Ryan Adams isn’t too popular these days, after a New York Times investigation earlier this year exposed him as an overbearing #metoo villain who promised music industry success to women as a way to get them into his bed.
He is reportedly the subject of an FBI investigation and his current tour, as well as three planned albums, have been postponed indefinitely.
I once ranked Reveal as the 12th best R.E.M. album, which isn’t saying much because they had released only 14 at the time. But I guess that’s enough to make it my #9 album of 2001.
Reveal was the band’s second album without drummer Bill Berry, and while none of the post-Berry records measure up to R.E.M.’s work as a quartet, this one does have several of their best tunes from that era.
Of the various theme weeks I cover on the blog, I think my favorite is the Decades series. That’s where I dive into the same year across four decades (1972, 1982, 1992, 2002, for example) and write about noteworthy album releases.
I like it because it gives me a chance to both highlight some of my personal favorites and dig into albums I missed along the way. And jumping ahead a decade at a time allows me to explore different popular music movements.
So many of the noteworthy albums from 1991 are loud and aggressive. From classics I’ve already covered like Nirvana’s Nevermind, Pearl Jam’s Ten and Metallica’s Metallica to lesser-known but heralded albums by Soundgarden, Fugazi, Mudhoney and Hole.
When I saw that a band called Primal Scream released a celebrated album in ’91, I assumed it would be another loud one. But Primal Scream turns out to be a much more interesting band than their name suggests. Somewhere a metal band wishes they’d gotten to that moniker first.
Uncle Tupelo is regarded as the definitive alt-country band, pioneering a blend of folk rock and traditional country sounds. Great contemporary artists like Neko Case and Jason Isbell can be traced back to the music these guys put out in the early 90s.
Uncle Tupelo’s members are better known for their follow-up efforts, as Jay Farrar went on to form Son Volt and Jeff Tweedy achieved even bigger success with Wilco. When still together, they released four albums between 1990 and 1993. Still Feel Gone was their third.
Meet Me In Montauk 