What an utterly strange juxtaposition of albums. We have three holdovers from the 70s, 2 rap legends, 2 metal master and 2 burgeoning college rock bands. I really struggled with Blood and Chocolate vs. King of America, but I thought I remembered seeing Blood and Chocolate more often on listmanias, so I went there. I hope I didn't forget anything too vital today
I'm not familiar with either Nick Cave album, and I left EVOL out of the poll because it's just not quite as good as the next couple of Sonic Youth albums.
NOTE: Eric B. and Rakim "Paid in Full" is 1987, and LL Cool J's "Radio" is 1985
omissions:
# The Feelies * The Good Earth (Coyote)
# Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds * Your Funeral . . . My Trial (Homestead)
# The Chameleons UK * Strange Times (Geffen)
# Scratch Acid * Just Keep Eating (Rabid Cat)
# Big Black * Atomizer (Homestead)
# Sonic Youth * EVOL (SST)
# Bad Brains * I Against I (SST)
# The The * Infected (Epic)
# Talk Talk * The Colour Of Spring (EMI)
# Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds * Kicking Against the Pricks (Homestead)
# Megadeth * Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? (Capitol)
# Kreator * Pleasure To Kill (Noise)
# The Triffids * Born Sandy Devotional (Hot/Rough Trade)
# King Sunny Ade * Sweet Banana (Atom Park)
# King Sunny Ade * My Dear (Atom Park)
# Stetsasonic * On Fire (Tommy Boy)
# Camper Van Beethoven (Pitch-A-Tent/Rough Trade)
# One Last Wish * 1986 (Dischord)
# The Go-Betweens * Liberty Belle & The Black Diamond Express (Beggars Banquet)
# Love And Rockets * Express (Beggars)
# Tom Verlaine * The Miller's Tale: A Tom Verlaine Anthology 1979-1986 (Virgin)
# Felt * Forever Breathes The Lonely Word (Creation)
# Screaming Blue Messiahs * Gun Shy (Elektra)
# Throwing Muses (4AD)
# The Scientists * The Human Jukebox 1984-1986 (Sympathy FTRI)
# The Blue Aeroplanes * Tolerance (Velvel)
# Soul Asylum * Made To Be Broken (Twin/Tone)
# Soul Asylum * While You Were Out (Twin/Tone)
# Yo La Tengo * Ride The Tiger (Coyote)
# The Wild Swans * Incandescent 81-86 (Renascent)
# The Church * Heyday (Arista)
# Kukl * Holidays In Europe (The Naughty Nought) (Crass)
# Butthole Surfers * Rembrandt Pussyhorse (Touch & Go)
# The Fall * Bend Sinister (Beggars Banquet)
# Bathory * Under The Sign: The Sign Of The Black Mark (New Renaissance)
# Camper Van Beethoven * II & III (Pitch-A-Tent/Rough Trade)
# Cowboy Junkies * Whites Off Earth Now!! (BMG)
# Hunters & Collectors * Human Frailty (IRS)
# The Chills * Kaleidoscope World (Flying Nun/Homestead)
# Husker Du * Candy Apple Grey (WB)
# Firehose * Ragin' Full-On (SST)
# Effigies * Ink (Restless)
# Afrika Bambaataa * Beware (The Funk Is Everywhere) (Tommy Boy)
# The Church * Heydey (Arista)
# The Godfathers * Hit By Hit (Link)
# Public Image Ltd. * Album (Elektra)
# Kool Moe Dee (Rooftop-Jive)
# Prince * Parade (WB)
# Robert Wyatt * Old Rottenhat (Gramavision)
# Shop Assistants (Blue)
# Head Of David * CD (Blast First)
# Ministry * Twitch (Sire/WB)
# Stan Ridgway * The Big Heat (IRS)
# Motorhead * Orgasmatron (Castle)
# Yngwie Malmsteen * Trilogy (Polydor)
# Toy Dolls * Idle Gossip (Castle/Sanctuary)
# Shriekback * Big Night Music (Island)
# Game Theory * Big Shot Chronicles (Alias)
# The Triffids * In The Pines (Hot/Rough Trade)
# Laurie Anderson * Home Of the Brave (WB)
# SNFU * If You Swear, You'll Catch No Fish (BYD)
# Conflict * Ungovernable Force (Motarhate)
# The Flaming Lips * Hear It Is (Pink Dust)
# Violent Femmes * The Blind Leading The Naked (WB)
# New Model Army * The Ghost Of Cain (Capitol)
# That Petrol Emotion * Manic Pop Thrill (Demon)
# The Call * Reconciled (Eletkra)
# Agnostic Front * Cause For Alarm (Combat)
# Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper * Frenzy (Restless)
# Mood Six * Songs From the Lost Boutique 1982-1986 (Cherry Red)
# NoMeansNo * Sex Mad (Alternative Tentacles)
# The Mighty Lemon Drops * Happy Head (Sire)
# Mot?rhead * Orgasmatron (Sanctuary)
# Didjits * Fizzjob (Bam Bam)
# Wipers * Land of the Lost (Restless)
# Elvis Costello * King of America (Columbia)
Beastie Boys - Licensed to Ill
Quote:
There is a sense of genuine discovery, of creating new music, that remains years later, after countless plays, countless misinterpretations, countless rip-off acts, even countless apologies from the Beasties, who seemed guilty by how intoxicating the sound of it is, how it makes beer-soaked hedonism sound like the apogee of human experience. And maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but in either case, Licensed to Ill reigns tall among the greatest records of its time.
Run-D.M.C - Raising HellQuote:
Along with longtime Run-D.M.C. producer Russell Simmons, Rubin blew down the doors of what hip-hop could do with Raising Hell because it reached beyond rap-rock and found all sorts of sounds outside of it. Sonically, there is simply more going on in this album than any previous rap record -- more hooks, more drum loops (courtesy of ace drum programmer Sam Sever), more scratching, more riffs, more of everything. Where other rap records, including Run-D.M.C.'s, were all about the rhythm, this is layered with sounds and ideas, giving the music a tangible flow. But the brilliance of this record is that even with this increased musical depth, it still rocks as hard as hell, and in a manner that brought in a new audience. Of course, the cover of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way," complete with that band's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, helped matters considerably, since it gave an audience unfamiliar with rap an entry point, but if it were just a novelty record, a one-shot fusion of rap and rock, Raising Hell would never have sold three million copies. No, the music was fully realized and thoroughly invigorating, rocking harder and better than any of its rock or rap peers in 1986, and years later, that sense of excitement is still palpable on this towering success story for rap in general and Run-D.M.C. in specific.
Slayer - Reign in BloodQuote:
The album almost single-handedly inspired the entire death metal genre (at least on the American side of the Atlantic), and unlike many of its imitators, it never crosses the line into self-parodic overkill. Reign in Blood was a stone-cold classic upon its release, and it hasn't lost an ounce of its power today.
Paul Simon - GracelandQuote:
With Graceland, Paul Simon hit on the idea of combining his always perceptive songwriting with the little-heard mbaqanga music of South Africa, creating a fascinating hybrid that re-enchanted his old audience and earned him a new one. It is true that the South African angle (including its controversial aspect during the apartheid days) was a powerful marketing tool and that the catchy music succeeded in presenting listeners with that magical combination: something they'd never heard before that nevertheless sounded familiar. As eclectic as any record Simon had made, it also delved into zydeco and conjunto-flavored rock & roll while marking a surprising new lyrical approach (presaged on some songs on Hearts and Bones); for the most part, Simon abandoned a linear, narrative approach to his words, instead drawing highly poetic ("Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes"), abstract ("The Boy in the Bubble"), and satiric ("I Know What I Know") portraits of modern life, often charged by striking images and turns of phrase torn from the headlines or overheard in contemporary speech. An enormously successful record, Graceland became the standard against which subsequent musical experiments by major artists were measured.
The Smiths - The Queen is DeadQuote:
Meat Is Murder may have been a holding pattern, but The Queen Is Dead is the Smiths' great leap forward, taking the band to new musical and lyrical heights. Opening with the storming title track, The Queen Is Dead is a harder-rocking record than anything the Smiths had attempted before, but that's only on a relative scale -- although the backbeat is more pronounced, the group certainly doesn't rock in a conventional sense. Instead, Johnny Marr has created a dense web of guitars, alternating from the minor-key rush of "Bigmouth Strikes Again" and the faux rockabilly of "Vicar in a Tutu" to the bouncy acoustic pop of "Cemetry Gates" and "The Boy With the Thorn in His Side," as well as the lovely melancholy of "I Know It's Over" and "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out." And the rich musical bed provides Morrissey with the support for his finest set of lyrics. Shattering the myth that he is a self-pitying sap, Morrissey delivers a devastating set of clever, witty satires of British social mores, intellectualism, class, and even himself. He also crafts some of his finest, most affecting songs, particularly in the wistful "The Boy With the Thorn in His Side" and the epic "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out," two masterpieces that provide the foundation for a remarkable album.
Metallica - Master of PuppetsQuote:
Though it isn't as startling as Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets feels more unified, both thematically and musically. Everything about it feels blown up to epic proportions (indeed, the songs are much longer on average), and the band feels more in control of its direction. You'd never know it by the lyrics, though -- in one way or another, nearly every song on Master of Puppets deals with the fear of powerlessness. Sometimes they're about hypocritical authority (military and religious leaders), sometimes primal, uncontrollable human urges (drugs, insanity, rage), and, in true H.P. Lovecraft fashion, sometimes monsters. Yet by bookending the album with two slices of thrash mayhem ("Battery" and "Damage, Inc."), the band reigns triumphant through sheer force -- of sound, of will, of malice. The arrangements are thick and muscular, and the material varies enough in texture and tempo to hold interest through all its twists and turns. Some critics have called Master of Puppets the best heavy metal album ever recorded; if it isn't, it certainly comes close.
R.E.M. - Life's Rich PageantQuote:
Fables of the Reconstruction was intentionally murky, and Lifes Rich Pageant was constructed as its polar opposite. Teaming with producer Don Gehman, who previously worked with John Mellencamp, R.E.M. developed their most forceful record to date. Where previous records kept the rhythm section in the background, Pageant emphasizes the beat, and the band turns in its hardest rockers to date, including the anthemic "Begin the Begin" and the punky "Just a Touch." But the cleaner production also benefits the ballads and the mid-tempo janglers, particularly since it helps reveal Michael Stipe's growing political obsessions, especially on the environmental anthems "Fall on Me" and "Cuyahoga." The group hasn't entirely left myths behind -- witness the Civil War ballad "Swan Swan H" -- but the band sound more contemporary both musically and lyrically than they did on either Fables or Murmur, which helps give the record an extra kick. And even with excellent songs like "I Believe," "Flowers of Guatemala," "These Days," and "What if We Give It Away," it's ironic that the most memorable moment comes from the garage rock obscurity "Superman," which is sung with glee by Mike Mills.
Elvis Costello - Blood and ChocolateQuote:
Costello returned to the Attractions as quickly as he abandoned them, hiring the band and old producer Nick Lowe to record Blood & Chocolate, his second record in the span of one year. Where King of America was a stripped-down, roots rock affair, Blood & Chocolate is a return to the harder rock of This Year's Model. Occasionally, there are hints of country and folk, but the majority of the album is straight-ahead rock & roll: the opener, "Uncomplicated," only has two chords. The main difference between the reunion and the Attractions' earlier work is the tone -- This Year's Model was tense and out-of-control, where Blood & Chocolate is controlled viciousness. "Tokyo Storm Warning," "I Hope You're Happy Now," and "I Want You" are the nastiest songs he has ever recorded, both lyrically and musically -- Costello snarls the lyrics and the Attractions bash out the chords. Blood & Chocolate doesn't retain that high-level of energy throughout the record, however, and loses momentum toward the end of the album. Still, it's a lively and frequently compelling reunion, even if it is a rather mean-spirited one.
