Wednesday, May 26, 2021

50 Years, 50 Albums

 Just turned 50... no particularly insightful reflection to offer, although I try to do some degree of introspection on every birthday :-)

The milestone has, however, been a good excuse to look back through the years and think about albums that have influenced me... so here goes:

1970s

  • '71 - Bill Withers - Just As I Am
  • '72 - Steely Dan - Can't Buy a Thrill
  • '73 - Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
  • '74 - Minnie Riperton - Perfect Angel
  • '75 - Earth Wind & Fire - That's the Way of the World
  • '76 - Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
  • '77 - Rufus - Ask Rufus
  • '78 - Chic - C'est Chic
  • '79 - Michael Jackson - Off The Wall
1980s
  • '80 - Stevie Wonder - Hotter Than July
  • '81 - Quincy Jones - The Dude
  • '82 - Luther Vandross - Forever, For Always, For Love
  • '83 - The Police - Synchronicity
  • '84 - Art of Noise - Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise
  • '85 - Sade - Diamond Life
  • '86 - Anita Baker - Rapture
  • '87 - Prince - Sign O' The Times
  • '88 - New Edition - Heartbreak
  • '89 - Janet Jackson - Rhythm Nation
1990s
  • '90 - Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
  • '91 - Nirvana - Nevermind
  • '92 - Arrested Development - 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of...
  • '93 - Cassandra Wilson - Blue Light Till Dawn
  • '94 - Weezer - Weezer (Blue Album)
  • '95 - D'Angelo - Brown Sugar
  • '96 - De La Soul - Stakes is High
  • '97 - Kurt Elling - The Messenger
  • '98 - Black Star - Mos Def & Talib Qweli are Black Star
  • '99 - Basement Jaxx - Remedy
2000s
  • '00 - Lucy Pearl - Lucy Pearl
  • '01 - Zero 7 - Simple Things
  • '02 - Raphael Saadiq - Instant Vintage
  • '03 - Meshell Ndegeocello - Comfort Woman
  • '04 - Kanye West - The College Dropout
  • '05 - Common - Be
  • '06 - J Dilla - Donuts
  • '07 - Burial - Untrue
  • '08 - Matthew Halsall - Sending My Love
  • '09 - Maxwell - Blacksummers'night
2010s
  • '10 - Scuba - Triangulation
  • '11 - Feist - Metals
  • '12 - Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, M.A.A.D City
  • '13 - Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
  • '14 - D'Angelo and the Vanguard - Black Messiah
  • '15 - Kamasi Washington - The Epic
  • '16 - Solange - A Seat at the Table
  • '17 - Sampha - Process
  • '18 - Makaya McCraven - Universal Beings
  • '19 - Jamila Woods - Legacy! Legacy!
2020s
  • '20 - Little Dragon - New Me, Same Us