#209 More 1989 Recommendations
Hey folks!
We’re getting very close to the nomination period for the upcoming Best Album of 1989 bracket, so I hope you’ve heard a decent amount of albums. If not, well, uh, no better time than the present?
Below are some of the 1989 albums that I gave a Like/Love rating to, and I think are required listening, but no one cares what I think. (My highest rating is Love; below that is Like/Love, and below that is Like. I’ll be nominating anything with a Like rating or higher.) There are a few on this list that, I hope, need no recommendation, such as DISINTEGRATION or PAUL’S BOUTIQUE or THE REAL THING or PRETTY HATE MACHINE. (So confident I am that you already know these, that I’m not even providing the artist.) Some of following may be expanded editions or the like; only the original track listing is considered for the tournament, so feel free to skip any non-canon tracks.
Mary Chapin Carpenter, STATE OF THE HEART (Spotify, YouTube). One of country’s greatest singer/songwriters. How do, indeed.
Fatima Mansions, AGAINST NATURE (Spotify, YouTube). I’ll be honest, I’ve only heard this once and don’t remember much about it. But it got a Like/Love out of me in one listen, so consider that high recommendation.
Galaxie 500, ON FIRE (Spotify, YouTube). I only got into this because Spin once described Basehead as something like “De La Soul meets Galaxie 500” which isn’t right but not exactly wrong, either. Anyway, if your version of “Blue Thunder” has saxophone, put it back! Find a version without it!
Keith Jarrett Trio, CHANGELESS (Spotify, YouTube). Gotta have some jazz, can’t go wrong with Keith Jarrett. If you’ve never heard THE KÖLN CONCERT, from 1975, it’s a great intro and such a miracle, they made a movie out of it. (No idea if the movie is any good.)
Pestilence, CONSUMING IMPULSE (Spotify, YouTube). Possibly the most user-friendly death metal album of all time, so if you’re new and/or hesitant, start here. And if you can’t hang with it, don’t bother going further.
Repulsion, HORRIFIED (Spotify, YouTube). A whole subgenre of metal, invented here out of whole cloth.
Sabbat, DREAMWEAVER (Spotify, YouTube). I actually disliked this album for many years, simply because it wasn’t HISTORY OF A TIME TO COME. Now I see it’s really good, and maybe even a better introduction to this frankly kind of memory hole’d thrash band.
Savatage, GUTTER BALLET (Spotify, YouTube). So members of this band went on to form Trans Siberia Orchestra, which is what happens when you give big theater kid energy to power metal, and I hate it. This is like that, put pulls the theater kid energy way way waaaaaay back, a spice instead of the main course, and I Like/Love it.
Shelleyan Orphan, CENTURY FLOWER (YouTube). Terrific chamber pop that I know someone out there will love if given the chance.
Skinny Puppy, RABIES (Spotify, YouTube). Skinny Puppy’s most accessible album, thanks to Ministry’s Al Jourgensen’s pop instincts. (That sentence also describes why a lot of people hate it.)
George Strait, BEYOND THE BLUE NEON (Spotify, YouTube). Just a great preview of the golden age of ‘90s country, only a few years early.
Throwing Muses, HUNKPAPA (Spotify, YouTube). A kind of odd band, meeting pop halfway, and it does them both good. (I would never have thought the band that made “Fish” could make this.)(“Fish” is a great song, btw.)
New Model Army, THUNDER AND CONSOLATION (Spotify, YouTube). Again, I don’t recall much about this, but it got a Like/Love out of me in one listen, so.
Clint Black, KILLIN’ TIME (Spotify, YouTube). See “George Strait,” above.