THROWING MUSES | IN A DOGHOUSE | Throwing Music/Rykodisc; 1984/2000 | It still boggles the mind that Throwing Muses’ startling debut was made by a quartet of fresh-faced teens. The CD remaster adds the original, rawer tracks from a Fort Apache demo.
THROWING MUSES | THE REAL RAMONA | Sire; 1991 | The final album with Tanya Donelly as a full-time Muse was as smooth and commercially accessible as Throwing Muses ever got, which is still not very smooth. But it did yield a well-deserved alternative radio hit in “Counting Backward.”
THROWING MUSES | LIVE AT THE MIDDLE EAST | throwingmusic.com; 2006 | This official bootleg from last year’s mini-tour finds the trio line-up (i.e., no Tanya Donelly) snarling through a career-spanning set without missing a step.
KRISTIN HERSH | HIPS & MAKERS | Sire; 1994 | Magic, mystery, and Michael Stipe all figure in this acoustic solo debut, the disc that established Hersh as an artist whose career could easily sustain the loss of her band.
KRISTIN HERSH | SUNNY BORDER BLUE | 4AD; 2001 | Hersh left the East Coast for the desert, and you can hear it on this overlooked gem of an album. A mood of dark romance and intoxication is maintained throughout — even on the Cat Stevens cover.
50 FOOT WAVE | GOLDEN OCEAN | Reincarnate/BMG; 2005 | After years of post–Throwing Muses solo acoustic albums, Hersh rediscovered her will to rock, formed a smart, hard-hitting punk-rock band, in the noble tradition of her contemporary Bob Mould’s Sugar, and wrote an album of some of her toughest songs ever, all delivered with raw, contagious abandon.
