Drive Like Jehu - 1994 - Yank Crime

The band's second and, unfortunately, final album, Yank Crime is as worthy and awesome as its predecessor, losing not a jot in the change from independent to major label status. Including some longer, more complex tunes this time around, Drive Like Jehu is otherwise essentially unchanged, fusing brawling, crisp rhythms and high volume intensity with technical complexity, feeling like a mad science experiment gone completely out of control. Aside from the guest backing vocals on the frazzled angst explosion "Luau!" by fellow San Diego music fiend Rob Crow, it's again all down to the band's four members, with drummer Trombino providing the strong, take-no-prisoners mix. Perhaps even more than the debut, Yank Crime solidified Drive Like Jehu's reputation as kings of emo. While use of that term rapidly degenerated to apply to sappy miserableness by the decade's end, here the quartet capture its original sense, wired, frenetic, screaming passion, as first semi-created by the likes of Rites of Spring. Whether making it short and sweet, as the surprisingly gentle instrumental "New Intro" demonstrates in three minutes, or taking time, like the nearly ten-minute conclusion "Sinews," the band wastes not a note. Froberg's sense of intense, almost accusatory delivery is astonishingly dramatic throughout, whether in full cry or with a touch of restraint, as on the rhythmic chorus of "Do You Compute." His guitar partnership with Reis is still in full cry, creating honestly epic zoned and screaming feedback roars and waves -- the aforementioned "Do You Compute" is one fine example, as is "Luau!," which builds to a awe-inspiring, eternally ascending rise. While a recording of the band's incendiary live shows would be the best way to remember the quartet, Yank Crime is a thoroughly excellent if unexpected way to bow out, artistic rock that actually, honestly, and totally rocks.

1 Here Come the Rome Plows Drive Like Jehu 5:44
2 Do You Compute Drive Like Jehu 7:12
3 Golden Brown Drive Like Jehu 3:14
4 Luau Drive Like Jehu 9:27
5 Super Inison Drive Like Jehu 7:24
6 New Intro Drive Like Jehu 3:32
7 New Math Drive Like Jehu 4:06
8 Human Interest Drive Like Jehu 3:24
9 Sinews Drive Like Jehu 9:12

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Hammill, Peter - 1994 - There Goes The Daylight

"There goes the Daylight" offers 72 minutes of a live concert at The Grand, London, on April 29th, 1993. Peter Hammill, singing and playing the guitar, staffed an unconventional rock band ("The Noise") for this evening with his exquisite fellow musicians Stuart Gordon (violin, guitar), Manny Elias (drums) and Nic Potter (bass). No keyboards, no saxes here. The concert was recorded by David Lord, mixed and produced by Peter Hammill in an excellent way.

The 12 songs are taken from Peter Hammill's solo albums "Over" (1976), "Sitting Targets" (1981), "In a Foreign Town" (1988), "Fireships" (1991), "The Noise" (1992) and the Van der Graaf album "The Quiet Zone, the Pleasure Dome" (1977).

The concert must have been rehearsed well, the musicians play with enthusiasm, but still sound very relaxed. All concert long "The Noise" act as a band and there's no focus an any of the musicians on the stage.

The intonation of the songs mainly reminds to the sound of "The Quiet Zone" or "Vital" (1978) and so is not every Peter Hammill's fan's taste. But there are two tracks here for which it is worth owning the album.

The first of these songs is "Sign". The Noise play a stunning version of this tune from "Sitting Targets" (1981), also published by Peter Hammill and the K Group on "The Margin" (1985). Stuart Gordon uses his violin here as a rythm guitar and produces a funky rythm section together with drums and bass. It's most interesting to compare the three released versions. The interpretations are totally different on the basis of the same song.

The other track is "Lost and Found" from "Over". One of my all time favourites. Peter Hammill plays a marvellous guitar on this live version. I could listen forever to the heavenly swinging chords at the beginning of the song. The guitar solo at the second part of the song is as breathtaking as on the studio version.

The booklet shows five pictures with most expressive portraits of the band and it's members.

A most rewarding album for Peter Hammill listeners, no must for others.

1 Sci-Finance (Revisited) Hammill 5:21
2 The Habit of the Broken Heart Hammill 6:34
3 Sign Hammill 7:58
4 I Will Find You Hammill 5:22
5 Lost and Found Hammill 7:58
6 Planet Coventry Hammill 6:25
7 Empress's Clothes Hammill 5:05
8 Cat's Eye/Yellow Fever (Running) Hammill, Smith 6:10
9 Primo on the Parapet Hammill 12:17
10 Central Hotel Hammill 5:33

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Hammill, Peter - 1994 - Roaring Forties

From the cutting edge of "Sharply Unclear," athrough the insistent, throbbing "Talk Turkey," across the gentle instrumental bridges and into "A Headlong Stretch" (a twenty-minute, seven-part tempestuous journey through life) and all the way to the peaceful, gently-beautiful "Your Tall Ship," this album is an example of Hammill's musical, poetical and inspirational best.

1 Sharply Unclear Hammill
2 The Gift of Fire Hammill
3 The Gift of Fire (Talk Turkey)
4 You Can't Want What You Always Get
5 A Headlong Stretch
6 Your Tall Ship Hammill

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Black, Frank - 1994 - Teenager Of The Year (2CD)

A sprawling double album, Frank Black's Teenager of the Year builds on the clever, carefully crafted pop he forged on his solo debut and moves even farther away from the Pixies' sound. It feels like the album Black wanted to make since Bossanova: "Whatever Happened to Pong?" and "Thalassocracy" are a one-two blast of energetic fun, but the tight songwriting and detailed arrangements on the strummy "Headache" and gentle, piano-driven "Sir Rockaby" are more interesting. Despite its 22-song length, most of Teenager of the Year's tracks are keepers; the first nine rank among Black's catchiest songs with or without the Pixies. "I Want to Live on an Abstract Plain" and "The Vanishing Spies" mix sweet straightforward melodies with spacy keyboards, and Black delivers a creative love song in "Speedy Marie"; the first letter of each line in the song's second half spells out his girlfriend's name. The driving, anthemic "Freedom Rock" is one of the album's more ambitious tracks, along with the catchy, educational "Ole Mulholland," a musical history lesson about William Mulholland, the developer and planner of Los Angeles' municipal water system. Teenager's beginning is so consistent, it's not surprising that its second half isn't quite as essential, but it's still interesting. The spacy, ska-tinged "Fiddle Riddle," the cryptic "Superabound," and the sprightly final track "Pie in the Sky" -- which sounds strangely like a punk version of Gary U.S. Bonds' hit "A Quarter to Three" -- all add to the album's individuality. Even less-developed songs like "Fazer Eyes" and "The Hostest with the Mostest" are still worthwhile. Though his later albums took a sparer, simpler approach, Teenager of the Year's ambition and quirkiness begin Black's evolution into a cult artist who makes the music he wants to, regardless of whether or not it's fashionable.

		1		Whatever Happened to Pong?		1:34
		2		Thalassocracy		1:33
		3		(I Want to Live on an) Abstract Plain		2:17
		4		Calistan		3:22
		5		The Vanishing Spies		3:37
		6		Speedy Marie		3:33
		7		Headache	Black	2:52
		8		Sir Rockaby		2:54
		9		Freedom Rock		4:16
		10		Two Reelers		3:01
		11		Fiddle Riddle		3:29
		12		Ole Mulholland		4:41
		13		Fazer Eyes		3:36
		14		I Could Stay Here Forever		2:27
		15		The Hostess With the Mostest	Black	1:56
		16		Superabound		3:10
		17		Big Red		2:41
		18		Space Is Gonna Do Me Good		2:22
		19		White Noise Maker		2:42
		20		Pure Denizen of the Citizens Band		2:20
		21		Bad, Wicked World		1:57
		22		Pie in the Sky		2:13

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Elend - 1994 - Leçons de Ténèbres

		1		Lecon de Ténèbres
		2		Chanting
		3		Into the Bottomless Perdition
		4		Deploration
		5		Infernal Beauty
		6		Lucifer
		7		Eclipse
		8		The Reign of Chaos and Old Nig HT
		9		The Emperor

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Dasent, Peter - 1994 - Heavenly Creatures OST

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Whitfield, Mark - 1994 - True Blue

		1		Blues for Davis Alexander	Whitfield	6:11
		2		Save Your Love for Me	Johnson	4:51
		3		Immanuel the Redeemer	Whitfield	7:01
		4		Quik Pik's Blues	Whitfield	6:30
		5		Mr. Syms	Coltrane	6:29
		6		Bershire Blues	Weston	5:26
		7		Blues for Baby Boy	Whitfield	4:44
		8		Girl Talk	Hefti, Troup	5:50
		9		Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are	Monk	3:58
		10		Pslam 91	Whitfield	7:35
		11		The Mystery of Love Everlasting	Whitfield	6:58
		12		Blues for Alice	Parker	4:07
		13		John and Mamie	Whitfield	5:24

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Negru Voda & Third Eye - 1994 - An Impulse Of Fear-Raudive Experiments

		An Impulse Of Fear
A1	Negru Voda	Death In Your Eyes
A2	Negru Voda	Hide Your Face
A3	Negru Voda	Mental Feedback (The Attack)
A4	Negru Voda	Tribes Of Cannibals
A5	Negru Voda	Incinerate
A6	Negru Voda	Impulse Of Fear
		Raudive Experiments
B1	Third Eye (2)	Black Friday
B2	Third Eye (2)	The Enigma Of Death
B3	Third Eye (2)	Lucid Dreams
B4	Third Eye (2)	Precognition

¡Aquí!