Hmn, hard to pick favorites considering how much I like, but these five do the job I think-
5. Queensryche - Empire (1990)
About as close to a reconciliation between a strong pop sensibility and metal aesthetic as you'll ever find in popular music, a trend which has only been stomped on and watered down in subsequent years by countless other bands. 'Silent Lucidity' and 'Jet City Woman' were both staple tracks to my childhood, but this whole album is a fine, fine affair throughout.
4. Fleet Foxes - S/T
What happens when you get My Morning Jacket a better vocalist and strip away the Indie mehness that has infested so much from the year 2000 and up? Fleet Foxes of course! Hyped as it is, this debut is hellishly gorgeous and doesn't futz around with the whining that teenagers consider "emotional" delivery. Basically, a fine jangly folkish pop antidote to the blandness of a lot of contemporary music.
3. Kevin Gilbert - Thud (1995)
Amidst all the Brit. pop yawnfests and seemingly endless lines of Jeff Buckley worship, there was an underrated American musician back in the 90's who, along with his love of groups such as The Smiths and The Pixies, was also a proghead with a real talent for songwriting. That man was Kevin Gilbert, who died at the ripe old age of 29 from autoerotic asphyxiation in 1996. This is his one and only solo album from a year prior.
2. Tears For Fears - The Seeds of Love (1989)
An odd turn indeed for a band no stranger to abnormality, trading in the compelling industrial-like sterility of their last few albums for a gorgeous psychedelic canvas to paint their sunsets on for a little over 3 million dollars in production costs. This, my friends, is the sound of pop brilliance at play.
1. Mew - Frengers (2003)
Hook after hook after hook after hook after...
Last edited by Anteater; 03-10-2010 at 10:49 PM.
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