Music Gourmets Presents 60 Years of Great Music - 1998

[Zeeba Neighba]

What's this? A New "Great Music" thread on time on the correct day! What a concept!

Welcome to the next year in our "Great Music" series - 1998!

Here's the rules:

Each Friday (typically) we'll introduce a new year from 1957 through 2016. Each member selects an album released in that year with a few lines (or more) on why you picked it/enjoy it. Your selection does not have to be the most important release or the most admired release of that year (though it certainly can be), simply an album that grabs you and that you really love.

However, once an album is selected by a member, you must choose a different album.

Together we will compile quite the canon of "Great Music" and, who knows, maybe inspire each other to check out some new artists (or to revisit old forgotten classics).

This week - the albums of 1998

 

[axolotl]

https://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1998

Nineteen-ninety-eight was the year we all (apparently) fell in love with Whitney Houston, the year George Clooney became a hunk, the year that Travolta became cool again, and the year that we said farewell to Jackie O. Don't believe me? Just watch read.

http://www.instyle.com/celebrity/20-reasons-why-1994-was-best-year-style#399367

Stay tuned for other items, fads, and trends of 1998, when O.U.T. posts (I hope).

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Tortoise - TNT

 

[patrikc325]

The Detroit Cobras - Mink Rat or Rabbit

 

[lpfreak1170]

Pulp - This Is Hardcore


Ridiculously easy year. One of those albums where the cover lets you know exactly what you're in for, and it's even better on vinyl as you see a little trail of blood from her nostril. Jarvis and the rest of the gang put their weariness out there for all the world to feel on this masterpiece.

 

[Mattafett]

Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson - VH1 Storytellers

The banter is great. The songs are even better.

 

[LeslieC]

New Radicals - Maybe You've Been Brainwashed too

 

[lpfreak1170]

New Radicals - Maybe You've Been Brainwashed too
View attachment 906

Love that album!

 

[Old Uncle Toe]

So in 1998, in order to get away from the media’s prurient fascination with President Clinton and Monica Lewinski, I took my kids out to a movie. It turned out Saving Private Ryan was a bit too realistic for the youngest, so on the way home I bought her a Furby to keep her company at bedtime. It was a really long day, so after the kids went to bed, I threw this brand new CD into the player and jumped and jived my cares away.

The Daktaris - Soul Explosion



Afropop mixed with funk. An American band, Influenced by the sound of Fela Kuti, but with a little more funk, a little less afropop groove jamming. That mix serves to make this a little more accessible to those who aren't devotees of Afropop.

 

[Nickyboy]

^ That sounds fun. I'm gonna check it out.

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Six picks so far. I know there are more out there (oooh...including mine). Get yer album choices in today

 

[axolotl]

Boards of Canada ~ Music Has the Right to Children

 

[axolotl]

^ In so choosing, lpfreak and I have freed Nick up to make his 1998 selection.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Air - Moon Safari

So much for alt country. It was fun while it lasted.

AMG sez:

Although electronica had its fair share of chillout classics prior to the debut of Air, the lion's share were either stark techno (Warp) or sample-laden trip-hop (Mo' Wax). But while Air had certainly bought records and gear based on the artists that had influenced them, they didn't just regurgitate (or sample) them; they learned from them, digesting their lessons in a way that gave them new paths to follow. They were musicians in a producer's world, and while no one could ever accuse their music of being danceable, it delivered the emotional power of great dance music even while pushing the barriers of what "electronica" could or should sound like.

[snip]

It was Air's full-length debut, Moon Safari, that proved they could also write accessible pop songs like "Sexy Boy" and "Kelly Watch the Stars." But it wasn't all pop. The opener, "La Femme d'Argent," was an otherworldly beginning, with a slinky bassline evoking Serge Gainsbourg's Histoire de Melody Nelson and a slow glide through seven minutes of growing bliss (plus a wonderful keyboard solo). The vocoderized "Remember" relaunched a wave of robot pop that hadn't been heard in almost 20 years, and the solos for harmonica and French horn on "Ce Matin La" made the Bacharachcomparisons direct. Unlike most electronica producers, Air had musical ideas that stretched beyond samplers or keyboards, and Moon Safari found those ideas wrapped up in music that was engaging, warm, and irresistible.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Spotify playlist here:

 

[Postalboy]

Neutral Milk Hotel- In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
One of the best things I found on emusic, back in the day!

 

[axolotl]

^ Postalboy's pick, pictorialized for your protection:

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Billy Bragg & Wilco - Mermaid Avenue

 

[Old Uncle Toe]

Billy Bragg & Wilco - Mermaid Avenue

I love that album. I was just listening to it the week after Easter.

 

[JazzyRandy]

Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill