Hello everyone, with all the talk of forgotten gems round here of late I felt inspired to put together a 12-track mix of 1991's forgotten gems as I see them.

 

Download it here

 

Tracks:

1. Fatima Mansions – ‘Only Losers Take the Bus’

2. The Dylans – ‘Godlike’

3. Chapterhouse – ‘Pearl’

4. Rebel MC ft Tenor Fly – ‘The Wickedest Sound’

5. Flowered Up – ‘Take It’

6. Cubic 22 – ‘Night in Motion’

7. Cola Boy – ‘Seven Ways to Love’

8. Outlander – ‘Vamp’

9. Skin Up – ‘Blockbuster’

10. Airhead – ‘Funny How’

11. Naughty By Nature – ‘OPP’

12. Shonen Knife – ‘Space Christmas’

 

Feel free to comment either here or on my site :)

 

 

91 really wasnt my era, i didnt listen to current music then as imho music 88-95 was pretty dire so i wasnt going to seek out any 'gems' ..

Fair enough - I'd do a Forgotten Gems '87 mix but I only listened to Dr & the Medics and the Blow Monkeys then :D

 

Funnily enough 88 - 95 was by far the best era for music in my opinion...just goes to show you.

Fair enough - I'd do a Forgotten Gems '87 mix but I only listened to Dr & the Medics and the Blow Monkeys then :D

 

Funnily enough 88 - 95 was by far the best era for music in my opinion...just goes to show you.

 

i guess that depends upon your age though, when youre discovering music in your teens that generally (though not with me) becomes your default favourite period. i think people who remember the 60's, and punk in the late 70's (inc new wave, indie etc) were fans of guitar based pop. the 'good' stuff was largely underground so 'your' era was seen as pretty poor. we had this debate before somewhere (maybe here) and the late 80's early 90's came out as peoples least favoured times.

 

maybe its time to re-run a favourite eras thread... theres alot of new people here..

It's a good point...the charts were largely awful during that time but all the stuff I loved was just outside. Of the twelve tracks there I think only two managed to reach the top 20 and most of them didn't get anywhere near the 40...and, yeah, I was 14 in 1991 and was on my first quest outside of the charts!

Was the Fatima Mansions record really 1991? I’ve got that record on ‘Indie Top 20 volume 8’ with the KLF’s ‘Kylie Said To Jason’. I was sure that record came out a few years earlier in the era of ‘Snub TV’.

Must have been a re-release as I'm sure I got that date from the polyhex charts site. You're right though, I've got that volume too and it rings a bell.

 

...anyway, does / did anyone enjoy the mix?!?

Yes, however it is funny because if we were in the mid-1990s, we would be seen as being very ‘uncool’ for liking any records by ‘Jefferson Airhead’. Great band name nevertheless, decent ‘Boing’ album from what I remember too.

I just loved that song! Yeah, 'Boing!' is ok too.

I was growing up during the late 80's and early 90's, and I like alot of the music from then because it was the music I grew up with. Though I can also see mushymanrobs point that the music from that time wasnt very good, certainly in comparison to what was before (New wave, New Romantics etc) and what came after (britpop, indie etc)

I was growing up during the late 80's and early 90's, and I like alot of the music from then because it was the music I grew up with. Though I can also see mushymanrobs point that the music from that time wasnt very good, certainly in comparison to what was before (New wave, New Romantics etc) and what came after (britpop, indie etc)

 

 

It is hard to say as that comment seems to be making a view about the most popular music of the era, whilst this is a ‘Forgotten Gems’ thread about records that are not as mainstream.

 

Absolutely on the money...also I don't really agree that britpop was better than the early 90s indie stuff. Bands like Blur produced their best work having escaped from the generation before but there was a huge wad of dross from bands like The Verve who adapted into really boring territory after realising they could just do 'what Oasis do' rather than 'what Swervedriver do' and make more money.

I'm with Simon Reynolds on this who said in Melody Maker years ago that every year (and era) is the best year (or era) because you've everything that's good currently and all the great stuff that's gone before. Alright you might start listening to older stuff sometimes but there will be times when you lap up stuff with great records coming along every five minutes.

Digs into cupboard & finds a few cassettes of my taping songs from the John Peel & evening indie/alternative shows on Radio 1 (I think it was Mark & Lard back then) & my record collection......... and avoiding the obvious (Nirvana)....

 

Pixies - Planet Of Sound

Primal Scream - Higher Than The Sun

Teenage Fan Club - Star Sign

PJ Harvey - Dress

My Bloody Valentine - To Here Knows When

Manic Street Preachers - Stay Beautiful

Curve - Coast Is Clear

Hole (When they were good) - Teenage Whore

Smashing Pumpkins - Siva

High - Box Set Go

Chapterhouse - Mesmerise

Pixies - Motorway To Rosswell

Some great choices there...and look out for an even older Teenage Fanclub record when I do Forgotten Gems 1990 soon :D

erm... theres one gem that failed to chart dispite airplay...

 

anyone else remember The Houseflys "hush little baby"? using the nurseryrhyme mixing it with fiddles plus other lyrics, i thought it was querky enough to appeal ...

91 really wasnt my era, i didnt listen to current music then as imho music 88-95 was pretty dire so i wasnt going to seek out any 'gems' ..

 

well richie knows his stuff and so this must be a better year than the whole of the 1980s to have one year of Forgotten Gems than just a dacade