Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Unearthing 90's Lo-Fi Classics

Just how many great albums were there in the 90's. I've been wrestling with this for the last couple of years thanks to reissues. First, Pavement's reissue of 1992's Slanted & Enchanted and now Liz Phair's Exile In Guyville gets the same treatment on ATO Records. Phair's 1993 album, as rightly pointed out by Alan Light's liner notes, doesn't sound very Lo-Fi to our 2008 ears. Hell, it's pretty straight forward Rock and Roll. Sure, its minimalist: Guitar, Drums, Bass, maybe a synth, but compared to today's Indie Rock its downright rocking. And Phair's future Pop leanings are more on display than what I remember. ATO has tacked on a Docu DVD and 3 bonus tracks, only 1 I like, but as I wrestle with how many good albums the 90's gave me compared with the other decades, reissues like the Pavement and Phair ones give me hope that there may be more of 'em that I underrated.
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