my all- time-best albums

i am feeling musically inspired tonight, so i will share with you my all-time-best albums. it is darn difficult task to select 10 best CDs out of the thousands of CDs in my collection. (i could actually list 30 more! please don't feel offended if your faves are left out) but tonight i will do that just for you. many of these are indie rock in the late 80s to late 90s, some are classics that are permanently mentioned in rock history books.

these are the CDs that define my musical journey and leave a big mark there. i am still deriving so much joy listening to them once in a while, like tonight.

sorry, no audiophile albums makes it into my list ;-)

i hope you can let me know yours as well!

here's it, in no particular order:


artist: teenage fanclub
album: grand prix
why: NME called teenage fanclub the best british band in the 90s. indeed, they were better than oasis and blur. the jingle-jangle of their distorted guitars never fails to drive me to multiple aural orgasms.

artist: new order
album: brotherhood
why: the post-joy division peter hook and bernard sumner are less dark but irresistably hooky. this is the definitive album that spawned "bizarre love triangle" , a song which many have mistaken to be a frente's original

artist: new order
album: low life
why: the best album cover i have ever seen. peter saville design group is the best album designer in the world. this great album carries the sublime 10-minute long "perfect kiss"

artist: travis
album: the man who
why: if music can be poetry then travis are the greatest poets in music

artist: radiohead
album: the bends
why: because it is actually better than "ok computer"

artist: belle and sebastian
album: the boy with the arab strap
why: the modern-day simon and garfunkel. ever watched john cusack's "high fidelity" where the song "seymour stein" is played?

artist: jesus and mary chain
album: darklands
why: if punk can be so deliciously melodious, then every music lover should embrace it! this is, my goodness, superlative!

artist: barbara streisand and barry gibb
album: guilty
why: stylish, rhythmic, melodic, perfect pop - superb gibbs brothers' production

artist: cheer chen qi zhen
album: a glamorous adventure
why: the only chinese album that makes it into my list. cheer is the best singer-songwriter in the chinese music world in the last decade, period. if you don't like it, it is because you are not 'there' yet.

artist: oasis
album: what's the story, morning glory?
why: the gallagher bros' angst and crafty tunes are phenomenal. but listening to them now does sound a bit dated. still, they ruled the 90s.