Last month, Seal’s second album was rereleased as a remastered deluxe edition, and thirty years later it remains not only his best and most popular album, but it’s also one of my all-time favorite records of the nineties.
This was an album I bought in the final years of being a Columbia House member, and I’d picked it up more out of curiosity than anything. I still consider his single “Crazy” one of my top favorite songs of all time, and I felt this album was more to his style than the funkier r&b of his first record. It was released during an odd time in my life, right at the end of my stay in Boston and the start of my extended stay back in my old hometown, so I connect this with two things: my job at the movie theater in Somerville, and the long process of restarting my writing career. This was one of the many albums I listened to constantly while attempting to figure my life out.
Sure, everyone remembers the ubiquitous single “Kiss from a Rose”, but it also features the popular ballad “Don’t Cry” and the stunning “Prayer for the Dying”, all songs that got major airplay on pop radio and on MTV and VH1.
“Prayer for the Dying” was the track that initially sold me on this record, even though I hadn’t heard it until after “Kiss from a Rose”, which is interesting considering this was the album’s first single. Like “Crazy” it’s full of emotional turmoil and loss. Unlike that track, however, there is much less hope here. That’s not to say it’s a downer track, however; it’s a song about survival, and that makes all the difference.
The album cut “Dreaming in Metaphors” is a track that gets stuck in my head every now and again with its lopsided beats and swirling melody. Like “Prayer” it too is about turmoil, this time focusing on the frustrations of making life needlessly complicated.
“Don’t Cry” was the last single to drop from this album and it got a fair amount of play on VH1 during the winter of 1995. It’s a counterpoint to the above tracks, an uplifting song of hope during the darkest of times. [Side note: I haven’t seen this video in years, so imagine my surprise when watching it and realizing it was shot at the Palace of Fine Arts here in the city!]
Then of course there’s his most popular single, “Kiss from a Rose”, which didn’t just get played on pop radio, I believe Boston’s WFNX and WBCN gave it a few spins as well! It’s also from possibly my favorite Batman movie — yes, I know, but it’s the only one that doesn’t take itself too seriously and yet isn’t a complete dumpster fire either, and it’s got a banger soundtrack.
A and I went to see him live with the SF Symphony back in 2017 for the tour of his Standards album — singing songs like “My Funny Valentine” and “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” is a surprisingly perfect choice for him. While he did mostly songs from that record, he did pull up several hits from his past, including “Kiss from a Rose”, “Don’t Cry” and “Crazy”. He’s still got the pipes after all these years.
I highly recommend picking this one up. While it’s not as funky and unrestrained as his 1990 debut, it shows a singer already fully in charge of his voice and his style. It’s an amazing record, and the remaster sounds great.
I’ve been going through some music from 1999 the last couple of days and finding a bunch of albums and songs I used to listen to quite a bit then that I haven’t listened to in ages, and some I’ve even completely forgotten about. This was during the back half of my tenure at HMV, and by this time I’d been tasked with ordering the imports and, if I could get away with it, some of the obscure indie titles that I figured someone aside from me might like. A lot of these got considerable play down in the Belfry during my writing sessions.
Medal, Drop Your Weapon, 24 May 1999. This Oxford quintet’s music had that sort of epic moodiness that was at odds with a lot of what was big at the time, but their sound was perfect for my writing sessions, especially the slow groove of “Possibility”. Well worth checking out if you can find it.
Arab Strap, Cherubs EP, 1 September 1999. I kind of liked the lead track off this, but it was the slow and sludgy “Pulled” that drew my interest. Sure, it’s seven-plus minutes long and takes its own sweet time getting somewhere (and even then the tempo subtly shifts all over the place), but it’s the two-minute wall of noise coda that makes the entire song. Considering that I’m a huge fan of the quiet/LOUD style, this fit perfectly in my wheelhouse.
Days of the New, Days of the New II, 31 August 1999. Remember this guy, Travis Meeks? Promising musician with a growly semi-acoustic grunge sound? They had a minor hit with “Touch Peel and Stand” from the first album but the second record kind of got passed over. Thing is, this second record was absolutely amazing. Really tight musicianship and songwriting, and definitely more adventurous. Sadly his group imploded (apparently his backing band quit in frustration and started their own group, Tantric, who had a few minor hits in the early 00s. I listened to this one a hell of a lot that summer.
Tin Star, The Thrill Kisser, 9 February 1999. How the heck did I latch onto this…? I think the BMG rep handed a promo to me and thought I’d like it, and yes, like it I did! Not quite electronica, not quite indie, but a hybrid of both with a heaping dollop of British eccentricity added into the mix, it’s cool, funky, and a really great record. This got a ton of play in the Belfry for a good couple of years.
Kill Holiday, Somewhere Between the Wrong Is Right, 23 February 1999. I’d heard “In Closing (Memorial Day)” on The River one night driving home from work and immediately ordered the album on my following shift! Y’all know how much I do love an epic final track with a slow build (and again with the quiet/LOUD thing). One of my favorite indie releases of that year.
Trashmonk, Mona Lisa Overdrive, 25 March 1999. Ever wonder what Nick Laird-Clowes did after The Dream Academy? Well, he dropped this one really weird album named after a William Gibson book that sounded nothing like his former band. Sometimes experimental, sometimes groovy, sometimes hauntingly beautiful, it’s definitely worth checking out if you can find it.
Lamb, Fear of Fours, 17 May 1999. More experimental and much darker than their debut (and nearly all the songs contain quirky time signatures outside of 4/4), it’s the one that captured my attention to the point that they became one of my favorite bands of the late 90s/early 00s.
Rico, Sanctuary Medicines, 16 August 1999. This Glaswegian industrial musician could probably be compared to Nine Inch Nails but without the dire levels of nihilism. I don’t even remember how I came across this one aside from the fact that I really dug the whole industrial metal sound and that it wasn’t trying so damn hard to fit into the goth stereotypes like some other bands.
Handsome Boy Modeling School, So…How’s Your Girl?, 19 October 1999. Only Prince Paul and Dan the Automator could get away with naming their band after an episode-long joke from Chris Elliott’s bonkers TV show Get a Life…and loosely basing AN ENTIRE ALBUM on said episode. But it’s a damn fine record and one of the best of the year on many critics’ lists. It’s a super fun record worth owning.
The All Seeing I, Pickled Eggs & Sherbet, 20 September 1999. Another ‘where the heck did I hear about this’ import and the only album from this electronica collective, though this sounds more like a quirky British indie band instead if you didn’t know their background. It’s extremely eccentric and I have no idea what they were trying to prove with it, but it’s a fascinating listen.
So what’s one of my favorite love songs? You’d be surprised. It’s actually not a Beatles song!
The first time I heard Alanis Morissette’s “Head Over Feet” I immediately thought wow, yeah, I would love to have that as a song written about/to/for me. It’s simple and yet so heartfelt and kind. It’s not about sex or having a good time or mind-blowing emotion or anything. It just…is. No strings attached. Just one person saying how awesome their lover — and friend — is.
And to me, that’s one of the best kinds of love songs there is.
As I’ve mentioned before, I allowed myself a month to stew in anger and frustration. I was pissed off that all my plans to stay in Boston had crashed and burned in epic fashion, and that I had to completely start over. On the other hand, living at home would allow me a bit of leniency by chipping in on the family bills and errands instead of a large monthly rent-sized chunk coming out of my paycheck, which would definitely help me get out of debt. And while I might have been emotionally in a much better place than my immediate post-college years, mentally I still had a long way to go. This was the era of reading New Age books as a way to force myself to think in alternative ways, and the era of giving my creativity a bold rethink. I was obviously getting nowhere there, and it was time to send it in a different direction.
For now, though, it was time to give my head and heart a bit of a long overdue reprieve. At least for a little while. I borrowed my mom’s car and went on a lot of drives around the area, the start of a very long-standing habit of weekend roadtrips on the backroads of central Massachusetts and frequent visits to used record stores and book stores. It was time to find myself, outside of the rat race I’d fallen into.
And to figure out what my next steps would be creatively.
The Jesus and Mary Chain, Hate Rock ‘n’ Roll, released 1 September 1995. A third compilation of b-sides, standalone singles and rarities gets some minor play on WHMP, the Northampton station I’d latch onto now that I was out of range of WFNX and WBCN. The title track would get a bit of play now and again.
Seven Mary Three, American Standard, released 5 September 1995. “Cumbersome” was everywhere when it dropped; they were sort of an American countrified Nickelback in a way (no offense meant, really) with a lot of radio-ready alternative bar-band rock. This ended up a one-hit wonder for them but one that still gets play now and again.
Various Artists, Help: A Charity Project for the Children of Bosnia, released 9 September 1995. I picked this one up maybe a few days after it dropped, which is an amazing turnaround considering the songs had been recorded only four days previous! While some charity albums can be a bit of a disconnected mismatch of hits and filler, this one is solid from start to finish. Trivia: this is the first appearance of Radiohead’s “Lucky” which would show up two years later on OK Computer. I played this one a lot at the time.
Blur, The Great Escape, released 11 September 1995. I may have recently mentioned that I felt this album was a bit weak compared to their earlier work, but that’s not to say it’s not bad…just a bit light on the energy. Although there are several great songs on it like the lovely and peculiar “The Universal”.
Lenny Kravitz, Circus, released 12 September 1995. In between the ridiculously overplayed “Are You Gonna Go My Way” from the same-titled album in 1993 and the overplayed “Fly Away” from 1998’s 5 album, there was this high charting but largely forgotten fourth album with the killer single “Rock and Roll Is Dead”. It’s a bit of an angry album for him but it’s worth checking out.
Red Hot Chili Peppers, One Hot Minute, released 12 September 1995. This was also a largely forgotten album stuck in between two huge successes (1991’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik and 1999’s Californication) and during a highly unstable era for the band (musically and personally). This is the one with the light and airy “Aeroplane” and cheerful “My Friends” but it’s also got the whirling tempest of album opener “Warped”. The album is a bit of a mess but it’s still enjoyable.
Eve’s Plum, Cherry Alive, released 19 September 1995. The second and last album from this bouncy power pop band featuring Colleen Fitzpatrick (aka Vitamin C), it’s a super fun record worth checking out, just like their previous release. WHMP would play “Jesus Loves You (Not As Much As I Do)” and the title track quite often.
Son Volt, Trace, released 19 September 1995. The other half of Uncle Tupelo that didn’t join Wilco became this band that continued the excllent alt-country sound they’d perfected in their previous band. “Drown” was a hit on alternative radio and the rest of the album is just as good.
Skunk Anansie, Paranoid and Sunburnt, released 21 September 1995. I’d find out about this band via the movie Strange Days which would be released quite soon (they make a major appearance near the end of the film) and I fell in love with their chaotic and angry energy, an outlet that was sorely lacking at the time for me. Sadly they never got any airplay Stateside, but I’ve always recommended them to anyone who likes kickass hard rock and alt-metal.
David Bowie, Outside, released 26 September 1995. Bowie has always been the one to reinvent himself with pretty much every new project, and this one was definitely an unexpected turn from the classy and clean Black Tie White Noise and the curious Buddha of Suburbia soundtrack. This one’s a tense and dense futuristic concept album that caused quite a lot of headscratching, but still managed a minor hit with “The Hearts Filthy Lesson” (which at the time reminded me a lot of Wire at their most adventurous).
Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories, Tails, released 26 September 1995. Meanwhile, the ubiquitous “Stay (I Missed You)” which appeared on the Reality Bites soundtrack appears on Lisa’s first major label record here, and it’s a huge hit on both alternative and commercial radio, and still gets play to this day.
Sonic Youth, Washing Machine, released 26 September 1995. This album was a bit of a headscratcher as well, as it’s much longer and more meandering than their blistering earlier sound or their early-90s compactness. It feels a lot like they’re a jam band here, which they always were to some degree. Interestingly enough the twenty-minute closer “The Diamond Sea” was the song chosen as a single, chopped down to a much quicker five.
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Next up: More changes to come, whether I’m ready or not.
I’ve told this story before: I started the summer with the best of intentions, and I even had a solid plan that I was putting into place: when Z moved out, one of my friends from college (who’d been looking to move back to Boston) would take his place as roommate. I was even thinking maybe I could find some freelance writing work somewhere, even if I started at the bottom. (Hell, I even tried my hand at writing a short story to see if I could sell it.)
Unfortunately, it all completely unraveled at once in the latter half of the month: the short story was a terrible mess, the freelance work was thin on the ground, I was getting even deeper in debt and our phone got cut off, and to top it off, my potential roommate had a falling out with Z when they crossed paths and he ragequit the idea all too quickly.
That’s pretty much the point where I finally gave up. I said fuck it, you’ve defeated me. I’m done. I made alternate plans: I talked to my boss at the theater and had him put in a good word at another one closer to my hometown so I’d at least have a job waiting for me. I started packing things up, throwing things out, and making plans to head home.
I don’t think I was as emotionally in the crapper as I was a few years previous when I left college, but my self-confidence definitely took a deep hit. I was more pissed off than depressed, to be honest. I made another plan with best intentions: I’d live at home for maybe six months or a year, and turn it around.
I had to start over. Again.
Whale, We Care, released 1 August 1995. This oddball Swedish band was hard to pin down; were they techno? Were they alternative? Were they just a mashup of bizarre noises and lyrics? Their one hit, the infectious and noisy “Hobo Humpin Slobo Babe” made no sense at all, but it’s definitely a 90s classic.
Letters to Cleo, Wholesale Meats and Fish, released 1 August 1995. This Boston band’s second album was an unexpected turn in a harder and punkier direction may have surprised some fans, but its raw energy made it a super fun album to listen to on a hot summer day, especially with the catchy “Awake” single.
Ben Folds Five, Ben Folds Five, released 8 August 1995. I wouldn’t hear of this band for maybe another month or so, but I was absolutely sold by the single “Underground” which was an absolutely hilarious pisstake on all things indie in the 90s. Once I bought the cd — from Folds himself when a friend and I saw him live in Northampton in January 1996 — it became one of my frequent go-to albums for several months afterwards.
Blur, “Country House” single and Oasis, “Roll with It” single, released 15 August 1995. These are bound together by fate and music history as the singles that turned the tide of Britpop…mainly due to all the UK music papers pitting the two against each other as the Ultimate Showdown. Which would hit number one on the charts first, the light and goofy Blur track with the Benny Hill pastiche video, or the bluesy and rocking Oasis song? Personally I thought the Oasis song was better (and I think (What’s the Story) Morning Glory is a better album than The Great Escape), but the Blur track was clearly the winner on the charts.
Garbage, Garbage, released 15 August 1995. The debut album is released and it blows almost everyone’s minds with its brilliance. Butch Vig has always been a great producer having helmed Nirvana’s Nevermind, but this band was his deliberate about-face: he wanted to take what he’d known in the early 90s and push it in a completely new direction. The result is dark, foreboding, sexy, humorous, and absolutely epic in sound and scope. It’s a hell of a great start for a band that’s been going strong ever since. Highly recommended.
Blind Melon, Soup, released 15 August 1995. The band’s last album, dropped mere months before lead singer Shannon Hoon’s death, doesn’t quite hit the same heights as their self-titled debut, but it does something unexpected: it leans heavily on the funk grooves and the exciting melodies that made that same first album so wonderful past their ubiquitious “No Rain” single.
Rancid, …And Out Come the Wolves, released 17 August 1995. One of the several East Bay punk bands of the 90s (its members were once part of the influential Operation Ivy), this particular group helped reintroduce the classic punk style to alternative radio in that decade, influencing even more punk revival bands in the process. Their third album was a surprise success with three big singles, including the skank-heavy “Time Bomb”, which still gets play to this day.
The Great Transcription Project was coming along quite nicely, because part of it was to get me used to sitting down in front of that computer and getting something done. That was the important part. Some days I’d do my older poetry, some days I’d do parts of the IWN or Belief in Fate or one of my other ancient projects that never got all that far. And this would inspire me to sit down and actually work on writing True Faith, even if it was a few paragraphs or a short scene.
Then I heard about the state film bureau’s screenplay contest! I’d known about this in the past via one of my siblings, but I figured, why the hell not? If anything would help me invest a considerable amount of time in this writing career I wanted, this would. And it would also give me a strict deadline: I had to get it done before July 31st. Which meant that I had exactly one month to write an entire screenplay. It just so happened that in all my juvenilia I was transcribing, I did in fact have one finished that I could revive and revise! It was One Step Closer to You, a John Hughes-esque enemies-to-lovers romp I’d written in 1987 right after finishing the IWN. And considering that I’d just gotten a college degree in this sort of thing, I dove in and worked on it every moment I wasn’t at the day job. And I got it done under deadline with three days to go! I spent that last weekend at my sister’s house, printed it out, and mailed it in that weekend.
Mind you, the end result isn’t exactly perfect and it definitely did not win any prizes, but it did prove a few things: a) I can definitely work under pressure with a deadline if I put my mind to it, b) I can definitely write every single day because it was something I love doing, and c) this proved that it wasn’t that I was a terrible student, it really was that unless I could hyperfocus on something I truly enjoyed, my patience and interest would wane considerably. [And as a side note, one of the revised scenes in the story had the main male character working at a local radio station, which I’d based on my time at WCAT…which I’d be returning to soon enough, though I obviously didn’t know that at the time.]
Yeah, this writing racket was definitely something I could see myself doing long term…
Foo Fighters, Foo Fighters, released 4 July 1995. When it was announced that the former Nirvana drummer was starting a band, most people weren’t expecting to hear wonderfully crafted and ridiculously catchy tunes that had only a distant passing similarity to the former group. Dave Grohl’s first record hit all the right buttons for several people and he’s been nailing it ever since.
Shaggy, Boombastic, released 11 July 1995. Proving that he wasn’t just a one hit wonder with “Oh Carolina”, he returned with one of his most popular songs that still gets play to this day. [Side note: when A and I went to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Globe in London, Puck happened to burst into this song, causing Oberon to burst into laughter. It was a perfectly hilarious moment.]
Buffalo Tom, Sleepy Eyed, released 11 July 1995. The beloved Boston band returned with yet another great album. While it wasn’t as huge as Let Me Come Over or Red Letter Day (partly because they wanted to return to their more stripped-down roots), it’s nonetheless a fun album, and singles “Summer” and “Tangerine” were both radio favorites.
Ramones, ¡Adios Amigos!, released 18 July 1995. The kings of American punk — the band that inspired several UK punk bands — came to an end with this final album, and it was a hell of a great way to go as it’s one of their strongest later albums. They went on one final tour after this and I’m glad to say I was able to see them for it at Avalon in Boston. [And yes, every single song they performed started with the classic Ramone ‘1-2-3-4’ count-in.]
311, 311, released 25 July 1995. After two excellent albums that just couldn’t break through to the charts or even significant radio play, this third album smashed all expectations by being their best yet, with several songs getting major play on radio and on MTV. It’s still one of their biggest sellers, and it’s worth checking out.
The Presidents of the United States of America, The Presidents of the United States of America, released 25 July 1995. Meanwhile, these goofballs (who, by the way, opened up for Ramones on that show I just mentioned!) instantly reminded me of the Boston band Morphine: a trio of a drummer and two guys who played unconventional guitars. Only these three had their tongue firmly in cheek singing about Lumps, Peaches, Kitties, and Dune Buggies (and a nutty cover of the MC5 to top it off!) and giving themselves the most improbable name in alternative rock. It’s a bonkers debut full of silly humor and insanely catchy earworms. Definitely worth a listen.
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Up next: when all good (and not so good) things come to an end
The summer movie season begins at the Somerville Sony Theatre, which means a constantly packed building, which means a mountain of dropped popcorn and forgotten drink cups to clean up quickly after each show. [Hint: Use an electric leaf blower at the back row and it all tumbles down to the front, making it quicker and easier to sweep and toss.] It also means me staying after shift several nights a week to watch all the exciting new films dropping, sometimes multiple viewings. Because why the hell not? D was back home and I had nothing better to do.
I did a lot of walking that summer as well. There were a few evenings where I’d missed the last Orange Line T into town and would have to walk back to Allston. That was intriguing in itself, because I’d never been a long distance walker before, and my apartment was about three miles away. I did it, though, and multiple times.
But what I did most that time was start the Great Transcription Project. I’ve mentioned this many times before, and this was where it all began for me as a writer using a PC. I’d always written longhand in the past, and having uninterrupted use of one for an entire summer was an enticement I could not pass up. But where to start…? I decided that perhaps I should start from the beginning? Or a beginning, at any rate. I’d transcribed my poems and lyrics a few years earlier on typewriter, but this was where I went one further and started transcribing my juvenilia: the Infamous War Novel, Belief in Fate, the several abandoned ideas, and what the hell, a cleaner version of the poems again! I had a ton of time when I wasn’t at work, so I got some 3″ floppies from my sister and set about working. [And yes, even then I had a PC distraction: I taught myself how to properly play solitaire, and played several hands before, during and after writing sessions.]
I also played around with Bridgetown a bit more. Even though True Faith took place in a different city named NewCanta (which is mentioned in passing several times in the Bridgetown Trilogy), I knew I wanted to return to this other city as well. Whether it would be in this novel or elsewhere was unknown at this point. One summer afternoon I expanded on a map of the city I’d drawn back in the Shoebox for Vigil, and I’d often refer to that one while writing outtakes and ideas.
Mixtape, Untitled VI, created June 1995. This by far is one of my favorite mixtapes I’d made during the Boston Years, and it got a hell of a lot of play on my Walkman. It’s mostly a mix of recent songs in my collection and stuff taped off the radio, and all of them songs I knew would fit perfectly on a summer mix. I also love the fact that each side ends with bizarre short songs. [When I first got a CDW drive for my own PC during the Belfry years, this was the first mix I remade onto CD, adding several extra tracks from the same era.]
U2, “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” single, released 5 June 1995. I remember hearing this for the first time on WBCN, as the band was close friends with the DJ Carter Alan who’d championed them way back in the early 80s, and had given him the track as a world premiere. It’s a fascinating and wild track that contains the noisy style of Achtung Baby but with a more experimental sound, something they’d expand on a short while later on their Passengers side project.
Soundtrack, Batman Forever, released 6 June 1995. The U2 song was of course from this soundtrack…which also contained what would become Seal’s biggest ever hit, “Kiss from a Rose”. I have to admit this was my favorite of the 90s Batman movies because it chose not to take itself seriously at all, yet avoids the corniness of the 60s show. I must have seen this movie at least four or five times that summer.
Catherine Wheel, Happy Days, released 6 June 1995. This band’s third album may not have hit the heights that Ferment and Chrome did with their classic singles, but it’s mostly because they’d moved away from the trippy dreampop of those albums and focused more on harder alt-rock. The single “Waydown” is wild and weird, but it’s the lovely “Judy Staring at the Sun” which features Tanya Donelly that got them major radio play.
Soul Asylum, Let Your Dim Light Shine, released 6 June 1995. While not as popular as Grave Dancers Union from a few years previous, this did contain the single “Misery” which got quite a lot of play that summer. This was a band that was heading the same direction as Goo Goo Dolls, becoming less punk and more AOR.
Jennifer Trynin, Cockamamie, released 13 June 1995. A local guitarist and a burgeoning desktop publisher, she had a minor hit with the quirky and fun “Better Than Nothing” on WFNX and WBCN. She had a very short but interesting solo career but has popped up over the years as a session musician. Well worth checking out.
Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill, released 13 June 1995. I remember hearing “You Oughta Know” on WFNX while taking the T home one afternoon and thinking damn, this is the kind of pissed off attitude that’s missing in alternative rock these days. [I mean, it was there, it was just that it had become solely owned by the alt-metal bands starting to come out.] I signed onto this one pretty quickly and constantly listened to this album that summer.
Jill Sobule, Jill Sobule, released 13 June 1995. I was already familiar with her music by this time, having seen her opening up for Joe Jackson back in 1991 for her Things Here Are Different album, but this was the breakthrough she had with the classic and funny “I Kissed a Girl”.
Bjork, Post, released 13 June 1995. I was a bit late in buying this one, getting it from Columbia House a few months later, but I loved it once I had it. It’s probably my favorite of her solo records, not quite as quirky as Debut and not as weird as her later work. “Hyperballad” has also become my favorite of her songs.
The Verve, A Northern Soul, released 20 June 1995. A few years before their ubiquitous single “Bittersweet Symphony”, this was a minor hit on alternative radio, showcasing their more swirly Stones-y Britpop sound. “This Is Music” got a bit of play here and there at the time.
Ben Lee, Grandpaw Would, released 22 June 1995. So how do you react to a sixteen year old who writes damn catchy indie pop…for a solo career after breaking up his previous band? Aside from oh god I’m old, I mean, heh. “Pop Queen” got a bit of minor play.
The Chemical Brothers, Exit Planet Dust, released 26 June 1995. This duo’s first album was so groundbreaking it blew away so many other electronic bands at the time. It’s a perfect blend of blissed-out rave, creative sampling, and surprisingly catchy melodies. Like Fatboy Slim soon after, this was a band made for the dance floor that also work just fine coming out of your speakers at home. Highly recommended.
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Next up: A strict deadline, just to see if I can do it. [Spoilers: I do! With time to spare!]
May was the month of Best Laid Plans, I suppose. With D moving back home for the summer, we agreed that it would be a great idea if I held onto her PC until she came back in autumn. That would give me the impetus to work on True Faith when I had time off from work. That wouldn’t happen until the end of the month, however. In the meantime, I’d moved my pallet bed from the window across the room and put my desk up next to it, just like I had in college, and made it a point to work there as much as possible. I think it was also about this time that Z had started making plans to move out at the end of the summer to San Francisco. This meant that I would either need to find a new roommate or make alternate plans once again, and it wasn’t something I wanted to think of right now.
In the meantime, life went on at the theater and at home. I’d started a collection of movie posters that I’d snag after the run was over and put up on my own wall. I also decided that maybe I should thin out my music collection a bit and see if I can get some extra money from it. Alas, that went about how you’d expect — far less cash than I’d hoped — but every little bit helped.
But damn it all, I did not want to move back home. I wanted to stay in Boston. I needed to stay in Boston, one way or another.
The Apples in Stereo, Fun Trick Noisemaker, released 2 May 1995. I think it was about this time I’d heard about the Elephant 6 Recording Company — a lose collective of several bands including this one with a love for 60 bubblegum pop — and they’d amassed a cult following with this album and others.
Soundtrack, Rob Roy, released 2 May 1995. One of many movies out this year focused on British history (real and otherwise) that were all quite enjoyable. I really liked the soundtrack for this one and would eventually get it on cassette.
Tracy Bonham, The Liverpool Sessions EP, released 7 May 1995. An Oregonian taking up residence in the Boston area thanks to Brett Milano from The Boston Phoenix, she had a sizeable following in the area and WFNX had her on constant rotation with “Dandelion” and an early version of “The One”. This EP would help her get signed to a major the following year.
Filter, Short Bus, released 8 May 1995. a Nine Inch Nails-adjacent band (singer-guitarist Richard Patrick was NIN’s touring guitarist for a few years), they may not have been as desperately dark as them but they certainly were just as loud and aggressive. The single “Hey Man, Nice Shot” was a huge hit despite its creepy inspiration, and continued to have a measure of success for years afterwards.
Supergrass, I Should Coco, released 15 May 1995. On a much lighter note, we had these three goofballs recording irresistibly fun and very British pop and had a major hit with their single “Alright”, which still gets a lot of play to this day. It’s a super fun album, and the rest of their discography is just as amazing.
Pulp, “Common People” single, released 22 May 1995. A teaser single for this band’s upcoming album, it became their most famous song and in my opinion one of the best “fuck rich people” songs ever written. The band has created a brilliant song with a super catchy and upbeat sound counterpointing Jarvis Cocker’s snide lyrics. One of the best songs of the 90s.
Soundtrack, Braveheart, released 23 May 1995. Another movie steeped in British history (real and otherwise), it gave Mel Gibson a much needed career boost, even if the story played fast and loose with actual facts. The soundtrack was highly acclaimed and still gets the occasional play on classical stations!
Low, Long Division, released 23 May 1995. One of their best early albums, although it took me a few years to catch up to that fact! This may not have gotten all that much airplay on stations like WFNX, but the college stations loved it.
Moonpools and Caterpillars, Lucky Dumpling, released 23 May 1995. I always got the song “Hear” mixed up with Letters to Cleo, and perhaps that’s why this band didn’t quite get the levels of success that LtC did, but it’s a fun album full of bubblegummy alternapop worth checking out.
Everclear, Sparkle and Fade, released 23 May 1995. This breakthrough for the band, their first on a major label, contained some of their best and well known songs like “Santa Monica” (which still gets radio play these days). Art Alexakis’ ‘therapy on public display’ lyric style might be a bit much for some, but it’s a great album despite that.
Soundtrack, Johnny Mnemonic, released 26 May 1995. Believe it or not, this movie was a huge influence on my writing True Faith. Sort of based on a William Gibson short story, directed by visual artist Robert Longo and cast with several unexpected names like Keanu Reeves, Dolph Lundgren, Ice-T, Henry Rollins and Takeshi Kitano, it’s a glorious mess but it’s also a hell of a lot of fun and is surprisingly creative in its own way. It’s a really great soundtrack as well.
God Lives Underwater, God Lives Underwater EP, released 31 May 1995. This band’s single “No More Love” played at the end credits of the above movie, which definitely helped get their name out there. This band was a fascinating industrial/synth/alt-metal band that sounded more like KMFDM than Ministry and while they were only around for a few years, their discography is full of great and impressively creative sounds.
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Next up: In which the Great Transcription Project begins, and Bridgetown gets a major upgrade.
By this time I was spending a lot of down time at work — that is, staying after my shift to watch the new films coming out. D was finishing up her own semester as Emerson and making plans to head back home for the summer, so we hung out when and where we could, whether it was at her dorm room (the last time I’d visit Charlesgate at that) or at my apartment. We talked a lot about what we wanted True Faith to be — sometimes argued about it as well — and worked on it when and where we could. The clock was ticking down and once again I’d be on my own.
This time, I wasn’t about to spiral into yet another one of my moods if I could help it.
Guided By Voices, Alien Lanes, released 4 April 1995. This was a band I’d always hear about but rarely ever hear on the radio except for the occasional rare play of a single or a deep cut. “Motor Away” caught on here and there, however, and this album ended up on many critics’ best-of lists.
KMFDM, Nihil, released 4 April 1995. This was one of the first bands I’d heard that revived that industrial techno sound that did so well in Europe, turned up the volume and the speed, and made it the soundtrack to several movies based on video games. “Juke Joint Jezebel” was featured on the wonderfully terrible Mortal Kombat.
The Dandy Warhols, Dandys Rule OK, released 6 April 1995. The first Dandys album is definitely grittier than their follow-up albums that would get more attention and airplay. Their pop sensibilities are already to the fore here, however.
White Zombie, Astro Creep: 2000, released 11 April 1995. Whenever “More Human Than Human” came on WFNX, I’d turn it up loud because it demands it. It’s such a badass song and its constant play helped give singer Rob Zombie the attention to go solo soon after.
Hum, You’d Prefer an Astronaut, released 11 April 1995. Another track worth turning up loud, “Stars” was such a great tune for the summer. This band took the sound of grunge and turned it into something palatable to cross-genre radio, and the album ended up a cult favorite of many. Well worth checking out.
Oasis, “Some Might Say” single, released 24 April 1995. A teaser single for the new album, this one sounded heavier and less glam than their previous singles. There was a buzz going on that this next album would be one of their best, and I couldn’t wait.
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Next up: Alone again and finding inspiration…and looking back
Life continued apace at the Brighton Ave apartment, though I’m pretty sure the connection between Z and I would get strained at times. Between him practicing his keyboard at all hours of the night (he was also an extremely loud foot-tapper when he played, so there was also that thunk thunk thunk when he really got into the groove), and my barely making enough money to pay for a lot of the bills and the occasional actual food cooked in the apartment, we’d irritate each other quite often. Not enough for any loud arguments, because I’d do my usual hide-in-the-bedroom when things got stressful.
I mean, at the time I’d like to think I wasn’t feeling depressed or desperate like I had at the Shoebox apartment, and I was in a slightly better mood with a steady job and a girlfriend, but to be honest things could have been a lot better. I knew they could, I was just too damn broke and in debt to achieve it.
Which is pretty much why around this time I started hyperfocusing on my writing. Not on the daily just yet, but getting there. The first thing I had to do was remain focused on whatever project I was working on instead of sliding all over the place at whim.
Plus, March provided me with one hell of a great soundtrack.
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Annie Lennox, Medusa, released 6 March 1995. Annie’s second solo album is one of covers, and this too ended up a big hit for her, especially with the lovely version of Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale” which also ended up playing during the closing credits of the Sandra Bullock film The Net — one of many computer-themed movies that would come out that summer, many of which would partly inspire the AI subplot of True Faith.
Radiohead, The Bends, released 13 March 1995. The last thing this band wanted to do was record another “Creep” so they headed in an all new direction with this stellar record that really is worth all the accolades it’s received over the years. It’s full of tension, irritation, delicacy and tenderness, an album with equal parts anger and love. Highly recommended. I got this one via Columbia House at some point and played the hell out of it for several years afterwards, it becoming a major mainstay in the Belfry writing sessions.
Matthew Sweet, 100% Fun, released 14 March 1995. After the dense and odd Altered Beast, Sweet returned with a sunshiney pop album that’s full of fun and addictive melodies. “Sick of Myself” was the big radio hit at the time.
Goo Goo Dolls, A Boy Named Goo, released 14 March 1995. A few years before their major breakthrough “Iris”, this album gave them the ability to open that door and head on through. It’s a great album that carries a hint of their former punkish roots but also hints at the stellar songwriting they’d be known for in the future.
Mad Season, Above, released 14 March 1995. A sort-of supergroup with Layne Staley from Alice in Chains and Mike McCready from Pearl Jam, their one album could have been a by the numbers PNW grunge album but instead they took the tenderest and most introspective parts of their own bands and created a lovely record worth owning. Highly recommended.
Collective Soul, Collective Soul, released 14 March 1995. Hardly anyone expected this band’s second album to hit the heights that it did, considering their first album was good but not entirely memorable. This album, on the other hand, just kept on kicking out one hit single after the next, with “December”, “Gel”, “Smashing Young Man”, “Where the River Flows” and “The World I Know”. This too would end up getting major Belfry writing session play in the early years. It’s well worth checking out.
Moby, Everything Is Wrong, released 14 March 1995. Moby had been known in the electronic genre a bit of an oddball who made shockingly lush music that could easily be used as movie scores, and this was the record that captured many people’s attention.
Garbage, “Vow” single, released 20 March 1995. I of course knew who Butch Vig was due to his several high-status album productions like Nevermind, and I’d expected his own band to be just as great, and I was not let down. This single introduced many people to their unique sound — not quite grunge, not quite commercial alternative, but just as heavy and hella sexy.
Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, brainbloodvolume, released 21 March 1995. This band’s final album is often overlooked and forgotten as their previous album Are You Normal hadn’t done all that well either, but this became one of my favorite albums of that summer when I’d found a promo copy on cassette. It’s an album worth listening to at top volume, as it’s absolutely overflowing with energy and spirit. Every time I heard “All I Ask of Myself Is That I Hold Together” on WFNX I’d crank it up. Well worth a listen.
Our Lady Peace, Naveed, released 21 March 1995. This band, like fellow Canadians Moist, wouldn’t get that much attention around this time, but this one’s a great opening salvo for the group. Their own brand of alternative rock was twitchy yet introspective at the same time.
Joan Osborne, Relish, released 21 March 1995. Joan’s debut owes a lot to the Laurel Canyon folk and rock of the 70s, but she manages to update that sound into something fresh and fun, inserting an element of Bonnie Raitt-like blues into the mix. You’ll still hear “One of Us” on the radio, but the lovely “St. Theresa” and the sexy “Right Hand Man” is also worth checking out.
Morphine, Yes, released 21 March 1995. This band drops another album full of their unique sound of sparse and bassy blues rock, and it was a big hit on the Boston stations, especially with the single “Honey White”.
Elastica, Elastica, released 24 March 1995. Yes, I’m still annoyed all these years later that they shamelessly stole from Wire’s “Three Girl Rhumba” for their biggest hit. Primarily because “Connection” got so much airplay and the first several times I heard it my reaction was ‘wow, they’re playing an obscure Wire tra–oh, wait.” That said, this is a surprisingly catchy and fun album that actually was worth all the attention it got.
Silverchair, Frogstomp, released 27 March 1995. I believe this was first band that gave me the feeling that I’d waited far too long to start a music career, heh. For a teenage trio, this album is frighteningly intense and superbly crafted from start to finish. They of course ended up on my ‘will buy anything from them’ list.
Soundtrack, Tank Girl, released 28 March 1995. I was excited about this movie, considering I was quite aware of Jamie Hewlett’s bonkers comic book about a trigger-happy punk girl living in the outback and hanging with mutant kangaroos. It was ‘what if the apocalypse was bizarre and hilarious instead of all doom and gloom?’ Sadly the movie didn’t quite capture it, having been severely watered down to be palatable to the normies, but it was a lot of fun and I sat through it several times after work. The soundtrack is amazing, however, featuring fantastic tracks from Bjork, Bush, Portishead, Belly, and a goofy cover of “Let’s Do it (Let’s Fall in Love)” with Joan Jett and Paul Westerberg.
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Coming up: Coming to a close, making some decisions.
Walk In Silence 