Back at the start of this year, Dave Berry, the breakfast show presenter on Absolute Radio did a long running section called the “100 Collection”, where he was going to slim down his record collection (I know the feeling) to the greatest 100 albums of all time.
But being Absolute Radio, it wasn’t going to be a case of a straight up top 100 list. True to their myriad of different stations, they broke it up into ten different categories. They had seven of the categories to match up with their speciality stations: the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s, and Classic Rock. Then they added three non-station related categories; best Difficult Second Albums, best Greatest Hits collections, and best Soundtracks. Then they had ten albums per category. Looking back, it is I suppose a small mercy that their new station – Absolute Country hadn’t started, as I doubt they could name ten Country albums, let alone find ten great ones.
Working from home during the time they were running this I got to hear each of the top tens for the categories as they were announced every few days. There were some I agreed with, and others I didn’t, and some I though WTF at. And of course, a lot of “how on Earth have they left that one out?”
I thought about it and decided to put together my own list following the same rules. And then I put that thought in a box with all the other things I was going to do, and let it get swept away in a sea of apathy.
It was three months later before I got around to doing my list. To be fair to Dave Berry, it isn’t as easy to do as I imagined it would be. The issue is the categories. If I named my hundred favourite albums then there would be a very heavy bell curve with its central point around 1986, yet I’ve only got space for ten 80s albums. Yes, it was possible to get some in to the Difficult Second Album category, a few into Greatest Hits, take a very liberal take on the term Classic Rock, and even slip one or two into Soundtracks. But it still left a number of very good albums set to miss out.
It took a couple of days to complete, but I was happy with my list. And then I put the list away. I left myself notes if I suddenly had a thought about “that’s a great album – put it on the list”. Now, six weeks later I’ve looked at my list again, and taken a look at the notes I made. Only to find that I’d already included all the albums I’d noted in my list.
There are a few artists who appear more than once, but that shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that knows me, and thankfully for me, it was within the original rules Dave Berry set himself.
When I got to the end and compared it to Dave Berry’s list, I ended up with twenty albums that matched his list. The 90s and Soundtracks were where we thought the same the most (four albums in each category), but I didn’t match a single album in the 80s or 10s categories (although one of his 80s list appeared on my difficult second albums list). Those that match are in a different colour and in bold.
I’m happy with my list. There are some on it that I don’t own on vinyl, and some on there that don’t exist on vinyl, but I do have them all in some format or other. And yes, I did stick a compilation into one of the categories outside of Soundtracks, but my obsession with that album has already been the subject of a previous (very long) blog post. My list grouped by category is below. Let the dissention begin.
60s
The Rolling Stones – Aftermath
The Beatles – Revolver
Small Faces – Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake
The Kinks – Well Respected Kinks
Dusty Springfield – Dusty In Memphis
Otis Redding – Otis Blue
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles – Make It Happen
Stevie Wonder – I Was Made To Love Her
Aretha Franklin – Aretha Now
The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed
70s
Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On
Stevie Wonder – Innervisions
Earth, Wind & Fire – I Am
Eagles – Hotel California
The Jam – Setting Sons
Kraftwerk – Man Machine
The Who – Who’s Next
Blondie – Parallel Lines
Darts – Double Top
The Jam – All Mod Cons
80s
The Style Council – Café Bleu
Eric B & Rakim – Paid In Full
Ice T – Iceberg / Freedom of Speech
Alexander O’Neal – Hearsay
Pet Shop Boys – Please
Terence Trent D’arby – Introducing The Hardline According To…
Beastie Boys – Licensed To Ill
Various – Electro 13
Michael Jackson – Thriller
NWA – Straight Outta Compton
90s
Green Day – Dookie
Prodigy – Music For The Jilted Generation
Ice T – O.G. Original Gangster
Nirvana – Nevermind
Oasis – Definitely Maybe
Paul Weller – Stanley Road
Portishead – Dummy
Pulp – A Different Class
Black Grape – It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah!
Rage Against The Machine – Rage Against The Machine
00s
Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
Bloodhound Gang – Hooray for B00bies
Linkin Park – Hybrid Theory
Amy Winehouse – Back to Black
The White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan
Mark Ronson – Version
Paramore – Riot
Reverend & The Makers – The State Of Things
The Killers – Hot Fuss
Kasabian – Kasabian
10s
Plan B – The Defamation Of Strickland Banks
The Heavy – Hurt & The Merciless
Indiana – No Romeo
Kasabian – For Crying Out Loud
Lounge Kittens – Sequins And C-Bombs
Paramore – Paramore
Paul Weller – Wake Up The Nation
Prince – HITnRUN Phase Two
Janelle Monae – Dirty Computer
Lizzo – Cuz I Love You
Difficult Second Albums
The Style Council – Our Favourite Shop
Foo Fighters – The Colour and the Shape
Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
Ice T – Power
The Heavy – The House That Dirt Built
LL Cool J – Bigger And Deffer (BAD)
Paul Weller – Wild Wood
Prince – Prince
Eric B & Rakim – Follow The Leader
Duran Duran – Rio
Greatest Hits
The Jam – Snap
Madness – Complete Madness
Billy Joel – Greatest Hits Volume 1 And 2
The Cure – Standing On A Beach – The Singles
Depeche Mode – The Singles 1981-1985
Madonna – The Immaculate Collection
Squeeze – 45s and Under – The Singles
Human League – Greatest Hits
Simple Minds – Glittering Prize 81/92
New Order – Substance
Classic Rock
U2 – The Unforgettable Fire
Iron Maiden – Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
Def Leppard – Hysteria
Foo Fighters – One By One
David Bowie – Let’s Dance
Dire Straits – Brothers In Arms
The Who – Tommy (Film)
REM – Automatic For The People
Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV
Soundtracks
Prince & The Revolution – Purple Rain
OST – The Blues Brothers
OST – Pulp Fiction
OST – Baby Driver
OST – Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
OST – Colors
OST – Star Wars
OST – Bugsy Malone
Elvis Presley – GI Blues
OST – The Lost Boys