Funny how many bands are household names in England but when you mention 'em over here you often get a "you shot who in the what now?". Marillion's third release Misplaced Childhood topped the charts in their native UK and two of it's singles "Lavender" and "Kayleigh" likewise did most excellent. Prog was hardly a top selling commodity by the 80s, but Marillion's shtick to blend the keyboard heavy, pretentiously themed aspects of their music with often very slick pop melodies was a winning combo. Childhood is a concept album that mainman Fish conjured up during a ten-hour acid trip and occasionally you can tell. Which is a good thing btw.
Speaking of band's most successful albums, Toto IV was, (you guessed it), Toto's fourth and the one that sold all the records and won all the awards. Two of the best rock singles bookend it in "Rosanna", (which features one of the finest drum grooves of all time courtesy of the late Jeff Porcaro), and the world music tinged "Africa". No one alive since 1982 has missed either of these and the other single "I Won't Hold You Back" could be one of the decades finest textbook ballads. Toto basically pulled out all the stops with IV, a band made up of overly skilled session musicians that up and decided now was the time to deliver the most commercial album possible.
Recorded and re-recorded numerous times, Noel Gallagher finally gave up, (accompanied by many a Cockney profanity I'm sure), and the record was handed over to engineer Owen Morris to mix something out of. The result Definitely Maybe yielded the "Supersonic", "Shakermaker", and "Live Forever" singles and almost instantaneously made Oasis the biggest band in England. "Columbia" and "Up In the Sky" are two of my favorite Noel compositions and clearly the bloke's beyond-arrogant insistence that his brother's band whom he was the last to join dump all their songs and only play his seemed to be quite the pay-off. Can't argue with an asshole when he's right.
When it comes to straight saxophone shredding, most jazz enthusiasts can separate the music's history into two groups; before Giant Steps and after Giant Steps. This was John Coltrane's fifth album as leader and first for Atlantic, all made up of original material, and all ushering in his "sheets of sound" and "Coltrane changes" into a solo-prioritized form of jazz music. Never before were the leads the main attraction to this extent and Coltrane straight up blazes through arguably the most dazzling saxophone improvisation ever heard before. Every song pretty much sits on top of the "must learn" pile for any aspiring sax-man or woman and sans the Kind of Blue line-uped "Naima", all of them cruise.
Easily the band's most evil sounding, Morbid Angel's Gateways to Annihilation brought Eric Ruttan back, (who was absent on Formulas Fatal to the Flesh), and features Steve Tucker's first lyrical contributions. Trey Azagthoth's leads were still some of the most distinct in all of extreme metal and Pete Sandoval's feet were faster than ever, ( see "Opening the Gates"). Though sadly, the drum sound was also none more triggerd, but the unholy ooze of "At One with Nothing", "Ageless, Still I Am", and the band's best song "Summoning Redemption" more than makes up for that minor blunder.
George Michael's first post-Wham! album Faith was probably guaranteed to be as successful as it was. "Careless Whisper" had been released as a solo Michael jam even though being made as a Wham! one after all. This ended up being the biggest crossover pop album of the decade next to Thriller. It entered the R&B charts at number one which a white boy had never done before, then proceeded to sell over twenty-five million copies. Ah, the days when people bought records. But yes, this is an incredibly solid effort that matched Michael's fantastic voice with his hit-making prowess in the title track, "Father Figure", "Monkey", and "I Want Your Sex", all of which were written, produced, and mostly performed by the man himself.
Led Zeppelin's very-wrongly-considered best album by many I instead rank as their least phenomenal. Not complaining though since it's still here which can only mean so is every other Zeppelin album. It's really just because "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" is the only song in their discography that I'm burnt out on and "You're Time Is Gonna Come" the only other one I never really went gaga for in the first place. But there's nothing "bad" here as the greatest rock band of all time were that great right straight-away. Finished in roughly thirty-six hours, this was pretty much their set list with several borrowed blues tunes, Joni Mitchell lyrics, and Yardbird's staples getting put to stellar use.
Skip past the three and a half minute intro which takes too long to set the tone, and everything else except Puff Daddy trying to ruin "Big Poppa" and "Juicy" on the Notorious B.I.G.'s debut is gangsta rap perfected. I came very late to the game with anything on the Bad Boy label since I do what 2 Pac tells me, but once I finally spun Ready to Die, I was immediately sold. Die is one of those albums that you're always hoping to hear; something that instantaneously becomes a classic on listen one. Biggie truly was in a league of his own as an MC; energetic and smooth as a bitches ass all at once with barely dramatized, multi-rhymed lyrics detailing many an aspect of his real drug dealing past.
Tom Jones wisely decided to work with Ray LaMontagne producer Ethan Johns on a set of stripped down blues and gospel numbers for his thirty-ninth studio album Praise and Blame. Which immediately proved that at the age of seventy, Jones was actually better than he'd ever been with his outstanding baritone losing zero of it's power. Two more Jones/Johns joints followed with Spirit in the Room and Long Lost Suitcase, (neither of which is any less excellent), but I stuck with just the first experiment here. The Dylan cover "What Good Am I?" opens things up very quietly, but the following "Lord Help" tears the roof off as does his John Lee Hooker reworking of "Burning Hell".
The definitive and most triumphant stoner rock/desert metal album there is rightfully belongs to Kyuss in Blues for the Red Sun. Mixed with mighty fine, de-tuned-through-a-bass-amp riffage over both a number of instrumental sections and John Garcia's excellent raspy wail, Blues kicks off with it's two best songs "Thumb" and "Green Machine", the later as headbangy as it gets. "50 Million Year Trip (Downside Up)" and the humorous "Thong Song" also rock and/or roll and "Freedom Run" and "Mondo Generator" kick up the wacked-out, psychedelic influences. Kyuss followed this with Welcome to Sky Valley which utilized three epic "movements" in place of individual tracks, but everything blazes together best on Red Sun.
Our Purple Lord and Savoir was most likely pretentious, (and brilliant), at birth and His fourteenth studio album in about fifteen years had it's title be a made-up thing that combined the female and male gender symbols, at which point Prince promptly change his name to it. Just another day in Minneapolis. Credited to the New Power Generation, the new jack soul influence of the day is present in some of his overall strongest material with "My Name Is Prince", "Sexy MF", and "7" the most popular and then there's other sexed-out tracks like "I Wanna Melt with U", "Blue Light", "The Max", and "Love 2 the 9's". Prince was rarely this consistent/horny over these many minutes.
Every track on Mingus Ah Um is styled after something specific with songs like "Open Letter to Duke" clearly referencing Duke Ellington, "Jelly Roll" Jelly Roll Morton, and "Bird Calls", well, was supposed to sound like birds calling. Scorching opener "Better Git It In Your Soul" sounds like a gospel sing-song session with hootin' and holla-in' clearly audible in the background and "Boogie Stop Shuffle" sounds like exactly what it is, a twelve-bar, toe-tapping shuffle. Few jazz albums of any kind are this immediately inviting and the performances are as tight as you're likely to find in the post-bop era. Charles Mingus has almost as many essential recordings as Mile Davis so start but don't finish here.
The Beastie Boys were continuing to stay restless with their third full-length Check Your Head. Taking three years since Paul's Boutique to plan their next move, they decided to ditch the samples-only approach which in all honestly couldn't be bettered, instead picking back up their instruments from their old punk days and jamming through many instrumentals of funk, lounge, punk, and scratching. The Beastie's would explore this direction further on the similar Ill Communication, but their first jab at it boasted a consistent album with no shortage of standouts like "Pass the Mic", "Gratitude", "So What'cha Want", "Finger Lickin' Good", "Somethings Got to Give", and "In 3's".
Rock radio is still puke-inducingly a thing, ergo I shall probably never again own or listen to Back In Black. Take a step back a year trhough to Bon Scott's swan song Highway to Hell and we have ourselves a winner. Most of the Bon-era is quality with Let There Be Rock and the live If You Want Blood You've Got It probably the most essential. But bringing Mutt Lang in to helm the dials on Highway chunked up their sound enough to make it stand out. That along with the all time greatest AC/DC song "Beating Around the Bush". Especially there and elsewhere, the band is as sleazy and pun-armed as ever, Bon Scott proving in his final moments how truly great of a singer he was armed with an awful voice.
Embracing shorter, new wave-styled arrangements, Permanent Waves marked a turning point for Rush. This ended up being a good thing as the band wisely predicted their brand of bombastic prog-rock not making it through the decade they were entering and always up for a challenge, decided to see what they could do in a more commercial framework. Success was had as Waves remains one of their most well regarded with both "Free Will" and "The Spirit of Radio" still very much around. Rush wasn't quite done with the multi-part epic as the closing "Natural Science" proves, but it was more apparent in the sound of Waves itself that they were embracing a new era.
The Clash's debut was botched in America as five songs were omitted from the UK version and replaced by six, including the re-recorded "White Riot". It was also put out AFTER Give 'Em Enough Rope, thus confusingly becoming their sophomore effort in the States. Done for four thousand pounds over three weekends in Feb of '77, The Clash runs the gamut of politically charged, British punk rock. Their cover of Junior Murvin's "Police & Thieves" showcases their reggae influence which they'd explore much more later on and so much good is also here with "London's Burning", "Career Opportunities", "Jail Guitar Doors", and "I'm So Bored with the U.S.A.".
Even though South of Heaven is comparatively considered Slayer's more groove-oriented Reign In Blood follow up, thrashy thrash is very much still the name of the beast, with closer "Spill the Blood" and the title track the only ones that really kick the tempo down some notches. This boasts as many stellar songs as the "we can't play this album fast enough" Reign with "Silent Scream", "Behind the Crooked Cross", "Live Dead", and "Cleanse the Soul" all considered Slayer classics. And thankfully Kerry King wasn't allowed to write any of them by himself, Jeff Hanneman running the show as he naturally should.
Let's Face It pretty much acts as a greatest hits for all of us who went to Jr. High or High School in the late 90's and being the album that broke the Bosstones to the mainstream, there were certainly expectations to meet for the follow up. Pay Attention came three years later and the single "So Sad to Say" certainly made good on these expectations. More surprising though was just how much better of an album this was. "All Things Considered", "The Skeleton Song", and "She Just Happened" show up early and are all fantastic, but it's the final moment "The Day He Didn't Die" that anyone could say is their best song and they'd get a very approving nod and a thumbs up from I.
Billion Dollar Babies was the Alice Cooper band's most successful release to date, going number uno both sides of the Atlantic and prompting their most gargantuan tour; a live masterpiece that kicked up the theatrics more than ever. It ended up being the straw that broke the camel's back as everyone but Mr. Furnier wanted to scale back the live show and enough alcohol was being consumed amongst the band members to kill half of Keith Richards. But before it all tumbled, "Elected", "Sick Things", "I Love the Dead", the title track, "Generation Landslide", and "Hello Hooray" gloriously clutter up Babies.
Minstrel-prog of the highest quality, Gentle Giant had switched drummers on their forth album Octopus and their sound was overall less funky then the following In a Glass House, and less heavy than Acquiring the Taste or Three Friends which proceeded it. The emphasis on shorter songs and especially the multi-layered, uniquely start-stopped harmonized vocals took center stage though, impossible to miss on "Knots" which opens a capella. This is followed by the instrumental "The Boys in the Band" in which all six Giants, (each of whom plays a multitude of instruments), get's to bust out their chops. It's a glorious piece and one that any progressive anything fan can appreciate, as is the entirety of Octopus.
Ditching their early, fusiony sound and bringing in Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker was certainly a good move, but the other, far more important one in hiring Alien Project vocalist Steve Perry to join was quite literally the most successful thing Journey could've done. Few rock vocalist are on Perry's level and with his input plus a deliberate shift in songwriting to accommodate it, Infinity blew up all over everyone's faces. "Lights" remains arguably their best song, "Wheel In the Sky" and "Anytime" still get spun daily on the radio, and you can play this album on random and always hit a beyond solid arena rock excursion.
As one of the leading acts in the late 80s Manchester scene that also bore us the Smiths, the Stone Roses didn't get their first, relatively ignored at the time, self-titled debut out till the end of the decade. But a direct link can be made from virtually every British guitar-pop band since from the Stone Roses self-titled debut. The jangle pop of The Stone Roses has endured quite well, with layered guitars, a strong melodic sense, psychedelic flourishes, occasional dance beats, and tongue-in-cheek arrogance in the song titles, (like the brilliant "I Wanna Be Adored" and "I Am the Resurrection") all thrown into a post-punk stew.
It's hard to argue that alongside GZA's Liquid Swords, the very best Wu-Tang Clan solo joint is the Chef Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. Boasting an appearance by Nas on "Verbal Intercourse" as well as every other Wu member elsewhere, the words "son" and "god" are tossed around like adjectives on the Clan-featured "Criminology", "Guillotine", and "Ice Cream" as well as the Rae-solo spots "Knowledge God" and "Incarcerated Scarfaces". A hip-hop release that defined the mafiaso sub-genre, (which cinematically exaggerated and glorified the drug-dealing, Scarface-styled gangster lifestyle), Linx was and remains untoppable
It's hard not to fall for the Pretenders eponymous debut right from the get-go on "Precious", with Chrissie Hynde's confident and sexy vocal almost intimidating you into welcoming it. "Space Invaders", "The Wait", and "Tattooed Love Boys" are three more of the heftier highlights, while the Kinks cover "Stop Your Sobbing", mega-hit "Brass In Pocket", and the old-school Beatlesy "Kid" show off the pop-chops. Hynde wrote nearly everything here on her lonesome and understandably became the face of the band, but the late James Honeyman-Scott's excellent guitar playing is also lurking underneath. Chris Thompson's production is classy and caters mostly to the band's pop-hooks without letting anything get close to messy.
The Monkees were the first concert I ever saw when I was seven years old and that along with re-runs of the ridiculous TV show have always made me a fan. Originally having their music supervised by Don Kirshner, the Monkees themselves hardly had a thing creatively to do with their first album besides singing on it and Mike Nesmith writing two songs. But the songwriting duo of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, plus some others, (including Carol King), brought some of the best pop music of the decade here with "Last Train to Clarksville", "Saturdays Child", "Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day", "Take A Giant Step", and the hilarious "Gonna Buy Me a Dog".
Steely Dan's more funky, guitar-driven fifth album The Royal Scam came to be a year before their highwater mark Aja. By now, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen were way into their comfort zone with utilizing studio musicians to perform their music under the Steely Dan banner, with soon-to-be-Eagles member Timothy B. Schmit and Michael McDonald two of the many background vocalists and Bernard Purdie and Rick Marotta handling the drums. The lead guitars were shared by five different players including Becker who was still on bass as well. "Kid Charlemagne" and Scam's very best track "The Fez" are the most funky in the Steely Dan catalog and the most chilling mood belongs to the closing title track.
There might not be a better non-Physical Graffiti album full of outtakes on earth besides the Rolling Stones' Tattoo You. Looking to have a new release to back for an upcoming tour, they went the easy route and dusted off some unused stuff from the previous decade to work on. Quite amazingly, two enormous hits were sitting in the vaults in the form of "Waiting on a Friend" which dated all the way back to 1972's Goat's Head Soup and "Start Me Up" which was originally a reggae tune fucked about during the Some Girls sessions. My pic for both Tattoo's best song and probably Charlie Watt's finest drum performance is "Slave" which was birthed during the making of Black and Blue.
Utilizing outside writers on all but two songs and transmuting a bit of the disco flavor of Dynasty for a glossy, pop one, Vini Poncia once again produced Kiss in their continuing quest to sell more records and stay kid friendly. Many Kiss and rock fans in general write off this period in Kisstory as a mishandled embarrassment since Kiss barely if at all resembled their original, hard-rocking form, but the point that's missing here is that good music doesn't have to fit anyone's idea of what a band is SUPPOSED to sound like. Pop Kiss is still awesome Kiss says me. One of Gene Simmon's best in the form of "Naked City" and one of Paul's with "Shandi" are here as well as three Ace Frehley cuts that prove superior to his same amount on Dynasty.
A good lot of Ray LaMontagne's debut Trouble has been exposed in films and TV shows, but I don't watch TV and only watch horror movies so naturally I was quite ignorant to this ridiculously gifted vocalist for quite some time until both my ex-wife and current bandmate brought him to my attention. As it stands, said band of mine covers three songs on here, (plus a few other Ray jams), the title track, "Hold You in My Arms", and "Burn" all the best moments along with "Jolene", "All the Wild Horses", and "How Come". LaMontagne borrows more than just song-titles from his influences as his overall sound evokes common comparisons to Van Morrison and Joe Cocker, only even surprisingly better vocally.
I do enjoy the following and final Sammy Hagar-fronted Balance quite a bit, but it is rather hard to deny that Van Halen's dirty word album is the best of their second era and far more solid than 5150 and their other juveniley titled OU812. "Right Now" became a beast of a song and made the band as much if not more relevant than ever. And indeed, tis a fantastic bit of piano-riffed shred-rock. Elsewhere though on F.U.C.K., two more singles "Poundcake" and "Top of the World" are here as well as arguably Eddie's greatest riff in "Man on a Mission", the band's best instrumental with "316", and my favorite Michael Anthony-backed Van Halen chorus in "The Dream Is Over".
Lou Reed's final non-collaboration record Ecstasy was his first of the new millennium and acts as the then fifty-eight year old's musings on marriage and the routine of settling down. The only thing keeping it from being my pic as the best solo outing he ever made is the eighteen minute "Like a Possum" which falls into the sometimes common Reed category of "Uh...I don't get it". Literally every other song is fantastic, ("Paranoia Key of E", the title track, "Mad", "Tatters", "White Prism", and possibly my favorite non-Velvets Reed composition "Modern Dance"), and they all boast the best musicianship and production of the songwriter's career.
"War Pigs" is the ultimate metal karaoke jam, (for better or worse), "Hand of Doom" and very much "Electric Funeral" single-handedly invented doom metal, "Ferries Wear Boots" pokes fun at skinheads, "Rat Salad" features a brief, surprisingly competent drum solo from Bill Ward, and "Iron Man" and the title track we're all terribly sick of. Most other Black Sabbath albums in the original, Ozzy-led era were bogged down by sub-par production and so-so drumming and in the case of the band's debut, far too much pointless wanking from Tony Iommi, but Paranoid offers up a near-stellar example of everything coming up Millhouse for the band.
Certified genius Tom Scholz was working at Polaroid with a masters degree when he began making demos with soaringly-voiced singer Brad Delp in the early 70s, trying to score a record deal the whole time. After Epic finally took the bait, the resulting self-titled debut instantaneously became one of the greatest, most polished and sophisticated stadium-rock albums ever made. Listening to it now, everyone in the world knows every song on it. This could make for one of the most overly-played albums alive, but 'tis not the case as these songs are so goddamn good that getting burnt out on "More Than a Feeling", "Smokin'", and "Foreplay/Long Time" is virtually impossible.
Diverse and otherworldly right out of her tenure with her previous, good-luck-pronouncing-band Björk Guðmundsdóttir & tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar, the world's most eccentric Icelandic songbird Björk struck gold with her debut Debut. The arrangement to "There's More to Life than This" immediately impresses with it's "sneak off to this island" part and amazingly it sits right at home with the harpsichord ballad "Like Someone In Love", the odd hit "Human Behavior", the horn/vocal duet "The Anchor Song", and the other club-fueled moments like "Big Time Sensuality", "Crying", and "Violently Happy". Björk's incredible voice remains the star here, but the consistently interesting and great songs themselves nearly take the prize.
"Chop Suey" made me a System of a Down fan at a time in my life where I had previously and wrongly written them off as nu-metal crappola. A band made up of four coincidentally Armenian musicians who had a songwriter in Daron Malakian who liked to essentially write pop songs with drop-tuned, heavy as balls guitars and occasionally obnoxious screaming, System was a politically-minded, eccentric lot with a sharp and absurd sense of humor clearly in place. How else can you explain "Bounce" and "Prison Song" both on the same album and both equally as funny? Mezmerize/Hypnotize succeeds too, but all of this band's very uniquely ingredients meshed most good on Toxicity.
Left idea-less after several experimental outings, Pink Floyd's Meddle was recorded throughout the better part of the year, with real results not showing up till almost the end of the process. The defining, side-long track "Echoes" itself took six months to complete and begat life simply because the band liked the way one note on Richard Wright's piano sounded like a submarine through a Leslie speaker. Twas the days of near limitless studio experimentation being paid for by record labels and this afforded Floyd the time to give Meddle more coherent ideas in song-form than ever before with soft, acoustic numbers, some chamber music jazz, dog-vocalled blues, and the usual spaced-out instrumental jams all joining forces.
In rock and roll lore, there's few odder tales than the increasingly disturbing behavior and literal disappearance of the Manic Street Preachers former lyricist/guitarist Richy Edwards off the face of the earth. Never heard or seen from again once his car was found abandoned in Feb of '95, Everything Must Go is the first album his former mates ever made without him. Utilizing some of his leftover lyrics, the Preachers crafted a more lush, heavy, and focused batch of songs with James Dean Bradfield's terribly enunciated vocals as impossible to understand as ever. And it all concludes with their finest, "No Surface All Feeling".
After taking control of their own recording output and proving that they were a real band on their third album Headquarters, (which featured all four Monkees' instrumentation on every track), it was back to session musicians on the follow-up Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, & Jones Ltd. Mike Nesmith is the most featured vocalist with "The Door into Summer", "Love Is Only Sleeping", and "What Am I Doing Hangin' Round?" ranking as three of the best songs he ever performed. Harry Nilsson's "Cuddly Toy" and "Star Collector" are highlights for Davey Jones and the hit "Pleasant Valley Sunday" ranks as Dolenz's best moment here.
The first Queen album to be made after they had decided to stop touring due to Freddie Mercury's still un-publicized AIDS diagnosis, The Miracle was also the first to credit every track to the band as a whole and not to the individual songwriter. At times this sounds like a far superior version of Hot Space, with "Party", "The Invisible Man", "Rain Must Fall", "My Baby Does Me", and "Breakthru" still showing off the dance element that had dominated that album. But "I Want It All" and "Was It All Worth It" are as heavy if not more so than the band ever was, Roger Taylor still succeeding in having one of the most enormous drum sounds in all of rock music.
Bettering the production, vocals, and songwriting from Spreading the Disease, Among the Living ended up being the album that put Anthrax in the running for one of the best thrash bands of all time. The opening title track, "I Am the Law", and "Caught In A Mosh" are undisputed classics, the later probably their signature song still. And "Indians" had the biggest circle pit I ever saw live, nothing like the unlawful treatment of Native Americans to get the metalhead blood flowing. The legend Eddie Kramer was on hand to produce and the sound he got far surpassed anything Metallica or Megadeth to name but two others in the Big Four were churning out during the same period.
Elvis Costello's last record of the seventies and third straight masterpiece Armed Forces was also the first to credit the Attractions on the cover. Nick Lowe was still producing and his own "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" became an official add-on after it succeeded as a b-side when originally released. With lyrics more confrontational than ever, ("Three Little Hitlers", "Oliver's Army"), there's fewer individual stand-outs here than on either My Aim Is True or This Years Model, but arguably more of a consistent feel as none of the material here goes into filler territory in the least.
Domination has some of David Vincent's most daft lyrics, ("Cesar's Palace" and "Where the Slime Live" are often head-scratching), but "Dominate", the aforementioned "Slime", and "Eyes to See, Ears to Hear" are very hard to top. The instrumental tracks are still a waste of time, but "Hatework" is a splendidly evil moment with bells, keyboards, and marching drums used most disturbingly. Angel's previous Covenant was nearly as solid and the following studio album Formulas Fatal to the Flesh far more bizarrely satisfying than anything else, but a peak was made with Domination that if the letter I is any indication, the band is fathoms away from every coming close to again.
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill notwithstanding, little else followed-through on the rather astonishingly promise heard on the Fugees The Score. Granted the most enduring and best moments on the album are either straight up covers ("Killing Me Softly", "No Woman No Cry"), or take their melodies and choruses directly from earlier soul hits, ("Ready or Not", "Fu-Gee-La"), but the alternative hip-hop template, Wyclef Jean's Rastafarian flow, (yes, I know he's Haitian), and of course Hill's incredible voice form a very cohesive unit. All three Fugees are quite gifted MCs even if it's obvious then and now that Hill would become the breakout star.
Kicking-off this album and doubling as the first Mastodon anything I ever heard is "Blood and Thunder" which even though I didn't get it on first listen for whatever reason, still remains their best song. Of course Neil Fallon on guest vocals certainly doesn't hurt anyone. But for the duration of the band's loosely-themed Moby Dick opus Leviathan, no fumbles are made with blazing riffs, classic rock solos, noisy vocals, and the busiest drumming ever heard on a metal record all battling it out splendidly. And the epic "Hearts Alive" closes this set with their most glorious riff hammered home for over three and half minutes.
Kicked-off by one of the most definitive Dylan covers of all time in the title track, three more Robert Zimmerman authored tracks are on the Byrds' debut Mr. Tambourine Man as well, "All I Really Want to Do", "Chimes of Freedom", and "Spanish Harlem Incident". The fact that they make these their own on their very first album is most impressive and it's mostly due to Roger/Jim McGuinn's unmistakable 12-string and he, Gene Clarke, and David Crosby's joyous three-part harmonies. Far as the few originals go, "It's No Use" and "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better" could even be Tambourine Man's best tracks, showcasing Clarke's own more than up-to-par songwriting.
The Glenn Danzig Quartet's best work is their third full-length which saw the dark blues melding with more sinister melodies and beauty while maintaining a sound that was heavier than ever. "How the Gods Kill" is difficult to debate as to being the best song Glenn Danzig ever wrote. Even when my Ma would obnoxiously tell me and my brother "this sucks" after most of the metal we played her, SHE even said this song was excellent. The self-production was still ever improving as well. "Sistinas"is the other ballad-esque moment, "Godless" opens III on the slowest, most ominous note, and "Dirty Black Summer" and the vocal of Glenn's career "Heart of the Devil" are more typical Danzig.
Queen's swan song Innuendo came out nine months before Freddie Mercury's death and was a very triumphant record to go out on. More heavy, rock driven, and consistent than The Miracle, vocally, you'd never know Freddie was on the brink of dying as his four octave range here is as incredible as ever. The power he displays in "The Show Must Go On" alone is extraordinary. One of the absolute best Queen ballads of all time is here with "These Are the Days of Our Lives", a simple Roger Taylor penned lyric about growing old that's given even more somber depth by Mercury's vocal and Steve Howe guests with some flamenco shredding on the title track.
The UK seemed briefly in the late 90s to be a focal point for electronica; a genre seemingly making a genuine stab as the most popular there was. It ended up being just a fad more or less, but plenty of stellar recordings came out of the period, this and the Chemical Brother's Exit Planet Dust near chief among them. Faster and more intense in comparison to the duo's said debut, Noel Gallagher guests and supplies his own lyrics and melody to "Setting Sun" and Beth Orton once again lends her pipes as well to Hole's ultimate highlight "Where Do I Begin". "Block Rockin' Beats" is the definitive big beat song and may be the most perfect opening track for any electronica album.
Stepping further away from the blues-with-a-flute rock of their debut This Was, by the third Benefit, Jethro Tull was pushing ever closer to the prog territory they'd enter officially with their masterpiece and follow up Aqualung. Benefit benefits from "For Michael Collins, Jeffery, and Me" which is Tull at their mellow best, "Play In Time" still having a bit of the blues left in it, the minstrel folk of "With You there to Help Me" and "Sossity You're A Woman", the complex "To Cry You a Song", "Inside" the song you'd most likely recognize, and "Nothing to Say" and "Son" being the hardest hitting. Plenty of great stuff to go around and Jethro Tull was really just warming up.
John Forgerty a song-writing colossus and CCR virtually eliminated the long jam sessions of their first two releases for a time, they instead delivered nine, single-ready classics on Green River. "Commotion", "Lodi", "Bad Moon Rising", and the title track would be those singles, the later of which I'd put at the top. Far as the others, "Tombstone Shadow" plays the swamped out blues CCR were getting known for, "Wrote a Song for Everyone" could be the best non-hit single ballad Fogerty ever wrote, and the Nappy Brown cover "The Night Time Is the Right Time" is not only the catchiest jam here but also the finest vocal to boot.
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