Thursday, March 26, 2015

Top 100 Songs From the 1990s (The Bump)

The Bump. "Don't Go Away Mad"
Artist: Little Village
Year: 1992

What a miserable lot. The entire family unit, including myself, is sick. So, I'm presenting something I already had in the hopper. Brace yourselves. I'm giving you an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the work that went into this riveting list. Thanks to me thinking Superchunk was from 1989, taking it off the list, then bringing it back a day later when I found out I was correct in the first place because it was, indeed, from 1990, my countdown has been a spot off here on the back end since No. 82. This is the song that got bumped during the debacle. Of course, on the front end, all you see is the well-oiled machine that is Top 100 Songs From the 1990s. I'm presenting the one that got bumped with no corresponding number. Back with No. 72 next time.

This supergroup consisting of Ry Cooder, John Hiatt, Nick Lowe and Jim Keltner first played as a unit on Hiatt's 1987 album 'Bring the Family.' If you're choosing between that one and 'Little Village,' go with 'Bring the Family,' by all means, but there were a couple of inspired moments, including "Solar Sex Panel" and this one with Hiatt as frontman. The album was nominated for a Grammy, but not even the participants were all that enthralled with the results. Eight years ago, Lowe told AV Club, "Little Village was really good fun. Unfortunately, the record we did was no good. I suppose on some level, it worked, but Warner Brothers kind of gave us too much time to do it."

That's the quote that gave me the ammunition to choose this one for "The Bump." Righting the ship feels good. Let's keep this one between us, shall we?

5 comments:

The Swede said...

I agree totally, 'Bring the Family' is a great LP, one of Hiatt's best. I saw Little Village at the Hammersmith Odeon on their one brief tour, the only time I've ever seen Hiatt and Cooder live. The Little Village album isn't great, but they fleshed out the set with smatterings from 'Bring the Family' and their solo catalogues. It was a good night.
Hope you and the family are soon feeling better.

Brian said...

Swede,
I saw your ticket stub for Little Village the other day. Given the situation with this list, it made me smile. As you'll see, your stubs are more or less an illustration of this list. Given the chance I would have seen Little Village too. I have seen Lowe many times, and I have even seen Keltner (with Costello), but I have never seen Hiatt or Cooder.

The Swede said...

I have another, considerably shorter, feature in the works for which I've held back my absolute favourite track of the 1990's. I'll be holding my breath for your next 72 entries to see if it shows up here!

Scott said...

Hope you are all feeling better soon Brian. Bring the Family is one of those albums that seems to get better every time you listen to it.

Brian said...

Thanks Scott. Today (Friday) is the first day this week everyone is back to work and school. Hopefully everyone shakes this thing for good this weekend. Yep, Bring the Family is a real keeper. For some reason I didn't get it until around 1991. Not sure how/why I missed it.