This is the birth of melodic death metal in Britain, or something like that.
Category: Music
Angst (1993) by KMFDM
I had an acquaintance in high school – a friend of a friend more than a friend – who used to wear band t-shirts more than just about anyone else in our grade, and they were always of bands I’d never heard of that with names that sounded scary or logos that looked scary, looked …
Tindersticks (1993)
Throughout the history of pop rock I think it’s safe to say that debut albums have usually been not as good as albums by experienced bands. Don’t mistake the hype – there are certainly numerous debut albums which have been over-hyped over the years but, I think, on balance, most bands and artists do not …
The Land of Rape and Honey (1993) by Ministry
This is my second Ministry album but it’s an earlier one. As with so many other bands that I’ve approached backwards, this one doesn’t quite do it for me in the way that the later one did, but…
Painful (1993) by Yo La Tengo
I have only ever heard one Yo La Tengo album, I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One, and I suspect it has ruined me for their earlier career (or, perhaps, the entirety of the rest of their career). That record may or may not be their best – I wouldn’t know – but it …
Anodyne (1993) by Uncle Tupelo
I absolutely loved March 16-20, 1992 the first time I heard it. My review of it is pretty damn glowing and I’m kind of unsure I want to revisit formally because I’m pretty sure I won’t like it as much as I did the first time I encountered it. I don’t know what it was …
Gentlemen (1993) by The Afghan Whigs
Expectations are a terrible thing. I had none the first time I listened to this record. But, not really getting how it had made it on to my list of major album anniversaries for October 1993, I looked it up and started reading all the praise out there. So by the second time I listened …
Wolverine Blues (1993) by Entombed
As I feel like I write in every single metal review I write lately, the metal world is a bizarre place where esoteric fusions of niches and subgenres get all sorts of attention from fans and critics while much of the rest of the music world continues on without anyone being aware that something new …
Fisherman’s Blues (1988) by The Waterboys
I listened to the Waterboys’ debut a while ago, and grudgingly acknowledged it was probably a pretty big deal in the UK music scene at the time – it might have been the first record you could call “alternative” instead of post punk for all I know – but I didn’t love something about it, …
Ultramage OK (1988) by Soundgarden
Chris Cornell apparently didn’t like the production of their debut and I must say that, as someone who is really familiar with their ’90s efforts, this doesn’t sound like Soundgarden to me. Even Cornell himself doesn’t quite sound like himself. I’m not sure how much that can be blamed on the production, how much it …
The Serpent’s Egg (1988) by Dead Can Dance
I always find myself coming at bands backwards. This is another band where I’ve heard a later album first so my impression of them is distorted by what they did later. In this case, the band sounds pretty much the same which is both a good thing (I knew what I was getting into this …
Copperhead Road (1988) by Steve Earle
I have a weird bone to pick about records that weren’t recorded with the same group of musicians throughout. This doesn’t necessarily apply to guest vocalists, but it does apply to guests on other instruments. I guess my argument would be that I want a record to have a consistent sound and recording with different …
Colour by Numbers (1983) by Culture Club
I thought I hated Culture Club. And then I heard Kissing to Be Clever, which just shocked the hell out of me. Not the singles but the rest of the album, which was far more diverse and brave than I ever would have imagined from the singles.
Head Over Heels (1983) by Cocteau Twins
My only experience of the Cocteau Twins before this record was Blue Bell Knoll, a record that both sounds very different from this one and quite similar. Listening to this, knowing now where they came from, I think I should have rated Blue Bell Knoll higher, because I never would have guessed that it was …
Melissa (1983) by Mercyful Fate
Can you imagine a metal band naming an album Melissa? Neither could I until I learned of this record. And then I just assumed there was going to be some kind of bizarre Allman Brothers cover or it wouldn’t actually be metal.
North of a Miracle (1983) by Nick Heyward
I know literally nothing of Haircut 100. I first heard about them in a Billboard chart book I had growing up, and that’s as far as it got. I don’t know what they sound like, as I think they were one of those UK bands which just never translated to a North American audience. So …
Infidels (1983) by Bob Dylan
The conventional wisdom is that this is the first Dylan album after his weird trip to the Christian Music wilderness to really be worth listening to. I have deliberately avoided his late ’70s work because of its reputation, so I have no idea if this is his best album since Desire (1976) or not.
Uh-Huh (1983) by John Cougar Mellencamp
A number of times in the last few years I have put on a Mellencamp album with the intention of talking about it on the podcast and come up with some reason not to talk to about, so I’ve never given any of them the full three listens I want to give any record before …
Soul Mining (1983) by the The
My main complaint against synthpop is that the majority the bands decided to entirely or mostly drop conventional instruments in favour of synthesizers and drum machines. I have never been a huge fan of either instrument and so it’s an uphill battle for me when an entire album is performed with instruments I don’t like. …
She’s So Unusual (1983) by Cyndi Lauper
I have heard “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” way too many times and seen the video way too many times. I can’t say I’ve ever liked the song but at some point it became annoying. (And it doesn’t help that Weird Al’s “Girls Just Want to Have Lunch” is on the lazy side.) And, …
Can’t Slow Down (1983) by Lionel Richie
He’s just putting out so much music, with an album every two years. It’s incredible. You can’t stop him and he won’t stop himself. Ahem…
Prehistoric Sounds (1978) by The Saints
Eternally Yours might be the first ever “punk with horns” album, but the band lacked the courage of its convictions and only put them on some tracks. Not so here; instead we have the full embrace of the horn section and the result is, for me, a substantial improvement on the last album.
Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) (1978) by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band
For some reason, so much of my experience of Beefheart is tied up with Safe as Milk and Trout Mask Replica, and how the latter is such a huge departure from a former, that when I hear latter Beefheart records that are closer in spirit to his early work than Trout Mask Replica I’m not …
52nd Street (1978) by Billy Joel
Full disclosure: I do not like Billy Joel. This is the third record of his I’ve listened to in the last year or so and I have liked exactly zero of them. Moreover, I don’t think I get Billy Joel. At all. I listen to this record and I don’t understand how there are 4/5 …
Killing Machine (1978) by Judas Priest [aka Hell Bent for Leather]
Judas Priest are not my favourite metal band by a long shot, but I had to admire how significant Stained Class was, with some tracks feeling like they were NWOBHM before such a thing even existed. I can’t decide now whether that was due to my very low expectations or the sound of that record, …
Uncovered (2014) by Maya Beiser
I heard part of her cover of “Lithium” courtesy of Cover Me and thought “Wow” and so I decided I had to get this record without another thought. I had never heard of Beiser and had no idea what I was in for. I had high expectations because the part of “Lithium” I heard was …
Suzi Quatro (1973)
I know basically nothing about Suzi Quatro, but the little I knew about her piqued my interest. I don’t know that there was a prominent female bassist solo artist when she debuted. Carol Kaye is the only prominent female bassist I can think of from the 1960s and she was strictly a session player. So …
Sweet Revenge (1973) by John Prine
Many years ago – 15? – I was watching Austin City Limits as usual and John Prine came on. I had never heard of him before but I was blown away. ‘Who was this songwriter I’ve never heard of?’ I thought. I was blown away by his stage demeanour as much as his songs, probably, …
Imagination (1973) by Gladys Knight and the Pips
I basically only know Gladys Knight & the Pips from “Midnight Train to Georgia.” I assume it was their biggest hit. But it turns out I’ve also heard the second track, “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination.” Hence the first two tracks make this album almost feel like a Best Of, because it contains the …
Marjory Razorblade (1973)
Reading about someone before you listen to them is always problematic. I had never heard of this guy but then I read a lot about him on Wikipedia before listening to this record and so much of it was about how much of an “outsider” he was. Well, he may well have been an outsider …