Over what will likely be the next few years I’m going to be ranking and reviewing the top 5 albums - plus a fair few extras - according to users on rateyourmusic.com (think IMDB for music) from every year from 1960 to the present. If you want to know more, I wrote an introduction to the ‘challenge’ here. You can also read all the other entries I’ve written so far by heading to the lovely index page here.

And so here we enter the second half of this fun, but rather time consuming, challenge nearly 3 years after I first started it. So what happened in 1990? Well, Nelson Mandela was freed after 27 and a half years, Margaret Thatcher resigned as Prime Minister, East and West Germany were re-united and The Simpsons debuted on Fox.

On the musical front, here’s what rateyourmusic.com’s loveley members rate as their top 5 albums of the year:

#1 Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
#2 Depeche Mode - Violator
#3 Megadeth - Rust in Peace
#4 Judas Priest - Painkiller
#5 Fugazi- Repeater

I’m also grabbing this lot from further down the rankings:

#6 Slayer- Seasons in the Abyss
#8 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Good Son
#11 Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
#12 Sonic Youth - Goo
#15 A Tribe Called Quest - People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm

And, the below from a couple of all-time lists by female artists:

Mitsuko Uchida - 12 Études
Sinead O’Conor - I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got

“Painkiller is the twelfth studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released in September 1990. It was the last Judas Priest album to feature long-time lead singer Rob Halford until his return for the 2005 album Angel of Retribution and the first to feature drummer Scott Travis.” - Wikipedia

This album is as mad as its cover - I mean just look at the thing. If you can embrace that madness, and get beyond those stereotypical wailing hard-rock vocals and the lyrics about metal meltdowns and leather rebels, then you’ll have a good time. It’s K.K Downing and Glenn Tipton’s technical guitar work and dual soloing that makes the album what it is for me, which is a frenetic and unbridled roar through a burning post-apocalyptic cityscape on the back of a Harley Davidson with saw blades for wheels… you get the picture.

Song Picks: Pain Killer, Night Crawler

7/10

“Violator is the seventh studio album by English electronic music band Depeche Mode. Preceded by the singles "Personal Jesus" and "Enjoy the Silence" (a top-10 entry in both the United Kingdom and the United States), the album propelled the band into international stardom.” - Wikipedia

Violator sounds sumptuous, I mean just listen to those lovely midi drums. Dave Gahan’s baritone vocals create a generally sombre atmosphere, but unlike many baritone vocals they can still carry a lovely tune (see Sweetest Perfection). You can hear a whole heap of today’s artists in their music, particularly today’s darker pop.

It’s rare that an album that is so heavily electronic from over 30 years ago sounds like it could have come out today, but Violator truly does. There’s a slight glumness to the record which hasn’t made it one that I’ve been dying to come back to regularly, but there’s no doubt about it’s influence and artistry. Oh, and did I mention it sounds bloody perfect.

Song Picks: World in My Eyes, Personal Jesus, Enjoy the Silence

8/10

10. Fear of a Black Planet

Public Enemy

“Fear of a Black Planet is the third studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy. It was released on April 10, 1990, by Def Jam Recordings and Columbia Records, and produced by the group's production team The Bomb Squad, who expanded on the sample-layered sound of Public Enemy's 1988 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.” - Wikipedia

Public Enemy are back with another all-anger, all-dancing hip-hop classic. This one doesn’t quite have the consistent energy or the great samples that made their previous album so fantastic, but that’s asking it to jump over an unfairly high-bar, and this still packs its hour run-time with cracking hip-hop beats and political anger.

Song Picks: Brothers Gonna Work it Out, Welcome to the Terrordome, Burn Hollywood Burn, Who Stole the Soul

8/10

“Dame Mitsuko Uchida, born 20 December 1948) is a Japanese-British classical pianist and conductor, born in Japan and naturalised in Britain, particularly noted for her interpretations of Mozart and Schubert. Claude Debussy's Études (L 136) are a set of 12 piano études composed in 1915. Debussy described them as ‘a warning to pianists not to take up the musical profession unless they have remarkable hands’. They are broadly considered his late masterpieces.” - Wikipedia

I can’t find all that much information about this recording in particular, but Uchida’s performance of Debussy’s 12 Etudes is bewitching. I guess the thing that came through most for me was that although there is considerable skill and precision on display here, the pieces never stray into feeling at all machine-like, the pieces are filled with the complexity of humanity. 12 Etudes is yet another testament to the power of the piano as an instrument with such range that it can convey the power of a whole orchestra, or the delicate quietness of a single plucked string.

8.5/10

8. I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got

Sinead O’Connor

“I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got is the second album by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor, released in March 1990 on Ensign/Chrysalis Records. It contains O'Connor's version of the Prince song Nothing Compares 2 U, which was released as a single and reached number one in multiple countries. The album was nominated for four Grammy Awards in 1991, including Record of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and Best Music Video, Short Form for Nothing Compares 2 U, winning the award for Best Alternative Music Performance. However, O'Connor refused to accept the nominations and award.” - Wikipedia

Nothing Compares 2 U was one of the best selling singles of the decade, and a rare occasion where a cover is so massively more well known than the original. Of course nothing I say about O’Connor’s stupendous vocal performance on that song will be new, so I won’t say anything other than it is surely one of the most emotionally charged vocal performances of all time. It’s a break-up song, but apparently O’Connor was more channeling the death of her dad 5 years earlier. The most remarkable thing though is that the rest of the album, though never quite eclipsing the uneclipsable, does more than hold a candle to it, and feels less like a necessary home for it and more like a record where a lot of the other tracks deserve more attention than they got. Sinead goes political, personal, experimental and even uses sample drum beats. She does it all with the confidence of someone who would go on reject all the nominations and Grammy awards the album was nominated and awarded for, and proves once again that she is the voice of heartbreak.

Song Picks: Nothing Compares 2 U, Black Boys on Mopeds, I am Stretched on Your Grave

8.5/10

“Rust in Peace is the fourth studio album by American thrash metal band Megadeth, released on September 24, 1990, by Capitol Records. It was the first Megadeth album to feature lead guitarist Marty Friedman and drummer Nick Menza. Since its release, Rust in Peace has often been named as one of the best thrash metal records of all time, by publications such as Decibel and Kerrang!, and listed in the reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.” - Wikipedia

I’ve very much enjoyed the plethora of thrash-metal albums coming through in the last few years of this challenge, and this is one of my favourites. The album is very much carried by Dave Mustaine’s guitar riffs, and the late Nick Menza’s (he tragically collapsed and died while drumming at a concert in 2016) great punctuation of them on drums. It’s an album that’s technical prowess keeps your brain firing, and keeps things engaging from start to finish. The songs are generally about politics, religion, warfare (the title refers to leaving nuclear weapons to ‘rust in peace’) or Mustaine’s personal battles and have a straightforward punk style to them, which suit Mustaine’s vocals well.

Song Picks: Holy Wars… The Punishment Due, Tornado of Souls, Five Magiks, Dawn Patrol

8.5

“Seasons in the Abyss is the fifth studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer, released on October 9, 1990, through Def American Records. Recording sessions began in March 1990 at Hit City West and Hollywood Sound, and ended in June 1990 at The Record Plant in Los Angeles, California. It was the band's last album to feature their full original lineup with drummer Dave Lombardo until his return on the band's 2006 album Christ Illusion.” - Wikipedia

Nothing hugely new when compared to their previous albums South of Heaven and Reign in Blood, but I loved both of those and I love this too. The riffs cascade at breakneck speed, the drums persistently rumble, and Araya’s vocals growl. No one thrashes quite like Slayer.

Song Picks: Blood Red, Skeletons of Odyssey

8.5/10

“Goo is the sixth full-length studio album by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth, released on June 26, 1990 by DGC Records. For this album, the band sought to expand upon its trademark alternating guitar arrangements and the layered sound of their previous album Daydream Nation (1988) with songwriting on that was more topical than past works, exploring themes of female empowerment and pop culture.” - Wikipedia

Sonic Youth’s first album on a major label proves you can ‘sell out’ and still be cool. They’re sound is perhaps a little more accessible here, but it’s still dissonant, punk and intensely alternative. The early 90s was very much when ‘alternative’ (I won’t go into the oddness of that genre name) became sellable, and that was in no small part thanks to Sonic Youth and their success with Goo. Musically, it’s the same guitar barrage you’d expect, but with a little more of Kim Gordon’s influence with two of the album’s best songs written by her, Kool Thing and Tunic (Song for Karen). The latter is about the death of Karen Carpenter of the Carpenters, who died of anorexia. It’s one of Sonic Youth’s most touching songs, packed with lyrics that cut to the core like the verse line.

I feel like I'm disappearing, getting smaller every day
But when I open my mouth to sing, I'm bigger in every way

It brings about sadness not via the usual minor chords and melody, but via Sonic Youth’s typical dissonant guitar chugs, and Kim Gordon’s hollow vocal, which sounds like it could be coming from the afterlife itself.

Goo is another triumphantly punk album, both in sensibility and sound, and that cover is surely one of the hippest of all time.

Song Picks: Tunic (Song for Karen), Kool Thing

9/10

“Repeater is the full-length debut studio album by the American post-hardcore band Fugazi. It was released on April 19, 1990. Repeater is often regarded as a definitive album for the band and a landmark of rock music.” - Wikipedia

Ian McKaye (previously of Minor Threat) didn’t fit in with a lot of the punk scene with his straight-edgedness, and Repeater distances himself from that scene yet further. The anger is still there, but it’s packaged in a band keen to be cerebral as well as visceral. Riffs turning on each other, riffs morphing into other riffs, riffs so huge that they carried the whole of 90s grunge into the mainstream in their wake. Albums like Repeater and Goo didn’t make waves in the mainstream due to them being more accessible, but by making music so creative and sonically powerful that one couldn’t ignore them.

Song Picks: Repeater, Song #1, Two Beats Off

9/10

3. The Good Son

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

“After two dark and harrowing albums with Your Funeral... My Trial (1986) and Tender Prey (1988), The Good Son was a substantial departure with a lighter and generally more uplifting sound.” - Wikipedia

The more uplifting sound is attributed to Cave falling in love with a Brazilian journalist, and indeed the Brazilian influence seeps into the opener Foi Na Cruz in obvious ways. The Good Son is a big sounding album, tracks like the Witness Song feature climaxes with backing vocals and a whole host of instruments in what can only be described as a triumphant cacophony, while others like Foi Na Cruz sound more hopeful than triumphant, but sound equally atmospheric. Cave is one of those singers who owns his lyrics in a way that means you have to pay attention to them, a skill not all that present in the musical world, and that works well here where a less interesting vocalist would get lost in the in the gorgeous melodies. The Good Son is a chamber-pop album that leaves an imprint, beautifully textured with harmonies driven by the ethereal melodies throughout, as timeless as Cave’s vocals.

Song Picks: Foi Na Cruz, The Witness Song, Sorrow’s Child

9/10

**2. People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm**

A Tribe Called Quest

“People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm is the debut studio album by American hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, released on April 10, 1990 on Jive Records. People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm was met with acclaim from professional music critics and the hip hop community on release, and was eventually certified gold in the United States on January 19, 1996. Its recognition has extended over the years as it is widely regarded as a central album in alternative hip hop with its unconventional production and lyricism.” - Wikipedia

Push it Along and Luck of Lucien open things with what will surely be two of the best grooves of the decade, and we’re only in 1990. There’s a laid back and open jazzy feeling to the beats, which Q-Tip’s equally chilled rapping gives plenty of room to breathe. His lyrics are refreshingly simple and yet jump from topic to topic from couplet to couplet in a way that makes any overall meaning quite opaque. People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm is so relaxed it’s a miracle it exists at all. Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad’s beats, production, and vocals create that most marvellous thing; something so perfect in how loose it is that it would have taken two industrious and meticulous individuals to create it.

Song Picks: Push it Along, Luck of Lucien, After Hours, Can I Kick It?, Description of a Fool

9.5

“Heaven or Las Vegas is the sixth studio album by Scottish alternative rock band Cocteau Twins, released on 17 September 1990 by 4AD. Heaven or Las Vegas peaked at number seven on the UK Albums Chart and number 99 on the US Billboard 200, becoming the band's most commercially successful release.” - Wikipedia

I have no qualms in calling Heaven or Las Vegas our first masterpiece of the 90s. Its guitars are bathed in ethereal levels of reverb and Fraser’s lyrics are only occasionally understandable, but always emotionally relatable. I think the power of what is an otherworldly vocal performance is best described by bassist Simon Raymonde, as mentioned on the album’s Wikipedia page:

Raymonde recounted that he would record Fraser's vocals alone for days at a time, during which he first "fully appreciated how amazing she was": "She'd come into the control room and say, 'What was that like?' and I'd scrape the tears away and say, 'That was alright, Liz'. She didn't get off on praise. If I said. 'That was fucking amazing', she'd say 'I thought it was shit.' I learnt not to be too effusive, which was difficult because I was so blown away with what I was hearing.

Luckily, I can be as effusive as I damn well please, and Heaven or Las Vegas is one of the most beautiful albums out there. Recorded while Raymonde dealt with his father’s death and Fraser and Guthrie (the latter programmed all the album’s drums) contemplated their new lives as parents, it was clearly a time with a lot of emotions flying round for the band. On the record those emotions seem to rotate like a slow tornado going languidly in and out of focus, given some direction by Fraser’s extraordinary vocals as they make you feel everything there is to feel.

Songpicks: Fotzepolitic, Wolf in the Breast, Frou-Frou Foxes in Midsommer Fires

So, we’re into 1984, the year forever immortalised by the name of George Orwell’s novel (published in 1949). Also the year that Joe W. Kittinger made the first solo transatlantic balloon flight, Apple released their Macintosh personal computer and Bishop Desomnd Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Musically, here’s the top 5 albums of the year as rated by rateyourmusic.com’s users

#1 Metallica - Ride the Lightning
#2 Prince - Purple Rain
#3 The Smiths - Hatful of Hollow
#4 Iron Maiden - Powerslave
#5 Cocteau Twins - Treasure

I’ll be grabbing a few more from further down the list, namely:

#6 Staatsorchester Stuttgart - Tabula Rasa
#8 Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
#9 The Replacements - Let It Be
#10 Husker Du - Zen Arcade
#13 The Smiths - The Smiths
#20 R.E.M - Reckoning

Finally, as usual, to add more female artists to the equation, I’ll be taking the below from NPR’s list of the best albums of all time by female artists, as well as the same list as voted on by their readers.

Tina Tuner - Private Dancer
Sade - Diamond Life
The Pretenders - Learning to Crawl

Having said I’d try to have a few less per year so that I can actually finish this challenge at some point in my life, I’ve gone and picked 14 albums to review - which I think is tied with the most I’ve ever looked at for any particular year - because I’m an idiot. Anyway, let’s see which of these 14 emerges victorious.

Iron Maiden’s 5th album was their first album to be recorded with the same line-up as the previous. That’s your stat for the week. It was ranked 34th in Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 best metal albums of all time.

I feel like Iron Maiden are the one band that keep appearing in these top 5s that I’ve still not massively got into. Has Powerslave changed that? Not exactly. Again, I can very much appreciate the great riffs and rapid solos all on display in the album’s opener Aces High and beyond, but I still can’t get into that 70s high pitch hard-rock vocal sound from Bruce Dickinson. I don’t love their Dungeons and Dragons lyrics either, but if I just chill out and try to listen without these prejudices, you know what? I end up having a good time. It’s hard not to be swept away by the barnstorming instrumental section (even if the mix is a little thin) and some internal headbanging definitely occurred. it does have to be said that Powerslave is infectiously riff-tacular, I was literally saying ‘oooo that’s a great riff’ at the start of every track.

Song Picks: 2 Minutes to Midnight, Losfer Words

7/10

The second studio album by the American punk rock band was originally released as a double album on two vinyl LPs. It tells the story of a young boy who runs away from an unfulfilling home life, only to find the world outside is worse. It’s widely regarded as one of the most influential albums in alternative rock, as the band moved away from their more hardcore roots to create some slower, and even acoustic songs.

I have to confess to not following the album’s narrative in particular, which the somewhat muffled vocal mix doesn’t help with, and I do think the album - at 70 minutes - is a bit long for my tastes in this genre, but I have to say it’s a really inventive album. It stretches what can be a slightly repetitive genre (whoa calm down there, I love punk as much as the next guy) in enough directions to make 70 minutes just about work, and that’s impressive in itself.

Song Picks: Never Talking to You Again, Reoccuring Dreams,

7.5/10

The English rock band’s debut was re-recorded between tour dates by John Porter, after Troy Tate’s initial production was deemed inadequate. The album peaked at number 2 in the UK, where it helped the band become a key member of the decade’s music scene, but it also had significant international success.

Morrissey, despite the insufferable man he’s become recently, is undoubtedly one of the most unique vocalists of not only the 80s, but ever. His faux-operatic whines slide from note to note like the vocal version of a lap steel guitar, a perfect sound of dejection. But he was far from the only great thing about the Smiths, as this collection of songs demonstrates. Johnny Marr’s guitar playing is jangly, pacey and percussive, while the rhythm section helps to provide the instrumental momentum that makes tracks like This Charming Man as effective as they are.

There were better, more consistent albums to come from the Smiths (one of which is on this list), and a few of the songs are a bit meandering and lacking in the engaging melodies that we know Morrissey is capable of. Their debut did make it very clear just how unique they were though, and that’s enough to make it very much worth a listen. Also it has This Charming Man on it, quite probably one of the best jangly pop songs ever written.

Song Picks: This Charming Man, What Difference Does It Make, Still Ill

7.5/10

Sade Adu began back-up singing for Pride following her work in modelling. She later formed Sade with 3 other members of Pride. Diamond Life was the best selling debut album by a female British vocalist for the next 24 years.

Diamond Life doesn’t just start with Smooth Operator, it is a smooth operator. With a chilled funky backing featuring prominent bass lines, simple and relaxed drums and frequent brass flourishes, the album sounds like some slightly jazzy silk. Sade’s vocals are full, soulful, and yet rather cold and detached, helping add to the synthetic 80s atmosphere, and giving proceedings a very sophisticated feel. It’s easy listening, but also interesting and progressive; that guy in a tuxedo on the dancefloor at the wedding with understated moves that he’s clearly put a lot of thought into.

Song Picks: Smooth Operator, Frankie’s First Affair

8/10

Metallica’s second album sees them tackling more complex arrangements and instrumental parts than their bullish debut Kill ‘Em All. This was largely influenced by bassist Bill Clifton teaching the band music theory, something that led to a more deliberate style of songwriting.

Ride the Lightning almost sounds like prog-rock at points, with major key acoustic guitar parts thrown in, you half expect them to start singing about to start singing about elves and trolls. Fade to Black is a good example of this but, of course, there’s no sign of elves and instead Hetfield sings about suicide. I generally prefer Hetfield’s almost hollow vocal to that of other metal bands of the time (e.g. Iron Maiden). He’s dramatic in a more believable way somehow, and his growls on For Whom the Bell Tolls give the track the gravity its topic - corporal punishment - merits.

Ride the Lightning’s riffs dodge and weave, they’re unpredictable and yet brutal. The album is as sophisticated as it is angry and heavy. This makes it a bit less visceral, but more cerebral, and that was to have a huge influence on the metal to come.

Song Picks: For Whom the Bell Tolls, Fight Fire With Fire

8.5/10

The Scottish band’s third album cemented both their line-up and sound going forward, their ‘signature ethereality’ as Pitchfork puts it. Interestingly, producer and bassist Simon Raymonde hated the album, claiming it to be their “worst album by a mile”.

Treasure is soaked in reverb, so much so that the fact that Elizabeth Fraser is singing an entirely made up language isn’t immediately obvious, and doesn’t seem remotely out of place. It feels like the kind of album the elves in Lord of the Rings would make if they happened upon an electric guitar, twin reverb amp and a drum machine in the forest. With Treasure, only Fraser will know if there’s any meaning behind her glossolalia, and it matters not whether there is. In some ways that lack of any literal meaning takes the pressure off and lets you sink comfortably into Treasure’s lush, washed out soundscapes, with Fraser’s melodies lulling you along.

Song Picks: Lorelei, Cicely, Donimo

9/10

R.E.M’s second album was recorded over 16 days, with producers Mitch Easter and Don Dixon intending to capture the band’s live sound, binaural recordings were used to help achieve this.

Many of Stipe’s takes were too quiet and needed re-doing as he was so worn out from the 1983 tour. The end result is perhaps even mumblier than his work on the band’s debut, but the cleaner production means that overall, they’re a little more discernible. The lyrics are no easier to understand though and the album is another great example of why Stipe is one of my favourite lyricists. He has an ability to be completely evocative while remaining mysterious which, along with his singular vocal style, make him such a noteworthy songwriter.

Melodically, the vocals are as mesmerising as always. The coupling of the band’s bass-led and often up-tempo sound combined with Stipe’s long, thick and wavering notes continues to create one of the most unique combinations in music.

Song Picks: Harborcoat, 7 Chinese Bros, So, Central Rain, (Don’t Go Back to) Rockville

9/10

7. Tabula Rasa (Arvo Pärt)

Gidon Kramer, Keith Jarrett Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra

Tabula Rasa is a musical composition written in 1977 by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. The piece contains two movements, "Ludus" and "Silentium," and is a double concerto for two solo violins, piano, and chamber orchestra. A recording of the composition was first released in 1984 by ECM records and features violinist Gidon Kremer, pianist Keith Jarrett and the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra among others.

Tabula Rasa is often sparse, with the focus regularly being on one melody at a time, whether it be the crying violin in Fratres - a piece of beautiful melancholic, wistful warmth - or the choral Celli in For 12 Celli. The first three pieces are fairly tranquil, if at times quite haunting, but things get much more frantic and intense in the penultimate piece, I. Ludus, before II. SIlencio, calmly takes us home on the musical version of a floating candle through the remnants of a battlefield.

Tabula Rasa is another classical classic, if you pardon my expression.

9/10

The Pretenders’ second album was recorded with a new guitarist and bassist after original members James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon both died of drug overdoses.

Learning to Crawl is a pretty straight rock ‘n’ roll album. New guitarist Robbie McIntosh is less edgy than his predecessor, and his soloing very much recalls early rock ‘n’ rollers such as Chuck Berry in a way that would be cheesy if it weren’t so fun. I wasn’t expecting to love this album as much as I do, but it is a completely unpretentious, delightfully fun 40 minutes. Alongside McIntosh’s playful solos we have a rock solid rhythm section so comfortingly on it that at times it feels like you’re being physically hugged by the 4/4 time signature. Chrissie Hynde’s songwriting ability is on display from start to finish, and her vocals have a lovely warmth to them that fits perfectly with the band’s palette. Nowhere is this more perfectly on display than on the album’s iconic closing track, 2000 Miles, a song written for Honeyman-Scott after his death, and one that has now become on of the country’s most beloved Christmas songs. I think it’s one of the best songs ever recorded.

Song Picks: Watching the Clothes, Back on the Chain Gang, 2000 Miles

9/10

This compilation released by Rough Trade Records features various John Peel Session recordings for BBC Radio 1 and two singles and their respective B-sides. It came 44th on Q’s list of the 100 best British albums, and was successful in the UK album charts much like their debut.

There’s some crossover here from their debut album The Smiths, and Hatful of Hollow doesn’t always include the best version. The version of This Charming Man here for example isn’t quite as energetic as the studio recorded version, and I also prefer the studio version of Still Ill, though this one is still very good. Where Hatful of Hollow shines is in the sheer number of great songs it crams on, and it’s overall more cohesive feel despite it being a compilation album. The Peel sessions have a surprisingly upbeat feel, I think because of the generally less effects-driven sound produced at the Radio 1 studio combined with slightly less focus on the vocals, and perhaps just the live feel in general.

Marr’s guitar work is fantastic throughout, generally providing a lively backing to Morrissey’s howls, which have better melodies here than on the band’s debut. On Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now, a song that despite it’s lyrical content ends up feeling defiantly bright and hopeful, the guitar skitters away like a jolly grasshopper. On the masterful Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want it strums wistfully as if it’s holding your hand - Marr’s rare solo being one of the finest ways any album has ever ended. On Back to the Old House it gets fingerpicked in a way that almost makes it feel Latin. On every song it’s perfect and backed by such solid drums and bass that it’s easy to forget you’re listening to mainly live performances. Morrissey’s vocals are as distinctive as always, and it’s here where he really starts to show his melodic prowess, particularly on the album’s penultimate track Reel Around the Fountain.

Hatful of Hollow is a wonderful document of a singular band. It has a raw quality to it that makes it a great addition to their studio albums. It feels like someone spotted the band on tour and asked them to record a few songs at a studio on their way to their next venue, a moment in time forever captured in a bottle.

Song Picks: Accept Yourself; Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want; What Difference Does It Make?; Reel Around The Bus

9/10

Turner’s fifth album is the one that put her on the map as a solo artist, and is still her best selling record to this day.

Private Dancer plays like a defiant roar as she emerges from the ashes of her abusive relationship with Ike Turner, which ended in 1978. The opener I Might Have Been Queen is a perfect showcase of the way she belt out notes with tremendous power, the chorus playing like a glorious self-affirmation.

Private Dancer also features Tina Turner classics What’s Love Got to Do With It and Let’s Stay Together, showcasing Turner’s melodic aplomb at the softer end of the spectrum as well as when growling at the top of her voice. Production-wise the album is very 80s, with gated snares and synths aplenty, but it serves up some completely engrossing soundscapes. Can’t Stand the Rain is one of my favourite examples, creating a musical equivalent of a neon tinged city being drenched with rain, as Tina waltzes through it, screaming her heart out to the tune of everyone’s broken dreams.

Song Picks: I Might Have Been Queen, What’s Love Got to Do with It, I Can’t Stand the Rain, Let’s Stay Together, Better Be Good to Me

9/10

3. Double Nickels on the Dime

Minutemen

Minutemen’s third album contains 45 songs, most likely the highest song count for any album I’ve reviewed on this challenge. The vast majority of these songs are only between one and two minutes long though, but that still brings the total running length to an epic 81 minutes. The album, like Hüsker Dü’s Zen Arcade, was released on two vinyls and the three band members chose the songs for one side each, with the remaining songs going on the the album’s fourth side, self deprecatingly named ‘chaff’.

By far my favourite of the year’s two punk rock epics, Double Nickels on the Dime is never punk of the really heavy variety. Sure there’s distorted guitars and the odd shout, but generally things are more rock ‘n’ roll inspired than punk I’d say, with Mike Watt’s snakelike basslines weaving perfectly in and out of George Hurley’s drums (which have a punchy sound that is to die for). D. Boon’s vocals are sometimes spoken word, generally slightly off key, and in many ways unremarkable, but they just fit. His guitarwork is superbly diverse, from one song to the next he can completely change the atmosphere (My Heart and the Real World into History Lesson Part 2 being a prime example) and his riffs and noodling sound as loose and unshackled as his lyrics, which cover all sorts of ground.

To call this album punk is selling it short in some ways, there’s just as much jazz, funk, country and rock as there is punk. And yet there’s no better word for it, it typifies punk’s disregard for boundaries or rules - the idea it has a sound is kind of daft - and beams with the energy of a band who just played whatever they felt like in the moment.

Double Nickels on the Dime is like walking down into a basement bar and inadvertently going to what ends up being one of your favourite gigs, not necessarily for any profound reason, but simply because you found a bunch of blokes you could relate to, having the time of their lives.

9.5/10

Now and again in this challenge - as with all the Dylan albums in the 60s - we come to an album that was already very much established as a favourite before I started this whole thing. Let It Be is one of those. While studying music production and sound engineering at Islington Music Workshop in London I made friends with the Replacement’s biggest fan, Matt Rider, now lead singer of Paper Mill. I rather quickly fell in love with the band too, loving Westerberg’s grainy vocals, the band’s energy, and their raw and punchy DIY sound. Westerberg is still one of my favourite punk songwriters.

Let It Be is the band’s third album. It was the first album that didn’t see the band playing at hell-for-leather speeds constantly. Let It Be is generally ranked among the best albums of the 80s, and was ranked as number 241 in Rolling Stone’s all time top 500.

"Playing that kind of noisy, fake hardcore rock was getting us nowhere, and it wasn't a lot of fun. This was the first time I had songs that we arranged, rather than just banging out riffs and giving them titles." lead singer Westerberg says of the album, and indeed it shows; the song structures, instrumental arrangements, and lyrics are clearly more thought out here. Let It Be is probably the least predictable punk album I’ve ever heard, things change up regularly not only from song to song (Tommy Got His Tonsils Out to Androgynous), but within the songs themselves. We’re Coming Out comes out of the gates like the messy, fast-paced rumble the band had been known for but unexpectedly turns into a low-key, sparse jam before its frantic ending, Seen Your Video spends two and a half minutes as an instrumental before Westerberg comes in with his characteristic melodic shouts.

Let It Be is crammed with musical ideas, it’s a band at the peak of their playfulness, led by Westerberg’s songwriting, which more than once goes into masterpiece territory. Androgynous is one of the finest celebrations of gender non-conformity ever written, Westerberg’s melodies croaking perfectly over the top of his bouncy piano playing and Unsatisfied would easily make it onto a CD of my very favourite songs. It’s the perfect cry into the ether of ennui and despair. As Westerberg himself puts it:

“It was just the feeling that we’re never going anywhere and the music we’re playing is not the music I feel and I don’t know what to do and I don’t know how to express myself. I felt that one to the absolute bone when I did it.”

That opening guitar riff, Stinsons’ elaborate sparkles, the snare slam that announces the band’s arrival, the slightly off-kilter drums, the messy mix, and most of all Westerberg’s superlative vocal performance that resonates to his very bone (as he himself says above), Unsatisified is perfect, and Let It Be is one of punk’s greatest achievements.

Song Picks: Unsatisfied, Androgynous, Answering Machine, Favorite Thing, Sixteen Blue

9.5/10

Prince’s sixth album needs no introduction, but I’m going to introduce it anyway. Purple Rain is the soundtrack to a film of the same name (I did not know this), starring Prince in the lead role. It’s rarely absent from the upper echelons of any best albums of all time list, and very much cemented Prince’s status as a pop legend.

First and foremost, Purple Rain is an absolute joy to listen to. Upbeat energetic tracks like the bombastic Let’s Go Crazy and grooving Take Me With U are impossible to have on without bopping - at least for me. The Beautiful Ones nails an atmosphere and delicate vocal style (until the screeched ending) that have been copied many times since, and rarely anywhere close to as effectively. Prince’s superlative guitar skills are evident throughout, not only his unbelievably fast lines on Computer Blue and that solo on the title track, but also in his general ability to create riffs that could be described as anything from groovy (on Let’s Go Crazy) to cataclysmic (on Darling Nikki).

When Doves Cry is notable for its lack of the bass guitar, an inspired decision which makes those drums pound all the harder. Prince’s melodies are superb as always, and it’s just a perfectly constructed song. Everything has its place, from the piano part chorus to the synth that enters half way through the song, to Prince’s stuttering solo that fires the track into rock and roll fame. The whole album sounds very much like the picture adorning its cover, featuring an impressively overdressed Prince standing astride a vibrant purple motorbike in a world that has learnt to cover up its own griminess with neon lights.

Of course the album’s most famous song is the title track, an eight minute and 40 second masterpiece featuring one of the most famous choruses of all time, as Prince anthemically repeats the song’s title - blares of instruments entering on his second repetition - you feel like you’re listening to more than music, but Prince’s very soul. The guitar solo tugs at the heart-strings more than any other I can think of, while the high choral vocals that provide the foundation for the track’s bombastic finale sound like the heavens themselves have opened to bless you. Indeed they have, and they’ve given you Purple Rain.

Song Picks: Purple Rain, Let’s Go Crazy, Computer Blue

10/10

1990 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge

1984 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge