MALLINation

 

Yes, it’s part three of my countdown and the gems keep coming! Are you getting mad yet? Seeing some old faves show up? Don’t forget you can see Part II here and Part I here.

300. Pavement – Brighten The Corners (1997)

This aptly named record also tightens the focus after the sprawl of Wowie Zowie while embracing instrumental coloration like mellotron on the wonderful “Transport is Arranged.” The songwriting is sharp and Malkmus is at his lyrical best on bon mots like “Starlings in the Slipstream” and “Stereo” which namechecks Rush’s Geddy Lee.

 

299. The Jayhawks – Tomorrow the Green Grass (1995)

Gary Louris and Mark Olsen were on the verge of splitting their partnership as The Jayhawks but they were able to release this, their best album before things took a turn for the worse. The songs are the best kind of classical, with the virtues of great craft married to stunning playing and soulful singing. It’s countrified but not country.

298. Danger Doom – The Mouse and the Mask (2005)
Commissioned by Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim programming block, this collaboration between MF Doom and Danger Mouse is way better than it’s commercial origins would suggest. Doom’s rapping is typically inventive and the production samples cleverly and liberally from such shows as Sealab 2021.

297. Jeff Buckley – Grace (1994)

Buckley was the son of folky Tim Buckley, and like his dad would die tragically young. Unlike his father though, his songwriting and performing ran the gamut from big widescreen ballads to atonal guitar rave-ups to florid confessionals all driven by his astounding vocal instrument.

296. Archers of Loaf – Icky Mettle (1994)

This is AOL’s most viscerally aggressive record, but it’s tuneful as well – like Pavement and Superchunk were crossbred. The songs tumble out like rough little gems from a  plastic bag. Addictively good.

295. My Bloody Valentine – Isn’t Anything (1988)

After a few records of strummy c-86 style indie these brits took a deep dive into pioneering the shoegaze aesthetic, signified by gauzy hazy vocals, a sometimes overwhelming squalls of guitars both electric and acoustic, and windtunnel drumming.  It sounds qway better than my description and along with Cocteau Twins this is the record that helped to kick it all off. While MBV would go on to add a ferocity to their sound that was more akin to Sonic Youth, there’s a welcome sensuality here that makes this eminently listenable.

294. The Kinks - Schoolboys in Disgrace (1975)

After a string of increasingly self-indulgent concept albums topped by the career nadir of Soap Opera, The Kinks and more specifically the brothers Davies pumped up the songs and the volume, though again in service of a theme. Ray Davies seems to benefit from nostalgia and does so here, spicing up many of his arrangements with 1950s style keyboards and flourishes. This also rocks harder than anything they had done for years, presaging their next shift into heavy arena rockers. More to the point, it was fun, a great pisstake on the British school tradition.

293. The Wrens – The Meadowlands (2003)

The Wrens clearly went through a lot of shit between the 1996 release of Secaucus and this record, and the mood is pensive and melancholy when not downright bitter. This is one of those great records that somehow avoids fusing those emotions into a sour ball of self-pity and instead creates a cathartic release. This is helped along by thoughtful arrangements and honed songcraft. Unjustly overlooked.

292. The Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin (1999)

Indie rockers turned one hit wonders turned art -proggers, Flaming Lips seemed destined to travel up their own wazoos. Instead they created a delicately stunning collection of full-bodied melodic treasures capturing the exhilaration of scientific progress. Cleverly though all the Manhattan Project stuff is a veneer under which lies frontman Wayne Coyne’s most nakedly personal lyrics to date.

291. Joni Mitchell – Court and Spark (1974)

Mitchell continues to add more jazz and r & b shadings to her songwriting bag of tricks on a sometimes playful set of songs about love and relationships. “Free Man in Paris” is notoriously about David Geffen and “Raised on Robbery” has a touch of the Andrews Sisters in it’s intro, showing how expansiave her subject matter and arrangements were becoming.

290. Gary Wilson – You Think You Really Know Me (1977)

Beck before there was a Beck, a big chunk of Midnite Vultures owes a debt to the obscure and idiosyncratic electro-funk confessionals on this record. Recorded in his parents basement, this was a throwaway self-pressed release and even the artist himself saw it as a one shot deal, going back to the wedding/bar mitzvah band circit he still plays on to this day. The album is full of burbling synths and sexual frustration that meld together into an amazing tight-assed cry for help and/or nookie. Has to be heard.

289. Killing Joke – Killing Joke (1980)

This band was endlessly mis-labelled  – heavy metal, new wave, goth. What they did was to pioneer the kind of crunching mechanical throb that would later power most of Ministry, Big Black, and countless other imitators a decade later. The debut is their ultimate statement, a cold war inspired slice of darkness that beeps, boops, guitar chugs, and most importantly glides it’s way to the apocalypse.

288. The Jam – Sound Affects! (1980)

Paul Weller took his neo-mods down a decidedly more Beatles-y route here – quite literally on “Start!” which borrows it’s bass riff from “Taxman.” It’s a great set of songs from “Pretty Green” to the stellar “That’s Entertainment” the band struts their scope.

287. Husker Du – New Day Rising (1985)

Loud and trebly, this can be a challenge to listen to but the melodies are there just waiting to emerge. Grant Hart and Bob Mould are approaching their peaks as songwriters here and the great stuff keeps coming in sharp pummels of noise.

 

286. Pulp – We Love Life (2001)
Hooking up with reclusive legend Scott Walker to produce their last album was an idea that was so crazy it might just work, and work it did though most of the British music scene had moved on at this point. a shame as this is one of Pulp leader Jarvis Cocker’s best. The songs are lusher (listen to the killer strings on “Trees”) darker, funnier (the nature as pervert narrative of “Birds” and the hilarious “Bad Cover Version” and it’s video which lyrically tweaks Walker).

285. Big Audio Dynamite – No. 10, Upping St. (1986)

For a band that had such a rancorous split, the Clash reunion was so low-key as to be almost unheralded to this day. This record, the second by Mick Jones’ post-Clash band, was co-produced by Joe Strummer, who also co-wrote 5 of the tracks. Not surprising then that this is B.A.D.’s best record, extending The Clash’s forays into hip-hop with aplomb and adding sampling to the mix, along with their best melodies and sharpest lyrics.

284. Beck – Midnite Vultures (1999)

This contains some of Beck’s best work but it’s also his most divisive, a big cum stained ode to Prince, R & B both retro and modern, and the wonders of polymorphous perversity. “Sexx Laws” is a Stax song on Viagra, all horny horns and an insinuating Steve Cropper-ish guitar lick that becomes a full blown banjo solo. “Nicotene and Gravy” is a slinky groove that degenerates into a “Day in The Life” -style breakdown. Will take years to be fully appreciated.

283. Camper Van Beethoven – Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart (1988)

CVB and lead songwriter/singer David Lowery continued to temporize their eclectic middle eastern and asian informed leanings with more pop and out-and-out rock songs on this, their first record for Virgin. It’s a damn good set of songs that still maintains the quirk factor as well as the occasional Balkan ballad. One of the most accessible tunes seems to be about an Eastern Bloc love affair, and “Tania” is one of the most brilliant songs ever about Patty Hearst.

282. Negativland – Helter Stupid (1989)

Negativland were pressured to go on tour after the surprise (relative) success of Escape From Noise but they knew they would lose money on the proposition. To get out of it they sent out a press release claiming that due to a (actual) local murder that had been tied to their music, they were not allowed to leave the vicinity. This was a complete goof yet suddenly they found the music press calling for comment and before long tjhey began to attract attention from news outlets. In fitting with their deconstructionist approach the first song on the record starts off jauntily urgent before it becomes clear that it is in fact the theme for a local news program whose lead story is a poorly researched and sourced version of their fabrication.  The rest of the record veers into a parody that samples liberally from local person on the street interviews and 70s AM radio staples as they explore pre-packaged nostalgia. The idea that anyone would want the detritus of the 70s still seemed comically unlikely in 1989 but post-Tarantino the put on actually turns out to have been prescient.

281. Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? (2007)

Flamboyant singer songwriter Kevin Barnes and a cast of characters are Of Montreal, and he made several strong records before hitting a peak with this kaleidoscopic romp through his own failed marriage and the experience of living overseas in Norway unmoored from anything familiar. Where the impulse might be to go for dark dirges this  is full of bright shiny objects, glorious pop confections that recall Prince, Beck, New Order and even bubblegum like the productions of Max Martin. Barnes’ lyrical content is confessional to an unsettling extent however, which makes for a fascinating contrast.

280. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Pig Lib (2003)

Former Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus has the unenviable task of always being compared to his former band as a solo artist. He does have a very distinctive style which is on full display here – from clever and sometimes nonsensical lyrics to blazing guitar chops. He also steps out a bit from the shadow of past glories with a consistent set of songs and an almost psychedelic bent on tracks like “Do Not Feed The Oyster.” While his solo debut was buttoned down this is expansive and jammy.

279. Harry Nilsson with John Lennon – Pussy Cats (1974)
Lennon was on the west coast in ’74, estranged from Yoko Ono and behaving very badly indeed, usually with Nilsson in tow. Not wanting to stop the party Nilsson asked him to produce a record and when he ruptured a vocal chord, gamely kept going. You can practically hear the cocaine and brandy that fueled these sessions in the tracks – a hodgepodge of covers and a few Nilsson originals. Lennon joins and plays on most everything and the spirit is almost too tangible of desperate partying to stave off the darkness. Remarkable if you go in for this sort of thing, and I do.

278. Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
Eminem pissed off a lot of people with his first record and on this follow-up he decides to push both the confessionals and satire even farther – more akin to Lenny Bruce or George Carlin than Nelly. Naturally Dre provides a stellar set of beats and musical settings to further this. “Criminal” is the key track, closing out the able by exploring the differences between fact and fiction and then hilariously exploiting them.

277. New Order – Low-Life (1985)

New Order thoroughly defined post-punk’s embrace of electronics and texture as the band fully sloughed off their Joy Division past. Still until now their most galvanizing statements were on non-album singles but this album finally brings together their popcraft and their atmospheric skills to make an indelible statement of purpose.

276. Guided By Voices – Alien Lanes (1995)

GBV’s breakthrough with Bee Thousand felt like a one-time event and indeed the low-fi aesthetic gets precious over the course of a career. Bob Pollard still doesn’t polish things up on this follow-up but he lets many of the best melodies shine while showing what would become a characteristic unwillingness to edit with this sprawling 28 track opus. To be fair some of the songs are no longer than a half minute. The great ones here rank with his very best though, “As We Go Up, We Go Down”, “Motor Away” and “Striped White Jets” are just a few of the top notch ones here.

275. Helium – The Magic City (1997)

Mary Timony vastly expands the sound of her band, embracing proggy instruments like harpsichords and some distinctly new wave keyboard sounds including a synth on “Leon’s Space Song” that could be straight from a Cars record.
Her genius is that the song itself doesn’t feel like anyone else’s work, just a dramatic way to expand and deepen her sharp songwriting.

274. The Field – From Here We Go Sublime (2007)

This debut really did sound like nothing that had come before – minimalist tracks that almost sounded like a very smooth CD player skipping, little fragments that build and build until they are revealed to be micro-moments from other tracks – say “A Paw in My Face” which resolves unexpectedly into Lionel Richie’s “Hello.”

273. Allen Toussaint – Southern Nights (1975)

Toussaint is a fixture in the New Orleans music world, producing, songwriting, arranging and playing on records for decades for other artists and to a lesser extent his own solo forays. He was on a purple patch in the mid-70s as this album shows, extending and expanding his New Orleans r & b and funk into slow languid reveries as on the title track (later amped up and turned into a big country crossover hit by Glen Campbell) and hot burning tracks like “Last Train.”

272. Stereolab – Transient-Random Noise Bursts, With Announcements (1993)

The early 90s was a great period of revival for interest in German “Krautrock”, experimental rock from the 60s and 70s that included bands like Can, Kraftwerk and Faust. This was due in part to the championing of folks like Julian Cope but also to the incorporation of many of those bands sounds into the bag of tricks of bands like Stereolab. Thus the flooring 18 minutes of “Jenny Ondiolene” here among other tracks. But there was also 60s pop, shoegaze, new wave, and post-punk mixed into their stew on this, their most experimentally catchy record.

 

271. Girls - Album (2009)

Beautifully detailed bedroom pop doesn’t get much better than this. What’s original about these guys (primarily Christopher Owen’s songs fleshed out by JR White’s arranging and production) are the songcraft and melodic giftedness and willingness to juxtapose the bright and sunny with dark and grimy.

270. The Auteurs – After Murder Park (1996)

One of the least likely bands to call in Chicago noise master Steve Albini to helm the boards, Luke Haines and band serve up appropriately feisty songs and performances while still sounding very much like themselves. The subject matter is genuinely drak, a loose song cycle about murder, loss, childhood, and small town Britain.

269. Faust – Faust IV (1973)

Faust rein in some of their more experimental impulses for this, their final album as a working unit (they would re-unite down the line). You can hear the influence they had on everyone from Animal Collective to Public Image Ltd. to Pixies with the standout being the sublime “Jennifer.”

 

268. Lambchop – Is a Woman (2002)

This can feel like a strange woozy trip through a small town, with Kurt Wagner limning  little character studies for each song. There is a definite flow to Lambchop’s music that is defiantly down-tempo without being somnambulistic – a “Hey city fella, what’s the rush?” sensibility.

267. Elvis Costello and The Attractions - Imperial Bedroom (1982)

Costello aimed for the bleachers on this one, bringing in Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick to class up the joint with big bold arrangements. In return, EC turns in an impressively varied set of songs from torchy to tetchy. As the title suggests these are baroque confections wrapped around a trademarked sneer.

266. Black Francis – Bluefinger (2007)
Pixies main man Black Francis practiced under the name Frank Black up until 2007 when, following that bands revival on tour he reverted to his original stage name. His first album as Black Francis is also his most inspired and energetic in years, reaching back to the aggressiveness of his early work while retaining the songcraft and embrace of tradition that he explored during his solo years. A concept record about Dutch rocker Herman Brood, you don’t need to know the troubled history of it’s inspiration to appreciate its greatness and the one Brood cover “You Can’t Break a Heart and Have It” is outstanding.

265. Spoon – A Series of Sneaks (1998)

These taut guitar driven tracks were seen rightly as a big advance over this band’s early work but has since been overshadowed by the disastrous major label relationship it represented and the band’s artistic rebirth on Merge Records after being dropped after this one album. What’s been lost is what a tight driving slice of awesome the record is, subtly pointing the way to the band’s latter-day minimalism more than their immediate follow-up did.

264. The Mekons - I Heart Mekons (1993)

This list is chock full of records that make the argument that major labels were lumbering tasteless beasts that only served to push product through pipelines but stifled great music. Today plenty of artists have taken advantage of digital technology to bypass this and have suffered little given the paucity of physical retail locations but in the 80s and 90s few bands had this choice. The Mekons had already bounced from a bad situation at A & M and were newly signed to Warners subsidiary Loud, which rejected this, their brightest and most accessible record, as not being commercial enough. This was their fourth killer disc in a row and this time the subject was romance, their cynical and wry pens turning to the many facets of human relations.   

263. The Cars – Candy -O(1979)

The Cars were another band destined to live down a stellar debut but by any standard this, their second record, was an artistic and commercial success even if not on par with the first. Ocasek proves to be a songwriter to be reckoned with – “Let’s Go” and “Dangerous Type” joined the list of Cars classics. The title track strips things down to a punky urgency and “Double Life” is a should have been hit.

262. Paul McCartney – Ram (1971)

In the wake of the traumatic Beatles split it was Paul (and Yoko) who came in for the most opprobrium but time has proven out how evenly matched the talents of at least John, Paul and George really were. Ringo’s talent of course was being in the right place at the right time. This was Paul’s second solo disc and a big improvement on his slap-dash debut but still received scathing reviews. Now it seems like a pretty great record, with a command of melodies and songwriting skill that most artists would kill for. Yes Paul could get awfully silly or just plain treacly but not here – the soft stuff like “Heart of The Country” is great and simple, the tricky stuff like “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” is earworm heaven and the hard stuff like “Smile Away” rips.

261. Suicide - Suicide (Alan Vega/Martin Rev)  (1980)

Issued both under their band names and credited to both of the seperately, Vega and Rev built on their groundbreaking electronic debut by enlisting Ric Ocasek though this never approaches The Cars level of pop. There is a fuller, more pronounced hookcraft here that is often disarmingly hummable, clearly inspiring every synth duo to follow in the 80s.

 

260. ..And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead – Source Tags and Codes (2002)

This album caught them at the midpoint between Sonic Youth and Mission of Burma styled indie rock and prog expansiveness more along the lines of Pink Floyd. Reviews were ecstatic included a coveted 10.0 from Pitchfork.com but this has proved a very hard record to live up to, especially given its nature as a transition piece. It truly is their best though.

259. R.E.M. - Lifes Rich Pageant (1986)

R.E.M. were disillusioned by the experience of making their third LP and were nothing if not a band always looking to build on their last record. As such they turned to much more direct songwriting for LP number four and recruited John Cougar Mellencamp’s producer Don Gehman to add sonic bite. Opener “Begin The Begin” ably blows out the cobwebs announcing this as their rocking-est record yet but then they follow up with the drop-dead gorgeous “Fall On Me” and suddenly these scrappy indie pioneers looked like contenders indeed. Stipe’s songs and singing were becoming clearer by the note, with more political content than they’d ever cared to include before, at a time when few others bothered.

258. Bob Dylan – Modern Times (2006)

Dylan is completely steeped in the americana he essentially helped codify with The Basement Tapes, sounding more relaxed and in charge in the 00s than he had since the mid 70s. It’s his best set of songs since then two, spread out over the decade and including this gimlet eyed gem. The songs are chock full of references that cut towards the past and the future, as much about the venality of today as of everyday. It’s a thrill when he sings about thinking of Alicia Keys because we want Dylan to be in the here and now and also as he does here, to be completely timeless.

257. Aerosmith – Toys in the Attic (1975)

This is the touchstone Aerosmith album, the band at the peak of their songwriting and recording powers (if not physical condition). Toxix Twins Joe Perry and Steve Tyler would fade after this, only to come back in the late 80s assisted by a phalanx of song doctors, as well as rehab technicians. This is the real deal though, a band finding out that their blues-based repertoire could lead them away from simply being Jagger/Richards clones.

256. Wire – 154 (1979)

The culmination of a groundbreaking three album run, Wire’s third continued to shift the palette away from the ultra-short riff-bombs of their first album into a keyboard based experimental vein. The songs get stretched and icy, entering into Bowie in Berlin territory, but it always gets snapped back into sharp melodies and biting guitar work.

255. Rocket From the Crypt – Circa: Now! (1992)

A huge leap forward for an obscure bunch of punks, RFTC deploy a newly minted horn section and deeply detailed guitar textures to blow minds and open major label wallets in the post-Nirvana landscape. The songs are chugging roiling anthems that flirt with 50s and 60s party rock moves even as the guitars blaze.

254. Peter Gabriel – So (1986)

Gabriel’s most accessible and best known work still has time amidst the ersatz Stax groove of “Sledgehammer” and the tender Kate Bush duet “Don’t Give Up” to nod to his artier and worldier instincts, mixing in a collaboration with Laurie Anderson and Youssou N’ Dour. An integral part in the rise of “world music” craze in the 80s along with Paul Simon’s Graceland.

253. Parliament – Funketelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome (1977)

Entire rap careers were made off of sampling this album, and the band Urge Overkill even took their name from one of the lyrics so – influential yes. Booty-shaking? Also, yes.

252. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs (2010)

For their third album these semi-Canucks open up their dense wall of sound to let it breathe, imbuing their loose concept of a post-apocalyptic suburban scene with a clarity and lightness that their other records only hinted at. It rocks harder too on tracks like “Month of May.”

251. Avalanches – Since I Left You (2000)

Sample-happy Antipodeans tune their stations to ten groovy stations at once  it seems, making seamless grooves out of the raw material of existing pop. The endless dance party is interrupted only by the astounding “Frontier Psychiatrist” one of the great cut-up artifacts of the last century in which John Water’s Polyster kicks off a crazy quilt of free association samples.

250. Slint – Tweez (1989)

You could definitely call a band with songs named after the members parents, mumbling in place of lyrics, and sharp angular guitars and weird time signatures an acquired taste. Once you get a yen for it though, like salty ice cream it can become an itch you need to scratch.

249. Built to Spill – There’s Nothing Wrong With Love (1994)

The small scale love angst of their second album made Built to Spill an underground sensation, even as it marked the end of  their slightly twee-ish indie phase as they became a more classic rock focused guitar juggernaut. Packed with sweet harmonies, strings, and funny call-outs this is more in line with Big Star than Crazy Horse.

248. M.I.A. – Arular (2005)

M.I.A. at her best pulls like a scavenger from the best little bits pieces and styles and smooshes it into a funky, catchy, naggingly ass moving treat. This debut record was an eye-opening stew from the Sanford & Son sampling “URAQT” to the slow rolling synth explosions of “Bingo” it announced a new kind of world music and a new star.

247. Lou Reed – New York (1989)

Reed sounds more vital and engaged than he had in years chronicling his city in the late 80s. Stripped down and to the point there is a warmth in the grooves and the lyrics of this fine set of songs. This is no more so on the heartbreaking “Halloween Parade” an elegy for the Village institution that was ravaged by AIDS over the preceding 10 years. His most human and humane record.\

246. Brian Eno & David Byrne – My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981)

During the recording of three Talking Heads albums Eno and Byrne were becoming joined at the hip to the extent that the other members of the band were beginning to feel uncomfortable. Finally the two men were able to be alone, and what they made together melded the global sounds they had followed with Talking Heads with the literal global sounds of various peoples recorded from radio and television, a Tower of Babel accompaniment.

245. Digital Underground – Sex Packets (1990)

Before gangstas hijacked George Clinton’s p-funk grooves at gunpoint, Digital Underground plundered the master of funk for this funny ribald romp. They also, crucially, updated Clinton’s taste for surreal humor (Humpty Hump has a pickle nose for crissakes!) and sex fixation (said pickle nose is said to “tickle your rear” in a 69). This is much more than just an excersize in plundering, it’s a party record par excellence with an intelligence behind the goofing.

244. Neutral Milk Hotel – In The Airplane Over The Sea (1998)
A huge inspiration to all sorts of acts from Arcade Fire to Bon Iver – a touchstone for how indie rock would sound in the decade that followed. Only few of Jeff Mangum’s followers could equal his songwriting skill or facility with different tempos and textures. The mystique around the record is only magnified by his continued disinterest in a follow-up record.

243. Pulp – Different Class (1995)

Jarvis Cocker and Pulp were unlikely exponents of Britain’s britpop revival having toiled in the indie underground since the mid 80s with little success. What no-one counted on was for Cocker to suddenly develop a sharp incisively sexy songwriting voice, finding it’s full flower here on the “Common People” single. There was plenty more though, like the seedy “Pencil Skirt” and the festival baiting of “Sorted for E’s and Whizz.”

242. Wu-Tang Clan – Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)
The Wu stormed into hip-hop consciousness with what is still one of the genre’s most impressive debuts, a fully formed collective of incredibly talented rappers all folded into the spare hard-hitting production by RZA. This is a real album despite the varied lyrical approach taken by each member, each track is tied together with samples from cheesy kung-fu flicks and builds on each other to create a masterpiece.

241. Sonic Youth – EVOL (1986)

Sonic Youth swapped out drummer Bob Bert three albums in for Steve Shelley and suddenly snapped into focus, their weird alternate tunings and experimental leanings buttressed by structure and an emerging fascination with pop culture embodied by standout ‘Expressway to Yr. Skull” also know as “Madonna, Sean and Me”. Everything they would do after would be informed by this first signpost.

240. Young Marble Giants – Colossal Youth (1980)

This is one of those utterly unique albums that could have been made yesterday as easily and credibly as 1980 when it was released. Spare mantra like songs that build tension that coils and coils, it’s a revelation of simple arrangements trumping all. Alison Statton’s semi-detached singing and wry lyrics were hugely influential but their sound has never been imitated as it’s impossible to get quite right without being a clear rip-off. Essential.

239. Harry Nilsson – Nilsson Schmilsson (1971)

A talented and troubled guy’s high-water mark in every way. Richard Perry does his best to rein the man in but for every “Without You” (meant here with tongue firmly on cheek, covered cluelessly ever since by the likes of Celine Dion) there is the blazing rock of “Jump Into The Fire” or the novelty of “Coconut.” Like an immersion into the best AM radio station of the early 70s.

238. Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994)

There were still a  surprising number of people who believed in the real possibility that Steve Malkmus could become the next Kurt Cobain at this point, another voice of a generation. And why not? Lyrics like the tennis drama “Stop Breathing” or the wanderlust ode “Range Life” were not as in love with wordplay for it’s own sake as later material would be. The band itself winked at comparisons between R.E.M.’s first and second records and their debut and this follow-up – leaving unspoken the career arc to stardom this implied. It wouldn’t work out that way though, as subsequent records increasingly focused on the existing cult without building a bigger audience. In retrospect it seems absurd that the literate to a fault lyrics, wonderfully ramshackle arrangements and bursts of noise and in-jokes were ever considered the stuff that mainstream success might have been made of.

237. Metallica – Master of Puppets (1986)
In tenth grade my friend Bob McCormick would play this while we hung out in his room listening to music. Bob had admirably eclectic taste that I was way too “cool” to appreciate at the time. I was punk rock man! So I was pretty dismissive of this, Devo, and the Aerosmith stuff he’d play me only to come back to it later and realize it was actually pretty good. In this case, more than good – amazing. With zero mainstream support Metallica sold millions of copies of this album, defining thrash metal’s distinct fusion of heavy Sabbath with fast and hard Black Flag pummel. While the “dark” lyrics of a Judas Priest or Iron Maiden seemed like the stuff that only a guy with a mullet and a jean jacket would take seriously, Hetfield’s bleak worldview makes this genuinely chilling and surprisingly impassioned.

236. The Amps – Pacer (1995)

Originally intended as material for the Breeders much awaited third album, the follow-up to their surprise million selling Last Splash, those plans were derailed by Kelley Deal’s drug bust and Kim Deal’s decision to scrap the original big budget recording sessions. Inspired by fellow Dayton resident Bob Pollard’s aggressively low-fi Guided By Voices, she re-recorded the tracks with an almost totally new band, renaming them after she and Kelley’s original pre-Pixies duo. The irony is that this is would be one of her strongest sets of material, far better than any subsequent Breeders album but the offhand nature of the recording and release plus the unfamiliar band name led it to be utterly buried and still underrated.

235. LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver (2007)

James Murphy gets (mostly) sincere on his second album as LCD Soundsystem, taking his song-heavy electronica to a level rarely achieved by his peers. There are at least three classic anthems here, “Someone Great”, the pulsing “All My Friends” and the NYC goes Disney of “New York I Love You.”

234. Bob Dylan – Love & Theft (2001)
At this late stage in Dylan’s career he could be excused for endlessly touring behind his considerable catalog but the man has longevity in mind. This was his best album in two decades, a tour de force through the history of American song as refracted through Dylan’s utterly timeless originals.

233. Bob Marley - Exodus (1977)
This is Marley at his slickest, a pop music machine cranking out indelible melodies. This has some of his biggest hits but even the lesser known tracks glide along on the liquidy groove even as he becomes a bit more focused on his own mortality in the wake of an attempt on his life.

232. The National – Alligator (2005)
The National finally perfect their melancholy sound on their third album but it still has a rockingness that would be mostly ironed out on future releases. Less perfectionist than they would become, they leave the door open for outright ravers like “Abel” but the songs are just as top-notch.

231. The Replacements – Hootenanny (1983)

Rolling Stone magazine released a new edition of their Record Guide the same year this came out and their entry on the band was typically dismissive, basically “another hardcore band, and who will care in a few years.” While the ‘Mats may never have crossed over to stardom their influence was huge and they were never really a hardcore band at their heart. Here is where they really start to branch out in their own ramshackle booze addled style, from mock cocktail jobs (with the personals read over them) to a Beatles filleting to some of Paul Westerberg’s best songs. “Within Your Reach”, “Color Me Impressed” and “Run It” all showed the glimmerings of the band’s future direction.

230. Talking Heads  – The Name of This Band is Talking Heads (1982)

The temptation is to put Stop Making Sense here as it too is an incredible life album but it has a film to accompany it (it’s technically a soundtrack) and the full experience is to watch the thing. This is just as revelatory and says more about the band and its material during a transition between their Eno years and their more outward facing commercial period. The first LP is the stripped down core band at various live dates playing their early material raw and urgent. This is what a hungry band sounds like and it’s transporting. Disc two than neatly slides the top of your head off, presenting the fully expanded version of the band with three backup singers, two percussionists, Busta Cherry Jones augmenting bass, P-Funk’s Bernie Worrell adding keyboard flavor, and the amazing Adrian Belew throwing in guitar leads. The power of this line-up is stunning and transforms some of the more insular material on albums like Fear Of Music into downright stompers. Sure this doesn’t have the stadium whomp of that other live album (compare “Once In A Lifetime” to see) but this pulls you in with intricate rhythms and grooves that no-one else was doing in quite the same way.

229. Brian Eno - Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy (1974)

This was Eno’s second solo album and hinted at some of the more ambient sounds he would become consumed with in the near future. There still was a clear rock underpinning to these tracks though even as he moved away from the glammier aspects of his debut and his work with Roxy Music. “Third Uncle” is like someone taking Pink Floyd’s “Echoes” and beating the piss out of it in an alley, while “The True Wheel” prefigures some of what future collaborators in Talking Heads would be doing a few years later.

228. Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run (1975)

The album that made Springsteen what he is, and the one that he has to embrace or reject with every subsequent release. For those who find his affinity with Lou Reed and Patti Smith odd, it helps to remember that prog rock excess and fey singer/songwriter treacle were dominant in 1975 and Bruce’s embrace of early 60s notions like the Wall of Sound and populist anthems that drew from both Motown and the likes of Del Shannon were the kind of back to basics moves that led to punk. Though indie rockers read the big arrangements and committed performances as a bit corny a new generation such as Arcade Fire and The Hold Steady would look to this for inspiration.

227. The Slits - Cut (1979)

Though the three women in The Slits came out of the London punk scene their debut clearly incorporated their fascination with reggae, only skewed by their choppy angular playing and infectious group vocals. The songs are idiosyncratic and feminist, a point of view rarely heard in rock music up until then. They are also great fun, sharp and witty on originals like “Typical Girls” and their killer cover of “I Heard it Through The Grapevine.” Though they influenced everyone from Hole to Bikini Kill this still sounds completely unique.

226. Suicide – Suicide (1977)

Two guys and a synthesizer was not anyone’s idea of a band line-up in 1977 – 1982 maybe. But there was Alan Vega and Marty Rev at CBGB’s alienating audiences with a kind of automated take on rockabilly, punk and even ballads. Hugely influential and not just on other electronic artists (witness R.E.M.’s cover of “Ghost Rider”). Spare and thrilling.

225. Supergrass – In It For The Money (1997)

These Brit-poppers had an exuberantly energetic and fizzy debut but it’s in this follow-up that they deepened and broadened their musical approach with an incredibly varied set of material. This is even more true on the Limited Edition which appends an extra disc of even more great tracks. “Richard III” careens like Smashing Pumpkins with a groove transplant, “You Can See Me” has a killer riff and a lyric that comes on like crazy, and the title track soars.

224. X – Los Angeles (1980)

X came out of L.A.’s underground hardcore scene sure, but their choice of ex-Door’s keyboardist Ray Manzarek as producer was a tip-off that their ambitions were broader than many of their compatriots. Their literate hard-hitting songs put this debut album on the map, as did the sweet/sour guy/gal vocals of John Doe and his wife Exene Cervenka. As punk as they were, there were already clear hints of rockabilly and classic rock structure in the flashy guitar playing of Billy Zoom.

223. Wipers – is This Real? (1980)

One of the great lesser-known American punk albums, Greg Sage’s first album as The Wipers shows off his fiery guitar style and sharp grasp of melody and structure on a set of songs that capture the anomie and distance of adolescence as well as any album before or since.

222. Rod Stewart – Every Picture Tells a Story (1971)

Seriously, there really was a time when Rod Stewart was cool. Stop sniggering, for real. As the lead singer for the Faces he lead a down and dirty band that gave the Stones a run for their money and helped inspire bands like The Black Crowes, Georgia Sattelites, Supergrass, Primal Scream, Oasis and countless others. His early solo work was mostly an extension of his Faces records, with the band backing him up. He betrayed a curate’s eye for good songs to cover and matched them with originals like “Maggie May” that became classics in their own right. Think of him as that leering old perv turned showtune warbler? Check out how he and The Faces tear it up on “(I Know) I’m Losing You.”

221. Santigold – Santogold (2008)

Pegged rather unfairly as an M.I.A. clone, Santi White and her compatriots in Santogold do share some characteristics and the use of producers Diplo and Switch on various tracks. In general these tracks are far more open and lighthearted, gliding where M.I.A. pounds. There is a real gift for catchy tunes here in addition to solid beats on songs like “L.E.S. Artistes” and “I’m a Lady”, all put over with Santi’s winning vocals. Let’s hope that follow up is on it’s way.

220. PJ Harvey – Dry (1992)

PJ Harvey (which was a band name at this point) debuted with this album, which felt like a punch to the solar plexus. Emotional resonant, even brutal songs stripped down to bare riffs and hard motifs. It was striking, original and necessary back in ’92 and still so today. Polly Jean Harvey was undisputed at the center of her namesake band playing tough direct guitar, singing with a knowing detached sneer and writing with a surgeon-like efficiency.

219. Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon (1973)

Not even an album anymore but a fact of life.

218. The Lemonheads – It’s a Shame About Ray (1992)

It’s easy to hate Evan Dando, with his heart-throbby good looks and himbo affect. There was more depth to him than that as was displayed on several of his bands early songs and a blazing cover of Suzanne Vega’s “Luka”, and the Gram Parson’s meets Johny Thunder’s eclecticism of his previous record Lovey. With an almost totally new band including supposed GF Juliana Hatfield on bass and backing vocals (and record cover) he found a distinct sound, 2 parts New Zealandy jangle pop to one part power punk with the acoustic guitars turned way up. It’s a terrific set of songs played with great verve but also point to his Achilles heel in the standout track “My Drug Buddy”, a poignant song about the joys of getting high with a pal.  Sadly the good reviews and sales this album garnered led Dando to have many, many more drug buddies and the effect was less than salutary for his career.

217. Can – Ege Bamyasi (1972)

Though Can would go on to make more good to great music over the following decade plus, this is their highwater mark as a band with the classic line-up (I am a diehard believer that Damo Suzuki is way way better than Malcolm Mooney as a vocalist) firing on all cylinders. First of all there is that crack rhythm section pounding out molten grooves that twist and turn. Then there are the songs like “Vitamin C” and the guitar driven “I’m So Green.” So much of art-rock and post-punk that would come later on in the decade starts here.

216. Superchunk – Here’s Where The Strings Comes In (1995)

Not all of their diehards appreciated it but the ‘Chunk tried to add some more complexity to their straightforward guitar driven punk rock with some trickier arrangements and varied tempos. Lyrically the disintegration of  Mac and Laura’s marriage can be felt here just as it was on the preceding record but this is very much the aftermath – a walk through a still-tender wasteland of easily bruised feelings and confusion. Powerful stuff.

215. Fountains of Wayne – Utopia Parkway (1999)

A concept album of sorts that brings to life the feeling of being a young adult in the bridge and tunnel environs of New York City, with characters flitting around Long Island and New Jersey and naturally into the city itself looking for lost loves or even catching a laser show at the long-defunct Hayden Planetarium. It can be surprisingly poignant, a nostalgic drive through the old neighborhood with a long lingering pass past the houses of ex-girlfriends.

214. The Fall – This Nation’s Saving Grace (1985)

Mark E. Smith really hit his stride in the mid 80s with this album representing the high-water mark of what feels like hundreds of releases since 1978. Is it a coincidence that this occurred during his improbable marriage to the delectable and  talented Brix Smith who plays her guitar like a freaking goddess sprung from the wrist of Hank Marvin. Her twang complements Mark’s nasal rants perfectly and the band even stretches into spacy synthy territory with the wonderful “L.A.” Get the reissue for an excellent disc of contemporaneous singles and other tracks.

213. Cypress Hill – Cypress Hill (1991)

It’s easy to take these guys for granted now in the age of Snoop Dogg but when this debut came out their sheer allegiance  to weed was unusual, as was their hispanic and proud background. Their heavy beats, distorted samples and relaxed tempos all pioneered the West Coast blunted sound that Dr. Dre would take to the bank, and the in your face rapping of B. Real and crew also set the template for more unique voices and rhyme styles to emerge.

212. David Bowie – Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980)

A great capstone to an astounding decade of work in which Bowie could lay claim to an artistic transformation equal to that of the Beatles in scope if not in stature. This sums up everything the guy could do in a very accessible way with “Ashes To Ashes” as the bridge back to the Bowie of “Space Oddity” by acting as its sequel. Robert Fripp’s guitar skitters and burns on tracks like the crushing “Fashion” and the cover of Tom Verlaine’s “Kingdom Come” is superlative. His last truly great record before slipping into a bad glossy patch.

211. Cheap Trick – In Color (1977)

Cheap Trick quickly followed up their debut with another terrific set of songs drawing on their years on the bar-band circuit in Illinois. This is power pop with the emphasis on power, a sound that put them at odds with most of what was getting radio and critical attention at the time. Now of course it sounds like everyone from Weezer to Fountains of Wayne to Foo Fighters but it took a long time indeed for this band to get it’s due. It’s hard to pick a single gem out of the batch but if I must, check out “Southern Girls” or the sublime “Oh Caroline” to hear how it’s done.

210. McLusky – McLusky Do Dallas (2002)

The debt to the Pixies is clear in the raving vocals and hook happy unhinged guitar riffing (not to mention the presence of Steve Albini behind the boards)  but these Scottish lads bring a unique lyric sensibility that can be gleaned from song titles like “The World Loves Us and is Our Bitch.” “Fuck This Band’ is especially funny in it’s offhanded dismissal of themselves – “they curse too much..” There is also tremendous joy and verve in the playing and arranging of each killer song – witness “Alan is a Cowboy Killer” and it’s nagging backing vocals. Brilliant.

209. Green Day – American Idiot (2004)

Really Green Day had no business making this record. On the decline commercially and artistically the Bay Area pop punkers repaired to the studio to make their new record only to have the hard drive stolen with their new batch of songs. Instead of re-recording songwriter and singer Billie Joe and the band worked up a much more personal and ambitious batch of songs that reflected their bewilderment and anger over the Bush administration’s response to 9/11 and invasion of Iraq. What came out was a complex concept record with the band’s best songs, and one of the greatest protest records of the era. Veering from intimate character sketches to polemical barnburners plus a set of interlinked suites, following an actual narrative is secondary to the emotional pull of the band’s anger and sadness embodied in teh title track and the incendiary “Holiday.” I was prepared to hate this thing when it came out but I appreciate it more with every year.

208. Eric B. & Rakim – Paid in Full (1987)

A stone classic, Rakim’s rhyming became the turning point from Run D.M.C’s call and response to more complex intricate one-man structures pioneering what every great MC would do subsequently. The production is spare in the best sense, suporting and pushing the rhymes and the flow. You MUST get the deluxe edition which appends essential remixes including the classic Coldcut 12″ version of the title track.

207. The Breeders – Last Splash (1993)

In the wake of the acrimonious split of the Pixies Black Francis (nee Frank Black) seemed well-positioned to leverage his songwriting and bandleading status in a solo career but for a variety of reason Kim Deal received most of the good will from fans. While Black struggled to stay relevant she was embraced by the indie world and with this, had a bigger hit than anything her band had done. With her twin sister Kelley in tow and a big single in the infectious “Cannonball” Deal was on top of the world, that is until drugs sent she and Kelley into a tailspin that took years to work through. Still this moment when they were America’s twin indie sweethearts with their guileless breathy vocals and grinding guitars was a damn sweet one.

206. Elvis Costello – My Aim Is True (1977)

Costello’s debut is where he sounds most like his mentor Nick Lowe, with sturdy pub rock songs amped up to the point of being able to pass for punk. In these pre-Attractions days he’s backed by Clover which is in fact Huey Lewis’ News, and they are nothing if not pros. What makes it come alive is Elvis the C’s extraordinary songwriting – It’s an amazing set of songs from “Alison” to reggae-fied closer “Watching The Detectives.”

205. Funkadelic - One Nation Under a Groove (1978)

With this record George Clinton made clear his intention that Funkadelic be much more than just a funk outfit – they were a rock band too with Eddie Hazel’s Hendrix influence as important as Bootsy’s bass playing. This is the best set of songs of any Clinton unit’s album, hands down and the playing is stellar. “Who Says a Funk Band Can’t Play Rock” spells it out pretty clearly but it’s all hot stuff.

204. Propellerheads – Decksnaddrumsandrockandroll (1998)
Unfairly compared to Chemical Brothers, this duo from Bath have but this single album to their name but what a record. Influenced as much by hip-hop and lounge as by John Barry (they even bring Shirley Bassey in to sing one track) this is big beat electronica at its best.

203. Mos Def – Black on Both Sides (1999)

A return to the sounds and styles of Native Tongue rap from the late 80s/ early 90s, but with a modern twist. Mos has his own style and flow, thoughtful, deconstructive and disarmingly casual. He’s not afraid to be smart and politically insightful, and the lush inventive music supports his cerebral intentions.

202. The Replacements – Tim (1985)

The ‘Mats sign to a major label and turn to Tommy (Ramone) Erdelyi to helm their first album on Sire. Erdelyi ends up drying out the production a tad too much but Westerberg delivers with a great set of songs. “Lay it Down Clown” and “Dose of Thunder” are clearly there to give Bob Stinson a chance to unleash his firehose guitar but “Swingin’ Party”, “Left of The Dial” and “Little Mascara” display a new maturity. Then there’s the pure pop sweetness of “On The Bus”, a shoulda been hit.

201. De La Soul – De La Soul is Dead (1991)

De La Soul’s debut was a breakthrough but aside form a handful of other hip-hop acts it would prove to have fleeting short-term influence, subsumed by the bigger sales of proto-gangstas like N.W.A. Well De La could play rough too, purposely ditching the “daisy age” talk of their debut and playing up the criticism of them being soft in their album title. That doesn’t mean they dropped what was so inventive – crazy quilt samples, mind-blowing rapping and intricate subject matter way beyond most other rap or rock groups. Unjustly overlooked.