Rejected

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die was first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Edited by Robert Dimery, it contains a chronological list of albums chosen by a panel of music critics to be the most important, influential, and best in popular music between the 1950s and the 2000s. It was reissued in 2008 with a revised list, and again in 2011, 2013 and 2016. From first publication the list has been a topic of much debate, with some disagreement regarding albums left out or included; however, it is widely regarded as a very useful starting point for the main musical references of the late 20th century. As the 2005 book is the first and has the most impact, that is the list I've used.

I've gone through the list and listened to every album, and then explored further. I've then dropped albums I felt were not essential, and replaced them with albums I felt were essential. These are the albums I have rejected. Comments on the albums I've kept and added are elsewhere on this blog where the lists are sorted by decade.

I've gone back further than Dimery to the time when albums were first released (when they were several short length discs collected in an "album" which opened up like a book or photo album, thus giving any collection of music on a lengthy disc the name album). I've also included any form of music, be it jazz, heavy metal, pop, classical, soundtrack, etc. And I've included any official albums (no bootlegs, unless officially endorsed), so I'm not making distinctions between live, studio, and compilations, as these are often artificial and/or hard to tell. Debut albums released in the 50s and early 60s were often compilations of singles released over several years. And sometimes bands later on would release albums of material compiled from several years of previous recordings, perhaps mixed with more contemporary recordings, such as Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti (1975). 

Rejected

1956
XX Fats Domino - This is Fats Replaced by his 1955 debut album
XX Louvin Brothers – Tragic Songs of Life I pondered this for ages, as there is some appeal in this early country music, but with my addition of Gene Autry and Hank Williams, I feel that early country music is appropriately covered, and harmony singing is better covered by the Kingston Trio, and the comprehensive Doo Wop album.


1957
XX Thelonious Monk – Brilliant Corners A respected jazz figure, but he didn't really cross over, remaining a musician purely for jazz fans, and even they place him lower than Coltrane and Miles, so I am removing him from this list.
XX Machito – Kenya More Afro-Cuban jazz, this time in a big band swing format with a salsa beat. This is a little boring. I much prefer the African rhythms of Sabu Martínez
XX Miles Davis – Birth of the Cool Jazz was the big sound in the Fifties and early Sixties, and Miles Davis is one of the most respected figures in jazz. This is a well regarded album, and is generally in the lower top 5 of lists of Davis' best albums, and does appear on several best of jazz lists, though generally not high - this survey of 22 lists puts it at 44 overall. Though released in 1957, the album is a collection of tracks originally released in the Forties. The main claim to notability is the recording's influence on cool jazz, though neither the original singles nor the album were well received at the time, and Davis moved on to other forms of jazz quite quickly, and the development of cool jazz happened around and apart from these recordings, so any claimed significance is retrospective, and possibly due to Davis' later importance. Brubeck's 1959 release Time Out is generally considered a more popular and influential cool jazz album. 

1958
XX Billie Holiday – Lady in Satin (See Lady Sings The Blues 1956
XX Jack Elliott – Jack Takes the Floor Swapped for Woody Guthrie
XX Sarah Vaughan – At Mister Kelly’s Her 1955 debut with Clifford Brown, Sarah Vaughan, is perhaps more representative and significant, but after consideration, neither of these albums strikes me as significant enough to be albums anyone must hear.
XX Tito Puente & His Orchestra – Dance Mania Lively, clean and snappy. Latin music - mambo style. Rather simplistic and boring. Score: 4


1959
XX Ella Fitzgerald - Sings the Gershwin Song Book I think it is indisputable that there should be a Ella Fitzgerald album because she is so acclaimed, and there is good argument for the album being one of the Song Book series - each one being a generous study of one of the great early to mid century American songwriters. I'm not entirely sure, though, that the albums are representative of what Fitzgerald is famous for, and so the albums become more about the songs than about the singer, and the size of the albums is daunting. And, anyway, if it was to be one of the Song Books then the first one, Cole Porter, might be more appropriate, as it set the trend, and the songs seem more suited to Fitzgerald's style. Or, if it was to be the Gershwins, then the 1950 Ella Sings Gershwin is more manageable, focused, intimate, feels like a proper album, contains some awesome deliveries (less like someone knocking off songs on a conveyor belt, and more like someone singing like she meant it). Her live albums, particularly Ella In Rome and Ella In Berlin, are where she shows what she was famous for - scatting on a song, using her voice like a jazz instrument.
XX Marty Robbins – Gunfighter Ballads & Trail Songs [CW] I'm not convinced by this, but keeping it on the list for now. It'll be first up against the wall come the revolution, though. No. It's gone. Score: 2 1/2

1960
XX Jimmy Smith – Back at the Chicken Shack We have Dave Brubeck for popular elevator mood jazz, and we have Booker T and the MG's for soulful Hammond organ playing, so there's little place for this. Score: 2
XX Elvis Presley – Elvis is Back! This is Elvis's return to recording after his service in the army. It marks the start of his long period of producing popular pap. Some of the songs are listenable, but mostly this is tin pan alley stuff (actually Brill Building) for the undemanding masses. Elvis sings well, but without enthusiasm. Some of it is very cringe-worthy. Score: 0
XX The Everly Brothers – A Date with the Everly Brothers Engaging R&B vocal harmonies by a popular and influential duo, quite listenable but see the 1958 debut instead, which has more energy and enthusiasm than this. Score: 4


1961
XX Bill Evans – Sunday at the Village Vanguard Quiet night-time piano jazz. "Nice". The trio play well together, but this is for jazz fans only. Score: 3

1962
XX Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd – Jazz Samba This is pleasant, but the real cool jazz / bossa nova album is of course Getz/Gilberto in 1963. Score: 5

1963
XX Phil Spector – A Christmas Gift for You (RS) See Back to Mono (1969), which contains this album, plus all Spector's singles. Score: 5
XX The Beatles – With the Beatles (RS) This is a crisper album than the debut with more proper Beatles tracks and less filler, though - because it's not the debut it doesn't have quite the significance or importance. After this they made a few middling albums, none of which match the quality of the first two albums, though getting increasingly better until the revolution that was Rubber Soul. Score: 4
XX Charles Mingus – Black Saint & the Sinner Lady No need for Mingus when we have Duke Ellington who is more melodic. Score: 3
XX Sam Cooke – Live at the Harlem Square (RS) (NME) (Released 1985) This has been acclaimed by some reviewers as not only being one of the greatest live albums ever made, but also that it's better than James Browns Live At The Apollo. For fuck's sake. This album wasn't released until 1985 because it sounds dreadful, not because it has too much raw energy. The sound is muddy, its shit, and Cooke's wonderful voice is lost in the murk, occasionally sounding weak and tinny, at other times strained beyond his comfort zone. It's really an appalling violation of Sam Cooke's voice and music; indeed, of music in general. Compare the studio "Chain Gang" with the live "Chain Gang". On the studio his voice is warm, expressive, detailed, quite sublime. On the live version his voice is rough, forced, and he substitutes the genuine elegance and feel of the studio cut with strain and warble so he sounds like a karaoke singer trying too hard. Now listen to "Lost Someone" from James Brown Live At The Apollo. Phew! There is no comparison. The James Brown live recording is the real thing. The Sam Cooke live tape should have been burned so nobody could exploit his name by releasing it. Score: 0

1964

XX Jerry Lee Lewis – Live at the Star Club, Hamburg This captures Lewis at his rocking best, and is an enjoyable foot-tapping party album. But by 1964 this was rather old fashioned and limited - the world had moved on from this bombastic simplicity. For early rock n roll and rockabilly see Various - Loud, Fast & Out Of Control: The Wild Sounds Of '50s Rock (placed in 1959) Score: 5
XX Buck Owens – I've Got a Tiger by the Tail Popular country singer who influenced the Beatles among others with his direct and simple rocking country style. Best album is The Carnegie Hall Concert, a live album recorded in 1966. Score: 4
XX Dusty Springfield - A Girl Called Dusty Her debut album. Decent stuff - she has a strong, attractive and soulful voice, but it's Dusty In Memphis that's the standout album. While the album has moments of emotional involvement that reveal what Springfield is capable of, too often it feels like she's simply going through the motions in a professional way. Score: 4
XX The Rolling Stones – Rolling Stones / England's Newest Hit Makers The band's debut album. Other debut albums in the same year indicate that this was not an unusual release: The Dave Clark Five Return!, Stay With The Hollies, The Five Faces of Manfred Mann, Alex Harvey And His Soul Band, Kinks, and The Animals. These British R&B bands were often termed beat bands at the time, and some of the lesser known ones are collected on the compilation The Roots of British Rock, a more useful album. Score: 4


1965

XX B.B. King – Live at the Regal (RS) (CCC) Good album, but see King's debut Singin' The Blues (1956). By 1965 his influence was already felt, and the guitar playing on the debut is crisper, sharper, and much more exciting. The debut is the important album. Score: 5
XX The Byrds - Mr Tambourine Man (RS) [FK] Tedious album, badly sung imitations of Dylan and The Beatles. The appeal of The Byrds is lost on me - I think it's an American thing. The UK had Donovan, so our affections tend to go to him. The title track popularised the Rickenbacker 12 string, and created a lasting trend for what is termed jangle pop, which had already been established in 1963 by The Searchers on their debut album Meet The Searchers which contained "Sweets For My Sweet" with its prominent use of the Rickenbacker. Jackie DeShannon's "When You Walk In The Room" (released 1963, re-released 1964), also recorded by The Searchers (1964), also had the jangly pop sound. As regards the development of folk rock, I find Fred Neil's Bleeker Street and The Beau Brummels - Introducing The Beau Brummels more attractive and imaginative. And it is painful to hear the professional but superficial thumping beat of the session players working their way heavily through the delicate magic of Dylan's "Mr Tambourine Man". Compare The Byrd's version with Dylan's expansive and beautiful version with its imaginative and subtle counter play of the electric guitar against Dylan's acoustic guitar. Score: 3
XX The Sonics – Here Are The Sonics Gosh this is a bit crude. They seem to be jumping on the British Invasion bandwagon with an attempt at British beat and British R&B, but they are very bad. This is not The Angry Young Them, or Kinda Kinks, or anything anywhere near as good at those, but Here Are The Sonics is selected, but not those. How seriously warped is that? Score: 2



1966
XX The Mamas & the Papas – If You Can Believe Your Eyes & Ears (RS) They were a singles band. so replaced with the compilation Hits of Gold (1969) Score: 4
XX Buffalo Springfield – Again (RS) [see Retrospective 1969]
XX The 13th Floor Elevators – Psychedelic Sounds See Nuggets 1972
XX The Monkees – Headquarters This is crap. The band were a joke - a bit of fun, with some decent songs written by experienced professional songwriters such as Goffin and King, and they retained a public affection, but nobody takes them seriously. They are no better than other popular bands, like The Bay City Rollers. This is an album in which they write and play their own songs in a weak pastiche of the Beatles, and it exposes their lack of ability. At most a short greatest hits album could sum them up, such as this 1976 Greatest Hits album, but even better would be a couple of representative tracks on a bubblegum music compilation would be enough. See Various - Sugar Sugar: The Birth of Bubblegum Pop (2012) (which also includes The Bay City Rollers!)
XX Paul Revere & the Raiders – Midnight Ride This is quite likable, but also quite second rate and run of the mill. The band seemed to be quite good at copying other bands, and you can hear the Beach Boys and British Invasion bands in their music, but all their songs are inferior to the bands they are copying, and there's no breaking new ground. I should imagine for Americans of a certain age there is some nostalgia value, for I understand they were quite successful in America in the Sixties, but other than that they are not significant.
XX Nina Simone – Wild is the Wind See 1969 - See-Line Woman: The Best of Nina Simone.
XX The Who – Sell Out (RS) (CCC) Songs interspersed with adverts and jingles to give the impression of a pirate radio station. Critics love this one because of the gimmick of the jingles and adverts. They get excited over such gimmicks, and call this a concept album. The adverts irritate after the first listen (much as they tend to irritate on real commercial radio, which is why we prefer music without adverts, so putting in adverts seems a pretty daft idea). Anyway - take away that gimmick, and the album really has to stand or fall by the quality of the songs. They are mostly indifferent. There is only one decent song, "I Can See For Miles", the rest are sub Kinks songs with some humour and an attempt at a narrative which even when they work, such as "Odorono", "Tattoo", and "Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand" are not enough to save the album.
XX The Monks – Black Monk Time Bo Diddley rhythms combined with a tongue-in-cheek DIY attitude. What holds me back is that the appeal is limited, and that it seems the band can't make up their mind if they want to be taken seriously. The casual attitude has some appeal, but the resulting tone is amateur local band rather than anything authentic or meaningful. I suspect the band started out tongue-in-cheek, found people liked it, and so retained the amateur humour thinking that was their USP. As it turned out, people beyond their fan base were not impressed, and the band did not have either the ambition or the skills (or perhaps both) to lift themselves into serious music, so they died out. People looking back have found them a fun curiosity (which they are) but there are are also some earnest claims to their musicianship and importance which is as amateur and laughable as the band themselves!
XX The Yardbirds – The Yardbirds / Roger the Engineer (RS) The album is called The Yardbirds, but is widely known as Roger The Engineer because of the cover drawing of the album's engineer, Roger Cameron. This is the Jeff Beck version of The Yardbirds, and comes after the band had already made their impact. For better examples of the band's impact and importance See 1965 For Your Love and 1964 Five Live Yardbirds
XX Love – Da Capo Nice parts, and you can hear the promise that would result in Forever Changes, but the band are not quite there yet. This is too scrappy to be a classic, and is of interest only because it's by the band who made Forever Changes. The jury is out on the 14 minute "Revelation", which is the most interesting and ambitious track on the album - though it does fail.
XX The Byrds – Fifth Dimension - I'm preferring Younger Than Yesterday (1967)



1967

XX Shivkumar Sharma / Brij Bushan Kabra / Hariprasad Chaurasia – Call of the Valley Classical Indian music that apparently had something of an impact at the time in America. Ravi Shankar had a more significant global impact.
XX Electric Prunes – I Had too Much to Dream (Last Night) Replaced by Nuggets
XX Merle Haggard – I’m a Lonesome Fugitive Placed on this list, along with Buck Owens, because of the association with the Bakersfield Sound, a minor Country music variation. You need to be a real fan of Country music to appreciate this stuff.
XX Frank Sinatra - Frank Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim This bossa-nova stuff is sounding dated in 1967, especially as sung by Sinatra, and had been done better - as in Getz/Gilberto in 1963. This is not cool - it's rather old.
XX Loretta Lynn – Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind) Plinky plonky red neck country music. The title says it all.
XX Jimi Hendrix – Axis: Bold as Love (RS) (ATT)
XX Donovan – Sunshine Superman - See 1969 Greatest Hits
XX Beau Brummels – Triangle The band were engaging in the styles of the day, and this is their psychedelic/baroque album. Nicely done, but limited in comparison to other such albums of the day. See 1965 Introducing The Beau Brummels
XX Tim Buckley – Goodbye & Hello Buckley wasn't commercially or critically successful in his lifetime, but there's been a growing cult interest in his work over the past few years. After working through Buckley's albums, I'm not seeing anything of worth when compared to his contemporaries working in the same area.



1968


XX Blue Cheer – Vincebus Eruptum This is genuinely a poor album. The guys struggle to play effectively, and the recording is shit. It's claim to fame is as an early example of what becomes Heavy Metal. But there's some doubt about that.
XX CaetanoVeloso – Caetano Veloso
XX Pretty Things – S.F. Sorrow Claims of being the first "rock opera" aside, this is a crap album that bombed at the time, and critical reappraisals focus with curiosity on the "first rock opera" claim, but still don't like the music. The music is derivative and backward looking, and the lyrics don't make sense. They can make all the claims they like in order to generate interest (after all Robert Dimery and his team bought it), but it doesn't shine this turd any better.
XX Big Brother & the Holding Company / Janis Joplin – Cheap Thrills (RS) (NME) Joplin's albums never quite lived up to the promise of her live performances. This album was rush-released after Joplin's stunning performance of Ball & Chain at Monterey, and it shows. Pearl is her best official album, but the 1973 Greatest Hits is the most complete example of her work, and is the album to listen to.
XX Iron Butterfly – In a Gadda da Vida The interest in this album is the 17 minute track on side two, "In a Gadda da Vida" - the rest of the songs on the album - indeed, the rest of the band's entire career, is otherwise unremarkable. There is also a three minute version (somewhat more tolerable to listen to) which was released as a single. The song with its moody feel, repetitive nature, simplistic structure, and menacing distorted main riff is seen as containing essential elements of the heavy metal genre, and so is a link between hard rock / psychedelic rock and heavy metal. It is not a respected piece of music, and you don't need the full album or even the album version of the song to have an insight into the debate (the single is enough) - so I feel that including the album on this list is a bit unnecessary. See The Psychedelic Years (1966-69) - a compilation album.
XX Ravi Shankar – Sounds of India See Three Ragas (1956)
XX The Byrds – Notorious Byrd Brothers (RS)
XX The Zombies – Odessey & Oracle (RS)


1969

XX Creedence Clearwater Revival – Bayou Country Grief - I can't take much more of this.....
XX Creedence Clearwater Revival – Green River (RS)
XX Elvis Presley – From Elvis in Memphis (RS)
XX Leonard Cohen – Songs from a Room
XX The Youngbloods – Elephant Mountain It's a pleasant enough album of gentle folk rock and jazz-tinged pop/rock. But the band made no impact at the time, and while they are competent enough, there's nothing especially interesting here.
XX Blood, Sweat & Tears - Blood, Sweat & Tears Jazz-pop-rock-psychedelic band with brassy horns. They were popular at the turn of the Sixties/Seventies, and this was their most popular album. It's competent but fairy empty, like theatre music.

XX Flying Burrito Brothers – Gilded Palace of Sin (RS) (CCC) This is country music, and is not much of a development from the Louvin Brothers 1956 album Tragic Songs of Life
XX Bee Gees – Odessa There is nothing new here - this is a tedious double album of sub-Beatles, sub-Byrds, sub-Moody Blues, sub-psychedelic pop, that was popular at the time. While the songs are attractive enough by themselves, a double album is heavy going. And there is not a single track that stands by itself as worthy or memorable or affecting. There is, essentially, nothing here worth bringing to people's attention. However, fans of baroque psychedelic pop will find it attractive and interesting, and general listeners will on the whole find it as listenable as the majority of the Bees Gees output. Essentially harmless.
XX Tim Buckley – Happy Sad (NME) There is growing retrospective cult respect for this guy. After working through his albums, I don't share that respect. This sounds a bit like Fred Neil , which I like, but I prefer the Fred Neil album - it has better songs, a more varied sound, and was four years earlier. Also consider Bert Jansch, Roy Harper and John Martyn.
XX MC5 – Kick Out the Jams (RS) (MC) (NME) The music is hard rock and is substandard even for that period, the playing is limited and rough, with repetitive riffs sometimes off-key, with distortion, feedback, lots of "ooh"s, "yeah"s, "uhh"s, etc. It's messy. But people like the energy, the roughness, the distortion, the clumsiness, the lack of ideas and imagination - this is basic music for people who may be challenged by or tired of music that is more progressive or involved. There is no pretension here, no aiming for anything better - this is a band laying down what they can do with conviction and a little bit of attitude (not much, as there are plenty of "thank you"s). In a sense there is nothing remarkable here, nothing that hasn't been done before and better - such as The Kingsmen doing "Louie Louie", The Kinks doing "You Really Got Me", the Doors, the Who, 006, etc. But the title song in itself is worth keeping as an example of rough garage energy as played by hundreds of wannabe rock bands then and since, and the opening shout of "Kick out the jams mother-fuckers" is legendary. But it's just the song we need. I'll hunt down a compilation that includes "Kick Out The James" and "Louie Louie". The rest of the album is in the spirit of "Kick", but not quite as effective, and some of the songs and the playing are just a little bit too limited for prolonged or repeated listening. Even if you're having a party and simply want some loud, high energy music, a compilation of the best of such music is going to be way better than this. In short: seek out the song, avoid the album.
XX Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul


1970

XX Ananda Shankar – Ananda Shankar An Indian sitar player doing some dreadful covers of rock songs, and doing even worse original songs. This should be on a list of worst albums of all time. Score: 1
XX Black Sabbath – Paranoid (RS) (C4) (NM) I may revisit this.
XX The Doors – Morrison Hotel This is a surprisingly dull album. It came as the band were trying to pull themselves back together after the flop of the expensive and over produced Soft Parade, and wanted to return to their roots. Critics at the time saw it as a return to form after several weak albums. It was good in comparison to stuff like The Soft Parade, but by itself it is weak - the songs are inadequate, apart from "Roadhouse Blues", there is a lack of effort and creativity - indeed, half the album is thrown together from tracks rejected from several earlier albums. The most that can be said for it, is that it prepared the way for LA Woman.
XX Soft Machine – Third [jz] Jazz fusion. Soft Machine are much respected for their uncompromising work on progressive jazz fusion, and this is their most popular album. A double album with a single instrumental composition on each side. It lacks the adventure and creativity of their debut album, and by 1970 bands like Gong led by Soft Machine's original creator Daevid Allen had already overtaken Soft Machine in developing progressive jazz fusion. This is too serious, too jazz focused, and simply too boring.
XX Spirit – Twelve Dreams of Dr Sardonicus See The Psychedelic Years (1966-69) - a compilation album which contains "Fresh Garbage", the band's best song.
XX Grateful Dead – American Beauty (RS) (NM) American Beauty, along with Workingman's Dead (1970) (RS) (CCC), are the studio albums most regarded as the band's best. The band, along with Dylan, The Byrds, and The Band, were at the forefront of country/folk-rock and Americana. The Dead added a twist of psychedelia as they came out of the West Coast scene, so in a sense can be considered The Band on acid (ha!). Anyway, these albums are more Americana than psychedelia, and neither are live so are not entirely representative. One of their live albums would be a better, choice, and I think Live/Dead does a decent job of capturing the band at their most representative and their best. There is much to like about other live albums, such as live in Europe '72, but Live/Dead is shorter and tighter, and only a Deadhead needs a triple live album of this simple good time music.
XX Rod Stewart – Gasoline Alley I like this period Rod Stewart: there's some decent songs here, Stewart is at his vocal best, and The Faces groove well, but the essential album is Every Picture, and as good as this is, it pales in comparison to that, and I'm not sure that by itself it justifies inclusion..... The title track is very good, but the rest is not quite on the same level as Every Picture.
XX Nick Drake – Bryter Layter (RS)


1971


XX Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Tarkus If there is to be an ELP album, then this is as good as any - it's just that the band were rather bad. They were fairly short-lived, and I'm not sure how influential they were, or how important in the realm of organ led progressive music. They were popular for a while. But I think this list could soon become crammed if every popular artist were included, particularly those who were temporarily popular. If they are to be included, it would be on the basis of the gap between the critics who regarded them as pompous and superficial, and their popularity. But this in itself is not new. On that basis I should be including the Bay City Rollers.... Anyway, one to think about. OK, I've decided. I'm removing this in favour of The Nice's 1967 debut album. Everything that is here was already present on that album.
XX Leonard Cohen – Songs of Love & Hate
XX The Faces – A Nod is as Good as a Wink… To a Blind Horse
XX Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Pictures at an Exhibition I think this may be the ELP album I like the most, but as only one album by ELP is needed, and this album doesn't contain any original material, just their thudding arrangement of Mussorgsky's composition, this is not the one to choose.
XX Dolly Parton – Coat of Many Colors (RS) See Ultimate Dolly Parton (2003)
XX Bee Gees – Trafalgar It's an odd, quirky album. Not always successful, but usually interesting. Baroque pop more than psychedelic, and not the early progressive rock album it is sometimes slated as being. I'm not entirely sure it belongs on this list, but not entirely sure it doesn't either. When I reviewed it for my blog piece: The Bee Gees, I was quite dismissive. But on listening again, I am unsure.... OK, rejected.
XX John Prine – John Prine (RS) (CCC) Country folk. Think of some of Dylan's early throwaway humorous folk songs - not his good stuff, but the stuff that barely worked. Well, that;s what this sounds like. I can see why some like it, but it's small stuff, and it sounds very dated today.
XX The Beach Boys – Surf’s Up  (ATT) There has always been a sense about this album that it should be good, but on the whole it doesn't quite work. Holland is the better studio album, but the real killer Seventies Beach Boys album is the 1973 In Concert. Score: 4 
XX Gene Clark – White Light A rather indifferent country-folk album by the former member of the Byrds. Critics seem to like it, but nobody else does.
XX Harry Nilsson – Nilsson Schmilsson There's a profound lack of authenticity about this middle of the road album of random songs. If Nilsson stopped for a moment to write (and sing) something serious (and seriously) there might be a chance he would would have a legacy, but the two most famous songs on this are the cringey Brill Building "Without You", and the throwaway "Coconut". The most famous thing he did was the cover of "Everybody's Talkin'", though when you hear the original by Fred Neil, you can see why the best Nilsson can hope for is to be a footnote to Fred Neil's story.
XX Sly and the Family Stone – There’s a Riot Goin’ On (RS) (CCC) This is an interesting album, and contains some involved and pretty compelling grooves, and is worth spending some time with, but Stand! (1969) is the truly mind blowing album.
XX Isaac Hayes – Shaft: Music from the Soundtrack The title track is awesome, and had a huge impact. Not sure about the rest of the album...
XX Janis Joplin – Pearl (RS) This is Joplin's best studio album, but is patchy and incomplete. The best overall album of her work is 1973's Janis Joplin's Greatest Hits (CCC)
XX Funkadelic (Parliament-Funkadelic) – Maggot Brain (RS) Largely acclaimed because of the guitar work on the title track. It's not particularly great guitar work compared to that by Hendrix and Clapton, and listeners will either like it or not, but it's not original nor significant. Funkadelic's debut album is more interesting.



1972

XX Alice Cooper – School’s Out The single is great, and was the breakthrough hit for the band, but the album is very weak. Other than the title track the band never played any of the songs live, nor have they appeared on any greatest hits album. People bought it because of the single. This is not the Alice album to listen to. The best album is Killer (1971) Score: 3
XX Big Star – # 1 Record (RS) A short-lived unsuccessful American early Seventies "power pop" band that became a critics favourite in the Eighties. I have read about them many times, and might have listened to this album when there was such a buzz about them in the Eighties, but never really got to grips with them or why they became such a cult for a while. Even remastered the production is so poor it sounds very thin, echoey and amateurish, which doesn't encourage respectful listening. There is an early REM sound here, which is interesting, but other than that this is a weak album - the songs are indifferent and derivative (mostly of the Beatles), and the playing is mediocre washed out Rolling Stones.
XX Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Will the Circle Be Unbroken? Long-lived country rock band.
XX Lynyrd Skynyrd – Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd (RS) (CCC) (NM) I'm not seeing anything particularly interesting in this thumping mediocre stuff. The Rolling Stones and The Allman Brothers cover this territory so much better. (See Now That's What I Call Classic Rock (2015))
XX T. Rex – The Slider I was a T. Rex fan, but I found this to be very weak after Electric Warrior, and it hasn't improved with age.
XX Deep Purple – Made in Japan Tedious for all but lovers of hard rock. (See Now That's What I Call Classic Rock (2015))
XX Slade – Slayed? Seriously? The band were great fun and made some popular singles, but they were not an albums band. This contains a few of the singles and then a lot of tedious tub-thumping filler. (See Now That's What I Call Classic Rock (2015))
XX Black Sabbath – Vol 4 One album by Black Sabbath is enough to get the idea.
XX Deep Purple – Machine Head Early Metal / Hard Rock (See Now That's What I Call Classic Rock (2015))XX Incredible Bongo Band – Bongo Rock Un-fucking-believable that anyone should put this into a must listen list, even as a joke. It's dreary lift Muzak, and Seventies blacksploitation film music played on bongos by a paid-by-the-minute session band who clearly couldn't give a monkey's. Grief!
XX Eagles – Eagles (RS) You can hear the sound that they would use so effectively on Desperado, but while the songs are pleasant enough, they are not quite of Desperado's level of focus and delicate depth.
XX Stephen Stills – Manassas Double album of indifferent American country rock. At times there are echoes and hints of some of Still's better works, but not enough to make this album stand out.
XX David Ackles – American Gothic Randy Newman meets Kurt Weill and they write boring songs. This album is more famous for the overpraising and hype by Electra and Los Angles Free Press reviewer Chris Van Ness than it is for any aesthetic qualities. Van Ness compared it (absurdly) to Sgt. Pepper's, and Electra sent the review to the press with review copies, and the critics toed the line. But the public didn't buy it, and still don't.
XX Hugh Masekela – Home is Where the Music Is Easy listening jazz with African influences. Attractive but lacking in depth.
XX Tim Buckley – Greetings from LA This is my favourite Buckley album, and if I was going to include one, it would be this. But, pleasant though it is, it's derivative and unremarkable, and it would be more appropriate to go to his influences, some of whom, like Fred Neil, are not just better than Buckley, but not as well known.
XX Randy Newman – Sail Away (RS) One album by Newman is sufficient. I've chosen 12 Songs (1970)



1973

XX Steely Dan – Countdown to Ecstasy (CCC) A pleasant enough but unremarkable album. There is a lack of ideas in the song-writing, and the performances and production sound hurried and either indifferent or unsure. Score: 5
XX ZZ Top – Tres Hombres (RS) This is a musically limited album, largely following in the footsteps of Canned Heat. ZZ Top became very popular in the 80s, and their singles were a bit of fun as the band didn't take themselves seriously during their glory days, so consideration could be given to listing one of their albums, but if so it would be Eliminator, their most popular album, containing nearly all their hits, not this album, their third, which got a lukewarm reception at the time, but which is seen in retrospect as important as it contained their first, albeit modest, hit La Grange,
XX Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (RS) (C4) (NM) (See Greatest Hits 1974)
XX Faust – IV People did listen to this, but not as many as listened to The Faust Tapes, and its sales were not comparable. The Faust Tapes was the breakthrough album for krautrock, and is astonishing even today.
XX Iggy & the Stooges – Raw Power (RS) (G50) (Q) The best known and best marketed of The Stooges three albums, but the least successful and least interesting. All that matters is contained in the first two albums. There are two mixes, Bowie's original, and Iggy's re-mix. Both have their flaws.
XX Mott the Hoople – Mott (RS) The band did a couple of half-decent Bowie type songs, but couldn't really stretch to a full album.
XX Waylon Jennings – Honky Tonk Heroes "Outlaw" Country Mostly plodding maudlin stuff without the touch or quality of Nelson, Kristofferson or Cash, the major outlaws.
XX Sensational Alex Harvey Band – Next Entertaining live act, but even the band's followers didn't regard the band as anything other than a simple good time act. They lacked originality, particularly impressive musicianship, and good songs. They were always a somewhat lower division band.
XX Shuggie Otis – Inspiration Information Psychedelic soul and trippy R&B that had no impact at the time, but has since been championed by David Byrne. Worthy, but doesn't quite transcend for me.
XX Genesis – Lamb Lies Down on Broadway Dropped in favour of Live (1973)
XX Genesis – Selling England by the Pound Dropped in favour of Live (1973)
XX Bad Company – Bad Company (see Now That's What I Call Classic Rock (2015))
XX New York Dolls – New York Dolls (RS) (MC) (CCC) Mock rock. It's crude, lacking in authenticity and talent. Sigh.



1974

XX Supertramp  – Crime of the Century  (ATT) See Breakfast in America (1979) Supertramp were popular, but not important or essential, so if there is something better I will drop Supertramp from the list - and if I am to keep something by the band, then Breakfast in America is more fitting, as that is their best known and best selling album, and the only real reason to include Supertramp would be because they are big sellers. Score: 5
XX Queen – II Robert Christgau's assessment of "wimpoid royaloid heavyoid android void" sums it up.
XX George Jones – Grand Tour Maudlin country singer.
XX Randy Newman – Good Old Boys (RS) (CCC) These are the sort of songs that have always put me off listening to Newman. His sarcastic, nasal, dreary voice grates on me, the music is over-orchestrated muzak, and the lyrics are mostly small minded and nasty - in this case it's very small town about an area of America that means more to Americans than it does to the rest of the world, and despite what I hear critics say, I can't see anything interesting or revelatory that I can relate to or find interesting. "Rednecks" is simply an unpleasant sneary song by a geek - it tells us nothing about anybody: saying "you're dumb and you're racist" is not clever, poetic, or helpful, that's simply trading insults over the fence, and not providing any understanding.
XX Gene Clark – No Other More country-folk-pap with sub-Dylan/Band songs. The Basement Tapes covers this sort of material so much better.
XX Gram Parsons – Grievous Angel (RS) (CCC) Maudlin, uninspired Country.
XX Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson – Winter in America Jazz poet with a soulful touch. Kinda worthy, but dull, and lacking the profound touch that such music needs.
XX Stevie Wonder – Fullfillingness’ First Finale (CCC)
XX Brian Eno – Another Green World (RS) (CCC)
XX Queen – Sheer Heart Attack (MC)
XX Roxy Music – Country Life (RS)
XX Joni Mitchell – Court & Spark (RS) (CCC) This feels similar in tone and style to Ladies Of The Canyon (1970)
XX Bob Marley & the Wailers – Natty Dread (RS)
XX Neil Young – On the Beach This is rather loose, sparse, and difficult to like at first. It's the title track "On The Beach" that offers a way in, being an attractive bluesy piece with echoes of early Fleetwood Mac and Van Morrison ("TB Sheets"), though not quite matching either. It's a rocky album, and is not really in Young's style.



1975


XX Dion – Born to Be With You
XX Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti (RS) (Q)
XX The Dictators – Go Girl Crazy! The joke (if there is one) wears out very quickly. The band has very limited talent.
XX Emmylou Harris – Pieces of the Sky She has been awarded the Polar Music Prize, which is not to be sneezed at, so I need to pay close attention, but she is to my ear just another yodelling country singer, and country music is a cultural, musical, and intellectual dead end. Certain musicians, like Cash, can imbue it with character and purpose, but musicians like Cash walk a line between rock and country anyway. This album is pure sweet middle of the road country, with no edge or meaning to it anywhere. And her maudlin voice, regardless of how well she can harmonize with others, is empty and slightly irritating.
XX Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers [or Damn the Torpedoes (RS)] Rather pedestrian country rawk. Apparently they appeal to white, working class males in heartland America. The peak for this "heartland rock" was the Eighties.
XX Rahul Dev Burman – Shalimar Bollywood music.
XX Willie Nelson – Red Headed Stranger (RS) (NM) Simplistic and old fashioned country-folk song-cycle broken into short chunks: a cliched tale of a cheated husband killing his wife. There's no depth to it, but it proved to be very popular and turned Nelson into a superstar. For the best Nelson see Shotgun Willie (1973)
XX Queen – A Night at the Opera (RS) (C4) (NM) I've always had a bit of a problem with Queen. I've seen them as playful rock-pop with no authenticity or seriousness. A bit like Bat Out Of Hell, or even the Baron Knights. That's not to say that I don't like some of their songs - but I take Queen the same way I take Sweet - just throwaway middle-of-the-road commercial rock-pop. Entertaining enough now and again in small doses, but it's hard to take an album load, especially when it's wrapped up in prog-rock and heavy-metal clichés. So I particularly struggle with this. But this is their most popular album, liked by fans, critics, and the buying public, so if there is going to be a Queen album on the list, this needs to be it. What I have to wrestle with is the concept of having such a pretentious, overblown load of commercial twaddle on the list. See Greatest Hits (1981)
XX Earth, Wind & Fire – That’s the Way of the World (RS) (NM) This is very smooth and commercial. I prefer the funk of their debut.
XX Neil Young – Tonight's The Night (RS) (CCC)
XX Neu! – ‘75 Minor Krautrock. Try Neu! (1972) - similar sound, but done earlier, and in a more organic way.
XX Tom Waits - Nighthawks At The Diner This feels so false and strained. There's an attempt to create a jazz nightclub, but it falls flat. It's like a plastic flower. If there was an intention to be ironic, that might make sense, but the intention was genuinely to make this studio album sound like a jazz night club - the producer even got in a stripper to get the invited audience in the right mood. Gee. And the songs are not strong, and Waits is straining his voice unnaturally. Every now and again there's a moment that is suggestive of what he can do, and a memory of the tunes and verses of his debut album float in, but all too quickly float out, and we have the artifice again. A sad failure.
XX Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey This is considered relevant in reggae history for the development of roots reggae, which is a focus on various Rastafari themes, particularly political. However, Niney the Observer and Yabby You are more significant for the early development with songs such as "Blood & Fire" (1970) and "Conquering Lion" (1972), and Bob Marley more important for the popularising of the genre.
XX Curtis Mayfield – There’s No Place Like America Today


1976

XX Steely Dan – Aja (RS) (NM) Compared to their peak period, this is lacking in soul - the band have edged too close to jazz, and too far away from having fun. However, most people regard this as the band's best album - it is their best selling album, and tops critical lists of best Steely Dan albums. Score: 4
XX Rush – 2112 Popular but critically derided. Both prog and heavy metal fans like this (well, the title track, the more appealing pop-rock tracks on side two are dismissed), but on the whole, despite the declared commitment, this seems to me to lack authenticity. And the combination of heavy metal with prog rock would only be a plus if elements of either by themselves were good, but they're not. Technical ability minus creative ability results in a rather uninspiring and empty sound. Queen do this sort of thing much better - more creatively, with more variety, greater self-awareness, and more humour. Score: 3 1/2
XX Electric Light Orchestra – Out of the Blue Hugely popular sub-Paul McCartney songs. It's all pap. Score: 3
XX ABBA – Arrival (C4) See Gold (1992)
XX Aerosmith – Rocks (RS) (CCC) See Toys In The Attic (1975)
XX Boston – Boston (NM) Commercial, popular, pop-rock. Trivial stuff, though it would be useful to have a compilation album which includes songs like "More Than A Feeling". Found it: Now That's What I Call Classic Rock (2015)***
XX Kiss – Destroyer (RS) (see Now That's What I Call Classic Rock (2015)) There is no earthy reason for anyone to listen to this glam metal, unless they like unimaginative simplistic hard rock. The band are a joke, and clearly not authentic - they are exploitive, copying glam rock bands like Alice Cooper, Sweet, New York Dolls, with a bit of early heavy metal from bands like Black Sabbath thrown in, to try and grab some attention and sales.
XX Peter Frampton – Frampton Comes Alive This was a hugely popular live album in America. It's superficial but pleasant enough middle of the road rock. Frampton started his career in The Herd, a Sixties flower pop band, before forming the rocky Humble Pie with Steve Marriott, then having a fairly mediocre solo career until something about this album caught the attention of the public.
XX Kraftwerk – Trans-Europe Express (RS) (C4) (G50) One album from Kraftwek is enough. See Autobahn.
XX Joan Armatrading – Joan Armatrading "Love and Affection", the single from the album, is awesome. And I, along with thousands of others, rushed out to buy the album to find it contained solid jazzy singer-songwriter songs, but nothing like "Love and Affection". Even though she has had a respected career, she has never matched, or even come close, to the magic of "Love and Affection".
XX Penguin Cafe Orchestra – Music from the Penguin Cafe Likeable, quirky minimalist pop-jazz. This was their debut, produced and promoted by Brian Eno, which attracted some interest. The second album, Penguin Cafe Orchestra (1981), is the better made and more musically successful, though Eno had moved on to other things and interest had waned, so the band remain better known for their weaker debut.
XX John Martyn – One World Electronica, dub and trip-hop elements introduced by Lee "Scratch" Perry during production in Jamaica. Dubious value.
XX Stevie Wonder – Songs in the Key of Life (RS) (C4) (NM) (G50) (Q) For many (most?) critics this is Wonder's best album. It marks the end of his classic period and the start of his commercial, and it contains elements of both. For me it tips too far into the commercial and twee, and does not have the depth of feeling of the albums at the start of his classic period. I don't see anything here that is essential.
XX Billy Joel – The Stranger (RS) (NM) [also consider 52nd Street (RS)] Rock influenced middle of the roadsinger-songwriter. Lift muzak. Avoid.
XX Weather Report – Heavy Weather Poppy smooth jazz. Weather Report were regarded as a jazz fusion band when they started in 1970 - a jazz-rock band, but there's little rock here in 1977. This is pop jazz. Smooth jazz. "Nice". Some critics prefer the band's harder edged debut Weather Report (1971), but Heavy Weather sold well, mainly through the success of "Birdland". This has elements of Steely Dan, and they are a better choice for looking into the smoother/poppier areas of jazz fusion. To get a handle on the more serious/respected side of jazz fusion (which tended to be jazz musicians incorporating rock ideas more than vice versa), then Miles Davis' Bitches Brew (1969) is a must listen. This is perhaps a good example of the popular poppy end of jazz fusion, coming from the jazz side rather than - as with Steely Dan - the rock side. And possibly it has a cultural significance because of that - but I'm unsure....
XX The Clash – The Clash (RS) (CCC) (Q) Popular with those who were young and ignorant in 1976/77. I've never quite got The Clash, though some of the singles were great.
XX The Modern Lovers – The Modern Lovers (RS) (CCC) "Roadrunner" is awesome (the album has a different version to the single - not better or worse, just different). The rest of the album is not the same quality as "Road Runner"
XX Peter Tosh – Legalize It Reggae
XX Jean-Michel Jarre – Oxygene Hugely popular electronica, using ideas successfully developed by Kraftwork, Tangerine Dream, and Brian Eno. This album was a huge hit, largely through the success of the single "Oxygene IV", and is seen as the catalyst for bringing electronic music firmly into the mainstream. Other than the single, the music is boring, and too derivative of earlier electronic music to be interesting.
XX Joni Mitchell – Herija [jz] I like this - but still working out which of Mitchell's albums should be included. In general, this is similar to Summer Lawns (1975), but Summer Lawns is better, so that should take precedence.
XX Parliament (Parliament-Funkadelic) – Mothership Connection (RS) - see Funkadelic (1970)


1977

XX Thin Lizzy – Live & Dangerous These versions of the songs are not as sharp and exciting as the originals, and as the recordings are taken from all over the place, there is no atmosphere or cohesion, so this ends up being a compilation album anyway - and you might as well get a decent compilation album of the originals. The 1976 Jailbreak album is widely regarded as their best album, containing the two songs that defined them - "Jailbreak" and "The Boys Are Back In Town", but other than those two songs it seems a bit limp. Their appearance at the Reading Festival in 1983 is widely regarded as their best live performance - the concert was recorded by the BBC and released in 1993 as Thin Lizzy Live; it's a much more cohesive, atmospheric, and exciting album than Live & Dangerous (and is genuinely live with no studio overdubs and tinkering). Score: 3
XX Dennis Wilson – Pacific Ocean Blue There's an interesting warm Seventies groove to this, but it's all a bit sloppy, and it sounds like one of those solo albums by someone who has just left or is part of a big famous band - lots of friends to help out, a big loose sound, and no focus or direction. It's OK, but it's not as good as people would like it to be. That folks are surprised that the cool one from the Beach Boys was able to make a record considering his overall lack of musical ability seems to give the album a bit of a gloss. If this album was made by an unknown artist there wouldn't the interest or acclaim. Score: 3
XX Van Halen – Van Halen (NM) Very popular American pop-rock band. Musically very superficial and derivative. Because they were so popular consideration is given to including one of their albums, and it seems more appropriate to include 1984 as it includes Jump their best selling single, and the song that most people associate with them.
XX The Jam – All Mod Cons (C4) Replaced by Snap! - the 1982 singles album.
XX Peter Gabriel – Peter Gabriel (I)
XX Suicide – Suicide (RS) While not attracting many listeners, this album has come to be regarded as influential on synth-pop - presumably due to its use of organ and treated sounds which may come from synthesisers. It sounds like some of the crap produced by garage bands during the psychedelic era in the Sixties, when bands thought they could jump on the bandwagon simply by being a bit weird. Claims for its influence appear to be overstated, and mainly come from poor sources such as fanzines.
XX David Bowie – "Heroes" (NME) The title track is one of my favourite Bowie songs, and this is one of the albums from his acclaimed Berlin Trilogy, but I feel he is not working at his best here. I think the influence of the album is somewhat overrated, as Bowie was not the only one to be working in the ambient and electronic genre. He was not so much creating a trend as following an existing one. Most of the ideas on here had been explored much earlier by bands such as Tangerine Dream and Kraftwork, and by Brian Eno and Robert Fripp, who both worked closely with Bowie on the trilogy, and Eno was a significant contributor.

1978
XX Elís Regina – Vento de Maio Pop jazz. This is very pleasant, but sounds a bit too close to Stan Getz from the early Sixties, so feels a little dated for the late Seventies. Chosen by Andrew Gilbert, an American journalist specialising in jazz. He praises her emotional voice. Each to their own - the voice sounds a little strained to my ears. Score: 4
XX Willie Colón & Rubén Blades – Siembra Pleasant samba with some disco - I like this. But, other than the simplistic disco vibes and strings, it's not really an improvement on Getz & Gilberto. Ponder it a while, but I think this is going. Yep, gone. Score: 4
XX Joe Ely – Honky Tonk Masquerade Old time country music with some honky tonk piano by a little known artist. Pleasant but ordinary. Score: 3 1/2

XX The Saints – Eternally Yours Australian fast rock group who get grouped with punk. Not very good.
XX The Residents – Duck Stab/Buster & Glen I like music that is a little quirky, has character, doesn't take itself too seriously, and challenges our expectations of what is music. So I like this. My consideration now is regarding if this is the best example of their work. I think Meet The Residents (1974), the debut album, is more appropriate, so I have chosen that one.
XX Kraftwerk – Man Machine (Q) One album from Kraftwerk is enough. See Autobahn.
XX Willie Nelson – Stardust (RS) (CCC) (NM) Nelson is a hugely popular and hugely respected idiosyncratic country singer and songwriter who developed his outlaw country style over a long history stretching from the 1950s to now (2018). This was his biggest hit and is one of his most respected albums - a selection of covers of American standards. I am struggling with this album. A noteworthy songwriter doing an album of covers is not unusual, and there have been more interesting and essential covers albums both before and after this one - Bowie's Pinups and Bryan Ferry's These Foolish Things, both from 1973, John Lennon's Rock 'N' Roll (1975), Various We Do 'Em Our Way (1980), Johnny Cash's American Recordings (1994), Cat Power's The Covers Record (2000), Robbie Williams' Swing When You're Winning (2001), Tom Jones' Reload (2003), and Rod Stewart's Stardust: The Great American Songbook 3 (2004). What appears to get the public's and the critics' attention is that Nelson is a significant country music singer and he's doing non-country American standards, so for the mainstream, American public this is a win-win, and for critics they have something to talk about: the merging of two distinct, separate and important music styles that for white Americans seem to exemplify America rather more than the blues, jazz, rock, soul or hip hop genres, which they would consider is music made by the devil and "niggers". While Nelson remains resolutely white through the album, it is produced by the soul legend Booker T. Jones, who does it with an awareness of Ray Charles' 1962 Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, which took country music songs and gave them soulful big band swing and grace with lush arrangements. But this album, in a sense, does the opposite of Modern Sounds, and does it, also, without the crossover impact of a black man in racially segregated America singing and altering the music of Heartland America. Nelson doesn't expand on these songs, he doesn't add anything new to them - indeed, he seems to reduce them to a dull simplicity that pushes his dubious voice to the fore but ignores the heart and significance of the song. If you like Nelson, if you like the American Songbook, if you like country music, if you like your music simple and meaningless so it becomes elevator muzak, then you'll like this, but if you want something cutting edge, something meaningful, something genuinely tender rather than something thrown off casually, then this is not for you. Take any one of the songs and compare it to other versions, and Nelson's is far from being in any kind of top ten, and once you've sat through a few of the songs they start to sound so alike because each is given the exact same treatment that it does become boring wallpaper music. Example: "Stardust" by Nelson, by Nat King Cole, by Hoagy Carmichael, by Sinatra (1943) and Sinatra (1961) - there are also plenty of versions by famous people that are just as indifferent as Nelson's: Rod Stewart and Bob Dylan come to mind. On the whole I feel this is an album to avoid rather than one to listen to, but I've given it some attention as it appears on so many reputable Best Ever Albums lists.
XX X-ray Spex – Germ Free Adolescents Carried along by the excitement and DIY attitude of punk there were a number of bands who released loud and trashy albums. Those who had female members tended to get more attention than others. This is a very rough and simple album. The band's opening single "Oh Bondage Up Yours!" (not included on the original album release, but found on re-issues) is an attractively brash piece, but that's as much as you want or need to hear. For a good summary of punk and related artists see the 1995 punk compilation Best Ever... (1979)
XX The Adverts – Crossing the Red Sea with the Adverts See the 1995 punk compilation Best Ever... (1979)
XX Elvis Costello – This Year’s Model (RS) (CCC) A good album, but mostly repeating what had been done on the debut but with weaker songs.
XX Bruce Springsteen – Darkness on the Edge of Town (RS)
XX Public Image Ltd – Public Image: First Issue (MC) "Anti-rock" with a sound that combines industrial with krautrock and prog. Some of Lyden's interest in Van Der Graff Generator is revealed here. Some of PiL's ideas worked extremely well, such as the awesome "Rise", but on the whole they were more interesting as an idea than as a band to listen to for an entire album.
XX Funkadelic (Parliament-Funkadelic) – One Nation Under a Groove (RS) Yeah, it's funky, but I've put in the band's debut 1970 album Funkadelic as being representative of the band, and the band's most significant and influential recording. This is smoother and more polished than the debut, but then by 1978 a lot of funk and R&B bands had moved into smooth funk, and many were producing sharper music than this. But I do like it!
XX Throbbing Gristle – DOA: Third & Final Report See 20 Jazz Funk Greats (1979)
XX Chic – C’est Chic (G50) Written and produced by Nile Rodgers. See Freak Out (1988 compilation of Chic & Sister Sledge)

1979
XX Cheap Trick – At Budokan (RS) Predictable rawk. Score: 3
XX Fleetwood Mac – Tusk There are a number of things which make Rumours an album worth listening to, none of these reasons apply to Tusk. The album sold well, and the title track and "Sara" are listenable, which might persuade some people that the album is worthwhile. But it's not. The rest of the stuff is very limited, and there's way too much of it. Get a Fleetwood Mac greatest hits album rather than this. Score: 3
XX Pink Floyd – The Wall (RS) (NM) (Q) Hugely popular, due to the success of the singles "Another Brick In The Wall" and "Comfortably Numb", but long and tedious. Piper and Dark Side are their major albums.
XX The Undertones – The Undertones See the 1995 punk compilation Best Ever... (1979)
XX AC/DC – Highway to Hell (RS) (NM)
XX The Damned – Machine Gun Etiquette See the 1995 punk compilation Best Ever... (1979)
XX Gary Numan – The Pleasure Principle It's unlikely I will be keeping Numan; I find his music boring and derivative. The first single he had with Tubeway Army, "Are Friends Electric", was enjoyable, but pretty much everything after that was dirgy and unadventurous. However, I can understand the thinking behind having this album on a list, as he was popular, and brought a lot of attention to what was eventually called synthpop. See the 2015 Synth Pop compilation.
XX The Crusaders – Street Life The title track, "Street Life", was a cool single, but nothing particularly special, and the longer album version doesn't do it any favours. The band were originally jazz, but over a long career picked up modern influences, and by 1979 were a fusion band incorporating funk and r&b to create a pleasant smooth jazz feel in "Street Life", and something a little more funky in the rest of the album, but it's all pretty dated having been done before and better by Grover Washington Jr and Weather Report, among others.
XX The Police – Reggatta de Blanc (RS) See Outlandos D'Amour (1978)
XX Germs – GI Fast trash punk in the style of Iggy Pop and the Ramones. This was their only album, and apparently they were good live. There's nothing here that hasn't been done before, and better. Especially by Iggy and The Stooges.
XX Marianne Faithfull – Broken English Faithfull had gained attention in the Sixties for her attractive blonde looks, and her relationship with Mick Jagger. Her fragile beauty was matched by the vulnerable tone of her voice, and so songs like "As Tears Go By", written for her by Jagger and Richards, were successful. She declined into drug abuse in the early Seventies after the break up of her relationship with Jagger, living on a wall in Soho, and picking up her prescription from the chemist as detailed in "You Can't Always Get What You Want": "I went down to the Chelsea drugstore / To get your prescription filled". Her voice cracked and deepened, giving her a different sound which was liked by some critics and seemed to fit in better with the late Seventies when she made this "comeback" album, led by the country influenced single "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan", a remake of the better version by Dr Hook. The rest of the album doesn't live up to the promise of that single, and the sparse somewhat electronic production gives the album a cheap and empty feel. The final track "Why'd Ya Do It", does, however, have a compelling power.
XX The Slits – Cut Messy simplistic punk reggae/dub. There's hints of sense in the chaos, but the musicianship is limited so the band fall back on not playing that well, and twisting things around so they don't come at a tune twice the same way. There's a limited charm to it, but it only goes so far. The idea here is that they are all girls. That's the statement they are making. Carol Kaye made a bigger statement.
XX Holger Czukay – Movies I quite like this, but Czukay's best work was done with Can.
XX Gang of Four – Entertainment! (RS) (MC) I'm not hugely impressed with this. Fairly thumping and straightforward. Not as interesting lyrically and melodically as their contemporaries the Au Pairs and Young Marble Giants.
XX Japan – Quiet Life
XX The Fall – Live at the Witch Trials Debut album of the interesting Mark E Smith's Fall. Smith falls into the Beefheart, Zappa group of strongly committed, authentic, individualistic, unique, and somewhat demanding artists. The Fall is Mark E Smith, and the band members are hired and fired almost at will in a similar style to Zappa and Beefheart, with certain line-ups and individuals having more of an influence than others. The most important Fall individual was Brix, Smith's American wife, who joined the band as guitarist just before
XX Chic – Risqué Written and produced by Nile Rodgers. See Freak Out (1988 compilation of Chic & Sister Sledge)
XX Sister Sledge – We Are Family Written and produced by Nile Rodgers. See Freak Out (1988 compilation of Chic & Sister Sledge)



1980


XX Iron Maiden – Iron Maiden (MC) We only need one NWOBHM album, and we already have it with Number of the Beast, so this has to give way to other albums.
XX The Jam – Sound Affects Replaced by Snap! the 1982 singles album.
XX The Undertones – Hypnotised See the 1995 punk music compilation Best Ever...
XX Judas Priest – British Steel British hard rock / heavy metal band. Typical plodding stuff. Quite popular among heavy metal fans, but we already have Black Sabbath, Mettallica, Iron Maiden, etc. See Now That's What I Call Classic Rock (2015)
XX Soft Cell – Non Stop Erotic Cabaret Synthpop duo who had an unexpected big hit with their cover of "Tainted Love", which prompted sales of this hurriedly released cash in album. It is seedy and hollow, straining for effect - but some critics have found an appeal in that, seeing it as reflective of the whole synthpop movement. See the 2015 Synth Pop compilation (1985)
XX Heaven 17 – Penthouse & Pavement
XX Motörhead – Ace of Spades
XX Motörhead – No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith
XX Steve Winwood – Arc of a Diver Steve Winwood did some interesting work in the Sixties, but his Eighties solo albums seem, well, rather Eighties. Big production, slick commercial sound, and little of actual interest. Of those albums, Back In The High Life, is probably the best, but not as good as the 2017 album Winwood Greatest Hits Live or the 2009 Live From Madison Square Garden with Eric Clapton.
XX The Specials – More Specials
XX Adam and the Ants – Kings of the Wild Frontier I'm pondering this as the music is essentially quite thin and little more than a throwback to glam rock. It is rather like Gary Glitter both in terms of the simple rock/pop beat and the projection of a camp, glittery image. Essentially the music and style is similar to the empty fun of Gary Glitter. As Glitter did this first, there is an argument to favour Glitter, though his subsequent imprisonment for possession of kiddie porn, and then for underage sex, is somewhat off-putting. In a way, Adam Ant allows us to enjoy this sort of music without the awkward association of the child abuse. But take that away, and Glitter is the more musically and culturally interesting....
XX Black Flag – Damaged (RS)
XX Circle Jerks – Group Sex
XX Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – Architecture & Morality Synth pop band who had a hit with "Enola Gay". This contains "Joan of Arc", which is decent enough, but the band on the whole are quite modest. See the 2015 Synth Pop compilation (1985)
XX UB40 – Signing Off This is closer to the 2-Tone style of reggae prevalent in the UK in the late 70s, than to the bland pop of "Red Red Wine". For a good overview of 2-Tone see The Best of 2 Tone (1979) While retaining the band's 2-Tone style blend of pop and reggae, they became softer and more commercially appealing, producing Labour of Love in 1983 which contains their big hit "Red Red Wine". A nice band, but not significant.
XX The Cure – Seventeen Seconds
XX Echo & the Bunnymen – Crocodiles Their debut, and a decent and significant album, but Ocean Rain (1984) is widely considered to be their best album.
XX Joy Division – Closer (RS) (C4) (NME) (Q) The first album, Unknown Pleasures (1979), is regarded as the more significant - I'm not convinced that this album does anything significantly different or better, nor that we need two such similar albums.
XX AC/DC – Back in Black (RS) (NM) (Q) I am rethinking this, as the reason I initially accepted it as being an album worth listening to was purely because of the enormous fame of the band and this album. But is that fame really based on anything substantial? This is such an obvious copy of other hard rock bands, and the band add nothing new. There are so many bands who followed what the Stones, the Who and Led Zeppelin were doing, and sadly few of them added anything new or distinctive.
XX Peter Gabriel – Peter Gabriel (III/Melt)
XX Einstürzende Neubauten – Kollaps German industrial music band. Not a significant band in the industrial music genre - the key group would be Throbbing Gristle, who are not on Dimery's list. I have added their 1979 work 20 Jazz Funk Greats, which is a much more significant album. Score: 2


1981


XX Bauhaus - Mask Second album. The debut, In The Flat Field (1980), is the more significant one. Score: 4 1/2
XX X – Wild Gift (RS) Replaced with Los Angles (1980)
XX Rush – Moving Pictures
XX ABBA – Visitors See Gold (1992)
XX Bobby Womack – Poet Slick Seventies soul done with an Eighties production. So slick it's fairly meaningless as "soul". Background muzak rather than anything meaningful. I'm giving The Best Of Bobby Womack a try, as that includes the best of his Seventies soul records, including "Across 110th Street". No, there's nothing significant here.
XX Gun Club – Fire of Love A post-punk/cowpunk band. Fairly limited and unimaginative.
XX The Cure – Pornography (MC)
XX Elvis Costello – Imperial Bedroom (RS)



1982


XX Simple Minds – New Gold Dream (81, 82, 83, 84) U2 do this sort of stuff better.
XX Madness – Rise & Fall See the 1979 debut One Step Beyond.
XX Venom – Black Metal Venom are not considered essential by heavy metal fans and critics
XX Def Leppard – Pyromania (RS) (NM) This heavy, fast pop-rock is covered by AC/DC and others
XX R.E.M. – Murmur (RS) (MC) [AR] Contemporary with The Smiths, and having much in common, though with added jangle from a Byrds influence via Big Star and The Soft Boys, REM were seen as alternative or indie rock/pop - that is, their audience believed them to have more "authenticity" than other bands, but being a more melodic guitar based band than the punk bands who pre-dated them, and more rootsy than the technopop and New Romantic bands who were, initially, taking all the attention. They started off on small labels, but once they moved to major labels they fought with U2 for being briefly the biggest band on the planet during their height at the start of the Nineties. This is their debut. "Radio Free Europe" is a good track, and shows promise, but the rest of the album doesn't quite match up with albums released by contemporary jingle pop bands in 1982, such as Porcupine by Echo & the Bunnymen, and Script of the Bridge by The Chameleons, let alone the full spectrum of albums released in the 20th century. Something by REM needs to be on the list, but I'm not convinced it should be this album.
XX Donald Fagen – Nightfly I remember the praise this got at the time, and I did buy it - but it does feel like sub-Steely Dan, rather than a positive move in a new direction.
XX Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska (RS)
XX Kate Bush – The Dreaming
XX Iron Maiden – Number of the Beast Iron Maiden are regarded as one of the main pioneers of the new wave of British heavy metal. Not a music style I like, but this is regarded as their best album. Fast pointless drumming and lots of screeching guitars. Grief.


1983

XX Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) Innocuous synthpop - assisted in popularity by Annie Lennox's clear and firm voice, but often simply boring. "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" is a great song, but that's on the 2015 Synth Pop compilation album, so the rest is not needed. See the 2015 Synth Pop compilation (1985)
XX Cyndi Lauper – She’s So Unusual (RS) Lauper attracted critical as well as popular attention, though this - widely acknowledged as her best album - is very much a product of its time. It's bright, breezy pop, loud and superficial. Simplistic Eighties drums and synths don't sit well out of their period (and for some of us, didn't sound good at the time). I see little difference between this and the average product of Stock Aitken Waterman. And if I were to put something in representing bright, breezy Eighties pop I think SAW would be more relevant as they were hugely hugely influential.
XX Paul Simon – Hearts & Bones A commercial and critical disaster that nearly brought Simon's career to an end. There are theories that it was because this was originally a Simon & Garfunkel reunion album, but Simon sacked Garfunkel and reworked the album without him, and the reaction was negative. However, it may be that the music is uninspired and dreary, and the lyrics way too personal and inward looking. It's like Simon has forgotten his audience. Also, no matter how personal and reflective the lyrics are, they don't actually say much, and mostly do it in an awkward fashion - only occasionally approaching poetry. The critics have been kinder to this album over the years, enjoying working the lyrics into Simon's personal life and seeing the connections. If that's a game you want to play, fine, but it's a game that only critics seem to want to play. The public wisely stay away from this flop and listen instead to his more attractive and significant albums.
XX Echo & the Bunnymen – Porcupine The Bunnymen were a decent and important indie band, but three albums by them is two too many, and this is not their strongest.


1984

XX Abdullah Ibrahim – Water from an Ancient Well Soft jazz. OK background music. Pleasant but forgettable.
XX Minor Threat – Out of Step Unpleasant fast metal of minor interest. Thump thump thump. It's all been done before.
XX Youssou N'Dour – Immigrés (G50) - N'Dour's most telling moment was the 1994 single "7 Seconds" with Neneh Cherry. The two albums that critics and the public most like are this one and 2004's Egypt, neither of which contain the single. Some critics rave over the 1990 album Set, which was only released in Africa. The 1992 best of album, 7 Seconds, The Best of Youssou N'Dour, contains the best of Set, Immigres, and other albums, plus has "7 Seconds". It is a more meaningful, interesting, and attractive introduction to his mbalax style of music, which blends Senegal/African rhythms with Western dance styles.
XX Meat Puppets – II Post-punk / Indie The Puppets belong in the mid to late 80s group of American groups who were developing an Indie rock sound post punk. The most notable of those bands are such as Husker Du and the Pixies. The Meat Puppets are not on their level, and are known purely because Kurt Cobain of Nirvana liked them, and covered some of their songs.
XX The Replacements – Let it Be (RS) A rather loose/messy alternative/indie rock band
XX Frankie Goes to Hollywood – Welcome to the Pleasuredome Frankie were a phenomenon - they achieved the rare distinction of having their first three singles reach number one in the UK - the only other time that had been achieved previously was by Gerry & The Pacemakers, and the next time was the Spice Girls. The band was mix of clever promotion (by Paul Morley) and shit hot production (by Trevor Horn). Between the two of them they kept the band at the forefront of everyone's attention. The album is a double, and is rather bloated. I should think a Trevor Horn compilation would cover this band and his other productions more usefully. And I have it - Produced by Trevor Horn.
XX Minutemen – Double Nickels on the Dime (RS) Ignored by the public and the critics at the time, there seems to be a retro interest in this rather dull album, seeing in it elements of better albums by better known bands. You are better off listening to the better albums. Hard work listening to the entire album.
XX The Blue Nile – A Walk Across the Rooftops Moderately quirky synth-pop / sophisti-pop - the music was created to display CD playback features, so is arranged with a lot of space, and with instruments taking turns so they can be clearly heard. Of passing interest only.
XX Van Halen – 1984 (NM) Very popular American pop-rock band. Musically very superficial and derivative. They were very popular, and are listed at 7 on VH1's Greatest Hard Rock Artists, so it might be appropriate to include one of their albums, and 1984 has "Jump", their best selling single, and the song that most people associate with them, so this is probably the best choice, though BEA and AllMusic have the debut album, Van Halen, as the band's most significant. OK, I've listened to both albums, and I can understand that people like them, but there's nothing new or distinctive here.
XX Cocteau Twins – Treasure I like the Twins, but do we need two albums by them? I think either this or Heaven or Las Vegas should be enough, and I incline more toward Las Vegas.
XX Bruce Springsteen – Born in the USA (RS) (NM)
XX Sade – Diamond Life (NM) "Smooth Operator" is a cool example of sophisti-pop, I'm not convinced we need the rest of the album. Though many people regard this album as the highlight of sop.
XX Tina Turner – Private Dancer This is pap. Her best work was with Ike. Rethinking this...
XX Run D.M.C. – Run DMC (RS) (G50) Hip-hop This is the band's debit, but Raising Hell (1986), with "Walk This Way" made the impact and is widely regarded as the band's best album.


1985

XX The Smiths – Meat is Murder (RS) Score: 5
XX New Order – Low Life
XX Metallica – Master of Puppets (RS) (NM) Widely regarded as an important and influential heavy metal album, and a major pioneering album for the heavy metal genre known as thrash metal (gawd help us). I can't listen to this stuff for long, but absolutely acknowledge the importance of this band. I wonder, though, do I need both this and Metallica in my 1001 albums?
XX Megadeth – Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? One album from Metallica is enough to represent the entire thrash metal style. This album adds nothing significant.
XX Slayer – Reign in Blood One album from Metallica is enough to represent the entire thrash metal style. This album adds nothing significant.
XX The Mekons – Fear and Whiskey
XX A-ha – Hunting High and Low Romantic synth-pop. Well crafted and melodic, though of no lasting value other than representative of its time. See the 2015 Synth Pop compilation (1985)
XX Suzanne Vega – Suzanne Vega Vega is part of a bunch of folks who restored interest in the notion of a troubadour or singer-songwriter. An individual who writes and sings intelligent observational songs rather than loud and largely empty pop songs. As her career developed she moved more and more away from the sparse folky roots displayed here and into surrounding her lyrics with more instrumentation and production. This had mixed benefits, though much of her appeal really relies on the songs. This has some strong songs, but not quite as strong as the songs on her next album: Solitude Standing (1987)
XX Tears for Fears – Songs from the Big Chair Eighties-pop with elements of what AllMusic terms "sophisti-pop" - a mid Eighties tendency to include strings, brass, modern R&B and smooth jazz in with the pop. Two big hits from the album: "Shout" and "Everybody Wants To Rule The World". It's all quite well done with high production values, but quite modest musically and lyrically.
XX Dire Straits – Brothers in Arms (RS) (C4) (NM)
XX Dexys Midnight Runners – Don’t Stand Me Down
XX Scritti Politti – Cupid & Psyche 85 A bit of synthpop and a bit of sophisti-pop.



1986

XX Anita Baker – Rapture A very popular singer of soulful romantic ballads during the height of the quiet storm period of contemporary R&B in the 1980s, this is her main album. It is pleasant enough, but not that interesting.
XX Anthrax – Among the Living One album from Metallica is enough to represent the entire thrash metal style. This album adds nothing significant.
XX Def Leppard – Hysteria (Live version) (RS) (NM) Contains their big hit "Pour Some Sugar On Me", which is very much in the style of Aerosmith – Toys in the Attic (1974), so that album covers this style well enough.
XX Bad Brains – I Against I Jazz heavy metal fusion. Yes, it's as bad as it sounds.
XX Throwing Muses – Throwing Muses I liked this band at the time, and liked in particular the career of Tanya Donelly. However, they are in the same area as Sonic Youth, who are clearly important in themselves, and representative of this sort of arty mid Eighties sonic alternative rock. The Muses are secondary, and serve mainly as a personal choice.
XX Astor Piazzolla & Gary Burton – The New Tango Jazz
XX The Sisters of Mercy – Floodland Gothic rock - you can hear the Banshees straight away. There's nothing new or interesting here. See Bauhaus and The Cult.
XX Dolly Parton with Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris – Trio Country.
XX The Cult – Electric Gothic rock See 1985's Love.
XX Depeche Mode – Music for the Masses Synth-pop. Sigh. Very popular - initially as a teen synth-pop band, but then drew in American fans and a slightly older fan base when they gave a gritty feel to the synth and the pop, so it almost sounded like rock and almost sounded serious. While they remain largely dismissed as synth-pop around most of the world, in America they are seen as a big, serious, band. The album that is regarded as their significant breakthrough, and a potential influence on modern metal is Violator. See the 2015 Sony Music Synth Pop compilation (1985)
XX Butthole Surfers – Locust Abortion Technician The surfers were interesting with their loose, devil-may-care, tongue-in-cheek art-punk attitude, and this album did catch up with the critics, and brought them some attention. But it was their first album/EP 1983's Butthole Surfers/Brown Reason To Live/Pee Pee The Sailor that is the boldest, brightest, and most interesting. Like the first Velvet Underground album, it may not have sold many copies, or reached the attention of many critics (initially), but it was hugely influential. No Butthole Surfers, no Nirvana, no Grunge, no Britpop.....
XX Steve Earle – Guitar Town (RS) Country. It's listenable but quite ordinary. The best bits sound a bit like Bruce Springsteen's The River. Might as well listen to the Boss himself.
XX Talk Talk – Colour of Spring Talk Talk started as a Synth-pop band, then developed into a more interesting ambient-jazz-rock band, and are seen as the forerunners of post-rock. This album is largely seen as the transition away from synth-pop into post-rock, and it was their best seller, however, it is their next two albums that are seen as ground-breaking.
XX Billy Bragg – Talking with the Taxman About Poetry see Life's A Riot With Spy vs Spy (1983)
XX XTC – Skylarking Decent, pleasant music in the style of mainstream Sixties bands with a touch of psychedelia and a hint of pop-punk. They had some low key, OK singles. Tended to always float around in the lower leagues - never quite made the top division. Sort of like an Eighties version of 10cc (commercial, but with a hint of quirky character), but without their talent. Hmmm. Not quite seeing the value of keeping this.
XX R.E.M. – Document (RS) (Q) REM's breakthrough album, containing their first global hit "The One I Love", gives them a rockier approach and crisper production than on previous albums, though they had been moving in this direction. It's not quite REM at their peak, and is not a complete album, but is an interesting listen, especially for REM fans. If you like REM you'll find this informative, but if you're not a fan, this album won't convince you to become engaged with the band.
XX Bon Jovi – Slippery When Wet (NM) (see Now That's What I Call Classic Rock (2015))
XX Nanci Griffith – Last of the True Believers Country folk.
XX Sonic Youth – Evol (MC)
XX Elvis Costello – Blood & Chocolate
XX Hüsker Dü – Warehouse: Songs & Stories The band were at the end of their career at this point. It's a sprawling well produced double album with a lack of the ingredients that made Husker Du what they were. This is not the Husker Du album you want. 

1987


XX Everything But the Girl – Idlewild
XX Living Colour - Vivid Hip-hop heavy metal jazz.... Could be interesting. Well, it's listenable and attractive, but it's less an interesting blend and development of those music styles, than middle of the road "classic rock" which uses elements of other music in a derivative way, coming up with redundant and superficial clichés. It feels like an attempt to cash in on fans of those music styles, and ends up sounding like a commercial boy band. AllMusic puts forward an interesting thesis that rock music by the mid Eighties was predictable and isolated, so the incorporation of other music styles into classic rock as done by Living Colour opened the door to a "much more open-minded musical landscape". Hmm. I'm not hearing that, I'm hearing so much predictability that this is seriously boring.
XX Guns N’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction (RS) (C4) (NM) (Q) This style of rock - AC/DC type of blend of Rolling Stones and Seventies era British hard rock bands, was already dated and dead before G N' R released their debut album in 1987. But it sold. You don't need to listen to this - you've heard it already, as there's nothing new here. The video for their breakthrough single "Sweet Child O' Mine" contained all the familiar visual clichés of classic hard rock, making both their sound and their image an exercise in comforting nostalgia than anything breakthrough. This is not music to listen to, it's music to avoid.
XX Leonard Cohen – I’m Your Man Cohen is given the Eighties treatment. Grief! The first song, "First We Take Manhattan", is attractive, indicating that he is still capable of writing an arresting song, but the production and delivery is like somebody doing a parody of Cohen. There's a lack of authenticity about this that is genuinely painful. Compare Cohen's "Manhattan" with the original version released a year earlier by Jennifer Warnes, which at least is honest in its Eighties approach, and so comes over as a rounded track.
XX Ladysmith Black Mambazo – Shaka Zulu This album was produced by Paul Simon after the release of Graceland and continues the sound Ladysmith created there; as such, while attractive, it lacks the significance, depth and cultural impact of that album - the work had already been done. South African music had been attracting attention for some time, and though an important compilation of Soweto music had been released in 1985 (The Indestructible Beat of Soweto), significant awareness of the potential of South African music had been previously created with the release of Duck Rock in 1982. This album is an attractive footnote, but is not culturally significant, and lacks the raw power and beauty of Ladysmith's debut album in 1973, Amabutho.
XX The Triffids – Calenture Australian indie folk/rock/pop group who manage to sound like every other pop or folk influenced late Eighties band - moderately worthy and listenable, but not cutting edge, and just failing to do anything significant or memorable.
XX Cowboy Junkies – Trinity Session Slow and boring Country-pop. The dreamy ambience is the best thing about this album, but doesn't compare to the work of other ambient artists, Cocteau Twins for example.
XX Fishbone – Truth & Soul Alternative rock mixing funk, ska, and rock. It sounds kinda dated - like something from the early Seventies, though which band mixed these particular genres back then? Hmmm. This is all over the place as regards style, and the band themselves and the songs are unremarkable.
XX The Jesus and Mary Chain – Darklands It's a bloody good album, but Psychocandy (1985) is the important album, and this is not significantly different enough from that to justify a second listing.
XX Sonic Youth – Sister
XX R.E.M. – Green
XX Pet Shop Boys – Actually Synth-pop. Very popular duo. Started as Hi-NRG synth dance-pop. See the 2015 Synth Pop compilation (1985), which doesn't have Pet Shop Boys, but covers exactly the same territory. Some of the stuff on Actually is likeable, but it's not essential, and I wouldn't recommend anyone bother listening to it as well as the compilation album.
XX Napalm Death – Scum Extreme metal. Good grief no.


1988


XX k.d. lang – Shadowland
XX Metallica – And Justice for All One or, at most, two Metallica albums are all that is needed to represent their style. This is not an important album by the band.
XX The Waterboys – Fisherman’s Blues Replaced with This Is The Sea
XX Lenny Kravtiz – Let Love Rule (See Now That's What I Call Classic Rock (2015))
XX John Zorn – Spy vs Spy: Music of Ornette Coleman Jazz done in the style of hardcore punk. I can't hear the punk, but there's plenty of old fashioned hard jazz and Seventies era fusion jazz. This doesn't sound very cutting edge for 1988.
XX John Lee Hooker – The Healer It's certainly an attractive album, but as a 1989 recording, it is some 30 years out of its time zone, and more about the guests than about Hooker and his raw, influential blues. Hooker was important for early blues records such as "Boom Boom", not for elevator muzak such as this. See instead 1959's I'm John Lee Hooker.
XX Dwight Yoakam – Beuenas Noches from a Lonely Room
XX Faith No More – Real Thing Metal with some hip-hop and funk elements. Quite the thing in the Eighties to mix the extreme white man's music with the extreme black man's music. Quite melodic and listenable, but Angel Dust (1992) is widely regarded as their better album.
XX Madonna – Like a Prayer (RS) (C4) See The Immaculate Collection (1990)
XX New Order – Technique Seriously? No folks, you don't have to subject yourself to this tedious synth-pop.
XX Dagmar Krause – Tank Battles Songs by Brecht and Hanns Eisler, sung by German vocalist who worked with Slapp Happy and Henry Cow, among others. The songs are clearly theatrical and are done straight, so there is an old fashioned feel to this. There are more interesting interpreters of Brecht and his collaborators, such as Kurt Veill. Krause's work with Slapp Happy and Henry Cow is much more interesting, satisfying, and modern.
XX Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique (RS) (Q) Hip-hop
XX Happy Mondays – Bummed There is much here to like and admire in retrospect, but it was their 1990 album, Thrills, that really got the party started for the general public.
XX Dinosaur Jr – Bug  [AR]  


1989

XX Neneh Cherry – Raw Like Sushi Cherry's biggest solo contribution to world music, outside of her vocal contribution to Youssou N'Dour's "7 Seconds", is "Buffalo Stance", which is an amusing take on McLaren's 1983 "Buffalo Gals". She's likeable in a modern R&B girl singer way, like Madonna, with bits of rap thrown in for fun, but is this album essential listening? I'm not sure, but away from the Madonna / Kylie Minogue echoes, the best aspects of it hark forward to Blues Lines by Massive Attack, which she worked on - so there is something interesting about her, but only in a modest way. Score: 4
XX 808 State – 90 Techno / Acid House Similar to New Order, KLF, The Shamen and The Wolfgang Press. There are some interesting cross-overs, but I don't think we need albums from all of these acts to represent Acid House which was a mostly Chicago minor musical trend that was delivered via 12 inch singles at raves and nightclubs rather than listened to in extended form at home. It did extend into other music, but that was only via more commercial exploitation of the form via bands such as S'Express, and that who I am including on the list. Score: 4
XX Bonnie Raitt – Nick of Time (RS) (NM) I find this a little dull.
XX Aerosmith – Pump See Toys In The Attic (1975)
XX Jungle Brothers – Done by the Forces of Nature Hip-hop rap made during the Golden Age of Rap, sampling jazz and African music. It is melodic and pleasant hip hop in the style of De La Soul, but is considerably less inventive, and as it copies them, is considerably less ground-breaking. Listen to 3 Feet High & Rising, and put this back in the racks.
XX Kate Bush – Sensual World OK, but fairly ordinary.


1990

XX Crowded House – Woodface
XX Megadeth – Rust in Peace One album from Metallica is enough to represent the entire thrash metal style. This album adds nothing significant.
XX Fugazi – Repeater Post-hardcore thump thump thump. Somebody will need to convince me of the importance of this nonsense.
XX Public Enemy – Fear of a Black Planet (RS) (NME) Hip-hop.
XX Public Enemy – Apocalypse 91… Enemy Strikes Back Hip-hop
XX Sepultura – Arise Considered part of death metal. Only listen if you are a heavy metal fan. This is extreme stuff. Not pleasant listening.
XX The Black Crowes – Shake Your Money Maker Rawk. Nothing here you've not heard before (and better). Every single note is so predictable you can heard it coming even before they've played it.
XX Gang Starr – Step in the Arena Melodic hip-hop in the style of De La Soul and P.M. Dawn. Their debut album No More Mr Nice Guy was released just a month after De La Soul's Three Feet High And Rising, and contains similar ideas. Hmmm - is there room for both?
XX Jah Wobble – Rising Above Bedlam It seems generally acknowledged that Jah Wobble is interesting in his encompassing of reggae (particularly dub) and world music, though he rarely turns that interest into admiration, largely because, while the sounds he makes are interesting and often quite pleasant, they are not always successful or memorable. He's more "meh" than "wow".
XX George Michael – Listen Without Prejudice: Vol 1 This is George Michael's attempt to be seen as a serious artist. The songs are less poppy than those he did with Wham, but no less attractive to the buying public. The album did well. It's a bit too self-conscious and dull for my taste, but "Freedom! '90" is an awesome song. It is a song that will make my 1001 Songs You Must Hear, but as there is nothing else on the album to match it, I am removing it from this list.
XX Ride – Nowhere I do like Nowhere, but Going Blank Again is both the better and the more significant album despite what others say.
XX Sinéad O’Connor – I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got (RS) She did a moving version of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U" which was accompanied by a video in which she shed a tear. Her entire career rested on that tear. Interestingly outspoken and a little disturbed, she is probably better known for things other than her actual singing. Steve Huey writes well of the album, but O'Connor's entire reputation rests on the one song, and nobody would be writing well of the album at all if it wasn't for that song.
XX Deee-Lite – World Clique House / dance. "Groove Is In The Heart" was a big heart and is very likeable, but on the whole I'm not seeing anything significant about the rest of these pop-focused synthesised beats and melodies.
XX Depeche Mode – Violator (RS) This is the Mode's big breakthrough album. The best track is "Personal Jesus", but it's quite weak compared to Johnny Cash's cover. Hmmm. Regardless of American heavy metal acts like Marilyn Manson digging the band, this remains Eighties synth-pop at a time when Nirvana and The Stone Roses were emerging. They are a dreary band out of time, but clinging on fiercely. The band, and this album, frequently figure number one on best synth-pop lists.
XX LL Cool J – Mama Said Knock You Out (NM) Hip-hop Funky and commercial. Poppy East coast rap edging into modern R&B. Pleasant stuff, but this area is largely covered by Run DMC and Will Smith (Fresh Prince). Music is repetitive and lacks imagination. The story-lyrics lack the humour and insight of similar veined hip hop so end up feeling trivial and boring.
XX Ice Cube – AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted Ice Cube was part of N.W.A. so this is West coast gangsta rap hip-hop and there's lots of "motherfucker" and "bitch" and shooting the police. Once it's been done it gets tedious to keep repeating it, especially with the same repetitive beat. So the music is dull and lacks imagination and the lyrics are dull and lack imagination. This is clearly done for the love of the money, not for making art, not for making music, and not for making any sensible new social commentary. No, you don't need more of this motherfucking shit.


1992

XX Alice in Chains – Dirt Very popular grunge band with some simplistic heavy metal guitar work. This is their most popular and critically acclaimed album. As a grunge band they come after Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. As a heavy rock band they don't compare with the imaginativeness and touch of Sugar or Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and as a metal band they don't have the power and excitement of Mettallica, etc. Of interest only to hard core heavy metal / grunge fans.
XX Pantera – Vulgar Display of Power Heavy metal. Nothing new here.
XX Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – Devotional Songs Pakistani devotional Sufi music. A little goes a long way. A couple of minutes is enough to get the idea. Nusret has made hundreds of albums of this stuff - it's not exactly profound. Think Hare Krishna chanting. Over and over and over and over and over. Simple rhythms and stock Indian musical ideas repeated in various combinations. This is really as far from Ravi Shankar as it's possible to get, and yet still remain within the sound of Indian music. An album of Bollywood music would be more complex, interesting and varied.
XX Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works 85-92 Ambient techno, a slow, atmospheric version of techno. A little boring.
XX Ministry – Psalm 69 (The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs) Industrial metal. See Nine Inch Nails.
XX Arrested Development – 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life of… Alternative hip-hop that crossed over into the pop charts due to a focus on funky and jazzy melodies suggestive of Sly & The Family Stone. There's elements of De La Soul, but without the imagination and brilliance. This is OK, and it did sell at the time, but....
XX Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy – Hypocrisy is the Greatest Luxury Political hip-hoppers who thrust their manifesto down listeners throats with big funky beats and jazzy trills. Not hugely entertaining, and the big steps had already been taken by N.W.A.

1993

XX Blur – Modern Life is Rubbish   Score: 5
XX Sabres of Paradise – Haunted Dancehall Experimental acid house. They need to experiment a bit more - heard it before, and better.
XX Method Man – Tical Dreary rapper. (Hip-hop)
XX The Boo Radleys – Giant Steps I like "Wake Up Boo", but that's about it. They were not an important band, but were simply part of the background of a point in time.
XX Afghan Whigs – Gentlemen American alternative rock. Not that melodic or interesting. Edges toward metal with screaming lyrics and a heavy sound.
XX Aimee Mann – Whatever Another artist copying some of the McCartney Beatles sounds. Yep. I don't quite get it.
XX Paul Weller – Wild Wood This is solid stuff - good imitation of 60s British R&B and British Soul a la Steve Winwood, Steve Marriot, and Eric Clapton. But was it significant? And, anyway, Stanley Road (Q) (1995) is the album that is generally considered his best, and was the one that brought him back to the public's attention.
XX Nas – Illmatic (RS) (NM) Apparently this is frequently cited as one of the greatest hip-hop albums ever made. However there are other hip-hop albums on the list which are less simplistic and bruising.
XX Jamiroquai – Emergency on Planet Earth The band's debut album. The band are mostly identified by the Stevie Wonder sounding Jay Kay. The band have some of the same soul/funk sounds as Wonder, but feed in some smooth jazz to create a sound known as acid jazz, which was developed by and shown at its best by The Brand New Heavies, who - incidentally - had rejected Jay Kay as lead singer. The band were very popular for a while, but for the Stevie Wonder sound you can't beat Stevie Wonder himself, and for acid jazz you can't beat The Brand New Heavies. This band are very well known, but appear to offer little.
XX Sheryl Crow – Tuesday Night Music Club (NM) Likeable, competent country pop, and with a quirky charm. But lacking in weight. There is something missing about Crow's work that makes it neither hugely popular nor critically acclaimed, but allows it to linger, albeit not quite ignored, in a sort of comfortable no-man's-land. Her next album, Sheryl Crow (1996), is also pleasant and somehow superficial and forgettable.
XX Girls Against Boys – Venus Luxure No 1 Baby Termed post-hardcore, which is an insecure generalisation, this is a sort of grungy rock nudging metal. Quite attractive and melodic in places, with a compelling driving, repetitive rhythm, but essentially there's nothing much here that's not been done before and better.
XX Pet Shop Boys – Very Not content with ruining the Eighties with their simplistic and mundane synth-pop, the wet boys spill over into the creative Nineties, where their old fashioned music sits like a stale turd in a fresh salad. Get out of here!
XX The Offspring – Smash This album was very popular, selling over 11 million records, and is critically acclaimed, though I have a higher regard for the more ambitious and accomplished Americana (1998) which contains "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)".
XX The Auteurs – New Wave Quiet Indie band wearing their Kinks and George Harrison influences on their sleeve. Pleasant and competent, but nothing really stands out. Score: 4
XX Manic Street Preachers – The Holy Bible (Q) The band's debut, Generation Terrorists (1992), is more significant and hot, albeit it a little muddled and inconsistent. And the first album without Richey, Everything Must Go (1996), bigger and more important.
XX TLC – CrazySexyCool (RS) (NM) Modern R&B. TLC are a hugely successful girl vocal group. This is their most acclaimed and popular album. It's very smooth, and is all about the production. The girls are merely the voices, and they are not great voices, which actually provides some interest, as they are a little rougher and more authentic than the bland music and production. This is all about the money. It's not great music, simply more R&B. Best track is "Waterfalls", which musically references Stevie Wonder. The group's overall best song is "No Scrubs" from their 1999 album, and that's listenable, but not significant in the rather crowded and popular modern R&B genre.
XX Sebadoh – Bubble & Scrape Quirky lo-fi indie / alternative rock with interesting and attractive aspects, but it feels as though they are still finding their way. The earlier (1991) release III, while also sounding hesitant, does at least have more decent songs, so would be a better choice. 

XX Soundgarden – Superunknown (RS)  - Their debut, Ultramega OK (1988), album is a blend of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Superunknown, their most popular and well known album, works in the same area. Soundgarden are regarded as a grunge band, which was a Seattle based music movement that blended punk attitude and heavy metal. I'm only seeing metal in this recording, and nothing new or interesting. I prefer the debut album as it has more energy and pith. 
XX PJ Harvey – Rid of Me    (1993)  The debut says it all, and it was the debut. 

1994

XX 2Pac / Tupac – Me Against the World (NM) Hip-hop
XX Ali Farka Touré and Ry Cooder – Talking Timbuktu I like this., but I prefer his 1988 album, Ali Farka Touré, that is the one that brought him international attention, and it's a more fascinating and attractive album.
XX Drive Like Jehu – Yank Crime American post-hardcore band. Not pleasant.
XX Garbage – Garbage Indie-pop with a rocky edge and electronic elements. They are sometimes classed as alt-rock, though the distinctions between indie and alternative blur - broadly speaking, indie is a British and Eighties term, alternative is an American and Nineties term, also, indie is more pop focused while alternative is more rock focused. This is the band's debut and is widely regarded as their best. What is interesting is the band's incorporation of electronica with hints of hip-hop, but, to be fair, we have more important and interesting bands such as Portishead, Massive Attack, The Prodigy, Faithless, etc who could write and produce better albums. Their best thing is "Stupid Girl". Garbage always were in the second or third rank.
XX Rocket from the Crypt – Scream, Dracula, Scream Punk with a horn section and a sense of rockabilly. Feels more a gimmick than authentic, serious music. "On A Rope" was popular, but it's throwaway nature didn't encourage commitment among listeners.
XX Leftfield – Leftism Electronic (house) music, regarded by some as the best house music album, a style of music usually released in single track format. Applauded as being quite varied, incorporating a variety of (related) music styles, such as reggae (dub) and ambient (trance). It's quite patchy, and the music styles it covers are heard better elsewhere. So the Portishead-type trip hop bits are done better by Portishead, etc. The album caught attention at the time, but it's not an enduring album, so is already starting to fade from attention.
XX Tricky – Maxinquaye Trip hop. Bristol produced Portishead, Tricky, and Massive Attack - with whom Tricky collaborated until this album. This is good stuff, and it informs an understanding of trip hop and the Bristol scene, but Portishead and Massive Attack are more significant. 

XX Elvis Costello – Brutal Youth  Has some of the energy and charm of Costello's peak 70s  period, but not quite enough to make the album interesting. Score: 3 


1995

XX Genius GZA – Liquid Swords Hip-hop - see Wu-Tang Clan 1993 Score: 4
XX Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx This doesn't speak my language. Aggression and swearing is not my thing. Hip-hop - see Wu-Tang Clan 1993 Score: 3

1996

XX Screaming Trees – Dust Blending a range of rock music styles current in the Eighties / early Nineties, Screaming Trees create a familiar and attractive period rock sound, but never quite stand out as something special. OK to listen to though. Score: 5
XX Ash – 1977 A rock-pop band often classed as alternative rock. Because this was the Nineties, they are linked with Britpop, though stylistically there is little to connect them, and they arrived a little late. They throw in some energy here and there and a bit of grunge, but there's nothing essentially new about what they are doing, and they seem scattered and directionless, echoing bands like Teenage Fanclub who had done it all before, and better. The hit single "Girl From Mars", while a little bit out of time in 1996 (it feels more late Eighties), is quite beautiful. "Oh Yeah", "Gone The Dream" and "Angel Interceptor" are the closest to the poppy jump and commercial appeal of Britpop. With the exception of "Kung Fu", all the lyrics are dreamy memories of some girl. Score: 5
XX Wilco – Being There The second album from the remaining members of significant alt-country band Uncle Tupelo after the departure of Jay Farrar. The first was considered a failure. This was better received, but feels to me to lack focus, energy, and originality. That it wanders around various music styles doesn't feel experimental to me, yet that is how the album and the band have been perceived. Score: 5
XX Death in Vegas – Contino Sessions Electronic rock edged band. This is widely regarded as their best album. Hmmmm. Possibly. Some sort of Beck ideas here - mixing in different music styles. Nothing stands out. Score: 5
XX Beth Orton – Central Reservation Folky electronica (or it is the other way round?) A bit like Dido with some Nick Drake. Mmmm. OK. But not as strong or interesting as Dido. Score: 4 1/2
XX Manic Street Preachers – Everything Must Go (Q) The best Manics album is the first one. The public and the critics liked this one because it came out after the disappearance/suicide of the band's fascinating frontman, Richie, and it is pretty good, with an excellent single, "A Design For Life", which is poppy and accessible while remaining intelligent, crisp, and with some of the brilliant punk glam that made the Manics such a compelling and entertaining group. The rest of the album is not quite up to that standard - indeed, it is a rather ordinary, competent pop-rock album. This is a different band without Richie - like New Order without Ian Curtis: less brilliant, but more accessible and commercial and professional. Score: 4
XX Tortoise – Millions Now Living Will Never Die This is American post rock - it came along slightly after the original British/European post rock. It is somewhat like early 70s jazz rock and is mildly dull and boring. Score: 4
XX Everything But the Girl – Walking Wounded Poppy, commercial, approachable trip-hop - the acceptable face of techno. There is a place for stuff like this, but the real music was going on with Portishead and Massive Attack. Score: 4
XX Fiona Apple – Tidal I'm hearing Suzanne Vega, Joan Armatrading, Alanis Morissette, Aimee Mann - but I'm not hearing anything new or special. Score: 4
XX Fatboy Slim – Better Living Through Chemistry This is Norman Cook's first album as Fatboy Slim, and is an early example of big beat, but it wasn't a breakthough, so is of academic interest only. It's his second album, You've Come A Long Way, Baby, that is the important one. Score: 3 1/2
XX The Cardigans – First Band on the Moon Rather light weight pop band who had a hit with the pleasant "Lovefool", but lack inventiveness and stay within simple melodies that are predictable and commonplace. Apparently the appeal is that they are "indie" and that therefore the pop is "ironic". Hmmm. At the end of the day, you'll either like Nina Person's voice, or - like me - find it grating after more than one or two songs. But, either way, this is a minor band doing nothing special. Score: 3 1/2
XX Belle and Sebastian – If You’re Feeling Sinister A modern version of the Incredible String Band, but not as innovative or charming. This is their second album, and lacks the appeal of their debut, Tigermilk (1996), but it had a proper release and gained them attention. Score: 3 1/2
XX LTJ Bukem – Logical Progression Important in the development of drum n bass. Repeated motifs moving around in an ambient dance style with high speed drum beats (more like clicks). This is music to dance to, or to have on in the background. Not music to sit down and actually listen to - there's little reward. Score: 3 1/2
XX Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Now I Got Worry Hmmmm. It's certainly loud, abrasive and in yer face, but there's also some melodic moments so this isn't noise rock. There's also a sense of old fashioned rock and roll, plus late 60s rock bands like the MC5 and The Stooges, but without their energy. I suppose this could be the modern equivalent of Jerry Lee Lewis. But, then again, do we really need that? Score: 3
XX Marilyn Manson – Antichrist Superstar Marilyn Manson is a band, but is essentially the lead singer, also known as Marilyn Manson. His USP is that he is a (rather silly) shock metal artist. He takes his cue from Alice Cooper, but deliberately going nastier. The music here, while retaining the melodic character of Cooper, and some of the glam rock elements, leans to noise metal rather than the heavy rock of Cooper. This is widely acknowledged as the band's best album. There is little art here - this is purely commercial exploitation. File under C for Crap. The band's next album, Mechanical Animals (1998), is less abrasive, and leans more toward Bowie than Cooper, which makes it an easier listen, but not a rewarding one - it's rather superficial glam rock, lacking the energy and inventiveness of the early Seventies bands. His next album, Holy Wood (2000), combines the elements of the two albums producing a rather muddled sort of Gary Numan naffness. File that under I for Inadequate. Not so much shocking as pathetic. Score: 3
XX Sepultura – Roots Part of the death metal scene. Considered an influence on nu metal. Unpleasant. Score: 2
XX Fugees – The Score (NM) The popular and commercial side of hip-hop. There's not much of interest here, its main draws being the two classic songs, "Killing Me Softly" and "No Woman", done in a hip-hop stylee, and their own composition "Ready or Not" in which they blend Enya's "Boadicea" (which they used without permission) and The Delfonics "Ready or Not", and then rap over it. The immediacy, simplicity, and nursery rhyming of rap has a wide appeal among the young. When that is combined with harmonious and familiar music it does create a draw. But there's nothing new here, and nothing interesting. It was popular, and it sold. And for some it will remind them of the Nineties, but there are better and more important examples of hip-hop.
XX The Charlatans – Tellin’ Stories



1997

XX  Blur – Blur  (1997) Score: 5 
XX The Chemical Brothers – Dig Your Own Hole Part of what is termed the Big Beat genre of techno music which was hugely popular in the rave scene of the 90s. The Prodigy, FatBoy Slim and The Orb, were part of the same scene. Seen by some electronica critics as too simplistic, bombastic, and repetitive, it was nevertheless highly popular, and spread beyond the hip-trance scene into the real world. I'm not convinced that we need to have examples from both The Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy, given the obvious and simplistic nature of the music, and that the two bands sound very similar (FatBoy Slim is more inventive and interesting). The Prodigy's Fat of The Land is enough for this.
XX Mariah Carey – Butterfly Carey is one of the female singers who exploited the modern R&B sound developed by Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones. She had a huge success with her Christmas covers album, particularly with the single "All I want For Christmas Is You". On this album she is moving into the more urban areas of that style, which Jackson did on Dangerous. It's not cutting edge, and while the album is pleasant, and is among her most popular and acclaimed, the songs are not that strong, the musicianship is simply professional and competent, and her singing is also professional and competent, with the warbling and oohing that folks like, but not doing anything unique, and not touching on genuine feeling.
XX Primal Scream – Vanishing Point There's lots to like about this album, which is full of ideas and is full tempo, creating a lot of noise and excitement. It combines a number of Bobby Gillespie's musical ideas and influences, and clearly attempts to return to the critical and commercial success of Screamadelica, but where that album was full of assured confidence, indeed, sublime arrogance, this album sounds desperate, it sounds like it's trying too hard. Where Screamadelica had just the right touch, and was breathtaking in its beauty and musical ingenuity, this album trips over itself in its attempt to be Screamadelica Mark II. Yes, the music rocks, yes it's fast, yes it has some of the same music ideas of Screamadelica, plus a few more, and yes it has Mani of the Stone Roses on bass, and it's a listenable and attractive album, no doubt about that, but it's not a great album. It's too much of a hodgepodge that never really pulls itself together. Including Mani is apt, as this is like Second Coming compared to The Stone Roses.
XX Supergrass – In it for the Money I quite like this, but it's nowhere on the same level as I Should Coco.
XX The Divine Comedy – A Short Album About Love Casanova is the main album. This is OK, but not significant.
XX Robbie Williams – Life Thru a Lens Audacious and clever solo debut of Take That boy band star which exilerates in its knowing pop. Contains the career defining songs "Angels" and "Let Me Entertain You". However, the album as a whole doesn't quite match the level of those two hits, and it's the follow up I've Been Expecting You (1998) which is the more complete and exceptional pop album.
XX Daft Punk – Homework     Replaced with Discovery (2001)  

1998

XX Pulp – This is Hardcore This is the follow up to 1995's Different Class. It doesn't have the energy and bravado or the songs of that album. Generally respected, it's an admirable and ambitious album of serious songs, but it's fairly dull. If this had been the most recent Pulp album at the time of "Common People" and headlining Glastonbury, the band would have quickly disappeared. If you want a decent second Pulp album, the album before Different Class, His 'N' Hers (1994) is the one to get. Score: 5
XX Air – Moon Safari (C4) (ATT)  Smooth-jazz electronica. A bit limited and boring. The best track is the modest hit single "Sexy Boy". Score: 3 1/2
XX Lucinda Williams – Car Wheels on a Gravel Road (RS) From the opening notes you know exactly how this album is going to unfold. Predictable and boring country rock. It's been done before and better. Score: 3 1/2
XX Turbonegro – Apocalypse Dudes Tongue-in-cheek punky rock band who devised the jokey "deathpunk" to describe their New York Dolls/Ramones/Terrorvision/The Darkness type mock rock. A bit of fun if at the end of the universe you're run out of decent things to listen to and you're a bit bored, otherwise file under trivial and move on. This is clearly commercial exploitation with a total lack of authenticity. Score: 3
XX Queens of the Stone Age - Queens of the Stone Age  This is stoner rock, apparently. There's so many variations of heavy rock/metal. This feels rather lumpen. I suspect this is music for American teenage boys too shy to have yet lost their virginity. The music is a compensation. I'd rather have the sex. Score: 2 1/2
XX Madonna – Ray of Light (RS) (Q) See William Orbit Strange Cargo: III (1993) Score: 5 1/2
XX Korn – Follow the Leader Apparently this is the album that launched nu-metal on the public (and I'm not clear on why that is a good thing given the nature of the sound), though the band's debut, Korn (1994), is the one that fans and critics regard as the more significant.
XX System of a Down - System of a Down A nu metal band, though more metal than nu. Less rap than Limp Bizkit, and less crazy than Slipknot, this is almost likeable. There's a lot going on, which seems to be part of the intention of nu, but there's more variety than with other nu bands of the 90s, so this is more creative and more interesting. But they are edged out by the nu bands of the 2000s such as Linkin Park and Papa Roach.
XX Baaba Maal & Mansour Seck – Djam Leelii  African (Senegalese) singer & guitarist Baaba Maal, with a friend. This is a very pleasant album. Maal went on to make fusion albums, such as Firin' In Fouta (1994), but this was his first album to gain international attention.  


1999

XX Metallica – S&M Live album for fans of the band (of which there are many), but the Metallica album gives us enough of the band, and is their best album, so no need for this.
XX Incubus – Make Yourself A popular nu metal album by a band who lean perhaps too heavily on their alt-rock influences - Faith, Red Hot, Jane's Addiction, Rage, etc, and consequently don't stand out as significant. This was the album that broke them, though their major label debut, S.C.I.E.N.C.E. (1997), is considered more important.
XX Britney Spears – Baby One More Time No, don't be silly now.
XX Basement Jaxx – Remedy House music. Not sure what to make of this. OK, now I know. Remove it from the list.
XX Le Tigre – Le Tigre They sound like Bow Wow Wow and a bit out of their time.
XX Boards of Canada – Music Has the Right to Children Ambient electronica. Small stuff. Brian Eno and The Orb already did this, and better.
XX Slipknot – Slipknot Acclaimed as the loudest and heaviest of the nu metal bands, and this album will often feature on lists of the best nu albums. It is intended to be dark, aggressive, complex, and crazy - that is what fans like about it. The alienation it causes is intentional. If it was sweet, bland, inoffensive, and liked by all, then it wouldn't be fulfilling whatever emotional need the fans have for such a divisive music. Fuck it all, seems to sum it up. Anyway, this is too juvenile and limited, even for nu, to be worth listening to.
XX Les Rythmes Digitales – Darkdancer Electronic dance music. Sigh.
XX Nitin Sawhney – Beyond Skin Soft, dreamy electronic world music with a CND theme. It's pleasant, but doesn't really stand out.
XX Suba - São Paulo Confessions A blend of Brazilian jazz and techno. Hmmm. I'm not quite getting the vibe.
XX Shack– HMS Fable Little known melodic indie rock band. Hmmmm. Pleasant enough, but perhaps rather generic vanilla guitar pop. I'll also try Waterpistol (1995) and their debut Zilch (1988) as I like the sound. Hmm. The debut sounds like Echo & The Bunnymen.
XX The Flaming Lips – Soft Bulletin Indie/Neo-psychedelia Try Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (2002)
XX XTC – Apple Venus: Volume 1
XX Skunk Anansie – Post Orgasmic Chill A little too shouty, pointlessly aggressive vocals, and mostly dull heavy metal influenced hard rock. Most observers prefer Stoosh (1996).

 

1990

XX Crowded House – Woodface   

XX Megadeth – Rust in Peace    One album from Metallica is enough to represent the entire thrash metal style. This album adds nothing significant.

XX Fugazi – Repeater   Post-hardcore thump thump thump. Somebody will need to convince me of the importance of this nonsense.

XX Public Enemy – Fear of a Black Planet (RS) (NME)  Hip-hop.  

XX Public Enemy – Apocalypse 91… Enemy Strikes Back    Hip-hop  

XX Sepultura – Arise  Considered part of death metal. Only listen if you are a heavy metal fan. This is extreme stuff. Not pleasant listening.  

XX The Black Crowes – Shake Your Money Maker    Rawk.  Nothing here you've not heard before (and better). Every single note is so predictable you can heard it coming even before they've played it. 

XX Gang Starr – Step in the Arena   Melodic hip-hop in the style of  De La Soul and P.M. Dawn. Their debut album No More Mr Nice Guy was released just a month after De La Soul's Three Feet High And Rising, and contains similar ideas. Hmmm - is there room for both? 

XX Jah Wobble – Rising Above Bedlam  It seems generally acknowledged that Jah Wobble is interesting in his encompassing of reggae (particularly dub) and world music, though he rarely turns that interest into admiration, largely because, while the sounds he makes are interesting and often quite pleasant, they are not always successful or memorable. He's more "meh" than "wow". 

XX George Michael – Listen Without Prejudice: Vol 1    This is George Michael's attempt to be seen as a serious artist. The songs are less poppy than those he did with Wham, but no less attractive to the buying public. The album did well. It's a bit too self-conscious and dull for my taste, but "Freedom! '90" is an awesome song. It is a song that will make my 1001 Songs You Must Hear, but as there is nothing else on the album to match it, I am removing it from this list. 

XX  Ride – Nowhere   I do like Nowhere, but Going Blank Again is both the better and the more significant album despite what others say. 

XX Sinéad O’Connor – I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got  (RS)   She did a moving version of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U" which was accompanied by a video in which she shed a tear. Her entire career rested on that tear. Interestingly outspoken and a little disturbed, she is probably better known for things other than her actual singing. Steve Huey writes well of the album, but O'Connor's entire reputation rests on the one song, and nobody would be writing well of the album at all if it wasn't for that song. 

XX Deee-Lite – World Clique   House / dance.  "Groove Is In The Heart" was a big heart and is very likeable, but on the whole I'm not seeing anything significant about the rest of these pop-focused synthesised beats and melodies. 

XX Depeche Mode – Violator (RS) This is the Mode's big breakthrough album.  The best track is "Personal Jesus", but it's quite weak compared to Johnny Cash's cover.  Hmmm. Regardless of American heavy metal acts like Marilyn Manson digging the band, this remains Eighties synth-pop at a time when Nirvana and The Stone Roses were emerging. They are a dreary band out of time, but clinging on fiercely.  The band, and this album, frequently figure number one on best synth-pop lists. 

XX LL Cool J – Mama Said Knock You Out  (NM)  Hip-hop  Funky and commercial. Poppy East coast rap edging into modern R&B. Pleasant stuff, but this area is largely covered by Run DMC and Will Smith (Fresh Prince). Music is repetitive and lacks imagination. The story-lyrics lack the humour and insight of similar veined hip hop so end up feeling trivial and boring. 

XX Ice Cube – AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted   Ice Cube was part of N.W.A. so this is West coast gangsta rap hip-hop and there's lots of "motherfucker" and "bitch" and shooting the police. Once it's been done it gets tedious to keep repeating it, especially with the same repetitive beat. So the music is dull and lacks imagination and the lyrics are dull and lack imagination. This is clearly done for the love of the money, not for making art, not for making music, and not for making any sensible new social commentary. No, you don't need more of this motherfucking shit. 

1992

 XX A Tribe Called Quest – Low End Theory (RS) [HH]  East coast hip-hop.  Alternative rap like The Fugees and jazz-rap like De La Soul. Attractive, but quite modest. The debut is much more inventive, fun and interesting. Score: 3 1/2  

 

XX Alice in Chains – Dirt    Very popular grunge band with some simplistic heavy metal guitar work. This is their most popular and critically acclaimed album. As a grunge band they come after Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. As a heavy rock band they don't compare with the imaginativeness and touch of Sugar or Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and as a metal band they don't have the power and excitement of Mettallica, etc. Of interest only to hard core heavy metal / grunge fans. 

XX Pantera – Vulgar Display of Power   Heavy metal. Nothing new here. 
XX Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – Devotional Songs   Pakistani devotional Sufi music. A little goes a long way. A couple of minutes is enough to get the idea. Nusret has made hundreds of albums of this stuff - it's not exactly profound. Think Hare Krishna chanting. Over and over and over and over and over. Simple rhythms and stock Indian musical ideas repeated in various combinations. This is really as far from Ravi Shankar as it's possible to get, and yet still remain within the sound of Indian music. An album of Bollywood music would be more complex, interesting and varied.  
XX Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works 85-92    Ambient techno, a slow, atmospheric version of techno. A little boring. 

XX Ministry – Psalm 69 (The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs)  Industrial metal. See Nine Inch Nails.  
XX Arrested Development – 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life of…   Alternative hip-hop that crossed over into the pop charts due to a focus on funky and jazzy melodies suggestive of Sly & The Family Stone. There's elements of De La Soul, but without the imagination and brilliance. This is OK, and it did sell at the time, but....  
XX Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy – Hypocrisy is the Greatest Luxury  Political hip-hoppers who thrust their manifesto down listeners throats with big funky beats and jazzy trills. Not hugely entertaining, and the big steps had already been taken by N.W.A. 

1993

XX Sabres of Paradise – Haunted Dancehall   Experimental acid house. They need to experiment a bit more - heard it before, and better.
XX Method Man – Tical   Dreary rapper. (Hip-hop)
XX The Boo Radleys – Giant Steps   I like "Wake Up Boo", but that's about it. They were not an important band, but were simply part of the background of a point in time.
XX Afghan Whigs – Gentlemen   American alternative rock. Not that melodic or interesting. Edges toward metal with screaming lyrics and a heavy sound.
XX Aimee Mann – Whatever   Another artist copying some of the McCartney Beatles sounds. Yep. I don't quite get it.
XX Paul Weller – Wild Wood This is solid stuff - good imitation of 60s British R&B and British Soul a la Steve Winwood, Steve Marriot, and Eric Clapton. But was it significant? And, anyway, Stanley Road  (Q) (1995) is the album that is generally considered his best, and was the one that brought him back to the public's attention.
XX Nas – Illmatic (RS) (NM) Apparently this is frequently cited as one of the greatest hip-hop albums ever made. However there are other hip-hop albums on the list which are less simplistic and bruising. 
XX Jamiroquai – Emergency on Planet Earth    The band's debut album. The band are mostly identified by the Stevie Wonder sounding Jay Kay. The band have some of the same soul/funk sounds as Wonder, but feed in some smooth jazz to create a sound known as acid jazz, which was developed by and shown at its best by The Brand New Heavies, who - incidentally - had rejected Jay Kay as lead singer. The band were very popular for a while, but for the Stevie Wonder sound you can't beat Stevie Wonder himself, and for acid jazz you can't beat The Brand New Heavies. This band are very well known, but appear to offer little. 
XX Sheryl Crow – Tuesday Night Music Club (NM)   Likeable, competent country pop, and with a quirky charm. But lacking in weight. There is something missing about Crow's work that makes it neither hugely popular nor critically acclaimed, but allows it to linger, albeit not quite ignored, in a sort of comfortable no-man's-land.  Her next album, Sheryl Crow (1996), is also pleasant and somehow superficial and forgettable. 
XX Girls Against Boys – Venus Luxure No 1 Baby   Termed post-hardcore, which is an insecure generalisation, this is a sort of grungy rock nudging metal. Quite attractive and melodic in places, with a compelling driving, repetitive rhythm, but essentially there's nothing much here that's  not been done before and better. 
XX Pet Shop Boys – Very   Not content with ruining the Eighties with their simplistic and mundane synth-pop, the wet boys spill over into the creative Nineties, where their old fashioned music sits like a stale turd in a fresh salad. Get out of here!  
XX The Offspring – Smash    This album was very popular, selling over 11 million records, and is critically acclaimed, though I have a higher regard for the more ambitious and accomplished Americana (1998) which contains "Pretty Fly (For  A White Guy)".
XX The Auteurs – New Wave  Quiet Indie band wearing their Kinks and George Harrison influences on their sleeve. Pleasant and competent, but nothing really stands out. Score: 4
XX Manic Street Preachers – The Holy Bible  (Q)  The band's debut, Generation Terrorists (1992), is more significant and hot, albeit it a little muddled and inconsistent. And the first album without Richey, Everything Must Go (1996), bigger and more important. 
XX TLC – CrazySexyCool (RS) (NM)   Modern R&B. TLC are a hugely successful girl vocal group. This is their most acclaimed and popular album. It's very smooth, and is all about the production. The girls are merely the voices, and they are not great voices, which actually provides some interest, as they are a little rougher and more authentic than the bland music and production. This is all about the money. It's not great music, simply more R&B. Best track is "Waterfalls", which musically references Stevie Wonder. The group's overall best song is "No Scrubs" from their 1999 album, and that's listenable, but not significant in the rather crowded and popular modern R&B genre. 
XX Sebadoh – Bubble & Scrape    Quirky lo-fi indie / alternative rock with interesting and attractive aspects, but it feels as though they are still finding their way.  The earlier (1991) release III, while also sounding hesitant, does at least have more decent songs, so would be a better choice.  

 XX Nirvana – In Utero (RS) (Q) (ATT)    

1994 

XX 2Pac / Tupac – Me Against the World  (NM)   Hip-hop
XX Ali Farka Touré and Ry Cooder – Talking Timbuktu   I like this., but I prefer his 1988 album, Ali Farka Touré, that is the one that brought him international attention, and it's a more fascinating and attractive album.
XX Drive Like Jehu – Yank Crime   American post-hardcore band. Not pleasant. 
XX Garbage – Garbage    Indie-pop with a rocky edge and electronic elements. They are sometimes classed as alt-rock, though the distinctions between indie and alternative blur - broadly speaking, indie is a British and Eighties term, alternative is an American and Nineties term, also, indie is more pop focused while alternative is more rock focused. This is the band's debut and is widely regarded as their best. What is interesting is the band's incorporation of electronica  with hints of hip-hop, but, to be fair, we have more important and interesting bands such as Portishead, Massive Attack, The Prodigy, Faithless, etc who could write and produce better albums. Their best thing is "Stupid Girl". Garbage always were in the second or third rank. 
XX Rocket from the Crypt – Scream, Dracula, Scream   Punk with a horn section and a sense of rockabilly. Feels more a gimmick than authentic, serious music. "On A Rope" was popular, but it's throwaway nature didn't encourage commitment among listeners. 
XX Leftfield – Leftism    Electronic (house) music, regarded by some as the best house music album, a style of music usually released in single track format. Applauded as being quite varied, incorporating a variety of (related) music styles, such as reggae (dub) and ambient (trance).  It's quite patchy,  and the music styles it covers are heard better elsewhere. So the Portishead-type trip hop bits are done better by Portishead, etc. The album caught attention at the time, but it's not an enduring album, so is already starting to fade from attention. 
XX Tricky – Maxinquaye   Trip hop. Bristol produced Portishead, Tricky, and Massive Attack - with whom Tricky collaborated until this album. This is good stuff, and it informs an understanding of  trip hop and the Bristol scene, but Portishead and Massive Attack are more significant. 

1995

XX Genius GZA – Liquid Swords Hip-hop - see Wu-Tang Clan 1993  Score: 4
XX Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx This doesn't speak my language. Aggression and swearing is not my thing. Hip-hop - see Wu-Tang Clan 1993  Score: 3 

XX Guided by Voices –  Alien Lanes  (1995)   Indie rock with elements of R.E.M., Velvet Underground and The Byrds. Quirky, but feels a little lost and misplaced, consisting of undeveloped ideas cheaply recorded (lo-fi). I suspect that is the idea, but perhaps they are over-thinking it, and putting the idea before the music. Bee Thousand  (1994), though in a similar vein, has more charm and authenticity. Score: 3 

1996

XX Screaming Trees – Dust Blending a range of rock music styles current in the Eighties / early Nineties, Screaming Trees create a familiar and attractive period rock sound, but never quite stand out as something special. OK to listen to though. Score: 5 
XX Ash – 1977   A rock-pop band often classed as alternative rock. Because this was the Nineties, they are linked with Britpop, though stylistically there is little to connect them, and they arrived a little late. They throw in some energy here and there and a bit of grunge, but there's nothing essentially new about what they are doing, and they seem scattered and directionless, echoing bands like Teenage Fanclub who had done it all before, and better. The hit single "Girl From Mars", while a little bit out of time in 1996 (it feels more late Eighties), is quite beautiful. "Oh Yeah", "Gone The Dream" and "Angel Interceptor" are the closest to the poppy jump and commercial appeal of Britpop. With the exception of "Kung Fu", all the lyrics are dreamy memories of some girl.   Score: 5 
XX Wilco – Being There  The second album from the remaining members of significant alt-country band Uncle Tupelo after the departure of Jay Farrar. The first was considered a failure. This was better received, but feels to me to lack focus, energy, and originality. That it wanders around various music styles doesn't feel experimental to me, yet that is how the album and the band have been perceived. Score: 5 
XX Death in Vegas – Contino Sessions    Electronic rock edged band. This is widely regarded as their best album. Hmmmm. Possibly. Some sort of Beck ideas here - mixing in different music styles. Nothing stands out. Score: 5 
XX Beth Orton – Central Reservation  Folky electronica (or it is the other way round?) A bit like Dido with some Nick Drake. Mmmm. OK. But not as strong or interesting as Dido.  Score: 4 1/2 

XX Manic Street Preachers – Everything Must Go   (Q)  The best Manics album is the first one. The public and the critics liked this one because it came out after the disappearance/suicide of the band's fascinating frontman, Richie, and it is pretty good, with an excellent single, "A Design For Life", which is poppy and accessible while remaining intelligent, crisp, and with some of the brilliant punk glam that made the Manics such a compelling and entertaining group. The rest of the album is not quite up to that standard - indeed, it is a rather ordinary, competent pop-rock album. This is a different band without Richie - like New Order without Ian Curtis: less brilliant, but more accessible and commercial and professional. Score: 4 
XX Tortoise – Millions Now Living Will Never Die This is American post rock - it came along slightly after the original British/European post rock. It is somewhat like early 70s jazz rock and is mildly dull and boring. Score: 4
XX Everything But the Girl – Walking Wounded Poppy, commercial, approachable trip-hop - the acceptable face of techno. There is a place for stuff like this, but the real music was going on with Portishead and Massive Attack. Score: 4 
XX Fiona Apple – Tidal  I'm hearing Suzanne Vega, Joan Armatrading, Alanis Morissette, Aimee Mann - but I'm not hearing anything new or special. Score: 4
XX Fatboy Slim – Better Living Through Chemistry This is Norman Cook's first album as Fatboy Slim, and is an early example of big beat, but it wasn't a breakthough, so is of academic interest only. It's his second album, You've Come A Long Way, Baby, that is the important one. Score: 3 1/2 
XX The Cardigans – First Band on the Moon Rather light weight pop band who had a hit with the pleasant "Lovefool", but lack inventiveness and stay within simple melodies that are predictable and commonplace. Apparently the appeal is that they are "indie" and that therefore the pop is "ironic". Hmmm. At the end of the day, you'll either like Nina Person's voice, or - like me - find it grating after more than one or two songs. But, either way, this is a minor band doing nothing special. Score: 3 1/2 
XX Belle and Sebastian – If You’re Feeling Sinister A modern version of the Incredible String Band, but not as innovative or charming. This is their second album, and lacks the appeal of their debut, Tigermilk (1996), but it had a proper release and gained them attention. Score: 3 1/2  
XX LTJ Bukem – Logical Progression   Important in the development of drum n bass. Repeated motifs moving around in an ambient dance style with high speed drum beats (more like clicks). This is music to dance to, or to have on in the background. Not music to sit down and actually listen to - there's little reward.  Score: 3 1/2
XX Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Now I Got Worry Hmmmm. It's certainly loud, abrasive and in yer face, but there's also some melodic moments so this isn't noise rock. There's also a sense of old fashioned rock and roll, plus late 60s rock bands like the MC5 and The Stooges, but without their energy. I suppose this could be the modern equivalent of Jerry Lee Lewis. But, then again, do we really need that? Score: 3  
XX Marilyn Manson – Antichrist Superstar    Marilyn Manson is a band, but is essentially the lead singer, also known as Marilyn Manson. His USP is that he is a (rather silly) shock metal artist. He takes his cue from Alice Cooper, but deliberately going nastier. The music here, while retaining the melodic character of Cooper, and some of the glam rock elements, leans to noise metal rather than the heavy rock of Cooper. This is widely acknowledged as the band's best album. There is little art here - this is purely commercial exploitation. File under C for Crap.  The band's next album, Mechanical Animals (1998), is less abrasive, and leans more toward Bowie than Cooper, which makes it an easier listen, but not a rewarding one - it's rather superficial glam rock, lacking the energy and inventiveness of the early Seventies bands. His next album, Holy Wood (2000), combines the elements of the two albums producing a rather muddled sort of Gary Numan naffness. File that under I for Inadequate. Not so much shocking as pathetic. Score: 3
XX Sepultura – Roots Part of the death metal scene. Considered an influence on nu metal. Unpleasant. Score: 2 

XX Fugees – The Score (NM)   The popular and commercial side of hip-hop. There's not much of interest here, its main draws being the two classic songs, "Killing Me Softly" and "No Woman",  done in a hip-hop stylee, and their own composition "Ready or Not" in which they blend Enya's "Boadicea" (which they used without permission) and  The Delfonics "Ready or Not", and then rap over it. The immediacy, simplicity, and nursery rhyming of rap has a wide appeal among the young. When that is combined with harmonious and familiar music it does create a draw. But there's nothing new here, and nothing interesting. It was popular, and it sold. And for some it will remind them of the Nineties, but there are better and more important examples of hip-hop.  
XX The Charlatans – Tellin’ Stories     

1997

XX The Chemical Brothers – Dig Your Own Hole   Part of what is termed the Big Beat genre of techno music which was hugely popular in the rave scene of the 90s. The Prodigy,  FatBoy Slim and The Orb, were part of the same scene. Seen by some electronica critics as too simplistic, bombastic, and repetitive, it was nevertheless highly popular, and spread beyond the hip-trance scene into the real world.  I'm not convinced that we need to have examples from both The Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy, given the obvious and simplistic nature of the music, and that the two bands sound very similar (FatBoy Slim is more inventive and interesting). The Prodigy's Fat of The Land is enough for this.
XX Mariah Carey – Butterfly   Carey is one of the female singers who exploited the modern R&B sound developed by Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones. She had a huge success with her Christmas covers album, particularly with the single "All I want For Christmas Is You".  On this album she is moving into the more urban areas of that style, which Jackson did on Dangerous. It's not cutting edge, and while the album is pleasant, and is among her most popular and acclaimed, the songs are not that strong, the musicianship is simply professional and competent, and her singing is also professional and competent, with the warbling and oohing that folks like, but not doing anything unique, and not touching on genuine feeling. 
XX Primal Scream – Vanishing Point   There's lots to like about this album, which is full of ideas and is full tempo, creating a lot of noise and excitement. It combines a number of Bobby Gillespie's musical ideas and influences, and clearly attempts to return to the critical and commercial success of Screamadelica, but where that album was full of assured confidence, indeed, sublime arrogance, this album sounds desperate, it sounds like it's trying too hard. Where Screamadelica had just the right touch, and was breathtaking in its beauty and musical ingenuity, this album trips over itself in its attempt to be Screamadelica Mark II. Yes, the music rocks, yes it's fast, yes it has some of the same music ideas of Screamadelica, plus a few more, and yes it has Mani of the Stone Roses on bass, and it's a listenable and attractive album, no doubt about that, but it's not a great album. It's too much of a hodgepodge that never really pulls itself together. Including Mani is apt, as this is like Second Coming compared to The Stone Roses. 
XX Supergrass – In it for the Money I quite like this, but it's nowhere on the same level as I Should Coco. 
XX The Divine Comedy – A Short Album About Love   Casanova is the main album. This is OK, but not significant. 
XX Robbie Williams – Life Thru a Lens    Audacious and clever solo debut of Take That boy band star which exilerates in its knowing pop. Contains the career defining songs "Angels" and "Let Me Entertain You". However, the album as a whole doesn't quite match the level of those two hits, and it's the follow up  I've Been Expecting You (1998) which is the more complete and exceptional pop album. 

1998

XX Pulp – This is Hardcore    This is the follow up to 1995's Different Class. It doesn't have the energy and bravado or the songs of that album. Generally respected, it's an admirable and ambitious album of serious songs, but it's fairly dull. If this had been the most recent Pulp album at the time of "Common People" and headlining Glastonbury, the band would have quickly disappeared. If you want a decent second Pulp album, the album before Different Class, His 'N' Hers (1994) is the one to get.  Score: 5 
XX Air – Moon Safari (C4)  Smooth-jazz electronica. A bit limited and boring. The best track is the modest hit single "Sexy Boy".  Score: 3 1/2

XX Lucinda Williams – Car Wheels on a Gravel Road (RS) From the opening notes you know exactly how this album is going to unfold. Predictable and boring country rock. It's been done before and better. Score: 3 1/2 
XX Turbonegro – Apocalypse Dudes   Tongue-in-cheek punky rock band who devised the jokey "deathpunk"  to describe their New York Dolls/Ramones/Terrorvision/The Darkness type mock rock. A bit of fun if at the end of the universe you're run out of decent things to listen to and you're a bit bored, otherwise file under trivial and move on. This is clearly commercial exploitation with a total lack of authenticity. Score: 3 
XX Queens of the Stone Age - Queens of the Stone Age    Stoner rock, apparently. There's so many variations of heavy rock/metal. This feels rather lumpen. I suspect this is music for American teenage boys too shy to have yet lost their virginity. The music is a compensation. I'd rather have the sex.  Score: 2 1/2  
XX Madonna – Ray of Light (RS) (Q) See William Orbit Strange Cargo: III (1993) Score: 5 1/2 
XX Korn – Follow the Leader   Apparently this is the album that launched nu-metal on the public (and I'm not clear on why that is a good thing given the nature of the sound), though the band's debut, Korn (1994),  is the one that fans and critics regard as the more significant. 
XX System of a Down - System of a Down  A nu metal band, though more metal than nu. Less rap than Limp Bizkit, and less crazy than Slipknot, this is almost likeable.  There's a lot going on, which seems to be part of the intention of nu, but there's more variety than with other nu bands of the 90s, so this is more creative and more interesting. But they are edged out by the nu bands of the 2000s such as Linkin Park and Papa Roach.