The 18th P&J Albums (and EPs) Poll!

Holy shit, how weird is this?: I just voted for a Pavement EP! (My favorite record by them; I still own the 7-inch.)

Album I love three singles off of but have still somehow never connected with beyond that: LL Cool J.

Album I'm suddenly very curious about (though I've always loved "Teddy's Jam"): Guy.

Followup album I'm shocked finished as high as it did: Living Colour.

Dullest band ever to place so high in Pazz & Jop (probably not, but way up there, I'm sure): World Party

"Teddy's Jam" and accompanying video are the New Jack Swing-est thing ever.

I voted for PH34R.

Goo is pretty good, though it marks the beginning of a long, slow decline. Sex Packets has some great singles. The Pavement EP is pretty good, though not as good as they'd get later. Not too many compelling choices on this list, to be honest.

Yeah, in general, I'd say the list is even less exciting than 1989's list. Which was very, very dull.

You guys are right--it is a pretty depressing list (such were the '90s P&J album lists in general, I think). Still, I more or less like about 15 of these records.

I'll go with Sinead, but with Rosanne Cash and LL Cool J as close second and third. Overall not a great list: I like a song or two on almost all of these, but (for me) they're pretty shallow.

I like 1988-92 as a five-year epoch very much, but 1990 is probably the worst year in it, definitely a not-good year all around by my ears. That said, I went for L.L., a huge favorite, very narrowly over Affection and then P.E.

"The Carl Stalling Project (Warner Bros.) "

Who?

"Iggy Pop: Brick by Brick (Virgin) "

Why?

If there's a worse year for records than 1990, I sure don't want to know about it.

I'd vote for No Depression by Uncle Tupelo, but it didn't make the cut. I guess it has to be All Shook Down, for nostalgic reasons.

I like that Sinead album a lot.

"The Carl Stalling Project (Warner Bros.) "

Who?

-- I eat cannibals,

"The Carl Stalling Project" is great - Stalling was the composer for most of the classic Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies from mid-thirties to late-fifties. The first disc (the one mentioned here) has medleys, works in progress, and thematic studies like his use of Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse". The second disc, released a few years later, is complete scores to specific cartoons.

The second disc was better, but both are wonderful documents of one of the great 20th century composers.

I voted LL, but that's also a great Was (Not Was) album. Although I guess it was part of the "Paula Abdulification" of WNW that David Was once protested against.

I went for Red Hot and Blue because its conceptual brilliance overshadows the many duds, esp. towards the end of the album.

My first or second favorite John Fahey album came out in 1990. Also, Naked City's first album was that year.

And GodWeenSatan, for people who like that sort of thing.

Public Enemy, Sinead, and the Pet Shop Boys' first Really Serious album are the only ones I still listen to with pleasure, but Behaviour's the one that holds up. Ragged Glory, The Rhythm of the Saints, World Clique, and the Tribe album are fine second-tier records. As a rabid Cash fan, I've always been stumped by the love for Interiors, especially when its two predecessors pwn 1990's top ten anyway.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I can't even vote for anything, that list is so pathetic. Rhythm of the Saints and Fear of a Black Planet are OK, but pale in comparison to their predecessors. Graffiti Bridge made the top 10: that says it all. It may have deserved to make the top 10: that really says it all. It's amazing how much second- and third-rate material artists I otherwise like put out in 1990. No wonder I had stopped listening to anything but world music around then.

Compared to 1990, today is some sort of Golden Age.

Graffiti Bridge is the first Prince album I ever bought!

Honestly, I probably should have voted for the Pet Shop Boys (who maybe I just didn't notice) over Pavement, but what the heck. (Still, it's the last Pet Shop Boys album I ever had any use for, ever.)

As for Carl Stalling Project, it was "intersting". I'm pretty sure I reviewed it well for Rolling Stone, and then never wanted to put it on again.

I thought you didn't like Serious Pet Shop Boys, chuck!

It was their dullest album up to that point, but I was definitely a fan of "How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously?" and "My October Symphony" and "So Hard" and "Being Boring," etc. Mostly I should have voted for it due to the lack of competition, though. And compared to what they did later, it's a riot.

That Faith No More album isn't awful I guess. Ditto Jane's Addicition. The glorious age of art-metal! (Actually, they are sort of awful. But still two of the better albums up there, bizarrely enough.)

And yikes, I just noticed Lisa Stansfield! Critics liked a whole album by her?? Wow. How was it?

second- and third-rate material artists I otherwise like

Yeah, that's how I felt about the 1989 poll too. One thing these threads point out is how well flawed follow-ups & game efforts by hallowed heroes do in P&J and other polls. It's like the four-star review every new Bob Dylan gets from Rolling Stone, more wishful thinking on the part of the critic than real engagement. (He's been better lately, but ... Under the Red Sky?)

There's a design flaw of this kind of poll* -- it's a lot easier to get critical consensus at the time around a band with lots of name recognition. Not so different from All-Star Game balloting when you think about it -- plenty of over the hill once-weres get voted in every year because everyone voting knows who they are, while players playing much better don't get as much love until they've shown some consistency.

* Of course I mean P&J, not these ILX polls, whose rigorous scientific accuracy has been supported through all manner of double-blind peer reviews.

Ha ha, I just noticed this! Wacky...which is better?

Bob Dylan: Under the Red Sky (Columbia)
Midnight Oil: Blue Sky Mining (Columbia)

And yikes, I just noticed Lisa Stansfield! Critics liked a whole album by her?? Wow. How was it?

Don't tell Matos.

It's impossible for me to be objective because I was young, adored the singles, and thought the album was the last word on early nineties neo-disco. It runs a bit long, but it's pretty solid.

And okay, here's a question: To what extent does the utter lamitude of these '89 and '90 lists help explain the overblown critical reaction to a pretty good Nirvana album one year later? A lot, I bet.

It's impossible for me to be objective because I was young, adored the singles, and thought the album was the last word on early nineties neo-disco. It runs a bit long, but it's pretty solid.

Who's a femme-boy now Alfie?

How's that Robin Holcomb record? Someone wrote a rave for I think Slate in the last few years - can we get independent confirmation?

Poor list of albums, but there were lots of good singles at the time. (Sorry I am becoming a broken record with that.)

Who's a femme-boy now Alfie?

Better idea: why don't you say what you mean, sailor?

Because, you know, liking a pretty good to great neo-disco album makes me one a femme-boy.

Another thought: I wonder if this was the first year where most of the albums were listened to by most of the critics on CD, and whether that might be another factor in the shittiness of the list? (Maybe that would've been a year or two earlier, though. I came late to the game; 1990 was probably one of the only years where most of my new music listening might've been on cassette. Though that might be wrong, too.)

Better idea: why don't you say what you mean, sailor?

Re the Massive Attack album thread. That wasn't you?

Another thought: I wonder if this was the first year where most of the albums were listened to by most of the critics on CD, and whether that might be another factor in the shittiness of the list?

But, other than PE and LL Cool J (no surprise: two of the first modern hip-hop albums), there's no CD-era bloat on those Top Ten albums. There ARE, however, other kinds of bloat.

Re the Massive Attack album thread. That wasn't you?

Dude, I knew femme-boys who listened to Massive Attack at the Gap! What the fuck does this have to do with Lisa Stansfield? Unless you're trying to lay a zing that escapes any kind of semantical sense.

Dude, I knew femme-boys who listened to Massive Attack at the Gap! What the fuck does this have to do with Lisa Stansfield? Unless you're trying to lay a zing that escapes any kind of semantical sense.

That's right. Lisa Stansfield is much less femmy than um, Massive Attack. You be right!

Okay, Alfred, what makes CD bloat distinctively CD bloat?

good lord you two get a (chat)room

LL by a long shot but there are several really good other records here.

Okay, Alfred, what makes CD bloat distinctively CD bloat?

Fitting more tracks on a CD than on the average LP.

Oh, that's simple enough. (Brain has been moving a little slower than usual these past few extra-moldy days.)

To Alfred's question above about Interiors: honestly, it's the only album of hers I've ever listened to, and I like it a lot. I know her singles pretty well: I have a mean greatest hits also, plus her singles light up the radio, on the surprisingly great country station out here in the sticks where I live.

Not even King's Record Shop?

I like Interiors, but it's too hushed for its own good, and a lot of the praise at the time centered on Cash wresting the production reins from Rodney Crowell and writing all the songs, as if these facts were enough to dismiss her previous achievements.

for me the sleeper on this list is the Eno-Cale album, which is better than Eno-Reed and ingratiating in all the right ways, despite being static, thwackety, and abstract.

I like Seven Year Ache a lot and King's Record Shop pretty well, but have always thought Interiors was one of history's all-time snoozolas (though she got even more boring later.) Really: She was best in her new-wave haircut years.

Yo La Tengo - Fakebook

-- a charming record, really.

Affection is really solid, though yeah, pretty samey. Fine by me.

My vote: A Tribe Called Quest, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
MIA: Fugazi, Repeater.

CDs made mixtapes easier, and I still love everything on them from '90 with the probable exception of "Kool Thing":

Ice Cube, intro/"The Nigga You Love to Hate"
Deee-Lite, "Groove Is in the Heart"
L.L. Cool J, "Mama Said Knock You Out"
A Tribe Called Quest, "I Left My Wallet in El Secundo"
Yo La Tengo, "The Summer"
Pixies, "Velouria"
Digital Underground, "Humpty Dance"
Prince/the Time, "Release It"
Public Enemy, "Brothers Gonna Work It Out"
The Chills, "Heavenly Pop Hits"

plus all the stuff that didn't make the poll...

My notorious (to Tribe fans) Rolling Stone review of that eternally overrated Tribe album:

http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/atribecalledquest/albums/album/241965/review/5946297/peoples_instinctive_travels_and_the_paths_of_rhythm

Eternally overrated by whom? The Low-End Theory's the one that gets the props.

Good point, maybe. I was probably just being grumpy. (Actually, I have no real idea how Tribe are rated this days. For all I know, people finally came to their senses about them. And I probably underrated them a little in that review anyway.)

I probably underrated them a little in that review anyway

Nah. And if anything three stars is too generous (assuming that someone else isn't responsible for the number of stars).

I probably would like that Tribe album - "Bonita Applebum" and "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo" are two of my favorite singles by them.

xpost

I didn't take Rolling Stone seriously enough by then to even open it that year, so I guess we're even.

Maybe you can claim it was overrated in retrospect, canonized in The Source and in 33 1/2 and all, but...

Look, when it came to rap, I bought anything and everything I could afford in college, and heard everything else through friends and dorm mates whose names I wish I could remember, sometimes working backwards through what I'd missed. Tribe's debut began as just one of many CDs and tapes, and ended up as the CD (and "Wallet"/"Pubic Enemy" tape single) I was still obsessively playing six months later. There was no hype that I remember. I vaguely remember reviews in Spin and The Source, but I'm not sure the album even got play on WHUR in D.C. that year. What I do remember is seeing the cheap video for "Wallet" on Yo! MTV Raps, and the bass and bongos and that voice just being instantly recognizable as something new. I remember thinking at the time that the guy's rapping approximated the rhythms of actual thought more than anything I'd heard. I later compared them to the Minutemen, and that's still my closest reference point. When I moved to Minneapolis that year, I got on the bus, and a bunch of kids were singing "Can I kick it/Yes you can!" in call in response in the back.

This might one of those cases, Chuck, where your taste simply diverges from people in perfect touch with their senses.

"Can I Kick It?" is the only song I remember.

See, the first Tribe record is for me the most memorable. I thought they got progressively more samey, so that I eventually sold Midnight Maruaders (now I wish I had it back). But even on Low End Theory, I really only ever think to listen to the first and last tracks. And honestly, if I want the sound of that record, I get it just fine with "Luck of Lucian" on the debut, with a funny French thing going on too. Probably what I like about that first record is the goofiness of it, which seemed to evaporate by the next one. For instance: "Ham 'n' Eggs". And still one of my favorite concert experiences was that Lollapalooza they were on, when they played "Can I Kick It?" and the whole crowd (in ATL) was just bouncing and shouting along.

Xhuxk is called out by name in the new 33 1/3 book about People's Instinctive Travels; dude quotes from that review and then says "I bet he wants to take those words back." I was like hahahaha you ain't met Xhuxk then. (In said book he also reports turning on a whole bunch of teenage hip-hop heads to a Tribe remix on the train, impressing them with his freestyles, and then further impressing them by getting salty with some "fascist" transit cops. So yeah, it's a work of fiction kind of.)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

HOLY CHRIST

Now I really wish I would have voted for the Pet Shop Boys. (Or LL, even. He got rooked.)

Am I overlooking something here, or are *ALL* of these excellent records missing?

Breeders - pod
Nick cave and the bad seeds - the good son
Cocteau twins - heaven or las vegas
Depeche mode - violator
Flaming lips - in a priest driven ambulance
Galaxie 500 - this is our music
Mazzy star - she hangs brightly
Ride - nowhere

If I knew that there were seven Jane's Addiction fans on this site...

... and JANE'S ADDICTION, stealth pick.

Those must be the same people who voted for UB40.

There's loads of janes fans on here. Ned for starters.

If I knew that there were seven Jane's Addiction fans on this site...

Have you never read any Jane's Addiction threads?

I can't say I have, really.

Understandable.

Hmmmmm...ok this is the third P&J poll in a row with head-scratching results. NO ONE mentioned voting for Jane's. There is a saboteur in our midsts.

This is fun!

http://christianpatterson.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/sabotage1.jpg

http://991.com/newgallery/Beastie-Boys-Sabotage-352116.jpg

http://www.leninimports.com/hitchcock_sabotage.jpg

This is great!

But also

http://www.chasingthefrog.com/ClassicPosters/Alfred_Hitchcock/Saboteur/saboteur-2.jpg

Great, underrated Hitch.

Oh absolutely.

Lurkers, ahoy.

I voted for Jane's Addiction. I was just so puzzled as to why no one else had mentioned it that I didn't know if I should say anything or not. It's actually one of my favorite albums. My love for the funk metal comes and goes, but you couldn't tear me away from Side B.

I do agree that L.L. got the shaft though. That's a great hip-hop album.

I voted for Jane's Addiction. I was just so puzzled as to why no one else had mentioned it that I didn't know if I should say anything or not.

Jeez, we're not that scary on these P&J threads...or are we?

I thought I already said I voted for it too. My posts keep getting eaten up though on ilx now.

I think a lot of people are afraid to post what they voted for just because of the reactions of regulars.

JUSTICE HAS BEEN SERVED.

Jeez, we're not that scary on these P&J threads...or are we?

No, not scary exactly, but I'm sure that I would have been asked to argue its merits by someone. It's not every day that I feel like rising to the defense of the glorious funk-metal revolution.

Another thought: I wonder if this was the first year where most of the albums were listened to by most of the critics on CD, and whether that might be another factor in the shittiness of the list? (Maybe that would've been a year or two earlier, though. I came late to the game; 1990 was probably one of the only years where most of my new music listening might've been on cassette. Though that might be wrong, too.)

-- xhuxk

Haha, I remember you giving Andrew Ridgely's solo rec a decent review, with the warning that the CDs cleaner sound made it inferior!