+ GAVIN McNETT'S TOP 10 +
 1. Dodgy, "Free Peace Sweet"
(A&M) Noel from Oasis claims that he could've blown The Beatles off the charts in '65. Yeah, right. Inyer dreams. But the new Dodgy could've blown The Who and The Kinks off the charts in '67. Really.
2. Komeda, "The Genius Of Komeda"
(Minty Fresh) Sees your Cardigans and raises you 10.
The album-of-the-year that everybody'd hoped Grant Lee Buffalo or The Lemonheads (or somebody) would make. Wrong year for album sales, though.
4. Emory Swank, "Center City"
(Watermark single) It's taken 17 years for there to be another mod-punk song as incandescent as The Chords' "Now It's Gone". This time, it's from an unsigned threesome of post-teen spikers from Philadelphia. It blew a hole in the radio when it hadn't sounded good all week. todaro@trend1.com
5. Amber Sunshower, "Walter T. Smith"
(Island single) Sees your Fugees and raises you 20.
6. Pulp, "Different Class"
(Island) Jarvis Cocker is the man who finally ferried poor, monstered-out Michael Jackson across the Styx. That should be enough for us right there. Album's a winner, too.
It's the songwriting, stupid.
8. Shake Appeal, "My Danger"
(Deep Elm single) Classic throwaway jukebox-punk by a bunch of spry 30-year-olds who once bought "Cheap Trick at Budokan" and "Black Market Clash" with the same crumpled tenner.
9. The Divine Comedy, "Casanova"
(Setanta) Seldom has a band so hated made an album so satisfying.
10. Bad Brains, "Black Dots"
(Caroline) Cereal-box freebie sound quality. But these early demos are somewhere right between late '70s "Soul Train" blackpop and guitar chewing early hardcore. Weird, wonderful, charismatic beyond reason and worthy of intense study.
5. Metallica, "Load "
(Elektra) The cynicism of the whole endeavor was appalling. They could've at least changed their name to "Alternica."
4. Rage Against The Machine, "Evil Empire"
(Epic) Their politics are often held up as an excuse for the fact that they're musically useless.
3. The Nixons, "Acoustic Sister"
(MCA) Their crudity betrayed them. Where a respectable fake bubblegrunge outfit would've bleated the line, "Thinkin' bout the girl again," or something equally as narcissistico-bathetic; The Nixons baritoned, "Sister, I see you / Dancin' on the stage of memory." Oof!
2. Bush-Razorblade Suitcase
(Interscope) The cynicism of the whole endeavor was appalling. They couldāve at least changed their name to "Alternica."
1. Journey-Trial By Fire
(Columbia) Less a sound recording than an incitement to murder, the new Journey album has through its sheer biotoxicity melted long-hardened scales from many of the eyes that are now witnessing its rise. Eternal vigilance, we now know, is the price of our humanity. |
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