I remember how much of a big deal it was when John Woo came to the US to make movies. I don’t really remember why I knew about him, given my age at the time and the fact that I’ve still never seen Hard Target all the way through, but I knew his reputation. I …
Tag: 1992
Clockers (1992) by Richard Price
This is a crime thriller/murder mystery novel that actually turns out to be a tragedy instead. It is artfully done and feels really authentic, at least to someone like me (who knows nothing of this kind of thing). Massive SPOILERS
Zendegi va digar hich [And Life Goes On aka Life, and Nothing More] (1992, Abbas Kiarostami)
Right before I watched this, I learned it was part of an unofficial trilogy. Part 2, to be precise. So I thought I shouldn’t watch it first. But then I read that Kiarostami rejected the idea of a trilogy and I thought “Okay, great, this is one of those film critic trilogies so I don’t …
Children of Men (1992) by P.D. James
I have seen Children of Men at least twice and am a pretty big fan. So I have no idea if what I am going to say about this book is fair or whether it just comes from having seen the movie (twice) before reading the book. Additionally, the book came out in a different …
A Practical Study of Argument (1992) by Trudy Govier
I’m still not quite sure this textbook found its way into my reading pile. My best guess is that it came from the trove from my former boss. (I can almost hear him quoting the book.) Regardless of where it came from, I really didn’t know what I was in for. I didn’t know, for …
The Future (1992) by Leonard Cohen
At this point I still haven’t heard much Leonard Cohen. It feels like it’s this gaping hole in my musical knowledge, particularly given that I am also Canadian. Now that he is dead, it feels like I really failed to give him his due in his lifetime, given that he is one of the Great …
The Bodyguard Motion Picture Soundtrack (1992) by Various Artists
No, I have not seen the movie.
Urban Discipline (1992) by Biohazard
Finally some rap metal that actually sounds like metal. That is the virtue of the band, I guess. They are much more recognizable as metal.
White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean (1992) by NOFX
There was a time in my life that I think I would have really liked the sophomoric humour of NOFX. Unfortunately for them, but probably fortunately for me, I was into Oldies and then into prog rock when I was a teenager, so there is no way I would have listened to a record like …
Rage Against the Machine (1992)
So much of what Rage did became cliche by the end of the decade that approaching this after hearing too much Rage and too many Rage imitators, it’s really hard to imagine how fresh this must have sounded in late 1992.
Liar (1992) by The Jesus Lizard
I love Goat so much that the first time I listened to this, I was severely disappointed. Why? Well, because it’s not Goat. We often get into this weird position when we love a record and it’s the only record we’ve ever heard by a band, where everything else seems to pale in comparison.
Sweet Oblivion (1992) by Screaming Trees
As I feel like I am always saying, the problem with hype is that you hear the hype before you hear the music.
Down Colorful Hill (1992) by Red House Painters
I do not know the history of slowcore, as I am only familiar with a few bands (5 or so tops) that would be considered slowcore and who existed in 1992. So I find myself unable to assess whether or not this is an important record in the development of the genre, given that lack …
Danzig III: How the Gods Kill (1992)
I have never heard Danzig before and, to the best of my knowledge, never heard Glenn Danzig before. (Except maybe on some Misfits song, but I think the only version of the band I’ve heard is one without him in it.) And there’s something I am having a hard time shaking, which will likely infuriate …
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.
Magic and Loss (1992) by Lou Reed
Reed’s attempt to combine his concept album about the wonder of the world (specifically magic) with an extended eulogy for two of his recently deceased friends is a noble effort. But I’m not sure it’s a success.
Khachaturian: Gayane; Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 (1992, 2015) by London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antal Dorati
This disc collects a suite from Khachaturian’s Gayane with Shostakovich’s 5th symphony.
From the House of the Dead (1980) by Leos Janacek, performed by the Wiener Philharmoniker, Wiener Staatsopernchor conducted by Charles Mackerras featuring Jiri Zahradnicek, Ivo Zidek, Vaclav Zitek
This disc pairs Janacek’s last (and shortest?) opera with two unrelated chamber pieces performed by an entirely different orchestra, grumble.
Janacek: Taras Bulba, The Fiddler’s Child, Jealousy (Overture), The Cunning Little Vixen Suite (1992) by Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jiri Belohlavek
This is a collection of orchestra works by Janacek; two standalone works, one overture extracted from an opera, and a suite of instrumental pieces from one of his operas.
Classic Trumpet Concerti of Haydn/Hummel (1992) by Gerard Schwarz, Y Chamber Symphony of New York
The trumpet has always been a jazz instrument for me. I guess that’s in part because I came to jazz before I came to concertos and solo pieces from the classical repertoire and because there really aren’t many trumpet pieces out there. It’s an under-utilized instrument, for sure. The trumpet always sounds regal or martial …
Alice (2002) by Tom Waits
So expectations were going to be high for something like this; a “lost” album from a theatrical production in Hamburg ten years earlier. No doubt many people came to this expecting the “lost masterpiece” that we almost always associate with the work major artists don’t record / release at the time of conception.
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 some examples, the game’s …