FORGOTTEN BRITPOP BRILLIANCE - TOP 10

When the Britpop movement was at its height twenty years ago, many of its musicians appeared on Top Of The Pops and got involved in some of the most intense chart wars in recent memory. Although Blur, Pulp, Suede, and Oasis are well-known to everyone, the music scene was much more diverse than most would recall.

It appears that several great bands have been unfairly omitted from our recollections throughout the years. Now that the dust has settled once more, here are 10 albums from the time period that have been criminally overlooked but are well worth revisiting.

Due to the response on my last post I've decided to do a top 10 of forgotten brilliance from that era IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER. 

Thank you for the continued support. 

Peace and Love x - Stiofán

Space - Spiders 

Released: 16th September 1996

UK Album Charts: 5th

The wildly popular debut album by Space garnered the band a global following and peaked at number five on the UK album charts. Given the band's ability to record the album over the course of 1995 and 1996, it is safe to claim they successfully captured much of the spirit of that year. Some tracks might not have stood the test of time, but there are still a lot of songs that, around 25 years ago, left their poetic imprint in my head. Although I still have the CDs, I must admit that I had forgotten the layers of production that went into Spiders. I usually went back to the singles from Space, but it had been a long since I had explored the complete world.

Space are very much an album band because of their distinct pop-dance-indie sound. Although they could be written off as a novelty pop act, Spiders and their second album Tin Planet demonstrate that they're better than that poor tag. They clearly capitalised on their opportunity and produced some absolute serious tunes along the way.

The Auteurs - Now I'm A Cowboy

Released: 9th May 1994 

UK Album Charts: N/A

With their debut release, New Wave, The Auteurs established themselves as some of the darkest and most artistic leaders of the Britpop movement. Frontman Luke Haines received immediate acclaim from the critics, and anticipation was strong when Now I'm a Cowboy was released just fourteen months later. Now I'm a Cowboy is not likely to let down New Wave enthusiasts. It's a remarkably safe record that closely resembles its predecessor. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if many of the songs on this album were composed concurrently with those on New Wave. One of the great Britpop recordings that wasn't produced by the movement's "Big Four"-Oasis, Blur, Suede, and Pulp. A second-straight must-listen for any fan.

Marion - This World And Body

Released: 5th February 1996

UK Album Charts: 10th 

Although Marion was first labelled as Northern England's answer to Suede, the band failed to live up to those expectations and disbanded after just two studio albums. This World and Body, Marion's debut album, captures them during their brief moment of mainstream fame. In the brief existence of Marion, only its 1996 debut This World And Body managed to chart, coming in at number 10 on the UK Albums Chart. Marion never received the recognition it deserved, even though you can hear the band's impact in recent success stories like the Killers and Bloc Party.

It must have seemed like a dream for a band that was influenced by British legends like Radiohead, the Buzzcocks, and the Smiths, to have Johnny Marr produce its second album. A reasonable gamble for individuals who are just getting started. You'll wonder why it took you so long to discover This World And Body, a fantastic little hidden gem from the Britpop era!

Teenage Fanclub - Grand Prix

Released: 29th May 1995

UK Album Charts: 7th

Grand Prix, a 1995 album by Teenage Fanclub, is regarded as their most critically acclaimed and commercially successful work. It peaked at number seven on the UK Album Charts. Many people believe this album is better than Bandwagonesque, which many did not believe was possible. The band's sound is solidly established on the album, and each member's compositional talent reaches unheard-of heights. In the Fanclub universe, Love's Sparky's Dream, Blake's Mellow Doubt, and McGinley's Verisimilitude are all serious tunes. Grand Prix is the top performance of a band with significant individual talent. The album was listed as one of the Greatest British Albums Ever in the reference books 1,001 Albums To Hear Before You Die and Q magazine as well as the Observer Music Monthly.

Grand Prix is an album about being hopelessly, madly, deeply in love, from the initial rush of About You and Sparky's Dream through to the slower, introspective Verisimilitude and Going Places. With Gerard Love's statement in Don't Look Back, they have produced their most mature work to date lyrically, while the musical formula is well-known. Maybe they might have been too intelligent for the mainstream.

Cast - All Change

Released: 16th October 1995

UK Album Charts: 7th 

All Change, like Cast's previous three studio albums, is guitar-driven Britpop with a heftier than usual serving of pop rock. Guitarist and vocalist John Power has a clear affinity for upbeat rock songs with rousing guitar riffs that share the focus with uplifting verses and choruses. There is also more jangle than in an usual Britpop release, but besides a few songs that develop more slowly, like Four Walls and Walkaway, there isn't much left over from Power's time with the La's. Particularly compared to anything by Lee Mavers, Power's vocal melodies are much more formulaic. Additionally, the production of All Change has a distinctly 1990s feel, with thick walls of guitar and a painfully uniform musical mix on the harder-rocking tunes. With less guitar virtuosity than Oasis and less creative variation than Teenage Fanclub, the overall impact sits halfway between Definitely Maybe and early 90s power pop bands like Teenage Fanclub.

As long as you're not searching for anything particularly innovative or artistic, All Change is a good choice for fans of 90s guitar rock with a Britpop influence. Check out Mother Nature Calls, the album that follows this one if you like this one.

The Bluetones - Expecting To Fly

Released: 12th February 1996

UK Album Charts: 1st

I can't help but compare The Bluetones to Shed Seven. Nothing to do with the music, mind you, it's simply that they need to be aware that whatever they release will face criticism. They still exist today, which speaks to both their bloodthirsty nature and the resilience of their artistic temperament. I believe that the music the band put out prior to Expecting To Fly is to blame for the issue. At the time, they were seen as the Stone Roses' natural heirs. The sound of the knives being sharpened could be heard clearly throughout the nation when the record first came out as more jangle than jungle. Through the second half of the 1990s, they had a brace of top 20 singles, but their debut, Expecting to Fly, reaching number one in the UK was the pinnacle of their commercial success. The Bluetones' jangle pop, did not distinguish them from the competition.

All of this does not render Expecting To Fly a poor record or provide an explanation for why The Bluetones have come to represent Britpop's lost generation. Excellent instances of intellectual jangle pop include Slight Return, Cut Some Rug, Bluetonic, and, especially, A Parting Gesture, despite the fact that it was overplayed at the time of release. Additionally, despite Mark Morriss' vocals being sparse and callow and always being in risk of being overpowered by the music, they function nicely, almost like an additional instrument.

Expecting To Fly is one of those albums that's enjoyable to listen to but quickly loses its appeal.

Geneva - Further 

Released: 9th June 1997

UK Album Charts: 20th

The Charlatans - Tellin' Stories

Released: 21st April 1997

UK Album Charts: 1st

Style-wise, Tellin' Stories resembles an early Oasis if Noel Gallagher had dropped the messier alternative rock production and played more toe-tapping organs rather than his legendary guitar solos. Even the band's main vocalist Tim Burgess, a fellow Mancunian who always had a similar voice to Liam Gallagher, has abandoned his very casual approach and occasionally comes off as trying to sound like Gallagher while speaking. 

Tellin' Stories continues to seem more like a logical sequel of The Charlatans than it does like something really new. For instance, one's sentiments toward Oasis shouldn't necessarily influence how much one enjoys Tellin' Stories. The album, released in 1997, became their most successful album and all of its songs are composed by the 5 members who started working on it. Seriously good album regardless.

Super Furry Animal - Fuzzy Logic 

Released: 20th May 1996 

UK Album Charts: 23rd

Super Furry Animals are a five-piece band from Wales that rose to prominence in the 1990s as a britpop band with song structures that are similar in catchiness to the movement's leaders, Oasis, Blur, and Supergrass, but also incorporate a good level of neo-psychedelia from Radiohead, the indie pop madness of Ween, the glam rock riffage from David Bowie, Alice Cooper, and other 70s heavyweights.

Their first studio album, Fuzzy Logic, surprised everyone by being a remarkably cohesive collection that successfully combines a wide range of inspirations. While the brief opening track God! Show Me Magic has a sound that is very similar to the harder sounds of Supergrass, it quickly gives way to a slower britpop groove by Oasis that sounds more like a glam rock Bowie song. Despite the similarities, the influences are just far enough apart for me to refrain from screaming rip-off. The remainder of the album continues in this vein, combining all these inspirations with catchy britpop-based tunes while always adding some peculiar new ideas or flavor. Despite their advances into contemporary musical genres they were also fairly successful from the start on the UK pop charts.

Longpigs - The Sun is Often Out

Released: 29th April 1996

UK Album Charts: 26th

As the pop melodies of the excellent Longpigs are built on Crispin Hunt's vocals, you won't be able to look away. The album features many outstanding songs, including Brit pop hymns like She Said and On and On, but it also, regrettably, has some unimpressive tunes, particularly one with Jesus Christ, which we will gladly skip over. The general perception will stay positive. The album's title, The Sun is Often Out, seems to be more appropriately descriptive of the light than of the shadowed locations.

The Sun Is Often Out is an album that deserves far more respect than it currently has, but I can understand why it didn't catapult Longpigs into the higher tiers of Britpop artists.

I do apologise for any band that i've left out but there are so many unreal choices and these are the select few on which i was positive however, here is a few honourable mentions:

- Radiohead - The Bends 

- Word Gets Around - Stereophonics

- Black Grape - It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah

- Supergrass - In It For The Money

- The Bluetones - Return to the Last Chance Saloon 

- Paul Weller - Stanley Road

- Mansun - Attack of the Grey Lantern

Thanks for the continued support people! One love.