AllMusic Staff Pick:
The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses
In case one has simply forgotten about or somehow managed to avoid this astonishing debut, let us (re)direct your attention to the Stone Roses’ eponymous 1989 classic. Driving Ian Brown’s languidly arrogant vocals is the powerhouse rhythm battery of Mani and Reni and above all, John Squire’s effortlessly hooky guitar mastery, as cool today as it was 32 years ago.
- Timothy Monger
AllMusic Staff Pick:
Jamiroquai
Synkronized
Following 1996’s “Virtual Insanity” breakthrough, the British outfit kicked their sound into overdrive with Synkronized. Delirious with disco fever (“Canned Heat”), the set keeps the energy high with horn-washed funk (“Black Capricorn Day,” ‘Where Do We Go From Here?“) and electro-synth menace ("Destitute Illusions,” “Deeper Underground”). Above all, didgeridoo highlight “Supersonic” (and its awesome music video) marks one of the band’s finest, weirdest moments
- Neil Z. Yeung
AllMusic Staff Pick:
Norman Connors
Dance of Magic
Recorded with a who’s who of fusion titans including trumpeter Eddie Henderson, bassist Stanley Clarke, and keyboardist Herbie Hancock, Dance of Magic channels the lessons drummer Norman Connors learned in the employ of Pharoah Sanders, Sam Rivers, and Sun Ra, marshaling Latin rhythms, electronic textures, and cosmic mysticism to create nondenominational yet deeply spiritual funk-jazz.
- Jason Ankeny
AllMusic Staff Pick:
Mission of Burma
The Obliterati
It’s rare that a band will record a reunion album that stands tall with their previous work, and it’s all but unheard of for that band to make a second album that’s even better. Mission of Burma did just that with 2006’s The Obliterati; it contained some of the most aggressive and muscular music they ever created without compromising their estimable intelligence, and upped the ante on their clear-eyed political and social commentary.
- Mark Deming
AllMusic Staff Pick:
Iggy Pop
The Idiot
Recorded with Bowie in the producer’s chair before work began on Low, Iggy Pop’s first solo album is considered the unofficial prelude to Bowie’s Berlin trilogy, and has early traces of the same dark experimentalism that would define Bowie’s late ‘70s output. A far cry from the explosive protopunk of the Stooges, Iggy saunters, lurches, and swaggers his way through this hazy album, taking cues from the electronic ambience of Berlin’s scene at the time, as well as dirgy funk and barely conscious readings of slowed down, late night downer rock.
- Fred Thomas
AllMusic Staff Pick:
XTC
The Big Express
Now firmly in studio-only mode, XTC’s 1984 gem establishes the intensely detailed and creative approach that would come to represent the remainder of their incredible second half. The lesser known precursor to their landmark Skylarking, The Big Express deserves another look.
- Tomothy Monger
AllMusic Staff Pick:
Bobby “Blue” Bland
Two Steps from the Blues
Without a doubt the definitive Bobby “Blue” Bland album. In fact, it’s one of the key albums in modern blues, marking a turning point when juke joint blues were seamlessly blended with gospel and Southern soul, creating a distinctly Southern sound where all of these styles blended so thoroughly it was impossible to tell where one began and one ended.
-Tom Erlewine
AllMusic Staff Pick:
Ghédalia Tazartès
Une Éclipse Totale de Soleil
Arguably the French avant-garde icon’s best work, Une Éclipse Totale de Soleil is a typically unsettling yet fascinating collage of quasi-industrial rhythms, children’s voices, and Tazartès’ own multi-layered howls, whispers, and warbles, mainly delivered in a self-invented language. The CD reissue also includes a later piece called “Il Regale Della Befana,” a truly unhinged, theatrical performance which memorably incorporates mangled Sex Pistols samples.
- Paul Simpson
AllMusic Staff Pick:
Urge Overkill
Saturation
Urge Overkill’s crash-and-burn was one of the saddest stories of the ‘90s alt-rock explosion, but 1993’s Saturation was their great moment of flashy glory before things went sour. While their early albums made them sound like a canny parody of a '70s arena rock band, Saturation was where they gained the skills and production smarts to become the sort of band they pretended to be, and its roar and swagger made this album a masterpiece.
- Mark Deming
AllMusic Staff Pick:
Flying Saucer Attack
Flying Saucer Attack
UK ambient rock project Flying Saucer Attack branished themselves “rural psychedelia” on their first full length. The album’s glowing, pastoral drones and waves of deeply buried organic instrumentation make good on this description, stretching out expansively as the songs slowly evolve. The unexpectedly faithful Suede cover shakes up the otherwise tranquil proceedings, but is a nice diversion from the rest of the album’s pleasantly drowsy shoegaze excursions.
- Fred Thomas
AllMusic Staff Pick:
Alan Menken
Newsies [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
Featuring 12 original songs by Alan Menkin and a score by J.A.C. Redford, this live-action film musical based on the 1899 New York newsboy strike appeared in the Disney canon between the animated smashes Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. With Howard Ashman too ill at the time to assist, it features lyrics by Jack Feldman and a cast led by a teenaged Christian Bale. Ann-Margret also gets her own song (“My Lovey-Dovey Baby”). Though the film flopped in 1992, Menken and Redford won a Tony for Best Original Score 20 years later thanks to a hit Broadway adaptation.
- Marcy Donelson
AllMusic Staff Pick:
Stereo Total
My Melody
The death of Stereo Total’s Françoise Cactus in February 2021 marked the end of one of indie pop’s most enduring – and endearing – outfits. The duo’s international pop postmodernism rarely sounded finer than it did on 1999’s My Melody: Alongside clever covers of heroes such as Serge Gainsbourg and Pizzicato Five, Stereo Total’s original songs pay homage to French pop, Neue Deutsche Welt, and other cult-favorite sounds with boundless charm and enthusiasm.
- Heather Phares
AllMusic Staff Pick:
Loud Family
Interbabe Concern
Once Game Theory’s Scott Miller knew he wasn’t going to get his well-deserved commercial breakthrough with the Loud Family, he doubled down on their angular melodies, noisy window dressing, and sharp dynamics on their third album, 1996’s Interbabe Concern. It’s sometimes hard to get through the surface of the music, yet the brilliance of “Don’t Respond, She Can Tell,” “I’m Not Really a Spring,” and “Where They Walk Over Sainte Therese” make the effort worthwhile.
- Mark Deming
AllMusic Staff Pick:
Eric B. & Rakim
Follow the Leader
Having already revolutionized hip-hop, Eric B. & Rakim came up with a second straight classic in their sophomore album, which basically follows the same blueprint for greatness, albeit with subtle refinements. It may not have broken much new ground, but it captures one of the greatest pure hip-hop acts at the top of its form.
- Steve Huey
AllMusic Staff Pick:
Booker Ervin
The Freedom Book
Although his career was short, Ervin still managed to record some 20 albums as a frontman, most notably his “book” series, including this fine session, which finds him working with a rhythm section of Jaki Byard on piano, Richard Davis on bass, and Alan Dawson on drums. It’s a near perfect set of modern hard bop, ranging just far enough out there to feel fresh but retaining a strong lifeline to bop tradition.
- Steve Leggett