Number One Australian Albums 1990-1999

Friday, November 19, 2021

Thursday, November 18, 2021

1999

Celine Dion - All the Way... A Decade of Song

This might not be a popular opinion, but maybe Celine Dion is the artist of the decade? There’s as case to be made as to why she should be considered. She certainly sold quite a few albums.

We started off the decade with Jive Bunny and ended up with Celine. Maybe that tells you everything you need to know about the 1990s.

Yes, along the way there were some really “cool” bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, You Am I, Powderfinger etc etc… but equally there was more than a fair share of mindless dance pop (Aqua, Blackbox) a lot of movie sound tracks and a surprising small number of hip-hop and boybands that made it to number one.

The top three selling artists were female (Celine, Shania and Alanis) and there’s not a grunge act in the top 10. So maybe the received wisdom about the 90s being wall to wall grunge needs a revisit…

Metallica - S&M

This is such a cliché. A band who wants to get serious hires an orchestra and plays their songs. It should make perfect sense – the power of an orchestra is a magnificent thing to behold. Adding electric guitars and loud drums should be a match made in heaven. It very rarely works. This album is good, but it might be a case of too much of a good thing. Metallica are powerful enough on their own. The don’t really need any additional support.

Korn - Issues

Another Korn album. I think I’ve already covered them.

Wednesday, November 17, 2021

Savage Garden - Affirmation

Where the previous Savage Garden album had its charms, this feels like it is everything the critics said was bad about that album. It feels a bit too calculated (I Knew I Loved You, is a straight rip off of Truly, Madly, Deeply for instance). I know that this is a bit to “muso” for a general review, but I feel that there are some good ideas on this album and if they had chosen a more cutting edge producer they might have drawn these ideas out. Instead they have Mariah Carey’s producer. So, the album has a nice pop sheen to it. But it could have done with a few more rough edges.

Taxiride - Imaginate

This feels like a boyband, but with guitars. I’m not sure that’s a compliment. Maybe a better description would be Bryan Adams crossed with a boyband. Again, not really a compliment. The melodies are strong, but there’s not a lot of substance here. It feels like a sugar rush. Soon forgotten.

Live - The Distance to Here

“Let’s go hang out in a church. We’ll go find lurch”. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Would someone really write a lyric that bad? I distinctly remember walking into a music shop (remember them?) and looking at the lyric book to see if that was right. Reader, it was…That lyric isn’t on this album. But it’s so bad that I can’t forget it, no matter how hard I try.

I’m not a fan of this album, but while we consider bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam to be the standard bearers of 90s rock, bands like Live and Matchbox 20 have sold more than their fair share of records. This album went twice platinum in Australia, so a lot of people like them.

Tuesday, November 16, 2021

Jamiroquai - Synkronized

Perennially groovy. Jamiroquai are referred to as Acid Jazz (nope, me either). For me, they take a bit of disco, a bit of funk, some electronic and dance music and put it all together. I have to say that it’s nice to have a band at number one that has a bit of a groove to it. Jamiroquai have a number of really great songs (Cosmic Girl, Virtual Insanity for starters). Synkronized features both Deeper Underground and Canned Heat. This album feels effortless, but in a good way.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication

I feel that the Red Hot Chili Peppers should only exist when John Fruisciante is in the band. The guitarist has come and gone at various points in their career and his presence lifts the band. Or more accurately, his absence is keenly felt on the albums when someone else replaces him. I think this is the Red Hot Chili Peppers best album. It is the point where they start to focus some of the rougher edges into proper songs, but without losing what makes them unique. This album features tracks like Scar Tissue, Parallel Universe and Around the World. It elevated them to become stadium fillers. Rightly so.

Songs from Dawson's Creek

Did you know that the theme song from Dawson’s Creek was replaced when the show was put onto Netflix? For me that’s almost criminal. The song “I Don’t Wanna Wait” is so evocative of the show, but for some reason they didn’t have the streaming rights. I can’t imagine a whole generation of people watching the show and not having that song set up each episode. It just feels wrong.

Human Nature - Counting Down

It’s surprising that more boybands don’t feature on this list. The late 90s and early 2000s were really the era of boybands. Human Nature were Australia’s version of a boyband. I guess they were OK if you like that kind of thing.

Ricky Martin - Ricky Martin

You might not like Ricky Martin. I might not like Ricky Martin. But Livin La Vida Loca is undeniably catchy. Also, isn’t it nice to have a bit of a Latin influence in the charts? Having said that, there’s no doubt that Shake Your Bon Bon is taking things too far.

Bee Gees - One Night Only

This is a band that is so good that two countries lay claim to them. The UK (Manchester and the Isle of Man) and Australia (Brisbane) both have solid claims. You can see why though. This is a band that has weathered the storms of being so unfashionable that it hurts, to now having (in Barry Gibb) someone who is considered one of the greatest songwriters of all time.

It’s quite ridiculous how many great songs that Barry Gibb wrote. From his own hits (Tragedy, Staying Alive, You Should Be Dancing, Jive Talking) to Islands in the Stream (yes, the Dolly and Kenny song), to Grease. Yes, even Grease. The man knows how to write a song and most of them are on this album.

Sunday, November 14, 2021

Silverchair - Neon Ballroom

Knowing what comes next (the brilliant Diorama) it is easy to see this as a stepping stone from the Silverchair of old to a more varied body of work that eventually saw Daniel Johns disband his own group and walk his own path. Diorama is a complex and layered album. It has strings and keyboards and unusual song structures. It is a million miles away from Frogstomp and Freak Show. Diorama was released in 2002 so is out of scope of these reviews. Neon Ballroom has songs like Emotional Sickness and Paint Pastel Princess which point in the direction that Daniel Johns was about to head in. These songs are layered and feature lush production, which are at odds with the loud guitars of the other tracks.

Perhaps the most revealing song on the album is Ana’s Song. A song about anorexia. Daniel Johns has admitted that there were so many things in his life that he couldn’t control, what he ate (or didn’t eat) was something he could. Of course, no one really took this seriously at the time. What more could he do? He wrote a freaking song about it!!! But I think the pressure of him being a Cash Cow for so many people made them ignore that he really needed help. Looking back now, you can’t help but feel for him. No wonder he retreated into his own world for the next album. And created a masterpiece.

Shania Twain - Come on Over

This album is the fourth best-selling album of all time in Australia. Only Meat Loaf, Abba and John Farnham sit above Shania on the list. I have to admit that I was expecting more from it. It’s a solid pop album, with some super catchy songs on it – specifically That Don’t Impress Me Much, Man I Feel Like A Woman and You’re Still The One. Aside from these three songs, I don’t have much to say. Which is a bit disappointing really. You’d expect more from an album that has sold 40 million copies.

The Offspring - Americana

Timing is everything. The Offspring released Pretty Fly for a White Guy (from this album) just before voting closed for the Triple J hottest 100 and it was catchy enough for it to land the number one spot. Suffice it to say that the song doesn’t have much staying power. The novelty wore off pretty quickly. But it also got the band a number one album – Americana – so what would I know?