My discoveries per year

[dihansse]

And two albums of 1989:

One I already own:

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The Stone Roses by The Stone Roses
I really love this album but to me it's not the classic masterpiece many people make of it and to me it's far off the 33th rank which is its current BEA overall rank. But a great album nevertheless and a pity Fool's Gold is not on it because it's one of the most unlikely hit songs with its hushed delivery but what a great groove. But there's enough greatness to fill the gap and that already starts with the opener I Wanna Be Adored. So the album deserved increases from the 45th to the 18th rank.

One which is on my wishlist:

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More Songs About Love & Hate by The Godfathers
I promised I would listen to all first three Godfathers albums and this is the follow-up of the great BSWD. While the first one was a great mix between rock and punk, this one even sometimes sounds poppy and the freshness of their first has definitely worn off here. It's not that I don't like it, it just isn't great any more. And it still enters at the 21st rank.

[dihansse]

Here are the albums of 1990 I listened to:

I already discussed a solo John Cale album in this round and here are two collaborations with related artists in one year I of course both own and cherish. They were also closely ranked before I listened to them:

First:

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Wrong Way Up by Brian Eno & John Cale
You would expect something experimental from this collaboration but in fact it isn't and as a whole it sounds very poppy and that's not a bad thing because it also sounds very good. The best song on the album is Cordoba and what do you think: if you want the definitive version of that song: listen to Fragments Of A Rainy season. But it's still a good track, also on this album and so are especially Lay My Love, One Word and Spinning Away. So all in all a very good album and goes from the 19th to the 17th rank of this year.

Second:

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Songs For Drella by Lou Reed & John Cale
Drella was Andy Warhol both artists of course knew very well from their period in VU. The whole album describes their relation with Warhol and the woman who shot (but not killed) him, Valerie Solanas, appears a few times. And also this one is a very good one and it goes from the 20th to the 13th rank.

So all in all Songs For Drella is the best album of the two but they are very close.

And then finally an album from my wishlist:

Sack Full Of Silver by Thin White Rope
I still think the album I got to know them by, The Ruby Sea, is their best because it's more mesmerizing. But this is a very good one as well where again the Deserty voice of Guy Kyser matches the atmosphere of the album very well. This guy even can make a bad song sound good but the thing is: there are no bad tracks here with maybe only the title track a bit weaker. But there are also two highlights: the very uncharacteristic Can cover, You Doo Right, and they make something very special of it, and On The Floe. All in all another highlight of this underrated band and good for the 21st rank of this already very good year in rock.

[dihansse]

And a few albums of 1991 I listened to:

First one, oh no two albums I already own:

Use Your Illusion I by Guns N' Roses

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Use Your Illusion II by Guns N' Roses
Indeed this album should be viewed as one mega double album but it has been marketed as two separate ones. But it sure makes sense to discuss them together although together they have that incredible length of more than 2h30m spread out over a whopping 30 tracks with individually also an over average length.
BUT I still find that this is a great album(s) and both I and II contain some real epics with Coma and especially November Rain (I'll come back on this one) on the first and Civil War and Estranged on the second. And two covers I really like as well with Live and Let Die and Knockin' On Heaven's Door. And of course there's filler: what would you expect from an album like this.
And then there's November Rain: it starts off very cheesy and in the beginning you think: again one of the epics which will just go over the top and drown in its own thickness.
But then this lyric guitar sound comes: not once not twice but at least three times absolute bliss. And together with the piano and the violins this song takes on a real epic grandeur that I can't praise enough and even that cheesy start begins to feel like it really should be there and just becomes part of that incredible atmosphere created here. One of the greatest songs ever.
So is one of the albums better than the other: well the first one is better both because it has November Rain and because it has less filler (Get In The Ring and My World on II are terrible).
So UYU I goes from 29 to 19
and UYU II goes from 64 to 43

An album on my wishlist:

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Unreal World by The Godfathers
I promised that I would listen to all first three Godfathers albums and so I did but in a way I'm a bit disappointed. Also this third (as the second) has nothing of the in-your-face directness of the first one and there's nothing here that makes you think: hey this is something special. It's by no means a bad album and it still ends up at the 49th rank of 1991 but it's nothing more than that.

[dihansse]

These are the two albums of 1992 I listened to:

An album I already own:

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Going Blank Again by Ride
Somebody recently wrote about Ride that they were only remembered by some, I wonder who that was? But that was about Nowhere, their first album. But the album I really remember them by, because it was my first, was this one. And to me it's again one of those classics. There's lots of discussions whether they are really Britpop or shoegaze but to me they're Ride because they really did their own thing. And the shoegaze reference is the most palpable on the first track Leave Them All Behind which already sets the tone but is not necessarily representative for the whole album. This is best proven by the second track, Twisterella which is also the best song on the album and is much more melodic. Just to say this is a great album which deserves to move from the 23rd to the 9th rank of the year.

An album on my wishlist:

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Peng! by Stereolab
Their first but to me also their best because here they really combine in a great way their rock style, their droney VU style and their dance music style. Unlike other of their albums there is no weak track here and the album immediately enters at the 15th rank of 1992, which on itself is already not the worst year in music.

[dihansse]

And a few albums of 1993 I listened to:

First and album I already own:

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Westing (By Musket And Sextant) by Pavement
This is an album with b sides and outtakes of their first singles and ep's and it also sounds a bit like that. The band was much better on their regular albums which retained Pavements anarchaic way of writing songs but were a bit more focused. Nevertheless their adventurous spirit already resulted in a number of great songs and the best of those was Summer Babe. The album remains at the 27th rank.

And then not one but two albums from my wishlist, because I have many of this year but also because both are already fairly familiar to me:

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Come On Feel The Lemonheads by The Lemonheads
It feels like I already know this album, not in the least because it contains few songs (Into Your Arms, It's About Time and Big Gay Heart), that are already firmly nestled in our common heritage. But in general this band has always been very good in mixing an indie rock spirit with a great pop sensibility. This is a very good album which enters at the 28th rank.

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Ultimate Alternative Wavers by Built To Spill
For one reason or another I already had half of this first album of this fantastic band on my playlist so it makes sense to also discover the rest. You can say that on this first album they were still a bit unfocused but that doesn't result in a subpar album. The guitar playing on this album is, to put it mildly, very inventive, no it's super great. The songs go in every direction, and nearly every track is a example of that, but man, this just sounds awesome. Maybe they would become better on latter albums where they would move in more expansive guitar songs, but here songs like Get A Life and Hazy are just incredibly good with Built To Spill (the track, not the band) as a highlight. Even Built Too Long (what a great title) is not too long. Immediately good for the 18th rank.

[dihansse]

My 2 choices of albums of 1994:

An album I already own:

Day For Night by The Tragically Hip
Maybe not as good as Fully Completely but I think more consistent. This was so good of a band and such a fantastic singer. And Nautical Disaster is the true highlight here. All in all this album rises a whopping number of ranks from the 75th to the 26th rank.


An album on my wishlist:

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Martinis And Bikinis by Sam Phillips
A very melodic album with a lot of references to The Beatles but entirely original nevertheless. This album surprised me how good it was. And alright for the 43rd rank.

[Repo]

[dihansse]

Here is 1995 with two more interesting albums:

An album I already own:

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Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot by Sparklehorse
I suppose nobody ever just mentions the title but just says their first. And it's a good one even and maybe even especially after all those years because it matures very well. The very short interludes have no added value at all but inbetween we find some great tracks like Rainmaker and the very underrated Cow. But one of my overall favorite tracks ever remains Someday I Will Treat You Good which has a kind of punky energy which makes this song irresistible. Underrated album also by me so I promote it from the 61st tot the 25th rank of the year.

An album on my wishlist:

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Moment Of Truth by Electric Light Orchestra Part II
Again an album I had to find on Youtube. This was ELO after Jeff Lynne left but the other members are still there. This means that the large orchestral parts are still but it's clear that the voice and song writing of ELO's main man is really missed. I must admit it's not a bad album which consists of three parts. Fairly bad rockers, fairly cheesy orchestral songs and cheesy but good orchestral songs and luckily there are a few of those on this album so enough to vote it in my year chart at the 54th rank.

[dihansse]

These are my 2 choices of albums of 1996:

An album I already own:

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Bagsy Me by The Wannadies
And own since it was release although I have never listened to one of their other albums. At times it borders on the juvenile (a bit like Weezer) but at it's best, which it is in most cases, this is very hooky powerrock I very much liked when it was released and still like now. And it's about time to look into their other albums as well. This one moves up from the 50th to the 41st rank.

And an album on my wishlist:

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The Known Universe by Ass Ponys
Often compared to R.E.M. but not really in my opinion, but very nice college rock in any way and it enters at the 45th rank.

[dihansse]

These are the two albums of 1997 I listened to:

An album I already own:

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Dare To Be Surprised by The Folk Implosion
Lou Barlow goes pop and even has some dance music in store on this Folk Implosion album: who would have thought this. But he does it in the best way possible. The lo fi sound is still there and it still results in great quirky melodies but tracks like Burning Paper and Insinuation, which are also the best on the album, have a real dancefloor vibe to them. All in all a very good album which shows that Lou Barlow can do it all and it rises from the 14th to the 4th rank of the year.


An album on my wishlist:

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Blue Sky On Mars by Matthew Sweet
In the beginning of the nineties, Matthew Sweet had his best period with albums like Girlfriend and 100% Fun. But according to Allmusic this period stopped here with the departure of guitarist Richard Lloyd. But I don't agree. This is a very good Matthew Sweet album. Of course, Sweet doesn't really change his style and many of his albums are interchangeable, but he remains a very fine songwriter and knows how to deliver them, both on the powerrock songs and on the softer ones. No real outstanding songs here but 100% of them are of the same top quality we're used of him. This album enters at the 23rd rank of 1997.