I have conducted a scientific study to determine what were my favourite records to have been released during the years I have been alive, and the surprising conclusion is that 1981 was a terrible year for music. I cannot think of a single album released in 1981 that I know and like. This is closely followed by 1989 and 2002, for each of which I can only think of two records that I really care about.
I have tried to pick my three favourite records from each year (details below).
I'm hoping that someone will help me out with 1981, 1989 and 2002, and that, generally, people might laugh at and rubbish my selection by pointing out fantastic world-beating works of genius that I have overlooked (though subject to the overriding principle that these are my favourites and not, by any means, intended to serve as an objective list of the best).
A few things to note about this list:
- I've picked records that now, aged 26, I look back on and think are my favourites, not the ones I necessarily liked at the time (I wasn't listening to The Smiths in 1984, for instance).
- I've included several albums by some artists (The Smiths, Belle and Sebastian, Stereolab) even though this might be a little dull because, if I'm being honest, they are my favourite records from those years.
- I've included a couple of compilations and best-ofs - normally cheating, I realise, but Elvis Costello did it, so I decided that I would too.
- I've missed out some of my favourite records because, by pure bad luck, there were too many other albums I really like released in the same year. Radiator by the Super Furry Animals (1997), The Divine Comedy's Liberation (1993), Oasis's Definitely Maybe (1994) all missed out for that reason.
- This has made me realise a few uncomfortable things about my listening habits: filling in the years 1993 to 1999 was easy; it was somewhat tougher either side of that. Strangely enough, those years coincided with the years I was in the sixth form and at university. In one sense, this is discomfiting (surely I'm not already harking back to some lost days of youth and wide-eyed wonder at the world); in another, I suppose it means that there are a host of great records out there that I haven't yet discovered. In defence of my problems with 1999 onwards, I think I've been too busy discovering the years 1969 to 1976 to notice much about the recent new releases.
- I tried initially to restrict myself to albums I owned (surely I'd have bought a copy if I really liked it?), but found that there were some years from which I only owned one or two records. To show up the years where I need to know more, I've highlighted all the records that we don't have in our flat in italics.
- Towards the end, I've had to reluctantly include a few records through ignorance of the alternatives (Out of Time was certainly one of my favourite records in 1993, but I can't honestly say it is now; U2's Joshua Tree, on the other hand, I've always loved to hate, but recently I downloaded a few tracks and realised that I actually just loved the incessant bass and drums and echoey guitars - I think it's Bono I dislike (and all their recent material), not U2 (NB Sorry - they just missed out to The Pretenders); some are just there because I remember enjoying them on the few times I heard them, for instance Roby Hitchcock's Eye, which I borrowed from Dave in about 1998). I've marked up the ones I'm not so sure about by underlining them.
- A confession too - I included one record I've never heard (The Spinners, 1978) because I spotted it on Elvis Costello's list and thought about the track listing and I love all the songs I know on there.
- The dates almost all came from allmusic, so I blame any inaccuracies on them.
- In summary, anything that's not underlined or in italics is at the moment I post this a pretty solid choice for that year.
1978 Elvis Costello - This Year's Model, The Spinners - The Best of the Spinners, Blondie - Parallel Lines
1979 Michael Jackson - Off The Wall, The Clash - London Calling, The Jam - Setting Sons
1980 Steely Dan - Gaucho, The Jam - Sound Affects, The Police - Zenyatta Mondatta
1981
1982 Donald Fagen - The Nightfly, Michael Jackson - Thriller, Orange Juice - Rip It Up
1983 The Police - Synchronicity, REM - Murmur, The Violent Femmes - The Violent Femmes
1984 The Smiths - Hatful of Hollow, Billy Bragg - Brewing Up With Billy Bragg, The Smiths - The Smiths
1985 Kate Bush - Hounds of Love, The Smiths - Meat Is Murder, Billy Bragg - Between The Wars
1986 The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead, Billy Bragg - Talking With the Taxman About Poetry, Robyn Hitchcock - Element of Light
1987 The Housemartins - The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death, The Smiths - Strangeways Here We Come, The Pretenders - Singles
1988 Billy Bragg - Workers Playtime, The Housemartins - Now That's What I Call Quite Good, Crowded House - Temple of Low Men
1989 The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses, The Beautiful South - Welcome To the Beautiful South
1990 The Beautiful South - Choke, Morrissey - Bona Drag, Robyn Hitchcock - Eye
1991 Crowded House - Woodface, REM - Out of Time, Billy Bragg - Don't Try This at Home
1992 Paul Weller - Paul Weller, Saint Etienne - Foxbase Alpha, The Jam - Extras
1993 Suede - Suede, Blur - Modern Life Is Rubbish, Pulp - Intro
1994 Suede - Dog Man Star, Pulp - His N Hers, The Divine Comedy - Promenade
1995 Gene - Olympian, Supergrass - I Should Coco, Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five
1996 Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister, Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup, McAlmont and Butler - The Sound of McAlmont and Butler
1997 Supergrass - In It For The Money, Stereolab - Dots and Loops, Ben Folds Five - Whatever and Ever Amen
1998 Elliott Smith - XO, Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach - Painted From Memory, Belle and Sebastian - The Boy With the Arab Strap
1999 Ben Folds Five - The Unauthorised Biography of Reinhold Messner, Blur - 13, Tindersticks - Simple Pleasure
2000 Lambchop - Nixon, Joni Mitchell - Both Sides Now, Cousteau - Cousteau
2001 The Divine Comedy - Regeneration, Stereolab - Sound-Dust, Pulp - We Love Life
2002 Lambchop - Is A Woman, Supergrass - Life On Other Planets
2003 Belle and Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress, Blur - Think Tank, Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
2004 The Sun Brothers - The Sun Brothers, Stereolab - Margerine Eclipse, Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
Uno mille ottantuno:
You're not trying hard enough, after all this was the year that had the front to give us, Face Value by Phil Collins.
Posted by: fromthemorning | January 12, 2005 at 07:31 PM