Sam Cooke
James Carr
Bobbie Gentry
Curtis Mayfield
Gene Clark

That's from their self-titled 2000 album. A friend of mine had it and i remember listening to it a lot when it came out. Some very good folk-pop. Another good one is Aztec Discipline from a couple of years ago. Again, i haven't listened to it for a while but i used to love it. Gonna dig it out tonight in fact..

I'm not a massive Prince fan (as in, i've not heard much) but i'm loving Black Sweat (downloaded it earlier). It's got funk, great production and his voice sounds great.

It is, especially as there are so many better reasons to hate him! Have you seen his face? His videos? Heard his music? The lyrics? The list goes on...

Don't feel insulted. In what setting did you listen to his album?

I listened in the car, where I do a lot of my music listening.

I know I probably have differing musical tastes than a lot of the populous of these dual message boards, but I love hearing opinions, and all I really get are two word answers. I guess if that's all people want to give then I should just shut up. :

Well, i don't listen to the radio or watch MTV so i'd missed any hype he had. I didn't even know he existed until he hit number one in the charts. Anyway, one of my housemates bought the album and played it nonstop for weeks over the summer. Having heard it a good 20 times, i can honestly say that mine is not a knee-jerk reaction to his hype or success. It's a strong, true, unwavering hatred of everything on the album.

I find the music completely mediocre in every way and it's polished to within an inch of its life, so it barely exists. It's so completely lifeless and uninspiring, to me. I think the reason i didn't give a longer reply before was because i didn't want to launch into a big trashing of someone you like, but felt i had to register my opinion in some small way. Evil prospers when good people sit back and do nothing. Something like that.

I hate him more than i hate The Darkness.

What a ponce. Great cover, though i have no desire to hear the album..

How about my complete Elvis soundboard collection that contains every available pre-army live recording available on 1 disc? Yes, this CAN be yours, for the asking.

I'm asking too! I'd be happy to burn a copy for anyone else if we're doing a tree thing..

Yeah, i know all the old bands but they're not around any more - it's about working with what you've got. Anyway, i'll stop now - i feel like i'm repeating myself..

Well, i  think the Libs approached greatness, but it's not to be found on their records necessarily - more the atmosphere and energy of their early gigs.

With the Arctic Monkeys, skip straight to A Certain Romance - a very good song. They're nothing special though, just a good little indie band who became insanely successful by accident.

Ultrasound released an 85 minute double album which sold poorly, then they split. They're all working in E-list indie bands and squandering their considerable talents. They were the first band i fell head-over-heels in love with and i would rank their album against any other album. I'm starting to think i'm going mad though, as no one else seems to see it.




Btw, i'm not expecting a lot of people here to like The Libertines, it's just that they were very exciting for a while and it's a shame to see them written off. There's more to them than a lot of people think.

A great compilation. I especially love the instrumental of He Was Really Saying Something - i heard it before The Velvelettes' version actually.

A couple of points:

That list was voted for by the writers of NME, not the readers. This probably explains the high placing of Arctic Monkeys, as NME seem determined to convince everyone that they discovered them, despite the fact that most people were listening to them months before NME caught on. Stone Roses at number one? Well, most NME writers were probably in their late teens when that came out, so a bit of nostalgia there i'd say. I'm not defending the list - it's toss. Yet another reminder of how far NME has fallen.

Secondly, it's about as cool to dislike The Libertines now as it was cool to love them a few years ago. The fact is though, that album struck a massive chord with people here when it was released and sent shockwaves through the British guitar scene, inspiring many bands for better or worse (mostly worse). It's well worth a listen. Whatever you think of Pete Doherty, The Good Old Days, Horrorshow, Death On The Stairs, Time For Heroes and Up The Bracket are superb songs. Also, not many bands these days can be as thrilling live as The Libertines were at their peak. I didn't buy into it all at the time, but still feel i should stick up for them now and again. They weren't just a fad.



My top ten would include:

Spiritualized - Ladies And Gentlemen
Ultrasound - Everything Picture
The Who - Sell Out
The Stones - Sticky Fingers
The Beatles - A Hard Days Night
The Smiths - Strangeways Here We Come
Bert Jansch - Jack Orion
Suede - Suede
Pulp - Different Class (Hardcore is too patchy)
Super Furry Animals - Fuzzy Logic

...in no order.



(first post on this board - i like it!)