One Hundred Favorite Albums of the 1990s
(A companion to my One Hundred Favorite Albums of the 1980s, with the same rules, i.e. (1) the albums are ranked in something like my order of preference; (2) the decade is marked from January 1, 1990, to December 31, 1999; and (3) I’ve allowed myself multiple albums per artist when I thought it was warranted. I’ve also forbidden myself from choosing compilations unless the material was mostly unavailable on earlier albums, as with #35 and #98.)
My Life by Iris DeMent
Laughing Stock by Talk Talk
Promenade by The Divine Comedy
Beast Box by Luxuria
Sparrows Point by Richard Shindell
Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones by The Comsat Angels [an archival release of material from the early 80s]
I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got by Sinead O’Connor
Tindersticks (1993) by Tindersticks
Eye by Robyn Hitchcock
Time Machines by Time Machines
Reading, Writing and Arithmetic by The Sundays
+/- by Ryoji Ikeda
Laid by James
Violator by Depeche Mode
Homogenic by Björk
Dream Café by Greg Brown
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel
Nothing by System Error
Duplex Ride by Sidsel Endresen + Bugge Wesseltoft
Songs from Einstein’s Violin by Frank Tedesso
Lewis Taylor by Lewis Taylor
Live at Ronnie Scott’s by Aztec Camera
Down in There by Greg Brown
The Good Son by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Infamous Angel by Iris DeMent
Peace at Last by The Blue Nile
Impurity by New Model Army
Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite by Maxwell
A Short Album About Love by The Divine Comedy
Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 by George Michael
Coming Up for Air by David Massengill
Night Train by Bill Morrissey
I See a Darkness by Bonnie “Prince” Billy
69 Love Songs by The Magnetic Fields
B-Sides and Abandoned Tracks by New Model Army
Mark Hollis by Mark Hollis
Zulu by The Creatures
Stranger to This Land by Barbara Kessler
Rufus Wainwright by Rufus Wainwright
Home by Hothouse Flowers
Aion by Dead Can Dance
The Future by Leonard Cohen
The Bloomsbury Theater 12.3.95 by Tindersticks
Scenes from a Blue Divide (Live) and More by Richard Shindell
The Honesty Room by Dar Williams
Home Again by David Wilcox
Flood by They Might Be Giants
Essex by Alison Moyet
Selected Ambient Works 85-92 by Aphex Twin
Mundo Civilizado by Arto Lindsay
Reunion Hill by Richard Shindell
Hell Among the Yearlings by Gillian Welch
The Next Hundred Years by Ted Hawkins
Mule Variations by Tom Waits
Musick to Play in the Dark by Coil
Different Class by Pulp
The Road to Ensenada by Lyle Lovett
Shifting City by John Foxx & Louis Gordon
Post by Björk
Beautiful Vision by Sinead O’Connor
Mrs. Pinocci’s Guitar by Cheryl Wheeler
Heaven or Las Vegas by Cocteau Twins
Jack’s Crows by John Gorka
Red Shift Swing by Alog
Big Guitars in Little Europe by Justin Sullivan & Dave Blomberg
Second Time Around by Ghost
Sahara Blue by Hector Zazou
Bad Love by Randy Newman
Inside by Bill Morrissey
Grace by Jeff Buckley
God’s Home Movie by Horse
Mort Aux Vaches by Ryoji Ikeda
Revival by Gillian Welch
Black Sheep by Martin Sexton
Angel Food for Thought by Meryn Cadell
Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos
Hoodoo by Alison Moyet
Singer Songwriter Beggarman Thief by 5 Chinese Brothers
Dead Bees on a Cake by David Sylvian
Little Town by Kevin Connolly
Big Mouth Strikes Again by Billy Bragg
The Ugly One with the Jewels and Other Stories by Laurie Anderson
Lust by Ambitious Lovers
Let Love In by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Damage by Sylvian/Fripp
MTV Unplugged by Maxwell
Stories by Ellis Paul
Fact and Fiction by Kristen Hall
The Light Pink Album by Stephen Allen Davis
Rain Tree Crow by Rain Tree Crow
8 Track Stomp by Chickasaw Mudd Puppies
The Poet Game by Greg Brown
Fin de Siècle by The Divine Comedy
Set List by James
Parallel Lives by David Mallett
Selected Ambient Works Volume II by Aphex Twin
Bone Machine by Tom Waits
Miscellaneous T by They Might Be Giants
Cloudcuckooland by The Lightning Seeds
My My My by Kevin Connolly
— April 30, 2023