22/02/2008

Since the arts desk on free, daily newspaper, Metro Scotland, started up in November nine years ago, it has never had - according to an insider - as animated a debate as it did yesterday.

Said section editor, Rory Weller, late last night: “We’re still arguing about it. Our conference is 10.30am, daily, and it’s never been as heated as it was today.”

It follows a blog written by music editor, Nadine McBay, on the paper’s website, which itself was in response to the publishing of a list, this week, of the 50 Best Ever British Albums - as voted for by readers of Q Magazine. When she spotted the list did not include a single Scottish band, she set about choosing her own, favourite ten Scottish bands, ever.

It’s been a busy week for the Metro website (here), which is currently serialising Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, to coincide with the giving out of free copies of the book, in Edinburgh, as part of its status as an Unesco City of Literature.

So, here’s McBay’s “entirely prejudiced and utterly unscientific list of the best ten Scottish albums. Ever".

1. Belle And Sebastian: If You're Feeling Sinister (1996). 'Nobody writes 'em like they used to/ So it may as well be me' sung Stuart Murdoch on Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying. Nuff said.

2.  Boards Of Canada: Music Has The Right To Children (1998). Widely copied, never bettered retro-futurist soundtrack of analogue synths and crackly samples.

3. Franz Ferdinand: Franz Ferdinand (2004). Hedonistic, wordy and danceable, pop hadn't been this exciting in years.

4. Orange Juice: You Can't Hide Your Love Forever (1982). An optimistic and soulful antidote to plastic Thatcherite pop and bleak post-punk.

5. Jesus And Mary Chain: Psychocandy (1985). For a brief moment, JAMC were the UK's Velvet Underground: violent, vulnerable and at times beautiful. It did nothing in the charts, and everything outside.

 6. Mogwai: Young Team (1997). The shimmering, almost divine proper debut album from the post-rock titans.

 7. The Vaselines: Dum Dum (1989). Most likely forgotten outside of Scotland if they hadn't supported a certain US trio (Nirvana) in 1990, The Vaselines made the best pop; simple, subversive and sexy.

8. The Beta Band: The Three EPs (1998). OK, not a real album, but the best document of the sadly-missed eccentrics.

9.  Primal Scream: Screamadelica (1991). The record that made acid house a mainstream home. Almost makes up for their turkeys since.

10. The Proclaimers: Sunshine On Leith (1988). I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) and - to a lesser extent - I'm On My Way have been overused for a reason: they're brilliant.

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