2024 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge

February 13, 2025 by Clive in Clive's Album Challenge, Music

So, as I try to keep up with the present while writing about my favourite albums of every year from 1960, here’s my list of a whole bunch of albums from 2024. Over the past few months I’ve listened to all of Pitchfork’s ‘Best New Music’, the top 10-15 or so at rateyourmusic.com, Anthony Fantano’s top 10, and some other stuff, hence why this list is rather long. I also moved house, and welcomed my second son over the same period, so time has been very limited! On that note, there are no song picks for some of these albums, this is generally nothing to do with the albums, and everything to do with a lack of time while I was writing that particular review.

To save all your data plans and scrolling thumbs, I’ll only give the top 20 the honour of having their album art posted here. But anyway, let’s get going:

The ‘didn’t do it for me’ list
Before we get into the list, here’s a few that didn’t massively do it for me, and so despite their reception elsewhere haven’t made my list:

Empress Of : For Your Consideration - ‘One night stand - the album.’ And not a particularly memorable one.
Kali Malone: All life Alone - Creepy, a bit too churchy, dunno.
Still House Plants: If I Don't Make it I Love U: Very inventive, but sounds kind of like the vocals and instrumentation for two separate songs plonked together in a way that doesn't match up. It's deliberate, and no doubt difficult, but I just didn't enjoy it that much.
Vampire Weekend - God Was Above Us - I must have undergone some traumatic event while listening to the band’s vocals at some point, as somehow they just make me feel unpleasant. Unfair, but I couldn’t get into this.
Chief Keef - Almighty So 2 - Was all a bit much, probably my mood at the time...

And now, finally, onto the actual list. There’s 50 albums on it, so let’s get cracking.

50. JUS - 3rd Shift

Love the production and beats, but the lyrics are doing very little for me.

6/10

49. DORIS - Ultimate Love Songs

One of those 'song snippets' albums with songs never over a minute long. I like what it's doing and it's a fun listen, I'm just a little over the auto-tuned spoken style which seems very popular this year.

6/10

48. Yaya Bey - Ten Fold

Like a silky smooth luxury hot chocolate in the dim light of the small lamp in the corner. But, much like that comfortable blanket, it doesn’t leave much of a mark.

Song Picks: crying through my teeth

6.5/10

47. Starchris - Body Meat

I feel like it does some really interesting stuff as it approaches its end, but begins by just sounding like decent but unremarkable auto-tune-math pop.

Song Picks: Obu No Seirei

6.5/10

46. Schoolboy Q - Blue Lips

Schoolboy Q’s sixth album was one for the ‘very enjoyable’ pile. Just a solid rap album, with some filthy grinding bass.

6.5/10

45. Bladee - Cold Visions

Swedish rapper Bladee’s seventh album is essentially an album of those 16th note, half-time songs that usually make up a couple of tracks on your average rap album. In going in so hard on a very specific style you focus more on the intricacies: Bladee’s sad auto-tuned melodies, the atmosphere, the words. None of those quite do enough, and it’s a little too bloated for me to rate it more highly, but there’s some real gold in there.

Song Picks: FLATLINE, Terrible Excellence

6.5/10

44. Sumac - The Healer

Atmospheric, sparse, epic, downright filthy, but a bit roary for my tastes, if roaring metal music is your bag, I’d highly recommend.

Song Picks: World of Light

7/10

43. Jeff Barker & ETA IVtet - The Way Out of Easy

I have to say the repetitive, aggressive bass-line of the opening track got to me after a while, but other than that I really loved this hypnotic jazz album. It has a nice raw, band feel, and some great expressive playing.

7/10

42. The Smile - Wall of Eyes

It sounds luxurious, with innovative and compelling production, but it doesn’t massively go anywhere until the explosive Bending Hectic. It meanders beautifully, but - probably due to the amount of music I’m getting through for 2024 - I’m feeling the need for more focus.

Song Picks: Bending Hectic

7/10

41. Ulcerate - Cutting the Throat of God

ROOAARR. A thoroughly rollocking listen.

7/10

40. Nala Sinephro - Endlessness

Jazzy, pleasant, futuristic but with an eye to the past, much like her debut, but somehow less captivating.

7/10

39. The Cure - Songs of a Lost World

A slow, dramatic descent into apathy. A good comeback.

Song Picks: Alone, Endsong, And Nothing is Forever

7/10

38. Johnny Blue Skies - Passage du Desir

Just bloody good country folk. Nothing groundbreaking, but it does feature plenty of lead guitar noodling, which has gone somewhat out of fashion, but I very much welcomed.

7.5/10

37. Kim Gordon - The Collective

Kim Gordon’s second solo album is a distorted, industrial, shouted list of modern life where the bass is so high it’s shattering against the noise ceiling and fuzzing out across it. The Collective is that feeling of picking up a phone and being pissed off that you just spent 20 minutes taking in inane shite. It’s the realisation that tech is working against you, and it’ll exploit your psychology for ‘engagement’ - for your time is another man’s money. “Fuck you” you scream, in a manner reminiscent of the angrier passages on the album - but it’s a battle you’re doomed to loose.

Song Picks: BYE BYE, The Candy House, Psychadelic Orgasm

7.5/10

36. Kali Uchis - Orquideas

Uchis’ fourth album is an enjoyable, exciting and sumptuous sounding blend of Spanish and English, both in linguistic and musical terms. A refreshing stylistically free pop release that features a bunch of addictive hooks, but also keeps things interesting and colourful on the production front.

Song Picks: Me Pongo Loca, Heladito,

7.5/10

35. MJ Lendermann - Manning Fireworks

Great, catchy alt-country reminiscent of Spider Bags.

7.5/10

34. Los Campesinos - All Hell

It feels at times like they're trying a little too hard to be 'that band that uses football references in their songs', but it's another collection of addictive, catchy indie-rock tracks, with generally engaging lyrics more intelligent than most of their indie brethren.

7.5/10

33. Nilufer Yanya - My Method Actor

I loved her previous release, and I like the fuzzier, heavier development in her sound here (on the excellent Like I Say for example), which plays well with her more poppy vocals and production. One of the things I loved about her debut was the driving drum loops, and the latter half of this sophomore effort is a little lacking in that regard, which makes it lose some momentum. Still great, but not quite as impactful as her debut for me.

Sing Picks: Like I Say (I runaway), Method Actor, Binding

7.5/10

32. Being Dead - EELS

My favourite indie-pop record of the year. It just has a lovely vibe you know. Colourful instrumentation, nice melodies, and it doesn't get old on repeat listens.

Song Picks: Godzilla Rises,

8/10

31. Mount Eerie - Night Palace

I think you have to be in the mood to absorb an Everlum album, and I’ve not quite been in the headspace to properly absorb its bleak melancholy, but I have thoroughly appreciated the way he mixes more acoustic, quiet elements with heavier, more explosive ones. It sounds like a man honestly conveying a mental struggle both musically and lyrically, and I think that was the goal. One I’ll return to in future years and will no doubt love when it hits me at the right time.

8/10

30. Nicolas Jaar - Piedras 1 & 2

I don’t have time to translate the Spanish lyrics, which by all accounts make this a strong political statement. Read the excellent Pitchfork review for info on those. Musically it’s classic Jaar - we’ve got a mix of music and sound effects, combining to create soundscapes that are uniquely his. Piedras 1 has more of the catchy stuff on it, but the catchiness is deliberately obscured by haunting timbres, industrial drones and more. It’s like the melody is the heart and soul of Latin America, trying to shout through the endless drone of oppression from within and without. Or something like that.

8/10

29. Helado Negro - Phasor

Helado Negro’s 8th album is a beauty. Though not quite as memorable as 2019’s This is How You Smile, it provides a different flavour of the black ice cream that Roberto Carlos Lange has named his project after. A soothing, abstract album of soundscapes and flowery melodies sung in a gorgeous hush. It’s not necessarily one that will stick in the brain, but it is one that soothes the soul, and does so in a way that is consistently engaging and magical.

Song Picks: LFO, Colores del Mar, Flores, Wish You Could Be here

8/10

28. Charli XCX - Brat

I can’t say I’m much of a fan of Club Classics, but other than that this thing is just packed full of bangers, and at 42 minutes it feels the perfect length. Charli XCX’s hyper-pop is for the attention deficient and yet discerning - it’s immediate - but it’s also lasting thanks to it’s buried complexity. No mean feat - one of the year’s strongest pop releases.

Song Picks: 365, Sympathy is a knife, So I,

8/10

27. Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere

I'm always slightly wary before putting on a death metal release. 'Is this going to be another one I cast aside and feel like I can say very little about beyond the music being technically brilliant and intricate but there being too much roaring'.

Absolute Elsewhere is full of technical brilliance, and has a fair bit of roaring, but you know what? I do not feel like casting it aside. It blends the epicness of prog-rock and the strangely calm repetitiveness of krautrock, with the pulverising riffs and roaring of death metal - and it bloody works. Lyrically I can take it or leave it, although it's nice to have something a bit more futuristic sci-fi than about the orcs and monsters and blood and the devil that is common in the genre. From an instrumental enjoyment perspective, it's one of the best band albums of the year, no doubt, and many of the sections are simply sublime. It creates a hellish atmosphere, but it's a hell that I keep wanting to return to.

Song Picks: The Stargate - [Tablet 1] and [Tablet III]

8/10

26. 1010benja - Ten Total

Ten Total is just what you want from a debut, An unfiltered, expressive and somewhat raw collection of songs that displays 1010benja’s obvious talents. He flits around, but always sounds at home, and the album has some of the year’s best hooks on for sure. I’ve had Waterworks going round my head all day as a case in point, and I Can is one of those simple songs that goes straight for the feelies.

Song Picks: Waterworks, H2HAVEYOU, Mire, I Can

8/10

25. Mabe Fratti - Sentir Que No Sabes

The avant-garde cellist’s fourth album is a journey reminiscent of all those female musical pioneers such as Bjork, Laurie Anderson, PJ Harvey - that is to say it kicks ass. Sentir Que No Sabes sucks you in with its weird textures and mysterious vocals again and again. I feel like I’m walking in a new world, with someone whispering poetics to me from the old one.

Song Picks: Kravitz, Enfrente, Elastica II

8/10

24. Jack White - No Name

Bouncy guitar riffs, plenty of energy, and production that strikes the perfect balance between raw and polished for this 70s inspired sound.

Song Picks: Old Scratch Blues, Tonight (Was a Long Time Ago), Underground

8/10

23. Hovvdy - Hovvdy

Hovvdy’s self-titled sixth album is a treat. It reminds me of the John Mayer, Joshua Radin type stuff that was coming out in my teens, but it’s way less cookie-cutter. Full of catchy melodies and charm. Probably the album of the year that I’d recommend to more or less anyone.

Song Picks: Jean, Meant, Every Exchange

8/10

22. xaviersobased - Keep It Goin Xav

“What on earth is this? It sounds like 300 T-Pains competing with each other. Is this what the kids are making nowadays?”

“You know, there’s some interesting layering work going on here”

“Damn, I’m lost in an auto-tuned haze of smoke”

“Damn”

“Fresh”

8/10

21. Verraco - Breathe.... Godspeed EP

Relentlessly innovative. A splash of cold water to the face.

Song Picks Godspeed

8/10

20. You Won’t Go before You’re Supposed To

Knocked Loose

My favourite death metal album of the year. Is that because it’s the shortest, or because it features only a sprinkling of roaring? Probably a bit of both; 28 mins is the perfect length for me to listen to something as intense and frenetic as this. Angry, intricate, constantly winding, YWGBYST is a thrill ride you won’t want get off.

8.5/10

Pulverising riffs and a vocal anger that hits like a truck, but with an ability to play with dynamics beyond many of their peers. It’s a rollercoaster of mumbled, quiet to loud and crushing; something Loud Bark encapsulates particularly well - a transition which is done many times, but never gets old.

Song Picks: I Got Heaven, Loud Bark, Aching

8.5/10

A lovely, simple and pure expression of the joy of motherhood. I’m rather jealous that her child gets to listen to lullabies from those warm, comforting vocal chords.

Song Picks: Caroline

8.5/10

JPEG is back with another hyperactive, intense mix of energetic rap and the cut up riffs of some slightly disturbed AI Tom Morello. It doesn’t massively stick out from his previous albums, but it does feel like a slightly more mature, compact and consistent package. Definitely one of the albums I’ve flat-out enjoyed the most this year.

8.5/10

A pretty darn perfect pop record. Lovely melodies, constantly engaging production choices, and a kind of mystical vibe that makes sure it never gets old. Ram that disk right into my forehead.

8.5/10

15. Keeper of the Shepherd

Hannah Frances

Hannah Frances - Keeper of the Shepherd

I’m not sure if prog-folk is a genre, but if it is then this is it, surely. While we have none of the guitar solos or riffs of a King Crimson, we do have musical passages that change time signature - and instrumentation - on a dime. It never feels ostentatious though, just a natural turn of the river, or crack of a twig underfoot changing the road of one’s thoughts. Undoubtedly the star of the show are Hannah Frances’ vocals, which are sublime, giving everything she sings a level of weight akin to that of a cathedral. Whatever note she sings, it soars above the mix with a deserved confidence. In its 37 minutes, Keeper of the Shepherd transports you to somewhere wonderful, mysterious, and somehow familiar.

Song Picks: Bronwyn, Husk

8.5/10

The Youtube rapper’s album of leftover stuff that didn’t fit on previous albums and won’t fit on new ones is a surprisingly cohesive collection of shoegazey, distorted, blurry and grainy tracks that are both emotionally impactful and smart. One of my favourite albums to get lost in in 2024.

Song Picks: Guide Dog, Pretty Privilege, Dusctutter

8.5/10

I don’t think there’s any doubt left that Kathryn Crutchfield is one of the best songwriters living today, and Tiger’s Blood yet again proves that. Every song draws you in with how well it’s performed and paced, and Crutchfield’s melodies soar. Apparently there’s more storytelling on this album, in that some of these aren’t from her perspective as such. But you’d never know - she builds a feeling that feels completely genuine every time.

And if this isn’t one of the best lines of the year my name is Persephone: ‘You play the villain like the violin’.

Song picks: 3 Sisters, Right Back to It, Burns Out at Midnight, Crimes of the Heart

8.5/10

I’ve not followed the whole rap-beef with Drake so some of this is probably going over my head, but lyrically this is definitely less up my street than Kendrick’s earlier, more ambitious albums. That aside though, this is still one of the, if not the, most enjoyable hip-hop album I’ve heard this year. Kendrick’s flow, cadence, and lyricism is still in a class of its own, and when coupled with some impactful, accessible and yet interesting production - as well as lovely appearances from SZA - it makes for an album that is just a straight up cathartic and fun ride.

Song Picks: wacced out murals, reincarnated, luther

8.5/10

Arooj Aftab’s fourth album is dubbed as a combination of Pakistani folk music and be-bop jazz - and it’s stunning. Gentle rumbling basslines, twinkled jazz notes, vocals that sound like they’re coming from the gods, and so much atmosphere it’s almost impossible not to get completely sucked in. Night Reign sticks out as sounding refreshingly unique, while still being comfortable.

Song Picks: Aey Nehin, Last Night Reprise

8.5/10

10. The Past is Still Alive

Hurray for the Riff Raff

Hurray for the Riff Raff’s eighth album is just a fabulous testament to great songwriting. It strips things back to uncomplicated, country productions, with evocative, hummable melodies, and yet it does so in a way that is constantly immersive and entertaining, working just as well as an active listen as it does in the background. This is helped no end by Alynda Segarra’s gorgeous delivery, and colourful vocals. Full of great lines that stick with you (“Here's a silver spoon, so you can gouge out both your eyes”), The Past is Still Alive feels authentic; it’s not trying to appeal to everyone, but in not trying it somehow does.

Song Picks: Alibi, Buffalo,

8.5/10

I’ve never got into FJM before, but this one has me sold. The production is pretty bombastic, and there are some particularly great crescendos during the title track and the superb Screamland. Misty’s lyrics are some of the year’s best, and there’s a Dylan-esque feel to the way his vocals mix with the busy arrangements, particularly on the more driving tracks like She Cleans Up. I’d say it’s varied rather than particularly cohesive, but Misty’s wry lyrical style and his engaging and yet quite monotone delivery tie the whole thing together like one piece of wrapping paper holding together a few too many presents.

Song Picks: Mahashmashana, Screamland, She Cleans Up

8.5/10

**8. “NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD”**

Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Post-rock can be a bit of a one-trick pony at times, with emotional twinkling leading to humongous crescendos of fuzz and reverb all with a melancholy and yet hopeful drive. NO TITLE is different. It has those crescendos, but they’re achieved in a myriad of ways, and the mix of emotions evoked feels more complex. Despite its bleak inspiration, there’s that characteristic post-rock hope there, but it all feels a bit grittier, down to earth, and well, real. The hope feels earned, with a refreshing grime.

8.5/10

‘Hendrix of the desert’ Mdou Moctar is back in a glorious sandstorm of jagged riffs. His 2021 album Afrique Victime was one of my favourites that year and - would you believe it? - this is one of my favourites in 2024. There’s an energy and free-ness to his guitar playing that makes him one of the most interesting players I’ve come across in decades, and - even though I don’t understand the lyrics of course - the tracks have an optimistic power to them that transcends language. I think some of the slower songs show great melodic skill too, such as closer Modern Slaves.

SP: Sousoume Tamacheq, Funeral for Justice, Modern Slaves

9/10

A quite outrageous debut from the ex Black-Midi frontman. The 30 odd session musicians on this thing are absolute gold, playing as tight as a guitar string on even the most complex of arrangements. Influences from across the board, it’s a complex style of jazz-rock with more than a hint of Brazilian influence (no surprise that some of it was recorded in Sao Paolo). Greep’s vocals are dramatic, at times comedic and unhinged, and always engaging (while remaining just the right side of irritating). The vocals are those of a horny madman, and as Anthony Fantano notes; the rambunctious instrumentation makes it all feel a lot lighter than some of the slightly disturbing lyrics would otherwise.

Overall, this thing is just super engaging from start to finish, and completely unafraid to cross new boundaries. It’s nice to have something so instrumentally superb in an age where I think instrumental prowess has become somewhat out of vogue. Here it’s front and centre, and it’s glorious.

9/10

Cowboy Carter is absolutely glorious. Quite probably the year’s strongest vocal performance on a record, and songs rooted in what we know (country, pop, folk) while pumping those genres with new, tasteful ideas. Cowboy Carter sounds massive, and the covers (Blackbird, Jolene) caught me off guard initially - but the more you listen, the more they blend into this album’s classic but oh-so-modern tapestry. Beyonce is Queen - and can we please make sure all her albums have her riding a horse on the cover? I like this trend.

Song Picks: Texas Hold ‘Em, 16 Carriages, II Most Wanted

9/10

Brittany Howard’s second solo album What Now sounds like the entirety of the musical past has been thrown into a blender and then tastefully spread into our ears. Howard's vocals cut through the densest mixes, and keep an R&B influence threaded through everything. But around her things are constantly changing, with influences as far and wide as The Strokes and Curtis Mayfield. If an alien came to Earth and said, “what’s this music thing all about?” I’d give them this and that would pretty much sum it up. A cosmic, mountainous, varied record - all in a tight 38 minute run time.

9/10

UK producer and DJ Djrum’s Meaning’s Edge features quite probably the most interesting and immersive use of the stereo field I've ever heard, and as such I would highly recommend listening on headphones. Sounds are often accented not by volume or timbre, but by their place in the stereo space, something that is particularly evident on the opening track Codex, which is among my favourite tracks of 2024. The percussion, both melodic and rhythmic, flits around you like a musical, flutey version of the innards of a microchip. It’s an anxious fidgeter like me’s dream, every tic, bam, and bop satisfying another over-energetic synapse.

Meaning’s Edge sounds so confident and futuristic, it’s impossible to feel like we’re headed anywhere but a utopia listening to it. And that, in 2024, is quite something.

Song Picks: Codex, Frekm Pt. 2

9/10

Lenker’s sixth album is yet another masterstroke. Gorgeous, varied production that blends the rough with the smooth with aplomb. Lovely, evocative instrumental sections - such as the piano twinkling as the violin gives out a triumphant solo on Sadness is a Gift - melt like butter into Lenker’s warm melodies and personable vocals. Bright Future is a candle in a dark room, it’s cosy, it’s sad, and it slowly burns up any loneliness as fuel.

On a personal note, Anti-depressants are great, but sometimes they make it hard to cry when you need to, you know? Bright Future opened things up - a loving hand through the fog.

Song Picks: Sadness as a Gift, Free Treasure, Vampire Empire, Evol, Candleflame, Ruined

9.5/10

I don’t really like baths, but this albums makes me feel like what I imagine most people feel like during/after a bath. Pratt’s vocals are effortless, delicate, and perfect in such an understated way they’re a whole new level of soothing. Her melodies don’t demand attention - and she’s not one to insist on a standard verse-chorus structure. The songs here aren’t building to anything as such, but they don’t need to as every damn moment is so delicately beautiful that I can’t stop listening. Her nylon string strums are added to with some atmospheric production choices, but it still feels like she’s playing a very intimate gig in your head - every aspect of the songs massaging your brain in a way very little else does. It really is rather special. At less than half an hour, I kind of wish it was a little longer, but it’s brevity means what’s there feels even more precious.

Song Picks: Life Is, Better Hate, World on a String - ‘yeah, I’m just going through all the songs on the album aren’t I?’

9.5/10

1999 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge

September 27, 2024 by Clive in Clive's Album Challenge, Music

Welcome to 1999, the year I started primary school, the year war started in Kosovo after Yugoslavia's president Slobodan Milosevic clamped down on the province, massacring and deporting ethnic Albanians, the year Nelson Mandela stepped down, the year everyone freaked out about the Y2K bug, the year everyone partied like it was… well….

Our lovely rateyourmusic.com masses rated the following albums as the year’s top five:

#1 Sigur Rós - Ágætis byrjun
#2 Fiona Apple - When the Pawn
#3 Mos Def - Black on Both Sides
#4 Gustavo Cerati - Bocananda
#5 The Roots - Things Fall Apart

And I’ll add a bunch from further down the list:

#6 Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile
#7 Opeth - Still Life
#8 The Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I
#9 Built to Spill - Keep It Like a Secret
#10 American Football - American Football
#23 Tom Waits - Mule Variations
#27 Advantage Lucy - Fanfare

And from NPR’s best female albums of all time list, we’ll take Sleater-Kinney’s The Hot Rock.

Let’s finish of the 90s in style.

“Still Life is the fourth studio album by Swedish progressive metal band Opeth. In 2014, TeamRock put Still Life at #83 on their "Top 100 Greatest Prog Albums Of All Time" list with Jordan Griffin stating that it is "still regarded by many fans as a career high point, Still Life’s deft blend of beauty and brutality was lauded by metal and prog fans. Opeth’s first true classic.". Loudwire placed the album at #54 on their "Top 90 Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Albums of the 1990s" list commenting that Opeth closed out the 90s with their strongest album yet.In 2021, it was named one of the 20 best metal albums of 1999 by Metal Hammer magazine.” - Wikipedia

Still Life is a concept album, following the narrative of someone banished from their hometown due to a difference of faith. This is quite hard to pick up on amongst the unintelligible roars that Mikael Åkerfeldt’s vocals generally consist of. The album is a great mix of brutal riffs, and more delicate clean and intricate guitar sections (Benighted a fine example of this). Once again, it’s never going to be my favourite album due to the roaring and overly theatrical vocals, but I did thoroughly enjoy this, and I can see how influential it is.

Song Picks: Benighted

7/10

12. American Football

American Football

“American Football, also known retrospectively as LP1, is the debut studio album by the American emo band of the same name. American Football was positively received by critics and US college radio stations, but the band split up soon after its release. The album has since received further critical acclaim and attained cult status and is today considered one of the most important math rock and Midwest emo records of the 1990s.” - Wikipedia

‘Never Meant’ is a masterpiece, the next three tracks are superb, and then it kind of meanders to a nice warm finish, with nothing else being particularly memorable. I feel like it’s an album to get lost in, but it’s just never quite pulled me in enough for that to happen. At times sublime, always pretty, but occasionally a bit unexciting.

7.5/10

“The Hot Rock is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Sleater-Kinney. The Hot Rock marks a considerable change in the band's sound, veering into a more relaxed and gloomy direction than the raucous punk rock style of its predecessors. The lyrical themes of the album explore issues of failed relationships and personal uncertainty. The album received positive reviews from music critics, who praised the songwriting and the vocal and guitar interplay between band members Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein.” - Wikipedia

This is a really dynamic album, with more vocal range and complex instrumental arrangements. The great riffs are still there, but they’re now backed by more intricate beats from Janet Weiss, more varied songwriting in general, and great guitar interplay from Tucker and Brownstein. It all adds up to another kick ass album from the band, but one with a bit more pizzazz. It also feels like the entirety of 2000s indie’s riffs were probably based off the ones on this album in some way. I still don’t love the more bellowed vocals, I find them a bit monotone, but it’s a minor gripe.

Song Picks: Start Together, Burn Don’t Freeze, God is a Number

8/10

“Bocanada (Puff) is the second solo album by Argentine rock musician Gustavo Cerati. The album, an eclectic mix of neo-psychedelia and trip hop with a variety of styles, is considered by critics and fans as a highlight in Cerati's career and one of his best albums. His first album release after the breakup of Soda Stereo, Bocanada followed Cerati's time with the groups Plan V and Ocio, two bands oriented towards electronic music. Bocanada is mostly an electronic music album, with an art pop, trip hop, and neo-psychedelia sound, making a huge change of Cerati's classic pop rock sound and influences. Similar to other artists of trip hop scene like Massive Attack or Portishead, several songs use one or more samples.” - Wikipedia

Considered one of the most important influences in Latin rock, Bocanada is an album that ties together his rock background and contemporary electronic influences. Tracks like Puente are fairly straight rock numbers (though very good ones), while most tracks lean much more into the electronic side of things, clearly taking influence from the trip-hop scene, with simple, tunneling beats. Cerati’s vocals have an enticing huskiness to them, but they also sound like some lost genius from the 60s, his Beatles influences being obvious. The production and instrumental variation doesn’t always feel that cohesive, but the variety is exciting, and Cerati’s enticing melodies sung with the slight haziness of that glorious album art are the wonderful glue that holds it all together.

Song Picks: Rio Babel, Perdonar es Divíno, Paseo Inmoral

8.5/10

9. Keep It Like a Secret

Built to Spill

“Keep It Like a Secret is the fourth studio album released by American indie rock band Built to Spill. After feeling burned out from constructing the lengthy songs on his previous album, Perfect from Now On, Doug Martsch made a conscious decision to write shorter, more concise songs for Keep It Like a Secret.” - Wikipedia

Keep it Like a Secret is Built to Spill cut up into more bite-sized chunks. Martsch’s twisting riffs are still there, the vocals are still infectious, and the the jam element is still evident, even if it has been cut down significantly. Speaking of which, the final track, Broken Chairs, has a jam outro which is one of my favourite ways for an album to end. If Perfect from Now On was standard Weetabix, Keep it Like a Secret is those bite-sized ones with chocolate in. Just as nice, some might even prefer them, but they’re probably a tad less wholesome.

Song Picks: The Plan, Center of the Universe, Broken Chairs, Sidewalk, Else

8.5/10

“Mule Variations is the thirteenth studio album by American musician Tom Waits. It was Waits' first studio album in six years, following The Black Rider (1993). Mule Variations won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album and was nominated for Best Male Rock Performance for the track "Hold On". It has sold more than 500,000 copies worldwide. In 2012, the album was ranked number 416 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Upon its release, Mule Variations received widespread critical acclaim. AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine stated that "the album uses the ragged cacophony of Bone Machine as a starting point, and proceeds to bring in the songwriterly aspects of Rain Dogs, along with its affection for backstreet and backwoods blues, plus a hint of the beatnik qualities of Swordfish.” - Wikipedia

That bloke from AllMusic above pretty much sums it up. Mule Variations feels like a combination of everything that’s come before from Waits. It’s packed full of great songs; growling vocals; percussive, ramshackle production and a sense of sincerity. I think the fact it’s a Tom Waits melting pot means it lacks some of the distinct character that Waits’ albums from his famous trilogy had, but this is still the kind of album any songwriter would kill to write. I think you could also make a pretty strong argument that this features, as a whole, his best vocal performances on a single record. Basically, I can’t fault it other than by saying it’s not quite as good as Rain Dogs, but considering that’s now one of my favourite albums, that doesn’t mean much.

Song Picks: Hold On, Get Behind the Mule, Picture in a Frame, Georgia Lee, Filipino Box Spring Hog

9/10

7. Emergency & I

The Dismemberment Plan

“Emergency & I is the third studio album by American indie rock band the Dismemberment Plan. At its release, the album was met with critical acclaim, receiving praise for its instrumental performances and lyrics. Initially released on CD, Barsuk Records reissued Emergency & I in vinyl format for the first time on January 11, 2011 where it received further praise from critics and listeners, with many calling it a landmark indie rock album and the band's best release.” - Wikipedia

Emergency & I feels like a confluence of alt-rock, prog rock, emo and punk which then splits out again, influencing countless records well into the 2000s and 2010s. Although Morrison had aimed to make the album less wacky, it still has plenty of wackiness to it. It also has a refreshingly optimistic world view, something not all that common in this style of music. Apparently inspired by the birth of his sister's daughter, and the death of their father, Morrison was keen to get into more real life topics, but to address them in a less self-absorbed manner which is again, refreshing. Emergency & I gets crazier as it goes on, like a speeding car gaining a little too much confidence in the corners (and nearly crashing on Girl O’Clock in particular) finishing with a perfect mix of catchy choruses, bouncy riffs, restless time-signatures, and energetic. slightly unhinged vocals. It’s a ride.

Song Picks: Memory Machine, The City, Back and Forth, Girl O’Clock

9/10

“The Fragile is the third studio album by the American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released as a double album. Looking to depart from the distorted production of their previous album, The Downward Spiral, the album features elements of ambient and electronic music within a wide variety of genres. The album continues some of the lyrical themes from The Downward Spiral, including depression and drug abuse. The album notably contains more instrumental sections than their previous work, with some entire tracks being instrumentals. The Fragile is also one of the band's longest studio releases, clocking in at nearly 1 hour and 45 minutes long.

Upon release, critics applauded the album's ambition and composition, although some criticised its length and perceived lack of lyrical substance. However, in the years following its release, it has come to be regarded by many critics and listeners to be among the band's best work.” - Wikipedia

Pitchfork gave this a paltry 2.0 in 1999, and then an 8.7 in 2017, which I think is fine. Two different people reviewed it, which just re-emphasises (shock!) this is all subjective opinion, which, again, is fine. My subjective opinion is that this thing slaps. Maybe I’m mad, but this thing sounds very nu-metal to me. It’s 1 hour 44 of face-smashing riffs with simple melodies growled over the top through a very loud transistor radio. Trent Reznor essentially says it’s about the chaos of his existence when struggling with drug abuse and depression, but it sounds more like a cohesive statement than that makes out. As it’s final, simple and targeted chaos ends, I can just see Trent Reznor dropping his mic, exhausted that he’s let all his demons out. At the same time, he’s inadvertently rendered much of the heavier music that followed in the 2000s a bit redundant.

Song Picks: The Wretched, We’re In This Together, La Mer, Where Is Everybody, The Mark Has Been Made

9/10

“When the Pawn... is the second studio album by the American singer-songwriter Fiona Apple. In 2010, Spin named the album the 106th-greatest of the last 25 years, and Slant Magazine named it the 79th best album of the 1990s. The album received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Alternative Album. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked When the Pawn... at number 108 on its "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.” - Wikipedia

The album title, which is posted out below in full (yes, that’s all the title) is a response to an unflattering piece Spin wrote about her in 1997.

When the pawn hits the conflicts he thinks like a king
What he knows throws the blows when he goes to the fight
And he'll win the whole thing 'fore he enters the ring
There's no body to batter when your mind is your might
So when you go solo, you hold your own hand
And remember that depth is the greatest of heights
And if you know where you stand, then you know where to land
And if you fall it won't matter, cuz you'll know that you're right

When the Pawn... is an album that sounds unlike anything else, and yet features very accessible and mature songwriting. The production choices give space to Fiona’s deep vocals, and everything pulls in the same direction: just the right amount of embellishment and never over-dramatic. It is what it is. It feels like the musical equivalent of that hyper-realistic film about a slice of life that hits harder than the one with a million special-effects about the future of mankind. I’m not sure you’ll ever necessarily be singing along, but somehow - even though the songs are not particularly complex - it never loses its significant intrigue. It’s hard to describe - but you owe it to yourself to listen.

Song Picks: Limp, Paper Bag, Fast as You Can

It’s hard to find much about Advantage Lucy online, besides the fact that this is their debut album, and that they were initially called ‘Lucy van Pelt’ after the Peanuts character, but changed to their current name due to copyright concerns. I want to thank the rateyourmusic.com community for enlightening to me to this bundle of joy.

While it’s in no way ground-breaking it’s just so darn ‘nice’ that I have completely fallen in love with it. Much like reading the Peanuts comics that inspired their name, listening to their debut fills me with a nostalgic warmth, optimism, and the childhood innocence that the album’s cover portrays. The band’s melodies are happy, and just the right side of twee, with the instrumentation never being particularly attention grabbing and but always serving the song. Want a feeling of contentment? Get that gentle lighting on and put this on at a room filling volume. Sit back, maybe sketch some cartoon characters on a pad with a nice pencil, stare at the ceiling, whistle along, smile. Relish in the beauty that music, and the sheer amount of it us humans have made for each other, really is rather wonderful. I can see myself putting this one on regularly for as long as the world lets me.

Song Picks: Armond, Metro, So,

“Things Fall Apart is the fourth studio album by American hip hop band the Roots. Recording sessions for the album took place at Electric Lady during 1997 to 1998, coinciding with recording for other projects of the Soulquarians collective, including D'Angelo's Voodoo (2000), Erykah Badu's Mama's Gun (2000), and Common's Like Water for Chocolate (2000). According to Spin magazine, the album became a landmark moment for the Roots and the collective, as it "swelled the Roots clique into a movement-style posse." - Wikipedia

Thee album has been considered by music writers as the Roots' breakthrough album, earning praise from major publications and critics, while becoming the group's first record to sell over 500,000 copies. It includes the song "You Got Me", which won the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, while Things Fall Apart was also nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album of the same year, losing to Eminem for The Slim Shady LP. Rolling Stone called it a "top-flight record", while AllMusic cited it as "one of the cornerstone albums of alternative rap." The album takes its title from Chinua Achebe's novel of the same name.” - Wikipedia

The Roots are always known as a hip-hop ‘band’, and that’s definitely something that distinguishes them from many other hip-hop artists who are more apt to put together a bunch of samples than play instruments. But on Things Fall Apart, the Roots blend more into that more traditional hip-hop sound, with Questlove’s beats seemingly put through a food processor, while the bass lines wobble like something synthesised on Pro Tools, rather than played by the laid back maestro Hub, who sadly died in 2021. On the hit You Got Me (you’ll know it trust me) everything is so relaxed it’s impossible not to bop from side to side, lost in the groove as Black Thought raps in the pockets with the smooth flow of an angrier Nas. Questlove’s drums tap, tap, tap and skitter like the restless limbs of a being that is actually at its core very relaxed. Things Fall Apart is lyrically dense, but it’s the production that sets it apart. Questlove’s drum grooves are some of the best in hip hop, and the way they work with Hub’s chatty basslines has me hop-stepping on pretty much every track. They’re cut down to their essential elements, Questlove’s snare sounding almost like a clap, Hub’s bass so low it’s underground, the guitars and key stabs as precise as a laser. It’s perfect, and yet human.

Song Picks: You Got Me, Don’t See Us

9/10

“Black on Both Sides is the debut solo studio album by American rapper Yasiin Bey, then known as Mos Def. Released after his successful collaboration Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, Black on Both Sides emphasises live instrumentation and socially conscious lyrics. Black on Both Sides received universal acclaim from critics.” - Wikipedia

Black on Both Sides feels prophetic, not since Nas’ Illmatic have I listened to hip-hop so buttery smooth and clever. The beats are laid back, the vocals more creamy than tart, and the lyrics deft and intelligent - written by a man who seems to see everything from a bird’s eye view. In an era of gangsta-rap and egotistical, self-interested rap (not that there’s anything wrong with those), it’s refreshing to have something like Black on Both Sides, which says it like it is. It being more or less everything - doing so in a manner that is pretty much irresistible, with beats that got me boppin’ like it’s 1994.

Song Picks: Hip Hop, Love, Speed Law, Rock ‘n’ Roll

9.5/10

“Ágætis byrjun (A good beginning) is the second studio album by Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós, Ágætis byrjun represented a substantial departure from the band's previous album Von, with that album's extended ambient soundscapes replaced by Jónsi Birgisson's cello-bowed guitar work and orchestration, using a double string octet amongst other chamber elements.”

Ágætis byrjun was a commercial and critical breakthrough for the band. It won numerous awards, and has appeared on multiple critics' lists of the best albums of the 2000s.” - Wikipedia

Ágætis byrjun sounds otherworldly. Birgisson playing the guitar with a cello-bow is probably the most famous aspect of Sigur Rós‘ sound, but it’s his falsetto singing and the general atmosphere they create that really pulls them apart. He hits some frankly daft notes, and his falsetto vocals give the whole thing an angelic, ethereal feel, but without the religious connotations that come with that. It’s one of those albums that changes the hue of the world when you put it on, but also seems to make everything float. It’s an anti-gravity album, a spiritual journey for those of no religion. I don’t believe in god, nor do I feel there’s any grand meaning to our existence beyond the one we give it and the effect we have on those around us, but I can listen to this and feel aconnection with everything around me. Not necessarily in a euphoric way, but just that, a connection. It feels like a reminder that everything and everyone is a minuscule cog in a ginormous, random machine. And I’ve always found that pretty glorious. It sounds like nothing else, it’s its own thing, a glorious, emotive gift.

I’ve said this before of other albums, but this feels like another where the word ‘magical’ feels completely appropriate.

Song Picks: Svefn-G-Englar, Staralfur, Flugufrelsarinn

9.5/10

1998 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge

August 14, 2024 by Clive in Clive's Album Challenge, Music

Here we are in 1998, the the penultimate year of the 90s. Besides containing France 98, the first World Cup I can remember, it’s also the year that: the Kosovo War broke out, the Good Friday Accord was reached in Northern Ireland, members of the EU agreed on a single currency, and President Clinton got himself into bother with that whole affair scandal. Also, the Game Boy Color was released (it pains me to write colour like that).

But onto the music. Here’s a list of what rateyourmusic.com users think were the top five albums of the year:

#1 Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
#2 OutKast - Aquemini
#3 Massive Attack - Mezzanine
#4 Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
#5 Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

And I’ll grab this lot from further down:
#6 Duster - Stratosphere
#7 Elliott Smith - XO
#8 Gang Starr - Moment of Truth
#16 Refused - The Shape of punk to Come
#18 Silver Jews - American Water
#21 PJ Harvey - Is This Desire?

And from NPR’s best female albums of all time list, a couple are already represented above, but I’ll also grab Tori Amos - From the Choirgirl Hotel, and Cat Power - Moon Pix.

Let’s go

“From the Choirgirl Hotel is the fourth studio album by American musician Tori Amos. In contrast with the sparse, minimalist sound of Amos's previous albums, From the Choirgirl Hotel features a greater emphasis on full band arrangements. Additionally, the album sees Amos integrate elements of electronica, trip hop, and dance music.

From the Choirgirl Hotel was commercially and critically successful. It peaked at number 5 in the US, becoming Amos's second straight top ten album in her home country, and reached number 6 in the UK. "Spark", the album's lead single, reached number 49 on the Billboard Hot 100, her highest position on the chart.” - Wikipedia

From the Choirgirl Hotel’s productions are packed to the rafters, but the song writing at its core isn’t as consistent or interesting as her previous records we’ve had on this challenge. There are undoubted bright spots like the masterful Jackie’s Strength, which brilliantly conveys an empathy with Jackie Kennedy following her husband’s brutal assassination. It’s haunting, perfectly performed, and sticks with you more than any of the other tracks. The opener Spark is another highlight, with Amos’ ghostly vocal, conveying another fantastic chorus as Amos’ sings of her denial of a recent miscarriage ‘you say you don’t want it, again and again, but you don’t really mean it’ as the piano cries along. There are other strong moments, Cruel and liee for example, and the high moments really are high, but there’s a few too many tracks that don’t do much for me, blending into the background and meaning I can’t quite call the album great - only good.

Song Picks Spark, Jackie’s Strength, Cruel

6.5/10

“XO is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith and Smith's first solo album on a major record label. XO was well received by critics upon its release. Mark Richardson of Pitchfork wrote, "Smith's songwriting continues to improve, as each of [the album's] fourteen tracks displays his inarguable mastery of the pop song structure more clearly than ever." - Wikipedia

Another great indie-pop album from Smith, who continues to up the production around his efficient songwriting. Smith knows how to craft effective pop-songs, and the productions tastefully add to his knack for evocative melodies. There’s also enough variation in the instrumentation to take it well above the average ‘singer songwriter with a band’ album, and though it loses some its intimacy when compared to earlier, less busy recordings, there’s still plenty of space, and the instrumental melodies play well with Smith’s. It’s one of those albums that pretty much anyone can enjoy; doing what it does with a seasoned maturity, while never being particularly challenging.

Song Picks: Bled White; Waltz, No. 2; Baby Britain

8/10

“Stratosphere is the debut studio album by American slowcore band Duster. In the years following its release, Stratosphere developed a cult following among online message boards.The album has since been cited as an influence on artists and bands such as Ricky Eat Acid, Peaer, Girlpool, Hovvdy, Ovlov, and Alex G.” - Wikipedia

It all unfolds at a tempo reminiscent of someone who woke up 5 minutes ago, and grabbed the guitar by their bedside. The fuzzy strums, the barely audible mumbles, the lazy melodies. It’s impossible not to be lulled into its relaxing and gently evocative mood within the first few songs, and I always find myself doing everything just that little more slowly and presently for many hours after its final notes.

Song Picks: Topical Solution, Heading for the Door, Gold Dust, Stratosphere

8/10

“Moon Pix is the fourth album by Cat Power, the stage name and eponymous band of American singer-songwriter, Chan Marshall. Much of the album was written in a single night, following a hallucinatory nightmare Marshall experienced while staying at a farmhouse in South Carolina. Prior to that, Marshall had intended to retire from music. Released to modest acclaim, the album has since been described as Cat Power's "magnum opus" and "one of the Nineties great singer/songwriter triumphs." In 2022, it was ranked at number 66 in Pitchfork's "The 150 Best Albums of the 1990s" list.

Marshall woke from her nightmare, and daren’t fall back to sleep, so she went into another room of the barn she was staying in, and played her guitar to a tape-recorder for 60 minutes. Or so the story goes. Though the recordings here aren’t the ones from that tape recorder but more professionally produced ones, the integrity of the originals seems to have been kept. These arrangements are incredibly sparse - often involving a slowly picked guitar changing between two chords for the duration. When Mick Turner and Jim White join in on bass and drums on tracks like Moonshiner - it’s done in a way that gently seasons Marshall’s central guitar and vocals, rather than overdoing it. Moon Pix sounds like we’ve stumbled into that barn, and Marshall is singing to herself - oblivious to our presence. It’s an album that sounds like dark nights I’ve spent unburdening my own soul to the sound of my guitar, just a whole lot better.

Song Picks: Moonshiner, American Flag, Colour and the Kids

8.5/10

“Mezzanine is the third studio album by English electronic music group Massive Attack. For the album, the group began to explore a darker aesthetic, and focused on a more atmospheric style influenced by British post-punk, industrial music, hip hop and dub music. Mezzanine topped the charts in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand, becoming the group's most commercially successful album to date. It has appeared on multiple "best albums" lists, and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of the 1990s.” - Wikipedia

I’m not sure there’s a more low-key iconic start to an album than the bass rumble and taps that open Angel. Mezzanine is a walk down a corridor in the future, from the known to the unknown. You’ve been sent by the world, to save the world. You’re probably carrying an array of futuristic laser weaponry, and you’ve no idea what awaits, at some point - around when the sublime vocal on Teardrop comes in, everything disintegrates and you’re just floating through nothingness. And it’s glorious.

Seriously though, Mezzanine is a dark, brooding, unforgettable album; a perfect example of how an album can be a mood piece, while still containing tracks that are iconic in their own right.

Song Picks: Angel, Teardrop, Mezzanine

8.5/10

“Is This Desire? is the fourth studio album by English musician PJ Harvey. It marked a move away from Harvey's earlier guitar-driven rock style into subtler, quieter, atmospheric soundscapes and mood pieces based around keyboards, bass and electronics.” - Wikipedia

I’ve read some criticism of Flood’s production on this, but I disagree. It’s heavily compressed and electronic sounding, but I think that blends really well with Harvey’s vocals on this one, creating a stark and somewhat industrial atmosphere underneath her very un-industrial vocals. It’s all wonderfully bleak, and there’s a slight Radiohead feel to it - if less complex. It’s the tracks where Flood’s production choices are perhaps the most extreme that I like the best. For example, on My Beautiful Leah, where Flood distorts the bass to within an inch of its life, so its left struggling to splutter out the death march it plays. On A Perfect Day Elise, where the heavier-than-lead riff both manages to sound like its coming out of a tin can and stratospheric at the same time. When Harvey sings the song’s perfect chorus the whole thing sounds utterly humongous, setting us up wonderfully for her going full Nick Cave on the comparatively gentle, Catherine and Electric Light. On perhaps the album’s most maligned track, Joy, the lead instrument is so crushed it’s hard to tell what it is. Distorted bass? Guitar? Piano? Who cares? Whatever it is I think it sounds glorious - marching along as Harvey howls above it creating a tapestry that sounds like liquid catharsis. I think Is this Desire? is yet another glorious album from one of the most consistent artists of the decade.

Song Picks: A Perfect Day Elise, Joy, My Beautiful Leah

9/10

“The Shape of Punk to Come: A Chimerical Bombination in 12 Bursts, often shortened to The Shape of Punk to Come, is the third album by Swedish hardcore punk band Refused. Although Refused broke up only months after the album's release, The Shape of Punk to Come has since found an audience for the band and largely contributed to their posthumous fame, as well as inspiring many later artists in a wide range of genres. Kerrang! magazine listed The Shape of Punk to Come at #13 on their 50 Most Influential Albums of All Time list in 2003.

This album marked a sharp and conscious departure from Refused's earlier work. The philosophy of the album was that punk and hardcore music could not be anti-establishment by continuing to package revolutionary lyrics in sounds which had been increasingly co-opted into the mainstream. The sound of the record challenged existing punk sensibilities.” - Wikipedia

The Shape of Punk to Come was as prophetic as its title suggested, influencing many of the hardcore punk bands we still see today, so much so that it still sounds fresh in 2024. Swirling from riff to riff as Lyxzén sounds like he’s ripping his throat out, TSoPtC is notable for its abandoning of the ‘3 chords and the truth’ approach that many earlier punk bands took, instead crafting songs with great rhythmic complexity, aided by Sandström’s great, off-beat but clockwork, drumming which makes those riffs hit harder when he sets into a standard 4/4 groove (see the brilliant Refused are Fucking Dead). The Shape of Punk to Come keeps you on your toes, focusing as much on innovative musical parts as anti-establishment lyrics. in an album that contains a whole heap of the decade’s most bouncy and crushing riffs.

Song Picks: Refused are Fucking Dead, New Noise, Summerholidays vs Punkroutine

9/10

“Moment of Truth is the fifth studio album by American hip hop duo Gang Starr. It is widely regarded as Gang Starr's magnum opus, and one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time.” - Wikipedia

In a year where we have two hip-hop albums teetering close to the 80 minute mark they both somehow don’t overstay their welcome. Moment of Truth is relentlessly smooth, and the beats remind me of Nas’ Illmatic (the highest compliment that can be paid to a hip-hop album) in the way they put a pep in my step whenever I put the album on. DJ Premier’s productions are not as varied, or indeed as interesting as Outkast’s in the other lengthy hip-hop release this year, but they are so infectious it barely matters. Blend this with Guru’s (and his guests’) gliding vocals, and the album provides one of the chillest, most enjoyable hip-hop albums I’ve ever experienced. The title track deserves a particular shoutout for being absolutely heavenly.

Song Picks: Work, Above the Clouds, Moment of Truth, B.I. vs Friendship

9/10

“Aquemini is the third studio album by the American hip hop duo Outkast. The title is a portmanteau of the two performers' Zodiac signs: Aquarius (Big Boi) and Gemini (André 3000), which is indicative of the album's recurring theme of the differing personalities of the two members. Aquemini expands on the previous record's outer space-inspired compositions by incorporating live instrumentation and drawing on 1970s funk, southern soul, gospel, country, psychedelic rock, and other influences.

Aquemini has gone on to be considered one of the greatest hip hop albums ever made, as well as one of the greatest albums of all time. In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked the album number 500 on its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". In a 2020 updated list, it was moved up to number 49.” - Wikipedia

An endless rotation of session musicians helps to create one of the most musically interesting hip-hop albums ever created. That spacey sound on Da Art of Storytelling’ (Pt.1), the funky strummed guitar on the infectious Rosa Parks, I could list all the interesting instrumental touches here that add to the album’s rich tapestry, but we’d be here all day. Safe to say pretty much every song sucks you in with a fresh sound. The rapping ain’t bad either - bouncy flows, energy, diverse topics - but it’s the superlative beats that elevate the album to greatness.

Song Picks: Return of the “G”, Rosa Parks, Skew it on the Bar-B, Synthesizer, Da Art of Storytellin’ (Pt. 1), Liberation

9/10

4. Music Has the Right to Children

Boards of Canada

“Music Has the Right to Children is the debut studio album by Scottish electronic music duo Boards of Canada. The album continued their distinctive style of electronica, featuring vintage synthesisers, degraded analogue production, found sounds and samples, and hip hop-inspired rhythms that had been featured on their first two EPs. The album received critical acclaim upon its release, and has since been acknowledged as a landmark work in electronic music, going on to inspire a variety of subsequent artists. It has been included on various best-ever lists by publications such as Pitchfork and Mojo.” - Wikipedia

As this Pitchfork review so eloquently says, nothing on Music Has the Right to Children is completely new, but the way it’s all combined is. The sound palette is cohesive, they’re not introducing 33 new sounds every track like many electronic albums, and yet the creativity within this palette is immense. The delicate layers of Sixtyten and An Eagle in Your Mind are great examples of the way Boards of Canada know exactly how to fill the gaps, and which gaps to leave, whether that be in time or in the frequency spectrum. The way that bouncy bass, sandy snare, and conga like rat-a-tat-tat play off each other on Sixtyten is nothing short of majestic, and magical moments like that are spread throughout the album, and interspersed with textures so lush the whole thing feels like the musical equivalent of rolling around in the finest silk bedding. Music Has the Right... is one of those albums that it’s very difficult to find any fault with, it’s the most intricately woven journey, and yet one that has a seductive simplicity.

Song Picks: Bocuma, An Eagle In Your Mind, Rue the Whirl, Aquarius, Pete Standing Alone

9.5/10

3. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill

“The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is the debut solo studio album by American rapper and singer Lauryn Hill. Recorded after the Fugees embarked on a hiatus, the album was almost entirely written and produced by Hill. It is a concept album about learning love, with lyrical themes encompassing relationship complexities, interpersonal conflicts, motherhood, and faith. Predominantly a neo soul and R&B record, it incorporates genres such as hip hop, reggae, and soul.

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was met with unanimous critical acclaim and became one of the most acclaimed albums of 1998, with most praise directed towards Hill's presentation of a woman's view on life and love, and her artistic range. A substantial commercial success, the album debuted atop the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 422,000 copies, largest for a female artist at the time. At the 41st Annual Grammy Awards (1999), it won Album of the Year and Best R&B Album, while Hill broke records for most nominations and wins in a single ceremony for a woman. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is among the best-selling albums of all time. Despite its immense success and achievements, it remains Hill's sole studio album.” - Wikipedia

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is the perfect example of that late 90s pop-sound. Hill’s vocals are consistently superb, and show a range both melodically and stylistically that many of her contemporaries could only wish for. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill has the soul and personality that many other 90s pop seemed to lack, as a kind of clean sound was seemingly prioritised above all else, and the genre became increasingly formulaic (I’m looking at you Steps, All-Saints and S-Club 7). It’s not that the production isn’t clean here, it is, but it’s also interesting, layered and rich. You’re continuously kept on your toes, both because things slide effortlessly between influences (see unexpected reggae number Forgive them Father), but also because the infectious energy demands you get off your heels and bop-around. I’ve not heard many people drop the Stevie Wonder comparison, but I think it feels apt here, with the added dimension that Hill can rap with attitude. Basically, she’s very, very good.

Song Picks: Lost Ones, Forgive them Father, Every Ghetto, Every City; Everything is Everything

9.5/10

“American Water is the third studio album by indie rock group Silver Jews. Berman was struggling with drug addiction during the recording of the album. Lyrically, this is expressed in a sense of solidarity with the downtrodden. He described the album's sessions saying "I was taking a lot of drugs at that time. And there were a lot of drugs in the studio. And all these things that would have horrified indie rock people, that I would never want them to know. I wanted to make a record that wasn't some terrible, big, painful experience. I wanted to make records like other people make records, where you're having fun when you're doing it." - Wikipedia

Berman was apparently somewhat of an obsessive when it came to his lyrics, rewriting and crafting them endlessly until he was happy with them. In some ways it shows, this album is lyrically superb, but in other ways they seem more spontaneous than that makes them seem. There are endless lines on this album that I adore, and the almost spoken, and yet still melodic way that Berman delivers aids in their poetry.

Here’s a few:

“In 1984, I was hospitalized for approaching perfection/Slowing screwing my way across Europe, they had to make a correction.”

“I see you gracefully swimming with the country club women
In the Greenwood South Side Society Pool.
I love your amethyst eyes and your Protestant thighs.
You’re a shimmering socialite jewel.”

“Broken and smoking where the infrared deer plunge in the digital snake.
I tell you, they make it so you can’t shake hands
When they make your hands shake.”

“Is the problem that we can’t see, or is it that the problem is beautiful to me?”

“My ski vest has buttons like convenience store mirrors
and they help me see, that everything in this room right now is a part of me.”

“We’ve been raised on replicas. Fake and winding roads. and day after day upon this beautiful stage. We’ve been playing tambourine for minimum wage. But we are real.”

Ok that’s enough. But it’s not just Berman’s lyrics and his delivery, it’s the instrumentation too, which rather perfectly matches their tone while simultaneously making some songs catchy when they really have no right to be. American Water is so laid back, it literally demands no attention, and yet you can’t help but give it your full attention because it’s that good. It’s that kid in the corner who says nothing, and yet you just know they’re the most interesting person in the room.

Song Picks: Random Rules, Smith and Jones Forever, Night Society, Federal Dust

9.5

1. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Neutral Milk Hotel

“In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is the second and final studio album by the American band Neutral Milk Hotel. The album is predominantly indie rock and psychedelic folk and is characterized by an intentionally low-quality sound. Traditional indie rock instruments like the guitar and drums are paired with less conventional instruments like the singing saw and uilleann pipes. The lyrics are surrealistic and opaque, exploring themes that range from nostalgia to love. An important influence for the album was The Diary of a Young Girl, a book of writings from the diary of Anne Frank.

Contemporary reviews were moderately positive; over time, however, the album developed a cult following. This negatively affected Mangum, whose mental health began to deteriorate; as a result, he withdrew from touring, and Neutral Milk Hotel went on hiatus shortly after. In the years since its release, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea has been described by music journalists as both a landmark album for indie rock and as one of the best albums of the 1990s and its critical standing has risen considerably.” - Wikipedia

Absolutely one of the best albums of the decade, Mangum’s vocals are consistently sublime, carrying emotional melodies while seemingly showing very little restraint - every song is sung as if it’s his last. The production is deliberately rough and over-compressed - leading to an iconic acoustic guitar sound in particular - but I wouldn’t call it lo-fi necessarily. What it does really well is keep the emphasis on Mangum’s vocals, almost sounding like a (very good and raucous) AI band following him as he expresses himself spontaneously. I’ve already gone on about Mangum’s vocals, but I need to go on about them some more; his lyrics are ‘opaque’ as Wikipedia notes, but they’re also friggin’ beautiful. Every listen I notice another line and go ‘now that’s a line and a half’. I don’t use this word often, but I think this album is vocally, both lyrically and performance-wise, perfect. I find both the expression and words riveting on every listen. Mangum makes tracks like Two-Headed-Boy sound bigger than the most intense Hans Zimmer score, using only a very harshly played acoustic guitar and his voice. He’s a magician, and this is his prestige. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is sprawling and fuzzy enough for anyone to relate to, and I think it’s one of those masterpieces that will mean so many different things to so many people. To me it’s just a gorgeous and confident expression of being, and what can be more beautiful than that?

Song Picks: King of Carrot Flowers Pt1 & 2, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Two-Headed Boy

10/10

1997 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge

July 08, 2024 by Clive in Clive's Album Challenge, Music

1997, the year I turned 10, Titanic was released and became the highest grossing movie in history at the time, the first Harry Potter book was released and the sovereignty of Hong Kong was passed from the UK to the People’s Republic of China, and perhaps most famously here in the UK, Princess Diana died.

Here’s the top rated albums of the year by the music nerds over at rateyourmusic.com:

#1 Radiohead - OK Computer
#2 Bjork - Homogenic
#3 Godspeed You Black Emperor! - F#A#
#4 Elliot Smith - Either / Or
#5 Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West

And some from further down the list:

#6 Built to Spill - Perfect from Now On
#7 Fishmans - Uchū Nippon Setagaya
#8 Stereolab - Dots and Loops
#9 Janet Jackson - The Velvet Rope
#10 Ween - The Mollusk
#13 Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One

And a couple more albums by women from NPR’s list.

Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out
Erykah Badu - Baduizm

Let’s go.

“The Mollusk is the sixth studio album by American rock band Ween. It is a multi-genre concept album with a dark nautical theme, with most songs incorporating elements from psychedelia and/or sea shanties, while also featuring a heavy progressive rock influence.” - Wikipedia

I really liked this on first listen, it reminded me of a what a whole album of ‘I am the Walrus’ era Ringo Starr might have sounded like. But on subsequent listens it just felt like too much, and I very quickly burnt out on it. A shame.

6/10

“Uchū Nippon Setagaya (Japanese: 宇宙日本世田谷) is the seventh and final studio album by Japanese dream pop band Fishmans. The album's title roughly translates to Space, Japan, Setagaya. After signing a deal with Polydor Records for a three-album deal, Fishmans put out Kuchu Camp and Long Season (both 1996). The band returned to their studio, Waikiki Beach, to record a third album, but the band was plagued with internal struggle. Frontman Shinji Sato would often come to rehearsals with nearly-complete home demo recordings, which alienated the other members of the band. This would be the band's last studio album before initially disbanding, but was followed up by two live albums, 8月の現状 (1998), and 98.12.28 男達の別れ (1999). Sato died from lifelong heart conditions three months after the recording of the latter.” - Wikipedia

This is all very lovely and I particularly like the continuously melodic bass-work which has an almost dub feel to it. However, it just isn’t as compelling as their previous effort Long Seasons in my view. It feels safer and cosier, but in a way that makes it more background music for me than something I’m going to get really lost in.

Song Picks: Pokka Pokka, Weather Report

7/10

“Either/Or is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. Book-ended by its two singles, "Speed Trials" and "Ballad of Big Nothing", Either/Or did not chart in the US, but was acclaimed by critics.” - Wikipedia

Smith’s songwriting prowess is evident here, but I’m just not getting into it as much as I have his self-titled album, maybe it sounds a bit too glossy? Dunno. It’s in the ‘thoroughly pleasant’ rather than ‘wow’ camp for me, but I know I’m an outlier.

Song Picks: Rose Parade, Say Yes

7/10

“The Velvet Rope is the sixth studio album by American singer Janet Jackson. Prior to its release, she renegotiated her contract with Virgin for US$80 million, marking this as the largest recording contract in history at that time. Upon experiencing an emotional breakdown, Jackson began facing a long-term case of depression. She developed her new record as a concept album, using introspection as its theme.” - Wikipedia

I’ve never been massively into straight 90s (or early 2000s) pop, there’s just something a bit sanitised about it that I can’t quite put my finger on. The Velvet Rope has much more interesting production than other pop albums of the time, but it still has that overly clean 90s sound which just tends to skim off me like a well thrown pebble on the water. I very much appreciate Jackson’s lyrical content here, which is anything but sanitised, and her melodies are as wonderful as ever. There’s some absolute 90s pop bangers here with Got ‘Til It’s Gone, Together Again, I Get Lonely and Every Time all being some of the decade’s best pop-tracks, and ones that still see plenty of airplay today. For me it’s a smidge too long, but undoubtedly one of the strongest straight-pop albums of the decade. On a side note, she sounds particularly like her brother on this album, especially on the softer tracks.

Song Picks: You, Got ‘Til It’s Gone, Together Again, I Get Lonely, Every Time

8/10

“Dig Me Out is the third studio album by the American rock band Sleater-Kinney. Dig Me Out marked the debut of Janet Weiss, who would become the band's longest-serving drummer. The music on the record was influenced by traditional rock and roll bands, while the lyrics deal with issues of heartbreak and survival. The album was acclaimed by music critics, who praised the album's energy and feminist lyrics. Retrospectively, Dig Me Out is considered the band's breakthrough record and is frequently included on several publications' best album lists. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked it No. 189 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” - Wikipedia

Corin Tucker’s vocals are just the right side of piercing, with a tone and passion that cuts right through the mix, helped by how uncluttered things generally are from this three-piece, who forgo any studio trickery for a very raw sound. Dig Me Out is a superb, no-nonsense punk record, representing an important feminist message that has been all too rare in music to this point.

Song Picks: One More Hour, The Drama You’ve Been Craving

8.5/10

**8. F# A#** ∞

Godspeed You! Black Emperor

“F♯ A♯ ∞ (pronounced "F-sharp, A-sharp, Infinity") is the debut studio album by Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The CD version and the LP version have substantial differences between them. Recorded at the Hotel2Tango in the Mile End of Montreal, the album, as became common for the band, is devoid of traditional lyrics and is mostly instrumental, featuring lengthy songs segmented into movements. Pitchfork ranked the album number 45 on their list of the top 100 albums of the 1990s.” - Wikipedia

F♯ A♯ ∞ feels like the stomp to a final post-apocalyptic battle, it rolls with the rhythm of a march, and swells with the emotion of knowing that this is the end. A gloriously evocative record.

8.5/10

“Perfect from Now On is the third full-length album released by Built to Spill, and the band's first major label (Warner Bros.) release. Stylistically, the album was marked by its experimentation with longer song structures and philosophical lyrics.” - Wikipedia

I’m unsurprised to hear Built to Spill were a key influence on Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, as Doug Martsch’s vocal style and ear for melody is very similar. Musically they’re a bit more jam orientated than Death Cab for Cutie, with long, often raucous instrumental sections filling out the gaps in vocals. Clearly influential on a whole raft of late 90s and early 2000s indie, Perfect from Now On is a wonderful blend of affecting vocals, simple lyrics, and slightly off-kilter instrumental parts unafraid to march off a cliff and see what happens. It feels like emo and an atmospheric, edgy jam band had a baby. Martsch’s guitar work deserves a mention too, picking you up like an errant sandworm and smashing you into the horizon, Velvet Waltz being a particularly great example of this.

Song Picks: Really Described Eternity, I Would Hurt a Fly, Mad-up Dreams, Velvet Waltz, Kicked it in the Sun

8.5

“Baduizm is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Erykah Badu. After leaving university in order to concentrate on music full-time, Badu then began touring with her cousin, Robert "Free" Bradford, and recorded a 19-song demo, Country Cousins, which attracted the attention of Kedar Massenburg. He set Badu up to record a duet with D'Angelo, "Your Precious Love," and eventually signed her to a record deal with Universal. Baduizm was a commercial success, debuting at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart and number one on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.” - Wikipedia

Like one of those chill-hop study playlists but with a hundred times more soul. Badu's buttery smooth vocals effortlessly express melodies over a wholesome bedding of bass and snare claps. It all unravels at a pace so leisurely it feels like it might fall over any second. Sublime.

Song Picks: On & On, Appletree, Certainly

8.5/10

“Homogenic is the third studio album by Icelandic recording artist Björk. The album marked a stylistic change, focusing on similar-sounding music combining electronic beats and string instruments with songs in tribute to her native country Iceland. Homogenic was originally to be produced in her home in London, but was halted due to media attention from Björk surviving a murder attempt by a stalker. Homogenic has continued receiving critical acclaim, being listed among the best albums of all time by numerous critics.” - Wikipedia

Bjork can always be relied upon to make albums that stand out creatively, and Homogenic is no exception. Pounding, crystal soundscapes back Bjork’s soaring vocals like a beam of light taking them to the heavens. It’s an album not of songs as such, but of moments, where repeated phrases bore their way into your brain, often finally driven home by Bjork’s roar. Homogenic’s use of electronic programming seems very ahead of its time, and I can here lots of later Radiohead here for example. Engaging from start to finish, and so very interesting.

Song Picks: Unravel, 5 years, Jóga, Alarm Call

9/10

“Dots and Loops is the fifth studio album by English-French rock band Stereolab. It was their first album to be recorded straight to Digital Audio Tape and produced with Pro Tools. The album explores jazz and electronic sounds, and is influenced by bossa nova and 1960s pop music. Its lyrics address matters such as consumerism, the "spectacle", materialism, and human interaction. Several music critics have praised Dots and Loops for its blend of accessible music with experimental and avant-garde sounds.” - Wikipedia

Dots and Loops warms up the room like an exotic fire in the corner. It turns rainy days to sunshine. Is there anything more essential if you live in the UK? Probably not. It’s well over an hour long, but never outstays its welcome, in fact I’ve more often than not found myself starting it again as soon as it’s finished.

Song Picks: Miss Modular, Brakhage

9/10

3. The Lonesome Crowded West

Modest Mouse

“The Lonesome Crowded West is the second studio album by American rock band Modest Mouse. The two towers pictured on the album's cover are The Westin Seattle The Lonesome Crowded West received positive reviews from critics, and appeared on several lists of the best albums of the 1990s.” - Wikipedia

Here’s what I said back when I first reviewed this album back in 2013:

“Another Modest Mouse album at the top. This one’s essentially inspired by the ‘Mallfucking’ of America (as singer Isaac Brock puts it) and also by the experiences of a band being on the road. It’s wacky, it’s memorable and it’s long (around 78 minutes). The main reason for the album’s length is that the band often breaks into impromtu jams and while most producers would have cut these short to make the songs more radio ready I’m glad this wasn’t done here. It really has the raw feel of a band at the top of their game having fun without barriers. As with The Moon & Antarctica last month I love the sheer variation in the songs, hell even within one song, ‘Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine’ being a prime example, you can have screaming one second, tender bits the next, and a complete change of rhythm and time signature the next. Like The Moon and Antarctica it’s a journey, this time slightly more raw, but with no less passion. I also have to mention Jeremiah Green’s excellent drumming, top drawer stuff and the bass (particularly on the groovy songs inspired by being on the road such as Out of Gas) is awesome.. This is a great, great album and Modest Mouse are swiftly making their way into my very favourite bands.”

You know what 2013 Clive, I still agree. I feel like the review needs more daft analogies though to really fit into the context of this challenge. ‘The Lonesome Crowded West is like a pacing, friendly tiger. It walks backwards and forwards with a sense of unspent energy, a sense of frustration needing release, but satisfying itself instead by slowly deflating via the low rumbling purr of its endless great basslines.’

There we go. That’s better.

Song Picks: Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine, Convenient Parkin’, Doin’ the Cockroach, Trailer Trash, Out of Gas, Trucker’s Atlas

9.5/10

2. I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One

Yo La Tengo

“I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One is the eighth studio album by the American indie rock band Yo La Tengo. The album expands the guitar-based pop of its predecessor Electr-O-Pura to encompass a variety of other music genres, including bossa nova, krautrock, and electronic music. The album received widespread acclaim from music critics, who praised the band's ability to successfully expand the boundaries of nearly any pop style. The album is widely regarded as the band's best work and is frequently included on several publications' best album lists. In 2020, Rolling Stone included it on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time as no. 423.” - Wikipedia

I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One is magic. I’d listened to the album a few times and thought it was pleasant, but it was on a morning where I was playing with my son that it really hit home. There’s an understated beauty, variety, and melancholy to every track, in a way that is somehow full of hope. It’s rare that an album perfectly encapsulates your mood at a particular time, but I had one of those magical moments with this as I thought of the past, some of my struggles, and how it’s all ended up in a place where I finally feel content. And how I’d never change any of it, given where it’s led me.

The often mumbled vocals, those melodic basslines, the world music influences, the trance-like repetition, there’s something truly beautiful about the melancholy contentment it portrays.

Song Picks: Return Hot Chicken, Sugarcube, Little Honda

9.5/10

“OK Computer is the third studio album by the English rock band Radiohead. They distanced themselves from the guitar-centred, lyrically introspective style of their previous album, The Bends. OK Computer's abstract lyrics, densely layered sound and eclectic influences laid the groundwork for Radiohead's later, more experimental work. The album's lyrics depict a dystopian, futuristic world fraught with rampant consumerism, capitalism, social and modern alienation, emotional isolation and political malaise, with overall themes like transport, technology, insanity, death, modern British life, globalisation and anti-capitalism; in this capacity, OK Computer is said to have prescient insight into the mood of 21st-century life. The band used unconventional production techniques, including natural reverberation, and no audio separation. Most of the album was recorded live.” - Wikipedia

I’m not sure there’s much left to say about OK Computer, rateyourmusic.com’s current #1 album of all time, but I’ll try anyway. I’ve been looking forward to getting to 1997 to cover this ever since starting the challenge. The instrumental production is deliberately messy owing to the live sound and lack of instrument separation, and I feel this helps to bring Thom Yorke’s vocals and lyrics to the front, which are superb throughout. The way he soars above the storm of Airbag as he sings ‘an interstellar burst, I’m back to save the universe’ is one of the most life-affirming moments in music for me, not just this album; the way Paranoid Android batters around before settling into the gently strummed part as Yorke croons for it to rain on him, being another. OK Computer is irresistible musically, full of melody, chaos and feeling, but it does this while being a perfect statement on modern life. It’s both very accessible and very ambitious. I’m not clever enough to put my finger on exactly why, but more than any other album, it represents that feeling of growing up in the modern world.

Song Picks: Airbag, Paranoid Android, Subterranean Homesick Alien

1996 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge

April 25, 2024 by Clive in Clive's Album Challenge, Music, Clive

Welcome to 1996 y’all, the year Britain was alarmed by an outbreak of mad cow disease, the world’s first sheep was cloned and named Dolly, Tupac Shakur was shot, and Clinton appointed the first female US secretary of state, Madeleine Albright.

Here’s rateyourmusic.com users’ top 5 albums of the year:

#1 Fishmans - Long Season
#2 DJ Shadow - Endtroducing
#3 Swans - Soundtracks for the Blind
#4 Outkast - ALiens
#5 Belle and Sebastian - If You’re Feeling Sinister

Obviously 5 isn’t enough now is it? So I’ve grabbed this lot from further down the list:

#6 Cryptopsy - None So Vile
#7 Burzum - Filosofem
#8 Unwound - Repetition
#9 Tool - Aenima
#10 Weezer - Pinkerton
#11 Aphex Twin - Richard D. James Album
#16 Ruyichi Sakamoto - 1996
#26 Modest Mouse - This Is a Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About
#17 Tori Amos - Boys for Pele

And finally, One in a Million by Aaliyah, the only album from the year on NPR’s best albums of all time by women list that I haven’t already got in the mix.

Right, let’s go.

As smooth as those secret agent sunglasses she’s wearing on the cover, One in a Million is a remarkably mature effort considering Aaliyah was only 15 at the time. At times this maturity is somewhat alarming, considering the topics she is singing about. Linked to that, I’ll not mention the producer of this album, who is thankfully now in prison, but I will mention Timbaland who’s simple and effective beats work a treat with Aaliyah’s great vocals. Looked at purely from a musical perspective, One in a Million is a real treat.

Song Picks: Choosey Lover

8/10

“Filosofem (Norwegian for "Philosopheme") is the fourth studio album by Norwegian black metal solo project Burzum. It was recorded in March 1993 and was the last recording before Varg Vikernes was sentenced to prison in 1994; the album was not released until January 1996, however. It was released through Misanthropy Records and Vikernes's own record label, Cymophane Productions. The album is noted for its experimental sound when compared to most other second wave black metal. Vikernes considers Filosofem an "anti-trend album." - Wikipedia

Imprisoned for stabbing another leading guitarist in the Norwegian black metal scene and burning down three churches, and notorious for his controversial views and a period of neo-Nazism, Varg Vikernes is hardly someone you want to model yourself on. All that aside though, and knowing close to nothing about the Norwegian black metal movement (other than it seems a bit mad), this is an album of pulverising riffs and screams, all seemingly routed through a distortion pedal with the drive knob on max. It’s a fuzzy sandstorm, where Vikernes’ screams are indecipherable above the din, which is probably for the best. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this, it’s fuzziness seemingly the equivalent of drinking a pint through a straw, it goes to your head that much quicker.

It will also now forever remind me of a time at Rock Im Park festival when a Norwegian bloke was brought back to our campsite after a Rage Against the Machine gig. He spent the next morning charging around the campsite naked screaming ‘let’s burn churches!!’ while throwing peoples’ tents around before being arrested.

Song Picks: Jesus’ Tod, Erblicket die Tochter des Firmaments

8/10

13. This Is a Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About

Modest Mouse

“This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About is the debut studio album by American rock band Modest Mouse. Many of the album's tracks focus on traveling by automobile and the loneliness associated with rural life.” - Wikipedia

Modest Mouse’s debut is long, simple and repetitive musically. But it’s also full of Isaac Brock’s unique vocals, and lyrics of loneliness and long journeys. It rumbles along like a rusty car along a long, empty American highway. Reflections of the past and visions of the future like alternating magnets to the mind.

Song Picks: Dramamine, Tundra/Desert

8/10

“Ænima is the second studio album by the American rock band Tool. It is the first album by Tool to feature bassist Justin Chancellor, who replaced original bassist Paul D'Amour the year prior. In 2003, Ænima was ranked the sixth most influential album of all time by Kerrang!, Rolling Stone listed the album at No. 18 on its list of The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time.” - Wikipedia

Weird time signatures, pulverising riffs and drum beats that pound like a blue whale’s heart. This is a powerful album from a band on the way up. The album is clearly hugely influential, so much so that listening now it all sounds a bit generic. Effective, head bangingly enjoyable, and with a satisfying ‘mathiness’ to it, Ænima is a little too repetitive to blow my socks off completely, but they have been slightly dislodged.

Song Picks: Stinkfist, Forty Six & 2

8/10

“None So Vile is the second studio album by Canadian death metal band Cryptopsy, None So Vile is the first album to feature bassist Eric Langlois, and the last to feature vocalist Lord Worm, until his return on 2005's Once Was Not. The art featured on the cover of the album is a painting by Italian Baroque painter Elisabetta Sirani titled Herodias with the Head of John the Baptist, reversed. None So Vile is critically acclaimed as one of the most influential death metal albums of the 1990s, influencing many later acts and musicians in both technical death and brutal death metal subgenres.” - Wikipedia

I think I’ve called albums a barrage of noise before, but forget I ever said that, this album makes those feel like your ear being tickled. The bass drum barely stops bashing out 16th notes, there’s roaring, guitars churning hyperactive riffs and general ordered chaos. A slice of relentless brutality.

Song Picks: Crown of Horns, Slit Your Guts, Orgiastic Disembolwment

8.5/10

“1996 is a 1996 album by Japanese composer and pianist Ryuichi Sakamoto. It contains a selection of Sakamoto's most popular compositions plus two new compositions, all arranged for a standard piano trio. The arrangement of "Bibo no Aozora" that appears on this album has appeared in several film and television projects; one notable example is the film Babel, whose soundtrack features both the 1996 version and the /04 version of the song.” - Wikipedia

Where this could have been in danger of sounding like a greatest hits collection, the re-arrangement of songs for a standard piano trio means there is a real cohesiveness in the sound throughout the album, which helps to reign in some of the thematic inconsistencies. This is a wonderful collection of evocative and yet understated soundtrack pieces.

Song Picks: Bibo No Aozora, Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence

8.5/10

“ATLiens is the second studio album by the American hip hop duo Outkast. The record features outer space-inspired production sounds, with Outkast and producers Organized Noize incorporating elements of dub and gospel into the compositions. Several songs feature the duo's first attempts at producing music by themselves. Lyrically, the group discusses a wide range of topics including urban life as hustlers, existential introspection, and extraterrestrial life. The album's title is a portmanteau of "ATL" (an abbreviation of Atlanta, Georgia, the duo’s hometown) and "aliens", which has been interpreted by critics as a commentary about the feeling of being isolated from American culture. Since its release, ATLiens has been listed by several magazines and critics as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time.” - Wikipedia

I bloody love 90s hip-hop, and this album encapsulates why. Smooth beats, slick rhymes, not taking itself to seriously - and space noises. Okay the last one is specific to this album. It’s a bit long, and front loaded - though more in a first half is magical, second half just great kind of a way. I didn’t think I’d ever rate an album with the lines ‘put your hands in the air and wave them like you just don’t care’ this highly, but it’s delivered with a knowing wink and the larger-than-life personality that’s spread thick throughout this odyssey.

Song Picks: "Two Dope Boyz (In a Cadillac)", “ATLiens“

8.5/10

“Repetition is the fifth studio album by the American post-hardcore band Unwound, the album has been hailed as a masterpiece among those in the punk rock scene.” - Wikipedia

Taking a more studio-orientated approach than is perhaps common in punk, Repetition goes far beyond the usual ‘three chords and the truth’, live oriented sound of the genre, with sleek production and intricately thought out arrangements. The title is apt, as songs often feature repetitive, rumbling bass which create a foundation for the album’s more experimental guitar screeches, synth drones, gongs and bells. Repetition can be as emotional (Lady Elect) as it is energetic (Corpse Pose), and it’s easily one of the most interesting and varied punk albums I’ve heard.

Song Picks: Corpse Pose, Lady Elect, For Your Entertainment

8.5/10

“Pinkerton is the second studio album by the American rock band Weezer. The guitarist and vocalist Rivers Cuomo wrote most of Pinkerton while studying at Harvard University, after abandoning plans for a rock opera, Songs from the Black Hole. It was the last Weezer album to feature bassist Matt Sharp, who left the group in 1998.

To better capture their live sound, Weezer self-produced Pinkerton, creating a darker, more abrasive album than their self-titled 1994 debut. Cuomo's lyrics express loneliness and disillusionment with the rock lifestyle; the album is named after the character BF Pinkerton from Giacomo Puccini's 1904 opera Madama Butterfly, whom Cuomo described as an ‘asshole American sailor similar to a touring rock star’”. - Wikipedia

Voted the third worst album of the year by Rolling Stone readers at the time, it has since become known as a masterpiece, and a huge influence on the emo scene. Pinkerton’s lyrics are simple, at times cringeworthy in content (sniffing an 18 year old fan’s knickers anyone?), but I feel like that’s the point. It’s written from the perspective of the asshole touring rockstar Cuomo is referring to, which is of course him. Matt Sharp’s bass rumbles throughout, determined to make his last album with the band count. The guitars saw, and the drums sound massive. It’s an album that sounds raw, but that hits hard, a perfect backdrop to Cuomo’s self-pitying, immature musings, which are sung to an endless selection of catchy melodies.

I have no desire to be friends with the Cuomo who wrote Pinkerton, he sounds insufferable. But I do appreciate how honest he is about it, and how his and the band’s energy practically explodes off the disc, or cloud streaming service - whatever the case may be.

Song Picks: Why Bother?, Butterfly, El Scorcho

8.9/10

“Richard D. James Album is the eponymous fourth studio album by Irish-British electronic musician Richard D. James, under his pseudonym Aphex Twin. Richard D. James Album was composed by James on his Macintosh computer, and took longer to complete than his previous efforts. The album features faster breakbeats and intricate drum programming which draw influence from jungle and drum and bass, combined with lush string arrangements, unstable time signatures, and slow ambient melodies reminiscent of James' earlier work, as well as modulated vocals by James.” - Wikipedia

32 minutes of electronic madness. The beats sound like a drum machine becoming sentient and expressing a complex bewilderment with the world. The instrumentation goes from ambient (though with notes not quite starting or finishing when you’d expect) to completely off the wall (Carn Marth). The cover would have you believe this is somehow sinister. It isn’t, it’s just completely unpredictable and glorious fun, and the final salvo of tracks are some of the most life-affirming I’ve heard for a while.

Song Picks: To Cure a Weakling Child, ‘4’, Goon Gumpas, Girl/Boy Song

9/10

“Boys for Pele is the third studio album by American singer and songwriter Tori Amos. P Despite the album being Amos's least radio friendly material to date, Boys for Pele debuted at number two on both the US Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart, making it her biggest simultaneous transatlantic debut, her first Billboard top 10 debut, and the highest-charting US debut of her career to date.

Boys for Pele was recorded in rural Ireland and Louisiana and features 18 songs that incorporate harpsichord, clavichord, harmonium, gospel choirs, brass bands and full orchestras. Amos wrote all of the tracks, and for the first time, she served as sole producer for her own album. For Amos, the album was a step into a different direction, in terms of singing, songwriting, and recording, and is experimental in comparison to her previous work.” - Wikipedia

70 minutes of varied instrumentation, wonderful songwriting, and vocals that are constantly engaging, with melodies seemingly falling to Tori like raindrops in a British drizzle. Boys for Pele captivates for its full, significant running length.

Song Picks: Beauty Queen/Horses, Father Lucifer

9/10

4. If You’re Feeling Sinister

Belle and Sebastian

“If You're Feeling Sinister is the second album by the Scottish indie pop band Belle and Sebastian. It is often ranked among the best albums of the 1990s, including being ranked #14 in Pitchfork's list of Top 100 Albums of the 1990s. Band leader Stuart Murdoch said If You're Feeling Sinister is probably his best collection of songs in 2005.” - Wikipedia

Murdoch’s vocals are understated, sung shyly, and atop gorgeous arrangements that bounce along like a more relaxed Blonde on Blonde. All that considered. it’s pretty remarkable that his vocals demand your attention, and that is a testament to his great lyricism, story telling, and subtle expression. I hadn’t realised how far ahead they were (in terms of timeline) of obvious bands they’ve influenced like the Shins, Death Cab for Cutie, and pretty much any indie-pop band that followed them. They set a template here, but they also made an album that more than stands the test of time almost 30 years on.

Song Picks: Get Me Away from Here I’m Dying, The Stars of Track and Field, Seeing Other People. Me and the Major, If You’re Feeling Sinister

9.5/10

“Endtroducing..... is the debut studio album by American music producer DJ Shadow. It is an instrumental hip hop work composed almost entirely of samples from vinyl records. DJ Shadow produced Endtroducing over two years, using an Akai MPC60 sampler and little other equipment. He edited and layered samples to create new tracks of varying moods and tempos.

Endtroducing was ranked highly on various lists of the best albums of 1996, and has been acclaimed by critics as one of the greatest albums of the 1990s. It is considered a landmark recording in instrumental hip hop, with DJ Shadow's sampling techniques and arrangements leaving a lasting influence. In 2020, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Endtroducing 329th on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.” - Wikipedia

There’s not much left to say about DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing that hasn’t already been said. A masterpiece of sampling, clearly ahead of its time, and put together with a level of research akin to a PhD thesis. It continues to influence music across the spectrum today, while maintaining an alluring individuality that hums under its atmospheric beats and instrumental lines.

Song Picks: Building Steam With a Grain of Salt, The Number Song, Mutual Slump, Midnight in a Perfect World

9.5/10

“Long Season is the sixth studio album by Japanese musical group Fishmans. It consists of a single 35-minute composition based on the band's earlier song "Season". The album was released to modest success in the Japanese alternative scene, but was scarcely known outside Japan until the 2010s, and has since garnered critical acclaim and online media attention. Fishmans performed the entire Long Season album as one piece during their final live shows in December 1998, a recording of which was included on the album 98.12.28 男達の別れ.” - Wikipedia

Long Season feels like a 3 part symphony to me (though it is split into 5 sections on certain issues). It starts as a meditative walk through the park with your favourite album playing; reliably comforting. The middle section feels like a frantic distraction - you check your phone and the state of the world shatters your peace; Motegi’s drums are quiet but chaotic like the background hum of everything happening out of sight and earshot. Finally, you catch yourself, put the phone away, and look at the path winding off into the distance. There’s a feeling of elation as your favourite song comes on, but now you let the birds in as well as the shuffling stream. It’s all too much, you start running for no reason other than you feel too elated to stand still. There’s no one else around, you laugh, you collapse on a patch of grass, you feel about as happy as you ever have, maybe as happy as you ever will. You thank your fellow humans for the music, for without it you’re not sure you’d feel very much at all.

9.5/10

“Soundtracks for the Blind is the tenth studio album by Swans. It was intended, as suggested by the title, to function as a "soundtrack for a non-existent film." Upon its release, it received critical acclaim, but was the last studio album released by the band until 2010's My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky.” - Wikipedia

Regularly listed among the 90s’ best albums, Soundtracks for the Blind’s Brian Eno influence is obvious. This is more in the ambient category than previous crushing efforts of theirs. In its over two hour running length it builds a whole new world around you through its numerous samples, grainy conversations and the occasional cathartic release. It sounds huge, but without stacking instrument upon instrument to create a wall of sound. Rather it creates these grinding, industrial soundscapes that are surprisingly tuneful. If the film this thing soundtracked did exist, I’d be very keen to see it. I imagine it as a tale of isolation, a factory worker taking the floor day by day with thousands of others, trying to restrain his soul from bursting through his enforced mechanical exterior. The machines rattle around him, he turns their noise pollution into melodies, and imagines talking over the top, or the odd scream.

Soundtracks for the Blind is completely unique, and completely unforgettable. Its not the kind of album you’ll be recommending to everyone necessarily, but for those among us seeking inventive, atmospheric music that goes beyond an idea of songs to focus more on creating an atmosphere than a set of hits, then you’ll be hard pressed to find another album that does that better than this.

2023 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge

February 16, 2024 by Clive in Clive's Album Challenge, Music

So, as I try to keep up with the present while writing about my favourite albums of every year from 1960, here’s my two pence worth on the albums from 2023. I’ve listened to all of Pitchfork’s ‘Best New Music’, the top 10-15 or so of rateyourmusic.com and albumoftheyear.org’s (aggregate) lists and some other stuff that has tickled my fancy. Below are all the ones I enjoyed enough to give my thoughts on.

I usually give a bit of a summary about the years I’m talking about news-wise before launching into the best music, but I think we could all do without being reminded about 2023 on the news front.

As is customary with my contemporary reviews, they’re a lot shorter. I’ve got a child now and would like to get back to the past (1996 to be precise) and finish this challenge sometime before global warming kills us all.

To save your data plans and such, I’m only going to do the pretty album cover style for the top 20, rather than for all 40+ here.

50. Tomb Mold - The Enduring Spirit

I can get on board with pretty much anything in music, but roaring is still something that eludes me. Shouting and screaming I’m game with, hell I do a lot of that myself, but roaring has always just sounded like I’m listening to some minotaur front a band, rather than a human. The music here is impressive, with angular riffs and beats performed with surgical precision, and if I could just get past the indecipherable roaring I’d love it, but alas, I can’t. I know it’s a personal thing.

6/10

49. Kelela - Raven

Much like the cover, Kelela’s second album feels like treading water in a lovely fluid soundscape, but in the end I got a little tired and felt like it hadn’t really gone anywhere.

48. Yaeji - With a Hammer

Yaeji’s debut is decent, varied pop that just hasn’t quite jumped out and grabbed me, though I very much admire its understated artistry.

6/10

47. Julia Byrne - Greater Wings

Byrne supported the Tallest Man on Earth on a gig I went to a few years ago. They seemed a little mis-matched, Byrne being perhaps the least energetic solo performer I’ve seen, while TTMOE is more energetic than most bands, never mind solo performers. Much like that Byrne performance, Greater Wings is lush, full of lovely, breathy vocals, but just not all that exciting.

Song Picks: The Greater Wings, Hope’s Return

6/10

46. Hotline TNT - Cartwheel

A fuzzy shoegaze factory. Enjoyable but not standing out.

Song Picks: Protocol

6/10

45. Pangea - Changing Channels

Big fish - little fish - cardboard box. Dubstep artist Pangea’s second album is more trance than dubstep, and though I very much enjoy listening to it’s energising beats and sandy synth lines, it’s not one I’m finding all that memorable.

Song Picks: Hole Away

6.5/10

44. Andre 3000 - New Blue Sun

Lovely spacey flutey stuff. A bit of a ‘let’s stick some lovely mood music on’ album, rather than one I’ve got as much out of with active listening. I’m not sure if anyone expected this of Mr 3000, the first song title suggests otherwise. A pleasant curveball.

6.5/10

43. Liv.e - Girl in the Half Pearl

Sumptuous beats and melodies, and a real joy to listen to, but a bit too wishy-washy to have left a solid imprint.

Song Picks: Clowns, NoNewNews!

6.5

42. ANOHNI and the Johnsons - My Back Was a Bridge

Vocals are full of feeling and wholesome mixes. There Wasn’t Enough is probably a masterpiece.

Song Pick: There Wasn't Enough

41. Blue Lake - Sun Arcs

If I retreated to a Swedish cabin with nothing but a dog for company for an extended period of time, I’d either leave and head back to society, or be driven to suicide. Jason Dungan however was a lot more productive, and came out with a beautifully optimistic piece of instrumental music ‘driven’ by his own custom-made zither. I put ‘driven’ in inverted comma because it’s more of a meander than anything with a concrete purpose or destination. The journey on Sun Arcs twinkles and rings like the dawn of a new day of nothing, but in a hopeful way, not the way shrouded in ennui that I’d be prone to write about.

Song Picks: Bloom, Dallas, Writing

40. Lankum - False Lankum

Very trad-folky at its core, but more dissonant and dark than that. A kind of dark, foggy day on the Moors at dusk rather than your folky walk through a forest full of elves. Get me?

Song Picks: Go Dig My Grave

7/10

39. Youth Lagoon - Heaven is a Junkyard

It's no Wondrous Bughouse, but it is an album of nice melodies drowned in reverb, and sometimes that’s just what the doctor ordered.

Song Picks: Rabbit, Trapeze Artist, Mercury

7.1/10

38. JPEGMAFIA / Danny Brown: Scaring the Hoes

JPEGMAFIA produces so it’s the hyperactive, skipping affair you’d expect. Danny Brown’s idiosyncratic vocals fit like a glove. It’s a chaotic, continuously entertaining, but I can't fully wrap my head around it.

Song Picks: God Loves You, Scaring Hoes

7/10

37. PJ Harvey - Inside the Old Year Dying

PJ Harvey’s tenth album is an opaque folk album that opens up only if you study the lyrics, when it’ll swallow you whole, even if you come out the other end none the wiser as to what you’ve just experienced.

Song Picks: Prayer at the Gate, Lwonsome Tonight,

7.5/10

36. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation

I think we’ve all lost count of just how many albums King Gizzard... have unleashed on the world before now, I mean it looks like they put out three in one year in 2023. Never standing still, and constantly trying new concepts, PetroDragonic… is a thrash metal album, and having just got past Slayer in my album challenge, it’s nice to hear a modern version. I can take or leave the lyrics, they’re the kind of dragon, wizard, lizard stuff you’d expect from the band’s name and the cover (which I rather like), but the riffs are consistently roaring and the whole thing is just a lot of fun. PetroDragonic doesn’t take itself too seriously, despite the impressive instrumental skill going on, and you get the feeling that every riff is winking at you.

Song Picks: Witchcraft, Motor Spirit, Dragon

7.5/10

35. Billy Woods & Kenny Segal - Maps

Segal’s beats are consistently wholesome, Woods’ rapping the perfect accompaniment. Like a bowl of Shredded Wheat. Cleansing.

Song Picks: Baby Steps, Soft Landing, The Layover

7.5/10

34. Wednesday - Rat Saw God

The vocals are nothing new, and at times I'd go so far as to say they're uninspiring. However, musically and lyrically this is a bit of a gem. The way the lead guitar fights with the more straightforward slacker rock sound at points is great, creating a variety of interesting textures, which Karly Hartzman’s murky lyrics work well with. Rat Saw God is unafraid to be ambitious (see the spectacular Bull Believer), and the somewhat derivative vocals are its only drawback.

Song Picks: Bull Believer, Chosen to Deserve

7.5/10

33. Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want to Turn Into You

A glorious arena pop album. Polachek’ second album crawls up to you as you cower in the corner hiding from the world. Within about 3 minutes you're up dancing to the rat-a-tat-tat of the lights, hands a stuttering silhouette. The record dips a little in the second half, but finishes as strongly as it started.

Song Picks: Welcome to My Island, Bunny is a Rider, Smoke

7.5/10

32. Panopticon - The Rime of Memory

The highest ranking album that has vocals that roar, so make of that what you will. I’m told it’s about the passing milestones of life, but as I can’t understand a word Austin Lunn roars, I wouldn’t get that unless I read the lyrics. Anyway, The Rime of Memory is huge, it has moments of folk instrumentation which interchange perfectly with the black metal onslaughts that drown out Dunn’s yells like fog obscuring a roaring beacon. A clinic in atmosphere and ‘epicness’, for want of a better word. This album sounds important, it sounds serious, and I like to listen to it and think about the fact I’m going to die one day, and that that’s a bit rubbish. Anyway stop reading this and go listen to Cedar Skeletons, it’s glorious. Also note that pretty much everything is played by Mr Lunn himself, which is impressive.

Song Picks: Cedar Skeletons, Enduring the Snow Drought

7.5/10

31. Jaimie Branch - Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly

Branch’s final album was completed following her death last year, according to notes she left. What remains is not a sad funeral to her death, but a joyful, final celebration in jazzy experiments and variety. I do feel like it’s not quite cohesive enough as a whole, but it has that ‘slightly over-reaching album before the masterpiece’ feel to it. As such the only real sadness to the album is that said inevitable masterpiece will remain unwritten.

7.5/10

30. Boygenius - The Record

Supergroup Boygenius achieve what so few supergroups manage: a record that pulls on all their skillsets and talents, while remaining cohesive and not sounding like songs from a bunch of different artists thrown together. There’s a clear leader on many of the tracks (Emily, I’m Sorry has Bridgers’ stamp all over it), but the others contribute in ways that pull the tracks towards sounding like boygenius songs, rather than those of the three individual artists.

Song Picks: Emily, I’m Sorry; True Blue; Letter to an Old Poet

7.5/10

29. Sampha - Lahai

Sampha’s second album is a gorgeously easy-drifting collection of lovely melodies and pitter-patter drum beats that feels like a flock of birds dancing in a blue sky. “I am lifted by your love, I am lifted from above” he sings of his newborn daughter on Suspended. Us too Sampha, us too.

Song Picks: Only, Suspended, Jonothan L. Seagull

8/10

28. NoName - Sundial

Silky smooth rhymes and luxuriously laid-back and angular beats, Sundial is another great hip-hop album and one with a protagonist that has a refreshing ability to take aim at herself just as willingly as she takes aim at Kendrick and Jay-Z.

Song Picks: holde me down, namesake, oblivion

8/10

27. yeule - Softscars

Yeule’s third album is a wonderful dip back into 90s alternative; a grainier, more industrial and less corporate Avril Lavigne & co, full of evocative and cathartic melodies you want to scream your dreams along to.

Song Picks: ghosts, software update,

8/10

26. McKinley Dixon - Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?

One of the most lyrically and instrumentally interesting hip-hop albums of the year. There are obvious soul, jazz and pop influences, with a rock-solid rhythm section groove holding it together as it colourfully fires in all directions.

Song Picks: Mezzanine Tippin’; Run, Run, Run; Live! From the Kitchen Table

8/10

25. 100 Gecs - 10,000 Gecs

10,000 Gecs is the result of asking a robot to create an album that is cathartic, catchy, nostalgic, and fun, with as much efficiency as possible. The album synthesises a whole heap of genres into the skeletons that hold them together in a way so sharp that it’ll cut to the core of anyone listening to it. Your reaction to this will be one of viscerlal love or distaste.

Song Picks:

8/10

24. L’Rain - I Killed Your Dog

Whether this grabs you or not will correlate with how well you mange to get lost in it. It took me a few listens, but on the final one, I’d clearly found the right moment. I was drowned in its varied soundscapes, melodies, structurelessness and mystery, and I was sold.

Song Picks: I Killed Your Dog, 5 to 8 ours a day,

8/10

23. Model/Actriz - Dogsbody

The New York noise outfit’s debut has an elaborate phallus on the cover and concerns itself with making sex as unsexy as possible. It’s a grimey waddle into the club toilets, only for the cubicle to open into some slime covered underworld. Once you make it back out you’re left feeling a level of filthy that can’t be washed off with the next morning’s shower.

Song Picks: Donkey Show, Divers, Pure Mode, Sun In

8/10

22. Fever Ray - Radical Romantics

A twisted synth dream pumped full of personality (Kandy’s layered synth pads are a world I want to live in), the vocals either piercing through the synthetic underworld or mellowly holding its more erratic edges together for fear they might break off. Radical Romantics is an album of understated hooks, and overstated soundscapes.

Song Picks: Shiver, New Utensils, Even it Out, Kandy, Tapping Fingers

8/10

21. Kara Jackson - Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?

A majestic record where the instrumentation, whether it be Jackson’s guitar, or the more lush embellishments on many of the tracks, follows her every word and note. Jackson’s past as National Youth Poet Laureate is obvious in her free verse structures to these songs, where the melodies rarely repeat, and her messages are delivered with an extreme confidence only matched by the spontaneous but pinpoint accurate instrumentation that flows in its wake.

Song Picks: Lily, Brain, Dickhead Blues

8/10

Uchis’ third album is the musical version of that buzz of contentness you get when starting a new relationship.

Song Picks: I Wish You Roses, Moral Conscience, Moonlight

8/10

Not completely sure what the album name is all about, and every song here is essentially different shades of the same thing, but it’s done with such timeless simplicity that it burrows its way in your brain. Pretty much constantly anthemic, the album’s drums are soft and sandy, and the synths layered to create a whole wash of melodies underneath Clanton’s obvious vocal ones. I could imagine it getting old fairly quickly due to its repeated formula, but while it lasts its a glorious oral pillow to get lost in.

Song Picks: Everything I Want, Justify My Life, Punching Down,

8/10

Rodrigo’s second album takes the ‘straight-pop’ title this year. It’s full of catchy songs, delivered in a manner that doesn’t feel completely sanitised (she’ll happily throw out some ‘explicit lyrics’ if the mood dictates). Rodrigo’s vocal range effortlessly fits with the various pop-productions on offer here. It’s just a bloody good pop-album, and the adolescence-to-adulthood theme is one we can all relate to. Not necessarily pioneering, but consistently fun and entertaining, and that’s what pop is all about right?

Song Picks: All American Bitch, Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl, Logical, The Grudge

8/10

A feel good record that rocks the party like it's 1976. Jubilant brass cacophonies, groovy bass lines and melodies that worm their way into your brain like the hungry caterpillar. It's nothing new as such, and there's numerous moments that sound like hits of yesteryear, but it's refreshing to have a great disco record come out in 2023, and it's my favourite party record of the year.

Pearls, Free Yourself, Freak Me Now, Lightning

8.5/10

The Mexico duo create one of the most refreshingly idiosyncratic albums of the year. With Mabe Fratti’s cello and vocals taking centre stage, Titanic builds a world of jazz, classical and folk that seems to take influence from here, there and everywhere. It’s a spacious record, one where the wind is as important as the chimes and, like a tree grasping for the sun, it branches off many times to a common goal, light.

Song Picks: Anónima, Te evite

8.3/10

All hail the pop-punk king! Rosenstock unexpectedly hits a professional studio, but expectedly makes the studio bend to his DIY will, rather than compromising to its allure of a shiny, clean sound. Hellmode is probably the most cleanly produced album of Jeff’s I’ve heard, but it’s far from your Butch Vig style commercialised punk effort. As if making a point that he might be in the studio, but this is still the Jeff we know and love, he opens the album with the anthemic WILL U STILL U, which features vocals so grainy, they sound like they’ve been recorded through a tin can. He continues to make creative decisions that serve his music, which errs on the raw side. Hellmode is another pop-punk triumph, and one with a refreshing self-awareness.

Song Picks: WILL U STILL U, HEAD, LIKED U BETTER, HEALMODE, LIFE ADMIN

8.5/10

Arooj Aftad - Love in Exile

Pakistani-American Arooj Aftad’s fourth album, and her first in collaboration with Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily is a gorgeous, atmospheric and minimalistic journey through soundscapes that feel like they’d shatter at the slightest touch. It’s as though you’re tip-toeing through a place of prayer, not wanting to disturb anyone’s delicate threads of connection to the etheral.

Song Picks: Haseen Thi, To Remain/To Return

8.5/10

I’ve not listened to enough Yo La Tengo, as this is excellent. There’s more than a hint of the 1970s band Can here, and that is always a good thing. The meditative repetition evident on the opening Sinatra Drive Breakdown, creates a calmness by the back door, as it turns itself inside out and back again, Ira Kaplan’s distorted guitars burning like an effigy of Hendrix, and his vocals quietly contemplating over the top. Kaplan’s vocals drive the album’s hungover feel, where feelings are blurry, undefined, and never overpowering. While the guitars have a satisfying anarchy to them, Kaplan’s vocals feel like a collection of mantras. The tracks Georgia Hubley sings on have a more conventionally melodic feel, like light shining in through the album’s already pleasant machinery. This Stupid World is an acceptance of a world that could be so much better, and taking it dy by day, beat by beat, thought by thought.

Song Picks: Sinatra Drive Breakdown, Fallout, Aselestine, Miles Away

8.5/10

Putting Javelin pretty much has the same effect as putting a fire on in a room, and is much cheaper and more environmentally friendly. Thanks Sufjan, in these times of insane energy bills, this is exactly what we needed. You never disappoint.

Song Picks: My Red Little Fox, Goodbye Evergreen, Genuflecting Ghost, A Running Start,

8.5/10

**11. The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We**

Mitski

Those backing vocals coming in at the start of the beautiful Bug Like an Angel are one of my favourite musical moments of the year. The dynamic volume shift took me completely aback, and is something we don’t hear enough. The Land is Inhospitable isn’t just studio trickery though, it’s an album that sounds as accomplished in terms of songwriting as it is beautifully produced. Things are stripped back, Mitski’s vocals hover delicately as a hummingbird above the gentle stream of other, mainly acoustic, instrumentation. The whole thing feels kind of timeless.

Song Picks: Bug Like an Angel, Heaven, My Love Mine All Mine

8.5

**10. Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd**

Lana Del Rey

Del Rey’s ninth album is my favourite yet. An epic 1 hour 17 minutes long, it’s only held back by the last few tracks sounding a bit out of sync with the rest, perhaps its the featured musicians? Overall though this is a gorgeous journey of stories, melodies, and atmospheres. It feels like a vivid, poetic book in musical format, and I want to bathe in it.

Song Picks: Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd; Paris, Texas; Candy Necklace

8.5/10

Danny Brown’s sixth album, coming after time in rehab to recover from drug and alcohol addiction, is also his most relaxed and personal. It’s my favourite hip-hop album of the year due to its range. We’ve got the frenetic Tantor, to the laid back Bass Line and everything in between. The production is continually intriguing, and adds to each song’s atmosphere, while never taking away from Brown’s introspective vocals. Every track pulls you in. Also he rhymes ‘celibate’ with ‘sell a bit’, which is superb.

Song Picks: Down Wit It, Tantor, Celibate,

8.5/10

27 minutes of fuzzy delight. Simultaneously lo-fi and yet clearly heavily produced, Girl With Fish is an album of gentle hooks, and constant left turns in instrumentation. Very much guitar led, but in a modern way which takes influence from more electronic ways of recording to create constantly changing, creative and deep soundscapes. Lydia Slocum’s understated and warm vocals certainly help to hold the various sections together, but it’s the production that is most impressive. Unlike the chaos of say a Guided by Voices record (many of which I adore), this somehow makes what could be chaotic sound completely unchaotic. It’s like someone’s taken a huge explosion of music, and squished it into a small cohesive ball. It’s wonderful.

Song Picks: Freak, Sweet, Pocket

8.5/10

The ‘queer antifascist black metal/doom duo’ sound like the final cries of those left on a dying planet. Those cries are broken, grainy and throat rattling, and the primal, pounding drums and apocalyptic guitar only further add to the image of the world going down. The band switch roles back and forth with each song, and it’s this subtle variety of two strong individuals working towards a common sound that makes those peaks and troughs even more dynamic and powerful. It’s dramatic, all encompassing, and bloody glorious, like the death cries of an atheist in a crumbling cathedral as he collapses to the ground with a scream of “why?”.

Song Picks: Ruins, DTA,

9/10

Young Fathers’ fourth album is a jubilant march of chants, pounding drums, and circular instrumental parts that build and build into a cacophony of positive feeling. It’s quite remarkable how original the band continues to sound, while being so completely accessible. Their lyrics are at times hard to decipher, and when you can decipher them they’re hard to penetrate. But as this lovely Pitchfork review says, it’s all about the feeling, which in this case is nearly euphoric. I’ve been a fan of this band for a while, but to me this is their best album yet. It doesn’t feel as gridded as previous efforts, it feels more spontaneous, fun, and communal, and that suits the band just perfectly. It’s hard to listen to Heavy, Heavy attentively and not come out the other side with a rejuvenated zest for live, and in 2023, that was a welcome thing indeed. It could have been 5 minutes or so longer, but its brevity only serves to make it feel more precious; that buzz of happiness that never quite lasts long enough.

Song Picks: Rice, Drum, Tell Somebody,

9/10

Oh Me Oh My is a story, an expression, one beyond choruses and verses, one as much of silence as noise, one of decay, one written in pain, pain overcome but constantly in the rearview mirror. It's an artistic statement one can't help but admire, lifted by its two best pieces, the beautifully simple opener and None of Us Have but a Little While, and the masterfully evocative Mount Meigs, documenting Holley's time in the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children, and the horrific abuse that took place there, in a malaise of noise, thrashed drums, and Holley’s spoken word. It's a challenging album, an expression of a man dealing with a traumatic past that still gives him night terrors to this day, but it’s one you owe yourself to tackle.

Song Picks: Testing, Mount Meigs, None of us Have But a Little While

9/10

It’s a bit of a conincidence that I’m listening to this right after having loved Cocteau Twins’ Heaven or Las Vegas as part of my favourite albums of 1990, as there’s more than a few similarities here. Parannoul pushes what Cocteau Twins did yet further, so far that at times whatever recording software he is using is struggling to contain it, as bits cut in and out, struggling to not explode on themselves. After the Magic is the beautiful sound of saturated emotion.

Song Picks: Polaris, Sketchbook,

9/10

**3. Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)**

**Yves Tumor**

Yves Tumor is back with a wall of sound whirling dervish of an album. With the 80s pop sensibilities of Prince and the fuzzy guitars and bass of a much unrulier Muse he creates a world of his own. He's that guy who keeps trying to write a pop hit but can't help making it so elaborate and dense that radio airwaves would quiver at the thought of playing them. There's a whole host of hits at their core here, but they're covered by glorious amounts of intricate fuzz and distortion, not least the soaring guitar solos that snake under many of the tracks. On the glorious In Spite of War the final chorus feels like Tumor's magnum opus, as if all the stars are aligning like a murmuration of birds weaving across the night sky. It's bloody majestic.

Song Picks: Lovely Sewer, Meteora Blues, In Spite of War

9/10

One of those rare albums that sounds instantly classic. Maybe because it's so rooted in it's unembellished songwriting. There's nothing spectacular about the chord progressions here, or indeed any of the musical score, but it's precisely this that leaves the focus on Sternberg's songwriting, which is some of the most consistently great I've heard. The best melodies are often in a major key, but they walk that tightrope above a vat of cheese. I've Got Me walks the tightrope with aplomb, and never looks close to falling off. How refreshing to have an album with a positive/empathetic outlook that will never get old.

Song Picks: People are Toys to You, I've Got Me, Mountains High, Stockholm Syndrome

9/10

I’ve always preferred the bit after a party where everyone is laid around as the sun comes up to all the dancing and such beforehand. Something chilled bounces of the speaker, people talk with worn voices, the odd person gets up and asks if people want a beer bringing. It’s calm, reflective, the interactions are real, there’s a kindness to everyone’s worn glows, the world is on pause and there’s nothing more important to be doing right now. Madre encapsulates that feeling for me, it’s beats are warm and soft, it’s global influences sprinkled on tastefully, its heart on its sleeve, its ego thoroughly dimmed. Madre is all those rare early mornings happily spent just being myself, surrounded by others doing the same.

Song Picks: Madres, How Music Makes You Feel Better, Estacion Esperanza

9/10

1995 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge

December 08, 2023 by Clive in Clive's Album Challenge, Music

So, here we are in 1995, when OJ Simpson’s trial started, 2,000 people died in the Rwanda Massacre, and on the lighter news front Steve Fossett completed the first solo transpacific balloon flight.

Here’s what rateyourmusic.com’s users have as the year’s top 5 albums:

#1 Genius/GZA - Liquid Swords
#2 Death - Symbolic
#3 Mobb Deep - The Infamous
#4 Björk - Post
#5 Radiohead - The Bends

And let’s grab some more from further down the list:

#6 Elliott Smith - Elliott Smith
#7 Three-6 Mafia - Mystic Stylez
#8 Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...
#9 The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
#11 Pulp - Different Class

#15 P J Harvey - To Bring You My Love
#18 Cap'n Jazz - Burritos, Inspiration Point, Fork Balloon Sports, Cards in the Spokes, Automatic Biographies, Kites, Kung Fu, Trophies, Banana Peels We've Slipped On and Egg Shells We've Tippy Toed Over
#29 Guided by Voices - Alien Lanes

Finally, to add another female composed album to the list I’m taking Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill from NPR’s best albums by women of all time list.

Let’s go.

14. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

The Smashing Punpkins

“Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is the third studio album by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. It features a wide array of musical styles, including art rock, grunge, alternative pop, and heavy metal.

Propelled by its lead single "Bullet with Butterfly Wings", the album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 246,500 units. It remains the band's only album to top the Billboard 200. Lauded by critics for its ambition and scope, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness earned the band seven Grammy Award nominations in 1997, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year ("1979").” - Wikipedia

It's so long I find it hard to find time to absorb it attentively in one sitting, which I'm sure would up it in my estimations. As it is, I really enjoy it every time I put it on, but it rarely wows me or feels particularly cohesive.

Song Picks: 1979, Bullet with Butterfly Wings

7/10

“Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... (commonly referred to as the Purple Tape) is the debut studio album by American rapper and Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon. The album was loosely composed to play like a film with Raekwon as the "star", fellow Wu-Tang member Ghostface Killah as the "guest-star", and producer RZA as the "director". It features appearances from every member of the Wu-Tang Clan. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... has received acclaim from music critics and writers over the years, with many lauding it as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time.” - Wikipedia

Everything here is very solid, the beats, the rhymes, the vocals, it just hasn't quite grabbed me as much as other hip hop releases this decade.

Song Picks: Criminology, Rainy Dayz

7/10

“Mystic Stylez is the debut studio album by American hip hop group Three 6 Mafia. Produced completely by founding members DJ Paul and Juicy J, the LP was published via Prophet, an independent record label.” - Wikipedia

Our first ‘horrorcore’ record lives up to the genre name with lyrics of murder, blood, violence, more blood, satanism, and other such delights. It’s thematically cohesive, and tied together by a bunch of haunting and intimidating beats. There is restbite in more relaxing tracks like Da Summa, and overall I thoroughly enjoyed my journey through this gory mess.

Song Picks: Da Summa, Break Da Law ’95’, Mystic Styles

8/10

11. Jagged Little Pill

Alanis Morisette

“Jagged Little Pill is the third studio album by Canadian singer Alanis Morissette. It marked a stylistic departure from the dance-pop sound of her first two albums, Alanis (1991) and Now Is the Time (1992). The lyrics touch upon themes of aggression and unsuccessful relationships, while Ballard introduced a pop sensibility to Morissette's angst. Rolling Stone ranked Jagged Little Pill at number 69 on its 2020 list of ‘The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time’.” - Wikipedia

Yes, most of the things in Ironic aren’t actually ironic, but maybe that’s ironic in itself? Meta. Jagged Little Pill is full of powerfully sung melodies; Morissette’s cleaner, and technically impressive vocals soaring above instrumentation clearly influenced by grunge. A punk bluntness, a poppy accessibility, and a rough instrumental texture all combine to create a darn punchy record.

Song Picks: Forgiven, You Oughta Know, Ironic

8.5/10

“Different Class (released in Japan as Common People) is the fifth studio album by English rock band Pulp. The album was a critical and commercial success, entering the UK Albums Chart at number one and winning the 1996 Mercury Music Prize. Widely acclaimed as among the greatest albums of the Britpop era, in 2013, NME ranked the album at number six in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time while Rolling Stone ranked it number 162 in their 2020 revised version of the same list.” - Wikipedia

They're from Sheffield, I live in Sheffield, so that's at least a bonus point. Seriously though, this is just great, relatable songwriting. Cocker's lyrics are so simple every song plays like an anthem and his accented delivery was to inspire a whole heap of indie bands in my youth. Musically it's simple, serves the songs, and doesn't invite much comment other than 'sounds solid, mate', but Cocker’s anthemic vocals (both lyrically and vocally) put Different Class thoroughly in ‘great’ territory. It's a bit daft how many bangers are on this thing really.

Song Picks: Common People, Disco 2000,

8.5/10

“Symbolic is the sixth studio album by American death metal band Death. It is the only album to feature Bobby Koelble and Kelly Conlon on guitar and bass, respectively, and the second and last album to feature drummer Gene Hoglan. The album has received unanimous critical acclaim.” - Wikipedia

I’m not sure what there is left to say about Death, the band that is, not the thing we’re all hurtling towards. This is another technically brilliant and pulverising death metal record, the title’s a bit tame though isn’t it?

8.5/10

“Liquid Swords is the second solo studio album by American rapper and Wu-Tang Clan member GZA. The album heavily samples dialogue from the martial arts film Shogun Assassin and maintains a dark atmosphere throughout, incorporating lyrical references to chess, crime and philosophy.

Liquid Swords received critical acclaim for its complex lyricism and hypnotic musical style. Over the years, its recognition has grown, with a number of famous publishers proclaiming it to be one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. In 2007, the Chicago Tribune cited it as "one of the most substantial lyrical journeys in hip-hop history". - Wikipedia

Liquid production, and lyrics that slice like freshly sharpened swords. Seriously though, this thing sounds crystal clear. GZA’s lyrical content aligns pretty strongly with Wu-Tang Clan’s, it’s operating on an intellectual plane above most lyrics out there, and the whole thing feels like something created by that cool kid in the corner who does his own thing and has no care for stepping into the middle of the room. Not because he’s in any way shy, but because he’s confident enough not to feel the need. Liquid Swords feels meditative due to it’s gorgeously repetitive samples, and GZA and his features’ vocals rarely demand attention in their tone as much as in their content. It’s reassured, and refreshingly confident in its quietness when comapred to other hip-hop albums of the time.

Song Picks: Gold, Cold World, Shadowboxin’

8.5/10

“Alien Lanes is the eighth full-length album by American lo-fi band Guided by Voices. According to James Greer's book the advance for the record was close to a hundred thousand dollars, one of the more expensive deals in Matador's history. In contrast to the lucrative deal, Greer mentions that "The cost for recording Alien Lanes, if you leave out the beer, was about ten dollars." - Wikipedia

The strokes of genius are still here in spades, and there's that lightning in a bottle feeling of it being captured at its source, it's just not quite as magical as it is on Bee Thousand, mainly because it's interspersed with 20 second 'songs' that don't add much, and only serve to break up the flow. Nevertheless, Alien Lanes is another celebration of songwriting above all else, and despite its flaws, it’s still glorious.

Song Picks: As We Go Up, We Go Down, Game of Pricks, A Good Flying Bird, Pimple Zoo, King and Caroline, Little Whirl

9/10

“Elliott Smith is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. It was preceded by the single "Needle in the Hay". The album is of a similar musical style to Roman Candle in its minimalist, acoustic folk sound. Smith mostly appears alone on his acoustic guitar, although he is occasionally backed up by the odd musical instrument, such as a harmonica and drums. Rolling Stone wrote of the album, ‘the music burrows, digging up gems of structure, melody and lyrical vividness that belie his naïve delivery [...] the sound is hummable pop, slowed and drugged, with tricky but unshowy guitar work driving the melodies forward’.” - Wikipedia

Sometimes I read something by someone else, and they put it much better than I ever could, this is such a case. As highlighted in this lovely Pitchfork review, Rebecca Gates (who sings accompanying vocals on St. Ides Heaven), “wrote about her experience working with Swith in a posthumous collection’s liner notes. She writes about a night , some time later, wandering around Portland with Smith. At one point they’re commiserating about the music industry; she remembers him being moody, wearing a raggedy old raincoat. Then somewhere along the way, they burst into laughter. It’s the kind of vague, half-remembered scene that always comes to mind when I hear these songs. You can see the rain on the street, the moon in the sky. It’s getting dark. They have the whole night ahead of them.”

I agree, there’s some spaced out lamplight too, their silhouettes appear and disappear as they pass them, and each time they’ve swapped sides.

Song Picks: Needle In the Hay, Alphabet Town, Christian Brothers, Clementine

9/10

“To Bring You My Love is the third studio album by the English alternative rock musician PJ Harvey. Recorded after the break-up of the PJ Harvey trio, it stands as her first proper solo album. The songs on the album are heavily influenced by American blues music.

To Bring You My Love is considered to be PJ Harvey's breakthrough. It garnered massive critical acclaim worldwide and became her best-selling studio album. The album was placed on Rolling Stone magazine's original list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.” - Wikipedia

Dark, modern blues. To Bring You My Love is much less aggressive than her previous Rid of Me, but it’s just as confident. Harvey’s vocals range from murmur to scream, and the instrumentation is generally dominated by one instrument repeating a riff, whether that be the low rumbles of a synthesised organ (Working for the Man), the djangle of an acoustic guitar (Send His Love to Me) or an absolutely filthy distorted guitar riff (Long Snake Moan). It’s an album very much her own, packed with engrossing tracks, and driven by her gritty, passionate vocals.

Song Picks: Working for the Man, C’mon Billy, To Bring You My Love, Teclo, Long Snake Moan

9/10

“The Infamous (stylized as The Infamous...) is the second studio album by the American hip hop duo Mobb Deep. The album features guest appearances by Nas, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, and Q-Tip. The album's dark style, defined by its evocative melodies, rugged beats, and introspective lyrics concerning crime in New York's inner city neighborhoods, received special recognition and critical praise. In 2020, the album was ranked 369th on Rolling Stone's updated list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” - WIkipedia

I love the production on this thing, everything has this infectiously laid back groove to it, with atmospheric, and at times slightly haunting embelishments. Deep’s vocals are as smooth as yoghurt, and the lyrics work brilliantly both rhythmically, but also when you pay the content close attention. It’s a pretty close to flawless hip-hop album.

Song Picks: Survival of the Fittest, Shook One Pt II, The Start of Your Ending

9/10

**3. Burritos, Inspiration Point, Fork Balloon Sports, Cards in the Spokes, Automatic Biographies, Kites, Kung Fu, Trophies, Banana Peels We've Slipped On and Egg Shells We've Tippy Toed Over**

Cap’n Jazz

“Burritos, Inspiration Point, Fork Balloon Sports, Cards in the Spokes, Automatic Biographies, Kites, Kung Fu, Trophies, Banana Peels We've Slipped On and Egg Shells We've Tippy Toed Over is the only full-length studio album by the American emo band Cap'n Jazz. It is also referred to as the Shmap'n Shmazz LP. For a long period of time, the record in its original form was completely out of print—only recently has it been reissued on Polyvinyl Records on cassette tape and digitally.” - Wikipedia

Well, that’s easily the longest album name we’ve had on the challenge isn’t it? I’ll stick with Shmap’n Shmazz LP. This is a gloriously cathartic and messy gem of an album. It sounds like 3 (or 4?) blokes got into the basement, all wanted to play something different, and one of them was having a slightly pretentious and very loud emotional breakdown. Frontman Mike Kinsella says it was more a ‘weirdo punk band’ than an emo one, and that makes sense. There’s a definite ‘we’re just going to make a racket and have fun’ punk mentality to the record, and there’s also the feeling that not too much thought was given to song structures, or indeed anything. It sounds like they bumped into each other, got out their respective instruments, and created some chaos that just happened to turn out rather spectacular. Of course, the band split up shortly after this album’s release, but their coming together to create this feels like one of the universe’s random little miracles.

Song Picks: Little League, Oh Messy Life

9/10

“Post is the second studio album by Icelandic singer Björk. Continuing the style developed on her first album Debut (1993), Björk conceived of Post as a bolder and more extroverted set of songs than its predecessor, featuring an eclectic mixture of electronic and dance styles such as techno, trip hop, IDM, and house, but also ambient, jazz, industrial, and experimental music. She wrote most of the songs after moving to London, and intended the album to reflect her new life in the city.

Considered an important exponent of art pop, Post has been praised by critics for its ambition and timelessness. It was named one of the greatest albums of 1995 by numerous publications, and has since been named one of the greatest albums of all time by publications including Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone.” - Wikipedia

Post is a wonderfully creative mix of genres that somehow manages to feel completely cohesive, despite its remarkable variety. Post is poppy, though it doesn’t deal in catchy-choruses preferring instead spontaneous, often theatrical melodies. It’s these melodies, performed with aplomb by Bjork, that hold the shattered fragments of musical crystal together

Song Picks: Army of Me, I Miss You, Hyper-Ballad

9/10

“The Bends is the second studio album by the English rock band Radiohead. The Bends combines guitar songs and ballads, with more restrained arrangements and cryptic lyrics than Radiohead's debut album, Pablo Honey (1993).

It is frequently named one of the greatest albums of all time, and was included in the third edition of Colin Larkin's “All Time Top 1000 Albums” and all three editions of Rolling Stone's “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” list. The Bends is credited for influencing a generation of post-Britpop acts, such as Coldplay, Muse and Travis.” - Wikipedia

Radiohead have arrived, The Bends is probably my favourite straightforward alt-rock album of all time. Thom Yorke’s vocals soar like some sad, sad bird across a full moon, plucking my heart-strings like a Spanish guitar. It’s an album that is packed with great songs from start to finish, but one that also works thematically, managing to keep a feeling that could easily get tiresome going for its entire duration in such a way that when it finishes you want to put it straight back on again. I want to live my life to those emotive chord changes and Yorke’s melancholy vocals. Sometimes it’s fun to be sad you know?

Song Picks: High and Dry, Fake Plastic Trees, Street Spirit (Fade Out)

9.5/10

1994 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge

October 26, 2023 by Clive

Well hello there 1994, we have reached the half way point of the 90s. 1994 was the year that Nelson Mandela was elected President of South Africa, thousands tragically died as part of the brutal Rwanda massacre, OJ Simpson was arrested, and the Sega Saturn was released.

On the music front, here’s what rateyourmusic.com’s users rate as the year’s top 5 albums:

#1 Nas - Illmatic
#2 Portishead - Dummy
#3 Nine Inch Nails - Downward Spiral
#4 Jeff Buckley - Grace
#5 Notorious BIG - Born to Die

I’ll also grab this lot from further down the list:

#6 Pavement - Crooked Rain, Croked Rain
#7 Weezer - Weezer (Blue Album)
#8 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Let Love In
#9 Kyuss - Kyuss (Welcome to Sky Valley)
#10 Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works - Volume II
#17 Low - I Could Live In Hope
#18 Digable Planets - Blowout Comb
#27 Guided by Voices - Bee Thousand

And finally, I’ll grab Live Through This by Hole too, as the only album from the year on NPR’s best albums of all time by women list that I haven’t already got in the mix.

I’m going to say it because I’m pretty sure it’s true: 1994 has been the strongest year on this challenge so far. Let’s go.

“I Could Live in Hope is the debut studio album by American indie rock band Low. A reaction to the abrasiveness of alternative rock in the early 1990s, when grunge had reigning popularity, Low "eschewed conventional songwriting in favour of mood and movement." Influenced by Brian Eno and Joy Division, the band, working with long-time producer and New York underground mainstay Mark Kramer, favored slow-paced compositions, a minimum of instrumentation and an economy of language.” - Wikipedia

Low? Slow more like!! Geddit?? Melodic, atmospheric, melancholy, but a little sluggish and unengaging for my tastes. It's like a good band took far too much ketamine. They continued to play beautifully, but you have a persistent urge to give them a kick up the arse.

6.7/10

13. Let Love In

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

“Let Love In is the eighth studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. As of May 2015 it was certified silver by British Phonographic Industry for 60,000 sold units in UK. As of January 1996 the album has sold 50,000 copies in United States.” - Wikipedia

Let Love In is as heavy as Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Get, but not in the distorted guitar kind of a way that more exemplified the decade and more in Cave’s heavily reverbed vocals howling over the top of crashing drum cymbals which fizz like a 20 foot bottle of coke that’s been opened after falling off a cliff kind of a way. But the album’s not all about making a din, Red Right Hand, which most people now know as the theme song to Peaky Blinders, rumbles along softly, Cave’s growl hypnotising with his delivery and lyrical poetics.

Song Picks: Loverman, Do You Love Me, Nobody’s Baby Now

8.5/10

12. Selected Ambient Works Volume II

Aphex Twin

“Selected Ambient Works Volume II is the second studio album by Aphex Twin, the pseudonym of British electronic musician Richard D. James. Billed as a follow-up to James' debut Selected Ambient Works 85–92, the album differs in sound by being largely beatless ambient music. James claimed that it was inspired by lucid dreaming, and likened the music to "standing in a power station on acid.” - Wikipedia

I’m not sure I can do a better job of describing it than James does above to be honest. Maybe add the fact the aforementioned powerstation is also flying through space. It’s ambient in a much less relaxing way than Aphex Twin’s debut, and focuses more on tension and unease than any kind of relaxation. Very much a ‘headphone’ album, or one that needs to be on so loud it envelops you. This is not background music like the word ‘ambient’ might have you believe. It’s transportative, haunting and fascinating. An anxious meditation through the black between the stars.

8.5/10

“Blowout Comb is the second studio album by American hip hop group Digable Planets. On Blowout Comb, Digable Planets abandoned the radio friendly style of their debut album and worked with a more ambitious, stripped-down sound. The album features a diverse range of samples and live instruments, and contains lyrical themes of the inner city and black nationalism. Shortly after the release of Blowout Comb, Digable Planets broke up due to creative differences and displeasure with the music industry. Blowout Comb is often regarded as Digable Planets' best album, and has gained an underground following in later years.” - Wikipedia

Blowout Comb is the kind of album that you can stick on in the background and people will immediately ask ‘what’s this, sounds dope man’ or whatever the kids say nowadays. It’s a bit like a soul-injected, warmer and more wholesome version of those lo-fi hip-hop playlists you get advertised all the time to help you study. Its chillness makes it about as accessible as any hip-hop album from the early 90s, and its vocals are embedded in the mix in a way where they feel part of the music, and certainly don’t demand your attention. Pay attention to them though, and you’ll unlock the album’s greater depth, which is very much a worthwhile effort.

Song Picks: Highing Fly, Jettin’

8.5/10

“Live Through This is the second studio album by the American alternative rock band Hole. Recorded in late 1993, it departed from the band's unpolished hardcore aesthetics to more refined melodies and song structure. Frontwoman Courtney Love said that she wanted the record to be "shocking to the people who think that we don't have a soft edge", but maintain a harsh sensibility. In critical circles, Live Through This is considered a contemporary classic, and was included in Rolling Stone's 2020 updated list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time at number 106.” - WIkipedia

Famously released four days after her husband, Kurt Cobain, was found dead in a greenhouse, Live Through This is full of masterly songs. A load of sexist men of course immediately claimed that Cobain must have written these songs, seemingly incapable of comprehending that she might have done it herself, which she clearly did, as this Pitchfork review explains, should you really need an explanation. Love’s vocals go from gritty screams to breathier notes, but one thing is consistent; everything has a powerful melody. The band hits hard, and provides a great backdrop, but it’s Love’s powerful vocals that propel this record to greatness. You can practically hear the influence propelling out of Love’s mouth into the 2000s. Only the sexism which it makes frequent reference to could hold back such a cracking album from being as well known in the mainstream as some of the decade’s other rock classics.

Song Picks: Violet, Doll Parts, I Think That I Would Die

9/10

“The Downward Spiral is the second studio album by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. It is a concept album detailing the self-destruction of a man from the beginning of his misanthropic "downward spiral" to his suicidal breaking point. The album was a commercial success and established Nine Inch Nails as a reputable force in the 1990s music scene, with its sound being widely imitated, and the band receiving media attention and multiple honors.” - Wikipedia

It’s hard to imagine a downward spiral starting at Mr. Self Destruct, which would be the chaotic end point of any other album attempting this concept. Not here though, NIN decide they want to start with completely manic, and spiral even further into uncharted territory. Downward Spiral pushes the boundaries of how carnal something so heavily electronic can sound, everything is pushed so hard it distorts into static fuzz, a relentless anger run through a bitcrusher pedal. Most of nu-metal has Downward Spiral to thank for its existence, and its remarkable industrial brutality sticks with you long after those last dying fizzy heartbeats.

Song Picks: Heresy, Ruiner, A Warm Place, Reptile, Hurt

9/10

“Dummy is the debut studio album by English electronic music band Portishead. The album received critical acclaim and won the 1995 Mercury Music Prize. It is often credited with popularising the trip hop genre, and is frequently cited in lists of the best albums of the 1990s. Dummy was certified triple platinum in the UK in February 2019, and had sold 920,000 copies in the United Kingdom as of September 2020. Worldwide, the album had sold 3.6 million copies by 2008.” - Wikipedia

Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley’s sparse arrangements sound like blues tracks that have been slowed and warped into something sounding more like the inside of a space-station. On their own they’d be transportive, beguiling and dark enough, but couple this with Beth Gibbons’ haunting vocals and you’ve got yourself an album that’s not only dark but melancholy, though not in woe is this rather than a woe is me way. Dummy has so many timless productions on it it’s almost unfair, and its influence alongside fellow Bristolians Massive Attack is obvious. Listening in context like this, it’s also obvious how unique this was when it first appeared. Mystical, cold, and yet intimate. Some of these tracks will continue to roam around the zeitgeist like gorgeous ghosts.

Song Picks: Numb, Glory Box, Roads, Biscuit,

9/10

“Welcome to Sky Valley (also known as Sky Valley and Kyuss) is the third studio album by American rock band Kyuss. The album has been described as stoner rock and stoner metal. This is the first Kyuss album to feature bassist Scott Reeder, who replaced Nick Oliveri in 1992. Welcome to Sky Valley was the last to feature founding member Brant Bjork.” - Wikipedia

The opener Gardenia is absolute guitar and bass riff heaven, they weave in and out of each other like some unruly helix, flinging you around in a majestic tornado of distortion. Absolutely one of my favourite tracks of the year. The rest ain’t half bad either, with Josh Homme’s guitar work igniting synapses in my brain I never knew existed. It’s so damn earthy and heavy I feel like I’ve been aurally cleansed. I know I’m prone to hyperbole, but this is honestly one of my favourite guitar albums so far on this challenge.

Song Picks: Gardenia, Demon Cleaner, Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop

9.5/10

“Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain is the second studio album by American indie rock band Pavement. The album saw the band move on towards a more accessible rock sound than that of their more lo-fi debut Slanted and Enchanted and achieve moderate success with the single "Cut Your Hair". The album also saw original drummer Gary Young replaced by Steve West. It was a UK Top 20 hit upon release, although it was not so successful in the US charts.” - Wikipedia

Stephen Malkmus’s vocals created a whole genre. The band cleaned up the noisy lo-fi sound of their debut into a slightly less noisy, mid-fi instrumental sound sung over in a spontaneous, melodic and dynamic fashion. There’s a humility to Malkmanus’ vocals that makes them sound like anyone, even if they are very much his own, and I could reel off at least 10 bands off the top of my head who are clearly heavily influenced by his style. I’m not sure if any of them have topped this masterpiece though, which is packed wall to wall with infectious indie-rock, before that really existed.

Song Picks: Gold Soundz. Silence Kid, Filmore Jive

9.5/10

“Ready to Die is the debut studio album by American rapper The Notorious B.I.G. The album features productions by Bad Boy founder Sean "Puffy" Combs, Easy Mo Bee, Chucky Thompson, DJ Premier, and Lord Finesse, among others. The partly autobiographical album tells the story of the rapper's experiences as a young criminal, and was the only studio album released during his lifetime, as he was murdered sixteen days before the release of his second album Life After Death in 1997. It has been ranked by many critics as one of the greatest hip hop albums, as well as one of the greatest albums of all time. In 2020, the album was ranked 22nd on Rolling Stone's updated list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and was ranked 1st on their list of the 200 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of All Time.” - Wikipedia

With slick beats, a well executed concept (starting with his birth, ending in his suicide) - and lyrics grounded in the reality of Notorious BIG’s drug-dealer life, Ready to Die just might be my favourite pure gangsta-rap album. Biggie’s rapping absolutely takes centre stage. He has a style that is both relaxed, and completely engaging, never letting his rhymes get in the way of his storytelling, and yet peppering his songs with them. Like everyone who’s a master of their craft, he makes it all sound so effortless; even the gunfights are laid back. This is so much more than your average gangsta-rap boast album and while Biggie is quite happy to brag, at one point about his penis, he’s generally more interested in telling crazy stories of what, to him, was normality.

Song Picks: Gimmer the Loot, Machine Gun Funk, Warning, Juicy

9.5/10

“Grace is the only studio album by American singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley,. The album had poor sales and received mixed reviews at the time of its release. However, in recent years it has dramatically risen in critical reputation. It is currently certified 8× platinum in Australia. The album has been cited by critics and listeners as one of the greatest albums of all time.” - Wikipedia

An appropriate title, Grace sounds like it was dropped from the heavens. Buckley has probably the most perfect male falsetto in popular music, and the production on this thing is just gorgeous. The drums pitter-patter, caressing your ears, the acoustic guitar also gently strokes your ears (but not in a weird way) and the bass gives your ears a wholesome warmth. Hell, I’m writing utter nonsense now. It’s just beautiful ok??! Dynamic, beautifully melodic, and as clear as spring water, Grace is a singer-songwriter masterpiece.

Song Picks: Grace, last Goodbye, Mojo Pin, Lover, You Should’ve Come Over

9.5/10

“Weezer (commonly known as the Blue Album) is the debut studio album by the American rock band Weezer. It was produced by Ric Ocasek, former lead singer and songwriter of the Cars.” - Wikipedia

Weezer’s songs are simple and made up pretty much entirely of eigth-note downstrokes, with the bass playing exactly the same as the guitar. The result is a thick, pulverising guitar sound, but instead of screaming over the top like the decade’s grunge bands, Rivers Cuomo sings simple, effective melodies and performs them with a simultaenous passion and apathy that I’m not sure anyone else has ever managed to pull off. His melodies are poppy, and his voice matches the band’s famously nerdy look. Weezer wears its heart very much on its sleeve and will win you over on the first listen, somehow however, it manages to still win you over on the thousandth.

Song Picks: The World Has Turned and Left Me Here, Buddy Holly, Undone, In the Garage

9.5/10

“Bee Thousand is the seventh album by American indie rock band Guided by Voices, released on June 21, 1994, on Scat Records. After its release the band became one of the more prominent groups associated with the "lo-fi" genre, a movement defined by the relatively low fidelity of audio releases. Musically, the album draws inspiration from British Invasion-era rock music and punk rock.” - Wikipedia

Here’s the review I wrote on rateyourmusic.com when I first fell in love with this album back in 2017, which I think still sums up my feelings on this today.

“A 10 for me doesn't mean it's perfect. It just means it's got something magical about it. I mean the recording quality is bad and there's definitely some songs that don't live up to the genius of others but overall I've just completely fallen in love with this album. As someone else has said, it's like if your mate handed you a tape he'd recorded in his basement and it somehow turned out to be one of your favourite albums. There's something magical about the fact that something so badly recorded, with fragments of songs plonked on the start of others among other seemingly chaotic decisions, can be this amazing. And yet if anyone says this would have been better if recorded 'properly' I'll hit them in the face. Those great chords after “parallel lines on a slow decline, tractor rape chain” would sound nowhere near as good if polished. It's those strange overtones and untamed frequencies that make it sound so amazing. I think the recording gives it a really intimate and relatable feel that is a big part of its magic. That and the fact Pollard just writes great songs, or fragments of songs.”

I think I’d add to this simply by saying, Bee Thousand to me represents that feeling of when you first come up with a great song idea, but before it’s necessarily a fully developed one. There’s something magic to that lighning in a bottle that somehow the later, more developed song, often doesn’t recreate. Bee Thousand is packed with fantastic ideas, seemingly caught in their inception, and there’s something really unforgettable about that.

Song Picks: Hardcore UFO's, Buzzards and Dreadful Crows, Tractor Rape Chain, Awful Bliss, I am A Scientist

10/10

“Illmatic is the debut studio album by American rapper Nas. The album's production was handled by DJ Premier, Large Professor, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, L.E.S., and Nas himself. Styled as a hardcore hip hop album, Illmatic features multi-syllabic internal rhymes and inner-city narratives based on Nas' experiences growing up in the Queensbridge Houses in Queens, New York City.

Since its initial reception, Illmatic has been recognized by writers and music critics as a landmark album in East Coast hip hop. Its influence on subsequent hip hop artists has been attributed to the album's production and Nas' lyricism. It also contributed to the revival of the New York City rap scene, introducing a number of stylistic trends to the region. The album is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential hip hop albums of all time, appearing on numerous best album lists by critics and publications.” - Wikipedia

1994 has been a stupednously strong year on this challenge, probably the strongest, but I always knew that Illmatic would come out as the winner. It’s the album that got me into hip-hop, and 100s of hip-hop albums later remains my favourite in the genre. Nas’ lyricism flows so effortlessly, every line a rat-a-tat-tat of internal rhymes to the tune of a Queensbridge night.

The best line though, belogs to AZ, though the delivery has to be heard for it to be fully appreciated:

“Keepin' this Schweppervescent street ghetto essence inside us
'Cause it provides us with the proper insight to guide us”

Where Illmatic is just unfair, is that not only does it have some of the best rapping ever recorded, but its beats are also consistently mindblowing. I find it impossible to walk to Illmatic without a pep in my step, the bass lines filling my blood with groove and the treble like the clinking glasses on a café lit Parisian street. The beats smooth rapping juxtopose the chaotic lyrical content pefectly.

Every time I put on Illmatic I think, ‘there’s no way it can possibly be as good as I remember’. I’m always wrong, it’s one of music’s greatest masterpieces.

Song Picks: Life’s a Bitch, Halftime, Memory Lane, It Ain’t Hard to Tell

10/10

1993 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge

September 28, 2023 by Clive in Music, Clive's Album Challenge

1993 was the year the Maastricht Treaty took effect, creating the European Union, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was appointed to Supreme Court and River Phoenix died of a drug overdose on Halloween, aged 23.

Rateyourmusic.com’s users have these as the top five albums of the year:

#1 Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
#2 Slowdive - Souvlaki
#3 A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders
#4 Nirvana - In Utero
#5 Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream

I’m also grabbing this lot from further down the list:

#7 Red House Painters - Red House Painters [Rollercoaster]
#9 De La Soul - Buhloone Mindstate
#10 Snoop Doggy Dogg - Doggystyle
#11 Yo La Tengo - Painful
#13 Björk - Debut

Finally, here’s some others, voted onto NPR’s all-time best albums by women list:

PJ Harvey - Rid of Me
Liz Phair - Exile in Guyvvile

Off we go…

“Doggystyle is the debut studio album by American rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg. The album was recorded and produced following Snoop's appearances on Dr. Dre's debut solo album The Chronic (1992), to which Snoop contributed significantly. The West Coast style in hip-hop that he developed from Dre's first album continued on Doggystyle. Critics have praised Snoop Dogg for the lyrical "realism" that he delivers on the album and for his distinctive vocal flow. - Wikipedia

Snoop’s debut doesn’t hold a candle to the year’s other hip-hop releases in terms of sophistication but it does compete, and potentially beat them all, on the fun scale. I suspect that’s the only scale Snoop cares about. Snoop’s flow is unique, playful and catchy, though his lyrics are controversial (read misogynistic). It’s backloaded, which I guess is appropriate given the album’s title and cover…

Song Picks: G-Funk Intro, Serial Killa, Who I Am

7.5/10

Souvlaki is the second studio album by English rock band Slowdive. On its initial release, Souvlaki peaked at number 51 on the UK Albums Chart and was greeted with tepid reviews from critics. It has since received retrospective critical acclaim and has been hailed as a classic of the shoegaze genre. - Wikipedia

Want to be bathed in atmospheric, cathedralic, sustained guitar notes, gently strummed chords, patted drums, and wistful melodies that sound like they’ve been slowed down ten percent or so? Souvlaki is the album for you. It does all that, and it’s absolutely gorgeous to boot.

Song Picks: Alison, Dagger

7.5/10

10. Midnight Marauders

A Tribe Called Quest

“Midnight Marauders is the third studio album by American hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest.Its production was mainly handled by Q-Tip, with contributions from Skeff Anselm, Large Professor and the group's DJ, Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A culmination of the group's two previous albums, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm and The Low End Theory, it features an eclectic, gritty sound based on jazz, funk, soul and R&B samples, in addition to socially conscious, positively-minded, and humorous lyrics.

The album received mostly positive reviews from critics upon release. In the following years, Midnight Marauders has acquired further acclamation from within the hip hop community for its production, chemistry and influence, with some regarding it as the group's best work, and one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. “ - Wikipedia

I’m not surprised that Q-Tip, the man in charge of the beats on this album, was also involved with the beats on Nas’ Illmatic, my favourite hip-hop album of all time. Midnight Marauders has me bopping to every track, it suffers with the repetitiveness that I think all ATCQ albums suffer from a little, and I found the greater variety in the beats and instrumentation on De la Soul’s Buhloone Mindstate more able to keep my attention, but this is another rock solid hip-hop album that excels when you really pay attention to the socially conscious lyrics.

Song Picks: Award Tour, Eye Patch

8/10

“Debut is the international debut studio album by Icelandic recording artist Björk. It was Björk's first recording following the dissolution of her previous band, the Sugarcubes. The album departed from the rock style of her previous work and drew from an eclectic variety of styles, including electronic pop, house music, jazz and trip hop.” - Wikipedia

Debut is definitely eclectic - one minute you’re listening to to pumping disco on There’s More Than This, the next the delicate harp trappings of Like Someone in Love - which wouldn’t feel out of place as a song Audrey Hepburn might play out of a window on an acoustic guitar. It’s an album that is packed with creativity, well thought out production, great vocal performances and a sense of mischief. Serious mischief.

Song Picks: Venus as a Boy, Like Someone in Love, Big Time Sensuality

8/10

8. Red House Painters (Rollercoaster)

Red House Painters

“Red House Painters is the second album by American band Red House Painters. The album is often referred to as Rollercoaster or Red House Painters I to distinguish it from the band's second eponymous album, often referred to as Bridge. A double album, Red House Painters features fourteen songs culled from bandleader Mark Kozelek's back-catalog. The album received highly positive reviews from critics upon release, with praise directed at the album's melancholic instrumentation and emotional depth.” - Wikipedia

Kozalek is the master of ‘this too will pass’ resigned sadness. His music is undoubtedly melancholy, but also glows with a warm hope. Musically, the beats per minute rarely go above ‘slow’ territory, and the instrumentation is blurry and uncommited - a slow jam. Kozalek’s melodies are effortless, wistful, and, to me, eminate a feeling of nostalgia, much like the album’s evocative cover.

Song Picks: Grace Cathedral Park, Mistress, Take Me Out

8.5/10

“Painful is the sixth studio album by American indie rock band Yo La Tengo. The album marked a creative shift from Yo La Tengo's previous work, blending atmospheric and ambient sounds with their famous noise jams. Painful features a much more melody-driven Yo La Tengo in its hazy, dream-like songwriting.” - Wikipedia

Annoyingly Wikipedia has stolen the two adjectives I mainly wanted to use to describe this album. Dreamy and hazy. The soft, often mumbled melodies blend with hypnotic synth and guitar lines that weave in and out of each other like an unpredictable strand of DNA flying through space, as it slowly expands and contracts. Something like that anyway. I love Painful, it takes me to a new place, one that is mostly a soft cloudy dreamscape, but that also throws plenty of tension at you to remind you just how comfortable that cloud you were on a minute ago was.

Song Picks: The Whole of the Law, A Worrying Thing, I Heard You Looking

9/10

“Siamese Dream is the second studio album by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. Despite the album's recording sessions being fraught with difficulties and tensions, Siamese Dream debuted at number ten on the Billboard 200, and was eventually certified 4× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), with the album selling over six million copies worldwide, cementing the Smashing Pumpkins as a significant group in alternative music.

The album received widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike, with its musical influences and lyrical material standing out compared to other releases during the alternative rock and grunge movements of its time. The album has since been considered "one of the finest alternative rock albums", and is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of the 1990s and of all time.” - Wikipedia

Smashing Pumpkins are just a bloody good band you know? The bass, drums and sawing guitar riffs go together like the finest honey and err… yoghurt. Lead singer Billy Corgan wanted the thing to sound huge, but not too reverby, and producer Butch Vigg duly complied by compressing up to 100 guitar tracks per song to create a guitar sound thicker than clotted cream. It’s a miracle that Jimmy Chamberlain’s deft drumming can be heard at all, but it’s not only audible but damn punchy too. Corgan’s hushed falsetto is one of alternative rock’s most recognisable, and sits above the comfortably warm production perfectly, inviting you in. In a decade where alternative rock really took off, Siamese Dream gave the genre a kick up the arse much like one of its punchy quiet to loud transitions.

Song Picks: Cherub Rock, Silverfuck, Quiet, Mayonaise, Today, Hummer

9/10

5. Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

Wu-Tang Clan

“Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) is the debut studio album by the American hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan. The album was produced by the group's de facto leader RZA. Its title originates from the martial arts films Enter the Dragon (1973) and The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978).

Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) has since been widely regarded as one of the most significant albums of the 1990s, as well as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. In 2020, the album was ranked 27th on Rolling Stone's updated list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” - Wikipedia

Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) is a hip-hop masterpiece. Gritty beats, seamless chemistry between its multiple distinctive and talented rappers, and an influence that is obvious in oodles of subsequent releases in the genre (particularly East Coast hip-hop). 36 Chambers is both accessible as an album to switch off and bop to, and deep as a studyable piece of art. Tracks like C.R.E.A.M and Can It All Be So Simple feature some of the slickest beats ever put to tape.

Song Picks: Bring da Ruckus, Can It Be All So Simple, C.R.E.A.M, Tearz

9/10

“Buhloone Mindstate is the third studio album by American hip hop group De La Soul. It was the group's last record to be produced with Prince Paul.” - Wikipedia

A relentlessly smooth record, the beats and vocals drip with condensation like an ice cold can of your favourite beverage. As refreshing lyrically as we’ve come to expect from De la Soul, complete with the perfect amount of jazz influence (Maceo Parker’s saxophone is particularly sublime on I Be Blowin’) to nail a certain ambience. It’s hard to fault Bohloone Mindstate, and you’ll be so lost in it’s chill you’ll feel no need to.

Song Picks: Eye Patch, En Focus , I Be Blowin’

9.5/10

“Rid of Me is the second studio album by English singer-songwriter and musician PJ Harvey. It marked a departure from Harvey's previous songwriting, being more raw and aggressive than its predecessor.

Most of the songs on the album were recorded by Steve Albini. Rid of Me was met with critical acclaim, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of the 1990s and of all time, ranking at number 153 on the 2020 version of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (up from 406 on the list's previous edition).” - Wikipedia

Rid of Me is a gritty, raw masterpiece of aggressive vocals and pulverising and rotating guitar riffs. Produced in a manner where the quiet sections are actually quiet, and thus the louder sections hit like a truck, it’s one of the most cathartic albums I’ve heard on this challenge for a long time. Harvey’s vocals are unpredictable, angry, raw and brilliant, and she has an unbelievable knack of jumping from superb riff to superb riff while all the while making it sound completely spontaneous. Rid of Me is pent up energy released through shouts and distorted guitar, and you can bet if it had been recorded by a man it’d be up there in discussions with Nirvana’s finest, and as you’ll see later there’s really no higher praise I can give it.

Song Picks: Highway ‘61 Revisited, Man-Size, Rid of Me, Missed

9.5/10

“Exile in Guyville is the debut album by American singer-songwriter Liz Phair. The album received critical acclaim and in 2020, it was ranked No. 56 by Rolling Stone in its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. It was certified gold in 1998 and as of July 2010 it had sold 491,000 copies.” - Wikipedia

Exile in Guyville is a tour-de-force in stripped down punk attitude and catchy riffs and vocals. It injects a large, and much needed, dose of the female perspective into the singer-songwriter sphere with brutal honesty, plenty of swearing, and vocals that defy the ‘pretty’ ones that were expected from female solo efforts. All this would be great on its own, but what really sets this album apart is that it is so chock-full of great, memorable, and thoroughly accessible songs, which for an album nearly 60 minutes long is more than impressive.

Song Picks: 6”1”, Never Said, Dance of the Seven Veils, Explain it to Me, Johnny Sunshine

9.5/10

“In Utero is the third and final studio album by the American rock band Nirvana. After breaking into the mainstream with their second album, Nevermind (1991), Nirvana hired Steve Albini to record In Utero, seeking a more complex, abrasive sound that was also reminiscent of their debut album, Bleach (1989).

In Utero was a major commercial and critical success. Critics praised the album’s raw, unconventional sound and Cobain's lyricism. The album is certified 5x platinum in the US and has sold 15 million copies worldwide. It was the final Nirvana album before Cobain's suicide in 1994.” - Wikipedia

In Utero is quite probably the most cathartic album ever recorded. It roars and bangs with a primal rage unlike anything else. Dave Grohl drums like an ape, Cobain bashes out power chords with a similar angry simplicity as he screams and howls. This would have all been for nought though if it had then been cleaned up and sanitised in the studio, but Steve Albini made sure that didn’t happen. In Utero captures the live energy of the band perfectly, hell at some points it sounds as if you can hear Cobain’s vocal chords about to snap (e.g Scentless Apprentice) as he shouts about his inner turmoil. As the last album by the band before Cobain blew his head off with a shotgun, it serves as a masterpiece of a goodbye.

Song Picks: Serve the Servants, Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle, Heart Shaped Box

10/10

1992 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge

July 31, 2023 by Clive in Clive's Album Challenge, Music

Here’s a bit of news round-up for 1992. The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was broken up, Bush and Yeltsin proclaimed a formal end to the Cold War, Bill Clinton was elected president and Mae Jemison became the first African American woman to go into space, on board Endeavour STS-47.

Onto the music, here’s what our trusty rateyourmusic.com members rate as the year’s top 5 albums:

#1 Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92
#2 Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine
#3 Alice in Chains - Dirt
#4 Sade - Love Deluxe
#5 Tom Waits - Bone Machine

And here’s a few more I’m grabbing from further down the list:

#7 R.E.M - Automatic for the People
#8 The Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde
#18 Dr Dre - The Chronic
#23 Kyuss - Blues for the Red Sun

Finally, here’s some others, voted onto NPR’s all-time best albums by women list:

k.d lang - Ingenue
Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
Annie Lennox - Diva

“Dirt is the second studio album by the American rock band Alice in Chains, released on September 29, 1992, through Columbia Records. Peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart, the album received critical acclaim. It has since been certified 5x Platinum by the RIAA, making Dirt the band's highest selling album to date. The album features dark subject matter, focusing primarily on depression, pain, anger, anti-social behavior, relationships, drug addiction (primarily heroin), war, death, and other emotionally charged topics.” - Wikipedia

Dirt features battering guitar riffs aplenty, which are thoroughly enjoyable, particularly when they explode into action on tracks like Rooster. Unfortunately Layne Thomas Staley’s vocals are a bit too heavy metal for my tastes (I think it’s the warble), which holds it back a little. That’s on me though.

Song Picks: Them Bones, Rain When I Die, Rooster

7/10

11. Selected Ambient Works 85-92

Aphex Twin

“Selected Ambient Works 85–92 is the debut studio album by Aphex Twin, the pseudonym of British electronic musician Richard D. James. In 2012, Selected Ambient Works 85–92 was named the greatest album of the 1990s by Fact. It re-entered the dance chart just after the release of Aphex Twin's 2014 album Syro.” - Wikipedia

Regularly touted as one of the best electronic albums of all time, Selected Ambient Works 85–92 is an infinitely listenable set of tracks that are ambient in their simplicity and repetition, but also more energetic than one would expect from the genre. James didn’t have today’s digital audio workstations which make creating more glitchy, skittery, and cerebral dance music possible, and what results is an album that sounds like a template for other albums to jump off of. A kind of ‘here’s the fundamentals guys, now go write’. I don’t find these fundamentals all that exciting to listen to necessarily, but James does nail an atmosphere here, and it’s an album I can see myself putting on when in a specific mood, but more in the background than to listen to attentively.

Song Picks: Green Calx, Xtal

7.5

“Little Earthquakes is the debut solo album by the American singer-songwriter Tori Amos, featuring the singles Silent All These Years, China, Winter and Crucify. After Atlantic Records rejected the first version of the album, Amos began working on a second version with her then-boyfriend Eric Rosse. The album was first released in the UK on January 6, 1992, where it peaked at number 14 in the charts. It is frequently regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time; it was voted number 73 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000) and ranked number 233 on Rolling Stone's 500 greatest albums of all time.” - Wikipedia

Feels like some sort of 90s prog-pop, which I mean entirely as a compliment. Instrumental skill, powerful vocals, and songs that are unpredictable while never turning inaccessible.

Song Picks: Precious Things, Mother, Crucify

8/10

“Diva is the debut solo studio album by Scottish singer Annie Lennox, released on 6 April 1992 by RCA Records. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number one and has since sold over 1.2 million copies in the UK alone, being certified quadruple platinum.” - Wikipedia

You’d do well to find a better opening salvo to a pop album than the transcendent Why?, the disco hit Broken Glass, and the spanky bass driven Precious. Indeed much of the first half of Diva continues in a similarly brilliant vein. The second half takes a bit of a dip, but still stays around the ‘good’ mark on the x-axis.

Song Picks: Why, Walking on Broken Glass, Precious

8/10

“Ingénue is the second solo album by Canadian singer k.d. lang, released in 1992. It is Lang's most successful album on the pop charts, both in her native Canada and internationally, and has more of a cabaret flavour than her earlier more country-influenced work.” - Wikipedia

A lovely country album sprinkled with some ABBA-like pop-melodies. It’s got soul and heart and all that good stuff in expertly measure spades.

Song Picks: Save Me, Season of Hollow Soul

8/10

“Blues for the Red Sun is the second studio album by American rock band Kyuss, released in 1992. While the album received mainly favorable reviews, it fared poorly commercially, selling only 39,000 units. It has since become a very influential album within the stoner rock genre.” - Wikipedia

This album is all about the fuzzed out serpentine riffs by Josh Homme, who of course went on to front Queens of the Stone Age. John Garcia's vocals tip a little too far into the howling vocals from the 70s and 80s that I'm less keen on, but there's a gruffness there, and a lesser tendency for theatrics which makes them work.

Song Picks: Molten Universe, Caterpillar March, Green Machine

8.5/10

“Love Deluxe is the fourth studio album by English band Sade, released by Epic Records in the United Kingdom on 26 October 1992 and in the United States on 3 November 1992. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album 247th on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In September 2022, Pitchfork ranked Love Deluxe as the 52nd best album of the 1990s.” - Wikipedia

Sade are back with an album that is as lush as an un-touched field of grass after a rainy day. Sade Adu’s vocals are the definiton of smooth, though maintaining a lot more soul than that would suggest, while the production is as irresistible as Lindt milk chocolate. Although certainly not at the forefront, I think Stuart Matthewman’s understated guitar playing deserves specific mention, adding so much texture to tracks, and lifting them - along with Adu’s voice - above other well produced, more generic music in the genre.

Song Picks: No Ordinary Love, Like a Tattoo, Feel No Pain

8.5/10

**5. Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde**

The Pharcyde

“Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde is the debut album by American hip hop collective The Pharcyde, released on November 24, 1992, through the Delicious Vinyl and EastWest labels. Released during the dominant Gangsta rap era of West Coast hip hop, Bizarre Ride was described as "refreshing" due to its playful, light-hearted humor and lush, jazzy production.” - Wikipedia

On initial listen, I thought the lyrics were far too misogynistic for my tastes, but on further listening it’s clear they’re satirising a lot of the Gangsta rap of the time, and that I can appreciate more. This lot can rap, they’re self-depricating and they’re unafraid to make songs that are completely childish (one of them involves them all insulting each others’ mums like some sort of playground argument) in the services of making fun of Gangsta rap song topics of the time. Couple this with some of my favourite hip-hop beats on tracks like Soul Flower and Passing Me By, and you’ve got an album that is just a lot of fun.

Song Picks: Soul Flower. Passing Me By

9/10

“Bone Machine is the eleventh studio album by American singer and musician Tom Waits, released by Island Records on September 8, 1992. It won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album and features guest appearances by David Hidalgo, Les Claypool, Brain, and Keith Richards. The album marked Waits' return to studio albums, coming five years after his previous effort Franks Wild Years (1987). Recorded in a room in the cellar area of Prairie Sun Recording studios, described by Waits as "just a cement floor and a hot water heater", the album is often noted for its rough, stripped-down, percussion-heavy style, as well as its dark lyrical themes revolving around death and chaos.” - Wikipedia

Having had a 5 year breather, Tom Waits returns with another rough and ready effort, this time even more percussion focused than his famous trilogy. Very cohesive, despite the splattered and varied instrumentation, and maintaining an acoustic and busky, basement feel, likely helped by the fact it was actually recorded in a basement. Waits continues to sound unlike anything else out there, and particularly unlike anything else coming out in the 90s. It maybe lacks the drop dead brilliant tracks of some of the aforementioned trilogy, but it's still consistently superb.

Song Picks: Whistle Down the Wind,

9/10

“The Chronic was Dr. Dre's first solo album after he departed the West Coast hip hop group N.W.A and its label Ruthless Records over a financial dispute. It includes insults towards Ruthless and its owner, former N.W.A member and assembler Eazy-E. It features many appearances by then-emerging American rapper Snoop Dogg, who used the album as a launch pad for his own solo career. Dr. Dre's production popularized the G-funk subgenre within gangsta rap. The Chronic has been widely regarded as one of the most important and influential albums of the 1990s and one of the best-produced hip hop albums.” - Wikipedia

Undoubtedly lyrically problematic and offensive - there was no way to diss your mates in the 90s but to insult an entire (already downtrodden) group of people while doing it was there? Misogynistic, homophobic, it’s all there. Look past the dated nature of the lyrics however, and you’ve got an undoubted masterpiece on your hands. Dre’s production here is easily among my very favourite in the hip-hop canon, with beats that have me looking like a seated bobblehead. I’d highly recommend Pitchfork’s excellent review of the album for more intelligent thoughts on it. But it’s safe to say it’s dope, man. No, really, the chronic is literally a type of dope.

Song Picks: Fuck Wit Dre Day, A N***a With a Gun, Nuthing But a “G” Thanng

9/10

R.E.M - Automatic for the People

“Automatic for the People is the eighth studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released by Warner Bros. Records. R.E.M. began production on the album while their previous album, Out of Time (1991), was still ascending top albums charts and achieving global success. Aided by string arrangements from John Paul Jones, Automatic for the People features ruminations on mortality, loss, mourning, and nostalgia.” - Wikipedia

Automatic for the People is the perfect example of a band maturing in a way where they don’t become boring and uninspired, but instead create a masterpiece of self-awareness. It doesn’t hide from the fact the band are aging, and instead embraces it, it knows they aren’t the same R.E.M. as the one in the 80s, and it owns it. Gone are Stipe’s more poetic, abstract and difficult to decipher mumbles, replaced with vocals slightly easier to understand audibly and much easier to understand literally. There’s a simplicity to Automatic for the People, but it’s a simplicity that is also completely its own. Part of that is Stipe’s unique vocals, but it’s also in the melodic bass parts, the jangly and yet sad chords and the overriding sense of melancholy that everything has. Automatic for the People sounds sad, but it’s also beautifully reassuring.

Song Picks: Drive, Man on the Moon, Ignoreland

9.5/10

1. Rage Against the Machine

Rage Against the Machine

“Rage Against the Machine is the debut studio album by American rock band Rage Against the Machine, released by Epic Records. With politically themed, revolutionary lyrical content, the album artwork was notable for featuring a graphic photograph of Thích Quảng Đức performing self-immolation. Rage Against the Machine was a critical success upon release with several critics noting the album's politically motivated agenda and praising Zack de la Rocha's strong vocal delivery.” - Wikipedia

RATM is one of my favourite albums of all time. It soundtracked hundreds of my gym sessions while at university, and Tom Morello continues to be my favourite riff-wizard. His guitar lines on tracks like Wake Up (no, not the Kashmir bit), Killing in the Name of and Bombtrack are the epitome of how powerful a distorted guitar can be in the right hands. They make you want to bounce around with your fist in the air screaming ‘fuck the system!’ at the top of your voice, without a care in the world about how much of a cliché you’ve become. De la Rocha’s vocals are about as angry as it gets, and you can practically hear the spit exiting his mouth after every word. Brad Wilk’s drumming is unspectacular but solid and Tim Commerford’s bass much the same. Instrumentally the band complements each other so well you’d swear they’d been playing together since primary school, and I can’t think of a better vocalist to match their energy and power than Zach (something proven by the fact Audioslave were just not as good). The album does have a few tracks that don’t hit as hard as the rest, but that’s only because the rest hit like a rocket-boosted version of that boat that blocked up the Suez canal.

Lyrically, Zach isn’t saying anything that Public Enemy hadn’t already dissected, but he brought that brand of sharp, political lyricism to a whole new audience. RATM is both incredibly angry and incredibly catchy, and I’m not sure that’s ever been achieved in a similar way since.

Song Picks: Killing in the Name Of, Bombtrack, Wake Up

10/10

1991 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge

May 02, 2023 by Clive in Clive's Album Challenge, Music

Before we get into music, here’s some world events from 1991 to set some context: the South African government repealed apartheid laws, Boris Yeltsin became the first freely elected president of the Russian Republic, and a cease fire ended the Persian Gulf War.

As for music, here’s what rateyourmusic.com users rate as the year’s top 5 albums:

#1 My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
#2 Slint - Spiderland
#3 A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
#4 Talk Talk - Laughing Stock
#5 Nirvana - Nevermind

Here’s some I’m plucking from further down the list:

#6 Death - Human
#8 Swans - White Light from the Mouth of Infinity
#17 Slowdive - Just for a Day
#18 Pearl Jam - Ten

And I’m also adding Bonnie Raitt’s Luck of the Draw, which is the only album I can see from 1991 appearing on various ‘best albums of all time by women’ lists.

That’s 10 albums competing for a coveted best of the year title. Off we go.

“Human is the fourth studio album by American death metal band Death, released on October 22, 1991, by Relativity Records. The album marked the beginning of a major stylistic change for Death, being more technically complex and progressive than the band's previous efforts. Human was released to critical acclaim from music publications and is seen as a pivotal release in the development of the technical death metal subgenre and on extreme metal in general.” - Wikipedia

I have to say Human is a disappointing death-metal album name after Leprosy, the previous album of theirs to grace this challenge. Death remains a superb name for the band though. Chuck Schuldiner’s vocals are angry, the guitar riffs are rapid and technical, and the double-bass drum pedal consistently marches a thudding beat. There’s a refreshing human-ness to the album (no pun intended) as some of the imperfections are kept intact, unlike in a lot of modern metal recordings where everything is quantised and artificially perfected in the studio (I know I have made this point before, sorry). The instrumental skill here is remarkable, but it’s also just damn enjoyable, and has me bopping my head along to its syncopated riffs and beats in ways the doctor would not recommend.

Song Picks: Flattening of Emotions, Cosmic Sea, Suicide Machine

7.5/10

9. The Low End Theory

A Tribe Called Quest

“The Low End Theory is the second studio album by American hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, released on September 24, 1991, by Jive Records. Recording sessions for the album were held mostly at Battery Studios in New York City, from 1990 to 1991. The album was primarily produced by group member Q-Tip, with a minimalist sound that combines bass, drum breaks, and jazz samples, in a departure from the group's debut album, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (1990). The album is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time, appearing on many best album lists by music critics and writers. In 2020, it was ranked at number 43 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” - Wikipedia

The beats are toned back from the previous album, and I think it takes a nifty stereo or set of headphones to pick out the subtleties of the production here. The bass and drums are as laid back and groovy as you can get, but they’re also pretty similar from song to song so when they dominate the album can drag a little. Listen on a balanced system though and you’ll pick out the lovely repeated flourishes that dance on the bass and drums, such as the stuttering guitar riff on Everything Is Fair, the atmospheric synth touches on Jazz (We’ve Got), and the lovely little wah-wah riff on the closer Scenario.

The Low End Theory is a case in masterful grooves production, but it is a victim of its own easy-going nature at times, struggling to fully hold your attention for its 48 minute duration, even if it is probably one of the slickest chill-out room albums of all time.

Song Picks: Excursions, Check the Rhime

8/10

“Luck of the Draw is the eleventh studio album by Bonnie Raitt, released in 1991. The album surpassed Nick of Time's commercial success, having sold seven million copies in the United States alone by 2010, and was supported by a 180-date tour from 1991 to 1993. It remains Raitt's biggest-selling recording to date.” - Wikipedia

Another rock solid country album from Raitt. Great, catchy songwriting and production that makes a genre I often find too samey varied enough to make the 50 minutes fly by. Raitt’s lovely vocal timbre helps too.

Song Picks: One Part Be My Lover, Something to Talk About

8/10

7. White Light from the Mouth of Infinity

Swans

“White Light from the Mouth of Infinity is a studio album by the American experimental rock band Swans. It was released in 1991, through the record label Young God.” - Wikipedia

Gone are the roars and pulverising guitars, replaced by a more gothic sound featuring Gira’s baritone vocals. There’s still not much in terms of song-structure going on, with a free-flowing style that makes the album’s 70 minutes feel like some epic musical poem.

This is definitely less aggressive than Swans’ previous albums, but it is no less dark. An underrated gem in my opinion, with a rawness to it that you might expect from a band first stepping into a new sound, something which its 70 plus minute run-length roughens up even more.

Song Picks: Power and Sacrifice, Will We Survive, Love Will Save You, Blind

9/10

“Just for a Day is the debut studio album by English rock band Slowdive. The initial reception to Just for a Day from the British music press was lukewarm, in contrast to the enthusiasm with which Slowdive's earlier releases had been met.” - Wikipedia

There’s nothing lukewarm about this album to me. It’s a long, comforting bath in the clouds, a collection of songs that bloom and bloom until they sound like a planet sadly exploding across the night sky. I could swim in its textures for days.

Song Picks: Celia’s Dream, Ballad of Sister Sue, Waves

9/10

“Spiderland is the second and final studio album by the American rock band Slint. It contains six songs played over 40 minutes, and was released by Touch and Go Records on March 27, 1991. Slint broke up shortly before the album's release due to McMahan's depression. In the US, Spiderland initially attracted little critical attention and sold poorly. However, a warm reception from UK music papers and gradually increasing sales in subsequent years helped it develop a significant cult following. Spiderland is widely regarded as foundational to the 1990s post-rock and math rock movements, and is cited by critics as a milestone of indie and experimental rock, inspiring a myriad of subsequent artists.” - Wikipedia

In its dynamic troughs the album is dominated by haunting plucked electric guitars, while the loudest peaks consist of guitars crisply fuzzed to within an inch of their lives. You can hear the birth of modern math-rock and post-rock here as it breaks out of its alt-rock egg before your very ears. This album could have come out today, and it would likely still be considered pretty singular. McMahon’s whispers and occasional gentle melodies speak of a resigned inner turmoil, complemented perfectly by complex, beautiful arrangements that are both mathematical and emotional, while having a dynamism that keeps you hooked. Spiderland is fragile, forceful, and everything in between.

Song Picks: Breadcrumb Trail; Washer; Good Morning, Captain

9/10

“Ten is the debut studio album by American rock band Pearl Jam, released on August 27, 1991, through Epic Records. Following the dissolution of their previous band Mother Love Bone in 1990, bassist Jeff Ament and guitarist Stone Gossard began rehearsing with new guitarist Mike McCready. Copies of the demo were eventually given to drummer Dave Krusen and vocalist Eddie Vedder, both of whom were invited to audition for the band in Seattle.” - Wikipedia

While the Dave Krusen and Jeff Ament rhythm section is a rock solid one, it’s the swirling guitar lines (in particular from Mike McGready) and Eddie Vedder’s unique vocal timbre, powerful melodies and passionate delivery that make Pearl Jam who they are. Though they are synonymous with the Seattle grunge movement of the early 90s, the more technical, clearly Hendrix inspired guitar work puts them in a different box to others of the time. Packed with choruses that pretty much force you to stick your hands in the air and scream to the sky (see Alive), Ten also contains what I’m pretty sure will be some of the decade’s best guitar-playing, and for someone as obsessed with guitar as I am, that was always bound to make me love it. Who said guitar solos weren’t cool anymore? McGready would like a word.

Song Picks: Alive, Even Flow, Jeremy

“Laughing Stock is the fifth and final studio album by English band Talk Talk, released in 1991. Following their previous release Spirit of Eden (1988), bassist Paul Webb left the group, which reduced Talk Talk to the duo of singer/multi-instrumentalist Mark Hollis and drummer Lee Harris. Like Spirit of Eden the album featured improvised instrumentation from a large ensemble of musicians. The demanding sessions were marked by Hollis' perfectionist tendencies and desire to create a suitable recording atmosphere. Engineer Phill Brown stated that the album, like its predecessor, was "recorded by chance, accident, and hours of trying every possible overdub idea." The band split up following its release, effectively making Laughing Stock their last official release.” - Wikipedia

Talk Talk’s albums always feel like experiences rather than sets of songs, and nowhere is that more true than in their final album. Laughing Stock is one of the most spacious albums I’ve ever heard, there’s so much quiet in between the notes, everything is laboured over, felt and given a universe in which to breathe. Even during the crashing crescendos of Ascension Day, where the soundscape is undoubtedly filled out, it feels as if every angular chord matters, before the track is ended callously without a fade, as if the band’s sensitive recording tape had just been overloaded.

Hollis has described the album as ‘arranged spontaneity’, and his vocal melodies seem to follow that pattern too. On Laughing Stock, Hollis got over 50 musicians to pour their musical hearts out, before puzzling it all together to create something more than the sum of its parts. Wonderful.

Song Picks: Ascension Day, After the Flood, Taphead

9.5/10

“Nevermind is the second studio album by the American rock band Nirvana, released on September 24, 1991, by DGC Records. It was Nirvana's first release on a major label and the first to feature drummer Dave Grohl. Produced by Butch Vig, Nevermind features a more polished, radio-friendly sound than the band's prior work. Nevermind and its singles' success propelled Nirvana to being widely regarded as the biggest band of its time, with Cobain being dubbed by critics as the ‘voice of his generation.’” - Wikipedia

Butch Vig may have recorded the album, and deserves credit for that, but it was Andy Wallace who was drafted in to make the album’s final mix, which is still one of the best sounding albums in the genre in my books. Cobain initially had no issue with the production (according to Wallace), but later complained about it being too radio-friendly and ‘lame’, prompting him to take another direction with In Utero. Personally, I like both, but the sparkling clean production is perfect for the songs here. Nevermind is an exercise in the power of simplicity. The riffs aren’t complicated, but they hit like a truck and Dave Grohl’s drumming pounds so hard that it sounds animalistic no matter how well it’s polished in the production. The laboured quarter-beat roll down the toms and famous flans on In Bloom are integral sections to what is surely one of the most effective drum parts in history. This is all very well I hear you say, but are the songs any good? Well, yes they are, scream along choruses abound, this is surely one of the most cathartic albums ever put to tape.

Song Picks: Smells Like Teen Spirit, In Bloom, Come as You Are

9.5

“Loveless is the second studio album by the Irish-English rock band My Bloody Valentine. It was released on 4 November 1991 in the United Kingdom by Creation Records and in the United States by Sire Records. Since its release, Loveless has been widely cited by critics as one of the greatest albums of all time, a landmark work of the shoegaze subgenre, and as a significant influence on various subsequent artists.” - WIkipedia

Loveless is essentially a Kevin Shields solo project, with him playing all but a few of the instruments, including programming most of the album’s buried drums. Bilinda Butcher’s dreamy vocals are lost in the fuzzy haze of Shields’ guitar waving in and out of tune like the heartbeat of the Earth itself. There are gorgeous melodies, see only shallow and when you sleep, and even basic song structures, but they’re masked beneath a perfect wall of noise. Loveless makes it deliberately impossible to impart any ‘meaning’ from its music, and thus forces you to sit back and feel it instead. In the words of fellow Stick Around podcaster Michael Johnson, it’s a ‘swirling tornado of noise’, one that you keep wanting to turn up and up, willing to be sucked into the cover’s pink, dreamy hues and into the album’s perfect, amorphous world.

“How do you spell love” - Piglet

“You don’t spell it, you feel it” - Winnie-the-Pooh

Song Picks: only shallow, when you sleep, i only said, son

1990 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge

April 01, 2023 by Clive in Clive's Album Challenge, Music, Clive

And so here we enter the second half of this fun, but rather time consuming, challenge nearly 3 years after I first started it. So what happened in 1990? Well, Nelson Mandela was freed after 27 and a half years, Margaret Thatcher resigned as Prime Minister, East and West Germany were re-united and The Simpsons debuted on Fox.

On the musical front, here’s what rateyourmusic.com’s loveley members rate as their top 5 albums of the year:

#1 Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
#2 Depeche Mode - Violator
#3 Megadeth - Rust in Peace
#4 Judas Priest - Painkiller
#5 Fugazi- Repeater

I’m also grabbing this lot from further down the rankings:

#6 Slayer- Seasons in the Abyss
#8 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Good Son
#11 Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
#12 Sonic Youth - Goo
#15 A Tribe Called Quest - People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm

And, the below from a couple of all-time lists by female artists:

Mitsuko Uchida - 12 Études
Sinead O’Conor - I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got

“Painkiller is the twelfth studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released in September 1990. It was the last Judas Priest album to feature long-time lead singer Rob Halford until his return for the 2005 album Angel of Retribution and the first to feature drummer Scott Travis.” - Wikipedia

This album is as mad as its cover - I mean just look at the thing. If you can embrace that madness, and get beyond those stereotypical wailing hard-rock vocals and the lyrics about metal meltdowns and leather rebels, then you’ll have a good time. It’s K.K Downing and Glenn Tipton’s technical guitar work and dual soloing that makes the album what it is for me, which is a frenetic and unbridled roar through a burning post-apocalyptic cityscape on the back of a Harley Davidson with saw blades for wheels… you get the picture.

Song Picks: Pain Killer, Night Crawler

7/10

“Violator is the seventh studio album by English electronic music band Depeche Mode. Preceded by the singles "Personal Jesus" and "Enjoy the Silence" (a top-10 entry in both the United Kingdom and the United States), the album propelled the band into international stardom.” - Wikipedia

Violator sounds sumptuous, I mean just listen to those lovely midi drums. Dave Gahan’s baritone vocals create a generally sombre atmosphere, but unlike many baritone vocals they can still carry a lovely tune (see Sweetest Perfection). You can hear a whole heap of today’s artists in their music, particularly today’s darker pop.

It’s rare that an album that is so heavily electronic from over 30 years ago sounds like it could have come out today, but Violator truly does. There’s a slight glumness to the record which hasn’t made it one that I’ve been dying to come back to regularly, but there’s no doubt about it’s influence and artistry. Oh, and did I mention it sounds bloody perfect.

Song Picks: World in My Eyes, Personal Jesus, Enjoy the Silence

8/10

10. Fear of a Black Planet

Public Enemy

“Fear of a Black Planet is the third studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy. It was released on April 10, 1990, by Def Jam Recordings and Columbia Records, and produced by the group's production team The Bomb Squad, who expanded on the sample-layered sound of Public Enemy's 1988 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.” - Wikipedia

Public Enemy are back with another all-anger, all-dancing hip-hop classic. This one doesn’t quite have the consistent energy or the great samples that made their previous album so fantastic, but that’s asking it to jump over an unfairly high-bar, and this still packs its hour run-time with cracking hip-hop beats and political anger.

Song Picks: Brothers Gonna Work it Out, Welcome to the Terrordome, Burn Hollywood Burn, Who Stole the Soul

8/10

“Dame Mitsuko Uchida, born 20 December 1948) is a Japanese-British classical pianist and conductor, born in Japan and naturalised in Britain, particularly noted for her interpretations of Mozart and Schubert. Claude Debussy's Études (L 136) are a set of 12 piano études composed in 1915. Debussy described them as ‘a warning to pianists not to take up the musical profession unless they have remarkable hands’. They are broadly considered his late masterpieces.” - Wikipedia

I can’t find all that much information about this recording in particular, but Uchida’s performance of Debussy’s 12 Etudes is bewitching. I guess the thing that came through most for me was that although there is considerable skill and precision on display here, the pieces never stray into feeling at all machine-like, the pieces are filled with the complexity of humanity. 12 Etudes is yet another testament to the power of the piano as an instrument with such range that it can convey the power of a whole orchestra, or the delicate quietness of a single plucked string.

8.5/10

8. I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got

Sinead O’Connor

“I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got is the second album by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor, released in March 1990 on Ensign/Chrysalis Records. It contains O'Connor's version of the Prince song Nothing Compares 2 U, which was released as a single and reached number one in multiple countries. The album was nominated for four Grammy Awards in 1991, including Record of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and Best Music Video, Short Form for Nothing Compares 2 U, winning the award for Best Alternative Music Performance. However, O'Connor refused to accept the nominations and award.” - Wikipedia

Nothing Compares 2 U was one of the best selling singles of the decade, and a rare occasion where a cover is so massively more well known than the original. Of course nothing I say about O’Connor’s stupendous vocal performance on that song will be new, so I won’t say anything other than it is surely one of the most emotionally charged vocal performances of all time. It’s a break-up song, but apparently O’Connor was more channeling the death of her dad 5 years earlier. The most remarkable thing though is that the rest of the album, though never quite eclipsing the uneclipsable, does more than hold a candle to it, and feels less like a necessary home for it and more like a record where a lot of the other tracks deserve more attention than they got. Sinead goes political, personal, experimental and even uses sample drum beats. She does it all with the confidence of someone who would go on reject all the nominations and Grammy awards the album was nominated and awarded for, and proves once again that she is the voice of heartbreak.

Song Picks: Nothing Compares 2 U, Black Boys on Mopeds, I am Stretched on Your Grave

8.5/10

“Rust in Peace is the fourth studio album by American thrash metal band Megadeth, released on September 24, 1990, by Capitol Records. It was the first Megadeth album to feature lead guitarist Marty Friedman and drummer Nick Menza. Since its release, Rust in Peace has often been named as one of the best thrash metal records of all time, by publications such as Decibel and Kerrang!, and listed in the reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.” - Wikipedia

I’ve very much enjoyed the plethora of thrash-metal albums coming through in the last few years of this challenge, and this is one of my favourites. The album is very much carried by Dave Mustaine’s guitar riffs, and the late Nick Menza’s (he tragically collapsed and died while drumming at a concert in 2016) great punctuation of them on drums. It’s an album that’s technical prowess keeps your brain firing, and keeps things engaging from start to finish. The songs are generally about politics, religion, warfare (the title refers to leaving nuclear weapons to ‘rust in peace’) or Mustaine’s personal battles and have a straightforward punk style to them, which suit Mustaine’s vocals well.

Song Picks: Holy Wars… The Punishment Due, Tornado of Souls, Five Magiks, Dawn Patrol

8.5

“Seasons in the Abyss is the fifth studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer, released on October 9, 1990, through Def American Records. Recording sessions began in March 1990 at Hit City West and Hollywood Sound, and ended in June 1990 at The Record Plant in Los Angeles, California. It was the band's last album to feature their full original lineup with drummer Dave Lombardo until his return on the band's 2006 album Christ Illusion.” - Wikipedia

Nothing hugely new when compared to their previous albums South of Heaven and Reign in Blood, but I loved both of those and I love this too. The riffs cascade at breakneck speed, the drums persistently rumble, and Araya’s vocals growl. No one thrashes quite like Slayer.

Song Picks: Blood Red, Skeletons of Odyssey

8.5/10

“Goo is the sixth full-length studio album by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth, released on June 26, 1990 by DGC Records. For this album, the band sought to expand upon its trademark alternating guitar arrangements and the layered sound of their previous album Daydream Nation (1988) with songwriting on that was more topical than past works, exploring themes of female empowerment and pop culture.” - Wikipedia

Sonic Youth’s first album on a major label proves you can ‘sell out’ and still be cool. They’re sound is perhaps a little more accessible here, but it’s still dissonant, punk and intensely alternative. The early 90s was very much when ‘alternative’ (I won’t go into the oddness of that genre name) became sellable, and that was in no small part thanks to Sonic Youth and their success with Goo. Musically, it’s the same guitar barrage you’d expect, but with a little more of Kim Gordon’s influence with two of the album’s best songs written by her, Kool Thing and Tunic (Song for Karen). The latter is about the death of Karen Carpenter of the Carpenters, who died of anorexia. It’s one of Sonic Youth’s most touching songs, packed with lyrics that cut to the core like the verse line.

I feel like I'm disappearing, getting smaller every day
But when I open my mouth to sing, I'm bigger in every way

It brings about sadness not via the usual minor chords and melody, but via Sonic Youth’s typical dissonant guitar chugs, and Kim Gordon’s hollow vocal, which sounds like it could be coming from the afterlife itself.

Goo is another triumphantly punk album, both in sensibility and sound, and that cover is surely one of the hippest of all time.

Song Picks: Tunic (Song for Karen), Kool Thing

9/10

“Repeater is the full-length debut studio album by the American post-hardcore band Fugazi. It was released on April 19, 1990. Repeater is often regarded as a definitive album for the band and a landmark of rock music.” - Wikipedia

Ian McKaye (previously of Minor Threat) didn’t fit in with a lot of the punk scene with his straight-edgedness, and Repeater distances himself from that scene yet further. The anger is still there, but it’s packaged in a band keen to be cerebral as well as visceral. Riffs turning on each other, riffs morphing into other riffs, riffs so huge that they carried the whole of 90s grunge into the mainstream in their wake. Albums like Repeater and Goo didn’t make waves in the mainstream due to them being more accessible, but by making music so creative and sonically powerful that one couldn’t ignore them.

Song Picks: Repeater, Song #1, Two Beats Off

9/10

3. The Good Son

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

“After two dark and harrowing albums with Your Funeral... My Trial (1986) and Tender Prey (1988), The Good Son was a substantial departure with a lighter and generally more uplifting sound.” - Wikipedia

The more uplifting sound is attributed to Cave falling in love with a Brazilian journalist, and indeed the Brazilian influence seeps into the opener Foi Na Cruz in obvious ways. The Good Son is a big sounding album, tracks like the Witness Song feature climaxes with backing vocals and a whole host of instruments in what can only be described as a triumphant cacophony, while others like Foi Na Cruz sound more hopeful than triumphant, but sound equally atmospheric. Cave is one of those singers who owns his lyrics in a way that means you have to pay attention to them, a skill not all that present in the musical world, and that works well here where a less interesting vocalist would get lost in the in the gorgeous melodies. The Good Son is a chamber-pop album that leaves an imprint, beautifully textured with harmonies driven by the ethereal melodies throughout, as timeless as Cave’s vocals.

Song Picks: Foi Na Cruz, The Witness Song, Sorrow’s Child

9/10

**2. People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm**

A Tribe Called Quest

“People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm is the debut studio album by American hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, released on April 10, 1990 on Jive Records. People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm was met with acclaim from professional music critics and the hip hop community on release, and was eventually certified gold in the United States on January 19, 1996. Its recognition has extended over the years as it is widely regarded as a central album in alternative hip hop with its unconventional production and lyricism.” - Wikipedia

Push it Along and Luck of Lucien open things with what will surely be two of the best grooves of the decade, and we’re only in 1990. There’s a laid back and open jazzy feeling to the beats, which Q-Tip’s equally chilled rapping gives plenty of room to breathe. His lyrics are refreshingly simple and yet jump from topic to topic from couplet to couplet in a way that makes any overall meaning quite opaque. People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm is so relaxed it’s a miracle it exists at all. Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad’s beats, production, and vocals create that most marvellous thing; something so perfect in how loose it is that it would have taken two industrious and meticulous individuals to create it.

Song Picks: Push it Along, Luck of Lucien, After Hours, Can I Kick It?, Description of a Fool

9.5

“Heaven or Las Vegas is the sixth studio album by Scottish alternative rock band Cocteau Twins, released on 17 September 1990 by 4AD. Heaven or Las Vegas peaked at number seven on the UK Albums Chart and number 99 on the US Billboard 200, becoming the band's most commercially successful release.” - Wikipedia

I have no qualms in calling Heaven or Las Vegas our first masterpiece of the 90s. Its guitars are bathed in ethereal levels of reverb and Fraser’s lyrics are only occasionally understandable, but always emotionally relatable. I think the power of what is an otherworldly vocal performance is best described by bassist Simon Raymonde, as mentioned on the album’s Wikipedia page:

Raymonde recounted that he would record Fraser's vocals alone for days at a time, during which he first "fully appreciated how amazing she was": "She'd come into the control room and say, 'What was that like?' and I'd scrape the tears away and say, 'That was alright, Liz'. She didn't get off on praise. If I said. 'That was fucking amazing', she'd say 'I thought it was shit.' I learnt not to be too effusive, which was difficult because I was so blown away with what I was hearing.

Luckily, I can be as effusive as I damn well please, and Heaven or Las Vegas is one of the most beautiful albums out there. Recorded while Raymonde dealt with his father’s death and Fraser and Guthrie (the latter programmed all the album’s drums) contemplated their new lives as parents, it was clearly a time with a lot of emotions flying round for the band. On the record those emotions seem to rotate like a slow tornado going languidly in and out of focus, given some direction by Fraser’s extraordinary vocals as they make you feel everything there is to feel.

Songpicks: Fotzepolitic, Wolf in the Breast, Frou-Frou Foxes in Midsommer Fires

2022 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge

March 02, 2023 by Clive in Clive's Album Challenge, Music

As I continue with my challenge of finding my favourite album from every year since 1960 I also need to keep up with the present, so here we are, a couple of months late as always with 2022’s roundup. I’ll not go into my usual ‘making end of year lists at the start of December is daft’ rant, see previous posts for that, but let’s just say I wanted to give the year a chance to sink in before making this list. In terms of the year’s events it was another year of ineptness by the Tories, and Putin started a war because he’s toxic masculinity at its absolute worst. In personal news I became a father, which continues to be the most glorious thing, and I feel incredibly lucky.

This is my favourite albums of the year, so naturally it only contains ones I liked, and had something remarkable about them. Numerically, I think that’s about a 6.5/10 as the lower threshold for me. Of course these rankings are completely objective and definitive, I’ll never change my mind, and if you disagree with any of them you’re wrong.

As usual, I tried to listen to rateyourmusic.com’s, the Needle Drop’s, and Pitchfork’s top 10, as well as albumoftheyear.com’s lovely aggregation of every top 10 list, and I’m happy to say I’ve succeeded again on that front this year so you’ll see plenty of albums from those lists here. As always, there’s plenty of albums I wanted to get to but didn’t, but such is the glory of music, there’s just so much good stuff out there. That’ll do for a pre-amble, here’s the list:

This feels like the kind of album I’d get a lot more out of if I understood the words. It’s super inventive instrumentally, and spins from one style to another on a sixpence, but I find the vocal timbre is a little down the middle and unexciting, an issue that would probably be alleviated if I knew what he was saying. That’s obviously on me.

Song Picks: (track 2)

6.5/10

47. Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers

Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick's rap skills are as evident as ever, but I struggled to grab onto anything here. Sometimes that's not a problem, and there's plenty of blurry, amorphous albums I've loved, but I think this feels more like a bunch of more concrete things that are just too slippery to stick, rather than something deliberately obscure. I think one day I'll have the time to get into it fully enough to do its clear scope justice, but until then I admire its ambition and craft more than I love it as an album of music.

7/10

Swift’s tenth album sounded exactly how I expected it to. And when expectations are for a really listenable pop album with relaxed bangers and top notch atmospheric production that’s no bad thing. Just don’t expect anything new here.

Song Picks: Lavender Haze, Anti-Hero

7/10

Tosin Abasi continues to be one fo the most technically brilliant guitarists working today, weaving impossible lines over intricate, clockwork riffs. You could argue the sound is overly clean, but I think it works here due to the sheer instrumental skill on display from every member of the band. It means you can focus in effortlessly on whatever wizardry you fancy. This is just really solid instrumental prog-metal.

Song Picks: Conflict Cartography, The Problem of Other Minds

7/10

New Orlean’s punk band Special Interest’s third album is an electric punk factory. It sounds like someone angry in the toilet while the bass from the house music next door rumbles through the walls. It took me a while to get into on each listen, but by the final 20 minutes I was in the groove, consumed by its industrial anger.

Song Picks: Cherry Blue Intention, Concerning Peace, Kurdish Radio

7/10

Though Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny’s fourth album has a little too much of that Post Malone auto-tune thing going on for my personal tastes, it’s still a colourful, vivacious and thoroughly enjoyable journey through the sounds of the modern Caribbean. Bad Bunny’s style is clearly heavily lyric’s focused, and I’m certain some of the emotional melodies here would hit harder if I knew what was being said.

Song Picks: Tarot, El Apacón, Un Verano Sin Ti

7/10

42. God Don’t Make Mistakes

Conway the Machine

Conway the Machine’s second album features some lovely production and refreshingly personal lyrics, it also features probably more basketball references than any album since the sport was invented. I like it.

Song Picks: Lock Load, Piano Love

7.5/10

If you want to listen to some superb sax playing from 2022, then look no further than Wilkins’ poetic playing here.

Song Picks: Fugitive Ritual, Selah

7.5/10

Placebo? A good album? In 2022? Yes.

Distinctive vocals as always, and with strong melodies. But it’s the great wall of sound production using an inventive array of instruments to build barnstorming riffs that is most impressive.

Song Picks: Forever Chemicals, The Prodigal

7.5/10

Viagra Boys’ third album is a satirical piece on the far-right that’s about as subtle as a brick falling on your head from a great height, but a lot more fun. It has probably the most catchy riff per minute ratio of any album this year.

Song Picks: Troglodyte, Punk Rock Loser, Punk Rock Loser, Ain’t No Thief, Return to Monke

7.5/10

Aethiopes is so lyrically dense I frankly don’t have the time to delve into as much as it deserves, but as an album I’ve now given 4 or 5 listens I can say Woods weaves a whole host of lyrical webs over the sparse but atmospheric production in a way that is mysterious, intriguing, and so thick with meaning that it can be intimidating.

Song Picks: NYNEX, Asylum, No Hard Feelings

7.5/10

37. Ghost Song

**Cécile McLorin Salvant**

Her sixth album is my first and it's great not only due to her superb vocals but also the songcraft on display. Though certainly playing it more safely than the artist of the opening cover, Kate Bush, Cécile has a similar ability to bewitch.

Song Picks: Optimistic Voices/No Love Dying, Ghost Song, Thunderclouds

7.5

If you’re after humongous riffs and catchy hardcore vocals, then I don’t think you can do any better than Drug Church’s Hygiene in 2022. Its 26 minutes are packed with songs hell-bent on obliterating your speakers with pent-up anxiety and cascading guitars.

Song Picks: Fun’s Over, Super Saturated, Detective Lieutenant

7.5

Alasdair Dunn contributes both of the things that make Aschenspire stand out in the metal scene: vulnurable and angry vocals unafraid to get highly political, and frantic, at times off kilter, drumming that aims not to provide a backbeat to the din created by the band’s many members, but more adds to the chaos. The title refers to architecture that stops homeless people sleeping on it and with Alasdair’s anger at society’s ills comes a whole lot of heart and empathy, which unique touches like the saxophone on Plattenbau Persephone Praxis, as well as the album’s folkier moments, help to highlight.

Song Picks: Plattenbau Persephone Praxis

7.5/10

Spoon’s 10th album sees them take their tight, minimalist style to a slightly heavier plane. It’s a prime example of how good songwriting and production doesn’t have to be particularly fancy - most songs here barely seem to use reverb, never mind any fancy effects. It’s punchy, simple, and yet very effective. There’s no need for filters when the subject is so engaging and accomplished. The best straight rock album I’ve heard for a while.

Song Picks: Held, Wild

8/10

The two-time recipient of Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year Award is back with his third album, following up the critically acclaimed Cairn (which I’ll have to listen to on the back of this). The trio is filled out with bassist David Bowden and drummer Stephen Henderson who accompany McCreadie’s endless flurries with impeccable timing. McCreadie’s style could definitely be called busy, but it's busy with a purpose. His metronomically skittering notes create carpets of activity, a forest floor of leaves and insects swarming. With no space between notes for the mind to think, you’re led through his inventive, playfuly perfect world as he runs ahead of you, dragging you by the hand. Forest Floor’s most jaw-dropping moments are when these flurries are interchanged with the breather of a lovely folky melody as on the gorgeous Unforrowed Field.

Song Picks: The Unfurrowed Field, Forest Floor

8/10

Brooklyn R&B artist Yaya Bey’s second album is expertly self-produced, with beats and instrumentation as smooth as butter accompanying her airy vocal and soul-searching lyrics. It also features a whole host of satisfying mid-song switches, such as on alright, where the track seems to lead you from the ambient noise of a sunny day to a cosy underground den full of warmth and cushions. If this album were a yoghurt, it’d be thick, smooth, and taste like honey.

Song Picks: nobody knows, alright, reprise

8/10

31. And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow

Weyes Blood

Natalie Mering, more commonly known as Weyes Blood’s fifth album is the second in a trilogy which began with its predecessor, Titanic Rising. Textured is the word you’ll come across the most when reading others’ reviews of this album, and it’s easy to see why. The productions here are so layered it feels like one of those albums that really needs a good sounsystem or headphones to appreciate properly. Often these layers can be used to hide mediocre songwriting, but that’s certainly not the case here. Mering’s vocals are never overwrought, always majestic, and she has a touch of Joni Mitchell about her in the way she seemingly freewheels melodies from nowhere, never to return to them again. The most impressive thing to me about And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow though, is just how timeless it all sounds. Minus the modern, crystal clear production, songs like Children of the Empire feel like they could have been floating around forever. Many others have used the word, and I’ve already used it once in this review, but I think majestic is the best way to describe this record.

Song Picks: God Turn Me Into a Flower, It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody, Children of the Empire, A Given Thing

8/10

Off the back of their wildly succesful single Chaise Lounge, Wet Leg became the first band from the Isle of Wight to have a No 1 UK album. An impressive feat considering it’s their debut.

Wet Leg is a damn solid indie-rock album. Catchy melodies, honest lyrics, and simple production leads to a really accesible album that holds enough interest for many repeat listens. Some of the post-rock elements such as on the closer Too Late Now add a sense of scale not often heard in indie-rock bands. It’s one of those albums that is not particularly doing anything new (besides perhaps the more modern social commentary), but just does what it does really well. Rachel Aroesti of The Guardian sums it up better than I can, calling it a "collection of 90s and 00s-era indie that is by turns dreamy, lush, hooky and thunderous, and layered with lyrics saturated with millennial disaffection, anxiety and overwhelm."

Song Picks: Chaise Lounge, Too late Now, Wet Dream

8/10

Probably the hip-hop album that gave me the most straight-up enjoyment this year. Some of the beats feel like they could be from Illmatic, and I could give them no higher compliment. Nas’ flow isn’t quite as smooth as it was in those days, but it still surfs over the beats with aplomb.

Song Picks: Legit, First Time

8/10

Grace Ives - Janky Star

Grace Ives’ second album packs bangers into its short 27 minute running length like the government packs dodgy people into its cabinet. It feels like an uplifting sugar hit, but one that’s wholesome and quietly sophisticated. A tiramisu perhaps?

Song Picks: Loose, On the Ground, Angel of Business

8/10

Arctic Monkey’s seventh album builds on the lounge, art-pop, baroque sound from their previous album Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino. Lead singer Alex Turner had apparently wanted to return to writing ‘riffs’ but found that the music ‘didn’t want to go there’. The band’s turn in this direction has been one that has been generally well received by critics, but less so by fans of the band. I’m with the critics, I think this direction does something that isn’t really being done elsewhere. James Ford’s production of the band’s lounge sound is as smooth as yoghurt, and Alex Turner’s lyrics have plenty of soul and melody. I’d go as far as saying his vocal performance is one of the most interesting male ones of the year, putting the lyrics front and centre, while still remaining tuneful.

Song Picks: There’s Better Be a Mirrorball, I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am

8/10

JID’s first album in four years gets personal with the precise, clear drum samples over the top of rumbling bass lines. The production is never cluttered, and yet always intriguing. Subtle creative touches, like the fact the Can’t Punk Me bass line sounds almost like someone humming, are littered throughout. Mainly though, the thing just grooves, and JID’s cadence sails smoothly over the top. It’s an album that’s a ball to listen to on a surface level, but that truly opens up when fully absorbed.

Song Picks: Crack Sandwich, Can’t Punk Me

8.2/10

25. Cheat Codes

Danger Mouse & Black Thought

Danger Mouse and Black Thought go together so well you’d be forgiven for listening to Cheat Codes and thinking they’d spent a lifetime releasing albums together. Danger Mouse’s production is drenched with so much warm, analogue distortion that it sounds like you’ve been absorbed by a J37 tape at Abbey Road. Black Thought’s meticulous delivery blends into the sumptuous surroundings, never rudely demanding your attention, but rewarding you with bright rhymes whenever you give it.

Song Picks: Aquamarine, Strangers

8/10

24. Melt My Eyez See Your Future

Denzel Curry

In Curry’s words: “this album is about me, Denzel Curry. No alter egos, no nothing. Just Denzel Curry.” His fifth album is introspective, vulnurable, even apologetic:

Recognize hidden patterns of my own demise
Why I feel like hiding a truth is finding a lie?
Dealt with thoughts of suicide, women I've objectified
Couldn't see it through my eyes so for that, I apologize

The production is softer, not quite ethereal - but not far off either. The anger from Curry’s last couple of albums has gone. His poetic growl appears plenty of times, but there’s a held back feel to it. Curry’s cadence rides the waves rather than propelling them, Melt My Eyez See Your Future is Curry lying back on the sofa, and it’s hard not to want to lay back on that chair in the corner next to him.

Song Picks: Melt Session #1, Walkin’, Mental

8.5/10

The drummer, producer, and bandleader continues to blend modern production techniques with more traditional, instrumental jazz. I’d say the tilt is towards tha latter generally, though tracks like The Fours do sound like they could be a beat for a recent hip-hop production. Generally though, he uses more modern techniques to complement the older ones, rather than vice versa. What results is an album that feels thoroughly human, with McCraven’s drumming background evident in the busy, skittering drum parts that adorn what are often calm soundscapes like crickets on a warm summer’s eve. In These Times uses a lot of complex times signatures, which is perhaps what its title alludes to, along with the human/machine theme evident from the album’s opening quote. These signatures make the alubm a satisfyingly cerebral listen, while never coming across as showy or dry. The emphasis is always on aural pleasantness and intrigue, and though the album plays it safe tonally, it does so beautifully.

Song Picks: Dream Another, In These Times, This is That Place, The Knew Untitled

8.5/10

22. Topical Dancer

Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul

Infectious, spacious, groovy and so completely itself that it’s automatically one of the year’s more memorable albums.

Song Picks: Esperanto, Blenda, Ich Mwen

8.5/10

21. Ants from Up There

Black Country, New Road

Black Country, New Road’s second album is perhaps less expansive, but no less varied than their debut. In bassist and vocalist Tyler Hyde’s words: “we have figured out what we're trying to say, so it makes a bit more sense. Some of the songs are shorter. We attempted to write songs that were three and a half minutes”. This leads a cohesive and tight album, despite it’s near hour-long running length. Isaac Wood’s vocals have a vulnurability that ensures the band takes the emo turn-off, while the band’s instrumentation quietly fights that label with interesting arrangements that make great use of saxophone and violin, keeping things firmly at the very edge of the road.

Song Picks: Concorde, Snow Globes, Mark’s Theme

8.5/10

2022 felt like Jockstrap’s year. The English duo of Georgia Ellery and Taylor Skye’s unique blend of scatty electronic production and minimalist string arrangements made for an album that was as accesible and visceral as pop, but hard to put in any particular genre box. It floats like a giant, amorphous pop cloud ocassionally teasing production qualities or arrangements that make you want to put it in this genre or that, before taking them away again, leaving you with a vague feeling of pop, one that disspiates with too much thought.

I Love You Jennifer B is as exhilirating as it is untouchable.

Song Picks: Neon, Greatest Hits, 50/50

8.5/10

If you need an album to soothe the mind, then this soft jazz gem is it. Charles’ playing has plenty of restraint, and more soul than Pantalaimon (sorry, His Dark Materials reference…) as he effortlessly switches between flute and saxophone. Sometimes you find a musician that just resonates with you, and Charles is certainly that, expertly accompanied here by Bill Frisell and Thomas Morgan. Morgan’s deft basswork is another of the album’s many quiet highlights. I love an album that immediately creates an atmosphere, and Trios: Chapel does that with Lloyd’s first few sax notes, which seem to represent my worries tiredly buzzing away.

Song Picks: Blood Count, Ay Amor

8.5/10

Angrily obliterating fragile male egos everywhere. On the nose, bursting with truth and energy. Superb.

Song Picks: Fight for Our Lives, Violent by Design, Feed My Fire

8.5/10

Spanish singer Rosalía’s third album blends the vintage and the modern into a seamless, tight and energetic package. Her flamenco roots mix with a variety of succesful forays into reggaeton, and the vigour of the latter mixes seamlessly with the slower ballads on offer. This is one of those albums that is both very varied and yet truly cohesive. It also contains vocals engaging enough to carry the fact I don’t understand the lyrics, more so than Bad Bunny in my opinion. On G3 N15, for example, one doesn’t need to understand what Rosalía is saying for the heartbreak to hit you right in the guts.

Song Picks: Delirio de Grandeza, Hentai, G3 N15

8.5/10

The Weeknd’s fifth album’s concept is that of a radio show in purgatory. I imagine it as playing while you’re sat in a car in a traffic jam in a tunnel, at which the other end is the afterlife.

The production is heavenly, pardon the pun, with melodic, pretty atmospheres sprawling across the whole album’s 50 minute running length. The spoken word sections help add to the neon tinged philosophy of the album, with Jim Carrey’s performance of the poem in Phantom Regret by Jim being a particular highlight. It weaves between profound and comedic, ending the album with the lines:

You gotta be Heaven to see Heaven
May peace be with you

Dawn FM’s concept is executed with plenty of humour, which prevents it sinking in its own pomposity, and instead means it floats among endless pretty melodies, sugar candy production, soulful vocals, and a ridiculously consistent tracklist of pop-gems.

Song Picks: Phantom Regret by Jim, Gasoline, How Do I Make You Love Me, Sacrifice

8.5/10

Soul Glo’s fourth album is an angry barrage of brutal riffs featuring some of my favourite hardcore vocals for some time. Pierce Jordan’s shouts are self aware, political, and seemingly come from the very core of his being. The words come at a relentless pace, as if the album’s 40 minute running length is not enough for him to get across everything he’s furious about, and he delivers everything with a hyperactive cadence reminiscnent of one of those 80s electronic machine gun snares. Every word is blared as if it’s his last. Diaspora Problems is one of the year’s essential albums, not only because it’s a Black punk band finally getting the limelight, but becuase it’s as visceral as anything you’ll hear this year.

Song Picks: Gold Chain Punk (whogonbeatmyass?), Driponomics, Five Years and My Family

8.5/10

Kenny Beats has been on the scene for a while, but usually as a producer for acts such as Vince Staples and IDLES. LOUIE is his debut solo album, inspired by his dad’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis in 2021. The album was recorded shortly after Beats found out about the diagnosis, and is what he calls "something dark turned into something beautiful."

I’ve always been a believer in the fact that stories around an album can impact how much you take from them, and seeing this as a love letter to his dad definitely gives the whole thing an added glow. Full of the kind of irresistible, bass heavy beats that you’d expect from Kenny, LOUIE feels like a comforting hug. It’d have been easy for Beats to make something pretty bleak, but instead we get something colourful, infectious, and above all, warm. It also has my favourite album cover of the year, one that very much encapsulates its feel. Go give LOUIE a spin, after the shitshow that was 2022, everyone could use the musical hug it provides.

As you already know, 2022 was the year I became a dad, and dancing around the living-room to this with my son in my arms was such a glorious experience that the album had to make it towards the top end of my list. I hope that, in years to come, he’ll think as highly of me as Kenny Beats clearly does of Louie.

Song Picks: Parenthesis, Hooper, Last Words, Drop 10, Really Really, Moire

8.5/10

Fontaines D.C. continue their run of excellent albums with Skiny Fia, their third. Grian Chatten’s vocals and lyrics still create that atmosphere of gloom that is uniquely Fontaines D.C., while coming up with catchy hooks seemingly everywhere. They’ve always been slower and more melodic than the other punk bands they were lumped in with back when their debut came out, and they’ve doubled down on that in their last two albums. This is every bit as atmospheric and expansive as the excellent A Hero’s Death, but everything has just got that little bit better. Chatten’s vocals are more varied and emotive, while never losing their over-riding pessimism, and the band is better able to take advantage of the instrumental breaks to take the listener on their own journeys in between Chatten’s murky verses. The way the band explodes on Big Shot is a prime example; with a cataclysmic marching riff that backs the chorus as stadium ready as anything they’ve written. Jackie Down the Line is a future classic, perfectly demonstrating the band’s knack for an undestated hook.

Song Picks: Jackie Down the Line, Big Shot

8.5/10

Silvana Estrada’s debut album was written in the wake of the breakup of her first relationship. Performed mainly on the cuatro, a historic instrument with 4 strings like a ukulele but with a deeper sound, she effortlessly combines the vintage with the modern. Gustavo Guerrero’s production has depth and warmth, while never competing with Estrada’s gorgeous vocals and simple cuatro playing. You can imagine her leaning on the window frame Audrey Heburn style singing out quietly to the sky above and alleys below, Guerrero painting the night with stars that furnish every note with a quiet grandeur. While Marchita plays, everything feels manageable, everything feels ok.

Song Picks: Mass o Menos Antes, Te Guardo,

8.5/10

Alex G’s ninth album shows is a clear demonstration of why he’s such a good songwriter. There’s no particularly experimental song-structures or chord progressions here, or even anything all that progressive about the production, but the whole thing just sings with a compassionate beauty. Every melody is a hug, every guitar strum a supportive tap on the shoulder. Alex G apparently worked with 12 or so engineers to make these songs sound as good as possible, and that was a success. The production is impeccable, the soft snares, the clear guitars, the ting-ting of the hi-hats, everything is perfectly balanced, much like the songwriting and melodies that make the album’s crackling core.

Song Picks: After All, Runner, Ain’t It Easy, Immunity

8.5/10

Beach House’s eighth album is an 80 minute double album, divided into four chapters, and is the first produced entirely by the band.

This album initially sounded to me like bathing in the glow of some golden nebula - gorgeous but undefined. The more I listened to it though, the more it revealed to me a subtle journey, and it became less like floating, and more like effortlessly swimming from one place to another - from wherever you were when you put the thing on, to a place where everything seems to shimmer once the album’s finished.

Song Picks: Over and Over, ESP, Many Nights

9/10

Alvvays’ third studio album is a powerpop gem. Every melody sounds essential, every track an anthem, every guitar solo a new freedom, every washed out note a dream. Was there anything more triumphantly sad in 2022 than the ending to Velveteen?

Song Picks: Pharmacist, Easy on Your Own?, After the Earthquake, Velveteen

9/10

Colombian experimental artist Lucrecia Dalt’s sixth album sounds like it’s been produced by Rain Dogs era Tom Waits. There’s a sparse barroom feel to the instrumentation, with percussion playing a particularly important role, the hollow, woody rhythms adding a sense of timelessness to the atmospheric synths laying the atmospheric foundations to the tracks. Dalt’s vocals are far more tuneful than Waits’ though, and what results is an album that embraces Dalt’s Latin American roots wholeheartedly, but pushes them into the future and mixes them with other influences to create something truly unique and cosy. Pitchfork’s review makes the point that traditional and folkloric traditions from Latin America are often seen as ‘creatively stale’, and so don’t get touched due to a fear of artists being seen as too traditional. Lucrecia Dalt’s embracing and pioneering of these styles is thus not only thoroughly enjoyable and singular, but also an admirable cultural statement.

¡Ay! completely absorbs you into its world, and that is something I always love in an album.

Song Picks: Gena, El Galatzó, La desmesura

9/10

In Beyoncé’s own words: “Creating this album allowed me a place to dream and to find escape during a scary time for the world. It allowed me to feel free and adventurous in a time when little else was moving. My intention was to create a safe place, a place without judgment. A place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking. A place to scream, release, feel freedom.”

Indeed Beyonce’s seventh album creates just that. Everything’s cohesive, deep, pulsating, fun and accesible. It’s an irresistible, well constructed and grooving DJ set. I didn’t listen to this during any kind of lockdown, but it didn’t matter; its joy is universal and evergreen. This is a pop-star, with considerable skill and talent flexing her creative muscles free of expectation. I’ve no qualms in calling it my favourite pop record of recent times.

Song Picks: VIRGO’S GROOVE, COZY, CUFF IT, CHURCH GIRL,

9/10

6. Natural Brown Prom Queen

Sudan Archives

Sudan Archives’ (singer-songwriter and violinist Brittney Parks) second album is an ode to embracing yourself. Parks herself has talked about how she wanted to make the album her ‘homecoming’; where she could be her natural self and return to the high-school prom she never went to. The album’s wavy synths, subtle, and yet honeyed vocals, brutally honest lyrics and creamy productions all bring about this sense of self realisation, the subtle emergence from self-doubt and anxiety in a dense and slow-motion firework of pride.

Song Picks: NBPQ (Topless), Freakalizer, Homesick (Gorgeous & Arrogant), Selfish Soul, Loyal (EDD)

9/10

**5. Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam**

The Comet is Coming

The Comet is Coming people and it’s armed with a saxohpone and the world’s largest rave soundsystem. Get your neon stuff and glow sticks out the drawer, and get your arse down to the landing site, because shit is going down.

A glorious atmospheric and edgy party of a record. Sons of Kemet’s Shabaka Hutchings’ saxohpone playing might just be my favourite instrumental performance of the year, that thing sounds like it’s screaming out to any alien race who might listen as the Earth goes down.

Song Picks: Angel of Darkness

9/10

**4. Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You**

Big Thief

Big Thief’s fifth album was deliberately recorded across 4 different locations, each with their own planned sonic goal, a concept conjured up by the band’s drummer - and the album’s producer - James Krivchenia.

Pulling off a 80 minute double album is no mean feat, but Big Thief manage it here. Guided by Adrianne Lenker’s accomplished songwriting and vocal performances, the band push themselves to create something expansive, affecting, an completely consuming. Little Things fuzz-laden atmosphere is a great testament to the way the rest of the band contribute to the album’s atmosphere, in its case creating a euphoric, unruly firework of a song. Other songs like Time Escaping teeter into being dissonant, but not in a way that makes the album in any way difficult or challenging to listen to, only serving to perk your ears out of the beautiful slumber the album’ sorcery has submitted them to.

Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You feels like a perfect representation of everything Big Thief do best. It flutters beautifully like a firefly, playing with the crest of flame.

Song Picks: Change, Certainty, Heavy Bend, Flower of Blood, Wake Me up to Drive

9/10

3. De Todas las Flores

**Natalia Lafourcade**

De Todas Las Flores is Mexican singer-songwriter Lafourcade’s first album of completely original material in seven years, ot at least so Wikipedia tells me. I’ve been a fan of her Un Canto por Mexico volumes over the last couple of years, but this one takes things to a new level.

Sumptuous production softly lowers you into a new place, a place of timeless melodies from a voice with the honesty of someone singing to themselves, a place where arrangements complement them with an understated and twinkled beauty. Of course I’m approaching this as someone who doesn’t understand many of the Spanish lyrics, but to me every moment of this album is just bloody perfect. While her Un Canto por Mexico volumes succesfully transported me to a specific place, De Todas Las Flores transports me off the map completely, and draws its own amongst the stars.

Song Picks: Vine Solita, Caminar Bonito, Canta la arena, Pajarito colibrí

9/10

Painless was the last album I listened to before drawing a line under 2022 (for now), and I’m very glad I managed to squeeze it in. Yanya’s second album is packed with stellar songwriting, and production that is intimate while not sounding minimalistic. Most songs are accompanied by repeated drum machine beats that not only provide a nice momentum to the album but also give the tracks a cosy familiarity. Yanya’s dusky, airy vocals are always understated but carry the plethora of catchy melodies with beautiful subtlety. There’s not just more ‘bangers’ here than on any of the other pop records I listened to this year, but Painless stands out because here they’re wrapped in a way less concerned with trends of the time, or indeed what would make them sell, and more just what Yanya wants them to sound like. There’s a confidence to her refusal to ram these choruses down your throat with over-production, and her willingness to sit back, quietly hoping you’ll pay enough attention to realise this really is a glorious record.

Song Picks: the dealer, L/R, shameless, midnight sun, anotherlife

Black Midi’s third album was recorded entirely over a thirteen day period and throws new influences such as cabaret and flamenco into what was already a very dense, multi-genre sound. What you get is an album that refuses to sit still, an album that is the enemy of repetition, an album that makes for one of the best active listens of the year. You never quite know what’s coming next, something the track Welcome to Hell is testament to. The short but epic orchestral sections are unexpected enough but I was completely blindsided by a couple of bars of thrash metal followed by bouncy indie as the track closes. This all sounds like it could be a bit ‘oooo look how many genres we can fit into a song’, but it doesn’t feel showy like that at all. It merely feels like an album that constantly wants to move forward, onto something new, with minimal repeating of even the album’s recent past. It’s an album of unique moments, where the constant switching makes for an irritating background listen, where a lapse of attention leads to something extraordinary being missed, where sitting down and submitting to it fully yields the year’s most exciting record. Hellfire is the perfect advert for active listening.

Song Picks: Welcome to Hell, The Race is About to Begin, The Defence

9/10

The lists I made sure to listen to (with albums that made it into my own top 10 bolded)

Pitchfork had the most make it into my own top 10, with 6.

rateyourmusic.com’s top 10 - this was taken in January, and as it is made up of average user ratings may change over time.

Black Country, New Road - Ants from Up There
Black Midi - Hellfire
Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
Danger Mouse & Black Thought - Cheat Codes
Natalia Lafourcade - De todas las flores
billy woods - Aethiopes
J.I.D - The Forever Story
Blue Rev - Alvvays
betcover!! 卵 (Tamago)
Denzel Curry - Melt My Eyez See Your Future

The Needle Drop’s top 10

Natalia Lafourcade - De Todas Las FloresJID - The Forever Story
Viagra Boys - Cave World
Soul Glo - Diaspora Problems
black midi - Hellfire
Conway the Machine - God Don't Make Mistakes
Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up There
Ashenspire - Hostile Architecture
Petrol Girls - Baby
Sudan Archives - Natural Brown Prom Queen
Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
Silvana Estrada - Marchita

albumoftheyear.com aggregated top 10

Beyoncé - Renaissance
ROSALÍA - MOTOMAMI
Wet Leg - Wet Leg
Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
Alvvays - Blue Rev
Fontaines D.C. - Skinty Fia
Weyes Blood - And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow
Jockstrap - I Love You Jennifer B
Taylor Swift - Midnights

Pitchfork top 10

Beyoncé: Renaissance
Sudan Archives: Natural Brown Prom Queen
Alvvays: Blue Rev
Special Interest: Endure
Bad Bunny: Un Verano Sin Ti
Rosalía: Motomami
Big Thief: Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
Lucrecia Dalt: ¡Ay!
Yaya Bey: Remember Your North Star
Alex G: God Save the Animals

1989 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge

December 12, 2022 by Clive in Clive's Album Challenge, Music, Clive

Over what will likely be the next few years I’m going to be ranking and reviewing the top 5 albums - plus a fair few extras - according to users on rateyourmusic.com (think IMDB for music) from every year from 1960 to the present. If you want to know more, I wrote an introduction to the ‘challenge’ here. You can also read all the other entries I’ve written so far by heading to the lovely index page here.

We’ve made it to the final year of the 80s, but what happened outside of music before the turn of the decade? Well, thousands were killed in Tiananmen Square as Chinese leaders took a hard line towards demonstrators, Mikhail S. Gorbachev was named Soviet President , the Berlin Wall fell after 28 years and the Game Boy was released.

Here’s what our trusty rateyourmusic.com users rank as the top 5 albums of 1989:

#1 The Cure - Disintegration
#2 Pixies - Doolittle
#3 The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
#4 Beastie Boys - Paul’s Boutique
#5 NoMeansNo - Wrong

And here’s some others I’m grabbing from further down the list:

#6 Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness
#7 Julee Cruise - Floating into the Night
#14 De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising (also Pitchfork)
#20 Hats - The Blue Nile

Pitchfork’s top albums of the 80s includes some of the above, but also Minor Threat - Complete Discography at number 30, so we’ll add that in.

Finally, as usual, to add more female artists to the equation, I’ll be grabbing anything from 1989 from NPR’s list of the best albums of all time by female artists, as well as the same list as voted on by their readers. This year we’ve got a whole host of albums to throw into the mix:

Janet Jackson - Rhymth Nation 1814 (Also on Pitchfork’s best of the decade)
Queen Latifah - All Hail the Queen
Indigo Girls - Indigo Girls
Bonnie Raitt - Nick of Time)
Kate Bush - Sensual World
Madonna - Like a Prayer

Well, that’s 16 albums to cover, which I believe is a new record. No pun intended.

“Nick of Time is the tenth studio album by the American singer Bonnie Raitt, released on March 21, 1989. It was Raitt's first album to be released by Capitol Records. A commercial breakthrough after years of personal and professional struggles, Nick of Time topped the Billboard 200 chart, selling five million copies, and won three Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, which was presented to Raitt and producer Don Was. In 2003, the album was ranked number 229 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, then was re-ranked at number 230 on the 2012 list.”" - Wikipedia

I’m not the biggest straight country guy, and Nick of Time isn’t about to change my mind. I can appreciate Raitt’s songwriting and vocal skills, and she certainly has a knack for melodies, but it’s still not doing a lot for me.

6.5/10

“Like a Prayer is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on March 21, 1989, by Sire Records. Madonna worked with Stephen Bray, Patrick Leonard, and Prince on the album, with her co-writing and co-producing all the songs. Her most introspective release at the time, Like a Prayer is a confessional record. Madonna described the album as a collection of songs about her mother, father, and bonds with her family. It was dedicated to Madonna's mother, who died when she was young.” - Wikipedia

The production has taken a step-up up since her debut, which we covered in 1983, sounding a bit less like a karaoke backing track, though it still sounds a bit Casio keyboard at points. Like a Prayer sets the tone with some funky flittering guitar work, and while the bass is still a little synthetic, the instrumental sections and overall sound really give the track a sense of scale and emphatically announce the arrival of a really solid pop album. Brass stabs and funky guitar riffs are tastefully lathered throughout, with tracks like Love Song (which features Prince) giving a slightlier edgier resbite to the general pop-fare. It’s not one with much depth to it, mainly because a lot of the music still sounds a bit soul-less, but Madonna’s melodies, and more interesting lyrics make it rise above her debut.

Song Picks: Like a Prayer, Love Song

“Altars of Madness is the debut studio album of Florida-based death metal band Morbid Angel. It was released on May 12, 1989 through Combat Records/Earache Records. The album was recorded in December 1988 at Morrisound Recording in Tampa, Florida. The album is one of the earliest examples of death metal and is considered to have helped pioneer the sound along with Possessed's Seven Churches in 1985 and Death's Scream Bloody Gore in 1987, and set a new precedent for heaviness and extremity, both musically and lyrically. It is one of the most celebrated albums in death metal history, and one of the most influential heavy metal albums of all time.” - Wikipedia

This influental business is all very good, but is Altars of Madness still any good? Yes. Though the mix is a bit thin, there’s a pleasing raw garage sound to the thing. Even David Vincent’s vocal sounds like it’s reverberating inside a box of breezeblocks. Peter Sandoval’s drumming is frenetic, and refreshingly off kilter compared to the artificial sound of many of the drums on today’s metal albums, where the perfect snare hit gets pasted across the whole track and other such trickery. This is punk death metal, maaaaan.

Song Picks: Lord of Fevers and Plagues, Suffocation

8/10

“Indigo Girls is the second studio album and first major label release by American folk rock duo the Indigo Girls. It was originally released in 1989 by Epic Records, and reissued and remastered in 2000 with two bonus tracks. Upon its release, the album received mostly positive reviews from critics, went gold after six months and eventually went platinum. The duo was nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy (losing to Milli Vanilli, who later vacated the award), and won one for Best Contemporary Folk Recording.” - Wikipedia

It feels like an age since we had some folk-rock so this is a more than welcome addition to the list. Amy Ray and Emily Saliers’ vocals harmonise beautifully (Michael Stipe’s backing vocals on track 3 are great too), injecting the album’s melodic choruses straight through into your veins (see opener Closer to Fine for what I mean). The acoustic guitar is so crystal clear it feels like it’s caressing your ears, with just the right amount of energy to accompany the prominent vocals, while never overpowering them.

This is just really great, melodic, accessible and heartfelt music.

Song Picks: Closer to Fine, Kid Fears

8/10

“Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Janet Jackson, released on September 19, 1989, by A&M Records. Although label executives wanted material similar to her previous album, Control (1986), Jackson insisted on creating a concept album addressing social issues. Collaborating with songwriters and record producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, she drew inspiration from various tragedies reported through news media, exploring racism, poverty, and substance abuse, in addition to themes of romance. Although its primary concept of a sociopolitical utopia was met with mixed reactions, its composition received critical acclaim. Jackson came to be considered a role model for youth because of her socially conscious lyrics.” - Wikipedia

Growing up, I was a fan of the Michael & Janet Jackson duet ‘Scream’ on Michael Jackson’s History compilation. It had a kind of industrial and grimey riff to it. Rhythm Nation 1814’s heavier tracks are dominated by a similar sound, and they’re my favourites. The blunt social commentary works well with this angrier presentation, but falls flatter for me on some of the slower songs in the album’s second half, where it comes across as a bit cheesy. Thankfully this is only a couple of tracks among the album’s 20. The slower more personal songs such as Lonely and Come Back to Me are effective 80s ballads.

Black Cat wins the award for the most 80s sounding track on the album with a bass drum and snare drum like a battering ram, and a guitar riff that should come free with a really long wig, glorious.

Song Picks: Alright, Rhythm Nation, Black Cat,

8/10

“All Hail the Queen is the debut album by hip-hop artist Queen Latifah. The album was released on November 28, 1989, through Tommy Boy Records. The feminist anthem, "Ladies First" featuring Monie Love remains one of Latifah's signature songs.” - Wikipedia

All Hail the Queen is old-school hip-hop at its best. Infectious beats, notable in particular for their unassuming but bloody fantastic basslines (see opener Dance for Me for a great example). This is the kind of thing you could put on at a house party and have the whole place grooving for its duration. As for Queen Latifah’s rapping, it has a great flow, and I like the rhymes. All Hail the Queen might not be as revolutionary in terms of its lyrical content as some of the decade’s more political hip-hop output, but the whole thing slaps from start to finish, and its a bona fide mood-lifter. When you combine this with the fact female rappers weren’t exactly a dime a dozen in 1989, and she was only 19 at the time of this album’s release, you get a pretty all round impressive piece of hip-hop history.

Also Ladies First is a superb feminist anthem.

Song Picks: Dance for Me, Latifah’s Law, Wrath of My Madness, Ladies First, Queen of Royal Badness, Evil that Men Do

9/10

“Complete Discography is a 1989 compilation album released by the American hardcore punk band Minor Threat on the band's own Dischord Records. As the name implies, it contains the band's entire discography at the time, including their three EPs, the Out of Step album and Flex Your Head compilation tracks.” - Wikipedia

Ok, it’s not technically an album, more a collection of EPs, but Pitchfork included it on their best albums of the 80s and they know more than me, so I’m counting it too. This punk-rock gem seems to have influenced all the music on Tony Hawk Skater 2’s soundtrack along with much of the 90s alternative scene too. A collection of punchy tracks with bouncy guitar riffs and vocals that seem to be rasped through a megaphone over the relentless din of amp stacks. The whole thing sounds like it might just crash and burn any moment, but they somehow manage to keep the train of carnage reasonably on course, as it obnoxiously smashes everything in its path. Never has an entire band’s back catalogue fit into one hard-hitting sitting in quite this fashion.

Song Picks: Filler, I Don’t Wanna Hear It, In My Eyes,

“The Sensual World is the sixth studio album by the English art rock singer Kate Bush, released on 16 October 1989 by EMI Records. It reached No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart. It has been certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry for shipments in excess of 300,000 in the United Kingdom, and Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in the United States.” - Wikipedia

Is the Sensual World the album that best describes its sound with its title? Probably. Bush creates yet another singular sensory experience with unique soundscapes and a voice about as expressive as any we’ve ever had. The Sensual World feels like Bush working well within her capabilities, but in a good way; a way that makes it feel a little more intimate than her other records, something the more personal lyrics help with too. The Sensual World may be more open and honest than anything she had made up to this point, but it still has that trademark fairy-tale dreamlike quality to it, a quality making it disperse on impact like a cloud of stardust.

Song Picks: Love and Anger, The Fog, Deeper Understanding, The Woman’s Work

9/10

“Wrong is the fourth full-length album by Canadian punk rock band Nomeansno. It was released in 1989 through Alternative Tentacles record label.” - Wikipedia

Wrong came out of nowhere and smashed me round the head like a sledgehammer, with every hit’s timing less predictable than the last. Wrong is a punk masterpiece, and a clear influence on the mathier rock bands to come in the 90s and 2000s. Rob Wright’s screams appeal to me more than those in your average death metal band, as I generally prefer screaming to roaring, and the guitar and drum work is superbly intricate and yet still makes you want to jump around. Wrong is one of those albums where instrumental skill is used in tandem with just making damn good music, and not against it. It’s completely ‘wrong’ that most people haven’t heard this… I’ll get my coat.

Song Picks: It’s Catching Up, Rags and Bones

9/10

“The Stone Roses is the debut studio album by English rock band the Stone Roses. It was recorded mostly at Battery Studios in London with producer John Leckie from June 1988 to February 1989. Despite not being an immediate success, the album grew popular alongside the band's high-profile concert performances, which also helped establish them as fixtures of the Madchester and baggy cultural scenes. The record's critical standing also improved significantly in later years, with The Stone Roses now considered to be one of the greatest albums of all time.” - Wikipedia

This album is now so synonymous with the ‘Madchester’ movement, I feel entirely unoriginal even mentioning the fact, and indeed I find it more interesting to talk about the influence this has had on music since its release. Tame Impala, Oasis (and pretty much any britpop band), the Manic Street Preachers (I could go on…) all clearly descend from the Ian Brown led Manchester quartet. I think it’s true that perhaps the album’s most famous track Fool’s Gold, is not a particularly great indication of the rest of the album, and it’s the only one that extensively employs electronic dance beats and synths. The rest of the album features more of a standard rock band formation than many would have you believe. What’s different about The Stone Roses is the dreamy reverb on Brown’s vocals, and the way the guitars drench everything with an emotional fizz. Many have pointed out the similarities the band has to 60s jangle-pop, and I think that’s very true in terms of the melodies and guitar progressions, but the presentation is completely different. The Stone Roses feels like what would happen if you injected the Byrds with a penchant for rave, long meditative instrumental passages, and a need to sound massive. It sounds like the perfect modernising of a classic sound, and it’s one which hasn’t really been modernised much since, quite the achievement for an album over 30 years old.

Song Picks: I am the Resurrection, I Wanna Be Adored, Fool’s Gold

9/10

“Hats is the second studio album by Scottish band The Blue Nile, originally released on 16 October 1989 on Linn Records and A&M Records. After a prolonged delay in which an entire album's worth of work was scrapped, The Blue Nile released Hats to rave reviews, including a rare five-star rating from Q magazine. It also became the band's most successful album, reaching number 12 on the UK album charts and spawning three singles: "The Downtown Lights", "Headlights on the Parade", and "Saturday Night".” - Wikipedia

Hats is the album version of driving through a neon sprinkled city at night-time as a light drizzle patters on the windscreen. It feels meditative, contemplative and full of opportunity. The puddles glow and blur, the wipers go back and forth in time with the distant murmur, and the mind smiles.

We’ve talked a lot about albums being places recently, and if that’s the case, then Hats is where I want to live.

Song Picks: Over the Hillside, Downtown Lights, Headlights on the Parade

9/10

“Disintegration is the eighth studio album by English rock band the Cure, released on 2 May 1989 by Fiction Records. The record marks a return to the introspective gothic rock style the band had established in the early 1980s. As he neared the age of 30, vocalist and guitarist Robert Smith had felt an increased pressure to follow up on the band's pop successes with a more enduring work. This, coupled with a distaste for the group's newfound popularity, caused Smith to lapse back into the use of hallucinogenic drugs, the effects of which had a strong influence on the production of the album.”

I love it when an album ends up being the culmination of everything a band has done before, particularly when what has come before has been a mix of the experimental and the more mainstream. Disintegration is such an album. It’s the Cure’s Abbey Road, its synths are heaven and its melodies as affecting as they’ve ever been. Disintegration’s songs float seamlessly on a plane very much their own.

Song Picks: Lovesong, Closedown

9.5/10

4. Floating Into the Night

Julee Cruise

“Floating into the Night is the debut studio album by American singer Julee Cruise. It was released on September 12, 1989, by Warner Bros. Records, and features compositions and production by Angelo Badalamenti and film director David Lynch. Songs from the album were featured in Lynch's projects Blue Velvet (1986), Industrial Symphony No. 1 (1990), and Twin Peaks (1990–1991).” - Wikipedia

I’ve not seen any of the above Lynch productions (though I am a fan of Mulholland Drive), so this music is all new to me. I feel quite lucky about that, as I’m not sure this album would have hit me the same had I recognised any of it.

Floating Into the Night feels like being completely immersed in a solemn, soft world: Julee Cruise’s vocals are the perfect balance between warm, mysterious, and slightly haunting, while the often simple instrumental backdrop strikes much the same balance. The padded synth taps, the gently plucked guitars, everything seems to disappear into space. It’s an album about atmosphere for sure, but it’s also more than that: with a real melodic beauty to it. Floating into the Night is perfectly titled, as there’s no better way to describe what this beautiful record feels like.

Song Picks: Floating, Falling, Rockin’ Back Inside My Heart, Into the Night,

9.5/10

“3 Feet High and Rising is the debut studio album by American hip hop group De La Soul, released on March 3, 1989 by Tommy Boy Records. It is the first of three collaborations with producer Prince Paul, which would become the critical and commercial peak of both parties. The album title comes from the Johnny Cash song "Five Feet High and Rising". The album contains the singles "Me Myself and I", "The Magic Number", "Buddy", and "Eye Know". Critically, as well as commercially, the album was a success. It is consistently placed on lists of the greatest albums of all time by noted critics and publications, with Robert Christgau calling it "unlike any rap album you or anybody else has ever heard".” - Wikipedia

While Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back was angry rap perfection, De la Soul’s Three Feet High and Rising achieves similar levels of perfection in a much more chill fashion. We’ve got beats as laid back as a mojito on a lilo, and vocals riding waves like Eddie Aikau. While Nations is a marching for equality with its fists in the air, 3 Feet High and Rising is chilling on an urban beach with a ghettoblaster and a can of Pepsi. Both are just as enchanting to listen to.

Song Picks: Magic Number; Eye Know; Me, Myself and I

9.5/10

“Doolittle is the second studio album by the American alternative rock band Pixies, released in April 1989 on 4AD. Doolittle was the Pixies' first international release, with Elektra Records as the album's distributor in the United States and PolyGram in Canada. Although it is considered the most accessible Pixies album, Doolittle is often regarded as the band's strongest and greatest work, and has continued to sell consistently well in the years since its release, being certified Gold in 1995 and Platinum in 2018 by the Recording Industry Association of America.” - Wikipedia

More polished and less raw than Surfer Rosa, which is an aspect I didn’t think would necessarily suit the Pixies, but it does. Doolittle is a masterpiece in accessible edginess. The songwriting is constantly engaging, and tracks vary enough to keep you enthralled while sticking within the band’s spontaneous and energetic sounding template. This Monkey’s Gone to Heaven, the timelessly simple Here Comes Your Man, and Debaser are probably the album’s best known tracks. They’re superb, but so is everything else on this album, which is where it just pips Surfer Rosa to the post for me, which had a few songs in the second half that dropped slightly below that album’s otherwise high bar.

Doolittle is an album that’s influence echoes through time so much that everything sounds familiar, but in a way that if listening in a vacuum, you’d never guess this was recorded in 1989. It’s a celebration of expression and of creative freedom. As Pitchfork put it in their original best albums of the 1980s list (where this came fourth): “Doolittle is almost senselessly varied—mood-altering hooks, poetically insane lyrics, larynx-demolishing screams and surreal croons, surf, thrash, pop, slow burns and races to the finish line... Let me put it this way: if not for Doolittle, there would be no Pitchfork. In other words, the influence of this record is so vast that, 15 years on, it has altered the course of your life at this very moment.”

Song Picks: Crackity Jones, This Monkey’s Gone to Heaven, Debasser, Hey, I Bleed

“Paul's Boutique is the second studio album by American hip hop group Beastie Boys, released on July 25, 1989, by Capitol Records. Produced by the Dust Brothers, the album is composed almost entirely from samples, and was recorded over two years at Matt Dike's apartment and the Record Plant in Los Angeles. Paul's Boutique did not match the sales of the group's 1986 debut Licensed to Ill, and was promoted minimally by Capitol. However, it became recognized as the group's breakthrough achievement, with its innovative lyrical and sonic style earning them a position as critical favorites within the hip-hop community.” - Wikipedia

The Dust Brothers’ sampling work on Paul’s Boutique is fun, effortlessly smooth and flawless. Every beat and groove emits a kind of wholesome joy. It’s like eating 15 spoonfuls of brown sugar with each tasting as fresh as the first. Couple this with Beastie Boys’ unbounded vocal energy, the fact they have more chemistry than a secondary school chemistry lesson, and their enthusiastic and yet often pointed lyricism and you get one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time.

Any album that rhymes ‘selfish’ with ‘shellfish’ deserves a 10 in my book. Paul’s Boutique oozes slick, it’s the College Dropout of the 80s.

Song Picks: Shake Your Rump, Johnny Ryall, High Plains Drifter, 3-minute rule, Hey Ladies, B-Boy Bouillabaisse, Looking Down the Barrell of a Gun

1988 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge

November 02, 2022 by Clive in Clive's Album Challenge, Music

I had this post pretty much finished, and then my son was born 4 weeks ago and rather took over the schedule, which has been delightful. Anyway, I’ve managed to finish the last couple of reviews now as we plough through the 80s. In terms of world events in 1988: NASA scientist James Hansen warned congress of the dangers of the global warming and the greenhouse effect (that’s going well…), the US and Canada reached a free trade agreement, and Margaret Thatcher became the longes serving Prime Minister of the century in the UK.

Here’s what rateyourmusic.com’s users rate as the year’s top 5 albums:

#1 Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
#2 Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden
#3 Pixies - Surfer Rosa
#4 Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
#5 Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back

I’ll grab this lot from further down the list too:

#6 Metallica - ….And Justice for All
#7 Death - Leprosy
#8 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Tender Prey
#10 Slayer - South of Heaven
#15 The Pogues - If I Should Fall from Grace With God

As usual, to add more female artists to the equation, I’ll be grabbing anything from 1986 from NPR’s list of the best albums of all time by female artists, as well as the same list as voted on by their readers. This year we’ve just got the one album to add:

Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman

Finally, I’ll also include these two from Pitchfork’s top albums of the 1980s,

Sade - Stronger than Pride
NWA - Straight Outta Compton

Ok, that’s plenty to be getting on with, let battle commence. As a bit of a spoiler, I think this might be the most albums with 9.5 and over we’ve had…

“Straight Outta Compton is the debut studio album by rap group N.W.A, which, led by Eazy-E, formed in Los Angeles County's City of Compton in early 1987.[3][4] Released by his label, Ruthless Records, on August 8, 1988, the album was produced by N.W.A members Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, and Arabian Prince, with lyrics written by N.W.A members Ice Cube and MC Ren along with Ruthless rapper The D.O.C. Not merely depicting Compton's street violence, the lyrics repeatedly threaten to lead it by attacking peers and even police. The track "Fuck tha Police" drew an FBI agent's warning letter, which aided N.W.A's notoriety, with N.W.A calling itself "the world's most dangerous group." - Wikipedia

Probably the most influential rap album of all time, and certainly that for gangsta-rap, Straight Outta Compton is one of those albums that hasn’t aged as gracefully (if graceful is a word that can go anywhere near this album) as some of its contemporaries. The opening three tracks are undeniable bangers, with the laid back funky production contrasting to the group’s lyrics, which seem intent on offending everyone in an undirected flurry of anger. Some of the misogony here is a little uncomfortable in 2022, but you can totally see why this album exploded onto the scene in 1988. Straight Outta Compton is brimming with attitude, and I’d say its the attitude that is more consistent than the musical intrigue as the album goes on. I probably sound down on it, but I’m not, it’s just that having listened to It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back by Public Enemy, this doesn’t reach the same heights.

It’s still an essential listen from a historical perspective, with some of hip-hop’s most important tracks. Just prepare yourself for some filler, and more attitude than rapping skill.

Song Picks: Straight Outta Comtpon, Fuck the Police, Gansgsta, Express Yourself

7.5/10

12. Tender Prey

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

“Tender Prey is the fifth studio album by Australian rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released on 19 September 1988 on Mute Records. Produced by Flood, the album was recorded during several sessions over the course of four months in West Berlin—where the band were based at the time of its release—and London and dedicated to Fernando Ramos da Silva.” - Wikipedia

Nick Cave himself said of Tender Prey: "It was a nightmare, that record. It is reflective of a group - particularly myself - who was just writing songs and there was no larger idea behind it. Sometimes some of the group was there, sometimes they weren't. I hear bad production and I hear bad performances as well." Cave later admitted that the album, "was made at a difficult time in my life when things were spiralling out of control in a lot of areas."

I think that statement gives you a good idea of what the album is. It’s a bunch of songs with Cave’s signature strong lyrics and gruff vocal performances, but without a particularly cohesive narrative or feel to them. I agree with Cave on the bad production at points, it sounds quite rough and thin on many of the tracks, but I don’t feel any of the instrumental performances are taking away from the songs at all. Yes, the performances are often simple and to the point, but this suits Cave’s songwriting in my opinion, never distracting from the core of his songs, which are always his lyrics and vocals.

Tender Prey feels earthy, rough, and like it was written in dusty old study at the back of a delapidated house. In short, it doesn’t sound like something from the 80s.

Song Picks: New Morning, Mercy Seat

8/10

11. If I Should Fall from Grace With God

The Pogues

“If I Should Fall from Grace with God is the third studio album by Irish folk-punk band the Pogues, released on 18 January 1988. Released in the wake of their biggest hit single, “Fairytale of New York", If I Should Fall from Grace with God also became the band's best-selling album, peaking at number three on the UK Albums Chart and reaching the top ten in several other countries.” - Wikipedia

If I Should Fall from Grace With God features my very favourite Christmas song (Fairytale of New York). Enough said. I kid of course, it takes more than that to make a good album, and thankfully there is a lot more here. Shane MacGowan’s vocals have gained some additional character and variety since the last album by the Pogues we had on this challenge, and it’s this, as well as the larger variety in the songs themselves, that makes this the better album for me. Though we’re still very much in the Irish-folk template here - which is no bad thing - there’s a great diversity in the instrumentation from track to track, with the band’s abundant energy evident from start to finish. Essentially, we’ve got all the positives of Rum, Sodomy and the Lash, but with it getting less tired by the end.

If We Should Fall from Grace With God is the pleasant screech of a car taking a corner too fast, full of the careless joy of youth.

Song Picks: Fairytale of New York, If I Should Fall from Grace with God, Thousands are Sailing

8.5/10

10. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

Iron Maiden

“Seventh Son of a Seventh Son is the seventh studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released on 11 April 1988 in the United Kingdom by EMI Records and in the United States by Capitol Records. Like The Number of the Beast (1982) and later Fear of the Dark (1992), The Final Frontier (2010), and The Book of Souls (2015), the album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart. The lead single "Can I Play with Madness" was also a commercial success, peaking at No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart.” - Wikipedia

Iron Maiden goes prog rock??? Count me in. More complex song structures, and a genre that provides a fitting home for Bruce Dickinson’s dramatic vocals makes this my favourite Iron Maiden record we’ve had so far. The production is crystal clear and somewhat ahead of its time, and the guitar riffs are consistently pulversising. It’s just really damn solid and enjoyable.

Song Picks: Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, Can I Play With Madness, Moonchild

8.5/10

“Leprosy is the second studio album by American death metal band Death, released on August 12, 1988, by Combat Records. The album is notable in its different tone and quality from the band's 1987 debut, it is the first example of Scott Burns' work heard on many of the death metal and grindcore albums of that era. The cover is featured in Metal: A Headbanger's Journey. It is the first album to feature drummer Bill Andrews and the only one to feature guitarist Rick Rozz.” - Wikipedia

Death is probably the most death metal name of all time, and the album name Leprosy isn’t far behind either. Appropriately, I’d say this is the first time we’ve had some straight death metal on the challenge, and it’s glorious. Not a genre I’m overly familiar with, which will change by the end of this challenge I’m sure, but this thing is everything I’d want from a death metal album; obliterating riffs, ape like drumming, and pretty much every song being about death and disease. Chuck Schuldinger’s roars are monotone and almost incomprehensible, and more of a percussive instrument than a melodic one, but they add a great sense of anger and urgency to the cacophony around them.

Leprosy hits hard.

Song Picks: Forgotten Past, Choke On It, Leprosy

8.5/10

“South of Heaven is the fourth studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer, released on July 5, 1988 by Def Jam Recordings. The album was the band's second collaboration with producer Rick Rubin, whose production skills on their previous album Reign in Blood (1986) had helped their sound evolve. Given the frenetic pace of Reign in Blood, Slayer made no attempt to top it on South of Heaven; rather, the band offset and complemented Reign in Blood by deliberately slowing the tempo down on South of Heaven, as well as by utilizing undistorted guitars and toned-down vocals.” - Wikipedia

I’ve been a vocal Rick Rubin critic in the past, but his production was spot on for Slayer’s Reign of Blood, which I loved, and it’s perfect once again here. There’s a level of punchiness to the sound that I’ve not heard in heavy music up to this point. The drums are so compressed they almost sound electronic, but it works. On the songwriting front, I don’t feel the album has slowed down that much from Reign in Blood, though there is the odd slower section thrown in. We’ve still got the typical strong, speedy guitar riffs, though they seem a little fuzzier this time, and Dave Lombardo’s drums are once again like a really powerful Swiss watch.

South of Heaven is another cracking album from what is becoming one of my favourite heavy bands of the decade.

Song Picks: South of Heaven, Spill the Blood, Silent Scream, Ghosts of War

8.5/10

“Daydream Nation is the fifth full-length studio album and first double album by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth, released on October 18, 1988. After Daydream Nation was released, it received widespread acclaim from critics and earned Sonic Youth a major label deal. The album was ranked high in critics' year-end lists of 1988's best records, being voted second in The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop poll. Daydream Nation has since been widely considered to be Sonic Youth's greatest work, as well as one of the greatest albums of all time, specifically having a profound influence on the alternative and indie rock genres.” - Wikipedia

Leaving Sister’s penchance for more conventional song structures behind, Daydream Nation sees Sonic Youth embracing the more jam orientated element of their sound, which had always been evident in their live performances. What results is something more sprawling than their previous album, while still being more accessible than their earliest work. We’ve got detuned guitars, a complete disregard for any musical scales and often monotone vocals resulting in a dissonant cacophony driven along by Steve Shelley’s clockwork drums. Noonday Dream is a wall of sound that I found myself crashing into on my first few listens, but the more I listen, the more it softens, and I’m optimistic that one day it’ll absorb me and spit me out the other side filled with all those who cite this as one of the best albums of all time. It’s only a matter of listens.

Song Picks: Teenage Riot, Silver Rocket, The Sprawl

8.5/10

“Stronger Than Pride is the third studio album by English band Sade, released by Epic Records in the United States on 5 April 1988 and in the United Kingdom on 3 May 1988. In September 2018, Pitchfork placed the album at number 37 on its list of "The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s" - Wikipedia

I really liked 1984’s Diamond Life, but this is even better. Stronger Than Pride slows everything down to a gentle stroll. There’s not necessarily more space, as a lot of the productions here are still quite dense, but there’s more time. The bass ambles beautifully throughout the album and the guitar flirts celestially with the sax on Haunt Me, and tentatively strums and plucks to the groove on Turn My Back On You like the shy dancer in the corner hesitantly approaching the danceflloor. Throughout the record, lead singer Sade Abdu’s vocals sound like she’s singing from her bed.

Stronger than Pride is a sumptuous mix of lovely production, tasteful instrumentation, soothing melodies, meditative repetition and bass like the world’s most comfortable sofa. I’m in love with it.

Song Picks: Love Is Stronger Than Pride, Haunt Me, Nothing Can Come Between us

9.5/10

“Tracy Chapman is the debut album by American singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman, released on April 5, 1988, by Elektra Records. The album was recorded at the Powertrax studio in Hollywood, California. In 1987, Chapman was discovered by fellow Tufts University student Brian Koppelman. He offered to show her work to his father, who owned a successful publishing company; however, she did not consider the offer to be serious. After multiple performances, however, Koppelman found a demo tape of her singing her single "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution", which he promoted to radio stations, and she was eventually signed to Elektra Records. The album received commercial success in most of the countries it was released, making it to the top of the charts in many countries, including Austria, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. It peaked at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 and was certified six-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), with sales exceeding over six million copies in the United States alone. ” - Wikipedia

How, in an era of the industry where women - particularly women with acoustic guitars - were treated with a sexist ambivelance did Tracy Chapman, a Black woman with an acoustic guitar, manage to make it? Not only that, but how did she manage to make one of the best selling albums of all time?

As outlined in the excellent Pitchfork review of the album, Chapman’s success is often attributed to her performance at Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday benefit concert, where the fact Stevie Wonder couldn’t perform due to a technical issue meant she got a second set. There’s no more appropriate place for someone as socially conscious as Tracy Chapman to have ‘made it’, but you get the feeling she’d have made it anyway, it was written in the stars, and in her quiet confidence.

Coming out of nowhere, she recorded the most accomplished, mature, well written, and beautifully performed acoustic guitar focused album of the decade. An unparalleled knack for finding emotive melodies, combined with effortless lyrics of social and political injustice and a voice as distinctive as it is brilliant create something truly magical. We’ve got songs about domestic abuse, oppression, and racism and yet there’s always more than a candle of hope in them, thanks to Chapman’s boundless optimism. She gets the fast car, others will get their comeuppance, things are bad - but they’ll be alright.

“Poor people gonna rise up/And get their share” she sings on the rousing album opener Talkin’ Bout a Revolution. I’m not convinced they ever will before this world turns into a post-apocalyptic hellhole, but it stills warms my heart to hear it sung with such convincing prescience.

Song Picks: Talkin’ About a Revolution, Fast Car, Baby Can I Hold You

9.5/10

“Surfer Rosa is the debut studio album by the American alternative rock band Pixies, released in March 1988 on the British label 4AD. It was produced by Steve Albini. Surfer Rosa contains many of the elements of Pixies' earlier output, including Spanish lyrics and references to Puerto Rico. It includes references to mutilation and voyeurism alongside experimental recording techniques and a distinctive drum sound.” - Wikipedia

Apparently, I reviewed this album back in 2015 on rateyourmusic.com and said “I love the raw energy and craziness of these songs. The band were clearly having a lot of fun and there's some real gems on here. I can't say I love the album as much as a lot of people do, but I'm certainly a fan.”, giving it 3 and a half star rating.

Clearly I was a musical buffoon in 2015, as Surfer Rosa is a magical combination of complete chaos and catchy melodies. Black Francis’ vocals are unhinged, and yet infintely listenable. The drums have more reverb than any of the other instruments it seems, with Joey Santiago’s guitar having so little on it at times that it sounds as if his buzzing riffs are happening in your head. Those riffs by the way are completely simple and yet also some of the best rock riffs ever written. Find me a better riff than the iconic one on Where Is My Mind?, one of the greatest songs of all time not just the 80s, and I’ll eat my hat (which is filthy by the way).

Steve Albini has long been one of my favourite producers, and we’ll get to Nirvana’s In Utero, perhaps his most famous production, in 1993. He has an ability to capture the live energy of a band better than any producer out there, and that is largely what leads to the success of Surfer Rosa. Other producers would probably have tried to tame the rough edges of the performances here, but Steve Albini doesn’t. He accentuates the drums to sound like they’re playing in a basement with no acoustic treatment, and manges to make every instrument clear and yet perfectly blended at the same time.

Surfer Rosa is the capturing of a band seemingly wrestling with the infinite chaos of the big bang, and trying to tame it into something resembling catchy pop and rock numbers. What results is musical perfection with relentless energy, just enough rule following to make it familiar, and an unpredictability and sense of fun that make it unlike anything else.

Song Picks: Bone Machine, Break My Body, Where Is My Mind, Gigantic

9.5/10

“...And Justice for All is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica, released on September 7, 1988 by Elektra Records. It was the first Metallica album to feature bassist Jason Newsted, following the death of their previous bassist Cliff Burton in 1986, although his songwriting contribution still featured posthumously in one song.” - Wikipedia

Rather rudely and famously, you can barely hear the new bassist on this album. Though if you really want to hear the excellently titled ….And Justice for Jason, a version with Jason’s bass turned up, you can find that here. The version we’re talking about though is abrasive and thin, it obliterates the most sensitive frequencies of your hearing, with no bassy warmth or high end sparkle to counteract it. As it turns out though, this suits the album’s sound perfectly, and makes it stick out from the era’s other metal offerings. Hetfield’s vocals have worn into a pleasing growl, and the guitar riffs are as good as they’ve ever been. The album consists of 9 lengthy songs that switch between time signatures on a dime, addressing political and legal injustice, something that Ulrich terms as the band’s ‘CNN years’ as they got many of the record’s lyrical themes from the channel.

The song topics are more punk than metal, and the song structures are bordering on prog. ….And Justice for All is a blistering, ear shattering attack full of exciting riffs, anger at the world, and unpredictable intrigue. It’s hard to keep a listener interested in an album for over an hour, but this record has the skittish impatience to keep you on your toes throughout. It’s my favourite Metallica album, and a contender for my favourite metal album of all time.

Song Picks: And Justice for All, Harvest of Sorrow, Eye of the Beholder, One

10/10

2. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

Public Enemy

“It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is the second studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released on June 28, 1988, by Def Jam Recordings and Columbia Records. It was recorded from 1987 to 1988 in sessions at Chung King Studios, Greene St. Recording, and Sabella Studios in New York. - Wikipedia

Nations, as I’m going to call it for ease, is a powerful, political statement brewing with anger. It features a larger vocabulary than any of the hip-hop we’ve had so far, and it also features intricate cadence and some of rap’s most powerful voices, none more so than Chuck D. Sometimes you read a review of something and it puts your own feelings better than you could (in my case this happens a fair amount) and so here’s a short paragraph from Pitchfork’s entry for this album into the top 200 albums of the 1980s (in which it came 6th):

“In 58 minutes, Public Enemy tackle everything from the crack epidemic (“Night of the Living Baseheads”) to state surveillance (“Louder Than a Bomb”); they take aim at the media’s whitesplaining of rap (“Don’t Believe the Hype”) and challenge the fallacy that what you hear and see on TV is gospel truth (“She Watch Channel Zero?!”). What they addressed was timely, but how they addressed it was revolutionary.”

The production is still somewhat ‘old school’, that is to say more unrefined than today’s hip-hop, but it’s already getting more complex than last year’s offerings, and you only have to look at the list of samples for each song to know that this is busy. More than just busy though, Nations is a masterclass in hooky samples. On She Watch Channel Zero?! they pretty much invent rap metal by sampling a superb Slayer riff from Angel of Death and dynamically and angrily rhyming over the top, on Rebel Without a Pause there’s a now iconic, long rotating squeak and on Louder Than a Bomb and Cold Lampin’ With Flavor we have some of the grooviest samples in history. Nations knows that great hip-hop is as much in the beats as it is in the lyrics and vocal rhythms, and it’s an absolute masterclass in both. Hip-hop hasn’t just arrived, it has spun into the station like the Tasmanian Devil.

Song Picks: Don’t Believe the Hype, Cold Lampin’ With Flavor, Rebel Without a Pause, She Watch Channel Zero?!, Louder than Bomb

10/10

“Spirit of Eden is the fourth studio album by English band Talk Talk, released in 1988 on Parlophone Records. The songs were written by vocalist Mark Hollis and producer Tim Friese-Greene and the album was compiled from a lengthy recording process at London's Wessex Studios between 1987 and 1988. Often working in darkness, the band recorded many hours of improvised performances that drew on elements of jazz, ambient, blues, classical music, and dub. These long-form recordings were then heavily edited and re-arranged into an album in mostly digital format.” - Wikipedia

Mark Hollis, Talk Talk’s ‘frontman’ is often referred to as a shining example of art over commercialism, and - based on his decision to retire from music in 1998 to spend time with family, which he stated he’d find impossible while touring, you could argue he’s a shining example of a family man too. Maybe he’s just a shining example, period? I don’t know the guy, but it’s hard to believe that anyone that could make something as quiet, as contemplative, as majestic, as empathetic, hell as god damn beautiful as Spirit of Eden could be anything but a great human. The entirety of the album was recorded in darkness, largely composed of long jams recorded together, it’s never in a rush, and you can almost hear the lightbulbs sizzling on in the musicians’ heads as they come up with a new riff, a rhythm, a tone to repeat meditatively. When the music explodes from its slumber, as on Desire’s crescendo, it does so in a way that drowns out Hollis’ vocals, as his thoughts struggle through the anxious din. It’s also a clear pre-cursor to that genre of crescendos - post-rock - which was to appear soon.

Spirit of Eden has the transportative quality of Eno’s best ambient work, but with more emotional heft. Someone on Radio 6 the other day said that albums were like a place, and I like that idea. Spirit of Eden is like a cosy bedroom with one of those ceiling lights with millions of stars, only it’s 3D and the room is floating through them. It’s a place of reflection, of warmth, of empathy. I find it pretty difficult to call it anything but a masterpiece.

Song Picks: Desire, The Rainbow, I Believe in You

10/10

1987 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge

September 15, 2022 by Clive in Clive's Album Challenge, Music

And so, 27 years down the line from 1960, the first year we covered, we’re up to my birth year, 1987, which seems quite poignant with the birth of my own son due for the end of the month. Other than the momentous fact that I was born, without which this whole daft challenge wouldn’t exist, there were some other events in 1987. Namely: Margaret Thatcher won a rare third term as Prime Minister in the UK, the term ‘world music’ was apparently coined, the US Supreme Court ruled that Rotary Club rules must admit women, and Óscar Arias Sánchez won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the Central American crisis.

On the album side of things, here’s what rateyourmusic.com’s users rate as their top 5 albums of the year:

#1 Prince - Sign o’ the Times
#2 Sonic Youth - Sister
#3 Dinosaur Jr - You’re Living All Over Me
#4 Requiem - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart / Franz Xaver Süssmayr
#5 Dead Can Dance - Within the Realm of a Dying Sun

I’ll also grab this lot from further down the list:

#9 Swans - Children of God
#10 Depeche Mode - Music for the Masses
#12 Tom Waits - Frank’s Wild Years
#18 The Smiths - Strangeways Here We Come
#20 U2 - The Joshua Tree

and these from Pitchfork’s top 20 of the 1980s list that aren’t on rateyourmusic.com’s list:

Eric B & Rakim - Paid in Full
Boogie Down Productions - Criminal Minded

and finally, these from NPR readers’ list of the best albums by female artists:

Whitney Houston - Whitney
Sinead O’Connor - Lion and the Cobra

That’s 14 albums to check out, let’s go.

“Whitney is the second studio album by American singer Whitney Houston, released on June 2, 1987, by Arista Records as the follow-up to her best-selling debut album, Whitney Houston. The album features five top 10 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100, which also became international hits. The album's first four singles—I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me), Didn't We Almost Have It All, So Emotional and Where Do Broken Hearts Go—all peaked at number one on the US Hot 100, making her the first female act to achieve four number one hits from one album.” - Wikipedia

When an album opens with one of the finest pop songs ever written, I Wanna Dance With Somebody, with its impossibly uplifting chorus, perfect brass stabs and what is surely one of the finest vocal performances on a pop song ever, it’s going to be difficult for the rest of the album to keep up. Whitney has a good go though. As many critics expressed at the time, it sticks pretty rigidly to the formula of the first album and as such there’s nothing particularly new here, but the production is silky smooth, Whitney’s vocals and melodies are as powerful as ever, and the tracks are of good quality from start to finish. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable dip into 80s pop.

Song Picks: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me), Where Do Broken Hearts Go

8/10

“Music for the Masses is the sixth studio album by English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released on 28 September 1987 by Mute Records. The album was supported by the Music for the Masses Tour, which launched their fame in the US when they performed at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The tour led to the creation and filming of the documentary/live album titled 101. This saw the band using heavy amounts of sampling, much like they did in their previous album Black Celebration.” - Wikipedia

Depeche Mode sound like a kind of mix of Kraftwerk and Tears for Fears to me, with the slightly robotic detachment of the former, and the more atmospheric electronic soundscapes of the latter. They sure know how to make a tuneful synth line, as shown on The Things You Said and Strangelove, among others. David Gahan’s vocals are either multi-tracked, or have some sort of chorus effect on them, giving them a slightly washed-out quality that works well with the often bleak minor key melodies he sings.

Music for the Masses isn’t trying to be feel-good or fun, but it is remarkably tuneful for an album as bleak as concrete in a J.G Ballard novel.

Song Picks: The Things You Said, Strangelove, Nothing, To Have and to Hold

8/10

12. Requiem

**Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Xaver Süssmayr**

It’s hard to find much online about this particular recording, but the following paragraph from Wikipedia gives some context to the piece’s composition:

“The Requiem in D minor, K. 626, is a requiem mass by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). Mozart composed part of the Requiem in Vienna in late 1791, but it was unfinished at his death on 5 December the same year. A completed version dated 1792 by Franz Xaver Süssmayr was delivered to Count Franz von Walsegg, who commissioned the piece for a requiem service on 14 February 1792 to commemorate the first anniversary of the death of his wife Anna at the age of 20 on 14 February 1791.” - Wikipedia

This 1987 recording is performed by the Vienna Philharmonic and conducted by Herbert von Karajan, and it’s as dramatic as you’d expect. It’s one of the first classical pieces we’ve had on this challenge where I‘ve not recognised any of it, and one of the most affecting. The choir adds a full and rich sound that helps to round out some of the sharper edges coming from the string and brass sections. Appropriate to its title, the recording definitely has a funeral feel to it. It’s beautifully performed throughout, but there’s a few moments that really stand out, such as particular sections of III: c Rex Tremendae where the choir and orchestra combine so perfectly I thought it was me who’d made it to heaven. I’m not particularly knowledgeable about classical music as you’ll have gathered by now, but I do appreciate it, and this is another recording I’m really glad to have been enlightened to.

8.5/10

**11. Within the Realm of a Dying Sun**

Dead Can Dance

“Within the Realm of a Dying Sun is the third studio album by Australian band Dead Can Dance. By this time, Dead Can Dance were predominantly a duo of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, along with Peter Ulrich, after the departure of Scott Rodger and James Pinker in 1987.” - Wikipedia

Lisa Gerrard famously sings that song in Gladiator where she uses glossolalia (sounds made to sound like words and speech while not being in any language) to great effect. On this album, it takes a while for her vocal to start gaining prominence, but when it does, as on the penultimate track Summoning of the Muse, it’s all-encompassingly vast, the church bells behind her ringing as she seemingly echoes out from the top of the tower for all the world to hear. Brendan Perry’s vocal, which features more on the opening tracks of the album, is a little less remarkable, but it blends well with the gothic, heavily reverbed instrumentation behind him.

Within the Realm of a Dying Sun is incredibly atmospheric, and it’s easy to get lost in its wells of slow melodies and cathedral reverbs. The drama has been turned up to 11, which at times can be a bit too much, but if you catch this album at the right time it’s spectacular experience.

Song Picks: Summoning of the Muse, Persephone (The Gathering of Flowers)

8.5/10

I love it when a new genre appears on this challenge, it’s exciting. This particular genre will be making an appearance in pretty much every year from now on I imagine, It’s a grand welcome to……. hip-hop.

“Paid in Full is the debut album of American hip hop duo Eric B. & Rakim, released on July 7, 1987, by Island-subsidiary label 4th & B'way Records. The duo recorded the album at hip hop producer Marley Marl's home studio and Power Play Studios in New York City, following Rakim's response to Eric B.'s search for a rapper to complement his disc jockey work in 1985. The album peaked at number fifty-eight on the Billboard 200 chart, number eight on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and produced five singles: Eric B. Is President, I Ain't No Joke, I Know You Got Soul, Move the Crowd, and Paid in Full. Paid in Full is credited as a benchmark album of golden age hip hop. Rakim's rapping, which pioneered the use of internal rhymes in hip hop, set a higher standard of lyricism in the genre and served as a template for future rappers.” - Wikipedia

I think that Wikipedia blurb pretty much sums it up. Paid in Full is hugely influential. I mean without Rakim pioneering of internal rhymes we’d never have had the following Flight of the Conchords lyric:

And he said, "Can somebody
Get the knife and fork out of my leg, please"
"Can somebody please remove
These cutleries from my knees"

Obviously, that would have been a travesty. That aside, the beats, DJ scratching and Rakim’s flow all just oozes old-school cool, and what more could one want from early hip-hop?

Song Picks: I Ain’t No Joke, I Know You Got Soul, Paid in Full

8.5/10

“Franks Wild Years is the tenth studio album by Tom Waits, released 1987 on Island Records. Subtitled Un Operachi Romantico in Two Acts, the album contains songs written by Waits and collaborators (mainly his wife, Kathleen Brennan) for a play of the same name. The shared title of the album and the play is an iteration of Frank's Wild Years, a song from Waits' 1983 album Swordfishtrombones.” - Wikipedia

Generally considered the final album of a trilogy that includes Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs, Franks Wild Years continues in a similar vein, with the familiar and unique barroom instrumentation of the previous two albums. It also continues the trend of having a mix of songs containing more substantial melodic instrumental parts and those with more space, where Waits’ vocals carry the vast amount of the melody.

By virtue of this being the third album in this style, the sound loses some of its freshness, but there was still no one out there making music like Tom Waits at the time. We’ve still got atmospheric production and raw-sounding varied instrumentation, and Waits’ vocals continue to have that worn growl. Lyrically the album again tackles the lives of the downtrodden, and his lyrics are as vivid as ever. I think you could certainly argue that Franks Wild Years is the most varied album of the three, and that is quite the achievement, which is largely led by Tom’s more open and free vocal style on the record. Frank’s Wild Years is consistently very good, but doesn’t quite achieve the highs of Rain Dogs, though the beautiful Innocent When You Dream and comes mighty close. Nevertheless, this is another brilliant record, in what is surely one of the 80s strongest album runs.

Song Picks: Temptation, Innocent When You Dream (both versions), Way Down in the Hole, Cold Cold Ground, I’ll Take New York

8.5/10

“Children of God is the fifth studio album by American experimental rock band Swans. It was released on October 19, 1987 through record label Caroline. The album was recorded over the course of six weeks in February–March 1987 at Sawmills Studios in Cornwall, England. It represented a dramatic, experimental change in sound from earlier Swans releases.” - Wikipedia

In the words of vocalist Michael Gira: “By 1986/7 Swans had run its course with the physical assault of sound that we had employed previously for the most part. I wanted to move on to other things and didn’t want to get stuck in some style, which in our case had the potential of becoming cartoonish if we’d continued in that direction. So, I pushed the music into unfamiliar territory.”

Children of God is slightly less of a bludgeon to the head than the previous Swans album we’ve had on these lists, Filth. There’s even some acoustic tracks here, which would have been unthinkable back then. In the words of Super Hans from Peep Show ‘the longer the note, the more dread’, and Children of God revels in a sense of dread, though it does this more with the heavy reverb and space in between notes than their length specifically. Whether distorted guitars or gently plucked acoustic guitar notes, each of these songs is a slow dirge, a fight through treacle in the belly of a whale that has just eaten you, a speedy punk rock album slowed down until it starts falling apart. I think it’d be fair to say that at over 70 minutes long it overstays its welcome a little, but then Children of God never expected to be welcomed, it just slowly smashed your door down and made a racket. If you submit yourself to the racket for its duration, I can guarantee you’ll come out the other side having experienced something akin to the end of the world, with you passing over to the afterlife during the beautiful closing title track. And who wouldn’t want to experience that?

Children of God is slow, magnificent carnage.

Song Picks: New Mind, Beautiful Child, Children of God

8.5/10

7. Criminal Minded

Boogie Down Productions

“Criminal Minded is the debut studio album by hip hop music group Boogie Down Productions, released on March 3, 1987 by B-Boy Records. It is considered a highly influential hip hop album and one of the first in the gangsta rap genre. Since its release, the album has been sampled, interpolated and paraphrased. Its samples and direct influences were unusual at the time, ranging from liberal use of dancehall reggae (as well as the more commonly used James Brown) to rock music artists such as AC/DC, The Beatles and Billy Joel.” - Wikipedia

Sure, you could argue it sounds primitive when compared to today’s hip-hop productions. The rapping doesn’t have the multitude of cadences and complexity of someone like Kendrick Lamar, and the production is rarely more advanced than a simple drum beat, a repeated bass hook and the odd more trebly instrument, but darn this is enjoyable. It’s old school maaaaan. KRS-One’s vocal has a great timbre for rap, and his lyrics and delivery have an infectious sense of fun to them, even when rapping about more serious topics. Criminal Minded is regarded as one of the first gangsta-rap albums, with tracks like 9mm Goes Bang pioneering ‘first person crime storytelling in rap’ (Pitchfork).

I’m a big fan of Criminal Minded, its simplicity leads to a lot of space, something not all that prominent on more modern hip-hop recordings which follow a much more maximalist vein, and it all just leads to a record that exudes a ‘chill’ atmosphere.

Song Picks: 9mm Goes Bang, South Bronx,

9/10

6. Strangeways, Here We Come

The Smiths

“Strangeways, Here We Come is the fourth and final studio album by English rock band the Smiths. It was released on 28 September 1987 by Rough Trade Records, several months after the group had disbanded. All of the songs were composed by Johnny Marr, with lyrics written and sung by Morrissey.” - WIkipedia

The most noticeable change from the Smiths’ other albums is Johnny Marr’s less speedy guitar riffing, with a style that is a little more restrained and much less jangly, something Marr did very intentionally as he wanted to move the band to a new sound. He even whips out the odd guitar solo. Morrissey’s vocals are also more restrained, featuring less of the faux-operatic and dramatic quality that they’re famous for.

You’d be forgiven for thinking these changes would take away some of the band’s character but, remarkably, I don’t think they do. Morrissey’s vocals may have been reined in, but his lyrics are still punchy, and he’s added a few more techniques to his vocal locker - most notably the odd growl. To me, the new style adds a nice layer of intrigue.

Strangeways Here We Come doesn’t have the song-power that The Queen is Dead has (only Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before is a household song thanks to the recent Mark Ronson version) but it is another cohesive statement by the band that has more great songs on than I’d been lead to believe, and that is probably their most atmospheric album. It feels like the transitional album before another masterpiece. Sadly, it was their last.

Song Picks: Stop Me If You Think That You’ve Heard This One Before, I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish, Death of a Disco Dancer, Paint a Vulgar Picture

9/10

“The Joshua Tree is the fifth studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 9 March 1987 on Island Records. In contrast to the ambient experimentation of their 1984 release, The Unforgettable Fire, the band aimed for a harder-hitting sound within the limitation of conventional song structures on The Joshua Tree. The album is influenced by American and Irish roots music, and through sociopolitically conscious lyrics embellished with spiritual imagery, it contrasts the group's antipathy for the ‘real America’ with their fascination with the ‘mythical America’.” - Wikipedia

The Joshua Tree opens up with 3 iconic tracks in a row: Where the Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For and With or Without You, all timeless classics that are as great examples of songwriting as they are of atmospheric production. The album’s brilliance doesn’t stop there though, Bullet the Blue Sky features bass that’ll rattle your skull, In God’s Country is an example of The Edge’s brilliant guitar work, showing both his well-known mastering of delay and his lesser-known ability to craft a jangly riff. Eno and Lanois’ production is superb throughout and is a big part of why the album is often called timeless. It doesn’t sound like an 80s album. It really could have come out this year, the 90s, or the 2000s. Every song sounds full and stadium ready. The influence of The Joshua Tree echoes like the delay on one of The Edge’s guitar parts throughout the following decades.

Song Picks: Where the Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For and With or Without You, Bullet the Blue Sky, In God’s Country. One Tree Hill

9/10

“Sister is the fourth studio album by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It was released in June 1987 by SST Records. The album furthered the band's move away from the no wave genre towards more traditional song structures, while maintaining an aggressively experimental approach. Like Sonic Youth's previous records, Sister was not successful at the time of its release. In the years following, however, it received much critical praise, with several publications naming it as one of the best albums of the 1980s.” - Wikipedia

A loose concept album about the life and works of Philip K Dick, the album is reportedly named after his twin sister, who died shortly after her birth. Sister sees Sonic Youth sand down some of the abrasiveness of EVOL, but more in terms of song structures than sound. There’s more traditional choruses and verses here, but the instrumentation still howls and screams like a dying factory at points. To me, Sister is the brilliant distillation of what their previous experimentation and envelope-pushing has taught them into a package that is a little easier to digest, and I’d say even more brilliant. I’m told their most famous album Daydream Nation (which we’ll get to next year) continues this trend, which has me rather excited.

Sister is a paranoid, dystopian cry fed to us in more bitesisize and digestible chunks, which makes it all the more effective.

Song Picks: Schizophrenia, Catholic Block, White Cross, Stereo Sanctity

9/10

3. You’re Living All Over Me

Dinosaur Jr

“You're Living All Over Me is the second studio album by American alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr. It was released on December 14, 1987, through SST Records. A refinement of the formula introduced on the band's debut album Dinosaur, You're Living All Over Me features drawling vocals paired with loud guitars and driving rhythms. The album was well-reviewed upon release, and is now regarded as a high point of American rock in the 1980s. The album was originally issued when the band was still known as Dinosaur, before a lawsuit forced the name change to Dinosaur Jr.” - Wikipedia

I’m listening to the Merge remaster, which I’m told cleans up the sound of the album somewhat. And indeed it does sound like something that was roughly recorded but well mastered. I can see why this was such a huge influence on many grunge artists later on, and J. Mascis’ vocals have more than a hint of Kurt Cobain about them at points, though he is much less shouty. To me, this sounds like a mix of midwest emo and the upcoming grunge, which qualifies it as a pioneering album in my books. As well as being pioneering though, the album is also hugely enjoyable. J Mascis is clearly the leading creative force here, and it’s his powering guitar-riffs, eclectic solos and melodic and evocative vocal lines that make the album what it is, with Murph’s drums and Lou Barlow’s bass making a very solid, if unremarkable rhythm section.

You’re Living All Over Me is one of those albums that would sound like a greatest hits album if it wasn’t so roughly recorded, it’s just full of great songs from start to finish, largely thanks to J Masics’ superb ability to write effective choruses, though I love his unbarred guitar solos too (Raisans being a great example). I have a J Mascis signature Squier guitar, which I bought before I’d listened to the band because I loved the look of it, so I’m extra pleased the guy is behind one of the 80s’ best albums.

Song Picks: Little Fury Things, Sludgefeast, Tarpit

9.5/10

“Sign o' the Times is the ninth studio album by American singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Prince. It was first released on March 31, 1987 as a double album by Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. Records. The album is the follow-up to Parade and is Prince's first album following his disbanding of the Revolution. The album's songs were largely recorded during 1986 to 1987 in sessions for releases Prince ultimately aborted: Dream Factory, the pseudonymous Camille, and finally the triple album Crystal Ball. Prince eventually compromised with label executives and shortened the length of the release to a double album.” - Wikipedia

From the opening of the title track, it’s clear Prince is turning up the funk on this album. Who knew tracks featuring programmed drums could be this funky? It turns out that with the help of catchy bass lines and a measured sprinkling of superb guitar licks they can. All this is repeated again in Housequake, one of the album’s most infectiously fun tracks.

The album is essentially just a great showcase of Prince's musical prowess. Prince is credited as playing ‘various instruments’, which seems to equate to pretty much all of them, as well as programming the drums (which are really well done considering the age of this album). He shows a Stevie Wonder level of multi-instrumental musical genius that you can’t help but respect. That’s before we even talk about his consistently alluring and singular vocal performances. There's a wide variety to the songs too with that punchy programmed drum sound, and consistently great melodies still giving the album a thread of cohesion.

As a side note, the digital version of the original album seems to have numerous volume imbalance issues with some tracks much louder than others. Though I’m not always a fan of remasters, if listening on streaming services I’d recommend listening to the 2020 remaster in this case, where the volume levels are a little more consistent.

Sign o’ the Times is less of a coherent statement than the masterpiece that is Purple Rain and instead it feels like an album showing us the breadth of what Prince can do. “What can he do?” I hear you ask. Well, he can make music that’s as fun as anything ever recorded, that’s what.

On that note, I literally can’t listen to I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man and not be in a good mood. That thing is an 80s guitar-solo-infused ecstasy pill.

Song Picks: Sign O’ the Times, Housequake, I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man, It, U Got the Look

9.5/10

1. The Lion and the Cobra

Sinéad O'Connor

“The Lion and the Cobra is the debut album by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor, released on 4 November 1987 by Ensign and Chrysalis Records. O'Connor recorded the album while in the later stages of pregnancy with her first child. The title of the album is from Psalm 91:13 ‘you will tread upon the lion and cobra"‘, and the track Never Get Old opens with an Irish language recital of Psalm 91 by singer Enya.” - Wikipedia

It turns out there’s more to Sinead O’Connor than her famous cover of Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U. The Lion and the Cobra is an ambitious album that demands your attention. O’Connor’s angry, at times tormented vocals aren’t conducive to great background listening, but that’s not what she wants to be. The Lion and the Cobra is full of attitude, and occasionally restrained anger at the world. She herself said “I couldn’t admit it was her I was angry at, so I took it out on the world” referring to her anger at her abusive mother, who died in a car crash when O’Connor was 19.

Songs like Mandinka and Jerusalem are some of the decade’s most powerful songs, and the album jumps from huge productions like those to sections of songs like Never Get Old that are almost acapella, save for some muted drums somewhere in the background. Her vocals though, consistently roar with the energy of a high-speed train. There are famously two covers to the album: the one where she looks as if she’s shouting but was apparently singing above, and the North American version where they decided she needed a ‘softer’ image. Screw that, the above cover is perfect. It looks like someone who has repressed their anger so much that when they try to look angry, they look close to maniacal laughter. On the Lion and the Cobra that mania is there for all to hear, the catharsis palpable, and the creativity undeniable. I think it’s one of the decade’s most underrated albums.

Song Picks: Troy, Mandinka, Jerusalem

9.5/10

1986 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge

August 15, 2022 by Clive in Clive's Album Challenge, Music

The top 1986 headlines aren’t particularly positive I’m afraid: the Soviet nuclear reactor at Chernobyl exploded spreading radioactive material across much of Europe and the Space Shuttle Challenger also exploded 73 seconds after launching, killing all seven astronauts on board.

But onto more positive things, here’s rateyourmusic.com users’ top 5 albums of 1986:

#1 The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
#2 Metallica - Master of Puppets
#3 Slayer - Reign in Blood
#4 Astor Piazzolla and The New Tango Quintet: Tango: Zero Hour / Nuevo Tango: Hora Zero
#5 Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time

As is customary, I’ll also grab some from further down the list

#6 Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus
#7 XTC - Skylarking
#8 Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring
#9 Sonic Youth - EVOL

#12 Peter Gabriel - So
#14 Paul Simon - Graceland
#28 Siouxsie & the Banshees - Tinderbox

Finally, to add more female artists to the equation, I’ll be grabbing anything from 1986 from NPR’s list of the best albums of all time by female artists, as well as the same list as voted on by their readers. This year we’ve just got the one album to add:

Janet Jackson - Control

13 reviews to do then, off we go.

Somewhere in Time is the sixth studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released on 29 September 1986 in the United Kingdom by EMI Records and in the United States by Capitol Records. It was the band's first album to feature guitar synthesisers. Since its release, Somewhere in Time has been certified platinum by the RIAA, having sold over one million copies in the US. - Wikipedia

Ah, another Iron Maiden release. Unfortunately, they remain that one band regularly appearing in these top 5s that I just can’t get into. Entertaining enough, and I can appreciate why others would like it, but I’m just not feeling it y’know. This one feels a little, dare I say it, poppier. I preferred some of their earlier releases, but this still has plenty of rock-solid riffs, guitar solos, and howling vocals.

Song Picks: Deja Vu

6.5/10

12. Epicus Doomicus Metallicus

Candlemass

Epicus Doomicus Metallicus is the debut album of the Swedish doom metal band Candlemass. It was released June 10, 1986 on Black Dragon Records. On its release, the album had a significantly different sound than other European heavy metal bands of the time, because of their use of operatic vocals mixed over slow and heavy guitar riffs. The album did not sell well on its initial release, which led to the group being dropped from the label during the same year. Since then, the album has been re-issued in several different formats. - Wikipedia

I’m getting a definite Black Sabbath vibe from Mats Björkman’s riffs on Epicus Doomicus Metallicus, they’re slow, methodical and powerful. Indeed they’re easily some of the most crushing I’ve ever heard. Messiah Marcolin’s vocals are operatic, and he’s less prone to high pitched wails than many of his contemporaries. The whole thing is a change of pace from the thrash-metal of Slayer and Metallica.

I’m generally a little biased against music that is too operatic, finding it rather hard to get into. The fact I very much enjoyed this is testament to how good it is, and though it was never going to become a favourite, I can absolutely appreciate why they’re as highly thought of as they are.

Song Picks: Demons Gate, Crystal Ball

8/10

Control is the third studio album by American singer Janet Jackson, released on February 4, 1986, by A&M Records. Her collaborations with the songwriters and record producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis resulted in an unconventional sound: a fusion of rhythm and blues, rap vocals, funk, disco, and synthesized percussion that established Jackson, Jam and Lewis as the leading innovators of contemporary R&B. The album became Jackson's commercial breakthrough and enabled her to transition into the popular music market, with Control becoming one of the foremost albums of the 1980s and contemporary music. - Wikipedia

Control contrasts nicely to many other pop albums by female artists in the 80s, such as those by Whitney Houston or Cyndi Lauper, in that it often has more of a focus on percussive power and energy than balladry. Tracks aren’t saturated with instruments blasting evocative chord structures, but instead have a sense of space, one which allows the cataclysmic drums to take centre stage. The album is more about funk and groove than it is about melody, and it sets Jackson apart from her contemporaries in way that is refreshing. While others blasted us with powerful vocals, Jackson blasts us with programmed, gated drums and funky bass grooves. It also features some superb guitar solos, which is a good way to my heart.

Song Picks: Control, You Can Be Mine, Principle of Pleasure

8.5/10

Skylarking is the ninth studio album by the English rock band XTC, released 27 October 1986 on Virgin Records. Produced by American musician Todd Rundgren, it is a loose concept album about a nonspecific cycle, such as a day, a year, the seasons, or a life. The title refers to a type of bird (skylark), as well as the Royal Navy term "skylarking", which means "fooling around". It became one of XTC's best-known albums and is generally regarded as their finest work. - Wikipedia

Andy Partridge’s ability to write a tune is evident from the opening Summer Cauldron (a song about a baby in the womb about to enter the world) and Grass (a song about ‘fumbling’ about on some grass). Recording was plagued with tension between Partridge and producer Todd Rundgren, the former apparently saying he wanted to embed an axe in the latter’s head at one point. The tension is somewhat audible, with the band and Partridge’s vocal sounding quite distant from each other. It’s that detached sound that gives the album a very unique feel though. A lot of these tracks would be a little kitschy (I’m looking at you That’s Really Super, Supergirl) if it weren’t for Rundgren’s grey production adding some darkness to Partridge’s ice-lolly coloured melodies, though the curveball lyrics help too. If you want a nerdier take on 80s pop, then you can’t go wrong with Skylarking.

Song Picks: Summer’s Cauldron, Season Cycle, That’s Really Super, Supergirl

8.5/10

9. Tinderbox

**Siouxsie & the Banshees**

Tinderbox is the seventh studio album by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released on 21 April 1986 by Wonderland and Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and by Geffen Records in the United States. It was the band's first full-length effort recorded with then-new guitarist John Valentine Carruthers; Carruthers had previously only added a few parts on the 1984 EP The Thorn. The first recording sessions for the album took place at Hansa by the Wall in Berlin in May 1985. - Wikipedia

As with 1981’s Juju, which I loved, Siouxsie Sioux’s vocals are in a class of their own, while the fact the guitars have stepped back a little bit gives the whole thing a slightly more ethereal feel. Tinderbox is one of those albums that is hard to get a grapple of, with the single Cities in Dust (about Pompeii) providing one of the album’s firmer emotional handholds with its great chorus. Tinderbox is the perfect mix of intrigue and accessibility.

Song Picks: Cities in Dust

9/10

Master of Puppets is the third studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica, released on March 3, 1986, by Elektra Records. Recorded in Denmark at Sweet Silence Studios with producer Flemming Rasmussen, it was the band's last album to feature bassist Cliff Burton, who died in a bus accident in Sweden during the album's promotional tour. - Wikipedia

Widely regarded as one of the most influential thrash metal albums of all time, it incrementally improves on Ride the Lightning in pretty much every way, and that was already a very good album. The riffs are punchier, the whole thing feels more cohesive, and while Ride the Lightning felt more cerebral than visceral, Master of Puppets, although still leaning towards the former, hits a lot harder in terms of its production and riffs than its predecessor. Anyway, enough comparing, Master of Puppets is a truly great album in a genre that I have to confess to knowing little about. Hetfield’s vocals don’t have much range, but they do manage to add weight to the already heavy riffs here, and when he does crack out a more melodic part - such as on the excellent title track - it hits.

I’ve been a critic of Lars Ulrich over the years, largely because when I saw the band at Rock Im Park in Germany many years ago he was consistently well ahead of the beat, and even on these cleaner recordings he seems in a bigger rush than the rest of the band to me, denying the tracks some of the percussive power a more ‘relaxed’ drummer might have given them, which is a shame.

Nevertheless, Master of Puppets is marvellous. I find people are often too quick to call something heavy, but this absolutely qualifies. It sounds like a massive meteorite hurtling through Earth’s atmosphere.

Song Picks: Master of Puppets, The Thing That Should Not Be, Damage Inc

9/10

Reign in Blood is the third studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer, released on October 7, 1986, by Def Jam Recordings. The album was the band's first collaboration with producer Rick Rubin, whose input helped the band's sound evolve. The release date of the album was delayed because of concerns regarding the lyrical subject matter of the opening track "Angel of Death", which refers to Josef Mengele and describes acts such as human experimentation that he committed at the Auschwitz concentration camp. The band's members stated that they did not condone Nazism and were merely interested in the subject. - Wikipedia

Rick Rubin is now synonymous with the loudness wars, but his production here is perfect. Reign In Blood hits harder than Metallica’s Master of Puppets, and that’s going somewhere. This is real thrash metal, no-nonsense melodic acoustic breakdowns here, just pedal-to-the-metal blistering riffs, powerhouse drumming and Araya’s vocals roaring like an angry lion. I kid of course, melodic breakdowns are fine. Reign In Blood though wants nothing to do with them and thinks they’re a bootless errand. Reign In Blood is clearly keen not to waste your time, hence why it is only 28 minutes long, and not a second is wasted.

Song Picks: Altar of Sacrifice, Jesus Saves, Postmortem

9/10

The Colour of Spring is the third studio album by English band Talk Talk, released in February 1986. Musically, The Colour of Spring was a major step away from the synthesised pop of early Talk Talk, with a greater focus on guitars, pianos, and organs on such songs as "Life's What You Make It", "Living in Another World" and "Give It Up". It had a sound described by the band as much more organic than their earlier records, with the improvisation that was to dominate on their later works already apparent in the recording process. - Wikipedia

Is there a more sumptuous piece of 80s production than the opening Happiness is Easy? I think not. Webb’s bass groove, the variaphone and Hollis’ vocals all blend together to create something that is like audible honey. Hell, this whole thing is some gorgeous, sophisticated desert, like a fine tiramisu. Everything is tastefully done, and has had a lot of thought, but it at no point feels sterile. The Colour of Spring is one of those albums I’d not heard of at all that I’m really happy this challenge has introduced me to.

Song Picks: Happiness is Easy, I Don’t Believe in You, Life is What You Make It, Time it’s Time

9/10

Tango: Zero Hour (Nuevo Tango: Hora Zero in Spanish) is an album by Ástor Piazzolla and his Quinteto Nuevo Tango (in English: New Tango Quintet, often loosely referred to as his second quintet). It was released in September 1986 on American Clavé, and re-released on Pangaea Records in 1988. - Wikipedia

Piazzolla considered this his greatest album, and it appropriately marks zero hour for my adventure into any sort of tango music. Zero Hour is glorious, it rings with an energy and intricacy that never loses its feeling of rawness. I’d like to say it sounds like a dusty Spanish town on a hot day, where people have their windows open talking to each other across the street, but that would be incorrect. Zero Hour sounds like a couple dancing as that street interchangeably loudly and quietly collapses around them, until there’s nothing left but them in a desert of dust and rubble. If that sounds dramatic, just wait until you’ve heard this hauntingly beautiful record.

Song Pick: Concierto Para Quinteto

9/10

So is the fifth studio album by English singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel, released on 19 May 1986 by Charisma Records. After working on the soundtrack to the film Birdy (1984), producer Daniel Lanois was invited to remain at Gabriel's Somerset home during 1985 to work on his next solo project. Initial sessions for So consisted of Gabriel, Lanois and guitarist David Rhodes, although these grew to include a number of percussionists. Often considered his best and most accessible album, So was an immediate commercial success and transformed Gabriel from a cult artist into a mainstream star, becoming his best-selling solo release. - Wikipedia

So opens with Red Rain, a typically epic and 80s sounding Gabriel track, and one of my favourites. Though I think the live version from Secret World Live is superior to the version here, largely because I prefer Manu Katche’s drumming on the live track to the drumming here, it’s still a really powerful way to open the album. The album continues in a pretty forceful vein: gated drums, synths, and an exaggerated sense of drama helping bring a really 80s feel to the record. Sledgehammer is one of Gabriel’s most famous songs, and it brilliantly demonstrates his nous for huge sounding production (with backing choirs and a synthesised shakuhachi flute in this case) and playful melodies. Kate Bush features on the angelic Don’t Give Up, and excels in production perhaps a little less experimental than that on her own songs. In Your Eyes, ‘inspired by an African tradition of ambiguity in song between romantic love and love of God’ according to Gabriel, received a new lease of life when it played a prominent role in a scene in Say Anything…, starring John Cusack, is another one of the album’s famous tracks. A perfect love song that escapes its rather cheesy lyrical theme through yet more monumental production (this time including a clear African influence, including a great part in Wolof by Youssou N'Dour) and melodies to die for.

So is another 80s classic, from the man who had a knack for distilling the musical ideas of the decade (at least in pop) into songs that were catchy, huge, and interesting. Some say the album leans too much into the time, and feels dated now. I disagree, it’s a product of the 80s, and it wears that on its sleeve like a badge of honour.

Song Picks: In Your Eyes, Red Rain, Sledgehammer, Don’t Give Up, That Voice Again

9/10

EVOL is the third full-length studio album by the American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. Released in May 1986, EVOL was Sonic Youth’s first album on SST Records, and also the first album to feature then-new drummer Steve Shelley who had just replaced Bob Bert. In retrospective reviews, critics cite EVOL as marking Sonic Youth’s transition from their no wave roots toward a greater pop sensibility, while bassist Kim Gordon has referred to it as the band’s “goth record.” - Wikipedia

The first in what will be plenty of Sonic Youth albums appearing on these lists in the upcoming years is a paranoid and dark album of guitar chord drones and vocals that sound resigned to the ether. On Shadow of a Doubt Gordon whispers hauntingly over the plucked guitar part, before the other vocalists back her ever more paranoid screams during the chorus (if you can call it that). The fact the band has three distinct vocalists (bassist Kim Gordon and guitarists Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore) adds to the album’s anarchy. EVOL can be a challenging listen, particularly for those prone to anxiety among us. There’s a deep unease to a lot of the guitar work, Starpower features a superb riff that is both unsettling and enjoyable, while In the Kingdom #19 switches between a head-bopping riff and what sounds like an air raid (reminiscent of Hendrix’s version of the Star Spangled Banner) in a way that only Sonic Youth could make work. On Death to our Friends the guitar sounds so dissonant it’s as if it’s been found in an attic and never tuned.

EVOL is a dark chaos which has begun transforming itself into something resembling songs. It’s a masterful subversion of established genres to create something that sounds so punk, that you can’t call it punk at all.

Song Picks: Starpower; Shadow of a Doubt; Secret Girl; Madonna, Sean and Me

9/10

The Queen Is Dead is the third studio album by English rock band the Smiths. Released on 16 June 1986 in the United Kingdom by Rough Trade Records, and on 23 June 1986 in the US by Sire Records, it spent 22 weeks on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at number two. It also peaked at number 70 on the US Billboard 200, and was certified Gold by the RIAA in late 1990.

In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked The Queen Is Dead 113th on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In its 2013 list, the NME named The Queen Is Dead the greatest album of all time. - Wikipedia

I had a feeling as I listened to other albums by the Smiths that this one would end up being my favourite, and it is. The Queen is Dead does away with some of the consistency issues of previous albums (though I very much like them all) and is packed front to back with everything that makes the Smiths great. Johnny Marr’s riffs power things along at pace, and occasionally even add a dramatic sense of urgency to things, such as on the opening title track’s second half. Morrissey is at his melodic best, I’ve talked about his style being almost operatic, and here its singularity is coupled with memorable melody after memorable melody. The album also contains some of his best lyrics, ‘I’ve got the 21st century breathing down my neck’ being just one example of the many great lines on this record. Love him or hate him, these are some of the most memorable vocal performances of the 80s.

The drums and bass are on point too, aided by the album’s sleek production, no doubt as much the work of Stephen Street (who produced Meat is Murder) at the mixing desk, as it was that of Marr and Morrissey who are credited as producers here.

The Queen is Dead is one of the 80s’ best bands at their absolute peak, and its effect on all ‘indie’ music since can’t be understated, something made evident by the fact that the NME - who typically loves that genre - named it the best album of all time in 2013.

Song Picks: The Queen is Dead, There is a Light That Never Goes Out, Bigmouth Strikes Again

9.5/10

Graceland is the seventh solo studio album by the American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. It was produced by Simon, engineered by Roy Halee and released on August 25, 1986, by Warner Bros. Records. In the early 1980s, Simon's relationship with his former musical partner Art Garfunkel had deteriorated, his marriage to actress Carrie Fisher had collapsed, and his previous record, Hearts and Bones (1983), had been a commercial failure. In 1984, after a period of depression, Simon became fascinated by a bootleg cassette of mbaqanga, South African street music. He and Halee visited Johannesburg, where they spent two weeks recording with South African musicians. Further recordings were held in the United States, with guest musicians including Linda Ronstadt, the Everly Brothers, Louisiana band Good Rockin' Dopsie and the Twisters, and Los Angeles band Los Lobos. - Wikipedia

Objective reviews don’t exist - particularly not when I’m writing them - but this is an album that it’s particularly hard for me to look at with any distance. If I had to name one album that was the biggest part of my childhood, it’d be Graceland. My Mum had the tape, and I remember listening to it repeatedly on our drive to and from school every day in our old Volvo. It’s an album I know every word to, every nuance, and where the end of one song immediately means the intro to the next starts playing in my head. It’s been a factor of so much of my life that it doesn’t take me back to any specific part of it, but instead feels like the musical equivalent of the teddy bear I was given at birth. That guy still sits on my sofa by the way.

The idea of blending western music with South-African music sounds like some sort of gimmick, but Simon and his multiple collaborators here absolutely pull it off. This is a glorious blending of musical styles, one that soaks up another culture, rather than tokenises it, a beautiful testament to the artistry in diversity. It’s the musical equivalent of living in another country and adopting its culture rather than taking a tour bus, looking at the highlights, and returning with a head full of stereotypes. Throw into the mix fact that this is some of Simon’s best lyrical and melodic work since Simon & Garfunkel, delivered with a cadence like honey, and you get an album that is just a pure, effervescent joy. I don’t think an album has to be perfect to get a 10, but Graceland is.

P.S I think the title track is one of the most finely crafted songs of all time.

And she said, "losing love
Is like a window in your heart
Everybody sees you're blown apart
Everybody sees the wind blow"

Song Picks: Graceland, I Know What I Know, Gumboots, Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, You Can Call Me Al,

10/10

1985 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge

July 08, 2022 by Clive

We’ve made it to the second half of the 80s as we trundle on in this rather epic quest on a road paved with album covers. 1985 has a nice ring to it, it’s always been one of my favourite sounding years as a number, but will it be one of my favourite sounding musically? Spoilers, yes it will. Before we get onto that though, what on earth happened in 1985? The Jordan Air 1 was first released, which is still the world’s most successful trainer to this day, Raegan was sworn in for a second term as President, Live Aid happened and Coca-Cola tried to introduce a new formula that no one liked, so they reverted back to the old one.

Onto the music, here’s what rateyourmusic.com’s users rate as their top 5 albums of 1985:

#1 Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
#2 Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
#3 Bach & Gardiner - Mass in B Minor
#4 Tears for Fears - Songs from the Big Chair
#5 The Replacements - Tim

Of course, I’ll also fish a few up from further down the list:

#6 Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen
#7 The Fall - The Nation’s Saving Grace
#8 The Cure - The Head on the Door
#11 The Smiths - Meat is Murder
#12 The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy & the Lash
#16 The Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy

Finally, as usual, to add more female artists to the equation, I’ll be grabbing anything from 1985 from NPR’s list of the best albums of all time by female artists, as well as the same list as voted on by their readers. This year we’ve just got the one album:

Whitney Houston - Whitney Houston

Right, I’ve already said this is one of my favourite years so far, so let’s hurry up and get on with it.

Oh, and a slight change this time. In the interests of me finishing this challenge at some point before I die, I’ve decided to copy WIkipedia’s (or other website’s) blurbs as the opening paragraphs, as I was often just rewording those anyway. Of course I’ll make clear where I’ve done this!

12. Mass in B Minor

John Eliot Gardiner

“The Mass in B minor is an extended setting of the Mass ordinary by Johann Sebastian Bach. The composition was completed in 1749, the year before the composer's death, and was to a large extent based on earlier work, such as a Sanctus Bach had composed in 1724.

Sir John Eliot Gardiner is an English conductor, particularly known for his performances of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach.” - Wikipedia

Gardiner’s 1985 recording of Mass in B Minor with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists seems to be rateyourmusic.com’s favourite recording of the piece. As with most of these classical music records, this is the first I’ve heard of it. This one is notable for being chorally led, though it does also include an orchestra.

Mass in B Minor is 1 hour and 45 minutes long, and it’s pretty darn majestic. So majestic that it’s not one I’ll be in the mood for at all times, but there’s no doubt this is a really great recording of a wonderfully written piece.

8/10

11. Rum, Sodomy and the Lash

The Pogues

Rum Sodomy & the Lash is the second studio album by the London-based folk punk band The Pogues, released on 5 August 1985. The album reached number 13 in the UK charts. The track "A Pair of Brown Eyes", based on an older Irish tune, reached number 72 in the UK singles chart. "The Old Main Drag" later appeared on the soundtrack to the film “My Own Private Idaho”. - Wikipedia

I’ve always wanted to listen to more of the Pogues, Fairytale of New York has always been my favourite Christmas song, Shane MacGowan’s drunkenly slurred vocal defying the accessible melodies in the track, and I’ve generally enjoyed any of their songs when they’ve come on. So I was excited to get into Rum, Sodomy & the Lash, named after the Winston Churchill quote "Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy, and the lash."

The album is pretty much what you’d expect, and I mean that as a compliment. MacGowan’s vocals are very much his own - he’s able to carry a melody while sounding completely ragged - and the band’s punkifying of Irish music has been massively influential. A lot of the album’s tracks just make you want to start dancing about and having a good old knees-up (e.g. the pacey opener The Sick Bed of Cúchulainn), but there’s plenty of slower tracks too, where MacGowan’s ability to carry a melody is even more evident (such as The Old Main Drag and the beautiful A Pair of Brown Eyes). It’s just good, punky folk music. Like a lot of folk music, it can suffer from a lack of melodic variation, and for me, I do grow a little fatigued by the album’s final two tracks, but it’s worth it for the bouncy, bouncy highs.

Song Picks: The Sick Bed of Cúchulainn, The Old Main Drag, A Pair of Brown Eyes, Navigator

8/10

“Whitney Houston is the debut studio album by American singer Whitney Houston, released on February 14, 1985, by Arista Records. The album initially had a slow commercial response but began getting more popular in the summer of 1985. It eventually topped the Billboard 200 for 14 weeks in 1986, generating three number-one singles — Saving All My Love for You, How Will I Know and Greatest Love of All (a cover of The Greatest Love of All, originally recorded in 1977 by George Benson) — on the Billboard Hot 100, which made it both the first debut album and the first album by a solo female artist to produce three number-one singles.” - Wikipedia

How much you’ll like Whitney Houston correlates directly with how much you can handle an album of cheesy 80s love songs. For me, when the album hits, it hits brilliantly, as in the three number 1 singles named above, each of which you’ll have heard hundreds of times. A remarkable feat considering they’re all from one album. They perfectly demonstrate Houston’s vocal range, and how she’s the absolute queen of the refrain (see Saving all My Love for You and Greatest Love of All in particular). How Will I Know is one of those classics that just gets everyone to the dancefloor and brimming with joy. The song has a cheesy bass line, cheesy synth stabs, and cheesy gated drums, hell it’s like a four-cheese pizza of a pop song, but when you go all in like Whitney did with this track, and pepper it with catchy melodies and a vocal performance that is completely irresistible, you get one of the most iconic pop songs ever recorded, and it’s marvellous.

The rest of the album doesn’t quite live up to the heady heights of its singles, which would have been an impossible ask. Rest assured that there’s plenty else to enjoy here though, that grooooovy (extra o’s intentional) bassline on Someone for Me for one, but there are also moments where the soppy love song lyrical content gets a bit too much, even if the melodies are consistently catchy. If you’re in the mood for it, Whitney Houston is a really fun record. It’s also clearly one of the most influential albums on 90s boy-band and girl-band pop.

Song Picks: Saving All My Love for You, How Will I Know and Greatest Love of All

8/10

The band’s eighth album marks the first in the ‘Brix era’, i.e when lead singer Mark E. Smith’s wife Brix Smith joined the band, having a massive influence and writing most of the music.

I’ve read a lot about this being their most accessible album due to Brix’s pop sensibilities, but it’s still a raucous, and at times brash affair. Mark E. Smith’s vocals are still off-kilter and ranty, and the guitars still grind like particularly energetic factory machinery. What has changed however are the guitar riffs, which are more melodic and catchy. My New House has the air of a pop hit gone deliberately wonky, and Cruiser’s Creek - one of the album’s two singles - is about as catchy a song as you can expect from a band that has Mark E Smith singing in it. A plethora of simple but effective guitar riffs roar as Smith confidently rambles about a raucous office party.

The Nation’s Saving Grace does what The Fall do best, attitude. It brims with ‘we don’t give a shit’ energy, but the active rather than the passive variety, and I’ve always been a fan of that.

Song Picks: My New House, Cruiser’s Creek, Paintwork

8.5/10

The Smiths’ second album was their only album to reach number 1 in the UK album charts, it was also succesful internationally. As you can probably guess from the album’s title, Meat is Murder sees the start of Morrissey’s pro-vegetarian (now vegan) stance, which is famously uncompromising. Even then he forbid the rest of the band being photographed eating meat. Rolling Stone ranked the album 295th in their top 500 albums of all time list.

Meat is Murder feels more cohesive than the band’s debut, and sees the band playing with longer song structures. Jonny Marr’s percussive and pacey rhythm playing once again juxtoposes nicely with Morrissey’s drawn-out vocal style. There’s a meditative feel to the album, with the core instrumental parts often changing very little throughout the song, and the variation provided by Jonny Marr’s chimey guitar licks. That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore is probably the album’s most affecting track, with Morrissey’s realisation that he has depression perfectly elocuted and performed with the lines “I've seen this happen in other people's lives/And now it's happening in mine”, repeated over and over as if saying it enough times will make it not true. We all know Marr’s a master of guitar melody, but his understated chords that finish the bleak Well I Wonder deserve at least a mention here. The album’s title track and closer is probably its weakest track, if only because the whole thing is a little on the nose.

Song Picks: The Headmaster Ritual, That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore, Well I Wonder

8.5/10

“Steve McQueen is the second studio album by English pop band Prefab Sprout, released in June 1985 by Kitchenware Records. The album was released by CBS in the United States as Two Wheels Good in anticipation of legal conflict with the estate of American actor Steve McQueen. The album cover references Steve McQueen's lifelong passion for Triumph motorcycles and the 1963 film The Great Escape.” - Wikipedia

The band’s songwriter and vocalist, Paddy McAloon has claimed the album is more producer Thomas Dolby’s album than his, as he chose the songs from a raft of demos provided by Paddy, and is wholly responsible for the very 80s sound of the record, as the Pitchfork review points out. The production touches add to McAloon’s great songwriting, gently elevating, rather than hiding it. This is largely because although there’s a very 80s sound to the record, the production exercises a level of restraint that the decade isn’t known for, one that matches perfectly with McAloon’s understated songwriting and vocal style. The instrumental touches that flesh things out are always lovely and more than occasionally bloody gorgeous (e.g. that guitar twinkling in the opening passages of When Love Breaks Down).

Steve McQueen is the type of album I think anyone can enjoy, with a bunch of thoroughly enjoyable pop songs that are varied enough to make it a) fly by, and b) a joy to return to time and time again.

Song Picks: Appetite, Lucille #1, Desire As

9/10

The Replacements are back, this time with their fourth album, first on a major label, and their last with founding member and guitarist Bob Stinson. Like their previous album Let It Be, it’s generally regarded as an all-time classic.

Tim is certainly The Replacement’s most polished album to date sonically. There’s a consistency with the guitar, drums and vocal sound across the album that just wasn’t there with Let It Be. This can make Tim seem more samey on the initial listen, but the production hides another album showcasing Westerberg’s ability to write in all sorts of styles. We’ve got the bouncy I’ll Buy, the rock ‘n’ roll Waitress in the Sky, the drunk, messy and roared Bastards of the Young, and the superb faux acoustic Here Comes a Regular. I think the Replacements’ comparative lack of commercial success can be largely linked to Westerberg’s refusal to fit into any sort of genre box. He could get angry, but he could also be soft. Westerberg is the ultimate punk, he doesn’t care that you should use this sound, or sing like that, or write about that just to fit in, he just writes what he likes and it leads to another record of great songs.

Although packed with great songs, it’s Westerberg’s softer songs that really stand out here. Siwning’ Party features a refrain that is melodically irresistible, and Westerberg’s grainy vocal performance makes it all the more affecting. The album’s closer is a goosebump moment. Here Comes a Regular essentially uses Dylan’s Knocking on Heaven’s Door chord progression to craft a masterpiece about an alcoholic. It’s sad, poignant, and features a twinkly piano part that brings tears to my eyes. It also features one of my favourite lyrics:

“All I know is I'm sick of everything that my money can buy”

I can’t confirm at this point, but I think it might be the closing track on the ‘Clive’s favourite songs of all time mixtape’, which I aim to put together before I die.

Song Picks: Here Comes a Regular, Swingin’ Party, Bastards of the Young, Waitress in the Sky

9/10

The Cure’s sixth album is the first to feature Boris Williams, and also sees the return of Simon Gallup on bass, who’d been on the band’s first three albums.

The Head on the Door isn’t as gloomy and atmospheric as the Cure’s earlier records, and has much more of a pop focus. Robert Smith made a concerted effort to feature a wide mix of musical styles which leads to everything from flamenco (The Blood) to the more oriental (Kyoto Song). It’s this variety, and its irresistible pop accessibility, that makes the album so darn good. In Between Days is classic pop the Cure, with a speedy rhythm guitar part driving along a catchy melodic number. I love the way the song builds up in the first ten seconds, exploding into headbopping joy, before Smith sings: Yesterday, I got so old/I felt like I could die over the top in a juxtapositionally happy way. It’s like he’s found a home in the sadness, and is flourishing through acceptance. That synth part is one of the happiest things in music, period. There’s darker, sparser moments like Kyoto Song and Six Different Ways, but even those bring joy with their nursery rhyme melodies. Push is the one where everyone in the crowd holds their hands up to the heavens, beaming their dreams into the night. That opening guitar riff is surely one of the most effective openings to any song, and the way the song instrumentally builds up into a triumphant melange on top of Gallop’s punchy bass part, taking nearly half the song before Smith’s vocals appear, is glorious. Close to Me’s percussive breaths open a song that sounds impressively modern, but again it’s the infectious melodies, both in the xylophone part and Smith’s vocal, that endear the song to your heart.

The Head on the Door is a perfect pop album. It has the catchy melodies and rock-solid production, but it’s also steeped in Smith’s penchant for inventiveness. It’s like the Cure have been squeezed through some sort of pop music blender, and it’s great.

Song Picks: In Between Days, Push, Close to Me, Sinking

9/10

4. Songs from the Big Chair

Tears for Fears

Songs from the Big Chair is the second studio album by English pop-rock band Tears for Fears, released on 25 February 1985 by Phonogram Records. The album peaked at number two in the UK and at number one in the US, becoming a multi-platinum seller and the band's most successful album to date. Songs from the Big Chair spawned the commercially successful singles "Mothers Talk", "Shout", "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", "Head over Heels", and "I Believe - Wikipedia

Songs from the Big Chair is a hit machine. From the opening twinkles and explosive drums of Shout the album sounds massive. Heavily reverbed instruments and vocals create an engulfing sound that combines electronic and acoustic instruments seamlessly. 80s saxophone has a reputation of being cheesy, but here it’s tastefully done, adding an element of jazz pizzaz to proceedings. In fact, the whole thing manages to sound completely 80s, while also feeling like something that could have come out today. With production as good as I’ve heard on this journey, and consistently engaging songs and soundscapes, Songs from the Big Chair has quickly become an 80s favourite.

Song Picks: Everybody Wants to Rule the World, Shout

9.5/10

3. Psychocandy

The Jesus and Mary Chain

The Scottish band’s debut album was massively influential on the upcoming shoegaze genre, but also on alternative rock in general. It is regularly cited as one of the best albums of all time.

Psychocandy’s distorted guitars fizz like a giant shaken bottle of coke as Jim Reid’s brit-pop melodies swim amongst the foam. The fizz feels like a blanket of white noise to shut my brain up, and that allows Reid’s lovely melodies to have their maximum comforting impact. Rolling Stone described the album as “bubblegum pop drowned in feedback”, and that is the most apt description I can think of. Psychocandy feels like that pick-me-up chocolate bar or bag of sweets, but without the inevitable crash afterwards. It’s an album that is almost medicinal to me.

Song Picks: Just like Honey, Some Candy Talking, The Hardest Walk, Never Understand

10/10

Hounds of Love is the fifth studio album by English singer Kate Bush, released on 16 September 1985 by EMI Records. It was a commercial success and marked a return to the public eye for Bush after the relatively low sales of her previous album, 1982's The Dreaming. The album's lead single, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), became one of Bush's biggest hits. The album's first side produced three further singles, Cloudbusting, Hounds of Love, and The Big Sky. The second side, subtitled The Ninth Wave, forms a conceptual suite about a woman drifting alone in the sea at night. - Wikipedia

It’s hard to imagine an album exists with a stronger first side than Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love, starting with the iconic Running Up That Hill, a singular song with one of the most magical soundscapes ever created, moving into Hounds of Love, full of perfect pop melodies with Kate Bush’s signature quirkiness, then the marching The Big Sky, before taking a minute to breathe on Mother Stands for Comfort and finishing with Cloudbusting’s glorious strings.

The second half features none of the hits but works as the perfect companion to the opening side and is still rooted in Bush’s pop sensibilities, even if it is more experimental. Tracks like Waking the Witch and Dream of Sheep once again show just how unique Bush’s production and songs are, there’s just nothing else quite like it out there.

Hounds of Love sounds completely iconic as soon as you put it on, and a lot of that feels like it comes from just how deep into the cultural zeitgeist the first side’s tracks are, but once you get to side two’s lesser-known material you realise that’s nothing to do with it. It’s iconic because rarely has an artist been so singular, bewitching and captured as well as Bush has here. The whole album feels unlike anything else, and yet is completely accessible. Magic.

Song Picks: Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), Cloudbusting, Hounds of Love, The Big Sky, And Dream of Sheep, Watching You Without Me

10/10

Rain Dogs is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Tom Waits, released in September 1985 on Island Records. A loose concept album about ‘the urban dispossessed’ of New York City, Rain Dogs is generally considered the middle album of a trilogy that includes Swordfishtrombones and Franks Wild Years. - Wikipedia

Rain Dogs is an absolute marvel. The gruff, bar room sound Waits introduced in Swordfishtrombones (which I loved) is perfected here. There’s a percussiveness to the tracks, often a lack of any instrument playing chords to drive the track and a sense of space that makes each overdriven guitar riff ring out with a beautiful clarity. Waits’ vocal performance is consistently engaging as he growls out stories of the dispossessed in a style completely his own, his lyrics adding to the completely visual palette created by this audio recording. An exercise in minimalism in terms of production, where reverb is used very sparingly, the whole thing feels intimate, like a performance in a small basement just for you.

When Waits turns back to his earlier, more melodic style on masterpieces like Time and Downtown Train, bringing back the idea of guitar or piano chords carrying a song, he does so like a guy who has just written a song so good that he has no choice but to sing it, regardless of how much he feels like it might harken back to the past. Time’s initial verse is a great example of Waits’ evocative lyrical style and its chorus one of the most beautiful things ever written. Here’s the verse, which of course is even more effective as Waits quietly hums it:

Well the smart money's on Harlow
And the moon is in the street
The shadow boys are breaking all the laws
And you're east of East St. Louis
And the wind is making speeches
And the rain sounds like a round of applause
Napoleon is weeping in the Carnival saloon
His invisible fiance is in the mirror
And the band is going home
It's raining hammers
It's raining nails
Yes, it's true, there's nothin' left for him down here

Downtown Train has quickly become one of my favourite songs of all time, not just the 80s. The way the chorus kicks into motion like the downtown train it describes is superb, and is all the more succesful due to the album’s careful sprinkling of guitar riffs, one that Waits has spent the duration of the album successfully selling you on.

I’ve said sparse a lot here, but I don’t think that’s exactly what I mean. There’s a lot going on in these tracks, and often a whole bunch of interesting instruments (the instrumental Midtown is a good example), but nothing owns the track, your mind is barely drawn to one thing, like a driving riff or bass line, but instead your brain takes in the twinkles, pats and thuds of everything happening as well as Waits’ gritty vocal. As I listen to Rain Dogs’ rich and singular sonic palette, my brain jumps from sound to sound, and it feels completely alive. Rain Dogs is the most exquisite and yet rooted cup of coffee, one where you can taste the struggle.

Song Picks: Time, Downtown Train, Union Square, Clap Hands,

10/10

1984 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge

May 09, 2022 by Clive in Clive's Album Challenge, Music

So, we’re into 1984, the year forever immortalised by the name of George Orwell’s novel (published in 1949). Also the year that Joe W. Kittinger made the first solo transatlantic balloon flight, Apple released their Macintosh personal computer and Bishop Desomnd Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Musically, here’s the top 5 albums of the year as rated by rateyourmusic.com’s users

#1 Metallica - Ride the Lightning
#2 Prince - Purple Rain
#3 The Smiths - Hatful of Hollow
#4 Iron Maiden - Powerslave
#5 Cocteau Twins - Treasure

I’ll be grabbing a few more from further down the list, namely:

#6 Staatsorchester Stuttgart - Tabula Rasa
#8 Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
#9 The Replacements - Let It Be
#10 Husker Du - Zen Arcade
#13 The Smiths - The Smiths
#20 R.E.M - Reckoning

Finally, as usual, to add more female artists to the equation, I’ll be taking the below from NPR’s list of the best albums of all time by female artists, as well as the same list as voted on by their readers.

Tina Tuner - Private Dancer
Sade - Diamond Life
The Pretenders - Learning to Crawl

Having said I’d try to have a few less per year so that I can actually finish this challenge at some point in my life, I’ve gone and picked 14 albums to review - which I think is tied with the most I’ve ever looked at for any particular year - because I’m an idiot. Anyway, let’s see which of these 14 emerges victorious.

Iron Maiden’s 5th album was their first album to be recorded with the same line-up as the previous. That’s your stat for the week. It was ranked 34th in Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 best metal albums of all time.

I feel like Iron Maiden are the one band that keep appearing in these top 5s that I’ve still not massively got into. Has Powerslave changed that? Not exactly. Again, I can very much appreciate the great riffs and rapid solos all on display in the album’s opener Aces High and beyond, but I still can’t get into that 70s high pitch hard-rock vocal sound from Bruce Dickinson. I don’t love their Dungeons and Dragons lyrics either, but if I just chill out and try to listen without these prejudices, you know what? I end up having a good time. It’s hard not to be swept away by the barnstorming instrumental section (even if the mix is a little thin) and some internal headbanging definitely occurred. it does have to be said that Powerslave is infectiously riff-tacular, I was literally saying ‘oooo that’s a great riff’ at the start of every track.

Song Picks: 2 Minutes to Midnight, Losfer Words

7/10

The second studio album by the American punk rock band was originally released as a double album on two vinyl LPs. It tells the story of a young boy who runs away from an unfulfilling home life, only to find the world outside is worse. It’s widely regarded as one of the most influential albums in alternative rock, as the band moved away from their more hardcore roots to create some slower, and even acoustic songs.

I have to confess to not following the album’s narrative in particular, which the somewhat muffled vocal mix doesn’t help with, and I do think the album - at 70 minutes - is a bit long for my tastes in this genre, but I have to say it’s a really inventive album. It stretches what can be a slightly repetitive genre (whoa calm down there, I love punk as much as the next guy) in enough directions to make 70 minutes just about work, and that’s impressive in itself.

Song Picks: Never Talking to You Again, Reoccuring Dreams,

7.5/10

The English rock band’s debut was re-recorded between tour dates by John Porter, after Troy Tate’s initial production was deemed inadequate. The album peaked at number 2 in the UK, where it helped the band become a key member of the decade’s music scene, but it also had significant international success.

Morrissey, despite the insufferable man he’s become recently, is undoubtedly one of the most unique vocalists of not only the 80s, but ever. His faux-operatic whines slide from note to note like the vocal version of a lap steel guitar, a perfect sound of dejection. But he was far from the only great thing about the Smiths, as this collection of songs demonstrates. Johnny Marr’s guitar playing is jangly, pacey and percussive, while the rhythm section helps to provide the instrumental momentum that makes tracks like This Charming Man as effective as they are.

There were better, more consistent albums to come from the Smiths (one of which is on this list), and a few of the songs are a bit meandering and lacking in the engaging melodies that we know Morrissey is capable of. Their debut did make it very clear just how unique they were though, and that’s enough to make it very much worth a listen. Also it has This Charming Man on it, quite probably one of the best jangly pop songs ever written.

Song Picks: This Charming Man, What Difference Does It Make, Still Ill

7.5/10

Sade Adu began back-up singing for Pride following her work in modelling. She later formed Sade with 3 other members of Pride. Diamond Life was the best selling debut album by a female British vocalist for the next 24 years.

Diamond Life doesn’t just start with Smooth Operator, it is a smooth operator. With a chilled funky backing featuring prominent bass lines, simple and relaxed drums and frequent brass flourishes, the album sounds like some slightly jazzy silk. Sade’s vocals are full, soulful, and yet rather cold and detached, helping add to the synthetic 80s atmosphere, and giving proceedings a very sophisticated feel. It’s easy listening, but also interesting and progressive; that guy in a tuxedo on the dancefloor at the wedding with understated moves that he’s clearly put a lot of thought into.

Song Picks: Smooth Operator, Frankie’s First Affair

8/10

Metallica’s second album sees them tackling more complex arrangements and instrumental parts than their bullish debut Kill ‘Em All. This was largely influenced by bassist Bill Clifton teaching the band music theory, something that led to a more deliberate style of songwriting.

Ride the Lightning almost sounds like prog-rock at points, with major key acoustic guitar parts thrown in, you half expect them to start singing about to start singing about elves and trolls. Fade to Black is a good example of this but, of course, there’s no sign of elves and instead Hetfield sings about suicide. I generally prefer Hetfield’s almost hollow vocal to that of other metal bands of the time (e.g. Iron Maiden). He’s dramatic in a more believable way somehow, and his growls on For Whom the Bell Tolls give the track the gravity its topic - corporal punishment - merits.

Ride the Lightning’s riffs dodge and weave, they’re unpredictable and yet brutal. The album is as sophisticated as it is angry and heavy. This makes it a bit less visceral, but more cerebral, and that was to have a huge influence on the metal to come.

Song Picks: For Whom the Bell Tolls, Fight Fire With Fire

8.5/10

The Scottish band’s third album cemented both their line-up and sound going forward, their ‘signature ethereality’ as Pitchfork puts it. Interestingly, producer and bassist Simon Raymonde hated the album, claiming it to be their “worst album by a mile”.

Treasure is soaked in reverb, so much so that the fact that Elizabeth Fraser is singing an entirely made up language isn’t immediately obvious, and doesn’t seem remotely out of place. It feels like the kind of album the elves in Lord of the Rings would make if they happened upon an electric guitar, twin reverb amp and a drum machine in the forest. With Treasure, only Fraser will know if there’s any meaning behind her glossolalia, and it matters not whether there is. In some ways that lack of any literal meaning takes the pressure off and lets you sink comfortably into Treasure’s lush, washed out soundscapes, with Fraser’s melodies lulling you along.

Song Picks: Lorelei, Cicely, Donimo

9/10

R.E.M’s second album was recorded over 16 days, with producers Mitch Easter and Don Dixon intending to capture the band’s live sound, binaural recordings were used to help achieve this.

Many of Stipe’s takes were too quiet and needed re-doing as he was so worn out from the 1983 tour. The end result is perhaps even mumblier than his work on the band’s debut, but the cleaner production means that overall, they’re a little more discernible. The lyrics are no easier to understand though and the album is another great example of why Stipe is one of my favourite lyricists. He has an ability to be completely evocative while remaining mysterious which, along with his singular vocal style, make him such a noteworthy songwriter.

Melodically, the vocals are as mesmerising as always. The coupling of the band’s bass-led and often up-tempo sound combined with Stipe’s long, thick and wavering notes continues to create one of the most unique combinations in music.

Song Picks: Harborcoat, 7 Chinese Bros, So, Central Rain, (Don’t Go Back to) Rockville

9/10

7. Tabula Rasa (Arvo Pärt)

Gidon Kramer, Keith Jarrett Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra

Tabula Rasa is a musical composition written in 1977 by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. The piece contains two movements, "Ludus" and "Silentium," and is a double concerto for two solo violins, piano, and chamber orchestra. A recording of the composition was first released in 1984 by ECM records and features violinist Gidon Kremer, pianist Keith Jarrett and the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra among others.

Tabula Rasa is often sparse, with the focus regularly being on one melody at a time, whether it be the crying violin in Fratres - a piece of beautiful melancholic, wistful warmth - or the choral Celli in For 12 Celli. The first three pieces are fairly tranquil, if at times quite haunting, but things get much more frantic and intense in the penultimate piece, I. Ludus, before II. SIlencio, calmly takes us home on the musical version of a floating candle through the remnants of a battlefield.

Tabula Rasa is another classical classic, if you pardon my expression.

9/10

The Pretenders’ second album was recorded with a new guitarist and bassist after original members James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon both died of drug overdoses.

Learning to Crawl is a pretty straight rock ‘n’ roll album. New guitarist Robbie McIntosh is less edgy than his predecessor, and his soloing very much recalls early rock ‘n’ rollers such as Chuck Berry in a way that would be cheesy if it weren’t so fun. I wasn’t expecting to love this album as much as I do, but it is a completely unpretentious, delightfully fun 40 minutes. Alongside McIntosh’s playful solos we have a rock solid rhythm section so comfortingly on it that at times it feels like you’re being physically hugged by the 4/4 time signature. Chrissie Hynde’s songwriting ability is on display from start to finish, and her vocals have a lovely warmth to them that fits perfectly with the band’s palette. Nowhere is this more perfectly on display than on the album’s iconic closing track, 2000 Miles, a song written for Honeyman-Scott after his death, and one that has now become on of the country’s most beloved Christmas songs. I think it’s one of the best songs ever recorded.

Song Picks: Watching the Clothes, Back on the Chain Gang, 2000 Miles

9/10

This compilation released by Rough Trade Records features various John Peel Session recordings for BBC Radio 1 and two singles and their respective B-sides. It came 44th on Q’s list of the 100 best British albums, and was successful in the UK album charts much like their debut.

There’s some crossover here from their debut album The Smiths, and Hatful of Hollow doesn’t always include the best version. The version of This Charming Man here for example isn’t quite as energetic as the studio recorded version, and I also prefer the studio version of Still Ill, though this one is still very good. Where Hatful of Hollow shines is in the sheer number of great songs it crams on, and it’s overall more cohesive feel despite it being a compilation album. The Peel sessions have a surprisingly upbeat feel, I think because of the generally less effects-driven sound produced at the Radio 1 studio combined with slightly less focus on the vocals, and perhaps just the live feel in general.

Marr’s guitar work is fantastic throughout, generally providing a lively backing to Morrissey’s howls, which have better melodies here than on the band’s debut. On Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now, a song that despite it’s lyrical content ends up feeling defiantly bright and hopeful, the guitar skitters away like a jolly grasshopper. On the masterful Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want it strums wistfully as if it’s holding your hand - Marr’s rare solo being one of the finest ways any album has ever ended. On Back to the Old House it gets fingerpicked in a way that almost makes it feel Latin. On every song it’s perfect and backed by such solid drums and bass that it’s easy to forget you’re listening to mainly live performances. Morrissey’s vocals are as distinctive as always, and it’s here where he really starts to show his melodic prowess, particularly on the album’s penultimate track Reel Around the Fountain.

Hatful of Hollow is a wonderful document of a singular band. It has a raw quality to it that makes it a great addition to their studio albums. It feels like someone spotted the band on tour and asked them to record a few songs at a studio on their way to their next venue, a moment in time forever captured in a bottle.

Song Picks: Accept Yourself; Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want; What Difference Does It Make?; Reel Around The Bus

9/10

Turner’s fifth album is the one that put her on the map as a solo artist, and is still her best selling record to this day.

Private Dancer plays like a defiant roar as she emerges from the ashes of her abusive relationship with Ike Turner, which ended in 1978. The opener I Might Have Been Queen is a perfect showcase of the way she belt out notes with tremendous power, the chorus playing like a glorious self-affirmation.

Private Dancer also features Tina Turner classics What’s Love Got to Do With It and Let’s Stay Together, showcasing Turner’s melodic aplomb at the softer end of the spectrum as well as when growling at the top of her voice. Production-wise the album is very 80s, with gated snares and synths aplenty, but it serves up some completely engrossing soundscapes. Can’t Stand the Rain is one of my favourite examples, creating a musical equivalent of a neon tinged city being drenched with rain, as Tina waltzes through it, screaming her heart out to the tune of everyone’s broken dreams.

Song Picks: I Might Have Been Queen, What’s Love Got to Do with It, I Can’t Stand the Rain, Let’s Stay Together, Better Be Good to Me

9/10

3. Double Nickels on the Dime

Minutemen

Minutemen’s third album contains 45 songs, most likely the highest song count for any album I’ve reviewed on this challenge. The vast majority of these songs are only between one and two minutes long though, but that still brings the total running length to an epic 81 minutes. The album, like Hüsker Dü’s Zen Arcade, was released on two vinyls and the three band members chose the songs for one side each, with the remaining songs going on the the album’s fourth side, self deprecatingly named ‘chaff’.

By far my favourite of the year’s two punk rock epics, Double Nickels on the Dime is never punk of the really heavy variety. Sure there’s distorted guitars and the odd shout, but generally things are more rock ‘n’ roll inspired than punk I’d say, with Mike Watt’s snakelike basslines weaving perfectly in and out of George Hurley’s drums (which have a punchy sound that is to die for). D. Boon’s vocals are sometimes spoken word, generally slightly off key, and in many ways unremarkable, but they just fit. His guitarwork is superbly diverse, from one song to the next he can completely change the atmosphere (My Heart and the Real World into History Lesson Part 2 being a prime example) and his riffs and noodling sound as loose and unshackled as his lyrics, which cover all sorts of ground.

To call this album punk is selling it short in some ways, there’s just as much jazz, funk, country and rock as there is punk. And yet there’s no better word for it, it typifies punk’s disregard for boundaries or rules - the idea it has a sound is kind of daft - and beams with the energy of a band who just played whatever they felt like in the moment.

Double Nickels on the Dime is like walking down into a basement bar and inadvertently going to what ends up being one of your favourite gigs, not necessarily for any profound reason, but simply because you found a bunch of blokes you could relate to, having the time of their lives.

9.5/10

Now and again in this challenge - as with all the Dylan albums in the 60s - we come to an album that was already very much established as a favourite before I started this whole thing. Let It Be is one of those. While studying music production and sound engineering at Islington Music Workshop in London I made friends with the Replacement’s biggest fan, Matt Rider, now lead singer of Paper Mill. I rather quickly fell in love with the band too, loving Westerberg’s grainy vocals, the band’s energy, and their raw and punchy DIY sound. Westerberg is still one of my favourite punk songwriters.

Let It Be is the band’s third album. It was the first album that didn’t see the band playing at hell-for-leather speeds constantly. Let It Be is generally ranked among the best albums of the 80s, and was ranked as number 241 in Rolling Stone’s all time top 500.

"Playing that kind of noisy, fake hardcore rock was getting us nowhere, and it wasn't a lot of fun. This was the first time I had songs that we arranged, rather than just banging out riffs and giving them titles." lead singer Westerberg says of the album, and indeed it shows; the song structures, instrumental arrangements, and lyrics are clearly more thought out here. Let It Be is probably the least predictable punk album I’ve ever heard, things change up regularly not only from song to song (Tommy Got His Tonsils Out to Androgynous), but within the songs themselves. We’re Coming Out comes out of the gates like the messy, fast-paced rumble the band had been known for but unexpectedly turns into a low-key, sparse jam before its frantic ending, Seen Your Video spends two and a half minutes as an instrumental before Westerberg comes in with his characteristic melodic shouts.

Let It Be is crammed with musical ideas, it’s a band at the peak of their playfulness, led by Westerberg’s songwriting, which more than once goes into masterpiece territory. Androgynous is one of the finest celebrations of gender non-conformity ever written, Westerberg’s melodies croaking perfectly over the top of his bouncy piano playing and Unsatisfied would easily make it onto a CD of my very favourite songs. It’s the perfect cry into the ether of ennui and despair. As Westerberg himself puts it:

“It was just the feeling that we’re never going anywhere and the music we’re playing is not the music I feel and I don’t know what to do and I don’t know how to express myself. I felt that one to the absolute bone when I did it.”

That opening guitar riff, Stinsons’ elaborate sparkles, the snare slam that announces the band’s arrival, the slightly off-kilter drums, the messy mix, and most of all Westerberg’s superlative vocal performance that resonates to his very bone (as he himself says above), Unsatisified is perfect, and Let It Be is one of punk’s greatest achievements.

Song Picks: Unsatisfied, Androgynous, Answering Machine, Favorite Thing, Sixteen Blue

9.5/10

Prince’s sixth album needs no introduction, but I’m going to introduce it anyway. Purple Rain is the soundtrack to a film of the same name (I did not know this), starring Prince in the lead role. It’s rarely absent from the upper echelons of any best albums of all time list, and very much cemented Prince’s status as a pop legend.

First and foremost, Purple Rain is an absolute joy to listen to. Upbeat energetic tracks like the bombastic Let’s Go Crazy and grooving Take Me With U are impossible to have on without bopping - at least for me. The Beautiful Ones nails an atmosphere and delicate vocal style (until the screeched ending) that have been copied many times since, and rarely anywhere close to as effectively. Prince’s superlative guitar skills are evident throughout, not only his unbelievably fast lines on Computer Blue and that solo on the title track, but also in his general ability to create riffs that could be described as anything from groovy (on Let’s Go Crazy) to cataclysmic (on Darling Nikki).

When Doves Cry is notable for its lack of the bass guitar, an inspired decision which makes those drums pound all the harder. Prince’s melodies are superb as always, and it’s just a perfectly constructed song. Everything has its place, from the piano part chorus to the synth that enters half way through the song, to Prince’s stuttering solo that fires the track into rock and roll fame. The whole album sounds very much like the picture adorning its cover, featuring an impressively overdressed Prince standing astride a vibrant purple motorbike in a world that has learnt to cover up its own griminess with neon lights.

Of course the album’s most famous song is the title track, an eight minute and 40 second masterpiece featuring one of the most famous choruses of all time, as Prince anthemically repeats the song’s title - blares of instruments entering on his second repetition - you feel like you’re listening to more than music, but Prince’s very soul. The guitar solo tugs at the heart-strings more than any other I can think of, while the high choral vocals that provide the foundation for the track’s bombastic finale sound like the heavens themselves have opened to bless you. Indeed they have, and they’ve given you Purple Rain.

Song Picks: Purple Rain, Let’s Go Crazy, Computer Blue

10/10

1983 - Clive's Top Albums of Every Year Challenge

February 22, 2022 by Clive

1983, what a fabulous year, the Nintendo Entertainment System was released. Other stuff happened too though: Sally K. Ride became the first US woman astronaut in space, as a crew member aboard the space shuttle Challenger and in less good news, ‘crack’ cocaine was developed in the Bahamas, and was soon to appear in the US. We’re here for the music though, and so here’s rateyourmisuc.com users’ top 5 albums of 1983:

#1 Metallica - Kill ‘Em All
#2 New Order - Power, Corruption and Lies
#3 R.E.M. - Murmur
#4 Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones
#5 Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues

As usual I’m grabbing a few from further down the list too, namely:

#6 Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes
#8 The Chameleons - Script of the Bridge
#9 Swans - Filth
#11 Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Roger Eno - Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks
#12 U2 - War

and finally, to make sure we have some female artists on the list, I’ve gone to NPR’s and NPR readers’ top 150 albums by female artist and plucked out a couple of 1984 releases:

Madonna - Madonna (which Pitchfork also has as their #16 of the 80s)
Cyndi Lauper - She’s So Unusual

That’s a dozen albums vying for 1983’s top spot - so off we go - and let me tell you this is another superb year.

Madonna’s debut was a commercial success, putting her firmly on the disco map. It features a whole host of funky, danceable productions with infectious melodies and physically provocative lyrics. The birth of a style that would make her famous for her erotic performances is very much evident here on tracks like Burning Up and Physical Attraction, and particularly the spoken word part of the closing track Everybody, even if they are a little more tame than what was to come.

Madonna is a great, fun listen, with a sound as characteristically 80s as anything you’re going to hear led by the Linn Drum and the Oberheim OB-X synthesizer. It’s lyrical and melodic simplicity mean I’ve not found it as engaging as the other stuff this year, but I’d still very much recommend checking out the birth of one of pop’s biggest superstars.

Song Picks: Borderline, Holiday

7/10

U2’s third album was their first overtly political, it was also their most successful album to date, being their first UK number 1 album, and their first gold certified album in the US.

If you’ve only listened to U2’s more modern stuff the most obvious difference is the rawer sound. There’s no ‘wall of sound’ as they’d become famous for later on, and guitarist ‘The Edge’ doesn’t seem to have found the 374 delay pedals he’d later use. The end result is it all sounds a bit more underground. Things open with Sunday Bloody Sunday, a song the band still plays regularly to this day. Of course, about the Bloody Sunday incident in Northern Ireland, the atmospherics the band were to become famous for are beginning to form through the fantastic soaring chorus melody, generally sung by the Edge. The rest of the band are playing with limited effects on their instruments, creating something that sounds almost juxtapositional to Bono’s vocal considering how they'd have accompanied such a performance later in their career. If anything, it makes the melody and message hit all the harder, and is one of the album’s best tracks. New Year’s Day sounds cleaner on the production front, and the Edge’s delay heavy guitar is starting to form, with a great intro ditty and a solo that sounds every bit as stadium ready as his later offerings.

War definitely lacks the accomplishment of later productions that would complement their skills much more, but the album’s raw energy and melodic draw are to be praised, and Bono’s dramatic, powerful vocals (his performance on Like a Song is particularly fantastic) almost seem to telegraph the band’s stadium drenched future. War is proof that U2 were not just a well produced band, but a bloody good band in their own right.

Song Picks: Sunday Bloody Sunday, New Year’s Day, Like a Song

8.5/10

Swans’ debut album didn’t receive much attention at the time of its release, but with the band’s growing stature, people have gone back to it more and realised how different it sounded to anything else coming out in 1983, and how it laid a path for much of the heavy music that came after it.

Filth very much lives up to its name. Musically, it’s completely filthy, with the monstrous two bass player and two drummer rhythm section providing a cataclysm of noise that makes the likes of Metallica and Iron Maiden sound like a bunch of kids singing nursery rhymes. Michael Gira’s roars are repetitive, growling, and mad. Gira lived in illegal housing when the album was recorded, and says it was his harsh surroundings that inspired the nature of the album. His utterances have few words, he’s not trying to be poet here, he’s trying to drive home an anger, or in his own words, to ‘obliterate’.

Filth does obliterate, and because of that it’s a memorable listen as opposed to a particularly easy one. It’s been a while since an album has hit me with this much force, and I think it’s remarkable how much influence the album has had on today’s heavier music. Filth was a figurative battering ram for the genre, so far ahead of its time that it went unnoticed until time caught up with it.

Song Picks: Blackout, Stay Here

9/10

Cyndi Lauper's debut album landed with a bang, spawning no less than 6 singles (four of which made it into the top 5) and featuring a whole host of songs that are still very prominent in today's musical landscape, whether in their original iterations here, or as covers.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun is a joyous classic of course, and needs no description or introduction here. We've also got the bouncy When You Were Mine, the dreamy - and famously covered by Eva Cassidy - Time After Time as well as All Through the Night with that perfect sparkly synth arpeggio and melodically triumphant chorus. I could go on, but essentially Lauper's debut is packed with great pop songs, performed with real power. The opener Money Changes Everything features full and bombastic instrumentation in its chorus, but Lauper's vocals soar above it all like those of a woman on an absolute mission. There's an admirable confidence to all Lauper's performances here as she holds nothing back and you get the feeling she wasn't going to let this album be anything but massive.

She's So Unusual is encapsulated brilliantly by its cover. A bright, lively affair powering its way into the future, while never forgetting the past. Lauper's dress in the photo was bought from the vintage shop she used to work at. She’s So Unusual practically demands your attention, and I’d urge you to give in to it.

Song Picks: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, When You Were Mine, Money Changes Everything, Time After Time

9/10

Metallica’s debut album - although selling fairly well - didn’t make the billboard 200 until the band’s massive success with Master of Puppets in 1986. It’s revered as a massively influential album, and appears regularly on best of lists nowadays, it’s also generally credited with starting the thrash-metal genre, a genre that combines heavy metal riffs with punk-like tempos.

Kill ‘Em All’s impact is lessened by the overly polished, slightly anaemic mix which means Hatfield’s barnstorming riffs don’t hit quite as hard as they could. Once you acclimatise to its production though, the album hits like a truck - and a very fast one at that - from start to finish. Lyrically, the band takes a turn away from tropes of the time such as endless songs about hell and Satan - though Jump in the Fire does dabble with those - and leans more towards songs about crowds thrashing around at their gigs (Hit the Lights, Whiplash and Phantom Lord all cover this for example). Kirk Hammett’s solos are as quick as any I’ve heard so far in this challenge, and rather than sounding like he’s showing off, they very much fit in with the absurd pace of this album. It all sounds like a glorious, perfectly performed frenzy.

I’m always biased towards genre inventing albums like this one (don’t get me wrong, there was plenty of fast metal music about at the time, but this is the first time it was compiled into an album package), but it’s when the album is still thoroughly thrilling to listen to in the 2020s, as this one is, that I’m particularly impressed. Kill ‘Em All is a frenetic, bombastic album, that briefly makes earlier metal seem a bit tame.

Song Picks: Hit the Lights, Phantom Lord, Seek and Destroy

9/10

American band R.E.M’s first album was received with critical acclaim when released due to its unique sound. The great thing about this challenge is I am - to some extent - able to hear things in the context of music that has come before, and I have to say we’ve not had anything like this so far. Murmur sounds well ahead of its time.

I remember borrowing this off my step-dad as a kid and not really getting it. On re-listening 20 odd years later though I can now appreciate what this album does. Stipe's instantly recognisable vocals - with lyrics that are evocatively cryptic - soar above a murky soundtrack punctuated by Mike Mills’ melodic bass lines. Mills carries the instrumentation in these songs in a way you rarely find in a bass player and he’s become an instant favourite. The guitars jangle left and right, but it’s Mills’ trusty bass laying down the song’s structure and melody most of the time, and the way it combines with Stipe’s own vocal timbre is perfect.

Murmur is an album that creates such a sense of atmosphere, and yet also has tracks that work out of context, and that’s no mean feat. There still aren’t many bands you could compare to R.E.M even today, and that’s quite the achievement.

Song Picks: Radio Free Europe, Pilgrimage, Moral Kiosk, Perfect Circle, Sitting Still

9/10

I’ve never heard of the Chameleons and I rather heavily dislike the cover of this album, so it’s unlikely I’d ever have heard it without this challenge. This, it turns out, would have been a big shame. Script of the Bridge was the English post-punk’s debut, and coming in with a run-time of nearly an hour, it was respectably ambitious.

Many reviewers at the time talked of how the album was packed with great tracks, to such an extent that it felt like a greatest hits - impressive for a band’s debut album! I’d have to agree, the album feels cohesive due to the band’s heavily reverbed guitarscapes and vocals, combined with vocalist Mark Burgess’ rumbling basslines. Each track very much fits a mould, and it’s testament to the brilliance of each track that this never gets old. From Don’t Fall’s epic cries from the bottom of a well where Burgess is drowning ‘in this fucking mess’, to the slower ‘let’s use a tom rather than a snare drum on the beat here’ introspection of the closing track View from a Hill, this record had me transfixed. It hinges on Burgess’ uncanny ability to craft atmospheric melodies, and Dave Fielding and Reg Smithies’ even more uncanny ability to accompany those melodies with ethereal guitar parts that never fail to whisk you away. Script of the Bridge is an unforgettable journey, one where the highs - such as the massive Monkeyland and Thursday’s Child - really do feel like flying.

Song Picks: Don’t Fall, Here Today, Monkeyland, Thursday’s Child

9/10

Waits’ 1985 album Rain Dogs is generally seen as his masterpiece, but it’s Swordfishtrombones that paved the way for it. Waits’ albums, as with those we’ve previously reviewed on this challenge, were piano led and this - his eigth - is his first album to step away from that. Swordfishtrombones sees Waits turn to a more scattered, ramshackle and varied instrumental approach, with a heavy emphasis on acoustic instruments. Waits’ vocals are as cigarette burned as ever, and combined with the backdrop of raw, live instruments they create an atmosphere entirely his own.

Lyrically, there’s the voice of the downtrodden here, with Waits showing his knack for an evocative lyric on visually vibrant tracks like the melodic In the Neighbourhood, where he describes the daily goings on of a town wistfully, complete with a simple and very effective chorus, and on the poetic title track about someone returning from the war, which Waits speaks out with a reserved, growled anger. There’s even a love song in Johnsburg, Illinois - a gentle piano ballad that harkens back to his previous albums, with a touching melody and performance.

Sowrdfishtrombones contains lyrical stories to get lost in, but it’s the way Waits embodies his protagonists through his performances, and the way the instrumental backdrop accompanies his rusty vocal with such ragged perfection that makes this a wonderful record. Swordfishtrombones sounds like a pile of hope left on the sidewalk in a slum, blown around on a blustery day.

Song Picks: Johnsburg, Illinois; In the Neighbourhood, Underground, Swordfishtrombones

9/10

Violent Femmes’ debut is a delightfully immature, raw and raucous acoustic based album, that really sticks out as something unique for the time.

Opening with the classic Blister in the Sun, the album is full of ramshackle songs featuring rowdy bass lines from Brian Ritchie and drumming that’s just out of time enough to help create the raw feel I’ve already referenced. Gordon Gano wrote most of these songs while in college aged 18 and there’s a refreshing immediacy to the lyrics. He’s on the nose in a way that makes these songs relatable, and sounds ‘unprofessional’ enough that almost anyone could kid themselves into the thinking that they could have written it. Of course they couldn’t have, this album exhibits a relatability that is rarely achieved, and has led to the Violent Femmes being that edgy band that pretty much everyone likes, and that will always stand out as part of any playlist. What’s great though is that the band’s significant novelty factor doesn’t wear off at all during the album’s 36 minute running length.

Violent Femmes’ energetic and punky feel with very little sign of overly distorted guitars is so damn refreshing you could almost call it cleansing. Gano’s vocals are drenched with confidence and personality and his knack for melody is remarkable, he sounds like we all wanted to sound in high school bands, but never did.

Song Picks: Blister in the Sun, Please Do Not Go, Gone Daddy Gone, Good Feeling

9.5/10

3. Apollo: Soundtracks and Atmospheres

Brian Eno, Roger Eno & Daniel Lanois

Brian Eno’s ninth album was performed by him, his brother Roger and Daniel Lanois, one of my favourite producers. The music was originally written for For All Mankind, a documentary film by Al Reinert about the Apollo program, though the film was not released until 1989.

Apollo is anchored around Daniel Lanois’ wistful pedal steel playing, which was meant to represent the fact astronauts took a lot of country music on their voyages. Lanois is a master of using the instrument to flesh out a track’s instrumental bedding (see Dylan’s Time Out of Mind album for endless examples), but here it’s much more than that, it’s the human soul of the album, the heart of this musical expedition to the moon. The album rides on the waves of the magic of An Ending (Ascent), Morning, Deep Blue Day and Always Returning which are all ‘stop whatever you’re doing and listen to this majestic piece of beauty’ type tracks, but it’s the more ambient pieces that fill the gaps between them that lull you into the gentle adventure. You’re out of control, sliding past the black sky, the stars sparkling in formation, and occasionally you get hit with the enormity of what you’re doing, and your whole body tingles with the weight.

Most of us won’t get to fly through space, but Apollo comes pretty close.

Song Picks: An Ending (Ascent), Deep Blue Day, Always Returning, Morning

9.5/10

With Ian Curtis’ suicide came the death of Joy Division, and the birth of New Order. Power, Corruption and Lies, New Order’s second album, is generally seen as them stepping out of their previous incarnation’s shadow.

This album contains some major key material that sounds positively happy when compared to Joy Division’s bleak (but excellent) output. Age of Consent and The Village display a the Cure-like skill for creating a jolly, plodding melody. Bernand Sumner’s vocals are much higher than Ian Curtis’, and there’s a sense of playfulness to them that gives some of these songs, such as the aforementioned The Village a brilliantly bouncy feel.

Power, Corruption and Lies also sees the band leaning heavily into the electronic side of music, with heavy uses of synth and electronic drums. I think it’s this that’s most impressive, creating some truly timeless, gorgeous soundscapes such as that on Your Silent Face, where Sumner’s vocal is melancholy and melodic, but never without hope.

I think Power, Corruption, Lies sits up there as one of the best early electronic albums, with masterpieces like Kraftwerk’s Computerworld. Like Computerworld, there’s a wonderful sense of humanity to these songs, the melodies whisk you away, fill you with warmth, dare I say they make me happy.

Song Picks: Age of Consent, The Village, Your Silent Face, Leave Me Alone

9.5/10

Talking Heads’ 5th album sees them return after a 3 year break, Brian Eno having moved on to produce U2 (though not the War album from this year). The album’s tour was documented Jonathan Demme and became his 1984 film Stop Making Sense, my favourite concert film of all time.

Talking Heads are now undoubtedly one of my favourite bands, and this is another masterpiece of a record from them. In splitting with Eno we get a slightly rawer, perhaps more industrial sound, but it’s one that complements the band perfectly. Tina Weymouth’s bass lines are once again the star of the show, and the album simply wouldn’t be what it is without them. Her elegant flutters on Girlfriend is Better, that superb riff on Making Flippy Floppy, that bouncy bass riff that announces the arrival of that explosively fun piece, and the group’s biggest hit - Burning Down the House - and the way she accentuates pretty much everything Byrne sings perfectly. This album cements her place as my favourite bassist. Byrne is on fine vocal form again, with a scattered and free style that’s both mesmerising and completely fun. He says that he originally sung nonsense during all the songs, and then came up with the lyrics afterwards, which undoubtedly led to the percussiveness of his singing that blends in so perfectly with what the band are doing. Speaking in Tongues sees the addition of a whole host of other musicians sourced from outside the band for various songs. These are all tastefully added, never taking away from the band’s almost industrially robotic sound, but adding a bit of extra punch and power where required. It’s that punch and power that makes this album among my favourites from the band.

The closing track, Naive Melody (This Must Be the Place) is my favourite love song of all time, and quite probably just my favourite song full stop. The same sliding bass riff and 4/4 drum beat repeat throughout the whole song as the synths dance over the top like birdsong. As Byrne himself states, the lyrics are made up of “non sequiturs, phrases that may have a strong emotional resonance but don't have any narrative qualities”, something he does regularly, but that fits this song particularly well. To me, it encapsulates the delights of living in a loving relationship better than any song before or since. Cohabiting isn’t really about the narrative, it’s about those moments of joy, a completely pleasant present, it’s about finally finding ‘home’ again once your childhood one has gone.

Speaking in Tongues is infectiously robotic and yet completely fun and bursting with personality, all finishing with a moving piece of perfection. I’ll never tire of it.

Song Picks: Naive Melody (This Must Be the Place), Making Flippy Floppy, Swamp, Burning Down the House

9.5/10