Top 10 albums of the 1990's (1 Viewer)

[StevenW]

Thanks for the great suggestions guys! I just began listening to full albums instead just single songs and it is so much more satisfying. Songs you weren't so fond of suddenly become a new meaning and great songs become even better. It's just like watching a Pan'n Scan movie in full glory OAR for the first time.

Funny you should say this as I have been doing the same as well. It's so nice to have that "single" mentality gone.

 

[Grant B]

Well here's mine

2 singles and 10 'albums'

Singles

Course of the Empire - Infested (Heavy Metal Big Band at it's Best)

Ministry - Jesus Built my Hotrod (Giddy from the Butthole Surfers to Boot!)

Screaming Blue Messiahs- Totally religous (Bikini Red is better but is from the 80s)

L7- Bricks Are Heavy (I still Humm 'Shitlist' when people piss me off)

Primal Scream - Screamadelica

Teenage Fanclub- Bandwagonesque (The Perfect Pop Album; If you get really drunk while listening to Big Star this is what comes out)

Oasis -Defintely Maybe

Pop will Eat itself- This is the Day....This is the Hour ....This is it! (Not Rock, not rap, not pop exactly but it's great when the Volume is at 11)

Ween -12 Golden Country Greats (If I ever want a divorce I Will crank 'Piss Up A Rope'....I am sick of you and your 2% milk)

Chainsaw Kittens- Flipped in Singapore

Jesus & Mary Chain- Honey's Dead (The masters of shoegazing, Saw them with My Bloody Valintine and I still can't hear)

Liz Phair -Exile in Guyville- (When Liz sings " I want to fuck you till your Dick is Blue" I get all happy inside even if I know it's not true)

 

[Peter Donovan]

Alright, my tastes are all over the board in no order:

U2 "Achtung Baby"

U2 "Zooropa"

Moby "Play"

The Verve "Urban Hymnns"

Seal "Seal" (1994)

Golden Palominos "Pure"

Dido "No Angel"

Depeche Mode "Violator"

Delerium "Karma"

Chrystal Method "Vegas"

The Church "Priest=Aura"

Sara McLachlan "Surfacing"

Pink Floyd "Division Bell"

Garbage "Garbage"

Hooverphonic "The Magnificent Trees"

-Pete

 

[Jeremiah]

A question.....What kind of sound do The Flamming Lips have? I have seen people list them quite high and while at amazon I have noticed people buying The Flamming Lips and Beck, since I like Beck would I like The Lips? Are they fast, or funky, or slow, or what? Thanks.

 

[Steve Kuester]

The first word that comes to mind for me is "original". I think they are one of the few bands out there who make music just to make music. You can check out their website at flaminglips.com to hear a bunch of their stuff.

I'm a huge lips fan, but it's hard to answer if you would like them or not. I saw them on their tour with Beck, but I don't think they sound anything like beck.

I can't really even say which album to check out first as they all sound quite different.

Give 'em a try, see if they make you smile.

 

[chung_sotheby]

I have a ton of favorite ablbums, but here is just a sampling:

Rock-Pop:

Fiona Apple-Tidal

Still amazing after six years, and definately the most heart-wrenching and influential music she has made yet. Here's hoping that her new album approach her first effort.

Dave Matthews Band-Crash

Dave Matthews Band's artistic and technical pinnacle. I have basically hated all their stuff after Crash, as I feel that most of their stuff is now written for the masses and the largest possible audience. A shame that this has happened.

Eric Clapton-Unplugged

I still can't believe that no one has mentioned this yet. I usually don't believe that unplugged or live performances should be counted as albums no matter how good they are, ie Hell Freezes Over and Nirvana Unplugged, but this is my exception to the rule. I still believe that it is the best unplugged ever.

U2-Achtung Baby

I still believe that it is their second best album. Just amazing, so much so that they went into about an 8 year funk because their new material couldn't match up with Achtung.

Rufus Wainwright-Rufus Wainwright

The guy just knows how to make beautiful music. Let's leave it at that

Rock-Alternative:

Nirvana-Nevermind

Pearl Jam-Ten

Alice in Chains-Dirt

Soundgarden-Badmotorfinger

Temple of the Dog-Temple of the Dog

Smashing Pumpkins-Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie

Radiohead-The Bends and OK Computer

Red Hot Chili Peppers-Blood Sugar

Jane's Addiction-Ritual de lo Habitual

Rap/Hip Hop:

Tribe Called Quest-Low End Theory

The best album, from start to finish, of all time. Every song is a classic, the album never lulls, and is always simply hypnotic.

Pharcyde-Bizzare Ride 2 tha Pharcyde

Another album I cant believe that no one has mentioned. Simply Fantastic

Public Enemy-Fear of a Black Hat

The Roots-Things Fall Apart

The Best rap album of the second half of the 1990's, bar none.

Lauryn Hill-Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

What hasn't been said?

 

[Jeff Keene]

Here's mine, and it was hard. Obviously these are my favorites from the 90's CD's *I* bought. Here's hoping I'll find some I like better before I die...

10) REM - Monster

9) U2 - Achtung Baby

8) Dream Theater - Images and Words

7) Sting - The Soul Cages

6) DMB - Under the Table and Dreaming

5) Bjork - Post

4) Radiohead - OK Computer

3) Depeche Mode - Songs of Faith and Devotion

2) Fiona Apple - When the Pawn...

1) Bjork - Homogenic

 

[Grant B]

There use to be a great venue in San Francisco called the I Beam. They had live bands on Monday nights....Soundgarden would open for the Butthole Surfers. Half the time, I would know nothing about the bands but knew it would be a great show

The flaming lips sent a tape to the I beam and were told they could open a show.

I've heard that was the 1st time they played outside of their hometown....they drove all day and all night to open and they were great

They didnt even record back then; cant belive those Okies are still around

Anyways my 2 cents on the Lips

 

[Dave S.G.]

I'm sure parts of this list would/will change, but I know that these first four are in stone...
1. R.E.M. - Automatic for the People: This album is just gorgeous. And I've yet to find an album that has a better set of closing songs. In eleven years I haven't burned out on this and "Find the River" is an amazing grace note.
1 (tie). Emmylou Harris - Wrecking Ball: Another gem, this album is a great song cycle (especially considering that each song is written by a different writer and not specifically for the set). For the first few months I had this album I refused to listen to the lyrics because I was so moved by the lilting voice and lush production. It also opened me up to Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams (both on this list) and other songwriters. Contains "Sweet Old World" with Neil Young on harmonica. Almost as essential to me as "Find the River"
3. John Prine - Missing Years: Or, as I sometimes call it, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3. He's in no way associated with them (well, Petty has a guest appearance and it's produced by a Heartbreaker). By turns heart-breaking, amusing, wry and heartfelt. Near pitch-perfect for me.
4. Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road: A great dusty roadmap of the U.S. That's all I got tuh say about that.
5. Cowboy Junkies - Pale Sun, Crescent Moon: In this album, songwriter Michael Timmins was able to, in my mind, really inhabit the characters in his voices. The album ranges from the hushed acoustic "Cold Tea Blues" to the crunchy "First Recollection" to the poppy "Anniversary Song". Never treads a cliche and evokes some wonderful images along the way. A highly under-rated album. Oh, and did I mention Margo Timmins's voice?
6. Various Artists - Dead Man Walking - O.S.T: Don't know that this really belongs on this list, but Steve Earle's "Ellis Unit One", the two Tom Waits cuts, the closing Eddie Vedder/Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan "Long Road" and Johnny Cash's contribution are all amazingly standout, particularly for a soundtrack "inspired by" a film.
7. Bob Dylan - Time out of Mind: For me, the varnish on this record has worn off, but songs like "Standing in the Doorway", "Tryin' to Get to Heaven", "Not Dark Yet" and the 17 minute closer "Highlands" are an immense return to form. I only wish he could've put "Mississippi" on there -- although then his follow-up, "Love & Theft" would be robbed of it's possibly strongest cut.
8. Steve Earle - I Feel Alright: Short and sweet, it's got country (which up till this I hated wholeheartedly), rock, pop, acoustic blues and an unpretentious Buddy Holly tribute. Earle was still hungry with this record and it's lean, without some of the "trying to hard" that's marred more recent works.
9. U2 - Achtung Baby: Boy, did I hate this when it came out. And I still can't listen to the first two cuts, but "One", "So Cruel, "The Fly" (which I despised beyond belief), "Until the End of..." well... plenty of songs.... This really was a redefining of their sound and is arguably one of two watermarks in their career.
10. Moby - Play: I was told by a customer (when I worked in a record store) that this was a brilliant record. This was right after it came out and before the album went crazy in the media. I didn't give it the time of day. That is until a few months later when he FORCED me to put it in. I was unconvinced... until "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad" and "Natural Blues". Then it was just a matter of repeat listens before (aside from "Body Rock") I was completely converted. I thought I was behind the times -- until six months later when people even FURTHER behind the curve heard him on commercials.
I'll not go into all the alternates I could pick and everything I left off. I'd be here for hours ... of course I could name drop some... Beth Orton, Wilco, Grant Lee Buffalo, Beck, Me First & the Gimme Gimmes, Aimee Mann, , etc., etc. etc.