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krj
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Favorite CDs of 1998
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Jan 28 23:08 UTC 1999 |
OK, fellow critic wannabees! It's time to get in those "Best of 1998"
lists. By my rules, it's a 1998 album if you bought it in 1998.
Please try to say something about each entry, so this doesn't become
just a dry list of titles.
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| 26 responses total. |
krj
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response 1 of 26:
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Jan 28 23:09 UTC 1999 |
We critic-wannabees are supposed to deliver such lists reasonably
close to the end of year. But I had a lot of trouble compiling
this year's list.
The music industry just sort of rolled over and died on me in 1998.
In my personal history, this was the least interesting year for new
albums since the early 1980s: the long gap between the passing of the
first wave of punk/new wave and before I discovered the 2nd renaissance
of British folk-rock.
I blame myself; I started a riff a couple of years
ago about how I was going to give up rock music now that I turned 40.
Initially it was a joke, but now it's true!
Lucinda Williams, CAR WHEELS ON A GRAVEL ROAD
Cheri Knight, THE NORTHEAST KINGDOM
These two country-ish albums are as close as I got to the mainstream
this year. They sound very much alike, which is probably because
Steve Earle produced and played on both of them. Lucinda's album
probably isn't quite as good as the critics said it was: it made
a lot of end-of-year lists. But I played it a lot.
Steeleye Span, HORKSTOW GRANGE
The venerable British electric folk band recovers from Maddy Prior's
departure in a stellar fashion. Gay Woods is a very different kind
of singer; Bob Johnson steps up to fill big holes; and they give up
writing their own songs for a disc of traditional folk songs.
Hooray for old fogies!
Sanna Kurki-Suonio, MUSTA
Gjallarhorn, RANAROP (CALL OF THE SEA WITCH)
From Scandinavia: Sanna, one of the Finnish women singers in the
Swedish band Hedningarna, delivers a solo album with a recognizable
kinship to her usual band's electro-trad style, though the solo album
is a bit less agressive and a bit more pop.
Gjallarhorn is fiddle and female vocals on top of a light
"world music" section, including occasional digeridoo.
The Mollys, MOON OVER THE INTERSTATE
The Mollys feature two women singers, one of Mexican descent and one of
Irish descent, and loads of accordion playing. This time the
Irish sounds are downplayed, and the dominant sounds are Mexican styles
and polkas. This band is lots of fun.
Oysterband, ALIVE AND ACOUSTIC
I hated the Oysterband's last album, which sounded as if they were
aiming for VH-1 rotation. So on this fan club release, the band does
the "unplugged" thing and all the songs sound much better.
After all, the Oysters did start life as a fairly traditional
folk band, 20 years ago.
Old Blind Dogs, FIVE
Jez Lowe & The Bad Pennies, THE PARISH NOTICES
Scottish band Old Blind Dogs added a bagpiper who filled out their
sound nicely. They do acoustic settings of trad songs with a
contemporary, jazz/world influenced rhythm section.
Jez Lowe is such a good singer and writer that he overcomes my
prejudices against singer-songwriters, and his band has a lovely rich
sound.
Runrig, THE GAELIC COLLECTION
Albion Band, THE BBC SESSIONS
It's cheating to put compilations in here, but it was a thin year
and I need to pad the list. Runrig is a Scottish arena rock band
with very small folk influences, and this 2-CD compilation
collects some of the best of their Gaelic language songs from
the past 15 years. The Albion Band was the third of the great
electric folk bands from the 1970s, and this collection of live
radio broadcasts is a great overview of their early career.
Puccini, LA BOHEME, sung in English, on the Chandos label
At last: an English language recording of the most modern and most
romantic of the popular operas. I've been hoping for this recording
ever since seeing a UM production of BOHEME in English, ten years ago.
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krj
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response 2 of 26:
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Jan 28 23:10 UTC 1999 |
((( winter agora #92 <---> music #169 )))
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anderyn
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response 3 of 26:
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Jan 29 00:39 UTC 1999 |
Hhmmm. Have to agree with Alive and Acoustic/Oysterband and Five/Old
Blind Dogs, though I'd add in Legacy/Old Blind Dogs.... and Cry cry Cry/
Dar Williams, Lucy Kaplanski, and Richard Shindell (it squeaked in under
the wire at the week between Christmas and New Year's.... I bought this
in '98, so I think it counts -- Under the Rose/Albion Band. That's about
all that I can think of right now... but I will see what I have at work.
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orinoco
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response 4 of 26:
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Jan 29 01:00 UTC 1999 |
I really didn't buy many CDs this year that were released this year - most
of my purchases were catching up on previous years' releases. I think Rickie
Lee Jones' latest album, _Ghostyhead_, was released this year... I know
Poignant Plecostomus' _Touchez La Vache_ was this year... Umm...that may be
all the CDs from 1998 that I own and like right now.
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senna
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response 5 of 26:
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Jan 29 01:40 UTC 1999 |
Music was plagued with shallow half hearted attempts at trends and
prettyboy cheese rock from my end. R&B did pretty well, but I care for
R&B only slightly more than moldy bread using anthrax for flavoring.
The two prominent albums I acquired this year that were good were Yield,
by Pearl Jam, and Follow the Leader, by Korn. Yield was another
splendid, if different, offering from the former flagholders of grunge.
This is particularly ironic since they never actually were "grunge" as
the medium came to be publicized. Follow the Leader has no refinement,
and its aesthetic appeal is limited, but I enjoy visceral guitar
crunching and even <gasp> musical testosterone once in a while. Quite
well done.
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mcnally
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response 6 of 26:
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Jan 29 04:35 UTC 1999 |
I'm not sure that I agree with Ken's rules that any album you bought
in 1998 qualifies as a 1998 album but I'll at least weasel in one 1997
release that I've listened to heavily in 1998.
Yo La Tengo -- "I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One". Consistently
great New Jersey trio release another great album. In addition to
their normal VU-influenced sound the band explores some new sounds
on this release with notable success on the catchy "Moby Octopad" and
the quiet and lovely "Green Arrow".
Massive Attack -- "Mezzanine" My favorite trip-hop band release another
dark and smoky masterpiece as the follow-up to their brilliant "Protection"
(1994) Regular guests Tricky and Horace Andy are back but the surprise
vocalist is Elizabeth Frasier (of the Cocteau Twins) who contributes vocals
for several tracks including the standout "Teardrop". A brilliant blend
of influences laid on top of a solid foundation of dub.
Honorable mention:
Spiritualized -- "Royal Albert Hall October 10 1997 Live" Troubled
Jason Pierce sings songs about his conflicted relationship with his muse
and drug addiction and it's sometimes difficult to tell which one he's
singing about. The emotionally charged "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are
Floating in Space" was my favorite album of 1997. This concert, recorded
on the tour for that album, covers material from that and their two previous
releases. The live material on this two disc set is uneven but overall
quality is good and it would be a shame to miss the versions of "Shine a
Light" and "Medication" heard here.
Various Artists -- "Velvet Goldmine" (soundtrack) Soundtrack for Todd
Haynes' flawed film about the glam-rock scene of the early 70s, "Velvet
Goldmine" includes a nice selection of originals from that period and
modern day imitations. If you like Brian Eno, David Bowie, Roxy Music,
T. Rex, etc., you'll almost certainly enjoy hearing the new material
even if your record collection already contains the old.
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katie
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response 7 of 26:
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Jan 29 06:34 UTC 1999 |
The Pete Seeger tribute album, "Where Have All the Flowers Gone". Can't
adequately describe how exquisite it is. Also, Natalie Merchant, "Ophelia."
I was expecting not to like it, but am impressed by her songwriting and
delivery. I have already performed her version of "When They Ring The
Golden Bells" in concert and will be borrowing another track to sing at
Easter time.
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lumen
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response 8 of 26:
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Jan 29 07:58 UTC 1999 |
The only true release of 1998 I bought recently was the Beastie Boys'
"hello nasty." SPIN was pretty hyped up about it since the Boys had
marginal success in recent years. Some of the critics, however,
complained that they were using too much of the old skool rap style and
that they had not developed further their own sound that they were
famous for. This sound has been described by musicologists as using
punk elements with rap. It worked wonderfully well during the '80s when
rap was aggressively styled.
To their credit, the boys have been a bit of a phenomenon-- they were
supported by some of the pioneers of rap, such as Kool Moe Dee, and they
are considered to be among the influences of rap today.
So far, the album produced only one hit-- Intergalatic, which contains
elements of Rachmaninoff's Etude in C# minor (The Bells of Russia).
However, I feel this album was very well done, and it is rather
underrated, even if it is a bit retro.
The video for "Intergalatic" and "Body Movin'" are especially
noteworthy-- the Beastie Boys were also known for excellent videos in
the '80s that had a story line (such as "Sabotage" and "You Gotta Fight
For Your Right To Party"). "Intergalatic" is a humorous Japanese
culture send-up of characters reminiscent of "Godzilla" and the "Mighty
Morphin Power Rangers." "Body Movin'" is a bit of a James Bond spoof.
I was given Mark Morrison's "Return Of The Mack" as a gift. The hit
from the album is a song of the same name. This album is especially
underrated. It seems to be well produced, the recording quality is
excellent, the mixes are interesting and cleanly cut, and there is some
quality material there. "Crazy," another released single, seems to be
the artist's response to negative reaction he got when he started
becoming famous. This is different hip-hop from the U.S.: Morrison is a
British artist, and there are the Jamaican influences there. However,
this album was worth my time.
The other albums I bought not released in 1998 I will mention later,
including a recent recompilation of the best songs of Naked Eyes
("Promises, Promises" is the title, including that song, "Always
Something There to Remind Me" and some fantastic others most folks
haven't heard.)
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senna
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response 9 of 26:
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Jan 29 09:27 UTC 1999 |
Sabotage was 94 or early 95, I think. I prefer old Beasties myself.
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jep
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response 10 of 26:
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Jan 29 17:18 UTC 1999 |
1998 was the year I became a Garth Brooks fan. We bought all 8 of his
CDs in 1998. At the end of the year, my favorite was probably "Double
Live" (because it was newest), and my least favorite was his pretty
awful Christmas album, "Beyond the Season".
Also very high on my list was the first Katie Geddes/Mike Fedel CD.
We got my first CD player in 1998, so we bought a bunch of CDs;
something like 80 of them, ranging from Meat Loaf's "Bat out of Hell" to
marching music. Many "Best of" albums, which I generally don't like
much, even if they do have some great songs on them.
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lumen
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response 11 of 26:
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Jan 29 19:16 UTC 1999 |
re #9: probably because of a heavier punk influence, no?
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lumen
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response 12 of 26:
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Jan 29 19:18 UTC 1999 |
I'm assuming the Beastie Boys, despite lack of public support, certainly
have MTV's backing-- they were trying to make a techno-oldskool
connection on their show _AMP_
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richard
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response 13 of 26:
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Jan 29 23:35 UTC 1999 |
My favorite new release of 1998 was Columbia's long-awaited official
release of the most famous bootleg recording ever (the one that started
the bootleg industry in fact), Bob Dylan's 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert
(which didnt take place in Royal Albert Hall, but its always referred to
that on all the bootlegs so they called it that anyway)
This is the from Dylan's 1966 tour of England, which took place right
after he had gone electric, enraging all the folk purists, and put out
'Highway 61 Re-Visited" The first cd/set is classic Dylan, acoustic with
him alone on stage, singing his standards and debuting just-written
classics like "Visions of Johanna" The second cd/set has Dylan coming out
with an electric guitar and a rock band, shocking the audience and you
can hear some of them yelling at him. One of the great moments in music
history and now its on cd!
*********
Also, I really liked REM's "UP" CD, especially the song "Daysleeper"
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cyklone
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response 14 of 26:
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Jan 30 00:07 UTC 1999 |
Re #12: What do you mean by the Beasties "lack of public support"?
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senna
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response 15 of 26:
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Jan 30 01:18 UTC 1999 |
They have plenty of public support. They're winning lots of polls and
have actually sold a decent number of albums, which is unique this year.
Their hip hop this year is a sign of the times, at least where the rise
of R&B is concerned. The depreciation of music, too, for me.
I like REM's new album, but Daysleeper to me is typical of a couple of
the singles they've had out, mildly radio-catchy but not that good as
REM songs go. The essence of REM will never be found on the radio.
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russ
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response 16 of 26:
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Jan 30 02:07 UTC 1999 |
Hmmm. Compared to 1997, '98 was a pretty dry year for my
CD collection. But I did get some keepers:
Pat Metheny Group, _Imaginary Day_. This won't appeal to too
many out there, but I think the Metheny/Mays chemistry hit a
new peak with this one. "The Roots of Coincidence" revives a
form I haven't heard much of lately, the rock instrumental.
I've found myself listening to this one a lot.
Michael Manring, "Toward the Center of the Night". (Actually
not sure when I got this one, and it was used to boot; the
copyright date is 1989.) Anyone who listens to it will
probably recognize "A Way with Birds"; it's gotten around.
Greg Howard, "Stick Figures". I have only run into one other
player of the Chapman Stick, and he was from the west coast.
Greg Howard was playing at Art Fair this summer, and since I
picked up this album I've heard it excerpted on All Things
Considered. It's a solo album done without overdubs, and it's
just plain fun.
Dave Brubeck, "Young Lions and Old Tigers". Brubeck may be an
arrogant old SOB, but given his influence upon the world of jazz
you might say he's earned some of it. He plays duets with a
number of other jazz personalities, old and young. I find the
collaboration with James Moody touching, and anyone who heard
Terry Gross's interview with Moody would find it interesting.
Tuatara, "Trading With the Enemy." It's not going to start any
fads, but it's a bunch of pretty good musicians enjoying themselves.
If a certain amount of repetition doesn't bother you, you might
enjoy the performances.
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mcnally
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response 17 of 26:
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Jan 30 05:32 UTC 1999 |
Trey Gunn (or the League of Crafty Guitarists, recent King Crimson
releases, and at least one solo album on Discipline Records) does
quite a bit with the Chapman Stick.
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cyklone
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response 18 of 26:
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Jan 30 14:42 UTC 1999 |
Tony Levin also used to do a fair amount of "Stick-work" with Peter Gabriel
and others . . . .
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omni
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response 19 of 26:
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Jan 30 18:14 UTC 1999 |
In Gabriel's Garden by Wynton Marsalis.
This one features a number of classical pieces and fanfares, Marsalis is
great. I'll add more details later when I have the track list.
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tpryan
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response 20 of 26:
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Jan 31 18:06 UTC 1999 |
Jim Croce - The Definitive Collection, a 2 CD set contains most
, if not all track from his 3 major albums, and a few earlier songs. I
find myself selecting this one to take on trips or bring to work to
listen to there.
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orinoco
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response 21 of 26:
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Feb 1 01:34 UTC 1999 |
There was a band called the Michigan Stick Trio who had an independantly
released CD out, being sold at OZ's music. I never got a copy, and I don't
think any of them exist anymore; did anyone buy this when it was around?
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scott
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response 22 of 26:
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Feb 1 12:16 UTC 1999 |
Yeah, I did. It's OK; you can borrow it if you want (I don't listen to it
very much...)
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otaking
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response 23 of 26:
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Mar 9 19:34 UTC 1999 |
The best CD I bought in '98 was Delerium's Karma. It's beautiful, moody
etherial music that I've played constantly in my CD player since I bought it
6 months ago. "Silence," with vocals by Sarah McLachlan is one of my favorite
tracks (she also wrote it). Kristen Thirsk (from the Rose Chronicles) returned
to provide vocals for other tracks as well.
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mcnally
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response 24 of 26:
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Mar 9 22:44 UTC 1999 |
Hmmm.. Sounds interesting..
"Attack of the Canadian Female Guest Vocalists"..
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