Scotch Sampler

scotchandcigar

scotchandcigar

arrogant bastard
Feb 13, 2009
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Here's a couple more "also ran's" before I get to my next artist.

Blind Melon's 1992 self-titled album had the song No Rain, plus other good stuff. They had a different sound that I appreciated.

Bush's '94 blockbuster album Sixteen Stone was full of hits, and was all over the radio for a good year. Maybe that's why I've tired of them.

Now onto today's favorite. Under the category of soft-voiced woman-fronted bands that rock, it doesn't get any better than the Boston based Blake Baby, Juliana Hatfield. She struck out on her own in '93, and scored hits with My Sister and Spin the Bottle - which got onto the Reality Bites soundtrack. But it was '95s Only Everything that I got hooked on. It was a perfect blend of her voice and lyrics, set over a wall of crunchy grunge guitars.

Here she is performing the opening track

Juliana Hatfield – What a Life (live)


One of many great tracks on the album
Juliana Hatfield – Dumb Fun


Here she is performing the highest charting song from the album. I'm not sure why half the band is half naked

Juliana Hatfield – Universal Heart-Beat (live on Conan)


Another rocker from the album
Juliana Hatfield – OK OK


And this one fits in the category of awesome closing tracks
Juliana Hatfield – You Blues


She had sort of a breakdown after releasing the album, so it was a while before she put out new material.
 
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sadchild

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scotchandcigar said:
Blind Melon's 1992 self-titled album had the song No Rain, plus other good stuff. They had a different sound that I appreciated.

Bush's '94 blockbuster album Sixteen Stone was full of hits, and was all over the radio for a good year. Maybe that's why I've tired of them.

Now onto today's favorite. Under the category of soft-voiced woman-fronted bands that rock, it doesn't get any better than the Boston based Blake Baby, Juliana Hatfield. She struck out on her own in '93, and scored hits with My Sister and Spin the Bottle
Click to expand...
Blind Melon, I only got into "No Rain" and "Tones Of Home". Oh and their cover of Schoolhouse Rock "Three Is The Magic Number" is great fun. I love Schoolhouse Rock.


I disliked the singles from Bush's first album (again I'm the minority for sure). The first song I heard from them that I thought was okay was "Greedy Fly", but the lyrics still turned me off. "Chemicals Between Us" is the first Bush song I went "Yeah I really like this!". Their 2020 song "The Kingdom" is good too.

Juliana: I remember "My Sister" but I had totally forgotten about "Spin The Bottle" - haven't heard it since the mid90s. Interesting time signature! And of course the line, "She's such a sucker, he don't wanna...." Cool to hear that one again after 2 1/2 decades!
 
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HecticArt

HecticArt

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scotchandcigar said:
Here's a couple more "also ran's" before I get to my next artist.

Blind Melon's 1992 self-titled album had the song No Rain, plus other good stuff. They had a different sound that I appreciated.

Bush's '94 blockbuster album Sixteen Stone was full of hits, and was all over the radio for a good year. Maybe that's why I've tired of them.

Now onto today's favorite. Under the category of soft-voiced woman-fronted bands that rock, it doesn't get any better than the Boston based Blake Baby, Juliana Hatfield. She struck out on her own in '93, and scored hits with My Sister and Spin the Bottle - which got onto the Reality Bites soundtrack. But it was '95s Only Everything that I got hooked on. It was a perfect blend of her voice and lyrics, set over a wall of crunchy grunge guitars.

Here she is performing the opening track

Juliana Hatfield – What a Life (live)


One of many great tracks on the album
Juliana Hatfield – Dumb Fun


Here she is performing the highest charting song from the album. I'm not sure why half the band is half naked

Juliana Hatfield – Universal Heart-Beat (live on Conan)


Another rocker from the album
Juliana Hatfield – OK OK


And this one fits in the category of awesome closing tracks
Juliana Hatfield – You Blues


She had sort of a breakdown after releasing the album, so it was a while before she put out new material.
Click to expand...
I wondered what happened to her.

Man, that Les Paul has to weight more than she did.
 
scotchandcigar

scotchandcigar

arrogant bastard
Feb 13, 2009
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Vacationland
Do you want more Boston based frontwomen who were big in the mid-90's? Well, OK. If you insist.

I won't keep detailing the year 1995 in my life, but I saw a lot of live music. A friend got tickets to see The Rentals (a Weezer side-project) at Mama Kin's on Lansdowne St. in Boston, which is a music hall opened by the band Aerosmith. It's one of those places that holds about 200 people, standing room only. And where you're standing is about 10 feet from the band.

One of the opening bands was Tracy Bonham, which I was excited about, because the song The One was on the radio, and she was a Berklee grad. That song would eventually make it onto their 1996 debut album, The Burden of Being Upright. But I'm hearing all the tracks on the album pre-release. One of the new songs was this hit, which went #1 on the modern rock charts

Tracy Bonham – Mother Mother (live on Conan)


She plays violin, guitar, and piano, and she's got a powerful voice. Here's some more music from the album

Tracy Bonham – Navy Bean


And here's the first song that got radio airplay (and a video)
Tracy Bonham – The One


And another one
Tracy Bonham – Sharks Can’t Sleep


Her next album release got delayed until 2000, and it failed to perform well. This very poppy song did pretty well with the video

Tracy Bonham – Behind Every Good Woman


Years later, she toured with Blue Man Group as an off stage singer.
 
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sadchild

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scotchandcigar said:
The Rentals
Click to expand...
"Oo-woo-hoo-hoo! If you're friends with P, then you're friends with me." Great song. Discovered it from a CMJ CD.
scotchandcigar said:
Mama Kin's on Lansdowne St. in Boston
Click to expand...
I'd seen shows at Avalon and Axis on Landsdowne but I didn't go to Mama Kin.
scotchandcigar said:
she toured with Blue Man Group as an off stage singer
Click to expand...
Yeah I'm surprised too!

My son gets a kick out of "Mother Mother". "EVERYTHING'S FIIIiIiiiiIINE!!" I liked it back in the day and thought "The One" was alright too.
 
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scotchandcigar

scotchandcigar

arrogant bastard
Feb 13, 2009
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Vacationland
We're reaching a few milestones here today.
1) We are done with 1995 (I counted 25 albums from that year in my list, in case @sadchild is interested).
2) This is the very last grunge-era band in my list.
3) This will probably be the 20th time that IRBS ignores my artist.

Now onto one of my favorite albums, the only release from the Swedish trio Salt (not to be confused with the current French band SALT). Their 1996 album is called Auscultate. It is, quite simply, perfection in grunge. I think all the bands decided that there was no sense trying to make a better album than this. The single US hit from the album, Bluster, made it to #21 on the modern rock chart. Other songs from the album got radio airplay on the alternative stations.

The album begins with a serious, intense, slow burning grunge headbanger, shown here with what they could salvage from the video. I never realized how much Nina Ramsby looks like Pam from The Office

Salt – Honour Me


This tune, done in a swinging time signature of 3, really grooves

Salt – Beauty


Another rocking song with clever lyrics, that got some radio airplay

Salt – Obsession


And this is their top charting hit in the US

Salt – Bluster


And finally, this rhythmic ballad was somewhat of a hit in the US as well

Salt – So
 
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scotchandcigar

scotchandcigar

arrogant bastard
Feb 13, 2009
14,646
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168
Vacationland
Today was going to be Cake. But when I reviewed their albums, I decided that my favorites come later in the timeline. So I'll pass the cake for now.:rolleyes:

Before I get to my next favorite artist, I'm going to give an honorable mention to Sublime. Their self-titled '96 album is legendary, but I'm just so sick of them. Between the classic alternative stations, and every bar band, I'm on a sublime overload.

However...

This Lana Del Ray cover of Doin' Time is awesome



Now, back to my favorite artists. Fresh on the heels of the success of Alanis Morissette, is an even younger girl, breaking records with her debut release. The very talented but enigmatic Fiona Apple conquered the world with her album Tidal. She made the rounds on late night TV for a solid year, and had a breakdown at the Grammys. But the songs were great. In addition to Shadowboxer, there's all these favorites

Fiona Apple – Sleep to Dream (live on Jay)


Here's a rare visit from a relevant artist on THSS

Fiona Apple – Criminal (live on Stern)


And this song is just so beautiful, emotional, and heartbreaking

Fiona Apple – Never is a Promise (live)


Her follow-up album did OK, but the big moment had passed. Many years later, she had success with recent album releases, including The Idler Wheel..., and if you're a fan of The Affair, you'll know this

Fiona Apple - Container
 
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