More from Grip’s 1998
LOOK BACK AND SHUDDER
Year-in-Music Poll
Isn’t It All About Songs?
(A Sampling of Some Grip Essential 1998 tracks):
"Personal History"-- The Seymores (Treat Her Like a Showcat, Vernon Yard); "This Is The Day"-- Ivy (Apartment Life, Epic-550); "Sexy Boy"-- Air (Moon Safari, Source); "Rosa Parks"-- Outkast (Aquemini, LaFace); "Drunken Angel" / "Jackson"-- Lucinda Williams (Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Mercury); "Great Five Lakes"-- Buffalo Daughter (New Rock, Grand Royal); "‘A’ Was For Anarchy"-- Monorchid (Who Put Out The Fire, Touch & Go); "Closing Time"-- Semisonic (Feeling Strangely Fine, MCA);"Hard Knock Life"--Jay-Z (Def Jam); "Jeanne"-- Air / Francoise Hardy (b-side, Source); "Intergalactic" / "I Don’t Know"— Beastie Boys (Hello Nasty, Grand Royal); "The Comedians" / "Dirty Dream Number Two"-- Belle & Sebastian (The Boy With The Arab Strap, Matador); "Beautiful Skin"-- Goodie Mob (Still Standing, LaFace); "Dream Surf Baby"— Adventures in Stereo (Alternative Stereo Sounds, Bobsled); "Give Me Your Love (Love Song)" — Lambchop (What Another Man Spills, Merge); Camera Obscura-- "Park & Ride" (45, andmoresound); "The Painbirds"— Sparklehorse (Good Morning Spider, Capitol ); "Are Your New Shoes Fit For the New Dance?"— Union of a Man & a Woman (The Sound of..., Jagjaguwar); "People" / "Blue Arrangements"—Silver Jews (American Water, Drag City); "Ex-Factor"-- Lauryn Hill (The Mis-Education of..., Ruffhouse ); "So Long"-- Dump (A Plea For Kindness, Brinkman); "Walter Carlos"-- Momus (The Little Red Songbook, Le Grande Magistry); "Chapter 8: Seashore & Horizon" / Freefall"-- Cornelius Fantasma (Cornelius, Matador); "Sacre Francais"-- Dimitri From Paris (Atlantic); The Way"— Fastball (All the Pain Money Can Buy, Hollywood ); "Low Down Man"-- Squirrel Nut Zippers (Perennial Favorites, Mammoth); "California Stars" / "Ingrid Bergman"— Billy Bragg - Wilco (Mermaid Avenue, Elektra); "The Dutch Fist"— A Minor Forest (Inindependence, Thrill Jockey); "Park and Ride"-- Camera Obscura (45, Andmoresound); "Moose Jaw"-- Flin Flon (A-OK, TeenBeat);"Walk Unafraid" / "At My Most Beautiful"— REM (Up, Warner Bros.); "Coke Fizz"— Sloan (Navy Blues, Never); "Broken Homes"— Tricky w/ P.J. Harvey (Angels With Dirty Faces, Island); "Mirror"— Mekons (Me, 1/4 Stick); "Wait To Stop" / "Crest Fallen"— Pernice Brothers (Overcome By Happiness, SubPop); "Velvet Pants" / "History Repeating"-- Propellerheads (Decksanddrumsandrockandroll, Dreamworks); Gastr Del Sol-- "Bauchredner" (Camofleur, Drag City); "Common Ground"— Tribe Called Quest (Love Movement, Jive); "Long Way Down"--Snowpony (...World of Snowpony, Radioactive); "Goodnight"-- St. Entenne (Good Humor, SubPop); "Wasting Away"-- Brian Jonestown Massacre (Strung Out in Heaven, TVT)
-- Staff and voter picks
Worst of ‘98
1. The ever upwardly-spiraling price of Compact Discs
Nuff said. The Aluminums cost pennies to manufacture. No wonder used CD bins are so popular with the peeps.
2. The Virginia ABC Board.
They shut down the Floodzone in Richmond for a week, have generally terrorized clubs and bars across the commonwealth with arbitrary and utterly random enforcements of archaic drinking laws, and curiously: Some clubs and venues don’t get hit. Wonder why??
3. The Wallflowers-- "Heroes" & Puff Daddy w/ Jimmy Page-- "Come With Me" (Epic) Both from the Godzilla soundtrack-- examples of bizzer synergy and catalog rape at its crassest.
4. Plush-- In You Becomes You (Drag City) When people accuse indie rock of being precious and full of itself, stop arguing with them when they bring this doodly crap up.
5. Melissa Ruggieri
1998 was the year that the Richmond Times-Disgrace’s amateurish music writer admitted to her readers that her favorite performer was Amy Grant. Exactly how much does the T-D hate R-Town’s music scene? About this much. . .
6. Mariah / Whitney / Celine
Vanity-- thy name is shite
7. That weird way that Rock Singers sing now. Blame Eddie Vedder, blame even our own Dave Matthews, but way too many "rock" vocalists these days sound like they’ve got marbles in their mouth, yarrrghhing out their melodies in a way that could charitably be called AFFECTED! Listeners actually prefer this fake white scat singing over pure yelling and screaming?
8. Diane Warren The L.A. hack who helps everyone from Kiss to LeeAnn Rimes "craft" hits. Come back, Carole King-- all is forgiven.
9. Garth Brooks-- Double Live
The Frampton Comes Alive of WalMart Nation.
10. MTV’s Jesse
Exactly how much does MTV hate its viewers? About this much...
Worst Typos in our Newsprint Edition of the Poll:
Well, in one place we called the new Dave Matthews Band CD, Beyond the Crowded Streets, which is incorrect. And then some Gremlin typed in "Trailer Park" instead of Trailer Bride in Charlie Olver’s List of his favorites. Sorry, Chuck-- must’ve been a Brian Pafumi flashback.
Best in Reissues / Unearthed Treasures:
Bob Dylan-- Live 1966: The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert (Columbia Legacy); Hank Williams-- The Complete Hank Williams (Polygram box set); Charlie Feathers-- Get With It! (Revenant); Michael Hurley-- Long Journey (Rounder); The Kinks-- Kinks, Kinda Kinks, Face to Face, Something Else, TheVillage Green Preservation Society (Castle / Essential); Randy Newman-- Guilty: 30 Years of Randy Newman (Rhino-Warners); Eric B & Rakim--Paid in Full: The Platinum Edition (Island ); Various Artists-- Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the Original Psychedelic Era (Rhino); Miles Davis-- The Complete Bitches Brew (Columbia Legacy); Various-- James Browns Funky Divas (Chronicles); The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem-- Come Fill Your Glass With Us (Tradition); Charlie Parker-- The Complete Live Performances (Savoy Jazz); Them-- The Story of Them (Deram U.K.); John Martyn-- Solid Air / Bless The Weather (Island / Polygram); The Move-- Movements: The 30th Anniversary Anthology (Westside U.K.); Various Artists-- Exitos a Go Go (Planetary Pebbles); Beach Boys-- Endless Harmony (Capitol); Boss Soul: The Genius of Barry White (Del-Fi); John Lennon-- The Anthology (Capitol box); James Brown-- Say It Live and Loud in Dallas (Polygram); Cheap Trick-- In Color / Heaven Tonight (Epic); John Coltrane-- The Classic Quartet (Impulse box); Tom Waits-- Beautiful Maladies: Island Years (Island); Van Morrison--The Philosopher’s Stone (Polydor); Jimi Hendrix Experience--The BBC Sessions (Experience Hendrix); Marianne Faithful--A Perfect Stranger (Island); Ray Charles--Complete Country & Western Sessions (Rhino); Sandy Denny-- Gold Dust: Live at the Royalty (Island); The Essential Porter Waggoner (RCA Essential); Yoko Ono-- Season of Glass (Rykodisc); Fred Neil-- The Many Moods of Fred Neil (Collector's Choice); Gene Clark-- Flying High (A&M [UK]); Bruce Springstreen-- Tracks (Columbia box); Sun Ra-- Space is the Place (Impulse); Stereolab-- Aluminum Tunes (Drag City); Tones on Tail-- Everything (Beggar's Banquet); Grant Green-- Iron City (32 Records); Lyres-- Lyres Lyres / A Promise is Promise / On Fyre (Matador)
More on Reissues
If it's reissues your a-seekin', you'd be hard pressed tofind a label doing better handiwork than Revenant, the vanity label of guitar genius / LSD-freek / subculture hero John Fahey; recent discs by Charlie Feathers, Jenks "Tex" Carman, Dock Boggs, and The Stanley Brothers have all been gut-wrenching, and rumor has it their forthcoming retrospective of Captain Beefheart home recordings will have you pawning your children to afford it.
-- Jeremy Koren
Best in Ambient / RPM / Dance / Electronic / DUB
- DJ Andy Smith-- The Document (Phase 4)
- Add N to X-- On the Wires of Our Nerves (Mute)
- Massive Attack-- Mezzanine (Virgin)
- Hive-- Devious Methods (FFRR)
- Tricky- Angels With Dirty Faces (Island)
- U.N.K.L.E-- Psyence Fiction (Mo' Wax)
- Various Arists-- Beats of the op je fiets crew (Kultbox)
- DJ Spooky-- Synthetic Fury (Asphodel)
- DJ Spooky-- Riddim Warfare (Outpost Recordings)
- Cut Chemist Vs. Shortkut-- Live at the Future Primitive (Future Primitive)
- Talvin Singh--OK (Island)
- Portishead-- Roseland NYC (Go Beat/London)
- Prince Charming---Fantastic Voyage (WordSound)
- Einsturzende Neubauten-- Ende Neu (Nothing )
- Ryuichi Sakamoto--Anger Grief Remixes (Ninja Tune)
- Ryuichi Sakamoto--Dischord (Sony)
- Arto Lindsay-- Noon Chill (Bar/None)
- Sly and Robbie-- Strip to the Bone (Palm Pictures)
- Dogon-- Redunjusta (New Dog )
- Praxis--Mold (Yikes Music)
- Nils Petter Molvaer--Khmer (ECM)
- Tutara-- Trading With the Enemy (Epic )
- The Fire This Time--Still Dancing on John Wayne’s Head (Extreme)
- Ekstasis--Wake Up and Dream (CyberOctave)
- Still Point--Maps Without Edges (City of Tribes)
- Goldie--Goldieaturzreturn (FFRR)
- Tulku--Season of Souls (Worldly Triloka)
- Yulare--Cosmic Tree (Higher Octave )
- The Orb--U.F. OFF (remixes) ( Island )
- Jah Wobble--Umbra Sumus (30 Hertz Records)
- Amon Tobin--Permutation (Ninja Tune )
- Eighty Mile Beach --There Are No Right Angles Found in Nature (OM)
- Propellerheads--DecksandDrumsandrockandroll (Grand Royal)
- Steve Roach / Roger King-- Dust to Dust (Projekt)
- The Grassy Knoll--III (Antilles)
---Chuck Taylor & selected listgivers
Stuff that Happened:
Alternative Radio in Virginia died a controversial death this year, as Norfolk’s 96X and Richmond’s "Buzz" changed formats. . . Cellar Door was forced to pay out bigh bucks to former Cellar Door Dictator Bill Reid in a dispute over who REALLY was responsible for the GTE Ampitheatre. . . Cellar Door couldn’t win with the Ampitheatre this year. Due to noise complaints, they are being forced to install a multi-million dollar "soundwall" renovation to the place. . . The R.I.A.A. and Nimbus Recordings of Charlottesville finally reached an accord in Dec. on Bootleg Recordings that have apparantly been manufactured at the plant. . . Club Closings:The Bayou in D.C. closed down New Years Eve after decades of live music. Real Estate Land Development blamed. . .Virginia Beach’s experiment, Route 44 also closed shop. . . . . . Rock Flash also went under and out this year. The Va. Beach-based entertainment magazine was just starting to get good after umpteen years of nightclub photos of barflies whooping it up...
The Beyond "Category" ‘98
- Pascal Comelade-- L’Argot du Bruit (Les Disques du Soleil de l’Acier)
- Jocelyn Montgomery / David Lynch-- Lux Viveno (Mammoth)
- Loren MazzaCane Conners-- Evangeline (Road Cone)
- Space Ghost-- Surf & Turf (Kid Rhino)
- Monica Lewinsky’s step-by-step instructions to Linda Tripp, on those infamous "taped conversations," on how to make a Music Mix Tape.
Suggested servings: Sting & Loverboy
Best in Modern Rock
1998
Tallied by votes from Grip staff and votegivers
- Neutral Milk Hotel-- In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (Merge)
- Belle & Sebastian— The Boy With The Arab Strap (Matador)
- Silver Jews-- American Water (Drag City)
- Beastie Boys— Hello Nasty (Grand Royal)
- Cat Power-- Moon Pix (Matador)
- Air-- Moon Safari (Source/Caroline)
- PJ Harvey – Is this Desire? (Island)
- Fugazi-- End Hits (Dischord)
- Tortoise-- TNT (Thrill Jockey)
- Beck-- Mutations (Geffen)
- Ivy-- Apartment Life (Epic / 550)
- St. Etienne -- Good Humor (SubPop)
- Union of a Man and a Woman-- The Sound of the... (Jagjaguwar)
- Halo Benders-- The Rebel’s Not In (K)
- Jeff Buckley—Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk (Columbia)
Chuck Taylor sez:
My fave labels this year are: Tinder, Northside, Alula, Almo, Folk-
Legacy, NYNO, Eminent, Innova Recordings, Palm Pictures, Jagjaguar,
Knitting Factory, Ninja Tune, Thrill Jockey, and Thirsty Ear. . . and there are some great re-releases coming from Island, Rhino, Razor & Tie, Del-Fi, and Ace.
Best in WORLD Music 1998
- Karnak-- Karnak (Tinder)
- Bio Ritmo--Rumba Baby Rumba (Triloka)
- Various Artists-- Belieza Tropical 2 (Luaka Bop)
- Gasparyan / Brook-- Black Rock (RealWorld)
- Lemvo & Loca-- Mambo Yo Yo (Putumayo)
- Maryan Mursal--The Journey (RealWorld)
- Sam Mangwana-- Galo Negro (Putumayo)
- Los Super Seven--Los Super Seven (RCA)
- Conjunto Cespedes-- Flores (Xenophile)
- Ernest Ranglin-- In Search of the Lost Riddim (Palm Pictures)
- Baaba Maal-- Nomad Soul (Palm Pictures)
- Cubanismo-- Reencarnacion (Hannibal)
- Company Segundo-- Lo Meijor de la Vida (Nonesuch)
- Various Artists-- The Spirit of Cape Verde (Tinder)
- King Sunny Ade-- Odu (Atlantic)
- Ray Lema-- The Dream of the Gazelle (Detour)
- Angelique Kidjo-- Oremi (Island)
- Cessaria Evora-- Miss Perfumado (Nonesuch)
- Fantcha-- Criolinha (Tinder)
- Tulku-- Season of Souls (Worldly-Triloka)
- Yungchen Lhamo-- Coming Home (RealWorld)
- Radio Tarifa-- Temporal (World Circuit)
- Various Artists-- Afro Latino (Putumayo)
- Ledward Kaapana & Friends-- Waltz of the Wind (Dancing Cat)
- Various Artists-- Cairo to Casablanca (Putumayo)
- Candido Fabre-- Poquito A Poco (Candea)
- Omar Faruk Tekbilek-- Crescent Moon (Celestial Harmonies)
- Ozomatli-- Ozomatli (Almo)
- Hassan Hakmoun-- Life Around the World (Alula)
- Tom Ze-- Frabrication Defect (Luaka Bop)
--- Chuck Taylor
Brave Failures & Cult Candidates
Beck’s Mutations
Out of Sight (directed by Steven Soderbergh)
REM’s Up
Buffalo ‘66 (tour de force from Vincent Gallo)
Best in Rap & Hip-Hop 1998
- Lauryn Hill-- The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (Ruffhouse)
- Goodie Mob-- Still Standing (LeFace / Arista)
- Outkast-- Aquemini (LaFace / Arista)
- Various Artists-- Lyricist Lounge (Rawkus)
- Erik B. & Rakim-- Paid in Full: The Platinum Edition (Island)
- Black Star-- Mos Def and Talib Kweli Are Black Star (Rawkus)
- Tribe Called Quest-- The Love Movement (Jive)
- DJ Rhettmatic-- World Famous Beat Junkies (Blackberry)
- Mary J. Blige-- The Tour (MCA)
-- selected listgivers
Scariest Thing I Heard All Year
The Conet Project CD (1966)
The scariest thing I heard all year-- this collects the "numbers" broadcasts of the British government between 1945 and 1965, codes (delivered in a staccato female secret-agent voice) to be deciphered by government spies. 10-3-acht-6-acht-acht.
--Dave Harrison
Rob Sheffield’s
Favorite 1998 Live show:
True Love Always at Spencers 206, Charlottesville. December.
Best in Country & Folk:
- Hank Williams-- The Complete Hank Williams (Polygram box set)
- Lucinda Williams— Car Wheels on a Gravel Road (Mercury)
- Billy Bragg & Wilco-- Mermaid Avenue (Elektra)
- Judith Edelman-- Only Sun (Compass)
- Bad Livers-- Industry & Thrift (Sugar Hill)
- Kim Lenz & Her Jaguars (High Time)
- Willie Nelson-- Teatro (Island)
- Tony McManus-- Pouquoi Quebec? (Greentrax)
- Various Artists— From Where I Stand: The Black Experience in Country Music (CMA / Warner Brothers)
- Nancy Griffith-- Other Voices, Too (Elektra)
- Gillian Welch-- Hell Among the Yearlings (Almo)
- Sean Tyrell-- The Orchard (Longwalk)
- Eric Anderson-- Memory of the Future (Appleseed)
- Dave Alvin-- Blackjack David (High Tone)
- John Stewart--Teresa and the Lost Songs (Homecoming)
- Mike Seeger-- Southern Banjo Sounds (Smithsonian Folkways)
- McGarrigles--The McGarrigle Hour (Hannibal)
- Emmylou Harris-- Spyboy (Eminent)
- Bourke, Bernard & LePage-- Matapat (Borealis)
— from selected votes
Notable Music in the Movies 1998
Shudder to Think's music for First Love, Last Rites and Velvet Goldmine was terrific. This bandis best when they mimic others, and fairly unmemorable when they're
themselves. This year's release of Gato Barbieri's score for Last Tango in
Paris is a great service to humanity.
--- Richard Herskowitz
Great Music Movies You May Have Missed in 1998
(That’s what video is for, but TRY and catch these on the big screen if you can...)
- Hard Core Logo
Great study of a Canadian punk-rock band in action. One of those rare music films that feels real and made by people who know what they’re talking about. Directed by Bruce McDonald
- Year of the Horse
Neil Young and Jim Jarmusch and Crazy Horse. Worth owning on video for the archival footage alone.
- The Last Days of Disco
Not only a hilarious and insightful look inside the Disco craze of the late ‘70’s as seen through the perspective of well-to-do twentysomethings, but a film FILLED with great music criticism masquerading as bar dialogue. Directed by Whit Stillman
- The Big Lebowski
Not a music movie per se, but this Coen Brothers sleeper definitely had the year’s funniest music-related JOKES: the black cabbie who loves the Eagles... the Kraftwerk-like band of the Nihilist villains, Autobahn. . . the earnest concern of the Dude for his "creedence tape". . . Concurrently, T-Bone Burnett’s awesome work in compiling the film’s soundtrack-- which you can actually hear in which contains the Monks. Anyone out there know of a real bowling alley that plays the Monks on its loudspeakers. Contact the magazine staff immediately!!
- Storefront Hitchcock
Still awaiting release and unseen in these parts, how could a concert film that unites the great singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock and Academy-award winning director Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Stop Making Sense) not be worth the ticket price?
Best in Regional Music 1998
- The Union of a Man & a Woman-- The Sound of The Union of a Man & a Woman (Jagjaguwar)
- John D’earth-- Thursday Night at Millers (Cosmology)
- Dave Matthews Band-- BeforeThese Crowded Streets (RCA)
- Lungfish-- Artificial Horizon (Dischord)
- South-- South (Jagjaguwar)
- Flin Flon-- A’ OK (Teenbeat)
- Drunk-- To Corner Wounds (Jagjaguwar)
- Seymores-- Treat Her Like a Showcat (Vernon Yard)
- Avail-- Over The James (Lookout!)
- Various Artists-- Ona King Made This Dress (Hub City)
- Dirtball-- The Well (Planetary)
- Van-- 7 (Red Velvet)
- The Counselors-- Na Na Na (Jesterhound)
- Dynamic Truths-- "You Take It All" / "Profit From Loss" (Merge 45)
- Trouble With Larry-- Karaoke Bordello (Good Kitty)
- Howard / Johnson-- Merchandise No. 5 (HJ)
- Bullets From Oz-- Look Like Live (Muscle)
--- selected listgivers / editor’s picks
Thanks, guys!
The Dave Matthews Band, Charlottesville’s own, had the fleeting distinction of being the one heroic rock band-- cue Boyd-- that (temporarily) derailed the mighty Titantic Soundtrack onslaught this year, nabbing the number one spot for one week with their quasi- adventurous Before These Crowded Streets CD. The disc ended up being (according to Billboard) the 30th biggest seller in all of 1998. In addition to this strong showing, the band’s 1996 album, Crash, logged in at #25 on Billboard’s Top Rock Catalog chart, which monitors the sales of previously released albums. Curiously, the band’s huge major label debut, Under the Table & Dreaming, was a no-show on the Catalog charts.
Goodbyes:
Carl Perkins
Gene Autry
Betty Carter
Junior Wells
Tammy Wynette
Roy Rogers
Johnny Adams
Charlie Feathers
Carl Wilson
Akira Kurosawa
Frank Sinatra
Rose Maddox
Grandpa Jones
Phil Medley
Sonny Bono
S.P. Leary
Nicolette Larson
"Junior" Kimbrough
Falco
Rob Pilatus
Eddie Rabbitt
Nik Venet
Jerry Clower
Bryan MacLean
Cozy Powell