The Alternative Album

Passing an album off as the alternative album cannot be an easy task. The question of what to add and what to leave out is probably the hardest task that a selector of compilation albums has to go through. Sometimes one gets the feeling that in times of despair selectors will rush to the rock charts (often a dubious source of authority) to see what songs were the most popular. Yet with this album some really good songs have been chosen to represent some really good bands that deserve the respect of being placed in a decent compilation album.

Starting with ‘Clocks’ and ‘2+2=5’ by Coldplay and Radiohead respectively, two highly talented groups, the album moves to the magnificent ‘Out of Time’ by Blur. Getting off to a sprinting start the album moves gracefully from one great song to another – more than enough to make even the most hardened disparager of the alternative rock scene reexamine some musical prejudices.