A Century of LPs

      Recorded music, of course, did not begin with LPs. The following is a list of 100 albums to listen to if you want a nice overview of 20th-ish century western music. Not all music - I leave classical out for the problems that would involve. (Do you include the best performances of work from centuries ago? Only works written in the 20th century?) Likewise, after much debate, I've left off anthologies, compilations, or greatest hits collections. Once we get to the 1950s the number of LPs per decade more or less evens out. I'm pleased by the unintentional symmetry of beginning and ending with jazz.

1.      The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert, Benny Goodman, r. 1938

2.      Dust Bowl Ballads, Woody Guthrie, 1940

3.      Songs for John Doe, Almanac Singers, 1941

4.      Stormy Weather, Motion Picture Soundtrack, 1943

5.      Paris 1945, Django Reinhardt, 1945

6.      An American in Paris, Motion Picture Soundtrack, 1951

7.      Black Coffee, Peggy Lee, 1953

8.      Clifford Brown and Max Roach, Clifford Brown and Max Roach, 1955

9.      In the Wee Small Hours, Frank Sinatra, 1955

10.  Sings Ballads and Blues, Odetta, 1956

11.  Elvis Presley, Elvis Presley, 1956

12.  Ella and Louis Again, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, 1957

13.  Here’s Little Richard, Little Richard, 1957

14.  After Midnight, Nat King Cole, 1957

15.  West Side Story; Original Broadway Cast Recording, Bernstein and Sondheim, 1957

16.  My Fair Lady; Original London Cast Recording, Lerner and Lowe, 1958

17.  Kind of Blue, Miles Davis, 1959

18.  Mingus Ah Um, Charlie Mingus, 1959

19.  Jazz in Silhouette, Sun Ra, 1959

20.  The Shape of Jazz to Come, Ornette Coleman, 1959

21.  Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs, Marty Robbins, 1959

22.  At Newport 1960, Muddy Waters, 1960

23.  Two Steps from the Blues, Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland, 1961

24.  Sunday at the Village Vanguard, Bill Evans Trio, 1961

25.  Breakfast at Tiffany’s: Music from the Motion Picture, Henry Mancini, 1962

26.  Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, Ray Charles, 1962

27.  The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan, 1963

28.  Live at the Apollo, James Brown, 1963

29.  A Love Supreme, John Coltrane, 1964

30.  Pet Sounds, The Beach Boys, 1966

31.  Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles, 1967

32.  The Velvet Underground and Nico, The Velvet Underground, 1967

33.  Astral Weeks, Van Morrison, 1968

34.  There and Now: Live in Vancouver, Phil Ochs, 1968

35.  At Folsom Prison, Johnny Cash, 1968

36.  Five Leaves Left, Nick Drake, 1969

37.  Trout Mask Replica, Captain Beefheart, 1969

38.  Paranoid, Black Sabbath, 1970

39.  Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon and Garfunkel, 1970

40.  Blue, Joni Mitchell, 1971

41.  Tapestry, Carol King, 1971

42.  What’s Going On, Marvin Gaye, 1971

43.  Led Zeppelin IV, Led Zeppelin 1971

44.  Talking Book, Stevie Wonder, 1972

45.  The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, David Bowie, 1972

46.  Superfly, Curtis Mayfield, 1973

47.  Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd, 1973

48.  Natty Dread, Bob Marley, 1974

49.  The Koln Concert, Keith Jarrett, 1975

50.  Chester and Lester, Chet Atkins and Les Paul, 1976

51.  Exile on Main Street, The Rolling Stones, 1977

52.  The Clash, The Clash, 1977

53.  The Cars, The Cars, 1978

54.  Back in Black, AC/DC, 1980

55.  Shoot Out the Lights, Richard and Linda Thompson, 1982

56.  Avalon, Roxy Music, 1982

57.  Thriller, Michael Jackson, 1982

58.  Stop Making Sense, The Talking Heads, 1984

59.  Born in the USA, Bruce Springsteen, 1984

60.  Purple Rain, Prince, 1984

61.  Paid in Full, Eric B. and Rakim, 1984

62.  The Queen is Dead, The Smiths, 1986

63.  Graceland, Paul Simon, 1986

64.  Master of Puppets, Metallica, 1986

65.  Appetite for Destruction, Guns n Roses, 1987

66.  It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Public Enemy, 1988

67.  Tracy Chapman, Tracy Chapman, 1988

68.  The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses, 1989

69.  I’ve Got That Old Feeling, Alison Krauss, 1990

70.  The Low-End Theory, A Tribe Called Quest, 1991

71.  Automatic for the People, R.E.M., 1992

72.  Anodyne, Uncle Tupelo, 1993

73.  Illmatic, Nas, 1994

74.  Grace, Jeff Buckley, 1994

75.  The Next Hundred Years, Ted Hawkins, 1994

76.  MTV Unplugged in New York, Nirvana, 1994

77.  Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette, 1995

78.  Emperor Tomato Ketchup, Stereolab, 1996

79.  Endtroducing…. ., DJ Shadow, 1996

80.  DecksAndDrumsAndRockAndRoll, Propellerheads, 1998

81.  Ray of Light, Madonna, 1998

82.  When the Pawn…, Fiona Apple, 1999

83.  Play, Moby, 1999

84.  69 Love Songs, Magnetic Fields, 1999

85.  Stories from the City Stories from the Sea, PJ Harvey, 2000

86.  Kid A, Radiohead, 2000

87.  Is This It?, The Strokes, 2001

88.  Discovery, Daft Punk, 2001

89.  Fan Dance, Sam Phillips, 2001

90.  Sea Change, Beck, 2002

91.  Original Pirate Material, The Streets, 2002

92.  Elephant, The White Stripes, 2003

93.  Madvillainy, Madvillain, 2004

94.  Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, Neko Case, 2006

95.  The Crane Wife, The Decemberists, 2006

96.  Neon Bible, Arcade Fire, 2007

97.  Kala, M.I.A., 2007

98.  My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye West, 2010

99.  Hadestown, Anais Mitchell, 2010

100. Radio Music Society, Esperanza Spalding, 2012