Finally we arrive at the Top 10.

The first of two parts…

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#10

POPOL VUH — EINSJÄGER UND SIEBENJÄGER

Probably my favourite Popol Vuh album, Einsjäger und Siebenjäger is also one of their most rock-orientated, with guitars well in evidence. This more muscular sound serves the music well and pulls the pieces back from the kind of misty spirituality that, for some, undermines Hosianna Mantra. Guitar energy notwithstanding, Florian Fricke’s delicate melodies and mastery of minimalist repetition infuse the album, helping shape it into a most satisfying whole. In particular, the interchange between Daniel Fichelscher’s singing electric guitar guitar parts and Fricke’s piano chords adds a robustness to the music that I find particularly satisfying.

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#9

STEELY DAN — KATY LIED

You can’t argue with an LP that opens with the one-two of “Black Friday” and “Bad Sneakers”. And a first side that closes out with the strange but wonderful “Doctor Wu,” featuring a super alto sax solo from Phil Woods. Side two opens with the unsettling “Everyone’s gone to the movies” which is too successfully sleazy and sinister for its own good. But the triple-time version of “Your gold teeth II” restores the groove, lifted by a superb guitar solo. The guitarists listed on the cover are Denny Dias, Walter Becker, Rick Derringer, Dean Parks, Elliot Randall, Hugh McCracken and Larry Carlton. ‘Nuff said. “Chain lightening” struts, “Any world (That I’m welcome to)” melancholiates. The Exit door offers jerky quirkiness (or is that quirky jerkiness?) with “Throw back the little ones”. It’s a bloody good LP. But then, they all are.

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#8

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN — BORN TO RUN

Bruce’s breakthrough album is a tightly sequenced, grand-scale rock statement that wove his early romanticism into widescreen drama. Shaped by months of meticulous studio work, the album fuses Phil Spector’s wall-of-sound with street-level narratives of escape and desperation, propelled by the indefatigable E Street Band. “Thunder Road” opens with cinematic drama, the title track delivers a towering, sax-driven centrepiece; “Backstreets” and “Jungleland” close the record with bruised poetry and orchestral sweep. Quintessential Springsteen.

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#7

GRATEFUL DEAD — BLUES FOR ALLAH

Moving beyond the Americana of Workingman’s Dead, this album blends modal jazz, funk and extended compositional forms, reflecting intensive rehearsal and studio experimentation. The side-long “Help on the Way / Slipknot! / Franklin’s Tower” suite balances invention, knotty rhythms and lyrical release, while the title track and “King Solomon’s Marbles” push into abstract, almost fusion territory. Less immediate than their live recordings, Blues for Allah nevertheless is full of beguiling melodies (“Crazy Fingers,” for example) as it documents the Dead’s quest to integrate structural complexity and engaging music. They were so much more than a good time concert band (though they were that, too).

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#6

JONI MITCHELL — THE HISSING OF SUMMER LAWNS

This is the album where Joni made a decisive break from confessional songwriting, moving into new and adventurous territory. Drawing on jazz harmony, world rhythms and layered studio textures, Mitchell splashes around in suburban ennui, drills into gender roles and dives into emotional dislocation, yet it is all done with cool precision. Although resisting easy access, Hissing’s intellectual rigour and sonic curiosity make it one of Mitchell’s most forward-looking statements, prefiguring the jazz-inflected direction of her late-70s work. An album that richly rewards familiarity.

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Just the final five to go!