My top ten would change, depending on what day you ask me. These are my keepers for many and varied reasons:
1. Achtung Baby - U2
2. Living With The Law - Chris Whitley
3. The Soul Cages - Sting
4. Woodface - Crowded House
5. Hymns To The Silence - Van Morrison
6. Badmotorfinger - Soundgarden
7. Ten - Pearl Jam
8. Nevermind - Nirvana
9. Mama Said - Lenny Kravitz
10. Blood Sugar Sex Magik - Red Hot Chili Peppers
11. Loveless - My Bloody Valentine
12. Cruel Inventions - Sam Phillips
13. Laughing Stock - Talk Talk
14. Everclear - American Music Club
15. Baby Animals - Baby Animals
I have no idea what this is. What genre it belongs to. But I know where it’s from. That’s obvious. TEXAS. In big capital letters. I didn’t have to look at no stinkin' biography. I didn’t have to read about his influences. Because this is Texas rock through & through. And by all rights, it should have been HUGH in 1991. Because It’s Country Blues Roots Rock that’s not really that far removed in a lot of respects from what was going on in Seattle. It’s raw. It’s naked. It’s confessional. It does for country and roots rock what grunge was doing for heavy metal. Strips away the artificially and 80s production, to reveal something naked, raw & vulnerable but ironically all the stronger & tougher for it. It seems to have been spawned from the the land. The Texas dirt itself. If Chris Whitley had been born in the pacific Northwest instead of Texas, it is easy to imagine that he could have been spearheading some grunge band. With both vocals and guitar. I’m so glad he was from Texas instead.
Grade A: ESSENTIAL. This easily deserves a spot on the 1991 dais. As one of its best albums. It’s an oddity. Firmly planted in Texas’ Country Blues lore, yet with its own singular vision and style. It’s an impassioned record. Naked and raw like some of the other best music of this year. Far, far removed from the "Nashville" country of this period.
I remember back at the time seeing it in a bunch of year end lists, but my tastes were too far removed from roots rock, blues, and country then. But, now I clearly see why. And it takes the first spot (for now) on my first year chart on this first day of this new year.
Hi Tilly,
I saw you included Sea Monsters by The Wedding Present in your top chart of 1991 so I decided to listen to it as well and I think I underrated it a bit because I increased my scores from the range of 80 to the range of 85 with Corduroy as the absolute highlight and one of my top 1000 tracks ever.
Although the lyrics are not too optimistic and the same can be said of the fairly strange voice of David Gedge, listen to this music just makes me happy and cheerful because of the very dynamic guitar sound.
I had two albums of The Wedding Present ranked higher than this one (George Best and Bizarro) but after this review it moved on to be first place and moved from the 19th to the 10th place on my top chart of 1991; and earned its place in my overall top chart (at rank 72).
I should also give Living With The Law another listen.
Tilly, glad you like that Chris Whitley album. I have a bunch of his stuff. I think that he, more than any other artist, pushed blues toward the 21st century. Not blues, as in 12 bars and endless guitar-wankery, but blues that draws on folk-blues, blues that's one man against the world.
You have to check out this album, which is him at his rawest and alone.
Hi Tilly,
I saw you included Sea Monsters by The Wedding Present in your top chart of 1991 so I decided to listen to it as well and I think I underrated it a bit because I increased my scores from the range of 80 to the range of 85 with Corduroy as the absolute highlight and one of my top 1000 tracks ever.
Although the lyrics are not too optimistic and the same can be said of the fairly strange voice of David Gedge, listen to this music just makes me happy and cheerful because of the very dynamic guitar sound.
I had two albums of The Wedding Present ranked higher than this one (George Best and Bizarro) but after this review it moved on to be first place and moved from the 19th to the 10th place on my top chart of 1991; and earned its place in my overall top chart (at rank 72).
re: Seamonsters. yeah, I think it's The Weddoes best. I really loved it when it came out and would listen to endlessly on my walkmen. lol. It's definitely better than George Best. I like ALL The Weddoes albums though! 😁
Quote:
I should also give Living With The Law another listen.
1. My Bloody Valentine, Loveless
2. Talk Talk, Laughing Stock
3. A Tribe Called Quest, The Low End Theory
4. Slint, Spiderland
5. The Fatima Mansions, Bertie's Brochures
6. John Cunningham, Shankly Gates
7. Robert Wyatt, Dondestan
8. Massive Attack, Blue Lines
9. Pixies, Trompe le monde
10. The Bats, Fear of God
Ranked 11-20: The Mabuses; Daniel Johnston; Swans; Main Source; Geto Boys; The Orb; Primal Scream, Etienne Daho; Arvo Pärt, Gang Starr.
1. My Bloody Valentine, Loveless
2. Talk Talk, Laughing Stock
3. A Tribe Called Quest, The Low End Theory
4. Slint, Spiderland
5. The Fatima Mansions, Bertie's Brochures
6. John Cunningham, Shankly Gates
7. Robert Wyatt, Dondestan
8. Massive Attack, Blue Lines
9. Pixies, Trompe le monde
10. The Bats, Fear of God
Ranked 11-20: The Mabuses; Daniel Johnston; Swans; Main Source; Geto Boys; The Orb; Primal Scream, Etienne Daho; Arvo Pärt, Gang Starr.
Let’s face it. The Grateful Dead are their own genre. Their own cottage industry. There is nothing like them. I didn’t always know this. I used to lump them in with all these other jam bands my stoner friends and surfing buddies would listen to back in the early 90s when jam bands were having a renaissance. I mean the Spin doctors were popular solely because they were Jam Band lite. A poppified version of the jam bands that were all the rage back then. So funny that jam bands now make almost no appearance on anyone’s list from 1991. And please don’t even mention those goofballs Phish. They suck. lol. No. The Grateful dead exist all alone. And because of all thoseother jam bands my hipppie dippie friends would listen to in the early 90s bands like Big Head Todd, Blues Traveler, moe. and yes Phish. Lots & lots of Phish, I completely wrote off The Grateful Dead for a long, long time. I just assumed they sounded like all those other jam bands all my stoner friends liked.
But, I was wrong. The Dead stand alone.
And this is one of their best live albums. I’m no expert. I’m no Deadhead. I just know that this album rules. And has become one of my favorite live albums over the years. A staple for my camping trips over the last decade.
BUT, Glynspsa does know his Dead. His chart of the 100 best live albums from the Grateful Dead is a gift from the gods for us Dead neophytes. And I’m not surprised at all to find One From the Vaults in his top 6. It’s that good.
Grade A: ESSENTIAL. I used to laugh that so many of one band’s live albums could be considered essential. I thought it was weird and just a bit pathetic. I mean there was sooo much great music out there. How could one just obsess about one band. Surely all these live albums sounded pretty much identical, right? With slight variations that only the total obsessive would notice and the rest of us normals would just scratch our heads and wonder why people would listen to a hundred different versions of the essentially the same album. I’ve never been so happy to be wrong. Long live The Dead!
Deserters Songs is a giant step from Yerself is Steam
Blasphemy!!! I think Michael is more on target when he states that they simply had an entirely different sound with Deserter's songs. My favorites have always been the first two.
Anyways, EVERYONE needs to hear this - their first single - which I just realized is no longer included on Yerself Is Steam. It was included on the American release back when I got this on cassette way back in '91. This song is the perfect gateway to this album.
"I took a class with the guy who directed this video. He told us he pitched the idea to the band (who barely listened to the pitch- just giggled the whole time) stood up and said 'It's great. But all the actors need to be black and we want llamas in it." Then they walked out. He found a llama farm in the middle of Illinois and shot the band scenes there. The rest is at what used to be Star Glacto car wash in Chicago on Elston. Pretty great, but thats all I got". - random dude on youtube
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