Jamwise #48 · Years · 1995
Best Albums of 1995
The best albums of 1995 — Radiohead's The Bends, PJ Harvey, Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill, Oasis, Pulp, Elliott Smith, and 2Pac. Grunge fading, Britpop rising.
I have to admit, after the ridiculously great response to the 1994 list and all the recommendations I got, it’s a little bit hard to move on to 1995. (make sure to check out the posts here and here - the comment sections are gold, Jerry, gold!)
As always, good citizens of the music-loving internet, I would love any and all album suggestions you have for the year 1995. Oh, did you think Jamwise was a free newsletter? Psssh, joke’s on you. I get paid for this in comments and recommendations, and business is BOOMING. *rolls around in a pile of music recommendations I’ve collected in a swimming pool*
Also, this time around I haven’t tried to only focus on my favorites, I’ve picked some albums that simply inspired me to write about them the most, some for good reasons, others for pure interest, others for… well, you’ll see. 1995 is another fun year of music, a time when changes seemed to be in the air - grunge was sort of ending, Britpop was taking off, G-funk was nearing its peak as the hip-hop cost war escalated, and I was learning to walk or chew solid food or whatever.
The Bends — Radiohead
This newsletter is about self-growth through music. In that spirit, I’m starting off this week’s post with an exercise in self-growth.
To Bring You My Love — PJ Harvey
A little bit of industrial sound enters PJ Harvey’s ever-changing musical vocabulary, and it freaking works.
Jagged Little Pill — Alanis Morissette
Alanis Morissette has one of those sounds that you can’t plan or design or engineer, it just has to come authentically from a talented artist.
Different Class — Pulp
Pulp’s fifth album sounds to me like part Bowie revival and part something new, as if they were Bowie superfans who wanted to make a version of his music that doesn’t sound like it was written by astral aristocracy to be handed down to us common humans.
(What’s The Story) Morning Glory — Oasis
Oasis’ second album is another enjoyable but extremely overinflated album of bangers. It’s hard to get my feelings straight on Oasis - I love listening to their music, but it’s not a life changing experience for me like popular media in 2024 would have you think.
Wowee Zowee — Pavement
This album starts out Oasis clone and then goes pleasantly off the rails, venturing in all sorts of different directions.
Elliott Smith — Elliott Smith
The gloomy, whispery, almost tortured sound of Elliot Smith feels unexpectedly current to me while listening in 2024.
Me Against The World — 2Pac
Digging into the genres of hip-hop that were blossoming in the mid 90’s has been a total joy. This album lies somewhere between boom-bap and G-funk, the latter being a new favorite of mine, and 2Pac was one of the best of both worlds.