The Best Albums in the World Ever - Volume 63 (Top 10 Albums)

Member Name: Scott Fowler

Product:	Top 10 Albums
Date:	22/05/02 (140 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hours of great music, Fond memories

Disadvantages: too many great albums to choose from

This is certainly a toughie and to help narrow the field down I'm going to rule out Best of albums and compilations such as Now..

That still leaves a heck of a lot of albums the following of which I'd have to say are my favourite - I could do at top 10 of a couple of artists, but I'll save that for later :) - oh and they're in no particular order, 'cos that would just increase the difficulty of the task!

1)Nevermind - Nirvana.

I can remember the exact moment when I decided I was going to buy this album. I was in Portugal on holiday with my folks when I heard Lithium on some Portugese radio station. The only thing I new was it was Nirvana - at the time I didn't know the song name. This was at the start of a two week holiday and for the rest of the time I couldn't get the track out of my head. When we got back to the UK I headed to our local music store and as luck would have it Nevermind was on one of the listening posts. I went through the album looking for Lithium and by the time I got to it (track 5) I was hooked. From an explosive start with "Smells like Teen Spirit" to "Come as you are" and "Polly" I can listen to this album again and again. Cobain's eventual demise was a great loss to the music world.

2)Stanley Road - Paul Weller.

Again an album associated with a prticular time in my life. When Stanley Road came out I was 17, still at school and working in the kitchens of a local family run hotel. The head chef at the time was a mad daft Paul Weller fan - I hadn't really heard much of his stuff (be it the Jam, Style council or solo) - and Stanley Road had just been released. I had soon heard the album a good few dozen times and just didn't seem to get sick of it. Then about three years ago I took a trip down to London, with my then girlfriend, to see friends and as it would happen Paul Weller in an all day concert featuring Ian Dury, Finlay Quaye a
nd others. When Weller came on he did a great set which culminated in a magical rendition of "Broken Stones" with the entire crowd singing along in almost whispering voices. So every time I listen to Stanley Road it brings back some great memories and for that reason it makes my top 10.

3)Definitely Maybe - Oasis.

Again another album from my late school days - it's true they are the happiest of your life, or is that just rose tinted glasses I'm looking through?:)- In my humble opinion this is by far the best work Oasis have done to date. They do seem to be reurning to form a bit of late, but after this it just went downhill (What's the story was good, be here now too long and I didn't even bother with Standing on the Shouler). Standout tracks for me are Supersonic (she sniffed it from a tissue, selling the Big Issue... great stuff) and Cigarettes & Alcohol. I love the rawness of the album and in particular Liam's voice, he may sound like he's just shouting, but he can certainly shout in tune!

4)Revolver - The Beatles.

Had to have them in here somewhere. The fab four at their finest. Kicks off with Harrison's, at the time, fairly controversial Taxman, and just gets better and better. Other favourites include "Good Day Sunshine", "Doctor Robert", "Got to get you into my life", "She Said, She Said" and of course how could we forget "Yellow Submarine". Not really linked to any particular period in my life, just a class album that has well stood the test of time.

5) Blood Sugar Sex Magik - Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The Album that finally got the Chilis the succes they deserved. Released in 1991, this is quite simply a fantastic album. Standout tracks for me are the obvious "Give it Away" and "Under the Bridge" but you can easily add the title track, "Suck My Kiss", "The Power of Equality" and &q
uot;If you have to ask" to that list. Great pub album and fortunately my local has it in the jukebox, so that keeps me happy....

6)Live Rust - Neil Young and Crazy Horse.

Ah the "granfather of grunge" and probably my favourite artist. The guy has been going for decades and shows no signs of giving it up. From his roots in a more folk orientated direction Neil Young has dabbled in a varied range of styles, from country (Comes a Time) to "futuristic rock"- ie he used a vocoder (way before Cher!!) -(Trans), but I always enjoy it when he teams up with Crazy Horse and the belt out a cracking Rock n Roll album. As it's title suggests Live Rust is a live album, recorded on the Rust Never Sleeps tour and is a great mix of accoustic and rock tracks. One possible downside on the album would be the version of Cortez the Killer which turns into a rather bizarre reggae version half way through (plenty bad man). My favourite track would have to be a toss up between "Sugar Mountain" (accoustic) and Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) (rock). He actually stopped playing the later and it's accoustic cousin My My, Hey Hey (Into the Blue) after the death of Kurt Cobain - Cobain having quoted the lyric "It's better to burn out than to fade away". If you like the likes of Nirvana and Pearl Jam (who have actually made an album with Neil Young (Mirror Ball)) then I recommend you check out Neil Young & Crazy Horse - You're in for a treat.

7)Déjá vu - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

A great album to relax to with such classics as "Teach your children" and "Our House" (not "in the middle of our street"!) on what is largely an accoustic album and yes the Young in question is Neil Young. These 4 get together every now and then and when they do you can usually expect something quite special. Déjá vu is no exception, check out "Almost cut my hair" and see what I mean.
Great stuff.

8)Stunt - Barenaked Ladies

I remember seeing the Barenaked Ladies live on TV a few years ago and thinking I should check out some of their recorded work. Naturally I forgot about this, however when I heard "One Week" a few years later it jogged my memory. So off I went to HMV, the reward for my trip being Stunt.

This album never fails to cheer me up, and any band who dedicate a song to alcohol can't be bad! As an added bonus it came with a second 'bonus' disc including live tracks such as "If I Had a $1,000,000" - great track.

Give it a shot, you might just like it.

9)Stone Roses - The Stone Roses

One of those albums that just never loses it's appeal. Released in 1989, it could just as easily have been yesterday. The fact I'm still listening to it over a decade later show it has stood the test of time (for me anyway!). From "Waterfall" to "I wanna be Adored" to "I am the Resurrection" it's just great stuff. A massive shame they took about 20 years to follow this masterpiece up with the dissapointing Second Coming. The second album was never going to be as good, and the continual delays didn't help. Ah well at least they gave us this.

10)Automatic For The People - R.E.M.

Not exactly laugh a minute but there are some great tracks in there.

Vocally Stipe is on top form here, covering darker material than some of R.E.M.'s earlier work. Oh and he does a fine Elvis in "Man on the Moon" - 'Hey baby'.

"Man on the Moon" at least is a little more uplifting and always goes down well in their live shows and then you have the incomprehensible "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" again a bit more upbeat. Otehr highlights here, for me anyway, include the obvious - "Drive" and "Everybody Hurts" - and the not so obvious - "Find the River&quo
t; and "Try Not to Breathe".

If you've never listened to Automatic then I recommend you give it a shot, you may find it a rewarding experience.

So there you go, my personal top 10 albums, no doubt in a month or 2 I'll be updating the list but for now thanks for reading.

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