URB's top fifty albums

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The new issue of Urb has published a readers' poll of the fifty greatest albums of...well, the Urb readership or thereabouts. Here it is:

1. DJ Shadow, Endtroducing
2. A Tribe Called Quest, The Low End Theory
3. Nas, Illmatic
4. Wu-Tang Clan, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
5. Roni Size/Reprazent, New Forms
6. A Tribe Called Quest, Midnight Marauders
7. Portishead, Dummy
8. Dr. Dre, The Chronic
9. The Notorious B.I.G., Ready to Die
10. The Pharcyde, Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde
11. El-P, Fantastic Damage
12. Public Enemy, Fear of a Black Planet
13. De La Soul, 3 Feet High and Rising
14. Beastie Boys, Paul's Boutique
15. Public Enemy, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
16. Massive Attack, Mezzanine
17. The Roots, Things Fall Apart
18. Massive Attack, Blue Lines
19. N.W.A, Straight Outta Compton
20. OutKast, Aquemini
21. Fugees, The Score
22. Deltron 3030
23. Dr. Octagon, Dr. Octagonecologyst
24. Mos Def and Talib Kweli Are Black Star
25. De La Soul Is Dead
26. The Roots, Do You Want More?!!!?!
27. Radiohead, OK Computer
28. Underworld, Dubnobasswithmyheadman
29. The Crystal Method, Vegas
30. Eric B. & Rakim, Paid in Full
31. Mos Def, Black on Both Sides
32. Kruder & Dorfmeister, The K&D Sessions
33. Daft Punk, Homework
34. OutKast, ATLiens
35. Leftfield, Leftism
36. Aphex Twin, Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2
37. Prodigy, The Fat of the Land
38. Talvin Singh, OK
39. Common, Resurrection
40. Richie Hawtin, Decks, EFX & 909
41. 2Pac, All Eyez on Me
42. Aesop Rock, Labor Days
43. Air, Moon Safari
44. L.T.J Bukem, Logical Progression
45. Paul Oakenfold, Transport
46. The Roots, Illadelph Halflife
47. Jurassic 5, Quality Control
48. Snoop Doggy Dogg, Doggystyle
49. Tricky, Maxinquaye
50. Prodigy, Music for the Jilted Generation

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 16:33 (twenty-two years ago)

random thoughts:
The Crystal Method 29th but no Chemical Brothers at all?!
47 = hahahahaha!
I'm actually sort of shocked that there are as few techno and house albums as there are--guess I'd underestimated/misread the Urb readership some.

your thoughts, of course, are greatly welcome here.

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 16:34 (twenty-two years ago)

One of those lists with an unfortunate cumulative effect. By which I mean, I like (to varying degrees) a lot of these titles (some I haven't heard, some I could care less about, nothing I strongly dislike), but overall it's all so correct and pegged in to a particular mindset that it just sort of bores me.

― scott woods (s woods), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 16:41 (twenty-two years ago)

God you really can't escape OK Computer can you??

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 25 June 2003 16:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Critics everywhere are fuming that Nirvana didn't make this list.

I thought the Fugees would have dropped out of sight by now, but alas.

― ham on rye (ham on rye), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 16:50 (twenty-two years ago)

The "Urb readership" look like fascinating people to hang out with.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 16:53 (twenty-two years ago)

I bet none of them shave.

― scott woods (s woods), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 16:55 (twenty-two years ago)

oi! don't hate on beards.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 16:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Dr. Dre's second should have made the list too. Also, none of the Wu-tang solo stuff made it. At least Ironman, Cuban Linx, or Liquid Swords should have made it.

― King Kobra (King Kobra), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 17:04 (twenty-two years ago)

i like techno a lot but other than live at the liquid room there's not really a released album that would reflect that...

― robin (robin), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 17:18 (twenty-two years ago)

"God you really can't escape OK Computer can you??"

It's like the one mainstream (of sorts) Rock album from the the Electronica boom that doesn't sound dated/like crap.

― Charles McCain (Charles McCain), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 17:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I think it sounds really dated.

― King Kobra (King Kobra), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 17:52 (twenty-two years ago)

What, no Psycho Realm!!

― scott seward, Wednesday, 25 June 2003 17:56 (twenty-two years ago)

oakenfold?

― gaz (gaz), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 21:15 (twenty-two years ago)

you say that like you're surprised, gaz! oakenfold remains HUGE in the states, esp. among the disenfranchised rave massive; he's got something like 57 mix cds, most of which suck, but the one the readers picked is actually pretty good. i'm sorta shocked there wasn't more trance in the top 50, though i can't honestly think of any other trance discs w/the popularity/broad appeal of that one

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 21:36 (twenty-two years ago)

just looked like a sore thumb. i mean i read two issues of URB back in 1994 but i would've pretty much guessed the rest of the list anyway (missing chemical bros apart)

― gaz (gaz), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 21:41 (twenty-two years ago)

I knew there was a reason I stopped taking that mag seriously.

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 21:47 (twenty-two years ago)

it's their readers what picked 'em, not the mag

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 21:49 (twenty-two years ago)

not that it'll make you change your mind or anything, just pointing that out

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 21:49 (twenty-two years ago)

does the mag cover more/different ratios than represented here the matos?

― gaz (gaz), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 21:52 (twenty-two years ago)

not especially, just a lot more trance and superclub house. they're moving more toward hip-hop, though, and that list I'd imagine will probably hasten that shift

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 21:57 (twenty-two years ago)

I started blogging about this (albeit on a day when I had a couple deadlines to worry about as well) and I think now I should continue. The "no Chemical Brothers" factor is just brazenly compounded by the entire "Crystal Method included" thing. I am, however, rather relieved by the fact that this is a list where Nation of Millions is actually ranked lower than 36 Chambers.

http://hipsterdetritus.blogspot.com/elp1.JPG
(and this guy)

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 22:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm surprised it (and Fear) ranked at all!

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 22:14 (twenty-two years ago)

oh no! the effect is ruined! Yet Jukie #00001 remains cheerful

http://hipsterdetritus.blogspot.com/elp1.jpg

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 22:14 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah that el-p above p.e. thing is just madness and i'm not particularly feeling either of them these days

― jess (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 22:32 (twenty-two years ago)

jesus christ that's alot of roots albums!

― James Blount (James Blount), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 22:35 (twenty-two years ago)

tells you something, dunnit?

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 22:36 (twenty-two years ago)

tells me I need to buy more roots albums!

― James Blount (James Blount), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 22:38 (twenty-two years ago)

just as soon as you finish listening to EVERY SINGLE TRACK on New Forms (say, has anyone actually played that album start to finish?)

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 22:39 (twenty-two years ago)

oh yeah, usually I doze off and the auto changer does all the work

― James Blount (James Blount), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 22:40 (twenty-two years ago)

I have. I remember there being beats of some sort.

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 22:46 (twenty-two years ago)

that list reminds me again why I hate music magazines with a passion. The people who read them don't actually listen to anything at all, I'm convinced - they just read about records all day, or something. Plus they're all like 16 or younger, I swear.

The text 'cybotron' was not found

The text 'paperclip' was not found

The text 'fingers' was not found

The text 'orb' was not found

The text 'bambaataa' was not found

The text 'LL' was not found

The text '4 Hero' was not found

The text '808' was not found

Yeah I realize I sound like an old fart who can't keep up, but 'OK Computer?' fuck you!! Which goddamned magazine is this? I can't stand people.

― Millar (Millar), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 22:48 (twenty-two years ago)

oh and yeah, 'new forms' vs. 4 Hero's 'Parallel Worlds' Oh wait you had to actually look in the stacks to find that one, it wasn't on sale for *gasp* $14.99!!!

― Millar (Millar), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 22:50 (twenty-two years ago)

URB has to mean 'excrement' in some language

― Millar (Millar), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 22:50 (twenty-two years ago)

how many people do you think bought new forms and NEVER listened to it?

― scott seward, Wednesday, 25 June 2003 22:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Dunno, my copy's a promo

― Millar (Millar), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 22:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I listened to that first track a ton of times. "OH MY GOD, IT'S RAP OVER JUNGLE!" Then a couple years later I heard the Roni remix of "Simon Says" and was all "yeah, that's pretty neat, didn't he produce some rap stuff before? eh."

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 22:56 (twenty-two years ago)

ack , this is scarily like exactly what my taste was when i actually was about 16 or younger. OK Computer? oh fuck, guilty.

― Honda (Honda), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 22:57 (twenty-two years ago)

New Forms may be way too long, but Two Pages wouldn't have made a good EP much less a double CD

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 22:58 (twenty-two years ago)

oh yeah, Two Pages is high-order crap kaboom, but that doesn't make "Parallel World" any less of a brilliant record (okay it sounds dated, but what the fuck doesn't)

― Millar (Millar), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 23:01 (twenty-two years ago)

new forms roxx u r all reverse-snobs

― jess (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 23:03 (twenty-two years ago)

swhat happens when you grow up and stop being impressed by press releases

― Millar (Millar), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 23:11 (twenty-two years ago)

I like New Forms, I've just never listened to disc two

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 23:15 (twenty-two years ago)

i listened to it twice. i listened to versatility 3 times. but i hardly ever listen to anything more than once anyway.

― gaz (gaz), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 23:16 (twenty-two years ago)

sorry millar, i, of course, know nothing about any jungle other than what gilles peterson championed between 1997-9, and your recommendation of this so called parallel universe will not go unheeded by me

― jess (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 23:17 (twenty-two years ago)

(p.s. journey from the light ep roxx parallel universe r all detroit)

― jess (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 23:18 (twenty-two years ago)

oh fucking duh, misread Parallel as 2 Pages, many apologies

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 23:22 (twenty-two years ago)

exactly jess that's what I figured!!!

― Millar (Millar), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 23:28 (twenty-two years ago)

disc... TWO?!

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Wednesday, 25 June 2003 23:30 (twenty-two years ago)

This list would be better if Let It Bleed or Back in Black snuck in to the top-20. These people have to listen to something else!

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Thursday, 26 June 2003 01:04 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm just mystified as to how OK Computer was given "token rock record" status as opposed to something more demo-compatible like Kid A. But then I noticed that they also recently reviewed the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (very favorably) so now I got a skullache.

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Thursday, 26 June 2003 01:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I own and like the single-disc New Forms. When I found out there's a version with a second disc, I pondered this for a moment and carried on with my life. (OTOH, disc 2 is pretty much what redeems 4Hero's 2 Pages.

Also, why no Orbital???!!!

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Thursday, 26 June 2003 01:30 (twenty-two years ago)

like I said they're all 16

― Millar (Millar), Thursday, 26 June 2003 01:31 (twenty-two years ago)

what single disc New Forms?

if they're all 16 how do you explain two Public Enemy albums plus all those early Roots albums?

― M Matos (M Matos), Thursday, 26 June 2003 01:37 (twenty-two years ago)

(haha you can explain it by saying "some of them are 19")

― M Matos (M Matos), Thursday, 26 June 2003 01:37 (twenty-two years ago)

That was my own (too) subtle way of saying "boy I can not sit through this whole album; good thing it's 1997 and I get to listen to Keith Flint be a total fucking spaz instead"

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Thursday, 26 June 2003 01:39 (twenty-two years ago)

but what about Paul in Santa Cruz?

― M Matos (M Matos), Thursday, 26 June 2003 01:42 (twenty-two years ago)

was he the dude who engineered track 2 on Better Living Through Chemistry? (and holy fuck no Fatboy on that list, what the hell?!)

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Thursday, 26 June 2003 01:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Where the hell is Original Pirate Material by the Streets?

― Evan (Evan), Thursday, 26 June 2003 01:49 (twenty-two years ago)

I think people tried voting for it but got confused and there were too many votes tallied for "The Stroots"

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Thursday, 26 June 2003 01:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Re: single-disc Newforms

Disc 1 was released on its own in the U.S. (with an identical front cover on the CD booklet, and no indication on the packaging that a second disc was also available). When I happened to notice the title described as a 2-CD release -- several years later -- I thought at first that there was a second disc in my copy that I hadn't noticed (hey, it's happened before). Nope.

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Thursday, 26 June 2003 01:59 (twenty-two years ago)

(According to
this article, the single-disc version came in the wake of the Mercury Prize announcement.)

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Thursday, 26 June 2003 02:03 (twenty-two years ago)

"I like New Forms, I've just never listened to disc two"

Mike, you fool! Disc two is so much better than disc one it's not funny! I *never* listen to the first disc but the second actually warrants the hype - for fairly minimal beat-wise post-94 jungle it's absolutely riveting.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 26 June 2003 02:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Disc two is so much better than disc one it's not funny!

That's exactly what I didn't want to hear!

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Thursday, 26 June 2003 03:25 (twenty-two years ago)

on come on tim thats just absolutely not true, disc one has rapping!!

― trife (simon_tr), Thursday, 26 June 2003 03:29 (twenty-two years ago)

ok i dont own disc two since i bought the tape (ninth grade represent!!!), its like the one cd version, weirdly i think it grafts the last song from disc two onto the end of the tape though which is good because its hardcore!!

― trife (simon_tr), Thursday, 26 June 2003 03:30 (twenty-two years ago)

This list is fucking boring - i'd hope to find things like Luomo's Vocalcity, Isolee's Rest, The Avalanches' Since I Left You, CJ Bolland's The Fourth Sign (immensely, immensely underrated album if only for the sheer gorgeosity that is Camargue), Speedy J's Ginger, The Chemical Brothers' Exit Planet Dust etc etc etc... and yes I've listened to all of new forms many times... not often all in one sitting but it is do able - haven't done for a while, though, no real need to...

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 26 June 2003 09:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Is Illmatic the new universal favourite? Seems to be on every list these days...

― Jacob (Jacob), Thursday, 26 June 2003 10:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Since I Left You should be at least #3. (I don't know what should be #1, but as much as I love it I don't think Entroducing is it)

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Thursday, 26 June 2003 10:03 (twenty-two years ago)

For the sak of my own personal canon, probably Blue Lines - boring choice but it is a great, great album and would be one of the first thing I pick up whenever I'm going travelling or anything and that's a good yardstick to use (I think Xgau wrote something about this once...)

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 26 June 2003 10:14 (twenty-two years ago)

For the sake of my own personal canon, probably Blue Lines - boring choice but it is a great, great album and is one of the first things I pick up whenever I'm going travelling or anything and that's a good yardstick to use (I think Xgau wrote something about this once...)

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 26 June 2003 10:14 (twenty-two years ago)

whooops!

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 26 June 2003 10:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Dave, the list is boring because (once again) IT WAS VOTED UPON BY THE READERS OF THE MAGAZINE AND NOT ITS WRITERS. most of the kids bumping this stuff have never heard of Vocalcity or Rest (though why the Avalanches didn't place is fucking puzzling). and considering the critics' polls the mag tends to print, I wouldn't guarantee a more interesting list there, either. but do keep the source in mind. what surprises me about it is how hip-hop-centric it is for a magazine whose hip-hop coverage has tended, till fairly recently, to be far less prevalent than its trance/house coverage.

― M Matos (M Matos), Thursday, 26 June 2003 15:57 (twenty-two years ago)

ya, i'm not that familiar with the mag but expected a hella lot more trancey stufff and less hiphop. that surprised me.

― H (Heruy), Thursday, 26 June 2003 16:03 (twenty-two years ago)

oh i'm blown away by the amount of hip hop on this (and a lot of it quality, too) partic as urb's hip hop coverage has waned so much over the years... as a side issue and the readers should have heard about vocalcity and rest - they both got good reviews in it, i'm pretty sure - do people take any bloody notice of us, matos?!!!

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 26 June 2003 16:10 (twenty-two years ago)

just other bloggers, I'm afraid, Dave

― M Matos (M Matos), Thursday, 26 June 2003 16:11 (twenty-two years ago)

;-)

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 26 June 2003 16:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I think I've owned a third of the list since 1997 onwards. I was 15/16 and I thought it was God's gift to music. Today, I mostly listen to Paul's Boutique, Illmatic, Doggystyle and a couple of the others and am totally wary of any albums lists that remind me of my teenage years. Especially any Endtroducing fellating, which I've had to put up with for way too damn long, even though I still like it. You try being close buds with a Shadow obsessive who makes music like Shadow, grows a beard like Shadow, has a former DJ alias inspired by Shadow, has a...

Other things-the Chemical omission is baffling, especially Dig Your Own Hole, Fantasma is obv. too grebt for the chart and in what parallel universe is Music For The Jilted Generation inferior to The Fat Of The Land? The Prodigy Experience gets no respect. The Pharcyde's placing is suspiciously too high, Deltron 3030 is good but not *that* good and the backpacker/jazz beard/URB readership at large has got to recognise The Low End Theory is superior to Midnight Marauders, which traded in lots of Tribe's funk quotient for hookiness and doesn't have 'Scenario', 'Date Rape', 'Show Business' and 'Excursions' or annoying 'computer skits'. This list is what 'u r all gay' was invented for.

For what it's worth, 2 Pages Disc 1 makes a good EP. I know, because that's the way I taped it and I couldn't get through half of disc 2.

― Barima (Barima), Thursday, 26 June 2003 18:59 (twenty-two years ago)

they do recognize that Theory is better than Mauraders (I like the latter more but whatever, Anthology kills all).

it says plenty that the two jungle albums on the list (three if Talvin Singh counts) are all from the same year and are both the apex of its crossover dreams, commercially/critically speaking at least. (thankfully no Goldie, though.)

― M Matos (M Matos), Thursday, 26 June 2003 19:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Damn my human eyes.

OTM about Goldie, though Timeless has 3 really good tracks.

― Barima (Barima), Thursday, 26 June 2003 19:17 (twenty-two years ago)

It's better than frickin' OK, that's for sure.

― Ben Williams, Thursday, 26 June 2003 20:28 (twenty-two years ago)

I wonder if the editorial staff at Urb got really nauseated compiling this list. It's funny though how much your age colors your view of this music - I realize that if I hadn't started buying electronic music at a frightening pace in 1994 or so I probably never would have been able to collect as much great stuff as I have, because so many excellent records saw very limited release in the states.

― Millar (Millar), Thursday, 26 June 2003 21:15 (twenty-two years ago)

the list is so damn propah i hate it. it made me sick when i saw it in the store. even if many of the albums are very good, it reeks of the bland self-satisfied bourg. liberalism that irks me so, with a whiff of "urban classiness"-type shite... i was not surprised to see little trance... with that list, i was expecting more deep house, like some naked music comps, and maybe even some acid jazz.

does it sound strange that i am starting to think that electronic music needs to militantly disengage itself with the other genres it has become associated with (indie/undie and the overlaps with electroclash, IDM, "experimental hiphop"). Reynolds has called for a sort of punk revolution in electronic music, and, instead of getting caught up in aesthetics, i am thinking maybe it has something to do with attitude, like the original punk, and how it was a method of staking out a seperate piece of turf and fighting all those who entered it. I am scared of indie and undie values dictating to techno what "proper" music is, etc.

― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Thursday, 26 June 2003 21:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Grossman in IF YOU GONNA CALL IT TECHNO KNOW WHAT TECHNO IS shockahshockah -kah kah kah kah!!!

― Millar (Millar), Thursday, 26 June 2003 21:38 (twenty-two years ago)

no kidding, Ben

― M Matos (M Matos), Thursday, 26 June 2003 21:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Aaron, if anyone tries to do that they get called mindless Detroit fascists. People like that do exist, and I know a good chunk of them.

What ultimately happens when you try and stake off a bit of creative territory is inbred and anemic recordings. At this point electronic music has to take a really deep breath and suck everything in. The Summer Of Love Part Two is just around the corner(if it is 1985 right now it should hit in 2005...) If you want to be on top of the game when this happens you better grab the best parts from everything and roll them into one big uber genre.

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Friday, 27 June 2003 02:39 (twenty-two years ago)

DETROIT TECHNO RULEZ u r str8!

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Friday, 27 June 2003 02:41 (twenty-two years ago)

heh i wasnt even being a detroit fascist. i think i could probably replace techno with breakbeat hardcore and still feel the same. and i wasnt even thinking of sealing off aethetically, more just in terms of philosophy.

― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Friday, 27 June 2003 02:45 (twenty-two years ago)

I know what you are saying, but that ideology/philosophy leads to aesthetic sealing off. Clanishness just seems so 90's to me at the moment. Right now the thing is to be in complete freefall and just grab at whatever. I have a healthy distrust of tribal purists at the moment.

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Friday, 27 June 2003 02:52 (twenty-two years ago)

DETROIT TECHNO RULEZ u r str8!

no it doesn't

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 27 June 2003 13:24 (twenty-two years ago)

I have a healthy distrust of tribal purists at the moment.
Me too, actually, and that is the rationale behind what I said above, if that makes any sense. Maybe it makes more sense to say "Electronic music is at its most healthy when it is parasitic, so maybe it needs to be wary of much larger parasites (indie rock)?" ;-)

― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Friday, 27 June 2003 15:11 (twenty-two years ago)

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