The Beastie Boys confuse the hell out of me on this record, but that’s probably by design and likely what endears so many people to them. I have only heard a few of their other albums but this is the most traditionally “musical” of those, so it’s the one you’d think I’d like the most.
Category: 1994
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994, Mike Newell)
This film, which should really be called Threes Weddings, a Funeral and a Fourth Wedding, is one of the innumerable ’90s films I told myself I had seen as a teen, only to discover upon watching it now, that I’ve definitely never seen it before. (I probably watched five minutes of it when I was …
Rusty (1994) by Rodan
Whether or not you have read the comparisons, it’s pretty much impossible to listen to this record without thinking about Slint if you have ever heard Spiderland. Because these guys have heard Spiderland, and they want you to know that they liked it. They liked it a lot.
The Lion King Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1994) by Elton John, Tim Rice, Hans Zimmer et al.
I don’t normally review soundtracks. But occasionally the anniversary of a soundtrack comes up, when the soundtrack was so big, and so culturally relevant to a generation, that to ignore it would be against the purpose of my podcast. So here I am. This one has a lot of baggage.
Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (1994) by OutKast
Everything I know about scenes is confined to rock music, and most of the detailed stuff I know about rock scenes is confined to the psychedelic rock scenes of the 1960s. That’s probably the only period where I could hear music I don’t know and give a good guess as to where it was made. …
Illmatic (1994) by Nas
I am not a fan of hip hop and I pay no attention to hip hop or hip hop oriented media. One advantage of that, when I actually listen to hip hop, is that I have no expectations. I don’t know what albums are considered good or not good, beyond seeing some ratings or reviews, …
The Bleeding (1994) by Cannibal Corpse
To the best of my knowledge, this is the best selling death metal album of all time. Something about that makes it sound like its an essential record to me, which is why I find myself listening to a straight-up death metal record from 1994, years after the genres invention, and probably right around the …
Bullets Over Broadway (1994, Woody Allen)
Obligatory mention: Woody Allen has been accused of sexually assaulting his adopted daughter. He also married the adopted daughter of his former partner. I can completely understand if you want to never watch another Woody Allen film, or read about Woody Allen. Bullets Over Broadway has been on my “To Watch” list for my entire …
In the Nightside Eclipse (1994) by Emperor
I really enjoyed Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk, the follow up to this record, because I really had no idea what I getting into, and figured it was just some run of the mill black metal. I am listening to this one after that one because apparently like to do things out of order.
Troublegum (1994) by Therapy?
When I first heard “Knives” I thought “YES!” and figured I had just found a new favourite band. But that track turns out to be the album’s most immediate track – it’s a smart thing to lead off with in some respects but a bad idea in others.
Under the Pink (1994) by Tori Amos
Amos’ debut was so ambitious and so impressive (if you can get by the histrionics) that I think the world might have been tempted to think there’s no way she can follow it up.
Jung: A Very Short Introduction (1994) by Anthony Stevens
When I was a teenager, some adult told me about Jung’s collective unconscious. I didn’t read a thing about it, but took whatever they told me and created my own elaborate theory about our thoughts influencing others (which has nothing to do with Jung). Ultimately, that theory was a responsible for a lot of mental …
Knussen: Horn Concerto, Whitman Settings, The Way to Castle Yonder, Flourish with Fireworks (1996) by Various Artists
This is a collection of Knussen’s orchestral music.
The Life of Graham Greene Volume Two: 1939-55 (1994) by Norman Sherry
Even more than Volume 1, this biography is for fans only.
Symphony No. 3 “Simfoniya-poema”; Triumphal Poem / Caucasian Sketches (1994) by BBC Philharmonic conducted by Fedor Glushchenko
This is a bizarre pairing of a Khachaturian symphony, one of his symphonic poems and an orchestral suite from another Russian composer from the 1890s. The fact that they don’t sound so out of place together suggests how conservative Khachaturian was as a 20th century composer.
The Complete Early Recordings of Skip James (1994, 2009)
This is one of the numerous discs to collect all nine of Skip James 1931 78 records that he recorded before he abandoned his music career – or whatever happened – until being “rediscovered” in the ’60s. This music is essential listening for fan of the blues or people interested in music history. James among …
Ives: The Symphonies; Orchestral Sets 1 and 2 (2000) by Various Artists
This is one of those Decca compilations that takes recordings from all over its catalogue – in this case from the mid ’70s and the mid ’90s – to create an ostensibly “complete” collection of a composer’s works in a given field, in this case Ives’ work for large orchestra. Of course it’s not complete, …
A History of Rome – Second Edition (1991, 1994, 1996, 2001) by Marcel Le Glay, Jean-Louis Voisin, Yann Le Bohec, David Cherry
This is a general history of Rome meant, I believe, for use in schools as a textbook. It’s written that way anyway, so it’s rather dry. The strength of the book is in the early going when it provides a great deal of pre-history to the empire, pretty much all of which I was unfamiliar …
Symphonies Nos. 45, 46, 47 (1994) by Joseph Haydn, performed by Tafelmusik conducted by Bruno Weill
This disc collects three of Haydn’s “middle” symphonies, at a time when Haydn was getting more and “romantic” for lack of a better word. Like all Tafelmusik recordings, they are played on period instruments.
The Creature from Jekyll Island (1994) by G. Edward Griffin
A necessary critique utterly ruined by conspiratorial nonsense. I have finished nearly every book I have ever started but I will not be finishing this one. I apologize for the slipshod nature of the review that follows. This has been a trying experience for me.
Granados: Danzas espanolas (1994) by Angela Hewitt
I love Keith Jarrett, and I want to believe that his “improvised” sets from the mid ’70s on are indeed spontaneously conceived, but listening to these dances, I detect at the very least the inspiration for (to get snobby) the harmonic language of The Koln Concert at the very least, in two of these. This …
Miserere et. al (1994) by Henryk Gorecki, performed by John Nelson et al.
This is a collection of Gorecki’s choral music, mostly performed by choruses from Chicago. (Yet another release where the performers differ from track to track! I really need to get over this.) Fortunately, I wouldn’t have known that, if they didn’t tell me. So that’s something.
Baseball (1994, 2010 Ken Burns, Lynn Novick)
Burns and co.’s constant mythologizing is a lot more appropriate here than it was in The Civil War, and as such I feel like this effort is the more successful one, despite the greater historical importance of the first series. And to their credit, they only mythologize about certain things: for examples, the game’s ludicrous …
Officium (1994) by Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble
I often have a hard time with “ECM” jazz. On the whole I prefer my free jazz loud and intense, not quiet and not so “cool.” In fact, ECM often just sounds to me like second wave cool; a little freer but that’s about it. Frankly, I don’t enjoy it much of the time.
Violin Concerto, Opera Intermezzi, Pieces for Small Orchestra (1994) by Frederick Delius, performed by Symphony Nova Scotia and Georg Tintner
Though it doesn’t really contain the big hits, this is a pretty solid collection. I like the violin concerto. I also like the “Two Pieces for Small Orchestra.” The music is still a little safe for me, but it’s pleasant. 7/10 “Prelude” from Irmelin (6/10) This prelude for one of Delius’ early operas doesn’t …
Smash by the Offspring (Epitaph 1994)
Two things about this make it better than most other ’90s pop punk: the louder, hard rock guitars and the “social comment.” The Offspring were certainly more literate than Greenday (at least at the time). On the other hand, Dexter is a pretty terrible singer (which would be more acceptable if the music was faster) …
The Young Pioneers: the Complete Music for Solo Piano by Aaron Copland, performed by Leo Smit (1994 Columbia)
I am normally not a big Copland fan but this gives me a whole new appreciation of him as a composer. The only thing I find annoying is the sequencing, which doesn’t give us a good idea of his development. 9/10
Portrait of an American Family by Marilyn Manson (Interscope 1994)
Manson is often compared to Cooper but listening to this album I think that’s not particularly fair. Manson is significantly scarier than Cooper (even if he isn’t scary) but, more importantly, the band is more musically interesting than Cooper’s. Cooper was just doing arena rock with a spooky stage show. Here, at least, the music …
The Larry Sanders Show
Having recently (re)watched The Larry Sanders Show: I think The Larry Sanders Show is one of the great American television programs and one of the great comedy programs of all time. Though it was certainly not the first TV show to parody TV, nor was it the first show to be about talk shows, it …
Movies
One of the things I did in Florida was watch a lot of movies. Because that’s what you do in Florida when it’s dark and you’ve got crazy American cable with 30+ movie channels. That’s not to say that’s all I did (though this list will give you that impression), but I definitely watched a …