From: Jay Jaffe <jayspiel AT bway.net>
Subject: Re: Top 20 and then some
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 23:09:00 -0500

Now that I've had a relatively work-free three weeks to reflect on the Year
in Rekkids, I can't help but feel that this year's releases are a bit
overshadowed by the Year in Reissues. I guess it shouldn't surprise me
given my own tendencies (don't have much to say about '97--er, didn't think
I did until I sat down to this task--but I'm getting a better handle on '75
every day). And several of those reissues were arguably Some of the Most
Important Records Ever Made . So why complain?

ALBUMS of 1997
============
1. ANTHOLOGY OF AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC (Smithsonian Folkways) - my homeboy
Eric Hoffsten put it best when, as we listened to this amid a room full of
about 1000 albums, he remarked, "It makes the rest of my collection seem
irrelevant." There's really no shame that the best release of this year
contained music over 60 years old, because this would kick the ass of just
about any year's poll.
2. IGGY AND THE STOOGES - RAW POWER (Columbia/Legacy) - Two words: FUCK
YES! While I'll never surrender my copy of the tinny original mix of this
album (so compressed it would sounds good over an AM radio), and while I'm
still not ready to concede that this is the Stooges' best album (I give the
nod to Fun House for its linear stagger-towards-entropy concept), the way
the floor shakes on the opening line of the revamped "Search and Destroy"
as the Ig evokes napalm and a-bombs makes my spine tingle the way few
records ever have.
3. YO LA TENGO - I CAN HEAR THE HEART BEATING AS ONE (Matador) - Took
longer to sink in than other recent YLT albums, but well worth the wait.
Man, are they on a roll.
4. GERALDINE FIBBERS - BUTCH (Virgin) - While I bemoan their diminished C&W
tendencies, I can't complain about the addition of Nels Cline. Especially
live, he doo right.... and so do the rest of 'em.
5. FAUST - YOU KNOW FAUST (ReR) - So, so, so much better than last year's
Rien. Now Madison Ave.'s favorite band.
6. CRUDE - INNER CITY GUITAR PERSPECTIVES (Flying Nun) - Raymond Scott vs.
Six Finger Satellite on a Kiwi's 4-track. Now I want to hear the other 15
albums.
7. MIRRORS/ELECTRIC EELS/STYRENES - THOSE WERE DIFFERENT TIMES (Scat) -
Award for Best Package Design. And the contents are pretty damn fine. If
the Electric Eels hadn't existed, somebody would have had to dream them up.
8. SONIC YOUTH - SYR 1 & 2 (SYR) - Very low-key compared to their recent
DGC albums, and very, very cool.
9. WACO BROTHERS - COWBOY IN FLAMES (Bloodshot) - Jon Langford & Co. make
for one ferocious hard country crew which opened my ears to a whole lot
more. Award for Best Show: Wacos at Mercury Lounge 2/97.
10. CHRIS KNOX - YES!!  (Flying Nun) - Knox goes New Wave! How could I
possibly say "No!!"?
11. SUPERSUCKERS - MUST'VE BEEN HIGH (Sub Pop) - The 'Suckers C&W album
probably gave me more giggles than the rest of my top 10 combined (with the
exception of the Simpsons comp). Must've been...
12. THE SIMPSONS - SONGS IN THE KEY OF SPRINGFIELD (Rhino) - Mmmmm,
compilation-alicous. So many laughs, so many memories. Oh, the genius of
Alf Clausen.
13. WHITE HASSLE - NATIONAL CHAIN  (Matador) - This wonderfully shambling
collection of originals and well-chosen covers from Marcellus Hall and Dave
Varenka proved up to the Herculean task of filling the hole in my soul
where the annual Railroad Jerk album fits. I'm a sucker for that
kitchen-set percussion.
14. THEE HYDROGEN TERRORS - TERROR, DIPLOMACY, AND PUBLIC RELATIONS (Load)
- Providence' s answer to the Stooges, Devo, and Six Finger Satellite.
Guaranteed to peel paint.
15. ROYAL TRUX - SINGLES, LIVE, UNRELEASED (Drag City) - Never bought
(into) Twin Infinitives; their middle period stuff (pre-Sweet Sixteen,
which I can't bring myself to buy because of the nauseating cover art), on
the other hand, blows me away. And they were an amazing singles band. Award
for Best Career Retrospective.
16. CALEXICO - SPOKE (1/4 Stick) - Okay, so the first time I heard this was
as an import under the band name Spoke, and it made peoples' '96 lists.
Since it's now been released stateside under the Calexico moniker, why not
celebrate such a great record?
17. BARBARA MANNING - 1212 (Matador) - Made with the help from those
Friends of Dean Martinez/Calexico/Spoke folks, this sticks in the head far
longer than any S.F. Seals album (I'll make an exception for the "Dock
Ellis" song on the baseball EP). "Stammich" contains one of the funniest
stolen riffs ever. "Das ist nicht Neu!"
18. BAD LIVERS - HOGS ON THE HIGHWAY - (1/4 Stick) - They don't seem likely
to dust off "Ace of Spades" anytime soon, but they've always had more than
enough talent to compensate for the novelty wearing off. Not that it has;
these songs feel like standards the first time you hear them and fresh the
20th time around.
19. JOHN FAHEY & CUL DE SAC - THE EPIPHANY OF GLENN JONES (Thirsty Ear) - I
never got around to Womblife, and don't intend to pull out City of Refuge
any time soon. As a cautionary lesson in hero-worship, the liner notes are
almost worth the price of admission alone. Which still leaves you with one
beautiful record.
20. KING LOSER - CAUL OF THE OUTLAW (Flying Nun) - Still more Kiwis. A band
with a great knack for contrast, be it loud/soft, male vox/female vox,
guitar/organ, so it's not surprising that this comes off more subtly than
the monster You Cannot Kill What Does Not Live.

EPS
======
Sally Timms - Cowboy Sally EP (Bloodshot)
Yo La Tengo - Rocket #9 7" (Planet)
Brainiac - Electroshock for President (Touch & Go)

Other reissues & comps
=================
The Monks - Black Monk Time (Infinite Zero)
Pussy Galore - Exile on Main St. (Shov)
Byrds - Sweethearts of the Rodeo (Columbia/Legacy)
Byrds -Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde (Columbia/Legacy)
Pin Group, Retrospective (Siltbreeze)
Victor Dimisich Band, My Name is K (Medication)
Harry Partch - The Harry Parch Collection Volume 1 & Volume 2 (CRI)
Lefty Frizzell - Look What Thoughts Will Do (Columbia/Legacy)
Tony Conrad, Early Minimalism (Table of the Elements)
Geraldine Fibbers, What Part of Get Thee Gone Don't You Understand?
(Sympathy for the Record Industry)