Generation X – the first album. A blistering explosion of pop punk, rarely equalled by anyone else before or since. They lost their focus a bit after that, so that although they still came up with one or two decent tracks, they never matched that perfect debut.
Catherine Wheel – Ferment. Just about faultless, with every track flowing perfectly from one to the next. I love many more of their efforts, but that is the only wholly satisfying album.
King Crimson – Red. You weren't supposed to like every track on a Crimson album, that was almost the point, but this album almost spawned its own genre and contains their true masterpiece, Starless.
Manic Street Preachers – The Holy Bible. This is the only album where they got everything exactly right – in truly devastating fashion.
Suede – Night Thoughts. Song-wise easily their best, topped by the achingly beautiful I Don't Know How To Reach You. Richard Oakes really owns this album and obliterates all memories of Bernard Butler with some expansive guitar playing. Spoiled only by over use of the silly vocal processing tricks, which the album would have been better off without.
Its my favourite album ever, so on the back of that, I got the follow-up 'IRM.' Written and produced by Beck, it didn't have the spontaneity of '5.55', and came off a bit pretentious(ish).
Keeping it Scotch, the Beta Band’s Three EPS still sounds great. First proper album and Hot Shots II, not so much. That bollocks about smoking and having a big pizza pie with the world, fuckin hippies man.
Mercury Rev- See you on the Other Side. Maybe only 20 people bought it but it’s just wonderful. The way it can segue from Tin Pan Alley maudlin 30s sounding to DISCO pastiche, just great. Yer mans voice is ok in it too. Deserters Songs by contrast sounded fucking vile, vocals production and all. So of course it’s their big album. They really only had one moment of not shit once the “Kerazzy” singer left after Boces. And it was a shining moment most bands never get near.
Keeping it Scotch, the Beta Band’s Three EPS still sounds great. First proper album and Hot Shots II, not so much. That bollocks about smoking and having a big pizza pie with the world, fuckin hippies man.
I don't think it's fair to define Hot Shots II on the basis of those lines, drippy hippy stuff though they are. I love it as an album, and some of the songs (mainly Al Sharp, Gone and Quiet) are just beautiful. It's an album that offers a different, but still legitimate, aspect of the band from the Three EPs.
I wouldn't do without the Three EPs either, mind. Whether it's an album as such is another question, though not one I'm that bothered by.
Gang of Four “Entertainment”
Au Pairs “Playing with a Different Sex” (great sleeve pic)
Neither band did anything much afterwards, really.
The idea of Go4 as a funk band worked, but “I Love a Man in a Uniform” lacks tune and he ends up shouting it. I bet they both honed these songs live then had to rush a 2nd album out from half- written ideas.
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