ow can you possibly expect anyone to stick with just ten records? Your moods change, and a particular favourite record may rise or fall in standing, fluctuating with your changing moods; therefore, I present to you another ten of my all-time favourite pop records. These aren't necessarily my eleventh to twentieth favourite records-- any of these titles have equal stature to any other titles that appeared on the previous DID list. They are not in order by preference; they are in chronological order by original release date.

11 THE VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO - The Velvet Underground & Nico (Verve 1967)
Producer: Andy Warhol and Tom Wilson. When I first stumbled upon this, relatively late in life in grad school I'm ashamed to admit, I can hardly fathom the fact that while the Beatles were going on about Penny Lanes and Strawberry Fields, and the Stones were singing about Ruby Tuesdays, naughty Lou Reed in filthy New York was scoring heroin uptown. Thankfully, Andy Warhol happened to like that. And that, young listeners, is priceless musical history education.

12 ROLLING STONES - Beggars Banquet (Decca 1968)
Producer: Jimmy Miller. Released just a few days after The Beatles on 5 December 1968, this record, along with the single 'Jumping Jack Flash,' launched the Stones greatest period (1968-1972) in terms of musical output. Points for both the exceptionally interesting banned toilet cover as well as for the white replacement cover (even though it probably looked too similar to the White Album's cover which was released just a few days before on 22 November 1968). Musical development of bands like the Beatles and the Stones eveloved at warped speed during the 1960s. Like many of my favourite albums of the period, such as Led Zeppelin III and The Beatles, there's a intriguing dichotomy between tracks in traditional folk and acoustic idioms and the heavy rockers. Bluesy, gritty, provocativce, decadent fun, this is light years away from stuff like 'Ruby Tuesday' released just a few months ago.

13 JONI MITCHELL - Hejira (Asylum 1976)
Producer: Joni Mitchell. In the spring of 2005, yours truly went through a rough breakup. To clear my mind, I went on a long roadtrip through Ontario and Upstate New York. This title was included among the stack of about twenty CDs that I brought along for the car trip. I listened to it dozens of times while driving through the woods alone at night, trying to feed off the vibes that inspired the recording of this album. Excuse the cheese, but I went on my own hejira, so to speak. When I came back home to Chicago, I continued to put on this CD, as I go to sleep at night, every night-- it became my bedside companion, as I was afraid to go to sleep alone. This went on for months. I would love to reveal to allthat this record helped me get through my breakup. But it didn't. It was just an indifferent soundtrack to the whole mess. The worse was yet to come, and I was pretty screwed up for a few more years. However, I still like this record.

14 FLEETWOOD MAC - Rumours (Warner Bros. 1977)
Producer: Ken Caillat, Richard Dashut, and Fleetwood Mac. How many records on these bloody lists are ones where we actually know all the words to the lyrics? Probably none, but this one comes fairly close. Perhaps I did remember them once when I was younger, along with the all the words to Bella Donna. I still think about Stevie Nicks a lot.

15 BRIAN ENO - Ambient 1 - Music for Aiports (Editions EG 1978)
Producer: Brian Eno. Whenever an uninitiated asks me to recommend his first Eno record, I direct him to this one. On Land may feel too creepy and idiosyncratic. On the other hand, this record is perhaps more anonymous in the sense that it allows the listener's imagination to contribute to the character of the album. Originally commissioned as a work to be played over airport loudspeakers, this is a recording that actually may work on a desert island since it's so understated on the surface, yet always intriguing whenever one decides to listen to it carefully. While the music may be discreet, the listener would always discover something new every time he listens to it.

16 AC/DC - Back in Black (Atlantic 1980)
Producer: Robert John "Mutt" Lange. AC/DC embodies the distillation of the essence of rock. Sure this one sounds like every other AC/DC record, even those with Bon Scott on them. However, this one is definitely the tightest and the catchiest of them all. More than any other record in my extensive collection, this is the one I play the most times. I'm never tired of it. It's addictive, like some kind of musical crack. Every song here is a classic sing-along. What makes this record even more fun is that so many other guys are familiar with it, and they basically grew up with it, and everyone can join in and revel in all its dumb, loud prurient majesty. It brings people together. Perhaps it even played an important part of so many people's childhoods. During my Arch. 201 studio of fall 1997, I blasted this relentlessly on the 7th floor, and all the guys loved it. Maybe they had forgotten how awesome this record sounds. The album became the defining musical accompaniment for that semester. Finally, for those who don't know yet, John "Mutt" Lange is the genius who went on to produce Def Leppard's Pyromania and Hysteria, and he is the current producer / husband of Shania Twain.

17 DAVID BOWIE - Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (RCA 1980)
Producer: Tony Visconti and David Bowie. Someone once said that this record was the right balance between the exciting experimentalism of his Berlin years, and the concession to the pop marketplace for continued commercial viability. Well put. Eno isn't here anymore, and Bowie moved to New York, but the record is still engaging, now with a Downtown new wave edge. This record also gave us the almighty 'Ashes to ashes.'

18 PRINCE - Dirty Mind (Warner Bros. 1980)
Producer: Prince. 1980 was an amazing year for albums, wasn't it? As it only clocks in at 30 minutes and 14 seconds, the impact this quick record made on a dirty young mind was all the more remarkable considering its sheer brevity. More pop-oriented than his previous funky soul releases, Dirty Mind is a new wave dance party that places insanely catchy melodies and grooves front and centre, while proclaiming to the world that incest is everything it's said to be-- in bikini briefs no less! All killer and no filler, this record is thematically lazer-focused, if anything, inspiring Robert Christgau to famously write: 'Brashly lubricious where the typical love man plays the lead in "He's so shy," he specializes here in full-fledged fuckbook fantasies-- the kid sleeps with his sister and digs it, sleeps with his girlfriend's boyfriend and doesn't, stops a wedding by gamahuching the bride on her way to church. Mick Jagger should fold up his penis and go home.' .

19 R.E.M. - Automatic for the People (Warner Bros. 1992)
Producer: Scott Litt and R.E.M. Here's another relatively quiet record with an underlying sense of loss and melancholy. It also took me forever to appreciate this album since I and everyone else were expecting something perhaps a wee more rockin' after the seemingly diversionary folk pop of Out of Time. Instead, the band delved further into that gentle territory. It's an easy target for people because it's such an ostensibly wimpy-sounding record, but I still like it. I don't care. (It also happens to be the best selling R.E.M. record in the U.K.) It's a great batch of slow, lovely songs, perfect for doing homework or studying.

20 RADIOHEAD - The Bends (Parlophone 1995)
Producer: John Leckie. While I applaud their current experimentation streak that began an eternity ago after OK Computer, remember when Radiohead made catchy, relatively straightforward pop records like this one?

orgotten about the first ten records? Did you know that I added ten more all-time favourite pop records?

01 March 2000

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