Rick Derris Wrote:
Good call, and I'd say it's definitely her best.
Car Wheels got all the attention, but that's just because it was an entry point for a bunch of tone-deaf critics who'd only just discovered her. Since that one, though, she has managed about one or two good songs per album among mountains of dreck and some of the worst lyrics known to mankind.
Dreams So Real Rough Night In Jericho
One of the Athens bands that appeared in the wake of REM, their sound was similar in some ways although with a harder rock edge. The album is full of that big echo-y production that anchors it to the '80s, but songs like "Bearing Witness" are so razor-sharp and hook-filled that you probably won't care.
Art Bergmann - Crawl With Me
Post K-Tels/Young Canadians, Post Poisoned, Post Los Popularos, and already one album into what was expected to become a glorious solo career, Bergmann enlisted ex-VU demigod John Cale as producer for his sophomore release. The problem was that Cale at that point was a rock-hating drunk who insisted that Bergmann's songs didn't need so much guitar aggression. WRONG. Cale attempted to completely neuter Bergmann with saccharine mainstream keyboards, and yet, even then, Bergmann's voice managed to cut through the shit. It might have been because songs like "Our Little Secret" (about child molestation) and "The Junkie Don't Care" were just impermeable to any kind of makeover, or maybe Cale's clueless sheen added a layer of sanitized irony to the whole sordid project, but the album is far stranger than anything else in Bergmann's catalogue.
Eleventh Dream Day - Prairie School Freakout
One of the first of the alternative/college rock bands that took Neil Young exclusively as their base template, but it's
Zuma Neil not
Harvest Neil, meaning lots of wiry solos and sloppy fuzz surrounding a keening, whining vocalist. Some prefer
Beet as Eleventh Dream Day's highwater mark, but for me this was as good as they got.
John Hiatt - Slow Turning
My personal fave John Hiatt album. As direct and heartfelt as Hiatt would ever get, still rough around the edges, but with a clutch of songs ("Drive South", "Tennessee Plates", "Slow Turning", "Feels Like Rain", "Georgia Rae") that should've reserved a permanent spot for Hiatt in the big leagues.
Zodiac Mindwarp & the Love Reaction - Tattooed Beat Messiah
Amongst all the hair farming of the late 80s these guys appeared to show all the posers how it's done. Of course, this was all a pose itself - the absolutely hilarious ultra-macho lyrics tip the hat - but it works because the band rocks so unrelentingly hard. "Prime Mover" is the one song you NEED to hear, but the whole album holds up surprisingly well.