My discoveries per year

[dihansse]

And after 1993 comes 1994:

An album I already own:

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File Under Easy Listening by Sugar
This album is about as good as Copper Blue which means that it's excellent. It's just full of frantic energy without losing sight of the songs. It's difficult to name a positive outlier because they're all fantastic but the best one has to be the one that isn't all about energy and is a bit alike to his soul-searching first solo albums: Explode And Make Up: the emotional depth of this song is beyond words. And of course this album remains firmly at the 3rd rank of the year.

An album on my wishlist:

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Walk On by Boston
I heard a lot of good about the four track Walk On suite on this album so I wanted to listen to it. Well I can tell you that I think that this album overall is a bit too AOR and clean polished (I'm just listening to "I know that we can make it": ouch) for me except for.. well that Walk On Suite which is actually quite good. So just ok to enter my year chart (68th rank) because of that suite.

[dihansse]

These are the two albums of 1995 I chose:

An a album I already own:

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The Bends by Radiohead
I always liked this album better than OK Computer (and all their others) because of the gut wrenching songs on it like High and Dry, Fake Plastic Trees and Street Spirit. But after listening to it again and did lower the score of some of the heavier songs which are also more alike to the tracks on their former album like Bones and My Iron Lung. It's still their best in my opinion and it's still the first of the year.`

An album on my wishlist:

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Stranger In Us All by Rainbow (UK)
A come-back album and normally come-back albums are not really good so I didn't expect much of it. But all in all it's not bad. There are some AOR songs here but also some more epic and very guitar-driven (Ritchie Blackmore is still a god on his guitar) tracks like Ariel and Hall Of The Mountain King so you don't hear me complain. A good addition to my 1995 top chart and enters at the 41st rank.

[dihansse]

These are my choices for albums of 1996:

First an album I already own:

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Amazing Disgrace by The Posies
I have never understood why the Posies didn't storm the charts big time because they had it all: good harmonics, great songs and they had something to say. This album is nearly as good as their best Frosting On A Beater and both belong to my most favorite albums ever. For one reason or another it has risen above FOTB so I should listen to that one again but they are both playing in the major league not in the least because of tracks on this album like Everybody's A Fucking Liar and Please Return It followed closely by Daily Mutilation and Ontario. It even rises from the 7th to the 6th rank of the year.

Then an album of my wishlist:

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Carnival Boy by Tobin Sprout
The first album of this GBV member from around the time of Under the Bushes Under The Stars and there's a lot of common ground here and there's even a track of that album (and one of the best) featured here: It's Like A Soul Man. Like on GBV albums there's a lot of hits and misses (I know I'm quoting AMG) but like a GBV album overal a good one and enters at the 39th rank.

[dihansse]

These are the two albums of 1997 I listened to:

An album I already own:

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In It For The Money by Supergrass
There are some great hits to be found here and when it came out I was a big fan of the album as well. But as time goes by, I start to see that not all the tracks are that great. Of course Richard III is still great and so are many others but it just lost a bit of its first charm and goes down from the 6th to the 19th rank.

An album on my wishlist:

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Indoor Living by Superchunk
Superchunk is not the most original band in the world but they do know how to write a catchy song as is proven by the first two tracks on this album. After that the album drags on a bit but it's still a good Superchunk album and it enters my 1997 chart at the 30th rank.

[dihansse]

And now for two albums of 1998:

An album I already own:

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XO by Elliott Smith
This is a masterpiece in my opinion. It seems Elliott Smith just had a number of personal problem and the succes of his previous albums was difficult to cope with and it feels like all these tensions are reflected in this album. While the arrangements are a bit richer than on Either/Or, this is still a very calm but certainly not boring album. The amazing songwriting just breathes through every single track on this album with as highlights I Didn't Understand and of course the wonderful Waltz #2. The best album of the year.

An album on my wishlist:

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Va Va Voom by Cinerama
The first solo album by David Gedge from the Wedding Present and in this new form there is still the feel of many of the less rocking WP. Some songs are so overproduced and the best track Hard, Fast and Beautiful is the best example of that but to me it touches just the perfect chords. The album enters at the 21st rank on my year chart of this year.

[dihansse]

These are the two albums closing this beautiful decade:


An album I already own:

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My Midnight by Steve Wynn
Steve Wynn is one of those artists I appreciate everything he does and in whatever incarnation, of course in the Dream Syndicate but also on fantastic solo albums like this on which he shows what a good (and in my opinion still underestimated) songwriter he is. Just listen to that wonderfull title track or especially Out Of This World and you'll understand what I mean. He was playing in Belgium the day before yesterday and I'm still sorry not to have gone because of that stupid bug which is still bugging us. But the album goes from the 2nd to 3rd rank and of course still very high.

An album on my wishlist:

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Madonna by ...And You Will Know Us By T...il Of Dead
No postrock and also no Madonna here but just two words: Sonic Youth. It's like you listen to the leftovers from Sister. And you know what even leftovers can taste very good so this is still a very good album with both frenzy punk songs and good rock songs, all in the style of SY but still very much ok and the album lands at the 35th rank.

[dihansse]

These are the two albums of the year 2000 (the first year of this not so beautiful decade) I listened to:

An album I already own:

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Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants by Oasis
I think this album is really underrated. It's diverse, it has that interesting psychedelic tinge and it contains some great songs of which Sunday Morning Call is the best. Nevertheless it goes down from the 12th to the 16th rank which is still not bad (for an Oasis album).

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Life Before Insanity by Gov't Mule
I generally like the music of Gov't Mule but I don't love it. But this album is just so long and I can't really connect with the songs. There are some good guitar pieces but that's just not enough. I won't include this album in my year chart.

[dihansse]

These are two albums of 2001 I listened to:

An album I already own:

Is This It by The Strokes
This Is definitely It. One of those moments in musical history where many people decided that rock was dead, this album came up and proved exactly the opposite. This album just breathes the best of rock music and the whole world (at least some part of it) went along with it because it is indeed one of the catchiest rock records ever recorded and that is clear in every single song. At first look, the voice of Julian Casablancas sounds rather dull and bored but combined with the great riffs and creative song writing, this is turned into an asset. It's nearly impossible to name highlights but if you force me I would go for The Modern Age, Hard To Explain and Take It Or Leave It where Casablancas sounds at his rawest.
This album had stumbled to the second rank in my year chart but this renewed listening session immediately set things straight and it is now back where it belongs: firmly at the first rank.

musicforthemorningafter by Pete Yorn
Two types of songs. First there are the upbeat songs which seem to have some hit potential like the first three tracks, but for one reason or another I don't really like them while on others like Closet it works and you have a infectious little gem. The second type works better for me: Pavement like indie songs which are more down tempo but reveal themselves only slowly like Just Another and the three tracks just after that. And there is also one real highlight: Ez.
So in the end there are more positives than negartives in this mixed bag so the album enters at the 19th rank.

[dihansse]

These are the two albums of 2002 I listened to:

First an album I'm glad to own already:

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Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco
Is Songs For The Deaf better than YHT: hell no it isn't, so I set things straight and relistened to this utterly beautiful masterpiece which is one of those rare records which at the same time sound soothing and disruptive: just listen to Ashes Of American Flags to find proof of that and together with the oh so magnificent Jesus, Etc and I Am Trying to Break Your Heart these are the highlights but certainly not the only groundbreaking songs here which even sound better live. So rightly so I moved this beauty up to where it belongs: the first rank.

And then an album I'm glad I put it on my wishlist:

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Son Of Evil Reindeer by The Reindeer Section
A bit of a Scottish supergroup formed around Gary Lightbody. His for me beautiful voice, like in Snow Patrol, croons itself through the otherwise much more laidback songs (than SP). I liked this album very much and it ends up at the 13th rank on this fairly fantastic year in this otherwise fairly underwhelming decade.

[Mercury]