new introductory bit here.
This is a reviews page based on my own collection, which just keeps growing despite itself. If it isn't listed here, it's because I don't own it yet, or I haven't gotten around to it yet.
Also, bother your local "new rock" radio station and make sure they are playing "new rock" and not "Rock the Casbah," which is not new.
note: entries in red text indicate my pick for the artist's best available album. A gold numeral indicates the POPocalypse winner of the year's best album; second- and third-place winners are in blue. Green lettering indicates an obviously exploitative record company compilation without apparent artist input.
ABBA: ABBA Gold (1992, UK #1, US #63, ****)
Most of the necessities in this 19-track collection, assembled in random order and with pretty good packaging, but lacking "Happy New Year" and keeping some better-forgotten superproduced 70s schlock. Still, no record collection is truly complete without "Dancing Queen," which Polydor had the good sense to open this with. God, they were ugly though, weren't they?
ALTERED IMAGES: The Best of Altered Images
A 17-song 1992 collection, arranged chronologically and containing a few rare B-sides, including the annoying "Disco Pop Stars." Oddly, it features the long LP version of "I Could Be Happy" instead of the single version. Few photos, good critical essay.
ALTERED IMAGES: I Could Be Happy, the Best of...
By focussing on 16 more solid A-sides, adding the superior single version of "I Could Be Happy," and having more photos, this is the better of the two compilations fans can choose from...by a nose.
ANGELFISH: "Suffocate Me" EP
Four-song sampler from Angelfish's only LP, produced by Chris Franz and Tina Weymouth. Their singer, Shirley Manson, would go on to bigger things with Garbage, though she's just as strong a vocalist here.
ANONYMOUS BOSCH: Union: Partition (1998, ***)
Chris Haines leads this aggressive and talented unsigned three-piece from California, and this 1998 debut is awfully strong. There are nine songs and three short soundscapes, all building up to the remarkably smooth and passionate "Wall of Shame" 2/3 in, before fading down through the last three tracks. Not a mature act by any means, but one insistent on growing in public. Frankly, it's very fun watching them do so.
ANONYMOUS BOSCH: "Bicoastal" EP
This 1999 EP, second release from the Palm Desert, CA band, begins with the awesome guitar rock of "Methadone." The other three songs are also pretty good. Fine vocals, refusal to compromise.
AQUA: Aquarium (1997, UK #6, *)
I wanted to like this... in 1997, this Danish act whacked the American charts with the lawsuit-inducing novelty hit "Barbie Girl." Unfortunately, what works on a single pales over 45 minutes. It's mostly Lene Nystrom's "li'l girl" vocals squeaking merrily through upbeat synth hyperpop, with her male partner Rene Dif rapping deeply and providing unwelcome intrusion into every track. The few slow songs sound just like anything your local soft rock station might play. A resounding miss, despite producing a shocking three #1 singles in England.
TASMIN ARCHER: "Sleeping Satellite" CD single
Three versions of the beautiful lead song (one of them acoustic, one extended), plus an acoustic reading of "Man at the Window."
MURRAY ATTAWAY: In Thrall (1993, **)
Atlanta's -- oh, all right, Marietta's -- Guadalcanal Diary splintered in 1989 just as they were poised for crossover success. Their frontman Attaway made a convincing attempt at a solo career on DGC, but found himself hampered by record company and radio apathy; it seems unlikely anyone not connected to the Atlanta alternative scene had any idea he'd returned with a strong set of guitar folk pieces. Guadalcanal has reformed for show a few times in the past decade, but without lasting success.