Congregation
Artist: The Afghan Whigs
Community Score: 7.00

The grunge era's most overlooked masterpiece, Congregation was the Afghan Whigs' breakthrough album, an incendiary and insidious set which bridges the gap between the noisy aggression of the band's early releases and the soulful swagger of their later work. Slipping with ominous ease into the sinister, self-obsessed Lothario guise which would... Read More

Push
Artist: Gruntruck
Community Score: 10.00

On Push, Gruntruck's second album, the band discards some of its excessive Soundgarden influences and finds its own musical identity. Because of their vicious, sometimes atonal guitar riffage and sparing use of melody, the album only starts sinking in after numerous plays, but as is often the case in such situations, the listeners are ultimately... Read More

Pure Guava
Artist: Ween
Community Score: 7.80

By 1993's major label debut Pure Guava, Ween had distilled their unique mix of eclectic pop and crazed humor to its essence. GodWeenSatan: The Oneness and The Pod were fascinating, but occasionally frustrating albums; at 19 songs, Pure Guava is more polished and concise, but it's still sprawling and occasionally sick, featuring the fuzzed-out... Read More

It's a Shame About Ray
Artist: The Lemonheads
Community Score: 8.18

If Lovey captured Evan Dando as he found his signature blend of punk-pop, jangle pop, and folk-rock, It's a Shame About Ray is where he perfected that style. Breezing by in under half an hour, the album is a simple collection of sunny melodies and hooks, delivered with typical nonchalance by Dando. None of the songs are about anything major, nor... Read More

Cracker
Artist: Cracker
Community Score: 5.33

Apart from David Lowery's tendency to slip in some smug, self-serving lyrics, Cracker's debut is a terrific rock & roll record, full of energetic three-chord bashers and surprisingly moving ballads. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide Read More

Flop and the Fall of the Mopsqueezer!
Artist: Flop

More than most outside the city would have realized in the early '90s, Seattle's music scene was all over the place, as this delightfully brash and fun debut album shows. Like a more punk-edged Cheap Trick (though certainly Willoughby can't measure up to Robin Zander's amazing pipes, but has a good set of his own), Flop takes pop hooks and loud... Read More

Ferment
Artist: Catherine Wheel
Community Score: 7.38

Centered around re-recorded versions of four songs from the band's two Wilde Club singles and the seven minute lovelorn "Black Metallic" - which was referred to as the "Like a Hurricane" of the ‘90s - the deeply rich Ferment firmly established Catherine Wheel amongst the shoegaze contingent of the early ‘90s. The band would proceed to denounce... Read More

Reading, Writing and Arithmetic
Artist: The Sundays
Community Score: 9.20

The Sundays' debut album builds on the layered, ringing guitar hooks and unconventional pop melodies of the Smiths, adding more ethereal vocals and a stronger backbeat. As evidenced by the lilting, melancholy single "Here's Where the Story Ends," it's a winning combination, making Reading, Writing and Arithmetic a thoroughly engaging debut. ~... Read More

What Hits!?
Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Community Score: 7.06

After the Red Hot Chili Peppers left EMI for Warner Bros. and hit the big time with "Under the Bridge," their former label gathered most of the best tracks from the group's first four albums for the compilation What Hits!? Since Blood Sugar Sex Magik, the Peppers' most popular album, was recorded for Warner, none of its songs are present -- with... Read More

Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Community Score: 8.19

The Red Hot Chili Peppers' best album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik benefits immensely from Rick Rubin's production -- John Frusciante's guitar is less overpoweringly noisy, leaving room for differing textures and clearer lines, while the band overall is more focused and less indulgent, even if some of the grooves drag on too long. Lyrically, Anthony... Read More

The Reality of My Surroundings
Artist: Fishbone
Community Score: 8.33

When Fishbone's The Reality of My Surroundings was released in 1991, several critics went as far as comparing its all-encompassing brilliance to that of Sgt. Pepper's. While it may have been too high of a praise, Fishbone's third full-length album is indeed exceptional. Their preceding album, Truth and Soul, had been straightforward in its... Read More

Fossils
Artist: Dinosaur Jr.
Community Score: 8.50

A brief, eight-song compilation of the group's SST singles, Fossils effectively sums up the power and vision of Dinosaur Jr.'s early work. Not only does it contain the two masterpieces from You're Living All Over Me and Bug -- "Little Fury Things" and "Freak Scene," respectively -- but it also gathers several excellent B-sides, including... Read More

Satellites
Artist: Big Dish
No Ennui
Artist: Mrs. Fun