>All right, so I made a list. Why did I do this? Because, apparently, I am a
>complete fucking loser, and I actually find such exercises in tedium
>diverting. And because I am a self-absorbed sadist, I am going to inflict the
>list on the five of you who still read this newsgroup (actually there may be
>as many as ten, but I think I have five of you killfiled).
>
>Here are the criteria: To select one album from every year from 1964 to the
>present. Why 1964? No particular reason. I just thought that 1964 was when
>pop music started to get really interesting (which naturally explains why the
>first two albums on the list are jazz albums). One could also make a strong
>argument for 1963, what with Beatlemania and all, and if I was to pick an
>album for '63 it would be "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan". As is of course
>standard procedure with album lists, compilation albums are not allowed. Live
>albums _are_ allowed, but as it turns out there aren't any on my final list.
>I also tried to view the set of albums as a whole, so that there wouldn't be
>too many redundancies or similar works in there, although at the same time I
>wasn't trying to be eclectic for the sake of being eclectic, and only picked
>albums that I really thought held up as top-rank albums. In three cases I
>_did_ pick two albums by the same artist (and oddly enough, in every case they
>were consecutive albums), but in all of those cases the albums in question
>were just too good to not make it on there.
>
>Note of warning: I am an unrepentant rockist, so for instance pretty much
>every artist on this list is male (in fact I believe the only exceptions are
>Tina Weymouth and Teresa Taylor), and they are pretty much all by bands or
>performers writing their own compositions (exception: _Nothing Can Stop Us_).
>It is kind of interesting to see what did and didn't make it; a lot of bands I
>really enjoy and think are great didn't make the list at all (no Beatles!),
>and some genres I like are totally unrepresented (no Krautrock!). Also, this
>list is completely subjective, and does not try to list "greatest" albums,
>just the albums that I personally have the greatest preference for.
>
>Because I'm long-winded, I wrote brief notes about most of the albums. Some
>of the albums are so renowned and written about that I couldn't think of a
>single god-damned thing to say about them that hadn't been said a million
>times before, so in that case I refrained from commenting. Anyway, enjoy! Or
>don't. Whatever.
>
>1964: Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch: One of the most fascinating "what-ifs" in
>history is the notion that if Dolphy had lived, he might have made an album
>_better_ than this. Oh, it's unlikely; statistically, when a band puts out a
>really fantastic album like this one, anything that comes afterwards is bound
>to be a disappointment. Still, such a thing isn't unprecedented artistically,
>and Dolphy was very, very talented.

>
>1965: Sun Ra - Heliocentric Worlds, Vol. 2: 1965 was Sun Ra's breakthrough
>year. Don't get me wrong, he had recorded a lot of great material before
>then, both in Chicago and in New York (the criminally unavailable "Secrets of
>the Sun" being a particular highlight), but 1965 was the year it all came
>together for Sunny with a set of three fantastic albums for the ESP label. I
>could easily pick any of the three as this year's album, and perhaps "The
>Magic City" is the most iconic, containing as it does the legendary "Shadow
>World", but I went with this one, simply because I'm a complete sucker for
>"The Sun Myth". (I also considered "A Love Supreme" as this year's pick, but
>although I love Trane, I've never considered "A Love Supreme" one of my
>favorites; I actually find it kind of overrated, although it is indisputably
>brilliant.)
>
>1966: The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds: Kind of an obvious pick, but sometimes the
>most obvious choice is the right one. I also considered the Monks' "Black
>Monk Time", but although I admire the unique sound and incredible pogo-worthy
>energy they brought to their album, "Pet Sounds" just has better _songs_ on
>it, even if it is possibly a little fey. Oh, and the version I'd take is
>definitely the original mono mix.

>
>1967: The Who - The Who Sell Out: 1967 is actually a problematic year in
>music, and there's one reason for it: Sgt. Pepper. Don't get me wrong, Sgt.
>Pepper was a landmark album and forced the world to completely re-evaluate the
>way they looked at rock albums and all, but unfortunately the actual _songs_
>on it were, for the most part, just not all that good, and just as
>unfortunately Sgt. Pepper unleashed a torrent of over-orchestrated fairy-dust
>crap on the world. Much of it is not without merit; in fact, a lot of it I
>rather like, but at the same time it all gets a bit precious after a while.
>Which is why I picked this album, which is a bit of an anomaly in the climate
>of 1967. Oh, it's not that it's unambitious; it does after all end with a
>six-minute excerpt from one of those dreaded "rock operas". But at the same
>time, "Sell Out" is unafraid to rock out, and does it on catchy, well-written
>songs, making it in my mind the embodiment of everything that was good about
>rock and roll in the '60s. If I was allowed, I'd take the expanded reissue,
>as I like pretty much every song on it. Yes, even the Keith Moon song.
>(Petra Haden's version of the album is also excellent.)

>
>1968: The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat: No comment.
>
>1969: The Mothers of Invention - Uncle Meat: I originally had "Weasels Ripped
>My Flesh" picked for this year, but then I realized although it was recorded
>in '69 for the most part, it wasn't actually released until 1970. Then I
>realized that Uncle Meat, which came out in '69, was actually a better album
>anyway. I tend to shy away from double albums for the purposes of this list,
>as they're generally padded and thus their impact is diluted, but this is
>actually one of the few double albums that (on LP, at least) isn't padded at
>all. Caveat: I definitely would pick the LP version of this, as the CD
>version is padded out with awful, _awful_ "bonus tracks".
>
>1970: The Stooges - Fun House: All the Stooges albums are good, in terms of
>songwriting and playing, but unfortunately all of them except this one suffer
>from awful "celebrity" production that only served to make them sound worse.
>Unfortunately, I suspect this will apply to their upcoming album as well; I've
>only ever heard two albums produced by Steve Albini I didn't totally hate (one
>of them is on this list and the other didn't come out until like last month).
>
>1971: Funkadelic - Maggot Brain: Other notable albums this year included "Tago
>Mago" and "Meddle", but neither Michael Karoli nor David Gilmour played the
>guitar as if their mother had just died on them. Advantage: Eddie Hazel.
>
>1972: Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band - Clear Spot: I thought about
>putting "Pink Moon" in this spot, but then I thought about it, and realized my
>choice was between a set of low-key, morose folk songs and "Big Eyed Beans
>From Venus". Put on those terms, the choice was not very difficult. Who
>would have thought that getting the Doobie Brothers' producer to do a Captain
>Beefheart album would work out so well?
>
>1973: Stevie Wonder - Innervisions: No comment.

>
>1974: Magma - Wurdah Itah (AKA Christian Vander - Tristan et Yseult): Pretty
>radically different, at least in instrumentation, from the total overkill of
>"Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh", this presents Magma's music stripped to its
>core; piano, bass, drums, and the ever-present vocals. Kind of their
>"Basement Tapes", in a way. Anyway, it works fabulously well, and is one of
>my top albums ever, so was a shoo-in for this list, despite strong competition
>from King Crimson's "Red" and Robert Wyatt's "Rock Bottom".
>
>1975: Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks: It took me a long time to actually get
>around to listening to this album- while it's considered a classic, you'll
>never hear, say, "Tangled Up in Blue" on the radio, or at least I never did,
>and as I wasn't a Dylan "fan" per se it passed me right by. I was surprised
>to discover that it was not just his best post-'60s album, the way people kept
>saying, but was, to my ears, his best album, full stop. If I was allowed to,
>I'd actually pick the original "New York" version of the album- both versions
>have their merits, but having been introduced to both versions at about the
>same time, I like the "New York" version better- but that's probably not
>allowed, not just because it wasn't actually released, but because the acetate
>in question actually dates to 197_4_.

>
>1976: Van Der Graaf Generator - Still Life: 1976 was the first really tough
>year for me to pick due to a lack of suitable material. The bloom was really
>off the rose for "progressive rock", and punk hadn't really hit yet. The
>result is that there's not really that much to pick from. If National Health
>had managed to get an album out before Mont Campbell left, it would've been a
>shoo-in for this list, but unfortunately that didn't come to be. Anyway,
>Still Life is definitely in the top tier of VDGG albums, without any really
>weak songs and some songs I find totally incredible, like "La Rossa" and the
>title track, so it gets the nod for this year. (If "Over" had come out this
>year instead of '77, though, it might have been stiff competition.)

>
>1977: Television - Marquee Moon: No comment.
>
>1978: DEVO - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!: Again, it was a tough call
>between this and Pere Ubu's "Dub Housing", but while Dub Housing is an
>incredibly visionary album, it's just not as much fun to listen to as Q?/A!
>The insane catchiness of "Uncontrollable Urge" along gives this one the nod.
>The first of two albums on the list Eno was involved with, although frankly
>Eno didn't do all _that_ much for the album, compared to the other one on the
>list; basically he recorded them the way they sounded in concert and on demos
>without fucking it up horribly. Which is fine, because that's really all he
>needed to do.

>
>1979: Public Image Ltd - Metal Box: Where John Lydon took all the bands he was
>name-dropping in the Pistols and started actually using elements of their
>sound. The results are far more interesting than the Sex Pistols, who are
>good in theory but in practice got their asses kicked by pretty much every
>other punk band out there. There are two different mixes of this album,
>"Metal Box" and "Second Edition". To be honest I don't know which one I
>prefer; I guess I'd be OK with either of them.
>
>1980: Talking Heads - Remain in Light: The culmination of their Eno-era sound,
>and IMO their last good studio album. (The live album "The Name Of This Band
>Is..." was also extremely good, in fact much better than the overrated "Stop
>Making Sense"). Honestly I listen to "Fear of Music" more, but this album is
>totally brilliant. Odd footnote: When Phish played this album live, they did
>a really, really good job, and I say this despite the fact that I hate Phish
>and feel they completely butchered "Loaded".

>
>1981: Robert Wyatt - Nothing Can Stop Us: Like "Birth of the Cool", compiled
>from singles. A wonderful "comeback" effort that established Wyatt as a
>premier interpreter of other people's songs. The only thing I can say for it
>is it'd be even better with a couple more tracks from around this time
>included, like "Shipbuilding" and his absolutely sublime Victor Jara cover.

>
>1982: Wall of Voodoo - Call of the West: This is, again, possibly not my
>favorite album by them- "Lost Continent" has a hell of a lot going for it- but
>it is very, very good, and the title track is stunning.

>
>1983: Negativland - A Big 10-8 Place: I am not a fan of the '80s. I
>personally feel that very few bands thrived musically in the climate of the
>'80s; in fact, I can only name three or four bands whose '80s work is their
>best stuff. They are all on this list, and Negativland is the first. Like
>Lenny Bruce, Negativland in my mind went downhill pretty steeply when they
>allowed politics to dominate what they were doing; it's perhaps inevitable,
>and I agree with them politically, but from an artistic perspective it's
>disenheartening (though Negativland is still up there with the best when it
>comes to pure sound collage; the CD of "Death Sentences of the Polished and
>Structurally Weak" is perhaps one of my favorite noise albums of all time, and
>I don't even generally go for pure noise music).
>
>1984: Skeleton Crew - Learn To Talk: This was the hardest year for me to pick,
>and consequently the last one I did. Although I love avant-garde music, I
>really didn't give too much consideration to a lot of albums in that genre,
>because very few of them fit the criteria of "timeless classic" for me.
>Still, as avant-garde albums go, this is certainly one of the best, and there
>wasn't that much else to pick from. Not that there weren't good albums that
>came out this year- "Purple Rain", "Double Nickels On The Dime", and I think
>"New Day Rising" all came out this year, not to mention, of course, the
>"Spinal Tap" soundtrack- but none of them are albums I really enjoy listening
>to, so this got the nod. I also considered Univers Zero's "Uzed", but I think
>this one is more diverse and original, and hence to me more interesting.
>
>1985: Tom Waits - Rain Dogs: Tom Waits is another one of those rare people who
>was around before the '80s, but actually got better in the '80s, thus bucking
>the trend set by people like David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, etc. A lot of
>this of course had to do with his wife Kathleen Brennan, who did things like
>introduce him to the music of Captain Beefheart (which I find pretty bizarre;
>the guy toured with Zappa in '74, and had never heard Beefheart?). Anyway his
>music since then has all been pretty much just as great as this, but if I was
>going to pick one, it'd be this one.
>
>1986: Metallica - Master of Puppets: For some reason a lot of people seem to
>prefer Slayer's _Reign in Blood_ to this one, possibly because Slayer didn't
>turn into a bunch of sell-out, fan-suing pussies, but regardless Master of
>Puppets is, to my mind, clearly the better album. The songs are better, the
>playing is better, the production is better; it's just a superior album, and
>clearly Metallica's best.

>
>1987: Butthole Surfers - Locust Abortion Technician: Nowadays it's pretty cool
>to slam the Butthole Surfers since they sued Touch and Go and to talk about
>how "overrated" they are, but fuck it, I don't care if Gibby Haynes sues me
>personally, they still made some of the best music of the '80s, and nothing is
>going to change that. Locust Abortion Technician is possibly their finest
>moment, the point in time where everything came together for the Butthole
>Surfers as a band, and we are better off for having it, whatever label it's
>on.

>
>1988: Talk Talk - The Spirit of Eden: Not my favorite album of theirs, but
>close enough to being my favorite that it makes the list. I considered
>Bongwater's "Double Bummer" here, but it suffers from being a double album and
>I don't like it as much as 1991's "The Power of Pussy" (although Talk Talk
>beats out that album too, as it transpires), so no.
>