51 for 50 – The Final Countdown

So there we are. 51 albums. 51 calendar years. And my 50th birthday on Saturday.

It wasn’t the year that any of us were expecting.

And as a result of the minor inconvenience of a global pandemic, my options for a venue for celebrating my 50th are somewhat limited. So it’s going to happen on Twitter and Spotify.

If you’d like to join me, keep an eye out for the hashtag #51for50 from 7pm GMT on Saturday evening. There’s a playlist you can listen along to on Spotify here. Or if you don’t have Spotify, there’s an MP3 mix here. Press play at 7pm and listen along. It’s basically a 21st Century Mix Tape.

Year	Artist	Album	Link
1970	Curtis Mayfield	Curtis	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1970
1971	Sly and the Family Stone	There’s A Riot Goin’ On	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1971
1972	Nick Drake	Pink Moon	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/2019/12/12/51-for-51-1972/
1973	Herbie Hancock	Headhunters	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1973
1974	Gil Scott Heron	Pieces of a Man	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1974
1975	Lonnie Liston Smith	Expansions	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1975
1976	Stevie Wonder	Songs in the Key of Life	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1976
1977	Steely Dan	Aja	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1977
1978	Bob Marley & the Wailers	Babylon by Bus	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1978
1979	Madness	Madness	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1979
1980	The Cure	Seventeen Seconds	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1980
1981	Ultravox	Rage in Eden	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1981
1982	Duran Duran	Rio	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1982
1983	Billy Bragg	Life’s a Riot with Spy Vs Spy	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1983
1984	The Art of Noise	(Who’s afraid of) the Art of Noise?	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1984
1985	The Waterboys	This is the Sea	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1985
1986	Miles Davis	Tutu	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1986
1987	David Sylvian	Secrets of the Beehive	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1987
1988	Talk Talk	Spirit of Eden	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1988
1989	The The	Mindbomb	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1989
1990	The Sundays	Reading, Writing & Arithmetic	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1990
1991	The Orb	Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1991
1992	The Beastie Boys	Check Your Head	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1992
1993	Orbital	Orbital	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1993
1994	Blur	Parklife	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1994
1995	Goldie	Timeless	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1995
1996	DJ Shadow	Entroducing	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1996
1997	Roni Size	New Forms	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1997
1998	Red Snapper	Making Bones	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1998
1999	The Chemical Brothers	Surrender	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-1999
2000	Badly Drawn Boy	The Hour of Bewilderbeast	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-2000
2001	Roots Manuva	Run Come Save Me	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-2001
2002	Blackalicious	Blazing Arrow	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-2002
2003	OutKast	Speakerboxx/The Love Below	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-2003
2004	The Egg	Forwards	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-2004
2005	Sigur Ros	Takk..	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-2005
2006	Coldcut	Sound MIrrors	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-2006
2007	Groove Armada	Soundboy Rock	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-2007
2008	Goldfrapp	Seventh Tree	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-2008
2009	Lily Allen	It’s not me, it’s you	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-2009
2010	Hot Chip	One Life Stand	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-2010
2011	Little Dragon	Ritual Union	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-2011
2012	Alt-J	An Awesome Wave	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-2012
2013	Daft Punk	Random Access Memories	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-2013
2014	Christine & the Queens	Chaleur Humaine	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-2014
2015	Belle and Sebastian	Girls in Peactime Want to Dance	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-2015
2016	Xenia Rubinos	Black Terry Cat	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-2016
2017	St Vincent	MASSEDUCTION	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-2017
2018	Janelle Monae	Dirrty Computer	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-2018
2019	Mungo’s HiFi	More Fyah	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-2019
2020	Groove Armada	Edge of the Horizon	https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/51-for-50-2020