Back to Basics
Artist: Billy Bragg

After Elektra signed Billy Bragg to his first major-label deal and released Talking With the Taxman About Poetry in 1986, the label decided to do a clean-up job on his back catalog and compiled Back to Basics, which combined the material from Bragg's first three records -- Life's a Riot With Spy vs Spy, Brewing Up With Billy Bragg, and Between... Read More

Ani DiFranco
Artist: Ani DiFranco
Community Score: 9.66

"I am a work in progress," appropriately announces Ani DiFranco on her debut album. Though her lyrics have the rambling style of free-form poetry and she sounds like she learned her spare, percussive style of guitar playing by listening to Suzanne Vega albums, she defines a distinct persona, that of a self-possessed, assertive woman in a tough,... Read More

Truth and Soul
Artist: Fishbone
Community Score: 8.25

By 1988, alternative/college rock was becoming a recognizable force in the mainstream. Several bands were big enough to play arenas, and many even earned gold and platinum albums. The tide was clearly changing for such previously misunderstood bands such as Fishbone. Their second full-length release Truth and Soul was issued that year, and... Read More

1984-1989
Artist: Lloyd Cole & The Commotions

The lush, facile simplicity of Lloyd Cole's music is brimmed with cushioned harmonies and soft-spoken choruses, and more often than not deals with the complexity of love. Accompanied by the bright jangle of guitar that's hitched to palatable pop tempos, his work with backup band the Commotions produced a number of melody-ridden songs that are... Read More

Fabulous Sounds of the Pacific Northwest/Topsy Turvy
Artist: The Young Fresh Fellows

This two-fer assembles the Young Fresh Fellows' first two LPs; The Fabulous Sounds of the Northwest is a good indication of things to come thanks to such tongue-in-cheek tracks as "Teenage Dogs in Trouble" and "Rock & Roll Pest Control," while Topsy Turvy continues the tradition with "You've Got Your Head on Backwards" and "The New John Agar." ~... Read More

Fisherman's Blues
Artist: The Waterboys

Mike Scott had been pursuing his grandiose "big music" since he founded the Waterboys, so it came as a shock when he scaled back the group's sound for the Irish and English folk of Fisherman's Blues. Although the arena-rock influences have been toned down, Scott's vision is no less sweeping or romantic, making even the simplest songs on... Read More

In My Tribe
Artist: 10,000 Maniacs
Community Score: 7.38

10,000 Maniacs's breakthrough album and creative high point, In My Tribe offers a survey of social concerns, including child abuse ("What's the Matter Here"), illiteracy ("Cherry Tree"), war ("Gun Shy"), and the environment ("Campfire Song") -- all tackled subtly and tastefully without too much preaching or pretension and in believable,... Read More

Mosquitos
Artist: Stan Ridgway

Ridgway is as much a storyteller as a songwriter, and the stories are wildly imaginative on this album. The sometimes exotic musical settings effectively evoke the literary landscapes Ridgway's near-spoken vocals describe. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide Read More

Workbook
Artist: Bob Mould
Community Score: 10.00

Arriving after years of sonic bombast in Hüsker Dü, the reflective, acoustic nature of Bob Mould's first solo album, Workbook, was a bold statement of renewal. Like all of Mould's work, it's an intensely introspective record, finding him purging demons left over from the dissolution of Hüsker Dü. Instead of relying on raging guitars, Mould... Read More

Let It Be
Artist: Laibach
Community Score: 7.80

Probably the band's most famous release in the English-speaking world, Laibach's Let It Be -- unlike the Replacements' album -- didn't just name itself after the Beatles' swan song, it full-on covered every last bit of it, with the notable exception of the title track ("Maggie Mae" gets a Slovenian folk tune substituted for it). Having spent... Read More

Here Comes the Groom
Artist: John Wesley Harding
Community Score: 4.00

His second album has him working in the studio with a band called the Good Liars, including Pete Thomas, and Bruce Thomas of the Attractions. Not surprisingly, Here Comes the Groom has a feel similar to classic Elvis Costello. Harding's articulate and biting vocal delivery, also reminiscent of Costello, retains a good dark sense of humor. ~... Read More

It Happened One Night
Artist: John Wesley Harding

This solo acoustic outing, recorded live in England in 1988, seems like an odd choice for a debut, but it comes off very well. Capturing both John Wesley Harding's folk roots and a wonderful sense of humor, It Happened One Night gives a very representative picture of the singer/songwriter. Included are early versions of songs appearing on the... Read More

You Happy Puppet
Artist: 10,000 Maniacs
Community Score: 6.00