Lump

In 1864 the Danish army was defeated by an alliance of the military forces of Prussia and Austria. The decisive battle took place at the "Düppeler Schanzen", a Danish fortress. It seems as if the defenders did not have effective cannons in order to keep the attackers under control…

After a series of low-key UK school bands, Robert Lloyd (b. 1959, Cannock, Staffordshire, England) formed the Prefects - one of the earliest punk bands - who toured with the Clash. They split up in 1979 and Lloyd assembled the Nightingales using the best of the musicians who had passed through the ranks of the Prefects. The first of many subsequent line-ups comprised Lloyd, Alan and Paul Apperley, Joe Crow and Eamonn Duffy. They were ably championed by BBC Radio 1 disc jockey John Peel, for whom Lloyd recorded more sessions under various guises than any other artist. The Nightingales’ debut single, ‘Idiot Strength’, was released in 1981 on the band’s own Vindaloo label in association with Rough Trade Records.

Everybody know that novelty bands have a hard time growing up, but the Presidents of the United States of America made a large leap toward that during their re-formation of 2000, with Freaked Out and Small demonstrating a decrease in their stylized silliness mellowed into something more genuine. It wasn't that the band rocked less, but their humor seemed less forced, a development that continued on 2004's Love Everybody. Evolution continues to be the name of the game on their 2008 follow-up These Are the Good Times People, as the group replaces departing guitarist (and founding member) Dave Dederer with Andrew McKeag, while they bring Seattle underground mainstay Kurt Bloch in as producer, all elements that help make These Are the Good Times People perhaps their most eclectic album to date.

David Lang's "the little match girl passion," for vocal quartet doubling on percussion instruments, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2008. It's a strong, striking piece with a surprisingly potent emotional punch. Part of its effectiveness derives from the story itself, which is so achingly poignant that it can hardly fail to raise a lump in the throat. The text is primarily compiled from the story by Hans Christian Andersen and from familiar sections from Bach's "St. Matthew Passion," which sound fresh and new in English translation.

Though the songs on 90s Pop Hits definitely span the entire decade (Mandy Moore's 1999 track "Candy" is followed by Big Audio Dynamite II's "Rush," from 1991, for example), much of what is on the three-disc, forty-song compilation is taken from the dance/R&B realm of the early '90s. Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, Clivillés & Cole, M People, Xscape, and Sunscreem are all included, but so are rock (though no grunge) bands like Toad the Wet Sprocket, Sponge, the Primitive Radio Gods, Dog's Eye View, and the Spin Doctors. Trying to cover ten years in a few dozen songs is no easy task, and there are certainly a lot of tracks missing on 90s Pop Hits, but for those who are especially fond of the decade's pop-dance chart-toppers, this compilation will be satisfying.