Six out of 100 ain't bad

Despite owning a great many albums, I find that only six of the 100 greatest albums voted for by readers of NME have a place in my collection. The list is dominated by albums from the last 20 years although the Beatles predicably did well with four of the top 14. There was no place for soul legends such as Otis Redding, Al Green, Sam Cooke or Wilson Pickett. No place for rockers like Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee, Chuck Berry or Fats Domino. Not even a place for Elvis. That's not surprising given NME's readership, but it also reflects the fact that Elvis and co come from an era when what mattered was singles. LPs were often an irrelevence comprising a couple of hit singles and ten cover versions, although there are many great LPs that are missing from the list. One of these days I will get round to making a list of my own top 100, but that's for another day. So what are the six that made it both into the NME list and my collection? Highest placed was Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys at number 22. There were two Bob Dylan albums in the NME list - Blood on the Tracks and Blonde on Blonde - while the others were The Velvet Underground and Nico, Forever Changes by Love and What's Going on by Marvin Gaye.