44. The Jesus & Mary Chain - Honeys Dead (1992)
This band are the reason i`ve never really been that impressed by Nirvana. The Mary Chain were doing that sort of thing years before in a much more original way.And their songs were much better too. The opening salvo of Reverence & Teenage Lust in my opinion is better than anything on Nevermind. The problem with the Mary Chain was there was always something that stopped their albums being great. Psychocandy`s awful production grated on your ears after a few songs , Darklands was a bit lightweight & too jangly indie & Automatic had one of the worst examples of tinny 80s production going.Luckily this is where they finally got it right (And for the first time ever a proper drummer). I`ve never really understood why this album wasn`t bigger , in fact the reaction to it was that of total indifference.Shame really coz apart from the early singles this album contains the best songs they ever did.
Favourite Songs - Reverence , Teenage Lust , Sugar Ray , Good For My Soul
43. Belle & Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress (2003)
No I didn`t choose If Your Feeling Sinister ...shoot me
The reason why I didn`t choose it is because before this album Belle & Sebastian were a novelty to me. They were just a little bit too twee & I found it hard to take them seriously. I couldn`t listen to more than just a couple of songs without getting bored.They were one of those bands that I could listen to an odd song every now & again but that was it.
And then this album came along.
This album totally changed my perception of Belle & Sebastian.After the huge borefest that was 'Storytelling' this album totally blew me away.It could be for a number of reasons but I think the main one was due to Stuart Murdoch finally becoming a proper frontman & taking more responsability , which is a good thing when you take into account he is their best songwriter. Also it could be down to the producer Trevor '
Buggles,Frankie Goes To Hollywood,Tatu' Horn`s production. But the biggest change is the tweeness has gone.We finally get to here Belle & Sebastian rock out a little , we even get hear Thin Lizzy guitars as done by B&S. So this is the most fun B&S album & it`s the album I thought 'wow there`s a great band under all the tweeness here somewhere'. And I love it to bits.
Favourite Songs - Step into My Office Baby , Dear Catastrophe Waitress , I'm a Cuckoo ,Wrapped Up in Books
42. MC5 - Kick Out The Jams (1969)
This album is a wonderful album , don`t get me wrong here but could you imagine how great this record would be if the album opener actually was Kick Out The Jams , instead we get the f*cking awful Ramblin' Rose opening this up ....WHY?????????
We`d be talking top 30 placing if it had,
Forgetting the negetives this is one band I would have loved to see live, there`s just so much energy in this record.I remember the first time I heard this album & being shocked at just how aggressive & loud this album was.In fact I seem to remember thinking to myself 'They had bands this heavy in 1968????' (This was before i`d heard The Stooges) I`d say I much prefer MC5 over the Stooges , they just seemed that little bit more thought out & more ambitious musically with touches of psychadelia,blues & jazz
mixed in the noise somewhere. Godfathers of Punk? ... Who the hell cares.
Favourite Songs - Kick Out The Jams , Motor City Is Burning , Rocket Reducer No 62 , Starship
41. The Who - The Who Sell Out (1967)
The best album they ever did , better than Tommy (Concept albums are boring) Better than Who`s Next (You can tell a Led Zeppelin fan coz they always say this is the Who`s best album)and a lot better than everything else.
Now it could be argued that this is a concept album and that I am contradicting myself here , but it`s a fun concept and it takes nothing away from the songs themselves. The songs themselves are great and stand up perfectly well on their own merits, in fact they were probably the last actual pop songs the Who ever wrote before coming this huge stadium rock monster. Of course this album just HAS to be heard for all the radio jingles. Sorry but I just couldn`t imagine the stars of today obviously taking the piss out of themselves like the Who do here. You think we`ll see Billy Corgan in a bath full of baked beans on his next album? I doubt it.
Favourite Songs - Armenia City in the Sky , Mary Anne With the Shaky Hand , Tattoo , I Can See For Miles