FEATURE:
Silver Future
PHOTO CREDIT: @priscilladupreez/Unsplash
Huge Albums Turning Twenty-Five Next Year
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I have nodded to albums that turned twenty-five this year…
IN THIS PHOTO: Blur in 1995
but, as we look forward to 2020, I want to spend a moment highlighting a few albums that are twenty-five then. Like a silver wedding anniversary or a twenty-fifth birthday, I think it is important to make a bit of a fuss. When we are in 2020, I will celebrate albums turning thirty, twenty etc. For now, I have been looking back at 1995 and albums that truly arrived with a bang. Being around then, I can recall the excitement of the time. It was a magnificent year for music and, whilst I am only including eleven albums here, there were a lot of other huge releases. Here are some of the very best and most memorable albums from a terrific year in music. Although it is a little while away yet, I know we will all tip our caps to these mighty albums that made…
IN THIS PHOTO: Björk in 1995
THE year 1995 so wonderful.
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Oasis - (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
Release Date: 2nd October
Label: Creation
Producers: Owen Morris/Noel Gallagher
Key Cuts: Roll with It/Don’t Look Baack in Anger/Champagne Supernova
Standout Track: Wonderwall
Review: “This expanded production helps give Noel Gallagher's sweeping melodies an emotional resonance that he occasionally can't convey lyrically. However, that is far from a fatal flaw; Gallagher's lyrics work best in fragments, where the images catch in your mind and grow, thanks to the music. Gallagher may be guilty of some borrowing, or even plagiarism, but he uses the familiar riffs as building blocks. This is where his genius lies: He's a thief and doesn't have many original thoughts, but as a pop/rock melodicist he's pretty much without peer. Likewise, as musicians, Oasis are hardly innovators, yet they have a majestic grandeur in their sound that makes ballads like "Wonderwall" or rockers like "Some Might Say" positively transcendent. Alan White does add authority to the rhythm section, but the most noticeable change is in Liam Gallagher. His voice sneered throughout Definitely Maybe, but on Morning Glory his singing has become more textured and skillful. He gives the lyric in the raging title track a hint of regret, is sympathetic on "Wonderwall," defiant on "Some Might Say," and humorous on "She's Electric," a bawdy rewrite of "Digsy's Diner." It might not have the immediate impact of Definitely Maybe, but Morning Glory is just as exciting and compulsively listenable” – AllMusic
Pulp – Different Class
Release Date: 30th October
Label: Island
Producer: Chris Thomas
Key Cuts: Mis-Shapes/Disco 2000/Sorted for E’s & Wizz
Standout Track: Common People
Review: “Cocker’s songs on Different Class are such a rich text that you can go quite a long way into a review of the album before realizing you’ve barely mentioned how it sounds. Pulp aren’t an obviously innovative band, but on Different Class they almost never lapse into the overt retro-stylings of so many of their Britpop peers: Blur’s Kinks and new wave homages, Oasis’ flagrant Beatles-isms, Elastica’s Wire and Stranglers recycling. On Pulp’s ’90s records, there are usually a couple of examples of full-blown pastiche per album, like the Moroder-esque Eurodisco of “She’s a Lady” on His ‘N’ Hers. Here, “Disco 2000” bears an uncomfortable chorus resemblance to Laura Branigan’s “Gloria,” while “Live Bed Show” and “I Spy” hint at the Scott Walker admiration and aspiration that would blossom with We Love Life, which the venerable avant-balladeer produced.
Mostly though, it’s an original and ’90s-contemporary sound that Pulp work up on Different Class, characterized by a sort of shabby sumptuousness, a meagre maximalism. “Common People,” for instance, used all 48 studio tracks available, working in odd cheapo synth textures like the Stylophone and a last-minute overlay of acoustic guitar that, according to producer Chris Thomas, was “compressing so much, it just sunk it into the track.... glued the whole thing together. That was the whip on the horse that made it go” – Pitchfork
Radiohead – The Bends
Release Date: 13th March
Labels: Parlophone/Capitol
Producer: John Leckie
Key Cuts: The Bends/Fake Plastic Trees/Just
Standout Track: Street Spirit (Fade Out)
Review: “Pablo Honey in no way was adequate preparation for its epic, sprawling follow-up, The Bends. Building from the sweeping, three-guitar attack that punctuated the best moments of Pablo Honey, Radiohead create a grand and forceful sound that nevertheless resonates with anguish and despair -- it's cerebral anthemic rock. Occasionally, the album displays its influences, whether it's U2, Pink Floyd, R.E.M., or the Pixies, but Radiohead turn clichés inside out, making each song sound bracingly fresh. Thom Yorke's tortured lyrics give the album a melancholy undercurrent, as does the surging, textured music. But what makes The Bends so remarkable is that it marries such ambitious, and often challenging, instrumental soundscapes to songs that are at their cores hauntingly melodic and accessible. It makes the record compelling upon first listen, but it reveals new details with each listen, and soon it becomes apparent that with The Bends, Radiohead have reinvented anthemic rock” – AllMusic
The Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Release Date: 23rd October
Label: Virgin
Producers: Alan Moulder/Billy Corgan/Flood
Key Cuts: Zero/Bullet with Butterfly Wings/Muzzle
Standout Track: Tonight, Tonight
Review: “The Smashing Pumpkins didn't shy away from making the follow-up to the grand, intricate Siamese Dream. With Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, the band turns in one of the most ambitious and indulgent albums in rock history. Lasting over two hours and featuring 28 songs, the album is certainly a challenging listen. To Billy Corgan's credit, it's a rewarding and compelling one as well. Although the artistic scope of the album is immense, the Smashing Pumpkins flourish in such an overblown setting. Corgan's songwriting has never been limited by conventional notions of what a rock band can do, even if it is clear that he draws inspiration from scores of '70s heavy metal and art rock bands. Instead of copying the sounds of his favorite records, he expands on their ideas, making the gentle piano of the title track and the sighing "1979" sit comfortably against the volcanic rush of "Jellybelly" and "Zero." In between those two extremes lies an array of musical styles, drawing from rock, pop, folk, and classical. Some of the songs don't work as well as others, but Mellon Collie never seems to drag. Occasionally they fall flat on their face, but over the entire album, the Smashing Pumpkins prove that they are one of the more creative and consistent bands of the '90s” – AllMusic
Tricky – Maxinquaye
Release Date: 20th February
Label: 4th & B’way
Producers: Howie B/Kevin Petrie/Mark Saunders/Tricky
Key Cuts: Ponderosa/Hell Is Round the Corner/Brand New You’re Retro
Standout Track: Black Steel
Review: “Tricky’s lascivious solo debut, Maxinquaye, stands alongside Massive Attack’s Blue Lines and Portishead’s Dummy as one of the most influential Trip-Hop albums of the ‘90s. Maxinquaye takes the glistening electronic soul of Blue Lines and smothers it in far-grittier textures, exploring the destructive nature of love (“Now I could just kill a man,” he says on “Suffocated Love”) and sin (the devious “Abbaon Fat Tracks”). Tricky’s vocals play back and forth with those of singer Martine, whose hypnotic, slippery phrasing opens the album on the sexy “Overcome.” Samples abound, of course, from Smashing Pumpkins (on the appropriately-titled “Pumpkin,” a moody track featuring Alison Goldfrapp) and Issac Hayes (“Hell Is Around the Corner”) to snippets from films like Blade Runner and The Rapture. If there was ever any doubt about the sonic lineage between hip-hop and trip-hop, “Aftermath” and “Brand New You’re Retro” blur the lines to the point of undeniable extraction. These are beats Timbaland and Dre have only dreamt of” – SLANT
Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill
Release Date: 13th June
Labels: Maverick/Reprise
Producer: Glen Ballard
Key Cuts: You Oughta Know/Hand in My Pocket/You Learn
Standout Track: Ironic
Review: “It's remarkable that Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill struck a sympathetic chord with millions of listeners, because it's so doggedly, determinedly insular. This, after all, plays like an emotional purging, prompted by a bitter relationship -- and, according to all the lyrical hints, that's likely a record executive who took advantage of a young Alanis. She never disguises her outright rage and disgust, whether it's the vengeful wrath of "You Oughta Know" or asking him "you scan the credits for your name and wonder why it's not there." This is such insider information that it's hard to believe that millions of listeners not just bought it, but embraced it, turning Alanis Morisette into a mid-'90s phenomenon. Perhaps it was the individuality that made it appealing, since its specificity lent it genuineness -- and, even if this is clearly an attempt to embrace the "women in rock" movement in alterna-rock, Morissette's intentions are genuine. Often, it seems like Glen Ballard's pop inclinations fight against Alanis' exorcisms, as her bitter diary entries are given a pop gloss that gives them entry to the pop charts. What's all the more remarkable is that Alanis isn't a particularly good singer, stretching the limits of pitch and credibility with her octave-skipping caterwauling. At its core, this is the work of an ambitious but sophomoric 19-year-old, once burned by love, but still willing to open her heart a second time. All of this adds up to a record that's surprisingly effective, an utterly fascinating exploration of a young woman's psyche. As slick as the music is, the lyrics are unvarnished and Morissette unflinchingly explores emotions so common, most people would be ashamed to articulate them. This doesn't make Jagged Little Pill great, but it does make it a fascinating record, a phenomenon that's intensely personal” – AllMusic
Supergrass – I Should Coco
Release Date: 15th May
Labels: Parlophone (U.K.)/Capitol (U.S.)
Producer: Sam Williams
Key Cuts: Caught by the Fuzz/Mansize Rooster/Lenny
Standout Track: Alright
Review: “In that sense, 'I Should Coco' is a beautifully honest album of, and about, its time. This is their generation - wide (sometimes wild)-eyed, determined not to let anybody else's bastard moral standards grind them down. They look at the adult world - the one that their talent is about to take to the cleaners - and they giggle.
It's all so easy. The sight of the trio, draped around one another, handsomely drunk on the back of the album, calls to mind the Jagger of the early '60s, a cocky lout being feted by politicians and members of high society, people who had invested a lifetime of greasing the right palms to get where they were. Jagger wore a tittering smirk during those days. Like a kid shoplifting in Hamleys. Piece of piss” – NME
Björk – Post
Release Date: 13th June
Labels: One Little Indian/Elektra
Producers: Björk/Nellee Hooper/Graham Massey/Tricky/Howie B
Key Cuts: Hyperballad/It’s Oh So Quiet/Isobel
Standout Track: Army of Me
Review: “On Björk second solo album, Post, the ex-Sugarcube finds a bizarre and irresistible connecting point between industrial-disco, ambient-trance, and catchy synth pop. She even shoehorns in a big-band number, though few will confuse the Icelandic pixie — with her otherworldly lyrics and supernatural pipes — with Peggy Lee. Luckily, there’s a conviction to Björk’s delivery and an assurance to her hooks that make her most surreal passages as relatable as moon-June standards. Ultimately, she reinvents that tradition, constructing standards for the cyber age” – Entertainment Weekly
The Chemical Brothers – Exit Planet Dust
Release Date: 26th June
Labels: Junior Boy's Own/Freestyle Dust/Virgin/Astralwerks
Producers: Tom Rowlands/Ed Simons/Cheeky Paul
Key Cuts: Leave Home/Chemical Beats/Chico’s Groove
Standout Track: Life Is Sweet (ft. Tim Burgess)
Review: “If there is a single song on the record that seems to at least make an attempt at traditional house music appeal, it’s “Three Little Birdies Down Beats.” Though weaker than usual, the bass drum is consistent but soon drowned out by another fresh funk breakbeat. Just as “Leave Home” had its signature sound, “Birdies” has a repeating acid worm that nearly crosses the line into over-repetition before falling away into a simple layered beat breakdown. The degree to which the duo failed to make a traditional dance floor thumper is a glorious mistake because they instead created something far more interesting and timeless in the process.
Exit Planet Dust also reveals the Chemical Brothers’ sentimental side, producing some beautifully arranged, reflective sample-based mood swings. The first six tracks all play as though they were a medley, running into each other in a style borrowed from the live DJ experience. Though a listener could pick out a dozen or so looping moments that constitute their personal favorites, the entire album also works as a complete end-to-end listening experience.
Meanwhile, “One Too Many Mornings” is as close to a ballad as the record comes. In applying the Chemical Brothers’ signature sound to a slower beat, and adding airy female vocal samples dubbed over a pad of angels to an organic meandering bassline, the album goes from being a simple dance music record to a complete music project worthy of entering the conversation for best records of 1995. Noted as the second best dance album of all time by the UK’s Muzik magazine, it continued to chart in the UK for the next five years” – Spectrum Culture
Elastica – Elastica
Release Date: 13th March
Labels: Deceptive (U.K.)/Geffen (U.S.)
Producers: Marc Waterman/Elastica
Key Cuts: Line Up/Car Song/Stutter
Standout Track: Connection
Review: “Elastica's debut album may cop a riff here and there from Wire or the Stranglers, yet no more than Led Zeppelin did with Willie Dixon or the Beach Boys with Chuck Berry. The key is context. Elastica can make the rigid artiness of Wire into a rocking, sexy single with more hooks than anything on Pink Flag ("Connection") or rework the Stranglers' "No More Heroes" into a more universal anthem that loses none of its punkiness ("Waking Up"). But what makes Elastica such an intoxicating record is not only the way the 16 songs speed by in 40 minutes, but that they're nearly all classics. The riffs are angular like early Adam & the Ants, the melodies tease like Blondie, and the entire band is as tough as the Clash, yet they never seem anything less than contemporary. Justine Frischmann's detached sexuality adds an extra edge to her brief, spiky songs -- "Stutter" roars about a boyfriend's impotence, "Car Song" makes sex in a car actually sound sexy, "Line Up" slags off groupies, and "Vaseline" speaks for itself. Even if the occasional riff sounds like an old wave group, the simple fact is that hardly any new wave band made records this consistently rocking and melodic” – AllMusic
Blur – The Great Escape
Release Date: 11th September
Labels: Food/Virgin
Producer: Stephen Street
Key Cuts: Stereotypes/Country House/The Universal
Standout Track: Charmless Man
Review: “In the simplest terms, The Great Escape is the flip side of Parklife. Where Blur's breakthrough album was a celebration of the working class, drawing on British pop from the '60s and reaching through the '80s, The Great Escape concentrates on the suburbs, featuring a cast of characters all trying to cope with the numbing pressures of modern life. Consequently, it's darker than Parklife, even if the melancholia is hidden underneath the crisp production and catchy melodies. Even the bright, infectious numbers on The Great Escape have gloomy subtexts, whether it's the disillusioned millionaire of "Country House" and the sycophant of "Charmless Man" or the bleak loneliness of "Globe Alone" and "Entertain Me." Naturally, the slower numbers are even more despairing, with the acoustic "Best Days," the lush, sweeping strings of "The Universal," and the stark, moving electronic ballad "Yuko & Hiro" ranking as the most affecting work Blur has ever recorded. However, none of this makes The Great Escape a burden or a difficult album. The music bristles with invention throughout, as Blur delves deeper into experimentation with synthesizers, horns, and strings; guitarist Graham Coxon twists out unusual chords and lead lines, and Damon Albarn spits out unexpected lyrical couplets filled with wit and venomous intelligence in each song. But Blur's most remarkable accomplishment is that it can reference the past -- the Scott Walker homage of "The Universal," the Terry Hall/Fun Boy Three cop on "Top Man," the skittish, XTC-flavored pop of "It Could Be You," and Albarn's devotion to Ray Davies -- while still moving forward, creating a vibrant, invigorating record” – AllMusic