The 25 best albums from Manchester

16 July 2023, 18:00

Looking to start a collection of the finest music to hail from Greater Manchester? Here’s where to begin.

1. Oasis - Definitely Maybe

   

   Liam and Noel Gallagher reinvented Manchester music for a new generation - classic guitar riffs, anthemic choruses and down-to-earth lyrics. Just look at the track listing: Live Forever, Shakermaker, Rock ’N’ Roll Star, Supersonic, Cigarettes And Alcohol… it’s a Mancunian masterpiece.

2. The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses (1989)

   

   A defiant, understated album that set the template for the next decade in guitar music. Part indie rock, part psychedelic tribute and part dancefloor wonder, it’s a brilliant mix of influences that is pure Manchester. Look at those songs: I Wanna Be Adored, She Bangs The Drums, Made Of Stone, I Am The Resurrection…

3. The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead

   

   Morrissey’s state of the nation address appeared slap bang in the middle of the Margaret Thatcher era and while the political bite has been lost with the passage of time, the honest emotion of I Know It’s Over and Never Had No One Ever jostles with the whimsy of Cemetry Gates, Vicar In A Tutu and the bleakly humorous There Is A Light That Never Goes Out.

4. Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

   

   Never mind one of the best Manchester albums, this is one of the best albums ever, full stop. The sound of the old industrial city crumbling away as the 70s turned to the 80s, Unknown Pleasures is claustrophobic and insular while at the same time being uplifting and liberating. A unique sound-world in 40 minutes.

5. New Order - Power, Corruption And Lies

   

   Shaking off the associations with their previous incarnation as Joy Division, New Order ditched the gloom of their debut album Movement and embraced technology for a very Mancunian blend of dancefloor synthpop and indie rock.

6. Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid (2008)

   

   Guy Garvey and his band had been releasing affecting, emotional albums since 2001, but it was their fourth outing that caught the public’s imagination and won the Mercury Prize that year. The Bones Of You, Grounds For Divorce and The Bones Of You all capture Garvey’s fragile voice and heartfelt lyrics perfectly.

7. Inspiral Carpets - Life

   

   After a series of succesful EPs, Oldham’s finest proponents of 60s-tinged garage rock made this confident album of well-crafted tunes featuring Clint Boon’s distinctive Farfisa organ. Best bit: the everyday drama of This Is How It Feels.

8. Oasis - (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?

   

   One of the biggest-selling British records of all time, this was Noel Gallagher at his songwriting peak. The raw innocence of Definitely Maybe has been replaced by confidence and swagger, with the songs getting deeper and more personal - see Don’t Look Back In Anger, Champagne Supernova and Wonderwall for details.

9. Johnny Marr - The Messenger (2013)

   

   After spending the best part of two decades being the world’s greatest sideman, Marr finally committed himself to recording a proper solo album and the result was an upbeat series of great tunes. Upstarts crackles with punk vigour, while New Town Velocity is a wistful look back at his Mancunian upbringing. Marr surprised the world by being a pretty good vocalist,too!

10. Happy Mondays - Bummed (1988)

    

    Indie rock morphed from fashionable lads with guitars into a loping, shuffling, dancing beast as the club scene became ever more influential in Britain, and Happy Mondays were at the cutting edge of the changeover. Joy Division producer Martin Hannett manned the controls for this spiky piece of gnarly funk, with tunes like Do It Better and Wrote For Luck showcasing Shaun Ryder’s quirky worldview.

11. Courteeners - St Jude (2008)

    

    The pubs and clubs of Manchester gave birth to the unique worldview of Liam Fray, who captures the loves, laughter and tears of the region with some keenly-observed songs. Not Ninteen Forever is the big hit, but this assured debut also includes the favourites Cavorting, What Took You So Long, No You Didn’t No You Don’t and Fallowfield Hillbilly.

12. Everything Everything - Get To Heaven (2015)

    

    One of Manchester’s best bands of the Noughties, 2015’s Get To Heaven sums up the tensions of modern life via some slick art rock. Distant Past is an angular plea for the simpler life, Regret is a twisted take on Motown and Spring/Summer/Winter/Dread is fascinating funk pop. It should have won the Mercury Prize!

13. Doves - The Last Broadcast (2002)

    

    The dark sound of the Cheshire peaks and plains, courtesy of Wilmslow’s Doves. The trio of Jimi Goodwin and Jez and Andy Williams concocted this melancholy record with moments of pure pop brilliance in There Goes The Fear and Pounding.

14. New Order - Technique

    

    Manchester loved to go clubbing, so when New Order headed to Ibiza to record their new album, the Balaearic beats were deeply embedded in the new tunes. That’s not to say the classic guitar rock sound was still there - Peter Hook’s bass is as mournful as ever on some bittersweet songs.

15. Joy Division - Closer

    

    How do you follow-up a masterpiece? Joy Div’s second album was released after the death of singer Ian Curtis, which makes this a gloomy postscript to a brief career, but the synth-laden second side hints at the direction New Order would take.

16. The Verve - Urban Hymns (1997)

    

    Hailing from Wigan at the furthest edges of the Greater Manchester region, Richard Ashcroft caught the mood of the nation with such immediate classics as Bitter Sweet Symphony, Lucky Man, Sonnet and hugely personal ballad The Drugs Don’t Work.

17. Happy Mondays - Pills N Thrills And Bellyaches (1990)

    

    After the scratchy sounds of Bummed, the Mondays teamed up with DJ and producer Paul Oakenfold to produce a more accessible record and pretty much coined the “Madchester” sound in one fell swoop. From the bright piano of the intro to Step On to the spooky funk of Loose Fit, it’s a hedonist’s dream with a dark undercurrent.

18. The Charlatans - Tellin’ Stories (1997)

    

    Tim Burgess and co’s discography is lengthy, but their fifth album from 1997 is a highlight. Having ridden the wave of Britpop, The Charlatans settled on classic guitar rock with freewheeling tunes like One To Another, North Country Boy and How High.

19. James - Laid (1993)

    

    The band’s fifth album saw them team up with influential producer Brian Eno and the collaboration saw James’s music mature and grow. The title track is a memorable character study, Say Something is worthy of The Smiths at their finest and Sometimes is emotional in a particularly Mancunian way.

20. Buzzcocks - Love Bites (1978)

    

    Manchester took punk to its heart and Buzzcocks were one of the first bands to release an indie EP. For many, their artistic peak was the second album, issued in the autumn of 1978. Founder member Howard Devoto had moved on, leaving the late, great Pete Shelley to front the band for the classic Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've and other kitchen sink dramas like Nostalgia and Sixteen Again.

21. Electronic - Electronic (1991)

    

    With The Smiths no more and New Order on hiatus, Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner joined forces for a Mancunian supergroup. Rather than creating a wall of riffs, the two guitarists celebrated their love for synthpop with an eclectic record of compelling hits including Get The Message and Feel Every Beat. If you get the special edition, you also get the excellent Getting Away With It, too.

22. Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour Of Bewilderbeest (2000)

    

    Damon Gough was born in Bedfordshire but grew up in Bolton and the Northerness shines through on this excellent collection. Once Around The Block is a great entry point, but the whole album was skilful enough to win the 2000 Mercury Music Prize.

23. Blossoms - Blossoms

    

    The Next Generation. Hailing from Stockport in Greater Manchester, Blossoms have mastered synth-laden pop. Their debut album from 2016 is a string of instant classics: Charlemagne, Blown Rose, At Most A Kiss... they're all keenly-crafted songs that tell 21st Century stories with a nod to the 1980s.

24. 808 State - 90 (1989)

    

    Manchester embraced the house music revolution and electronica pioneers 808 State were one of the first British acts to release an album influenced by the Chicago acid movement. Their peak was the classic 12” Pacific State: chilled-out beats, electronic bird sounds and synth-sax made it a Hacienda favourite. The rest of the album is a great snapshot of Manchester’s club scene during the Second Summer Of Love.

25. The Fall - The Frenz Experiment

    

    The peak of The Fall's brief flirtation with the mainstream, this is Mark E. Smith at his most accessible - with wife Brix on guitar, the record includes the Kinks cover Victoria, Carry Bag Man and the brilliantly-titled Oswald Defence Lawyer.