1000 Greatest Albums of all Time

 585 Heart - Dreamboat Annie (1975) Studio Album - Art Rock About the Act: Formed in 1967, Heart have been an American Rock band almost continuously, except for a couple of short breaks. They have had quite an impressive turnover of members, and several different names to start with, but sisters Nancy and Ann Wilson have been the mostly constants since the mid 70s. Despite all this turmoil they have had widespread world-wide success, and 16 studio albums. About the Album: This was their first album and sold really well. My History with this Album: None Review: I can't believe this is a debut album, it's too assured and mature.  So there is a mixture of styles here. If, like me, your knowledge of Heart is the song Barracuda, you might expect this to be a rock album. Well there are rock songs and elements, but the style is broader than that. There's acoustic folky-rock, there's twangy country-rock, and there's rock, and one track that's quite Prog and reminds me o...

 586 Parliament - Mothership Connection (1975) Studio Album - Funk About the Act: Parliament were were not strictly a band in the classic sense, nor were they a "collective", they were a sub-section of the Parliament-Funkadelic collective run effectively by George Clinton. Live performances seemed to involve an indefinite number of musicians, vocalists and hangers-on wandering around stage, and somehow the sounds were funk. The list of people involved is quite long, including some luminaries of Funk like Bootsy Collins, Fred Wesley, and Maceo Parker. A good number of albums were released under this name. Oh, they were American, they started around 1968, and have popped up for various periods since. About the Album: This was the fourth album under the Parliament name, and is a kind of funky sci-fi concept album. My History with this Album: I think it was about 10 years ago that I made a conscious decision to investigate Funk in more depth, and this was one of the albums I got ...

 587 Depeche Mode - Violator (1990) Studio Album - Synth-pop About the Act: Depeche Mode came from Basildon. That's somewhere in the south of England, one of those dull towns that everybody's heard of, but nobody knows anything about. They formed in 1980 and became popular quite quickly. At the start they had Vince Clark who later was in Yazoo, The Assembly and Erasure. They are still going, 42 years later. They have had a whopping 54 songs on the UK singles chart, 17 top ten albums, and have sold more than 100,000,000 records worldwide. That's a lot of records.  About the Album: This was their seventh album. My History with this Album: None Review: I think it must be from the age of about sixteen that I have been mixing up Depeche Mode and New Order. How silly of me. I have reviewed a coupl of New Order albums and when I saw this was coming up was wondering if it would be like the others. I even listened most of the way through the album thinking "this is better tha...

 588 Janet Jackson - Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989) Studio Album - Pop/R&B About the Act: Janet Jackson is the youngest sibling in the famous Jackson family (Michael Jackson is one of them). She has gained a reputation for blending poppy dancy stuff with social conscience stuff, and has sold many millions of records worldwide. She caused a stir when a stunt she had planned with Justin Timberlake in the Superbowl Half Time Show went wrong. Instead of ripping off part of her costume and revealing a bra underneath, the bra part was ripped off also.  About the Album: This was her fourth album, and possibly her most socially conscious one, with songs about racial equality and attitudes, poverty, crime, drug abuse and illiteracy. It is almost a concept album, certainly a themed one. It sold very well indeed, and is considered by many to be her artistic pinnacle. My History with this Album: In a fairly unusual move for me, I bought a vinyl copy of this album when it was current. I mus...

 589 Metallica - ..and Justice for All (1988) Studio Album - Progressive Thrash Metal  About the Act: Metallica were formed in 1981, became one of the "big four" bands of thrash metal, and are probably the best known (and likely the best selling) band of modern metal ("modern" meaning from about 1990 onwards, when the sound changed dramatically). They have had a fairly stable line-up, and are fronted by James Hetfield. Thus far they have released 10 studio albums, as I write this their 11th is on the way. They are famous for spearheading a campaign against the peer-to-peer sharing service Napster in 2000. About the Album: This was their fourth album. It has been noted that the musical structures are complex, leaning towards Prog. It has also been noted that the production is particularly "dry and sterile", and that the bass is inaudible. The producer says he was instructed to take the bass down so you can just hear it, and then take it down a bit more. My ...

 590 The Sundays - Reading- Writing And Arithmetic (1990) Studio Album - Pop Rock About the Act: The Sundays were a band from Bristol, UK, who existed for 1988-1997, and created three albums in that time. Their best known songs were Here's Where The Story Ends and Summertime. About the Album: This was their first album. My History with this Album: None Review: I didn't really know anything about this band. When the album started, I was thinking "her voice, it reminds me of somebody". I unscrewed the top of my head and scratched my brain. In the gap between track 1 and track 2, and in the intro to track 2 I was thinking of a line, sung by the voice I was reminded of. It went "It's a little souvenir, of a terrible year..". And then the words for the second track started and I realised it was that very song, Here's Where The Story Ends. I don't know if the intro led me to it, or if I genuinely found that Harriet's singing reminded me of herself....

 591 Harry Smith, Ed. - Anthology of American Folk Music (1952) Compilation Album - Americana About the Act: Harry Smith is not the performer here, he is the collector. He was a film-maker, occultist, and eccentric. About the Album: Harry Smith had a collection of early 78rpm records of various "folk" styles dated from 1927 when such things first started to be commercially available to 1932 when the Great Depression put a stop to the sales of folk records. In 1947 he approached a label, Folkway Records, about releasing a collection of them transferred onto LPs. This they did in 1952, without seeking copyright permission, making this technically a bootleg. It was released as three double-LP boxed sets, and sold very poorly. In the first year it sold 50 copies, 47 to libraries and colleges. It was reissued later, and gained traction and sold better. It now has a reputation for being one of the most influential compilations in the history of Americana, and is cited as being a ma...

 592 Ramones - Leave Home (1977) Studio Album - Punk About the Act: The Ramones were an American punk band that existed from 1974 to 1996. They were one of the most influential punk bands in the New York punk scene in the late 70s. They have been recognised in many lists as being of the most significant rock bands, well, ever.   Unlike other punk bands who's style often included colourful dyed hair, the Ramones adopted long hair and leather jackets as a kind of uniform. Also, all members of the band adopted stage names with the surname "Ramone" even though they were not related. The "classic" line-up was Dee Dee Ramone, Joey Ramone, Tommy Ramone and Johnny Ramone, all of whom are now dead.   Their music was categorised by fast beats, raw, simple rock and short, abrupt songs. Later, they diversified into more poppy music. About the Album: This was their second record. It is regarded to have higher production values than most punk albums of the time. My History wi...

 593 The Slits - Cut (1979) Studio Album - Dub About the Act: The Slits were a mostly, but not exclusively female punk, and then post-punk band from London. Although they started as a punk band in 1976, They didn't get to release any albums until 1979, by which time the punk thing had fizzled out. They had a second album  before breaking up in 1982. They had a revival from 2005-2010. About the Album: This was their debut album. Neneh Cherry sang backing vocals. My History with this Album: None Review: I was expecting a loud and raucous punk album, not having listened to The Slits before, but knowing a little of their reputation. It really is not. I think the closest description I can get that might be well-known is Two-Tone, the sort of reggae-like sound you would associate with Madness and The Specials, and others like that. Not all of the songs are musically like that, but most are, and definitely the best ones are. It's not as poppy as Madness, and there is d...

 594 Aphex Twin - Drukqs (2001) Studio Album - Drill 'n' Bass & Contemporary Classical About the Act: "Aphex Twin" is one of the musical aliases of Richard James, who is also known as AFX, Blue Calx, Bradley Strider, Caustic Window, GAK, Phonic Boy on Dope, Polygon Window, Power-Pill, Q-Chastic, Smojphace, Soit-P. P., The Dice Man, The Tuss, and   user18081971. He is predominantly an experimental electronic music producer. The things he says publicly about his private life are often lies. About the Album: This is the fifth album released under the name Aphex Twin, after a decent hiatus from the name. After he lost an mp3 player with 180 unreleased tracks, he decided he needed to get an album from them out quick before they leaked all over the internet. This was that album. Critics were divided on it. My History with this Album: None Review: This is a double album and pretty long. It has two quite distinct styles, and the tracks mostly alternate between those styl...

 595 U2 - All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000) Studio Album - Rock About the Act: U2 are a huge Rock band from Ireland. They were formed in 1977 and have been active ever since. They are Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton. They are mega-famous wold conquerors. About the Album: This was their tenth album. Through the 90s, U2 experimented with alternative and electronic sounds. Their previous album, Pop, was not well received, so this was an intentional return to earlier stylings. It sold magnificently well, topping the charts in 32 countries. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno. My History with this Album: None Review: So, the Wikipedia page says this is a return to earlier rock styles, but I would disagree. Actually the page goes on to say that this is a return to singable anthems and rock styles, while maintaining more modern production techniques. This I do agree with. It also says this is a more intimate feel through stripped-back instrumentation and reco...

 596 Mary J. Blige - My Life (1994) Studio Album - R&B About the Act: Mary J Blige is an American Singer, Songwriter, Rapper, Actor and probably other entrepreneurial things as well. She is a bit of the Soul/R&B/Hip-Hop cliche with massive success couple with a turbulent personal life. She is credited with popularising a mix of Hip-Hop and R&B About the Album: This was her second album, and considered to be her breakthrough. Like many contemporary Hip-Hop albums there is a plethora of samples and producers involved. My History with this Album: None Review: I will now give a short, and possibly extremely wrong history of Soul music. I would call this album Soul, but it is listed on Wikipedia as R&B, and I could not tell you the difference after 1980. Right, here we go. In the late 40s, into the 50s, Ray Charles blended Black Gospel music (church music) with Rhythm and Blues (popular black music) to make soul. This was picked up by Motown in the 60s and...

 597 Muddy Waters - Folk Singer (1964) Studio Album - Blues About the Act: Muddy Waters was "The father of modern Chicago blues". That was not his given name, which was the much more prosaic McKinley Morganfield. He was born in Mississippi, and died in Illinois, after a career of 41 years starting in 1941. He sang blues and played blues guitar and was responsible for writing blues classics like I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man and Got My Mojo Working. About the Album: This was his fourth studio album, and his only all-acoustic album. The band were Muddy and Buddy Guy on acoustic guitars. Willie Dixon on acoustic bass, and Clifton James on drums. My History with this Album: None Review: Don't be fooled by the name, this is not a folk album, even by American standards, it is a front-and-centre blues album. Apparently this is an unusual album for Muddy, as it is all-acoustic, what became known later as an "unplugged" album. Stylistically, it's very traditional ...

 598 Stevie Ray Vaughan - Texas Flood (1983) Studio Album - Modern Blues About the Act: Stevie Ray Vaughan, sometimes referred to as SRV was an American Blues Rock guitarist from Dallas, Texas. He came to prominence in the early 80s with his band Double Trouble, and spearheaded a new wave of blues guitarists. His life was troubled by drug and alcohol addiction, but when he died in 1990, he had rehabilitated, and his death was due to a helicopter accident. He has been recognised as one of the world's greatest guitarists.  About the Album: This was his first album, recorded with Double Trouble. My History with this Album: None. Review: This almost entirely what I think of as Modern Blues. I know that 1983 doesn't feel like that modern, but this is a label I put on blues since about 1970. This encompasses acts like Eric Clapton (significantly), Gary Moore, Robert Cray, Jeff Beck, Ry Cooder, and more recently Joe Bonnamassa. The thing that they all have in common is being virtuoso...

 599 Teenage Fanclub - Grand Prix (1995) Studio Album - Jangle Pop About the Act: Teenage Fanclub are a Scottish band who were formed in 1989. They've sung some songs, made some albums and had some people join and some people leave. About the Album: This was their fifth album. My History with this Album: None. Review: This is what Wikipedia says about this album. "Upon release, Grand Prix received almost unanimous critical acclaim. Writing for The Independent, Andy Gill called it "winsome and reflective", while Angela Lewis of the same publication described Grand Prix as a "breathtakingly superb (album) with finely honed dynamics, nagging harmonies and deceptively simple lyrics". In 2000, Q placed Grand Prix at number 72 in its list of the "100 Greatest British Albums Ever". It was voted number 624 in the 3rd edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). In 2004, it made number 72 on The Observer Music Monthly's top 100 Britis...

 600 Barry White - Can’t Get Enough (1974) Studio Album - Soul About the Act: Barry White was affectionately known in the UK as "The Walrus of Love". He was big and hairy. He is best known as a Soul singer who had success in the 70s and 80s, but before that he was a successful songwriter, producer and arranger. He did the writing and producing for a girl band called "Love Unlimited", and for them created an orchestra (The Love Unlimited Orchestra) who became his backing band as a solo artist. He had decided he wanted to work with a solo male singer, and recorded some demos. An industry friend persuaded him to record them himself, but it took some persuasion. Barry is well-known for his deep voice and for singing almost exclusively about love, romance and seduction. He died of weight-related health issues in 2003. About the Album: This was Barry's third solo studio album, and sold very well. My History with this Album: None Review: I'm going to tell you somet...

 601 Fugazi - 13 Songs (1989) Sort of Compilation - Punk About the Act: Fugazi were from Washington DC, but instead of becoming politicians they became a punk band. It was 1986 when they did that, and they have been on indefinite hiatus since 2003. Sounds permanent to me. They've had a stable line-up and several albums. They have been regarded as an influential band in the punk and alternative rock worlds. They are not to be confused with the album by Marillion called Fugazi, any more than lemon juice should be confused with bathroom cleaner. About the Album: This was their first album. Before this album, they released two EPs (just in case you don't know, that stands for "extended play" and is somewhere between an album and a single.) These EPs were collected together to make this album, so it's sort of a compilation in that sense. My History with this Album: None Review: I'm coming to the conclusion that good punk is a fairly difficult balancing act. The fun...