| Author | Message | ||
     Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1028 Registered: 01-2005 |
One of my favorite years of the 1990's, especially when you consider that some of the albums released this year are high points in artists careers. 1. Stereolab - Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements 2. Slowdive - Souvlaki 3. Robert Forster - Calling From A Country Phone 4. Aimee Mann - Whatever 5. Blue Rodeo - Five Days In July 6. Belly - Star 7. Catherine Wheeel - Chrome 8. Saint Entienne - So Tough 9. PJ Harvey - Rid Of Me 10. Liz Phair - Exile In Guyville 11. Radiohead - Pablo Honey 12. Blur - Modern Life Is Rubbish 13. Afghan Wigs - Gentlemen 14. Bjork - Debut 15. 10,000 Maniacs - MTV Unplugged 16. Jane Siberry - When I Was A Boy 17. The Boo Radleys - Giant Steps 19. Cranes - Forever 20. Matthew Sweet - Altered Beast 21. The Breeders - Last Splash 22. Dinosaur Jr. - Where You Been 23. Grant McLennan - Fireboy 24. Nirvana - In Utero 25. Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians - Respect | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 993 Registered: 10-2004 |
Stereolab - Transient Random Noise Bursts Robert Forster - Calling From a Country Phone Martin Newell - Greatest Living Englishman Louis Philippe - Delta Kiss Unrest - Perfect Teeth Cocteau Twins - Four Calendar Cafe Saint Etienne - So Tough Ashtray Boy - Honeymoon Suite Nice - Apple Pie Divine Comedy - Liberation AMC - Mercury (their very best, imho) The Fall - Infotainment Scan Velocity Girl - Copacetic | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1102 Registered: 08-2006 |
This is good lunchtime fun. 1. Liz Phair - "Exile in Guyville" 2. Archers of Loaf - "Icky Mettle" 3. Nirvana - "In Utero" 4. PJ Harvey - "Rid of Me" 5. Etoile de Dakar - "Volume 1 - Absa Gueye" 6. Pet Shop Boys - "Very" 7. Afghan Whigs - "Gentlemen" 8. Loudon Wainwright III - "Career Moves" 9. PM Dawn - "The Bliss Album...?" 10. Jimmie Dale Gilmore - "Spinning Around the Sun" | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1030 Registered: 01-2005 |
Jeff wrote: > Velocity Girl - Copacetic I knew I missed one! It would slot it at #10 on my revised list, so it's adios Respect. Sorry Robyn! I never did pick up Four Calendar Cafe, as I stopped after Heaven or Las Vegas. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 994 Registered: 10-2004 |
Michael, Four Calendar Cafe is okay. Not great, but pretty good, and not worlds apart from Heaven or Las Vegas. If you really love the Cocteaus, it might be worth it if you can find it used, cheap. Otherwise, you could probably live a decent life without it. As for Robyn - is Respect the album with that "Radio" song? (Not sure if that's the title, but something about "Radio, channel intermittent storms..." in the lyrics). I always really dug that song *and* it's video, but have not heard the album. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1031 Registered: 01-2005 |
Jeff, Thanks for the Cocteau info. I have all the earlier albums on cd, but not 1993's Four Calendar Cafe. Oddly enough I have all the earlier Kate Bush albums, but not 1993's The Red Shoes! You are correct regarding Driving Aloud (Radio Storm) being on Respect. Also included is The Yip Song. I saw Robyn for the first time in February of 1992, and he graced the audience with The Yip Song for the first time ever in concert. I think it's his weakest album during the 1984-1999 period. A&M didn't exactly like it either and dropped him a year later. It didn't sell at all compared to Globe of Frogs, Queen Elvis or his best ever seller Perspex Island, and they didn't exactly push the marketing for it either. Grunge had taken over and Robyn was an afterthought to the powers that be at A&M. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1531 Registered: 03-2005 |
Alphabetical order: Ashtray Boy--Honeymoon Suite Bats--Silverbeet Fall--Infotainment Scan (half a really good album) Robert Forster--Country Phone David Gray--As the Century Ends (along with "Lost Songs" the reason for this guy to exist). Ed Kuepper--Serene Machine (2/3 a really good album) Grant McLennan--Fireboy (1/2 a really good album) Monochrome Set--Charade Stereolab--Space Age Batchelor Pad Music | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 327 Registered: 05-2005 |
1993 really sums up for me why the 1990's were crap. I have some of the albums mentioned but, invariably, they are my least favourite albums by that artist. A particular case in point is 4 Calendar cafe. I love the Cocteaus but 4 Calendar Cafe was very weak. I mean Liz was even singing proper lyrics!!!! Not on!!!! I haven't heard the remixed version of the last album that came after 4 Calendar, but the remixed single "Tishbite" (that appears on the eps/singles collection) was excellent, as were the b sides that rate with ANY period of classic Cocteaus. | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 371 Registered: 07-2006 |
i actually heard four calendar cafe for the first time a few weeks ago and found it much more plesant than i ever thought. not sure if i'm ready to make the purchase just yet. anyway, i thought 1993 was pretty sweet. psb - very suede - suede new order - republic (terribly underrated) the verve - a storm i heaven boo radleys - giant steps james - laid the breeders - last splash the the - dusk underworld - dubnobasswithmyheadman smashing pumpkins - siamese dream saint etienne - so tough u2 - zooropa (the only one i've ever enjoyed) blur - modern life is rubbish mazzy star - so tonight that i might see janet jackson - janet cranberries - everybody else is doing it the auteurs - new wave very fine indeed after thinking about it some! | ||
| Pat Boland Member Username: Pat_boland Post Number: 41 Registered: 05-2005 |
American Music Club - Mercury Frank Black Cracker - Kerosene Hat Robert Forster - Calling from a Country Phone Red House Painters - Down Colourful Hill The Revenants - Horse of a Different Colour Sugar - Beaster Matthew Sweet - Altered Beast Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne Loudon Wainwright III - Career Moves I take Geoff's point in relation to certain good artists producing their worst ever work - The House of Love, Lloyd Cole, Teenage Fanclub to name but a few - several great tunes not withstanding even Fireboy was something of a disappointment. | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 372 Registered: 07-2006 |
oh wow....i forgot souvlaki? was that 93 or 94? | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1032 Registered: 01-2005 |
Joe, Souvlaki was 1993! The double disc re-issue from a couple of years ago is sweet. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 2129 Registered: 05-2005 |
Save for Sugar and Robert, it was the year of the shit album cover art, people getting carried away with Apple macs and colour and crude electronic photographic filters...New Order's Republic, with the soft airbrushing one pic into another was just plain awful, OK it was Peter Saville, but that doesn't make it alright. Sugar -Beaster Matthew Sweet - Altered Beast Robert Forster - Calling from a Country Phone Blur - Modern life is rubbish Oporto - Actors Studio Jellyfish - Spilt Milk Porno for Pyros - Porno for Pyros (I loved Pets) Manic Street Preachers - Gold Against The Soul Momus - Timelord Grant Lee Buffalo - Fuzzy The Velvet Underground - Live MCMXCIII (Contrary to pupolar myth, I think these performances were brilliant, Sterling and Mo, stealing the show! Tindersticks - Tindersticks Belly - Star Pram - The Stars Are So Big Dave Graney - Night f the Wolverine Jazz Butcher - Waiting for the love bus Nick Cave - Live Seeds | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 373 Registered: 07-2006 |
i have the single disc one but with the bonus stuff on the end from the 5ep i think....missing you and country rain are great. i thought about adding gold against the soul too spence, but was kind of ashamed really. as an album it really doesn't measure up against either what proceded or followed it, but la tristessa and from despair to where are knockout singles! i liked james' bleached hair too. | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 780 Registered: 08-2004 |
1. Sabres Of Paradise - Sabresonic 2. Tindersticks - 1st 3. Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See 4. James - Laid 5. Sound Clash Republic - The Birth Of Shiva Shanti | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 998 Registered: 10-2004 |
Spence - I forgot to list Timelord. For me that's Momus' last good album. It's a really moody, kind of introspective album for him. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 2132 Registered: 05-2005 |
Jeff agree, it was his last great album. | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 374 Registered: 07-2006 |
you are right spence...dreadful album covers all round! even the pristine very and laid were let down there! | ||
| Dr Girlfriend Member Username: Doctor_girlfriend Post Number: 22 Registered: 10-2007 |
just rifled through my gramp's CD collection...turns out Grrls Ruled in '93! Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville PJ Harvey - Rid of Me Breeders - Last Splash Bettie Serveert - Palomine...or was this '92? Bjork - Debut Belly - Star Aimee Mann - Whatever Bikini Kill/Huggy Bear - Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Saint Etienne - So Tough Stereolab - Transient Random Noise Bursts Juliana Hatfield - Become What You Are Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See Yo La Tengo - Painful (Georgia sang a lot of it) | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1035 Registered: 01-2005 |
According to amazon.com: Bettie Serveert - Palomine Original Release Date: 1992 It received some votes in the 1992 Village Voice Pazz and Jop Poll as well. It also received some in 1993 however. It was included in my Best of 1992 list. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 2044 Registered: 05-2005 |
hmmm, not the way I remember it Dr G, your grandma might have better taste  cant say ive heard liz phair ok-ish, but not pjs best album patchy at best breeders stereotypical 4ad rubbish wailing rubbish poor mans throwing muses never heard it and dont plan to oh please bland twee retro ace evan d hanger on one good idea doesnt cut it over a whole album Hardly YLTs crowning glory here's mine Dr G so you can come back at me in no order Stereolab - Transient Random Noise Bursts Sugar -Beaster Matthew Sweet - Altered Beast Robert Forster - Calling from a Country Phone Fall- Infotainment Scan Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen Nirvana - In utero The Posies - Frosting On The Beater Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works '85 -' 92 | ||
| Dr Girlfriend Member Username: Doctor_girlfriend Post Number: 23 Registered: 10-2007 |
hmm, let's see agreed yeah, it's good not his best worst Go-betweens solo album? it's the Fall, what can you say? Dulli's a cock-rocker but at least he admits it Live Through This was better dunno it ok in small doses | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 1006 Registered: 10-2004 |
Worst Go-Betweens solo album? Try: the best by a country mile. | ||
| Dr Girlfriend Member Username: Doctor_girlfriend Post Number: 24 Registered: 10-2007 |
god, I hope his new one is better than that or it's going to be the disappointment of the year for me! but let's agree to disagree, opinions are like you-know-whats, blah blah blah... | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 1008 Registered: 10-2004 |
I just hope it's better than Warm Nights! For me, that's his nadir. | ||
| Dr Girlfriend Member Username: Doctor_girlfriend Post Number: 25 Registered: 10-2007 |
actually, Jeff, I was lying, just trying to get Kev's goat --you're right. Warm Nights is a lot worse. sorry to say it and it may make some people mad, but mostly Robert's albums were a bit half-arsed, as I think they say somewhere...I think he needed Grant there to help him finish the songs. hope he proves me wrong with the new one... | ||
| XY765 Member Username: Judge Post Number: 429 Registered: 01-2006 |
Is this the worst year of music in the past 20 years or so? Apart from Mazzy Starr I can't see any really good albums in there (and it's not their best album either), even though they may be the best of 93. I'm not even going to do a list sas I can't contribute anything of worth....and do people really think Country Phone was one of the best albums of that year?....maybe it was. Played my cassette copy once or twice I think and it has been gathering dust since...Same with GM's watershed, apart from a few good songs I think it's very bland MOR material, don't mean to offend anyone but that's what I feel to be honest. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 1010 Registered: 10-2004 |
oh yeah, by all means, Kev's goat is there for the getting. Honestly, I don't really think any of their solo work quite matches the Go-Betweens (though there are moments that come mighty close). I mean, I think some of us here agree that Grant and Robert did their best work together. And I also agree that Robert tended to need Grant (or someone!) to help him finish the songs, or make them more, I don't know.. interesting, melodically? It's like, in some of Robert's solo work I can hear holes where Grant's guitar parts should go. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 1011 Registered: 10-2004 |
Man, everyone's got it in for Country Phone today. That puppy's gettin' dissed. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1537 Registered: 03-2005 |
Wow. Interesting stuff while I was grinding away at work. I'm with Jeff about "Country Phone." I think it's a magnificent study in what Robert does really well. There are peculiar, challenging chord progressions that make brilliant sense once you've lived with them a bit. There are his efficient but inspired lyrics (except on "Beyond Their Law" where the lyrics just don't seem to live up to the music). There is his brilliant less-is-more vocal delivery. I probably like DITP better than Jeff does but I do find it to be intensely Bad Seeds-ish, which I do not think suits Robert or his songs. I've gone on that before so I won't again. Having finally heard the "Warm Nights" songs done live I now dislike the studio album even more than I did originally. WN was supposed to be Robert's ultimate statement on minimalism and E. Collins and crew didn't get the plot at all. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 2030 Registered: 05-2005 |
Calling is Robert's best solo album by several lengths. | ||
| Peter_d Member Username: Peter_d Post Number: 43 Registered: 05-2005 |
For me it's his best album purely on the grounds of 'guitar break!' in Drop | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1036 Registered: 01-2005 |
I'll join the Jeff and Randy brigade regarding Country Phone, although I used to think DITP was the best of the solo RF releases till last year or so. My sincere hope though is that it will be topped in a couple of months. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 328 Registered: 05-2005 |
I'm with XY765. Every time someone here raves about Country Phone, I go and put it on again. After all it was/is a Go Between. And every time I find it to be excruciatingly embarrassing - it makes my flesh creep! It's like an album made by some no-name who can't sing, can't write songs with memorable melodies, and self produced it at home on his ancient 2 track recorder...in his kitchen! If ever there were 2 songwriters who needed to bounce off each other to produce magic, it was Grant and Robert. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 329 Registered: 05-2005 |
...oh, and just to make everybody sick, the only album worth a mention for me in 1993 was Together Alone by Crowded House. There's crap on that too (no, not all of it!). I think the first song "Kare Kare" is the best. Atmospheric, Pacific and slightly psychedelic. The first line is the killer if you surf..."I was floating on a wave, when I made the drop"....YEAH! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 2036 Registered: 05-2005 |
Fireboy came out in December 1992 in Australia... Joe, dubnobasswithmyheadman came out in 1994... My list 1 The Posies - Frosting On The Beater. One of the greatest ever power pop albums. A classic. 2 Robert Forster - Calling From A Country Phone. His best solo album by country miles. 3 Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen. A dark rock masterpiece. 4 The Bats - Silverbeet. Another of the greatest ever power pop albums. As the band themselves say, this is what they sound like live. 5 Nirvana - In Utero. It's hard to listen to this and not think of Kurt Cobain's death a year later, wondering if the lyrics were all a cry for help. They probably were. 6 Sugar - Beaster. The dark side of the previous year's brilliant Copper Blue. I saw them play the middle four songs (of six) live in Dublin in 1993 and it was pretty awesome. 7 Tindersticks - Tindersticks. A fantastically strange, for the times, debut. I saw them live many times in subsequent years in Dublin and London. 8 Bjork - Debut. Another fantastically strange record. Four stonking classics - Human Behaviour, Venus As A Boy, One Day and Violently Happy - and the rest came close. 9 The Boo Radleys - Giant Steps. Their best album. From pop to dub it was all good and often great. 10 PJ Harvey - Rid Of Me. I didn't like it as much as Dry, but I still loved it. 11 Paul Weller - Wild Wood. The Jam were the first band I loved but it took me years to love this album. It was worth the wait. 12 Buffalo Tom - Big Red Letter Day. Not their classic but has several great, boisterous pop songs. 13 Dinosaur Jr - Where You Been. Out There is a beautiful tribute to J Mascis' father, Start Choppin' has a monumental riff. The rest didn't live up to these two opening tracks but were still pretty good. 14 The Lemonheads - Come On Feel The Lemonheads. At the time, for me anyway, it suffered in comparison to the almost perfect It's A Shame About Ray from the previous year. In retrospect this is a great pop album too. Some very dark lyrics in there too of course. 15 PJ Harvey - 4-Track Demos. As if Rid Of Me wasn't raw enough! Overall, 1993 was a year of very dark records. At least the ones I liked best were. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 1012 Registered: 10-2004 |
I never realized Country Phone was such a polarizing, "love it or hate it" record! Peter - I agree, that guitar break in "Drop" is stunning! For me, I'd go so far as to say that guitar break alone is cooler than every single note of DITP and WN. | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 375 Registered: 07-2006 |
you sure padraig...wiki pegs it at dec 93? they'd put out a lot of their 12"ers in 92-93 and my suspicion is that the whole thing was drawn out and all a bit anticlimactic by the time the album actually came out. see also suede which also hasn't rated particularly highly above. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 2045 Registered: 05-2005 |
one more confirmation for underworld being Dec '93,looks like you can include it joe http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg &sql=10:jifwxqwhldke | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 376 Registered: 07-2006 |
cheers kev...a f*cking amazing listen irrespectively! i get my kicks on channel six..... | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 784 Registered: 08-2004 |
Depeche Mode's Songs Of Faith & Devotion deserves a mention, surely! | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 141 Registered: 02-2007 |
American Caesar by Iggy is worth a listen, I think its 1993. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 1014 Registered: 10-2004 |
I have to say I'm a little surprised I'm the only person here to list anything by Unrest. Is it that people here don't like them, or haven't heard of them? | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1039 Registered: 01-2005 |
Canada's Blue Rodeo is also something that should be checked out. They are like the G-B's in that they have two great singer/songwriters who split the albums up pretty much equally. Five Days In July is their best album. I think they were better than the much acclaimed Uncle Tupelo which spawned Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 2038 Registered: 05-2005 |
I apologise Joe. Just checked my own copy. 1993 it is. | ||
| XY765 Member Username: Judge Post Number: 430 Registered: 01-2006 |
The Black Rider - Tom Waits |