Continuing at NUMBER 23:



DC TALK joins this list for bringing out their 1995 album "JESUS FREAK" - and giving us some of the freshest, most original ROCK meets SOUL meets RAP (though very little of the latter). This album was a huge seller - even going Double Platinum in America, and stands out as easily being the best "gospel" album ever! Even before Linkin Park or any of their contemporaries joined rock with hip hop, dc Talk led the way. Hit tracks included the irresistible title track, "Colored People", "What If I Stumble", "In The Light" and "Like It, Love It, Need It". Don't be misled by the "genre" though; this album definitely stands out also as one of the best ROCK albums of all time (even for non-gospel music fans like me!)

And at NUMBER 24:



SAMANTHA FOX'S 3rd album, 1988's "I WANNA HAVE SOME FUN".
Ok, I know it probably won't be easy to find Sam Fox albums on many "greatest albums of all time" lists, , but this one does stand out for me as a great POP album from the 80's...
At the time she was still considered a very lucrative artist, and hence had the help of some very successful producers and songwriters on this album. Plus of course she looked great! Hit singles from this album came in the form of the funky "Love House" (by Boland & Boland), the sing-along party anthem "I Wanna Have Some Fun" (by Full Force), and the danceable "I Only Wanna Be With You" (Stock/Aitken/Waterman). Memories!

At NUMBER 25:



Aah... A-HA... came out with another one of their masterpieces (there's been a lot of those lately) in 2002 with "LIFELINES". They continued their work as one of the most underrated musical geniuses of our time with this, the follow-up to their come-back album of 2000: "Minor Earth Major Sky".
They worked with several producers on this album, creating quite an entertaining variety of sounds - though still coming together very nicely as a whole on one album.
The title-track is the stand-out track to me, a real classic that reminds strongly of "Hunting High And Low", and as with the other singles "Forever Not Yours", "Did Anyone Approach You?" and almost every other song on the album, a-ha proved once again that they were MUCH MORE than they were accredited with back in the 80's...

NUMBER 26 today:



GWEN STEFANI 's debut solo album "LOVE ANGEL MUSIC BABY" was released last year, and has proven to be a modern POP classic! She's been part of some very interesting pop moments with her band No Doubt, but has become a solo-superstar in her own right this past year thanks to this very creative, ground-breaking debut. Pop-delights-a-plenty (maybe that's a good title for her second album??) were strutted our way, like the massive hits "What You Waiting For?", "Rich Girl", "Hollaback Girl" and "Cool".

NUMBER 27 on our Countdown:



ROBBIE NEVIL was one of the most exciting and successful new artists of 1987... this singer/songwriter/guitarist's fusion of pop/funk/rock/etc. was first showcased in this, his self-titled debut album, setting world charts alight with hits like "Cest La Vie", "Dominoes" and "Wot's It To Ya". One of the best and most promising debuts of all time, his success sadly only went downhill with his subsequent releases. This remains however, a gem like few others - one of my favourites from that time!