Funny how opinions change over time. I’ve written about R.E.M.’s Out of Time a few times before but never in a very positive light. In posts eight and nine years ago I described it as one of the band’s weakest efforts.
Yet here I am in 2019, naming it as my #1 album of 1991. And it wasn’t even a tough decision.
1991 was the year before I met my future wife, but my #2 album of that year earned its spot on this list mostly because of her.
Both Alexandra and I were fans of Toad the Wet Sprocket’s album Fear when we met, and it became a bonding element for us. It’s funny that she and I have very little musical overlap in general but managed to find a few artists who meant a whole lot to both of us. Although I probably would have faked liking these guys if it meant spending more time with her.
My #3 album of 1991 is admittedly a bit of a cheat, as most of its songs were recorded decades earlier. But Bob Dylan’s The Bootleg Series, Vol 1-3: Rare & Unreleased 1961-1991 marked the first time most of these outtakes and demos were officially released.
This three-disc set covered Dylan’s earliest years up through his spotty 80s output, and found hidden gems throughout. Incredible songs inexplicably left off of mediocre albums, alternate takes of all-time classics, demos recorded before anybody knew the name Bob Dylan.
My #4 album of 1991 is the mostly mediocre Elvis Costello release, Mighty Like a Rose.
Ranking this one was tough. I had to balance the warm bath of nostalgia with the sobering effects of time, then sprinkle in a dash of ‘one amazing song lifting up a whole album.’ Given all that, fourth place feels about right.
Well, this is a bit awkward. When checking to see which songs I’ve posted from Joe Jackson’s Laughter & Lust, my #5 album of 1991, I realized that in a previous Decades post I named this my #4 album of 1990.
I double-checked, and the album was indeed released in 1991 (April, to be exact) so I’m not sure how I mistakenly shifted it a year early back then. At least I’m consistent with the placement.
Meet Me In Montauk 