Monday, January 22, 2018

Albums by Year

A few months ago there was something going around of favorite movies by year since you were born. Here, then, is the musical equivalent. The album's overall rank (according to me) follows in parenthesis.

1986 - Graceland, Paul Simon (76)
1987 - Appetite for Destruction, Guns n Roses (13)
1988 - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Public Enemy (201)
1989 - The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses (66)
1990 - I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, Sinead O'Connor (253)
1991 - The Low End Theory, A Tribe Called Quest (47)
1992 - The Last of the Mohicans Soundtrack, Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman (122)
1993 - A Meeting by the River, Ry Cooder and VM Bhatt (28)
1994 - Illmatic, Nas (20)
1995 - Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette (50)
1996 - Endtroducing....., DJ Shadow (49)
1997 - Dig Your Own Hole, The Chemical Brothers (90)
1998 - Ronroco, Gustavo Santaolalla (60)
1999 - Global Underground 013: Ibiza, Sasha (27)
2000 - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, PJ Harvey (12)
2001 - Discovery, Daft Punk (13)
2002 - Sea Change, Beck (55)
2003 - Elephant, The White Stripes (24)
2004 - The College Dropout, Kanye West (130)
2005 - Come On, Feel the Illinoise!, Sufjan Stevens (271)*
2006 - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, Neko Case (54)
2007 - Neon Bible, Arcade Fire (91)
2008 - No Albums
2009 - No Albums
2010 - Hadestown, Anais Mitchell (34)
2011 - Bastion Original Soundtrack, Darren Korb (283)
2012 - Radio Music Society, Esperanza Spalding (319)*
2013 - The Electric Lady, Janelle Monae (339)
2014 - No Albums
2015 - Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda (35)*
2016 - No Albums
2017 - No Albums

* Only album I own from that year

For the past ten years I've acquired mighty few albums. :( Get on my level, music industry!

Superlatives: Highest rank - 2000, PJ Harvey, at number 12. None of my top ten are from my own lifetime. Indeed the most recent albums to make my top ten are Talking Book and Ziggy Stardust, both from 1972.

2013 - Not a great year, with Monae's concept album the lowest ranked, at 339. Remarkably, though, there is a 2013 album lower on my list: The Unfortunates, by Casey Hurt, ekes out the 443 spot.

There is an album I liked in 2017, but I don't yet own, which is Ism by Steelism. It's good! I enjoyed it. Also for 2014 I may need to check out St. Vincent's self-titled release again. I liked it, but at the time was a bit underwhelmed.

I own at least one album for every year between 2008 all the way back to 1953. Besides those listed above in recent years, I also own no albums from 1952, 1950, 1949, 1948, 1947, 1946, 1944, 1942, 1939. My oldest recording is 1938. The ones I do own between 1953 and 1938, ranked, are:

1951 - A Streetcar Named Desire, Alex North (450)*
1945 - Zodiac Suite, Mary Lou Williams (500)*
1943 - Stormy Weather Soundtrack, Various (157)*
1941 - Songs for John Doe, Almanac Singers (134)
1940 - Dust Bowl Ballads, Woody Guthrie (31)*
1938 - The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert, Benny Goodman (352)*

So there you go.

1 comment:

Karen said...

You might want to check out Jo Stafford. My fave of hers is "Ballad of the Blues" from 1959, but she made some nice Capitol records back in the 40s.