Second verse same as the first.
I’m doing a list of my favourite albums back to 1960, with commentary on selected albums. The first part of this list, from 2000 to the present day, can be found here. Without further ado, let’s go.
1999: Beth Orton – Central Reservation
1998: Garbage – Version 2.0
1997: Rammstein – Sehnsucht
“Du hast” does not mean “you hate” in German – you’re thinking of “du hasst” instead. The lyric “Du hast mich gefragt und ich hab’ nichts gesagt” means, “You asked me and I said nothing.” That would make no sense if instead the word hasst were sung.
Good? Good.
Before Reise, Reise in 2004 and Liebe ist für alle da in 2009, this was Rammstein’s strongest album. Rammstein led the charge in Neue Deutsche Härte in the 1990s, just as they do today. On a related note, NDH is the only reason I know any German above and beyond “Guten Tag.”
1996: Shawn Colvin – A Few Small Repairs
1995: Natalie Merchant – Tigerlily
Whilst Natalie Merchant had proved herself quite capable of being a soft rock vocalist during her time in 10,000 Maniacs, her voice proved itself far more amenable to adult contemporary music – and no album of hers is more emblematic of that than her first one. Tigerlily displays Merchant’s impressive range as a vocalist and songwriter, from the wistful “River” (a tribute to the actor River Phoenix, who had recently died at the time this album came out) and mournful “I May Know the Word” to the nostalgic “Carnival” and defiant “Wonder.” Merchant’s later work (five albums between 1998 and 2014) doesn’t quite measure up, but it still merits a listen if Tigerlily digs its hooks into you as it did into me.
1994: Walter Becker – 11 Tracks of Whack
One of just two albums from the late Steely Dan member, and of the two, his better effort. Worth seeking out just for “Girlfriend,” “Junkie Girl,” and “This Moody Bastard.” Becker was every bit as capable a vocalist as Donald Fagen is.
1993: Nirvana – In Utero
There’s an unsettling air of finality to In Utero that I’ve never been able to pin down despite listening to and loving this album for nearly twenty years. Perhaps it’s because of the bizarre video for “Heart-Shaped Box” or the knowledge (with the benefit of hindsight, natch) that Kurt Cobain would commit suicide less than a year after this album debuted. In any case, In Utero features the band at its highest ebb musically and stylistically, proving to audiences both then and now what grunge could be at its creative peak. Rest in power, Kurt.
1992: Stone Temple Pilots – Core
1991: Nirvana – Nevermind
1990: Paul Simon – The Rhythm of the Saints
1989: Roch Voisine – Hélène
I don’t know the canon of French Canadian music well enough to say whether Roch Voisine is its best male vocalist, but he’s definitely in the running. Hélène feels like the late-80s album it is, what with the cheesy guitar and programmed drums, but in return Voisine offers an eminently listenable voice and earnest songwriting.
1988: Edie Brickell & New Bohemians – Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars
“She’s married to that short, old guy. That old guy from Africa who was in the Beatles.”
Beavis and Butt-head got a lot wrong, and that’s how their characters were written, but one thing those two wienerheads got right was introducing me to what was perhaps the best soft rock album of 1988. “What I Am” was a featured music video on an episode of Beavis and Butt-head – and as an enjoyer of the original show and a fan of ‘80s music, I had to find this album. I’m glad I did: it’s full of calm, earnest songwriting that just makes me feel good. Had she come along twenty years later, I’d consider Brickell to be America’s answer to KT Tunstall; they each put me in a similar frame of mind.
1987: Guns N’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction
1986: Paul Simon – Graceland
One of the greatest albums ever recorded, and one of the few recorded examples of what Black music was like in South Africa before the fall of apartheid, even if it was filtered through Paul Simon’s inimitable style. Some even credit this album with concentrating the world’s attention on South Africa enough that the apartheid era ended. The incredible vocal harmony of Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the stupendous musicianship of Forere Motloheloa (accordion), Ray Phiri (guitar), and Bakithi Kumalo (fretless bass) are the must-listen attractions of Graceland – for once, Paul Simon’s vocals and lyrics take the backseat. I have versions of this on CD, vinyl, cassette, and digital download – I’m slightly obsessed with this album.
1985: Slayer – Hell Awaits
God listens to Slayer, and so should you.
1984: U2 – The Unforgettable Fire
1983: Def Leppard – Pyromania
1982: Donald Fagen – The Nightfly
I consider this the honorary tenth Steely Dan album, since aside from Walter Becker’s absence, this sure feels a hell of a lot like a Steely Dan album musically and stylistically. Must-listen tracks include “I.G.Y.,” “The Nightfly,” “The Goodbye Look,” “New Frontier,” and “Walk Between Raindrops.” The perfectionistic musicianship remains, but the Dan’s unremitting cynicism takes a much-appreciated break.
1981: AC/DC – Back in Black
This might just be my favourite hard rock album of all time, from the opening bells of “Hells Bells” to the final notes of “Rock N’ Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution.” Back in Black was the perfect triumphant return for a band that had to learn how to exist without its frontman (Bon Scott had died in 1980), and my god what a return it was.