Released a year after Nevermind blew the roof off this sucka, Pavement's Slanted and Enchanted hit the alternative market place not so much with a Nirvana-esque bang, but more with a soft chime. A definitive low-fi pop outing, Pavement owed more to The Velvet Underground than anyone. "Summer Babe (Winter Version)" sounds like every Lou Reed song ever written, and "Conduit for Sale!" is a rewrite of the Velvet's "The Murder Mystery". Minimal musicianship, demo-worthy production, simple arrangements, noise, and hardly a powerful rock voice to be heard in main writer Stephen Malkmus who often times talks through his verses, everything works here because all fourteen songs are just fantastic.
Finding a bigger audience in the US than he ever had before, (particularly in California), Morrissey's third solo effort and the only one to be produced by Bowie's ole axe-mate Mick Ronson, Your Arsenal boasted not only a solid batch of songs yet again, but also a musical thematic through-line. Showcasing a rockabilly edge from guitarist Alain Whyte mostly on "You're Gonna Need Someone on Your Side" and the amazing "Certain People I Know", there is also the two acoustics "We'll Let You Know" and "Seasick, Yet Still Docked", plus great singles "You're the One for Me, Fatty", "Tomorrow", and "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful".
Massachusetts hardcore-turned-alt-prog-metal band Cave In made the transformation on their second and brilliant outing Jupiter. For better or worse, they remained restless and adopted more alternative rock stylings on their next few releases before going on hiatus for the last half of the early 2000s, only to reemerge and stay active while hearkening back to their metalcore-ish roots. Yet for one brief time and album, they were onto something exceptional. Praised by numerous publications then and still now, Jupiter is a perfect mesh of heavy and effect-laden guitars, clean vocals, occasional synths, and slamming, primitive drumming. There is an unmistakable post-metal vibe, but the tunes are more melodic and immediate.
Much is made of the fact that 2 Pac was serving a prison sentence at the time that his third record Me Against the World was released and debuted at number one on the charts. Yet the record's legacy hardly ends there. In actuality, Pac's real life legal troubles and self-admitted thug lifestyle did anything to cripple him artistically. It fueled every aspect of his most personal and confessional album at that point, something that he would only continue to explore for the few years remaining in his life. Tracks like "Lord Knows", "It Ain't Easy", "Dear Mama", and the cryptic "If I Die 2Nite" are all self-explanatory, and they only touch the surface of what is here.
Radiohead was one of the bands that I forced myself to be selective with here, as all of their albums since The Bends could have and probably should have made an appearance. Considered by many to be more Radiohead-by-numbers at this point, The King of Limbs is rewarding with only eight tracks at a brisk thirty-seven minutes. A more condensed effort then, "Codex" is easily one of the finest of many, many ballads in their catalog, plus "Bloom" pulls off that amazing trick yet again of having a song that musically should not make any sense, yet sticks in your brain long after you hear it. Such is the way that Radiohead's electronic period rolls.
The Stooges second volume-fest Fun House could be THE album that pointed the direction clear and steady for the punk rock movement. Listening to their self-titled debut, nothing there or anywhere really could have prepared the record buying and concert going public for what transpired with Fun House. Starting off somewhat resembling music, the album gradually morphs into an ear-splitting noise for the sake of noise-fest. Also, it is goddamn awesome. "T.V. Eye" is easily one of the greatest songs with distortion ever conceived of, and "Dirt" is one of the sleaziest and creepiest. Yet once they get to the positively chaotic title track and especially "L.A. Blues", the bets are off.
Featuring as much humor as ever with a joke intro, two brief self-depreciating skits, and a worthy stab at a hit/novelty single with "My Girlfriend's Girlfriend", Type O Negative's October Rust contrasts with the most depressing "Red Water (Christmas Morning)". Tongue-in-cheek gloom was their style, and it is what ultimately makes this a worthy Bloody Kisses follow-up with another outstanding batch of songs. "Green Man", "Be My Druidess", and "Wolf Moon"cover the spectrum of Pete Steel's superb songwriting, from his vampiric pop melodies to his low and slow doom riffage, but it is "Love You to Death" which remains the all time finest song that he ever wrote and as incredible of a love song as anyone has.
From the success of Leviathan, Mastodon digs deeper into their prog/classic rock influences while conducting a proper sequel with their next elemental-based offering Blood Mountain. Just as Leviathan revolved around Moby Dick, Mountain is structured around the concept of climbing a mountain and tripping balls on the way up. Or something. "Crystal Skull" and "The Wolf Is Loose" prove that they were heavier than ever, while "Sleeping Giant" is on an entirely other level; a full-on prog fest with a gorgeous, building, linear intro, spaced-out guitar lines, and clean/harsh vocals mixed with a mid-temp groove that Brann Dailor still cannot stop doing constant drum fills over.
When it comes to anticipation, you need to invent another word to describe what everyone felt with Nirvana's Nevermind follow-up In Utero. Before it all proved too much for Kurt Cobain and his life was no more, they delivered a more challenging yet still satisfying swansong. Cobain felt that Nevermind was too polished for his liking, so he passed on working with Butch Vig again and instead brought in another Midwestener to produce, Steve Albini. Going for, (and achieving), The Pixies' Surfer Rosa drum sound, Utero boasts a forceful batch of material, yet "Heart-Shaped Box", "Serve the Servants", "Rape Me", and "All Apologies" still proved that Cobain could turn such alt-rock aggression into undeniable pop tunes.
Lenny Kravitz' love letter to Cosby kid Lisa Bonet, Mama Said endures as one of the finest break-up albums there is. Dismissing Kravitz as a retro-rocker first and a great pop songsmith second is unfair to a point, even if his lyrics indulge in pedestrian cliches and he wears his influences on his sleeve. His sophomore record here boasts a string of sincere and eclectic pleas to his soon-to-be ex-wife. Just see the soul ballads "Stand By My Woman" and "More Than Anything in This World", the bossa nova "What Goes Around Comes Around", the garage rock of "Stop Draggin' Around", the folky ode to his newborn daughter "Flowers for Zoë", the schmaltzy R&B of "It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over", and of his collaboration with old buddy Slash on the riff monster with horns classic "Always On the Run".
Due in part to Mike Patton's abrasively bonkers Mr. Bungle project recording their debut album in between his first two Faith No More joints, the idea with Angel Dust was to push outside of the box . Sans Jim Martin who was displeased with the new direction and soon bowed out, FNM starting writing from scratch and in this respect, Angel Dust re-invents the band as a more diverse, art-rock flavored beast on top their funk-metal ingredients that are already in place. The Commodores cover "Easy", country-western comedy track "RV", cheerleader choir and pro-semen-swallowing lyrics to "Be Aggressive", as well as an instrumental cover of the Midnight Cowboy theme are examples of wacky shit that they previously would never have attempted.
One incredibly good, one pretty good, and one "I forget it every time I hear it" album under their belts, Opeth got everything brilliant while at once completely defining their then style with Still Life. The debut of Martin Mendez on bass and the second album to feature the other Martin, Martin Lopez on drums solidify the best rhythm section that the band ever had. Fredrik Nordström back as engineer likewise contributes in giving Opeth their best production up until that point. The mostly mellow "Face of Melinda" and closer "White Cluster" come damn close to "Godhead's Lament", but more than any other Opeth album, Still Life arguably has the most solid concept, thematically and musically.
For the MTV generation, there may not be a more perfectly constructed album than Michael Jackson's massive Bad. Counting the add-on single "Leave Me Alone", ten out of eleven jams here had videos made for them, nine of them were singles, and five of them peaked at number one. So yeah, there is a reason that is has sold in the ballpark of 40 million plus copies. Just as they had been with Thriller, Jackson and producer Quincy Jones were still trying to one-up themselves, and though selling more records than Thriller is likely impossible, Bad easily fulfilled expectations. "Smooth Criminal", "Dirty Diana", "Speed Demon", "The Way You Make Me Feel", and "Man In the Mirror" have endured just as much as they did when I was six years old.
Coming in to replace co-founder Tony Kaye, keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman brought in a whole lot more gear, pretentiousness, and of course capes to help Yes kick it into the next level on their fourth album Fragile. With the nifty idea of each band member composing a solo track, (Steve Howe's "Mood for a Day" clearly the victor), Fragile is fleshed out by four other proper songs that have found the opening "Roundabout" going down as probably Yes' signature tune. "Long Distance Runaround", "South Side of the Sky", and "Heart of the Sunrise" also rank as prog-rock classics and equally define Yes' entire virtuistic shtick.
While Method Man, Ol' Dirty Bastard, and Raekwon all worked with RZA to get their post-Enter the 36 Chambers solo debuts out, GZA waited patiently. This was fitting since he was one of two members to already have a major label record pre-Wu-Tang. Once finally unleashed though, Liquid Swords went down as unarguably the finest solo album by any member of the Clan. GZA's vocabulary and philosophical style which borrowed as heavily as ever from kung-fu films, (particularly Legend of the Liquid Sword and Shotgun Assassin), was as sharp as ever, and his collaborations with fellow Tang members "Duel of the Iron Mic", "4th Chamber", and "Shadowboxin'" all deliver nearly as good as the Killah Priest solo "B.I.B.L.E.".
After Blue Lines practically invented trip-hop in 1991, Mezzanine proved that Massive Attack had another masterpiece up their sleeves, becoming their biggest seller to this day. Still featuring samples and Horace Andy's Rastafarian volume knob guest vocals, Mezzanine is a more ambient, at times heavier, and darker beast than Blue Lines or the proceeding Protection. "Angel" and "Teardrop" could be the only two songs on here and this would still probably rank this high. "Dissolved Girl" and "Black Milk" are the two other best and both feature female vocals, (the later and "Teardrop" from Cocteau Twins singer Elizabeth Fraser), which fit the band's music like double bass drumming fits death metal.
Emerging after a seven-year hiatus, Robert Fripp and Bill Bruford returned, but John Wetton decided to keep his King Crimson break permanent, thus Peter Gabriel cohort and session legend Tony Levin stepped in along with Frank Zappa alumni Adrian Belew, whose unorthodox guitar playing was the perfect mirror-image to Fripp's. Belew also handled vocals and sounds like he is doing a David Byrne impression, hardly a bad thing. This and the year it was made has led many to consider Discipline to be King Crimson's answer to new wave, but that is partially misleading. The instrumentals "The Sheltering Sky", the title track, "Thela Hun Ginjeet" and "Matte Kudasai" still represent musicians communicating with their instruments and largely ignoring 4/4 time signatures.
The New York bass-less trio The Yeah Yeah Yeahs threw some stuff from their previous EP Machine into the mix here on their full-length debut Fever to Tell, and it is all uniquely unified by Karen O's punk-heroine squawk and Nick Zinner's colorful guitar and keyboard playing. Many of the songs are wrapped up quickly, and the entire band plays and sounds as if they are trying to blow the roof off of CBGBs, making everything as exciting as it is interesting on paper. "Black Tongue", "Tick", the odd ballads "Maps", "Modern Romance", "Cold Light", and one of the greatest things since sliced bread "Man" all make this essential.
It is crazy now to think that Fleetwood Mac had nine albums out before Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined them. The Mac had been going in the polished, soft-rock direction which they embrace fully here for a few albums, and Christie McVie had been around since 1971's Future Games. Yet with Nicks and Buckingham on board, the hits were ready to fly. Nicks scored with "Rhiannon" and "Landslide", and McVie with "Say That You Love Me", leaving Buckingham to open things up with "Monday Morning" and show off his virtuoso level guitar playing on his McVie co-write "World Turning". Before everybody started fucking and breaking-up with everybody else on gallons of cocaine and then making even BETTER music, they were already winning.
Working for the first time with Rush producer Terry Brown, Fates Warning delivered their strongest outing Parallels. James LaBrie does some noticeable guest vocals on "Life in Still Water" a year before Dream Theater's Images and Words dropped, briefly helping out Fates frontman Ray Alder who scarcely needs such assistance. Everything that Fates does well they do here, with every riff not being in 4/4, Mark Zonder's mega-complex yet always tasteful drumming, and Jim Matheos' technical guitar playing that exists more in the song compositions than in dazzling leads. Take "The Eleventh Hour" as but one fantastic example.
Tod Rowlands and Ed Simons dropped their debut Exit Planet Dust after switching the "Dust" in their name to "Chemical", assumingly not to be confused with the blokes who did the Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique. It is splitting hairs when debating whether this is superior or not to the next and bigger selling Dig Your Own Hole, but I give this the nod if only because my favorite of the duo's song's "One Too Many Mornings" is here. In fact all of the mellower moments on Planet Dust are the best, with "Chico's Groove" and the Beth Orton sung "Alive Alone" just standing-out more than the other excellent big beat jams.
A well-enough respected placement in the Tampa, Florida death metal scene since their formation by Lee Harrison in 1990, the drummer has been dusting Monstrosity off every couple of years for another album and always a new line-up. The constant instability in the band, occasional tough break, (both Corpsegrinder as a founder and Pat O'Brien as a near member were stolen away by the genre's poster boys Cannibal Corpse), and the straight-up nu-metal dominating year that In Dark Purity was released all join forces to make it a terribly underrated offering. I bought it on the strength of hearing "Perpetual War" and "Hymns of Tragedy", but everywhere else, the heaviness likewise abides.
Agalloch were lumped into the usually half-as-interesting American black metal scene due to their excellent debut Pale Folklore having an early Ulver-friendly sound with the addition of Varg-styled screaming. Yet with the follow up full-length The Mantle, no one genre could or should hold them. Most of what transpires here is long acoustic guitar passages and instrumental sections that owe more to the post-metal atmosphere of Godspeed! You Black Emperor, while "I Am the Wooden Doors" is clearly a Norwegian Emperor reference, with the Ulver comparison remaining steadfast. Truth be told, no one in any of those bands had concocted anything as consistently remarkable as this though.
"The Rockin' Chair Album" was Howlin' Wolf's third over all, another semi-compilation that took six earlier singles and lumped them in with six more. Done for the Chess label and written mostly by Willie Dixon, (sans three songs), Howlin' Wolf almost scares the panties off of you with his smoked-out, uncanny roar. Probably the most viciously throated bluesmen of all time, it is the voice here that cannot be denied. Undisputed classics like "Spoonful", "Back Door Man", "Tell Me", "Wang Dang Doodle", "The Red Rooster", and maybe Wolf's best performance ever on "Shake for Me" just scratch at the door of what this man was capable of, all remaining essential renditions.
Few metal albums was I more excited for on release day than Lamb of God's Sacrament. The band had two crushing full-lengths proceeding this, being As the Palaces Burn and Ashes of the Wake. Producer Machine, (who is consistently able to produce some of the greatest drum sounds), was back once again in a more collaborative role than before, and it seems daft that they have not worked with him again as everything arguably peaked here. The songwriting was at its zenith in "Walk with Me in Hell", "Requiem", "Blacken the Cursed Sun", and the motherfucker of all groove metal riffs "Redneck".
Two minor complaints can be made with Yngwie J. Malmsteen's debut album, and the atrocious drum sound, (particularly the snare), is the biggest offender. The other is that Rising Force is almost entirely an instrumental outing and the two songs with serviceable vocals from Jeff Scott Soto are easily the weakest. So with six of them vocal-less, this begs the question "Why bother having singing at all?". All of that nitpicking aside, this remains the finest neo-classical shred album there ever was. "Icarus' Dream Suite Op. 4" and "Evil Eye" would have sealed the deal alone, but the opening of "Black Star" and "Far Beyond the Sun" are simply unparalleled.
Al Green drops the panties like no other on his sixth album Call Me. Green tackles a song each from Hank Williams and Willie Nelson, and the wacky part is he effortlessly makes them his own. Always at his best when delivering his majestic falsetto, Green turning Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" and Willie's "Funny How Time Slips Away" into two of the best soul ballads ever recorded. The title-track here is also impossible not to shower with praise and has gone down as Green's most defining song. His own "Have You Been Making Out O.K." joins his country interpretations as another soft bit of heartache that hits the tender soul spot like nothing else.
Taking their Slayer-worship as far as it could go, Sepultura jumped headlong into groove metal territory with Chaos A.D. The emphasis now turned to primal chunky riffs while Max Cavalera's lyrics remained as politically conscience as ever. Even when the speed is kicked up in "Biotech Is Godzilla", said track is over in less than two-minutes and sounds more of hardcore than Bay Area thrash. "Refuse/Resist", "Territory", "Slave New World", "Nomad", and "Manifest" represent the best material that the band had yet produced. Things would go too far into tribal land with Roots and subsequent albums, but Chaos was the perfect starting point.
Us Kiss nerds can argue on end as to what is the best album, song, member, era, or piece of merchandise from our favorite band. For the later, it is the original pinball machine BTW. With Eddie Kramer behind the dials, Rock and Roll Over is straight hard-rock done by a band still in their prime and playing together sans-session musicians. "Baby Driver" is the only dud here, (as lame a Peter Criss-penned song as there ever was), but Gene Simmons' "Calling Dr. Love" remains a classic. Really though, this is Paul Stanley's mother fucker. "Take Me", "Mr. Speed", "I Want You", "Makin' Love", and "Hard Luck Woman" prove beyond a doubt that the Starchild is one of the best rock songwriters there is.
Much has been said about Eddie Van Halen's emergence on the scene. In just one-minute and forty-two seconds, he completely re-invents rock guitar playing with "Eruption". Dancing around a pentatonic scale for as long as it suited you was no longer solely allowed, so for better or worse, guitar shredding was birthed here. Past that, VH's most famous cover "You Really Got Me", "Runnin' with the Devil", "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love", and "Feel Your Love Tonight" are all present, and it is amazing that comparatively hidden gems like "I'm the One" and "Little Dreamer" may even be superior. "Jaime's Cryin" still sucks though.
This was one of the first East Coast hip-hop albums of any kind that I grew to appreciate since I was proudly shouting "West Si-eeede!" from high school on. Having penned the lyrics in two days and then cutting the album in two weeks, it almost seem like Jay Z is hardly trying here, which makes his flow and rhymes all the more impressive. Of course The Blueprint ended up putting Just Blaze and more so Kanye West on the map as producers, and the sped-up, soul-heavy, and hook-borrowing beats are arguably the best on any album in the last decade and a half. "Takeover" remains my favorite Jay-Z or Kanye moment, turning the Doors "Five to One" into the best diss-fest since 2 Pac's "Hit 'Em Up".
The horror film has no finer soundtrack than the one for Dario Argento's legendary Suspiria. The second collaboration between the Italian Hitchcock and Italian prog outfit Goblin not only complimented its appropriate film better than one could think possible, but it also works fantastically as a stand alone album. I have played this several Halloweens in a row on repeat when trick or treaters are stopping by my house, and it likewise hits the spot whenever you find yourself driving through a desolate and heavily wooded area at night. The title track is as frightening a piece of music as there is, and "Witch" and "Sighs" equally could make you wet the bed if you heard them in the middle of the night, mid snooze.
Delving full-on into piano ballad territory, Nick Cave and the Bad Seed's The Boatman's Call is departure for the band, but a rewarding one. The most personal set of lyrics that Cave had yet penned, Boatman strips it all down without the un-melodic, percussive, and character study gloom made up the Bad Seeds early brand of avant-rock. Recently separated from former fling PJ Harvey, Cave saw that it was high time to get introspective here with the bare-bones depressing "Where Do We Go Now but Nowhere?" and one hell of a love song "Into My Arms", to name but two. The somber, slow, gorgeous music here accompanies his words and near-speaking baritone wonderfully, making one wish they we had a slew of Cave albums like this instead of just this one.
A part of rock legend now, the fuckin' Eagles man's Hotel California was the most expensive record to make at the time and it catapulted the band into possibly the biggest in America. Joe Walsh, (already a successful solo artist and alcohol enthusiast), entered the picture, replacing founding member Bernie Leadon. Much of Hotel Cal has been overplayed on radio stations ever since, including the title track, "Life In the Fast Lane", "New Kid In Town", and "Victim of Love". Thankfully though, these songs are too perfectly constructed to tire of. The album tracks "Wasted Time" and Walsh's "Pretty Maids All in a Row" also reign supreme, and the entire production and the vocal performances throughout are as pristine as rock music gets.
At the turn of the century, no garage rock revivalists were more hyped or critically lauded than The Strokes. Taking all three songs from the band's debut EP The Modern Age, Is This It was their proper full-length, and it easily delivers on the hype. Julian Casablanca's distorted sleepy-time vocals match his New York centered lyrics about drugs, sex, and being awkward. Each song, (performed with balls-tight precession by the band), are as hook-laden as all get out. The title track has one mighty fine bass line, the offensive-at-the-time "New York City Cops" is the funniest, and album tracks "Take It or Leave It" and "Barely Legal" may trump even the hits "Last Night", "Someday", and "Hard to Explain".
Roger Waters was now settled in the leader chair when Pink Floyd made Wish You Were Here. Spending half of the year working on it and always at the helm in the studio, times were tense with the band being exhausted from endlessly touring, being expected to follow up such a momentous recording as Dark Side of the Moon, Nick Mason's marriage falling apart, and virtually all four members at once or always pulling in different directions creatively. Victory was had regardless though, with the two-part Sid Barret ode "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" and the title track remaining legendary recordings.
Always restless, Mile Davis had been growing disillusioned with having the most successful and stable hard bop band of his or anyone's career. After successfully experimenting with modal jazz on Milestones, he decided to dedicate all of the Kind of Blue sessions to it. Featuring the sextet of himself, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb, and Wynton Kelly, the results ended up becoming the biggest selling jazz record of all time. It is hard to think of any jazz music that is as inviting as Kind of Blue. This remains the first logical pick to recommend to anyone who is interested in discovering what the jazz is all about. I wonder how many times I am going to use that Simpsons joke on this list.
Slayer's landmark thrash recording Reign in Blood upped the Satan loving/God hating Bay Area band's impact on the metal world. Rick Rubin's production was a game changer for every band playing heavy music on the planet. Never before did a thrash record sound both so punishing and pristine, even when compared to Slayer's immediately following works South of Heaven and Seasons in the Abyss. Ultimately, none can deny the beyond-classics "Angel of Death" and "Raining Blood" that open and shut the album. Some of the most blazing and brilliant metal then laid down in between, it is all over and leaving you wrecked in twenty-eight minutes and fifty-eight seconds.
Bristol, England's premier trip-hop trio Portishead released one of the finest debut albums in all of electronic music with 1994's Dummy. A hybrid of beauty, with scratchy blues, jazz, hip-hop, and ambient music all swimming together with Beth Gibbons' ethereal vocals floating on top. Along with Björk, Gibbons is easily the best singer that any electronic band has ever had; her vibrato alone nearly unparalleled. This immediately struck me upon hearing Dummy for the first time, but musically, this is mysterious and haunting stuff, at once sounding like you are having a bizarre dream about James Bond movies, ghosts, and dance clubs all at a vinyl listening party.
Following the trailblazing, half-electric Bringing It All Back Home, (amazingly done the same year), Highway 61 Revisited saw Bob Dylan continuing to not look back. Self-aware of his reputation and praise, Dylan welcomed the idea of toying with his listeners with a series of songs that took the direct lyricism of what he had already been turning heads with into more abstract and hazy territory. Not that this was an entirely new concept, just that it was more precedent than ever. "Like A Rolling Stone" remains his most lauded composition, and the title track, "Ballad of a Thin Man", and "Desolation Row" likewise have had entire essays written about them.
Queen's second soundtrack album was infinitely superior to their first Flash, but that is due in part to A Kind of Magic only being a partial-kind-of-soundtrack and not obliged to include brief instrumentals that hardly make any sense outside the context of the film that they are in. Six of the songs here are in Highlander, (be it different versions), and the title of the album itself is lifted straight out of the dialog. The ballads "One Year of Love" and "Who Wants to Live Forever", and the softer rock of "Pain Is So Close to Pleasure", the title track, and "Don't Lose Your Head" balance with "One Vision", "Friends Will Be Friends", "Gimme the Prize (Kurgan's Theme)", and "Princes of the Universe", the latter being Queen's heaviest material in years.
Recorded, mixed, re-mixed, and then re-mixed again decades later all from a band that had broken-up and re-grouped by default in a different country with a different guitar player, the original guitar player switching to bass, and all with David Bowie kicking everyone in the ass to make it happen, (and trying to get Iggy Pop off of heroin), by all conceivable accounts Raw Power is an album that should not even exist. The fact that it does and is also incredible could be a testament to some higher being at work. "Search and Destroy", "Gimme Danger", the title track, and "Penetration" are what all rock music should sound like. Noisy, sweaty, violent, offensively sleazy, and brilliant from front to back.
A mesh of classic rock solos and riffs, Norwegian folk melodies, mellotrons, flutes, screamed, growled, and clean chanted vocals, and blastbeats here or there, Below the Lights continued the foundation laid on Monunension that took Enslaved farther away from their primitive, second wave of black metal roots. Still boasting a more retro-styled sound and production, (particularly with the drums), Lights bettered its still astonishing predecessor by a tighter batch of just seven songs. Openers "As Fire Swept Clean the Earth" and "The Dead Stare" are masterpieces, while "Queen of the Night" starts off sounding like something on Hot Rats and "Havenless" is literally a Viking chant set to distorted guitars.
Continuing from Pretzel Logic with their further use of studio musicians predominantly, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen grabbed a then twenty-year old Jeff Porcaro to handle drum duties on all but one song on Katy Lied. Michael McDonald also makes his first Steely Dan appearance on background vocals, and Rick Derringer provides the axe solo on "Chain Lightning". "Black Friday" became Katy Lied's biggest hit, and "Everyone's Gone to the Movies" shows off the duo's slightly disturbed sense of humor, while the blues is Danned-up in "Daddy Don't Live in That New York City No More" and jazz-fusion likewise is in 'Throw Back the Little Ones".
Ending Mastodon's element structured albums, (which had been going on since their debut Remission), Crack the Skye proved to be their peak. Originally, the band had a crop of metal riffs that they were planning to utilize for their forth full-length when fantastic guitar player/walking douche-nozzle Brent Hinds came in with a bag of classic rock-tinged material that all parties involved immediately considered superior. Mastodon takes the kid gloves off here and dives headfirst into de-tuned prog. "Oblivion" opens things up with 3/4 of the band sharing vocal duties, and "The Last Baron" is without argument one of the finest progressive anything songs ever made and features maybe the best guitar solo of the decade.
Released the same year as Oasis' debut, Blur's Parklife destroyed in England yet never attained the kind of success that their rivals had in the States. I guess Gorillaz made up for that. Damon Albarn began writing a whole slew of songs after the band's second album Modern Life Is Rubbish was wrapped-up, songs that basically act as an encyclopedia of British music in fifty-two minutes. Everything from waltzes, synthpop, punk, new wave, psychedelic folk, and baroque pop are here, and hardly any songs sound like the same influences are in them. Most impressive though is that Parlkife plays best from front to back, with Albarn's super-British vocals and the sharp punchy production keeping everything glued together.
For whatever reason, I can never, ever spell Sarah McLachlan's last name even remotely right without looking it up first. I blame the schools. Released the same year as the first Lilith Fair tour went underway, Surfacing proved to be Mcla...Sarah's major breakthrough, and her gorgeous voice is as exquisite as the songs themselves are. This was long before "Angel" made us all think of that fucking puppy commercial, and it is one of the numerous fantastic ballads to be found here, "Adia", "Do What You Have to Do", "I Love You", "Witness", and "Full of Grace" being the others. "Building a Mystery", "Black and White", and "Sweet Surrender" further help make Surfacing an album with no filler.
The first Opeth release to feature a full-time keyboard player in Per Wiberg and the last that drummer Martin Lopez or co-founder/guitarist Peter Lindgren appeared on, Ghost Reveries was a sort-of era-ending album for the band. Coming off the success yet physical and mental exhaustion experienced by the proceeding Deliverance and Damnation sessions, Mikael Åkerfeldt insisted on having his next batch of material well rehearsed by the time that the studio was booked. Perhaps this along with the more prominent keyboard work as well as the strikingly different drum sound help give Ghosts an edge over their previous work, but the first five songs alone make this arguably Opeth's greatest achievement.
The Dixie Chick's brand of pop country hit its biggest selling peak with Fly, an album that took everything great about Wide Open Spaces and made it more great. It was impossible for several years afterwards to avoid almost all eight of this album's singles, particularly "Goodbye Earl", "Without You", "Ready to Run", and "Cowboy Take Me Away", the later of which became an instant classic and rightfully so. Others such as the bluegrass inspired "Sin Wagon" and one of the other textbook ballads "Cold Day In July" round out the steady batch of highlights, but I would name Patty Griffin's first but not last Dixie Chicks album closer "Let Him Fly" as the finest moment here.
It is ludicrous to think of how much material Elton John and Bernie Taupin were required to pump out in the 1970s. Then to marvel at how good if not great it all was is a whole other thing. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was their seventh full length album in four years, and a double one to boot. It has also endured as their biggest work, boasting five classic rock staples, "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" the best and "Bennie and the Jets" by far the worst. Non-hits "I've Seen That Movie Too", "Jamaica Jerk-Off", "Roy Rodgers", "Harmony", "All the Girls Love Alice", "Sweet Painted Lady", also certainly elevate things. This may not be my favorite John album, but its legacy as such I certainly understand.
No comments:
Post a Comment