So why is DGC Rarities Vol. 1 on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
Given how music distribution and consumption has changed over the years, I think it’s safe to state that the 1990s were the peak era of the compilation album.
Sure, there were plenty of compilation CDs floating around in the 2000s and beyond, and streaming playlists are now ubiquitous, but the ‘90s were a special time where we got curated wonders such as this “rarities” album from Geffen.
And it really is the rare kind of collection of songs that packages alternative versions of relatively deep cuts from “household name” bands (Nirvana, Weezer), incredible deep level deep cuts from other recognizable artists (Counting Crows, Beck, Sonic Youth), and then a full array of spectacular songs from a range of bands that are either somewhat known (Teenage Fanclub, The Sundays, The Posies) or not known at all (Cell, Sloan, St. Johnny) to more casual music fans.
Taken in full, DGC Rarities Vol. 1 is a time capsule from 1994 – a pivotal year in a pivotal era in my life in many ways – and I’ll forever love it to pieces.
I have no idea if it’s pure serendipity or if it has something to do with my loving this album overall (or both), but “Einstein on the Beach (For an Eggman)” is by far my favorite Counting Crows song – and in fact this might end up being the only time I reference the Counting Crows in this best 1,000 albums ever project.
In any event, it’s great: a delightful blend of pop and roots rock and Adam Duritz’s vocals at their best.
Sloan’s “Stove/Smother” is a rather incredible two-parter track, the first a subdued and slightly melancholy rocker with a rumbling bassline, followed by a nice thrashy piece during the “Smother” section.
“Don’t Tell Your Mother” is a drop dead gorgeous indie rock song by The Sundays. It puts me in a time machine, back to a 1994 coffee shop on a cloudy… well, Sunday of course.
I’m a massive Beck fan, so “Bogusflow,” which would have slotted in perfectly on One Foot in the Grave or Stereopathetic Soulmanure, is worth the price of admission for me alone. In short: it’s weird and folk grunge and funny and all kinds of amazing.
California white boy sound
Rocket-powered and nailed into the ground
New age, old age – completely totally lame
Straight to the middle of the road
Just rewind the tape and play the whole thing backwards
With the sound completely turned all the way off
It took me years to kind of hook into the correct frequency to get into Sonic Youth, and the strange (and yet strangely compelling) “Compilation Blues” was a helpful gateway for me.
Teenage Fanclub’s “Mad Dog 20/20,” the opening track on DGC Rarities Vol. 1, is another one where I love the song to bits, and it’s by far my favorite song that this particular band has ever produced. So catchy and so glorious.
“Beautiful Son” isn’t my favorite Hole song, but it’s way, way up there: rocking and grungy and punk rock for days.
If you’re as psychotic a Nirvana fan as I am, you’ll dig how “Pay to Play” is an early version of “Stay Away.”
The song title switch provides insight into how Kurt Cobain played with language in crafting his song lyrics – which often were pulled from notebooks that he’d scratch thoughts and fragments of poetry into alongside some pretty wild (and sometimes disturbing) artwork and drawings.
And it’s cool to see how the song title, “Pay to Play,” ties to the song lyrics which remain enshrined on Nevermind: “monkey see, monkey do (I don’t know why).”
Some stats & info about DGC Rarities Vol. 1
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Compilations, Grunge, Rock Music, Alternative Rock, Pop Music, Indie Rock
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 3 out of 5 stars
- When was DGC Rarities Vol. 1 released? 1994
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #142 out of 1,000
DGC Rarities Vol. 1 on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from DGC Rarities Vol. 1 that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
If I could ask you how you feel, would you reply or produce a shield?
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.