1998 in Review

It was a very dismal year for mass marketed popular music. Cruise down the list of Billboard's Top 50 Albums of 1998 and you'll find mostly bland, conformist sounds reflecting the dominant currents of a degraded social and political culture.

From chart topping divas such as Celine Dion, Shania Twain, and Mariah Carey and near bubblegummers ‘N Sync and Backstreet Boys came soothing romantic/sexual wallpaper covering over the complexities of real life relationships. It was a year in which the soundtrack mementos of blockbuster movies (Armageddon, City Of Angels, Hope Floats) stuck to the charts and turned multi-platinum record sales. Hip-hop bad men continued to peddle the glories of the thug life to a growing mass audience composed mostly of youthful white suburbanites.

Country music superstar Garth Brooks proved he could still sell gargantuan amounts of records by dressing over country music in the banal rags of soppy pop and 1970s rock.

With alternative rock now securely nailed in its coffin, no next big thing on the horizon, and major star bands such as REM, Pearl Jam, Hole, and Smashing Pumpkins showing disappointing record sales, the world of rock music was commercially and artistically lackluster.

Although the “rock is dead” hype seems premature for a genre that still commands one-third of music sales, statistics from the Recording Industry of America show the rock music market share has slipped more than 10 percent over the last decade. While some of this drop can be attributed to the aging of boomer era music buyers, it also seems clear that rock is losing younger music listeners.

In the past year, adolescent turmoil still found its voice in the confrontational guitar-driven howl of Korn and the tuneful, popish sounds of bands like Semisonic and Matchbox 20. But the party and dance sounds of rocked-up swing and ska surged into the popular music mainstream mixing up hip, fun, and nostalgia for a generation weary of the angst and gloom of hard rock. The ebbing loyalty of the rock audience was most evident in the pop culture dominance of hip-hop.

With no less than 10 hip-hop records ranked in the Top 30, and beat-driven sounds fueling movie soundtracks, R&B, TV commercials, high school fashion, and emerging strains of rock, the pre-eminent pop trend of the year was easily hip-hop. With a dazzling array of fat, bumping beats, ingenious production, and gritty street anthem rhymes, rap is becoming the all pervasive sound that rock once was.

The rising commercial clout of hip-hop, however, doesn't equate with artistic integrity and innovation. Hip-hop, no less than any other mass media entertainment, is given to recycling and copy-catting as a means of safely maximizing profits. Though the music is still throwing up independent voices, the genre as a whole has become predictable and cliched: over and over again the boasts of killing, sex, money, and garish consumption. Hardly a three dimensional portrait of black youth, let alone the black community, but for now a marketing plan busting up a very drab hit parade.

So where does one go to hear sounds that are adventurous and entertaining, as well as personally and politically challenging. For the most part, in 1998, these sounds were not chart makers. Here's my list of some of the good stuff. For things previously reviewed in these pages, there's a little less description.

Rock/Pop/Hip-Hop

Lauryn Hill, The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill
(Ruffhouse/Columbia)

An amazing record that raised the standard of hip-hop several notches by wedding stunning production to a heartfelt statement of personal and social politics.

Bob Dylan, Live 1966: The “Royal Albert Hall” Concert
(Columbia/Legacy)

The legendary live document capturing a pivotal moment in folk vs. rock politics and Dylan at the top of his game. The acoustic set is gorgeous, but the sparks that fly when Dylan plugs in produce some of the greatest rock and roll ever recorded.

Lucinda Williams, Car Wheels On A Gravel Road (Mercury)

Heartbreak, loss, and resiliency laid over southern roots music and geography.

Billy Bragg And Wilco,
Mermaid Avenue (Elektra)

A treasure of unheard Woody Guthrie lyrics given fitting folk and alt country arrangements and sung with sensitivity and conviction.

Rufus Wainwright, Rufus Wainwright (Dreamworks)

Dreamy, wistful songs of romantic longing that could have come from the golden era of George Gershwin and Cole Porter.

Ani Difranco, Little Plastic
Castle (Righteous Babe)

PJ Harvey, Is This Desire?
(Island)

Two singer-writers whose sexual politics claw at the norms of our time. Difranco's probings come with a stance against the power relations of capitalist society as a whole. Harvey is more cryptic and creepy as she obsesses about the twisted social constructions of desire.

Ozomatli, Ozomatli
(Almo Sounds)

One of the most exciting trends of the year was the rise (in the face of anti-immigrant hysteria) of various Latin fusion sounds in California. Ozomatli is at the leading edge of this youth movement pulling from funk, rock, salsa and hip-hop to create a steaming cauldron of protest and dance. Also to be watched and heard: Quetzal, Yeska, B-Side Players, and Quinto Sol.

Massive Attack, Mezzanine
(Virgin)

Black Star, Mos Def And Talib Kweli Are... (Rawkus)

Asia Dub Foundation, Rafi's Revenge (Phase 4/London)

Hard beat driven sounds with music and rhyme that don't cater to the redundancies of big time hip-hop. Massive Attack plows slow reggae grooves with bursts of screaming rock guitar and hellish nightmares of the street. The dynamic duo known as Black Star give you black life and politics not saturated with dope dealing and gangstas. England's “foremost political pop group,” the Indi-Pakistani band known as Asian Dub Foundation knife class/race tensions with blunt righteous outrage.

Jeff Buckley, Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk
(Columbia)

Richard Buckner, Since (MCA)

The great passionate voice and searching soul of Jeff Buckley were stilled way too soon. This rough draft for an album turned out to be his sad, aching and beautiful farewell. Buckner walks the dark backroads of folk and country, a kindred spirit of Buckley, shining a light for love and meaning in a world gone wrong.

Rancid, Life Won't Wait
(Epitaph)

The mark of Sandanista-era Clash is etched deep in this record, but it's a legacy extended not replayed.

Robbie Robertson, Contact From The World Of Redboy (Capitol)

Although Robertson's name is on it, the many Indian voices and talents contributing to Redboy make this a collective protest from late 20th century Native America.

Folk/Country/Bluegrass

Lyle Lovett, Step Inside This House (Curb/MCA)

Songs of some of the Lone Star State's finest songwriters (Guy Clark, Walter Hyatt, Townes Van Zandt, Robert Earl Keen) delivered through exquisite arrangements and the soulful voice of another pretty fair Texas singer-writer.

Various Artists, Treasures Left Behind: Remembering Kate Wolf (Red House)

Magnificent translations of the healing songs of the late California singer-songwriter by a who's who (Nanci Griffith, Lucinda Williams, Greg Brown, Emmylou Harris, Dave Alvin, U. Utah Phillip, Rosalie Sorrels, and more) of the folk/roots world.

Various Artists, Los Super Seven (RCA)

Traditions of Mexican music by an all-star cast including David Hidalgo, Cesar Rosas, Flaco Jiminez, Freddy Fender, and Rueben Ramos.

Dave Alvin, Blackjack David (Hightone)

Another remarkable collection of songs about working class America from a great and grossly underappreciated writer/singer/guitarist.

Various Artists, The Songs Of Pete Seeger (Appleseed
Recordings)

A 2-CD tribute to a folk music giant from a sterling array of singers and writers who share in his humanistic and radical social vision.

Dock Boggs, Dock Boggs: His Folkway Years 1963-1968 (Smithsonian Folkways)

Not as stark and unhinged as his recordings of the late 1920s (available on Revenant's Dock Boggs: Country Blues), these Folkways tracks are nonetheless essential to anyone interested in hearing the haunting and troubled vernacular roots of so many strains of American music.

James King, Bed By The
Window (Rounder)

Ralph Stanley & Friends, Clinch Mountain Country
(Rebel)

King is a hardcore mountain soul singer who lays out the unvarnished emotions of sad tunes with breathtaking lonesomeness. One of the great voices of traditional bluegrass. The legendary Ralph Stanley's 2-CD collection offers 36 stirring duets with some of the best and brightest of country, folk, and bluegrass (Gillian Welch, Dwight Yoakam, Dylan, George Jones, BR5-49, Alison Krauss, and Ricky Skaggs, to mention a few).

Heather Myles, Highways & Honky Tonks (Rounder)

Emmylou Harris, Spyboy
(Eminent)

Heather Myles is a great breath of fresh air in country music. Scramble up Tammy Wynette with bits of Gram Parsons-flavored country rock, tex-mex, and Bakersfield and you come out with a rollicking, bold voice that burns near everything coming out of Nashville. According support and admiration, Merle Haggard shows up for a duet, but Myles carries this set with solid songwriting and tough, self- assured twang. One of the pioneers of alternative space for country women, Emmylou Harris is now so deviant, major labels don't know what to make of her. So she starts her own label and makes one of the most daring albums of her career.

Blues

Alvin Youngblood Hart, Territory (Hannibal/Rykodisc)

A younger generation of black acoustic blues players is beginning to revitalize rural traditions, but Hart is the one stretching toward the most original voice in his blend of blues roots with other assorted strains of Americana.

Susan Tedeschi, Just Won't Burn (Rounder)

Her influences are still too obvious (Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt, and Stevie Ray Vaughan), but Susan Tedeschi has the vocal and guitar fire to leave her own singular mark on the world of blues rock.

B.B. King, Blues On The Bayou (MCA)

B.B. cuts away routine and production gloss and rediscovers the soul and sting of his inimitable blues.

Junior Kimbrough, God Knows I Tried (Fat Possum/Epitaph)

North Mississippi's great master of dark groove slash and trance passed on this year, but left behind this last raw testament to his greatness.

Jimmy Witherspoon, Jazz Me Blues: The Best Of Jimmy Witherspoon (Prestige)

No promotional fanfare for this compilation, but a marvelous selection of jazz-styled blues by an extraordinary singer backed by extraordinary musicians.

Otis Rush, Any Place I'm Going (House Of Blues/
Platinum)

Since the days of his classic Cobra recordings of the 1950s, Otis Rush has been an erratic performer live and on record. But here, with a little Memphis horn support directed by producer Willie Mitchell, Rush recovers the flaming guitarwork and anguished vocal cry that boiled over in West Side Chicago.

Jazz/World & Beyond

Patricia Barber, Modern Cool
(Premonition)

How to describe such an original musician? Vocally she brings to mind Joni Mitchell and Ani Difranco. As a pianist think of keyboardist Bill Evans and the warped guitar of Bill Frissell. The jazz breakthrough of the year.

Cecil Taylor, The Tree Of Life (FMP)

A solo concert capturing the piano genius in a quieter, pensive mood. Still the notes cascade from a stormy sea of complex harmonic, rhythm, and melody improvisations that demand as much as they give.

Linton Kwesi Johnson, Independent Intavenshan: The Island  Anthology (Island)

The incendiary reggae dub poetry and radical politics of Linton Kwesi Johnson get their due on this best of collection spanning work from the 1980s to the 1990s. Class, race, capitalism, and imperialism subject to a fierce critique and the angry, steady, thumping pulse of the street.

Cubanismo, Reencarnacion (Hannibal/Carthage)

Jesus Alemany and band keep pushing Afro-Cuban dance music to new heights and a broad world audience.

Ernest Ranglin, In Search Of The Lost Riddim
(Palm Pictures)

Legendary Jamaican guitarist joins with Senegalese singer Baaba Maal to produce a liquid mix of rhythm and song.

David Sanchez, Obsession
(Columbia)

The 29-year-old Puerto Rican saxophonist brings his native influences into this powerful melding of jazz and Latin traditions. A huge talent on the rise.

John Zorn's Masada, Yod (DIW)

Concepts of early Ornette Coleman meet Jewish folk melodies through Zorn's fiery free styled alto sax and a brilliant supporting cast of trumpeter Dave Douglas, bassist Greg Cohen, and drummer Joey Baron.

Nicholas Payton, Payton's Place (Verve)

James Carter, In A Cartesian Fashion (Atlantic)

Medeski, Martin & Wood, Combustication (Blue Note)

The strongest links betwen the jazz tradition and new, younger listeners are always forged by younger players.Nicholas Payton plays a wide-ranging program of bop and post-bop sounds in a superb blowing session featuring young lions Roy Hargrove, Joshua Redman, and Tim Warfield, along with guest mentor Wynton Marsalis. Muliti-instrumentalist James Carter, who enjoys applying his talents to virtually all periods and schools of jazz, this time takes off on organ-based groove tunes. Which is a starting point for the organ, drums, bass trio known as Medeski, Martin & Wood. But in their case tradition gets an outrageous impure make-over built upon electronica, funk, rock, gospel, free jazz, and assorted other musical elements. Shapes of jazz to come.

Box Sets

Hank Williams, The Complete Hank Williams (Mercury)

10 CDs, 225 tracks, 53 of them previously unreleased, this is the most holy legacy in country music. All the official releases are here, along with demos, radio, television, concert performances, essays, 150 photos, hand-written lyrics, session information, and more.

Various Artists, From Where I Stand: The Black Experience In Country Music (Warner Bros.)

A long needed 3-CD history lesson tracing African American country music from string bands, Leadbelly, and Opry star Deford Bailey up through the soul-inflected interpretations of Ray Charles, the Staple Singers, and Al Green to the straight-ahead twang of Charley Pride.

John Lennon, The John Lennon Anthology (Capitol)

Bruce Springsteen, Tracks
(Columbia)

These two 4-CD compilations are meant for serious fans rather than casual listeners looking for hits. The Lennon box is previously unreleased studio, demo, live, and home recordings covering his ten year solo career from 1970 to 1980. The brilliant raw cuts of material later included on Lennon's two greatest studio albums, Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, provide the most wrenching moments. But everything that follows rounds out the human being—contradictions, vulnerabilities, idealism, and genius—millions embrace and miss. Perhaps a third of the previously unreleased Springsteen set shows an artist struggling with ideas and tunes that would later find more powerful expression. But at least 40 tracks contain the great yearning heart and noble vision of Springsteen at his near best. Disc 4, in fact, stands on its own as one of Bruce's strongest albums since Born In The USA.

Various Artists, Jazz Singers (Smithsonian)

Compiled by Robert G. O'Meally, a Zora Neale Hurston Professor of Literature at Columbia, this 5-CD box set collects the expected essential voices of jazz singing (Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton), along with lesser knowns (Al Hibbler, Billy Eckstein, Johnny Hartman), and the jazz influenced (Al Green, Marvin Gaye). But look who's left out: Chet Baker, Mose Allison, Haddah Brooks, Carol Sloane, Andy Bey, and so many more. Nonetheless, for a tradition so neglected and undervalued, this package is the introductory standard.                   Z