Thank you everyone for your contributions to my 60 albums thread. And thank you for bearing with me while it slowly dawned on me that it was a bigger job than I thought and I hadn’t really planned it out properly!
I’ve found it fascinating reading all the results. But I’ve now finished the big spreadsheet and I’m ready to share the results. I’ll do so year by year in the comments below. It’s going to take some time to go through all the years, but, hey, we have all the time in the world, in the words of Mr Armstrong.
I’ll also comment on some of the problems, like the same album appearing in different years (West Side Story, I’m looking at you).
My next job is to decide a method on choosing the winner for each year. I don’t want to just go with the one with the most votes for each year. That’s bland and boring and I never intended that. I’ll lay out all the nominations for each year here and then I can have a think.
One thing is clear – some years have a clear winner. I think in these cases I can just choose a winner here.
Other years have two or three contenders for the top spot. So might be good to argue these out between us. I’m thinking I might even choose a “champion” for certain years – someone to choose a winner they are passionate about.
And other years are just wide open with no clear winner. We might have to put these to another vote, now we have a shortlist.
Anyway, it’s an interesting journey and (on the perhaps misguided presumption that I’m creating something of lasting value) I’m going to push on, however long it all takes.
(I have a mad idea about turning this into a book at the end of all this… The Afterword Guide to 60 Years of Music, anyone?…. but one step at a time….)
1959
Here we go!
Kind of Blue Miles Davis 13
Time Out The Dave Brubeck Quartet 2
No One Cares Frank Sinatra 2
Little Girl Blue Nina Simone 2
Dance Album of Carl Perkins Carl Perkins 1
Quiet Village Martin Denny 1
Blowin’ The Blues Away Horace Silver 1
The Shape of Jazz to Come Ornette Colman 1
For LP Fans Only Elvis Presley 1
Grand Total 24
I’m calling that a clear winner. Nothing else really comes close. Miles wins over half the votes, with clear blue water between him and the next rival.
WINNER – Miles Davis, Kind of Blue
A worthy winner, I think. Interesting how many jazz albums there are for this year. I suppose in ’59, jazz was the dominant music genre for long players, wasn’t it? A shame to see Dave Brubeck bubbling under – that’s another great album.
1960
Giant Steps John Coltrane 6
Sketches of Spain Miles Davis 5
The Sound of Fury Billy Fury 2
Eden’s Island Eden Ahbez 1
Blues and Roots Charles Mingus 1
At Last! Etta James 1
The Wonderful World of Jazz John Lewis 1
Nice’n’Easy Frank Sinatra 1
Grand Total 18
Hm. A bit more problematic. We might need to put it to a vote between Miles and Coltrane. Both worthy winners. Personally I’d say Sketches of Spain has the edge, just because I think it goes beyond jazz into music that sounds like nothing else on earth. It’s not even really a jazz album is it?
Mmm, you’re leaving yourself dangerously open to Brexit gags here.
Edit: yep, and you made them yourself. Note to self, read whole thread before commenting…
Worth remembering that Miles nicked the gist of SOS from Rodrigo….
Miles’s works with Gil Evans (Miles Ahead, Porgy And Bess and Sketches Of Spain, etc.) were effectively Concertos, with Miles solo set against an orchestra of carefully arranged horns, plus bass and drums, occasional piano. They were exploratory and innovative but, I think, lack spark. The Kind Of Blue band lost patience waiting for Miles to finish Sketches Of Spain and found other things to do. I wish he’d spent his time making another album with them rather than twiddling with Gil. At that time, in a small group setting, with those musicians, Miles excelled. He’s merely really good on Sketches Of Spain.
Ouch, burn!
I don’t know… Maybe it was something to do with the time of my life I discovered Sketches of Spain (after my son was born, driving back and forward to the hospital) but it just resonates with me. I don’t think it’s just a straight lift from the original guitar concerto either – Gil Evans’ arrangements give it a unique feel that I just don’t hear anywhere else. Maybe the film music of John Barry comes close on occasion, but that run of albums (and Sketches of Spain is the best) stands alone.
I also love Gil Evans’ Out Of The Cool, which came a couple of years later. It sounds much the same, sans trumpet parping.
That music is way better than almost anything else, just not the small group modal jazz that was around at the same time.
My vote goes to Giant Steps for this year. Coltrane deserves to feature somewhere in the final result.
Yes, I was amazed that “A Love Supreme” only gained a paltry 3 votes.
Well, it’s got a nice cover but it’s a bit of a … difficult… listen….
Mainly, it lost out in a very good year for Rock/Pop.
Yeah, you just keep thinking that. Of course it’s not a difficult album masquerading under an iconic cover and of course it would have won if it had come out in a different year. (Pats Tiggerlion’s head).
It’s far from my favourite Coltrane and far from his most difficult.
Have you seen the cover to Ascension?
Have you heard Kulu Se Mama? (heh heh)
Ha ha, yes I actually bought Ascension mainly for the cover!
I’m being slightly flippant here – I actually do quite like Ascension (yes really) and A Love Supreme. But I’m under no illusion that they are a difficult listen and a hard sell.
I don’t know … I wouldn’t say that “A Love Supreme” is a particularly difficult listen.
“Barbed Wire Maggots” by Borbetomagus – now THAT’S a difficult listen.
The live versions of Sketches certainly have that spark Tigger.
Indeed they do. That live album is a great exclamation mark after a period of superlative innovation.
Are there live versions? Wow. What, with a proper orchestra and that, or just played by a small band?
Live At Carnegie Hall features the Gill Evans Orchestra for the Sketches In Spain pieces and a quintet with Wynton Kelly piano, Hank Mobeley sax, Paul Chambers bass & Jimmy Cobb on drums for the modal/hard bop pieces.
Details here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Davis_at_Carnegie_Hall
Ooh that sounds wonderful. I’m going to get that (assuming it’s still available). I had no idea that existed!
As I’ve explained on these pages before, I only dabble in Miles Davis stuff. Every so often I dip in and explore one area of his output, and it seems to be 50/50 whether I come up with something I love (the Gil Evans stuff, Kind of Blue (obvs), In A Silent Way, Bitches Brew (in parts) and my funeral song It Never Entered My Mind) or something I just can’t get into (Jack Johnson, On the Corner, Birth of the Cool, the late 60s quintet stuff).
Ouch! £24 on Amazon…..
West Side Story was released in 1961.
Easy! 😄
…. is the correct answer.
I’m exaggerating for effect! But yeah, two people placed it in 1960 I think. Is that maybe when the film came out? Interestingly, the CD itself says copyright 1965!??
1961
West Side Story OST Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim 5
The Blues and the Abstract Truth Oliver Nelson 3
Sunday at the Village Vanguard Bill Evans Trio 3
Africa/Brass John Coltrane 2
New Juke Box Hits Chuck Berry 1
Forbidden Fruit Nina Simone 1
Genius Sings The Blues Ray Charles 1
The Honeydripper Jack McDuff 1
Showcase Patsy Cline 1
The Shadows The Shadows 1
A Few Of My Favourite Things John Coltrane 1
Sinatra’s Swingin’ Session Frank Sinatra 1
Grand Total 21
Okay, so people were all over the place with what year to place West Side Story in. But Wikipedia says 1961 and so that’s where I’m putting it.
I’m tempted to say that makes it the clear winner of ’61. But it’s just too close to call. The hordes of jazz fans in the Afterword would no doubt elevate one of those other contenders to the top spot over a musical, given a straight vote. So might be another one to put to a vote.
I’ve never knowingly heard Oliver Nelson, but “The Blues and the Abstract Truth” is such a fantastic name for an LP I’m tempted to explore further! It sounds like the coolest album on the planet.
Yes. It’s a very cool album.
Looks like the Jazz vote was split in 1961 but West Side Story is superb and probably captures the essence of that year extremely well.
Just checked and you were one of the Oliver Nelson nominators! Interesting that you’d be willing to concede West Side Story as the winner – that makes me think the final votes (or however I choose to do it) might be quite amicable!
Don’t count on it!
Thanks for doing this but I still don’t understand how something is too close to call when one album clearly gets more votes than another. Huh?
Well, the way I see it, if you whittled it down to a knockout competition, forcing people to pledge a winner instead of spreading their votes out amongst a load of single vote albums, there just wouldn’t be a certainty of West Side Story coming out on top.
Does that make sense?
I admit I’m going by feel a lot of the time here. But I just think a bit of flexibility makes it interesting. (And I’m hoping the government adopt my approach in their Brexit decision making). (Hang on though, does that make me Boris?? Or Theresa????)
Anyway, the wonder of me revealing the counts in full like this is that, if you want to consider the highest vote in each year to be the true winner, then you can!
Call for the Electoral Reform Society!
@Arthur-Cowslip Oliver Nelson’s Stolen Moments is a stone cold classic that you must listen to….. everyone.
1962
Waltz for Debby Bill Evans Trio 2
Green Onions Booker T & The MGs 2
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music Ray Charles 2
I Don’t Worry Bout A Thing Mose Allison 1
Oh Yeah Charles Mingus 1
Surfin’ Safari The Beach Boys 1
Night Train Oscar Peterson 1
It’s Up To You Ricky Nelson 1
Nefertiti Cecil Taylor 1
Howlin’ Wolf Howlin’ Wolf 1
Beethoven’s Symphonie Nr 7 Berliner Philharmoniker / Herbert von Karajan 1
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan 1
Undercurrent Bill Evans 1
Jazz Samba Charlie Byrd & Stan Getz 1
Live At The Village Vanguard John Coltrane 1
Grand Total 18
Definitely no clear winner! Clearly the formalisation of pop music is still around the corner with the Beatles (just you wait).
The Beethoven/Karajan selection by salwarpe is a very interesting choice. I own and love the Karajan symphony collection, but it would never have occurred to me to think of it as a contender in the LP stakes. Classical music doesn’t make much of an impact over the 60 years of choices.
Re: “Classical music doesn’t make much of an impact over the 60 years of choices.”
Yeah, I’d been thinking of putting “The Art of the Netherlands” by David Munrow and the Early Music Consort of London for my 1976 nomination. But in the end it just got edged out.
Still, if you like early music, “The Art of the Netherlands” is an essential purchase, and it’s a scandal that the CD versions of the album still omit one side of the original triple LP set.
“Classical music doesn’t make much of an impact over the 60 years of choices.” – I should qualify that comment! I wasn’t dissing the classical music of the last 60 years – I was just meaning not many people have nominated classical albums in the poll.
I thought Gorecki and Gavin Bryars might pop up, to name two, but no.
I think classical is different in that most people here (I think) probably classify classical by composer, and work, rather than by ‘album’ as such.
I am one of those who keep his CDs in alphabetical order. But among those my classical CDs appear in order of composers while the others are all filed by artist. In many cases I don’t even remember too well who the performers or conductors are. So for me at least classical wouldn’t really have worked here.
Yep, agree.
As the seventh is the symphony I listen to and love above all others, I was pleased to see it in the All Music list for 1962, as there was nothing else from that year I knew. It was the rock/dance music of its day, you know.
1963
With The Beatles The Beatles 6
Please Please Me The Beatles 5
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan Bob Dylan 4
A Christmas Gift To You Phil Spector (Various) 2
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Charles Mingus 2
Midnight Blue Kenny Burrell 2
Ella & Basie Ella Fitzgerald & Count Basie 1
Live At The Apollo James Brown 1
Money Jungle Duke Ellington 1
I’ve Been Everywhere Hank Snow 1
Idle Moments Grant Green 1
Grand Total 26
And hellloooooo to the moptops! The fact that the two top spaces are split between two Fabs albums makes me think one of them has to win this year. Maybe a vote between them, with Dylan added as a wildcard?
Jazz still the dominant LP force in the other nominations. But kudos to Lemonhope and Timbar for choosing the Spector Christmas album! Yes, it’s a fine LP and uniquely great in the history of Christmas music.
My vote goes for Please Please Me.
The opening “1 2 3 4” is the dawn of a revolution
I love … oooh can’t remember who now… one author categorised Please Please Me as an oddly symmetrical album – incredible tracks at the beginning and end of each side (Saw Her Standing, title track, Love Me Do and Twist n Shout), a decent track holding up the middle of each side (Chains and Secret) plus filler in between. I think that’s a decent analysis and it makes the album a real forerunner in the idea of a pop album being a cohesive journey of songs.
Still. My vote’s for With The Beatles. No singles, better cover. Proper album.
Totally agree; it’s the Beatles’ perfect album, the only one IMO.
1964
A Hard Day’s Night The Beatles 12
Out To Lunch Eric Dolphy 3
The Times They Are A’Changin’ Bob Dylan 3
A New Perspective Donald Byrd 1
Folk Roots, New Routes Davy Graham & Shirley Collins 1
Folk Singer Muddy Waters 1
It’s A Quiet Thing Morgana King 1
England’s Newest Hitmakers The Rolling Stones 1
The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones 1
The Sidewinder Lee Morgan 1
Getz/Gilberto Stan Getz & João Gilberto 1
I Don’t Care Buck Owens & The Buckaroos 1
Grand Total 27
No competition, is there?
WINNER – The Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night
Beatle-haters, please just close your eyes for the next five years or so.
I’m fascinated that NO ONE suggested Beatles For Sale in ’64, however. I suppose it was a rushed release at a time when the boys were REALLY pushed for time and recording on the odd days they could steal when they weren’t touring or appearing on TV. Would including Leave My Kitten Alone on that album make a difference, do you think? I think it’s the finest and most baffling of all the unreleased Beatles songs. It really rocks and it beggars belief that they didn’t include it on the album.
England’s Newest.. and The Rolling Stones are essentially the same album..?
yes
Oh really? Didn’t know that.
US and UK releases with tracklisting buggered about (singles added) for US market. See also: early Fabs.
@Arthur-Cowslip Even as a staunch supporter of For Sale, I’m not willing to suggest it stands a chance against A Hard Day’s Night. So the 1964 vote goes to…
1965
Highway 61 Revisited Bob Dylan 9
Rubber Soul The Beatles 5
A Love Supreme John Coltrane 3
Bringing It All Back Home Bob Dylan 2
Otis Blue Otis Redding 2
In Concert The Dubliners 1
Pastel Blues Nina Simone 1
Help! The Beatles 1
Ballads Of The True West Johnny Cash 1
Out Of Our Heads The Rolling Stones 1
South of the Border Herb Alpert 1
Mr Tambourine Man The Byrds 1
Maiden Voyage Herbie Hancock 1
Grand Total 29
An early defeat for the Beatle boys as Dylan hits a home run with what I personally think is his finest album. I’m glad to see it towered over Bringing It All Back Home – which is good but seems half-formed next to the might Highway 61.
However…. winning 9 votes out of 29 just isn’t enough to declare Dylan the clear winner. A vote between Bob and the Beatles might be an interesting proposition, with Coltrane as a wild card.
1966
Revolver The Beatles 14
Pet Sounds The Beach Boys 7
Sounds of Silence Simon and Garfunkel 2
John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers 2
The Monkees The Monkees 1
Black Monk Time The Monks 1
Blonde on Blonde Bob Dylan 1
Wild is the Wind Nina Simone 1
5th Dimension The Byrds 1
Sergio Mendes and Brazil ’66 Sergio Mendes 1
Face to Face The Kinks 1
Grand Total 32
I know Pet Sounds got a respectable number of votes here, but Revolver really has no real contender. I really need to also consider that it got more votes than any other album in the entire poll. It’s a worthy winner, sorry.
WINNER – The Beatles, Revolver
Blonde On Blonde 1,vote.
Quelle horreur.
Then again, I found the process overwhelming and abstained. .
1967
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band The Beatles 11
The Velvet Underground & Nico The Velvet Underground 7
Forever Changes Love 5
Magical Mystery Tour The Beatles 2
Gorilla The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band 1
The Doors The Doors 1
Frank Sinatra Meets Carlos Jobim Frank Sinatra 1
Between the Buttons The Rolling Stones 1
Born Under A Bad Sign Albert King 1
Strange Days The Doors 1
Absolutely Free Mothers of Invention 1
John Wesley Harding Bob Dylan 1
I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You Aretha Franklin 1
Grand Total 34
Sgt Pepper LOOKS like a winner, but I’m betting that in a vote between the Beatles and the Velvets, with Love as the wildcard, Messrs Reed and Cale would give Messrs Lennon and McCartney a run for the money. The fact that the Doors, the Bonzos and the Mothers are all contenders here indicates to me strong ground support for VU style artpop over Merseybeat whimsy. Could be an interesting battle.
I was just thrilled to see Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim in there!
1968
The Beatles (White Album) The Beatles 7
Astral Weeks Van Morrison 6
Electric Ladyland The Jimi Hendrix Experience 3
Kick Out The Jams MC5 2
The Kinks are The Village Green Preservation Society The Kinks 2
Odessy and Oracle The Zombies 2
Spirit Spirit 1
Sweetheart of the Rodeo The Byrds 1
Lady Soul Aretha Franklin 1
In Search of the Lost Chord The Moody Blues 1
Gris Gris Dr John 1
In a Gadda Da Vida Iron Butterfly 1
Eli and the Thirteenth Confession Laura Nyro 1
The Notorious Byrd Brothers The Byrds 1
Bookends Simon and Garfunkel 1
Nancy & Lee Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood 1
Beggars Banquet The Rolling Stones 1
Music in a Doll’s House Family 1
You’re All I Need Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell 1
Lumpy Gravy Frank Zappa 1
Grand Total 36
Interesting! Now we are starting to get real fragmentation. Can you see the spread of nominees getting bigger? Clearly the LP market is finding its feet. I wasn’t born yet but it would be a fascinating time to be a young man with money in my pocket!
I actually expected the white album to get a bigger share, but clearly I underestimated the power of the Van man. I can’t really comment – can you believe I’ve never actually knowingly listened to Astral Weeks? What am I missing?
Glad Hendrix is in with a shout here. This is going to be a tricky year to find a winner.
I knew nothing of Astral Weeks until years after it’s release and reputation had grown, and I think I approached it with reverence from the beginning.
Even so, it’s not difficult to imagine the affect it must have had, back in 1968.
I still think of it as his best, though I have about half of his stuff now.
It’s partly for that reason I love it; that it created an expectation for the subsequent releases. It says everything, that I wasn’t disappointed.
I really need to give it a go. In my head, I imagine it being a kind of mix of Nick Drake and Stephen Stills. I’ll try it out and see how wrong I am!
Think of it as Jazz, lyrically and musically.
Yeah, with Richard Davis’s double-bass, it really swings!
I loved it eventually, but the bass was the thing I had a problem with. That bass, or rather my issue with it, cost me a good few years of appreciation of this fantastic album.
Im in the “I dont really get it” camp with Astral Weeks, I much prefer Moondance – but Bookends is the most impressive album of that year IMO. The emergence of a songwriting titan. I should have voted but was a bit overwhelmed.
Moondance is my favourite too, but I also really like Astral Weeks. I know what you are saying though, as it took a long time and a lot of listens before I really started liking Astral Weeks.
Not a single vote for The Band’s Music From Big Pink? I must say I’m slightly surprised.
Astral Weeks is a real “marmite” thing – some love it and hail it as his best work. Me, I just can’t see the attraction – it’s nice enough, even some stand-out tracks, but it does drag a bit.
In short, I just don’t “get it”
If I ventured in the slipstream between the viaducts of your dreams
V
Why don’t we do it on the road?
1969
Abbey Road The Beatles 9
Hot Rats Frank Zappa 3
Five Leaves Left Nick Drake 2
The Band The Band 2
Liege and Lief Fairport Convention 2
Stand! Sly & The Family Stone 1
Four Sail Love 1
Hot Buttered Soul Isaac Hayes 1
Space Oddity David Bowie 1
Extrapolation John McLaughlin 1
Pretties For You Alice Cooper 1
Troutmaskreplica Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band 1
Nashville Skyline Bob Dylan 1
Happy Trails Quicksilver Messenger Service 1
Arthur, or The Decline and Fall of the British Empire The Kinks 1
Willy and the Poor Boys Creedence Clearwater Revival 1
Valentyne Suite Colosseum 1
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere Neil Young 1
Young Mods Forgotten Story The Impressions 1
In A Silent Way Miles Davis 1
A Rainbow In Curved Air Terry Riley 1
Let It Bleed The Rolling Stones 1
In The Court Of The Crimson King King Crimson 1
Grand Total 36
Pop becomes rock and the golden age of the LP has truly arrived! What a fabulous spread of albums. I thought the Stones might be more prominent but obviously the Fabs still rule.
I’m calling it. Hot Rats is a worthy second place but Abbey Road just has to win. It’s my poll and I have the final say!
WINNER – The Beatles, Abbey Road
My kudos award for this year goes to Mike_H and his vote for Terry Riley. I highly recommend it if you haven’t heard it. It’s not for the faint hearted – kind of a stoned, repetitive precursor to Tangerine Dream. Two sides, one long song each side – niiiice.
Crumbs!
These days I prefer the second side “Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band” to the jangly title track. Spaced-out droney echoplexed magnificence at least 10 years ahead of everyone else.
Yes indeed. I was serious in my comparison to Tangerine Dream! Very similar to some Brian Eno stuff as well. The cover notes on the album explain it was somehow done with tape loops, but the effect is still baffling. I do wonder what exactly his technique was.
It’s a very soporific album (again, meant as a compliment). I find that and Steve Hillage’s Rainbow Dome Musick great LPs to chill out and fall asleep to.
Yes. I enthusiastically commend Rainbow Dome Musick to the Massive.
Recorded specially for the Rainbow Dome installation at the Festival for the Mind, Body and Spirit at Olympia in 1979.
Didn’t know that! I just bought it cos I liked the cover and I’m always attracted to LPs that have just one long track on each side.
I went to the Festival (can’t remember if I travelled down especially or if I was staying in the London area at the time) and reclined on a beanbag (iirc) in the dome for a while. It was like a big shiny igloo with a lightshow and continuous music inside. Very pleasurable, it was.
All sorts of purveyors of crystals, new-age cults, gurus, teachers, herbalists and hucksters represented there.
I remember I bought a copy of G.I. Gurdjieff’s “Meetings With Remarkable Men” from a bookstall there, which I lost sometime way back in time.
This is why I didn’t play – I would have spat my dummy right here. Mighty though it is, Liege and Lief isn’t even Fairport’s best album of 1969. Retrospective tip of the hat to Unhalfbricking.
I’m only vaguely familiar with Fairport’s output, so I hadn’t even realised that album wasn’t nominated at all. Yes, a few artists have definitely suffered from releasing more than one album in the same year…
I was surprised and slightly gratified to learn that, in amongst being an intern at Stockhausen’s studios for a couple of months, a young Jean-Michel Jarre had done some studio engineering grunt work for Terry Riley, apparently.
1970
Bridge Over Troubled Water Simon and Garfunkel 4
Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs Derek and the Dominoes 3
Moondance Van Morrison 3
All Things Must Pass George Harrison 3
Déjà Vu Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young 2
Christmas and the Beads of Sweat Laura Nyro 2
Atom Heart Mother Pink Floyd 2
Full House Fairport Convention 1
McCartney Paul McCartney 1
Pink Moon Nick Drake 1
Third Soft Machine 1
Funhouse The Stooges 1
John Barleycorn Must Die Traffic 1
Emerson, Lake & Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer 1
Stephen Stills Stephen Stills 1
Tumbleweed Connection Elton John 1
Bitches Brew Miles Davis 1
Plastic Ono Band John Lennon 1
Benefit Jethro Tull 1
After the Gold Rush Neil Young 1
Yeti Amon Düül II 1
Infinite search/Mountain in the clouds Mroslav Vitous 1
Abraxas Santana 1
In The Wake Of Poseiden King Crimson 1
Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! The Rolling Stones 1
Grand Total 37
I don’t know. Am I wrong to feel this year seems a bit… tired compared to the previous years? It’s like a lazy lull at the end of the sixties. I wrongly assumed CSNY might get a bigger share of the vote. But there’s definitely a Beatle-shaped vacuum – the three solo albums here would have made for a fascinating Beatle release if they had pooled their efforts. Separately, they seem to me to be half-baked (yes, even Harrison – great songs but he’s really spread his talents thin over six sides of music).
No clear winner. Will need to have a think.
Ahem.. point of order but ‘Pink Moon’ is 1974. Edit: No, it’s 1972, silly Slotbadger
I would definitely go for Bridge Over Troubled Water here, I think if you’re going by ‘feel’ that’d be 1970, right there 🙂
Oof, Pink Moon. Yeah, you’re right. You know, that jumped out at me and I meant to check it, but I didn’t. Ah well. I’m sure there will be plenty more mistakes to come!
BOTW was the “must have” album of the time wasn’t it and sold bucket loads for good reasons
1971
Hunky Dory David Bowie 7
IV Led Zeppelin 3
Sticky Fingers The Rolling Stones 3
Tapestry Carole King 2
Blue Joni Mitchell 2
Bryter Layter Nick Drake 2
Who’s Next The Who 2
What’s Going On Marvin Gaye 2
Journey In Satchidananda Alice Coltrane 2
Electric Warrior T Rex 1
3 Santana 1
Moving Waves Focus 1
Tarkus Emerson, Lake & Palmer 1
Happy Just To Be Like I Am Taj Mahal 1
No 1 Wonderland Band 1
Cry Of Love Jimi Hendrix 1
Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon James Taylor 1
Meddle Pink Floyd 1
Histoire De Melody Nelson Serge Gainsbourg 1
Love It To Death Alice Cooper 1
Harmony Row Jack Bruce 1
Grand Total 37
Okay… we are into the Hepworth year now and the quality shows. Hunky Dory is the surprise frontrunner – I suppose because it seems so out of time, almost ahead of itself. Personally I’d find it hard to choose between Zep and the Stones.
Leicester Bangs is too cool for school with his choice of Serge Gainsbourg. Ooh la la.
Love Hunky Dory , but “What’s Going On” rightly regarded by some as the greatest album of all, must surely be the winner for this particularly stunning year.
1972
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust David Bowie 5
Close To The Edge Yes 4
Pink Moon Nick Drake 4
Exile on Main Street The Rolling Stones 3
Transformer Lou Reed 1
Harvest Neil Young 1
I Sing The Body Electric Weather Report 1
Talking Book Stevie Wonder 1
The Real Thing Taj Mahal 1
Foxtrot Genesis 1
Superfly Curtis Mayfield 1
I’m Still In Love With You Al Green 1
St Dominic’s Preview Van Morrison 1
Hot Licks, Cold Steel & Truckers Favourites Commander Cody 1
Shades of a Blue Orphanage Thin Lizzy 1
Happy To Meet … Sorry To Part Horslips 1
School’s Out Alice Cooper 1
For The Roses Joni Mitchell 1
The Slider T Rex 1
Ege Bamyasi Can 1
Can’t Buy A Thrill Steely Dan 1
Manassas Stephen Stills 1
Trilogy Emerson, Lake & Palmer 1
Never A Dull Moment Rod Stewart 1
Grand Total 36
I’m going to end it here for tonight as it’s late and the quality and spread of the competition as we move into the 70s hurts my head. No clear winner this year, but my personal choice would be Close To The Edge.
Watch Bogart from here on in – he bravely nominates Alice Cooper on multiple occasions throughout the decade! I respect your individuality (I think every true Afterworder needs at least one nomination that no one else agrees with – mine being Wildflower (2016) and Hergest Ridge (1974)) but I think you are fighting a losing battle….
Ooh, good to see Can starting to make an appearance now. Ege Bam Yasi is a fine little album, equal parts arty and funky. Thank you Mr L Bangs!
1972 with Nick Drake sorted….
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust David Bowie 5
Pink Moon Nick Drake 5
Close To The Edge Yes 4
Exile on Main Street The Rolling Stones 3
The Real Thing Taj Mahal 1
Hot Licks, Cold Steel & Truckers Favourites Commander Cody 1
I’m Still In Love With You Al Green 1
Talking Book Stevie Wonder 1
Happy To Meet … Sorry To Part Horslips 1
Superfly Curtis Mayfield 1
Manassas Stephen Stills 1
St Dominic’s Preview Van Morrison 1
I Sing The Body Electric Weather Report 1
Shades of a Blue Orphanage Thin Lizzy 1
Harvest Neil Young 1
School’s Out Alice Cooper 1
Foxtrot Genesis 1
For The Roses Joni Mitchell 1
Transformer Lou Reed 1
Ege Bamyasi Can 1
The Slider T Rex 1
Can’t Buy A Thrill Steely Dan 1
Trilogy Emerson, Lake & Palmer 1
Never A Dull Moment Rod Stewart 1
Grand Total 37
This is a monumental piece of work Arthur – thank you! Looking forward to seeing the rest as they come through.
Couple of immediate observations –
the Beatles deserve their prominence.
But I’m surprised at just one vote each for Blonde on Blonde and John Wesley Harding. And very surprised to see Bridge Over Troubled Water triumph over Layla, Moondance, Deja Vu and All Things Must Pass.
And I’m flummoxed by 1971 – I would never have predicted so many votes for Hunky Dory. I mean it’s a good album and all, but in a year which also featured so many classic albums, above all, Blue by Joni Mitchell, I’m amazed to see it as the runaway winner. I’m sure Hepworth would have something to say about that.
Ooh yes I meant to comment on Blonde on Blonde, that’s true. I think maybe, a genius work as it is, it’s maybe just too sprawling and diverse to register as a truly genius 60s album.
Hm, mind you, you could say the same about the white album, couldn’t you? Maybe ’66 was just too early for such things… I’m imagining an alternative history now where it came out the same year as the white album and Electric Ladyland….
No, Blonde On Blonde is a truly genius album, but it’s a bit like the scoring in a boxing match. You could have 12 incredibly tight rounds, yet a fighter could win 12-0 because of the way the scoring is done and anyone not watching the match would be forgiven for thinking it was a completely one sided fight. So Blonde On Blonde may well have come a very close second on the list if we were allowed 2 votes, as I know Revolver only narrowly pipped it for me.
I can’t fault the logic of what you are saying… and maybe it would have been better to give everyone two (or even three) nominations for every year… but let me be clear: There is no way I am backtracking now and starting all over again with a different voting system! 🙂
(Brexit means Brexit, ha ha).
I’ve actually got a top 40 done for 1966 (i.e. all my albums from 1966). Elvis has three albums in the list. Despite considering myself an Elvis fan, they are placed in 38th, 39th and 40th. 1966 was not Elvis’s best year!
I think anyone who’s surprised by Bridge Over Troubled Water needs to listen to it again. It’s an incredible album.
That sounds aggressive and I don’t mean to be, but sometimes we think we know something, but really we replace the actual thing with our own perception of the thing, it’s so familiar we take it for granted. Any record that has The Boxer, So Long Frank Lloyd Wright, Cecilia and The Only Living Boy In New York (which is one of the greatest songs ever written and deserves to be as revered as Wichita Lineman) deserves more respect than it often gets. (And that’s without mentioning the title track)
This is exactly the kind of impassioned arguing I was hoping for.
But allow me to politely retort….
There are great songs on Bridge, but I think it’s patchy overall. You get a sense that Simon was keen to move onto a truly mature, sophisticated solo style (fully realised by the Rhymin’ Simon LP in ’73) but was instead persuaded to bland it out into soft pop.
The mighty Iain Macdonald said it best when, in his fabulous essay on S&G in his book The People’s Music, summed up the title track by saying it was a verse too long and was drenched in syrupy strings and reverb. (Compare to American Tune a couple of years later, which is like an experiment in the same idiom but with more spectacular results).
The Boxer is suberb, Cecilia is a classic. The Only Living Boy In New York though…. ooooh, sorry, I think it has immediacy and appeal but it sounds half finished.
Yes it’s patchy. 3 or 4 great songs. Can’t stand Cecilia or the half hearted Bye Bye Love. Keep the Customer Satisfied is awesome though. Their best album was Greatest Hits.
Much of S&G’s oeuvre is twee, rock lite, too maudlin or annoyingly chirpy, as is Simon solo somewhat. Despite his natural brilliance at writing a good tune. The Only Living Boy on the other hand is one case where he rises up among the greats with Sgt Pepper type backing vocals, and a big, beautiful melody where eveything comes together with the right production. Otherwise I think the album is a bit over produced.
“Overproduced” – yeah, that’s the word, right there.
The most perfect album Paul Simon has made is his first after Bridge Over Troubled Water, his second entitled “Paul Simon”. The songs are personal, almost intimate. Roy Halee’s production is just right. The engineer was Phil Ramone who gradually replaced Roy as producer on Simon albums. By Graceland, their roles were reversed with Roy as engineer and Phil producer.
It’s a fine record as are Rhymin’ Simon and (especially, I think) Still Crazy, and yet they garnered just one vote between them. Paul Simon is one of the big losers so far..
I would agree with that. It might be a perennial observation about his whole career to be honest – he’s always the second best and never the best! Imagine a world without Lennon and McCartney, where Paul Simon had a clear field to show off his songwriting!
Wrong. It’s One Trick Pony.
I am agree. Not a bad moment on OTP, and many sublime ones.
No, it’s Graceland.
The fact we can argue about this (and personally I’d say Rhymin’ Simon was his most perfect one) shows the overall quality of his work, doesn’t it? One of the true greats, is Mr Simon.
Absolutely. And no one’s mentioned Hearts and Bones yet…
Bridge is indeed a fine record; my surprise was as much that the Afterword chose it (well, four did) so much as at its intrinsic quality. It is patchy though – the title track, Frank Lloyd Wright, The Boxer, Only Living Boy, stand out for me – the others less so. Mind you patchiness is a weakness several other of the front runners that year could be accused of.
Totally agree with @Lemonhope.
Salwarpe – Apologies, I’ve just remembered that after the message you sent me I meant to double check my results with yours before I steamed straight into publishing them all here! Thanks for the input and advice anyway, and also for pointing out the West Side Story anomaly! Please feel free to point out anywhere where your results differ from mine though. And also please chip in with any interesting pivot table style magic analysis if you spot any trends that are worth pointing out.
No apologies needed, @Arthur-Cowslip. I’m on holiday at the moment, so can’t compare results until Friday (well, I could, but my wife would kill me).
Once back, I’ll have a perusal. When I did my scoring, I automatically moved albums into their correct years, and when voters couldn’t make up their minds, gave half a point each to their choices.
As to most Afterwordy voter, I think it was Moseleymoles.
Morrison had 51 unique choices.
I guess that at the end we can work out which one of us chose the most winning albums and is therefore the most typical Afterworder.
See salwarpe’s comment above – it’s Moseleymoles! He’s either the most culturally attuned or the most bland among us…. you can choose which…..
Yes! Please let us see us ranked according to this criterion.
I’ll let salwarpe handle that – he seems to be the bally Pivot Table King. He sorts by intuition, doesn’t need no whistles and bells, etc…..
Most typical Afterworder ev-ah eh @salwarpe and @arthur-cowslip
What an award.
As we’ve only got up to 1972 it probably reflects my age. Up until 19878 I was not listening to stuff as it was released in real time. Actually from 1978 to maybe 1986 I was hardly listening to anything old as there was too much new to keep track of. And Spotify hadn’t been invented. So I am inevitably a bit less ‘invested’ in the more arcane reaches of stuff that came out before I was a teenager or even before I was born than the stuff I taped off Peel or went to see played live. I’m thus more likely to come up with consensus answers from before punk. From 1978 on expect to see more deviation from the norm.
Still surprised as (I think) I only had one Beatles album top. Did go for most of the jazz stuff though.
Hey, the figures don’t lie! Take yo’ praise.
I’m trying to think of a suitable award for the Most Average Afterworder. A Richard Thompson beret? A signed copy of Aja? A used Van Morrison harmonica? Or just a beige plastic trophy?
It’s a balmoral
Please, not the used Van Morrison harmonica.
Pink Moon appears in 1970 and 72. If you add his 70 vote to the correct 72 he draws with Bowie but wins on the penalty shoot out
This is a very lively mental image, Nick Drake taking a penalty kick
Re: “This is a very lively mental image, Nick Drake taking a penalty kick”
Yeah, the scores are level after 90 minutes + extra time.
Up steps the promising young midfielder from Tanworth-in-Arden.
The start of the penalty competition.
Five Kicks Left.
Nick Drake was a county level sprinter as a schoolboy. Might’ve just toe-punted the ball, mind.
Ah, you’re right – apologies. I’ll amend this.
Don’t worry, plenty more mistakes to come, I’m sure!
There’s a guy (yes, a man!!!), pictured in one of the Guinness Book of Hit singles/Albums, who owns every no. 1 album released since the chart started.
I can’t help feeling it would be a much more interesting collection if he had every album that had reached, say, no. 16.
My dad was a DJ from about the mid seventies to the early eighties (I’m talking school discos and pubs in Ayrshire, he wasn’t juggling breakbeats with Kool Herc in the Bronx) and bought every number one single from that era – sometimes the whole top ten.
He had a big box full of these, and I rescued some decent ones (Bowie, Cure, em Billy Joel…) but it’s a huge regret to me that he threw most of them away after he gave up DJing! Well, gave them away, but it’s the same thing. It would have been a nice collection and an excellent little time capsule and discussion point.
Is it Phil Swern (radio producer bloke).
Apparently he’s got every chart single since 1952.
https://www.longlivevinyl.net/phil-collector-swern-interview/
I did try and collect a copy of every Number 1 Single on my birthday – I gave up at 1988 when I realised I would nave to go into a shop and be seen buying “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You” by Glenn Medeiros
(which I do now have due to the incorporation of Mrs D’s teenage singles collection)
Thanks for that, it was a really good read. It also gave me the chance to show the missus that my 3,000 CDs are nothing compared to some people!
He writes the questions for Pop Master, too.
I remember reading in the 80s that someone, Tim Rice I think, had an order with his local record store that he would buy a copy of every single that entered that chart each week, and so presumably built up over the years and decades a huge library of chart singles. He must really hate Spotify.
I think that might have been Mike Read – he had a copy of every 7″ single for his jukeboxes. This was scuppered by Blue Monday as it was a 12″ only release. IIRC New Order pressed a 7″ version for him.
1973
The Dark Side Of The Moon Pink Floyd 5
Future Days Can 3
Tubular Bells Mike Oldfield 3
Innervisions Stevie Wonder 3
Band on the Run Paul McCartney 2
Abandones Luncheonette Hall & Oates 1
Countdown to Ecstacy Steely Dan 1
There Goes Rhymin’ Simon Paul Simon 1
Quadrophenia The Who 1
Raw Power Iggy and the Stooges 1
Birds of Fire Mahavishnu Orchestra 1
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid Bob Dylan 1
Selling England by the Pound Genesis 1
Paris 1919 John Cale 1
For Your Pleasure Roxy Music 1
Moontan Golden Earring 1
Brain Salad Surgery Emerson, Lake & Palmer 1
Let’s Get It On Marvin Gaye 1
Billion Dollar Babies Alice Cooper 1
Larks’ Tongues in Aspic King Crimson 1
Aladdin Sane David Bowie 1
Welcome Santana 1
A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night Nilsson 1
Holland The Beach Boys 1
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Elton John 1
Grand Total 36
No clear winner. Probably worth a second vote between those top five.
Good to see my personal favourite, Tubular Bells, up there! Innervisions was a close second for me.
Dark Side was the one we queued up to listen to in the little perforated hardboard booths at City Radio during our lunch hour on the day of release. Far and away the release of the year.
That’s actually a really good point. A good idea to take into consideration the album which at the time made a big splash, regardless of whether it has since fallen out of favour a bit.
Looking forward to seeing No Parlez topping the ’83 list.
Spoiler alert!
The kids I was working with that year were far more likely to play Fun Boy Three, Madness or Afrika Bambaataa.
No Parlez was for hairdressers and shelf stackers with no taste, hence the swift passage – en masse – of copies to the charidee shop.
Er aren’t there sometimes reasons why an album drops out of favour? Maybe even good reasons?
’73 – the year I fell in love with “serious” music and became an incorrigible music snob. DSOTM was life-changing. I never knew music could be so exciting.
1974
Pretzel Logic Steely Dan 3
Court and Spark Joni Mitchell 3
I Want To See The Bright Lights Richard & Linda Thompson 2
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway Genesis 2
Radio City Big Star 2
Veedon Fleece Van Morrison 2
Diamond Dogs David Bowie 1
Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) Brian Eno 1
Bolla Och Rulla Pugh Rogefelt 1
The Heart of Saturday Night Tom Waits 1
Feats Don’t Fail Me Now Little Feat 1
Psychomodo Cockney Rebel 1
Starless and Bible Black King Crimson 1
Propaganda Sparks 1
Red King Crimson 1
The End Nico 1
Hergest Ridge Mike Oldfield 1
Phaedra Tangerine Dream 1
Eldorado Electric Light Orchestra 1
On the Beach Neil Young 1
Crime Of The Century Supertramp 1
Apostrophe Frank Zappa 1
Country Life Roxy Music 1
Kimono My House Sparks 1
Autobahn Kraftwerk 1
It’s Too Late To Stop Now Van Morrison 1
In Flame Slade 1
New Skin For The Old Ceremony Leonard Cohen 1
Grand Total 36
Getting really splintered now, with many many albums all getting a single nomination. I must admit this year is a bit of a blind spot for me. Starting from the top, Diamond Dogs is the first one I have actually listened to. (I’ve tried The Lamb Lies Down but just can’t get into it).
Like Dark Side the year before, the one everybody wanted tucked under their arm this year was Court & Spark. Like Van before her, Joni was walking into uncharted territories, and we were thrilled by her explorations.
Really? Must be part of my blind spot. It’s weird, but 1974 really hasn’t figured in my musical subconscious much! Court & Spark – honestly I’ve never even really been curious about it. If you told me the album name alone I would struggle to name the artist. I would have thought Genesis, Bowie and Supertramp all made a bigger splash.
I know in the UK at the time the ubiquitous Tubular Bells hogged the number one spot, to be knocked off my Oldfield’s second album, only to go back to number one again straight after!
Was having Tubular Bells tucked under your arm in 1974 the equivalent of carrying about a Michael Buble CD today??
No. It was cool
Cottoning on to Tubular Bells in 1974 was a little bit like hearing an early Ed Sheeran album before he was widely known – you mean he does it all himself? Strewth.
It’s almost impossible to explain now what Tubular Bells meant then – in a time when silly statements in tiny fonts tucked away in the corners of LP covers raised a genuine chuckle and when actually knowing who was making those announcements on the way to “Grand Piano” and finally to “Tubular Bells” invoked a smidgen of satisfaction at having some arcane knowledge.
Sales-wise, and general awareness-wise, it was a slow grower for quite a long time – almost a left-field indulgence when an LP needed to be saved up for – and its ownership had nothing whatsoever in common with ownership of a Buble title today.
Thanks Vulpes, that’s very insightful. I was only born in ’73 and I grew to love ‘Bells as a teenager after browsing through my dad’s record collection. Still a life-changing album for me, but at the time I knew of no one else on earth who liked it or even knew about it. (How the internet has since shrunk the world!)
I still don’t really have a handle on how it was perceived at the time. I get the impression it was as ubiquitous as Adele (or yes Ed Sheeran as you say), but it always seemed to my ears to be far too magical and fragile to be appreciated by the masses in that way. (Pretentious, moi?)
The sales figures are quite telling. For all the talk of it being a masterpiece beloved worldwide, it’s only ever sold about 20m copies or something. Which sounds a lot until you look at the true big hitters from the same time – hasn’t Dark Side sold 100m or something like that?
Wasn’t it the album that established Branson and Virgin. Down here the import record shops sold truckloads before it was released locally. It proved a challenge for radio trying to find a short bit to play.
It hasn’t sold as many as DSOTM has over the years, but it sold by the truckload for a good while when it took off. It was in the UK album top ten for a year but once it dropped out of the chart it barely sold at all for several years. It sold 2.7 million copies in the UK and about 15 million worldwide.
DSOTM is the fourth best selling album of all time with claimed sales at 45 million worldwide.
I vaguely recall hearing it lots as a mere 3/4 year old , as my dad had a copy. It was something of a slow burner, but I think being used in The Exorcist was the thing that really propelled it into a much higher public consciousness, especially in the US.
In a remarkable year – Pretzel Logic, Bright Lights, Lamb Lies Down, On the Beach, Diamond Dogs, were all heavily played as I remember, Court and Spark was indeed a jewel in the the crown. Maybe Joni’s most radio friendly record and it’s stood the test of time.
Incidentally Neil Young doesn’t seem to have picked up many votes does he?
No he does not. Hasn’t Harvest appeared? What year was that? (I don’t have my spreadsheet in front of me right now).
Harvest is in 71
Oh I see it – its up there with one nomination and it’s under 72. (And 72 is correct according to Wikipedia!)
Sorry 72
A very accessible Joni album. Just a bit jazzy and less trilly than those before.
I think it’s much more than that; it’s revolutionary for Joni’s development. It’s the one that signals the inevitability of The Hissing Of Summer Lawns; the beginnings of the tectonic shift that leads eventually and majestically to Hejira. The artists is no longer reporting or observing; she’s completely in the songs.
1975
Wish You Were Here Pink Floyd 7
Blood on the Tracks Bob Dylan 4
The Hissing of Summer Lawns Joni Mitchell 3
Horses Patti Smith 3
Agharta Miles Davis 2
Siren Roxy Music 2
Live! Bob Marley & The Wailers 2
Evening Star Robert Fripp and Brian Eno 1
One Size Fits All Frank Zappa 1
On the Level Status Quo 1
Nadir’s Big Chance Peter Hammill 1
Fish Out Of Water Chris Squire 1
Born to Run Bruce Springsteen 1
Discreet Music Brian Eno 1
Welcome to My Nightmare Alice Cooper 1
Pieces of the Sky Emmylou Harris 1
Another Green World Brian Eno 1
The Show Must Go On Sam Dees 1
A Night At The Opera Queen 1
Helen of Troy John Cale 1
Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac 1
Grand Total 37
Two of the perennial big hitters rise to the top with two (rightfully) lauded albums. I’m disappointed no one else likes A Night At The Opera! That was my nomination and it’s a real work of art.
WYWH is great but a variant on DSOTM. BOTT was a jaw dropping return to form.
He’s right you know.
1976
Station to Station David Bowie 9
Hejira Joni Mitchell 5
Songs in the Key of Life Stevie Wonder 5
Oxygene Jean Michel Jarre 1
Wind & Wuthering Genesis 1
I Want You Marvin Gaye 1
The Modern Lovers The Modern Lovers 1
The Royal Scam Steely Dan 1
Survivors Suite Keith Jarrett 1
Jailbreak Thin Lizzy 1
World Record Van Der Graff Generator 1
How Dare You 10CC 1
Dirty Deeds Done Cheap AC/DC 1
Heat Treatment Graham Parker 1
Arrival ABBA 1
A New World Record Electric Light Orchestra 1
Agents of Fortune Blue Oyster Cult 1
Ramones The Ramones 1
Year of the Cat Al Stewart 1
Plain Capers John Kirkpatrick 1
Grand Total 36
I’m tempted to say Bowie is the clear winner here. Four votes ahead of the closest challenger….
In fact, yeah, let’s say that.
WINNER: Station to Station, David Bowie
It’s the connoisseur’s choice, innit? Bowie at the height of his art pop powers, channelling stuff that no one else in the world can keep up with (and it’s not just the side effects of the cocaine). It’s a soaring, towering achievement, that album.
By that criterion, Hunky Dory wins 1971 and Sgt Pepper 1967.
Hmm. I do see your point. But here, in my defence, I’d like to quote one of my favourite lines from one of my favourite films… “Hell I don’t know, I’m making this up as I go….”
(Raiders of the Lost Ark from 1982 in case you wondered. Hey…. we could do 60 years of movies as well, couldn’t we? Why don’t I start an********STOP RIGHT THERE *********)
1959. Some Like It Hot
1960. Psycho
1961. West Side Story……….
Em NO. I think you’ll find it’s…
1959. North By Northwest
(And the other two I agree with)…
1960 The Apartment
Well, nobody’s perfect…….
Ha, good one.
I was only trying to save your time. 😉
Why thankyew.
Well, this year does surprise me. I would have had the none-more-Aftrerword Hejira as a shoo-in for top slot. Surprises are good.
I’d have had you as a Plain Capers man, @thecheshirecat !!
Do you know, you just can’t find salted capers anywhere on the high street nowadays. Not Booths, nor even ‘the Southern Booths’.
You are so right
https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/shop/browse/groceries/food_cupboard/jarred_goods_pickles_and_olives/capers
Am I missing something here?
They’re there and they’re even on offer!
https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/waitrose-cooks-ingredients-salted-nonpareille-capers/098800-50377-50378
Also the “North British” Booths:
https://www.waitrose.com/content/waitrose/en/bf_home/bf/620.html
What nonsense.
Station To Station another grinding turn of the Bowie wheel of thinly stretched talent, while from a place of warmth and poetry Hejira flew up into the desert sky, wheeling from 3000 feet, way above everyone else, telling us beautifully scripted tales of the road, of distant friends, of difficult self-discovery. A journey we could only wonder of then and one which many of us still haven’t made, decades later.
I feel the same way, only the other way around.
See, you need to make that journey.
Yes! I like your passion. I want people to strongly contest the favourites.
Hejira is great. But Station to Station is magnificent – Bowie’s finest hour in my view. Songs in the Key of Life also a worthy medalist in that year – maybe needs a playoff between the three of them?
Another interesting thing about this exercise is the records that aren’t even getting a mention. Two of the most played records that year were Desire and Hotel California but not a whisper about them here….
As far as innovation and slap the forehead demonstration of talent and diversity.
Hejira.
Certainly gets my vote.
Hurrr!
😉
What the man said.
tvc15 – just can’t warm to it – or type in caps seemingly.
Oh I LOVE that. Mind you, he made a pig’s ear of it at Live Aid. A bizarre choice to play that day.
He seems to have loved TVC15. It’s my least favourite on one of his best albums. In fact, every other song is a classic to me. TVC15 is its OB-La-Di, although not as bad as.
I was driving across the burning desert
When I spotted six jet planes
Leaving six white vapor trails across the bleak terrain
It was the hexagram of the heavens
It was the strings of my guitar
Amelia, it was just a false alarm
The drone of flying engines
Is a song so wild and blue
It scrambles time and seasons if it gets thru to you
Then your life becomes a travelogue
Of picture post card charms
Amelia it was just a false alarm
People will tell you where they’ve gone
They’ll tell you where to go
But till you get there yourself you never really know
Where some have found their paradise
Others just come to harm
Oh, Amelia it was just a false alarm
I wish that he was here tonight
It’s so hard to obey
His sad request of me to kindly stay away
So this is how I hide the hurt
As the road leads cursed and charmed
I tell Amelia it was just a false alarm
A ghost of aviation
She was swallowed by the sky
Or by the sea like me she had a dream to fly
Like Icarus ascending
On beautiful foolish arms
Amelia it was just a false alarm
Maybe I’ve never really loved
I guess that is the truth
I’ve spent my whole life in clouds at icy altitudes
And looking down on everything
I crashed into his arms
Amelia it was just a false alarm
I pulled into the Cactus Tree Motel
To shower off the dust
And I slept on the strange pillows of my wanderlust
I dreamed of 747s
Over geometric farms
Dreams Amelia – dreams and false alarms
That is SO perfect.
I have an ambition, nearly realised, to be able to sing all nine tracks, if only just to sing them to myself. That said, one of the guitarists at the folk club, with whom I occasionally collaborate, is starting from scratch with Hejira. I’m hoping that, once he’s sussed the tunings, we may get to the point of performance.
Huge respect for your project; may your chords – both vocal and strung – find their finest expression in the joys of this wonderful album.
1977
Never Mind The Bollocks Sex Pistols 4
Low David Bowie 3
Aja Steely Dan 3
My Aim Is True Elvis Costello 3
Marquee Moon Television 3
Animals Pink Floyd 2
Trans Europe Express Kraftwerk 2
The Clash The Clash 2
Rumours Fleetwood Mac 2
Future Games Spirit 1
Bat Out Of Hell Meat Loaf 1
Even In The Quietest Moments Supertramp 1
Saturday Night Fever OST Various 1
Going For The One Yes 1
New Boots and Panties!! Ian Dury 1
Exodus Bob Marley 1
Rejoice The Emotions 1
East of the River Nile Augustus Pablo 1
Rocket to Russia The Ramones 1
Talking Heads 77 Talking Heads 1
Heart of the Congos Congos 1
Heavy Weather Weather Report 1
Lust For Life Iggy Pop 1
Grand Total 38
What a year. The total spread of nominations across punk, art pop, jazz, prog, AOR, electronic experimental, reggae…. It’s a testament to a music industry firing on all cylinders in every direction, all aiming squarely and confidently at the future. Personally, I don’t rate the Sex Pistols album (maybe good in small doses), but there’s only one vote in it.
1977 – the year of Punk.
The album is not the medium of Punk, and the spread here shows that Punk was not “out with the old and in with the new” (but we knew that anyway).
Low 3 – “Heroes” 0
I agree, still a bit surprised though.
No one voted for Dennis Wilson’s gorgeous Pacific Ocean Blue?
Elvis’ year. No question. Lyrically an assault rifle of angry sneering, musically as tight as a gnat’s.
You know, for a second there I genuinely thought you meant Presley!
Marquee Moon clearly. Of itself and of its influence.
You know…. I’ve tried a few times to get into Marquee Moon and it’s bored me and just never really stuck with me. The other day I heard it playing in a shop and I thought “Oh I know this, what is it again?” – and my guess to myself (before I recognised it) was that it was a mid seventies Stones track. So my point is I think they sound like the Stones (and not the good Stones, the flabby Stones when they went off the boil). Is that a common comparison people make?
Well Artie, you’re wrong. Pretty much on every point.
I’m strangely proud of that!
Try ‘Adventure’, Television’s next album. Better, shorter songs – and not subject to the same untouchable reverence.
Hmm. Not sure about that. Foxhole and Careful are good but better in live form as is their material generally. Live At Waldorf or Blow Up are them at their best. The guitar interplay is what shines in performance and the rhythm section’s not bad either. The improvised element makes the difference.
My God, ‘77 was a great year, but Never Mind the Bollocks? Well it should rightly top a shock value list, but really!
Aja – quite simply majestic.
1978
Darkness on the Edge of Town Bruce Springsteen 5
Parallel Lines Blondie 3
Street Legal Bob Dylan 2
This Year’s Model Elvis Costello and The Attractions 2
Blue Valentine Tom Waits 2
The Kick Inside Kate Bush 2
All Mod Cons The Jam 2
The Man Machine Kraftwerk 1
David Gilmour David Gilmour 1
Excitable Boy Warren Zevon 1
Real Life Magazine 1
City to City Gerry Rafferty 1
The Scream Siouxsie and the Banshees 1
Germfree Adolescents X Ray Spex 1
Not Available The Residents 1
Equinoxe Jean Michel Jarre 1
At The Chelsea Nightclub The Members 1
Sunlight Herbie Hancock 1
African Dub All-Mighty Chapter Three Joe Gibbs 1
C’est Chic Chic 1
Here, My Dear Marvin Gaye 1
Rise Up Like The Sun Albion Band 1
Gwerz Penmarc’h Sonerien Du 1
More Songs About Buildings and Food Talking Heads 1
Today Art Pepper 1
Inflammable Material Stiff Little Fingers 1
Grand Total 37
I’m slightly surprised Kate Bush doesn’t make a stronger appearance here. But never underestimate the Afterword’s love for Bruce!
Re Bruce – true, that, and yet – only one vote for Born to Run?!
From me.
Street Legal is the most underrated Dylan album ever.
There. I’ve said it.
It’s spelled New Morning.
Except Street Legal has become one of those albums that so many people have described as ‘underrated’ (God knows I’m one of them) that I’m not sure it can really be described as such any more. Either way, it’s a corker.
Planet Waves genuinely is underrated I think – it often seems all but forgotten these days.
Agree on that. Neither sold well or had the reviewers in ecstasy.
1979
Unknown Pleasures Joy Division 3
London Calling The Clash 3
Rickie Lee Jones Rickie Lee Jones 2
Bop ‘Til You Drop Ry Cooder 2
I Am Earth, Wind & Fire 2
The Wall Pink Floyd 2
Fear Of Music Talking Heads 2
Setting Sons The Jam 2
Rust Never Sleeps Neil Young and Crazy Horse 2
Armed Forces Elvis Costello 2
Entertainment! Gang of Four 1
Damn The Torpedoes Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers 1
Drums and Wires XTC 1
Black & White The Stranglers 1
Nice Guys Art Ensemble of Chicago 1
Welcome to the Cruise Judie Tzuke 1
Eat to the Beat Blondie 1
Specials The Specials 1
Do It Yourself Ian Dury 1
Live at the Counter Eurovision Misty in Roots 1
Regatta De Blanc The Police 1
Spectral Mornings Steve Hackett 1
Replicas Tubeway Army 1
Movies Holger Czukay 1
Metal Box Public Image Ltd 1
Grand Total 37
Mm, this is where I start to lose touch a bit. I haven’t heard more than half these albums.
A thought:
The Clash for ambition
Joy Division for (belated) recognition and influence
The Jam cos it’s their best album
The Specials cos it’s the 40th anniversary of Two Tone
Wow. I guessed I might be the only one to vote for Sophie Ellis-Bextor, but I never guessed I’d be the only person to vote for The Man-Machine. It’s the only album I’ve ever heard that is completely perfect from beginning to end. My second favourite album has Maxwell’s Silver Hammer on it.
Wow. It’s the greatest year in the history of rock (probably)
That is an universally acknowledged fact, Mr dai, sir.
Universally acknowledged by me, that is.
and me (although I was only 9)
…and me. although I was 17/18 and discovering sex and drugs to enhance my rock n’ roll
1980
Get Happy!! Elvis Costello 4
Remain in Light Talking Heads 4
Closer Joy Division 3
Sound Affects The Jam 2
Making Movies Dire Straits 2
Searching For The Young Soul Rebels Dexys Midnight Runners 2
Penguin Eggs Nic Jones 2
One Trick Pony Paul Simon 2
Big Showdown at King Tubby’s Scientist Vs Prince Jammy 1
Dare Human League 1
Sandanista! The Clash 1
There and Back Jeff Beck 1
Seventeen Seconds The Cure 1
Organisation Orchestral Manouevres In The Dark 1
Grace and Danger John Martyn 1
Back In Black AC/DC 1
Gentlemen Take Polaroids Japan 1
Winter Moon Art Pepper 1
Common One Van Morrison 1
Scary Monsters David Bowie 1
Borderline Ry Cooder 1
Kilimanjaro The Teardrop Explodes 1
Pretenders The Pretenders 1
In The Flat Field Bauhaus 1
Middle Man Boz Scaggs 1
Grand Total 38
I’ll stop here for tonight. We’re into a new era.
I’d like to (unhelpfully) add that if I had my time again I would vote for Remain in Light. Over the years I think I have played it more than any other album I own (including yer Mode) and I still love it.
Get Happy in the same league as Remain in Light. No ways! There’s got to be justice done here.
Completely agree. Remain In Light, like Fear Of Music the year before, kicks European dithering aside with arrogant ease and re-establishes the USA as the home of ballsy intelligent rock music that owes little to its predecessors.
At the same time, Paul Simon’s marvellous One Trick Pony does for singer songwriters what Joni’s done many times before and demonstrates the superior validity and relevance of American observational songwriting.
USA – 2 : Everyone else – not that much.
I actually thought Scary Monsters might make a stronger impact here. Ballsy, tick. Intelligent, tick. European dithering, tick. It’s a magnificent album!
Side 2 is weak.
Side 2 is not as good as side 1 but side 1 is so good it doesn’t matter. Many a classic album is not much more than half a great album when all is said and done.
Yes I voted for Scary Monsters.
If I had bothered to vote for 1980 it would have been the one I went for as well. My introduction to Bowie was the Scary Monsters/Because We’re Young single.
Bravo @Twang
Did you mean to add that comment somewhere else? It looks like you were just inspired to burst into a spontaneous appreciation of Twang for no reason! 🙂
I think we’ve all felt that urge at some point.
Well done Arthur.
Expectedly, preponderance of Brits, especially at the upper end and a paucity of blacks.
So kudos to Morrison who wins the prize for the most black music in his list.
1981
Dare Human League 4
Nightclubbing Grace Jones 4
East Side Story Squeeze 3
Architecture and Morality Orchestral Manouevres In The Dark 3
Trust Elvis Costello 2
The Poet Bobby Womack 1
Heaven Up Here Echo & The Bunnymen 1
Lexicon of Love ABC 1
Penguin Café Orchestra Penguin Café Orchestra 1
Glorious Fool John Martyn 1
Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret Soft Cell 1
Computer World Kraftwerk 1
Tom Tom Club Tom Tom Club 1
Hoy Hoy Little Feat 1
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts David Byrne and Brian Eno 1
Go For It Stiff Little Fingers 1
Moving Pictures Rush 1
Fire of Love Gun Club 1
Tin Drum Japan 1
Pirates Rickie Lee Jones 1
Mask Bauhaus 1
Penthouse & Pavement Heaven 17 1
Magnetic Fields Jean Michel Jarre 1
Mondo Bongo The Boomtown Rats 1
Grand Total 35
And here we go go go into a brand new decade. The seventies already seem far behind.
I don’t think I’ll have much to say about this decade. It’s the decade where I definitely prefer singles to albums, as far as pop music is concerned at least. I haven’t heard a single one of the above albums from start to end!
If it’s any help to identifying a winner, I changed my initial vote to Human League’s Dare (when I remembered it)
Plus, it got one vote in the 1980 list, hence giving it a majority of 2 over Grace Jones
Hang on. We need all the black people and women we can get so we don’t look like the awful racist sexist old farts we are not but you know it looks bad.
Argh. You people. Didn’t you do your RESEARCH before putting your nominations in!??? 🙂
Lexicon of love should be in 1982 , and that would then push its vote up to 3 in that year!
And my reaction to that list of albums was “I could definitely live with that collection for a year!”
All other years have lots of albums that I absolutely detest as well as great ones, this year is more “all killers, no fillers” (with the caveat that I haven’t heard anything by Rush or John Martyn AFAIK).
That’s an interesting follow on question actually… Work out what your favourite year is.
So.… 1981 with corrections….
Dare Human League 6
Nightclubbing Grace Jones 4
East Side Story Squeeze 3
Architecture and Morality Orchestral Manouevres In The Dark 3
Trust Elvis Costello 2
Computer World Kraftwerk 1
Glorious Fool John Martyn 1
Hoy Hoy Little Feat 1
Penguin Café Orchestra Penguin Café Orchestra 1
The Poet Bobby Womack 1
Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret Soft Cell 1
Magnetic Fields Jean Michel Jarre 1
Tom Tom Club Tom Tom Club 1
Heaven Up Here Echo & The Bunnymen 1
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts David Byrne and Brian Eno 1
Fire of Love Gun Club 1
Tin Drum Japan 1
Pirates Rickie Lee Jones 1
Mondo Bongo The Boomtown Rats 1
Penthouse & Pavement Heaven 17 1
Mask Bauhaus 1
Moving Pictures Rush 1
Grand Total 35
Wot! No Delay 1968?
I ask kindly the only record I own from the dire 1980s is added to the 1981 list.
Thing is, with Hoy hoy being a live retrospective and all, it doesn’t really fit here.
Which is why the utterly superb Feat double live album trounces all of the rest of the elpees on the list, stamps on their faces and marches off, snorting with derision at the sheer baseless effrontery of whoever considered them to be competitors.
The year of the synthesiser!
1982
The Nightfly Donald Fagen 5
Nebraska Bruce Springsteen 3
Imperial Bedroom Elvis Costello 2
Too-Rye-Ay Dexys Midnight Runners 2
Thriller Michael Jackson 2
Big Science Laurie Anderson 2
Beautiful Vision Van Morrison 2
The Lexicon of Love ABC 2
New Gold Dream Simple Minds 2
English Settlement XTC 1
Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) Eurythmics 1
Difficult Shapes and Passive Rhythms China Crisis 1
You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever Orange Juice 1
Shoot Out The Lights Richard & Linda Thompson 1
Work of Heart Roy Harper 1
Drums Along The Hudson The Bongos 1
Love over Gold Dire Straits 1
The Dreaming Kate Bush 1
La Variete Weekend 1
Avalon Roxy Music 1
The Number Of The Beast Iron Maiden 1
Hex Enduction Hour The Fall 1
Grand Total 35
Actually, I spoke too soon. I love Love Over Gold, and it would have been my nomination for this year if I had remembered about it. Thank you Chrisf for reminding me!
So it’s Mr Fagen and Mr Springsteen duking it over the top spot. But lots of dual nominations below that. As we move into the eighties and beyond the nominations are spread thinner and thinner.
And once again with Lexicon of Love moved from the correct year for that one wayward vote….
1982
The Nightfly Donald Fagen 5
Nebraska Bruce Springsteen 3
The Lexicon of Love ABC 3
Imperial Bedroom Elvis Costello 2
Beautiful Vision Van Morrison 2
Big Science Laurie Anderson 2
Too-Rye-Ay Dexys Midnight Runners 2
Thriller Michael Jackson 2
New Gold Dream Simple Minds 2
English Settlement XTC 1
Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) Eurythmics 1
Difficult Shapes and Passive Rhythms China Crisis 1
You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever Orange Juice 1
Shoot Out The Lights Richard & Linda Thompson 1
Work of Heart Roy Harper 1
Drums Along The Hudson The Bongos 1
Love over Gold Dire Straits 1
The Dreaming Kate Bush 1
La Variete Weekend 1
Avalon Roxy Music 1
The Number Of The Beast Iron Maiden 1
Hex Enduction Hour The Fall 1
Grand Total 36
Nice to see the Fall troubling the scorers for the first time in this thread. “Hex Enduction Hour” certainly was a landmark album for the band. There may not have been many votes for Classical Music in this huge thread, but at least there’s one vote for “The Classical”.
1983
Murmur REM 7
The Final Cut Pink Floyd 3
Corruption and Lies New Order 3
Apollo Brian Eno/ Daniel Lanois/ Roger Eno 3
Construction Time Again Depeche Mode 2
The Crossing Big Country 2
Swordfishtrombones Tom Waits 2
Punch the Clock Elvis Costello 2
High Land, Hard Rain Aztec Camera 1
Eliminator ZZ Top 1
Genesis Genesis 1
Off the Bone Cramps 1
The Sin of Pride The Undertones 1
Avocet Bert Jansch 1
Colour by Numbers Culture Club 1
The Songstress Anita Baker 1
Imperiet Rasera 1
Too-Rye-Ay Dexys Midnight Runners 1
Let’s Dance David Bowie 1
Grand Total 35
Hmm. Murmur seems to be ahead of the rest. Is that a clear enough margin to declare it the winner? Actually, yeah I think it is – probably as close as we’ll get to a consensus in this decade. I’m surprised actually, I didn’t think of it as a distinctive REM album (but I’m not really an REM fan so I’m not best to judge). Looking at the tracklisting though, I know and love both Radio Free Europe and Talk About The Passion – so maybe I should check out the whole thing.
WINNER – Murmur, REM
(I’ve just noticed Jansch’s Avocet in there – wrong year, surely?)
Avocet. Hmm, you’re right. 1979. It’s an album I came to long after release, so I couldn’t cross-reference with life events. Can’t see any reason on the copy I’ve got why I classed it in 1982. Much as I like many of the nominated bands, I am not going to Single Transferable Vote to any of the contenders, so I’ll pass.
Heh, might have been my choice from this otherwise dismal list too, were it of the right vintage. And like you, there’s nothing here that would come within a mile of inheriting my transferred vote.
Woefull ignoring of the fine Girl At Her Volcano evident in this selection.
The only reason Avocet jumped out at me is because it was only recently I bought it and listened to it for the first time.
It’s rather good, isn’t it? All the wonderfulness of Bert’s playing (and Danny Thompson’s) without his (let’s be honest) “questionable” (at times) singing.
Pedant’s note: the band is called Imperiet and the album name is Rasera! 🙂
PS Not the greatest of years, 1983…at least not musically, judging by that list (personal opinion; others are available)
Yeah, this is us starting to get into the years where there is lots of stuff I hadn’t heard of…. just wait until we reach the noughties….
The only album in that year’s list that I actually bought at the time is “Let’s Dance” and I readily admit it’s not the cream of the crop.
I fear, Arthur, you may have counted my Mummer (XTC) as another Murmur. Say it ain’t so.
I did indeed! Corrected now.
1984
A Walk Across The Rooftops The Blue Nile 7
Born in the USA Bruce Springsteen 4
Hatful of Hollow The Smiths 2
Purple Rain Prince & The Revolution 2
Who’s Afraid of the Art of Noise? The Art of Noise 1
Welcome To The Pleasuredome Frankie Goes To Hollywood 1
I Feel For You Chaka Khan 1
The Reckoning REM 1
Fried Julian Cope 1
The Pros & Cons of Hitchhiking Roger Waters 1
I Often Dream of Trains Robyn Hitchock 1
Texas Fever Orange Juice 1
Hyaena Siouxsie and the Banshees 1
Ride The Lightning Metallica 1
Hallowed Ground Violent Femmes 1
Eden Everything But The Girl 1
Treasure The Cocteau Twins 1
Diamond Life Sade 1
Café Bleu Style Council 1
Broadcasting From Home Penguin Café Orchestra 1
Wrong End of the Race Any Trouble 1
Private Dancer Tina Turner 1
Zen Arcade Husker Du 1
Learning to Crawl The Pretenders 1
Grand Total 35
Hm. With all due respect to Mr Springsteen, I think The Blue Nile are far enough ahead to call it now.
WINNER – A Walk Across The Rooftops, The Blue Nile
This surprised me actually. I thought Hats was the more definitive Blue Nile album and A Walk across The Rooftops was the more experimental dry run. But it’s a great album and a worthy winner. I would have voted for it myself if I had put in a vote for this year, so that would have pushed it up even more.
1983 was obviously just a blip, this list is much better! (But I’ve tried many times and failed to understand why everyone around here loves The Blue Nile…perhaps you had to hear it at that time to get it?)
Hm, no I wasn’t into them at the time. It was the mid nineties when I got into their stuff.
I suppose if you don’t hear it, you don’t hear it. To me they have that euphoria-with-a-tinge-of-sadness you get with Bowie. They’re quite noticeably Scottish as well (in fact, I’d say quintessentially Glaswegian), which I suppose helps muster local support. It’s maybe a bit ungratious to point this out as well, but their lack of output helps (four albums in thirty years or something like that?) – it brings the stuff they did release into sharper focus.
If I’d seen the voting, I’d have had a cheeky vote for Jean Michel Jarre’s Zoolook in 84, which is often overlooked in this country, but did have an impact.
It’s ace! As we said then.
1985
Hounds of Love Kate Bush 9
Rain Dogs Tom Waits 5
Steve McQueen Prefab Sprout 4
Cupid & Psyche Scritti Politti 2
Rum, Sodomy & The Lash The Pogues 2
Misplaced Childhood Marillion 1
Fables of the Reconstruction REM 1
This Nation’s Saving Grace The Fall 1
The Head on the Door The Cure 1
The Night I Fell in Love Luther Vandross 1
The Dream of the Blue Turtle Sting 1
Lowlife New Order 1
The Ups and Downs Stephen ‘Tintin’ Duffy 1
First & Last & Always The Sisters of Mercy 1
The Queen is Dead The Smiths 1
Don’t Stand Me Down Dexys Midnight Runners 1
Be Yourself Tonight Eurythmics 1
Third Decade Art Ensemble of Chicago 1
25 O’Clock Dukes of Stratosphear 1
Working Week Working Nights 1
Psychocandy The Jesus and Mary Chain 1
Grand Total 38
Much as I’m tempted to just give the crown to Ms Bush, I think a three way vote between those three at the top might be quite revealing. I’ve seen all three been praised highly on these pages, so all three are the kinds of albums people are passionate about.
That’s a margin of four.
Cf 1976, 1983 & 1984
YES THANK YOU
I’m only trying to help. 😘
I think 1985 is probably my favourite year for albums.
I’m with you there, and I don’t really rate the number one choice. But Tom Waits (should have won), Prefab Sprout, The Pogues, New Order, The SoM, J&MC all released outstanding albums.
1986
The Queen is Dead The Smiths 7
Life’s Rich Pageant REM 5
Graceland Paul Simon 3
Gone to Earth David Sylvian 3
Skylarking XTC 2
Infected The The 1
Love Remains Bobby Watson 1
So Peter Gabriel 1
Victorialand Cocteau Twins 1
Water from an Ancient Well Abdullah Ibrahim 1
Famous Blue Raincoat Jennifer Warnes 1
Step Outside The Oyster Band 1
Boat to Bolivia Martin Stephenson 1
Bass Desires Marc Johnson 1
Control Janet Jackson 1
No 10 Upping Street Big Audio Dynamite 1
Black Celebration Depeche Mode 1
Neither Washington Nor Moscow Redskins 1
Your Funeral My Trial Nick Cave 1
Master of Puppets Metallica 1
Grand Total 35
Groan. I loathe The Smiths, I really do. I just have a real blindspot for them. Wishy washy production, whiny vocals, weedy guitar…. But I know there’s lots of love for them on here.
REM and Paul Simon coming in close on Morrisey and Marr’s heels here, so I think a little decider playoff might be on the cards.
If anyone is wondering, the Janet Jackson fan is mrxsg. Brave man.
The Queen Is Dead has one vote in 1985 as well, so I guess that makes it 8 votes actually…
Oops. Yes. I’m going to start naming names – Black Celebration, sir, you’re to blame for getting that year wrong!
(blushing hotly – looking down at shoes) Sorry, Sir.
As the REM album gained the silver medal for 1986, I think it’s only fair that we should spell the title correctly. It’s “Lifes Rich Pageant” without an apostrophe in “Lifes”.
Now, you might say that that’s an incorrect spelling, and that there should in fact be an apostrophe in “Life’s” And I suppose you’d be right. But the mercurial Mr Stipe preferred “Lifes”. And who are we to question his unorthodox choice?
[Note: see also “Franks Wild Years” by Tom Waits for more missing apostrophe jiggery-pokery]
Ha ha! Yes, I think I corrected that myself as I was tidying up the spreadsheet. Or maybe it was an autocorrect.
” Wishy washy production..”
Can’t have that.
Well only if you were in favour of what almost all artists produced in the eighties: glossy digital upfront sounds with loads of new synthesizers, which everybody just had to feature ‘cos they were there, stamping EIGHTIES! on the records for all eternity.
Yes, the Smiths were whiny and dreary (great guitar player though) but their records are in a line of classic-sounding rock bands with guitar/bass/drums and no bullshit production which sets them apart from most of their contemporaries. Bravo say I.
Yup. The crisp sound on Meat Is Murder, in particular, reveals all the sinews and tendons that inspire an “aspiring guitarist” to present himself in front of his (always his!) bedroom mirror with his tennis racket..
Queen Is Dead is a bit thin sounding compared to MIM and HOH. Marr and Rourke’s love of disco and funk is more apparent on the earlier stuff. Barbarism Begins At Home has a real groove going on. Charming Man seems exemplary sounding to me. Really punchy. No weediness other than in the persona of the narrator. I think they peaked on that single. Never bettered that moment really, not that further fine things didn’t follow.
Comparing it with, for example, The The’s Infected is interesting, because Infected DOES have the sheen of some of that 80s production style, but it’s still a phenomenal album.
1987
Sign ‘O’ The Times Prince 6
Tunnel of Love Bruce Springsteen 4
Strangeways Here We Come The Smiths 3
George Best The Wedding Present 2
Psonic Psunspot Dukes of Stratosphear 2
Document REM 1
Tango in the Night Fleetwood Mac 1
Home and Away Gregson & Collister 1
Spillane John Zorn 1
Floodland The Sisters of Mercy 1
The Lilac Time The Lilac Time 1
The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death The Housemartins 1
Secrets of the Beehive David Sylvian 1
Hearsay Alexander O’Neal 1
Saint Julian Julian Cope 1
Game Theory Lolita Nation 1
Bring the Family John Hiatt 1
Electric The Cult 1
1987 What the F is Going On? Justified Ancients of Mu Mu 1
Darklands The Jesus and Mary Chain 1
Lone Star State of Mind Nanci Griffith 1
In My Tribe 10,000 Maniacs 1
Walker (OST) Joe Strummer 1
Music for the Masses Depeche Mode 1
Grand Total 36
You know what I notice here? No U2. I thought Joshua Tree was accepted as a modern classic, if maybe a little unhip these days. I still quite like it anyway.
So this is Prince’s big year then. I’ve only heard the main songs of that album, not the whole thing. Might check it out.
Strangeways is the only Smiths album I can listen to.
A big thumbs-up to the wise Afterworder who voted for Clive Gregson & Christine Collister’s “Home and Away”. Cracking record!
Psonic Psunspot belongs in 1968!
I’ve often held 1987 to be something of a nadir in my musical journey.
A couple of high points, but nothing on that list changes my opinion
I think of it as more of a year for singles. The Joshua Tree and the INXS album Kick (neither of which were nominated!) are the only albums I really know from that year.
Wait a minute, no-one nominated The Joshua Tree? No one at all??
But, but, but, it’s the finest moment of U2’s entire career and deserves to top the list. There are a smattering of other fine efforts here (Nanci, 10,000 Maniacs, Zorn), but for sheer excitement, The Joshua Tree should have walked 1987.
Almost wish I’d taken the trouble to have voted in this exercise now!
1988
Spirit of Eden Talk Talk 6
It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back Public Enemy 5
I’m Your Man Leonard Cohen 3
If I Should Fall From Grace With God The Pogues 2
From Langley Park to Memphis Prefab Sprout 2
Land of Dreams Randy Newman 2
Oh Yeah Hall & Oates 1
Introspective Pet Shop Boys 1
Broadway the Hard Way Frank Zappa 1
Music In Trust Battlefield Band 1
Naked Talking Heads 1
Miss America Mary Margaret O’Hara 1
Hats The Blue Nile 1
Junta Phish 1
Eight Legged Groove Machine Wonderstuff 1
Daydream Nation Sonic Youth 1
Chalkmark in a Rainstorm Joni Mitchell 1
Bummed Happy Mondays 1
Isn’t Anything My Bloody Valentine 1
Shadowland KD Lang 1
Barcelona Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballe 1
Irish Heartbeat Van Morrison and The Chieftains 1
Grand Total 36
Oooh, an interesting three albums at the top there. Quite a variety of genres.
You are not allowed to depose Spirit of Eden on the justification of positive discrimination!
1989
Stone Roses The Stone Roses 7
Doolittle The Pixies 5
Technique New Order 3
3 Feet High and Rising De La Soul 2
The Seeds of Love Tears For Fears 2
Oh Mercy Bob Dylan 2
Fish Out Of Water Charles Lloyd 1
Bebop Moptop Danny Wilson` 1
Djam Leelii Baaba Maal & Mansour Seck` 1
Paradise Cricus The Lilac Time 1
Hair Phillip Boa and the Voodoo Club 1
A New Flame Simply Red` 1
Rhythm Nation Janet Jackson 1
State of the Heart Mary Chapin Carpenter 1
Disintegration The Cure 1
Kite Kirsty MacColl 1
Playing With Fire Spacemen 3` 1
Hats The Blue Nile 1
Waking Hours Del Amitri 1
New York Lou Reed 1
Grand Total 35
Stone Roses still popular I see.
I did miss voting, otherwise there are a few I’d have dropped in along the way. The The’s Mind Bomb would have been a choice for 1989.
1990
Behaviour Pet Shop Boys 6
Heaven or Las Vegas Cocteau Twins` 3
Jordan: The Comeback Prefab Sprout` 3
Flood They Might Be Giants` 2
Ragged Glory Neil Young 2
Songs For Drella Lou Reed and John Cale` 1
The Great War of Words Brian Kennedy` 1
Enchanted Marc Almond` 1
Chill Out The KLF` 1
Aion Dead Can Dance` 1
Pills, Thrills, ‘n’ Bellyaches Happy Mondays 1
Freedom and Rain Oysterband, June Tabor 1
Naked City John Zorn` 1
Film Soundtrack The Hot Spot` 1
Lloyd Cole Lloyd Cole` 1
Dream Letter: Live In London Tim Buckley 1
Letter from Home Pat Metheny` 1
The La’s The La’s` 1
Violator Depeche Mode 1
A Clearer View Jason Rebello` 1
I Do Not Want What I Have Not Got Sinead O’Connor 1
Vanilla Blowzabella 1
Grand Total 33
I actually didn’t think the Pet Shop Boys would show so strongly. Is Behaviour seen as their signature album? I thought it was Introspective.
Introspective was a 6-track cheap remixes album but it is bloody good. I think Behaviour is more of a square meal, album-wise. It deserves the acclaim but the best album by a country mile is Violator – you seem to have missed all the other votes it got.
It contained previously released material but I don’t think it can be classified as a purely remix album. It actually also contains new full length songs that were edited for single release like Domino Dancing and Left to My Own Devices. I consider it a legitimate entry in their catalogue unlike the Disco albums which are remix ones.
Introspective my fave PSB, on a par with New Order’s Technique, with which is shares a Ibiza-drenched sound/feel.
Violator is bloody good, mind.
Left to My Own Devices is a thing of utter beauty., though I can never decide whether I prefer the full fat string versions on the album, or the leaner, meatier single mix. It’s forever ingrained in my head as I was a student around this time, and it has lots of happy memories for me.
Depeche Mode are a band I’ve never gotten into. I think their earlier singles and TOTP appearances are brilliant, but I don’t know much of their album stuff or later stuff. Was it Violator where they started morphing into a… I don’t know… “goth” typ act, all serious and stuff? That’s how it looks to me from their photos and from the one song I know (Personal Jesus).
Violator is their best album by a long chalk, and their last good one. I’d given up on them by then, my pal bought it and taped it. He slipped the tape into my car player on our way to the Reading Festival* and I had a sudden “Christ, this is fantastic!” moment.
(*) I can even remember precisely where – the lights by the Co-Op at Cemetery Junction, Reading.
Violator is the point where people stopped listening or started listening. Music For The Masses, Violator, Songs Of Faith And Devotion and Ultra is widely regarded as their imperial phase, I think.
Admittedly I didn’t get round to voting but where are the Sundays?
Sandwiched between Saturday Night Fever and the Happy Modays
1991
Blue Lines Massive Attack 6
Screamadelica Primal Scream` 6
The White Room The KLF` 2
Mighty Like The Rose Elvis Costello 2
Woodface Crowded House` 2
Peggy Suicide Julian Cope 2
Laughing Stock Talk Talk` 1
The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life` 1
Don’t Try This At Home Billy Bragg 1
Trompe Le Monde The Pixies` 1
Stars Simply Red` 1
Rumour and Sigh Richard Thompson 1
Girlfriend Matthew Sweet 1
The Real Ramona Throwing Muses` 1
Corporate Art Christy Doran` 1
Nevermind Nirvana` 1
30 Something Carter USM 1
The Evolution of Gospel Sounds of Blackness` 1
Levelling the Land The Levellers 1
Grand Total 33
Ah! So Blue Lines and Screamadelica on equal footing for the top spot! Interesting, both albums which you could argue threw open the doors to the nineties. I love them both.
Hang on, just noticed no REM with Out Of Time. Isn’t that one of their signature albums? Maybe it’s just too strong a year otherwise.
Moi aussi. I was most undecided which to choose and eventually went for Screamadelica. Imagine if I had gone for Blue Lines! The symmetry of equality would have been unbalanced. Forever.
I feel as if there is some quantum entanglement involved here. At the very same moment you were hovering over your choice, someone else was wondering whether to switch from Blue Lines to Screamadelica…. so it was always meant to be….
I see no reason why this couldn’t be an episode of Doctor Who.
Slight typographical error in the 1991 listing, Arthur old bean. The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life is by Frank Zappa.
Not that it matters.
I am SO sorry. Of COURSE it matters.
For all his popularity round here, Thommo hasn’t featured much on these lists.
I was expecting him to win every year, new release or not… 😉
I voted for Costello’s “Mighty Like a Rose” for 1991. Although it has some brilliant tracks on it, I did feel that it was one of the weakest of the 60 albums that I nominated. Looking at that 1991 results list just confirms my suspicions that, generally, it was a real dog of a year. With hindsight, I should’ve gone for the Billy Bragg album instead.
Though even the Afterword list has three or four albums that are undeniable classics of their type – the Primal Scream, Simply Red (I know, I know, but boy was it successful), Crowded House, and above all the Massive Attack which is surely one of the albums of the decade never mind the year. Oh, and one of Richard Thompson’s better solo efforts as well!
1992
Automatic For The People REM 11
Copper Blue Sugar 3
Nonsuch XTC 2
Shhh! Chumbawamba` 1
The Vibe Roy Hargrove` 1
Erotica Madonna` 1
Paul Weller Paul Weller` 1
Ting Nits 1
Us Peter Gabriel 1
Henry’s Dream` Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds` 1
From the Cradle Lindsey Buckingham` 1
Nerve Net Brian Eno 1
Dry PJ Harvey` 1
Dirty Sonic Youth 1
Check Your Head Beastie Boys` 1
Mecca and the Soul Brother Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth` 1
Brasileiro Sergio Mendes` 1
Levelling the Land The Levellers 1
Arkansas Traveller` Michelle Shocked 1
Lemonheads It’s a Shame About Ray Lemonheads It` 1
It’s a Shame About Ray The Lemonheads 1
Grand Total 34
Ah well, no competition really here then.
WINNER – Automatic For The People, REM
You know, it’s funny. At the time I thought Automatic was a bit of a poor follow up to Out of Time, and I kind of lost interest after REM after that. But it certainly seems to be an Afterword favourite.
Is that one or two votes for The Lemonheads??
Ha! Well spotted.
Big sound, great tunes, good in the car – Weller, no contest.
Harsh sound, twisted songs, best late at night – PJ, no contest.
1993
Enter the 36 Chambers Wu Tang Clan 2
Modern Life is Rubbish Blur 2
Debut Bjork 2
Where You Been? Dinosaur Jr 2
Spilt Milk Jellyfish 2
Kamakiriad Donald Fagen 1
Tripomatic Fairytales Jam & Spoon 1
Dusk The The 1
Tribute to Bob Wills Asleep at the Wheel 1
Malcom X Jazz Suite Terence Blanchard 1
Traffic from Paradise Rickie Lee Jones 1
Vs Pearl Jam 1
Together Alone Crowded House 1
Blue Light Til Dawn Cassandra Wilson 1
The Source Ali Farka Toure 1
Wild Wood Paul Weller 1
The Infotainment Scan The Fall 1
Laid James 1
Tales of Ephidrina Amporphous Androgynous 1
Jazzmatazz Vol 1 Guru 1
Suede Suede 1
En Mana Kuoyo Ayub Ogada 1
You Gotta Sin To Get Saved Maria McKee 1
Very Pet Shop Boys 1
Songs of Faith and Devotion Depeche Mode 1
Beaster Sugar 1
Some Fantastic Place Squeeze 1
Siamese Dream Smashing Pumpkins 1
Grand Total 33
It’s getting late but I’m going to push a bit more into the nineties tonight as it’s getting quite interesting.
Now then. Quite a spread this year, isn’t it? The most spread out year yet, maybe? I didn’t nominate this year but I would probably have chosen Bjork, that was a great album.
Anyone got any interesting observations about the acts this year? Is this when indie NME started going mainstream?
I think it’s acknowledged that Suede on the Brit Awards that year was the curtain-raiser for Britpop. The album debuting at number one was a surprise too.
I think Modern Life is Rubbish was a slow-burner. Blur hit the big time with Parklife.
Debut is, for me, the one that really stands out that year. Played to death then, each subsequent revisit reveals more and refreshes my enjoyment – it’s a real achivevment of an album, outstanding.
(Plus it should have an extra vote in here as well, as thecheshirecat has pointed out below….)
Thinking about Debut… yeah, it’s not really been discussed much on these pages has it? It blew me away at the time. Such an oddball production, but still commercial and listenable, and dancey in places. Maybe the difficulty of categorising it makes it difficult to discuss and causes it to be forgotten about.
That Jellyfish album is a beaut. Only two albums, but what brace.
1994
Dummy Portishead 5
The Holy Bible Manic Street Preachers 3
Definitely Maybe Oasis 2
Vauxhall and I Morrisey 2
Anarchy Chumbawamba 2
Illmatic Nas 2
The Division Bell Pink Floyd 2
Talking Timbuktu Ry Cooder and Ali Farka Toure 2
Grace Jeff Buckley 1
Horsebreaker Star Grant McLennan 1
The House That Wolf Built Little Axe 1
Cover the Crime The Aloof 1
Hex Bark Psychosis 1
The Impossible Bird Nick Lowe 1
The Mystery of Love is Greater Than the Mystery of Death Jackie Leven 1
Parklife Blur 1
Debut Bjork 1
Sleeps With Angels Neil Young 1
Conspiracy Driza Bone 1
Selected Ambient Works Vol 2 Aphex Twin 1
Wildflowers Tom Petty 1
Promenade The Divine Comedy 1
Grand Total 34
Oof. Interesting. I would have expected Portishead to win this year. But I think it’s just too close and needs a playoff. It’s the fact that the crisp urban beats of Dummy is just two votes ahead of a few jangly guitar bands that makes me think we need to sort out who would plump for who.
Just noticed Protection by Massive Attack hasn’t made an appearance. Wow, I didn’t expect that.
For me, Dummy was certainly a game changer. It felt like it opened up something.
Aaaah…. hang on……
I just noticed two IDIOTS have put Dummy in 1995. Hang your heads in shame, kalamo and … er… Arthur Cowslip. Ooops.
Anyway, so this is 1994 with corrections, and it’s much clearer. I’m calling it!
WINNER – Dummy, Portishead
Dummy Portishead 7
The Holy Bible Manic Street Preachers 3
Definitely Maybe Oasis 2
Vauxhall and I Morrisey 2
Anarchy Chumbawamba 2
Illmatic Nas 2
The Division Bell Pink Floyd 2
Talking Timbuktu Ry Cooder and Ali Farka Toure 2
Grace Jeff Buckley 1
Horsebreaker Star Grant McLennan 1
The House That Wolf Built Little Axe 1
Cover the Crime The Aloof 1
Hex Bark Psychosis 1
The Impossible Bird Nick Lowe 1
The Mystery of Love is Greater Than the Mystery of Death Jackie Leven 1
Parklife Blur 1
Debut Bjork 1
Sleeps With Angels Neil Young 1
Conspiracy Driza Bone 1
Selected Ambient Works Vol 2 Aphex Twin 1
Wildflowers Tom Petty 1
Promenade The Divine Comedy 1
Grand Total 36
Bjork has Debuted in two separate years as well. This critically edges 1993 for her.
You gave me the license to put Dummy in 95. And Vauxhall and I is just better than Dummy.
Better than the two Smiths albums that I have, too.
Manics at number 2.
I’ve never got the love for the Holy Bible.
Better than Gold Against The Soul, and on a par with the (slightly disappointing) debut. For me, there are higher points in the later catalogue.
Contreversial statement: The Manics were a better band without Richey Edwards
I never got the love for the Manics until Everything Must Go, depsite my best pal being a huge fan at the time and regularly seeing them at festivals. Sub-Clash, sub-G’n’R, sub-Joy Division.
Their trio set at Reading shortly following Richey going AWOL was the first time I thought “they might be onto something here”. It didn’t last.
I am a fully signed up Holy Bible devotee. It sounds like nothing else.
Completely awesome. And their sound has nothing to do with Edwards, only their lyrics. This album has some of the most astonishing ever.
I voted for The Holy Bible too – it’s one of my favourite albums of all time.
Debut belongs in 93, not here.
Yep, it was re-released in 94 with Play Dead tacked on.
Oh yeah, I remember that now! She was the darling of the NME/Melody Maker (Ex-Sugarcubes singer is releasing a solo album!) then it got more and more mainstream when she got on TOTP and Play Dead was used in that film (Young Americans, I think?). Then the album was re-released and started appearing in WH Smith and John Menzies instead of just Fopp. Quite exciting actually. Good to see a genuinely talented artist rise to the mainstream on pure ability and charisma.
Produced by David Arnold, rather than Nellee Hooper, and flush with Hollywood strings, Play Dead sticks out like a sore thumb on Debut. It’s a very good stand alone single but a terrible album track.
Just looking at the tracklisting now. Yeah, what you’ve said makes sense even more when you see that Play Dead was tacked on at the end, spoiling the mood set by the “proper” closing track, The Anchor Song.
Albums which have been improved by tracklist tinkering after the original official version:
– The Who – Live At Leeds
– Pink Floyd – The Final Cut
… and that’s about it.
I’d add Dexy’s Don’t Stand Me Down and subtract Live At Leeds, which is perfect on one piece of vinyl.
Agree about Leeds. The original 6 track album is amazing. Diluted by adding other tracks.
Play Dead doesn’t belong on it, either in 1983 or 1984.
1995
A Different Class Pulp` 4
The Bends Radiohead 3
Forbidden Songs of the Dying West Jackie Leven 2
Bloomsbury Theatre 12/3/95` Tindersticks 1
Leftism Leftfield` 1
Abandoned Garden Michael Franks` 1
The Sky Moves Sideways Porcupine Tree` 1
Delusions of Grandeur Hardkiss 1
What’s the Story Morning Glory Oasis 1
At the Blue Note Keith Jarrett 1
Stanley Road Paul Weller` 1
To Bring You My Love PJ Harvey` 1
Grand Prix Teenage Fanclub 1
Tilt Scott Walker 1
Fight For Your Mind Ben Harper` 1
Same Garbage 1
Different Class Pulp` 1
Refried Ectoplasm Stereolab 1
Brown Sugar D’Angelo` 1
Penthouse Luna` 1
Ben Folds 5 Ben Folds 5` 1
Now That I’ve Found You Alison Krauss 1
And Out Come The Wolves` Rancid 1
Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness The Smashing Pumpkins` 1
A.M. Wilco 1
Maxinquaye Tricky 1
Wrecking Ball` Emmylou Harris 1
Lost Dogs & Mixed Blessings John Prinne` 1
Grand Total 34
Well now, here we are getting into the britpop era. I think A Different Class and The Bends were where the world of TOTP and the NME finally merged into each other.
You have another vote for Pulp in the middle of your list, witout the “A”.
D’oh. I’m tired and I’m going to bed.
It is titled Different Class, not A Different Class, if it helps.
Jackie Leven at number 3, doubling his tally of the year before.
Do you know (and I can hear the incredulous shocks as I say this) I don’t know who Jackie Leven is. I’m vaguely aware of the name, but I don’t think I’ve knowingly come across his (her?) work. Strange, the little blindspots we have, isn’t it?
There’s 23 years to go. Nearly there!
I think the pattern developing here is that there is a manageable clutch of albums each year that have more than one vote. That way you can ditch the mouth-breathing nutters that simply vote for their favourite band’s release.
Or something late from Scott Walker.
😉
No! Post ’em all and be damned. There is much interest (witness comments and replies) in the single vote winners. This is The Afterword, not some populist thread for the masses! Besides, Wor Art has done all this hard work.
As I wrote above just declare the ones with the most votes the winner. If it is a tie then so be it. Anything about vote offs is clearly nonsense. But it is Arthur ‘s original idea and his counting so I suppose he can do whatever he wants.
I see where you’re all coming from with your comments about how best to decide the winner for each year. I’m on the fence… I kind of agree with you all… but… I do think I’m still heading towards the road of having more “play offs” or other deciders for the years where there is no clear winner.
To explain, I think maybe I didn’t properly describe what I was doing from the start. All I was really looking for was nominations for key years you were passionate about, and I thought it would be a case of “Oh, so-and-so has already nominated artist x for year y, so don’t need to nominate it again”, rather than counting nominations as “votes” for specific years. (So maybe I used the word “vote” when I should have said “nomination”….) I’m really pleased so many people have chipped in, it’s amazing – but I honestly didn’t expect it and I thought the final choices for each year would be based on gentlemanly (and gentlewomanly) discussion rather than vote counting.
Does that make sense??
I also think some years will make for interesting play off votes. 1967 in particular – if you take everyone who didn’t vote for Sgt Pepper or the VU and make them choose one or the other… who would get the most votes in the end? A bit like a knockout competition I suppose.
I do have some thoughts on how to take this forward, so let me just get this out now… (half formed opinion ahoy, so be kind)….
** Okay, so I think the years break down into three categories and I think what I do with each one follows accordingly….
(1) SETTLED YEARS. Years where there is a clear and uncontroversial winner streaks ahead of the rest. I’ve noted these as I’ve been going through. So those years are settled and no more work is needed. (Revolver et al, you can relax. As can Blackstar, probably (but we’ll see once I reach 2016).) NO ACTION NEEDED.
(2) “PLAYOFF” YEARS. Years where (even though one album might be a vote or two ahead of the rest) there are really two or maybe three contenders jostling for the top spot (sometimes with a wild card in close pursuit), so a second vote limited to just these contenders will be interesting. In most of these years, the two or three contenders are usually related in an interesting way, either by being from different genres or styles (Beatles vs VU in ’67, as I say, is like pop vs art rock) or in years like ’91 with Massive Attack vs Screamadelica, opposing flagships for what is essentially the same idiom (beat, electronic, music). So: A SECOND VOTE RESTRICTED TO THE MAIN CONTENDERS.
(3) OPEN FIELD. This might be the most controversial one, so bear with me and let me float this. Many years are just wide open, with all or most albums getting only one or two votes, so it’s impossible to decide a clear winner. (I think there are more of these as we move into the new century). I’m thinking of handing these out to ask you all to choose a year (just one year) you want to “curate” – that is, if you have a year you are particularly passionate about, you will have the chance to get your voice heard and you can freely choose which album to award the prize for that year.
What do you think? Assuming enough people are willing to chip in and claim a year, it should make for a more vibrant and unique list overall, reflecting the natural champions for the flagpole years but also giving a stage to the quirky underdogs that make up this beautiful Massive! Who knows, Little Feat or Del Amitri or Janet Jackson might get a chance to shine….
Or maybe some years fall between (2) and (3) and some kind of two-pronged approach is needed.
Anyway, let’s get this list finished first. I’m out tonight so it will be in the next couple of days I update this. Not far to go and I have already broken through The Wall (joke metaphor comparing this to a marathon … thank you)!
(It’s just struck me that I’m maybe taking all this a bit too seriously. But hey, I’m me and I’m loving this.)
I think there needs to be a set rule as to what constitutes a victory (i.e. how many votes ahead of the nearest competition does the winner need to be?). Sgt. Pepper is four votes ahead of The Velvet Underground and Nico, yet that’s not acceptable, whereas David Bowie is ahead of Joni Mitchell and Stevie Wonder by the same margin and you deem that as proof that ‘Station to Station’ should be considered the best album of 1976.
I know this is all essentially meaningless, and we’re doing it for fun, but there just doesn’t seem to be any pattern to your decisions.
I voted for the VU but if I’m honest Pepper is better. I was just trying to avoid too many votes for the same artist and I fancied some VU somewhere. Pepper is typical Beatles – the very best tracks leave everyone else’s best in the dust but they have to indulge themselves with some unwelcome guests at the party as it were. But Day In The Life, She’s Leaving Home, Getting Better. I can swap my vote to Pepper and seal the deal.
But Forever Changes is better than both! I demand enough re-votes until it emerges as the winner.
“This is the time and life that I am living
And I’ll face each day with a smile
For the time that I’ve been given’s such a little while
And the things that I must do consist of more than style
There’ll be time for you to start all over…..”
Listen to dai on this point!
This argument has turned into crystal.
Yes OK Forever Changes. Let’s go with that. So many masterpieces in ’67.
The power just went to my head……
But yeah, don’t worry, I’ll be reviewing it all once again before I move to the final stages. I promise you everyone will be happy with everything forever and love and peace and harmony will reign forevermore, with a Richard Thompson soundtrack.
I’ll solve Brexit at the same time, by discovering an as-yet-unrealised Third Way that pleases absolutely everyone and solves every single dispute in an amicable and unambiguous manner. Forever.
Since I’m at it, I may as well solve the conundrum of the relevance of deities in a post-religious world and find the key to harmony between every opposing dogma based on faith-based assumptions.
Plus unify quantum theory with general relativity, natch.
Stop prevaricating and get on with sorting thIs poll out!
😀
Patience, grasshopper.
May I ask, have you had to give up your day job in order to deal with this mammoth undertaking?
Yeah. I’m hoping to rake a profit on the book deal at the end of it.
(In all seriousness, just in case you all think I’m just sitting here at home delaying the revelation of the final 23 years of results for evil kicks, like Emperor Nero or Simon Cowell, yes I am actually at work just now so I don’t have the spreadsheet in front of me. This weekend I will post the remaining years, I PROMISE.)
Some years had a bigger total of votes registered than others. An overall lead of 2 votes on a year when several people chose not to vote ought to count for a bit more than a 2 vote lead on a year where all of the participants voted.
In my opinion.
There’s no perfect way, especially since the late nominations had the early ones to look at. I say let us vote for anything that got more than one nomination. Just eliminate ate all the 1s and let us vote for the others for each and every year.
You know Mr W, that had actually occurred to me. What I think put me off was the thought of having to either create 60 separate threads with votes, or one big thread that would annoy everyone by having to attract hundreds of comments…. either way spoiling my reputation on here as an amiable sort who doesn’t dominate or rock the boat…
Although, on second thoughts, I think that boat has sailed….
🙂
But Shirley, this thread is a prime example of the oft quoted “it’s the journey not the destination that matters” (from Mr Toilets originally I believe – that TS to his friends).
This has been a fantastic thread and I couldn’t care less about the final results (although as the person with the best taste on this whole blog, my nominations should win every year). It’s really about seeing a great spread of great albums that people love and are discussing. It’s given me immense pleasure reading through the list each year and seeing stuff that either I haven’t listened to in ages or actually have never heard…..
Yep
Mr Toilets? Didn’t he release My Aim Is True, or was that Armitage Shanks?
An anagram that we puerile teenagers used at school on first reading “The Wasteland” and it’s stuck ever since. I thought everyone used that……
…. Then my work here is done….
Like that 1001 Albums book, this thread has given me a list of new stuff to search out.
The Amazon Wish List will be updated, and Mrs D will be questioning the storage arrangements (again)
I am agree – very marvellous thread. I’ve particularly liked looking at the lists for those years when I didn’t actually make a choice and seeing that they only contain albums that I either don’t like or, more interestingly, don’t know yet.
This is immensely enjoyable stuff and I reckon Arthur can damn well do as he pleases. But I’d go with a clear rule on an unquestionable winner (margin of 4 or 5?) and where that doesn’t exist I’d have a vote-off with the top three (assuming there are three which got more than one vote).
Either that or just take my list as obviously the correct answer….
I love this thread
I just voted for what we’re my favourite albums of the year AT THE TIME, which possibly didn’t exactly fit the brief. Just in case you were wondering where those single votes for ELP albums came from. When I look at these “result” lists I realise that in hindsight I think there are better albums, or ones that have stood the test of time. But hey, a lot of this is about nostalgia anyway…
I agree entirely! Favourite albums at the time, or have been played most over the years.
A mix of nostalgia & long term enjoyment. The results are just an indication of where tastes coincide.
Okay let’s bring this ship to dock! The thread is getting ridiculously long.
So I’m going to cut the waffle and comments and just post the results. It’s a bank holiday weekend, I’ve got my spreadsheet primed, I have 23 years to go, and I’m wearing sunglasses. Let’s ROCK.
1996
Endtroducing DJ Shadow 3
New Adventures in Hi-Fi REM 3
Everything Must Go Manic Street Preachers 2
Being There Wilco 2
Second Toughest in the infants` Underworld 2
Moseley Shoals Ocean Colour Scene` 2
Hawaii High Llamas` 1
Odelay Beck 1
F# A# (Infinity) Godspeed You! Black Emperor 1
VIVADIXIESUBMARINETRANSMISSIONPLOT Sparklehorse 1
We Live Here Pat Metheny` 1
Envy of Angels Mutton Birds` 1
Golden Heart` Mark Knopfler 1
Revival Gillian Welch` 1
Expecting To Fly` The Bluetones 1
Charity of the Night Bruce Cockburn 1
Night Song Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook` 1
Once In A Blue Moon Lal Waterson & Oliver Knight` 1
Coming Up Suede` 1
Lewis Taylor` Lewis Taylor` 1
Black Love The Afghan Whigs 1
Lather Frank Zappa 1
ABoneCroneDrone Sheila Chandra 1
In Sides Orbital 1
If You’re Feeling Sinister Belle and Sebastian` 1
Grand Total 33
Once in a Blue Moon is a truly great album. Rediscovered just after I had cast my vote, else I probably would have nominated it. Give it a try, folks.
Nevertheless, my original vote must stand.
Ooooh, a Bruce Cockburn album I have never heard gets a vote?!
That’s good enough for me – ordered from the dodgers forthwith.
Thank you for the alert, whoever you were.
‘Twas I. It’s brilliant.
1997
OK Computer Radiohead 10
Time Out of Mind Bob Dylan 4
Buena Vista Social Club` Buena Vista Social Club` 2
Fairytales for Hardmen Jackie Leven 2
Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space Spiritualized 1
All Saints All Saints` 1
Blue Amazon The Javelin 1
In It For The Money Supergrass 1
Word Gets Around Sterophonics 1
When I Was Born For The 7th Time Cornershop 1
Urban Hymns The Verve` 1
Vanishing Point Primal Scream` 1
Curtains Tindersticks 1
The Sound of Lies The Jayhawks` 1
Blur Blur` 1
The Fat of the Land Prodigy 1
Baduizm Erykah Badu` 1
Tellin’ Stories The Charlatans 1
Young Team Mogwai 1
One More Angel John Patitucci` 1
Grand Total 34
I think we have a winner!
No surprises.
Even if it’s the wrong one. Bob wuz robbed
No ‘Be Here Now’? 🤔
Jesus wept, you miserable lot. Go on, put it on now. Turn it up so you can hear every moaning whine. Don’t put it off, play it now, right this minute, go on, I dare you. It’s a bloody endurance trial just getting to the end of side one. Christ alive, thank fuck for the Monkees.
*sound of Daydream Believer at volume to wash away the mere thought of that record*
Haha! I like OK Computer but I do get where you’re coming from. As I’ve got older I rarely play anything ‘moody’ or difficult – life is too short when you could be dancing or singing along.
1998
XO Elliott Smith 4
Mezzanine Massive Attack 3
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road Lucinda Williams 3
Moon Safari Air 3
In The Aeroplane Over The Sea Neutral Milk Hotel 2
Deserter’s Songs Mercury Rev 2
Painted from Memory Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach 2
Clandestino Manu Chao 2
How to Operate with a Blown Mind Lo Fidelity Allstars 1
Königsforst Gas 1
Night Lilies Jackie Leven 1
Night and the City Kenny Barron and Charlie Haden 1
Northumberland Collection Kathryn Tickell 1
Overcome by Happiness Pernice Brothers 1
Gran Turisma The Cardigans 1
Springtime Freakwater 1
Release Afro-Celt Sound System 1
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 1
Aquemini Outkast 1
Swedish Folk Modern Nils Landgren/Esbjörn Svensson 1
Mark Hollis Mark Hollis 1
Grand Total 34
1999
Apple Venus XTC 6
Byrjun Sigur Rós` 3
Summerteeth Wilco 2
69 Love Songs Magnetic Fields 2
13 Blur 2
Play Moby` 2
Contino Sessions` Death in Vegas 1
I Am Shelby Lynne` 1
As Time Goes By Bryan Ferry 1
American music Texas Style` Clarence Gatemouth Brown 1
Us and Us Only The Charlatans 1
Jazz in Film` Terence Blanchard 1
The Man Who Travis` 1
Black Milk Gallon Drunk` 1
Dead Bees On A Cake David Sylvian` 1
Supernatural Santana 1
Epiphany Vince Mendoza` 1
Holding Back The Years Jimmy Scott 1
Slim Shady Eminem 1
Operation DOOMSday MF DOOM` 1
Mirror Man Act One – Jack and the Gener David Thomas conducts The Pale Orchestra 1
Revelations` Gene 1
The Marshall Suite The Fall 1
Grand Total 34
2000
Stories From The City, Songs From The Sea PJ Harvey 4
Kid A Radiohead 3
Felt Mountain Goldfrapp 2
And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out Yo La Tengo` 2
Both Sides Now Joni Mitchell` 1
2 Against Nature Steely Dan 1
Transcendental Blues` Steve Earle 1
Left & Leaving` The Weakerthans 1
Nós Virgínia Rodrigues 1
Brave New World Iron Maiden` 1
Who Is Jill Scott 1
Parachutes Coldplay` 1
Beat Based/Song Centered/Spirit Led Sweet Chariots 1
Marshall Mathers LP Eminem 1
Figure 8 Elliott Smith 1
Traditional Songs Of West Africa Vieux Diop` 1
Wasp Star XTC 1
Supergrass Supergrass 1
Tomorrow’s Sound Today Dwight Yoakum` 1
Enjoy the Melodic Sunshine Cosmic Rough Riders` 1
Daisies of the Galaxy Eels 1
Batchelor #2 Aimee Mann 1
El Alma Al Aire Alejandro Sanz 1
Lifelike Jeff Mills` 1
I Am Shelby Lynne` 1
The Sophtware Slump Grandaddy 1
Since I Left You The Avalanches 1
Grand Total 34
2001
Vespertine Bjork 3
Gorillaz Gorillaz 2
Essence Lucinda Williams 2
Gold Ryan Adams 2
Songs From The West Coast Elton John` 2
Is This It? The Strokes 2
Discovery Daft Punk 1
The Cold Vein Cannibal Ox 1
Sigui Djelimady Tounkara` 1
White Blood Cells The White Stripes` 1
We Love The City Hefner` 1
Asleep In The Back Elbow 1
Aaliyah` Aaliyah` 1
Made In Medina Rachid Taha` 1
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot` Wilco 1
Feeling Orange but Sometimes Blue Ledisi 1
Level Five King Crimson 1
Ultraglide in black` The Dirtbombs 1
Here Be Monsters Ed Harcourt 1
Rules for Jokers Thea Gilmore 1
Pleased to Meet You James 1
Fear Of Success Caleb 1
Creatures of Light and Dark Jackie Leven 1
Postmankind Ian Mosley/Ben Castle` 1
Amnesiac Radiohead 1
Poses Rufus Wainwright` 1
Grand Total 33
Elton John and The Stroke level pegging – who’d a thunk it
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’s official release was in 2002, it was just streamed for free in 2001 before they got a new label to release it properly. So it should get two votes in -02.
Cheers. Didn’t see that. Sorted now.
Also, I am Shelby features in both 1999 and 2000.
And Supoernatural in 1999 and 2003.
2002
The Coral The Coral 2
The Last Broadcast Doves 2
The Rising Bruce Springsteen 2
Stoned Part 1 Lewis Taylor 2
Le Pas du Chat Noir Anouar Brahem 1
Neural Circuits Joanna MacGregor/Britten Sinfonia 1
Belly of the Sun Cassandra Wilson 1
Winnemucca Richmond Fontaine 1
Murray Street Sonic Youth 1
The Willies Bill Frisell 1
Handcream for a Generation Cornershop 1
Surf Roddy Frame 1
Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Flaming Lips 1
Strange Place for Snow EST 1
Neon Golden The Notwist 1
Karma Liesliw 1
Melody AM Royksopp 1
Is A Woman Lambchop 1
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Wilco 1
Harnessed The Storm Drexciya 1
Heathen David Bowie 1
Songs For The Deaf Queens Of The Stone Age 1
Hard Candy Counting Crows 1
See the Morning In Grand Drive 1
Come Away With Me Norah Jones 1
Sea Change Beck 1
All Hail West Texas The Mountain Goats 1
Read My Lips Sophie Ellis-Bextor 1
Original Pirate Material The Streets 1
Grand Total 33
Was working for Virgin Megastores when the Coral album came out. Played it in store and it sold loads.
YHF should be another 2 voter here.
2003
Elephant The White Stripes 4
Rounds Four Tet 2
Soul Journey Gillian Welch 2
Black Cherry Goldfrapp 2
The Power To Believe King Crimson 1
Statues Moloko 1
Shining Brother Shining Sister Jackie Leven 1
Blemish David Sylvian` 1
Digital Prophecy` Dhafer Youssef 1
Rainy Day Music The Jayhawks 1
Man Up In The Air Kurt Ellling 1
Music In A Foreign Language` Lloyd Cole 1
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below Outkast 1
Happy Songs for Happy People Mogwai 1
1972 Josh Rouse` 1
Ha Ha Sound Broadcast 1
Blumfeld Jenseits von jedem 1
Electric Version The New Pornographers 1
The Intercontinentals Bill Frisell 1
Long Gone Before Daylight The Cardigans 1
Welcome Interstate Managers Fountains of Wayne 1
Supernatural Santana 1
A Girl Called Eddy A Girl Called Eddy 1
Tour De France Soundtracks Kraftwerk 1
Michigan Sufjan Stevens 1
Grand Total 31
2004
Funeral Arcade Fire 4
The Lyre of Orpheus Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds` 3
A Ghost is Born Wilco 3
Medulla Bjork 2
50/4 Electric Masada 2
Feels Like Home Norah Jones` 2
More Adventurous Rilo Kiley 1
American Idiot Green Day` 1
You Are The Quarry Morrisey 1
Where Our Love Grows Swing Out Sister 1
Chants, Hymns and Dances Vassilis Tsabropoulos & Anja Lechner` 1
A Grand Don’t Come For Free The Streets 1
Dimanche à Bamako Amadou & Mariam 1
Drill A Hole In The Subtrate And Tell Me What You See Jim White 1
Relations Kathryn Williams 1
The Girl In The Other Room Diana Krall` 1
Retriever Ron Sexsmith 1
Madvillainy Madvillain` 1
Don’t Talk Clare Teal` 1
The Delivery Man` Elvis Costello 1
The Dead Texan The Dead Texan 1
Grand Total 31
2005
Aerial Kate Bush 6
Coles Corner Richard Hawley` 3
Takk Sigur Rós` 2
Blinking Lights and Other Revelations Eels 1
Theatre Royal Drury Lane 8th September 1974 Robert Wyatt & Friends 1
Songs for Silverman Ben Folds 1
A Certain Trigger Maximo Park` 1
Based on a True Story Fat Freddy’s Drop 1
LCD Soundsystem` LCD Soundsystem` 1
If Simon Ho 1
Playing the Angel Depeche Mode 1
Reise, Reise Rammstein` 1
Avalon Sutra/As Long As I Can Hold My Breath Harold Budd 1
Once To Every Heart Mark Murphy 1
Campfire Headphase` Boards of Canada 1
Around the Sun REM 1
The Magic Numbers` The Magic Numbers` 1
As Is Now` Paul Weller 1
I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning Bright Eyes 1
Beauty and the Beat Edan 1
Soul Providence Carleen Anderson` 1
Black Sheep Boy Okkervil River` 1
Skebokvarnsv. 209` Thåström 1
Grand Total 31
2006
Back to Black Amy Winehouse 4
Ys Joanna Newsom 2
Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not Arctic Monkeys 2
The Trials of Van Occupanther Midlake 2
Keys to the World Richard Ashcroft 1
Corinne Bailey Rae Corinne Bailey Rae 1
Handful of Soul Mario Bondi 1
You Are The Quarry Morrisey 1
Celtic Frost Monotheist 1
The Warning Hot Chip 1
12 Stops & Home The Feeling 1
The Isis Project Guy Chambers & Sophie Hunter 1
Lone Songs for Lonely Americans Sir Vincent 1
The Crane Wife The Decemberists 1
High Society The Silver Seas 1
Show Your Bones Yeah Yeah Yeahs 1
Fox Confessor Brings The Flood Neko Case 1
Savane Ali Farka Toure 1
Continuum John Mayer 1
On An Island David Gilmour 1
Black Holes & Revelations Muse 1
Offshore Early Day Miners 1
Astronomy for Dogs The Aliens 1
My Secret Is My Silence Roddy Woomble 1
1000 Years of Popular Music Richard Thompson 1
My Heart Has A Wish That You Would Not Go Aereogramme 1
Modern Times Bob Dylan 1
Grand Total 33
2007
Untrue Burial 3
Kala M.I.A` 2
Sky Blue Sky Wilco 2
In Rainbows Radiohead 2
Sound of Silver LCD Soundsystem` 1
Raising Sand Robert Plant and Alison Krauss 1
Let’s Stay Friends Les Savy Fav 1
Rentacrowd Len Price Three 1
Out of the Woods Tracey Thorn 1
Lookaftering Vashti Bunyan` 1
West Lucinda Williams 1
Fear of a Blank Planet Porcupine Tree` 1
For Emma, Forever Ago Bon Iver` 1
Favourite Worst Nightmare Arctic Monkeys 1
We’ll Never Turn Back Mavis Staples` 1
Hope of the Sates The Lost Riots 1
A Tale of God’s Will Terence Blanchard 1
Boxer The National 1
Mnemosyne Jan Garbarek, Hilliard Ensemble 1
Armchair Anarchy Lee Griffiths 1
Traffic and Weather Fountains of Wayne 1
At The End Of Paths Taken Cowboy Junkies` 1
“…And Their Refinement of the Decline” Stars of the Lid` 1
Octomento Blowzabella 1
Grand Total 29
2008
Seventh Tree Goldfrapp 4
Just A Little Lovin’ Shelby Lynne 2
Electric Arguments The Fireman 2
The Chronicles of Modern Life Henry Priestman 1
Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes` 1
19 Adele` 1
The ’59 Sound` Gaslight Anthem 1
22 Dreams Paul Weller 1
Dubsetter Lee “Scratch” Perry` 1
The Seldom Seen Kid Elbow 1
@#%& Smilers` Aimee Mann 1
Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby 1
Baby, It’s Cold Inside The Fun Years` 1
Life in Leipzig` Ketil Bjørnstad/Terje Rypdal 1
New Amerykah Erykah Badu` 1
Oh My God Charlie Darwin The Low Anthem 1
Instant Coffee Baby The Wave Pictures` 1
Street Horssing Fuck Buttons` 1
I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too Martha Wainwright 1
Stramash Colin Steele 1
Un Dia Juana Molina 1
At Ronnie Scotts Jeff Beck` 1
Little Dreamer Beth Rowley` 1
Alas, I Cannot Swim Laura Marling` 1
Mare Nostrum Jan Lundgren, Richard Galliano & Paolo Fresu` 1
Ishumar Toumast` 1
Grand Total 31
I don’t mind which of the top three wins. They are all smashing.
2009
The Hazards of Love The Decemberists` 2
Truelove’s Gutter Richard Hawley` 2
The XX The XX 2
Two Dancers Wild Beasts 1
High, Wide & Handsome Loudon Wainwright III` 1
Arc Light Lau 1
Liberty of Norton Folgate Madness 1
My One and Only Thrill Melody Gardot 1
Above The Bones Mishka` 1
The Ecstatic Mos Def 1
Tarot Sport Fuck Buttons` 1
It’s Not Me, It’s You Lily Allen` 1
Slow Attack Brett Anderson 1
What About Me 1 Giant Leap 1
A Place To Bury Strangers` Exploding Head 1
Bonfires On The Heath The Clientele` 1
Lushlife Lushlife 1
Love is the Answer Barbra Streisand 1
The Album Wilco 1
Let’s Change the World with Music Prefab Sprout 1
Found Songs Olafur Aranlds 1
Baby The Burning Hell` 1
Journal for Plague Lovers Manic Street Preachers 1
Noble Beast/Useless Creatures Andrew Bird 1
Grand Total 27
2010
Queen of Denmark John Grant 5
Postcards from a Young Man Manic Street Preachers 1
Homeland Laurie Anderson 1
Tears, Lies and Alibis Shelby Lynne 1
The Monitor Titus Andronicus 1
Brothers The Black Keys 1
En Couleur Feufollet 1
Jasmine Keith Jarrett/Charlie Haden 1
Diversions Daimh 1
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Kanye West 1
Boys Outside Steve Mason 1
Metallic Spheres The Orb 1
Landings Richard Skelton 1
The Courage of Others Midlake 1
Gift Eliza Carthy & Norma Waterson 1
National Ransom Elvis Costello 1
El Turista Josh Rouse 1
Barking Underworld 1
High Violet The National 1
Flying Lotus Cosmogramma 1
Inner Speaker Tame Impala 1
Skit I Alt Dungen 1
A Sufi and a Killer Gonjusfi 1
Body Talk Robyn 1
Empire and Love Imagined Village 1
Grand Total 29
There seems no doubt on the (democratic) winner for this year
2011
50 Words for Snow Kate Bush 3
King of Limbs Radiohead 2
Bon Iver Bon Iver 2
Hurry Up We’re Dreaming M83 1
21 Adele 1
Long Player, Later Bloomer Ron Sexsmith 1
What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? Vaccines 1
Biophilia Bjork 1
Into the Murky Water The Leisure Society 1
Blessed Lucinda Williams 1
Watching the Well Jon Thorne and Danny Thompson 1
The Whole Love Wilco 1
Train Song Michael Chapman 1
Get Well Soon Sarabeth Tucek 1
Kindred Spirits` Zoe Rahman 1
The King is Dead The Decemberists` 1
Here Before The Feelies` 1
The Old Magic Nick Lowe 1
Weltentraum Michael Wollny Trio 1
Sandwell District` Sandwell District` 1
The English Riviera Metronomy 1
Anna Calvi Anna Calvi 1
The Secret Vieux Farka Toure 1
Kick Death’s Ass Andreas Mattsson 1
Harp and a Monkey Harp and a Monkey 1
Skying The Horrors 1
Kaleidophonica Spiro 1
Grand Total 31
2012
Fletcher Moss Park Matthew Halsall 3
Sonik Kicks Paul Weller 2
Psychedelic Pill Neil Young and Crazy Horse 2
Everybody’s Talkin’ Tedeschi Trucks Band 1
Hello Land Guillemots 1
Lonerism Tame Impala 1
The Light the Dead See Soulsaver 1
good kid, m.A.A.d. city Kendrick Lamar 1
The Absence Melody Gardot 1
The Lions Roar First Aid Kit 1
Sunken Condos Donald Fagen 1
I Like Trains The Shallows 1
Wrecking Ball Bruce Springsteen 1
Hello Cruel World Gretchen Peters 1
Rhythm Sessions Lee Ritenour 1
The War Room Public Service Broadcasting 1
Celebration Rock Japandroids 1
Django Django Django Django 1
Born to Die Lana Del Rey 1
Anastis Dead Can Dance 1
Bish Bosch Scott Walker 1
Orfeo Fay Hield 1
Young Man in America Anais Mitchell 1
One Day I’m Going To Soar Dexy’s 1
Grand Total 28
Dunno who voted for The War Room but she or he is a flamin’ eejit and should be disqualified or shot on account of it’s not an album but an EP.
Bit harsh, Gary.
Hanging’s too good for ’em, I say.
2013
English Electric (Full Power) Big Big Train 2
Rewind the Film Manic Street Preachers 1
Same Trailer, Different Park Kacey Musgraves 1
Tomorrow’s Harvest Boards of Canada 1
Immunity Jon Hopkins 1
Death Speaks David Lang` 1
Monkey Minds in the Devil’s Time Steve Mason 1
Once I Was An Eagle Laura Marling 1
Days are Gone Haim 1
Aventine/Agnes` Obel 1
Avantine Agnes Obel` 1
Memphis Boz Scaggs 1
Pushing The Sky Away Nick Cave` 1
Hiss Golden Messenger` Haw 1
No Deal Melanie De Biasio 1
Pale Green Ghost John Grant` 1
Crimson Red Prefab Sprout` 1
Some Say I So I Say Light Ghostpoet` 1
The Gift Susannah Abbuehl 1
AM Arctic Monkeys 1
Tales of Us Goldfrapp 1
These Hidden Hands These Hidden Hands` 1
Cathedrals Ross Hammond Quartet 1
Dream River Bill Callahan` 1
All Life Is Here Harp and a Monkey 1
Day Of The Dog Ezra Furman` 1
The Next Day David Bowie 1
Fanfare Jonathan Wilson` 1
Grand Total 29
Double entries for Agnes.
I’ve seen a film with that title – not much of a plot as I recall
arf!
2014
Lost In the Dream` The War On Drugs` 4
No Going Back Stiff Little Fingers 2
Morning Phase Beck 2
Croz David Crosby 1
Those Old Demons Kirsty McGee & the Hobopop Collective` 1
Sukirae Tweedy 1
St Vincent St Vincent 1
When The World Was One Matthew Halsall & Gondwana Orchestra 1
Saudade Thievery Corporation` 1
Black Messiah D’Angelo` 1
Manipulator` Ty Segall 1
Grind The Treacherous Orchestra 1
Wanderlust Sophie Ellis-Bextor` 1
Invisible Hour Joe Henry` 1
Hendra Ben Watt` 1
Subterraneans Dylan Howe` 1
Indian Ocean Frazey Ford 1
Islands Bear’s Den 1
Soul to Soul Carmen Lundy` 1
To Be Kind Swans 1
Guitar in the Space Age Bill Frisell` 1
You’re Dead! Flying Lotus` 1
No Deal Melanie De Biasio 1
Nothing Important Richard Dawson` 1
Grand Total 29
Two votes for Stiff Little Fingers
(no, I didn’t vote twice)
Your brother from another mother is Bogart.
Single votes for No Deal in both the 2013 and 2014 lists.
Discogs says 2013. CD sleeve says 2013.
In my defence, No Deal was released in October 2013 in Belgium only. Its international release was six months later, April 2014, when I bought it.
Discogs gives 4 different versions (Belgian LP, European LP plus CD duplicate package, European CD digipak and 8x AAC files) for 2013 and a Japanese 2-CD release for 2015.
They are not always completely accurate in their listings, though.
Hmm.
2015
The Race for Space Public Service Broadcasting` 4
To Pimp A Butterfly Kendrick Lamar 4
Hand Cannot Erase Steven Wilson 3
Carrie and Lowell Sufjan Stevens` 2
I Love You, Honeybear Father John Misty` 2
Simpson Cutting Kerr Murmurs 1
Star Wars Wilco 1
Fletcher Moss Park Matthew Halsall 1
Deafhaven New Bermuda` 1
Heart of a Dog Laurie Anderson` 1
Solo Nils Frahm 1
A Head Full of Dreams Coldplay` 1
The Longest River Olivia Chaney 1
Niteworks Niteworks 1
In Colour Jamie XX 1
The Male Eunuch The Pre New 1
Blood Lianne La Havas` 1
Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit Courtney Barnett` 1
Alabursy Daniel Norgren` 1
Grand Total 29
Votes for Fletcher Moss Park in both 2012 and 2015.
Discogs says 2012 for CD and FLAC download, 2015 for the vinyl version.
2016
Blackstar David Bowie 9
The Ghosts of Highway 20` Lucinda Williams 1
Wide Majestic Aire Trembling Bells 1
Do Not Disturb Van Der Graff Generator 1
Same Tomeka Reid Quartet 1
Skeleton Tree Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds` 1
IV Black Mountain` 1
FLOTUS Lambchop 1
Blue and Lonesome The Rolling Stones 1
Wildflower The Avalanches 1
Minor Victories Minor Victories` 1
In the Round Leveret 1
Chaim Tannenbaum` Chaim Tannenbaum` 1
Malibu Anderson.Paak 1
Culcha Vulcha Snarky Puppy 1
Stiff White Denim` 1
This is Where I Live William Bell 1
Midwest Farmer’s Daughter Margo Price` 1
Astronaut King Creosote 1
Blonde Frank Ocean` 1
Rainbow Ends Emitt Rhodes 1
Man Made Object GoGo Penguin` 1
Konnichiwa Skepta` 1
Grand Total 31
Fairly conclusive this one
You think so? I don’t know… it’s so close…..
2017
DAMN Kendrick Lamar 2
A Deeper Understanding War On Drugs 2
Salutations Conor Oberst 2
Fistfight at the Barndance The Gareth Lockrane Big Band 1
To The Bone Steven Wilson 1
Water of Leith Blue Rose Code 1
The Source Tony Allen 1
Loney Dear Loney Dear 1
Temple of I and I Thievery Corporation 1
Dread Times Dreadzone 1
Street Ritual Stone Foundation 1
All The Beauty In This Whole Life Brother Ali 1
Stranger In The Alps Phoebe Bridgers 1
Mental Illness Aimee Mann 1
Slowdive Slowdive 1
In Every Valley Public Service Broadcasting 1
Sleep Well Beast The National 1
Drunk Thundercat 1
Semper Femina Laura Marling 1
Dance of Time Eliane Elias 1
Self Belief Om Unit 1
Arise Zara McFarlane 1
50 Song Memoir Magnetic Fields 1
Truth Is A Beautiful Thing London Grammar 1
Way Out West Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives 1
More Tunes about Baggage and Hills, English and Border Music 1625 – 2017 David Faulkner & Steve Turner 1
Offa Rex Offa Rex 1
Grand Total 30
2018
Dirty Computer Janelle Monae 4
Your Queen is a Reptile Sons of Kemet 2
Honey Robyn 2
Warm Jeff Tweedy 2
Look Now Elvis Costello 2
Au Cube Alasdair Roberts, Neil McDermott & Tartine de Clous 1
Dancing with the Beast Gretchen Peters 1
Egypt Station Paul McCartney 1
Ready Set Go Sharks 1
Bright Field Rheingans Sisters 1
Portrait with Firewood Djrum 1
Resolve Poppy Ackroyd 1
Piano and a Microphone Prince 1
The Horizon Just Laughed Damien Jurado 1
No One Care About Your Creative Hub Half Man Half Biscuit 1
Broken Politics Neneh Cherry 1
All Melody Nils Frahm 1
Aviary Julia Holter 1
Transgelic Exodus Ezra Furman 1
And Nothing Hurt Spiritualized 1
The Questions Kurt Elling 1
Golden Kylie Minogue 1
K.O.D. J.Cole 1
Grand Total 30
Oh dear, a complete absence of Fenfo – Something to Say from Fatoumata Diawara, which regally trounces all of the above.
Aaaaaaaand….. I’m not even sure it’s relevant to post this since we’re not at the end of the year yet… but what the hell, I’ll just do it….
Jazz Free Nels Klines and Henry Kaiser 1
When We Fall Asleep Billie Eilish 1
Further Richard Hawley 1
What Nature Gives Nature Takes Away Membranes 1
Our Native Daughters Our Native Daughters 1
Western Stars Bruce Springsteen 1
Hollowbone Kathryn Tickell & The Darkening 1
Transience Wreckless Eric 1
Assume Form James Blake 1
Titanic Rising Weyes Blood 1
Schlaganheim Black Midi 1
Grand Total 11
That reminds me, I must order that Black Midi
(Rigid Digit disappears to Amazon for 5 minutes)
Great work fella, we’ve all enjoyed the ride, so thank you.
*peels banana, dips into popcorn, stretches and yawns, sips cocktail, watches others work*
I’d like to thank the academy, my long-suffering family, etc etc….
Okay, I’m going to lie down in a darkened room for two weeks or so until I decide how to interpret these results, and whether to have another round of voting…. or whether just to leave it there……
Massive applauses.
Bravo! Bravo!
(FX: fingers in mouth whistling, Woo ooo!, Clapping and stamping.)
🙌🙏 👏
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
A great achievement. Thank you.
Have a well-deserved rest before the arguing begins… 😉
Well done! Great job! A nice memory jog for albums I haven’t listened to in ages.
For anyone who asks why their favourite wasn’t there – you should have voted!
A tremendous effort, Mr Cowslip. We thank you.
Right then, who’s up for 1899 – 1959?
1899 Scott Joplin – Maple Leaf Rag
“You’ve listed Stravinky’s The Rite of Spring as 1914, but it was first performed as a ballet in 1913”
Bravo sir! *tips hat*. Fantastic stuff.
I notice we don’t seem to have had the usual August ‘The Afterword isn’t what it was, no one cares anymore’ thread. I hold Arthur largely responsible for this shocking break in tradition.
It came early this year. I blame climate change
As expected, relatively little consensus on the latter years (with a few exceptions – Blackstar – obviously). But what a brilliant list of recommendations, some familiar and not played recently, some barely, if at all, heard of. Arthur, any idea how many records in total were listed?
Agreed. Lots to return to, lots to discover for the first time. Imagine being a teenager now and having these to investigate….blessed are those who do.
Great job, thank you- I wonder if, when it’s completed (however you decide to do it) it could be ‘stickied’ somewhere on the site*. (Mods?) It would be so great if others could find it easily.
As an aside….James Acaster in his new book argues that 2016 is the greatest year for music. Now there’s another thread. 🙂
* Could add a pen portrait of each chosen album culled from the comments.A lot of work for someone but would be such a great repository.
I’m convinced James Acaster is an Afterworder. He bought 366 albums released in 2016. My guess is he is @Paul-Wad.
Hmmm, Acaster is a bit too dance-y and bleepy and womp-wompy to be an Afterworder. Maybe he’s Kid Dynamite or Poppy.
He does veer towards the obsessive and wilfully obscure, though. 😉 And he does like a list.
Whereas I do fit the obsessive part and maybe the wilfully obscure, even I’m not that bad. Just 166 for 2016, although most are downloaded. Just 36 on CD. I have absolutely run out of room for any more CDs. The cupboard in the living room that I tried not to put CDs in for many years (I like them to be where I can see them) is now nearly full of the overflow CDs from my shelves, so the next step is moving them upstairs.
I’ve already moved all my Beatles bootlegs and most of my Pet Shop Boys singles upstairs, which goes against my principles (they SHOULD be in the room where the CD player is!). So I’d like everybody to stop releasing new albums now please, and I’d like nobody else to tell me of an obscure underground rapper that I’d never heard of (there seriously can’t be many of those left).
To Acaster, whoever you are, I hope this is useful:
(Strokes chin, ruffles 60s dodger’s hair) “But of course,” (pause, ruffles hair again) “Jimmmmeeeee, chiny, reck-ONNNNNNNNNNNN.”
(Strokes chin) Jimmmeeee. Jimmmmeee.”
I think that covers it.
As an aside, is there any f***** under 40 who isn’t a stand up?
Excellent work. This thread should be a “sticky” for a month or so @admin
Great work @arthur-cowslip
This is exactly the kind of project I spend most of my time doing. You wouldn’t believe how many lists I have scattered across a hundred spreadsheets or so. Is there any easy way to count how many of the top choices each of us nominated, i.e. is all this on an excel spreadsheet? If not we’ll each have to count our own.
There is a spreadsheet, yes. I’ve still got a few wrong years and double entries to sort out.
Let me try something here…. this is the albums that got three votes or more, in order of how many people voted for them….
** EDIT *** No, let’s not do that! That just came out as a big massive block of text.
Try this… albums with four votes or more…. this time without listing people’s names beside them….
Revolver 14
Kind of Blue 13
A Hard Day’s Night 12
Automatic For The People 11
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 11
OK Computer 10
Blackstar 9
Abbey Road 9
Highway 61 Revisited 9
Hounds of Love 9
Station to Station 9
The Queen is Dead 8
A Walk Across The Rooftops 7
Dummy 7
Pet Sounds 7
Hunky Dory 7
Murmur 7
The Velvet Underground & Nico 7
Wish You Were Here 7
Stone Roses 7
The Beatles (White Album) 7
Dare 6
Giant Steps 6
Astral Weeks 6
Aerial 6
Behaviour 6
Blue Lines 6
Apple Venus 6
Screamadelica 6
Sign ‘O’ The Times 6
With The Beatles 6
Spirit of Eden 6
Queen of Denmark 5
Doolittle 5
Forever Changes 5
Darkness on the Edge of Town 5
A Different Class 5
Pink Moon 5
It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back 5
Life’s Rich Pageant 5
Please Please Me 5
Hejira 5
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust 5
West Side Story OST 5
The Nightfly 5
Rain Dogs 5
Rubber Soul 5
Sketches of Spain 5
Songs in the Key of Life 5
The Dark Side Of The Moon 5
The Race for Space 4
Seventh Tree 4
Stories From The City, Songs From The Sea 4
Lost In the Dream` 4
Elephant 4
Funeral 4
To Pimp A Butterfly 4
Blood on the Tracks 4
Get Happy!! 4
Dirty Computer 4
Born in the USA 4
Back to Black 4
Fletcher Moss Park 4
Bridge Over Troubled Water 4
Close To The Edge 4
Never Mind The Bollocks 4
I Am 4
IV 4
Nightclubbing 4
Remain in Light 4
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan 4
Tunnel of Love 4
Time Out of Mind 4
XO 4
Steve McQueen 4
To be honest I think the above list looks a bit meaningless, the reason being that it has become detached from the very principle that made the exercise interesting: which albums you think were greatest for a given year. The ‘results’ in this format just look like another greatest ever list, albeit a slightly weird one!
I think it’s quite interesting that taken just on the numbers, the “usual suspects” have proven to be the most popular.
This was a free choice, amongst a group of music savvy listeners, to choose their favourite album from each year and still it’s Revolver & Kind of Blue.
“Ah yes, most interesting,” he said fingering his grey beard thoughtfully. “Who would have thought that the Rolling Stones would not have had one album in the top 100 of all time greats?” But such were the vagaries of British democracy in these times. He switched off the light and lay pondering this one question in the dark. How could he have got it so wrong? The enormity of this defeat. And all those Beatle boosting compatriots — how he would have to face them tomorrow and look them in the eye and accept their judgments … it was really just too much!
I think a lot of the voters didn’t choose their “favorite album of the year”, but the most “worthy” or “important”. They one they would be seen with at school (Huh? what’s that about?).
Who in their right mind would vote (in 2019) for the Sex Pistols album as their favorite of that year – the forever twelve years old?
When I compiled my own votes I listed albums I still listen to and enjoy today – not on a historian’s or MOJO writer’s level, but from a purely personal experience. (Still, with “Hejira” I’m mainstream, too).
Well said.
Mm, I know what you mean but I’m not sure. Do people genuinely try and be seen to be nominating “worthy” albums instead of just going for what they personally love? And if so, why?
I actually feel a bit self-conscious voting for “the obvious candidates” like Abbey Road or Led Zep IV – but in the end I have a clear conscience because I know in myself I genuinely love those albums and still listen to them regularly!
Besides, since I also went out on a limb by nominating Hergest Ridge, A Night at the Opera and Wildflower, I feel my integrity has been proven….
Yes, you could just as easily suspect someone who avoids the usual suspects in the ‘classic’ years of not being genuine and wanting to seem cool. If I wanted to impress my AW friends I would surely go for the more obscure, road-less-travelled fare.
No Parlez?
OK so it wan’t that then. It was just plain old lack of imagination. Fair enough. Not nearly as sinister.
Body Talk? More of a singles act really.
Well I was the one that voted for Simply Red / Stars and we know how much stick Mr Hucknall gets on here, so certainly not all ‘worthy’ choices from me.
I’ll defend my choice though – whatever anyone thinks of Mr Red, it is a phenomenal album and was certainly one of the albums of 1991. It probably helped that it brings back good memories that year and of their concert at Old Trafford Cricket Ground……..
Brilliant album, and great-sounding on vinyl too, as I discovered quite recently. I may have already mentioned this somewhere on the blog.
Yeah, I agree to an extent that just looks like any other “greatest albums” list, but still I think it does show the ones that there was most consensus on in any given year.
By the way, genuinely if anyone has any queries about an aspect of the data they want me to show, let me know and I’ll give it a go.
In fact, I might even just share the whole spreadsheet on google drive or something. Watch this space!
Just thinking it might be good to find the two most compatible Afterworders… or the two most INcompatible for that matter…. that might need some serious Excel data trickery….
And here we have it. The AW has been Tinder-waiting-to-happen for seven years.
What might be quite informative would be to add to the above list, the base and how many albums were nominated. eg Kind of Blue gained 13 nods, but only 20 people voted, and only 5 albums were suggested.
Earlier years, when there were fewer big albums released will always gain more traction, but in the 70s & 80s, there were several great titles each year – I chose Wish You Were Here for 1975, but A Night at the Opera and Ommadawn are also long term favourites.
Yeah, very good point. As to how to get that data….ummm…. leave it with me….
You’ve already got the base/grand total of votes, so either count up or excel how many titles there are in each year.
Then add these to the list – along with the year, then we can argue until the end of year poll.
Sorry, I think I’ve reached the limit of my Excel knowledge! I can’t see any easy way to do this neatly.
Anyway, I’m going to share the whole spreadsheet on Google Drive anyway – see my comment that I’m just about to put at the bottom of this thread….
You’ve done a great job. Have a rest & listen to some music…Maybe someone can suggest some good albums!
What do we do now?
Take a punt on whichever of your fellow AWers nominations take your fancy. Pleasant and unpleasant surprises ahoy!
Well I’ve gone through and totted up how many of my choices were top (or equal top) in the poll and it comes to 13!
As for what’s next, I have a list of my favourite film for each of the past 93 years, if everyone else has…
I don’t recall any films from this century, let alone the previous one.
So many ways this data can be wrangled.
We could tot up our AW-Compatability Scores. i.e. the total number of nominations agreeing with our own in the entire poll.
i.e. disregarding the eventual position of all nominated albums in any year but counting how many others voted for your nominations across the poll.
I nominated an album for every year except 2019. Of those 60 years, in 38 of them I was sole nominee for an album. None of these can be counted.
In the other 22 years, the albums I voted for received a total of 88 votes. Minus my own 22 votes for those years, my AW-Compatability Score is therefore 66.
I’ve got an idea! Why don’t we do it over again? After all, we can”t really be sure that people fully understood what they were voting for, it wasn’t properly spelled out for them, etc., etc.
Yes. Now we have a better idea of what we are letting ourselves in for, let’s have a people’s vote, as opposed one done by those bots in Russia.
I think that because people didn’t really understand what they were voting for (my vagueness is all part of my master plan) we have gotten a more honest response as a result.
That’s my answer to that and I’m sticking with it.
Isn’t it fascinating how this whole project has touched on themes of:
– data management
– Brexit philosophy
– AW romantic compatibility
– “honest” voting RE gaming
– is obscurity better than familiarity?
– and many more besides….
All we need now is a few flouncers over the results, then an ex-Afterworder popping up to tell us we are all boring, then this thread will have everything.
I think we’ve heard quite enough from the Afterword experts.
I think you’ve forgotten what people voted for, which is to have no albums whatsoever, and indeed outlaw all forms of music.
We’re going to take back control of our own music. No more Kraftwerk, U2, or ABBA, thank you very much.
Thanks for that @mike_h. I was getting ready for my bed, but I’ve sat up and worked out my AW-Compatibility Score! I only had 32 unique choices, with 29 shared. Once I took the 29 off my score is much more AW friendly, at 108. Quite a few of my shared 29 were only shared with one other person, so it’s my love of The Beatles that did for me. Still can’t believe nobody else voted for The Man-Machine though. It’s my favourite album.
I was going to suggest that as these are lists of the albums we nominated, we should do it again, choosing from one of the nominated albums each year…until I was hit by my own stupidity!
Nice one Arthur
(And I am not James Acaster, sorry to say)
That’s exactly what James Acaster would say…
For anyone who wants to get down and dirty with the data, here’s a copy of the full spreadsheet! (If this link works). Knock yerselves out!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hn6KVq4crA38d3wSOgvZ0y2J5nr-PK_6/view?usp=sharing