Originally posted on 1/1/10
25. Our Love to Admire - Interpol - 2007
The worlds premier post-punk revival band swung in with their 3rd offering, with the usual mix of haunting echoing guitars and Paul Banks? wonderful baritone which is the making of this band. Interpol are another band who are nowhere near as popular as they should be, but it's a good thing. That leaves albums like this, and the other two, as wonderful hidden gems for people to discover and fall in love with, and it's easy to fall in love with something as wonderful as this. The songs are bigger, more ambitious and they get pulled off to perfection with great ease and aplomb.
24. Take Off Your Colours - You Me At Six - 2008
What can I say, they're a guilty pleasure. Emo but actually good and able to play instruments, and write a decent song. Even if it is all about how awful girls are.
23. All We Know is Falling - Paramore - 2005
Bear in mind that this was made by a bunch of teenagers, and while being a criminally short 35 minutes long and having the good ole teen angst that such records are built around dripping out of it, it showed promise that has subsequently been fulfilled and bettered. Another album which has so many songs which don't sound out of date at all and are still frequently played, despite seeming as if it would get old, it doesn't, not even for a bit. That something made by kids and being so short has such longetivity shows just how accomplished it is.
22. Absolution - Muse - 2003
I have a feeling this should be higher, and that i'll get abuse for the stuff i've put in front of this.... Ok, it's now changed. Absolution done best what all Muse albums have done, and that is attempt the impossible and pull off more. Stuff like Butterflies and Hurricanes combines at least three distinct sections yet still sounds beautiful, then there's the equivalent of wanking off a bass guitar with the intro to Hysteria and you're left on your arse, stunned. The amount of material from this that still gets played at gigs even now shows how popular the album is and how well it has aged, as it deserves to. Easily the best Muse album, genius from start to finish.
21. Amnesiac - Radiohead - 2001
The second of Radioheads "weird" albums, composed mainly of stuff that was recorded during the Kid A sessions anyway. And while it had its weird points, with plenty of inaudible lyrics that weren't down to them being high-pitched, it's Radiohead, and even Radiohead's weird stuff is better than most music out there. While this isn't the strongest album the band ever made, it shows how real musical experimentation should be done, with every song unafraid to push the boundaries of both their own standards and of all music.
20. Kasabian - Kasabian - 2004
Let's get one thing out the way first, this is Kasabians best album by a mile. Anyone who tells you otherwise needs their head examined. It's completely nuts, it's dark, it's driven, it's full of songs that sound like they get shouted from football terraces and it sounds like nothing else you've ever heard. A shame they've completely ruined that since, but as this albums still here we can enjoy all its electronic stuff which should have been the mainstay in and the backbone on which their subsequent work was built.
19. Kid A - Radiohead - 2000
Like Amnesiac, but slightly better.
18. Silent Alarm - Bloc Party - 2004
The best album from the 3rd best new band of the decade, an album so full of, as yet, unfulfilled promise. It was like a diet version of Radiohead with the talent instrumentally on offer, with spaced out guitars interlaced with solid drumming and a distinctive voice. Silent Alarm was full of so many good songs, so many examples of what a special talent had emerged and it remains the bands most complete and best album. The sooner they stop ripping off New Order circa 1993 and go back to this, the better.
17. Riot! - Paramore - 2007
Here was an album that had everything you want from a follow-up, it built on the solid foundations of the debut and blasted everything out of its way in the way that only Paramore can do these days. It was loud, in your face and full of energy for the most part, yet there was clearly a softer (and possibly superior, you can make your own mind up on that) side evident in stuff like When it Rains and We Are Broken. Lyrically it's their strongest album, and it seems to be what they're about the most put down on record. Oh and watch the video for Misery Business .
16. Not Accepted Anywhere - The Automatic - 2006
One of the most under-rated bands to appear this decade, The Automatic were every 7 year olds favourite band in '06, with the success of lead single Monster. If however you weren't driven mental by that song and you got the album, boy were you rewarded. While it was all made to the same basic recipe of Monster, ie very fast, odd synths and the occasional shriek from now former band member Alex Pennie, it worked, in fact it worked so well it wasn't off my CD player for about a month.
15. Glasvegas - Glasvegas - 2008
Probably the best untalented band in the last 25 years, Glasvegas burst into everyones eyes with the instantly identify-able-with Daddy's Gone, and the simplicity of that is what made it and the rest of the album so great. Even though Geraldine is up there with Dakota for being overplayed, and something like Go Square Go simply encourages hooliganism, there's a charm about them that makes you warm to them regardless of how you take them at first glance. Maybe its the voice, the haunting guitar work which works when it shouldn't, or maybe it's the lyrical quality of their "poems" (not my words) that makes the songs feel real that gets you in there. Whichever it is, they deserve your attention, if they haven't got it already.
14. Take This to Your Grave - Fall Out Boy - 2003
As I write this it's in mild disbelief that i've put it this high, but the only decent album they're ever made deserves some recognition. This one did feature their look at us we're smart because we make big song titles that have nothing to do with the actual song, but it was made up for by the twelve songs all being brilliant. In the making of it they'd said they wanted to create an album were you listen to all the tracks without skipping them, and boy did they manage it. Most FOB fans nowadays will tell you they have no idea this album exists, and its the semi-obscurity which makes it what it is: A hidden gem, that actually shows that at one point, before Pat Stump got fat and bald and Pete Wentz married an uggo, that they were a good band.
13. Antics - Interpol - 2004
The sophomore effort from NYCs finest was fairly similar to the debut, with distorted guitars put over Bank's distinctive voice, and while not as immediately striking as album #1, it was still a brilliant showcase of what the band could do. Individual songs, mainly the sublime Not Even Jail made this album brilliant, it was slick and professional from beginning to the end, and much cheerier than their previous offering.
12. This Is Was - 30 Seconds to Mars - 2009
The top album of '09 doesn't make the top ten albums of the last ten years, but it's still a good one.
11. Eyes Open - Snow Patrol - 2006
The best-selling album of '06 (and most of '07) was more than deserved for the band, as it was the culmination of close to ten years of being underappreciated ending in becoming household names. While it had the wonderfully radio/emotional telly scene friendly Chasing Cars as the basis for most of its success, the rest of the songs on the album were all perfectly created pieces of music that the band is now clearly best at. Even the duet on Set the Fire to the Third Bar with Martha Wainwright shows how big the band were at that point, being able to get a duet with someone of that calibre and pull it off so well shows how good they've become. What a shame album #5 was awful.
The top 10 now, which will probably change order infinitely, and I still wont be happy at the end of it.
10. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand - 2004
The debut from the arty-est of the arty rockers was preceded by Take Me Out, which drove me off the band completely, it sent me round the bend. Fortunately however I got to hear the rest of the album, and from the jarring baseline that introduces Jacqueline I was hooked. Here was another album that was the only thing I played for about a month solid, everything about it was just amazing, very rarely has a band ever broke out onto the scene with such a complete and well-made record, but Franz managed it, and it remains their crowning achievement.
9. This is a Fix - The Automatic - 2008
One of only 3 good albums to be made in this year, This is a Fix done the impossible. It took Not Accepted Anywhere, which was an extremely catchy and well made album, and then it built on this, and was better by being even more nuts and fast paced. Lyrically you're never going to get anything very strong from a band who're constantly in your face, but this was made up for by being so easy to sing along to, and by being so full of energy you feel tired after you've finished listening to it. Every individual song was brilliant, but This Ship was their real classic, the kind of song that combines every kind of song they've ever done and combines it into one piece of godliness to listen to. Bring on the new album in March.
8. Waiting For the Sirens' Call - New Order - 2005
It's honestly a wrench for me to leave this so far down, but NO's final offering isn't distinct enough to go any higher. Their genius is still there, obviously, but there's some right shite on there too. Stuff like Jetstream and I Told You So makes you thankful that there's likely to be no new material from the group, but then you hear the title track and Guilt is a Useless Emotion, you hear the stuff that they were still capable of after 30 years in music and you just wish there could be more. Crap stuff aside however, this is a breathtaking example of what old guys can do when they put their petty squabbles aside and just make music.
7. Jarvis - Jarvis Cocker - 2006
The greatest musician to come out of Sheffield decided to go solo and while most artists who've done this previously and since have shown that they were only good with their band behind them, there are a select few who can turn anything to gold regardless of who's behind them (even if there's two Pulp members in his solo group). Jarvis showed the music world what they'd been missing in the 4 years since Pulp had went on hiatus, and it was a welcome return for him. Here was an album that sounds like he's never been away, full of the usual witticisms and social commentaries that made Pulp so great, and still sounding as fresh as ever.
6. Turn on the Bright Lights - Interpol - 2002
Think Franz's debut, blending just about every post-punk act with a distinct style which so few outisde of Interpol have managed to master. The result of this is an utterly majestic offering which excites and enchants you from beginning to end, with its spacey distorted guitars and equally spacey vocals, you feel as if you're in the middle of something that's real and happening, which is what the album sets out to do. It sucks you in and doesn't let go, and you become a fan for life.
5. We Love Life - Pulp - 2001
The final album from Sheffields best band was something that New Order's final offereing should have been, it was a last album. Throughout there was everything, there was the evidence of why Pulp had been successful for so long, there was still new direction and the witty, dark observations on life for common people had been replaced with the mature reflections that were more important for Jarvis' solo work. Throughout it you get the feeling that there's not going to be anything after this, and the band wanted their swansong to be as good as it could, even if they didn't want it to end. Look at closing track Sunrise, it even finishes twice. I hope this isn't the last Pulp album, going by this there's still untapped potential.
4. Get Ready - New Order - 2001
Lets face it, you could put out an album filled entirely with the sound of buildings falling over and it's sound better than Republic, but there's no such architectural disaters, instead there's what can mostly be described as lift music. It has its down points, I can't stand 60 Miles an Hour and the duet with Bobby Gillespie on Rock the Shack is cringeworthy, but the rest of the album was a welcome return for one of the best bands in music history. Crystal, Primitive Notion and Billy Corgan popping in on Turn My Way made the album, and while I may be putting it a bit high purely because of what it means to me, it still desrves recognition, because this effort from middle-aged men was infintely better than most of the indie claptrap that saturated the market in the last 10 years.
3. Hot Fuss - The Killers - 2004
Fun fact: The first song I heard from this was Somebody Told Me, when it was used in a video that was on the sadly cancelled program Offside presented by Tam Cowan. Needless to say I was struck by the unusual content, but this album and the songs on it have become so interwoven with the social fabric that we have left this decade with have had such a profound effect on everyone who has heard it. While there are down points, ie the dreadful closer Everything Will be Alright, the opening 6 songs rival Ten by PJ and Low-Life by NO for the best selection of songs for opening an album. Hot Fuss grabs you from the beginning with the bassline of Jenny which makes you know you're listening to something that will change your life, and from then this conclusion is simply overwhelmingly validated.
2. Sam's Town - The Killers - 2006
While certain members of the band's facial hair around this time was somewhat questionable, and replacing the drummer with Earl Hickey probably wasn't a good idea, whatever it did to their songwriting abilities was welcomed by me with open arms. To all who said that Day & Age was what The Killers should be after they'd got over their Springsteen aspirations, bullshit, Sam's Town, from when it batters you over the face with its opening guitar till its ending pianos makes you sit agape at the wonder that the band had created and how far they'd come from fresh-faced youngsters with a penchant for synths and big basslines. This by the way was another album that I listened to for a month solid, and its longetivity is what adds to its charm, and makes it live up to the hype built up around it by the band themselves.
Wondering what's number 1? Trying to think of stuff i've missed out? Well wait no more, the best album of the last ten years will be revealed after about 5 seconds of holding down the return key....
1. In Rainbows - Radiohead - 2007/8
Album number 7 for a band that had been through so much since they first formed, and this was a culmination of all those years hard work. In Rainbows is the last album that has come out that could be correctly described as genius, all 10 songs are filled with such talent, beauty and passion, sung so brilliantly you feel every one means something personally to everyone in the band, and you get this feeling also pretty quickly. From its upbeat moments on Bodysnatchers and Jigsaw Falling Into Place to the more serene on Nude and Videotape, to the downright showing off on Weird Fishes, you know full well you're listening to album which is not only the best of the decade, but one of the best ever. It is a breathtaking record from start to finish, with so many brilliant individual performances along with collective ones that leaves you wishing it never had to end. I feel blessed for being able to have listened to such a collection of genius put down on record, and you should go out and listen to it imediately if you haven't already.
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