THE MUSIC THAT MADE ME: AN OCCASIONAL SERIES

AN ADDENDUM: 1989 - 1992 (The Ones That Got Away!!!)

Late last year on this here blog of mine, I waxed lyrical and waned fulsomely about an astonishing four-year period of time that straddled the end of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s and that shaped my very being and moulded my very soul into the crusty old 50-something I am now - tapping away furiously on my keyboard to bring you my ramblings about the music that means the most to me. It was an extraordinary 48 months of my life that saw me embrace all kinds of music to my bosom and throw myself wholeheartedly into a wide-ranging gamut of tune-related good times - almost to the detriment of my physical and mental well-being. Grunge, indie, hip-hop, acid-house, techno, dance, hard rock, dream-pop, trip-hop, psychedelia - all human life was there and it was truly wondrous. However, as in-depth and all-encompassing as I thought that particular post of mine was, I have since remembered a whole raft of artists and albums that I should have mentioned in dispatches. So, without further ado, it is now time for me to open the door marked '89 - 92' yet again and say hello to the following who fully deserve their moment in the sun.

'The Mission'

To start with, we head back to early 1989 and the preponderance of goth-hued rock bands - all dark glasses and flailing scarves - who would find themselves appearing on Top Of The Pops with alarming regularity. Yorkshire's The Mission - led by the stentorian voiced Wayne Hussey - were the main beneficiaries of this lurch into commercial success, and their two albums from that period (1988's 'Children' and 'Carved In Sand' from early 1990) saw this really rather great combo garner a thoroughly enjoyable run of hit singles and decent press notices across the board. Following in their footsteps were All About Eve from the Midlands who spliced the goth-rock pop smarts of The Mission with folk-rock stylings to splendid effect. With the glorious vocals of Julianne Regan front and centre, the band's second album in particular - the delightful 'Scarlet And Other Stories' from 1989 - was lovely, lovely stuff.

 Also getting in on the kohl-eyed action were the likes of The Quireboys and Dogs D'Amour who combined the smoky gothic melodrama of The Mission with a more meat and potatoes style of pub rock to some mild success. There was also a sudden burst of UK rock activity with a bunch of bands that embraced the over-produced hair metal theatrics of the likes of Def Leppard and Bon Jovi - who had become world-wide superstars in 1988 - with a more provincial sound that kept their feet on the ground. The likes of Thunder, Little Angels, Gun and The Almighty all tasted a tiny bit of success before the grunge movement of 1991 swept them all away. However, all of these bands are still touring and releasing records today in some form or other so kudos to them for keeping at it.

Other guitar-heavy acts that pinged my radar during this four year period were Australia's gloom-ridden rockers The Triffids with their excellent final album 'In The Pines' as well as the likes of Scotland's Del Amitri who burst onto the scene with their tremendous 'Waking Hours' album in 1990. Their follow-up album from 1992 - the chiming Americana of 'Change Everything' - was possibly even better. There was a couple of brilliant solo albums from Echo And The Bunnymen singer Ian McCulloch in 89's 'Candleland' and 92's 'Mysterio' as well as an album a year across this period from Mancunian art-rock legend Mark E. Smith and his ever-evolving The Fall collective. I was also highly impressed by the bunch of startling records released during these four years by Irish indie-rockers The Fatima Mansions - especially 1990's astounding 'Viva Dead Ponies'. I must mention US singer-songwriter Mark Eitzel too, who released a clutch of albums with his American Music Club collective - in particular the extraordinary 'Everclear' - that really piqued my interest. On top of that, there were two magnificent releases from Bob Mould who, in between the dissolution of his first group Hüsker Dü in 1988 and the appearance of power-grunge trio Sugar in 1992, found time to pen the folk-tinged acoustica of 'Workbook' and the pummelling thrust of 'Black Sheets Of Rain', both of which are tremendous and proved to me what an incredible songwriter Mould was to become.

There was also a wonderful debut album of hazy, dream-inducing indie from US duo Mazzy Star who - although they hit much bigger later in the 90s - set out their stall rather deliciously with 1990's 'She Hangs Brightly'. And then there was the David Lynch effect. 1990 was a huge year for the cult film director with both his movie 'Wild At Heart' and his mind-bending TV show 'Twin Peaks' taking the world by storm. The latter in particular was a seismic cultural event - proper old-school appointment TV - and anything related to it was guaranteed success. The soundtrack of the show (recorded and performed by legendary composer Angelo Badalementi) was a huge chart hit and led to the main vocalist on the record - gossamer-voiced US singer Julee Cruise - enjoying major acclaim for her album 'Floating Into The Night' and its lead single 'Falling' which still sounds otherwordly over thirty years later. A quick shout-out also to the blues-influenced rocker Chris Isaak who lent his dulcet tones to the 'Wild At Heart' soundtrack and garnered himself a monster hit single with 1990's 'Wicked Game' and a massive-selling album later in 1991 with a compilation of his best-loved early work under the same name.

'Julee Cruise'

Huge-selling acts from the 80s returned with enormously successful albums from the likes of Paul Simon - who followed up his extraordinary 'Graceland' opus from 1986 with the Latin American sounds of  'Rhythm Of The Saints' in late 1990 - as well as Dire Straits and Genesis, who offered up what turned out to be their final albums by their classic line-ups with 'On Every Street' and 'We Can't Dance' respectively, and which both took up residence in the upper reaches of the charts in the autumn of 1991. I also had a lot of time for Sweden's Roxette, who broke through in 1989 with the worldwide smash 'The Look' before having an even bigger hit with 1991's 'Joyride' album. Less successful, but also worthy of anyone's time, were the third album from 4AD Records head honcho Ivo Watts-Russell and his This Mortal Coil collective - the magical 'Blood' from 1991 - as well as a brace of albums at the turn of the 90s from the Illinois Alt-Country crew Uncle Tupelo who included Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy among their number. The band, who's debut album 'No Depression' is a classic of the genre, eventually splintered in 1993 and Farrar and Tweedy went on to form Son Volt and Wilco in turn, the latter of whom are one of America's very finest bands. 

Also taking up residence on my stereo in a major way were three albums from early 1991 that I'm astonished to have forgotten to mention in my original post and were  - and still are - three of the best records from that whole period. The eponymous album from Rain Tree Crow was basically the full-blown reunion from early 80s synth-pop mysterios Japan - fronted by the luminous David Sylvian - and was the first time the four original members of said crew had been together in a studio for almost a decade. The album carried on from where they had left off, with a relaxed and drifting suite of mellow, far-eastern tinged melodies and brain caressing synths and percussion that was a real treat. One more circle round the sun was enough though and the quartet split again soon after. Also released around the same time were two debut albums that still thrill me to this day. Eg White and Alice Temple were a duo who - recording under the name Eg & Alice - delivered the dulcet, string-laden splendour of their '24 Years Of Hunger' collection and ticked all of my Steely Dan and Prefab Sprout boxes, especially on the utterly sublime first single 'Indian'. A truly wondrous album that should have been massive, it sadly slipped through the cracks and by the end of 1991, White and Temple had gone their separate ways with the latter disappearing off to the USA and White eventually rocking up in the late 90s as a songwriter for hire, writing huge tunes for the likes of Robbie Williams, Will Young and Adele. (He also covered a Jellyfish tune so hats off!) The other fantastic debut album from the spring of 1991 was the psychedelic funk and soul extravaganza from London trio Stress who I saw support Lenny Kravitz in May of that year and who I truly believed would go onto great things. Once again though, my prediction was way off and as brilliant as their debut offering is - containing majestic tunes like 'Rosechild' and the mind-expanding 'Daytime Believer' - they were a busted flush within a year. A real shame.

Dance music and hip-hop had a tremendously exciting few years between the Acid House boom of 1988 and the beginnings of the Grunge scene in 1991 and I touched on most of the big hitters in my original post. However, once again, I missed out on some hugely influential acts, not least Scotland's The Shamen, who started the decade as a post-rave outfit consisting of Colin Angus and Will Sinnott  and who, after Sinnott's tragic death whilst swimming in Tenerife, brought rapper Mr. C into the fold and became a huge pop act in 1992 with the likes of their Number One single 'Ebeneezer Goode'. I still prefer their earlier records, especially 1990's fantastic 'En-Tact'. Other notable dance acts from this period included Germany's Snap, who had a massive world-wide hit in early 90 with 'The Power!', Electribe 101, LFO, Renegade Soundwave, The Future Sound Of London and our very own Adamski who - aside from introducing the world to the velvet vocal stylings of Seal on the peerless 'Killer' - also had a bunch of hits under his own name such as the squelchy post-rave beats of 'NRG'. There was also a couple of one-hit wonders that I absolutely loved - both from 1991 - in 'Devotion' from Nomad and 'Gypsy Woman' by New York's Crystal Waters. Both of those tracks will give me a huge Proustian rush if I hear them today. Splendid stuff. As for hip-hop, albums from the likes of Definition Of Sound, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, 3rd Bass, the more alt-rock influenced beats and rhymes of DcBasehead and the magnificent political commentary of 1992's 'Play More Music' by Californian activist crew Consolidated all found space in my sphere. There was also a huge swathe of UK funk and soul releases - most of which were released under the Acid Jazz imprint - that showed real promise. The Brand New Heavies, Galliano and The Young Disciples all should have been much bigger than they were.

Thanks top the huge UK success in 1990 from the big three so-called Madchester bands - The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and The Charlatans - any whey-faced crew of guitar-toting whippersnappers who wore baggy jeans and sported floppy-fringed haircuts were basically guaranteed a record deal and as such the pages of the weekly music papers were chock-full of such combos throughout the first few months of the decade. The American alt-rock scene of 91 wiped most of them out but it's fair to say that you can see a lineage from some of these bands in the surge of Britpop crews that appeared in the wake of Blur and Oasis in 1995. The likes of The Milltown Brothers, The High, Revolver, Blind Mr Jones, Paris Angels, Thousand Yard Stare, The Dylans, Eat, Top, Five Thirty, The Pooh Sticks, World Of Twist and The Family Cat were all worth a listen and, in some cases, came very close to breaking through. The odd album and single from the above bands - The Milltown's debut album 'Slinky' and the 'She's A Rainbow' cover from World Of Twist for example - still stand up today, but a lot of these bands were only given airtime due to their resemblance (both musically and sartorially) to the likes of The Roses and the Mondays. Other acts from this time that stood a better chance were Flowered Up who fitted in perfectly with the prevailing trends in 1990 and who, after a fairly decent debut album, released the utterly astonishing 13 minute single 'Weekender' in 1992. Their biggest ever hit - quite rightly too - it should have been the springboard to future success. Unfortunately, heavy drugs derailed their trajectory and they disbanded before lead singer Liam Maher succumbed to an overdose in 2009. (Tragically, his younger brother - and former bandmate - Joe, overdosed himself just three years later). 

'Flowered Up'

Also knocking on the door of huge acclaim in 1992 were a trio of bands from London - Moose, Daisy Chainsaw and The Rockingbirds - who all released excellent singles, albums and EP's during that year that although critically acclaimed, eventually led to nothing but the odd footnote on blog posts such as this. A real head-scratcher quite frankly because the 'XYZ' album from Moose, the 'Gradually Learning' single from The Rockingbirds and Daisy Chainsaw's excoriating 'Love Your Money' EP were as good as anything released by the indie-rock lower leagues that year. Liverpool's The Boo Radleys were the main beneficiaries of this glut of signings with Creation Records shelling out to add them to their roster of bands - that also included Teenage Fanclub, Swervedriver, Slowdive, Primal Scream, Ride and My Bloody Valentine - and their 1992 album 'Everything's Alright Forever' still gets regular airtime round here at No Static Towers. A barnstorming collection of janglesome pop, swirling shoegaze and 60s indebted psych, it was the perfect introduction to a band who would go onto become very successful indeed during the Britpop years of the mid-90s. A quick shout-out too to Sunderland's perennial Leatherface who I must have seen live more than any other band during the first couple of years of the 90's. Not out of choice to be fair - they were just always a second or third support to bigger and better bands and always on a festival bill. Over the years I've gone back and given this thrashing punk-grunge combo a bit more ear-space and they really weren't bad at all with lead singer Frankie Stubbs - a more provincial sounding British name would be hard to find - bellowing away over a raucous racket of intense guitar noise and crashing drums. 1992's 'Mush' album is the best place to start.

 

And finally, a couple of bands from the Emerald Isle to mention who both appeared at the top end of 1992 with a wry and humorous take on the indie scene and who also could have both been a lot more successful if perhaps they'd taken the whole music scene a little more seriously. The Frank And Walters and The Sultans Of Ping FC both hailed from Cork and released their debut singles within weeks of each other. The latter's magnificent indie-disco staple 'Where's Me Jumper?' stood out almost immediately with it's quirky lyrics and ridiculous imagery - "Eat natural foods, bathe twice daily, fill your nostrils up with gravy" - and still sounds utterly wonderful almost thirty years later. The Franks - as I'm sure nobody ever called them - were a lot more gentle and twee but were still able to thrill with the likes of the glorious 'Fashion Crisis Hits New York' which I absolutely adore.

So, as I stated in my original post covering these incredible four years, there was so much extraordinary music doing the rounds that I'm amazed I could remember it all. As it turned out, I didn't - hence this thorough addendum. There is one album though that I'm utterly amazed - and a little bit embarrassed to admit - slipped me by during my first foray into those astonishing 48 months. That album is 'Girlfriend' by a singer/songwriter from Athens, Georgia by the name of Matthew Sweet. I first heard it in early 1992 - although it had been released during the summer of 1991 - and it's marriage of Byrdsian jangle, spiky NYC art-rock, chiming indie and dulcet Americana blew my mind. It's without doubt one of my favourite albums from that whole period - if not of all time - and I've been face-palming myself every day since the realisation that I hadn't discussed it in my original post. Suffice to say, it would have been very high up in the Top 15 Albums Of 1991 contained within that earlier discussion. If you're reading this Matthew - and quite frankly, why wouldn't you be? - I apologise profusely....

  

1989 - 1992: THE ONES THAT GOT AWAY

TOP 15 ALBUMS:

15: THE MILLTOWN BROTHERS: SLINKY (1991)

14: THE MISSION: CARVED IN SAND (1990)

13: CONSOLIDATED: PLAY MORE MUSIC (1992)

12: THIS MORTAL COIL: BLOOD (1991)

11: DEL AMITRI: CHANGE EVERYTHING (1992)

10: BOB MOULD: WORKBOOK (1989)

9:  MAZZY STAR: SHE HANGS BRIGHTLY (1990)

8:  PAUL SIMON: THE RHYTHM OF THE SAINTS (1990)

7:  THE SHAMEN: EN-TACT (1990)

6:  UNCLE TUPELO: NO DEPRESSION (1990)

5:  THE BOO RADLEYS: EVERYTHING'S ALRIGHT FOREVER (1992)

4:  EG & ALICE: 24 YEARS OF HUNGER (1991)

3:  STRESS: STRESS (1991)

2:  RAIN TREE CROW: RAIN TREE CROW (1991)

1:  MATTHEW SWEET: GIRLFRIEND (1991)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n12OBlcHx9E