143. Belle And Sebastian - Lazy Line Painter Jane [Box Set] (1997)




The three EP's that make up this box set are inarguably some of the best material the band has ever written.

The only fault I find with this set is my inability to recover that feeling from the very first time I heard these. I love love love these three but hearing them for the first time was something altogether different. Tracks like 'The State I Am In' I find myself even (gasp) sick of.

'Lazy Line Painter Jane', the song, was for the longest time my favorite track by them. But again I think I burnt myself out on it. But that's okay because these three discs contain so many amazing moments that you can become sick of a few tracks and still treasure the songs like 'A Century Of Fakers' and 'Beautiful' and 'String Bean Jean'.

These songs deserve to become pop standards alongside the likes penned by Bacharach and Boyce & Hart.

144. That Dog - Retreat From The Sun (1997)




One of my absolute favorite power pop albums. 'Never Say Never' and 'Minneapolis' were the first two tracks I heard and remain my favorite, but there's other gems as well.

This album also kickstarted my love for Petra Haden, though Anna Waronker takes much of the spotlight, of course. This was almost her first solo album.

Also, 'Minneapolis' was the first time I heard of the band Low.

145. Modest Mouse - The Fruit That Ate Itself [EP] (1997)




Modest Mouse's second EP was released about a year after their debut LP This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About and half a year before their second LP The Lonesome Crowded West and falls squarely between the two camps.

Tracks like 'Karma's Payment' and 'Sunspots In The House Of The Late Scapegoat' wind up being more tight and upbeat than the majority of ALongDrive yet not reaching the intensity that they would on Lonesome, yet.

'Dirty Fingernails' belongs on any Modest Mouse greatest hits record.

Dance d-d-dance d-d-dance and go crazy.

Holy shit, I had forgotten all about that guy. He was painful to watch, kind of like a mentally challenged kid doing impressions, badly. You just wanted him to go away, and then mercifully, he did.

He lost a lot of weight and became a spokesman for the weight loss company who helped him. Apparently he's got a show now where he helps you sell your home. I've seen commercials but have no idea when or where it actually airs.

146. SuperGarage - The Self-Titled Debut Album By (1997)




SuperGarage are a classic Canadian rock band in the tradition of the Tragically Hip, Headstones, The Lowest Of The Low, Junkhouse and others. This disc isn't as strong as their later two but it has a number of quality tunes on it including 'The Worst Is Over', 'Angus', and 'Work It In'.

The highlight is, inarguably, 'Elvis'. The song kicks off with the credo of "I don't care what anyone says / Elvis was bigger than the Beatles" and follows through into a song questioning how a song is written and what is most important: the chorus, the verse, or the bridge.

The song also manages to include references to their influences and idols with "Why the fuck'd the Low break up cause they were supposed to make it" and "Why the Hip's not huge in the States / the question's by the people".

147. Morrissey - Maladjusted (1997)




I couldn't remember anything about this album other than the fact that Morrissey looks like a twenty year-old American boy on the cover. After listening, I figured out why this is. There is nothing worth remembering on here.

This is the kind of stuff most people think of when they think of Moz solo, I suspect. The disc is alright. There's nothing inherently bad about it. But there's no interesting points, no standouts, and nothing that stays with you longer than three seconds after the song ends. I forget what track six sounded like already and I'm on track eight right now.

It's just all similar and bland and boring. The Smiths at their worst were still more interesting than this.

148. Tanya Donelly - Lovesongs For Underdogs (1997)




Tanya Donelly's debut solo album is a collection of pop/rock numbers in the tradition of her past bands Throwing Muses, The Breeders, and Belly.

Most of the tracks on here mix Lilith Fair-type vocals with a harder rock/power pop instrumental backdrop giving the album a rougher edge over the Sarah McLachlans and Jewels of the time. On tracks like 'Landspeed Song', there's actually a vocal delivery reminescent of Kate Bush.

The album isn't up to snuff with her past bands but it's still a fine album from a fine musician.

Great album, and a great band. Spent much time with their albums with my friends.

149. The Refreshments - The Bottle & Fresh Horses (1997)




What would become the Refreshments' last album is just shy of being as great as their big disc, Fizzy, Fuzzy, Big & Buzzy.

The band continues to mix their rock, pop and country influences. Roger Clyne's lyrics make it blatantly evident that the band is from Arizona. These songs are about Mexico, cowboys, and horses with the occasional Spanish phrase thrown in.

Tracks like 'Dolly' are near power pop, while 'Horses' is the band's true attempt at a true country number, a la the Gin Blossoms song 'Cheatin''.

'Fonder And Blonder' takes the chorus from the last album's 'Down Together' and turns it into a bridge on this one. Something I've never heard done before or since.

Truly a very good country-rock record and a shame that it was the last.

150. Björk - Homogenic (1997)




Probably my least favorite Björk album.

The cover alone is really bad. She looks hideous.

The songs aren't very memorable, I find. The only ones that really catch my attention are 'Hunter' and 'All Is Full Of Love' and probably only the latter because she repeats that phrase over and over.

I own this because I'm a completist, but otherwise probably wouldn't. And if this were the first thing I heard by her, I wouldn't have looked deeper into her catalogue.

That's my favorite Björk album and one of my all-time faves as well.

bachelorette

probably my least-fav too.

151. Beth Orton - Trailer Park (1997)




I'm still undecided on this one. I had many mood swings while listening to this.

At some points, I thought it was boring. At others, I thought it was really gorgeous. At one point, earlier on, I thought "I can't really listen to a lot of her music in one sitting. It's better when it's a song here or there." but now the disc is wrapping up and I'm undecided again.

If I could distinguish between any track, I could say "I like track _" or "track _ is really boring" but it all seems to blend together and I don't recall any specific track stopping and another one beginning. Mostly because the music, her voice, and everything else doesn't really change at all. It starts off one way and winds up the same with the same tempo, delivery and instrumentation throughout.

I guess I didn't really like it. But that's not true. It's fine background music but nothing I would put on with the intent of specifically listening to, I guess.

Her show in Barcelona in 1999 was probably the best concert experience of my life, but I never was that excited by her records.

Slight hiatus again.

This next one is going to take a while.


Indie cred to anyone who can guess what it is.

Did Creed release an album that year?

Yes, actually.

And that was the one album I did own by them at one point.

But no, that ain't it.

OK Computer?

That Bjork album is the only one that's had any real staying power with me. I even like the cover more than her other ones.

Nah, I'm not a big Radiohead fan. Ended up selling that too.

This next one's more experimental than that Radiohead one, though.

152. The Flaming Lips - Zaireeka (1997)




This is, without a doubt, one of the most ambitious albums ever created.

Four cd's with four parts of different music pieces requiring the use of four cd players and other people to help you set them off at the same time. And even if you manage to get everyone to hit play at the same time, as Wayne points out in the liner notes, no two cd players will play exactly in sync. I believe we got all four going at the same time, for the most part. By the time we got halfway through the final track, choruses were starting and stopping, overlapping, and fighting each other, like some messed up version of 'Row Row Row Your Boat'.

But that's the point.

There are mixes floating around on the net, easily downloaded, that lay all four discs' tracks on top of each other to create one album. While it's easier, the music itself suffers for it. That is not the point. The point is to have four things going on at once around you. To be surrounded by the noise. So that when the bats start screeching, it swallows you whole. To hear Wayne's storytelling coming from your right, music coming from your left, and dogs barking from in front of and behind you. Yes, it's difficult. Yes, it's annoying sometimes. And yes, it's challenging. But when it works, it really works and the results are incredible.

This is the replayable album. It never sounds the same every time. It's intended to be played with, to be experimented with. Tired of listening to all four discs at the same time? Just put on discs 1, 3 and 4 or discs 2 and 3. Start disc 2 on track 3 and disc 4 on track 5 and see what happens. The possibilites are endless. This isn't one album. These aren't eight songs. This is a billion possibilities wrapped up into one.

The only truly difficult part is deciding where to set the volume controls on each boombox.

This is a five star, ten out of ten piece of art.

153. Lisa Loeb - Firecracker (1997)




Lisa's second album is one of her strongest and my personal favorite. I find it has a bit more depth to it than Tails while remaining more solid than her later releases.

The big single, 'I Do', is a fantastic pop song and the rest of the disc follows suit, but she manages to cover enough ground to keep it interesting. 'Let's Forget About It' and 'Wishing Heart' are bouncy pop like 'I Do'. 'How' and 'Jake' are slow, inquisitive songs, with the latter's use of a string section especially powerful.

My favorite track off this is my second favorite tune from her, album closer 'Firecracker'. The single line of "you change your shoelaces / I light firecrackers" is one of my favorite lyrics from her or anyone.

I bought this the day it came out and utilized all four discs that evening while alone in my house. My parents came home to me laying on the floor with 4 cd boomboxes surrounding me. Yes, my pants were on thank you very much. I tried to play all four at the same time on one of my radio shows but had the damnest time getting them synched on air. Could've been the worst radio show I ever did...like, 7-8 false starts...ah, college radio.