There’s always a theme. This month it was Favourite 90’s Album. The club was still at Bryn’s, but this time in his new record room. Same people, same arguments, just different seats. The decade did the heavy lifting and the opinions did the rest.
Coxy – Ill Communication by Beastie Boys (1994)
Coxy opened proceedings with noise and intent. Ill Communication is the Beastie Boys at their most scattergun, hip hop, punk, funk and whatever else they fancied bolting on. It never really sits still, which is half the point.
It’s an album that sounds like it was made by people who’d got bored of doing just one thing and decided to do everything instead.
Tracks played: Sabotage · Get It Together · Sure Shot · Bodhisattva
Verso’s View: I can see why people love it, and I can’t fault the musicianship, but it’s not really for me. Clever and energetic, yes, but I spent most of it admiring the skill rather than actually enjoying the record.
Bryn – MTV Unplugged in New York by Nirvana (1994)
Bryn took us in the opposite direction. No distortion, no shouting, just candles, acoustic guitars and a room that suddenly went very quiet.
Nirvana Unplugged still feels odd, even now. Stripped back versions of familiar songs, a Bowie cover nobody expected, and Kurt Cobain sounding like he already knew how things were going to end.
Tracks played: Come As You Are · Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam · The Man Who Sold the World · Where Did You Sleep Last Night
Verso’s View: I still can’t decide whether Nirvana were genuinely brilliant or just very loud at exactly the right moment. Would they still loom so large without the tragedy that followed Cobain? Or has history done a lot of the heavy lifting for them? Powerful, yes, but I’m not convinced the legend is only about the music.
Jimmy – Laid by James (1993)
Jimmy went third and reminded us just how big James were in the middle of the decade. Laid is full of big choruses and bigger feelings, with Tim Booth sounding permanently on the brink of either hugging you or having a breakdown.
It’s sincere, dramatic and completely unafraid of emotion, which is probably why it still works.
Tracks played: Five-O · Say Something · Sometimes · Laid
Verso’s View: James are one of those bands you swear you couldn’t name more than five songs, but as each one plays you end up saying, “Oh, I know this.” Familiar, tuneful and quietly stitched into the background of the 90s whether you meant them to be or not.
Verso – Different Class by Pulp (1995)
I went last and, despite the inevitable cries of me “playing safe” again, I stand by it. Different Class is one of the great British albums of all time and I’m not prepared to pretend otherwise just to look adventurous.
It feels like an album that arrived fully formed, as if Pulp had been waiting years to unload all this in one go. Every track is a little story about class, sex, ambition and people pretending to be something they’re not. Disco 2000 still sounds like youth in three minutes. Mis-Shapes still sounds like revenge in under four.
Tracks played: Mis-Shapes · I Spy · Disco 2000 · Something Changed
Verso’s View: Smart, sharp and still awkward in all the right places. A 90s classic, whether you call that safe or not.
The Facebook Aftermath
After the club I stuck a poll up on Facebook asking people to pick their favourite of the four albums. One helpful soul commented that our choices proved we were “four middle aged heterosexual white males”.
Weirdly, we are.
Still, 51 people voted and the results were:
• Pulp – 40%
• Nirvana – 36%
• James – 13%
• Beastie Boys – 11%
Which means Different Class won, Nirvana ran it close, and Coxy is currently pretending the system is rigged.
Closing Verdict
Four favourite albums from the same decade and four completely different versions of what the 90s sounded like.
Chaos, melancholy, social commentary and emotional indie, all on one table.
No agreement. Plenty of opinion.
And at least Facebook confirmed exactly who we are.
Which, in fairness, is exactly what Vinyl Club is for.
