So, 1988 will definitely have some carry over from the 1989 post. It's a solid year of good albums, but not really a no-brainer number one. This will be a personal preference Mt. Rushmore, so before we begin here are the runners up: Sonic Youth Daydream Nation, Crowded House Temple of Low Men, Living Colour Vivid, Dinosaur Jr. Bug and R.E.M. Green.
I've been going back and forth on my number one, but I will go with Love Junk by The Pursuit of Happiness. This is a terrific Canadian power pop album with scorching female backing vocals. Moe Berg's songwriting is hilarious and poignant. I still play the shit out of this album. The standout tracks remain "I'm an Adult Now" and "She's So Young". The whole album is pop-tastic. If you've never listened to it please go correct your horrible life decisions.
Number two is The Travelling Wilburys. What an astounding collection of musical talent...and Zimmerman. I love Petty, Harrison and Lynne. Orbison is fine. Dylan in the context of the Wilburys is acceptable. "End of the Line" and "Handle With Care" are bona fide classics. Here's something scary. I'm almost 58 years old. Guess how old these guys were in 1988. Tom Petty 37. Jeff Lynne 41. George Harrison 45. Zimmerman 47. Roy Orbison 52. What the bleep!
Number three is Green Thought by The Smithereens. Great album, great tracks, love these guys. Only a Memory. House We Used to Live In. Drown in My Own Tears. Green Thoughts. I think they get overlooked because they only had a few great albums of original material, then did a bunch of covers albums.
Finally, last years number one band The Pixies with Surfer Rosa. Not as accessible as Doolittle, but what a tracklist: Gigantic. Where is My Mind? Bone Machine. Broken Face. Cactus. Vamos. Couldn't go back-to-back though. Looking ahead to 1987, there seems to be four albums that stand out, so pretty easy Mt. Rushmore next time. Peace.
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