1990

The 90s are finally here!  Still seems kind of contemporary, doesn't it?  Well it sure isn't!  This was 23 years ago.  My brother was born this year and he is definitely a grown-up.  As far as music goes it's sort of a continuation of the 80s of course, but the future is still pretty apparent on these titles.

10.  The Flaming Lips - In A Priset-Driven Ambulance (With Silver Sunshine Stares)
It can be hard to believe that one of the most popular and enduring bands of today (still haven't heard the new record, but I have heard it is phenomenal) has been around for thirty years.  What is even harder to believe is that at this point they had been around for seven and already had several notable albums under their belt.  People finally started taking notice here as  they have grown a lot in the way of concept and musicality.  This is one of two albums featuring guitarist Jonathan Donahue and his noisy playing dominates this heavy and religious-themed album.  It is still pretty inaccessible even with the closing cover of "What a Wonderful World," but points toward pretty much everything they would do in the following years.  The conclusion of the Lips' initial era is its high-point, worth hearing for anyone who knows them beyond "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song."

9.  Eno & Cale - Wrong Way Up
Old friends and two of the greatest geniuses of the 70s collaborate once again on what could be called a return to form, but is definitely a return to something.  This is Eno's first pop work in thirteen years and Cale's most clear-headed in even longer.  Despite this long break Eno appears to have picked up where he left off on Before and After Science.  Cale's voice is perhaps the most definitive sound on this album and his harmonies with Eno reveal the latter to be a more talented vocalist than most had recognized before.  Poppier than one would expect especially on "Footsteps" and Eno's biggest American "hit" the cheesy middle-aged "Been There Done That."  It is great to hear the two make something great again even if the songs are not their best of all, but "Spinning Away" is worth the price of admission alone and stands as one of the best pieces of music with either's name on it.  Don't let the horrendous original artwork (designed by Eno) scare you off, if you're looking  for more of either artist this is it.

8.  Uncle Tupelo - No Depression

This one really started something.  The album that fired off the Americana bullet and launched the career of two of its brightest stars.  Its influence is  not its only charm and while the blue-collar heartland image seems a bit affected, but considering that the album was recorded in Boston of all places, the trio's conviction is undeniable.  It really is more country-with-distortion than country rock which was then, as it still is now a pretty novel concept.  The punk influence that makes songs like "Graveyard Shift" and "Outdone" is not the only thing they need to make great songs as the more traditional "Life Worth Livin'" and the many old covers are just as strong.  Jay Farrar dominates, but Tweedy's talent is brewing underneath, explaining how this album spearheaded a movement as much as entire shoegaze and grunge scenes did with many more guilty parties.

7.  Guided by Voices - Same Place the Fly Got Smashed

With any hope of ever making it as a musician quickly diminishing Robert Pollard with the help of his usual buddies (especially brother Jimmy) make this dark album about the descent into drunken middle-age.  "When  She Turns 50" and "Blatant Doom Trip" are enough to reveal where Uncle Bob thought his future was going.  It is the bleakest and most devastating of all GbV albums and the last of the early era with its lack of recording finesse and tendency for long songs like "Local Mix-Up/Murder Charge."  The themes of surrendering to hopeless drunken life excel on "Pendulum" and "Drinker's Peace" - two of the album's finest songs, with the latter having a positive tone - perhaps the best the Pollards could do at this point.  It is still a far cry from the genius that would follow, but with "How Loft I Am?" ending this album the few that heard it should have seen enough reason to keep supporting the elementary school teacher's musical dreams.

6.  Ride - Nowhere

Chronologically beating out a certain album that you will read about tomorrow, Ride's debut is one of the defining albums of shoegaze.  The album cover is a good indicator of the unified power of this loud, yet ultimately gentle album.  Songs like "Kaleidoscope" show that songwriting and melody has not been completely thrown out in favor of swirling instrumentation and its title calls out to those searching for a new kind of psychedelic rock this wave of mostly British bands would bring.  The album is best known for its (vinyl) closer "Vapour Trail" and for good reason, its perfect arrangement featuring a gradual decay into cello is one of  the greatest recordings of the decade.  Its placing was a wise move as it would be hard to get through the whole thing if it were any earlier.  It's all good, but  the rest just does not compare.

5.  Sonic Youth - Goo

Sonic Youth's move to a major label proved to be a mixed bag, best remembered for encouraging Nirvana to sign with Geffen.  However, it started on a very high note as this band still at their peak  fine-tunes their sound just enough to attain a big enough audience to change the world (as seen in the amazing 1991:  The Year Punk Broke).  Not knowing what to do with such a band, the label spent a lot of time and money making this record and it shows with its perfect production and the band sounding the tightest they ever would.  Lead track and single "Dirty Boots," is one of their best known songs and one of their best hard-rockers and the near-hit "Kool Thing" featuring Chuck D is Kim Gordon's best example of presenting feminism with humor.  Perhaps their most listenable album, the group's unique dynamics are at their best on songs like "Tunic (Song For Karen)," "Disappear" and the Ranaldo-led "Mote."  Even the abrasive "Mary-Christ" is just right for the average punk fan, making this a perfect place to start if you don't want something as long as Daydream Nation.  Please note this album beats Guided by Voices this year next time you get frustrated with my Sonic Youth comments.

4.  The Bats - The Law of Things

I just read that this was the New York Times pop album of the week.  Pretty crazy, huh?  Well anyway, the Christchurch group puts together a great follow up to Daddy's Highway on this set of energetic folk rock.  Alastair Gilbraith is back again, but unfortunately Kaye Woodward's vocals are heard less, but that hardly detracts from songs like "Never Said Goodbye."  Brighter songs are even more dominant like the opener "The Other Side of You" and "Time To Get Ready," but there is also a very present eerie quality on the title track and album closer "Smoking Her Wings" as well as tragic love like "Cliff  Edge."  This is where I began with this band and this album is not far behind their debut, making it a true  classic of kiwi-pop, capturing the personality of that scene as well as the once again oddly beautiful and slightly creepy album cover.

3.  The Chills - Submarine Bells

Though their best work was behind them on EPs and singles, Martin Phillips and company make their finest full LP.  The sound is also the most diverse, which is no surprise considering how eclectic those early works are.  "Heavenly Pop Hit," speaks for itself proving that Phillips is a genius worthy of a title like that, but "Effloresce and Deliquesce" with its otherworldly keyboards is the hight of transcendent beauty.  I am not the only one to say it sounds like flying over South Island on a misty day - "I SOAR" makes that explicit enough with its prominent (probably synthesized) ocarina.  The band's punk roots are even  embraced on the chugging rocker "Familiarity Breeds Contempt."  This is one of the most beautiful kiwi-pop records, soaked in a psychedelia all of its own, far removed from the 60s sound that begat it and the contemporary shoegaze and dream pop.  The classical arrangement of the gorgeous closing title track hint at some of the finest moments that would follow, but the Chills brightest days end here on their best-realized album.

2.  Kino - The Black Album

The story behind this album is one for the ages.  Viktor Tsoi was killed in an massive auto wreck after a fishing trip with his son August 15, 1990 and one of the few items that survived was a tape of the vocals on this album.  His bandmates completed the record around it and a masterpiece resulted.  Its sound is very much akin to New Order, but considering the climate around it it focuses around some pretty dark stuff like with "Summer Will End" beginning the album and "War Begins Tomorrow" ending it.  There is some cheerier fare as well on "Ant-Hill" and with Tsoi's too-sweet sincerity transcending language on "When Your Girlfriend is Sick."  Every song really kills it though, especially "Star," and with Tsoi tragically departed the other three members really prove their talent and worth as while their leader's face adorns murals across that side of the Iron Curtain.  Some day this album will be regarded as highly on this side because it is just phenomenal and without a doubt the finest  work of one of the greatest bands of the eighties.  Not to be missed.

1.  Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas

Tension within and around the band hits its peak on their masterpiece, with its bright lights in the shadow of darkness and death - just like the title implies.  By using its mechanical reliability amid the guitar, bass, and unintelligible vocals drenched in effects this is one of the best uses  of the drum machine.  The  group's understanding of its own unique creation makes this an album completely detached from the material world with its mystic sounds floating around the head rather than shattering the Earth.  It is airy but has a lot of weight with its heavy beats and dark overtones.  Honestly, I don't have much more to say.  This is just an incredible album full of frightening dream-like beauty and Celtic wonder.  It carries the image of watching your own memories alone in a pitch-black room... in  a dream, crying your eyes out, or perhaps the sadness of leaving everything you love on Earth behind and descending into heaven.