Happy Mondays - Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches : One of the defining bands of the "Madchester" (psychadelic dance-pop) scene during the Britpop era in the late-1980s/early-1990's. This album is a pop masterpiece which works as collage art...snatches of melody are lifted from a variety of sources (Patti LaBelle, The Beatles, etc), repurposed and slapped together into a weird and pretty compelling group of songs.
Favourite tracks: Loose Fit, Bob's Yer Uncle, Harmony
Honeybus - She Flies Like a Bird: The Anthology : A tour of an alternate history where the Beatles weren't the dominant pop force of the 1960s. Honeybus is one of the great, forgotten "what if?" stories. Contemporaries of the Beatles, early on, Honeybus was often seen by industry insiders as equivalent talents. Due to the fragile psyches of the band, they couldn't hold things together to create the focused studio albums and do the heavy touring necessary to become a superstar group. They did, however, release an amazing amount of quality singles, which are collected here. Peter Dello and Ray Cane were the song-writing tandem and the talent displayed doesn't make it hard to understand why they were once compared to McCartney and Lennon.
Favourite tracks: She Sold Blackpool Rock, Story, I Remember Caroline
Suede - Head Music : Not their best known album, but as a huge fan of theirs, I would say it is their best. Every track is great guitar-driven powerful pop music. It has swagger and is full of memorable hooks. There's not a lot more to say about it...just great, great music. Extremely addictive. "Everything Will Flow" and "Down" are two of the best songs I've ever heard.
Favourite tracks: Everything Will Flow, Down, Elephant Man
Caribou - Andorra : Gorgeous sonic confection. It's just layer upon layer of dreamy, shimmering melody. It's a bit like a combination of 1990s shoegaze and 1960s psychadelic pop. "Melody Day" is one of the most stunning pieces of music ever, and nearly every track approaches the level of that opener. It's obsess-worthy.
Favourite tracks: Melody Day, Desiree, Eli, Irene
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