(FORTUNE Magazine) – As the '90s come to a close, here's a look back at some of the decade's finest music. (Part one in a series.)

NEIL YOUNG Harvest Moon (1992, Reprise): The Godfather of Grunge exposes his softer side on this masterpiece of shaggy serenity.

LIZ PHAIR Exile in Guyville (1993, Matador): Is it really a provocative gender-war manifesto or just a smokin' air-guitar epic? Have it both ways.

JEFF BUCKLEY Grace (1994, Columbia): This brilliant folk-soul troubadour's only full-length album (before he drowned in the Mississippi River in 1997) simply overwhelms you. The title says it all: Grace quivers with all the tenderness and torment of a religious conversion.

BLUR Parklife (1994, Food/SBK): A symphony of sour contempt for the bangers-and-mash British public, sweetened up into a plum pudding of bright pop melody.

AFRO CUBAN ALL STARS A Toda Cuba le Gusta (1997, World Circuit/ Nonesuch): If Buena Vista Social Club feels like high noon in Havana, this rowdy counterpart from the capitalist world's favorite posse of Cuban masters has the noche-caliente kick of a triple mojito.

MADONNA Ray of Light (1998, Maverick): With help from sonic virtuoso William Orbit, Madonna's future-world psalms sound both metallic and liquid, ardent and icy--like the melting heart of a Blade Runner cyborg.