Doubt
Artist: Jesus Jones
Community Score: 8.50

Jesus Jones' best album, Doubt, benefits greatly from Mike Edwards' improved songwriting, as well as a better idea of how to effectively fuse guitar-rock with samples and dance-club beats that hint at techno. There are slips in both areas -- a few songs float past without ever making an impression, and some of the fusions sound rather forced and... Read More

John Peel Sessions 1992-1995
Artist: The Wedding Present

The songs on this CD come from a period in the Wedding Present's career that most fans' would admit to be less than inspirational. The frenzied jangle of their early days had slowed considerably and the frustrated growl and unrelenting mope of the classic Seamonsters LP had been replaced by a seemingly blasé attitude and even worse, a spot of... Read More

Melting Pot
Artist: The Charlatans UK

When the Charlatans emerged with "The Only One I Know" in 1991, there were countless bands similar to them, but they immediately catapulted to the forefront of the Madchester scene, standing alongside such icons as the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays. They had such success because they not only could ride the groove, like so many Madchester... Read More

All the Pain Money Can Buy
Artist: Fastball
Community Score: 5.93

When compared to their last album (the 1996 debut Make Your Mama Proud), Fastball's latest release shows that the group is steadily improving and honing their AAA/roots-rock sound. The biggest difference between All the Pain Money Can Buy and their debut is that by spicing up their songs with horns and classic synthesizer sounds, there is a... Read More

Head Trip in Every Key
Artist: Superdrag
Community Score: 7.25

Superdrag's second major-label album, Head Trip in Every Key, lacks anything as immediately grabbing as Regretfully Yours' knockout punch, "Sucked Out," but on the whole, the album is nearly as good as its predecessor. Sonically, the group's attack has tightened up considerably -- the guitars are punchier, the rhythms more visceral -- and the... Read More

It Means Everything
Artist: Save Ferris
Community Score: 7.80
Against the Stars
Artist: Dambuilders

Against the Stars is third major label album from the Dambuilders. Against the Stars diverges from the simple production of previous releases, favoring a more dense, complicated sound. Gone is the indie rock guitar-based approach, resulting in a heavily produced set of 13 songs. Imagine a poppy prog rock record and you have Against the Stars.... Read More

In It for the Money - LIMITED EDITION
Artist: Supergrass

Supergrass' debut album, I Should Coco, rushed by at such a blinding speed that some listeners didn't notice the melodic complexity of its best songs. On its second album, the cleverly titled In It for the Money, Supergrass brought the songs to the forefront, slowing the tempos considerably and constructing a varied, textured album that makes... Read More

The Inevitable
Artist: Squirrel Nut Zippers
Community Score: 5.00

The members of the band mostly just call it jazz, or "hot music," or, when they're feeling naughty, "race music" -- a term that dates back to the1920s and '30s, when major record labels released jump blues and hot jazz singles under special subsidiary imprints with names like Okeh and Sepiatone. It's music that doesn't really have a name... Read More

Tellin' Stories
Artist: The Charlatans UK
Community Score: 7.40

The Charlatans made a surprising comeback in 1995, turning in an eponymous album that earned them their best reviews and sales ever. Tellin' Stories, the follow-up to The Charlatans, should have been triumphant, but tragedy struck midway through its recording, when keyboardist Rob Collins was killed in a car accident. Collins was an integral... Read More

Hot
Artist: Squirrel Nut Zippers
Community Score: 7.00

Squirrel Nut Zippers' second album, Hot, was one of the most surprising success stories of 1997. Like the group's debut, The Inevitable, Hot is comprised entirely of good-natured, if slightly tongue-in-cheek, postmodern big-band music. The band has nailed the sound of jump blues and swinging jazz, and if the Zippers don't have the chops of real... Read More

100% Colombian
Artist: Fun Lovin' Criminals
Community Score: 8.20

Fun Lovin' Criminals got a lot of mileage out of their Scorsese-meets-Beasties-meets-Reservoir Dogs shtick on their first full-length album, Come Find Yourself. Their stoned, funky grooves brought them an MTV hit in America and, inexplicably, critical acclaim in the U.K., where their New York attitude came across as...well, not genuine, but at... Read More