Monday 17 April 2017

My 50 Greatest Albums In 50 Years - Year By Year



Unlike my other blog post on music albums, My Top 68 Albums Of All Time, this one lists what I think is the best album of the year for 50 years, from 1960 to 2010. I stopped at 2010 to allow albums made after that year the room to breathe and secure a bit more longevity - but also for personal reasons on the grounds of not having listened to anything like us much musical variety in the past 7 years. Here's my list, and as you (hopefully) enjoy some of my favourites, and (hopefully) recall some of your own, I hope it evokes some nice memories for you, as it did for me:
 
1960 - Let No Man Write My Epitaph - Ella Fitzgerald
1961 - Genius + Soul = Jazz - Ray Charles
1962 - Burnin' - John Lee Hooker
1963 - A Christmas Gift For You - Phil Spector
1964 - A Hard Day's Night - The Beatles
1965 - Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan   
1966 - Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys   
1967 - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles  
1968 - Astral Weeks - Van Morrison
1969 - Abbey Road  -The Beatles
1970 - After the Gold Rush - Neil Young  
1971 - Blue - Joni Mitchell
1972 - Can't Buy A Thrill   Steely Dan  
1973 - Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd 
1974 - Diamond Dogs - David Bowie  
1975 - Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd  
1976 - Songs in the Key of Life - Stevie Wonder  
1977 - Rumours - Fleetwood Mac  
1978 - Parallel Lines - Blondie  
1979 - Rust Never Sleeps - Neil Young  
1980 - Scary Monsters and Supercreeps - David Bowie
1981 - Moving Pictures - Rush
1982 - The Dreaming - Kate Bush
1983 - Script for a Jester's Tear - Marillion
1984 - Hatful of Hollow - The Smiths  
1985 - Hounds of Love - Kate Bush  
1986 - The Queen is Dead   The Smiths  
1987 - Strangeways Here We Come - The Smiths  
1988 - Daydream Nation - Sonic Youth
1989 - The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses  
1990 - Heaven or Las Vegas - The Cocteau Twins
1991 - Screamadelica - Primal Scream
1992 - Automatic For The People - R.E.M
1993 - Suede - Suede
1994 - Dummy - Portishead  
1995 - The Bends - Radiohead  
1996 - If You're Feeling Sinister - Belle & Sebastian
1997 - OK Computer - Radiohead  
1998 - Adore - Smashing Pumpkins  
1999 - Ophelia - Natalie Merchant
2000 - Kid A - Radiohead
2001 - Let It Come Down - Spiritualized
2002 - No More Shall We Part - Nick Cave
2003 - Think Tank - Blur
2004 - Funeral - Arcade Fire
2005 - Z - My Morning Jacket
2006 - Back To Black - Amy Winehouse
2007 - In Rainbows - Radiohead
2008 - @#%&*! Smilers - Aimee Mann
2009 - XX - The XX
2010 - Plastic Beach - Gorrilaz
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