Now the debut and (so far) only album by a band that included a musician who has been very prolific in a number of guises.
Desaparecidos are, for want of a better word, an Emo band put together by Conor Oberst to kill time between the folk and Americana work of Bright Eyes and his solo albums. It was the first Oberst album of any style I got and I bought it entirely on the basis of a printed press review. Just like the good old days.
I thought it was pretty good on first listen but this was one of those albums that grew on me over time. By the end of the year I realised I'd played it more than anything else released that year and it's stayed a firm favourite ever since.
The band then vanished from the face of the Planet for a good 10 years.
Brilliantly they got back together to tour in 2012, largely thanks to a campaign by Songkick Detour, and in 2013 I got to see Desaparecidos play the album live at an amazing gig at the Electric Ballroom in Camden.
.
Next one of the bands who loved the New York Dolls (the singer at least) even if their sound was totally different.
At The Smiths' peak I was a confirmed Metal Head, they were very much "the enemy" and I wouldn't have been seen dead with a Smiths album in my hand. A turning point in this attitude came after I saw the band on Top Of The Pops round at my Gran's. Morrissey was swanning about with foliage sticking out of his pocket and the audience were throwing daffodils at him. My Gran was completely bemused by the whole thing but I began to think there might be something to them.
Inevitably my tastes began to change as I got older, an event largely influenced by girls. In fact the breakthrough moment for me followed an encounter with an older girl at a party, who clearly felt that if I didn't like The Smiths I wasn't mature enough to be involved with. I went out and bought a Smiths album after that.
.
A band that were a big influence on at least two other artists on this list ...
The New York Dolls made my 70s list too. Their debut is a fabulous blast of trashy punk that never fails to put me in a good mood.
During my teen metal years I wasn't a fan of the hair metal glam inspire bands and ignored the Dolls for looking much the same. Of course the Dolls were the inspiration for most of those bands look but their music was light years ahead. I read the Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain book Please Kill Me and discovered the Dolls influence on the burgeoning New York punk scene that begat the Ramones, Television and many other great bands.
New York Dolls is a blast from start to finish. Taking their lead from the Rolling Stones and adding a glam-punk sheen to match their in-your-face cross dressing image. Personality Crisis & Trash are two of my all time favourite tunes.
.
Next a band I got to love thanks to former Fall guitarist Marc Riley. I'd actually seen them live in 2006 and wasn't blown away but Riley's constant radio plays eventually wore me down and I'm very glad of that.
Field Music have since become one of my favourite bands, they're ridiculously talented and have ideas spilling out of them. They mine a seam that brings together elements of Indie Rock, Pop and Prog, which might not sound like it should work but absolutely does. They're well worth catching live where their instrument swapping antics are spellbinding.
The band are fundamentally the project of brothers David and Peter Brewis, though for the first two albums pianist Andrew Moore was also a core member of the band. They've always collaborated with other friends & musicians from the vibrant Sunderland music scene and many past Field Music collaborators have gone on to success with bands such as Maxïmo Park and The Futureheads.
.
An album from 1979 that would be the first in a very long list of releases ... and band line-ups.
It took me a long time to get to grips with The Fall and I'm still only a beginner but the albums I have Witch Trials and Hex Enduction Hour are both fantastic. I also have the mega-compilation 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong which I highly recommend as the prefect introduction to the band.
Despite the title, this isn't a live album, but it was recorded in a day and has the sort of energy that comes from not having to mess about with repeatedly playing the same tunes.
.
Something more recent now from a band I've recently lost a bit of love for. They were a breath of fresh air when they first appeared and this album was a revelation.
I was looking for a new exciting band and was tipped off by a friend maybe a year before Funeral came out. I was a little slow on the uptake, and remember missing a gig at the University of London Union which is a massive regret now. The band already had a reputation for great live shows with loads of energy and instrument swapping and when I did eventually catch them, on the Neon Bible tour, they blew me away.
It only took me one listen to fall back in love with Funeral as I prepared this list and it did make me think I should give latest album Reflector a go. I didn't hugely enjoy The Suburbs though oddly that seems to be the album that sent them stratospheric. Mainstream music fans! Who knows what makes them tick?
.
Now something from the dawn of Heavy Metal ...
The first six Sabbath albums are all brilliant and amazingly consistent. The self titled isn't my favourite (that's Paranoid) but it's very close and introduced the world to a whole new sound. Tony Iommi's finger chopping factory accident led to a unique style of playing that helped create the heavy throbbing riff that Sabbath became famous for and launched an entire genre of like minded bands.
Somehow I left Black Sabbath off my Top 50 Seventies albums, another mistake though partly motivated by not wanting to have too many albums by one band in the list.
.
Remember how I said only FULL LENGTH albums count, then included Superfuzz Bigmuff? This next pick might be a bit contentious too ...
The total playing time for all 18 songs is a mere 15 minutes but it is OFFICIALLY their full length debut. So it counts and it's in. Of those 18 songs only two break the 1 minute mark and longest track Tension is 1 minute 18 seconds.
Did I mention I have a weakness for short songs?
I first discovered Minutemen when the two surviving members supported Shellac at the Scala in 2004. Minutemen formed in San Pedro, California in 1980 and were an integral part of the American Hardcore scene that also spawned Black Flag. Composed of guitarist/vocalist D. Boon, bassist/vocalist Mike Watt, and drummer George Hurley, Minutemen recorded four albums and eight EPs before Boon's death in December 1985. At the Scala show Mike and George played a set of Minutemen songs with no Guitar and Mike handling all the vocals. I didn't know any of the tunes but it was intense and captivating. Watt is an incredible bass player, my absolute favourite, and has played with a load of bands including a thrilling spell on tour with Iggy & The Stooges.
Their masterpiece is 1984's double album Double Nickels on the Dime, but the debut is the perfect introduction for anyone unfamiliar with the band. Seeing as the whole thing is about the length of a decent tea break I've included the full album in the video clip below.
.
Japandroids are one of my favourite live bands and this album is a corker.
I absolutely love Post Nothing but it sounds 10 times better once you've seen them live. Japandroids are a ridiculously great live band. Loud punk, Indie-Rock, garage-blues, whatever genre floats your boat the bottom line is it's good, clean, sweaty fun. They're only a duo, Brian King on guitar & vocals and David Prowse on drums & vocals, but they'll blow your socks off.
.
Masters Of Reality were one of a number of bands I thought were going to be the future of heavy rock and made my last couple of years as a died in the wool METAL fan quite exciting. As it turned out they weren't the huge success I expected but they recorded some memorable tunes and helped pave the way for a new wave of bands.
The band that recorded this debut album had originally formed in 1981 and all songs are credited to the partnership of Tim Harrington & Chris Goss. Harrington's slow, grungy guitar riffs are captivating and form the rocking foundation of the album whilst Goss' melodic vocal style lightened the mood up and added a quirky twist to the songs. Produced by Rick Rubin and originally released on his Def American label at a time when both things were a sign of certain quality. Disappointingly this line up broke up soon after the release of the album and Masters Of Reality became more of an occasional project for guitarist and singer Chris Goss.
Goss was a key figure in the Desert Rock scene that begat Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age and has produced or contributed to many of the albums to come out of that scene. He was a long time friend of Josh Homme (his vocals may well have been an influence on Homme's singing) and the Masters Of Reality album is a clear forerunner to the later success of Queens of the Stone Age.
.
