My discoveries per year

[dihansse]

It's been a while (I was (re-)listening to 2021 albums but here are the two albums of 1996 I listened to:

An album I already own:

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A Maximum High by Shed Seven
One of these guilty pleasures which I really liked when I bought it, then a lot less, still think that it's a bit too emo to be really good but finally have to admit it isn't that bad. If every tracks would be as good as the opener Getting Better and the closing title track, this would be a no-brainer. But inbetween not every tracks is as good but none of them are really bad so the album rises from the 63rd to the 51st rank.


An album on my wishlist:

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Sweet F.A. by Love And Rockets
I have always liked Bauhaus but have never done the effort to listen to this follow-up, I suppose I didn't think it would be much without Peter Murphy. So this is the first album I listened to thanks to the rec by Romanelli (nr 1127 in his diary). And I read everywhere this is a fairly atypical album of them but I really liked it. Sometimes it feels like a latter-day version of Jesus & Mary Chain and of course also the Velvet Underground are never far away (just listen to that beautiful drony and mesmerising Words Of A Fool) and the last tracks have an industrial atmosphere. In short I'm glad I discovered the band and I'm curious to listen to their other albums just to find out if I will equally like them. Good for the 30th rank.

[dihansse]

These are the albums of 1997 I listened to:

First two albums I already own:

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Too Many Days Without Thinking by Swell
Just a good album from this nevertheless a bit underrated band. The album moves up from the 52nd to the 30th rank.

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Kon Tiki by Cotton Mather
The voice of the singer and also a bit the type of music sounds a bit like John Lennon but although not everything is great this is not a bad album. The best track here is the opener: Camp Hill Rail Operator. And the album goes from the 21st to the 22nd rank.

Then an album on my wishlist:

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Sweetness And Light by Steve Wynn
an album I had not yet listened to from one my musical heroes. And it's definitely not his worst ones. The overall sound is fairly potent but that doesn't stand in the way of some great melodies. The cover of This Strange Effect is fantastic but the most interesting and best track is Ghosts. This album immediately enters at the 4th rank of the year.

[dihansse]

Two albums of 1998:

An album I already own:

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Deserter's Songs by Mercury Rev
I didn't have this album very high on my year chart and at first view this album sounds childish and over the top but on a closer listen you discover that there is a lot of depth to this album and it also sounds very much as a unity however different the tracks are. Of course Goddess on a Hiway is undestroyable but there's so many other goodies like Holes, Opus 40 and Hudson Line. So the lesser parts are forgiven just because of the fact thay they are an integral part of the album and it goes from the 52nd to the 31st rank of the year.

An album on my wishlist:

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Precious Falling by Quickspace
A more jangly version of Yo La Tengo at its best but the album already has a lot of downs which just sound quirky and amateurish (Hadid and Mountain Waltz). The band will never win a price for their musician ship and the production is terrible but when they hit the right buttons they are really good (on the first 5 tracks). I already knew their self-titled album a long time and I like that one much better but this album just made it to the bottom part of 1998 favorite albums at the 50th rank.

[dihansse]

And two album to end the nineties:

An album I already know:

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You Come And Go Like A Pop Song by The Bicycle Thief
I don't know Thelonious Monster very well so I put a few of their albums on my wishlist but it seems this band was not bad but it's career was destroyed by the drug problems of the singer Bob Forres. However he resurrected and formed this band which released this album which is really very good and in which the topic of drugs plays an important and potent role. The highlight of the album is Cereal Song and the album goes from the 56th to the 22nd rank.

An album on my wishlist:

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Under The Influence by Status Quo
Allmusic.com thinks this is the best Quo album: I beg to differ: this more sounds like a party cover version of Status Quo like many of their latter albums. Some tracks like Round And Round, Keep 'Em Coming and The Way It goes save the album from being a complete flunk but already the terrible cover of Not Fade Away just shows that this is not their best. It's still Status Quo so at the bottom of my year chart at the 47th rank.

[theblueboy]

[dihansse]

And two albums to start the noughts:

An album I already know:

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Vapor Trails by Autopulver
Another album I used to like when I bought it and also because I haven't listened to it much recently, has not been the center of my attention anymore and lost its appeal. So what's the verdict after this renewed listening session: well that this isn't a top record: it's ok and the melodies don't sound bad but it misses some (or a lot of) grinta. It's just not bad and therefore it rises from the 51st to the 35th rank.

An album on my wishlist:

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White Pepper by Ween
It's called their most accessible album and I think rightly so. While on most of their other albums their goofy side prevails (which I still can't really get into) this isn't the case here (apart from a few exceptions which again aren't the best tracks here). The album is filled with good but not completely memorable songs and in that alone it earns its 28th rank of the year.

[dihansse]

Here are two albums of 2001, both albums where songwritermanship still prevails:

An album I already own:

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Pergola by Johan
A very underrated Dutch band even in Holland. They are fantastic in powerrock/powerpop with deadly infectious melodies. Just listen to How Does It Feel with those heavenly harmonies for proof. The album rises from the 10th to the 5th rank of the year.

An album on my wishlist:

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The Photo Album by Death Cab For Cutie
I've never found this band the best of the world but they have some very decent albums and this is one: it enters at the 21st rank of the year.

[dihansse]

2 albums of 2002:

An album I already own:

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By The Way by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Californication maybe has better highlights but this is to me their most consistent album even if it's a very long one. The highlight is the title track but also Universally Speaking, Dosed, The Zephyr Song and Venice Queen stand out. Some people call it too poppy but there's enough sharp edges to make this an excellent album and it goes from the 13th to the 8th rank of 2002.


An album on my wishlist:

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About A Boy by Badly Drawn Boy
A soundtrack, and not a bad one, but however with some filler. Ends up at the lower part of my year chart at number 41.

[dihansse]

I've been mainly relistening to 2021 albums so after a bit here is another entry now for 2003 albums:

An album I already own/know:

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Summer Sun by Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo is one of my favorite bands I have already seen a few times live (and they are really good on a live stage in a small club). This is one of their most dreamy albums and in most cases they excel at this while sometimes they just don't succeed to make the tracks really interesting (like on the opener Beach Party Tonight). But in other cases they really are able to create this most wonderful atmosphere like on that one real highlight which is very jazzy and groovy as hell: Let's Be Still. Not their best album but certainly one I can recommend and it and it remains firmly at the 23rd rank of the year.

An album on my wishlist:

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Action Pact by Sloan
I'm a big lover of Smeared and Twice Removed and after that I have been searching for an album that is as good as those two but haven't found it yet. And this will certainly not be the case either with this album: the fantastic power rock of their first two albums is exchanged here for some kind of more dull stadion rock. This is not to say that there isn't a good track here: Songs like False Alarm and Hollow Head are very much ok and the closing track Fade Away is even excellent and reminiscent of earlier days. So in all a mixed bag which ends at the 28th rank.

[dihansse]

And these are my two choices for albums of 2004:

An album I already own:

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Fireworks On TV by Bill Janovitz And Crown Victoria
The first albums of Buffalo Tom were great and also on their latter albums they could be depended on to release excellent albums and that also goes for the solo work of Bill Janovitz. This is just one of those artists that I really like in all his forms because he is such a reliably good songwriter. There is not a bad song here, also no outliers on the positive side but that's not a problem: the album moves from the 23rd to the 17th rank on my year chart of 2004.

An album on my wishlist:

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No Roots by Faithless
This album doesn't feature those big hits of their former album. Mass Destruction is not bad but it's not as immediate as their other hits even not in its remix version. The other track I already knew is What About Love: also not bad but not more than that. The least you can say of the album that it has a nice flow but that also renders it a bit boring and monotone. So as a whole not an album I would come back to again so I won't include it in my year chart.