Jesus christ – not another list. Bear with me on this. I was thinking the other day about how long I have been seriously listening to music for and my favourite albums in that time. Like all such lists this will change depending on what day it is and what mood I am in but thought it would be interesting to see peoples choices. So I am looking for your favourite album from each of the decades since the sixties up to 2009. (Not counting 2010 onwards as we are only halfway through the decade). Interestingly my choice for the 60’s I first heard in the 70’s. I listened to lots of albums in the 60’s but this is the one that stood the test of time and which I still listen to:
1960’s – Songs of Leonard Cohen
1970’s – Richard and Linda Thompson – I want to see the bright lights tonight
1980’s – Elvis Costello – King of America
1990’s – Lucinda Williams – Car Wheels on a gravel road
2000’s – Bruce Springsteen – The Rising
1960s The Velvet Underground & Nico
1970s Tapper Zukie — MPLA
1980s Foetus Interruptus — Thaw
1990s The Boredoms — Visioncreationnewsun
2000s Aereogramme — My Heart Has a Wish That you Would Not Go
2010s I Like Trains — The Shallows
Hard to argue with this list – although some of the choices are a bit obvious don’t you think?
My wife loves that Aereogramme album. You’re the only other person I know who’s even heard of it. (I might have said this on the old site
It’s a strange one, because at heart it’s as much a stadium-rock album as anything by Coldplay or Snow Patrol, but it’s more of a post-metal sort of epic, like Isis or Neurosis, than simple commercial button-pushing — plus there’s an underlying sense of dread and genuine heartbreak that makes me gasp it’s so raw.
But anyway, I think it’s a grand and beautiful and brilliant album, and I feel terribly sad for Aereogramme that it didn’t do as well as it obviously should have done. This song alone should have guaranteed them immortality.
That’s a bit good. Thank you for bringing it to my attention!
My pleasure!
Blimey. How have I never heard of this before? It sounds weirdly familiar.
60s – The Beatles
70s – Songs in the Key of Life
80s – Sign o the Times
Those 3 were easy but it all gets a bit less appealing to me from there. Will give it some thought.
why I hate lists part 436…
Been looking at my library for the 90’s (thank you Mediamonkey), got as far as the ‘D’s — 13 or DogManStar or Dubnobasswithmyheadman are all great an classic and all that — and nope, on reflection, I can’t arbitrarily say that one is any better than another on every day…
1960’s – Van Morrison – Astral Weeks
1970’s – Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon
1980’s – The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
1990’s – David Sylvian – Dead Bees On A Cake
2000’s – David Sylvian – Blemish
Of course this could change but a quick scan of my computer suggests these will always grace my ears with a replay
1960s :With a Little Help From my Friends/Joe Cocker, surprising me too, but it really is a pinnacle of his prowess, exemplary songs and the cream of the sessionmen of the day.
1970s : L.A. Woman/Doors, still gives unremitting aural pleasure
1980s : Dare/Human League, timeless, but may I have the version with the remixed League Unlimited Orchestra please
1990s :The Argyll Cycle, Volume 1/Jackie Leven, time and time again can I lose myself here
2000s :A Singsong and a Scrap/Chumbawamba, the acoustic band hitting their phoenician stride
Retro, I kid you not – I have the day off today, waiting for delivery of a mattress and as I read your list I am listening to Jackie’s ‘Forbidden songs of the dying West’ – how fucking good was he?
60s – it’s going to be a Spector girl group compilation. Not fussed which one.
70s – Talking Book
80s – Reckoning. Very hard one, because there are such riches here. Could easily have been Surfer Rosa or Hatful of Hollow or any other R.E.M. album apart from Fables. Actually, if I’m honest, I’d probably get as much pleasure from many of the Now! albums.
90s – Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Just edges out The Holy Bible, Out Of Time, In Utero, Bossanova and about a million others. The 90s were my decade.
2000s – tough not to go with Since I Left You by the Avalanches. So I will. Honourable mention to Funeral by Arcade Fire, which I still think is a fantastic record despite their fall from grace since.
2010s – So far, it’s Body Talk by Robyn, no question.
Talking Book is a great choice – see we do agree on some things!!
What do you have against Fables? Might be my favourite REM album. Strange that.
Boring and predictable yet truthful:
1960s: Van Morrison: ‘Astral Weeks’
1970s: Joni Mitchell: ‘Court and Spark’
1980s: The Smiths: ‘The Queen is Dead’
1990s: The Cocteau Twins: ‘Heaven or Las Vegas’
2000s: PJ Harvey: ‘Stores from the City, Stories from the Sea’
And, cheating…
2010s: Sufjan Stevens: ‘Carrie and Lowell’
Interesting exercise; I probably still listen to these weekly (or at least some tracks from them every week.)
Yes, “Carrie and Lowell” is just incredible, isn’t it? I find it very moving. One of those albums where the artist seems, at least, to be bearing their soul. I’m thinking also of records like Joni Mitchell’s Blue and John Martyn’s Grace and Danger.
Totally agree. Have either of you heard Vashti Bunyan’s last album, Heartleap? I’m listening to it very much in conjunction with Stevens’ album. The two sit alongside each other very well for a lazy, sunny, acoustic afternoon.
Not heard the Vashti album yet but will try and find it today- thanks.
I know I go on about ‘Carrie and Lowell’ but I think @duco01 is right- it will come to be seen in the same light as ‘Blue’ and ‘Grace and Danger’: a profoundly moving classic. One of my favourite all-time albums. Was chatting to @carolina about my capacity to listen to it over and over again which may not be terribly good for me, but there is something compulsive about it. You hear something new each time.
Very true.
Bunyan lacks the lyrical intensity and inventiveness of Stevens, but has a similar ear for a pretty melody.
Couldn’t agree more, Ruby. It has the feel of a classic album that’ll be listened to repeatedly for decades to come, and it’s certainly the best that’s been released this year.
I’ve listened to it a lot these last few months, and every time I come to the line “My brother had a daughter/the beauty that she brings/illumination” I think of a post you wrote ages and ages ago, where you suggested that the lyric evokes a heavy sense of loss. I’ve been rolling that suggestion round my head all this time, because what I hear in that line is hope – the rest of the album can be a little bleak, but it’s a real moment of light.
I think our interpretations may turn on the reading of the word”had”, but it’s a sign of the depth of the record that different listeners can take such varying things away from a single line.
Ah, funny you should write that. The rest of the song very much evokes a sense of loss but you’re absolutely right about that line- it’s about hope, one of the few optimistic moments in the album and never fails to bring tears to my eyes.
I think perhaps the hope in that line threw the rest of it into sharper relief, making it even sadder. Maybe?
I am also struggling around (in a good way!) with ‘John My Beloved’: obviously Biblical, John being the favoured disciple, but also about a lover I think (both readings are possible). Some redemption there, maybe. An extremely complex track and worth many listens to try and work it out (if that is even possible).
I’m absolutely not trying to intellectualise these by the way- listening to the songs is a primarily emotional experience – I just like thinking about them, too. 🙂
I think you’re spot on – I find that line the most moving on the whole disc, for the precise reason you’ve identified. The niece he’s describing is a beacon of hope amidst all the loss.
Incidentally, it would appear that the “daughter” referred to in the lyric actually exists – I found this, from an interview gave to Pitchfork a few months back:
“My brother has a daughter, and she’s an only child, and she’s very social and outgoing and beautiful. She has lots of spirit and she knows how to use an iPad and an iPhone—she’s more Internet savvy than I am and she’s 4 years old. She’s surrounded by people who love her. There’s just so much intimacy.”
Yes, I remember that interview; it was a very good one. @carolina alerted me to a copy of an interview he did in The Word around the time of ‘Illinoise’ where he said :
‘The challenge that I have now is to really dig deeper and to make music that is more permanent and feels more eternal, and I don’t think I’ve done that yet. You just kind of live with this burden of knowing you’re not as good as you could be.”
And now we have the result of that thinking. 🙂
Re: “Carrie and Lowell”.
On this site, Matt Rector attempts an interpretation of all of the songs on the album:
http://oldschoolrecordreview.com/2015/05/22/darkness-and-light-and-oregon/
Thank you!
Just finished reading that- really excellent, and chimes with a lot of things we’ve discussed about the album over the past few months.
I always struggle a bit with Sufjan Stevens. His songs are so delicate I’m worried I might break them if I listen to them too hard.
Ha!
Whereas for me, C&L is the first SS album I’ve really struggled to connect with. I must try some more clearly…
60s: Sgt Pepper
70s: Tusk – Fleetwood Mac
80s:
90s: Together Alone – Crowded House
00s: Spoon – GaGaGaGaGa
Oh crap, yes, replace my choice with ‘Together Alone’. Wonderful.
Sorry, accidentally posted before I’d landed on an 80s selection, which I reckon has to be Costello. But which one? I’ll choose Spike, coz no one else will!
Impossible!
60s – The Velvet Underground & Nico
70s – Hunky Dory – Sir David of Bowington
80s – Purple Rain – That Little Purple Fella
90s – Promenade – The Divine Comedy
00s – Sumday – Grandaddy
So many others I could have gone for, damn you!
Sumday! A wise choice, Sir, if I may say so!
Cheers @man-of-soup !
All right then, here we go:
60s: A Love Supreme
70s: Heart of the Congos
80s: Imperial Bedroom
90s: Keith Jarrett at the Blue Note: The Complete Recordings
00s: Ys (Joanna Newsom)
10s (so far): probably “Death Speaks” (David Lang)
Yum to your 1970s choice. I ummed and ahhed over that or MPLA.
It is a great album, but I internally disqualified it after reading these comments. I would hate to be seen to be trying to copy the cool kids.
Do you know the Tappa Zukie In Dub album? It’s brilliant, possibly my favourite dub record (so why did I pick Keith Hudson downthread? Because I am fickle, that’s why)
Cheers for the tip, Mr Dynamite.
Have just ordered Tappa Zukie in Dub.
No. I have so many of those tracks spread over various comps that I’ve never got around to the actual album. But I will. I must.
Top choice for Pick A Dub, though. Isn’t the echo on that album vast!? The opening to I’m All Right gives me goosebumps every time.
I notice that there’s a new (expensive) magazine out going through a specific year every issue. I think Mojo or Uncut have put it out and it starts in 1965.
What about the 50s? Or even the pre-electric-Dylan 60s?
The biggest explosion in recorded music (rock ‘n’ roll) is now probably the least covered, and yet the expression is used all the time. Even Sinatra gets more kudos now!
So, if you don’t mind…..
50s – Johnny Burnette & The Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio
60s – ‘Out Of Our Heads’ – The Rolling Stones
1970s – ‘McCartney’ – Paul (straight up)
1980s – nose bleed time, doctor, get me outta here, nurse, take it away etc. etc.
The magazine is Uncut’s ‘History Of Rock”, i.e. another attempt to re-sell things you’ve already read and discarded. See also their laughable recent trend of flogging so-called Deluxe Remastered editions of their otherwise decent Ultimate Music Guides. I guess they are specifying ‘Rock’ as opposed to ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’, hence the 1965 Year Zero.
There is a magazine on the shelves devoted to the earlier era:
http://www.vintagerockmag.com/
Hi Deramdaze, I pondered starting in the 50’s. At 58 I am not the oldest on here but probably in the oldest group. I started listening to music in earnest around 67-68 so didn’t figure myself qualified to comment on a decade where I wasn’t listening to music but if I had to pick one from the 50’s that I listen to an a regular basis it would be Miles Davis Kind of Blue although I love a lot of the Sun Studios stuff and Louis Armstrong although my favourite stuff of his actually pre-dates the 50’s.
Re: Louis Armstrong – oh yeah, the classic Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings from 1925 – 1928 are the real deal.
60s – Portrait of a Legend, Sam Cooke (Astral Weeks, if compilations don’t count)
70s – The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle, Bruce Springsteen
80s – Loveless, My Bloody Valentine
90s – Mogwai Young Team, Mogwai
00s – Untrue, Burial
10s – Have One On Me – Joanna Newsom
Pedant alert – wasn’t Loveless released in the 90s? Is it allowed because it was started in the 80s?
You’re quite right – 1991! I obviously wasn’t quite awake yet this morning when I wrote the above.
I will substitute in First Two 7″s by Minor Threat, assuming that counts as an album. If it doesn’t, I’ll go for Doolittle by Pixies.
Mine are something like
60s Highway 61 Revisited
70s Big Star: Radio City
80s Elvis Costello: Get Happy!!
90s Neutral Milk Hotel: In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
00s Mountain Goats: All Hail West Texas
10s Ezra Furman: Day Of The Dog
Interestingly, Costello has now received the “best album of the 80s” award for four different albums from four Afterworders (SteveT, DrJ, bengwy and myself).
Neutral Milk Hotel – brilliant, brilliant, and once again, brilliant.
Is it too late to change my choice (down there ↓)
Maybe not, it’ll end up like my Fantasy Football Team – forever changing, and never getting it right
I do love a list thread.
60s – Abbey Road
70s – Ziggy stardust
80s – Dare
90s – Parklife
2000s – White stripes – red blood cells
As ever this will inevitably be different tomorrow.
60s : “Village Green Preservation Society” – The Kinks
70s : “Unknown Pleasures” – Joy Division
80s : “Throwing Muses” – Throwing Muses (edging out “Psychocandy” and “Songs About F-cking” by a whisker)
90s : “Mezzanine” – Massive Attack
00s : “Forget The Night Ahead” – The Twilight Sad
10s : “Hidden” – These New Puritans
60s: Younger than Yesterday – The Byrds
70s: Into the Music – Van Morrison
80s: Life’s Rich Pageant – REM
90s: Dog Man Star – Suede
00s: The Sophtware Slump – Grandaddy
10s: Everyday Robots – Damon Albarn
Mmmm … some interesting choices that, Cap’n.
And I see that you’ve shown greater grammatical correctness than Messrs Stipe, Buck, Mills and Berry, who chose to spell “Lifes Rich Pageant” without the apostrophe, for some reason best known to them.
The buffoons.
Did Lynne Truss ever record an album in the ’80s? I’ll vote for her instead.
1960s – ‘A Hard Day’s Night’
1970s – ‘The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars’
1980s – ‘Hounds Of Love’
1990s – Automatic For The People’
2000s – ‘Aerial (A Sky Of Honey)’
The question is, what I think now or what I thought at the time? Obviously as we get nearer to the present that distinction diminishes.
Then
60s: A collection of Beatles Oldies but Goldies
70s: The Undertones
80s: Remain in Light by Talking Heads
90s: Nevermind by Nirvana
00s: More Adventurous by Rilo Kiley
10s: Sunken Condos by Donald Fagen
Now
60s: Abbey Road, the Beatles
70s: Pretzel Logic, Steely Dan
80s: The Clock comes down the Stairs, Microdisney
90s: Amplified Heart by Everything but the Girl
00s: Back to Black, Amy Winehouse
10s: Love and its’ opposites, Tracey Thorn (ok this is just a blatant attempt to have two votes for modern times, but for “established” artists.
On the basis of how much I listen to them now…
60s: Astral Weeks
70s: Blood on the Tracks
80s:This is the Sea
90s: The Boatman’s Call
00s: Alligator
……that said Tom Waits could easily take four of these decades out tomorrow plus the best of this decade with Bad as Me
Ah…. go on then:
60s: The Byrds – “The Notorious Byrd Brothers”
70s: Peter Hammill – “Nadir’s Big Chance”
80s: REM – “Murmur”
90s: Cardinal – self-titled
00s: Tift Merritt – “Another Country”
10s: The Week That Was – also self titled
changed my Mind
70s : Born to Run
…….although As the seventies was the best decade for music …compare and contrast 1971 with 1979 and the variety of styles….almost time for a new thread.
Off the top of my head
60’s Revolver: The Beatles
70’s Inside Out: John Martyn
80’s Lifes Rich Pageant: R.E.M (this was the hardest decade to choose from by a mile!!)
90’s Girlfriend: Mathew Sweet
00’s Heartbreaker: Ryan Adams
60s – High tide and Green Grass
70s Blood on the Tracks
80s Sunny Ade Synchro System/ Burning Spear
90s nick Cave / Prince
Noughties – couldn’t tell you
My turn….
60s – With The Beatles
70s – Innervisions – Stevie Wonder
80s – Imperial Bedroom – Elvis Costello
90s – Grand Prix – Teenage Fanclub
00s – 22 Dreams – Paul Weller
10s – I Love You Honeybear – Father John Misty
Great shout on Honeybear. After Carrie & Lowell that’s probably my album of the year.
60s: probably a jazz album. 99% of rock or pop from that decade is terrible*. I’ll say Grant Green’s Idle Moments, but on another day it might be The Sidewinder by Lee Morgan
70s: Keith Hudson – Pick A Dub
80s: a BASF C90 that my dad’s workmate taped for me with Born In The USA on one side, and a selection from Born To Run, Darkness… and The River on the other. I would have been about twelve – I’d said to my dad that I liked Dancing In The Dark and in a day or two he came home with this. His colleague must have been a proto-Afterworder. He did well – that tape fuelled a love for Springsteen that never left, even when I was in the deepest pits of goth and anarchopunk
90s: The Afghan Whigs – Black Love, only just pipping Blue Lines by Massive Attack or Deserters Songs by Mercury Rev
00s: The Weakerthans – Left & Leaving
*teehee
Father John is a treat live too, Bingo. A very entertaining, flamboyant showman.
That’s good to hear – I’ve tickets to see him in a couple of months’ time.
I watched FJM at Glastonbury on bbciplayer and he was stunning. Hoping to get tickets to see him in Sheffield in October
60s Love – Forever Changes
70s Boss – Born to Run
80s Kate – The Dreaming
90s Manics – The Holy Bible
00s Amy – Back in Black
Now there’s an idea: Amy covering Back in Black.
Or for that matter, AC/DC covering Back to Black.
1960’s – Abbey Road – The Beatles
1970’s – What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye
1980’s – Doolittle – Pixies
1990’s – Dummy – Portishead
2000’s – Random Access Memories – Daft Punk/ In Rainbows – Radiohead
I’ve realized that Daft Punk was released in 10’s
So;
2000’s – In Rainbows – Radiohead
2010’s – Random Access Memories – Daft Punk
60s. Sgt Pepper HJH
70s. Blood on the Tracks Bob Dylan
80s Inarticulate Speech of the Heart Van Morrison
90s Wrecking Ball Emmylou Harris
00s Essence Lucinda Williams
10s I am an Eagle Laura Marling
This is a really good thread. The albums that are coming up are way more varied than might have been expected, and the entries for the 00s and 10s in particular are dead interesting. Bravo, Afterword!
60s – Astral Weeks – Van
70s – Sabbath Bloody Sabbath – Black Sabbath
80s – Seminal Live – The Fall
90s – Vauxhall & I – Moz
00s – Illinoise – Sufjan Stevens
10s – Fanfare – Jonathan Wilson
Probably. The me who lives on the other side of the wall, the one with buttons for eyes, would probably choose Led Zeppelin II , Solid Air, Stop Making Sense, Siamese Dream and Post Tropical by James Vincent McMorrow
Seminal Live! Probably the most perverse pick for a Fall album you could have possibly made and I salute you for it!
Thanks – I think!
I absolutely love it – grungy versions of some great songs – LA, Victoria, Cruisers Creek, Frenz, Kurious Oranj, then the gloriously loopy country car crash that is Pinball Machine, topped off with the stone cold classic Dead Beat Descendent. Utter genius!
Let’s just not mention Mollusc in Tyrol…
Ooh – and I even forgot to mention H.O.W. – it gets better!
40s – Louis Jordan and His Tympany 5, Volume 2
50s -Exploring New Sounds in Stereo – Juan Garcia Esquivel
60s – Revolver – the bloody Beatles
70s – New Boots And Panties – Ian Dury & The Blockheads
80s – Skylarking – XTC
90s – Spilt Milk – Jellyfish
00’s – The Liberty Of Norton Folgate – Madness
10’s – The Magic Whip – Blur
20’s – When I’m 84 – Paul McCartney
It will probably be exactly the same tomorrow.
Thank you Zanti! I was thinking the same thing. The first LP came in 1948.
Sixties – Revolver
Seventies – Blue
Eighties – The Nightfly/Donald Fagen OR The Look of Love/ABC
Nineties – Peace at Last – The Blue Nile
Noughties – Borderland/Tom Russell
Can’t believe there’s no Van or Bruce.
Good to see Tom in there – was going to plump for Love and Fear but decided against it at last minute.
You going to see him this autumn? I have a ticket for his Nottingham show.
Sadly, probably not on this occasion. Dates haven’t quite fallen right for me. I’ve seen him three times – Stoke, Chester and Lichfield so Nottingham is probably my best chance if circumstances change. I’m sure you’ll have a great night.
Did you see him at the Guidhall in Lichfield? If so was at the same gig – he was beset with Electrical problems. It was my first time seeing him live, last year at Leicester was better,
I did. Chester was the best of the three. Excellent location – Telford’s Warehouse is a terrific bar/music venue and he was touring your favourite “Love and Fear.”
At Stoke he was part of Nanci Griffith’s touring review, performing as part of her band and also giving us a few of his own numbers. The first time I’d heard of him, I went out and bought “The Man From God Knows Where” the next day – which could easily have been my album from the nineties.
Started properly listening (ie becoming obsessed) in the 80s, so the 60s and 70s choices are arbitrary (otherwise it would be nil return for the 60s, and Captain Beaky for the 70s)
1960s Beatles – Abbey Road
1970s Who – Qudrophenia / Sex Pistols – Never Mind The Bollocks (can’t split ’em)
1980s Big Country – The Crossing
1990s Carter USM – 30 Something
2000s Henry Priestman – Chronicles Of Modern Life
2010s – John Grant – Queen Of Denmark
60s – Sgt Pepper’s
70s – Natty Dread
80s – The Queen Is Dead
90s – Aquemini
00s – Rated R
10s – To Pimp A Butterfly
Beatles for Sale
Diamond Dogs
The Stone Roses
Night Music (Joe Jackson)
Anything by Damien Dempsey
Anything by Nils Frahm
Wrt to the “first heard” idea in the OP, I now observe how new thrills arrived with pleasing regularity – at least until this century, so…
Ziggy Stardust (70s) I first heard (in its entirety) in 1981.
It Takes A Nation Of Millions..(80s) first heard in 1988.
The Holy Bible (90s) first heard in 1994.
Scott 2 (60s) first heard in 1999.
The Cold Vein (00s) first heard in 2002.
60`s – Love “Forever Changes”
70`s – Neil Young – “Live Rust”
80`s – Waterboys – “This Is The Sea”
90`s – Michael Head & The Strands – “The Magical World Of The Strands”
00`s – Arthur Lee _ “The Forever Changes Concert”
40s Thelonious Monk – Genius Of Modern Music
50s Frank Sinatra – Songs For Swinging Lovers
60s The Beatles – Revolver (with Paperback Writer & Rain)
70s David Bowie – Low
80s Tom Waits – Swordfishtrombones
90s Meshell Ndegeocello – Peace Beyond Passion
00s Burial – Untrue
10s Melanie De Biasio – No Deal
60s Frank Zappa Hot Rats
70s Bowie Station To Station
80s Talking Heads The Name Of This Band Is Called Talking Heads (live, reissue with extra tracks)
90s Primal Scream Screamadelica
00s Goldfrapp Black Cherry
10s War On Drugs
60s: Hendrix – Electric Ladyland (since ousted by John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme)*
70s: Zappa – Roxy+Elsewhere (since ousted by Alice Coltrane’s Journey in Satchidananda)*
80s: Kip Hanrahan – Coup de tête
90s: Bob Dylan – Time Out of Mind
00s: John Zorn – 50/4
10s John Zorn – Nova Express
* following paulwright (above) and his then and now idea, I didn’t discover jazz properly until 1974
60’s Revolver
70’s Teenage Depression – Eddie & the Hot Rods (my introduction to harder musical drugs!)
80’s Closer – Joy Division
90’s Time out of Mind – Bobby Z
00’s Out of Season – Beth Gibbons & Rustin’ Man