Right then, MY top 20 acts of all time!

[octophone]

By popular demand (well, gggggg & krist. 2 more than most of you....)

Firstly, the apologies, including a few that may have been expected to appear. In no order...

Tindersticks (came very, very close)
The Flaming Lips (ditto)
The Residents (my love for their work up to about 1980 cannot hide the fact that their work since has been largely lacklustre)
Aphex Twin (“Druqks” was poor - it was too long before it and has been too long since for that not to matter)
Vibracathedral Orchestra (haven’t been able to find their last couple of albums, boo hiss)
Volcano The Bear (currently being overshadowed by their side projects – c.f. Fridge)
Julian Cope (losing points for refusing to actually release records and stuff, although his books are a delight)
Blur (pre “Think Tank” a top 20 cert, now would just scrape a top 30)
Faust (love them but they seem a bit hard on the palette these days, as do Can & Neu! – perhaps my Krautrock chip has malfunctioned)
Pavement (same as Faust, just can’t quite get into them right now)

So, who's first?

20 - Acid Mothers Temple
http://www.acidmothers.com/Cgi-bin/amt/_graphics/amt_photo/amt_00.1.jpg
Best song – “La Novia”
Best album – “Absolutely Freak Out”

[Krust]

Starting obscure already.

[octophone]

19 - Coil

http://brainwashed.com/coil/images/live/exit_stage_left.jpg
Best song – “The First Five Minutes After Death”
Best Album – “Stolen And Contaminated songs”

[octophone]

Originally posted by krist
Starting obscure already.
What did you expect?

I love that pic of AMT - although it should be noted that that's not DAF bottom middle.....

[octophone]

18 - Scott Walker
http://www.dragcity.com/bands/walker.jpg
Best song – “On Your Own Again”
Best Album – “Scott 3”

[Krust]

I have heard the names, but can't remember if I heard anything by them ever

[Krust]

Oh noticed your Adem signature for the first time

[octophone]

17 - Guided By Voices
http://www.magnetmagazine.com/interviews/gbv.jpg
Best song – “The Best Of Jill Hives”
Best Album – “Bee Thousand”

[octophone]

Originally posted by krist
Oh noticed your Adem signature for the first time

He's not in this, but another album like "Homesongs" and he bloody will be.

[octophone]

16 - Miles Davis

http://images.chron.com/content/news/photos/01/10/07/milesdavis.jpg
Best Song – “He Loved Him Madly”
Best album – “In A Silent Way”

[octophone]

15 - Autechre - pictured here on their way in to see Coil at Sonar in 2000. True!
http://www.turbid.com/images/barcelona/44-autechre.jpg
Best song – “Yulquen” (personal thing, OK?)
Best album – “Chiastic Slide”

[Krust]

As I did in gggggg's thread-

Predictions:



1 Nurse With Wound
2 Talk Talk
3 Radiohead
4 The Smiths
5 Current 93
6 My Bloody Valentine/Kevin Shields
7 Manic Street Preachers???
8 Spice Girls??? ;)
9 Pixies

[Bunty's Magic Vegetable]

Originally posted by octophone

Blur (pre “Think Tank” a top 20 cert, now would just scrape a top 30)


why should their new album change your opinion of their previous work?

[Krust]

Autechre look like normal people

[Bunty's Magic Vegetable]

Originally posted by krist
As I did in gggggg's thread-

Predictions:



1 Nurse With Wound
2 Talk Talk
3 Radiohead
4 The Smiths
5 Current 93
6 My Bloody Valentine/Kevin Shields
7 Manic Street Preachers???
8 Spice Girls??? ;)
9 Pixies

Super Furrys...


and btw Octy, no Pavement in the top 20? what is WRONG with you?

[octophone]

14 - James
http://www.jamestheband.com/live/photos/images/large/12.jpg
Best song – “Sometimes”
Best Album – “Laid”

[Bunty's Magic Vegetable]

Originally posted by krist
Autechre look like normal people

but they look exactly like Electronic artists on Warp... they ALL look like that ;)

[Bunty's Magic Vegetable]

oh and Teenage Fanclub will be in here somewhere

[octophone]

Originally posted by gggggg
why should their new album change your opinion of their previous work?

It doesn't, but it lowers their average. Same as the Residents; I adore their first 8-9 years, but the 20 or so since has been variable from enjoyable enough to outright bloody grim.

Oh and krist's just reminded me that I've missed out MBV. Ah well, they only did two albums I guess.....

[octophone]

Originally posted by gggggg
oh and Teenage Fanclub will be in here somewhere
They're not actually...as much as I've enjoyed them, they haven't really given music anything it didn't already have.

Anyway....

13 - Will Oldham

http://users.bart.nl/~ljmeijer/oldham/pics/humo.JPG
Best song – “Ohio River Boat Song”
Best album – “Days In The Wake”

[Bunty's Magic Vegetable]

Originally posted by octophone
It doesn't, but it lowers their average.

you're sounding like Frag now!

it should SURELY be about how much you have enjoyed the music in the past... why should one (what you consider bad) album affect the impact of their other albums which you enjoyed a lot?

you should rename this "my top 20 acts that i've enjoyed consistantly and are CURRENTLY into right now and not including acts that i'm not at the moment into eventhough I love them and at any another time they would certainly appear in the top 20 for sure"

*frump*

[octophone]

Originally posted by gggggg
you should rename this "my top 20 acts that i've enjoyed consistantly and are CURRENTLY into right now and not including acts that i'm not at the moment into eventhough I love them and at any another time they would certainly appear in the top 20 for sure"
What, you mean the same as everybody elses? NO-ONE is 100% consistant in these things and, to be honest, this is more of a challenge than an albums chart because you have to look at an artists ENTIRE OUTPUT! For every great Residents album there is a shite one, hence they miss the top 20. There are 3 rubbish Blur albums to 4 ace ones, a ratio poorer than any artist here (as far as I'm aware - nobody has heard EVERY AMT record, not even some of the members! Truth!).

[Bunty's Magic Vegetable]

that still doesn't explain why Pavement aren't there...

[octophone]

12 - Bjork

http://unit.bjork.com/specials/pics/colour/elle-polar02.jpg

Best song – “Joga”
Best album – “Vespertine”

[octophone]

Originally posted by gggggg
that still doesn't explain why Pavement aren't there...

Because, as far as I'm concerned, they aren't as good as the 20 artists that are. They're still bloody marvellous, but I could do a top 200 and break my heart over the fact that, say, Steve Reich or Missy Elloitt hadn't made it......

[Krust]

finally someone who I have albums off

[Bunty's Magic Vegetable]

Originally posted by octophone
Because, as far as I'm concerned, they aren't as good as the 20 artists that are.

I can tell you... for FACT, not opinion... that Pavement are better than James...

[octophone]

11 - it's a heartbreaker but...
Manic Street Preachers
http://uk.sonymusic.co.uk/manics/band/photos/photos/08.jpg
Best song – “This Is Yesterday”
Best album – “The Holy Bible”

..and leaving them out the ten was harder than leaving Pavement or Tindersticks out of the 20, believe you me.

[Krust]

I have tried to get into the Manics for quite some time, but it just doesn't work for me. The fact that I need a textbook for it isn't helping either...

I think "generation terrorists" has dated very badly

[octophone]

Originally posted by gggggg
I can tell you... for FACT, not opinion... that Pavement are better than James...

A statement like that can NEVER be fact.

I'm taking a break from this before it gets into Sebastian Flyte territory.

[Bunty's Magic Vegetable]

Originally posted by krist
I have tried to get into the Manics for quite some time, but it just doesn't work for me. The fact that I need a textbook for it isn't helping either...

I think "generation terrorists" has dated very badly

i'd agree actually, but its not a BAD album now...

"The Holy Bible" can stand up to most modern music, and "Everything Must Go" was a fine comeback POP album...

but that cannot alter the fact of what a depressing and stinking pile of pure dog shit "Know Your Enemy" was

[Suedehead]

Know your Enemy really put me off them good and proper. I've got all the albums but I've not played it any of them anges. The Holy Bible is probably 2nd to Everything Must Go in my opinion. Not too fond of Generation Terrorists at all these days, I must say. The less said about Gold Against the Soul the better (good singles though.) This is my Truth is where they started to lose it, really. I should've known that Know your Enemy was just round the corner then. :grr:

[Raining On Me]

No room for Miss Bush, then? I thought she'd be lower top 20 or in that "just missed out" bit.

[octophone]

I need more Kate Bush albums; I only have 3....

10 - Brian Eno
http://www.paraethos.com/images/eno.jpg
The most influential figure in modern music became so by doing the one thing in pop music that no-one had previously done – he THOUGHT about it. He turned studios into playgrounds, blurred the boundaries amongst band, producer and song and encouraged people to be creative rather than commercial. His own records are a delight and remain every bit as otherworldly as they must have been upon release.
Best song – “The Fat Lady Of Limbourg”
Best album – “Ambient 1/Music For Airports”

[octophone]

9 - REM
http://www.onlineathens.com/images/051001/r.e.m._2.jpg
An inevitable inclusion – they have an inimitable abilty to express complex emotional ideas in deceptively simple forms. They have written the only great love song of the last 10 years (At My Most Beautiful) and have seemingly evolved into a completely new entity following Bill Berry’s departure whilst still absolutely retaining the right to call themselves REM. An outstanding unit, still producing peerless music. Keep ‘em coming, chaps.
Best song – “The Wrong Child”
Best Album – “Up”

[octophone]

8 - John Coltrane
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/12.13.01/gifs/coltrane-0150.jpg
Blew until he could blow no more, playing and recording as close to his death as illness allowed. No-one has taken jazz higher than he and his bands, redefining their starting form and then reshaping beyond what much of his audience and, indeed, many band members could cope with. Rarely has any musical genre been attacked with such vigour. A huge catalogue is testament to a drive and vision which was the envy of his contemporaries and is still ripe to be discovered today.
Best song – “Ascension”
Best album – erm, “Ascension”

[Bunty's Magic Vegetable]

Originally posted by octophone

10 - Brian Eno


actually, there was an Eno song on the radio while you were doing the first bit of this... I wondered whether he would be in here, and he is... wow...

[octophone]

7 - Current 93
http://zvezda.ru/2000/05/26/img/tibet.jpg
David Tibet’s ever evolving project is rumoured to be approaching an end of sorts, although DT is unlikely to disappear. Let’s hope not anyway, as no other writer in modern music has taken us closer to internal darkness than he. Apocalyptic in worldview for many years, the best work has come from a concentration on personal apocalypse and the search for beauty and meaning amongst the fragments. A wizard, a true star.

Best Song – “The Frolic”
Best Album – “Soft Black Stars”

[Bunty's Magic Vegetable]

surely The Fall are in the top 6... ALTHOUGH their albums ratio must be approaching the awful ;)

[octophone]

Originally posted by gggggg
actually, there was an Eno song on the radio while you were doing the first bit of this... I wondered whether he would be in here, and he is... wow...
Which one?