My discoveries per year

dihansse · 2016-04-10T12:28:28-04:00

Well! Here I would like to start with my own long term project taking advantage of the best BEA has to offer: overall charts from people who are as interested in music as I am. I already have year charts which are based on the albums I already own or know, but there are a lot of them which I haven't listened to yet and which might be worth discovering. I'd like to do this by going through the overall BEA top lists per year starting in 1963 which is both my year of birth and the year in which I personally think rock music started to become interesting. To keep it a bit varied I will skip through the years in five year periods, ie starting in 1963 then 1968 then 1973 all the way to 2013 and then back to 1964 and so on. Every year I will start with some stats of my personal chart in comparison to the overall year charts, both top 20 an top 50 and will start to listen to at least the top 20 albums I don't know and I'll hope to give some comments sometimes very short, sometimes a bit longer. I will also update my personal year charts accordingly. In principle I will use Apple Music to listen to the albums, which I suppose will cover most of the field. If a certain album isn't present in Apple Music, I'll have to skip it. I will try to listen to all the albums at least once and sometimes twice if I doubt, but I'll skip the really stupid ones (ex a Xmas compilation in 1963) and also other compilations, classical music, jazz and easy listening. This will be a long term project which means there might be times in which I will stop a bit of course because I don't want be stuck listining to albums of the same year all the time. However I suppose this will take at least a month per year. I will try to keep it up but please don't be mad if I give up (maybe already after the first year :lol: )

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And here is 1986:

An album I already own:

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Infected by The The
A bit like my previous comment on Easy Pieces by Lloyd Cole: it can't match that one masterpiece (in this cas Soul Mining) but it's a very solid record. And it was criminally underrated on my year chart at the lowest rank (I suppose I wasn't in a very good mood when I rated it) because there are a lot of standouts here with Heartland and Angels Of Deception as the best not in the least because both have magnificent outros (resp that 51st State thing and that very gospel-like Wehehell Oho which both seem to go on for ever and ever). And the album moves up from the 39th to the 10th rank of the year.

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Skag Heaven by Squirrel Bait
I have read a few reviews and comments about this album and nearly all of them refer to Hüsker Dü and then go on to say that they don't sound completely like Hüsker Dü. Well I don't agree, this is a total rip-off of the early Hüsker Dü and that is also the reason why I like it. There's not a bad track here and it all sounds very, well, Hüsker Dü so this album comes in at the 18th rank.

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Two albums of 1987 (and one of 1985) I listened to:

An album I already own:

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Solitude Standing by Suzanne Vega
Suzanne Vega was one of the best female artists of the eighties and this is one of her best. The little miniature Tom's Diner is maybe to some ears a but too much of a miniature to be really good but to me this is quintessential Suzanne Vega at her best. Of cours Luka and the title track are also real standouts. All in all a very good album and also a bit underrated on my 1987 list uptil now so I promoted it from the 48th to the 23rd rank.

An album on my wishlist and again one from Romanelli's Music Diary (nr 304):

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Chips From The Chocolate Fireball by The Dukes Of Stratosphear
While working on Skylarking which was already a bit psychedelic, the guys of XTC wanted to go really psychedelic and created the Dukes of Stratospheare, which resulted in a mini CD and a full album which were later compiled to the above album and I'm listening to that one on Apple Music as well.

But I prefer to consider them as two separate albums also because of the clear differences between them so I'll first start with the first one of 1985:

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25 O'Clock by The Dukes Of Stratosphear
This 6 track mini cd is often described as a pastiche or parody on 60's psychedelic music and it is a little bit. The album is very dense and although there are many more, the main references are The Move and Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd. In that sense, although the songwriting is very good, the album often sounds a bit overdone. Nevertheless it's an overall very good one which lands at the 14th rank of 1985.

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Psonic Psunspot by The Dukes Of Stratosphear
This album is of 1987 just like the compilation and this album sounds as XTC trying to sound a little bit more psychedelic than for example on Skylarkin. In a way I like this album a bit better than 25 O'Clock also because of the songs are really good beatle-esque/Hollies-esque/Beach Boys-esque XTC songs of which the first track, Vanishing Girl, is a very fine example. And immediately enters at the 21st rank.

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Here are two albums of 1988:

An album I already own:

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Bug by Dinosaur Jr.
Living All Over Me is so much better but a track like Freak Scene can stand right next the best tracks of that album. And the rest of that first half of the album is also vintage very good Dinosaur Jr. The second half is slightly less good not in the least because of Don't which in essence is just primitive primal scream therapy. Nevertheless an album that is fit to stand against the rest of that impressive Dinosaur Jr legacy and the album moves forward from the 30th to the 11th rank of the year.

And an album of wishlist:

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Green Thoughts by The Smithereens
My opinion: The Smithereens is a greatest hits band and Blown to Smithereens is a magnificent greatest hits album. Three of the tracks on that album come from Green Thoughts and to prove my point: these are also by far the best tracks here. Especially Only a Memory is a gem of a song. The rest of the album just proves that they could write pop songs but these pop songs, like ex Elaine are a bit too simple for my taste although even those sound nice due to special atmosphere created by the band. Do 3 tracks make a good album: perhaps not but still good enough to hang around at the lower part of my year chart at rank 34.

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With two albums of 1989:

An album I already own

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Curses, Spells, Voodoo, Mooses by Shudder To Think
It's easy to be put off by the voice of Craig Wedren, the singer, but this album is so varied and good that this isn't a problem at all. The music can best be described as post hardcore punk but the album contains a surprising melodicism. An album to pick up and listen to if you haven't yet and it rises from the 44th to the 18th rank.

And an album on my wishlist also part of Roma's music diary (nr 203):

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Hunkpapa by Throwing Muses
They would make a really good album after this, The Real Ramona, but this one is no match yet. So just good enough for the 40th rank.

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Up to the nineties with two albums of 1990:

An album I already own:

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Hindu Love Gods by Hindu Love Gods
If this isn't a supergroup: all the members of R.E.M. except Michael Stipe and Warren Zevon as the singer instead. Most of the tracks are very dirty versions of blues standards like Mannish Boy. But the best cover is not of a blues standard, Raspberry Beret of Prince, and it is really a different version but really very good. I recommend this to all lovers of Warren Zevon and the blues and the album moves from the 48th to the 26th rank.

An album on my wishlist and nr 736 in Roma's music diary:

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Stray by Aztec Camera
In my view not their best album and certainly very varied but not all tracks work so just ok for the 52nd rank.

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These are the two albums I listened to for 1991:

First an album I aready own:

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Road Apples by The Tragically Hip
A bit of an underrated album by the Hip which are never spectacular but always of very fine quality with that fine singer Gordon Downie who was a real character on stage. THe album moves from the 80th to the 41st rank of the year.

An then an album on my wishlist and also nr 268 on Romanelli's Music Diary:

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Shades Of Two Worlds by The Allman Brothers Band
Roma didn't think much of this album but I liked it especially because of the two long epics: Nobody Knows which is a bit in the style of In Memory Of Elisabeth Reed and the more jazzy Kind Of Bird. A latter album of the Allmans and maybe not as inspired as some of their earlier ones but still brimful with very fine guitar solos and good for the 32nd rank of the year.

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These are my two choices for albums of 1992:

An album I already own:

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Slo*Blo by Cell
This album contains two killers, Fall and Stratosphere, and I used to be a big fan of theirs. In hindsight this album still has a lot of weak spots not in the least because a lot of the tracks are a bit overdone and this would get much better on their next and last album Living Room. But nevertheless one of those albums of the nineties you shouldn't miss and it still increases from the 39th to the 30th rank of the year.

An album on my wishlist:

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Babe Rainbow by The House Of Love
The Butterfly album is one of the best albums of the beginning of the nineties. And to my surprise they have a 1992 I haven't even heard, ever. While it doesn't contain a Shine On or the Beatles and The Stones, the general quality of this album is equally good with the same subdued but all so effective delivery, so this was a really good discovery and the album immediately enters at the 25th rank of the year.

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And immediately 1993:

An album I already own:

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Last Splash by The Breeders
Oh God I so much love this album. This is Kim Deal at her best with songs like Hag which both sound lazy and energetic. But the best track is of course Cannonball with one of the best intros ever and in general I just love the Kim's bass on the whole of the album. But that's not all: the album is just filled with great track after great track with the second best of course Divine Hammer which is about ...? The album ranks very high but loses two spots from 4 to 6.

An album on my wishlist and also nr 420 in Roma's Musical Diary:

Wandering Spirit by Mick Jagger
You can call it indeed one of the better Stones albums because Mick Jagger is surrounded here by a great band which is no less good than the Stones themselves. This is a very diverse album with great quality tracks which are especially found at the start. Maybe also say that, although I never listened to the full album, most of the tracks sound very familiar and a lot of them are played a lot on the Belgian radio. A very good and thx Roma for introducing it to me: it enters at the 37th rank of the year.

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Two albums of 1994:

An album I already own:

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Experimental Jet Set, Trash And No Star by Sonic Youth
After 4 absolute masterpieces (from Sister to Dirty), Sonic Youth started to produce very good albums but the time of the masterpieces was over and this is the first in this category. An example: the first time when I saw them live was on a festival when they had just released this album but I hadn't heard it yet. And their show started with Bull In The Heather so with the whole 10,20,30,40 bit and I think I remember even without the cool intro and the counting repeated over and over again (more than on the album): and I found it so stupid. Of course things started getting better when they started playing songs from their previous albums and I started liking their concert a lot more. And in hindsight this is still a very good album: I started appreciating Bull In the Heather a lot more and also tracks like Androgynous Mind, Waist and In The Mind Of the Bourgeois Reader are top class. And the album still goes from the 29th to the 15th rank.

An album on my wishlist:

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Fluorescent by Steve Wynn
I have a number of musical heroes who played in bands first and then went solo: Bob Mould, Ed Kuepper and of course also Steve Wynn. This is one of his albums I hadn't heard yet and it's much calmer than most of his other albums but boy, this album still has this Steve Wynn effect on me: on the surface rather simple songs but delivered in a way I really love (of course there's always that Paisley Underground vibe like on most of his other albums). I especially like the slow Never Ending Rain and equally slow but more of a slow burner Older. And the album enters at the 24th rank of the year.

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These are two albums of 1995 I listened to with twice the word juvenile in my opinion of them:

An album I already own:

Vulture by 3 Lb. Thrill
I used to like this album a lot but I must say it isn't completely like that any more. Of course there are still some good track but I used to think that a few of them were outstanding which isn't the case anymore (ex Pinata is now just a long track with nothing really special although it's still entertaining enough) and some of them even sound plainly juvenile. So the ranking goes from 40 to 45.

An album on my wishlist:

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Dear You by Jawbreaker
There are some Jawbreaker albums I really appreciate but this isn't one of them. The album sounds a bit like Weezer at its most juvenile with another singer. But however the few good songs here make me want to rank them anyway in my top chart of 1995 but only just at rank 52.

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