Now for those who thought I couldn't write...
U2 - Pop (1997) (I know it doesn't count, but I have to say this!)
So it sold seven million. It doesn't matter. This is clearly the band's most undervalued and underappreciated album, and it's easy to see why. You'd have to have a broad horizon of musical influences and tastes to enjoy this album, and alas, not everyone has. Yet in time this will be, and is already proving to be, a grower.
Supergrass - In It For The Money (1997)
Ditching the jaunty Britpop of previous effort I Should Coco and not yet embracing the commercial discipline of their eponymous third effort, Supergrass are neither here nor there. Yet they are in both places, albeit with the lights turned off. Menacing yet reassuring, dark but bright. Confusing, but it all makes sense in the end.
Garbage - Version 2 (1998)
Never received the same acclaim as their first album, but is much more fully realised. The first half of the album in particular is a factory line of hit after hit after hit. The pace lessens towards the end of the record, but any more would have been spoiling us. And anyone who doesn't like Special should be taken out side for a gentle 'reminder'.
Black Grape - It's Great When Your Straight... Yeah!(1995)
It is fair to say that a number of people worried about Shaun Ryder after the Happy Mondays imploded so spectacularly after spending too much time in the Caribbean with too much money and too many drugs. What would happen to him now? This was the answer. With friends in tow - including bug-eyed rapper Kermit - Ryder and producer Danny Saber to concoct this blast of a record. Songs like Tramazi Parti and Shake Your Money (sample lyric "you're a bleeding mother fucker now aren't you/go and bleed in a different place") suggest Ryder will forever be not quite from this planet. But who needs to live his near-fatalistic life when we can hear what it is like on this record?
Electronic - Electronic (1991)
If you take a band that's part The Smiths and part New Order, there's always a good chance of a fine record in the offing. And Messrs Marr and Sumner do not fail to deliver. At this conjecture, the band was still being augmented by Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant, but other than on the glorious Getting Away With It it is the main duo who dominate. Get The Message remains one of my favourite songs to this day.
Mansun - Attack Of The Grey Lantern (1997)
Strange as it may sound today, Mansun's 'strings and samplers' approach to music was still very much in its infancy in 1997, certainly where supposed rock bands were concerned (witness the response to U2's Pop). For a debut album, however, this was a breath of fresh air in a post-Grunge, post-Britpop era. It's self-consciously nonsensical lyrics (an attempted concept album involving a cross-dressing vicar, I kid you not!) hide some great tunes, and although it seems naive now, it's main charm is in its innocence. Mansun will never ever be a favourite of the critics, but only a fool would deny the pop genius of Wide Open Space and Taxloss.
There are a lot more - Pulp's This Is Hardcore, The Cardigan's Gran Turismo, REM's Monster, New Adventures In Hi-Fi and particularly Up, Divine Comedy's Fin De Siecle, and, in England at least, Red Hot Chilli Peppers' Californication - but then I would be here all night.
So everyone go out and buy all those albums or else!!
[This message has been edited by bullet the blue sky (edited 02-08-2002).]
