Best CDs of the 90s – OZ EDITION

OK I’m the first to admit this is arse-about, about a year ago I did the Best Tapes of the pre-90s list, then for some reason it took me another 8 months to get to the Best Downloads of the Dubbos.

So that’s the pre 90s and also the post 90s.

What about the 90s?

Well at long last here they are, the Best CDs of the 90s. This list took longer as I turned 15 when the 90s started, got my first job in 92, meaning I had me some folding money to blow, and after resisting the “fad” of Compact discs over cassettes for a while, bought my first CDs from the local video shop in 1993.

Urge Overkill – Saturation

Living Colour – Stain (Australian Tour 2 Disc edition!)

I still have both of those CDs at home in the CD cabinet too.

An aside, Living Colour were at the time my favourite band thanks to Time’s Up, and I was stoked to see them touring at a time when I at last had a car, only their so-called “National” tour took in only the East Coast and South Australia, guess the Nullarbor was a little dusty? No sweat I thought, I’ll get them next time, only Living Colour disbanded and never released another album. Until at least they decided they needed the cash and reformed in the dubbos, releasing one shitty and one surprisingly good album, only now they are simply too small to undertake world tours and will likely never hit Perth.

Australian Tour my Arse!

At 17 I moved out of home to be closer to work, and even after paying rent I had more cash than ever before, so each fortnight I’d buy at least one, (but usually two or three) CDs. Being in a small town at the time I had to special order my stuff in, as even then it wasn’t the normal Chart stuff, and the video shop guy Jason often raised his eyebrow as he wrote my orders. (He later told me that when my orders came in he often played them in the shop to see just what the hell they were like. His verdict? About 50/50 crap VS very good. I actually like that feedback, I figure my collection is large and varied enough that I have something to delight and infuriate almost everyone.)

A few years later I moved to the city, started batching with other similarly aged and demotivated blokes, and between us all we set about attempting to sway the other guys into liking what you liked. This was mainly because there was one good stereo in the house shared by four, and we all liked it loud, and basically if someone put crap on the other three would rise up and it would be vetoed.

The three odd years spent in the share house were quite unproductive, but my tastes grew more and more experimental over the time, and we also had the added benefit of seeing many of the acts live, as Perth finally started becoming a more renowned touring destination for many acts, and the festivals allowed us to see several bands in one go. (Thanks Summersault 95!)

Music also enabled us to meet our neighbours, as over the years we accumulated more than a few noise complaints for our “loud, bass heavy music”. That’s an actual quote from a complaint passed on from our real estate agents as best as I can remember it.

So all that basically means is that the 90s enabled me to immerse myself in dozens of different musical genres, some stuck (hip-hop), some didn’t (metal).

I now have around 600 CDs, from Afghan Whigs to Yummy Fur and everything in between, and I would say 300 of them were purchased in the 90s. I also make sure that I try to put every CD on at least once every year if I can (though with a young kid and longer working hours now it has become harder), if I grow tired of a CD and can’t justify playing it, it gets turfed, either to Ebay or the bin.

Now out of 300 odd it is always easy to thin the numbers, but difficult to make the final cuts, so I had a bit of a cop out and went with two separate lists, one all Australian artists, one with a more global view.

Best CDs of the 90s – Australian Artists

OK, I’ll deal with this alphabetically, then I’ll rank ‘em.

 

Clouds – Thunderhead

Clouds made some nice jangly guitar based pop/rock through the early 90s, and indeed the late 90s too, but for whatever reason (something in their cornflakes) this all gelled for then in 1994 with the release of this epic album.

Thunderhead had angry songs, slow songs, abstract songs and experimental stuff, (Domino has the vocals played at half speed over the backing track, Mother uses a cheap arse drum program instead of actual drums, weird considering their drummer was actually very good).

The dual female vocal combo works especially well in most of the choruses, and when they “rock out” (Woo-oOO!) it doesn’t sound forced or somehow fake.

A strong album from start to finish, I even forgive the 6 or 8 minute bit in the last song where they play rainstorm effects before finishing off the album.    

The Cruel Sea – The Honeymoon is Over

Tex Perkins is a unique beast, into his 4th decade of making music with a bunch of artists, including his collaborations with Tex, Don & Charlie, the T&T project with Timmy Rogers from You Am I (that was better than you would think), the early experimental stuff of Thug and the loud booze fuelled Beasts of Bourbon. Oh and he had a few creditable solo albums along the way as well.

That list alone would satisfy the criteria of a successful career for most, yet it is actually The Cruel Sea that gave him the most commercial and even critical success even if Tex is uncomfortable with this fact.

Many, many years ago I read an article where Tex was asked if he ever listened to The Honeymoon is Over album, he said “No”. The Interviewer then asked if he ever thought about it and Tex again went with a simple “No”. Odd considering it sold approximately a kajillion copies and was in everyone’s top 10 for the year.

Odder still when you consider that Tex actually released a “Best of” album a year or so back (got that too, very good stuff) that features a grand total of four The Cruel Sea songs over 19 tracks, and NONE from this album.   Did I mention that the album sold over 150,000 copies in Australia, was the #1 album for some weeks and won multiple awards in the process? Pretty sure I did.

The actual album features a mix of instrumentals and songs featuring Tex’s vocals that alternate between a growl and a purr, the twangy and bouncing guitar work of Danny Rumour and the solid basslines that underpin the whole kit and kaboodle.

There are some standout tracks in the title song, Black Stick and Delivery Man, but the album works best when the disc is simply whacked in the tray and “Play” is pressed.

Maybe if Tex took about 50 minutes out of his day he might realize that this shit ain’t so bad.

Died Pretty – Doughboy Hollow

Most of the albums on this list represent a high water mark for the artist in their respective careers, actually all of them unless Something For Kate pull a rabbit out of the hat, as the rest are either disbanded or just past it (sorry Timmy Rogers & co!).

But Doughboy Hollow represents a high point in Australian music regardless of decade or genre.

Died Pretty never were very commercial or hook-y, in fact Trace is probably the closest they got and that came and went reasonably quickly (very good album though). The beauty of Doughboy Hollow though is that it is absolutely timeless, there is nothing that indicates the era or period it was made in (sidenote – Hip hop please get rid of the vocoder gimmick, I am yet to hear a song that is improved by its use), and little to say much about the guys that made it, ie no gratuitous “Down Under” references or jingoisms.

It is simply 10 brilliant songs (and The Battle for Evermore, an experimental misstep). Once you take out the highlights, Doused, DC, Sweetheart, Godbless, Stop Myself, Turn Your Head you realize that more than half the album is exceptional, and the rest is still at a minimum very, very good.

Especially now with the download and singles culture having a couple of highlights in your album is a necessity for longevity and sales, which often means at least half the album is filler, padding to push the album beyond 40 minutes in length.

Aside from the aforementioned Battle for Evermore I can’t imagine taking away a single track from this album.

One of my favourite bands at their very best, I was lucky enough to see them reform to play this album, in track order 1 through 11 a couple years ago and went away very happy with myself.

Aussie acts don’t get the same opportunities bigger international acts get to rehash the same tired songs for decades because their market and awareness it simply too small, for example in the last few years Vanilla Ice, Tone Loc, & Young MC all toured Australia despite having nothing new to showcase, just the same old tired act with the 1 to 3 good songs and a dozen bad ones. This year alone has seen Spandau Ballet, The Who, Tears for Fears, Duran Duran and Pseudo Echo. Good luck to them all, but it’s a minor tragedy because You Am I, Died Pretty, Underground Lovers, Hoodoo Gurus and Something for Kate have a “best of” set in them that hundreds of ever-touring international acts can only dream of.

In fact Doughboy Hollow alone has more classic songs than 95% of bands can crank out over an entire career.

Hoodoo Gurus – Kinky

Until Blue Cave the Hoodoos had never made a bad album, not a bad effort considering it was their seventh. And Blue Cave wasn’t actually terrible, only by comparison to the preceding six!

Famous for their singalongability and magical hook filled choruses, Dave Faulkner, Brad Shepherd & co were able to crank out hit after hit, and actually saw more US success than anyone else on the list.

Kinky is short and sharp, with maybe Too Much Fun being the only low point. Miss Freelove remains somewhat of an anthem at their live shows, Castles in the Air is a masterclass in songwriting and Desiree is simply an awesome song. Despite this I still can’t decide between A Place in the Sun and Dressed in Black as my personal favourite, such is the strength and evenness of the album.

The Hoodoos came back a few years ago with Mach Schau, which to be truthful is pretty ordinary stuff. This year they released Purity of Essence, which also has a couple of generic sounding clunkers, but has at least 6 songs that are strong enough to remind you of them in their heyday.

From 84 to 94 though the Hoodoo Gurus put together a span that must rank right up their with the greatest decade of output of all time:

1984 – Stoneage Romeos / Mars Needs Guitars! / Blow Your Cool! / Magnum Cum Louder / Kinky – 1994

Take that Space Coyote!

The Paradise Motel – Flight Paths

Never got the credit they deserved in Australia but apparently for a time were pretty big in Europe. The Paradise Motel was an AFL football team sized band featuring an entire string section on top of the standard guitar, bass, drums routine.

Some of the songs sound like they are being breathed rather than sung by Merida Sussex (who I can’t believe didn’t pop up again after this group folded), in others the vocals seem to be filtered through a box of sand.

Comparisons to both Massive Attack and Portishead are both relevant and redundant, because the similarities are there at times but more often than not Paradise Motel seemed to be blazing a trail all their own, unfortunately it turned out to be a trail that didn’t go anywhere as they never seemed to have that one song that would break them wide.

I could just as happily put Still Life in here but the opening track of Flight Paths “Aeroplanes” still slays me 15 years later. Aside from that Heavy Weather is also a great song and Dead Beats brilliant, but in the interests of full disclosure I must say Drive and Cities kill the momentum for about 9 minutes in the second half of the album.

To elevate this album even further Paradise Motel should be given a do-over and be allowed to replace those two with songs from their EPs that were released at roughly the same time. The poorly chosen Cars cover Drive becomes “Calling You” (simply outstanding) and Cities is upgraded to Watch Illuminum.

Done and done.

Postscript – When doing my obligatory 30 seconds of google research for this bit I found that Paradise Motel have a 4 part EP coming out in 2010. Sometimes these things are more helpful to me than to others!    

Pollyanna – Delta City Skies

In truth Pollyanna have four songs:

#1/ A breezy jangly guitar song with a tuneful chorus.

#2/ A short sharp punchy fast pop song.

#3/ A quiet song with low key verses and slightly louder choruses that ends in screaming.

#4/ A straightforward “RAWK” song driven by guitars and feedback.

There’s nothing wrong with this arrangement, David Gray has been churning out the same song for two decades, Powderfinger maybe have 3, and Kanye West has made an entire career with no songs by distracting the public with nifty glasses and the best bits of other artists.

If I were to rate the Pollyanna oeuvre (google it) and confine my ratings to their respective four songs I would say #3 / #1 / #2 / #4.

Their #4 songs are normally the B sides of singles and the last couple of filler songs on albums, the #2 songs strangely enough were usually their lead singles, probably as they were the most inoffensive and “commercial”…

The #1 songs include most of the other songs on the album, only as good as they are they do tend to sound a little “samey”. The fact is though that having 6 really good songs on an album is OK even if they are similar.

Delta City Skies has S.S.A.E., Black Bear, In Love with Doubt, Office Relations and Cicada Sounds that meet the category 1 definition.

But #3 is where Pollyanna shine, even if I think they were embarrassed at the fact that some of their best songs weren’t actually Sign of the Devil-heavy. They always seemed to release one of these as an afterthought, sort of like “well we also have this”, like they were afraid people might say “wait that is hardly rokkk with three K’s!”

This album has Feeding Circle (brilliant), and Home is where my Heart Sank and Crave the comfort you give (both very good. Other albums had Brittle then Broken (brilliant also), and Cooling Your Heels, (very good).

Delta City Skies is probably the most consistent and relistenable Pollyanna album, and aside from Vanilla Coated Salesman that shits me for some reason is great from the Hammond organ intro to the final screech.   

Skunkhour – Feed

Skunkhour have 4 albums, realistically three of them are just average and wouldn’t be in my collection were it not for this one. For some reason the fact that Feed exists prevents me from acknowledging the flaws in the other three.

Kinda like how you can’t kick out the friend of a famous person from your club for fear of giving the celeb the shits and causing them to leave as well.

Anyway Feed earns its spot because of two things, the backing band is tight and technically brilliant, with a quality guitarist and a superior bass player banging away in the background, and secondly the vocal alignment of the Larkin brothers, with Del providing what I still rate as the best written tightest rhymes in Australian hip hop even 15 odd years later, and Aya’s powerful (and yes soulful) vocals holding it down in the choruses.

I like Skeleton as a song, and it might be a high point on other albums, but on Feed it ranks at the bottom, but that is due to the fact that the other eleven tracks are so strong, from Treacherous Head through to the closing Stay Close this album is uniformly brilliant.

My only gripe is that there are two versions on the album, one replaces State with Arrive, both are great songs but as I rate Arrive as Skunhour’s finest moment if there was a version with both songs it would be as close to perfection as I can imagine.    

Something for Kate – Beautiful Sharks

I have listened to this album in its entirety over 100 times, think realistically how many albums you can say that about.

The first 50 or so all too place within the first month or so of buying the album.

Unlike many of the albums in this list there is not one dud track on this album. Not one. Actually SFK have a remarkable track record of consistency for almost two decades now, even the songs that don’t blow you away are at least good, they rarely make a misstep. While some could say this is because they don’t try hard enough or aren’t willing to stray from their formula I would argue that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And this album is far from broke.

Whatever you Want is an anthem, The Astronaut the same, Beautiful Sharks a great title track, and the supposed filler section in songs 7 through the finale are all brilliant.

This album differed from the debut Elsewhere for 8 Minutes in that it had far less choppy guitar work and was a little less “angry”, and subsequent albums continued the “less guitar” motif which is disappointing. Beautiful Sharks, even with the reduced axe-input still retained enough to give impact to certain songs. (I will never know why they went away from that technique until Desert Lights of a couple years back.)

Apparently lead singer and songwriter Paul Dempsey resents being called a morose MF, probably because no-one likes being called an MF. There really isn’t too much in the way of his lyrics top suggest he is generally a depressed guy, in fact if I were able to bust out a lazy dozen songs of the same consistent and lasting quality each couple years I’d be quite pleased with myself.

Actually if I ever managed to create something of a similar level of quality to anything on Beautiful Sharks, I might rest on my laurels awhile. Dempsey and co certainly earned that right.    

Underground Lovers – Dream it Down

Vincent Giarusso is perhaps the most limited lead vocalist from any band on this list. As a lyricist he can’t keep up with the Rogers’, Faulkner’s and Dempsey’s, which makes my love of this album a little puzzling.

I think it is mainly the music that sets it apart, although I wouldn’t jump up to defend any of the musicians if someone declared another artist better. I realize none of that makes sense yet I still love this album, and most of their others too, I have them all.

What Giarusso does seem to know is his limitations, he utilizes his limited singing range well, and only goes out of the normal range when he is basically screaming. Thankfully the band saw sense enough to allow Philippa Nihill to take lead vocals on a few tracks for this album, and her ethereal voice fills some of the gaps where Giarusso’ voice might grow grating.

Losin’ It remains a classic, Superstar holds up well, I have an irrational love for Weak Will, the one “fast” song on the album. The only dead spot strangely enough is the biggest hit on the album, Las Vegas. It’s not a bad song, just seems too gimmicky and out of place on an album that is otherwise consistent and full of great songs.

The Undies never really hit any massive commercial heights so they were basically allowed to do their own small time thing, that meant they released album after album of quality music while talentless hacks like Natalie Imbruglia and Delta Goodrem made millions, and bands with only a couple of hooks rode one or two hits to short term prominence.

Sad really, as the Undies should have been looked upon in the same way as The Church, they could just never find their Under the Milky Way.    

You Am I - Hi Fi Way

Couldn’t split ‘em, just couldn’t. I told myself limit the albums to one per band, but here I can’t.

Hi Fi Way has shorter, poppier songs with brilliant choruses and great lyrics, it has arguably higher highlights and no weak spots. Hourly Daily has better lyrics, more singalongable choruses and finds Timmy Rogers expanding his songwriting abilities, (it also has no weak spots and boasts perhaps the best hidden track on any album I can think of).

But I still like both albums the same and couldn’t imagine one without the other.

Unfortunately those that burn brighter tend to fade quicker, and although You Am I are still bringing it today it just isn’t the same, Dilettantes was good, Deliverance OK and Dress Me Slowly had its moments, but when you dine on the finest cuisine for years and someone offers you a toasted sandwich it’s a little disappointing.

So I guess furthering that ridiculous analogy Sound As Ever was a mouth watering appetizer, Hi Fi Way and Hourly Daily the two magnificent main courses, #4 Album was a slightly disappointing dessert, and the three albums mentioned above the meals you reheat the next day after the event while remembering what came before in sadness.

You Am I - Hourly Daily

Best Oz CDs of the 90s – Final Rankings

  1. You Am I – Hourly Daily / Hi Fi Way (See? I couldn’t split ‘em. Happy to see either of these ranked as the #1, they are both that good.)
  2. Died Pretty – Doughboy Hollow
  3. Something for Kate – Beautiful Sharks
  4. Underground Lovers – Dream it Down
  5. Skunkhour – Feed
  6. Clouds – Thunderhead
  7. The Cruel Sea – The Honeymoon is Over
  8. Hoodoo Gurus – Kinky
  9. Paradise Motel – Flight Paths
  10. Pollyanna – Delta City Skies

So that’s that then, the best (or at least my favourite) albums released by Australian artists in the 90s when my consumption of music was at its peak. No Oils (although Earth and Sun and Moon was very good), no INXS, no Powderfinger, no Barnsey, no Silverchair.

Just what I like.

Now I’ll get cracking on the international albums of the 90s, should see that in the next 6 – 12… years. (Probably.)

About OGR

While I try to throw a joke or two into proceedings when I can all of the opinions presented in my reviews are genuine. I don't expect that all will agree with my thoughts at all times nor would it be any fun if you did, so don't be shy in telling me where you think I went wrong... and hopefully if you think I got it right for once. Don't be shy, half the fun is in the conversation after the movie.
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5 Responses to Best CDs of the 90s – OZ EDITION

  1. ShowsOn says:

    What an amazing list. For the record, I also own:

    Living Colour – Stain (the 2 CD 1993 tour edition, with the live disc)
    The Cruel Sea – The Honeymoon is Over
    Skunkhour – Feed
    The Underground Lovers – Dream it Down
    You Am I – Hi Fi Way (the 2 CD version with the Someone Else’s Crowd bonus disc)
    You Am I – Hourly Daily (the 2 CD version with the Beat Party bonus disc)

    The Pollyanna album I own is Long Player, the one with the old lawn mower on the front cover.

    I believe that Skunkhour had to hastily reissue Feed because they didn’t get copyright clearance for the original cover art (the one in your illustration), so the album was replaced with a version showing the band members eating fruit.

    Oh, and I was 12 when Living Colour played at the Thebarton Theatre in Adelaide in 1993, so my mum wouldn’t let me go to the concert.

  2. OGR says:

    Cheers,
    I have Pollyanna’s Longplayer too, and Hello Halo, and Didn’t feel a Thing for that matter. All good albums but for some reason DCS does it for me, and I decided early that one album per band was enough, until You Am I forced my hand.
    I have both covers of feed for no other reason than I bought the normal cover initially, then the double disc came out a while later with the remixes. I ended up giving my other copy to an ex and keeping the 2 discer, but bought the original again on ebay when I found a Japanese edition with two other songs. A waste of money for sure but that album is worth it.
    Had I known Living Colour would disband after Stain I might have scrubbed up the cash for a trip to Adelaide, but the fact is I was 18 or so and working minimum wage, that would’ve screwed me. (I’ll always regret it though.

    Thanks again for your comment. The international edition coming soon!

    OGR

  3. ShowsOn says:

    I’ve always wanted to get the 2 disc edition of Feed. I believe the 2nd disc also has live tracks, probably taken from JJJ Live at the Wireless.

  4. Travis V says:

    He mate, do you know anywhere in the world where i can get pollyanna cd’s from? They are pretty scarce…I am chasing Longplayer..

  5. OGR says:

    Best bet as always is unfortunately ebay – three on there at present. At a pinch iTunes no doubt has it or Amazon.com

    While you’re there the Matt Handley solo album is a bit softer but has a few good songs too.

    Cheers

    OGR

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