There is often a rousing debate among Wu-Tang fans as to which of the solo albums were the best. Some would point to Raekwon’s Only Built for Cuban Linx, or one of Ghostface Killah’s many contenders, possibly even ODB’s Return to the 36 Chambers. For me there was never any debate, Liquid Swords is hands down the best of the bunch and it’s only fitting considering he was the most established of all the Wu-Tang MC’s. This album naturally begins with more kung fu samples, specifically Shogun Assassin, and it helps set the dark and ominous tone for the album. Every Wu-Tang member makes an appearance, and the entire thing is produced by RZA, making it feel like a fitting successor to the 36 Chambers. GZA, or The Genius as he still went by then was probably the groups best lyricist and he goes far beyond simple gangster or kung fu rhyming, even if the best track on the album, “B.I.B.L.E. (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth)” surprisingly enough is the only song not featuring GZA.
The final Genesis album with Peter Gabriel was the third consecutive masterpiece from the band. It was a concept album (of course) about a Puerto Rican hustler in New York, or so I’m told, I’ve never had a single solitary clue what the hell anything was about. The first half of the album is much more dedicated to harder rocking and shorter songs. There is a glimpse into what the future of Genesis and Peter Gabriel would hold here, and this was the first time they even came close to having single material. “In the Cage”, “Carpet Crawlers”, and my personal favorite “Counting Out Time” are still a bit odd, but they sound like Ramones songs compared to some of the arrangements on Foxtrot and Selling England. The second disc is much more atmospheric and predominantly instrumental, giving a very comprehensive guide to what made this band so great.
This might seem like a cheat to put these two albums together, but they were recorded together and released on the same day, so it’s not my fault they decided to sell them separately. After the incredible success of Appetite for Destruction and the tease that was Lies, it seemed only fitting that their official follow up would be an overly long ultra-ambitious double album. Considering how little there actually is of the classic G’n’R, it makes these albums all the more essential. I’ll admit not every song is a winner, but the good songs are among the finest things in rock history. “Civil War”, “Estranged”, “Don’t Cry”, and of course “November Rain” are probably better than anything on Appetite in my opinion. In fact the end of “November Rain” is probably the single greatest thing ever recorded, with “White Walls” being the possible exception.
There’s good Maiden, and then there’s really good Maiden. Powerslave most definitely falls into the second category. “Aces High” remains the best opener Maiden ever had and it perfectly sets the tone for the rest of the album. Murray and Smith are in perfect synchronicity here, as their harmonies are never better. “Losfer Words (Big ‘Orra)” is one of their few genuine instrumentals, and it most certainly does not disappoint. “Back in the Village” and “Flash of the Blade” feature two of their classic riffs, and well it goes on like that. For many this is the crowning achievement for Maiden, the definitive lineup at their peak. It’s hard to argue, considering this is everything you could ever want from a Maiden album.
Acid Tongue was Jenny Lewis’ second solo album and she seems to have really hit her stride here. She seems to effortlessly find her voice in 70s west coast rock. Starting the album with a ballad, “Black Sand” helps to set up this album beautifully. She crafts an epic on "The Next Messiah", ends “Jack Killed Mom” with something resembling a jacked up hoe-down, and seems to succeed wildly at everything she tries. Lewis could definitely be described as a traditionalist, but she seems to have miraculously improved upon everything that made Rabbit Fur Coat great while ditching it’s few flaws.
Michael Jackson had been popular for damn near a decade when Off the Wall came out, but this is the album that helped push him into the land of superstars. The album is unapologetically steeped in disco, but Jackson isn’t afraid to get into some seriously syrupy ballads, or bring the funk. “Get on the Floor” has some of the most infectious slap bass on record. That and “Burn This Disco Out” are probably the hardest songs and are absolutely infectious. This was a tremendous breakthrough, that let the world know quite assuredly that Michael was a performer to be reckoned with, something that occasionally got lost along the way in his circus side show life.
The first Rage album was a powerful call to arms in the music world. This band didn’t sing about problems, they advocated people just taking things over. Tom Morello established himself as one of the decade’s most innovative, if not the most innovative guitar players. His solos range from “how the hell did he make that sound”, to “how the hell can he shred like that” sometimes even within the same song, like “Know Your Enemy”. Rage managed to release two very good albums after this, but nothing could quite match the power and immediacy of “Bombtrack”, “Killing in the Name”, “Take the Power Back”, “Freedom”, or “Bullet in the Head”. The last of which features one all time great riff following a perfect buildup.
Everyone who isn’t a member of Radiohead loves the song “Creep”, but the people who purchased their debut album quickly realized that the rest of their album couldn’t measure up. Just as these guys were getting ready to be thrown into the garbage heap with countless other mid-90s alternative bands they dropped this album. “Just” turned out to be a big hit and it wasn’t long before “High and Dry”, “Fake Plastic Trees”, and “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” joined it in immortality. This was the closest thing Radiohead would make to a guitar driven masterpiece, specifically three guitars in this case. They conquered all there was to conquer in alt-rock right here. The crazy thing was of course they were just getting started.
The Pixies first album is a wonderfully brilliant, charming, and delightful mess of an album. Several songs seem like just sketches with noise, but once in awhile like on “Gigantic” or “Where is My Mind?” they turn in a classic for the ages. This album raised the bar for alternative music and put Pixies at the top of the college rock heap. Steve Albini produced the album which helped give some of it’s heavier and noisier moments a little extra menace. Doolittle might be a superior collection of songs, but it’s hard to argue that this isn’t collectively a little more enjoyable.
The Doors found a way to make their own way in music without sounding like anyone else, but also avoiding a lot of boring wankery that plagued a lot of the other bands that followed in their wake. I’ve had many a drunk conversation with Doors fans over whether or not this is their best album, and for the record I most certainly think it is. Anyone who isn’t a fan of “The End” I highly recommend getting some medical grade THC and watching Apocalypse Now. As for the rest of the album, this is the band at their most focused, unique, and vital. I could probably listen to “The Crystal Ship” on repeat for the rest of my days and be a happy man. Even their obligatory blues cover “Back Door Man” is so endearingly made their own that you can’t help but be taken in by everything Morrison, Kreiger, Manzarek, and Densmore were laying down.
There were no shortage of great punk albums made in 1977, and more still that got lumped into the same category by a loose association, but the be all and end all definitive punk album is, was, and forever will be the Sex Pistols’ debut. This was the original band that simply gave no fucks whatsoever. They intentionally tried to piss off everyone they could including each other, label execs, TV show hosts, British royalty, and their own manager. They were created to be provocative and push buttons but the monster grew out of control and imploded on itself shortly after their one triumphant shake up of the rock establishment. This one album carried more weight than the majority of artists entire careers. They were the poster children of the punk movement and delivered it in a chaotic, energetic, snarling, and abrasive manner.
It’s a cosmic understatement to have said The Beatles were on a roll in in 1965. They made their second, and in my opinion superior film Help!, which led to this album, their first of two undeniable masterpieces that year. Although Help! definitely saw the band evolving and pointed towards their future sounds, it was in a lot of ways their final Beatle-mania album. There were still a few covers, including a surprisingly wonderful rendition of Buck Owens’ “Act Naturally”, but their originals were in another class altogether. “Yesterday” might have been their biggest hit, but it isn’t even my favorite McCartney song on the album, a title I’d gladly hand to “I’ve Just Seen a Face”. George Harrison finally got on the board as a competent songwriter with “I Need You”, and Lennon was freely pushing the band into more folk rock territory. It’s not as front to back consistent as their next several albums, but Help was a tremendous leap forward for the guys.
The greatest band of all time didn’t waste any time making their claim for that throne. A much heavier and grandiose album than many of their successors, Queen’s debut is a revelation for anyone who only knows the band via greatest hits collections. Even their first single “Keep Yourself Alive” demonstrated how advanced Brian May’s concept of harmony was, but May’s finest hour is most likely “Great King Rat” where he officially joins the ranks of guitar immortality. There is a rawness to this album in the production that’s brilliantly juxtaposed with the progressive songs of ever shifting dynamics. I’m forever incapable of saying enough good things about this album or this band.
When you mention Blur in the US someone inevitably screams “Whoo-hoo” and we all hearken back to when “Song 2” was a hit. 1994’s Parklife however was their major iconic music statement. In the span of a surprisingly brisk 16 songs Blur runs the gamut of nearly a half-century of popular British music. They tackle dance pop, new wave, punk and music hall. There are some killer melodies on here, and the title track became something of an anthem in the UK. It might seem a bit pretentious, but they seem perfectly suited to do nearly any style of music and it shows on the record. They might not match the grandiose posturing of Suede, but it’s the brevity of the songs that helps to salvage the record. This album delivers exactly what it needs in exactly the right doses, a superb balancing act.
The last time I got around to making a top 100 album list, this was my representative from Mates of State. I’d wager to say there is no band in the last decade I’ve listened to more, so I’ve often flip-flopped on my personal favorite. The deciding factor for me was “Ten Years Later” and “Halves and Have-Nots” which brilliantly sum up everything I loved about this band better than words could. Kori and Jason still seem to be singing completely different songs on top of each other and there’s basically no band beyond the two of them at this point. This was a couple that was also a couple falling rapidly in love with each other and that is definitely reflected in the music.
For those people who clamor for more Smiths albums should do themselves a favor and investigate Morrissey the solo artist. Your Arsenal is certainly growing on me, but my favorite album from Morrissey is still Vauxhall and I. It contains damn near my favorite song he ever wrote (including Smiths), which of course is “The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get”. The rest of the album is nearly as amazing, particularly the opener “Now My Heart is Full”. Morrissey never lost any of his bitter touch and lyrically hasn’t dropped a bit. More than a few critics considered this to be his closest solo album to a Smiths record, and I’m not going to argue. Probably why I always liked it so damn much.
Rumours is the sound of dysfunction, filtered through cocaine, and mixed with some of the best songwriting of the decade. Perhaps only Hotel California captures rock music better in the mid-late 70s. This album was born in dysfunction but miraculously was a triumph musically and commercially. It sounds like a greatest hits album and nearly every song has become a classic. “Second Hand News” is perhaps my favorite Buckingham song and that’s arguably the least known track on the album. “The Chain”, “Go Your Own Way”, “You Make Loving Fun”, “Dreams”, and “Gold Dust Woman” are the rare overplayed radio hits that still sound great each and every time you listen to them.
Another in the long list of artists who made their debuts in 1977, Elvis Costello would never sound as primitive. This was before he hooked up with his regular backing band The Attractions. He had the energy of the punk artists but the music was decidedly more accessible and diverse. Costello loved ballads, reggae, and country music and it all comes together in a brilliant debut which would get lumped into the punk/new wave category somewhat unfairly. Along the way Costello showed that he might be the best lyricist since Dylan, and he followed up that initial promise with no less than five other masterpieces. Later Costello would have a slicker sound and a little more polish and production values, but wouldn’t quite have the urgency of this debut, which contains some of the best songs he or anyone else would ever write.
The Native Tongue family took hip hop from break dancing and rapping about who the best MC was and added a social consciousness to it. That doesn’t mean all the songs these artists recorded were overtly political or social, but they opened the door to rap about something more, and actually have a message. I’m not exaggerating when I say A Tribe Called Quest were the brightest stars of this collective that included Black Sheep, Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, and Afrika Bambaataa. With that said it isn’t too hard to convince anyone The Low End Theory was their best album. They start the album with a sample of Art Blakey’s “A Chant for Bu” and they make their jazz allegiance felt immediately. Some people referred to Tribe as jazz rap, but that seems to be missing the point slightly, they just combined the best elements of that art form with hip hop and crafted one of the all time great rap albums in the process.
Al Di Meoloa’s fourth and most ambitious solo album was originally released as a double album. He took a stab at singing on “I Can Tell”, and recorded damn near the catchiest disco song imaginable with “Roller Jubilee”. Musically the man was on fire, delivering some of his most complicated and adventurous compositions. It was the end of an era, considering Al would largely abandon electric guitar work on his next several albums, but it seems evident that he pushed his music about as far as it could go here. He brings everything full circle with Return to Forever founder Chick Corea playing and writing “Isfahan”. Al also pays tribute to the man who made his guitar, inviting Les Paul to play on “Spanish Eyes”. This is an essential guitar album no doubt about it.
At this point in time you might start wondering just how damn many Mates of State albums are going to be on this list. If you’re also wondering just who the hell these guys are, then welcome to the happiest band you’re ever going to hear. Their sound continues to very subtly get cleaned up but this remains very much a two person show. Even their slower songs sound exuberantly happy, and it’s hard not to hear the joy these guys seem to have in just being able to make music together. The songs here are a little more fleshed out than the first two albums, and the vocals are a little less off key than they sometimes got in their more chaotic moments. If you’re not converted after “Ha Ha”, or “The Whiner’s Bio” then your Grinchy heart might be 2 sizes too small.
Emenem’s second album with Aftermath didn’t change too much from his debut, it just dialed up the controversy to 11. On “Who Knew” he takes a minute to apologize for the incredible impact he had no idea he would have, a sentiment which is echoed in “Stan”. Most of this earlier obsessions are still here, his hatred of his mother, baby mamma, and every pop star around. He still raps about being on all the drugs and brings his psychotic alter ego out for a few songs, most famously on the album’s lead single “The Real Slim Shady”. There is a wicked dark sense of humor at play in many of these songs if you’re in on the joke, but that doesn’t mean it can’t quickly derail into seriously morbid territory. His skills as a rapper seem undeniable at this point, and he more than strengthens his case that he isn’t just one of the best white MC’s out there, but one of the best period.
Highway 61 Revisited picked up where the first side of Bringing it All Back Home left off, and proceeded to take that concept to it’s masterful conclusion. Dylan abandons most of his pretensions as a folk troubadour as he digs into messy blues and garage rock. The album opens with what’s come to be his most defining song, the oft-covered “Like a Rolling Stone” which I swear there are entire books written about it’s influence and inspiration. Much of the album embraces sometimes surreal and drugged out imagery, a fascination he would push further on his next album. “Desolation Row” closes this album in grand fashion, and it seems like a fitting send off to his folk roots.
In Flames found their sound on The Jester Race, but for the follow up they decided to get a little heavier while keeping all the elements that worked on their previous success. “Food for the Gods” and “Episode 666” might just be the band’s two best pure metal songs. The latter includes one of the all time great breakdowns as well. It wasn’t as revolutionary as Jester Race, it was simply a metal band delivering an album’s worth of near perfect melodic death metal, one song after another. That isn’t to say they weren’t still about trying new things, and they offer a surprisingly wonderful sounding cover of Depeche Mode’s “Everything Counts”.
Hooray for more 70s prog. Yes took the success of Fragile and returned less than a year later with their best album ever. The first side is the 18 minute title track and it easily stands as one of the best progressive rock epics in music. Perhaps the only complaint I could make is that there are only 3 songs total on the whole album, but when they’re this good, that point is invalid. “And You and I” somehow manages to make a beautiful acoustic ballad sound daring and adventurous. “Siberian Khatru” opens with a bang and seems to include an album’s worth of memorable riffs within it. This would be the beginning of the end for the Yes and their peak, but at this point it seemed impossible they could go anywhere else but down following this.
The last three studio albums Genesis made with their original line up are all masterpieces in the highest sense of the term. I’ll admit that depending on your particular mood each one might seem the best of the bunch, so I’ll end by saying at this moment, Selling England is my personal favorite. Their sound continued to get slightly more accessible with each release, which makes Selling England the album most firmly planted in the hook heavy group they would become and the adventurous prog-rockers they were. Some of the songs, particularly “The Ballad of Epping Forest” sound like the lyrics could have been written by Tolkien. “Dancing With the Moonlit Knight” and “The Cinema Show” are easily two of their best epics, but they weren’t afraid of getting into relatively conventional ballad territory here. Phil Collins made his vocal debut on “More Fool Me”, and “I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)” sounds like it could have maybe been a hit single.
Peter Gabriel’s So was rare moment when art and commerce came beautifully together. Since his days in Genesis, Peter Gabriel was always venturing into new and exotic territory. The marvel about So is that Gabriel’s experimentation seems to have perfectly intersected with the pop culture of the day. The album sounds weird, exotic, and ambitious yet extremely commercial. Long time collaborator Tony Levin delivers some of the best, and most bizarre bass lines you’re likely to hear. Gabriel’s reputation for being an innovative video artist really took hold here, and the video for “Sledgehammer” helped make this the monstrously successful album it was. There are still some quieter experimental moments on here, but the singles help keep the album afloat.
I vowed to judge albums this time around on a start to finish basis. Taken as a collective whole, there are two tracks that stick out like a sore thumb on the final Police album. Stewart Copeland’s “Miss Gradenko” can only be politely described as obvious filler, and Andy Summers’ “Mother” is just a catastrophic train wreck. I can admire some of the bizarre eastern styles of Summers’ song but not the abrasive vocals. Throw those two songs out and you have one of the all time greatest albums. Sting didn’t need the embarrassments of his band members attempts at writing to demonstrate that he was the vastly superior composer. The second half of the album featured no less than 5 hit singles, and they collectively represent the apex of The Police as a group. The first half of the album pails in comparison, but “Synchronicity I” and “Walking In Your Footsteps” only sound weak compared to the towering songs on the second side. The Police peaked on their final album, which in all honesty would have been damn near impossible to top had they stayed together.
My brother is probably the only person who would think this album is too low, but for the rest of you, it’s time you get on board with The Darkness. These guys never have and arguably never will take anything seriously so it only made sense that for their second album they would be as over the top extravagant as they could. There are random sitar solos, keytars, bagpipes, panflutes, bells, and anything else they felt the need to add. Some people seemed to miss the joke behind these, but it’s hard not to watch a brilliant video like “Girlfriend” and not figure it out. This album doesn’t rock as hard as their debut, but the songs are just fantastic. “Hazel Eyes” might be their best song, and it’s really hard not to sing along to “Knockers”. There are no shortage of highlights though, and luckily we were also blessed with a handful of the funniest music videos ever made to go along with it.
I used to think of Greetings from Asbury Park as some sort of historical artifact. Springsteen had to start somewhere, and this mess was an admirable first shot. The more I’ve heard it, the greater it’s become. What’s incredible is that it sounds like a collection of epics, similar to his second album, yet every song is shorter and more concise. It’s just that Springsteen was cramming so much into every song it’s truly staggering. He might not have hit the commercial pay day his label was hoping for, but the fact that several of these songs became hits for others showed that the song writing skills were certainly there. At the end of the album it just seems like this was someone who had a whole hell of a lot to say, it just took the public awhile to finally start to listen.
There are a few albums I’ve listened to and always enjoyed. For one reason or another they don’t quite sink in for me. While making this list I realized Odessey and Oracle was way, way better than I had ever given it credit for. It was the final album from The Zombies, and was conceived as one last hurrah, an album of no regrets. Released after they already broke up, it featured the surprise hit smash “Time of the Season” a brilliant song that I nevertheless could go the rest of my life without hearing. The rest of the album is in that wonderfully short lived style of baroque pop, and this might be the textbook masterpiece of it. It touches on some of the psychedelic sounds but isn’t overtly trippy. Instead it features cryptic organ playing, lush Mellotron sounds, and wonderful vocal harmonies. In fact I’d wager the only thing really psychedelic about the album is it’s album cover.
The best album from Deep Purple’s mach 2 lineup, Machine Head is their most iconic. “Highway Star”, “Maybe I’m a Leo”, “Lazy”, “Space Truckin‘” and of course “Smoke on the Water” are all among the band’s best known songs. It helped set the standard for British hard rock in the early part of the 70s, and live Deep Purple earned a reputation as the loudest band in the world. A lot of that energy appears here, considering most of the tracks were recorded live. Ian Gillan forever solidified his status as the band’s best remembered singer, and his voice was never better than here. In fact “Highway Star” seems to incorporate everything great about this band, including a legendary bit of soloing from Blackmore and John Lord’s distorted organ.
The Who certainly made a few good albums in the 60s, but they waited until the next decade to do their best. Who’s Next was originally conceived as another concept album to follow up Tommy, called Lighthouse. No one seems to have any idea what the hell it was about and following a nervous breakdown from Pete Townsend the idea was officially scrapped. From those original songs were a few great moments which were culled and reworked into their finest album. On both “Baba O’Riley” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again?” Townsend showed off his new fascination with the synthesizer and it has rarely been used that well in rock music. In between those career defining songs are a host of the band’s best. John Entwistle even got a minor hit out of “My Wife” the one song not written by Townsend.
I have always wanted to have this album in my top 100. Nearly every time I put together a list, this is one of the final albums cut, and as you can see, it once again didn’t make the cut. Violator was the high point of Depeche Mode’s recording career. Martin Gore was at his peak as a songwriter and this album had no shortage of hits and classics. It kept the music largely dark but with far more hooks than the previous Music For the Masses. “Enjoy the Silence” gets my vote as the band’s best song, but “World in My Eyes”, “Waiting for the Night”, and “Policy of Truth” could give it a run for it’s money. I’m still convinced that “Sweetest Perfection” is a love song about heroin, but I might be reading too much into things. It’s an interesting companion piece to the album’s closer “Clean” which seems to be very much about sobering up.
I’m not entirely sure it’s out of place to say Bob Dylan pulled masterpieces out of his ass in the 60s. Dylan seemed like one of those musical geniuses who seemed to grow bored of his own abilities. He was without question the best folk singer and songwriter of his generation, and he dove head first into his own unique noisy brand of rock and roll. Following a lengthy for the time hiatus, he came back near the end of 1967 with an album that seemed at first glance to be a return to his roots but on closer inspection was just the start of another chapter. The noisy electric rock of Highway 61 and Blonde on Blonde were replaced by acoustic guitars, simple melodies, and dense, enigmatic lyrics. Dylan didn’t fully embrace country music but dipped his toe enough to encourage a legion of Dylan worshipers to follow his lead. “The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest” is one of his greatest never heard of songs. The title track as well as “All Along the Watchtower” help give the album a loose narrative feel that make it seem like a unified concept album. This is Dylan at his most accessible, and a perfect introduction to anyone who was curious to know what the big fuss is with that Robert Zimmerman guy.
Talking Book and Innervisions seemed like mere appetizers to the main course that would be Songs in the Key of Life. A massive undertaking that featured an absurd number of guest musicians and lavish arrangements. It was the culmination of everything Stevie had built up to and it seemed to touch on every issue under the sun. Particularly on the second side Wonder borrows a page from Curtis Mayfield’s first solo album, letting his songs breathe and extending the funk. There were plenty of great ballads and songs to make you think, but it’s hard to find a more joyous and catchy song as “Sir Duke”. There’s even an instrumental fusion jam on here, showing all the incredible range that Wonder had. There isn’t a wasted moment on this mammoth album.
The door was open for Tom Waits after Swordfishtrombones. Rain Dogs saw him cement his status as a cult music god. There is the same sort of bizarre percussive sounds, marimbas, and surreal lyrics, but there is more confidence using them. It might take a few listens to realize there is actually some commercial material here, and a few classic songs that could have been hits. For these reasons it seems to take the best parts of his new found freedom and marries it to his beginnings as a slightly off beat songwriter. With 19 songs crammed into 54 minutes, there is something remarkable to be heard at nearly every stop.
While things were getting noisy in Seattle, these guys from Stockton, CA were quietly staging a Lo-Fi revolution of their own. Stephen Malkmus channels his inner Lou Reed on these 14 seminal tracks. “Summer Babe”, “In the Mouth a Desert”, “Zurich is Stained”, and my favorite “Here” are all among the best alternative songs of the decade. Pavement quickly proved they were no fluke with their great follow-up Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, but this still remains one of the great debut albums in alt-rock. Nearly every indie rock band in the next decade owed a debt of gratitude to the songs recorded here.
A textbook study in brevity, Nas delivered one of the all time greatest hip-hop debuts with Illmatic. The hype train was up and running for Nas after his brief guest spot on Main Source’s criminally out of print Breaking Atoms album came out in 1991. This album was aimed to take down the west coast juggernaut of G-funk, and as a result the beats on Illmatic seem to sound like New York. The beats are harder, the samples more jagged, this isn’t the smooth funk of the west coast sound, Nas was ushering in the new wave of street realism. It also helped sound the death tolls of the alternative rap movement from the Native Tongue family. Perhaps the best part about the album is it’s length. Only 10 songs long, which includes an intro, Nas didn’t find it necessary to fill a mandatory 70 minutes of music with his debut. Something many other rappers can learn from.
Building off the success of My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, David Byrne pushed Talking Heads into their most adventurous album yet on Remain in Light. Brian Eno is back to produce and he takes a lot of the musical ideas he and Byrne worked on and marries them to great pop hooks. The band had their most iconic song with “Once in a Lifetime”, but there are another six songs equally deserving of immortality here. They barely allow you to catch your breath on the first side of decidedly manic music, like a hopped up third world dance party. Things do slow down a bit on the second side but are no less compelling. The album does end on a rather anti-climatic note with “The Overload” but the rest is pure chaotic bliss.
I never figured this album would drop out of my top 100, but well here we are. Zeppelin’s third album saw them just lightly touch on the blues of their first two and embrace a much wider spectrum of music. The one time they do go to their roots on “Since I’ve Been Loving You” its arguably their best blues song period. Jimmy Page was back to experimenting with odd open tunings and formally established Zeppelin as a wonderful acoustic band. “Tangerine”, “That’s the Way”, “Gallows Pole”, and “Friends” showed that the guys didn’t need to steal from old blues singers to make great music. They didn’t completely abandon their heavier sounds on “Immigrant Song”, but the rest of the rockers seem to have a certain happiness to them, particularly “Celebration Day”. This was a major turning point for Zeppelin and still stands as one of their best.
I felt like I was one of the last people invited to the Arcade Fire party. I hadn’t heard a single song of theirs until their third album came out. So once I crawled out from under my rock you can imagine my shock and amazement with how damn good their first full length album was. This is a big album, with high production values, and embracing a sort of morbid grandiosity. There is a sense of real mourning here, but mixed with a series of songs that sound somewhat uplifting. The album is big, particularly “Wake Up”, but there are several intimate moments and enough hooks to actually generate hits.
I’ve only met a small handful of people who seem to get this album, and it’s become something of a secret society for us all. Hot Fuss was liked by nearly everyone I knew, and people didn’t take to kindly to them changing things for their second album. They largely abandoned the sleek retro-synth sound of their debut to channel U2 and Bruce Springsteen on their loose concept album. Maybe it just takes a bit of time, because I listened to this album on repeat for about a year and never got tired of it. Sure they are aping their idols but they’re doing it well, and their style is well suited to the transition to guitar driven rock. “When You Were Young” still has some lyrics that only make sense in a Killers song, but damned if it wasn’t a fantastic single. I’d just like to again invite everyone to give this album another listen without any preconceived judgment, after all people hated Pinkerton when it came out too.
The Boss became the biggest rock star in the world with Born in the USA, so he could do whatever he wanted for his follow up. He went introspective and crafted a much quieter album full of songs about his own maturity and his insecurities. The E Street band was nowhere to be found here, keeping a skeleton crew of a backing band, it sounds more intimate and personal than Born. “Walk Like a Man”, “One Step Up”, and “Valentine’s Day” are all first rate classics of the highest order. “Ain’t Got You” and “Spare Parts” seem cut from the same cloth and they’re the closest thing to an outright rock song on the album. The rest just caps off Springsteen’s last masterpiece for many a year.
Despite the fact that Blackwater Park was Opeth’s 5th album, it was the first one I ever heard. By 2001, they were being called the most intelligent band in death metal, and this album is proof positive that praise was accurate. Mikael Akerfeldt was really coming into his own after their previous three albums, and this seemed to step up the progressive game. The title was taken from a very obscure early 70s progressive rock band and it seems like Akerfeldt is channeling the ghosts of those old obscure prog rock bands. This is pretty much everything the band did well, featuring 8 songs that are all epics in their own right (with the exception of the short “Patterns in the Ivy”). Every song seems to have it’s mosh pit worthy heaviness as well as slowed down acoustic passages , odd timings, bizarre eastern melodies, both clean singing and guttural growls. Opeth is a band that tries to give you everything you could ever want in every song at once, and somehow it works. They take their sweet time with their songs, letting grooves repeat and sink in, and they always seem to give their riffs the proper amount of attention. Blackwater Park might very well be their masterpiece, but really they could do no wrong for many, many years.
You know that song “The Impression that I Get”? Remember ska? Of course you do, that was catchy as shit. The Bosstones were the modern leaders of the pack. They took the music of their Madness, Clash, English Beat predecessors and brought them to a new hard rock loving audience in the late 90s. Pay Attention was their follow up to a huge breakthrough with Let’s Face It, and it exceeded it’s predecessor in nearly every way musically. The band took the hook heavy approach of their breakthrough and fleshed out the few catchy singles with an album full of great supporting tracks. “So Sad to Say” was the albums first single and showed that the band hadn’t lost much since “The Impression that I Get” and “Rascal King”, but that was pretty much it. I don’t recall another video coming out, and for the few people like me who actually picked up the album we were thrilled to find a virtual greatest hits of ska classics. If you take the horns out of this album you might have had one of the decades best rock/hard rock albums, with them you have a genre at it’s peak. Dicky Barrett’s vocals and lyrics were never better, and it seems like the band was much more willing to get serious without getting pretentious or overly sentimental. They still haven’t lost their sense of humor either and you never get the feeling like this is a party band trying to be taken seriously. It’s only crime was to be released at a time when people stopped ironically enough paying attention.
Badfinger is known for quite a few things today. Yet their lasting legacy is as the most unlucky band ever. When two of your founders and lead singers and songwriters commit suicide, it casts a long and tragic shadow over your existing music. Badfinger were considered by quite a few to be the heir apparent to The Beatles throne. They were signed to Apple Records and their first single “Come and Get It” was even penned by Paul McCartney. Anyone whose heard “No Matter What” which should include everybody, can attest that the Beatle comparisons weren’t entirely unwarranted. Following the also neglected album Ass, the band were off to bigger and better things at Warner Bros. Badfinger was slowly distancing themselves from the big brother shadow of the Fab Four, and a new record contract seemed to be the first step in that. Their second, and ultimately last Warner album would be Wish You Were Here. Recorded with Chris Thomas as producer, it showed all four members coming into their own as songwriters. It is also the most cohesive “album” the band made. Every song fits together, compliments each other, and should have been the crowning achievement of one of the era’s best bands.
What a year 1971 was for Alice Cooper and his band. They signed to Warner Bros., hooked up with Bob Ezrin, and scored their first hit single with “I’m Eighteen”. They also found the time to record a follow up album that was equally as amazing as Love it to Death. Killer showed the band digging deeper into the macabre side of their personalities, particularly on the last two incredible tracks, but they were still capable of rocking with the best of them. “Halo of Flies” is quite possibly the greatest arranged song in rock music history as it seamlessly runs from one classic part to another. “Desperado” is one of their best ballads, and “Under My Wheels” is the group at their catchiest. Pretty much a perfect album start to finish.
After talking about The Smiths at length in two separate Morrissey reviews you might have been wondering just when they would show up. The debut album form Manchester’s most famous export is as vital and important as any 80s album could be. Morrissey and Marr were a perfect match musically, turning in catchy, melodic songs backed with subversive and emotional lyrics. The subject matter was diverse and the songs melodically all seemed to be part of a bigger picture. This is where it all started, “This Charming Man”, “Pretty Girls Make Graves”, “What Difference Does it Make?” take your pick. The Smiths started a quiet and lasting musical revolution with this album and their influence is still being felt today.
Paul Simon’s Graceland was THE album in 1986. It resurrected Simon’s career after his brilliant Hearts and Bones album flopped dramatically. It also introduced most of the Western world to South African music, and it’s still influencing bands to this day. Simon was much more receptive to his collaborators here, and changed his songwriting style to suit his new recording partners. The highlight is still “You Can Call Me Al” which is not only one of the catchiest songs of the 80s but perfectly blends everything great about this album, complete with a reversed bass line and pennywhistle solo. The title track seems like it could have been right at home on Hearts and Bones, and “All Around the World” is more zydeco than mbaqanga. Graceland like So broke new musical ground while also sounding very familiar and inviting.
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