1995. 09. 'the great escape' - blur

so, so much has been written about this album over the years that there's probably very little i can add... i agree that it gets suburban life very, very right -- i used to live in a house, a very big house, in the 'country' for years before i got so fed up with the sameness of it all that i came to live in a house, a very small house, in the city... i've worried about the size of my behind, and all those age lines, and made peace with my ageing body and my humdrum life... and this album says it -- straightforwardly, snarlingly, snidely, sincerely... this albarn chap knows from whence he speaks...

at the time, i didn't appreciate the lyricism fully -- i was a long way from suburbia, living in urban manchester and sheffield where pulp and oasis were more the order of the day... this sounded like a dissatisfied millionaire sending up his own existence with more of that 'we're smarter down south' nonsense that i wanted to torch at every turn... and indeed, they were dissatisfied millionaires... but sometimes, when they were out gallivanting with banksy and keith allen and damien hirst, they weren't... and i was agitated that so much of this ripped off the kinks and the specials... but now i can live with that...

really, overall, this album is exactly what i read in an interview with damon albarn a few years back when blur were having a reunion do -- it's messy... 'modern life is rubbish' and 'parklife' were so spot on that, of the trilogy, this is the longest and most redundant to listen to... but it has gems -- besides the singles, 'top man' will have you thinking of every footballer you can think of, and 'mr robinson's quango' could be retitled 'mr robinson's super-PAC' for US listeners right now and still hold relevance... and the heartbreaking last song, 'yuko and hiro' can make you cry -- when you love someone, but you just have to say goodbye...

if you have time, listen... it was one of the most intriguing albums of 1995... but approach with caution -- it's kinda all over the place, a little fascinated with that power world that we all thought we were a part of (but later found out we weren't) when tony blair took office, and in some cases derivative... 'parklife' would still be the recommendation for the newbie...

1994. 09. 'music for the jilted generation' - the prodigy

really, really hadn't heard this album in 18 years... must say, i was pleasantly surprised... i enjoyed it -- i liked the menace in the music... it was there, clearly, without being so overt that you wanted to scream 'get over it' at the nearest wall... 'poison' is still probably my favorite of their songs -- i remember it being on some free sampler that either i had or my lord jce's brother had -- next to a song by therapy?, which makes me giggle -- so lots of memories of being out in england just enjoying the scene...

fewer vocals than 'fat of the land' -- no 'firestarter' keith flint screaming here -- but to me, more powerful... this is what breakbeat sounded like when it was still indie... by the time we were smacking all our bitches up, the lager boys in ted baker -- before they grew up and became chavs -- were already listening, and it wasn't fun anymore... put it on and dance, dance, dance...

1993. 09. 'become what you are' - juliana hatfield three

i'll give juliana hatfield this -- she can write a decent hook... she can also write a pretty crap lyric, but then, so can we all... but this album -- and it is the personification of dated, with an attempt at grungy guitars interwoven with all the precursors to that horribly derivative 'i'm just a girl' no doubt nonsense and the worst of the lilith fair cliches -- is just aimless... i'm sure it sounded all cool and trendy back in 1993, when you couldn't turn a corner without hearing 'my sister' anywhere, everywhere... but now?  well, the album is just saggy, of its time and not really irksome one way or another...

i see from the interwebs that she's still out there making music... good on her for doing what she apparently loves, but this, i'm afraid is just going to remain to me another average album from 1993.  between 'my sister', her maybe relationship with evan dando, and the early blake babies stuff she did, i've dug deep enough... no need to get any closer...

1992. 09. 'harvest moon' - neil young

i have to be in the mood for this record, and luckily, today, it was just what i needed... today, i found the personal lyrics soothing instead of maudlin... today, i found the instrumentation melodic instead of anodyne... and today, i truly appreciated the beauty of 'war of man' and 'natural beauty', which i always like regardless of which neil young mood i'm in... because sometimes, i want screaming anger -- 'ragged glory' or 'rust never sleeps' style... sometimes, i want storytelling, like 'after the gold rush'... sometimes, i want jadedness, like 'tonight's the night'... and this is why neil young is one of my favorite artists -- because over the years, he's never been afraid to try something different, to create what he believes at that time, at that point in his life, is the statement he needs to make to stay sane... i guess you'd call it not compromising -- i call it true artistry...

i saw neil young tour for his 'greendale' album a few years ago... i knew that he was performing the whole album with a stage show included, but i suppose a lot of the audience didn't... people yelled, people screamed, people left -- and lots more of the people who stayed were pissed as all get out when he came back on for a one 'greatest hits' song encore, played a decent version of 'like a hurricane', and we were done... he had a new album -- a concept album no less -- that he wanted to tour... that's his right... and that's why i respect him so much... it would be so damn easy to cash in, have everyone do a 'heart of gold' or 'down by the river' singalong, pretend like he was still in his 20s, and walk away with tons of cash and no artistic satisfaction... so long may he run -- because there are fewer and fewer artists with his integrity every day...

1991. 09. 'loveless' - my bloody valentine

i remember first hearing my bloody valentine on WMNF's old 'underground circus' show... they played a song off of the EP 'glider', so it must have been 1990 or 1991, before 'loveless' came out... i remember buying the cassette at turtles records in carrollwood... i listened to it a whole lot -- way back when, i was pretty heavy into shoegaze... my bloody valentine, ride, EARLY verve ('storm in heaven' and not 'urban hymns'), spiritualized and lush were probably my favourite pure shoegaze bands... and of all of those records and all of that music, there are really only three of those albums i still listen to regularly -- 'nowhere' by ride, 'lazer guided melodies' by spiritualized, and this album...

there's something i find incredibly beautiful and relaxing about the degree to which the music on 'loveless' is distorted -- it's warped and bent in a surreal way that makes you question just what a note or a chord can sound like... it's like the musical form of silly putty to me or like when you're tripping (sorry, yes, i did just admit to doing LSD as a teenager and 20something -- hope i never have to run for president) and objects seem to bend around the edges, or drip but not fall... i suppose to other people, this album would sound like noise or feedback or something so questioning of linear, clear notes that they wouldn't enjoy it... that to me, it's the pinnacle of so many albums i listened to at an odd intersection of my life, well, that makes it my own private treasure...

john, thanks for bearing with all of those mix tapes that may have included 'only shallow', 'when you sleep', and 'blown a wish' probably 1000 times over... i'd still put them on a mix tape for you today...

1990. 09. 'songs for drella' - lou reed/john cale

i hadn't listened to this record in many years -- a shame for me... but i'll make sure that i have a copy at all times in the future so that when someone asks me who andy warhol really was or why we care about him at all, i'll have an oral history account of just why warhol is still, to me, the quintessential definition of the 20th century american artist.  nothing defines post-war american culture to me better than crass, conspicuous consumerism -- and if warhol's art succeeds in nothing else at all, it's elevating, celebrating, and making part of the canon that very zeitgeist... what lou reed's songs on 'songs for drella' remind us is that andy may have been a dilettante, andy may have been fickle, andy may have been a bitch -- but he worked bloody hard, grafting and grafting, to encompass artistic forms from a core of painting through the outer rings of cinema, music and television... our higher culture nor our popular culture today would exist as they do without andy warhol -- maybe that's for good, maybe that's for bad, but in my mind, that's a fact... i always see the "celebrity andy" of the 70s and 80s as someone looking for a shell -- he'd given all he could give for his vision of art (whether you buy into the vision or not), was sucked by leeches and nearly killed doing it, and chose to find shelter in the most conspicuous of locations... he could hide there best...

this album reminds me what a great, cerebral musician john cale is... his words are poetry, and his arrangements are pitch perfect... a true musician, true artist -- and as always, a pitch perfect ice to lou reed's snotty, street smart fire... i understand completely why the two of them couldn't possibly work together again... the tension, when it's there (listen FOR GOD'S BLOODY SAKE if you never have to 'white light/white heat' by the velvet underground -- i love 'velvet underground and nico' for the fusion of the two, but there's so much more dynamism for me in 'white light/white heat') is something that just speaks to me on such a basic, primal level that when we lose these two, like we lost andy, a little piece of my definition, of my understanding, and of my faith that my 'vision' (for whatever it's worth) is not unique in the world, will evaporate...

masterful...

1989. 09. 'maria mckee' - maria mckee

wow, NME, this one was a total reach... don't get me wrong, i always kinda liked lone justice... not in that i'm going to go out and buy (or even download) one of their albums, but if one of their songs came on, i wouldn't change the channel... but this -- holy hell, if you want an idea of everything that can go wrong in country music production, go straight here... first of all, her voice is incredibly reedy on this LP -- nothing like the raspy, dusty voice that sang for lone justice... and what's the way we deal with a fragile voice that's really only being supported here by decent lyricism?  we give it this "down home here in the south with soft focus, filtered sunshine, traditional guitar tuning, a magnolia tree and brush drumming" nonsense production.  Oh so 1989.  i can already see the azaleas, mama, i can see 'em, dadgum, from up here in appalachia.

the NME could be pretty famous for trying to prove its more-knowing-than-thou reputation by tying its colours to the mast of some out there album that they could justify by being out of genre.  this, i'm certain, was their way of saying that they totally respected the americana rock credibility of lone justice (see also bodeans and jason and the scorchers), and they were totally down with country music because they *got* the american experience from their offices in deepest, murkiest london... this album is average at best -- something you wouldn't be surprised to hear in your local supermarket or dentist's waiting room (though my dentist, for some reason, has some misplaced penchant for sade)...

in a year that saw the release of k.d. lang's 'absolute torch and twang', dwight yoakam's 'just lookin' for a hit', and lyle lovett's 'lyle lovett and his large band', this might not have been #9 on my list of country or country-ish releases for 1989...

and PS -- i may not know a ton about country music, but i know a lot... quite a lot -- so now who's got the americana chops, NME?  ;-)

1989. 10. 'spike' - elvis costello

in the midst of listening to this album now, realising that indeed, i did miss 1989 from my pass through the #10s last week... i really didn't miss much -- i've been disappointed in this album for 23 years, frankly... not sure how this was the 10th best album of 1989 -- it wasn't the 10th best album that elvis costello recorded...

if you're unfamiliar with his work, listen to anything at all from 'my aim is true' to 'blood and chocolate' and skip this, because it's a shame that this would be anyone's first port of call for his work... there is absolutely zero focus on this album -- it's a bit like he went to a record store, decided to write down all the genres they stocked, and recorded a song from each... it's not that there aren't good songs on the album -- it's that as a unified, single musical statement, it fails... i'm not even sure he's that proud of it anymore -- i've seen him in concert a few times, and except for 'veronica', you don't hear much from 'spike' ever...

i've wandered out onto the interwebs to read positive reviews on this LP from back in the day -- and they think its being all over the place is what's good about it... i reckon that this praise was just a bunch of folks being pleased he was back on the scene after a few years of self-imposed silence... this IS an elvis costello album, after all, so there are darts, barbs and tripwires all over the place... i'm sure he'd been missed -- little could these critics have known how prolific and diverse he'd become (with MUCH more focus) after this...

1988. 09. 'daydream nation' - sonic youth

music really is a funny thing... i've spent the better part of 20+ years trying to figure out why all the cool kids LOVE sonic youth but, frankly, i don't... and today, forcing myself to sit down and listen to a whole one of their albums for the first time in jesus knows how many years, i figured it out.  i can't stand the way any of them sing.  that simple.  the songs start great for me -- i love dissonance, i think the white noise and angular guitar work is fabulous, and then they open their mouths.  and they're not lou reed or iggy pop or richard hell or tom verlaine.  and so, i just leave disappointed.

i get totally why this album is critically lauded, why it's important, and why it was SO different to the stuff going on around it at the time.  i also totally get why my husband, the inimitable JCE, would be so thrilled with them (he of the no-wave persuasion).  but with the exception of 'teenage riot' on this album -- and probably because it's the first song and i haven't lost my marbles yet screaming, 'thurston!  kim!  shut the fuck up!' -- i just can't listen to this... maybe there's an instrumental version wandering out there where my doppelgänger has decided just to dub out the vocals and enjoy what's fantastic about the sound of this album.

on a totally tangential note, we visited one of the pieces of the 'candle' series -- another piece in the series serves as the cover of this album -- at the art institute of chicago not long ago.  if you are unfamiliar with the work of gerhard richter, and you like minimalist and abstract work, you're missing out on perhaps one of our most important living artists.  enjoy his works.

1987. 09. 'the people who grinned themselves to death' - housemartins

my first skip -- i don't have a copy of this (my only housemartins album is the 'now that's what i call quite good' compilation) and spotify only has 'london 0 hull 4' (a great album in its own right) to stream.  i think it's still in print in the UK, so it is obtainable -- it will have to wait for my 'afters' list... in the meantime, if anyone has a copy they'd like to share with me, you can always find me at baby_lemonade@hotmail.com .  Hoping for better luck tomorrow...

And just realized the typo -- should say 1987, not 1986 :-)...

1996. 10. 'vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot' - sparklehorse

1996 kris was righteous.  and if she knew anything, she knew american culture was bereft.  bereft of whatever artistic spirit it might have had.  bereft of any understanding of what went on in the rest of the world.  and bereft of music.  it was all a bunch of nirvana wannabes who played muddy chords to cover up for the fact that they were shit musicians.  and that was because they came from america, land of bereft culture.  meanwhile, here in england, we were living it up on britpop and enjoying the after-effects of that e i took before the club.  we had culture.  we had music.  we were NOT going to be the 51st state of america.

2012 kris is not righteous.  she's thoughtful, she's a little bit quiet, and she really loves nothing more than a bit of quirky music while she takes in the uniqueness of the world around her.  i think it's what we colloquially refer to as growing up.  so whereas 1996 kris would have taken one look at 'vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot' and spat on it, 2012 kris is so glad she decided to do this crazy record review thing on a whim.  because this is what i was hoping for -- to discover something beautiful that i missed all of those years ago.

it's not that i had no clue about sparklehorse -- but by the time i heard one of their songs and actually connected the 'i like this song' sentiment to 'it's sparklehorse', it was 'dreamt for light years in the belly of the mountain' which, frankly, ended up being kind of patchy once i listened to the whole album and not just a few songs.  so i put it away, looked at it for a few minutes when i heard mark linkous had committed suicide, then heard shortly thereafter that vic chestnutt committed suicide, and went there instead of back to sparklehorse.  but i found it now.  16 years later, but i found it.  and the album made me smile.  made me feel that wistfulness i enjoy when i watch a grackle on a wire puff and sing to announce his presence to the other birds around him, or when i giggle at the green anole crawling furtively down the tree thinking no one is watching him when in fact there are 6 lanes of traffic he'll be oblivious to, or especially when i come home to my dogs and sit outside in the warm sun and ocean breeze thinking that, yes, it's going to be alright.  this album did that.  and i'm grateful.

if you like the eels, or drive by truckers, or bon iver, listen if you never have.  delighted to have found a wonderful, wonderful record on an otherwise average friday in march.

1995. 10. 'timeless' - goldie

so, it's 1995, and i'm living in a shared house with 7 other people in manchester (england)... if drum 'n' bass/jungle was the sound of 1995, surely one of the other people in the house would be listening to it.  well, no.  in fact, i don't know anyone who listened to drum 'n' bass regularly at all... maybe my friends weren't urban enough -- but when i tell you i lived in inner city manchester, i would not be exaggerating one iota (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longsight)... yet, i never heard drum 'n' bass when i was walking up the dickenson road or down the stockport road.  but in 1995, the nme decided we should be listening to jungle and drum 'n' bass... and so it shall be...

there's nothing wrong with this album per se... it's not my genre -- which is fine -- but it's just bloody repetitive... i'd be happy to put it on in the background, the way some people put classical or new age music in the background, but i'm not sure i could ever really actively listen to it... the 20 minute opening track 'timeless' really did start to bother me after a while -- the female vocalist sounded like a second rate jamiroquai if jay kay had been a woman... the rest of it, well, this might be shocking given the provenance and "street" quality of drum 'n' bass, but reader, it was harmless... obviously, the finer points of drum 'n' bass are, and were, lost on me... this was not the sound of my 1995 -- maybe it was the sound of yours?

1994. 10. 'let love in' - nick cave and the bad seeds

bought this album in the late spring of 1994 when it came out -- at the old alternative records in tampa, where one of the boys who used to work there told me that if i didn't like the album, i could bring it back and get 5 different records on his dime... i laughed -- he knew me too well... of course i was going to love this record...

i've never understood why more people who like erudite, clever, intellectual songs don't like nick cave more than they appear to do.  i understand his voice is a bit unique -- but i always feel like i can find 10 people who like tom waits for every one i find who gives a damn about nick cave.  weird -- but this album is definitely the place to start.  of all of his albums, it's clearly, clearly the most accessible -- the cleanest, the least quirky (lyrics to 'jangling jack' and 'red right hand' be damned), the most 'pure' nick cave... some of the earlier albums can be difficult (like 'from her to eternity', but it's an album you must listen to for the title track alone), and some of the later ones are just outright odd ('nocturama', that's you i'm talking about)... if someone came to me tomorrow and wanted to know which 3 nick cave albums to start with -- excluding the birthday party (a friend of mine loves peter murphy but really dislikes bauhaus -- i'm a bit like that with the birthday party and nick cave, but i think i can stomach more of the birthday party than she can bauhaus) and grinderman and all of the oddball one offs like duets with die haut, etc. -- i think i'd have to go with:

3.  'the good son'
2.  'abattoir blues/lyre of orpheus'
1.  'let love in'

for the past 18 years, i've listened to this album on a fairly regular basis, so no alarms and no surprises, so to speak, listening to it today... just much, much respect for the learning and lyricism of a true artist who SHOULD be much, much more appreciated than he is...

1993. 10. 'orbital 2' - orbital

i had to go into the way-back machine for this one... not on spotify, not on either of my iPods -- but still squirrelled safely away in the hard copy archive... not sure i'd listened to this CD in 15 years -- certainly had been a while... i'll be putting it on my iPod soon enough, because i'm glad i dragged it out of deep sleep... it really did take me back -- not only to going out dancing while i was a student, but just to that whole time in general... i remember people referring to this stuff as ambient long before the word electronica entered the english language... i really enjoyed this type of techno to the other, harder techno that also was around at the time... i wanted my music to sound lush and trippy and layered for a very, very long time -- and this does it... i'm not sure whether or not "the kids" still listen to dance music/electronica that sounds like this -- i hear a lot of EBM (oontz, oontz, oontz) around, but i don't club regularly enough anymore to know if this kind of atmospheric, "after party" music is even still out there...

also not entirely sure how popular this album was in the US -- in the UK, it was enormously popular, and so was its follow up 'snivilization'... i was already spending school time in the states but holiday time almost entirely in the UK by the time this album came out... i remember 'halcyon + on + on' being on a sampler i picked up for 99p at vinyl exchange in manchester -- i think it must have been an ffrr label sampler, because i remember going back to buy this CD and 'morning dove white' by one dove at the same time... i only really remember this kind of music hitting anything like the mainstream in the US after 'trainspotting' came out and everyone was listening to underworld because of 'born slippy'...

if you need something to set a mood that's a little bit relaxed but still precise, cool and sophisticated, this really is the album for you... can't wait to get it on my iPod -- we've been apart for WAY too long...

1992. 10. 'southern harmony and musical companion' - black crowes

DISCLOSURES:

1.  I know every word to every song on this album.
2.  I bought this CD in limited edition gatefold packaging on the day it came out in may of 1992.
3.  I have defended myself multiple times to many people over the years for not only just my love of this album, but of this band.
4.  I still have the same CD of this album that I bought in 1992, meaning it's crossed the atlantic a few times to get into the office here in fort lauderdale.
5.  I proudly saw The Black Crowes for the first time in Tampa in 1991.  I've since seen them at least 5 other times.  One of these included driving in my '86 Mustang down to Gainesville in early 1993 to see them support this album during the High as the Moon tour at the O Dome.  I had to get back to Tallahassee immediately after because I had an 8am Latin lecture the next morning.
6.  My husband may just love this band more than I do.  One of my lord JCE's favourite albums ever ever ever is "Amorica", the follow up to this one.
7.  My natural singing inflection is with a Southern accent, possibly because I'm a redneck from central Florida.  What this means is that various songs from this album pop up while I'm singing in the shower, especially 'Sometimes Salvation' and 'Hotel Illness'.
8.  Chris and Rich Robinson are two of the very few "rock and roll" people I'd like to meet.  Possibly for some B&B and a little weed, just like in 'Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye'.

So you know what I'm going to say about this album -- I'd recommend it to just about anyone who has ever liked a Rolling Stones or Faces or Jeff Beck Group or Allman Brothers song.  When the Crowes are good, they're very good... Most people just dropped off after this album, but after a bad period which seemed to coincide with Chris Robinson marrying Kate Hudson, the new stuff the boys have been doing has been just wonderful to hear.  'Warpaint' from a couple of years ago is really worth your time.  So, yeah, I love this album.  No shame, no excuses, no regrets -- Hammond organ, electric piano, slide guitar, everything that makes me feel like an album is worth my time.  Since this one's been around the world a couple of times with me, it sure as hell wouldn't mind coming to a desert island with me, if asked.

1991.10. 'never loved elvis' - the wonder stuff

a word of disclaimer here.  some of these reviews/thoughts as i go through this series are not going to be impartial.  well, none of them is, but whatever.  i love the stuffies -- always have and, listening again to 'never loved elvis' today, always will.  i still have the same bloody crush i had on miles hunt 20 years ago -- in that plaid suit singing 'size of a cow' on top of the pops?  my heart skips a beat... and i wish a few other lyricists would have his audacity -- yes, some of the lyrics are hateful and spiteful, but you know?  i find life's a bit hateful and spiteful.  and, yes, every interview with him could be a trial -- self-belief plus.  but i like an englishman with a little sarcasm and swagger, so it worked for me.  so did the violins and the accordion.

not all of the songs feel fresh, to borrow a feminine phrase.  yes, 'donation', while lyrically a scream, has that waka-waka guitar that populated so many pre-britpop songs of the early 90s (calling all soup dragons)... and that open tuned guitar sent through the tremolo pedal pops up now and again.  but really, if you wondered what british pop sounded like before blur and oasis (yes, kids, there was such a time), this is it...

remember when carter usm had that lyric about the grebos, the crusties, and the goths on 'only living boy in new cross'?  totally justified my 100% addiction to grebo music -- and the stuffies were right there.  no, i wasn't from birmingham.  but i'd been there.  and that's close enough for me.

ps -- if you do listen to 'never loved elvis', listed to 'the eight legged groove machine' (their first proper album) as well.  you won't be sorry!

1990.10. 'world clique' - deee-lite

first, and let me be clear, this album is bad.  bad bad.  bad then, bad now.  had a guy jumped in the middle of 95 dressed in day-glo, smelling of vicks, wearing ironic sunglasses and screaming ACEEEEEED!, i would not have been surprised.  just mildly annoyed.

truly, there's a reason that deee-lite fell off the face of the planet in 1991.  it's because how much of a career can you sustain on every cliche in the book.  infernal piano loops.  annoying horn samples.  predictable bass.  synthesised sounds.  and to top it all off, faux french.  yeah, 1990, hell of a time and place, i tell you.  la da di la di da.

and, of course, it's yet another example of the NME's i hate america/i love america schizophrenia (cf. 'give out but don't give up', primal scream, 1994)... every single thing about this album is the mass consumption (perhaps putting the 'lite' in 'deee-lite') of everything a teenage NME listener thought they knew about detroit acid house.  because none of us was there.  and that's the scout's honest truth.  but i'll give it one tiny piece of credit -- i *did* like the shoes lady miss kier wore in the 'groove is in the heart' video... so i bought a pair of fluevog platforms from eccentricities in 1990... thanks, deee-lite -- those shoes looked great with my orange day-glo top and spirograph inspired stretch pants... ACEEEEEEEEED!

1988.10. 'surfer rosa' - pixies

alright, I'll admit it -- I've never been a crazy pixies fan...  there are days i can handle frank black yelling at me, there are days i can't... my lord jce, however, really is a quite (for him) obsessive pixies fan -- someone who actually thinks it's insanely amusing for frank black to yell at him... so i decided to listen to this album with him -- so perhaps i could figure out why i was so atypical of my generation/unforgivably uncool and couldn't just get with the pixies program already... along the way he reminded me that 'where is my mind?' ends the "greatest movie ever" -- to the lord, this would be "fight club"... why the man just really doesn't like chuck palahniuk is beyond me... and, yeah, i've decided that the things that annoy me about the pixies still annoy me -- they're fine in the background for me, or with the odd song here or there, but on the whole, just not me... when you hear people bloody yelling for no reason at you all day, listening to a short, balding fat man do the same, it's just not worth it... and it reminds me a bit of the sketch on 'extras' where david bowie sings about the sad little fat man to ricky gervais...

so does it stand up?  should it have been in the top 10?  of course... my nirvana rant is coming later, but suffice it to say for now that it would take someone totally tone deaf and without any activity in the frontal cortex to not recognise the screamingly (pun intended) obvious -- quiet/loud/quiet was NOT some evidence of the genius of kurt cobain... it was ripped straight off of this album without shame... is that a bad thing?  no, it's a rock music thing -- so keep your purity rings to yourselves, because everyone's been ripping everyone else off since the dawn of time... it also, shockingly, doesn't sound particularly dated to me -- i listen to the "indie" station (whatever that means -- i have no other descriptor) riding into work and back every day, and nothing on here would sound out of place on that station... now, that's not to say that i wouldn't say something like, 'shut the bloody fuck up, you screaming, yelling prick' at the radio and turn it over... don't get me wrong... but i get why it's important... it is important -- but i still don't like it... sorry -- i'll just take my place up at the head of the terminally uncool line and be happy with it...

1987.10. 'actually' - pet shop boys

so looking at the whole list for 1987, i'm already thinking that with 25 years of hindsight, i'd probably move some of the albums that came in 11-60 up into the top 10... as much as it pains me, because i've just never gotten the allure of the beastie boys, 'licensed to ill' probably was influential and transcendent enough to be top 10.  so certainly was 'document' -- and for me, 'darklands'...  as time has gone on, as much as i love listening to 'zen arcade', it's not the most accessible husker du album -- and maybe 'warehouse:  songs and stories' was... 


the list has some great forgotten LPs as well -- 'tallulah' by the go-betweens, 'ragin' full on' by firehose, and 'babble' by that petrol emotion... and there's some that maybe sounded that good then, but didn't stand up... 'babylon and on' wouldn't make my top 50 squeeze albums (if they had 50, and even though i love 'hourglass' as a song)... was schoolly d ever widely relevant (though, admittedly, rap isn't my genre and i'm sure someone will correct me by telling me he invented gangsta rap -- heard it before, still not buying it)... and i'm sure some got lost -- 'appetite for destruction' is nowhere to be found, which surprises me not one iota where the NME is concerned... 'kick' is missing too -- i guess the inclusion of the triffids and the go-betweens on the list was enough from australia... i'd also argue for 'the lion and the cobra' and 'introducing the hardline according to terence trent d'arby' -- but they're missing too... which shows us what we already knew -- sometimes, we need some distance in time to distill the essence...


but this post is really supposed to be about 'actually', the number 10 best album of 1987 according to the NME on, roughly, 1 january 1988... and there's a lot that's good here -- the stuff we all love about the pet shop boys... snarky lyrics -- check... wry observation -- check... but like so much from way back then, there's a lot of synthesizer filler... the album tracks sound like 1987 -- and some of the lyrics that would have been so cutting at the time just sound like little time capsules of a time i'm not sure ever really existed (perhaps only in neil tennant's mind?)... i think the biggest disservice i've done this album is own and repeatedly listen to 'discography' over the years -- the best songs on this album, even without the influence  of 'discography', are still 'what have i done to deserve this?', 'it's a sin' and 'rent'... 'shopping' is just kind of annoying now to me -- too overt... 'it couldn't happen here' is just WAY too overwrought for me not to hit the skip button -- though not so underwhelming that i'd walk to the record player and lift the arm to get the needle in the next groove... which, i suppose, is how the album still succeeds for me -- i owned this vinyl album in a day when the sounds coming off the vinyl through my tinny, tiny speakers seemed to defy all the logic of a 12/13 year old's expectations... in tampa, florida, i could close my eyes and picture a make believe london where beautiful people in patent leather red stilettos and black mini skirts strutted down the streets shopping, talking, smoking, drinking and doing all of those other things only adults could get to... and in that way, i can still close my eyes at some points in this album, and go back to a time way back there, where people DID where red patent leather stilettos and black mini skirts but also read 'count of monte cristo' for the first time... and started on their first french lessons... and started learning that subtle difference was as important as overt difference...   and, i suppose in a proustian kind of way, that's all you can ask from someone else's art... transportation can mean many things, after all...