Listen To This If You Love Great Music: A Critical Curation of 100 Essential Albums

Murray (editor in chief, Clash) undertakes the daunting task of identifying the top 100 albums of the past 40 years. Exploring major names, critics’ favorites, and obscure artists, he divides the book into 10 chapters: extraordinary debuts, one-hit wonders, doggedly persistent bands that finally produced a gem, artists who reinvented their styles, political statements, tortured musicians, albums that explore sexual expression, laid-back ambient sounds, dark forebodings, and the final but stellar efforts of artists just before their demise. For each category, he lists 10 albums, each with a one-page description, a large color photo, and a sidebar that contains additional information, a little-known tidbit, and three similar albums. Murray focuses mainly on alternative rock, techo/electronic, unadulterated pop, and contemporary R&B, plus a few hip-hop albums, but he ignores mainstream rock (Bruce Springsteen, U2), new country (Garth Brooks), and heavy/extreme metal.