Recommendation Thread: The Best Albums and Songs of the 90s

[Dan]

Some people might find this thread from the old forum useful for our 90s polls. Madredeus' "O pastor" only made my top 15 songs list because of a recommendation by Miguel. (By the way, Miguel, the video link you posted for the song wasn't working anymore, so I posted another one. Hope you don't mind.)

Here are the posts from the old thread:

Dan

The first album I would like to recommend from 1990 is Paco Ibáñez’s Por una canción. He is a Spanish singer/songwriter who sings poems by mostly classic poets from Spain (and from Peru and Nicaragua on this album). But to be honest, with that slightly broken but very characterful voice he could sing nursery rhymes and I would probably still like it.

The album isn’t on Spotify (at least not here in the UK) and there aren’t many songs from it on YouTube. But I’ve found a website where you can listen to all the songs, so here they are for anyone interested:

Paco Ibáñez – Por una canción

1. No te pude ver
2. Córdoba
3. Amada
4. Juventud, divino tesoro
5. Ya no hay locos
6. Rosal
7. Tus ojos me recuerdan
8. Canción de la muerte
9. La romería
10. El rey Almutamid
11. Volverán las oscuras golondrinas

Other albums not on AM which I would recommend to folk/roots and world music lovers:

Kevn Kinney – MacDougal Blues: Accoustic folk and roots rock like they used to do it in the 60s and 70s.

Loketo – Soukous Trouble: Wonderfully energetic soukous (a blend of Cuban rumba and other Latin American music with the folk music of the Congo).

Luka Bloom – Riverside: Contemporary Celtic folk from Ireland (but a lot of the songs are perhaps more rock than folk).

David Grisman – Dawg ‘90: Chamber jazz with elements of bluegrass, gypsy music and Latin music.

Alison Krauss – I’ve Got That Old Feeling: A really lovely bluegrass gem with country and pop skilfully blended in. Here’s a song from the album called Endless Highway.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Honorio

Wonderful recommendations, Dan. I haven't heard before that Paco Ibáñez album, I liked it a lot.

Let me follow: going back to my old 1990 list (that I’ll try to update for this poll) those were my non-English choices.
Albums:
1. GORAN BREGOVIC "Le temps des gitans" (my #12 then: the first soundtrack from the great Goran Bregovic for Emir Kusturica and his first release with his Wedding and Funeral Band; an album that includes the amazing "Ederlezi" could be nothing less than great).
2. LOS ENEMIGOS "La vida mata" (my #15: the sound of the barrio, the arrogant and raw sound of the Madrid mean streets).
3. NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN "Mustt Mustt" (my #18: the Western instrumentation did not reduce the intensity of Nusrat voice).
4. PACO DE LUCÍA "Zyryab" (my #19: the last great album from the greatest flamenco guitar player ever, after that the decadence began).

Songs (non-Spanish):
1. GORAN BREGOVIĆ Ederlezi (#6 then, the clip from the Kusturica movie is as outstanding as the the song, sadly we don't have this song on the World Cup Poll)
2. NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN Mustt Mustt (Massive Attack Remix) (#29). This could be probably Henrik’s favourite too but Nicolas probably would prefer the original version. And what about me? Can I choose both?
3. PAQUITO D’RIVERA feat. ARTURO SANDOVAL (the song Reunion that I put on #42 is not available on You Tube despite being available almost every other song from this wonderful latin jazz album, you can listen instead to Friday Morning
4. GORAN BREGOVIĆ Talijanska (L'italienne) (#48, Bregovic's version of a traditional Italian tune for the "Time of the Gypsies" soundtrack).
5. JUAN LUIS GUERRA y 4:40 Ojalá que llueva café (#49, a smash hit in Spain at the time, a nice sample of merengue from Dominican Republic).

And a Top 5 of Spanish songs:
1. KETAMA Loko (#9 then, Caribbean flamenco)
2. RADIO FUTURA Veneno en la piel (#22, mor Caribbean flavours plus Marc Ribot-styled guitars)
3. LOS ENEMIGOS Septiembre (#31, Miguel would have chose "Desde el jergón")
4. CARLOS BERLANGA El ángel exterminador (#34, kitsch and classy at the same time)
5. RADIO FUTURA El amigo desconocido (#37, great lyrics about homeless)

________________________________________________________________________________________

Charlie Driggs

"Time Of The Gypsies" is one of my favourite soundtracks, too, but isn't it from 1988?

________________________________________________________________________________________

Honorio

Well, it seems you're right, I always though it was released in 1990 but it's not. But I'm not sure if it was released on 1988 or 1989. According to Rateyourmusic it was released in 1988 but according to Goran official page it was released in 1989. Giving the fact that the movie was premiered on December 21, 1988 both dates are possible. The thing that confused me is that the album Le temps des gitans released in 1990 was in fact a compilation with 8 of the 10 songs of the original soundtrack plus 2 other songs from the soundtrack of the movie "Kuduz".

________________________________________________________________________________________

John

For how popularish the Modern Lovers are it always surprises me how unknown Jonathan Richman's solo work is despite it being pretty much a continuation of the Lovers a decade later. I think my favorite album of his (including all Modern Lovers albums) is Jonathan Goes Country, eligible in 1990. Here are a couple tracks...


Since She Started To Ride

The Neighbors

________________________________________________________________________________________

Miguel

Pascal Comelade: 4 roses pour Marie

From the album Cent regards

"Pascal Paul Vincent Comelade (born June 30, 1955), is a French Catalan musician. Comelade was born in Montpellier, France. After living for several years in Barcelona, he made his first album, 'Fluences', influenced by electronic music and by the group Heldon. Subsequently, his music has become more acoustic and is characterised by the sounds of toy instruments, used as solo-instruments and as an integral part of the sound of his group, the Bel Canto Orquestra. In 2007 he did a Take-Away Show acoustic video session shot by Vincent Moon. He has collaborated with many singers and musicians from diverse genres of music including Robert Wyatt, Dani, Faust, Christophe Miossec, Toti Soler, Jac Berrocal, Pierre Bastien and P.J. Harvey to mention just a few."
(scribd.com)

________________________________________________________________________________________

And these recommendations were posted in the old “Best Albums and Songs of 1990” thread:

Petri

OK here's my favorite non-english song of the year.

Ismo Alanko - Kun Suomi putos puusta
And here's some info (in English) about the shaman of Finnish rock.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Mindrocker

Glad to see some love for Electronica on this otherwise very guitar-oriented forum lately. What a pleasant coincidence then that we start now with this poll. The 90s may have had Nirvana, Britpop & OK Computer, to me that decade was owned by electronic dance music. Deephouse, Techno, Madchester, Triphop, Drum & Bass...every 6 months a new innovative and groundbreaking subgenre seemed to erupt out of nowhere. Granted, the best electronica was issued on 12-inch so it takes some effort to dig up the goods.
Earlier there were quite a few discussions and suggestions of how to avoid too predictable results in the poll. Well ,IMO the best way to do that is to look beyond the AM lists. Don't get me wrong, the lists on this site are great, an accurate representation of any given year/period. But there's so much more music which is not included on AM, lying there to be (re)discovered (I mean, Gang Starr's Step In The Arena not even bubbling under? Really?). Try to be a bit adventurous, that's by far the best way to avoid too much predictability.

Oh yeah, the 90s were also the best decade for Hiphop.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Jackson

Remember My Bloody Valentine's Glider came out in 1990, which contains their masterpiece "Soon" along with the underrated gem "Off Your Face".

I really would like Ride's "Vapour Trail" to make it as well. The coda to this song is one of the most beautiful moments in music for me.

I have listened to less from 1990 than any other year of the decade, so I don't have many interesting picks. Sun City Girls and John Zorn put out well-received albums on the experimental side of things, but I'm not 100% behind either of those personally.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Miguel

Madredeus: O pastor (The Sepherd). From the album "Existir"

Youtube

"EXISTIR is the second album recorded by Madredeus, and it is truly a jewel... Released in 1990, it brings many remarkable songs, and the first worldwide success of the group, O PASTOR. This piece, hard to describe or classify in any musical rythm or school, is still one of the most famous songs of the group. Teresa Salgueiro's voice were already marvelous, and the fine harmonies and arrangments, joining instruments like the cello and the classic guitar, the accordion and the keyboards, made Madredeus the outstanding success they are up to now..."
Robertson Frizero Barros

English translation

[nicolas]

Let's not forget the wonderful jazz album that Björk recorded with an Icelandic jazz trio : Gling Glo

[Zorg]

Miguel, that song O Pastor was absoluely magical, but I can't find their album anywhere...

and Jackson, Vapour Trail will definitely top 10 for me, probably top 5. They are the coda kings - the best part of a Ride song is always the last minute. And while I prefer Going Blank Again, Nowhere will probably also top 5 for me.

[Miguel]

Zorg, I don't know if Spotify is available in your country: you can listen Existir here

[Jackson]

This was a really good year for metal; listening to some of these albums brought me back to when I was 15 and first getting into music.

Megadeth - Holy Wars

Megadeth's Rust in Peace my favorite metal album not made by Black Sabbath. For one, the production sounds crystal clear--while a lot of albums made in 1990 have kind of a dated sound, this album could have come out yesterday. And the guitar performance throughout is just sensational--every track has frenetic riffs and virtuoso guitar solos that never seem excessive.

Pantera-Cemetary Gates

By far the best song I've heard from Pantera; has a really nice buildup throughout the track.

Judas Priest - Painkiller

This is an absolutely over-the-top and outlandish track, but its constant energy and a great performance on all instruments make it a metal classic.

I'm also enjoying Slayer's Seasons in the Abyss, which I had never heard before. I like it a lot more than their most famous album, Reign in Blood.

[Jirin]

My favorite less critically praised albums from the 90s:

Tom Waits - Bone Machine
Fiona Apple - When The Pawn
REM - New Adventures In Hifi
Pere Ubu - Worlds In Collision
Lucinda Williams - Sweet Old World
Saint Etienne - So Tough
Laika - Sounds of the Satellites
Tool - Aenima
GZA/Genius - Liquid Swords

[nicolas]

Slayer is an amazing, terrifying group. Incredible.

[Dan]

1. GORAN BREGOVIĆ Ederlezi (#6 then, the clip from the Kusturica movie is as outstanding as the the song, sadly we don't have this song on the World Cup Poll)

It really is a pity this song wasn't nominated for the Foreign World Cup. It would've done well.

[Dan]

Today I revisited my 90s songs lists and looked at previously posted songs lists for the 90s polls held back in 2007. And this caught my attention from the 1999 poll....

1. Mr Oizo - Flat Beat

mother fuckin'

It probably won't be his #1 again, but it still scared me (in a good way).

[nicolas]

hahaha ! Not sure how it will do next time but I love that song. Brings back memories of trememdous parties !!

PS : I'm enjoying the Pet Shop Boys album (at least the first 2 songs)

[Henrik]

First, thanks for the recommendation of Madredeus!

Now, three recommendations for 1991:

There's a German album on AM from this year, Element of Crime's "Damals hinterm Mond", that really deserves its place.
Genres: Indie Pop, Singer/Songwriter, Slowcore


One of my favorite Swedish singers, Stina Nordenstam, debuted this year with "Memories of a Color", with some marvellous songs.
Genres: Singer/Songwriter, Pop, Dream Pop


Anouar Brahem, who has become a favorite in the AMF World Cup, also debuted in 1991. Here he is alone with his oud.
Genres: African Folk Music, Chamber Jazz, Arabic Jazz

[Henrik]

Gotta give you one more. This is a fragment of the 25 minutes long "Sarah Was Ninety Years Old" from Arvo Pärt's "Miserere" from 1991. The world stops.
Genres: Modern Classical, Minimalism, Choral

[Dan]

1991 had more depth than 1990 IMHO. Apart from all the classics on AM there were excellent albums from outside the US and UK. I second Henrik's recommendations of Element of Crime's Damals hinterm Mond and Stina Nordenstam's Memories of a Color. For those who like African music, Ali Farka Touré 's The Source and Baaba Maal's Baayo are worth checking out.

But my 2 favourite non-US/UK albums from 1991 are Cesária Évora's Mar Azul and Jorge Palma's Só. I have liked Cesária Évora for quite a while, but ever since I listened to Sodade for the Foreign World Cup she's had me under a spell. It was a joy to listen to the album and I look forward to listening to Miss Perfumado for the 1992 poll. Jorge Palma is a singer/songwriter from Portugal. On Só it's just him and his piano, and it's beautiful. Here's a song from each of the two albums.

[Petri]

Stina Nordenstam was the one I planned to recommend from 1991. Although Henrik did that already I'm still going to recommend another song by her (in case you don't listen to the whole album). Soon After Christmas is potential #1 of mine. And in year like 1991 it's have to mean a perfect song.

Stina Nordenstam - Soon after Christmas

[Romain]

Don' forget this wonderful band "Ocean Colour Scene"
and their best album "Moseley Shoals" (1996), very Beatlesien
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rr4tXN2eJM

And this another Britpop's band : "Sleeper".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiNG3neQFw0

[Miguel]

Julian Cope: Beautiful Love (from Peggy Suicide)

"Picking out only some highlights does the album as a whole a disservice, but besides offering up an instant catchy pop single, Beautiful Love, Cope handles everything from the minimal moods of Promised Land and experimentation of Western Front 1992 CE to the frenetic Hanging Out and Hung Up on the Line and commanding Drive, She Said. An absolute, stone-cold rock classic, full stop."
(Ned Raggett)

Pere Ubu: Oh Catherine (from Worlds in Collision)

"Worlds in Collision shows that they could make an album capable of appealing to a broader audience without losing touch with what made them a singular creative force in the first place, something not every band that signed to a major label was able to manage."
(Mark Deming)

Richard Thompson: I Feel So Good (From Rumour and Sigh)

"It's no small achievement for a man in his mid-forties who doesn't smoke, drink, or use recreational drugs to effectively (and convincingly) assume the persona of a juvenile delinquent, but Richard Thompson managed that rather remarkable feat on the song I Feel So Good from his 1991 album Rumor and Sigh. Just out on the streets after two and a half years in Borstal, Thompson's protagonist, who is "old enough to sin, (but) too young to vote," is thrilled to be alive, and wants to celebrate by finding a girl and damaging some property (not necessarily in that order). If you're imaging this as a bit of social commentary, think again -- the clean-living Mr. Thompson embodies our teenage thrill seeker with such enthusiasm that you can almost picture the grin on his face as he polishes his brass knuckles, and the full-bodied snap of Thompson's guitar solo cuts through the song like our hero's switchblade snapping into place. Maybe other folks have written songs more realistic about the lives of teenage criminals, but it took one of the cleanest living men in British rock to write I Feel So Good, which makes life on the wrong side of the law seem like bliss."
(Mark Deming)

[nicolas]

My first recommendation from 1991 is a French album, Sheller en solitaire, by French songwriter William Sheller. Sheller is a trained musician with a classical background, and his music is a sort of baroque pop but here he recorded this album alone at the paiano, and live in a studio with an audience of 200 people. I think that even if you don't get the (very poetic) lyrics this album can have a strong appeal. I still haven't made my list but I have the feeling that he's a serious contender for the top 5.

The only previously unissued track in the album was a big hit in France



Another great song (Ihaven't heard the album yet) that already featured in the World Cup, from Morocco. this is music from the gnawa, the descendants of Black slaves in North Africa

[Romain]

For 1991, I'm going to point out to two French albums :
Osez Joséphine by Alain Bashung and Du ciment sous les plaines by Noir Désir.

Bashung :
Madame Rêve (sublime melody) :

Osez Joséphine :


Noir Désir
En route pour la joie :

[Romain]

And some songs of 1991 :
Au p'tit bonheur - J'veux du soleil

Les Négresses Vertes - Sous le soleil de Bodega

Stephan Eicher
(sorry for the video)
Mc Solaar - Bouge de là

Mc Solaar - Caroline

Mc Solaar - Victime de la mode

Mc Solaar - Qui sème le vent récolte le tempo

[Nassim]

Famille Nombreuses by Les Négresses Vertes is a very good album, if not as good as Mlah. "Face à la mer" is a wonderful song.

I was wondering, do "La Mano Negra" albums count as "non english" singe they are about a third in english, a third in French and a third in spanish.

Let me add this single to Romain's list of French hits (1991 has a very rare numbers of French songs both good and successful) :

[nicolas]

Mano Negra count as non English cause there is a majority of non anglophone songs

[Zorg]

I feel I can finally give a recommendation which some of you might not have heard of!

It's a German band called Blumfeld, who are a weird mix of Sonic Youth-like guitars and Pixies-esque indie rock. It feels smarter than those bands though, much more wordy and Neil-Young-commentaryesque, and they sparked a revival of German music in the German language (which after the New German Wave of the 70s and 80s was incredibly necessary). I really like hearing the German language, so maybe I'm naturally attracted to it, but the music is interesting enough for a listen. Anyway, they're probably most famous for their 1994 album "L'etat et moi", but they released their debut "Ich-Maschine" ("ego-machine") in 1992, which is apparently pretty good. It has one of their most famous tracks on it, 1991's Ghettowelt (World of Ghettos):

[Henrik]

There was a great show about jazz on Swedish radio, called "Smoke Rings", by Leif Andersson. He hosted the show 1,786 times(!), from 1960 until his death in 1999 (the last show was only three days before he died). Because of an illness in his younger days, Leif Andersson had a very dark and characteristic voice.

In 1992, the first successful Swedish hip-hop band Just D sampled Leif Andersson's characteristic presentations of jazz artists from the show, and they added a superb smooth beat. This is one of my favorite songs of 1992.

[Dan]

My recommendations in this thread are usually about non US/UK music, so I might as well continue the pattern for 1992...

Unless some amazing song that I've never heard before completely takes me by surpirse, Cesária Évora's Sodade will be my #1 song for 1992. Thanks to antonius for nominating this astouding song for the Foreign World Cup. I know nicolas loves this song too, so I'm hoping it will do reasonably well in our poll:



Khaled - Didi. Thanks to Honorio for having this song so high on his list back in 2007:



Vanessa Paradis - Be My Baby. Thanks to Henrik for loving this song five years ago:



And finally, one of my own recommendations for the Foreign World Cup. Ali Hassan Kuban - Habibi:

[Petri]

Here's two great (probably my #1 and #2 of the year) songs in English outside the US and UK (+ Ireland and Canada). In 1992 there weren't released songs like One or albums like Loveless and Achtung Baby so I think there's a little chance that two unknown artists (both in albums and songs) will qualify.

Indie pop from Finland and chamber pop from Netherlands.

[Michel]

The whole album is great. My favorite Kronos album.


Perhaps the most underrated band IMO.

[nicolas]

Noir Désir's Tostaky is the most acclaimed (and excellent) French record of 1992. I really love the title song

[nicolas]

Another great French rock group was Les Innocents. They're not on Youtube

"L'Autre Finistère"

[Henrik]

Great recommendations, everyone!


Congratulations to Cocteau Twins fans who haven't heard Bel Canto yet.

[Miguel]

Barenaked Ladies: Brian Wilson. Album: “Gordon”
One of the more introspective songs from Barenaked Ladies' early days, "Brian Wilson" still managed to include a full dose of twisted tribute to cultural icons as well as a few obscure pop references. What comes off as a somewhat sincere musing about obsession, depression, and creative drought becomes quirky with its reflection on the plight of the Beach Boys' drug and depression riddled leader. Lead singer Stephen Page can't seem to stop listening to the Beach Boys' Smiley Smile or wandering around his town late at night, but these pursuits are about as helpful to him as the expensive "therapy" from Dr. Landy was for Wilson.
Stacia Proefrock (allmusic)

Jonathan Richman: That Summer Feeling. Album: “I Jonathan”.
“That Summer Feeling”, arguably Richman’s most beautiful song, brings us right to the edge of Jonathan’s discovery. He has been searching for some untouchable feeling, but we find out that he has had this all along. He addresses multiple, equally heartbreaking feelings; the grade school awkwardness, the high school crushes, ‘You’ll throw everything away for it’. The album’s centerpiece, it is also the most difficult track. He continually pounds us with these sentimental memories, and then nears to a close... and then picks it right up again.
Taylor Martin (stylusmagazine)

Kiko Veneo: EL mensajero. Album “Échate un cantecito”.
Kiko Veneno was the leader of the seminal band Veneno that recorded the ground-breaking 1977 album “Veneno” (“Poison”), considered by many the all-time best Spanish album. They created a fresh mix of drums and spanish guitars, of Bob Dylan automatic poetry and Andalucía popular rhymes, of Frank Zappa’s free musical approach and flamenco roots. The band broke up after this only album, and while the guitarists of the band Raimundo and Rafael Amador reached high heights with a new band, Pata Negra, the career of Kiko Veneno went down during the eighties. In 1992 Kiko resurfaced with a brilliant album, “Échate un cantecito” (“Burst out Some Singing”) recorded in London, played mainly by English musicians and produced by Jo Dworniak.
Honorio Barranco (acclaimedmusic)

[Spaz]

I doubt that it'll get much love, but anyway here I post and recommend Sacred Spirit's "The Sun Won't Talk No More" from the 1997 album "Culture Clash".

[nicolas]

Please be sure to listen to my favorite album of 1993, Divine Comedy's Liberation

[Pierre]

Hi guys! I've never been playing in that kind of games (not my stuff, actually), but I think it's honestly a great opportunity to discover new songs and albums, especially through these recommendation threads that I've been following. Since I'm here, I'll share with you a few French ones (yeah, again ) from 1993 that I think are worth listening. It was quite a good year, essentially for French pop.

First, Rachid Taha. Maybe, you already know about that guy. This song is against the rise of far right in France at the time (well, it sadly still sounds actual...). The song is actually more pop than Algerian-sounding.



Jean-Louis Aubert is the veteran singer of French band Téléphone, often classified as post-punk, while they have more to do with mod rock in my opinion. This song comes from his solo effort, "H".

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlo0u_ ... rch_algo=1

Another veteran, French pop singer Alain Souchon. He had a string of hits at the end of the 70s, and made a smash comeback in France in 1993 with the beautiful album "C'est déjà ça". Here are some highlights :





One of Rita Mitsouko's late great song, "Y'a d'la haine" comes from their album "Système D" :



A great pop song by French band L'Affaire Louis' Trio :



Swiss rocker Stephan Eicher made two great albums at the beginning of the 90s, "Engelberg" in 1991 and "Carcassonne" in 1993. Here's an highlight from the latter :



An oddity, a Breton band called "Billy Ze Kick et Les Gamins en folie". Critics are still puzzled by them, wondering if they are really a great alternative pop band, or one of the biggest joke of the 90s. This song talks about mushrooms, if you see what I mean :



To finish, a classic from French hip-hop of 1993 :



Enjoy

[Zorg]

The Divine Comedy's Promenade is one of my favourites from 1994, so I'm definitely going to be picking up Liberation. I always wondered they were a "big" hit in France, but on in their home country or anywhere else...

[nicolas]

Yeah Pierre 93 was a huge year in France; it was really in the mid-90s that French pop exploded.
And Zorg, Liberation is great (maybe less so than Promenade) but both are in my all time top 30.

[Chilton]

One of my favourite (Belgian) songs of all time and 1993 in particular is Wat is Kunst? by Noordkaap. Great song, but I think its strength lies in its (Dutch) lyrics, so I doubt this will get any love, but hey, I tried

1993 also saw the release of the first ever EP of dEUS, Belgium's greatest band (well, according to AM). On it, was this song: Zea

[nicolas]

Another great recording from 1993 is modern classical composer Gavin Bryar's Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet. Don't panic if you don't hear anything in the beginning, and keep listening.




I discovered this piece at a modern dance show in 1998. As amazing as the recording itself, here is its history, told by Bryars (that Honorio posted in the old forum)

"In 1971, when I lived in London, I was working with a friend, Alan Power, on a film about people living rough in the area around Elephant and Castle and Waterloo Station. In the course of being filmed, some people broke into drunken song - sometimes bits of opera, sometimes sentimental ballads - and one, who in fact did not drink, sang a religious song "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet". This was not ultimately used in the film and I was given all the unused sections of tape, including this one.

When I played it at home, I found that his singing was in tune with my piano, and I improvised a simple accompaniment. I noticed, too, that the first section of the song - 13 bars in length - formed an effective loop which repeated in a slightly unpredictable way. I took the tape loop to Leicester, where I was working in the Fine Art Department, and copied the loop onto a continuous reel of tape, thinking about perhaps adding an orchestrated accompaniment to this. The door of the recording room opened on to one of the large painting studios and I left the tape copying, with the door open, while I went to have a cup of coffee. When I came back I found the normally lively room unnaturally subdued. People were moving about much more slowly than usual and a few were sitting alone, quietly weeping.

I was puzzled until I realised that the tape was still playing and that they had been overcome by the old man's singing. This convinced me of the emotional power of the music and of the possibilities offered by adding a simple, though gradually evolving, orchestral accompaniment that respected the tramp's nobility and simple faith. Although he died before he could hear what I had done with his singing, the piece remains as an eloquent, but understated testimony to his spirit and optimism.

The piece was originally recorded on Brian Eno's Obscure label in 1975 and a substantially revised and extended version for Point Records in 1993. The version which is played by my ensemble was specially created in 1993 to coincided with this last recording."

Gavin Bryars.

[Nassim]

One of my all-time favorite hip-hop songs

[Henrik]

For 1994, I'm going to spend all my money on Stina Nordenstam's "And She Closed Her Eyes". These songs are among the most beautiful I know.





Well...almost all the money. The Cardigans debut album just sounds better and better to my ears.

[nicolas]

[nicolas]

Don't forget that this great song was released in 94 (one year before the album)

[Zorg]

Ween's Chocolate and Cheese was a really fun listen, thanks Jackson. Zappa-esque in its nuttiness, it just kept a smile on my face for the entirety of the 50-odd minutes that it was playing. Their 1993 album got a 5/5 from Allmusic, but no one seems to have voted for it.



That's just a snippet though. Every song on that album sounds nothing like the others.

With the Euros in full swing (England play France tomorrow!) and more importantly my end of school exams coming up in the next week, I'm gonna have much less time for listening to albums, which is such a shame, since 1994 seems like such a great year. Much better than 1993, at least. Pavement's Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, The Divine Comedy's Promenade, Blumfeld's L'état et Moi, Stereolab's Mars Audiac Quintet and Blur's Parklife are already in my top 100 of all time, and having heard Pulp and Nas, those two seem set to join them. Add in some Weezer, Beck and even Method Man, and this is probably the greatest musical year of the decade.

[HRS]

Now, this is the right thread!

My brazilian pick of 1994:

- Marisa Monte's Verde Anil Amarelo Cor de Rosa e Carvão

My favorite brazilian album of the year - perhaps tied with Chico Science - mix the traditional with contemporary. Not only the presence of the former is notable with the inclusion of a fantastic cover of Paulinho da Viola's Dança da Solidão and a song featuring samba school Velha Guarda da Portela, but also in the heart of tracks that mixed tradition with the contemporary sound developed by Monte and collaborators in 1991's Mais and developed further here. Segue O Seco was written by Brown, Ao Meu Redor by Nando Reis, there's a cover of The Velvet's Pale Blue Eyes, tracks featuring Laurie Anderson, Gilberto Gil, Philip Glass and Arto Lindsay produced along with Monte. And there's the wonderful Jorge Ben's Balança Pema that looks like it jumped out of Africa Brasil. So you have the perfect blend of Brazilian Popular Music and Downtown New York. Marvelous.

[Henrik]

Those who've been around a while and played games in this forum know that these are two of my favorite songs. What you might not know id that they are both from 1995.

[Michel]

My french recommendations for 1995

Miossec


Kat Onoma


Brigitte Fontaine


Pascal Comelade

[nicolas]

PLEASE listen to this song before making your 100 % UK/US and 100% rock/rap lists

[nicolas]

French recommendations (apart from Miossec and Dominique A.)

[Henrik]

I just realized that this forum favorite (semifinalist of the unacclaimed game) is from 1996. Absolutely wonderful, it will be on my list for sure.

[Henrik]

And of course bob hund.

[Henrik]

This thread is quite heavy. This is just a post to put my next one on the second page, which hopefully makes it easier to view.