1998

Saint Etienne - Good Humour
Yoshinori Sunahara - Pan Am: The Sound of the 70s
Kristin Hersh - Murder, Misery & Then Goodnight
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Beta Band - The Three EPs

Now Good Humor, I just love the whole sound of this record. It conjures a feeling of tongue-chasing drops of melted ice-cream, as they trickle down the crisp & brittle wafer, on a hazy summers day in 1970s Jönkoping, whilst spying the exploits of a swedish speaking Starsky & Hutch, out of the corner of your eye, images playing on the wooden-slatted telly, though the unvarnished, shuttered windows. As you may have gathered from the above, this album was recorded in Sweden (with the Cardigans' long term producer), but even if I hadn't been told, I think I would have guessed.

Putting the Kirstin Hersh album here is slightly cheating, as one of my unspoken rules is not to list any artist twice (she's singer & guitarist in Throwing Muses, remember them? See 1995), but it's my party and I'll cry if I want to (I've just realised I already broke the rule with 1997s Björk & 1988s Sugarcubes, so there's no use complaining now, it's too late). A collection of Appalachian folk songs from her childhood, and like all good folk songs there's more nightmare-inducing death & destruction than an episode of University Challenge.

Yoshinori Sunahara, ah, more 70s nostalgia. It captures the essence of the era, without sounding like it could have been recorded back then. Recline with your glass of Cinzano and Spam sandwich, close your eyes and fly through the sky on the orange space hopper of your mind.

The Beta Band's record is, as the title suggests, not a proper album, just a collection of EPs, but still the best thing they ever did. I wholeheartedly agree with whatever nice things I've forgotten that John Cusack said about it in 'High Fidelity'.

Mezzanine contains, yay, an appearance by Liz Frasier, which even my cocteau-hating friends agree is a good thing. Like a good shepherd's pie, all meaty & gooey, a light & fluffy layer of potato topped off with gently grilled crunch.