Britpop Calling - Music Diaries - Forums : Best Ever Albums

theblueboy

Yeah, I guess a lot of Britpop singers wanted to sound clever and ironic but couldn't quite pull it off. Definitely Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy and Damon Albarn though. Neil Hannon has great lyrics as well. I would add Jarvis Cocker to that list, was there a reason you missed him out?

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

Idk. I guess I'm just neutral on Pulp. They're neither here nor there to me. I had Different Class but don't really know any of their other ones.
I just remembered another one where the singer was completely inoffensive and their music was really appealing and completely unpretentious. Cornershop. Maybe that wasn't Britpop though, but I think it was. I'm noticing that it had a different album cover in America. It had a picture of a girl on the cover.

theblueboy

bobbyb5 wrote:

Idk. I guess I'm just neutral on Pulp. They're neither here nor there to me. I had Different Class but don't really know any of their other ones.
I just remembered another one where the singer was completely inoffensive and their music was really appealing and completely unpretentious. Cornershop. Maybe that wasn't Britpop though, but I think it was. I'm noticing that it had a different album cover in America. It had a picture of a girl on the cover.

I really like Cornershop. I'm definitely including them- they have a lot of different influences but close enough to the scene for me. I've been listening to "When I was born for the 7th time" recently but they have another really good one called "Hand cream for a generation" ! What a fun and original band. And yeah the singer helps by not doing a bad Morressey impersonation, unlike a few Britpop bands.

I mostly like Pulp, though the only one of theirs I listen to a lot is "this is hardcore". I saw them live once. Jarvis Cocker was a good frontmen.

Graeme2

Gender: Male
Location: The Upside Down

Michael1981 wrote:

bobbyb5 wrote:

Idk. I guess I'm just neutral on Pulp. They're neither here nor there to me. I had Different Class but don't really know any of their other ones.
I just remembered another one where the singer was completely inoffensive and their music was really appealing and completely unpretentious. Cornershop. Maybe that wasn't Britpop though, but I think it was. I'm noticing that it had a different album cover in America. It had a picture of a girl on the cover.

I really like Cornershop. I'm definitely including them- they have a lot of different influences but close enough to the scene for me. I've been listening to "When I was born for the 7th time" recently but they have another really good one called "Hand cream for a generation" ! What a fun and original band. And yeah the singer helps by not doing a bad Morressey impersonation, unlike a few Britpop bands.

I mostly like Pulp, though the only one of theirs I listen to a lot is "this is hardcore". I saw them live once. Jarvis Cocker was a good frontmen.

I wasn't going to include cornershop on my britpop chart but I suppose they do have enough britpop to be included. Yeah a pretty cool band and as they were quite unpretentious they probably haven't dated as bad as some of the stuff. One of my favourite ever band names too, brilliant.
I also saw pulp once. They supported oasis in Sheffield as a surprise act when the verve had to pull out at last minute. Fantastic frontman. I've not heard their albums for that long that I need to re listen in order to rate.

theblueboy

Yeah. This is the one I'm including....

I guess not strictly britpop-but it seems a different take on Britishness and retro influences. Yeah puts a lot of the others to shame and the Norwegion Wood cover is first rate.

The other one I know is...

I just listened again. Its a crazy album but loads of fun. Virtually every track is in a different genre but it flows fine. It put me in a really good mood.

Bobby, I think you might have an earlier one from your description of the cover. I've not heard that one yet.

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

Michael1981 wrote:

Yeah. This is the one I'm including....

I guess not strictly britpop-but it seems a different take on Britishness and retro influences. Yeah puts a lot of the others to shame and the Norwegion Wood cover is first rate.

The other one I know is...

I just listened again. Its a crazy album but loads of fun. Virtually every track is in a different genre but it flows fine. It put me in a really good mood.

Bobby, I think you might have an earlier one from your description of the cover. I've not heard that one yet.

This is the cover it had in the states. I don't know how to paste pictures here so click this.

https://goo.gl/images/p6UxfZ

theblueboy

Oh right. Same album then Smile

Their earlier one also had a picture of a girl on the cover so I was thinking about that one.

"Hand Cream for a generation" is really full on. You might like it Bobby. They do reggae, funk, dance, 70s rock, disco, hip hop. A bit of everything really and its more upbeat and feel-good than "When I was born..." There is a song called "lessons learned from Rocky I to Rocky III" which I've always thought is a great title. I like both those albums a lot

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

Somebody sent me this and it's one that I never heard of before. I listened to an album and an EP and a single. . I guess it's britpop but it's different than most of it. The singer is super- Britpop-y but the music isn't all guitars, and it has strings and more electronic in it. One song even has some drum and bass Loops in it, which made me think of David Bowie and his crummy drum and bass album Earthling. And they also do the old song Wild is the Wind that David Bowie also did. So then I was positive that David Bowie is who they were trying to do. Which makes it sound kind of more 80s than 90s. I kind of like it though. It's far from horrible even if it's not real great. It's kind of like the more romantic type of britpop.I don't think they ever made it over to America because I never even heard the name before. And I never saw a Rialto CD anywhere in my entire life.

Rialto by Rialto

Girl On A Train by Rialto

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

I bet you never heard of this Glam Rock "classic" from 1973. I actually had it on vinyl about a million years ago but I don't think I ever listened to it then. But I've always heard the notorious stories about it. How they were trying to turn him into the next David Bowie because of the success of Ziggy Stardust and the Glam Rock fad. And they spent gazillions of dollars promoting it with big Billboards in Times Square and shit. But it was a total flop. I'm listening to it now and all I can say is if you like Suede you might like it. The song "Space Clown" sounds like it must have been the first song the guy in suede ever heard. Lol. Very glammy singing.

Jobriath by Jobriath

theblueboy

bobbyb5 wrote:

Somebody sent me this and it's one that I never heard of before. I listened to an album and an EP and a single. . I guess it's britpop but it's different than most of it. The singer is super- Britpop-y but the music isn't all guitars, and it has strings and more electronic in it. One song even has some drum and bass Loops in it, which made me think of David Bowie and his crummy drum and bass album Earthling. And they also do the old song Wild is the Wind that David Bowie also did. So then I was positive that David Bowie is who they were trying to do. Which makes it sound kind of more 80s than 90s. I kind of like it though. It's far from horrible even if it's not real great. It's kind of like the more romantic type of britpop.I don't think they ever made it over to America because I never even heard the name before. And I never saw a Rialto CD anywhere in my entire life.

Rialto by Rialto

Girl On A Train by Rialto

I never checked out one of their albums. I remember thinking they were good at the time but they arrived on the scene at the time I had just about had enough of Britpop! I'll probably check out a track to see if I like them.