Strewth. Remember me? Remember when I was counting down my top 50 albums from the 90s? I got myself into a watching-Breaking-Bad-from-the-start thing and neglected you people, both of you, for far too long.
Let's see if I can finish this thing off any time soon...
23. Spiritualized - Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
Spiritualized then, and this album. Surely everything's been said? Well, maybe not everything.
I'm pretty sure no-one's told you before that I bought my copy in Rhyl Our Price, rushed home with the intriguing medicinal packaging, carefully, ever so carefully, slit the foil around the edge of the CD just enough that I could remove the disc, and never put it back in there.
I set about listening to this amazing piece of work and trying to absorb the brilliant wording of the precription. Oh, and making a hand made copy of it.
I often made myself homemade cases & inlay cards for CDs that have packaging that doesn't necessarily fit in with your normal standard CD jewel case. I did it with Prince's Batman soundtrack that I bought in a special embossed tin, with Kristin Hersh's Hips & Makers, and with this. I'm no artist. I'm not even that good with a photocopier, so what on earth possessed me to do this kind of thing? No idea, just the need to have all my CDs looking nice and tidy I guess.
You know about the music here of course (you don't? Sort that out straight away [full album on YouTube]) but contrary to popular opinion I can't quite bring myself to make it my top Spiritualized album. I mean it's great - all-time great - but it's not the one I go back to over and over again. We'll come to that later.
I had the previous album Electric Mainline in the limited edition glow in the dark packaging (another home made jewel case inlay) but sadly I never got the extra special 12x3" CD single version of this one. In fact I only ever saw it in one shop - Kavern Records in Llandudno - years after it was released and it was battered and overpriced so I didn't get it. I kind of wish I had now.
So there you have it, the second best Spiritualized album.
22. Throwing Muses - The Real Ramona
So here we have it, the best Throwing Muses album.
Now that's a thing. Think about that for a minute: the *best* Throwing Muses album. That takes some doing. You don't get bad Throwing Muses albums. You don't even get weak Throwing Muses albums. At worst you get Throwing Muses albums.
But you also get stuff like Red Heaven and The Real Ramona.
The Real Ramona was the final staging post for Tanya Donelly before she went off to be in The Breeders and Belly. You only have to listen to Not Too Soon here to hear what Belly could do, but her influence on the album is apparent throughout.
But the Throwing Muses has always been Kristin Hersh's band. Her songwriting skills and ability to construct a twisted pop song never ceases to amaze me. The songs here are for the most part short and sweet (I know for a fact that the album clocks in at less than 45 minutes as I had a C90 with this on one side and REM's Out Of Time on the other) but they're perfectly formed.
And that's all you need to know. An album of perfectly formed Throwing Muses songs.
21. Nirvana - MTV Unplugged In New York
I remember the first time I heard Nevermind. I was in my student room in my halls of residence in Wolfenbüttel when one of the guys from my course who was out there with me, a guy called Derek Garside, came to me with a CD and asked me to put it on a cassette for him because he didn't have a CD player out there with him.
I'm an obliging kind of chap generally so we sat and listened to it as it recorded and I can remember my faint praise as clearly a if I'd said it today: "It's OK, but it's a bit too metal for me".
Of course I soon saw the error of my ways and went back to Derek to ask him if I could make my own copy. I didn't end up buying it until after Kurt died. In fact on the day after he died I was in Swindon and decided to go to HMV in the town and buy myself a copy, but was thwarted in my efforts by Fish from Marillion doing an instore show.
But I'm really here to talk about MTV Unplugged In New York. I'd seen the show on the TV and fallen in love with the songs (and the band) all over again. I had it recorded onto video for years before I actually got the album.
When I first met MrsJ she had a crate of CDs in her house that had been left there unclaimed by an ex of hers. There were loads in that box that I already owned, but one of the few I kept before trading the rest in at Vinyl Exchange in Manchester was this one.
I think I can point at this show as one of the starting points of my move further from your indie-rock towards slightly more acoustic stuff. The Unplugged format generally brings the songs to the fore and this set is no exception. Drawing from all 3 studio albums and with a smattering of stand-out covers there's nothing on this album to criticize. Kurt's voice just the right side of desperately frail and Novoselic, Grohl & Smear providing the perfect accompaniment to Cobain's guitar.
One of the greatest live albums ever made. Thank you MTV.
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That's all for tonight. You'll find that from here on in it'll just be gushing praise I'm afraid.
P.S. Before I go I should warn you of something. I know I raved on about MTV's Unplugged format just now, but whatever you do try to avoid the Dashboard Confessional one.
