ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 1990
compiled from the critics' choices in the following publications: Q, Melody Maker, Record Mirror, Sounds and the NME
1
Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches
Happy Mondays
2
World Clique
Deee-Lite
3
Floating Into The Night
Julee Cruise
4
Bossanova
The Pixies
5
Heaven Or Las Vegas
Cocteau Twins
6
I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
Sinead O'Connor
7
Fear of a Black Planet
Public Enemy
8
Ragged Glory
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
9
The La's
The La's
10
Behaviour
Pet Shop Boys
11
She Hangs Brightly
Mazzy Star
12
Songs For Drella
Lou Reed/John Cale
13
The Good Son
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
14
Nowhere
Ride
15
Some Friendly
The Charlatans
16
Goodbye Jumbo
World Party
17
Jordan: The Comeback
Prefab Sprout
18
Reading, Writing & Arithmetic
The Sundays
19
People's Instinctive Travels & the Paths of Rhythm
A Tribe Called Quest
20
Happiness
The Beloved
21=
Boomania
Betty Boo
21=
Gold Mother
James
21=
Enlightenment
Van Morrison
24
Extricate
The Fall
25
Pigeonhole
New Fast Automatic Daffodils
26
Cleopatra Grip
The Heart Throbs
27
Violator
Depeche Mode
28
Goo
Sonic Youth
29
A Catholic Education
Teenage Fanclub
30
Ritual De Lo Habitual
Jane's Addiction
NOTES:
Difficult not to see this chart as the last one of an old decade, rather than the first of a new. The only debutants who were to survive convincingly were The Charlatans and Teenage Fanclub, the two most traditional acts of the lot.
Below the top 30 lurked the likes of George Michael, Prince, The Beautiful South and Was (Not Was).