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As my record collection consists of almost 600 odd albums, choosing ten was pretty damn hard. Maybe I should have made it a top twenty in this case, and included albums by James, The Darkness, Supergrass, The Everly Brothers, Travis, David Bowie, Slade, Air, The Clash, Spacehog, Tom Petty, EMF, The Divine Comedy and others, but I had to make the choice, so here's my current top ten. Don't be surprised if you come back in a week and I've changed them all.
RUBBER SOUL (The Beatles) Okay, if I was honest Beatles albums would make up about half of my top ten albums, but in the interest of balance I've chosen just the one, Rubber Soul. It's not exactly their best known but songs like 'Nowhere Man' and 'Drive My Car' are pretty well played. In addition to those tracks, 'In My Life' is John Lennon at his best, and even Ringo writes a decent song in the shape of 'What Goes On.' This was the album that marked the start of their more experimental period, that would reach fruition with Revolver and Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. George played sitar for the first time on 'Norwegian Wood' and the album manages to sound more complete, and far more fun than their later efforts.
A WORLD WITHOUT DAVE (Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine) It's a shame that this collection of fine pop punk songs came out five years after Carter's most successful period. By the time it was released no-one beside a happy few remember the agit pop duo, Jimbob and Fruitbat, but those who stuck around got a real treat. A World Without Dave is certainly their best effort, from the chilling thunderous opener 'Broken Down In Broken Town ', through the title track to the thrash pop of 'Road Rage ' there isn't a duff tune. Jimbob's distinctive vocals make the band instantly recognisable and the beefed out orchestration enhances their tunes, no more so than on 'God Created Brixton', probably their best single, sounding more like a punk Pet Shop Boys than they ever have. It got to Number One in Croatia anyways, which is better than nothing.
DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME (Billy Bragg ) Billy Bragg's socialist credentials can't be denied, but beyond his political bias he is also one of Britain's most individual recording artists. Like Carter USM, The Clash or the Sex Pistols, he has always managed to balance politics with pop, but on this album politics took a back burner concentrating on creating timeless pop songs. And it worked. Although many of the songs still have political themes such as 'The Few', 'North Sea Bubble', or 'Everywhere', it doesn't seem as forced as it did previously or has since. Instead there are uplifting love songs - 'Cindy of A Thousand Lives', 'Trust' - or singalong pop classics like 'Sexuality' or 'You Woke Up My Neighbourhood.' Certainly his most accessible album and the most enjoyable.
AMERICAN IV: THE MAN COMES AROUND (Johnny Cash) It could easily have been a disaster - the idea of the Man in Black recording such covers as "Bridge over Troubled Water," "Danny Boy," and "Desperado" is a trifle strange and it could have ended up as a embarrassment. But that didn't take into account Cash's power as a performer - the ability to put his personal stamp on just about everything. In the end the blend of Cash's original songs as well as those by Nine Inch Nails ("Hurt"), Sting ("I Hung My Head"), and Depeche Mode ("Personal Jesus"), may be one of the most autobiographical albums of Cash's career. Nearly every tune seems chosen to afford the ailing giant of popular music a chance to reflect on his life. Cash's mature voice has power and pathos, built around spare and simple arrangements that give the dark, haunted meditations on death and destruction, poignant farewells, testaments to everlasting love, and hopeful salutes to redemption even more power. He sounds as if he means every word, his baritone-bass, frequently frayed and ravaged.
NEW BOOTS AND PANTIES (Ian Dury) Ian Dury is probably best remembered for his one big hit 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick'. Actually, his first album is packed with far more impressive songs, balancing real rage with an irreverent vaudeville wit. Jazz, rock 'n' roll, blues, reggae, Latin American, they all get thrown in the mix and along with Dury's distinctive cockney bark form perfect pop songs with a bite. Coarse, lecherous, satirical and even hateful, songs like 'Blockheads','Make Up and make Love With Me' or 'Plaistow Patricia' are the audible equivalent of being ram raided by a dodgem car. Songs like 'Sweet Gene Vincent' and the superlative 'My Old Man' show a real affection for Ian's roots and influences, and even tug the heartstrings a little. The poisonous 'If I Was With a Woman' and the bouncealong tale of a cortina driving gigolo 'Billericky Dickie' are merely icing on the cake. God bless him.
THE TRAVELING WILBUYS Vol. 1 (The Traveling Wilburys) George Harrison originally just planned to get a couple of his musical chums down to the studio to record a B-side for his new single, but the idea completely snowballed with Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and George Harrison all getting together to record this collection of songs credited to the Traveling Wilburys. Perhaps because the pressure of having a hit album was removed, and the lads were just doing it for a bit of a laugh, the tunes are carefree and lightweight, and don't pretend to be otherwise. Their individual talents are showcased on such songs as 'Congratulations', the best Dylan song for years or 'Not Alone Anymore', the song that reminded the world what a great talent Roy Orbison was. Firmly tongue in cheek songs like 'Handle With Care', 'Last Night' or 'Tweeter and the Monkeyman' manage to convey some the enjoyment the Wilbury's obviously got from the projec
NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS (The Sex Pistols) Although the Americans do tend to think punk was invented by people like Patti Smith and Richard Hell, they're wrong. Punk was evolving in this country in exactly the same way as in America...up to a point. When one Johnny Rotten was persuaded by Malcolm McClaren to join his fledgling Pistols he in fact became the godfather of punk. Adding politics, pure rage and snarling vocals to what was previous a sad mod group he invented something completely new. This one album revolutionised modern music, and although the pistols imploded within a year, this is the definitive punk album, unsurpassed by any of their successors since for musical ability or pure malice. Tracks like 'Bodies','Liar', 'Pretty Vacant' or 'Problems' revel in black humour and real youthful rage. John Lydon was undoubtedly the most important songwriter of the time.
GALORE - The Best of Kirsty MacColl (Kirsty MacColl) Kirsty was a daughter of the great folk singer Ewan MacColl and his influence inevitably shows in her music, but she was very much a talent of her own. Much of the best of her music is to be found on this outstanding collection, released before her premature death when she was killed by a speedboat when holidaying with her children. Most of the songs on this collection were written by Kirsty and veer between the humorous, such as "There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis," the political, "Free World", the satirical "Don't Play the Cowboy with Me, Sonny Jim" or the staggeringly beautiful, "Angel." There are also the diverse covers and duets, proving Kirsty was not a lady that anybody could typecast. They include "A New England" (Billy Bragg), "Days" (The Kinks), "Perfect Day" (Lou Reed - a duet with Evan Dando of the Lemonheads) and of course her duet with the Pogues, "Fairytale of New York." If Kirsty had pursued her career with single-minded dedication, some say she could have been a world megastar. She, however, wanted a life outside music, but the quality here shows she had more than enough talent to have become a real star.
THE BUSINESS (Madness) Direct descendants of Ian Dury, Madness burst onto the music scene in the late seventies with their own particular brand of Ska, the jump around white reggae. Sounding like a blend between Bob Marley, The Pistols and a merry go round, their infectious sense of fun gave them a number of hit singles, all of which are here on this three CD collection of A and B-sides. Extraordinary prolific, the band managed to build here a collection of tunes that seldom disappoint or bring a smile to the face. "Our House', probably their greatest single is in good company. 'Baggy Trousers', 'House of Fun' or 'Embarrassment' are all pop classics, matching Ian Dury's vaudeville wit. Even later offerings like 'Victoria Gardens', relegated to a B-Side, don't miss the mark, and this is probably the only album that ends with 'God Save The Queen' played on kazoos.
TIGERMILK (Belle & Sebastian) Possibly the best band to be named after an obscure French cartoon, and certainly the best album to have a picture of a woman breast feeding Tigger on the sleeve, this is probably their most entertaining album to date. It was also their first, produced when they were still at college and first released on the college's own label. Fine bitter sweet love songs blending a strong Burt Bacharach-esque ear for a good tune, the sensibilities of Nick Drake and wonderfully tongue in cheek lyrics make this album a particular joy. The group (actually there's about 12 of them) are certainly musically accomplished, playing everything from flute and trumpet to rocking bass guitars.