1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die

Blurb

Blurb wrote:

Published in 2005 by Cassell Illustrated. Selected & written by 90 leading international critics, general editor Robert Dimery. In chronological order 1955-2005. Year of release only given here, when considered absolutely necessary. Where there were differences in UK & US (or other) releases for artists, such as the Beatles & the Rolling Stones, the original country of release edition can be taken to be the one listed, unless indicated otherwise. (ie: for the Rolling Stones’ Aftermath & The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night, the UK editions are the ones listed). No compilations were allowed, though, the odd one (The Hives’ Your New Favourite Band, for example) did creep in!

I've had a quick look through, and I think it'll be a bit of a fun project to try and assemble. Pretty amazed that Tom Waits has 5 Albums in it. Bob Dylan has 7 albums and Britney Spears has... one! How she made the list, I don't know. But to be fair, I've never listened to a full album from her, I just don't think it'll be a life-changing moment!

Anyway, full list here:
http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/steveparker/1001albums.htm

And Wiki page here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1001_Albums_You_Must_Hear_Before_You_Die

S.I.R

dixies midnight runners got in their

Lol.

Setun

There's always going to be a few mind-boggling decisions in there, but overall it's an interesting list. Many of my favourite albums aren't on it but overall it's a reasonably balanced list. Nice to see some Thelonious Monk getting on the list.

HalloweenJack

How many of those albums do people here have?

I counted 50.

60s = 4
70s = 17
80s = 5
90s = 11
00s = 13

I have 95, but they're just the ones I can put my hands on now. It was closer to 150+ when I list albums that have been "borrowed" over time

Tristram

Interesting list. Lot of reminders there.

Would have about 200 somewhere.

markesmith

How Talk Talk's 'Colour of Spring' is in there, but their groundbreaking 'Spirit of Eden' or 'Laughing Stock' albums aren't, baffles me.

Tom Waits easily has five albums good enough to go into that list. Easily.

mike65

A few wayward choices in there - Aerosmith Pump rather than Permanent Vaction is daft, Cheap Tricks Budokan but no In Colour. Gazza Numans Pleasure Principle but not Are Friends Electric. One lousy Jeff Beck album

Tristram

mike65 wrote: »

A few wayward choices in there - Aerosmith Pump rather than Permanent Vaction is daft, Cheap Tricks Budokan but no In Colour. Gazza Numans Pleasure Principle but not Are Friends Electric. One lousy Jeff Beck album

One lousy Jeff beck album is better than two lousy Jeff Beck albums

humberklog

No Silver Apple in the 60's category! Abortionists!

Xavi6

The Thrills are there but no Muse? Lol :rolleyes:

Tristram

Sweet Jesus, how did The Thrills make it... ffs

lordgoat

S.I.R wrote: »

dixies midnight runners got in their

Lol.

Too right they did. That is one of the best albums of the last 30 years. Completely under rated. And if you're basing your opinion on dexys (which i'm assuming you are) soley on come on eileen you need to listen to more than one song to form an opinion of any merit.

crisco10

I counted 107. Some odd choices. Mariah Carey??? I liked The Thrills for that album though. they went poor after that IMHO

Placid_Casual

The list seems to end around 2004, so it was probably put together around that time. Therefore, a lot of choices for the couple of years before that would have been what was flavour of the month. With hindsight, Its easy to see that some of the choices are dubious - The Thrills, The Vines, The Hives. I'd say if a list for the same period was being compiled in 10 years time, or even now, it would be quite different.
Imagine compiling a list like this in the early 70s. It probably would have had whoever was in fashion at the time but have been long since forgotten, but not the likes of Love, The Stooges or Nick Drake.

Anyway, I counted 101 that I have, which has a nice symmetry to it.

Nailz

Or maybe it's because all the album for the last 4/5 years aren't good enough.

galwayrush

Rush, Led Zep, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, all in there./:)

mike65

I was surprised they thought to include 3 Deep Purple albums not that I'm complaining.

Placid_Casual

Nailz wrote: »

Or maybe it's because all the album for the last 4/5 years aren't good enough.

Bloody hell, there's probably albums released the in last week that are better than the likes of "Highly Evolved".

ntlbell

I would say I could live very happily and not hear 75% of that list there's some awful sh|te

Nailz

Placid_Casual wrote: »

Bloody hell, there's probably albums released the in last week that are better than the likes of "Highly Evolved".

Yeah, I suppose they could have picked better ones from before 2004 too.

It was written in 2005 to answer that one, and ntl bell? 75% Shite? Are you mad? Or just very close minded?

Esel

Nothing by The Band? Pfft.

Kold

What the hell do you people expect from a list of 1001 albums that has to be as middleground as possible?

noby

esel wrote: »

Nothing by The Band? Pfft.

I thought there was.

As with all lists it's easy to complain/debate over omissions/inclusions. At a quick glance down I reckon I have somewhere between 120-150. Two things struck me though: there were a few albums I thought I owned but realised I don't but just listened to them at some stage.
And secondly I own too many 'best of's for my liking. I came to the conclusion a few years ago that a good album is better than a best of (with the exception of certain genres), but I still seem to have a hell of a lot of them.


Oh and all three Dexys' albums deserve to be there.

crisco10

noby wrote: »

I thought there was.

And secondly I own too many 'best of's for my liking. I came to the conclusion a few years ago that a good album is better than a best of (with the exception of certain genres), but I still seem to have a hell of a lot of them.

Ditto. Best ofs are just the easy choice when you first start listening to a band i find. I have far too many all the same. Should trade them for proper albums or something!

ntlbell

Kold wrote: »

What the hell do you people expect from a list of 1001 albums that has to be as middleground as possible?

lots of middle of the road mundane crap.

This list has ticked all the boxes.

John

I have 119 of those albums. There's quite a few I don't like but as an overview of US/UK rock and pop it's not bad.

And for the record, there are two albums by the Band on that list.

Fanny Cradock

Some of the album suggestions for the 2000's seem to be very much a product of their immediate hype rather than being extraordinary.

loyatemu

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

Some of the album suggestions for the 2000's seem to be very much a product of their immediate hype rather than being extraordinary.

aye - I skipped down to the end of the list and saw:

o Beck – Guero
o White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan

both artists have made great albums, but those particular records are rubbish in comparison...

Bubs101

I had 125 by the time I got bored reading (Just before the 60's going in reverse). Probably would have ended with 135 or something assuming there's Beatles overkill. Greatest hits collections killed my 80s and 70s totals

Earthhorse

Not sure I want to listen to 1001 albums before I die.

I wonder how many albums I've listened to in my life. Probably a couple of hundred, at most.

John

Well I own 2500+ albums so I know I've listened to that many at least!

Esel

John wrote: »

And for the record, there are two albums by the Band on that list.

Hard to spot (or Ctrl+F Find!) because of how they are listed - stupid to drop 'The' from their name, and from the title of their second album!

Band – Music from Big Pink
Band – Band (2nd Album)

BraziliaNZ

stupid, they have hail to the thief and no in rainbows, much better album

Xavi6

'In Rainbows' isn't there because the list is from 2005.

BraziliaNZ

Xavi6 wrote: »

'In Rainbows' isn't there because the list is from 2005.

oic lol omg