Drive the Car Where Now?

To start yourwork week, here’s “Put the Message in the Box,” a rousing track from World Party’s great 1990 album “Goodbye Jumbo.” I find this tune to be incredibly inspirational, if logistically implausible. Driving a car around the world would involve cost-prohibitive overseas shipping as well as an inordinate number of ferries, and would likely require several different sets of the tires to navigate the various terrains. But practicalities tend not to matter when you’re belting the song on the treadmill and getting misty over its message of world unity and love for all mankind. Or so I’m told.
World Party — “Put the Message in the Box”

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AJC Flashback Two-fer!

Shortly after I started working for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta’s daily newspaper, in 1993, I was assigned to review a concert by Stone Temple Pilots, who were just then reaching arena-filling popularity. It was a fun show with lots of rock-and-roll pyrotechnics, and the assignment went well enough that I became sort of a reserve concert reviewer for the paper’s Features department, covering shows that the staff critics couldn’t attend for whatever reason.

International Favourites Week!
World Party* Mix

For the final day of IFW (sad trombone), let’s leave on an upbeat note with a playlist of the most groovetastic ‘90s jams from around the world. Thanks for reading and/or listening! Also, gracias, merci, and danke. (We’ll return tomorrow with our regularly scheduled ‘90s marathon.)

12. Crucified – Army of Lovers (Sweden)
11. Steal My Sunshine – Len (Canada)
10. Sweet Dreams – La Bouche (Germany)
9. Always There – Incognito f. Jocelyn Brown (U.K./U.S.A.)
8. Ride On Time – Black Box (Italy)
7. Sun Is Shining – Bob Marley vs. Funkstar Deluxe (Jamaica/Netherlands)
6. Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) – Us3 (U.K.)
5. Around the World – Daft Punk (France)
4. 3 a.m. Eternal – The KLF (U.K.)
3. Finally – CeCe Peniston (U.S.A.)
2. Music Sounds Better with You – Stardust (France)
1. Groove Is in the Heart – Deee-lite (U.S.A.)
This four-minute slice of unbridled joy gets my vote for best dance track of the ‘90s. If you can’t shake it to this, you’re dead.

*Not the band

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International Favourites Week!
Europe, excluding the U.K. (Because Brexit!)

With Ireland in the mix here, the list is sort of a hodgepodge, but there’s no doubt that Europe was getting its electronica on in the ‘90s, laying the groundwork for the EDM wave to come. Even U2 felt the influence, incorporating dance beats into its repertoire on the career high point “Achtung Baby.” The freshest sounds came from France, and none fresher than Air’s cool, spacy, sexy debut.

10. First Band on the Moon – Cardigans (Sweden)
9. A New Stereophonic Sound – Hooverphonic (Belgium)
8. You, My Baby & I – Alex Gopher (France)
7. Dreamland – Black Box (Italy)
6. Sacrebleu – Dimitri From Paris (France)
5. What Makes It Go? – Komeda (Sweden)
4. Homework – Daft Punk (France)
3. Loveless – My Bloody Valentine (Ireland)
2. Achtung Baby – U2 (Ireland)
1. Moon Safari – Air (France)
Top track: Kelly Watch the Stars
As I mentioned yesterday, “Moon Safari” is right up there with Belle and Sebastian’s “If You’re Feeling Sinister” atop my list of all-time favourite albums. “Sinister” boasts the more substantial lyrics, but sometimes the groove is all that matters and Air wins hands down on those occasions.

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International Favourites Week!
U.K.

So much great music came out of the U.K. in the ‘90s that I couldn’t narrow my list down to a top five—or a top 10, for that matter. So here are my 12 favourite English/Scottish/Welsh albums of the decade. Tomorrow: Europe’s revenge!

12. Word Gets Around — Stereophonics
11. Central Reservation – Beth Orton
10. Vertigo – Groove Armada
9. Dots and Loops – Stereolab (A bit of a stretch to put it on this list because of French singer Lætitia Sadier and Australian singer Mary Hansen, but other members are British and they were formed in London, so…)
8. Reading, Writing & Arithmetic – The Sundays
7. Bandwagonesque – Teenage Fanclub
6. Heaven or Las Vegas – Cocteau Twins
5. Parklife — Blur
4. Medusa – Annie Lennox
3. OK Computer – Radiohead
2. Behaviour – Pet Shop Boys
1. If You’re Feeling Sinister – Belle and Sebastian
Top track: Seeing Other People
This might just be my favourite album of all time. (But tomorrow’s pick comes a close second, and every so often sneaks into the #1 spot.)

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International Favourites Week!
Canada

My Toronto pals are going to think today’s list of my fave Canadian albums of the ‘90s is unhip—literally, in that it has no Tragically Hip on it. Also, no Eric’s Trip, Thrush Hermit or other alternative acts associated with the decade. Alas, none of those bands reached my ears way down South. And besides, I think Canadian alternative music really took off in the early aughts, right around the time I moved here— coincidence? – with Arcade Fire, Feist, Broken Social Scene and the like. So I stand by my list, dammit! (Sorry for swearing.)

5. The Caution Horses – Cowboy Junkies
4. Rufus Wainwright – Rufus Wainwright
3. Night Ride Home – Joni Mitchell
2. Harvest Moon – Neil Young
1. Ingenue – k.d. lang (A lovely and enduring record; we play it on many a Saturday morning! Top track: “Save Me”)
k.d. lang — Save Me

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International Favourites Week!
USA

Being a seasoned globetrotter who has lived in TWO adjoining countries and visited TWO continents, thank you very much, I’m devoting the next several days to tracks from my favourite ‘90s albums from different parts of the world. (Disclaimer: I’m going with “favourite” and not “best” because there are acknowledged classics from the decade such as “Nevermind” and “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” that I greatly admire and even love hearing on rare occasion but that I hardly ever listen to nowadays.)

I’ll start with my top five American albums from the ‘90s because USA! USA!

5. Bewitched – Luna
4. Car Wheels on a Gravel Road – Lucinda Williams
3. Automatic for the People – R.E.M.
2. Grace – Jeff Buckley
1. Hollywood Town Hall – The Jayhawks (Every track is a beauty, but my fave is “Crowded in the Wings,” also a contender for prettiest song of the decade.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwXARll3Kag

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