Lane's Favorite Records of 1998
1. Pernice Brothers - Overcome By Happiness (Sub Pop). A sleeper to
be sure, this disc slunk into record stores not with hype or flash but with
lush, understated popcraft. More than just unobtrusive hangover fare,
Overcome delivers nearly-sinister hooks and zesty string-enhanced
arrangements with a deep core of disillusionment and lyrical zingers that
aren't nice at all. (Reviewed in NUB #1.)
Key track: "Dimmest Star"
2. Robert Pollard - Waved Out (Matador). You wouldn't believe how
long it took us to warm up to this one. What initially seemed like a brittle,
half-finished set of songs turned out to be a puzzle that revealed itself bit
by satisfying bit. All the Pollard touchstones are covered (pure pop, chirpy
almost-prog, anthemic rock, pastoral psychedelia, angular post-punk) and
condensed into a mix that draws on the potential of the earliest, darkest
Guided by Voices material and infuses it with an otherworldly, highly specific
weirdness. Plus, the lyrics are heartfelt, topical, haunting - probably
Pollard's best ever. How could we have doubted? Long live Bob.
(Reviewed in
NUB #1.)
Key track: "Make Use"
3. Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (Merge). Jeff
Mangum read The Diary of Anne Frank, freaked out, cried for three days,
dreamt of going back in a time machine to save her, and out came this. A
proud, well-constructed record that begs to be listened to from beginning to
end, Aeroplane employs a bizarre mix of instruments (acoustic guitar,
horns, fuzz bass, synths, and the unforgettable singing saw) to cosmos-rippling
effect. Mangum - overtaken with spiritual, sexual, and otherwise feverish
imagery - sings his heart out. This could set the standard for sonic
invention and emotional power for years to come.
Key track: "Ghost/Untitled"
4. Sloan - Navy Blues (Murderrecords). If, say, the Dave Matthews
Band are an oatmeal-colored sport utility vehicle headed for the mall, Sloan
are a shit-brown '78 Chevy van with empty beer cans rattling in the floorboard
headed for someone's basement. I did buy Navy Blues in a mall, though.
See NUB #1 for more Sloan hyperbole.
Key track: "She Says What She Means"
5. Billy Bragg and Wilco - Mermaid Avenue (Elektra). Bragg's foghorn
intensity and Wilco's graceful roots underpinnings expertly realized Woody
Guthrie's in-no-way-dated lyrics. Mermaid also goes a long way in
establishing rasping Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy as one of the finest song
interpreters of his generation. A song for every mood, every day.
Key track: "One By One"
And 5 more…
6. Richard Buckner - Since (MCA).
7. Grant Lee Buffalo - Jubilee (Reprise).
8. Elliot Smith - XO (Dreamworks).
9. Liquor Giants - Every Other Day At A Time (Matador).
10. Son Volt - Wide Swing Tremolo (Warner Bros.).
Bubbling under: While you're still toasting the year that was, sit back and let NUB
Publisher Brandon Grimes tell you ...
When he was running for re-election in 1980, former President Jimmy Carter
was ridiculed far and wide for his comment about our "national malaise" - as
well he should have been. After all, he was only almost 20 years too early in
his prognosis.
1998 was doomed from the start, wasn't it? Never mind the consequences of the
year from a personal point of view (for a short time, minor tragedies replaced
Furby dolls as the hot item of '98); this isn't the proper forum for such talk, and
besides, those who know me personally tired long ago of it.
As it is, though, malaise crept back into our lives sometime over the course of
1998, and the sad thing is, most of us don't even know it. We'll call it an end-
of-millennium malaise (and that's the last time I'll use that word in this
article), and nowhere is it more evident than in mainstream popular music.
1998 saw new releases from R.E.M. and Hole, million-sellers in their
heyday (which was, ironically, not that long ago when you think about
it). Both records were roundly dismissed by those of us here at No
Ugly Babies (check out our
archives for reviews of both in case you missed them the first
time around), and apparently, the record-buying public agreed, as Up
and Celebrity Skin barely caused a blip on the Soundscan
radar.
What did the public buy instead? It seemed to have an affection for
soulless corporate rock (Matchbox 20, Third Eye Blind, Creed), hip-hop (the
death knell for which has rang unanswered multiple times over the last couple of
years), inane soundtracks (Titanic, Armageddon, and
City of Angels all scored big in '98 - why???), and New Country
(check out the hot albums of '98 and you'll find records from Garth Brooks,
Shania Twain, and LeAnn Rimes littering the top 15. To paraphrase Cliff
Poncier from the movie "Singles": "Where is the Merle Haggard of our time?
Where's the Willie Nelson? Where's the Hank Williams, Jr.?").
It's a sad state of affairs, indeed.
And singles? Puh-leez. Mainstream radio has turned into a wasteland - so much
that I almost want to cringe when we here at NUB use the term "radio-ready"
to describe a really catchy tune. College radio and community radio seem to be
the only places where a person can hear meaningful music these days. But they
don't really count, only because there's no money to be made there.
Still, before I finally flush 1998 down the crapper, there were some albums from
the year that are worthy of taking into 1999. In addition to Sloan, Robert Pollard and Neutral Milk
Hotel (all capsulized above), my other favorite albums of the year were:
And so we finally say a "good riddance" to 1998 - it was one New Year's baby that should
have been aborted at the start.
Magic 8-Ball says:
Magic 8-Ball says:
Magic 8-Ball says:
Rufus Wainwright - self-titled
Velvet Goldmine soundtrack
Eels - Electro-Shock Blues
Cadmium Orange - Rocket Pole
Beck - Mutations
Liz Phair - Whitechocolatespaceegg
Why I Would Give My Left Testicle
To Never Go Through Another 1998
--Charles Dickensma-laise - n. 1. a condition of general bodily weakness
or discomfort, often marking the onset
of a disease. 2. an unfocused
feeling of mental uneasiness or discomfort.
We would be remiss if we didn't start off the New Year with a 365-day forecast - so
delve into these ...
I had to pawn my crystal ball in 1998, so to assist me in seeing into the not-so-distant
future, I've acquired the services of that time-consuming toy of yore, Magic 8-Ball.
1. Music, Pt. I: In 1999, a band with a large underground following (and unrecognizable to the
average music fan) will burst into the mainstream with a new record in about May
or so. This "overnight" sensation will be likened to the sudden rise in popularity
of the Barenaked Ladies in 1998, and like BNL, the new album will go #1 on the
Billboard charts, likely in its first week of release. CNN will do a four-minute
feature on the band and run it every 30 minutes in the entertainment segment of
Headline News. Are you ready for your closeup, Robert Pollard? (Photo courtesy
of Magnet magazine)
2. Celebrity Death Watch: I won't be so macabre as to peg people likely
to die in 1999, but I will go on the record saying: The World's Oldest Living
Human Being, Bob Hope, is getting up there in years. It'll be a little shaky at times, but he'll
live to see the new millennium (that is, if you count the new millennium to start on Jan. 1, 2000).
(Photo courtesy of www.bobhope.com)
3. Music, Pt. II: Prince was wrong when he proclaimed in 1982, "The sky is
all purple, there were people running everywhere" in his "1999". But then again,
it was hard to see this far into the future from then - after all, we didn't have the Internet - so
I'll cut him some slack. Still, I was sick of the song then, and I'm sick of it now,
and I foresee some very dire consequences ... (Photo courtesy of www.imusic.com)