A week of lists: 30+ albums to love

"The Sunday Times" had another of their fascinating lists yesterday: 100 albums to love,. I suppose I could run to 100, but here’s the top of my list ….

• Marvin Gaye  - LETS GET IT ON (for "Distant Lover")
• Stevie Wonder – INNERVISIONS
• Aretha Franklin – LADY SOUL (for "Good To Me As I Am To You" with Eric Clapton)
• Dusty Springfield – DUSTY IN MEMPHIS
• Joni Mitchell – BLUE / COURT AND SPARK / WILD THINGS RUN FAST
• Carole King – TAPESTRY
• Joan Armatrading – BACK TO THE NIGHT
• Annie Lennox - DIVA (we wore it out)
• The Beatles – ABBEY ROAD
• The Rolling Stones – LET IT BLEED
• The Band – MUSIC FROM BIG PINK (this one takes me back to my hippie years in the late Sixties)
• Talking Heads – STOP MAKING SENSE
• Roxy Music – FLESH & BLOOD
• Nina Simone – NINA AT TOWN HALL
• Miles Davis - IN A SILENT WAY (I can get lost in this)
• Pet Shop Boys – ACTUALLY
• Billie Ray Martin – DEADLINE FOR MY MEMORIES ("Running Around Town")
• Fleetwood Mac – RUMOURS
• Supertramp – BREAKFAST IN AMERICA
• Pink Floyd – WISH YOU WERE HERE
• Massive Attack – BLUE LINES
• Frank Ocean – CHANNEL ORANGE
• Bob Dylan – BLOOD ON THE TRACKS
• Tim Buckley – GREETINGS FROM L.A.
• The Doors – STRANGE DAYS
• Grace Jones – NIGHTCLUBBING / LIVING MY LIFE
• Roberta Flack – FIRST TAKE
• Donny Hathaway – DONNY HATHAWAY (for that killer version of "A Song For You")
• Blondie – PARALLEL LINES
• Neil Young – HARVEST (for "Old Man")
• George Michael – OLDER (THE essential gay album)
• Paul Simon - STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS 
• Stevie Winwood - ARC OF A DIVER
• Elton John - TUMBLEWEED CONNECTION
• Tom Rush - THE CIRCLE GAME (so very 1968, with those early Joni & James Taylor songs)
• The Moody Blues - DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED (another dippy hippie daydream)
• Nat King Cole - NAT KING COLE SINGS/GEORGE SHEARING PLAYS
• Frank Sinatra - SONGS FOR SWINGING LOVERS
• Barbra Streisand – THE SECOND BARBRA STREISAND ALBUM

No room for my essential dance music: A Man Called Adam, Groove Armada, Global Underground, Murk, Danny Tenaglia, Space Ibiza etc.