While there is little denying the title track's status as one of Sonic Youth's strongest songs from their early-'90s period, the bonus live recordings are the real reason to own the Dirty Boots CD single. The scorching versions of "White Kross," "Eric's Trip," and "Cinderella's Big Score" reaffirm the group's status as one of the strongest live acts amid the alternative rock movement. Furthermore, this EP also includes an unreleased instrumental song, titled "The Bedroom," which isn't anything special, though it does make for an interesting listen. Source: [AMG]
Any doubts as to the continuing relevance of Sonic Youth upon their jump to major-label status were quickly laid to rest by Goo, their follow-up to the monumental Daydream Nation. While paling in the shadow of its predecessor, the record is nevertheless a defiant call to arms against mainstream musical values; the Geffen logo adorning the disc is a moot point -- Goo is, if anything, a portrait of Sonic Youth at their most self-indulgently noisy and contentious, covering topics ranging from Karen Carpenter ("Tunic") to UFOs ("Disappearer") to dating Jesus' mom ("Mary-Christ"). Even Public Enemy's Chuck D joins the fracas on the single "Kool Thing," which teeters on the brink of a cultural breakthrough but falls just shy of the mark; the same could be said of Goo itself -- by no means a sellout, it nevertheless lacks the coherence and force of the group's finest work, and the opportunity to violently rattle the mainstream cage slips by. Source: [AMG]
Sonic Youth - Kool Thing
Track Listing 1. Dirty Boots 2. Tunic (Song for Karen) 3. Mary-Christ 4. Kool Thing 5. Mote 6. My Friend Goo 7. Disappearer 8. Mildred Pierce 9. Cinderella's Big Score 10. Scooter + Jinx 11. Titanium Exposé
Without changing their tensely wound, post-Hüsker Dü punk-pop style at all, Superchunk sound completely weary on Here's Where the Strings Come In. No longer do their nervous, amateurish songs sound energetic -- they sound tired and broken. This actually results in some really interesting music, as Mac McCaughan tries to reconcile his broken spirits with his passion for punk. These songs tend to have more resonance than by-the-books rave-ups like "Hyper Enough," no matter how well those are written, and they suggest that Superchunk may be better off if they decide to revamp their signature sound completely. Source: [AMG]
Superchunk - Hyper Enough
Track Listing 1. Hyper Enough 2. Silver Leaf and Snowy Tears 3. Yeah, It's Beautiful Here Too 4. Iron On 5. Sunshine State 6. Detroit Has a Skyline 7. Eastern Terminal 8. Animated Airplanes over Germany 9. Green Flowers, Blue Fish 10. Here's Where the Strings Come In 11. Certain Stars
The Afghan Whigs' final recording for Sub Pop, Uptown Avondale is anything but a contractual obligation -- a five-track EP comprising four R&B covers and a remake of Congregation's unlisted bonus track "Milez Iz Ded" (here retitled "The Rebirth of the Cool"), it's a soulful, scorching collection that captures the band at their gritty best. Quickly dispelling any lingering doubts that Greg Dulli's soul-man aspirations are anything but genuine, the disc's covers of chestnuts like Freda Payne's "Band of Gold" and the Supremes' "Come See About Me" are remarkable, remaining true to the music's R&B roots but infused with the Whigs' noise-punk energy -- Dulli sings like a man possessed, rejuvenating this familiar material with both reverence and attitude. Source: [AMG]
The Afghan Whigs - Come See About Me
Track Listing 1. Band of Gold 2. True Love Travels on a Gravel Road 3. Come See About Me 4. Beware
The Afghan Whigs ankled the grunge comparisons and emerged as the best blue-eyed soul outfit of their generation with their cover of the Supremes' Motown classic "My World Is Empty Without You." Operating in a Curtis Mayfield-inspired falsetto fraught with a desperation and longing that Diana Ross never mustered, Greg Dulli delivers his most remarkable performance to date -- he and his bandmates are no Funk Brothers, of course, but their spectral, finely wrought arrangement deftly captures the Whigs' growing mastery of nuance and mood. A pair of LP tracks -- Congregation's ferocious "Conjure Me" and Up in It's sinuous "You My Flower" -- round out the package. Source: [AMG]
The Afghan Whigs - My World Is Empty Withou You
Track Listing 1. My World Is Empty Without You 2. Conjure Me 3. You My Flower
Beat Happening's final LP is also their best: concluding the emotional and musical progression begun with the minimalist innocence of their earliest work, You Turn Me On is a mature record of tremendous breadth and complexity. Where once the trio's songs were brief and bouncy, the nine tracks here are epic (several top out at over six minutes) and ambitious; produced in part by ex-Young Marble Giant Stuart Moxham (an obvious influence), the record's full, deep sound belies its bare-bones performances -- "Teenage Caveman" sports booming, primal drums perfectly suited to its title, while the propulsive "Noise" manufactures the illusion of a bassline where none ever existed. The most democratic record in an output founded on egalitarian ideals, You Turn Me On offers Heather Lewis' strongest songs ever -- her hypnotic nine-minute "Godsend" is the LP's heart and soul -- and she and Calvin Johnson even trade verses on the closing "Bury the Hammer." As for Calvin himself, his solo contributions are exceptional -- the spartan opener "Tiger Trap" is an evocative heartbreaker, and the title track is a fire-breathing corker. A masterpiece. Source: [AMG]
Beat Happening - Tiger Trap
Track Listing 1. Tiger Trap 2. Noise 3. Pinebox Derby 4. Teenage Caveman 5. Sleepy Head 6. You Turn Me On 7. Godsend 8. Hey Day 9. Bury the Hammer
The Black Soul Gentlemen bootleg offers an okay radio broadcast from an Italian show during the Afghan Whigs' Gentlemen tour. The performance is decent, if a bit somewhat meandering, which pretty much comes with the territory of most Whigs shows. Singer/guitarist Greg Dulli injects enough barbs from to keep things interesting in lieu of the mediocre recording. Battling a language barrier and introducing "Retarded" to an inactive crowd, he muses, "This song is from our first record called Up in It. You ever heard of it...on Sub Pop? Does anybody care? No? Okay." Quality-wise, there's an uneven emphasis between the guitars of Dulli and Rick McCollum, and John Curley's bass gets completely lost from time to time. A major deciding factor in the purchase of Whigs' bootlegs is the covers; on most occasions, the track listings provide no indication of what they might be, since the Whigs often incorporated verses and snippets into their own material. Add uninformed bootleggers to the pot, and there you have the lack of info. Such is the case here. A fair amount of the lyrics to the Spinners' "I'll Be Around" is tucked inside of a breakdown during "Turn on the Water." Lyrics from Prince's "When Doves Cry" gets mixed into a nine-minute version of "You My Flower." And to a much lesser extent, Dulli throws in a couple lines from Dr. Dre's "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" during the Supremes' "My World Is Empty Without You," as well as Madonna's hop-to-it snips from "Into the Groove" and "Express Yourself" during a rip-roaring "Miles Iz Ded." As far as the overall set list is considered, it's favored toward Gentlemen, with a fair amount of attention paid to the records that preceded it. Source: [AMG]
The Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen
Track Listing 1. If I Were Going 2. Debonair 3. Turn on the Water 4. Gentlemen 5. Be Sweet 6. My World Is Empty Without You 7. When We Two Parted 8. Retarded Dulli 9. Fountain and Fairfax 10. Come See About Me 11. You My Flower 12. What Jail Is Like 13. Tonight 14. Miles Iz Ded
Put Sleepy Eyed in your CD player, hit play, and prepare to be amazed -- "Tangerine," the lead-off cut, signals the brief but welcome return of "Dinosaur Jr. Jr." with two-and-three-quarters minutes of charging neo-grunge guitars and galloping drums, the likes of which you haven't heard from this band since Birdbrain. But, of course, Buffalo Tom sound a lot tighter, stronger, and more confident when they dig into the big shaggy dog rock than they did five years previous, and while they never get quite as rollicking as "Tangerine" again on Sleepy Eyed, cut for cut it's a far more direct and straightforward rock album than anything they'd managed since their creative breakthrough on Let Me Come Over. To some listeners, Sleepy Eyed might sound like a regression, moving back into noisy power trio mode after the more polished surfaces and intricate arrangements of Let Me Come Over and Big Red Letter Day, but play Sleepy Eyed back to back with Birdbrain and you'll be pleasantly surprised by the differences. Sleepy Eyed decisively proves Buffalo Tom write better hooks and better melodies, write smarter lyrics, and even rock harder than when they were still trying to find their way out from under J. Mascis' shadow, and they sound like they're having a great time just turning up the amps and letting rip, especially Bill Janovitz, whose rock-dude guitar outros are a hoot (and this is one band who I cannot begrudge for enjoying themselves every once in a while). On Sleepy Eyed, Buffalo Tom go back to the old neighborhood and show everybody how much bigger and stronger they've become -- it's sorta like a high school reunion, but louder and a lot more fun. Source: [AMG]
Buffalo Tom - Summer
Track Listing 1. Tangerine 2. Summer 3. Kitchen Door 4. Rules 5. It's You 6. When You Discover 7. Sunday Night 8. Your Stripes 9. Sparklers 10. Clobberred 11. Sundress 12. Twenty-Points 13. Souvenir 14. Crueler
On their third release, 1995's Yes, Morphineshied away from the more accessible direction they laid down on 1994's superb Cure for Pain, going for a more challenging (but just as rewarding) direction. While the singles/videos "Honey White" and "Super Sex" did contain a pop edge (and were the album's best), other tracks, such as "The Jury" and "Sharks" pushed the envelope by containing lyrics that sound as if they're stream of consciousness. Like its predecessor, it's a highly consistent album -- even the lesser-known tracks are integral to the album's overall makeup. "Scratch," "All Your Way," "I Had My Chance," "Free Love," and "Gone for Good" all sound like the observations of a broken-down man, steeped in despair. But the mood lightens up on such selections as "Radar" and the title track, plus the aforementioned singles. With nearly all alt-rock bands sounding identical and bashing angrily away at their instruments in 1995, Morphineproved to be in a league all by themselves. Yesis perhaps just a shade less spectacular than Cure for Pain, but certainly not by much. Source: [AMG]
Morphine - Honey White
Track Listing 1. Honey White 2. Scratch 3. Radar 4. Whisper 5. Yes 6. All Your Way 7. Super Sex 8. I Had a Chance 9. The Jury 10. Sharks 11. Free Love 12. Gone for Good
"Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" began as a demo that the band recorded at STS Studios in 1990. The band worked on it during the formal Achtung Baby sessions, including several failed attempts at Hansa Studios in Berlin. This produced several versions of the song and about a dozenmixes. However, the original demo remained their preferred version. Producer Jimmy Iovine, in particular, expressed his preference for the demo version when lead vocalist Bono played it for him. During the group's time recording in Dublin in 1991, producer Steve Lillywhite was brought on to provide a "fresh pair of ears" and mix the song. The album version most closely resembles the original demo.
Lillywhite recalls that, "They hated that song. I spent a month on it and I still don't think it was as realised as it could've been. The Americans had heard it and said, 'That's your radio song there', because they were having trouble with some of the more industrial elements [of the album]. It's almost like a covers band doing a U2 moment. Maybe we tried too hard." Bono said, "It's a song I feel we didn't quite nail on the record because there was another whole set of lyrics that were dumped and I wrote those quickly and off we went." The band later released an alternately arranged "Temple Bar Remix" as the single, the version of the song they most prefer. The band also has claimed they find the song difficult to perform in concert. Bassist Adam Clayton said, "It's a great torch song, with melody and emotion, but I don't think we ever captured it again and we have never really been able to play the song live."
Single release When the covers to "Even Better Than the Real Thing", "The Fly", "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses", and "Mysterious Ways" are arranged, a picture of the band members driving a Trabant is formed. The single included Bono's solo version of Can't Help Falling in Love, which was recorded in STS studios in Dublin on 29 June 1992 for the movieHoneymoon in Vegas. Source: [Wikipedia]
U2 - Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
Track Listing 1. WHO'S Gonna Ride Your WILD HORSES (Temple bar edit) 2. Paint it BLACK 3. SALOMÉ (Zooromancer remix) 4. CAN'T help falling in LOVE (Triple peaks Remix)
Loops of Fury is a non-album EP from The Chemical Brothers in 1996. It reached #13 on the UK charts. It stayed for one week. The title track exemplifies the squelching synth lines and hard-hitting drums that became the Chemical Brothers' sound of the late 1990s and would be the blueprint of their tracks for years to come. It was used in the PlayStation game wipE’out 2097 and appeared on the accompanying wipE’out 2097 Soundtrack album. It was also included on the bonus disc of Singles 93-03, and as a B-side to the Japanese edition of “Setting Sun”. "Get Up On It Like This" was included in a reworked form on the subsequent album Dig Your Own Hole. Source: [Wikipedia]
The Chemical Brothers - Chemical Beats
Track Listing 1. Loops of Fury 2. (The Best Part of) Breaking Up 3. Get Up on It Like This 4. Chemical Beats (Dave Clarke Remix)
This is the album that rocketed the Wannadies to stardom internationally. Thanks to start-stop dynamics of the romantic power-pop single "You and Me Song," the band managed to find success on both sides of the Atlantic; in the U.K. the song hit the charts at the height of the Brit-pop movement and in the U.S. (where this album was never released) the song was featured in a prominent scene of the movie Romeo and Juliet. The magic of this album doesn't stop there, though. In fact, "Be a Girl" is a tour de force that lasts throughout the album's entire 11 tracks. Beside "You and Me Song," there's "Might Be Stars," another huge U.K. hit that is, without a doubt, one of the best songs ever written about being a rock star. Other highlights include the pure-pop mania of "Love in June" and "New World Record," a punchy, loud, arena-ready stomper. The guitars are noticeably louder on this disc, and the pace barely relents before "Kid," a gut-wrenching power-ballad, sends the listener away wanting another 11 tracks. This is classic Brit-pop from beginning to end -- a life-affirming album that reminds us why rock & roll is so great. (The Japanese version of this album contains a bonus track titled "Oh Oh Let's Go," which is a fine addition to the disc, but the cost is somewhat prohibitive). Source: [AMG]
The Wannadies - You And Me Song
Track Listing 1. You and Me Song 2. Might Be Stars 3. Love in June 4. How Does It Feel? 5. Sweet Nymphet 6. New World Record 7. Dying for More 8. Soon You're Dead 9. Do It All the Time 10. Dreamy Wednesdays 11. Kid
Again working with Alan Moulder but now also using a live drummer on most tracks -- namely Monti from Curve, one of the Mary Chain's many descendants -- the Reids came back strong with Honey's Dead, on balance a more consistent and satisfying record than Automatic. There's a sense of greater creativity with the arrangements, while the balance between blasting static rampage and precise, almost clinical delivery is the finest yet, making the album as a whole the best straight-through listen since Psychocandy. Monti's drumming finally replaces Bobby Gillespie's properly; he's a much more talented musician than the Primal Scream overlord, using the warped funk hits familiar from Curve's work to the Mary Chain's advantage. Even the drum machine-driven cuts work better than before, especially the brilliant, coruscating opener, "Reverence." Burning with some of the best nails-on-chalkboard feedback the band had yet recorded, combined with a whipsmart sharp breakbeat, all it took was the finishing touch of Jim Reid's sneering lines like "I wanna die like Jesus Christ" to make it another stone-cold classic single from the band. Other winners include "Sugar Ray," with beats and melody so immediate and addictive the track was actually used for a beer commercial, of all things, and the steady slap and crunch of "Good for My Soul." If there's a danger in Honey's Dead, it's that the near bottomless pit of reworked melodies and lyrics had almost reached its end -- even the final track, "Frequency," combines both "Reverence" itself with the Modern Lovers' "Roadrunner" -- which made the stylistic shift on Stoned & Dethroned a logical follow-up. William and Jim Reid split all the vocals almost evenly, the former especially shining on the nearly gentle "Almost Gold," the closest the record comes to a sweet ballad. Source: [AMG]
The Jesus And Mary Chain - Reverence
Track Listing 1. Reverence 2. Teenage Lust 3. Far Gone and Out 4. Almost Gold 5. Sugar Ray 6. Tumbledown 7. Catchfire 8. Good for My Soul 9. Rollercoaster 10. I Can't Get Enough 11. Sundown 12. Frequency
As he was promoting the last Sugar album, File Under: Easy Listening, Bob Mould hinted that he was tired of working with a band and was fascinated by the simple, four-track recordings of Sebadoh and Guided by Voices. So, it didn't come as a complete surprise when he disbanded Sugar a year after the release of FU:EL and began working on a record by himself. Bob Mould, his third solo album, was recorded entirely by Mould, but it doesn't sound like a lo-fi project -- it doesn't have the professional production of Sugar's records, but it has all their sonic detail. What has changed is the details themselves. Bob Mould may not surge on waves of loud guitars like Hüsker Dü or Sugar, but Mould is reaching into new territory, using distortion as a coloring device and exploring trancier melodies. And Mould sounds revitalized throughout the album -- although it is clear that this isn't a collection of first-takes, his obsession with making the album entirely on his own makes the music fierce and alive. Mould may be heading further into singer/songwriter territory with each album he releases, but he keeps his music away from stodginess by continually changing his approach and delving into new sonic territories. It also doesn't hurt that his increasingly bitter lyrics are gut-wrenchingly provocative and his melodies are consistently engaging. Source: [AMG]
Bob Mould - Egøverride
Track Listing 1. Anymore Time Between 2. I Hate Alternative Rock 3. Fort Knox, King Solomon 4. Next Time That You Leave 5. Egoverride 6. Thumbtack 7. Hair Stew 8. Deep Karma Canyon 9. Art Crisis 10. Roll over and Die
Having found himself back in the commercial limelight with Gorgeous George, Collins followed it up with the equally -- possibly even more -- delightful I'm Not Following You. Trademark wit blended with passion intact and with key sideplayers drummer Paul Cook and bassist Clare Kenny helping out among many others -- including a wonderfully scabrous vocal cameo by Mark E. Smith on the very disco "Seventies Night" -- Collins tries all sorts of different things and more often than not comes up with the goods. "The Magic Piper (Of Love)" was the understandable lead single, catchy and with more than a little bite to it, drawing from finger-snapping hep-lounge Vegas sources and his own fun lyrics: "My girlfriend she got blotto/Half cut in Santa's grotto/It turns out he's a dirty old man." Add to that some just right flute and a clever brass sample that suddenly turns into an orchestrated sample from the Velvet Underground, and the man still has it. It's one of many joys throughout, with Collins showing a musical heterodoxy that would probably stupefy most other bands or acts. "Seventies Night," for example, is followed up by the sweet orchestration and quick acoustic fingerpicking of "No One Waved Goodbye," a regretful look at a relationship in pieces. There's full-on feedback and pounding drums, there's sly, compressed production touching quirky keyboards and Euro/cabaret arrangements, and even the self-explanatory Hammond-tinged "Country Rock." The hint of wistful nostalgia is often matched by the lyrics, with asides like "I'm going back to my old school/Cause to tell you the truth/All those songs of my youth/Move this old fool." Not many musicians so readily and easily allow for the hints of the passage of time. Leave it to Collins to find a number of ways to do just that. Source: [AMG]
Edwyn Collins - Adidas World
Track Listing 1. It's a Steal 2. The Magic Piper (Of Love) 3. Seventies Night 4. No One Wave d Goodbye 5. Downer 6. Who Is It? 7. Running Away With Myself 8. Country Rock 9. For the Rest of My Life 10. Superficial Cat 11. Adidas World 12. I'm Not Following You
Belle & Sebastian's second record, If You're Feeling Sinister, is, for all intents and purposes, really their first, since their debut in 1996 was not heard outside of privileged inner circles. And If You're Feeling Sinister really did have quite a bit of an impact upon its release in 1996, largely because during the first half of the '90s the whimsy and preciousness that had been an integral part of alternative music was suppressed by grunge. Whimsy and preciousness are an integral part of If You're Feeling Sinister, along with clever wit and gentle, intricate arrangements — a wonderful blend of the Smiths and Simon & Garfunkel, to be reductive. Even if it's firmly within the college, bed-sit tradition, and is unabashedly retrogressive, that gives Sinister a special, timeless character that's enhanced by Stuart Murdoch's wonderful, lively songwriting. Blessed with an impish sense of humor, a sly turn of phrase, and an alluringly fey voice, he gives this record a real sense of backbone, in that its humor is far more biting than the music appears and the music is far more substantial that it initially seems. Sinister plays like a great forgotten album, couched in '80s indie, '90s attitude, and '60s folk-pop. It's beautifully out of time, and even if other Belle & Sebastian albums sound like it, this is where they achieved a sense of grace. Source [AMG]
Belle And Sebastian - Me And The Major
Track Listing 1. The Stars of Track and Field 2. Seeing Other People 3. Me and the Major 4. Like Dylan in the Movies 5. The Fox in the Snow 6. Get Me Away from Here, I'm Dying 7. If You're Feeling Sinister 8. Mayfly 9. The Boy Done Wrong Again 10. Judy and the Dream of Horses
Playboy & Playgirl begins with the kind of collage-heavy imagined soundtrack that marked Happy End of the World; with that out of the way, they get back to the inspired, eclectic popcraft that is their strength. Hookier and more danceable than their previous album, this is a welcome return to songwriting for the dynamic duo. Think Burt Bacharach without the self-pity, with a smidgen of Motown and Stax. Keyboard timbres run the gamut of the Pizzicato imagination from faux-harpsichord to spacy funk. Singer Nomiya Maki puts her unpretentious stamp over everything from Sgt. Pepper's pomp to '60s R&B horns to symphonic dancefloor beats to introspective pastorals. While P5 may be in with the lounge crowd, they never feel superior to their cheesy predecessors; avoiding the sometimes smug, reactionary irony of the new exotica, Yasuharu Konishi's diverse influences are held together by his all-embracing love of the pop spectrum. A joyous record. [Note: Playboy & Playgirl was released in Japan in 1998 under the title The International Playboy & Playgirl Record; Matador's 1999 American release cuts the third track, "International Pizzicato Five Mansion," and substitutes "La Règle du Jeu" later in the album's running order.]. Source: [AMG]
Pizzicato Five - Playboy Playgirl
Track Listing 1. La Depression 2. Rolls Royce 3. A New Song 4. Week-End 5. Magic Twin Candle Tale 6. Concerto 7. Such a Beautiful Girl Like You 8. Playboy Playgirl 9. La Régle du Jeu 10. I Hear a Symphony 11. Drinking Wine 12. The Great Invitations 13. Stars
Definitely Maybe manages to encapsulate much of the best of British rock & roll — from the Beatles to the Stone Roses — in the space of 11 songs. Oasis' sound is louder and more guitar-oriented than any British band since the Sex Pistols, and the band is blessed with the excellent songwriting of Noel Gallagher. Gallagher writes perfect pop songs, offering a platform for his brother Liam's brash, snarling vocals. Not only does the band have melodies, but they have the capability to work a groove with more dexterity than most post-punk groups. But what makes Definitely Maybe so intoxicating is that it already resembles a greatest-hits album. From the swirling rush of "Rock 'n' Roll Star," through the sinewy "Shakermaker," to the heartbreaking "Live Forever," each song sounds like an instant classic. Source: [AMG]
Oasis - Live Forever
Track Listing 1. Rock 'N' Roll Star 2. Shakermaker 3. Live Forever 4. Up in the Sky 5. Columbia 6. Supersonic 7. Bring It on Down 8. Cigarettes & Alcohol 9. Digsy's Dinner 10. Slide Away 11. Married with Children
While there is little denying the title track's status as one of Sonic Youth's strongest songs from their early-'90s period, the bonus live recordings are the real reason to own the Dirty Boots CD single. The scorching versions of "White Kross," "Eric's Trip," and "Cinderella's Big Score" reaffirm the group's status as one of the strongest live acts amid the alternative rock movement. Furthermore, this EP also includes an unreleased instrumental song, titled "The Bedroom," which isn't anything special, though it does make for an interesting listen. Source: [AMG]
