End-of-year List

by Chris Adams

“Top ten?” I scoffed. Top ten? Let me assure you, I would be more likely to pull the moon from the sky, discover that it is, in fact, composed of fine aged brie, and daub a piece of it on every Wheat Thin in the western world than I would be to think of ten records that came out this year that meant anything much to me. Therefore, my good man, I shall make a list of 25 records spanning the history of rock music that, without which, I would shortly be found naked, curled into a fetal position under a wilting bridge south of Shanghai, murmuring the mantra “…I can’t believe it’s not butter… spray.” The purpose of this list will be threefold:

• 1.) It will remind me why I put up with the dungheap garbage-loads of crappy records I wade through every month;
• 2.) It’ll give the guys at Lollipop an idea of what I like, so they don’t set aside any more Men Without Hats compilations for me to review thinking, “Yeah… Adams might dig this.”
• 3. ) Lollipop readers will have a gauge of what I think is great rock and roll, so they can decide whether or not my taste tallies off with theirs, possibly sparing themselves the subsequent agony of cringing through my monthly pre-adolescent spleen-vents.

So, in no particular order, and entirely subject to change every 7 and 1/2 minutes:

• Marquee Moon – Television
• Boxed Set – Phil Spector with various artists
• We Oppose All Rock and Roll – The Subway Sect
• Highway 61 Revisited – Bob Dylan
• Suicide – Suicide
• Nuggets – Original Artifacts from The Psychedelic Sixties-various artists
• Revolver – The Beatles
• Peel Sessions album – The Only Ones
• Fun House – Iggy and the Stooges
• New Skin for the Old Ceremony/Songs of Love and Hate double CD – Leonard Cohen
• Entertainment! – Gang of Four
• Exile on Main Street – The Rolling Stones
• Murmur – REM
• Gravest Hits/Psychedelic Jungle double CD – The Cramps
• Porcupine – Echo and the Bunnymen
• Forever Changes – Love
• Psychocandy – The Jesus and Mary Chain
• Scott 4 – Scott Walker
• The Doors – The Doors
• The Bends – Radiohead
• 1969 Live – The Velvet Underground
• Laser Guided Melodies – Spiritualized
• Unplugged in New York – Nirvana
• Fire of Love – The Gun Club
• 50 Worldwide Golden Hits – Elvis