The Top 10 albums of all time, British style

What a refreshing discovery. This is for all of you out there who have all these years looked at the Rolling Stone Magazine list of 500 Greatest Albums as the ultimate source for the best in recorded music. But then, who like me have also wondered if there weren’t other artists who should be in the top rungs aside from The Beatles, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones. Well, here is something you should be happy about.

Well, the UK magazine NME also has its own list patterned after Rolling Stone’s of course. NME stands for New Musical Express which like Rolling Stone is also a magazine that is now free online that caters to the rock, alternative and indie music scene. Hence, the NME list of 100 Greatest Albums of All Time is very hip, ultra-trendy and wryly dry as in all things British. And surprise the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is not No. 1.

The editors first came up with their list in 2013 chosen by NME journalists and contributors. Those who participated in the poll were mostly British and the results are vastly different from that of RS. In fact there are titles in the list that I had not bothered listening to before but I will now get hold of them ASAP. I love discovering new sounds and this list is a veritable gold mine. Here now are the albums in the Top 10. For the rest you can go online were NME comes free.

The Queen Is Dead, 1986 by The Smiths, alternative rockers composed of Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce, who are considered still the UK’s most influential group today. The title comes from the novel Last Exit to Brooklyn and the songs blend dry humor and resigned sadness with music that draws inspiration from pop-rock tunes from the ’60s. Best cuts are There Is A Light That Never Goes Out and Never Had No One Ever.

Revolver, 1965. The most innovative of Beatles albums where they blended the classical, Indian, backwards playing, double tracking and other ideas and new recording methods in their most varied collection of tunes.

Hunky Dory, 1971. Here is David Bowie music at its most varied, sexy, stylish and artistic best with tribute tunes like Song For Bob Dylan, Queen Bitch for (Lou Reed), Andy Warhol and the great Life On Mars.

Is This It?, 2001 by The Strokes. Here is New Yorker cool in an arty, snobbish, nonchalant collection by one of the most exciting bands of all time. Best cuts Barely Legal, Soma and Hard To Explain.

The Velvet Underground & Nico, 1967, self-titled album from Andy Warhol’s band featuring Lou Reed, the German song stylist Nico and pretty tunes with titles like Heroin. By the way, Warhol designed the banana album cover.

Different Class, 1995 pop/disco tunes by Pulp. It was a big year in Britpop with bands like Oasis, Blur and the biggest of them all, Pulp, a unique mix of glam and loud and weird rock and roll. These tunes bite and biggest of them all is Common People.

The Stone Roses, 1989, debut album that mixes rock, psychedelia and dance into excellent hook-filled pop by the band acknowledged as a pioneering force in the Britpop resurgence of the ‘90s. Best is I Wanna Be Adored.

Doolittle, 1989, by The Pixies is one more album from that banner year in Britpop. This one is not for everybody. It is a really loud, very fierce, death metal album but the writing, the playing, even the singing are all brilliant. I’ve been told that it grows on you. So maybe I’ll know if I get the guts to try it again.  

The White Album 1968 by The Beatles. As the band nears its end, the music gains an edge. Not the best by the Fab Four but they made no albums that should be ignored. And this one has Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, Blackbird, Birthday, I Will and one of my all time favorites While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

Definitely Maybe by Oasis 1994. This was what started it all for Oasis and what a debut it was. Sure there are shades of the Beatles throughout but by then it would have been very hard to find bands without Beatles influences. Check out Rock And Roll Star, Live Forever Supersonic and Shakermaker.

In berths 11 to 20 are Nevermind 1991 by Nirvana; Horses 1995 by Patti Smith; Funeral 2004 by Arcade Fire; Low 1977 by David Bowie; Let England Shake 2011 by PJ Harvey; Closer 1980 by Joy Division; It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back 1988 by Public Enemy; Loveless 1991 by My Bloody Valentine; Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I Am Not 2006 by the Arctic Monkeys; and OK Computer 1997 by Radiohead.