+1 (I'll also add that it's the only one that really stands up--and this is coming from someone who worshiped the debut when it came out.)

Off the top of my head...



One of the best of the 90's. Holds up and all that. Shit, I might play it tmrw.



An all time favorite, it puts me into a better mood just thinking about this record. "Blue" is one of my all time favorite songs. "Miss Williams' Guitar" makes me want to jump out a window. Hot damn it's all good.

The mid-90s were all about the rap for me when I was in high school. Funny that I can hardly listen to the stuff anymore.

In 1995, there was no bigger album than this



And this one probably isn't well known but was the single biggest album among my friends in high school

HAHA - TRU. Man we used to KILL that album.

And that Luniz album is TERRIBLE, but it might have spawned the best rap single of the decade.

+1 on:

Wilco
Sparklehorse
Son Volt
Mike Watt
Teenage Fanclub

especially that Mike Watt album

Also:



Guy Clark - Dublin Blues

I could post just about every GC album in their respective years but this might be my favorite GC album. Just great songs like Hank Williams Said it Best, the title track and Randall Knife which had also appeared on an earlier GC album but this was my introduction to it.



It's an elegy to his father told through a story about his father's randall knife. I had just lost my father when I first heard this (at about the same age as GC had lost his father) and could completely relate to the song/story. I still have a hard time listening to it without choking up.



The Dandy Warhols - The Dandys Rule Ok?

A great debut album that launched a major label bidding war. Unfortunately, they never came close to reaching the same heights. It's a much different sound than their later albums -- much more melodic and jangly. It reminds me a little of the Strokes or the Wedding Present's "Watusi".



The The - Hanky Panky

Matt Johnson covers Hank Williams Sr. surprisingly well.



The Insomniacs - Wake Up

Hook laden Garage Rock.



TV Smith - Immortal Rich

Surprisingly good solo album by the Adverts' TV Smith. For my money, the best thing he's done this side of "Crossing the Red Seas with the Adverts."

I remember sometime back in the mid-80's watching Nashville Now on the old Nashville Network (a prospect that nearly made me wretch, as a I recall) just because Guy was going to be a guest. He did one song, then went to the couch for the obligatory "interview" with Ralph Emery (who always reminded me of a creepy-ass funeral director). Emery said something to the effect that he'd been told that Clark had written the best song ever called The Randall Knife, and told Clark to "sing a few lines" as they faded to a commercial. He looked at Emery with a classic expression and said, "I can't sing a few lines of that song. If you want to hear it, I'll play it all." And he did. I like the original version from Better Days more than the one on Dublin Blues, but it's a fine line that separates the two.

man i never realized how g'd out obner is. luv u guys

Johnette Napolitano's side project from Concrete Blonde. A must hear for fans of...Concrete Blonde.



Royal Trux's Thank You. Slightly shined pig rock from and for gross people.



Mojave 3's Ask Me Tomorrow. Sleepy even by dream pop standards.



Luna's Penthouse. I generally always forget this band exists until I scroll past it in my ipod. This is usually what I play.



Mad Season Above. I still have an unnatural affection for this album.



Neil Young Mirrorball. This album has aged significantly well for me over the years. PJ and Neil should try to hook it up once more.



Tragically Hip's Day for Night. They decided at this point to basically write a bunch of anti-anthems to thin out the mooks from the crowd.

ask me tomorrow = quality.

man, what a massive year. i spent a good part of the first half of it kickin' it in missoula, montana. lot's of good memories associated with the following:



and, yes...i even gotta give it up for:

which got an insane amount of plays between the gazillion phish and GD tapes circulating at the time. i think i turned a fair amount of hippies into Archers of Loaf and Pavement fans back then. hippies do NOT dig brit-pop turns out....

HUGE +1's on the Chemical Brothers, Flaming Lips, Morphine, Oasis, Pulp, Supergrass, Teenage Fanclub, Radiohead, Tricky and Yo La Tengo albums.

in going thru my itunes, the one thing that may have slipped under the radar that i think is worthy of checking out:

a nice little split EP which i think contains far and away the two best BtS songs: "When Not Being Stupid Is Not Enough" and "She's Real".

speaking of teenage fanclub, 1995 is also when this came out:



Frank Black with Teenage Fanclub as his backing band doing a peel session.

as for the shit that came to me later in life, +1's on the Wilco, Red Red Meat and Son Volt, and i'll throw in a few more:

California stands up just as well for me.

some other favorites.

+1 for Luna and Alien Lanes.

AZ was really ahead of his time with terrible 00s style design.

Man, when I had all my CDs stolen freshman year, I was left with the single for the hit song in this. Like many a rap album, the single was great - the album not so much.

Good call on ODB, Jon. That, Rae and Meth allmget jumbled in my mind as to when they were released. All the best Wu solo stuff.

One of my favorite years for music. Period.
I'll post a couple more when I'm not on an iTouch.

I was gonna mention this one as well. Good album and "I'm The Ocean" rises to the level of great.

And Estone: The Harry Hood on A Live One will always be the Gold Standard for me.

Is this any good? I don't think I've ever heard it.

It's good, but really short. 4 songs, including covers of Otis Blackwell's "Handyman" and Del Shannon's "Sister Isabel" and a couple FB throwaways in "The Man Who Was Too Loud" and "The Jacques Tati". Surprised you've never heard it.

Lilys - Eccsame The Photon Band



I wrote this awhile ago:

There are certain records in all of our collections that we might praise, but ultimately undervalue. "Yeah, wow that IS a great record, I almost forgot about it!"

I've had Eccsame the Photon Band for years and listened to it quite a few times. At the behest of some friends and contemporaries I was constantly reminded that I should give this album it's due, but typically brushed it aside. It's underrated, under-mentioned, nearly unheard in comparison to similar records of the era. I knew it was good, but it wasn't until recently that I actually realized how good this record actually is.

Always placed within the confines of the shoegaze genre, the Lilys foray into the wonderful world of distorted guitars sounds nothing like Loveless or Nowhere. Listening to the record, you can make out individual guitar chords, hear the lyrics and never feel overwhelmed by the oft-suffocating limits and compression of records that employ sounds we typically deem "shoegaze." Eccsame sounds and feels like it has room to breathe. These are ostensibly pop songs hidden beneath the veil of distortion and slow-tempos. There are instances of extended guitar flourishes and electronic washes, but the pop songs remain just under the surface - seeking their way out of the haze, embedding themselves in your head.

No, this isn't My Bloody Valentine or even Slowdive - this is a less epic Stone Roses, a Byrds album recorded for the autumn, it's almost Yo La Tengo. This album could only be a product of the middle 1990's, a product of every band doing similar things at that time AND those bands' influences. This isn't party music, it's not music to listen to while hanging out with friends. The album is taken in best when you take it in alone. That's what I've done many times over the past week. Do I think it's an all-time classic now? No I still don't, but I don't think I'll ever undervalue Eccsame The Photon Band again. It deserves a place among the giants of the genre and the giants of your collection

Also yeah, I didn't realize how insane of a year this was until now. I just picked it at random. I have 161 albums in my itunes from 1995, a bunch not listed already and then you guys have been posting a ton of shit i have never heard. awesome

Nobody's more surprised than me.

Talk about great singles. Mystikal's Y'all Ain't Ready Yet off of his s/t debut. I taped this off of the radio and would play it over and over again. Still think it's the best thing he ever did. Also from 95. Then Mysitkal jumped ship to No Limit, which led to the greatest NOLA rap song ever, UNLV's Drag Em From the River (but that's 96').