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record store day

28 classic albums every twentysomething should know

An eclectic mix.

TO CELEBRATE RECORD Store Day, we’ve compiled a list of albums that should be in your collection.

In no particular order…

Paul Simon – Graceland

The Mississippi Delta was shining like a national guitar…

Simon’s Graceland is home to Call Me All, Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes and Under African Skies and introduced Ladysmith Black Mambazo to a global audience.

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REM – Automatic for the People

The album that gave us The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, Everybody Hurts and Nightswimming.

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Fleetwood Mac - rumors

One of the best albums of the seventies and maybe one of the best of all time? Go Your Own Way, Dreams and Don’t Stop all feature.

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Led Zeppelin IV

Led Zeppelin’s… er… fourth album features Going to California, Rock and Roll and the seminal Stairway to Heaven.

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Gil Scott Heron – Pieces of a Man

The 1971 debut from Gill Scott Heron features the influential The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.

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David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

Bowie’s fifth studio album tells the story of Bowie’s alter ego and features Starman, Ziggy Stardust and Suffragette City.

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Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run

COS TRAMPS LIKE US.

Everyone needs at least one Boss album in their collection. This is a decent place to start. Features Thunder Road and Jungleland.

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U2 – The Joshua Tree

Where The Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, Running to Stand Still… need we go on?

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Jeff Buckley - Grace

The only complete studio album by Buckley, who died in 1997.  Features his famous cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.

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Carole King – Tapestry

I Feel The Earth Move, It’s Too Late, the theme from the Gilmore Girls Where You Lead… so many tunes.

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The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds

Regularly featured near the top of lists of the best albums of all time, and rightly so.

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The Beatles – Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Just take a look at the track listing. Named by Rolling Stone as the greatest album of all time. Who are we to argue?

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Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

One of the more recent entries on the list, but a definite contender for ‘classic’ status.

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Miles Davis – Kind of Blue

Released in 1959, widely regarded as one of the most influential albums ever made.

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Radiohead - OK Computer

You can’t make a list of the greatest albums of the nineties without mentioning OK Computer. Features Paranoid Android, Karma Police and No Surprises.

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Michael Jackson – Thriller

Billy Jean, Thriller, Beat it…

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De La Soul – 3 Feet High and Rising

The debut from De La Soul, which spawned the hits The Magic Number, Me, Myself and I and Buddy.

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Joni Mitchell – Blue

As far as we know Mitchell is still undergoing treatment after being hospitalised last month. Blue is her fourth album, released in 1971, featuring River and A Case of You.

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Dusty Springfield – Dusty in Memphis

Son of a Preacher Man. Need we say more?

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Alanis Morrissette – Jagged Little Pill

Another nineties classic. Singles included You Oughta Know, Hand in My Pocket and Head Over Feet.

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Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited

Tricky to pick just one Dylan album, but Highway 61 is a fairly good start. Features Like A Rolling Stone and Ballad of a Thin Man.

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Van Morrison – Astral Weeks

Recorded in New York in 1968 by the Belfast man, Astral Weeks is a treat which includes Sweet Thing, Madame George and Cyprus Avenue.

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Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back

One of the most influential hip hop albums of all time, featuring Don’t Believe the Hype and Bring the Noise.

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Prince - Purple Rain

It’s worth owning this album for I Would Die 4 U alone. It also features Purple Rain, of course.

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Johnny Cash – At Folsom Prison

Recorded at Folsom State Prison in California in January 1968.

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My Bloody Valentine – Loveless

Regarded as one of the greatest Irish albums ever, Loveless took two years to record and reportedly cost quarter of a million pounds to make. Worth every penny.

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Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers

Brown Sugar, Wild Horses, Sister Morphine…

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AC/DC – Back in Black

Home to some of AC/DC’s best known songs, including You Shook Me All Night Long, Back in Black and Hells Bells.

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