I wouldn't say it's not valid - but (in fairness, I admitted she is a blind spot for me) what I knew of Bjork is to be a "critical darling" rather than a perennial favorite of masses of people, like I would say Nirvana and Pearl Jam are.
One song in to Debut and I certainly can say I like it. Very different, but it's working for me so far! EDIT: Three songs in - yes this is pretty much objectively great. Fascinating for how unique it is musically as well. Very hard to categorize, in the best way.
yeah i mean bjork rules. my posts were not meant to be taken that seriously, just having fun in these threads
WHOA - "Big Time Sensuality". I have my headphones in, and it sounds FANTASTIC. What do the kids say these days? this song "SLAPS" lol
The single mix of Big Time Sensuality is extremely different to the album version - both brilliant. One to come back with after you’ve finished the album.
I know and that's why a lot of weeks I wait until Thursday or Friday to post my list hahah But fuck it it's all good - all about discovery and appreciation of great music.
Ugh so many great albums I’m agonizing over for my top 3 spots. Few of which will have any traction in the final vote
This is definitely the toughest year for me so far. A clear number 1, but my other picks could be any number of things.
lucky for me I never have to think about it, I already have a list of my favs for every year from 1969 to now haha
1. Counting Crows - August and Everything After 2. Goo Goo Dolls - Superstar Car Wash 3. Billy Joel - River of Dreams Excruciating Cuts: John Berry - John Berry Garth Brooks - In Pieces Others I love: Sheryl Crow - Tuesday Night Music Club Dwight Yoakam - This Time Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream Paul Westerberg - 14 Songs Warren Zevon - Learning to Flinch Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville Pearl Jam - Vs. Rush - Counterparts Phil Collins - Both Sides Bruce Hornsby - Harbor Lights Duran Duran - The Wedding Album Wynonna Judd - Tell Me Why Blue Rodeo - Five Days in July Brooks and Dunn - Hard Workin' Man Good ones: Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) Willie Nelson - Across the Borderline Sting - Ten Summoner's Tales Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell Heart - Desire Walks On A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders Janet Jackson - janet. Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen Nina Simone - A Single Woman Nirvana - In Utero Paul McCartney - Off the Ground Dan Fogelberg - River of Souls Melissa Etheridge - Yes I Am Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See Terence Trent d'Arby - Symphony or Damn Marc Cohn - The Rainy Season Mavis Staples - The Voice Bruce Springsteen - In Concert/MTV Plugged Jackson Browne - I'm Alive Lee Roy Parnell - On the Road Bad Religion - Recipe for Hate Not a fan: Ace of Base - The Sign Targets for listening: 2pac - Strictly for My N.I.G.G.A.Z. Babyface - For the Cool in You Bob Dylan - World Gone Wrong Jamiroquai - Emergency on Planet Earth Toby Keith - Toby Keith Patty Loveless - Only What I Feel Billy Ocean - Time to Move On Robert Plant - Fate of Nations Radiohead - Pablo Honey Tool - Undertow Auteurs - New Wave Bjork - Debut Blur - Modern Life Is Rubbish The Boo Radleys - Giant Steps The Fall - The Infotainment Scam Grant Lee Buffalo - Fuzzy P.J. Harvey - Rid of Me Aimee Mann - Whatever William Orbit - Strange Cargo III Orbital - Orbital II Sebadoh - Bubble and Scrape Snoop Doggy Dogg - Doggystyle Suede - Suede Paul Weller - Wild Wood The Breeders - Last Splash Aerosmith - Get a Grip Donald ***en - Kamakariad Trisha Yearwood - The Song Remembers When Digable Planets - Reachin' U2 - Zooropa PM Dawn - The Bliss Album...? Tony! Toni! Tone! - Sons of Soul Cassandra Wilson - Blue Light Til Dawn Slowdive - Souvlaki Ry Cooder and V.M. Bhatt - A Meeting by the River Martina McBride - The Way That I Am
Really brutal to cut John Berry, probably my candidate for the best utterly obscure/forgotten country album of the era.
Entombed created a new sub genre called Death’n’Roll with their release of Wolverine Blues. It might be my favorite entombed album.
1. Counting Crows - August & Everything After 2. Sheryl Crow - Tuesday Night Music Club 3. U2 - Zooropa August & Everything After qualifies for the short list of albums that truly changed my life. “Mr. Jones” is the first song I remember hearing in my life that made me think “I love this.” The band’s early albums were super formative to my music taste and all remain some of my favorite records ever. This is the best of them (though, not by as wide a margin as some people believe). Just an absolute god tier collection of songs, and one of the rare “there are a ton of hits on this album” LPs where the deep cuts (“Sullivan Street,” “Anna Begins,” “Raining in Baltimore,” “A Murder of One”) are as good or better than the songs everybody knows. I love everything about this record: the lyrics, the way Duritz sings them like his life depends on it, the band firing on all cylinders, the ace production by T. Bone Burnett, the title. I will never get tired of hearing it. It’s the second of my top five albums of all time to show up so far in this process, and a runaway number 1 for me this year. The Sheryl Crow album seems so far ahead of its time. So much of the genre-hopping mentality of modern pop albums (and the overall sonic template of a lot of modern country) is in that record. It hasn’t aged a day, from the big pop singles (“All I Wanna Do” still has a sterling hook) to the straight-up country songs (“Strong Enough,” "No One Said It Would Be Easy") to the heartland rockers ("Leaving Las Vegas" and "Can't Cry Anymore" could both be Petty songs) to the curveball experimental moments (going free jazz meets, like, "Spirit in the Night" in "What I Can Do for You"?) And then you've got "I Shall Believe" holding down the fort at the end as one of the greatest '90s closing tracks. Also, I don’t think Crow often gets tabbed as a country trailblazer, given that she was more likely to get played on rock or pop or adult contemporary radio in the ‘90s. But I think it’s notable that some of her biggest modern disciples are making music in the Nashville ecosystem (Maren Morris, Natalie Hemby, Amanda Shires, etc.) Zooropa often gets tabbed as a sequel of sorts to Achtung Baby, but I really hear it as its own thing. More daring in some ways (the sprawl of the title track, the "industrial blues" of “Daddy’s Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car”), more conventional in others ("Stay" and "The First Time" are two of the band's loveliest, most straightforward ballads), and definitely more '90s ("Numb," "Lemon," and "Babyface" all sound very 1993, in a good way). And then they end it by calling in a pre-career-renaissance Johnny Cash to sing an apocalyptic hymn over an electronic arrangement on "The Wanderer." A wild, all-over-the-place record; gotta be one of the weirder albums to hit the top of the Billboard 200.