Rivers Cuomo wrote the songs that wound up on Weezer's undoubted masterpiece Pinkerton
while recovering from surgery on his right leg, which was shorter than
his left since birth, AND while studying at Harvard University. And all
this happened AFTER the band were already huge from their debut "blue"
album. Yes Cuomo was one of those "not comfortable with the rock star
lifestyle" frontmen we occasionally had in the 90s, and after the band
broke big, Cuomo fled the scene and did the most un-rock star thing he
could think of. All for the best though since Pinkerton was the
result. Of course me being me, once again I gotta go with the album's
sole ballad "Butterfly" for inclusion here. A simple acoustic tune with
barely anything going on and a raw, slightly off-key vocal by Cuomo,
"Butterfly" is a perfect ending to a perfect album and you guessed it,
my very favorite Weezer tune.
89. "Loving Cup" - The Rolling Stones
Speaking of the greatest albums ever made, onto Exile On Main St.,
the Rolling Stones album that all others are to be judged by. And
possibly all rock albums period. But anyway, I'm sure you could ask
twenty different Stones fans what their favorite song off Exile
is and you'll get twenty different answers. Which is as it should be.
My vote goes to "Loving Cup", which along with "Shine A Light", is the
album's most exquisite gospel tune. I'm hooked every time right from that
gorgeous piano intro, handled by one of the Stones many right-hand
sidemen Nicky Hopkins. Mick and Keith truly make an incredible sound
when they harmonize together and the vocal performance herein is no
exception. Then of course you have Mick Taylor's outstanding leads
coloring the whole thing. Few bands on earth were better than the
Stones were at the beginning of the 70s, "Loving Cup" being one of
the many examples one could point to for proof.
My favorite Bob Dylan album is The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan though obviously that's hardly an easy choice to make. Blood On the Tracks, Bringing It All Back Home, and Blonde On Blonde are all classics if you ask anybody and all end up on favorite albums lists of mine as well. I think since I've been listening to Dylan regularly though, "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" off Freewheelin has always been my favorite the man ever spawned. Like many a 60s folk song, including Dylan's own, "Don't Think Twice" owes it's origins to an older traditional folk tune, namely "Who's Gonna Buy Your Chickens When I'm Gone", who's melody both songs share. Lyrically, the song is most likely about Dylan's then girlfriend Suze Rotolo, who's also the chick on the Freewheelin' album cover. Out of the many legendary Dylan songs, that ran the gamut of many a crucial topic, I still find it fitting that he really was at his best when offering up a simple love song.
Megadeth was good before unleashing Rust In Peace, but goddamn, as the album's opener "Holy Wars" clearly demonstrates, they fucking blew everybody else out of the water at that point in time. Rust is practically un-topped as far as metal albums go, and the lead guitar shredding from Dave Mustaine and Marty Friedman is so intense that it can equally stand alongside any Yngwie, Satriani, or Vai albums for all out guitar solo masturbation. There is no finer choice for the definitive Megadeth song than "Holy Wars" far as I can tell. Flat out headbanging epicness for six and a half minutes and speaking of that killer lead playing, this has the single best non-Dimebag Darrel guitar solo in all of metal. Riffs of pure awesome and lyrics inspired by the Punisher to top it off? Metal moistness.
Though Aimee Mann has been around since the Til Tuesday days, and writing great songs in those days, I didn't really take notice of her till I saw Magnolia which is a top ten favorite film of mine. Mann's songs on that soundtrack are some of the best I've ever heard and I kinda made it a point to pick up as much of her stuff from then on as I could. And my favorite Mann jam at this writing actually isn't from Magnolia but from the album that came out six years later, 2005's The Forgotten Arm. A concept album about a boxer, (I think), the many-syllable titled "That's How I Knew This Story Would Break My Heart" is a piano ballad that pretty much blew me away just within the first few seconds. I just love this stuff when a simple piano or guitar melody gel with a perfect vocal melody and produce such gorgeousness. The song sounds sad and it probably is, but damn if it doesn't hit the spot every time I hear it.
Followers of the Mighty Ihsahn, Norwegian black metal's foremost musician, should be well aware of he and wife Ihriel's relatively short-lived experimental group Peccatum. They pumped out three albums and two EPs within a six year lifespan and their final full-length, Lost In Reverie, just might be the best album Ihsahn was ever involved in. And yes obviously I'm counting all of his outstanding solo work and of course Emperor, the finest black metal band in all of creation. It's probably the emphasis on melody that wins me over, but Peccatum throws an abundance of genres into their soup, from industrial, to classical, to fusion, and metal sub-genres like progressive, Gothic, and of course black. "In the Bodiless Heart" is the second song off Reverie and it's a masterpiece. Ihsahn's vocals were never better, or Mrs. Ihsahn's for that matter, and every part of this seven minute, prog-fueled sex fest is flawlessly arranged. I find myself closing my eyes and just swaying my head and getting lost every time that chilling chorus comes around.
The Boss has a massive list of phenomenal songs to choose from for a list like this, and I had about seven or so I had to narrow down for inclusion, reluctantly so I might add. No way in dick was "Jungleland" not making the cut though. I have another one from Born To Run on the way as well, Springsteen's undoubted greatest album, but the closer "Jungleland" is epic as all get out and the perfect ending for sure. Hope and despair, romance and violence, the whole spirit of the album is summed up here. There's the gorgeous violin intro, that great piano riff, Clarence Clemons blowing the roof off the place with one if his very best sax solos, and that hauntingly simple breakdown at about the six and a half minute mark where the song mellows into it's most beautiful and somber moment. This is epic rock and roll story telling at it's finest. There's a reason they call him the Boss for sure.
Until the incredibly lackluster Heritage album, Opeth was always known for their seamless blending of balls-whooping extreme metal riffage and vocals with beautiful and melodic acoustic and clean passages. They pretty much split this stuff evenly, almost always within each and every song, but occasionally they'd dish out a straight up ballad with no heaviness to be found. "To Bid You Farewell" is the earliest and certainly best example. Well I think it's the earliest since I never listen to the band's debut album Orchid, but that's neither here nor there. Opeth's sophomore effort Morningrise began their stream of flawless albums that lasted through eight full lengths in twelve years, pretty impressive stuff for certain. And "Farewell" was the closing track on Morningrise and is soyently my very favorite Opeth song. Incredibly moving and haunting chill music right here. I had the rare opportunity to see the band perform this live on their Damnation tour, a tour where they only played said album and their ballads, and it was as glorious as I had hoped.
A new entry and artist here for me since I've only been turned onto Ray LaMontagne within the last two years or so. Gossip In the Grain is actually my least favorite album from Mr. LaMontagne at this writing. Not that it's bad mind you, since this man could sing fruit cake recipes and it would still bring tears of joy to ones eyes. It just really only has one song that's truly amazing. But that one song just happens to be the best song he's written at this point, the excellent "Let It Be Me". It's an acoustic ballad, pretty much like they all are, but goddamn, the vocal and lyric here just has something even more spellbinding than usual in Ray's case. This is really just an incredible vocalist baring his soul over a beautiful melody and hardly a more pleasing a thing can one listen to.
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