Thanks to all of you who have taken part in this poll.
Total number of Albums voted for: 499
Number of AW Voters: 98 (sadly no Moose or Bingo to make 100)
Total Votes: 980
[Drum roll]
……….Please note the results have been input on punched cards (Fortran77).
The teletype will be back working after this batch job has run on my ICL mainframe..
Final Score 16:45 today………………….
Holding breath …
This may take a few hours (seriously) – the mainframe id running at 16 bytes per minute..
Meanwhile to give an insight…
The artists with the most albums voted for are:
11 – Nick Cave (Thanks mainly to Jack Kelsey)
9 – Elvis Costello
8 – REM
6 – XTC 6 (or 7 including Dukes of Stratosphear)
5 – Prince
4 – Bruce Springsteen
4 – Neil Young
4 – Talking Heads
3 – Kate Bush
3 – Massive Attack
3 – OMITD
3 – Paul Simon
3 – Peter Gabriel
3 – Simple Minds
3 – Tom Waits
Billy Bragg also had 4 albums voted for.
Aren’t there a hundred voters? Or am I miscounting?
We all voted to disqualify you behind your back.
98 as 2 peeps had to re-vote due to either an album beinbg from the 2000s or in wrong format…
Cheers! 👍
This is exciting. Looking forward to this.
Come on Haysi Fantayzee!!
Good work @craig42blue. I’ve run these polls in the past, lots of work and there are people waiting to pounce should you make a mistake.
I’ve no doubt you’ve done an excellent job.
What – the polls are closed! I need more time. Remind me when Imperial Bedroom was released….
While I fully support the idea that 16.45 is the correct and proper time for Final Score, the rising excitement is not good for my blood pressure..
In Joint 456th place there are 44 albums, with 1 point each:
16 Lovers Lane – The Go-betweens
24 Years of Hunger – Eg & Alice
A Black Box – Peter Hammill
Ágaetis Byrjun – Sigur Rós
Andromeda Heights – Prefab Sprout
By The Time It Gets Dark – Mary Black
Cloud Nine – George Harrison
Come on die young – Mogwai
Copperhead Road – Steve Earle & The Dukes
Darklands Jesus and Mary Chain
Diamonds and Pearls – Prince
Doggy Style Snoop Doggy Dog
Gone To Earth – David Sylvian
Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins – Sparks
Harvest Moon – Neil Young
Heaven – Jai
Hope and Despair – Edwyn Collins
Jazz In Film – Terence Blanchard
Little Creatures – Talking Heads
Live After Death – Iron Maiden
Maxinequaye-Tricky
Murder In The Graveyard – Screaming Lord Sutch
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
Out of Time – R.E.M.
Play – The Nields
Red Sails In The Sunset – Midnight Oil
Rei Momo – David Byrne
Secrets of the Beehive – David Sylvian
Shoot Out the Lights – Richard and Linda Thompson
Spillane – John Zorn
Still got the Blues -Gary Moore
The Charm of the Highway Strip – The Magnetic Fields
The Christians – The Christians
The Completion Backwards Principle – The Tubes
The Convincer – Nick Lowe
The Fat of the Land – Prodigy
The First Day – Sylvian & Fripp
The La’s – The La’s
The Meaning of Life – Gretchen Peters
Welcome Home – ‘Til Tuesday
West Textures – Robert Earl Keen
What Up, Dog? – Was (Not Was)
Whiskey For The Holy Ghost – Mark Lanegan
Wish – The Cure
I would have expected Out of Time to chart higher!
Yes that’s the big surprise there. Pleased to have one record on this list (Shoot Out the Lights, which deserves much much better).
In Joint 409th place there are 47 albums, with 2 points each.
Albums with only 1 vote:
American Recordings – Johnny Cash
Astronauts – The Lilac Time
Avalon – Roxy Music
Back On Top – Van Morrison
Back To Basics Billy Bragg
Bang – World Party
Better days – Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes
Black Woman – Judy Mowatt
Combat Rock – The Clash
Control – Janet Jackson
Difficult Shapes… China Crisis
Disintegration – The Cure
Don’t Try This At Home – Billy Bragg
Eureka – The Bible
FINN – Finn Brothers
Fire Of Love – The Gun Club
George Best – The Wedding Present
Green – R.E.M.
Hawaii – The High Llamas
Heaven Or Las Vegas – Cocteau Twins
Immigres Youssou N’Dour
It’s great when you’re straight yeah – Black Grape
Land of dreams – Randy Newman
Leave The Straight Life Behind – Bob
Murder Ballads – Nick Cave
Music For The Jilted Generation – The Prodigy
Mutations – Beck
Nevermind – Nirvana
Onwards And Upwards – Culture Shock
Perfectly Good Guitar – John Hiatt
Pretenders II – The Pretenders
Ron Sexsmith – Ron Sexsmith
Samurai – Grand Prix
Songs From My Funeral – Snakefarm
Special Beat Service – The Beat
Stanley Road – Paul Weller
Talking With The Taxman About Poetry Billy Bragg
Texas Fever – Orange Juice
The Lonesome Jubilee – John Mellencamp
The Wishing Chair – 10,000 Maniacs
There And Back – Jeff Beck
Trust – Elvis Costello
Unplugged – Nirvana
Where You Been – Dinosaur Jr
Work, Lovelife, Miscellaneous – David Devant and his Spirit Wife
Worker’s Playtime – Billy Bragg
Albums with a total of 2 points with more than 1 vote:
This Is Hardcore – Pulp
Shall I continue or pause for a while?
Oh go on then Craig…
In Joint 372nd place there are 37 albums, with 3 points each.
Albums with only 1 vote
Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld – The Orb
Anarchy – Chumbawamba
Anniversary – Stan Getz
Beautiful Vision – Van Morrison
Boat to Bolivia – Martin Stephenson & The Daintees
Bum Rush The Show- Public Enemy
Dookie Green Day
Eliminator ZZ Top
Gentlemen – Afghan Whigs
Hallowed Ground – Violent Femmes
Hymns to the silence – Van Morrison
In The Flat Field – Bauhaus
Jonathan Goes Country – Jonathan Richman
Let Love In – Nick Cave
Life’s a riot…- Billy Bragg
Mainstream – Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
Movement – New Order
No. 10 Upping Street – Big Audio Dynamite
Nuyorican Soul – Nuyorican Soul
Ole Tarantula – Robyn Hitchcock
Perfect Prescription – Spacemen 3
Please – Pet Shop Boys
Punch the Clock – Elvis Costello
Reign In Blood – Slayer
Second Toughest In The Infants – Underworld
Sensimilia – Black Uhuru
Sheryl Crow – Sheryl Crow
Sky Motel – Kristin Hersh
Substance – New Order
Super Trouper – ABBA
Talking Timbuktu – Ali Farka Toure & Ry Cooder
The Sound of Lies – The Jayhawks
Time – ELO
Unity – Shinehead
Van Morrison – Days Like This
Walking Wounded – Everything But the Girl
Albums with a total of 3 points with more than 1 vote
Tango In The Night – Fleetwood Mac
Stewards enquiry on your list of most albums by artists required – that’s four albums from Van already!
Yes, Van slipped under the radar with a mere 8 albums.
….The teletype for the Final Scores will spring back into action shortly….
In Joint 335th place there are 37 albums, with 4 points each.
Albums with only 1 vote
3 Feet High and Rising – De La Soul
Attack Of The Blue Lanterns – Mansun
Bandwagonesque – Teenage Fanclub
Blood & Chocolate – Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Diva – Annie Lennox
El Corazon – Steve Earle
Emergency Third Rail Power Trip – The Rain Parade
Empires And Dance – Simple Minds
Fashion Nugget – Cake
Garbage – Garbage
Girl At Her Volcano – Rickie Lee Jones
Give Out But Don’t Give Up – Primal Scream
Hand Of Kindness – Richard Thompson
Happiness – The Beloved
Henry’s Dream – Nick Cave
John Henry – They Might Be Giants
Lazer Guided Melodies – Spiritualized
Lone Star State of Mind– Nanci Griffith
Making Movies – Dire Straits
Meet Danny Wilson – Danny Wilson
NonStop Erotic Cabaret – Soft Cell
Oh Mercy – Bob Dylan
Outside – David Bowie
Provision – Scritti Politti
Robbie Robertson – Robbie Robertson
Saint Julian – Julian Cope
Setting the Woods on Fire – The Walkabouts
Solitude Standing – Suzanne Vega
Surfing with the Alien – Joe Satriani
The Fawn – The Sea and Cake
The Tender Pervert – Momus
The Ups And Downs – Stephen Duffy
Wildflowers – Tom Petty
Yellow Moon – Neville Brothers
Dog Man Star Suede
Albums with a total of 4 points with more than 1 vote
XO – Elliott Smith
Pirates – Rickie Lee Jones
.
A lovely forensic examination of the votes here.
Well done that man!
Keep it going.
Just give us the top 20, man! 😉 Good work.
….still lower league results coming in early….
In Joint 302nd place there are 37 albums, with 5 points each.
Albums with only 1 vote
A Pagan Place – The Waterboys
Big Science – Laurie Anderson
Bone Machine – Tom Waits
Can You Still Feel – Jason Falkner
Computer World – Kraftwerk
Dreamland – Aztec Camera
Duke – Genesis
Egyptology – World Party
First and Last and Always – The Sisters of Mercy
Flood – They Might Be Giants
Forever Blue – Chris Isaak
Fumbling Towards Ecstasy – Sarah McLachlan
Her Handwriting – Trembling Blue Stars
I often dream of trains – Robyn Hitchcock
I Should Coco – Supergrass
Ingenue – K D Lang
It’s a Shame About Ray – The Lemonheads
Laughingstock – TalkTalk
Life’s Hard and then you Die – Its Immaterial
Lone Justice – Lone Justice
Mercury – American Music Club
Night and Day – Joe Jackson
Songs From the Argyll Cycle, Volume – Jackie Leven
Songs From The Big Chair – Tears For Fears
Songs Of Faith And Devotion – Depeche Mode
Strangeways Here We Come – The Smiths
The Good Son – Nick Cave
The River – Bruce Springsteen
Treasure – Cocteau Twins
Twelve Stops and Home – The Feeling
We Live Here – Pat Metheny
World Shut your Mouth Julian Cope
Albums with a total of 5 points with more than 1 vote
Hex Enduction Hour – The Fall
Night and Day is a great record. This list is making me want to get so many records out I haven’t listened to in a while. Great stuff.
My vote! Been playing the vinyl regularly since the poll. Great cover too.
I may be dull, but I enjoy the forensic analysis of the nether regions
(oo-er Matron)
In Joint 263rd place there are 39 albums, with 6 points each.
Albums with only 1 vote
Absolute Jit! – The Bhundu Boys
Amused To Death – Roger Waters
Balinese Dancer – Chuck Prophet
Countrymen – Twinkle Brothers
Coup De Tete – Kip Hanrahan
Diamond Life – Sade
Drop The Bomb – Trouble Funk
E2-E4 – Manuel Göttsching
Electric Cafe – Kraftwerk
Enter The Wu Tang (36 Chambers) – Wu Tang Clan
Exile on Coldharbour Lane – Alabama 3
Frosting On The Beater – The Posies
I’m With Stupid – Aimee Mann
In Sides – Orbital
Love Remains – Bobby Watson
Low Life – New Order
Maria McKee – Maria McKee
Mishima – Philip Glass
Oranges & Lemons – XTC
Protection – Massive Attack
Radiator – Super Furry Animals
Road Tested – Bonnie Raitt
Sleeps With Angels– Neil Young and Crazy Horse
Song – It’s Immaterial
Steady On – Shawn Colvin
Strange Kind Of Love – Love and Money
Surfer Rosa – Pixies
Telekon – Gary Numan
Tender Prey – Nick Cave
The Charity Of Night – Bruce Cockburn
Titanic Days – Kirsty MacColl
Zoo-Look – Jean Michelle Jarre
Albums with a total of 5 points with more than 1 vote
Kilimanjaro – The Teardrop Explodes
Peggy Suicide – Julian Cope
Sandinista! – The Clash
Together Alone – Crowded House
Idlewild – Everything But The Girl
If I Should Fall From Grace with God – The Pogues
Introspective – Pet Shop Boys
Above error should read “Albums with a total of 6 points with more than 1 vote”.
In Joint 224th place there are 39 albums, with 7 points each.
Albums with only 1 vote
Bob Mould – Bob Mould
Borderline – Ry Cooder
Brutal Youth – Elvis Costello
Concert – The Cure
Doll By Doll – Doll By Doll
Food, Sex & Paranoia – Furniture
Friends – Shalamar
Hearts and Bones – Paul Simon
Huang Chung-Huang Chung
I Just Can’t Stop It – The Beat
Ill Communication-Beastie Boys
Lost & Found – Jason & The Scorchers
Music has the Right to Children – The Board of Canada
Poetic Champions Compose – Van Morrison
Postcard CV – Senseless Things
Ready To Die – The Notorious B.I.G.
Scarecrow – John ‘Cougar’ Mellencamp
Script of the Bridge – The Chameleons
Signals Rush
Six – Mansun
Sparkle In The Rain – Simple Minds
Stop Making Sense – Talking Heads
Surfacing – Sarah McLachlan
The Audience With – Betty Carter
The Covenant, The Sword and the Arm of the Lord Cabaret Voltaire
The Delivery Man – Elvis Costello
The Dream of the Blue Turtle – Sting
The Wheel – Rosanne Cash
Tilt – Scott Walker
Un “Sung” Stories – Phil Alvin
Vienna – Ultravox
Wide Angle – Hybrid
Wild Wood – Paul Weller
Albums with a total of 5 points with more than 1 vote
Emperor Tomato Ketchup – Stereolab
So – Peter Gabriel
Warehouse: Songs & Stories – Husker Du
Chips from the Chocolate Fireball – The Dukes of Stratosphear
The Joshua Tree – U2
The Bends – Radiohead
7 points not 5 points with more than 1 vote
Who voted for Doll By Doll by Doll By Doll? A totes spiffing choice!
“Major league Floyd’s only album?”
In Joint 189th place there are 35 albums, with 8 points each.
Albums with only 1 vote
30 Something – Carter USM
Almost Blue – Elvis Costello
Apollo: Atmospheres – Brian Eno/Daniel Lanois/Roger Eno
Beauty Stab – ABC
Born Sandy Devotional – The Triffids
Doolittle – Pixies
Everything is Wrong – Moby
Everything’s Different Now – Til Tuesday
Experience – The Prodigy
Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics – Brian Eno + Jon Hassell
Here’s to Life – Shirley Horn
Kicking Against The Pricks – Nick Cave
Living With The Law – Chris Whitley
Lyle Lovett – Lyle Lovett
New Adventures In Hi-Fi – R.E.M.
Out of the Cradle – Lindsey Buckingham
Rid of me – PJ Harvey
Riding with the King – John Hiatt
Solo in Soho – Phil Lynott
Songs About Fucking – Big Black
Soro – Salif Keita
Sound of Water – Saint Etienne
Speaking in Tongues – Talking Heads
Swagger – The Blue Aeroplanes
The Apprentice – John Martyn
The Blurred Crusade – The Church
The Golden Age of wireless – Thomas Dolby
The White Room – The KLF
Thunder And Consolation – New Model Army
TNT – Tortoise
Volume Two, Release – Afro-Celt Sound System
Vauxhall and I – Morrissey
Albums with a total of 5 points with more than 1 vote
The Final Cut – Pink Floyd
Girlfriend – Matthew Sweet
Document – R.E.M.
Above should say “Albums with a total of 8 points with more than 1 vote.”
In Joint 158th place there are 31 albums, with 9 points each.
Albums with only 1 vote
Abandoned Garden– Michael Franks
Absolutely – Madness
Aquemini – Outkast
Boom Town – David and David
Circuses and Bread – The Durutti Column
Djam Leelii – Baaba Maal & Mansour Seck
Heaven and Hell Black Sabbath
Homogenic – Björk
Last Days Of Pompeii – Nova Mob
McCartney II – Paul McCartney
Me and a Monkey on the Moon – Felt
Misplaced Childhood – Marillion
Mock Tudor – Richard Thompson
Old Rottenhat – Robert Wyatt
On the Way to the Peak of Normal – Holger Czukay
One Trick Pony – Paul Simon
Overcome By Happiness – Pernice Brothers
Psychedelic Jungle – The Cramps
Rising Above Bedlam – Jah Wobble’s Invaders of the Heart
Rumor And Sigh – Richard Thompson
The First Born Is Dead – Nick Cave
Travelling Wilburys Vol.1 – Travelling Wilburys
Will Anything Happen The Shop Assistants
Work Of Heart – Roy Harper
Albums with a total of 5 points with more than 1 vote
Zooropa – U2
Dubnobasswithmyheadman – Underworld
Architecture and Morality – Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Definitely Maybe – Oasis
Infected – The The
Floodland – The Sisters Of Mercy
Giant Steps – The Boo Radleys.
Again the above should read “Albums with a total of 9 points with more than 1 vote”.
Loving this. Eg and Alice should have done better (might have helped if I’d voted for it)
I used to love that Eg & Alice album – but it also brings back some dark memories..
“Roy Harper getting a result today,,,”
Good to see Pat Metheny here:
In Joint 126th place there are 32 albums, with a “maximum” 10 points each.
Albums with only 1 vote
As Falls Wichita So Falls Wichita Falls – Pat Metheny
Be Bop Moptop – Danny Wilson
Black Love – Afghan Whigs
Black Sea – XTC
Bright Red – Laurie Anderson
Cupid & Psyche 85 – Scritti Politti
Dead Bees On A Cake David Sylvian
Freedom & Rain – June Tabor & the Oysterband
From Here to Eternity – Nick Cave
HexBark Psychosis
House Tornado – Throwing Muses
Just Ain’t Good Enough – Johnnie Taylor
Mambo Show – The Ensemble Of Latin Music Legends
Mornington Crescent – My Life Story
Nobody’s Perfect – The Distractions
Passion – Peter Gabriel
Power, Corruption & Lies – New Order
Rockin’ and Romance – Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers
Stones In The Road – Mary Chapin Carpenter
The Clock Comes down the Stairs – Microdisney
The Southern Harmony & Musical Companion – The Black Crowes
Tracy Chapman – Tracy Chapman
Win This Record – David Lindley & El Rayo X
Albums with a total of 5 points with more than 1 vote
Fried – Julian Cope
Loveless – My Bloody Valentine
Achtung Baby – U2
Wrong Way Up – Brian Eno & John Cale
I do not want what I haven’t got – Sinead O’Connor
Back in the DHSS – Half Man Half Biscuit
Brotherhood – New Order
No Guru, No Method, No Teacher – Van Morrison
Odelay – Beck
Hmm…I’m pretty sure that Black Sea got more than one vote though…although I don’t remember its placement, so possibly a total of ten points…or am I hallucinating?
Edit: or am I misunderstanding the point system here? Reading your post again I’m a bit confused about what you mean…sorry if that’s the case!
Hi
I think the above should say “Albums with a total of 10 points with more than 1 vote”, however Black Sea had 1 vote with 10 points.
Yes, the ten was from me…I think I must have this vote confused with the 80s one we did earlier, I know I saw someone else voting for Black Sea, but thinking about it I guess it must have been for that list!
Great work, @craig42blue!
Yes, in the previous poll Black Sea was the 6th highest of the 80s and 90s.
In Joint 113th place there are 13 albums, with 11 points each.
Don’t Stand Me Down – Dexys Midnight Runners
Once in a Blue Moon – Lal Waterson and Oliver Knight
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill – Lauryn Hill
Eden – Everything But the Girl
Electronic – Electronic
Illmatic – Nas
Leftism – Leftfield
Lucinda Williams – Lucinda Williams
Summerteeth – Wilco
The Rise and Fall – Madness
Utopia Parkway – Fountains of Wayne
If You’re Feeling Sinister – Belle and Sebastian
Rum Sodomy and The Lash – The Pogues
In Joint 106th place there are 7 albums, with 12 points each.
Gentlemen Take Polaroids – Japan
August and Everything After – Counting Crows
Psychocandy – Jesus and Mary Chain
Promenade – The Divine Comedy
Your Funeral ..My Trial – Nick Cave
Mezzanine – Massive Attack
Heaven up Here – Echo and the Bunnymen
Could this be the first of 3 entries for Ms Bush?
In Joint 102nd place there are 4 albums, with 13 points each.
Chill Out – The KLF
Ladies and Gentlemen, We are Floating in Space – Spiritualized
Playing With Fire – Spacemen 3
In it for the Money – Supergrass
In Joint 94th place there are 8 albums, with 14 points each.
Common One – Van Morrison
Songs from Northern Britain – Teenage Fanclub
East Side Story – Squeeze
Never For Ever – Kate Bush
Around The World In A Day – Prince
Bring the Family – John Hiatt
The Impossible Bird – Nick Lowe
Deserter’s Songs – Mercury Rev
In Joint 89th place there are 5 albums, with 15 points each:.
Born in the USA – Bruce Springsteen
English Settlement – XTC
Guitar Town – Steve Earle
Freedom – Neil Young
Woodface – Crowded House
In Joint 79th place there are 10 albums, with 16 points each.
Closer – Joy Division
Pontiac – Lyle Lovett
The Boatman’s Call – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
The Crossing – Big Country
Behaviour – Pet Shop Boys
Kite – Kirsty MacColl
Purple Rain – Prince
The Holy Bible – Manic Street Preachers
Penguin Eggs – Nic Jones
Uprising – Bob Marley & The Wailers
In Joint 75th place there are 4 albums, with 17 points each:.
Endtroducing… – DJ Shadow
Love Over Gold – Dire Straits
Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2) – XTC
Ragged Glory – Neil Young and Crazy Horse
In Joint 72nd place there are 3 albums, with 18 points each.
Violator – Depeche Mode
Life’s Rich Pageant – R.E.M.
The House of Love – The House of Love
In Joint 65th place there are 7 albums, with 19 points each:.
Night Lilies – Jackie Leven
Sound Affects – The Jam
This Is The Sea – The Waterboys
Goodbye Jumbo – World Party
The Trinity Session – Cowboy Junkies
Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot – Sparklehorse
Technique – New Order
In Joint 60th place there are 5 albums, with 20 points each.
A Secret Wish – Propaganda
Parade – Prince & the Revolution
Dazzle Ships – OMD
Soul Mining – The The
Being There – Wilco
…REM – rumours they have 8 separate entries…
In Joint 58th place there are 2 albums, with 21 points each:
My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts – Brian Eno & David Byrne
Searching For The Young Soul Rebels – Dexy’s Midnight Runners
In Joint 54th place there are 5 albums, with 22 points each:
Reckoning – R.E.M.
You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever – Orange Juice
Discipline – King Crimson
Murmur – R.E.M.
In Joint 52nd place there are 2 albums, with 23 points each:
In My Tribe – 10,000 Maniacs
Car Wheels On A Gravel Road – Lucinda Williams
…Sorry but there have been many late kick-offs today….
In Joint 48th place there are 4 albums, with 24 points each:
Fisherman’s Blues – The Waterboys
New York – Lou Reed
Some Fantastic Place – Squeeze
Nebraska – Bruce Springsteen
In Joint 45th place there are 3 albums, with 25 points each:
3 (melt) – Peter Gabriel
Grace – Jeff Buckley
Grace and Danger – John Martyn.
In at #44 with 26 points we have:
Dare – The Human League
In Joint 42nd place there are 2 albums, with 27 points each:
It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back – Public Enemy
Spilt Milk – Jellyfish
In Joint 40th place there are 2 albums, with 28 points each:
Screamadelica – Primal Scream
New Gold Dream (81, 82, 83, 84) – Simple Minds
In at #39 with 29 points we have:
69 Love Songs – Magnetic Fields
And in at #38 with30 points we have:
Dummy – Portishead
In Joint 34th place there are 4 albums, with 31 points each:
A Walk Across The Rooftops – The Blue Nile
The Queen is Dead – The Smiths
I’m Your Man – Leonard Cohen
Time Out Of Mind – Bob Dylan
In at #33 with 32 points we have:
Lexicon of Love – ABC
And at #32 and 33 points it’s…
The Colour of Spring – Talk Talk
In Joint 29th place there are 3 albums, with 35 points:
Different Class – Pulp
Wrecking Ball – Emmylou Harris
High Land, Hard Rain – Aztec Camera
And we have:
At 28 Nightclubbing – Grace Jones with 37
27 The Dreaming – Kate Bush 38 points
26 Jordan: The Comeback – Prefab Sprout with39
25 Tunnel Of Love – Bruce Springsteen with 40
24 Gaucho – Steely Dan with 41
23 Hats – The Blue Nile with 43
For those that did not see this earlier; the artists with the most albums voted for are:
11 – Nick Cave (Thanks mainly to Jack Kelsey)
9 – Elvis Costello
8 – REM
6 – XTC 6 (or 7 including Dukes of Stratosphear)
5 – Prince
4 – Bruce Springsteen
4 – Neil Young
4 – Talking Heads
3 – Kate Bush
3 – Massive Attack
3 – OMITD
3 – Paul Simon
3 – Peter Gabriel
3 – Simple Minds
3 – Tom Waits
You’ve done really well to take on and deliver this massive chart, but can I put in a shout-out for Billy Bragg? I’ve counted 4 albums by him in your lists.
Quite right.
An oversight due to my ignorance and no “artist” column on my spreadsheet!
In Joint 19th place there are 4 albums, with 45 points:
Apple Venus Volume 1 – XTC
Rain Dogs – Tom Waits
Grand Prix – Teenage Fanclub
Rattlesnakes – Lloyd Cole and The Commotions
And we have surprisingly:
At 18 OK Computer – Radiohead with 47
I missed the deadline but all of my 10 are here so no problem.
17 Moon Safari – Air with 49 points
16 Skylarking – XTC 52
Joint 14th Spirit of Eden – Talk Talk 59
Joint 14th Imperial Bedroom – Elvis Costello & the Attractions 59
13 Sign O’ The Times – Prince 60
Joint 11th Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) – David Bowie 61
Joint 11th Blue Lines – Massive Attack 61
Much love for Scary Monsters. I may be missing something with that album. I’d choose Tin Machine above it (am I mad?)
YES
I’m surprised too – it’s hardly ever mentioned as one of his classics but I think it s one of his very best.
Side one is great. Side two not so much. There at least five Bowie albums better in this period: Buddha Of Suburbia, hours…, 1. Outside, Let’s Dance and Black Tie, White Noise.
At 9 we have both:
Get Happy – Elvis Costello & The Attractions 62 points
and King of America – Elvis Costello
Its getting tense now..
…and at number
8 Steve McQueen – Prefab Sprout 65
7 Automatic For The People – R.E.M. 69
6 Swordfishtrombones – Tom Waits 71
Joint 4th Remain in Light – Talking Heads 72
and The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses 72
MGLW has called me to make a curry for tea… Back in 5
Five minutes to make a curry? I had no idea Vesta was still trading.
Microwave pilau and Sainsbury’s finest off the shelf veg curry….
No surprises here with, at #3
Graceland – Paul Simon with a stonking 78 points
A late story here:
The most voted for albums were:
Votes
14 – Hounds of Love – Kate Bush
13 – Graceland – Paul Simon
12 – The Nightfly – Donald Fagen
12 – The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
12 – Automatic For The People – R.E.M.
12 – Steve McQueen – Prefab Sprout
11 – Remain in Light – Talking Heads
11 – Blue Lines – Massive Attack
10 – Swordfishtrombones – Tom Waits
9 – Sign O’ The Times – Prince
9 – Spirit of Eden – Talk Talk
9 – Moon Safari – Air
9 – OK Computer – Radiohead
9 – Grand Prix – Teenage Fanclub
8 – King of America – Elvis Costello
8 – Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) – David Bowie
8 – Imperial Bedroom – Elvis Costello & the Attractions
8 – Rattlesnakes – Lloyd Cole and The Commotions
Shock horror
It’s down at number 2
and its
Hounds of Love – Kate Bush with 99 points.
and down at the away end the Dan fans are still singing strong…
IT’S YOUR #1
The Nightfly – Donald Fagen with 105 points…..
[C42 has rest – eats curry]
Fantastic. Thanks for all that hard work.
To thank you for it, tonight we’re arranging a small reception just for you
Behind the big casino by the sea
Burt is also preparing a hamper for you.
Is that Burt, the fellow with a motor launch for hire?
Damn was sure Kate would take it, but all my fault for voting for The Dreaming instead of Hounds.
If I had met the deadline The Dreaming would have been in my 10.
I think it’s her masterpiece, but Hounds is very very good too.
Completely agree. I saw her on the last live gigs at Hammersmith and the rendition of side 2 of Hounds was amazing.
Is the right answer. Repeating the others, fine job and thanks for organising it!
Well done!
Good as The Nightfly is I wouldn’t rate it as the best album of that era.
Well, nor would anyone who didn’t place it as their favourite, but the people have spoken!
I know! I am playing it as I write. The AW Massive know best.
All a bit “samey” to me. Hard to differentiate the tracks.
I’m not sure I’d say that but I probably agree. It’s certainly not as good as the best Dan stuff as some have wrongly argued.
The best Dan stuff – Aja, IMO – isn’t eligible for this particular poll, though.
I’d say The Nightfly just flows better as an album (weak spot “Maxine”) and edges Gaucho out of contention.
A Father’s Day Celebration from the NY Times
“I’m Not a Dad, but I Rock Like One….
A millennial woman had a realization last summer: Decades after enduring her father’s music on car rides as a child, she entered a Steely Dan phase.
In the span of a decade, dad rock has gone from being an insult to becoming a kind of compliment.
In the span of a decade, dad rock has gone from being an insult to becoming a kind of compliment.
The beginning is too banal to recall vividly: A familiar melody stuck in my head one morning last summer, leading to a streaming-service search, then a long afternoon lost listening to the entire record and its ambitious follow-up. From there, things snowballed. By the end of that week I had to accept it: I was going through a Steely Dan phase.
Like a lot of people, many of my earliest musical memories involve being a captive back-seat listener in my parents’ car during long road trips. It was there, on the upholstered bench seat of a Ford Taurus, that I first declared that the blandest, dullest, most excruciatingly monotonous music I’d ever heard in my nearly decade-long life was Steely Dan.
As a kid, the noodly, pristine sounds of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen signified nothing so much as my dad exerting oppressive control over the car stereo. Just infinite shades of sonic gray and songs that would never freaking end. Do it … again?! What else have you been doing for the last five and a half minutes of this song?
And then, all of a sudden, I was 32 and listening to “Pretzel Logic” intently in my best headphones, declaring myself an honorary resident of Barrytown. What had happened to me?
Like anyone seeking rational advice, I looked to Twitter. “Some personal news,” I posted last August, announcing my new infatuation. I was dumbfounded by the response: nearly 1,000 likes and a lively discussion among friends and followers reassuring me that I was not alone. “We’ll all meet you for dinner at Denny’s at 4:30,” my friend Rob wrote, which I assumed was a reference to an obscure Steely Dan lyric I didn’t yet recognize, but I now see was just his way of saying that we are both old. I am at once honored and chilled to my bones to tell you that, from the beyond, the Walter Becker Estate replied, “We’ve been expecting you.”
As I sighed and once again dropped the needle on my parents’ old copy of “Gaucho,” I started to see that my Steely Dan phase was not an aberration, but an inevitable if long-resisted final frontier of my musical taste.
One of my beloved car requests was Billy Joel’s “Storm Front.” As an annoyingly precocious and not even remotely popular preteen, I got very into Wilco circa its 1996 double-album, “Being There.” I am still not over the death of Tom Petty and cannot imagine a time when the opening chords of “Free Fallin’” playing unassumingly over a drugstore’s speakers will not bring me to public tears.
If anything, my recent embrace of Steely Dan has helped me settle into a newfound level of self-acceptance. I am a discerning, feminist-minded millennial woman. I also love dad rock.
At least in print, the phrase “dad rock” was coined in 2007 by the music critic Rob Mitchum — to his later regret. He used it in an unfavorable Pitchfork review of Wilco’s “Sky Blue Sky,” an album “of unapologetic straightforwardness,” he wrote, that “nakedly exposes the dad-rock gene Wilco has always carried but courageously attempted to disguise.”
The term stuck, not just to Wilco but to their more canonical and constitutionally laid-back classic rock influences. Several years later, in the introduction to a list of “20 Dad-Rock Albums You Should Learn to Love” (“The Dark Side of the Moon,” “Astral Weeks,” “The River,” etc.), the website Flavorwire defined the common usage of the term as “music made by old white dudes that somehow always ends up on the car stereo and/or being played on the hi-fi at various school friends’ houses
I was struck by this definition’s similarities with my own more personal recollections: dad rock’s numbing ubiquity and the childlike feeling that it is being chosen, absurdly, from on high by some unchecked authority figure behind the wheel of life. As I got older and started writing about music, though, I found that dad rock’s dominance was not just confined to the plush interior of a Taurus: What is “rockism” if not the larger cultural equivalent of the dad who just won’t relinquish control of the car stereo?
Last year, in Esquire, Mitchum wrote a mea culpa for originating what he believed to be a grievous insult. He was particularly apologetic that the phrase had become so closely associated with the Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy, who found the description “unflattering and hurtful” — even if that was something Tweedy said while promoting an album he’d made featuring his own son on drums. (“It almost feels like we’re trolling those people now,” he added.)
But in the past decade or so, Mitchum realized, the “dad rock” tag has become much less derisive than it was when he first used it. Its ethos of “middle-age contentment” and just liking what you like was now “something to aspire to.” “Calling a band dad-rock in 2019,” he concluded, “is just as likely to be a defiant re-appropriation of a hipster insult.”
He was more prescient than he realized: A month later, Pitchfork — the very site that had given Wilco a 5.2 rating for committing the sin of dadliness — cleared its slate of new album reviews one Wednesday and declared it Steely Dan Day, publishing five re-evaluations of the group’s “most influential records.”
How, in the span of a decade, did dad rock go from an insult to becoming … kind of a compliment? One important thing that happened in the 2010s was that rock music (especially the kind made by white, dad-aged men) drifted to the edges of mainstream popular culture. And though this shift has not yet made up for decades of erasure of more diverse voices, streaming has widened the array of easily accessible artists and perspectives.
The catch is that this has not spelled its irrelevance — quite the contrary. Maybe the gently teasing term “dad rock” cut this music appropriately down to size, removed its albatross of “greatness” and rendered it ripe for rediscovery by the sort of people who might have initially balked at its patriarchal omnipresence.
As I’ve been making peace with my own appreciation for dad rock, I’ve noticed some contemporary female musicians doing the same — albeit with their own irreverent twists. In 2018, when the all-female trio boygenius released its debut EP, its cover art paid a winking homage to Crosby, Stills & Nash’s first album. Last year, the musician Melina Duterte (who is 26 and records as Jay Som), told me she’s a big Steely Dan fan. When I tweeted about my Steely Dan phase, Sadie Dupuis, of Speedy Ortiz and Sad13, replied, “When this happened to me it never stopped.”
There’s a particular power in relating to music made by those who look, think and live the way you do, especially when those perspectives have been undervalued in the past. But music has a lot of different powers, and another has to do with eradicating the external differences between people. “The division between artist and fan dissolves in the moment of impassioned listening, and with it goes the division between genders,” writes Sasha Geffen in “Glitter Up the Dark: How Pop Music Broke the Binary,” a new book about music’s long history of gender nonconformity. “In music, people are not separate; they cannot be divided up into two discrete categories.”
I like this argument because it not only justifies, as a non-dad, my appreciation of dad rock, but it also makes space for the possibility that a dad could just as easily appreciate music that would seem ostensibly to be more “for me.” Which I would encourage him to do — just as long as he doesn’t try to give it some corny name like “daughter music.” Not funny, dad!
A few years ago, my dad started giving me his old records, and on each trip back to New York, I take as many as I can carry. One by one, far from the back seat of a car, I’ve been able to sift through them in my own time and of my own volition, figure out which ones I never gave a fair shake and which ones still bore me. The former pile is higher. Maybe my Steely Dan phase has a bit to do with a larger generational sea change, but maybe it’s just as much a perennial part of getting older and realizing your parents were correct about more than you gave them credit for.
That said, Dad, I’m still not going to take any of those Jethro Tull albums off your hands. Maybe you can try again in 40 years”
Phew, that’s good!
Ha – I’ve been a fan of Wilco since the beginning, and I’ve never heard them described as dad-rock before – possibly because I prefer listening to music to reading about it in music mags…
No fan of Steely Dan though, and regarding The Nightfly I’ve gone the opposite route: I listened to and enjoyed it a lot when it came out, but a year ago or so when I finally bought it on a whim, it bored me to tears.
(But it doesn’t upset me to see it take the top spot of this list, lists are not about results, they’re about the voting; thinking about favourite albums and getting inspired to listen to them again, and then listen to some that others like and you’ve never heard before…)
I picked up a pristine vinyl copy of The Nightly while on a trip to Chicago to see some Wilco shows.
👏 and Ta for all the work..
The tension was unbearable. Thanks so much. I’ve never knowingly heard a note from #1 despite knowing most of the rest of the high achievers very well.
A worthy winner I think. It didn’t make my 10 but I had it on my shortlist. Moot point as I missed the damned deadline…
An outstanding piece of Afterword curation and scholarship!
Brilliant work! Thank you.
Top work – you’re dedication is noted and will be rewarded with the hamperest of hampers
Thanks Brother Craig.
Thank you for all the hard work. The results and the way you ‘teased’ them out made a great read, and my mind just boggles at the maths involved in it all. I suspect the list of “most voted for albums” would also make a good alternative final list in its own right. Lastly, I too have never knowingly heard a note from The Nightfly despite being familiar with many others mentioned here. I guess that’s another to go in the ‘Wish List’ then.
Yes, I have already ordered a copy of the Sparklehorse album voted for here!
Interestingly The Nightfly came joint 24th in the 80s part of the all time list a few weeks ago unless I fucked up the counting…
And Graceland was 48!
1 Hounds of Love Kate Bush
2 Get Happy!! Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3 Rain Dogs Tom Waits
4 Remain In Light Talking Heads
5 Skylarking XTC
6 Black Sea XTC
6 The Stone Roses The Stone Roses
6 You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever Orange Juice
9 Peter Gabriel (3) Peter Gabriel
9 King Of America Elvis Costello
9 Spirit Of Eden Talk Talk
12 The Colour of Spring Talk Talk
13 Dazzle Ships OMD
14 Murmur R.E.M
15 Hats The Blue Nile
16 The Queen is Dead The Smiths
17 Lexicon of Love ABC
17 Sign O The Times Prince
19 Swordfishtrombones Tom Waits
20 Imperial Bedroom Elvis Costello & The Attractions
21 One Trick Pony Paul Simon
22 Parade Prince
22 Technique New Order
24 Bummed Happy Mondays
24 Closer Joy Division
24 Common One Van Morrison
24 Dexys Midnight Runners Don’t Stand Me Down
24 Fisherman’s Blues The Waterboys
24 Hearts And Bones Paul Simon
24 Hex Enduction Hour The Fall
24 My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts Brian Eno & David Byrne
24 Nonsuch XTC
24 Reckoning R.E.M.
24 Silver Town The Men They Couldn’t Hang
24 Starfish The Church
24 The Distractions Nobody’s Perfect
24 The Nightfly Donald Fagen
24 Tin Drum Japan
24 When in Rome Penguin Cafe Orchestra
40 High Land Hard Rain Aztec Camera
40 Lifes Rich Pageant R.E.M.
40 Milestones Miles Davis
40 On the Way to the Peak of Normal Holger Czukay
40 Passion Peter Gabriel
40 Sweet Baby James James Taylor
40 The Dreaming Kate Bush
40 Workers Playtime Billy Bragg
48 ABC Beauty Stab
48 As Falls Wichita So Falls Wichita Falls Pat Metheny
48 Dare! The Human League.
48 Fried Julian Cope
48 Graceland Paul Simon
48 Life’s a Riot With Spy vs Spy Billy Bragg
48 Life’s hard and then you die It’s Immaterial
48 Pontiac Lyle Lovett
48 Signing Off UB40
48 The Waitresses Wasn’t Tomorrow Wonderful?
48 This Is The Sea The Waterboys
48 Thunder And Consolation New Model Army
48 Unfinished Revolution Christy Moore
Yes Dai, there were several surprises in this vote; people put it down to the mood they are in when voting.
Your poll will be skewed by those who mainly voted for non 60s/70s artists in the best ever poll. Such people will probably prefer older artists, hence the good showing of Fagen Simon and Bowie possibly
Those who voted for lots of 80s and 90s acts in the best ever poll have less relative influence in this one regarding high positions for those acts.
Word. My ultimate list only had three from before 1980. If we did a 60s/70s poll I would have been able to bump Kraftwerk, Curtis, Sly Stone etc
The late results were not so much to do with my quick Curry but with my search in Lytham for this plaque, this afternoon.
Where is that plaque located?
In a pub, the town hall, a theatre?
South Clifton Street. I am not sure but I recall he recorded one of his 1980s albums there.
@Carl
Actually the plaque can be found at St Annes’ seafront Peace and Happiness Garden.
Roy Harper and Jimmy Page recorded the album “Whatever Happened to Jugula?” at the Boilerhouse Studios.. a studio in the basement of Tony & Gail Beck’s house, “West Bank”, 6 Clifton Drive, Lytham
The Nightfly??? I am vaguely aware of that album coming up every so often as a recommendation in Spotify, but I had no idea it was so highly regarded. Total shock. I was holding off scrolling down until I had guessed the number one, but I was racking my brains and I could not think of an album that would score higher than both Paul Simon and Kate Bush. Well there you go. You learn something new every day. Best album of the 80s and 90s. Who would have predicted that?
Well done for doing this! A real labour of love.
Thanks for your excellent work with the chart, Craig.
Interesting to see “The Nightfly” at the top of the heap.
But maybe not so strange…
I’ve always thought of the Afterword as:
“An independent station …. with jazz and conversation, from the foot of Mount Belzoni.”
Magnificent work Craig. I hope no one is expecting this degree of statistical analysis when I get round to doing the 21st Century list. Feeling thoroughly intimidated.
Oh, and given that only two of my choices made the top 20, you’re clearly all wrong….
Exhaustive examination of those 20 years – it should be published as the definitive work on this period of music.
Gird your loins for the 21st century vote….
Absolutely splendid effort, Craig – I am raising a glass to you as I type!
Is it easy for you to confirm the (say) Top 10 favourite artists for this period by points scored?
Elvis Costello has done well.
Hi @Biggles
It should be possible; give me 24 hours; there wasn’t an Artist column in my sheet.
@Biggles asked for the Top 10 favourite artists for this period by points scored.
PLease see the new thread/blog Final Score – By Artist 1980 to 1999
Interestingly this was our Top 5 from about 10 days ago:
1 Hounds of Love – Kate Bush
2 The Nightfly – Donald Fagen
3 Remain in Light – Talking Heads
4 Graceland – Paul Simon
5 Automatic For The People – R.E.M.
Never heard Nightfly, or indeed any solo Donald Fagen. Any good?
So popular opinion, round here at least, has it. I’m allergic to Steely Dan and so will continue to give it a wide berth but the Massive have spoken.
I love The Nightfly but it would be outside of my top 20
As always personal views – The Nightfly is pretty much a Steely Dan album, and imho better than the last 2 SD albums. His latest album Sunken Condos is my favourite from either Becker, Fagen or SD since then. Kamakeriad and Morph the Cat sound nice when they are on, but I struggle to remember anything about them in between plays.
If you like 70s SD, you’ll probably like the Nightfly. If you don’t, you won’t.
I think this result fits the ethos (?) of the Afterword very well.
There’s an album party going on, downtown. Civilains have been pestering the DJ for Brothers in Arms or Spiceworld or Slippery When Wet or indeed Wet Wet Wet all night.
They”re all sweaty, trying to get off with each other and, in time, tears begin to flow and fights break out. In time, most are outside in small groups smoking cigarettes; many of them for the first time in years., poncing off the loyal smokers who have had the fortitude and backbone to continue the habit through thick and thin.
The DJ finds himself alone behind the decks as side 2 of Seven and the Ragged Tiger, splutters from the speakers to a completely empty dancefloor. It’s a disaster.
At exactly 00:01 (so it counts as “the wee small hours” ) the Afterword arrives and adopts a decisive stance in the middle of the dancefloor. As Simon Le Bon’s whines his last words on the Seventh Stranger, the room falls silent.
The Afterword says “anyone got a light?” and immediately he is found by a lone spotlight. Oh yeah, he was shining like the sun, feeling like a number one all right. He is well-dressed in a white linen suit, like Bogey in Casablanca (but everyone thinks he’s come as Jimmy Nail out of Spender).
The Afterword reaches into his suit jacket as if to take out a cigarette. Instead, he produces a shiny CD and allows himself a knowing smile. He propels the CD expertly toward the DJ, as if flipping a playing card into a top hat.
The DJ catches the CD and does small “yes, Sir!” salute to the Afterword. We now see the Afterword joined by a beautiful woman, dressed like Lauren Bacall (but everyone thinks she’s come as Anthea Turner) and they dance, expertly. We now see the dancefloor full of the same crowd as before but now impeccably dressed and stylish. What a beautiful world this can be, what a wonderful time to be free.
I am off to tune in to WJAZ
Great work Craig. I’ve done similar things myself in the past, so I know how time consuming it all is (although I quite like this sort of thing). Surprised about the number one, which I’m not too keen on myself. Looking forward to struggling to choose 20 from the 21st century. Hope they’ll let us submit a hundred instead.
If ever any of my civilian friends accuse me of nerderdom, or whatever, I shall point them to this thread to explain how life should really be run. Good work Craig.
Heh, seven of my choices didn’t a manage to pick up a vote from anyone else 🙂
Largely expected, but a bit surprising that absolutely nobody managed to find a place for “Surfer Rosa” on their list.
Nice one though Craig, enjoyed reading through that.
Seven singletons? That’s a badge of honour.
Congrats on a great deviance from most AWs.
Although Salwarpe had 8…
Jack Kelsey had 9 (but 9 were for Nick Cave)
Morrison has 10 singletons!
Clearly I’m not as much of a deviant as some others around here… 😉
Damn! Playing With Fire and Screamadelica cost me a clean sheet. But they are such blinders, I couldn’t not choose them.
Good work @craig42blue
Thank you for your sterling effort
The live version of The Nightfly is even better! 😉
I can’t remember this poll – I was reading through it, struggling to remember what I voted for but, on reflection, I don’t think I took part.
A link to the votes thread would be handy.
Found it! And apparently I did take part – I should’ve known when I saw “A Black Box” amongst the single pointers! I did take some time out in the middle of 2020 – and I still can’t remember seeing this results thread!
[Edith: looks like Dai beat me to it! So I’ll delete the link…]
You did vote @fitterstoke some decent choices I think
1 – Scary monsters (and super creeps) – David Bowie
2 – The Nightfly – Donald Fagen
3 – Swordfishtrombones – Tom Waits
4 – The Final Cut – Pink Floyd
5 – Grace and Danger – John Martyn
6 – The Dreaming – Kate Bush
7 – Outside – David Bowie
8 – Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot – Sparklehorse
9 – Girlfriend – Matthew Sweet
10 – A black box – Peter Hammill
Bubbling under: The Bends – Radiohead; Tin Drum – Japan; Discipline – King Crimson, etc, etc,…..still room for two Bowie albums in the top ten, even allowing for the quality goods that I’m omitting….
Yes, indeed! With hindsight, I might swap out “Outside” for “Buddha of Suburbia” – but otherwise content with those…
Ten votes were never enough.