Who Dave voted for

Who The Cat voted for

1. Teenage Fanclub - Grand Prix

Edinburgh College of Art. Saturday night. Pint of Cold Tea* and hearing Sparky’s Deam for the first time. Then hearing the album. Doozy after Doozy after Doozy. There are no bad songs on this. Just great ones and absolutely great ones. I remember it came as such a relief after the disappointment of Thirteen.

2. Lloyd Cole and the Commotions - Rattlesnakes

Lloyd is the Orson Welles of Jock N Roll: He started at the very top and while he had his moments afterwards nothing matched what he did at the start. How many artists today would name check Norman Mailer and Simone Debouvier? The fact that the bass player now writes about golf for the Guardian takes nothing away from its charm.

3. Simple Minds - New Gold Dream

If they’d stopped here then we’d be talking about the greatest Scottish band of all time. They had a few flashes of brilliance after it but they peaked here. Most of the stuff before this was imaginative; most of the stuff afterwards was commercial. This one managed to balance them both.

4. Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister

This and Tigermilk come from such a distinct world view and this just shades it because it hasn’t got a long duff song at track 6. It was diminishing returns from here on in. All the other albums aren’t bad as such, just not as good as the first two. Why did he let the rest of them write songs?

5. The Blue Nile - A Walk Across The Rooftops

Try to describe The Blue Nile’s music to anyone who hasn’t heard it and you invariably end up using the word beautiful. There are only a few albums that I cannot listen to bits of. I have to hear the whole thing. This is one of them.

6. Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy

There are great albums you listen to all the time and there are those which you know are great but hardly listen to from one year to the next. Every time I put this on I’m 16 again; what more do you want from rock music?

7. Big Country - The Crossing

Ha! I still think this is a criminally under valued album. Can I point any ‘Doubting Tams’ in the direction of Chance?

8. Primal Scream - Screamadelica

Simon Reynolds writes disparagingly about music post 84 being record collection rock but he can shove his critical rehabilitation of Psychic TV where it shineth not. This is wonderful. When your taste is this varied and you’ve got the balls to pull it off then I’ll take record collection rock over art rock any day.

9. Orange Juice - You Can't Hide Your Love Forever

There’s no definitive OJ album but you can’t have a list without them being here. The only album by the original and best line up. One of the great ‘if only’ Jock ‘n’ Roll moments is to speculate what would have happened if Sir Edwyn had gone with Kirk and Daly rather than stayed with David McClymont and Malcolm Ross. You can prefer the Glasgow School if you’re a purist. I’m not; I don’t.

10. Aztec Camera - High Land Hard Rain

Roddy Frame is the Orson Welles of…no, hang on, I’ve done that bit. There are not 10 songs in the world better than We Could Send Letters.

WORST SCOTTISH ALBUM:

Hue and Cry - Seduced and Abandoned

In 1987 the guy in the next room in Halls of Residence played it far too regularly. Musically bland and painfully pseudo-intellectual. It is absolutely horrible and I heard it often enough to make that as a definite statement. Fake soul and fake jazz sung by someone who thinks he's both a great singer and a great thinker. It's Sh*te!

* Cold Tea was an alcohol concoction served a club called The Egg and consisted of Vodka, Tia Maria (substituted one night with Southern Comfort when the TM ran out), Special, Advocaat and Lemonade. Not for the faint-hearted. Rumours that it could turn you into a great dancer were greatly exaggerated.

And those, dear (and cheap) friends, are the Album Poll votes of our very Dave/Davey/The Davester/He Who Must Be Dave. Do you agree? Disagree? Let us know on the Discussion Forum.

1. Aztec Camera - High Land, Hard Rain

If I had to pick one album as my number 1, this would be it. Aztec Camera was my first musical love and this album, which is 25 years old, has more than stood the test of time. From the folk-punk of "The Boy Wonders" to the Motown-fuelled "Pillar To Post", this album takes me back to days of innocence. "We Could Send Letters" is just beautiful. Every home should have a copy.

2. Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy

This was like nothing I'd ever heard before or since. This album was a veritable mind-blowing bolt from the blue that turned my musical conceptions, quite literally, upside down. I can't imagine it sounds as good on CD as it does on vinyl. To be played "one louder".

3. BMX Bandits - Star Wars

Duglas Stewart writes some of the most beautiful and simple love songs you could ever imagine. Never less than entertaining live, Duglas wears his heart on his sleeve, even when wearing a tank top. A modern Brian Wilson and no mistake and his merry band of cohorts help to bring about some of the most wonderful pop songs you could ever hear. This album just pips some of his other excellent offerings.

4. Teenage Fanclub - Grand Prix

More hooks than an abattoir. More melodies than you can throw a stick at. There can't be many bands that have such a fabulous catalogue of songs as Teenage Fanclub. This album strides their back catalogue like a colossus and continues to endure. God bless Teenage Fanclub and long may they continue.

5. Superstar - Palm Tree

This is real music. Cultured, beautiful, sensitive and an ultimate pleasure. With his new project NOM Joe McAlinden continues to delight but Palm Tree is an album I never tire of and my personal favourite Superstar long player.

6. The Orchids - Lyceum

Of all the albums I picked this was the hardest one to choose because I couldn't decide which Orchids release to pick, as they're all equally gorgeous. I went for this one, a mini-album, because of the inclusion of Caveman, a pop song that I adore. This band was cruelly underrated and, now that they've reformed, they should be given your undivided attention.

7. Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister

Like my other selections, this doesn't, in my humble opinion, have a duff track. "Judy and the Dream of Horses" is just sublime. A fabulous collection and not as whimsical and twee as the non-believers would have you believe.

8. The Blue Nile - A Walk Across The Rooftops

Who cares if they only make an album every decade when they're as good as this? It's a shame that their other albums don't get the plaudits because they're always compared with this, their stunning debut. Better than "Hats" by a baw hair, this is another image-laden collection of beautiful tracks.

9. Roddy Frame - Surf

You can't keep a good singer-songwriter (and cruelly underrated guitarist) down. I just love the pictures that Roddy paints with his words and music. I've grown up with Roddy and long may he continue to make stunningly beautiful albums.

10. Mull Historical Society - Loss

This is such an underrated collection of melodic infectious pop songs. An absolute joy.

Worst Jock n Roll Album:

I have to confess that there were only ever going to be two candidates for my vote in this category. Remarkably I've only heard one of them. It's just the very idea of the other one that has me cringing. Sheena Easton' defection to the States and the surgery to remove her natural accent have not endeared her to many in the home of her birth. A big fan of wedding cake, as her four short-lived husbands will testify, Sheena's 2001 "Fabulous" album of disco covers is anything but. I am ashamed to say that I have a copy of this album. I'm sorely tempted to give it away in a competition.

My other contender for Worst Jock n Roll Album is Simple Minds' "Neon Lights", a collection of ill-advised cover versions. Why on earth would they think they could possible add anything to tracks like The Doors' "Hello I Love You", Neil Young's "The Needle and the Damage Done" or Velvet Underground's " All Tomorrow Parties". As I said, I haven't heard this album. I don't know if I really want to. It's car crash music. Like Mariah Carey's movie "Glitter", you know it's bad but you have to bring yourself to endure it (Having said that two attempts to watch "Glitter" and I still haven't finished it yet. Does anyone know what happens?)

Anyway, after due consideration, my vote goes to Sheena Easton's ironically entitled "Fabulous".