Back in 2006 Rounder asked former shop assistants me, Fatboy Slim, Damian Harris from Skint and V2’s Mark McQuillan, to help the current crew pick the best 40 albums of the last 40 year - the time that they’d been open. It got quite heated, but below is the article from Source Magazine, and the list itself.
Amazingly, Rounder Records celebrates its 40th this month [December 2006]. So boss Phil Barton gathered a team of former and current staff to pick one album for each year they’ve been open. Joining the mass debate was James Kendall, Norman Cook, Damian Harris, Steve Chaos, Johnny Rocks and V2’s Mark McQuillan. Here’s the post-match banter.
Phil Barton: There’s a large part of the shop that isn’t covered. Lots of the dance music for a start.
Damian Harris: Yeah, it’s worth remembering just how many Carl Cox mix tapes we used to sell.
Steve Chaos: But few dance albums are good all the way through.
DH: Well, there’s loads of dance music LPs in there.
James Kendall: Point is, some albums that were massive haven’t had longevity. Dance albums – particularly mix tapes – suffer from being transient. So what’s the best decade on the list?
Norman Cook: The 70s. You had soul coming up, punk… 78 was the best year, I’ve got every record on the shortlist from 78. A great album is consistent. You can play it from start to finish.
JK: CDs are terrible for trying to stick to an album all the way through.
NC: It’s too easy to skip, isn’t it?
JK: Often you need to listen to songs a lot, before they give up their full glory.
PB: The 70s stuff is classic but the albums we picked from 2000-2005, we probably won’t pick in 15 years’ time. We wouldn’t have picked Pet Sounds in 1966 [heated debate erupts], in ’66 it got absolutely slated!
Mark McQuillan: And the Stone Roses album wasn’t a classic but has become one. It was important in the scene but I didn’t think it was one of the greatest albums ever. Now, 18 years on, it is.
SC: I thought the opposite! The more I heard it everywhere, the more I hated it. People were missing the point.
Johnny Rocks: But you’re judging that record on other people’s point of view. Why can’t you make your own decisions? You’re a sheep!
Everyone: Ooooh!
PB: Working in the shop, you don’t let other people’s views affect you. That might come across as elitist
SC: I saw Stone Roses show and it was great but full of wankers. It’s like wankers liking Love’s Forever Changes – they’re missing the point of that record.
JK: Sorry to be naïve but does it matter why you like a record?
McQ: But Steve, what did you think of The Stone Roses when you first heard it?
SC: Hmm. I thought it was the best second Primal Scream album that Primal Scream never made.
McQ: Oh what!? Would Screamedelica have been good without Jah Wobble, Denise Johnson and Andy Weatherall?
PB: No, it wouldn’t.
JK: Yeah but by that measure, would Dusty In Memphis be any good without the soul musicians who played on it?
McQ: I was trying to say Primal Scream wouldn’t have made as good an album as The Stone Roses without outside help. They needed that outside help to make a better album…
[and lo, debate rages on for weeks]
1966 The Beach Boys ‘Pet Sounds’
1967 The Velvet Underground And Nico ‘The Velvet Underground And Nico’
1968 The Beatles ‘The Beatles’
1969 Dusty Springfield ‘Dusty In Memphis’
1970 Nick Drake ‘Bryter Layter’
1971 Marvin Gaye ‘What’s Going On’
1972 Lou Reed ‘Transformer’
1973 Stevie Wonder ‘Innervisions’
1974 Kraftwerk ‘Autobahn’
1975 Bruce Springsteen ‘Born To Run’
1976 The Ramones ‘The Ramones’
1977 Television ‘Marquee Moon’
1978 Blondie ‘Parallel Lines’
1979 The Clash ‘London Calling’
1980 Dexy’s Midnight Runners ‘Searching For The Young Soul Rebels’
1981 The Human League ‘Dare’
1982 Violent Femmes ‘Violent Femmes’
1983 Talking Heads ‘Speaking In Tongues’
1984 The Smiths ‘The Smiths’
1985 New Order ‘Low-Life’
1986 The Smiths The Queen Is Dead’
1987 Prince ‘Sign ‘O’ The Times’
1988 Public Enemy ‘A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back’
1989 De La Soul ‘3 Feet High And Rising’
1990 Sonic Youth ‘Goo’
1991 Primal Scream ‘Screamadelica’
1992 Sugar ‘Copper Blue’
1993 Underworld ‘Dubnobasswithmyheadman’
1994 Oasis ‘Definitely Maybe’
1995 Pulp ‘Different Class’
1996 Fatboy Slim ‘Better Living Through Chemistry’
1997 Daft Punk ‘Homework’
1998 Lo-Fidelity Allstars ‘How To Operate With A Blown Mind’
1999 Pavement ‘Terror Twilight’
2000 PJ Harvey ‘Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea’
2001 Felix Da Housecat ‘Kittenz & The Glitz’
2002 2ManyDJs ‘As Heard On Radio Soulwax Pt.2’
2003 The Rapture ‘Echoes’
2004 The Go! Team ‘Thunder Lightning Strike!’
2005 LCD Soundsystem ‘LCD Soundsystem’
Photo By Mike Burnell