Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

Released just months before Jim Morrison's death, L.A. Woman holds an interestingly place in The Doors cannon. It doesn't sound like any other Doors record, it's a full on blues record, and Jim isn't in particular good voice, he's grainy, strained and his voice even cracks on occasion; but it only adds to the charm of one of the all time great blues records. Despite it's melancholy, L.A. Woman still feels like a light hearted record full of in jokes, and over the top imagery. The album is bookended by two stone cold classics "The Changeling" and "Riders On The Storm". What happens in between the two is unsettling and inconsistent, and it can be a mighty trudge at times but it's more than worth the considerable endeavor. The Doors as a band are tighter than ever, with a cool blues sound highlighted by a truly mesmeric organ/keys performance adding a winding hypnotic fair ground feel the mix, making easily my favourite blues record of all time, and The Doors second best effort.

James Brown was an artist who was always more at home on stage than in the recording studio, now that's not to say that the Godfather Of Soul didn't make some great records, he most certainly did, but his works were rarely mentioned in the same breath as Bowie or Floyd. The Payback however changed things, it was Brown's legitimate classic, slowing things way down, Brown opted for big open ended sprawling jam sessions; that rather than exposing the bands limitations, instead highlighted just how tight a unit they had become. The album was crammed full of gorgeous grooves and the kind of jams that just soothed their way into your subconscious; "The Payback" floats like a dream, "Mind Power" was a gloriously laid back call to arms, and the ironically named "Time Is Running Out Fast" was the album's centre piece. As a work it shows that Brown was confident enough in his band to let them exchange solos across a largely instrumental twelve minutes of pure jazz-funk ecstasy.

The 70s as a decade spawn a series of albums that would change the course of music history forever, creating the sounds and genres that would dominate the next thirty years of music making, and while Never Mind The Bollocks... may grab the headlines it's Van Halen that would have the biggest and most immediate impact on the music scene at large. Hair metal, speed metal and thrash were waiting just around the corner and they all have their roots in this one album, and Eddie Van Halen's legendary finger tapping style. Now the reason Van Halen's role in rock history is underplayed is quite obvious; the album's sheer self indulgence, it's shallow and revels in the superficial, to put it as succinctly as possible it's an album that has nothing to say. Regardless what critics like myself may say (and have said) this record inspired a generation of kids to start playing their guitars as loud and as fast as they possibly could, while the rest of the world was content to dance and sing-along to "You Really Got Me" and "Ain't Talking About Love".

When I came to draw up this shortlist I was genuinely dreading the prospect of listing Hotel California and The Eagles. It must have been at least a decade since I last picked up this record and put it on. Yet much to my surprise, it suddenly clicked, I felt the magic that made Hotel California one of the best selling records of all time. Now don't worry, I'm not going to start telling you that Hotel California is some grand artistic statement of Neutral Milk Hotel proportions, I've just finally grasped it's appeal. Hotel California is perhaps the best all round MOR record of all time, while Joshua Tree is so often drowned in praise, Hotel California is a far more consistent, coherent and sonically intriguing work. It lacks the emotional depth of U2's money making juganaught but Hotel California had a wonderful up lifting groove and a swirling sense of musicality. Full of charming melodies and those intricate little lyrical details that transform a mediocre track into a full blown anthem. At it's worst Hotel California circums to saccharine sickiliness (see "The Last Resort") and at it's best it's a satisfying groovy goliath (see "Victim Of Love"). Like the best MOR records Hotel California is instantly familiar, endless anthemic but never lightweight and rarely dull.

Sometimes a phenomenon just erupts and sweeps away everything in it's path, Elvis Costello was one of those phenomena. He seemed completely out of keeping with everything that surrounded him, he looked like an anachronism, even in '77 he appeared dated; but when he opened his mouth he unleashed upon the world a series of albums that were sleeker, shaper, smarter and more infectious than anything else on the rock scene. It's rare that an artist can be so unashamedly poppy and yet so defiantly intellectual. Weaving complex and often misleading narratives Costello arrived fully formed as a song writer even if he was yet to uncover his signature sound and his backing band. Almost every track on My Aim Is True is irresistible, even his smutlziest ballad ("Allison") was utterly captivating, beautifully contrasting the coos of "my aim is true" with the thudding shouts of "stop". My Aim Is True plays like a classic barroom record, except we don't/didn't have bars and saloons in the UK, and in many ways it feels like the natural forerunner to current critical darlings The Hold Steady and Girls. Costello managed to bring a new twist to old sounds "Mystery Dance" never sounds remotely dated because Costello's verse is so sharp and his lyrics twist so beautifully. Then of course there was that closer, you know, the one about "Watching The Detectives"; that clanging guitar still sends chills down my spine, and Costello's verse is positively pedophiliac you almost feel dirty as the words "She Gets Down And Begs" slither from his lips. In short, My Aim Is True was the perfect debut, this ladies and gentlemen is how you make an impact.