NPR's 150 Albums Made by Women

disco and the (mid to late) '70s are too tightly intertwined for me to separate

During these three months, I stamped a lot of records and artists “underrated.” Erykah Badu’s 2008 magnum opus, “New Amerykah Part One (4th World War),” was the most tragically timely and timeless album of any I’ve listened to — and I listened to five by Nina Simone. I also checked to confirm that Janet Jackson might always be our most undervalued pop star. (Yup.) A woman who became pretty good at seeing the state of the world had, by the time of “The Velvet Rope” in 1997, become even better at assessing the state of her art.

No arguments from this corner.

re: best Yoko albums, idk kinda depends what yr looking for. The jamz on POB are incredible. Approximately Infinite Universe has her most affecting songs/lyrics imo. Fly is maybe the most representative just for the range of styles, covers both the krautrock of POB ("Mind Train" etc.), the soul-baring balladry ("Mrs. Lennon"), and the avant-garde studio experiments ("Fly").

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/21/594970453/what-do-you-think-are-the-greatest-albums-made-by-women

Vote and post your lists here!

I didn't put a whole lot of thought into mine; just went with the first 10 that came to mind:

1. Pretenders
2. Welcome Home - Til Tuesday
3. Kate & Anna McGarrigle
4. Vanity 6
5. More Adventurous - Rilo Kiley
6. Blue - Joni Mitchell
7. Transgender Dysphoria Blues - Against Me!
8. Middle Cyclone - Neko Case
9. Science Fair - Emm Gryner
10. The Electric Lady - Janelle Monae

10 records, in no particular order:

Sofia Gubaidulina - Symphony, 'Stimmen… verstummen'; Stufen
Kaija Saariaho - Château de l'âme; Graal Théâtre; Amers
Rebecca Saunders - QUARTET; Into the Blue; Molly's Song 3 – shades of crimson; dichroic seventeen
Helena Tulve - Sula
Anna S. Þorvaldsdóttir - Aerial
Liza Lim - The Heart's Ear
Clara Iannotta - A Failed Entertainment
Doina Rotaru - L'éternel retour
Chaya Czernowin - Afatsim
Unsuk Chin - Akrostichon – Wortspiel

Henry and Lena Etchison - Songs from the Sourwood Mountains (Folkways, 1953)
Henry and Lena Etchison - Songs of the Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Botheration of Christ (Folkways, 1955)
Henry Etchison & Family - Waltzes, Reels, and Fireside Ballads (Folkways, 1956)
Bettie, Connie & Ginnie - Heartache Boogie-Woogie (Dot, 1958)
Aunt Olena Etchison - "'Ho!' Said the Guppy" and Other Folk Songs for Children (Folkways, 1961)
Mike Seeger and Aunt Olena Etchison - She Sings, I Strum (And Occasionally Sing!)(Rounder, 1973)
Ginnie Stewart - Night Sweats (Epic, 1977)
Carol Warner, Linda Powell, and Connie Etchison - Banjo Pickin' Gals (Rounder, 1993)
Connie Etchison - The Unbroken Circle (CD Baby, 2000)
Connie Etchison - Wild 'Bout My Lovin' (Third Man, 2007)

These albums.

i haven't submitted my ballot yet bc it keeps shifting. here's where i'm at rn

1. rickie lee jones: pirates
2. janet jackson: the velvet rope
3. sade: love deluxe
4. kate bush: aerial
5. britney spears: blackout
6. fleetwood mac: tusk
7. anita baker: rapture
8. sinead o'connor: the lion and the cobra
9. paramore: paramore
10. madonna: ray of light

I considered Rapture and Paramore

ten FYC

Julien Baker Sprained Ankle
Mary Margaret O'Hara Miss America
Be Your Own PET s/t
Made Out of Babies The Ruiner
Joanna Newsom Ys
Sleater-Kinney The Woods
Rachel Unthank and the Winterset The Bairns
M.I.A. Kala
Shiina Ringo Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana
Cloud Rat Qliphoth

Don't really want to return to the original list but picking the one Nico album where she sang cover versions, of songs written by men, over the ones where she sang her own compositions is particularly O_0

I regretted not having room for Madonna or Sinead, so its good to see others picking up my slack.

Shiina Ringo Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana

ha, just cut this one. it's perfect though

I submitted

Hejira - Joni Mitchell
Broken English - Marianne Faithfull
Indigo Girls - Indigo Girls
True Blue - Madonna
King - Belly
Aaliyah - Aaliyah
Speak Now - Taylor Swift
King's Record Shop - Roseanne Cash
Nightclubbing - Grace Jones
Wrecking Ball - Emmylou Harris

wish I'd found room for Sade & Kate Bush & Patsy Cline & Sinead &

I would vote in this but I don't like the idea of ranking those tbh

50 Foot Wave - Power + Light
Paramore - After Laughter
Warpaint - Heads Up
Blondie - Eat to the Beat
Lush - Spooky
Hole - Live Through This
Wolf Alice - My Love Is Cool
Wolf Alice Visions of a Life
Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion
Taylor Swift - Fearless

Not ordered. Just off the top of my head. Could have gone further obvs.

Simon, it says #1, etc, but they say it's not ranked.

oh nice, good looking out

Oh fuck, I should have included Art Angels. Goddamn it.

joni mitchell - hejira
meshell ndegeocello - the world has made me the man of my dreams (i probably like bitter more but what an achievement)
minnie riperton - perfect angel
sade - stronger than pride
janet jackson - the velvet rope
alice coltrane - journey in satchidananda
shiina ringo - kalk samen kuri no hana
chubby wolf - ornitheology
tori amos - boys for pele
lauryn hill - mtv unplugged no. 2.0

submitted a list and then realized a whole bunch that i forgot (d'oh)

anyway, here's what i shoulda submitted

Joni Mitchell - Blue
Susanne Sundfør - Ten Love Songs
Hop Along - Painted Shut
Pretenders - Learning to Crawl
Blondie - Parallel Lines
Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One: Fourth World War
Minnie Riperton - Perfect Angel
Aretha Franklin - Young, Gifted & Black
Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out
Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...

lol how did i forget sleater-kinney, might replace something w the hot rock

hole - celebrity skin
britney spears - blackout
fleetwood mac - tusk
alice coltrane - journey in satchidananda
sade - stronger than pride
janet jackson - the velvet rope
aaliyah - aaliyah
cassie - cassie
kate bush - hounds of love
gal costa - gal costa

Be Your Own PET s/t

Great call

This is weird to me... the world is full of great albums made by women. Why list a random 10? Makes it seem like they can’t “compete on a level playing field” or something.

They're prob just doing a reader's poll and they think that more people will answer if they don't have to name 50

they are albums
they're made by women
albums
made - by - women

facts of life - black box recorder
stories from the city stories from the sea - pj harvey
dr buzzard's original savannah band st
madonna st
transgender dysphoria blues - against me!
velvet rope - janet jackson
elegant slumming - m people
big science - laurie anderson
so so satisfied - ashford & simpson
lady soul - aretha franklin

last train to paris and the xx felt too male

Joanna Newsom - Ys
Bjork - Vespertine
Kylie Minogue - Fever
Kate Bush - Aerial
Shiina Ringo - Shouso Strip
Tori Amos - Boys for Pele
Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
Susanne Sundfor - Ten Love Songs
Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up A Hill
Fever Ray - Fever Ray

10 favourites off the top of my head

My only criteria was it had to be something I had legit worn out at one point (or several points) in my life.

Dig Me Out - Sleater-Kinney
Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica - The Ronettes
Celebrity Skin - Hole
Exile in Guyville - Liz Phair
Horses - Patti Smith
You Follow Me - Nina Nastasia and Jim White
Blackheart - Dawn Richard
Parallel Lines - Blondie
Pretenders - The Pretenders
Everything's Different Now - 'Til Tuesday

Fleetwood Mac - Tusk
Bjork - Homogenic
Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns
Paramore - After Laughter
Electrik Red - How to Be a Lady Vol. 1
Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
Cat Power - You Are Free
Alice Coltrane - Journey in Satchidananda
Cocteau Twins - Treasure
PJ Harvey - Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea

Oh man, I really should have had The Dreaming on mine. Maybe I'll vote again.

Went ahead a did a second one...

The Dreaming - Kate Bush
The Lion and the Cobra - Sinead O'Connor
Dry - PJ Harvey
Raw Like Sushi - Neneh Cherry
Cut - Slits
Kala - M.I.A.
Supa Dupa Fly - Missy Elliott
King - Belly
Little Earthquakes - Tori Amos
Colossal Youth - Young Marble Giants

10's tough (i mostly listen to female artist tbh)

Pj Harvey - Is This Desire?
The Slits - Cut
Judee Sill - S/T
IAM - Kin
Gudrun Gut - I Put a Record On
Emiliana Torrini - Fisherman's Woman
Dawn Richard - Redemption
Catherine Ribiero + Alpes - Paix
Tori Amos - Boys for Pele
Roisin Murphy - Hairless Toys

This is what I came up with last night, but I might tweak it before I vote

Bonnie Raitt - Give It Up (Warner Bros., 1972)
LaBelle - Chameleon (Epic, 1976)
Mary Lou Williams - Mary Lou Williams (aka Black Christ of the Andes) (Folkways, 1964)
Minnie Riperton - Perfect Angel (Epic, 1974)
Portishead - 3 (Island, 2008)
Robyn - Body Talk (Konichiwa/Interscope, 2010)
The Breeders - Pod (4AD, 1990)
The Sundays - Reading, Writing and Arithmetic (Rough Trade/DGC, 1990)
Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes (Atlantic, 1991)
X-Ray Spex - Germfree Adolescents (EMI, 1978)

can't believe I'm leaving off Bjork, Beyonce, and Hole, but:

Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Sleater-Kinney - The Hot Rock
PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love
Pistol Annies - Hell on Heels
Kathleen Edwards - Asking for Flowers
Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark
Donna Summer - Bad Girls
Madonna - You Can Dance
Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
M.I.A. - Kala

A|A - Grouper
Pretenders - Pretenders
Before the World Was Big - Girlpool
The Big Science - Laurie Anderson
Ys - Joanna Newsom
What Would the Community Think - Cat Power
Visions - Grimes
Live Through This - Hole
Blue - Joni Mitchell
Plastic Ono Band - Yoko Ono

Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
A Girl Called Eddy - A Girl Called Eddy
Dusty Springfield - Dusty in Memphis
Aimee Mann - Magnolia
Grace Jones - Nightclubbing
Dorothy Ashby - Afroharping
Rachel Stevens - Come and Get It
Marianne Faithfull - Strange Weather
Billie Holliday - Lady in Satin
Tracey Thorn - Love and Its Opposites

Bjork - Homogenic
Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup
Broadcast - Tender Buttons
Susanne Sundfør - Ten Love Songs
Syreeta - Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta
Saint Etienne - So Tough
Cocteau Twins - Heaven Or Las Vegas
Grace Jones - Nightclubbing
Minnie Riperton Adventures In Paradise
Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One

I've created a "women in song" playlist if anyone's interested - I could send via transfer.

Don't feel like picking ten, but Throwing Muses debut LP has to be in there somewhere.

Anti

enjoying the way there's no consensus on the Joni Mitchell albums here

The Weather Station - Loyalty
Joni Mitchell - Hejira
Patti Smith - Horses
Madonna - Ray of Light
Judee Sill - Heart Food
Kacey Musgraves - Same Trailer Different Park
Jenny Lewis - The Voyager
case/lang/veirs - s/t
Alice Coltrane - Journey in Satchidananda
Julien Baker - Sprained Ankle

if there was a definitive Billie Holiday album I would include it

really wanted to include Norah Jones - Come Away With Me as well...

xp: just based on our submissions alone, vote-splitting will do a few of these artists in.

Alice Coltrane - Ptah, the El Daoud
Bridget St. John - Songs for the Gentle Man
Grouper - Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill
Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You
Judee Sill - Heart Food
Joanna Newsom - Ys
Neko Case - Blacklisted
Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter One: Gens de couleur libres
Grace Jones - Nightclubbing
Shirley & Dolly Collins - Anthems in Eden

I needs a definitive Dinah Washington album. Maybe Drinking Again?

For sure gave two votes each to Erykah Badu (Mama's Gun + New AmErykah Part One) and Bjork (Homogenic + Vespertine). Laurie Anderson, Kate Bush, Madonna, Chaka Khan and Nina Simone all got a vote and then I'm blanking on the other one.

I think maybe I voted for Amy Grant's Heart In Motion also? maybe I didn't vote for Emmylou Harris, I dunno.

heart in motion was in an earlier draft of my ballot and i should probably put it back in

Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out
PJ Harvey - To Bring You my Love
Joanna Newsom - Ys
Elastica - Elastica
Colleen - The Golden Morning Breaks

Electrelane - Axes
Cat Power - You Are Free
Stereolab - Transient Random-Noise Bursts...
Cocteau Twins - Treasure
Ladytron - Velocifero