Top 5 - Wes Long
1) XTC, Apple Venus (TVT). The Swindon duo, Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding, create a sumptuous and dizzyingly splendid amalgam of string-arranged and acoustic pop penned during a five-year strike against their then recording company Virgin. Reminiscent of the Skylarking album this one is easily as good as anything XTC has ever done. This is pop?
2) Ben Folds Five, The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner (Caroline). Why do these guys constantly make me feel like I'm listening to a school musical written and performed by child prodigies? The addition of extra backing musicians, especially the string section, enables a once fun-time happy go lucky band to grow up and achieve near perfection. "Regrets" is easily one of the best songs of the year. This disc constantly surprises me the way Radiohead's OK Computer did.
3) Jason Falkner, Can You Still Feel? (Elektra). Jason's second effort, following the criminally overlooked Author Unknown, proves to be anything but sophomoric. Falkner plays all the instruments and controls the listener like a master puppeteer, leading you all too safely in one direction while pulling the rug from beneath you with far too clever mood and chord changes. This son of a bitch is good.
4) Fountains of Wayne, Utopia Parkway (Atlantic). Should be titled "The Complete Idiots Guide To The Perfect Three Minute Pop Song." Well conceived and contagious as hell hooks coupled with lyrics that you'll catch yourself quoting to your friends make this disc a pop masterpiece that you'll not soon tire of spinning.
5) The Negro Problem, Joys & Concerns (Aerial Flipout). This Southern California band defies categorization, grooving along on a funky-assed baritone fueled course to a flowery world you'll blissfully lose yourself in. Get past the Prince-goofy spelling of the achingly lovely "ComikBuchland" and soulful "Ahmnot Madatcha" and you'll find two of the better songs of 1999. Endlessly creative tunes with often-humorous lyrics delivered by an ultra-compelling vocalist backed by horns, keys, harmonies and the occasional banjo. The most promising band I know of.
