All The Records I've Ever Owned

  Year Released: 1996 Label: Nude Year Bought: 2011 I know lots of people love this album, and it has got some great songs on it, but I just can't love it. It's too trebly, too thin, too cold. It kicks off with 'Trash', which is an absolutely brilliant tune with fantastic lyrics. Brett is at his absolute best here, with talk of "nowhere towns" and "cellophane sounds", and being the "litter on the breeze". I love it. But, alas we go from one of Suede's best songs to one of their worst. 'Filmstar' feels incredibly lazy. The riff is nothing, and as for the lyrics:  Filmstar propping up the bar driving in a car it looks so easy Filmstar propping up the bar driving in a car tonight These are Noel Gallagher-on-an-incredibly-bad-day lyrics.  I hate the riff, I hate the chorus, I hate the lyrics. I hate how shiny it is. It's lazy ... which is the title of the next song. This tune sees the first use on the album of the "here the...

Y ear Released: 1996 Label: Hallmark Records  Year Bought: 2011 Thanks to men old enough to know better sporting long shorts, dyed green hair and dodgy piercings, ska music has something of an image problem. When some hear the word 'ska', they think of bands doing HILARIOUS cover versions of pop songs or unwashed teenagers in a field who think Jackass is funny. True  ska is, of course, nothing like that. Developed in Jamaica in the 1960s, it enjoyed a revival in the late 1970s through groups such as The Specials, Madness, and The Selecter. This compilation album, released in 1996 (I bought it off a market stall in Braintree in 2011), focuses very much on the first wave of ska. I'm no expert on this genre, but according to short essay in the CD sleeve, the genre name comes from "the scat singing often adopted by vocalists simply to keep up with the chugging instrumental rhythms." The iconic ska attire – suit, braces, boots – came about thanks to Desmond Dekker, who...