One thing which I counted on never happening was Uriah Heep delivering a new album over four decades into their careers that was arguably the best thing that they ever did. Such was the case when Into the Wild, their 23rd, came out. There is a reason that Heep has been primarily playing their Ken Hensley written 70s numbers live for all of these years, namely because none of their post-Hensley albums have come close to their glory days, (Abominog almost). Yet everything on Wild just kills. With "I Can See You", the title track, "Kiss of Freedom", "T-Bird Angel", and "Southern Star", long-serving vocalist Bernie Shaw and especially newer guy Russel Gilbrook on the drums kick Mick Box and Phil Lanzon's songs right in the kisser.
After hitting pay-dirt with their successful, somewhat new wave crossover album Permanent Waves, Rush bettered it with Moving Pictures. Their biggest charting and highest selling work, Pictures has their signature "Tom Sawyer" which proved that a song with one of the most complex drum parts of all time could also be a gargantuan hit. Simply rounding out the album's first side, "YYZ" is Rush's most famous instrumental, and "Limelight" and "Red Barchetta" have also become radio staples. The band still could not resist the urge to deliver one more mini-epic with "The Camera Eye", but overall this was Rush at their most melodic, polished, tight, and commercial. It stands as one of the finest moments where a band went for record sales yet remained artistically refined.
The Smashing Pumpkins' smiling politely best album came out when I was going to almost the same Jr. High as James Iha and D'arcy did, (they were both named Holmes, mine was just two towns over). Signing to Virgin Records and hiring Nevermind's producer Butch Vig to make lightning strike twice, the Pumpkins were actually in shambles. Billy Corgan was depressed again, suffering from severe writers block, and feeling the pressure to top Nirvana, Iha and D'arcy were now an ex-couple whose instruments Corgan mostly insisted on playing himself, and Jimmy Chamberlin was already a heroin addict. Good times! Yet in the face of towering odds, Siamese delivered stellar material from front to back, such as "Mayonnaise", "Disarm", "Today", and "Cherub Rock".
Recorded in Paris, Feist's second album Let It Die combines covers and originals, yet as diverse as the material is, you can barely tell where the Feist compositions start and the other people's songs end. Well, the Bee Gee's cover and album's best moment "Inside and Out" is hard to mistaken, but that said, she turns the brother Gibb's slow disco jam into a faster and sexier interpretation, not far removed from her own "One Evening" which shows up earlier. The folk-inspired "Gatekeeper" and "Lonely Lonely", traditional-turned-PJ-Harvey-esque "When I Was a Young Girl", jazz ballad "Now At Last", bouncy baroque pop "Mushaboom", and bossa nova "Leisure Suite" showcase a barrage of styles, all of them exquisitely delivered.
For reasons that I need to go sit in the corner for, I got into Thin Lizzy way late, coming to their most lauded album Jailbreak only within the last few years. We all know the title track, "The Boys Are Back in Town", and that Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson have one of the finest twin-guitar attacks in all of rock music, (that ending harmony to "Boys" being particularly satisfying). Yet "Running Back" and "Emerald" are even better. The former a break-up ballad for the ages and the later arguably the heaviest thing that had been accomplished by 1976. Phil Lynott's storyteller lyrics could be compared to Bruce Springsteen's, but his swaggering vocals add yet another winning contribution to the most beloved hard rock back to ever sail out of Ireland.
This seemed to be the year deemed appropriate to break jazz into the homes of many, as the Dave Brubeck Quartet released Time Out four months after Miles Davis dropped Kind of Blue. Both of these albums have gone on to be the two most commercial cool jazz records ever made. Brubeck was a former Third Army veteran who had already been on the cover of Time magazine by the time that Time Out was dropped. Most important for being one of the first records to incorporate odd time signatures and classical components into jazz, (most noticeably on the opener "Blue Rondo à la Turk), this also boasts "Take Five", which might be the greatest jazz song; Joe Morello's metric modulation drum solo ranking as one the most tasteful ever performed.
Megadeth's answer to Metallica's (Black Album) was nowhere near as successful, but it still charted high and remains their biggest selling. Sales and zeitgeist comparisons aside, Countdown proves to be the superior record all these years later, and nearly Megadeth's finest. It is interesting to think what a Rust In Peace Part II would have sounded like, but the Mustaine/Ellefson/Friedman/Menza line-up instead cranked out some streamlined classics instead such as "Captive Honor", "Foreclosure of a Dream", the unintentionally hilarious sing-along "Sweating Bullets", and the best song Megadeth ever ended an album with in "Ashes In Your Mouth".
Not counting hearing "Love Song" in every grocery store there is, my introduction to Sara Bareilles came from my brother playing me Kaleidoscope Heart's "Gonna Get Over You". This toe-tapping, retro-blue-eyed-soul jingle made it an instant priority of mine to get as much Bareilles as I could find. Heart is the songstress' best record thus far and it also contains my favorite of all her songs "Hold My Heart". "King of Anything", "Uncharted", and "Say You're Sorry" conclude the hits, but the a cappella intro title track, sexy swing "Not Alone", and folk rock "Basket Case" round out more of Bareilles' songwriting muscle as well as her top-notch voice and seemingly limitless range.
The Darkness gave rock music not so much a serious kick in the ass, but more of an UN-serious kick in the ass. They remain one of the funniest and by far best rock bands to emerge this century, with a brilliant AC/DC/Queen hybrid of cock rock and a hefty side of laugh-out-loud Spın̈al Tap self-awareness. Permission to Land has "Growing On Me" about herpes, "Holding My Own" probably about wankin' it, and the chorus to "Get Your Hands off My Woman" adds the refrain "mother fu-cker-er-er!". Plus they act like a parody of every rock band ever, and Justin Hawkin's banshee vocals are so outrageous that you cannot help but to laugh with them, not at them. Then there is "Love on the Rocks with No Ice", a song that should probably be knighted.
As lazy as it is to simply name an album after the year in which it was made, (F.U.C.K. was more clever, I am sure we would all agree), none of the music on 1984 does anything to diminish the legacy of the Van Halen. "Jump" still joins the list of many a song that now sucks because FM radio will not fucking die already, but with dated keyboards in place or not, the Van Halen brothers plus Diamond Dave and that guy who likes to drink beer and sing killer back-up vocals still deliver their best. Since "Hot for Teacher" is here, this album was going on my list regardless, but I am still not sick of "Panama", plus the album tracks "I'll Wait", "Top Jimmy", "Drop Dead Legs", and "House of Pain" are some of the strongest moments in the entire VH catalog.
Badmotorfinger brought Soundgarden into the mainstream and helped Seattle's then stronghold on rock music, but Superunknown just catapulted the band. Debuting at number one and featuring a multitude of still beloved singles, (as well as that fucking creepy "Black Hole Sun" video), Superunknown was less heavy than its predecessors, but it boasted noticeably improved songwriting. They grabbed former Chili Peppers producer Michael Beinhorn after the band members had demoed their own songs and ideas, then spending a hefty amount of time in the studio refining the results. "Let Me Drown", "Fell on Black Days", "Spoonman", "4th of July", the title track, and "The Day I Tried to Live" all prove why I have yet to met anyone who is not down with the Soundgarden.
Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong, (who apparently had pretentious parents), released her debut No Angel in the summer of 1999 to moderate success, becoming more of an MTV or at least VH1 staple once Eminem had the good sense to sample "Thank You" and cast her in his own "Stan" video. When me and my former bandmate saw her live, she introduced the album closer "Take My Hand" as being one of the first songs that she ever wrote and that it was about the first time that she got laid. Adorable. Co-written by Miss Armstrong and a consistent team of others, (including her brother Rollo, the goofy name tradition continuing), No Angel has not a weak moment anywhere on it.
I am affording myself one mega-cheat on this list by including four albums released over five years as a single entry. Yet all of them were recorded over two single-day sessions in 1956, as Miles Davis figured it was the most sufficient way to fulfill his contract obligation to Prestige, simply bringing his band in to "cook" through as many lengthy numbers as they could in the brief time provided. Cookin', Relaxin', Workin', and Steamin' are all for the most part interchangeable, but everything here represents the finest hard bop collectively ever put to tape, with regulars Paul Chambers and John Coltrane once again joined by Philly Joe Jones on drums and Red Garland on the keys.
David Bowie and Mick Ronson producing and performing, The Rutles' Barry Wom, (John Halsey) handling drums, and the eclectic batch of songs here make Transformer Lou Reed's first excellent post-Velvet Underground album. After the "meh" performance of his debut, this one was recorded in London with Bowie and Ronson already huge Reed enthusiasts. Ronson's involvement was paramount, particularly in composing the string section for "Perfect Day", while Bowie provided standout background vocals to "Satellite of Love". The Andy Warhol inspired "Vicious" and "Andy's Chest" and of course the unexpected signature Reed song "Walk on the Wild Side" prove that he was still channeling his old Factory days, as well as honing his commercial sensibilities more than he ever had before.
1983's Kill 'Em All has been often credited with inventing thrash metal, taking everything laid down from Motörhead and Diamond Head and playing it that much faster. With Ride the Lightning though, Metallica not only proved that they were hardly a one-trick pony, but also a band with a grander vision than simply sticking metal up your arse. Melody was introduced with the "ballad" "Fade to Black", "Creeping Death", could be their best song not on ...And Justice for All, "Escape" busted out the guitar harmony excellence, "The Call of Ktulu" was certainly not that last beast of an instrumental that Metallica would deliver, "Fight Fire with Fire" kicked off their knack to open an album with acoustic guitar, and that along with "Trapped Under Ice" proved that the thrash tag still fit.
Time Out and Kind of Blue are the logical places to start when discovering jazz, but A Love Supreme is where the journey goes to the next level. John Coltrane's eighteenth full-length as leader, this is the solid foundation of the modal jazz which he and Miles Davis together ushered in, as well as the jumping off point to the free jazz experiments that he and others would indulge in later. Supreme's four parts over three tracks is the sound of a spiritual artist recently being converted to Ahmadiyya Islam, letting his instrument be the vessel of god with a trio of musicians who effortlessly seem to be doing the same. Elvin Jones alone may arguably deliver the best drum performance in jazz history here; explosively breaking down nearly every rule in the game.
Enslaved's highest work topped off their early 2000's trilogy of excellence that began with Monumension and Below the Lights. All three of these albums fuse traditional Norse melodies with extreme metal and avant-garde sensibilities, but Isa gets the nod. Bookended by two brief, instrumental, ambient mood pieces, the eight real songs here amazingly get more and more excellent as the listening experience continues. Made up of only a handful of sections a piece, Enslaved's brand of prog-metal lets each and every moment breathe and groove, the space being allowed proving to be lava-lamp hypnotic in the process. "Neogenesis" I have sung the praises to many a time on this blog, and it is indeed a phenomenal Pink Floyd meets stoner metal meets screaming vocals epic.
The blueprint had been laid out for gangsta rap before 1992 rolled around, but its true mainstream dominance took off with Dr. Dre's guest heavy featured debut The Chronic. Strongest as a producer first, MC second, Dre devotes a considerable amount of the rhymes here to others, dropping the mic entirely on three tracks. Twenty-one year old Snoop Dogg was the breakout star and would one better The Chronic with the near-official sequel Doggystyle, but more on that later. The disses were being thrown left and right here, as Dre and Snoop take many a jab on "Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin')". "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang", "Let Me Ride", "Lil Ghetto Boy", "Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat", and "Bitches Ain't Shit" provide further evidence in court that Dre had the beats to back his claims.
Despite what my brother may tell you, Las Vegas' The Killers have not delivered since on the incredible promise of their debut Hot Fuss, not that they need to after an album this solid. Easily one of the best debut records of the 2000s, Fuss throws new wave influences into a blender and then spits them out with much louder production values. Despite the flawless choruses, sing-along lyrics, and keyboard hooks which are everywhere, The Killers also benefit from Ronnie Vannucci's almost over-qualified drumming, whose backbeat and colorful playing not to mention fantastic drum sound provide a highlight rarely seen for critically lauded pop bands. Also, I am particularity hard pressed to think of a finer moment than "The Things That I Have Done".
After being dicked-around by the man who made them a band in the first place, The Monkees fought and succeeded in taking control of their recording careers, performing their third album themselves without any session musicians ghosting their instruments. The results were a success as Headquarters remains their best. Nesmith hits paydirt with "You Told Me", "Sunny Girlfriend", and his crowning achievement "You Just May Be the One", Mickey Dolenz gets his first solo-written hit with "Randy Scouse Git", and Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart still supply some excellent stuff with "I'll Spend My Life with You" and "I Can't Get Her Off of My Mind". Peter Tork though gets the album's best song on his co-write "For Pete's Sake" and his vocal on "Shades of Grey" is likewise cromulent.
My brother quickly got a hold of Rammstein's debut after we both got converted when "Du hast" came out, as Sehnsucht obviously was not enough to own from this band. Herzeleid is the superior album though. The midway-through trilogy of "Asche ze Asche", "Seemann", and "Du riechst so gut" could be the three best Rammstein songs and enough to make this an album to be reckoned with. "Heirate mich" and their band-named theme song both hilariously and awesomely show up in David Lynch's Lost Highway, the world's greatest living filmmaker clearly having some good goddamn taste. Rammstein exploded and has remained relevant in Europe since almost immediately, and their balls-tight, techno krautmetal was perfectly realized right out of the gate here.
There was a time when I thought that this album was better than the creation of the doughnut. As far as a concept record plots goes, Metropolis Pt. 2 is one of the few coherent ones and perhaps could have made a wicked murder mystery film if the budget or interest for one was ever present. Using Images and Words' "Metropolis - Part I: "The Miracle and the Sleeper"" as a jumping-off point, naturally Pt. 2 plays as one long song with numerous individual highlights within, including yet not limited to the ballads "Through My Words" and "The Spirit Carries On", (the later of which has John Petrucci outdoing himself in the guitar solo department), the head-exploding instrumental "The Dance of Eternity", and possibly the sickest of all Dream Theater riffs in "Fatal Tragedy".
Few bands had a more flawless run than Queen did in the mid-70s. Reunited with producer Roy Thomas Baker once again after a two-album break on A Day at the Races and News of the World, Queen was still pumping out the hits with the ode to big booty bitchez "Fat Bottomed Girls", the quirky "Bicycle Race", and the self-empowering anthem "Don't Stop Me Now". This was the first Queen record that one could argue had some filler on it, but Queen filler still wiped the floor with most of the best work of their peers. Outside of "Fat Bottomed", May gets his riff chops in with "Dead on Time", while Freddie's opener "Mustapha" is one of the most ingeniously wacky prog-rock jams out there, plus Roger Taylor's "More of the Jazz" is his best original sung moment on a Queen record.
One of the few Bob Dylan songs that he regrets recording remains one of my favorites, Another Side of Bob Dylan's penultimate track "Ballad in Plan D". Direct and autobiographical, it is one of his most honest moments, and the willingness to throw it out there remains admirable. Elsewhere, Another Side represents just that; another side to the protest songs that had quickly made him an icon. This is one of the most fun/funny of Dylan's early records as is evident in "Motorpsycho Nitemare", "Black Crow Blues", and especially "I Shall Be Free No. 10" where he pokes fun at his own guitar lick. There is also the romantic "Spanish Harlem Incident", poetic "Chimes of Freedom", and carefree "It Ain't Me Babe" and "All I Really Want to Do".
Recorded over five months with a shit mixing console that sounded like ass, was purchased off ebay, and destroyed as soon as the sessions were wrapped up in a run-down factory that used to house General Tire, (hence the album title), the origin of The Black Keys' third album Rubber Factory seems like the makings of a wacky screwball comedy. The Beggar's Banquet styled "The Lengths", stomp-n-holla blues "Grown So Ugly", and retro R&B jam "Act Nice and Gentle" are all just outstanding, but the record remains consistent throughout. Dan Auerbach may be one hell of a goddamn singer and Patrick Carney one hell of a not-so-good drummer, but with their powers combined, these two whiteboy dorks sure can play the ever loving shit out of the blues.
Once again featuring Booker T. & the M.G.'s, the Memphis Horns, and none other than Isaac Hayes on piano, Otis Redding's third album was recorded almost entirely in one day. Sam Cooke, (who had died only a few months before), has three of his songs tackled along with three of Redding's own. Written with horns in mind instead of guitars anyway, it makes sense for "Satisfaction" to get the cover treatment, and since the Stones' version is beyond played out, I will go with Otis' each and every time thank you. Speaking of which, "Respect" is so familiar to us all from Aretha Franklin's rendition that it is almost unrecognizable here in its original form. Easily "I've Been Loving You Too Long" though has gotta be Redding's most amazing moment, done even more ferociously at the Monterey Pop Festival two years later.
The Citizen Kane of bluegrass albums is the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band plus about a hundred other people's Will the Circle Be Unbroken. For almost two hours, the young bucks in the Dirt Band kick out the god-fearing-damn jams, (all thirty-eight of them), with almost as many guest musicians, each a well-respected veteran and legend in country, gospel, and bluegrass. Instrumentals are spliced up with standards and hymns, all recorded in no more than two takes a piece. The raw, un-tampered performances usually leave in the studio banter at the beginning, giving it the feeling of being a fly on the wall to nothing but pros playing sweet glorious banjo and pedal-steel guitar brilliance. As good as country music has or will ever get right here folks.
Ritchie Blackmore axed his entire ensemble sans Ronnie James Dio for Rising, the follow up to Ritchie Blackmor's Rainbow. As many fantastic jams as are on that one, ("Man on the Silver Mountain" and "Catch the Rainbow" spring to mind first and foremost), Rising is made more consistent not just by the tighter writing but also with the addition of Cozy Powell. Easily one of the heaviest and best rock drummers of any era, Powell makes his presence furiously known here, delivering a more fitting performance than the competent former Elf drummer Gary Driscoll on the previous album. It remains impossible to listen to "Stargazer" without trying to blow your speakers out, the epic, full orchestra heavy metal song to judge all others by.
Red was the final King Crimson outing of the 1970s before their seven year break and the first that reduced them to a power-trio. Violin/keys player David Cross, (no, not THAT David Cross), was axed on the proceeding tour, mostly because the rhythm section of John Wetton and Bill Bruford were drowning him out, pushing the band in a noisier direction. Indeed, Red stands as their heaviest album. It is stylistically similar to the proceeding Starless and Bible Black, but where that was still brought down by the usual instrumental noodling that went nowhere for long passages, Red is more focused. The title track is easily their best and most bombastic instrumental, while the closing "Starless" features the most gorgeous use of a mellotron since their own "Epitaph" on In the Court of the Crimson King.
Bruce Springsteen retreated briefly in 1982 to put out an outstanding album of acoustic demos with Nebraska, but shortly thereafter and with that breather out of the way, he seemed ready to become one of the biggest pop stars in the world, something that his previous work certainly pointed towards. Born in the U.S.A. emerged in the MTV generation and spawned seven top ten singles and for those of you doing the math, that is over half the album. I have always had a soft spot for "Dancing in the Dark" and that along with "I'm on Fire" would be my favorite of the jumbo-hits on here. The title track was infamously misused by the Reagan administration and "I'm Going Down" is borderline annoying, but the Boss shooting for commercial glory rightfully achieved it.
Formed by songwriter Johnathan Richman, The Modern Lovers became a thing in 1970 and recorded a series of demos both in their native Boston and LA. Yet by the time that they were set to re-record all their stuff for a proper studio release, they were broken up. After Richman signed a solo deal years later, that label decided to put The Modern Lovers out in its present form. This is dork rock ahead of its time, essentially being new wave almost ten years before there was such a thing. Richman sounds like a Lou Reed that cannot get laid, as he talk/sings about how cool it is to hang out with his parents, how much he wants a girlfriend, how bullies get all the chicks and nice guys finish last, and how fun it is to hang out at the government center.
Carnival of Souls was to be Kiss' follow-up to their return to glory Revenge, but it coincided with preparations for the Kiss reunion and once the priority turned to that, well that was the death rattle for this era of the band. Carnival was unceremoniously released two years later, most people including even Kiss fans barely noticing. Though it missed finding an audience and Kiss never evolved their sound again, (understandably becoming a legacy act once the make-up went back on), Carnival proves again how great they could be at bandwagon jumping. Their answer to grunge, it boasts easily the best lyrics on a Kiss record, cock rock and anthems literally 100% absent. Bruce Kulick had a strong hand in writing some of their best material here, like "Hate", "Jungle", "Master & Slave", "I Will Be There", "In My Head", and "Rain".
Delivering their third good, second incredible, and last listenable album, In Flames dropped Whoracle at a time when death metal was presumably on its way out yet melodic Swedish death metal was in its glory days. Released two years after At the Gate's definitive Slaughter of the Soul and a year after In Flames own Jester Race, this slightly trumps the later. In Flames' take on the sub-genre which they helped define was less focused on brutality and more on melody, (think Iron Maiden with screaming), with the eerie, female siren sung title track, the acoustically driven "Jester Script Transfigured", and Depeche Mode cover "Everything Counts". Also, "Episode 666" features the best finger-taped, harmonized guitar breakdown that metal has ever produced.
Peter Gabriel's last Genesis hurrah came fittingly enough with the sprawling Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. One of the holy grails of prog concept albums, Lamb probably has the most "Buh?" story-line out of any of them. Fucked if I have a clue what is going on here with Rael and his Manhattan acid trip. The ambitious record still shows what Genesis were truly great at, namely Phil Collins's stupendous drumming, Gabriel's over-the-top character voices, and Tony Banks classically based keyboards. As a concept album, it is naturally more unified than their others, with returning passages and some shorter over-all tracks. Yet stuff like "Carpet Crawlers", "Counting Out Time", "Lilywhite Lilith", and the title track are virtually hit single-ready, even if they never achieved such status at the time.
Upon signing with them, The Velvet Underground were told by Atlantic to load up an album with hits. Then Lou Reed obliged and quit the band right before it came out. That'll learn em! Standing drummer/walking Meg White prequel Maureen Tucker sits Loaded out as she was pregnant at the time, bringing conventional drum kit playing into the mix for the first time. Bassist Doug Yule and Reed butted heads throughout the recording, and then it was released with numerous edits and different mixes from the ones that Reed had previously approved of. Still considered as good as their other unanimously applauded albums, (with "Rock and Roll", "Sweet Jane", and "Oh! Sweet Nothing" all here), this goes to say that you could botch these songs up according to Lou and it would still be a masterpiece.
Yes were on a roll by the time that they cut Close to the Edge, but Bill Bruford nevertheless packed up and headed for King Crimson once this was in the can, putting everyone else in a tough position where they had to recruit Alan White to learn these complex-as-all-get-out tracks in nearly record time to be tour ready. Edge ends with my favorite Yes moment "Siberian Khatru, a song that is lyrically about nothing yet musically as powerful as this band could get. The eighteen minute title track is another one for the prog-rock books; a dazzling piece that covers about every mood possible in its side-long running time. Then "And You and I" is Yes at their most beautiful, with lush Rick Wakeman melletron and classical/folk acoustic guitar work from Steve Howe.
Coming after Black Celebration and Music for the Masses, this was the album that all signs were pointing to and that simultaneously trumped all previous Depeche Mode efforts. Featuring the hits "Enjoy the Silence" and "Personal Jesus", Violator saw Depeche working for the first time with producer Flood, and nothing is weak here, with "Sweetest Perfection" and "Clean" sending mixed signals as to their fondness for heroin, (vocalist David Gahan was a full blown addict at this point), and "World in My Eyes" and "Blue Dress" are both odes to the joys of sex and women. This is considered Depeche's best in many circles and at one point I agreed, but though a few more have continued to grow on me, Violator is still the logical place to start.
The late 80s seemed an unlikely time for an outstanding folk/rock singer-songwriter to debut, almost missing such a common era by a decade and a half. The fact that Tracy Chapman was a black, most-likely lesbian playing folk music makes her self-titled debut even more striking. Picked up by Elektra Records after having her demo shopped around to radio stations by future Oceans 13 writer Brian Koppelman, everyone is aware of "Fast Car" and Chapman's unmistakable vibrating voice, but "Talkin' Bout a Revolution", the a cappella "Behind the Wall", African-themed "Mountains O' Things", "For My Lover", and especially the tender love song "Baby Can I Hold You" are all better. On "Why?" Chapman seems to be pleading for answers and it is a steady theme throughout.
Being the last bit of Type O Negative that we ever got, Dead Again destroys its predecessor Life is Killing Me, which is really their only studio album since their debut to just be so-so. Here, Pete Steele seemed to have been listening to way more Sabbath than usual when concocting the atypical riffage that is on display. There is still oodles of melody, the droning and slow chord progressions, and punk-thrash breakouts as always, but "Hail and Farewell to Brittan" and especially "An Ode to Locksmiths" are more headbanging than this band had ever been. "The Profit of Doom" may feature the best example of everything that Steele could do vocally, while the major key work-out "September Sun" is as beautiful as "Halloween in Heaven" is funny.
The companion piece to Apostrophe, (which was recorded at the same time and features the same cast of players), Over-Nite Sensation has always sat just a smidge under its follow-up in my eyes. Yet we are splitting hairs here as both of these Frank Zappa records rank as the first two that you would ever want to loan anyone who has never heard of this wacky fellow. Featuring what could be the best band this man ever assembled, (including but not limited to Jean-Luc Ponty, Ralph Humphrey, George Duke, and even an uncredited Tina Turner on background vocals), the intro and random break-out sections to "Zomby Woof" could make any musician soil themselves, plus "Dinah-Moe-Humm" is easily the best song ever written about going down on a female, just as "Montana" is the best one about dental floss.
You can ask any Slayer fan, (or Kerry King), who thinks that they should have just kept making Reign in Blood till the end of time and they will likewise give you an earful of how much this album sucks. People are dumb though and this is the band's crowning achievement, says basically only me. Jeff Hanneman thankfully wanted to experiment with groove metal, and he did just that by concocted the riffs to ten out of the eleven songs here. With the emphasis no longer on speed, the band's arrangements are by far their strongest, with so much more room to tweak things around. The opener "Bitter Peace" alone is near the top of ridiculously great Slayer album openers and is as good as any of their songs that are not called "Angel of Death".
Much to my brother's dismay, I have but one Al Di Meola album on my list. Yet in my defense, it is the best one. Once again self-producing and inviting back Steve Gadd and fellow Return to Forever skinsman Lenny White to keep it busy behind the kit, Di Meola continues the trajectory laid out on his debut Land of the Midnight Sun with more blazing runs and intricate melodies. As lyrical as he often makes his axe, (particularly on the Paco de Lucía duet and highlight "Mediterranean Sundance"), it is the freak show shredding that really made people's heads spin when Di Meola emerged on the scene. He still remains the tightest guitar player in Latin jazz, evident everywhere here, with "Race with Devil on Spanish Highway" and "Elegant Gypsy Suite" being exhibit A and B, respectively.
Amazingly released a mere seven months after Are You Experienced?, Axis: Bold As Love seems like a quantum leap compared to it. Whereas Experienced? was assembled as a collection of potential singles, Axis had even more sonic innovation and different instrumentation. The recording process for it started almost straight after Experienced?, showing that Jimi Hendirx was virtually bursting with ideas. "Up from the Skies" and "One Rainy Wish" show his jazz influences, Mitch Mitchell is still tearing up his kit with one of his most memorable grooves in "Little Miss Lover", Noel Redding's own "She's So Fine" shows up as a surprising highlight, and "Little Wing" and "Bold As Love" are possibly Jimi's most beloved if not most covered songs.
Both Johnny Marr and Morrissey consider their final project together Strangeways, Here We Come to be The Smiths' crowning achievement, even if they are high and The Queen is Dead clearly is. Yet this is certainly my second favorite from this Manchester lot, their self-titled debut still being wonderful and all if just a tad overrated. The Smiths had decided that they were done before Strangeways was even completed, but apparently it was their most pleasant album to record, says all parties involved. Many of the band's best songs are here such as "Girlfriend in a Coma", the ridiculously hooky "A Rush and a Push and the Land is Ours", "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before", and "Unhappy Birthday".
Outkast virtually needed another sub-genre to describe them by the time that they made Stankonia. Taking another year to record but this time in their own recently purchased ex-Bobby Brown studio which they dubbed Stankonia, Big Boi and André 3000 experimented more than ever. They conducted "vibe sessions" with local musicians, Big Boi spent hours upon hours making beats, and André made his own demos with an acoustic guitar and lyrics he painted the rooms of his house with. Makes sense coming from the guy who went celibate for a year and rocked the shoulder pads. What they came up with for Stankonia the album elevated not only themselves but southern hip-hop in general, representing the most brilliant thing happening in mainstream rap music at the time.
"Safe from Harm" could be the soundtrack to my life, not because of its title or lyrics, but only because I could listen to it on repeat for the rest of my days and never tire of it. Vocalist Shara Nelson actually appears on all of my favorite moments from Massive Attack's genre defining debut album, with "Unfinished Sympathy" being the best trip-hop song of all time most likely. On that note, Blue Lines has been recognized by most as the first trip-hop album; a slowed down form of electronic music written, sampled, and performed by DJs that incorporated both rap and conventional vocals into a concoction of soul and jazz music with ambient sounds. Instantly appealing, everything chills with Tricky and the rest of Massive Attack's rhymes and Horace Andy's shaky vocals proving to be equally as smooth.
Genesis scored their first hit on Selling England By the Pound with "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)", an anthem for anyone who enjoys cutting the grass. Taking a bit longer to compose and record then previous efforts, Genesis Live was released to keep them greedy, "two albums a year" 70s rock fans happy in the meantime. Phil Collins shares his first vocal on the ballad "More Fool Me", Tony Banks shows off ever so much on "Firth of Fifth", and the entire band kicks up the heaviness with "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight". At the very least, this record is on par with its follow-up The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, both proving that Genesis were easily the best English progressive rock band during the genre's heyday.
Originally constructed as a soundtrack for a TV play that never happened, Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) sounds like a concept album at times, with songs weaving in and out of different parts, ("Yes Sir, No Sir", "Mr. Churchill Said"), and others sounding grandly epic, ("Australia", "Shangri-La", "Arthur"). On the other end, tracks like "Drivin'" and "Victoria" sound like they could be nothing but stand-alone singles. "Brainwashed" is the only one that seems closest to the earlier and nosier days of The Kinks, but by this point Ray Davis was truly in his own league with a distinctly British voice, brewing up some of the most influential and conceptually interesting music of the soon-to-be-over-with 1960s.
Midnight Oil broke big with Disel and Dust in 1987, but Earth and Sun and Moon comes close to being their pinnacle. It is the last brilliant album that they would make, though most of this band's stuff is good at the very least. Still taking themselves seriously in the lyric department, musically this is as jovial and exciting as Oil ever sounded. Former Minister and the tallest front-man in rock history Peter Garrett is stretching his limited range more than ever on "Renascence Man", and drummer Rob Hirst is busting out busy fills all over the place. The title track, "Bushfire", and "My Country" are just fantastic rock songs, plus "Truganini", "Into the Valley", and "Outbreak of Love" are some of the hookiest material that this band ever cut.
Reduced to a duo on paper, Queens of the Stone Age cut their second and breakthrough album Rated R with Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri bouncing between most of the instruments and a large crop of guest musicians and background singers, (including Rob Halford of all people). Kicking up their pop tendencies even more since their self-titled debut, Queens are now officially unrecognizable from Kyuss, but this is hardly a bad thing. "Tension Head" is not only the best song here but also the heaviest, showing that there were still some slamming riffs in Homme's arsenal. Every Rated R jam sounds like a hit single though, as "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secrete" and "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" indeed were.
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