DON'T RUSH GENIUS
Anyway, here's 3 albums no one will give a shit about.
41. (1983) New Order – Power, Corruption & Lies
New Order was formed from the ashes of Joy Division after frontman Ian Curtis committed suicide, continuing the post-punk name with added elements that set them apart from others in the genre while creating a sound that would influence future generations. Power, Corruption, & Lies is a special blend of minimalist post-punk with dance sensibilities, one of the seminal new wave albums of the time. With punkish guitar chords and thumping bass over choppy drumbeats akin to club music, they create a rather distant, lonely feeling for Bernard Sumner’s strangely plain voice. His vocals seem pretty unremarkable at first, and yeah, they’re not that impressive compared to others on this list. But no other kind of vocal style would suit New Order’s music. There’s a strange kind of pitiful gloominess in his voice, like a stray puppy or a drunk who lost a bet. On that level, his vocals work pretty damn well, especially on songs like The Village and Leave Me Alone. PCL has New Order’s biggest hit, Blue Monday, which is a shameless 80s dance floor anthem replete with bouncing bass synth and angsty lyrics, and there’s a good chance you may have heard it before. If not, it’s likely that you’ve heard many songs that have taken a note of two from it, as it was a hugely popular single. It may sound rather dated, but the ideas and ambitions behind it certainly are not.
Recommended tracks: The Village, Blue Monday, Leave Me Alone
40. (1987) The Sisters of Mercy – Floodland
Some albums on this last are shamelessly Goth. This is one of them. From the arena rock powerhouse opener Dominion/Mother Russia to the sickly journey down the doom-plastered pit that is Never Land, Floodland is The Sisters of Mercy’s crowning achievement. Andrew Eldritch’s vocals are deep and baritone-like, the type that one would expect from most Goth bands. He can go from haunting murmurs to shrill croons, tackling topics like passive aggressively mocking other band members and mourning a lost childhood. Goth princess Patricia Morrison, who was recruited on this album to play bass, adds a new vibe to the band, visually and musically. While her showmanship isn’t necessarily complex, it adds a depth to the sound that can be rumbling, punchy, and dense. One of the landmarks of the 80s Goth scene, failure to listen to this album results in a subtraction of 30 Goth points.
Recommended tracks: Lucretia My Reflection, 1959, Never Land (Full Length)
39. (2000) Poe - Haunted
First and foremost, I need to give credit where credit is due and thank LeeHarveyKennedy for peaking my interest in this album/artist.
Wherever you are, Lee, be it trolling people at your place of employment, lost in the ether with Epicview, or crushing unsuspecting women with your enormous penis, thank you. Thank you very much.
Anyway, I’ve always had a difficult time describing this album. It’s not particularly bizarre or avant-garde (that would probably make it easier to describe, really), but the mixing of styles, choices of instrumentations, and lyrical themes make it much to unique to box into a simple category like singer-songwriter, indie, or alternative. In fact, Poe’s Haunted might be the most ambiguous album in my collection.
The easiest way to describe this album, I guess, would be alternative rock for people who don’t like alternative rock, kind of like Dredg. The subtle electronic hums provide the platform for orchestral displays of layered harmonies that build on each other without ever sounding muddied or overwhelming. The melodies are never once generic or cliché, and yet they remain perfectly within the grasp of any listener who has at least a vaguely open mind. It is pop music at its stripped core, yes, but it is so seamlessly coated with various other styles that labeling it pop music would be an insult. The way all of these styles interweave with each other is what makes my vocabulary so conservative and, ultimately, my description of the music just awful.
The album follows a loose story of Poe dealing with her repressed emotions centering on her complex relationship with her father, and her coping with his death. Excerpts of audiotapes made by her father are sprinkled throughout in interludes and small portions of songs. It is also partly based on the novel House of Leaves, written by her brother.
What really brings out this album’s character, however, is Poe’s voice. At times it is heartfelt and gorgeous, like in Haunted or If You Were Here, and other times it’s accentuated with a rough, witty attitude, like in the verses of Walk the Walk or the entirety of Not a Virgin. It avoids being jarring or intimidating, which Kate Bush is sometimes guilty of, but still manages to be daring enough to bring out emotions in the songs that would be otherwise absent.
If I haven’t lost any readers by now after the first two albums in this update, I genuinely think this album would appeal to a wide range of DTFers, and it is highly recommended.
Recommended tracks: Haunted, Control, Amazed
Topic: Ravenheart's top 50 albums v. If I could start again... (Read 56510 times)
