By Throwing Muses, 1991

"My mouth is full of demons / I swear to God," Kristin Hersh sings with escalating fury in the middle of "Ellen West." The image is apt. The Real Ramona marked a high point for the Throwing Muses, whose debut was the first-ever American recording issued on the hip British label 4AD. The quartet excels in two largely different veins, the first a glistening, poppy one with Hersh's unnervingly crisp voice edging the guitars, and the second a more frantic, revved-up version of the first, where the drums pound harder and the vocals veer into referential terrain that's almost sublimely opaque.

The key to the Throwing Muses at any stage in their career is Hersh's emotional frankness and unflinching conveyance of her schizophrenia-tinged lyrics. She makes the band magnetically frenzied, even when they're being lovely. And with Ramona, Hersh and the Muses perfected their mix.

This is their last recording with band cofounder Tanya Donelly, who continued on with the Breeders and Belly. --Andrew Bartlett

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