Top 50 Darkest Albums

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MODLAB
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Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by MODLAB »

#2 on the top 50 darkest albums ever is —

Let It Come Down

http://www.nme.com/list/50-darkest-albu ... 156/page/5

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jadams501
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by jadams501 »

Thanks for the link.

I gotta say, though, that i find the choice baffling. The album has some darkness on it but also excitement, malaise, grace, love, hope, recovery, etc. -- with such lush, bright orchestration that i don't find the album very dark at all. To me it's more huge and life-affirming. Very odd to see it amidst Pink Moon and In Utero.
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by MODLAB »

jadams501 wrote:Thanks for the link.

I gotta say, though, that i find the choice baffling. The album has some darkness on it but also excitement, malaise, grace, love, hope, recovery, etc. -- with such lush, bright orchestration that i don't find the album very dark at all. To me it's more huge and life-affirming. Very odd to see it amidst Pink Moon and In Utero.

I think it's quite dark... but not like the gut wrenching and the catastrophic moments on LGWAFIS.

IDK... I've listened to LICD many many times... Yes sadness, not cataclysmic.

But what do I know.

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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by redcloud »

WHAT...a list of "50 most brilliantly depressing albums of all time" that does not include 'Electro-Shock Blues" by the Eels? :shock:

Sorry this major omission renders this list totally incomplete and loses much credibility for its lack of research. Anybody who knows this album will surely agree. It is easily one of the greatest records of the past 15 years but also one of the most haunting, painful and difficult to listen to.
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by angelsighs »

I think it's a weird choice too- LICD is quite a happy and radiant album to me.
I think the bands darkest records are L&G and A&E.
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by runcible »

This is the NME let's not forget. And like everything they say it's probably worth ignoring.
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by olan »

runcible wrote:This is the NME let's not forget. And like everything they say it's probably worth ignoring.
Couldn't agree more. IIRC they have a Coldplay album in there for Gawds sake. Now listening to Coldplay is an unpleasant experience at the best of times, but I can't seriously think of it as dark. Note the turgid crap from MSP getting a similarly baffling rating. Must be nearly time for the top 50 albums of the year lists to be compiled there too. Something to look forward to :?
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by MODLAB »

I really don't care about the numbering system etc... But when you look at some of those albums...

The Cure — Pornography was a deadly album in the 80's for me.

and many more.


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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by runcible »

I'd much rather read a list compiled by the contributors on this forum.
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by flokie »

olan wrote:
runcible wrote:This is the NME let's not forget. And like everything they say it's probably worth ignoring.
Note the turgid crap from MSP getting a similarly baffling rating.
Meh. I have no interest in what they're doing nowadays, but THB definitely has that place somewhere in that top 50, even if I wouldn't argue for top spot!

It's not an awful list at all considering it's the NME. OK there's quite a lot that can be dismissed, but many excellent and dark albums as well.
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by shalloboi »

runcible wrote:I'd much rather read a list compiled by the contributors on this forum.
this is a great idea. there are at least 10-20 albums i could probably dream up that aren't on that list that should be.
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by johnnyboy »

I can't be bothered checking th NME list but I'm assuming Lou Reed - Berlin is in there? I was listening to that the other night and the song Carlone Says always gets me. Such a beautiful song but man oh man the subject matter is harsh, yet strangely hopeful in a way. Any album with the lyric "Caroline says as she gets up off the floor Why is it that you beat me it isn't any fun" has to be put down as 'dark'.........and as for The Kids, well, that's a whole other level of dark.
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by jack white »

angelsighs wrote:I think it's a weird choice too- LICD is quite a happy and radiant album to me.
well i don't know if i agree w/this but i also don't think LICD it totally immersed in darkness. there is a bit of light & hope & positive intentions in the lyrics & music. but overall i do think it's one of those oppressive & sorrowful works that some conveys the idea that yea there's a lotta shit to get through but you should cherish the valuable things. i guess that message resonates throughout most of Spz' LP's.


as far as the NME.. well i haven't read or looked at one in about ten years.
but i will say this for them, they do occasionally give Spz a lot more credit than the rest of the British rock press. they've given them countless singles of the week & fair exposure when they do lists like these: it's always nice to see a positive blurb about the band.
& you really don't get that w/the snide, condescending wankers in Mojo (keith cameron for example*) & Uncut just jumps on any bandwagon that's hot at the time before forgetting about bands unless their americana. as for Q, i don't know what that mag is about anymore.
so fair enough, the NME may be a crap rag but at least they support the band from time to time.


*i was actually looking through my brother's old Mojo's a few months back & was surprised to find an article & interview w/J around the time of LICD & Keith Cameron did the piece. & you could tell reading between the lines & the tone of his writing he really was looking down his nose at J & his output & basically being a sniveling, flippant, arrogant little prick. he kept going on about how J borrowed the quote of "let's fly so high that the sun burns the wax on our wings" but that J got his facts wrong about where that line was initially said. like an attempt to denigrate J's efforts or something. it was just a spread full of petty little digs like that.

so yea, it's good to see the mainstream press give them some good exposure. & i'm sure there's a few kids reading the NME that could benefit from being exposed to the band so in a way it's kinda all good..
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by Greeny »

There are a few reasonable choices in there (Nico being one)... but waaay too superficial as you'd expect from the NME.

No Skin (Shame, Humility. Revenge is absolutely the darkest record I own) or Throbbing Gristle for starters...
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by Multi »

shalloboi
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by shalloboi »

i'm probably going to do myself a favor and check that out. this is the second time in a few months rowland s. howard has come up. i'd never even heard of him until recently.
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by moop »

shalloboi wrote:
runcible wrote:I'd much rather read a list compiled by the contributors on this forum.
this is a great idea. there are at least 10-20 albums i could probably dream up that aren't on that list that should be.
this seems like an odd, but intriguing idea to me. surely it should full funereal dirges by death metal bands, since all they care about is being 'dark'? i guess once it becomes funny it's not dark any more... :roll:
that aside, i'd like to see what people on here say too.
can't think of many right now, but in terms of albums not mentioned, my list would include:

elliott smith - from a basement on the hill
fire walk with me OST
GYBE - f#a#oo
sparklehorse - good morning spider/it's a wonderful life
the warlocks - heavy deavy skull lover
love all those albums...

i'm definitely with redcloud that electro-shock blues is a glaring omission, and an amazing album.
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by BzaInSpace »

flokie wrote:
olan wrote:
runcible wrote:This is the NME let's not forget. And like everything they say it's probably worth ignoring.
Note the turgid crap from MSP getting a similarly baffling rating.
Meh. I have no interest in what they're doing nowadays, but THB definitely has that place somewhere in that top 50, even if I wouldn't argue for top spot!

It's not an awful list at all considering it's the NME. OK there's quite a lot that can be dismissed, but many excellent and dark albums as well.
You can say what you like about the NME, and why not, it won't be anything I haven't said before myself - BUT. In all fairness, they have never been less than unanimous in their praise for Let It Come Down. Even before it was actually released they were hailing it as the larger-than-life, epic masterpiece it is. Which is more than can be said for any other media/review/journo sources. Even this very forum, in it's previous blue coloured incarnation, featured more than its fair share of naysayers. I recall early feedback along the lines of "boring", "indulgent" and "too many ballads"... how things have changed.
To be truthful, a record like Let It Come Down is not something which can be digested quickly so I guess for some it took a while for this album to work its magic and find it's own lofty place, but the NME - or at least someone there - was on it right there at the beginning. Even the single releases were made 'Single Of The Week' and stuff. This was right among The Strokes frenzy as well. I think including it these lists is just keeping it known out there. Fuck it, if just one person gets into it from being included in a list like this then it's worth it.

I know I've mentioned this before but it was only due to an issue of NME from early 1997 with an in depth article and review of Ladies and Gentlemen... that got me into this band in the first place... and here I am. :wink:

I also think Jack nailed it. I remember that article in Mojo you mention - aquarium pics? - the only time that mag has featured any kind of article about Spz in recent times and it was a wasted opportunity. There was more about Lupine Howl than the new Spiritualized record. Keith 'I didn't discover Nirvana' Cameron... rubbish! The last couple of records have barely had any kind or review - just a sentence or so. Fuck 'em - obviously Spz aren't fashionable enough around at Mojo towers (or more likely aren't paying for any coverage, cover stories and full page review... not looking at anyone in particular, The Black Keys... :!: )

So - the list. The Holy Bible at number 1 you say? Won't get any arguments from me. I'm with Flokie here... that album really seems to have been this mad 'lightning-in-a-bottle' (lightning of the bleakest sort of course) moment where everything crystallized into this one awesome slab of dark, brutalist, metallic (not metal) pop music, with super-dense, vivid lyrics that have revealed endless layers over time. Nothing else they've done since is of any real consequence but that album is something else.
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by Sim »

BzaInSpace wrote:I also think Jack nailed it. I remember that article in Mojo you mention - aquarium pics? - the only time that mag has featured any kind of article about Spz in recent times and it was a wasted opportunity.
That article's here if anyone wants to take a look:

http://www.spiritualized-discography.co ... 001_1.html
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by runcible »

BzaInSpace wrote:I know I've mentioned this before but it was only due to an issue of NME from early 1997 with an in depth article and review of Ladies and Gentlemen... that got me into this band in the first place... and here I am. :wink:
The NME was a very different beast back then although the changes had already started that turned it into the pathetic pile of bilge it is today.

The Holy Bible? Don't get me started.
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by solarflarez »

i would be hard pushed to make a list of 20 "dark" LPs, but heres a couple i think fit the bill?

Syd Barrett - The Madcap Laughs
Pink Floyd - The Wall

or have i missed the point?
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by Ian »

runcible wrote:The Holy Bible? Don't get me started.
I should know better, and you know I love you, but out of the albums on that list, this one deserves a place, and very probably the top spot.

But I think we've done this before...
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runcible
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by runcible »

Ian wrote:
runcible wrote:The Holy Bible? Don't get me started.
I should know better, and you know I love you, but out of the albums on that list, this one deserves a place, and very probably the top spot.

But I think we've done this before...
Probably. That's why I didn't start.
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by BzaInSpace »

runcible wrote:
BzaInSpace wrote:I know I've mentioned this before but it was only due to an issue of NME from early 1997 with an in depth article and review of Ladies and Gentlemen... that got me into this band in the first place... and here I am. :wink:
The NME was a very different beast back then although the changes had already started that turned it into the pathetic pile of bilge it is today...
Nah, it wasn't really though. Time makes us think otherwise, but remember - this was at the tail end of the 'Britpop' era, so the extensive coverage of truly awful & musically uninspired bands was just as extensive as it probably is now. Sure, you got the occasional decent article, but the writing is not really any better - we're all older though. I admit during the Conor "I know nothing...Except Morrissey is a racialist!" McNicholas years the paper was as you describe but its definitely moved on a bit.

Put it this way, I'd still rather read that than the likes of Q - at least NME is aware of it's absolute disposability.
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runcible
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by runcible »

BzaInSpace wrote:
runcible wrote:The NME was a very different beast back then although the changes had already started that turned it into the pathetic pile of bilge it is today...
Nah, it wasn't really though.
I subscribed to it weekly til about 1999 which was the point at which I couldn't take it any more. Their ridiculous Oasis and Strokes devotion became too much. I have picked it up a few times since then and found it largely unreadable.
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by runaway »

Jay-Z - The Black Album
Doesn't get much darker than that.
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by flokie »

Hmm OK I don't want to kick things off either... just a wee mention of a Manics bootleg I have from '94 (still only on cassette), supporting Therapy? in Marseille. They're definitely playing it for the Therapy? crowd. The result: fast, heavy and furious. Brilliant stuff.
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by jadams501 »

solarflarez wrote:Pink Floyd - The Wall
For me The Wall is so theatrical and melodramatic that it becomes a little silly... I can still relate to the teenage emotions but I think I'm usually too amused to find it that dark.

I'd nominate:

Big Star - Third/Sister Lovers
Bob Dylan - Street Legal
Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska
and maybe some Nick Drake
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by sunray »

runaway wrote:Jay-Z - The Black Album
Doesn't get much darker than that.
Au contraire http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx6fwfBKCIQ :lol:

Surprised no one's mentioned Mark Lanegan.
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Re: Top 50 Darkest Albums

Post by Already There »

MODLAB wrote:#2 on the top 50 darkest albums ever is —

Let It Come Down

http://www.nme.com/list/50-darkest-albu ... 156/page/5

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Dark in terms of lyrics. Because the music is not very dark.

Ah, Pink Moon... That is not very dark, maybe a bit depressing and melancholic, but I know darker things.

Meat Is Murder is pretty dark, yeah, but well...

Lists, huh? ^^
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