‘Best’ albums of the past 50 years

A lot of things happened fifty years ago. 1963, for example. No, wait, hang on a minute, something’s gone wrong there…

Okay, what I meant to say was that 2013 is a big year for 50^th anniversaries. Last weekend alone gave us the assassination of JFK and the launch of Doctor Who (Most agree that one of these was a good thing and one bad, but I’ll leave it up to you to decide which is which), but while I could discuss pop delights from I’m Glad I’m Not a Kennedy to Doctor in Distress, probably the most relevant anniversary to mention in the context of a music blog came earlier in the year, namely the release of The Beatles debut long-playing record (as such things used to be called), Please Please Me.

It’s the oldest album I own, and in thinking about its great age I realised that my collection boasts at least one album for every year since. So I thought I’d see if I could pick my favourite album from each of the past fifty years. As it turned out, some years were easier than others, so for the purposes of what follows, if I couldn’t narrow it down to a single (or a double!) album for any given year I’d choose 3. And if I couldn’t narrow it down to 3 I’d chose 5! And if…okay, I stopped there, but there are some years where I could have listed 10 quite easily (1970 and 1988 spring to mind).  

I should mention that to be a contender these albums have to be in my collection (and by that I basically mean ‘on me iPod’) now, so albums once owned that have died, and somehow not been replaced (Here’s looking at you, Ziggy Stardust) or I only ‘own’ in the sense that I have a copy on vinyl languishing in a box back in New Zealand (The Hollies criminally overlooked A Crazy Steal fits this category) were not considered. Nor were live albums, compilations, or talking books.

Now, it goes without saying that you won’t agree with some/many/any of my choices, and that is absolutely fine (by all means post your own lists in response!). But whether they’re obvious ‘influential/important’ works (Not many of those will appear, to the great shock of nobody. But that’s what AMG’s dull as dishwater ‘Allmusic loves XX Year’ features are for. I find it disturbing enough that I’ve listed as many as two albums that made it into NMEs ‘Top 25 albums of all time’ list!) or obscure AOR releases, heard by precisely nobody who doesn’t visit melodicrock.com on a daily basis, what all of the below  albums have in common is that they continue to delight with every listen, in many cases years after I first heard them. To me that constitutes ‘greatness’ enough and the critics can go hang!

1963:     The Beatles – Please Please Me

1964:     The Beatles – A Hard Day’s Night

1965:     Paul Simon – The Paul Simon Songbook

1966:     The Beatles – Revolver

1967:     The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

1968:     Simon and Garfunkel – Bookends

                Gordon Lightfoot - Did She Mention My Name?

                Blood, Sweat and Tears – Child is Father to the Man

1969:     Chicago – Chicago Transit Authority

1970:     Stephen Stills – Stephen Stills

                Dave Mason – Alone Together

                Chicago – Chicago II

                Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young – Déjà vu

                James Taylor – Sweet Baby James

1971:     Gerry Rafferty – Can I Have My Money Back?

                David Bowie – Hunky Dory

                Caravan – In the Land of Grey and Pink

1972:     America – Homecoming

                Gordon Lightfoot – Don Quixote

                Jethro Tull – Thick as a Brick

1973:     Paul Simon – There Goes Rhymin’ Simon

                Steely Dan – Countdown to Ecstasy

                The Doobie Brothers – The Captain and Me

1974:     Gordon Lightfoot – Sundown

                Stealers Wheel – Ferguslie Park

                Boz Scaggs – Slow Dancer

                Poco – Cantamos

                Kansas – Kansas

1975:     Seals and Crofts – I’ll Play For You

                The Band – Northern Lights – Southern Cross

                Kansas – Song for America

1976:     Kansas – Leftoverture

                Eagles – Hotel California

                Boz Scaggs – Silk Degrees

                Neil Diamond – Beautiful Noise

                Jackson Browne – The Pretender

1977:     Billy Joel – The Stranger

                Chicago – Chicago XI

                Harry Chapin – Dance Band on the Titanic

1978:     Toto – Toto

                Gerry Rafferty – City to City

                Magnum – Kingdom of Madness

                Burton Cummings – Dream of a Child

                Billy Joel – 52^nd Street

1979:     Pink Floyd – The Wall

                Toto – Hydra

                The Alan Parsons Project – Eve

1980:     Boz Scaggs – Middle Man

                Burton Cummings – Woman Love

                Dire Straits – Making Movies

1981:     Rush – Moving Pictures

1982:     Magnum – Chase the Dragon

                Gordon Lightfoot – Shadows

                Gerry Rafferty – Sleepwalking

                Asia – Asia

                Billy Joel – The Nylon Curtain

1983:     Journey – Frontiers

                Magnum – The Eleventh Hour!

                Le Roux – So Fired Up

                Paul Simon – Hearts and Bones

                Kansas – Drastic Measures

1984:     Toto – Isolation

                Survivor – Vital Signs

                Chicago – Chicago 17

1985:     Magnum – On a Storyteller’s Night

                Mr. Mister – Welcome to the Real World

                Rush – Power Windows

1986:     Jackson Browne – Lives in the Balance

                Billy Joel – The Bridge

                Journey – Raised on Radio

                Eddie Money – Can’t Hold Back

                Bruce Hornsby and the Range – The Way it Is

1987:     Marillion – Clutching at Straws

1988:     Gerry Rafferty – North and South

                Magnum – Wings of Heaven

                Toto – The Seventh One

                Kansas – In the Spirit of Things

                Survivor – Too Hot to Sleep

1989:     Marillion – Seasons End

                Starship – Love Among the Cannibals

                Steve Lukather – Lukather

1990:     Paul Simon – The Rhythm of the Saints

1991:     Marc Cohn – Marc Cohn

                Marillion – Holidays in Eden

                Shadow King – Shadow King

1992:     R.E.M. – Automatic for the People

                Toto – Kingdom of Desire

                Magnum – Sleepwalking

1993:     Billy Joel – River of Dreams

                Al Stewart – Famous Last Words

                Jackson Browne – I’m Alive

1994:     Marillion – Brave

                Martin Page – In the House of Stone and Light

                Steve Lukather – Candyman

1995:     Marillion – Afraid of Sunlight

                John Wetton – Battle Lines

                Bruce Hornsby – Hot House

1996:     Asia – Arena

1997:     Marillion – This Strange Engine

1998:     Bob Catley – The Tower

1999:     Toto – Mindfields

                Robert Lamm – In My Head

                Marillion – Marillion.com

2000:     Kansas – Somewhere to Elsewhere

                Beckley-Lamm-Wilson – Like a Brother

                Porcupine Tree – Lightbulb Sun

2001:     Marillion – Anoraknophobia

                Radioactive – Ceremony of Innocence

                Journey – Arrival

2002:     Porcupine Tree – In Absentia

2003:     Gary Hughes – Once and Future King

2004:     Marillion – Marbles

                Asia – Silent Nation

                Seventh Key – The Raging Fire

2005:     Porcupine Tree – Deadwing

2006:     Toto – Falling in Between

2007:     Magnum – Princess Alice and the Broken Arrow

                Danny Vaughn – Traveller

                Rush – Snakes and Arrows

2008:     Martin Page – In the Temple of the Muse

                Marillion – Happiness is the Road Vol. II: The Hard Shoulder

                Jackson Browne – Time the Conqueror

2009:     Transatlantic – The Whirlwind

                Magnum – Into the Valley of the Moonking

                Native Window – Native Window

2010:     Steve Lukather – All’s Well That Ends Well

2011:     Magnum – The Visitation

                Yes – Fly From Here

                Fergie Frederiksen – Happiness is the Road

                Edison’s Children – In the Last Waking Moments...

                Serpentine – Living and Dying in High Definition

2012:     Marillion – Sounds That Can’t Be Made

                Rush – Clockwork Angels

                Magnum – On the 13^th Day

                (For the rest of my 2012 top 10 see HERE)

2013:     TBA!