724. Sonic Youth - Dirty (1992)

Track Listing

1. 100%
2. Swimsuit Issue
3. Theresa's Sound-World
4. Drunken Butterfly
5. Shoot
6. Wish Fulfillment
7. Sugar Kane
8. Orange Rolls, Angel's Spit
9. Youth Against Fascism
10. Nic Fit
11. On The Strip
12. Chapel Hill
13. JC
14. Purr
15. Creme Brulee

Review

1992 is proving to be quite a good year for albums. This is another pretty good album by Sonic Youth, even if not comparable to Sister or Daydream Nation it is still pretty good. We had seen a move towards a more mainstream sound with Goo, and this continues the trend.

Although the sound is more comparable to the grunge bands around at the time, it is still very recognisably Sonic Youth, the feedback, the dreamy rock soundscapes, the voices, it could be mistaken for nothing else, and that is a good thing.

However, the mainstreamisation of Sonic Youth is counter-productive, it makes them lose a part of their uniqueness, although it is a smart business move. But music is not made of smart business moves. Still if you are a Sonic Youth fan this is definitely recommended.

Track Highlights

1. Sugar Kane
2. Youth Against Fascism
3. Swimsuit Issue
4. Theresa's Sound World

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Ian MacKaye got credit for the "xtra guitar" on "Youth Against Fascism"

As noted above, "Nic Fit" is a song originally by the DC band Untouchables. In that band is Ian's brother Alec MacKaye.

Under the tray of the first pressing of the Dirty CD (and later in the booklet of the deluxe edition CD and LP) is a controversial photograph of performance artist Bob Flanagan. It was removed from all other pressings.

The track "Sugar Kane" includes a possible reference to fellow indie rock band Half Japanese. The lyric "kiss me like a frog" may refer to the Half Japanese song of the same name.

In the movie The 40 Year Old Virgin, the character Cal played by Seth Rogen is seen
in one part of the movie wearing a t-shirt of the album cover.

Sonic Youth's "JC" was inspired by Joe Cole's murder, and the Sonic Youth song "100%" was dedicated to him. Joe Cole was also a director for their music video "My Friend Goo".

Sugar Kane:

723. Tom Waits - Bone Machine (1992)

Track Listing

1. Earth Died Screaming
2. Dirt In The Ground
3. Such A Scream
4. All Stripped Down
5. Who Are You
6. The Ocean
7. Jesus Gonna Be Here
8. A Little Rain
9. In The Colosseum
10. Goin' Out West
11. Murder In The Red Barn
12. Black Wings
13. Whistle Down The Wind
14. I Don't Wanna Grow Up
15. Let Me Down Up On It
16. That Feel

Review

Another album from Tom Waits and another great album on this particular stretch of the list. Even if it is a great album it isn't as great as Rain Dogs and Swordfishtrombones, but then what is?

Waits gives us an album which might be more cohesive than his previous efforts but is also bleaker, there are less moments of sheer beauty here, but they do shine through sometimes, like little rays of light in the middle of the greyness of the album. The title of the album is very appropriate, not only are most of the tracks about death, they are often sound like jangling bones, with that very organic percussion sound.

So in the end if falls short of Rain Dogs and Swordfishtrombones, but it is still a pretty magnificent album. Waits seems to experiment even more with his voice here, if such a thing is possible, and he does have one of the most interesting vocal instruments out there.

Track Highlights

1. Dirt In The Ground
2. I Don't Wanna Grow Up
3. Murder In The Red Barn
4. Goin' Out West

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Album opener "Earth Died Screaming" is featured in the 1995 film Twelve Monkeys, while "Jesus Gonna Be Here" is featured in the 2005 film Domino, in which Waits himself appears. "Goin' Out West" is featured in the 1999 film Fight Club and has been covered by Queens of the Stone Age, Gomez, Widespread Panic, and Australian band, The Dissociatives. "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" was covered by The Ramones for their last album, Adios Amigos, by Petra Haden and Bill Frisell on their album collaboration Petra Haden & Bill Frisell (2003), with a recent version on Hayes Carll's Trouble In Mind (2008), and by Scarlett Johansson on her debut album, Anywhere I Lay My Head (2008).

I Don't Wanna Grow Up:

722. Sugar - Copper Blue (1992)

Track Listing

1. Act We Act
2. Good Idea
3. Changes
4. Helpless
5. Hoover Dam
6. Slim
7. If I Can't Change Your Mind
8. Fortune Teller
9. Slick
10. Man On The Moon

Review

Husker Du are over, and Bob Mould now has Sugar. Sugar is quite a bit more mainstream sounding than Husker Du and unfortunately one of the qualities that I don't like about Mr. Mould is more apparent here: his voice. There is nothing wrong with Mould's voice per se, however, as my wife says he sounds a bit like the voice in crappy emo-rock bands. Well this might just be because they lifted his style.

That being said there are some pretty nifty tracks here, in fact the whole album is pretty infectious. So you soon get over Mould's voice and start enjoying the tracks for what they are. Highly intelligent pop-rock songs.

So in the end the album gets a big thumbs up from me, for the sheer quality of the tracks here. There is really no filler, it all hangs together perfectly, some of the songs are quite smart in terms of sound, just take the obvious Pixies tribute in A Good Idea, for example. We've been having an excellent crop of albums lately, and we aren't stopping here!

Track Highlights

1. A Good Idea
2. Hoover Dam
3. Helpless
4. That Act We Act

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

It was voted 1992 Album of the Year by the NME. All of the songs were written by guitarist/vocalist Bob Mould, who also co-produced with Lou Giordano. The song "The Slim" is about losing someone to AIDS. Musically, the band continues the thick punk guitar of Mould's other band, Husker Du, while slowing the tempo and emphasizing melody even more.

A limited edition initial run of the CD was released by Rykodisc in a front-and-back metal copper sleeve with each of the 2,500 copies containing a one-of-a-kind Polaroid photo taken by one of the three band members and stamped on the back with "Sugar Copper Blue Summer '92."

Helpless:

721. Spiritualized - Lazer Guided Melodies (1992)

Track Listing

1. You know it's true
2. If I were with her now
3. I want you
4. Run
5. Smiles
6. Step into the breeze
7. Symphony space
8. Take your time
9. Shine a light
10. Angel sigh
11. Sway
12. 200 bars

Review

Well think of Spacemen 3, not think about them even more doped up. You should have approximated the sound of Spiritualized. While Playing with Fire explored the diverse influences of the band's members, this album just goes completely into the spacy thing.

I am talking about Spaceman 3 so much because this is the new project of Jason Pierce, and other previous members. Basically, Spiritualized, at least in this album, is a repackaged version of Spacemen 3.

The music is extremely laid back, like a mix of the more landscapy Tangerine Dream's tracks, circa Phaedra, with an element of British pop. This makes for something quite good to have playing in the back ground, particularly while passing a Camberwell Carrot around.

Track Highlights

1. Angel Sigh
2. Shine A Light
3. I Want You
4. Sway

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Initially released on CD and on two 45rpm vinyl LPs, the album has since been reissued on CD. Several CD editions of the album segue the twelve songs together into four (occasionally cross-faded) "suites", mimicking the double-vinyl listening experience. Some US versions, on BMG, have, since 1996, retained a skip on all copies, causing "Angel Sigh" to false-start after about one minute. This error is one of the longest-standing in the major-label CD era, at nine years and counting.


Shine a Light to images from 2001 Space Odyssey:

720. The Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde (1992)

Track Listing

1. 4 Better Or 4 Worse
2. Oh Shit
3. It's Jiggaboo Time
4. 4 Better Or 4 Worse
5. I'm That Type Of Nigga
6. If I Were President
7. Soul Flower
8. On The DL
9. Pack The Pipe
10. Officer
11. Ya Mama
12. Passing Me By
13. Otha Fish
14. Quinton's On The Way
15. Pack The Pipe
16. Return Of The B-Boy


Review

This album might seem particularly good to me, as the last album I had here was Dr. Dre. Still, this is a really great album, a lot of it is based on silly jokes and so forth but the music really swings. The dependence of pretty amazing Jazz samples makes this album pretty great.

It is not as amazing as some of the efforts by Tribe Called Quest, but the fact that is it comparable is amazing in itself. The fact that this is coming out of the West Coast is also not typical.

There is no reliance on tired samples, no stupid posing, there is some misogyny of course, but that is a given. Just comparing this album to The Chronic shows you how the general public have crap taste. This kind of stuff should have been the mainstream.

Track Listing

1. Passin' Me By
2. I'm that Type of Nigga
3. Otha Fish
4. Oh Shit

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Bizarre Ride helped establish a new alternative scene on the West Coast, followed by artists such as Hieroglyphics, The Coup and Jurassic 5. Despite the wide acclaim, the album produced only moderate sales, peaking at #75 on the Billboard 200 album chart in 1993. However, on the strength of the second single, "Passing Me By," the album was certified gold in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America on March 28, 1996

Passin' Me By:

719. R.E.M. - Automatic For the People (1992)

Track Listing

1. Drive
2. Try Not To Breathe
3. Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite
4. Everybody Hurts
5. New Orleans Instrumental No 1
6. Sweetness Follows
7. Monty Got A Raw Deal
8. Ignoreland
9. Star Me Kitten
10. Man On The Moon
11. Nightswimming
12. Find The River

Review

This is likely to be the best album song for song that R.E.M. ever produced or ever will. It it so very good because it is the point in which the band find a comfortable place in their flirting with the mainstream.

Before this album R.E.M. had produced Out of Time, which was basically going into the mainstream with a bang, it was a bit too much, songs like Shiny Happy People really did not endear them to their fans. However, they toned it down the right amount in order to follow it up with this pretty nifty thing.

There is not one track here that is in anyway forgettable, and to me this is one of those comfort albums that you can come back to, again and again. It's like an old friend, at the same time quite depressing but comforting. I can't recommend it highly enough... but I also think I don't need to. You probably know it already. However, if you are mainly aware of the big singles you still need the full album.

Track Highlights

1. Nightswimming
2. The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight
3. Everybody Hurts
4. Man On The Moon

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

John Paul Jones, the bassist of Led Zeppelin, in his string arrangement role, scored the strings for "Drive," "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite," "Everybody Hurts," and "Nightswimming."

The ultimate "think twice before you slit your wrists" song, Everybody Hurts:

718. Dr. Dre - The Chronic (1992)

Track Listing

1. The Chronic (Intro)
2. Fuck With Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin')
3. Let Me Ride
4. The Day The Niggaz Took Over
5. Nuthin' But A 'G' Thang
6. Deeez Nuuuts
7. Lil' Ghetto Boy
8. A Nigga Witta Gun
9. Rat--Tat-Tat-Tat
10. The $20 Sack Pyramid
11. Lyrical Gangbang
12. High Powered
13. The Doctor's Office
14. Stranded On Death Row
15. The Roach (The Chronic Intro)
16. Bitches Ain't Shit

Review

There is so much amazing hip hop in the world and this had to be what would define the hip-hop mainstream for the foreseeable future. Why, Lord, why? OK there is a good thing about it, the production is great.

Actually there is another good thing about it and that is Snoop Dog, who makes his debut here, this was before his first solo album. Honestly there is just something about Snoop that I really like, his voice has a nice drawl and he is pretty funny in a very misogynistic way.

Other than this, however, there is really not much original to the album. Marrying hip-hop with the P-Funk is not new in the least, at times this album feels like a covers album. This is particularly true because Dre focuses on one sample per track, which makes the tracks pretty unoriginal. A lot of hip-hop albums are great because you are figuring out all the samples and how they are used in smart ways, here there is one sample per song really. None of the complexity of so many hip-hop groups we had here before. And the lyrics are so incredibly immature that most of the time they aren't even funny if you are over 14. The beginning of the end.

Track Highlights

1. Nuthin' But A 'G' Thang
2. The Roach (The Chronic Intro)
3. Let Me Ride
4. Fuck With Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin')

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The album launched the careers of West Coast hip hop artists, including Snoop Doggy Dogg, Dat Nigga Daz, Kurupt, Nate Dogg, and Warren G, Dr. Dre's half-brother—all of whom pursued successful commercial careers. The Chronic is widely regarded as the album that re-defined West Coast hip hop, demonstrated gangsta rap's commercial potential as a multi-platinum commodity, and established G-funk as the most popular sound in hip hop music for several years after its release, with Dr. Dre producing major albums that drew heavily on his production style. The album's success established Death Row Records as a dominant force in 1990s hip hop. It has been re-released twice, first as a remastered CD, then as a remastered DualDisc with enhanced stereo and four videos.

Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang:

717. k. d. lang - Ingénue (1992)

Track Listing

1. Save Me
2. Mind Of Love
3. Miss Chatelaine
4. Wash Me Clean
5. So It Shall Be
6. Still Thrives This Love
7. Seasons Of Hollow Soul
8. Outside Myself
9. Tear Of Love's Recall
10. Constant Craving

Review

Ms. lang had a busy year in 1992, making a big departure in musical terms and coming out of the closet. Let's focus on the first part here, though, lang moves away from her Nashville roots here into something more singer-songwriter like, a mix between some kind of Western Cabaret and Joni Mitchell. It is good.

lang's writing is the best that she had ever done before, and probably would ever do again, the lyrics are more personal and intimate, smarter. Her voice is as great as ever, but the new musical direction permits her to do a more Joni Mitchell thing, there are moments here where it is actually difficult to tell the difference, particularly in The Mind of Love.

We've been having a good streak of albums here later. You can thank Dr. Dre for fucking it up tomorrow, but then we are back to good things. If you are into female singer song-writers, you have exhausted all the good Joni Mitchell albums, want a bit more of a countrified flavour with beautiful orchestrations and arrangements, this is the album for you.

Track Highlights

1. Constant Craving
2. Still Thrives This Love
3. Miss Chatelaine
4. Save Me

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The Rolling Stones later unwittingly used a refrain very similar to "Constant Craving"'s in their 1997 single "Anybody Seen My Baby?". After discovering this, they gave writing credits on that song to k.d. lang and Mink, shared with the original authors Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

Constant Craving:

716. Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy - Hypocrisy is the Greatest Luxury (1992)

Track Listing

1. Satanic Reverses
2. Famous And Dandy (Like Amos 'N' Andy)
3. Television The Drug Of The Nation
4. Language Of Violence
5. The Winter Of The Long Hot Summer
6. Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury
7. Everyday Life Has Become A Health Risk
8. INS Greencard A-19 191 500
9. Socio-Genetic Experiment
10. Music And Politics
11. Financial Leprosy
12. California Uber Alles
13. Water Pistol Man

Review

The first and most immediate reaction to this album is to see just how prescient it is... well maybe not prescient, but just that the world has not changed much since 1992. The first track has a chorus which starts "Bail Out The Banks". Hah!

From then on you realise that it is not only very smartly written but the music is pretty amazing too. It sounds like the love-child of Gil Scott Heron and Public Enemy and if you know those two artists then you know you are in for something good.

So the best thing about it are the lyrics. But then they show amazing subtelty in the arrangements, they even have an almost jazzy ballad track in Music and Politics, another of the greatest songs in the album. It is angry hip hop of the best kind, with a social and political consciousness. This is particularly rare coming out of the West Coast where Gangsta Rap was all the rage. So cherish this.

Track Highlights

1. Music And Politics
2. Satanic Reverses
3. Socio-Genetic Experiment
4. Language Of Violence

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Their debut album, Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury, received critical and underground acclaim upon its release in 1992, but was never commercially successful. Franti's lyrics address a wide range of issues, from Mass Media bias and abuse on "Television, the Drug of the Nation" to racial equality on "Socio-Genetic Experiment", in large part inspired by his own childhood, and Homophobia, in the song "Language of Violence". The album also included a cover of the Dead Kennedys track "California Über Alles" (with updated lyrics about Governor Pete Wilson). "Television," which received wide airplay on college and alternative radio stations, had previously been recorded by Michael Franti's first band, The Beatnigs. "Language of Violence" tells the story of a 15 year old boy who is beaten to death for his being gay by homophobes, and the subsequent ironic treatment of the murderers once sent to prison as a form of natural justice. The chorus contains an intricate commentary on how language can be used to dehumanize an individual, transforming them into an "inanimate entity", and thus rendering them disposable and easy to discriminate against.


Television The Drug Of The Nation... again great lyrics:

715. Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine (1992)

Track Listing

1. Bombtrack
2. Killing in the Name
3. Take the Power Back
4. Settle for Nothing
5. Bullet in the Head
6. Know Your Enemy
7. Wake Up
8. Fistful of Steel
9. Township Rebellion
10. Freedom

Review

This is one of those albums that everyone had when I was growing up... everyone but me. I liked classical music... if I could I would go back and punch my snobby little skull in. I still wonder why no-one ever did it... I didn't even get bullied, shit I bullied people. And no grown-up ever touched me wrong :( What was wrong with me?!

That cathartic moment out of the way I can now say that I have since learned to enjoy Rage Against the Machine. I particularly like their lyrics as the communist baby-eater that I am. I also think wealth should be spread around, I know you Americans probably think I am an Ayrahb communist Muslim Nazi by now.

If this review sounds weird it is because I have been writing a literature review on the problems facing the study of Western Esotericism in Academia, and it is driving me crazy. I have a little wall of books in front of me between me and you dear readers, in front of the screen.

How can you not love an album with the lyrics "Some of those who work forces, are the same that burn crosses". Rage's combination of fury, rap and slow-burning retro metal makes them one of the most effective agit-prop bands in history, and thank fuck for that. We need more agit-prop of the good kind.

Francisco HUSSEIN Silva

P.S. I have just endorsed Obama, eat your heart out Powell!


Track Highlights

1. Killing In The Name Of
2. Wake Up
3. Take The Power Back
4. Bombtrack

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

In 2001 Q magazine named Rage Against the Machine as one of the 50 Heaviest Albums Of All Time. The album is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In 2003, the album was ranked number 368 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The album is known for its high production values, which are almost to the strictest audiophile standards. Some audiophile sites and magazines even go as far as using the album — in particular the song "Take the Power Back" — to test amplifiers and speakers.

Killing In the Name Of:

714. Lemonheads - It's A Shame About Ray (1992)

Track Listing

1. Rockin' Stroll
2. Confetti
3. It's A Shame About Ray
4. Rudderless
5. My Drug Buddy
6. Turnpike Down
7. Bit Part
8. Alison's Starting To Happen
9. Hannah And Gabi
10. Kitchen
11. Ceiling Fan In My Spoon
12. Frank Mills
13. Mrs Robinson

Review

First time I listened to this album I thought it was just jangly light rock/pop. Now I think it is very good jangly light rock/pop. The album is one of those slow burners that isn't very impressive the first couple of times but then the songs get into your head, as do some of the lyrics.

I think one of the best things of the album is a sense of euphony, Even Dando is a great lyricist with a great notion of what words sound good with other words. There is actually a deliberate nod to the whole theory of euphony with the use of the word "cellar-door" in the album, the word mix that Tolkien famously considered the most beautiful one in the English language. Neil Young and The Mountain Goats also use it in their songs.

So the album really works, the songs are short enough that it never bores, and the album is actually a bit too short, and at the end Dando adds two covers: the surprisingly Wainwright-like Frank Mills and a good cover of Mrs. Robinson that feels a little out of place. So yeah I liked it.

Track Highlights

1. Rudderless
2. My Drug Buddy
3. Turnpike Down
4. Frank Mills

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

After its initial release, the album was re-issued with a cover of "Mrs. Robinson", originally by Simon & Garfunkel, which was released as a single. The song had been recorded after the other tracks, with a different bass player. Pressure from the record label also caused the title of the song "My Drug Buddy" to be reduced to the less-provocative "Buddy" when the album was reissued.

The album and its title track was inspired partially from a club owner who called everyone Ray. Band leader Evan Dando later saw the actual line "It's A Shame About Ray" in a Sydney newspaper article about something that happened to a child named Ray.

"Alison's Starting to Happen" refers to Alison Galloway, the drummer for Smudge.
The album also includes a cover of the song "Frank Mills" from the musical Hair.

Drug Buddy:

713. Baaba Maal - Lam Toro (1992)

Track Listing

1. Hamady Boiro (Yelle)
2. Daande Lenol
3. Lem Gi (Le Miel)
4. Ndelorel
5. Yela
6. Toro (Tioulel l'Oiseau)
7. Daniibe (Les Exilés)
8. Olel (I'écho)
9. Sy Sawande
10. Hamady Bogle

Review

I really like Senegalese music. The two previous Senegalese albums we've had here were winners, and this one is also pretty good. Frankly I would prefer this album to have been a bit more traditional, some of the syths date the album in a way that is totally unnecessary.

That said there are great sounds here, Baaba Maal has a great voice, as we had seen before in his album with Mansour Seck. Then there is some very good instrumentation, I particularly love the sound of the Kora, which works strangely well with Uillean Pipes on the second track.

If you manage to ignore some of the "innovations" to the album, which are not that prevalent really, so it is easy to ignore them, this is a highly enjoyable album. Not as good as the previous Baaba Maal and Mansour Seck album but not far behind it. So give it a go.

Track Highlights

1. Daande Lenol
2. Daniibe
3. Toro
4. Sy Sawande

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Born 12 November 1953. Since his father was a fisherman, Baaba Maal was expected to become a fisherman as well. However, under the influence of his life long friend Mansour Seck, Baaba Maal devoted himself to learning music from his mother and his school's headmaster. He went on to study music at the university in Dakar before leaving for postgraduate studies on a scholarship at Beaux-Arts in Paris. He has become quite famous in Africa and is also the most internationally famous musician from Senegal, with the possible exception of Yossou N'Dour.


Very Long version of Hamady Boiro:

712. Morrissey - "Your Arsenal" (1992)

Track Listing

1. You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side
2. Glamorous Glue
3. We'll Let You Know
4. National Front Disco
5. Certain People I Know
6. We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful
7. You're The One For Me Fatty
8. Seasick Yet Still Docked
9. I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday
10. Tomorrow

Review

Let's get one thing out of the way. Morrissey is a horrible person, whatever you might say about his music, whether you like it or not, he is a horrible person, and the lyrics here reflect that more than in other of his albums. So yes, he's a vegetarian... let me think if other evil famous vegetarians...I get nothing. Oh he is also a right-wing bastard who wants Britain for the British let me thing of other famous nationalistic racist vegetarian bastards... I get nothing.

So I pretty much put hipster fans of Morrissey in the same bag of hipster fans of Ayn Rand, when I am king they will be first against the wall. Yes I am a bleeding heart liberal, left-winger and also an emigrant in a foreign country. So Morrissey offends me more than most other people I am sure.

All that being said... musically this isn't bad, but I just want to throw up at parts of it. We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful... do we? No, you do Morrissey because you are fucking horrible sub-human waste. "England for the English"? Who the fuck are the English anyway? Start by kicking all the Normans out. But then I find myself singing along to some of the tracks and I want to kill myself. And then he has a song making fun of fat people... that is just great. So your problems are with foreign people, fat people, people who eat meat and your friends. But glamorising the National Front and Hooliganism is fine. And you clearly have no problem with looking like a reject from Take That.

As I said the music isn't terrible, but I hate him. He would of course say the songs are all misunderstood, but really his actions and statements on and off-stage and on and off-record say the opposite.

Track Highlights

1. We'll Let You Know
2. National Front Disco (horrible, but catchy)
3. Glamorous Glue
4. I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Some tracks from the album were lyrically controversial, although much of the controversy was stirred up by the New Musical Express, who had turned against Morrissey by this time. "Glamorous Glue", though a personally conflicted and ambivalent song, was accused of anti-Americanism, while the similarly ambiguous "We'll Let You Know" was accused of defending football hooliganism. "The National Front Disco", meanwhile, was accused by some of glorifying the British National Front, a far-right group, and the ambiguity of lyrics such as "England for the English" was criticised.

While the album represents a consistent collection of songs, there was no standout hit single. The first song released from the album, "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful", peaked at number 17 in the United Kingdom. It also hit number two on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart. While this was an improvement from the singles from Kill Uncle, it didn't match the success of his earlier singles.

Despite this, a great number of singles were released from the album. The UK saw the release of "You're The One For Me, Fatty" (#19) and "Certain People I Know" (#35). In the United States, "Glamorous Glue" and "Tomorrow" reached #13 and #1 on the Modern Rock chart, respectively.

We'll Let You Know:

711. Koffi Olomide - Haut de Gamme/Koweit Rive Gauche (1992)

Track Listing

1. Papa Bonheur
2. Desespoir
3. Koweit Rive Gauche
4. Qui Cherche Trouve
5. Elixir
6. Porte-Monnaie
7. Conte De Fees
8. Obrigado
9. Dit Jeannot

Review

I am sure this was very original for people who have a solely Western musical diet. If you are Portuguese like me, however, you have listened to this kind of music for a long time, actually long before 1992. The Portuguese language singer that sound more like this to me is the Angolan Bonga, who has been around considerably longer than 1992.

In the late 80s Bonga was doing stuff very similar to this. So this does not sound original to me at all. Koffi Olomide, in the Democratic Repulic of Congo (not much of a democracy or republic) is working in a well established Sub-Saharan African tradition of music, his particular version is Tcha Tcho and he was incredibly popular... but that doesn't make it particularly good.

I would much rather listen to more Senegalese music. The use of synths here is a bit maudlin and tacky, the songs are clearly love-songs and some work better than others which sound a bit cloying. As an interesting footnote one of the songs is called Obrigado, which means thank you in Portuguese... I can also recognise some kind of Portuguese creole in the track, including the word "desculpa" meaning "sorry"... Well it was interesting to me at least.

Track Highlights

1. Papa Bonheur
2. Obrigado
3. Porte Monnaie
4. Qui Cherche Trouve

Final Grade

6/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

He went to France to study. While in Paris, he began playing the guitar and writing songs. On his return to Congo he was a member of Viva la Musica, Papa Wemba's band. Koffi repopularized the slower style of soukous, which had fallen out of fashion. He dubbed this style Tcha Tcho, and it gained popularity outside Congo. Koffi's music can be quite controversial, taking on current events and topics considered taboo in some conservative societies. He has also participated in the salsa music project Africando. Koffi has won four Kora Awards in South Africa and also won the best artist in central Africa. He is married and the father of four children.

Papa Bonheur:

710. Arrested Development - 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of Arrested Development (1992)

Track Listing

1. Man's Final Frontier
2. Mama's Always On Stage
3. People Everyday
4. Blues Happy
5. Mr Wendal
6. Children Play With Earth
7. Raining Revolution
8. Fishin' For Religion
9. Give A Man A Fish
10. U
11. Eve Of Reality
12. Natural
13. Dawn Of The Dreads
14. Tennessee
15. Washed Away
16. People Everyday (Metamorphosis Mix)

Review

Well this is a different hip-hop album. It moves away from straight rapping into a more melodic style. This gives it just a little bit of an R&B feel which would be so popular with later hip-hop. Still, despite being less aggressive, it is still great hip-hop.

It is Southern hip-hop, which would probably have been the second best trend in "regional" hip hop to have achieved mainstream success... right after East Coast rap. But, as we all know it was West Coast gangsta rap that won it all. This is second best because it does not have the power of Public Enemy or the smart wittiness of the Native Tongues posse (De La Soul and Tribe Called Quest particularly).

Still, it is pretty enjoyable and fun stuff to listen to. It is not for purists, some of the songs are much too chipper for their own good (Mr. Wendel for example) but that also adds to a whole mood of positiveness in the album... although it is also a bit naive. That naivitè is one of the good things about it, it is endearing.

Track Highlights

1. People Everyday (Metamorphosis Mix)
2. Mama's Always On Stage
3. Mr. Wendel
4. Tennessee

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

It took the group three years, five months and two days to be offered a record deal, when Chrysalis Records sent A&R director Duff Marlowe to Atlanta's Bosstown Studios to meet with the group's manager Michael Mauldin. Arrested Development had already been offered a single deal for the song "Tennessee". Hence the name of the first album was 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of..., which produced several hit tracks. These included "Tennessee", "Everyday People", and "Mr. Wendal", which hit the Top Ten. The group won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist, and were also named Band of the Year by Rolling Stone magazine.

People Everyday:

709. Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (1992)

Track Listing

1. Xtal
2. Tha
3. Pulsewidth
4. Ageispolis
5. i
6. Green Calx
7. Heliosphan
8. We Are The Music Makers
9. Schottkey 7th Path
10. Ptolemy
11. Hedphelym
12. Delphium
13. Actium

Review

Two things about this album are particularly amazing. The first is the fact that it is almost impossible to create an electronic dance music album in 1992 and not make it feel terribly dated and tacky in 2008, and this manages that feat tremendously. The second astounding thing about it is that Mr. Twin would have been 14 in 1985 when some of these tracks were composed!

Composed is the correct term here. This is a collection of Ambient compositions which sound like Brian Eno on some weird mix of ecstasy and weed. In fact that is a bit unfair on Aphex, they sound like nothing that came before, although there has been plenty afterwards trying to mimic it.

This is the album that cements Aphex Twin's reputation as a genius, and even if this had been the only good thing he produced that reputation would have been amply deserved. I am always astounded when someone comes out of a basement with a new style of music, and Aphex did just that.

Track Highlights

1. Tha
2. Actium
3. Schottkey 7th Path
4. Xtal

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Although primarily an instrumental effort, many of the songs feature vocal samples. "Xtal" has samples of female vocalising, as well as alternating fantasy sounds in alternating measures, both repeated intermittently throughout the song. "Tha" has clips of two people (one possibly being James himself) talking, while "Actium" has samples of what sound like squeaking shoes in a hallway. "We Are the Music Makers" features a line of dialogue from the movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Some have mistakenly attributed James with the first use of this oft-used sample, but while James may have created track 8 with the quote at some time after 1985, the first use of it appeared on "Nephatiti" on ex:el by 808 State, the Manchester group that influenced James and its song “Flow Coma” that James remixed and appeared on 2003's 26 Mixes for Cash (disc 2, track 6). "Green Calx" contains samples from RoboCop: the dinosaur's popping eyes during the 6000 SUX TV ad, the ED-209 robot trying to go downstairs without success, and the sound of RoboCop browsing faces of criminals in the police archives computer. "Green Calx" also contains a faint sample of the vocal from "Fodderstompf" by Public Image Ltd.

You like train tracks? You like Tha from Aphex's Twin's 1992 effort Selected Ambient Works 85-92? Then this is the video for YOU!:

708. Pavement - Slanted And Enchanted (1992)

Track Listing

1. Summer Babe (Winter Version)
2. Trigger Cut/Wounded Kite at: 17
3. No Life Singed Her
4. In the Mouth a Desert
5. Conduit for Sale!
6. Zurich Is Stained
7. Chesley's Little Wrists
8. Loretta's Scars
9. Here
10. Two States
11. Perfume V
12. Fame Throwa
13. Jackals, False Grails: The Lonesome Era
14. Our Singer

Review

Ahhh, an album I really enjoyed. We haven't had one of these since Slint. As you can tell there is probably some kind of pattern to what I like, and this was a predictable one. Yes, Pavement is gud!

Life is too short to listen to music which does not sound like the artist really needed to do it. Music needs to have a certain punch, a feeling that it is coming from deep down in the artist's being. Pavement sounds like that, it is not jumping on any bandwagon, it can't even be called grunge, maybe fusing grunge with the Modern Lovers would be good description, and that makes for a great album.

Pavement seem like a distillation of a lot of what is good about music in the 20 years before it, from Velvet Underground, Modern Lovers, Wire, Television, Violent Femmes, Slint into something almost timeless in its music. It could have been done in the mid to late 70s or any time after that. This classic quality, like that of all great albums, is what will keep the album popular and fresh for the next 30 years or more.


Track Highlights

1. In the Mouth a Desert
2. Trigger Cut/Wounded Kite at: 17
3. Chesley's Little Wrists
4. Two States

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The album regularly appears at the top of lists of most important albums of the 1990s, despite relatively low record sales. The album was distributed to critics as early as 1991 before its original release and when the rest of Pavement joined the band, so when the album was released, the band had a bassist and Gary Young's drumming was so shaky that Bob Nastanovich kept time for him, as well as work as tour manager. In 2003, the album was ranked number 134 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

In The Mouth a Desert: