Little Anthony and the Imperials, Goin’ Out of My Head
The title track and “Hurt So Bad” are the most recognizable tracks on this album, which at the time didn’t conceive the notion of an album as a singular work with a unified feel. The Beach Boys and The Beatles would pioneer that idea shortly afterward. “Hurt So Bad” has more of a bittersweet vibe than Linda Ronstadt’s cover nearly two decades later.
Cherrelle, High Priority
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were on a hot streak with new jack swing, and this album joins Alexander O’Neal’s Hearsay and Janet Jackson’s Control in a string of production successes.
Henki Skidu, Spring Water
Spring Water hints that Henry Koperski, going by Henki Skidu, could have a grander album with a bigger budget, but I rather prefer the low-key feel.
Kendrick Lamar, GMX
I was traveling around the time the digital version of this album was released, so I didn’t really listen to it fully till its physical release in February. It should have been included in the Favorite Edition 2024 list, but I had already locked up the list. Will it show up on the 2025 list?
w.o.d., Ai
BLEACH Thousand Year Blood War was my pop culture Roman Empire of 2024, and w.o.d.’s “Stars” didn’t wear out with repeat viewings of the third coeur. The band’s major label debut also endured multiple spins on the playback device.
Ian Niederhoffer / Parlando, Censored Anthems
I would love to see the pieces on this album performed as a concert program. Although Dmitri Shostakovich is the marquee name, Mieczyslaw Weinberg and Edvard Mirzoyan take up the most playing time with a pair of pieces that deserve more exposure.
These Trails, These Trails
This album is the closest we’ll get to Hawaiian music with a bona fide freak flag.
Painkiller, The Equinox
The original members of John Zorn’s Painkiller trio return, with drummer Mick Harris replacing himself with drum machines. It doesn’t make the music any less frenetic.
U2, How to Reassemble An Atomic Bomb
At the very least, this album of outtakes from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb offers a tantalizing glimpse of what mid-200s U2 could have been. Part of me suspects this alternate album is better than what was officially released.
Rhino released the full concert on YouTube, so do yourself a fever and watch it whlie it’s still available. Ronstadt filmed this concert for HBO around the time she released Mad Love.
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Live from the Ryman, Vol. 2
Many of the tracks on this second edition of live recordings from the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville come from Weathervanes, probably Isbell’s best album since Southeastern. So I’m inclined to rank it favorably over the first volume.
Various Artists, Club Epic
This compilation of remixes has some top notch hits from the ’80s: “Fantastic Voyage” by Lakeside, “Saturday Love” by Cherrelle and Alexander O’Neal, “Lover Girl” by Teena Marie, to name a few. I didn’t realize how much I missed hearing these songs.
Painkiller, Samsara
Mick Harris has traded live drums for electronics on this album reuniting the former Napalm Death drummer with bassist Bill Laswell and saxophonist John Zorn. It’s no less frenetic and still mixes well with the wild abandon for which Painkiller is known.
Ray Chen, Player One
I can’t confess to being any sort of video game soundtrack listener, so those tracks which bookend this album are pretty much adornment for the Erich Korngold Violin Concerto, the crunchiest piece of repertoire I’ve heard Chen tackle so far.
Tim McGraw, Standing Room Only
I don’t mind that Tim McGraw engages in a bit of gay-baiting, and he doesn’t move in the same creative circles of Jason Isbell or Sturgill Simpson. But I have to admit Standing Room Only sounds like an album that could imagine a Venn diagram where McGraw, Isbell and Simpson intersect.
Marshall Crenshaw, Field Day
I hadn’t explored much of Crenshaw’s early albums till a number of them showed up at the thrift store. Now I understand how the press was flummoxed that Crenshaw just never stormed the charts.
A decade ago, I wrote a series of entries ranking my favorite albums from 1985 to 2004. My collection has expanded greatly since then, particularly in the last five years. So I wanted to see what has changed in 10 years.
I’m not sure other music writers would agree that 1998 is an important year in music for the ’90s. 1991 saw Guns N’ Roses cap the era of hair metal and Nirvana usher the unfortunately-named alternative rock. But it didn’t have Neutral Milk Hotel.
Igor Stravinsky, Le Sacre du Printemps/Symphony in Three Movements (Zubin Mehta, New York Philharmonic Orchestra)
Mazzy Star, She Hangs Brightly
Soundgarden, Badmotorfinger
Bill Frisell, Where in the World?
Fishbone, The Reality of My Surroundings
Metallica, Metallica
Kronos Quartet, Lutoslawski: String Quartet
Black Sheep, A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Hamada Mari, Tomorrow
Electronic, Electronic
Slint, Spiderland
My Bloody Valentine, Loveless
Painkiller, Guts of a Virgin
Mr. Bungle, Mr. Bungle
Slint and My Bloody Valentine are additions 2004-me would have made. 1991-me would have side-eyed 2004-me.
And he would have scoffed at 2018-me for including Black Sheep, after emitting a gasp at seeing Fishbone on the list at all.
He would have begrudgingly nodded at the additions of Metallica and Hamada Mari, and he would have been curious about Electronic. And he would have gone out and found Painkiller the first chance he got.
![[Painkiller - The Great God Pan]](https://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/PainkillerTheGreatGodPan348771LF1A_f.jpg)
![[Cherrelle - High Priority]](https://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CherrelleHighPriority198342474LBYJ_f.jpg)
![[Ned's Atomic Dustbin - God Fodder]](https://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/NedsAtomicDustbinGodFod345594_f.jpg)
![[Linda Ronstadt - Live in Hollywood]](https://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/LindaRonstadtLiveinHolly3398252JF1_f.jpg)
![[Carl Stalling - The Carl Stalling Project]](https://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/CarlStallingTheCarlStall341653_f.jpg)
![[Emmylou Harris - Stumble Into Grace]](https://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/EmmylouHarrisStumbleInto22575_f.jpg)
![[Slint - Spiderland]](https://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/SlintSpiderland2014131919_f-300x300.jpg)
![[Jason Isbell and 400 Unit - Live from the Ryman]](https://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/JasonIsbell400UnitLive196779PY5H_f-300x300.jpg)