Post by Mr. Atari on Aug 20, 2007 12:48:28 GMT -5
It's been a while. Here's 7 more:
#1- "Vivid" by Living Colour
I absolutely love Living Colour. Will Calhoun is a god among drummers, and Vernon Reid is a certifiable genius. But even if they weren't, I'd listen to this band just to hear Corey Glover sing. Funk, noise, gospel, anger, creativity, everything I love about music is in here. These guys do phenomenal covers, as well. Their versions of "Sunshine of Your Love", "Tomorrow Never Knows" and Al Green's "Love and Happiness" are all worth tracking down. This album is their tightest and has their best hits, although any of their first 3 albums are must-haves.
#2- "Ten Summoners Tales" by Sting
Is Sting overly pretentious? Yeah. Would his last few solo albums be best classified as "wuss rock"? Yes. But he has written a lot of incredible songs. I mean, a LOT. Plus, he surrounds himself with world-class musicians. The other night I watched a DVD of a live show he did on 9/11/01, and it was sick how good the musicianship was. Sick. I remember when this album came out and it absolutely floored me how great the arrangements, mix, songwriting, and musicianship were. Of all the artists in the world that I dream of sitting in with playing a set someday, Sting is at the top of the list (right next to Paul McCartney).
#3- "Powerslave" by Iron Maiden
In the '80s, I loved New Wave and top-40 radio. But unlike Mighty Jack, I didn't buy any New Wave or radio-friendly albums. I bought metal albums. No metal band measures up to Iron Maiden, and very few metal albums measure up to "Powerslave". The first half of the album just blows out of the speakers without stopping. "Aces High" & "2 Minutes To Midnight" are about the best 1-2 punch on any album ever. Closing the album with the title track and the epic "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is about the best last 2 tracks on any album ever. As a musician and a music fan, I offer no apologies for liking these guys.
#4 & #4a- "Selling England By the Pound" and "A Trick of the Tail" by Genesis
Let's just get this out of the way first: Anyone who says Genesis was never as good after Peter Gabriel left is an idiot. Or at least ignorant. Or at least hasn't listened to these 2 albums back-to-back. "Selling..." is the tightest album Gabriel made with the band, and it has some of their best songs: "Firth of Fifth" and "In Your Wardrobe". But "A Trick...", the band's first without Gabriel, is equal to it in every way. "Dance on a Volcano", "Los Endos", and "Squonk" show the band at their progressive best. "Ripples" is probably the prettiest song in their catalog. And the title track is as Britishly madrigal as anything Gabriel did with them. These 2 albums are like "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver" in that they're interchangable, and represent the best era of an ever-changing band. Just don't give me any of that "Phil Collins ruined the band" crap.
#5- "Moving Pictures" by Rush
While I'm on the progressive rock theme, it's time to include Phantom's favorite band. I don't like Geddy's voice. I rarely agree with Neil's humanistic lyrics. But I am a Rush fan. There, I said it. I've seen them live about 15 times, and it's always worth the price of admission. This was the first Rush album I heard, and I remember being less than impressed with "Tom Sawyer" (it didn't live up to the hype my friends gave it). But I kept listening, and was more impressed with "Red Barchetta". Then I heard "YYZ" and sold my soul. Unlike a lot of Rush fans, my favorite era was the '80s stuff ("Grace Under Pressure" and "Power Windows" are easily deserving of this spot). But "Moving Pictures" is their most accessible album, and the peak of their impressive careers.
#6- "In Step" by Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stevie Ray is the best guitarist of my lifetime. Period. He did Jimi better than Jimi. He did Clapton better than Clapton. He did everybody better than everybody. One of the favorite stories (surely apocryphal) I've heard is that one night Paul Shaffer and Eric Clapton went out to the bars in Austin following a show. They were hoping to sit in with some bar band and jam all night (as blues musicians do), and they walked in and saw this kid ripping it up. After listening for about an hour, Clapton walked up to the stage, put his guitar down, and said, "I came to play this tonight, but I can't now. It's all yours." Anyway, this is a beautiful album. Stevie had just cleaned up his life, and came out of rehab with a positive energy that took his material to a whole new level. Of course he died a few months later (isn't that always the way?), but at least we have this album that captured him at his best.
#7- "Dogman" by King's X
I loved their first 2 albums. But albums 3 & 4 by King's X were less than impressive, and I had lost interest. When #5 ("Dogman") came out in '93, I saw it in a listen-before-you-buy CD store in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Curious and a little bored, I went to the station, put on the headphones, and pressed play. Exactly 7 seconds later, I took the disc out, put it back in its case, walked over to the counter, and purchased the best sounding album I had ever heard. For this album, King's X turned down the pop and turned up the distortion. The low end in the mix will rescusitate a coronary victim. The Beatlish-harmonies are still there, but this album is all about the riffs, the crunch, and the feedback. The agression in this album is contagious, but it has none of the simplistic banality of most agression bands. There's still a depth and creativity to the playing that your typical angry-rocker can't do. A flawless album.
#1- "Vivid" by Living Colour
I absolutely love Living Colour. Will Calhoun is a god among drummers, and Vernon Reid is a certifiable genius. But even if they weren't, I'd listen to this band just to hear Corey Glover sing. Funk, noise, gospel, anger, creativity, everything I love about music is in here. These guys do phenomenal covers, as well. Their versions of "Sunshine of Your Love", "Tomorrow Never Knows" and Al Green's "Love and Happiness" are all worth tracking down. This album is their tightest and has their best hits, although any of their first 3 albums are must-haves.
#2- "Ten Summoners Tales" by Sting
Is Sting overly pretentious? Yeah. Would his last few solo albums be best classified as "wuss rock"? Yes. But he has written a lot of incredible songs. I mean, a LOT. Plus, he surrounds himself with world-class musicians. The other night I watched a DVD of a live show he did on 9/11/01, and it was sick how good the musicianship was. Sick. I remember when this album came out and it absolutely floored me how great the arrangements, mix, songwriting, and musicianship were. Of all the artists in the world that I dream of sitting in with playing a set someday, Sting is at the top of the list (right next to Paul McCartney).
#3- "Powerslave" by Iron Maiden
In the '80s, I loved New Wave and top-40 radio. But unlike Mighty Jack, I didn't buy any New Wave or radio-friendly albums. I bought metal albums. No metal band measures up to Iron Maiden, and very few metal albums measure up to "Powerslave". The first half of the album just blows out of the speakers without stopping. "Aces High" & "2 Minutes To Midnight" are about the best 1-2 punch on any album ever. Closing the album with the title track and the epic "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is about the best last 2 tracks on any album ever. As a musician and a music fan, I offer no apologies for liking these guys.
#4 & #4a- "Selling England By the Pound" and "A Trick of the Tail" by Genesis
Let's just get this out of the way first: Anyone who says Genesis was never as good after Peter Gabriel left is an idiot. Or at least ignorant. Or at least hasn't listened to these 2 albums back-to-back. "Selling..." is the tightest album Gabriel made with the band, and it has some of their best songs: "Firth of Fifth" and "In Your Wardrobe". But "A Trick...", the band's first without Gabriel, is equal to it in every way. "Dance on a Volcano", "Los Endos", and "Squonk" show the band at their progressive best. "Ripples" is probably the prettiest song in their catalog. And the title track is as Britishly madrigal as anything Gabriel did with them. These 2 albums are like "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver" in that they're interchangable, and represent the best era of an ever-changing band. Just don't give me any of that "Phil Collins ruined the band" crap.
#5- "Moving Pictures" by Rush
While I'm on the progressive rock theme, it's time to include Phantom's favorite band. I don't like Geddy's voice. I rarely agree with Neil's humanistic lyrics. But I am a Rush fan. There, I said it. I've seen them live about 15 times, and it's always worth the price of admission. This was the first Rush album I heard, and I remember being less than impressed with "Tom Sawyer" (it didn't live up to the hype my friends gave it). But I kept listening, and was more impressed with "Red Barchetta". Then I heard "YYZ" and sold my soul. Unlike a lot of Rush fans, my favorite era was the '80s stuff ("Grace Under Pressure" and "Power Windows" are easily deserving of this spot). But "Moving Pictures" is their most accessible album, and the peak of their impressive careers.
#6- "In Step" by Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stevie Ray is the best guitarist of my lifetime. Period. He did Jimi better than Jimi. He did Clapton better than Clapton. He did everybody better than everybody. One of the favorite stories (surely apocryphal) I've heard is that one night Paul Shaffer and Eric Clapton went out to the bars in Austin following a show. They were hoping to sit in with some bar band and jam all night (as blues musicians do), and they walked in and saw this kid ripping it up. After listening for about an hour, Clapton walked up to the stage, put his guitar down, and said, "I came to play this tonight, but I can't now. It's all yours." Anyway, this is a beautiful album. Stevie had just cleaned up his life, and came out of rehab with a positive energy that took his material to a whole new level. Of course he died a few months later (isn't that always the way?), but at least we have this album that captured him at his best.
#7- "Dogman" by King's X
I loved their first 2 albums. But albums 3 & 4 by King's X were less than impressive, and I had lost interest. When #5 ("Dogman") came out in '93, I saw it in a listen-before-you-buy CD store in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Curious and a little bored, I went to the station, put on the headphones, and pressed play. Exactly 7 seconds later, I took the disc out, put it back in its case, walked over to the counter, and purchased the best sounding album I had ever heard. For this album, King's X turned down the pop and turned up the distortion. The low end in the mix will rescusitate a coronary victim. The Beatlish-harmonies are still there, but this album is all about the riffs, the crunch, and the feedback. The agression in this album is contagious, but it has none of the simplistic banality of most agression bands. There's still a depth and creativity to the playing that your typical angry-rocker can't do. A flawless album.