The A Lists: 1987 (63)

• Sonny Rollins: G-Man (Milestone)
• Prince: Sign 'O' the Times (Paisley Park)
• Culture: Two Sevens Clash (Shanachie)
• Ornette Coleman: In All Languages (Caravan of Dreams)
• Sonic Youth: Sister (SST)
• New Order: Substance (Qwest)
• Pretenders: The Singles (Sire)
• Sly & Robbie: Rhythm Killers (Mango)
• The Sonny Sharrock Band: Seize the Rainbow (Enemy)
• R.E.M.: Document (I.R.S.)
• Bruce Springsteen: Tunnel of Love (Columbia)
• Go-Betweens: Tallulah (Big Time)
• The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Live at Winterland (Rykodisc)
• Ian Dury: Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (Demon import)
• The Angry Samoans: Gimme Samoa: 31 Garbage-Pit Hits (PVC)
• Professor Longhair: Houseparty New Orleans Style (Rounder)
• Pet Shop Boys: Actually (EMI-Manhattan)
• Dramarama: Box Office Bomb (Questionmark)
• Stella Chiweshe: Ambuya? (GlobeStyle import)
• The Replacements: Pleased to Meet Me (Sire)
• The Tanzania Sound (Original Sound)
• Kool Moe Dee: How Ya Like Me Now? (Jive)
• Johnny Cash: Columbia Records 1958-1986 (Columbia)
• Marianne Faithfull: Strange Weather (Island)
• Madonna: You Can Dance (Sire)
• Kool Moe Dee: Kool Moe Dee (Jive)
• Rosanne Cash: King's Record Shop (Columbia)
• Reba McEntire: Greatest Hits (MCA)
• Stevie Wonder: Characters (Motown)
• John Cougar Mellencamp: The Lonesome Jubilee (Mercury)
• The Housemartins: The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death (Elektra)
• Tom Verlaine: Flash Light (I.R.S.)
• Great Plains: Sum Things Up (Homestead)
• French Frith Kaiser Thompson: Live, Love, Larf and Loaf (Rhino)
• David Behrman: Leapday Night (Lovely Music)
• That Petrol Emotion: Babble (Mercury)
• Ray Stevens: Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (MCA)
• The Cucumbers: The Cucumbers (Profile)
• Culture: Culture at Work (Shanachie)
• A Flock of Seagulls: The Best of a Flock of Seagulls (Jive)
• Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society: When Colors Play (Caravan of Dreams)
• Minutemen: Ballot Result (SST)
• Rosie Flores: Rosie Flores (Reprise)
• Motorhead: Rock 'n' Roll (Enigma/GWR)
• A Very Special Christmas (A&M)
• Bunny Wailer: Rootsman Skanking (Shanachie)
• Kid Creole and the Coconuts: I, Too, Have Seen the Woods (Sire)
• Mekons: New York (ROIR)
• Warren Zevon: Sentimental Hygiene (Virgin)
• Marshall Chapman: Dirty Linen (Tall Girl/Line import)
• Black Uhuru: Positive (RAS)
• Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Shaka Zulu (Warner Bros.)
• Sinéad O'Connor: The Lion and the Cobra (Chrysalis)
• The Best Part of the Fat Boys (Sutra)
• Meat Puppets: Huevos (SST)
• Big Black: Songs About Fucking (Touch and Go)
• Tom Robinson: The Collection 1977-87 (EMI import)
• Al Green: Soul Survivor (A&M)
• Camper Van Beethoven: Vampire Can Mating Oven (Pitch-a-Tent)
• Reggae Dancehall Classics (Sleeping Bag)
• Hüsker Dü: Warehouse: Songs and Stories (Warner Bros.)
• Age of Chance: Crush Collision (Virgin)
• Aztec Camera: Love (Sire)
• Los Lobos: By the Light of the Moon (Slash)

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

The A Lists: 1986

The A Lists: 1988