Don't Look Back Album Competition Results
The Flaming Lips performing The Soft Bulletin in London on 1st July - On Sale Now!

Ben Pitman:

Jesus Lizard - Goat. Mainly cause I'd enjoy seeing David Yow doing the full album whilst crowdsurfing.
Parts & Labor - Mapmaker. One of my favourite albums by one of my favourite ever bands.
Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - An absolutely amazingly crafted and totally rocking concept album.


Dots & Dashes:

The Sleepy Jackson, Lovers: Most incomplete yet cohesive record the commercial side of a B-side collection, a record spanning all emotions, moods and mindsets. May also put an end to all that Empire Of The Sun nonsense.
Prince, Purple Rain: Accompanied by projected film backdrop, confetti, Ally Pally drenched in actual purple rain. Musically, the reasons seem obvious...
Battles (reunited w/ Tyondai Braxton), Mirrored: The thought of never again experiencing its myriad magical moments in the live setting is fairly harrowing.


Anthony Ong:

Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Built to Spill - Keep It Like a Secret
Modest Mouse - The Moon and The Antarctica

3 classics from 3 classics bands, they just don't play not enough songs from these nowadays sadly, a DLB is needed



Thomas French:

1. Manic Street Preachers- Holy Bilbe
By far my favourite album of all time by my favourite band. The dark nature of this album would be just so lovely expanded live and the tortued soul at the centre of this album raw and open for everyone to witness.

2. Future of the Left- Curses
This is an album that i have not stopped listening since i first heard it, every track on here is a stone cold classic, riffs-a-plently!

3. PJ Havey- Dry
The poetic anarchist nature of PJ Harvey's work is simply prefect here, a stunning album and one that needs to heard as a collective work of art.


Neil Winkles:

Drive Like Jehu play Yank Crime

The Dismemberment Plan play Emergency and I

Desaparecidos play Read Music, Speak Spanish

Mainly because; although they are not my all time favourite bands, they are three of my favourite albums, I have never seen the bands in question play live nor am I likely to (Dismemberment Plan possibly excepted), they all begin with the letter D (just think of the marketing potential of 3D! or something), they are all rather loud.


Chiari Colli:

Spaceman 3 - The Perfect Prescription

why: the most impossible reunion of all the time for one of the most influential band of all the time playing their most "balanced" record. Everything that is ideal is never easy to get....

Ride - Nowhere
why: I've heard it could happen and that would be the exception which proves the rule above...

Husker Du: Warehouse: Songs and Stories

why: ok, all disbanded bands, but I trust Atp, since they've done miracles (what about The Feelies playing Crazy Rhythms?). This band to live again (since I didn't) the moment in which punk handed on the baton to inde...


Joseph Cox:

Sufjan Stevens performing Illinois
Such a wonderful album with so many parts and aspects to it, the journey created by this album would be incredible live. Getting to hear it with the both the 7 minute and 7 second tracks etc would be perfect it being such a well put together piece of art. The 7 second tacks punctuating the album is something you just don't get live.

Boredoms performing Vision Creation Newsom
I barely feel the need to explain this one, one of my favourite albums of all time. The rhythm, the sound, the atmosphere, live this would blow my socks off.

Kraftwerk performing The Man Machine
Picking just one album for Kraftwerk is virtually impossible but The Man Machine is the album that sums them and their process up. The Robots opening in itself introduces themselves and the album flawlessly, something that can't be said for a lot of bands.
The album also feels very relevant today with the view of 'model's in modern media and the whole concept of 'The Man Machine'.


Ryan Falch:

Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Orange

Radiohead - Ok Computer



Guy Healy:

Sonic Youth - Dirty
Beck - One foot in the Grave
John Spencer Blues Explsion - Orange
 
three of my favourite early 90s albums. They remind me of being a scruffy youth and the times i started playing in bands. These albums were the soundtrack to a very important time in my life and if this concert were to actually happen I would attend wearing a dinosaur Jr tshirt and tipsy from too much cider.
 
it would be a smasher


Jamie Gambino:

Headline; Pixies performing Surfer Rosa,
Throwing Muses performing The Real Ramona
The Breeders performing Last Splash

I'd love this for 2 reasons: 1) adore all 3 bands & albums, + 4ad connection

2) this could happen, all 3 bands are still sort of active, go on you can make this a reality!!



Sam Page:

Primus - Frizzle Fry
Parliament - Mothership Connection
Adam and the Ants - Dirk Wears White Sox

I'm struck, and frequently bored, by the introvertedness of much experimental music today, so I look to these artists who took great joy and humour in pissing about while making extraordinary, interesting, music.

Primus seem a forgotten band for the ATP crowd, on the face of it anyway (... the ones I know, anyhow). While they do play to many massive crowds - very much their own audience - and should be heralded by the enjoyers of left field music, they seem fobbed off. Shoulders are shrugged by many of the "artistic" types. However, more than almost any group of musicians playing today, nothing quite sounds like Primus in this world. Frizzle Fry is contains some very interesting, odd, silly, heavy, left field, obscure and fun music.

Parliament - Mothership Connection. Have you ever heard anything like a party as much as this record? Bizarre and psychedelic, and the very dictionary definition of funky. Never celebrated that much in the UK, but absolutely incredible piece of mixing experimentation, funk and space together to create one of the most incredible records created. Man, this shit is funky.

Adam & the Ants - Dirk Wears White Sox. A forgotten record of the post punk? The drummer sounds like he's being pushed down stairs. The songs are witty, humorous, vicious. Melodies are odd, obscure, jazzy, left field. One of the greatest records of the punk era.


Cameron Steward

    * 1) Paul Simon - Graceland
    * Any amount of slap bass and afro-beat rhythms used in white middle class American music should be played everywhere, all the time.

    * 2) Crosby Stills Nash & Young - Deja Vu
    * So great for many reasons but David Crosby letting his 'Freak Flag Fly' should be enough alone...

    * 3) Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run
    * Simply the best and most varied rock album of the last 40 years.

tom sandwell:

Deerhunter-"Cryptograms"
Modest Mouse-"The Moon and Antarctica"
Quickspace-"The Death of Quickspace" (in a way just to seem them reformed, but that album is amazing)

Preferably done in some field in the summertime.
man that show would be epic.


Jeremy Keen:


New Order - "Power Corruption and Lies"
Stereolab - "Mars Audiac Quintet"
The Unicorns "Who will cut our hair when your gone" 



Mark Alderton:

Although the three bands in July are very close to a perfect 3 band concert, I would choose the following:

PIXIES performing Surferrosa/Come on Pilgrim – This album changed my life as a 16 year old, shifting from a love of Brit Pop to alternative rock, that allowed me to open my eyes to an infinite amount of ‘weird’ and wildly eclectic music. Surferrosa/Come on Pilgrim started it all for me.


Q and Not U performing No Kill No Beep Beep – A great great album that I tend to listen to over any other dischord bands (including Fugazi). Their second record had more critical appeal if I remember but the dynamism of this record keeps me coming back and back. And it rocks hard in places too. Obviously they’d have to reform but, you never know...

 
Field Music performing Tones of Town – To my mind the most underrated band in England at the moment. Their last double album didn’t always hit the mark and tended to veer off into classic rock (which I don’t mind too much...ssshhh) but Tones of Town is simply stunning. Like Deerhoof they tend to have more ideas in one song than most bands manage on a whole album (or whole career if you’re shit). They are one of the best bands I’ve seen live too, mixing melody, obscure time signatures, harmonies, and stunning musicality.


This is properly hard...I’ve tried to stick to something that could happen (ie. everyone is alive), and picked bands I’d want to see as one gig, rather than what would make a good pull for a concert. I’ve also tried to select them as a ‘three’, rather than, say, stick Bob Log III and Kraftwerk together (though I would definitely go and watch that).


David Mackley:

 
Stereolab - Transient Random Noise Bursts with Announcements
 
Big Black - Songs About Fucking
 
Boris - Pink
 
Boris would be a great opener.  They are a very current band, and Pink is one of their strongest albums, bringing together the glacial shoegaze of 'Farewell' the short fuzzed out blasts of 'Pink' 'and 'Woman on the Screen' and then there is the humongous in the red closer, 'Just Abandoned Myself.'
 
I just watched some clips of St. Vincent covering Kerosene at an event for the book "This Band Could be Your Life."  It's no surprise a frenzied pit erupted.  This was such an influential sound, and not experienced live by so many people (myself included), so it would be amazing for people to see how it was really done.
 
I think Emperor Tomator Ketchup may be a more crowd pleasing album, and I'd almost like to change my Stereolab album choice to that, but I think it would be great to get the band back together, and doing the stuff that they started with.  Those organ drone sounds and their riff on krautrock with 'Jenny Ondioline' would be fantastic to hear filling a live venue.


Ben Barrett:

My ideal 3 x band Don't Look Back concert would be:

1. Codeine performing Frigid Stars
2. The American Analog Set performing Know By Heart
3. Labradford performing Mi Media Naranja

The members of all of these bands are still around, it would be amazing to see them all get back together on this bill. I discovered Codeine via being a massive fan of Low and think that Frigid Stars is a perfect album. It still stands up years after it was released and in context with what else was coming out at the time is unique with it's slow burning pace. I really think Codeine have their own sound, which brings me to the next band. The American Analog Set were hugely influenced by Codeine and again, I think they own their sound. Nothing else could ever come close to sounding like AmAnSet. They named their Promise of Love album after a song off Codeine's 'Barely Real' EP and covered the song Jr as well. I'd like to see Know By Heart not only because it's also a prefect album but because it starts one of the best opening tracks of all time with Punk as Fuck. Labradford would complement this line up superbly and I think Mi Media Naranja is where they really flex their muscles and present many sides to their music.


Michael Nebraska:

1/ Red House Painters - Red House Painters/Rollercoaster

Probably the finest of Mark Kozelek's work, a vast, beautiful collection of gentle acoustic heartbreak married to crushing avalanches of drone and feedback, this was, without doubt, one of the most powerful and beautiful albums of the 90s and has had a place in my heart ever since it's release. Even though Koz still does great work solo and with Sun Kil Moon it would be an incredible treat to see the original line-up perform this epic in it's entirety just one time.

2/ The Replacements - Let It Be

The best and most underachieving rocknroll band of our times would give a thrilling performance of this, their most excellent record. A reformed Replacements would be a dream come true for literally dozens(!) of people in the UK - and we'd get to see their infamous onstage shenanigans onstage in real life finally! A bunch of goofy covers as an encore would also help.

3/ Don Lennon - Routine

OK, so nobody really knows who he is but he certainly does make very smart and very poetic music with just the right amount of humour and pathos. This is his funniest, most tuneful and saddest record and who would pass up the opportunity to see the Umpteens frontman live and in person?

JR Moores:

Eels ‘Electro-shock Blues’ - Because although Mr. E’s more recent albums haven’t been quite so up to scratch, he still puts everything into his live shows and this is a wonderful, eclectic and emotionally raw record. It is steeped in death, taking the listener on a journey from bleak meditations on mental illness, suicide and cancer, to its eventual celebratory conclusion that life is there to be lived.
 
The Fall ‘This Nation’s Saving Grace’ - Because there is chance that unpredictable Mark E. Smith might decide to play an entirely different set of songs, or even an entirely different album from beginning to end, just to be difficult. The exciting sense that anything could happen would still be alive, even under the constraints of the Don’t Look Back blueprint.
 
Ween ‘The Pod’ - Because it would be very, very brown.
 
 
 

Steve Johnson:

Yo La Tengo performing ‘And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out’

Calexico performing ‘Hot Rail’

Lambchop performing ‘Nixon’ (ideally with an additional string section)

 

I have tried to choose bands that (as far as I am aware) haven’t played Don’t Look Back shows before.  For me, they are all classic American guitar albums, each having its own clear identity and achieving a level of near-perfection rarely seen elsewhere. I think the albums would complement each other pretty well, although finding a suitable sympathetic venue may prove difficult (especially for the relatively quiet Yo La Tengo album). Maybe we could have it at the Royal Albert Hall?


Slava Smirnov:

1. Garbage performing Version 2.0
they were the first band I saw live, simply as it is. It's their best album and they are actually going to get back together (and release a new album, oh well).

2. Placebo performing Without You I'm Nothing.
because they've toured South Africa with Garbage back in 1998, haha
actually, that album is also a fans favourite. I also don't really like the fact that Placebo rarely play their old good tunes nowadays, so it will be awesome. In pair with garbage - I wouldn't hesitate a moment.

3. Goldfrapp performing Black Cherry.
just to add some beautiful electronic sounds. Wonderful Electric is one of my favourite live DVDs ever.
Wish it was possible.


Rob Matthews:

Neil Young - After the Goldrush
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Boatman's Call
Eels - Electroshock Blues


Robert Leedham:

The Beach Boys - The Very Best Of The Beach Boys
The Replacements - Let It Be
The Yummy Fur - Male Shadow At Three O'Clock

Something sweet, something bitter, something sexy


Daniel Austin:

Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Performing Lift Your Skinny Wrists Like Antennas to Heaven

The first album has it supporters but for me this album is the pinnacle of the band at it powers. Across its pretty hefty running time all the Godspee trademarks are in evidence – Dynamic volume and speed changes – never bettered samples and quite simply music which if you are unable to be moved by you are simply emotionally dead and spiritually redundant. The first part of disc two should be the starting point for everyone who is dipping their toe into instrumental music – however disc one like all works of longevity has a way of creeping under the skin and bringing you back time and again.  The reformation shows cemented the fact they are brilliant and their absence left a massive hole in music but the shows could not help make me wish for a full lift your skinny fists show.


Cult of Luna – Performing Somewhere Along the Highway

Don’t look Back has not put on a metal show (apart from sleep) for a while and I think the pacing and presence of this album would make it worthy of being played in its entirety. It is pretty bleak but it is beautiful and whilst determined as metal I see this band as having more in common with bands such as Mogwai than many of their contemporaries. I know that this is not a massively old album but I have yet to play it to someone and them not be impressed by both the brutality (the ending of Finland is a truly crushing moment) but also the trademark sombre instrumental sections. They are fairly ignored in the UK or simply labelled as copyists of the American proponents of this style of music – however I truly believe this album stands on its own merits and should be included as a benchmark in the genre.


Patti Smith – Horses

You could simply say it’s Horses – It’s Patti Smith!

When I knew very little about music I bought New Adventures in Hi-Fi by R.E.M – Everyone I knew hated E-Bow the Letter – I loved it and who was that strange vocal in the background??? I bought Horses many years later – when I like to think I knew a little more about music and it is an ever-present since. It really is a quite perfect album from the cover through to the content – and let’s face it – this album is probably yet to be bettered by any female artist across any era.



David Strange:

slint-spiderland, as its dark brooding and atymospheric the blair witch project of albums.
 
GZA- liquid swords, as the samples from shogun assasin really help tell the story of the album and again its dark brooding and atomspheric.
 
Portishead - portishead, just an amzing album beth gibbons voice sounds fantastic and would round off a throughly atmospheric evening of music nicely with gibbons vocals piercing through the darkness


Eoin O Faolain:

Television: Marquee Moon
Wire: Pink Flag
The Pop Group: Ys

The broadly defined "post-punk" era was one of the highlights of modern music. The energy of punk was infused with a sense of political activism and disdain at all things conformist. Anarchy was chanelled and directed in the right ways, and best of all you could dance to it!

Tim Smith:

Sebadoh performing III
Soundgarden performing Superunknown
Nina Nastasia performing Dogs

Thomas Perry:

Marion - This World and Body
The Chameleons - Script From The Bridge
The Wedding Present - Bizarro
at
The Deaf Institute, Manchester

Why?

Firstly, all three bands are gettable, although wrangling Marion to reform again is not a task to be undertaken lightly.

Secondly, their three best albums. You can quibble about Seamonsters for the Weding Present, but does it have their best ever single, Kennedy? No, it does not.

Thirdly, the Deaf Institute has the best set up for a night like this in Manchester. There's a possibility of throwing in short acoustic sets in reverse order during changeovers in the Cafe Bar, so no waiting around to see a band come on, no missing anyone play.

On ATP's side, even a £25 ticket would seem relatively cheap. These bands are all relatively local, and it'd sell out in five minutes.
There'd be no hotter ticket in Manchester that night.

Peter Curtis:

Killdozer – Little Baby Buntin.                           Killdozer are a criminally underrated band. This album is excellent, and the lyrics are incredibly funny. They were a cracking live band in the 80’s.

The Afghan Whigs – Black love.                       I never saw them live, which is one of my biggest regrets.

Rapeman – Two Nuns And A Pack Mule.     A flawless album. One of the greatest live bands, ever.

 

Killdozer are playing live again. ATP need to have a word with Greg Dulli...Rapeman? No chance.

Russell Barton :

1. Julian Cope - Peggy Suicide
2. Mansun - Six
3. The Divine Comedy - Promenade
 
For 3 reasons - 1) They all work really well as whole albums 2) they're 3 of my favourite albums & 3) none of them are dead yet, so it might actually be achievable!


Will Hall:

The Go! Team - Thunder Lightning Strike
The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone ?
Deerhoof - Reveille

why ?
Thunder Lightning Strike is my favourite album of all time, and as a whole it feels like a suite, almost like a soundtrack.
The Unicorns broke up before I found out about them. To get them back together playing their classic album (easily one of the best of the 00's) would be other worldly.
Deerhoof are one of my favourite bands and this record is so surreal. It carries themes throughout, yet every song is different, in melody and often in genre. It's so dynamic and peculiar.


David Smith:


The Fall : Hex Induction Hour
– Start the night. Wired...

Mono : Under the Pipal Tree
– Takes you to a place far way and then ... takes you further ...

The Orb : Adventures from beyond the Ultraworld
– ... and then you let the Orb slip you back via time and space. To sleep, to dream.


Rich:


Droneyambientpostcorehellawesome!
1. Slowdive - Pygmalion (Just...lush... )
2. Swans - Soundtracks For The Blind (loud.. very loud...)
3. Talk Talk - Spirit Of Eden ( because its utter genius, AND THEY NEVER PERFORMED IT LIVE!)

Okay, so... it would be a ridiculously long evening, but wouldn't that make it a hell of a lot better?
3am hearing The Rainbow trilogy from Spirit OF Eden would just be stunning!



Neil Tarling:

Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 – Bob Dinners and Larry Noodles present Tubby....


The greatest band that’s ever existed, but it was a tough choice to pick which album I went with their last album as its possibly their most accessible album, but with great songs such as Sno Cone and ’91 Dodge Van


Pavement – Wowee Zowee

Another great band that just seemed to be hitting their peak around the time that they released Wowee Zowee a classic album with songs like Grave Architecture and Fight this generation that need to be heard live to really be appreciated


Archers of Loaf – Speed of Cattle


Another band from the same generation, and another great album, have never got the chance to hear them live but am sure that songs like web in front and what did you expect would be immense live
 
Thanks!


Apart from this competition, we saw thinking fellers at this year’s atp and they were the best band by a mile, they clearly really enjoyed playing again and were unbelievably tight seeing as they said they’d only rehearsed once recently, please please arrange some more shows

 
 Marc Bloomfield:
 
 The Fall doing Hex Enduction Hour
Of course, The Fall doing a Don't Look Back show would never happen and anything like it is kind of the antithesis of the group. But... I was way too young to see them when they were playing this and despite some cracking recent stuff, everything seems to knit together perfectly on HEH. It reminds me of Alasdair Gray's Lanark - there's something eerily not quite right about it, like there's something horrible going on, but you're not quite sure what it is. And it features two drummers. I've never seen The Fall play with two drummers. Of course, it could be the best gig ever or a complete shambles. Either way, I think it would be worth it.
 
Faith No More doing Angel Dust
The first gig I went to was FNM at Brixton Academy, touring Angel Dust in 1992. They didn't play all of it then, but what they did do sounded great and I think it would make a fantastic show (provided they left off Easy - it was good live, but it's not part of the album, really - it needs to finish on Midnight Cowboy). Ideally, Jim Martin would take a break from growing big pumpkins and play just for this show (no matter how much he did or didn't contribute to that album, he played it live in 1992) - it would add to the experience. Perhaps wheel out Chuck Mosley for some early stuff in an encore.
 
Funkadelic doing Free Your Mind... And Your Ass Will Follow
I've only recently found this, but it's just amazing. The album, despite the bonkers stereo effects, sounds very live anyway, but to see them in the flesh playing it would be a real experience. Of course, it might be a very short show if they stuck to playing it as it was recorded, but I'd hope they'd whack out a bit and we'd be in for a real treat. In fact, getting to hear it played about with would be reason enough - great musicians really going for it. It's almost like a jazz album - you get the impression they would never play it the same way twice, it sounds like a moment captured (and from what I understand about how it was recorded, it pretty much is). It might not sound as good another time, but it might sound even better.
 

Liam Astley:


Oneida - Each One Teach One
They started their set at ATP in 2007 with Sheets of Easter and that
is basically how all sets by every band should start.

Anais Mitchell - Hadestown
I was really disappointed to miss the brief appearances she did in
London doing this with the full band, it's easily one of my favourite
albums of last year. Concept albums tend to be looked down on, I guess
because they're usually pretty self-indulgent, but I thought this was
just brilliantly written both in the lyrics and the range of musical
styles it goes through.

Electrelane - The Power Out
Just a genuine joy in every way from start to finish.


Thomas Robinson:

Act 1

Kraftwerk performing "Autobahn"

This would be without doubt a bit of a coup, even by ATP's standards. To my knowledge only the title track has had a live airing, and it would be a special event to hear the whole album in full.  Ideally with Support on guitar from Michael Rother.

Act 2

Spacemen 3 performing "Playing with Fire"

I know.  I'm away with the fairies with this one.  I think to follow the mellow electronica with the opener "Honey" would make perfect sense.  If Pete and Jason still aren’t on talking terms then I will accept them to perform "Recurring" with Pete performing his side and then Jason his.  Someone could bang their heads together to come on for an encore of "Suicide".  As I said, this is total fantasy, but they are still alive, right?

Act 3

Talk Talk performing "Spirit of Eden"

This would be the ultimate - if only one reason need be given for the "Don't Look Back" concerts.  A complete left-turn from a band who had all been assumed to be the "next Duran Duran", it oozes with organic emotion, a real "back-to-basics" suite of songs that take you on a journey in a more subtle way than the above Autobahn.  It was properly pieced together so that it is impossible to play live, however to hear Mark Hollis croon the finals lyric of "Heaven bless you" on the closing track, Wealth would be quite something.


Neil McMahon:

My ideal 3 band Don't look Back concert would be: -
(1) The Velvet Underground - Performing the Velvet Underground & Nico
(2) Joy Division - Performing Unknown Pleasures
(3) Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band - Performing Safe as Milk.
 
The reasons I would like to see this is that (a) It Would be awesome!!!! And (b) It is pretty much and impossibility that this could ever happen (obviously unless we make some amazing scientific advances).


Iain Smith:

13th Floor Elevators - The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators
The Sonics - Here Are The Sonics
The Monks - Black Monk Time

Roundhouse - Summer 2012

Celebrating the 40 year anniversary of 'Nuggets: Original Artyfacts
from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968', this Don't Look Back
concert would be headlined by a reformed 13th Floor Elevators
performing 'The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators' and
supported by two other hugely influential psych-rock acts - The Sonics
with 'Here Are The Sonics' and The Monks performing 'Black Monk Time.'

(In terms of plausibility, Rory Erickson has been playing songs from
the 13th Floor Elevators catalog since 2008 so getting him back with
Ronnie Leatherman, John Ike Walton et al would be a real coup for ATP.
The Sonics reformed in 2008 and The Monks have been back together
off-and-on since 1999)


James Fraser:

Prolapse - Pointless Walks to Dismal Places. "When I think of you I think of a litttttttle piece of shit!". Every gig should end with an on-stage bust-up.
Disco Inferno - D.I. Go Pop. A completely unique record that took sampling to uncharted waters. Nothing sounded like it before and nothing has since. Unique and beautiful.
Stars of the Lid - The Ballasted Orchestra. A SOTL sleep-over with beds, nightcaps and endless drones.


Dominic Manley:

The Rolling Stones – Exile On Main Street

 - they rarely, if ever, play many of these songs live, preferring endless greatest hits tours in vast arenas, but it’s possibly their greatest album and the songs really work together as a cohesive whole – it just doesn’t sound like any of their other albums … and it would be so great to hear them perform it in a small-ish (for them) venue the idea might not float Mick’s boat, but I’m he’d get into it when he hears the audience response and Keith, Charlie and Ronnie would love it!

Hüsker Dü – Zen Arcade

- obviously it would take a miracle to get Mould and Hart back together again, but if they could bury the hatchet for one night then this would be the album I would want them to play … it’s perfect for a Don’t Look Back because it’s a concept album (if I can use the term non-pejoratively) which has a running narrative through it’s 23 tracks, contains some of their finest songs and features an amazing variety of styles … hopefully they would follow it with an encore of ‘greatest hits’ too

Talk Talk – Spirit Of Eden

- arguably it would take an even bigger miracle to get Mark Hollis performing again, let alone to play this album which has never been performed live (Hollis has said that to play it live “… would lose the whole point, lose the whole purity of what it was in the first place” … but this is my ideal line-up, not his, and I would love to hear it reinvented on stage, just for one night


Scott Vincent:

Pavement play Slanted and Enchanted
 
Because its my favourite ever album that changed my life when I was about 14, and its influence still permeates through music today. Bands sound and feel different now to how they would have done had this record never existed. It may only be a cult album but its influence extends far beyond those who have even heard it.
 
Spiritualized play Lazer Guided Melodies
 
There isn't much point suggesting Spacemen 3 play The Perfect Prescription as it will never happen, but this album played in its entirety would remind the world just how good it was and remind Jason of the collaborative spirit with which it was made. It is time these songs were revisited and given new life.
 
 
Labradford play Mi Media Naranja
 
This album can calm my nerves and ease away anxiety like no other. It would need to be in a unique location - perhaps in a church or under the stars - and the whole event would need to feel special and be shaped around this album.


John Bloor:


Built to Spill - Perfect From Now On

Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West

Spoon - Kill The Moonlight



Andrea Poddighe:


POLVO performing Exploded Drawing

one of the best album of the 90s

WIRE performing Chairs Missing

higly influential album

PAUL SIMON performing first solo album

cause "papa hobo" is my favorite song!



Hiro Yamazaki:

1) Aphex Twin "Selected Ambient Works 85-92. This album came out in 1992 and I feel like Richard James using only one vocal sample on this cd shows why he was such a genius.
 
2) Modest Mouse "Lonesome Crowded West" Let's face it. Issac Brock and co haven't been able to match this masterpiece at all. Every song on this cd works perfectly and I hope one day, we'll get to see this being played at Don't Look Back
 
3) Bjork "Vespertine" This is my favorite Bjork release by far as it showed her capability to show her talent beyond just pop songs.



James Greenhalgh:

1st Support Band: Avi Buffalo - S/T
2nd Support Band: Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism
Headliner: Pavement - Terror Twilight


Ray Purcell:


My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
- A new album out now but I'm not ready to move on. I still have all these tracks roaming around my head

Died Pretty - Doughboy Hollow
- Just watched them play it live a few weeks ago and it just stands up. Needs to be taken to a new generation

Spiritualized - Ladies & Gentlemen We are Floating in Space
- A highlight from ATP Mt Buller a couple of years back and recently a smash at Sydneys Livid Festival


Derrin Jaques:


Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane over the Sea
The Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I
Kind of like Spitting - Bridges Worth Burning

Everyone has to put Neutral Milk first. Emergency & I is brilliantly bizarre and I never had the chance to see them live. Kind of like Spitting less bizarre, more heartfelt, equally brilliant.


Steven Wainright:


Scott Walker performing 'Scott 4'
- if anyone embodies the term "don't look back," it's Scott. Worth
asking him though!

Gastr Del Sol performing 'Upgrade & Afterlife'
- because I never got the chance to see them live (did they ever play
outside the US?)
- it would force Jim O'Rourke and David Grubbs to kiss and make up
- Tony Conrad and Kevin Drumm would have to be part of the line-up,
truly making it a heavyweight avant dream

Polvo performing 'Today's Active Lifestyles'
- ramshackle has never sounded so damn enjoyable. My MC copy still
regularly played 18 years on


Gina Crane:

Black Sabbath: Paranoid

At the Drive-In: Relationship of Command

Weezer: The Blue Album

 

A trip from the funpark to the graveyard, via the drive-in. This would be the best night of my life.


Aidan Rivett:

Headline slot: Beck performing Odelay and Sea Change
Support Slot: Belle and Sebastian performing Tigermilk
Support Slot 2: Eels performing Beautiful Freak


Michael Guiliano:

Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West
When Modest Mouse were announced as the headliners on Friday of the Pitchfork festival in 2010, my first thought was: 'Holy shit, they're going to play my all-time favorite album. I'm going.' Well, I went. And it was still good. But it wouldn't even come close to this if it ever happened. They've been playing a good amount of the album over the past few years, but I still haven't heard Trucker's Atlas. I'm pretty sure Asbury park has an opening on October 5, 2012...
 
Desaparecidos - Read Music / Speak Spanish
Another one of my all-time favorite albums. Mr. Oberst has some good songs with his better known bands, but has never really put out a great album, start to finish. He did it here though. I was insane enough to fly to the middle of freaking nowhere Nebraska last summer to see their reunion show, and they ended up playing every song off their only album. So technically it already happened.. But I would fly just about anywhere to see it again.
 
Nas - Illmatic
Simply the best rap album ever. Between the prodution and rhymes, there is nothing better. And I will be lucky enough to see this happen September 3 in New York! Thanks for inspiring Rock the Bells to steal - uh, share - your wonderful idea.
 
 
 
Harlan Whittingham:

Mr Bungle - Mr Bungle
Squarepusher - Music Is Rotted One Note
The Bug (With Guests) - London Zoo

Largely because I know I'll never get the opportunity to see Mr Bungle live, but would love to be transported back to their chaos of the early 90's!

From the Mike Patton/Melvins ATP realised how well Squarepusher works as a sound along side the 'jazzy' influenced parts of Mike Patton. Fantastic album and Tom is a fantastic frontman.

The Bug stands a part a little from the other two, although London Zoo is such a brilliantly dark and chaotic album it might almost work!


Chris Bowman:

My ideal Three Band x Don't Look Back Concert would be to see The Smiths perform their first self-titled album.  This album changed my life and still continues to do so. 
Next I would love to witness Neutral Milk Hotel perform "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea." No explanation needed I hope. And finally, Jimi playing Axis: Bold As Love (that is of course if they don't have to be alive)

If they have to be alive my 3rd choice would be Stornoway performing Beachcomber's Windowsill with my wife.  It was a magical experience when we saw them.  I had never heard of them or heard them and
was invited by our English friend. It's probably mine and my wife's new favorite album so it would be once again an angelical experience.


Kieran Ray:

Joanna Newsom playing the Milk Eyed Mender - My favourite album and she (or anyone else) will never make anything like this again!

Jaylib playing Champion Sound - half an album of Dilla beats with Madlib vocals and then they swap, hip hop doesnt get better than that! Plus after you put this on, Dilla would be back!

Then finally I'd have Black Flag (Rollins on vocals) playing Bitte Orca by the Dirty Projectors from memory in a twist on Rise Above


Richard Holliday:


There are of course hundreds of albums which could be played in full to good effect but I will opt for three debuts, one from the 1970's, one from the 1990's and one from the 2000's. These are three albums which I regard as the best by the band but love lots or all of the albums which followed them.

Black Sabbath "Black Sabbath".
Portishead  "Dummy".
Interpol  "Turn on the bright lights".


Nick Hartshorn:

guns n roses - appetite for destruction cos it's my first and one of my favourite albums ever

modest mouse - the moon and antarctica cos it's one of my favourite albums ever by my favourite band

battles - mirrored cos it's one of my favourite albums ever


Stuart Edwards:

Headlining: The Smashing Pumpkins playing GISH

The 20th anniversary of the album that laid the foundations for a new way of looking at guitar music. Whilst Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie went on to become multi-platinum sellers, Gish came from a rawer background and contains an intensity that the band never fully recreated.

Explosions in the Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

The definitive product of one of the most successful post-rock bands of the last decade. Whilst earlier efforts have gained larger critical acclaim, this is the honed work of a group of formidable musicians. The band also toured with The Smashing Pumpkins in 2007, giving a personal connection to the headline act.

Mew - Frengers

A formidable live act that relaunched their career to the big time with this breakthrough record. Setlists on past tours have been short and varied, meaning the 10 track adrenaline rush of Frengers has never properly been given a home on the stage.


Hannah Jones:

Ys - Joanna Newsom (with full orchestra)
 
Having seen her live backed by just a trombone, two violins, a drum kit and a banjo, I can only imagine how incredible her concert would be with all the lush orchestration of the album (although there are various youtube videos that can confirm this). Ys is ambitious and awe-inspiring and, due to the average song length, you'd be lucky to see more than one track from it played live now (not that her other LPs are any less than wonderful). I'm a little bit in love with her, can you tell?
 
Nina Simone Sings the Blues - Nina Simone
 
This is my obligatory legend-that-I-would-bring-back-from-the-dead choice, ideally (and I probably shouldn't admit to this) I'd have her playing one of her many best of compilations to try and get as many songs that I love as possible. However, her, on stage, with just a piano, playing this from start to finish would be truly magical.
 
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel
 
This is probably my favourite album, it's difficult to say exactly why because, like most people, the first time I heard it I thought it was awful. It didn't take long for me to come round to the brilliance of it, but unfortunately that was still 11 years after they'd stopped playing together. Now Jeff Mangum is starting to play live again, and no doubt his shows will be brilliant, but to hear this in all it's eccentric beauty, accordion, singing saw and all, you'd need the full band.   


A Christopher Carlyle:

1. Julian Cope performing Peggy Suicide.
 
A near-perfect alt. pop album, featuring one classic song after another; it's also an album that deserves a whole new fanbase of young people who may have missed out on Cope's genius knack for writing Stooges-esque driving garage rock with unforgettable lyrics.
 
2. Wipers performing Youth of America.
 
Greg Sage was one of the most influential guitarists of his era, and this is most likely his masterpiece. Wipers making a comeback to perform this hardcore marathon would be most exciting and would likely influence a whole new era of guitarists.
 
3. Swans performing Children of God.
 
While Gira isn't the type to 'look back', it would be a rare treat to see this landmark album resurrected from the abyss (especially if Jarboe could be talked into joining for her vocal parts!). Children of God sounds like gospel for the hell-bound; an intense, unnerving and uncomfortable inverted gaze into religious ecstasy. It would have to go on last, because nothing could follow it!



Frederik Van Rumst:

Scott Walker - Tilt.
For obvoius reasons; who wouldn't want to see an old guy beating meat with a stick on stage?!

Scritti Politti - Early.
Green Gartside is one of the few performers who I truly believe could revive the same postpunk-essence and weirdness that surrounded him during his early songs, even if 40 years have passed since.

Goblin - Suspiria.
Hey, and you know what? They already do that: http://www.goblinhome.com/concerts.php (but always too far from home)
And it sounds great: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFQ77Nni5rQ


Frank Mojica:

Scott Walker - The Drift
Okay, so the 30th Century Man himself would certainly not appear
himself, so a star-studded tribute is the next best thing, featuring
an orchestra and fans such as Jarvis Cocker, Deerhunter, Bat for
Lashes, etc offering their respects.
Cat Power - Moon Pix
Cat Power gigs of yesteryear are notorious for being erratic, with
Chan Marshall rarely finishing a song. Now that she has grown into a
capable and still compelling performer, she never plays any of the old
gems. A Don't Look Back concert spotlighting her finest album would
give the Moon Pix songs the performance they deserve.
Lush - Spooky
The shoegazers have unjustly been denied the legendary status their
stellar discography deserves and this would be the first step in
correcting this travesty.


Peter D'Angelo:


Trans Am - Trans Am - to see if they can do it.
Rock*A*Teens - Sweet Bird of Youth - so i can see them do it
Neil Young - Dead Man Soundtrack - because its the best thing ever and not anything that ever works its way into his actual sets. (and then he can do a regular set too)


Eric Killian:

The Modern Lovers – The Modern Lovers

Broken Social Scene – You Forgot it in People

The Unicorns – Who Will Cut Out Hair When We’re Gone?

 

Both Broken Social Scene and The Unicorns will be coming up on nearly their 10 year album anniversary (YFIIP came out in 2002 but won the Juno in 2003, WWCOHWWG came out in 2003). Reuniting the unicorns would be awesome, and getting most of BSS original lineup for the Don’t Look Back show (Feist, Emily Haines, Amy Millan, etc) would be great. I believe all the members of the Modern Lovers are still quite active, though most in larger capacities than The Modern Lovers (The Cars, Talking Heads, etc) I dunno the logistics of getting Jonathon Richmond back with those folks, but I’m sure folks would come out of the woodwork for that one.


Ciaran McWilliams:

My three band night would consist of :
Radiohead - Kid A (Headlining)
Pixies - Dolittle
The Antlers - Hospice

The Antlers would open, playing Hospice, rewarding existing fans for supporting them and also gaining new fans (who maybe have just come for Pixies/Radiohead). Of course, Hospice is a little bit of a downer, so Pixies would come on to get everyone back in the mood and play Dolittle, their best (asides from Bossanova). Then Radiohead would come on and play the greatest album of all-time, leaving everyone in awe of the three amazing bands that they had just seen.


Chris Williams:

My Bloody Valentine: Loveless
Tangerine Dream: Phaedra
Ulrich Schnauss: A Strangely Isolated Place

This is my choice as I feel that 'Gone Forever' - Ulrich Schnauss would be the perfect way to open the concert with an ambient vibe, and the entire album would hopefully create a euphoric state among the crowd. By the time Tangerine Dream come on to perform the highly influential 'Phaedra', the experimental sounds would create an intense atmosphere and a good middle part of the show. Finally, I would close with perhaps the finest album ever, 'Loveless', live as it is a flawless piece and fits nicely with the 2 prior records as accompaniment. As the group have never performed the album live in full, it would be a rare opportunity to witness MBV performing so technically, and it would be interesting to see how they recreate pieces such as the brief 'Touched' live. Finally, 'Soon' to close the show would be the perfect ending.

Overall I think the 3 albums fit exceptionally well together and there would be a crossover of experimental ambient sounds and influences, and moreover they are 3 musicians who rarely perform live together so to get them on one line-up would be a great feat for 'Don't Look Back' and it would surely be remembered as one of the greatest shows ever! I hope to see one of these albums being performed live someday, perhaps ATP could book MBV for a 20-year anniversary tour of Loveless?!


Liz Potts:

Babe Ruth - First Base
Human League - Dare
My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything

I think this would be sweet, have never seen Babe Ruth but think they would have great energy and hopefully vocals would be as amazing live. Similar reasons for Human League, have loved them for many years but never seen them and love this album. My Bloody Valentine are one of my all time favourites and I think alot of people would appreciate hearing this live.


Jaoo Ferriera:

here it is:
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: "Orange" .. they returned to Primavera and they should shake this planet once more with this unique record

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - "Lift your skinny fists like antennas to the sky" - last year's ATP @ Minehead was mindblowing with their return.. and this record will live long!

Shellac : "At Action Park" - we ATP fans can't live without Albini & friends can we? back in 1994 they made history..



Martin O Neill:

1.

Songs of Leonard Cohen

Simple beautiful songs.  It's a testament to how good this album is
that it was never topped in an illustrious career.
 I hate it when my parents are proved right about these kind of things.

2.

Horse Stories - Dirty Three

Ocean Songs is a more straightforward choice but I prefer Horse
Stories... plus they've already done the other one.
 This album hasn't been far from my stereo since the first time I heard it.

3.
At the drive in - Relationship of Command

You're allowed to bring one back right?  Possibly the greatest rock
record of all time.  I saw them at Reading shortly
 before they broke up when they completely overwhelmed the small tent.
 The briefest of glimpses of the top of an afro has left me wanting a
proper gig since.


Cosmo Godfree:

Radiohead - The Bends... it's a shame it often gets obscured by their next two, because it's just such a fantastic album. Worth it for My Iron Lung alone!
 
Pulp - This Is Hardcore... kinda upset that they don't seem to be playing much material from it on the reunion tour, so I thought I could make up for it here, I love it for the moments of light within the darkness.
 
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver... my criteria for a truly great album is that my favourite track is always changing, and that's certainly the case here. Bring LCD back from retirement!
 


Robin Dart:

Fugazi - Repeater
Drive like Jehu - Drive like Jehu
At the drive-in - Acrobatic Tenement

It is so sad that this will never happen. The ultimate in DIY this is a history lesson in some of the most energetic essential music in the last 25 years. This would have to take place in a basement, with the band standing on the same level as the crowd.


John Ellis:

Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump
Followed by Tricky - Maxinquaye
And headlining The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream.


Why? It's the perfect night in on my headphones, it'd make the perfect night out, more importantly, if anyone could make something this funking spectacular happen, you cats can.


Sam Shepherd:


Cardiacs - A Little Man and A House and The Whole World Window, with the orginal line up. Mainly because this album opened a load of doors and of course Cardiacs are/were probably one of the most stupendously good live bands ever. AND if they played a Don't Look Back then it would mean that Tim Smith would be all healthy and that. I miss Cardiacs.

B52s - Wild Planet. Because they're ace live, good fun, and it's got Private Idaho, Party Out of Bounds, and Give Me Back My Man on it. So it edges in ahead of the first album, Cosmic Thiing and Fun Plex (a much under-rated album I reckon).

Rocket From The Crypt - Scream Dracula Scream.  Again, on their night (which was pretty much every night) easily the best live band on the planet (assuming Cardiacs weren't playing the same night). Could have picked Circa Now! easily, along with a couple of others, but this is a gem. Plus, America got to say goodbye to them at that Halloween gig. We never got the chance to wave Speedo and everyone off into the sunset. So unfair.

And waiting in the wings, just in case that lot can't make it I'd have David Bowie ready to go with Station To Station. But who wants to see Bowie.....these three it is.


Gabriel Szatan:


Interpol doing Turn On The Bright Lights
Gary Numan doing The Pleasure Principle
Magazine doing Real Life

All three records were debuts [in Numan's case as a solo artist], all three have never truly been matched by the artists despite some follow-ups coming close, all three carry a certain wry wit and cynicism in their songwriting, all three explore the light in the dark and above all else all three are fucking excellent!


Gabriel Sattin:

Sufjan Stevens doing Illinois
Of Montreal doing Hissing Fauna Are You The Destroyer
Tom Vek doing We Have Sound

they're of the 3 best records of the last decade, all esoteric, inventive and quirky in their own unique ways. would all be sweet live. not much else to say apart from that I guess


Matt Lam:

Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup
There French, they are cool and they rocked it live.
 
Elastica - Elastica
One great album, every track is worthy of being a single.
 
The Membranes - The Gift Of Life
The cover artwork is superb and would make a great poster, oh the music is good as well.



Benedict Gardner:

My ideal 3 Album line-up for a Don't Look Back concert would be:

Neutral Milk Hotel-In the Aeroplane Over The Sea
Belle and Sebastian-Tigermilk
The Rural Alberta Advantage-Hometowns

Reasons: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is my favourite album of all time. Perhaps my favourite thing about it is that, even though its not really autobiographical, I still felt, after listening a few times, that I knew Jeff Mangum better than anyone else in the world. This is because his honesty in expressing his beliefs is second to none. He is capable of writing beautiful, memorable lines such as "What a beautiful face/I have found in this place/That is circling all round the sun", and he captures the feeling of being young and the awkwardness of growing up and experiencing first loves and first times perfectly. Of course, the rest of the Hotel are not simply a backing band for a Jeff Mangum solo album, and they prove this by playing some of they best indie rock tunes ever, best shown by "Holland, 1945", and the trumpet line that comes in towards the end of "Communist Daughter" brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it because of its simplistic beautiful trumpet line.

Tigermilk: The debut album by Belle and Sebastian is, in my opinion, their best, and that is saying something considering how consistent they are as an band. Something my brother said to me always comes to mind when I listen to this, and that is that this contains some of the best songs ever to sing along to, and I think that hints at what makes the album brilliant. These are simple fantastic recognizable indie pop tunes, and the lyrics are somehow poetic and relatable. For example, in "Expectations", as a lover of apparently weird music, I have often felt like an outsider, like maybe I was "a queer one from the start" and I hav often felt that perhaps like my parents didn't believe in me, and like I would end up working in some boring job, but always this album can make me feel "On top of the world again".

Hometowns: For my third entry, I have chosen an album which I hope in the future will be viewed as a classic on the same level with my previous two choices. As a debut it manages to accomplish the difficult of both establishing a bands sound, whilst still showing that they, as a band, have the ability to expand and develop.. Each member of the three piece is vital, as Paul, the seemingly octopus-armed drummer, fills the album with inventive fills and beats, Amy breathes fresh air into music that could otherwise become very serious with light "oo-woos" and tuneful, woozy organs. However, star of the show is Nils, whose distinctive voice gives an honest, believable quality to honest, believable lyrics, and so the band never sound anything less than heartfelt. Some of the lyrics are utterly wonderful, especially in album closer "In the Summertime", in which he sings, heartbreakingly, "In your summer dress/I was holding you but you were holding less/Its not the words its the ones you stress/I love you is I love you just don't love me less." The album has tunes too. The opener, "The Ballad of the RAA" is astonishingly pretty, as a charming organ line and twinkly glockenspiel combine before everything falls out for Nils to be left singing unaccompanied. "Drain the Blood", on the other hand, is as good an indie rock song as any, with a stonking guitar line in the chorus, and empassioned singing from Nils.

I would like the record to show that if I was asked to put forward my favourite three albums ever, these would probably not be th ones I would choose, partly because "The Soft Bulletin" would make that list, but also because of other reasons. I have tried to be realistic, picking bands which I believe it would be possible to book (aprt from NMH probably), and who I believe are of a similar level of popularity to those at other Don't Look Back gigs for each slot, and so there is no "Pet Sounds" or "Marquee Moon". I have also chosen these three because, while there may be other albums I prefer, these are albums that I believe do not have a weak song between them, which is surely essential. There is also, I feel, a good mix between rockers like "Luciana" and "King of Carrot Flowers, Parts 2 and 3", and more mellow songs such as "Don't Haunt this Place" and  "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea". Anyway, those are my candidates. Hope you enjoyed reading.


Martin Cleave:

Slint - Spiderland. I know you've already done it, but the greatest album ever has to make the list.
Mastodon - Leviathan. best metal album of the last decade or so. and an awesome Moby Dick concept.
Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime. Rome Plows! Rome Plows!


robotmonster333:

The Jesus & Mary Chain : Psychocandy - I'm too young to 80's feedback
The Young Gods Plays Kurt Weill - Electro reinterpretation of classic songs never been so good
Red Krayola : The Parable of Arable Land - I wish see them playing live most psychedelic album of the century in it's entirety



Piero Apruzzese:


- The VSS -  "Nervous Circuits": this band and this album (their only lp) are between the most underrated and forgotten bands/albums of the 90's
- Afghan Whigs - "Gentlemen": probably Greg Dulli will never play again with his old bandmates but if still now he's amazing when he sings Whigs songs just voice and guitar, well I can't imagine how amazing would still be to see him play those songs again with the other ex Whighs
The Mars Volta - "De-Loused In The Comatorium": like them or not (and I think ATP likes them since they hosted a festival and played once at ATP USA and then at ATP 10 years of), they've been one of the most relevant band of last decade and they never played that much this album in its entirety... Well, maybe it won't be the same right now but maybe with a comeback of Jon Theodore, even just for the shows...

ciao!


William Adams:

I'd like to start off with something recent. Flying Lotus has been a consistent favourate artist of mine since first hearing him do his thing in 2007. I'd have to go with the Cosmagramma album being palyed in full with the team of musicans that he used on the album, which is a modern classic.
 
The second act that would appear would be Coldcut. What would be ideal would be them re-constructing the DJ set that was the classic mix album from the Journeys by DJ series 70 minutes of madness. I know it is a mix album, but what a mix album and it changed my life and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I'm pretty sure that I would not be the only one who would want to see them do the set live.
 
The headline act would be Kraftwerk playing Computer World. all there albums are great but this is my favorate and probably the most relevent to todays society. As it is a fantasy gig it would have to be the four members that prefromed on the album.
 


Chris Horis:


Radiohead - The Bends
You am I - Hi Fi Way
Comets on Fire - Blue Cathedral
 
 
Why?
Radiohead's The Bends is their best album. I heard it after OK Computer and thought it was far better (and especially of its time). So much so I cried the first time I listened to it.
You Am I's Hi FI Way is THE quinessential album of the 90s in Australia. It's magic. They have since done great albums, but this was when they still had their innocence.
Comet's On Fire's Blue Cathedral because they were a great band that I discovered at ATP in 2004. A shame they are gone and would love to see them one more time.
 

Steve Gibbs:


Palace Music - Viva Last Blues
 
Man Or Astro Man - Is it...Man or Astro-Man?
 
Ice T - O.G Original Gangster
 
This covers all the best music that's ever been invented, with something for everyone. The country rock for bearded, check shirt men, the space music for the young people from the internet, and the greatest MC of all time for the all tru headz, yeah?


James Ashton:

Faith No More - King For A Day Fool For A Lifetime
 
Very diverse mix of styles, and most probably my #1 album of all time!  Amazing live band and due to that fact that they recently reformed for gigs, and Mike Patton curated the amazing Nightmare Before Christmas 08, I am sure that your could work your magic to get them to play this stunning album in full!
 
Mogwai - The Hawk Is Howling
 
This album literally took me to a stand still when I first heard it, just couldn't do anything else but listen to it.  And then listen to it again......  brilliant album artwork too
 
Tool - Aenima
 
Incredible songs, riffs, beats, vocals, time signatures, atmosphere, musicianship.  This album is the SHIT!


Graham Carr:


                                The God Machine   
                                          performing their final album
                                 One Last Laugh in Place of Dying
Immensely missed after the tragic untimely death of bass played Jimmy Fernandez. This album is an
essential underground masterpiece. Regarded as one of the most important of the 90's by many and
never played live. An unmissable performance of the remaining members of this dark and brooding
but ultimately uplifting alternative gem.

                                            MAGMA performing
                           Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh (MDK)
The French jazz prog rock ensemble playing their 1973 unique and terrifying opera.
Played with a full choir, brass section and woodwind sections this album with its fictitious
medieval language with aggressive, repetitive, pulsating beats is a must for fans of
John Coltrane & Sigor Ros mixed with extreme Death Metal.

                    The Disposable Heroes of Hiphopricy
                               performing  their debut album
                                   Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury
Michael Franti & Rono Tse's groundbreaking debut album played in it's entirety. An album
with so much to say both politically, socially & economically and is more poignant today as it
 
 
Paul Edwards:


1) The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland
This one purely because its such an unbelievable album. It's got a sugary sweet first track followed by some seriously rocking blues based stuff, and then the masterpiece that is Side 3 (for all the old people who remember physical things) Rainy Day, 1983, and Moon turn the tides. You'd kill to hear those live wouldn't you? Finishing off with a Dylan cover and the guitar frenzy of VC (Slight Return)

2) The Boo Radleys - Giant Steps
Again its a great album, its got a really cohesive sound that I think all great albums should have. The tunes on this album speak for themselves, but the reason I choose it is because its one of the first 'indie' albums to broaden its musical range. Semi-dub style bass playing and A TRUMPET!!! Wow! Who'd have thunk it? It would also go some way to remind people that there is way way more to the Boo Radleys than the novelty album 'Wake Up' and that single. The songs? Oh yes, I Hang Suspended, Butterfly McQueen and the mighty slab of sound called 'Lazarus'. Come on! Hearing that played at the wonderful volume achieved by Black Dice in Minehead? What a thrill!

3) Atari Teenage Riot - 60 Second Wipeout
Another cohesive sounding album. Noisy as fuck, and strangely relevant politically 12 years later. I won't list the songs but ATR II would be a particular favourite of mine. Search youtube for 'Berlin Riot 1999 - Atari Teenage Riot Live' and you'll see what I mean.



Matthew King:


The Icarus Line - Penance Soiree
Noisy, raw, garage punk-rock owing more than a little to Iggy and the Stooges but with a pounding, industrial core (no wonder guitarist Aaron North was poached by Nine Inch Nails shortly after) - this was the soundtrack to my life at 18. Ignoring the feuds that lost North and almost tore them apart, if this reunion ever happened it would be the perfect opportunity to permanently damage my hearing once and for all. The 3 tracks in the middle "Kiss Like Lizards", "Getting Bright at Night" and "Big Sleep" all flow together in an epic, crescendoing orgasm of fuzz, metallic distortion and acidic screams making the term 'payoff' seem inadequate. Just writing about it now I put it on as loud as my speakers allow - I haven't listened to it in about 4/5 years and there's that same silly big smile on my face. Win.

Ezekiel - Naphtaline
French group Ezekiel took a sidestep away from their usual dark, deep electro-dub by bringing in modern Belgian folk orchestra 'Daau' to help them craft one of the most beautiful, haunting and evocative albums I've ever heard. Mostly instrumental and merging classical, french folk and field recordings, all with a gloss of their spacious dub aesthetic, it's like the soundtrack to Amelie lost in the woods on acid in the minutes before the apocalypse. Oh, and criminally they've never played in the UK before, I know this isn't the point of this competition but would you mind having a listen and getting them over here? Cheers ;)

Super Furry Animals - Mwng
The first album I ever bought, and arguably their best, they were my favourite band for the majority of my adolescence. I've seen them countless times and I've never heard them play a single song off this record. Sung entirely in Welsh and recorded mostly live and acoustic all the songs are quite raw and stripped back compared to their glossy studio-produced albums and they're all the better for it. They NAILED melancholy with this album and although I don't understand a word of the lyrics, Gruff's sense of regret and nostalgia shines through creating a sorrowful beauty of an album - one of those that makes you feel happy to be sad. The last track brings in the horns for a one-way journey into the cold expanse of space - If I ever get to see them perform this album I could die content, and if you don't make it happen then somehow, in the future, I have to.


Sam Leppard:

Forget bands doing their own albums, I want to see bands doing other people's albums.

Flaming lips playing dark side of the moon
Wax fang playing purple rain
Camper van Beethoven playing tusk

Tribute band heaven.

Jemma Leslie:

Outkast - 'Stankonia'
Madvillainy - 'Madvillain'
Clipse - 'Lord Willin'

I think my choices speak for themselves really. Six men, three albums, one amazing night!


Ben Graham:


Nirvana performing In Utero
For obvious reasons... never got the chance to see them play live, and I think the raw energy of 'In Utero' would make it the Nirvana album best suited to the Don't Look Back treatment. Plus we'd get to hear 'Heart Shaped Box' and 'Rape Me' and 'All Apologies' and so many other classics.

Grandaddy performing Under The Western Freeway
My favourite band of all time, split up just when they were at their peak. I saw them play live loads. But since most of their fans only really became familiar with them due to 'The Sophtware Slump', in the later years they never played many of the songs from their debut album, the record that made me fall in love with that lo-fi Americana sound. I wouldn't be a Flaming Lips fan were it not for Grandaddy.

and Underworld performing Beaucoup Fish
As a guitar fan, there are very few dance albums which I can listen to in full from start to finish. But I've worn out my copy of 'Beaucoup Fish' over the years. It's an album that never wastes a single beat, and of course, it finishes with the perfect set closer (which Underworld themselves use to end their shows), 'Moaner'.


Steven Pike:

Pulp – their best album which gets zero recognition, they should’ve been the biggest band of the 80s based on this.

At the drive in – seminal album long overdue a reform

Arab strap – between this or philophobia, a bit early for their reformation but I miss them everso. Plus – they’d be cheap!

 
 Jono Ganz:

   
69 Love Songs - The Magnetic Fields
Because even though the set would last around three hours, it'd be worth every minute to see Stephin Merritt and co performing the beautifully clichéd lyrical goldmine of an album.

Doolittle - Pixies
Because nothing has come close to the manic fervour of this album, and Frank Black's howls and screeches on 'Mr. Grieves' give me chills every time I hear it.

Dusk at Cubist Castle - The Olivia Tremor Control
Because while Neutral Milk Hotel are hailed as Gods, they weren't the only band on the Elephant Six imprint in the nineties, and 'Dusk at Cubist Castle' contains some of the most perfect pop songs ever written.


Priti Shah:



Lemonheads  - Come On Feel The Lemonheads. Classic album that doesn't have the same recognition as It's a Shame About Ray and deserves to be heard in full.
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream. Sums up 90s alternative rock for me.
Pulp - His n Hers - perfect album detailing being awkward and growing and Jarvis at his best!

Stevie Harary:

My ideal Three Band x Don't Look Back concert is:
1) Scott Walker - "Scott 4"
2) Patti Smith - "Horses"
3) Fairport Convention - "Liege and Lief"
 
Not necessarily in that order. All these are (living) artists/bands who incredibly influenced my favourite contemporary artists, yet they are often considered to be "knowledge of a few"... and some people who have heard of these classic albums have only heard of them, not actually heard them. Played in full is the perfect opportunity for such albums to both receive some recognition they deserve and expose them to more people of various walks of life/music.
AND "Scott 4" includes what is probably my all time favourite film-related track, the amazing "The Seventh Seal" (film being my other great, and often competing, love).
Runners Up - Kraftwerk, The Velvet Underground (alas, no Nico), Bob Dylan, David Bowie (come back to the stage!), Kate Bush (won't happen, eh?), Pink Floyd, The Who.
Don't want them to reunite despite their perfect albums - The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Talking Heads.
 
 
 Ben Ryles:
 
 
The Dismemberment Plan – Emergency & I

Gang of Four – Entertainment

Polvo – Exploded Drawing



Ronan Corley:

Bjork - Homogenic
Sea & Cake - One Bedroom
Fridge - Happiness

First off I'd love to see Fridge perform as having gotten into the band's music after
their split, I have never had the chance to see them perform live. I have however seen
Four Tet and am a huge fan of Kieran's solo music. Listening to Happiness, you get a real
feel for music in it's rawist form.

Secondly, I find Sam Prekop and Archer Prewitt musical geniuses. A new Sea & Cake album
will always be greeted with well met optimism by myself and no matter how often you listen to any
of their releases, none more than One Bedroom, they always sound fresh. Their cover of Bowie's
Sound & Vision on Car Alarm is a rarity, in so far as it does the original justice.

 
Bjork has always been a musician whose work I would always be drawn towards. Rare does a
day pass that I don't listen to, at the very least, one Bjork track - whether it be music from the Sugarcubes,
KUKL or indeed her solo work, I would still have Bjork filter into my day in one form or another.
Homogenic was the start of a new direction for Bjork, and there is very good reason why many people list it
in their list of favorite albums of all time - i.e. Thom Yorke. The fusion of old style string instrumentals and
modern electronic synthesizers resulted in, my opinion, the best album of the past twenty years.


Chuck Middleton:

Pixies - dolittle
Lemonheads - its a shame about ray
Los Campesions - hold on now, youngster


So, why ?....well LC!'s first mayor release is full of joy and pain...songs you can sing along with and cry you're eyes out too. Following that, Evan Dando's classic Lemonheads long player that starts on a high, takes you round the block and ends with a fantastic S&G cover. Then, bringing the nite to a banging finale, The Pixies...kicking off with Debaser before rattleling through a set of tunes from a band tighter than a gnat's chuff!  Nice...


James Hardy:


1. Kraftwerk- trans Europe express
2. Philip Glass- koyaanisqatsi
3. Boards of Canada- music has the right to children

Tim Lee:


1. Liars: "Drum's Not Dead"

2. Soundgarden: "Superunknown"

3. Sunn O))): "The Black Album"

All three records are masterpieces that inhabit darkly majestic sound worlds. Each is remarkably textured and thick with atmosphere. They are all heavy in very different ways and the three albums all have a dynamic relationship with metal.


Paul:

So the lights go down promptly at 8 and what follows is just under an hour of pure sadness, fury, hope and rage in the way of "Viva Zapata!" by Seven Year Bitch.  I'm not sure if this is a dream until the next band hits the stage and the delicious opening of "I Will Dare" fills my soul.  Now, sure this is a dream, I get The Replacements to play the full 28 track expanded version of "Let It Be."  By god...who could be next...my favorite album of the 90's followed by my favorite of the 80's...the dream time machine continues back to 1968 and it truly is "The Gift" when the VU come out and destroy us all with "White Light / White Heat"...my ding dong fully sucked I awake...
 
Oh ATP you've made other dreams come true (Daydream Nation, Raw Power...) I can only wait in anticipation...
 
Enjoy - Paul


Mark Brazier:

1. Built to Spill - Keep it like a secret
 
I think this is one of the most complete albums by one of the greatest bands on the planet.  Swirling guitars combined with beautiful pop melodies and the voice of Doug Martsch, doesn't get any better.
 
2. Beastie Boys - Check your head
 
Whether it's the disjointed groove of Funky Boss or the opening bass heavy salvo Jimmy James, this Beasties album flows like no other.  Topped with gems such as The Maestro and So What'cha want, this would be epic!
 
3. Pale Saints - The Comforts of Madness
 
I'm not sure if the Pale Saints are still going or if they are on a temporary hiatus but I think they are one of the most underated bands that came out of the lates 80's/early 90's indie guitar scene.  Soft yearning vocals against sometime thrasing guitars and gentle harmonies make this one of the lost treasures of, well, all time.
 
 
 Eddy Francis:
 
 
On first........Silver Jews - American Water
then............Feelies - Crazy Rhythms
and finally....Boads of Canada - Music Has the Right.........
 
Oh! What a night!

He senses the love of the audience
and casts his shyness away
Smith and Jones Forever!
Berman the reluctant and triumphant troubadour.

A lovestuck crowd awaits
For the next stage of the journey

Cast back to 1980
Music of unquenchable energy and happiness
The most reluctant dancer, dancing
It builds to it's orgasmic climax
Crazy Feelings.....Crazy Feelings......

By now high on Rhythm and Love
They savour the moment....

One Off. Never Again.
Tears, cheers come from deep
The audience becomes the song
Moves as one
SixtyTen...........

Dazed they go, into the dark
Walking on Air, Hearts alive.


Luca Falzetti:

I've been thinking. Classic Albums form the 80s and 90s are cool, and so is the alternative USA from that period. But why not make it a little bit more contemporary (don't get me wrong, old band are still cool) for your retrospective gigs and book some bands of the early 00s?? Ok there's my ideal choice

Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticsm
The Decemberiest - Picaresque
Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antartica

They are all very good band and this albums are already 'classics' in some ways.. I think it would be awesome.




Mohamed el Amin Nogdalla:

1) John Coltrane - Sun Ship (w/ special guest Eric Dolphy on flute)

I've spent the past 10 yrs trying to describe why I think this a record is 'Trane's finest, and arguably one of 5 records that certainly deserve contesting for the title of "greatest Jazz record of all time". Recorded during his 3rd stage (which can easily be split by the 3 main variants of My Favorite Things) and merely 2 yrs before his passing, there is a strange restraint to the ballads playing here, an oxymoron considering how deftly Trane and co. manage to transcend space and time with their compositions, bridging the modal jazz tendencies with coltrane's later free jazz experimentation, a unique hybrid of harmony meeting clatter. It's an intensely personnel recording, one that flows naturally without the need for individual tracks, making for a great Don’t Look Back Candidate.

Inclusion of Dolphy would simply enhance an already intense and borderline spiritual music experience. Plus the idea of Dolphy and Coltrane jamming together simply waters my mouth.


2) Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven!

GSY!BE had to be in the list. Regardless of anyone else I want to see, they are easily the band that changed everything I perceived in music, and undoubtedly will change it if I manage to see them live. I could write essays about the significance of this record, the unique storyline and structure, the separate thematic set pieces, the resounding humanity of it all, but it’s easily summed by this:

This is all the emotions possessed by a soul, interwoven into music notes.


3) Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love & Hate

If there is ever a record that is as timeless as Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde, it’s this. The master of all wordsmith performing an acoustic set of this record, the soundtrack for bone-chilling, peripatetic ventures into the night, would be as ferocious as it would be tender.

Matt Smith:

Arab Strap - Philophobia

American Football - American Football (LP of course, though the EP as well would be an awesome bonus!)

The Postal Service - Give Up

Jason Cormier:

Swervedriver- mezcalhead
Afgan whigs - congregation
Verve- storm in heaven
turbonegro- apacalypse dudes

 sorry four but hell it's tough
 
Kamal Rasool:
 
Amadou & Mariam - Dimanche à Bamako
Animal Collective - Feels
Fela Kuti - Expensive Shit

Eyenois:

Well the dream would be Hüsker Dü playing Zen Arcade! Ha!

For real:

Wire playing Pink Flag
Tall Dwarfs playing Weeville
MX-80 Sound playing Out Of The Tunnel & Crowd Control

Norm White:

I'm located in Canada so hopefully the contest is open to us over here. If not, it was fun to think about what my picks would be anyway.
 
The three ideal bands and albums I would like to see are....
Olivia Tremor Control - Dusk At Cubist Castle
Danielson Family - Tell Another Joke At The Old Chopping Block
Stereolab - Sound Dust

Default This:

1) Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
2) Pretty Girls Make Graves - Good Health
3) Fugazi - 13 Songs

I know part of this competition is to say why these would be my ideal Three Band x Don't Look Back Concerts but I don't think I could adequately describe what these albums mean to me. It would just be everything.

Chris Harding:

Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour of The Bewilderbeast
I Am Kloot - Natural History
Voice of the Seven Woods - Voice of the Seven Woods

I think it would be good to exclusively celebrate the UK music scene, so here are three bands from Manchester. All are in a similar vein of indie/acoustic, but each has their own certain style.

Thanks guys, can't wait for the Mangum ATP in December!

Vincent Glanvill:

My ideal Three Band x Don't Look Back Concert would be:

The Jesus and Mary Chain playing "Psycho Candy"
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan playing "Sunday at Dirt Devil"
John Cale Playing "Vintage Violence"

Of course the main reason for choosing these is because they are three of my favourite albums. They each, in their own very different ways, say something sublime through their music. I think John Cale is under appreciated and underrated. Cale's influence on The Jesus And Mary Chain and the influence of both those artists on Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan would carry a theme through the line up. I think it would be an amazing evening!