WHAT'S THE STORY?

Back in 1987, a former co-worker (and fellow music geek) and I exchanged top ten album lists via email at the end of the year. In 1988, we did the same thing, adding a few more reviews and passing them around to friends at work. It's grown since then. I moved the reviews to the web and added graphics in 1996. The old ones are the ones subtitled "The Email Years".

In 2005, it struck me just how many of these I've done, so I figured an overall index page would be handy. You can look at a particular year's review, browse by artist, or check out the FAQ. Hope you have fun.

Feel free to drop me a note if you've got any comments.

      -- Owen

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

Click an album cover to go to that year's review.

REVIEWS BY ARTIST

ABBA DOUGLAS ADAMS ADULT CINEMA WOODY ALLEN DAVE ALVIN ALVVAYS THE ANDERSON COUNCIL ARC OF LIFE ARIELLE BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG ARTHUR BUCK ASIA
( John Wetton obituary ) ATOMIC 7 SYD BARRETT
( Syd Barrett obituary ) BEADY EYE THE BEARS THE BEATLES
( George Harrison obituary ) BECK CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS/THE MAGIC BAND
( Captain Beefheart obituary ) ADRIAN BELEW CHUCK BERRY
( Chuck Berry obituary )

JELLO BIAFRA BIFFY CLYRO BIG COUNTRY
( Stuart Adamson obituary ) BIG STAR
( Alex Chilton obituary ) BIG STAR'S THIRD LEWIS BLACK BLACK RIVERS ERIC BOGOSIAN THE BONZO DOG (DOO-DAH) BAND
( Neil Innes obituary ) DAVID BOWIE
( David Bowie obituary ) BOWLING FOR SOUP BOYGENIUS JAMES DEAN BRADFIELD BROKEN BELLS LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM / CHRISTINE MCVIE BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD KATE BUSH JOHN CALE MIKE CAMPBELL & THE DIRTY KNOBS CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN CASE/LANG/VEIRS CAST NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS CHEECH & CHONG ALEX CHILTON
( Alex Chilton obituary ) THE CHURCH CHURCH OF THE COSMIC SKULL ERIC CLAPTON THE CLASH COLDPLAY THE COOLIES GAZ COOMBES ELVIS COSTELLO BARNS COURTNEY CRACKER CREAM CROWDED HOUSE CROWN LANDS LUCY DACUS ROGER DALTREY THE DANDY WARHOLS DAWES DAYS BETWEEN STATIONS JOHN DOE DOVES DREAD ZEPPELIN E EAST VILLAGE EELS ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER JOHN ENTWISTLE
( John Entwistle obituary ) ENVY OF NONE THE EVERLASTING YEAH DONALD FAGEN FAIRPORT CONVENTION BIBI FARBER FILTHY FRIENDS CRAIG FINN FISH FITZ & THE TANTRUMS FIVE GRAND STEREO THE FLAMING LIPS MICK FLEETWOOD & FRIENDS FLEETWOOD MAC FOO FIGHTERS FRANZ FERDINAND FRENCH, FRITH, KAISER, THOMPSON FOXBORO HOT TUBS BRUCE FOXTON & RUSSELL HASTINGS THE FUTUREHEADS PETER GABRIEL LIAM GALLAGHER LIAM GALLAGHER & JOHN SQUIRE NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYING BIRDS THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM GENESIS BENJAMIN GIBBARD DAVID GILMOUR JIMI GOODWIN THE GRAYS GREEN DAY THE GUTTER TWINS PETRA HADEN GLEN HANSARD HARD-FI GEORGE HARRISON
( George Harrison obituary ) HARVEY DANGER GRANT HART JULIANA HATFIELD NONA HENDRYX & GARY LUCAS BILL HICKS JOE HISAISHI ROBYN HITCHCOCK ROBYN HITCHCOCK / ANDY PARTRIDGE THE HOLD STEADY JULIA HOLTER JOHN LEE HOOKER THE HOTRATS ERIC IDLE INHALER NEIL INNES
( Neil Innes obituary ) JACK'S MANNEQUIN THE JAM JEFFERSON AIRPLANE JET ELTON JOHN ROBERT JOHNSON WILKO JOHNSON / ROGER DALTREY JÓNSI
  • Go (2010)
HENRY KAISER KALEO MIKE KENEALLY KING CRIMSON MARK KNOPFLER'S GUITAR HEROES THE LA'S RAY LAMONTAGNE DENIS LEARY TOM LEHRER JENS LENKMAN LIGHTSHIPS RICHARD LLOYD JEFF LYNNE LONG BRANCH STEVE LOUIS LOVE THE MAGIC BAND THE MAGNETIC NORTH MAN OR ASTRO-MAN? MANIC STREET PREACHERS MARILLION JOHNNY MARR PAUL McCARTNEY MIDNIGHT OIL MIKE MILLS & ROBERT MCDUFFIE THE MINUTEMEN THE MOCK TURTLES THE MODERN LOVERS THE MONKEES KEITH MOON VAN MORRISON BOB MOULD COLIN MOULDING THE MOVE MUDCRUTCH NEGATIVLAND THE NEMATOADS MARTIN NEWELL FRANZ NICOLAY RANDY NEWMAN THE NO WTO COMBO OASIS OCEAN COLOUR SCENE MIKE OLDFIELD JOHN OSWALD P. HUX JIMMY PAGE & ROBERT PLANT GRAHAM PARKER ANDY PARTRIDGE TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS
( Tom Petty obituary ) PHONO-COMB
( Reid Diamond obituary ) PINK FLOYD
( Syd Barrett obituary ) THE POLICE THE POLYPHONIC SPREE PRETENDERS DON PYLE & ANDREW ZEALLEY QUEEN R.E.M.
( R.E.M. breakup ) THE RACONTEURS RAMONES RADIOHEAD LOU REED
( Lou Reed obituary ) CARL REINER AND MEL BROOKS AMY RIGBY ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER RUSH
( Neil Peart obituary ) THE RUTLES
( Neil Innes obituary ) MIKE SCOTT SCRAWL THE SEAHORSES SEMISONIC SHADOWY MEN ON A SHADOWY PLANET
( Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet breakup )
( Reid Diamond obituary ) THE SHINS FRANK SIDEBOTTOM
( Chris Sievey obituary ) SIGUR RÓS SIMIAN PATTI SMITH THE SMITHEREENS THE SOFT BOYS SPIN 1NE 2WO SPLIT SINGLE BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN SQUID VICIOUS THE SQUIRRELS VIVIAN STANSHALL STARDEATH AND WHITE DWARFS STEELY DAN STEREOPHONICS ANDY M. STEWART & MANUS LUNNY THE STRYPES THE STYLE COUNCIL SUGAR SUNDAY ALL OVER THE WORLD SUPER FURRY ANIMALS SUPERGRASS MATTHEW SWEET THE SWELL SEASON SYD ARTHUR DAVID SYLVIAN & ROBERT FRIPP LEWIS TAYLOR TC&I TEENAGE FANCLUB TELEVISION TEMPLES 10,000 MANIACS BENMONT TENCH MORIS TEPPER THEM CROOKED VULTURES THE THIRD MIND THOMPSON HUNTER S. THOMPSON RICHARD THOMPSON RICHARD AND LINDA THOMPSON TINTED WINDOWS PETE TOWNSHEND TRANS TRAVELING WILBURYS
( Tom Petty obituary ) TRAVIS THE TUBS KT TUNSTALL THE TWILIGHT SINGERS U2 ULTRAVOX MIDGE URE VALLEY LODGE STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN LAURA VEIRS THE VELVET UNDERGROUND
( Lou Reed obituary ) TOM VERLAINE THE VINES WAGS & ELLIOTT TOM WAITS THE WATERBOYS ROGER WATERS WAVEWALKERS PAUL WELLER JOHN WETTON
( John Wetton obituary ) THE WHITE STRIPES THE WHO
( John Entwistle obituary ) THE WILD THINGS STEVEN WILSON REVEREND BILLY C. WIRTZ X XTC YES NEIL YOUNG DWEEZIL ZAPPA FRANK ZAPPA
( Frank Zappa obituary ) WARREN ZEVON
( Warren Zevon obituary ) (VARIOUS ARTISTS)