Magnet's top 60 reccords from 1993 to 2003. Pretty fine list IMHO.

[Swish]

I stumbled upon this the other day and figure I have just about half of the top 60 and two of the extras they show at the end. What are your impressions of their choices and which of these do you think is essential to my collection? The ones in bold type are the records I already have.

I'm scratching my head at a few of the choices, especially Wilco's Summerteeth, especially the rank of #11. Any glaring omissions? Have to have the Silver Jews' American Water on my list for sure. Heck, top 10.

"The Evidence"
Magnet’s Top 60 Albums, 1993-2003
(10th Anniversary Issue)

1. NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL - IN THE AEROPLANE OVER THE SEA (98)
2. NIRVANA - IN UTERO (93)
3. GUIDED BY VOICES - ALIEN LANES (95)
4. RADIOHEAD - OK COMPUTER (97)
5. BELLE & SEBASTIAN - IF YOU’RE FEELING SINISTER (97)
6. BREEDERS - LAST SPLASH (93)
7. YO LA TENGO - I CAN HEAR THE HEART BEATING AS ONE (97)
8. VERVE - URBAN HYMNS (97)
9. PAVEMENT - CROOKED RAIN, CROOKED RAIN (94)
10. TORTOISE - MILLIONS NOW LIVING WILL NEVER DIE (96)
11. WILCO - SUMMERTEETH (99)
12. ELLIOTT SMITH - XO (98)
13. CALEXICO - THE BLACK LIGHT (98)
14. GRANDADDY - THE SOPHTWARE SLUMP (00)
15. WEEN - WHITE PEPPER (00)
16. MERCURY REV- DESERTER’S SONGS (98)
17. WEEZER - PINKERTON (96)
18. DIRTY THREE - HORSE STORIES (96)
19. STROKES - IS THIS IT (01)
20. R.E.M. - NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI (96)
21. MOBY - PLAY (99)
22. MAGNETIC FIELDS - 69 LOVE SONGS (99)
23. FLAMING LIPS - THE SOFT BULLETIN (99)
24. WHITE STRIPES - WHITE BLOOD CELLS (01)
25. DJ SHADOW - ENDTRODUCING… (96)
26. LUCINDA WILLIAMS - CAR WHEELS ON A GRAVEL ROAD (98)
27. BECK - MUTATIONS (98)
28. STEVE EARLE - TRANSCENDENTAL BLUES (00)
29. SPOON - A SERIES OF SNEAKS (98)
30. QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE - QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE (98)
31. BUILT TO SPILL - PERFECT FROM NOW ON (97)
32. SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE - DIARY (94)
33. SMASHING PUMPKINS -SIAMESE DREAM (93)
34. INTERPOL - TURN ON THE BRIGHT LIGHTS (02)
35. FUGAZI - IN ON THE KILLTAKER (93)
36. BETA BAND - THE 3 EP’S (99)
37. SUGAR - FILE UNDER: EASY LISTENING (94)
38. GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPEROR! - F#A#OO (98)
39. POLVO - EXPLODED DRAWING (96)
40. DANDY WARHOLS - THIRTEEN TALES FROM URBAN BOHEMIA (00)
41. BRIGHT EYES - LETTING OFF THE HAPPINESS (98)
42. UNWOUND - REPETITION (96)
43. PJ HARVEY - TO BRING YOU MY LOVE (95)
44. AIR - VIRGIN SUICIDES (00)
45. AFGHAN WHIGS - GENTLEMEN (93)
46. IDLEWILD - 100 BROKEN WINDOWS (01)
47. URGE OVERKILL - SATURATION (93)
48. STEREOLAB - MARS AUDIAC QUINTET (94)
49. JAWBOX - FOR YOUR OWN SPECIAL SWEETHEART (94)
50. GIRLS AGAINST BOYS - VENUS LUXURE NO. 1 BABY (94)
51. PULP - DIFFERENT CLASS (96)
52. HELIUM - THE MAGIC CITY (97)
53. WRENS - THE MEADOWLANDS (03)
54. WHISKEYTOWN - STRANGERS ALMANAC (97)
55. PERNICE BROTHERS - OVERCOME BY HAPPINESS (98)
56. JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION - ORANGE (94)
57. NEW PORNOGRAPHERS - ELECTRIC VERSION (03)
58. SHELLAC - AT ACTION PARK (94)
59. GRIFTERS - CRAPPIN’ YOU NEGATIVE (94)
60. SHINS - OH, INVERTED WORLD (01)


10 more albums were listed under the heading...

"Secret Stash...Lost Hits from the Last Decade"

SUPERCONDUCTOR - HIT SONGS FOR GIRLS (93)
CARDINAL - CARDINAL (94)
CHOKEBORE - ANYTHING NEAR WATER (95)
BEVIS FROND - SON OF WALTER (96)
LICORICE ROOTS - MELODEON (97)
ALASTAIR GALBRAITH - MIRRORWORK (98)
MY MORNING JACKET - TENNESSEE FIRE (99)
COMAS - A DEF NEEDLE IN TOMORROW (00)
BIGGER LOVERS - HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING (01)
COMET GAIN -REALISTES (02)

[Jack in Wilmington]

I like to look at lists and see what I might have in my collection. I had one album in my collection, #23 Flaming Lips Soft Bulletin. I then looked up Magnet magazine and it says it focuses on alternative, independent and out of the mainstream bands and that explained why I only have one in my collection. Different strokes for different folks.

[JoeE SP9]

Got one, Yo La Tengo. I've never heard of most of those groups. As Jack says, "different strokes".

[Davey]

Any glaring omissions?

Yes, just one among many of my favorites, but everybody has a list

[Slosh]

I have 33 of those albums.

[noddin0ff]

I only score about 25% on the hip-o-meter. Although a couple of the ones I have I'd vote off the list in hindsight (Moby, e.g.). Still, one of the more intriguing lists that have been thrown up on the boards. Makes me want to go buy music.

[dean_martin]

I like REM's New Adventures in HiFi. I might replace DJ Shadow's Endtroducing with Preemptive Strike. The Jon Spencer album is a fun one. I used to listen to it a lot, but I was a fanboy who followed all the members' side projects like Butter 8 and Boss Hog. I find it a little fatiguing these days.

Is Mars Audiac Quintet better than Emperor Tomato Ketchup? Is Pinkerton better than the blue album?

[Jim Clark]

Meadow Lands was so good. A lot of us were spinning that way back when, and then...nothing from them that was ever even remotely close to that gem.

[Davey]

Is Mars Audiac Quintet better than Emperor Tomato Ketchup?

Yea, you could say that about a lot of the selections, in this case all of those mid-90s Stereolab records are pretty much interchangeable, not because they sound exactly the same, but because they are all great in their own ways, though those two do really standout for me. I'd go with ETK because I've listened to it more over the years, and maybe loved it longer, but today I would reach for MAQ first. Sounds so fresh, and fun. And it is just about perfect.

I think they got a lot of the big names right on the list, played it pretty straight from that perspective, and obviously limited it to one album per artist, but beyond that is where any of these lists get their personality. The Magic City by Helium is a cool choice, that made an appearance on my best of 1997 comp when we did that series of best of year comps here.

With the exception of DJ Shadow, they seem to be ignoring that whole genre that was so big in the mid 90s, and many great records like Tricky Maxinquaye, and Portishead Dummy, and Massive Attack Protection, and all Bjork's best stuff, etc, etc.

And some of my all time favorites records fall in that time span, Richard Buckner Devotion + Doubt, and Sixteen Horsepower Low Estate, Cat Power Moon Pix, and Palace/Will Oldham Viva Last Blues, Shack Waterpistol, Luna Bewitched, Lisa Germano, Laika, Sparklehorse, Modest Mouse, Califone, Songs:Ohia, Catherine Wheel, Notwist, Joe Henry, Wheat, Blonde Redhead, Silver Jews, Olivia Tremor Control, and on and on. So my list would be a lot different, but I do have or know most of the records on this list, and it does have some personality, but like Magnet, it is a little boring too.

[Finch Platte]

I only score about 25% on the hip-o-meter. Although a couple of the ones I have I'd vote off the list in hindsight (Moby, e.g.). Still, one of the more intriguing lists that have been thrown up on the boards. Makes me want to go buy music.

Aptly put.

[Feanor]

I have 33 of those albums.

That's great I guess. I have precisely NONE of them but then I really only buy classical music; (no accounting for taste).

[Finch Platte]

I have 33 of those albums.

My local record store has 44 of them. In the 10 cent (11 cents, CAN) bin. Still too expensive.

[jonnyhambone]

I stumbled upon this the other day and figure I have just about half of the top 60 and two of the extras they show at the end. What are your impressions of their choices and which of these do you think is essential to my collection? The ones in bold type are the records I already have.

I'm scratching my head at a few of the choices, especially Wilco's Summerteeth, especially the rank of #11. Any glaring omissions? Have to have the Silver Jews' American Water on my list for sure. Heck, top 10.

"The Evidence"
Magnet’s Top 60 Albums, 1993-2003
(10th Anniversary Issue)

1. NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL - IN THE AEROPLANE OVER THE SEA (98)
2. NIRVANA - IN UTERO (93)
3. GUIDED BY VOICES - ALIEN LANES (95)
4. RADIOHEAD - OK COMPUTER (97)
5. BELLE & SEBASTIAN - IF YOU’RE FEELING SINISTER (97)
6. BREEDERS - LAST SPLASH (93)
7. YO LA TENGO - I CAN HEAR THE HEART BEATING AS ONE (97)
8. VERVE - URBAN HYMNS (97)
9. PAVEMENT - CROOKED RAIN, CROOKED RAIN (94)
10. TORTOISE - MILLIONS NOW LIVING WILL NEVER DIE (96)
11. WILCO - SUMMERTEETH (99)
12. ELLIOTT SMITH - XO (98)
13. CALEXICO - THE BLACK LIGHT (98)
14. GRANDADDY - THE SOPHTWARE SLUMP (00)
15. WEEN - WHITE PEPPER (00)
16. MERCURY REV- DESERTER’S SONGS (98)
17. WEEZER - PINKERTON (96)
18. DIRTY THREE - HORSE STORIES (96)
19. STROKES - IS THIS IT (01)
20. R.E.M. - NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI (96)
21. MOBY - PLAY (99)
22. MAGNETIC FIELDS - 69 LOVE SONGS (99)
23. FLAMING LIPS - THE SOFT BULLETIN (99)
24. WHITE STRIPES - WHITE BLOOD CELLS (01)
25. DJ SHADOW - ENDTRODUCING… (96)
26. LUCINDA WILLIAMS - CAR WHEELS ON A GRAVEL ROAD (98)
27. BECK - MUTATIONS (98)
28. STEVE EARLE - TRANSCENDENTAL BLUES (00)
29. SPOON - A SERIES OF SNEAKS (98)
30. QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE - QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE (98)
31. BUILT TO SPILL - PERFECT FROM NOW ON (97)
32. SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE - DIARY (94)
33. SMASHING PUMPKINS -SIAMESE DREAM (93)
34. INTERPOL - TURN ON THE BRIGHT LIGHTS (02)
35. FUGAZI - IN ON THE KILLTAKER (93)
36. BETA BAND - THE 3 EP’S (99)
37. SUGAR - FILE UNDER: EASY LISTENING (94)
38. GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPEROR! - F#A#OO (98)
39. POLVO - EXPLODED DRAWING (96)
40. DANDY WARHOLS - THIRTEEN TALES FROM URBAN BOHEMIA (00)
41. BRIGHT EYES - LETTING OFF THE HAPPINESS (98)
42. UNWOUND - REPETITION (96)
43. PJ HARVEY - TO BRING YOU MY LOVE (95)
44. AIR - VIRGIN SUICIDES (00)
45. AFGHAN WHIGS - GENTLEMEN (93)
46. IDLEWILD - 100 BROKEN WINDOWS (01)
47. URGE OVERKILL - SATURATION (93)
48. STEREOLAB - MARS AUDIAC QUINTET (94)
49. JAWBOX - FOR YOUR OWN SPECIAL SWEETHEART (94)
50. GIRLS AGAINST BOYS - VENUS LUXURE NO. 1 BABY (94)
51. PULP - DIFFERENT CLASS (96)
52. HELIUM - THE MAGIC CITY (97)
53. WRENS - THE MEADOWLANDS (03)
54. WHISKEYTOWN - STRANGERS ALMANAC (97)
55. PERNICE BROTHERS - OVERCOME BY HAPPINESS (98)
56. JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION - ORANGE (94)
57. NEW PORNOGRAPHERS - ELECTRIC VERSION (03)
58. SHELLAC - AT ACTION PARK (94)
59. GRIFTERS - CRAPPIN’ YOU NEGATIVE (94)
60. SHINS - OH, INVERTED WORLD (01)


10 more albums were listed under the heading...

"Secret Stash...Lost Hits from the Last Decade"

SUPERCONDUCTOR - HIT SONGS FOR GIRLS (93)
CARDINAL - CARDINAL (94)
CHOKEBORE - ANYTHING NEAR WATER (95)
BEVIS FROND - SON OF WALTER (96)
LICORICE ROOTS - MELODEON (97)
ALASTAIR GALBRAITH - MIRRORWORK (98)
MY MORNING JACKET - TENNESSEE FIRE (99)
COMAS - A DEF NEEDLE IN TOMORROW (00)
BIGGER LOVERS - HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING (01)
COMET GAIN -REALISTES (02)