ILX 70s album poll

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far too low

― willem (willem), Friday, 22 April 2005 14:43 (nineteen years ago) link

The only Bowie album I own.

― peepee (peepee), Friday, 22 April 2005 14:45 (nineteen years ago) link

i can't remember where i put 'Low', but i bet it was lower down than this. even so, i would have expected other people to put it higher, so i'm a little surprised. mind you, i was a little surprised that 'Station To Station' wasn't higher, too.

― Lee F# (fsharp), Friday, 22 April 2005 14:48 (nineteen years ago) link

Low is one of my life-changing records as well. I was completely mental for the live half of Still by Joy Division and then I bought this record. I tried very hard to like it at first, and I just could not get my head around it. I let it sit on the shelf for about 6 months and then I broke it out again and it just clicked. I used to play Warszawa at top volume every morning when I got ready for high school for about a semester in 11th grade. I can only imagine what my parents must have thought, they could have had a football player and instead they got this weird kid who blasted 70's ambient from a 130 watt stereo at 6:45 in the morning.
I still listened to Still all the time, but this is when Bowie, Eno and Kraftwerk started creeping into my listening. I really lived in those records during high school. I think it is a real mistake to take sides in regards to this record. This record is about escape, the entire theme of it is that your life is a mess, and the entire record is a sequence of events. It isn't just a collection of well-sequenced tracks; it is an aural narrative.
Speed of life is the intro; it sets the mood.
Breaking Glass is the first vocal track and it starts the theme of alienation and romantic disconnection. Rather than using an ice cream parlor for milkshakes cold and long, or the dream car twenty feet long, he makes the first use of the bedroom as a symbol for isolation. The lyrics are so abstract but you know exactly the feeling he is trying to convey. Rather than using elaborate lyrics to express an idea, situations become less defined and the sound is what communicates the emotion. This definitely ties into Eno's theory that lyrics in rock music are nothing but decoration, and that the real message is timbral.
What In The World is track three and this time the mood switches from agitation to extreme euphoria. The euphoria is not a healthy, genuine happiness, but more like the upward pendulum swing of bipolar disorder. The paranoia and claustrophobia of Breaking Glass is still lurking in the background, but it is submerged in the lyrics, not the delivery. The desire is there, but somehow the connection cannot be created.
This theme would make sense because Bowie's marriage to Angela was breaking up, and he went to Berlin to kick the cocaine addiction he had picked up in LA during the Thin White Duke period of his career.
Bowie has said that at the time he was confused and internally divided, so Berlin in 1976, a divided city, was the most logical place to live.
Sound And Vision is track four and it takes the upward mood swing to its highest point. It is the closest thing this album has to a super pop hit, and even at that it fails. Again, it uses the symbol of bedroom as symbol of isolation, but it makes you wonder if this is a set of chemicals talking, or perhaps really a come down? Has this person just accepted his place? Is he coming to terms with the situation? Perhaps the character is simply found solace in art, for a brief time at least. Although the mood is relatively up, it is still very emotionally ambiguous.
Always Crashing The Same Car is the lowest point on Low. The image of tearing though a parking structure is a metaphor for reckless, perhaps even suicidal behavior. It also echoes the central image of enclosed, stifling spaces. The track title refers to repeated failures in life, in the context of the album, repeated failures at real emotional connection. The emotional pendulum has swung the other way to nearly suicidal depression. The vibe is stark and brooding, it is recognition.
Be My Wife is number six. Most people think that this is a love song, but this song has absolutely nothing to do with a healthy emotional relationship. This is the sound of desperation, of clutching at straws. This is like love as an emotional high, a means of escape. The music is up, but the lyrics and vocal delivery are that of a desperate man. No matter what the long-term consequences of his actions are, he needs deliverance at this very moment. Anything to escape.
New Career in a New Town is the final track on side one. The music suggests hopeful optimism and movement. I always think of the pistons of a train when I listen to the bassline of this song. It has no lyrics, and it introduces the next side as the second part of this person’s life. It is more ambiguous but no less emotional.
The ambient half of the album follows a more linear trajectory. It starts out with the sublime quarter note octave pulsation of Warszawa, and the mood declines from there. Although Warszawa is the more obvious cut, Art Decade is the better track. It is subtler and a bit darker. Whatever relief the protagonist found in travel and the anonymity of a new life, the magic is starting to fade. The mood continues to decline into madness by the end of Subterraneans.
Was Bowie dragging in his fears of potential madness into the end of the album? Did he use the abstract nature of the lyrics and synthetic timbres on the second half as a vehicle to express the disassociated and incommunicable nature of mental illness? Was he expressing his personal fears of being schizophrenic like the older brother who introduced him to music in the first place?
I don't know, but it does give this album an interesting perspective. This is one of the few records I can say that I have truly lived in. I am not exactly sure what that says about me, or the frame of mind I was in during the later years of my teens.

-- Disco Nihilist (current31...), October 16th, 2003.
Rank David Bowie

Here is my ranking:
1. Low
-- Geir Hongro (geirhon...), November 4th, 2003.
I'd have to say that my favorite Bowie album would be Low because it has such classics as "Always Crashing in the Same Car", "Speed of Life", and "Warszawa
-- Innocent Dreamer (deethe_downspamdown_lurke...), June 26th, 2003.
Lodger is brilliant and almost Bowie's best although ultimately I think Low pips it to the post
-- pj proby (pjprob...), February 1st, 2005.
I never listen to it as a whole, despite playing it on cd. It's either one or the other. I'd dip into selected tracks on a lot of albums - but this one is different, because I'd only ever be intersted in hearing one particular set of tracks or the other.
I think I prefer side 1. On side 2, Warszawa dwarfs the other ambient tracks in terms of beauty. But the first half has a handful of short, sharp shocks which i thoroughly enjoy. After hearing those, i don't have the patience for the slower tracks. but if i'm in the mood for something less kinetic, they'll more than suffice.
this is the only bowie album i'd listen to, tbh.
-- kilian Murphy (kilian.murphy2...), October 15th, 2003.

One of two records which actually did change my life. I need say no more.
-- Marcello Carlin (marcellocarli...), October 15th, 2003.
One side is a pop record, the other a film soundtrack. Taking sides: chalk or cheese? Then again, I suppose you could say that Sides One of Low and Heroes, put together, would be the most fantastic Bowie pop record ever made, and that Sides Two of Low and Heroes would be... a fairly average prime period Eno ambient release.
-- Momus (nic...), October 15th, 2003.
Side 1 is one of Bowie's best ever, but I still choose side 2, which is one of the most beautiful pieces of instrumental music ever recorded.
-- Geir Hongro (geirhon...), October 15th, 2003.
Sides two of "Low" and "Heroes" put together would have been the best electronic album ever, dwarfing all of Eno's other work, including the rather decent "Another Green World"
-- Geir Hongro (geirhon...), October 15th, 2003.

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Friday, 22 April 2005 14:57 (nineteen years ago) link

I wonder if this will be the last Bowie album in the poll. Right now by my feeble calculations, he's in the lead for most albums in poll with 4. Next comes Big Star, Wire, Can and Neil Young. Is this right?

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Friday, 22 April 2005 14:59 (nineteen years ago) link

points: 521
1st place votes: 2
total votes: 17

JONI MITCHELL - BLUE

http://www.braggtopia.com/boots/jpg/joni-alternateblue-front.jpg

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Friday, 22 April 2005 15:01 (nineteen years ago) link

Pleasantly surprised at this.

― 57 7th (calstars), Friday, 22 April 2005 15:07 (nineteen years ago) link

Alternate Blue?

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 22 April 2005 15:09 (nineteen years ago) link

oh, fuck joni mitchell.

those contrarian pink flag blurbs=INEXCUSABLE!

Pink Flag Tago Mago and Low should've been 1, 2 and 3!

― latebloomer: venting el pissyranto (latebloomer), Friday, 22 April 2005 15:10 (nineteen years ago) link

I guess this means Hejira isn't going to place.

― whenuweremine (whenuweremine), Friday, 22 April 2005 15:14 (nineteen years ago) link

OK, so Neil and Bowie are tied with 4 each. THen comes a glut with 3 including Wire, Big Star, Miles, Parliament/Funk and Can. Perhaps Mr. Eno will be getting his third soon...I'd be shocked, SHOCKED if Warm Jets failed to make list.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Friday, 22 April 2005 15:16 (nineteen years ago) link

I know that I'm saying this too early, but right now...

ILM TOP 100 of the 70s >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Pitchfork Top 100 of the 70s

It all depends on how T.E.E., M.M, U.P. and M.B./S.E. perform, though. (I abbreviated to avoid spoiling for some)

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Friday, 22 April 2005 15:26 (nineteen years ago) link

I really should have attempted to write a proper blurb for this, because its my favourite. album. ever. and so deserves something more than random spraffle. Anyway, here goes..

This isn't a perfect album. It sags in parts, and flows in others..occasionally it becomes mawkish, and unashamedly sentimental and Joni's voice wobbles around like an octopus on a unicycle. Despite, or perhaps because of this, its still the most played, and most loved, album in my collection.

This is how Joni is, this is how life is, happy and sad at the same time; raw, sometimes difficult, perhaps just slightly unhinged - in the nicest possible way. From the moment she starts singing about wanting to shampoo her lover, and the frying pan being too wide, you know you're listening to something deeply personal, and individual. Yet despite this, there's a passion, a deep sincerity and, above all, an utter, harsh, honesty here that tempers the sentiment, and makes it bearable, and recognisable, and makes it feel like somewhere you've been, and are, and will go again.

For me, the stand-out track is "A Case Of You". The opening lines -

"Just before our love got lost, you said 'I am as constant as a Northern Star'
and I said 'constantly in the darkness, where's that?
If you want me I'll be in the bar".

- encapsulate what I love about Joni. There's the simultaneous romanticism and cynicism that she reflects upon at length in the disturbingly direct "The Last Time I Saw Richard". On the one hand, she's scared of being hurt again, on the other, she's desperate to stay open to it all, and the harsh words and the distance are only there to cover what she's afraid of showing. Sure enough, she goes and sits in the bar, the TV screen light playing on her face, and draws his picture on a beermat.

Other albums dress her directness up with flourishes and more lavish instrumentation. Blue is bare by comparison - just her and an accoustic guitar (plus a piano in "River"). Nothing is prettified, and the impact is stronger, and the connection more complete. Sure they're stories, but to my mind nobody ever told stories in quite such a compelling manner. And they're the best ones she ever told.

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Friday, 22 April 2005 15:26 (nineteen years ago) link

those contrarian pink flag blurbs=INEXCUSABLE!
Pink Flag Tago Mago and Low should've been 1, 2 and 3!

-- latebloomer: venting el pissyranto (posercore24...), April 22nd, 2005.

I posted what I could find, given that searching ILM is pretty slow at the best of times, and it is slowing putting the poll results up consideratly. If you don't like them, please find some more to your liking and post those here.

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Friday, 22 April 2005 15:31 (nineteen years ago) link

points: 546
1st place votes: 1
total votes: 19

BRIAN ENO - HERE COME THE WARM JETS

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00022M518.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Friday, 22 April 2005 15:35 (nineteen years ago) link

"Maybe it's the blistering solo in "Baby's on Fire", or the what the
fuck-ness inherent in the lyrics of song titled "Needles in the
Camel's Eye". Shit, maybe it's some perverted subconscious intrigue
in the golden showers imagery on the cover and in the buried vocals of
the title track. But probably it's just the brilliant songcraft, as
far as I can tell, unmatched by any other artist in an era when great
music was coming from all over the world. I didn't hear any Brian Eno
music until last year when I bought the remastered discs; now I'm
listening to Here Come the Warm Jets at least twice a week
religiously, something I don't see changing. Taking Tiger Mountain
and Another Green World are brilliant in their own right, but there's
something in HCTWJ, from the first time I heard it, that keeps it on a
level the other two just can't quite touch. I think it's the sound of
musical advancement that must have made it even more awesome to an
audience in 74. That the record still holds endless appeal to a
punk-ass American undergrad stuck at a shitty state school in central
Pennsylvania tells me that, beyond just being a seminal record for
genres like ambient, post-punk and new wave, it's still accessible and
still fucking awesome."

Jared

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Friday, 22 April 2005 15:35 (nineteen years ago) link

(x-post: consideratly = considerably)

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Friday, 22 April 2005 15:39 (nineteen years ago) link

sorry, no way is that album better than AGW. And Before and After Science is still yet to come, yes?

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Friday, 22 April 2005 15:49 (nineteen years ago) link

a little conversation on the cover on my blog:

1. Isn't this the most horrid cover in the history of recorded music?

2. Wouldn't the still life without the framed photograph and without the "Eno" writing in rainbow colours be just about ok?

3. Doesn't Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle alias Brian Eno look like a certain Christa Päffgen from Cologne aka Nico on the photo?

place your comment!

nonightsweats, Thursday, 5. August 2004, 00:18
1. no, it's easily the best cover ever made.
2. no, it would make it worse.
3. yes, he does indeed.

when i first saw the cover i thought it was a band called End and didn't realize until later that it was the new Eno album i was desperately looking for.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Friday, 22 April 2005 15:55 (nineteen years ago) link

by the way there seem to be covers with different colour schemes. on mine the dry plant on the left is blue and "ENO" in the top left corner is in yellow and light blue with a pink three-dimensional relief shade.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Friday, 22 April 2005 16:16 (nineteen years ago) link

to get an idea of one possible meaning of the title look closer at that small 8 of spades in the middle part below eno's framed portait with the policeman and the crouching woman. couldn't find a bigger image of that though i am sure it must be out there somewhere.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Friday, 22 April 2005 16:20 (nineteen years ago) link

i hope hejira places high, but i wouldn't be surprised if it didn't place at all.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 22 April 2005 16:56 (nineteen years ago) link

hejira should either be top spot or not place at all. everything else is unacceptable. these bloody dichotomies always. stronger than me.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Friday, 22 April 2005 17:08 (nineteen years ago) link

by the way did keith jarrett's sun bear concerts get any votes, hobart?

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Friday, 22 April 2005 17:10 (nineteen years ago) link

no Fela Kuti?

― jmeister (jmeister), Friday, 22 April 2005 18:29 (nineteen years ago) link

Hobart, that was an excellent blurb on 'Blue'. i guess it was me and you had it as number 1? you have increased my confidence that everyone else is just plain wrong.

― Lee F# (fsharp), Friday, 22 April 2005 19:01 (nineteen years ago) link

No love for Todd Rundgren. Bah! Oh well, I am gladdened to see I was quoted about Surf's Up. This is a great thread.

― Deluxe (Damian), Saturday, 23 April 2005 10:42 (nineteen years ago) link

Maybe he will appear on the singles list.

― RS_LaRue (RSLaRue), Saturday, 23 April 2005 13:20 (nineteen years ago) link

Alternate Blue?

Alternate Blue, indeed... I didn't spot that when I posted the cover. I just thought it was a nice big picture of it. The one on Amazon looked sort of...grey...which defeats the point, really. I wonder what Alternate Blue can be.

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Saturday, 23 April 2005 14:50 (nineteen years ago) link

by the way did keith jarrett's sun bear concerts get any votes, hobart?

-- alex in mainhattan (alex6...), April 22nd, 2005.

I'm afraid not, Alex.

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Saturday, 23 April 2005 15:07 (nineteen years ago) link

that's what i thought. it would have been my number one if i had voted...

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Saturday, 23 April 2005 15:09 (nineteen years ago) link

Is this going to continue over the weekend, or are you waiting until Monday to do the top 22?

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Saturday, 23 April 2005 15:21 (nineteen years ago) link

I voted for Koln Concert if that helps. I haven't heard Sun Bear.

― Sundar (sundar), Saturday, 23 April 2005 15:38 (nineteen years ago) link

the köln concert is nice (maybe a little too nice) but the sun bear concerts are the real deal if you like jarrett's solo piano improvisations.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Saturday, 23 April 2005 15:54 (nineteen years ago) link

Well, here's what we have so far...

100. VA - Nuggets
99. New York Dolls - s/t
98. David Bowie - Heroes
97. Kate Bush - The Kick Inside
96. Bruce Springsteen - Darkness On the Edge of Town
95. The Cure - Three Imaginary Boys
94. Augustus Pablo - King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown
93. Philip Glass - Einstein on the Beach
92. Sparks - Kimono My House
91. Cheap Trick - Live at Budokan
90. Steely Dan - Countdown to Ecstacy
89. Sparks - No. 1 in Heaven
88. Can - Future Days
87. The B52s - The B52s
86. Parliament - Funkentelechy Vs. the Placebo Syndrome
85. Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate
84. Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power
83. The Slits - Cut
82. Nick Drake - Bryter Layter
81. The Beach Boys - Surf's Up
80. Neu! - Neu!
79. The Beatles - Let It Be
78. John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band
77. Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
76. Big Star - Third
75. John Cale - Paris 1919
74. Donna Summer - On the Radio
73. Miles Davis - A Tribute to Jack Johnson
72. Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On
71. Parliament - The Mothership Connection
70. Brian Eno - Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)
69. VA - Saturday Night Fever
68. Wire - 154
67. Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
66. Led Zeppelin - IV
65. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
64. Big Star - #1 Record
63. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
62. David Bowie - Station to Station
61. Neil Young - Rust Never Sleeps
60. Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True
59. Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
58. Bob Dylan - The Basement Tapes
57. The Congos - Heart of the Congos
56. Fleetwood Mac - Rumors
55. Ornette Coleman - Dancing in Your Head
54. Richard and Linda Thompson - I Want To See the Bright Lights Tonight
53. David Bowie - Hunky Dory
52. The Fall - Dragnet
51. Neil Young - Tonight's the Night
50. Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic
49. Roxy Music - Roxy Music
48. Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure
47. Stevie Wonder - Talking Book
46. Suicide - First Album
45. Miles Davis - On the Corner
44. Curtis Mayfield - Superfly
43. Steve Reich - Music For 18 Musicians
42. Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food
41. Neil Young - On the Beach
40. Gram Parsons - Grievous Angel
39. Wire - Chairs Missing
38. Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
37. Can - Ege Bamyesi
36. Brian Eno - Another Green World
35. Serge Gainbourg - Histoire Du Melody Nelson
34. Nick Drake - Pink Moon
33. Elvis Costello - This Year's Model
32. Neil Young - After the Goldrush
31. Big Star - Radio City
30. The Clash - The Clash
29. The Velvet Underground - Loaded
28. The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
27. Wire - Pink Flag
26. Can - Tago Mago
25. David Bowie - Low
24. Joni Mitchell - Blue
23. Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets

― whenuweremine (whenuweremine), Saturday, 23 April 2005 16:58 (nineteen years ago) link

This is definitely better than the Pitchfork list so far. Less Floyd, for one thing. Though that might not last.

― o. nate (onate), Saturday, 23 April 2005 17:03 (nineteen years ago) link

but i wouldn't consider a top 100 of the seventies complete without pink floyd. dark side of the moon has to be the one.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Saturday, 23 April 2005 17:27 (nineteen years ago) link

btw it is Histoire de Melody Nelson

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Saturday, 23 April 2005 17:30 (nineteen years ago) link

Dammit, the seventies was arguably the greatest decade of African-American music, so I'm a bit disappointed by all this proto-indie stuff that's filling the list. But I guess a couple of albums are still to come up ("What's Going On", "There's a Riot Going On"), and the singles list is where, for obvious reasons, we should see a lot more black music.

Anyway, I'm a bit surprised too there's no Fela Kuti on the list at all (was anyhthing besides "Zombie" even nominated?). I guess he could still make it, but I'm kinda doubtful...

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Sunday, 24 April 2005 11:11 (nineteen years ago) link

For those who are comparing this list to Pitchfork's, I'm not sure where all the praise is coming from. There's a *lot* of overlap, and while they've got a bit more classic/FM rock (e.g. King Crimson, Randy Newman, Van Halen), we've got a bit more jazz and funk (albeit restricted to a small number of artists).

Then again, our #1 album isn't "Low", which counts for a lot, but the rest of the Pitchfork top 20 is pretty good.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 24 April 2005 13:52 (nineteen years ago) link

the pitchfork list was probably better. We've got all three Big Star albums, but they ddin't have LZIV IN THE FUCKING SIXTIES

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Sunday, 24 April 2005 13:55 (nineteen years ago) link

wait, wait, wai.. are the ramones about to COUP this shit?

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Sunday, 24 April 2005 21:06 (nineteen years ago) link

This is definitely better than the Pitchfork list so far.

Any list where Pink Moon beats out Mothership Connection by 37 places is better than nothing, except maybe prostate cancer.

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Sunday, 24 April 2005 21:11 (nineteen years ago) link

ahem.

― Ian John50n (orion), Monday, 25 April 2005 17:59 (nineteen years ago) link

III and Houses Of The Holy should always place higher than IV. They're all worthy of inclusion, but I don't see why IV should always be given highest placement.

― billstevejim, Monday, 25 April 2005 19:47 (nineteen years ago) link

Agreed. The third album is brilliant, on most days my favorite...

― Dr. Gene Scott (shinybeast), Monday, 25 April 2005 20:37 (nineteen years ago) link

points: 564
1st place votes: 0
total votes: 20

THE RAMONES - THE RAMONES

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00005JGAB.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:15 (nineteen years ago) link

Wahayyy.

Our Alice took this album (along with McFly and Busted ones) to her last day at nursery.

I don't know if they played it at her leaving party...

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:21 (nineteen years ago) link

I was listening to the Ramones earlier, and I just thought they probably wouldn't care if Shania wore their T-Shirt or not. They are like 1,2,3,4, just get on with it.

-- jel -- (freeduni...), January 23rd, 2003.

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:23 (nineteen years ago) link

nevermind... No Rockets to Russia, i guess..

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:25 (nineteen years ago) link

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ILX 70s album poll - results