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

Hey, a college guy's gotta enjoy his strippers and blow in the evenings.

lj - you betster have yr schoolwork and this poll done by next tuesday so we can enjoy boadrum without any nagging doubts about shit you should be doing.

I personally don't mind a slow unveiling as long as albums I voted for continue to place.

0/4 over here

40= Julian Cope - Peggy Suicide (1991)
60 points
1 vote
1 first-place vote
Contributor: EZSnappin

http://arrieux.img.jugem.jp/20090919_1110342.jpg

Goddammit I love this record so much. Alright...it's Saturday night, and I've already had three beers on a relatively empty stomach, so this might not be as coherent as my usual In Praise Of's, but I threw this on this afternoon and it provided such a buoyant kickstart to my evening that I cannot effectively articulate how much I love this record.

Released when the rest of the music-loving words seemed to be furtively fondling itself over stuff like Loveless by My Bloody Valentine and Screamadelica by Primal Scream (not that there's anything necessarily wrong with those records), Peggy Suicide came along as this sprawling, whip-smart, ambitious concept album that restored all faith in Julian Cope's wildly erratic solo career. Simply put, Peggy Suicide has fucking EVERYTHING, from balls-out rockers ("Hanging Out & Hung Up on the Line") and blissful pop ("Beautiful Love") to loping "baggy" funk ("East Easy Rider") and bizarrely ambient stretches ("Western Front 1992 CE"), it's a remarkably diverse record that has no business sounding as coherent and cohesive as it does (almost lending legitimacy once again to the maligned notion of 'concept albums'). Cope hadn't yet re-chashed in his chips and was still focussed (before the rot set back in with Autogeddon) and comes across as furious and rocking as he is enlightened and conscious.

The guitar-spiralling, yowling climax of "Double Vegetation" alone renders this vast album an absolute classic. And GAWDALMIGHTY don't I love. Even if Copey said all sorts of nasty stuff about Jaz Coleman in "Head-On," I'd spare his life for bestowing this prize on the undeserving, cursed globe.

If you don't own it, go fetch it at once, earth-hater!!!

Tell me I'm wrong, go ahead. I'm too blissed out to care.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 9 November 2003 00:22 (6 years ago)

Picked this up last night and, after a couple full listens, I'm wondering where this album has been my whole life. Really strikes me as a parallel album to Sign 'o' the Times, a double album overflowing with ideas, not merely genre exercises but fully realized songs and ideas. In the sound I hear bits of Bowie, Nick Cave, Peter Murphy (all things I'm used to listening to, of course -- I'm sure there are influences I'm not picking up on) and also Bunnymen/McCulloch and of course the Teardrops and '60s psych-pop and on and on it goes. What an album!

― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Wednesday, 15 July 2009 14:18 (9 months ago)

Total classic, don't listen to it nearly enough but it nestles in my chaotic cd cupboard like a fine wine in a cloistered basement.

Still gives me shivers when Cope's voice ascends for that first chorus of Double Vegetation.

― mzui (mzui), Sunday, 17 July 2005 18:21 (4 years ago)

The exceedingly low expectations derived from his prior Skellington and Droolian meant that Peggy Suicide felt like a blinding electric shock. Lotsa fave moments though the most staggering remains the metamorphosis of "Safe Surfer", from Droolian's unremarkable demo cut to this sprawling snake-coiled guitar monster on PS.

The irony of course is that this album is fucking GREAT to drive to.

― doug watson (solid air), Monday, 18 July 2005 23:41 (4 years ago)

i'm really starting to think there's gonna be no u.s. maple on this list ;_;

0/4 over here

― the sound of a norwegian guy being wrong (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, May 4, 2010 11:36 AM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

if you only voted for 4 albums doesn't that mean you gave them each enough points to place really high?

not necessarily

1 point each for 3 of them, 197 points for the other?

^^^enlightening music discussion

Really looking forward to a post-reveal alternative ranking by vote count with score total being the tiebreaker. Just saying.

Cope seems like a cool dude with great taste and a bunch of interesting projects, and yet I have never heard any music of his that particularly impressed me

I had a cassette of Demos for that album, including the not-released title track.

It eventually was remade as "Peggy Suicide is a junkie" but lost the innocence/immediacy of the original.

Still, nice to have.

40= Straitjacket Fits - Melt (1991)
60 points
1 vote
1 first-place vote
Contributor: Johnny Fever

http://bp2.blogger.com/_PX52VR97IYE/SCoG6nDMVqI/AAAAAAAAAHw/FbH_YqqnwY4/s320/stjacket.jpg

Hook-heavy, real catchy, but with a blissed-out gauzy production that places it forever in 1991. What's the general consensus on these Kiwi post-punkers?

― Brandon Gentry (Brandon Gentry), Wednesday, 30 April 2003 13:20 (7 years ago)

I listened to Melt for the first time in ages last night in a hypnagogic state while in bed, and Andrew Brough's tracks sounded like some heavenly Kiwi distillation of John Lennon and George Harrison's best Beatles traits. The man is a fuggin' genius, yet he only received George-like song rations. Scandalous.

― Dave Segal (Da ve Segal), Thursday, 30 June 2005 04:47 (4 years ago)

Listened to Melt and Done repeating all night and, even though the knowledge of how great they are is always with me, I forget how great until I'm actually playing them.

― Johnny Fever, Monday, 29 June 2009 09:16 (10 months ago)

this song is basically what i wish the music i made sounded like

fucking incredible track

― private static void (electricsound), Saturday, 25 April 2009 06:17 (1 year ago)

Favourite Straitjacket Fits moment: Andrew Brough stopping the gig for five minutes because he had to go to the toilet. Plus announcing it to the audience.

― Good Dog (Good Dog), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 04:56 (5 years ago)

nobody?

Next?

level?

I guess this is the risk with a non-consensus poll

I have a vague memory of hearing Straitjacket Fits at the time, but they never made an impression.

*yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn*

38= Pole - 1 (1998)
60 points
2 votes
1 first-place vote
Greatest contributor: abanana

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/212FS6ZZXPL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Utterly classic - i remember the first time i heard it i was like "what the fuck!?" i read about it before it was released in the uk and i was sure, from the description, it was going to be like music i had imagined my whole life and never actually heard. I wasnt dissappointed. It sounded better than i had imagined.

― jed_e_3 (jed_e_3), Sunday, 24 August 2003 18:25 (6 years ago)

CD1 is an example of someone who got it absolutely right on the first go -- I really think they needn't have bothered making more records. It reminds me of a Miles Davis adage about thinking of a sound and then not making it.

It's also a record that works for me first thing in the morning or last thing at night in a way that few others do.

― Nom De Plume (Nom De Plume), Sunday, 24 August 2003 19:06 (6 years ago)

If you're talking about the "blue" album, yeah, it's one of my favourite records of all time too. Pole's minimalism is minimalism with soul, because of the dub and jazz influences. According to AMG his new album has rapping in it, sounds weird.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 25 August 2003 11:00 (6 years ago)

i really liked the first cd, especially the first track (can't recall the title) which is just like a dark night, moon shining on snowbanks. beautiful.

― your null fame, Wednesday, 1 August 2001 00:00 (8 years ago)

Am I the only one who think's Pole's early records, especially 1, can be seen building on what Miles did with In a Silent Way? Sure, formally they belong to a different genre, but there's a similar feel to them.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 3 November 2005 16:10 (4 years ago)

you guys like some shitty indie rock

lol @ ambient techno-dub being indie rock

i saw pole open for trans am once, and it was bowel shaking bass

I think that was in response to Straitjacket Fits, LJ

I remember hearing about the Straitjacket Fits. I've never heard their music, but's a pretty cool band name. I'd really like to hear Johnny Fever defend them.

yeah sorry some xposts there

Would definitely have voted for Pole if I thought my vote would have a chance in hell of advancing Pole 1 to the final round. I actually have listened to Pole 2 about three times as much, as its less the sound of your space station malfunctioning and more the sound of William Gibson's rasta space station.

Aerol, with no particular provocation, related the tale of the
baby who had burst from his forehead and scampered into a
forest of hydroponic ganja. `Ver'~ small baby, mon, no long'~
you finga.' He rubbed his palm across an unscarred expanse
of brown forehead and smiled.
`It's the ganja,' Molly said, when Case told her the story.
`They don't make much of a difference between states, you
know? Aerol tells you it happened, well, it happened to _him._
It's not like bullshit, more like poetry. Get it?'
Case nodded dubiously. The Zionites always touched you
when they were talking, hands on your shoulder. He didn't
like that.
`Hey, Aerol,' Case called, an hour later, as he prepared
for a practice run in the freefall corridor. `Come here, man.
Wanna show you this thing.' He held out the trodes.
Aerol executed a slow-motion tumble. His bare feet struck
the steel wall and he caught a girder with his free hand. The
other held a transparent waterbag bulging with blue-green al-
gae. He blinked mildly and grinned.
`Try it,' Case said.
He took the band, put it on, and Case adjusted the trodes.
He closed his eyes. Case hit the power stud. Aerol shuddered.
Case jacked him back out. `What did you see, man?'
`Babylon,' Aerol said, sadly, handing him the trodes and
kicking off down the corridor.

38= Various Artists - Guitar Paradise Of East Africa (1990)
60 points
2 votes
0 first-place votes
Greatest contributor: KMS

http://www.ljplus.ru/img3/l/e/lestp/gpoea.jpg

What's some of the best of that African pop, you think?
--burt s.

For an intro, go with comps. Guitar Paradise of East Africa (Virgin Earthworks), The Indestructible Beat of Soweto (Shanachie), Kings and Queens of Township Jive (Virgin Earthworks). All good (brief) surveys of Mbaqanga and its offshoots in the 70s & 80s.

― contenderizer, Monday, 28 April 2008 21:08 (2 years ago)

Guitar Paradise of East Africa is also terrific; track 3 (Daniel Kamau's "Mumbi Ni Wakwa") is one of my favorite tracks ever.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 03:48 (4 years ago)

Earthworks has a couple of good comps of Kenyan pop, too. "Benga Blast" was a good one, and even better is "Guitar Paradise of East Africa".

― pauls00, Monday, 17 September 2001 01:00 (8 years ago)

Ah, now I'm interested in that.

finally something interesting!

lol u tiresome racist

thirding interest

37 Slint - Spiderland (1991)
60 points
6 votes
0 first-place votes
Greatest contributor: sofatruck

http://dkpresents.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/slint_spiderland.jpg

Classic. The album in question is an austere, shapeshifting masterpiece, and surely one of the most original of the 90s. The first few notes of "Washer" and the sombre geometry of the repeating guitar riff are some of the most haunting things I've ever heard. It's interesting they get described as uninvolving, a bit like a recent Guardian critique of Kasuo Ishiguro that calls him dry, cerebral and unemotional. I'm just left completely baffled, because his books move me more than almost any other author. I guess you just either get off on sombre geometry or ya don't ;-)

The influence thing with Slint has become a bit of a joke, though. When prog-metal bands like Geiger Counter namecheck them, they're namechecking their preciousness and deliberate complexity. Isolate these things and they are no more than quixotic. Add them to rich and mysterious songs, and you've got a winner.

― Peter, Friday, 27 April 2001 01:00 (9 years ago)

"Good Morning Captain" goes straight to the back of my skull. "Washer" too, but in a more hypnotic, subtle way - "the sombre geometry of the repeating guitar riff" is a really fucking awesome and OTM description. "Washer" is one of the few songs on which I'll forgive the trembly emo-tenor singing. It just fucking works.

― Curt1s Stephens, Tuesday, 22 May 2007 15:09 (2 years ago)

I completely love this album, and was actually fortunate enough not to have had it played up as a total 90s indie classic (which, in any case, I really think it is, btw) before hearing it. Maybe 4 years ago, one of my older brothers (who first heard it when he was in college back in the early 90s) just put it on after I played him some Mogwai. We were talking a little bit about early 90s indie very generally, and he just kind of casually said, "oh, this is Slint, you'll probably like this." I was totally blown away.

― Mark Clemente, Friday, 7 September 2007 14:46 (2 years ago)

i think that slint's stuff (especially spiderland) has a mathematical beauty to it... there's a precision to it, with nothing more than is necessary, yet it seems to spiral around itself in unworldly ways. but what math-rock became certainly isn't all slint-like. so, while i can see why the term has been applied to slint, i'm not at all sure that slint is what they are really talking about most of the time.

― zingzing, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 01:07 (1 month ago)

I was listening to Slint's Spiderland the other day and it occured to me how well it managed to build up momentum for 30 minutes and then go out with a huge bang at the end.

― gabourey voltaire (Stevie D), Thursday, 18 March 2010 18:43 (1 month ago)

DUD: People who talk about Spiderland like it's some kind of sexual experience.

― ian, Monday, 10 December 2007 17:26 (2 years ago)

Slint is geweldig. Iedereen behoort op zijn minst Spiderland in de kast te hebben staan (nou ja, iedere indie-liefhebber althans). Wat een duister, rauw, onheilspellend maar spannend album. Eng gewoon. Prachtig.

Nog een tipje Roy: This kind of punishment of Mogwai.

― ZoeMotta, Tuesday, 27 April 2004 12:05 (6 years ago)

that wasn't on the first? i woulda voted for that.

I love this record too. A lot. I can understand WHY it's faded a little as ILM canon but I'm happy it's here.

i have to say...slint hasn't aged that well for me

I think about it as a well-written alt-rock record, rather than 'post-rock' which is a bit of a misnomer IMO.

yeah, but it's not really fair to play monday morning quarterback with spiderland...shit did really sound like it was from a strange, mysterious place

id be lying if i said i bumped this often, but i don put it on every now and then and i always get something out of it.

surprised it wasn't on the original poll and surprised it's not higher here

didn't vote for it but some of it is sublime, the coda to 'good morning captain' especially

never cared about Slint personally but know its held in high regard by others, surprised it wasn't on the OG list

shit did really sound like it was from a strange, mysterious place

absolutely!! it's a very crepuscular, penumbral record, the moments of high angst somehow still sounding displaced and uncertainly-derived. a pretty psychedelic experience, IMO

36 Mansun - Six (1998)
61 points
4 votes
0 first-place votes
Greatest contributors: useless chamber, acoleuthic

http://image.ohozaa.com/ii/0000054699_350.jpg

This album is fairly good. I rather like it.

l0u1s jagg3r (Haberdager), Friday, 28 July 2006 01:14 (3 years ago)

this is the best of the britpop-bands-go-weird albums by a country mile. it was obvious career suicide, it had tunes and hooks all over it, it has fantastic geetar, and it's lyrics appears to tell the tale of a man in the midst of a genuine nervous breakdown. like 'the holy bible' without the laughs. recently it came to light that the sequencing of the tracks without a break in such a bizarre fashion, was a tribute to prince's 80's albums.

i love it. am i alone?

― piscesboy, Wednesday, 6 July 2005 13:05 (4 years ago)

(I never make these ridiculous hyperbolic posts but here I go)

Mansun's "Six" is my favorite record of all time.

(Did you make it past that sentence?)

Maybe a little more for sentimental and influential reasons now, but I still haven't found a record that has had more impact on my life than Six. I picked it up when I was 17, and it changed the way I listened to music from the very moment I started listening to it. The ambition, the nerve, the way every song had 14 different sections, how it dipped its hand in art-rock, techno, opera, guitar pop, psychedelia, pomposity, anarchy, and sheer ridiculousness was completely inspiring to me as a musician, and frankly, it still is today. It encompasses most of the qualitites and elements I love in music and in life.

Sure, I'm more into techno and house these days, but I have no shame at all in loving Mansun.

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Friday, 21 January 2005 04:03 (5 years ago)

The production on the Mansun record is overstuffed, but in an interesting way. I have made my best attempt to 'approach with glee' but came away feeling exhausted...yet fairly impressed.

― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Saturday, 1 May 2010 17:46 (3 days ago)

I feel I have finally reached a balanced, reasonable perspective about this album, and can discuss it rationally. It dazzled me then and I thought it was the greatest thing ever. It dazzles me now and I merely regard it as brilliant. Its power is undeniable, and Draper's own explanations, although often rambling, endear it to me as a record whose making is scarcely credible, a succession of happy accidents and musical mania.

We were all in the car the other night. It was dark. Random shuffle on my brother's iPod. Being A Girl came on. Everyone fell silent. For eight minutes, Mansun were glorious, and we uttered not a word. It had been a while since I last put that song on, but even allowing for this, it was like hearing it for the first time, the 200 mph escalating bliss-out. These guys really fucking had something.

― alien vs the smiths (country matters), Monday, 21 September 2009 23:52 (7 months ago)

xpost

Spiderland's cover picture is so great....it's always even more bizarre to me in light of the fact that the man on the other side of the camera is Bonnie Prince Billy

the mansun cover though....

is epic XD

Wow Mansun one place higher than Slint, that's kind of shocking.

That's only the third album of mine to place.

I thought I was immune to Britpop, and hated its disavowal of any post-1970 influences, but "Wide Open Space" on one of ILM's "Rough Guide" comps swayed me. Mansun was better.