(Once Again, for those who still may be interested)
Numbers 49 - 40 of My Top 100 All-Time Favorite Albums
* means I bought the album right when it was released or at the latest a few months
# means I discovered it later
49) Ministry - The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste (1989, Sire) - When I first saw the video for Ministry's "Stigmata" it was a life-changing moment for me. Up to that point I thought of Ministry as a new wave danceable band that put out the very good album With Sympathy. Over the five years something had changed. They have become louder, noisier and tons more aggressive. Land of Rape and Honey, the album "Stigmata" was on contains a lot of filler. The Mind is perfect. For a good mix of even better versions of songs off both albums check out Ministry's live album In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up. (*)
48 - Galaxie 500 On Fire (1989, Rough Trade)- Spent my early adolescent years learning about bands could speed it up. Around 16 or so I learned it was okay for bands to slow it down too. Boston's Galaxie 500 was one of the first to show none of the intensity would be lost in the process. (*)
47 - Face to Face - Don’t Turn Away (1991, Dr. Strange)- Supposedly the guys in Face to Face were metal guys who just one day decides to play punk rock. A lot of people didn’t like them because of this. I always thought if they did it this good who cares wah they were playing before. Don’t Turn away has thirteen awesome tracks of anthemic melodic punk music I am still singing along to 29 years later. (*)
46 - ALL - Allroy’s Revenge (1989, Cruz) - The ALL song “Just Perfect” may have been on their debut album but on this second album, every song is just that, Later singer Chad Price may have the strongest voice but Scott Reynolds who makes his first appearance on Allroy's Revenge has the most range. (*)
45 - Mudhoney- Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge (1991, Sub Pop)- Before this album was released I was a little scared what it would sound like. Mudhoney had said they recorded in hopes of getting a major label deal. When I bought it it was nice to not hear much of a difference than their debut album only better. Songs sounded more varied and not as dreary but still had all the fuzz and grime which made the band so great. (*)
44- Nirvana - Bleach (1989, Sub Pop) - Nevermind might have beaten Bleach to make this list but I think "Come As You Are" brings that album down a bit. Bleach is perfect primal heavy rock and roll all the way through. You can also hear Krist Novoselic's bass a lot better than on Nevermind. No offense to future drummer Dave Grohl, but Chad Channing's drumming is just totally out of control.(*)
43- Government Issue - Joyride (1984, Fountain of Youth) - Washington D.C.'s Government Issue started very hardcore with an ep on Dischord, ending up as kind of a dark rock band on their last albumCrash.In the middle for their second full album they unleashed Joy Ride consisting of thick punk rock guitar riffs and anthemic urgent singalong lyrics courtesy of the awesome legendary frontman John Stabb. I finally got to see G.I. in 2015 and John made sure to take the time to chat with anyone who wanted to talk to him. And believe me, everyone did. (#)
42- Duran Duran - Rio (1982, E.M.I.) - We all know this awsome album by Duran Duran so I will not get too into it. You can read more about what I think of a few of the songs from a review I did of their Decade album here. Let's just say I sing along and play air drums tracks "Hungry Like the Wolf", "My Way", and the title track at 46 just as much as I did when I first picked it up at age 10.(*)
41) Jesus Lizard - Goat (1991, Touch and Go) - The three musicians making up the Chicago band Jesus Lizard were at the top of their profession. Guitarist Duane Denison plays winding intricate guitar lines, David Wm. Sims pound his bass better than almost anyone out there while drummer Mac McNeilly plays along perfectly with it. Probably the most unlikely singer out there David Yow fits perfectly. Just like an album which will appear later on this list, the Steve Albini production makes the album louder in just the right places so you don't have too. (*)
40) Depeche Mode - Black Celebration (1986, Mute) - For a long time Depeche Mode was one of my favorite bands. Up until Black Celebration a lot of their songs and albums had a sort of cheesy flair to them. Part of what made me like them so much. On Black Celebration they got a little serious, a little darker, and every song was perfect. Surprisingly my favorite song on the album "But Not Tonight" is not loved by the band and almost didn't make it on the album. Depeche Mode began to lose me when they became a little too dark on the 1990's Violator but I still listen to the older albums constantly. (*)
Whereas most 14/15/16-year-olds may have written fan letters to their sports
players, actors, or pop music idols, I wrote letters to members of
indie rock bands. Yeah, my music geek roots run pretty deep.
I
would get the addresses of the LP jackets or cassette inserts, write
out carefully handwritten letters, seal them, send them out, and wait
patiently for replies.
I
can't remember exactly how I first heard of the Hoboken, New Jersey band The Feelies but it
probably has to do with R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck co-producing their
1986 The Good Earth album. Soon The Good Earth and
1988's Only Life, the only
two Feelies records I was aware of at that time, were
two of my favorite albums, always in heavy rotation.
Along
with The Feelies, at the time two of my favorite indie rock
discoveries at the time were Boston's Galaxie 500 who had just
released the awesome On Fire album, and New Zealand's The
Chills. One day I decided the three bands would be the next victims
of my music geek letter-writing.
I never heard back from Galaxie 500 or The Chills, I chalked it up to
the
former being busy on tour and the latter's letter getting lost
somewhere overseas en route to New Zealand.
But
The Feelies actually wrote back. The letter was written by drummer
Stanley Demeski He said that when he joined the
band it was decided he would be the one responsible for all the fan
mail the band received. He said my letter was their very first one.
In
the letter, he expressed how thrilled he and the rest of the band were
that someone had taken the time to write to them. He included a
Coyote Records press release for the band. It was in the press
release that I first learned the band was taken from a device in
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I made a mental note to pick up a copy at the Crown Books next to the Kemp Mill Records store in town. I also had no idea the band had
actually all but split up in the early 80's, playing together in
various musical projects, before reforming and recording The
Good Earth This was
about when Stanley Demeski joined on drums,
The Feelies performing in "Something Wild"
The
press release also talked about the band's close affiliation with
director Jonathan Demme. Their song “Too Far Gone” appeared
on the soundtrack to his movie Married
to the Mob. The
band even made an appearance in Demme's Something
Wild as “the
Willies”, playing live during the high school reunion. They
performed a couple songs including David Bowie's “Fame”. I would
go on to look for an actual recording of that song for years
One
of the most important things the press release informed me (plus radio stations and live venues the release was intended for) was that The
Feelies actually had another album. Their debut album Crazy
Rhythms was
originally released in 1980 but at the point the press release was written it was long out of print. Even then the album was considered
a classic. I would go on to try and find a decently-priced copy. Finally, in 1990 A&M re-released it on compact disc
In 1991 I had the opportunity to buy my first "new" album by The Feelies when they released Time for a Witness, The music found on the disc really broke no new ground but
"Sooner or Later" promo 12"
it was by far a disappointment either. Time for a Witness has some awesome revved-up songs toward "Waiting" at track 1, with its smooth guitar groove during the chorus, "Time for a Witness" with a slight jangle added track, and "Sooner or Later, containing one of my favorite lyrics ("I don't know what's up ahead, Don't think too much, it'll hurt your head") at track 3. The band also continues paying tribute to their music
forefathers with the Velvet Underground influenced "Decide" at track 5 and early Rolling Stones inspired "What She Said", as well as what I thought as their totally own sound on "Invitation", a song that would fit perfectly right on The Good Earth One big surprise of the album is "Doing it Again" at track 6. The song sounds very similar to the Jackson Browne classic "Somebody's Baby". I'm not sure if this was intended by the band or just an accidental coincidence. I'm also surprised in all these years no one besides me has ever called the band out on it.
Continuing to pay tribute to their influence (they covered The Velvet Underground's "What Goes On" on the previous album) The Feelies close the album with an amped-up cover of The Stooges "Real Cool Time", which may have been the first time I was aware of hearing the classic but at the time pretty unavailable band
Unfortunately, Time for a Witness would be the last album the band would release, The band went on hiatus, Later reforming for post-2000 to play sporadic shows (I caught them in Battery Park opening for Sonic Youth on July 4th, 2008) before releasing their Time for a Witness followup Here in 2011.
But The Feelies hiatus did not leave this now 18-year-old music geek too upset because right around the same time both Galaxie 500 and The Chills called it a day too. Galaxie 50 's singer/guitarist Dean Wareham would form a new band with The Chills bassist Justin Harwood, and my old pen pal Stanley Demeski on drums. Years later Dean Warhem would retweet a tweet I made about an upcoming Luna concert. I consider it my long overdue reply. The Feelies performing "Doin' it Again" on David Letterman in 1991
49) Ministry - The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste (1989, Sire) - When I first saw the video for Ministry's "Stigmata" it was a life-changing moment for me. Up to that point I thought of Ministry as a new wave danceable band that put out the very good album With Sympathy. Over the five years something had changed. They have become louder, noisier and tons more aggressive. Land of Rape and Honey, the album "Stigmata" was on contains a lot of filler. The Mind is perfect. For a good mix of even better versions of songs off both albums check out Ministry's live album In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up. (*)
