The A Lists: 1982 (78)

• Ornette Coleman: Of Human Feelings (Antilles)
• Marshall Crenshaw: Marshall Crenshaw (Warner Bros.)
• George Clinton: Computer Games (Capitol)
• Flipper: The Generic Album (Subterranean)
• Richard & Linda Thompson: Shoot Out the Lights (Hannibal)
• Kid Creole and the Coconuts: Wise Guy (Sire/ZE)
• Donald Fagen: The Nightfly (Warner Bros.)
• Professor Longhair: The Last Mardi Gras (Atlantic/Deluxe)
• Lou Reed: The Blue Mask (RCA Victor)
• Michael Jackson: Thriller (Epic)
• The Angry Samoans: Back from Samoa (Bad Trip)
• Prince: 1999 (Warner Bros.)
• George Jones: Anniversary--Ten Years of Hits (Epic)
• Stevie Wonder: The Original Musiquarium I (Tamla)
• The Itals: Brutal Out Deh (Nighthawk)
• ABC: The Lexicon of Love (Mercury)
• Gilberto Gil: Um Banda Um (Warner Bros. import)
• Marvin Gaye: Midnight Love (Columbia)
• Shalamar: Greatest Hits (Solar)
• Clint Eastwood & General Saint: Two Bad D.J. (Greensleeves)
• Ray Parker Jr.: The Other Woman (Arista)
• Chic: Tongue in Chic (Atlantic)
• King Sunny Adé and His African Beats: Juju Music (Mango)
• Warren Zevon: The Envoy (Asylum)
• Sound d'Afrique II: Soukous (Mango)
• Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society: Mandance (Antilles)
• Ray Parker Jr.: Greatest Hits (Arista)
• Bruce Springsteen: Nebraska (Columbia)
• The Time: What Time is It? (Warner Bros.)
• English Beat: Special Beat Service (I.R.S.)
• Orchestra Makassy: Agwaya (Virgin import)
• The B-52's: Mesopotamia (Warner Bros.)
• The Roches: Keep on Doing (Warner Bros.)
• Bonnie Raitt: Green Light (Warner Bros.)
• Roxy Music: Avalon (Warner Bros.)
• Van Morrison: Beautiful Vision (Warner Bros.)
• Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5: The Message (Sugarhill)
• Ruby Braff: Very Sinatra (Finesse)
• John Lennon: The John Lennon Collection (Geffen)
• Madness: Complete Madness (Stiff import)
• Gang of Four: Songs of the Free (Warner Bros.)
• X: Under the Big Black Sun (Elektra)
• Material: One Down (Elektra)
• Neil Young: Trans (Geffen)
• R.E.M.: Chronic Town (I.R.S.)
• Ferron: Testimony (Philo)
• Hüsker Dü: Everything Falls Apart (Reflex)
• The Desendents: Milo Goes to College (New Alliance)
• Minutemen: What Makes a Man Start Fires? (SST)
• James Blood Ulmer: Black Rock (Columbia)
• Bonnie Hayes With the Wild Combo: Good Clean Fun (Slash)
• Trouble Funk: Drop the Bomb (Sugarhill)
• Talking Heads: The Name of This Band is Talking Heads (Sire)
• Squeeze: Singles--45's and Under (A&M)
• Rank and File: Sundown (Slash)
• Willie Nelson & Webb Pierce: In the Jailhouse Now (Columbia)
• Sweet Pea Atkinson: Don't Walk Away (Island)
• Richard Hell: Destiny Street (Red Star)
• D.O.A.: War on 45 (Alternative Tentacles)
• The Waitresses: I Could Rule the World if I Could Only Get the Parts (Polydor)
• Calling Rastafari (Nighthawk)
• A Flock of Seagulls: A Flock of Seagulls (Arista)
• Ted Hawkins: Watch Your Step (Rounder)
• UB40: The Singles Album (DEP International import)
• Laurie Anderson: Big Science (Warner Bros.)
• Everything New is Old . . . Everything Old is New (Ambient Sound)
• Psychedelic Furs: Forever Now (Columbia)
• David Johansen: Live It Up (Blue Sky)
• The Replacements: Stink (Twin/Tone)
• Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band: Ice Cream for Crow (Virgin/Epic)
• Mighty Diamonds: Indestructible (Alligator)
• The Jive Five featuring Eugene Pitt: Here We Are! (Ambient Sound)
• T-Bone Burnett: Trap Door (Warner Bros.)
• Bunny Wailer: Hook Line 'n Sinker (Solomonic import)
• Joe "King" Carrasco and the Crowns: Synapse Gap (Mundo Total) (MCA)
• Swamp Dogg: The Best of (War Bride)
• Tom Robinson: North by Northwest (Geffen)
• Alberta Hunter: The Glory of Alberta Hunter (Columbia)

Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s, 1990

The A Lists: 1981

The A Lists: 1983