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Urban75 Album of the Year 1994

Big year for a new style of female RnB...Aaliyah's classic debut, Mary j Blige My Life, TLC Crazy Sex Cool, Zhane....lyrically I think the best of them is the self-named Brandy debut though for instrumentals and overall feel its Aaliyah I would say.

I've always felt a bit uncomfortable about some of the sexual lyrics on these records ... have they been written (and produced and styled etc) by men for these young women to sing? Saw a comment on the Aaliyah that “Age Ain't Nothing But A Number was written and produced by R Kelly specially for Aaliyah.“ which confirms my worst fears
 
stethoscope said:
4 Hero - Parallel Universe still doesnt get the props it deserves for jungle/early d'n'b experiementalism - its lead track...

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Phenomenal output from 4 Hero guys...this Parallel Universe album, Marc Mac did the deep techno album as Nu-Era – Beyond Gravity, 12 jungle tracks across 3 eps as Tom & Jerry including the two anthem of anthems Air Freshner and Maximum Style, two EPs as Cold Mission, two Tek 9 EPs...oh and running the mighty Reinfroced Records label on top. There should be a statue of them in Dollis Hill
 
I've got through this much of my life without really learning anything about Guided by Voices, but apparently they did Bee Thousand in 1994, should I choose this moment to start listening to Guided by Voices?
 
ska invita said:
Phenomenal output from 4 Hero guys...this Parallel Universe album, Marc Mac did the deep techno album as Nu-Era – Beyond Gravity, 12 jungle tracks across 3 eps as Tom & Jerry including the two anthem of anthems Air Freshner and Maximum Style, two EPs as Cold Mission, two Tek 9 EPs...oh and running the mighty Reinfroced Records label on top. There should be a statue of them in Dollis Hill
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If they'd put out a Tom & Jerry album in 94, and not just twelves, you know it would be in my top ten :D

 
hitmouse said:
I should really get around to giving Illmatic another go, I remember listening to it years and years back and thinking "has a few OK tunes but it's basically just fucking jazz". Which may not be a completely fair or accurate summary.
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Think I might've been right the first time actually, the rapping's decent but the production just seems a million miles less exciting than something like Wu-Tang or Mobb Deep. Do people really like the beats on Illmatic? Is it like easy-listening rap for when you want to go to sleep?
 
ska invita said:
Big year for a new style of female RnB...Aaliyah's classic debut, Mary j Blige My Life, TLC Crazy Sex Cool, Zhane....lyrically I think the best of them is the self-named Brandy debut though for instrumentals and overall feel its Aaliyah I would say.

I've always felt a bit uncomfortable about some of the sexual lyrics on these records ... have they been written (and produced and styled etc) by men for these young women to sing? Saw a comment on the Aaliyah that “Age Ain't Nothing But A Number was written and produced by R Kelly specially for Aaliyah.“ which confirms my worst fears
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Ah, thanks for reminding me of CrazySexyCool.
 
Infectious Grooves had an album out! As did Offspring, Johnny Cash, Frank Black, FSOL, Suicidal Tendencies, Marilyn Manson, Machine Head, Luscious Jackson, Veruca Salt, Ween, Slayer, Cranberries, The Coup, Korn, The Black Crowes, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Weezer, Green Day, Pavement, Beck, Underworld, and so much more!

How am I going to get this down to 20? No idea.
 
hitmouse said:
I've got through this much of my life without really learning anything about Guided by Voices, but apparently they did Bee Thousand in 1994, should I choose this moment to start listening to Guided by Voices?
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Very prolific band which despite several attempts I've never got into. Ok, but nothing to write home about. Be Thousand is one of the better albums.
 
hitmouse said:
Think I might've been right the first time actually, the rapping's decent but the production just seems a million miles less exciting than something like Wu-Tang or Mobb Deep. Do people really like the beats on Illmatic? Is it like easy-listening rap for when you want to go to sleep?
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It's one of those records I can't really separate from my the time and place when I first heard it. To me it sounds perfect, one of the handful of hip-hop records I measure everything else against and think, yeah that's just not as good is it?

Wu-Tang on the other hand I never really got.
 
The39thStep said:
Very prolific band which despite several attempts I've never got into. Ok, but nothing to write home about. Be Thousand is one of the better albums.
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Actually re-listening to two thirds of it , its actually good . Totally barmy in places and sounds like a sprawling collection of demos but yup its definitely worth a listen.
 
hitmouse said:
Think I might've been right the first time actually, the rapping's decent but the production just seems a million miles less exciting than something like Wu-Tang or Mobb Deep. Do people really like the beats on Illmatic? Is it like easy-listening rap for when you want to go to sleep?
Click to expand...
Ive never got my head around how famous this album has become...to me its an underground hip hop album with very little crossover appeal....very blunt smoking boombap with tough NY lyrics..... an album for heads.... I think its one whose reputation grew over time from hardcore hiphop fans rather than for dazzling a wide audience right off.... There is a purity about it

the fact its made it as one of about ten rap albums in the US "Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry" is pretty mindblowing to me!

I do like the beats though, sparse but come alive played loud...Premier, Large Professor and Pete Rock, thats a strong pedigree of producers... I dont find it in anyway easy listening though

From 94 I prefer Jeru's Sun Rises
 
ska invita said:
Ive never got my head around how famous this album has become...to me its an underground hip hop album with very little crossover appeal....very blunt smoking boombap with tough NY lyrics..... an album for heads.... I think its one whose reputation grew over time from hardcore hiphop fans rather than for dazzling a wide audience right off.... There is a purity about it

the fact its made it as one of about ten rap albums in the US "Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry" is pretty mindblowing to me!

I do like the beats though, sparse but come alive played loud...Premier, Large Professor and Pete Rock, thats a strong pedigree of producers... I dont find it in anyway easy listening though

From 94 I prefer Jeru's Sun Rises
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Yeah, I'll give it a few more goes cos I'm sure there must be a reason why it has the rep it has, it just sounds a bit too Horlicks for me.

Also on a related note, just learned that the first MOP album, To the Death, was 94, and Onyx did Bacdafucup in 1993 but it managed to not get a single mention on that year's thread.
 
Listening to the Sonic Youth album, it's not too bad. I'm now realising that, without having any solid grounds for this at all, I'd just sort of assumed that everything after Goo was probably boring but I quite like it. Crazy that they got in the top 10 with this but not Goo though.
 
ska invita said:
Big year for a new style of female RnB...Aaliyah's classic debut, Mary j Blige My Life, TLC Crazy Sex Cool, Zhane....lyrically I think the best of them is the self-named Brandy debut though for instrumentals and overall feel its Aaliyah I would say.
Click to expand...
Yeah, adding Hip Hop and New Jack Swing beats to the Whitney soul formula, building on Mary J Blige's success with What's the 411? in '92.

Also setting the formula for RnB albums for years to come of a couple of bangers, some middling tracks and some syrupy ballads that are so bad they make me wonder why I ever thought it was a good idea to listen to the album in the first place.

CrazySexyCool is my RnB album of the year.

ska invita said:
I've always felt a bit uncomfortable about some of the sexual lyrics on these records ... have they been written (and produced and styled etc) by men for these young women to sing? Saw a comment on the Aaliyah that “Age Ain't Nothing But A Number was written and produced by R Kelly specially for Aaliyah.“ which confirms my worst fears
Click to expand...
Considering what happened to Aaliyah you're right to be uncomfortable :( In '94 15 year old Aaliyah was illegally married to 27 year old R Kelly, allegedly because she was pregnant. She was Jane Doe #1 at Kelly's child sex abuse trial.

Brandy was only 14 when she recorded her debut album.

TLC had writing credits on some of the tracks on their album. 94 was also the year Lisa Left Eye burnt down her football player boyfriend's mansion after he assaulted her.
 
Relistening to some albums I loved in the past and they're sounding dated....by contrast this I wouldnt have liked much at the time, but it sounds fresh off the boat to me today - if you told me it was brand new Id believe it
experimental moody techno biz>I recognise his name but have never listened before....
"Collects the best material from his earlier "Deep Sleep," "Pneuma," and "Tangled Notes" 1993 EPs for R&S and adds three new tracks"

worth playing from track 1 - bandcamp starts it in the middle

and same year he also puts out this album on a different label (Sublime Records)– Reference To Difference

I prefer the R&S stuff personally, its cold and classy
 
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On the 1964 thread I marked the demise of surf music, but the soundtrack of Pulp Fiction in 1994 marked the start of a surf revival in the mid/late 90s.

Already up and running, however, were Man... Or Astro-Man? with their mix of 60s sci-fi samples and surf rock. They released 2 records in '94. The 10" (does that make it an EP?) Your Weight on the Moon:



and the full-length (is it a compilation as all the tracks were released on 7" in '93?) Destroy All Astromen:

 
ska invita said:
The first Fugees album before they became famous...played this a lot in 94 but its pretty dated now, production was a bit basic...one track I still love is the Lauryn Hill solo rap track Some Seek Stardom, killer lyrics and flow

the production got better on later Fugees but the lyrics were great on this one

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ive owned this album on vinyl for 30 years, played it countless time, but never noticed this on the front even though its a quarter of the cover
.... its an interesting band logo for sure :D
ooh la la la
lol wtf.png

and it was their logo

logo yo.png
 
ska invita said:
interesting list of "underrated" guitar based albums here which might appeal to some
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Ooh yes - Lisa Germano, Moonshake, Liz Phair :oldthumbsup:

Can't believe I missed off ‘Anarchy’, but whilst I like it, it doesn't have the connection for me that the LPs immediately before and after do.

ska invita said:
run down with comments on the rap albums
hiphopgoldenage.com

Top 40 Hip Hop Albums 1994

Top 40 Hip Hop Albums 1994: The best Hip Hop albums from 1994 according to HHGA. Check out the full list now!
hiphopgoldenage.com hiphopgoldenage.com
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DJ Krush and Paris, please :cool:

ska invita said:
and a punk album list here
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Samiam, of course!
 
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ska invita said:
interesting list of "underrated" guitar based albums here which might appeal to some

run down with comments on the rap albums
hiphopgoldenage.com

Top 40 Hip Hop Albums 1994

Top 40 Hip Hop Albums 1994: The best Hip Hop albums from 1994 according to HHGA. Check out the full list now!
hiphopgoldenage.com hiphopgoldenage.com

and a punk album list here
Click to expand...
Almost impressive that PE had an album out then that no-one's mentioned so far, never listened to it but I got the impression there was a real fall-off after Apocalypse 91. Or maybe it's just gone unmentioned because no-one wanted to be the first to write "Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age" on this thread.
The Coup album (which has a genuinely great name) is one to add to the long list of 1994 albums that would be worth investigating if I had the time, along with the Gang Starr one, which I mostly know of from a song where Killer Mike rhymes the title with "orange".
Probably not the best hiphop album of the year, and doesn't even get a mention on that list, but for anyone wondering what Michael Franti was doing in 1994, Home by Spearhead is one of the few 94 albums I have on CD. It's pretty different to the music Franti was making two years earlier.
 
ska invita said:
and Aphex Twins own only released in 10 copies Caustic Window LP, which Ive never heard before....going to give this a listen
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well this has been a revelation - love it - this is the kind of Aphex material i like - not glitchy, with proper loops and drums and riffs. Now I think about it I did hear it when it got a proper released in 2014 but have completely forgotten about it since.
Still dont like Ambient Works Vol 2 (boring tbh).
and as an aside I saw a comment saying if you like the more Caustic Window style of RDJ to check out this under a pseudonym little known album from 2007, which I'm enjoying too having just put it on
 
ska invita said:
ive owned this album on vinyl for 30 years, played it countless time, but never noticed this on the front even though its a quarter of the cover
.... its an interesting band logo for sure :D
ooh la la la
View attachment 442141

and it was their logo

View attachment 442142
Click to expand...
Just saw that theres Fugees/Lauryn Hill tickets /gigs in October -
Oct
09

Cardiff​

Utilita Arena Cardiff​

Tickets
Oct
12

Manchester​

Co-op Live​

Tickets
Oct
14

London​

The O2​

Tickets

£150 cheapest tickets so fuck that shit
wouldve liked to go tbh but no way
 
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