Atlantic Records releases the debut (and only) self-titled album from Y Kant Tori Read, a band centered around future solo artist Tori Amos. 
Atlantic Records releases the debut (and only) self-titled album from Y Kant Tori Read, a band centered around future solo artist Tori Amos.
GNP Crescendo Records releases the first CD of Star Trek: The Next Generation soundtrack music, containing Dennis McCarthy’s music from the pilot movie, Encounter At Farpoint.
The Schnell Fenster album The Sound Of Trees is released in America by Atlantic Records (having already been issued by EMI in Australia and New Zealand). The band is formed around former members of Split Enz, including founding guitarist Phil Judd, percussionist Noel Crombie, ’80s bassist Nigel Griggs, and guitarist Michael den Elzen (the only member of the group not to have played for Split Enz, though he has been a session player on a Tim Finn solo album). The single “Whisper” fails to take off in the States and the band breaks up after running up significant debts trying to promote the album.
Restless Records releases They Might Be Giants‘ second album, Lincoln, featuring the singles “Ana Ng” and “They’ll Need A Crane”.
CBS Records releases the album Fantasy by German band Münchener Freiheit (shortened to “Freiheit” for the English-speaking world). Issued in a German language edition earlier in the year, this version of the album features English lyrics and a different arrangement of the band’s best-known single, “Keeping The Dream Alive”.
Warner Bros. Records releases the Traveling Wilburys’ debut album Volume One, featuring the singles “Handle With Care” and “End Of The Line”.
Warner Bros. releases R.E.M.‘s sixth album, Green, featuring the singles “Stand”, “Orange Crush”, and “Pop Song 89”.
Narada Equinox releases Ralf Illenberger‘s instrumental jazz album Circle in the U.S. (the album was released earlier in the year in Germany).
BBC Records releases The Doctor Who 25th Anniversary Album, an album combining every version of the Doctor Who theme tune to date, along with selections of music from seasons 24 and 25 by composer Keff McCulloch (including the just-aired Remembrance Of The Daleks).
I.R.S. Records releases the Fine Young Cannibals’ second album, The Raw & The Cooked, featuring the single “She Drives Me Crazy”.
Roy Orbison‘s final album, Mystery Girl, is released just weeks after the musician’s death on Virgin Records. With interest in Orbison riding high with the relatively recent success of the Traveling Wilburys, Mystery Girl sells better than most of his previous work.
Former Split Enz frontman Tim Finn‘s self-titled third album is released in the United States by Capitol Records; presaging Finn’s merger with younger brother Neil Finn’s group Crowded House, the album is produced by Crowded House producer Mitchell Froom.
EMI Records releases the compilation album A Message From The Country: The Jeff Lynne Years, 1968-1973, collecting highlights from Lynne’s work with Idle Race, The Move, and ELO.
Tom Petty‘s solo album Full Moon Fever is released on MCA Records. (Though many of his Heartbreakers bandmates play on the album, the album is credited to Petty alone). Fellow Traveling Wilbury Jeff Lynne produces the album and co-writes some of the songs.
Warner Bros. Records releases John Williams’ soundtrack from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Geffen Records releases Passion, Peter Gabriel’s soundtrack to the movie The Last Temptation Of Christ. Years later, the producers of the Battlestar Galactica remake miniseries “temp track” early edits of their show with tracks from this album, as a stylistic guide for their music composers.
Silva Screen releases the first soundtrack from the iconic 1960s TV series The Prisoner.
Windham Hill releases new age musician Ray Lynch‘s third solo album, No Blue Thing.
Virgin Records releases The Best of Culture Club, a career retrospective of the group’s 1980s heyday.
Julee Cruise‘s debut album Floating Into The Night is released on Warner Bros. Records, placating fans of the surprise hit TV series Twin Peaks (Cruise sings the show’s theme song). With lyrics by Twin Peaks auteur David Lynch and music by the show’s resident composer, Angelo Badalamenti, the album is strongly reminiscent of the series’ music; a proper Twin Peaks soundtrack album follows almost exactly a year later.
China Records releases the Art of Noise album Below The Waste, the group’s final album of new material for a decade. Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens feature on the single “Yebo!”
Warner Bros. Records releases the George Harrison compilation album The Best Of Dark Horse: 1976-1989, featuring the single “Cheer Down”.
Capitol Records releases the Duran Duran compilation album Decade, marking ten years since the band’s formation with highlights from their first five albums.
Reprise Records releases the Chicago compilation album Greatest Hits, 1982-1989, gathering the band’s most popular 1980s radio hits.
Reprise Records releases the extended Depeche Mode CD single Enjoy The Silence, containing the song as heard on the album Violator and numerous remixes and B-sides.
Former Bourgeois Tagg frontman Brent Bourgeois releases his first solo album on Charisma Records, getting some minor airplay with singles “Dare To Fall In Love” and “Can’t Feel The Pain” (the latter featuring Fleetwood Mac veteran Christine McVie). The only other former Bourgeois Tagg member in evidence on the album is guitarist Lyle Workman, who continues recording with Bourgeois even when he jumps tracks to Christian music several years later.
Reprise Records releases Depeche Mode‘s seventh album, Violator, featuring the singles “Personal Jesus” and “Enjoy The Silence”.
Narada Records releases the instrumental album Heart & Beat by German jazz guitar virtuoso Ralf Illenberger, his second solo album on the label.
Warner Bros. Records releases the Fleetwood Mac album Behind The Mask, featuring the singles “Save Me” and “Skies The Limit”. This is the first studio album for the band’s post-Lindsey-Buckingham lineup.