top 50 of the last 50 years

[aek51745]

Fifty years leaves out Ellington, Louis, Django...

But here it goes:

1. Miles Davis: BITCHES BREW
2. Miles Davis: CELLAR DOOR SESSIONS
3. Tony Williams Lifetime: EMERGENCY
4. Weather Report: LIVE IN TOKYO
5. Weather Report: SWEETNIGHTER
6. Amalgam: WIPE OUT
7. Ornette Coleman: IN ALL LANGUAGES
8. Paul Dunmall & Paul Rogers: FOLKS HISTORY
9. Esbjorn Svensson Trio: LEUCOCYTE
10. Bobby Previte: WEATHER CLEAR TRACK FAST
11. AMM: LAMINUL
12. Joe Zawinul: BROWN STREET
13. Air: AIR LORE
14. Alex von Schlippenbach: MONK'S CASINO
15. Keith Rowe & John Tilbury: DUOS FOR DORIS
16. Atomic: RETROGRADE
17. Mujician: THERE IS NO GOING BACK NOW
18. Bob Dylan: BLONDE ON BLONDE
19. Cecil Taylor: 2 T'S FOR A LOVELY T
20. Uri Caine: GUSTAV MAHLER LIVE IN TOBLACH
21. The Beatles: SGT PEPPER
22. The Beatles: THE WHITE ALBUM
23. Cream: WHEELS OF FIRE
24. John Coltrane: COMPLETE VILLAGE VANGUARD 1961
25. Paul Dunmall-Paul Rogers-Tony Levin: DEEP JOY
26. Pierre Dorge & New Jungle Orchestra: EVEN THE MOON IS DANCING
27. Iskra 1903: CHAPTER ONE 1970-1972
28. Keith Jarrett: IMPULSE YEARS 1973-1974
29. London Jazz Composers Orchestra: ODE
30. William Parker: PEACH ORCHARD
31. Joe Morris: CLOUD OF BLACKBIRDS
32. Henry Threadgill: WHERE'S YOUR CUP
33. Alex von Schlippenbach: PAKISTANI POMADE
34. George Harrison: ALL THINGS MUST PASS
35. Anthony Braxton: WLLISAU QUARTET 1991
36. Paul Dunmall: THE STATE OF MOKSHA
37. The Band: THE BAND
38. James Blood Ulmer: ODYSSEY
39. AMM: NEWFOUNDLAND
40. Jack Bruce: SONGS FOR A TAILOR
41. McCoy Tyner: ENLIGHTENMENT
42. Miles Davis: SILENT WAY SESSIONS
43. Paul Dunmall-Paul Rogers-Philip Gibbs: NIMES
44. Mujician: COLOURS FULFILLED
45. Bobby Previte: CLAUDE'S LATE MORNING
46. Evan Parker & Keith Rowe: DARK RAGS
47. Keith Rowe-Sachiko M-Nakamura-Yoshihide-ERSTLIVE 005
48. Joe Morris: RACKET CLUB
49. Jimi Hendrix: ELECTRIC LADYLAND
50. Mahavishnu Orchestra: INNER MOUNTING FLAME

Ask me tomorrow and probably 20% would be different. Lots of ringers here as far as multi-disk sets.

[jon abbey]

Air Lore is a great record, the deconstructed "I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Shout" is amazing and Steve McCall is one of my two favorite jazz drummers ever, along with Ed Blackwell. that would probably make an expanded list of 60 or 70 for me, good call.

[Neon Blossom]

make your own list, then. those are odd records to single out, those first few Pere Ubu singles are about as good as rock music has ever been.

Truth. I'll try to put something together. No hate on Pere Ubu, maybe I'm not in a rock place right now.

[aek51745]

Jon: Nice that you Agreed on Air Lore, which still sounds fresh and new. Tough to puck one Air recording, though Lore stands out. Close are Open Air Suite and Montreux Suisse Air which were in my "how can I leave this off" category. I thought about just including the Mosaic Threadgill box, but that includes some non-Air material so that's cheating. Just about anything Threadgill has done could have made my list.

Oh, and since you mentioned Blackwell, another one is Trevor Watts Amalgam: Blackwell and Higgins. Good stuff and maybe in my top 100 if that list comes up.

Ornette's classic Atlantic LPs with Higgins and Blackwell are just over 50 years old, most from '59 and '60 so they missed the cut. Thus no "Beauty Is A Rare Thing" one of the best box sets ever.

[Steve Reynolds]

some comments on the original Pere Ubu singles - I didn't list the Terminal Tower record as i recently purchased the Datapanic box.

2 of the singles - Heart of Darkness and Final Solution are *greater* than almost any rock records I ever heard - and I just heard the both of them for the first time about 6 months ago - I must have played those 2 tracks to anyone I could find on thwe street to awaken them to their majesty.

Heart of Darkness is so great it is sick - how I missed it is pretty amazing - but it was out of print for may years when I was listening to more rock back in the late 80's and early 90's.

Jon - do you like Ray Gun Suitcase?

[jon abbey]

Jon - do you like Ray Gun Suitcase?

never heard it, never heard anything I care about from them after Dub Housing (and even that is a decided step down from the first singles). I know you're a fan.

[negative potential]

2 of the singles - Heart of Darkness and Final Solution are *greater* than almost any rock records I ever heard - and I just heard the both of them for the first time about 6 months ago

No shit? I figured an old avant-rock hound like you would know that material, especially since you're such a Beefheart fan.

I discovered early Pere Ubu around 15 years ago, but still long past the date of those early singles. Got to see a later lineup live in Detroit in 2002. To be honest I don't know anything past Dub Housing, but if I get around to me top 50, Modern Dance/Terminal Tower/Dub Housing would all make the list.

Edit: Steve, you into Red Krayola at all? I figure a Pere Ubu/Beefheart guy like you would dig 'em. Try to get ahold of the compilation that has the Rough Trade material.

[Eratosthenes]

1962: Charles Mingus - Tijuana Moods
1963: Charles Mingus-The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady
1964: Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch!
1965: Andrew Hill - Point of Departure
1966: Patty Waters - Sings
1967: AMM - AMMMusic
1968: The Jazz Composer's Orchestra-The Jazz Composer's Orchestra
1969: Manfred Schoof - European Echoes

1970: Exuma-Exuma
1971: Chico Buarque - Construção
1972: Charles Mingus-Let My Children Hean Music
1973: Magma-Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh
1974: Sparks-Propaganda
1975: Masayuki Takayanagi-April is the Cruellest Month
1976: Dorothy Carter - Troubadour
1977: Gentle Giant-Playing the Fool
1978: Louis Moholo - Spirits Rejoice!
1979: Robert Ashley-Automatic Writing

1980: Half Japanese - 1/2 Gentlemen / Not Beasts
1981: Derek Bailey-Aida
1982: Christian Death-Only Theater of Pain
1983: Anti-Cimex-Raped Ass
1984: Alfred Schnittke - Symphony No. 3 (USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra / Rozhdestvensky)
1985: Present - Le poison qui rend fou
1986: Lawrence Butch Morris - Current Trends in Racism in Modern America
1987: The Gerogerigegege-Senzuri Champion
1988: Cardiacs-A Little Man and a House and the Whole World Window
1989: Guernica-Denrisō Kara no Manazashi

1990: Carl Stalling-The Carl Stalling Project:Music From Warner Bros. Cartoons 1936-1958
1991: Yapoos-Dial Y Wo Mawase!
1992: The Magnetic Fields-The Wayward Bus
1993: Ethel Wateres-The Chronological Classics: 1929-1931
1994: Krzysztof Penderecki-Matrix 5
1995: Non Credo-Happy Wretched Family
1996: Gloria Coates-Symphonies 1, 4 & 7
1997: Poul Ruders-Solar Trilogy
1998: Taku Sugimoto-Opposite
1999: Oidupaa Vladimir Oiun-Divine Music from a Jail

2000: Current 93-I Have A Special Plan For This World
2001: Jani Christou- Enantiodromie / Praxis / Epicycle / Anaparastasis III / Mysterion / Anaparastasis I / Praxis For 12
2002: Ivo Perelman-The Ventriloquist
2003: Martin Siewert & Matin Brandlmayr-Too Beautiful to Burn
2004: The Fiery Furnaces-Blueberry Boat
2005: Taku Sugimoto, Taku Unami, Nikos Veliotis & Kazushige Kinoshita-Quartet
2006: Natural Snow Buildings-The Dance of the Moon and the Sun
2007: Hild Sofie Tafjord-Kama
2008: Simon Bookish-Everything/Everything
2009: Tetuzi Akiyama, Erik Carlsson, Toshimaru Nakamura & Henrik Olsson-In Search of Wild Tulips

2010: Nikos Veliotis & Klaus Filip-Slugabed
2011: Nikos Veliotis, Ferran Fages & Robin Hayward-Tables & Stairs

[Steve Reynolds]

I am surprised as well, Alex.

I think you may like Ray Gun Suitcase (1995), Pennsylvania (1998) and St. Arkansas (2002)

All of these - especially the latter two - are almost stubbornly non-commericial as compared to the more poppish 'Story of My Life' or 'Cloudland' fromt he late 80's/early 90's.

I also only heard the above over the last 6 or 9 months - evidence of David Thomas' ongoing brilliance....I think the later two sold in jazz or improv sized quantities which is what it is I suppose.

[leroysghost]

they are still pretty pop-ish though (Vacuum In My Head, Beach Boys and 333 immediately come to mind). to me they typify the time period, when indie rock logorrhea allowed (practically demeaned) "experimental" tributaries on overlong albums to signify seriousness, despite how thin and hollow your band actually sounded. they aren't bad albums but fair warning they are no where near the level of the first two singles/albums. even Terminal Tower is pretty weak aside from the first two singles (My Dark Ages might be my favorite Ubu song, but i prefer the version on 390°)

[nicenick]

man this was a lot harder than i thought it would be! in no order:


Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
John Martyn - Bless The Weather
Neil Young - On The Beach
Gastr Del Sol - Upgrade & Afterlife
Rorschach - Protestant
The Strokes - This Is It
Six Finger Satellite - The Pigeon Is The Most Popular Bird
Blonde Redhead - Fake Can Be Just As Good
G*Park - Seismogramm
Bob Dylan - Modern Times
Lo Ka Ping - Lost Sounds of the Tao
Fugazi - In On The Killtaker
Brightblack Morning Light - s/t
Polvo - Today's Active Lifestyles
1.6 Band - Broke Up
Jesus Lizard - Liar
Nirvana - In Utero
Judee Sill - Dreams Come True
Curtis Mayfield - Curtis
Russell Haswell - Live Salvage
Slant 6 - Soda Pop Rip Off
Siege - Drop Dead
Merle Haggard - Hag: The Studio Recordings
Cloud One - Atmosphere Strut
Low - Things We Lost In The Fire
Rehberg & Bauer - Passt
Palace - Arise Therefore
Oval - Systemisch
Depeche Mode - Violator
Bonnie Prince Billy - Ease Down The Road
Gas - Pop
Smog - Doctor Came At Dawn
David Grubbs - Banana Cabbage, Potato Lettuce, Onion Orange
Filament - Box
Shudder To Think - Get Your Goat
The Breeders - Last Splash
Smog - A River Ain't Too Much To Love
Unrest - Perfect Teeth
J Dilla - Donuts
Pita - Get Out
Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out
Kevin Drumm - s/t
Nas - Illmatic
Pavement - Crooked Rain Crooked Rain
Sebadoh - III
Mobb Deep - Hell On Earth
Andrew Chalk - Goldfall
Tetuzi Akiyama - Pre-Existence
Hans Krüsi - EX HK.
Pylon - Hits

[Tanner]

Siege - Drop Dead
Rorschach - Protestant

Nice.

[Tanner]

Carcass - Symphonies of Sickness
Napalm Death - Scum
Entombed - Left Hand Path
Portal - Swarth
Deep Wound - S/T
Sodom - Obsessed by Cruelty
Dropdead - 1st lp
Death - Leprosy
Autopsy - Severed Survival
Discharge - Hear nothing see nothing say nothing

love these.

I forgot too many things in this area. If I revised I would probalby throw out all the new wave nostalgia and add alters of Madness, and Slaughter of the Innocent. Maybe we should do this for the metal thread...

I also forgot Ayler. Ugh.

[cleanzero]

Maybe we should do this for the metal thread...

True, let's do a best metal records thread.

[nicenick]

looking over my list again -- realizing how much of my music taste was shaped by this cassette:



a freebie that came with an issue of lime lizard (great name for a magazine). not a bad collection for 1993!

edit: tried to fix image; url is http://home.comcast.net/~discographer/l ... izard.html

[Dan Warburton]

Your image isn't showing up on this browser, Nick - could you try again, and/or add a URL?

[negative potential]

Captain Beefheart-Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) (Warner Brothers) (1978)

Jon is probably the only other person besides me who would pick Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)/Doc at The Radar Station era Beefheart over Trout Mask Replica. I knew we had something in common!

This almost makes up for that whole "I've never even heard Joy Division and I never want to" thing.

[jon abbey]

I have heard some Joy Division (I used to own 'Substance'), just not a fan. I've never heard the Smiths or Radiohead or plenty of other big bands.

[negative potential]

Ok my list,

_1960s_

1. Hitsville USA - The Motown Singles Collection
2. John Coltrane - Complete Atlantic Recordings
3. Miles Davis - Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel
4. Miles Davis - Live in Tokyo (With Sam Rivers! Yeah!)
5. Peter Brötzmann Octet - Machine Gun
6. AMM - AMMMusic
7. The Stooges - The Stooges
8. Bobby Hutcherson - Stick Up
9. Kenny Burrelll - Midnight Blue
10. Wayne Shorter - Juju

_1970s_

11. The Stooges - Funhouse
12. Alexander von Schlippenbach Trio - Pakistani Pomade
13. Evan Parker - Topography of the Lungs
14. Can - Tago Mago
15. Can - Ege Bamyasi
16. David Bowie - The Best of 1969/1974
17. Roxy Music - Country Life
18. Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady
19. Neu! - Neu!
20. Briano Eno - Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy
21. Talking Heads - Fear of Music
22. Gang of Four - Entertainment
23. Joy Division - Substance
24. Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
25. Throbbing Gristle - Second Annual Report
26. Iggy Pop - The Idiot
27. Iggy Pop - Lust for Life
28. The Pop Group - Y
29. Pere Ubu - Terminal Tower (mostly 80s tracks, but listed here for Heart of Darkness and 30 seconds over Tokyo)
30. Captain Beefheart - Doc at the Radar Station

1980s

31. The Raincoats - The Raincoats
32. Gang of Four - Another Day Another Dollar
33. Gang of Four - Songs of the Free
34. PIL - Metal Box
35. Joy Division - Closer
36. The Smiths - The Sound of the Smiths (But really only for the following tracks: Hand in Glove, This Charming Man, What Difference Does it Make, Barbarism Begins at Home, How Soon is Now, Bigmouth Strikes Again, There Is A Light That Never Goes Out. Everything else on this compilation is disposable, but playing by Jon's rules, I have to list the commercial release)
37. Juan Atkins - 20 Years of Metroplex (2 disc compilation with most famous Cybotron/Model 500 tracks and some other stuff)
38. Madonna - Into the Groove. Just the song itself. Not any of her albums.
39. Run DMC - Raising Hell
40. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions

1990s and 2000s Younger people tell me these are two quite separate decades, but shit runs together in my mind

41. Wu Tang Clan - Enter the Wu Tang / 36 Chambers
42. AMM - Newfoundland
43. Peter Brötzmann Chicago Octet / Tentet (the 3 disc box on Okkadisk)
44. Peter Brötzmann Die Like a Dog Quartet - Littles BIrds Have Fast Hearts 1 & 2 (can I count this as one entry? Say I can, otherwise I'll get around it by listing the reissued 4-disc box on Jazzwerkstatt)
45. Andrea Neumann/Burkhard Beins - Lidingö
46. Phosphor - Phosphor
47. Phosphor - Phosphor II (Yeah, I know hardly anyone liked this. Y'all can go fuck yourselves)
48. Morton Feldman All Piano played by John Tilbury
49. Bach Brandenburg Concertos, played by Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
50. AMM - Uncovered Correspondence

[negative potential]

P.S. I have to concede to Jon: 50 is still to little. I had to leave of all of Angela Hewitt's Bach recordings on the Hyperion label. And Nothing on my list by Cecil Taylor or Andrew Hill, two artists where I can't point to a single recording and go "that one".