100 Best Australian Albums

The 100 Best Australian Albums (a.k.a. One Hundred Best Australian Albums) is a compendium of rock and pop albums of the past 50 years as compiled by music journalists Toby Creswell, Craig Mathieson and John O'Donnell.[1] The book was published on 25 October 2010 by Hardie Grant Books (Prahran, Victoria).[2] Sony Music has released a five CD compilation to support the book.[1]

100 Best Australian Albums
Cover
AuthorJohn O'Donnell, Toby Creswell, Craig Mathieson
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
SubjectAustralian music, rock, pop, discography
PublisherHardie Grant Books
Publication date
25 October 2010
Media typeprint (hardback)
Pages256
ISBN978-1-74066-955-9
OCLC646229830

According to O'Donnell, "It wouldn't be a good list if it didn't polarise people and we hope that this list will. We also hope that it will get people sitting around comparing their favourites and discovering or re-discovering these great albums and others." The compendium was updated in November 2017 with ten additional entries, The 110 Best Australian Albums.[3][4]

Background

About the authors
Main articles: Toby Creswell, Craig Mathieson, and John O'Donnell (music journalist)

Creswell wrote his first article on rock & roll for Nation Review in 1972.[5] He subsequently wrote articles about all aspects of popular culture and music for RAM (Rock Australia Magazine), Billboard, Roadrunner and other national and international magazines and newspapers.[6] He has worked for MTV and a variety of television programs as a writer and presenter. In 1985 he became editor of the Australian edition of Rolling Stone and two years later was in a partnership which took over the franchise.[6][7] He continued to edit Rolling Stone until September 1992.[7] He was a founding editor of Juice Magazine.[8][9]

Mathieson is also a journalist, known for his work with Rolling Stone, Juice Magazine, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, as well as for his book Hi Fi Days (1996), a biography of three leading Australian bands, Silverchair, Spiderbait and You Am I.

O'Donnell started out as a freelance writer, worked as Music Editor at Rolling Stone, before leaving to co-found and edit Juice Magazine. In 1994 O'Donnell created the Murmur label for Sony Music Australia and went on to sign successful artists, including Silverchair, Ammonia, Jebediah, and Something for Kate. He later worked for Sony at the corporate level before leaving for EMI Australia in 2002. O'Donnell was the CEO of EMI in the Oceania region from 2002 until September 2008.[10] O'Donnell is also active in a number of industry bodies such as ARIA and PPCA.

Writing process

In July 2009, O'Donnell and some of his friends discussed their selections for the best Australian albums. He decided a book on the topic was required and contacted fellow journalists, Creswell and Mathieson, to pitch the idea to publishers with Hardie Grant being chosen. Over the latter part of 2009, the trio revisited numerous albums, O'Donnell estimates he listened to 450–500. After four months of trimming their lists, the authors divided up the descriptions of each entry according to personal experiences with Mathieson focusing on post-1980s, Creswell on 1960s and 1970s and O'Donnell providing the overview.[1]

Albums

The updated list follows. New albums, which were added in the November 2017 edition, are shown with a bracketed bold asterisk [*]:

  1. Midnight Oil – Diesel and Dust (1987)
  2. AC/DC – Back in Black (1980)
  3. Crowded House – Woodface (1991)
  4. Cold Chisel – Circus Animals (1982)
  5. The Triffids – Born Sandy Devotional (1986)
  6. The Easybeats – The Best of the Easybeats (1967)
  7. Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls – Gossip (1986)
  8. You Am I – Hi Fi Way (1995)
  9. Skyhooks – Living in the 70's (1974)
  10. The Avalanches – Since I Left You (2000)
  11. INXS – Kick (1987)
  12. The Go-Betweens – 16 Lovers Lane (1988)
  13. Radio Birdman – Radios Appear (1977)
  14. Daddy Cool – Daddy Who? Daddy Cool (1971)
  15. Richard Clapton – Goodbye Tiger (1977)
  16. Bee Gees – Best of Bee Gees (1969)
  17. The Birthday Party – Junkyard (1982)
  18. Hunters & Collectors – Human Frailty (1986)
  19. Sarah Blasko – As Day Follows Night (2009)
  20. The Saints – (I'm) Stranded (1976)
  21. The Drones – Gala Mill (2006)
  22. Split Enz – True Colours (1980)
  23. Midnight Oil – 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (1982)
  24. Slim Dusty – The Very Best of Slim Dusty (1998)
  25. Silverchair – Neon Ballroom (1999)
  26. Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit (2015) [*]
  27. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – The Boatman's Call (1997)
  28. Regurgitator – Unit (1997)
  29. Hoodoo Gurus – Stoneage Romeos (1984)
  30. Empire of the Sun – Walking on a Dream (2008)
  31. Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu – Gurrumul (2008)
  32. Tame Impala – Lonerism (2012) [*]
  33. Kasey Chambers – Barricades & Brickwalls (2001)
  34. Johnny O'Keefe – The Wild One (1958)
  35. The Church – Starfish (1988)
  36. The Reels – Quasimodo's Dream (1981)
  37. The Masters Apprentices – Master's Apprentices (1967)
  38. Savage Garden – Savage Garden (1997)
  39. Sunnyboys – Sunnyboys (1981)
  40. Kev Carmody and Various Artists – Cannot Buy My Soul (2007)
  41. Something For Kate – Echolalia (2001)
  42. Stephen Cummings – Lovetown (1988)
  43. A.B. Original – Reclaim Australia (2016) [*]
  44. The Saints – Prehistoric Sounds (1978)
  45. Australian Crawl – The Boys Light Up (1980)
  46. Powderfinger – Odyssey Number Five (2000)
  47. Mental As Anything – Cats & Dogs (1981)
  48. Eddy Current Suppression Ring – Rush to Relax (2010)
  49. Models – The Pleasure of Your Company (1983)
  50. Augie March – Moo, You Bloody Choir (2006)
  51. The Missing Links – The Missing Links (1965)
  52. Ed Kuepper – Honey Steel's Gold (1991)
  53. AC/DC – Highway to Hell (1979)
  54. The Sports – Don't Throw Stones (1979)
  55. The Seekers – Greatest Hits (1968)
  56. Cold Chisel – East (1980)
  57. Big Scary – Animal (2016) [*]
  58. Underground Lovers – Leaves Me Blind (1992)
  59. You Am I – Hourly, Daily (1996)
  60. INXS – The Swing (1984)
  61. The Living End – The Living End (1998)
  62. Jimmy Barnes – For the Working Class Man (1985)
  63. Russell Morris – Wings of an Eagle and Other Great Hits (1973)
  64. Hoodoo Gurus – Mars Needs Guitars! (1985)
  65. The Presets – Apocalypso (2008)
  66. The Dingoes – The Dingoes (1974)
  67. The Cruel Sea – The Honeymoon Is Over (1993)
  68. Flume – Skin (2016) [*]
  69. The Angels – Face to Face (1978)
  70. The Hummingbirds – LoveBUZZ (1989)
  71. Paul Kelly & the Stormwater Boys – Foggy Highway (2005)
  72. Chain – Toward the Blues (1971)
  73. Dragon – O Zambezi (1978)
  74. Adalita – Adalita (2011) [*]
  75. Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs – Aztecs Live at Sunbury (1972)
  76. The Scientists – Blood Red River (1983)
  77. Crowded House – Temple of Low Men (1988)
  78. Died Pretty – Doughboy Hollow (1991)
  79. Axiom – Fool's Gold (1970)
  80. Bob Evans – Suburban Songbook (2006)
  81. Dirty Three – Ocean Songs (1998)
  82. Renée Geyer – Ready to Deal (1975)
  83. Royal Headache – High (2015) [*]
  84. The Church – The Blurred Crusade (1982)
  85. The Vines – Highly Evolved (2002)
  86. John Farnham – Whispering Jack (1986)
  87. The Loved Ones – Magic Box (1967)
  88. The Sleepy Jackson – Lovers (2003)
  89. The Panics – Rain on the Humming Wire (2011) [*]
  90. Bliss N Eso – Flying Colours (2008)
  91. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Tender Prey (1988)
  92. Tex, Don and Charlie – Sad But True (1993)
  93. Flowers – Icehouse (1980)
  94. The Painted Ladies – The Painted Ladies Play Selections from the Loner (2014) [*]
  95. Missy Higgins – The Sound of White (2004)
  96. The Go-Betweens – Before Hollywood (1983)
  97. Normie Rowe – Ain't Necessarily So (1965)
  98. Jet – Get Born (2003)
  99. The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band – Smoke Dreams (1973)
  100. Sia – We Are Born (2010) [*]
  101. Ben Lee – Awake is the New Sleep (2005)
  102. Rose Tattoo – Rose Tattoo (1978)
  103. I'm Talking – Bear Witness (1986)
  104. X – X-Aspirations (1979)
  105. Beaches – Beaches (2008)
  106. Baby Animals – Baby Animals (1991)
  107. Bernard Fanning – Tea & Sympathy (2005)
  108. Kylie Minogue – Fever (2001)
  109. Men at Work – Business As Usual (1981)
  110. G. Wayne Thomas, Terry Hannagan, Tamam Shud, Brian Cadd, John J. Francis, Peter Howe – Morning of the Earth (1971)

See also

References
  1. Brandle, Lars (3 November 2010). "The 100 Best Australian Albums". Music Industry. The Music Network. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
  2. "The 100 Best Australian Albums, John O'Donnell, 9781740669559". Booktopia Pty Ltd. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
  3. "110 Best Australian Albums by Toby Creswell". Hardie Grant Books. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  4. O'Donnell, John; Creswell, Toby; Mathieson, Craig (1 November 2017), The 110 Best Australian Albums, Hardie Grant Books, ISBN 978-1-74379-361-9
  5. Creswell, Toby (1999). The Real Thing: Adventures in Australian Rock & Roll, 1957-now. Milsons Point, NSW: Random House. ISBN 978-0-09-183547-7.
  6. "Toby Creswell". Rock's Backpages. Backpages Limited. Retrieved 19 March 2009.
  7. Boots, Tim (23 April 2007). "Rolling Stone still rocking 35 years on". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 19 March 2009.
  8. Cauchi, Stephen (4 November 2007). "Right, said Led: old fogeys of rock in classic reunion mode". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 24 April 2008.
  9. Carney, Shaun (5 November 2005). "Shuffling through a century of song". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 24 April 2008.
  10. Eliezer, Christie (28 July 2008). "O'Donnell Splits EMI Australia, Poston Rises". Billboard. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  11. "100 Best Australian Albums". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
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