Favorite CDs of the '90s -- #25 to #21

25. "SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, LONGER & UNCUT" - soundtrack
(Atlantic, 1999)

Like a Rodgers & Hammerstein musical written by George Carlin and Frank Zappa, the "South Park" movie was a tour-de-force that -- regardless of how low-tech the animation was -- simply needed to be shown on the big screen. The award-winning songs from the film (occupying the infinitely better first half of the album), featuring music and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Trey Parker, were every bit as memorable if not more so ... irrepressibly melodic, scathingly witty, and unbelievably hilarious.

24. VOICE FARM - "Bigger, Cooler, Weirder"
(Morgan Creek, 1991)

Almost like a hybrid of Devo, They Might Be Giants, and Savage Garden, the duo known as Voice Farm (Myke Reilly and Charly Brown) are apparently still together, producing quirky, avant-garde synth-pop that must be heard to be appreciated. This now out-of-print album, on the short-lived semi-major Morgan Creek label, was tuneful, memorable, and quite ahead of its time in many respects. Good thing that it's also the most easily obtainable of their recordings.

23. HENRY MANCINI - "The Cop Show Themes"
(BMG/Spain, 1999)

A sentimental favorite if ever there was one, my brother and I literally wore out this LP (originally released in 1976) of themes from shows like "Baretta", "SWAT", and "The Rockford Files", we listened to it so much when we were kids. So you can just imagine my ecstatic delight when I unexpectedly stumbled upon a CD release of it several years ago! Oh, and here's a fun fact: buried in the list of backing musicians for this recording is a young guitarist named Lee Ritenour.

22. KAVANA - "Instinct"
(Virgin/UK, 1998)

From the moment I heard Kavana's lusciously smooth voice (see #39 in this countdown), I couldn't get enough of it. This, his second helping of upbeat pop and seductive blue-eyed-soul jams, is my favorite of his albums ... the songs themselves are good enough, but sung by his voice they're taken to a whole different level. It's a terrible shame that we only got a precious two albums and a smattering of B-sides to enjoy from him before he disappeared.

21. ANNIE LENNOX - "Diva"
(Arista, 1992)

This is such an undeniably classic pop album that it really doesn't need any introduction. The simple fact that "Walking On Broken Glass" is probably one of my top 12 favorite songs of all time, and that "Why" is just as amazing a song, should have landed this album in the top 20 of this list, but alas it got edged out. I'm just baffled as to why it hasn't gotten the expanded-and-remastered-two-disc-deluxe-edition treatment by now.