The Times All Time Top 100 Albums

The Times Magazine Nov - Dec 1993 - The Vultures 100 Best Albums of all Time

The Times Best Albums Of The Year 2000

Thanks to John Manning for supplying this list & accompanying article.

1	The Beach Boys	Pet Sounds	1966
2	The Beatles	Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band	1967
3	Van Morrison	Astral Weeks	1968
4	Lou Reed	Transformer	1973
5	Bob Dylan	Highway 61 Revisited	1965
6	The Jimi Hendrix Experience	Are You Experienced	1967
7	The Beatles	Revolver	1966
8	Neil Young	After The Goldrush	1970
9	(Bob Marley And) The Wailers	Catch A Fire	1973
10	Otis Redding	Otis Blue	1965
11	The Velvet Underground	The Velvet Underground and Nico	1967
12	The Rolling Stones	Sticky Fingers	1971
13	Derek & The Dominoes	Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs	1970
14	Aretha Franklin	Lady Soul	1968
15	Prince and The Revolution	Purple Rain	1984
16	Ian Drury and The Blockheads	New Boots and Panties	1978
17	Pink Floyd	Dark Side Of The Moon	1973
18	Led Zeppelin	Untitled (Known as Four Symbols or Led Zep 4	1971
19	John Lennon	Imagine	1971
20	Simon & Garfunkel	Bridge Over Troubled Waters	1970
21	Fleetwood Mac	Rumours	1971
22	Bruce Springsteen	Born To Run	1975
23	U2	The Joshua Tree	1987
24	The Sex Pistols	Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols	1977
25	David Bowie	The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars	1972
26	Joni Mitchell	Blue	1970
27	The Who	Who's Next	1971
28	Bob Dylan	The Times Are A-Changin'	1964
29	Prince and The Revolution	Sign O' the Times	1987
30	Cream	Disraeli Gears	1967
31	Bob Marley & The Wailers	Exodus	1977
32	Elvis Costello	My Aim is True	1977
33	The Rolling Stones	Beggars' Banquet	1968
34	Crosby Stills and Nash	Crosby Stills Nash	1968
35	Peter Gabriel	So	1986
36	Talking Heads	Remain in Light	1980
37	The Jimi Hendrix Experience	Electric Ladyland	1968
38	Paul Simon	Graceland	1986
39	Roxy Music	For Your Pleasure	1973
40	The Band	Music From Big Pink	1968
41	Led Zeppelin	Led Zeppelin	1969
42	Carole King	Tapestry	1971
43	The Doors	The Doors	1967
44	Cream	Wheels of Fire	1968
45	The Clash	London Calling	1979
46	James Brown	Live at the Apollo	1963
47	Prefab Sprout	Steve McQueen	1985
48	Iggy Pop and The Stooges	Raw Power	1973
49	Marvin Gaye	What's Going On	1971
50	The Smiths	The Queen is Dead	1986
51	The Small Faces	Ogden's Nut Gone Flake	1967
52	REM	Out of Time	1991
53	Steely Dan	Countdown to Ecstasy	1973
54	Talking Heads	Stop Making Sense	1984
55	Rod Stewart	Every Picture Tells a Story	1971
56	Janis Joplin	Pearl	1971
57	Simple Minds	New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84)	1982
58	Marvin Gaye	Let's Get It On	1973
59	Paul Simon	There Goes Rhymin' Simon	1973
60	Nick Drake	Five Leaves Left	1969
61	Elvis Costello & The Attractions	Armed Forces	1979
62	The Police	Outlandos D'Amour	1978
63	Van Morrison	Avalon Sunset	1989
64	Blondie	Parallel Lines	1978
65	The Jam	Sound Affects	1980
66	Sly & the Family Stone	There's a Riot Going On	1971
67	The Doors	LA Woman	1971
68	Leonard Cohen	Songs of Leonard Cohen	1968
69	The Pretenders	The Pretenders	1980
70	REM	Green	1988
71	Stevie Wonder	Talking Book	1976
72	The Stone Roses	The Stone Roses	1989
73	Stevie Wonder	Songs in the Key of Love	1977
74	Creedance Clearwater Revival	Cosmo's Factory	1970
75	Paul McCartney & Wings	Band on the Run	1974
76	The Jam	All Mod Cons	1978
77	Nirvana	Nevermind	1991
78	Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young	Deja Vu	1970
79	George Harrison	All Things Must Pass	1970
80	Love	Forever Changes	1967
81	The Eagles	Hotel California	1976
82	Fairport Convention	Leige and Lief	1969
83	The Byrds	Sweetheart of the Rodeo	1968
84	The Police	Synchronicity	1983
85	Neil Young	American Stars 'n' Bars	1977
86	Queen	A Night at the Opera	1975
87	Ry Cooder	Paradise and Lunch	1974
88	Madness	One Step Beyond	1973
89	Elton John	Goodbye Yellow Brick Road	1973
90	The Waterboys	Fisherman's Blues	1988
91	Jackson Browne	The Pretender	1976
92	Free	Fire & Water	1970
93	The Pogues	Rum, Sodomy & the Lash	1985
94	Little Feat	Feats Don't Fail Me Now	1974
95	The Band	The Band	1969
96	Donald Fagen	The Nightfly	1982
97	Michael Jackson	Thriller	1982
98	Pet Shop Boys	Actually	1987
99	Pink Floyd	The Wall	1979
100	U2	The Unforgettable Fire	1984

The Times Magazine Nov - Dec 1993 - The Vultures 100 Best Albums of all Time

"What makes a classic album? Over the four weeks leading up to Christmas, the Vulture - together with a panel - will attempt a definitive answer by compiling a countdown of the 100 best albums produced in the last 30 years.

It started in the think-tank at Vulture HQ. As Born to Run came on the jukebox, someone blurted into his pint: "This is the best record ever made!" "But it wasn't from his best album," snapped a colleague from the depths of his anorak. And off he went. Is Sergeant Pepper better than the White Album? Did the Stones ever make a classic album? All the fundamental questions of 20^th-century life were posed, debated and forgotten. But in the morning that wise old bird the Vulture announced his plan to list the Top 100 classic albums of all time. And he would need some help.

First, we had to define what constitutes a classic. These records had to have substance and longevity. At worst they had to be albums which made a memorable remark in the running conversation that is popular music. At best they would be records which changed musical history.

The hallmark of a classic album is that it is more than the sum of its parts. Unlike the humble old LP, which was either a collection of songs previously released as singles or a movie soundtrack, the album was a coherent whole. The Beatles started it in the Sixties by studiously avoiding putting their hits on their albums. To emphasise that their work should be consumed in 40-minute chunks, Sergeant Pepper was released without any track spacing. The album had become an art form transcending the mere song.

Next we needed to define our musical parameters. The familiar categories can be misleading. To an American, "rock 'n' roll" means virtually anything with a guitar recorded since 1955. In the UK it applies to a specific period before the Beatles. The word "rock" was used in the Seventies to mean grown-up, serious popular music. Now it implies tattooed men with perms and spandex trousers making a horrible din. "Pop" goes in and out of fashion, but usually applies to something faddish and short-lived.

Perhaps the word "album" itself would be enough, suggesting as it does a way of making as well as marketing music. True, other styles and genres are available for consumption on vinyl or compact disc, but their method of delivery does not define their form. No one wrote a symphony to fit on one side of a 12in record. Jazz at its best is created on stage, not in a studio. Some of the music the Vulture would chose would never be played live

To make the list more readable there were some rules. No artist or band would be allowed more than two entries in the Top 100. This would prevent The Beatles, Bob Dylan and a few others dominating the list, although watch out for Neil Young, Paul Simon and Eric Clapton.

To introduce an element of impartiality, the Vulture enlisted a panel of "experts". From journalism came David Sinclair, rock critic of The Times, and Simon Frith, now chairman of the Mercury Music awards. From broadcasting we recruited Annie Nightingale and Mark Radcliffe (BBC Radio 1FM), Richard Skinner (Virgin 1215) and Tracey MacLeod (BBC2s Late Show). And from the other side of the microphone came three radio station heads of music - Richard Park (Capital Radio), Mark Storey (Piccadilly Radio) and Jon Myer (GLR) - and Sammy Jacob of XFM, which is bidding for a licence to broadcast indie music in London. Each week, one member will pick out their favourite from that week's compilation.

Each panellist was sent a list of 200 albums, prepared by me, representing a range of music from ABC to ZZ Top. They were asked to award each album a mark between 0 and 10 and then add up to 20 of their own suggestions, to which they would award the maximum 10 points. I adjudicated over disputes and tried hard to fiddle the result, so the lack of Lyle Lovett and Frank Zappa is a measure of my own failure.

So what have we ended up with? Like most chart run-downs, you will be kept waiting for the number one because we will be printing the Top 100 in four consecutive instalments leading up to Christmas. But I can reveal the headlines.

Incredibly, (thankfully - JW) there is no Dire Straits (Brothers in Arms was no 102), no Simply Red, and no Phil Collins or Genesis. Bruce Springsteen, The Who and Michael Jackson have only achieved one entry each. On the plus side there are inclusions for two Sixties soul legends, a cult English folk-rock band and an almost forgotten deceased singer-songwriter. Several of the albums were never hits, but have achieved legendary status. No fewer than seven of the Top 50 are less than 20 years old. Who says music is flash in the pan"

The Times Best Albums Of The Year 2000

Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour Of The Bewilderbeast
Lambchop – Nixon
Jill Scott – Who Is Jill Scott
Primal Scream – Extrmntr
Radiohead – Kid A
P.J. Harvey – Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
Godspeed You Black Emperor – Lift Your Skinny Fistd Like Antennas To Heaven
Phoenis - Untitled
Erykah Badu – Mama’s Gun
David Holms – Bow Down To The Exit Sign
Hobotalk – Beauty In Madness
Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP
Outkast – Stankonia
Madonna – Music
Wu-Tang Clan – The W
Jimi Tenor – Out Of Nowhere
Coldplay – Parachutes
Kelis – Kaleidoscope
Wycleff Jean – The Ecleftic
At The Drive-In – Relationship Of Command

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December 18, 2005