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!

Continuing our Countdown at NUMBER 29:



Legendary Norwegian trio A-HA lands at #29 with their 1993 (5th) album "MEMORIAL BEACH"... ironically this was probably their lowest-selling album, and was quite a departure from their former "teen-idol/boyband" image. This stands out as a-ha's ROCK album, and musically stands out as one of their best! Probably the most melancholy album ever recorded, it delivered the singles "Dark Is The Night" (a truly outstanding classic, with a wonderful vocal performance), "Move To Memphis", "Lie Down In Darkness" and "Angel In The Snow".
A wonderfully guitar-driven album which also stands out in my book as one of the most underrated classics ever!

ANNOUNCING: I have compiled my personal Top 30 Albums of all time... (EXCLUDING greatest hits compilations) and will be counting them down one by one over the next 30 days or so...

OK, starting today with... NUMBER 30!



In the mid-80's DIRE STRAITS released one of the all-time greatest guitar- albums (plus putting Compact Discs on the map with this release). "BROTHERS IN ARMS" delivered some of the most memorable hits of their time, such as "Money For Nothing", "Walk Of Life", "So Far Away", "Your Latest Trick" and of course the title track. It became a HUGE seller worldwide, and kicks off our countdown as it remains an all-time favourite!