Entertainment For Lively Minds
The last of the "Classics"
Took a bit of time to draw up a list of classic albums, and have noticed a remarkable paucity of platters generally deemed worthy of inclusion from 1995 onwards
Pre 1995
Revolver; Pepper; White album; Abbey Road; Exile on Main Street; Nevermind; Automatic for the People; Astral Weeks; Joshua Tree; Kind of Blue; Never Mind the Bollocks; London Calling; Talking Book; Grace; Dark Side of the Moon; The Wall; Back in Black; Ziggy Stardust; Heroes; a Night at the Opera; Goodbye Yellow Brick Road; Rumours; Exodus; Electric Ladyland; Who's Next; Bridge Over Troubled Water; Bat out of Hell; Appetite for Destruction; Metallica's Black album; Purple Rain; Graceland; Disraeli Gears; The Band; The River etc etc
Post 1995
The Bends; OK Computer
I know that one argument is that it takes time to make an album a classic, but short of the two mentioned under the post 1995 bracket, are there any others which we should hang around for??? I'm struggling to think of any more....anyone got any suggestions?
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no good lps made before 1966
...
and your list misses all the work of Cud and of course has no place for Girls aloud or Steps.
The Classical
Pre 95- Remain In Light
Post- Well, loads. But lets start with Agaetis Byrjun.
1996
Beck - Odelay
You were doing so well
until 'Post 1995'
Radiohead Bashing
Something of a sport on here, no? I think the argument that OK Computer is one of the few truly classic albums of the last 15 years is pretty strong, IMHO.
It's challenging, eclectic, socially aware, heart-felt and incredibly well played and produced. There was an artistic and critical shift in the wake of it's release and it opened the doors, for better or worse, for Muse, Coldplay, Athlete, Keane and umpteen other bands.
I would question the validity, or rather neccessity, of all of these magazine lists of the top 100 albums etc, but Ok's high ranking on a large number of them suggests a general consensus between fans and critics that the album is pretty jolly good actually.
Obviously not everyone is going to like it, I myself have little time for Night at the Opera or Dark Side of the Moon and am not above giving Queen or 'the Floyd' the odd kicking but to deny the importance of said albums seems a little like pi$$ing in the wind.
well said
to my mind 'classic' means an album that could be being written about, in depth, some years after its release - as, I think, the word has done with Astral Weeks and Tapestry relatively recently. I'm pretty sure Paranoid Android falls in to this category.
And I think their career-defining performance at Glastonbury...
in 1997, the year OK Computer was released, was testament to just how powerful and innovative that record was when it came out.
Personally I think one or two more of their later records deserve classic status as well, particularly the wonderful In Rainbows...
Oh God
I sat down on the mud and rolled up while my mate Scotty watched them play that set in rapt attention. I have rarely, if ever, been as bored in my life.
"challenging, eclectic, socially aware, heart-felt...."
I notice you didn't include "good" in that list though!
20 years from now...
Radiohead will be regarded as one of the greatest bands of all time. They are that good. You can disagree all you like, but for me they are the best band I've ever seen set foot on a stage.
i whole heartedly...
agree. They are one of the greats.
Greats?
They would be if it wasn't for Thom Yorke's embarrassing penchant for sixth form politics...
Sixth form politics?
My memories would be wearing badges, going on the odd protest march, signing petitions, it wouldn't be commisioning studies into the possibilities of reducing the carbon footprint of touring through the use of LED lighting, performing in areas with good public transport links to avoid the carbon emissions of travelling fans, shipping rather than flying equipment, constructing two sets to avoid unneccesary transportation...
If you care to, you may want to look at this article on the greenpeace website.
http://members.greenpeace.org/blog/hotseat08/2008/06/10/this_is_what_it_...
It's hardly writing 'make poverty history' on your hand and naming your children after fruit, is it?
Two sets? Pah!
On the last couple of tours, the Stones have leapfrogged THREE sets.
Do you think Keef now keeps a seperate stash in each country..
he visits to make things greener still?
Metallica
I know this is a bit off on a tangent, but I remember reading that when they tour now, the band leave after the gig and return, not to seperate buses, but to seperate countries. If 'The 'tallica' (No idea if anyone calls them this) gig in Vienna for example James may go to a city hotel, Lars up to Scandinavia and Rob and the other one nip off to Portugal to go surfing. I don't mean to go all 'Swampy' or anything, but come on.
I think that's not unusal these days...
...many big touring bands base themselves in a central location for days/weeks and fly in and out to each gig.
With this approach you can cover (say) western Europe from a single base and be home and tucked up in bed with Wodehouse and a mug of Horlicks within two hours of leaving the stage
There's no reason why this location has to be the same for each member.
No Reason?
I seem to remember some link or other between air travel and pollution... like I said, I'm no Swampy but it does seem a touch arrogant.
How about I rewrite it like this?
"There's no reason why this location has to be the same for each member assuming, like many people, they don't give a toss about 'green issues'."
That would be ideal
Thank you.
I saw the Holloways
on the M6 yesterday in a beaten up van with "Good Morning Brtain" painted down the side. I think they retire to seperate seats in the van after each gig.
Bet they were upset...
...when they realised they'd painted "Good Morning Brtain" on their van :-)
Clearly
it was painted by some oaf unaware of their debut. Bugger.
Width
Just wanted to know how narrow (in typographical, not political terms) you could go on a thread before disappearing up your own margin...
Hope this helps
.
Thanks
*
Isn't this fun?
?
Certainly looks like it
Mind if I join in?
ooh
i'm breathing in
Enough
You've crossed the line now!
i
am so sorry
Antidisestablishmentarianism!
Ha! I laugh in the face of column spacing!
This...
kind
of
behaviour
is
why
I
love
The
Word
Don't...push...me...'cos...I'm...close...to...the...edge........
"Stephen.......................................................?
"
Just
Coming!
:-)
:-)
"Close to the edge...
Down by the river."
Thanks
for letting us disagree, Patrick....I know a lot of people regard them as a great band, but try as I might, I just can't see/hear it. Aside from one or two songs - "Fake Plastic Trees", probably - they leave me stone cold. And whoever said they have influenced/created bands like Coldplay, Keane etc - hell, that's not a recommendation, is it?
Everyone has their blind spots - I'm sure that artists I love, such as PSB, Prince, Roxy Music - are met with equal indifference by others.
Coldplay, Keane
Hi MIKHAIL, it was me that made the comment about Keane/ Coldplay (my name's at the bottom of my post). I did say 'for better or worse' but the worth of cultural influence Radiohead had on early 21st century rock music can't be measured by how listenable Coldplay or Keane are (not very, to my ears).
By the same token, bands like Limp Biskqit (or however they miss-spell it) and Papa Roach can draw a lineage back to Rage Against The Machine, it won't stop me listening to Bulls On Parade.
Depends on your definition of "Classic"
For instance, is that list a list of your actual favourite albums of all time, or a list you've compiled of albums that always end up in "Best Album of All Time" lists? Not that there's anything wrong with the list, but it's definitely a case of The Usual Suspects.
Aside from the "it takes time" argument, another reason there might appear to be a paucity of "new classics" is that the collective experience of music listening has been eroding away since this period (more radio & TV stations, less music press, the rise of the internet), and its that experience which in many cases took many records from the status of merely "Very Good" to "Classic."
There's now a distinct gulf now between critically acclaimed albums and those that sell by the bucketload, which has only recently been the case, at least to this extent. All of those records in your list are big sellers, a few of them are even among the best sellers of all time, but from the last few years, only Arctic Monkeys (and maybe Gorillaz) have really crossed that divide, other raved-about artists (Arcade Fire, Fleet Foxes, Bright Eyes etc.) have only become big cult artists, but I think that the term "Classic" also inherently incorporates an element of popularity - being whistled by the milkman, if you like.
But if you asked The Person On The Street about classic albums post-1995, I'm sure that the list would include Amy Winehouse, Coldplay, Duffy, Dido & Scissor Sisters, none of whom are going to be troubling your list I think...
What do you mean by
Collective experience of music listening? The suggestion that more radio & TV and the rise of the internet (not to mention the recent surge of interest in experiencing music live) = less collective listening seems to me to be contradictory.
The idea that a classic album has to "incorporate an element of popularity" is one I would also challenge. I would point to Nick Drake, John Martyn and even Jeff Buckley as just three examples of musicians who have made classic albums which are not what one would consider 'popular'.
Once you start to ask the person on the street, or take sales of albums into account then you may as well include Take That.
"Classic" vs. "Very Good Indeed"
What I was trying to get across (very poorly) is the notion that there are have always been very good albums being made, even post-1995, but there always used to be an unconscious consensus about what albums were classic, which is why the same albums tend to turn up in these lists - the Beatles, Stones, Zep, Floyd, Beach Boys etc. were all hugely popular and critically revered, and played all over the radio & TV, and this is the "collective experience" I was alluding to, where everyone seemed to be on the same page. I also think this is why the 60's and 70's (and even 80's) remain popular and ever-present, whereas the 90's seem to be fading away already, as music fans are now so spread out between different media - Glastonbury is arguably now the biggest collective "meeting point" where reputations can be made on the spot...
These days, great records won't necessarily have that opportunity to become Part Of The Culture - for instance, everyone
I knew at the time owned a copy of "Automatic For The People", but no-one I know owns Fleet Foxes (yes, maybe I need better friends!) And that to me is the difference between "Classic" and "Very Good Indeed," hence the need to define our terms here. No-one here will question the classic nature of a number of John Martyn albums, but (sad to say) his effect on the wider listening public was negligable (a total of 30 weeks in the UK album charts in his entire lifetime, a staffroom of people saying "who?" at his obituaries last month), but should that be a factor anyway?My quick definition of a classic would be an album that's
1) empirically "good" (well written, performed and produced within its remit),
2) innovative or at least pushes the borders of the genre (or possibly is recognised as the apotheosis of the genre),
3) influential, having a recognisable effect on what followed,
4) distinctively representative of its time & place, part of the zeitgeist, and
5) made a measurable mark on the population & culture (i.e. popular.)
Any recognised classic will have at least one of these in abundance, plus one or two of the others in the background, but you could certainly get by without 5) if the rest of the factors are strong enough. Conversely (and as you suggest with Take That), 5) on its own just isn't enough...
It can be quite interesting to analyse "Classics" in this context, e.g. "Never Mind The Bollocks" (and "Nevermind" for that matter) could have a claim on all 5, Kraftwerk & The Velvet Underground have 3) doing the heavy lifting, and so on...
Wow
I think that is an excellent definition MM.
Thank you, you're a gent
I was going to include a line about the individual songs forming a coherent mood, but figured that 1) covered it, and the post was long enough already...
Well said.
Can we not get over
trying to force things into single canonical lists? Why compare apples and lemon? Is the recently-pressed juice of an Egremont Russet the greatest fruit experience or is it the zest of a new season Nice lemon? I DON'T CARE!
I am not against long and involved musical discussion, or comparisons between records or styles or artists, or explorations of zeitgests etc - it's what I do for a living, after all - but this constant obsession with finding or defining or proving what is the Greatest Of All Time is what, for me, has ruined music journalism in the last decade, and sucks the soul and fun out of music discussion.
Eminem
probably the Marshall Mathers album? I'm way out of my comfort zone here, but its an album an awful lot of people bought, studied and wrote about.
He was hugely influential for a while musically and culturally. At the time of its popularity I invigilated an exam in which every single lad (approx 150) of them had Em's brushed forward fringe haircut.
Back to Back to Black.
I have seen the future, and Winehouse's "Back to Black" is rightly treated as a classic album. The work of Pete Doherty fares less well.
I have seen the past: "Exile on Main Street? Are you kidding? Nah, the Stones have lost it. They're finished."
Bat Out Of Bleeding Hell?
Excuse me I've started choking... back in a second.
OK.. Bat Out Of Hell? Seriously?
BOOBH
You don't think it's generally perceived as a classic?
Errr... I think it's generally perceived as having sold a lot...
but as for the actual music, well I've never met anyone that rates it. Jim Steinman has a lot to answer for.
Actually I am probably slightly influenced by my abiding memory of Meat supporting Deep Purple at Knebworth in 1985. He'd broken his leg and was singing from a wheelchair... Deadringer For Love did not look or sound as convincing. The audience got the hump with him fairly quickly and sent several gallons of urine sailing towards the stage. Old trooper Signor Loaf told them to go fuck themselves and walked off in a huff...
Meat
I loved Bat Out Of Hell when I was 16. Then I decided I hated it (I was part of the urine crew at Knebworth, sad to say). But about three years ago I gave it another go, and absolutely love it now, don't care what anyone says. Everything he's done since that record has been interminable, but BOOH is ridiculous, ambitious, brilliantly played, overblown, funny, camp, and packed full of CLASSIC ROCK in a way that very few records are.
A fabulous, impassioned rallying cry for BOOH, Fraser!
I am so knocked out by your wonderful words that I'm tempted to give it another listen!
Excellent
My work here is done. If it helps, the E Street Band's Max Weinberg and Roy Bittan play on the album.
And a viewing of the Classic Albums...
...show about the making of BOOBH is a great insight into the towering insanity of the whole project
and pre- E-Street
Nils Logfren if I recall correctly
Bat Out Of Hell is Brilliant
I'd say that was a classic album, full of great songs, and mad as the proverbial box of frogs. Like Phil Spector turned up to 11.
Silly fella
Performing in a wheelchair, then walking off. That's bad taste.
Who does he think he is, Dom Joly?
Didn't Curt Cobain do something very similar...
...at a Reading Festival?
not on my favourites list
but its the biggest selling debut record of all time - has shifted 40 million, and amongst the soft rock fraternity would be objectively considered a classic.
oh come on.
It's a fake, straight from Broadway via the Rocky Horror Show.
Naah
It's more like Bruce Springsteen had been aaked to write the soundtrack for Grease right after he'd finished Born To Run.
I'd add to that lineage...
The Funeral For a Friend/ Love Lies Bleeding double-shot that opens Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
You missed The Zombies
and included Metallica. Apart from that, it's a complete load of tosh. Do you really need to whittle down a paltry amount of music to a definative list? Even in the age of the much touted, memory heavy, iPoo? I'm not even biting on the post 95 bit. Utter nonsense.
I'm in a bad mood. Grr.
i was only serving it up to suggest...
...that post 1995 there has been a complete lack of decent quality music. A handful of albums in 15 iodd years is a bit of an embarrassment
yr quite right, Lit
is the concept of the album as an entity on the way out - if so what was the last classic album? good thread.
But ...........
.... are you really trying to suggest that the last 15 years has been awful musically?
I mean your intial list of classics is obviously down to your opinion (as is any list like this) but I can't understand the desire to slag off modern music. I see this more and more all over the place. It seems to forget that there was dross in the old days just as there is now and that the way we consume music is different (more choice, etc etc etc) and the new bands have to compete with the history of rock music and all the classics that have gone before in a way that older bands didn't. And that classics sometimes take time to mature. And that albums aren't always appreciated as much at the time as now (Grace?? Saleswise??).
Sorry. Feel ranty
Nixon by Lambchop is a classic (in my book).. that's post 95 isn't it?
I don't think so
A "complete lack" is a little excessive when, off the top of my head, I can think of:
"Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" by Wilco
"Funeral" by The Arcade Fire
"Mezzanine" by Massive Attack
"Aegetis Byrjun" and "Takk" by Sigur Ros
"De-Loused in the Comatorium" by The Mars Volta
All outstanding, innovative, and compelling. Some of them even sold!
Cool
Thank you for your contribution Rufus.
Perhaps "complete lack" was too much of a sweeping statement. But the past 15 years have certainly seen very few classic recordings when compared with any other 15 year period (post 1950)
My (Our, Your) Generation
I'm not so sure. First of all the "classics" become part of the canon - endlessly discussed, appraised and reappraised - so most of them grow in stature. Secondly, the music we loved at the most impressionable times of our lives - teens, 20s - and that helped define our sense of self becomes precious - ergo classic. Third, we realise that the classics are classic for good reasons.
But, for my part I still want to hear new, innovative, different stuff or stuff that moves the art on, whether that means "Tilt" (1995), "Agaetis Byrjun" (2000), "Boulevard de l'Independence" (Toumani Diabate 2004), "Now Here is Nowhere" The Secret Machines (2004) or "Impossible Dream" (Patty Griffin 2004?). These are classics for me now. And some of them will be in the future.
I would put 'Aerial' by Kate Bush in the classic bracket...
truly one of the best records I've ever heard.*
* I am forgetting about Bertie, which just proves you should be wary of writing songs about your children because they'll probably be shite.
I'll Second That.
Fantastic album.
Aerial
so true an ever changing classic. What about Robert Wyatt's "Cukkoland" and "Schleep"
Agree & Disagree
I find myself agreeing with you vehemently on the subject of Aerial, and completely disagreeing with your take on Bat out of Hell, an album I've loved since I was introduced to it on the Radio Luxembourg album chart in 1977, Hopefully Fraser's impassioned take on it will encourage you to give it another go.
Quite like "Bertie" too, particularly when she goes into the "so much joy" end section.
Writing songs about your children
Good point. It seems to be a risky thing to do. Not sure if I can think of one that has worked.
I can think of "Beautiful Boy" (Lennon), "Little Star" (Madonna) - both drippy, sappy, mawkish and forgettable. I think Liam Gallagher wrote one as well.
I suppose there's "isn't she lovely?" but I became heartily sick of that over the years at Hospital Radio.
Kooks
- The Dame
Father and Daughter - Paul Simon
They are both good examples.
But, I wonder whether, as with a lot of songs, this is a subject that works best when you don't automatically know what it's about?
Howabout...
...Wonderboy by The Kinks?
Kooks
How odd. What about Kooks by David Bowie. As a youngster I thought it mawkish, but one's perspective changes over time. It is a Thing Of Beauty.
Little James...
It's truly toe curlingly awful. Only allowed on the record as Noel was writing, playing, recording and producing that album bascially on his tod!
Oh - and Liam wanting some songwriting wonga
Peter Blegvad
"Daughter"
Paul Simon's Father and Daughter is fabulous too.
Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
is a classic.
Birth of the cool?
Where is the early Miles Davis?
Birth of the Cool is being regarded as one of the best jazz LPs.
Its year? 1949
But going on "classic albums", they change every time someone does a list.
For example, NME did a 100 Greatest Albums list, possibly 7 years ago? It had two white stripes albums, the Strokes, etc etc
The LP wasn't released in 1949.
The album was first issued as a series of six 78s, recorded between January 1949 and March 1950.
Then in 1953 Capitol compiled 8 tracks from these sessions as a 10" LP.
The title Birth Of The Cool didn't get used until a later 1950s reissue, when it appeared as a 12" LP with three more sides added.
The LP didn't appear in its current 12 track format until even later.
apologies...
I must have it incorrectly tagged. I knew there were tracks recorded in 1949. So I assumed. Cheers for the info.
Not sure about what makes a "classic"
I'm afraid I would seriously disagree with some of those described as "classic":
Nevermind - it's just whining against a backdrop lurching from thrashy to "soulful", isn't it?
White album - so over-rated in my opinion, there's maybe one good album lurking within that double
Dark Side - I'm sorry, that just sounds rather clunking (and don;t get me started on the appalling caterwauling in Great Gig in the Sky)
Graceland - Paul Simon shows yet again he'll never re-capture the glory years
Ok, before anyone gets angry, I'm deliberately over-cooking the criticism a bit (but only a bit). The point is it is by no means obvious that many of these would count as classics by many people's standards. Maybe by yours, maybe by plenty other people, but not necessarily a majority.
Post-1995 - Moon Safari (Air), Philophobia (Arab Strap), Give It back (Brian Jonestown Massacre), Untrue (Burial) - there's 4 which I'd consider classics, and I'm only at "B".
1995-present
You made me make a list! I hope you're happy now...
Different Class - Pulp
Maxinquaye - Tricky
Odelay - Beck
The Boatman's Call - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
OK Computer - Radiohead
The Fat Of The Land - The Prodigy
Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space - Spiritualized
Moon Safari - Air
Deserter's Songs - Mercury Rev
The Soft Bulletin - The Flaming Lips
Since I Left You - Avalanches
Stankonia - Outkast
Nixon - Lambchop
Kid A - Radiohead
The Grey Album - Danger Mouse
A Grand Don't Come For Free - The Streets
Back To Black - Amy Winehouse
Whatever People Say I Am... - Arctic Monkeys
In Rainbows - Radiohead
The Seldom Seen Kid - Elbow
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Note: Not all of the above do I personally consider classics, but I think they'll be the ones that "become" classics given time.
In addition to those already mentioned
Heartbreaker - Ryan Adams
Maxinquaye - Tricky
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel
Endtroducing - DJ Shadow
Speakerboxx/Love Below - Outkast
Kala - M.I.A
Boy in Da Corner - Dizzee Rascal
White Blood Cells - White Stripes
Interesting list Cadabra
I guess it will take 10 years or so to see whether any of the above do indeed make it into the classic albums top 100 round up. In comparison with what they're up against from the 'fertile productive grounds' of the 60s and 70s, I very much doubt it.
Some more from me...
The Living Road by Lhasa. Just gorgeous, beautiful, rich and poignant.
Aman Iman: Water Is Life by Tinariwen. Glorious desert blues.
Cabo Verde by Cesária Évora. A voice and melodies to die for.
Ha!
I've never met (and I use the term cyber spatially) anyone else who owned a copy of 'Cabo Verde'. Good call - I've just reloaded it onto the ipod.
Cesária Évera Lynn
;)
oops wrong thread...
You've spatially intersected
with two of us now.
One mans classic is another mans bollocks
I dont like OK Computer - I feel it is discordant in parts and with the exception of Paranoid Android is distinctly average. Bat out of Hell is not liked by many on here but I consider can more accurately be termed a classic if you are judging such status on longevity and sales. I dont care too much for it myself but do consider Paradise by the dashboard light to be a great song. Post 1995 has seen umpteen releases I would put into a classic category but unfortunately they will be forever judged by people wearing rose tinted glasses who thinks the 60's and 70's were the only good decades for popular music. Therein lies my problem with the Beatles - they were phenomenal no doubt but to the extent where nothing else compares favourably? You must be joking. Judging by the number of articles that still appear in the Music Press about the Fab Four its no wonder people are switching off from buying new stuff - its being rammed down their throats that the Moptops were untouchable.
I'll chip in with...
Deserters Songs - Mercury Rev
Fountains Of Wayne - 1st Album
Whats The Story (Morning Glory) - Oasis
I think the first Arctic Monkeys album will go on to be considered a classic.
I would
agree with Takk by Sigur Ros being a classic as well as Nixon by Lambchop.
I really love Gold by Ryan Adams enough to call it a classic as well.
Grand Prix by Teenage Fanclub fits my criteria for a classic (I can't listen to it without thinking its better than I remember it being)
And Weezer (blue album) but not sure if that is 1995.
Weezer
It's 1994, is it not? Sorry, haven't bothered to check Wikipedia
Oh well - its still a classic in my house.
It's better than Nevermind as well.
good point
well made Grimmer.
I just think that when the top 100 classic albums are again assessed in 20 years time, there will be very little representation from this side of the mid 90s. Only time will tell if I'm right - but I'm farily confident.
2029
Word magazine issue 328 (ish ... not sure about the maths)
Hope I'm around to see it (and probably be proved wrong).
Then again the list may be full of the big albums from the whole Bangra Trance Country movement of 2018 to 2020
erk alors...
I'll be 77 :-(
Let's not forget
Be Here Now.
No
let's.
I had.
Now I haven't. Thanks.
If I May Be So Bold
Can I suggest that we need a new way to perceive these albums?
This way of looking at the present is uncharted. In the (short) history of popular music, this is the first period to be able to look at the present in such a collective way. We put these new(ish) works up against established classics and wonder why they appear to fall short. Well, I'm suggesting that they don't fall short. That we are looking at this all wrong. We should be looking at these albums along side the established classics, not pitting them against them. Some are already recognised as classics. Some are on the way to being recognised. Some will become candidates. Some will go un-accepted except by me and a small group of others & some will only be classics in my house! (Others only in my head) Some I don't even rate that highly, but I think they will become future classics to the masses.
Here Goes (Deep Breath) In More -or-less release date order.
Eels - Beautiful Freak + Electro Shock Blues + Daisies of The Galaxy
Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels On A Gravel Road / Buena Vista Social Club
The Jayhawks - The Sound of Lies / Nick Cave - The Boatman’s Call / Portishead - Portishead / Spiritualized - Ladies & Gentlemen.. / The Sundays - Static & Silence / The Verve - Urban Hymns
Air - Moon Safari / Josh Rouse - 1972 / Madonna - Ray of Light / Mark Hollis - Mark Hollis / Mercury Rev - Deserters Songs + All Is Dream / Natalie Merchant - Ophelia / Aimee Mann - Batchelor No.2 + Lost In Space / David Gray - White Ladder / David Sylvian - Dead Bees On A Cake / The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs / The Go-Betweens - The Friends of Rachel Worth / PJ Harvey - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea / Radiohead - Kid A / Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker + Gold + Demolition / Elbow - Asleep In The Back + Leaders Of The Free World + The Seldom Seen Kid / Ron Sexsmith - Blue Boy + Cobblestone Runway
Royksopp - Melody AM / Sparklehorse - It’s A Wonderful Life + Dreamt For Lightyears... / The Strokes - Is This It / Whiskeytown - Pneumonia / Zero 7 - Simple Things / Bic Runga - Beautiful Collision / Coldplay - A Rush of Blood / Counting Crows - Hard Candy / Doves - Last Broadcast / Grand Drive - See The Morning In / Joni Mitchell - Travelogue / Golden Smog - Down By The Old Mainstream / Norah Jones - Come Away With Me / Sigur Ros - ( )
Damien Rice - 0 / David Kitt - Square 1 / Goldfrapp - Black Cherry / The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow / Amy Winehouse - Back To Black / The Blue Nile - High / The Killers - Hot Fuss / KT Tunstall - Eye To The Telescope / Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther / Ray LaMontagne - Trouble / Razorlight - Razorlight / Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous / Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters / Snow patrol - Final Straw / Trashcan Sinatras - Weightlifting / Wilco - A Ghost Is Born / Antony & The Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now / Arcade Fire - Funeral / Ben Lee - Awake Is The New Sleep / Jose Gonzalez - Veneer / Kate Bush - Aerial / Lcd Soundsystem - Lcd Soundsystem + Sound of Silver / The National - Boxer / Richard Hawley - Coles Corner / Sigur Ros - Takk / Strays Don’t Sleep - Strays Don’t Sleep / Sufjan Stevens - Come On Feel The Illinoise! // Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am... / Beirut - The Gulag Orkestar / Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions / Cat Power - The Greatest / The Decemberists - The Crane Wife / Declan O’Rourke - Since Kyabram / Esbjörn Svensson Trio - Tuesday Wonderland / The Feeling - 12 Stops And Home / Fionn Regan - the End Of History / Hammock - Raising Your Voice, Trying To Stop An Echo / The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America / Joan As Police Woman - Real Life / Joanna Newsom - Y’s / Josh Ritter - The Animal Years + The Historical Conquests Of josh Ritter / The Knife - Silent Shout / The Little Ones - Sing Song ep / Paolo Nutini - These Streets / Pernice Brothers - Live A Little / The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
Scott Matthews - Passing Stranger / Shrift - Lost In A Moment / The Sleepy Jackson - Personality: ... / Thom Yorke - The Eraser / Amiina - Kurr / Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha / Aqualung - Memory Man / Burial - Untrue / The Cinematic Orchestra - Ma Fleur / Cherry Ghost - Thirst For Romance / Cribs - Mens Needs / Duke Special - Songs From The Deep Forest / Feist - the Reminder / Field Music - Tones Of Town / The Good The Bad & The Queen - The Good The Bad & The Queen / Husky Rescue - Ghost Is Not Real / Iron & Wine - the Shepherds Dog / Jens Leckman - Night Falls Over Kortedala / Klaxons - Myths Of The Near Future / Laura Veirs - Saltbreakers / Maps - We Can Create / Maximo Park - Our Earthly Pleasures // Nick Lowe - At My Age / Okkervil River - The Stage Names / Panda Bear - Person Pitch / Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position / PJ Harvey - White Chalk / Radiohead - In Rainbows / Ryan Adams -Easy Tiger
The Shins - Wincing The Night Away / St, Vincent - Marry Me / Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga / Stephanie Dosen - A Lily For The Spectre / Wilco - Sky Blue Sky / Windmill - Puddle City Racing Lights / Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals / The Acorn - Glory Hope Mountain / Bon Iver - For Emma Forever Ago / Bowerbirds - Hymns For A Dark Horse / Death cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs / The Felice Brothers - The Felice Brothers / Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes / Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires / Get Well Soon - Rest Now, Weary Head / Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree / Jesca Hoop - Kismet / Ladthawke - Ladyhawke / Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim / White Stripes - Elephant
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular / King of Leon - Only By The Night / Neil Halstead - Oh! Mighty Engine / Okkervil River - The Stand -In’s / Peter Broderick - Home / Port O’Brien - All We Could Do Was Sing / Shearwater - Rook / TV On The Radio - Dear Science / Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend / The Week That Was - The Week That Was / Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
ps - if this posts twice, please accept my regret.
Sorry, I missed that
- could you repeat?
Oh, Man!
That's cruel!
:-)
Razorlight
- tucked away in the middle there - thought we wouldn't notice, huh? Well let me tell ya buddy, the Borrell Brigade always notice, pal. Nice try but no cigar. Now - get yr coat and geddout.
Classic in Borrell's mind, maybe...
but not in mine.
There's also
Paolo Nutini and The Feeling making a surprise appearance (plus the abominable second Sleepy Jackson album).
Have you just written down every album you've enjoyed over the last 14 years chas and/or morph?
I did put
A disclaimer at the top of the list.
Add onto all this
certain magazines editorial policy to endlessly recycle the 'classics', and their reluctance to acknowledge/debate anything post 1980, never mind 1995, suggests to the casual observer, that their is little of note made since 1995, which of course is nonsense.
chas's exhaustive and excellent list earlier shows that their is indeed, plenty of excellent music around, and several will be regarded as genuine 'classics' in the future, that's if the aforementioned magazines manage to finally drag themselves into the 21st century
Wild Wood
I know its 1993 but it falls into the neglected recent work category. Weller's best album by a fair distance IMHO.
Post 1995
Mid 90s was dance album time for me: Orbital , Underworld, Tricky, Portishead, Chemical Brothers, Sabres Of Paradise, Two Lone Swordsmen and on and on. All artists I still listen to, all with at least one 'classic' under their belt.
It's only classic because you've been told so
Post 1995?
These albums - IMHO - are marvellous once you stop expecting Astral Weeks or Pet Sounds
Blur - Blur
Odelay - Beck
Moon Safari - Air
Mezzanine - Massive Attack
Want (1&2)- Rufus Wainwright
Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
Whatever People Say I Am - Arctic Monkeys
Rated R - Queens Of The Stone Age
Sound Of Silver - LCD Soundsystem
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
Xtrmntr - Primal Scream
Lost Souls - Doves
Third - Portishead
Kittens & Thee Glitz - Felix Da Housecat
Thanks Ian
I'd forgotten about QOTSA. I'd include Songs for the Deaf in my initial post 1995 category. I'd also make room for Want 1. Mezzanine IMHO is teetering on the brink of classic.
a sensible list...
But I would replace Xtrmntr with Vanishing Point and add The Streets - Original Pirate Material
We're only a few months
From the Best Of The Noughties round-ups. Get in there now
Also add:
Futureheads - Futureheads
Person Pitch - Panda Bear
Supernature - Goldfrapp
Rings Around The World - Super Furry Animals
Demon Days - Gorillaz
Discovery - Daft Punk
Elephant - White Stripes
Dear Science - TV On The Radio
Justified - Justin Timberlake
In Rainbows - Radiohead
We Are The Night - Chemical Brothers
hmm
i may have the rose coloured specs on here because i was 15 in 95 but stone cold classic post 95 albums is easy a quick 10 of the top of my head
everything must go manics (can't believe nobody has mentioned this yet)
ok computer radiohead
if your feeling sinister belle and sebastian
blur blur
different class pulp
six mansun
ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space spiritulized
come on die young mogwai
facts of life black box recorder
up the bracket the libertines
looking back at the thread there are a lot of great albums i'd forgotten about which means a lot of shopping cheers guys i don't think my bank will be to happy
a quick think before i'm really late for work
nobody has mentioned muse or the super furry animals yet ? why not
SFA
...have been mentioned. If Muse (and I'm inclined to agree having spent my uni years catching as many live dates as possible by 'Britain's Best Live Band') then which album(s)?
I was late to the Muse
Absolution is good but Black Holes & Revelations is better for sci-fi prog-pop rock kicks
Bloc Party-Silent Alarm
Haven't seen it mentioned on here unless it's somewhere in chasandmorph's epic brain-spurt a little up the thread. Any takers?
it's s'alright
I think when the dust clears, and seeing as their new album is a snipular £3 in Fopp, it will be deemed their best. Probably by default. I think the Banquet Phones mix is still a storming number/ floor filler and Helicopter is well giddy, but there's something hard to love about them in general
No No No
No No.
"There's
no limits"
If you were on
QI, the screen behind you would be flashing "There's No Limit"
Seriously though, not enough No's for that to work.
:-)
Anyone said Peej?
Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
White Chalk
Yes Yes Yes
Yes Yes
"I'll have
what she's having"
That
works.
DJ Shadow
Endtroducing was my only other favourite of 1996.
Well I did also like the second Sheryl Crow album too, but that's not for here.
Good call Ian - update
May I take it upon myself to suggest that a few post '95 "Classics" have come to light in the form of the following:
1. The Bends
2. OK Computer
3. Endtroducing - DJ Shadow
4. Want - Rufus Wainwright (I'd vouch for 1 rather than 2)
5. Odelay - Beck
6. Stories from the City Stories from the Sea - PJ Harvey
7. Ágætis byrjun - Sigur Ros
Ie - it is likely that these albums will be mentioned in 20 years time when the annual roll-out of the best album ever is made by one of the music publications, and the above rank in the top 100 run-down alongside the likes of the Beatles, Zeppelin, Bowie, Stones, etc.
Judging by the NME album of the year
everything went downhill around the turn of the century. OK they got it wrong in 80,81,83,86 and 90, but the rest before 2000 holds up pretty well. Maybe this is just a reflection of how the NME has gone downhill.
1974 - Pretzel Logic - Steely Dan
1975 - Blood On The Tracks - Bob Dylan
1976 - Desire - Bob Dylan
1977 - "Heroes" - David Bowie
1978 - Darkness on the Edge of Town - Bruce Springsteen
1979 - Fear of Music - Talking Heads
1980 - Closer - Joy Division
1981 - Nightclubbing - Grace Jones
1982 - Midnight Love - Marvin Gaye
1983 - Punch The Clock - Elvis Costello
1984 - The Poet II - Bobby Womack
1985 - Rain Dogs - Tom Waits
1986 - Parade - Prince & the Revolution
1987 - Yo! Bum Rush the Show - Public Enemy
1988 - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back - Public Enemy
1989 - 3 Feet High and Rising - De La Soul
1990 - Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches - Happy Mondays
1991 - Nevermind - Nirvana
1992 - Copper Blue - Sugar
1993 - Debut - Björk
1994 - Definitely Maybe - Oasis
1995 - Maxinquaye - Tricky
1996 - Odelay - Beck
1997 - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space - Spiritualized
1998 - Deserters Songs - Mercury Rev
1999 - The Soft Bulletin - The Flaming Lips
2000 - Rated R - Queens Of The Stone Age
2001 - Is This It - The Strokes
2002 - A Rush Of Blood To The Head - Coldplay
2003 - Elephant - The White Stripes
2004 - Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
2005 - Silent Alarm - Bloc Party
2006 - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys
2007 - Myths Of The Near Future - Klaxons
2008 - Oracular Spectacular - MGMT
And
'82, '84', 2005
Good choices otherwise.
1993 - bjork?
surely it was Giant Steps by The Boo Radleys. I'm sure that's why as an impressionable teen I bought it without having heard a note. Hear it at least once a week now.
No that was
Select and probably reviewed by some chap called Arthur Harrison or something. The NME review was by Paul Moody. The part number for a 1986 Volvo 240GLT is...where the hell is my reset button!
Doesn't classic refer..
... to something which has stood the test of time? That it has relevance outside of the immediate period of time in which it was created? A Penguin classic is typically written in another century. I happen to think that Sufjan Stevens Illinoise is a truly great record but I am not sure that in 20 or 30 years time it will be considered a classic.
Doesn't that rather depend
on who is deciding?
If I say it is, then it is. To me.
Are you going to conclude that it isn't because nobody else agrees with you?
That would be a shame, don't you think?
I think it could be a classic
But to quote a hackneyed phrase - 'time will tell' In twenty years I might think it is a bit pretentious. For me a classic has to still seem brilliant in years to come. Right now I think it is the best album to be released in the last 5 years.
but then what
would be the difference between classic and favourite (or liked a lot) - personally I think Metal Mickey defined 'classic' pretty well way up there ^^^
Would not disagree
Whether I like Illinoise or not is totally irrelevant as to whether it is a classic or not. The album was lauded in the vast majority of reviews - which has to be one factor in being distinguished as a classic. Whether it is still so well regarded in time to come has to be another - I would have thought. The popularity thing is a factor as MM says - as in the case of The Beatles - but not necessarily. F'rinstance - The Velvet Underground and Nico - not incredibly popular by any chalk but as they say - so influential that anyone who heard the album, started a band.
Good
points.
No, it wasn't Nils Lofgren. Insert rolling eyes emoticon here.
It was Todd Rundgren who produced and played lead guitar on BOOH.
And it isn't a classic album, it's rubbish.
Look to the future and imagine (The) Word's...
...100 Greatest Albums Of All Time poll in 2030.
What albums from the last 10 years will appear in that?
Fleet Foxes...
:-)
If Fleet Foxes appear in that poll
I'll go round to Word Towers and eat the fedora that's hanging at a jaunty angle on the back of my study door :-)
I'd start munching it down now
if I were you. You know it's going to be awarded classic status and eating that tough 'old hat' isn't going to be any easier in twenty one years!
What? No Nine Horses?
Saw that someone put down David Sylvian's Dead Bees On A Cake on their list of great post 1995 albums. I'd add to that the superior Nine Horse album 'Snow Borne Sorrow' by Sylvian, Steve Jansen and Burnt Friedman, which also featured such talents as Stina Nordenstam, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Arve Henriksen.
Compare the attempt at geopolitical lyric writing in Radiohead and Thom Yorke's work to, say Sylvian's lyric on Nine Horses' 'Atom and Cell' (not to mention sublime vocal performance on that track). Actually, don't. It's pointless, there is no comparison.
It has been periodically revealed in the past that the Word editorial team are not big fans of David's work but I do honestly they were guilty of a real clanger for not featuring that record at all. Still, they get things right far more than they get things wrong, which is all you can hope for from your favourite magazine.
Could also mention great post 95 albums by the likes of Josh Rouse, Dizzee Rascal, Philip Jeck, Paddy McAloon, Fennesz, Arctic Monkeys, Scritti Politti, Joan as Police Woman, Aimee Mann, Scritti Politti, Roots Manuva, Tracey Thorn and Tom Waits (particularly his wonderful Mule Variations). A lot of these albums also display a lightness of touch that distinguishes them from many of the somewhat ponderous, rockist pre-1995 albums mentioned in the list that started this thread.
God, this really is a blokish pub discussion (potentially leading to drunken argument)!
Kevin
p.s. By the way for anyone wanting to track Sylvian's post Virgin output the only download site he uses to sell his stuff is his own site. Either a very wise, or very foolish, move.
Snow Borne Sorrow
Is a fine album and it stands up well with his other work. I should have included it in my list. It's a pity you disparage Radiohead to make the point though.
Radiohead lyrics
Think you're probably right. To be honest I quite like Radiohead's stuff and also Thom's solo record. There are lots of good things about that band, I just don't think their songs feature particularly strong lyrics (maybe that's why I like Kid A the best, as it has the least words on it!)
Having said all that think the importance of lyrics is generally overstated anyway. The overall sound of a song (including obviously the tone of the voice) is far more important than the lyrics in conveying meaning and emotion. We are never left in much doubt about what Tom feels when he sings and that's what matters; what he sings is actually rather incidental.
Whilst we are here,
I think this is worth a mention. I received an email informing me that David Sylvian has an 'event' at the Museum Of Modern Art in Oxford, on 14th May 2009. I couldn't find any more info on it as yet , but thought you (and possibly 2 others!) would find it interesting.
Sweet Billy Pilgrim in Oxford
Pretty sure this is a mistake and in fact refers to a performance by Sweet Billy Pilgrim (who are actually as close as you could get to an amalgam between Nine Horses and Radiohead). Their new album is being released by Sylvian's record label so I think that is where the confusion has arisen.
You're right
clicked the link again and it now says, 'Not a Sylvian concert, but Sweet Billy Pilgrim'. (awful name!)
Thanks.
and how could I have forgotten these four...
Oops, forgot four other wonderful post-95 albums, all undoubted classics, particularly when compared to (and I can barely bring myself to write it, let alone listen to it) the execrable 'The Wall':
Nick Cave 'Boatman Calls'
Ryan Adams 'Heartbreaker'
Lucinda Williams 'Car Wheels on a Gravel Road'
Lambchop 'What Another Man Spills'
"Classic" albums
Christ Almighty...
Who
was that by?
Er
Why not get a few votes in from albums that have been released at least 10 years before the poll date? So The Greatest Album Ever survey (Feb '09 version) has a Feb '99 cut off point, allowing albums at least a decade to gather kudos in the eyes of the public. Just a thought ...
Few others that
come to mind, and apologies if already mentioned;
Postal Service - Give Up
Gotan Project - La Revencha del Tango
Kanye West - College Dropout
xtc
Apple Venus
Here's what we need
Can we agree that a vital component of any Greatest album of all...., would be perspective. I suggest nothing from the past ten years for this reason. How many thought that Nevermind was the best thing ever! when they heard it? Now they play it seldom, if at all (more than would admit, I suspect). I think that 22 dreams is the best album of the past year (I know, I know), but, ask me again in a couple of years what I think of it.
10 years?
I'd suggest 20. Stuff from the late 80s is just about ripe for critical re-assessment.
The way we were
I think that whole thing of listing best albums of all time was fun for a while but got overdone and became a real bore. There's this sort of recieved wisdom that certain albums are unarguably classic. I reckon a lot of those famous albums are no better than many albums since 1995.
It may be that the changes to music of last 10 years or so has led to less of a sense of a collective agreed idea of great music. Things have fractured and people have tended to do their own thing more, perhaps. Also it's got harder to do something that appears new and ground breaking. So what with loss of shared experience and a sense that 'seminal' albums aren't made any more, we just don't remember albums as classic in the same way as we used to. In fact it seems harder to remember a lot of more recent albums full stop - but that might just be my age. Times have changed and I wonder if we don't think in terms of classic albums like we used to? There's also the sense that pop history has now been written. Mind you some fools talk of legends and classics so freely and easily that something like 'Viva La Vida' is already a classic album in their eyes.
Possible post-'95 'classics' of recent times for me might be - 'In Rainbows', 'Overpowered' by Roisin Murphy, 'Lost Souls' by Doves, 'Seventh Tree' by Goldfrapp, 'Show Your Bones' by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, '22 Dreams' by Paul Weller, 'Oracular Spectacular' by MGMT, and 'Dig Lazarus Dig!!!' by Nick Cave. Well, I think they're all better than 'The Joshua Tree' and 'Graceland' at least. The new Secret Machines one is sounding pretty good too. No doubt many of those who post here will be aghast at my selections and assertions. Such is music.
Belle & Sebastian and Bright Eyes
Both Tigermilk and If...Sinister are "classics".
Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake It's Morning.
And I agree with people above re: The Strokes (ITI), Eminem (MM) and Arctic Monkeys (WPSIATWIN).
Classics?
If one deems a classic or a favourite by the amount of times one listens to it over the years,then ".....The Art School Dance....." by Pete Brown & Piblokto! is the one for me. Rarely a week goes by when i play at least some of this album, and when I consider that i have had it in various forms (now iPoded)since 1970, it's a testament to its brilliance. Friends I have played it to have either denounced it as crap (the majority), but the ones who liked it loved it, and ALL of them still hold it in extreme reverence.
There appears to be no middle ground for this one.
Is there any other albums that seem to divide their listners to polar opposites of its value?
As a major Beatles fan, I thought then,and still do, that Sgt Pepper was a pile of old tosh, and by far their worst album.