We will concentrate on lesser known bands as hopefully that will be more use than just ranting on about the Verve, etc. All the opinions expressed are our own - if we upset anyone... Sorry!
Some of John's albums are on here now...
This page contains a list of albums that John & Dave recommend. There is no particular 'grand design'
behind what goes in here - they are just albums we particularly like.
We will concentrate on lesser known bands as hopefully that will be
more use than just ranting on about the Verve, etc. All the opinions expressed
are our own - if we upset anyone... Sorry!
Some of John's albums are on here now...
The Albums
| Magazine | The Correct Use Of Soap |
| Produced by Martin Hannett (of Joy Division fame) this is one of the most crucial (yet overooked) albums of the last 20 years. I couldn't hve gotten through London without it. From the opening "Because You're Frightend" to the epic closure of the "Song From Under The Floorboards" there isn't an unecessary moment. So much of this was and is an influence on the POS sound, from the strong Bass lines and drum sounds to the bittersweet lyrics. Already recognised as an influential piece by the likes of Damon Albarn this album is a neglected gem. Buy it. You won't be disappointed, if you have a heart a mind and/or a soul. | |
| Public Image Ltd | Metal Box |
| Get this in any edition - the Metal Box itself or as the secondary release "2nd Edition". Pil rarely got it right all the time, but this record - their last with Jah Wobble - was the exception that proved the rule. Compared with the likes of Can at the time and a very long way from Punk this was a superb subversion of the way things were. It made you think about music. Made you think about a lot of things. Poptones.... | |
| Portishead | Dummy |
| There may be an outside chance that someone out there has gotten to here without hearing this album. If so I suggest you remedy this as soon as possible. Portishead make the trip-hop genre their own with this bleak but beautiful debut. An essential recording from the last few years. Powerful and loaded with resonances and refernces from all over. Pity about the follow up tho' | |
| Cabaret Voltaire | The Crackdown |
| Cabaret Voltaire were pioneers of 'industrial' music - electronic music with the emphasis on pounding, 'hard' synth sounds. Most electronic bands today were influenced to some extent (even if 2nd hand) by the Cabs. The Crackdown is possibly their finest hour. It's quite a bleak album but powerful and very hypnotic - perhaps too raw for people used to the slick stuff from the later industrial-type bands (Nitzer Ebb etc), but then that's what gives it that edge. Don't expect nice tunes, but do expect driving synths & loads of found sounds. Someone, somewhere... Cracks down. | |
| Morcheeba | Big Calm |
| A superb album! Really well constructed, beautiful, trip-hop songs. Skye Edwards has a great voice and the music just floats out of the speakers at you. Think Massive Attack but with better tunes! I can't stop playing this album. If you liked their 1st album, you'll love this - it's much better. | |
| Massive Attack | Mezzanine |
| This is a very atmospheric album. It's quite patchy - e.g. Angel is a great, brooding track, while I think Man Next Door is awful. But overall, it's very listenable trip-hop, with references to Cabaret Voltaire, Chris & Cosey, even The Orb. | |
| The Orb | Orblivion |
| The Orb are masters of ambient electronic music. I think this is one of their best albums, though it didn't sell that well. It seems to have more structure than some of their other albums. There is some great stuff in there about barcodes and Revelations... FACT! | |
| The Future Sound Of London | Lifeforms |
| FSOL are also ambient electronic music kings. Lifeforms is one of their best albums with some really organic sounds. The graphics on the album sleeve are great too! All the FSOL albums are good - I haven't heard one I didn't like. | |
| Penguin Cafe Orchestra | Preludes Airs and Yodels |
| The Penguin Cafe Orchestra were unique. You often hear that said of bands, but this time it's true. They produced gentle, almost classical sounding instrumental pieces. Like the Orb (in fact there is an Orb remix on this album). Great chill-out music. This is a compilation of tracks from most of the PCO's albums. If you've seen the One 2 One adverts on British TV you have already heard part of one of the tracks (Telephone and Rubber Band). Sadly Simon Jeffes, the founder and composer, died a few years ago. | |
| Ozric Tentacles | Afterswish |
| Ozric Tentacles are a Space Rock band. If you like Hawkwind (particularly their trip-out instrumental jam sessions), Gong, Steve Hillage, etc, then chances are you will like Ozric Tentacles. If you don't like those bands, you are very unlikely to like the Tentacles. All of their albums (that I have heard) are instrumental only. The tracks (and indeed the albums) do tend to be rather samey, but it's good stuff! If you fancy the idea of going on an aural psychedelic trip through space, then this is the band to do it with. Soaring guitars, burbling synths, solid drums. | |
| 3rd Eye Foundation | You Guys Kill Me |
| I can't make up my mind about this. The sound is a little like Throbbing Gristle doing Drum N Bass. Some good ideas, but it can be a bit hard to listen to (some of the tracks seem to go on too long for their own good). In any case, experimental music should definitely be encouraged - there is far too little of it around these days. In my day we had SPK, Einsturzende Neubauten, Severed Heads, Portion Control, Throbbing Gristle, etc, etc, blah blah blah. | |
| Danielle Dax | Inky Bloaters |
| This dates back to the early 80s, but I think Danielle Dax still does occasionally produce new stuff. It's quite hard to describe this album. Not particularly wierd as such - sort of off-centre pop/rock, with great fuzz guitar, some very interesting sounds and quite a few hooks. A bit of an Eastern feel to it too at times. Danielle Dax albums seem to be quite hard to come by now, but Inky Bloaters is well worth a listen if you can get hold of it. | |
| Asian Dub Foundation | Rafi's Revenge |
| This is brilliant! Very fast, very loud rap/dub with real (and great) guitar. This has so much energy, so many great sounds & ideas and they have a real message to get across. They also manage to incorporate Asian scales and sounds without it sounding like crap World Music. Punk for the Millenium! | |
| Attrition | 3 arms and a dead cert |
| Attrition are a fellow Coventry band, so I've got say something nice about them! Fortunately this is an excellent album. It's very gothic sounding - Julia Waller's voice is quite operatic at times, and Martin Bowes must have the deepest voice in darkwave. They worked with a viola player on this one which adds a new dimension to the electronics. | |
| Gomez | Bring It On |
| Gomez are quite well known in the UK now, but I think they are still pretty much unheard of elsewhere. So come on you foreign Johnnies, give 'em a listen. They play a sort of (very) mutant blues, but with lots of interesting twists. The album is packed full of excellent songs and it really grows on you. Whipping Picadilly is one of the best tracks, but there are no weak ones. A superb debut album (in fact much better than their 2nd). | |
| Shriekback | Sacred City |
| I can't understand why Shriekback didn't become huge. They were a great band. Excellent musicians, producing unique, great, music. This was pretty much their last 'proper' album I think and is probably about the best, along with Go Bang (though My Spine Is The Bassline, from Care, has got to be their best track). I don't know who to compare them with - they just sound like Shriekback! Quite commercial a lot of the time, but with an experimental edge. | |
| Crimson Blue | Modern Love |
| I don't think you can get this album in British shops. (I've never seen it for sale anywhere here.) I saw Crimson Blue play live at a bar in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA and was blown away. They are a local SLC band, but produce really commercial pop/rock songs with great hooks. There are definitely elements of Siouxsie Sioux in Julia Ferguson's singing (though she hadn't heard of the Banshees when I asked...). | |
| The Enid | Sundialer |
| The Enid are an odd band. They have been going since the 70s (though Robert John Godfrey is the only original member left). They are basically a progressive rock band, fusing rock instruments with classical arrangements. They can be very pretentious at times (as you might expect). But they can also produce some very exciting and original music. This album is a compilation from some of their later stuff, remixed in some cases. It sounds a bit like the Orb or FSOL being played by 'proper' musicians. Another great album to check out is Something Wicked This Way Comes. Unusual for them in having vocals, and quite creepy! | |
| Tonto's Expanding Head Band | Zero Time |
| You can't get this album anymore, and I don't think it's ever been released on CD. But if you see it in a 2nd hand shop snap it up. It's one of the very early synth albums (done in the late 60s or early 70s on a Series III Moog modular synth - probably something that filled a wall) and is extremely good. It's much better than the pseudo-classical stuff that was around at the time - more in the Orb/FSOL realm. Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil were behind it. I don't know if they went on to more famous things? | |