From: Doug Orleans <dougo AT ccs.neu.edu>
Subject: favorite records of 1997
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 00:51:09 -0500 (EST)
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Here's my top 20, in roughly descending order:

    Rogers, Wayne _Infraction_ (Twisted Village)
    Daft Punk _Homework_ (Virgin)
    Polvo _Shapes_ (Touch & Go)
    Poster Children _RTFM_ (Reprise)
    Bardo Pond _Lapsed_ (Matador)
    Spectrum _Forever Alien_ (Space Age/Reprise)
    Space Needle _The Moray Eels Eat the Space Needle_ (Zero Hour)
    American Analog Set _From Our Living Room To Yours_ (Emperor Jones)
    Bowery Electric _Beat_ (Kranky/Beggars Banquet)*
    Man or Astro-Man? _Made From Technetium_ (Touch & Go)
    Helium _Magic City_ (Matador)
    F/i _Helioscopium_ (Ceres)
    Tono-Bungay _Wunderkammer_ (Twisted Village)
    Fu Manchu _The Action Is Go_ (Mammoth)
    Various Artists _Alms: A Benefit for Ptolemaic Terrascope_ (Fleece/Worship Guitars)
    Verbena _Souls For Sale_ (Merge)
    Helmet _Aftertaste_ (Interscope)
    Hash Jar Tempo _Well Oiled_ (Drunken Fish)
    Lesser 3.2 _Gigolo Cop_ (Vinyl Communications)
    Seely _Seconds_ (Too Pure)

*Came out on Kranky in 1996, was re-recorded and re-released by
Beggars in 1997; the band considers it a 1997 release.  It was in my
year-end list last year too, but hey, I liked it that much.

Any of these might have made the top 20 on another day:

    Melvins _Honky_ (Amphetamine Reptile)
    Victory At Sea "Snow" / "Distorted" (Villa VillaKula: PO Box 1929, Boston, MA 02205)
    Major Stars _Rocks Sounds Of People_ 1-sided 12" (Twisted Village)
    Panel Donor _Surprise Bath_ (Sonic Bubblegum)
    Sonora Pine, the _II_ (1/4 Stick)
    Bright _The Albatross Guest House_ (Ba Da Bing!/Darla)
    Shipping News _Save Everything_ (1/4 Stick)
    Mogwai _Ten Rapid_ (Jetset)
    Subarachnoid Space _Almost Invisible_ (Relapse)
    Third Eye Foundation, the _Ghost_ (Merge)
    Orb _Orblivion_ (Island)
    Tugboat Annie _Wake Up And Disappear_ (Kimchee/Bigtop)
    Bright "Plymouth Rock"+2 7" (Ba Da Bing!/Darla)
    Spectrum & Jessamine _A Pox On You_ (Space Age)
    Spectrum _Feels Like I'm Slipping Away_ (Space Age)
    Brother JT & Vibrolux _Doomsday Rock_ (Twisted Village)
    Satan's Pilgrims _Around the World with Satan's Pilgrims_ (Empty)
    Juneau/Foom split 7" (self-released, P.O. Box 2073, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130)
    Trans Am _Surrender To The Night_ (Thrill Jockey)
    Mainliner _Mainliner Sonic_ (Charnel)

Also recommended:

    Superchunk _Indoor Living_ (Merge)
    Salaryman _Salaryman_ (12inch)
    Abunai! _Universal Mind Decoder_ (Camera Obscura)
    Irving Klaw Trio _Utek Pahtoo Mogoi_ (Road Cone)
    Spiritualized _Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space_ (Dedicated/Arista)
    Daviess County Panthers _Je N'aime Pas Beaucoup Ma Gamelle_ (Sonic Bubblegum)
    Makers, the _Tear Your World Apart_ (Estrus)
    Supersuckers _Must've Been High_ (Sub Pop)
    Sonic Boom & Spectrum _What Came Before After_ (Sympathy For The Record Industry)
    Spatula _Under the Veil of Health_ (Squealer)
    Various Artists _Ptolemaic Terrascope issue #23 EP_ (Ptolemaic Terrascope)
    Azusa Plane, the _Tycho Magnetic Anomaly and the Full Consciousness of Hidden Harmony_ (Camera Obscura)
    Grifters, the _Full Blown Possession_ (Sub Pop)
    Hurl _Not a Memory_ (My Pal God/Peas Kor)
    Flowchart _The Spirit of Kenny G_ (Blackbean Placenta)
    Bakamono _Long Time Cain_ (Super 8)
    VSS, the _Nervous Circuits_ (Honey Bear)

I'm glad I own these, but probably won't listen to them much:

    Melvins _Singles 1-12_ (Amphetamine Reptile)
    Oxbow _Serenade In Red_ (SST)
    Various Artists _Badaboom Gramaphone 2_ (Badabing)
    US Maple _The Wanderer_ (Sonic Bubblegum)
    Negativland _Dispepsi_ (Seeland)

Records I really wanted to hear and might have made my list if I had:

    Flaming Lips _Zaireeka_ -- I've listened to discs 1 & 2, but it
    just doesn't work without all 4...
    Sonic Youth _Anagrama_ and _Slaapkamers met Slagroom_ -- I ordered
    them from Midheaven Mailorder but they still haven't arrived...
    Karp _Self-Titled_
    Aerial M _Aerial M_
    Crystalized Movements _Mind Disaster_ (reissue)
    Pell Mell _Star City_
    High Rise _Psychedelic Speed Freaks_
    Flying Saucer Attack _New Lands_
    Meisha _Meisha_
    Barbara Manning _1212_
    Champs _III_
    Boxhead Ensemble _Dutch Harbor soundtrack_
    Isotope 217 _The Unstable Molecule_
    Radiohead _OK Computer_
    Portishead _Portishead_
    Guided By Voices _Mag Earwhig!_
    Shellac _Futurist_
    Fushitsusha
    Original Sins
    Squarepusher, Atari Teenage Riot, mu-Ziq, etc.

Great stuff I got in 1997 that wasn't released in 1997:

    Various Artists _Wipeout XL_ (1996)
    Gang of Four _Entertainment!/Yellow EP_ (1979/1980)
    Can _Monster Movie_ (1969) and _Soundtracks_ (1970)
    The Monkees _More of the Monkees_ (1967)
    Ventures _Play Telstar and the Lonely Bull_ (1962/1963)
    Windy & Carl _Drawing of Sound_ (1996)
    Spatula _Even the Thorny Acacia_ (1994)
    Ghost _Ghost_ (1990) and _Lama Rabi Rabi_ (1996)
    Various Artists _Succour (PT benefit)_ (1996)
    Air Miami _Me. Me. Me._ (1995)
    Trans Am _Trans Am_ (1995)
    Scrawl _Travel On, Rider_ (1996)
    Jesus Lizard _Goat_ (1990)
    Love & Rockets _Sweet F.A._ (1996)
    Foreskin 500 _Starbent But Superfreaked_ (1996)
    Tuscadero _The Pink Album_ (1996)
    Buffalo _Volcanic Rock_ (1973)
    lots of other stuff that I can't think of now.
    
Stuff that's already on my top 1998 list:

    Swervedriver _99th Dream_
    Unwound _Challenge for a Civilized Society_
    godheadSilo _Share the Fantasy_
    Shellac _Terraform_

--Doug Orleans <dougo AT ccs.neu.edu>
http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/dougo/