Mojo's 50 Greatest Island Albums

A couple of years ago, in the #187 issue, Mojo celebrated the 50th birthday of Island Records with a Top 50 of the albums published by the label founded by Chris Blackwell. The chart is mainly based on the 1967-1983 period and includes some all-time goodies like Nick Drake's Five Leaves Left, Jimmy Cliff's The Harder They Come, Bob Marley's Exodus, Tom Waits' Swordfishtrombones and - more recently - U2's Achtung Baby, Pulp's Different Class and Amy Winehouse's Back To Black. I made the two usual playlists: one filled with full albums, one with three tracks each album. Enjoy!

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Mojo's The 50 Greatest Island Albums
Source:Rocklist
Albums available on Spotify: 45 out of 50 (90%)

1. Nirvana – The Story Of Simon Simopath – 1967
2. Traffic – Mr Fantasy – 1967
3. Wynder K Frog – Out Of The Frying Pan – 1968
4. Spooky Tooth – Spooky Two – 1969
5. Fairport Convention – Liege And Lief – 1969
6. King Crimson – In The Court Of The Crimson King – 1969
7. Jethro Tull – Stand Up – 1969
8. White Noise – An Electric Storm – 1969
9. Nick Drake – Five Leaves Left - 1970
10. Mott The Hoople – Mad Shadows – 1970
11. Free – Fire And Water – 1970
12. Cat Stevens – Tea For The Tillerman – 1970
13. McDonald And Giles – McDonald And Giles – 1971
14. Jimmy Cliff/Various – The Harder They Come – 1972
15. Roxy Music – For Your Pleasure – 1973
16. John Martyn – Solid Air – 1973
17. Toots And The Maytals – Funky Kingston – 1973
18. Sparks – Kimono My House – 1974
19. Richard And Linda Thompson – I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight – 1974
20. Robert Palmer – Pressure Drop - 1975
21. Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey – 1975
22. Brian Eno – Another Green World – 1975
23. Dillinger – CB200 – 1976
24. Max Romeo – War Ina Babylon – 1976
25. Upsetters – Super Ape - 1976
26. Bob Marley – Exodus – 1977
27. Eddie And The Hot Rods – Life On The Line – 1977
28. Junior Murvin – Police And Thieves – 1977
29. Steel Pulse – Handsworth Revolution – 1978
30. The B52’s – The B52’s – 1979
31. The Slits – Cut – 1979
32. Linton Qwesi Johnson – Forces Of Victory – 1979
33. Marianne Faithfull – Broken English – 1979
34. Tom Tom Club – Tom Topm Club – 1981
35. Grace Jones – Nightclubbing – 1981
36. Was (Not Was) – Was (Not Was) – 1981
37. Black Uhuru – Red – 1981
38. Kid Creole And The Coconuts – Tropical Gangsters – 1982
39. King Sunny Ade & His African Beats – Juju Music – 1982
40. Gregory Isaacs – Night Nurse – 1982
41. John Cale – Music For A New Society – 1982
42. Aswad – Live And Direct – 1983
43. Tom Waits – Swordfishtrumbones – 1983
44. U2 – Achtung Baby – 1991
45. Julian Cope – Peggy Suicide – 1991
46. P.J. Harvey – Rid Of Me – 1993
47. Pulp – Different Class – 1995
48. Tricky – Maxinquaye – 1995
49. Amy Winehouse – Back To Black – 2006
50. Paul Weller – 22 Dreams – 2008

Listen to it on Spotify:
lite (3 tracks each album, 150 tracks, about 9 hours): HTTP, URI. (SR0613)
mammoth (full albums, 509 tracks, about 1 day): HTTP, URI. (SR0614)

Previously on the labels department:
Mojo's 60 Greatest Elektra Albums
Matador at 21