So, we promised last week that we would be publishing the Top 40 albums of all time as chosen by a group of senior procurement mystery men. We also explained last week why the top 40 ended up as 41..
Well, here it is! Please note it isn’t in rank order–alphabetical by album title in case that isn’t obvious. It is also interesting that no artist has more than 2 in the list – the Beatles, Stones, Bob Dylan, and David Bowie all have that honour. There was definitely a feeling against multiple albums, even though I would (for instance) would have had three or four Dylan works in the list, and others felt the same about the Beatles. And the mix of consensus, then some personal favourites from the judging panel, led to a decent spread of artists, even though we fully acknowledge some whole genres are not well represented.
So... please vote and help us choose THE definitive procurement list. Choose your top ten (doesn’t need to be in order) from this list and then add up to three albums of your own choice.
You can either do that as a comment here or send it to our lovely new email address – procurementmusic@gmail.com
And if you want, you can also enter our competition. All you have to do is choose your 10 plus 3 then write up to 100 words (can be less) explaining why you’ve chosen one of your three “personal choice” albums. The best entry will be chosen by the original selection panel, and we’ll tell you next week what the prize is. But it will genuinely be worth having.
Even if you don’t do that, please do vote. You don’t even have to be a procurement person to do that. But enough already, here we go! Tell us what you think, and please do vote so we can establish without a doubt the top music of all time, as chosen by the procurement community.
The Top 41 Procurement Albums
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FACES |
A NOD’S AS GOOD AS A WINK |
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BEATLES |
ABBEY ROAD |
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GREEN DAY |
AMERICAN IDIOT |
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ELVIS COSTELLO |
ARMED FORCES |
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VAN MORRISON |
ASTRAL WEEKS |
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REM |
AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE |
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MEATLOAF |
BAT OUT OF HELL |
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BOB DYLAN |
BLONDE ON BLONDE |
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BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN |
BORN TO RUN |
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SIMON AND GARFUNKEL |
BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER |
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BOB DYLAN |
BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME |
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PINK FLOYD |
DARK SIDE OF THE MOON |
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ROD STEWART |
EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY |
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ROXY MUSIC |
FOR YOUR PLEASURE |
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ARCADE FIRE |
FUNERAL |
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ELTON JOHN |
GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD |
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KILLERS |
HOT FUSS |
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EAGLES |
HOTEL CALIFORNIA |
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DAVID BOWIE |
HUNKY DORY |
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STEVIE WONDER |
INNERVISIONS |
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LED ZEPPELIN |
LED ZEPPELIN IV |
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CLASH |
LONDON CALLING |
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SEX PISTOLS |
NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS |
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NIRVANA |
NEVERMIND |
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QUEEN |
NIGHT AT THE OPERA |
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ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN |
OCEAN RAIN |
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BLONDIE |
PARALLEL LINES |
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BEACH BOYS |
PET SOUNDS |
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PAUL & LINDA McCARTNEY |
RAM |
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FLEETWOOD MAC |
RUMOURS |
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NEIL YOUNG |
RUST NEVER SLEEPS |
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BEE GEES |
SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER |
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BEATLES |
SGT PEPPERS LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND |
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PETER GABRIEL |
SO |
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ROLLING STONES |
STICKY FINGERS |
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CAROL KING |
TAPESTRY |
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DAVID BOWIE |
THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST |
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MICHAEL JACKSON |
THRILLER |
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MARVIN GAYE |
WHAT’S GOING ON |
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OASIS |
WHAT’S THE STORY MORNING GLORY |
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WHO |
WHO’S NEXT |
actually here in royston most tend to prefer prog rock etc such as creme brulee -so you would fit in well with your tatstes !
Agree with many comments above iro the list to choose from being incomplete – so will largely ignore it and set out my 13 faves: U2 – Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby. Police – Ghost in the Machine. New radicals – Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed….. (great pop album). Springsteen – Tunnel of Love. Talking Heads – Remain in Light Sheryl Crowe – The Globe Sessions Simple Minds – New Gold Dream. Bunny men – Ocean Rain. Chilli Peppers – Californication. Paul Kelly (from Oz) – Deeper Water. John Mayer – Continuum. The Pretenders – The Pretenders The above changes from time to time
An excellent selection. I’m sure your fellow habitants of Royston Vasey love listening to your albums…. 😉
Music is like football ..everyone has an opinion..in my case mine is always right!
Also dependent on age and personal; musical tastes some of these albums will seem a little odd
Personally from the punk/new wave era:
My Aim is true is the classic Costello album
Outlandos d’amour ..The Police
London Calling..the clash
Stupidity by Dr Feelgood
On the basis that Thriller is in there I also agree with a previous post that Back in Black also merits a mention as the flag bearing AC/DC album and the fact that it was and still is one of the biggest selling albums of all time
For great crafted pop music I would go Popped in Souled Out (Yes I do liek pop music as well as Rock)
For classic debut albums of all time many would look at Bad Company by Bad Company
and a few others..
Some girls..my favourite Stones album
Slade: Slayed (absolute classic hits)
Thin Lizzy: Jailbreak
Backstreet Symphony Thunder (actually any album)
Mott the hoople: All the Young Dudes or Mott
Futurama Be Bop Deluxe
Waves by Katrina and the Waves..truly great pop album
and finally I couldnt see one Free album so my choice would be
Fire and Water..made when the average age of the band was 20 and included Alright now..Probably one of the great debuts of all time.
So I guess it is all about opinion…
D
Great list Dom. Having seen Thunder live (a number of times) Backstreet Symphony can’t blame you for choosing that rather excellent album.
“Top 40” is a very broad. There are numerous ways of responding to this one. Opinion (as you say) but importantly, what is the criteria. Does “top” mean ‘best’ or ‘best selling’ or ‘no compilations’ or ‘no rap’ or ‘only rock groups cos we’re old hippies at heart’ – I’ll include myself in that last one…. (And, now, I wish I didn’t work in procurement…..)
Now, if we were to introduce ‘most influential’ you would introduce another interesting angle…Take a look at this article (see link). In this we see Sinatra, Eno, Franklin, Hendrix, Prince, Sabbath….
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2006/jul/16/popandrock.shopping
As with Dan there are unfortunately too many significant omissions for me to limit myself to just 3 extras. For me the concept of a great album is one in which either you want to listen to every single track or that each track hangs together as part of a cohesive whole. Albums like “American Idiot” and “What’s the Story Morning Glory” therefore don’t make it onto my lists as although there are several great songs, there’s too much that I would happily press the skip button on. And can you really be serious about “Hot Fuss”???
From this list I’d have to say, in no particular order:
Dark Side of the Moon
Led Zep IV
Rumours
Rust Never Sleeps
Tapestry
Nevermind
Funeral
Automatic for the People
Parallel Lines
Hotel California
If I had to restrict myself to 3 extra they’d be:
U2 – The Joshua Tree: the album from which megastardom was born and still sends a chill up my spine from the opening bars of “When the Streets Have No Name”
Radiohead (how could you miss them out completely!) – OK Computer: every track surprised from start to finish, awesome!
Bob Dylan – Blood on the the Tracks: so many classics in a single album
But even then you’re still missing several of my all-time greatest albums:
World Party – Goodbye Jumbo
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here
The Waterboys – This is the Sea
Leonard Cohen – I’m Your Man
Portishead – Dummy
Radiohead – The Bends
U2 – Achtung Baby
Kate Bush – Hounds of Love
Tracey Chapman – Tracey Chapman
As with one of the other posts, “Legend” would also make it onto my top list but as a compilation it’s probably disqualified.
This is a great list. A mixture of the ‘influential, personal favourite and best seller’ (presumably) etc.
However, I completely agree with Dan’s intimations and additional selection (including, regrettably, the Joshua Tree…). Thought Revolver might also make the list (we all have our influences…). Perhaps I might stretch the imagination with Velvet Underground and ‘Banana’?
And Alanis Morissette’s ‘Jagged Little Pill’ would throw another female singer onto the list (and with 33 million sold, just behind, Led Zep IV, another popular choice)…The Ramones (The Ramones)? But Bob Marley’s Legend didn’t make it?
My 10 (from the list) but not in any particular order:
Dark Side of the Moon
Led Zep IV
Night At The Opera
Sticky Fingers
Rumours
Sgt Peppers
London Calling
Nevermind
Hunky Dory
What’s Going On
ps: also, if we’re selecting ‘best’ (in the context of popular and ‘best selling’ perhaps) ‘Back in Black’ (ACDC) seems to be a popular choice with some 49 million albums sold (the third best selling album of all time…). Probably, along with Metallica and Guns N’ Roses, a ‘marmite’ band.
Depends what criteria you used and what you meant by ‘community’….
‘Born to Run’ is not even Bruce Springsteen’s best album.
All the albums on this list have significant merit but, meh, the list looks like it’s been cobbled together by a panel working for The Reader’s Digest.
A bit more imagination, pleeaaaseeee.
Its the danger of a group of people doing the judging – what you effectively end up with is a list of everyone’s second choices. The ones that everyone disagrees with the least.
I’d like to know how many people have sat through ‘Astral Weeks’ – all the way through in a single sitting – not just on the panel, but amongst those music critics that keep placing it high in their ‘top albums’ listings.
It’s a fine album (Van’s best? Hmmm) but it is most definitely an acquired taste (bedsit listening, twenty times in a week, etc….)
I get the ‘everyone’s second choices’ point; might be good to do it by decade and see how many old f***ts like me have anything positive to say about albums released by today’s cool set?!! Laura Marling anyone? Thought not. 😉
My ten from your list:
REM – Automatic for the People
Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Eagles – Hotel California
David Bowie – Hunky Dory
Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV
Nirvana – Nevermind
Beatles – Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers
Michael Jackson – Thriller
Oasis – Whats the Story Morning Glory
My Three personal choices:
The Beatles – Revolver (this is their best album, and one where George Harrison’s influence starts to come through)
Radiohead – The Bends (best British album since the Beatles broke up)
Miles Davis – Kind of Blue (the album that completely re-invented jazz)
My other choices which i think deserve to be on the list before some others of your entries (much as I like American Idiot, I wouldn’t put it in the top 50. And Bat Out Of Hell? Really?):
The Beatles – Let It Be
Coldplay – Parachutes
Radiohead – OK Computer
Massive Attack – Mezzanine
Portishead – Dummy
Stereophonics – Performance and Cocktails
The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
U2 – The Joshua Tree
Tupac – Me Against the World