My Nation Underground
Artist: Julian Cope
Community Score: 6.50

Recruiting another key sideman, percussionist Rooster Cosby, Cope approached an album that, by the end of recording, he was on the verge of disowning. Inspired moments aside, one can understand why: My Nation Underground has just about everything going for it (good sound, neat cover, some sharp songs) except for Cope's own vision. That he... Read More

Dark Adapted Eye
Artist: Danielle Dax
Community Score: 8.50

While Dark Adapted Eye is really just an expanded edition of Inky Bloaters for the American market -- minus one track from the original but with a slew of other cuts from other sources -- it does give the best possible case around for Danielle Dax' sometimes harrowing, often surprising art. The emphasis is certainly on her later stabs at... Read More

The Mekons Honky Tonkin'
Artist: The Mekons

The third album from what could be called the Mekons' "soused socialist hillbilly-punks from Leeds" period, 1987's Honky Tonkin' built on the country-influenced musical and lyrical themes of Fear and Whiskey and The Edge of the World, where the boozy ambience of classic Nashville sounds found a sympathetic ear among this pack of political and... Read More

Escape from Noise
Artist: Negativland
Community Score: 6.50

While the sound collage of Negativland's first three studio albums pointed in the band's ultimate direction, they were really rough sketches compared to Escape From Noise. Escape is a full-on audio assault, more musical than ever, but with tight and well-constructed sound sections thrown in. Instead of simply a collection of sounds and snippets,... Read More

Substance
Artist: New Order
Community Score: 8.31

Substance is a double-disc set collecting New Order's singles, including several songs that were never available on the group's albums, at least in these versions. While there are a couple of re-recordings of earlier singles, most of Substance consists of 12" single mixes designed for danceclub play. Arguably, these 12" mixes represent New... Read More

Nonentity (Water III: Fan Black Dada)
Artist: Zoogz Rift

The cover photo of Zoogz Rift looking pensively through tree branches might lead you to wonder if the famously angry and eccentric guitarist had released a sensitive, low-key album. The surprising answer is yes, he did -- at least, by his standards. Throughout Nonentity, Rift sings in a more relaxed, conventional style than at any other point in... Read More

Substance
Artist: New Order
Skellington
Artist: Julian Cope

Near the end of the '80s, according to his second autobiography, Repossessed, Cope was signed up to produce another band who, due to health reasons, cancelled a pre-booked, three-day studio session. With time and technology available, Cope seized the chance, called in his band (Skinner, DeHarrison, and Cosby), and, on the sly, recorded the... Read More

Interpreter
Artist: Julian Cope

What turned out to be the last Cope solo album (at least under his own name) of the '90s, before he embarked on a series of other musical projects along with continuing his archaeological research, was another wiggy, involved collection of musical highs. If anything can be said about Cope's activity in the mid-'90s, it's that he sounds like a... Read More