The Best Rock Albums of 1998

TM, ®, Copyright © 1998 Piero Scaruffi.
Reviews of 1998 albums | Best albums of all time | Bands (USA) | Bands (non-US) | Back to music
Recensioni del 1998 | Migliori album di sempre | Musicisti (USA) | Musicisti (altri) | Torna alla musica
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Best of the 1960's Best of the 1970's Best of the 1980's Best of the 1990's Best of the 2000's

(Compiled by Mauro Bondoni based on my ratings)
  1. Dirty Three: Ocean Songs (Touch & Go) (8.5)
  2. Calexico: The Black Light (Touch And Go) (8)
  3. Peter Jefferies: Substatic (Trance Syndicate) (8)
  4. Tortoise: TNT (Thrill Jockey) (8)
  5. June Of 44: Four Great Points (Quarterstick) (8)
  6. Edith Frost: Telescopic (Drag City) (8)
  7. Add N To (X): On the Wires of Our Nerves (Mute) (8)
  8. Roy Montgomery: And Now The Rain Sounds Like Life Is Falling Down Through It (Drunken Fish) (8)
  9. Dave Grubbs: The Thicket (Drag City) (8)
  10. Eels: Electro-Shock Blues (Dreamworks) (8)
  11. Flying Luttenbachers: Gods Of Chaos (Skin Graft) (8)
  12. Supersilent: 1-3 (Rune Grammofon) (7.5)
  13. Hannah Marcus: Faith Burns (Normal) (7.5)
  14. Bran Van 3000: Glee (Capitol) (7.5)
  15. Firewater: The Ponzi Scheme (Jetset) (7.5)
  16. Tribes Of Neurot & Walking Time Bombs: Static Migration (Release) (7.5)
  17. Six Organs of Admittance: Six Organs of Admittance (Holy Mountain) (7.5)
  18. Subarachnoid Space: Endless Renovation (Release) (7.5)
  19. Sleep: Jerusalem/ Dopesmoker (Music Cartel) (7.5)
  20. Yume Bitsu: Giant Surface Music Falling (Ba Da Bing) (7.5)
  21. Liz Phair: Whitechocolatespaceegg (Capitol) (7.5)
  22. Black Tape For A Blue Girl: As One Aflame Laid Bare By Desire (Projekt) (7.5)
  23. Lisa Germano: Slide (4AD) (7.5)
  24. Mercury Rev: Deserter's Songs (V2) (7.5)
  25. Maquiladora: Lost Works of Eunice Phelps (Tectonic) (7.5)
  26. Shark Quest: Battle Of The Loons (Merge) (7.5)
  27. Sulfur: Delirium Tremens (Goldenfly) (7.5)
  28. Don Caballero: What Burns Never Returns (Touch & Go) (7.5)
  29. Meshuggah: Chaosphere (Nuclear Blast) (7.5)
  30. Neutral Milk Hotel: In the Aeroplane Over The Sea (Merge) (7.5)
  31. American Analog Set: Late One Sunday And The Following Morning (Darla) (7.5)
  32. Soul Coughing: El Oso (Slash) (7.5)
  33. For Carnation: Promised Works (Runt) (7.5)
  34. Lauryn Hill: The Miseducation (Columbia) (7.5)
  35. Dalek: Negro Necro Nekros (Gern Blandsten) (7)
  36. Gorguts: Obscura (Olympic) (7)
  37. Hovercraft: Experiment Below (Blast First) (7)
  38. Trans Am: The Surveillance (Thrill Jockey) (7)
  39. Cat Power: Moon Pix (Matador, 1998) (7)
  40. Refused: The Shape of Punk to Come (Victory) (7)
  41. Windy And Carl: Depths (Kranky) (7)
  42. Mark Lanegan: Scraps At Midnight (SubPop) (7)
  43. Gate: The Lavender Head (Precious Metal) (7)
  44. Massive Attack: Mezzanine (Virgin) (7)
  45. Vocokesh: Paradise Revisited (Drag City) (7)
  46. Tied & Tickled Trio: Tied & Tickled Trio (Bingo) (7)
  47. New Bomb Turks: At Rope End (Epitaph) (7)
  48. Air: Moon Safari (Source) (7)
  49. Tone Rec: Pholcus (Sub Rosa) (7)
  50. 4 Hero: Two Pages (Talkin' Loud) (7)
  51. Califone: Califone (Flydaddy) (7)
  52. Robert Rich: Seven Veils (Hearts Of Space) (7)
  53. Boris: Amplifier Worship (Mangrove) (7)
  54. Mocean Worker: Home Movies From the Brain Forest (Conscience) (7)
  55. Home: Netherregions (1998) (7)
  56. Vidna Obmana: Crossing The Trail (Projekt) (7)
  57. Death In Vegas: Dead Elvis (Concrete) (7)
  58. Jeff Greinke: Cities In Fog (Projekt) (7)
  59. Body Lovers: Number One Of Three (Young God) (7)
  60. Kiln: Holo (Roomtone) (7)
  61. God Lives Underwater: Life In The So-Called Space Age (A&M) (7)
  62. Zen Guerrilla: Positronic Raygun (Alternative Tentacles) (7)
  63. Macha: Macha (Jetset) (7)
  64. Photon Band: All Young In The Soul (Darla) (7)
  65. Unwound: Challenge For A Civilized Society (Kill Rock Stars) (7)
  66. Amp: Stenorette (Kranky) (7)
  67. Quintron: Satan Is Dead (Bulb) (7)
  68. Simon Joyner: Yesterday Tomorrow and In Between (Sing Eunuchs) (7)
  69. Bassholes: When My Blue Moon Turns Red Again (In The Red) (7)
  70. Blonde Redhead: In An Expression Of The Inexpressible: (Touch & Go) (7)
  71. Escapade: Citrus Cloud Cover (Mother West) (7)
  72. Phylr: Contra La Puerta (Invisible) (7)
  73. Ulver: Themes From William Blake's The Marriage Of Heaven & Hell (Jester)
  74. Uzeda: Different Section Wires (Touch and Go) (7)
  75. EAR: Millennium Music (Atavistic) (7)
  76. Tombstone Valentine: Hidden World (Aether) (7)
  77. Cornelius: Fantasma (Matador) (7)
  78. Scott Weiland: 12 Bar Blues (Atlantic) (7)
  79. Alec Empire: The Destroyer (Digital Hardcore) (7)
  80. Fantastic Plastic Machine (Emperor Norton) (7)
  81. Gastr Del Sol: Camoufleur (Drag City) (7)
  82. Richard Davies: Telegraph (Flydaddy) (7)
  83. Buffalo Daughter: New Rock (Grand Royal) (7)
  84. Meat Beat Manifesto: Actual Sounds And Voices (Nothing) (7)
  85. Kristin Hersh: Strange Angels (Rykodisc) (7)
  86. Linus Pauling Quartet: Killing You With Rock (September Girls) (7)
  87. Godspeed You Black Emperor: f#a# Infinity (Constellation, 1998) (7)
  88. Modest Mouse: Lonesome Crowded West (Up) (7)
  89. Mouse On Mars: Instrumentals (Sonig) (7)
  90. Plastikman: Consumed (Novamute) (7)
  91. Joan Of Arc: How Memory Works (Jade Tree) (7)
  92. Queens Of The Stone Age: self-titled (Loosegroove) (7)
  93. Rufus Wainwright: Rufus Wainwright (Dreamworks) (7)
  94. Ex: Starters Alternators (Touch & Go) (7)
  95. Make-Up: In Mass Mind (Dischord, 1998) (7)
  96. Gorge Trio: Dead Chicken Fear No Knife (Free Land) (7)
  97. Third Eye Foundation: You Guys Kill Me (Domino) (7)
  98. DJ Spooky: Riddim Warfare (Outpost) (7)
  99. Dead C: Tusk (Siltbreeze) (7)
  100. Jim Steinman: Tanz der Vampire (Polydor) (7)
  101. Theo Parrish: First Floor (Peacefrog) (7)
  102. Sweet Trip: Halica (Darla) (7)
  103. Fatboy Slim: You've Come a Long Way Baby (Astralwerks) (7)
  104. Joe Jackson: Heaven And Hell (Sony) (7)
  105. DJ Q-Bert: Wave Twisters (1998) (7)
  106. Icarus: Fijaka (Hydrogen Dukebox) (7)
  107. Sunny Day Real Estate: How It Feels To Be Something On (Subpop) (7)
  108. DJ Faust: Man Or Myth (Bomb) (7)
  109. Motion Picture: Every Last Romance (Words on Music) (7)
  110. Nightstick: Ultimatum (Relapse) (7)
  111. DJ? Acucrack: Mutants Of Sound (Lost In Bass) (7)
  112. Beyond Dawn: Revelry (Misanthropy) (7)

Songs
(Mostly selected by Austin Krentz, based on my album reviews)
( Click here to play them on Spotify (thank you Luke!))
  1. June of 44: Doomsday
  2. Fatboy Slim: Praise You
  3. Dalek: Swollen Tongue Burns
  4. Dirty Three: Distant Shore
  5. Eels: Last Stop This Town
  6. Edith Frost: Tender Kiss
  7. Califone: On The Steeple
  8. Neutral Milk Hotel: Two Headed Boy
  9. Tortoise: The Suspension Bridge at Iguazu Falls
  10. Meshuggah: New Millenium Cyanide Christ
  11. Calexico: Minas De Cobre
  12. Blonde Redhead: 10
  13. Liz Phair: Shitloads of Money
  14. Soul Coughing: St. Louise is Listening
  15. David Grubbs: Orange Disaster
  16. Piano Magic: I Am The Sub-Librarian
  17. Unwound: Lifetime Achievement Award
  18. God Lives Underwater: Happy
  19. Add N to (X): Hit Me
  20. Beastie Boys: Intergalactic
  21. Lisa Germano: Reptile
  22. Cornelius: Count Five or Six
  23. Nomeansno: Disappear
  24. Sunny Day Real Estate: Every Shining Time You Arrive
  25. Lauryn Hill: To Zion
  26. Modest Mouse: Long Distance Drunk
  27. Firewater: Knock `Em Down
  28. Zen Guerrilla: Trouble Shake
  29. Shark Quest: Blake Carrington
  30. Jack Drag: Debutante
  31. Cake: Satan Is My Motor
  32. Buffalo Daughter: New Rock
  33. New Bomb Turks: Veronica Lake
  34. Roy Montgomery: A Little Soundtrack
  35. Outkast: Rosa Parks
  36. Cat Power: Cross Bones Style
  37. Scott Weiland: Barbarella
  38. Furry Things: Downswing Dub
  39. Massive Attack: Teardrop
  40. Black Tape for a Blue Girl: Tell Me You've Taken Another
  41. 4 Hero: Planetaria
  42. Bran Van 300: Couch Surfer
  43. DJ Spooky: Quilombo Ex Optico
  44. Fastball: The Way
  45. Mercury Rev: Hudson Line
  46. Bonnie Prince Billy: Nomadic Revery
  47. Mark Lanegan: Bell Black Ocean
  48. Damien Jurado: Honey Baby
  49. Gastr Del Sol: Blues Subtitled No Sense of Wonder
  50. Bassholes: Born to Die
  51. Air: All I Need
  52. Alkaline Trio: San Francisco
  53. Sulfur: Nova Sangre
  54. System of a Down: Sugar
  55. Donnas: Rock'n'Roll Machine
  56. Maquiladora: Mercury Sounds
  57. DJ Krush: Mu-Chu
  58. Madonna: Ray of Light
  59. Phylr: I Was Born...
  60. 4 Hero: Pegasus 51
  61. Joan of Arc: To've Had Two Of
  62. Amon Tobin: Switch
  63. The Ex: Two Struck by the Moon
  64. Marcy Playground: Sex and Candy
  65. Korn: Freak on a Leash
  66. Trans Am: Extreme Measures
  67. Fatboy Slim: Rockafeller Skank
  68. Queens of the Stone Age: If Only Everything
  69. New Pornographers: Letter From An Occupant
  70. Marah: Formula Cola Dollar Draft
  71. Amp: Outlier
  72. Autechre: 777
  73. Kid Rock: Bawitdaba
  74. Nightwish: Sleeping Sun
Extended tracks
(Mostly selected by Austin Krentz, based on my album reviews)
  1. Sleep: Jerusalem/ Dopesmoker
  2. Dirty Three: Deep Waters
  3. Flying Luttenbachers: The Sun is Bleeding
  4. Hovercraft: Anthropod
  5. American Analog Set: Late One Sunday
  6. Peter Jefferies: Three Movements
  7. Yume Bitsu: Of Freedom and Flight
  8. Subarachnoid Space: Safety in Numbers
  9. Supersilent: 1.3
  10. Windy and Carl: Depths
  11. Bob Ostertag: Like A Melody No Bitterness
  12. Six Organs of Admittance: Sum of All Heaven
  13. Four Tet: Thirtysix Twentyfive
  14. Gas: Eins
  15. Godspeed You! Black Emperor: East Hastings
  16. Pere Ubu: My Name Is
  17. Namanax: Monstrous
  18. Tribes of Neurot: March to the Sun
  19. Him: A Verdict Of Science
  20. Boris: Huge
  21. Supersilent: 3.3
  22. Tombstone Valentine: Elastic Reality
  23. Talvin Singh: Traveller
  24. Nightstick: 4 More Years
  25. EAR: Delysid
  26. Plastikman: Consumed
  27. Escapade: The Sunlight
  28. Sweet Trip: Fish
  29. Supersilent: 2.5
  30. Asha Vida: Sic Itur Ad Astra
  31. Don Caballero: 3
  32. Out Of Worship: Meta Stigmata
  33. Ulan Bator: Let Go Ego
  34. Theo Parrish: Electric Alleycat
  35. Vocokesh: One Brief Glimpse at the Face of Oblivion
  36. Abunai: 77 Gaza Strip
  37. Pelt: Mu Mesons
  38. Icarus: Fijaka
  39. Dalek: Praise Be The Man
  40. Linus Pauling Quartet: The Colour Out of Space
  41. Four Tet: Fume
  42. Body Lovers: 3
  43. Circle: Porin Jazzjuhlat -65
  44. Sweet Trip: Traces
  45. Unwound: Side Effects of Being Tired
  46. Richard Bishop: Al-Darazi
  47. Boredoms: Super Shine
  48. Autechre: Under BOAC
  49. Theo Parrish: Dan Ryan
  50. Ulver: A Memorable Fancy - Plates 17-20

Songwriters
  1. Liz Phair: Whitechocolatespaceegg (Capitol)
  2. Edith Frost: Telescopic (Drag City)
  3. David Grubbs: The Thicket (Drag City)
  4. Roy Montgomery: And Now The Rain Sounds Like Life Is Falling Down Through It (Drunken Fish)
  5. Mark Lanegan: Scraps At Midnight (SubPop)
  6. Lisa Germano: Slide (4AD)
  7. Julie Ruin: self-titled (Kill Rock Stars)
  8. Tori Amos: From The Choirgirl Hotel (Atlantic)
  9. Ani DiFranco: Little Plastic Castle (Righteous Babe)
  10. Jeff Buckley: Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk (Columbia)
  11. Mark Hollis (1998)
  12. Madonna: Ray Of Light (Maverick)
  13. Kristin Hersh: Strange Angels (Rykodisc)
  14. Simon Joyner: Yesterday Tomorrow and In Between (Sing Eunuchs)
  15. Rufus Wainwright: Rufus Wainwright (Dreamworks)
  16. Bob Mould: The Last Dog And Pony Show (Rykodisc)
  17. Scott Weiland: 12 Bar Blues (Atlantic)
  18. Robert Wyatt: Shleep (Thirsty Ear)
  19. DollsHead: Frozen Charlotte (MCA)
  20. Beck: Mutations (DGC)
  21. P.J. Harvey: Is This Desire (Island)

Industrial
  1. Tribes Of Neurot & Walking Time Bombs: Static Migration (Release)
  2. Subarachnoid Space: Endless Renovation (Release)
  3. Phylr: Contra La Puerta (Invisible)
  4. God Lives Underwater: Life In The So-Called Space Age (A&M)

Electronica
  1. Robert Rich: Seven Veils (Hearts Of Space)
  2. Steve Roach & Roger King: Dust To Dust (Projekt)
  3. Vidna Obmana: Crossing The Trail (Projekt)
  4. Jeff Greinke: Cities In Fog (Projekt)
  5. TUU & Nick Parkin: Terma (Hearts Of Space)

Gothic
  1. Black Tape For A Blue Girl: As One Aflame Laid Bare By Desire (Projekt)
  2. Body Lovers: Number One Of Three (Young God)

Heavy rock
  1. Queens Of The Stone Age: self-titled (Loosegroove)
  2. Korn: Follow The Leader (Epic)
  3. Pearl Jam: Yield (Epic)

Psychedelia
  1. Tribes Of Neurot & Walking Time Bombs: Static Migration (Release)
  2. Subarachnoid Space: Endless Renovation (Release)
  3. Vocokesh: Paradise Revisited (Drag City)
  4. Yume Bitsu: Giant Surface Music Falling (Ba Da Bing)

Instrumental
  1. Hovercraft: Experiment Below (Blast First)
  2. Peter Jefferies: Substatic (Trance Syndicate)
  3. Subarachnoid Space: Endless Renovation (Release)
  4. Phylr: Contra La Puerta (Invisible)
  5. Kiln: Holo (Roomtone)

Progressive

Dance
  1. Add N To (X): On the Wires of Our Nerves (Mute)
  2. Massive Attack: Mezzanine (Virgin)

Britain
  1. TUU & Nick Parkin: Terma (Hearts Of Space)
  2. Stereolab: Aluminum Tunes (Warp)
  3. Belle And Sebastian: The Boy With The Arab Strap (Virgin)
  4. Prolapse: The Italian Flag (Jetset)
  5. Ganger: Mammoth Style (Merge)
  6. Main: Firmament III/ IV (Beggars Banquet)
  7. Death In June: Take Care And Control (NER)
  8. Robert Wyatt: Shleep (Thirsty Ear)
  9. Stone Roses: self-titled (Silvertone)
  10. Massive Attack: Mezzanine (Virgin)
  11. Charlatans: Melting Pot (Beggars Banquet)
  12. Jesus & Mary Chain: Munki (Sub Pop)
  13. Echobelly: Lustra (Epic)
  14. Manic Street Preachers: This Is My Truth (Epic)
  15. Meat Beat Manifesto: Actual Sounds And Voices (Nothing)
  16. Rapoon: Just Say The Faith (Soleilmoon)
  17. P.J. Harvey: Is This Desire (Island)

Europe
  1. Ex: Starters Alternators (Touch & Go)

Japan
  1. Merzbow: 1930 (Tzadik)
  2. Shonen Knife: Happy Hour (Big Deal)
  3. Fantastic Plastic Machine (Emperor Norton)

France & Belgium
  1. Vidna Obmana: Crossing The Trail (Projekt)

Australia
  1. Dirty Three: Ocean Songs (Touch & Go)
  2. Roy Montgomery: And Now The Rain Sounds Like Life Is Falling Down Through It (Drunken Fish)
  3. Peter Jefferies: Substatic (Trance Syndicate)
  4. Dead C: Tusk (Siltbreeze)

Canada
  1. Bran Van 3000: Glee (Capitol)
  2. Cevin Key: Involution (Tone Casualties)

TM, ®, Copyright © 1998 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved.

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Best of the 1960's Best of the 1970's Best of the 1980's Best of the 1990's Best of the 2000's