Blonde Redhead - Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons (2000): 84. A startling reminder that I need to spend a lot more time with BR's catalog.

Blondie - S/T (1976): 67. Girl pop with punk guitar lines & bratty vocals. A lot of indie rock darlings now are following formula in lo-fi.

Blondie - Parallel Lines (1978): 69. Infectious pop album blends together punk and disco influences with 60s girl pop structures. Solid.

The Blue Aeroplanes - Swagger (1990): 72. Strange marriage of jangle guitar and almost spoken vocals. Final track is exceptional.

The Blue Nile - A Walk Across the Rooftops (1983): 88. A very precarious walk that could easily fall off into schmaltz but instead is dazzling.

The Blue Nile - Hats (1989): 84. Smooth, easy listening pop with heavy reliance on synth is a lot to overcome and this does it effortlessly.

Blue Öyster Cult - Agents of Fortune (1976): 52. "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" is the highlight and it's a modest one.

Colin Blunstone - One Year (1971): 67. The baroque, dreamy atmosphere keeps getting thrown off by haphazard sequencing. A great EP is here.

Boston - Boston (1976): 47. Probably as influential on Punk as RAMONES but in a violent, let's destroy this slick crap kind of way.

David Bowie - The Man Who Sold the World (1970): 68. Title & opening tracks are terrific. The rest is transitional and minor.

David Bowie - Hunky Dory (1971): 100. Seems explicitly about Bowie's 1960s: artistically (Warhol, Reed & Dylan get songs) & personally.

David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust (1972): 81. Bowie's readings are sometimes too dramatic for me on this but the songs are mostly excellent.

David Bowie - Aladdin Sane (1973): 83. Superior sequel to ZIGGY (dubbed "Ziggy goes to America") with propulsive rock & avant-garde influences.

David Bowie - Pin Ups (1973): 65. Bowie covers 60s British Invasion tunes and does a respectable job of it. I'm just not sure why.

David Bowie - Diamond Dogs (1974): 58. Post-apocalyptic glam rock nonsense lacks memorable tunes, other than the riffalicious "Rebel Rebel."

David Bowie - Young Americans (1975): 70. Bowie incorporates soul into his sound & the results are pretty strong, esp masterful title track.

David Bowie - Station to Station (1976): 79. Transitions from the soul of YOUNG AMERICANS to the electronic/experimental Berlin Trilogy.

David Bowie - Low (1977): 89. Intriguing structure courts dissatisfaction by inviting you in with song fragments & paying off with hypnosis.

David Bowie - "Heroes" (1977): 69. Another Bowie/Eno LP of contrasting sides but I think this one suffers from inevitable comparison to LOW.

David Bowie - Lodger (1979): 81. His third with Eno brings a Talking Heads sounding African fusion and guitar work by Belew. Underrated.

David Bowie - Scary Monsters (1980): 74. Less unified than the Eno collaborations but still occasionally terrific ("Ashes to Ashes").

David Bowie - Let's Dance (1983): 76. Replace "Without You" with "Cat People" and A side would make a masterpiece EP. B side mostly weak.

Billy Bragg - Life's A Riot With Spy Vs Spy EP (1983): 87. Bragg alone with an electric guitar. Quintessential LP about a man in early 20's.

Billy Bragg - Brewing Up With Billy Bragg (1984): 73. Bragg did more with less on previous year's EP. Still passionate and funny as ever.

Billy Bragg - Talking With the Taxman About Poetry (1986): 74. Sex > politics in terms of insight. Sound is nicely filled in from early lo-fi.

Billy Bragg - Peel Sessions (1987): 80. Worthy companion to LIFE'S A RIOT with excellent cover of Cale's "Fear" which Bragg makes his own

The Breeders - Pod (1990): 81. A really great sounding record; arranged as a departure from Pixies' sound & expertly produced by Albini.

The Brilliant Corners - What's in a Word (1986): 74. Unfairly obscure jangle pop with smart lyrics & plentiful hooks. Great cover art too.

The Brilliant Corners - Somebody Up There Likes Me (1988): 68. Doesn't quite live up to the promise of first LP but still bright & catchy.

James Brown - Sex Machine (1970): 77. Very good live & pseudo-live album from Brown. Title track is one of the all-time great funk jams.

James Brown - Get on the Good Foot (1972): 63. Some great funk grooves but you have to skip through some awful filler and weak remakes.

James Brown - The Payback (1973): 79. James Brown double LP that actually brings the funk, the whole funk and nothing but the funk.

James Brown - Hell (1974): 67. Overlong with some odd cover choices and inexplicable Gong hit to separate songs but it does bring da funk.

The J.B.'s - Damn Right I Am Somebody (1974): 73. Taken from PAYBACK sessions this doesn't flow like an album but it is good funky fun.

Jackson Browne - S/T (1972): 67. Better than I remembered it being but not nearly as lyrically advanced as his next two LPs.

Jackson Browne - For Everyman (1973): 74. Browne expands to more philosophical material and provides a definitive version of "Take It Easy."

Jackson Browne - Late for the Sky (1974): 88. Side A is a masterpiece of eloquent, philosophical poetry, Side B is just very good.

Jackson Browne - The Pretender (1976): 68. Some very strong songs but too often the arrangement/production undercuts them.

Jeff Buckley - Grace (1994): 80. Voice so beautiful that you can't believe a word he says, but it sure sounds great when he says it.

Tim Buckley - Happy Sad (1969): 70. A very loose LP with jazzy doodling on the edges of every track & Buckley's sublime, vacillating vocals.

Tim Buckley - Lorca (1970): 72. Bends the already loose structures of previous LPs into a more brooding, mysterious direction. Captivating.

Brian Eno/Harold Budd - Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror (1980): 69. More melodic than 1, almost occasionally song-like. Good for sleep.

Built to Spill - There's Nothing Wrong With Love (1994): 82. Martsch taking role of singer/songwriter with very personal & touching lyrics.

Vashti Bunyan - Just Another Diamond Day (1970) 80. A lovely collection of ethereal folk songs. Could soundtrack Rohmer's Astrea & Celadon.

Kate Bush - The Kick Inside (1978): 82. Bush made this when 19 and it sounds young & exuberant. Also melodically complex & often jazzy.

Kate Bush - The Dreaming (1982): 70. One of Bush's more experimental LPs but the melodic rewards are less than those of HOUNDS OF LOVE.

Kate Bush - Hounds of Love (1985): 81. Each side is self-contained stylistically: first is pop, second is experimental suite. Both terrific.

Butthole Surfers - Hairway to Steven (1988): 65. Some nifty tape manipulation & distortion make for a very elaborate joke LP, not much more.

Buzzcocks - Spiral Scratch (1977): 69. 4 song EP as a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart. Brash, loud and snotty.

Buzzcocks - Another Music in a Different Kitchen (1978): 77. They're probably best known for the singles but this LP is very strong catchy pop punk

Buzzcocks - A Different Kind of Tension (1979): 75. Buzzcocks stretching out their sound and finding great success on 7 minute "I Believe."

The Byrds - Fifth Dimension (1966): 58. Some impressive guitar work but I found this album oddly listless and dull this time around.

Brian Eno & David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981): 78. Primitive & futuristic fused together to create unnerving conflicts in texture.

John Cale - Vintage Violence (1970): 76. Better than I remembered. "Gideon's Bible" and especially "Big White Cloud" suggest PARIS 1919.

John Cale - Paris 1919 (1973): 87. A major discovery after my frustrating previous visits to solo Cale. Literate lyrics & pop orchestration.

John Cale - Fear (1974): 83. "Fear Is A Man's Best Friend" going from calm piano to psychotically erupting bass hits sets tone for whole LP.

John Cale - Slow Dazzle (1975): 74. Cale's nightmarish take on "Heartbreak Hotel" is highlight but the rest is similarly dark and tawdry.

John Cale - Helen of Troy (1975): 69. Easily the weakest of the Island Trilogy but it is interesting to hear his take on "Pablo Picasso."

John Cale - Animal Justice EP (1977): 78. Side A is ferocious punk and the 8 minute "Hedda Gabbler" that takes up B is one of Cale's best.

John Cale - Mercenaries (Ready for War) 7" (1980): 67. Two aggressive single only released tracks that resemble A side of ANIMAL JUSTICE.

John Cale - Honi Soit (1981): 64. Cale's first LP in six years is a very odd, eccentric record. Punk thrashing with classical pop melodies.

John Cale - Music for a New Society (1982): 77. A musical departure for Cale with prevalent keyboard tons of empty space. Related to BERLIN.

Lou Reed & John Cale - Songs for Drella (1990): 72. Loving, complex portrait of Andy Warhol overcomes occasionally feeling like an exercise.

Camper Van Beethoven - Telephone Free Landslide Victory (1985): 70. Cowpunk played to highest degree of stoned absurdity. Too many instrumentals.

Can - Tago Mago (1971): 78. Visionary experimental drone record with funky beats and crazed, sometimes annoyingly crazed, vocals.

Can - Ege Bamyasi (1972): 76. I have mixed feelings about the two long, dissonant jams. The rest of the album is tense, melodic & terrific.

Can - Future Days (1973): 71. Precise and measured (as if by a machine) but with odd tropical influences. Vocals almost removed from mix.

Can - Soon Over Babaluma (1974): 68. Transitional, largely instrumental and less fun to puzzle over than the previous Can LPs.

John Carpenter - Assault on Precinct 13 (1976): Never realized that the main theme was a lift from "Immigrant Song." Still tense & terrific.

Carpenters - Close to You (1970): 44. I mildly enjoy both of the huge singles but they botch the other Bacharach tunes & massacre "Help."

James Carr - You Got My Mind Mess Up (1967): 83. A major discovery. A violent soul album with stunningly tortured vocal delivery. Wow.

James Carr - A Man Needs A Woman (1968): 80. Double-dips two best songs from previous LP but the rest of the material is simply great soul.

The Cars - S/T (1978): 71. Should have made the Onion AV's list of "Good Albums That Could Have Been Great EPs." Keep 1, 2, 3 and 8.

Clarence Carter - Patches (1970): 70. B-Side is considerably stronger than the A-Side. Love songs are lyrically reminiscent of Sam Cooke.

Peter Case - S/T (1986): 69. VD Parks arranged "Small Town Spree" is highlight. Technical credits are stellar & sound is polished but tight.

Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison (1968): 75. Definitive versions of several Cash classics and great banter with the prisoners. Good energy.

Johnny Cash - At San Quentin (1969): 65. Cash's sequel to FOLSOM is basically a retread and lacks the energy & inspiration of the original.

Cat Power - The Covers Record (2000): 83. Exceptional interpretations with abridged lyrics changing tone; arrangements & vocals superb.

Cat Power - You Are Free (2003): 84. Probably Marshall's most consistently compelling material, although side B could use a upbeat track.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - From Her to Eternity (1984): 67. Never really known what to do with this sinister early Cave. Very thick atmosphere.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Firstborn is Dead (1985): 68. Opening track "Tupelo" is clear highlight & establishes many Cave motifs.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Your Funeral ... My Trial (1986): 78. A major breakthrough for Cave in nearly every way. Excellent structure.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Tender Prey (1988): 83. Perfectly measured to fit style & tone to the subject matter. Cave enters peak years.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Good Son (1990): 86. Cave re-imagined as a balladeer. Lighter in tone without surrendering atmosphere.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Henry's Dream (1992): 80. Another consistently great outing from Cave with morbid, acoustic rockers.

The Cavemen - ...yeah (1986): 56. There's a nice laid-back quality to the performance and production but almost no staying power.

Cheap Trick - S/T / In Color (1977): Both 71. Strong pop songwriting with big guitar riffs. Propulsive fun with standout cuts in deep.

The Chills - Submarine Bells (1990): 66. "Heavenly Pop Hit" & "Singing in My Sleep" are highlights. Derivative of R.E.M. to a fault.

Circle Jerks - Group Sex (1980): 62. Beyond breakneck paced hardcore punk LP (EP in length) is well played & controlled. Anthem as slogan.

Dillard & Clark - The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark (1968): 76. Not really my style but the songs are so strong that it won me over completely.

/Dillard & Clark - The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark (1968)/: 84. Underrated this on first listen. Short and completely addictive.

Gene Clark - White Light (1971): 80. Downcast and lovely, this collection is never less than very good and sometimes it's truly exceptional.

Gene Clark - Firebyrd (1984): 68. An oddity that glimpses greatness ("Rain Song") while trying to cash in on Byrds legacy. Strangely moving.

The Clash - S/T (1977): 85. UK version. Quality dips a bit on B Side but this is The Clash at their most focused, primal and punk.

The Clash - Give 'Em Enough Rope (1978): 68. A midway dip in quality between the S/T debut and LONDON CALLING. Certainly not bad though.

The Clash - London Calling (1979): 84. Like EXILE ON MAIN ST. this is more about capturing a mood than being an all killer, no filler LP.

The Clash - Sandinista! (1980): 64. Fatigue sets about 90 minutes into this 145 minute LP. Great tracks sprinkled throughout this weird slog (but less so on LP3 - which was apparently a collection of out-takes that The Clash lied into inclusion at their own financial loss).

The Clash - Combat Rock (1982): 75. First side is excellent, second side is very disappointing. A very eccentric sell-out album.

Jimmy Cliff et al. - The Harder They Come (1972): This LP and LEGEND are great primers for reggae newbies. A really terrific soundtrack.

Coachwhips - Get Yer Body Next Ta Mine (2003): 71. Very distorted garage rock with terrific riffs but I wish the vocals marginally coherent.

Cockney Rebel - The Human Menagerie (1973): 82. Somewhere between prog & glam but with a violin used like an electric guitar & punk vocals.

Cockney Rebel - The Psychomodo (1974): 84. Demented circus music from deranged psychotics. Vocals are lovechild of Ray Davies & David Bowie.

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - The Best Years of Our Lives (1975): 80. Harley/Cockney is steadily proving a terrific discovery. Glam Kinks.

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Timeless Flight (1976): 77. "Red is a Mean, Mean Colour" is clear highlight on this transitional, strange LP.

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Love's A Prima Donna (1976): 69. Harley continuing exploring outer limits of pop with this 60s throwback.

Cocteau Twins - Head Over Heels (1983): 67. Sound is very consistent in tone with little variation but when they do mix it up, they stumble.

Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967): 94. Like early Dylan, these are timeless folk songs that feel passed on & lived in.

Leonard Cohen - Songs from a Room (1969): 72. Mildly disappointing followup to his debut. Very odd arrangement. Way too much jew's harp.

Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate (1971): 78. Some of his best songs but approx 25% is weak filler ("Diamonds in the Mine").

Leonard Cohen - New Skin For the Old Ceremony (1974): 82. Cohen's best collection of tunes since his debut. Side A is just about perfect.

Leonard Cohen - Death of a Ladies' Man (1977): 76. Cohen's most casual, lurid songs adorned with Spector's wall. Much better than reputation

Leonard Cohen - Various Positions (1984): 74. Cohen's first synth LP and I don't love some of the arrangements but there's not a bad track.

Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man (1988): 85. One of Cohen's very best LPs. Even the synth production can't hinder these masterpieces.

Leonard Cohen - The Future (1992): 61. Doesn't really follow through on the apocalyptic vision of the opening track & the production hampers

Come - Car / Last Mistake 7" (1991): 77. Dark brooding grunge with heavy dose of muddy blues and lots of snarling attitude. Very exciting.

Come - Fast Piss Blues / I Got the Blues (1992): 74. "Fast Piss Blues" is the stand out track and a spot on description of their style.

The Comsat Angels - Waiting for a Miracle (1980): 68. Another anxious post-punk LP with guitars ringing out like sirens. Solid.

The Comsat Angels - Fiction (1982): 67. Atmospheric post-punk with very good sense of dynamics. Joy Division meets The Blue Nile.

The Congos - Heart of The Congos (1977): 74. Perry's production is tops and Congos vocals are very soulful but the whole LP is far too long.

Alice Cooper - Killer (1971): 61. A band that needs to hit quickly and move on ("Under My Wheels" & "You Drive Me Nervous"). Prolonged=DEATH

Elvis Costello - My Aim is True (1977): 80. I prefer Costello's next two LPs but "Allison" & "Watching the Detectives" are among his best songs.

Elvis Costello - This Year's Model (1978): 94. Angrier and more sustained than the debut with a punk tone that suits the songs perfectly.

Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Armed Forces (1979): 90. Not as fierce or perfect as THIS YEAR'S MODEL but still confident and great.

Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Get Happy!! (1980): 73. Several great Costello tracks but the LP is overstuffed and overlong.

Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Trust (1981): 71. A lot of strong songs but the LP is so restless and genre-hopping it becomes tiresome.

Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Punch the Clock (1983): 66. Costello with a new pop sheen but in service of his most mediocre songs to date.

Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Sessions (1988): 72. Stoned cowgirl music indeed but also a clear influence on much 90s Lilith Fair bland.

The Cramps - Gravest Hits (1979): 78. Alex Chilton production is raw & exciting as is their crazed take on "Surfin' Bird" & "The Way I Walk"

Cream - Disraeli Gears (1967): 42. The riffs are too straight-forward and the lyrics are pedestrian. Bruce's bass is the only bright spot.

Jim Croce - I Got a Name (1973): 53. Croce's GREATEST HITS got a lot of play in my childhood, so I won't say a bad word about him here.

David Crosby - If I Could Only Remember My Name (1971): 70. Relaxed, dreamy harmonies with very loose guitar expressing a post-60s malaise.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Déjà Vu (1970): 63. Young's "Helpless" is choice track. Side B significantly weak, both sides pretty dull.

The Cure - Pornography (1982): 74. Cheer up, emo kid.

The Cure - The Head on the Door (1985): 77. Atmosphere & theatrics surrendered to pop and several of The Cure's best songs are the result.

The Cure - Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me (1987): 66. As the title suggests, this double LP is just excessive and should have been cut down.

The Cure - Disintegration (1989): 74. I prefer off-kilter THE HEAD ON THE DOOR to this more straight-forward pop. Several great tracks.

The D.O.C. - No One Can Do It Better (1989): 80. Offers more evidence of Dr. Dre's production genius than the more acclaimed N.W.A. records.

Karen Dalton - It's So Hard to Tell Who's Going to Love You The Best (1969): 81. Stunning folk/blues hybrid that feels ancient & authentic.

Danzig - S/T (1988): 58. A bluesy take on hard rock with a few lifts from Led Zeppelin's guitar playbook & vocal lessons from Jim Morrison.

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich - S/T (1966): 71. Tight garage rock with propulsive beat and plentiful vocal harmonizing. Even the ballads work.

Betty Davis - They Say I'm Different (1974): 68. Gritty, nasty funk. Her voice is rough but so is her subject matter (bondage, prostitution)

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959): 86. Chill jazz epic with plenty of lovely flourishes for all of the all star players involved.

The dB's - Stands for Decibels (1981): 77. Nearly great power pop album that influenced countless college rock bands of the 80s.

The dB's - Repercussion (1982): 76. Very strong sophomore effort with a great A-side, let down slightly by B. I listened to the German LP.

The dB's - Like This (1984): 69. Jangle now with heavy dose of roots rock and synth fills. A step down from first two but still pretty good.

Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables (1980): 57. Warbled, annoying vocals kill this for me even though I appreciate the satire.

Dead Moon - In the Graveyard (1988): 83. Excellent debut that brings strong country & blues influences into a gritty, lo-fi garage sound.

Dead Moon - Unknown Passage (1989): 86. More forceful & confident than the debut. "Dead Moon Night" & "54/40 or Fight" are especially great

De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising (1989): 77. Very quirky lyrics with clever rhymes but I would prefer it shorter with better sequencing.

De La Soul - De La Soul is Dead (1991): 74. Dark follow-up to very sunny debut is still too long, unfocused & poorly sequenced to be great.

The Delfonics - S/T (1970): 66. "I didn't know you liked The Delfonics." "They're pretty good."

Del Tha Funkee Homosapien - I Wish My Brother George Was Here (1991): 80. Funky Conscious Hip Hop is flip-side to the Gangsta Rap in vogue.

Del Tha Funkee Homosapienn - No Need For Alarm (1993): 62. No need at all. Mostly battle raps that show little of the promise of his debut.

Iris DeMent - Infamous Angel (1992): 73. "Let the Mystery Be" & "Our Town" show how great this concise songwriter can be at her peak.

Derek & the Dominos - Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs (1970): 75. "Bell Bottom Blues" is Clapton's best song & the album is uniformly strong.

Descendents - Milo Goes to College (1982): 64. An album I might have appreciated more during my teenage rebellion years.

Destroyer - Streethawk: A Seduction (2001): 87. Bejar's warmest and user friendly LP, mostly featuring various pop riffs on glam Bowie.

Devo - Duty Now For the Future (1979): 61. "The Day My Baby Gave Me A Surprise" is highlight. Feels transitional & uncertain after debut.

Devo - Freedom of Choice (1980): 65. "Whip It" and "Gates of Steel" make this slightly better than previous LP but far below their debut.

Died Pretty - Free Dirt (1986): 66. Some stellar guitar work in this odd genre bender but the muddy production keeps me from embracing it.

Dillard & Clark - The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark (1968): 76. Not really my style but the songs are so strong that it won me over completely.

/Dillard & Clark - The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark (1968)/: 84. Underrated this on first listen. Short and completely addictive.

Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me (1987): 78. Splashes of abrasive guitar noise with disaffected vocals & folk progressions: Hello grunge.

Dinosaur Jr. - Bug (1988): 76. A solid follow-up to YOU'RE LIVING ALL OVER ME that only sounds forced on the raw, noisy final song.

Dinosaur Jr. - Green Mind (1991): 69. More polished sounding and pop oriented than previous LPs. Could use more variation in mood & tempo.

Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms (1985): 67. Wanders around stylistically between bad 80s soft-rock impulses & Dylanesque sly wit.

Dr. Phibes and the House of Wax Equations - Sugarblast EP (1990): 71. Muscular psychedelic with exceptional rhythm section. Oddly obscure.

Dolly Mixture - Demonstration Tapes (1983): 77. Twee pop with jangly guitars & 50s girl pop melodies. Long & shapeless but very compelling.

Donovan - Sunshine Superman (1966): 65. Both side-openers are very strong as is the closing track; the rest a cloud of psychedelic muddle.

Donovan - Mellow Yellow (1967): 65. Surprisingly solid and more diverse than previous Donovan. Title song is ridiculously catchy.

The Doors - S/T (1967): 62. There's little denying Manzarek's keys or Krieger's guitar but they are sisyphus and Morrison is the boulder.

The Doors - Strange Days (1967): 59. See previous tweet. I like the eerier vibe to the music here but the songs are weaker than the debut.

Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left (1969): 98. One of the best debut LPs ever. Truly haunting stuff. "Fruit Tree" could be Drake's epitaph.

Nick Drake - Bryter Layter (1970): 93. Warm & ingratiating. Brilliant sunny arrangements failed to capture an audience & led to PINK MOON.

Nick Drake - Pink Moon (1972): 95. Spare to the point of being thrifty but just as haunting as FIVE LEAVES LEFT and lovely as BRYTER LAYTER.

Dr. Dre - The Chronic (1992): 71. A great party album for most of the first half, then the weed comes out and everyone gets a little dull.

The Dream Syndicate - The Days of Wine and Roses (1982): 72. I don't love Wynn's Lou Reed impersonation but Precoda's guitar work is stellar.

Doris Duke - I'm A Loser (1969): 71. A tragicomedy Soul concept album that follows a woman dropped by a man, her rebound marriage & divorce.

Duran Duran - Rio (1982): 62. I would have been among the puzzled partygoers mildly annoyed that coke-fueled Greenberg put on Duran Duran.

Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963): 84. Some of Dylan's most brilliant early compositions and a few merely good ones.

Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964): 74. Dylan as dour, humorless protest singer. "Hattie Carroll" is a masterpiece though.

Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home (1965): 90. Effortlessly shifts gears from brooding intensity to playfully humorous. A masterpiece.

Bob Dylan - Highway '61 Revisited (1965): 100. "If Salvador Dalí or Luis Buñuel had picked up a Fender Strat to head a blues band..."

Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde (1966): 96. Slightly overlong but I am hard-pressed to pick a song to exclude. "Johanna" may be Dylan's best.

Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding (1967): 85. Initially I thought this too slight and wrote it off. Now it seems, in its way, just about perfect.

Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline (1969): 83. Dylan fully embracing the country sound he previously hinted at and radically changing his voice.

Bob Dylan - Self Portrait (1970): 67. An angry, perverse album of mostly covers which are in turns funny ("The Boxer"), brutal & ramshackle.

Bob Dylan - New Morning (1970): 79. Casual & tossed-off. Much better than SELF PORTRAIT, even if it also practically begs to be dismissed.

Bob Dylan - Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973): 73. "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" is one of Dylan's greatest songs. I also love the "Billy" theme.

Bob Dylan - Dylan (1973): 60. More puzzling than SELF PORTRAIT but apparently compiled without much Dylan input. Not bad but inessential.

Bob Dylan - Planet Waves (1974): 80. Dylan with The Band makes for some spirited country-tinged fun. Several top level Dylan songs here.

Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks (1975): 95. His best 70s album in a walk. Intense, bitter & seemingly personal (although Dylan denies it).

Bob Dylan & The Band - The Basement Tapes (1975): 88. Near-peak of Dylan's creativity brings out the best of The Band on these jam orphans.

Bob Dylan - Desire (1976): 86. A throwback to the expansive protest songs Dylan worked with in the 60s with a renewed interest in wordplay.

Bob Dylan - Street-Legal (1978): 61. Drenched in both horns & female background singers, this still has moments ("Secor") but they're rare.

Bob Dylan - Slow Train Coming (1979): 73. Underrated Dylan finds Jesus record has passionate vocals; great guitar textures by Mark Knopfler.

Bob Dylan - Saved (1980): 66. Knopfler gone. Female background singers back and taking us to church. Never bad, sometimes great ("Pressing On").

Bob Dylan - Shot of Love (1981): 66. "Every Grain of Sand" qualifies as a late-era Dylan masterpiece but the rest is uneven & uneventful.

Bob Dylan - Infidels (1983): 81. Dylan back with Knopfler for one of his best late period LPs. Downplaying religion & utilizing more guitar.

Bob Dylan - Oh Mercy (1989): 81. A somber, ethereal return to form for Dylan that lays out the groundwork for his sound in the next decade.

Bob Dylan - Under the Red Sky (1990): 62. Disappointing follow-up to OH MERCY seems rushed & overproduced. Some fine songs slip through.

Eagles - Hotel California: 44. A very cynical pop LP that inadvertently sounds like the decadent corruption it purports to be criticizing.

Echo & the Bunnymen - Crocodiles (1980): 68. Echo sounds like Joy Division fronted by Jim Morrison on this debut. Better things to come.

Echo & the Bunnymen - Ocean Rain (1984): 74. A less moody Echo album with great cuts like "The Killing Moon" & "Seven Seas."

Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets (1974): 90. Eno employing some avant garde studio wizardry to make brilliant, propulsive pop music.

Brian Eno - Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) (1974): 85. Not as immediately palatable as WARM JETS but nearly as awesome once it reveals itself.

Brian Eno - Another Green World (1975): 99. Feels coherent & uniform even though it snakes between pop songs and moody synth instrumentals.

Brian Eno - Before and After Science (1977): 73. The weakest of Eno's first four mostly because it's let down by the languid B Side.

Brian Eno - Ambient 1: Music for Airports (1978): 62. Title is accurate. This is music made for impersonal, sterile spaces. Not human.

Brian Eno/Harold Budd - Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror (1980): 69. More melodic than 1, almost occasionally song-like. Good for sleep.

Brian Eno & David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981): 78. Primitive & futuristic fused together to create unnerving conflicts in texture.

Roky Erickson & the Aliens - S/T [Five Symbols] (1980): 78. Psychedelic pop songs about vampires, zombies & demons with great guitar leads.

/Roky Erickson & the Aliens - S/T [Five Symbols]/ (1980): 82. Even better than I initially thought. Songs unexpected and very memorable.

Roky Erickson & the Aliens - The Evil One (1981): 81. Overlaps 5 songs with the UK S/T release, but the 5 new songs are all fairly terrific.

Roky Erickson - Clear Night for Love EP (1985): 78. An EP about love and not zombies or aliens. Great clarity to the writing & playing.

Roky Erickson - Don't Slander Me (1986): 75. Shoddy production (especially compared to previous year's CLEAR NIGHT EP) but terrific songs.

Roky Erickson - Gremlins Have Pictures (1986): 73. Compilation with live & muddy studio cuts. Essential for "Heroin" cover & new originals.

Roky Erickson - The Holiday Inn Tapes (1987): 77. Acoustic, very lo-fi recordings of Erickson doing 2 Buddy Holly covers & originals. Great.

Eric's Trip - Love Tara (1993): 75. Atmospheric use of lo-fi with melodic pop melodies on top of crunchy bursts of noise. Warm & exciting.

Donald Fagen - The Nightfly (1982): 60. Music for Airport Bars. Fagen writes about the 50s/60s without any love for the music of that era.

Faith No More - The Real Thing (1989): 65. Probably did more harm than good but side A is pretty strong. "Epic" was my fav song at age 9.

Faith No More - Angel Dust (1992): 68. Incorporates many more genres into the mix but I often feel like its just a exercise in style.

The Fall - Live at the Witch Trials (1979): 60. Sloppy punk with a very odd mix and loose, deconstructed song structures.

The Fall - Grotesque (After the Gramme) (1980): 54. Obviously influenced music I love from Pavement but I can't find much to embrace here.

The Fall - Hex Education Hour (1982): 57. Structureless, roaming madness that I just can't wrap my head around.

The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace (1985): 77. A straight line from this LP to Pixies & Pavement. More accessible & much less annoying.

Bill Fay - S/T (1970): 74. A provisional grade because I plan to come back to this soon. Bold arrangements & smart lyrics, might be great.

Bill Fay - Time of the Last Persecution (1971): 78. Very strong singer/songwriter album confirms promise of debut. Great guitar fills.

John Fahey - Days Have Gone By (1967): 67. Another solid collection of guitar instrumentals from Fahey. Nothing really mind-blowing though.

The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms (1980): 92. Clean guitar lines surrounded by tons of jittery percussion. Songs built on tiny fluctuations.

The Feelies - The Good Earth (1986): 88. Like Television's ADVENTURE, doesn't try to repeat debut tension is instead relaxed & lovely.

The Feelies - Only Life (1988): 77. Still pretty great despite retreading the sound of THE GOOD EARTH with very little new invention.

The Field Mice - For Keeps (1991): 67. Pitchfork's "psychedelic earnestness" tag seems proper, I wish it wasn't always such a blunt object.

Field Trip - Headgear (1990): 73. Overlooked cowpunk/power pop outfit with considerable talent & music tightness. Search discount bins.

The Fiery Furnaces - Gallowsbird's Bark (2003): 76. Blues based rock allows for some invention within formula but little sign of leap in '04

The Fixx - Shuttered Room (1982): 66. "Stand or Fall" and "Red Skies" are choice cuts on this debut which was unfairly savaged by critics.

The Flaming Lips - In A Priest Driven Ambulance (1990): 74. Much better than I remembered. "Five Stop Mother Superior Rain" is highlight.

The Flaming Lips - Transmissions from the Satellite Heart (1993): 76. A pop breakthrough in ways not just limited to outlier single "Jelly."

The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin (1999): 89. Lovely balance of evocative, experimental textures with poignant lyricism. Still their best

Fleetwood Mac - S/T (1975): 68. "Rhiannon" is major highlight here, I wish the whole album mimicked the production on that track.

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (1977): 67. The vocal overdubs are annoying and some of the lyrics are quite dumb but I've gradually warmed to it.

Fleetwood Mac - Tango in the Night (1987): 68. Dated 80s production actually enhances the material on this slightly underrated LP.

Flipper - Flipper Twist / Fucked Up (1992): 54. Rick Rubin's production undermines the sarcasm of "Flipper Twist" & channels 80s butt rock.

Robert Lester Folsom - Music & Dreams (1976): 80. "Dreaming in the summer sun" is right tone for this bright pop with a psychedelic twist.

The Four Tops - Second Album (1965): 75. A singles band and the three singles here are tremendous; the rest is surprisingly solid and tight.

The Four Tops - Reach Out (1967): 65. Songs penned by Holland-Dozier-Holland are searing but many of the covers (Monkees!?) are misguided.

Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (1967): 69. A powerful voice & great backing band, but I'm curiously unmoved by it.

Aretha Franklin - Lady Soul (1968): 62. The singles are great but she botches "People Get Ready" by slowing it down; arrangements too MOR.

Michael Hurley, The Unholy Modal Rounders, Jefferey Frederick & The Clamtones - Have Moicy! (1976): 90. Neo-hick party music. Demented fun.

Jeffrey Frederick & the Clamtones - Spiders in the Moonlight (1977): 66. Funny songs from HAVE MOICY alumni but misses Hurley's grounding.

Fugazi - Margin Walker EP (1989): 69. This is good. However, I've always preferred the idea of Fugazi to actually listening to their music.

Funkadelic - Maggot Brain (1971): 77. The opening guitar solo is very impressive. Funk songs are fun. "Wars of Armageddon" is juvenile trash.

Funkadelic - One Nation Under A Groove (1978): 66. Brilliant title track but many others are too long or too annoying (or both).

Galaxie 500 - Today (1988): 82. Subtle guitar god music with everything drenched in reverb & paced for a dream (pop). Perfect in its way.

Galaxie 500 - On Fire (1989): 86. A dazzling album. I'm going to move this to my ipod for the next 2 AM beach bonfire; it will be perfect.

Galaxie 500 - Blue Thunder EP (1990): 81. Presumably from the same sessions as ON FIRE, this is essential. Excellent cover of Joy Division.

Galaxie 500 - This Is Our Music (1990): 84. They went the ADVENTURE route and created their most relaxed, human album. Vastly underrated.

France Gall - Baby Pop (1966): 75. Infectious pop album with gorgeous, playful arrangement. Three Gainsbourg songs are especially strong.

Game Theory - The Big Shot Chronicles (1986): 74. Power Pop very reminiscent of Big Star but with whiny, less confident vocals.

Game Theory - Lolita Nation (1987): 78. Very ambitious blend of genres into a double album power pop confection bursting with fruit flavors.

Game Theory - Two Steps From the Middle Ages (1988): 70. Less ambitious & adventurous than LOLITA NATION but still full of fun power pop.

Gang of Four - Entertainment! (1979): 83. Jagged, angular guitar riffs and funky bass lines make for very nervous dance punk.

Marvin Gaye - The Moods of Marvin Gaye (1966): 66. Both of the big '65 singles are terrific; the rest is uneven but occasionally inspired.

Marvin Gaye - What's Going On (1971): 91. The cohesive sequencing on Side A is exhilarating. Side B is more interested in contrasts.

Marvin Gaye - Trouble Man (1972): 60. Funky instrumentals with occasional vocals. A step below the best blaxploitation OST but not bad.

Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On (1973): 69. Title track is clearly the main event here and the rest just tries to duplicate its greatness.

Marvin Gaye - I Want You (1976): 66. Like LET'S GET IT ON, tries to recapture WHAT'S GOING ON song flow but just feels repetitive.

Genesis - Selling England by the Pound (1973): 43. I'm clearly in the minority here but I didn't find much to like in this proggy excess.

Astrud Gilberto - Look to the Rainbow (1966): 67. Bossa Nova has to be one of my most neglected musical genres but this is some smooth, sexy music.

The Gladiators - Trenchtown Mix Up (1976): 82. Atmospheric roots reggae with great vocal harmonies, tight rhythm and occasional dub trips.

Glass Eye - Bent By Nature (1988): 63. Hard to pin to a genre & always surprising offbeat chord progressions; K. McCarty's tracks are best.

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - Bwyd Time (1995): 68. Bizarre, zany psychedelia with only hints of their later more conventional melodic instincts.

Gorky's Zygoic Mynci - Spanish Dance Troupe (1999): 76. The zany psychedelic pop is now limited to one per side; the rest is lovely folk-pop

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - How I Long to Feel the Summer in My Heart (2001): 83. Weirdness mostly gone; replaced by ethereal, lovely melodies.

Grateful Dead - Workingman's Dead/American Beauty (1970): Both 70. Surprisingly jam-free & melodically driven folk pop. These are good dead.

Al Green - Al Green Get's Next To You (1971): 79. The heir to Otis Redding's Soul. "Tired of Being Alone" is highlight, many close behind.

Al Green - Let's Stay Together (1972): 72. Title song and Bee Gees cover are the two clear highlights. Not as compelling as surrounding LPs.

Al Green - I'm Still in Love With You (1972): 84. Smooth soul with tight musicianship and some very cool organ (esp in "Love and Happiness")

Al Green - Call Me (1973): 80. I'm in the minority but I think this is a slight step down from STILL IN LOVE but still damn near peak Green.

Al Green - Livin' For You (1973): 71. Solid but a lesser album from Green that feels like it contains leftover tracks from CALL ME sessions.

Al Green - Al Green Explores Your Mind (1974): 71. Green fusing spiritual and romantic with "Take Me To The River" & "God Blessed Our Love."

Al Green - The Belle Album (1977): 80. A major comeback for Green who had been slipping into pleasant but boring soul. Hideous cover though.

Al Green - Higher Plane (1981): 67. Green is no longer smuggling the church sermon into the soul music but it's somehow still a sexy LP.

Guided By Voices - Forever Since Breakfast EP (1986): 73. Channels the sounds of R.E.M. & suggests Pollard was a pop genius at starting gun.

Guided By Voices - Devil Between My Toes/Sandbox (1987): 65/63. More flashes of brilliance but they're clearly still trying to find their sound.

Guided By Voices - Same Place the Fly Got Smashed (1990): 76. A concept LP about drunkenness from a band that knows plenty on that subject.

Guided By Voices - Propeller (1992): 73. Less cohesive than SAME PLACE THE FLY... and some of the lo-fi experiments detract from the songs.

Guided By Voices - Vampire on Titus (1993): 72. GBV getting really good at the song snippet and getting a lot out of their lo-fi production.

Guided By Voices - Fast Japanese Spin Cycle EP (1994): 78. 8 lo-fi songs in 10 minutes; more than half make a strong impression.

Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand (1994): 83. A collection of fleeting moments of genius with a sketchy texture but considerable impact.

Guided By Voices - Alien Lanes (1995): 81. More coherent flow than BEE THOUSAND but fewer individual tracks of obvious pop brilliance.

Guided by Voices - Motor Away / Color of My Blade (1995): 76. One of GBV's best anthems (slightly prettied up) and an essential B side.

Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction (1987): 73. Savage, gritty hard rock that is still remarkably visceral. Possibly best of genre.

Hall & Oates - Abandoned Luncheonette (1973): 55. "She's Gone" is a great nugget on this otherwise pleasant but forgettable pop/soul album.

Peter Hammill - Over (1977): 64. A bit of a drama queen with the overly fussy arrangements and theatrical vocals but still very distinctive.

Cockney Rebel - The Human Menagerie (1973): 82. Somewhere between prog & glam but with a violin used like an electric guitar & punk vocals.

Cockney Rebel - The Psychomodo (1974): 84. Demented circus music from deranged psychotics. Vocals are lovechild of Ray Davies & David Bowie.

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - The Best Years of Our Lives (1975): 80. Harley/Cockney is steadily proving a terrific discovery. Glam Kinks.

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Timeless Flight (1976): 77. "Red is a Mean, Mean Colour" is clear highlight on this transitional, strange LP.

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Love's A Prima Donna (1976): 69. Harley continuing exploring outer limits of pop with this 60s throwback.

Roy Harper - Folkjokeopus (1969): 64. Maddeningly uneven but when it's good (the long ones: "McGoohan's Blues" & "One for All"), it's great.

Roy Harper - Flat Baroque and Berserk: 83. A huge leap for Harper. "I Hate the White Man," "Don't You Grieve" & "Another Day" are terrific.

Roy Harper - Stormcock (1971): 87. Hats off to Roy Harper for this brilliant album with four terrific extended tracks (all over 7 minutes).

Roy Harper - Lifemask (1973): 63. Some guest guitar work from Jimmy Page helps out what is otherwise surprisingly lifeless & unfocused.

Roy Harper - HQ (1975): 75. A more rock oriented sound than Harper's previous outings. His band is incredibly tight in this incarnation.

PJ Harvey - Dry (1992): 69. Works well as straight ahead rock and as a feminist twist on grrl rock but I prefer the tone of her later work.

PJ Harvey - Dry (1993): 71. An exposed nerve that works the loud-quiet-loud dynamics well but hysterical tone is exhausting.

Lee Hazlewood - Requiem for an Almost Lady (1971): 68. A breakup album that would make a good double feature with Doris Duke's I'M A LOSER.

Heavenly - Heavenly Vs. Satan (1991): 85. Very addictive twee pop with sugary sweet melodies driven by propulsive guitar hooks.

Heavenly - Le Jardin De Heavenly (1992): 78. Charming follow-up to VS. SATAN adds keys which flesh out sound but takes away from guitar.

Heavenly - Atta Girl (1993): 79. Heavenly mixing a little acid into their sugary twee cocktail with a delightful song about rape. Too short.

Heavenly - The Decline and Fall of Heavenly (1994): 70. Title mostly accurate although there are still minor gems here.

Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland (1968): 65. Overlong & structurally flawed but dazzling in weird use of instruments & production technique.

Gary Higgins - Red Hash (1973): 77. Joins Perhacs and Bunyan as lost 70s folk figures greatly deserving of recently revived interest.

Robyn Hitchcock - I Often Dream of Trains (1984): 78. Well sequenced with dysfunctional A side & meditative B side. I gravitate towards A.

Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians - Fegmania! (1985): 83. Lighter & more pop oriented than TRAINS with several of his most memorable songs.

Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians - Element of Light (1986): 73. Beatles-esque melodies rule the day on this subdued, calming LP.

Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians - Globe of Frogs (1988): 67. Mixed effort with some notable songs ("Balloon Man" & "Flesh Number One").

Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians - Queen Elvis (1989): 74. "Madonna of the Wasps" & "One Long Pair of Eyes" are as good as Hitchcock gets.

Robyn Hitchcock - Eye (1990): 71. Overlong return to I OFTEN DREAM OF TRAINS minimalism. Probably five great songs here out of eighteen.

The Hit Parade - More Pop Songs (1991): 63. Charming but slight twee that is strong whenever the tone is light; it stumbles on melancholy.

Michael Hurley, The Unholy Modal Rounders, Jefferey Frederick & The Clamtones - Have Moicy! (1976): 90. Neo-hick party music. Demented fun.

Holy Modal Rounders - Last Round (1978): 65. Always refreshing to hear HMR do their LSD flavored folk but this feels like a minor work.

The Hoodoo Gurus - Stoneage Romeos (1984): 71. Power pop meets garage rock with rockabilly riffs and absurd lyrics. A lot of fun this debut.

The Hoodoo Gurus - Mars Needs Guitars! (1985): 66. Repeats much of the formula of the debut but without as much charm or successful humor.

Keith Hudson - Pick a Dub (1974): 77. Spare dub with only fleeting vocals and guitar punctuating the prominent trippy drums & cloudy bass.

Keith Hudson - Flesh of My Skin: Blood of my Blood (1975): 73. Thematically dark and political but this is a chill, soulful revolution.

The Human League - Reproduction (1979): 72. Cold, emotionally detached LP with robot synths and drums like a soldiers' march. Kraftwerkian.

The Human League - Dare (1981): 85. Catchy synth pop with strong menacing undercurrent on all the tracks (even "Don't You Want Me").

Michael Hurley - Armchair Boogie (1971): 93. Absurdly humorous at first, then reveals layers of poignancy. Feels ancient and passed down.

Michael Hurley - Hi-Fi Snock Uptown (1972): 62. Hurley rambles lackadaisically and his songs aren't particularly engaging this time.

Michael Hurley, The Unholy Modal Rounders, Jefferey Frederick & The Clamtones - Have Moicy! (1976): 90. Neo-hick party music. Demented fun.

Michael Hurley - Long Journey (1977): 68. Not among Hurley's best collections but several songs ("Hog of the Forsaken") are still terrific.

Michael Hurley - Snockgrass (1980): 84. Among Hurley's best collections. Great mixture of humor with a longing for a better life elsewhere.

Michael Hurley - Blue Navigator (1984): 67. Slightly above average output from Hurley with two repeat songs (very good ones).

Hüsker Dü - Zen Arcade (1984): 72. Several killer tracks but way too long & meandering for my taste. I want more like "Pink Turns to Blue."

Hüsker Dü - New Day Rising/Flip Your Wig (1985): 73/76. I welcome the Hüskers selling out like I did The Replacements: Way to find pop, guys.

Hüsker Dü - Candy Apple Grey (1986): 68. I welcomed Hüsker Dü selling out but some of the power ballads here are a bridge too far.

Leroy Hutson - Love Oh Love (1973): 73. Smooth, romantic soul for Mayfield's Curtom label with several songs that should be soul standards.

Ice Cube - AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted (1990): 55. "Get Off My Dick and Tell Yo Bitch To Come Here" would have been a better title for LP.

The Impressions - This is My Country (1968): 69. Less harmonizing than I expected; this feels like a Mayfield solo effort. Very smooth soul.

The Impressions - The Young Mods' Forgotten Story (1969): 68. The political songs are prime Mayfield but the love songs are slight & short.

The Infections - Kill... (1997): 75. Strong garage punk effort that sounds completely divorced from the late 90s punk scene. Raw & dirty.

Michael Jackson - Off the Wall (1979): 65. A few classic Jackson disco tracks but an awful lot of mediocre filler to get to them.

Michael Jackson - Thriller (1982): 74. My favorite album when I was 5 holds up very well except for the very lame "The Girl is Mine."

Jacobites - Robespierre's Velvet Basement (1985): 80. Sounds like Robyn Hitchcock fronting acoustic, EXILE-era Rolling Stones. Terrific.

Jacobites - Texas (1986): 76. Slowly creeping up on me in a way that suggests it's not done growing. "When I Left You" is simply stunning.

Jacobites - Dead Men Tell No Tales (1987): 74. Slower, more meditative set of songs with experimental lo-fi layering of textures.

The Jam - In the City/This Is the Modern World (1977): 66/69. Straight-forward punk debut and sporadically excellent but uneven follow-up.

The Jam - All Mod Cons (1978): 79. "David Watts" aligns The Jam's third album to The Kinks rather than punk. "Fly" & "English Rose" confirm.

The Jam - Setting Sons (1979): 77. UK version. Consistently strong follow up to ALL MOD CONS has many memorable tracks & a lot of energy.

The Jam - Sound Affects (1980): 72. "Start!" & "That's Entertainment" are stand-outs. A lot of energy and stylistic shifts.

James - Laid (1993): 64. "Laid" is clearly a stand-out here in terms of quality & enthusiasm. "Sometimes (Lester Piggott)" is fine too.

Etta James - Tell Mama (1967): 72. Very good LP. "Tell Mama," "I'd Rather Go Blind" & her cover of Redding's "Security" are especially great

Japan - Gentlemen Take Polaroids (1980): 60. Vocals are an annoying amalgamation of Bowie & Ferry but Karn's fretless bass lines are funky.

Japan - Tin Drum (1981): 72. Side A is very strong, especially "Ghosts" & instrumental "Canton." Side B meanders a bit.

The J.B.'s - Damn Right I Am Somebody (1974): 73. Taken from PAYBACK sessions this doesn't flow like an album but it is good funky fun.

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy (1985): 71. Spector's Wall of Sound stretched to the limits of industrial shrieks & fuzzy reverb.

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Darklands (1987): 76. No longer drenched in noise, now just lightly marinated in it, and I prefer my gloom pop that way.

The Jesus Lizard - Goat (1991): 66. A menacing noise similar to Big Black but the vocals feel like they are intruding upon the music.

Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection (1970): 76. One of John's strongest LPs with western concept and the majestic track "My Father's Gun."

Elton John - Honky Château (1972): 74. Contains Taupin's best lyrics ("I Think I'm Going to Kill Myself" & "Mona Lisas") & his worst ("Rocket Man")

Elton John - Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player (1973): 58. The hits are very good (especially "Daniel") but LP is very uneven.

Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973): 62. A thoughtfully constructed double LP that still would have been better as a single.

Daniel Johnston - Songs of Pain (1981): 70. I guess the excessive length is part of the point with this needy, lo-fi confession of anguish.

Daniel Johnston - Yip/Jump Music (1983): 46. A couple worthwhile tracks buried within this annoyingly repetitive & unbearably overlong LP.

Daniel Johnston - Hi, How Are You (1983): 64. "An Unfinished Album" apparently means less than 60 minutes, thank god. Several strong tracks.

Janis Joplin - I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! (1969): 70. More soul than blues. Joplin's vocals are killer but the band is lacking.

Joy Divison - Unknown Pleasures (1979): 82. The drumming is mechanical but the guitar is stark & haunting and vocals are raw & exposed.

Joy Division - Closer (1980): 70. The hooks & riffs that make UNKNOWN PLEASURES pleasurable are missing here. Atmosphere of dread remains.

King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King (1969): 86. Opening track is brilliant noise nightmare; the rest is brooding folk dreamland.

King Crimson - Lizard (1970): 57. I'm still somewhat puzzled by this one. Jazzy dissonance seems like a poor match to these vocals/lyrics.

King Crimson - Larks' Tongues in Aspic (1973): 66. Fripp's guitar thankfully takes control of many of these jazzy, wandering prog exercises.

King Tubby - Dub From the Roots (1974): 69. Strong dub collection from Tubby. A little overlong.

King Tubby Meets Roots Radics - Dangerous Dub (1981): 75. More skittish, trippy dub music from the best practitioner in the game.

The Kinks - The Kink Kontroversy/Kinda Kinks (1965): 68/66. Both have choice cuts & eccentric style shifts; neither transcend their singles.

The Kinks - Face To Face (1966): 78. Nearly great. Davies lyrics taking a much more sardonic vibe as they push away from garage rock to pop.

The Kinks - Something Else (1967): 80. Dave is 3/3 here and Ray is starting to experiment with new musical genres and subject matter.

The Kinks - The Village Green Preservation Society (1968): 73. Very solid but there are, for me, really no superlative track here.

The Kinks - Arthur (Or The Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (1969): 76. There's a terrific flow to the songs & the story is coherent.

The Kinks - Lola... (1970): 79. Some of the best Kinks songs are here but the vitriol towards the music industry concept weighs the LP down.

KISS - Destroyer (1976): 41. "Detroit Rock City" has a cool bass line and "Beth" isn't horrible as far as power ballads go. Otherwise: UGH.

Al Kooper - I Stand Alone (1968): 67. I am three plays deep into this album and I'm still baffled. Some lovely songs. Some annoying samples.

Kraftwerk - Autobahn (1974): 73. Title track is infectious romp through sonic landscape of car travel. Side B has 4 discrete tonal textures.

Kraftwerk - Radio-Active (1975): 58. A more predictable and limited journey than the one provided on AUTOBAHN. Conceptually stifled.

Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express (1977): 86. Kraftwerk abandons atmospheric instrumentals for pop melodies and basically invent synth pop.

Kraftwerk - The Man-Machine (1978): 80. A similar pop formula to the one used on TRANS-EUROPE EXPRESS, just more focused on gorgeous sounds.

Kraftwerk - Computer World (1981): 66. Humorous LP doesn't capture the evocative soundscapes of their best albums. Almost irrelevant.

The La's - S/T (1990): 72. Very solid brit pop LP with the timeless hit "There She Goes" and a half-dozen others as good if not better.

Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual (1983): 68. Tempted to go higher but B side really falls apart after glorious "All Through the Night."

The Last Drive - Underworld Shakedown (1986): 66. Greek garage rock with heavy surf edge. Highlights are the four oddly inspired covers.

Love - S/T (1966): 71. Love's debut finds them making jangly garage rock and Byrds ballads. A tight record w/ hints at the leap they'd take.

Love - Da Capo (1967): 77. A huge leap from their self-titled debut; shifting between proto-punk rage with calm melodies.

Love - Forever Changes (1967): 100. A flawless tribute to Los Angeles and a testament to the dangerous underbelly of free love/psychedelia.

Love - Four Sail (1969): 72. Arthur Lee with a new group abandons folk altogether to focus on tight hard rock akin to Love's S/T debut.

Main Source - Breaking Atoms (1991): 72. Terrific work from the two DJs which totally overshadows the fine but not spectacular lyrics.

Stephen Malkmus - Discretion Grove / Sin Taxi (2001): 70. A side is not one of Malkmus' better tunes but "Sin Taxi" is delightfully weird.

Mamas & The Papas - If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (1966): 64. "California Dreamin'" is great. The rest is well arranged & fairly boring MOR

Bob Marley - Catch A Fire/Burnin' (1973): 72/74. Two very strong roots reggae LPs from Marley with "Stir It Up," "Get Up Stand Up" etc.

Bob Marley - Rastaman Vibration (1976): 67. Lacks a real stand-out classic track but never unimpressive.

Bob Marley - Exodus (1977): 76. 4 made it to LEGEND (including chill classic "Three Little Birds") but the ones that didn't are very strong.

Curtis Mayfield - Curtis (1970): 84. His first post-Impressions effort pushes towards more socially conscious lyrics & bold arrangements.

Curtis Mayfield - Roots (1971): 70. A lot less memorable that the debut but still smooth and soulful as fuck.

Curtis Mayfield - Super Fly (1972): 89. Dark grooves, sharp brass and wah-wah guitars make for a heavily sampled soul masterpiece.

Curtis Mayfield - Back to the World (1973): 81. Underrated upon release, it's time for a critical re-evaluation of Mayfield's post-SUPERFLY.

Curtis Mayfield - Sweet Exorcist (1974): 65. A minor Mayfield release that still has a few notable tracks ("To Be Invisible" & "Suffer").

Curtis Mayfield - There's No Place Like America Today (1975): 89. Nearly tops SUPERFLY. "So In Love" & "Jesus" are among his very best.

Curtis Mayfield - Do It All Night (1978): 56. Mayfield seems a little desperate here with his embrace of disco and dumbed down love lyrics.

Curtis Mayfield - Something to Believe In (1980): 65. Title track and especially "Tripping Out" are strong enough to overcome bad strings.

Paul McCartney - McCartney (1970): 59. Only "Maybe I'm Amazed" would pass Beatles quality control. Sloppy, homemade quality is detrimental.

Paul McCartney & Wings - Band on the Run (1973): 64. Not a return to Beatles form but better than I originally estimated it to be.

Kate & Anna McGarrigle - S/T (1976): 84. A very confident debut with strong vocals harmonies and terrific folk melodies.

Kate & Anna McGarrigle - Dancer with Bruised Knees (1977): 79. Three French folk songs is slight overkill but nearly great otherwise.

Mclusky - Mclusky Do Dallas (2002): 83. A rollicking, energetic rock album that's got more ownage than an ownage convention, sing it.

MDC - Millions of Dead Cops (1982): 61. Fast-paced hardcore punk with political slant. Not bad for this sort of thing but not my style.

Meat Puppets - II (1984): 80. Cowpunk from Arizona with psychedelic lyrics, odd guitar patterns and loopy instrumentals. Still refreshing.

Meat Puppets - Up on the Sun (1985): 78. Stellar follow-up to II is more relaxed and focused on the interplay between jagged guitar & bass.

Menomena - I Am the Fun Blame Monster (2003): 75. Early, slightly disjointed sonic framework that is perfected on follow-up FRIEND AND FOE.

Mercury Rev - Yerself Is Steam (1991): 76. Noisy, psychedelic dream pop is similar to early Flaming Lips, but slightly more impressive.

The Microphones - The Glow, Pt. 2 (2001): 93. Great dynamics & brilliantly sequenced; a rare double LP that feels perfectly thought out.

The Microphones - Mount Eerie (2003): 77. Conceptually audacious & the apex for Elverum's experimental production but very distancing.

The Millennium - Begin (1968): 71. Another wildly ambitious pop album from '68 that came at quite an expense but it's there in the details.

Minutemen - What Makes A Man Start Fires? (1983): 72. Hardcore punk meets beat poetry makes for very strange mixture. Great overall dynamic.

Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime (1984): 79. Exhausting LP with 43 songs in 74 minutes. Songs/riffs accumulate meaning through sequencing.

Misfits - Walk Among Us (1982): 80. Fun, fast-paced punk with goofy horror narratives and plentiful pop hooks.

Misfits - Earth A.D. (1983): 61. More hardcore and less melodic than WALK AMONG US, Misfits sound like a routine hardcore outfit here.

Mission of Burma - Vs. (1982): 76. I prefer the anthems to the more meandering experimental passages. Gets better as it goes along.

Joni Mitchell - Clouds (1969): 69. Restrained vocally & lyrically but there are a few high-points here that point to her superior 70s work.

Joni Mitchell - Ladies of the Canyon (1970): 75."Big Yellow Taxi" masterfully blends message with personal resonance, typical of lyrical advances.

Joni Mitchell - Blue (1971): 94. Spare but very warm piano or guitar arrangements with personal, sometimes confessional, lyrics. Shattering.

Joni Mitchell - For the Roses (1972): 74. A fine LP that steers away from the intense personal terrain of BLUE and feels slight as result.

Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark (1974): 72. Several excellent songs but Mitchell's production is too clean & sparkly; arrangements too busy.

Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975) 66. Transitional: Lyrics poetic, obscure & evocative. Less melodic & more jazzy/strange.

Joni Mitchell - Hejira (1976): 70. Jazzy structures and sinuous lyrics are fully embraced to make a very intriguing, complex album.

Moby Grape - Wow (1968): 74. Every track is strong but it feels like a band at odds with each other; shifting genre with each new song.

The Modern Lovers - S/T (1976): 94. Songwriting is almost embarrassingly personal & funny as hell. Predicts punk & contemporary indie rock.

Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - S/T (1976): 86. Goofy follow-up to masterpiece debut is overflowing with charm and humor.

Van Morrison - Astral Week (1968): 96. Very loose vibe. Everything feels improvised: from the odd arrangement to Morrison's rambling lyrics.

Van Morrison - Moondance (1970): 86. Morrison expands his ASTRAL WEEKS sound to include a The Band-influenced folk rock vibe. Amazing 1-2-3.

Van Morrison - His Band and the Street Choir (1970): 76. A step down from previous two great albums, mostly because of the weak Side B.

Van Morrison - Saint Dominic's Preview (1972): 73. A lot of scatting, rambling tracks here along with terrific pop song "Jackie Wilson Said"

Morrissey - Your Arsenal (1992): 70. Strong solo album is about on par with majority of Smiths' output (and well below THE QUEEN IS DEAD).

Mott the Hoople - All the Young Dudes (1972): 69. Strong A side and great overall sound but B side has an awful lot of filler.

Mott the Hoople - Mott (1973): 70. An marginal improvement over ALL THE YOUNG DUDES with more Bowie/Dylan vocals with Stones-esque rock fun.

The Move - S/T (1968): 83. A combination of some of the best traits of The Who and The Kinks. This debut is chock-full with awesome tracks.

The Move - Shazam (1970): 78. A great crunchy guitar sound here and some great extended jam songs. "Don't Make My Baby Blue" is highlight.

My Bloody Valentine - You Made Me Realise EP (1988): 82. Great EP shows MBV's early experiments with taking a meat grinder to sunny pop tunes.

My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything (1988): 80. They're definitely pushing the guitar sound towards LOVELESS but this is ostensibly still pop.

My Bloody Valentine - Glider (1990): 79. An appetizer for the guitar-melting sounds of LOVELESS with three songs that didn't make that LP.

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (1991): 84. The APOCALYPSE NOW of shoegaze. Way over budget & schedule for fascinating experimental vision.

Willie Nelson - Red Headed Stranger (1975): 79. Very sophisticated use of recurring melody and themes to flesh out murder ballad conceit.

Willie Nelson - Stardust (1978): 70. Not a huge fan of Standards LPs but this is about as good as they get. Sometimes too sleepy though.

Willie Nelson - Sings Kristofferson (1979): 68. Very nice interpretations of songs that aren't quite at the level of standards on STARDUST.

Neu! - S/T (1972): 71. Unquestionably influential and contemporary sounding but not something I'd likely revisit for pleasure (unlike Can).

Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998): 100. If someone asked me to name a completely perfect album, I would cite this.

Mickey Newbury - 'Frisco Mabel Joy (1971) 71. Incredibly varied singer/songwriter who flirts with country but doesn't commit to anything.

A.C. Newman - The Slow Wonder (2004): 74. Underrated a bit upon release. First three among the best songs in Newman's impressive catalog.

Randy Newman - Sail Away (1972): 75. This is pretty impressive. I should listen to more solo Randy Newman, I'm just so sick of Pixar Newman.

Randy Newman - Good Old Boys (1974): 80. More nuanced than the opening track "Rednecks" suggests; scathing but sometimes lovingly scathing.

New Order - 1981-1982 EP (1982): 84. Exceptional EP (at 30 mins, it is basically short LP length) with great songs "Temptation" and "Hurt."

New Order - Power, Corruption and Lies (1983): 82. Some of their very best songs here: "Age of Consent," "The Village" & "Leave Me Alone"

New Order - Low-Life (1985): 74. New Order shake off memory of Joy Division with this warmer, fuzzier outing. Transitional but very good.

New Order - Brotherhood (1986): 64. No signs of Joy Division or edge here on this pleasant, but verging on anonymous, synth pop effort.

New Order - Technique (1989): 69. Used to like this more. "Round & Round" is still terrific but I'm not feeling the rest nearly as much.

The New Pornographers - Electric Version (2003): 82. The most exuberant pop album from the Pornographers with a nearly perfect side A.

New York Dolls - S/T (1973): 68. Fun party rock in the spirit of the Stones with camp humor and dark undertone.

Nico - Chelsea Girl (1967): 84. Teenage Jackson Browne's 3 great songs are vulnerably performed and the VU title track is lovely & haunting.

Nico - The Marble Index (1969): 57. Odd and brooding. Nico's lyrics & Cale arrangements make for a suffocating, droning & alienating album.

Harry Nilsson - Aerial Ballet (1968): 78. On first pass the LP seems light and fluffy; second play reveal underlying sadness & longing.

Harry Nilsson - Harry (1969): 75. An eclectic pop album that allows Nilsson to show off his varied songwriting approaches & great covers.

Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Sings Newman (1970): 73. And he does quite a lovely job (especially "Vine St") but I prefer when he sings Nilsson.

Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Schmilsson (1971): 82. Diverse LP shows all sides of Nilsson's songwriting from druggy to melodramatic to hard rock.

Harry Nilsson - Son of Schmilsson (1972): 80. Irreverent, strange and often very funny. Not equal to the original, but pretty damn close.

Harry Nilsson - A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night (1973): 65. Nilsson does standards with a straight-face & syrupy arrangements.

Harry Nilsson - Pussy Cats (1974): 78. "Don't Forget Me" is one of Nilsson's best songs from 70s. Fun party atmosphere on cover songs.

Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine (1989): 70. My favorite band when I was 15. More indebted to the sound of the 80s than I'd remembered.

Nirvana - Bleach (1989): 68. I always expect this will be better than I remembered. Never bad, Cobain just did everything better later.

Nirvana - Nevermind (1991): 88. I prefer the sound of IN UTERO and the suicide-note tone of UNPLUGGED IN NY but this is good too, I guess.

Nirvana - In Utero (1993): 83. Sound is more visceral than NEVERMIND but the songs aren't quite as good here (esp "Very Ape" & "Milk It").

Nirvana - Unplugged in New York (1994): 88. A raw nerve, intense delivery of brilliantly picked covers & deep album cuts. Best of genre.

Nobunny - Love Visions (2008): 76. Several great tracks that have become concert staples but I wish the production wasn't quite so rough.

Gary Numan - The Pleasure Principle (1979): 63. Another bridge between Kraftwerk and 80s synth pop. Not varied enough for my taste.

Laura Nyro - Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (1968): 59. Not really a fan of the vocal gymnastics here but her rhythmic shifts are badass.

Thee Oh Sees - The Cool Death of Island Raiders (2006): 74. Haunting bedroom folk with layered noise. Major departure from Coachwhips past.

Thee Oh Sees - Sucks Blood (2007): 73. A bedroom folk album with ghostly hollowed-out vocal harmonies. Lovely & haunting stuff.

Thee Oh Sees - Thee Hounds of Foggy Notion (2008): 75. These are the most essential recordings of best tracks from the first two albums.

The Only Ones - S/T (1978): 73. "Another Girl, Another Planet" is essential. Overall feels more like 80s college rock than 70s punk rock.

The Only Ones - Even Serpents Shine (1979): 70. There is no "Another Girl, Another Planet" here, but this LP is consistently strong.

Yoko Ono - Plastic Ono Band (1970): 64. Yoko employs primal scream, repeating words divorced of meaning. Anticipates NY No Wave movement.

Os Mutantes - S/T (1968): 70. Guitar fuzz and production experimentation with reverb make for quite a trippy listening experience.

Shuggie Otis - Inspiration Information (1974): 70. Instrumental heavy B Side brings down the score for what is otherwise a terrific soul LP.

The Outsiders - C.Q. (1968): 84. Demented & wildly varied garage rock from Amsterdam with a strong sinister undercurrent.

Augustus Pablo - Ital Dub (1974): 74. Pablo's first collaboration with King Tubby and his hypnotic, shifty dub mixes do not disappoint.

Augustus Pablo - King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown (1977): 95. Nevermind the grammar, here's the definitive statement in dub. Essential.

Augustus Pablo - East of the River Nile (1977): 84. Less mind-blowing than ROCKERS UPTOWN but still dub enough to give you a contact high.

Graham Parker - Squeezing Out Sparks (1979): 74. Similar in sound and attitude to Elvis Costello's THIS YEAR'S MODEL, just not as awesome.

Van Dyke Parks - Song Cycle (1968): 78. A batshit crazy album that's overflowing with ideas and rewards for attentive, headphone listening.

Gram Parsons - GP (1973): 68. "A Song for You" and "She" are choice cuts, this is much less successful with the uptempo ole whoop-tee-doo.

Gram Parsons - Grievous Angel (1974): 71. Emmylou Harris provides some great back-up vocals on this LP which is shadowed by Parsons' death.

Dolly Parton - Jolene (1974): 69. Short and sweet (at 25 minutes) with a few terrific tracks and nicely subdued Nashville production.

The Pastels - Sittin' Pretty (1989): 66. I was expecting something a little bit more twee, but instead it's Jesus + Mary Chain redux.

Pavement - Slay Tracks: 1933-1969 EP (1989): 75. Early experiments with noise rock for Pavement has some moments of genuine brilliance.

Pavement - Demolition Plot J-J EP(1990): 69. Further adventures in noise rock experimentation. This is less interesting than their previous EP

Pavement - Perfect Sound Forever EP (1991): 74. Not quite as aggressively noisy as the previous EPs but still filled with bursts of insanity

Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted (1992): 95. A huge leap from the EPs to this well-judged match of chaotic noise & playful pop instincts.

Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994): 99. Melodic, adventurous sophomore album about making a sophomore album, big cities & success.

Pearl Jam - Ten (1991): 70. Unreliable grade since I loved this album immensely at age 10. "Black" & "Oceans" hold up surprisingly well.

Pearl Jam - Vs. (1993): 66. They're clearly going for a rawer, more live sounding production which comes off, but several tracks are weak.

Pearls Before Swine - Balaklava (1968): 67. Side A is delicate & atmospheric; "Translucent Carriages" is standout. Side B is a bummer, man.

Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance (1978): 74. Thomas' spasmodic vocals wind up & explode like the Tasmanian Devil in this punk deconstruction.

Linda Perhacs - Parallelograms (1970): 86. Beautiful psychedelic folk album with trippy vocals wrapping sinuously around other vocals.

Pet Shop Boys - Please (1986): 68. Very cool & distanced approach to pop with most of the best cuts confined to the first side.

Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever (1989): 66. A singles artist & this has a couple worthy tracks. Not much to find when you dig into deeper cuts.

Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville (1993): 72. Sings about female sexuality like PJ Harvey, but in a way that's not scary or threatening to men.

The Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde (1992): 72. Vulnerable in ways that hip hop is usually not allowed. Four MCs distinct in style & voice.

Wilson Pickett - The Exciting Wilson Pickett (1966): 70. Both of the side-starters are terrific soul classics and the others cut no slack.

Pink Floyd - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967) 73. "Lucifer Sam" is really great. The stereo effects make me wish I had my headphones.

Pink Floyd - Meddle (1971): 76. "Fearless" is one of Floyd's most melodic & lovely tracks & "Echoes" is a 23 minutes trippy ride.

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (1973): 76. Excellent sequencing and flow. Non-lexical vocals on "Great Gig in the Sky" are annoying.

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (1975): 82. Songs have some personal dimension to them & not bogged down by concept or production trickery.

Pink Floyd - Animals (1977): 79. Highfalutin concept album about Orwell's Animal Farm flows brilliantly and uses Waters' harsh vocals well.

Pixies - Come on Pilgrim EP (1987): 92. Probably the best EP ever made. Eight great tracks of surf hardcore alternative college rock.

Pixies - Surfer Rosa (1988): 96. Black's such a strange writer; his weird chord progressions & melodic unpredictability are a constant here.

Pixies - Doolittle (1989): 97. The only song I might cut is "Silver" but it does give a minute to breathe between epics "Hey" & "Gouge Away"

Pixies - Bossanova (1990): 85. Less successful than previous two LPs and I blame it on the slackness of Side B (other than "The Happening").

Pixies - Trompe Le Monde (1991): 75. Easily the least impressive Pixies album but certainly not without its charms or a few great tracks.

The Pogues - Rum Sodomy & the Lash (1985): 69. Irish & traditional folk tales with punk delivery & Costello producing. I prefer their next LP.

Poison 13 - First You Dream (1985): 78. Terrific EP from mostly forgotten Austin band that infused blues with a manic, crazed punk energy.

Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual (2008): 75. Noise pop by way of Jazz Fusion. Repeated vocals/yelping push things further into abstraction.

Iggy Pop - The Idiot (1977): 70. First Pop collaboration with Bowie is less breakneck paced than LUST FOR LIFE but still plenty sleazy & fun

Iggy Pop - Lust For Life (1977): 74. Title track is immortal. "The Passenger" is even better. Bowie's imprint is all over this album.

Otis Redding - The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads (1965): 74. Smooth, very assured soul that lacks the fiery passion of OTIS BLUE.

Otis Redding - Otis Blue (1965): 91. Partial homage to Cooke but clearly there's a different tension at work here in the way Redding emotes.

Otis Redding - ...Dictionary of Soul (1966): 82. More Redding originals crop up here, but "Try A Little Tenderness" is the show-stopper.

Otis Redding & Carla Thomas - King & Queen (1967): 79. A gimmick album but very successful when showcasing Redding and having Thomas play back at him.

Otis Redding - The Dock of the Bay (1968): 73. Recycles 2 songs from previous LPs & generally feels like a retread. Title track is obv great

Otis Redding - The Immortal Otis Redding (1968): 86. A really remarkable soul record that doesn't feel like a hasty posthumous collection.

Red House Painters - Down Colorful Hill (1992): 77. Depressing/suicidal music that grows in power as you revisit with attention to lyrics.

Redman - Whut? Thee Album (1992): 77. Funny, inventive hip hop LP would be a classic, if not for the lame skits & weak sequencing.

Lou Reed - Transformer (1972): 83. Reed at his most commercially friendly, but still sometimes singing about transvestites & prostitution.

Lou Reed - Berlin (1973): 85. "a gargantuan slab of maggoty rancor that may well be the most depressed album ever made."

Lou Reed - Sally Can't Dance (1974): 51. Half-assed writing with overly emphatic arrangements to compensate. Only "Billy" leaves an impact.

Lou Reed - Coney Island Baby: 65. Splits the difference between BERLIN & SALLY. "A Gift" is a Lou Reed song to which I can fully relate.

Lou Reed - Street Hassle (1978): 68. Title track is a masterpiece, "I Wanna Be Black" is stand-out among the rest.

Lou Reed & John Cale - Songs for Drella (1990): 72. Loving, complex portrait of Andy Warhol overcomes occasionally feeling like an exercise.

The Replacements - Stink EP (1982): 72. The energy & attitude of punk but given a slight spin (harmonicas/blues) to keep things interesting.

The Replacements - Let It Be (1984): 89. They sell-out initial punk roots to embrace melody; open up to country & glam. Probably their best.

The Replacements - Tim (1985): 86. More stylistically diverse than LET IT BE & great anthems. Also, fuck flight attendants... apparently.

The Replacements - Pleased to Meet Me (1987): 80. The weakest of the big three but still terrific. I'm in love with that song.

The Revolutionaries - Goldmine Dub (1979): 74. Great throbbing bass by Robbie Shakespeare & typically brilliant Tubby/Jammy dub sound.

Emitt Rhodes - S/T (1970): 77. Homemade album with very prominent Beatles influence. The melodies are terrific; lyrics are sometimes lacking.

The Modern Lovers - S/T (1976): 94. Songwriting is almost embarrassingly personal & funny as hell. Predicts punk & contemporary indie rock.

Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - S/T (1976): 86. Goofy follow-up to masterpiece debut is overflowing with charm and humor.

Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - Rock 'n' Roll With the Modern Lovers (1977): 65. A fey, goofy album seemingly aimed at children.

Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - Back In Your Life (1979): 67. Good news: he is writing for adults again. Bad news: it's still minor.

Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - Jonathan Sings! (1983): 73. Slips a bit on Side B but even the minor songs are cleverly conceived.

Jonathan Richman - I, Jonathan (1992): 72. A fun, summer party album with Richman's best songs since the 1970s. Sweet and charming.

/Jonathan Richman - I, Jonathan (1992)/: 82. Underestimated staying power for this album which seems to hit most of Richman's major themes.

Ride - Nowhere (1990): 75. More shoegaze that has aged very well. The pop structures become apparent when you dig through the distortion.

The Rolling Stones - Aftermath (1966): 68. Stones at their most misogynistic ("Stupid Girl") but experimenting with form and instrumentation

The Rolling Stones - Between the Buttons (1967): 68. The Stones at their most melodic and tame. Clearly they were aiming for Beatlesque pop.

/The Rolling Stones - Between the Buttons (1967)/: 72. Underrated this slightly on first attempt, Side A is pretty exceptional. B falters.

The Rolling Stones - Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967): 71. Two brilliant songs ("2000 Man" & "She's a Rainbow") and plenty of odd failures

The Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet (1968): 74. Stones were now done transitioning and hit their stride (68-72). This is raw, primal rock.

The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed (1969): 78. The Stones sliding further into the shadowy embrace of drugs, perverse sexuality & violence.

The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers (1971): 85. The Stones at their most stylistically adventurous and lyrically provocative.

The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St. (1972): 93. The best Stones album is a gritty, grimy double album of drugged out rock insanity.

The Rolling Stones - Goats Head Soup (1973): 67. Anemic follow-up to the two best Stones LPs has a few decent tracks but feels unfocused.

The Rolling Stones - Some Girls (1978): 81. The last notable Stones album injects punk and disco into a spare, dirty rock album.

Mick Ronson - Slaughter on 10th Avenue (1974): 78. Classic glam era Bowie without Bowie & shockingly it's almost as strong as ALADDIN SANE.

Biff Rose - The Thorn in Mrs. Rose's Side (1968): 55. "Fill Your Heart" is the highlight but Bowie's faithful cover on HUNKY DORY is better.

Roxy Music - S/T (1972): 64. A side is very strong but B side is mostly forgettable.

Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure (1973): 75. Eno's last album with Roxy Music is atmospheric and sometimes downright sinister avant-pop.

Roxy Music - Country Life (1974): 79. Great album cover or Greatest album cover? Probably Roxy Music's most consistently strong album.

The Runaways - S/T (1976): 62. Sounds anemic compared to RAMONES debut but fun in a similarly primal way, but a lot more calculated about it

Todd Rundgren - Something/Anything? (1972): 60. Severely in need of editing.

S.F. Seals - Still? 7" (1994): 74. Two terrific songs that wouldn't be out of place in contemporary indie rock scene (a la Vivian Girls).

Scarface - Mr. Scarface Is Back (1991): 68. I prefer the more ridiculous work of Geto Boys but some of these tracks cut deep (esp last two).

Klaus Schulze - Irrlicht (1972): 67. Drone, ambient music sounds like Tangerine Dream soundtrack to 2001. Some haunting passages.

Klaus Schulze - Mirage (1977): 67. A stark musical landscape that feels completely cold & inhospitable. Hard to ignore & impossible to love.

Scientists - Weird Love (1986): 69. Cool Garage Rock LP with a nice raw sound and primal energy to the riffs.

Sebadoh - III (1991): 65. Interesting experiments with lo-fi fragmented songwriting to varying degrees of success. Overlong.

Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols (1977): 75. Jones' riffs & Rotten's volatile vocals make this nearly worth the hype.

Judee Sill - S/T (1971): 86. A very assured debut album with some really top-notch songwriting (Esp. "Jesus Was A Cross Maker" & "Lady-O").

Judee Sill - Heart Food (1973): 84. A more downbeat affair than her debut but just as lovely. "The Kiss" is a highlight.

Silver Apples - S/T (1968): 66. Defiantly trailblazing album sometimes feels like a party that you weren't invited to attend.

Silver Apples - Contact (1969): 74. Feels more grounded than their debut but that might just be the banjo. "You and I" is a terrific track.

Simon & Garfunkel - Sounds of Silence (1966): 62. Simon trying to find his footing lyrically by aping early Dylan and comes off insincere.

Simon & Garfunkel - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966): 56. "Homeward Bound" is the choice cut. Others are pleasant or pretentious.

Simon & Garfunkel - Bookend (1968): 64. Simon's guitar riffs are underrated, they save his lyrics which are too often trite or smug.

Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970): 65. "The Boxer" is probably the best S&G track. Humor & energy are new elements.

Paul Simon - S/T (1972): 70. Simon seems inspired by his lack of Garfunkel. He ceases ballads and begins experimenting with ethnic music.

Paul Simon - There Goes Rhymin' Simon (1973): 72. "Kodachrome" & "Something So Right" rank among Simon's best songs. Very pleasant & relaxed

Paul Simon - Still Crazy After All These Years (1975): 67. Feels like there's a more personal album trying to break out from the fluff.

Paul Simon - Graceland (1986): 82. A joyous album whenever everything gels (Title track or "Diamonds"), but a few tracks don't work at all.

Nina Simone - Wild is the Wind (1966): 74. Nocturnal and haunting (sometimes downright frightening) but doesn't completely cohere as album.

Nina Simone - High Priestess of Soul (1967): 67. Too much gospel for my taste but more stylistically coherent than some of her other LPs.

Slint - Spiderland (1991): 78. I still need more time with this. Clean, mathematical response to Sonic Youth's atmosphere. A grower.

Sly and the Family Stone - There's A Riot Goin' On (1971): 54. Very loose, sloppy funk with a very muddy production that makes nothing pop.

Sly and the Family Stone - Fresh (1973): 70. Not really sure why RIOT didn't work because this follow-up is right in my funky wheelhouse.

The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream (1993): 77. Stylistically more aligned to shoegaze than grunge. Hampered only by Vig's production.

Brett Smiley - Breathlessly Brett (1974): 76. Lost Glam LP from androgynous Smiley has youthful spirit and a great version of "Solitaire."

Elliott Smith - Roman Candle (1994): 85. Smith at his most spare and intense with "Last Call" and "No Name #1" among his very best songs.

Patti Smith - Horses (1975): 76. Collision between garage rock and beat poetry creates a wonderful tension that makes this quite vivacious.

Patti Smith Group - Easter (1978): 85. Title is fitting since several of the songs come off as prayers, chants or sermons for the dislocated.

Patti Smith Group - Wave (1979): 55. Smith goes all-in on the prayers & chants explored on EASTER. Only "Dancing Barefoot" emerges as great.

The Smiths - S/T (1984): 72. A few really great tracks highlight this solid debut: "Pretty Girls Make Graves" & "This Charming Man."

The Smiths - Meat Is Murder (1985): 67. Transitional, rushed sophomore effort. Only stand-out track is "How Soon is Now?" which is immortal.

The Smiths - The Queen is Dead (1986): 86. Nearly flawless (especially on the B-Side) with their best doomed love songs & pissy put-downs.

The Smiths - Strangeways, Here We Come (1987): 68. Feels less cohesive than the previous albums but the songs are still strong and twisted.

Snoop Dogg - Doggystyle (1993): 51. Hugely overrated follow-up to THE CHRONIC follows basic formula without further innovation. Tiresome.

The Soft Boys - Underwater Moonlight (1980): 80. Hitchcock's eccentric psychedelic lyrics marry well with the simple, unfussy arrangements.

Soft Cell - Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (1982): 65. An unabashedly smutty LP that was clearly not intended to support the smash "Tainted Love."

Sonic Youth - S/T (1982): 77. SY experimenting with different sounds on this debut including chiming guitars and tribal drum patterns.

Sonic Youth - Confusion is Sex (1983): 70. Much grittier & more aggressive than the debut but feels less coherent & transitional as result.

Sonic Youth - Bad Moon Rising (1985): 71. SY at the height of their dispassionate vocals over dissonant feedback. Transitional but solid.

Sonic Youth - Evol (1986): 76. Further explorations in the darkside of sex but this time with less noise & more rock. Peaks early.

Sonic Youth - Sister (1987): 79. A pop breakthrough but I can't help but think about DAYDREAM NATION, which eclipses SISTER completely.

Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (1988): 91. Astonishing. One of the few double LPs that feels like it has an intelligent design behind it.

Sonic Youth - Goo (1990): 78. SY settling down into a more friendly song/album structure and transitioning into post-DAYDREAM NATION sound.

Sonic Youth - Dirty (1992): 72. SY continues to settle down into familiar. Semi-polished production could have used another layer of dirt.

Sonic Youth - Whore's Moaning EP (1993): 76. Really strong EP with a sexy Alice Cooper cover and a two very cool instrumentals.

The Sound - Jeopardy (1980): 83. Dark, brooding post-punk with hooks and urgent tempo. "I Can't Escape Myself" & "Missiles" are highlights.

The Sound - From the Lion's Mouth (1981): 81. Less urgent than debut with keyboard/synths taking place of guitar lead. Very underrated.

The Sound - All Fall Down (1982): 75. Continues their trend towards slow, atmospheric material. Unfortunately, Warner cut them for this.

Spacemen 3 - Perfect Prescription (1987): 67. Opening two tracks are the main attraction here. The rest is fine but repetitive.

Spiritualized - Feel So Sad/I Want You 7" (1991): 72. A terrific single that makes me hotly anticipate the first Spiritualized LP.

Dusty Springfield - Dusty in Memphis (1969): 67. "Son of a Preacher Man" is choice cut. The rest is solid too, just bordering on MOR pop.

Bruce Springsteen - Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. (1973): 67. Dylan-esque energetic, intuitive rhymes from a teenage perspective.

Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle (1973): 71. Raw, loose & energetic rock follow up to the folk debut.

Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run (1975): 68. Primitive rock anthems that aspire to be workingman poetry but lacks the danger of experience.

Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978): 72. Too bombastic for me to fully embrace but my favorite of his LPs so far.

Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A. (1984): 65. Some good tracks but many others represent his worst lyrics & tendency towards bombast.

Squeeze - Argybargy (1980): 74. Sounds like an extension of Costello's GET HAPPY LP but more terse & distilled to base pop elements.

Squeeze - East Side Story (1981): 73. More unpretentious, catchy pop hooks and infectious vocal harmonies. Slightly overlong at 50 minutes.

Candi Staton - I'm Just a Prisoner (1970): 67. Good soul/funk especially "I'd Rather be An Old Man's Sweetheart (Than a Young Man's Fool)."

Status Quo - Quo (1974): 70. Unpretentious without being boring or complacent. Great groove to the rhythm section & gnarly raw guitar sound.

Steely Dan - Can't Buy a Thrill (1972): 54. Immaculate production is a major detractor but I enjoy some of the odd instrument choices.

Steely Dan - Countdown to Ecstasy (1973): 68. Still too clean for my taste but the songwriting is more perversely eccentric this time out.

Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic (1974): 74. Tighter, more concise pop structures while maintaining obscure songwriting. Side A is terrific.

Steely Dan - Aja (1977): 52. or, Steely Dan finally stops worrying about trying to be cool and learns to love being MOR fluff.

Stereolab - Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements (1993): 73. Playful blend of Krautrock & Bossanova; sometimes overly repetitive.

The Stone Roses - S/T (1989): 70. Still seems mysteriously overrated to me. Peaks early with "I Wanna Be Adored." Maybe it will grow on me.

The Stooges - S/T (1969): 73. Opening two tracks are phenomenal punk rock statements. Sounds like punk officially kicks off here.

The Stooges - Fun House (1970): 82. Primal punk assault on the senses. A fierce, menacing scream from a dark alley in Detroit.

The Stooges - Raw Power (1973): 78. The mix is all over the place but there is enough raw power that it hardly matters. Just play it loud.

John Stewart - California Bloodlines (1969): 61. "July You're a Woman" is choice cut. The rest seemed like it had potential to grow on me.

Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story (1971): 68. Surprisingly good solo album from Stewart with easily his best song "Maggie May."

Jacobites - Robespierre's Velvet Basement (1985): 80. Sounds like Robyn Hitchcock fronting acoustic, EXILE-era Rolling Stones. Terrific.

Jacobites - Texas (1986): 76. Slowly creeping up on me in a way that suggests it's not done growing. "When I Left You" is simply stunning.

Jacobites - Dead Men Tell No Tales (1987): 74. Slower, more meditative set of songs with experimental lo-fi layering of textures.

Nikki Sudden & Rowland S. Howard - Kiss You Kidnapped Charabanc (1987): 72. Dirty, twisted blues similar to late Cave from prolific Sudden.

Nikki Sudden - Groove (1989): 67. A hard-rocking double LP from prolific, shape-shifting Sudden is overlong, convoluted & sometimes great.

Nikki Sudden - The Jewel Thief (1991): 71. Sudden, with R.E.M. as his backing band, makes his most country-tinged record. Solid.

Suicide - First Album (1977): 71. A punk reworking of the Silver Apples sound with minimal synth, anxious vocals & psychotic yelping screams

Super Furry Animals - Fuzzy Logic (1996) 78. Side A is pretty phenomenal, Side B is mostly forgettable but recovers well on last two tracks.

Swell Maps - A Trip to Marineville (1979): 64. Intriguing blend of punk, krautrock & psychedelic. Utterly incoherent & yet oddly compelling

Swervedriver - Son of Mustang Ford EP (1990): 83. Terrifically raw rock with less obvious hallmarks of shoegaze sound than I was expecting.

T. Rex - Electric Warrior (1971): 75. Great Visconti production and a half a dozen songs better than "Bang a Gong (Get It On)."

T. Rex - The Slider (1972): 85. Better than ELECTRIC WARRIOR. Sometimes meaning even slips into the nonsense: "When I'm sad... I Slide."

T. Rex - Tanx (1973): 73. Not as heavy as the title suggest, Bolan transitions to a soulful sound with driving piano & passionate vocals.

Talk Talk - It's My Life (1984): 76. Better than expected. Not as abstract as later work but highly sophisticated for this kind of pop.

Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring (1986): 77. Transitional LP features Talk Talk's pop sensibility while bringing in experimental dynamics.

Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden (1988): 81. An event album that demands focus & concentration. Dynamics shifts large & melodies creep up on you.

Talk Talk - Laughing Stock (1991): 83. Refinement of SPIRIT OF EDEN with arrangements that play like improvised jazz sessions. Otherworldly.

Talking Heads - Talking Heads: 77 (1977): 77. This album flows very well but the songwriting is overly intellectualized and lacks soul.

Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food (1978): 92. Bass & drums are brought to forefront making this very bouncy, danceable art punk.

Talking Heads - Fear of Music (1979): 86. Writing style is a little cold & detached here but the songs still have a lot of tension & space.

Talking Heads - Remain in Light (1980): 85. The rhythmic explosive Side A is exhilarating; introspective Side B significantly less so.

Brian Eno & David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981): 78. Primitive & futuristic fused together to create unnerving conflicts in texture.

Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues (1983): 84. REMAIN IN LIGHT remade as a pop album with fragmented lyrics that stop making sense.

Talking Heads - Little Creatures (1985): 65. Their first LP that's stagnant & indistinct from the pop pack. Saved by great bookend tracks.

Tears For Fears - Songs From the Big Chair (1985): 60. Some songs that still sound good despite horribly dated, cheesy production.

Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque (1991): 82. Usually, I just repeat "The Concept" over and over again. Rest of the album is damn fine too.

Teenage Fanclub - Thirteen (1993): 75. A worthy follow-up to BANDWAGONESQUE that only flags a little after the three killer opening tracks.

Television - Little Johnny Jewel 7" (1975): 96. Expressive guitar solo by Verlaine sounds like a messy jazz interpretation of prog.

Television - Marquee Moon (1977): 100. My personal favorite album of all time. The rhythm section is underrated and oh, those guitars...

Television - Adventure (1978): 95. Where MARQUEE MOON was intense and frenzied this underrated follow-up is reflective, pastoral and lovely.

Television - S/T (1992): 69. Great to hear the Verlaine/Lloyd guitar interplay even if the music has turned into strange jazzy abstraction.

Television Personalities - ...And Don't the Kids Just Love It (1981): 70. The missing link between The Jam and Blur. If only he could sing.

Temple of the Dog - S/T (1991): 62. Nice to get another angle on Cornell's versatile voice but this could have easily been an EP.

Them - The Angry Young Them (1965): 79. A revelation for me since I only knew "Gloria" and this is an album full of passionate garage rock.

They Might Be Giants - S/T (1986): 67. Several good pop songs but the album is a mess and has too much syrup to take in one mouthful.

Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 - The Natural Finger (1990): 82. Four very strong tracks with the clear highlight being "Narlus Spectre."

Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 - Where's Officer Tuba? (1993): 65. Noisy & chaotic in a way that doesn't really build or pay off.

Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 - Admonishing the Bishops (1993): 85. I can't stop listening to this EP. I love the way each song builds.

/Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 - Admonishing the Bishops/ (1993): 95. Probably the best EP ever made. Four songs, each one is perfect.

Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 - Strangers from the Universe (1994): 78. Songs have more conventional grounding but still excitingly odd.

/Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 - Strangers From the Universe/ (1994): 84. Initial problems with flow are gone. Varied but wonderful.

Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak (1976): 74. They approach their anthems from such a primal place that complaints about cliches are futile. Silly fun.

Richard & Linda Thompson - I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (1974): 82. Bleak English folk with strong Linda vocals and great guitar.

Richard & Linda Thompson - Hokey Pokey (1975): 72. Provisional grade because my LP isn't ideal for evaluation. Less dreary than LIGHTS.

Richard & Linda Thompson - Pour Down Like Silver (1975): 77. Spare musically but very rich emotionally without being outright gloomy.

Richard & Linda Thompson - Shoot Out the Lights (1982): 81. Biographical information aside, this is an excellent collection of tense songs.

Tindersticks - The Smooth Sounds of Tindersticks 7" (1995): 70. Their cover of Pavement's "Here" is terrific, the b-side much less so.

Tomorrow - S/T (1968): 61. A minor Psychedelic Rock effort with a very good opening track (on Nuggets II) and pre-Yes guitar work by Howe.

A Tribe Called Quest - People's Instinctive Travels and Paths of Rhythm (1990): 77. A breezy, jazzy blueprint for (even) greater things to come.

A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory (1991): 92. The best flowing hip hop LP with remarkably clean beats & live bass lines. Bebop -> Hip Hop.

A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders (1993): 80. Great laid-back vibe to this and the interplay is strong as ever but structure fails.

The Triffids - Calenture (1987): 73. Oz gothic country LP tackles romantic misery & religious imagery simultaneously. Production contrasts.

Dwight Twilley Band - Sincerely (1976): 72. Strong power pop album that doesn't quite live up to terrific lead-off single "I'm On Fire."

Dwight Twilley Band - Twilley Don't Mind (1977): 63. Power Pop that doesn't quite measure up to debut SINCERELY but production is stronger.

U2 - The Joshua Tree (1987): 56. The bombast of Springsteen but w/ additional self-importance from Bono's whine & Edge's repetitive guitar shimmer.

The United States of America - S/T (1968): 70. I'm still unsure what to make of this one. Interesting arrangements verging on overkill.

Unrest - Tink of SE (1987): 73. The songs that bother with pop hooks are pretty terrific and the rest is playful, impressive or annoying.

The Upsetters - Super Ape (1976): 73. I vastly prefer King Tubby to Lee "Scratch" Perry but this is still some damn good dub.

Van Halen - S/T: 48. A Side has some strong moments ("Eruption" & "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love") but I am allergic to Roth. B side is abysmal.

Townes Van Zandt - Our Mother the Mountain / S/T (1969): 72/76. I prefer the stripped down 3rd album to the fancier arrangements of 2nd.

The Vaselines - Son of a Gun EP (1987): 81. Absolutely irresistible twee pop from Glasgow. Only problem is it's too damn short; I want more.

The Vaselines - Dying For It EP (1987): 78. Only "Teenage Superstars" keeps this from PRO, the other three tracks are terrific.

Suzanne Vega - S/T (85): 61. Direct lyrically & vocally in service of banal imagery & predictable miniature narratives of fuzzy philosophy.

The Velvet Underground - Velvet Underground & Nico (1967): 93. Hard to imagine how alien this album must have felt in '67. It still rocks.

The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat (1968): 79. Very noisy & crazy but this feels more like 2 EPs than a cohesive LP.

The Velvet Underground - S/T (1969): 96. VU cease the abrasive noise rock experiments and make their most influential, spare and melodic LP.

The Velvet Underground - Loaded (1970): 84. Some of Reed's best songs are here but unfortunately there are also a couple of lazy throwaways.

Tom Verlaine - S/T (1979): 70. Have to adjust to the lack of Lloyd's counter riffs. This is pretty strong except for annoying "Yonki Time."

Tom Verlaine - Dreamtime (1981): 74. Guitar interplay is stronger here than on debut LP. Reworked TV song "Without A Word" is the highlight.

Violent Femmes - S/T (1982): 87. Post-punk with furious strummed acoustic in place of electric guitars. Great sense of old pop structures.

Violent Femmes - Hallowed Ground (1984): 81. More Songs About Murder and Jesus. Initially underrated sophomore effort is mostly terrific.

Tom Waits - Closing Time (1973): 75. A very confident debut album that has a great, late-night boozy feeling.

Tom Waits - The Heart of Saturday Night (1974): 79. Boozy atmosphere is overplayed but songs are more consistently strong than CLOSING TIME

Tom Waits - Small Change (1976): 76. Waits emerging more gravel-voiced and weary but less musically diverse than HEART OF A SATURDAY NIGHT.

Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones (1983): 74. "In the Neighborhood" shows what happens when old Waits meets new. I wish it happened more here.

Tom Waits - Rain Dogs (1985): 75. More colorful & stylistically varied than SWORDFISHTROMBONES but curiously cold even when Waits strains.

Tom Waits - Franks Wild Years (1987): 70. More crazed circus music from Waits; you can use it to charm snakes or lull bar patrons to sleep.

Tom Waits - Bone Machine (1992): 83. Waits' most coherent album since the 70s with a renewed interest in crafting meaningful lyrics.

Scott Walker - Scott (1967): 74. Walker plays it mostly straight; small hints of darkness smuggled into the lush, melodramatic ballads.

Scott Walker - Scott 2 (1968): 82. Some of Walker's best original compositions & 3 great Brel covers make for probably his best early LP.

Scott Walker - 3 (1969): 79. I have new found appreciation for this third Walker effort which is mostly comprised of strong originals.

Scott Walker - 4 (1969): 76. An album of originals that Walker downplays with his arrangements to showcase the intricate yarn he's spinning.

Jerry Washington - Right Here is Where You Belong (1973): 86. Terrific R&B LP that mixes great smooth soul with bomb funk tracks. Essential.

The Wedding Present - George Best (1987): 75. Fast-strumming jangly rock debut filled with nervous energy & warm melodies.

The Wedding Present - Bizarro (1989): 88. A fast, exuberant take on jangle pop with relentlessly strummed rhythm guitar & great hooks.

The Wedding Present - Seamonsters (1991): 85. Not the rhythmic assault of BIZARRO, this is more melodic but with a crunchy Albini crust.

Weezer - S/T [Blue Album] (1994): 75. Feels like a mixtape of their influences but I like all of their influences a lot.

Paul Westerberg - 14 Songs (1993): 63. The two stripped-down acoustic tracks offer a better critique of the production than I could in 140.

The White Stripes - De Stijl (2000): 74. Heavily influenced by blues/folk or maybe second-hand from Led Zeppelin 3. Side B dips in interest.

The Who - My Generation (1965): 76. Hard rockers like title track have aged well and the Maximum R&B sound is still infectious as hell.

The Who - A Quick One (1966): 72. Very structural innovative with shorts songs reprised in closing medley (a la ABBEY ROAD). Underrated.

The Who - The Who Sell Out (1967): 55. The concept is not very strong and neither are the songs (except for swirling "I Can See For Miles").

The Who - Who's Next (1971): 65. I still get a little excited for "Baba O'Riley" but the rest leaves me unmoved. 60s Who > 70s Who

The Who - Quadrophenia (1973): 69. Fuck rock operas. However, unlike TOMMY, there are some great songs here even when removed from context.

Lucinda Williams - Sweet Old World (1992): 76. Surprisingly warm considering the bleak, suicide center to this LP. Flirts with twee & blues.

Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue (1977): 77. Companion to The Beach Boys' LOVE YOU LP from same year. Battered, weary & nearly great.

Jesse Winchester - S/T (1970): 74. Produced by Robbie Robertson & engineered by Todd Rundgren. This is an underrated & lovely Americana.

Jesse Winchester - Third Down, 110 to Go (1972): 57. Really underwhelming after his strong debut. Songs are diluted and slight.

Wipers - Is This Real? (1980): 77. Punk with strong melodic sense but not overtly pop. Cobain acknowledges their influence & it's obvious.

Wipers - Youth of America (1981): 83. Songs are extended & experimentally structured but they build into angular rock climaxes. Addictive.

/Wipers - Youth of America (1981)/: 92. An adventurously structured masterpiece of sustained tension building to several miniature climaxes.

Wipers - Over the Edge (1983): 75. More great melodic punk from one of the most consistently strong bands of the early 80s.

Wire - Pink Flag (1977): 87. Punk distilled to abstraction. Short, jagged songs brilliantly sequenced for maximum dissonant impact.

Wire - Chairs Missing (1978): 82. PINK FLAG was short punk outbursts; this is synthy, sustained tension. Darkwave begins here.

Wire - 154 (1979): 75. Wire fully embraces dark wave sound and slows things down to nightmarish crawl of cloudy reverb. The least of 1st 3.

Wire - Snakedrill EP (1986): 71. Very strange, experimental EP comeback for Wire. Rhythmic, trance-like "Drill" is highlight.

Stevie Wonder - Talking Book: 50 (1972). Production is too fussy especially on Wonder's cheesy love songs (most of Side A). His funk is better.

Stevie Wonder - Innervisions (1973): 57. As with TALKING BOOK, I strongly object to the production but enjoy the funk (especially "Higher Ground").

Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993): 86. A staggering hour of aggressive hip hop that's pretty much all killer, no filler.

Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom (1974): 64. Difficult fusion of prog rock with jazz. Meandering, dream-like flow but hard to grasp onto.

X - Los Angeles (1980): 75. Infectious punk with strong anthems and great gender vocal interplay. "Nausea" & title track are highlights.

X - Wild Gift (1981): 80. The influence on college rock/grunge is more prominent in these short, melodic bursts and he/she vocal interplay.

X - Under the Big Black Sun (1982): 76. The songs are so propulsive and catchy that you hardly notice the gloomy, twisted lyrics.

XTC - Drums and Wires (1979): 76. A side is absolutely terrific but B side is merely pretty good. Would be a brilliant EP.

XTC - Black Sea (1980): 71. Less angular and more melodic than DRUMS & WIRES. Sequential flow is weak. Several very strong tracks on A Side.

XTC - English Settlement (1982): 67. Strongly rhythmic pop songs but overlong both in terms of the individual songs & the LP as a whole.

XTC - Skylarking (1986): 72. Really captures certain aspects of 60s baroque pop well but I'm almost completely unmoved by it emotionally.

Yo La Tengo - Fakebook (1990): 70. Covers selections that betray their music critic past (Cale, Stampfel, etc) w/ a few originals thrown in.

Neil Young - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (1969): 87. Way better than I remembered. Young's guitar has never been more expressive.

Neil Young - After the Gold Rush (1970): 88. Side A is perfect. Side B has a few flawed songs (B1, B5 & B6) that rob it of masterpiece status.

Neil Young - Harvest (1972): 87. Not really in love with the London Symphony Orchestra (esp on "There's a World") but otherwise really great

Neil Young - On the Beach (1974): 75. A somber, downbeat affair. Rejecting fame, kissing off critics and generally acting like a grouch.

Neil Young - Tonight's the Night (1975): 85. More straight-forward than ON THE BEACH but just as oppressively stark. Goes good with whiskey.

Neil Young - Harvest Moon (1992): 74. A lovely piece of Americana but this doesn't have the introspective wisdom of Young circa '72 HARVEST.

Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth (1980): 75. Another Cobain favorite, this is proto-twee minimalism most similar perhaps to The xx.

Frank Zappa - Freak Out! (1966): 53. The parodies are cynical exercises that can't match the subject of their derision. I enjoyed the kazoo.

Frank Zappa - We're Only In It For the Money (1968): 56. Experiments with speed & direction manipulations are intriguing. Songs are not memorable.

Warren Zevon - Excitable Boy (1978): 75. Some snarky, smart songwriting to be found here & the production gloss is used mostly to advantage.