Darkstarexodus Escribi�:

1) Surrender

This album is stone cold classic. While perhaps not as innovative and ground-breaking as Exit Planet Dust or Dig Your Own Hole, Surrender is the sound of a group at the top of their game, with the world at their feet.



The opening volley of Music:Response, Under the Influence, and Out of Control is colossal and undeniable. The epic Sunshine Underground, chart-topping Hey Boy Hey Girl, and the funky Got Glint? are other highlights, though there is truly not a weak track on this album.



If I were to recommend one Chems album to a newbie, this is it.

im not trying to pick a fight but i couldnt disagree with you more....



The first album I always introduce to a newbie is "dig your own hole"....i know its a very agressive and raw album...but if you dont understand the magic in that album....you dont deserve to understand the chemical brothers.......and thats all i gotta say about that :P

It took me a long while to appreciate Dig Your Own Hole properly. Despite the success it had, it's a dark, underground album. Surrender is a world-conquering stone-cold classic.



Anyone hearing Under the Influence on a good system will forever be hooked by the Chems. Guaranteed. It's how I do it with friends (although, I must say Hold Tight London in the hatch of my car under the stars does a great job, too).



I think you need to be already initiated into dance music in general (breaks in particular) to GET Dig Your Own Hole. Surrender is the Chems album for non-dance-heads, which is why I chose it number one: it's their world-topping album. I reckon I could sell my grandparents on it.

it seems that surrender and come with us seem to be on opposite spectrums for most of us .....why is that?

I love Come With Us, in fact, I'm listening to it right now. For the longest time it was my favourite Chems album. And listening to The Test as we speak, I'm reminded why.



However, it's neither as groundbreaking as DYOH or EPD, nor as classic as Surrender.



Still a fantastic album, though.



My girlfriend picked Surrender, by the way. :D

haha, yeah, now that I think of it, here's my girlfriend's ranking:



1) Surrender

2) Push the Button

3) Come With Us

4) Dig Your Own Hole



We haven't listened to Exit Planet Dust together yet, though.

i would also recommend surrender maily because of the various genres it covers. From acid fest Hey boy hey girl to baseline driven out of control to tribal beats of sunshine underground and under the influence.I have yet to experience its power on a big system, must be a sight(or sound) to behold.

Bosco Escribi�:

Darkstarexodus Escribi�:

1) Surrender

This album is stone cold classic. While perhaps not as innovative and ground-breaking as Exit Planet Dust or Dig Your Own Hole, Surrender is the sound of a group at the top of their game, with the world at their feet.



The opening volley of Music:Response, Under the Influence, and Out of Control is colossal and undeniable. The epic Sunshine Underground, chart-topping Hey Boy Hey Girl, and the funky Got Glint? are other highlights, though there is truly not a weak track on this album.



If I were to recommend one Chems album to a newbie, this is it.

im not trying to pick a fight but i couldnt disagree with you more....



The first album I always introduce to a newbie is "dig your own hole"....i know its a very agressive and raw album...but if you dont understand the magic in that album....you dont deserve to understand the chemical brothers.......and thats all i gotta say about that :P

I'm going to have to agree with Darkstar here.



While Dig Your Own Hole is undoubtedly brilliant, ground breaking, hard hitting, in your face, raw and razor sharp around the edges - it can be a bit overwhelming, scatterbrained, noisy, or even dischordant to the tender ears of a newbie unfamiliar with this type of music.



When I first heard this album in 1997 I wasn't sure what to make of it. Yeah it was cool - The sounds were awesome, the songs Block Rockin' Beats and Setting Sun were rock radio friendly, but that type of music wasn't what I was really into at that particular moment in time. It wasn't until a couple of years later that I was able to open up and sort of listen with a more mature pair of ears.



Surrender is, for lack of a better phrase, more aesthetically pleasing album. It's streamlined and glossy, and the overall approach and feel seems very fluid. As it has peaks and valleys like all Chems albums do, Surrender seems to flow on a particular wavelength that is a lot more even keeled than the hard hatting aspects that make up Dig Your Own Hole.



I will say this, though. It's subjective and that's why one album isn't better than the other because we're hearing things differently, associating the songs with different things, like memories and such. It all boils down to what the listener is into. I think there's enough in the Chemical catalogue to appeal to all kinds of listeners, if they want it.



And I think that's why we all have our favorite albums.

i feel like DYOH is being discredited here....i mean this is the defining album of the chemical brothers and the big beat era is it not? Wouldnt that be what you wanna pass down to those who wanna learn the chemical way?



i dont feel like you get the idea of the chemcial brothers through surrender,come with us, or push the button, their just like mini projects that they explored away from exit planet dust/ dig your own hole.......thats my opinion

ps........if you have a problem listening to

whirlygirl Escribi�:

While Dig Your Own Hole is undoubtedly brilliant, ground breaking, hard hitting, in your face, raw and razor sharp around the edges - it can be a bit overwhelming, scatterbrained, noisy, or even dischordant to the tender ears of a newbie unfamiliar with this type of music.

your either too old.....or you shouldnt really be listening to dance music anyways



the chemical brothers cerrtainly arent for everybody.....call me greedy :-D

by the way i didnt mean that towards you whirly.......dont wanna sound like a dick

Bosco Escribi�:

i feel like DYOH is being discredited here....i mean this is the defining album of the chemical brothers and the big beat era is it not? Wouldnt that be what you wanna pass down to those who wanna learn the chemical way?



i dont feel like you get the idea of the chemcial brothers through surrender,come with us, or push the button, their just like mini projects that they explored away from exit planet dust/ dig your own hole.......thats my opinion

Imo, EPD is the album which really founded Big Beat, especially Three Little Birdies (the term "big beat" takes all his sense when you listen to that track) down beats. DYOH and You've come a Long way Baby are the two albums which define the best "Big Beat era". It was the time when Big Beat were very strong. In my opinion, it died with Palookaville...

Ben_j Escribi�:

Bosco Escribi�:

i feel like DYOH is being discredited here....i mean this is the defining album of the chemical brothers and the big beat era is it not? Wouldnt that be what you wanna pass down to those who wanna learn the chemical way?



i dont feel like you get the idea of the chemcial brothers through surrender,come with us, or push the button, their just like mini projects that they explored away from exit planet dust/ dig your own hole.......thats my opinion

Imo, EPD is the album which really founded Big Beat, especially Three Little Birdies (the term "big beat" takes all his sense when you listen to that track) down beats. DYOH and You've come a Long way Baby are the two albums which define the best "Big Beat era". It was the time when Big Beat were very strong. In my opinion, it died with Palookaville...

i really hope norman got smacked in the head with a dick by someone for releasing that sorry excuse of an album

Bosco Escribi�:

The first album I always introduce to a newbie is "dig your own hole"....i know its a very agressive and raw album...but if you dont understand the magic in that album....you dont deserve to understand the chemical brothers.......and thats all i gotta say about that :P

I'd introduce anything chemical brothers to a newbie, whether its a poster or an album. But when i introduce people to chemical brothers it mostly just through songs. Or i tell them to get a hold of the Singles, then to go looking into albums and discover them for themselves, thats how i done it.



As for the ''Dont deserve to understand the chemical brothers'' thats a bit harsh..

Everyone deserves the chance to understand the chemical brothers.

Bosco Escribi�:

i feel like DYOH is being discredited here....i mean this is the defining album of the chemical brothers and the big beat era is it not? Wouldnt that be what you wanna pass down to those who wanna learn the chemical way?



i dont feel like you get the idea of the chemcial brothers through surrender,come with us, or push the button, their just like mini projects that they explored away from exit planet dust/ dig your own hole.......thats my opinion

Fuck the newbies



DYOH is the best thing the Chems have ever done.

Slipvin Escribi�:

Bosco Escribi�:

i feel like DYOH is being discredited here....i mean this is the defining album of the chemical brothers and the big beat era is it not? Wouldnt that be what you wanna pass down to those who wanna learn the chemical way?



i dont feel like you get the idea of the chemcial brothers through surrender,come with us, or push the button, their just like mini projects that they explored away from exit planet dust/ dig your own hole.......thats my opinion

Fuck the newbies



DYOH is the best thing the Chems have ever done.

Oops, I meant to quote Whirly.

I don't think anyone is discrediting Dig Your Own Hole. That's a completely baseless assumption.



I see your point Bosco and I don't want to argue because honestly I've seen this circular argument go around and around for years and it ends up getting ugly every single friggen time. This is about personal taste and what you (or we) *think* someone else would like, and that's fair enough. No wait... this was about Ranking the Albums. And this is one of the reasons why, personal reasons as stated in my first post in this particular thread, why I chose not to rank anything.



Thank you Foxboy for being diplomatic in all this. Everyone deserves a chance to understand the Chemical Brothers... through enjoying the music - not dissecting it and putting it in some box labelled "big beat".



Now if you'll excuse me, there is a bottle of port waiting for me that was bottled around the time Tom and Ed were hard at work in the studio making Dig Your Own Hole. ;)

For me, I certainly wouldn't want to be without either of them. But given the desert island scenario, 7 times out of 10, I'd pick Surrender.



As I said, Surrender is the sound of a group on top of the world. Dig Your Own Hole is what got them there. Love them both terrifically. Neither truly greater than the other. My aural tastes (at the moment) lean slightly more towards Surrender. Slightly. Play me 'Setting Sun' and I might change my opinion, at least temporarily.



And if the Chems are only exploring mini-projects, they've been doing it for nearly 10 years now. :D I think their tastes have changed as time has passed and we can all thank our lucky stars that they still produce fantastic music, even if it is very different from the music that we fell in love with in the first place.

ok you didn?t directly discredit Dig your Own Hole, however, when 3 of you said you would recommend surrender to introduce someone to the chemical brothers, technically you are indirectly, discrediting the power of DYOH. Dig Your Own Hole is more then just a record, its ground breaking, and created a new genre which defines who the chemical brothers really are.



For example, picture yourself as a big Beck fan what?s the first thing that comes to mind when someone would ask you to recommend an album? Probably the album ?Odelay? right? Your not thinking about recommending his album ?Guero? (a complete mess of an album) because that?s not what his best effort is, or what defines him musically.



Now put the same scenario for the chemical brothers. The album you would want to recommend is DYOH. And why would you want to recommend DYOH? Because it is their best album ( I know I say I like Come With Us better but that?s just personal taste, deep down I know that Dig Your Own Hole is their best album) and it defines who the chemical brothers are!



Now if we were to substitute the answer with the album ?surrender? we would be leaving the wrong impression of who the chemical brothers are.....are they defined by the track ?hey boy hey girl?.....no, I don?t know of any other tracks that the chemical brothers have made, sound like that one. Surrender is definitely in its own category and is mixed with all kinds of different good tracks, which I can see why you people select it as for someone to start off with. However, the album does not hold the formula which the chemical brothers branded (big beat). The newbs that get introduced with ?surrender? and enjoy it, will find that preceding albums such as Exit Planet Dust and Dig Your Own Hole do not fancy them, which is definitely bad because that?s their TOP WORK! Instead, they will learn to appreciate the commercial side of the chemical brothers albums and probably fall in love with ?push the button,? which is not bad, but defeats the purpose of searching for good music and the chemical brothers in general.



Now lets use a song from DYOH that they could be defined by, for example, Block Rockin? Beats. Can you spot another song that relates to that one? You betcha, most of the rest of DYOH album follow the same kind of pattern/production block rockin? beats generates. And now look at the preceding album Exit Planet Dust, most of those tracks follow the same pattern/production as DYOH too. I see a trend here, but you know what, I haven?t heard anything like this ever done by anyone else in the music industry, therefore DYOH (and EPD technically) is a ground breakingly defining moment for the chemical brothers. And DYOH just so happens to be a great album containing great music. So, that makes it a successful, ground breakingly, classic album, and dare I say one to recommend to newbs.

Foxboy Escribi�:

Bosco Escribi�:

The first album I always introduce to a newbie is "dig your own hole"....i know its a very agressive and raw album...but if you dont understand the magic in that album....you dont deserve to understand the chemical brothers.......and thats all i gotta say about that :P

I'd introduce anything chemical brothers to a newbie, whether its a poster or an album. But when i introduce people to chemical brothers it mostly just through songs. Or i tell them to get a hold of the Singles, then to go looking into albums and discover them for themselves, thats how i done it.



As for the ''Dont deserve to understand the chemical brothers'' thats a bit harsh..

Everyone deserves the chance to understand the chemical brothers.

The chemical brothers cant please everyone, and its not like the chemical brothers need everyone to like their music. And yes, I do agree that everyone deserves a chance to understand the chemical brothers. But, In my opinion if your dissatisfied with DYOH your missing the whole point of what the chemical brothers really are and their best music! If your excuse for not liking DYOH is because its maybe too loud, or too raw and aggressive, its ment to make you feel uncomfortable. It?s a fucking explosion in your FACE! And that?s what makes it good! Im not saying it has to be your favorite album. But it?s the album that makes the most sense out of all of them and should be higly respected.



Again, this is all just my opinion, just trying to make sense out of it :P





Anyways........with this all being said Im switching my vote for album intro for newbs to what foxy said ?singles 93-03"



ahhhh im really tired.....sorry if i didnt explain everything well enough, or spell everthing right, im really too tired to check.......im going to bed (!)



SLEEP IS ALL!!!!

as well as

LOVE IS ALL!!!!



Peace....... Im Outta here

Bosco Escribi�:

dont wanna sound like a dick

I've never heard a dick do any sound :?

Bosco Escribi�:

The newbs that get introduced with ?surrender? and enjoy it, will find that preceding albums such as Exit Planet Dust and Dig Your Own Hole do not fancy them, which is definitely bad because that?s their TOP WORK! Instead, they will learn to appreciate the commercial side of the chemical brothers albums and probably fall in love with ?push the button,? which is not bad, but defeats the purpose of searching for good music and the chemical brothers in general.

Well the song that got me diggin into the chems was Get Yourself High and since then DYOH has been my favorite album so your hypothesis on that one isnt always right.

First ever chems song i heard was Under The Influence and look, how ironic this may be.. its on the surrender album. Yet, DYOH is my favorite album 8) X-D



So i disagree with you Bosco.



[We're still cool,...right?..:P]