatles album?
Moose the Mooche says
John Cale from leaving the Velvets to 1982… well done that man.
fitterstoke says
Nice, Moose….although a case could be made for not stopping at 1982….
Moose the Mooche says
Kraftwerk Autobahn to Computer World… literally not a note wrong.
Sewer Robot says
But not nezezzarlily in ze right order…
bricameron says
Hawkfall already noted these.
Bingo Little says
Obvious, but…
The Freewheelin Bob Dylan
The Times They Are A-Changin
Another Side of Bob Dylan
Bringing It All Back Home
Highway 61 Revisited
Blonde on Blonde
John Wesley Harding
Nashville Skyline
MC Escher says
I may be alone in this but for me he didn’t really get essential unitl BIABH
Blue Boy says
I’m with Bingo. That’s a peerless run of records.
Kid Dynamite says
You’re not alone. Dug out The Times They Are A-Changing earlier this week at work, and I really didn’t enjoy it
NigelT says
I agree – even as a Bob fan I don’t think that has aged well. I’d lose Nashville Skyline too – not a patch on those before it.
Native says
The boss; Born To Run, Darkness On The Edge of Town, The River, Nebraska, Born in the USA
Black Type says
I’d add Tunnel Of Love – I rate it much higher than BITUSA
Jackthebiscuit says
Good shout BT, I think Tunnel of love is a very underrated album.
Kid Dynamite says
I’d have TWIESS at the beginning of that list, as well.
bricameron says
The Stranglers
Rattus Norvegicus (1977)
No More Heroes (1977)
Black and White (1978)
The Raven (1979)
The Gospel According to the Meninblack (1981)
La Folie (1981)
Feline (1983)
Aural Sculpture (1984)
Rigid Digit says
Aye, all good ‘uns.
I’d even make a case for tacking Dreamtime on the end of that run with no loss of quality
Native says
Yazoo – Upstairs at Eric’s, You and Me Both
pawsforthought says
Dry
Rid of me
To bring you my love
Is this desire?
Stories from the city, stories from the sea
Am I right in thinking that this is the most recent list?
Black Type says
I’d make a case for the most recent mini-run of White Chalk, Let England Shake! and The Hope Six Demolition Project, but combined with your list, that only leaves Uh-Huh Her to make the complete set.
pawsforthought says
All great stuff, though, eah?
ipesky says
Costello: My Aim isTrue/ThisYear’s Model/Armed Forces/Get Happy/ Imperial Bedroom – streams of pop gold.
deckards says
Jason Isbell. Here We Rest, Southeastern and Something More Than Free. Peerless albums and a new one arriving in the coming months.
mojitojoe says
Steely Dan’s first seven….. all great in my opinion.
Tiggerlion says
As time goes by, the more I believe Everything Must Go is their finest album. The songwriting is finely honed, the band are cooking, there are only a couple of guest appearances and the solos are largely performed by Becker and Fagan themselves. You will go a long way to hear finer bass playing and Fagan’s singing is at its best. Things I Miss The Most, Godwhacker, Green Book, Lunch With Gina and Everything Must Go are superlative songs, Slang Of Ages is the slimiest track committed to vinyl and the backing vocals are utterly gorgeous throughout, but most especially on Pixeleen where Carolyn Leonhart effectively makes it into a duet.
It is also the only album I know that sounds even better in reverse order. Try it.
mojitojoe says
I WILL try it….. and I’ll let you know !
Tiggerlion says
Great! Weiskopf’s solo at the beginning of the title track is the perfect start and before long, you’ll be luxuriating in the gleeful intertwined guitar playing of Hugh McCracken and Jon Herington. Have fun.
mojitojoe says
heading out for a few rums in Alicante….. then home to get the headphones on….. I’m really looking forward to hearing it in reverse…. haven’t listened to the album for ages.
p.s…….I’ve just compiled the tracks in a playlist in reverse order in case I can’t work it out later……
nickduvet says
There’s very little wrong with any of their albums, but I do think the classic era ones benefit from the great variety of players they used, and especially the guitarists. I’m not a fan of Walt’s lead playing – too much aimless noodling.
Tiggerlion says
Walt’s soloing on Everything Must Go is concise and nicely poised.
How did you get on @mojitojoe? I’m dying to know.
mojitojoe says
I agree, it works better in reverse….. I have to give it a few more listens, as it’s an album I’ve definitely neglected considering how much I listen to, and love, their earlier albums…. thanks for the tip Tiggs.
Tiggerlion says
Good man.
Declan says
I’ve done it too and am astonished how this apparently simple trick of reversing the sequence shows this album in a new light. And it pushes the dreaded Blues Beach further back in the running order (I’ve always found the hook in BB a bit cloying, think this high-pitched milkman-whistling synth line doesn’t help).
Tried it on Sunken Condos as well, an album that needs enlivening if we’re honest, and that was a good move. This Ghetto thingy needs skipping, though, whatever way round you listen to the album.
Seems to me that, whereas in the 70s, say, we were presented with 2 sides of an LP and any manipulation of sequence was a pain, the CD era has made backwards playback a doddle. Crucially, the crux is, it freshens up the back end of of CDs and additionally, given that albums tend to be front-loaded, the running order tends to make the tracks better and better.
That’s the theory so far anyway. Great spark of inspiation @Tiggerlion, thanks. I shall be trying out lots more.
Tiggerlion says
I regard Blues Beach as a piss-take. They released it as a single because it is so basic. Walt doesn’t even try on the solo. It’s also too close to The Last Mall. In reverse order, you don’t notice so much because The Last Mall is such a suitable ending.
My solution for Sunken Condos is to simply leave Ghetto out. It’s still a forty minute album.
Many moons ago, there was a thread about improving albums by removing one track. There were loads of great examples.
SteveT says
Things I miss the most is one of my favourite Dan songs.
Mousey says
Ditto for the Dan. Not one dud album. You can argue whether TRS or Aja is the best but really, what a body of work. Is there one genuinely crap song anywhere?
Twang says
Truly golden up to Aja. Gaucho a slip IMHO (hence split) but then the last 2 also superb.
ClemFandango says
Can – from Monster Movie through to Future Days
Tiggerlion says
I really like Soon Over Babaluma, even without Damo.
ClemFandango says
I need to give that one another listen – I’d pretty much dismissed it as ‘No Damo, no good’
Get the impression they dropped off pretty quickly after that – any hands up for Saw Delight Flow Motion etc?
Moose the Mooche says
Flow Motion is great.
Deviant808 says
Power Corruption and Lies
Low-Life
Brotherhood
Technique
Native says
like it!
fishface says
high voltage (atlantic comp release)
dirty deeds done dirt cheap
let there be rock
powerage
highway to hell
back in black
by the mighty AC/DC.
may I just add I was a fan before the t shirts were sold in primark!!!
……..and “if you want blood, you got it” doesn’t count.
FISH.
nickduvet says
And the version of Powerage should be the original UK vinyl, much better programming than the cd version
Sewer Robot says
My favourite band:
All their albums
(Although, to fend off fanboy accusations, I will exclude the Lp of studio floor scrapings released following the premature demise of the singer/guitarist/main songwriter..)
count jim moriarty says
A peerless string from Bill Nelson in his various incarnations.
Axe Victim
Futurama
Sunburst Finish
Modern Music
Drastic Plastic
Sound On Sound
Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam
The Love That Whirls (Diary Of A Thinking Heart).
Elvis Costello from My Aim Is True to Punch The Clock (excluding Almost Blue of course).
Paddy McAloon from start to present.
Van the Man from Astral Weeks to Beautiful Vision
Squeeze from ArgyBargy to Ridiculous.
mikethep says
Thing is, if you include Almost Blue, which is a great album, you have an actual run, as called for in the OP.
count jim moriarty says
Alright, if you’re going to be pedantic then it’s 2 great runs. Almost Blue is a rotten album though – maybe more due to my aversion to country generally rather than any problem with the execution.
Everygoodboydeservesfruita says
Almost Blue is a great record; courageous and genuine which cannot be said about Punch The Clock.
count jim moriarty says
Great if you like country. I don’t.
Black Celebration says
Black Celebration
Music for the Masses
Violator
Songs of Faith and Devotion
Ultra
Not to say that the albums either side aren’t good – but, so far, this 1985-1998 period is a definite plateau of high quality Depeche Modeness. If I was new to the band, I would start with Violator and work outwards.
Native says
I’d go with; Music for the Masses, Violator, Songs of Faith and Devotion
Black Celebration says
I wondered about peeling away the outer two as well – so I do see your point. I just couldn’t do it though, BC and U have some very high quality moments.
Bartleby says
Songs is so embedded in my head, i find myself playing and getting more out of Ultra these days. I just miss out the instrumentals, which have always broken the flow for me.
I have nothing pre Songs tho. They seem a different band.
Black Celebration says
I hadn’t thought about that before. Shortish instrumental “interludes” are peppered all over most DM albums to link things and/or create an atmosphere (Violator is the best example) but SOFAD is a collection of separate songs. They didn’t do that again until Delta Machine in 2013.
pawsforthought says
Radiator
Guerilla
Mwng
Rings around the world
Phantom power
I would think that you could call this the Super Furry Animals imperial phase. Their last two are bloody good, too.
The Good Doctor says
Interesting – and a bit early to call on SFA who are a very slow burner- I like all their stuff but I’d go with Fuzzy Logic, Radiator, Guerilla, Mwng – and Guerilla I think is a massively underrated album
pawsforthought says
Never took to Fuzzy Logic, although I’m considering last years reissue. I reply like rings and phantom, they have some of their better songs on them. Its only Love Kraft that lets the side down in my opinion (although it has some great moments on it).
Rigid Digit says
Rod Stewart / Faces
An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down (solo)
First Step (Faces)
Gasoline Alley (solo)
Long Player (Faces)
Every Picture Tells a Story (solo)
A Nod Is As Good As a Wink… to a Blind Horse (Faces)
Never a Dull Moment (solo)
Ooh La La (Faces)
Moose the Mooche says
You can start it earlier than that with Jeff Beck’s Truth & Beck-Ola – great albums both.
Declan says
This band doesn’t get enough credit. Look at this catalogue though, where they tailed in, hit their stride, got Pastorius, had a few wobbles, before tailing off again. Hell, there are 10 good albums. Lovely production on the LPs too, satisfying rock and jazz sensibilities. Remarkable.
Weather Report (71)
I Sing The Body Electric (72)
Sweetnighter (73)
Mysterious Traveller (74)
Tale Spinnin’ (75)
Black Market (76)
Heavy Weather (77)
Mr. Gone (78)
8.30 (79)
Night Passage (80)
Bubbling under: Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return To Forever, Herbie Hancock
fitterstoke says
That’s it, Declan – ten of the absolute best….
Junior Wells says
for the cream of the crop I’d have stopped at heavy weather.
SteveT says
Black Market was their high point for me and then Heavy Weather gave us ‘A remark you made’ which is beyond brilliant.
Moose the Mooche says
And Teen Town. Jaco gives it some Fastest Finger First… (hurrr)
Declan says
Weather Report was always about power shifting between the reserved, tart Shorter and the Germanic, heavy (Richard Williams) chocolate cake gooey (Karl Dallas) Zawinul, who could also pen a hit or two. I think any of those Tin Pan Alley guys would have been proud of Remark. Add to this the latter’s growing alliance with new boy and co-producer Pastorius, and Shorter seemed all-but eclipsed at the time of Heavy Weather.
But the subsequent Mr. Gone was still almost prime time WR, their prog album, despite Zawinul’s penchant for primary-colour, plasticky-sounding synths. 8.30 was clearly a stop gap (so hardly counts), but they did the trick again on Night Passage. Gorgeous sax bits on it.
Yes, I’m rooting for Shorter, just like Tigg, further upthread, is rooting for Everything Must Go. I do admit that the band quality dipped markedly after this album.
nickduvet says
Give Procession another listen. It’s a fine album and fits right in with the diversity of styles they adopted from first to last. I saw them touring that album and Omar Hakim was out of this world.
Also, I love 8:30. The version of Black Market that opens the show is off the charts, especially when Pastorius and Erskine kick it up a gear at the beginning.
duco01 says
Jackie Leven: 1994 – 2003
Nine winners in ten years.
Try this little lot – “you’ll be sadder but wiser”
The Mystery of Love Is Greater Than The Mystery of Death (1994)
Forbidden Songs of The Dying West (1995),
The Argyll Cycle, Volume One (1996),
Fairytales For Hardmen (1997),
Night Lilies (1998)
Defending Ancient Springs (2000)
Creatures of Light And Darkness (2001)
Shining Brother, Shining Sister (2003),
Locust says
A.M.
Being There
Summerteeth
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
A Ghost Is Born
Kicking Television
Sky Blue Sky
Wilco (The Album)
The Whole Love
Star Wars
Schmilco
(Feel free to throw in the Mermaid Avenue albums as well)
Not a single dud among them, beginning to present day.
pawsforthought says
And three ‘stone cold classics’ amongst them.
Harry Tufnell says
I’d have started with
No Depression
Still Feel Gone
March 16-20 1992
Anodyne
Then gone on to A.M.
Blue Boy says
Van
Astral Weeks
Moondance
His Band and Street Choir
Tupelo Honey
St Dominic’s Preview
Hard Nose the Highway
Veedon Fleece
Emmylou
Pieces of the Sky
Elite hotel
Luxury Liner
Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town
Blue Kentucky Girl
And if you what one still underway, having listened to her new album all day today I’d suggest Laura Marling’s run of her first six albums is pretty damn impressive.
spider-mans arch enemy says
The Mighty Quo
Ma Kelly’s Greasy Spoon
Piledriver
Hello
Quo
On The Level
Blue For You
Also….
The Mighty T.Rex
T.Rex
Electric Warrior
The Slider
Plus l love the ‘Bolan Boogie’ cash in from the same time
nickduvet says
Dog of Two Head missing from your Quo list, containing their blues rock opus Railroad
spider-mans arch enemy says
Oops! Agree about ‘Dog Of Two Head’ – a fine album, but drink had been taken.
Rigid Digit says
Tanx could comfortably sit on the end of that list.
Under-rated and, initially at least, sounds a bit half-baked and un-even. Persevere with it and it is rockier, more variety and more rewarding (at least in my little world it is)
spider-mans arch enemy says
I’ve tried and tried with Tanx, and although l like some of it, that’s when it all went pear shaped for me.
Tiggerlion says
If you have the 1994 Cd reissue with the contemporaneous singles and B sides, you can create an absolute classic.
20th Century Boy
Tenement Lady
Rapids
Mister Mister
Broken-Hearted Blues
Electric Slim And The Factory Hen
Children Of The Revolution
Jitterbug Love
Free Angel
The Street And Babe Show
Highway Knees
Left Hand Luke And The Beggar Boys
spider-mans arch enemy says
Got the album, cd, cd remaster and the Left Hand Luke alternate cd, plus original singles etc, but creating a decent album from extras, while missing out the duff tracks feels like cheating, despite the temptation to burn myself a cd of the tracks listed above (but then l’d have to make and print myself a cover, to be stored away with the rest of my Bolan stuff, as my madness shows no signs of stopping in the near future).
Tiggerlion says
Just get on with it. You know you want to! 😉
In a way, Bolan had too much power at the time of Tanx. He should have been persuaded to put the two big singles on just as he did with The Slider. Born To Boogie is just out of place. Pretend being a ‘suit’ and make Tanx better.
spider-mans arch enemy says
OK, l’ve crumbled (as l knew l would). CD and cover done and dusted. I did however, include Born to Boogie, Sunken Rags and Life is Strange, though Tenement Lady, Rapids, and Mister Mister never made the cut. The Solid Gold Easy Action single was also added. I’ll see how it all fits together over the next few days.
Tiggerlion says
Let me know if works out better than mine. I really love Sunken Rags but regard it as a Slider leftover. (I’ve rearranged Slider more than once to find room for Rags and Cadillac but never successfully improved it.) I’ll look at Life Is Strange again.
The Good Doctor says
Wire:
Pink Flag
Chairs Missing
154
If you really enjoy those three then you need to hear the 80s stuff and the stuff they have done in the 21st century.
Wire have a new LP and are touring this year – they’re brilliant live but don’t expect to hear old stuff – they occasionally chuck an old song or two in but they will probably play mostly new stuff which to be fair – is something they have been doing for 40 years
John Walters says
The Mighty Tull:
This Was
Stand Up
Benefit
Aqualung
Thick as a Brick
You could also include the “Living in the Past” double album in this list if you want to.
biggles says
Late again to the party. Anyway:
Tom Waits, 1978-1992:
Blue Valentine
Heartattack And Vine
Swordfishtrombones
Rain Dogs
Frank’s Wild Years
Bone Machine
Scott Walker, 1967-1974:
Scott
Scott 2
Scott 3
Sings Songs From His TV Series
Scott 4
‘Til The Band Comes In
The Moviegoer
Any Day Now
Stretch
We Had It All
David Sylvian, 1980-1999 (excluding collaborations):
Gentlemen Take Polaroids
Tin Drum
Brilliant Trees
Gone To Earth
Secrets Of The Beehive
Rain Tree Crow
Dead Bees On A Cake
John Walters says
Love the Scott Walker run of albums.
count jim moriarty says
Of which Scott will only admit to 1, 2, 3, 4 and Til The Band Comes In. He disowned the rest many years ago.
Moose the Mooche says
Disowned… I get the impression he doesn’t know or care about any of his old records, let alone own physical copies. In the 30 Century Man film he made clear, by accident, that after the press playback of Tilt he had no intention of ever hearing it again.
count jim moriarty says
Reading Mike Watkinson and Pete Anderson’s Scott biography ‘A Deep Shade Of Blue’, it is clear that Scott recorded those cover albums under suffrance, as the record company, Philips, had him under contract and demanded that he make albums to fulfil the contract, but refused to issue any of Scott’s original songs.
He wasn’t happy with anything released under his name between Til The Band Comes In and Climate Of Hunter.
Even the Walker Brothers reunion was something done as a favour to John and Gary rather than any creative urge. It was only when GTO Records left them to it after the first 2 reunion albums (all covers) stiffed that Scott got to do things his own way again with his 4 contributions to the Nite Flights album.
Moose the Mooche says
John Maus was working as a builder’s labourer before No Regrets… bloody hell. Also worth mentioning that SW spent quite a lot of the 70s on the piss.
The Moviegoer is a decent album, however.
Tiggerlion says
I object. The Black Rider, Mule Variations, Blood Money, Alice, Real Gone and Bad As Me are all wonderful to my ears. You’ve also missued out One From The Heart. The only Tom Waits album I struggle with is Frank’s Wild Years and at least half of that is more imaginative and awe inspiring than any other act.
biggles says
Objection neither overruled nor sustained…
…I didn’t include One From The Heart, as I viewed it as a collaboration (see re David Sylvian above).
I will revisit The Black Rider, since that was the only reason I stopped the run. Maybe I don’t remember it fondly erroneously and/or it just doesn’t resonate – perhaps because its source is a stage play.
Should also have included every Roxy Music studio album!
Moose the Mooche says
Oily Night,described to me at the time as someone making a techno record using acoustic instruments.
Gary says
No love for Blemish or Manafon chez where Biggles lives?
biggles says
Ah.
Yes, but not sure fits well. Although enjoyable/interesting, distinct lack of melody and/or tunes?
Twang says
For me, all the TW up to “Raindogs” is superb. Once he’s into bellowing over pans being hit I start to struggle.
Billybob Dylan says
Oh, I think the TW run can start with ‘The Heart of Saturday Night.’ That would mean a run of eight albums including ‘One from the Heart’ which contains ‘I Beg Your Pardon’ one of my favorite ever songs.
James EB says
Robert Wyatt
End Of An Ear
Rock Bottom
Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard
Nothing Can Stop Us
Old Rottenhat
Dondestan
Shleep
Cuckooland
Comicopera
Kevin Ayers
Joy Of A Toy
Shooting At The Moon
Whatevershebringswesing
Mike Oldfield
Tubular Bells
Hergest Ridge
Ommadawn
Steven Wilson
Insurgentes
Grace For Drowning
The Raven That Refused To Sing
Hand. Cannot. Erase.
dkhbrit says
Experience
Music For The Jilted Generation
Fat Of The Land
Moose the Mooche says
Super Furry Animals 1996 – 2010. I haven’t heard their last one but I would reasonably expect it to be up to the usual standard.
Moose the Mooche says
Apols to paws above. ^
Tiggerlion says
Their last one is their best one. Play it loud.
Twang says
Tull….
This Was (1968)
Stand Up (1969)
Benefit (1970)
Aqualung (1971)
Thick as a Brick (1972)
A Passion Play (1973)
War Child (1974)
Minstrel in the Gallery (1975)
Too Old to Rock ‘n’ Roll: Too Young to Die! (1976)
Songs from the Wood (1977)
Heavy Horses (1978)
Stormwatch (1979)
See dates. ..+ 250 gigs a year = work ethic.
John Walters says
Love Jethro Tull.
However, I think I’d have to stop at at Thick as a Brick as a run of fine albums.
Declan says
Lovely list, agree with the first 11, still struggling with Stormwatch.
Rec Room says
This is the correct answer.
Stormwatch ain’t bad, in fact it has my favorite Tull song on it, Old Ghosts. I sure love that string arrangement.
Twang says
Stormwatch is fab. “Orion”, “Old ghosts”, “Elegy”, “Dun Ringill”…all excellent. Then there’s a deffo lull till “Broadsword” which is excellent.
Declan says
Relistened a few times and it “ain’t bad”. The downside is, it starts rather indifferently with a cardboard cutout of what Tull albums sound like and side one finds it difficult to pick up after that. Plus, Mr Megalomaniac decided he could play bass. Yeah, well, he can a little but his lines are sanitised (for want of a better word) and bounce, grit and swoon are absent from his repertoire. And it’s all upper register. Plays too many notes too. Bad decision in terms of the very good bassists Tull had had.
Side two is much better and contains Old Ghosts, then one of their best-ever tracks Dun Ringill, followed by tracks with decent bass on them (Glascock). On balance, I’d say Anderson let the side down here for want of a bass player.
@Twang
Moose the Mooche says
And he did it all standing on one leg.
John Walters says
Stones:
Beggars Banquet
Let it Bleed
Sticky Fingers
Exile
Goats Head Soup
It’s only Rock N’ Roll ( Shite cover )
Black and Blue
Some Girls
mojitojoe says
It’s only Rock N’ Roll…… fabulous cover !
Junior Wells says
I’m with (the other) JW.
spider-mans arch enemy says
Agree about the shite cover, and Black and Blue is also shite. The others however, are superb (including Goats Head Soup).
seekenee says
First 4 bunnymen albums
Declan says
30 years and counting of high-quality output from Cowboy Junkies (though I can’t vouch for the mid-noughties stuff as I have yet to hear it). The first 10 are a tremendous catalogue by any standards IMHO.
1986 Whites Off Earth Now!!
1988 The Trinity Session
1990 The Caution Horses
1992 Black Eyed Man
1993 Pale Sun Crescent Moon
1996 Lay It Down
1998 Miles from Our Home
1999 Rarities, B Sides and Slow, Sad Waltzes
2001 Open
2004 One Soul Now
2005 Early 21st Century Blues
2007 At the End of Paths Taken
2007 Trinity Revisited
2010 Nomad Series, Vol.1 Renmin Park
2011 Nomad Series, Vol.2 Demons
2011 Nomad Series, Vol.3 Sing in My Meadow
2012 Nomad Series, Vol.4 The Wilderness
Declan says
As no-one seems to know them, here’s a sample
Dave Ross says
Unless I’ve missed it I can’t believe no one has given Eltons imperial period a shout. 6 years from Empty Sky to Captain Fantastic takes some beating
Diddley Farquar says
Roxy Music isn’t it? From the debut to Avalon. Never less than excellent. The later albums have endured rather well despite not previously being held in such high esteem as the early, edgier works.
Tiggerlion says
Absolutely.
I’d say the same about Talking Heads. True Stories is usually the sticking point but it rocks.
Moose the Mooche says
If you stick to the original vinly studio albums, thereby missing out Stop Making Sense, you do not go wrong. Less is more with Tongues and Naked (hurrr)
Harry Tufnell says
Songs of Leonard Cohen
Songs From a Room
Songs of Love and Hate
New Skin For The Old Ceremony
It could have continued but Phil Spector fucked up Death of a Ladies Man but after that –
Recent Songs
Various Positions
I’m Your Man
The Future
Isn’t a bad quartet
Kid Dynamite says
The Afghan Whigs run that goes Congregation > Gentlemen > Black Love > 1965 is about as good as rock got in the nineties.
Kid Dynamite says
apart from Fugazi > Margin Walker > Repeater > Steady Diet Of Nothing > In On The Killtaker > Red Medicine of course
Moose the Mooche says
All if the Replacements albums up to and including Don’t Tell A Soul.
Bladderman says
All Shook Down is great & should not be insulted by being left out of this run
Moose the Mooche says
Sinatra at Capitol from 1953 to what, 1962? Followed by a pretty good run at Reprise.
Ella’s Songbook series…. a fusillade of brilliance.
Tiggerlion says
How about the Queen Of Soul on Atlantic?
I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You
Aretha Arrives
Lady Soul
Aretha Now
Aretha In Paris
Soul ’69
This Girl’s In Love With You
Spirit In The Dark
Aretha Live At Filmore West
Young, Gifted And Black
Amazing Grace
Hey Now Hey (The Other Side Of The Sky)
Moose the Mooche says
The entire career of The Lilac Time, including all the albums Stephen Duffy has made in that time (ie 1987-present).
Bladderman says
um.. but.. er.. how come its taken this long & down to me to post indisputable winner!!? which is (of course) Little Feat, Sailin’Shoes, Dixie Chicken, Feats Don’t Fail me now & The Last Record Album… What’s wrong with you people?
TRMagicWords says
Would agree with the first four Feat albums – the debut in particular is a thing of beauty – but I think The Last Record Album marked a slide into jazz-rock doldrums, aside from the peerless Long Distance Love obviously.
Twang says
No no you could levy that charge at “Time loves a hero” but TLRA is fabulous.
Tiggerlion says
What do mean Jazz-Rock? Night & Day is the only track on TLRA with a bit of a wig-out and what a superlative drum solo as a reprise! Can I ask what you consider The Fan to be? is that not Jazz-Rock? Got No Shadow from Sailin’s Shoes has a touch of the jazz about it and there is no end of freakery on their debut.
TLRA is a perfectly balanced album with numerous voices and styles fusing beautifully across eight tracks and under forty minutes. The guitars are almost as one throughout and the rhythm section is at its peak, regardless of Richie’s injury. I give it 10/10.
Everygoodboydeservesfruita says
Remarkable lack of perspective in these lists: Talking Heads? To claim that Little Creatures is to be spoken in the same breath as Remain In Light is a denial of everybody’s best hopes. Same for Costello; it’s over by Trust. The Bowie lists are fandom talk only. Come on, let’s try harder.
Tiggerlion says
Aw. Little Creatures is superb. Very different to Remain in Light (which runs out of steam halfway through side two) but show me a quirkier, sunnier, lovelier pop album driven by a juggernaut of a rhythm section than Little Creatures.
Moose the Mooche says
The problem with LC, if there is one, is that it’s ProTooled to the knackers – which is why it was so great that True Stories began with what sounded very much like a band rocking out in the studio together.
RIL’s second side has a different sort of hypnotic brilliance from the first. The rhythm track of Seen and Not Seen is butt-moving magic.
Gary says
I far prefer Little Creatures to Remain In Light. It’s got proper, catchy pop songs. Not a duff tune on it. RIL is boring. (And True Stories is just shite).
Black Celebration says
Remain in Light is an album I return to quite often. If it was released now, it would still sound grrreat, particularly the first three dancey songs. Speaking in Tongues is also very strong. Funny that Burning Down the House was not a chart smasheroo at the time but has become one of their best known songs.
Gary says
Speaking In Tongues is magnificent. Their best.
count jim moriarty says
Magnificent, but not their best. That would be Fear Of Music.
Tiggerlion says
You think True Stories is shite? Here’s their best single to change your mind.
Gary says
Mind unchanged. Horrible. “Their best single”? Ha! I beg to differ. Please, please, please let me differ. Better than Psycho Killer, Take Me To The River, Once In A Lifetime, Burning Down The House, This Must Be The Place, Slippery People, Girlfriend Is Better, The Lady Don’t Mind, Road To Nowhere and And She Was? No. No. No. No. That’s thrice no and one for luck.
Tiggerlion says
Uh uh oh oh. Love For Sale!!!
I like it because it is the closest to Talking Heads live, at least when I saw them 1978/9. They were raw, visceral and deranged, especially Byrne’s vocals. Play it loud.
duco01 says
Any list of fine Talking Heads singles must find a space for “Love => Bldg on Fire”!
count jim moriarty says
Costello over by Trust? But in answer to my contention above you say Almost Blue is a great album. Bit inconsistent there, my friend…
Hawkfall says
A grump writes:
This is a great thread, but I think we’re being generous to some musical royalty with the proposed runs. I would humbly propose that we re-examine the following at least:
Stevie Wonder – Fulfillingness is the weak link in that run. I don’t think it’s that good.
Bob Dylan: Nashville Skyline is a pleasant piece of diversion (sips Earl Grey) and makes a nice soundtrack to winding down after a long day. But it’s not a great album.
Led Zeppelin: I must have a different copy of Houses of the Holy than other folk. The one I have has two really good songs and a whole lot of filler, including something that appears to be a lumbering attempt at reggae. These days I think they only made one great album after 1971. There, I’ve said it.
The Rolling Stones. I love the Stones, but someone is going to have to convince me that Goat’s Head Soup, It’s Only Rock & Roll and – especially – Black & Blue are great albums. Their run (and it’s a truly great one) was 1968-72.
David Bowie – Lodger isn’t a great album. It isn’t. Look into your heart. You know this to be true.
*dodges cascade of rotten fruit*
Mike_H says
Stevie Wonder: Yes, FFF is the weakest but it’s still pretty good, so you’re wrong.
Led Zeppelin: Personally I only rate the first four LZ albums.
Rolling Stones: Beggar’s Banquet to Exile on Main Street, not forgetting Get Yer Ya Yas Out. The signs were there on Exile, to be honest. A bit of self-indulgence on that one.
Bowie: Space Oddity to Heroes. Still not in favour of Lodger, and that’s assuming we’re not including live albums, because David Live is pretty rotten though Stage is OK.
nickduvet says
Grumpy’s not wrong about the Stones only being a great albums band from 68 to 72. Black and Blue is a stinker apart from Hand of Fate and Crazy Mama.
The Zep’s fifth album, while not quite Black and Blue, has as much filler as killer. The Crunge is just a cod-funk jam ffs, even if Percy wants to dress the lyrics up as some kind of stream of consciousness on the lyric sheet.
The Dame, bless him, would have been the first to admit that Space Oddity wasn’t up there with his best work. God knows he’s good, but…
leave Stevie alone, FFF hangs together as a great collection of songs and melodies. Maybe a 9 where TB and Innervisions are 10, but that’s just fine.
Tiggerlion says
I think FFF is wonderful. Talking Book is my issue. I think it’s patchy and Maybe, Your Baby is torture to my ears.
Tiggerlion says
Leave the Goat alone!!!
Declan says
Definitely concur with you on the Wonder, the Bowie, and the Zep.
I do enjoy those Stones albums, even though they’re patchy, but so was Exile.
What I can’t agree with you on is Nashville Skyline (and presumably you see John Wesley Harding similarly). This was the hitherto angry and cocky intellectual bard extending his reach (by reigning in) and demonstrating his respect for his “roots”, which he’d do again in the 90s with Good As I Been To You and World Gone Wrong. He’s a singular talent and a great man, and normal condiderations of product sequence and career thrust hardly apply anyway.
This from someone old enough to have grown up with 60s Dylan but who didn’t “get” him until the 80s.
@Hawkfall
Hawkfall says
@declan
Sorry for the delay in replying! To be honest, I don’t see JWH and NS to be that similar. I agree that they both come from a desire to respect his roots, but I these days think the former is probably his best album – it’s a remarkably mature record for someone so young. But the latter is more self-indulgent. Nashville hangs together as an album – I prefer listening to it more than other Bob albums with better reputations (Hello Desire and first four albums!), but it’s not a great record. Too much filler – Country Pie, Peggy Day and I’ve never been fond of Lay Lady Lay. There are some quiet gems though: Tonight I’ll be Staying Here With You is lovely. But JWH is all gems.
rocker49 says
Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s The Sex Pistols
because who really needs a run of albums when you’ve got this?
ernietothecentreoftheearth says
But the Pistols followed it with a load of cock. For thexample truly pure and greathe one must turn to the La’s. Or Mary Margaret O’Hara.
duco01 says
Hmm … yes it’s bizarre that the best-selling Sex Pistols single is none of classic first four, but the rather tedious cover of “Something Else”.
badartdog says
The National – all six albums released so far. Soup to nuts
Skirky says
At time of logging in the question at the head of this post is answered by the one directly below it in Recently Updated; Look at Yourself / Demons and Wizards / The Magician’s Birthday.
Baskerville Old Face says
Queen
Queen II
Sheer Heart Attack
A Night At The Opera
A Day At The Races
News Of The World
and then it all turned to shit with ‘Jazz’!
paulwright says
Dunno if I would include News of the World, but I’ll take it up to that point.