From: Jim JBeat <JimJBeat AT aol.com>
Subject: Chug Year End Poll
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 11:57:19 EST

JIM TESTA
418 Gregory Avenue, Weehawken NJ 07087
Email:  Jimjbeat AT aol.com   
Website: http://www.jerseybeat.com

1997 Best Albums

Yo La Tengo - "I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One" (Matador) 	
Spiritualized - "Ladies & Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space" (Dedicated)	   
dEUS - "In a Bar, Under The Sea" (Island)						
Local H - "Local H" (Island)							
Blue Meanies - "Full Throttle" (Thick)					
The Promise Ring - "Nothing Feels Good" (Jade Tree)			
Poster Children - "RTFM" (Reprise)						
Echo & The Bunnymen - "Evergreen" (London)				  
Sleater-Kinney - "Dig Me Out" (KillRockStars)				  
Patti Smith - "Peace & Noise" (Arista)					  	
 	

Comments:

Nature abhors a vacuum.  And much of what we heard - and an awful lot of what
sold well -  in 1997  (Spice Girls, Hanson, Marilyn Manson, Chumbawamba)
amounted to little more than the sound of empty air rushing in to fill one.
Still, I happen to like pop; and while great albums were in short supply,  it
was a great year for catchy singles.  There might be some sort of pop-cult
corollary there:  The production of meaningful art is inversely proportionate
to the quality of what’s playing on the car radio.

Poster Children - One of those underappreciated, hard-working, and impeccably
reliable alt-rock bands constantly touring the landscape for the edification
of a small but very contented cult of fans. The CD-ROM portion of the release
(programmed by bassist/computer whiz Rose Marshack)  was infinitely more
clever, complex, and entertaining than any other "enhanced CD" released in
’97.

Blue Meanies - Almost every other ska-punk band littering the landscape these
days runs the musical gamut from A to B, rarely venturing beyond the
boundaries set by Madness on the one hand and Operation Ivy on the other. You
can still skank to the Blue Meanies, but by tossing Beefheart, Zappa, Tom
Waits, and a little heavy metal into the equation, these Chicago mofos  have
engineered a hybrid that’s as much fun for your brain as it is for your feet.

The Promise Ring - "Emo" punk  that makes you smile. What will those kids
think of next?

Echo & The Bunnymen - Quite simply, the most underrated and overlooked
comeback of the year.