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89 is barely scratching the surface!

November 21st, 2005 · Posted by Skuds in Music · 2 Comments · Music

Lisa has been writing about this article in the Guardian last week. The article starts with a statistic from Napster, that the average person owns 126 albums, of which 37 have been lost, leaving just 89. It goes on to speculate which 89 albums you should own if that is the case.

I was faintly amused at the time but thought nothing more of it until the idea started cropping up all over the place, and then I started thinking what I would keep if I could only have 89 albums instead of hundreds + a loft full of vinyl and tapes. My first thought is something like this:

  1. Gang of Four – Entertainment!
    The obvious starting place, but I would be sorely tempted to ditch something else and have Return The Gift too.
  2. Pulp – Different Class
  3. Les Negresses Vertes – Famille Nombreuse
    The last album they made before Helno died
  4. Van Morrison – Days Like This
    Even if only for the title song
  5. Busta Rhymes – Extinction Level Event
    The most technically advanced rapper?
  6. Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
    I think we all used to know the words to every single song off this when I was at school
  7. Clint Eastwood & General Saint – Two Bad DJ
    With the might Sly & Robbie as rhythm section
  8. Dury & The Blockheads – New Boots & Panties
    (I was born in Billericay!)
  9. Blondie – Parallel Lines
    Essential
  10. Kaiser Chiefs – Employment
    I don’t know if it will stand the test of time, but I am enjoying it now
  11. The Clash – The Story Of The Clash volume 1
  12. Meat Loaf – Bat Out Of Hell
    OK so its naff, but what about those memories…
  13. Metallica – Metallica (the black album)
  14. Green Day – American Idiot
  15. Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon
    Too obvious?
  16. The Levellers – Levelling the Land
  17. N.W.A. – Straight Outta Compton
    I can’t believe I didn’t hear this until this year
  18. Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
    The DVD-A version in 5.1 surround
  19. Squeeze – Cool For Cats
  20. Fischerspooner – #1
    Like early Depeche Mode or Kraftwerk. But more camp.
  21. Crowded House – Woodface
    Has two of my all-time favourite songs on it
  22. Kraftwerk – Minimum-Maximum
    Cheating really as its more of a greatest hits live album
  23. Various Artists – Woke Up This Mornin’
    Great mixture of blues. Worth it just for BB King and The Thrill Is Gone
  24. Angelique Kidjo – Aye
    From Benin. The first thing of hers I ever heard and it totally blew me away. For a long time this was my test-out-a-new-stereo CD
  25. David Bowie – Hunky Dory
  26. The Rezillos – Can’t Stand The Rezillos
    On the CD version you get a complete live album thrown in too.
  27. The Prodigy – The Fat of the Land
  28. Tarika – Son Egal
    Trancelike songs from Madagascar
  29. Yazoo – Upstairs At Eric’s
  30. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin II
    Or maybe How The West Was Won for the Moby Dick drum solo live
  31. Baaba Maal – Firin’ In Fouta
    Genius
  32. The Tubes – White Punks On Dope
    A compilation because I could really not choose between the individual albums
  33. Manu Chao & the Radio Bemba Sound System – The Live Album
    Not at all like the studio albums
  34. Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magic
  35. Pet Shop Boys – PopArt
    a best-of with 3rd CD of remixes
  36. Gogol Bordello – Multi Kontra Culti Vs Irony
  37. Dr Feelgood – Casebook
    Eight bars of piano!
  38. Ozomatli – Street Signs
    Supposedly one of the best live acts in the world, and I can believe it
  39. Elastica – Elastica
    Stunning debut album even if you can’t listen to it without thinking of the Fiat advert
  40. Black Uhuru – Liberation: the Island Anthology
    More Sly & Robbie
  41. Thin Lizzy – Live & Dangerous
    The best live album in the world? I think so.
  42. Niagara – Religion
  43. Stevie Wonder – Innervisions
    Take your pick from this, Talking Book, Fulfillingness’ First Finale or Songs in the Key of Life – this shades it because of Living For The City.
  44. Human League – Dare
    Takes you right back to the 80s
  45. The White Stripes – Elephant
  46. Yes – Close To The Edge
    Sod fashion – I still like Yes
  47. Megadeth – Peace Sells…
    The lyrics of the title track still make me laugh
  48. Amadou & Mariam – Dimanche a Bamako
  49. The B-52’s – The B-52’s
    So much better than Love Shack
  50. Elmer Food Beat – Ze Disque Est 30cm
    For the sheer singalong potential
  51. Athletico Spizz 80 – Do A Runner
    The first Spizz album
  52. The Streets – Original Pirate Material
  53. Rachid Taha – Tekitoi
  54. Bow Wow Wow – See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang Yeah! City All Over Go Ape Crazy
  55. Boz Scaggs – Silk Degrees
    You forget just how good a collection of songs this is
  56. Sergeant Garcia – Semilla Escondida
    From the same mould as Manu Chao
  57. Nine Below Zero – Don’t Point Your Finger
    On green vinyl.
  58. Genesis – Trick of the Tail
    Takes me right back to school discos
  59. John Lee Hooker – Mr Lucky
    Started the fashion for a guest-infested album?
  60. Manu Dibango – Wakafrika
    Guest-infested African jazz/pop
  61. U2 – War
  62. N.E.R.D. – In Search Of
  63. Paul Simon – Graceland
  64. Faith No More – The Real Thing
    Includes Epic. Thats all you need to know isn’t it?
  65. Missy Elliot – Under Construction
  66. Lou Reed – Transformer
  67. Ojos de Brujo – Bari
  68. The Ramones – Rocket to Russia
  69. Adam & The Ants – Kings of the Wild Frontier
    And who hasn’t played along to this on the biscuit tins?
  70. Russ Ballard – Russ Ballard
    Can you believe that the only way I could get this on CD was Japanese import?
  71. Santana – Moonflower
    Side 3 of the original vinyl is sublime
  72. Sean Paul – Dutty Rock
    Good-time album which brought dancehall back to prominence
  73. The Penguin Cafe Orchestra – Penguin Cafe Orchestra
  74. American Graffitti Soundtrack
    The only rock & roll album you need
  75. The Specials – The Specials
  76. Simon & Garfunkel – The Definitive…
  77. Nirvana – Nevermind
  78. Radiohead – OK Computer
  79. Khaled – Sahra
    His most accessible album
  80. Jean-Michel Jarre – Revolutions
  81. Iron Maiden – The Number of the Beast
  82. Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense
    Soundtrack from the best concert film ever
  83. Die Toten Hosen – Eine Kleines Bisschen Horrorschau
    Beethoven + German punk
  84. Paul McCartney & Wings – Band On The Run
    The band The Beatles could have been! (c)Alan Partridge
    The first proper album I ever bought on vinyl
  85. REM – Automatic for the People
  86. Tinariwen – Ammassakoul
    Hypnotic Taureg blues
  87. Donald Fagen – Kamakiriad
  88. Depeche Mode – A Broken Frame
  89. Various Artists – Dancehall Anthems
    Great selection of Greensleeves artists

No way is it the best 89 albums – just ones I have which are special to me. Bands I have seen live are perhaps over-represented, as are classic albums from when I was a teen, and albums I like singing along to.

Can’t I make it 99, so I can include JS Bach, Peter Gabriel, Erasure, the Blues Brothers, Prince and a few others?

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