Albums of Your Year

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Lately I have been transported back to 1997, I decided to give Be Here Now, the much loved/hated album by Oasis another spin - and I surprised myself by still knowing all the words to every song.

This was a huge album for me, and a personal favourite (even though it has been a long time since I listened to it before yesterday).I was 16 at the time, and the album came out 3 days before my Birthday.I remember the album being in the house and me not being able to listen to it for 3 days. When i did get to it, i took it to the place i took all my albums back then, I used to sit at the kitchen table, using my dads stereo and his headphones and play the life out of it. The day after my birthday Word Gets Around by the Stereophonics was released.

Following on from this bit of reminiscence I decided to see how many of my favourite albums have been from that period, and surprised myself even further. As a result of this, I can safely say 1997 was a great year for me, in that there are for me, a few timeless albums that I will keep going back to all of my life, because of what the music evokes for me. Listed in order of release from that year . . .

18 March 1997
Aerosmith - Nine Lives


16 June 1997
Spiritualized - Ladies & Gentlemen we are floating in space


16 June 1997
Radiohead - OK Computer


21 August 1997
Oasis - Be Here Now


25 August 1997
Stereophonics - Word Gets Around


26 September 1997
Travis - Good Feeling


29 September 1997
The Verve - Urban Hymns



Any one else care to take a trip down memory lane and pick a year that stands out for them?

nlgbbbblth

1985 sticks out a lot for me.

I attended my first gig that June. U2 in Croke Park. Was buying records regularly - mostly albums.

Here's some of my favourites that I picked up in 1985.

Prince - Around The World In A Day



Psychedelic when I barely knew the meaning of the word. Always reminds me of playing tennis in New Ross that summer. And Boris Becker. A nice sidesways swerve to follow Purple Rain.


Scritti Politti - Cupid and Psyche '85



Literate pop.


Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy



Chaotic chainsaw fuzz.


The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace



This was a Christmas present from my parents. I asked for it after hearing them on John Peel. They went on to become my favourite band.


The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy and The Lash



An amazing concoction.


The Smiths - Meat Is Murder



A much more solid album that the anaemic debut.


The Cure - The Head On The Door



A consistently good record that combines darkness with a pop edge.


Felt - Ignite The Seven Cannons



I had no idea who these guys were but got a taped copy in school which I loved. A trip to Dublin got me this LP, their fourth.


Various - Streetsounds Electro 6



This one because it has the two Roxannes and is wicked.


Microdisney - The Clock Comes Down The Stairs



One of the greatest Irish records ever. A hundred times better than bloody Heartworm.


The Style Council - Our Favourite Shop



Paul Weller's finest hour. Built on the promise of Café Bleu and made a wide-ranging and soulful LP. My favourite of the year and one of the best records ever.

Say Your Number

2008

Airbourne - Runnin' Wild


AC/DC rip off, but the songwriting is so strong they get away with it.
Stone Gods - Silver Spoons & Broken Bones

The remaining members of The Darkness after they split, heavier and miles better than The Darkness. Sadly they are on hiatus now.
Black Stone Cherry - Folklore & Superstition

Volbeat - Guitar Gangsters & Cadilac Blood

nice mix of rock & roll and metal
Metallica - Death Magnetic

Not as good as their classic albums, but still a very good album
AC/DC - Black Ice

Again like Metallica, not as good as their classic material, but a pretty decent comeback.

delbertgrady

Slightly off-topic, since I don't have any associations with these albums from the time of their original release, but my favourite year is 1974 - several of these albums would be on my all-time Desert Island Discs list. Regrettably, a few of my favourite acts aren't represented here (Bruce Springsteen, The Who, Pink Floyd) as they didn't release anything that year. Also, Sparks' Kimono My House and Queen's Sheer Heart Attack were both 1974 as well, but in each case I've opted for a different album from the same year. I ran out of image allowance... there's some other good stuff missing.

Dudess

Haven't a clue of the 2008 stuff - I'm officially no longer in touch it appears...

[HOMER]Anyhoo, everyone knows rock attained perfection in... 1991[/HOMER]

It was the year I "came of age" musically - I was 13. Some groundbreaking albums:

Primal Scream - Screamadelica: has everything IMO

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless: never fully got MBV but this album has some incredible moments

Massive Attack - Blue Lines: still gives me a lump in the throat

Nirvana - Nevermind: wasn't big into Nirvana, not because they became commercial, but because I just didn't think they were that great, but I do think this is a brilliant album. I listened to other albums by them afterwards though, and wasn't impressed.
___________________________________

Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque: a hark back to The Byrds, Big Star and the like; such a melodic album

Pixies - Trompe Le Monde: a return to noisy raaaaawk after the much softer Bossanova

Throwing Muses - The Real Ramona: I cannot recommend this highly enough; TM were hit-and-miss but I think this LP is perfect

Babes In Toyland - To Mother: they came before Hole/Courtney Love (er... so to speak) and brought out this fecking intense, mad-as-a-hatter tour de force of a mini album

Hole - Pretty On The Inside: C. Love is a train-wreck but a talented lady IMO - superb ear for melody, and often a thought-provoking lyricist

Electronic - Electronic: I was always gonna get this, being such a fan of New Order/The Smiths, and to be fair, it has its iffy bits, but some wonderful stuff too. You've got your New Ordery moments, your Smithsy moments, and then those bits that combine the two - like the sublime Get The Message, a song Marr says is one of his proudest achievements.

Blur - Leisure: at the time, they were seen as a bit of a bandwagon-jumping joke, but some real quality on that album. Sing is just stunning...

St Etienne - Foxbase Alpha: a great pop album is the best way to sum this up I think

The Wedding Present - Sea Monsters: wish that band got more recognition, they could almost rival The Smiths at times IMO

It was the year also that Morrissey brought out the disappointing-at-the-time-but-grew-on-people Kill Uncle

Others: Elvis Costello - Mighty Like A Rose; Julian Cope - Peggy Suicide

Washington Irving

1967 (Despite the fact I wasn't around back then):

The Doors - The Doors




The Rolling Stones - Between the buttons




The Byrds - Younger than yesterday




The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground and Nico




The Beatles - Sgt.Pepper




Jimi Hendrix - Are you experienced?




The Kinks - Something Else by The Kinks



The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour




The Who - The Who Sell Out

Xavi6

1996, 1997 and 1998 were all awesome years but I've gone for 2000 and 2001. Couldn't split them and both had a huge influence on 15/16 year old me -

2000

King Adora - Vibrate You
At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command
My Vitriol - Finelines
Doves - Lost Souls
Placebo - Black Market Music
The Hives - Veni Vidi Vicious
Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows
Bright Eyes - Fevers and Mirrors
Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R
Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour of the Bewilderbeast
New Found Glory - New Found Glory
Lifehouse - No Name Face

2001

American Hi-Fi - American Hi-Fi
Alkaline Trio - From Here to Infirmary
Sum 41 - All Killer No Filler
Muse - Origin of Symmetry
Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American
The Faint - Danse Macabre
System of a Down - Toxicity
Incubus - Morning View
The Strokes - Is This It?

Dudess

Quality thread OP. I especially love your list, nlgbbbblth. Would you also maybe include Hounds Of Love?

Irish Guitarist

I'll go for 1967 too even though it was nine years before I was born.

As well as albums that have already been mentioned like The Doors and Are You Experienced it was the year Pink Floyd released their debut album. It's my favourite album; not just from 1967 but from any year.



Love released Forever Changes in that year. It has some really beautiful songs on it like Alone Again Or, Andmoreagain and Old Man. I actually prefer it to what The Beatles were doing at the time.



Another band that released their debut was the Grateful Dead.



Bob Dylan released one of my favourite albums of his; John Wesley Harding. It included the original version of All Along The Watchtower.



Jefferson Airplane released their second album; Surrealistic Pillow.



There was loads of other albums I love released that year.

nlgbbbblth

Dudess wrote: »

Quality thread OP. I especially love your list, nlgbbbblth. Would you also maybe include Hounds Of Love?

Thanks Dudess - your 1991 is great too. The year I moved to Dublin so many familiar titles there got blasted on my stereo.

Hounds of Love - yes. I forgot to include it! And also
Dexys Midnight Runners - Don't Stand Me Down.

Irish Guitarist

I forgot to mention Axis: Bold As Love.



I think it's amazing that this was released in the same year as Are You Experienced (in Britain at least, it came out in January 1968 in America). It would be almost unheard of nowadays for a band or artist to release two albums, let alone two albums as great as these, in such a short space of time.

Imagine Radiohead taking a couple of months to record an album. Even a mediocre band like Hard Fi can take up to four years to record an album now.

TommyTippee

The season of October 1994 to September 1995 - as good as it gets for me:

nlgbbbblth

Quality 1960s LPs there guys. I started exploring 1960s psych, freakbeat, jazz, soul and lounge during the mid 1990s and never looked back.

Dudess

Forgot Smashing Pumpkins' Gish from 1991 - it quite simply rocks.

Dan Dare

Electronic - Electronic: I was always gonna get this, being such a fan of New Order/The Smiths, and to be fair, it has its iffy bits, but some wonderful stuff too. You've got your New Ordery moments, your Smithsy moments, and then those bits that combine the two - like the sublime Get The Message, a song Marr says is one of his proudest achievements.

And I particularly enjoyed the PetShopBoys collaboration on that album.

BOSTIK

The year was 1987, Star Trekkin' got to No. 1, and Tipp hurlers beat Cork after a replay and extra time in Killarney. Great memories including these:



Basildon's finest in great form on this album, which proved to be the launching pad for a successful american tour, and of course the sublime live album "101". And they're still pushing the envelope a quarter of a century later.




Great comeback from Fleetwood Mac, the last album with all of the Rumours crew collectively on board



A few gems on here, I particularly like the prescient lyrics of "Paint a Vulgar Picture".



Just shows what Prince was capable of at his creative zenith. His last really "must have" album.



These guys couldn't do much wrong back then, this was the one that really put them on the international map.

Oasis_Dublin

Dudess wrote: »

Blur - Leisure: at the time, they were seen as a bit of a bandwagon-jumping joke, but some real quality on that album. Sing is just stunning...

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