MALLINation

Welcome to the first installment of the 500 Best Albums of the Last 40 Years. An insane list but on the cusp of my 40th birthday, one I've given a lot of thought to. The rankings are somewhat arbitrary but it would be fair to infer that I'm not sure that number 500 (Spoon - Girls Can Tell) is a worse record than 475 (The Beach Boys - Surf's Up), but that I do think number 235  (Helium - The Magic City) is a better record. Really this is a statement of the music that has mattered to me and that I look at as yardsticks when I listen to other albums. But there are rules.

Only albums released between January 1, 1971 and publication are eligible. No greatest hits collections or retrospective compilations. The only exception I've made is for collections of artists releases that were singles only and were being released as an album for the first time. Without further ado, here is the first set records, 500-401. Stay tuned for 400-301 etc.!

500. Spoon - Girls Can Tell (2001)

After Spoon's disastrous experience with Elektra records it seemed like they would be one of many indie rockers who put out a few good Pixies-ish records in the mid-90s before skulking away to day jobs. Instead Britt Daniels went to Merge Records and embraced a sort of pop classicism, an embrace of great songwriting and arrangements that hint at but don't yet embody his later stripped-down ethos. While the vinyl on the album cover echoes the backwards looking nostalgia inherent in songs that "...long for the days when people used to say Sir and Yes Ma'am..." this record represented a new future for Spoon.

499. The Kinks - Sleepwalker (1977)

The 70s is considered an age of decline for the Kinks and certainly the band had moved on from the brit-pop classics of the 1960s that define their canon. Still there were many pleasures to be found even in their arena rock incarnation. Ray and Dave Davies may have coarsened and broadened their attack for endless stadium tours of America but the brothers were still capable of subtlety and wit on this paen to sleepless nights and werewolf-like transformations, not unlike the one their band had undergone.

498. Poundcake - Aloha Via Satellite (1996)

Talk about obscure. Part of the same Boston 90s scene that included Jen Trynin, these guys spit out just the one album before disbanding but it's a marvel of crunchy power pop with clever lyrics about the suckiness of western Mass, the way the record industry packages female rebellion (this was at the time that Riot Grrls were giving way to Alanis Morisette) and science.

497. Supergrass - I Should Coco (1995)

This exuberant debut came on like the second coming of the Faces, both Small and otherwise. This was the kid brother band of Britpop, getting caught by the fuzz but still feeling alright. Nagging back-up vocals, spring-loaded hooks and melodies galore.

496. Archers of Loaf - VeeVee (1995)

After their pounding debut, VeeVee feels like a band slammed sideways until everything is slightly off-kilter. There are times when it feels like they may have lost the ability to play but they're fucking with you, teasing out the dynamics on songs like "The Greatest of All Time" in which the frontman of the world's best/worst rock and roll band meets untimely death in a variety of ways. There's also "Harnessed in Slums" which might just be AOL's mightiest song and "Floating Friends" which is like a sadder, chaste version of Jontahan Richman's "Astral Plane."

495. MF Doom - Mmm Food (2004)

Doom proliferates in side projects, alter-egos, mixtapes and the like to the point sometimes of diminishing returns but here he's laid back and downright frisky. On a surface level he celebrates eating everything from MC's to hoe-cakes but consumption is consumption, and there's a sly wink to consumerism embedded in many of these tracks. The rhymes are top-notch as are the samples, many of which reference his Marvel-sourced character from old comic book LPs.

494. Sinead O'Connor - I Do Not Want What I Have Not Got (1990)

Most Americans got their first glimpse of the Irish lass' face in the video for "Nothing Comapres 2 U", an obscure Prince song that she sang into the camera with tears rolling down her cheeks. Even without the video accompaniment this is a powerful album, as contradictory as its star as it dabbles in breakbeats, stately ballads,and new wave crunchers.

493. The Clash - Give 'Em Enough Rope (1978)

Almost all the UK punks had a hell of a time following up their debuts. How dare you try to build a career! All the young punks with their new boots and contracts were expected to flop on record number 2 and go back to the dole line. Even worse was what the Clash did, bringing in American (!) record producer Sandy Pearlman to polish up their sound to a fine roaring sheen. Still this suffers in comparison only to the rest of their body of work.

492. The Auteurs - New Wave (1993)

Coming in on a sneer and a guitar flourish, The Auteurs found their own way into the mid 90s Britpop explosion. As literate as their name implied, Luke Haines and co. spun out stores of showgirl brides, show biz disappointments, and lessons learned the hard way all backed with tasty riffs and a knowing world-weariness that belied the debut status of the album.

491. The Cardigans - Gran Turismo (1998)

The Cardigans gimmick was happy sounding pop songs that were actually about pretty dark stuff, so when they went against the grain on this record and wrote music that was nearly as dark as an even deeper more troubling set of lyrics fans and critics revolted. There has been no reappraisal of this record but for me this is their most interesting work, influenced just a touch by trip hop. Of course it's really hearing icily pretty Scandinavian blonde Nina Persson sing about how desperately fucked up she is that makes this so compelling. "Do you believe that love will save the world?", she asks. "I really don't think so," she intones back to herself as much as to the listener.

490. Blur - Blur (1997)

Considered their "American" album, Blur spiked their obvious British influences like Bowie and The Kinks with a heavy dose of indie rock style dissonance and attitude. For their trouble they got a genuine stadium anthem with "Song 2" (the one that goes "Wooo-hooo") and a wonderfully varied set of textures and moods without really cracking the US music market (frontman Damon Albarn would have far more success later with the hip-hop influenced Gorillaz). "Beetlebum" is one of the best songs ever about being a lazy sod.

489. The dB's - Repercussion (1982)

This could be the ne plus ultra of jangle pop, all adenoidal energy and nervous arrangements marking the bridge from Jonathan Richman's nerd blues to R.E.M.'s arty abstract Americana.

488. Marvin Gaye - Here, My Dear (1978)

Album premises don't get much more screwed up than this: Marvin Gaye was stuck in a divorce battle with his soon-to-be ex (who also happened to be Motown founder Berry Gordy's sister). As part of the settlement he pledged the entirety of the royalties of his next album to her. Instead of giving into the temptation to hurt his own brand by recording, say, an all-flugelhorn cover version of Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music Gaye poured all of his pain into a concept album about the divorce itself. An eminently listenable and fascinating middle finger.

487. Broadcast - HaHa Sound (2003)

Broadcast took a lot of familiar ingredients like Krautrock, trip-hop, and 50s hi-fi sounds and mashed them into something wholly their own. While the result could have been arch and distanced it is instead warm, personal, enveloping, particularly on this album.

486. Slick Rick - The Great Adventures of Slick Rick(1988)

Not shy and certainly not unassuming, Slick Rick is one of rap's great storytellers.Detailed, funny, raunchy and all delivered in a jaunty half-British inflection, the man's flow is supreme on this debut. His attitude towards women is antediluvian, which can be a hurdle for the listener but these are the kinds of stories guys tell each other on the corner or in the locker room - tall tales to crack each other up.

485. Roxy Music - Country Life (1974)

The cover is notorious of course but the contents deliver up the goods as far as prime Bryan Ferry led Rpxy is concerned. Suave, smooth and thrilling.

484. The Who - Quadrophenia (1973)

The last great gasp of prime Who on record - they'd do some more fine songs but were never able to string another disc (let alone two) together as consistent as this. Another concept album, Townshend this time looks back to the 60s London mod scene which birthed the band ans also prefigured the soon to boom punk movement. While it doesn't all come off and the story is a convoluted mess the music is mostly magnificent.

483. Hot Chocolate - Cicero Park (1974)

A British band with a a knack for soul and funk and a weakness for fuzz guitars, Hot Chocolate would have bigger hits but this, their debut, is one of the lost gems of the era. From "Emma", a slow burner that Urge Overkill would cover in the 90s to the original, superior "Brother Louie" which Stories would take to the top of the charts. this is full of great songs that are subtle in their genre straddling.

482. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black (2006)

Ah, La Winehouse - alive when I started this list, dead by the time it ended. It's too much to credit her as a pioneer or innovator. It's equally unfair to judge her as an imitator. With the hep of Mick Ronson as a producer she transmute old soul tropes into something modern and distinctly her own and her voice was a clarion call. Sadly she leaves too short a legacy to deduce the impact on the future.

 

481. Happy Mondays - Pills 'n' Thrills 'n' Bellyaches (1990)

I saw these guys open for Pixies shortly before this came out and they seemed like a bunch of wankers onstage at Irving Plaza. A set of guys from Manchester with shades standing still, one guy shaking maracas like a moron, and 25 other boyos all smoking cigarettes as if to create a homemade dry ice effect. Their dance oriented sound was so out-of-step with the American college rock sound as to seem hostile. They were unknown in the States until this, their second LP, was released. The sinuous grooves and dancefloor cool moved the advances of The Stone Roses on into a full blown "baggy pants" sound that would find echoes in U2's new continental sounds the following year. Sadly the band themselves spiraled into  a drug fuelled abyss that blunted follow ups and follow through.

480. Deerhoof - Milk Man (2004)

Deerhoof worked their creepy charm to full effect on this record, which took their noise rock into more melodic territory. Though they would become even more accessible there is something about the teetering on the knife edge of chaos that makes this the most interesting record in their oeuvre. While the vocals can be off-putting in their girlishness, the childlike nature of Satomi Matsuzaki's   delivery is uniquely suited to the unsettling songs inside.

479. Ween - La Cucaracha (2007)

Ween are known for their juvenile sense of humor and their lack of fidelity to any particular style or song structure (or indeed to style or structure.) While that can make them seem indifferent and uninviting but the sheer exuberance of the arrangements and the depth of the depravity on this record make it utterly engrossing, even hilarious.

478. Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030 (2000)

A dry run for Damon Albarn's Gorillaz project, this was a supergroup consisting of he, Del Tha Funky Homosapien,  Dan the Automater, Kid Koala and luminaries such as Prince Paul and Sean Lennon  lending a hand. Del's career was revived by the cool future-set rhymescapes, which were abetted by a lush cinematic sound design that makes this a uniquely fascinating hip-hop album.

477. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest (2010)

In typical new millennium fashion Deerhunter skirt and flirt with multiple genres within indie rockdom, with a little lo-fi here matched with a pinch of punk there and a seasoning of noise rock. What makes this their best to date is the full-fledged embrace of great songs, arranged for maximum impact.

476. Spacemen 3 - Recurring (1991)

Another band that mined the past to pioneer the future, these guys started out as one of Britain’s vanguard psychedelic revivalists in the mid-80s but ended up prefiguring both the baggy pants scene and the electronica tinged 90s. Before going off to form the better-known Spiritualized, Jason Pierce begrudgingly fused his songs to partner Sonic Boom’s set to create essentially two solo EPs and the band’s last outing. While this obviously sounds like a disjointed way to go out its actually my favorite of their records, mind blowing and valedictory all at once.

475. Beach Boys - Surf's Up (1971)

The Beach Boys get knocked for being square and boring but that simply overlooks how deeply weird the band could truly be. They do have a Charles Manson co-writing credit in their catalog, remember. Released well after Brain Wilson’s mental meltdown this is a hodgepodge including at least one revelatory outtake from the legendary 1966 Smile sessions with the title track. This is very strange soft rock, fascinating stuff.

474. Public Enemy - Yo! Bum Rush The Show (1987)

This is the mighty PE still becoming a force to be reckoned with, but it’s mightily impressive nonetheless. Chuck D. and Flavor Flav already have their tag-team style locked down and the rhymes are fast and furious. The main difference between this debut and their later classics is how much sway Def Jam house producer Rick Rubin had over the overall sound, which makes this that much more interesting in contrast to the full-bore aural assault to come.

473. Cibo Matto - Viva! La Woman (1996)

Two Japanese women transplanted into New York’s downtown scene came up with the art-rock grooves that make this record so great. The underlying theme is very much about eating, food prep, shopping for ingredients and any underlying meaning you want to derive from this song and rapped over shimmering immersive electronica. Shut up and eat!

472. Primal Scream - XTRMNTR (2000)

An absolute monster of an album from a band that shed sounds and POV like a chameleon in love with David Bowie. This is far removed from their ecstasy infused early 90s sound but it also is indebted to electronica. This time though it's roughed up with clattering beats, overdriven guitars and keyboards and menacing lyrics, with the exception of the gorgeous "Keep Your Dreams." It's appropriate that My Bloody Valentine's reclusive noise genius Kevin Shields is on board for this even though none of this really sounds like that band (despite the title "MBV Arkestra" referencing both them and Sun Ra).

471. U2 - Zooropa (1993)

What? Zooropa? I might as well go ahead and reveal (spoiler alert!) that the album that this is spun-off of, Achtung Baby, is nowhere to be found on this list. Blasphemy! And that's exactly the point. While I've always had a grudging regard for U2 their own sense of self-importance and tendency towards bombast makes them a band low on my repeat plays list. What makes this refreshing is it's tossed off nature, merely meant as a little something to tie in to their massive Zoo TV tour that trod the globe in the wake of Achtung's massive success. As such the band drop their guard, allowing more humor and light to infiltrate. The lead single is sung by the guitarist for chrissake!

470. Funkadelic - The Electric Spanking of War Babies (1981)

This was Funkadelic's last gasp- George Clinton would also put Parliament out to pasture in the 80s preferring instead to travel under his own name. It's a great way to retire the Mothership though, with hints of reggae spiked throughout the funk jams and the hilarious "Icka Prick" satirizing the workout craze in the most scatalogical ways possible, complete with a female chorus singing rounds of "That's disgusting..."

469. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife (2006)

This is where Colin Meloy and his band get the major-label budget to explore and indulge, for better or worse but mostly better. While "Yankee Bayonet" is the kind of classic literate folk infused indie rock that is their stock in trade, along comes a song like "The Perfect Crime" to slither and pose like an amped-up cousin to the Eagles' "One of These Nights." Which sounds like it would be awful but it isn't.

468. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Xtra-Acme USA (1999)

Intended as a leftovers and remixes collection tied to their fine 1998 album Acme, in many ways this is the more compelling listen stocked as it is with superior versions of songs on the original (such as the Dan the Automater remix of  "Lovin' Machine") that in some cases paradoxically strip back some of the hip-hop influence. Wonderfully eclectic.

467. The Coolies - Doug (1988)

Fatally ahead of their time in their knowingly postmodern take on music, The Coolies reached their apex with this concept album (or is it a spoof of concept albums?) about a skinhead who steals a transvestite chef's recipes, becomes famous for them, and loses it all. Is this any less ridiculous than the premise of Tommy? The band's songs expertly suggest without outright imitating such standard bearers as The Who and John Lennon while also working in a variety of genres from rock ballads to rap. It works because they never condescend to the material, the story, or the listener and teh hooks are there every time.

466. Elliott Smith - Figure 8 (2000)

Elliott Smith made some surprising stylistic shifts during his too short career, from indie punk member of the band Heatmiser to folkie punk solo artist to the lush classic rock arrangements found here. What underpins them all are his songwriting chops, his sincerity and an all too melancholic worldview. Engrossing.

465. Giant Sand - Center of the Universe (1992)
Somewhere between Neil Young and Dinosaur Jr. lies Howe Gelb and his Giant Sand nom de band, and if that suggests that he sings in a warbly croak so be it. But here he's augmented by Victoria Williams, Susan Cowsill and Vicki Petersen to sweeten the vocals. The songs come on like molten lava country rock with off-beat tangents into earthquake country, small town sartorial values, and the creation of the Universe which Gelb imagines as more of a big sneeze than a bang. Giant Sand has released many albums since 1985 but this is their most winningly consistent.

464. Islands - Return to the Sea (2006)
After the idiosyncratic Unicorns broke up after a sole album co-leader Nick Diamonds took the drummer with him and founded Islands. This debut proved them to be just as unique, but with an even broader palette (steel drums! rapping!) and a slyer sense of humor. Sadly subsequent albums have paled against the exuberant performances and arrangements on display here, not to mention the consistently clever lyrics.

463. Gorillaz - Gorillaz (2001)

Damon Albarn engineered a pretty nifty post-Blur career with what started out as a side project spun out of the Deltron 3030 core band. Dan the Automator and Del are carried over but a whole visual component was added with Tank Girl creator Jamie Hewlitt designing alter egos for the principals which also included Miho Hatori from Cibo Matto. This precise lineup only existed for this first album but it's also their best, a surprise hit based on the genius cross-splicing of brit pop tunefulness and hip-hop beats.

462. Alex Chilton - Like Flies on Sherbert (1979)
An album to make perfectionists twitch, this is Alex Chilton at his most shambolic and unhinged which to some of us is beautiful. Chilton made this in part to disavow the songcraft of his recently passed Big Star years, and would similarly disavow the off-the-cuff nature of this in his next incarnation. Still we have this document full of false starts, off-kilter tunes, incredible droning slabs of awesome like "My Rival" and "Rock Hard." Not for everybody but if it's for you, it'll keep for life.

461. Sly & The Family Stone - Small Talk (1974)

Underrated late(er) Sly still better than the competition. Though it's not as revered as some of his other releases the likes of "Loose Booty", "Time For Livin'" and "Say You Will" became sample touchstones for 80s and 90s hip-hop. Not just for the crate diggers.

460. Wale - The Mixtape About Nothing (2008)
D.C. based rapper Wale turned out one of the freshest and cleverest mixtapes in a decade defined by the label-less release. Here he spills clever couplets riffing off of and interspersed with episodes of Seinfeld. The conceit works not just because Wale is an obvious fan but because he has something to say beyond simply refrencing the show. The peak is on "The Kramer" which samples and deconstructs the meanings layered in actor Michael Richards' infamous racist tirade at a comedy club.

459. The Raincoats - The Raincoats (1979)

Beloved of Kurt Cobain who convinced his label to re-release the band's entire catalog despite negligible commercial prospects. Though they rose out of punk their sound was fairly unique, incorporating elements of middle eastern drone and even folk. Led by Gina Birch and Ane DeSilva they were not shy about weaving feminist themes into this debut but they were rarely dogmatic. A great exampe is their brillaint cover of The Kink's "Lola" which gains a whole extra layer of gender-fuckery simply by keeping the original pronouns.

458. Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One (1997)

A ridiculously accomplished gem from the premier 90s critic's band. The range here is so broad, from krautrock to Velvet's  strum to shoegazy gauze, that it functions as a delightful grab bag survey of all the stuff that made indie rock geek's hearts go pitter-patter as the last century began to draw to a close.

457. Throwing Muses - The Real Ramona (1991)

Throwing Muses came out of the same Boston scene as Pixies and in many places they paved the way for the other band, most significantly by signing to Britain's 4AD label and using Gil Norton as a producer. While Pixies are now a much bigger band than they ever were during their first go-round the Muses are still relatively overlooked. This record was their best balance of pop hooks and jagged edges and should have made them stars. Stepsisters Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donnely knew their way around a gripping song as well as a good riff.

456. Spoon - Ga, Ga, Ga, Ga, Ga (2007)

At this point Britt Daniel and co. had defined the sound of their band which means it felt like less of a great leap than previous albums and more of a refinement. The ethos of Spoon is very much based on editing and paring down songs to their core, giving an off the cuff yet meticulously arranged feel to the entire album. The songs themselves are great with the acoustic guitar and horn driven strum of "The Underdog" giving the band their first significant radio play.

455. Galaxie 500 - This is Our Music (1990)

The swansong for a band that looms large in retrospect but had only a dedicated cult during their lifetime. This isn't terribly different than their other releases, perhaps more refined in their American take on the kind of dream-pop more associated with Britain's shoegazer bands. The approach may share their slabs of guitar and detached vocal style but Galaxie came armed with a better batch of songs and cleverer covers than most bands.

454. Cat Power - You Are Free (2003)

Cat Power, AKA Chan Marshall, morphed from an avant indie rocker to a darling of AAA Radio but this record captured her in mid-shift, and it's her best for splitting the difference. Her voice shines in all it's vulnerable cool-chick timbre but the songs have real bite and unusual, even dissonant arrangements. These are mixed in with outright country and even blues shadings without ever really landing in a particular genre. The lyrics are by turns gripping, sad, even spiritual, and the sense of the enterprise being hard fought and wrung out is only heightened by the five year span between this and the preceding LP and her well-known stage fright.

453. Paul Simon - There Goes Rhymin' Simon (1973)

When Paul Simon broke from his partnership with Garfunkel it seems to have freed him up to explore the power of rhythm, as he does to great effect on this, his second solo record. The Dixie Hummingbirds are along to augment the R & B feel Simon aims for and succeeds at reaching, though there are also wonderful ballads and the brilliant single "Kodachrome."

452. Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral (1994)

The insular world of industrial music was always a bit harsh on Trent Reznor - his songs and his face were just too pretty to be genuine and compared to Skinny Puppy or Ministry he was a Johnny Come Lately. Still this album took a subgenre into the realm of the multi-platinum and it did so because it's that damn good. You have to be to get a chorus like "I want to fuck you like an animal" major radio play, even if the offending word is dropped out. The songs are expertly arranged and produced with a great deal of variety in tempo texture and feel, making it eminently listenable and yes, making the abrasive bits easier to swallow.

451. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular (2008)

Their interest in psych-rock and use of Producer Dave Fridmann led some to tag these guys as knockoffs of The Flaming Lips but their sensibility is quite different as is their palette. "Electric Eel" could be right out of 1984 with a vibe that suggests Quincy Jones' work with Michael Jackson while "Time to Pretend" is an expert evocation of kids in a band fantasizing about fame Duran Duran style.

450. Eminem - The Eminem Show (2002)

The last in a stunning trilogy that began with his debut, this is the record where Eminem is all about the perils of his own fame, which ought to be a bore and would be if he wasn't such a  great rapper and Dre a top-notch producer. Eminem also deserves credit for excoriating the Bush admionistration much earlier than most other artists, certainly none as major as he was in 2002, on the brilliant "Square Dance" among other songs.

449. Butterglory - Are You Building a Temple in Heaven (1996)

Seemingly brimming over with hooks and tunes, Matt Suggs and band knock it out of the park on their second album. Their closest sound-alike might be Yo La Tengo but these guys are simpler and less obtuse, let alone unlikely to break into a ten minute guitar workout. Just a top-notch batch of instantly hummable indie rock that will lodge in your head for years.

448. Big Black - Songs About Fucking (1987)

Big Black was the bastard baby of Steve Albini, a guy who would be more revered in rock circles for his brilliantly sharp production (though he prefers to term it recordings) of others work such as Pixies, The Auteurs, PJ Harvey, The Breeders, and Nirvana. His two albums with his own band are where he developed his audio ethos - clear unfettered sound with the drums at the fore, yet without the signature 80s "boom".  Albini is aggressively politically incorrect (just look at the title and cover art) which can be alienating and which is likely the point, but get past this and into the angular driving pummel of the band and it all makes sense.

447. World Party - Goodbye Jumbo (1990)

Ex-Waterboy Karl Wallinger became known for holing himself up in the studio and trying to recreate classic albums to see how they were done. Thankfully he was canny enough to recombine his influences on his own albums as World Party, so that the Stones and Prince and George Harrison borrowings fuse into something new and distinct. The "woo-woos" in "Way Down Now" for instance are clearly cousins to "Sympathy For The Devil" but the songs is entirely different, and great.

446. Unrest - Perfect Teeth (1993)

While their previous album was a revelation, this is a consolidation of the distinct and unusual sound this former hardcore band from D.C. had forged. Both tighter and bigger sounding, these songs run the gamut of what the band could do with their new found pop skills and fast-strummed style and they get deeper into their tongue in cheek obsessions with sex, the cultishly famous, and all things sensual.

445. Ice Cube - Death Certificate (1991)

Ice Cube's second solo disc proved that he was even more incendiary apart from N.W.A. It's a bruising album that leaves no stone unturned and no prejudice unindulged most notoriously on "Black Korea". The template of songs about slinging drugs and getting laid would get tiresome real fast - within a few months it became the default in hip-hop pushing aside the Native Tongue sounds emanating from the east coast. Ice earns his stripes though with his superior delivery and story-telling skills. The irony is that most of his fans were white kids, propelling the record to multi-million sales.

444. Black Sabbath - Master of Reality (1971)

It's hard now to fathom how alienating Ozzy Osbourne and his crew were when Black Sabbath first started to gain notice. Like Ice Cube he has become such a safe emasculated figure that the sheer shock of hearing music like this is difficult to recapture. In addition the deep sludgy narcotized grooves have been subsumed by metal, grunge and even indie rock to such an extent that the outrage over the anti-musicianship their sound seemed to represent is quaint. Like punk, Sabbath was in part a reaction to the professionalism overtaking rock at the end of the 60s and beginning of the 70s, and represented by progressive acts like Yes and Emerson Lake and Palmer. A song like the marvelous  "Sweat Leaf" simply anti-intellectualizes any higher thinking right out of you.

443. Gravediggaz - 6 Feet Deep (1994)

Horrorcore was the short-lived hip-hop genre that Gravediggaz pretty much created and it was seen by some as a further degradation of the music from the pimps and hos and drug dealing into outright mayhem. Really these guys were smart enough to know they were actually sending up gangsta rap by pushing the boundaries to incredibly absurd heights while also pointing out subtly the difference between the way society branded white murderers as aberrant serial killers while blacks were gang bangers. In fact the core of Gravediggaz is Wu-Tang mastermind RZA along with De La Soul producer Prince Paul so tongues are lodged firmly in cheeks. As would be expected from those two part of the fun is the varied and creative production and samples.

442. RJD2 - Dead Ringer (2002)

Engrossingly brilliant electronica with a heavy bent towards hip-hop. RJD2 in fact was signed to underground rap label Definitive Jux, an unusual status for a white producer/DJ. This record brims with inventive noir-ish textures and clever transitions making it one of the few records of this type to move out of the heavy shadow cast by the aptly named DJ Shadow.

441. Dinosaur Jr. - Green Mind (1991)

A band record in name only, J. Mascis here sets out to fully get past the loss of Lou Barlow and barely uses regular drummer Murph at all and yet it's still a terrific record. Anchored by Mascis' strong songs, molten guitar slinging and uber slacker vocals Green Mind was a small step towards  more mainstream acceptance and repped the first Dinosaur album on a major label.

440. Sleigh Bells - Treats (2010)

Duo Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller crafted a debut that practically bursts at the sonic seams, all over-amped and distorted yet with a chewy pop center. It's incredibly arresting stuff - witness "Crown on the Ground," a song that feels like an escalating series of climaxes built on a killer beat, Miller's cock-rock guitar and Krauss' ultra-girly singing.

439. Black Flag - Damaged (1981)

Probably the ultimate hardcore punk album, fast furious and from California. The reaction of parents and other authority figures to the music in general and Black Flag in particular only made the funny songs funnier and the angry songs angrier - Henry Rollins spits venom and guitarist Greg Ginn wrote the best set of songs this band ever had.

438. The Wrens - Secaucus (1996)

The Wrens were about as star-crossed as a band could get. This, their second album, was a huge improvement on their debut presenting a wonderfully off-center take on the niceties of mid 90s indie rock. Sadly problems with their label and the pull of day jobs kept them from capitalizing on the good vibes and the follow-up would take seven years to come out.

437. Juliana Hatfield - Bed (1998)

Juliana Hatfield took her spunky sass and gruff guitar work solo after the Blake Babies split in the early 90s, becoming a college rock favorite and linked to Lemonhead's leader Evan Dando despite her claims to still be a virgin. By 1998 it had all imploded, a major label deal had been left behind and college rock had moved on to nu-metal. Bed finds her alternately depressed and debauched, as befits the title and the many reasons to stay there.  While that may sound glum it's  instead gripping and alluring, a document of someones wrong choices marathon set to glazed riff rock.

436. Television Personalities - And Don't The Kids Just Love It (1980)

Ridiculously ahead of its time, the first full-length from Dan Treacy's band is a delightful gathering of conversational songs about everyday life for a shy depressed British guy. In sound he neatly prefigures a whole slew of folks from The Smiths to Guided by Voices and the recording and playing is casual if not completely amateurish. What puts it over are terrific songs and a distinct point of view.

435. Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have it So Much Better (2005)

Following up a widely praised and distinctive debut is really hard and this second offering from Glasgow's finest deviates only somewhat from the template they started from. But it's a great template: cracking rhythm section, arch vocals, springy Wire-like guitars.

434. Jonathan Richman - Jonathan Sings! (1983)

For Richman, this is a relatively adult album with kiddie songs for actual kiddies and love songs for grown up women - wives even! That doesn't stop the title track from flirting with a little extra-marital flirtation, nicely mirrored by a revamped band that features female backing vocals to bolster and sometimes undercut Richman's nasal verses.

433. Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York (1994)

This is Nirvana's last will and testament, a re-affirmation that the late Kurt Cobain was a brilliant songwriter and gripping performer. Cobain was also a big-time promoter for other bands and lends a hand to Leadbelly, The Vaselines and Meat Puppets with terrific covers. Though the original songs in most cases are superior the renditions of "All Apologies and "Something in the Way" are incredible. Supposedly Cobain had talked about Nirvana heading towards a more acoustic pastoral path with R.E.M. producer Scott Litt, which this album would have previewed. Instead he struggled with his heroin addiction, almost dying in Rome of an overdose before taking his own life shortly after this performance was recorded.

432. Royal Trux - Thank You (1995)

The breakup of skuzz-noise rockers Pussy Galore led to two arguably more interesting bands - this and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Where Spencer stripped things down to their elements Trux kept the dirt and grime under the stewardship of Neil Hagerty and Jennifer Herrema. As time went on the couple began to incorporate elements of 70s boogie (think Canned Heat or even Grand Funk Railroad) into the guitar fueled murk. While this added professionalism rubbed some fans the wrong way it allowed Royal Trux to develop some actual songwriting chops, in full evidence here. Propulsive and down and dirty.

431. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimist (2009)

Who knew that the Beach Boys would become a primary influence over so much indie rock in the new millennium? At one extreme was Animal Collective which  made a sound that approximated the Manson family taking charge of the California popsters. Grizzly Bear still love the popness inherent in the best of Brain Wilson and the gang but they bring their own jazzy shadings to their material. The arrangements are superb, beyond even the vocals. The music itself is actually quite distinct, suggesting the softer sounds of 60s and 70s forebears but executing it in a very postmodern baroque manner. An album to curl up and get lost in.

430. Bob Dylan - Street Legal (1978)

This is one of those albums in a long-lived artists' catalog that separates the casual listener from the fan. Some Dylanites hate this but those who love it, love it. Few fans are indifferent. This is his last  album before becoming a born-again Christian and you can feel the turmoil all over the hard rock and r&b grooves. In fact it was his affair with one of the backup singers on this that led him down the path to religion, as he was still adrift in the wake of the breakup of his marriage to Sara Lowndes.

429. Naked Raygun - All Rise (1986)

Part of the bruising Chicago hardcore scene, these guys hid their pop hooks behind sheer walls of guitar and pummeling breakneck drums. By the time album three rolled around they were ready to drop their guard a bit with aching yelps like "I Remember" upping the emotional ante while the band still stopped and started on a dime. A lesser-known influence on a host of 90s rockers ranging from practically everyone on Touch and Go records to math rockers like Polvo and Helmet.

428. Morrissey - Bona Drag (1990)

Morrissey's old band The Smiths saved many of their best songs for singles only releases and so he followed suit in teh early years of solo-dom. While I've stayed away from compilations from the most pat, this is an excellent collection of non-album tracks that happens to be the guy's best album outside of the aforementioned band.  Though some scoffed at the thought of Morrissey without songwriting partner Johnny Marr he more than holds his own on this collection.

427. Jason Forrest - Shamelessly Exciting (2005)

It should come as no surprise that the digital age would proliferate the postmodern music concrete sound that had already been established by sampling kings like Steinski, Prince Paul, Negativland and their ilk. Among the best practitioners is Jason Forrest, who gleefully creates new songs by slicing and dicing old content whether it's lite FM staples of the 70s or his 36 favorite punk tunes.

426. Radiohead - In Rainbows (2008)
After pushing the envelope for several releases Radiohead instead pushed their business envelope with a  pay-what-you-want download model for their first album away from EMI. Musically this is a consolidation of everything Radiohead can do, akin to The Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers. Like that classic, top-notch songwriting and production makes this eminently accessible without being shallow.

425. Quasi - Hot Shit (2003)

A pretty balls out protest record, Quasi don't bother with the niceties of Green Days rock opera American Idiot. Instead they literally say "Fuck You" to the likes of Don Rumsfeld in song in "White Devil's Dream". This is not to say they are devoid of subtlety - check out the searing ballad "No One" that comes on like an update of "Every Breath You Take", an abusive person or leader who cannot help but control.

424. Helium - The Dirt of Luck (1995)

Mary Timony led Helium into a tightly sprung sound for this, their first full length. Her singing makes the most of her affectless delivery, making even her nastiest diversions sound offhand which adds to their power. The arrangements in retrospect lay the groundwork for the punk/prog new wave hybrid sound to come - here it's more striped-down and feral. Powerful stuff.

423. Public Image Limited - Album/CD/Cassette (1986)

The man who was asked to audition for the Sex Pistols because he wore a Pink Floyd t-shirt with the words "I Hate" crudely scrawled across it here teams up Cream's Ginger Baker, metal guitarist Steve Vai, Ryuchi Sakamoto, and Material mastermind Bill Laswell who also produced. It's a big sounding record full of detail and not a bit of gloss with a distinct prog feel that betrays John Lydon's interest in Krautrock. Fans were outraged but these songs are fascinating and "Rise" is one of his very best songs.

422. Baby Huey - The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend (1971)

Baby Huey was dead before his one and only album even came out on Curtis Mayfield's label. Curtis also produced, lending a  sympathetic  ear to Huey's terrific voice and his shit-hot backing band The Babysitters. Had the 400-pound perfomer lived he would have been a force to be reckoned with in 70s soul, a mix of Mayfield's songwriting gifts and social conscience, a pinch of Sly's funk, and big chunk of Otis' soulfullness.

421. Negativland - Escape From Noise (1987)

This was one of my first experiences with cut-up samples and musique concrete, having bought this when it came out. It rocked my teenage world with it's combination of highly skewed songs (the folk balled "Nesbitt's Lime Soda", the proto-industrial sample driven "Christianity is Stupid" and conceptual tracks like "Time Zones" which splices up a right-wing radio talk show host and his caller into the trippiest, most ominous circular conversation ever.

420. Kool Keith - Black Elvis/ Lost in Space (1999)

To describe Kool Keith as a character doesn't even begin to do him justice. An eighties fixture from his stint in Ultramagnetic MCs, Keith's distinctive flow and lyrics allowed him to reinvent himself as a more edgy indie rapper as Dr. Octagon and then build upon that with this album under his own name. While mainstream rappers were aggrandizing over their Bentleys, Keith decided to play the part of Black Elvis, ultra successful businessman. What's funny is how he externalizes what a Jay-Z mostly keeps internal but for Keith rapping about Dow Jones and secretaries is strictly fantasy.

419. Bjork - Post (1995)

Bjork's second post-Sugarcubes album strikes what's still her best balance between experimental quirkiness and accessibility. The palette of electronic sounds and sometimes abstract beats is downright gorgeous on tracks like "Isobel", augmented by strings and even a sock-it-to-them orchestration on showstopper "It's Oh So Quiet." A textbook case of how to fit experimentation into a pop template.

418. The Mekons - So Good it Hurts (1988)
The Mekons were a distinct oddity by the time this album came out. Starting out as a post-punk sister band to Gang of Four they slipped quickly into obscurity only to emerge in the mid 80s with a ragged Hank Williams influenced sound. The band by this point still included mainstays Jon Langford and Tom Greenhalgh but had expanded to include the golden voice of Sally Timms. This can be seen as a dry run for their purple patch of records that span into the early 90s but I'd argue this ought to be included as it shows the bands songwriting beginning to hit it's stride on new wavers like "Ghosts of American Astronauts", country tinged punk like the title track, the dub tinged "Johnny Miner"  and a scathing femme cover of the Rolling Stones' "Heart of Stone."

417. Devo -Q. Are We Not Men?A. We Are Devo (1978)

"God made man, but he used a monkey to do it.." sang this band that managed to out art-damage all other new wave bands with this skewed conceptual release. Devo posits that man is "de-evolving" and they for one welcome the change. They are mostly joking but the 10% that isn't likely comes from the experience of witnessing the National Guard fatally fire on students at Ohio's Kent State. So conformity is twisted inside out on "Jocko Homo" and non-conformity is goosed on their complete redefinition of the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction", one of the greatest covers of all time.

416. Elliott Smith - Elliot Smith (1995)

Elliott Smith first came to attention for most folks for this, his second solo set. Acoustic, wavery, seemingly slight these songs have a strong impact over time. Anything but easy listening.

415. Supertramp - Breakfast in America (1979)

My wife absolutely hates this record and I understand. A bunch of fairy-voiced Brits singing about the hardships of being rock stars. You know, on the road, a different groupie every night, dealing with hippie haters (in 1979!) Maybe it's because I remember this in heavy rotation on my sibling's hi-fi's as an 8-year but I love every soft-rock lick and electric piano burble on this album.

414. No Age - Everything In Between (2010)

No Age was lumped into a lo-fi punk bucket but they increasingly showed a fondness for more nuanced strains of indie rock and pop culminating in this glorious record. The catch is that it all happens with  just two people, vocals drums and guitar. Yet the variety of textures, moods and sounds thay are able to get out of that limited palette are heartening.

413. Galaxie 500 - On Fire (1989)

In some ways these guys were the American answer to Britain's Spacemen 3, a group that built something new out of the framework of 60s psych-rock. In this case there are elements of the Velvet's drone and aspects of folk thrown in. This is a great collection of songs that showcased a band on the very outskirts of indie rock orthodoxy (ie not remotely punk or new wave) creating another touchstone that others would build on in the following decades.

412. Sparks - Kimono My House (1974)

The Mael brothers are expert opinion-dividers. There are as hated (especially influential by Trouser Press editor Ira Robbins) as they are revered. They were certainly doing things ahead of their time, employing some of the same moves as similar trailblazers Roxy Music though replacing Bryan Ferry's louche loverman routine with a kinetically arch humor. It's no surprise that these Los Angeles natives would find more success on the other side of the world given the success UK acts in a similar vein (10cc comes to mind in addition to Roxy). This is one of their most song-centric albums, as well as being theatrical in a very glam rock way.

411. The Jesus Lizard - Liar (1992)

Pummeling. Tuneful, yet pummeling.

 

410. Depeche Mode - Music For The Masses (1987)

Man I hated these guys in high school. All the girls liked them but I liked bands with guitars and weird songs like Meat Puppets, Sonic Youth, Pixies. This stuff? Of course as I grew older I reminded myself to be open and to listen to songs, as George Michael might say, without prejudice. And this band has some incredible songs spread throughout their catalog. This is where the highest percentage of them reside (other than on singles collections). The album sounds big and bold - perfect to vault them into arenas, but the textures were their most varied yet. A breakthrough for them and for synth pop.

409. Girl Talk - Feed The Animals (2008)

Did I mention I liked cut and paste compositions? That's all that Greg Gillis does here, splicing together his favorites bits of hundreds of songs across genre (but lots of rap, classic rock, and indie) adding beats and creating an endless playlist of highlights.

408. Superchunk - Indoor Living (1997)

Superchunk do the mature thing on this record, broadly expanding the palette of their sound (keep in mind that their publishing company was called All The Songs Sound The Same) and their subject matter. Martinis, dead jazz musicians, and sweet, sweet infatuation on the soaring "Marquee" all figure in this time.

407. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion (2009)

Typically these guys have fascinated me more than compelled me. I love what they do but I'm rarely in the frame of mind to want to listen to it. That is until this record which unearthed just enough structure and melodic sense to make the experimentation and sound explorations feel like a discernible path instead of a diversion. Oddly enough this may be there least formally structure set of songs but the repeated sections and hooks work to suck you in and the vocals add the final bit of payoff.

406. Pretenders - Pretenders II (1981)

Pretenders had the unenviable task of following up their instant classic debut and predictably critics were less kind the second time around. The formula is reprised including covering one of her then-husband's obscure Kink's nuggets. Nevertheless the album is a great one and Hyde's songwriting is top notch, as is the playing of the band's classic ill-fated lineup.

405. Dr. Dre - The Chronic (1992)

This is THE gangsta rap album, for better or worse. Mostly for worse as few imitators lacked the style, production chops, a guest like Snoop Dogg or the talent and brains to make entertainment out of the acceptance of life's horrors. It's a major shift from Public Enemy's in-your-face bravado to Dre and Snoop's blunted "that's life."

404. Air - Moon Safari (1998)

Incredibly influential, these Frenchmen smashed a bunch of traditions together, from chanson to folk, to pop to electronic experimentation and dance music and out came this classic. At times it threatens to devolve into wallpaper but the arrangements and varied tempos keeps it fizzy.

403. Game Theory - Lolita Nation (1987)

Just as Sonic Youth would do a year later, the lesser-known band Game Theory puts their fingers on the national pulse. This is a big sprawling statement of an album, dense with hooks and melody but also, as befits a double-album, byways and the occasional  dead end. Undeservedly obscure.

402. The Strokes - Room on Fire (2003)

As you may have seen elsewhere on this list, I'm a fan of the underrated follow-up record which this is a prime example of. The Strokes debut unleashed a swarm of guitar bands eager to rawk owt in the same New York style. Here they trim some of the bright edges off their sound and float in guitar tracks on top of stop-start beats like a dub track, or imitate keyboards. The first album was lo-fi but it was like a coat of dust on chrome polished songs, on this record it's more like a coat of rust.

401. King Geedorah - Take Me To Your Leader (2003)

One of Doom's many side projects but easily my favorite. The rhyming is top notch and the choice of samples is particularly clever - ranging from the Japanese monster films that gave this project its moniker to the incidental music from cult 70s Japanime Battle of The Planets.