A batch of Cross Rhythms reviewers consider the merits of 25 mainstream albums

"El Scorcho" was the first single from 'Pinkerton' and was the first of the album's songs to truly capture my heart - its verses swagger under a drawling riff, the lyrics are true and humorous ("I asked you to go to a Green Day concert/You said you'd never heard of them/How cool is that?") but the album's true punch comes from the dark and heartbreaking "Butterfly", a more subtle expression of regret than the album's opener, way before it became passe for rock bands to end their albums with an acoustic track. Rivers wrote a letter to some friends prior to the release of the album: "I hope you all don't hate it. There are lyrics on the album that you might think are mean. . . I will feel genuinely bad if anyone feels hurt by my lyrics. . . you may be more willing to forgive the mean lyrics if you see them as passing low points in a larger story." 'Pinkerton''s critical reception was as damning as my reaction on first listen. Readers of Rolling Stone magazine famously, and absurdly, voted it the second worst record of the year. Cuomo seemingly reacted by removing substance and subtext from his future songwriting attempts, barely penning another truly vulnerable lyric for the next 15 years. He refused to play songs from 'Pinkerton' on subsequent tours and in 2001 said, "The most painful thing in my life these days is the cult around 'Pinkerton'. It's just a sick album, sick in a diseased sort of way. It's such a source of anxiety. . . Honestly, I never want to play those songs again; I never want to hear them again."

Why such an extreme reaction? For Rivers Cuomo 'Pinkerton' served as a deeply honest (sometimes uncomfortably so) portrait of a tough two year period of his life. After the success of 'Blue' he became disillusioned with a corporate rock scene and enrolled at Harvard, burying himself in music theory books. During this same period he underwent a painful leg lengthening operation with an extensive recovery period. From a place of isolation and introspection, he began to pursue an ascetic lifestyle in the hope of finding some meaning to it all. When reflecting on 'Pinkerton''s "The Good Life" Rivers said, "I think I was starting to become frustrated with my whole dream about purifying myself and trying to live like a monk or an intellectual and going to school and holding out for this perfect, ideal woman. And so I wrote the song. And I started to turn around and come back the other way."

Okay, so what about any of this will make you want to go out and pick up a copy? Perhaps the critics were right? Hindsight often provides some clarity and many of the fans who hated 'Pinkerton in '96 voted it the 16th Greatest Album Of All Time in a 2002 poll. In truth it does emotional honesty with much more credibility and self-awareness than most of the bands from the emo movement ever managed. What does it speak into my life as a Christian? Well for one thing it humbles me and reminds me that I am just another sinner saved by grace of God, and that I should never pretend to be anyone other than who I am in light of his kind salvation. Beyond that? Decisions have consequences; emotions are gifts from God that require expressing and understanding; regret is a deep honesty that I should try less desperately to avoid; maturing and self understanding are worthy goals and in searching for meaning and purpose this world comes to its own conclusion about the futility of life - what the world needs is not to be reminded of its need but to be shown the solution. For the rock lover, Cuomo says it best in his introduction letter, "The 10 songs are sequences in the order in which I wrote them so as a whole, the album kind of tells the story of my struggle with my inner-Pinkerton. If you want to, you can listen with an ear for this story or you can just turn the s*** up and rock out... I like records that can go both ways like that."
Ewan Jones

1993
Bjork
Debut
One Little Indian
In the early '90s, following moderate success as the lead singer of Icelandic alternative rock group The Sugarcubes, singer/songwriter Björk Guðmundsdóttir set about recording her accurately titled debut solo album using songs that had been written a number of years before work on the album officially started. Sugarcubes fans used to the band's post punk leanings were no doubt surprised to find the diminutive Icelander extending into more house, trip hop and jazz territory and the experimental edge of this album set the course for the career of one of the music world's most innovative and fascinating female artists. Having recently produced works by the likes of 808 State and Soul II Soul, in-demand English producer Nellee Hooper was chosen as the perfect helmsman to facilitate the transformation of Björk's musical identity from a kooky leftfield lead singer in a kooky leftfield band to a fully-fledged solo artist in her own right. Co-writing five of the original tracks on 'Debut', Hooper's input to the album is undeniable but it is the sheer warmth, charm and enthusiasm of Björk's performance that makes this irresistible slice of genius seem as fresh almost two decades on as when it was first released. Spawning five singles and two BRIT awards, it would be wrong to assume that this arguably non-mainstream album left the music-buying public behind. Instead, hits such as "Violently Happy" and "Big Time Sensuality" owed a great deal to the house music craze of the time whilst the memorable "Venus As A Boy" referenced the feel of some of Hooper's work with Soul II Soul a few years earlier. Nonetheless, Björk was keen to push the musical envelope and pioneering pieces such as abstract brass-laden jazz of "The Anchor Song" and collaboration with jazz harpist Corky Hale on the old standard "Like Someone In Love" meant that Björk was able to have a foot in both camps without compromising her artistic integrity.

Having said that, critics were quick to slate Björk's vocal style in the same way they denigrated fellow female music visionaries Kate Bush and Tori Amos but tracks like the exquisite "Come With Me" and "Human Behaviour" showcase an accomplished vocal delivery that exudes skill and passion amidst the singer's trademark grunts, rolled R's and other vocal idiosyncrasies. In terms of subject matter, Björk covers a fair bit of ground with songs such as "Human Behaviour" affectionately passing comment on the strangeness of the human race whilst "There's More To Life Than This" highlights the futility of the club scene - albeit in favour of nicking a boat from the local harbour and eating some bread from a nearby baker. The somewhat disturbing "Violently Happy", which sees the singer getting "too drunk" and "daring people to jump off roofs", highlights a darker side whilst the hopeful "One Day" maintains the general air of positivity found throughout the majority of the album. On the minus side her perverse attitudes towards sexuality ar demonstrated on the transgendered "Venus As A Boy" with lyrics like "his wicked sense of humour suggests exciting sex" and "he's exploring the taste of her arousal" leaving little to the imagination whilst "Big Time Sensuality" uses sexual terminology in its title to chart nothing more than the creative relationship between herself and producer Nellee Hooper.
Lins Honeyman

1990
World Party
Goodbye Jumbo
Papillon
World Party were always less of a band and more a front for the solo work of ex-Waterboys bassist Karl Wallinger. 'Goodbye Jumbo' was the second album and the songs mixed together a soup of influences which included The Beatles, Stones, Dylan and Sly Stone. Some of the material featured Guy Chambers who later took a World Party song "She's The One" with him to his work with Robbie Williams. Sinead O'Connor also contributed backing vocals to the album, Wallinger having produced her debut album a couple of years previously. Q Magazine nominated 'Goodbye Jumbo' as the Best Album Of 1990 and when they compiled a list of the Top 100 albums ever it stood at number 94. The main message of the project is an eco one, a theme explored years before it was trendy to write about green issues. You get the feeling that Wallinger is spiritually searching while simultaneously environmentally enraged. "Way Down Now" is a good example where he's talking about the way in which the world is sliding towards destruction due to human neglect of our environment. Amongst his despair, he asks "Won't you show me something true today/C'mon and show me anything but this." The track dissolves into a groove complete with "Sympathy For The Devil" style woo-hoos. "When The Rainbow Comes" employs spiritual language to describe Wallinger's desire to escape and create a better world ("Slippin' and slidin' around in your head/It's be-bop-a-lula then baby you're dead/So c'mon make a bright new day/I need a prayer here, need a blessing.") Throughout the album there's this balance between bleak despair and a bright optimism that it's still possible to make things better.

Although it's clear that a lot of the songs are specifically about green issues and Wallinger wanting to challenge the world, a song like "Put The Message In The Box" could easily work as an encouragement to getting a Christian message out there. It would make a great cover version for a Christian band. The song's hooky chorus goes "Put the message in the box/Put the box into the car/Drive the car around the world/Until you get heard." Whether it's the gospel of environmental concern or the message of salvation in Christ, the next verse really resonates. "Now is the moment/Please understand/The road is wide open/To the heart of every man/A few simple words/So a mule could understand/He don't want tomorrow/If it's just crumbling into sand/Won't you please hear the call."

"God On My Side" sees Wallinger yearning for God to be real in order to make sense of it all. "It's something I can't feel/But I'm into some GOD action/And maybe yours is real/'Cause I'm falling/I need your God on my side." The song is like a prayer as if the battle to make the world better is a bigger job and we need some divine assistance to get it all done. "Well I see you thought we could change the world/If we gather round and pray/But it's just like sending one letter/To more than just one place/But 'Dear God can you help us'/Must be the opening phrase/'Cause we're falling/Need your God on my side." And yet in the middle of his desire to believe he admits the truth. "We need their God on our side/In search of him I will roam/Need our God on our side/Mine got up and left home." Wallinger has sadly passed the point where he can easily believe. The last songs on the album almost have an elegiac worshipful feel to them. In "Love Street" Wallinger sings of transformation. "I was walking with the lonely/Before you came into my heart/Showed me round your Love Street/Took me naked from the dark." The song has a slow uplifting feel to it and features some magnificent blissed out guitar work. The "spiritual" vibe of 'Goodbye Jumbo' reminds me in places of some of the recordings of Van Morrison. It's mystical, it's mysterious and it's wrapped up in some seriously good music.

1989
Van Morrison
Avalon Sunset
Polydor
When, rarely, the subject of 'spirituality' in music crops up Van The Man usually gets evoked, sooner-or-later. The original Grumpy Old Man, he often appears to be the least spiritual of people - and yet, from his first solo album, 'Astral Weeks' onwards, it's a word you can unashamedly use to describe his art. After his years with the Belfast R&B combo Them, his later hippie incarnation as a solo artist wasn't an attempt to keep up with the times or jump on the latest bandwagon, but an organic investigation of things mystical. Indeed, Morrison has gone on record stating that, as a young boy, he had "mystical experiences." Later, as a teenager, he would be filled with a sense of wonder, even at everyday occurrences like watching someone cross the road. He would probably agree that his music ever since has been an environment to discover the meaning of such experiences. His spiritual search led Van to embrace Scientology, the faith system pioneered by science fiction writer Ron L Hubbard. But after the negative critical reaction that greeted his 'Poetic Champions Compose' in early 1987 he returned not only with his most praised album for years but one that seemed to be focusing his long-term search on orthodox Christianity. Whilst God had often featured in his lyrics, now he was making specific references to Jesus on his unexpected duet with Cliff Richard on "Whenever God Shines His Light" (which went on to be a Top 20 single) and performing a rousing version of "When The Saints Go Marching" complete with additional lyrics. Tracks like those and "Have I Told You Lately" and "Daring Night" made 'Avalon Sunset' one of the most glorious soul-jazz-blues-gospel-country fusions ever recorded. One critic described the album as "a powerful statement that the often turbulent muse had stabilized and was now a sublime force flowing through Van Morrison." Rumours abounded in Christian circles that the blue-eyed soul/Celtic visionary had become "one of us". Sadly, it wasn't to be. His dalliance with Christian orthodoxy seems to have become bogged down. Nowadays Van Morrison's ongoing search seems to take precedence over God himself in his life; as his Christian view becomes increasingly blurred and obscure, running parallel with an artistic malaise and creative dearth. But this record is a fine reminder of when his faith seemed strong and his music divine.
John Cheek

1983
Culture Club
Colour By Numbers
Virgin
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and so we now know about Boy George's problems with drugs, his stormy gay relationship with drummer Jon Moss and the "musical differences" that were never fully worked out within Culture Club. We also know that after the peak of this brilliant album, the band's third album was disastrously bad. But we mustn't buy into the idea that the band were simply disposable. At his best, Boy George was very capable of fashioning catchy pop tunes and beneath the androgynous image, he had a very good soul voice. Musically Culture Club skilfully blended a variety of styles and the members of the band included a Jewish punk drummer Jon Moss, a reggae-loving black bassist Mikey Craig and a pop rock guitarist Roy Hay. George's image, voice and songs fused it together. This album is packed with great songs. There are hits like "Karma Chameleon" and "Church Of The Poison Mind" and the closing ballad "Victims". But the album has depth. I always enjoyed hooks of "It's A Miracle" and the vocal harmonies on "Miss Me Blind". Rather aptly, one of their single releases at this time included a cover version of Blue Mink's "Melting Pot" which seemed to sum up the overall message of the band perfectly. In an era where image was everything, this bunch of misfits have something to tell us about image and music.
Mike Rimmer

1979
Talking Heads
The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads
Warner Bros
David Byrne was never one to chat between songs and the title of this live compilation quotes his habitual introduction: "The name of this band is Talking Heads and the name of this song is. . ." and away we go. The Heads should never be confused with some of their gobbier contemporaries, giving us a series of clever, thought-provoking singles and albums that were usually bracketed as "new wave" because there was no other convenient pigeonhole for them. If you want a tenuous comparison, David Byrne sounds not totally unlike Jonathan Richman and as guitarist Gerry Harrison was also a Modern Lover the two family trees can be linked. 'The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads' was originally released in 1982 as a vinyl double album, giving a taster of live material from three distinct phases of the band's varied career. However, the archives contained much, much more so when the time came to re-issue as a CD it was greatly expanded to make a double, as well as being re-mastered and generally re-packaged. Disc One of the expanded CD gives us the five tracks from 1977 and five from 1979 off the vinyl release plus nine that were either previously unreleased or available only on the obscure 'Warmer Bros Music Show' promo.

Disc Two picks up the story after the band had been working with Brian Eno. As another reviewer memorably put it, Talking Heads took the "p" out of punk and replaced it with an "f" and here we hear them in their funky glory on the famous Remain In Light tour of 1980-1981. The original four members are joined by a varied cast of collaborators, including occasional member of King Crimson and David Bowie side-kick Adrian Belew on guitar. The vinyl release had room only for seven tracks but now we get the full set of 14, including this reviewer's all-time personal favourite, a cover (or re-write) of Al Green's "Take Me To The River". We open with some trademark Tina Weymouth bass guitar as she locks down the groove with Chris Frantz on drums (and what a rhythm section they made). Once Nona Hendryx joins in the vocals we have something very special indeed. Of course we wonder whether any of them meant what they were singing. Although David Byrne was born in Scotland he grew up Stateside and seems to be one of the seemingly few Americans known to us who understand irony. So when he sings that he is a "Psycho Killer" we do not take him literally. Does he truly want to be taken to the river and washed in the water? We hope so but in the absence of any further and deeper testimony all we can do is enjoy a unique take on a marvellous song. Chances are your favourite Talking Heads number will be included here as well so brief but honourable mentions to "Building On Fire", "Stay Hungry", "One In A Lifetime" and "Life During Wartime". The Talking Heads were - and remain - a unique band and this double album still stands up today.
Steven Whitehead

1979
The Jam
Setting Sons
Polydor
For those first getting into music at the end of the '70s there was one artist you could relate to; one voice amidst the immediate aftermath of punk and all its consequences you felt was your own. Just as Bob Dylan was to the baby-boomers of the west 15 years before, so Paul Weller spoke to working-class youth in a Britain of discontent, about to plunge into economic and social darkness. With Rotten/Lydon negating his position and jetting to Jamaica to check out the reggae and avoid media attention, Weller was reluctantly cast as a "spokesman for a generation". Part of the new wave vanguard and yet rejected by punks, The Jam's frontman was already the face to watch by those who really knew; the band's huge crossover appeal would only be repeated in Britain by Oasis a long while later. By now at a creative peak, The Jam entered the studio in autumn '79 with few songs and an idea. At a time when concept albums were despised, songwriter Weller intended to tell the (long playing) story of three childhood friends who, as adults, gradually went their own ways. The concept doesn't immediately come over, but the final tracks were still amongst the strongest in The Jam's canon and, had they been sequenced differently, even more arresting. Visceral lyrics charting descents into materialism, loneliness or death-in-combat: "Little Boy Soldiers" saw Weller brave enough to attempt a piece in three movements and accomplished enough to carry it off. "Burning Sky" is clearly a chilling testament of a man choosing to worship mammon; just about eclipsing 'Smithers-Jones' and 'Eton Rifles' - damning indictments of the Establishment with The Jam acutely class-conscious, appalled at the injustice of English prejudices. It's a bleak landscape, this modern world where God is virtually absent. But life-long Christians would do well to understand the existentialist influence in the '60s Mod ethic of The Jam, notably in "Wasteland": "We'll smile, but only for seconds/For to be caught smiling is to acknowledge life/A brave, but useless show of compassion/And that is forbidden in this drab and colourless world." It would be 20 years before Weller finally started writing songs about the God of hope.
John Cheek

1978
Bruce Springsteen
Darkness On The Edge Of Town
Columbia
After the 1975 triumph of 'Born To Run', both as single and album, The Boss's recording career stalled as he and his former manager went to court. This did not stop the tours and the writing though, with Springsteen giving away potential hits to artists as diverse as The Pointer Sisters ("Fire") to Patti Smith ("Because The Night"). Once legal peace had been declared Springsteen was spoiled for choice and set about telling his next story from the treasure trove of songs he had accumulated. Not everything would fit and he avoided the double album temptation, instead saving some of the new material for his next release - ironically a double album, 'The River' (1980). The theme of the album is there in the title: these are songs about the darkness that is compelling the singer to attempt to escape from the town that he has outgrown. The opener, "Badlands", was also a single but it barely troubled the charts. It sets the scene and shows both the strengths and weaknesses of the album. The tune is strong but although not as wordy as some of the lyrics on his previous albums Springsteen is still guilty of trying too hard. It may not be as incomprehensible as "Blinded By The Light" but I wish Springsteen had grasped the concept that sometimes less is more. The musical impact is strong though: Max Weinberg drums up a storm and Steve Van Zandt was starting to become a guitar hero.