Best of the 90's?

For me the 90's are the toughest decade musically. From about '93 to 2003 I don't have that much music and only a couple albums do I actually love. Any suggestions with descriptions and top tens?

geez, the late nineties were brutal! i refuse to even think about it...

haha

My favorite records of the 90's for what it's worth:

1) Archers of Loaf - Vee Vee (1995)
2) Sleater Kinney - Call The Doctor (1996)
3) A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory (1991)
4) Freedy Johnston - Can You Fly? (1992)
5) Public Enemy - Fear Of A Black Planet (1990)
6) Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand (1994)
7) Arto Lindsay - Mundo Civilizado (1997)
8) Everything But The Girl - Walking Wounded (1996)
9) Nas - Illmatic (1994)
10) Beth Orton - Trailer Park (1996)

Many many more A/A+ records not making the cut. Yes, the late 90's are conspicuous in their absence from this list (agree with satch here). I would suggest that any list containing no rap, hip-hop, or electronica should be considered the product of a niche listener.



Post Edited (09-28-08 18:34)

Off the top of my head, my 25 fave albums of the 90s would be:
(disclaimer - any such list is always subject to change as "shit! I forgot XXX" is always a likelihood)

1. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
2. Radiohead - OK Computer
3. REM - Automatic For the People
4. Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne
5. Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
6. Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
7. Mercury Rev - Deserter's Songs
8. Slowdive - Just for a Day
9. Cornershop - When I Was Born for the 7th Time
10. Lucinda Williams - Sweet Old World
11. Yo La Tengo - Painless
12. The Negro Problem - Joys & Concerns
13. Hole - Live Through This
14. Kitchens of Distinction - Strange Free World
15. U2 - Achtung Baby
16. Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand
17. Stereolab - Transient Random Noise Bursts with Announcements
18. Lisa Germano - Excerpts from a Love Circus
19. Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
20. Flying Saucer Attack - S/T
21. Jeremy Enigk - Return of the Frog Queen
22. The Sea and Cake - The Fawn
23. Damien Jurado - Rehearsals for Departure
24. Leonard Cohen - The Future
25. Nirvana - Nevermind

i agree on the late 90s. i often see coverbands playing at local bars in brooklyn and the songs they are playing are from about 1998-2001 yet feel so dated like they are from 100 years ago and also sound recent in a shitty way. hard to explain.

every era had good music though.

steve earle put out his comeback music a string of great albums as did a bunch of other alt country bands. you all know the names.
dylan-time out of mind
lots of good to very good albums put out my artists who put out great music previously.

as with every band like nirvana n pearl jam like u2 before brought some bands who sounded somewhat derivitive of them but were either annoying or sounded extremely dated.

i do see a few of my favorite artists did debout around 1997-99.
matthew ryan,dan bern ,liz phair i see for tp guys it was more of a downside

liz phair debuted in 1997? hmmmm.....

this wasnt the first time i was totally wrong about a woman i am in love with.
damn i wasnt even close. im a mets fan so im wrong about everything.
i was wrong by about 4-5 years also.
which proves its a stretch about listing great late 90s music.

No prob, Rebel With any other artist, the mistake would be trivial, but the Liz of 1999 is so radically different than the Liz of 1993, that they qualify as separate human beings. Both really hot, but separate nonetheless.

DJ Shadow - Endtroducing
Blaggers I.T.A - Bad Karma
Beastie Boys - Ill Communication
Mark Eitzel - 60 Watt Silver Lining
The Avalanches - El Producto
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Henry's Dream
Snuff - Demmamussabebonk
Therapy? - Troublegum

When I Was a Boy - Jane Siberry
Nice art pop with Eno producing much of the disc.

Wrong Way Up - Brian Eno and John Cale
Eno sings. So does Cale.

Pony Express Record (and Get Your Goat and 50,000 BC) - Shudder To Think
Ambitious art metal. Trouser Press nails them with the summary: "Too hard-rock for the avant-gardists and way too weird for hard-rockers." It has some dull moments, but plenty of brilliance too.

Orbital (Brown) - Orbital

Priest = Aura (and Hologram of Baal) - The Church
Steve Kilbey thinks P=A is the best Church album. Ira didn't think much of it in Rolling Stone. Including the line: "In tone and temperament, Priest = Aura has all the warmth of an undertaker." While not everything works, I would argue that much of it does.

Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things (and Interbabe Concern) - The Loud Family
Scott Miller at the peak of his inventiveness. Avoid The Tape of Only Linda.

Aztec Camera - Stray
Roddy Frame tries on lots of musical styles and makes most of them work.

Red House Painters (Rollercoaster) - Red House Painters
Everything they did in the 1990s was very good, with this being my favorite. Slow, depressive music, always pretty though sometimes dissonant.

Spilt Milk - Jellyfish
Slick, derivative (think Queen and the Beach Boys) and lots of fun. Nice power pop if you're willing to accept the level of polish.

I'm sure I'm forgetting lots. I'm no lover of the 1990s, but they did have their moments. I would argue that there was a lot going on in the late 1990s that paid off in the early 2000s. I didn't have the cash at that point to seek it all out.

Quote

I would suggest that any list containing no rap, hip-hop, or electronica should be considered the product of a niche listener.

Yep, I spent the '90s quite convinced that rock was dead, creatively exhausted after the punk/alt explosion, existing to be sampled/cut-up/mixed. Grunge and Brit-pop was pointless recycling. The near-limitless sonic possibilities of electronics made the old guitar/bass/drum thing seem narrow and boring, and I also was thrilled by the rising black nation finally asserting itself. Buncha white college kids noddling around on guitars didn't have quite the same political charge. I was like a Big Band fan in the '50s, who heard Little Richard and said "Ah, THIS is what's happening now."

- Portishead was my fave band of the time; listened to 'em obsessivly.
- Fatboy Slim: first couple
- some Chemical Brothers (esp. 1st album & "Block Rockin Beats" single)
- Ice Cube's earliest solo efforts (before gangsta style quickly became a lame cliche),
- Medeski Martin & Wood
- mix tapes
- not much tecnho-house-rave, but occasional Kratfwerk/New Order-esque electro songs were great - I bought alot of 12 inchers in those days: Utah Saints "Something Good" (samples Kate Bush), Messiah "Temple of Dreams" (sampled Cocteau Twins), 808 State
- sound collagists like Negativland, John Oswald, Evolution Control Committee
- Countries that could never convincingly rock, like France and Japan, were now able to join the party - Towa Tei "Future Listening," Fantastic Plastic Machine, Air (the song "Remember" off their first is one of the greatest of the late '90s), Daft Punk ("Around the World" 12")

And lots of African, and Afro-Latin/Caribbean - the international market kicked open by the Talking Heads/Peter Gabriel/King Sunny Ade in the '80s really burst onto the scene. Yes, there was lots of bad fake "world music" acts of the Deep Forest ilk, but seeing a soukous guitarist like Diblo made me want to punch the next person I caught listlessly stumming "Knockin On Heaven's Door" right in the nose.

What got me thinking about it is that I've been listening to In The Aeroplane Over the Sea quite a bit and loving it. Not a huge fan of the Lo-Fi stuff in general though. Wrong Way Up is an incredible album. I love Spiritualized. They put out some good stuff in the 90's.
In the early 90's I liked All and Fugazi alot, actually most of the post-hardcore stuff at the time was pretty decent (Quicksand, etc...) Sugar and PJ Harvey were good but I haven't listened to them in years. I never got on to the Grunge band wagon even though I saw Nirvana live early on. Mudhoney had some OK stuff, but I don't really find it holds up.
Neil Young's Broken Arrow is one of my favorite album's by him. Diary is another great 90's album.

I've been checking out some of the suggestions. Thanks all. It is still tough times though...

Quote

Neil Young's Broken Arrow is one of my favorite album's by him.

"Sleeps With Angels" is my fave '90s Neil album - beautiful stuff.

Hated the 90s.

None of my favorite all time records are from that more ironic than thou decade, all mopey whining and naval gazing or jokey ironic self reference. Well the La's would make my all time list, but other than that .....

Best of the decade - The La's

Rest of the top 10, no order :

Leatherwoods "Topeka Oratorio"
Oasis "Definitely Maybe"
Sugar "Copper Blue"
Pavement "Slanted & Enchanted"
Wilco "Summerteeth"
Matthew Sweet "Girlfriend"
Guided By Voices "Bee Thousand"
Bob Dylan "Time Out of Mind"

Yikes, that's not even 10 !!!

Yeah I have to agree that 90s doesn't immediately jump to mind as such a vital decade, but I guess having a few thousand releases from the period contradicts that. I would have to disagree with the prevailing opinions - I thought the decade got better as it progressed.

I think a lot of the anti-90s sentiment comes from the industry getting more effective at further sub-dividing genres and their representative audiences. 80s seemed easy - there was indie.
90s suddenly seemed to have 'alternative' in dozens of flavors - alternative metal, alternative hip-hop, alternative country, alternative butter, with each, exploding into increasingly obscure or ridiculous branches - Riot Grrrl anyone? There was a lot more us vs them extremism between tribes as well, with fewer people willing to try different flavors.

after digging, these are all pretty essential...

Tribe Called Quest: People's Instinctive Travels...
Breeders: Pod
The Fall: Extricate
Fugazi: Repeater
The Ex: Scrabbling at the Lock, or Weathermen Shrugged Their Shoulders
Pixies: Alec Eiffel EP (one of the best rock songs ever)
RHCP: Blood Sugar Sex Magick (hard for me to listen to any more but almost single-handedly defined the 90s)
Orb: UFOrb
PJ Harvey: Dry
Ultramagnetic MC's: Four Horsemen
Seefeel: Polyfusia or Quique
Tortoise: Millions Now Living Will Never Die
Dirty Three: s-t
FSOL: ISDN
Hole: Live through This
Jon Spencer BE: Orange
DJ Krush: Strictly Turntablized
Portishead: Dummy
Sea & Cake: s-t
Severed Heads: Cuisine
David Byrne: s-t
Bjork: Post
Stereolab: Emperor Tomato Ketchup
Chrome Cranks: s-t or Dead Calm
Nels Cline: Ground
Sleater-Kinney: (everything)
The Guitar Trio (McLaughlin/Di Meola/De Lucía): s-t
Up Bustle & Out: One Colour...
Yura Yura Teikoku: (anything)
Black Heart Procession: 1 or 2
To Rococo Rot: Veiculo
Manu Chao: Clandestino
...


If I really got picky, I would just go for bands that started or only existed in the 90s (Rodan, Slint, Ui, Dog-Faced Hermans, Brainiac, Caspar Brotzman, Gastr del Sol, Man or Astro-Man?, Doo Rag, DK3, Latin Playboys, June of '44, Techno Animal...).



Post Edited (09-29-08 20:45)

Some great lists here and albums I now need to seek out. Since no one is sticking to just 10 albums...

11) Wu-Tang Clan - Enter The Wu-Tang
12) Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
13) Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime
14) DJ Shadow - Entroducing...
15) Papas Fritas - Papas Fritas
16) Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
17) Nirvana - In Utero
18) Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
19) Aphex Twin - Richard D. James Album
20) Billy Bragg and Wilco - Mermaid Avenue


* Thrilled to see Bee Thousand getting the love.
* No fellow Loaf fanatics here?
* Could it be that most people on this board are dissing the 90's because they were over 30 during this time? Its the reason I diss the noughts, so fess up. (Check the census).
* Sorry to fact-check, MJM, but your list puts the lie to the claim that the 90's got better as they went along. Clusters around 1993-94.
* You were onto something however when you talked about the system dissection of tastes during the 90's. Pop/Rock was always a meaningful enough category to me, but in the 90's the tastemakers had to create 50+ different subgenres of electronica and metal. Absurd. Most of the techno listeners I meet essentially view the music as functional anyway (i.e. produce a certain environment in order to get laid), so they deserve their subdivided isolation.
* Wouldn't the 90's be considered a truly vital period if we could swap 88/89 for 98/99 ?



Post Edited (09-29-08 22:49)

>
>
> Brainiac


oooooooh, there you go! SMACK BUNNY BABY gets my vote!

No sign of Screamadelica or Ride's Nowhere and/or Going Blank Again.

"Could it be that most people on this board are dissing the 90's because they were over 30 during this time? Its the reason I diss the noughts, so fess up."

I didn't hit 30 until later in the decade but some of it may have been post college malaise. I was out of college at the start of the decade. The bands I liked in 1990 - The La's, Stone Roses - were pretty much wiped aside a year later.

I think Nevermind, while a fine album in and of itself just set the decade off on a wrong path. If Lee Mavers could have kept it together for a 2nd album......if the Stone Roses didn't have to wait 5+ years to follow-up their debut.......I might have been a happier music fan.

I've enjoyed the 00s way more than the 90s.

mats84 wrote:

> "Could it be that most people on this board are dissing the
> 90's because they were over 30 during this time? Its the reason
> I diss the noughts, so fess up."
>

could be, except i'm loving the noughts (musically).


>
> I've enjoyed the 00s way more than the 90s.
>

the 90s were filled with peace and prosperity, hence the shitty music. at least that's my theory.

Quote

the 90s were filled with peace and prosperity, hence the shitty music. at least that's my theory.

Yep, I'm on that idea as well - the dems being the soft-shoe thieves that they are, generally motivate little active, meaningful opposition in the arts. Rock and punk have definitely flourished through the shit storms of Reagan and Bush eras.

Gotta agree with some that the 90's are way underrated in this post. A quick list:

Afghan Whigs- Gentlemen
Cat Power- Moon Pix
Cheap Trick- S/T
Cracker- All
Cranberries- All, esp the first one
Dino Jr.- Green Mind
Fastball- More Pain than Money can Buy
Fountains of Wayne- S/T
Fugazi- Killtaker, Steady Diet, Red Medicine
Gin Blossoms- first one..."hey Jealousy' is sickeningly infective pop, been in my head for about six months steady
Goo Goo Dolls- Superstar Car Wash
GBV- Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes, Under the Bushes...
PJ Harvey- Rid of Me, Dry, Bring You My Love
Helmet- Meantime, Aftertaste
Penelope Houston- Cut You
Killing Joke- Pandemonium
The Kinks- To the Bone
Alison Kraus- Every Time..., Sop Long...
The La's- S/T
Los Lobos- Kiko
Meat Puppets- The one with 'Backwater'
Mercury Rev- Boces
Ministry- Psalm 69
Morphine- All
NIN, Nirvana
Old 97's- Too Far to Care
Overpass- Manhattan (Beach)

ALL FOR NOW, BABY WOKE IP.

tb

> I would suggest that any list containing no rap, hip-hop, or electronica should be considered
> the product of a niche listener.

I would suggest that such a list is the product of a listener who knows his own tastes and chooses to go with them. If I took the time to compile my own best-of-the-'90s list, rest assured that it would include nothing from those genres. Not because I've ruled out the possibility that they contain any artists/albums of merit, but because, bottom line, they just don't appeal to me.

Mats said something in a thread about a year and a half ago that applies very well here:

> It's really the dirty little secret of Rock & Roll (and Rock criticism): It's rarely about
> what's "good" or what's "better." It's usually about a utilitarian issue - "how can I use
> this music in my life?"

That's how I feel (on a good day) about rap, hip-hop and electronica. They all offer something worth hearing from time to time, but they rarely come up with anything I end up wanting to hear over and over.

"* No fellow Loaf fanatics here? "

I love individual Loaf tracks - "Web In Front" and "Strangled by the Stereo Wire" leap to mind immediately - but I never did fall in love with any of their albums in their entirety. But they're on the top of my stack of things to revisit in the next few months, so maybe that will change.

Electronica - anything the Underworld did in the 90s is pretty worthwhile, especially Beaucoup Fish or whatever it was called. And Moby was usually interesting, as was drum & bass stuff by Roni Size, Goldie and DJ Rap.

On hip hop, I'm kind of in the same boat as Paul Weller talked about in his recent Spin interview - was a big fan of the late 80s, early 90s more melodic stuff like De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest, PM Dawn, Arrested Development, Dream Warriors, etc., but didn't transition over to the Dr. Dre style of things that dominated the rest of the 90s. I respect it, but like Delvin, never found it anything I listen to for enjoyment.

Other people doing stellar work in the 90s and so far unmentioned (I think) - Soul Coughing, Built to Spill, Cibo Matto, 16 Horsepower, Joe Henry, Starflyer 59, Olivia Tremor Control, Jonathan Fire*Eater, Freedy Johnston, Danielson Famile, Grant Lee Buffalo, Ride, Milla Jovovich, Tricky, Nashville Pussy.

They don't get a ton of love on this board, but the neo-punk bands like Green Day, Rancid, MxPx, Blink-182 and the Offspring were all okay in my book. (A lot of what came after them stinks, but they were fine themselves. Like Eddie Vedder - I liked Pearl Jam, but hated the legions of people who sounded just like them.)

While I've always thought Beck has been a tad overrated, he definitely deserves a mention here.

Patti Smith's 90s comeback was a great event, as was Johnny Cash's. And Bowie's Outside and Earthling had their fair share of good moments.

I'm going back and rediscovering Juliana Hatfield - got sick of her in the 90s themselves and quit listening to her, but her new album is so good I'm going back to her 90s stuff and remembering how much I liked it until the alternative radio of the time made me sick of her.

And while I've never been a big Goth fan, some of the darkwave stuff the Projekt label was putting out in the 90s, like Black Tape for a Blue Girl, Love Spirals Downward, Soul Whirling Somewhere, loveliescrushing and Lycia was pretty worthwhile.

There's plenty of good stuff from the 90s out there.



Post Edited (09-30-08 13:12)

Quote

* Sorry to fact-check, MJM, but your list puts the lie to the claim that the 90's got better as they went along. Clusters around 1993-94.

No actually if you really look, what's there is pretty distributed throughout the decade; I got a bit bored midway through. I was also trying to keep to the TP-centric tastes - most of the great stuff later wasn't particularly rockist.

For me, record labels became even more important in the 90s. Earlier I went pretty consistently with 4AD, Beggars, RT, but 90s really picked it up with Ninja Tune, WARP!!!, New Electronica, Domino, Thrill Jockey, Matador, Mille Plateaux...

By the time the Millennium Bug destroyed the World, I think I was still looking backwards through the 90s as much as forwards

STEVE, I know you're not a list guy, but you can please give us a 90's top ten? I am curious as hell what your favorite music is, and have thus far been unable to glean a complete picture from your drunken, stream-of-semi-consciousness posts.

sorry 'bout the late response pailman. friday was more un than semi conscious, after my neighbor walked thru my sticker/burr infested lawn carrying a bottle of vodka. thanks roger!

anyway, (im not @ home but i'll try...
number 1= the pulsars
2. nuggets box
3. garbage
4. gay dad
5. ramones acid eaters & adios amigos!
6.smugglers
7.soul asylum the horse they rode in on
8. breeders-last splash
9. supersuckers
10.television personalities

It might say post edited at the bottom but its not. Its an update or p.s.
One of the best things about the nineties, especially the early part, ushered in a great rash of anthologies and best of's from the previous forty plus years. And Rhino led the way. Everything from 40's muddy waters, 50's rockabilly, 60's brit invasion, psychedelia, soul and folk to the 70's obscurities (i.e. mumps, O-level) somehow saw the light of day.
Personally, I lean toward sixties & seventies rock that is strong AND subtle. In other words, stuff that you drink, dance, chant and meditate (and on rare occasions, pass out) to.
that said, however, the intangible thread that runs through all the best music is a sense of believability, a sense that a band is committed to making something in the hope of pure expression and not solely for the sake of profit.
I hope this helps you out.

see also: yo la tengo during the 90's



Post Edited (10-08-08 10:34)

So I was thinking of this topic on the way home from work, and here are a couple hundred albums in no particular order that I would rate 3 stars (out of five) or above from the second half of the 90s (95-99). Plenty of good to great stuff out there, and I'm sure I left out a couple hundred more. And as mentioned before, I am not much of an authority on 90s hip hop, but I'll bet Nosepail could list a couple dozen discs worth checking out from that time period.

Helium – The Dirt of Luck, The Magic City
Magnetic Fields – Get Lost, 69 Love Songs
The Sixths – Wasps’ Nest
Lilys – Eccsame the Photon Band, Better Can’t Make Your Life Better, The 3 Way
Radiohead – The Bends, OK Computer
Cornershop – Woman’s Gotta Have It, When I Was Born for the 7th Time
Pulp – Different Class, This is Hardcore
Liz Phair – whitechocolatespaceegg
Damien Jurado – Waters Avenue S, Rehearsals for Departure
Wilco – Being There, Summerteeth
Wilco & Billy Bragg - Mermaid Avenue
Son Volt – Trace, Straightways
Elastica - Elastica
Bottle Rockets – The Brooklyn Side
The Mavericks – Music for All Occasions, Trampoline
Emmylou Harris – Wrecking Ball
Pedro the Lion - It's Hard to Find a Friend
Beta Band - the Three EPs
Imperial Teen – Seasick, What is Not to Love
Hole – Celebrity Skin
Smashing Pumpkins – Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Adore
Starflyer 59 – Gold, Americana, The Fashion Focus, Everybody Makes Mistakes
Bon Voyage - Bon Voyage
Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic, Zaireeka, The Soft Bulletin
Mercury Rev – See You on the Other Side, Deserter’s Songs
Built to Spill – Perfect from Now On, Keep It Like a Secret
Milla Jovovich – The Peopletree Sessions
Guided by Voices – Alien Lanes, Under the Bushes Under the Stars, Do the Collapse
Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Joe Henry – Trampoline, Fuse
Lisa Germano – Excerpts from a Love Circus
Modest Mouse – The Lonesome Crowded West
Underworld – Second Toughest in the Infants, Beaucoup Fish
Moby – Everything is Wrong, Play
Blur – Blur
Danielson Famile – A Prayer for Every Hour, Tell Another Joke at the Ol’ Chopping Block, Tri-Danielson Alpha, Tri-Danielson Omega
Soul Junk – 1952, 1953, 1955
Supergrass - I Should Coco
Beck – Odelay, Midnight Vultures
REM – Up
Jeremy Enigk – Return of the Frog Queen
Sunny Day Real Estate – How It Feels to Be Something On
Rialto – Rialto
Kenicke - At the Club
Pizzicato 5 – The Sound of Music, Happy End of the World
Yo La Tengo – Electo Pura, I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One
Deftones – Around the Fur
Patti Smith – Gone Again, Peace and Noise
XTC - Apple Venus
Penelope Houston – Cut You, Tongue
Sixteen Horsepower – Sackcloth & Ashes, Low Estate
Grant Lee Buffalo – Copperopolis
Soul Coughing – Irresistible Bliss, El Oso
Robyn Hitchcock – Moss Elixir
Foo Fighters – Foo Fighters, The Colour and the Shape
Peter Case – Torn Again, Full Service No Waiting
Monster Magnet – Powertrip
Powerman 5000 – Tonight the Stars Revolt!
Queens of the Stone Age - QOTSA
PJ Harvey – To Bring You My Love, Is This Desire?
Joe Christmas – North to the Future
Luna – Penthouse
Flying Saucer Attack – Chorus, New Lands
Chemical Brothers – Dig Your Own Hole, Surrender
Fatboy Slim - You’ve Come a Long Way Baby
Prodigy – The Fat of the Land
Elvis Costello – Painted from Memory
Aimee Mann – I’m With Stupid
Oasis – What’s the Story Morning Glory
Jonathan Fire*Eater – Wolf Songs for Lambs
Negro Problem – Joys and Concerns
Neutral Milk Hotel – On Avery Island, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Olivia Tremor Control – Dusk at Cubist Castle, Black Foliage
Apples in Stereo – Fun Trick Noisemaker, Tone Soul Evolution
Ladybug Transistor – Beverly Atonal
Richard Buckner – Devotion + Doubt, Since
Belle and Sebastian – If You’re Feeling Sinister, The Boy with the Arab Strap
Jonathan Richman – You Must Ask the Heart, Surrender to Jonathan, I’m So Confused
Propellerheads – Decksanddrumsandrockandroll
DJ Rap – Learning Curve
Warren Zevon – Life’ll Kill Ya, My Ride’s Here
The Sea and Cake – The Fawn
Archers of Loaf – VeeVee, All the Nation’s Airports, White Trash Heroes
Mojave 3 – Ask Me Tomorrow, Excuses for Travelers
Curve – Come Clean
Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Nick Cave – Murder Ballads, The Boatman’s Call
Elliott Smith – Either/Or, XO
Ron Sexsmith – Ron Sexsmith, Other Songs
Neko Case – Furnace Room Lullabys
Cocteau Twins – Milk and Kisses
Tori Amos – From the Choirgirl Hotel
Echo and the Bunnymen – What Are You Going to Do With Your Life
Madonna – Ray of Light
David Bowie – Earthling
Handsome Boy Modeling School – So How’s Your Girl?
World Party – Egyptology
Robbie Williams – The Ego Has Landed
Stereolab – Emperor Tomato Ketchup, Cobra and Phases etc.
Gillian Welch – Revival, Hell Among the Yearlings
Steve Earle - Train a' Comin', I Feel Alright, El Corazon
Dead Man Walking Soundtrack
Johnny Cash - Unchained
Allison Moorer - Alabama Song
Trisha Yearwood - Where Your Road Leads
Boo Radleys – Wake Up, C’Mon Kids, Kingsize
Super Furry Animals – Fuzzy Logic, Guerrilla
Sarah Jahn - Sparkle
Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci – Barafundle, Spanish Dance Troupe
Neil Young – Mirror Ball
Jayhawks – Tomorrow the Green Grass
Sparklehorse – Good Morning Spider
Velour100 – Of Colour Bright
Windy & Carl – Drawing of a Sound, Antarctica
Hum – You’d Prefer an Astronaut, Downward is Heavenward
Poster Children – Junior Citizen, RTFM
Andrea Parker – Kiss My Arp
Shivaree – I Oughtta Give You a Shot in the Head for Making Me Live in this Dump


Geez - this list looks much longer posted than it did while typing. Ira, feel free to yell at me if this is eating up too much server space and I'll edit it down.



Post Edited (10-17-08 01:13)

If you're going to include The Boo Radleys, you absolutely have to have Giant Steps.

I actually purchased ThirdShiftGrottoSlack for 99c in a discount bin the other day which indirectly led me to thinking I'd forgotten about Trace in relation to this list and now Breno's now lobbed it in. Went home and put it on right away.

Dirty Three - Sad And Dangerous comes to mind too and I'd probably include the first Sparklehorse (but I'm buggered if I'm typing that!)

Giant Steps was indeed a great album - probably the Boo's best - but it was from '93, and I was only covering the second half of the decade, as that seemed to be the era in doubt of having very much worthwhile.



Post Edited (10-17-08 08:15)

You mean it could have been longer?

Just proving a point. I'm a firm believer that every era has more good stuff than any one person could actually ever find the time to listen to. I'm still amazed at all the great stuff that I'm still discovering from the early 70s, which is the supposed horrible era that punk was a reaction against. There was great stuff out there, but radio of the time had other priorities.

Of course, even the stuff on the radio then was probably better than it gets credit for. I'm still amazed that something like "Troglodyte" by the Jimmy Castor Bunch was ever a hit. That thing sounds like a funk version of the Velvet Underground's "The Gift," yet everybody in my grade school class loved it.