Ten albums from 1991

[The Modernist]

Blue Lines, Foxbase Alpha and The Low End Theory all still have freshness about them; they're evocative of their time but not stuck in them. Screamadelica was certainly a very good album, but feels a bit smoke and mirrors in comparison, basically a flash production job. Not arsed about the rest.

[The Modernist]

Achtung Baby is the best of the lot.

Complete rubbish.

[The Modernist]

Blue Lines – I’ve never been convinced and I don’t think it’s dated particularly well. Some of it really does scream wine bar and city twats with coke encrusted nostrils to me.

If only you'd married that description to Achtung Baby you'd have been spot on.

[Quaco]

Bandwagonesque
Loveless

[The Write Profile]

Blue Lines still sounds incredibly fresh to me. It's the mixture of smoky, soulful vibes interspersed with a barely suppressed sense of dread and worry ("I was looking back at you to see you looking back at me" as they rap in "Safe from Harm"). Everything about that record totally fits into place, whether it's the well-chosen samples (I particularly like the way "Five Man Army" crosses Al Green with Horace Andy) or the variety of voices on display. And there's real emotional heft to the record, not least during "Unfinished Sympathy". It's a perfect LP, I reckon.

Bandwaggonesque is my favourite TFC record by a huge stretch. It's got a fuzziness and humour that they didn't repeat subsequently as they later slowed down and became more focused on being songwriters (with a lot of success admittedly). There's something about the way the guitars keep crashing into one another, while the vocal harmonies are really affecting, it's in love with music essentially.

The Low End Theory is equal best TCQ with Midnight Marauders, depending on what mood I'm in. I think from a pure bottom-end perspective, this record hits harder and longer, but it lacks some of the communal vibe of MM. Regardless, it's a remarkably assured and assuring record, pointing the way for a jazzy, soulful direction of hiphop that few bothered (or couldn't) match. Sometimes all you need is a bassline and the onpoint rhyming of Pfife and Q-Tip.

Loveless is a record I like well enough, but it's not been the religious experience that it is to some people. If anything I prefer the EPs that came either side of it. That said, in the right conditions, it's a real headphone masterpiece, as the noise battles with the whispering melodies and there's a sense that everything belongs together.

Foxbase Alpha is a really charming record, I like the way it just casually throws off big beats and cooing vocals in a way that's alluringly relaxed. At times the grab bag of influences reminds the listener that the group members are music journalists as well as musicians, but mostly the tunes see it through to the end.

That will do for now!

[BARON CORNY DOG]

the best hip-hop album of the year, Del the Funky Homosapien's, I Wish My Brother George was Here.

#homer

[Pool Hall Richard]

From the list:

Shift-Work
Achtung Baby
Blue Lines
Nevermind
Screamadelica

My own choices:

Gish - Smashing Pumpkins
The Real Ramona - Throwing Muses
Woodface - Crowded House
Pixies - Trompe Le Monde
Just For A Day - Slowdive

[Polishgirl]

The first three plus Achtung Baby for me. I was neck deep in my student glory days in 1991. Any of these, but especially Screamadelica, takes me back to those days ( or as many of them as I can remember... )

Edit: but obviously Trompe le Monde is the pinnacle.