Anodyne
BeforeAnodyne, Uncle Tupelo already had one masterpiece in 1991's noisy and tenseStill Feel Gone, but this album, the band's major-label debut, had even grander ambitions. Replacing the group's grungy guitar with soaring lap and pedal-steel fills, plus fiddle and mandolin breaks both sweet and raucous,Anodyneis overflowing with a spacious grandeur that alludes to, and then makes it own, everything from theBandand theStonesandNeil Young(both as a solo artist and withCrazy Horse) to old Acuff-Rose songs--all of which is just to say that it's among the best roots-rock records ever made.--David Cantwell