45
Little Ekern's Favourite Music
I saw the top 50 lists and it looked fun. I stuck to the one entry per band/artist rule but felt I had to stop at 45 or else I would have been putting albums in there which I really like but wouldn't really call favourite albums; they just didn't fit with the albums that I love the most. I also couldn't be bothered to finish because I started to get bored. Anyway 45 is a pretty good number, just ask Bill Drummond.
*** Indicates albums which are very very important to me in an undefinable way. I might marry them if it were possible.
1) Pulp - His 'N' Hers **** This could well be my favourite of all time.
2) Boo Radleys - Kingsize *** Ah what can I say that hasn't already been said about this album? A lot probably. A criminally underrated album by a criminally underrated band. You fucking criminals. Also: Giant Steps and C'mon Kids
3) Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man - Out Of Season ***
4) T. Rex - The Slider Also: Electric Warrior, T.Rex (the first album after they became T.Rex, it bridges the gap between Tyrannosaurus Rex and T.Rex)
5) X-Ray Spex - Germ Free Adolescents !!!!!!!Hooray!!!!!!!!
6) The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs "If there's anything better in this world, who cares?"
7) The Clash - The Clash It's shorter than London Calling Also: London Calling
8) Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible I used to not find this album disturbing at all but probably because I didn't understand it.
9) The Velvet Underground - Velvet Underground & Nico Some people told me this was good and I ignored them for a few years. Also: The Velvet Underground
10) Patti Smith - Horses***
11) The Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady I tried to avoid compilations in this list where possible, this is an exception and also the only Buzzcocks album I own.
12) The Cure - Disintegration It puts you in a dark and depressing place without any serious consequences, unless you're already depressed. They've made several other very good albums.
13) David Bowie - Station To Station The first track on its own makes this album great. The other five are all brilliant (especially Word On A Wing and Golden Years) which really helps. Also: Aladdin Sane**, Low, Heroes, Young Americans, Hunky Dory, and so on.
14) Vaselines - The Way Of The Vaselines: A Complete History This album has the power to put people in a good mood... and yet Kurt Cobain still shot his head off; I guess there's no pleasing some people.
15) Moldy Peaches - The Moldy Peaches
16) The Smiths - Strangeways Here We Come Also: The Queen Is Dead
17) The Human League - Dare
18) Belle & Sebastian - The Boy With The Arab Strap The green one is my favourite.
19) White Stripes - White Blood Cells Also: Elephant
20) Super Furry Animals - Guerrilla Those crazy fuckers. Listen to it if you want to feel nostalgia for a time when a mobile phone was still a status symbol.
21) Bravecaptain - Go With Yourself (The Fingertip Saint Sessions Vol. 2)** I couldn't quite decide on my favourite Bravecaptain album so I chose by the title. Oh, and a couple of the songs on here are really beautiful and haven't been matched on the later albums (which are great by the way) Also: Advertisements for Myself, All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace
22) Lou Reed - Transformer
23) Supergrass - In It For The Money
24) Elastica - Elastica I missed this when it first came out but I now understand what the fuss is all about.
25) The Smashing Pumpkins - Melon Collie And The Infinite Sadness It's too long to be perfect. Good songs though. Also:Siamese Dream
26) Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue The only jazz album I've ever paid for.
27) Portishead - Dummy Also:Portishead
28) The Adverts - Crossing The Red Sea With... I like punk music that isn't rubbish. This isn't as good as X-Ray Spex, Buzzcocks, Clash but few things are.
29) Bjork - Selma Songs I chose this to represent my love of Bjork because 'Dancer in the Dark' made me want to buy all her albums. Also: Telegram, Homogenic, Vespertine
30) Sugarcubes - Life's Too Good At one point I decided that 'Fucking in Rhythm and Sorrow' was the best thing ever; like the clash but better and like Bjork but different and like nothing else... or everything else? No... like some things...
31) Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes Also: Under The Pink
32) Erin McKeown - Grand I knew she was great after hearing her perform 'Slung-lo' on Jools Holland.
33) Joy Division - Heart and Soul This is sort of cheating because it's a box set but considering it's the only joy division I own it's a lot easier to say this.
34) Richard O'Brien - Absolute O'Brien This man is great and I like his music.
35) Martina Topley Bird - Quixotic Great voice
36) Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92 The only Aphex Twin album I own so far.
37) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell I got a bit bored of this band by the time this came out (because they're so lazy when it comes to releasing new stuff) but it was better when I came back to it. Also I must not forget the feeling I had after seeing them live at the Mardi Gras Festival. Really amazing. And I liked them before anyone else in this country (except maybe one or two) HA!
38) R.E.M. - New Adventures in Hi-Fi I must remember to buy this one day.
39) John Coltrane - Giant Steps Ha ha... now there is an album on my list called Giant Steps... and I still got to have Kingsize... cool.
40) Outkast - SpeakerBoxx/The Love Below My introduction to hip-hop.
41) The Streets - Original Pirate Material
42) Tyrannosaurus Rex - Unicorn Great hippy cool music with bongos and Marc Bolan being brilliant. This one has the shortest title. It also contains part of a short story read by John Peel. If I could only listen to Tyrannosaurus Rex music I wouldn't mind very much as long as it was summer... Also: My people were fair and had sky in their hair but now they're content to wear stars on their brows, Prophets Seers And Sages The Angels Of Ages, Beard of Stars
43) Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols
44) Chimney Factory - “So Be It,” Said The Demon Architect Of Our Mortal Elbows (13 Years Underground): The Best of Chimney Factory 1983-1994 Chimney Factory's confusingly titled debut. Still their best in my opinion. FACT: I once went to a fancy dress party as the lead singer from Chimney Factory. Also: Burn Down The Factory, !FuckFUCKFuck!, The Year Of The Chimney
45) The Dandy Warhols - Dandys Rule OK It's just cool innit.
I spent too long on this I think... This list is subject to change without notice.