100 GREAT ALBUMS

What is the greatest album of all-time? How can you compare Sgt Pepper with Dark Side Of The Moon, Exile On Main Street with The Bends, or Graceland with Forever Changes? Are Joy Division and the Strokes as good as Jimi Hendrix and the Doors?

Whose opinion should we trust when deciding what qualities make a great album? Can we really believe everything that we read in the music papers? After all, even respected critics can get it embarrassingly wrong. Clearly, a more reliable guide requires an assessment made with the benefit of maturity (years, not weeks), rather than a spontaneous reaction based on perhaps only a couple of hearings before going to press. Equally, the views of the ordinary fan as opposed to the professional reviewer may be a safer way to discover the true classics. It’s with this in mind that these pages are written.

Armed with a stack of books and magazines amassed over four decades, together with a personal album collection in excess of 3,000, Andrew Southwood’s knowledge on the subject takes the reader on an enthralling journey. Through the sixties (including Van Morrison and the Velvet Underground), the seventies (the Clash and Bruce Springsteen), and onwards to the Smiths, Primal Scream, Red Hot Chili Peppers and the modern era, an ardent eye has been used to capture all the masterpieces since 1965.

With great ambition, one hundred essential albums are discussed in a relaxed and unpretentious manner, and ranked 1-100 (highlighting the best song from each, complete with full track-listings). As an entertaining supplement, the latter section brings under the spotlight 50 great live albums, 100 must-have compilations/greatest hits and 500 vital songs that every discerning music addict should own. For the inquisitive, 50 albums that almost made the Top 100 are also listed, including two released within the last three years.

100 Great Albums is the perfect companion for both connoisseur and novice searching for the finest music ever recorded.