10. Chapterhouse - Whirlpool
Another favorite of the shoegaze movement. Chapterhouse often does not get as much credit as a lot of the similar groups. Perhaps they are too much on the dream-pop side, at times sounding a whole lot like the Cocteau Twins. They also may be too much like My Bloody Valentine at their most mechanical, but twenty-two years later who's to say that is a bad thing? The band has a big swirling sound that neither requires a lot of volume nor patience to enjoy. It is up-tempo and while the vocals are still a bit low and ghostly, they are more fun than a lot of their contemporaries. While they may not be the easiest to talk about without continued references to other groups the final product is as great as many of the others. Sonic Youth just crossed my mind as well.
9. Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque
When Scottish metalheads discover Big Star the results are not far off from what was going on in Seattle at the time. However, no one in the Northeast achieved anything as perfect as closing instrumental "Is This Music?" Until Radiohead, it seemed like this band would be the most likely to cross into the totally grunge-ified US market. Perhaps it was the lackluster performance of "The Concept" on SNL that stopped it from happened, and by the time they had another chance they had cut their hair and only gotten more into pop. It is basically jangle-pop with distortion, but the old need to extended songs and heavy playing are still in effect. The band would sharpen and tighten a lot over the next couple years, but hearing them rock out like this is what made them such legends. It is rare to hear such catchy head-bangers.
8. The Feelies - Time For A Witness
The final album of the the Feelies' original (or second) run is often overlooked. Perhaps it was too mature and diverse for most fans, or maybe not surprising enough. Still it is another product from one of the best bands of all time. It is very laid back, but has some of their best tunes such as "Sooner or Later," "Waiting" and "Invitation." No one else has ever succeeded at this sound as much as the Feelies and the playing is as great as ever with its searing leads and heavy driving rhythms. They are the coolest band and coolest people ever and you never forget, especially with the Fun House-tribute album cover and continued praise of the Stooges on the album-closing and experience-describing "Real Cool Time."
7. Sebadoh - III
Another album with influence that almost out-weighs its music. Though this is obviously the project's third record, it is the first with Jason Lowenstein and still years in the past Lou Barlow takes his rage out on J Mascis on the opening classic "The Freed Pig." After that it settles into the genre-defining lo-fi aesthetic and tendency for eclecticism. Barlow leans toward weird acoustics like "Total Peace" and "Hassle" at times harkening to Jandek, while Gaffney is more electric and at times abrasive like on "Limb By Limb." It also contains covers by both the Minutemen and Johnny Mathis. Somehow it all works on this CD-appropriate album, preparing at least a few American music fans for the likes of Guided by Voices and Pavement.
6. Nirvana - Nevermind
In this case the influence does out-weigh the music, but no music could do that. Still it is very good and after years of over-hearing every single song on it against my will I can accept that. While I believe that the production detracts from it a bit it still sounds better than most of the band's idols' records and nothing could cover up the fact that Nirvana was one of the tightest power trios in rock history or that Kurt Cobain's song writing was at its best here. While it may have all been in order to support a nasty heroin addiction and even nastier wife it sounds like they are all having a lot of fun, in no small part due to the whole band's top-notch sense of humor. If you're ever enraged by how much of a dork Dave Grohl is just put this on to remember there is a good reason he is so famous. The most popular album of the 90s should not be as good as this, but luckily, it is. This was a good year, this should be higher on the list. Personally, I like "In Bloom" best.
5. Meat Puppets - Forbidden Places
The Puppets joined the rest of their American Underground brethren in breaking up[ at the end of the 80s, but wisely got back together after London Records showed interest. Their major label debut turned out to be the best thing they had made in years, though it has tragically been out of print for probably fifteen now. After a decade of taking their sound in one extreme direction after another it finally all comes together on this release with punk, hard rock, country, psychedelia, and their odd humor coming together in one perfect concoction. Somehow they have even gotten faster than ever before with the blistering opener "Sam" matching the instruments in unbelievable speed and ending even faster with "Six Gallon Pie." This underrated album has some of the group's most fun material like "Whirlpool" and the distinctly Southwestern "Nail It Down." Considering what happened next this is the Pups' true lost classic and one of their high points.
4. Talk Talk - Laughing Stock
An eighties band makes their final album in the nineties and it still sounds like it is from the future. The new sound Talk Talk (now down to two official members) had been exploring his a new high with the minimalist instrumentation hitting a free-flowing channel based around the beauty of sound rather than song. It's like jazz without catering to the expectations of that genre either. As rock, pop, and even jazz had fallen into stricter and stricter expectations, even as diverse niches grew, Talk Talk show generations of followers that a truly great musician is at his or her best when entering a spiritual place and feeling the music rather than studying it like engineers. Transcendent beauty, it's like being in a museum, but without the tourists.
3. Slint - Spiderland
Continuing this year's theme of massive influence is this mysterious album that gave birth to a new kind of heaviness and complexity in underground rock and put Louisville on the map. The addition of vocals made this quartet's intertwining arrangements all the more powerful and while many may not go for the spoken vocals, they do provide good plotlines to these nightmarish compositions. The guitars duel violently while the rhythm section turns that fight into a full-blown war. Like many of the best albums, the cover captures it perfectly as four heads heads float in a deep, dark enigma, and even maintain themselves well enough to smile.
2. Speed the Plough - Wonder Wheel
Here's the one that has unfortunately not been hugely influential. Like Talk Talk, the New Jersey heroes disregard any expectations for how a rock band should sound or approach their music as jazz and classical mentality rule this album with increasing Celtic folk presence. With the help of returning Feelies' rhythm section John Baumgartner's compositions come alive as some of the greatest music recorded by anyone ever, especially on instrumental tracks like "Story of the Moon." The magic of their home state is captured on beautiful "Trains" with Brenda Sauter's vocals returning to create harmonies with Toni Baumgartner that are even more exhilarating on "One Of Your Friends." The band proves they are capable of absolutely anything by extending the length of Young Marble Giants' "Final Day" by a good five minutes, and while they may have a lot in common with the Feelies their textured keyboards and tendency for organic chaos allows them to achieve sounds as transcendent and otherworldly as Another Green World. Plus the group's guitar dynamics easily outdo their friends and neighbors at times.
1. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Pretty much there is nothing left to say about this album. I think it sounds like slowly falling into a pit of fuzzy psychedelic love from which you can never come out. My favorite songs are "What You Want" and "of course, "When You Sleep," but as soon as "Only Shallow" kicks in it is clear everything you once believed about music is to be thrown out the window. It is sweet, sexual, ecstasy in its atmospheres and harmonies with all the beauty that could only come from an Irish heart full of love.
Those were unusually short, I may be a little under-inspired tonight, but I would like to believe that these albums just speak for themselves.
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