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| From | Mike Bennett <mrhonorama@hotmail.com> |
| Subject | Top 20 Pop Albums of All-Time |
| Date | Sat, 19 Jan 2008 14:15:20 -0600 |
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Wow. This is really, really difficult. I could agonize until the deadline and probably have five or ten different albums in here.
On top of that, there were two decisions to be made. Decision 1: Pop or Power pop? Stewart has made that easy, by heading a couple of posts with 'Pop.' So that's taken care of.
Decision 2: What is pop? I went with a broad definition, to some extent. I can't say it's strictly melodic. I love Judee Sill, but I wouldn't call her pop. Or Husker Du, for that matter. I just went with what I idiosyncratically call pop. One litmus test -- if I make mix discs for people with more mainstream tastes, would I put a cut from one of these discs on it? This is how Pere Ubu and Wire made the cut for me.
Ranking these things was pretty tough after the first five or six. But these are all albums that I play a ton, relative to the albums I play a half-ton, a bushel, and other lesser units of measurement.
So here it is, my top 20 all-time pop albums:
1. The Zombies -- Odessey and Oracle
2. De La Soul -- 3 Feet High and Rising
3. The Beach Boys -- Pet Sounds
4. Sparks -- Angst In My Pants (Barely over Propaganda -- this LP is pure fun)
5. XTC -- Apple Venus, Vol. 1 (Nudging out Skylarking, The Big Express, and Black Sea)
6. Electric Light Orchestra -- New World Record
7. The Kinks -- Something Else
8. Elvis Costello and the Attractions -- Get Happy!!
9. Pere Ubu -- Cloudland
10. Fools Face -- Tell America
11. The dB’s -- Stands For Decibels
12. Stevie Wonder -- Songs In The Key Of Life
13. The Cars -- The Cars
14. Franz Ferdinand -- Franz Ferdinand
15. The Undertones -- Hypnotised
16. They Might Be Giants -- Lincoln
17. Wire -- 154
18. The New Pornographers -- Mass Romantic
19. Fountains Of Wayne -- Utopia Parkway
20. Prince -- Sign Of The Times
Mike Bennett
Blog: http://blog.myspace.com/mrhonorama
Record reviews and more at http://fufkin.com
Find out about Chicago shows: http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/chicagopopshowreport/
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