John’s fifth album was his first US #1 album, and the catalyst for a 6x #1 album run. It was the first album to officially feature his road band on every track. Nigel Olsson & Davey Johnstone, on drums and guitar respectively, continue to play with him to this day. Sadly, Dee Murray passed away in 1992 from a stroke after suffering from skin cancer for years.

Devo’s debut album is a frenetic record of New Wave, Post-Punk paranoia and anxiety. David Bowie and Iggy Pop had received a tape of Devo demos from the wife of a friend in 1977. At the band’s debut New York gig, Bowie announced "this is the band of the future, I'm going to produce them in Tokyo this winter." That didn’t quite happen, though. Brian Eno landed up producing the album (his 5th entry on the list), with David Bowie assisting on the weekends.

Controversial! I can see all the Pink Floyd fans up in arms that this album has leapfrogged over ‘Wish You Were Here’ in this version of the list. This is the album that started it all, Pink Floyd’s debut record. And it sounds nothing like Pink Floyd. For a start, majority of the vocals are handled by Syd Barrett. Roger Waters only sings on one song, ‘Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk,’ and his vocals are unrecognisable from the Roger Waters we later came to love (and/or hate).

The first Jazz record to sell over a million copies, on this, his 12th record, Hancock assembled a completely new band. The rhythm section had their roots in Rhythm and Blues.

Following Dylan’ debut record, things weren’t looking great for him. Largely ignored by critics and the public, the album sold a modest 5,000 copies. A group of staff at Columbia were lobbying for him to be dropped but John Hammond, the man who signed him, stood by him. And that’s how ‘The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’ saw the light of day. Unlike his debut, Dylan wrote majority of the songs on this album, establishing him as one of the greatest songwriters of all time. The album opens with the lyrics “How many roads must a man walk down/Before you call him a man?” Wow. Can you imagine hearing that line for the first time in 1963?

In 1985 Tracy Chapman was studying a B.A. degree in Anthropology and African studies at Tufts University in Massachusetts. A fellow student, Brian Koppelman heard her playing and brought her to the attention of his father, a music publisher. Koppelman Sr. offered to sign her, but she never took him seriously. After coming across a demo of ‘Talkin’ ‘bout a Revolution,’ at Tufts Radio Station, Koppelman Jr promoted the song to radio, which subsequently got her signed to Elektra Records following her graduation in 1987.

Dolly Parton, one of the enduring successes of Country music with her defining album. By her own admission, her family was dirt poor growing up and the autobiographical title track gives us insight into that. Her mother had made a coat of many colours for her with a box of rags that someone had given to them. A coat she was so proud of, yet she was mocked and laughed at at school because of it. A sad and heartbreaking story, but just so typical of Dolly Parton; she didn’t care what people thought.

Following ‘Court and Spark,’ the most successful album of Joni Mitchell’s career, she started work on her next body of work, which came to be ‘The Hissing Of Summer Lawns,’ her seventh album. Mitchell decided to completely shake things up and explored more of a Jazz-inspired sound. Mitchell, as a musician, was always unconventional.

This is such a bittersweet album. Released 3 months after the untimely death of Janis Joplin at the age of (you guessed it) 27 years old, ‘Pearl’ truly showcased the incredible voice of Janis Joplin; gritty, raw and bluesy contrasting with the polished sound of her backing band and slick production by Paul Rothchild, who produced the first 5 records by The Doors.

Knowing of The Slits’ reputation, I did not expect this album to sound like this. Cutting their teeth with The Clash on tours in 1977 and 1978, I imagined their sound to be more hardcore. The album is raw with production kept to a minimum; sounds as if it was recorded in someone’s garage. But that’s the charm of this record. No bells and whistles, just a straight up fun punk record.

In the mid-to-late ‘80s, Beastie Boys were known for their sample-heavy rap records but with this, their third album, they made a return to their punk roots and played their own instruments for the first time ever on a full-length Beastie Boys LP. The album cover depicts the band sitting with their instrument cases on the sidewalk illustrating this return.

‘Power, Corruption & Lies’ was New Order’s second album and the album that put them on the map, really. Stylistically different to their debut record and even their previous output at Joy Division, this album was more synth based, leaning more towards an electronic sound, heavily influencing the sound of New Wave and Post-Punk music in the ‘80s.

‘A Hard Day’s Night,’ the third album by The Beatles, came just fifteen months after their debut record. In that short space of time, Lennon/McCartney’s songwriting has developed so exponentially, that they were able to release an album solely consisting of original material and is The Beatles only album written 100% by Lennon/McCartney. They had shift from a Rock ‘n Roll sound to a more Pop sound, still with a Rock ‘n Roll edge, of course.

Recorded in 1975 at Abbey Road Studios, ‘Wish You Were Here’ is the follow up to the seminal album (and my favourite Pink Floyd record), ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon.’ The album was conceptualised by Roger Waters and, amongst other things, takes aim at the music industry. The album starts with 13-and-a-half minute track, ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond.’ A song that features 5 sections, it is primarily a tribute to original Pink Floyd vocalist, Syd Barrett who had left the band 7 years prior.

The follow up record to 1994’s ‘Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain’ (#434) is much more experimental and spontaneous than its predecessor. Rolling Stone speculated that the band was afraid of success and that was the reason, but lead vocalist, Stephen Malkmus countered that by saying that through the haze of his excessive pot usage, the songs sounded like hits to him.

The Beatles’ fifth album doubled as the soundtrack to the film of the same name and marked the end of their “early” period or first half of their career. The albums following this one were more complex and experimental, both in production and songwriting. It was also the last time an album by The Beatles would feature any songs not written by any of the members (bar traditional song, ‘Maggie Mae’ on ‘Let It Be’).

What do Hüsker Dü, Pink Floyd and Michael Jackson have in common? This record, as it happens. For some reason, I don’t remember this album at all from the last countdown. A seminal punk album, and one that arguably changed the course of the punk scene. On this their magnum opus, the band pushed past the stylistic limitations of the hardcore scene ad gave us a record of straight up punk, hardcore, ska, alternative rock and even a bit of classical fingerpicked guitar thrown in.

Long before Randy Newman was the soundtrack to many people’s childhood (or many adults’ revisited childhoods), he was L.A.’s weirdest singer-songwriter. Newman famously wrote songs for and scored movies such as ‘Toy Story,’ ‘Monsters Inc.,’ ‘Cars’ and multiple others. In fact he has been nominated for 22 Academy Awards. Back to ‘Sail Away,’ though, this was Newman’s third album.

A prolific musician, ‘Yeezus’ is his 7th album in 8 years (if you count his collab album with Jay-Z). The album was very collaborative, and quite stark production-wise, in comparison to his older releases and described as being “very raw” by one of its many producers. West started the recording process in the loft of a Paris hotel, which led the recordings to be very simple with minimal bass so as not to overpower the room’s poor acoustics. As you’d expect, West would receive constant complaints from the neighbours as the sessions would last through the night.

This album is pretty special. The album starts with the line “Born in a hurry, always late/Haven't been early since '88.” I love those lyrics. This album isn’t a straight up Country record. There’s no doubt that it is a Country record, but with elements of Pop, Singer-Songwriter, Indie, abit of electro and even Disco. While the album is consistently good, the last 3 tracks, ‘High Horse,’ ‘Golden Hour’ & ‘Rainbow,’ are the best for me.