With the proliferation of downloadable music and streaming services – not to mention its indisputable convenience, it has to be said – the art of the long player has been considered by music industry experts to be on the critically ill list for a while.
Unless you’re a band or artist with the commercial clout and financial independence of U2, Metallica, Radiohead, Coldplay, Jay-Z, Snoop Lion, Madonna or The Foo Fighters, the era of spending months (or in the case of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album years) hunkered down in a recording studio writing and refining songs is over as the industry sorts itself out as the digital age continues to turn the industry and its business models upside down.
In the wake of Monday’s Grammy Awards ceremony (Australian time) Tech and pop-culture magazine Cult of Mac made the gutsy move of compiling a list of ‘Must-Listen-To Records’ in the context of recommending music to fans whose experience of interacting with music may almost exclusively be through iTunes, Pandora or Spotify
“When Prince presented the Grammy for best album this week, he made an impassioned case for a musical format that many seem ready to write off as dead. “Albums, remember those?” he said. “Albums still matter. Albums, like books and black lives, still matter.” That’s how you present an award, folks.”
No matter whether you grew up sitting your bedroom with the headphones on listening to Led Zeppelin, Funkadelic, The Beatles or Kiss LPs as you did your homework, or you can’t entertain anything less than a 128GB smartphone purely to accommodate your digital music collection, CULT OF MAC’S 20 MUST-LISTEN-LPs is great reading, even though their list is sure to cause arguments [How is Kiss’ Love Gun album not in this list? – Ed]
Do albums still matter? Were there any glaring omissions Share your thoughts and memories of your favourite albums in our comments section below, or use the hashtag #MustListenLPs if you’re a twitter user.
Do albums still matter? No. Can’t be bothered with anything new (which is just anything old recycled), and if I feel like anything old, I just dial it up on Spotify and have a browse.
Tony Tea, what does matter is live music. This weekend we’re off to Echuca for the Riverboats Music Festival, Some of the acts are Adalita, Diesel, Mick Harvey, the Whitlams. Looking forward to it
Glen!.
I’ll never forgive The Hooters back in 1985. I bought it on the ‘strength’ of the song ‘And We Danced’. The embodiment of all filler, no killer and it scarred me for life on buying an LP without extensive pre-listening.
Great cases for and against the LP, but I’m with Tony Tea: There’s very little stuff these days that interests or excites me. I’m a Spotify man.
Quite surprised that Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden didn’t get a mention. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but as a huge influence on Metallica it deserves a listen.
Also surprised U2’s The Joshua Tree wasn’t included. Regardless of your thoughts on them, this album is an all-time classic LP
Glen, yes live music does matter.
But, of course albums still do matter!
Before glancing at this list, I was ready to poo-poo it: “I bet ‘London Calling’ aint on it” I thought. But the fact that “Sandinista” is front and centre made me think again. One of the most stupendous albums in popular music history, without a doubt.
Then, scrolling down the list, I was surprised by how many of these albums I actually own (15 at first count!).
Neil Young, in his wonky but excellent book called “Waging Heavy Peace”, is scathing of the lack of context in modern music. His view is that an album tells a story. He wrote that in constructing his albums he agonised over the order of the songs and the message he was trying to convey. Now he hears songs being plucked out and played at random and it drives him crazy – especially the “shuffle” button on ipods. Neil wasn’t (isn’t) one for the hit single, even though he’s had plenty. It wasn’t his motivation to write. The album was.
BTW – where’s Jethro Tull’s “Thick as a Brick”? The ultimate album.
I reckon albums do matter. The Grammy award winning Beck album has been on high rotation on my playlist since released. It is the first Beck album I have actually purchased. Mind you, I have access to I think 11 of his albums on my work iTunes library.
As seen from my own submissions, I enjoy recent releases. In album format. This afternoon I have been listening to complete albums from Sharon Van Etten, Pond and Lanie Lane. From your list, Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories and Pink Floyd’s The Wall are the two I have most enjoyed. I just can’t get Kanye. But I don’t mind Beyoncé.
AF
As loose narratives I offer Hourly, Daily by You Am I and Place Without A Postcard by Midnight Oil. Both work at their brilliant best as unbroken listens.
Joe’s Garage is wicked fun too.
Really don’t mind if I sit this one out…
“Sandanista! by The Clash: Released in 1980, this triple album is The Clash’s masterpiece.”
Balls! How can anyone be expected to get through THREE discs of bloated nonsense? Plus, Sandanista is not a patch on London Calling or The Clash.
Good albums still matter. It’s very slim pickings these days, that’s all.
The writing was on the wall (not Jacko’s or Pink Floyd’s) when Queen released Bohemian Rhapsody, the first concept single.
You could be on to something here…
Two genuine beauties there Mickey! Hourly Daily and Place Without A Postcard must rank as all-time Australian classics.
Sandinista is a great record but as Tony Tea has noted, it aint the best Clash record. London Calling holds that trophy, comfortably. Sandinista is a great record no doubt but it last two sides weaken the whole thing.
As for whether the album is a dead concept, remember that it really hasn’t been the signature artefact of the music industry for that long, and the single has always been the definitive product driving artists, fans and music long before the album came into its own. For example, one of the Top 5 critically regarded ‘albums’ is Elvis Presley’s The Sun Sessions (and it’s a must by the way) was not even recorded as an album.
I love albums, still listen more to the album than singles but have always mixed up the formats. Whether through mix-tapes or radio stations or the great invention, the shuffle.
Cheers
Good new albums by the way: Rhiannon Giddens, Bob Dylan and Ryan Bingham.
Yeah Sandinista doesn’t get within a bull’s roar of London or Give Em Enough Rope, Dips.
And U2 pull off the rare feat of being bombastic and boring simultaneously. (Melodramatic and mundane at once)
As albums whose songs hang together as a piece of art (al a a symphony):
Dark Side of
Exile On
Harvest
Astral Weeks
Blue
Born To Run
Re U2 – it will be interesting to see how they progress once Bono is hit with the realisation he isn’t Jesus?
To those who think that it is slim pickings these days (I’m looking at you JD), I have had a quick scan of the recent music I have been listening to over the last few years. These are my favourites (and believe me there is a lot that I haven’t included):
2011 – Australian
Architecture in Helsinki – Moment Bends
Boy and Bear – Moonfire
Dick Diver – New Start Again
Eagle and The Worm – Good Times
Gotye – Making Mirrors
Husky – Forever So
Lanie Lane – To The Horses
Kimbra – Vows
Oh Mercy – Great Barrier Reef
The Orbweavers – Loom
The Sandpebbles – Dark Magic
Seeker Lover Keeper – Seeker Lover Keeper
Teeth and Tongue – Tambourine
Twerps – Twerps
2011 – Rest of the World
Abigail Washburn – City Of Refuge
The Black Keys – El Camino
The Decemberists – We All Raise Our Voices
Florence and the Machine – Ceremonials
Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
Gillian Welch – The Harrow and the Harvest
Joan As Policewoman – The Deep Field
Low – C’mon
Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes
Those Darlins – Screws Get Loose
Tedeschi Trucks Band – Revelator
2012 – Australian
Grand Salvo – Slay Me In My Sleep
Love Connection – Euphoria
Mia Dyson – The Moment
New War – New War
Ned Collette – 2
Paul Kelly – Spring and Fall
Pony Face – Hypnotised
Tame Impala – Lonerism
2012 – Rest of the World
Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls
Bat For Lashes – Haunted Man
Beach House – Bloom
Cat Power – Sun
Divine Fits – A Thing Called Divine Fits
Gary Clark Jnr – Blak & Blu
Grimes –Visions
Grizzly Bear – Shields
The Lumineers – The Lumineers
Mark Lanegan Band – Blues Funeral
Martha Wainwright – Come Home to Mama
Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Americana
Neil Young & Crazy Hose – Psychedelic Pill
Sharon Van Etten – Tramp
Simone Felice – Simone Felice
The XX – Coexist
2013 – Australian
Adalita –All Day Venus
Beaches – She Beats
Big Scary – Not Art
Boy and Bear – Harlequin Dream
Brighter Later – The Wolves
David Bridie – Wake
Dick Diver – Calendar Days
The Drones –I See Seaweed
Jen Cloher – In Blood Memory
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard – Float Along Fill Your Lungs
Snakadaktal – Sleep in the Water
Sweet Jean – Dear Departure
2013 – Rest of the World
Anna Calvi – One Breath
Arctic Monkeys – AM
Cave – Threace
Daft Punk – Random Access Memories
Frightened Rabbit – Pedestrian Verse
Jason Isbell – Southeastern
John Grant – Pale Green Ghosts
Kurt Vile – Walkin’ On a Pretty Daze
Lord – Pure Heroine
Neko Case – The Worse Things Get (etc)
Wooden Shjips – Back To Land
2014 – Australian
See http://www.footyalmanac.com.au/almanac-music-favourite-australian-albums-2014-to-be-read-and-posted-please/
2014 – Rest of the World
Band Of Horses – Acoustic At The Ryman
Beck – Morning Phase
Broken Bells – After The Disco
First Aid Kit – Stay Gold
Joan As Policewoman – The Classic
Jenny Lewis – The Voyager
Lykke Li – I Never Learn
The New Pornographers – Brill Bruisers
The Phantom Band – Strange Friend
Sharon Van Etten – Are We There
Spoon – The Want My Soul
Sun Kil Moon – Benji
Tiny Ruins – Brightly Painted One
tUnEyArDs – Nikki Nack
War On Drugs – Lost In The Dream
Warpaint – Warpaint
I can’t compete with Andrew’s knowledge, but I have to say that Don Walker’s “Hully Gully” from last year is the best album I have heard for a very long time.
In particular tracks 2 through to 6 are astonishing i.e. Young Girls, Lucky, Mogrelwise, Pool, Fishing.
Do yourself a favour.
Loving albums, love teh strry they create. Have never downloaded music, happy to keep playing CDs
agree with Mickey etc re Hourly Daily, simply brilliant.
Human Fraility – Hunnas
Colour and the Shape – Foo Fighters
London 0 Hull 4 and The people that grinned themselves to death – Housemartins
Mix Tape – Kram
Blur – Blur
Dark Side
Revolver
Massive oversight that none of these lists include the mix-tape I made for a girl named Zoe that helped get me laid in 2001.
Led Zepplin – The Song Remains The Same, Live.
Dips – On the Sun Kil Moon 2014 album Benji, there is a wonderful 10-minute song called I Watched The Film The Song Remains The Same.
Sean – you and I might be the only people to admit to liking the Housemartins.
C.W. – I’m guessing there was no Barry White on that
‘Bury Me Deep In Love’ sealed the deal…
Which brings me to the Triffids, I understand the aforementioned track is on Calenture, but surely Born Sandy Devotional has to be in a best albums discussion?
It worked for Harold Bishop and Madge
AF,
Now you’re just showing off!
It really is a subjective list. Sean, Housemartins very underrated and Bakes, ‘All You Zombies’ wasn’t a bad Hooters track. They were referring to Reality TV probably without even knowing it back in 1985.
These pass my car test i.e. I can listen to them all the way through without wanting to skip a track. In no particular order:
‘The Queen is Dead’ – The Smiths
‘The Wall’ – Pink Floyd
‘Appetite For Destruction’ – Guns ‘n Roses
‘The Big Don’t Argue’ – Weddings, Parties, Anything
‘East’ – Cold Chisel
‘I’m Your Man’ – Leonard Cohen
‘Volume 1’ – The Travelling Wilbury’s
‘New York’ – Lou Reed
‘Gunfighter Ballads’ – Marty Robbins
‘The Eminem Show’ – Eminem
I never trust a list that doesn’t contain Back In Black.
Seriously, without that classic, the list has no credibility.
I’m not going to describe why Back In Black should be number one. Most of you will understand. And if you don’t, find Shoot To Thrill.
Then you will understand.
However, for AC/DC at their dirtiest and most powerful, which exceptional lyrics, then Powerage is their most complete album. It is ballsy and bluesy with a fat sound that makes you want to pound walls.
And Bon Scott uses a different pitch in every song.
He was such a clever, underrated singer.
It’s gems like Powerage that convince me that albums still matter.
But it’s virtually impossible to find one so complete.
The search goes on.
Well said Matt. Back in Black is an astonishing record. And making a great album in the hard rock / metal genre is tougher than most … coz when you’re going full boar with the amps turned up to eleven, you’ve got to maintain the energy for 10 tracks. Only 2 albums have pulled that off for me: the aforementioned Back in Black and the Pistols ‘Never mind the bollocks.’
For what it’s worth, these are my most admired recordings:
Beethoven’s 9th symphony
Beatles White Album
Beatles Revolver
Bob Dylan’s John Wesley Harding
Beethoven’s 3rd symphony
Pistols ‘Never mind the bollocks’
Paul Simon’s One Trick Pony
Beatles Abbey Road
Beatles Pepper
Beach Boys ‘Pet Sounds’
Beethoven’s 7th symphony
Frank Sinatra’s Live in Melbourne 58
Beethoven’s 8th symphony
John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band
Beethoven’s 4th symphony
Nina Simone’s Here comes the sun
Beethoven’s 5th symphony
AC/DC’s Back in Black
Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline
Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue
Beethoven’s Violin concerto
Beethoven’s Fidelio
Beethoven’s 4th Piano Concerto
MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular
MGMT’s Congratulations
Muse’s 2nd Law
Bizet’s Carmen
Beatles for sale
Reckon that’s around 20?? And got to give honorable mentions to all my other fave artists who didn’t crack the top 20: Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Lou Reed, Led Zepplin, Macca and Wings, George Harrison, YES, Radiohead, CCR, Skyhooks, Goyte, The Kinks, Neil Young and cough cough and very much in the closet Lady Gaga and Supertramp!!
Oh shit … I forgot Floyd!!!. And I’d have The Wall and Wish you were here in the top 20, but it’d kill me to bump something to get em in.
Trainspotter’s ahoy!
What a thoroughly middle-aged-white-man discussion this turned out to be brothers (no sisters, apparently). Time to consider the Almanac demographic?
As a MAWM myself, I have to admire the Fithall enthusiasm. Not always easy to maintain.
A few points for discussion from the above:
Re albums – I’m an album guy myself, but let’s not kid ourselves that albums were the natural way of things. In the days of jukeboxes 45’s ruled the roost. Albums only really saw their day when music started to take itself seriously. An iPod is just a jukebox in your pocket (as opposed to a rocket).
Re U2 and bombast – Yes, Le Bono makes them an easy and natural target. But if we’re going to nail U2, then how does Bruce get off the hook? There’s much to be said for The Boss, but his recorded oeuvre is bombast personified. Anyway, to complain too loudly about bombast in r’n’r would seem to be missing the point of the exercise.
Re the discussion prompted by the comments of a black guy (ie, this one) – I know the r’n’r playbook usually says the black guys don’t get to keep the money, but as they largely invented this stuff they might at least be given their due credit.
For the sake of some balance to this largely Caucasian discussion I submit the following:
John Lee Hooker – Alone
Funkadelic – Maggot Brain
James Brown – The Payback
Sly & the Family Stone – Stand!
Nina Simone – & Piano
Tinawiren – Amassakoul
The Harder They Come Soundtrack – Various Artists (particularly Jimmy Cliff)
Bob Marley & The Wailers – Burnin’
RL Burnside – Mr Wizard
…and since the Purple One kicked all this off – Sign ‘O’ The Times