Here's the section where some of our writers get a chance to briefly state their top 5 releases in 1995, and in some cases, disappointments. It's a good time to catch up on those releases that you missed the first time around...
- Martin Bate
1) Faith No More, King For a Day...Fool for a Lifetime Faith No More consolidating their place as one of the very few bands who can now do what ever the hell they like without *anyone* being surprised with these 14 eclectic little nuggets of brilliance. Everything from big Rock to big Vegas showstoppers stopping off at bossa nova malevolence, death metal crunch and sparkly pop along the way, all dominated by the roar, croon, whisper, snarl, spit and soar of vocalist extraordinaire Mike Patton.
2) Mercury Rev, See You On The Other Side Mercury Rev take lo-fi vignettes as their starting point then smother them in guitars, orchestras and stardust and zoom off somewhere over the rainbow with a production that Cecil B. De Mille would be proud of. If records were films this would be a full-blown old-style Hollywood musical that will have you smiling like a kid in wide-eyed wonder. I would say that Mercury Rev have ripped up the guitar-rock rule-book but I don't think they were even aware there *was* one.
3) Cypress Hill, III : Temple of Boom Cypress Hill wipe out most of the competition in one fell swoop with not so much a return to form as a whole new level. With a big nod to both the eerie malevolence of the Wu Tang Clan and the lush sounds of the Mo'Wax jazz-hip-hop set, DJ Muggs sets up the fascinating, unsettling soundscape behind B-Real's wired-to-fuck nasal sneer and threats. Cypress Hill are back at the front of the pack and getting scary.
4) Orb, Orbus Terrarum Kind of like 24-hours in a rain-forest, where nothing much happens but you can't help staring slack-jawed at the beauty of the whole thing. And when the beats finally go off it's like being in the middle of a jungle kill. The Orb reclaim their ambient-dub crown with heart-breaking, hopeless, weeping melodies, an orchestral edge and enough weirdness floating in and out of the mix to keep your dreams stocked-up for months.
5) Goldie, Timeless I was going to nominate A Guy Called Gerald's Black Secret Technology for being the first real album in the most important new genre of the year, Jungle (nothing else in years has been such a huge step forward). But Timeless is just so damn deep and the production so sparkling and plush that it makes Black... seem a little primitive. With rapid-fire, impossibly intricate break-beats, huge dub bass and the sweetest soul, this is Jungle's peak so far, but merely a taste of what is about to explode in 1996.
Disappointment: Every year one of my long-time faves disappoints me big-style with a *huge* sell-out. In the past it has been Metallica and Soundgarden. This year, congratulations to Soul Asylum who traded in every ounce of heart and soul to turn in the blandest album this side of Bryan Adams and Bon Jovi. Also - the UK public being taken in by the Britpop marketing scam - I'm still not exactly sure what the link between Blur and Oasis' music is. And the US public continuing to be taken in by the New Punk marketing scam. At least Oasis and Blur are decent bands.
- Jason Cahill
1) Foo Fighters, Foo Fighters Talk about living up to high expectations. Prior to this album's release, the band was considered the second coming of Nirvana without anyone having even heard them play. Now, just one year later, Dave Grohl and company have not disappointed, producing an album so full of intensity, heart and intelligence that it remains leagues above any other 95' release.
2) Goo Goo Dolls, A Boy Named Goo - The Goo Goo Dolls are a lot like The Smithereens in that their albums are consistently brilliant pieces of pure, unadulterated modern rock without any traces of misplaced idealism. A Boy Named Goo has more energy in its opening track than most bands have on their entire album.
3) Smashing Pumpkins, Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness - Smashing Pumpkins' most ambitious effort to date also happens to be its finest. Whereas Siamese Dream was more a showcase for Billy Corgan, this double length CD shows each band member at the top of their craft. More diverse and daring than any other release this year.
4) Fig Dish, That's What Love Songs Often Do - Brilliant juxtaposition between rough edged grunge rock and softer, more heartfelt selections. Packed with an energy, wit and overall insight which is too often lacking from most debut efforts. Easily the year's best new band.
5) Dance Hall Crashers, Lockjaw - The finest of this year's flock of girl fronted modern rock, with a ska twist. Lockjaw is one of the year's more original and unique albums, unrelenting in its energy and unflinchingly powerful. Masterful combination of scathing guitars with traditional ska rhythms, creating a complete album in every sense of the word.
Disappointment of 1995: Breakup Of Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Alternative music lost one of its most endearing, yet unfortunately underappreciated bands this past year when the guitar driven group Ned's Atomic Dustbin decided to call it quits on stage at the Roseland Ballroom in NYC to the utter amazement of their fans, who were expecting anything but a farewell performance. At the heart of this band was an intensity and a clever insight which will be deeply missed.
- Bob Gajarsky
1) Oasis (What's The Story) Morning Glory - Better than Definitely Maybe, which is no small feat. America hasn't got it yet, which is a shame...
2) Pet Shop Boys Alternative - It's amazing that this collection of 30 B-sides contains so many songs which could have been singles - and in so many different dance formats. Music for boys (and girls), for sure.
3) Echobelly On - It took a while for their followup to catch on with me, and it's not as solid as their debut, but Sonya Aurora-Madan, for the 2nd straight album, puts Morrissey to shame.
4) Soundtrack Friends - Everyone's sick of the Rembrandts theme, and rails on Hootie, and the Joni Mitchell "Big Yellow Taxi" dance remix. I don't care - I love all the songs, the Barenaked Ladies are back with a *real* single ("Shoe Box"), Lou Reed and Paul Westerberg...ignore the "easy to knock" trend.
5) Gladhands From Here To Obscurity / Matthew Sweet - 100% Fun - Pure 60's AM styled pop - one band's new, Matthew's now a recognizable name. Both wonderful.
- Dan Geller
1) Joe Christmas, Upstairs, Overlooking An incredible debut. This band can play noisy pop like no one else around. It is one of those records you find yourself singing to yourself cover to cover, over and over until it drives you insane. Hard to find but very worth the effort.
2) Superchunk, Here's Where the Strings Come In They just get better and better. It is interesting to think the whole world has not woke up and embraced this band as it has so many others that wish they were Superchunk. I guess that is what they get for putting out their own records.
3) Low, Long Division There is something to be said for quiet bands. And since nobody is quieter there is a lot to say about Low. This, their second release, is by far the most beautiful thing I have heard all year. Producer Kramer really knows how to make a little sound go a long way. Makes you want to go around stealing fuzz pedals from your favorite bands.
4) Luna, Penthouse This is what pop music should be. While the world sleeps Luna is writing the songs the children of tomorrow will love. It is all a timing thing. Another quiet band with a beautiful sound. Some day the world will calm down and start liking this stuff.
5) Pavement, Wowee Zowee This record is nothing but FUN! It is great to know a band can enjoy making a record as much as a fan can listening to it. I believe that if you listen closely enough you can actually hear fun coming out of your speakers when playing this one.
- Tim Hulsizer
1) Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Brainbloodvolume As this is my favorite band, I was crushed to hear they were breaking up. The worst part is that they left just when they released some of their best work! This third album is chockful of beautiful tunes, powerful playing and the great Ned's style.
2) Wonder Stuff, Live in Manchester One of the best British pop bands ever, in a fantastic concert that features their blazing cover of The Jam's "That's Entertainment". Truly a Stuffies fan's dream (even though it was already "released" on a couple bootlegs).
3) Soundtrack, Raiders of the Lost Ark This amazing John Williams soundtrack has never before been on CD in the states, and that's not all. DCC has reissued it with an extensive booklet and 30 extra minutes of songs not on previous versions! Truly incredible; a must-have for all connoisseurs of cool stuff.
4) The Upper Crust, Let Them Eat Rock Not well-known outside the East Coast yet, but destined for a strange sort of greatness. This five-gentleman band is a bunch of fellas who dress up like 18th century nobles, sound a bit like AC/DC, and have catchy tunes about being spoiled and rich. This album rocks.
5) Radiohead, The Bends Yeah, I'm an Anglophile and proud of it! I never really listened to this band until the new album came out, but now I'm hooked. Great songwriting, great live show, and the song "Just" has the coolest music video of the year, hands down. If you think they're just "that band with the 'Creep' song", think again chump.
- Reto Koradi
1) Belly, King The first album was great, this second one is even better. With brilliant songs, excellent playing, Tanya's wonderful voice, and perfect production, Belly show that they are the leader of the pack of female alternative rock bands.
2) Bjork, Post Just when she was halfway through the door to mainstream success, Bjork releases this extremely versatile album with mostly very experimental and weird songs. Hats off for so much courage!
3) A House, Wild Eyed And Ignorant This album may not be innovative, but enormously enjoyable with its irresistible hooks and melodies, with obvious Celtic influence. If your neighbours see you jumping around in your living room, and hear you singing the same songs for days, you've been listening to too much A House.
4) Neil Young, Mirror Ball After last year's epic masterpiece Sleeps With Angels, Neil Young surprises us with a quick and dirty rock album. An artist who can produce such different styles, and excel at all of them, must be admired.
5) Radiohead, The Bends A massive hit like "Creep" does not always make life for a band easier. But Radiohead remain completely unimpressed and follow the fine Pablo Honey with a clearly better album. Great songs and an interesting, unique sound - Radiohead are here to stay.
- David Landgren
1) Laughing Clowns, Golden Days - When Giants Walked The Earth One of the most awe-inspiring bands to come out of Australia in the 80s, a discordant mix of bezerk sax, off-key vocals, a tight snare and guitars all ruled by Ed Kuepper's iron fist. The Laughing Clowns were already so far off the map by the time they broke up, that they, like few other bands, possibly only The Residents, did not even spawn a host of imitators. Finally, some precious Clowns material on CD. Get it.
2) Sonic Youth, Washing Machine The themes that the Youths hold precious still hold sway over this album. 'nuff said.
3) Orb, Orbvs Terrarvm What a long, strange trip Orb's been. This is no "Orb's Ever-expanding Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld", no matter how easy it would have been to just keep cranking out the formula. A very difficult listen at first; I have come to like this a lot.
4) t:me recordings, 0095 Gas A label, a systematic packaging, a Compuserve address... and not much else to go by. The enigmatic recordings of t:me contain some of the most interesting ambient material around. Some of it is tired (a friend derided the percussion on one track as "white man's bongos"), much of it is very good, and Gas is about the best.
5) Tricky, Maxinquaye Everyone's had their ears bashed this year about the Bristol sound, the town not quite on the seaside, nor really quite near Wales, but the fact remains that this album is excellent. Not sure how long people will talk about about the trip-hop genre, but this collection of subversive and sublime tracks will remain a reference for the 90s.
Disappointments: I finally jumped aboard the P.J. Harvey bandwagon this year with To Send You My Love. Well, I can't see what all the fuss is about. Maybe I'll have to go back and listen to her earlier albums, but my tentative conclusion is... so what?
- Stephen Lin
1) Letters to Cleo, Whole Sale Meats and Fish: It's Boston flavored pop-rock at its best. Ruthlessly strong hooks, consistently well constructed songs, and Kay Hanley's voice make this my favorite album of 1995.
2) Garbage, Garbage Butch Vig once again displays his brilliance. This time, however, he's exposing the world to his own creations while teaming with two other producers and vocalist Shirley Manson (formerly of Angelfish). It's been described as Portishead colliding with Nine Inch Nails; how can you go wrong?
3) David Bowie, Outside Bowie shows a previously unexplored facet of his personality with electronic-based theme album, Outside. It's a blend of mystery, horror, Brian Eno, industrial rock, technology, and classic Bowie theatrics.
4) Madonna, Something to Remember It's all the Madonna ballads you could ever want from every point in her career. The album has exceptional continuity throughout its tracks. It also has Madonna's team-up with trip-hop sensation Massive Attack.
5) Tie between the Soundtrack to Kids and River, And the Rain was Fire The Kids soundtrack is somewhat lo-fi sounding through its mood setting atmosphere. Eight out of 13 tracks are presented by Folk Implosion in their beat oriented drone/groove rock. River's album is mellow collection of acoustic tracks highlighted by Chris Keup's deep, rich vocals. This is an independent release out of Virginia. (For more information or to purchase the CD send $10 and write to Grantham Dispatch Records, 5951 Wilton Road, Alexandria, VA 22310.)
Honorable mention: Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories, Tails; Squirrel Nut Zippers, The Inevitable.
- Sean McGill
1) Anthrax Stomp 442 Two years after The Sound of White Noise (and short former lead guitarist Dan Spitz), Anthrax returns with an album that
- like its predecesor - brings new life to a band who shouldn't still be around by conventional logic.2) White Zombie, Astro-Creep: 2000 - Songs of Love, Destruction, and Other Synthetic Delusions of the Electric Head - Kinda like the Roger Corman of hard rock, White Zombie's third album builds on the energy and hype created by 1992's Le Sexorcisto, giving their music the familiarity of a B-movie, as well as the ability to be a little different.
3) Bjork, Post - From Nine Inch Nails-ish dance to Sinatra-esque love songs, the ever-eclectic ex-Sugarcube defies categorization...unless, of course, you use weird.
4) Joan Osborne, Relish - Some of the best songwriting you'll find, including my favorite song of the year, "One of Us."
5) Nature, Nature One of the best debuts in a long-time from an L.A. band which should set a new standard of excellence for the decaying scene.
- Tim Mohr
1) Pulp, Different Class (Island Import) - Has the consistency absent from past records. The fact that there are songs that vie with "Common People" says alot. Great wry lyrics set against genuine sentiment. Comes out in the states in February, 1996
2) Gene, Olympian (A&M) - Less concerned with chirpy hits and more with digging into emotional depths. Intelligent, earnest, loaded with hooks, and great live show.
3) Charlatans, Charlatans (Beggars Banquet/Atlantic) - On album number four they continue to grow with us. Mature songs with unprecedented clarity in many lyrical ideas.
4) Drugstore, Drugstore (Go!Discs) - Rich, whiskey-burned female vocals, impossibly depressed lyrics, stewing guitars. A successful cross of early Jesus & Mary Chain with Mazzy Star.
5) Top Singles: Ash, "Kung Fu" and "Girl from Mars", Black Grape, "Reverend Black Grape", Cardigans, "Hey! Get Out of My Way/The Boys Are Back in Town" and "Carnival", Leftfield, "Original", Madonna Hip-Hop Massaker, "Super Pop Peep Show", Marion, "Sleep", Menswear, "Daydreamer", Skylab, "Seashell", Supergrass, "Alright", Towa Tei, "Technova", Wannadies, "You and Me Song"
- Jamie Roberts
1) EBN, Telecommunication Breakdown
2) God Lives Underwater, EP
3) Paula Cole, Harbinger
4) Foo Fighters, Foo Fighters
5) Richard H. Kirk, The Number Of Magic
- Joe Silva
1) Bjork, Post Because being from a race of cold, virtually geographically isolated people, Ms. G. has more warmth in her grooves than most of the combined "talent" at the top of the R&B chart. A voice for the millenium that raves, swings, and coos with equal depth and effectiveness.
2) Supergrass, I Should Coco Because all that twaddle about Oasis and Blur is just that. The only true hiers to the Davies/Weller heritage in the sphere UK pop, the brothers Gallagher would soil themselves if they came up with anything as simple and brilliant as "Alright."
3) Chris Issak, Forever Blue Because, MTV Unplugged and radio play aside, there'll probably be more written about the Stones utterly useless Stripped disc. Still true to his vision of surf boards, stunning lovelorn femmes and twangin' guitars with big fins, he marries it all to tunes aplenty. Some people have too much going for them.
4) Matthew Sweet, 100% Fun Because there aren't many songwriters who are still on the uphill side of their songwriting talent this far into their careers. From end to end a lush bounty of harmonies, riffs, and pop verve.
5) King Crimson, Thrak Because who would have thunk that members of the old guard could gather enough of the essential elements from their prime and recast them onto new material with such a deft stroke. The Beatles couldn't. Music as a caffeine substitute (or enhancer).
Honorable Mentions: PJ Harvey, U-Ziq, Tom Petty, FSOL, Julian Cope, Jayhawks, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Towa Tei
- Jon Steltenpohl
1) Sarah McLachlan, The Freedom Sessions Finally, Sarah McLachlan puts out the album I always new she could. These "unplugged" studio tracks ditch the drum machine and reveal the sensitive and sensuous beauty that was muffled on Fumbling Towards Ecstacy. The added bonus of this great album is that it's also a CD-ROM about Sarah!
2) Alanis Morrissette, Jagged Little Pill Well, she's not the best singer or musician in the world. But just imagine if Debbie Gibson or Tiffany had penned a line like "And every time I scratch my nails down someone else's back I hope you feel it... well can you feel it." (Ed Note: Of course, her alter ego from 2 Canadian albums, Alanis was compared to them...alas, a few years can make a difference) She may be just a flavor of the month, but I felt it.
3) Ani Difranco, Not a Pretty Girl In the folk world, there's a big debate over whether Not a Pretty Girl is folk or punk. Who cares? Ani Difranco may play an acoustic guitar, but her originality and passion literally scream with the painful honesty of a punk world. This album makes Alanis Morrissette sound like Yanni. (Call 1-800-ON-HER-OWN if it isn't in your record store.)
4) The Innocence Mission, Glow It took too long, but the 4 year wait between albums was worth it. Take the mellow of the Cowboy Junkies with the sensitivity of 10,000 Maniacs, and you've got The Innocence Mission. They've been opening for Natalie Merchant, and you're cheating yourself if you don't get this album.
5) O+->, The Gold Experience The female voice on The Gold Experience whispers that "Prince esta muerto", but really, he's back from the grave. The few singles on the radio are weak, but the rest of the album is damn funky and soulful. Forget the no-name hype and the weird rumors, this album is great.
- John Walker
1) Pulp, Different Class (Import) Jarvis Cocker writes his masterpiece, and proves himself to be miles ahead of the rest of the Britpop pack. "Common People" is the song of the year, a sharp dissection of class slumming that is specifically British but in essence universal. Wallowing in the revenge of the working class guy who made it, Cocker finds glamour in the gutter, shagging rich men's wives even as he dissects their privileged lifestyles: "Take your 'Year in Provence' and shove it up your ass" indeed!
2) Scott Walker, Tilt (Import) Far from the realm of North American punk retreads and the dying cries of grunge lies the singular aesthetic kingdom of Scott Walker, he of the miraculous pipes and increasingly "outside" musical forms. Walker's first album in over a decade proved that art-rock can still be a viable force. Shiver-inducing stuff.
3) PJ Harvey, To Bring You My Love Speaking of art-rock, if there could be such a thing as an art-rock-blues album, this is it. One of those rare CDs where you never want to skip even a single track--a true masterpiece in an era all too short of them. Can't wait for her next move. PJ=Sex.
4) David Bowie, Outside The apparent lack of big sales for this only proves that Bowie is shedding once and for all the people who glommed on to Let's Dance, returning to his art-rock roots (sense a theme here?). This is his best set since Scary Monsters, containing some truly magnificent Bowie vocal turns and some cool, Eno-fied electro-funk.
5) Mick Harvey, Intoxicated Man A great surprise, as Nick Cave's main musical man finds a treasure chest full of songs in the work of French singer/songwriter/provocateur Serge Gainsbourg. Harvey's translations here, both lyrical and musical, are top rate, and prove the immense worth of the heretofore "unknown to North Americans" Gainsbourg. Honorable Mentions: Electrafixion Burned, Black Grape, It's Great When You're Straight . . . Yeah ,The Young Gods, Only Heaven; Tim Buckley, Honeyman; Tindersticks Tindersticks 2nd Album, Rosa Mota, Wishful Sinking
Disappointment of the year: Pearl Jam didn't break up.
