Muzik's top 50 dance Albums — Forum Archive

11 Jan 2002, 08:30

DJ Shadow - 'Endtroducing' (1996)
Chemical Brothers - 'Exit Planet Dust' (1995)
Orbital - 'Untitled (The Brown Album) (1993)
Primal Scream - 'Screamadelica (1991)
BT - 'Ima (1995)
LFO - 'Frequencies (1991)
The Orb - 'Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld' (1991)
Daft Punk - 'Homework' (1997)
Kraftwerk - 'Trans-Europe Express' (1977)
Underworld - 'Dubnobasswithmyheadman' (1993)
Soul II Soul - 'Club Classics Volume One' (1988)
Aphex Twin - 'Selected Ambient Works 85-92' (1992)
KLF - 'The White Room' (1991)
Massive Attack - 'Blue Lines' (1991)
The Future Sound Of London - 'Accelerator' (1991)
Soft Cell - 'Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret' (1981)
Nicolette - 'Let Nobody Live Rent Free In Your Head' (1996)
Air - 'Moon Safari' (1998)
Public Enemy - 'It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back' (1998)
Happy Mondays - 'Pills 'N' Thrills And Bellyaches'
Leftfield - 'Leftism' (1995)
Negativland - 'Escape From Noise' (1987)
The Prodigy - 'Music For The Jilted Generation'
Basement Jaxx - 'Remedy' (1999)
Fatboy Slim - 'Halfway Between The Gutter And The Stars' (2000)

Screamadelica but no PCL or Technique :nonono:

11 Jan 2002, 08:46

I've never seen Happy Mondays as dance, baffles me..

11 Jan 2002, 08:59

Inordinately proud that I only own one of those records, Public Enemy......

11 Jan 2002, 09:01

Originally posted by The Death of Art Spells the Murder of Artists I've never seen Happy Mondays as dance, baffles me..

I've always thought Bummed was a better 'dance' album too. I mean, Wrote For Luck! What a Hooj Choon!

And Surrender was surely a better Chems album?

DJ Shadow at no.1?! Someone's having a larf!

Rest of it looks alright, though not sure The Kids would know too much about Kraftwerk. Which reminds me: last time I saw Kraftwerk (Tribal Gathering in 96, I think?) I had Paddy from Emmerdale stood one side of me, and the older Hartnoll brother stood the other side!!

11 Jan 2002, 09:07

i dug out bummed a while ago and came to the conclusion that it was mostly shit, apart from WFL and a couple of others. i think without the remixes they would have sank without trace and not considered dance at all. Or maybe i'm missing the point?

11 Jan 2002, 09:13

Originally posted by The Death of Art Spells the Murder of Artists i dug out bummed a while ago and came to the conclusion that it was mostly shit, apart from WFL and a couple of others. i think without the remixes they would have sank without trace and not considered dance at all. Or maybe i'm missing the point?

Leave out the "mostly" bit. Happy Mondays were shit full stop in my prejudiced opinion. Wankers !! It'll be interesting to see what Tony Wilson says about their role in Factory's demise in his book......

11 Jan 2002, 09:25

I'll buck the trend and say they were brilliant! Some of their gigs in the late 80's were absolutely mental. The opening bars of Tart Tart send a shiver up me spine which only Ceremony can better to this day. What a track! Bummed's a sooperb album too.

However, they did go shite once Step On hit the shops, and everything there after - bar maybe's Kinky Afro - was dire.

Saw their reunion tour 3 years back and they did the same set at Brixton three nights running. What is it with these old Factory bands, eh?!

11 Jan 2002, 09:46

I think Loose Fit is the best mondays track but anything by Black Grape pisses on the mondays. 2 great albums.

11 Jan 2002, 09:52

Originally posted by Allen Jarvis I'll buck the trend and say they were brilliant! Some of their gigs in the late 80's were absolutely mental. The opening bars of Tart Tart send a shiver up me spine which only Ceremony can better to this day. What a track! Bummed's a sooperb album too. However, they did go shite once Step On hit the shops, and everything there after - bar maybe's Kinky Afro - was dire. Saw their reunion tour 3 years back and they did the same set at Brixton three nights running. What is it with these old Factory bands, eh?!

That about sums up my assessment of the Mondays. I've got nine of those Albums and am familiar with all the acts except negativland, anyone know if I'm missing something there.

11 Jan 2002, 10:11

Negativland ?

That's weird... I never thought of them as dancey...

They've had a fabulous song, one I REALLY want to play at my funeral. It's called "Over the hiccups" and it's "Over the rainbow" sang by a little girl who got hiccup. Just beautiful. Guaranteed to make everybody cry at said funeral... :)

They also got in conflict wit U2 over something. Don't remember what but they took the piss a little about U2 and had to pay loads because of a legal action from the Irish band's management...

11 Jan 2002, 14:35

The trouble with these music press polls are that they are often a bit of "emperor's new clothes" and "I know of an album that you don't know of" smugness. I've followed the dance music scene since the early 90s, have bought every copy of Muzik mag, seen trends and genres come and go and followed the press as they rave about them, but I've NEVER EVER heard of Negativeland (their album came out in '87 apparently) and now Muzik mag are crediting it as a dance classic!!

By the way Technique was 28th in this poll out of 50. Muzik was also raving about "Atmosphere" a few months back as a classic worth rediscovering - so they can't be all bad!

11 Jan 2002, 14:42

Originally posted by Allen Jarvis I'll buck the trend and say they were brilliant! Some of their gigs in the late 80's were absolutely mental. The opening bars of Tart Tart send a shiver up me spine which only Ceremony can better to this day. What a track! Bummed's a sooperb album too. However, they did go shite once Step On hit the shops, and everything there after - bar maybe's Kinky Afro - was dire. Saw their reunion tour 3 years back and they did the same set at Brixton three nights running. What is it with these old Factory bands, eh?!

With you on this one Jarvo - fookin love the Mondays, didn't appreciate them when I saw them with the order at the NEC 89 - mainly because I was young :lol: Freaky Dancin is a great track - not only cos Barney produced it - it just sounds so raw, Bummed is brilliant - Do it Better is probably me favourite Mondays track of all-time, and I was also at the re-union gig in Manchester MENA - when Bez came out in a fuckin witches hat and walking stick - or was that Mr Ryder? Was that pissed can't even remember :lol: Pills'n'Thrills Dance music - must admit that's even beyond me;)

11 Jan 2002, 15:09

im sick of lists, this one is ridiculously predictable. you cant win with these things; if theyre voted for by the public theyre mindless drivel and if theyre compiled by the critics theyre mindless drivel. the token inclusion of Public Enemy as the rap entry is a bit embarrassing. And I'm not sure whether to be amused by the sentimentality of BT's first album's high placing. You almost get the impression that the magazine longs to return to the days when it could cover prog-house cover to cover. Anyway what the fuck is "dance music", this list hardly clarifies matters, it seems just about anything is eligible. And the list is ridiculously rockist - no. 1 in scattering pop and trip-hop bands all about the shop, and more vitally in assuming that dance music is about the album form in the first place. great 'dance' singles from 'Good Times' to 'Move Your Body' to 'Energy Flash' to 'Here Comes the Drumz' (incidentally, why no jungle?) to 'Neighbourhood' stand alone as great dance tracks outside the context of 'the album', a form of presenting music that is perfect for rock bands but isn't the definitive yardstick by which to measure great music.

11 Jan 2002, 15:30

I always had the Osmonds - Crazy Horses album as fav. dance one...just put it on the floor and start dancing on it..bought a new copy every bloody week.

11 Jan 2002, 15:36

11 Jan 2002, 15:38

Originally posted by Allen Jarvis I'll buck the trend and say they were brilliant! Some of their gigs in the late 80's were absolutely mental. The opening bars of Tart Tart send a shiver up me spine which only Ceremony can better to this day. What a track! Bummed's a sooperb album too. However, they did go shite once Step On hit the shops, and everything there after - bar maybe's Kinky Afro - was dire. Saw their reunion tour 3 years back and they did the same set at Brixton three nights running. What is it with these old Factory bands, eh?!

i fully agree with you here Allen. Unfortunately i only saw them once(in holland) that one time was absol. fab. Wrote for luck,what a brilliant song! Even the remixes were good! If i'm not mistaken on the one 12inch there was a remix of no other than Vince Clark!! And what about the inside album cover...sickening :lol:

11 Jan 2002, 17:46

11 Jan 2002, 18:25

Originally posted by Buster Klumpy Negativland ?That's weird... I never thought of them as dancey...They've had a fabulous song, one I REALLY want to play at my funeral. It's called "Over the hiccups" and it's "Over the rainbow" sang by a little girl who got hiccup. Just beautiful. Guaranteed to make everybody cry at said funeral...:)They also got in conflict wit U2 over something. Don't remember what but they took the piss a little about U2 and had to pay loads because of a legal action from the Irish band's management...

Interesting list for the top 50. Never really thought of Negativland as a dance act, but that's cool anyway. The U2 thing is one of the funniest things I've heard in quite a while; 2 wicked parodies of I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. The first has some nasally-voiced guy freestyling over the original lyrics of Bono. Example, when Bono sings "I believe in the kingdom come/when all the colors bleed into one", the nasally guy add "bleeding into one big mess/I'll probably have to get out the STP cleaner on that one, maybe the 409, but I'm not sure yet!" All this over a sample directly lifted from the original that has been decorated with CB radio transmissions, Cyndi Lauper, and Casey Kasem cussing up a storm.

The second, the Special Edit Radio mix, is titled that to let unsuspecting radio programmers air a mix that has more cussing than all of Shug's posts combined. Casey, a long time American DJ who hosts the American Top 40 and has a very clean public image, complains about having to come out of an up-tempo number and then has to dedicate a song to a dead dog. All over a bouncy version of the tune that sounds like it was being played by a bunch of kazoos.

From what I've heard, U2 had no problems with the versions available on the SST single, but their record company had quite a few issues with said product, involving copyright infringment, and made SST take the record off the market.
After much legal wrangling, a compromise was reached that would allow the record to be released legally, but the only roadblock these days is Casey Kasem, who doesn't want his profanity filled tirade to ever see the light of day again. People who love and hate U2 all love the songs, and I'm sure that they are available on any decent MP3 site.