FREEFORM 1990's ALTERNATIVE ALBUM POLL - THE RECKONING (TOP TEN COUNTING DOWN NOW)

strongo hulkington's cat iirc

Only one of mine so far (Peng!), presumably because the rest are in positions 1-15. Might have voted for Debut if I'd been reminded of it.

this wasn't even purrington's #1

94 Elliott Smith - Either/Or (1997)
33 points
3 votes
0 first-place votes
Greatest contributor: billstevejim

http://betterpropaganda.com/images/artwork/EitherXOr-Elliot_Smith_480.jpg

agh i cant stop listening to elliott smith agh

― 69 (plsmith), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:49 (3 years ago)

On the way to school today I sang along to Either/Or and enjoyed the hopefulness and feelings of change the songs invoke in me.

Also, everytime my thoughts return to where they were yesterday, the image of him in his last moments and how he must have felt, I'm forcing them back to happy memories like sharing a joint with him or watching him play. Today will be a better day.

I won't subject my kids to him again but I'm not ready for hip-hop. Today we're listening to Miles Davis.

― A Girl Named Sam (thatgirl), Thursday, 23 October 2003 12:01 (6 years ago) Bookmark

This is really sad... I was a fan, not so much of the last couple of records but Either/Or was the soundtrack to a really difficult time - I haven't been able to listen to it for years but maybe I should dig it out now.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 22 October 2003 07:11 (6 years ago) Bookmark

Before he got all
Chest stabby; his music was
So very pretty.

-a hoy hoy

Tough call between this and his s/t album as my favorite ES album of the '90s (and that doesn't even include Heatmiser).

first album from my ballot! i gave it 2 whole points!

2 essential points

92= The Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde (1992)
33 points
4 votes
0 first-place votes
Greatest contributors: lamp, parenthetical grillz

http://lyrics.smashits.com/artwork/38/3882af189d72624b10adb186cb852670.jpg

Unbelievably, there hasn't been a thread devoted to Pharcyde, who are, in my opinion, one of the best rap groups ever. I think one listen to the first album could convince most people that this is the direction that rap music should have gone in instead of gangsta. Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde is really an amazing album. The beats, courtesy of J-Swift, are great-- fun, jazzy, and upbeat; the lyrics are funny, self-deprecating, and jocular. What's really refreshing is that Pharcyde is just good fun without all the posturing, braggadocio, and hardness that comes out of a lot of rap. Listening to the first album is like hanging out with friends, a feeling that I rarely get from music, much less rap albums. Moreover, it's actually catchy.

You can't walk away from this album without feeling good. Pharcyde is like a better version of ATCQ-- one with funnier lyrics and better production. For this album alone, I say CLASSIC, but there are a number of good tracks on the second album too.

Has anyone who has heard Pharcyde not like them?

― punis (punis), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 20:00 (3 years ago) Bookmark

C/D : Pharcyde

I just noticed that rollercoaster comes out of an iron vagina.

Or goes into one, rather.

vagina dentata, no less (gotta say I noticed as soon as I GIS'd it)

Well I'll be ... I cut it late from my ballot, probably would've been worth a point for that

surprised to see debut so low! first from my ballot. i basically gave 20 points to 10 albums.

^^this is Al3x B, whose username I got wrong. He is a Greatest Contributor!

so proud

92= The Afghan Whigs - Black Love (1996)
33 points
4 votes
0 first-place votes
Greatest contributor: M4tt H3lg3s0n

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IUKLs8mpGpk/SW-SzYzYhuI/AAAAAAAABr0/lDORqo0NNAc/s320/aw.jpg

Black Love can be fun if you want a 70's spy/cop show atmosphere thrown on top of things.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Wednesday, 28 August 2002 18:11 (7 years ago)

Man, there is some great Shaft-style hi-hat + wacka-wacka guitar on Black Love.

― ilx chilton (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 5 January 2009 04:21 (1 year ago)

Destroy: Black Love. A meandering, hookless soup of despair.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Saturday, 8 November 2003 06:06 (6 years ago)

as a fairly clueless young music fan I bought this without having heard anything by the band... I've never regretted it and keep coming back to it - compare that to all the albums I bought only to find that the single I already had was the only good thing on it or that the band I thought I loved had lost it... "Hookless" = you are on crack.

― Flyboy (Flyboy), Tuesday, 18 November 2003 13:22 (6 years ago)

Black Love. I could write a Lefsetzian rant on that mofo.

― Terrible Cold, Wednesday, 2 April 2008 16:31 (2 years ago)

GREAT ALBUM

gerrin there!

I fuck w/ this album.

Would've been on my ballot had I narrowed it down to top ten.

lol

91 Tori Amos - From The Choirgirl Hotel
34 points
1 vote
1 first-place vote
Contributor: The Lex

http://everythingtori.com/pm/uploads/music/tori_choirgirl.jpg

so this is probably my default favourite tori amos album, and therefore my default favourite album of the 90s. it's certainly amos at the height of her powers - somehow both her most accessible and her most experimental.

huge, huge turnaround from her previous work in that, having previously used a full band only occasionally, and mostly almost as an afterthought, the use of not just the band but weird electronic excursions on from the choirgirl hotel is so full-blooded and committed - "spark" for example is structurally and melodically a classic amos ballad but the surging arrangement lends it a real extra power. the whole album is really percussive - even on the ballads, the sense of rhythm is extraordinary.

anyway, lots to choose from! probably her most accomplished example of songcraft, "playboy mommy"; the aqueous percussion-and-bass of "liquid diamonds"; the deeply fucking weird electronic/structural mentalism of "iieee" and "hotel"; the, uh, cock-rock pastiche of "she's your cocaine"; the way she reacted to the van helden remix by making a pounding house joint herself - and pulling it off, "raspberry swirl" is a banger:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXjMgolX3IM

i can't choose, like, at all.

― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Wednesday, 31 March 2010 15:25 (3 weeks ago)

omg i listened to from the choirgirl hotel for the first time in about a year last night, on the late train back to london - it fit the mood perfectly - and noted just that song! MINDMELD. i remember how, when it came out, that album blew my mind sonically, especially 'liquid diamonds': it's as if someone explained to tori that genres like free jazz and trip-hop existed, but that she didn't bother to listen to them before doing her take on them.

'liquid diamonds' is very...aquatic, but also decadent. a real sea of music.

the other song which still blows my mind is 'hotel' - about six completely different styles of music in one somehow-coherent song! kate bush trapped in a computer game shoot-em-up!

― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 10 November 2005 11:18 (4 years ago)

I love anyone who belives in fairys and fucks her paino on stage . She is passionite and has a voice that chills me, one of the better vocalists in the last 25-30 years.

― anthony, Saturday, 28 July 2001 00:00 (8 years ago)

ahh the 1st of the 1 high vote entries

it's gonna be pretty embarassing if my #1 vote is top 20

The Lex's enthusiasm for this record is kinda infectious, I gotta say. Although it only got in because he messed up his ballot and I ended up redistributing what turned out to be enough points to top-100 it.

Will you be posting later the list of albums with most votes?

I will, Pfunkboy

cool poll results thus far!

didn't realize how few points you needed to chart here, did ppl vote for 50 albums each?

To recap:

(tie) 100. Stereolab - Peng! (1992)
(tie) 100. XTC - Apple Venus, Vol. 1 (1999)
(tie) 100. De La Soul - Buhloone Mind State (1993)
(tie) 98. Fugazi - End Hits (1998)
(tie) 98. Crowded House - Woodface (1991)
97. Sonic Youth - Washing Machine (1995)
96. Björk - Debut (1993)
95. Mark Eitzel - Songs of Love (1991)
94. Elliott Smith - Either/Or (1997)
(tie) 92. The Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde (1992)
(tie) 92. The Afghan Whigs - Black Love (1996)
91. Tori Amos - From the Choirgirl Hotel (1998)

This could be the only albums poll in internet/music journo history with Cardiacs in the top ten.

Rejoice!

(Some of these don't seem old enough in my own mind to have been from the '90s. I'm ancient.)

the diamond sea is just about the greatest thing ever and it sort of dwarfs the rest of that album

also has a rly terrible cover

2 of mine made it, (heh the fugazi album i didnt vote for made it so hurrah)

nakhchivan there was a very good mix of voting-styles. (obviously I went with your first ballot, as you'd probably have worked out by now)

and yeah, I won't reveal anything but I am extremely happy with the 100, not for personal reasons but because it's such a delirious spread, and there's so much to hear - I can guarantee nobody on ILM will have heard more than, say, 2/3 of them

The Diamond Sea is so, so, so very good, yeah. I'm also highly partial to Little Trouble Girl

Oh and I do like the Mark Eitzel so it's nice to see that in

10 more tonight I think

I can guarantee nobody on ILM will have heard more than, say, 2/3 of them

Hell, I'm ALREADY batting at about .666

haha you shd have included the 2nd

however seeing the scores thus far you can be forgiven

Glad to see Peng! in here. Even although I didn't vote for it.

Shit, how'd I miss this :(

I guess there wasn't enough badgering. See, LJ?!!!

Hmmm, yeah, this is the first I've heard of this poll.

(Not sure I would've voted, anyway, just saying.)

Interesting beginning. The only one I haven't heard is the Mark Eitzel, but I've never warmed to his voice. I still own most of the rest, and the Pharcyde and De La albums were late cuts from my ballot. Nothing I've voted for so far - I don't have high hopes for more than 2 or 3 out of 10 placing at all.

There wasn't an actual nomination process, which may be why lots of people missed it. You just voted for whatever you wanted to, splitting up 200 points, and not including any titles that appeared on the original 1990s album poll.

ALL-NEW FREEFORM (SORTA) 1990s ALBUMS POLL: THE BANNS -- ALL OVER BAR THE SUPPLICATING :)

This has been a really good list so far. Some good unexpected choices and some I want to check out.

I can only imagine it will get much more niche/personalized from this point on.

90 UGK - Ridin' Dirty (1996)
34 points
4 votes
0 first-place votes
Greatest contributor: The Reverend

http://www.dodaj.rs/f/1l/5W/4AE4xI2D/ugk-ridin-dirty.jpg

I like Super Tight more overall, but this record starts with one of the best four-song stretches ever

― otto günne (The Reverend), Wednesday, 17 February 2010 07:11 (2 months ago)

agreed

― average dump from average gangsters (deej), Wednesday, 17 February 2010 10:47 (2 months ago)

They see me rollin
They hatin
Patrolling they tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
My music so loud
I'm swangin
They hopin that they gon catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty

Police think they can see me lean
I'm tint so it ain't easy to be seen
When you see me ride by they can see the glean
And my shine on the deck and the TV screen
Ride with a new chick, she like hold up
Next to the playstation controller is a full clip and my pistola
Turn a jacker into a coma
Girl you ain't know, I'm crazy like Krayzie Bone
Just tryin to bone ain't tryin to have no babies
Rock clean itself so I pull in ladies
Laws of patrolling you know they hate me
Music turned all the way up until the maximum
I can speak for some niggas tryin to jack for some
But we packin somethin that we have and um will have a nigga locked up in the maximum
Security cell, I'm grippin oak
Music loud and tippin slow
Twist and twistin like hit this dough
Pull up from behind and is in his throat
Windows down gotta stop pollution
CDs change niggas like who is that producing?
This the Play-N-Skillz when we out and cruisin
Got warrants in every city except Houston but I'm still ain't losin

I been drinkin and smokin holdin shit cause a brother can't focus
I gotta get to home 'fore the po po's scope this big ol Excursion swerving all up in the curve man
Nigga been sippin on that Hennessey and the gin again is in again we in the wind
Doin a hundred while I puff on the blunt
And rollin another one up, we livin like we ain't givin a fuck
I got a revolver in my right hand, 40 oz on my lap freezing my balls
Roll a nigga tree, green leaves and all
Comin pretty deep, me and my do-jo
I gotta get back to backstreets
Wanted by the six pound and I got heat glock glock shots to the block we creep creep
Pop Pop hope cops don't see me, on a low key
With no regards for the law we dodge em like fuck em all
But I won't get caught up and brought up on charges for none of y'all
Keep a gun in car, and a blunt to spark, but well if you want, nigga you poppin dark
Ready or not we bust shots off in the air Krayzie Bone and Chamillionaire

Do what you thinkin so, I tried to let you go
Turn up a blink of light and I swang it slower
A nigga upset for sure cause they think they know that they catchin me with plenty of the drink and dro
So they get behind me tryin to check my tags, look at my rearview and they smilin
Thinkin they'll catch me on the wrong well keep tryin
Cause they denyin is racial profiling
Houston, TX you can check my tags
Pull me over try to check my slab
Glove compartment gotta get my cash
Cause the crooked cops try to come up fast
And been a baller that I am I talk to them, giving a damn bout not feeling my attitude
When they realize I ain't even ridin dirty bet you'll be leavin with an even madder mood
I'mma laugh at you then I'mma have to cruise I'm in number two on some more DJ Screw
You can't arrest me plus you can't sue
This a message to the laws tellin them WE HATE YOU
I can't be touched or tell 'em that they shoulda known
Tippin' down, sittin' crooked on my chrome
Bookin' my phone, tryin' to find a chick I wanna bone
Like they couldn't stop me I'mma 'bout to pull up at your home and it's on

― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Wednesday, 19 December 2007 10:11 (2 years ago)

^I'd be interested in checking that out because I adored International Players Anthem and they completely out-rap Jay-Z on Big Pimpin'. It's not on spotify though..