Number 45'Relationship of Command' by At the Drive-In
Trotter’s Top Ten position : Top Ten in 2000
UK Chart high : 33 in 2000
So far we've only had albums from 2000-2003. That's entirely coincidental and we'll get onto some newer stuff for you yoof out there soon, promise! It's been a fair few years since I'd listened to AtDI but it's the sign of both a good band and album that it hasn't really dated and been stuck into either 'grunge' or 'emo' genres. The tracks are visceral and cerebral (think Rage Against the Machine covering Pavement), the lyrics (like the music) almost incomprehensible on first listen but repetition opens up new sounds and meanings all the time. That said, the energy the band had (before their regrettable split to form The Mars Volta and Sparta) made them far more than a beard-stroking exercise - see the clip below from their appearance on Jools for evidence of that. They're probably in my top five 'what might have been' bands who ended before their time and at the height of their creativity - but that's a different countdown altogether. The video clips really don't do their sound justice either - go to Spotify or buy the fraggin' album! Oh and they had cool hair.
Look at One Armed Scissor ; Invalid Litter Dept. ; Rolodex Propaganda (live on Jools)
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go
Number 46'Lost Souls' by Doves
Trotter’s Top Ten position : Top Ten in 2000
Trotter’s Top Ten position : Top Ten in 2000
UK Chart high : 14 in 2000
I have friends who will kill me if there aren't any Doves albums on here and while I don't feel the need to own all of them and even though I prefer later singles, it's their debut album that both means the most to me and creates its very own atmosphere (right from the intro) and therefore makes it to Number 46. So far on this countdown it's certainly the best at ticking the 'cohesive collection of songs to form a whole' box rather than being a few tunes tagged together in some sort of predictable order. The entire album, but particularly 'Catch the Sun', was both beautiful and laddish all at once - a trait that Guy Garvey would go on to copyright and that Wikipedia calls Dream Pop apparently! There, a whole conversation about Doves and I didn't even mention Sub Sub once....oh.
Number 47‘Highly Evolved’ by The Vines
Trotter’s Top Ten position : Top Ten in 2002
I read an online US review of this album today which scoffed at the British music press for once again overhyping a new band by calling the Vines the ‘next Nirvana’ and that certainly seems daft in retrospect but at the time I compared them to the Beatles on the strength of this album (oops!). Now I don’t think that view quite stood the test of time, but what I think I meant was the breadth of styles used here was reminiscent of something the Fab Four found so easy and was far more than the range shown in their single releases. Nine years on and this is still a fine piece of catchy indie with bucketfuls of melodies over three minute (sometimes 1.5 minute!) guitar fuzz. And the ‘Outtatheway’ vid is great for two reasons – reminding you of when folk used to jump about at gigs rather than stand still and take photos on their phones; and for the poor lad hitting himself with his own shoe until he’s red in the face. For that alone – Number 47!
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