Post by salparadise on Jul 3, 2006 5:45:58 GMT -5
The 90's are actually pretty easy since the 90's were mostly crap. But there were indeed at least 5 albums that measure up.
5. Loveless - My Bloody Valentine
I once read a critic (can't remember the source) who described this album as "beautifully and serenely violent". That is a perfect description of Loveless. It is a blaring antonym in and of itself. Kevin Sheild's capacity for subtley staging raw viciousness behind a veil of tranquility is breathtaking.
4. Mellow Gold / Odelay! - Beck
I just couldn't decide between the two so I put down both of 'em. It's tough, you know. Where Mellow Gold has "Beercan" Odelay! has "Hotwax"...so what do you do?
Beck possesses the attraction of a lost child that you find and try to help, and then the little prick ends up biting you and running off just before his Mom gets there to claim him. Even though you want to be mad, he was such a sweet child and how could anyone be angry with such an angel? Now you have to explain to Mom how you lost him...but that's ok because she feels horrible having to explain how she lost him, and all the while little Beck is roping in the next victim of his boyish seduction and extending the number of a long series of idiotic adults who will never really get him.
Anyway, that's Beck and why I like his albums so much.
Makes sense, huh?
3. Slanted and Enchanted - Pavement
A HA! The ultimate figure in Indie Rock! Pavement. Steve Malkmus. In so many nostalgic ways Mr. Malkmus represented the sardonic 90's. Comically ripping through everything around him with his razor-sharp satire and goofy-seriousness, Malkmus led Pavement through a series of one of the better catalogues out there as far as Rock music goes. I have met no one who has listened to this album that has not grown fond of it, myself included.
Of course there is the now cliche' aesthetic of the garage/DIY aspect of S&E. But cliche's become cliche's for a reason, I suppose. I wouldn't try to "DIY" like Pavement unless you weild the talents of Pavement, who are probably one of thirty-poopazillion bands that can do what they did (that means give it up because your band sucks and Pavement didn't).
2. The Soft Bulletin - The Flaming Lips
Now, if I am not mistaken, it was someone around here who introduced me to The Soft Bulletin. I will be forever grateful to that person, as the CD that they got me stands to this day forever enshrined among my "best albums" rack of CD's, wedged right in between Another Green World and Free Your Mind....
The Soft Bulletin is one of those records that remind us that every day of our lives is a complete tragedy...which they are...a complete tragedy...absolutely and without a doubt. Rising slightly above the same-themed works of art by artists such as Elliot Smith and Belle & Sebastion (well, maybe not above B&S), The Soft Bulletin is that necessary reminder that there are no heroes in the world whatsoever (and the heartache we all experience when we realize that our father's were losers), and we all have to put the vegetables away in the refridgerator no matter what we are going through or how much she hates you now.
Now that's sad.
1. OK Computer - Radiohead
Well, the rotten, cybernetic, corporate world each of us are plugged into today was predicted in 1997 by Radiohead. If you don't believe me listen to OK Computer. It's like being in a car wreck that you knew was going to happen but you kept driving anyway, perhaps in some bizarre denial or inescapable disbelief in the carcass that you are about to become.
It's especially interesting to look at the span of four decades in Rock music all in one night, because it becomes more apparent than ever the inevitability of something like OK Computer. The 1960's gave us A Hard Day's Night and the 1990's gave us OK Computer. The most fascinating thing to think about, however, is to what extent, if any at all, are the two messages any different?
-Sal
edited to change the Funkadelic record named...I was wanting to buy Maggot Brain, so that was in my head...I meant to say Free Your Mind...
5. Loveless - My Bloody Valentine
I once read a critic (can't remember the source) who described this album as "beautifully and serenely violent". That is a perfect description of Loveless. It is a blaring antonym in and of itself. Kevin Sheild's capacity for subtley staging raw viciousness behind a veil of tranquility is breathtaking.
4. Mellow Gold / Odelay! - Beck
I just couldn't decide between the two so I put down both of 'em. It's tough, you know. Where Mellow Gold has "Beercan" Odelay! has "Hotwax"...so what do you do?
Beck possesses the attraction of a lost child that you find and try to help, and then the little prick ends up biting you and running off just before his Mom gets there to claim him. Even though you want to be mad, he was such a sweet child and how could anyone be angry with such an angel? Now you have to explain to Mom how you lost him...but that's ok because she feels horrible having to explain how she lost him, and all the while little Beck is roping in the next victim of his boyish seduction and extending the number of a long series of idiotic adults who will never really get him.
Anyway, that's Beck and why I like his albums so much.
Makes sense, huh?
3. Slanted and Enchanted - Pavement
A HA! The ultimate figure in Indie Rock! Pavement. Steve Malkmus. In so many nostalgic ways Mr. Malkmus represented the sardonic 90's. Comically ripping through everything around him with his razor-sharp satire and goofy-seriousness, Malkmus led Pavement through a series of one of the better catalogues out there as far as Rock music goes. I have met no one who has listened to this album that has not grown fond of it, myself included.
Of course there is the now cliche' aesthetic of the garage/DIY aspect of S&E. But cliche's become cliche's for a reason, I suppose. I wouldn't try to "DIY" like Pavement unless you weild the talents of Pavement, who are probably one of thirty-poopazillion bands that can do what they did (that means give it up because your band sucks and Pavement didn't).
2. The Soft Bulletin - The Flaming Lips
Now, if I am not mistaken, it was someone around here who introduced me to The Soft Bulletin. I will be forever grateful to that person, as the CD that they got me stands to this day forever enshrined among my "best albums" rack of CD's, wedged right in between Another Green World and Free Your Mind....
The Soft Bulletin is one of those records that remind us that every day of our lives is a complete tragedy...which they are...a complete tragedy...absolutely and without a doubt. Rising slightly above the same-themed works of art by artists such as Elliot Smith and Belle & Sebastion (well, maybe not above B&S), The Soft Bulletin is that necessary reminder that there are no heroes in the world whatsoever (and the heartache we all experience when we realize that our father's were losers), and we all have to put the vegetables away in the refridgerator no matter what we are going through or how much she hates you now.
Now that's sad.
1. OK Computer - Radiohead
Well, the rotten, cybernetic, corporate world each of us are plugged into today was predicted in 1997 by Radiohead. If you don't believe me listen to OK Computer. It's like being in a car wreck that you knew was going to happen but you kept driving anyway, perhaps in some bizarre denial or inescapable disbelief in the carcass that you are about to become.
It's especially interesting to look at the span of four decades in Rock music all in one night, because it becomes more apparent than ever the inevitability of something like OK Computer. The 1960's gave us A Hard Day's Night and the 1990's gave us OK Computer. The most fascinating thing to think about, however, is to what extent, if any at all, are the two messages any different?
-Sal
edited to change the Funkadelic record named...I was wanting to buy Maggot Brain, so that was in my head...I meant to say Free Your Mind...
