#37: The Refreshments - Fizzy, Fuzzy, Big & Buzzy

Release Year: 1996

This is one that goes all the way back to junior high for me.  It was eighth grade, and I was really beginning in earnest to listen to alternative rock music. The Refreshments had several hits at the time (at least locally), and they, along with Gin Blossoms, ruled the local music scene.  Every CD wallet (which was the iPod of that era) at every party had to have this disc in it.

This album has stood the test of time.  Most of the music I listened to in 8th grade has no appeal to me anymore, but fifteen years later, I enjoy this as much as ever.  In fact, I appreciate it more, because I tend to enjoy better-crafted songs like "Nada" more than I did back then.

Interestingly, I think their follow-up, The Bottle and Fresh Horses, was musically superior to this, but it doesn't hold quite the place in my heart.  When you think of the Arizona music scene in the 90s, this is the first album that comes to mind.

Standout tracks:

• Nada
• Mekong
• Banditos
• Down Together 

#38: Porcupine Tree - Signify

Release Year: 1996

Porcupine Tree is a band that had several distinct eras.  Signify came at the tail end of their psychedelic period, and featured more structure than Up The Downstair or The Sky Moves Sideways, but still was about half instrumental.

This is my favorite Porcupine Tree prior to their 2001-or-so hiatus.  The atmosphere is excellent, the songwriting is superb, and, as you would expect from psychedelic rock music, there are some great bass grooves.

There are really only five songs with lyrics and singing, and that's kind of what makes this awesome.  You have songs like "Waiting Phase One" with a nice vocal melody, followed up with "Waiting Phase Two," which is just an instrumental continuation of the same bass groove.  You have songs like "Every Home Is Wired," which is an early display of Steven Wilson's superior vocal layering technique.  And, finally, you have the last one, "Dark Matter," which is one of my top 5 Porcupine Tree songs, and one I never, ever get sick of hearing.

This is not the first Porcupine Tree album you should listen to, but it one of the best.

Standout tracks:

• Dark Matter
• Waiting Phase One
• Idiot Prayer
• Every Home Is Wired 

#50: Cake - Fashion Nugget

So, I decided I'm going to totally rip off what Tyson is doing, and make a list of my 50 favorite albums.  His list got me thinking about what I would put in my top 50, so I went ahead and compiled a list.  And it was tough... I had to eliminate at least 25 outstanding albums that I really, really like.  But the 50 I chose are all albums I would rate five stars.

So, here's the first one:

 Release Year: 1996
First heard it in: 1997?

If you haven't at least heard the hits from Fashion Nugget ("I Will Survive" and "Going The Distance"), you probably weren't alive in 1996.  "I Will Survive" is one of the best covers of an R&B songs ever made.  "Going The Distance" was a staple at the time, and a song that is hard not to like.

Despite its excellent singles, I never bought this album until last year.  I had heard it as a teenager, and I actually enjoyed it... But for some reason, I never bought it.  I think what sold me on it the second time around is the wide array of influences contained herein (that sort of thing just would not have appealed to me as much 15 years ago).  You have a Willie Nelson cover, a folksy toe-tapper in "Stickshifts and Safetybelts", the completely off-kilter and discordant "Open Book", and clever lyrics and horns strewn all about.

I don't like Cake's subsequent albums as much, but they hit it out of the ballpark on this one.

Standout tracks:

• The Distance
• I Will Survive
• Stickshifts and Safetybelts
• Italian Leather Sofa