snorterboy: 2011-10-30

Saturday, November 05, 2011

Pitchforkmedia's top 100 albums of the 70's

Top 100 Albums of the 1970s As the psychedelic 60s gave way to hippie backlash and high ambitions, one thing was clear: There was something damn funny about peace, love and understanding. Shaking off naturalism, daisy chains and acid tabs came easier than expected, and what resulted was a paradox of both striking diversity and remarkable coherence: From high-concept prog-nerds and high-octane guitar solo to high-heeled glam-rockers and high-ass punks, the 70s saw the rise and dominance of the album-as-unified-statement. Over three days, Pitchfork now takes the opportunity to present this list of its favorite albums of that decade. Today, we're offering the last of three installments of our Top 100 Albums of the 1970s, showcasing our top 20 favorites. It's been a fascinating three days-- particularly for our staff, who, with the exception of the records they were assigned to write about, were kept entirely in the dark about the results of the list. Of course, at the end of it all, the task of choosing just 100 records to represent the entire decade has meant that there was just not enough room for all of the wonderful (and arguably deserving) albums and bands we'd like to have listed. Among the casualties this time out were: Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, Patti Smith, Sticky Fingers, Ornette Coleman, Pere Ubu, Van Morrison, Black Sabbath, "Heroes", Chic, Queen, Nina Simone, New York Dolls, The Jam, Frank Zappa, Transformer, Curtis Mayfield, The Police, The Damned, Aretha Franklin, Tonight's the Night, The Kinks, Tom Waits, Elton John, Yes, Janis Joplin, Station to Station, Willie Nelson, Cheap Trick, AC/DC, Grateful Dead, Alice Coltrane, Paris 1919, The Upsetters, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Cecil Taylor, Amon Düül II, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Augustus Pablo, Human League, Chi-Lites, Captain Beefheart, No New York, Magazine, The Slits, The B-52's, Durutti Column, Burning Spear, Tangerine Dream, Gene Clark, Françoise Hardy, Magma, Kimono My House, The Adverts, Manuel Göttsching and/or Ash Ra Tempel, Lee Hazlewood, and all of Brazil, including Caetano Veloso. 1 David Bowie Low 1977 2 Clash London calling 1979 3 Television Marquee moon 1977 4 Sly and the family Stone There's a riot goin' on 1971 5 Bob Dylan Blood on the tracks 1974 6 Kraftwerk Trans Europe Express 1977 7 Led zeppelin Led zeppelin 4 1971 8 Gang of four Entertainment! 1979 9 Joy division Unknown pleasures 1979 10 Brian Eno Another green world 1975 11 Rolling stones Exile on Main street 1972 12 Stooges Fun house 1970 13 Nick Drake Pink moon 1972 14 Velvet underground Loaded 1970 15 Who Who's next 1971 16 Buzzcocks Singles going steady 1979 17 Funkadelic Maggot brain 1971 18 Miles Davis Bitches brew 1970 19 Can Ege bamyasi 1972 20 T. Rex Electric warrior 1971 31 Talking heads Fear of music 1979 32 Pink floyd The wall 1979 33 Wire Chairs missing 1978 34 #s Saturday night fever (soundtrack) 1977 35 Popgroup Y 1979 36 Pink floyd Wish you were here 1975 37 Elvis Costello My aim is true 1977 38 XTC Drums and wires 1979 39 Suicide Suicide 1977 40 Modern lovers The Modern lovers 1976 41 Fleetwood mac Rumours 1977 42 Specials The Specials 1979 43 Michael Jackson Off the wall 1979 44 Clash The Clash 1977 45 Talking heads More songs about buildings and food 1978 46 Congos Heart of the Congos 1977 47 Al Green Call me 1973 48 Miles Davis Live evil 1972 49 Marvin Gaye What's going on 1971 50 Tim Buckley Starsailor 1970 51 Sex pistols Never mind the bollocks, here's the Sex pistols 1977 52 Elvis Costello This year's model 1978 53 Steve Reich Music for 18 musicians 1978 54 Creedence clearwater revival Cosmo's factory 1970 55 Nick Drake Bryter layter 1970 56 Can Future days 1973 57 Paul Simon Paul Simon 1972 58 Miles Davis A tribute to Jack Johnson 1970 59 Ramones Rocket to Russia 1977 60 John Lennon John Lennon/Plastic Ono band 1970 61 Beach boys Surf's up 1971 62 Cars The Cars 1978 63 Cluster Zuckerzeit 1974 64 Iggy Pop Lust for life 1977 65 Neil Young On the beach 1974 66 Big star The third album/Sister lovers 1978 67 Pink floyd Meddle 1971 68 Herbie Hancock Headhunters 1973 69 Faust Faust IV 1973 70 Pink floyd Dark side of the moon 1973 71 James Brown The payback 1974 72 King Crimson Red 1974 73 Van Halen Van Halen 1978 74 Leonard Cohen Songs of love and hate 1971 75 Led zeppelin Houses of the holy 1973 76 Blondie Parallel lines 1978 77 David Bowie Aladdin sane 1973 78 Anikulapo Kuti & Africa '70 Expensive shit 1975 79 Randy Newman Sail away 1972 80 David Bowie Hunky dory 1971 81 David Bowie The rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from Mars 1972 82 George Harrison All things must pass 1970 83 Iggy Pop & the Stooges Raw power 1973 84 Nilsson Nilsson Schmilsson 1971 85 Wire 154 1979 86 Joni Mitchell Blue 1971 87 Roxy music For your pleasure 1973 88 Giorgio Moroder From here to eternity 1977 89 Devo Q: Are we not men? A: We are Devo! 1978 90 Anikulapo Kuti & Africa '70 Zombie 1977 91 Throbbing gristle 20 jazz funk greats 1979 92 Kraftwerk The man machine 1978 93 Jimi Hendrix Band of gypsies 1970 94 King Crimson Starless and bible black 1974 95 Led zeppelin Physical graffiti 1975 96 Iggy Pop The idiot 1977 97 #s The harder they come (soundtrack) 1972 98 Robert Wyatt Rock bottom 1974 99 Neil Young After the goldrush 1970 100 Brian Eno Before and after science 1977

Friday, November 04, 2011

Untitled

Posted via email from Pete's posterous

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Darklands

I just discovered Darklands on AllMusic and wanted to share.

Artist: The Jesus and Mary Chain
Released 1987
Genre: Pop/Rock

Feeling no doubt burdened by the various claims of being the new Sex Pistols, and likely fed up with accusations that the walls of feedback were their own trick, the Reid brothers underwent a bit of a rethink with Darklands. The end result must have fallen squarely between two camps -- hardly eligible for sunny commercial airplay, not quite as flailing as the earliest efforts -- but, from a distance, this is an appealing, enjoyable record. Songs were often longer while the album itself was shorter than Psychocandy, walls of sound were often stripped away in favor of calmer classic rock twang and groove, while William Reid took the lead vocal at points, showing he had a slightly sweeter, wistful tone in comparison to his brother. However, the changes on Darklands can be overstated -- the basic formula at the heart of the band (inspired plagiarism of melodies and lyrics alike, plenty of reverb, etc.) stayed pretty much the same, even if the mixes were cleaned up -- compare "Down on Me" to any Psychocandy cut for a good example of the difference. The use of drum machines in place of Bobby Gillespie's rumble tended to enforce the newer focus, but at the album's best, such a seeming dichotomy didn't cause too much worry. "April Skies" made for a great single, while the soaring-in-spite-of-itself "Happy When It Rains" was another winner, one that Garbage more or less made its own some years later for its own similarly titled hit. William's singing turns made for other highlights as well, notably "Nine Million Rainy Days," the overt misery of the title suiting the dark crawl of the song, and the lengthy lament "On the Wall." Darklands is no Psychocandy in the end -- nothing the band released later ever was -- but it's still a good listen. ~ Ned Raggett

Tracks:
- Darklands
- Deep One Perfect Morning
- Happy When It Rains
- Down On Me
- Nine Million Rainy Days

Read more at http://bit.ly/uaIK5B
Download AllMusic: http://bit.ly/gClDx6

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Heaven Up Here

I just discovered Heaven Up Here on AllMusic and wanted to share.

Artist: Echo & the Bunnymen
Released 1981
Genre: Pop/Rock

Following their more psychedelia-based debut, Crocodiles, and subsequent "Puppet" single, Echo & the Bunnymen returned in 1981 with the darkest and perhaps most experimental album of their career. Heaven Up Here lacks the signature hooks and melodies that would make the Bunnymen famous, showcasing instead a dirge-like songwriting approach built around the circular rhythms of bassist Les Pattinson and drummer Pete DeFreitas. In this setting, the band remarkably flourishes, although they would go on to greater heights by scaling back the album's extremism. Heaven Up Here's strength is the way in which the Bunnymen seamlessly work together to shape each song's dynamics (the tension underlying the crescendo of "Turquoise Days" being a prime example). Ian McCulloch, having found his trademark confidence, sings with soaring abandon and passion throughout the album. Similarly, Will Sergeant's guitar playing, notably freed from verse-chorus structure and pop riffs, is at its angular finest; his playing on "No Dark Things" is pure Andy Gill-esque skronk. The album's opening troika of "Show of Strength," "With a Hip," and "Over the Wall" (the latter with its jarring, direct invocation of Del Shannon's "Runaway") are particularly effective, establishing the theme of distrust and restlessness which continues throughout the album. Indeed, even the album's lone single, "A Promise," is hardly light, pop material. But the message underneath that darkness, especially in McCulloch's lyrics, is a call to overcome rather than wallow, as the album ends with the relatively euphoric "All I Want." Sitting comfortably next to the pioneering work of contemporaries like Joy Division/New Order, and early Public Image Ltd. and Cure, this is a rather fine -- and in the end, influential -- example of atmospheric post-punk. Having reached the British Top Ten, Heaven Up Here is highly regarded among Echo & the Bunnymen's fans precisely for the reasons which, on the surface, make it one of the least accessible albums in the band's catalog. ~ Aaron Warshaw

Tracks:
- Show of Strength
- With a Hip
- Over the Wall
- It Was a Pleasure
- A Promise

Read more at http://bit.ly/tI4hYj
Download AllMusic: http://bit.ly/gClDx6

Sent from my iPod