以下是NME 99'榜上各專輯的介紹
就當純資料囉.
1 THE FLAMING LIPS
The Soft Bulletin (Warners)
A treatise on the love/hate affair between man and science, the Lips' ninth
album was a psychedelic masterpiece. This time, the guitars were turned down,
setting free extravagant arrangements and exposing Wayne Coyne's words of
bafflement and wonder. In a year when outsider visionaries made the running,
it was his combination of the poignant and eccentric that came out top. They
raced for the prize, and won.
2 SHACK
HMS Fable (London)
The mercurial Mick Head stumbled out of a self-induced wilderness, a twinkle
in his eye and a smile on his lips, and crafted a record of such utter joy
and simple beauty that after only a few listens it could loosen the tear
ducts. Buoyed by an uncomplicated appreciation of Love and The Beatles,
'HMS Fable' was folk in the widest sense. Not new, not old. Just timeless.
3 SUPER FURRY ANIMALS
Guerrilla (Creation)
What little chart calypso there was this year came from here. Same with
random rhumbas, mobile-phone techno and chewing-gum punk. Blessed with a
superabundance of creativity in the middle of a world ideas drought, their
third album still knew as much about love and melody as it did about weird
high-pitched squealing noises. Electric Kool-Aid all round.
4 DEATH IN VEGAS
The Contino Sessions (Concrete)
In which the beautiful people wake up one morning and have a collective
breakdown. With guitars burning, smiley faces are replaced with skulls. Goth
perhaps, but with the voodoo snake charm of Bobby G's 'Soul Auctioneer' and
the stalk'n'slash of Iggy's 'Aisha', Fearless and his motley crew have emerged
from a thousand narcotic nights to remind us monsters do exist.
5 BECK
Midnite Vultures (Geffen)
Last year he was a mystic hobo balladeer, but for '99 Beck squeezed into his
sexxpants and tried to tempt every biped on the planet into his Hyundai of
love. Reinvented as Prince's wise-ass son, then, the endless debates on Beck's
'authenticity' became ever more irrelevant in the face of 'Midnite Vultures'
' hilarious, insatiable party power. Made pale bookworms feel superfly,
magnificently.
6 CAMPAG VELOCET
Bon Chic Bon Genre (PIAS)
Yeah, you heard. Watcha gonna do about it? Inexplicably persecuted by numb-
nosed music biz yahoos save for a few true believers, Campag won't let you
forget about them. Nor will we. A record of S&M and cycling from Baron Pete
Voss and his band of high-art lowlifes conceived in a London you won't find
in the A To Z. Campag have pissed in the pool, now they're gonna make you
swin in it. Ha.
7 PAVEMENT
Terror Twilight (Domino)
A valedictory statement, it turned out to be, as Pavement's wayward and
engaging path through the decade ended here. 'Terror Twilight' came on a
like a slightly confused take on classic rock; all powerchords and wistful
ballads subverted by their perpetual gift for doing everything at an angle.
And, at heart, there was Stephen Malkmus - wry, older and, incredibly, wiser
still.
8 MOGWAI
Come On Die Young (Chemikal Underground)
The title came from Glaswegian gang graffiti, and given the intensity of this
record, it's not to be mocked. For anyone who thought Mogwai hit the quiet-
loud-quiet buttons too hard, 'CODY' had dynamics to rival the space programme.
All latent violence, orchestrated beauty and emotional static, the Young Team
shame music's cowardly conservatives. And they hate everyone. Stars.
9 THE FOLK IMPLOSION
One Part Lullaby (Domino)
A godsend for those frustrated by Sebadoh's self-destructiveness and democracy,
'One Part Lullaby' was, essentially, Lou Barlow in excelsis. Gentle acoustic
songs were grafted on to sampled grooves more comfortably than these hybrids
usually manage, and Barlow's unerring knack for a tune came relatively
unburdened by navel-gazing. A laid-back LA album for a generation brought up
to despise the very idea.
10 SMOG
Knock Knock (Domino)
There was no punchline. Bill Callahan's seventh album as Smog continued his
forensic examination of relationships, childhood trauma and mental space.
Alternating raw laments with 'Heroes'-era Bowie chug and a deadpan wit,
'Knock Knock' was a thrilling piece of emotional pathology. Callahan somehow
inveigled a children's choir into all this: further testament to his - very
possibly evil - genius.
11 BASEMENT JAXX
Remedy (XL Recordings)
They came from Brixton, sounded like they'd spent a lot of time in Rio, and
were the foremost contender to the hegemony of trance. A mash-up of house,
ragga, funk, samba and flamenco, about the only place it refused to go was
where intelligent beats usually end - up its own arse. As a dance album you
can actually dance to, 'Remedy' was a revelation. You couldn't party like it
was 1999 without it.
12 UNDERWORLD
Beaucoup Fish (JBO)
Snake fights, Bruce Lee, crazy-sprawling-syntax: it was abnormal business
as usual as Underworld - working in separate studios, rarely talking - somehow
crafted their most precision-tooled set yet. Purposely avoiding matching
'Born Slippy', they pursued a stylish deep house/even-deeper-pop interface.
Beats went whoosh, Karl Hyde eased off the booze and a work steeped in
longevity was their reward.
13 GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPEROR!
Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada (Kranky/Constellation)
On the inner sleeve they chanted, 'Let's take their glass towers' and events
in Seattle suggest their legion is getting stronger. GYBE's emergency broadcast
is the slow burn of a satellite's decaying orbit above a dead planet. As you
read this they're probably holed up with a stash of firearms and baked beans.
You have to love 'em.
14 MAKE UP
Save Yourself (K)
They had the walk and the talk; the lip and the schtick. And with their third
studio album, Make Up had the rock witchcraft more often associated with New
Orleans graveyards at midnight. Sucking in sexual geometry, clammy paranoia
and an incendiary cover of 'Hey Joe', the fiery vision of the underground's
sexiest rouge element reiterated what a righteous riot rock'n'roll could be.
Say yeah, baby.
15 EMINEM
The Slim Shady LP (Aftermath/Interscope)
His name was... ubiquitous. Devilishly obscene, 'The Slim Shady LP' wore its
Parental Advisory sticker with pride, Eminem dragging his stoopid ass out of
Detroit to let rip with savage humour, trailer trash logic and Dr Dre's
skilful beats. The spottiest pop star since Sid Vicious, the first credible
white rap artist since 3rd Bass and the Beasties and, er, the first to be
sued by his mum.
16 JIM O'ROURKE
Eureka (Domino)
The fat man on the cover rubbing a toy bunny against his groin was just
camouflage. Inside Jim O'Rourke's unlikely masterpiece, there was dysfunction,
even sickness. But it came skilfully swaddled in soft folk and pastoral
Americana, and gilded with glowing choir song. 'Women Of The World' - an
Ivor Cutler cover - was so fine we had to give it away on the NME On CD: a
small clue to the riches that lay within.
17 OL' DIRTY BASTARD
N***a Please (Elektra)
A busy year for ODB: crack, cops, more crack and handcuffs. No-one was
shocked, then, when 'N***a Please' whiffed of psychosis and ruckus. What
counted was how dexterously he who even the rest of Wu-Tang Clan view warily
implanted his tragicomic lifestyle inside red-raw grooves. His share of
1999's forthright soul quota left most rivals running on empty. Totally funked
up, the asylum was his.
18 BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY
I See A Darkness (Domino)
As dependable as death and taxes, 'twas in the bleak midwinter when erstwhile
Palace Bro' Will Oldham confirmed his blue-blooded credentials with this
thigh-slapping collection of party numbers. Oldham's dread balladry manages
to both comfort and appal, au fait as it is with arcane linguistics and sweet
tunes. A 'Prince' of hearts not so much broken as drained.
19 BLUR
13 (Food) (ffrr)
Post-Britpop musical freefall and post-relationship despair collide on Blur's
most scrambled and ambitious album yet. Critics of Damon's emotional aloofness
were silenced by 'Tender''s gospel majesty and the heartbreaking 'No Distance
Left To Run', while Graham's art-punk interludes hit new heights - or is that
depths? - of discordant spazziness. A multi-layered record for Blur fans of
every stripe.
20 THE CHARLATANS
Us And Us Only (Universal)
Charlatans articles are usually punctuated with phrases like 'survivors',
'great singles' and 'the tragic death of Rob Collins'. They don't usually
mention great albums. Until now. The epic 'Forever', the swathes of Dylan in
'My Beautiful Friend' and the Mellotron-soaked 'Senses' are the sound of a
band who've finally found what they're looking for. The phrase is 'classic'.
21 TINDERSTICKS
Simple Pleasure (Quicksilver)
The celestial soul masterpiece that these funeral directors of grumble-pop
have been promising for years. Gone are the paeans to tap-room despair,
replaced by the warm glow of redemption, the soft balm of sensual healing
and twinkling arrangements of rare loveliness. There's even an aching Odyssey
cover. And you can hear the words! Time to try a little Tinderness.
22 LOW
Secret Name (Tugboat)
Coming straight from a land of dark horses and still waters, Minnesota's
Low surpassed even their standards of sad beauty with their fifth album.
'Secret Name' lovingly - if somewhat tremulously - leafed through wintry
Americana, quiet revelations and unsteady love. Oddly euphoric for all the
bleakness, such purity made a strong case for more Mormon husband-wife-and-
bassist teams in modern music.
23 ADD N TO (X)
Avant Hard (Mute)
The year's most thumpingly original debut was hotwired into life by a trio
of black-clad artniks steeped in Betamax futurism. Barry Smith, Ann Shenton
and Steve Claydon dress like cyborg terrorists and hammer the fuck out of
vintage synthesisers in their quest to find oddly erotic machine dreams in
the teeth of a man-made electrical storm. An exhilarating landmark in deviant
punktronica. This is artcore.
24 LEFTFIELD
Rhythm And Stealth (Hard Hands)
A much-anticipated album of more troughs than peaks, sadly, but the peaks
were lofty: the rhythmic forearm smash of the Roots Manuva-assisted 'Dusted',
'Phat Planet''s rattle and frothy roll, and Afrika Bambaataa burbling
brilliantly through 'Afrika Shox'. On the down side, that was about it. But,
then, how much do you really need?
25 TLC
Fanmail (LaFace)
The R&B girl group's reinvention as rock-hard cyber-vixens found its finest
embodiment in TLC. In spite of the awful we-are-robots portraits of the band
on the sleeve, 'Fanmail' was a beautifully modern album - rap, soul,
obligatory blousy balladry and pure digital skills charged up with that
inescapable no-bullshit attitude. The business, plainly.
26 LOW
Christmas (Tugboat)
You don't have to be Christians to make a Christmas album. But it helps.
What makes 'Christmas' so unlike any other Christmas record is its stunningly
slow, soft and beautiful reinterpretations of previously tired standards like
'Silent Night' and 'Little Drummer Boy', plus its own deeply respectful
additions to the seasonal songbook. It delivers the gentlest of kicks up the
arse to the Christmas musical tradition.
27 ROYAL TRUX
Veterans Of Disorder (Domino)
They said it couldn't be done but 'Veterans Of Disorder' saw Royal Trux
refine their wasted cyber-boogie yet further, to produce an album of laser-
sighted rock'n'roll with a smouldering rock of crack where its heart should
be. As Neil Hagerty and Jennifer Herrema edge towards self-parody, its perhaps
not the only rock record you need, but it certainly sounds that way.
28 LOVE AS LAUGHTER
Destination 2000 (Sub Pop)
Newly signed to Sub Pop, L/A/L cemented their position as the best group in
Seattle with the release of their third album. Led by one-time Beck
collaborator, Sam Jayne, they continued to mine their own peculiar seam of
lean, frazzled trash'n'roll. Imagine Sonic Youth covering 'Let It Bleed',
and you're pretty close.
29 THE ALL SEEING I
Pickled Eggs & Sherbet (ffrr)
Drafting in Tony Christie, Phil Oakey and Stephen Jones, these three bedroom
DJs - with considerable help from Jarvis Cocker - came up with an album of
raconteur crooning, the beat of the Steel City's dance culture, and some
classic pop tunes to boot. Like a shadowy wing of the Sheffield tourist board,
their manifesto was pure pop eclecticsm. Anyone with sense signed up.
30 IAN BROWN
Golden Greats (Polydor)
King Monkey went a long way to restoring his musical credibility with this
21st-century opium den of sub-Saharan funk and Old Testament sermonising.
Against an electro-ethnic tapestry of pulsing grooves and sci-fi blues, he
sings of karmic vengeance and Third World power politics from a heavy fog
of hash smoke. A decade on from 'The Stone Roses', it's a shimmering mirage
rich in perfumed mystery.
31 GORKY'S ZYGOTIC MYNCI
Spanish Dance Troupe (Mantra)
While all things Welsh were making a fortune, Gorky's were on their uppers.
Minus one bearded guitarist and plus one new label, they came back with their
most accessible work yet. With artwork by Robert Wyatt's wife and tunes from
the wood, they rooted themselves deeper in the classic tradition of British
folk music.
32 SIZZLA
Royal Son Of Ethiopia (Greensleeves)
He wasn't above the law - Kingston cops arrested him for possession of
marijuana - but Miguel Collins soared above your regular reggae crooner.
Album number six from the 22-year-old rumbled with truths on insurrection,
uprising and the ills of capitalism. A voice in a million bearing gently
powerful activism for a choice victory over Babylon. Blasted cops aside,
that is.
33 MOUSE ON MARS
Niun Niggung (Domino)
Sometime Stereo-lads and arch jesters of kindergarten Krautronica, Teutonic
jazznoids Andi Toma and Jan St Werner took the splatter-tech blueprint of
Aphex or Paradinas and moulded it into many-splendoured plasticine pop. Far
from mere boffin-house, this joyful racket is the funniest - and funkiest -
noise to come out of Germany since the Baader-Meinhof Gang.
34 THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS
Surrender (Virgin)
As big beat crashed around their ears, Tom and Ed were smart enough to jump
ship and apply their techno-punk spirit to new areas. Out went crunching
breakbeats, replaced by ubertrance and acid-house revivalism. Noel Gallagher
returned for the discodelic 'Let Forever Be' while Bernard Sumner towered over
stormtrooper trance anthem 'Out Of Control'. The poppiest Chemicals LP yet.
35 POLE
Pole 2 (Kiff SM)
Berlin calling. Static on the line. Disorienting echo, too. That was precisely
how Stefan Betke, a Lee 'Scratch' Perry from a very cold place, wanted it on
'Pole 2'. Simultaneously pushing dub and electronica into new orbits, it was
the year's least contrived, most absorbing chill-out album; an excellent
collage of hooting melodicas, click-clock rhythms and bulging sub-bass which
stalks you around the house.
36 THE BETA BAND
The Beta Band (Regal/Parlophone)
The Beta Band promoted this record by declaring they hated it. It was,
admittedly, a mess, but within its schizoid stops and starts lurked much
genius. From hip-hop to rockabilly to 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart' - it was
as if they had tossed their entire record collections into a shredder. No
rhyme. No reason. No boundaries. Possibly a future classic.
37 ROOTS MANUVA
Brand New Second Hand (Big Dada)
Roots Manuva single-handedly took British hip-hop aside this year and muttered
in its ear: 'Don't imitate, innovate.' His debut album, proved he practises
what he preaches. Eschewing mimcry of Yank rappers, Roots created a sound all
his own, eminently more sarf London than South Central. Lashing out from a web
of digi-dub, ruffhouse ragga and jagged electro, he exhorted us to 'Juggle
Tings Proper'. And we did.
38 μ-ZIQ
Royal Astronomy (Hut)
Marrying ambient abstraction to mellifluous accessibility, Mike Paradinas
delivered his most palatable collection yet. Putting a classy spin on his
trademark splatters of drill'n'bass, the arch-boffin was on top of his game.
From the glacially Nyman-esque chamber music of 'Scaling' to the softly
tumbling dream-pop of 'The Fear', symphonic refinement shares a jazz
cigarette with revved-up acid techno.
39 KEVIN ROWLAND
My Beauty(Creation) (ffrr)
And what beauty! The sad, mad, pretty bad story of Kev's life sung through
other people's songs. People were generally pretty excited by this concept
until they saw Kevin wearing suspenders and a feather boa on the cover. So
they missed out on his epic versions of 'The Greatest Love Of All' and 'Rag
Doll', and Kev's profile since has been low. So what if hardly anyone bought
this album? Time will show its true, epic worth.
40 TRAVIS
The Man Who (Independiente)
The daft glam of their debut excised, this was the sound of Travis getting
serious. Strings sweep, choruses swoon, and Fran Healy gives the distinct
impression he needs a good mothering. Sending it double platinum, the nation
was happy to oblige. As tortuous to record - six studios in six months, two
producers - as the stripped emotions suggest, it's all melancholic loveliness.
Like Eminem, but in a completely different manner, Travis turned the air blue
in 1999.
41 FUTURE PILOT AKA
Future Pilot AKA Vs A Galaxy Of Sounds (Sulphur)
Ex-Soup Dragons bassist, and current driving instructor, Sushil K Dade ducked
behind his Future Pilot AKA pseudonym to come up with this: a massively
ambitious double-LP of psychedelic electronic sound, which took in
collaborations with such lo-fi luminaries as Cornershop, Brix Smith and
Suicide's Alan Vega. Succeeded where many other had failed in making The
Pastels sound funky.
42 STEREOLAB
Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night (Duophonic)
From that title alone we might presume these veteran avant-pop bilinguists
deserved their kicking in NME - unfairly, as it goes, because the latest
'Lab labour of love is up there with their best. The group's 11th opus extends
their pop-warping agenda further with weightless free-jazz fluttering,
post-kitsch retro-whimsy and infinite Francodrone bloopage. A solid slab of
latterday 'Lab.
43 SEBADOH
The Sebadoh (Domino)
It was the year Lou Barlow and co left their four-tracks behind and appeared
on Top Of The Pops. 'Tree' proved Lou didn't save all his best songs for the
Folk Implosion album, but 'The Sebadoh' will best be remembered for Jason
Loewenstein, Lou's eternal lieutenant in lo-fi, taking centre stage and
delivering some faultless garage-punk gems in 'It's All You' and 'Decide'.
A cleaner sound but otherwise, business as usual. Which is a GOOD thing.
44 AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD
Madonna (Merge)
From Austin, with blood, goth punks ...And You Will Know Us... returned
after a two-year absence with another static-riven assault on the senses.
Heavily in debt to 'Evol'-era Sonic Youth and the gory fixations of The
Cramps, they didn't just sing about death valley, they sounded like they
lived there. Song titles like 'Children Of The Hydra's Teeth' told you all
you needed to know.
45 THE AUTEURS
How I Learned To Love The Bootboys (Hut)
Continuing his disembowelment of English mores, Luke Haines underlined his
status as Britain's bitterest lyricist with this air-strike on nostalgia. As
much about the confusion of adolescence as the inherent uselessness of the
'70s, Haines' half-whispered missives were framed by the finest creepy space
pop since prime Suede. The country's most poptastic misanthropes, no question.
46 DAMIEN JURADO
Rehearsals For Departure (Rykodisc)
Quietly spoken Seattle-ite Jurado's second LP was a soft-spoken, slow-burning
masterpiece of bleak folk and bleaker humour. Hipsters were quick to hail him
as some new Elliott Smith but 'Rehearsals For Departure' was an altogether
darker, more unsettling proposition; all broken hearts and murder ballads.
Bitter and sweet, in equal measures.
47 RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
The Battle Of Los Angeles (Epic)
It's all their fault: that whole rock-rap crossover can be traced back to
their still-stunning debut, which first introduced Zack's chipmunk rapping
and Tom Morello's mind-blowing guitar trickery. Having the sense not to monkey
with a winning formula, '...Los Angeles' settles for being phatter, darker and
a whole lot louder. Blitzing, crypto-politico metal-funk with Semtex up its
arse.
48 CLINTON
Disco And The Halfway To Discontent (Meccico)
Tired of the attention 'Brimful Of Asha' brought, Tjinder and Ben retreated
into disco as social and political lubricant. Never quite escaping their
alter-ego, their copyrighted Asian flavour crept in, while hip-hop was slyly
restyled. Mainly, though, 'Disco...' is super funky and endearingly kitsch,
with a social conscience worn proudly on its sleeve. Not that far from
Cornershop after all, then. Thank God.
49 PAPA M
Live From A Shark Cage (Domino)
In the oversubscribed world of wordless rock, David Pajo is both guru and
disciple, inspiring mere mortals like Mogwai yet still humble enough to fling
out masterpieces like '...Shark Cage' under yet another M appendage. Contains
both the best title of the year - 'I Am Not Lonely With Cricket' - and enough
finger-picked rural unease to spook a coven of Blair Witches.
50 MISSY ELLIOTT
Da Real World (East West)
Feeling slighted by everyone from Whitney Houston to Eternal pilfering her
sound, Missy decided to get her own back with an album of wrathful beats, two
fingers shoved in the air, and reacted to hip-hop's misogynists and ideas
thieves by proclaiming herself a bitch. Such belligerence was confusing,
but Missy's still so obviously the coolest antidote to rap's usual machismo
that even indie boys like Damon Albarn got the drift, naming his daughter
after her.
--
We've got the dreamers disease..
--
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