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Norman Records' Best Albums of 1996

Started by holyzombiejesus, April 26, 2021, 03:23:44 PM

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holyzombiejesus

To celebrate their 25th birthday, Norman Records have posted this in an attempt to find out their customers' favourite album of that year. Shame they didn't do it properly with one of those world cup thingies but thought I'd post it on here regardless.



According to Norman's twitter, most people said
Spoiler alert
DJ Shadow
[close]
.

For me, If You're Feeling Sinister beats Murder Ballads in the semi-final and Maxinquaye in the final. That bottom right group is fucking rubbish and the one above it isn't much better.

holyzombiejesus

Just noticed that Maxinquaye isn't even on the list.

SteveDave


Rich Uncle Skeleton

Just realised if you told me to name an album from 1996 off the top of my head I'd have absolutely no fucking idea.

any other year, easy. 1996...wasteland, nothing came out apparently.

edit: Babybird - Ugly Beautiful there we go. BYE!


Midas


chveik

loads of great albums missing (and they're not particularly obscure)

UGK - Ridin' Dirty
Ghostface Killah - Ironman
Cardiacs - Sing to God
Swans - Soundtracks of the Blind
Mainliner - Mellow Out
The Juggaknots - s/t
Ground-Zero - Revolutionary Pekinese Opera ver.1.28
Kingpin Skinny Pimp - King of Da Playaz Ball
Susumu Hirasawa - Siren
Paperclip People - The Secret Tapes of Dr. Eich

jobotic

Yeah, I've heard all of them on Wilkinson in-store radio. ;-)

holyzombiejesus

Quote from: chveik on April 26, 2021, 03:55:38 PM
loads of great albums missing (and they're not particularly obscure)

UGK - Ridin' Dirty
Ghostface Killah - Ironman
Cardiacs - Sing to God
Swans - Soundtracks of the Blind
Mainliner - Mellow Out
The Juggaknots - s/t
Ground-Zero - Revolutionary Pekinese Opera ver.1.28
Kingpin Skinny Pimp - King of Da Playaz Ball
Susumu Hirasawa - Siren
Paperclip People - The Secret Tapes of Dr. Eich

They are pretty obscure, aren't they? I know a bit about music and have only heard of 3 of them.

I'm surprised they haven't got Smog's 'The Doctor Came At Dawn' or Palace Music's 'Arise Therefore' up there.

Everything on the right of that chart is shit, with the notable exception of Labradford, which is probably only there for *cool* points.

lankyguy95

Fantastic Planet by Failure came out that year.

Also, going down the heavy (but not obscure) route, The Great Southern Trendkill by Pantera, Roots by Sepultura, and Aenima by Tool would all be considered classics.

holyzombiejesus

Quote from: Corduroy Castle on April 26, 2021, 04:02:57 PM
Everything on the right of that chart is shit, with the notable exception of Labradford, which is probably only there for *cool* points.

Don't think that's particularly fair. Norman probably shifted more copies of that than the vast vast majority of other UK retailers.

Quote from: chveik on April 26, 2021, 03:55:38 PM
loads of great albums missing (and they're not particularly obscure)

Modest Mouse - This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About is a surprising omission.

Quote from: holyzombiejesus on April 26, 2021, 04:08:52 PM
Don't think that's particularly fair. Norman probably shifted more copies of that than the vast vast majority of other UK retailers.

Yeah, probably a bit snidey, soz

Norton Canes

Orbital's In Sides was the best album of 1996. Advance is the best on that list.

DrGreggles


The Culture Bunker

Of the albums on that list that I know, none of them particular does anything for me, nor will I be rushing to listen to them anytime soon. I suppose I'd say '1977' because it reminds me of getting pissed for the first time, aged 15.

1996 albums I do like:

'Attack of the Grey Lantern' by Mansun
'Ask Me Tomorrow' by Mojave 3
'Baja Sessions' by Chris Isaak
Fountains of Wayne's self-titled debut
'Among My Swan' by Mazzy Star
'Dizzy Heights' by Lightning Seeds

purlieu

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on April 26, 2021, 04:49:34 PM
1996 albums I do like:

'Attack of the Grey Lantern' by Mansun
1997, that.

Missing from my '96 faves list:
FSOL - Dead Cities
Orbital - In Sides
Nurse With Wound - Who Can I Turn to Stereo
Lightning Seeds - Dizzy Heights
Suede - Coming Up
Current 93 - All the Pretty Little Horses
Archive - Londinium
Dead Can Dance - Spiritchaser

Some of my favourites are on the list, though. Everything Must Go, Second Toughest in the Infants, Under the Bushes Under the Stars and If You're Feeling Sinister are all great.

El Unicornio, mang

I thought there'd be at least one album I really love from that year, most of my faves are mid 90s, but realised it's all stuff from 1994-5 and 1997. Seems like my favourite artists took a break in 1996.

Actually, REM are my favourite of all time but New Adventures isn't one I particularly love.

Edit 2: actually I didn't notice the Tortoise one, that got a lot of plays back in the day. That one then.

Pauline Walnuts

#19
Quote from: Corduroy Castle on April 26, 2021, 04:02:57 PM
I'm surprised they haven't got Smog's 'The Doctor Came At Dawn' or Palace Music's 'Arise Therefore' up there.

Everything on the right of that chart is shit, with the notable exception of Labradford, which is probably only there for *cool* points.


The Peel Session version of Battered blows the album version out of the water.

Sorry, trying a bit too hard there.



BlodwynPig


Famous Mortimer

Quote from: chveik on April 26, 2021, 03:55:38 PM
loads of great albums missing (and they're not particularly obscure)

UGK - Ridin' Dirty
Ghostface Killah - Ironman
Cardiacs - Sing to God
Swans - Soundtracks of the Blind
Mainliner - Mellow Out
The Juggaknots - s/t
Ground-Zero - Revolutionary Pekinese Opera ver.1.28
Kingpin Skinny Pimp - King of Da Playaz Ball
Susumu Hirasawa - Siren
Paperclip People - The Secret Tapes of Dr. Eich
No argument that you've listed some good ones, but there are some I've never heard of and none of them are that well-known, surely?

Quote from: purlieu on April 26, 2021, 05:07:11 PM
1997, that.

Missing from my '96 faves list:
FSOL - Dead Cities
Orbital - In Sides
Nurse With Wound - Who Can I Turn to Stereo
Lightning Seeds - Dizzy Heights
Suede - Coming Up
Current 93 - All the Pretty Little Horses
Archive - Londinium
Dead Can Dance - Spiritchaser

More agreed, certainly. "Dead Cities" is brilliant, and that's a cracker of a NWW album.

DrGreggles

Dead Cities is 25 years old?!

Shit, I'm old...

Pauline Walnuts

I can't believe they missed off Spice.

I guess it was too obvious.

BlodwynPig

Here are mine

Alien Mutation (vs. Indigo Egg) - Microcosmacrocosm
B12 - Time Tourist
Bullitnuts - 1st of the Day
Dan Curtin - Art & Science
Dubstar - Disgraceful
The Egg - Albumen
Electric Orange - Orange Commutation
Jedi Knights - New School Science
Meat Beat Manifesto - Subliminal Sandwich
Gary Moscheles - Shaped to Make Your Life Easier
Mike & Rich - Expert Knob Twiddlers
Nature™ - In a Gentle Mood
Nine Invisibles -   Pureheadspace
Ian O'Brien - Desert Scores
Squarepusher    Feed Me Weird Things
Surface 10 - Surface 10
Timeshard - Hunab Ku
Underworld - Second Toughest in the Infants
Wamdue Kids - Wamdue Works
Frank Zappa - Läther (CD boxset)
T-Power - Waveform

purlieu

Quote from: BlodwynPig on April 26, 2021, 05:46:41 PM
Dubstar - Disgraceful
'95.

Dead Cities is indeed 25, just been reissued on vinyl, and they're releasing an album of new versions of We Have Explosive for Record Store Day.

chveik

Quote from: Famous Mortimer on April 26, 2021, 05:26:30 PM
No argument that you've listed some good ones, but there are some I've never heard of and none of them are that well-known, surely?

yeah i was being a bit facetious. (and i have no idea what type of customers Norman Records have).

still, in our internet age, it's hard to draw the line where something becomes obscure enough

BlodwynPig

Quote from: purlieu on April 26, 2021, 05:50:18 PM
'95.

Dead Cities is indeed 25, just been reissued on vinyl, and they're releasing an album of new versions of We Have Explosive for Record Store Day.

ah, seems I have this copy

https://www.discogs.com/Dubstar-Disgraceful/release/220573

Norton Canes

Just trawled the '96 Wiki, realised I've missed a couple: 808 State's imperious Don Solaris; and Pet Shop Boys' Bilingual, which for me (Clive) shades it as their best long-player.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: purlieu on April 26, 2021, 05:07:11 PM
1997, that.

It seems so. I just typed "1996" into Media Player and that came back, for whatever reason.