From: jct@mti.sgi.com (Chris Thomas)
Newsgroups: alt.music.alternative
Subject: Another best-of-1992 list
Date: 20 Dec 92 23:24:14 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: ecstasy.mti.sgi.com

From the bottom to the top, here we go...

12) Momus, "Voyager" (Creation UK) -- Poor Momus has evolved into a Pet
Shop Boy-wannabe, as he sings (and speaks) his deceptive simple melodies.

11) Xymox, "Metamorphosis" (X-Ult UK) -- Continuing the fall from grace,
Ronny Moorings comes back from the dead and releases an album of mostly
generic house/techno with a fidelity about as good as, according to one
Usenet reviewer, "a three-year-old cassette tape."  There are still some
shining moments, and there's almost nothing terribly *un*listenable about
the album.  One never had to stretch so hard to find *nice* things to say
about Xymox in the past....

10) The Shamen, "Boss Drum" (Columbia) -- It's pop, it's mainstream, it's
packaged, and I *love* "Ebeneezer Goode".  There; I said it.

9) Alison Limerick, "And Still I Rise" (Arista UK) -- Alison did many of
the backup vocals on the classic album from This Mortal Coil, "Filigree
and Shadow".  She re-emerged in 1991 with a highly-produced club it, "Where
Love Lives" (here in a different version).  Her voice is strong, soulful,
and talented; the music swings between Motown and Swing Out Sister; and
the album is very difficult to find in the States.

8) The Weathermen, "Global 851" (Mute) -- Long mysterious, the Weathermen
go for wider exposure with their techno/808-State-ish entry.  File it near
the Shamen for intensity, and near Chic (!) for some incredible funky
rhythms.

7) Prefab Sprout, "A Life of Surprises (Best of)" (Columbia) -- Nearly-
perfect stuff from the past eight years (wow) of Newcastle's unlikely
heroes.  It's only this far up the list because there are only two new
songs here; they're both excellent but, after waiting two years for a
followup to "Jordan", I wanted much more than just two songs.

6) Thomas Dolby, "Astronauts & Heretics" (Virgin) -- A thrilling return
to the days of "The Flat Earth", with songs Dolby claims can be played in
real-time on a solo piano without losing much effect.  The slower ones
work the best, especially the moving "I Live in a Suitcase" and
"Neon Sisters".  Just ignore Eddie Van Halen's contributions elsewhere.

5) Downy Mildew, "An Oncoming Train" (High Street) -- American guitar-pop
with a difference:  subtle British influences, with an exceptional female
vocalist (Jenny Homer) who can soar with the likes of Liz Fraser when she
wants to.  Big points because it makes you think.

4) "Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of 'Spartacus'" (Columbia UK) -- After
over a decade, the sequel to "War of the Worlds".  Over the course of nearly
two hours, Wayne and a cast of musicians (plus Anthony Hopkins) tell the
tale of the Roman slave revolt, throwing in one sappy hit single along the
way.  The work is highly accomplished and most ambitious, so it's only
natural that it falls flat in a couple of places.  On the balance, though,
it's definitely a work to listen to from beginning to end several times.

3) Handful of Snowdrops, "Dans l'Oeil de la Tempete" (C'est la Mort) --
This French Canadian group make music that one reviewer said repsented
one of the possible courses that Xymox *could* have taken after "Medusa".
This effort ("In the Eye of the Storm", with the entire album performed in
English, by the way) continues the HoS evolution, with stronger production,
difficult rhythms, and a small tip of the hat to the mainstream.  It's
electronic, it's post-modern, and it'll make your feet move.

2) Bel Canto, "Shimmering, Warm & Bright" (Columbia) -- The first half of
this album is absolutely perfect in every regard... a tour de force of
airy, wispy vocals, the complete-yet-subtle Norwegian sound, and the
difficult-to-describe "sense of wonder" evoked by the music.  The second
half falls slightly from this high mark, though, as some of the songs
begin to sound alike, bringing in the definite Israeli/Eastern influence of
producer Marc Hollander.  The blend doesn't always work, but this is still
an outstanding album.

1) In the Nursery, "Duality" (Third Mind) -- Some years, there are one or
two records that become so much a part of what I do, that they ultimately
end up defining parts of the soundtrack to my life.  "Duality" is that album
for 1992.  While I still wholly enjoy the simpler diversions of groups like
the Shamen, they're just that: diversions.  In a way that I don't fully
understand, "Duality" (and, to a lesser extent, the last several albums
by ItN) speaks to me and blurs the line between "listening to a certain
music because of where my life is" and "my life being where it is because of
listening to certain music."  How to describe the sound?  It owes a lot
to 18th and 19th-century classical forms and instrumentation, but there
are also sometimes drums that border on the "military", spoken-word
segments, breathy French vocals, and even a new-age, feel-good opus
("Always") that could almost be a "Desiderata" for the 90s.  "It's not
easy fighting the 20th century" says the album in one spot, and the "Duality"
of today's struggles with yesterday's experiences certainly comes to the
forefront here.  Not an album for the faint of mind, nor for the casual
listener.

-- 
Chris Thomas                                                (415) 390-4118
S4/7 b g+ l y+ z+ n+ o+ x-/+ a++ u v-/+ j++                jct@mti.sgi.com
Newsgroups: alt.music.alternative