Another exception to general rules is that, like last year, January is once again a busy month. There are again two noteworthy releases, whereas there are normally none. First up is the American alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, whose new album Flood came out on 15 January. I didn't really like it as a whole, but its first proper track following the humorous introduction was one of my biggest favorites at the time. Listening to it was like holding a balloon: you really couldn't be unhappy while doing it.
Birdhouse in Your Soul, embedded above, was also a big hit on Sky Channel where it played constantly in the power rotation of their music video programs. No wonder; the song is catchy as hell and the music video is extremely entertaining. There is nothing truly alternative about this song: it is mainstream pop backed up by strong rock and roll percussion and an easy to remember melody. They might have been giants, but I never heard anything else even remotely as good from them; neither before nor after.
Precisely two weeks later, a pleasant surprise awaited me. The original singer of Marillion, uncle Fish had embarked on a solo career. His debut solo album Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors was released on 29 January, and a fine album it was. Above, I have embedded its opening track, the lengthy masterpiece Vigil and am happy to say that there are also several other excellent tracks on the album.
Vigil sounds very much like eighties Marillion. The album's other fine songs like A Gentleman's Excuse Me, The Company and Big Wedge showcase a style all of their singer's own. A music video was made for Big Wedge that actually played occasionally on Sky Channel. I was extremely happy: Marillion may have experienced a partial split, but if Fish and his former band now start making fine albums independently from each other, I will get double the enjoyment. Little did I know what would actually happen.
March saw the release of Happiness by the British pop group The Beloved. We mentioned them already in the last blog entry because the first single taken from it, the absolutely stunning The Sun Rising was released already in late 1989. A couple of other perfect pop songs were included on Happiness. Hello was a big success, but I never cared for it that much; I always preferred Your Love Takes Me Higher, embedded above. The third excellent song on the album, called Wake Up Soon, is also worth checking out.
In 1990, the race for Album of the year was immediately over when the new Depeche Mode album Violator was released on 19 March. From that point onward, there couldn't possibly be any real contest. I already mentioned the single release of Personal Jesus two blog entries ago; it took place in the late summer of 1989. That song was included on Violator, as well as several other instant classics. The most famous one of them is embedded below; this music video played on Sky Channel all the time during winter and spring of 1990.
The single release of Enjoy the Silence had actually taken place already on 5 February, which is why it was already a familiar song come mid-March. But the rest of the album didn't really pale in comparison. Among its nine songs, there are really only two that I always thought were a little weaker than the other seven; namely, the second track called Sweetest Perfection and the second to last called Blue Dress. Everything else - masterwork after masterwork.
So strong was Depeche Mode's new release that even Suzanne Vega had no chance. Her previous album Solitude Standing (1987) was not only the best of that year but also the best of the decade. Her new album Days of Open Hand, out on 10 April, was perfectly fine but no match for Violator. Also, it was no match for Solitude Standing. I will always remember the huge disappointment of hearing the first two tracks. Even though the rest of the album was mostly really good, it could never really recover from that weak start.
Above, I have embedded the wonderfully mysterious and atmospheric Those Whole Girls (Run in Grace) but it is not a very good example to represent the album as a whole. It isn't quite this brooding a release. Many of the songs on it are much like the songs on Solitude Standing: easy to remember folk rock songs with strong emphasis on melody. Days of Open Hand is an easy album to recommend: it just isn't anywhere near the masterpiece level that the artist achieved on her previous effort.
We have already discussed five releases out of eight. The next two actually happened to be released on the same date, so 11 June is already the penultimate release date worth checking in our calendars. This is really why 1990 has so few releases worth discussing: only one important release came out during the second half of the year. Does someone have different information? Please let me know which late 1990 release I have missed. I would be thrilled to know.
In alphabetical order, the first one of the two 11 June releases is Aion by Dead Can Dance. This album was the eagerly awaited follow-up to the two undying masterpieces that were Within the Realm of a Dying Sun (1987) and The Serpent's Egg (1988). Both received a blog entry of their own not too long ago due to their groundbreaking significance. Aion does not. It marks the return of Dead Can Dance to mere mortals. In fact, I don't think it is even quite as good as Spleen and Ideal (1985).
Aion sounds like Lisa Gerrard has now a dominating role in the group, and her tendency towards ethnic music doesn't really work all that well for too much of the time - although I really do enjoy the first two tracks on the album. It is therefore Brendan Perry's work that I find myself favoring on this release. Fortune Presents Gifts not According to the Book, embedded above, is perhaps the best song on the album, closely followed by Black Sun; another Perry classic. Dead Can Dance continued to be an important group, but now it started to seem that their artistic creativity had already peaked.
The second release of 11 June is not important as a whole. Instead, it contains one important track. The French electronic music composer Jean-Michel Jarre seemed to be losing his creative edge already on his previous album two years earlier. Waiting for Cousteau is not worth much and were it not for this one certain great track it would certainly not be worth discussing. But his multi-part opus Calypso contains one irresistible part. Calypso Part 2, embedded above, is one of the best electronic music compositions of the era and among the best of Jarre's entire output.
And that's nearly everything. Following 11 June, only one important release came out during the rest of the year. The date in question was 26 November, when a new talent emerged to the soul music scene. The classic song Crazy by Seal was released as a single and started gaining notoriety, eventually to be included on the singer's first, self titled solo album which coincidentally came out on 11 June of the following year.
This was a time when MTV and other satellite channels had an important role in promoting new (popular) music. I don't know when I might have got acquainted with Seal, had I not seen and heard the music video, embedded above, repeatedly on MTV. I came to like the song almost instantly. It has a memorable mood and it actually seems to carry a message, unlike most of the other output available on hit music channels. Later on, Seal also came to prove that he was not a one hit wonder.
Since the actual 1990 releases were all there, all we have left is to discuss the one release that wasn't released. We are talking about the new album by Mr. Mister, whose peak album Welcome to the Real World we already mentioned back in 1985. Their new effort Pull wasn't approved by their record label and ended up not getting a release date at all, until the group's singer Richard Page finally released it through his own record label on 23 November, 2010. Twenty years later.
Embedded above, let's listen to the album's excellent opening track Learning to Crawl before getting to the "best of" lists. Please pay attention to Trevor Rabin of Yes visiting as the guitarist. The group's drummer Pat Mastelotto would go on to join King Crimson, which would reactivate in 1993.
In spite of the overwhelming superiority of Depeche Mode in 1990, I cannot give them the Best short track award. That will have to be given to uncle Fish, whose opening track to his solo album, Vigil is easily the most complicated, moving and progressive piece of music released this year. Thanks to him for making me remember once more what eighties Marillion was like and what was always so beautiful about progressive rock pieces running over eight minutes.
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR:
Depeche Mode: Violator
Fish: Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors
Suzanne Vega: Days of Open Hand
UNMISSABLE TRACKS OF THE YEAR:
Dead Can Dance: Black Sun
Dead Can Dance: Fortune Presents Gifts Not According to the Book
Depeche Mode: Clean
Depeche Mode: Enjoy the Silence
Depeche Mode: Halo
Depeche Mode: Policy of Truth
Depeche Mode: Waiting for the Night
Depeche Mode: World in My Eyes
Fish: Vigil
Jean-Michel Jarre: Calypso Part 2
Mr. Mister: Learning to Crawl
Seal: Crazy
Suzanne Vega: Pilgrimage
Suzanne Vega: Rusted Pipe
Suzanne Vega: Those Whole Girls (Run in Grace)
They Might Be Giants: Birdhouse in Your Soul
Best albums of the year, 1967 to 1990:
1967: Pink Floyd: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
1968: -
1969: Procol Harum: A Salty Dog
1970: Genesis: Trespass
1971: Genesis: Nursery Cryme
1972: Yes: Close to the Edge
1973: Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon
1974: Mike Oldfield: Hergest Ridge
1975: Electric Light Orchestra: Face the Music
1976: Genesis: A Trick of the Tail
1977: Yes: Going for the One
1978: Genesis: And Then There Were Three
1979: Robert Fripp: Exposure
1980: Talking Heads: Remain in Light
1981: Camel: Nude
1982: Rush: Signals
1983: Ozzy Osbourne: Bark at the Moon
1984: Rush: Grace Under Pressure
1985: Marillion: Misplaced Childhood
1986: Depeche Mode: Black Celebration
1987: Suzanne Vega: Solitude Standing
1988: Dead Can Dance: The Serpent's Egg
1989: Faith No More: The Real Thing
1990: Depeche Mode: Violator
Best short tracks (under approx. 12 minutes), 1967 to 1990:
1967: Pink Floyd: Bike
1968: Pink Floyd: Julia Dream
1969: Pink Floyd: Cirrus Minor
1970: The Beatles: The Long and Winding Road
1971: Genesis: The Fountain of Salmacis
1972: Gentle Giant: Schooldays
1973: John Cale: Paris 1919
1974: Mike Oldfield: Mike Oldfield's Single
1975: The Tubes: Up from the Deep
1976: Gong: Chandra
1977: Yes: Going for the One
1978: Genesis: Down and Out
1979: Barclay James Harvest: Play to the World
1980: Saga: Don't Be Late
1981: John Foxx: The Garden
1982: Laurie Anderson: O Superman (For Massenet)
1983: Brian Eno: An Ending (Ascent)
1984: Laurie Anderson: Blue Lagoon
1985: Talk Talk: Time it's Time
1986: Ultravox: All in One Day
1987: Suzanne Vega: Ironbound / Fancy Poultry
1988: Dead Can Dance: The Host of Seraphim
1989: Marillion: Seasons End
1990: Fish: Vigil
Best long tracks (Approx. 12 minutes or over), 1970 to 1986:
1970: King Crimson: Lizard
1971: Van der Graaf Generator: A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers
1972: Yes: Close to the Edge
1973: King Crimson: Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part 1
1974: King Crimson: Starless
1975: Mike Oldfield: Ommadawn, Part 1
1976: -
1977: Yes: Awaken
1978: Popol Vuh: Brüder des Schattens, Söhne des Lichts
1979: U.K: Carrying No Cross
1980: Mike Rutherford: Smallcreep's Day
1981: -
1982: Mike Oldfield: Taurus II
1983: Mike Oldfield: Crises
1984: Jean-Michel Jarre: Ethnicolor
1985: Robert Fripp: God Save the King
1986: The Enid: The Change
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