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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 27, 2024 18:55:57 GMT -5
I listen to a nostalgia station, in my car, when driving in town....Gen X era (70s, 80s, 90s and a smattering of late 60s and early 00s) and the station usually sticks to the usual suspects playlist, motivated by whatever gets used in movies and such (they play The Sweet, thanks to the GOTG films, for instance) and they do a decent mix of arena rock, disco, Funk, New Wave, Punk (well, the end, like The Clash, from Combat Rock), pop, Modern Rock, a bit of heavy metal (more British and the hair stuff, rather than Iron Maiden or Black Sabbath, though they will throw one out there). I am used to hearing certain songs, from certain eras, because they get used in commercials and movies and such. Every once in a while they throw one out I hadn't heard since that era, like Vickie Sue Robinson's "Turn The Beat Around". Yesterday, as I was going to pick up lunch, they started playing a song and I hear the intro and the lyrics start popping in my head and I almost take my eyes off the road, because I recognize it, then the vocals kick in and I can't recall who it is and I hit the radio button, which puts the station info on my dashboard display, with the artist info and it is KC and the Sunshine Band, doing their last big hit, "Please Don't Go."
Suddenly, I'm back at the start of high school. I haven't heard that one in decades. KC's other hits, yeah ("Shake Your Booty," and "I'm Your Boogie Man," especially, and, occasionally, "Keep It Comin' Love") but I hadn't even thought about that one. Reminds me of being at the municipal swimming pool, in the summer of 1980. KC wasn't exactly my music, but I enjoyed a bit of disco and the like and other genres of the period, though New Wave was my first real major connection, with a genre of rock music (well, apart from ELO).
The station, WBBE, 97.9 Bob FM, is pretty much an automated thing, with no real DJs and programmed playlists. Their slogan is "Bob Plays Everything, " to which I usually sarcastically reply with "Yeah, the same 'everything';" but, every once in a while, they surprise me.
Now if I could just get them to play some Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Tubes (aside from "She's a Beauty"); and some of the Ska Revival bands (aside from Madness' "Our House").
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 28, 2024 7:36:43 GMT -5
Favorite albums of 1994 #2 - Johnny Cash - American Recordings
I think we may've discussed Cash's American Recordings on here before, but I agree that these records were absolutely a return to form for him. For me though, they still don't reach the heights of his Sun Records or Columbia era stuff from the '50s and '60s, but they are, as you say, a whole lot better than most of what he put out in the '70s and '80s. For me though, too often on the American Recordings albums it sounds a little like Cash is just going through the motions. There are absolutely exceptions to that, of course, and some of the performances on these albums are absolutely stunningly good, but a fair bit of it sounds rather pedestrian to my ears. I don't actually own any of the Rick Ruben-produced Cash albums in their entirity, but I do have a smattering of tracks from them on various different compilations. From this specific 1994 album, I know "The Beast in Me" and "Bird on the Wire", both of which are very good versions. I think one of my biggest gripes about these Ruben era albums is that it's a shame they don't feature more of Cash's own material. Maybe he just wasn't writing as much as he had back in the '50s and '60s, but yeah, it's still a shame. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 28, 2024 7:40:54 GMT -5
1994.6 File Under: Easy ListeningI know this album well, as a friend of mine back then was very into Bob Mould's various musical phases, including Sugar. For me, Copper Blue was probably my favourite album that Mould has produced. |
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Post by Confessor on Apr 28, 2024 7:44:48 GMT -5
More of my top albums of 1994 (and more British indie rock for Slam_Bradley to enjoy  )... #2 - Definitely Maybe by Oasis Oasis's debut album Definitely Maybe was a major shot in the arm for the British record industry in general and the indie rock scene in particular back in 1994. The songs on it absolutely upped the ante in terms of the songwriting quality that an indie album could or should feature. Right from the opening track, "Rock 'n' Roll Star", the band's musical manifesto is laid bare: noisy guitars, punk and John Lennon-influenced sneering vocals, and melodic, fiendishly catchy songs. Along with Blur's Parklife, which was my #5 pick, Definitely Maybe was the other key album of the early Britpop scene. It was an exciting time to be a UK indie music fan, as we watched the slightly niche scene that we had all followed so passionately for the past 3 or 4 years going overground and impacting on the mainstream. My one criticism of Oasis has always been that their lyrics are at best banal and at worst just sound like placeholder lyrics that were the first thing that came into songwriter Noel Gallagher's head. But griping about the lack of meaning in their lyrics misses the point when the material is as melodically strong as it is on Definitely Maybe. This is a collection of 11 life-affirming, fist-pumping indie songs. Sure, it's all basic meat-and-potatoes indie stadium rock, but Oasis never sounded as vital and exciting as they did on theis debut album. Here's "Live Forever", the third single taken from the album. Its simple, nursey rhyme-esque lyrics, sugary sweet melody, and swaggering punk attitude demonstrates exactly what it was that made Oasis so special in 1994… |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 28, 2024 11:30:59 GMT -5
Favorite albums of 1994
#1 - The Mavericks - What a Crying Shame
This is the album where The Mavericks became The Mavericks. Yeah, they'd released two previous albums. And they were alright. But they were both fairly standard neotraditional country albums. Fine for what they were, but nothing remotely special. With "What a Crying Shame" the band started to branch out and explore their influences, particularly the south Florida Cuban influences that would really influence the band later on. I would argue that it's their best single album. And it's definitely the one where Raul Malo really found his voice.
And what a voice it is. Yeah, there is more to the band than Malo. But damn...that voice. This album is just jam-packed with amazing cuts that make perfect use of Malo's pipes. At various times I've had five or six cuts from this album on various playlists. Great cuts written by Raul Malo and Kostas in the title track and "There Goes My Heart." Incredible covers of Springsteen's "All That Heaven Will Allow" and Jesse Winchester's "O What a Thrill." Thirty to forty years earlier, Malo would have been an amazing Latin crooner. Here, he and The Mavericks fuse traditional country, countrypolitan, and Latin sounds and it is just a joy for this boy to hear.
I'll add that they haven't missed a step in the ensuing years and are absolutely incredible in concert. Is this as important an album as American Recordings? Nope. But it gives me just as much joy. And I listen to it start to finish a bit more often. And there are a whole lot more single tracks off it that I listen to a whole lot.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 28, 2024 11:35:13 GMT -5
More of my top albums of 1994 (and more British indie rock for Slam_Bradley to enjoy )... #2 - Definitely Maybe by OasisI'm beginning to think that you're just messing with me. I'm vaguely aware of Oasis. As I've said, probably 90+% of my music listening in 1994 was jazz and blues. And most of that was over thirty years old at that time. Indie rock, grunge, what have you from that time just never did a thing for me. But good for them for making records. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 28, 2024 11:52:21 GMT -5
Favorite albums of 1994 #2 - Johnny Cash - American Recordings
I think we may've discussed Cash's American Recordings on here before, but I agree that these records were absolutely a return to form for him. For me though, they still don't reach the heights of his Sun Records or Columbia era stuff from the '50s and '60s, but they are, as you say, a whole lot better than most of what he put out in the '70s and '80s. For me though, too often on the American Recordings albums it sounds a little like Cash is just going through the motions. There are absolutely exceptions to that, of course, and some of the performances on these albums are absolutely stunningly good, but a fair bit of it sounds rather pedestrian to my ears. I don't actually own any of the Rick Ruben-produced Cash albums in their entirity, but I do have a smattering of tracks from them on various different compilations. From this specific 1994 album, I know "The Beast in Me" and "Bird on the Wire", both of which are very good versions. I think one of my biggest gripes about these Ruben era albums is that it's a shame they don't feature more of Cash's own material. Maybe he just wasn't writing as much as he had back in the '50s and '60s, but yeah, it's still a shame. I think we'll have to agree to disagree, because I don't find anything pedestrian about really any of the performances. And while I get what you're saying regarding more songs penned by Cash, he was never a particularly prolific songwriter and most of his great songwriting was near the beginning of his career. American Recordings (the first album) was roughly 1/3 songs written by Cash. At the point they began the recording sessions Cash was 61 years old and his health was already beginning to decline. I just don't think he had it in him to do a ton of writing along with the recording. |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Apr 28, 2024 15:13:02 GMT -5
Interrupting your regularly scheduled 1994 album talk with another album I discovered thanks to the YouTube algorithm ( similar to way I found the Terry Callier album I posted about upthread): Open Soul by Tomorrow's People. Again, an eye-catching album cover got me to click the link, but then I ended up staying for the whole show as it were. Never even heard of the band, but it's pretty nice stuff. |
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Post by commond on Apr 28, 2024 18:35:38 GMT -5
Antidote's Thou Shall Not Kill... pretty cool New York hardcore album. Manages to be angry but rhythmic at the same time. New York had an amazing music scene in 1983 and this is a nice little slice of what the punks were up to.
The Scientists' Blood Red River.. Punk blues EP from Australia. Sounds like they could have opened for The Birthday Party. Pretty cool.
Deep Wound's Deep Wound... decent little thrashcore EP from the guys who'd go onto form Dinosaur Jr.
Big Black's Bulldozer... I can't remember if I've listened to much Big Black, but this was the EP where they found their footing. Lyrically, the songs aren't as controversial as the records that followed. It's really the guitar sound that they begin to develop here.
Art of Noise's Into Battle With the Art of Noise... this is an early sample-based electronic EP that is pretty much off the hook. Dudes going crazy with the technology in 1983.
Jag Panzer's Jag Panzer... also known as Tyrants, this is honest to goodness US Power Metal. Has my full respect.
Cause for Alarm's Cause for Alarm... another New York hardcore record. I quite like the New York sound. It's fast and furious, but music you can head bang to if so inclined.
Say Yes to Apes' Who's That... this is a New Zealand record I had no idea existed. The front man is the actor Kevin Smith, who played Ares in Xena and Hercules. I met him when I was a teenager. I'd been jumped by a bunch of guys and they'd bottled me, and I met Smith in a gas station. I was bleeding from the top of my head and asked him for a lift home. He declined. He couldn't really sing but it was a post-punk record so that didn't matter much. Had no idea he was in a band in the early 80s.
Tall Dwarfs' Canned Music... this is a group with a much bigger rep in New Zealand as they were a key figure in the Dunedin sound. Plenty of weird loops and random samples. These guys were inventing indie rock in the most isolated corner of the world. Good stuff.
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Post by berkley on Apr 28, 2024 22:47:25 GMT -5
I think we may've discussed Cash's American Recordings on here before, but I agree that these records were absolutely a return to form for him. For me though, they still don't reach the heights of his Sun Records or Columbia era stuff from the '50s and '60s, but they are, as you say, a whole lot better than most of what he put out in the '70s and '80s. For me though, too often on the American Recordings albums it sounds a little like Cash is just going through the motions. There are absolutely exceptions to that, of course, and some of the performances on these albums are absolutely stunningly good, but a fair bit of it sounds rather pedestrian to my ears. I don't actually own any of the Rick Ruben-produced Cash albums in their entirity, but I do have a smattering of tracks from them on various different compilations. From this specific 1994 album, I know "The Beast in Me" and "Bird on the Wire", both of which are very good versions. I think one of my biggest gripes about these Ruben era albums is that it's a shame they don't feature more of Cash's own material. Maybe he just wasn't writing as much as he had back in the '50s and '60s, but yeah, it's still a shame. I think we'll have to agree to disagree, because I don't find anything pedestrian about really any of the performances. And while I get what you're saying regarding more songs penned by Cash, he was never a particularly prolific songwriter and most of his great songwriting was near the beginning of his career. American Recordings (the first album) was roughly 1/3 songs written by Cash. At the point they began the recording sessions Cash was 61 years old and his health was already beginning to decline. I just don't think he had it in him to do a ton of writing along with the recording. Fair point about Cash never being a prolific songwriter but I would say that while almost all the song and songwriter choices were interesting not all of them ended up working as well in practice as I think they might have - and I wonder if some of that is down to Rubin being a little too married to the idea of unexpected combinations of Cash with writers and material he wouldn't normally have worked with, whatever the result, rather than leaning more to whichever performances turned out to be an effective meeting of song and performer. Of course, that's assuming there was a lot of stuff tried that didn't make it onto the album, and if there was I'd love to hear those out-takes - because there were moments on the album that Cash sounded a little disengaged from the material, to my ears.
All the same, there weren't any tracks I'd call complete misses and I never used to skip any songs when I was listening to the cd back in the day, so possibly we just have to accept that not everything is going to work perfectly when you take the kind of risks Cash and Rubin took here.
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Post by berkley on Apr 28, 2024 23:10:25 GMT -5
1994.5
Mars Audiac Quintet - Stereolab
This is a band whose sound I liked a lot at the time and listening to them recently for the first time in some years I still find them enjoyable. Perhaps they're at times stronger on overall mood and style than on songwriting but their sound appeals to me enough that I can overlook that weakness, if it is one. This track starts off sounding almost like pleasant background music but I always find myself listening more closely before it gets too far.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 29, 2024 7:49:18 GMT -5
1994.5 Mars Audiac Quintet - StereolabThis is a band whose sound I liked a lot at the time and listening to them recently for the first time in some years I still find them enjoyable. Perhaps they're at times stronger on overall mood and style than on songwriting but their sound appeals to me enough that I can overlook that weakness, if it is one. This track starts off sounding almost like pleasant background music but I always find myself listening more closely before it gets too far. That’s…interesting. It sounds like old-school hold music. I kept waiting for the periodic “all our operators are busy.” |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 29, 2024 9:51:59 GMT -5
#1 - The Mavericks - What a Crying Shame
Ah yes, the Mavericks. They're one of those bands that a couple of my friends keep telling me I should check out, but for one reason or another I've never taken the time to get into them. I like the sound of these two tracks you posted. This album is a little earlier than the Mavericks that most folks here in the UK know. The band had a colossal hit over here in 1998 with "Dance the Night Away", which Wikipedia tells me is from the album Trampoline. But yeah, these two tracks sounds good. 1994.5 Mars Audiac Quintet - StereolabHa ha...now this takes me back. My girlfriend's brother back in '94 was a big Stereolab fan and used to play them to me often. I smoked a lot of weed to this album! I always really liked what Stereolab was doing at the time. I thought their mix of repetitive, hypnotic Kraftwerk-esque rhythms, psychedelic lounge music backing, and the kitchy French chanteuse vocals was a great combination. The song "Ping Pong" was the hit that you used to hear at indie discos over here in the mid-90s. But you know, as much as my gf's brother and I listened to this album, I never felt the urge to go out and buy it. Maybe because it's not particularly song-based overall? But I'm just spinning the whole album again on Spotify as I write this and, actually, I think that I made a mistake. I'd sort of forgotten how much I enjoy this album. I think I'm gonna order myself a copy of this...maybe on vinyl, if its available (it seems appropriate to listen to Stereolab on vinyl, somehow). Thanks for reminding me how good this album is berkley! |
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Post by Confessor on Apr 29, 2024 10:00:33 GMT -5
#1 - Second Coming by The Stone Roses It took less time to fight the entirety of World War 2 than it did for the Stone Roses to release their second album. The band's self-titled debut had appeared in April 1989 and was a smart blend of unabashedly retro guitar sounds and current rave culture. It sounded something like the Monkees on ecstasy and it set the template for '90s indie music, influencing countless other bands. For about a year after that landmark first album, the Roses issued a handful of singles, the last two of which were not on the debut album and seemed to signal the imminent release of the band's second LP. Then…nothing. Silence. Embroiled in litigation with their record company for a couple of years, the band finally managed to escape their contract and retreated to the studio to work on their next album for almost 3 years. When it finally came out in December 1994, Second Coming was treated by UK indie fans as something of Biblical importance (in keeping with the record's cheeky title, of course). While some proclaimed it an instant classic, there was also disappointment and a palpable sense of anti-climax from some quarters. Myself, I thought and still think that, for the most part, it's a fantastic record – my favourite of 1994, in fact! Is it a faultless masterpiece like the Roses' debut? No, of course not. It's a tad overlong and there are a handful of tracks that feel a lot like filler. If the band had dropped 3 or 4 of the weaker songs, you would have had a much, much stronger, more concise album. But when Second Coming is good…my God, it's f*cking fantastic! Here's the video for the single "Ten Storey Love Song". This is an uplifting anthem, that metatextually refers to the process of writing the song itself as a demonstration of love. But while it might at first seem to be an unabashed love song, if you scratch below the surface, there's an unexpectedly darker lyric than you might at first discern. This is an epic song – damn, I wish I'd written it!
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Post by berkley on Apr 29, 2024 11:01:58 GMT -5
Favorite albums of 1994 #1 - The Mavericks - What a Crying Shame
This is the album where The Mavericks became The Mavericks. Yeah, they'd released two previous albums. And they were alright. But they were both fairly standard neotraditional country albums. Fine for what they were, but nothing remotely special. With "What a Crying Shame" the band started to branch out and explore their influences, particularly the south Florida Cuban influences that would really influence the band later on. I would argue that it's their best single album. And it's definitely the one where Raul Malo really found his voice. And what a voice it is. Yeah, there is more to the band than Malo. But damn...that voice. This album is just jam-packed with amazing cuts that make perfect use of Malo's pipes. At various times I've had five or six cuts from this album on various playlists. Great cuts written by Raul Malo and Kostas in the title track and "There Goes My Heart." Incredible covers of Springsteen's "All That Heaven Will Allow" and Jesse Winchester's "O What a Thrill." Thirty to forty years earlier, Malo would have been an amazing Latin crooner. Here, he and The Mavericks fuse traditional country, countrypolitan, and Latin sounds and it is just a joy for this boy to hear. I'll add that they haven't missed a step in the ensuing years and are absolutely incredible in concert. Is this as important an album as American Recordings? Nope. But it gives me just as much joy. And I listen to it start to finish a bit more often. And there are a whole lot more single tracks off it that I listen to a whole lot. I have this cd but, as with Johnny Cash's American Recordings, totally forgot it came out in 1994. Yeah, I remember liking this one at the time. Can't recall which song I heard that made me buy the cd now. In general I think I would have been even more of a fan of the Mavericks if they'd leaned a little harder into the Latin influences: I liked them but they were just a little too much on the straight-country side of things for me to become a loyal fan. All the same, nice album, great choice for your number 1 of 1994. |
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