Friday 23 February 2024

Who's next - lightning in a bottle

Photo by Ethan Russell

In their heyday, The Who were a truly exciting live band. There can be little argument about that. It wasn't until the release of their 1971 album 'Who's next', however, that they managed to capture the explosive nature of their live shows on a studio album. 

Their December 1968 stint on 'The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus' showed they were a match for anyone playing live. No one got to see it at the time, though, because the whole project was shelved. The Who's skit did see the light of day on their 1977 biopic 'The Kids Are Alright'.

That confident, cheeky performance of  'A Quick One, While He's Away' was perfectly pitched for the circus tent, and so much more polished and powerful than the Stones' lacklustre act. 

Indeed, it was this upstaging of the Stones, as much as the sorry state of Brian Jones, that convinced Jagger & Co to shelve the Rock and Roll Circus film. It didn't see a full official release for almost 30 years.

From the late '60s on, with the 'Tommy' album as the core of their act, The Who built a reputation as a heavy rock band, culminating in their triumphant early morning stint at Woodstock in August 1969. 

The 1970 'Live At Leeds' album was an all-guns-blazing set, with Pete Townshend and Keith Moon driving each other to new extremes. Check out this clip of them playing the original vinyl album's opener 'Young Man Blues' at the Isle of Wight festival that same year.

As the Village Voice music critic Robert Christgau wrote in 1971, The Who's studio recordings thus far were marred by a thin sound. Their 1971 masterpiece 'Who’s next' changed all that. With the help of master engineer Glyn Johns, they managed to transfer the power and majesty of a Who live show onto a studio record for the first time. Christgau said the group "now achieves the same resonant immediacy in the studio that it does live".

It was a volatile chemistry that made them such an exciting and often unpredictable live act. John Entwistle played lead lines on the bass, allowing Townshend the freedom to jump around, imitate a windmill and bang out his wild riffs.

Moon was the whirlwind, totally unconventional as a drummer, but at his best, as on 'Who's next', he brought exceptional musicality to the drums. 

By '71 and tired of playing 'Tommy' and their 60s hits to the same audiences, Townshend conceived a new album concept as their next big project. He built himself a studio and began creating a new musical landscape.

In the new Apple TV series 1971, Townshend says, “I’d heard about synthesisers and music computers and I could see this new revolution coming.

"Lifehouse was going to be a movie based on a dystopian idea about the way media, electronics and technology would change society. I imagined this world in which there was incredible pollution, incredible difficulty with living in the outside world and so what the government did is it stuck us in our houses and fed us entertainment to keep us happy while they cleaned up the air.

NME review, click to enlarge

“I called it The Grid, this global communication system where everybody would be fed similar stuff. It would be surreptitiously policed and censored. Once they’d got us in and they were feeding us the programmes, we would imagine we had access to everything, because of its richness, its persuasiveness and its beauty. It was an anticipation of the idea that everything would go wrong, but that music would prevail."

Unfortunately, Pete couldn’t sell this concept to the band. They thought he'd gone mad. But producer Glyn Johns was sufficiently interested in the musical ideas to help Pete condense them into conventional backing tracks that The Who could then play along to. 

Rolling Stone
magazine’s 1971 review noted that “Townshend wrings more than his money’s worth out of his £14,000-worth of synthesizers, making, I daresay, shrewder at once more adventurous and better-integrated — use of them than any rock experimenter before him."

In 'Baba O’Riley', for instance, he sets the stage for the band’s dramatic entrance with a pre-recorded VCS3 part he obtained by programming certain of his vital statistics into a computer hooked up to the synthesizer, then treats the part as a drone while the song’s two major chords are transposed over it.
All in the best possible taste

The looped and synthesised intro to 'Baba O’Riley' and the trippy electronics of  'Won’t Get Fooled Again' were inspired by minimalist composer Terry Riley’s 1967 album 'A Rainbow in Curved Air'. 

Rolling Stone
noted the quality of the musicianship on this album, “with Moon thrashing and bashing more precisely than ever before on record, Entwistle dreaming up all manner of scrumptious melodic and rhythmic flourishes (listen especially to what he plays beneath the chorus of 'Won’t Get Fooled Again').

"And Townshend, with chunky acoustic rhythm, resounding monster chords of the classic sort, and cogent and lyrical solos, playing with exemplary efficiency and taste.” Singer Roger Daltrey also rose to the occasion with some of his most assured vocals, including the legendary scream at the climax of Won't Get Fooled Again. 

Re-reviewing 'Who’s next' in the mid 1970s, the NME’s Steve Clarke noted that Keith Moon’s unique style of playing – often without a hi-hat, hence the wash of cymbal sounds on many recordings – meant he lacked “the bombastic precision of many of Britain’s rock drummers. Instead. Moon sounds spontaneously manic, and nowhere has he sounded better than here.”

back cover photo
While the dramatic opening and closing tracks of 'Who's next' are the ones most people remember, there’s a satisfying variety in the moods in the remaining songs, with particularly melodic passages in 'Love Ain’t For Keeping', 'Song Is Over' and the utterly brilliant 'Behind Blue Eyes'. The acoustic-to-electric transition on the latter exemplifies the tension and release dynamics of The Who at their best – and with lyrics to match.

When my fist clenches crack it open, before use it and lose my cool. If I smile, tell me some bad news, before I laugh and act like a fool.

RS described ‘Song Is Over’ as “an unutterably beautiful song in which Townshend sings exquisitely over a gentle piano background with Daltrey charging in exhilaratingly, with breathtaking chord changes in the manner of the “Listening to you I hear the music . . .” refrain from Tommy.”

Pete may have failed to get the broader Lifehouse project off the ground, but 'Who's next' nonetheless carries a strong sense of what Clarke observed as “We’re all part of something bigger and somehow one day we’ll all join together as one.” 

Photo by Ethan Russell

The cover shot of the monolith in a Sheffield slag heap is odd but effective, although as Townshend pointed out, it bears no relation to the narrative of the record. Indeed, photographer Ethan Russell said he thought after they had done it there was no chance it would be used.

Quite how it was selected then is a mystery. Townsend added, "Of course I don’t like it. It’s got no artistic consequence whatsoever. No link to the music. It’s meaningless. It’s four guys stopping in a car and pissing up against a chunk of concrete. Anyway, can we move on?"

Also On This Blog:

Five Days of Drama at The Isle of Wight, 1970

The Who 'Put The Boot In' at Charlton FC, 1976

Sunday Night at The Saville, 1967
 


 

Sunday 30 July 2023

An alternative to those predictable lists of 'classic' albums

As a brief glimpse at my blog posts will confirm, I love the classic rock albums as much as the next child of the 1960s and 70s. But who among us needs another list of what the consensus views as the greatest - the classics {especially if it doesn't confirm my own subjective choices!}.

Wouldn't it be better to highlight some albums that are equally deserving of classic status, but remain underappreciated? 

I find it interesting how attitudes to classic records of the first vinyl era changed from decade to decade in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. 

The compiling of Classic Album lists (at least in the UK) began with the 1974 list of the 100 greatest albums voted on by the writers of the NME. Naturally, the list was heavy with albums from the mid to late 1960s. These were records that inspired so much of what came after, especially the more adventurous sounds. 

So number one was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - no one doubted then that this was the high point of popular music. Sgt. Pepper changed not only the way people thought about music, but how they thought about albums. Right then, bands began to think much more seriously about what they were putting out. Concept albums, or at least albums with some kind of thematic heart, were the thing to produce.

Dylan's Blonde on Blonde was number two in the 1974 list, the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds at three and The Beatles' Revolver at four.

By 1985, the post-punk hipsters had hijacked the NME listings, placing John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band - a raw, vicious confessional of an album that sold poorly - at number 9, two places above arguably The Beatles best album, Revolver. Sgt. Pepper was nowhere to be seen. That was a massive shift, in what might be considered a backlash against the sixties generation, who established the NME as a must-read for teenagers in the 1970s.

By 1993, the pendulum had swung back in favour of the 'classics', with Revolver up to Number 2 behind Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper back in at 33. 

The albums banned from the '99 poll
Which is all well and good, but these lists reduce popular music to a menu that's the same for everyone. More interesting, perhaps, was the survey that appeared in The Guardian newspaper in 1999, that forced respondents to ignore the classics. 

No Revolver or Sgt Pepper, no What's Going On or Astral Weeks, no Rumours, Thriller, Dark Side Of The Moon or Hotel California. 100 albums including classic Bowie, Joni's Blue, Never Mind The Bollocks, peak-Radiohead or Prince. All banned. 

click to read the write-ups

The result was a fresh, often startling and properly contentious list of really great records that would never have been on the radar of casual music fans.

At Number One? Nick Drake's terrific second album Bryter Layter, released in early 1971. Not a chance that was even considered for the NME's original 1975 list. The three albums Nick Drake released in his lifetime all failed commercially. Posthumously he become the cult artist par excellence and Bryter Layter is a truly great album. 

The Guardian survey asked 'is Bryter Layter as good as Revolver or Pet Sounds, really?' The writer concluded, "It certainly deserves to be heard by as many people, as do the other 99 albums here."

A quarter of a century later and the list will certainly be very different again in 2023. Nick Drake might still feature, but he's most unlikely to be at number one.

The Guardian's 1999 alternative top 100 list still leans on a few staples, with the Beatles represented twice in the top 10, despite having seven of their albums banned. Almost half the albums in the list were released in the 1970s.

But this alternative top 100, which you can view by clicking on the pages here, does the job it was intended to do, said The Guardian, "opening up the thoroughly unfashionable for reinterpretation."

Personally, I think it's great to see the likes of Nick Drake, Todd Rundgren, Big Star, Jeff Buckley, Scott Walker and Laura Nyro celebrated in this way. Proving, as the report concludes, "there's an equally fantastic pop canon lurking in the shadows, behind the ones we all know and eulogise."

Below are listed the NME All Time Top 100 Album Lists from 1974 through to 1993.

NME Writers All Time Top 100 - 1974

1. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles

2. Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan

3. Pet Sounds - Beach Boys

4. Revolver - The Beatles

5. Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan

6. Electric Ladyland - The Jimi Hendrix Experience

7. Are You Experienced? - The Jimi Hendrix Experience

8. Abbey Road - The Beatles

9. Sticky Fingers - The Rolling Stones

10. Music From Big Pink - The Band

11. Let It Bleed - The Rolling Stones

12. Layla - Derek & The Dominoes

13. The Velvet Underground & Nico

14. Golden Decade Vol 1 - Chuck Berry

15. Rubber Soul - The Beatles

16. Tommy - The Who

17. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel

18. Hunky Dory - David Bowie

19. Beggar’s Banquet - The Rolling Stones

20. Disraeli Gears - Cream

21. Piper At The Gates Of Dawn - The Pink Floyd

22. My Generation - The Who

23. Crosby, Stills & Nash

24. The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones

25. Imagine - John Lennon

26. Tapestry - Carole King

27. Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie

28. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan

29. Back In The USA - MC5

30. Deja Vu - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

31. The Band - The Band

32. Gasoline Alley - Rod Stewart

33. A Hard Day’s Night - The Beatles

34. Every Picture Tells A Story - Rod Stewart

35. Led Zeppelin 4 - Led Zeppelin

36. The Doors - The Doors

37. In The Court Of The Crimson King - King Crimson

38. Exile On Main Street - The Rolling Stones

39. The Beatles (White album) - The Beatles

40. The Soft Machine - Soft Machine

41. Hot Rats - Frank Zappa

42. Traffic - Traffic

43. Trout Mask Replica - Captain Beefheart

44. Music From A Dolls House - Family

45. Talking Book - Stevie Wonder

46. Anthology - Smoky Robinson & The Miracles

47. Strange Days - The Doors

48. Led Zeppelin 2 - Led Zeppelin

49. Otis Blue - Otis Redding

50. Stand Up - Jethro Tull

51. The Impressions - Big 16

52. Love - Forever Changes

53. Neil Young - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

54. James Taylor - Sweet Baby James

55. The Byrds - Fifth Dimension

56. Wings - Band On The Run

57. David Bowie - The Man Who Sold The World

58.The Mothers Of Invention - We're Only In It For The Money

59. Rolling Stones - Get Your Ya-Yas Out

60. Jeff Beck Group - Beck-Ola

61. Iggy & The Stooges - Raw Power

62. Beach Boys - Smiley Smile

63. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks

64. Velvet Underground - Loaded

65. Aretha Franklin - Greatest Hits

66. The Beatles - With The Beatles

67. Joni Mitchell - Blue

68. The Mothers Of Invention - Freak Out

69. Neil Young - After The Gold Rush

70. Stephen Stills

71. Johnny Winter And

72. Joe Cocker - With A Little Help From My Friends

73. Yes - The Yes Album

74. Van Morrison - Moondance

75. Todd Rundgren - A Wizard, A True Star

76. John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band

77. Jefferson Airplane - Crown Of Creation

78. The Doors - L.A. Woman

79. Sly & The Family Stone - There's A Riot Going On

80. The Who - Who's Next

81. Country Joe & The Fish - Electric Music For The Mind & Body

82. Robert Johnson - King Of The Delta Blues Singers

83. Best Of The Beach Boys Volume 1

84. Joni Mitchell - Song For A Seagull

85. John Mayall's Bluesbreakers - with Eric Clapton

86. Traffic - Mr Fantasy

87. Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home

88. Elvis Presley - Greatest Hits Volume 2

89. Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat

90. Moby Grape - Moby Grape

91. Big Brother & The Holding Co. - Cheap Thrills

92. Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon

93. Doctor John - Gris-Gris

94. Stevie Wonder - Music Of The Mind

95. Roxy Music - Stranded

96. Beach Boys - Surf's Up

97. Randy Newman - 12 Songs

98. Spirit - 12 Dreams Of Dr Sardonicus

99. Steve Miller Band – Sailor

100. Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells 

 

NME Writers All Time 100 Albums - First Published On 30th November 1985

1. What’s Going On - Marvin Gaye (1971)

2. Astral Weeks - Van Morrison (1968)

3. Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan (1965)

4. The Clash - The Clash (1977)

5. Marquee Moon - Television (1977)

6. Swardfishtrombones - Tom Waits (1983)

7. The Band - The Band (1969)

8. Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan (1966)

9. Plastic Ono Band - John Lennon (1970)

10. Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division (1979)

11. Revolver - The Beatles (1966)

12. The Sun Collection - Elvis Presley (1975)

13. Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols (1977)

14. Forever Changes - Love (1967)

15. Low - David Bowie (1977)

16. The Velvet Underground And Nico - The Velvet Underground (1967)

17. Solid Gold - James Brown (1977)

18. Horses - Patti Smith (1975)

19. Live And Lowdown At The Apollo - James Brown (1962)

20. Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys (1966)

21. Kind Of Blue - Miles Davis (1959)

22. Bringing It All Back Home - Bob Dylan (1965)

23. Otis Blue - Otis Redding (1966)

24. The Doors - The Doors (1967)

25. Exile On Main Street - The Rolling Stones (1972)

26. Anthology - The Temptations (1974)

27. Greatest Hits - Aretha Franklin (1977)

28. Are You Experienced - The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1967)

29. The Modern Dance - Pere Ubu (1978)

30. King Of The Delta Blues Singers - Robert Johnson (1972)

31. Imperial Bedroom - Elvis Costello & The Attractions

32. Anthology - Smoky Robinson And The Miracles (1974)

33. The Beatles - The Beatles (1968)

34. Searching For The Young Soul Rebels - Dexys Midnight Runners (1980)

35. White Light/White Heat - The Velvet Underground (1968)

36. Young Americans - David Bowie (1975)

37. The Poet - Bobby Womack (1982)

38. Trans-Europe Express - Kraftwerk (1977)

39. Darkness On The Edge Of Town - Bruce Springsteen (1979)

40. This Years Model - Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1978)

41. Another Green World - Eno (1975)

42. Trout Mask Replica - Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band (1969)

43. The Man Machine - Kraftwerk (1978)

44. The Mothership Connection - Parliament (1975)

45. The Cream Of Al Green - Al Green (1980)

46. Let’s Get It On - Marvin Gaye (1973)

47. There’s A Riot Going On - Sly And The Family Stone (1971)

48. Rocket To Russia - The Ramones (1977)

49. Greatest Hits - Sly And The Family Stone (1970)

50. Big 16 - The Impressions (1965)

51. Blood On The Tracks - Bob Dylan (1974)

52. Alan Vega/Martin Rev - Suicide (1980)

53. Another Music In A Different Kitchen - Buzzcocks (1978)

54. Closer - Joy Division (1980)

55. Mad Not Mad - Madness (1985)

56. For Your Pleasure - Roxy Music (1973)

57. The Scream - Siouxsie & The Banshees (1980)

58. The Harder They Come - Soundtrack featuring Jimmy Cliff

59. Entertainment! - Gang Of Four (1980)

60. The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground (1969)

61. 3+3 - The Isley Brothers (1973)

62. The Hissing Of Summer Lawns - Joni Mitchell (1975)

63. “Heroes” - David Bowie (1977)

64. Meat Is Murder - The Smiths (1985)

65. Station To Station - David Bowie (1976)

66. Clear Spot - Captain Beefheart And The Magic Band (1972)

67. Get Happy! - Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1980)

68. Fear Of Music - Talking Heads (1979)

69. Lust For Life - Iggy Pop (1977)

70. Berlin - Lou Reed (1973)

71. 20 Greatest Hits - Buddy Holly & The Crickets (1967)

72. Music From Big Pink - The Band (1968)

73. Hard Day’s Night - The Beatles (1964)

74. Roxy Music - Roxy Music (1972)

75. Leave Home - The Ramones (1977)

76. A Love Supreme - John Coltrane (1957)

77. Golden Decade Vol 1 - Chuck Berry (1972)

78. The Very Best Of.. - Jackie Wilson

79. In A Silent Way - Miles Davis (1969)

80. Stranded - Roxy Music (1973)

81. Talking Heads ‘77 - Talking Heads (1977)

82. The Correct Use Of Soap - Magazine (1980)

83. Born In The USA - Bruce Springsteen (1983)

84. Court And Spark - Joni Mitchell (1974)

85. Strange Days - The Doors (1967)

86. More Songs About Buildings And Food - Talking Heads (1978)

87. L.A. Woman - The Doors (1971)

88. Chess Masters - Howling Wolf (1981)

89. Armed Forces - Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1979)

90. Steve McQueen - Prefab Sprout (1985)

91. Paris 1919 - John Cale (1973)

92. Forward Onto Zion - The Abyssinians (1977)

93. My Aim Is True - Elvis Costello (1977)

94. Rattlesnakes - Lloyd Cole & The Commotions (1984)

95. Best Of - The Beach Boys (1968)

96. King Tubbys Meets The Rockers Uptown - Augustus Pablo (1976)

97. Rubber Soul - The Beatles (1965)

98. Suicide - Suicide (1977)

99. The Undertones - The Undertones (1979)

 

New Musical Express Writers Top 100 Albums - Published 2nd October 1993

1. Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys (Capitol, 1966)

2. Revolver - The Beatles (Parlophone, 1966)

3. Never Mind The Bollocks - The Sex Pistols (Virgin, 1977)

4. What's Going On - Marvin Gaye ( Tamla Motown, 1971)

5. The Stone Roses (Silvertone, 1989)

6. The Velvet Underground & Nico ( Verve, 1967)

7. London Calling - The Clash (Cbs, 1979)

8. The Beatles White album (Apple, 1968)

9. It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back - Public Enemy (Def Jam, 1988)

10. The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths (Rough Trade, 1986)

11. Exile On Main Street - The Rolling Stones (Rolling Stones,1972)

12. Nevermind - Nirvana (Geffen, 1991)

13. The Clash (Cbs, 1977)

14. Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan (Columbia, 1965)

15. Astral Weeks - Van Morrison (Warners, 1968)

16. Sign 'O' The Times - Prince (Paisley Park, 1987)

17. Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan (Columbia, 1966)

18. Forever Changes - Love (Elektra, 1968)

19. Three Feet High And Rising - De La Soul (Big Life 1989)

20. Closer - Joy Division (Factory, 1980)

21. Screamadelica - Primal Scream (Creation, 1991)

22. Let It Bleed - The Rolling Stones (Decca, 1969)

23. Automatic For The People - REM ( Wea, 1992)

24. The Elvis Presley Sun Collection (Rca, 1975)

25. The Doors (Elektra, 1967)

26. Marquee Moon - Television (Elektra 1977)

27. Psychocandy - Jesus & Mary Chain (Blanco Y Negro, 1985)

28. Blue - Joni Mitchell (Reprise 1972)

29. Are You Experienced? - The Jimi Hendrix Experience ( Track 1967)

30. Live At The Apollo - James Brown (London 1963)

31. Horses - Patti Smith (Arista 1975)

32. Innervisions - Stevie Wonder (Tamla Motown 1973)

33. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Band - The Beatles ( Parlophone, 1967)

34. Songs For Swinging Lovers - Frank Sinatra (Capitol 1955)

35. Otis Blue - Otis Redding (Atcon 1966)

36. A Love Supreme - John Coltrane (Lmpulse 1967)

37. Fear Of A Black Planet - Public Enemy (Def Jam 1990)

38. Hunky Dory - David Bowle (Rca 1971)

39. Blood And Chocolate-  Elvis Cosleilo & The Attractions (Imp 1986)

40. Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars - David Bowie (Rca 1972)

41. Hatful Of Hollow - The Smiths (Rough Trade 1984)

42. Technioue - New Order (Factory 1989)

43. Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division (Factory 1979)

44. Surfer Rosa - Pixies (4AD 1985)

45. Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld - The Orb ( Wau Mr Modo1991)

46. Surf's Up - The Beach Boys (Stateside 1971)

47. Lust For Life - Iggy Pop (RCA 1977)

48. Bringing It All Back Home - Bob Dylan (Cbs 1965)

49. Warehouse: Songs And Stories - Husker Du ( Warners 1987)

50. Low-Life - New Order (Factory 1985)

51. Heaven Up Here - Echo And The Bunnymen (Korova 1987)

52. Parallel Lines - Blondie (Chrysalis 1978)

53. Grievous Angel - Gram Parsons (Reprise 1974)

54. Dusty In Memphis - Dusty Springfield (Philips, 1969)

55. Transformer - Lou Reed (RCA 1973)

56. Led Zeppelin IV (Atlantic. 1971)

57. All Mod Cons - The Jam (Polydor 1978)

58. The Velvet Underground (Mgm 1969)

59. We’re Only In It For The Money - Mothers Of Invention ( Mgm 1967)

60. Harvest - Neil Young (1972)

61. Scott - Scott Walker (Philips 1967)

62. The Stooges (Eiekira 1969)

63. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere - Neil Young (Repfise 1969)

64. Rubber Soul - The Beatles (Parlophone 1967)

65. Greatest Hits - Aretha Franklin (Atlantic 1971)

66. After The Goldrush - Neii Young (Reprise, 1970)

67. Low - David Bowie ( Rca, 1977)

68. Remain In Light - Talking Heads (Sire, 1980)

69. Marcus Garvey - Burning Spear (Island, 1975)

70. Raindogs - Tom Waits (Island, 1985)

71. Dry - PJ Harvey ( Too Pure, 1992)

72. The Smiths (Rough Trade, 1984)

73. Lazer-Guided Melodies - Spiritualized (Dedicated, 1992)

74. Five Leaves Left - Nick Drake (Island, 1969)

75. Clear Spot - Captain Beefheart (Reprise, 1972)

76. 16 Lovers Lane - The Go-Betweens (Beggars Banquet, 1988)

77. Pink Flag - Wire (Harvest, 1977)

78. Natty Dread - Bob Marley (Island, 1975)

79. Sound Affects - The Jam (Polydor 1980)

80. Slster - Sonic Youth (Blast First 1987)

81. The White Room - The KLF (Klf Communications, 1991)

82. Junkyard - The Birthday Party (4ad, 1982)

83. The Kick Inside - Kate Bush (Emi 1978)

84. Searching For The Young Soul Rebels - Dexy's Midnight Runners (Parlophone, 1980)

85. Blood On The Tracks - Bob Dylan (Cbs, 1975)

86. Rum, Sodomy & The Lash - The Pogues (Stiff, 1985)

87. Give 'Em Enough Rope - The Clash (Cbs, 1978)

88. King Of America - Costello Show (F-Beat, 1986)

89. Talking With The Taxman About Poetry - Billy Bragg (Go! Discs, 1986)

90. Third/Sister Lovers - Big Star (Ardent, 1978)

91. Like A Prayer - Madonna (Sire 1959)

92. Reading, Writing And Arithmetic - The Sundays (Rough Trade, 1990)

93. Off The Wall - Michael Jackson (Epic 1979)

94. Tonight's The Night - Neil Young (Reprise, 1975)

95. This Nation's Saving Grace - The Fall ( Beggars Banquet 1985)

96. Metal Box - PIL ( Virgin 1979)

97. Blue Lines - Massive Attack ( Wild Bunch, 1991)

98. Younger Than Yesterday - The Byrds (Cbs 1967)

99. Who's Next? - The Who ( Track 1971)

100. Happy Mondays - Bummed.