Last week Hayden told us about Counterpunch's lists of favorite albums since 1950 as chosen by their contributors. "25 favorite albums [per list] recorded since 1950. Only one entry per artist and no greatest hits collections. Of course, rules are made to be broken and they were." Below is my list culled from their lists. (Coming up with my own would have been too much work.) Some of these would have been on my list and I'm happy with each even if I would not have chosen it had I made a list from scratch. Albums are in chronological order. Within a given year they're in alphabetical order by artist. I also compiled a list of albums that I would not have chosen but that I was delighted to see on someone's list (imperfect albums with GREAT tracks or flawed but favorite artists.) If anyone's interested I'll add comments & post it, too.

1. Robert Johnson: King of the Delta Blues Singers (Columbia, 1961).[Yeah, it was released in the last 50 years, but it was recorded in the late thirties. But if Counterpunch wants to cheat to make a place for something this good I'm not gonna argue.]
2. Thelonious Monk, Brilliant Corners, (Riverside,1957) [The title track was the first Monk I ever heard. Monk at his most extreme and it made complete sense to me. My mother is somewhat horrified that her grandchild will be named Thelonious.]
3. Frank Sinatra: Only the Lonely (1958) [His Capitol recordings are very consistent, but this rises above the others. Very desolate, but you'd be a wreck too if Ava Gardner dumped you. "Angel Eyes" is astonishing, but it's only the second best track--and by a big margin--because "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" is Sinatra's greatest recording.]
4. Miles Davis: Kind of Blue (1959) [The Sgt. Pepper of jazz, except that it really does live up to its ginormous reputation.]
5. Charles Mingus: Mingus Ah Um (1959) [Hell of a line-up: "Better Get Hit in Yo' Soul," "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" and "Fables of Faubus"]
6. James Brown-Live at the Apollo (1962) ["Are you ready for star time?" Ohhh yeahh. And James lives up to that billing and every other one Fats Gonder throws in.]
7. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (1964) [A modern psalm.]
8. Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited (1965) [This would be on my list. My favorite Dylan. Very funny ("Tombstone Blues", title track), very moving ("Like a Rolling Stone", "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues". He'd been at it long enough to have the craft completely down yet it also overflows with the joy and energy of discovery.]
9. Beatles: Revolver (1966) [Rubber Soul is actually my favorite Beatles, but that's splitting hairs: I would not argue against including this.]
10. Aretha Franklin--I Never Loved A Man the Way I Love You (1967) [She's a giant whom I usually appreciate from a distance, but I can't gainsay this one. And the first line of "Do Right Woman" goes a long way toward breaking down my resistance to coronating her The Singer.]
11. The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced? (1967, MCA) [One of my gods. Best album of 1967 (Sgt. Pepper, Who Sell Out, I Never Loved a Man..., Velvet Underground and Nico, Forever Changes) and best debut ever, IMHO. Never fails to amaze me. But I do think "Purple Haze" is way overrated.]
12. Van Morrison: Astral Weeks, (1968) [This and Robert Johnson got me through the high school years (the early eighties). I always was a bit out of step. Doesn't make my choices less worthy, though. Pick hit: Richard Davis on "Ballerina".]
13. The Rolling Stones, Beggars Banquet (1968) [Make all the wheelchair jokes and greedy bastard disparagements you want: they didn't give a fuck then and they don't give a fuck now. No false modesty, but also no pointless breast-beating: they were great, maybe the greatest, and they knew it. They backed it up by being the shit, not by telling everyone they were the shit. This is probably my favorite, but I'd be happy with Now or (the English) Aftermath or Let It Bleed or Exile or Sticky Fingers.]
14. Miles Davis-A Tribute to Jack Johnson (1970) [Violates the "one album per artist" rule, but this is SO vastly different from Kind of Blue that... well, that I feel comfortable including it, too. Hendrix was the inspiration, but it doesn't sound like him either. "Right Off" is as aggressive as KoB is mellow. McLaughlin's amazing. Great, great stuff.]
15. Led Zeppelin----IV (1971) [Despite hearing "Stairway to Heaven" at least three times a day from 1978 or 1979 through 1985, AOR and later the classic rock format still couldn't ruin this for me. Hey, David, "Battle of Evermore" is my favorite Sandy Denny performance. Okay, I'm kidding, but I do love this album.]
16. Sly and the Family Stone-There's a Riot Goin' On (1971) [Took me a long time to get into this -- took a long time to find since I bought it long after it came out and almost as long before the CD reissue -- but completely worth it. Great use of space. What a monster talent; what a monstrous waste. Very sad.]
17. Rod Stewart--Every Picture Tells A Story (1971) [What a monster talent; what a monstrous waste. Not so sad. Yeah, he willingly turned himself into a joke. A very rich joke, but still. His catalog may not be as deep as the Stones' (though he made a lot more great recordings than Clapton), you laughers, but this is as great an album as Mick & Keith ever made, certainly more perfect. Great from beginning to end.]
18. The Who - Who's Next (1971) [Another album so good that AOR couldn't kill it. And I'd rather listen to it than "The Who Sell Out" (even if "Tattoo" is the best song on either record.) "Goin' Mobile" and "Bargain" never get old for me.]
ETA: The board seems to have a problem with me being long-winded. Pffftt!

List part deux:

19. Jimmy Cliff et al. (soundtrack) "The Harder They Come"(1972) [Cliff's title track and "Many Rivers to Cross" are fabulous -- but no better than the Maytals' "Pressure Drop", the Melodians'"Rivers of Babylon" or The Slickers' "Johnny Too Bad"].
20. Stevie Wonder: Innervisions (1973) [I don't know if I'd choose this over "TAlking Book" but that wasn't on the list so that was easy. As much as I love Stevie, I love Marvin even more--but Marvin didn't make albums as great as Stevie did. And yes, I'm very much including "What's Going On" in that. Insert another disparaging Sgt. Pepper comment here. Anyway... this has it all: funky, funny, virtuosity and subtlety, great songs and great performances. And EVERY time I'm about to enter either the Holland or Lincoln Tunnel from NJ I still turn to whoever's in the car and say, "New York... just like I pictured it. Skyscrapers and ev'rythang!"]
21. Randy Newman's Good Old Boys, (Reprise, 1974) [Christgau: "Contrary to published report, the white Southerners Newman sings about/from are never objects of contempt. Even Newman's psychotic and exhibitionist and moron show dignity and imagination, and the rednecks of the album's most notorious songs are imbued by the smart-ass Los Angeles Jew who created them with ironic distance, a smart-ass's kindest cut of all. There is, natcherly, a darker irony: no matter how smart they are about how dumb they are, they still can't think of anything better to do than keep the niggers down." Note: the lead track is "Rednecks": "We're rednecks, rednecks/We don't know our ass from a hole in the ground/We are rednecks, rednecks/We are keeping the niggers down"]
22. Brian Eno: Another Green World (1975) [Especially love "Everything Merges with the Night" and Fripp's guitar on "I'll Come Running". Inspired by the Velvets and electric Miles, even if that only makes sense in retrospect.]
23. The Clash--London Calling (1979) [Great synthesis of the first 25 years of rock and roll, from Elvis (check the cover) to punk. Love love love the Monty Clift tribute.]
24. Richard and Linda Thompson: Shoot Out the Lights (1981) [Takes a hell of a singer to steal the spotlight from his songs and guitar, but she managed it on a consistent basis. Then you notice how astonishing his songs and guitar are. Then when you're convinced that he's the star she reminds you why it's Richard AND Linda. I'm sorry they were so unhappy, but I'm glad they stuck it out long enough to make this.]
25. Public Enemy: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988) [All hail the Bomb Squad! "Bring the Noise" is the greatest production ever. Or maybe the second best on the first side ("Louder Than a Bomb"). And maybe not as great as "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" or "Rebel Without a Pause". There's so much to hear on this record that I'm not sure you could ever get to the bottom of it. THIS is the album that I want to see a "Making of...". I'll be happy to listen to Chuck, but I really want to hear from Terminator and the Shocklees and Vietnam Sadler. So dense and rich. Wow. This would definitely be on my list.]

Very cool, Joe.

3. Frank Sinatra: Only the Lonely (1958) [His Capitol recordings are very consistent, but this rises above the others. Very desolate, but you'd be a wreck too if Ava Gardner dumped you.

Yeah, but she only dumped him because he forced her into getting an abortion when she didn't want to.

"Angel Eyes" is astonishing,

Yep. The orchestrations are so great on this record too. We've talked a lot about the simpatico playing on Astral Weeks but the arrangements on Sinatra's Capitol records are also perfectly complementary to his vocals.

but it's only the second best track--and by a big margin--because "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" is Sinatra's greatest recording.]

I tend to agree with this. This is my favorite Sinatra record. Original title: Songs For Losers.

My mother is somewhat horrified that her grandchild will be named Thelonious.

That's a hell of a thing to do to a little girl, Joe.

GF already called dibs on the name if it's a girl (Rebecca). She is willing to consider Thelonious as a middle name, though. For my part I'm willing to compromise and go with Pannonica (as in Monk's, and Bird's, patron, the Baroness de Koenigswarter) if she has a girl. See, I'm really not that difficult.

Misha, did you see the comedy stylings of Paul Simms, a.k.a, Mr. Newsradio, in this week's New Yorker?

Sadly, my wife has declared Thelonious, Miles, and Lemmy off-limits for kids' names.

Langford Childs has a nice ring to it. How would she feel about that?

Really must leave... but first will go off on a name tangent. One of the great things about seeing Dr. Strangelove on a big screen is that you can actually read Keenan Wynn's nametag, so that I now know that perhaps my all-time favorite character name is "Col. Bat Guano" ("If that's really your name."), not "Col. Batguano". I know you're delighted I shared that and are dying for more gems from my odd little mind, but I must go to a Canada Day party.

BWAH!! Love that movie.

Any opinions on The Killers? I've heard two of their songs and think I might like the whole CD.