More Recommended 1990s Albums

Recommended 1990s Albums The Orb

Read more 1990’s albums you should own

Recommended 1990s Albums

Bubbling Under

The 25th of May – Lenin And McCarthy

One of the great under performing groups of the 90’s. The 25th of May were a very political band, with a mix of hip hop beats and house and techno influences.   It’s still very listenable today especially if you are in the mood start a riot.  This is serious music to get the adrenaline flowing.  Originally from Liverpool, each song had a political theme.   Army 2 Joyriders 0 and The Road to Basra (not on this album) were some of the more obvious, but even the singles what’s Going On, and Fuck the Right to Vote had a serious message. There were a lot of remixes about, some of the best are the Well Hung Parliament versions. In the end Arista dropped them around 1993, and they were never heard of again.  Search out a copy of the 255 Crew Live, recorded at the Norwich Waterfront in 1992 to hear them at their incendinary best.  

Tracklist

Answer Back 3:19
Crackdown 3:53
F.T.R.T.V. (II) 5:31
Go Wild 4:09
0898 1:14
It’s Alright 4:23
Shelter 3:33
Army 2 Joyriders 0 0:40
The Word Is Out 4:45
Why? 1:58
What’s Goin’ On 3:40
Solid State Logic 5:04
Things Are Getting Better (Sic) 4:33

Flowered Up – A Life with Brian

Big in the indie scene and loved by the music press, Flowered Up never quite made it as big as they could have. In many ways this can be a good thing, as it meant that their legacy remained at one fantastic album and some incredible singles.   Let’s face it the Happy Mondays work went downhill after they hit the big time with Pills and Thrills.  Probably best known for Weekender and is incredible Andy Weatherall mix, we can also recommend Take It and It’s On.   Any grop with a member called Barry Mooncult (he had he big foam flower round his neck) is fine by us.  We only saw them once at the long forgotten Slough Festival and they were incredible.  

Tracklist

Sunshine 5:08
Take It 4:31
Crackerjack 4:13
Mr Happy Reveller 3:11
Hysterically Blue 4:11
It’s On 4:40
Silver Pan 2:37
Phobia 4:01
Egg Rush 4:47
Doris… Is A Little Bit Partial 5:01

Happy Mondays – Pills Thrills and Bellyaches. 

Ok so there’s been so much written about he Mondays, and even immortalised in film, that we don’t need to say much more.   So if you like this site, but you don’t own a copy of this album, then you are doing something wrong.   If you saw them on any of their recent tours then let us know what you thought in the comments below.

Tracklist

The Orb – Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld.

Sheep noises? Check. Pink Floyd references ? Check. Pounding bass? Check. Sounds like nothing else before on since? Check.   For a brief period in the very early 90’s The Orb were massive.  Little Fluffy Clouds was their breakthrough, and nearly everyone we knew owned a copy of this album that it was on.  Naturally the NME and Melody Maker loved it, as it was music that you didn’t actually have to dance to.   The rave kids loved it as there is no finer album for when things got messy at an after party.  Alex Patterson and Throb made their name DJing in the chill out room at Spectrum, so the masses of low quality “chill out” music maybe their fault. We’ll forgive them though as this album is immense.  We saw them live at the Leeds Town and Country in Oct 1993, and despite the fact that their popularity was waning a bit by then, they were great. We have never heard bass like it. You couldn’t sit on the floor, which some of their tunes make you want to do, as the bass went right through you.

Tracklist

Orbits Record One
Earth Orbits
Little Fluffy Clouds 4:26
Earth (Gaia) 9:48
Supernova At The End Of The Universe 11:56
Lunar Orbits
Back Side Of The Moon 14:15
Spanish Castles In Space 15:06
Ultraworld’s Record Two
Ultraworld Probes
Perpetual Dawn 9:30
Into The Fourth Dimension 9:16
Outlands 8:23
Ultraworlds
Star 6 & 7 8 9 8:10
A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld: Live Mix Mk 10 18:43

The Shamen – En-Tact

Ooooh coming on like a seventh sense. He’s got you in the corner laughing by the bass bin. Some of the most memorable (note – not necessarily good) rapping of all time is on this album.  Mr C had entered popular culture after the success of Ebeneezer Goode  “anyone got any vera’s?).  The Shamen had been around a long time, since the mid 80’s when the were releasing grim indie – see their album In Gorbachev We Trust and Drop, they are practically unlistenable.   From ’89 however the Shamen got on one.  One of the greatest singles of all time ‘Progen’ morphed into Move Any Mountain, during the filming of which one half of the band Will Sinnott tragically died in Ibiza.  Leaving just Colin and Mr C with the occasional Plavka, the band embarked on a journey to the top of the pop charts.  This album would have surprised their long term fans, however many of them their were, and also surprised anyone who had only heard Ebenezeer Goode.  Although the singles were well known, there are some varied tracks on the album such as Hyperreal.  Fantastic iconic packaging as well.  We saw the Shamen at the London Town and Country in Kentish Town (now the Forum) on the 1992 tour.  Mr C was DJing, something he went on to make his name for, although don’t ask us what tunes he played.  Most of this album hasn’t aged that well, and it sounds quite light and frothy in places but it was an important album back in the day.  The Shamen went on to do more albums although none as successful as this, as they got more and mores experimental and moved away from the mainstream. 

Tracklist

Human NRG 3:23
Progen (Land Of Oz) 4:07
Possible Worlds 3:45
Omega Amigo 4:45
Hyperreal 4:32
Lightspan 5:48
Make It Mine V2.5 3:57
Oxygen Restriction 3:48
Evil Is Even 13:16
Human NRG (Massey) 4:37
Make It Mine V1.3 (Pirate Radio) 4:54
Oxygen Reprise V2.0 5:19
Hear Me O My People (Orbital – Delays Expected) 7:24

https://youtu.be/pZDV-yduHMU

The KLF – The White Room.

It’s also well worth finding a copy of Space – Space which is also by the KLF members Jimmy Cauty and Throb.  Massive stadium house mega hits? Check. Tammy Wynette the country music queen? Check. Crazy vocal samples ? Check.  Number 1 album?  Definitely. 

3AM Eternal and What Time Is love still sound incredible today, stadium house is a perfect description. These crossed over in a big way. For most dance bands that would have been the end of the story, but there had always been more to the KLF than that. They first came to prominence as The Timelords when they reached number 1 with Doctorin’ The Tardis in 1988. They have even written a book about how they did it.  They had been cutting and pasting for years and making crazily titled songs such as what Kyle Said to Jason and sampling everything and the kitchen sink, often illegally, but in 1990 they hit gold with 3AM.  Once the album was out it became a huge critical and commercial success. They were invited to appear at the Brit Awards in 1992.  The KLF performed a live version of follow up single America What Time is Love,  with death metal band Extreme Noise Terror as back up live on the stage.  At the end of the performance, as you do, they chucked a dead sheep into the audience and pretended to spray the assorted media types with a machine gun. Front page coverage guaranteed. In what has never been confirmed one way or the other as true or false, the KLF claimed to have burnt a million quid in front of a load of journalists.  Brilliant, subversive and different, just like The White Room.

Tracklist

World of Twist – Quality Street

One of the great unexplained failures of the early 90’s, World of Twist should have been huge. They were lumped in with the Madchester baggy scene, but in reality they were a 60’s inspired band. Everyone loved them apart from the record buying public. Bizarrely the album currently goes for good money on ebay. The weeklies NME and Melody Maker got right behind them and so did we. The singles should have been huge hits.  Sons of the Stage, Sweets, and  The Storm all were fairly epic, and had some decent remixes. Beware the dodgy Live EP bootleg Live at the (Blackpool) Tower, poor quality sound throughout.  They even did a Peel Session but it just never happened for them. Put them in a category that also includes Slow Bongo Floyd and the Moonflowers

Tracklist

Lose My Way 3:10
Sons Of The Stage 5:09
This Too Shall Pass Away 4:06
Jelly Baby 3:44
Speed Wine 3:43
The Lights 3:36
On The Scene 4:33
Sweets 4:48
The Spring 3:51
The Storm 3:50
She’s A Rainbow 4:19
Life And Death (Extended Mix) 8:37

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