Still in a most list-ful mood, but this round-up certainly wasn’t a very easy one to compile, I’ll have everyone know. The pickin’s were extremely, uh, thin, to say the very least.
Nevertheless (or should I say Nevermind)…..
Number One: Mark Johnson – 12 in a room (1992)
Powerful pop most firmly rooted within the Brill Building anteroom.
Two: Cowsills – Global (1998)
America’s once-and-forever First Family of Song leave no Partridge unspurned.
Three: Brian Wilson – Sweet Insanity (1991)
Just to make sure the Nineties weren’t ALL Pet Sounds re-issues.
Four: Dave Rave Group – Valentino’s Pirates (1992)
Wherein the former Soviet Union signs its first Western act, then promptly dissolves.
Five: Johnny Cash – American Recordings (1994)
Rick Rubin produces a Johnny we thought only Sam Phillips could.
Six: Tiny Tim – Rock (1993)
Includes possibly definitive readings of “Eve of Destructionâ€Â and “Rebel Yell,â€Â I kid you not.
Seven: Puffy – Jet CD (1998)
Oh-so-effortlessly crosses ABBA, Sabbath, and Who’s Next …and all by way of Jellyfish.
Eight: Monkees – Justus (1996)
Those Prefabs go out on a very high note (which, I’ll have you know, they played ALL BY THEMSELVES).
Nine: Shane Faubert – San Blass (1993)
Former head Cheepskate most definitely goes for baroque.
Ten: NRBQ – You Gotta Be Loose (1998)
Proof very positive: The greatest live r-n-r band In The World.
Eleven: Evaporators – I Gotta Rash (1998)
Before Ali G, Baba Booey, and most definitely Tenacious D.
Twelve: Neil Young – Arc (1991)
Truly too cool – not to mention loud – for (many) words.
Thirteen: Go-Nuts – The World’s Greatest Super Hero Snak Rock And Gorilla Entertainment Revue (1997)
For once, the title says it all.
Fourteen: High Llamas – Gideon Gaye (1994)
More than filling that cavernous sonic gap between SMiLE and the XTC reunion.
Fifteen: Blue Shadows – Lucky To Me (1995)
Hank Williams visits The Cavern by way of Big Pink.
Sixteen: Mojo Nixon – Gadzooks!!! (1997)
Includes “Bring Me The Head of David Geffenâ€Â …and then some.
Seventeen: James Richard Oliver –
The Mud, The Blood and The Beer (1998)
alt. Country with a capital “Oh!â€Â
Eighteen: Chesterfield Kings –
Surfin’ Rampage (1997)
Upstate New York’s finest give their Stones cloning a rest whilst hanging all ten.
Nineteen: Jandek – Twelfth Apostle (1993)
So many Jandek albums; so little space.