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.
MARY FAHL: selections from Lenses of Contact (2000)
This is a 4-track EP heralding Fahl's debut album, and which is available in abundance in Atlanta record shops. Fahl, formerly the singer for October project, sings with a deep, resonant voice and the New York sessioners around her fill the space with lush instrumentation. The eventual album will apparently be out on Managra Records in 2001.
MELISSA FERRICK: Massive Blur (1994, ***)
Bostonian Ferrick had all the ingredients for alt-rock success in the mid-90s, but it eluded her. She had a considerable reputation from the Massachusetts coffeehouse scene. She had a highly praised slot opening for Morrissey on the Vauxhall & I tour. She had indie cred through the presence of ex-dB member Peter Holsapple playing on her debut album. But her timing was off. By 1994, college radio wasn't playing anything on a major label, and the new breed of "alternative" stations that cropped up in the wake of Nevermind had already filled their playlists with emotional female singers (McLachlan, Phair, Merchant) and weren't in the market for more. So Ferrick remains mostly unknown outside of New England; in fact I cannot recall a single print item about her, and only bought this album, eight years after its release, because I kept seeing her stuff filed next to Bryan Ferry, liked the cover, and Wherehouse had it marked down to the 3-for-$5 pile. Massive Blur is pretty good, but mostly feels like unfulfilled promise. (Many commentators say that later albums were superior.) The lyrics are dark and emotional -- "Hello Dad" begins by asking "Daddy, are you drunk again?" -- and Ferrick sings them in an open, clearly enunciated style that is engaging in a bluesy way. The song arrangements are nothing unusual. In fact, the whole thing suffers from familiarity and length; at fourteen songs, it's too long by two. Not a bad record, but five plays were plenty.
ELLA FITZGERALD: Forever Young (**)
A tacky, cheapo European compilation I found for about $4, this is beautiful, emotional music, and for $4, it was worth it to get these 16 songs. I would certainly prefer a collection with some kind of liner notes and more than one photo; this one doesn't even have recording dates or musician credits.
THE FLAMING LIPS: The Soft Bulletin (1999, UK #39, ****)
This fantastic 1999 album won the Lips their first mainstream critical acceptance beyond their earlier novelty single "She Don't Use Jelly" and a whacking 14 years of weird, psychedelic, complicated albums. Deeply emotional, orchestral and occasionally very strange, this is exciting pop innovation.
BEN FOLDS: Fear of Pop Volume I (1998, *)
If Ben Folds Five sometimes exhibits a Paul McCartney groove, then their frontman's first solo album, from 1998, exhibits the love of tape-loops and experimentation of Lennon's "Revolution 9." Some of the instrumentals and studio collages are interesting, but, with the exception of the two well-done tracks with guest vocalist William Shatner, the joke becomes stale after only a few listens, and frankly the harsh and grating "Rubber Sled" couldn't even keep me focussed the first time through.
THE FOUR CORNERS: Say You're a Scream (2001, ****)
This nifty little hybrid of Athens and NYC rock were only together for a short time, but they released, on Kindercore Records, one of my favorite albums of 2001. They don't update the Stooges' sound (there's a cover of "No Fun"), but they do bring in a Velvet Underground style and sensibility for some wonderfully retro garage rock. The 15 song album appears twice on the CD: once in mono and then again in stereo. After the considerable hoopla in Athens over its debut, percussionist Neil Cleary and bassist Julia Rydholm returned north to their bands The Essex Green and The Sixth Great Lake, while guitarist Ryan Lewis joined The Agenda, who released their first album in 2002. Singer Tracy Hatch left the music scene and opened a bakery in Athens.
FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD: Bang!...The Greatest Hits (1993, UK #4, **)
The most bombastic band of the 80s gets a respectable archive in this 1994 compilation. Sadly, for every work of pop genius like "Relax" there's an embarassingly macho pose like "Warriors of the Wasteland" or "Rage Hard."
GAVIN FRIDAY: Adam 'n' Eve (1992, ***)
The former Virgin Prunes leader takes the spotlight with a melodramatic, moody, critically ignored gem. Somewhere between Marc Almond and Marc Bolan, with a beautiful anti-Gulf War duet with Maria McKee and the fabulous "I Want to Live."
GAVIN FRIDAY: Shag Tobacco (1995, ***)
This is by no means a bad album. It is, however, damn near impenetrable. Here, Gavin goes further than Marc Almond ever has in appropriating European nightclub decadence. The thing feels like some Belgian bar, making no concessions to traditional pop or rock. The most direct offender is "Mr. Pussy," which barely hangs together around its scant structure, and then fades away, leaving some smarmy compere narrating what's left of the song in an affected "luvvly, luvvly" accent. The Marc Bolan influence makes itself known in a decent cover of "The Slider." This is not an album to pick up if you really liked the song he did on Moulin Rouge.
FUEL: "Shimmer" CD single
Cut from the same cloth as matchbox 20 and Third Eye Blind, but considerably superior, this radio fave is paired with the non-LP tracks "Walk the Sky" and "Sunday Girl." Probably not destined to age that well.
FUTURE BIBLE HEROES: "I'm Lonely (and I Love It)" EP (2000)
This is one of Stephin Merritt's side projects away from the Magnetic Fields, wherein he provides lyrics and some of the vocals, but the instruments are by Christopher Ewen. The title track is a glorious mope in Merritt's baritone, but with more energy and upbeat charm than is often heard on Fields albums. Claudia Gonson sings two of the songs, including the spectacular remix of "Hopeless."
FUZZBOX: Big Bang (1989, UK #5, **)
Ballsy, sexy and upfront, this British girl group started looking like Sigue Sigue Sputnik, then went all glam and pretty for several hitmaking months in 1989 before disbanding. This contains the loud and confident "Self!," the Gerry Anderson tribute "International Rescue" and a cover of Yoko Ono's "Walking on Thin Ice" that's lots more listenable than the original.