Double Bummer
Artist: Bongwater

Beginning an album career with an utterly schizophrenic double album that ran the gamut from reinterpretations of Led Zeppelin songs with Chinese lyrics to such zingily titled rants as "David Bowie Wants Ideas" might not seem like the most sane approach. Then again, Bongwater were one insane group. Kramer and Magnuson's screwy take on art rock á... Read More

I Want Your (Hands on Me)
Artist: Sinéad O'Connor
Succumbs
Artist: R.E.M.
Now That's What I Call Quite Good!
Artist: The Housemartins
Community Score: 8.00

Gathering singles, B-sides, BBC sessions, and key album cuts from all chapters of the Housemartins' brief but brilliant career, the posthumous Now That's What I Call Quite Good! is both a glowing greatest-hits package and an odds-and-ends clearinghouse -- a fitting epitaph for a band which thrived on contradictions in consistently pitting the... Read More

Let It Bee
Artist: Voice of the Beehive

Let It Bee is a simple album about moons, barbarians, love, and babies, performed with the high-spirited glow that one's little sister would enjoy. Think the art school camp of Tom Tom Club or the gooey dignity of ABBA and the Primitives in a sparser context. But if sisters Tracey Byrn and Melissa Brooke Belland could make one feel like they're... Read More

Guilt Regret Embarrassment
Artist: Treepeople
Community Score: 10.00

Combining elements of Hüsker Dü-esque power pop and hints of grunge, without going overboard on sounding metal, is what gives Treepeople their unique sound. Fuzzy dueling guitars and tortured lyrics accompany Guilt Regret Embarrassment from the second "No Doubt" hits the speakers all the way to the final track, "Trailer Park," making this... Read More

Vermillion
Artist: The Three O'Clock

It's said that Prince signed the Three O'Clock to his Paisley Park label after they were dropped by IRS having never heard a note of their music but knowing that they were friends of the Bangles, for whom he had previously written "Manic Monday." It seems like the Three O'Clock's paisley underground pop would have been a perfect fit for Prince's... Read More

Post-Mersh, Vol. 3
Artist: Minutemen

The third and final volume of Post-Mersh crams an extraordinary amount of music on one-disc, compiling the EPs Paranoid Time (1980), Bean-Spill (1982), and Tour-Spiel (1985), the 1981 "Joy" single, and the 1984 rarities and outtakes collection The Politics of Time. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide Read More

Cloudcuckooland
Artist: The Lightning Seeds
Community Score: 10.00

Taking what he learned from his days in Big in Japan and his '80s production work with A-listers Echo & the Bunnymen, Ian Broudie created the Lightning Seeds project to better serve his cravings for shameless, lush pop. Even in these early days, with singles like "Pure" and "All I Want," you can hear why comparisons to a less burlesque Pet Shop... 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

Today
Artist: Galaxie 500
Community Score: 6.00

Galaxie 500's debut doesn't merely live up to the sweet promise of the band's debut single "Tugboat," Today's final song, but almost without trying becomes its own gently powerful touchstone. While the influences are clear -- third album Velvet Underground, early non-dance New Order, psychedelic haze and fuzz thanks to the reverb Kramer piled on... Read More

Tender Pervert
Artist: Momus
Community Score: 10.00

Tender Pervert is the first great Momus album, thanks to a newfound affinity for synth-pop and songcraft, not to mention his sudden discovery of irony. It's hard to say which is more important to the overall effect. The lush, electro-acoustic arrangements provide a platform for Momus' increasing production acumen, and the rambling song-poems of... Read More