Pretty important year for me.

The best album from what is arguably the best band of the decade. Equal parts pop, techno and punk, this one brings on hook after hook, framed in a way that was fresh and exciting, and still is today. Exhillarating, even (pardon my spelling). An incredible band, at the peak of their powers.

Great pick, Todd.

Another great album from 1997 that I like almost as much as Radiator from another great Welsh band:


Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - Barafundle
Awesome, catchy pop weirdness.


(I never knew before watching this that "mynci" is pronounced "monkey".)

The performance is rough, and they seem pretty nervous. Pretty cool to see what they looked like around this time, though. They look like kids, like the singer could even have been the same age I was at the time (17).

This one is probably where Cornershop got it the most-right, as far as combining their BritPop influences, with their Indian heritage. The sitars and tabalas are more than just decoration, and are woven beautifully into some pretty great hooks. Love this record.

Yeah, this is the one with "Song 2" (the "WOO-HOO" song), but there is a lot more to it than that. Another contender for best band of the decade, on this one Damon and the boys explore the whole American underground sound -- GBV, Pavement, et. al. And they are not wholly unsuccessful. In fact, they do damn well. Some really great tunes on this.

My favorite Apples record, and maybe my 3rd overall fave from the E6 (behind both of the NMH records). The first track, "Seems So", never fails to bring a smile to my face, and the rest of the album follows suit. Pure, sunshine pop. Perfect for blasting in your car with the windows down on a summer day.

(Yeah, this was a good year for me, too.)

Yep, good year.

Electronic music was supposed to be a big thing in 1997, and MTV was certainly pushing it. "Big Beat" shit like the Chemical Bros. and The Prodigy were all over the place (and I kind of liked that Prodigy album at the time even though I hated that "Firestarter" song at first).

But then there was also this:

...which I loved at the time and still love. Great Michel Gondry video and really fun song.


Daft Punk - Homework
And this is the only Daft Punk album I like. There's a rawness and punchy-ness that their later, slicker stuff lacks, I think. The name "Daft Punk" actually makes sense for this album.

And there was also this video:

...which I didn't like at all at the time. I got into Aphex Twin (and director Chris Cunningham) a few years later and really came to love this, but now it does look kinda Marilyn Manson-ish and silly. Although I think it's supposed to be kind of silly. Nothing Richard D. James has ever done except maybe Selected Ambient Works Vol. II should be taken completely seriously. (Some would even say that this song was meant as a parody of "Firestarter".)


Aphex Twin - Come to Daddy EP
Fantastic EP. If you were to look over the song titles, it would appear that it's half made up of remixes of the title track. But as anyone familiar with Aphex Twin knows, what he considers a "remix" is generally an entirely new song that cannibalizes the original for raw material and twists into something unrecognizable. Such is the case here.

My 10-year-old loves this album.

A little bit of a down year relatively speaking for me, but there's still a few things I really like:



Donnie Fritts - Everybody's Got a Song





Buena Vista Social Club

Doubt this one needs any description



Fred Eaglesmith - Lipstick, Lies & Gasoline

Roots Rock, Reg Rock from Canada



James Mathus - James Mathus & His Knockdown Society Play Songs For Rosetta





The Derailers - Reverb Deluxe

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Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Boatman's Call

Probably my favorite album of his.



Caetano Veloso - Livros

Caetano backed by Bahian percussion band Timbalada



Virginia Rodrigues - Sol Negro

This was her debut. She was discovered by Caetano Veloso when she was performing in a theatre group. He was so impressed with her singing that he arranged for her to get a recording contract, mentored her and helped recruit other big names such as Milton Nascimento, Gilberto Gil, Celso Fonseca, and Djavan to contribute to the album. It's a beautiful album. RIYL: Caesaria Evora

WuTang Forever was overall such a bust that in retrospect it might be what made me be less interested in rap in the ensuing years.

I was kinda bummed by Wu-Tang Forever at the time, too. I just kept listening and listening hoping that I'd eventually really get into it, but I never did. I just got sick of it.

Of course it's nowhere near as bad the album Oasis put out that year.

yes on Boatman's Call

Good year -

yes on all of those as well. good selections.

Yes yes yes to so many of the above. Also:

Cornelius - Fantasma
Original release was in 1997, but could count for either that or 1998 (the US/Matador release). I can't remember if this was posted in the 1998 thread or not. It probably was.

Anyway:

Songs don't get much better than this although this does deserve to be heard in better quality. I can't find a full quality version with the video.

I think that I posted that Cornelius in the 1998 thread.
It's a really good album.

I mainly just wanted to post that video.

I'm not complaining.