my 50 favourite albums part 3

10. Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica (2000)

"Grand" and "epic" are not adjectives often associated with indie rock, but they can be without referring to overdone prog shit like The Mars Volta, and this is exhibit fucking A.

3rd Planet (live in 2000):


9. Mercury Rev - Deserter’s Songs (1998)

Is this really the same band that was kicked off the stage at Lollapolooza for excessive noise? The same band that was banned from British Airways because the lead singer tried to gouge out one of the lead guitarist's eyes with a fork? See You on the Other Side (1995) was a transition between Mercury Rev's arts-studenty Pink Floyd/Sonic Youth influenced first two albums, which featured additional singer/anarchist David Baker, but what was to be found on the other side? As it turned out, it was the best soundtrack for a non-existent Disney-produced epic Western ever recorded.

Goddess on a Hiway (official video):


8. Mercury Rev - All Is Dream (2001)

Maybe these two Mercury Rev albums belong in the reverse order; I really don't know. All Is Dream is Deserter's Songs through the looking glass, its dreamy quality turned to a nightmare.

The Dark is Rising (official video):


7. Augie March - Strange Bird (2002)

Augie March follows in the tradition of Australian pop bands such as The Church, The Go-Betweens and The Triffids. You know, the good Australian bands, as opposed to Cold Chisel and AC/DC. Here, they outdid their antecedents for the second time with a diverse album covering harder territory than before ("This Train Will Be Taking No Passengers", "Song in the Key of Chance") as well as bouyant pop ("Addle Brains") and fucking hypnotic shit ("The Drowning Dream").

Interview/Sunstroke House (live at WOMBadelaide):


6. The Clash - London Calling (1979)

19 songs and practically half of them are certified classics, plus this is where The Clash expanded its palette and hinted at the behemoth triple album Sandinista! Paul Simmonen distinguished himself as a bass player, as well as a songwriter on "The Guns of Brixton", the band's best reggae song, while Strummer, as the principle writer of the title track, proved he could keep up with Mick Jones.

Clampdown (live in London 18-02-80):


5. Mansun - Six (1998)

Longer and weirder than Attack of the Grey Lantern, and by far the best album ever to feature Tom Baker.

Legacy (official video):



4. Lou Reed - Berlin (1973)

Just once, Reed outdid The Velvet Underground and recorded possibly the most depressing album ever, telling the fictitious story of a couple in Berlin, promiscuous, speed-addicted Caroline and violent Jim, and the inevitable deterioration of their relationship. The genuinely angry "How Do You Think It Feels" and "Oh Jim" are highlights of the first half, but it's the quieter and unrelentingly bleak second half that really makes the album. The kids screaming "mommy!" in "The Kids" is harrowing enough even if you don't know that their emotion is genuine; their dad, Berlin producer Bob Ezrin, told them their mother had just died and recorded their spontaneous reaction.

How Do You Think It Feels (live in Italy 2007):


3. Augie March - Sunset Studies (2000)

"Ambitious" was probably the word thrown around the most about Sunset Studies at the time of its release, obviously shorthand for "78 minutes long, yet somehow none of it sucks". Of course, lauding a band for being ambitious is sort of like naming a musical genre for its quality of being emotional: shouldn't we take it as a given? These days, possibly not.

There is No Such Place (live in Melbourne 8-11-07):


2. Television - Marquee Moon (1977)

Tom Verlaine and Richard Llloyd are, like, my favourite guitarists ever on the strength of this album alone. They actually credited their solos, but I can't separate them based on that (Verlaine played the one on "Torn Curtain", but Lloyd played the one on "Elevation", etc). I've never heard anyone other than Richard Thompson replicate that raw, cat-like guitar tone.

Torn Curtain (fan video):


1. Radiohead - OK Computer (1997)

Thom Yorke became a more worldly lyricist, actually ceasing to be purely Mr. Doom-and-Gloom, only to be slapped with that title for his troubles, while Jonny Greenwood is equally expressive on lead guitar (occasionally coming close to that Television guitar tone I mentioned) and rhythm section Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway cleverly underpin the whole thing with insidious bass lines and clever beats. OK Computer has topped or ranked highly in best album of the decade/all time polls, the latter of which only kids of the 90s can understand. And no, it really doesn't sound all that much like Dark Side of the Moon.

Paranoid Android (official video):


Exit Music [For a Film] (live at Glastonbury 1997):


The Tourist (live in Berkeley, California 24-06-06):