I was unfamiliar with ISIS before hearing this, so it came as a welcome surprise, and it is certainly the best of the User Albums I have heard so far. Reminding me very much of a more controlled mid-period Ufomammut, most of the songs follow a predictable pattern; slow start, build up, quiet bit in the middle, noisy ending. All of these are good things! As are the shouty, incomprehensible vocals (far preferable to screeching!). After two plays I would have given this a tentative 5 stars, were it not for the dreadful snare sound (it sounds like a wannabe tom; where’s the crunch?). Fabulous stuff overall, though.
One of my most vivid childhood memories is of watching SAHB perform Jacques Brel’s ‘Next’ on the Old Grey Whistle Test. Terrified and fascinated in equal measure, it was a few years later when I got to hear a full album, this one, and it’s been my favourite ever since. Several of their best tracks are on here, all performed with an irresistible hard glam swagger. And of course there was another unusual but exquisite cover version (the title track), taken from the musical ‘Cabaret’. Fantastic stuff!
Electronic music is pretty poorly represented in the 1001 book, mainly populated by the usual suspects, so I was pleased to see this left-field album crop up. Although not quite up there with a couple of his earlier, darker albums, it is nevertheless an atmospheric classic and well worth 5 stars.
I really wasn’t expecting this. I’ve heard quite a bit of Helloween’s later, more polished stuff, which does nothing for me, but this 1985 debut (EP and album on one CD) is pure NWOBHM joy (except they’re German of course)! I was transported straight back to those formative Maiden gigs and Battle of the Band competitions. Joyful!
Scanning the reviews I noticed several saying that the album is too long. This is a problem with ‘bonus’ versions as Argus was originally only 7 tracks long, making it much tighter than it may seem when streamed.
Anyway, whoever nominated this has reminded me what a great album it is from my youth, as Wishbone Ash had completely gone off my radar. I hear nothing prog about this album at all, just wonderful melodies and guitar interplay. The vocal harmonies also enhance the album’s pastoral feel (it’s much closer to Fairport Convention territory than Yes).
If I have one criticism, it is that the album’s weakest track is its first and its longest. I’d much rather have 5 minutes less of ‘Time Was’ and 5 minutes more of the sublime ‘Sometime World’.
Of the other tracks, ‘Blowin’ Free’ has a fantastic intro, the chorus of ‘Warrior’ really shouldn’t work but really does, ‘Throw Down the Sword’ ends the album with the most beautiful 2 minutes of twin guitar and ‘The King Will Come’ could be their best ever track.
Was hoping for The Saints, got The Macc Lads.
To those who are not familiar with Bjork’s music, do not start here. Debut and Post are much more accessible starting points.
To those who do not like Bjork’s music, I understand. She is definitely not everybody’s cup of tea.
To those who do like Bjork’s music, we all know that this is her greatest album. Why it is not in the book I have absolutely no idea.
Brilliant pick and a definite 5 star album, or should I say a definite pair of 5 star albums? As the Jamaican original and the later US version only share 3 tracks they are very different to each other, but both are wonderful. Not only did Toots have a fantastic voice, but he popularised the word ‘reggae’. ‘Nuff said!
Look, I like The Mars Volta (most of the time!), but there is no way that one of their albums should have been in the original 1001 list ahead of this. Visceral and thrilling, it’s a masterpiece.
I was reasonably happy to see 3 albums by The Fall in the original list. I couldn’t really expect more, though I might have put 23 in myself! They are my favourite band of all time and wonderfully unpredictable, meaning that every few albums, just as you were beginning to doubt them, they’d put out a bona fide classic. This is one of them.
For a change Mark E Smith kept the same line-up as the previous album, and they are totally on it. It’s more electronic than many of their others and pretty experimental at times, but at the same time not a bad place to start if you’re unfamiliar with their wonderful and frightening world.
A great pick and I wouldn’t be surprised if the person who selected it has, like me, the other 30 odd studio albums too!
Some fantastic albums are short (Revolver is a 35 minute classic). This album is 44 minutes long. If they’d left off Radio Song and Shiny Happy People it would be a 36 minute classic. But they didn’t, so it isn’t.
This isn’t my favourite Doom album. I prefer Vaudeville Villain and the food concept isn’t, well, hip-hop enough for me! But having nothing by Doom in the original book was mystifying, bordering on criminal. Where on earth was Madvillainy, one of the finest and most acclaimed hip-hop albums ever made? I’m sure a kind user will add it (or already has) to attempt to redress the balance, but it’s too late; the original list is officially MF DOOMED.
Bandwagonesque was rightfully included on the original list, and this album should have been too. Both are hugely influenced by bands that existed before Teenage Fanclub, Big Star and The Byrds respectively, but both do their influences proud (and often exceed them) through the sheer quality of the songwriting and some incredible harmonies.
I can never decide which of the two I like most, but in this case it doesn’t really matter as they are both 5 star albums. And I treasure my vinyl copy of Grand Prix, signed by the band before their performance at Green Man Festival a few years back.
It seems that this is how it works around here…
“I’ve never heard of Graham Parker but I’ve heard of Elvis Costello. This sounds like Elvis Costello so Graham Parker must be an Elvis Costello rip off.”
Dear God, it really doesn’t take much effort to fact check these days!
Anyway, this is GP’s finest 35 minutes. He’s in lean, mean form and The Rumour were never tighter. Discovering Japan is a storming opener and You Can’t Be Too Strong is a provocative, non-judgemental take on an emotive subject.
An easy 5/5. I mean, even Robert Christgau loved it for goodness’ sake!
I have questions…
Is this album actually made by people? There is not a single note out of place on the entire thing, a characterless monstrosity fronted by Nina Persson swallowed whole by a humanoid robot.
Are Japan allowed to enter the Eurovision Song Contest? I don’t see why not as everybody else is, and this lot would be a shoo-in for top spot.
Why do so many other people in the comments like it? This is obviously entirely my problem, but I find it hard to believe that anyone who likes this album managed to struggle through 1001 (ok, 1089) others that were so far removed from it.
Or did they? Why has the user who submitted this album only rated 11% of the albums on the original list? This issue was raised by the first person to comment back in June, and from now on I’ll be interested to see if this is a regular occurrence.
