"Never Knowingly Listened to" List of well regarded albums

Thanks to Spotify and my search for great music of which I have no knowledge, I have discovered that there are 27 albums in Q's top 100 albums (from 2006) that I have no knowledge of ever having listened to.

The high number shocked me, I thought I was a decent all rounder in my chosen sport.

There four basic subsections of these 27 albums

1. Some which I am really surprised that I haven’t ever listened to (Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Joy Division - Closer, etc ). These are album titles which I can name from the top of my head; these are by artists I think I like. In my youth they may have never been in stock at West Bromwich or Walsall libraries, weren’t anywhere to be found in my family or friends collections and weren’t highly placed in the competition for my limited spending money. By the time music became more affordable or accessible to me I had moved on to something else and never quite looked back at them.

2. Albums by artists from whom I listened to another album or albums and those sufficed as all I needed from that artist (in both good and bad ways). Here we have Neil Young – After the Goldrush, Prince - Sign 'O' the times, Kraftwerk - The Man Machine, Nirvana - In Utero etc etc. This seems to be the largest subsection.

3. Albums that my prejudices regarding the artists caused me to avoid. Coldplay, Morrissey to name the top two.

4. Albums by artists who that for one reason or another just never really reached my radar. Jeff Buckley, Wilco, Muse... I have pretty much not preconceptions about these.

There are albums in the Q top 100 which I don't feel that I have given a proper chance and would maybe like to revisit. The Clash - London Calling is the top contender here, people love it, I might love it... I have listened to it and not really bothered to get to know it. Maybe I should, maybe I will in future and it will become a temporary obsession. Or maybe it will always be one of those just out of reach albums. One thing is for sure, this category of albums is also excluded from the 'Never Knowingly Listened to List'

The albums on my 'Never Knowingly Listened To' list do not include stuff that I know I have heard, either through someone else playing them, a borrowed CD, a mostly ignored a tape, an mp3 etc etc. I know I have listened to them, just not very much. This could be through my prejudice or my gut reaction, who knows? I just know that I have given them a day in court (however swift my judgment may have been) and therefore don't want to add them to the 'Never Knowingly Listened To' list. (Most noticeable contenders here are the Oasis albums)

So the plan is to go through each album the twenty eight unheard albums and listen to them at least twice. First, in a background sort of way (essentially quietly at my desk through a pair of reasonable sounding Bose PC speakers) then again at home properly at proper volume through full sized speakers. Then to write down what I honestly think about each of the albums. A one line first impression, and maybe a full breakdown after a proper listen.

My 'Never Knowingly Listened To' list of albums from Q's top 100

1. Jeff Buckley - Grace
2. Travis - The Man Who
3. Coldplay - Parachutes
4. Prince - Sign 'O' the times
5. Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauren Hill
6. Mercury Rev - Deserter's Songs
7. Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour of the Bewilderbeast
8. Macy Gray - Macy Gray on How Life Is
9. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
10. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - Tunnel of Love
11. Nirvana - In Utero
12. Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head
13. The Strokes - Is This It
14. Joy Division - Closer
15. David Bowie - Hunky Dory
16. David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
17. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
18. Muse - Origin of Symmetry
19. The Clash - The Clash
20. The Jam - Setting Sons
21. David Bowie - Low
22. Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
23. PJ Harvey - Stories from the City, Stories From the Sea
24. Neil Young - After the Goldrush
25. Morrissey - Vauxhall And I
26. Kraftwerk - The Man Machine
27. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

(Not sure why the number which blogger inserted for me were turned into little flowers when published, but they are sweet, so I won't correct them)