Right, first things first. Where the hell is James Brown?! As I sat down to analyse the results of our latest poll, it wasn’t simply that inexplicable omission which was making me feel decidedly anxious. In fact, to all you good folk who contributed: you got good taste (although The Cramps – with three collections splitting the vote – also missed the cut). Rather, it was the questions racing round my head which were making me jittery: what actually constitutes a ‘compilation’ album anyway? Why have some people included soundtracks on their lists while others have assiduously avoided them? Most crucially, one question began to niggle at me me more than any other: just how many klassic Kinks kompilations are actually out there? (The answer apparently, is seven)

With our previous polls, the inclusion of compilation albums had only been a mildly divisive issue, as among the majority of contributors there seemed to exist an unwritten code that selecting them was off limits. A few people voted for them, but it didn’t really matter. That is until now (would anyone have really noticed the trifling anomaly of The Clientele’s Suburban Light making an appearance in two polls – this time round as a compilation – without me pointing it out? Dang!)

So, the compilation album: some lovingly curated by obsessives; some thrown together randomly to become perfect accidents; label samplers; genre samplers; greatest hits packages; collections of rarities and out-takes; artist retrospectives; box sets and anthologies; mail order cassettes. They come in all shapes and sizes and most of us either love them or hate them. For many of us they may have played a pivotal role in introducing us to a band or a particular genre of music. For me a cassette of Can’s Opener was a revelation in my musical education, handed to me by a TNPC colleague and spun faithfully on those wheels until it tangled itself forever inside the machine. But by that point I’d bought most of the studio albums on vinyl. I am sure most of our contributors and readers could point to similar formative experiences.

Another reason compilation albums are important is that they ensure some genres of music (folk, reggae, R&B, soul, garage punk in particular) are adequately represented when it comes to celebrating the great and the good. Some of us are albums geeks – the LP is our bread and butter – but how much our lives have been enriched by hearing an old rocksteady tune – probably recorded on the singer’s one visit to a Kingston studio shack, singing her heart out for her three glorious minutes of fame – played on a scratchy slab of lumpy vinyl. And how much heritage and history would have been lost to us without the efforts of Harry Smith? Or even the good folks – with their exceptional taste – at Soul Jazz.

We made a late decision to disqualify Original Soundtrack albums (American Graffiti, Wattstax, The Harder They Come etc) from inclusion in the final poll. Most people omitted them in any case, and there was a certain degree of confusion regarding their eligibility. Apologies to anyone who voted for them. You shall have an opportunity to rectify that in a future TNPC venture.

What we are left with are 100 albums celebrating everything that is great about popular music. Despite my anxiety, of all the polls we’ve done, this may well be the one we are happiest with. We hope you’ll like it too. (JJ)

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Part One: Various Artists Collections

50. Pebbles Volume 3: ‘The Acid Gallery’ (BFD, 1979)

49. It’s Different For Domeheads (Creation, 1985)

48. Goodbye Babylon (Dust-to-Digital, 2003)

47. Club Ska ‘67 (WIRL, 1967)

46. Bumpers (Island, 1970)

45. Ultra Lounge 2: Mambo Fever (EMI, 1996)

44. The Psychedelic Snarl (Bam-Caruso, 1984)

43. (Thanks to Rough Trade for) A Constant Source Of Interruption (Rough Trade, 1990)

42. 20 Mod Classics (Tamla Motown, 1979)

41. This are Two-Tone (Two-Tone, 1983)

40. The In Crowd: The Story Of Northern Soul (Castle, 2001)

39. Pebbles Volume 1 (BFD, 1979)

38. Country Got Soul Volume 1 (Casual, 2003)

37. Tougher Than Tough: The Story of Jamaican Music (Mango, 1993)

36. Time To Go: The Southern Psychedelic Moment 1981-86 (Flying Nun)

35. Take Me To The River: A Southern Soul Story 1961-77 (Kent, 2008)

34. Perfect Unpop: Peel Show Hits & Long-Lost Lo-Fi Favourites Volume 1 1976-80 (Cherry Red, 2008)

33. The Look Of Love: The Burt Bacharach Collection (Rhino, 2008)

32. Wanna Buy A Bridge? (A Rough Trade Compilation of Singles) (Rough Trade, 1980)

31. This Is Soul (Atlantic, 1968)

30. Doing It For The Kids (Creation, 1988)

29. Disco Not Disco: Leftfield Dance Classics From The New York Underground (Strut, 2000)

28. Deutsch Elektronische Musik: Experimental German Rock & Electronic Musik 1972-83 (Soul Jazz, 2010)

27. Lee Scratch Perry: Arkology (Island Jamaica, 1997)

26. Tighten Up Volume 2 (Trojan, 1969)

25. On The Soul Side: Sixteen Soul Grooves (Kent, 1983)

24. Gather In The Mushrooms: The British Acid Folk Underground 1968-74 (Castle, 2004)

23. Bob Stanley & Pete Wiggs present English Weather (Ace, 2017)

21. The Pebbles Box (Hit / Ubik, 1987)

20. Another Saturday Night (Oval, 1973)

19. A Christmas Gift For You from Philles Records (Philles Records, 1963)

18. The Sound Gallery Volume One (EMI, 1995)

17. For Dancers Only (Kent, 1982)

16. The Rock Machine Turns You On (CBS, 1968)

15. Mutant Disco: A Subtle Discolation Of The Norm (Ze, 2003)

14. If Deejay Was Your Trade: The Dreads At King Tubbys 1974-77 (Blood & Fire, 1994)

13. Fast Product: The First Year Plan (Fast, 1979)

12. Get Primitive: The Best Of Pebbles (Ubik, 1986)

11. 100% Dynamite (Soul Jazz, 1998)

10. I’m Your Fan – The Songs Of Leonard Cohen (Atlantic, 1991)

9. Dave Godin’s Deep Soul Treasures: Taken From The Vaults Volume 1 (Kent Soul, 1997)

8. C81 (NME / Rough Trade, 1981)

7. Back To Mono (1958-69) (ABKCO, 1991)

6. New Wave (Vertigo, 1977)

5. C86 (NME / Rough Trade, 1986)

4. Pillows and Prayers (Cherry Red, 1982)

3. Anthology of American Folk Music (Smithsonian Folkways, 1997)

2. Motown Chartbusters Volume 3 (Tamla Motown, 1969)

1. Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1965-68 (Elektra, 1972)

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Part Two: Artist Collections

50. Transparent Day – The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band (Edsel, 1986)

49. Floored Genius: The Best of Julian Cole & The Teardrop Explodes 1979-91 (Island, 1992)

48. Ten Bloody Marys & Ten How’s Your Fathers – Elvis Costello & The Attractions (F-Beat, 1980)

47. The Great Twenty-Eight – Chuck Berry ( Chess, 1982)

46. Future Crayon – Broadcast (Warp, 2006)

45. Greatest Hits – Diana Ross & The Supremes (Tamla Motown, 1967)

44. The Very Best of The Byrds (Columbia, 1997)

43. 1 – The Beatles (Apple, 2000)

42. Bauhaus: 1979-1983 – Bauhaus (Beggars Banquet, 1985)

41. The World of Arthur Russell (Soul Jazz, 2004)

40. Discography: The Complete Singles Collection – Pet Shop Boys (Parlophone, 1991)

39. Terminal Tower: An Archival Collection – Pere Ubu (Rough Trade, 1985)

38. The Sun Sessions – Elvis Presley (RCA, 1976)

37. Golden Hour of The Kinks (Golden Hour, 1971)

36. Louder Than Bombs – The Smiths (Rough Trade, 1987)

35. Big Hits (High Tide & Green Grass) – The Rolling Stones (Decca, 1966)

34. Still – Joy Division (Factory, 1981)

33. 40 Greatest Hits – Hank Williams (Mercury, 1978)

32. Suburban Light – The Clientele (Pointy, 2000)

31. Bolan Boogie – T.Rex (Fly, 1972)

30. Substance – New Order (Factory, 1987)

29. Hit Singles – The Kinks (PRT, 1987)

28. Big Sixteen- The Impressions (ABC, 1965)

27. Chronicle: The 20 Greatest Hits – Creedence Clearwater Revival (Fantasy, 1976)

26. Greatest Hits – Four Tops ((Tamla Motown, 1967)

25. Snap! – The Jam (Polydor, 1983)

24. Kaleidoscope World- The Chills (Flying Nun, 1986)

23. Songs To Learn & Sing – Echo & The Bunnymen (Korova, 1985)

22. The Glasgow School – Orange Juice (Domino, 2005)

21. Cannibalism – Can (United Artists, 1979)

20. The Kink Kronikles – The Kinks (Reprise / US, 1972)

19. The Ultimate Action – The Action (Edsel, 1980)

18. Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy – The Who (Track, 1971)

17. 20 Golden Greats – The Beach Boys (Capitol, 1976)

16. Rolled Gold: The Very Best of The Rolling Stones (Decca, 1975)

15. Fire Escape In The Sky: The Godlike Genius Of Scott Walker (Zoo, 1981)

14. Andy Warhol’s Velvet Underground featuring Nico – The Velvet Underground (MGM, 1971)

13. ChangesOneBowie – David Bowie (RCA Victor, 1976)

12. Relics – Pink Floyd (Starline, 1971)

11. Greatest Hits – Sly & The Family Stone (Epic, 1970)

10. Greatest Hits – Al Green (Hi, 1975)

9. The Original Singles 1965-67 Volume 1- The Byrds (CBS, 1980)

8. Boy Child: The Best of… 1967-70 – Scott Walker (Fontana, 1980)

7. Greatest Hits / The Best of… – Leonard Cohen (CBS, 1975)

6. 1962-1966 – The Beatles (Apple, 1973)

5. VU – The Velvet Underground (Verve, 1985)

4. 1967-1970 – The Beatles (Apple, 1973)

3. Hatful Of Hollow – The Smiths (Rough Trade, 1984)

2. Decade – Neil Young (Reprise, 1976)

1. Singles: Going Steady – Buzzcocks (United Artists, 1979)

Contributors:

Andy (Birmingham 81), David N Atkinson, Marc Baines, Billy Bell, Matthew Berry, Darren Betts, Caroline Binnie, Andy Blamey, Andy Bolton, Lloyd Bolton, Stephen Boyd, Johnny Browning, Rob Chapman, Ben Cook, Stuart Cosgrove, Bob Cveticham, Laura Lee Davies, Steve Davies, Michael Deane, Jon Dennis, Mick Derrick, Andrew Divine, Philip Downer, David Everall, Peter Ferguson, Jim Ferry, Paul Gallagher, Stephen Gallagher, Ben Graham, Robert Hodgens, James Hornsey (The Clientele), Jim Howie, Maartje Jansma, Johnnie Johnstone, Harris King, Jim Lambie, Peter Latimer, Huw M, Leon Massey, Stephen Mcauley, Jim McCulloch, Raymond McGinlay, Grant McPhee, Felonious Monk, Jason Myles, Richard Oxley, Nick Portnell, Johnny Purcell, Mark Raison, Ian Rankin, Seamus Reilly, Steve Rhodes, Chris Roberts, Martin Ruddock, Keith Shackleton, David Sharp, Simon Shaw, Jonathan Small, Jason Spence, Iain Stansfield, Terry Tochel, Joan Valdes, Judah Warsky, Helen Whiteley-McPhee, Dominic Whittingham

One Vote Wonders

Here are 100 of the more curious nominations – each received only one vote.

IF’N – FIREHOSE (1987)

“Utter fizzle” was the sniffy dismissal of If’n which appeared in the 1992 edition of the Rolling Stone Record Guide, with a rating of one and a half stars out of five appended. It mainly referred to the sound of the record and, ok, its production is of a plain, brown paper bag variety but, at a time when what were purportedly drums were actually often the sound of doors being slammed, its understatement verged on a political declaration and was the only way fIREHOSE could have sounded without ceasing to be fIREHOSE.

It’s also the sound of a band taking its own shape but, of course, this comes with a vast caveat – if things were as they should be, fIREHOSE would not have existed at all. They came into being in the wake of the fearfully abrupt end of the Minutemen, when Dennes ‘D’ Boon, their guitarist, singer and torrential political conscience, died in a road accident. Everyone seeks to cope with bereavement in their own way; in music, bands who irrevocably lose key members have the – equally entirely valid – options of ceasing or continuing. Led Zeppelin and Nirvana chose the former; Joy Division/New Order, the Who and AC/DC decided on the latter.

The remaining Minutemen ultimately carried on but not as the Minutemen and D Boon’s colleagues required some persuading. Bassist Mike Watt and drummer George Hurley had lost a bandmate, a friend, a kindred spirit like few others; D Boon was irreplacable and, even after fIREHOSE were established as a captivating band and pyrotechnic live act, no one ever claimed otherwise. Just as Joy Division and New Order have always been rightly seen as different bands, the Minutemen and fIREHOSE had, inevitably, significant elements in common but Ed ‘FromOhio’ Crawford in no way resembled D Boon; as a performer and lyricist, he didn’t share his predecessor’s explicit political ire but anything resembling a direct imitation would have been not only pointless and contrived but in questionable taste – a charge which could never be levelled at either the Minutemen or fIREHOSE.

With the likes of Double Nickels On The Dime and Three Way Tie For Last in contention, there’s a strong likelihood we’ll return to the Minutemen (for now, their story is comprehensively covered in their chapter in Michael Azarrad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life – the title copped from Minutemen song History Lesson Part II – and in Tim Irwin’s definitive band documentary We Jam Econo.)

If’n’s title derives, depending on who you believe, from an arresting turn of phrase in the opening verse of Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right or from a hippy pastiche sung by Samantha in a 1968 episode of Bewitched; the former is the story told at the time of release and is the one my money’s on (either way, a song with the same title showed up on 1989’s fROMOHIO). It may be stoury in its presentation and production but this links to the philosophy which gave Irwin’s film its title. And in any case, like every Minutemen album – and fIREHOSE’s debut, Ragin’ Full On – it combusts with ideas, the notion of limitations to a guitar-bass-drums trio scrunched up and tossed in the bin like so many empty crisp packets. The limitations, naturally, are imposed not by the instruments themselves but by the minds and ambition of those who brandish them.

Take Anger, side one’s closer and a joint composition between Watt and his then partner, Kira. It does a fine job of imitating the eponymous emotion – ebbing, flowing, simmering and unleashing – but is all the more potent for never quite reaching an outright eruption. It’s a particular showcase for Hurley as a Terpsichore of the traps – a bit like the unwavering focus on Nick Mason during One Of These Days in Pink Floyd at Pompeii – but overall, the Minutemen’s legendary tightness didn’t slacken one degree in fIREHOSE. It wouldn’t have been demanded by the hardcore crowds both bands were often in front of – let’s face it, it would have sent quite a few less than open minds scurrying – but it was what set them apart. It came over less as the product of musicians rehearsed to destruction than, as some have observed, intuitive, jazz-oriented performers taking leaps together like synchronised divers.

It’s there again on Honey, Please, a straightforward enough title which gives little indication of the lyrical pandemonium Watt unleashes: “Meter reading, facts a-feeding/ Got a place in book o’ mason/ ‘Pert near hahd koa, almoat nearly more/I’m embarassed for showing you the other door.” Later, “Watch the watching men watching Washington” is a reminder that, however improbable things may have got in the District of Columbia over the past couple of years, it’s not actually all that far removed from certain past eras, and that fIREHOSE were still well disposed to flinging the odd political ball bearing. All to the fingerest, snappingest rhythm and a guest appearance from the most Jerry Lee of pianos.

Watt’s penchant for holding both rock music and the English language in painless halfnelsons recurs throughout If’n’. Try Making The Freeway, which hitches fIREHOSE’s distillation of funk – James Brown mashed in Gang of Four and fermented in Bad Brains – to hip-hop’s by then Mach speed juggernaut. Watt’s rhyming follows the Rapper’s Delight meter, which, in the face of advancements by Public Enemy and Rakim, was already becoming outmoded and can now sound somewhat quaint even on pioneering rap records, but how about the lines he volleys out: “Pounds, let’s say pounds is the weight of the town/Coming down all around, grinding me into round/Like the noun that’s found when you’re looking straight down/A handgun barrel firing off a round, yo!” This is bleak stuff – repression, drudgery, threat, fear – yet Watt’s delivery has a timbre of wit and swagger offsetting, but never disguising, the grimness.

Little grim, though, about Me And You Remembering. A year before Watt’s literally phoned-in appearance on Sonic Youth’s Providence, he recounts a conversation with Thurston “You” Moore about (sorry, ’bout) Richard ‘Dick’ Hell, repeatedly entreating his illustrious pal”‘member?” before it somehow reaches the sudden punchline of “You and me singing songs ’bout…Madonna!” while the not too material boys’ chattering funk and Watt’s gruffly droll delivery place it at the exact midpoint between a hip-hop skit and a Tom Waits monologue. He veers into Marlowe/Mike Hammer gumshoe territory on Operation Solitaire, a curious, twilit study of solitude written by Minutemen associates Dirk Vandenberg and John Rocknowski, where instrumentation which would dissolve if it became more muted gives way halfway through to the gentlest feedback you’ll ever hear. The meaning of “men’s machines wake ma” is pretty ambiguous – perhaps just as well – but “Showers of morning rinse away nightmares” has a good deal more unfortunate clarity. And you’d be hard put to find a couplet which evokes the gulf between the have and have not, the ostentatious and the ordinary, the getting on and the getting by more eloquently than: “Some lives cause some to stare/Others try to win operation solitaire.” Not the only game in town but how often must it seem like it for many.

The variety and the plethora of forms that fIREHOSE hewed from a traditional palette while recording If’n (over a total of 85 hours, according to the characteristically detailed sleevenotes) is even more apparent with Crawford and Hurley’s contributions. The latter raises the curtain with the album’s single, Sometimes, which is concocted from a reliably momma-used-to-make recipe – the slightest tweak to the venerable Gloria riff, a slender twist to the time-honoured tale of going on tour (“Now I’m up and on my way/Rolling night and day/Highway’s been calling my name” but also “You know sometimes, almost always/ I remain”) but Hurley’s drums, drilled to Marine standard, smuggle in an extra ingredient of a lurching rollercoaster around the toms which turns on a farthing and gives way in the chorus to the kind of tightly pinched military tattoo that general’s son Chris Frantz brought now and again to Talking Heads (Tentative Decisions, Thank You For Sending Me An Angel and, most famously, Road To Nowhere).

He has a couple more showcases before the day is done. Closer Thunder Child could legitimately be called fIREHOSE’s Toad, their Moby Dick – I’m afraid so, it’s mainly a drum solo – but, at 100 seconds of a four and a half minute songs, it’s concise as these things go and its jazz-wristed dexterity at least as close to Blakey and Krupa as Bonham and Baker, possibly closer. After all, few rock rhythm sections have ever swung like Hurley and Watt and if an economical drum solo seems like an oxymoron, it harks back, of course, to that Minutemen maxim once more. Then he contributes Backroads, a sleepy stroll which could have slipped drowsily from the pen of JJ Cale – an unlikely influence, it might seem, but, again, it carries on from the Minutemen’s variegated palette of covers; while they reinterpreted the Meat Puppets and Roky Erickson, they did the same with Van Halen and Blue Oyster Cult, not to mention Creedence; an autograph from John Fogerty to Crawford adorned the label of Ifn’s side two.

Back with Mr FromOhio, he has the loud-quiet dynamic going, firstly loud on Soon, which revolves on a recurring volcanic harmony of power chords and tom-tom detonations; the resulting thud resembles one huge rock smashed downwards on to another and Crawford’s breathless strumming in between resembles the water spring it uncovers. All of which makes it completely worthy of joining in the Namesake Series alongside the carnival of sweet noise that My Bloody Valentine unleashed a couple of years later. Then quiet on In Memory Of Elizabeth Cotton (sic), an unexpected but heartfelt eulogy for folk singer Elizabeth Cotten, who died at the age of 94 a couple of months before If’n was recorded. Crawford is sincere in his homage, admitting “I couldn’t shed a tear, I never knew you well” but, as so often happens, goes back to the music of the departed: “I am listening and it makes me grin.” When Phranc takes the notes high on a chorus which explicitly nods to Freight Train, Cotten’s best known song, it’s almost certainly the most beautiful moment ever to have appeared under the SST banner.

And so For The Singer Of REM. Possibly If’n’s most conventional song, certainly one of its strongest and probably its most discussed by virtue of its title alone, which continued a Minutemen tradition of songs – Under The Influence Of The Meat Puppets, Bob Dylan Wrote Protest Songs, Political Song For Michael Jackson To Sing – which were neither ostentatious namedrop nor unctuous homage but simply a door to another room in their house of a hundred possibilities. Once the title was chosen, the question: “so what does Michael Stipe think of it?” would be asked as surely as Justin Vernon will be asked about wintering in a log cabin. It’s not all that clear how he reacted but Watt is quoted as saying the Minutemen had heard of, but not heard, REM when the invitation came to tour with them and, while flattered, couldn’t fathom what Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe saw in them. He then proceeded to tell a lengthy and extremely odd yarn about Stipe offering him treatment for burns sustained from an exploding Volkswagen and following it up with a, seemingly unfulfilled, offer to collaborate on songwriting. But Watt came up with this song for starters and while it’s something of a mystery how all this translates into “First you dream next you’re scheming, searching through your drawer/For an oar for your trip bound for a yet uncharted shore,” the song’s locomotive pace, teeter-totter melody and battle to disentangle itself before verses make it fit to pull up a seat alongside REM’s finest moments. Some saw it as a dig; it isn’t but it’s also not so much pastiche as a proud and visceral wink of kinship. And, as we learn from We Jam Econo and Our Band…, REM were, not for the first or last time, adamant on their choice of support; the last of these gigs turned out to be the Minutemen’s last, ending with both bands together covering Television’s See No Evil.

And so that’s If’n, fIREHOSE’ “second wailer” as billed on the back cover. It’s a dripping roast of invention, gusto and, if I might be so bold, fun. That fun multiplied deliriously when they were caught live; the first time I did so, they were supporting Sonic Youth at Glasgow Rooftops (see Sister, review no 18). As well as filling us in on the highpoints of their formidable debut, Ragin’ Full On, they expressed undisguised glee at visiting Alex Harvey’s home city and the headliners were required to be on Olympic form to avoid being blown offstage; they achieved it on this occasion, though they fell short when supported by Teenage Fanclub at the Barrowlands three years later.

The return visit by fIREHOSE, though, at Glasgow Tech in 1989, gave even more reason for their namesake apparatus to be deployed. For the Singer of REM singed; Operation Solitaire smoked; a cover of Public Enemy’s Sophisticated Bitch scalded. Watt sealed it all as he clasped his fists together and declared: “Glasgow – San Pedro – it’s a BOND!” He may have said that to all the towns but his sincerity ran through everything like a solo, not on his bass but his thunder broom.

That bond had been cemented earlier in the day, during a signing session at the long-vanished Rat Records in Buchanan Street; my request to have my Husker Du album signed (confusingly, fIREHOSE placed a picture of their mighty peers on the cover of If’n; fast imploding at the time of release, gone forever by the time of autographing) resulted in ‘Ed FromOhio’ being scrawled on the front and “Beads are now missing: Mike Watt” on the back. He’d circled the picture of himself, bass slightly askew, with a set of blue beads around his neck plotting an escape route which, he told me, they would soon find after one agitated flight too many. Truly, this man was a future Stooge (oddly, the picture of Hurley shows him similarly in the thick of performance and wearing identical-looking beads with a similar urge for freedom).

Perhaps even more than the Minutemen, fIREHOSE were a new kind of power trio, relying less on brute force and (apologies for the first and last time to Def Leppard) bludgeon riffola than on agility and fleet-footedness – but still capable of sticking it about when required. If Cream were a heavyweight boxing champion then fIREHOSE were a seventh dan in judo, casting up flicks and throws when least expected and ever alert to pounce. Fizzing? Definitely. Fizzle? Not a chance (PG).

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Bubbling Under: 101-200

101. ‘Oh Yeah’ – Can

102. ‘Dirt’ – The Stooges

103. ‘It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)’ – Bob Dylan

104. ‘This Corrosion’ – Sisters Of Mercy

105. ‘Private Psychedelic Reel’ – The Chemical Brothers

106. ‘Leave Them All Behind’ – Ride

107. ‘A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld – The Orb

108. ‘Fools Gold’ – The Stone Roses

109. ‘Perfect Kiss’ – New Order

110. ‘The Donor’ – Judee Sill

111. ‘Slow Life’ – Super Furry Animals

112. ‘Sea Breezes’ – Roxy Music

113. ‘I Dream A Highway’ – Gillian Welch

114. ‘Dark Star’ (Live) – The Grateful Dead

115. ‘Court Of The Crimson King’ – King Crimson

116. ‘Don’t Worry, If There’s A Hell Below, We’re All Gonna Go’ – Curtis Mayfield

117. ‘Higher Than The Sun (A Dub Symphony In Two Parts) – Primal Scream

118. ‘Metronomic Underground’ – Stereolab

119. ‘Rain Song’ – Led Zeppelin

120. ‘My Favorite Things’ – John Coltrane

121. ‘Djed’ – Tortoise

122. ‘Summertime In England’ – Van Morrison

123. ‘Deacon Blues’ – Steely Dan

124. ‘Got To Give It Up’ (Pts 1&2) – Marvin Gaye

125. ‘A Sailor’s Life’ – Fairport Convention

126. ‘I Believe’ – The Buzzcocks

127. ‘Safe Surfer’ – Julian Cope

128. ‘Thick As A Brick’ – Jethro Tull

129. ‘The Width Of A Circle’ – David Bowie

130. ‘Listen To The Lion’ – Van Morrison

131. ‘Love To Love You Baby’ – Donna Summer

132. ‘Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymystic’ – Isaac Hayes

133. ‘You Doo Right’ – Can

134. ‘Tam Lin’ – Fairport Convention

135. ‘Chasing A Bee’ – Mercury Rev

136. ‘Kashmir’ – Led Zeppelin

137. ‘Refractions In The Plastic Pulse’ – Stereolab

138. ‘Murder Most Foul’ – Bob Dylan

139. ‘Free Your Mind…and Your Ass Will Follow’ – Funkadelic

140. ‘Willie The Pimp’ – Frank Zappa

141. ‘No.1 Song In Heaven’ – Sparks

142. ‘Scum’ – Bark Psychosis

143. ‘I Trawl The Megahertz’ – Prefab Sprout

144. ‘It’s A Rainy Day Sunshine Girl’ – Faust

145. ‘Expressway To Your Skull’ – Sonic Youth

146. ‘Listen, The Snow Is Falling’ – Galaxie 500

147. ‘Protection’ – Massive Attack

148. ‘Higgs Boson Blues’ – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

149. ‘I Walk On Gilded Splinters’ – Dr. John

150. ‘Let It Happen’ – Tame Impala

151. ‘Father Cannot Yell’ – Can

152. ‘By The Time I Get To Phoenix’ – Isaac Hayes

153. ‘You Going Miss Your Candyman’ – Terry Callier

154. ‘The Osmonds’ – Denim

155. ‘Take Me’ – The Wedding Present

156. ‘Lily, Rosemary & The Jack Of Hearts’ – Bob Dylan

157. ‘Hip Priest’ – The Fall

158. ‘Moon In June’ – Soft Machine

159. ‘Ballerina’ – Van Morrison

160. ‘Dead Flag Blues’ – Godspeed! You Black Emperor

161. ‘The Payback’ – James Brown

162. ‘Space Is The Place’ – Sun Ra

163. ‘This Is Just A Modern Rock Song’ – Belle & Sebastian

164. ‘All Blues’ – Miles Davis

165. ‘Faith Healer’ – The Sensational Alex Harvey Band

166. ‘No Bulbs’ – The Fall

167. ‘Water Get No Enemy’ – Fela Kuti

168. ‘Memory Of A Free Festival’ – David Bowie

169. ‘Cypress Avenue’ – Van Morrison

170. ‘Hero’ – Neu!

171.’La Ritournelle’ – Sebastian Tellier

172. ‘Be Thankful For What You Got’ – William deVaughn

173. ‘Yours Is No Disgrace’ – Yes

174. ‘When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease’ – Roy Harper

175. ‘La Femme d’Argent’ – Air

176. ‘Pass The Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind’ – Yo La Tengo

177. ‘Babe I’m On Fire’ – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

178. ‘Frittering’ – Mercury Rev

179. ‘Disco Devil’ – Lee Perry

180. ‘The Bogus Man’ – Roxy Music

181. ‘svefn g englar’ – Sigur Ros

182. ‘Starless’ – King Crimson

183. ‘Three Days’ – Jane’s Addiction

184. ‘Blindness’ – The Fall

185. ‘This Train’ – Bunny Wailer

186. Run Christian Run’ – Super Furry Animsls

187. ‘One Sunday Morning (Song For Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend)’ – Wilco

188. ‘Riding On The Equator’ – Felt

189. ‘He’s Simple, He’s Dumb, He’s The Pilot’ – Grandaddy

190. ‘The Diamond Sea’ – Sonic Youth

191. ‘Revolution 9’ – The Beatles

192. ‘Sea Within A Sea’ – The Horrors

193. ‘Never Never Gonna Give You Up’ – Barry White

194. ‘Paid In Full’ – Eric B & Rakim

195. ‘Man-erg’ – Van Der Graaf Generator

196. The Creator Has A Master Plan – Pharoah Sanders

197. ‘Death Of A Ladies’ Man’ – Leonard Cohen

198. ‘Right Off’ – Miles Davis

199. ‘Melting Pot’ – Booker T & the MGs

200. ‘Bel Air’ – Can

Long But Not Forgotten…

For many of you, this has been the most enjoyable part of our polls – particularly for the more adventurous listener, and this is a list of wonderful curios which were nominated for inclusion but didn’t quite make the Top 200. Enjoy!

‘Love Is Peace’ – Amon Düül (from Paradieswärts Düül LP, 1970)

‘Stone In Focus’ – Aphex Twin (from Selected Ambient Works Vol 2 LP, 1994)

‘Amboss’ – Ash Ra Tempel (from Ash Ra Tempel LP, 1971)

‘Quick Canal’ – Atlas Sound featuring Laetitia Sadier (from Logos LP, 2009)

‘Rhapsody In Druz’ – Robbie Basho (from Zarthus LP, 1974)

‘The Breaks’ – Kurtis Blow (from Kurtis Blow LP, 1980)

‘Happy Cycling’ – Boards Of Canada (from US release of Music Has The Right To Children LP, 1996)

‘Let’s Start The Dance’ – Hamilton Bohannon (12″ single, 1978)

‘Folk Song’ – Bongwater (from The Power Of Pussy LP, 1990)

‘In A Mist’ – Duncan Browne (from Duncan Browne LP, 1973)

‘Funky Drummer’ (long version) – James Brown (from In The Jungle Groove LP, 1986)

‘Fire Eater’ – Rusty Bryant (from Fire Eater LP, 1971)

‘Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet’ – Gavin Bryars (from Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet LP, 1993)

‘The Crown’ – Gary Byrd & the GB Experience (12″ single, 1983)

‘Ides Of March’ – John Cale & Terry Riley (from Church Of Anthrax LP, 1971)

‘Kandy Korn’ – Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band (from Mirror Man LP, 1971)

‘Time Has Come Today’ – The Chambers Brothers (from The Time Has Come LP, 1967)

‘It’s Broken!’ – Bob Chance (from It’s Broken LP, 1980)

‘Forest & The Shore’ – Keith Christmas (from Pigmy LP, 1971)

‘Ritz’ – Cockney Rebel (from Psychomodo LP, 1974)

‘Here In The Year’ – Cold Sun (from Dark Shadows LP, 1989)

‘Peace’ – Ornette Coleman (from The Shape Of Jazz To Come LP, 1959)

‘Something About John Coltrane’ – Alice Coltrane (from Journey Into Satchidananda LP, 1971)

‘The Side of Man & Womankind’ – Tony Conrad & Faust (from Outside The Dream Syndicate LP, 1973)

‘Saddle Tramp’ – Charlie Daniels Band (from Saddle Tramp LP, 1976)

‘Gondwana Pts 1 & 2’ – Miles Davis (from Pangea LP, 1975)

‘Outside’ – Dead C (from The White House LP, 1995)

‘Out To Lunch’ – Eric Dolphy (from Out To Lunch LP, 1964)

‘Season Of The Witch’ – Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity (from Open LP, 1967)

‘Silence’ – The Durutti Column (from Without Mercy LP, 1984)

‘Lost In The Cold Sun’ – Earthless (from Sonic Prayer LP, 2005)

‘The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party’ – John Fahey (from The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party & Other Excursions LP, 1966)

‘Panther Phobia: Manifesto!’ – Tav Falco’s Panther Burns (from Panther Phobia LP, 2000)

‘The Stagnant Pool’ – Felt (from The Splendour Of Fear LP, 1984)

‘Supper’s Ready’ – Genesis (from Foxtrot LP, 1972)

‘Timeless: Inner City Life’ – Goldie (from Timeless LP, 1995)

‘I Didn’t Know’ – Al Green (from Al Green Is Love LP, 1975)

‘Sun In Your Eyes’ – Grizzly Bear (from Shields LP, 2012)

‘Chameleon’ – Herbie Hancock (from Headhunters LP, 1973)

‘Sehr Kosmisch’ – Harmonia (from Musik Von Harmonia LP, 1974)

‘You Shouldn’t Do That’ – Hawkwind (from In Search Of Space LP, 1971)

‘Living In The Heart Of The Beast’ – Henry Cow (from In Praise of Learning LP, 1975)

‘Cropduster’ – High Llamas (from Checking In Checking Out  EP, 1995)

‘Boy In The Moon’ – Julia Holter (from Ekstasis LP, 2012)

‘Morale…You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling’ – The Human League (from Reproduction LP, 1979)

‘Reoccurring Dreams’ – Hüsker Dü (from Zen Arcade LP, 1984)

‘Trieulogy’ – Kak (from Kak LP, 1969)

‘Cemalim’ – Erkin Koray (from Elektronik Türküler LP, 1974)

‘Somehow The Wonder Of Life Prevails’ – Mark Kozelek & Jimmy LaValle (from Perils From The Sea LP, 2013)

‘Time’ – La Düsseldorf (from La Düsseldorf LP, 1976)

‘Rainy Day Bergen Women’ – Jackie Leven (from Creatures Of Light & Darkness LP, 2000)

‘Amazing Grace’ – Low (from Trust LP, 2002)

‘What Went Wrong’ – Grant McLennan (from Horsebreaker Star LP, 1994)

‘Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)’ – Melanie with the Edwin Hawkins Singers (from Candles In The Rain LP, 1970)

‘Pithecanthropus Erectus’ – Charles Mingus (from Pithecanthropus Erectus LP, 1956)

‘Only Skin’ – Joanna Newsom (from Ys LP, 2006)

‘Confessions of 349-18-5171’ – Ken Nordine (from Word Jazz Vol. 2 LP, 1960)

‘A New Dress’ – Nurse With Wound (from Automating Vol 2 LP, 1989)

‘Atomic Bomb’ – William Onyeabor (from Atomic Bomb LP, 1978)

‘Planet Of The Shapes’ – Orbital (from Orbital 2 LP, 1993)

‘War On The Bullshit’ – Osiris (from War On The Bullshit LP, 1986)

‘Vibrate Onn’ – Augustus Pablo Meets The Upsetter (single, 1977)

‘Jack Orion’ – Pentangle (from Cruel Sister LP, 1970)

‘Hundred Syllable Mantra’ – Phurpha (from Gyer Ro LP, 2017)

‘Acid Tracks’ – Phuture (12″ single, 1987)

‘Otče’ – Agon Orchestra & The Plastic People Of The Universe (from Pašijové hry Velikonoční LP, 1978)

‘Flex’ – Prolapse (from backsaturday LP, 1995)

‘Who Do You Love (Suite)’ – Quicksilver Messenger Service (from Happy Trails LP, 1969)

‘Katy Song’ – Red House Painters (from Red House Painters LP, 1993)

‘Poppy Nogood & The Phantom Band’ – Terry Riley (from A Rainbow In Curved Air LP, 1969)

Da

‘Strings Of Life’ – Rhythim Is Rhythim (12″ single, 1987)

‘Faith’ – Paul St. Hilaire & René Löwe (from Faith LP, 2003)

‘Ask Me No Questions’ – Bridget St. John (from Ask Me No Questions LP, 1969)

‘Upper Egypt & Lower Egypt’ – Pharoah Sanders (from Tauhid LP, 1966)

‘Inspiration’ – Section 25 (from From The Hip LP, 1984)

‘Up In Her Room’ – The Seeds (from A Web Of Sound LP, 1967)

‘Measuring Loneliness’ – Shizuka (from Planning For Loneliness LP, 1994)

‘A Meditation Mass’ – Yatha Sidhra (from A Meditation Mass LP, 1974)

‘Se Lest’ – Sigur Ros (from Takk LP, 1995)

‘This Fear Of Gods’ – Simple Minds (from Emires & Dance LP, 1980)

‘Illegal Bodies’ – Simply Saucer (from Cyborgs Revisited LP, 1989)

‘Khidr & The Fountain’ – Six Organs Of Admittance (from Dark Noontide LP, 2002)

‘Dopesmoker’ – Sleep (from Dopesmoker LP, 2003)

‘Man Next Door’ – The Slits (from Cut LP, 1979)

‘Patchwork’ – Laurie Spiegel (from The Expanding Universe LP, 1980)

‘Vito’s Ordination Song’ – Sufjan Stevens (from Michigan LP, 2003)

‘Atlantis’ – Sun Ra Arkestra (from Atlantis LP, 1969)

‘In An Autumn Garden’ – Toru Takemistsu (from In An Autumn Garden LP, 1973)

‘Journey Through A Burning Brain’ – Tangerine Dream (from Electronic Meditation LP, 1970)

‘Closer To God’ – Television Personalities (from Closer To God LP, 1992)

‘White Punks On Dope’ – The Tubes (from What Do You Want From Live LP, 1978)

‘Hi-Tech Jazz’ – Galaxy 2 Galaxy / Underground Resistance (12″ single, 1993)

‘Barely Breaking Even’ – Universal Robot Band (12″ single, 1982)

‘Melody Laughter’ – The Velvet Underground (from Peel Slowly & See Box Set, 1995)

‘The View From Her Room’ – Weekend (12″ single, 1982)

‘The Visitation’ – White Noise (from An Electric Storm LP, 1969)

‘Youth Of America’ – Wipers (from Youth Of America LP, 1981)

‘Harpooned’ – Wire (from Wire LP, 2015)

‘Volga Delta’ – La Monte Young & Marian Zazeela (from The Black Record, 1969)

‘Moon Revolutions’ – The Young Gods (from Only Heaven LP, 1995)

——————————————

Beyond the Canon?

For those of us of a certain vintage, there was something quite disconcerting about identifying selections for the final TNPC poll. After all, we had grown up with the ‘canon’ and we lived out our youth through the latter part of the 20th Century. Much of the music made during that time meant the world to us. But what about the music of the 21st Century? There is a theory that when people reach the age of 33, they give up being interested in new music, and are content to revisit the past, seeking refuge in the familiar, perhaps reliving their adolescence? It’s a gross generalisation of course but there is an irrefutable logic to the claim. The responsibilities of adult life and balancing out work and family commitments, means that for many of us, the latest sounds are skimmed through with little patience. How different it was when we were younger – one had to really live with Trout Mask Replica and Bitches Brew, listening to them day in and day out for months on end in order to cultivate a true appreciation of their merits. And of course those albums – and many others – would prove to reward every ounce of perseverance. So when my early invitations to our contributors began to meet with blank responses (“I haven’t a clue”, “I’ve maybe only listened to ten albums since 2000”, “I reckon no classic record has been made since 1980”) I began to fear the worst.

Not all our contributors are middle-aged of course, but many of those, after their initial reticence, opted to take part in any case. The result? 1437 individual albums were nominated by around 120 contributors. From those,only one album received over 30 votes. If we contrast that with previous Poll-Toppers Forever Changes (45 out of 76) Marquee Moon (65 out of 125) and The Stone Roses (59) it points to a staggering lack of post-millennial consensus, with over 500 titles receiving only one vote. Without question then, the vast majority of our contributors have been listening to – and appreciating – a huge variety of contemporary sounds – far more than I have certainly. For myself, this exercise was always going to be something of an educational experience, overseeing the new list take shape.

The Results?

Block votes inevitably throw up one or two anomalies. Sometimes votes are split: consider the case of Mogwai or Six Organs Of Admittance, both of whom had 7 albums nominated, but neither of whose individual albums managed more than 3 votes – resulting in a frustrating absence from the final 100. More pleasingly, there was a plethora of votes for The Clientele, Low and Broadcast, each of whom is deliciously well represented in the list and rightly so. The most popular artist in terms of the sheer volume of nominations was by some distance, LCD Soundsystem,whose vote was also split very widely.

I’m less surprised about the results than I had anticipated, and know far more of these records than I had expected to know. The poll does not of course claim to be a new canon for the 21st Century, but alongside the other three polls, it should offer a few pointers to those looking to expand their horizons, and if anyone is looking to build a collection of popular music’s greatest 400 albums, they could do a lot worse than start here.

And the winner? Well, it’s somehow fitting that we round off this exercise with pop’s greatest star looking down from the summit, but, fine album though it undoubtedly is, it does somehow feel a little incongruous and unrepresentative – another inevitable consequence of the block vote. Only one person actually placed it as first choice. But there it is. I’m sure many will argue long into the night about its merits, but that’s democracy for you.

Once again, immense thanks to you all for your inspiring recommendations over the last three months. I have been furnished with enough new music to occupy me purposefully for the rest of my life. Now how exactly am I going to find the time to listen to it all? Skim listening just won’t do it. (JJ)

[As is customary, those albums just missing the cut (101-200) are listed in the first Appendix – following the list of contributors. A list of ‘One Vote Wonders’ should appear at the weekend]

………………………………………………..

The Top 100

100. Thunder Lightning Strike – The Go Team (Memphis Industries, 2004)

99. No More Shall We Part – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (Mute, 2001)

98. The Drift – Scott Walker (4AD, 2006)

97. Any Other City – Life Without Buildings (Tugboat, 2001)

96. mbv – My Bloody Valentine (m b v, 2013)

95. World Music – Goat (Rocket, 2012)

94. Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill – Grouper (Type, 2008)

93. Norman Fucking Rockwell – Lana Del Ray (Polydor, 2019)

92. Rounds – Four Tet (Domino, 2003)

91. Donuts – J Dilla (Stones Throw, 2006)

90. The Woods – Sleater-Kinney (Sub Pop, 2005)

89. Up The Bracket – The Libertines (Rough Trade, 2002)

88. Turn On The Bright Lights – Interpol (Matador, 2002)

87. Speakerboxxx / The Love Below – OutKast (LaFace. 2003)

86. Raising Sand – Robert Plant / Alison Krauss (Rounder, 2007)

85. Not The Tremblin’ Kind – Laura Cantrell (Spit & Polish, 2000)

84. Voodoo – D’Angelo (Virgin, 2000)

83. This Is Happening – LCD Soundsystem (DFA, 2005)

82. You Are Free – Cat Power (Matador, 2003)

81. Strange Geometry – The Clientele (Pointy, 2005)

80. Love & Theft – Bob Dylan (Columbia, 2001)

79. Bloom – Beach House (Sub Pop, 2012)

78. Tomorrow’s Harvest – Boards Of Canada (Warp, 2013)

77. Diamond Mine – King Creosote & Jon Hopkins (Domino, 2011)

76. Sometimes I Sit And Think & Sometimes I Just Sit – Courtney Barnett (Milk!, 2015)

75. High Violet – The National (4AD, 2010)

74. Veckatimest – Grizzly Bear (Warp, 2009)

73. Master And Everyone – Bonnie Prince Billy (Drag City, 2003)

72. Lost Souls – Doves (Heavenly, 2000)

71. Time (The Revelator) – Gillian Welch (Acony, 2001)

70. I Love You Honeybear – Fr. John Misty (Bella Union, 2015)

69. The Archandroid – Janelle Monae (Bad Boy, 2010)

68. Kiwanuka – Michael Kiwanuka (Polydor, 2019)

67. The Silver Globe – Jane Weaver (Fire, 2014)

66. Ys – Joanna Newsom (Drag City, 2006)

65. Madvillainy – Madvillain (Stones Throw, 2004)

64. Vespertine – Bjork (One Little Indian, 2001)

63. Skeleton Tree – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (Bad Seed Ltd, 2016)

62. The Greatest – Cat Power (Matador, 2006)

61. Light Up Gold – Parquet Courts (Dull Tools, 2012)

60. Purple Mountains – Purple Mountains (Drag City, 2019)

59. Party – Aldous Harding (4AD, 2017)

58. Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven – Godspeed You! Black Emperor (Constellation, 2000)

57. Good Kid MAAd City – Kendrick Lamar (Top Dawg, 2012)

56. Modern Kosmology – Jane Weaver (Fire, 2017)

55. Sea Change – Beck (Geffen, 2002)

54. Want One – Rufus Wainwright (DreamWorks, 2003)

53. Original Pirate Material – The Streets (Locked On / 679 Recordings, 2002)

52. Haha Sound – Broadcast (Warp, 2003)

51. LCD Soundsystem – LCD Soundsystem (DFA, 2005)

50. Channel Orange – Frank Ocean (Def Jam, 2012)

49. Oracular Spectacular – MGMT (Red Ink, 2007)

48. Tender Buttons – Broadcast (Warp, 2005)

47. Lost In The Dream – The War On Drugs (Secretly Canadian, 2014)

46. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend (XL, 2008)

45. For Emma Forever Ago – Bon Iver (Jagiaguwar, 2007)

44. Oceans Apart – The Go-Betweens (LO-MAX, 2005)

43. Teen Dream – Beach House (Sub Pop, 2010)

42. Since I Left You – The Avalanches (Modular, 2000)

41. Songs For The Deaf – Queens Of The Stone Age (Interscope, 2002)

40. The Noise Made By People – Broadcast (Warp, 2000)

39. Before Today – Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti (4AD, 2010)

38. Rings Around The World – Super Furry Animals (Epic, 2001)

37. Untrue – Burial (Hyperdub, 2007)

36. American IV: The Man Comes Around – Johnny Cash (American Recordings, 2002)

35. Halcyon Digest – Deerhunter (4AD, 2010)

34. Things We Lost In The Fire – Low (Kranky, 2001)

33. Carrie & Lowell – Sufjan Stevens Asthmatic Kitty, 2015)

32. Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not – Arctic Monkeys (Domino, 2006)

31. Currents – Tame Impala (Modular, 2015)

30. I Am A Bird Now – Antony & The Johnsons (Secretly Canadian, 2005)

29. White Blood Cells – White Stripes (Sympathy For The Record Industry, 2001)

28. Suburban Light – The Clientele (Pointy, 2000)

27. Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots – The Flaming Lips (Warner Bros, 2002)

26. Nixon – Lambchop (Merge, 2000)

25. And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out – Yo La Tengo (Matador, 2000)

24. XTRMNTR – Primal Scream (Creation, 2000)

23. Double Negative – Low (Sub Pop, 2018)

22. Elephant – The White Stripes (V2, 2003)

21. Lonerism – Tame Impala (Modular, 2012)

20. Figure 8 – Elliot Smith (DreamWorks, 2000)

19. In Rainbows – Radiohead (self-released, 2007)

18. Push The Sky Away – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (Bad Seed Ltd, 2013)

17. Queen Of Denmark – John Grant (Bella Union, 2010)

16. Third – Portishead (Island, 2008)

15. Have You In My Wilderness – Julia Holter (Domino, 2015)

14. Back To Black – Amy Winehouse (Island, 2006)

13. Geogaddi – Boards Of Canada (Warp, 2002)

12. Come On Feel The Illinoise – Sufjan Stevens (Asthmatic Kitty, 2005)

11. The Trials Of Van Occupanther – Midlake (Bella Union, 2006)

10. Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea – PJ Harvey (Island, 2000)

9. To Pimp A Butterfly – Kendrick Lamar (Top Dawg, 2015)

8. Kid A – Radiohead (Parlophone, 2000)

7. Is This It? – The Strokes (RCA, 2001)

6. Funeral – Arcade Fire (Merge, 2004)

5. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot – Wilco (Nonesuch, 2001)

4. Sound Of Silver – LCD Soundsystem (DFA, 2007)

3. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes (Bella Union, 2008)

2. Let England Shake – PJ Harvey (Island, 2011)

1. Blackstar – David Bowie (ISO / RCA, 2016)

…………………………………………………..

Contributors:

Bill Ainsworth, Camilla Aisa, Michael Bailey (Soft Hearted Scientists), Andy Barratt, Billy Bell, Caroline Binnie, Nick Blakey (Underground Jukebox), Chris Bounds, Holly Boyd, Stephen Boyd, Johnny Browning, David Bruce, Helen Bull, Kevin Byrne, Julie Campbell (LoneLady / Warp Records), Marc (Captain Howdy), Ben Chasny (Six Organs Of Admittance), Lucy Clifton, Si Cole, Chris Coleman, Mike Convery, Joe Currie, Campbell Davidson, Laura Lee Davies, Steve Davies, Jon Dennis, Mick Derrick, Neil Douglas, Lionel Duffy, Seamus Duggan, Maureen Dunlop, Peter Ferguson, Jim Ferry, Jason Finch, Declan Flanagan, Feargus Flanagan, Paul Gallagher, Carl Goldspink, Ben Graham, Grasshopper (Sean Mackowiak / Mercury Rev), Darren Grayer, Andrew Hall, Jeff Hartley, Mark Hillier, Robert Hodgens, Dan Holway, Jane Hoskyn, Maartje Jansma, Sophie Jay, James Johnstone, Johnnie Johnstone, Martin Johnstone, Peter Johnstone, Allan Jones, David Keller, Harris King, William Knott, Peter Latimer, Julian Francis Lawton, Paul Lowman, John Marcus, Rob Martindell, Leon Massey, Will McAlpine, Jim McCulloch, Alastair Macduff, Douglas McIntyre, Gary McKenzie, Grant McPhee, Fiona McQuarrie, John Medd, Graham Meikle, Thom Moore, Rob Morgan, Tony Mulraney, Paul Murray, Peter Murray, Huw Neill, Brendan O’Leary, Richard Oxley, Jake Palmer, Thomas Patterson, Mark Paytress, Richard Phillips-Jones, Andy Pidluznyi (New Apostles), Nick Portnell, Brian Randall, Steve Rhodes, Don Richmond, Chris Roberts, Matt Rogers, Coinneach Rooney, Marco Rossi, Martin Ruddock, Chris Sawle, Jo Scollin, Paul Scollin, David Sharp, Amy Shaw, Simon Shaw, Angela Slaven, Jonathan Small, Jason A Spence, Arthur David Spota, Iain Stansfield, Theo Stockman, David Stubbs, Daniel Thompson, Terry Tochel, Ben Travers, Paul Turnbull, Iain Wade, Judah Warsky, Richard Waterson, Stevie Watt, Helen Whiteley-McPhee, Dominic Whittingham, Peter Wilson, Winna Ding, Sandy Wishart, David Wright, Jack Young, Bill Zzuka

…………………………………………………….

The Next 100…

101. You Want It Darker – Leonard Cohen

102. Fever To Tell – The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

103. Heartbreaker – Ryan Adams

104. Lesser Matters – The Radio Dept

105. One Day I’m Going To Soar – Dexys

106. Born To Die – Lana Del Ray

107. Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle – Bill Callahan

108. I’m New Here – Gil Scott-Heron

109. Quiet Songs – Jessica Pratt

110. Modern Times – Bob Dylan

111. Monomania – Deerhunter

112. The Great Destroyer – Low

113. Yellow House – Grizzly Bear

114. Teens Of Denial – Carseat Headrest

115. The Suburbs – Arcade Fire

116. Insignificance– Jim O’Rourke

117. Chutes Too Narrow – The Shins

118. Relationship Of Command – At The Drive-In

119. Rated R – Queens Of The Stone Age

120. Person Pitch – Panda Bear

121. Let’s Get Out Of This Country– Camera Obscura

122. Shields – Grizzly Bear

123. Brothers – Black Keys

124. Human Performance – Parquet Courts

125. Stay Gold – First Aid Kit

126. Sun Structures – Temples

127. Aerial – Kate Bush

128. Morning Phase – Beck

129. Blonde – Frank Ocean

130. The Next Day – David Bowie

131. Primary Colours – The Horrors

132. Sophtware Slump – Grandaddy

133. On Your Own Love Again – Jessica Pratt

134. The Power Out – Electrelane

135. Riot On An Empty Street – Kings Of Convenience

136. Yeezus– Kanye West

137. Oh Inverted World – Shins

138. The Real New Fall Album (Country On The Click) – The Fall

139. Joy As An Act Of Resistance – Idles

140. Depression Cherry – Beach House

141. Crack Up – Fleet Foxes

142. Abattoir Blues / Lyre Of Orpheus – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

143. Supreme Clientele – Ghostface Killah

144. Black Messiah– D’Angelo

145. Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand

146. The Decline Of British Sea Power – British Sea Power

147. Discovery – Daft Punk

148. Post Pop Depression – Iggy Pop

149. Wooden Shjips – Wooden Shjips

150. Hinterland – LoneLady

151. Cole’s Corner – Richard Hawley

152. Campfire Headphase – Boards Of Canada

153. All Mirrors – Angel Olsen

154. We Got It From Here…Thank You For Your Service – A Tribe Called Quest

155. Your Queen Is A Reptile – Sons Of Kemet

156. Want Two – Rufus Wainwright

157. Your Future Our Clutter – The Fall

158. Slowdive – Slowdive

159. Hail To The Thief – Radiohead

160. The Age Of The Understatement – Last Shadow Puppets

161. > – Beak

162. The Life Pursuit – Belle & Sebastian

163. Ease Down The Road – Bonnie Prince Billy

164. Ghosteen – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

165. Sung Tongs – Animal Collective

166. Stankonia – OutKast

167. Takk – Sigur Ros

168. Helplessness Blues – Fleet Foxes

169. Bisch Bosch – Scott Walker

170. Real Gone – Tom Waits

171. Hot Shots 2 – The Beta Band

172. The xx – The xx

173. A Ghost Is Born – Wilco

174. The Coral – The Coral

175. Tanglewood Numbers – Silver Jews

176. Margerine Eclipse – Stereolab

177. Devotion– Beach House

178. Bravery Repetition & Noise – Brian Jonestown Massacre

179. Beet Maize & Corn – High Llamas

180. Transfiguration Of Vincent – M Ward

181. White Chalk – PJ Harvey

182. The Epic – Kamasi Washington

183. Merriweather Post Pavilion – Animal Collective

184. Cucumber – Sexual Objects

185. Arular – MIA

186. Dongs Of Sevotion – Smog

187. My Maudlin Career – Camera Obscura

188. Designer – Aldous Harding

189. Ghosts Of The Great Highway – Sun Kil Moon

190. Let It Come Down – Spiritualized

191. Bavarian Fruit Bread – Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions

192. Titanic Rising – Weyes Blood

193. Rest – Charlotte Gainsbourg

194. Slow Summits – The Pastels

195. The Age Of Adz – Sufjan Stevens

196. Do Hollywood – Lemon Twigs

197. Kaputt – Destroyer

198. Ballad Of The Broken Seas – Isobel Campbell / Mark Lanegan

199. Bon Iver – Bon Iver

200. The English Riviera – Metronomy

……………………………….

And now for something completely different…

One Vote Wonders

Over 500 titles received only one vote. Here are 100 of the more interesting nominations…

Hinterland – Aim

Always – Anti-Socialites

Drukqs – Aphex Twin

Citrus – Asobi Seksu

Moo You Bloody Choir – Augie March

David Axelrod– David Axelrod

Jackleg Devotional To The Heart – Baptist Generals

Disintegration Loops – William Basinski

Every Step’s A Yes – The Bees

The Owl’s Map – Belbury Poly (Jim Jupp)

Antlers And The Sun And All The Things That Grow Old And Pass Away – Bird By Snow

A Sea Of Trees – The Blue Angel Lounge

Childqueen – Khadja Bonet

Hunter – Anna Calvi

Transverse – Carter Tutti Void

Popcorn Doublefish – Malcolm Catto

The Longest River – Olivia Chaney

X-Pianos – Chassol

The Cherry Blossoms – The Cherry Blossoms

Cheval Sombre – Cheval Sombre

Black Ships Ate The Sky – Current 93

Working Class Woman – Marie Davidson

You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine – Death From Above 1979

A Long Losing Battle With Eloquence & Intimance – Dredd Foole

Runout Groove – Stephen Duffy & The Lilac Time

Here’s My Song, You Can Have It, I Don’t Want It Anymore / Yours 4-Ever – Nicolai Dunger

Allegranza! – El Guincho

We Are All From Somewhere Else – Exploding Star Orchestra

Devin Dazzle & The Neon Fever – Felix da Housecat

La Reproduction – Arnaud Fleurent-Didier

Record Collector – The Foreign Films

Insides – Fort Romeau

Personal Record – Eleanor Freidberger

Cabinet Of Curiosities – Jacco Gardner

Pop – Gas

Ghost Dog (The Way Of The Samurai) – Original Soundtrack

Underdog World Strike – Gogol Bordello

The Days Of Mars – Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russon

Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs – Henry Gorecki / Beth Gibbons

The Art Of Funerary Violin – The Guild Of Funerary Violinists

Y Dydd Olaf – Gwenno

In The Pink Of Condition – H. Hawkline

Fletcher Moss Park – Matthew Halsall

Black Blues – Keiji Hano

Excavation – The Haxan Cloak

Bright Penny – Liam Hayes & Plush

Health – The Heavy Blinkers

Chiaroscuro – Arve Henriksen

Proto – Holly Herndon

Human Don’t Be Angry – Human Don’t Be Angry

Edge Of A Dream – Bert Jansch

Black Origami – Jlin

Orpheé – Johann Johannson

100 Days, 100 Nights – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings

Take Me Apart – Kelela

Dracula Boots – Kid Congo Powers & The Monkey Birds

Kite – Steven Lindsay

Nerve Up – LoneLady

Hoverance- Raleigh Long

I Trawl The Megahertz– Paddy McAloon

Something For The Weakened – Meursault

MM Food – MF Doom

Les Revenants – Mogwai

The Moldy Peaches – The Moldy Peaches

Morgan Delt – Morgan Delt

Nichts Muss – Barbara Morgenstern

Entranced Earth – The Myrrors

Songs III: Bird On The Water – Marissa Nadler

Variations On A Theme – Om

Forroleidescope – Orquestra do Fuba

Heavy Rain – Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry

Reachy Prints – Plaid

Music For Small’s Lighthouse – Plinth

Moses On A Snail – Robert Pollard

Your Mind Is A Box (Let Us Fill It With Wonder) – Poltergeist

Paranoic Critical – Port Sulphur

The Two Worlds – Brigid Mae Power

1992 – Princess Nokia

The Dark Realities Of The Moment – Professor Brian Oblivion

Matador Singles ’08 – Jay Reatard

Because Her Beauty Is Raw & Wild – Jonathan Richman

The Colossus – RJD2

A Wonder Working Stone – Alasdair Roberts & Friends

Hope Downs – Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever

How To Live With A Phantom – Shintaro Sakamoto

Live In The Earth: In Dub Chapter 2 – Sandoz

Coping Mechanisms – Si Schroeder

The Bells Of 1 2 – Sol Seppy

Whorl – Simian Mobile Disco

Ascent – Six Organs Of Admittance

EARS – Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith

Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve – The Soft Bounce

His Hands – Candi Staton

Funeral Mariachi – Sun City Girls

Pyroclasts – Sunn O)))

Bastard – Tyler The Creator

Thing Of The Past – Vetiver

Turning To The Rooster – Vibracathedral Orchestra

Also In White – Bill Wells Trio

Briarwood – Wooden Wand

Songbook – Woodpigeon

The NME’s all-time top 100 of 1985, which marks the cut-off point for our second poll and the beginning of our third, fixed in the public imagination both the concept and the content of The Canon. There had, of course, been similar lists before  – not least the NME’s initial one in 1974, which set the boundary for our first poll – but they had been comparatively few and seemed to cause few wider ripples.

In 1986, things were as fragmented and as polarised as they had ever been, with a particularly garish mainstream, the C86 scene which proudly defined itself against rock at its most troglodyte and pop at its naffest alike and the burgeoning house and hip-hop sounds which would come to conquer the solar system. Others didn’t fit into such tidy boxes – The Smiths, Prince, REM, Madonna – but their reward was to epitomise the era.

A lack of cohesion of this kind usually means a blank canvas and so it was that we saw the celebrated and extraordinary blizzard of creativity of 1988.  My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins, Talk Talk and Pixies were among those who, independently but simulmtaneously, hit redoubtable peaks. Better still, they all sustained it with their follow-ups.

Also part of this glorious stampede was Happy Mondays’ Bummed, a cool-as-February bacchanal of physical possibilities, terrifying realities and scrambled visions. Early in 1989, I expressed the hope that it would shape the ’90s; it would, but not as I imagined. Like the Pogues and the Specials, for all their own brilliance, the Mondays’ influence would prove to be largely malign as they spawned a battery of hapless and sometimes horrible imitators. As did their Manc yang, the Stone Roses, of whom more later.

The alignment of both, particularly the Roses, to dance and acid house was, musically if not otherwise, occasionally vivid, more often vague, at times plain spurious. Those scenes were, as its staunchest  advocates were quick to remind us, an entirely different language which had no more in common with rock in any form  than Sanskrit has with Finnish. It came in on a wave of Chicago glory, unleashed drum and bass and delivered well over a decade of thrills, with or without pills.

But for a couple of years in the early ’90s, the nosebleed sound – which made so few demands on the listener that it barely seemed to exist – threatened to derail the whole thing. It coincided with a procession of bands whose primary influence was not the Who or the Clash or the Smiths or Pixies but the Wonderstuff, like a writer inspired more by Jeffrey Archer than by Dickens. Meanwhile, Nirvana brought a sound an attitude to the mainstream that had led from Black Flag, Minor Threat, the Minutemen and Husker Du – and led to Alice In Chains and Stone Temple Pilots.

Aye, they were a bleak time, the early ’90s. There was an upturn in the middle of the decade; Britpop may not ultimately have proved to be much more than a sugar rush but it did clear the air, although its own mould began to grow fast. The real action, though, was happening elsewhere.

After The Flood!

So what do we all see over the millennium bridge of 1986-99? It’s a vast horizon, broad enough to accommodate Paul Simon and the Aphex Twin, Lucinda Williams and the Wu- Tang Clan, Slint and Air. Plenty in here that you could lose yourself in – for me, the likes of Laughingstock, Mezzanine and Ladies & Gentlemen…in the words of Robert Christgau”(repay) prolonged listening with new excitement and insight.”

Many I love. Many I like a great deal. None I actively dislike. Quite a few I’d like to explore further. But naturally, some I look for in vain; personal favourites such as the Band Of Holy Joy, High Llamas and Blue Aeroplanes have, despite  my own efforts, failed to gain the required support.

It’s gratifying to see my own number one, Spirit Of Eden, in the top 10. Its magic and mystery had been widely acknowledged long before Mark Hollis’ premature death last year and had even longer since been detached from the disbelief on its release that such a rich, complex and dazzlingly beautiful record had been made by a band peddling tracing paper-thin synth tunes a few years earlier (though we now know Hollis had aspired to these heights all along but limited resources had thwarted his ambition).

Pleasing as  well to see showings for the likes of Galaxie 500 and Mary Margaret O’Hara, both of whom had magnificent mayfly careers in the late ’80s and early ’90s but are now at risk of being lost to history. We’ve covered the latter and should have the former in the pipeline; that’s our job.

It wasn’t a great surprise to see the Stone Roses’ debut at the top; its popularity and influence aren’t in any doubt but I’ve always found it more than somewhat overrated. This isn’t to say that I thinks it’s a bad record; at its best, it proved that, after years of indie discos filling floors with music that could only be twitched to stiffly, they proved that this music could still be dance music. I just think there’s any number of records in a similar field that have better songs, more imagination, more guile – and haven’t  had the life sucked out of them by unending plays on Absolute Radio and XFM.

But I’m with former NME editor Steve Sutherland, who always maintained they were “a pretty good band” while remaining bewildered by the fuss, and your vote stands. Many thanks for taking part (PG).

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Like many of the other contributors to this, the third TNPC poll, I found the task of selecting my own personal Top 30 an extraordinarily uncomfortable one. That contrasted sharply with the previous polls. A considerable amount of time has passed since 1985 and the distance from then until now made it comparatively easy to remain objective in one’s analysis of the music made before then. But for my TNPC colleagues and I, just as for many of you, on this occasion objectivity did not and could not, enter the equation: this was our time, straddling the period between the twilight of our teenage years and ending well after the clock had struck thirty and we’d suddenly transformed into those hoary guys who create conspicuous little spaces around themselves at the odd gig they still manage to limp along to. It was a time which witnessed the golden era of hip-hop, an explosion in electronic music, the grunge phenomenon and something which came to be known as Britpop, most of which was so crassly opportunistic it had us reaching for the sick bag. The era was littered with records by cult favourites such as Felt, Low, Guided By Voices, The Durutti Column, The Chills and The Lilac Time, but unsurprisingly those artists seem destined never to feature prominently in this type of list. Likewise, my faint hopes that Mettle, It’s Time For Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers, Mercy Street and Stop Your Nonsense might dent the chart were soon vanquished by a steady stream of votes for more familiar fare. But the fact that one or two others voted for them at all felt like a small victory. It has been a pleasant surprise too to note artists such as Stereolab, Galaxie 500 and Mick Head / Shack move in from the margins to compete with the big hitters, and if I feel more than a little disappointed by the predictability of the top two, that is partly compensated for by the inclusion of some unheralded cult gems such as Rise Above and Forever Breathes The Lonely World in the Auxiliary Chart, both of which contrived to outscore the bazillion-selling Goliaths that are What’s The Story Morning Glory? (which finished up at no. 221!) and The Joshua Tree. Which is of course very much the spirit of TNPC, where on these pages – for the rest of the year at least – we continue to champion the music of the underdog.

Finally, just remember, whether the poll enthuses or enrages you, the only list that really matters is the one inside your head. Next stop the 21st Century…a whole new world of sound beyond the ‘canon’. Coming soon… (JJ)

[As is customary, the Auxiliary Chart of those albums placed 101-200, follows at the end of the main list, while the ‘One Vote Wonders’ list will be published soon.]

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The Top 100…

100. Yerself Is Steam – Mercury Rev (Mint Films / Jungle Records, 1991)

99. Sister – Sonic Youth (SST, 1987)

98. Infected – The The (Some Bizarre / Epic, 1986)

97. Ragged Glory – Neil Young & Crazy Horse (Reprise, 1990)

96. Darklands – The Jesus & Mary Chain (Blanco y Negro, 1987)

95. Radiator – Super Furry Animals (Creation, 1997)

94. You’re Living All Over Me – Dinosaur (SST, 1987)

93. XO – Elliott Smith (Dreamworks, 1998)

92. Harvest Moon – Neil Young (Reprise, 1992)

91. Miss America – Mary Margaret O’Hara (Virgin, 1988)

90. The Colour Of Spring – Talk Talk (EMI, 1986)

89. Car Wheels On A Gravel Road – Lucinda Williams (Mercury, 1998)

88. Dots & Loops – Stereolab (Duophonic, 1997)

87. The Low End Theory – A Tribe Called Quest (Jove, 1991)

86. Today – Galaxie 500 (Aurora, 1988)

85. Copper Blue – Sugar (Creation, 1992)

84. Dog Man Star – Suede (Nude, 1994)

83. In Utero – Nirvana (DGC, 1993)

82. Blood & Chocolate – Elvis Costello & The Attractions (Demon, 1996)

81. Jordan: The Comeback – Prefab Sprout (Kitchenware, 1990)

80. Definitely Maybe – Oasis (Creation, 1994)

79. Nowhere – Ride (Creation, 1990)

78. Goo – Sonic Youth (Warner Bros, 1990)

77. Waterpistol – Shack (Marina, 1996)

76. Odelay – Beck (DGC, 1996)

75. The Boatman’s Call – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (Mute, 1997)

74. California – American Music Club (Demon, 1988)

73. I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One – Yo La Tengo (Matador, 1997)

72. Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot – Sparklehorse (Capitol, 1995)

71. Giant Steps – Boo Radleys (Creation, 1993)

70. Document – REM (IRS, 1987)

69. HMS Fable – Shack (London, 1999)

68. The House Of Love (Creation, 1988)

67. Liquid Swords – GZA (Geffen, 1996)

66. Reading Writing & Arithmetic – The Sundays (Rough Trade, 1990)

65. Tilt – Scott Walker (Fontana, 1995)

64. Spiderland – Slint (Touch & Go, 1991)

63. Bend Sinister – The Fall (Beggars Banquet, 1996)

62. Songs For Drella – Lou Reed / John Cale (Sire, 1990)

61. Graceland – Paul Simon (Warner Bros, 1986)

60. Nevermind – Nirvana (DGC, 1991)

59. Slanted & Enchanted – Pavement (Matador 1992)

58. Moon Safari – Air (Virgin, 1997)

57. Secrets Of The Beehive – David Sylvian (Virgin, 1987)

56. Warehouse: Songs & Stories – Hüsker Dü (Warner Bros, 1987)

55. Parade – Prince (Warner Bros, 1986)

54. The Magical World of The Strands – Michael Head & The Strands (Megaphone, 1997)

53. Fear of A Black Planet – Public Enemy (Def Jam, 1988)

52. She Hangs Brightly – Mazzy Star (Rough Trade, 1990)

51. If I Should Fall From Grace With God – The Pogues (Pogue Mahone, 1988)

50. Emperor Tomato Ketchup – Stereolab (Duophonic, 1996)

49. Songs From Northern Britain – Teenage Fanclub (Creation, 1997)

48. Selected Ambient Works 85-92 – Aphex Twin (Apollo, 1992)

47. Disintegration – The Cure (Fiction, 1989)

46. New York – Lou Reed (Sire, 1989)

45. Maxinquaye – Tricky (4th & Broadway, 1995)

44. Automatic For The People – REM (Warner Bros, 1992)

43. Laser Guided Melodies – Spiritualized (Dedicated, 1992)

42. Mezzanine – Massive Attack (Circa, 1997)

41. Green – REM (Warner Bros, 1988)

40. Paul’s Boutique – Beastie Boys (Capitol, 1989)

39. The La’s (Go!, 1990)

38. Bummed – Happy Mondays (Factory, 1988)

37. It’s A Shame About Ray – The Lemonheads (Warner Bros, 1992)

36. Grand Prix – Teenage Fanclub (Creation, 1995)

35. If You’re Feeling Sinister – Belle & Sebastian (1996)

34. Liberty Belle & The Black Diamond Express – The Go-Betweens (1986)

33. Hats – The Blue Nile (1989)

32. Isn’t Anything – My Bloody Valentine (Creation. 1988)

31. Grace – Jeff Buckley (Columbia, 1994)

30. Endtroducing – DJ Shadow (Mo Wax!, 1996)

29. Blue Bell Knoll – Cocteau Twins (4AD, 1988)

28. Music Has The Right To Children – Boards Of Canada (Warp, 1998)

27. Laughingstock – Talk Talk (Parlophone, 1991)

26. Time Out Of Mind – Bob Dylan (Columbia, 1997)

25. Deserters Songs – Mercury Rev (V2, 1998)

24. Life’s Rich Pageant – REM (IRS, 1986)

23. 16 Lovers Lane – The Go-Betweens (Beggars Banquet, 1988)

22. Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) – Wi-Tang Clan (Loud, 1993)

21. Crooked Rain Crooked Rain – Pavement (Matador, 1994)

20. Heaven Or Las Vegas – Cocteau Twins (4AD, 1990)

19. Dummy – Portishead (Go! Beat, 1994)

18. Blue Lines – Massive Attack (Wild Bunch / Virgin, 1991)

17. On Fire – Galaxie 500 (1989)

16. OK Computer – Radiohead (Parlophone, 1997)

15. Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space – Spiritualized (Dedicated, 1997)

14. Daydream Nation – Sonic Youth (Blast First, 1988)

13. Bandwagonesque – Teenage Fanclub (Creation, 1991)

12. Technique – New Order (1989)

11. Screamadelica – Primal Scream (Creation, 1991)

10. The Soft Bulletin – The Flaming Lips (1999)

9. Sign O The Times – Prince (Warner Bros, 1987)

8. Spirit Of Eden – Talk Talk (Parlophone, 1988)

7. 3 Feet High & Rising – De La Soul (Tommy Boy, 1989)

6. Surfer Rosa – Pixies (4AD, 1988)

5. Loveless – My Bloody Valentine (Creation, 1991)

4. Doolittle – Pixies (4AD, 1989)

3. It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back – Public Enemy (Def Jam, 1988)

2. The Queen Is Dead – The Smiths (Rough Trade, 1986)

1. The Stone Roses (Silvertone, 1989)

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The Next 100:

101. Mogwai- Come On Die Young

102. St. Etienne – Foxbase Alpha

103. Neutral Milk Hotel – In An Aeroplane Over The Sea

104. Silver Jews – American Water

105. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Your Funeral, My Trial

106. The Breeders – Last Splash

107. Leonard Cohen – I’m Your Man

108. Plush – More You Becomes You

109. Pulp – Different Class

110. Dinosaur Jr. – Bug

111. Bjork – Debut

112. Jane’s Addiction – Nothing’s Shocking

113. The Cure – Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me

114. Manic Street Preachers – The Holy Bible

115. Magnetic Fields – 69 Love Songs

116. Wilco – Summerteeth

117. Julee Cruise – Floating Into The Night

118. Eric B & Rakim – Paid In Full

119. Kate Bush – The Sensual World

120. The Chills – Kaleidoscope World

121. The Fall – Extricate

122. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Tender Prey

123. Underworld – Dubnobasswithmyheadman

124. XTC – Skylarking

125. The Triffids – Born Sandy Devotional

126. High Llamas – Hawaii

127. Belle & Sebastian – The Boy With The Arab Strap

128. Guided By Voices – Bee Thousand

129. Radiohead – The Bends

130. Johnny Cash – American Recordings

131. Electronic – Electronic

132. Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream

133. The Costello Show – King Of America

134. Depeche Mode – Violator

135. Hüsker Dü – Candy Apple Grey

136. Tindersticks – Tindersticks (first)

137. The Lilac Time – The Lilac Time

138. Wilco – Being There

139. Epic Soundtracks – Rise Above

140. Felt – Forever Breathes The Lonely Word

141. Big Black – Atomizer

142. Paul Weller – Wildwood

143. Sebadoh – Bakesale

144. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – The Good Son

145. Bonnie Prince Billy – I See A Darkness

146. Spacemen 3 – Playing With Fire

147. Tom Waits – Frank’s Wild Years

148. Beastie Boys – Ill Communication

149. Beastie Boys – Check Your Head

150. Edwyn Collins – Gorgeous George

151. Blur – Modern Life Is Rubbish

152. Tindersticks – Tindersticks (second)

153. A Tribe Called Quest – People’s Instinctive Travels…

154. Elliot Smith – Either Or

155. High Llamas – Gideon Gaye

156. The Orb – Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld

157. NAS – Illmatic

158. Stereolab – Mars Audiac Quintet

159. AR Kane – 69

160. The Chills – Submarine Bells

161. Spacemen 3 – The Perfect Prescription

162. David Bowie – 1. Outside

163. Blur – Parklife

164. U2 – The Joshua Tree

165. Suede – Suede

166. The Replacements – Pleased To Meet Me

167. Mogwai – Young Team

168. The Cramps – A Date With Elvis

169. Grant Hart – Intolerance

170. Goldie – Timeless

171. The KLF – Chill Out

172. George Michael – Listen Without Prejudice Vol.1

173. PJ Harvey – Rid Of Me

174. REM – Out Of Time

175. The Go-Betweens – Tallulah

176.. Whipping Boy – Heartworm

177. Daft Punk – Homework

178. Public Enemy – Yo! Bum Rush The Show

179. Beck – Mellow Gold

180. St. Etienne – So Tough

181. Cowboy Junkies – The Trinity Session

182. Radiohead – Pablo Honey

183. U2 – Achtung Baby

184. Etienne DeCrecy – Super Discount

185. Leftfield – Leftism

186. Nirvana – MTV Unplugged

187. Felt – Me And A Monkey On The Moon

188. Julian Cope – Peggy Suicide

189. Stereolab – Transient Random-Noise Bursts…

190. Happy Mondays – Pills ‘N’ Thrills & Bellyaches

191. The Fall – Shiftwork

192. The Breeders – Pod

193. The Wedding Present – Seamonsters

194. Gang Starr – Step In The Arena

195. The Durutti Column – Vini Reilly

196. Momus – The Poison Boyfriend

197. Slowdive – Souvlaki

198. Arthur Russell – World Of Echo

199. Thin White Rope – Moonhead

200. Throwing Muses – The Real Ramona

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Strange, Sublime or still loved by some… (One Vote Wonders 1986-99)

Barry Adamson – Oedipus Schmoedipus

Apples In Stereo – Tone Soul Evolution

Autechre – Tri Repetae

Grant McLennan – Fireboy

Missy Elliott – Supa Dupa Fly

Thank You!

As ever we are greatly indebted to the following list of contributors:

Bill Ainsworth, Camilla Aisa, Andy (Birmingham’81), David Ayling, Michael Bailey (Soft Hearted Scientists), Billy Bell, Caroline Binnie, Nick Blakey (Underground Jukebox), Chris Bounds, Stephen Boyd, Johny Brown (Band Of Holy Joy), Johnny Browning, David Bruce, Colin Brunton, Helen Bull, Kevin Byrne, Paul Callanan, Chris Canham, Chris Coleman, Iain Conroy, Mike Convery, Dave Coulter, Marnie Coulter, Brian Crandall, Campbell Davidson, Laura Lee Davies, Jon Dennis, Mick Derrick, John Dickie, Andrew Divine, Neil Douglas, Seamus Duggan, Maureen Dunlop, Matthew ‘Doc’ Dunn (Cosmic Range Records), Matt Elliott, Peter Ferguson, Jason Finch, Declan Flanagan, Feargus Flanagan, Mikki Francis-Lawton, Paul Gallagher, Alfie Gildea, Paul Gildea, Darren Grayer, Theo Hakkert, Andrew Hall, Mark Harrison, Jeff Hartley, Mark Hillier, Sophie Jay, James Johnstone, Johnnie Johnstone, Martin Johnstone, Peter Johnstone, Allan Jones, Jukebox Rebel, David Kelner, John Kilbride, Harris King, Graham Kingsbury, William Knott, June Lewins, Paul Lowman, Huw M, Alastair Macduff, Gary Mackenzie, Marc (Captain Howdy), Jon Marcus, Leon Massey, Will McAlpine, Jim McCulloch, Paul McLoone (The Undertones), Grant McPhee, Fiona McQuarrie, John Medd, Graham Meikle, Rob Morgan, Greg Morse, Tony Mulraney, Paul Murray, Peter Murray, Jason Myles, Kris Needs, Huw Neill, Brendan O’Leary, Jake Palmer, Thomas Patterson, Mark Paytress, Andy Pidluznyj (New Apostles), Nick Portnell, Mark Raison, Steve Rhodes, Don Richmond, Chris Roberts, Matt Rogers, Marco Rossi, Alice Salvesen, Chris Sawle, Jo Scollin, Paul Scollin, David Sharp, Simon Shaw, Angela Slaven, Jason Spence, Iain Stansfield, Theo Stockman, David Stubbs, Andrew Thompson, Daniel Thompson, James Timoney, Terry Tochel, Ben Travers, Paul Turnbull, Ian Wade, Judah Warsky, Stevie Watt, Richard Watterson, Dominic Whittingham, Peter Wilson, ‘Winna Ding’, Sandy Wishart, Colin Wright, David Wright.

So, 1974 to 1985, right?

I suppose the first thing to do is to answer the question everyone’s been asking: “Why 74-85?” A seemingly random period of time. The rationale behind the recent pre-1974 poll was perhaps a tad easier to explain. For that exercise we reimagined the 1974 NME Top 100 albums, through 21st century eyes. For this one, we’ve drawn a line at 1985, the year the NME published their second Greatest Albums poll. There would be little point in voters duplicating some of their choices from the pre-74 list, so instead, TNPC is planning a four part feature. The next one will focus on albums released between 1986 and 1999, and the last will be a 21st century rundown. Expect to be harassed into taking part in those over the coming months.

Where did jazz go?

While this is a terrific collection of albums, there isn’t a great deal here to be surprised about. One might note perhaps how Wire’s legacy, like that of The Kinks (as evidenced by their performance in the pre-74 poll) is becoming more secure. Wire was conspicuously absent from the ’85 NME poll, pictured above. The balance and breadth of the entries was striking too: people seem more relaxed nowadays to mix prog, punk and hip-hop together in their lists, something which might not have been the case in 1985.

In 1974, few could possibly have foreseen the changes that were about to take place in popular music, and the outward ripples of punk and new wave flow freely through the list. But there’s a real shortage of soul. While reggae and dub are at least represented with a handful of entries, it was after all the golden era of JA music. Jazz meanwhile has fallen of the radar spectacularly, despite Miles making some of the most adventurous music, and Sun Ra some of his most accessibly celestial, during the period in question.

All the others you’d expect to be there – well, they’re here. And the top choice? Won by a landslide…

As with the last poll, I’ll post an Appendix of the next 100 over the next few days. Some great albums just missed the cut, Marcus Garvey, one of my all-time favourites for example. I also intend to post an Alternative Top 100 of albums which were nominated only once. I guarantee that will be an eye-opener and will set you off on new journeys of discovery.

Once again, I can’t thank enough all those who were kind and enthusiastic enough to contribute. I’m very grateful to you all. Hope you enjoy the list. Back soon. (JJ)

The Top 100:

100. Kings Of The Wild Frontier – Adam & The Ants (CBS, 1980)

99. Fried – Julian Cope (Mercury, 1984)

98. Soul Mining – The The (Some Bizarre, 1983)

97. The Undertones – The Undertones (Sire, 1979)

96. New Gold Dream [81-82-83-84] – Simple Minds (Virgin, 1982)

95. I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight – Richard & Linda Thompson (Island, 1974)

94. 154 – Wire (Harvest, 1979)

93. Born To Run – Bruce Springsteen (Columbia, 1975)

92. Imperial Bedroom – Elvis Costello & The Attractions (F-Beat, 1982)

91. Super Ape – The Upsetters (Island, 1976)

90. Desire – Bob Dylan (CBS, 1976)

89. More Songs About Buildings & Food – Talking Heads (Sire, 1978)

88. Exodus – Bob Marley & The Wailers (Island, 1977)

87. Nebraska – Bruce Springsteen (CBS, 1982)

86. Physical Graffiti – Led Zeppelin (Swan Song, 1975)

85. Grievous Angel  – Gram Parsons (Reprise, 1974)

84. Rust Never Sleeps – Neil Young & Crazy Horse (Reprise, 1979)

83. Sulk – Associates (Beggars Banquet, 1982)

82. Diamond Dogs – David Bowie (RCA, 1974)

81. Court & Spark – Joni Mitchell (Asylum, 1974)

80. Get Happy!! – Elvis Costello & The Attractions (F-Beat, 1980)

79. Lexicon Of Love – ABC (Neutron, 1982)

78. The Man Machine – Kraftwerk (EMI, 1977)

77. Let It Be – The Replacements (Twin/Tone, 1984)

76. This Nation’s Saving Grace – The Fall (Beggars Banquet, 1985)

75. Colossal Youth – Young Marble Giants (Rough Trade, 1980)

74. The Modern Dance  – Pere Ubu (Blank, 1978)

73. Rain Dogs – Tom Waits (Island, 1985)

72. A Walk Across The Rooftops – The Blue Nile (Linn, 1983)

71. Kilimanjaro – The Teardrop Explodes (Fontana, 1980)

70. Purple Rain – Prince & The Revolution (Warner Bros, 1984)

69. Reckoning – REM (IRS, 1984)

68. Don’t Stand Me Down – Dexy’s Midnight Runners (Mercury, 1985)

67. The Hissing Of Summer Lawns – Joni Mitchell (Asylum, 1975)

66. Rocket To Russia – Ramones (Sire, 1977)

65. Rumours – Fleetwood Mac (Warner Bros, 1977)

64. Sound Affects – The Jam (Polydor, 1980)

63. Steve McQueen – Prefab Sprout (Kitchenware, 1985)

62. Pacific Ocean Blue – Dennis Wilson (Caribou, 1977)

61. Singles: Going Steady – Buzzcocks (United Artists, 1979)

60. All Mod Cons – The Jam (Polydor, 1978)

59. Lust For Life – Iggy Pop (RCA, 1977)

58. Another Green World – Brian Eno (Island, 1975)

57. Hex Enduction Hour – The Fall (Kamera, 1982)

56. Heroes – David Bowie (RCA, 1977)

55. Ocean Rain – Echo & The Bunnymen (Korova, 1984)

54. Hejira – Joni Mitchell (Asylum, 1976)

53. Tonight’s The Night – Neil Young (Reprise, 1975)

52. . Entertainment! – Gang Of Four (EMI. 1979)

51. The Specials (Two-Tone, 1979)

50. Another Music In A Different Kitchen – Buzzcocks (United Artists, 1978)

49. Dare – The Human League (A&M, 1981)

48. Swordfishtrombones – Tom Waits (Island, 1983)

47. Two Sevens Clash – Culture (Joe Gibbs, 1977)

46. Real Life – Magazine (Virgin, 1978)

45. Treasure – Cocteau Twins (4AD, 1984)

44. Hounds Of Love – Kate Bush (EMI, 1985)

43. Meat Is Murder – The Smiths (Rough Trade, 1985)

42. The Smiths (Rough Trade, 1984)

41. Cut – The Slits (Island, 1979)

40. Parallel Lines – Blondie (Chrysalis, 1978)

39. Veedon Fleece – Van Morrison (Warner Bros, 1974)

38. Pink Flag – Wire (Harvest, 1977)

37. Radio City – Big Star (Ardent, 1974)

36. High Land Hard Rain – Aztec Camera (Rough Trade, 1983)

35. Songs In The Key Of Life – Stevie Wonder (Tamla Motown, 1976)

34. Rattlesnakes – Lloyd Cole & The Commotions (Polydor, 1984)

33. The Idiot – Iggy Pop (RCA, 1977)

32. You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever – Orange Juice (Polydor, 1982)

31. Neu! 75 – Neu! (Brain, 1975)

30. Rock Bottom – Robert Wyatt (Virgin, 1974)

29. Ramones (Sire, 1976)

28. The Clash (CBS, 1977)

27. Kings Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown- Augustus Pablo (Yard, 1976)

26. Trans-Europe Express – Kraftwerk (EMI, 1977)

25. Hatful Of Hollow – The Smiths (Rough Trade, 1984)

24. Heart Of The Congos – The Congos (Black Ark, 1977)

23. Rum Sodomy & The Lash – The Pogues (Stiff, 1985)

22. Chairs Missing – Wire (Harvest, 1978)

21. Fear Of Music – Talking Heads (Sire, 1979)

20. Power Corruption & Lies – New Order (Factory, 1983)

19. 3rd [Sister Lovers] – Big Star (PVC, 1978)

18. Remain In Light – Talking Heads (Sire, 1980)

17. Murmur – REM (IRS, 1983)

16. Psychocandy – The Jesus & Mary Chain (Blanco y negro, 1985)

15. Suicide (Red Star, 1977)

14. The Modern Lovers (Beserkley, 1976)

13. London Calling – The Clash (CBS, 1979)

12. Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols – The Sex Pistols (Virgin, 1977)

11. Horses – Patti Smith (Arista, 1975)

10. Searching For The Young Soul Rebels – Dexy’s Midnight Runners (EMI, 1980)

9. Metal Box – Public Image Ltd (Virgin, 1979)

8. Station To Station – David Bowie (RCA, 1976)

7. On The Beach – Neil Young (Reprise, 1974)

6. No Other – Gene Clark (Asylum, 1974)

5. Closer – Joy Division (Factory, 1980)

4. Unknown Pleasures – Joy Division (Factory, 1979)

3. Low – David Bowie (RCA, 1977)

2. Blood On The Tracks – Bob Dylan (CBS, 1975)

1. Marquee Moon – Television (Elektra, 1977)

Contributors:

Bill Ainsworth, Camilla Aisa, Neil Alexander, Dot Allison, Mick Anderson, Andy (Birmingham 81), Michael Bailey (Soft Hearted Scientists), Billy Bell, Caroline Binnie, Nick Blakey (Underground Jukebox), Chris Bounds, Holly Boyd, Stephen Boyd, Gerry Braiden, Johnny Browning, Colin Brunton, Helen Bull, Marc (Captain Howdy), Julie Campbell (LoneLady, Warp Records), Rob Chapman, Chris Coleman, Mike Convery, Alison Cotton (Left Outsides), Dave Coulter, Laura Lee Davies, Jon Dennis, Mick Derrick, John Dickie, Andrew Divine, Philip Downer, Spender Downes, Vincent Driscoll, Seamus Duggan, Maureen Dunlop, Matthew Edwards, Liam Elliott, Matt Elliott, Pete Ferguson, Declan Flanagan, Mikki Francis-Lawton, Paul Gallagher, Ash Grace, Theo Hakkert, Jeff Hartley, Andrew Hill, Mark Hillier, Barney Hoskyns, Sophie Jay, Johnnie Johnstone, Martin Johnstone, Peter Johnstone, Allan Jones, Jukebox Rebel, Danny Kelly, David Kelner, John Kilbride, Harris King, Graham Kingsbury, Neil Kulkarni, June Lewins, Gerry Love, Huw M, Alastair Macduff, Gary Mackenzie, John Marcus, Leon Massey, Stephen McAuley, Ryan McCullough, Grant McPhee, Fiona McQuarrie, John Medd, Graham Meikle, Andy Miller, Thom Moore, Rob Morgan, Greg Morse, Tony Mulraney, Paul Murray, Peter Murray, Jason Myles, Brendan O’Leary, Jake Palmer, Thomas Patterson, Mark Paytress, Andy Pidluznyj (New Apostles), Nick Portnell, Johnny Purcell, Steve Rhodes, Don Richmond, Chris Roberts, Matt Rogers, Marco Rossi, Martin Ruddock, David Sharp, Simon Shaw, Angela Slaven, Jonathan Small, Jason Spence, Iain Stansfield, Duglas T Stewart, Theo Stockman, David Stubbs, David Tanner, Huw Thomas, Daniel Thompson, Terry Tochel, Toni Tochel, Ben Travers, Paul Turnbull, Sughosh Varadarajan, Ian Wade, Neil Ware, Judah Warsky, Stevie Watt, Rob Webb, Dominic Whittingham, Sandy Wishart, Colin Wright.

Appendix 1: 101-200:

101. The Scream – Siouxsie & The Banshees

Appendix. 2: One Vote Wonders: Journeys of Discovery

Some of the more eye catching nominations – from the sublime to the ridiculous. Happy listening:..

A Certain Ratio – To Each…

The Aggrovators – Johnny In The Echo Chamber

Terry Allen – Lubbock (On Everything)

Amanaz – Africa

Art Bears – The World As It Is Today

Robert Ashley – Automatic Writing

Beat Happening – Beat Happening

Bee Gees – Main Course

Jorge Ben – Africa Brasil

Agnes Bernelle – Bernelle On Brecht and…

Jane Birkin – De Doo Dah

Glenn Branca – Ascension

Jacques Brel – Les Marquises

Butthole Surfers – Psychic Powerless, Another Man’s Sac

Cabaret Voltaire – The Crackdown

Cerrone 3 – Supernature

Don Cherry- Brown Rice

The Chords – So Far Away

The Church – Heyday

Alice Coltrane – Eternity

Cortex – Spinal Injuries

Miles Davis – Dark Magus

Betty Davis – They Say I’m Different

Francesco De Gregori – Bufalo Bill

Dukes Of Stratophear – 25 O’ Clock

Einsturzende Neubauten – 1/2 Mensch

Eno / Moebius / Roedelius – After The Heat

Original Soundtrack- Escape From New York

Felt – The Splendour Of Fear

Fred Frith – Guitar Solos

The Fuzztones – Lysergic Emanations

Game Theory – Real Nightime

Germs – (GI)

Richard Gotainer – Chants Zazous

Great Plains – Naked At The Buy Sell & Trade

Harmonia – Harmonia Deluxe

Eddie Hazel – Games, Dames & Guitar Thangs

Henry Cow – In Praise Of Learning

Higelin – BBh75

Joe Higgs – Life Of Contradiction

Isolation Ward – Point Final

The Jazz Butcher – A Scandal In Bohemia

Eddie Kendricks – Boogie Down

Basil Kirchin – Worlds Within Worlds

Fela Kuti & Afrika ’70 – Sorrow Tears & Blood

RD Laing – Life Before Death

Last Poets – Delights Of The Garden

Jah Lion – Colombia Colly

Lyres – On Fyre

Candy Mackenzie – Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry presents…

MX-80 Sound – Hard Attack

Indoda Mahlathini – Ngibuzindlela

Michael Mantler – The Hapless Child

Mantronix – The Album

Marine Girls – Lazy Ways

Millions Of Dead Cops – Millions Of Dead Cops

Mission Of Burma – Signals Calls & Marches

Moondog – H’Art Songs

Hugh Mundell – Africa Must Be Free By 1983

Milton Nascimento- Clube Da Esquina 2

Nash The Slash – Bedside Companion

Mickey Newbury – I Came To Hear The Music

Colin Newman – A-Z

Pauline Oliveros – Accordion & Voice

Bulent Ortacgil – Benimle Oynar Misin

Ossie All-Stars – Leggo Dub

Gilbert O’Sullivan – A Stranger In My Own Back Yard

Annette Peacock – X-Dreams

Ann Peebles – The Handwriting Is On The Wall

Pink Industry – Low Technology

Popol Vuh – Brüder des Schattens

The Radiators – Songs From The Ancient Furnace

Red Kross – Teen Babes From Monsanto

Terry Reid – Songs From Memory

The Residents – Meet The Residents

Minnie Riperton – Perfect Angel

Michael Rother – Fernwarme

Rufus – Rufusized

Sand – Golem

Scientist – Scientist Rids The World Of The Evil Curse Of The Vampires

Section 25 – Always Now

Yatha Sidhra – A Meditation Mass

Solid Space – Space Museum

The Sound – Heads & Hearts

Sun Ra – Lanquidity

Tangerine Dream – Rubycon

Teenage Head – Teenage Head

Telephone – Crache Tom Venin

The Triffids – Treeless Plain

TV21 – A Thin Red Line

James Blood Ulmer – Are You Glad To Be In America?

Van Der Graf Generator – Godbluff

Townes Van Zandt – Flyin’ Shoes

Velvet Monkeys – Future

Laurent Voulzy – Bopper En Larmes

The Wake – Here Comes Everybody

Ben Watt – North Marine Drive

Yabby You – Deliver Me From My Enemies

Zero Boys – Vicious Circle

Tappa Zukie – MPLA

The Idea…

The NME’S Greatest Albums Of All-Time poll from 1985 jump-started my obsession with popular music, inspiring me to buy dozens of my favourite ever LPs. I learned soon afterwards that the magazine had published an earlier list in 1974, and in those pre-internet days, tried hard to track it down. Eventually, somehow, and from somewhere I can’t quite remember (probably a Back Issues mail order advert), I managed to acquire a tatty old copy. Coming from a definitively post-punk perspective, I found the list somewhat exotic, sometimes horrifying, but always intriguing. I dug it out recently in order to generate some discussion on social media, and – at Philip Downer’s suggestion – agreed to invite a range of music nuts, (writers, musicians, fans) to re-imagine the list today, restricting their choices to albums released before 1st January 1974. The response was surprisingly instantaneous.

Is the ‘canon’ dead?

November 11th: It’s very late in the evening. I should be in bed. I’m rustling through dog-eared scraps of paper pinning scores to roughly alphabeticised lists of albums. I wouldn’t say that I don’t trust computers, but I certainly don’t have confidence that mine will last the pace, so it’s safer this way. I’m on around my fifteenth or sixteenth list (sixty three to go), and already I’m recording the second nomination for Ralf & Florian and the third for Clube da Esquina. I’m thrilled, and for a brief moment believe that, rather than this being an exercise in great folly, what in fact will emerge from this painstaking endeavour will be the greatest list of albums I’ve ever seen. But neither Ralf & Florian nor Clube Da Esquina receive another vote. People are messaging me on Twitter, wanting to amend their selections. I am reassured by their uber-enthusiasm for the task. I’m about 40 votes in before I do a little counting – I can’t stand the suspense – convinced as I am that the tired old ‘canon’ is on its way out. But then I notice that the old favourites have not only started to creep into contention, but have relentlessly and ruthlessly gobbled up and spat out all the quirky curios and cult favourites that have caught my eye, the inclusion of which has made this such a pleasurable process.

And that perhaps is the inevitability of the block vote: there are still some interesting variations here (only 39 survive the original ’74 poll), but the end result is something that looks not unlike the ’95 Mojo poll, and in some ways makes the list of those ranked between 101-200 resemble a ZigZag poll from the mid-70s, peppered as it is with offerings by Jim Sullivan, Bill Fay, The Millenium, White Noise, Silver Apples and Amon Duul 2. As far as the quota ranked at 700 or lower is concerned, it looks a little like a cohort of refugees escaping from a Wire poll, and for some the more interesting things will undoubtedly be happening further down the list.

I make no claim for this to be regarded a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of the period – it could not pretend to be and was never intended to be. Naturally, the people we correspond with on social media often have similar tastes and so while the album which topped the poll may be a moderately surprising choice to some, if you think about the context, it may well be less surprising than you think. I did try to cast the net of contributors as far and wide as possible, and it brought me great satisfaction to read lists which consistently bore witness to the passion, wisdom and broad perspectives of their compilers, each of whom I’m very grateful to, and who are listed at the end of this article.

Anyway, hope you enjoy reading. Let us know what you think. I’m still reeling from Tim Buckley’s Happy Sad ranking a lowly 101st!

[I will post numbers 101-200 at a later date, and perhaps a post-1974 poll may be in order at some point in the future. Watch this space.] (JJ)

100. The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark (A&M, 1968)

99. Starsailor – Tim Buckley (Straight, 1970)

98. Led Zeppelin IV ( Atlantic, 1971)

97. Something / Anything – Todd Rundgren (Bearsville, 1971)

96. Dark Side Of The Moon – Pink Floyd (Harvest, 1973)

95. The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter – The Incredible String Band (Elektra, 1968)

94. Journey Into Satchidananda – Alice Coltrane (Impulse, 1971)

93. The United States Of America (Columbia, 1968)

92. American Beauty- The Grateful Dead (Warner Bros, 1970)

91. Aladdin Sane – David Bowie (RCA, 1973)

90. Chelsea Girl – Nico (MGM/Verve, 1967)

89. Small Faces (Decca, 1966)

88. In The Court Of The Crimson King – King Crimson (Island, 1969)

87. Axis: Bold As Love – The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Track, 1967)

86. Future Days – Can (United Artists, 1973)

85. Are You Experienced – The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Track, 1967)

84. Judee Sill (Asylum, 1971)

83. Roxy Music (Island, 1972)

82. John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band (Apple, 1970)

81. Liege & Lief – Fairport Convention (Island, 1969)

80. Arthur Or The Decline & Fall Of The British Empire – The Kinks (Pye, 1969)

79. John Wesley Harding – Bob Dylan (Columbia, 1967)

78. Heart Food – Judee Sill (Asylum, 1973)

77. Bitches Brew – Miles Davis (Columbia, 1970)

76. Safe As Milk – Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band (Buddah, 1967)

75. Who Sell Out – The Who (Track, 1967)

74. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles (Parlophone, 1967)

73. Trout Mask Replica – Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band (Straight, 1969)

72. Innervisions – Stevie Wonder (Tamla Motown, 1973)

71. Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake – Small Faces (Immediate, 1968)

70. Ege Bamyasi – Can (United Artists, 1972)

69. The Madcap Laughs – Syd Barrett (Harvest, 1970)

68. Berlin – Lou Reed (RCA, 1973)

67. In A Silent Way – Miles Davis (Columbia, 1969)

66. Neu! (Brain, 1972)

65. Maggot Brain – Funkadelic (Westbound, 1971)

64. If Only I Could Remember My Name – David Crosby (Atlantic, 1971)

63. The Doors (Elektra, 1967)

62. Transformer – Lou Reed (RCA, 1972)

61. For Your Pleasure – Roxy Music (Island, 1973)

60. Curtis – Curtis Mayfield (Curtom, 1970)

59. Electric Warrior – T. Rex (Fly, 1971)

58. Let It Bleed – The Rolling Stones (Decca, 1969)

57. Songs Of Leonard Cohen (Columbia, 1967)

56. Gris-Gris: The Night Tripper – Dr. John (Atco, 1968)

55. Histoire De Melody Nelson – Serge Gainsbourg (Philips, 1971)

54. Scott 3 – Scott Walker (Philips, 1969)

53. White Light / White Heat – The Velvet Underground (MGM / Verve, 1967)

52. Electric Ladyland – The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Track, 1968)

51. Otis Blue – Otis Redding (Atco, 1966)

50. The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators (International Artists, 1966)

49. A Love Supreme – John Coltrane (Impulse!, 1965)

48. Abbey Road – The Beatles (Apple, 1969)

47. Kick Out The Jams – MC5 (Elektra, 1969)

46. Tago Mago – Can (United Artists, 1971)

45. Bringing It All Back Home – Bob Dylan (Columbia, 1965)

44. Who’s Next – The Who (Track, 1971)

43. Pink Moon – Nick Drake (Island, 1972)

42. Surf’s Up – The Beach Boys (Brother, 1971)

41. Loaded – The Velvet Underground (Cotillion, 1970)

40. Something Else By The Kinks – The Kinks (Pye, 1967)

39. Buffalo Springfield Again – Buffalo Springfield (Atco, 1967)

38. Sticky Fingers – The Rolling Stones (Rolling Stones, 1971)

37. Easter Everywhere – The 13th Floor Elevators (International Artists, 1967)

36. Exile On Main Street – The Rolling Stones (Rolling Stones, 1972)

35. After The Gold Rush – Neil Young (Reprise, 1970)

34. Five Leaves Left – Nick Drake (Island, 1969)

33. Piper At The Gates Of Dawn – Pink Floyd (EMI, 1967)

32. Bryter Layter – Nick Drake (Island, 1970)

31. The Band (Capitol, 1969)

30. Dusty In Memphis – Dusty Springfield (Atlantic, 1969)

29. Kind Of Blue – Miles Davis (Columbia, 1959)

28. Paris 1919 – John Cale (Reprise, 1973)

27. Younger Than Yesterday – The Byrds (Columbia, 1967)

26. There’s A Riot Goin’ On – Sly & The Family Stone (Columbia, 1971)

25. Blue – Joni Mitchell (Reprise, 1971)

24. The Stooges (Elektra, 1969)

23. The Gilded Palace Of Sin – The Flying Burrito Bros (A&M, 1969)

22. Raw Power – Iggy & The Stooges (Columbia, 1973)

21. Rubber Soul – The Beatles (Parlophone, 1965)

20. Beggars Banquet – The Rolling Stones (Decca, 1968)

19. The Notorious Byrd Bros – The Byrds (Columbia, 1968)

18. The Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars – David Bowie (RCA, 1972)

17. Fun House – The Stooges (Elektra, 1970)

16. Odessey & Oracle – The Zombies (CBS, 1967)

15. Scott 4 – Scott Walker (Philips, 1969)

14. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere – Neil Young & Crazy Horse (Reprise, 1969)

13. The Beatles (Apple, 1968)

12. Hunky Dory – David Bowie (RCA/Victor, 1971)

11. No. 1 Record – Big Star (Ardent / Stax, 1972)

10. Highway 61 Revisited – Bob Dylan (Columbia, 1965)

9. The Village Green Preservation Society – The Kinks (Pye, 1968)

8. What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye (Tamla Motown, 1971)

7. The Velvet Underground (MGM, 1969)

6. Blonde On Blonde – Bob Dylan (Columbia, 1966)

5. Astral Weeks – Van Morrison (Warner Bros, 1968)

4. Pet Sounds – The Beach Boys (Capitol, 1966)

3. Revolver – The Beatles (Parlophone, 1966)

2. The Velvet Underground & Nico (MGM / Verve, 1967)

1. Forever Changes – Love (Elektra, 1967)

 

Many Thanks to all who agonised and sweated blood before submitting their contributions to the poll:

Camilla Aisa, Andy (Birmingham ’81), Michael Bailey (Soft Hearted Scientists), Caroline Binnie, Nick Blakey (Underground Jukebox), Stephen Boyd, Holly Boyd, Mark Brend, Johnny Browning, Colin Brunton, Robert Century, Rob Chapman, Si Cole, Stuart Cosgrove, Jon Dennis, Mick Derrick, John Dickie, Philip Downer, Spender Downes, Vincent Driscoll, Matthew Edwards, Russell Elder, Liam Elliott, Matt Elliott, Declan Flanagan, Paul Gallagher, Gary (Captain Howdy), Ash Grace, Andrew Hall, Oliver Hawthorn, Greg Healey, Mark Hillier, Robert Hodgens, Sophie Jay, Johnnie Johnstone, Peter Johnstone, Allan Jones, Harris King, Graham Kingsbury, Blair Liddell, Paul Lowman, Gary Mackenzie, Gavin Martin, Stewart May, Stephen McAuley, Ryan McCullough, Grant McPhee, Fiona McQuarrie, John Medd, Andy Miller, Rob Morgan, Tony Mulraney, Jason Myles, Jeremy Neal, Kris Needs, Ingrid Neimanis (Neon Brambles), Thomas Patterson, Nick Portnell, Johnny Purcell, Mark Raison, Peter Rice, Don Richmond, Matt Rogers, Marco Rossi, Martin Ruddock, Chris Sawle, Jason Spence, Arthur David Spota, Theo Stockman, David Tanner, Huw Thomas, Daniel Thompson, James Timoney, Terry Tochel, Sughosh Varadarajan, Denis Version, Judah Warsky, Stevie Watt, Sandy Wishart.

Appendix: 101-200

101. Happy Sad – Tim Buckley

102. Talking Book- Stevie Wonder

103. Countdown To Ecstasy – Steely Dan

104. Goodbye & Hello – Tim Buckley

105. Gene Clark & The Godsin Brothers – Gene Clark

106. Hot Buttered Soul – Isaac Hayes

107. Cosmo’s Factory – Creedence Clearwater Revival

108. Songs Of Love & Hate – Leonard Cohen

109. Songs Of Innocence – David Axelrod

110. The Man Who Sold The World – David Bowie

111. 5D (Fifth Dimension) – The Byrds

112. Pieces Of A Man – Gil Scott-Heron

113. Os Mutantes – Os Mutantes

114. GP – Gram Parsons

115. New York Tendaberry – Laura Nyro

116. Here Come The Warm Jets – Eno

117. Quadrophenia – The Who

118. Every Picture Tells A Story – Rod Stewart

119. Bookends – Simon & Garfunkel

120. From Elvis In a Memphis – Elvis Presley

121. Just Another Diamond Day – Vashti Bunyan

122. Help! – The Beatles

123. I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Loved You) – Aretha Franklin

124. All Things Must Pass – George Harrison

125. Crosby Stills & Nash – Crosby Stills & Nash

126. Giant Steps – John Coltrane

127. Bill Fay – Bill Fay

128. New York Dolls – New York Dolls

129. Aerial Ballet – Nilsson

130. Nashville Skyline – Bob Dylan

131. Head – The Monkees

132. Begin – The Millenium

133. Moby Grape – Moby Grape

134. New Morning – Bob Dylan

135. Disraeli Gears – Cream

136. Clear Spot – Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band

137. Led Zeppelin III – Led Zepoelin

138. Bert Jansch – Bert Jansch

139. Silver Apples – Silver Apples

140. Nancy & Lee – Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood

141. Meddle – Pink Floyd

142. Original Soundtrack – The Harder They Come

143. Mott – Mott The Hoople

144. Oar – Alexander ‘Skip’ Spence

145. A Wizard A True Star – Todd Rundgren

146. The Marble Index – Nico

147. An Electric Storm – White Noise

148. Their Satanic Majesties Request – The Rolling Stones

149. Clube Da Esquina – Milton Nascimento / Lo Borges

150. Roots – Curtis Mayfield

151. Live At The Apollo – James Brown

152. Scott – Scott Walker

153. Aftermath – The Rolling Stones

154. Headquarters – The Monkees

155. Sunflower – The Beach Boys

156. Blue Afternoon – Tim Buckley

157. Walk Away Renee / Pretty Ballerina – The Left Banke

158. Love – Love

159. Tim Hardin 1 – Tim Hardin

160. Closing Time – Tom Waits

161. Present Tense – Sagittarius

162. Basket Of Light – Pentangle

163. Tim Hardin 2 – Tim Hardin 2

164. Underground- The Electric Prunes

165. Watertown – Frank Sinatra

166. Band On The Run – Wings

167. Sketches Of Spain – Miles Davis

168. Wee Tam & The Big Huge – The Incredible String Band

169. Surrealistic Pillow – Jefferson Airplane

170. Sunshine Superman – Donovan

171. Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel

172. Between The Buttons – The Rolling Stones

173. Live At The Star Club – Jerry Lee Lewis

174. Gonna Take A Miracle – Laura Nyro & Labelle

175. Back To The World – Curtis Mayfield

176. Solid Air – John Martyn

177. Dixie Chicken – Little Feat

178. Here’s Little Richard – Little Richard

179. Face To Face – The Kinks

180. Mr. Tambourine Man – The Byrds

181. Lady Soul – Aretha Franklin

182. Moondance – Van Morrison

183. A Hard Days Night – The Beatles

184. UFO – Jim Sullivan

185. Unicorn – Tyrannosaurus Rex

186. Pawn Hearts – Van Der Graaf Generator

187. Spooky Two – Spooky Tooth

188. Requiem For An Almost Lady – Lee Hazlewood

189. Yeti – Amon Duul 2

190. Goats Head Soup – The Rolling Stones

191. Moondog – Moondog

192. Space Ritual – Hawkwind

193. Superfly – Curtis Mayfield

194. SF Sorrow – The Pretty Things

195. Various Artists – Nuggets (Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era, 1965-68)

196. Aqualung – Jethro Tull

197. Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround Vol. 1 – The Kinks

198. Deja VU – Crosby Stills Nash & Young

199. In The Land Of Grey And Pink – Caravan

200. Call Me – Al Green

……………………………………….

‘One Vote Wonders’

Kafunta – PP Arnold

I’m Gonna Miss You – The Artistics

…Starring Rosi- Ash Ra Tempel

Afro-Harping – Dorothy Ashby

Love Cry – Albert Ayler

Prelude To… – Barbara & Ernie

Acid – Ray Barretto

Fetus – Franco Battiato

Triangle – The Beau Brummels

The Time Has Come – Anne Briggs

As I Am – Chris Britton

In Sommerhausen – Marion Brown

Half-Baked – Jimmy Campbell

Bobby Charles – Bobby Charles

Stimulus – Keith Christmas

Love Is Blue – Claudine

Down Another Road – Graham Collier Sextet

Of The People, By The People, For The People – The Common People

India – Gal Costa

Born Robert Waldon Cassotto – Bobby Darin

The Psychedelic Moods Of… – The Deep

I’m A Loser – Doris Duke

El Topo – Original Soundtrack (Jodorowsky)

Yellow Princess – John Fahey

Est Folle – Brigitte Fontaine

Genuine Imitation Life Gazette- The Four Seasons

Young Gifted & Black – Aretha Franklin

Local Gentry – Bobbie Gentry

One Flight Up – Dexter Gordon

…Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts – Lesley Gore

Folk, Blues & Beyond – Davy Graham

Indian War Whoop – The Holy Modal Rounders

Father Of Folk Blues – Son House

Keep On Pushing – The Impressions

Gypsy People – Jan & Lorraine

El Aparecido – Victor Jara

Bless Its Pointed Little Head – Jefferson Airplane

Is It Because I’m Black – Syl Johnson

July – July

Faintly Blowing – Kaleidescope

Volunteered Slavery – Roland Kirk

That Bad Eartha – Eartha Kitt

Kraftwerk 2 – Kraftwerk

Love Is Here And Now You’re Gone – Tami Lynn

Stargazer – Shelagh McDonald

Danses et Rythmes de la Turquie – Les Mogol

Montage – Montage

Morgen – Morgen

Search For The New Land – Lee Morgan

The Lonely Surfer – Jack Nitzsche

Rehearsals For Retirement- Phil Ochs

Osmium – Parliament

These Things Too – Pearls Before Swine

In Search Of Amelia Earhart – Plainsong

Message Dubwise – Prince Buster

Paix – Catherine Ribeiro & Alpes

Ask Me No Questions – Bridget St. John

Saint Steven – Saint Steven

Sainte Anthony’s Fyre – Sainte Anthony’s Fyre

Three Ragas – Ravi Shankar

The Further Adventures Of Charles Westover – Del Shannon

Philosophy Of The World – The Shaggs

The Spice Of Life – Marlena Shaw

Lux Aeterna – William Sheller

Serenade For A Soul Sister – Horace Silver Quintet

A Harvest Of Gentle Clang – Patrick Sky

Karyobin & The Imaginary Birds That Live In Paradise – Spontaneous Music Ensemble

Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy – Sun Ra & His Myth Science Arkestra

Dreams – Gabor Szabo

Toussaint – Allen Toussaint

Think Pink – Twink

Double Seven – The Upsetters

Dino Valente – Dino Valente

L’Enfant Assassin des Mouches – Jean Claude Vannier

Vergogna Schifosi – Original Soundtrack (Ennio Morricone)

Bright Phoebus – Lal & Mike Waterson

Moanin’ The Blues – Hank Williams

Someday Man – Paul Williams

Emergency! – The Tony Williams Lifetime

Peter Wyngarde – Peter Wyngarde

Grande Liquidacao – Tom Zé