THE BEST
1. Sinead O'Connor
I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
Her visible uneasiness — apparent every time she does anything in
public other than sing — belies her album's title. But still the record
is a spiritual victory, full of wisdom wrested from audible pain.
Musically, it moves from one surprise to another. There are yielding
songs, angry songs, intensely quiet songs, and even one number that
is almost frightening — joined together by the raw intimacy of
O'Connor's sometimes surging, sometimes half-broken singing voice.
2. Paul Simon
The Rhythm of the Saints
Sheer beauty. You can argue all you want about Simon's
relationship with the African and Brazilian styles he
incorporates — Does he honor them? Does he just rip them off? — but the
proof of the music is in the listening. This is gorgeous stuff,
spiritually potent, with its utter integrity nowhere in doubt.
3. Youssou N'Dour
Set
He came from Senegal, promoted to the Western world by Peter
Gabriel, and, despite his urgent vocal appeal, seemed until now like
a pop wanna-be. But not anymore. On this, his third album of new
songs for a major American label, N'Dour left Gabriel behind and
went out on his own with a multinational band, combining styles from
African to salsa into some of the canniest, most gripping music of
the year.
4. Jane's Addiction
Ritual de lo Habitual
At first hearing, this L.A. band's second album seems like a
pretentious mess. But later, after the record's wild, almost
desperate passion begins to kick in, it becomes impossible to forget.
5. Prince
Graffiti Bridge
Well, it hit the charts. But Grafitti Bridge hardly made Prince
king of pop again. And yet neither its success nor its failure (nor,
for that matter, the amiable weakness of the film from which the
music came) seems to matter. Prince may have now transcended pop;
this album has a depth and a carefree complexity that make its
commercial fortune completely beside the point.
6. Sonic Youth
Goo
Plenty of rock bands once deemed ''alternative'' attempted to enter
the mainstream in 1990, but few did it with such guitar-crunching
quirkiness as this New York group. On their first album for a major
label, Sonic Youth tip their hats to UFOs, Karen Carpenter, and
groupies. Their music, built around the guitars of Thurston Moore and
Lee Ranaldo, moves from lush, airy chords to brutalizing power
riffing — the bristling sound of rock in the future.
7. The Silos
The Silos
Although they're based in New York, the Silos don't sound like
Manhattanites. This album, their first for a major label after a
string of releases by their own independent record company, is
straight from the classic-rock heartland: billowy songs, wry lyrics
about everyday life and love, homey vocals from leader Walter
Salas-Humara, and guitar leads straight out of the Neil Young
songbook.
