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The Veils: Finn Andrews (vocals, guitar); Oli Drake (guitar); Adam Kinsella (bass); Ben Woollacott (drums). Producers: Bernard Butler, Matthew Ollivier, Ken Nelson. This 2004 Rough Trade debut by the Veils showcases a sound born out of English post-punk and 1990s American alt-rock. Fronted by guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Finn Andrews (son of Barry Andrews of XTC and Shriekback fame), the Veils feature his throaty, impassioned vocals and emo-leaning songsmithery as their focus. On THE RUNAWAY FOUND, the band delivers on the promise of its stylistic amalgam. Andrews flirts with British jangle-pop on cuts such as "The Wild Son" and "The Tide That Left and Never Came Back," rocks hard on the angst-laden "More Heat Than Light," and tries his hand at melancholic balladry on "The Valleys of New Orleans." Crypto-poetic lyrics and interlocking guitar lines bolstered by clean, large-scale production (by Suede's Bernard Butler on four tracks) lend atmosphere to Andrews's tunes, as do the tastefully applied strings, giving the Veils a Radiohead-esque rock aura.

The Veils: Finn Andrews (vocals, guitar); Oli Drake (guitar); Adam Kinsella (bass); Ben Woollacott (drums). Producers: Bernard But

Personnel includes: Duke Levine (guitar, lap steel guitar, mandolin, bass); Kevin Barry (guitar); Darrel Scott (pedal steel guitar); Tom West (piano, Clavinet, organ); Paul Bryan (bass); Doug Plavin (drums). NOBODY'S HOME is a great example of a sideman stepping out on his own. Guitarist Duke Levine has been working regularly with Mary Chapin Carpenter, in addition to doing numerous other sessions throughout the '90s. For his first solo album, Levine put together an exceptional instrumental combo featuring bass player Paul Bryan, drummer Doug Plavin, and keyboard player Tom West. The songs prove more than mere showcases for topflight players, primarily because of the passion and intelligence of Levine's songwriting. There's striking variety in the set, but an anchoring cohesion as well. The band proves equally adept at crazed rockabilly-surf hybrids, slow tropical ballads, and confidently strutting shuffles. The version of Woody Guthrie's "Vigilante Man" is earthy and dazzling. This is a great instrumental album, full of good taste, dashes of humor, and inventive playing.

Personnel includes: Duke Levine (guitar, lap steel guitar, mandolin, bass); Kevin Barry (guitar); Darrel Scott (pedal steel guitar

FROM...ANOTHER TIME AND PLACE was nominated for a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album. First released in Italy in the early '80s but unissued in the U.S. until the mid-'90s, FROM ANOTHER TIME AND PLACE lacks the thematic unity of some of Dave Van Rionk's most successful albums. But even though these disparate songs seem to have little to do with each other, they're united by Van Ronk's bluesy, gruff voice and expressive acoustic guitar. Starting with the wistful title track and continuing through traditional blues like "Kansas City Blues" and the "Frankie and Johnny" variant "Frankie's Blues," to Willie Dixon's "Hootchie Cootchie Man," Muddy Waters' "Lovin' Spoonful," and another Dylan cover, "He Was a Friend of Mine," Van Ronk's jazz-inflected vocal style and Delta-derived finger-picking technique make each song sound newly minted. Van Ronk originals like "Losers" sound equally strong, making FROM ANOTHER TIME AND PLACE a late masterwork by an underappreciated legend.

FROM...ANOTHER TIME AND PLACE was nominated for a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album. First released in Italy in th

Personnel: Adrain Belew (vocals, various instruments); Martha Belew, Sherry Webb, Iris Belew, Ken Latchney, Stan Hertzman (vocals). After a foray into instrumental improvisation in the modern classical mode (1995's THE GUITAR AS ORCHESTRA), idiosyncratic songwriter and guitar wizard Adrian Belew returned to the pop fold with renewed vigor on OP ZOP TOO WAH. The rocker "Six String" (a love song to his guitar), the Beatles-esque "Beautiful" and the carefree ditty "Something to Do" provide more of the bright, hook-stuffed songcraft that characterized most of Belew's late '80s and early '90s recordings. But Belew is no average tunesmith. The astonishing range of his technical facility and all-around musicianship, and his fascination with varied sonic textures and dense polyrhythms, can generate savage, tribal trips through the jungle ("Of Bow and Drum") or ethereal, surreal impressions ("Sky Blue Red Bird Green House"). Belew's avant-garde sensibilities are in evidence too, especially on cuts such as "Word Play Drum Beat," which features voice samples over a lone rhythm track, the ethno-surf-boogie of the title cut and the ear-bending big top solo on "High Wire Guitar." Taken together, these accomplished experiments make OP ZOP TOO WAH Belew's most interesting and cohesive pop effort since MR. MUSIC HEAD.

Personnel: Adrain Belew (vocals, various instruments); Martha Belew, Sherry Webb, Iris Belew, Ken Latchney, Stan Hertzman (vocals)

Cluster: Dieter Moebius, Hans Joachim Roedelius. That's one hour. Sixty minutes. Yep, thirty-six hundred seconds of Cluster, 90s style. The passage of time hasn't dulled its patina in the slightest. Theirs is the stuff of chronological hijacking, of history suspended, of sounds stolen from the prenatural nucleus of the human bandwidth, stretched, looped and fragmented to infinity. Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius, travellers in this sphere of movement, have been altering the lifeclocks of their listeners for neigh on decades now. Their 're-surgence' and penultimate recognition in the U.S. as electronica's pre-eminent digital designers led to a first (and last) tour of North America, subsequent live albums, and the ageless document that is ONE HOUR. Encapsulating a Cluster recording, especially this one, can leave the reviewer gasping for expression. Stop-motion twitters exorcised from rusting beatboxes, awesome sounds that suggest the non-air caught in vast galactic vacuums, noxious synth eddies that orbit about a maelstrom of black holes, dilating time-Cluster has forever sounded like no other, the duo's ideas forever embraced in 'tempus fugit'. And once you're in, you're in for the duration.

Cluster: Dieter Moebius, Hans Joachim Roedelius. That's one hour. Sixty minutes. Yep, thirty-six hundred seconds of Cluster, 90s s

The Knack: Berton Averre (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Doug Fieger (vocals, guitar); Prescott Niles (bass); Terry Bozzio (drums). Producers: Richard Bosworth, The Knack, Oliver Leiber. Recorded at House Of Blues Studio West, Encino, California. Although ZOOM counts as The Knack's second '90s comeback (following 1991's SERIOUS FUN), this should have been the record that saved them from the backlash created by their multi-platinum 1979 debut. Original members Doug Fieger, Prescott Niles and Berton Averre recruited former Missing Persons/Frank Zappa drummer Terry Bozzio for a record that is the equivalent of a power-pop smart bomb. Simple, bubblegum love songs such as "Can I Borrow A Kiss" and "Love Is All There Is" are sauteed in chiming 12-string guitar and chirpy harmonies guaranteed to bring back memories of AM radio and high-school crushes. Elsewhere The Beatles are the obvious musical touchstone, whether it's the lyrical references to "Revolution #9" on "Terry & Julie Step Out" or the "Dear Prudence"-psychedelia of "(All In The) All In All." Lest ZOOM be seen as an all-out lovefest, The Knack do manage to import a modicum of cheeky snarkiness in the cynical bon-bon "Pop Is Dead." But the most fun comes during a pair of flat-out rave-ups, the runaway train of "Tomorrow" and the hard-hitting "Ambition," a tune co-written by Heartbreaker Stan Lynch and given its punch by Bozzio.

The Knack: Berton Averre (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Doug Fieger (vocals, guitar); Prescott Niles (bass); Terry Bozzio (drums). P

Essential Music Videos - '90s Rock

Essential Music Videos - '90s Rock

90s Hot Country

90s Hot Country

Last Chance For A Thousand Years: Greatest Hits From The 90s

Last Chance For A Thousand Years: Greatest Hits From The 90s

Dove Award Worship: The Best Of The 90s

Dove Award Worship: The Best Of The 90s

20th Century Masters: Best of 90s Dance

20th Century Masters: Best of 90s Dance

Behind every great album by the Venezuelan singer Jose Luis Rodriguez, there's always a great concept. In the late '90s, El Puma (as he is affectionately known among his fans) scored big with a revival of the tender bolero music by the trio Los Panchos. In 1999, he returned to more festive terrain with a bubbly record of non-stop party music. Although recorded in the studio, the album has the spontaneous, almost reckless feeling of a concert performance. It is the spirit of the South American carnival that El Puma has in mind in bouncy ditties like "Ave Maria" and "La Parranda," the time of the year when people of all origins and social classes gather in the streets for a few nights of flirting, singing, and dancing. But Rodriguez is not the kind of performer who faces traditions with an eye on the past. His take on the carnival is definitely a postmodern one, enhancing the tropical rhythms of the congas and timbales with fat beats generated by drum machines. The result (a combination of the old and the new, the sophisticated and the approachable) is bound to delight fans of dance-friendly pop.

Behind every great album by the Venezuelan singer Jose Luis Rodriguez, there's always a great concept. In the late '90s, El Puma (

Personnel includes: Albertina Walker, Dorothy Norwood (vocals); Johnathan DuBose, Jim Long (guitar); Derrick Lee (keyboards, synthesizers); Cliff Du Bose (electric piano); Ralph Lofton (organ); Steve Huff (bass); Terry Baker (drums); Mel Owens (percussion); Ricky Dillard & The New Generation Choir. Recorded at CRC Studios, Chicago, Illinios. The husky-voiced Ms. Walker wails out her devotion to the Lord in this earnest and soulful set of pop/R&B/blues-tinged gospel. "Life Is Like A Mountain Railroad" has the sound of late '60s/early '70s soul a la Aretha Franklin, or the pop/gospel interplay of late '90s Robert Cray. "Nobody But You" has a bit of a reggae lilt to it, and "I'm Gonna Serve Him" has the languid, inviting, mellow groove of the best of Al Green's '70s songs. The musical backing is tasteful and understated--a small band featuring keyboards and guitars and a choir works perfectly. For those who like gospel with a touch of classic soul/R&B feel, BLESSING will be just that.

Personnel includes: Albertina Walker, Dorothy Norwood (vocals); Johnathan DuBose, Jim Long (guitar); Derrick Lee (keyboards, synth

Kirk's third release in 1994 (prolific is this gentleman's other middle name), VIRTUAL STATE is the misfi' in '94's triad of discs. Although released on a label known for contemporary, cutting-edge techno (Warp), the album is a remarkably understated and rhythmically subtle slab of plastic. What does strike an unusual note is that VIRTUAL STATE plows the cosmetics of the intelligent-techno trade unlike any previous Kirkmusic. "Soul Catcher" mixes Middle Eastern motifs in with cosmic appellations and electronic broadstrokes. "Worldwar Three" shuffles through murky, muted vibes amidst it's hip-shot hip-hop. "November X-Ray Mexico" recalls Cabaret Voltaire's audio-collage days through the use of insistent short-wave transmissions and disembodied voices juxtaposed atop cyclic waves of dissonant electronics. This all sounds unlike anything that has strutted out of most so-called progressive dance-music labels in the '90s. VIRTUAL STATE's veritable strangeness cements Kirk's iconoclastic locale in the global electronic village, where he maintains a well-deserved residence as the one lone wolf among the sheep.

Kirk's third release in 1994 (prolific is this gentleman's other middle name), VIRTUAL STATE is the misfi' in '94's triad of discs

This late '90s album finds Syl Johnson in as fine voice as ever. Johnson and co-producers Johnny Moore and Morris Williams utilize a range of electronic keyboards, synthesizers and programmed drums. But no amount of studio gadgetry will ever disguise Johnson's unabashedly soulful voice. He wrings passion out of every song here, co-writes nearly all of the material, and positively bristles with strutting enthusiasm. The title track, with its layered background choruses, harks back to the heyday of early '70s soul music with style and verve. It's particularly instructive to hear Johnson in this setting and compare it to his work with Willie Mitchell and Hi Records. Approaches and stylistic differences aside, Syl Johnson's emotive singing remains a constant throughout his long and worthy career.

This late '90s album finds Syl Johnson in as fine voice as ever. Johnson and co-producers Johnny Moore and Morris Williams utilize

Saigon-born P. Q. Phan is one of a burgeoning generation of Asian-American composers to emerge in the 1990s. While essentially academic in stance, Phan's work consistently reexamines the contrast between his native and adoptive cultures, while subtly questioning his role in the latter. Sometimes the dialectic is purely musical, as in the exuberant title track, where raucous clusters and pitch bends on the pipe organ are used to imitate the sound of the "trumpets" Vietnamese kids make out of banana leaves, or in the percussion piece 'Rock Blood' where the thunder of Japanese ceremonial drumming is evoked. Other pieces have a more philosophical subtext, such as the quartet 'Beyond the Mountains,' which represents a quest for nirvana, or the programmatic 'Unexpected Desire,' where the violin's Vietnamese vocal-style inflections depict a courtesan who falls in love with her client, a situation which the composer slyly suggests may mirror his own in this country.

Saigon-born P. Q. Phan is one of a burgeoning generation of Asian-American composers to emerge in the 1990s. While essentially aca

Djam Karet: Gayle Ellett (guitar, keyboards, percussion, tapes); Mike Henderson (electric 6 & 12-string guitars, keyboards); Chuck Oken (keyboards, drums, programming); Henry J. Osborne (keyboards, bass, percussion). Recorded between July 1990 & April 1991. After the bedlam of BURNING THE HARD CITY, Djam Karet offers this amazing hunk of post-ambient rock for the listener's respite and pleasure. The band has retained the collective instrumentation from BURNING, but said sound tools have been re-tuned to receive sounds emitting from a parallel universe. Synths and guitars set up intricate, spiraling loops over which the tinkling of bells, logdrums, and assorted, mysterious percussives writhe and curl. And that's just track one. "8:15--No Safe Place" glides upon a raft of probing, quiescent guitars, while electronics and the pluck of chimes glisten in the atmosphere--entering and exiting. An air of menace soon intrudes, as synth swells rise in urgency. The tension reaches critical mass, and it all crashes to earth, the runoff of melted guitars re-emerging in a cooling lava flow. "Severed Moon" begins with distant guitar echo as light beams of percussion intrude. Then it's off to the knife-edge of Earth, where a ceremonial rite is ripped from the twilight of time. From there on in, it's up to you to reap from the multi-hued whirlpool of sound and vision contained within one of the more criminally underrated "rock" records of the '90s.

Djam Karet: Gayle Ellett (guitar, keyboards, percussion, tapes); Mike Henderson (electric 6 & 12-string guitars, keyboards); Chuck

Though he's not exactly a household name, Simon Joyner spent much of the '90s perfecting his craft and quietly becoming one of the finest singer-songwriters on the American indie landscape. His poetic, often Dylanesque imagery is delivered with a vulnerable, often haunted vocal style that wrings all the naked emotion out of his compositions. As on his other recordings, the songs here are based around Joyner's acoustic guitar and vocals, but understated accompaniment does occasionally pop up, making for some nice sonic contrast. The title tune on this EP can also be found on Joyner's tour de force YESTERDAY TOMORROW AND IN BETWEEN, but the rest of the songs are unique to this recording, and essential to anyone interested in the state of modern songcraft.

Though he's not exactly a household name, Simon Joyner spent much of the '90s perfecting his craft and quietly becoming one of the

Nick 90s Ap Chuckie We're Doomed Lg

Nick 90s Ap Chuckie We're Doomed Lg

Features collected unreleased material recorded between 1979 and the early '90s.

Features collected unreleased material recorded between 1979 and the early '90s.

Chico's '90s Project

Chico's '90s Project

Ironically, the group that came to be known as "America's Band," playing at Republican presidential inaugurals and the like, would become "cool" again at the tail end of their career. By the '90s, the Beach Boys were acknowledged as the inspiration for both hipsters on the order of the High Llamas and Eric Matthews and seminal acts like Big Star and Todd Rundgren. Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson's "mini-symphonies" were initially influenced by some timelessly unhip artists, such as the Four Freshmen, whose post-barbershop-quartet vocals were the sound on which Wilson based his own group's trademark harmonies. They began as pure surf-rockers espousing the delights of Californian beach life, cars and girls over Chuck Berry-inspired backing. It wasn't long before Brian became intrigued with Phil Spector's wall of sound, applying Spector's multi-tracking approach to his own music. PET SOUNDS, the group's masterpiece, showcased Brian's expanded harmonic vocabulary, revolutionary "orchestral pop" arrangements, and the complex harmonies of Brian, brother Carl and the rest of the Boys. Brian's fragile mental health would soon prevent him from performing with the band, but he continued to write and record with them, producing perfect pop visions from his unique perspective. Along the way, the band simultaneously turned into both an American institution and an unassailable indie-rock reference point.

Ironically, the group that came to be known as "America's Band," playing at Republican presidential inaugurals and the like, would

Ultimate Club Dance: 90s Dance

Ultimate Club Dance: 90s Dance

Nick 90s Ap 12pc

Nick 90s Ap 12pc

Best Of The 90s Vol.2

Best Of The 90s Vol.2

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