NME's 25 greatest albums

Um...there are three David Bowie records alone.
[www.smh.com.au]

The jackass in me is compelled to point out that the Velvet Underground & Nico never recorded an album called The Velvet Underground - the album with that title didn't get recorded until after Nico was out of the picture entirely.

I'm sure that they just reversed band/album order on that spot and meant the album The Velvet Underground & Nico by the Velvet Underground, but this list is funky enough that you do have to wonder at least a little bit exactly which album they actually meant. (For the record, choosing the eponymous album would be an unexpected choice but not one I would have a huge objection to - though if I were to pick any VU album to take ...and Nico's traditional spot on these lists it would be White Light White Heat.)

I do admire the fact that the NME and other Brit publications always bend over backwards to include more recent releases on these lists as opposed to just going with the golden oldies. That said, Arcade Fire, the Strokes and Arctic Monkeys land in a top 25 of all time but London Calling, Marquee Moon, Remain in Light, Murmur, etc. etc. don't?

There's a difference between not wanting to rely completely on nostalgia & conventional wisdom and being batshit insane.



Post Edited (10-25-13 09:30)

I don't think the writers at NME are "batshit insane." I just think they try too hard to inpress with their hip cred. If they were insane, they would've included the four albums Reno mentioned, in place of Marvin Gaye, The Stones and The Beatles. (No offense, Brad; I'm merely saying those four selections belong on any sanely selected top 25 list, same as your four suggestions do.)

As for the #1 slot being given to The Smiths, well, I don't expect much better. Every British music publication I've ever read (with the exception of Kerrang!) seems to be staffed by people who all genuflect before that band. The Smiths catalogue has its moments, but I've really never understood the outright adulation given that band. Of course, plenty of people who know me well would say the same (or even less) about the Velvets.

This list is amazing. I just kept looking at Oasis's Definitely Maybe at #10. That's like putting Welcome to the Pleasuredome at #9. I remember visiting my local Tower Records back in 1994, wandering over to the listening station and giving Definitely Maybe a spin. "This is so blatantly derivative, I simply must have it!" It's a fun album and all, but at #10 ever I'd prefer if the lyrics and/or song titles could make sense at least, I don't know, 40% of the time?

Re. The Smiths: out of sheer workplace boredom the other day, I read this think piece in Slate:
[www.slate.com]
Personally, I might've switched out a couple of tunes on Slate's list ("Reel Around the Fountain" and "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet Baby" over "Hand In Glove" and "The Queen Is Dead"), but push come to shove this is a fairly decent overview of The Smiths oeuvre. I knew there'd be some great dissenting comments. Of those, this is my favorite:

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Jesus, where the hell is is "Rubber Ring?" Where is "Ask?" This list is depressingly American - all True Art must apparently be slow, ponderous, and vaguely dour.

I'd love to hang out with the guy who wrote that.

Yikes, I'm pretty out of step with this list. No Bowie album would crack my personal top 100 (if I had such a thing), nor would The Smiths (who I think of as an occasionally great singles band)........and I'm a Rubber Soul man rather than Revolver (if forced to choose).

With lists like this I always have that weird reaction with stuff like Exile on Main Street at 24........that's insane to me but seeing it that low makes me want it off the list entirely!

When I used to hang out for Wednesdays to get my NME (beginning in about 1980), I used to think it was fantastic but when they lost the plot, they really lost the plot, especially when any UK band touring or about to tour the US was going over there to show 'em how it's done, like they were some kind of football team.
The nadir is a tie between the new format and the devising of the genre New Wave Of New Wave aka NWONW. The bands under this banner (These Animal Men, S*M*A*S*H, Echobelly) didn't seem to have anything in common at all except that they were playing at CMJ.

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Um...there are three David Bowie records alone.

1.) The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars simply crushes Hunky Dory as far as I'm concerned.

2.) The UK's music press ... or a pack of rabid ferrets. Which do you suppose has the shorter attention span?

3.) Oasis? I go so far as to say that any record collection is a good record collection that does not contain an album by Oasis. Even if it contains no other albums.

'Kay,

My "record collection" consists entirely of a cassingle of Starship's "We Built This City" that includes 4 different dance remixes. Want to take a roadtrip?

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'Kay,

My "record collection" consists entirely of a cassingle of Starship's "We Built This City" that includes 4 different dance remixes. Want to take a roadtrip

I lost my virginity to "Knee Deep In The Hoopla."

So you cannot scare me with talk like that.

Brilliant list, if you're brain dead. Not to mention that the very idea is a time-waster.

I'd like to have someone explain how the Strokes, Pulp, Oasis, Arctic Monkeys and the like are even in the same league (league? how about universe?) as Bob Dylan, the Who, the Kinks and Jimi Hendrix. Big Star aren't quite in that league either but any one of their albums would blow much of this list away.

No Van Morrison? Please. At least one album by the Band? But no -- Arcade Fire are way better ... NOT. No Clash? Are you kidding me?

I could go on, but there's no point. What a load of shite.

I went to the site to check out the twenty five best albums according to NME and saw a horrible ad for toenail fungus. I'm chopping off my toes as we speak to avoid such a horrendous fate.



Post Edited (10-28-13 23:55)