NME/Melody Maker 1993 Album Of The Year

I like the inclusion of the Cocteau Twins on this list, although it's not the best of that year. Essence should be heard.

Bjork by a landslide since it didn't get on the P&J?

Why do people even care about this joke of a prize?

-- Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Wednesday, July 18, 2007 3:42 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Link

Mercury,Brits,NME,Kerrang Awards , don't need any of them. Fuck them all.

-- Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Wednesday, July 18, 2007 3:43 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Link

SUEDE.

tindersticks

Never really got the love that Tindersticks received.

i was all over Bizarre ride at the time

Björk was absolutely a critical landslide that year across polls

http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/Current/1993a.htm

It was the surprise that it wasn't in the P&J that inspired this poll.
I do like the fact both polls have differences generally. I don't know if one is better than the other though.

My Link Title vs. MM

NME/MM obv...

(hello, wu-tang??)

It really is amazing that Wu Tang Clan got ignored in NME/MM and P&J.

I'm going for Giant Steps, which I still love. At the time I was really into the Seefeel album, but I probably haven't heard it (or felt like listening to it) for more than a decade now.

was released in November though...

however ubiquitous it (wu-tang) became the next year, plenty iirc.

It doesn't appear to be in the NME or MM 94 polls either.

I don't think it's in the 94 P&J as well.

why would it be if it was released in November 1993?

Because sometimes if an album is out late in the year after the critics have been polled they get on the next years.

Modern Life Is Rubbish

No "Together Alone" no credibility.

(And no Martin Newell either, which is less surprising, but still sucks)

no spoonfed hybrid? no moose 'honeybee'?

Geir complains about every poll not having Crowded House. But there's a good reason they don't get in these polls.

I guess it has to be Quique or Transient Random etc, though my 1994-self would be agonising between Belly and the Breeders with slight thoughts of PJ Harvey. That Belly album was pretty important to me at the time and I feel a bit like a traitor not voting for it.

I still listen to Quique quite often; picked up the 2cd reissue recently because I'd been playing the original so much. Though having said that I've only listened to the new disc once so far.

I would (and in many cases have) still happily listen to most of these, really, which I'm sure says more about how old I was at the end of 1993 than the quality, but it seems a better list than a lot of these NME polls. Probably just because 93 was the year I started reading the music press avidly and therefore the first year that I heard of a whole bunch of music I wouldn't have otherwise and this whole new world seemed so exciting that everything I remember reading about at the time brings back memories of how amazing and magical I imagined every album that got written about to be, being delighted by every cited subgenre and influence that I'd never heard of and trying to mentally reconstruct it from the words, etc.

These were the first NME/MM year-end-lists I ever encountered, and can plainly remember thinking WTF? at the time. Of course, I had only been living in Europe for about 10 months by then--with a good 3 or so months having been wasted fullfilling my military service requirements--so, unsurprisingly, a good deal of these options would have seemed rather odd to me at the time.

Anyhow, this being a Brit-centric poll, I went with the PSB Very. Voted for Nirvana in the P&J poll. Still love both albums, though I hardly ever play them anymore.

Quite a few good records on that list.

I voted for Belly. Star was and is a very important album for me. It soars lyrically and I can think of few songs more atmospheric and evocative than Low Red Moon.

I don't think I've heard the Belly album, I only remember a couple of singles. Belly (along with Sugar) have kind of been forgotten about, Haven't they?

They have definitely been dropped from the 90s Lexicon. In part, Belly is overshadowed by other associated groups don't you think? (Breeders, Throwing Muses specifically)

they were mediocre.

That's a more direct way to put it. Actually, they had a few real pop gems that I wouldn't dismiss.

Verve.

I've amazed myself in saying that.

Debut.

Verve.

I've amazed myself in saying that.

No shame in that.

Become What You Are - Mabel remains one of my favorites.

How do you all think the NME/MM list for 1993 compares with the P&J?

Both lists are rather provincial
Dominated by yesteryear's middlebrow critical favorites
Seem rather bland & conservative in retrospect

MNE/MM favors guitar pop, "electronica" & tepid art music
P&J is arguably more catholic, certainly more middle-aged

No clear winner

Dominated by yesteryear's middlebrow critical favorites

yeah no shit

Suede or So Tough. So tough.

Not commenting on the yesteryear part so much as the middlebrow critical favorites. But whatever floats yr boat.

"republic". and it took me many years to realise that.

You didn't use to like it?

why say "yesteryear" then?

xpost

wu-tang was out arse-end on '93 in the US, and i'm not sure it got a release in the uk at that point, was likely import for a while. even then it was not till '95 that they were particularly visible in the nme and melody maker.

Tindersticks or Sabres of paradise or The Fall are the ones i still listen to regularly. Tindersticks i guess.

You didn't use to like it?

hmm, well. i got into them just after "technique" came out and spent, what, four years amassing pretty much everything they'd ever done. and of course "republic" ("regret" apart) didn't sound -- back then -- very much like a continuation of that.

a few years later i decided it might be the best thing they ever did. don't think i was right about that, either, mind :)

I wish someone could explain the appeal of Tindersticks to me.

No De Mysteriis Dom Santhanas, no credibility.

i went with Giant Steps. probably play Gentlemen most because it's only a couple years old to me so need to throw it some love.

have to agree with Nick and whomever else says that there are quite a few good albums on this poll, it even has New Wave on it.

modern life is rub ftw

The Fall!

No "Together Alone" no credibility.

You voted Dodgy, didn't you?

middlebrow critical favorites

I agree with Geir that Together Alone is a great album - I'm not saying it's the best that year, but it deserves to be on the list.

I voted out of nostalgia - the first album I ever bought is on there.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Nirvana please. But I should really try to listen to it once this decade. Still too painful.

voted: urge overkill
runners-up: suede, auteurs
i'd probably like this, judging from other albums by them i've heard from the time period: trans-global underground

Good to see 'Tricks of the Shade' by The Goats in there. Great hip-hop album that never got the attention it deserved.

get those votes in

'Forever' or 'So Tough'

Last few hours of voting. Keep em coming.

I didn't notice SAWI there in the list, and I don't know whether the Orbital is brown or green. 1993 = must be brown, right? Too many choices!

Orbital is Brown/2.

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

oh well.

on reflection, perhaps i should have voted for "giant steps" anyway.

yay mlir!

Ok, I was wrong about Bjork running awayw ith it then.

WOW amazing showing for VERVE.

I think Liberation is a fine enough album to at least have received one vote, damn.

2, 3, 4th placings just make me glad Super Furry Animals or Daft Punk didn't have anything out in '93. What a crock of ILM.

heh, you're not suggesting that these albums are only rated highly on ILM are you?

Dodgy with 0. Did Geir forget to vote?