Good (some might say poor) ol' Ned's Atomic Dustbin. The double-bassist act from Stourbridge, England (also home to Pop Will Eat Itself and the Wonder Stuff) either just couldn't cut it or had extraordinarily bad timing, depending on who you talk to. They hit the Brit music scene like a truck in 1990, only to get swept under the rug by the onset of Brit-pop -- another case of London and Manchester crushing any sort of Midlands rock uprising -- and were laughed off and forgotten with extraordinary speed. Which, as this collection shows, is too bad. This collection reveals a band whose early singles are never short of a good groove, lyrically battling between cynicism and dry wit, and, well, just damn fun to jump around to. With the glut of bands that England has spawned that are more concerned with sadness and bellybutton picking, it's a shame that these guys didn't take. It should be noted that the singles from the first album era (God Fodder) are not the same mixes that appeared on that album. These are mixes that were on the original Chapter 22 singles. A nice change, too, given that these mixes are rawer and are even more rousing. It's a great collection of a solid band that should have been given more credit.
The Wonder Stuff's third and best album (although their 1988 debut, The Eight-Legged Groove Machine, is pretty wonderful), 1991's Never Loved Elvis, is the album that made Miles Hunt and company at least temporary superstars in the U.K. (It also got them the most commercial exposure they ever achieved in the U.S., where the Kinksy, music hall-styled single "The Size of a Cow" was a big college radio hit.) It departs from the first two albums by de-emphasizing the dance rhythms and Buzzcocks-like guitars and (courtesy of new multi-instrumentalist Martin Bell) adding fiddle, banjo, mandolin, acoustic guitar, and accordion to the mix. Kirsty MacColl's inimitable vocals add another excellent texture to a couple of songs, especially the folk-rocky "Welcome to the Cheap Seats." There's a much sweeter sound to this unapologetically poppy album, and even Hunt's lyrics are less snide and arrogant than before
For New Day Rising, the follow-up to their breakthrough double-album Zen Arcade, Hüsker Dü replaced concept with conciseness, concentrating on individual songs delivered as scalding post-hardcore pop. New Day Rising is not only a more vicious and relentless record than Zen Arcade, it's more melodic. Bob Mould and Grant Hart have written tightly crafted, melodic pop songs that don't compromise Hüsker's volcanic, unchecked power. Mould and Hart's songs owe a great deal to '60s pop, as the verses and choruses ebb and flow with immediately catchy hooks. Occasionally, the razor-thin production and waves of noise mean that it takes a little bit of effort to pick out the melodies, but more often the furious noise and melodies fuse together to create an overwhelming sonic force. It's possible to hear the rivalry between Mould and Hart on the album itself -- each song is like a game of one-upmanship, as Mould responds to "The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill" with "Celebrated Summer." Neither songwriter slips -- both turn in songs that are catchy, clever, and alternately wracked with pain or teeming with humor. New Day Rising is a positively cathartic record and ranks as Hüsker Dü's most sustained moment of pure power.
In their first five years as a band, Dinosaur Jr. made three records that revolutionized underground guitar music and then promptly imploded. The original lineup of three scrappy Amherst punks had a nearly magical chemistry that always teetered on being derailed by simmering tension between controlling guitarist/vocalist/principal songwriter J Mascis and bassist Lou Barlow. In 1989, Mascis acrimoniously fired Barlow and pushed forward with his own vision for the band. Fourth album Green Mind would be not only the first Dinosaur Jr. record without Barlow's countermelodic bass lines and neurotic songwriting contributions, it would also be their first major-label effort. Released on Sire subsidiary Blanco y Negro in early 1991, Green Mind was more a Mascis solo album than the work of a proper band, with original Dinosaur drummer Murph only playing on three songs and Mascis handling almost all of the instruments. Even so, the overall sound of the album only changes negligibly from the SST classic Bug that preceded it by just 16 months. Buzzy album opener "The Wagon" (with assistance from Gumball's Don Flemming and Jay Spiegel) acts as a milder postlude to Bug's ragged "Freak Scene," and romps like "How'd You Pin That One on Me?" and "I Live for That Look" only slightly dial back the noisy punk din that could sometimes swallow entire songs on the first three albums.Where the chaos and confusion of the band's early days were fueled by youthful anger and frustration, Green Mind found Mascis alone in a room arguing with himself. This becomes more apparent on the album's second half, where the tone mellows greatly on the melancholic and lamenting "Water," the stoned bumble of "Muck," and album highlight "Thumb," a blissed-out ballad heavy on Mellotron flute samples and Mascis' searching guitar soloing. The album ushered in the version of Dinosaur Jr. that would live out the rest of the '90s, with Mascis' lyrical language of slang and vaguities hemming him into a lonely stoner figure and the warm-but-distant tone of the songwriting exposing an enormous debt to Neil Young for the first time in the band's catalog. While he would work with other musicians more collaboratively on successive recordings, Mascis stayed at the center of every decision for the band's major-label run. Green Mind would be the most restless and insular of the four albums, born out of Mascis' band deteriorating under its own weight, leaving him to ramble and shred as his own devices saw fit. At the time of its release, many thought it lacked the power of the original trio, but it's a unique chapter in the band's discography, with some of the best-written songs Mascis would manage. Aptly named, Green Mind finds Mascis shrugging and mumbling as he walks listeners through a guided tour of his stoned, drifting thoughts.
Named after cult leader Charles Manson, purveyors of New Romantic, army, and women's fashion, and creators of a bewildering 70-minute prog rock sophomore featuring former Dr. Who's Tom Baker and references to Swan Lake and Taoism, it's no surprise that Chester-based quartet Mansun always seemed like the misunderstood outsiders of the mid-'90s laddish Brit-pop era they emerged from. While they unsurprisingly might not have spawned as many radio-friendly staples as the likes of Cast, Ocean Colour Scene, and Dodgy, their unique and uncompromising sound has certainly stood the test of time far more than the '60s pastiches of their contemporaries, as evident on their first official hits collection, Legacy: The Best of Mansun. Compiled by lead vocalist Paul Draper and guitarist Dominic Chad, this 17-track compilation is a tour de force in dark, eclectic, and grandiose indie, which showcases the band's melting pot of Manic Street Preachers-esque glittery glam rock, Suede-inspired sexually ambiguous lyrics, and the challenging proggy leanings of early Radiohead. Six tracks appear from their debut, The Attack of the Grey Lantern, a half-concept album based on a suburban superhero, which knocked Blur off the charts in early 1997, including the band's first Top Ten single, "She Makes My Nose Bleed," the comical baggy-influenced "Stripper Vicar," and the psychedelic indie-disco anthem "Taxloss," famous for its chaotic cash giveaway video. But it's the haunting and epic "Wide Open Space," arguably one of the '90s best singles, and the string-soaked potential James Bond theme "The Chad Who Loved Me" that provides the album's highlights. The four singles from their 1998 critics-dividing Six make the cut, including their highest-charting hit, "Legacy," the frenetic metal of "Being a Girl," and the punchy title track (the Arthur Baker remixed version), the latter two are heavily edited from their original eight-minute running times. Reflecting the mixed response and difficult recording process of their record company's interference, and thus their swan song, only three tracks are selected from 2000's Little Kix: the breezy acoustic singalong "Electric Man," the melodically eerie "I Can Only Disappoint U," and the Bowie pastiche "Fool," which the band have since dismissed as their least favorite track. Elsewhere, there is debut single "Take It Easy Chicken," previously only available on the U.S. edition of their first album, the lead track from their 1997 Seven EP, "Closed for Business," and two songs ("Getting Your Way" and "Slipping Away") that were intended to appear on their fourth album, Kleptomaniac, which was eventually released as part of a box set a year after their 2003 split. While some of their complex and ambitious sound is lost amongst the single edits, Legacy is still a representative introduction to the unpredictable, bizarre, and unashamedly pretentious world of Brit-pop's most inventive and underrated band.
Huh!: The Best, 1987-1992 is a handy sampler of the Blue Aeroplanes' middle period and a fine introduction to this cultily adored band. Many times compilations aren't the way to go with discovering a band's work, but this one is a handy précis of the Bristol-based band's most consistent and listenable work, ignoring both scattershot early albums like 1984's Bop Art and the group's comparatively uninspired later albums. Covering the four albums between 1987's Spitting out Miracles and 1991's Beatsongs (not including 1988's Friendloverplane, which collects stray tracks from their earlier indie releases), the 16-track compilation wisely stays away from Gerard Langley's more pretentious moments, which have always been the Blue Aeroplanes' undoing, in favor of chiming, winsome guitar pop tunes like "And Stones" and the wry anti-music-business screed "Fun." Tunes like the charmingly rustic "Jack Leaves and Back Spring" suggest that the Blue Aeroplanes could have been the post-punk Fairport Convention if they'd wanted, but most of Huh! shows the Blue Aeroplanes in their most familiar element, making rather arty guitar pop for progressively minded indie kids.
There’s a certain grandness to the title of Madness Presents the Rise & Fall, the group’s fourth album and undeniable pop masterpiece: it’s clear that the band has ambitions, to go several steps beyond ska, to craft nothing less than a Village Green Preservation Society for the ‘80s. The Kinks figure heavily in Madness’ design for The Rise & Fall, both in individual tunes and the overall arc of the concept album, but so does Ian Dury’s celebration of the riffraff of London, the latter giving Madness an earthiness that Ray Davies’ crew lacked during their time on the Village Green. While Madness’ forefathers are evident, The Rise & Fall is recognizably Madness in sound and sensibility; faint echoes of their breakneck nutty beginnings can be heard on “Blue Skinned Beast” and “Mr. Speaker Gets the Word,” the melodies are outgrowths of such early masterpieces as “My Girl,” there’s a charming, open-hearted humor and carnivalesque swirl that ties everything together. All this comes to a head on “Our House,” as divine a pop single as there ever was -- so undeniable that this very British anthem actually crossed over into the American Top Ten in 1983 -- but that’s merely the splashiest evidence of Madness’ popcraft on The Rise & Fall. The rest of the record contains the same wit, effervescence, and joy, capturing what British pop life was all about in 1982, just as Village Green Preservation Society did in 1968 or Blur’s Parklife would do in 1994. Expanded 2010 reissue second disc has a wealth of extras: a four-song Kid Jensen Session; the non-LP singles “House of Fun” and “Driving in My Car,” along with their B-sides “Don’t Look Back” and “Animal Farm," as well as “Riding on My Bike,” which was on the flip of the “Driving” 12"; an extended 12" mix of “Our House,” plus the B-side “Walking with Mr. Wheeze” and the U.S. instrumental mix “Mad House"; the Warped 12" “Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)," plus its B-side “Blue Beast [Warp Mix]” and a version of “Tomorrow's” recorded with Elvis Costello; the DJ promo single “Our House [Stretch Mix]"; and, finally, there’s “The National Anthem,” the capper on a very generous deluxe reissue.
