Lunedì 16 Lug 2007, 15:43
This is a list of 20 albums that I would consider to be classics, some of them even on the level of being a masterpiece. They all generally fall into one of the following genres: punk, metal, stoner rock, classic rock, or hip-hop. You won't find any emo/screamo or indie pop bullshit on here. I generally listed them in order of my favorites, but honestly, their all pretty interchangeable. So here they are, with my best efforts at describing them.
1. Social Distortion - Social Distortion
If you read my last entry, you would know that this album is one that I have listened to many, many times while driving down into the Arizona desert. In its own right, completely seperate from the stoner rock genre, this could be a called desert rock album.
This is an album that I have burned for many people, but few them have truly enjoyed it, and none to extent that I have. Sure, they aren't virtuoso intrumentalists, but they're a punk band for Christ's sake. Within the simplicity of the music are sounds that evoke the emotion of being poor, living in a hard world, and growing up in the southwest. Take a look at the songwriting, a perfect match for the music. Mike Ness has a wisdom and a way with words that makes him the Johnny Cash of punk rock. The vocal harmonies add to atmosphere of the album immensely, simple but soulful and effective. Production is an improvement from that on Prison Bound (which was one of the albums drawbacks, weak songs on the second half being the other). There is not a bad song on the album, or even a weak one. The album is cohesive in its unique and evocative sound and is definitely on the top of my list of albums most listened to.
2. Kyuss - Welcome to Sky Valley
The definitive desert rock album. This album also defines the idea of setting an atmosphere for an entire album. Josh Homme tunes down his guitar two whole steps and darkens the hell out of the album. It's like desert rock during the monsoon season. Homme's guitar playing is what makes this album a masterpiece. He couldn't do it without the bass and drums, and John Garcia has an extremely cool voice, but its the cosmic energy radiating from Homme's guitar that takes it to the next level. The atmosphere on this album is absolutely amazing. Everything blends together peerfectly and paints picture after picture in your mind as you listen to it. Welcome to Sky Valley is almost too hard to describe with words, but your ears understand what's going on immediately when "Gardenia" comes flowing out of your speakers.
3. Sublime - 40 Oz. to Freedom
Never before had so many genres of music been blended together so seemlessly and flawlessly before being matched with the genius of songwriting. The amazing thing is that when 40 Oz. to Freedom came out, everyone ignored it. It makes me wonder how many mastepiece albums have been recorded but I have never heard because the general public took a shit on them.
The combining of musical genres was not a new thing in 1991. That is how rock was born. In the late 1980sRun DMC and Aerosmith had combined rock with rap, followed by Anthrax and Public Enemy combining metal with rap. In the early 1980s Bad Brains was combining punk rock with raggae. All these collaborations set the scene for Sublime, who started mixing rock, punk, raggae, hip-hop and dub into a collective force. All three main band members were respectable musicians and Bradley Nowell had an untouchable nack for writing lyrics. Cover songs feature prominently on this album, but all with Sublime's style, personal touches, and added lyrics. The production is polished enough to sound professional but raw enough to sound rugged and honest to the streets where Sublime originated from.
4. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV
This is an album I listened to over and over when I was 16 years old. This album is cohesive in a completely abstract and subliminal sense. Every song is unique in its own way but somehow meshes with its neighboring track. The fact of the matter is that this album always appears on list of the best albums ever that Rolling Stone and other publications love to put out. I can't add very much to plethora of hype surrounding this album except that next to all the other classic rock artists (excluding Hendrix), Led Zeppelin is only one that deserves as much hype as it receives. Don't get me wrong, I love classic rock, but I don't think the Beatles and the Stones are as great as everyone else does. Even in their later years, the Beatles put together a number of songs that are mediocre and rather boring. I guess it doesn't help that I hate all of today's "Indie pop", "indie rock", "alt rock" music that is so popular among my generation. Basically, the music that the Beatles precluded. I'm more of a fan of punk, metal and heavier rock. Music that Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath precluded.
5. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
I can only wish that I was my dad's age just so that I could have heard this album when it was released. The darkness that surrounds this album (like any Sabbath album) is emmense, and to imagine hearing in 1970 is just mind-boggling. This is obviously the most well-known Sabbath album (containing the songs "War Pigs", "Paranoid", and "Iron Man"), but I've listened to their entire collection, and I can tell you that this one is the best. The flow of energy between a soft track like "Planet Caravan" into an all-out sludge groove like "Electric Funeral" cannot be found on any other Sabbath release except this one. Every track is astounding, even "Paranoid", which was written as an afterthought filler song. "Fairies Wear Boots", my favorite Sabbath tune of all time, closes out the album in a supremely epic fashion. Every instrument is mind-bending; the guitar, the drums, the bass, even Osbournes vocals (especially on "Hand of Doom"). Black Sabbath is the direct source of heavy metal music, and this album is their masterpiece.
6. Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
I love hip-hop music, but usually just select tracks from different artists. There have been a couple hip-hop albums that I have liked decently (Power in Numbers being an example), but most other hip-hop albums have dissappointed me. For instance, I love the Snoop Dogg song Gin and Juice, but when I got Doggystyle I couldn't help but be dissappointed by the excess of ridiculous skits and the presence of weaker, more r&b based tracks.
Then I discovered 36 Chambers. For an album that came out in 1993, the rapping on this album is revolutionary and stands the test of time much better than the rapping on N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton. The skits are at worst bearable and at best funny as hell. "C.R.E.A.M." and "Can It Be All So Simple" are mellower and more r&b based, but still feature superb rapping and social commentary. The production on this album was done completely by the RZA. His style raw yet complex and very well done, and also forms the cohesiveness that pushes this album over the edge into masterpiece territory. Dr. Dre's The Chronic was pretty close to making this list, but I thought the skits detracted to much from the actual music.
7. Metallica - Master of Puppets
When I was 16 years old, my best friend bought me this album for Christmas, and just like Led Zeppelin IV I couldn't stop listneing to it. For me, what seperates this album from the other thrash metal albums of 1986 is its strength all-around. No other album of its era combines raw aggression, decent production, ripping instrumentals, strong lyrical content, and a few all-important moments where the music slows down but remains dark and atmospheric. "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" is my all-time favorite Metallica because it is the essential piece that brings Master of Puppets together as a masterpiece. It starts out slow and almost ballad-like, but remains dark and subtlety aggressive, seperating itself from its hair-metal counterparts. It eventually builds into an all-out thrash metal frenzy. All masterpiece albums must have dynamics and changes while maintaining a cohesive sound, and this album proved that mellow parts could be used in extreme metal without turning into hair metal. It proved to be an important duality that would feature prominently in extreme metal for years to come.
8. Operation Ivy - Energy
Possibly the greatest punk album of all time. Of course, there is always someone that will argue, "Operation Ivy is ska/punk, not punk." Well no shit they're ska/punk, but they don't have horns so I'm just gonna call them punk. Anyway, the songwriting on this album is impeccable. It bursts will liberal social commentary and is well-matched with the uniqueness of Armstrong's guitar work, Mello's drumming, and Freeman's bass guitar. If there was any punk album that was full of life, it's this one. Definately a punk rock masterpiece.
9. Shadows Fall - Art of Balance
Now this is a modern heavy metal masterpiece if I've ever heard one. First of all, Brian Fair's vocals are amazing, that guy has a great voice. Second, all the instrumental work is flat out fantastic. This album is dark, brutal, and furious but dynamic and melodic with a few very well done mellow sections. The ending track, a cover of Pink Floyd's "Welcome to the Machine", is respectful of the original and in very good taste, but with Shadows Fall's own heavy guitar style and tone dialed in. "A Fire In Babylon" is an epic masterpiece of a song in its own right. The lead guitar playing on this album is masterful and brilliant, and pushes the album all the way to masterpiece status.
10. The Obsessed - The Church Within
Now this is a rare album. A friend of mine happened upon it at the local used music store, and goddamn was it a fantastic find. Of all the vocalist in stoner rock, Wino is my favorite. When it comes down to it, he is one of my favorite guitar players in stoner rock as well. I would consider this a stoner/doom masterpiece. The overall sound they achieved on this album is one of a kind. I've heard Wino's work with The Hidden Hand and Spirit Caravan and none of it mathces up to the song arrangement of The Church Within.
11. Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables
My knowledge of punk rock is not very extensive. I listen to more true punk than the average person, but I know my knowledge is still only the tip of the iceberg. That being said, I consider this album to be the first hardcore punk album.
I'm not a big fan of The Ramones or the Sex Pistols. Yeah, I admit that they were the ones that kickstarted punk rock music, but that doesn't mean that they were great bands. To me, the Ramones were the first shitty pop-punk band. All they're songs sounded the same and I have never really been impressed with they're songwriting. Punk rock obviously never has emphasized musicianship, so you better be able to write some damn lyrics. Not the Ramones, they're just pure crap. The Sex Pistols are little bit better. At least they had a raw and gritty sound. The thing is, they couldn't write lyrics worth a shit either. That's were the Dead Kennedys come in. The Dead Kennedys were raw, aggressive, gritty and offensive. Their style was distinctive, unmistakeable, and honed-in. They provided political and social commentary with a great sarcastic humor yet backed with utter seriousness and honesty. I'm a fan of Biafra's voice especially, it makes the lyrics errie and dark, adding even more atmosphere to the music. To me, the Dead Kennedys were the first great punk rock band, and Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables is their masterpiece.
12. Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
It was hard to choose only one Dylan album to appear on here. I love "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" and "Bringing it Back Home" but this album takes the edge by just a hair. I think the track that pushes it over the edge is "Desolation Row". It's one of those epic, atmospheric songs that is perfect for closing out the album. I'm always amazed by Dylan's songwriting prowess, but his way with words on this album is just a step above. The title track is a great example of that.
13. Pink FloydWish You Were Here
I love Dark Side of the Moon, but I think Wish You Were Here is so much stronger. This is a masterpiece album that carries you off to a strange fantasy world far, far away. A fantasy world that mocks and parodies real life. In fact, I feel that way about Dark Side of the Moon and Animals, but this album achieves it more dynamically than Animals and with less filler than Dark Side of the Moon.
14. Black CrowesShake Your Money Maker
I think more people need to listen to the Black Crowes. I was introduced to them by my dad probably a year ago, and I've been hooked by their own soulful variety of blues based rock and roll. My dad prefers Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, but I usually to stick to their first album. The emotion that they pour into the music is what grabs me they most. The songwriting isn't consistently great, but has its moments ("She Talks to Angels" especially). To me, the Black Crowes are the only band from the last 20 years to bring out the heart and soul of the south without sounding cheesy, white trash, or completely ripping off Lynyrd Skynyrd.
15. Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction
This is album that I discovered in high school, and thus I don't listen to it very often anymore. Every once in while, when I do listen to it, it still amazes me. It's like taking the spirit of excessive drug use and partying and injecting into a recording like no other band from their era could. Bands like Poison and Bon Jovi were under the same influence, but they were making poppy poser-metal bullshit that 13 year old school girls listened to. Motley Crue was on the right track some of time with songs like "Kickstart My Heart" but Guns N' Roses was the one that hit nail on the head. They took the aggression, raw power and musical ability of the thrash metal scene and combined it with drug excess and love song type songwriting of the hair metal scene and made something unique. It has dynamics and the duality of softness and hardness, two things that hair metal was trying to achieve but couldn't. I'll tell you what, if all hair metal was like Guns N' Roses, it would be one badass genre of music. This album is a classic in my book, even despite the weakness of the last two tracks. As an added bonus, "Sweet Child O' Mine" is my favorite song of all time.
If there is a single album from the last 50 years that completely changed the face of guitar, Van Halen I is it. This is yet another album I got for Christmas when I was a Junior in high school, and it absolutely blew my mind. Unfortunately, I can't quite convince myself that it is a masterpiece. If "Jamie's Cryin'" and "On Fire" were a little bit better, this album would move from classic status up to masterpiece, not that classic is a bad thing.
17. Lamb of God - Ashes of the Wake
This is an all-out festival of brutality. You won't find many guitar solos on this album, but that's okay, its chuck full of the most headbangable guitar riffs you've ever heard, never mind the drumming. What I think really makes this album well-rounded is Randy Blythe's vocals. He growls, but guess what? You can actually understand what he's saying! That's my big complaint about a lot of extreme metal genres. I love the instrumentals but I can't understand what vocals are saying. Not with Randy Blythe.
18. Fu Manchu - California Crossing
This is a great, great stoner rock album. I listen to this and picture myself driving through the desert in a '64 Mustang and happening upon an In N' Out Burger out in the middle of fucking nowhere. The guitar playing is rather simple, but whatever, it works because everything fits together and grooves. This is the ultimate feel-good stoner rock album.
This entire album serves as an anthem for apathetic youth. This is the album you listen to in the summertime when you're sitting on your couch, bored off your ass. It's a superpopular album, but what the hell, it's still a great piece of work. As a songwriter, Billy Joe Armstrong is underrated. It's like he took the general attitude of outsider American youth and turned it into music.
20.blink-182 - Dude Ranch
I know what your thinking: Why the hell does he have a blink-182 album in his top twenty? I guess you can call it a guilty pleasure. Blink-182 is a band that I listened to in high school, and when you're a high school kid, you can always relate to blink-182. It's an album that is full of youthful memories. I remember listening to it over and over and it giving me relief that I wasn't the only one having a shitty time in high school.