414. Buzzcocks - Another Music in a Different Kitchen

Release Date: 1978
Label: United Artists

Inspired by the Sex Pistols, Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley formed the Buzzcocks during the first wave of punk after meeting at Bolton Institute of Technology. Devoto left soon afterwards to form Magazine, leaving Shelley as the principal songwriter/vocalist of the North's first punk band.  'Another Music in a Different Kitchen' is their debut album, and actually has a pop-punk feel, except for the final track.

Rating: 9/10

376. The Stranglers - Rattus Norvegicus

Release Date: 1977
Label: United Artists

Rattus Norvegicus means Norwegian Rat in Latin. This is actually a fact I thought I'd made up. This album is the first 'punk' album from the UK to feature in the book, though it wasn't necessarily the first one released. It has its positives and negatives. The bass lines and keyboards are brilliant. The vocals and melodies - not so good.

Rating: 5/10

329. Neu! - Neu! 75

Release Date: 1975
Label: United Artists

This is an interesting album, which seems to be unsure about itself. For the first twenty minutes we are treated to ambient music, similar to that of Tangerine Dream. After that, it's as though the band have forgotten what kind of album they're recording or changed their mind as they dive into the proto-punk 'Hero' - a song which treads the tightrope between genius and awful.

Rating: 7/10

278. Can - Future Days

Release Date: 1973
Label: United Artists

Back in January I suggested Tago Mago could've benefited from some brutual editing. At over an hour long, it just didn't hold my attention long enough to be memorable. Fortunately it seems they listened to my suggestions and this album clocks in at a maneagable 40 minutes. This is a vast improvement on the previous offering and deserves future listening.

Rating: 8/10
Favourite Track: Bel Air

276. Hawkwind - Space Ritual

Release Date: 1973
Label: United Artists

At nearly two hours long, this album will test the most patient listener. It is the kind of album only a band from this period could make - part space-rock, part poetry. In a way it is brilliant, especially the musicianship and the way the songs meld into one. There are some sections which make you question its importance though, particularly the instructions on 'Sonic Attack' - which are just nonsense.

Rating: 6/10
Favourite Track: Born To Go

268. War - The World is a Ghetto

Release Date: 1972
Label: United Artists Records

War! What are they good? Well, some things - political songs being one of them. By which I mean the kind of political songs you'd expect a band of black musicians to write and sing. None of this airy-fairy Shirley Collins stuff. As far as the album itself is concerned, I felt as though it was going somewhere with the first two songs but the third and fourth were a bit disappointing. Not terrible though. All in all, I feel like it's an album I'd enjoy but have no real wish to explore again.

Rating: 6/10

223. Don McClean - American Pie

Release Date: 1971
Label: United Artists

A long, long time ago, Don McLean released a song inspired by the 1999 sex-comedy of the same name. He did this without the use of any flutes. The album also includes a beautiful ballad about Vincent Kompany. Sadly those are probably the only essential songs on the album, the rest just meander by.

Rating: 5/10
Favourite Track:

220. Can -Tago Mago

Release Date: 1971
Label: United Artists

Emre Can is a German professional footballer who, at the time of going to press, plays as a central midfielder for Liverpool Football Club and German national team. Twenty-three years before his birth he went back in time to record this influential album, which probably explains why it has been called innovative and comparisons have been made to the mid-90s club scene. If Emre Can had culled the final three tracks (i.e. those after 'Halleluwah'), we'd be left with 37 minutes of great music, but unfortunately I was forced to listen to an extra 30 minutes of atonal shit.

Rating: 5/10
Favourite Track: Halleluwah