George Graham's Best of 1996 albums list.
Part 1 -- January-March 1996

This is a the list of albums featured during the multi-part Best of 1996 series presented during the last two weeks of the year on Mixed Bag, heard on WVIA-FM. These albums were selected by series host George Graham from the over The lists are arranged chronologically by month of release. The asterisk (*) indicated an recording featured on the Mixed Bag Weekly Album Review (Wednesdays at 9:00 PM). (#) indicates an instrumental album in the Mixed Bag list

Best of 1996, Part 2: April-June
Best of 1996, Part 3: July-September
Best of 1996, Part 4: October-December

Note: This is best if viewed on a browser with TABLES feature.

January
Tabu Ley Rochereau Africa Worldwide Rounder Infectious Zairean Soukous
* Salif Keita Folon.. The Past Mango 162531022 Fascinating African cross-cultural pop
Bobby McFerrin Bang Zoom Blue Note 31677 Vocal virtuoso this time works w/ instruments
Van Morrison & Georgie Fame How Long Has This Been Going On Verve 314529136 Morrison does songs of jazz composer Mose Allison
* Loudon Wainwright III Grown Man Charisma 40625 Witty veteran folkie does not disappoint, great songs mostly of domestic life
Patrick Street Cornerboys Green Linnet 1160 One of Ireland's best Celtic bands in fine set
Capercaillie Delirium Green Linnet 3108 Scottish Celtic w/ some pop infl.
Dar Williams Mortal City Razor & Tie 2821 One of the finest up-&-coming folkies
Skeleton Crew Pre Historic, Dig! Intersound 9165 Melodic Beatles-influenced pop
Big Mountain Resistance Giant 24633 Outstanding latino reggae band
Catie Curtis Truth from Lies Guardian Another fine mostly acoustic singer-songwriter
* Duke Robillard Band Duke's Blues Pointblank 41311 One of the year's best blues CDs from Roomful of Blues founder
John Hammond Found True Love Pointblank 40655 Veteran bluesman in both acoustic & electric set
Lara & Reyes Two Guitars, One Passion # Bluemoon 7082 Pleasing flamenco-influenced ac gtrs.
Tori Amos Boys for Pele Atlantic 82862 Fascinating stark set from genuine original
Jimmy Witherspoon Live at the Mint On the Spot 100588237 Veteran bluesman with guitarist Robben Ford
Fito Paez Circo Beat EastWest 450998242 Clever art rock a la XTC from Argentina in Spanish
Marta Sebestyen Kismet Hannibal 1392 Fascinating Eastern Euro + Celtic

February
Cephas & Wiggins Cool Down Alligator 4838 Carrying on Sonny Terry/Brownie McGhee blues trad. in both electric & acoustic
Seamus Egan When Juniper Sleeps # Shanachie 79097 New Agey Celtic
John McEuen Acoustic Traveller Vanguard 79484 Nitty Gritty Dirt Band founder does mostly inst. New Acoustic style
Jackson Browne Looking East Elektra 61867 Browne turns in respectable set of typically thoughtful songs
McKinley McKinley Burnside 0022 Fine one-named female singer-songwriter, somewhat jazzy
* The Subdudes Primitive Streak High Street 10344 N'Orleans infl. roots rock group in exc. new set
Jon Anderson Toltec High Street 10346 Yes founder does some nice art rock
* Paul Cebar & the Milwaukeeans Upstroke for the Downfolk Don't 16 Fun rock, blues, R&B and clever lyrics
* John Wesley Harding New Deal Forward/Rhino 72250 Superb Brit. singer-songwriter with rapier wit
Strange Cargo Hinterland # Discovery 77033 Interesting electronic, bit of new age, bit of dance
Alison Brown Quartet # Vanguard 79486 Fine jazzy acoustic banjo
Mary Ellen Bernard Coney Island Mojo + Triple Z 002 Nice set of fun carabet music, fun lyrics
* Vicky Pratt Keating Blue Apples Prime CD 014 Folkie with fine voice, nice songs
Taj Mahal Phantom Blues Private Music 100582139 Taj does electric blues + R&B
Ansel Matthews Workings on the Heart Palmetto 2016 Big-voiced folkie from NYC
Jars of Clay Jars of Clay Silvertone 124141580 Tasteful Beatles-infl. pop with religious bent
Vernon Jones Legacy Windfall + Nice jazzy electronic
* The Philosopher Kings The Philosopher Kings Columbia 67451 Superb debut of Toronto group spanning folk to acoustic hip/hop
Mike Stern Between the Lines Atlantic 82835 High-class electric gtr. jazz-rock
Cowboy Junkies Lay It Down Geffen 24952 Nice new set from moody band
The Cardigans Life Minty Fresh MF-15 This small-label CD much better thean their commericial 96 hits. Clever, 60s infl. pop
Country Joe McDonald Carry On Shanachie 8019 60s icon & Fish founder still at it, sounding good
The Chieftains Film Cuts RCA 68438 Celtic masters do music from films they scored

March
Steve Earle I Feel Alright Warner Bros. 46201 Country-rock singer-songwriter in good new set
Marti Jones Live at Spirit Square Sugar Hill 5502 Mrs. Don Dixon in pleasing live set of clever pop w/ husband
Stan Rogers For the Family Gadfly 312 Late Canadian folkie in nice live set
Common Cents Fish Road + Duo 002 Pleasing folk duo in well-written songs
Rory Block Tornado Rounder 3140 Acoustic blues to near-pop in nice new set
various Minneapolis Does Denver October 89303 Good roots-rock versions of John Denver by MN groups
Nashville Mandolin Ensemble Plectrasonics # CMH 8010 Remarkable mando music from jazz to near-classical to bluegrass
New World Parade New World Parade + New Par 296-1000 Fine jazz-rock fusion w/ vocals from Harrisburg
The Rankin Family Endless Seasons Guardian 32348 Eclectic Canadian folk ensemble
God Street Wine Red Mercury 314 532 146 Rockier 2nd set by Steely Dan infl. group
* Mollie O'Brien Tell Me True Sugar Hill 3846 What a great voice. Superb folk/bluegrass/jazz mix
* Sting Mercury Falling A&M 314540483 One Mr. Sumner's best: sophisticated, jazzy, thoughtful, w/ superb musicians
Hunter Moore Delta Moon Tangible 56804 Appealing, articulate Nashville singer-songwriter
Victor Wooten A Show of Hands + Compass 74231 Bela Fleck's bassist does all-solo bass CD with facsinating results
Barenaked Ladies Born on a Pirate Ship Reprise 46128 Fun, eclectic Canadian folk-rock group in good, witty set
The Beatles Anthology Vol. 2 Capitol 834448 Excellent documentary on the Fab Four's finest years, 1966-68
The Skatalites Greetings from Skamania Shanachie 45024 Eclectic, danceable covers in ska styles
Rev. Billy C. Wirtz Songs of Faith and Inflammation Hightone 8069 Humorous boogie-woogie, rock satire
* Jupiter Coyote Lucky Day Autonomous AR3 Fine young band in Allman Bros. tradition
Ron Levy Zim Zam Zoom Bullseye Blues 9570 Great blues by ubiquitous keyboardist
Gary Moore Blues for Greeny Charisma 243840507 Brit. blues guitarist in tribute to Peter Green
Larry Mitchell Escape #+ String Time 2503 Very nice acoustic guitar inst. w/ group
* Mark Knopfler Golden Heart Warner Bros. 46026 Best yet from Dire Straits founder -- superb writing & musicianship
Margo Hennebach Michaelean + Prime CD 022 Fine singer-songriter w/ great voice and thoughtful song
Nil Lara Nil Lara Metro Blue 831603 Interesting Brazilian influenced pop


(c) 1997 George D. Graham. All rights reseved.
This page may not be copied to another Web site without written permission.

Best of 1996, Part 2: April-June
Best of 1996, Part 3: July-September
Best of 1996, Part 4: October-December
The 1996 Graham Awards
Index of Weekly Album Reviews

Comments to George:
To George Graham's Home Page | What's New on This Web Site

This page last updated August 03, 2014