7. Prefab SproutSteve McQueen
The first five tracks on this are as good as anything by anybody ever. Probably the album’s as good as anything by anybody ever. It’s just astonishing songwriting. Chord changes, tempo changes, production, lyrics, backing vocals – just everything, really. It’s sublime songwriting. It’s completely different than anything we’ve mentioned up until now – it is political, but in a different kind of way; it’s more about love, and life, it’s not in your face. It’s another kind of beauty, really.