Lists are fun. One of the biggest lists in rock music is the weighty tome 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. This volume has been quite influential. Yet there are many problems with such a book. How to define the field to make it manageable? What to exclude/include? How to equate a classic that has proven its longevity over five decades with something released a couple of years ago that seems really good?
Nevertheless, we buy these references and comfort ourselves with delicious outrage at the daft choices and culpable omissions. Or keep buying subsequent editions. This of course is blatant commercial cheating. Bringing out a new volume again and again totally defeats the purpose of a reference book and turns the exercise into a very expensive magazine listing of what is popular rather than what embodies lasting quality. If they were serious they’d publish five-yearly supplements.
So here at Vinyl Connection we are ignoring every edition after the original (Australian version) and focussing on omissions from that debut printing.
Broadly speaking these are albums the writer regards as ‘five star’. Criteria include:
- A peak accomplishment
- Outstanding consistency of quality
- The capacity to provide enjoyment over repeated plays
- A robustness that defies time
- Not included in the aforementioned 1001 Albums book [2005 ed.]
As this is not a systematic project, check back now and then to see what has changed. And please add your comments to the posts, too! Who knows, some of these might become lifetime favourites.
THE ALBUMS
(Chronological Order)
PAUL HORN — INSIDE [1968]
RILEY, TERRY — A RAINBOW IN CURVED AIR [1969]
AMON DŰŰLL — YETI [1970]
ANNEXUS QUAM — OSMOSE [1970]
CANNED HEAT / JOHN LEE HOOKER — HOOKER ‘N HEAT [1970]
FAUST — FAUST [1971]
KAHVAS JUTE – WIDE OPEN [1971]
MILES DAVIS — A TRIBUTE TO JACK JOHNSON [1971]
CHICK COREA — RETURN TO FOREVER [1972]
VARIOUS ARTISTS — NUGGETS: ORIGINAL ARTYFACTS FROM THE FIRST PSYCHEDELIC ERA 1965-1968 [1972]
THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND — BROTHERS AND SISTERS [1973]
ABERCROMBIE, JOHN — TIMELESS [1975]
RADIO BIRDMAN — RADIOS APPEAR [1979]
STEVE HILLAGE — RAINBOW DOME MUSICK [1979]
SPLIT ENZ — TRUE COLOURS [1980]
KING CRIMSON — DISCIPLINE [1981]
SUNNYBOYS — SUNNYBOYS [1981]
TALK TALK — SPIRIT OF EDEN [1988]
FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE — FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE [1996]
STEROLAB — EMPORER TOMATO KETCHUP [1996]
TEENAGE FANCLUB – SONGS FROM NORTHERN BRITAIN [1997]
vinylconnection.com.au 
Good idea. Hooker n Heat is top of my weekend llust (NZ for list, to steal from your world of listeners list). Wonderful.
DD
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Cheers DD. Australia next. I was thinking of something blues-rock and 70s. Any suggestions?
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I’d run with Chain simply because the raw but passionately musical enthusiasm appeals to me … and maybe because I’ve just listened to Hooker n Heat.
BTW: Hooker n Heat provoked Mingus’ Oh Yeah.
Oh Yeah!
DD
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I feel a bit like that too. ‘Towards the blues’, I reckon. And thanks for the Mingus factoid. Ya wouldn’t have guessed that, would you?
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Not a factoid … lazy grammar and poor word choice. HnH simply Prompted me to put on Oh Yeah, which I haven’t played in a while.
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Ah. Or indeed, oh yeah!
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And to address your point with a relevant factoid, ‘Towards the blues’ was listed in the 100 Best Australian Albums, I think.
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Since I’m on board for a few of these maybe I should check out the ones I don’t know. I need more choices in my listening.
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Now that makes me smile happily, CB. That is exactly the response I was hoping for when I devised the idea a while back. Given how open your ears and diverse your tastes, I’d love to hear how you go!
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Cincinnati Babyhead is a list.
Oh yeah while I’m here I was thinking about you the other day. Hotfox did a take on Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog. If you don’t know it have a listen. I think it might be going on “The list”. Really good stuff.
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