Melody Maker Albums of the Year 1988

"Finnegan's Wake" was mostly written in Paris, I think

This is all very well, but is it worth reading?

Oh aye, it's a belter.

"Ulysses" was written in Trieste and Zurich

Someone type Finnegan's Wake into Babelfish for me please.

Dingbod, the honours. Into English, as custom demands.

It'll prolly come out like a review of the new Coldplay album

Still maintain that translating the Coldplay review into English was one of the funniest ILM posts this year.

"That poor writer's end was hastened by that same intrusive apostrophe."

A bit boring really (usually with B/fish, the more banal the source material, the more interesting its translation turns out) but here's the first bit:

riverrun, last Eve and Adam' the s, from the swerve of the support to the curving of the bay, them door from a vicus of commodius of recirculation of new to the castle and the environ of Howth. Sir Tristram, violer d' amores, fr' over the short sea, it has made rearrived the passencore from Armorica of the north from this side l' itsmo scraggy of the minor dell' Europe to wielderfight its war of the penisolate ones: neither it has had topsawyer' the cliffs of s through the Oconee flow have exaggerated the themselse to Laurens County' gorgios of s while theirs have gone doublin mumper continuously: neither avoice from the mishe bellowsed in flames of the mishe to the thuartpeatrick of the tauftauf: not still, however the venissoon after, it has had kidscad buttended sweet a old Isaac: not still, however all' the s just in vanessy, it was sesthers of the sosie wroth with the nathandjoe of twone. A peck is decomposed of pa' the malto of s it has had Jhem or Shen fermented from arclight and dall' extremity rory to the regginbrow had to be ringsome seen on the aquaface. The fall (bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonner ronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk) dell' once that the oldparr of the wallstrait retaled soon according to and more late in the life down through all the minstrelsy Christian. The great fall of the offwall has demanded to such breviums information the pftjschute of Finnegan, solid man erse, than the humptyhillhead of humself prumptly it transmits well unquiring all' the west in the search of its tumptytumtoes: and theirs upturnpikepointandplace are to the blow outside in the park in which oranges they are placed in order to rust on the green from when the devlinsfirst it loved livvy.

It works if you imagine Kristin Hersh singing it.

It's certainly the best description of the Fall I've ever read.

ahem-hem, re: a.r. kane dudes's post-1994 thereabouts-whereabouts: rudi tambala's released a coupla things as sufi; ayuli's made coupla as alex!; there was one song - don't recall by which - on a wire tapper comp. a few years ago.
the snippets of their stuff i've heard here&there been sometimes pretty good.

Coincidentally, everything you'll ever need to know bout AR Kane is here.

I thought it was Paris Trieste and Zurich but the internet would only tell me Paris.

I voted for MEGADETH (though it's not even that good of an album).

yeah, i checked the book itself and it says "Trieste-Zurich-Paris, 1914-1921"

Who knew that books were more reliable than teh internets

he threw in some fresh lines at the last minute, in paris, iirc.

Yeah, well it's the only line I kinda remembered.

Yeah, I think I might love this band because they are sure ticking a lot of boxes for me right now.

i think he threw in LOADS in paris, as it goes, but the thing was mapped out earlier -- was meant to be published in, like, 1918 or something, but it was banned in britain etc.

by this band I mean AR Kane btw

mike t-diva's list >>>>>>>>>>>> melody maker's.

I'm surprised to see Shiva Burlesque on this list. I used to have that record and remember it had a beautiful sleeve but I can't remember what it sounded like. I think I enjoyed it somewhat, though.

A.R. Kane have frustrated me in the past because I've heard some really good stuff by them and then other things I didn't find interesting at all.

I used to have that Mary Margaret O'Hara record, too. It didn't leave much of an impression.

Overranked: Sugarcubes, REM, Prince

Underranked: Talk Talk, Sonic Youth, Public Enemy

Voted for: 69 - AR Kane

i might listen to 69, y'all better have a good excuse for not voting HOLLIS

Certainly one record in this list placed approximately 27 places too low...

-- Dingbod Kesterson, Monday, 16 June 2008 21:22 (2 days ago) Bookmark Link

yeah i agree the go betweens should be at #3

88 was the year i started getting into indie. as a result i can't even be bothered voting for any of it.

y'all better have a good excuse for not voting HOLLIS

It's at #28.

bimble and electricsound my office plz

I never heard that Shiva Burlesque record, but do remember that there was a minor flurry of interest in MM over some of the other stuff that came out on the same label (Nate Starkman). There was a certain mystique to it, I think all the bands had interesting names (Drowning Pool, Red Temple Spirits, err White Glove Test) and cool artwork (was Bruce Licher or involved with it?), but I never really followed up on it...

Some warped part of me was tempted to vote for the Skinny Puppy rekkid, I certainly spent enough money of imported CD singles of theirs back in the day, and everything I recorded for about a year after I heard them was unlistenable synthesiser-through-fuzzbox noise.

Sometimes the obvious choice is the right choice though, I voted for "It takes a nation of millions..." I still listen to it quite often and it still rocks. "she watch channel zero" was the number that got me into it, I just about wore the cassette tape I had out on that track.

I think all the bands had interesting names (Drowning Pool, Red Temple Spirits, err White Glove Test)

I have a Red Temple Spirits album! er "dancing to restore an eclipsed moon" (or something like that) I really like it, though I'd be quite hesitant to actually recommend it to anyone or anything like that. It's goth-psych that sounds like it was played by cro-magnon men, with intense, androgynous vocals that are somewhat "challenging". I pull it off the shelf a couple of times a year and heavy-rotate it for a week or so and always enjoy it loads. I've never met anybody else who can actually stand to listen to them.

That makes it sound both hideous and awesome.

Not saying they're the best, but the only records on this list that I've listened to again in the last 5 years are probably Talk Talk, Thin White Rope, Throwing Muses and the Go-Betweens.

House of Love too actually, and I still get disappointed by it - they could have cobbled together something really solid with some of the tracks off the German album - Destroy the Heart, Nothing To Me etc. As it is, it starts off like a rocket and then sort of dies by track two.

Yeah, never liked HOL. I did get that first album proper. Played once.

I used to really love HoL, had all of their records and everything. It's kind of hard to see what I actually saw in them now, they were a bit nowt-nor-summat in retrospect. Fontana version of "Shine On" still has it for me, I don't actually have anything else by them at present.

Oh god Scritti or PE can't decide

Oh and the only non-Birthday Party Nick Cave album I can wholeheartedly get behind.

8. All About Eve - All About Eve = loling my knackers off

Never understood how all about ever made it, either at the time or in retrospect. I knew people who absolutely loved them! There was NOTHING THERE!

Melody Maker = Goth fanzine, is why

Still, they were good on Top of the Pops that one time

I ought to vote Butthole Surfers really if people are gonna be all gothtarded about this

Also if Bug was a single it might be in with a shout

Maybe it's just cacky nostalgia but 1988 indie makes 2008 indie look like dogshite

(xpost)I suppose?! I never understood the goth thing with them, I mean they weren't actually tr00 gothick, really, were they? If I'd been a goth, I'd have hated them for selling out and not using enough flanger on the guitars or something.

Maybe it's just cacky nostalgia but 1988 indie makes 2008 indie look like dogshite

I don't think it it cacky nostalgia. indie '08 does seem to stay within v v narrow boundaries.

I guess AAE were the proto-Evanescence or something really. Yeah they wasn't Gothick, but they were definitely Celine Dion for your goth girlfriend.