The 19th P&J Albums (and EPs) Poll!

I've played Out of Time more often than any album on this list. Otherwise it's a close call b/w U2's only great album, Nirvana's very good album, De La Soul, and PM Dawn.

Four out of the top 5, Alfred? You are the '91 P&J poster-boy! (Nerver mind the fact that I really like the entire top 5 myself.)

Anyhow, I pick Death Certificate on purely aesthetic grounds. (Otherwise it would probably be that little known "it means we won" hick band from the sticks.)

Yeah, this is the closest I'd come to agreeing with the top ten, although wtf Rumour and Sigh and Chris Whitley.

Tribe would have been in there too.

Gawd, what a great list! This may be the first year in the poll's history where the albums clearly outshine the singles. Lots of swell stuff even towards the bottom. What happened? You can't just chalk it up to the year grunge/punk/Amerindie broke cuz that doesn't explain PE's greatest ever side (side one - was jammin' to the cassette back then) or my beloved PM Dawn (debut's still the best overall even though the follow up had higher points). Doesn't really explain REM's finest moment either.

And it's anyone's guess who will take this poll what with Loveless love eclipsing Nevermind awe around these parts (and Xhuxk not a big fan of either).

I went with the eternal Loveless. But at least 5 records would get me all verklempt at the top spot.

1991...goddamn!

Blue Lines probably has a pretty good chance at winning, too (unless Brit ILxors are boycotting these polls, that is).

I picked the Pixies. A lot of people snub that record, but I think it's their best.

Yeah, the Pixies album has always been a favorite of mine, too. I don't think I could pick between their albums unless forced to do so at gunpoint (in which case I'd probably go with Bossanova for purely sentimental reasons).

Nevermind. Now that's a great rock record.

I went with Out Of Time, one of my favorite records period, but the list has a lot of great stuff (in particular Cypress Hill, PM Dawn, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Tribe, and MBV). But it has a fair number of records by older artists whose work I know, but didn't realize were ever held in this esteem. I'm thinking of Dave Alvin, John Prine, Sam Phillips, and Robbie Robertson.

I agree that the Richard Thompson record is dull (I'm a big fan of his, and believe me, I tried: some of that record's songs tear live).

xpost
Yeah, sentimentality has something to do with it. I first learned about the Pixies when Alec Eiffel video came on 120 minutes.

But I like the heavier riffage. "Palace of the Brine" -> "Letter to Memphis" is so huge; I get so wrapped up in those tracks, it's hard to believe that together they only clock in at just over 4 minutes. I also love all the spacey lyrical themes.

Trompe le Monde isn't AS progressive and innovative as Loveless - which has the psychedelic alien landscape thing down pat and was jockeying for top place - but I can relate to it better. I didn't like Loveless when it first came out. I gave it to a friend - who was thrilled by it - after listening to it once.

I think most people here think TLM is the best Pixies. I voted for Sharrock though. And, yes, great list.

(I've actually never met anyone who consider TLM the worst Pixies. I know they exist though.)

TLM is the best Frank Black solo album too.

I went with Cypress Hill. My second place might well be Nirvana or one of the two GnRs (all three of which albums I have real problems with), though I'm tempted to say it's that 7-inch compilation EP from New Zealand (I Hear The Devil Calling Me)

In general, I'm completely stumped about why people think this is a great list. It may well be a step up from '89 and '90 (though I'm not so sure about that.) In general, though, it's way below average.

More likely, I just really really really hate the '90s. (Still.)

Oh absolutely, no contest.

xp

I think it's probably generational alienation, xhuxk. Sometimes I feel the same way. (yes, kiddies, growin' old and embittered sure can be fun!)

The nineties were far worse than this.

it's probably generational alienation, xhuxk

But the '00s are great!

Yeah, except for '91 & '94, the '90s didn't really hold up all that well when it when it came to album releases. Singles are another story entirely.

xp

Better, sure. I don't know about great.

Yeah, except for '91 & '94, the '90s didn't really hold up all that well when it when it came to album releases.

1997 is far and away the best year for music in the 1990s.

Really? I just don't see it. Pretty good, sure, but definitely not great.

Nevermind

The 10-inch Pavement EP (last collection I really liked by them) would probably make my top five too, fwiw.

That's probably my favorite Pavement record (vinyl fettish ahoy!).

Two I'm curious about: Sharrock (which I haven't heard in years; I'd loved Guitar and Seize the Rainbow, and at the time thought Ask the Ages was past his peak, but I may have been wrong); Prisonshake (EP by Northern Ohio I believe band who did at least one song I really liked a lot once, though its title escapes me at the moment and I'm not sure whether it was on that particular EP, which I've never heard I don't think.)

Not sure what's on that EP by Scrawl (a band I also generally liked), either.

Voted for Loveless, although love Nevermind and Bandwagonesque and Pavement's Perfect Sound Forever.

The Sharrock album is excellent; better songs than on the Richard Thompson snarkfest (though I love "Feel So Good" and "Read About Love").

Yeah, Ask the Ages was probably his best post-'80s record. I never really got into Highlife, though--I always wondered what the hell Christgau saw in that one; I mean it's pleasant enough, sure, but nothing earth-shaking.

But the '00s are great!

I have exactly the opposite problem. What about the 00s is sooo much better than the 90s?

I'm voting for Blue Lines and I'm not British.

Ask The Ages was great. I almost voted for that or Massive Attack(MBV will get loads, it's ILM after all.) but I went for Nevermind as it was such a pivotal record for me(cliche ahoy I know, but it's true).

It's all right, we'll forgive you just this once.

xp

I love the 90s, but then, I grew up during them, so I would.

I vote for Tribe, first album I felt the need to play all fucking day (ten years after the fact).

What about the 00s is sooo much better than the 90s?

1, Indie rock
2. Metal
3. Country
4. Probably hip-hop

(For starters. And though arguments can made against all of those, as far as sheer number of good albums go, I'd say there's no contest.)

Well, just the Indie then. What exactly?

As for the hip-hop, I don't know what you're hearing. Early 90s had some seminal hip-hop, including rich output from 80s guys like Beasties and Public Enemy. Illmatic and Infamous ruled the mid-90s, and Outkast was heating up. Soul Food was amazing. Then the late 90s brought my personal all-time favorite, Aquemini. Maybe it's because my favorites have petered out and so I've stopped caring, but if there's something worthwhile out there now, that's actually better than what I've listed, I'm dying to hear it.

Yeah, it seems really weird to say there are more good 00s hiphop albums than 90s hiphop albums (singles maybe, but...?).

early '00s Southern hip-hop > pretty much any hip-hop in the '90s (in general)

early '00s indie garage rock > pretty much any indie rock in the '90s (in general)

That pretty much sums it up, in a nutshell, I guess.

Though yeah, sure, there are exceptions.

That doesn't really ... narrow it down much.

I think this needs a separate thread.

Hell no! Fight it out here! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

In all seriousness, though, I agree with xhuxk that indie/garage rock has generally been better this decade, but disagree about hip-hop.

What the hell is 'Indie' anyway?

I think it's, like, the Shins or something.

I've heard that it refers to musicians who perform and record without the support of a major record label.

It is a world unto itself. Gaze upon it's like but once and thou shalt truly know the meaning of despair!

When I think of Indie I think of Kennedy. Can someone give me a similar cultural reference for the 00s?

I've heard that it refers to musicians who perform and record without the support of a major record label.

Oh, like Lil Jon & the Eastside Boyz.

^Them!

I think it's more like Pete Yorn.

Ask the Ages, just for "Who Does She Hope to Be"

i can't believe two dino jr releases made the list. i also can't believe i won't be voting for either one.

Well, the second Dino jr made the EP list, not the album list.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I actually like that American Music Club album better than Loveless ... and that's saying something.

I'd forgotten (assuming I ever noticed in the first place, which I probably didn't) that it was called Everclear! Is there some Art Alexakis connection I'm forgetting, too?

They both enjoy alcohol (though I think this was Eitzel's brief-stab-at-sobriety record).

Serious question: Where are all the Metallica fans at?

Listening to Master of Puppets.

DE LA

Metallica Metallica is probably a damn good record. A lot of the album tracks are great - Don't Tread on Me, Holier Than Thou come to mind. I just haven't listened to this album since I had a cassette player. I don't feel qualified to support it. I was definitely a bigger Metallica fan in '91 than Pixies or Nirvana or MBV, but I did prefer ...AJFA and MOP.

I think most people here think TLM is the best Pixies

I think it's the most consistent Pixies - "best", I don't know. It is the album from this list that I played the most in '91 though, and it still sounds pretty good.

I still like it. It's a bit too samey throughout, and I'll probably never need to listen to the whole thing again (thanks for overplaying, world), but what the hell, it's still a pretty decent record.

xp

Hmm, my most played album at the time on this list was probably by the mekons, or maybe PE.

I don't play TLM much anymore either; I've outgrown songs about UFO's (even Husker's); and the album cover now frightens me.

I think most people here think TLM is the best Pixies.
I've actually never met anyone who consider TLM the worst Pixies.
- Sundar

Bossanova & TLM are great, but they don't measure up - uneven and the energy flags. There's an quality of joyful/unison tension & release that the Pixies lost as they morphed into Frank Black's solo career.

Bossanova & TLM do seem to have a bit more juice left in 'em at this point, but that's due to decades of justified overplaying for the earlier stuff.

First equation should read: "Come On Pilgrim & Surfer Rosa & Bossanova Doolittle".

But you probaly noo that.

You can't really outgrow songs about UFOs.

I mean, you may not realize it, but probably half the songs you like are about UFOs.

er...not that anyone cares, but my previous post was about Metallica, not the Pixies. (x-post confusion methinks)

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

WTF Nevermind???
MBV non-shockah.
FUCK YES Sharrock tied w/ Pixies & Tribe.
FUCK YES Sharrock pummeling Ice Cube, Massive Attack, Dino Jr., Mekons, etc.

Yeah. The Sharrock is a big gaping hole in my musical knowledge. From everything I've read about it, it probably deserved to do better than it did, but it's like 4 people own that album and they're all on ILM. : )

Five! It's just that I voted for U2 instead--but then I felt guilty not voting for Sharrock.

6 (Like I said earlier I voted Nevermind)

early '00s Southern hip-hop > pretty much any hip-hop in the '90s

Guess I'd forgotten Miami bass, Naughty By Nature, Sir Mix A Lot, "Jump," "Jump Around," "Mind Playing Tricks On Me", and all sorts of other things when I wrote this. (But then again, I'd also forgotten Eminem, which at least evens things out a little.)
At any rate, I don't think I really believe it, necessarily.