Nurse
Artist: Therapy?
Community Score: 6.70

An expanded recording budget does wonders for Therapy? for their first proper studio record, released by new label A&M. But rather than record with a label-approved producer, the Irish band opted to go with their soundman to provide a grunge tinge to their punishing noise. So the band's fans rested easily knowing that Nurse was more than their... Read More

Vitalogy
Artist: Pearl Jam
Community Score: 7.03

Thanks to its stripped-down, lean production, Vitalogy stands as Pearl Jam's most original and uncompromising album. While it isn't a concept album, Vitalogy sounds like one. Death and despair shroud the album, rendering even the explosive celebration of vinyl "Spin the Black Circle" somewhat muted. But that black cloud works to Pearl Jam's... Read More

Stoner Witch
Artist: Melvins
Community Score: 7.61

The early to mid-'90s proved the Melvins' golden age, and the three principal albums from that period -- Stoner Witch provides the centerpiece -- are virtually unassailable in their range, depth, power, and experimental courage. Picking up on the basic framework of Houdini, Stoner Witch resolves into an ear-catching workup of classic rock... Read More

Tough Guy Problem
Artist: Dambuilders

This rocket of an EP served as a proper introduction to the energy Joan Wasser and her violin were capable of giving to the Boston indie band. The five songs here show the wealth of moods the band was capable of, from erratic mind games ("Dose") to romantic, tumbleweed swayers ("Idaho,") to all-out pogo rock ("Heather"). Most impressible is the... Read More

The Best of Anne Clark
Artist: Anne Clark

Songwriter and pianist Anne Clark has been a cult figure since the early '80s and has amassed a rather sizable catalog despite her small but rabid following. She writes nearly-Gothic love songs full of obsession and pathos, and pretty orchestral settings with clever instrumental figures and stinging piano runs and minor-key epiphanies. She's a... Read More

File Under: Easy Listening
Artist: Sugar
Community Score: 3.50

Given Bob Mould's reputation for searing electric rock & roll, it may be easy to think that the title of File Under: Easy Listening is ironic, and it is to a certain extent. But beneath the loud guitars lie the friendliest, most relaxed pop songs Mould had ever written. "Your Favorite Thing" and "Can't Help You Anymore" are two of Mould's most... Read More

Purple
Artist: Stone Temple Pilots
Community Score: 7.99

Stone Temple Pilots had hits with Core, but they got no respect. They suffered a barrage of savage criticism and it must have hurt, since their second effort seems a conscious effort to distinguish themselves as a band not indebted to grunge. That didn't get them anywhere, as they were attacked as viciously as before, but Purple is nevertheless... Read More

Too High to Die
Artist: Meat Puppets
Community Score: 7.23

Although the Meat Puppets' previous album, 1991's Forbidden Places, was one of the Arizona trio's finest, the band wasn't completely happy with the album's sound, courtesy of longtime Dwight Yoakam producer Pete Anderson. So on their second album for London Records, 1994's Too High To Die, the trio hooked up with Butthole Surfer Paul Leary to... Read More

Jar of Flies
Artist: Alice in Chains
Community Score: 7.90

Written and recorded in about a week, Jar of Flies solidified Alice in Chains' somewhat bizarre pattern of alternating full-length hard rock albums with mostly acoustic, ballad-oriented EPs. That quirk aside, Jar of Flies is a low-key stunner, achingly gorgeous and harrowingly sorrowful all at once. In a way, it's a logical sequel to Dirt --... Read More

Inhaler
Artist: Tad
Community Score: 8.00

Thanks to producer J. Mascis, Tad gets a more focused and driven sound on their major-label debut, Inhaler, easily their best and most consistent album to date. Fortunately, the group has lost none of the grit that marked them as the grungiest of the Seattle scene, while keeping their songs full of hooks and melodies. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine,... Read More

Kerosene Hat
Artist: Cracker
Community Score: 6.75

With their second album Cracker have lost the smarmy self-righteousness that plagued their otherwise fine debut, replacing it with a surprisingly solid, rocking core. Kerosene Hat is David Lowery's least affected album yet -- its humor is no stranger than "Dead Flowers" by the Stones or "Fat Man in a Bathtub" by Little Feat, two groups that... Read More

Where You Been
Artist: Dinosaur Jr.
Community Score: 9.15

By the time Where You Been surfaced, Seattle had completely exploded, and given that Dinosaur Jr.'s sound, attitude, and more were as proto-slacker as could be, the temptation must have been great to cash in. But J Mascis stuck to his guns, and there's little about Where You Been that would have seemed out of place on Green Mind or even some... Read More

Radio 1 Evening Show Sessions
Artist: The Chameleons UK

This disc is actually the perfect complement to the Peel Sessions collection: not only does it contain two more full radio broadcast sessions of the band from 1983 and 1985, there is zero track duplication with the other collection. Even more happily for hardcore fans of the band, between the two collections one can create an entire alternate... Read More

Encendedor
Artist: Dambuilders

Boston's Dambuilders thankfully didn't conform themselves for the sake of their major label debut. If anything, the opening moments of the grating "Copsucker" showed that they were ready to scream louder and rawer than they had in the past. The only noticeable change -- and a refreshing one at that -- is that the slightly polished production... Read More