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

outdoorminer was your compadre there.

Last one for tonight...

31 Super Furry Animals - Guerrilla (1999)
65 points
2 votes
1 first-place vote
Greatest contributor: useless chamber

http://www.thomasthetaff.com/welshbands/superfurryanimals/pictures/A04a-Guerrilla.JPG

I'm from Texas. Guerrilla is the album that did it for me. Absolutely ingenious.

― enjoy bell woods (sjjd111), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 18:32 (4 years ago)

Guerrilla is amazing. I frequently see it in throw-out bins for three bucks. I can't believe it doesn't MOVE.

― edward o (edwardo), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 01:13 (4 years ago)

whats your favorite album by these welsh people?
mine is guerrilla

― Dude (The Yellow Dart), Wednesday, 11 February 2004 05:10 (6 years ago)

wow what a hideous cover

hahahaha shit

I've just looked at my final tally and it turns out

it turns out

that I DO have a top 100 after all

because I've put an album in twice

and I've posted that album earlier tonight

in its INCORRECT placing

well done

http://www.therealestatebloggers.com/imagessm/banging_head_against_wall.jpg

it's fine, it just has a few more points than I've credited, so I'll repost it in its proper place

Not all lists are perfect. I actually inadvertently left an album out of the '70s alternate poll 100 that should've been #50 because I overlooked a first place vote.

(Though I remedied that as soon as it was brought to my attention, AFTER the poll was completed.)

As it stands!

____ Stereolab - Peng! (1992)
____ XTC - Apple Venus, Vol. 1 (1999)
100. De La Soul - Buhloone Mind State (1993)
___ Fugazi - End Hits (1998)
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)
___ The Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde (1992)
92. The Afghan Whigs - Black Love (1996)
91. Tori Amos - From the Choirgirl Hotel (1998)
90. UGK - Ridin' Dirty (1996)
89. Grifters - Crappin' You Negative (1994)
88. The Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I (1999)
87. The Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen (1993)
___ Neil Young - Harvest Moon (1992)
85. Biosphere - Substrata (1997)
___ Missy Elliott - Da Real World (1999)
___ Mogwai - Young Team (1997)
82. 2pac - All Eyez on Me (1996)
81. Metallica - Metallica (1991)
___ Built To Spill - Keep it Like a Secret (1999)
79. A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders (1993)
___ The Divine Comedy - Promenade (1994)
77. The Auteurs - New Wave (1993)
___ Burger/Ink - Las Vegas (1996)
___ Electronic - Electronic (1991)
74. Sleep - Dopesmoker (199?)
___ Slowdive - Souvlaki (1993)
72. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F#A#∞ (1998)
71. R.E.M. - New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996)
___ Earl Brutus - Tonight You Are The Special One (1998)
69. Sun City Girls - Torch of the Mystics (1990)
___ Sun City Girls - 330,003 Crossdressers From the Rig Veda (1996)
67. Pete Namlook - Air (1994)
66. Palace Music - Lost Blues and Other Songs (1997)
65. Sonny Sharrock - Ask the Ages (1991)
___ Lush - Spooky (1992)
63. Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return to the 36 Chambers (1995)
62. Aphex Twin - I Care Because You Do (1995)
___ They Might Be Giants - Flood (1990)
60. Mr. Bungle - California (1999)
___ Madonna - Erotica (1992)
58. Gas - Königsforst (1999)
57. Mouse on Mars - Autoditacker (1997)
56. Sonic Youth - A Thousand Leaves (1998)
___ Pizzicato Five - Happy End of the World (1997)
___ Magic Hour - No Excess Is Absurd (1994)
___ Nomeansno - Live and Cuddly (1991)
___ Kristin Hersh - Hips and Makers (1994)
___ Ground Zero - Revolutionary Pekinese Opera Ver.1.28 (1996)
50. Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road (1998)
49. Faith No More - Angel Dust (1992)
48. R.E.M. - Out of Time (1991)
47. Pavement - Brighten the Corners (1997)
46. Blur - 13 (1999)
45. Nachtstrom - 17 Songs After Midnight (1999)
44. Arvo Pärt - Te Deum (1993)
43. Outkast - ATLiens (1996)
42. Pavement - Wowee Zowee (1995)
___ Julian Cope - Peggy Suicide (1991)
40. Straitjacket Fits - Melt (1991)
___ Pole - 1 (1998)
38. Various Artists - Guitar Paradise of East Africa (1990)
37. Slint - Spiderland (1991)
36. Mansun - Six (1998)
___ Suede - Dog Man Star (1994)
34. Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst (1996)
___ Hole - Live Through This (1994)
33. Wilco - Summerteeth (1999)
32. Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante (1995)
31. Super Furry Animals - Guerrilla (1999)

you fucking idiot, I just modreq'd one of those albums to be deleted

Hah, oops!

since this seems to be a list of albums that weren't on another list (i think?) i don't suppose it matters much how many there are.

jed_, quit being a killjoy. Alternate polls can prove more interesting (see: TURN THIS MUTHA OUT! It's the Alternate 1970s Albums Poll on ILX — Results Thread)

OMG guys, maybe we should do the *next* 100 albums of each decade, once these alternate polls are finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I do think it makes more sense to do polls that exclude those that placed in the originally-run ones, as it makes the results more interesting (although I still think the way this one dealt with points was not the best way to do things). To do it without the previous winners is not arbitrary, it's "what did the last poll miss that is exciting and awesome?" Yeah, maybe a full re-poll would be fine at some point, but to make it an interesting contrast of changing canons/demographics it needs to have a proper gap in time.

if there's one more than there should be you can just crown that as the winner of the next list - the alternative alternative poll - or at least make sure it's eligible for the voting.

OMG guys, maybe we should do the *next* 100 albums of each decade, once these alternate polls are finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or one for singles, b-sides, EP's, music videos, whatever..

No one ever talks about the beats on Dr. Octagon. It's Kut Masta Kurt right? That guy's awesome.

Lots of people do actually... me being one of them. And it was Dan The Automator.

90's album lists usually place Dr. Octagon closer to the bottom of the lists in the 80's or 90's, so seeing it up there at #35 is def refreshing.

yeah considering that they released a retail version of the Dr. Octagon instrumentals, and for like 5 years after that every Kook Keith album was greeted with "the producer on this isn't as good as the Automator, when are they gonna work together again?", it's kind of hilarious that someone could even be under that impression.

I probably play Instrumentalyst more than the album proper. Best Automator work, and a nice Shadow cut too.

tuomas, here's an iconic earlyish REM song [...]

here's an iconic early suede song [...]

i think ppl would agree that these are typical of each band's "classic" era...you really don't hear the difference?

― the Rob Based god (M@tt He1ges0n)

never heard the octogon joint tbh

Guerrilla might be the best album on this thing so far, now i wish i took some time to vote in this thing, would have probably got a Moose album in. Guerrilla was their electronic album where they experimented with different sounds and come up with a fantastic album that they were able to do even better in the 2000's. seeing this tour at a little club called Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco is one night i will never forget.

haha funny to see my comments in a couple of the blurbs when i didn't even know this poll was happening before the results came out. good to see i still agree with some of what i posted way back when

i think i assumed spiderland was on the original list and thus didn't vote for it

guerrilla's never fully clicked for me, but 'wherever i lay my phone' is a jam

'wherever i lay my phone' is a jam

this bears repeating - on the ILX sandbox I even started a thread about this song and its unexpectedly anthemic qualities

Guerrilla has a great cover. (except for the sticker.)

I completely forgot about SFA. Decided I really really liked them in the run-up to Guerrilla coming out, found G OK but a little disappointing, for some reason never followed their later work. No idea how they'd stand up for me now.

(that "some reason" may be the ATP where I saw SFA do a live set which didn't impress me at all to an absolutely packed main stage + also saw Gorky's do a brilliant set to a not even full smaller stage and put up with six billion "lol Welsh" twats request SFA and Catatonia songs allll night, now I think about it

or maybe just the sense that they must be a spent force since Guerrilla was not quite as completely absolutely brilliant as I'd told myself it would be in a haze of loving The Man Don't Give A Fuck and Ice Hockey Hair and expecting 13 tracks of non-stop whatever that is)

i was really into SFA at the time but i can't stand most of their music now - guerrilla in particular.

Guerrilla doesn't quite hit the spot for me, a couple of songs aside. I simply think the songwriting's a bit mundane and the sonic 'surprises' a tad unsurprising. The album's at its best, by far, in the middle, with Wherever... and Some Things... slowing everything down and unfurling rather than splattering. Keep The Cosmic Trigger Happy is also very good if a bit short, and Citizens Band is great until the middle-eight when it decides not to go anywhere.

A lot of people think it's their zenith. I passionately believe it's nothing of the kind, and that their two subsequent albums completely nail what they were going for in a way Guerrilla only amateurishly hints at. RATW indeed is in my 00's top-5, no questions asked.

i was really into SFA at the time but i can't stand most of their music now

Same here. Not sure why...

I gave Guerrilla my top vote because SFA are probably my favourite band of the 90s, and I'd ended up making a short 9-entry ballot, (I regret this now, tbh, but it was taking me too long to arbitrarily split points between albums. Looking at my ballot now, and low placings of other things, and things that will probably miss out altogether, this was a mistake. ah well), oh and I was only having one album per artist, and I just prefer this to Radiator or Fuzzy Logic (I was also probably expecting Radiator to get votes elsewhere). A 00s list would be harder to pick an SFA album for.

Also, can I just

Kitchen Person, Klata, I and Jona are pretty much 100% responsible for all of this (Mansun/Suede/Earl Brutus art-Brit-glam fuckathon), and we're not apologising

― sausage s4rgent (acoleuthic), Tuesday, 4 May 2010 21:33 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I only actually voted for Mansun of these. I'm not apologising for that!

since i included 'dog man star' despite not having listened to it in years i played it last night and yeah it's not quite as good as i thought when i was 15

new generation is still fucking great tho

I didn't vote for Suede! Just that there seems to be a big overlap of taste among those posters, especially when it comes to peculiarly British arcana. You voted for the wrong late-90's Hood album btw ;_; (not that I don't absolutely LOVE TCODAS as well)

We Are The Pigs, Daddy's Speeding and The Asphalt World still bring it IMO

that "some reason" may be the ATP where I saw...also saw Gorky's do a brilliant set to a not even full smaller stage

This was one of the most magical shows I've ever seen? I hadn't really ever heard them before, and their albums never gave me the same feeling, but they were the most special, fragile, warm thing there.

Is Radiator in the original poll? I was kinda disappointed by Guerilla as a radiator stan, it seemed glibber somehow, less sincere.

I really love Guerilla but I think Radiator is their masterpiece. I think Fuzzy logic has dated a bit and sounds a lot more normal now than it it did to me at the time.

On the whole they've been really consistent over the last decade. Even the albums I don't rate as much as a whole have some brilliant moments. I really liked the Neon Neon album too.

Also Ice Hockey Hair is one of the best singles of the 90's.

We Are The Pigs, Daddy's Speeding and The Asphalt World still bring it IMO

sure the first especially, it's still a good album and fuiud etc but not quite as tawdrily sublime as i remembered

the flying saucer attack cover of 'the drowners' is rly good btw

One track that nothing else sounds like is Furryvision - maybe I don't just know what else does, because it seems it'd be easy enough to sound like that? But nothing does.

Radiator is their early masterpiece. Actually the song Blerwytirhwng? is their early masterpiece, but Radiator is a fucking GREAT document of what they were about back then.

Ice Hockey Hair is very good too.

I like Suede's first album quite a lot and haven't heard it nearly enough. I need to give it another listen. Ditto FSA.

sfa did some good tracks but mostly really mediocre 1s