Favorite CDs of the '90s -- #10 to #6

10. TAL BACHMAN - "Tal Bachman"
(Columbia, 1999)

Everything about this album -- the excellent assortment of radio-ready tunes including the great single "She's So High" (one of the biggest hits of the decade) ... his appealing, lightly husky vocals ... the perfectly scruffy production by hitmaker Bob Rock -- should have made it a huge hit and started Tal Bachman off on a long and successful recording career with Columbia. But instead he disappeared just as quickly, only to quietly put out an independent album five years later. I guess I'll never know why that happens with some of the best artists ... but it does make this one jewel of an album all the more special.

9. BOUNCE THE OCEAN - "Bounce The Ocean"
(Private, 1991)

Hawk Bjorn and John Utter made magic when nobody was looking, and this fluffy white cloud of an album has tragically disappeared into obscurity. The synthesized instrumentation and occasionally (but only after the fact) trite lyrics smack of the early '90s, but they're more than made up for by how the guys managed to distill everything good about pop music into this neat little package. I know nearly every song by heart, and this album brings back nothing but fond memories, making the dull life I was living at the time quite a bit brighter. Why else would I still proudly hang onto it for 18 years and counting?

8. WILSON PHILLIPS - "Wilson Phillips"
(SBK, 1990)

Given that their parents include '60s vocal-harmony royalty -- members of The Beach Boys and The Mamas & The Papas -- then it shouldn't surprise anyone that this trio of ladies would sound pretty when they sing. But that's a massive understatement ... the indescribable harmonic bliss that results when Wilson Phillips sing together is nothing short of breathtaking. As good as the songs are, it's highly doubtful that this album would have hit the heights that it did (three of its singles hit #1 on the charts and two others reached well into the top 20) without these soaring voices to carry it there. Who can blame Harold and Kumar for singing along?

7. THE MOFFATTS - "Chapter I: A New Beginning"
(Capitol, 1998)

As soon as they hit their teens, Canadian brothers The Moffatts abandoned their "kiddie-country" singing, picked up instruments of their own, and broke out into pop-rock territory ... almost suspiciously soon after Hanson hit the scene. This album and "Middle of Nowhere" cover mostly the same territory, but I've always thought this one was the stronger of the two, with the lads showing impressive songwriting skills and grown-up rock stylings right out of the gate. Unfortunately, despite cross-pollination of their songs to movie soundtracks, The Moffatts failed to make the splash in the States that they'd hoped.

6. ELEVEN - "Awake In a Dream"
(Morgan Creek, 1991)

If there's such a thing as "hard-roots-funk-rock", Eleven (Alain Johannes, Jack Irons, and the late Natasha Shneider) are masters at it. They didn't really get into the "hard" part until later, but this debut album is packed from end to end with rollicking drum beats, thick and fuzzy guitars, and two of the most unique voices in rock. This is another one of those albums that I know almost by heart. They've only released five albums over the past 18 years (frequent production work kept Johannes and Shneider busy in between), which only means that each of their albums was relished all the more when it was finally released.