In a sense, I'm late on this review of Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt. It reached #10 last week after 29 weeks on the chart. Luckily for me, this week's chart has the same ten albums, so I'm not delaying a review of any other album by being late, so it all works out.

Tragic Kingdom was No Doubt's big breakout album. It was so popular that they were pulling singles out of the album for three years through 1998. You can still hear these singles played on the radio today.

Because it was (and remains) so popular, I never felt the need to actively seek out songs off this album. They have simply been around, ever-present. I like a fair number of songs off this album, and they do transport me back to the mid-90s. However, because the songs are everywhere, I don't think I need to specifically listen to the album on its own, and you don't either.

Tracy Chapman isn't exactly a one-hit wonder, but she's never matched nor bettered her eponymous first album in popularity and quality. New Beginning took 29 weeks to reach #4 but apparently sold nearly as well as her first album. However it only has one hit single, Give Me One Reason, which on last.fm has 1/4 the listeners than her biggest hit Fast Car.

I'm not the biggest Tracy Chapman fan. She's not bad, but not my first choice, and this album didn't change my mind. It's fine. You might like it. Or not.

Debuting at #6 in its first week on the charts, Older by George Michael was his attempt at more mature music (hence the name of the album). According to the Wikipedia page, the album was very successful in the UK and Europe, but less so in the United States.

Personally, I have no use for a more mature George Michael. His catalog of pop music with Wham! is all I really want or need from him. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, Careless Whisper, and Last Christmas (at the right time of the year) are some of the best pop songs ever made. His first solo album Faith is also excellent because he didn't try to get away from his pop roots. Older is trying too hard, and that's not what I want from George Michael.

My recommendation is to skip this album but definitely check out his earlier work.

Debuting at #2, the album Crash by Dave Matthews Band, has their biggest ever single, Crash Into Me. Thirty years later it continues to have decent airplay and on Spotify, Crash Into Me has 130% more plays than their second most popular song, Ants Marching. The ratio is similar on last.fm.

I have always been pretty neutral about Dave Matthews Band. I find the music inoffensive but not all that moving. It's almost never something I choose to listen to, but I don't skip it when it comes on. Crash is very 90s, and certainly if I wanted some 90s nostalgia, it would be a solid choice. I suggest that if you want to try to capture the 90s for a few songs, you can put it on.

Finally, whatever your opinion is of Dave Matthews Band, they don't rock.

Hitting #1 in its first week, this is the second Hootie & the Blowfish album I've reviewed. I can't recall ever hearing any of the songs off this album before, and according to last.fm, it's entirely likely I'm correct.

My feelings on this album mostly mirror that of Cracked Rear View. It's fine. Extremely 90s. Listen to it, or don't. Whatevs.

Circa 1999 I went on a road trip with some college friends to the Lava Beds National Monument in Northern California and Crater Lake in Oregon. The Lava Beds is in the middle of nowhere close to absolutely nothing of importance. I can't remember if we forgot to pack enough cassette tapes of music¹, or we wanted to see what was on the radio, but we discovered an all Céline Dion, all the time radio station. It was the only station that came in, so we listened to it for a while. It didn't play any advertisements, so we suspected it was a pirate radio station. It is entirely likely that during that trip was the most recent time I've listened to as much Céline Dion as I did for Falling Into You.

The album hit #2 in its first week on the charts. Apparently it's her most successful album by number of sales and has won many awards. It featured the song Because You Loved Me written for the movie Up Close & Personal. I don't think I've ever heard the song before nor watched the movie (and I won't be remedying the latter).

It may not surprise you that I didn't care for this album, and I will not be listening to it again. I guess lots of people like(d) it, but lots of people can be wrong: there's evidence of that everywhere, just look around.

1. The car didn't have a CD player and 1999 was before iPods and cell phones that played music, kids! ↩︎

Hitting #9 after ten weeks in the charts, Enya's The Memory of Trees is boring. I can't even generate the energy to have my own opinions about it. There are very few occasions when I want her music played, and this album did not change my priors. Judging by the popularity of her albums on last.fm, even those who like Enya agree that this album is not her best. There it is the fifth most-listened to album, with one third the listeners compared to her most popular album, A Day Without Rain.

There's no reason to ever listen to this album. It turns out the trees may have memory, but this album is forgettable.

Going all the way to #2 on the charts in its first week, Boys for Pele by Tori Amos was released just in time for the founding of Pitchfork, thirty years ago this month. Ironically, they didn't review the album until last year, because this album is catnip for Pitchfork. Pitchfork loves albums like Boys for Pele, albums that are experimental and different from what the artist has done before. I swear they give an extra two points in their review if the music is different, regardless of quality. Indeed, they gave Boys for Pele a 9.2 out of 10, which is very high for Pitchfork ratings. Sometimes experimental and different is a good thing. In the case of Boys for Pele, I'm not so sure that it is.

I should disclose that I am not a Tori Amos fan. Before listening to this album I had only two Tori Amos scrobbles, and I'm 100% sure they were part of some mix or online radio station. I do not choose to listen to her music. I did not like this album; there was nothing on it that interested me. She was trying for something, and either she missed, or she accomplished it but I'm too dumb to understand it.

On the one hand, this album is quite a bit different than most of her work, so it is perhaps less fair to judge her from this one album. On the other hand, this album has not changed my mind about Tori Amos. I think I try to allow my mind to be changed by listening to these thirty year old albums. That didn't happen this time.

My recommendation is to not listen to this album.

Rising to #3, Design of a Decade 1986/1996 is a greatest-hits album of Janet Jackson.

When it comes to the music, I don't care about it. I've heard a few of the songs before, likely contemporaneously, and also since 1995. Janet Jackson had been a big star for years, so of course I've heard some of her music. It's solid pop music, I concede, but it's not for me.

What I find more interesting is the name of the album: Design of a Decade 1986/1996, what does that even mean? I do not believe that Janet Jackson planned (designed) a whole decade of music, recorded it, with the target of a greatest hits collection. Also, the title is factually wrong! The album was released in early October 1995, nearly three months before 1996 even started. 1986 to 1995 represents ten years (aka a decade, count it out). Putting 1996 in the title is both illegitimate and numerically incorrect. The only thing it has is alliteration, which isn't much (lots of words start with the same letter as other words). It's a stupid name. Stupid!

My verdict: This album can be left to the dustbin of history.

Sigh, it's another Mariah Carey album. I'm pretty sure this is the third Mariah Carey album I've done. This is gonna hurt.

Rocketing to #1 upon release, Daydream had three singles reach number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 list. Because of the popularity of the songs off this album, I certainly recall hearing them on the radio.

I don't miss hearing the songs as frequently on the radio, and I didn't appreciate hearing them again. I get that Mariah Carey is very popular and successful, but I will be happy to never review one of her albums again. It's not for me.

Rising steadily in the charts, the #3 album this week will hit #1 in a few weeks. I'm not sure I have ever listened to the entirety of Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette; certainly not since I started tracking plays on last.fm. I have, of course, heard all the big hits off the album, of which there are many. Jagged Little Pill was huge when it came out and You Oughta Know was everywhere on the radio in 1995 and 1996. The non-ironies in Ironic have been pointed out for decades. The album might have contributed to the English language. It's possible that the term "Friends with Benefits" originated in Head over Feet.

It's hard to form any new opinions about this album because the singles were so ubiquitous. They were earworms then, and they are earworms now. There's no harm in listening to the album, short of a Friends marathon, it's one of the best ways to transport yourself back to (or get a small taste of if you're too young) the mid-90s.

Released four months after Selena's murder, Dreaming Of You shot to #1 upon release. I remember being aware of her murder from the news when it happened, but that really was the extent of my knowledge of her and her music.

The only interesting thing I can say about this album is that the single song I recognize is in Spanish, not English. It's Amor Prohibido, which originally appeared on her 1994 album of the same name, and therefore isn't really off this album.

I have no strong feelings about this album. I'll almost certainly never listen to it again.

I'm dismayed to discover that as of this writing there is no harmonica emoji. This feels like a huge omission and should be rectified with great haste. If there was a harmonica emoji, I could visually represent what it's like to listen to Blues Traveler by inserting it in this text. Instead, I'll have to make do with the musical instrument emoji we do have, and you'll have to imagine it's a harmonica.

Released in September 1994, four by Blues Traveler 🎸 is at #9 this week, one spot lower than 🪗 it will eventually peak at #8. If you were alive in 🥁 the mid-90s you will remember that 🪈 the two big singles off this album, Run-Around and Hook, were everywhere on the 🎹 radio to the point that I got a bit tired of them.

Thirty years later I am 🎻 not as bothered by the songs. I think 🎷 Blues Traveler is fine; their music 🎺 feels very much of the era in the mid-90s, along with Dave Matthews Band and Hootie & 🪕 the Blowfish. Blues Traveler wasn't my 🪘 favorite band at the time, and that 🪉 hasn't changed. I don't dislike their 🪇 music, and sometimes I'm in 🪕 the mood for it, but 🎸 not often. In summary, if 🪇 you're in the mood for 🪉 to Blues Traveler, this is 🪗 the album to listen to.

The top un-reviewed album this week is not The Woman In Me by Shania Twain at #7, it's the Batman Forever Soundtrack at #5. However, I cannot find the full album on any streaming service. Many of the songs can be found on other albums, but not all, and I don't care enough to look any harder than that. Therefore, it's Shania Twain's debut album we'll listen to this week!

One of my favorite television shows is (the first three seasons of) Arrested Development. One of the characters, Tobias Fünke, wrote a book called The Man Inside Me. I can't help but think of that book, which is used in various funny ways, when I read the title for this album. This is not a complementary thing for the album.

Reading Shania Twain's Wiki page, it turns out that she's married to the ex-husband of her former best friend who had an affair with Twain's first husband. All that's missing from that soap opera is an evil twin, babies switched at birth, and someone appearing (with convenient dramatic timing) previously believed to be dead.

I have no strong opinions about the music on the album itself. It sold quite well, and I can believe that many people like it, but it's not for me. I'll almost certainly never listen to it again.

By 1995 Michael Jackson's popular image had already been damaged following the 1993 child sexual abuse allegations. Nevertheless, he was still a huge star and HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I shot to #1 upon release. This is a double album: the first half is a greatest hits collection and the second half new material.

I'm pretty sure I have heard all the songs in the first half before. Jackson had thirteen songs hit #1 which alone is enough for a greatest hits album. As a greatest hits collection the first half of the album works well and is a good way to listen to some Michael Jackson, if you're in the mood.

Regarding the second half of the album, I can honestly say I don't think I've ever heard any of the songs except for You Are Not Alone (which was written and produced by R. Kelly, speaking of child sexual abuse allegations). This was Jackson's final #1 hit and if I recall correctly received decent radio airplay.

Personally, I think that Jackson's earlier work is far and away better than his later work. He became a big star for a reason: the earlier songs are excellent. I think he got away from that in his later work. This album highlights that change from the first half to the second. My recommendation is to skip the second half of this album.