A big thumbs-up for the inclusion of the ever-wondrous Cocteau Twins..... Heaven or Las Vegas is probably their most 'complete' album, and their last truly GREAT album, too. Singles wise, my fave Cocteaus moment is the glorious Aikea Guinea.... goosebump inducing, that one.

 

This past week I got my hands on the Yann Tierson album - it includes a few songs featuring Elizabeth Fraser.... notably the absolutely drop-dead gorgeous Mary. WELL worth checking out.

 

Apparently her solo album is all done and in the can - but she's so averse to the whole spotlight thing again she's shy of releasing it. A Bristol friend of mine who worked on it says it's tremendous stuff - but doesn't know if it'll ever be released. I used to live near the wonderful woman, and to see one of your idols shopping in the local Somerfield is pretty odd to say the least.... :huh:

 

As for Ride... I only liked one thing about them - the lead singer ;)

An unsurprisingly hugely impressive list.

 

Particular fav's so far are selections by Lush, Daisy Chainsaw, The Wedding Present, Ride, MCP (for me they peaked with their 1994 release, The Holy Bible album), Boo Radleys, Dinosaur Jr, Curve (Coast Is Clear is my personal fav by them), PWEI, The Wonderstuff (I so agree, that they were on a downhill creative spiral by the time they were popular - It's Your Money I'm After Baby is my fav by them), Pavement, Belly, Mazzy Star (although I think Fade Into You is their best track), Throwing Muses & the Cocteau Twins (Iceblink Luck remains my fav).

An unsurprisingly hugely impressive list.

 

Particular fav's so far are selections by Lush, Daisy Chainsaw, The Wedding Present, Ride, MCP (for me they peaked with their 1994 release, The Holy Bible album), Boo Radleys, Dinosaur Jr, Curve (Coast Is Clear is my personal fav by them), PWEI, The Wonderstuff (I so agree, that they were on a downhill creative spiral by the time they were popular - It's Your Money I'm After Baby is my fav by them), Pavement, Belly, Mazzy Star (although I think Fade Into You is their best track), Throwing Muses & the Cocteau Twins (Iceblink Luck remains my fav).

 

Absolutely agree on the Manics front... I hope I managed to qualify my disappointment in the later post that i made on them in reply to Jester (or was it Aly....? :unsure: ).

 

I had a tough pick with Curve, I seriously thought about "Horror Head", "Clipped" or "Coast is Clear"... But the "Coast is Clear" vid on You Tube has a bit cut off of it....

 

I thought about "Fade Into You", but settled on "She's My Baby" because it's a bit darker...

 

NUMBER 19 - SMASHING PUMPKINS - RHINOCEROUS

 

Before the rather disastrous "Zwan" project, Billy Corgan really was somewhat of an Indie/Alt Rock god... The Smashing Pumpkins were an absolutely astounding band... You kids wanna hear what REAL emo should sound like, well, listen to the Pumpkins and then chuck all your My Chemical Romance or Fall Out Boy records in the bin, because there is simply no comparison... Their career spanned 5 albums (and not forgetting the "Pisces Iscariot" compilation thingie) - "Gish" was their first, and probably their most unnassuming record and actually remains my favourite to be honest, "Siamese Dream" saw them becoming more confident and growing in popularity, "Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness" was a double album which was somewhat over-ambitious and if the weaker songs had been excised, it may perhaps have been their best one, "Adore" was the ill-advised and rather tedious foray into "Goth/Darkwave" territory and "Machina/Machines of God" was somewhat of a return to form, and then they split.....

 

This is not to say that they didn't have MANY problems before the final dissolution of the band - drummer Jimmy Chamberlain was sacked due to his drug abuse (tough love or kicking someone while they're down..? you decide...) which led to them using drum programming for the "Adore" album; after "Adore" bassist D'arcy sensationally quit the band because of Corgan's now almost total meglomania... Corgan found more than suitable replacment in the form of former Hole bassist Mellissa Auf Der Maur, a cleaned-up Jimmy Chamberlain also returned to the fold... Mel must've been totally pissed off that the band split up after only being the bassist for one album...

 

There is talk of Corgan re-igniting the Pumpkins.. Hmm, wonder why, would that be because that his other projects haven't found anything like the success of the Pumpkins...?? But D'arcy, guitarist James Iha and Melissa Auf Der Maur have more or less ruled out coming back, so that leaves us with Corgan, Chamberlain (who was in Zwan with Corgan anyway...) and a few session musos presumably... It will NOT be the Smashing Pumpkins that fans will know and love without James or D'arcy.....

 

But, to the song, again, so many to choose, so many favourites from this band it's unreal.. I picked "Rhinocerous" because I just love the way it builds momentum and then explodes into that crescendo of guitars... Wonderful stuff... Enjoy...

 

Promo vid

 

Rather cool live TV appearance

 

Planned a show

Trees and balloons

Ice cream snow

See you in June

 

Could have known

I would reveal

Should have known

I would conceal your way

 

She knows, she knows, she knows

She knows, she knows, she knows

How's it

She knows, she knows, she knows

 

Colors show

After the moon

I should go

See you in June

Your way

 

Absolutely agree on the Manics front... I hope I managed to qualify my disappointment in the later post that i made on them in reply to Jester (or was it Aly....? :unsure: ).

 

I think that was me.

 

As for Smashing Pumpkins, a friend recommended me to them once and I saw their GH album cheap so bought it. Not bad!

 

NUMBER 18 - THE BREEDERS - CANNONBALL

 

The Breeders started out life as a side-project for Kim Deal (Pixies) - a woman so cool the Dandy Warhols wrote a song about her :lol: :lol: - and Tanya Donnelly (Throwing Muses), but events would conspire to make things rather radically different... Firstly, the shock split of Pixies meant that The Breeders became Kim's full-time band and the extra time she had to work on The Breeders meant that the quality of their music became considerably better, in fact, many argued that The Breeders was a far better band than any of Black Francis' post-Pixies projects... Then Tanya Donnelly decided she wanted her own band and left both The Breeders and the Muses to concentrate solely on Belly and then her own subsequent solo career... Kim got her sister Kelley on board to make up the second guitar slot vacated by Donnelly... Their second album "Last Splash" was far more ambitious musically than the stripped-down, basic-sounding (but still pretty excellent) "Pod"... "Cannonball" became a bit of an Indie anthem in the '93/'94 period. "Last Splash" was actually released on the same day in the UK as Nirvana's "In Utero" - how's about that for ambition and sheer fukkin' gall.... :lol: In many ways I actually preferred "Last Splash" to "In Utero"....

 

Then rather maddeningly The Breeders just refused to follow up on the momentum created by "Last Splash", Kim and Kelley did another project called The Amps... Then nothng for ages, until 2002 when the final twist in the tale occurred The Breeders released their third album almost nine years after "Last Splash".. "Title TK" was a return to the more stripped-down sound of "Pod", but it failed to register in a climate which had totally changed... They waited far too long imo, and perhaps had they released it about six or seven years earlier, who knows.... I've included a live performance of "Divine Hammer" as well because a rather amusing OUCH!! moment occurs....

 

Cannonball promo

 

Divine Hammer Live TV - OUCH!! :lol:

 

Spitting in a wishing well

Check check check

Blown to hell... crash

One two

Im the last splash

 

I know you, little libertine

Spitting in a wishing well

I know youre a real koo koo

Blown to hell crash

 

Im the last splash

Hey now, hey now, ...

 

Want you, koo koo, cannonball [2x]

I know you little libertine

In the shade [4x]

I know youre a real coocoo

 

I know you, little libertine

Want you coocoo cannonball

I know youre a cannonball

Want you coocoo cannonball

Ill be youre whatever you want

In the shade, in the shade

The bong in this reggae song

In the shade, in the shade

 

Hey now, hey now, ...

I know you little libertine

Want you, koo koo, cannonball [2x]

I know youre a cannonball

In the shade [4x]

 

Ill be your whatever you want

Spitting in a wishing well

The bong in this reggae song

Blown to hell... crash

 

Im the last splash

In the shade, in the shade

Ill be youre whatever you want

Want you coocoo cannonball

The bong in this reggae song

Want you coocoo cannonball

 

Hey now, hey now, ...

Spitting in a wishing well

Want you, koo koo, cannonball [2x]

Blown to hell

In the shade [4x]

Crash

Im the last splash

 

Ill be your whatever you want

The bong in this reggae song

 

Want you coocoo cannonball

Want you coocoo cannonball

In the shade, in the shade

In the shade, in the shade

 

NUMBER 17 - PLACEBO - YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT US

 

Here you go Aly, hope you've been bearing with me all this time, it's finally paid off now.... :lol:

 

Well, what the hell can one say about Placebo..? We all know 'em, most of us love 'em.... What more need be said really...? Enjoy....

 

You probably expected me to plump for "Nancy Boy" didn't ya..?? :P :lol: :lol:

 

 

If it's a bad day, you try to suffocate.

Another memory... scarred.

If it's a bad case, then you accelerate,

you're in the getaway... car.

 

You don't care about us... oh oh.

You don't care about us... oh oh.

You don't care about us... oh oh

You don't care about us.

 

If it's a bad case, you're on the rampage.

Another memory... scarred.

You're at the wrong place, you're on the back page,

you're in the getaway... car.

 

You don't care about us... oh oh.

You don't care about us... oh oh.

You don't care about us... oh oh

You don't care about us.

 

It's your age, It's my rage.

It's your age, It's my rage.

 

You're too complicated, we should separate it.

You're just confiscating, you're exasperating.

This degeneration, mental masturbation.

Think I'll leave it all behind, save this bleeding heart of mine.

 

It's a matter of trust.

It's a matter of trust.

It's a matter of trust.

It's a matter of trust.

Because..

You don't care about us...

You don't care about us...

You don't care about us...

You don't care about us.

 

It's your age, It's my rage.

It's your age, It's my rage.

 

 

PLACEBO! My absolute favourite band in the whole world. :cheer:

 

'You Don't Care About Us' is an excellent choice, and there are so many excellent tracks to choose from. I did expect 'Nancy Boy' actually. :lol:

 

Oh, and that's a cue for everyone to visit the Placebo forum. :D

Oh, and I'm seeing Placebo at Wembley in 4 days. :wub:

NUMBER 16 - HAPPY MONDAYS - HALLELUJAH

 

"Nice one"

 

"Top one"

 

"Mad fer it"

 

"Fookin' Sorted"

 

You can stick yer Gallaghers mate, cos these fookers and their contemporaries are the real deal... "Madchester", "Factory Records", "The Hacienda", "Rave Culture", glorious days for music, nothing has really come close to topping it since really.. The Happy Mondays probably more than anyone defined all of this, and they totally split the generations.. "Step On" was the song that made them a household name, but I reckon it was "Hallelujah" that defined them as a band and set them on the road to the coming greatness and notoriety they achieved. Shaun Ryder really was as barking fukkin' mad as a bag of badgers, it was NOT an act. He was the absolute scourge of presenters and TV producers (as Chris Evans hilariously found out). Totally E'd off his t*ts 99% of the time, but underneath it all, a sharp intelligence was at work which was not altogether obvious. Forget Pete Doherty, Ryder was truly dangerous. With side-kick Bez by his side, Happy Mondays seemed unstoppable....

 

...Until, they totally sabotaged their own career with a practically unlistenable album "Yes Please", which pretty much bankrupted their record company, Factory with its almost half a million quid production costs. In Barbados.... OUCH!!! :o Unsurprisingly The Happy Mondays disintegrated, as did the rest of the scene, and Ryder formed Black Grape...

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, and I'm seeing Placebo at Wembley in 4 days. :wub:

 

Dude, you've just given me a reason to thoroughly hate you.... :P :lol:

 

Dude, you've just given me a reason to thoroughly hate you.... :P :lol:

 

;)

 

Have you ever had the pleasure?

NUMBER 15 - THE VERVE - BLUE

 

Back in the days when The Verve were simply called 'Verve' (they were compelled to put in the "The" because a record label specializing in Jazz thought people might confuse the two....Like Bollocks....) and they didn't need a ruddy Rolling Stones sample to write a decent tune, they were one of the greatest bands in the country... Early EPs saw the absolute great potential they had, songs like "All In The Mind", "Gravity Grave", "Man Called Sun", etc were just screaming out the greatness of Ashcroft and McCabe. Early live shows were like almost Messianic, and they made a lot of other, more established bands VERY nervous indeed, some actually cancelling their support slots in fear of being totally pished on. Their first album "A Storm In Heaven" remains their greatest work as far as I'm concerned, a totally magnificent bit of Spaced-out, tripped out contemporary Blues Rock which challenged even the likes of Spiritualized in the head-fukk stakes... "A Northern Soul", their second album was just as hugely ambitious with some truly amazing guitar work from Nick McCabe and great songs like "This Is Music" and the title track. Then you get "Urban Hymns".... Christ what a disappointment.... Sorry folks, but for us early fans, this album is an utter crashing bore no matter what the critics say. It's as if the band just became grounded and forgot how to touch the stratosphere, they now wrote dirges where once was all ambition and dripping with attitude from every pore.... "Mad Richard" wasn't mad anymore, he was a domesticated house pet...

 

 

There you were on the floor

There you were on the floor

Cut up and all alone

Cut up and all alone

I'll help you

I'll help you

Conceived in a chrome dream I was a crease in the shirt that this world wears

Conceived in a chrome dream i was a crease in the shirt that this world wears

Till I met Blue

Till i met blue

I was in obscurity he said

I was in obscurity he said

'Loosen up who do you wanna be?'

"loosen up who do you wanna be?"

 

 

We could steal a car

 

And listen to the stars

We could steal a car

I can see you've choked on them too

And listen to the stars

Had enough of late night films

I can see you've choked on them too

Just enough for an hour or two

Had enough of late night films

Hey ,Blue, show me something new

Just enough for an hour or two

Hey, Blue, show me something new

Hey ,blue, show me something new

 

Hey, blue, show me something new

Blue, I've got a question every time I hold you

 

Yeah, Blue, I've got a question every time I swallow you it's true

 

 

Blue, i've got a question every time i hold you

Spike danced for 10 days long

Yeah, blue, i've got a question every time i swallow you it's true

We were just heading for the sun

 

You shot him down there's blood on my face

 

His heart's in the right place

Spike danced for 10 days long

What they gonna do to you

We were just heading for the sun

What they gonna do

You shot him down there's blood on my face

 

His heart's in the right place

Blue, don't forget the word I warned you

What they gonna do to you

Oh, Blue,don't let them push you

What they gonna do

Don't let them destroy you

 

Meanwhile, I'm searching with my brain-blown eyes

 

See the world through my dirty, lonely, mixed-up mind

Blue, don't forget the word i warned you

Oh, blue,don't let them push you

Don't let them destroy you

Meanwhile, i'm searching with my brain-blown eyes

See the world through my dirty, lonely, mixed-up mind

 

NUMBER 14 - MUSE - STOCKHOLM SYNDROME

 

...And speaking of hugely ambitious....We have Muse.. A band so steeped in the lore of Rock Excess that you'll either go totally with it or just uttely retch in disgust.... They are pompous, they are pretentious, they are pretty ludicrous, but they just manage to pull it back from tipping completely over the edge into Prog Rock buffoonery... Clearly influenced by the Classic/Prog Rock of the 70s (in particular Queen and Zep..) and also clearly influenced by Classical music of the particularly bombastic variety, there is absolutely no denying that Muse are unearthly, unspeakably talented musicians who are so in tune with each other that they're tighter than a nun's arse... As a live unit, they are nigh-on unbeatable, even the most snobbish 'old skool' Rock fan has a grudging admiration for their musical abilities. I reckon this song more than any other single song of theirs just encapsulates them as a band perfectly..

 

Promo vid

 

Live performance

 

I won't stand in your way

let your hatred grow

and she'll scream and she'll shout

and she'll pray and she had a name.

Yeah she had a name

 

I won't hold you back

let your anger rise

and we'll fly and we'll fall and we'll burn

no one will recall, no one will recall

 

this is the last time I'll abandon you

and this is the last time I'll forget you

I wish I could

 

look to the stars

let hope burn in your eyes

and we'll love

and we'll hate

and we'll die

all to no avail

all to no avail

 

this is the last time I'll abandon you

and this is the last time I'll forget you,

I'll forget you

I wish I could

 

this is the last time I'll abandon you

and this is the last time I'll forget you

I wish I could

I wish I could

;)

 

Have you ever had the pleasure?

 

Yep, seen them twice... Once in '01 and then when they did that 'Greatest Hits' tour....

 

NUMBER 13 - P J HARVEY - DOWN BY THE WATER

 

I've had a soft spot (well, kind of hard spot really.... :lol: :lol: ) for years, she is an amazingly talented and giftet artist, whose catalogue of work is incredibly formidable... "Dry" and "Rid of Me", her two early albums were punctuated with an unbelievable tension, "Dry" and its unbelievably frank confessional-type songs, "Rid of Me" where producer Steve Albini teased out the innate, hidden guitar/rock goddess that was inside her, and then we get onto "To Bring You My Love", where a total wanton-ness and sexual energy seemed to be unleashed. Harvey threw off the guitar for this particular tour, wore figure-hugging dresses and make-up (she'd never been particularly concious of image up until this point..) and beat seven shades of $h!t out of an incredibly phallic-looking stick. Quite an incredible sight to behold I can assure you. She then started working with people such as Nick Cave (for the magnificent "Henry Lee" single), and then the 'female Nick Cave' comparisons began in earnest... And you can see why, both are totally original and uncompromising artists, both use imagery and language to incredible effect... The next two albums of hers were a bit more low-key and quiet, but still nonetheless rewarding.. She returned a year or so back with the rather more extorverted "Uh, Huh Her"....

 

 

A rather cool live TV performance

 

I lost my heart

Under the bridge

To that little girl

So much to me

And now Im old

And now I holler

Shell never know

Just what I found

That blue eyed girl

(that blue eyed girl)

She said no more

(she said no more)

That blue eyed girl

(that blue eyed girl)

Became blue eyed whore

(came blue eyed whore)

Down by the water

(down by the water)

I took her hand

(I took her hand)

Just like my daughter

(just like my daughter)

Wont see her again

(see her again)

 

Oh help me jesus

Come through this storm

I had to lose her

To do her harm

I heard her holler

(I heard her holler)

I heard her moan

(I heard her moan)

My lovely daughter

(my lovely daughter)

I took her home

(I took her home)

Little fish. big fish. swimming in the water.

Come back here, man. gimme my daughter.

Little fish. big fish. swimming in the water.

Come back here, man. gimme my daughter.

Little fish. big fish. swimming in the water.

Come back here, man. gimme my daughter ....

 

I like Muse a lot, I own Origin Of Symmetry and Black Holes And Revelations. :D

 

Good band.

NUMBER 12 - JESUS AND MARY CHAIN - HAPPY WHEN IT RAINS

 

East Kilbride's finest sons Jim and William Reid (oh, and not forgetting a certain Bobby Gillespie on drums for the first album "Psychocandy"...) are perhaps the very definition of "alternative", because they have never done things the easy way... Starting out their career with incredibly bad-tempered 20-odd minute sets full of white noise and screetching feedback with their backs turned to the audience is hardly a way to go out an win hearts and minds... But somehow they managed it, probably due to the patronage of a certain John Peel which certainly played no small part in their success... But the bad-tempered gigs which descended into violence (usually started by the band themselves..) subsided and by the time the "Darklands" came out, Gillespie had gone and the Mary Chain near as dammit had a Pop career going.. "Happy When it Rains" and "April Skies" actually charted believe it or not... Only in the mid-80s..... :lol: The "Automatic" album followed with even more cool tunes. In the early 90s the second-wave of Mary Chain popularity hit, the Indie kids of the early 90s sort of adopted them as slightly elder statesmen, and the Mary Chain embarked on a tour with the cool bands of the day... "Rollercoaster", which featured a very young and precocious Blur, the magnificent My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr and the Mary Chain themselves as headliners... the Christian-baiting "Reverence" went Top 10 and was banned by the Beeb in a quite ludicrous burst of morality and the Mary Chain actually enjoyed their biggest popularity at this point, the following album "Honey's Dead" did good business as well...

 

Later, they went off to America and did the very US Rock influenced "Stoned and Dethroned", a total departure from the noise-Rock they were known for, it was an almost Countrified album and clearly influenced by William Reid's relationship with Mazzy Star's lead singer Hope Sandoval.. Later JAMC returned to their original record company Creation and released the excellent "Munki", which was almost the entire 15-year history of the Mary Chain in one album, a very eclectic body of songs... The Mary Chain disintegrated in a flurry of bad temper and violence (as they began really...), gigs degenerated into bad tempered rants and the final straw came when William assualted his brother in a drunken rage...

 

 

Step back and watch the sweet thing

Breaking everything she sees

She can take my darkest feeling

Tear it up till Im on me knees

Plug into her electric cool

Where things bend and break

And shake to the rule

Talking fast couldnt tell me something

I would shed my skin for you

Talking fast on the edge of nothing

I would break my back for you

Dont know why, dont know why

Things vaporise and rise to the sky

And we tried so hard

And we looked so good

And we lived our lives in black

But something about you felt like pain

You were my sunny day rain

You were the clouds in the sky

You were the darkest sky

But your lips spoke gold and honey

Thats why Im happy when it rains

Im happy when it pours

Looking at me enjoying something

That feels like feels like pain

To my brain

And if I tell you something

You take me back to nothing

Im on the edge of something

You take me back

And Im happy when it rains

was starting to get worried if you were going to have any jamc here... haha. These days the primary album I'll want to listen to is Darklands so a decent choice (though this song is maybe in my top 10...)

 

If i ever do something like this my #1 song would be by JAMC... not telling you the song tho... :)

 

One of my favorite mixes ever is the Dance Remix of 'Far Gone & Out' though. Off a ltd edition 12''...

NUMBER 11 - NIRVANA - ENDLESS NAMELESS

 

I could get all weepy and nostalgic here, because it would be so fukkin' easy where Nirvana is concerned... I'm not scared to admit that I was HUGE fan of theirs back in the day, I'm not scared to admit to almost being in tears upon news of Kurt's death... But I was never, EVER one of these parasitic b/astards who went around trying to find out every single detail of Kurt's suicide note, never one of these deluded fools who believed in the conspiracy theories that Courtney had him bumped off by a hired assassin (vile, greedy,parasitic b**ch she may be, but that's a LONG way from saying she's a murderer....), shame on the usually intelligent, insightful Nick Broomfiled for believing such blatant, transparent bullsh!t from extremely dubious sources, and then making a documentary about it... Gus Van Sant's film "Last Days" is probably more factually accurate, and that's a purely fictionalised account, and not even explicitly about Kurt Cobain...

 

Here's why I loved Nirvana, and I dont really care what anyone thinks - I loved them because they were the anti-c**k Rock (garbage like Extreme, Bon Jovi and Skid Row) that was polluting the airwaves with its FM-friendly bullsh!t.. Nirvana came along and BOOM, suddenly it's the likes of Sonic Youth, Pixies, Dinosaur Jr, Soundgarden, Lemonheads, Mudhoney, Babes In Toyland and Alice In Chains that are getting noticed.... HALLELUJAH!!!! I loved them because Kurt was the anti-Rock Star, uncomfortable with the trappings of fame and fortune, uncomfortable with being expected to be the voice of a generation, he just wanted to play his music, but ultimately the pressures would exact an unbelievable toll on him. When I first heard Nirvana it was on one of John Peel's sessions (If there is a God, then he should be blessed... Saint Peelie, the Patron Saint of all up and coming musicians...), I went out immediately the next day and bought a record called "Bleach" (their debut album for Sub Pop)... Then "Nevermind" came out, and the rest is history....

 

Why "Endless Nameless"? Simple, this is the sort of aural carnage that Nirvana produced in their live shows... This song was never played the same way twice, in fact, it can barely even be called a song, it is a psychological exorcism, a catharsis... This is Nirvana as they really were, not the band paraded by MTV or Top of the Pops... There was a complete difference to how Nirvana were on album and how they were on a stage.. The album Nirvana were rather ordinary, the Live Nirvana were like caged beasts finally let loose, untamed, raw, absolutely the definition of Punk Rock... I was lucky enough to see Nirvana perform twice, once in a tiny venue in Glasgow (1000+ people crammed into a venue which should only have had 750..), it was violent, it was raw, it was loud as fukk, it was everything a good Rock show should be.... I left that place with blood pouring down my face, deafened and with a huge sh!t-eating grin on my face.... Second time was at Reading in '92, just as intense for different reasons...

 

They were a great band, they were an important band, and I really dont care what people say....