These aren't actually CDs that were released in 1999.  Just CDs by artists that were new to me that made the biggest impression on me in the past year.  These are the ones I really got hooked on, and played over and over and over.  Just ask anyone who had to ride in my car!

In alphabetical order . . .

Prolonging the Magic

Fashion Nugget

Cake

I first encountered Cake on a compilation tape. The song "Never There" just grabbed me, and pretty soon I'd bought Prolonging the Magic. Songs like "Satan is my Motor" and "Let Her Go" were in constant rotation in my car for a month or two.  Later this year I found Fashion Nugget used; "Stickshifts and Safetybelts" and "I Will Survive" are two of my favorites from this disk.

I love Cake's unique (even strange) mix of guitar, trumpet, and laid-back vocal styles. These guys sound like they're having fun, in a very bored, cool kind of way.

Elastica

Elastica

Elastica was one of those things I bought months before I ever started listening to it (I don't know why I do that sometimes, but I do).  It was just as well, though, because when I finally did start playing it I couldn't take it out of the CD player for 2 months.  The power and energy of this music made this an instant favorite for me.  Some of my favorite songs on this disk are "Connection," "Line Up," "Car Song," "Blue," and "Waking Up."  But they're almost all really great. I already reviewed this back in the summer, if you want to know more about what makes this band and CD so special.

Crash

Under the Table and Dreaming

Live at Luther College

Dave Matthews Band

I remember this scene very vividly: standing in Disc-Go-Round in State College, PA, three years ago, with a used copy of Under the Table and Dreaming in one hand and When I Woke (by Rusted Root) in the other.  I wasn't familiar with either of the bands but I had a feeling I'd like them. I picked Rusted Root that day, and although I enjoyed the disk, I think I really made the wrong choice. If I had bought DMB back then, I think I would have been a fan ever since.  Instead, I got Crash in 1999 and finally discovered how great this music really was.

The Dave Matthews Band seems to blend a lot of different styles into something unique that works very, very well. There's a kind of wildness about this music that I find mesmerizing. And after listening to some of the live stuff, I can see why DMB fans are so into the concerts. These songs really are even better live, when they're presented in this long jam format with different lyrics almost every time. Besides Crash and Under the Table and Dreaming, I also own Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, Live at Luther College, which is a great acoustic double-CD.

Although I wouldn't categorize DMB in any specific genre, or even say that they're particularly similar to anyone else, I do think that if you like Sting and Paul Simon, especially after they became interested in world music, you'll like this, too.

whitechocolatespaceegg

Exile in Guyville

Liz Phair

This summer, Liz Phair's music took over my brain and just wouldn't let it go.  Again, I was led astray by a mix tape -- the song was "What Makes You Happy" -- and I went out and found whitechocolatespaceegg.   What a great CD.  Some of my favorite songs on it (and I have a lot!) are "Polyester Bride," "Johnny Feelgood," "Baby Got Going," and "Perfect World."  I played this disk constantly, and forced it on many other people, too.

The thing about Liz Phair that's not completely obvious on whitechocolatespaceegg is that she's not much of a singer.   Once I got Exile in Guyville (her first major label release) it became quite clear to me that vocals aren't her strength.  But I loved it anyway -- her music is about a lot more than her voice.  And her voice has a way of conveying emotion that I haven't encountered in a lot of other singers.

I love Liz Phair's music because she seems to express feelings that I think a lot of us have -- anger, jealousy, and frustration come to mind -- in a way that makes sense to me.  And I don't want to give the wrong impression, her music's not all negative; it's simply the true emotion running through it that makes it so powerful.  Plus, Exile in Guyville is a perfect Alex Krycek CD.

Besides the two shown, I also have Whip-smart and Juvenalia.  I haven't gotten quite as hooked on either of those, though.

Angels & Electricity

Eddi Reader

I stumbled across this completely by chance. I was in the used CD store in March and noticed it in the Rs, and thought, hmm, wasn't she the lead singer of Fairground Attraction? See, I've loved Fairground Attraction ever since the summer of 1988.  But I didn't know the singer had gone on to a solo career.  Anyway, I glanced at the lyrics and took a chance.

This turned out to be one of the best CDs I got this year. It's just gorgeous from start to finish. Eddi Reader's voice is so pure, and the instrumentals are perfect. I particularly love the songs "Bell, Book and Candle," "Please Don't Ask Me to Dance," and "Postcard."   But they're all wonderful.

Adore

Siamese Dream

Here's one I have to hand to Dixie -- the Smashing Pumpkins really are great.  She's loved them for years and years.  I was lucky enough to find them this year.

They actually came at me from a couple of different directions.  Early on, maybe even at the end of 1998, a friend sent me a tape of Adore which I played a few times and liked.  Then someone else put a song from Adore on a compilation tape, and I started thinking maybe I'd like some of their other music.   Still, I never pursued it.  Finally, a third friend made me a couple of great homemade mix CDs of just Smashing Pumpkins music.  In the summer and fall, I played those into the ground.  What a great, great band.  Kind of retro-glam mixed together with a bunch of different styles.  I was amazed.

Then I got Adore and Siamese Dream -- both used, both for good prices.  Wow.  What great CDs.  Still, I'm trying to pace myself, since the SPs have so many releases.  I can't just go out and buy everything (besides, I wouldn't have time to listen to all of it at once).  I'm lucky I have the home-burned CD compilations, they've kept me satisfied for months.

Anyway, the moral of this story is, you were right, Dixie!

Tori Amos
The Cure
Glam rock
Ricky Martin
Nine Inch Nails
Nirvana
Poncho Sanchez