It’s list time again. The Guardian are making a list of 1000 albums to hear before you die
Despite its faintly melodramatic title, our list of 1000 albums to hear before you die isn’t meant to be definitive, nor is it meant to be one of those Greatest Albums Of All Time lists. It’s supposed to be more of a miscellany, an eclectic collection of interesting albums, (including Various Artists compilations, which usually don’t get into those kind of lists).
In an attempt to get as wide a spread of music included as possible, all artists were limited to one entry each. Where possible, the list tries to opt for something other than the obvious choice from a legendary artist’s catalogue – Beach Boys Today! instead of Pet Sounds, for example – not to be deliberately abstruse, but to try and get away from reiterating yet again the same points about the same handful of albums that always crop up in 100 Best Albums lists.
Despite being The Guardian’s music critics, they’ve somehow managed to avoid the temptation to fill the entire list with half-forgotten post-punk bands and tediously overrated 80s indie. They’ve even found room for Deep Purple and Genesis!
Natually, classic rock, metal and prog are going to be underrepresented on such a list. But, as the article says:
This is where you come in – we’re looking for you to nominate albums that the list misses, complete with a brief summary of why they should have been included. The best ones will get printed in Friday’s Film And Music section.
These are my contributions:
Blue Öyster Cult – Secret Treaties
The third album from the “thinking man’s metal band” is a multi-layered work of inventive hard rock married to truly wierd sci-fi occult conspiracy lyrics. Songs like “Career of Evil” and “Dominance and Submission” exude a genuine air of menace, and they never bettered the atmospheric epic “Astronomy”. BÖC subsequently moved in a more commercial AOR direction and started having hit singles, but this album still remains the creative high point of their career.
Fish – Raingods with Zippos
The former Marillion frontman has had something of a chequered career since going solo, but this album, featuring Mark Daghorn and Steve Wilson, is one his best. As well as a barnstoming cover of SAHB’s “Faith Healer” which manages to top the original, the highlight is the 20 minute “Plague of Ghosts”, an ambitious piece of work which manages to combine ambient dance and spoken word with symphonic pomp-rock, held together with the big man’s impassioned voice.
Uriah Heep – Salisbury
Uriah Heep really deserve better than being known for making Rolling Stone’s Melissa Mills threaten suicide if they were successful, and for being the principal inspiration for Spinal Tap. Their second album was their most varied and experimental, ranging from the hard rock of “Bird of Prey” to the chant-like acoustic “Lady in Black”. Highlight is the lengthy title track which see Ken Hensley’s mightly Hammond B3 accompanied by brass and woodwind sections. Later albums saw greater commercial success, but they were never quite this inventive again.
Once we get to “M”, there are going to be at least two more. No prizes to readers of this blog for anyone that identifies those two bands, which I’m confident The Grauniad’s writers will overlook.