Release Date: 1999
Label: Elektra
Rating: 2/10
Stunned
2 years ago
Monday, 25 March 2019
Friday, 15 March 2019
890. The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
Release Date: 1999
Label: Warner Bros
I have this.
Rating: 9/10
889. Moby - Play
Release Date: 1999
Label: Mute
'Play' was a massive success when it was released twenty years ago, with its clever use of samples taken from Alan Lomax field recordings. The songs are familiar even to those who (like me) didn't buy the album.
Rating: 9/10
888. Death in Vegas - The Contino Sessions
Release Date: 1999
Label: Concrete.
Unremarkable.
Rating: 5/10
Thursday, 14 March 2019
887. Nitin Sawhney - Beyond Skin
Release Date: 1999
Label: Outcaste
This was an interesting album, with clever use of dialouge samples and references to nucleur wars, the tensions between Indian and Pakinstan etc. Better than I expected.
Rating: 7/10
886. Beth Orton - Central Reservation
Label: Heavenly
I own Beth Orton's previous album, Trailer Park, but this is apparently the better of the two. Considering I've thought about getting rid of the one I've got, I guess it's no surprise that I wasn't particularly enamoured by this.
Rating: 6/10
884. Travis - The Man Who
Release Date: 1999
Label: Independiente
This was the first album I ever bought.
Rating: 10/10
883. The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
Release Date: 1999
Label: Merge
I have this album.
Rating: 8/10
882. Incubus - Make Yourself
Release Date: 1999
Label: Epic
"I quite liked that 'Drive' song when I heard it twenty years ago, perhaps this album won't be so bad."
I was wrong, it was very bad.
Rating: 4/10
881. XTC - Apple Venus Volume 1
Release Date: 1999
Label: Idea
Unfortunately this wasn't available on Spotify.
880. Khaled - Kenza
Release Date: 1999
Label: Universal Records
This is another 'world music' album which seems to have been chosen to satisfy the commitee and not because of its quality. There must be better examples than this.
Rating: 4/10
879. Boards of Canada - Music Has The Right To Children
Release Date: 1999
Label: Warp
I have this album already.
Rating: 8/10
878. Suba - Sao Paulo Confessions
Release Date: 1999
Label: Ziriguiboom
I honestly can't really remember much about this album. I've fallen so far behind on my reviews that I may as well just make them up and choose a random score as I go along. I can remember if I liked something enought to buy it, and this wasn't one of those occasions.
Rating: 6/10
877. Kid Rock - Devil Without A Cause
Release Date: 1998
Label: Atlantic
The line that confirmed my opinion of the album was something like, 'I don't tend to like big women/but somehow I always find myself in 'em'.
Rating: 2/10
876. Korn - Follow The Leader
Release Date: 1998
Label: Immortal
This was bad, but it wasn't as awful as I expected it to be. So it gets an extra mark just for pleasantly surprising me.
Rating: 5/10
873. Queens of the Stone Age - Queens of the Stone Age
Release Date: 1998
Label: Loosegroove
This is the QOTSA album everybody (not literally) would've had to buy if they'd loved their breakthrough album a few years later. I was not one of those people, and on the strength of this I think I lucked out.
Rating: 5/10
Wednesday, 13 March 2019
872. Mercury Rev - Deserter's Songs
Release Date: 1998
Label: V2
Sometimes you listen to album that you've been looking forward to for a while and you remember why you began this project in the first place as your preconceived ideals are wrung true. Unfortunately, this was not one of those occasions as the only song I was previously aware of (and basing my hope on) is by far the best song on here, and the rest of the album just isn't that interesting.
Rating: 5/10
871. Hole - Celebrity Skin
Release Date: 1998
Label: DGC
This was a pleasant surprise. It wasn't as good as their previous offering, but it was a lot better than some of the stuff I've been subjected to recently.
Rating: 8/10
870. Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Release Date: 1999
Label: Ruffhouse
I have this album
Rating: 9/10
869. Madonna - Ray of Light
Release Date: 1998
Label: Maverick
I have the feeling that this was considered a comeback record for Madonna, in much the same way that Kylie Minogue had her coneback with 'Can't Get You Out of My Head' a few years later. Wikipedia tells me that the first single, 'Frozen' was her first UK number one since 1990's 'Vogue' so that may have something to do with it.
Rating: 9/10
867. Lucinda Williams - Car Whrrld on a Gravel Road
Release Date: 1998
Label: Mercury
I find myself becoming a fan of country music, especially female sung country music. Unfortunatly this was one of those occasions where my predetermined hopes let me down.
Rating: 5/10
866. David Gray - White Ladder
Release Date: 1998
Label: IHT Records
White Ladder was an unexpected hit for David Gray when it was released in 1998. The wobbly-headed singer/songwriter's fouth album was the kind that non-music lovers would buy in their thousands. Listening to it twenty-one years after its release, you can't help but wonder what all the fuss was about.
Rating: 7/10
865. Fatboy Slim - You've Come A Long Way Baby
Release Date: 1998
Label: Skint
In the late 90s, Fatboy Slim was arguably the biggest DJ on the planet, and this album is primarily the reason why.
Rating: 10/10
864. Turbonegro - Apocalypse Dudes
Release Date: 1998
Label: Virgin
This was one of those albums that I expected to be terrible, but instead was pleasantly surprised by. It was inoffesnive, stupid glam metal.
Rating: 6/10
863. Billy Bragg & Wilco - Mermaid Avenue
Release Date: 1998
Label: Elektra
A collection of previously unseen Woody Guthrie lyrics, given a contemporary update with music by Billy Bragg and Wilco has the potential to either entertain or despair. Fortunately, it does the former and this album is pleasant without being brilliant.
Rating: 7/10
862. Manu Chao - Clandestino
Release Date: 1998
Label: Virgin
We have this album too, though it isn't mine.
Rating: 6/10
Tuesday, 12 March 2019
861. Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert
Release Date: 1998
Label: Columbia
I have this album.
10/10
860. System of a Down - System of a Down
Release Date: 1998
Label: American
I'm never going to listen to this album again.
Rating: 4/10
859. Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating In Outer Space
Release Date: 1997
Label: Dedicated
Not as good as I was hoping, especially towards the end when it started drag.
Rating: 6/10
857. Elliot Smith - Either/Or
Release Date: 1997
Label: Kill Rock Stars
I have an Elliot Smith complitaiton that I've never really listened to. Like this album, it's not terrible - it's just not very memorable.
Rating: 6/10
Monday, 11 March 2019
856. Roni Size - New Forms
Release Date: 1997
Label: Talkin' Loud
This one the Mercury Music Prize in 1997, which considering it was up against The Prodigy, Radiohead, Suede and the Spice Girls is a travesty. It was also released in about 20 different versions (exaggeration) which is very confusing should you want to buy it online.
Rating: 5/10
855. Bob Dylan - Time Out Of Mind
Release Date: 1997
Label: Columbia
I have this one too
Rating: 8/10
854. Supergrass- In It For The Money
Release Date: 1997
Label: Parlophone
I have this already.
Rating: 10/10
853. Mariah Carey - Butterfly
Release Date: 1997
Label: Columbia
In an earlier edition of this book, albums by Britney Spears and Christina Aguelira are included. In a later edition, we have albums by Beyonce and Taylor Swift. The trouble is, pop music (of this sort) is disposable by its very nature, and this is another example that doesn't sound that good 21+ years later.
Rating: 4/10
Friday, 8 March 2019
852. Robbie Williams - Life Thru A Lens
Release Date: 1997
Label: Chrysalis
When this album was released, Robbie Williams wasn't quite the international phenomenan that he would go on to become. This, his first solo album, hasn't date very well at all.
Rating: 5/10
851. Daft Punk - Homework
Label: Virgin
Daft Punk are 90s French footballers David Ginola and Bixente Lizarazu. At least they were in 1997. They have since gone on to be Carla Bruni and Nicolas Sarkozy. 'Homework' was written and recorded after school one night as part of their coursework.
Rating: 8/10
850. Cornershop - When I Was Born For The 7th Time
Release Date: 1997
Label: Wiiija
Known for their hit single, Brimful of Asha (the original of which can be found on this album). This album is one of those ones you're likely to buy based on the above information, only to be disappointed with the rest of the songs.
Rating: 6/10
849. The Divine Comedy - A Short Album About Love
Release Date: 1997
Label: Setanta
A second Divine Comedy album in as many days (this is what happens when you go through the book at the speed I am) and definitely the better/more interesting of the two.
Rating: 9/10
848. Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - The Boatman's Call
Release Date: 1997
Label: Mute
I have this one.
Rating: 10/10
847. Buena Vista Social Club - Buena Vista Social Club
Release Date: 1997
Label: World Circuit
BVSC were a collection of Cuban musicians who all met whilst working for Disney in the early 90s. They are the band that all Jools Holland's world artists aspire to be. The album was ok, I guess.
Rating: 7/10
846. The Prodigy - Fat of the Land
Release Date: 1997
Label: XL
Between reviewing 'Music For The Jilted Generation' and this album, Prodigy front-man Keith Flint has sadly taken his own life. Therefore, I'm listening to this record in slightly different circumstances than expected. That said, it is still The Prodigy's best album, and will be the one that most people remember them for. The album cover for example is one of the 90s most iconic
Rating: 9/10
845. Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out
Release Date: 1997
Label: Kill Rock Stars
I enjoyed this album, I'm just not sure how much. Perhaps because I wanted to really like it, I ended up being slightly underwhelmed by it?
Rating: 7/10
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