Okay, I'm prepared for the incoming pretentious, fart sniffing, pontificating allegations. And I ain't beating them. I'm also not going to go to war with everyone. I'm just going to put my best case forward for this album. Talking Heads realised their first feature Length album in '77 it was wildly ahead of its time in predicting the sounds that would define the 80s but also in its sampling, editing and production techniques. This only grew on future albums. Similarly, even earlier White Light / White Heat by the Velvet Underground came out in 68 and capture the textures, Fuzz and Punk that would explode in the early 70s with Branca, Sonic Youth, the Swans and all other subsequent alt rock and Punk projects of the late 70s and early 80s What does this album have to do with any of that? It released in 78 and was riving that second end of a decade wave of innovation. No-one was making sounds like this this, except for Eno and before him Halim El-Dabh on his single Lady and the Poet single and some faggots out of Princeton Uni music department. There's probably others but those are the ones I know of. I was disappointed by the track hit by a rock cause it felt like it was going somewhere but didn't. I felt as though not only is the album deeply experimental but it has nothing to show for it. Thankfully I didn't feel that way throughout. In fact everything up to and including Dead on arrival didn't amount to much other than an early use of sampling in this manner. However, weeping blew me away, this track came out nearly 50 years ago and it sounds like an experimental track that would have came out today. It's so unique and beautiful and sad. Hometime pushed me, the moments of babies Cries really got under my skin. And that was the point. By experimenting with sampling you are able to create soundscapes once unthought. Music doesn't have to be catchy and danceable it can be foreboding and scary. This track filled me with a sense of dread. Very cool. Hamburger lady minus the vocals if used for the Soundtrack of a contemporary horror film would receive praise for its building of tension, the imagery associated with it is immaculate. Some people are amazed that Aphex Twin developed some of his early works in the mid 80s, AB/7A came out in 78, c'mon you gotta admit that's pretty cool. I feel the same way about E-coli as hamburger lady, could make it onto a horror movie Soundtrack today and no-one would bat an eye and may even give it praise. Walls of sound, is a premonition of the looping soundscapes of no-wave and influence as mentioned above that would dominate the early 80s and have a lasting impact on all alt rock going forward. This album reminds of Enos album another green world. And while he might have beat them to the punch this album is certainly remarkable and influential for its time and certainly deserving of a spot on the list. What people need to understand is, that this album while not to most peoples taste isn't a Flaming garbage heap, it's not just banging noises together. I've been to dogshit live noise shows, anyone can bang some shit together and call it music. That's a 1/5. This isn't that. This is well composed, influential, ahead of its time. It had structure and nuance. 8/10 Fav tracks - IBM, Weeping, Hamburger Lady, Hometime, AB/7A, E-Coli, Walls of Sound Least fav - none really