682. A Tribe Called Quest - People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (1990)

















Track Listing

1. Push It Along
2. Luck Of Lucien
3. After Hours
4. Footprints
5. I Left My Wallet In El Segundo
6. Public Enemy
7. Bonita Applebum
8. Can I Kick It
9. Youthful Expression
10. Rhythm (Devoted To The Art Of Moving Butts)
11. Mr Muhammad
12. Ham 'n' Eggs
13. Go Ahead In The Rain
14. Description Of A Fool

Review

Another great hip-hop album coming out of the Native Tongues Collective. Honestly of the three greats of that collective - De La Soul, Jungle Brothers and Tribe Called Quest - Tribe is definitely the best, particularly in the way that they could sustain more than one great album.

De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising is a masterpiece but it is their only masterpiece. This album, however is one of the masterpieces by Tribe. All of the bad ideas usually associated with hip-hop are completely disproven by this album, it isn't aggressive, no one shoot or wants to shoot anyone else, women aren't called bitches, the writing is in no way childish. In fact this album and the next Tribe one can stand proudly next to De La Soul's début and Public Enemy's amazing albums as true works of art.

The use of samples reveals a deep knowledge of music with a use of Jazz samples that is peerless and would influence the whole Chillout scene of the late 90s. Samples also range from the Beatles to Lou Reed and Mariachi music. Then the lyrics are the smartest and funniest of any hip-hop group around at the time. It is just pretty much near perfect, the only fault is the idea that they are maybe experimenting a bit too much here, some more focus would have made it even better, but they fix that in their next album.

Track Highlights

1. Can I Kick It?
2. I Left My Wallet In El Segundo
3. Bonita Applebum
4. Luck Of Lucien

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm is the debut album by the alternative hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, released April 17, 1990 on Jive Records. Though the album was well-received critically, it had little mainstream appeal. The album did earn the band a devoted following, however, within the alternative hip hop community. People's Instinctive Travels was praised for its lyrical inventiveness and bizarre sense of humor, mixed with socially aware and literate message tracks. It is one of three A Tribe Called Quest albums included in The Source's list of 100 best Hip-Hop/Rap Albums of All Time. It also was certified gold by the RIAA on January 19, 1996.

Can I Kick It?:

681. Sinead O'Connor - I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (1990)
















Track Listing

1. Feels So Different
2. I Am Stretched On Your Grave
3. Three Babies
4. Emperor's New Clothes
5. Black Boys On Mopeds
6. Nothing Compares 2 U
7. Jump In The River
8. You Cause As Much Sorrow
9. Last Day Of Our Acquaintance
10. I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got

Review

This is one of those albums I grew up with, it came out when I was 8 and my father had it in his car for quite a while, meaning that I heard it through many trips. Usually at night, from Evora to Lisbon and back. If it seems I am being biased then it is because maybe I am and you have to suck it up.

This is to say I really like this album. Sinead does one thing for which I am a sucker, she starts songs slow and builds on them to great epic finales, that's particularly true in the first track and the great Last Day Of Out Acquaintance. If all you know of this album is Nothing Compares 2 U, then you are missing out.

Yes, Nothing Compares 2 U is a good song, with a great video and great lyrics, but it does feel kind of out of place in the album. It sounds like the track put there to be the big successful single that it became. The other tracks are less accessible, track 2 is a dance/hip-hop/celtic music mix for example while the album starts out with a great use of a full string section for a great slow build up track. I really like this. Best album ever? Definitely not, but I want to listen to it again.

Track Highlights

1. Nothing Compares 2 U
2. The Last Day of Our Acquaintance
3. I Am Stretched on Your Grave
4. Feel So Different

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The critically-acclaimed album contains her most famous single, "Nothing Compares 2 U", and was one of the best selling records in the world in 1990, topping the charts in many countries, including the US, UK, and Canada.

The album includes O'Connor's rendition of "I Am Stretched on Your Grave," an anonymous 17th century poem (originally written in Irish) translated into English by Philip King. The first song, "Feels So Different", starts with The Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr.

The inner sleeve notes acknowledge Kabbalah teacher, Warren Kenton: "Special thanks to Selina Marshall + Warren Kenton for showing me that all I'd need was inside me."

The album was nominated for four Grammy Awards in 1991, winning the award for Best Alternative Music Performance. O'Connor refused to accept the nominations and the award.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 406 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.


A version of Nothing Compares 2 U with sound on, let's see how long it stays up, as because it is a Prince cover it will be going down soon for sure:

680. Public Enemy - Fear Of a Black Planet (1990)





















Track Listing

1. Contract On The World Love Jam
2. Brothers Gonna Work It Out
3. 911 Is A Joke
4. Incident At 66.6 FM
5. Welcome To The Terrordome
6. Meet The G That Killed Me
7. Pollywanacraka
8. Anti-Nigger Machine
9. Burn Hollywood Burn - Ice Cube, Public Enemy
10. Power To The People
11. Who Stole The Sole?
12. Fear Of A Black Planet
13. Revolutionary Generation
14. Can't Do Nuttin' For Ya Man
15. Reggie Jax
16. Leave This Off Your Fu*Kin Charts
17. B Side Wins Again
18. War At 33 1/3
19. Final Count Of The Collision Between Us And The Damned
20. Fight The Power

Review

When hip-hop is boring, it is really boring, when it is good it sounds like this album! Public Enemy had already shown what gods they were in their previous album, and this doesn't disappoint in the least.

You know a hip-hop is album is working when you are actually interested in what they are saying, this works partly as a great music album. partly as a spoken word album and partly as documentary through the spoken samples used through it.

Actually it is as socially important as It Takes A Nation of Millions, the black-white divide pervades the album, in all its forms, up to the point of the type-casting of black actors in Burn Hollywood Burn. This is art of the highest calibre, and another example of why East Coast rap will always be superior, at least at this point in time.

Track Highlights

1. Fight The Power
2. Burn Hollywood Burn
3. 911 Is a Joke
4. Power To The People

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The album's musical qualities were overshadowed by a controversy surrounding alleged anti-Semitic remarks by group member Professor Griff. After the controversy had been forgotten, however, the album's critical reception was generally very positive, with many commentators ranking it equal to or better than the previous album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988).In particular, critics were favorable to The Bomb Squad's innovative and diverse production and Chuck D's songwriting. The Encyclopedia of Popular Music credits Fear of a Black Planet's atmosphere to the "bunker mentality" of "clashes with the press", and specifically cites "Fight the Power", which "bites harder than just about any other track in rap's history" (p. 1864).

Fight The Power:

679. LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out (1990)

















Track Listing

1. The Boomin' System
2. Around The Way Girl
3. Eat Em Up L Chill
4. Mr. Good Bar
5. Murdergram
6. Cheesy Rat Blues
7. Farmers Blvd. (Our Anthem)
8. Mama Said Knock You Out
9. Milky Cereal
10. Jingling Baby (Remixed But Still Jingling)
11. To Da Break Of Dawn - LL Cool J, Marly Marl
12. 6 Minutes Of Pleasure
13. Illegal Search
14. The Power Of God
15. Mama Said Knock You Out

Review

Well, as you probably have noticed by now I am not a big fan of West Coast hip-hop. It's like East Coast through blockbuster Hollywood lenses. Hence not that great. Still, this wasn't one of the worse offerings on the list.

I must say I like a couple of the tracks here, and particularly the title track, which is pretty cool. LL Cool J is actually one the the most original West Coast artists at this time...

Still, LL Cool J will never be Public Enemy, De La Soul or Tribe Called Quest in terms of quality, when it's all about the bitches and the money and boasting it frankly bores the hell out of me. Oh well, tomorrow there's a review of a better hip-hop album.

Edit: 27 June 2009, It has been brought to my attention that he is actually East Coast. Anyway the album sounds very West Coast to me, clearly heavily influenced by the by then very popular West Coast hip-hop scene.

Track Highlights

1. Mama Said Knock You Out
2. Milky Cereal
3. Around The Way Girl
4. Farmers Blvd.

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Mama Said Knock You Out marked the first of many self-reinventions L.L. Cool J would undergo to adapt to the hip-hop's changing atmosphere. Made as a comeback album after the critically-maligned Walking With a Panther, Mama Said Knock You Out revived the hardcore image of LL Cool J's early days that appeared to be damaged by his previous album. It was a critical and commercial success, and helped restore his reputation as a hip-hop icon.

Mama Said Knock You Out:

678. Jane's Addiction - Ritual De Lo Habitual (1990)
















Track Listing

1. Stop
2. No One's Leaving
3. Ain't No Right
4. Obvious
5. Been Caught Stealing
6. Three Days
7. Then She Did
8. Of Course
9. Classic Girl

Review

I really liked Nothing's Shocking, and I surprised myself, and I quite like this one as well, probably not quite as much as the previous album but it is quite refreshing in the middle of all the hip-hop.

There are really two albums in the beginning of the 90s which set the tone for the rest of the decade in what respects to rock music. Those are Nirvana's Nevermind for the whole grunge thing, and this album for most other "alternative rock". In that sense it is a pretty significant album.

If the album was just significant it would deserve its place on this list, but it has some pretty good songs. It starts off well with Stop, has an highlight in the middle with Been Caught Stealing, and the last few songs are pretty good rock epics most going over the 7 minute mark. If you are into the kind of rock the Red Hot Chilli Peppers came to represent this is an album for you.

Track Highlights

1. Of Course
2. Stop
3. Been Caught Stealing
4. Three Days

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Two versions of the disc packaging were created: one cover featured artwork by singer Perry Farrell, related to the song "Three Days" and including male and female nudity; the other cover has been called the "clean cover", and features only black text on a white background, listing the band name, album name, and the text of the First Amendment (the "freedom of speech" amendment) of the U.S. Constitution. The back cover of the "clean cover" also contains the text "Hitler's syphilis-ridden dreams almost came true. How could it happen? By taking control of the media. An entire country was led by a lunatic... We must protect our First Amendment, before sick dreams become law. Nobody made fun of Hitler??!" The "clean cover" was created so the CD could be distributed in stores such as Wal-Mart who refused to stock items with nudity on the front cover.

Stop: