LoathedVermin72 wrote: Mon June 22, 2026 11:56 pm
Have to agree with liebzz about Spiderland. Never been my thing either. And Gish is definitely the worst of the original SP run. Can’t say I return to it much.
I really do sometimes hear so much in Gish and then listen again and wonder why I am not more engaged. This frankly happens for me on just about every Smashing Pumpkins albums in spots - except Siamese Dream.
Spiderland is really not my thing, but to be fair, that is consistent with how I have been responding to similarly sounding albums. I will say this far I am really liking Swervedriver, so that is a big exception to that rule.
LoathedVermin72 wrote: Mon June 22, 2026 11:56 pm
Have to agree with liebzz about Spiderland. Never been my thing either. And Gish is definitely the worst of the original SP run. Can’t say I return to it much.
Well hopefully you return to good opinions some time in the near future.
The moment this album started, this band separated themselves from the shoegaze peers - distant vocals yes, but the music brings with it a heavier and quicker pace, and with it more sense of dimension. Sci-Flyer, Pile-Up, and Son of a Mustang Ford are all immediate examples of just great rock music, even if I have to squint to hear the vocals. Rave Down and Feel So Real have almost a pop feel to them. And then finally Sandblasted is a real killer track here as well. My sense is that this pace is the injection of energy this sub-genre sometimes needs.
Oddly, the album that most immediately came to mind when I listened to this album was Radiohead’s Pablo Honey (forthcoming in a couple of years I think?). This album is pretty good and enjoyable, but like Pablo Honey, it doesn’t seem to have a pure identity that’s associated with the band. There’s elements of the Brit pop explosion to come sitting there, but they haven’t leaned into it. There also seems to be a sense of dread on this album rather than grandiosity - which might also be playing into these thoughts. That said, She’s So High, Bang, and Wear Me Down are legit highlights here worth mentioning. There is the creeping sense still that they are capable of much more.
Man, you can sure tell when you’ve got a Steve Albini produced album on your hands. Abrasive, and drums that only sound that way for him. You could tick off a bunch of albums that we’ve already discussed and are forthcoming that have that signature. For the most part, this album was enjoyable, though there’s this tightrope between cathartic loud and just plain loud for its sake that I feel like this toes very loosely. Sometimes, like South Mouth, Then Comes Dudley, and Mouth Breather, I hear it all and it falls perfectly in line for me, and other times it didn’t hit. In the end, I think I’d need a few more listens to get this one straight - and it seems worth that.
I really liked most of this album - a sort of building organic take on rock music, or post-rock if you will, that kept me listening pretty closely. There’s a risk in this album where you think it’s going to trail off into nothing, and the sole track I was not that crazy about, Taphead, kind of does that (I like elements of the song, like how they incorporate the horns, but couldn’t quite piece it all together). It’s the sound more like Ascension Day that really blew my mind here. There’s layers here but they are built on silence rather than on top of other layers. Interesting stuff.
Glad you enjoyed the Swervedriver record so much (I'd argue their next one is even better!) and found good stuff on the Slowdive and Jesus Lizard records too.
So take the synth pop bands of the mid-80s and mesh that with Nine Inch Nails or Skinny Puppy and you have this album. I don’t think that this is much in the way of far-fetched as both focus on goofing around with electronic sounds and delivering something with a specific atmosphere. Combining both, as they do it here, seems to make a lot of sense. Burn Like Brilliant Trash, Rite of Shiva, Lipstick 66, Weatherman, and Terminal City all flow naturally from this. Cicciolina brings a sense of range to the affair, leaning heavily on the synth pop side. There’s a ton of promise in mining this space, even if the execution didn’t always feel perfect.
Birds in Hell wrote: Wed June 24, 2026 10:30 pm
A bunch of amazing records on the last two pages.
Glad you enjoyed the Swervedriver record so much (I'd argue their next one is even better!) and found good stuff on the Slowdive and Jesus Lizard records too.
Swervedriver just feels like exactly what shoegaze needs - and that pacing makes all the difference. I think the last two pages really push some boundaries for me, some a little too far over the ledge and others expanding my tastes a bit. I am here for that, even if sometimes it’s easier to pontificate on albums I already love. Finding new stuff in the archival world was and is just as important for me.
So take the synth pop bands of the mid-80s and mesh that with Nine Inch Nails or Skinny Puppy and you have this album. I don’t think that this is much in the way of far-fetched as both focus on goofing around with electronic sounds and delivering something with a specific atmosphere. Combining both, as they do it here, seems to make a lot of sense. Burn Like Brilliant Trash, Rite of Shiva, Lipstick 66, Weatherman, and Terminal City all flow naturally from this. Cicciolina brings a sense of range to the affair, leaning heavily on the synth pop side. There’s a ton of promise in mining this space, even if the execution didn’t always feel perfect.
The Essential Track: Rite of Shiva
Up Next: Massive Attack - Blue Lines
I have intense personal/nostalgic connection to this one. When my wife and I were 16 (we weren’t married yet, ha), we spent our first summer together. This was one of several used CDs we picked up and played it over and over while we drove around Illinois. Hearing it still takes me right back to that summer. Great memories.
LoathedVermin72 wrote: Thu June 25, 2026 12:46 am
My god that was 21 years ago. Does not feel like it’s been that long at all.
So many albums bring up great memories and can transport. There are even albums that can bring back what I felt like to listen to them when you first heard them and get associated with that season. Amazing how the mind makes and keeps those associations.
We’re technically at 1,297, but I am posting the latest list now, even though I may have some serious contenders coming up. This will also be the last top 100 before we listen to a Pearl Jam album - excited to see how that plays out in the next list:
100. Pixies - Bossanova
99. Miles Davis - Miles Smiles
98. Led Zeppelin II
97. Jimi Hendrix - Axis: Bold As Love
96. Led Zeppelin III
95. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
94. Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come
93. Charles Mingus - Pithecanthropus Erectus
92. Miles Davis - A Tribute to Jack Johnson
91. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
90. Dr. John - Dr. John’s Gumbo
89. Dr. John - In the Right Place
88. Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
87. Fugazi - Repeater
86. Miles Davis - In a Silent Way
85. Jerry Garcia - Garcia
84. Jane’s Addiction - Ritual De Lo Habitual
83. Tom Waits - Frank’s Wild Years
82. U2 - War
81. Rolling Stones - Tattoo You
80. Psychedelic Furs - Talk Talk Talk
79. Television - Adventure
78. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Into the Great Wide Open
77. U2 - The Joshua Tree
76. Thelonious Monk - The Genius of Modern Music, Pt. 1
75. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
74. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
73. R.E.M. - Murmur
72. Bruce Springsteen - The River
71. Pink Floyd - The Wall
70. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd
69. Derek and the Dominos - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
68. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Second Helping
67. Pixies - Doolittle
66. R.E.M. - Document
65. Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet
64. The Who - Who’s Next
63. The Kinks - Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround
62. Jane’s Addiction - Nothing’s Shocking
61. Guns N’ Roses - Appetite for Destruction
60. Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
59. Van Halen
58. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
57. Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska
56. Uncle Tupelo - No Depression
55. The Allman Brothers Band
54. The Allman Brothers Band - Idlewild South
53. Metallica - Ride the Lightning
52. The Allman Brothers Band - Eat a Peach
51. The Waterboys - This Is the Sea
50. Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Rust Never Sleeps
49. Credence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo’s Factory
48. Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
47. The Kinks - Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire
46. The Stone Roses
45. Tom Waits - Closing Time
44. Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
43. Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever
42. Neil Young - After the Goldrush
41. Marvin Gaye - What’s Going On
40. Mission of Burma - Vs.
39. Metallica - Master of Puppets
38. Talking Heads - Remain in Light
37. Television - Marquee Moon
36. Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town
35. Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
34. Grateful Dead - American Beauty
33. Neil Young - Harvest
32. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Damn the Torpedoes
31. George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
30. Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
29. Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain
28. The Beatles - Rubber Soul
27. Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
26. Led Zeppelin IV
25. The Who - Quadrophenia
24. Tom Waits - Nighthawks at the Diner
23. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
22. Temple of the Dog
21. Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle
20. Thelonious Monk - The Genius of Modern Music Vol. 2
19. Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain
18. John Coltrane - Blue Train
17. The Clash - London Calling
16. U2 - Achtung Baby
15. The Beatles - Abbey Road
14. Pink Floyd - Animals
13. Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
12. The Beatles - Revolver
11. The Beatles
10. Neil Young - On the Beach
9. Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
8. Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
7. Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced?
6. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
5. Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street
4. Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
3. Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
2. Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
1. Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
Just putting this out there that this album is brilliant. It nearly feels like hip hop’s version of Birth of the Cool. My understanding is it’s considered a major landmark in trip hop, and to me it’s just the right mix of hip hop and soul, and brings to mind everything to come from The Roots to Black Pumas. Every track pretty much for me was a standout, and I hate to have to pick one from any of the others. This felt like a run don’t walk to listen to this one.
The Essential Track: Blue Lines
Up Next: Prince & the New Power Generation - Diamonds & Pearls
Ello Sailor wrote: Fri June 26, 2026 12:28 am
Absolutely incredible. "Safe From Harm", "Unfinished Sympathy" and "Daydreaming" are also massive bangers.
Prince and the New Power Generation - Diamonds & Pearls
I am not sure why I always expect the other shoe to drop with Prince. Each album I approach with a hesitation, as if this will be the album that turns me off of his music, only at every turn I happily follow his direction. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that in this album he bookends two killer guitar solos in Thunder and Live 4 Love. Really though, this is a really good front to back album, exploring everything from rock to hip hop to soul to almost jazz as he works with this new band. Prince’s creative spark is really a wonder unto itself.
The Essential Track: Thunder
Up Next: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik
This album finds the Chili Peppers in a perfect moment. Second album in with John Frusciante, but somehow still in a place where their energy is still pretty raw, this album finds the band at its funkiest but also most expansive musically, with short breakdowns that stretch these track well while never losing momentum. Really this is peak Chili Peppers, with Keidis maybe a bit horny but nevertheless providing the kind of frontman chaos that blended incredibly with all the things happening between Chad Smith, Flea, and Frusciante. They could be loud (title track), nail a ballad (Under the Bridge), funky (Sir Psycho Sexy), or really anything here so long as they kept a deep groove that never lets up. I really could list almost any of these songs as these essential and I would be right and wrong at the same time because each listen brings a new winner. This has long been one of my favorite albums.
The Essential Track: Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Up Next: A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
