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

74= Electronic - Electronic (1991)
38 points
3 votes
0 first-place votes
Greatest contributor: Euler

http://images.uulyrics.com/cover/e/electronic/album-electronic.jpg

No Peter Hook on the first Electronic album either and that is one of the best collection of songs ever to come from Bernard Sumner. I love Hooky as much as the next middle aged balding man but I guarantee the Bernard Sumner project is going to piss all over the Freebass/Peter Hook project.

― brotherlovesdub, Saturday, 25 April 2009 15:50 (1 year ago)

It took me one Smiths album to make me realise that Morrossey had lost his sense of humour and write him off. (Though it took 2 Electronic albums to accompish the same thing with Johnny Marr.)

― kate (kate), Friday, 18 July 2003 07:59 (6 years ago)

Relistening to the first album, I was struck by how Marr and Sumner add their respective specialities (the former's melodic acumen and way with a groove, the latter's low boredom threshold and ear for hooks) to what are pretty standard acid-house tracks. My favorite non-classic is "Some Distant Memory," whose production and arrangement (a live oboe solo doubling a synth!) evoke the wistfulness of the title and lyrics.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 11 July 2005 21:29 (4 years ago)

HUGE classic, as is the entirety of the album that spawned it.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 01:07 (4 years ago)

My favorite non-classic is "Some Distant Memory"

non-classic? not in my world. one of the very first songs i ever wrote - and boy, that's a long fucking time ago - was a blatant copy. it kind of defined everything a song should be.

for the next six years, i kept trying to get it right. eventually i gave up trying to write songs.

incredible, awesome, teenage-life-defining song. incredible, awesome, entire-life-defining album. "technique" has the edge, but only slightly.

no love for "gangster"? perhaps it was moving to glasgow that made it work for me, but suddenly it made sense. a truly incredible song, and barney's single greatest lyric.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Saturday, 27 May 2006 23:50 (3 years ago)

New order are officially my FAVOURITE BAND, but the first electronic album is my FAVOURITE NEW ORDER ALBUM, and the third electronic album is the BEST THING NEW ORDER HAVE DONE SINCE TECHNIQUE EXCEPT FOR THE FIRST ELECTRONIC ALBUM, even though electronic != new order.

Get The Message was one of my learning-to-play-the-piano songs. It'll always mean a lot to me.

― JimD (JimD), Sunday, 28 May 2006 00:54 (3 years ago)

"Gangster" is fucking awesome. Really, the only song on this album that isn't fucking awesome is "Idiot Country".

― HI DERE, Thursday, 16 August 2007 12:36 (2 years ago)

Love this album, but the fact that Johnny Marr only has one visible eye on the cover has always bugged the shit out of me for reasons I can't explain. Move to your right one step, Johnny Marr!

At what point are we going to take a significant leap from albums scoring in the 30-40 pt range?

just to clarify, "Idiot Country" is very good compared to everything else's fucking awesome

never xp

Yay, another one of mine. It's quite lovely, but one thing that's been bothering me about it is the drums - it's like they've just settled for the first pattern the keyboard came up with, rather than putting proper care into them. I don't mind that much, but now I can't shake the feeling that I'm listening to the bonus demo disc rather than the real thing.

Really glad to see the Electronic album in the list. It's full of great tunes and features some great Barney rapping.

I didn't like this when it came out and never revisited. Might give it another go - it's been long enough it might be enjoyable.

74= Sleep - Dopesmoker (made during mid-90's, edited version released as 'Jerusalem' in 1999, finally released 2003)
38 points
3 votes
0 first-place votes
Greatest contributor: Captain Ahab

http://file.blog-shinjuku-metal.diskunion.net/Sleep-Dopesmoker.jpg

High On Fire puts me to sleep. Sleep gets me high.

― - (smile), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 17:29 (4 years ago)

PROCEED THE WEEDIAN.

NAZARETH!

― peter smith (plsmith), Saturday, 30 July 2005 19:20 (4 years ago)

i can't tell why i love dopesmoker. hearing it makes me want to hear more doom, but on the other hand i wouldnt like the style of singing on dope smoker if the novelty of having a 60 minute journey about weed wasn't present. i can't tell whether i just like them because after smoking a blunt the album is perfect for my state of mind.

― buyabiznatch (buyabiznatch), Monday, 17 October 2005 19:34 (4 years ago)

i always enjoyed listening to it. I have no problem with the length. I'm kinda lazy, so I'm not big on getting up anyway. i was never fanatical enough to buy the later dopesmoker version though. i never cared for the first sleep album. that one bored me, not as good as st. vitus, etc. but, yeah, jerusalem is funny and cool and it is nice and heavy. great riffs. what's not to like?

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 17 October 2005 22:28 (4 years ago)

I listened to Dopesmoker last night for the third time...but I had never been stoned before while listening to it, and had never really paid attention. But last night, I was blunted up and positioned in front of an astounding sound system-- I could feel the bass in every fibre of my body. Totally sick and awesome.

― trees (treesessplode), Thursday, 29 June 2006 15:45 (3 years ago)

yes!

I have Jerusalem and love it but am always kinda baffled about what could possibly be that different about Dopesmoker that makes it categorically "better", as so many claim

It's the way the band wanted it to be heard. It just is ... better

much-loved ilxor 'ilxor' voted for both Dopesmoker and Jerusalem so I combined them into a 2-point single vote, fwiw

a bit of pollster corruption for ya

have this album, haven't listened to it all in one go. need weed.

It's the way the band wanted it to be heard. It just is ... better

which is all as one track, right? but I mean, is it mixed differently too or something? or are parts different? what happened, I am confused.

apparently it's longer, mixed differently, and has more of an intro/outro

were all the drum and bass parts re-recorded by Robert Trujillo and Mike Bordin

^^^terrible metal in-joke, sorry

i laughed

much-loved ilxor 'ilxor'

In a perfect world, you mean? ;-)

Quite a few of my picks have made it then without only being in the poll because of me.

Does anybody here have the 2nd pressing of the Electronic album with the black artwork? I'd gladly trade for something you may be missing. I've got plenty of duplicates of other cd singles etc.

yay! thought about voting for jerusalem, but didn't. really glad to see it show up though, in whatever form. main difference, to me, between the two is that dopsmoker sounds a lot more gritty and deep. mix is rawer, more viscous, and i like that. plus, yeah, a little longer.

Glad to see this Sleep album make the list; it's a great album. I think of it as an 00s record though - hell, I didn't even hear it till '07. If you want to read what I cheesily wrote about it then you can check it out at the defunct EZ Snappin's Crackle & Pop.

72= Slowdive - Souvlaki (1993)
38 points
4 votes
0 first-place votes
Greatest contributor: Derelict

http://fromherewegosublime.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/slowdivesouvlaki1.jpg

Slowdive are excellent. Souvlaki is wonderful, like something between Loveless and Disintegration.

― Stupid (Stupid), Wednesday, 10 December 2003 23:40 (6 years ago)

I NEED MORE GAUZE DAMMIT

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 21:24 (4 years ago)

I think Souvlaki is damn near perfect, but could take or leave the other two.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 06:20 (4 years ago)

Slowdive's albums are like ripening bananas. JFaD is the album equivalent of a banana with a slight greenish hue: firm, flavour's a bit bland and off, but otherwise solid and eatable. Good, but should have waited a day or two. Souvlaki is just perfection: perfect colour, texture, feel, taste - definitively ripe. Pygmalion tastes just fine despite what anyone says about the admittedly present brown spots (but they're not really that noticeable anyways), the heightened texture and softness of it aren't necessarily worse, but not as good as it was in it's prime. It's also excellent for baking.

― mehlt, Tuesday, 26 August 2008 15:18 (1 year ago)

Slouvaki is zo'n kut naam voor een album. Wel geproduceerd door Eno, dus die moet ik nog maar eens checken.

― Omar, Friday, 6 September 2002 12:43 (7 years ago)

this is one i would have voted for, never did get around to voting in this even though i normally do vote.

I only got that Slowdive album at the end of the last year but I really love it.

Think I'll do about 2 or 3 more tonight, so stick around folks!

I am a big fan of this album too, especially the second half.

this is one i would have voted for, never did get around to voting in this even though i normally do vote.

― Bee OK, Tuesday, April 27, 2010 9:53 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

Oh that's a shame as I'm pretty sure you're a big fan of an album I was really hoping would do quite well..but I'm not allowed to mention it or make any predictions.

Oh, Gerardo, what could have been...

72= Godspeed You Black Emperor! - F#A#∞ (1998)
38 points
4 votes
1 first-place vote
Greatest contributor: sofatruck

http://hellsbelle84.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/godspeed-you-black-emperor-faoo.jpg

they said it all with the first album, shoulda quit there

― This House is a Prison on Planet Bullshit (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 31 March 2009 22:32 (1 year ago)

f♯a♯∞ is the one that had the most impact for me. i remember cbc's brave new waves playing it in it's entirety in the wee hours of the morning,and wondering what the/who the hell it was.

― drone/a/sore, Tuesday, 31 March 2009 23:52 (1 year ago)

Debut is indeed half-baked and pasted together and that's why I like it best. It's more like a collage and not as predictable.

― Mark, Thursday, 2 April 2009 13:24 (1 year ago)

That first album is really good and, in retrospect, very original. Better than most bands can manage.

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 16:39 (5 years ago)

this is music to get tedious indie blowjobs to!! YOU ALL LOVE GETTING ORAL SEX DON'T YOU?@!?!@

― 0r4l R0b3rt5 (ex machina), Wednesday, 16 June 2004 16:47 (5 years ago)

great quotes on that one

This album is always way better than I remember it as being. At least, the first track is. The last 5 minutes of The Dead Flag Blues are simply beautiful.

tedious indie blowjobs

Like, awesome Morricone lament into fragile slide-guitar thing of wonder, all the while sounding like it's being recorded in an abandoned aircraft hangar = <3 for all-time

Two more tonight

71 REM - New Adventures In Hi-Fi (1996)
38 points
5 votes
0 first-place votes
Greatest contributor: sofatruck

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_T-39bTSIXN8/SPSIh9LuR4I/AAAAAAAABNA/aYzS2BNCDlg/s400/new_adventures_in_hi-fi-front.jpg

mmmyeah, i'll give it up for that album. definitely gets an unfair shake. i guess cos they pissed everyone off w/ Monster.

― al, Sunday, 17 March 2002 01:00 (8 years ago)

this is the only r.e.m. album that i own. (although i am tempted by that new singles comp). haven't heard it for awhile, but i remember being impressed by how consistent this album was in both hookiness and mood, it's very bittersweet.

― disco stu (disco stu), Sunday, 9 November 2003 16:39 (6 years ago)

this is a great album! r.e.m.'s last several releases killed my fandom but listening to this has reminded me of how good they were, when they were good.

― gear (gear), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 06:11 (4 years ago)

This is a very good album. It makes me like the idea of R.E.M., when I think of it, which the other albums I like by them don't do.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 10:56 (4 years ago)

I love this record....so so underrated.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 9 November 2005 16:45 (4 years ago)

this is still the REM album i enjoy the most. even more than green or murmur or automatic. i hardly listen to them anymore, except for tracks off new adventures. e-bow, electrolite, how the west was won, bittersweet me. all some of their best.

― Emily Bjurnhjam, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 02:36 (2 years ago)

This is my favorite REM album, bar none.

― stephen, Saturday, 19 July 2008 02:57 (1 year ago)

Still my favorite REM album... bar none.

Not, however, one of your 193 favourite records of the 90's

haha wait you voted for a different REM album

YOUR CLAIMS ARE BEGINNING TO LOOK RICKETY

mmmyeah, i'll give it up for that album. definitely gets an unfair shake. i guess cos they pissed everyone off w/ Monster.

― al, Sunday, 17 March 2002 01:00 (8 years ago)

i am almost positive this was not me posting but i do love this album and gave it one (1) point

This is the last great R.E.M. album, I think. Up and Accelerate are good(ish), but I doubt they're ever going to hit this peak again.

Loving this countdown so far, I'm inspired to dig out a lot of these albums to listen to them again.

It also reminds me of things I should have voted for but didn't.

Was about to cheer my first vote, but no, looking back, I didn't vote for this! Strange. The last R.E.M. record that I bought because I was honestly excited about it (having heard them play "The Wake-Up Bomb" on television.) Though I have bought several more out of a sense of obligation. Perversely I tend to like the rockers on this record ("Wake-Up Bomb", "Departure") though they seem a bit out of place.

it's so weird to me that Electronic and Godspeed You Black Emperor are from the same decade

Last one for the evening coming up

I generally look back at the '90s with distaste, but this list is reframing my view somewhat.

Yay for Burger/Ink placing, and Yay for this poll so far, so much more interesting than the usual trudge thru the Canong. THE SYSTEM WORKS

Yeah, this is the best 90s poll ever.

NEVER SB LJ AGAIN

69= Earl Brutus - Tonight, You Are The Special One
39 points
2 votes
0 first-place votes
Greatest contributor: Kitchen Person

http://www.covershut.com/covers/Earl-Brutus---Tonight-You-Are-The-Special-One-Front-Cover-2060.jpg

There's not many bands I love as much as Earl Brutus.

― Kitchen Person, Thursday, 14 January 2010 21:19 (3 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

the video for come taste my mind might be my favourite video in the entire history of the music video

― Do the english boil pizza? (acoleuthic), Thursday, 14 January 2010 21:20 (3 months ago)

IMO Tonight...is a little better than Your Majesty...

I mean, they're both great (and, fuck, Tonight has Navyhead, Life's Too Long and Black Speedway on it as well as OMNIM) but Tonight is just greatness from start to finish, in my 90's top 10 and maybe all-time top 30. Staggering piece of work. At least they gave us the Larky single before sputtering out.

― Do the english boil pizza? (acoleuthic), Thursday, January 14, 2010 11:11 PM (2 minutes ago)

I agree with just about everything you said there. Tonight took me longer to get into but it sounds better as a whole album. I just started playing songs from it and found myself amazed all over again at the moment in Second Class War when that organ intro turns into that huge dirty riff. Universal Plan might be my favorite track of there's.

They are one of those bands that when I listen to them I just think there's no-one better.

― Kitchen Person, Thursday, 14 January 2010 23:22 (3 months ago)

One of the greatest live bands ever.

Utter fucking chaos from blokes desperate to defy middle age whilst spewing contempt for the contemporary scene and everything in it.

Lucky enough to catch them a handful of times back then. A real Festival Fuck you too. Gushed about them upthread I think under another stupid moniker

A real shame about Nick Sanderson. Way too young.

― Mobbed Up Ping Pong Psychos, Monday, 18 January 2010 00:04 (3 months ago)

I can't think of a single band more deserving of publicity and re-evaluation.

― The Broken Brothers, Tuesday, 19 January 2010 15:22 (3 months ago)

one show at the Austrian Cultural Institute in 2001 ended with the arrival of the police, who had mistaken the band's pyrotechnic-laden performance for a terrorist attack

fwiw nick sanderson is pretty much my ideal of the human being

― Do the english boil pizza? (acoleuthic), Tuesday, 19 January 2010 18:20 (3 months ago)

Two perfect albums, really. Ultimately, I'd take Tonight ... because I think it just has that slight edge. And, y'know, Second Class War.

― Error: No Error (grimly fiendish), Thursday, 21 January 2010 23:18 (3 months ago)

Going to the pub. LISTENING TO EARL BRUTUS. Match made in heaven, that.

― Error: No Error (grimly fiendish), Wednesday, 20 January 2010 11:11 (3 months ago)

I don't even need to hear them nowadays, just the fact that their music EXISTS, makes my life better.

Just might be the best band of all time

There should be a national holiday called Nick Sanderson Day where we can spend the whole day swigging lager and smoking fags in appreciation

― The Broken Brothers, Thursday, 14 January 2010 22:58 (3 months ago)