Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

Raw power, no we're not talking about Iggy Pop, we're simply describing Rid Of Me by PJ Harvey. This is raw primal unadulterated raw primal power. This is a dirty gritty album, by design PJ has decided to make this album sound as earthy and real as possible, there is no studio sheen at work, this sounds like a band singing in your living room with tinny kick and scratchy guitar, even the jabbing and thrusting string arrangement on Man Sized Sextet sounds like it's being played right in front of you. In fact this is music that pins you in, you feel like you've been forced into the corner of the room by this evil ominous string orchestra while PJ Harvey sardonically screams or whispers in your ear. Lyrically this album is dark and destressing. It was written after a mental breakdown following the runaway (by indie standards) success of Dry. PJ's lyrics are maccabre and often about dark sex, your never quite sure if she wants to fuck or kill her boyfriends, hmmn...maybe both. The aforementioned Man Sized Sextet has some glorious insideious lyricism "I'm Coming Up Man Sized / Skinned Alive / I Want To Fit...Got My Girl And She's A Wow / I Cast My Iron Knickers Down / Man-sized No Need To Shout". Everything is delivered with a psychotic fragility whether it's a desperate howl or shredding scream. Music the album is reminiscant of The Pixies with crunching dark riffs which are suprisingly subversive combined with PJ Harvey's surpisingly accesibly hooks. So what we have is one of the most raw, most primal, raged filled, sex filled, sardonic albums of all time, PJ Harvey proved (as if she needed to) that's she's more hardcore than any metal band.

Having throughly proved that they were the greatest Thrash band in the universe it was time to makes sure everyone and their mother knew who Metallica were. Their self titled fifth, which would become dubbed The Black Album, was some kind of monster. It was huge in scope and ambition. Metallica wrote songs that would fill stadiums from now until the afterlife. The first and most obvious change was that big sweeping balladry was in. Unlike Guns and Roses this was not to be gloriously cheesey I love you baby balladry this was going to be deep dark occasionally serious and often quite silly meloncholy balladry. Two new superballads were created both with suitably epic riffs Nothing Else Matters and Unforgiven unfortunately the latter would spawn some hideously lame offsrpring. Nothing Else Matters will always be the better of the two, as the sentiment is more honest and straight forward rather than being wrapped in depressed metal moodiness. Of course this is also the album that had Metallica's biggest and most obvious pop songs to date, Enter Sandman which will always be the noobs anthem as will Sad But True. Elsewhere Metallica showed they could still trash Hollier Than Thou still kicks but it's all matched by huge sweeping stadium sized vocals. There is certainly a noticable decline in the amount of soloing going on, which is no bad thing as on balance most of the songs here are arranged excellently, however it would unfortunately lead us to Load and Reload. So Metallica had concured the mainstream with what seemed until recently to be their last great album, quite the achievement in deed.

It still makes me laugh that Dummy managed to beat Definitely Maybe to the 1994 Mercury Music Prize. Now not because Dummy didn't deserve it, it was by far and away the more interesting album musically, I just enjoy watching Oasis be put in their place. Now as good as Massive Attack were, and they were damn good, Dummy and Portishead will always been the definitive trip hop album and quite possible the decades most beautiful album, certainly it's most haunting. The minute Mysterions kicked in you knew you'd bought something very special indeed. There would be glorious big open arrangements, with somehow ominous creeping basslines, the ghostly tangs of guitar and some challenging scrathes and coos. The music was all centred around Beth Gibbons gorgeous voice, which steals the show on the sublime Sour Times a wonderous pieces of music that floats effortlessly from place to place before leading to Beth's gorgeously saddening endnote "Nobody Loves Me / It's True". Dummy is full of suprises, on the staggering Strangers Gibbons sings as if through an old sixties tv set faintly before a big wave of buzzing synths come swooping and Beth's voice powers through, the track meanders where it wishes before the big fuzzy bassline and the imposing beep beep beep come back, the track gets denser adding layer after layer with Beth as the one consistant anchor. Dummy is full of deep dense and glorious tracks each as rich as the last. An album that still manages to fascinate fourteen years after it's birth.

Hum the riff from Smells Like Teen Spirit practically anywhere where men are gathered and you can start some spontantious air guitar and goofy moshing. That is how engrained into popular culture that song and this album are. When I go out to a lame cheese club that play Take That and the Black Eyed Peas they will always at some stage in the evening wheel out Smells Like... normally after either Basket Case or Song 2. Not in Curt's wildest nightmares could he have ever imagined this kind of success. Nevermind was just so bloody successful it's still the Holy Bible to Kerrang readers. While many may know I have major gripes with this album and think it's wildly overated critically, I would never deny it's cultural impact or it's importance to music history. US music scene would be unfathomable with out this record. It's simply one of the finest pop records of any generation, it all fits together so well, after Smells...the thundering drum line of In Bloom kicks in before THE bassline of all baselines kicks in on Come As You Are. Of course other than being stacked with all the obvious singles the album has plenty of depth; Breed kicks like and mule and is a grate bouncy pop rocker, Polly is brilliant cynical sardonic balladry and of course Lounge Act is a hidden pop gem that could easily be a Foo Fighters single. So all in all you have eight A grade awesome tracks surrounded by solid cobbled together filler but it doesn't matter because this album has become more important than life itself.

Bjork can make a really really strong case for being the greatest artist of the 90s, sure Radiohead were amazing as were Blur, but few artist put out three albums as unique and mind blowingly brilliant as Debut, Homogenic and Post. Post is special in that not only is it gloriously beautiful, it was remarkably successful and actually gave Bjork a top ten hit. More staggering the UK absolutely fell in love with Bjork both critically and commercially because after Army Of Me reached number 10 in the charts, Oh So Quiet managed to force its way to number 4 and the gorgeous Hyperballad reached number 8. This was quite frankly Bjork's pop album, it sounds funny saying that because it's so not Bjork but this album spawn five top 25 singles! You couldn't imagine that today even with all our diversity. I don't mean to dwell on the singles but it makes the point that this album is darn likeable. Normally a Bjork album is beautiful, but you have to unravell it become aquainted before its secrets are revealed but Post hooked you from the opening stomp of Army Of Me. It was so glorious to hear Oh So Quiet because even though it was a novelty all singing all dancing show tune, practically caberet you couldn't help but fall in love with it's pure sentiment, it's the ultimate charm offensive, you try to roll your eyes but you can't because it's so much fucking fun. Don't worry this is no collection of singles, stand out tracks are oozing from every corner of the record The Modern Things is a beautiful ballad and it's every bit as excellent as the evil industrial crunch of Enjoy. Afterakk it's Bjork what did you expect even her pop album is endless creative reaching out in every which dirrection and effortless succeeding. By the end you'll have fallen in love ZING! BOOM!