1995-2000, Recommend Me Something

Taking my cue from the "Overrated" thread and Paganizer's last post in that thread, I've decided I need some help because this period is a low point in Rock history for me, so maybe I'm missing something? Paganizer said this era beat the shit outta 70-75 but that has some of my fave records ever (Funhouse, Exile on Main St., NY Dolls, Horses, Radio City), but I got zero all time favorites from 95-00. So, who's the queen of the locker room and what's the cream of the crop from 95-00? I like OK COMPUTER, BEING THERE/SUMMERTEETH, KEEP IT LIKE A SECRET well enough, just never made that leap to truly loving them......so maybe if you list some of your faves from these years it'll help me to get a fresh perspective.

i'll start


wilco being there
lips soft bulletin
fountains of wayne (i forget but 98 or so)
cash unchained

Here's a bunch of good 'uns. And I'm sure I'm forgetting a ton:

Cornershop - When I Was Born for the Seventh Time
Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
Mercury Rev - Deserter's Songs
Radiohead - The Bends
PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love
Nick Cave - Murder Ballads
Damien Jurado - Waters Avenue S, Rehearsal for Departure, Ghost of David
Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump
Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica
Elliott Smith - X/O
Jeremy Enigk - Return of the Frog Queen
Lisa Germano - Excerpts from a Love Circus
Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
Steve Earle - I Feel All Right
Son Volt - Trace
Pedro the Lion - It's Hard to Find a Friend
Belle & Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
Jayhawks - Tomorrow the Green Grass
XTC - Apple Venus 1 & 2
Helium - The Dirt of Luck, The Magic City
The Mavericks - Music For All Occasions & Trampoline
Danielson et al - A Prayer for Every Hour, Tell Another Joke at the Ol' Choppin' Block, Tri-Danielson
Patti Smith - Peace & Noise, Gung Ho
Candypants - Candypants
The Negro Problem - Joys and Concerns
Soul Coughing - Ruby Vroom, Irresistable Bliss
Underworld - Beaucoup Fish
Lilys- Eccsame the Photon Band
Moby - Everything is Wrong
Deftones - Around the Fur, the White Pony
Costello & Bacharach - Painted From Memory
Busy Signals - First album
Original Brothers & Sisters of Love - The Ballad of Jeb Minor
Starflyer 59 - The Fashion Focus & Everybody Makes Mistakes
Land of the Loops - 1st album
REM - Up
Joe Henry - Trampoline
Madonna - Ray of Light
The Donnas - American Teenage Rock & Roll Machine
Mojave 3 - Excuses for Travelers
Pulp - Pornography
Yo La Tengo - Electro-Pura
Emmylou Harris - Wrecking Ball
Warren Zevon - Life'll Kill Ya

Not making a case for it as a great time for music, but hell - there's always great stuff out there if you look. And since my top 100 all time favorite albums list changes daily, I can't say any of these would be on it (well, the first 5 or so would be), but:

Born for the 7th Time
OK Computer
The Soft Bulletin
Deserter's Songs
Tell Another Joke at the Ol' Choppin' Block
Murder Ballads
Candypants
Trace
Rehearsal for Departure
If You're Feeling Sinister
Music For All Occasions
Excerpts from a Love Circus
69 Love Songs

would all be on the short list.



Post Edited (02-17-06 15:59)

Totally agree --- it ultimately comes down to taste in many respects. Forever Changes is a top tenner for me.

Any reason why you list several albums by Bowie but not Ziggy Stardust or The Stooges Raw Power but not Fun House, Radio City but not Sister Lovers, Berlin but not Transformer or the second Dolls album?

Even if you like the other ones you listed better shouldn't these others be mentioned?

Also, I always wonder why the first Roxy LP is ignored but Siren is always mentioned. Certainly a case of way underrated and overrated albums scenario for me although I failed to mention Siren in my overrated list in another thread.

My bad - 73-75 you listed. I should have read more carefully.

Just because it would've driven me crazy not to, here's 70-72:

Sparks - Sparks/Halfnelson, Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing (finally! available on cd, btw)
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
Paul McCartney - Ram
John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band
Yoko Ono - Plastic Ono Band, Fly
Lou Reed - Transformer
Velvet Underground - Loaded
The Who - Who's Next
Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells a Story, Never a Dull Moment, Gasoline Alley
David Bowie - The Man Who Sold the World, Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust
Mott the Hoople - All the Young Dudes, Brain Capers
Can - Tago Mago, Ege Bamyasi
Faust - Faust So Far
Ash Ra Tempel - Ash Ra Tempel, Schwingungen
Michael Nesmith - Magnetic South, Loose Salute, And the Hits Just Keep Comin'
Roxy Music - Roxy Music
Stooges - Funhouse
Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street
Derek & the Dominos - Layla
Amon Duul II - Yeti, Wolf City
Faces - A Nod is as Good as a Wink..., Long Player
Big Star - No. 1 Record
Neil Young - After the Gold Rush, Harvest
Bruce Cockburn - High Winds, White Sky
Nick Drake - Bryter Lyter, Pink Moon
Genesis - Foxtrot
Richard Thompson - Henry the Human Fly
Syd Barrett - The Madcap Laughs
The Move - Shazam, Message from the Country
Todd Rundgren - Something/Anything
Kevin Ayers - whatevershebringswesing
King Crimson - In the Wake of Poseidon
Stevie Wonder - Talking Book
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Alice Cooper - Love It to Death, Killer, School's Out
Gram Parsons - G.P.

Every era has a ton of great stuff for the obsessive list maker.



Post Edited (02-15-06 21:53)

Forgot to include Sabbath's Paranoid on my top LPs list.


70-75

Springsteen (Greetings and Born To Run)

T Rex (Electric Warrior, Slider and Tanx)

Kiss (Kiss)

MC5 (High Time and Back In The USA)

Led Zeppelin (see Paginizer's post above)

There was great stuff that I listened to obsessively during this period, but not in the basic guitar-rock style, which, honestly, I think is fairly exhausted.

Eels "Beautiful Freak" - plenty I'm not crazy about here, but a fistful of classics.
Eels "Electro-Shock Blues" - as powerful and, ultimately, life-affirming as anything you're going to hear, for this period at least.
Fatboy Slim "Better Living Through Chemistry," "You've Come Along Way Baby," "Greatest Remixes" - not rock, per se, but certainly rock influenced. As fun as music gets.
And as miserable as music gets: Portishead, the band of the '90s (for me at least). Both their albums are classic, but the live, single version of "Sour Times" is a wrenching ballad as powerful as prime Otis Redding. Really. Play this band at night, loud, with lots of bass.

Breno reminds me how great Mercury Rev's Deserter's Songs is --- a top 100 album contender for me.

However, comparing 95-00 to 70-75 isn't even debatable (see mats84's post above for reference on some of the landmark LP's released around that time).

Nearly the whole Alternative/Punk Rock genre is predicated on that period. Most of everything released since then is an extension of that period.

I actually was listening to a lot of elec. guitar/bass/trap-drum bands during that period, but they were mostly from Africa! Soukous from the Congo, mbaqanga from South Africa - that stuff was smokin'. Which shows that the guitar band lineup still has potential. I just dont see any sign of a guitar breakthrough like the '80s scene you mentioned on the horizon, though...

I agree that right now guitar rock is more backwards looking than forward - the guitar bands that rescued the mainstream from teenpop - White Stripes, Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand - are all throwbacks to something earlier (of course, so were the 80s guitar bands who vanquished synthpop). If/when there is some sort of new direction or breakthrough, I think it would be from an unexpected source - heck - maybe from Africa.

i love that deserter's song soooo much

on that list, however, i see no will oldham or Gorky's

"not in the basic guitar-rock style, which, honestly, I think is fairly exhausted."

I see your point, but that declaration was made before, around 1982 or so, right before the Replacements, the Minutemen, Husker Du, REM, the Violent Femmes, the Paisley Underground bands, and um, Big Country (they were a good band, dammit) all showed up to kick synth-pop in the ass and (unfairly, actually) consign it to some sort of nostalgic novelty act. So it's a dangerous thing to count the guitar out, because that basic guitar/bass/drums line-up seems to have a way of reinventing itself to new relevance.

I agree that it's not right to compare 95-00 to 70-75 - somewhere in the dim misty past on this board (I think maybe in the "The Darkest Age" thread) I mounted a fairly spirited defense of 73-75, complete with the requisite geek list. I would go look for it now, but damn, I've already missed too much of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.



Post Edited (02-14-06 22:49)

Eels:
When Electro-shock came out, I though it was pretty good - new ground was covered. But I absolutely love Daisies of the Galaxy and prefer it to this day. Now it seems to be the overlooked (even for Souljacker) one.
What is in Electro-shock that's not in Daisies?
Goddamn right it's a beautiful day. Uh-huh.

re: 70-75
I was trying to make a list of favorites from that era and found a lot of influence but only a few LPs that I would bother to revisit:
VELVET UNDERGROUND - Loaded
ROLLING STONES - Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out
STOOGES - Fun House
LED ZEPPELIN – III
DAVID BOWIE – The Man Who Sold the World
GRATEFUL DEAD – American Beauty
ROLLING STONES - Sticky Fingers
LED ZEPPELIN – [symbols]
DAVID BOWIE – Hunky Dory
ROXY MUSIC - s/t
ROLLING STONES – Exile on Main Street
DAVID BOWIE - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
ROXY MUSIC - For Your Pleasure/Stranded
ROLLING STONES - Goat's Head Soup
STOOGES - Raw Power
PINK FLOYD - Dark Side of the Moon (barely)
LED ZEPPELIN - Houses of the Holy
ALICE COOPER - Billion Dollar Babies (fully)
BOWIE - Aladdin Sane
BOWIE - Diamond Dogs
ROLLING STONES - It's Only Rock and Roll
ROXY MUSIC – Country Life
ROXY MUSIC – Siren
PINK FLOYD - Wish You Were Here
LED ZEPPELIN - Physical Graffiti

So it's really just a few bands I like from that, my least favorite 'era'.

My favorites from the 1990's are a long list.

And, dang! Now it looks like I have to grok Deserter's Songs one more time. God knows I've tried (and I think it has some good tracks...). I know I liked Yerself is Steam when it was released (for a few listens anyway) but Boces just sounded like a retread. By the time DS came out I had a hard time getting it down - I keep thinking it's trite. It's up to Reno, I think, to guide my next foray through.



Post Edited (02-15-06 11:11)

Paganizer - All I can say in Deserters Songs defense is in my entry for it on this site. At the end of the day it all comes down to taste. People keep insisting that Spiderland by Slint is a classic and important album, and I just yawn when I try to listen to it. I also feel guilty that I have never been able to become a Forever Changes devotee. Tried many times, just can't quite get it.

Here's my list of stuff from 73-75 from the old post. Don't have the time to add 70-72 right at the moment.

Eno - Warm Jets, Tiger Mountain, Another Green World
Blue Oyster Cult - Secret Treaties
Patti Smith - Horses
10cc - First 3 albums
Can - Future Days, Babaluma
Sparks - Kimono My House, Propaganda, Indiscreet
Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure, Stranded, Country Life, Siren
David Bowie - Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs, Young Americans
Mott the Hoople - Mott, The Hoople
Ian Hunter - Ian Hunter
Roy Wood - Boulders
Slade - In Flame
Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
Neu - Neu 2, Neu 75
Faust - IV
Kraftwerk - Autobahn, Radio-Activity
Iggy & the Stooges - Raw Power
Paul McCartney - Band on the Run
Ringo Starr - Ringo
New York Dolls - First album
Genesis - Selling England, Lamb Lies Down
Suzi Quatro - First album
Lou Reed - Berlin
The Sweet - Desolation Blvd
John Cale - Paris 1919, Fear
Sensational Alex Harvey Band - The Impossible Dream
Brinsley Schwarz - New Favourites
Gram Parsons - Grievous Angel
Neil Young - Tonight's the Night
Michael Nesmith - Ranch Stash
Bob Marley - Burnin, Natty Dread
Toots and the Maytals - Funky Kingston
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Big Star - Radio City
Dunno what George Clinton was up to, but had to be good
Jimmy Castor Bunch - Troglodyte!!!!!!

How about a different direction altogether? (1995-2000)

Bonnie Prince Billy - I See a Darkness
Songs:Ohia - Lioness, Axxess and Ace
Belle & Sebastian - Tigermilk, Sinister
Hayden - closer i get
Jude - 430 N. Harper Ave.
Smog - Knock Knock, Supper
Ween - Chocolate and Cheese, Mollusk, white pepper
Soul Coughing - Ruby Vroom (1994)
Morphine - any and all
Sixteen Horsepower - Sackcloth and Ashes
Beth Orton - Central Reservation
Cat Power - What Would the Community Think?
Blind Melon - Nico, Soup
Dada - American Highway Flower (1994)
Kings of Convenience - s/t
Ill Lit - s/t
Spokane - Leisure
Faith No More - King for a Day Fool for a Lifetime

For 1970-75:

Hackamore Brick - One Kiss leads to Another
Aztec Two-Step - s/t
Crabby Appleton - s/t
Sugarloaf - Spaceship Earth
Manfred Mann's Earth Band - s/t
Clearlight - s/t
Ten Years After - Cricklewood Green
Michael White - Let the Music Flow
Mc5 - Back in the USA, High Time
Damnation of Adam Blessing - (first three)
Captain Beyond - s/t & Sufficiently Breathless
Demon Fuzz - S/t (killer!!! reissued)
Hawkwind - Hall of the Mountain King
Glitterhouse - S/t (cd reissued next week!!)
Brute Force - s/t (with Sonny Sharrock)
Can - Tago Mago, Future Days, Ege Bamyasi
Love - Four Sail, Forever Changes
Fairfield parlour - from home to home
Pentangle - s/t
Funkadelic - Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow
Leafhound - Growers of Mushroom
Aphrodite's child - 666
Lightshine - Feeling



it's utterly endless and breathtaking in some respects how much amazing music is out there.