List my top ten? I can't!!!! (Top 10 Albums)

Member Name: beckstrous

Product:	Top 10 Albums
Date:	15/07/02 (138 review reads)
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"What are your ten favourite albums?"

A question I prefer to ask others than to answer myself - it's so damn difficult, is it not? It takes me ages to get to ten, and I tend to change my mind again quite quickly. I've always bordered on the obsessive side when it comes to music, and a list of my top ten albums seems almost impossible to compile. I've read quite a few others' lists since joining dooyoo, however, and I feel it's only right to at least have a go.

So, this is what I think my top ten is today, Monday 15 July 2002.

1. Neil Young - After The Goldrush (1970)

Neil Young has a rasping, papery, almost ethereal voice, impossible to describe and probably not everyone's cup of tea. To me it's beautiful, haunting, evocative. "After the Goldrush" is his third album, most of it originally inspired by a screenplay for a film of the same name. The film was never actually produced, but this album made it into the NME's list of the Greatest Albums of All Time in 1993, more than twenty years after it was released. It's under 40 minutes in length, but I'll forgive Mr Young such brevity in the light of the irresistable, flawed beauty of the album and the memories it evokes. I think it's stunning, especially the title track.

2. Jeff Buckley - Grace (1994)

If Neil Young's voice is one of endearing oddity then Jeff Buckley's is perfection itself. His remarkable, octave-spanning vocals cram emotion into every minute of every song on "Grace", his first (and, sadly, only) full-length album. It's a rousing, powerful mix of three eclectic covers (including a beautiful rendition of the Corpus Christi Carol) and seven original songs, which span from the heartrending "Last Goodbye" to the epic "Lover, You Should Have Come Over". Like Neil Young, Jeff Buckley received huge critical acclaim for his songwriting and musicianship
- and it is a terrible shame that he did not live to be as prolific (he drowned in 1997). "Grace" was supposed to be just the start from a sublimely talented man with so much to offer. RIP.

3. Massive Attack - Blue Lines (1991)

That this album is now over ten years old is something I find quite hard to believe. It doesn't seem to have tired at all, and that surely ranks it as a classic. "Blue Lines" won the Mercury Music Prize in 1992, and along with Roni Size and Portishead, Massive Attack (who had to change their name to Massive during the Gulf War) helped to put Bristol on the map as something of a musical hub. I've always thought of the West Country as a supremely relaxed, mellow part of the UK - and "Blue Lines" is its natural sountrack with its easy trip-hop rhythms and soulful melodies. A quite brilliant album, with the majestic "Unfinished Sympathy" a highlight for me.

4. Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger (1991)

Nirvana and Pearl Jam were the two acts most commonly associated with the Grunge phenomenon but for me, Soundgarden were infinitely more powerful as a band and they remain my favourite act from that era. "Badmotorfinger" is their third and most significant album, veering from the fat, thumping riffs of the opening track "Rusty Cage" to screaming punk-metal aggression on the first single "Jesus Christ Pose" (of which guitarist Kim Thayil once said "The song's groove reminds me of helicopter blades. I bent the strings at the beginning and end of the song. That's all I remember.") and the lazy drawl of "Searching With My Good Eye Closed". This album drips with energy and although its follow-up "Superunknown" was more accessible, it remains Soundgarden's finest hour.

5. Nirvana - In Utero (1993)

A lot of people tend to see 1991's "Nevermind" as Nirvana's seminal album b
ut I think that "In Utero" is a far better work. It's full of bitterness, cynicism and raw, undisguised anger. From the opening chords of "Serve the Servants" to the haunting-yet-explosive "Pennyroyal Tea", Nirvana's last full album sees the band at their peak before Kurt Cobain's untimely death. Whether or not they would have imploded beyond the tortured brilliance of "In Utero" is anyone's guess, but to call this a work of genius is probably not an exaggeration.

6. Pearl Jam - Ten (1992)

Yes, yes - another Seattle band (okay, I was a grunge chick. I guess I still must be). Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament formed Green River, one of the bands that kick-started the Seattle music scene, in 1984. Both went on to become part of Mother Love Bone (of which more later), and when the vocalist of that band, Andy Wood, died, a new band - Pearl Jam - rose from some of the ashes. They were rather more melodic and accessible than most of their contemporaries, and "Ten" is their first (and, I think, best) album. Eddie Vedder's intelligent, emotional lyrics, Mike McCready's guitar melodies and Jeff Ament's swooping basslines give "Ten" all the hallmarks of a complete album. Highlights are many: "Evenflow" takes me right back to summers lounging around on the playing fields at 6th Form College, "Alive" is probably what Kurt Cobain meant by "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" (but it's a great track nonetheless) and the harrowing "Jeremy" is dark, brooding and controversial (read the lyrics). Shame Pearl Jam have sold out now!

7. Temple of the Dog - Temple of the Dog (1991)

Temple of the Dog was a single project and not a band. This album is largely the work of Soundgarden's Chris Cornell and it is a tribute to Mother Love Bone vocalist Andy Wood - his flatmate and close friend - who died in March 1990. The
album wasn't a best-seller as such, but it was never supposed to be: it was an outlet for Cornell, and a tribute to his friend. As such, it's a searingly beautiful record, a one-off, rather like the flamboyant Wood himself. There's anger, love and grief here, particularly in "Say Hello 2 Heaven" and "Times of Trouble". Also involved in the project were Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament, Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron and the then unknown Eddie Vedder, who duets with Cornell in "Hungerstrike" - arguably the highlight of the album as his crooning overlaps Cornell's harsher vocals in brilliant harmony. Critically, this was very well received: some people wanted Temple of the Dog to release a second album, but I think they were missing the point.

8. Portishead - Dummy (1994)

More from the Bristol trip-hop stable, then. "Dummy" made an immense impact when it was released, a slow, soulful, dusky album. It's made for listening to indoors at 2am - I've tried it in the daylight, and it just doesn't work. "Sour Times" and "Glory Box" (oh, that guitar!) are often thought of as the strongest tracks, and that's probably right. Great stuff - I just wish my (ex) flatmate would give me my copy back!

9. Screaming Trees - Sweet Oblivion (1992)

Screaming Trees didn't quite reach the heights of the other three Seattle bands I've got in my top ten - not in the UK, anyway. I was never quite sure why, because "Sweet Oblivion" is a fine album. The plaintive "Dollar Bill" is without doubt my favourite track, but the whole record is a delight, punctuated by smeary Seattle guitars and Mark Lanegan's husky vocals. "Sweet Oblivion" was the Trees' sixth of seven albums, and I think it's their best. I was lucky enough to catch them live before they split up, and even though Mark Lanegan was a haunted, hollow figure (he strugg
ling with heroin addiction at the time, and was subsequently jailed for possession) they were quite superb.

10. Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991)

I almost stuck a Pixies album in here (see how difficult these top tens are? I still can't make my mind up!), but it then occured to me that the Chillis are approaching their twentieth anniversary (they were formed in 1983). I find that quite staggering, and as such, "Blood Sugar..." creeps into my top ten. It's a buoyant, funk-rock mishmash with no small amount of depth, with manic, frenetic tracks like "Give it Away" and the poignant balladry of "Under The Bridge" and "I Could Have Lied". The soundtrack to my A Levels, which coincided with its release. Ahhh, memories.

So that's my top ten. But only for today.

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