1992 was the last year I purchased cassette tapes.  The following year I purchased my first CD player and never looked back.  When I started seriously listening to pop/rock music in 1981, my first purchases were of cassette tapes, but there were times when I veered toward LPs.  I don't recall if it was the availability of albums (like maybe the old progressive rock from the late 60s/early 70s) which determined this or a belief in the merits of the media.  At one point I entirely abandoned my LP collection.  I had recorded my LPs onto cassette, but when I went to CDs I eventually decided to entirely abandon my cassette collection.  There was no translation of LP/cassette music to CD/audio file formate.  So I have many albums with which I am familiar but which I no longer own or listen to.

 

When I reviewed albums from 1992, I realized that many albums I really enjoyed but had had on cassette were from that year.  This definitely stacked the deck in favor of albums with which I was already familiar as far as which albums made it to the final list. 

 

The album I already own from 1992:

 

25 by Harry Connick, Jr.

 

Here are the finalists and first and second favorites for being my purchase of a second album from the year 1992:

 

Still by Tony Banks

Dehumanizer by Black Sabbath

Black Moon by Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Us by Peter Gabriel

Apollo 18 by They Might Be Giants

Kingdom of Desire by Toto

 

Only the Black Sabbath album and the Toto album are new to me. 

 

At this point I will probably purchase Us with Kingdom Of Desire as an alternate, but I would like any recommendations from you all on great albums from 1992 I might check out. 

 

 

Also, I had Images and Words by Dream Theatre in the first round and I just couldn't quite get into it.  I know how popular Dream Theatre is so I have to wonder if its the samples or what...

 

One principle of preference that I have come across is the "first of its kind" principle and this principle applies to things where the prefer has either an "underdeveloped" or "overdeveloped" taste.  "First of its kind" simply means I like best what I, in this case, heard first.  All other similar items will seem to be a weaker copy of the unassailable First.  Underdeveloped would indicate a lack of ability to appreciate the qualities of something whereas overdeveloped would indicate an overfamiliarity with the qualities of something.

 

When I listen to Anglagard (and to Spock's Beard) and to a lesser extent Transatlantic what I hear most is the baroque qualities to the song and then this rubs me the wrong way.  I can appreciate the sounds, the skill and the complexity, yet at the same time I feel the complexity is a mild irritant.  This may be what is behind my relationship to E, L & P...once upon a time I just ate up that complexity, now it often comes off as irritating...

 

But I am sure there are artists for whom this very same quality is something I overlook.  Perhaps this is a result of the "first of its kind" syndrome.

 

Swan Song, I will also explore your list as there are a number of bands that I have never heard.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.  My response above isn't so much to criticize them as to reflect on why my subjective response might buck a popular opinion even in a community of music listeners which I feel I belong to.  I have a very philosophical approach to many things...

 

 

 

 

Anglagard

Jonas Hellborg

 

However, my "final" decision is still:

 

Us by Peter Gabriel

Kingdom of Desire by Toto as alternate