This year has been full of make-ups (EMI & Aslan, Marilyn Manson), break-ups (Faith No More, Dodgy, Jesus & Mary Chain, A Tribe called Quest) and comebacks (Page & Plant, The Adventures).

Also making a timely comeback was Courtney Love and her band of cohorts. ‘Celebrity Skin’ (Geffen) sees Hole dig themselves out of one. The Billy Corgan assisted collection is a much cleaner sounding record in comparison to 1994’s ‘Live Through This’. It sounds as though Love has finally put a seal on that heart-shaped box and made peace with her demons.

An invigorated Ash have shown all sorts of ideas on their second (full-length) album ‘Nu-Clear Sounds’ (Infectious). Maturity, strength and confidence all come through on what can be regarded as one of the finest albums of the year.

‘This is My Truth Tell Me Yours’ (Epic) has brought the Manic Street Preachers a little more attention than they had expected. Outrage over some of its content and confusion over its American release haven’t managed to take from the album’s overall quality, thankfully.

Others came from Hector Zazou, with his concept Irish album ‘Lights in the Dark’ (Detour) and Todd Snider’s ‘Viva Satellite’ (MCA). Not to be outdone was Sinead Lohan, who came up with quite an intoxicating concoction on ‘No Mermaid’ (Dara).

Album of the year was a closely contested battle with Grant Lee Buffalo emerging victorious. ‘Jubilee’ (Polydor/Slash) finds the band in a much happier state of mind. No more vocal brooding from Grant Lee Philips as he delivers lines like: “It’s been a while since we dropped our guard and cracked a smile, don’t You think it’s overdue?”

Possibly the biggest album of the year comes from (surprise, surprise) U2. ‘The Best of 1980–1990’ (Island) has a tracklisting that could have been made in heaven. It features songs from 1980’s ‘Boy’, through to 1989’s ten million selling ‘Rattle & Hum’. If that doesn’t satisfy you, there’s two more coming out soon.

Also getting the best of treatment are Depeche Mode. Twelve years of a band who’ve been to hell and are still around to tell their tales. ‘The Singles 86–96’ (Mute) catches most of those hellish moments and their triumphant return last year with ‘Ultra’.

Marilyn Manson returns with his candid sense of expression captured in a way that only he can on ‘Mechanical Animals’ (Interscope). Loads of interesting sounds and noises going on here, but the cover shot won’t clear up the gender question.

Stocking Fillers:
The Divine Comedy ‘Fin De Siecle’ (Setanta)
Korn
‘Follow the Leader’ (Sony)
Sheryl Crow
‘The Globe Sessions’ (A&M)
Aslan
‘Shame About Lucy Moonhead’ (EMI)
Bare Naked Ladies
‘Stunt’ (Reprise)
Oasis
‘The Masterplan’ (Creation)
Alanis Morrissette
‘Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie’ (Maverick)
The Dandy Warhols ‘Come Down’ (Capitol)
Graham Coxon
‘The Sky is Too High’ (Transcopic)
Sonic Youth
‘A Thousand Leaves’ (Geffen)

One of the most noticeable things that has happened this year is the amount of great albums that have come out and been simply ignored or disregarded. So, with this in mind here’s The Jukebox Review’s top ten under-rated albums of 1998:
1: Days of The New ‘Days of The New’ (Universal)
2: Chris Stills ‘100 Year Thing’ (Atlantic)
3: Blink ‘The End is High’ (Mutant)
4: Eagle-Eye Cherry ‘Desireless’ (Polydor)
5: Scott Weiland ‘12 Bar Blues’ (Atlantic)
6: The Plague Monkeys ‘Surface Tension’ (Crosstown)
7: Esthero ‘Breath From Another’ (Columbia)
8: Marcy Playground ‘Marcy Playground’ (Capitol)
9: Regurgitator ‘Unit’ (EastWest)
10: Rare ‘Peoplefreak’ (Pinnacle)


MIDNIGHT OF THE CENTURY
Back in the eighties, the idea of someone singing about 1999 or the year 2000 seemed almost fictional.
Now, the reality is that in just over a year a new decade and century will unfold in front of us.

Looking back at the music that came out during the past nine years, there has been a wealth of so-called seminal albums. The ones that come to mind first came from Nirvana, Portishead, The Prodigy and Radiohead.

Equally as important were ‘Timeless’ from Goldie, My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Loveless’ and ‘The Downward Spiral’ from Nine Inch Nails.

The music to which Seattle gave birth at the beginning of the decade was the first major movement. The emergence of ‘Grunge’ signalled the end of many the hard rock bands of the time.

Only Metalica truly prospered during this period, while Def Leopard, Guns ‘n’ Roses and many others were headed for a distasteful demise.

By the end of 1994, the US invasion had lost much of it’s momentum. Two factors contributed to this, the first was Kurt Cobain’s death and the other was British Pop’s (Britpop) meteoric rise.
The nineties have held mixed fortunes for many Irish groups where international success is concerned. Something Happens, The Fat Lady Sings and A House almost had it within their grasp, but things didn’t-quite come to fruition,

If this decade has excelled in anything, it is the music’s diversity. Every conceivable aspect of decades past has be re-vamped and re-named. It has also seen world music grow into a solid musical-force.

The late Nusrit Fateh Ali Khan, Hosam Ramsey and Hecter Zazou are some of the more prominent names. Even Swing is considered happening thanks to The Brian Setzer Orchestra and The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies.

Commercially, the divisions between styles and types of music have done nothing but deepen. The charts are made up of strange assortments of people. The Verve can be found next to the horrendous Celine Dion, Alisha’s Attic nestling up to Smashing Pumpkins and countless others that don’t need to be mentioned.

Much of the goodness has been drained from the beat generation and the 1960’s in an attempt to rekindle the movements and the energy that came with them. Although much of this has been very successful, where many of the ideas came from shouldn’t be forgotten,

Rather than borrowing like many of their peers, bands such as Spiritualized, Massive Attack and PJ-Harvey have strayed from convention. They have come up with music that will in a small way define part of what is and has been the 1990’s.

Although many would tell you that the glory days in Irish music vanished with the 80’s, there are too many talented bands around now to void that statement. The Plague Monkeys and Jubilee Allstars have an unassuming charm about them.

Cuckoo and The Hormones possess so much quirky energy that they have to be admired. Also, The Frames DC, Lir and Aslan are far too talented to be discounted.

Take a look at some of the songs that have come out during these years: Radiohead’s ‘Street Spirit’, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ (Nirvana), ‘Today’ (Smashing Pumpkins), ‘Even Better Than The Real Thing’ (U2), ‘Step On’ (The Happy Mondays), ‘Revelate’ (The Frames DC), ‘Sexy Boy’ (Air), ‘Stereo’ (Pavement), ’Slide Away’ (Oasis), ‘Backwater’ (The Meat Puppets).… That’s all that I can think of at the moment!