Inspired by the NME Top 500 – see my earlier blog – I thought I’d have a crack at my Top 50. That’s what they asked all their contributors to put forward. After the top four or five, which are well-established in my mind, it gets so hard. There are hundreds, thousands, of albums that I love. And then, there’s so much music which has been central to my listening that doesn’t really lend itself to whole albums: dance, reggae, rap, electronica, world, even jazz and soul. And then, then, there’s the age bias – it’s impossible not to favour the albums you grow to know and love in that 16-25 period, those formative years.
So, with excuses in place, here’s my Top 50… except I just couldn’t resist expanding it to 100, because of the stuff I was having to leave out of the 50. And then there’s the stuff I had to leave out of the 100… no, that’s for another time. Maybe some decade selections, especially the most recent, which has been just as good and exciting as its predecessors, although it doesn’t show in this 100.
So here goes….
MY TOP 100 ALBUMS OF ALL TIME!
1. Darkness on the Edge of Town – Bruce Springsteen
2. Born To Run – Bruce Springsteen
3. London Calling – The Clash
4. This Year’s Model – Elvis Costello
5. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan – Bob Dylan
6. In Rainbows – Radiohead
7. Station To Station – David Bowie
8. Remain In Light – Talking Heads
9. Physical Graffiti – Led Zeppelin
10. Pink Flag – Wire
11. Kind of Blue – Miles Davis
12. The Joshua Tree – U2
13. Innervisions – Stevie Wonder
14. Mezzanine – Massive Attack
15. Natty Dread – Bob Marley
16. Sign O’ The Times – Prince
17. Another Music In A Different Kitchen – Buzzcocks
18. Down By The Jetty – Dr Feelgood
19. Astral Weeks – Van Morrison
20. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars – David Bowie
21. Aja – Steely Dan
22. The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle – Bruce Springsteen
23. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back – Public Enemy
24. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles
25. The Clash – The Clash
26. Blonde On Blonde – Bob Dylan
27. Marquee Moon – Television
28. Kid A – Radiohead
29. 1969 – Velvet Underground
30. The River – Bruce Springsteen
31. Low – David Bowie
32. Achtung Baby – U2
33. Jailbreak – Thin Lizzy
34. Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
35. Aladdin Sane – David Bowie
36. Blood On The Tracks – Bob Dylan
37. Revolver – The Beatles
38. OK Computer – Radiohead
39. Presence – Led Zeppelin
40. One World – John Martyn
41. For Your Pleasure – Roxy Music
42. Fear Of Music – Talking Heads
43. The Bends – Radiohead
44. The Unforgettable Fire – U2
45. Is This It – The Strokes
46. What’s The Story (Morning Glory) – Oasis
47. Blue – Joni Mitchell
48. Blue Valentines – Tom Waits
49. Road Music – Grand Drive
50. Now Look – Ronnie Wood
51. Get Happy! – Elvis Costello
52. Let England Shake – PJ Harvey
53. Talking Book – Stevie Wonder
54. What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye
55. In A Silent way – Miles Davis
56. Purple Rain – Prince
57. Grand Prix – Teenage Fanclub
58. Caravanserai – Santana
59. Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness – Smashing Pumpkins
60. Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd
61. Sandinista – The Clash
62. Sound Affects – The Jam
63. The Royal Scam – Steely Dan
64. Sinatra Sings For Only The Lonely – Frank Sinatra
65. Room On Fire – The Strokes
66. Bad Company – Bad Company
67. Definitely Maybe – Oasis
68. Never Mind The Bollocks – Sex Pistols
69. King Of Limbs – Radiohead
70. Screamadelica – Primal Scream
71. Youth and Young Manhood – Kings of Leon
72. The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
73. Every Picture Tells A Story – Rod Stewart
74. Trust – Elvis Costello
75. Led Zeppelin IV – Led Zeppelin
76. Bringing It All Back Home – Bob Dylan
77. The Ramones – The Ramones
78. Heat Treatment – Graham Parker and the Rumour
79. Pretzel Logic – Steely Dan
80. Desire – Bob Dylan
81. Exodus – Bob Marley
82. Moondance – Van Morrison
83. Diamond Dogs – David Bowie
84. Protection – Massive Attack
85. Abbey Road – The Beatles
86. New Adventures in Hi Fi – R.E.M
87. Giant Steps – John Coltrane
88. Stranded – Roxy Music
89. Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ – Bruce Springsteen
90. All Mod Cons – The Jam
91. Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite – Maxwell
92. Dead & Born & Grown – The Staves
93. Slayed – Slade
94. Garage Inc – Metallica
95. Countdown To Ecstasy – Steely Dan
96. Led Zeppelin III – Led Zeppelin
97. Fire and Water – Free
98. Almanac – Emily Barker and the Red Clay Halo
99. Cry Tough – Nils Lofgren
100. Rapture – Anita Baker
Pleas feel free to comment, disagree, offer alternatives! There is most certainly no right and wrong. Just memories, feelings, passion…
Thoughtsfromwestfive 
Interesting that you have the Beatles way down the list. Most people would put something by them near the top.
Love ’em, but love other things even more! If I’d put them higher it would have been because I thought I should. Tried to avoid that. Still acknowledge they are the greatest pop band of all time.
I’m glad The Boss is up top on your list. 😉
Always will be!
Of course you would have a top 100!!! “LOL” Great choices, John. I agree with many.
Top 100, top 1000!
Of course, 1000! 🙂
Oh yeah, I find the Joni Mitchell pick just awesome!
Yeah, love “Blue” and “Heijira”, “Hissing of the Summer Lawns”, “Ladies of the Canyon”.
not enough metal
True – but whole albums rarely work for me on the metal front.
I find a lot of lists pretentious and trying to be ‘the’ list. This is a great list John because it’s you. And I’m glad to see John Martyn in here – that doesn’t happen often enough
Thanks! Wouldn’t be much point doing it if it wasn’t genuine, though I know what you mean about pretentious lists. A classic example of this is the refusal of music pundits these days to give any credit to U2. (That of course is an assertion based on my personal preferences!) They have been deemed to be uncool. This appears to me to be mostly a resentment of Bono’s non-music activities and occasionally grandiose statements. If you hear musicians, the view is often very different. They are widely admired.
Exactly!
Hey, John:
I’m sure you realised that I wasn’t going to lie dormant for ever. But things have been a little busy lately, and it’s taken me a while to compile a proper response. (And one a bit longer than “not enough metal” from dc, whoever the hey he is.)
I can’t possibly write a reply in this box, which ,akes your writing go all weird after a few lines, so I’m mailing your hotmail. Suffice to say, though, that this was a fascinating, challenging, and only occasionally deluded selection (take a bow, Bad Company), and I had huge fun analysing it. And, for your eyes only, I do of course have an alternative list…..
Dood
I’ve been waiting!
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Great list, I should try doing this one day. Love the inclusion of Public Enemy, Oasis, Rod Stewart and Sandinista in particular.
The hardest thing is keeping it down to 100! And if I did it now, I’d have to find a place for Lindi Ortega, War on Drugs, Royal Blood, Parquet Courts, Chvrches, the Staves and Sharon van Etten.
What a nice list! 90% of the albums I also like. Not all of them in the top 100, but certainly in the top 1000. And what strikes me as strange, is the total lack among others, of Eric Clapton (and groups) and Dire straits. Oh, and choosing One world, over Solid air and Let England shake over To bring you my love. And where is Boss’s best: The Wild, the innocent and the E street Shuffle? 😉 Thank you for sharing and the time it took you to compile it!
Thanks for your comment, Vassilis. It’s two years since I compiled this list and I can guarantee that it would be a bit different now. But I can assure you there would be no Dire Straits! I find them very dull indeed. I admire Clapton as a guitarist, but I’m not a big fan of his albums. Except 461 Ocean Boulevard, which might make a 200. Bruce’s Wild and Innocent is in there, at No 22. To be honest it’s top ten really, but I didn’t want to have Bruce dominating the top of the list too much.