Top Forty by Forty

This would be a pretty boring blog if I didn't post anything else between now and September 2021 when I'll unveil our collective Top 40 by 40. To fill the void, I'm going to regularly publish glimpses into the lists of favourites I'm asking you all to prepare. If you know for certain a particular album is going to make your Top 40 then I'd like you to give it a short write-up explaining why it's one of your favourites. Then I'll respond with my take on the album. Let me know if you're interested in doing this. I'm not just being generous by opening up the blog to you, I'm hoping to discover some great records I've overlooked too. An enthusiastic friend has already pretty much nailed their Top 40 so expect to see something from them here soon.

I want your Top 40 records but I'm not going to be draconian about what's allowed and what isn't. This isn't a sterile computation of the most perfect studio recordings ever made, it's about celebrating the records you love the most - be they studio albums, live recordings, soundtracks or weirdo compilations. I'll even allow EPs. Some exceptions though:- No Singles  (we'll save those for Top 45 at 45 duh) No Best Ofs (that's cheating but I will make an exception if you plead your case) And I think that's it. Do bear in mind that deviating from studio album orthodoxy will probably mean it's less likely your choice will be shared by someone else and make the final Top 40. You've got to be smart to win this game. If you want anything clarified or for me to rule on a particular record, get in touch.

How will I calculate an overall Top 40 based on my friends' individual Top 40 albums? Usual practice for endeavours of this sort seems to be to assign a number of points to each position and sum everything up and see which albums end up with the most points. So everyone's #1 album gets x points, everyone's #2 gets y points etc. Something like this:  1. Steps - Step One [40 points] 2. Eagles - Hotel California [39 points] . . . 40. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin [1 point] This approach doesn't give much of an advantage to your favourite album though and there's an argument that says you might get a more representative reflection of genuine communal favourites if you add a bit more weight to the records at the top. Maybe 50 points for your #1, 45 for #2 etc. I could probably do some research to find the optimal method but it's not urgent. I could also set up a system where I can quickly tweak to the distribution of points to places in order to manipulate the result a...

Have you seen Rolling Stone's recent list of the Top 500 Albums of All Time ? It caused quite a bit of fuss in the usual music nerd places on the net but it's not a bad list. It did get my ego wondering though - would I be able to come up with a better list? Of course not. However, my 40th birthday is in September 2021 and I thought it would be 'fun' to definitively decide what my Top 40 albums are by this point. And then why not ask my friends to do the same before the illustrious day and put it all together to make a Top 40 for the musical universe of me and my friends. It would almost certainly not be a more representative list but perhaps a more interesting list (perhaps only to me). And if you're a nobody then it's a chance to be polled for one of these things for once. So, I need you. Do you think you can come up with an ordered list of your favourite 40 albums by the start of September 2021? If so, and you're what could technically be called a friend ...