and, yes, it must be included! Gotta get Ray of Light higher on the AM list! With this list, 1,001 Albums and that Albums: 50 Years of Great Recordings, we're looking at a decent move up!
Well my problem is it just doesnt look like they've put much effort into compiling the list. There's some very predictable and generally overrated stuff in it.
Downward spiral and Miseducation of Lauryn Hill got severly ripped off. Where the hell is the Streets? The Bends by Radiohead, in my opinion is the best album they have, so what the Fuck? Also I didn't catch any A Tribe Called Quest Albums, or Black Star, and Oh Yeah Kanye did get ripped as well as Brian Wilson's Smile, (unless that was released earlier, I can't remember).
It seems weird to me to not include one list that includes readers' votes and not include another simply because the results don't match other lists or what you like. Isn't that bringing bias into it?
Jess, you are correct that I introduce bias when I pick one list and not another. However, looking from another point of view that this site is about critics lists, then if the assumption that Mojo's readers have a similar taste as the critics the bias is small, whereas including the Virgin list would definitely introduce a lot more bias.
Isn't is just easier to say no list with fan input will be included?
To me, saying this about MOJO and that about Virgin is only reinforcing the notion that has been discussed several times here (i.e. that critics - or at least the ones who publish - seem to cater to a certain style of music). It's not like you need more lists, so why even introduce lists with fans?
is a combo of critics and fans choices, and is much larger in volume (10x bigger than the Mojo one). Not sure if that plays a role, but it's likely that far more fan input was put into the Virgin feature.
This list actually seems to have a v.definite 'Mojo critic's' bias : 7 out of the 12 Mojo critics albums of the year are in the top 20. 4 in the top 10. 2 in the top 3.
I think them selecting GRACE #1 is one the most respectable and honest statements I've seen in music magazines. While most of the magazines and critics alike stick to over appreciated, so-called staples of popular music while making their lists or whatsoever, the guys in MOJO have just recognized how unique, masterful and talented singer Jeff Buckley was and how he was able to construct absolutely unique and wonderful music that has a timeless appeal. I've heard the Led Zeppelin meets Van Morrison descriptions and that's quite a good definition if someone doesn't have a clue about him and needs to find out.
Seriously, how can an album that has songs like Mojo Pin, Grace, Last Goodbye, So Real, Lover..., Eternal Life and Dream Brother be undeservedly at the top of the list? 7 masterpiece songs in one album.
I've always characterized GRACE as sounding like a compilation of epic closing tracks from 10 other albums. (Obviously, that's exactly what turns some people off.) There's so much passion bursting forth from every minute of the album, it's almost as if Buckley knew it was the only work he'd ever live to complete and so he wanted to cram a lifetime's worth of emotion into it.
This is a good idea from Mojo. After all, if they had featured a list of the best albums of all time, hardly any of the albums would have been from 1993 or more recent. With this criteria to choose from, you will have Mojo's view on an era Mojo is not first and foremost known to write about, which is refreshing, and also different from other mags.
I find it interesting that it's considered "our life time" when it's from 93?
For me, that's since I was 10, and it leaves out some greats from when I was a kid such as Michael Jackson's Bad, Slippery When Wet by Bon Jovi and others.
Nevertheless, it's an ok list, but I wouldn't put Kid A in there at all, The Bends would be lower and OK Computer would win it. Outkast would be lower, but there, Norah Jones would be lower, Coldplay's Rush of Blood and Rufus Wainwright's Poses would be higher up.
Sorry, but Kid A should be in that list, just because its challenging music. Some may not like it, but I certainly do, should be higher on the list in my opinion.
Hail to the Thief really should be in the top 50 and its not even on the list; OK Computer and Kid A should be number one and number two, respectively, as OK Computer was the best album of the 90s and Kid A best of the 00s,any normal magazine or website will tell you that