Rock Evolution – The History of Rock & Roll - 1998 - (page 271)

[RobMCFC]

A few years ago, I wrote a blog post about Chris Whitley’s Living With The Law album. As part of this article, I explored the time that Daniel Lanois set up shop in New Orleans. As part of my first nomination for 1989, I’ve edited the article to focus on the important aspects for this year.

Daniel Lanois, Bob Dylan & Oh Mercy



As noted in the 1987 write-up, Daniel Lanois was just beginning a purple patch in his career. As part of his production of U2’s The Joshua Tree, Lanois established a pattern of recording in a house rather than a traditional studio.

After producing Robbie Robertson’s self-titled 1987 album, Robertson suggested that Lanois might enjoy the history and culture of New Orleans. Lanois promptly moved to an apartment in the French Quarter and began writing and recording some songs. Lanois’s associate, Malcolm Burn, was tasked with archiving tapes that Lanois was amassing during his recording sessions.

Whilst in New Orleans, the two Canadians went to see a Neville Brothers show, the result of which was that Lanois was asked to produce their Yellow Moon album (also 1989, and yet another gem that I haven’t got room to feature in my nominations). Lanois challenged his engineer, Manchester-born but Canada-raised Mark Howard, to find a place suitable for recording, and he found a six-story apartment that they ended up using. Lanois lived on the top floor, Howard and Malcom Burn on other floors and the studio was on the top floor. Whilst the recording sessions were taking place, Bob Dylan’s tour reached New Orleans. Dylan called in for a chat and Lanois offered to set up a house to record Dylan’s next album, Oh Mercy. Lanois selected a house on Soniat St. that Dylan also lived in whilst recording the album.



Over the course of what Daniel Lanois refers to as his New Orleans trilogy (Yellow Moon, Oh Mercy and his solo album, Acadie – all released in 1989), a way of living, working and recording was established. Lanois was the producer, Malcolm Burn explains that Mark Howard was “more in charge of setting up the gear and plugging in the wires” whilst he himself was “behind the mixing board and adding parts as a musician”. Lanois recalls that whilst recording Oh Mercy, “Bob was suspicious of any work done in the daytime; only night-time work was allowed”. This contributed to the atmosphere of the album and you can hear this on “Man In The Long Black Coat”.

“Man In The Long Black Coat” - Bob Dylan

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

I was in the final year of my Electrical & Electronic Engineering course at Manchester Poly in 1989-1990.

Ours was a big class and as you would expect, a lot of different music genres were represented. There was the Irish guy heavily into U2, who went on to be a BBC reporter. There was a girl who was an Alice Cooper obsessive who got upset if she didn't get front row seats when a concert was announced. There were a few metal heads and a few that liked the dark, gloomy stuff such as The Cure and The Damned. Then of course there were people like me who liked proper music :)

But I don't remember one mention of The Stone Roses or any of the Manchester bands. I've long believed that the whole Manchester scene was a faked thing like some people think the moon landings were, so it's good to read that it was a real thing from somebody who was there.

However, whilst it's not the worst album ever, I still believe that by some distance, The Stone Roses debut is the most overrated album of all time, or at least in that conversation.

If you got the NME then Madchester was huge. In the letters page outsiders called it the New Manchester Express!
The amount of front covers and coverage received was immense.
Where as Melody Maker / Sounds seemed indifferent towards the scene, until towards the end of 89 as that TOTP performance propelled it nationally.
I’ll touch more on this in 1990

 

[OB1]

The Tom Petty and Neil Young picks are both superb and demonstrate the how good 1989 was musically.

That's freed up at least one pick for me in a year where once again, four choices is almost impossible.

Not had time to dig very deeply but looks like I have quite a lot of albums from 1989, including some very good ones, but still, for me, the overall picture is downhill after 1987. I’m a 70’s / 80’s, as you know, and although I have bought plenty of albums released since then, relatively few get the love that so many from my favoured period garner.

When I look at the top 20 albums on the best ever website for 1988, I don’t own many of those; in some earlier years, I have a high %.

 

[RobMCFC]

Not had time to dig very deeply but looks like I have quite a lot of albums from 1989, including some very good ones, but still, for me, the overall picture is downhill after 1987. I’m a 70’s / 80’s, as you know, and although I have bought plenty of albums released since then, relatively few get the love that so many from my favoured period garner.

When I look at the top 20 albums on the best ever website for 1988, I don’t own many of those; in some earlier years, I have a high %.

I can understanding you feeling that way, given that a lot of your favourite artists started out in the 70s and burned brightly in the 80s. I certainly think the best hard rock/AOR/classic rock had come and gone by 1989. In these years, I was still finding plenty to like in the Americana/singer-songwriter genres, as well as the aforementioned Scottish bands that I will come to in my next nomination.

 

[threespires]

The Tom Petty and Neil Young picks are both superb and demonstrate the how good 1989 was musically.

That's freed up at least one pick for me in a year where once again, four choices is almost impossible.

I bought and enjoyed Freedom when it came out and I remember it being talked about as a return to form,/resurgence for Young. What that masked and I hadn't realised at the time was how many of the songs he'd written years earlier and was only now committing to record. Some great songs too.

 

[stonerblue]

I bought and enjoyed Freedom when it came out and I remember it being talked about as a return to form,/resurgence for Young. What that masked and I hadn't realised at the time was how many of the songs he'd written years earlier and was only now committing to record. Some great songs too.

Yet another old codger in a year which saw some fantastic new bands/artists/styles come out.

Yargo- Another Moss Side night.

 

[RobMCFC]

Scottish Bands

Maybe it was just me, but for somebody whose favourite music mostly came almost from America at the time, I was beginning to find a rich vein of music from Scotland in 1989.

In the early months of the year, I bought Deacon Blue’s When the World Knows Your Name album on the strength of hearing “Queen of the New Year” on the radio.

Texas were riding high in the charts with their brilliant “I Don’t Want A Lover” and their debut album, Southside, featured some very good songs and some nice slide guitar. I saw them at Manchester Uni in May and they were supported by Gun, who saw some success with their catchy “Better Days” single.

I don’t think I was aware of Del Amitri in1989, and it wasn’t until the release of “Nothing Ever Happens” as a single in 1990 that the band really took off. But the album Waking Hours was released in July 1989.

Another band I wasn’t I wasn’t aware of in 1989 was The Blue Nile, but they released Hats this year, and I enjoyed the listen when we reviewed it in the Album Review Thread last year.

But best of all was Kevin McDermott Orchestra’s debut album Mother Nature’s Kitchen. McDermott had quit his job as a draughtsman in the shipyards of Glasgow and it’s perhaps no surprise that a few of the tracks on this glorious album feature references to water. I saw the band at the Boardwalk in Manchester that summer at possibly one of the loudest concerts I’ve ever witnessed. When I was at hospital radio, the single “Wheels of Wonder” turned up in the studio one day and I was hooked after one listen. This song remains in my personal all-time top 10 songs list to this day and therefore has to feature in this thread.

“Wheels of Wonder” - Kevin McDermott Orchestra

 

[RobMCFC]

Yet another old codger in a year which saw some fantastic new bands/artists/styles come out.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

If The Stone Roses debut is better than Freedom then I'm a Dutchman.

 

[Protein Junkie]

I can understanding you feeling that way, given that a lot of your favourite artists started out in the 70s and burned brightly in the 80s. I certainly think the best hard rock/AOR/classic rock had come and gone by 1989.

I totally agree with you here Rob.

 

[threespires]

Yet another old codger in a year which saw some fantastic new bands/artists/styles come out.

Yargo- Another Moss Side night.

Haha, true. It was about now I started listening to old codger music :-) I'd got a good job, few commitments and had bought my first hi-fi 'separates', nothing flash just NAD components and a Rega turntable if I remember right but my spending on music was out of control so I expanded my horizons to anything and everything. Looking back the old codger music was probably a reaction to how manic certain things were. I shared with/rented from a work colleague who'd recently got divorced. He was now footloose and fancy free and the house was party central. I would sometimes work away at client sites and if I got back late say by elevenish I'd find random pissed women from our local 100 yards down the road trampolining together on my bed or if it was later in the night they'd just be passed out asleep in it. Or once memorably underneath it, only discovered when I thought wtf is that snoring coming from :-)

Anyway, whilst it was all a bit of a laugh, as an introvert I really did need some down time and I increasingly added singer songwriter and old codger music to my existing diet. So as you've been rude about Freedom I'm nominating someone else you'll hate ;-)

Nanci Griffith - It's a Hard Life Wherever You Go

Btw that Yargo track is top.

 

[OB1]

I can understanding you feeling that way, given that a lot of your favourite artists started out in the 70s and burned brightly in the 80s. I certainly think the best hard rock/AOR/classic rock had come and gone by 1989. In these years, I was still finding plenty to like in the Americana/singer-songwriter genres, as well as the aforementioned Scottish bands that I will come to in my next nomination.

It’s very much an age thing but I would still argue that rock music was better pre 1990. I’d love to like modern music more but I don’t.

I’ve never been much of a singer-songwriter person but then I don’t include people like Springsteen, Petty & Neil Young in that category.

I do like some Americana and Country, both of which have flourished in more recent decades.

 

[OB1]

I bought and enjoyed Freedom when it came out and I remember it being talked about as a return to form,/resurgence for Young. What that masked and I hadn't realised at the time was how many of the songs he'd written years earlier and was only now committing to record. Some great songs too.

I only have a small proportion of Young’s work, 22 albums including live ones and “Decade”. There’s just too much. I keep adding new ones to my wish list and not buying, although I am sure I will buy some more sooner or later.

 

[threespires]

It's hard to follow world events these days, I open up my browser and find myself thinking "Lordy, what a time to be alive!"

But then on the other hand I open up my browser and remember you can get a very passable TR-808 clone for under £200 and I think "Lordy, what a time to be alive :-) "

808 State - Pacific 202

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

Scottish Bands

Maybe it was just me, but for somebody whose favourite music mostly came almost from America at the time, I was beginning to find a rich vein of music from Scotland in 1989.

In the early months of the year, I bought Deacon Blue’s When the World Knows Your Name album on the strength of hearing “Queen of the New Year” on the radio.

Texas were riding high in the charts with their brilliant “I Don’t Want A Lover” and their debut album, Southside, featured some very good songs and some nice slide guitar. I saw them at Manchester Uni in May and they were supported by Gun, who saw some success with their catchy “Better Days” single.

I don’t think I was aware of Del Amitri in1989, and it wasn’t until the release of “Nothing Ever Happens” as a single in 1990 that the band really took off. But the album Waking Hours was released in July 1989.

Another band I wasn’t I wasn’t aware of in 1989 was The Blue Nile, but they released Hats this year, and I enjoyed the listen when we reviewed it in the Album Review Thread last year.

But best of all was Kevin McDermott Orchestra’s debut album Mother Nature’s Kitchen. McDermott had quit his job as a draughtsman in the shipyards of Glasgow and it’s perhaps no surprise that a few of the tracks on this glorious album feature references to water. I saw the band at the Boardwalk in Manchester that summer at possibly one of the loudest concerts I’ve ever witnessed. When I was at hospital radio, the single “Wheels of Wonder” turned up in the studio one day and I was hooked after one listen. This song remains in my personal all-time top 10 songs list to this day and therefore has to feature in this thread.

“Wheels of Wonder” - Kevin McDermott Orchestra

Without harking back to earlier years, the Scottish scene for me was the one based on and around East Kilbride in the early 80’s.
Following in the footsteps of Simple Minds and Altered Images, Aztec Camera, Jesus and Mary Chain, The Bluebells, Primal Scream all shone brightly over the decade and beyond.

 

[RobMCFC]

The Lightning Seeds - Pure. Ian Brodie’s perfect pop song. Pure and simple every time it is heard.
The The - The Beaten Generation - as relevant today as it was then: “Breed on a diet of prejudice and misinformation”
The Creatures - Standing There - Siouxsie’s rallying call for every woman running the gauntlet of having to pass a gang of males on a street corner.
XTC - The Mayor Of Simpleton. I was amazed that this song was so late in the band’s repertoire- would have said definitely early 80’s
New Order - Run 2. A nice and pleasant enough tune that picks up as it goes and the extended instrumental at the songs end just rises and I never want it to stop!

Couldn't find "Standing There" on Spotify, but as you'dnamed 5 songs instead of 4, let's not worry about it :)

Yet another old codger in a year which saw some fantastic new bands/artists/styles come out.

Yargo- Another Moss Side night.

Couldn't find this one either.

 

[RobMCFC]

 

[threespires]

I feel 89 might have been when I started dabbling in the margins of country. The likes of Lyle Lovett and his Large Band and Mary Chaplin Carpenter. I blame Hank Wangford.

 

[stonerblue]

You say that like it's a bad thing.

If The Stone Roses debut is better than Freedom then I'm a Dutchman.

Onzin..;)
The title of the thread refers to 'Evolution', yet most on this thread are stuck in the past and seem to be 'stuck' on a musical style from the 70's.
I love Young's 'Free World' and it's gets a regular blast in our house, as does more of his music, but it's not innovative or original. It's not of its time.
Music in 1989 in the UK was exploding allover the place. Dance, Indie, electro etc all had new artists leaving their mark

 

[stonerblue]

I feel 89 might have been when I started dabbling in the margins of country. The likes of Lyle Lovett and his Large Band and Mary Chaplin Carpenter. I blame Hank Wangford.

Costellos 'Blue' album one of my faves

 

[RobMCFC]

Onzin..;)
The title of the thread refers to 'Evolution', yet most on this thread are stuck in the past and seem to be 'stuck' on a musical style from the 70's.
I love Young's 'Free World' and it's gets a regular blast in our house, as does more of his music, but it's not innovative or original. It's not of its time.
Music in 1989 in the UK was exploding allover the place. Dance, Indie, electro etc all had new artists leaving their mark

True, and all nominations are welcome.

This thread was always going to be defined by its contributors - if most of those like music from the 70s (I prefer the 80s and 90s) then that's what will be played an discussed here.

From a personal point of view, I favour well constructed songs played on proper instruments over the latest fad whereas there may be others who like new shiny things every 5 minutes. No one person's opinion is correct or incorrect. Innovative music has its place but music doesn't have to be innovative to be great.