As is our yearly rite / right, Grip asked a bevy of Virginia and D.C.-area musicologists, musicians, critics, journalists and fanzine writers to give us individual, subjective picks for best discs of 1997. We dispatched our gorgeous intern, Greta, to go out amongst the land and collect these lists.
Here are the results-- from folk to indie rock to jazz to local sounds to name-it-- of Greta's quest. . . and in a more expanded form than the original versions published in Grip 13.
The Best of 1997
Look Back With Greta
U U U U U U U
Matt Datesman
(Drummer,True Love Always, Flin Flon)
I'm loath to say these are "the best," but rather, that they are five (or six) of my favorites. And, of course, many worthy LPs had to be omitted in the interest of blah blah blah. . .
Sleater-Kinney Dig Me Out (Kill Rock Stars) My favorite rock album of the year.
Tsunami A Brilliant Mistake (Simple Machines) Evidently, the bitterer, the better. Business may be bad, but the music here is very, very good. Moving.
Phil Krauth One Two Three (Teenbeat) Beautiful.
The Feminine Complex To Be In Love (TeenBeat) A chronicle, from the very first practice to their 15 minutes of TV fame, encapsulating the essence of naivete and optimism that characterize the pursuit of the rock 'n' roll dream, of the greatest of all girl '60's bands you never heard. The Feminine Complex are true superstars! Also, along with Tsunami, my favorite album graphics of the year.
Yo La Tengo I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One (Matador)
Pavement Brighten The Corners (Matador) A toss up.
Box Set
The Beach Boys The Pet Sounds Sessions (Capitol) If, like me, you love this album, this box set proves you really can't have too much of a good thing.
Reissue
Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band (Rykodisc) I am unapologetic in my love for Yoko, especially her noisy stuff, and this album is probably the best of the newly reissued bunch.
U U U U U U U
Fred Boyce
(Prism Coffeehouse Man)
Kate Campbell-- Moonpie Dreams (Compass)
Claire Lynch-- Silver & Gold (Rounder)
Nickletown-- Presto Chango (Chimney Frog) Released Jan. '98.
Mando Mafia-- Mando Liniment (Mando Mafia)
Jones and Leva-- Light Enough to Find My Way (Rounder)
U U U U U U U
Jeremy Koren
(Music Director, KUVT in Blacksburg, Stigma Rock Unit)
Will Oldham / Rising Shotgun "In My Mind" b/w "Spotlight" (Drag City 45)
The Ye Olde Palace F**kers et al. get all David Allan Coe on us and trot out a mess of racket that wholly eclipses the Joya mistake. Also, nothing like hearing Willy sing "Give me some coke!"
Belle & Sebastian If You're Feeling Sinister (Enclave) Wimpy poverty-stricken art students eat the V.U. live "ass album" and the entire Felt discography and, bob's yr. uncle, make the greatest British long-player since Lemmy left Hawkwind.
Major Stars Rock Sounds of People (Twisted Village) Magic Hour / Crystalized Movements gtr. wank-heroes Wayne and Kate jam immense pop hooks and some serious neck-pickup noodling onto a one-sided jab for yer third eye.
LaBradford Mi Media Naranja (Kranky) Richmond's illustrious mad scientists emulate Ennio Morricone for the electronic age. A truly scenic glimpse at the netherworlds of the silent screen after the ushers have all gone home.
Songs Ohia (Secretly Canadian) In the tradition of the Kiss Tribute bands that tour the country in full costume playing "Detroit Rock City" and "Cold Gin," Songs Ohia do sound an awful lot like Palace, but the songs are so beautiful and Jason Molina's vocals so skin-crawlingly immediate that all is forgiven.
Best Reissues
Tony Conrad Early Minimalism (Table of the Elements) Conrad's "Four Violins" is the most beautiful piece of buzz / drone jive you'll ever nod out on. This four-CD box set (avec a 90-page booklet and an enhanced CD-ROM job) compiles that work with three other avant anthems and secures Conrad's place as equal partner to the minimalist thrones of cohorts like John Cale and LaMonte Young while blueprinting the influence he had on Sonic Youth, Terry Riley and Jim O'Rourke.
MC5 Babes In Arms (ROIR) Released in Jan. of 1998, this is yet another b-sides / rarities / bullshit collection from the greatest rock 'n' roll band ever. Reissued on CD for the first time are new versions of "Shakin' Street," "The American Ruse," and the band's original 7" debut make this collection Ground Zero for dope, rock 'n' roll and fucking-in-the-street parties on the patio.
U U U U U U U
Mike Friend
(a.k.a. Mike C., WNRN General Manager)
Steve Earle El Corizon (Warner Brothers)
Smashmouth Fush Yu Mang (Interscope)
Cornershop When I Was Born For The 7th Time (Warner Brothers)
Sleater-Kinney Dig Me Out (Kill Rock Stars)
Chumbawumba Tub Thumper (Republic)
Anthology of note
X Beyond & Back (Elektra)
U U U U U U U
Dave Harrison
(Grip's D.C. Raconteur)
Top Tier
Isotope 217 The Unstable Molecule (Thrill Jockey) Modern jazz
Movietone Day and Night (Drag City) Moody slushie
Stereolab Dots & Loops (Elektra) Lock-Groove dance pop
Stina Nordenstam "Dynamite" (Telegram 45) Swedish folk
His Name Is Alive Nice Day (4AD Rock 'n' roll
Next Up
The Sea and The Cake The Fawn (Thrill Jockey) Oscillating pop
Sukia Contacto Especial con el nTercer Sexo (Nickle Bag) Sampled psychedelia
Stars of the Lid The Ball Orchestra (Kranky) Kranky
Baby Bird Dyin' Happy (BabyBird) Personal pop
Adventures in Stereo "Brand New Day" (Underground Sounds 45) Wild honey
All Natural Lemon and Lime Flavors
"Catcher / Spaun" (Staff 45) Brit-boogie
Margaret Leng-Tang The Art of the Toy Piano (Tzadik) Avant-garde
Yo La Tengo
I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One (Matador) Neo-distortia
Komeda Lovely Pop (Non) Swedish dance-rock
Bowery Electric Vertigo (Kranky) Dance remixes
Blonde Redhead Fake Can Be Just As Good (Touch & Go) Faux Evol
Windy & Carl "Green" (Burnt Hair 45) Drone
Ivy Apartment Life (Atlantic) Light Europop
Alpha Stone Soulweed (Bomp) Rave
U U U U U U U
Dan Poarch
(Grip Hopper, a.k.a. "Front")
Prince Paul Psychoanalysis (Tommy Boy) The man you first brought you Stetsasonic and De La Soul provides, bar none, the most creative hip-hop / electronica record of the year. Darker than Mobb Deep, funnier than your momma's acid-washed jeans and more credible than Bill Clinton's excuses.
Common One Day It'll All Make Sense (Relativity) The finest MC in the biz, rippin' mics for you and yours. . . Go buy "The Resurrection" first.
C4 Productions Scrimmage (Water St.)Virginia buttaz from Esmont to Water Street. Check these Central Va. rappers out while they're underground so you can say you knew them when...
No I.D. Respect Yourself and Be Your Own The Black Album (Relativity) Common's producer from his first two LPs makes a fine, relatively unnoticed debut album that has striking production and more-than-capable collaborators (some whom you've never heard of).
Various Artists Soundbombing (Rawkus) Most label-sponsored samplers wallow in their own vanity, but this one has humor, life and some of the best underground beats out there. Check Mos Def, Company Flow and a cleverly-disguised Beatnuts as the Brick City Kids.
Stretch Armstrong Presents The Lesson Part One (Dolo) Most of the same tracks as Premiere's "Reality Check" compilation, but somehow Stretch's lack of DJing (the songs all fade into each other with no scratch mixing) comes off more appealingly than Premiere's overdone noodling that, ultimately, ruins his record. Premier is the Most Underrated Producer in Hip-Hop. . . but I ain't feeling his mixtape skills.
Reissues
The Roots Organix (Remedy) Their earlier stuff that is surprisingly mellow. Maybe not as "accessible" or as polished as the group's Geffen Records, but twice as sincere.
Gravediggaz Six Feet Deep (Tommy Boy) The far superior first album that reinforces Prince Paul's absolute hold on hip-hop production skills supreme.
U U U U U U U
Chuck Taylor
(Programming Director, WTJU 91.1 FM)
The Short List
Buena Vista Social Club Buena Vista Social Club (World Circuit)
Fatal Mambo Fatal Mambo (Tinder Records)
Beth Orton Trailer Park (Dedicated)
DJ Shadow Preemptive Strike (Mo Wax)
Various Artists Sacred Steel (Arhoolie)
Various Artists The End of Violence (Soundtrack) (Outpost)
Howard Finster The Night Howard Finster Got Saved (Global Village)
Johnny Dowd Wrong Side of Memphis (Checkered Past)
Doc Cheatham & Nicholas Peyton
Doc Cheatham & Nicholas Peyton (Verve)
Reissues
Various Artists The Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music (Smithsonian-Folkways)
Hank Snow The Essential Hank Snow (RCA Essential Series)
Charlie Rich The Essential Charlie Rich (RCA Essential Series)
Pink Floyd Piper At The Gates of Dawn (EMI)
Donovan A Gift From a Flower To A Garden (EMI/SRT)
Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
In The Jungle / Express Yourself (Warner Brothers)
U U U U U U U
Rickey Wright
(Pop Music Editor, Amazon.com)
Pavement-- Brighten the Corners (Matador/Capitol)
DJ Kool-- Let Me Clear My Throat (American)
Patty Loveless-- "You Don't Seem to Miss Me" (Epic 45)
Bob Dylan-- Time Out of Mind (Columbia)
Lightning Seeds-- Dizzy Heights (Epic)
Reissues
Charles Mingus-- Passions of a Man The Complete Atlantic
Recordings 1956-1961 (Rhino/Atlantic)
Various Artists-- Beg, Scream &
Shout! Big Ol' Box of '60s Soul (Rhino)
U U U U U U U
Jimmy Snider
(UVa Charlottesville branch, Plan 9)
Sea & Cake-- The Fawn (Thrill Jockey)
Yo La Tengo-- I Can Hear The Heart Beating as One (Matador)
Cornershop-- When I Was Born For the 7th Time (Luaka Bop)
Dandy Warhols-- Come Down (Tim-Kerr)
Alpha-- Come From Here (Melankolic)
Stereolab-- Dots & Loops (Elektra)
David Bowie-- Earthling (Virgin)
DJ Cam-- DJ Kicks (K7)
Babybird-- Greatest Hits (Baby Bird)
U U U U U U U
Don Harrison
(Publisher, Grip Monthly , ping pong champ)
monks black monk time (Infinite Zero) The tale is straight outta Hollywood a group of rowdy ex-U.S. servicemen stranded in West Germany form a band called the monks, invent a whacked-out stage show complete with wild Medieval crewcuts, win a hoard of loyal krautfans performing in the same ramshackle haunts that the Beatles had rocked a few years earlier, and leave to the ages one classic LP that has transcended its humble German-only roots to become one of rock 'n' roll's great lost treasures. That same debut album, black monk time, made it's American debut as a compact disc in 1997, 31 years after it's original release, and it proved to be the lost Punk artifact of the ages; an awesome little slab of prehistoric whomp and way-out psychotronic shriek "I Hate You," "Shut Up," "Oh How To Do Now" YOW!
Belle and Sebastian If You're Feeling Sinister (Enclave) A lazy afternoon classic that I probably played more than anything this year. Belle & Sebastian are an unassuming (some would say reclusive) Scottish band whose second full-length disc (on a label that has since gone under) is a pastoral masterpiece that ranks with XTC's Skylarking, The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society and Nick Drake's Bryter Layter.
Bob Dylan Time Out of Mind (Columbia) Except for the Billy Joel-worthy "To Make You Feel My Love," this is transcendent work and following his equally wonderful cover projects (Good As I Been To You and World Gone Wrong), the '90's have seen a career "comeback" for Dylan that is more than just tired Rolling Stone hype. Time Out Of Mind also earns bonus points for inspiring anger from soul-dead stereophiles who can't stomach Daniel Lanois' mixed-out-of-a-1954 Philco-radio production-job.
Silver Apples Silver Apples / Contact (MCA) Get your Moog-y Space Rock from the original source, why don't ya'? Now available as a domestic reissue, the only two long-players from this '70's cult U.S. duo (who merged tribal drums, Krautrock repetition, oddball keyboard oscillators and early computer effects) are now affordable, on one CD.
Luna Pup Tent (Elektra) More textured than Penthouse, Dean Wareham & Co.'s new magnum opus boasts a veritable campground of pleasurable mediations on life, love and the Pancake House. "Fuzzy Wuzzy," the incredible end cut, belongs in the Psych-Rock pantheon.
Reissues / Compilations
Various Artists Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music (Smithsonian) My Christmas present to myself and one of the fiercest, funniest, corniest, scariest history lessons in all of popular music. This 6-disc set of obscure and well-known folk, blues, gospel, cajun and old-timey music lays "weird, old America" (annotator Greil Marcus' words) right at the listener's feet, still squirming and shouting! Pick hits Bascom Lundsford's harrowing "I Wish I Was a Mole In the Ground," the Carter Family's jangling "Single Girl, Married Girl," Rabbit Brown's gangsta-blues, "James Alley" and Mississippi John Hurt's fast-pickin' "Frankie."
Zombies Zombies Heaven (Big Beat / Ace) Speaking of overpriced boutique box sets. . .! Ah, but this one boasts four essential discs of stellar '60's pop-rock, from none other than the most consistent band of that heady era (and one of the least dated). Too bad this triumph for compiler Alec Paleo has a price tag that will dissuade many from discovering the songwriting talents of Rod Argent and Chris White.
U U U U U U U
Dana Murphy
(Owner, Trax in Charlottesville)
Jeff Buckley-- Grace (Columbia)-- actually released 1996
Radiohead-- OK Computer (Capitol)
Our Lady Peace-- Clumsy (Columbia)
Tool-- Aenima (Freeworld)
Squirrel Nut Zippers-- Hot (Mammoth)
Ben Folds Five-- Whatever & Ever Amen (Atlantic)
Reissue
Led Zeppelin-- The BBC Sessions (Atlantic)
U U U U U U U
Top Events and Pieces of Music for 1997 according to
D.R.Tyler Magill
(Both Bartender and Bartendee, Grip Bar and Double Bowlin' Lanes--in no particular order, just like last time)
Excedrin PM If you like to be drugged for relatively cheaply, all it takes is two or three of these things and a similar amount of beer and you're going to the Peter Pan Ward.
Radiohead-- OK Computer (Capitol) Geekstravaganza that rocks. Pavement wishes they could make this album. Bonus points promo tape came inextricably welded into a Walkman. You can't be serious! But they were.
Dub Narcotic Sound System live at Tokyo Rose Coming at a really crappy time in my life, the indie Eeyore and his cabaret played music that made Whitey dance. That would be me. Oh, how I danced. Do any of you have pictures?
"South Park" It's nice to know that, on some remaining level, I can be offended. It helps that a lot of it is really funny.
Jeanane Garofalo She keeps leaving me giggly voice mail messages. I like that. Junior high moment of the year Sept. 17, when we had one of those "Hang up!" "No, you hang up!" "You first! Teehee!" kind of love things. She digs me.
My new Navy watch cap Makes me look like I'm on shore leave, which, increasingly, I feel like.
My New Year's resolution Something akin to no.6 I'm not talking to anybody except for old friends ever again. I have finally caved into the realization that most people scare the crap out of me, and don't want to hear anything I have to say. Except for you, dear reader.
David Berman I got him snockered at the wedding reception of a certain Lilith Fair participant and chick-duo diva. No less than 12 double vodka screwdrivers into the affair, he told anyone who was still listening that the next Silver Jews album would sound like the Smashing Pumpkins. I hope he means Gish. Truly, mind-rot at its finest.
Commodify Your Dissent, edited by Frank and Weiland UVa grad Thomas Frank breaks down the culture of business and the business of culture in language we can all understand. Scary stuff.
"Prescription Beats" and "Bug Powder Dust (remix)" by the Chemical Brothers (Astralwerks) Rock, rock, rock! As played today by a pissed off HAL 9000.
My "chunky junkie" leather jacket Symbolic of my Positive Mental Attitude and Lust for Life.
Waiting for Guffman and Men in Black Two hilarious movies coming from completely different directions. Sex with Will Smith is most definitely not out of the question.
The fact that it wasn't the "Year" of anything in rock music Thank God everyone finally shut up for once. I'm fairly sure we can't go anywhere but up from here.
Patrick and Jeanane get married The cold cuts at the reception alone were worth more than my life. Also, as a member of the wedding, I escorted one of Jeanane's cousins down some stairs to an organ playing "Hava Negila". Class, class. I was too hung over to truly appreciate it.
When I realized I'm not gay Five minutes after that, I realized I'm not Jewish, either. I had been laboring under one or both of these assumptions for quite some time now.
Jim O'Rourke-- Bad Timin' (Drag City) Beautiful music for walking and falling, which, as Laurie Anderson once said, we do at the same time.
The Monorchid-- Let 'em Eat (Dischord / Simple Machines) Coherently pissed-off diatribes that swing with asses of titanium. Spastic grooves that have nothing to do with Primus. Funkateers can't touch this because funkateers have no soul.
The Verve-- "Bittersweet Symphony" (Island) Lush. Made me (almost) cry. I don't care what the lyrics are, the music alone made me (almost) cry.
"Kablam" on Nickelodeon, Friday nights at 800 It's just funny, God-dammit. The hosts are named Henry and June. More cartoons that are supposed to be for kids but aren't, in the tradition of just about every cartoon show since Ren and Stimpy. Leave me alone, I'm watching the "Life with Loopy" bit where she swims down the john to talk to her dead goldfish.
Union of a Man and a Woman They're just like the band I was in a high school, except they exist. Trebly ice-pick music played tighter than a duck's cornhole.
U U U U U U U
Brian Greene
(Dodobobo, Grip)
Stereolab Dots and Loops (Elektra/ Duophonic UK) Fluorescences (Duophonic UK) "Endless Summer" (Thrill Jockey)
Stereolab puts out so much stuff that you wonder how they ever have time to tour yet they manage. That they could release an excellent, 65-minute album (Dots) plus a flawless EP (Fluorescences, the title track of which is one of the band's best songs yet) in the same year, plus still play Europe and the States, is enough to make heads shake in wonder. But then there are all the side projects both the band as a whole and its individual members have engaged in over the twelve-month. No room to catalogue them here, so we'll just mention the best of them "Endless Summer," a collaboration with Microstoria, a two-and-a-half minute trip-hop experiment which shows that this band can master any new genre they try.
The Make Up Sound Verite (K) Fans of the Make Up's rowdy, frenetic live debut may have found this one slow at first, but repeated listens should have revealed a lazy, cool groove that's always been underneath the band's sound. Recorded at Dub Narcotic studio, this more than made up for the half-assed second live album that came out around the same time.
Chris Knox Yes!! (Flying Nun) Manic pop thrills. Knox, of Tall Dwarfs fame, takes a room full of guitars, a beatbox, a four-track and his hyperactive self and writes songs so catchy, so spirited and so on-the-line emotional that the stereo threatens to reject it all. Skip the dumb noise-fart experiment at the end and dig the lines, "Well there's love/And there's lust/And there's a fine line between them/And there's baby -babybaby-baby - baby baby - baby . . .
His Name is Alive Nice Day (JAD) An EP that explodes on the first chord and doesn't let up for a moment throughout its six short tracks. It's like the His Name is Alive Beach Party album, all rave-up riffs and anthemic choruses, with just a smidgeon of the artiness generally so prevalent in their music. All the songs are great, but the best is the last, a positively righteous version of a traditional "Oh, Sinnerman."
Baby Bird Dying Happy (Baby Bird Recordings) More sinister beauty from the eccentric Brit who continues to put out his home-recorded albums in editions so limited you have to get it the first week it's out if you hope to ever see it. Skip Ugly Beautiful & hunt this one down.
Labradford Mi Media Naranja (Kranky) Labradford was doing space rock years before the thousands of pretenders jumped onto the trend, and they've grown considerably with each of their four full-length albums. Despite the pretentiousness of its (non)song titles, "S," "Wr," "P," etc., this mostly instrumental album is wondrously pretty from beginning to end. The lack of vocals allows the interplay of Mark Nelson's guitar and Carter Brown's keyboards always the backbone of the band's sound to shine clearly.
Next-To-Best
Mouse on Mars Cache Coeur Naif (Thrill Jockey) Grant McLennan In Your Bright Ray (Beggar's Banquet) Spectrum- Forever Alien (Reprise) The Cramps Big Beat From Badsville (Epitaph) Sally Timms Cowboy Sally (Bloodshot) Bowery Electric Vertigo (Kranky)
Reissues / Compilations
Shocking Blue Singles A's & B's (Repertoire) Every single, and its flip-side, by one of rock's most undeservingly ignored bands.
Dwight Twilley Band-- Sincerely(EMI) The 1st album by Power-Pop master Twilley sounds like Big Star with an edgy rock `n' roll element thrown in one of the 10 best of the `70's.
The High Llamas Hawaii (Alpaca Park/V2) Sean O'Hagan's collage of Martin Denny-esque exotica, Brian Wilson-esque psychedelia, Harry Nilsson/Randy Newman-esque `70's singer/songwriting, Stereolab-esque electronics, Country & Western, Spy Theme sounds, etc., etc.-- import-only when it came out in `96, it was issued domestically this year.
Silver Apples Silver Apples / Contact (MCA) The 1st U.S. reissue of the two late `60's LPs made by the seminal Apples, who sound like the Incredible String Band with electronics, and who are revered by the countless space-rock acts now flooding the contemporary scene.
U U U U U U U
Steve Richmond
(Draw The Kitten, Grip vinyl editor)
American Analog Set From Our Living Room to Yours (Emperor Jones)
Belle & Sebastian If You're Feeling Sinister (EMI / Enclave)
Elf Power When The Red King Comes (Elephant 6 / Arena Rock)
The Promise Ring Nothing Feels Good (Jade Tree)
Silver Scooter Other Palm Springs (Peek-a-Boo)
Aerial M As Performed By Ariel M (Drag City EP)
True Love Always "Take Me Over" b/w "Are U Coping With Me" (Teenbeat 45)
U U U U U U U
Nicole Truxell
(C'Ville Weekly's "Club Notes" columnist)
Ben Harper -- The Will To Live (Virgin) Aaaah... pretty. The best of the best- catchy songs, blues influence, nice voice, spiritual lyrics.
Marcy Playground Marcy Underground (Capitol) Solid, quirky. Sounds like it might outlive the other major-label releases on the shelf.
Elliott Smith - either/or (Kill Rock Stars) Comes highly recommended by the New York Times, too.
311 -- Transistor (Capricorn) Can you really take a die-hard fan's word for it? Get your own copy.
Clare Quilty - Suga-Lik (DCide) So sweet you might get cavities, but worth the trip to the dentist.
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Stephen Head
(Grip)
Summa Cum Laude
Silkworm Developer (Matador)
When all is said and done, anyone rank Developer up there with all the more obvious gems of 1997? Probably not, as Silkworm's second effort as a three-piece seems to have fallen on deaf ears. But you can do your part to prevent an injustice by picking up a copy of this a deliberate and slowing evolving masterpiece in which these Missoula, Montana-bred lads bend tradition into a sound all their own.
Belle & Sebastian If You're Feeling Sinister (Enclave)
It may take a listen or two for Stuart Murdoch's lilting voice to grab you, but once it does, you'll likely find yourself sratching your head as you sing along to such fiendishly clever lines as "She was into S&M and bible studies / Not everyone's cup of tea she would admit to me." Like poetic diary entries set to pure easy listening.
The Sea & Cake The Fawn (Thrill Jockey)
Absolutely splendid Europop from a standout American band embracing "electronica" without the slightest trace of irony. Warm keyboards, plantive vocals, drum machines and, oh, a few dots and loops too.
Broadcast Work & Non Work (Drag City)
A stellar collection of singles assembled by Drag City's winning Emerging Markers research team. Think Stereolab filtered through a kaleidoscope.
Pavement Brighten The Corners (Matador)
Praise the Grammer Police. . .
Magna Cum Laude
U.S. Maple Sang Phat Editor (Skin Graft)
I'm still not sure I "get" this one, but I think it's good even if it's impossible to hum along.
LaBradford Mi Media Naranja (Kranky)
Dirgelike ambience awash in an IMAX theatre.
Superchunk Indoor Living (Merge)
Hyperactive kids stumbling upon maturity.
Stereolab Dots & Loops (Elektra)
Blip. Blip.
Yo La Tengo I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One (Matador)
Harmonizing bliss.
Sonic Youth Perspectives Musicales (SYR)
About time, fellas.
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Dominic DeVito
(Grip's Staunton troubleshooter)
Here are the Groovy 1997 Records (in no order)
Yo La Tengo I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One (Matador)
Portishead Portishead (London)
Pavement Brighten The Corners (Matador)
Helium Magic City (Matador)
Whiskeytown Stranger's Almanac (Outpost)
Reissues of Note
Mogwai Ten Rapid (Jetset)
Guided by Voices Tonics & Twisted Chasers (Rockathon)
DJ Krush Holonic (Sony Japan)
U U U U U U U
Bill Bass
(Hampton Roads air Personality, 96X and 93.7 The Coast)
Paula Cole This Fire (Imago) No, I'm not jumping on the bandwagon here. Her earlier effort, Harbinger, was also a great effort. It didn't surprise me that she was nominated for all those Grammy Awards.
Deborah Corman I Can't Lose (Blind Pig) Deborah is from Portsmouth and in the '80's she played in an all-girl band called Maxie. She's a tremendous live performer too, featured recently in Blues Revue magazine.
Various Artists Bayoupalooza (BCD) A compilation disc of the festival held last year at the Bayou in Virginia Beach. It's not live it is studio material from a great lineup of talent, including Sea of Souls, Combine, Zion Wave and Rumblefish. It's about time someone put out a good comp of Tidewater talent.
Falstaff Street Oak Giant (Bi-Our-Record Label) This year Falstaff has taken to the road, spreading their homespun music. This CD takes them up a notch from the previous Camp Songs and they recently released a six-song EP called December. Standout cuts "Love Story" and "Get Myself A Gun." When Falstaff comes around to your town, go see 'em.
Car 44 Car 44 (Chaud) I thing I like about Car 44 is that they have really developed their own niche. There is no band to compare them to I love their energy and music. The great thing about this Virginia Beach band is that they are always experimenting with their music, always reaching to better themselves. Some cuts like "Wait" and "Iris" are just great.
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Wesley Coddington
(Reviewer, ThroTTle)
Cornershop-- When I Was Born For the 7th Time (Luaka Bop) Hey, they made my top list in '96. And they've done it again, with a slicker and less angry sound. A little Punjabi rock, some country(!), and hemp sacks full of groovy music. One of the few 1997 commercial hits that was deserving of every last second of airplay.
Talvin Singh-- Anouka Soundz of the Asian Underground (Island) Talvin Singh's weekly night at a London club sparked this collection of some of the best Continental Indian Techno on the scene. Don't let the word "Techno" scare you, though. Deeply engaging.
Yo La Tengo-- I Can Hear The Heart Beating as One (Matador) The true indie-rock champions of the world just keep getting better with each release. The beautiful "Autumn Sweater" pretty much says it all Very layered and dense themes, hidden by pretty arrangements.
Finley Quaye-- Maverick A Strike (Sony / Epic) The Marvin Gaye of Reggae? Not quite, but a very solid effort by a Ghanian singer who can make the ladies swoon as well as sprinkle some psychedelic guitar and authentic natty sounds into the mix with equal aplomb.
Stereolab-- Dots & Loops (Elektra) The mysterious world of Stereolab manifests itself to beautiful effect in a virtual symphony of cut-and-paste Electronica-Lite phased through good ol' American garage rock (w/ a taste of Gainsbourg for good measure)
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Kyle Hogg
(Bold Print, Grip)
Royal Trux Singles, Live, Unreleased (Drag City) Most people believe in God but have never seen her. Most people should believe Royal Trux is the greatest band in the world, even though they've never heard them. Royal Trux is when you've been drinking heavily all day and you stumble to the bathroom sick and you get it all over your face and shirt and thben somebody opens the bathroom door and says, "Hey man, you OK?" and hands you a fresh cold one. That's Royal Trux.
Wyclef Jean The Carnival (Ruffhouse / Columbia) I don't know jack about the Fugees, but Mr. Jean has twenty seconds of brilliance in the song, "We Are Trying to Stay Alive" that raises this whole album to the top. Plus he gets props for sampling MC Milk! Also brilliant Jean's performance of "Gone Till November" on the "Chris Rock Show." This was my party socializing album.
Fu Manchu The Action is Go (Mammoth) Their album, In Search Of , was my top pick of '96 and this one is only slightly less wonderful only cuz I kind of knew what to expect. Skateboards, bongs, cheap gas and girls walking around in bikinis. It's a good day live it.
Ghost Lamarabirabi (Drag City) 20 years from now when they find people dead from heroin overdoses, this will be the album in their CD player. It's so raggedly beautiful that I lose 15 pounds and get the cold sweats everytime I listen to it. Neither I nor Ghost promote heroin use, you dumbasses.
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Erin McFarland
(Plushtoy diva)
Built To Spill-- Perfect From Now On (Warner Brothers) Prog-pop is what I called it all Spring long. Loud guitars, big drums, LONG songs. . . but, oh, the hooks.
Smog-- Red Apple Falls (Drag City) I like it a lot. Especially the French horn. Especially the upbeat ones. Especially the sad ones.
Yo La Tengo-- I Can Hear The Heart Beating as One (Matador)
Just when I thought they had made an album I didn't love, I listened to it for the third time. Yep. Love it love it love it.
Portastatic-- The Nature of Sap (Merge) The way I see it, Mac broke himself down from Superchunk pop star to sensitive solo performer only to rebuild a stronger ensemble with this most recent release. Oh the keyboards and clarinets.
Belle & Sebastian-- If You're Feeling Sinister (Enclave) I don't really have to explain this, do I? Fey fey fey. . .
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David Browne
(Reviewer, Throttle)
Mark Eitzel-- West (Warner Brothers) His outstanding work with American Music Club behind him, Eitzel continues the tradition with his second superb solo outing. A soundtrack for every bi-polar disordered music fan out there. Have another drink and tell me about your troubles, Eitzel asks.
Labradford-- Mi Media Naranja (Kranky ) Richmond's mood music masters strike gold for the fourth time !! The expected slow, haunted, and beautiful soundscapes are evident here along with some new exploration with odd instruments. Very solid and special.
Built To Spill-- Perfect From Now On (Warners) Soaring melodies over intricate guitar interplay. Doug Martsch's oddly affecting voice make this Idaho band one to keep your eye on. Did I mention great guitar play ?
DJ Nabbee Swift-- The X-Files Series; The Sound of Ulterior Motives (Humble Out Prod.) Nabbee Swift aka No Joke G from Richmond's Fullflej put out 2 great DIY releases last year. Most definitely heavy drums'n bass and house that I find very fascinating and after a few beers and a hit, downright cathartic.
David Kilgour and the Hard Eights (Flying Nun) With all that can go wrong with the world, it is comforting to know that as long as New Zealand's awesome David Kilgour and, by extension his other band, The Clean put out an album at least once a year all is right with the planet. An upbeat Velvet Underground, Feelies and Yo La Tengo in one joyful package.
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Sam McDonald
(Pop music reporter, Daily Press)
Pavement Brighten The Corners (Matador)
Ben Folds Five Whatever and Ever Amen (550 Music)
Missy Elliot Supa Dupa (Eastwest)
Descendents Everything Sucks (Epitaph)
6-String Drag High Hat (E-Squared)
Best Reissue
Ray Charles Genius & Soul The 50th Anniversary Collection (Rhino)
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Charles Olver
(honorable discharge)
Trailer Bride-- Trailer Bride (Walt) Eagle-eyed Grip enthusiasts with good long-term memories may recall that this item headed my list last year at this time. The disc had just come out and I had not yet been able to acquire a copy, but I went out on a limb based on the excellence of their demos and a previous seven-inch. So I cheated, so what-- I was right. I don't mind cheating again now-- I can honestly say I listened to and enjoyed this album more than anything actually released in 1997, and I would be surprised if Feb. 1999 finds me saying the same thing about 1998. Melissa Swingle's songs, and her singing, are so Just Right and the band so unostentatiously hot that 40 minutes of their music (on CD or stage) leaves me reeling punch/drunk and lovesick every time. Trailer Bride rules so benevolently that I don't even wish they would change their name anymore-- just that a record company with decent distribution would invest some green in them.
Cashmere Jungle Lords-- Southern Barber Supply (Little Abner) If life was fair, the Cashmere Jungle Lords would have a fat back catalog and fat bank accounts to go with it. But after a dozen-plus crowd-pleasing years on the boards the world's funniest, sweetest, most eclectic power trio have only just made their first full-length, fully-realized and representative record. And it sounds fresh enough to make you believe they're just getting started.
Reissues
Anthology of American Folk Music (Smithsonian-Folkways) The history and the mystery of the American Voice. As with the Bible, people have devoted their whole lives to this set, and no one to my knowledge has completely figured it out (not to imply that I have!). It's a bottomless, ever-replenishing well. (Informally known as The Harry Smith Anthology, after the mad genius who cobbled it together back in the late '40's.)
Michael Hurley-- Snockgrass (Rounder) Fuckedupness at its most benign. Some fans (maybe nine out of the fifty or so of us) may bemoan the relative lack of rough edges-- it is pretty smooth-sounding and uptempo for the Artist Occasionally Known As Snock-- but there's still plenty of you-gotta-hear-this-to-believe-its in evidence. ("Don't Treat Me Bad" springs to mind.) (But then, so does the indescribably lovely "O My Stars") To me, it's worth 15 bucks for "Grapefruit Juice Blues," and that's the out-take.
Karen Dalton-- It's So hard To Tell Who's Going To Love You The Best (Koch) The Trinity Sessions, by Billie Holiday.
Honorable Mentions
The Zombies-- Zombie Heaven (Ace / Big Beat)... Huey "Piano" Smith & the Clowns-- Havin' A Good Time (Westside)... Lee Dorsey-- Wheelin' and Dealin' (Arista)...John Fahey-- Let Go (Rounder)... monks-- black monk time (Infinite Zero)... Mike Hurley-- First Songs (Folkways mail-order)... Beth Orton-- Trailer Park (Dedicated)... Mark Eitzel-- West (Warner Brothers)...The Red Krayola-- "Another Song, Another Satan" (from Hazel, Drag City)... "South Park" on Comedy Central
Truly Wonderful But Probably Only For Confirmed Fans
The Beach Boys-- Pet Sounds Sessions (Capitol)...
X-- Beyond & Back (Elektra)
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Bonn Garrett
(Editor, Flash in Va. Beach)
Gladys-- Lucky (Coolidge) This record wasn't even supposed to get made but, unbeknownst to the band, somebody got a hold of the demos and put it out. Full of twang, open chords, sloppy guitars, banjos and lyrics about closing the liquor store for Christmas.
September '67-- Lucky Shoe (Enclave) Too bad Shannon Worrell got married. It's also too bad that the Enclave label went under. It sucks also that she told me she wasn't keeping the band together because this was the only "chick" band I know that did it two-piece, like the Flat Duo Jets. Bryan Harvey really adds to some great songwriting and melodies (Released in '96)
Son Volt-- Straightaways (Warner Brothers) Who cares if No Depression has its head up its ass. The show with Buick MacKane at the Floodzone was the best I saw all year.
Guided by Voices-- Mag Earwhig! (Matador) If you like the melodies and the weird lyrics, as Slim Dunlap said once, you'll like this.
Pat DiNizio Band-- Songs and Sounds (Velvel) This record, from a totally mainstream pop artist, was totally ignored by so-called "new music" stations, but if you got over the Smithereens, this record shows another side of DiNizio.
Other Records I liked this year
Drivin' N' Cryin' (Ichiban) Very reflective
Pipe-- Slowboy (Merge) The underdog
Lynnfield Pioneers-- emerge (Matador)
Reissue
The Replacements-- All For Nothing, Nothing For All (Reprise) Best Fucking Band in the World (Still)
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Todd Ranson
(Reviews coordinator, ThroTTle )
Atari Teenage Riot-- Riot Burn Berlin Burn! (Grand Royal) We don't want a party-- we want a riot! And so the near revolutionary call was sounded. I've been bored by punk for years, if not a decade and a half, but ATR live and breathe the true '70's punk aesthetic through today's electronic tapestry.
Various Artists-- Heavyweights Another Blood and Fire Sampler (Blood & Fire) The completely authentic and conscious reggae label from England that specializes in all the glory that is Dub Reggae unleashes another of their yearly label samplers. Every track is fantastic. I predict that jungle will spark a roots revival in 1998!
Plug Drum 'n Bass for Papa / EPs 1,2&3 (Nothing / Blue Planet / Interscope) Ah, sweet Drum 'n' Bass. There is just something about the whole damn sound that makes me jump for joy. Fuses the rapidly burning lines between jungle, trip-hop and ambient.
Primal Scream-- Vanishing Point (Reprise) Probably my hands down favorite album of the year, and a clear return to narcotized glory of Screamadelica. Edgy, beautiful, languid and frenzied all at the same time.
Luna-- Pup Tent (Elektra) How could they top Penthouse? Well, they couldn't but came damn close and that's good enough. Refried licks never sounded so current.
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Randall Speer
(Grip popnut)
Jennyanykind-- Revelater (Elektra)
Sloan-- One Chord To Another (Enclave)
bennet-- Supernatural (Roadrunner)
Marcy Playground-- Marcy Playground (Capitol)
Jayhawks-- Sound of Lies (American)
Reissues
Bill Hicks-- Dangerous & Relentless (Rkyodisc reissues)
Various Artists-- Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music (Smithsonian-Folkways)
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