Thursday, February 20, 1992
Brad's Top Ten Alternative Albums
10. Dead Kennedy's - Give Me Convenience or Give
Me Death (1987)
The final entry from America's finest punk group, this one
intertwines live performances of DK favorites, reissues of older
tracks, and just enough new material to leave you wanting so much
more. Sigh...
9. PiL - First Issue (1978)
PiL's gone pretty much pop these days, but their first album was a
joy, recorded at a time when frontman John Lydon stood caught
between his old punk habits and the exciting prospect of helping
the "new wave" movement grow.
8. Ministry - The Mind is a Terrible Things To Taste
(1989)
An industrial feast! (Or can I call it industrial?) At any rate, this
one, Ministry's fourth, stands as the album that marked the band's
complete metamorphosis from a trendy techno-pop outfit, like they
were in their early days.
7. Love and Rockets - Express (1986)
Trendy? Artsy? Pretentious? Do any of these words describe Love
and Rockets? Well, yes, but not to a T.
6. Fugazi - Fugazi (1988)
Beautiful, marvelous, brilliant.
5. R.E.M. - Life's Rich Pageant (1986)
R.E.M. albums are never completely satisfying to me, but for once
this one was. A little faster and harder than anything else the group
has done, this one was the first R.E.M. album to go gold,
beginning the quick ascent to the superstar status the group
maintains today.
4. The Smiths • The Queen is Dead (1985)
This one and its follow-up, Louder Than Bombs , are both
masterpieces, but this one's a bit better. Well-rounded with few
weaknesses, this one has been an alternative staple since it came
out, and probably will be for quite some time.
3. Pixies - Doolittle (1989)
Everything the Pixies touch seems to turn to gold, and on this
album, the band stumbled across some much needed popular
acclaim. Probably the only definitive pop-thrash group around
these days, nothing released since by the quartet has lived up to
Doolittle's standards, but those standards are pretty high.
2. Joy Division - Closer (1980)
Brilliant is the perfect word to describe Joy Division, a band that is
no longer with us, but one that left a quite a legacy. The day this,
their second and final, studio album was released, lead singer lan
Curtis hung himself which makes for an eerie listening experience
since Closer does sounds like a suicide note.
1. U 2 - War (1983)
Yes, yes, no countdown is complete without any mention of this
gem, the album that proclaimed that "new wave" was stale and
stagnant, a sign of things to come. So many wonderful songs are
here, an eloquent punctuation mark to the iust deceased punk era.
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The Collegian
Music Review:
Compilations: Wading
through a lot of crap
the good stuff
by Brad Kane
The Collegian
Compilations arc a good
thing. In fact, at times they can
he great. Why, instead of being
locked into listening to the same
type of music for 45 minutes or
so, one can experience different
styles and llavors of music on a
compilation.
One bad thing about a
compilation, though, is that at
times one may have to wade
through a lot of crap to get to the
good stuff. Sadly, here arc two
examples of that.
First we have I'm Your Fan:
The Songs of Leonard Cohen , a
conglomeration of the renderings
of Leonard Cohen tracks by
various groups who'vc been
touched by the songwriter's work.
At first what appears to be an
impressive lineup turns sour
upon first listening as too many
of the acts appearing here seem
too far out of their elements. The
result: an admirable, but, in the
end, less-than-filling attempt.
R.E.M.'s rendition of "First
We Take Manhattan" is
thoroughly disappointing. A
dark, driving song, "Manhattan"
just doesn't suit a band who has
begun to leave dark, cryptic
songs in their past.
Almost as big a letdown is
the Pixies' "I Can’t Forget." At a
time when the Pixies are getting
back to their musical roots (read:
harder, slashier), "I Can't Forget"
is just too slow and bouncy. It
all makes for a pedestrian
performance.
As well, it makes one wonder
how deeply affecting Cohen's
music was to these
aforementioned bands. This
reviewer can see the connection
lyrically but not musically.
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There arc some highlights,
but they belong to the show
stealing less popular acts. For
instance, the Irish group That
Petrol Emotion turns in a solid
performance on the darker
"Stories of the Street," and fellow
countrymen, The Lilac Time, do
well with "Bird On The Wire.
The veteran English'group
James do surprisingly well with
"So Long Marianne," and those
critically acclaimed darlings, The
House of Love, do a fine take on
the stark, stripped down "Who By
Fire."
But these highlights are indeed
few and far between. Nothing
here is really awful, but there’s
certainly not much to leave one
wanting more. In all, a pretty
average effort.
Slightly better, and only
slightly, is the soundtrack to the
Wim Wenders film Until The
End Of The World. Supposedly,
Wenders wanted the bands
contributing a song to make each
track sound as if it were written
in the year 1999, the year when
the film is set. This may not
sound too simple, but a few of
the acts live up to the task. Then
again, a few, more simply, don't.
U 2 probably has the album's
finest moment with "Until The
End of the World" which the
group also placed on its latest
album Achtung Baby. Drenched
with a pulsating bass line and the
beautiful vocal melodies of Bono,
the song is a surefire hit and
deserves to be released in single
form.
Another track that appears not
just on this album is Lou Reed's
"What's Good," which also pops
up on his latest, Magic and Loss.
Reed is at his stripped down
finest here, recalling the gritty
textures of his last album, 1989's
Page
for
New York.
Just as good is Talking Heads’
"Sax and Violins," which, with
the use of various synthesized
sounds, seems most likely to be
taken from 1999 charts than
anything else here.
Another gem is R.E.M.'s
"Frctlcss." Much better than
"Manhattan," "Frctlcss" finds the
group fusing their new found pop
harmonics with Michael Stipe's
time honored cryptic vocals. The
two elements mix surprisingly
well, making for a track that's
better than a lot of the material
on Out Of Time , the quartet's
latest release.
But wait, there are some
negatives, don't worry. Neneh
Cherry's (Neneh Cherry??) "Move
With Me," is very very out of
place here, and besides, the track
sounds like a bad early eighties
song more than the futuristic
vision it is supposed to be.
Elvis Costello's "Days” is
just basically bland, "Calling All
Angels" by Jane Siberry and
K.D. Lang is boring at best,
while CAN's "Last Night Sleep"
seems too pretentious and
inaccessible to be listened to even
critically.
Through it all, Wenders
thought enough of his composer
Graeme Revel), to include bits of
Revell’s symphonic work on the
soundtrack. A wise move,
Revell's dark renderings fit in
well with the essence of the
album.
So at least the artists on Until
The End Of The World are on the
same wavelength - although a
dark and, at times, depressing
one. It makes for a listenable
mix, but not a very enlightening
one.
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