Vanity Fair, November 2000

Elvis picks the 500 Greatest Albums Ever Vanity Fair, 2000-11-01 - Elvis Costello

COSTELLO'S 500

From Abba to Zamballarana, and from Mozart to Eminem, one of rock's finest talents has identified 500 albums essential to a happy life. It was a long, tortuous undertaking, but the man knows music - and his aim is true

BY ELVIS COSTELLO

I had intended to add a word or two of praise or explanation after each entry on this list. I made a sparkling start.

ABBA: Abba Gold Fast songs: for nights entertaining your Australian friends, or playing with the dressing-up box. Slow songs: a pop-music version of Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage.

Then I thought, That's enough of that nonsense. How many times can you write "Superb," "Beautiful," "Stomping," or "Absolutely tangerine" before it loses all meaning? How many times do you need to read: "Masterpiece"? Or, better still "Masterpiece . . . ?"

Instead, I decided to also name the tracks that make these albums special to me. So, if nothing is written, head straight for the title track or assume that the whole damned thing is irresistible. When in doubt, play Track 4-it is usually the one you want.

Here are 500 albums that can only improve your life. Many will be quite familiar, others less so. Ever needed to get rid of unwanted guests in the early hours? Just reach for Dirk Bogarde's Lyrics for Lovers, on which the actor inhales audibly on his cigarette before reciting Ira Gershwin's "A Foggy Day" amid a swathe of violins. Then there are the good records.

It was impossible to choose just one title by Miles Davis, the Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Dylan, Mingus, etc. How can you say Miles Ahead is "in" and Sketches of Spain is "out"? It looked that way for a while. I knew I would need the space for In a Silent Way and On the Corner. In the end Sketches of Spain did make it, but only at the expense of Someday My Prince Will Come. That is the pleasure of a list like this. Everyone will disagree with your choices.

Sometimes an album contains just one indispensable song. Shot of Love may not be your favorite Bob Dylan record, but it might contain his best song: "Every Grain of Sand." Other albums are like sets of chairs. You can't break them up. This is true of the Band's first two records and also of Tom Waits's trilogy of albums, which began with Swordjshtrombones.

There are plenty of "Best of" and "Greatest Hits" collections. That's not just taking the easy way out. Many of these people really only made "singles." No one "album" will give you all the Smokey Robinson and the Miracles or George Jones songs that you need. I've also gone for some less well-known titles by famous artists, but they are records that dig a little deeper.

You should be able to find most of this music, but you may have to go out of your way to locate the records of David Ackles, perhaps the greatest unheralded American songwriter of the late 60s.

This is also a list of where I began and where I stopped listening. There are huge gaps and blind spots. Unsurprisingly, I favor songwriters over players, but any hit parade of great singers would have to include Johnny Hodges. Making this list made me listen all over again.

If your shelf can stand it, I recommend a few boxed sets. Anthology of American Folk Music, compiled by the great Harry Smith from rare 78s seems like a trip to another planet, yet it is really just humans singing and playing in the not-so-distant past. The RCA Ellington set runs to 24 CDs, and the Schubert lieder collection is only a little smaller, but they are a bit like having a Complete Works of Shakespeare close at hand.

The Yazoo label's Secret Museum of Mankind series gives a glimpse of the early days, when HMV or the Gramophone Company would send out recording engineers to gather music from the world for the new, curious audience. These editions are not compiled by country. So, they may begin in the Society Islands, travel to Mongolia via Bulgaria, and end up in Nova Scotia. The world that you will hear probably isn't there anymore.

I sometimes torture myself by considering all the musicians who were still performing during my lifetime but whom I failed to see because I was too stupid, too timid, or too preoccupied with some passing fancy. Records can fix some of that. It's a form of time travel. You can hear Lester Young or Bing Crosby close in on the microphone in a way that we now take for granted and regularly abuse. The 30s recordings of Stravinsky reveal him directing a band of musicians who are clinging to the edges of his new, frightening music. Ornette Coleman's "Peace" is a thing of beauty that was once a minor outrage.

The classical recordings are listed by composer; that is not to say that any version of that piece will do. Great vintage recordings sit alongside new releases by artists whom you can actually hear in concert. These are the performers who opened up this music to me. In the end, it is the music of forgiveness in the last act of Le Nozze di Figaro or the way an incomplete Schubert sonata breaks off in a devastating way that matters more than whether the performance was captured digitally or with some sealing wax and a knitting needle. There is a song setting by Hugo Wolf, "Alles Endet, Was Entstehet." The text concludes:

"We too were men joyful and weary like you, and now we are lifeless, we are only earth, as you see. All that is created must end. All, all around us must perish."

These words are by Michelangelo.

The minute this list goes to press I will think of 20 records that I left out. There are no comedy records, unless you count Louis Armstrong's magnificent nine-minute performance of all of the verses of "Let's Do It." In fact, no real spoken-word recordings are included - it was too hard to choose among Richard Pryor, T. S. Eliot, and Bill Hicks. Groucho Marx makes it on the strength of his rendition of "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady."

If you look in the C's, you won't find anything with my name on it. This is not false modesty. There are at least 500 records better than everything that I've made. I do make a few walk-on appearances as vocalist or producer.

You will see that some very famous names are missing completely. There is nothing at all by Led Zeppelin, the Doors, Michael Jackson, or Sting. You may love them. They just don't do it for me. There's not too much disco or dance, except the mighty Chic. If you want something from Los Angeles in the early 70s, I suggest you purchase the first Jackson Browne record; it will save you buying all those Eagles albums. The "Fleetwood Mac" herein is the great group led by Peter Green, not the Californian mob with Stevie Nicks. There is nothing to speak of from the 80s, the decade that music forgot, except for Robert Wyatt. Not many "Divas," except for Callas and Aretha.

As for the hit records of today, maybe some of them will sound just fantastic in 20 years' time. It's your life. So! No Marilyn, Puffy, Korn, Eddie Money-sorry, Kid Rock-Limp Bizkit, Ricky, Britney, Backstreet Boys, etc., etc.

The best record of today that I could find was The Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem, faster, funnier, and, in an odd way, more truthful than most records. It's up there with the best of The Simpsons, and I mean that as the highest compliment.

There are probably songs being composed right now that will eclipse every entry on this list in somebody's heart or mind. It is my experience that music is more like water than a rhinoceros. It doesn't charge madly down one path. It runs away in every direction.

500 ALBUMS YOU NEED

ABBA

Abba Gold (1992)

Knowing Me, Knowing You

David Ackles

The Road To Cairo (1968)

Down River

Subway To The Country (1969)

That's No Reason To Cry

Cannonball Adderley

The Best Of Cannonball Adderley (1968)

Mercy, Mercy, Mercy

Amy Allison

The Maudlin Years (1996)

The Whiskey Makes You Sweeter

Mose Allison

The Best Of Mose Allison (1970)

Your Mind Is On Vacation

Almamegretta

Lingo (1998)

Gramigna

Louis Amstrong

The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings (2000)

Wild Man Blues

Tight Like This

Fred Astaire

The Astaire Story (1952)

They Can't Take That Away From Me

Johann Sebastian Bach

The Well-Tempered Clavier (Edwin Fischer; 1934)

The Six Cello Suites (Pablo Casals; 1936)

Six Partitas BWV 825-830 (Andras Schiff; 1984)

Mass in B Minor (conductor: Otto Klemperer; 1999)

Burt Bacharach

The Look of Love: The Burt Bacharach Collection (1998)

Alfie

Chet Baker

The Best of Chet Baker Sings (1989)

The Thrill Is Gone

You Don't Know What Love Is

Broken Wing (1978)

The Band

Music From Big Pink (1968)

Tears Of Rage

The Band (1969)

The Unfaithful Servant

Dave Bartholemew

The Monkey (1985)

Béla Bartók

Six String Quartets (Emerson String Quartet; 1988)

Cecilia Bartoli

If You Love Me, 18th Century Italian Songs (1992)

Alessandro Parisott - Se Tu M'Ami

Antonio Vivaldi - Sposa son disprezzata

Count Basie

The Atomic Mr. Basie (1957)

Li'l Darlin'

The Beach Boys

Pet Sounds (1966)

Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)

God Only Knows

Carl and the Passions-So Tough (1972)

Cuddle Up

Holland (1973)

The Trader

Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of the Beach Boys (boxed set; 1993)

Surf's Up

Wonderful

Beastie Boy

Paul's Boutique (1989)

Shadrach

The Beatles

With The Beatles (1963)

You Really Got A Hold On Me

A Hard Day's Night (1964)

Things We Said Today

Help! (1965)

You've Got To Hide Your Love Away

Rubber Soul (1965)

Girl

Revolver (1966)

And Your Bird Can Sing

For No One

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

A Day In the Life

The Beatles (White Album; 1968)

I'm So Tired

Past Masters, Vol. 2 (1988)

Paperback Writer

Rain

Beck

Odelay (1996)

The New Pollution

Bee Gees

Best Of Bee Gees (1969)

To Love Somebody

Ludwig Van Beethoven

Otto Klemperer Live At The Concertgebouw (1954)

Symphony No. 9; Piano Sonatas Op. 109, 110, 111 (Sviatoslav Richter; 1965)

Symphony No. 7 (conductor: Carlos Kleiber; 1975)

Late Quartets (Budapest String Quartet; 1997)

Violin Concerto (soloist: Yehudi Menuhin; 1997)

Derek Bell

Derek Bell Plays With Himself (1981)

Tony Bennett and Bill Evans

The Tony Bennett Bill Evans Album (1975)

`Some Other Time

Alban Berg

Violin Concerto (soloist: Anne-Sofie Mutter; 1993)

Hector Berlioz

Damnation of Faust (conductor: John Eliot Gardiner; 1987)

Agnes Bernelle

Father's Lying Dead On The Ironing Board (1995)

Leonard Bernstein

West Side Story (1957)

Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry's Golden Decade (1967)

Don't Lie To Me

Björk

Debut (1993)

Venus as a Boy

Post (1995)

Hyper-ballad

Rubén Blades

Buscando America (1984)

Bobby Blue Band

Two Steps From The Blues (1961)

Blondie

The Best Of Blondie (1981)

In The Flesh

Blur

13 (1999)

No Distance Left To Run

Dirk Bogarde

Lyrics For Lovers (1960)

A Foggy Day

David Bowie

Hunky Dory (1971)

Life On Mars?

Station To Station (1976)

Wild Is The Wind

Low (1977)

Always Crashing In The Same Car

Heroes (1977)

Joe The Lion

Johannes Brahms

Ein Deutsches Requiem (conductor: Otto Klemperer; 1962)

Johnny Bristol

Hang On In There Baby (1974)

Benjamin Britten

Serenade For Tenor, Horn And Strings (soloist: Ian Bostridge; 1996)

Charles Brown

Driftin' Blues: The Best Of Charles Brown (1992)

Black Night

Clifford Brown

Clifford Brown With Strings (1955)

Yesterdays

James Brown

Live At The Apollo (1963)

I Found Someone

Star Time (boxed set; 1991)

Talkin' Loud & Sayin' Nothing

Jackson Browne

Jackson Browne (Saturate Before Using) (1972)

My Opening Farewell

Anton Bruckner

Symphony No. 9 (conductor: Gunter Wand; 1990)

Jeff Buckley

Grace (1994)

Corpus Christi Carol

Harold Budd and Brian Eno

Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror (1980)

Above Chiangmai

Buffalo Springfield

Retrospective: The Best Of Buffalo Springfield (1969)

Expecting To Fly

Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Choir

Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares (1990)

T Bone Burnett

Proof Through The Night (1983)

Fatally Beautiful

T Bone Burnett (1986)

River Of Love

The Talking Animals (1988)

Image

The Byrds

Younger Than Yesterday (1967)

So You Want To Be A Rock 'N' Roll Star

The Notorious Byrd Brothers (1968)

Goin' Back

Artificial Energy

Sweetheart Of The Rodeo (1968)

Hickory Wind

John Cale

Music For A New Society (1982)

Taking Your Life In Your Hands

Maria Callas

Five Heroines-Operatic Extracts (1990)

Vissi d'arte

Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band

Trout Mask Replica (1969)

The Dust Blows Forward 'n' The Dust Blows Back

Clear Spot (1972)

Big Eyed Beans From Venus

Hoagy Carmichael

Hoagy Sings Carmichael (1956)

Rockin' Chair

James Carr

At The Dark End Of The Street (1987)

Pouring Water On A Drowning Man

Johnny Cash

The Essential Johnny Cash (1992)

I Still Miss Someone

June Carter Cash

Press On (1999)

Tiffany Anastasia Lowe

Ray Charles

Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music (1962)

You Don't Know Me

A Life In Music (1982)

I Believe To My Soul

Just For A Thrill

Chic

Chic's Greatest Hits (1979)

My Forbidden Lover

Frédéric Chopin

Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 (pianist, conductor: Krystian Zimerman; 1978)

The Clash

London Calling (1979)

Rudie Can't Fail

The Singles (1991)

(White Man) In the Hammersmith Palais

Patsy Cline

Greatest Hits (1973)

Sweet Dreams

The Coasters

The Ultimate Coasters (1986)

Shoppin' For Clothes

Leonard Cohen

The Best Of Leonard Cohen (1976)

Who By Fire

More Best Of (1997)

The Future

Tower Of Song

Ornette Coleman

The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959)

Peace

John Coltrane

My Favorite Things (1961)

Every Time We Say Goodbye

The Impulse! Years (1993)

A Love Supreme

Ry Cooder

Paradise And Lunch (1974)

Married Man's A Fool

Sam Cooke

Night Beat (1963)

Get Yourself Another Fool

Don Covay

Checkin' In With Don Covay (1989)

It's Better To Have Than Not Have

Noël Coward

The Master's Voice: His HMV Recordings (1993)

The Stately Homes Of England

Bing Crosby

His Legendary Years (1993)

Gigi

David Crosby

If I Could Only Remember My Name (1971)

Laughing

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Déjà Vu (1970)

Helpless

Crowded House

Temple Of Low Men (1988)

Into Temptation

D'Angelo

Voodoo (2000)

Devil's Pie

Miles Davis

Birth Of The Cool (1956)

Boplicity

Miles Ahead (1957)

My Ship

Porgy And Bess (1958)

Bess, You Is My Woman Now

Kind Of Blue (1959)

All Blues

Sketches Of Spain (1960)

My Funny Valentine (1964)

In A Silent Way (1969)

Shhh

On The Corner (1969)

New York Girl

Miles Davis and Stan Getz and Lee Konitz

Conception (1975)

Ezz-thetic

Claude Debussy

Pelléas et Mélisande (conductor: Claudio Abbado; 1992)

Preludes (Krystian Zimerman; 1994)

Alfred Deller

William Byrd and His Age (1956)

Ye Sacred Muses

Destiny's Child

The Writing's on the Wall (1999)

Say My Name

Bo Diddley

His Best (1997)

Crackin' Up

Dr. John

Dr. John's Gumbo (1972)

Junko Partner

Eric Dolphy

Outward Bound (1960)

G.W.

Iron Man (1969)

Come Sunday

Lee Dorsey

Ride Your Pony (1966)

Get Out Of My Life, Woman

Wonder Woman

Yes We Can (1970)

Tears, Tears And More Tears

John Dowland

Awake Sweet Love (The Deller Consort; 1965)

Flow My Tears

Dowland: The Collected Works (Consort of Musicke; 1980)

A Pilgrimes Solice.

John Dowland And William Byrd

Night's Black Bird (Fretwork; 1989)

Henri Duparc

Melodies (baritone: Bernard Kruysen; 1971)

Phidyle

Jimmy Durante

September Song (1963)

Ian Dury

New Boots And Panties!! (1977)

Sweet Gene Vincent

Dyke & the Blazers

So Sharp (1983)

Bob Dylan

Bringing It All Back Home (1965)

Subterranean Homesick Blues

Blonde On Blonde (1966)

Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine

John Wesley Harding (1968)

All Along The Watchtower

Planet Waves (1974)

Dirge

Blood On The Tracks (1974)

You're A Big Girl Now

The Basement Tapes (1975)

Nothing Was Delivered

Shot Of Love (1981)

Every Grain of Sand

Time Out Of Mind (1997)

Not Dark Yet

Bob Dylan Live 1966: The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert (1998)

Like A Rolling Stone

I Don't Believe You

Edward Elgar

Symphony No. 1 (conductor: Edward Elgar; 1957)

Cello Concerto (Jacqueline Du Pré; 1965)

Duke Ellington

Anatomy Of A Murder (1959)

Haupe

. . . And His Mother Called Him Bill (1968)

Blood Count

The Centennial Edition: The Complete RCA Victor Recordings (boxed set; 1999)

East St. Louis Toodle-oo

In A Sentimental Mood

Tonk

Duke Ellington with Charles Mingus and Max Roach

Money Jungle (1962)

Wig Wise

Eminem

The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)

The Way I Am

The Bill Evans Trio

Waltz For Debby (1961)

"Waltz For Debby

The Gil Evans Orchestra

Out Of The Cool (1960)

Where Flamingos Fly

The Everly Brothers

It's Everly Time (1960)

Sleepless Nights

The Fairfield Four

I Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray (1997)

"There Must Be A City

Marianne Faithfull

Blazing Away (1990)

Strange Weather

Georgie Fame

Sound Venture (1966)

Funny How Time Slips Away

Gabriel Fauré

L'Horizon Chimérique (baritone: Gerard Souzay; 1999)

Morton Feldman

Madame Press Died Last Week At Ninety (1991) (conductor on "American Elegies": John Adams)

Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Cole Porter Songbook (1956)

Miss Otis Regrets

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Amstrong

The Complete Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong on Verve (1997)

Let's Do It

Fleetwood Mac

Greatest Hits (1971)

Man Of The World

The Flying Burrito Brothers

The Gilded Palace Of Sin (1969)

Juanita

The Four Tops

Anthology (1974)

Bernadette

Seven Rooms Of Gloom

Aretha Franklin

I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You (1967)

Do Right Woman-Do Right Man

Dr. Feelgood (Love Is A Serious Business)

Soul Serenade," etc., etc.

Aretha's Gold (1969)

I Say A Little Prayer

Chain Of Fools

(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman

Amazing Grace (1972)

Bill Frisell

Quartet (1996)

Egg Radio

Fugees

The Score (1996)

Ready Or Not

Funkadelic

One Nation Under A Groove (1978)

Marvin Gaye

Super Hits (1970)

The End Of Our Road

What's Going On (1971)

Let's Get It On (1973)

Here, My Dear (1979)

When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You

Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell

Greatest Hits (1970)

You Ain't Livin' Till You're Lovin'

Stan Getz

Stan Getz Plays(1952)

Stella By Starlight

Stan Getz and Astrid Gilberto

Getz/Gilberto (1963)

Desafinado (Off Key)

Dizzy Gillespie

Perceptions (1961)

The Sword Of Orion

Allen Ginsberg

The Lion For Real (1989)

Graham Central Station

Release Yourself (1974)

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and the Sugar Hill Gang

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five vs. the Sugar Hill Gang (1997)

The Message

Grateful Dead

Workingman's Dead (1970)

Dire Wolf

American Beauty (1970)

Box Of Rain

Europe '72 (1972)

Tennessee Jed

Wake Of The Flood (1973)

Stella Blue

Al Green

Call Me (1973)

You Say It! Raw! Rare! And Unreleased! (1990),

I'm A Ram

Edvard Grieg

Lieder (soloist: Anne Sofie von Otter; 1993)

Haugtussa

Charles Haden and Hank Jones

Steal Away (1995)

Hymn Medley: Abide With Me, etc

Merle Haggard

The Best Of The Best Of (1972)

No Reason To Quit

George Frideric Handel

Marian Cantatas (mezzo-soprano: Anne Sofie von Otter; 1994)

Heroes (countertenor: Andreas Scholl; 1999)

"Ombra mai fu" from Serse

Tim Hardin

Tim Hardin (1966)

Hang On To A Dream

Slim Harpo

The Best Of Slim Harpo (1997)

I'm A King Bee

Emmylou Harris

Elite Hotel (1976)

One Of These Days

PJ Harvey

Rid Of Me (1993

50 Ft. Queenie

Coleman Hawkins

Body And Soul (1988)

Rainbow Mist (1993)

Yesterdays

Joseph Haydn

Complete Piano Sonatas (Alfred Brendel; 1987)

String Quartets (Quatuor Mosaïques; 1990)

Tubby Hayes

Tubby's Groove (1959)

Embers

Richard Hell and The Voidoids

Blank Generation (1977)

New Pleasure

Jimi Hendrix

Smash Hits (1968)

Wind Cries Mary

Electric Ladyland (1968)

Crosstown Traffic

Live At Woodstock (1994)

Star Spangled Banner

The Heptones

Night Food (1976)

I've Got The Handle

Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks

Last Train To Hicksville . . . The Home To Happy Feet (1973)

It's Not My Time To Go

Lauryn Hill

The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill (1998)

Ex-Factor

Johnny Hodges

Passion Flower (1995)

Day Dream

Billie Holiday

Lady In Satin (1958

Glad To Be Unhappy)

I'm A Fool To Want You

The Billie Holiday Story (1972)

The Man I Love

Body And Soul

The Complete Decca Recordings (1991)

Don't Explain

The Hollies

The Best Of The Hollies (1978)

Look Through Any Window

Howlin' Wolf

His Best (1997)

Hidden Charms

The Isley Brothers

Super Hits (1976)

Behind A Painted Smile

Charles Ives

The Unanswered Question For Orchestra (conductor: Leonard Bernstein; 1998)

Jackson 5

Greatest Hits (1971)

I Want You Back

The Jam

All Mod Cons (1978)

Skip James

The Complete Early Recordings of Skip James (1994)

Devil Got My Woman

Leoš Janáček

String Quartets (Talich Quartet; 1994)

Jefferson Airplane

Crown Of Creation (1968)

Greasy Heart

The Jesus And Mary Chain

Psychocandy (1985)

You Trip Me Up

Antonio Carlos Jobim

Jazz Masters 13 (1995)

Insensatez

Little Willie John

Free at Last (1970)

Leave My Kitten Alone

Need Your Love So Bad

Robert Johnson

Complete Recordings (1990)

Love In Vain

George Jones

Anniversary: Ten Years Of Hits (1982)

The Grand Tour

Cup Of Loneliness: The Classic Mercury Years (1994)

Mr. Fool

Window Up Above

Relief Is Just A Swallow Away

Oum Kaltsoum

Anthologie De La Musique Arabe, Vols. 1-8 (1989)

The Kinks

The Ultimate Collection (1989)

Waterloo Sunset

Dead End Street

Where Have All the Good Times Gone?

Rahsaan Roland Kirk

The Inflated Tear (1968)

Erich Korngold

From The Operas Of Erich Korngold (1993)

Glück Das Mir Verblieb" from Die Tote Stadt (conductor: Erich Korngold)

The La's

The La's (1990)

There She Goes

Peggy Lee

Miss Peggy Lee (1998)

Don't Smoke In Bed

John Lennon

Plastic Ono Band (1970)

I Found Out

Imagine (1971)

How?

Shaved Fish (1975)

Instant Karma!

Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe

My Fair Lady (1956)

I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face

Gigi (1958)

I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore

Jerry Lee Lewis

Rockin' My Life Away (1991)

Rita Mae

Don't Let Go

Little Feat

Sailin' Shoes (1972)

Willin'

Feats Don't Fail Me Now (1974)

Rock And Roll Doctor

Little Richard

Here's Little Richard (1957)

Slippin' And Slidin' (Peepin' And Hidin')

The Explosive Little Richard (1967)

Commandments Of Love

The Louvin Brothers

When I Stop Dreaming: The Best Of The Louvin Brothers (1995)

My Baby's Gone

The Lovin' Spoonful

Anthology (1990)

Six O'Clock

Nick Lowe

Jesus Of Cool (1978)

36 Inches High

The Impossible Bird (1994)

Shelley My Love

Donal Lunny

Donal Lunny(1987)

Declan

Loretta Lynn

The Best Of Loretta Lynn (1999)

One's On The Way

Machito and His Afro-Cubans

Cubop City (1992)

Si Si, No No

Madness

The Rise And Fall (1982)

Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)

Gustav Mahler

Symphony No. 1 (conductor: Klaus Tennstedt; 1968)

Kindertotenlieder & Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen

The Mamas and The Papas

A Gathering Of Flowers (1970)

I Saw Her Again Last Night

Aimee Mann

Whatever (1993)

4th Of July

Bob Marley and The Wailers

African Herbsman (1972)

Small Axe

Natty Dread (1975)

Lively Up Yourself

The Marvelettes

The Return Of The Marvelettes (1970)

No More Tear-Stained Make-Up

Groucho Marx

An Evening With Groucho (1972)

Lydia, The Tattooed Lady

Massive Attack

Protection (1994)

Karmacoma

Matching Mole

Matching Mole (1972)

0 Caroline

Curtis Mayfield

The Very Best Of Curtis Mayfield (1996)

Move On Up

(Don't Worry) If There's A Hell Below We're All Going To Go

Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions

The Anthology 1961-1977 (1992)

Keep On Pushing

I'm So Proud

Paul McCartney

McCartney (1970)

Maybe I'm Amazed

Flaming Pie (1997)

Little Willow

Kate & Anna McGarrigle

Kate and Anna McGarrigle (1975)

Go Leave

Tommy McLain

The Essential Collection (1997)

Sweet Dreams

The Meters

The Best Of The Meters (1975)

Cissy Strut

Mina

Gli Anni d'Oro (1984)

Un Bacio E Troppo Poco

Charles Mingus

Blues And Roots (1959)

Mingus Ah-Urn (1959)

Goodbye Pork Pie Hat

Pre-Bird (also known as Mingus Revisited) (1960)

Weird Nightmare

Mingus At Antibes (1960)

What Love?

Mingus Plays Piano (1963)

Myself When I Am Real

Let My .Children Hear Music (1971)

Don't Be Afraid, The Clown's Afraid Too

Epitaph (1990)

The Children's Hour Of Dream

Joni Mitchell

Blue (1971)

The Last Time I Saw Richard

For The Roses (1972)

Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire

Court And Spark (1974)

Down To You

The Hissing Of Summer Lawns (1975)

Shades Of Scarlet Conquering

Hejira (1976)

Amelia

Taming The Eger (1998)

Man From Mars

Stay In Touch

The Modern Lovers

The Modern Lovers (1976)

Pablo Picasso

Someone To Care About

Thelonious Monk

Genius Of Modern Music, Vol. 1 (1951)

Off Minor

Brilliant Corners (1957)

Monk's Music (1958)

Abide With Me

Off Minor

Bill Monroe

The Music Of Bill Monroe (1994)

Walls Of Time

Claudio Monteverdi

L'Incoronazione Di Poppea (conductor: John Eliot Gardiner; 1993)

Moondog

The Story Of Moondog (1957)

Van Morrison

Astral Weeks (1968)

Beside You

Moondance (1970)

Into The Mystic

His Band And Street Choir (1970)

Street Choir

Veedon Fleece (1974)

Linden Arden Stole The Highlights

Jelly Roll Morton

Birth Of The Hot (1995)

Dead Man Blues

Wolverine Blues

The Mothers Of Invention

We're Only In It For The Money (1968)

Who Needs The Peace Corps?

The Move

The Best Of The Move (1974)

Blackberry Way

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Piano Concerto No. 20 (pianist: Clifford Curzon; 1970)

Requiem (conductor: John Eliot Gardiner; 1986)

Quartets Dedicated To Haydn (Quatuor Mosaïques; 1991)

La Clemenza Di Tito (conductor: John Eliot Gardiner; 1993)

Le Nozze Di Figaro (conductor: Karl Bohm; 1993)

Modest Mussorgsky

Songs And Dances Of Death (soloist: Sergei Leiferkus; 1995)

Roy Nathanson

Fire at Keaton's Bar and Grill (2000)

Bend in the Night

Oliver Nelson

The Blues And The Abstract Truth (1961)

Stolen Moments

Straight Head (1961)

Images

Willie Nelson

Stardust (1978)

Moonlight In Vermont

Bob Neuwirth

Back To The Front (1988)

Annabelle Lee

Aaron Neville

Greatest Hits (1990)

Tell It Like It Is

Randy Newman

Randy Newman (1968)

Cowboy

Sail Away (1972)

Good Old Boys (1974)

Trouble In Paradise (1983)

Real Emotional Girl

New York Dolls

New York Dolls (1973)

Personality Crisis

Nirvana

Nevermind (1991)

Lithium

Luigi Nono

Fragmente-Stille An Diotima (LaSalle Quartet; 1983)

NRBQ

NRBQ (1969)

Rocket #9

Laura Nyro and Labelle

Gonna Take A Miracle (1971)

The Bells

Roy Orbison

The Orbison Way (1966)

Crawling Back

Augustus Pablo

El Rockers (2000)

Black Gunn

Giovanni Palestrina

Missa Viri Galilaei (direction: Philippe Herreweghe; 1992)

Charlie Parker

The Complete Savoy Studio Sessions (19781.

Ko-Ko

Van Dyke Parks

Discover America (1972)

Jack Palance

Gram Parsons

GP (1973)

We'll Sweep Out The Ashes In The Morning

Grievous Angel (1974)

Hearts On Fire

Ann Peebles

I Can't Stand The Rain (1974)

Dan Penn

Nobody's Fool (1973)

Raining In Memphis

Dan Penn And Spooner Oldham

Moments From This Theater (1999)

It Tears Me Up

Sam Phillips

Martinis And Bikinis (1994)

Same Rain

The Pogues

Rum, Sodomy & The Lash (1985)

The Old Main Drag

I'm A Man You Don't Meet Every Day

Dulce Pontes

Caminhos (1998)

0 Infante

Iggy Pop

The Idiot (1977)

Nightclubbin'

Lust For Life (1977)

Some Weird Sin

Portishead

Dummy (1994)

Sour Times

Glory Box

Portishead (1997)

Western Eyes

Francis Poulenc

Melodies (baritone: Pierre Bernac; 1950)

Hotel

Bud Powell

The Best Of Bud Powell On Verve (1994)

April In Paris

Elvis Presley

The Sun Sessions (1976)

Blue Moon Of Kentucky

The Memphis Album (1987)

Power Of My Love

The Pretenders

Pretenders (1980)

Kid

Precious

The Singles (1987)

Message Of Love

Prince

Around The World In A Day (1985)

Pop Life

Parade (1986)

Kiss

Sign Of The Times (1987)

If I Was Your Girlfriend

John Prine

John Prine (1972)

Sam Stone

Sergey Prokofiev

Romeo And Juliet (conductor: Charles Dutoit; 1998)

Pulp

Different Class (1995)

Sorted Out For E's And Wiz

Henry Purcell

Dido And Aeneas (Dido: Dame Janet Baker; 1993)

Fantasias & In Nomines (Fretwork, 1995)

Radiohead

The Bends (1995)

The Bends

O.K. Computer (1997)

No Surprises

Bonnie Raitt

Give It Up (1972)

Love Has No Pride

Otis Redding

The Very Best Of Otis Redding (1992)

Mr. Pitiful

Jimmy Reed

The Best Of Jimmy Reed (1962)

Take Out Some Insurance On Me Baby

Lou Reed

Berlin (1973)

The Kids

R.E.M.

Reckoning (1984)

Pretty Persuasion

Green (1988)

Orange Crush

The Replacements

All Shook Down (1990)

Nobody

Marc Ribot

Marc Ribot Y 10s Cubanos Postizos (1998)

No Me Llores Mas

Charlie Rich

Feel Like Going Home: The Essential Charlie Rich (1997)

A Woman Left Lonely

Jeannie Robertson

The Queen Among The Heather (1998)

Son David

Smokey Robinson And The Miracles

The Anthology (1973)

Going To A-Go-Go

The Rolling Stones

Aftermath (1966)

Stupid Girl

Take It Or Leave It

Between The Buttons (1967)

My Obsession

Let It Bleed (1969)

You Can't Always Get What You Want

Some Girls (1978)

Shattered

Sonny Rollins

Saxophone Colossus (1964)

St. Thomas

Diana Ross And The Supremes

The Ultimate Collection (1997)

Reflections

I'm Living In Shame

Gioacchino Rossini

Rossini Arias (mezzo-soprano: Cecilia Bartoli; 1989)

Assisa A Piè D'un Salice

Otis Rush

His Cobra Recordings (1989)

It Takes Time

George Russel

The Jazz Workshop (1956)

Ye Hypocrite, Ye Beelzebub

Salt'N Pepa

The Best Of Salt'N Pepa (1999)

Whatta Man

Sam & Dave

The Best Of Sam And Dave (1969)

When Something Is Wrong With My Baby

Franz Schubert

B-flat Major Piano Sonata, D. 960 (Alfred Brendel; 1971)

F-sharp Minor Piano Sonata (fragment), D. 571 (Andras Schiff; 1993)

Winterreise (Wolfgang Holzmair; 1996)

22 Lieder (boxed set; 1997)

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau And Gerald Moore, "Meerestille"

Jimmy Scott

Heaven (1996)

Raymond Scott

Reckless Nights And Turkish Twilights (1992)

Manhattan Research Inc. (2000)

Limbo: The Organized Mind.

Andres Segovia

Andres Segovia and His Contemporaries, Vol. 6 (1999)

(Maria Luisa Anido: Bouree BWV l009, J. S. Bach)

The Sex Pistols

Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols (1977)

Pretty Vacant

Ron Sexsmith

Ron Sexsmith (1995)

Wastin' Time

Dmitri Shostakovich

Cello Concerto No. 1 (cellist: Mstislav Rostropovich; 1959)

The String Quartets (Brodsky Quartet; 1991)

24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 (pianist: Tatiana Nikolayeva; 1995)

Shostakovich Plays Shostakovieh, Cello Sonata, Op. 40 (cellist: Mstislav Rostropovich; pianist: Dmitry Shostakovich; 1998)

Symphony No. 14 (soloists: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Julia Varady; 2000)

Paul Simon

Paul Simon (1972)

Congratulations

Peace Like A River

There Goes Rhymin' Simon (1973)

American Tune

Simon And Garfunkel

Bookends (1968)

Overs

Nina Simone

The Best Of Nina Simone (1969)

Mississippi Goddam

I Loves You, Porgy

Frank Sinatra

In The Wee Small Hours (1955)

Dancing On The Ceiling

When Your Lover Has Gone

Songs For Swingin'

Lovers (1956)

I've Got You Under My Skin

Only The Lonely (1958)

Good-bye

No One Cares (1959)

I Can't Get Started

Live In Paris (1962)

Without A Song

Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim

Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim (1967)

How Insensitive

Percy Sledge

When A Man Loves A Woman (1967)

Out Of Left Field

Sly & the Family Stone

Anthology (1981)

Stand!

Family Affair

The Small Faces

The Immediate Years (1995)

Itchycoo Park

Elliott Smith

XO (1998)

Waltz #2

The Smiths

The Smiths (1984)

Still Ill

Son Volt

Trace (1995)

Loose String

The Specials

Specials (1979)

Blank Expression

Phil Spector

Back to Mono (1991)

the Crystals, "He's Sure the Boy I Love"

The Spinners

The Best Of The Spinners (1978)

Rubberband Man

Dusty Springfield

Dusty In Memphis (1969)

I Don't Want To Hear It Anymore

Just One Smile

Greatest Hits (1979)

I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten

Bruce Springsteen

The Wild, The Innocent And The E Street Shuffle (1973)

The E Street Shuffle

The River (1980)

Point Blank

Tunnel Of Love (1987)

Brilliant Disguise

The Ghost Of Tom Joad (1995)

Galveston Bay

Squeeze

East Side Story (1981)

A Woman's World

The Stanley Brothers

The Complete Columbia Stanley Brothers (1996)

Gathering Flowers For The Master's Bouquet

Steely Dan

Countdown To Ecstasy (1973)

Show Biz Kids

Rod Stewart

The Mercury Anthology (1992)

You Wear It Well

Richard Strauss

Der Rosenkavalier (conductor: Carlos Kleiber; 1934)

Four Last Songs (soloist: Gundula Janowitz; 1996)

Igor Stravinsky

L'Histoire Du Soldat (conductor: Stravinsky; 1938)

Le Sacre Du Printemps (conductor: Leonard Bernstein; 1958)

Igor Stravinsky Edition (conductor: Stravinsky; 1963)

The Stylistics

The Best of the Stylistics (1975)

People Make The World Go `Round

June Tabor

Abyssinians (1983)

A Smiling Shore

Howard Tate

Get It While You Can (1967)

I Learned It All The Hard Way

Art Tatum

20th Century Piano Genius (1992)

Love For Sale

Johnnie Taylor

Raw Blues (1968)

That's Where It's At

Television

Marquee Moon (1977)

See No Evil

The Temptations

Anthology (1973)

Just My Imagination

Ball Of Confusion

Joe Tex

The Best Of Joe Tex (1965)

Love You Save (May Be Your Own)

Them

The Story Of Them (1997)

Don't Look Back

Irma Thomas

Ruler Of Hearts (1989)

Richard And Linda Thompson

I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight (1974)

Calvary Cross

Henry Threadgill

Easily Slip Into Another World (1987)

Black Hands Bejewelled

T.L.C.

Fanmail (1999)

Unpretty

Mel Torme

Easy To Remember (1979)

They Didn't Believe Me

Tribe Called Quest

Anthology (1999)

Check The Rhime

Tricky

Maxinquaye (1995)

Overcome

Lennie Tristano

The New Tristano (1960)

Requiem

Line Up

Turkish Mambo

Big Joe Turner

The Very Best Of Big Joe Turner (1998)

Honey Hush

U2

The Unforgettable Fire (1984)

Pride (In The Name Of Love)

Bad

Achtung Baby (1991)

One

Pop (1997)

Please

The Undertones

The Undertones (1980)

Teenage Kicks

The Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground & Nico (1966)

Femme Fatale

The Verve

Urban Hymns (1997)

The Drugs Don't Work

Neon Wilderness

Anne Sofie von Otter

Wings In The Night (1996)

De Vilda Svanarna

Richard Wagner

Tristan And Isolde (conductor: Wilhelm Furtwangler; 1952)

Der Ring Des Nibelungen (conductor: George Solti; 1983)

Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton

The Right Combination: Burning The Midnight Oil (1972)

Her And The Car And The Mobile Home

Tom Waits

Swordfishtrombones (1983)

16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought-Six

In The Neighborhood

Rain Dogs (1985)

Jockey Full Of Bourbon

Time

Frank's Wild Years (1987)

Innocent When You Dream

Hang On St. Christopher

Bone Machine (1992)

A Little Rain

I Don't Wanna Grow Up

Mule Variations (1999)

Take It With Me

Georgia Rae

Filipino Box-Spring Hog

Scott Walker

Tilt (1995)

Farmer In The City

Dionne Warwick

The Windows Of The World (1968)

Walk Little Dolly

Muddy Waters

More Real Folk Blues (1967)

Too Young To Know

Doc Watson

The Essential Dot Watson (1973)

Tom Dooley

Anton Webern

Complete Works (conductor: Pierre Boulez; 2000)

Kurt Weill

0 Moon Of Alabama (1994)

Lotte Lenya, "Wie lange noch?"

Kenny Wheeler with Lee Konitz, Bill Fisell and Dave Holland

Angel Song (1997)

The Who

My Generation (1965)

The Kids Are Alright

Meaty, Beaty, Big And Bouncy (1971)

Substitute

Hank Williams

40 Greatest Hits (1978)

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry

I'll Never Get out of This World Alive

Lucinda Williams

Car Wheels On A Gravel Road (1998)

Drunken Angel

Sonny Boy Williamson

The Best Of Sonny Boy Williamson (1986)

Your Funeral And My Trial

Help Me

Jesse Winchester

Jesse Winchester (1970)

Quiet About It

Black Dog

Payday

Wings

Band On The Run (1973)

Let Me Roll It

Hugo Wolf

Lieder (soloist: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau; 2000)

Alles Endet, Was Entstehet

Bobby Womack

The Best Of Bobby Womack (1992)

Harry Hippie

Stevie Wonder

Talking Book (1972)

I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)

Innervisions (1973)

Living For The City

Fulfillingness' First Finale (1974)

You Haven't Done Nothin'

Betty Wright

The Best Of Betty Wright (1992)

Clean Up Woman

The Baby Sitter

The Secretary

Robert Wyatt

Mid-Eighties (1993)

Te Recuerdo Amanda

Lester Young

Ultimate Lester Young (1998)

The Man I Love

Neil Young

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (1969)

Down By The River

After The Goldrush (1970)

Birds

Time Fades Away (1973)

Don't Be Denied

On The Beach (1974)

Ambulance Blues

Freedom (1989)

The Ways Of Love

Ragged Glory (1990)

Fuckin' Up

Zamballarana

Zamballarana (1997)

Ventu

Soundtracks

Betty Blue (Gabriel Yared; 1986)

Big Night (Louis Prima et al.; 1996)

Claudio Villa, "Stomelli Amorisi"

The Harder They Come (Jimmy Cliff; 1972)

Many Rivers To Cross

High Society (Cole Porter; 1956)

Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, "Well Did You Evah?"

One from the Heart (Tom Waits; 1982)

Torn Curtain (Bernard Herrmann;1978)

The Wood (1999)

Mystikal & Outkast, "Neck uv da Woods."

Various

The Alan Lomax Collection Sampler (1997)

Genoese longshoremen, "La Partenza"

Anthology Of American Folk Music (1997)

Dock Boggs, "Country Blues"

The Birth Of The Third Stream (1957)

Chess Golden Decade: The Early '50s, Vol. 1 (circa 1970)

Willie Mabon, "I'm Mad"

Ethiopiques: Ethio Jazz And Musique Instrumentale 1969-1974, Vol. 4 (1998)

Mulatu Astatqé, "Yèkèrmo Sèw"

Gravikords, Whirlies & Pyrophones (1996)

Mysteries Of The Sabbath: Classic Cantorial Recordings, 1907-47 (1994)

Nuggets (1998)

the Knickerbockers, "Lies,"

the Barbarians, "Moulty"

The Real Kansas City Of The '20s, '30s, & '40s (1996)

Fletcher Henderson And His Orchestra "Queer Notions"

The Secret Museum Of Mankind, Ethnic Music Classics: 1925-48 (1995-1998)

There Will Be No Sweeter Sound: Columbia Okeh Post-War Gospel Story 1947-1962 (1998)

Mello-Tones, "Looking for That City Called Heaven"

Tougher Than Tough

The Story Of Jamaican Music (1993)

Dave And Ansel Collins, "Double Barrel"