Blake Babies, "Sunburn," Mammoth. - Juliana Hatfield and company hit their stride with their second full-length that features one of the best songs of her career, "Out There." The album is full of Juliana's quirky pop with a couple of good songs from John Whatshisface as well. This album epitomizes (to me) what college radio would have sounded like if Nirvana hadn't come along and messed everything up. Mind you Nirvana was ok, they just stirred up so many shitty bands in their wake that dominated the scene. After her successful solo album in 1993, Juliana and this style of college-radio pop unfortunately seemed to fall out of fashion.
The Charlatans UK, "Some Friendly," Beggar's Banquet. When I first heard "Then" on MTV's 120 Minutes at 1:30 am, the song mesmerized me with it's repetitive bass, catchy hook and droning guitars. The rest of the album is similar. Few of the songs leave an impression by themselves, but as a whole this album draws you in. If most of today's Brit-pop bands were less obnoxious like these guys, I might be more interested in this genre.
The Darling Buds, "Crawdaddy," CBS. Danceable alterna-pop is the ridiculous label I'd place on this one. A fantastic album with great hooks and beats. The band never really released anything as catchy as "Crawdaddy" again, maybe because they lost focus of their melodies. But not here. All of the songs are like synthesized power-pop tunes set to 90s dance beats with nice arrangements that equally feature keyboards, guitars, real and fake drums. What the DiVinyls might have sounded like if they were any good.
Jellyfish, "Bellybutton," Charisma. Jellyfish had a huge impact on me in the 1990s, and judging by the hordes of fanatics still talking about them on the Internet, I wasn't the only one. While the production here only hints at the masterpiece they would create with "Spilt Milk," the songwriting is already fully formed. Andy Sturmer and Roger Manning were the Lennon and McCartney of the 90s, with quirky lyrics and amazing hooks. The guys had such a way with imagery that the words become as important as the music, which rarely happens in the power-pop genre. There are several brilliant songs here including "That Is Why," Baby's Coming Back," "All I Want Is Everything" and "The King Is Half-Undressed." Highly recommended to any self-respecting pop fan. It rarely gets any better than this, especially in the 90s.
The Replacements, "All Shook Down," Sire. A strange, yet brilliant album that marked the end of the line for the band. You can hear it on the album too, because it sounds a lot like the direction Paul Westerberg would take as a solo artist. The upbeat numbers like "Merry Go 'Round" are mixed with wonderfully eerie songs like "One Wink At A Time" and "Sadly Beautiful."
Paul Simon, "The Rhythm of the Saints," Warner Brothers. An interesting follow-up to Graceland that takes many of that album's themes and ideas in another direction: Simon moves from Africa to South America for his inspiration and sidemen. Some of the songs here are Simon at his best like "The Obvious Child" and "Proof." Others are atmospheric tunes that draw you into a mellow state, while a few are a tad boring. However, the use of percussion is amazing and the production is a little less 80s-sounding than Graceland, which comes as something of a relief.
The Traveling Wilburys, "Volume Three," Warner Brothers. The follow-up to the supergroup's first album (Volume Two doesn't really exist) features the same line-up minus the late Roy Orbison. While his voice is missed, the songwriting here is actually a step forward from Volume One. It seems that the guys got used to working with each other and really hit their stride. It's a shame they didn't keep it going through the 90s, but nevertheless, this album is my favorite of the two. Harrison provides some excellent songs like "The Devil's Been Busy." Dylan puts in some of his best vocal performances ever, with "If You Belonged To Me" and "Where Were You Last Night." The silly "Wilbury Twist" is quite enjoyable, Petty adds an interesting flair to "Cool Dry Place" and Jeff Lynne adds wonderful vocals and production to the whole project. Pick this one up if you had the first album and never bothered to get the second. You'll be pleasantly surprised.