Belle And Sebastian [1996] If You're Feeling Sinister

[01] The Stars Of Track And Field
[02] Seeing Other People
[03] Me And The Major
[04] Like Dylan In The Movies
[05] The Fox In The Snow
[06] Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying
[07] If You're Feeling Sinister
[08] Mayfly
[09] The Boy Done Wrong Again
[10] Judy And The Dream Of Horses



amg: Belle & Sebastian's second record, If You're Feeling Sinister, is, for all intents and purposes, really their first, since their debut in 1996 was not heard outside of privileged inner circles. And If You're Feeling Sinister really did have quite a bit of an impact upon its release in 1996, largely because during the first half of the '90s the whimsy and preciousness that had been an integral part of alternative music was suppressed by grunge. Whimsy and preciousness are an integral part of If You're Feeling Sinister, along with clever wit and gentle, intricate arrangements — a wonderful blend of the Smiths and Simon & Garfunkel, to be reductive. Even if it's firmly within the college, bed-sit tradition, and is unabashedly retrogressive, that gives Sinister a special, timeless character that's enhanced by Stuart Murdoch's wonderful, lively songwriting. Blessed with an impish sense of humor, a sly turn of phrase, and an alluringly fey voice, he gives this record a real sense of backbone, in that its humor is far more biting than the music appears and the music is far more substantial that it initially seems. Sinister plays like a great forgotten album, couched in '80s indie, '90s attitude, and '60s folk-pop. It's beautifully out of time, and even if other Belle & Sebastian albums sound like it, this is where they achieved a sense of grace.
(amg 10/10)

Blondie [1978] Parallel Lines

[01] Hanging On The Telephone
[02] One Way Or Another
[03] Picture This
[04] Fade Away And Radiate
[05] Pretty Baby
[06] I Know But I Don't Know
[07] 11 59
[08] Will Anything Happen
[09] Sunday Girl
[10] Heart Of Glass
[11] I'm Gonna Love You Too
[12] Just Go Away
Bonus Tracks
[13] Heart Of Glass (7 Inch Single Version)
[14] Sunday Girl (French Version)
[15] Hanging On The Telephone (Nosebleed Handbag Remix)
[16] Fade Away And Radiate (108 Bpm Remix)



amg: Blondie turned to British pop producer Mike Chapman for their third album, on which they abandoned any pretensions to new wave legitimacy (just in time, given the decline of the new wave) and emerged as a pure pop band. But it wasn't just Chapman that made Parallel Lines Blondie's best album; it was the band's own songwriting, including Deborah Harry, Chris Stein, and James Destri's "Picture This," and Harry and Stein's "Heart of Glass," and Harry and new bass player Nigel Harrison's "One Way or Another," plus two contributions from nonbandmember Jack Lee, "Will Anything Happen?" and "Hanging on the Telephone." That was enough to give Blondie a number one on both sides of the Atlantic with "Heart of Glass" and three more U.K. hits, but what impresses is the album's depth and consistency — album tracks like "Fade Away and Radiate" and "Just Go Away" are as impressive as the songs pulled for singles. The result is state-of-the-art pop/rock circa 1978, with Harry's tough-girl glamour setting the pattern that would be exploited over the next decade by a host of successors led by Madonna.
(amg 10/10)

Buffalo Springfield [1969] Retrospective - The Best Of Buffalo Springfield

[01] For What It's Worth
[02] Mr. Soul
[03] Sit Down, I Think I Love you
[04] Kind Woman
[05] Bluebird
[06] On The Way Home
[07] Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing
[08] Broken Arrow
[09] Rock And Roll Woman
[10] I Am A Child
[11] Go And Say Goodbye
[12] Expecting To Fly



amg: Retrospective: The Best of Buffalo Springfield may not be definitive, but it's a good, basic overview of the group's career, containing most of the group's biggest hits and signature songs. Yes, several worthy album cuts are missing, but as a sampler, this works quite well, offering a nice introduction to the group.
(amg 10/10)

Beach Boys [1966] Pet Sounds

[01] Wouldn't It Be Nice
[02] You Still Believe in Me
[03] That's Not Me
[04] Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)
[05] I'm Waiting For The Day
[06] Let's Go Away For Awhile
[07] Sloop John B
[08] God Only Knows
[09] I Know There's An Answer
[10] Here Today
[11] I Just Wasn't Made For These Times
[12] Pet Sounds
[13] Caroline No
Bonus Track
[14] Hang On To Your Ego



amg: The best Beach Boys album, and one of the best of the 1960s. The group here reached a whole new level in terms of both composition and production, layering tracks upon tracks of vocals and instruments to create a richly symphonic sound. Conventional keyboards and guitars were combined with exotic touches of orchestrated strings, bicycle bells, buzzing organs, harpsichords, flutes, theremin, Hawaiian-sounding string instruments, Coca-Cola cans, barking dogs, and more. It wouldn't have been a classic without great songs, and this has some of the group's most stunning melodies, as well as lyrical themes which evoke both the intensity of newly born love affairs and the disappointment of failed romance (add in some general statements about loss of innocence and modern-day confusion as well). The spiritual quality of the material is enhanced by some of the most gorgeous upper-register male vocals (especially by Brian and Carl Wilson) ever heard on a rock record. "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "God Only Knows," "Caroline No," and "Sloop John B" (the last of which wasn't originally intended to go on the album) are the well-known hits, but equally worthy are such cuts as "You Still Believe in Me," "Don't Talk," "I Know There's an Answer," and "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times." It's often said that this is more of a Brian Wilson album than a Beach Boys recording (session musicians played most of the parts), but it should be noted that the harmonies are pure Beach Boys (and some of their best). Massively influential upon its release (although it was a relatively low seller compared to their previous LPs), it immediately vaunted the band into the top level of rock innovators among the intelligentsia, especially in Britain, where it was a much bigger hit.
(amg 10/10)

Buffy Sainte-Marie [1964] It's My Way!

[01] Now That The Buffalo's Gone
[02] The Old Man's Lament
[03] Ananias
[04] Mayoo Sto Hoon
[05] Cod'ine
[06] Cripple Creek
[07] The Universal Soldier
[08] Babe In Arms
[09] He Lived Alone In Town
[10] You're Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond
[11] The Incest Song
[12] Eyes Of Amber
[13] It's My Way



amg: This is one of the most scathing topical folk albums ever made. Sainte-Marie sings in an emotional, vibrato-laden voice of war ("The Universal Soldier," later a hit for Donovan), drugs ("Cod'ine"), sex ("The Incest Song"), and most telling, the mistreatment of Native Americans, of which Sainte-Marie is one ("Now That the Buffalo's Gone"). Even decades later, the album's power is moving and disturbing.
(amg 10/10)