Channel 4 Top 100 al***s last night

While it wouldn't have been my no.1 album I know several people with extensive music collections who've stated it's their own personal favourite.

http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/G/greatest/albums/results.html

I have nerer really understood the appeal of Radiohead. But still, it was based on viewer votes. Allegedly. I just did a count of how many of the top 100 I have a copy of. Sixty three. I wonder what that means.



Nigel

63 here too, exactly!

Jonathan

I've got 75 of these and was generally just pretty happy to see no Robbie Williams, Girls Aloud, Busted etc up near the top.

I think OK Computer is superb, better than the Bends, an would probably make my top 10 so no complains here.

Disapointed not to see Beatles best album (IMO) - Abbey Road in there, And Bob Dylan had a pretty poor showing. Though overall I was quite pleased that most of the albums in the list are actually pretty good. Obviously it's never going to agree with your own choices but there's not too much that doesn't merit a place IMO.

Seventy seven and 65 of them on lovely vinyl.

I was quite impressed with the overall quality of the albums voted for. Fantastic to see Billie Holiday in the top 50 but very dissapointed that there was no Steely Dan. Also why not 'Whos next' - surely their best album.

I think some artists, perhaps including David Bowie and Bob Dylan, suffered in the results from having so many good records to vote for, splitting their support.

Certainly the quality was considerably better than I'd expected.

I have an amazing 84 of them on vinyl. Of the remaining 16 there are a few I would never buy - Queen, for instance, who I can't stand - and some I still have to track down.

Overall the quality was high with most of the usual suspects being represented but I'm not sure a list like this can be taken very seriously when artists of the calibre of Van Morrison, The Byrds, Sly and the Family Stone, Can, The Stooges, Talk Talk, My Bloody Valentine and Spiritualized don't get a look in.

I think the final results were skewed somewhat by the fact that it wasn't possible to vote for just any album. You had to select a top ten from a list of 125 on the C4 website. Most performers had just one to choose from, eg U2 and Madonna, which probably meant all their fans voting for one LP instead of the votes being spread over 2 or 3. This may explain why 'The Joshua Tree' and 'Like a Prayer' finished so high.

Paul

quote:

Originally posted by Shayman:
Another one with OK Computer at number 1!!

Its now becoming a cliche to put that top of the list. Alright its a good album but certainly not even Top 20 ever surely? Its not as good as the Bends either.

Additionally, most people I know don't really listen to it anymore. Certainly not one that gets brought out on a regular basis year in year out anyway.

Can anyone explain it to me?

So Radiohead is number 1 is it? Thanks for letting me know - I fell asleep through the last hour of the programme last night I agree with you though, it does seem very cliched. I've got OK Computer and it's a good album but even so I reckon it should have been something by Led Zeppelin or Stevie Wonder.

BTW greeny I have to disagree with you here - I think The Bends is better!

Cheers,

Jon

Paul - I forgot about Van the man - sad he wasn't represented.

No Jackson Browne or Rickie Lee Jones. Grrrr.

Put me down for one more who thinks the Bends is the better album.

OK Comp always seems to be an album to admire rather than love.

Bruce

63 here also. Is this a magic number?
Like most of these list it's the missing stuff that causes most controversy. Who selected the 115 to start with? The ususl panel of "experts"?

Howard

This list had DIDO in it.

Enough said.

There was not a single representative of that awful dirge they call R&B nowadays either despite it seemingly making up 80% of the charts over the last couple of years.

Ha ha!

Dido. Shurely shome mishtake.

Jonathan

quote:

Dido. Shurely shome mishtake.

It would appear that some records were selected more for their popularity than their intrinsic quality.

This would explain why the likes of 'Saturday night fever' and Abba's 'Arrival'(which contain some good songs but are hardly great albums) made the top-100 whereas 'Loveless', 'Laughing stock' and 'Ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space' didn't.

Paul

My magic number was 57. Overall this is one of the better lists; the Beatles suffered from too many options. Some real holwers (Robbie Williams, Dido) and some overated albums ('Dark Side..' is not as good as 'Wish you were here'.) Funnily enough I did not spot Miles Davis KOB (the token Jazz album fell to JC with 'Love Supreme'). Oh well.

No Tapestry but Dildo instead. Shurly shume mishtake.

They had some old live Curtis Mayfield footage of him singing Superfly and it contained some of the funkiest drumming I have ever heard - shame it was only a few seconds worth - I could have watched that all night long!

In spite of owning 75 (OK some are down to SWMBO), I can't understand the absence of Muddy Waters or Otis Redding (particularly Otis Blue ).

All these lists are a bit subjective but they do make you wonder at the restricted listening of the majority - then again, not many friends or colleagues can comprehend the amount I have spent on music (soft and hardware).

Now that I think about it, no Allman Brothers, no T-Rex, no Band ...

Where's my anorak?

I think you can infer the relative age of the respondents to this poll by the results; I mean, Oasis (among others) charting higher than the Beatles? Wha? My guess is, more Gen X/Y respondents than Boomers.

I have only 8 of this top 100 (of a collection of 562 vinyl Pop/Rock/Jazz records).

They are:
34. JOY DIVISION - Closer
35. ROLLING STONES - Let it Bleed
42. ROLLING STONES - Exile on Mainstreet
46. THE VELVET UNDERGROUND - The Velvet Underground and Nico
52. PATTI SMITH - Horses
54. LOU REED - Transformer
83. LOVE - Forever Changes
92. NEIL YOUNG - After the Gold Rush

Willem

The C4 top 100 list is fairly respectable, all in all. I shudder to think about what an American audience would have chosen!

I concur with many on this thread: I just don't listen to OK Computer all that often.

The website www.pitchforkmedia.com , which usually has fairly on-the-money album reviews, named OKC as its best album of the 1990s, well ahead (in their opinion) of Loveless. Can't say that I agree with that one, though.

quote:

Originally posted by Soldevere:
The C4 top 100 list is fairly respectable, all in all. I shudder to think about what an American audience would have chosen!

Well, an American audience would have placed the Beatles above Oasis, for one!

I've got all of twelve of these, I guess my tastes are politically incorrect (I see no ELP, Moody Blues or ELO on the list).

Me, less than 30.

I couldn't believe No. 1 was Radiohead ? Too many bloody student time-wasters voting I would say.

The Libertines ? Eh? Really?

As any fule no, the best album ever in the histroy of the whole bar none is Intermedia Life Action by Conrad Schintzler, and that wasn't even in the list!

DS

I think I have 12 or 13 of them spread evenly accross the list. They are either on vinyl or tape, so they are all pre 1988 when I bought my last record.

I had better buy No Angel by Dido because at no. 57 the list says its a good 9 places better than Joni Mitchell's Blue.

I have 68 most on vinyl, some of which I bought recently ,but it was more a case of what was not on the list,I have been collecting LPs since the mid 60s!