The Dark Elf File

The Greatest Rock Albums of the 1980s, Part I

2012-01-17T18:46:00.002-05:00

I have gone on record stating that the 1980s was a black hole from which everything musically-speaking was sucked out into space and never returned, save in some secondary, shadowy, half-life sense. In other words, alien zombies ate my music! This was perhaps a bit too hyperbolic, and I am prone to harsh rhetoric on occasion. I apologize in advance if anyone's knickers get twisted. However, if you consider that nearly every big-named rock band from Zeppelin to Floyd to the Stones had tanked by the 80s, went commercial (Genesis and Yes), or were just plain miserable (StyxJourneyForeignerREOSpeedwagon), and that the messianic punk rock movement blew its wad in a relatively short time span in the late 70s, the vibrancy of music was put to the test and failed miserably. Hell, even disco disappeared...which was actually a godsend, but I digress.

I am not going to denigrate emo, bad hair, sterile synthesizers, drum machines, whiny, off-kilter vocals or new-wave style over substance, because that would be too easy: like proclaiming Hitler was a bad man. Instead, I will sift through the flotsam and jetsam of a decadently dumb decade and offer up the diamonds rummaged from dust bins and coal scuttles. And I am not merely casting pearls before swine here, the albums listed below are genuinely great and stylistically important; there are just far fewer than preceding decades, in my very subjective opinion (humbleness not being in my nature).

As with all the articles on The Dark Elf File, there are a few caveats for The Greatest Rock Albums of the 1980s, Part I. These, I will keep simple: only rock releases, no live albums, and no greatest hits packages. I have chosen 24 superlative albums on the first go-round (2x4=8, repeat 10 times, or some similar silly equation), and a future installment will add to the list. Of the albums listed below, the first six or seven have some semblance of order, but afterwards I just filtered through my collection and placed the releases haphazardly as I listened to them. As you may recall if you've read previous articles, I am not a big stickler on enumerating greatness. These are all excellent albums.

Peter Gabriel - Melt
The first thing you notice is that there are no cymbals... throughout the entire album. There are other percussion instruments, but the lack of cymbals creates tension - a totemic, animistic thrum and rumble - that permeates the album with an unrelieved edginess bordering on hysteria. The purposeful mania instilled by Gabriel is amplified further with the "gated drum" sound, a dramatic reverb effect that produces a booming but highly-compressed punch to the drums created specifically for this album and employed with gusto by drummer Phil Collins (who appears on four tracks). Collins would memorably re-use the gated drum effect on his hit "In the Air Tonight", but perfected it on Peter Gabriel's stunning third self-titled solo album, known as Melt (for the distinctive cover photo). And Melt (1980), even more so than Gabriel's mega-hit So (1986), is the best album of the 1980s. Aside from distinctive vocals, studio techniques and musical innovations, Melt is, for all intents and purposes, a "psychological treatise” on the human condition: compulsion, obsession, isolation, schizophrenia, amnesia, prejudice, bigotry, anger institutionalization, and murder. Herein lie the darker dimensions of thought and action, delivered with an actor’s flair by Gabriel.

“Intruder”, a flesh-crawling ode to home invasion, begins the mind games with the grating, metallic grind of clippers on twisted wire, discordant keyboards, and Collin’s strident drumbeat, and ends with a bit of whistling-with-criminal-intent made famous by Peter Lorre in the movie M (1931). “No Self Control” mirrors the troubled tendencies of “Intruder”, but amps up the mania, as well as the volume, with Gabriel’s recurring avant-garde partners-in-crime Robert Fripp on guitar and Kate Bush on backing vocals, along with a vicious turn on drums by Collins. “I Don’t Remember” (amnesia), "And Through the Wire" (communication overload) and “Lead a Normal Life” (asylums) are each excellent tunes, but the truly stellar songs are the allegoric satire on nationalism "Games Without Frontiers" (again with Kate Bush singing “jeux sans frontières” or "games without frontiers"), and "Not One of Us", which cleverly attacks hatred and prejudice born out of fear and ignorance.

And then there are the two epics. The first, “Family Snapshot”, is a suspenseful character study of a publicity-seeking loner who kills a public figure, in which Gabriel, through the use of internal monologue, grafts the memoirs of assassin Arthur Bremer onto scenes of JFK's assassination in Dallas. The effect is riveting. Finally, there is "Biko", about Stephen Biko, a South African civil rights leader murdered while in police custody. The horrid event gained worldwide attention due in part to Gabriel’s profound lament. "Biko" was the greatest protest song of the 80s, and the grand lyric “And the eyes of the world are watching now”, proved prophetic. Melt is fully realized and conceptually brilliant, a stark look at man’s inhumanity to man, and the madness that stirs in the minds of many.
Worth the price of admission: Games Without Frontiers, Not One of Us (poor quality version), I Don't Remember, Family Snapshot.

U2 - War
The starkest of all U2 albums, it is the rough edges of The Edge and the boys that, to my ears, makes War the best example of U2's songcraft. War is a harsh and politically charged statement that successfully presented the burgeoning social-conscience of the band without the preachiness found on later albums. On this release, The Edge dialed back the effects and echoes, and Larry Mullen pumped up the staccato percussion to create a bellicose and brash sound that echoed the themes of this most political of U2 albums: the traumatic emotional and physical effects of warfare. The music is angry, buzzing and at times brutally straightforward, free from the tendency to rely on allegory and much of the overt religiosity (some would say sanctimoniousness) that eventually became omnipresent with U2, as Bono tread the path ever closer to self-canonization.

The two songs that best exemplify the philosophical theme of the album are also at variance with their musical approach: "Sunday Bloody Sunday", driven by the drumming of Mullen, is a harsh and unrelenting call for sanity amidst the madness that defined 'The Troubles' of Northern Ireland (the civil strife between the Catholic Nationalists and the Protestant Unionists that started in the 1960s and continued through the 1990s, with sporadic violence still occurring currently); whereas, "On New Year's Day" (penned for the Polish Solidarity Movement) features the driving bass of Adam Clayton, and although it still contains some of the strident sounds of the rest of the album, the song is a more reflective and poetic composition. Other songs of note are "Two Hearts that Beat as One", "Drowning Man" (featuring the fiddling of Steve Wickham, later of The Waterboys), the Clash-stylings of "The Refugee", and "40", an adaptation of the biblical Psalm 40. There may have been greater successes to follow for U2, but War represents the album where such greatness was revealed in the harsh light of day.
Worth the price of admission: Sunday Bloody Sunday, New Year's Day, Two Hearts Beat as One, Drowning Man.

Prince - Purple Rain
Prince was in a musical genre all his own. The tuneful stew Prince brewed on the album Purple Rain contains Hendrixian guitar, funk bass, power pop percussion, soul singing, and new wave synths, with bits of James Brown, Little Richard, Mick Jagger and even Frank Zappa thrown into the savory mix. But the mix was so incendiary that the influences became secondary to the innovative synthesis of this, Prince's sixth album, on which the suave mighty mite from Minneapolis introduced his new band The Revolution, and the names 'Wendy and Lisa' were to become an indelible aspect of the 80s music scene. As far as Prince himself, I've never seen a man do the splits and slide back up to his feet while playing guitar, but that is merely one facet of one truly talented (or sore) fellow.

Prince's reverence of Hendrix is evident on the mercurial lead of the frenetic "Let's Go Crazy", and also the title song "Purple Rain", a bluesy, soulful nod to songs from Jimi's Axis Bold as Love album, such as "Little Wing" and "Castles Made of Sand". Elsewhere, "Little Nikki" took sexual innuendo to a level rarely heard in popular music (the line "I met her in a hotel lobby masturbating to a magazine", if I recall, gave parents seizures), and the memorable piano line of the beautiful and sad "When Doves Cry" reverberates in one's subconscious long after the song is over - an incredibly powerful song. Add to that, the unrequited love of "The Beautiful Ones", the duet with Appolonia "Take Me with U", the dance rave-up "Baby I'm a Star" (complete with Beatlesque backmasking), and the secondary hit "I would Die for U", and Prince offered up his funky magnum opus.
Worth the price of admission: Let's Go Crazy, Darling Nikki, Purple Rain, When Doves Cry.

Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Minimalist, polyrhythmic, African-influenced, experimental, esoteric, funkified punk dance music - how's that for a description? Remain in Light remains the Talking Head's greatest achievement, and a magnificent collaboration between David Byrne and producer Brian Eno. Once you've listened to this, all of the 80s post-punk, new wave spawn that followed (Culture Club, Howard Jones, Human League, ad nauseam) is utter drivel; but the Talking Heads were never really "new wave" in the first place, they were merely relegated to that dusty bin of bad hair and bad music merely to affix a genre to their musical method. Yet Byrne and Eno effortlessly integrated the concept of "World Music" into the mix without beating you over the head with a tribal drum. The idiosyncratic wit of Byrne is omnipresent, and even in the album's darker passages the sense of optimism and spirituality never stoops to maudlin, emo despair like on a Smiths or Cure release (and thank god for that!).

The first half of the album is unmitigated funk (ably aided in spots by the Funkadelic's Jerry Worrell, Ashford & Simpson's Steven Scales, and Parliament bassist Busta "Cherry" Jones), while the second half (which includes the quirky hit "Once in a Lifetime") puts the brakes on the soul train, slowing down the pacing of the songs while delving deeper into the human psyche, ending with the Eno-composed dirge "Overload" (which is perhaps the most incongruous song on the album). As I mentioned previously, the ideas and concepts on the album have a dark underbelly, but Byrne's sardonic delivery lightens the load, allowing us to laugh at our own confusion or, to quote David Byrne, "[We] operate half awake or on autopilot and end up, whatever, with a house and family and job and everything else, and we haven't really stopped to ask ourselves, 'How did I get here?'." On the contrary, Mr. Byrne, I believe most of us have reached that conclusion at one time or another.
Worth the price of admission: Once in a Lifetime, Houses in Motion, The Great Curve, Talking Wind.

Paul Simon - Graceland
Paul Simon's penchant for allegory, metaphor, clever phrasing, brilliant composition and the embrace of world music all combine on Graceland. In a decade drenched in deplorable drum machines, synths and melancholy faux-boys with bad hair, this album is a shining beacon of musical craftsmanship in an oily sea fouled by the flotsam and jetsam of power-pop, new wave, hair bands and rap crap. Simon takes us on an extraordinary journey through African-themed songs with the inestimable assistance of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, truly one of the unique vocal groups of the time. Listen to the stunning harmonies on a song like "I Know What I know", one can't help but appreciate the fundamental qualities of this album.

Featuring a stellar cast of musicians including Los Lobos, Linda Rondstadt, Adrian Belew, Youssou N'Dour, The Everley Brothers, and the aforementioned Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Simon's Graceland is fun ("You Can Call Me Al"), reflective ("Under African Skies"), wryly observant ("Crazy Love, Vol. II" or "The Boy in the Bubble"), and musically varied (the fascinating African a capella of "Homeless", as opposed to the creole vibe of "That Was Your Mother", for instance), and Simon's lyrical genius is readily apparent. Throw in the paean to Elvis "Graceland", and the beautiful "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes", and the compositional qualities of Paul Simon are readily apparent. Graceland is a mellow, moving and gratifying - an essential album - and one of the few reasons to listen to any music from the 80's, because the music transcends the decade.
Worth the price of admission: Homeless, Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, The Boy in the Bubble, Graceland

R.E.M. - Document
Document was the last R.E.M. album I bought. Afterwards, Michael Stipe started singing about orange crush, shiny, happy people, checking Kenneth's frequency and losing his religion, and I lost my faith in the band. But that's okay. I often become enamored of bands and buy a few or several of their albums; yet like most relationships, things eventually go sour or we take divergent paths and then move on alone. There are relatively few bands I've managed to stand for the length of their recording careers, and most of those had the common sense to quit before becoming caricatures of themselves (The Beatles), or died young and retained their mystical quality (Hendrix and Morrison). But up until Document, I really enjoyed R.E.M., and I think this album is their best, particularly since you can actually understand what Stipe is singing for most of the album!

For instance, a great song comparable to Document's "The One I Love", "Fall on Me" from Life's Rich Pageant, is nearly one long series of mumbles interspersed with a comprehensible refrain (it goes something like "Rezzer-rez-brrr-bazzer-borrzeer-rezzer-ree-zeray-rezzer-righ-rozzer-righ-Fall on me!"). I suppose college crowd basking in reflected alternative glory found this "deep", but with this newfound intelligibility, the band could actually make political statements that made sense and connect with listeners who were equally disenchanted with the Reagan-era White House (the songs "Exhuming McCarthy" and "Welcome to the Occupation", for instance). And then, of course, there is the anthem for learning to enjoy the apocalypse, "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)", which references everything and the kitchen sink, including Greek mythology, college debates, the Book of Revelation, several world figures (Bruce, Bangs, Bernstein, Brezhnev, etc.), Ronald Reagan's jellybeans, and the Iran Hostage Crisis, all rattled off with a stream-of-consciousness delivery inspired by Dylan's "Subterranenan Homesick Blues". And along with understandable lyrics is a meatier blast or rock to sink your teeth into, as opposed to whispier music from previous albums.
Worth the price of admission: The One I Love, It's the End of the World as We Know It, Welcome to the Occupation, Finest Worksong.

Peter Gabriel - So
Gabriel's output in the 1980s represents the greatest contribution of any single artist in that misbegotten, androgynous, hair-teased, drum-machined, musical era: the last was the riveting Passion: Music For The Last Temptation Of Christ (1989), previous to that So (1986), following the excellent 1982 album Peter Gabriel (titled Security in the U.S.), and preceded by the stellar 1980 release Peter Gabriel (otherwise known as Melt). I know, it's confusing: after leaving the band Genesis in 1975, Gabriel released four consecutive albums simply titled "Peter Gabriel". But So is more accessible and radio-friendly than the previous four self-titled albums, and was a commercial success that spawned some really well-made videos for MTV (back when MTV actually meant 'Music TV', and was not some inane 24 hour reality-TV network).

The songs on So are superb, and the album is cohesive and melancholy (but then Gabriel would never sing something like "Shiny, Happy People" anyway). Besides video hits like "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time", the real highlights are Gabriel's more heartfelt and contemplative tunes: "Don't Give Up", an achingly beautiful duet with Kate Bush (a regular collaborator on Gabriel albums), the haunting "Mercy Street", the evocative "Red Rain" (about acid-rain or nuclear holocaust, take your pick), and "In Your Eyes" (a 'Brat Pack' movie anthem for the 80s). So is a great album and, in my opinion, the third best release of Gabriel's solo material, behind his eccentric 1976 self-titled debut (or Car, again referencing the album photo), and Melt from 1980.
Worth the price of admission: In Your Eyes, Mercy Street, Don't Give Up, Red Rain.

U2 - The Joshua Tree
Yes, The Joshua Tree is a great and important album; but because U2 purposely set out to make a great and important album, a grand statement, a glorious testament, I don't rank it as highly as their more straightforward and gritty album War. I mean, did you really need two heavyweight producers, Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, to make this epic-that-tries-to-be-understated? I suppose so. In any case, The Joshua Tree is undeniably strong and touching, without a blemish in the bunch. The album is a mythological travelogue of American institutions and icons, where the ideal does not necessarily mesh with reality. The band's spirituality, always evident on previous albums, is brought to the forefront here, and worn like a merit badge over their beating hearts. U2 released other very good albums afterwards, like Rattle and Hum and Achtung Baby, but it would seem The Joshua Tree was their defining moment, and they have spent the rest of their careers trying to escape its legacy, but the shadow cast by this album stretches too far to outrun. Love Brian Eno's synth work and The Edge's jangling guitar.
Worth the price of admission: Where the Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, With or Without You, Bullet the Blue Sky.

Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman
A remarkable acoustic rock debut and one of the best albums of the 80s, winning two Grammys and going multi-platinum in sales. Not bad for one Tracy Chapman, a recent graduate of Tufts University (she earned a B.A. in Anthropology), who began busking around Harvard to make ends meet. "Fast Car" is the biggest hit from the album, but I prefer "Talkin' Bout a Revolution", "Across the Lines", "For My Lover" and "Mountains O' Things". Then there is the thoroughly chilling a capella song "Behind the Wall", one of the most moving protests against domestic violence I have ever heard. Entertaining, thoughtful and provocative, Chapman's first album helped begin a renaissance of female composers in the late 80s and early 90s. There is a full-throated sincerity in Ms. Chapman's voice and an impeccable earnestness in her lyrics that cannot be artificially duplicated in studio, which is why you will not see a Madonna album listed herein.
Worth the price of admission: Talkin' Bout a Revolution, Mountains O' Things, Across the Lines, For My Lover, Behind the Wall.

The Police - Synchronicity
According to Wikipedia, the lazy scholar's primary research tool, "Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated or unlikely to occur together by chance and that are observed to occur together in a meaningful manner." Jungian concepts are quite rare in a successful rock album, but Sting and the boys were feeling quite pschologically full of themselves when they released the aptly titled Synchronicity. I've always wondered if the egos of Sting and Bono could fit in one room. Scratch that, let's talk about the album, and a great one it is. I will admit that I miss much of the reggae so prevalent on previous albums, but The Police felt they needed to step out of the box, and although the trio recorded the entire album individually in three separate rooms, they still got into fist fights when they came together (which makes the title of the album quite ironic). There is, of course, the anthem of all anthems for stalkers, the unintentionally creepy "Every Breath You Take", and Andy Summer's disturbing ode to his "Mother", but the songs "Synchronicity I & II", "Wrapped Around Your Finger", "King of Pain" and "Tea in the Sahara" are all excellent, and Sychronicity is indeed The Police's magnum opus.
Worth the price of admission: Synchronicity I, Synchronicity II, King of Pain, Wrapped Around Your Finger.

The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God
Thank god Shane McGowan has better songwriting skills than dental hygiene! If I Should Fall From Grace With God (1988) is what sometimes happens when you mix whiskey, heroin, punk rock, and traditional Irish music. Such a volatile mixture rarely succeeds, but on this album the Pogues stumbled into their magnum opus, and in the process created an entirely new subgenre of music (influencing Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphys and The Young Dubliners). The Pogues used this lethal concoction previously on the great Rum Sodomy and the Lash (1985), but the band and their infamous leader, Irish poet of the gutter MacGowan, crested a creative peak they would never reach again. Highlights are "Bottle of Smoke" (with more F-bombs dropped per verse than nearly any song), "Turkish Song of the Damned", "Metropolis", "Lullaby of London", "The Broad Majestic Shannon", and one of the greatest Christmas song ever penned "Fairytale of New York" (reminiscences of an addict in a drunk tank on Christmas Eve) featuring the late Kirsty MacColl. Also of note are two songs by Terry Woods, the Northern Irish lament "Streets of Sorrow" and the rousing "South Australia".
Worth the price of admission: Lullaby of London, Fairytale of New York, Metropolis, Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six, Bottle of Smoke.

King Crimson - Discipline
The Talking Heads release a progressive rock album! I'm only kidding, but after a several year hiatus (the landmark album Red in 1974 being their last release), Robert Fripp resurrected King Crimson in 1981 with the album Discipline and turned New Wave on its spiky-haired head. With guru guitarist Fripp and drummer Bill Bruford as returning members, Crimson added Zappa sideman Adrian Belew on guitar and Chapman stick/bass master Tony Levin on this adventure over to the dark side of modern 80s music. The compositions are as knotty and difficult as the Celtic knot adorning the album cover, and the improvisational lyrics and vocals of Belew are indeed reminiscent of David Byrne, minus any pop sensiblities (Belew played guitar on Talking Head's Remain in Light, which explains the similarities). The intricate, repeating chord phrases are mesmerizing and their everchanging color and intonations reflect the motto of the album: "Discipline is never an end in itself, only a means to an end". I imagine that the band Tool wore out the grooves on this album, replaying it several hundred times. Useless Crimson trivia: the song title "Thela Hun Ginjeet" is an anagram of "heat in the jungle".
Worth the price of admission: Elephant Talk, Discipline, Thela Hun Ginjeet, Frame by Frame, Indiscipline.

Neil Young - Freedom
Every once in a while, Neil Young comes along and slaps you with a wall of distortion - just to let you know he's still there and relevant. Freedom can be seen as the bookend to Rust Never Sleeps in both playlist (starting with an acoustic version of "Rockin' in the Free World" and ending with an electric version, just like Rust's "Hey Hey My My"/"My My Hey Hey"), and offering up an eccentric and lyrically intriguing dichotomy of electric and acoustic tunes. "Rockin' in the Free World" is, of course, one of the great rock anthems of the 80s, but is far more politically volatile than the more ambiguous and often pastoral themes on Rust Never Sleeps, and the bitter "Crime in the City" echoes the mean streets references of "Free World". A few songs have a decidedly Hispanic flavor: "Eldorado","The Ways of Love" and "Hangin' on a Limb" (the last two duets with Linda Ronstadt). Elsewhere, there is "Too Far Gone", which would fit nicely on the Comes a Time album, the revenant "someday", and an incredibly distorted and disturbed version of "On Broadway". Excellent album and perhaps the last masterpiece of Young's career. Until he comes up with the next one.
Worth the price of admission: Rockin' the Free World (acoustic), Too Far Gone, Crime in the City, Someday, Rockin' in the Free World (electric).

The Waterboys - Fisherman's Blues
The Waterboys were a sadly underrated and underappreciated band in the sterile 80s. Mike Scott and The Waterboys divorced themselves from the 'Big Sound' of their splendid album This is the Sea, and crafted a homely, pastoral masterpiece on Fisherman's Blues, a heady concoction of rock, Irish folk and American country that is diverse in roots but cohesive in its delivery. Musically speaking, Fisherman’s Blues is carried on the bowstring of Steve Wickham, whose fiddling is used to great effect on nearly every song, particularly the incessant hornet’s nest buzz on the bitter “We Will Not Be Lovers”, and on “World Party”, where Wickham’s fierce fiddle matches Scott’s hissing, wiry guitar licks. “Has Anybody Here Seen Hank” is a twangy bit of lonesome ol’ country blues invoking the spirit of Hank Williams Sr., and Mike Scott is at his scatting best on Van Morrison’s “Sweet Thing” (with a surprise segue into The Beatles’ “Blackbird”). “And a Bang on the Ear” is perhaps the best song on the album (a tour-de-force of storytelling, with Scott reminiscing about his various relationships), but the stunning achievement on Fisherman's Blues is the musical adaptation of great Irish poet W. B. Yeat's "The Stolen Child". No finer interpretation of a poem is available on any rock album.
Worth the price of admission: World Party, Has Anybody Here Seen Hank, And a Bang on the Ear, When Ye Go Away

R.E.M. - Murmur
Murmur was one of those debut albums that catches you totally off guard. I recall hearing "Radio Free Europe" on a college radio station for the first times and I was immmediately struck by how very little R.E.M. sounded like the rank and file (and I stress "rank" here) new-wave stereotype band. They had the de rigueur Byrd-like jangling guitar, but the vocals were more ominous, and you really couldn't understand what the hell the singer was saying. Who knew at the time just what the term "alternative rock" meant? I don't recall hearing it back then (but then no one I know referred to Tull, Yes and King Crimson as "progressive rock" back in the 70s either). But I guess alternative meant an option to the crap on the radio and MTV at the time. Songs like "Talk about the Passion" and "Perfect Circle" had a homely appeal unaffected by British affectedness, and "Catapult" seemed to capture a newfound punk feel with an old Byrd's ethic, but my favorite tunes from the album may well have been "9-9" and "Pilgrimage", which really defined R.E.M's sound and didn't dwell on influences.
Worth the price of admission: Radio Free Europe, Talk About the Passion, Perfect Circle, 9-9.

Robbie Robertson - Robbie Robertson
A haunting and evocative album by Robbie Robertson that masterfully weaves The Band's penchant for epic rock Americana and Robertson's own American-Indian background into one of those rare gems that is seldom heard, but once embraced is unforgettable. Exquisitely produced by Daniel Lanois and Robbie Robertson after an extended break from the legendary group that backed-up Bob Dylan and named themselves simply "The Band", Robertson's first solo album borrows a few pages from the Band and also Tom Waits, but maintains a completely separate identity that Robertson never seemed to realize again on later solo efforts. "Fallen Angel", a duet with Peter Gabriel, is outstanding, as is "Broken Arrow", a song covered often afterwards (by Rod Stewart, for one).
Worth the price of admission: Fallen Angel, Broken Arrow, Showdown at Big Sky, American Roulette.

Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
The best punk album ever made. Imagine if the Sex Pistols could actually play their instruments and invited Captain Beefheart and Spike Jones over to jam - yeah, it's that demented . Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables is one of the most frantic and disturbing political manifestos of all time. One listen to "California Uber Alles" or "Kill the Poor", and one soon realizes that the quavering howls of Jello Biafra are not the ravings of a rabid lunatic, but actually very sly bits of social commentary with exaggerated hyperbole that strikes like rhetorical lightning. And for an album released in 1980, the songs are still topical and germane. It is not an album for the sensitive or weak-of-heart; in fact, it's been known to cause strokes in small dogs and fundamentalists. Jello Biafra and the Dead Kennedys never went beyond the limited frame of reference found on this album, but for one brief, shining moment they unleashed bloody hell before releasing the same album four more times with different titles.
Worth the price of admission: California Uber Alles, Let's Lynch the Landlord,Chemical Warfare, Kill the Poor.

Los Lobos - How Will the Wolf Survive?
One damn fine album full of mariachi, Tex-Mex, zydeco, blues and good ol' time rock and roll. It was like a breath of fresh air in 1984, for there was nothing else like it - unless, of course, you have more Los Lobos albums around the house! Undoubtedly one of the best party albums I can think of (whether you're Mexican, Polish or Japanese!), How will the Wolf Survive? features the hard-edged growl of Cesar Rosas (singing "Don't Worry Baby", for instance) and the velvety crooning of David Hidalgo (notable on "A Matter of Time"), and the disparate vocal qualities of the two make for an excellent change-up in tenor and tempo as the album progresses. Not a clinker in the bunch, and a feel-good album by excellent musicians who know their chops. Muchos gracias, amigos!
Worth the price of admission: Don't Worry Baby, How Will the Wolf Survive?, Evangeline, A Matter of Time.

Pixies - Doolittle
One of the most influential bands of the 80s (revered by Nirvana, Radiohead, Weezer and Smashing Pumpkins, among others), Black Francis and Pixies defined the alternative rock genre that in turn was the defining rock music of the 90s. This isn't a sprawling rock epic, but more of a touchstone album. As if a rabid butterfly flitted from flower to flower and pissed on each passing bloom, the album Doolittle goes from song to song with varied influences the Pixies had accumulated like carbuncles on the underside of a ship: from the warped Appalachian folk plaint "Silver" to the bright 60s pop of "Here Comes Your Man" to the ska-punk "Mr. Grieves", there's a bit of insanity for every taste. What is truly remarkable about the album Doolittle is that you can basically hear the bits and pieces lifted from the Pixies by 90s bands (again, Nirvana, Radiohead, Weezer, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.). I don't know if the Pixies should be flattered or sue.
Worth the price of admission: Here Comes Your Man, Monkey Gone to Heaven, Mr. Grieves, Silver, Wave of Mutilation.

Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska
As American as politicians with broken promises and bad hair, driving a block to buy cigarettes at the party store, and buffalo shit on the great plains, Springsteen's Nebraska reeks of the heartland and a bygone era of folk music from the likes of Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. Surprisingly, it succeeds on several levels and is perhaps one of Bruce's best 2 or 3 albums. It certainly is one of the darkest albums he released during his multi-platinum heyday. But, like Bob Dylan and James Taylor, two other musicians who obviously haven't made enough money in their careers, most of Bruce's studio material is unavailable on YouTube, but there are noteworthy live versions of songs from Nebraska. The best songs on the album are "Johnny 99" (Bruce plays harmonica like Dylan, meaning sloppily), "My Father's House", "Nebraska" (about Charles Starkweather and his girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate, and their murder spree across Nebraska in 1958), and "Mansion on the Hill". Stark and sad and moody, this is Springsteen's greatest lyrical effort.
Worth the price of admission: Nebraska, Johnny 99, Reason to Believe, My Father's House.

Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones
Most folks swear by Rain Dogs as the best Tom Waits album; naturally, I disagree. Fishswordtrombones from 1983, the first of his 1980s "Frank Trilogy" (followed by Rain Dogs and Frank's Wild Years) is, musically speaking, the most brazen and raucous of the three. And perhaps because the music takes the forefront on this album, and Waits himself is more bluesy and belting, that I prefer it over the more subdued Rain Dogs. Fishswordtrombones also is the first album that breaks with the more conventional piano and strings compositional style he employed throughout the 1970s, opting for an odd assortment of percussion instruments and a more esoteric poeticism in his lyrics. Like Captain Beefheart before him, whatever you say about Tom Waits, you have to admit they broke the mold when he poured a shot of bourbon in a dirty glass and plunked the keys of that off-key upright piano for the first time. Truly original.
Worth the price of admission: Down, Down, Down, Gin-Soaked Boy, Soldier's Things, 16 Shells For a Thirty-Ought Six, Rainbirds.

Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking
It's sad that, like David Lee Roth, Perry Farrell got more obnoxious with age. But hey, at least we got one great album out of him! From the arresting cover (that most U.S. national retailers refused to carry without a brown paper wrapper), the music video of "Mountain Song" that MTV refused to air because of nudity, and Farrell making egotistical and ludicrous demands of his other bandmates, it's surprising that Nothing's Shocking sold any albums at all, or that the original band stayed together long enough to record another album (Ritual de lo Habitual). But Nothing's Shocking got released and managed to sell 200,000 copies in its first release with limited airplay, lack of store presence, or MTV rotation. The album itself is listed in the "heavy metal" genre, but songs like "Jane Says" and "Summertime Rolls" hint at something beyond the generic metallic mundanity of the the late 80s. I've always loved "Pigs in Zen".
Worth the price of admission: Jane Says, Mountain Song, Summertime Rolls, Ted, Just Admit It, Pigs in Zen.

Dire Straits - Love Over Gold
Contrary to the blasé buying habits of the general listening public, Brothers in Arms is not, in any way, shape or form, Dire Strait's best album. It is commercially detestable, aurally indigestible and critically contestable. But hey, if you enjoy such annoyingly overplayed bits of MTV tripe like "Money for Nothing" or "Walk of Life", then avert your eyes, as this review aint for you. If, however, you enjoy moving songs played elegantly and some genuinely gorgeous riffs plucked by guitar-picker extraordinaire Mark Knopfler, then there's hope for you yet! Love Over Gold is an album that was very ambitious, but was successful in achieving an incredibly evocative sound and an impeccable clarity, even over the 14+ minute composition "Telegraph Road", the stellar centerpiece of the album. Then there is one of my favorite songs of the 80s, "Industrial Disease", one of the funniest takes on technology overload ever written (with a wonderfully infectious organ line and sly Dylanesque lyrics and rhyme scheme). There is also the dark "Private Investigations", and jazzy stylings of the title track. And Sting was not required to sing backup anywhere on the album.
Worth the price of admission: Industrial Disease, Telegraph Road, Private Investigations, Love Over Gold.

Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell
You know, I was considering leaving Heaven and Hell off this initial list and place it further down the food chain in a later installment. After all, this was Black Sabbath without Ozzie, it has Ronnie James Dio writing lyrics (Dio rhymes like Dr. Seuss, except the good doctor is more subtle), and there were several other hard rock/heavy metal albums of consequence from the 80s (from AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Van Halen, etc.). But this is really the only album of that genre and era I still give a damn about enough to listen to. Heaven and Hell has held up remarkably well through passing fads and fancies of metallic mayhem, and the powerful combination of Dio's devilish vocals and Tony Iommi's monstrous guitar are a guilty pleasure for an old fart like me (rather like the Dio/Blackmore combo on Rainbow's Rainbow Rising). There are no inane death growls mucking up Dio's booming delivery, no repetitive extended hammer-on leads are necessary in Iommi's exquisite and succinct guitar repertoire, and the percussively explosive tandem of drummer Bill Ward and bassist Geezer Butler have always been one of my favorite rhythm duos. Rest in peace Ronnie James!
Worth the price of admission: Heaven and Hell, Neon Knights, Children of the Sea, Lonely is the Word.

The Worst Christmas Songs of All Time

2011-12-09T22:39:00.053-05:00

And here it is, the untold reason why suicides increase over the holidays:
it's the damn Christmas songs!

I take Seconal cos' I'm not jolly -
fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-lah
My ears do bleed from caroling folly -
fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-lagggggghhhhhhh!!!

So, last year I gave you my favorite tunes for this time of year, 'Tis The Season: Great Christmas & Winter Rock Songs; however, I am overcome with a certain air of hoary grinchification for 2011 that has nearly overwhelmed the faint pulse of Christmas Spirit sludging through my icy veins.

Perhaps it is because shopping malls start advertising Christmas sales at the same time I am buying sandals and suntan lotion for the beach (hell, we're almost at the point where ads will trumpet "The 365 Days of Continual Christmas Sale"). Or maybe it's the asinine side-stepping perambulations, permutations, connivery, condescension and intransigent flummery of the U.S. Congress (both the Demoblicans and Republicrats, they all suck) who have taken inaction and partisanship to an intractable level unseen since Timmy and Bobby engaged in an all-day staring contest back in kindergarten. It could be that nearly every damn thing in stores is now made in China (including lights, tinsel and ornaments) - AND THEY DON'T EVEN CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS IN CHINA! Hey, let's poison the family with a Christmas tree that has carcinogenic cadmium and lead-based ornaments from China! As stocking-stuffers we can give the kids chemotherapy gift cards!

Ahem. Okay, I am done ranting for the moment. But instead of dwelling on the misery of millions of Americans who are unemployed or underemployed...HEY! That's another thing I wanted to bitch about. Do you think if the U.S. had a healthy economy, that any retailer in its right mind would try to open at 4:00 AM in the morning on a holiday weekend? Employees would walk out en masse and go get real jobs. With adequate wages. And health care. And pensions. You know, like in the 1990s. But nowadays, there are no real jobs for millions. They have to scrape up crumbs like rats just to get by. But remarkably, corporations make billions in profits, and millionaires still get tax breaks because, after all, they are the ones spawning these minimum wage jobs while sending good paying jobs offshore. Yeah, merry f'ing X-mas.

Oh...sorry. Now where was I? Ah yes, bad Christmas songs, ill-conceived holiday hymns, and tear-jerking tunes written by cynical lyricists intent on drowning you in sentimentality while they wrest away your hard-earned cash better spent on another paisley tie for dad or battery-operated footies for mom. And so, after some in-depth research and intense soul-searching (actually, it took a few of hours and several pints of Guinness), I have compiled what I consider the 15 most irritating, insulting, just plain inane and doltish Christmas songs ever spewed upon the unsuspecting public. No, I didn't include dogs barking out "Jingle Bells" or anthropomorphic chipmunks, these are actual releases from purportedly talented performers recorded in actual studios (I'll leave the final judgment regarding talent up to you):

SUPERSTARS PANDERING FOR X-MAS DOLLARS

Paul McCartney - Wonderful Christmastime
The staggering height of Paul McCartney's solo career. This is a man who could compose such touching songs as "Eleanor Rigby" and "Let It Be", but here we find him diddling with a synthesizer and uttering blandities. But then again, he also co-wrote the insipid "Ebony and Ivory" (with Stevie Wonder) and "Say Say Say" (with Michael Jackson), so I suppose he did have the capacity for far greater atrocities.

Elton John - Step into Christmas
I don't know which is worse, this song or Elton John's outfit in the video.

New Kids on the Block - Funky, Funky Christmas
Another reason why condoms should be mandatory in mobile home parks. Or New Jersey tenements. Or wherever New Kids on the Block were conceived.

MY, THAT'S JUST CREEPY

Smashing Pumpkins - Christmastime
If John Wayne Gacy made a holiday music video, it would be something like this. Billy Corrigan's bald pate and menacing brow has no place in a Christmas video. Utterly disturbing.

The Ramones - Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)
It's just not Christmas without Joey Ramone. Just like it's not Easter without Marilyn Manson. I'm sorry, was that a bit too incongruous? Are you sure?

John Denver - Please Daddy (Don't Get Drunk this Christmas)
From a guy who was arrested on two separate DUI's before his ultimate demise, I find this song ironic.

DECK THE BOWELS WITH HOWLING HYMNALS

Bob Seger - The Little Drummer Boy
Didn't anyone in the studio have the balls to tell Mr. Seger that this tune was out of his range? With the amount of straining in this song, I hope Bob was wearing a hernia truss.

Madonna - Santa Baby
Madonna is Betty Boop on steroids. Neither sexy nor seductive, I hope Santa wrapped his candy cane before sliding down Madonna's well-worn chimney.

Cindy Lauper - Christmas Conga
Ms. Lauper, does the term "ill-advised" mean anything to you? Obviously not.

HEY, THEY KEEP PLAYING IT; ERGO, IT MUST BE A CLASSIC!

Gayla Peevey - I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
My vote for the most obnoxious and nasally Christmas tripe ever recorded.

Lou Monte - Dominick the Donkey
Hmmm...let me see...how many ludicrous Italian stereotypes can I shove in one song?

The Beach Boys - Santa's Beard
Note to Beach Boys: don't record when you're bored. Or when you have writer's block and find it necessary to repeat the same lines several hundred times.

BATHETICALLY MAUDLIN AND MAWKISHLY LACHRYMOSE

Clay Aiken - Merry Christmas With Love
This is the reason why winners of American Idol should be euthanized immediately after the final show. If you're despondent and looking for a Christmas song to slit your wrists by, I recommend this one.

NewSong - The Christmas Shoes
Awww...the grimy urchin wants to buy his dying mother a new pair of shoes so she can look good when she goes to meet Jesus. This song was brought to you by the makers of the new Sweet N' Low Intravenous Saccharine Delivery System(TM).

Dan Fogleberg - Same Old Lang Syne
He checked her out in frozen foods, took her groceries to the checkout stand, the food was totalled up and bagged, then they bought a six-pack at a liquor store. Ah, it's the details that make a truly memorable holiday song!

In closing, as my Irish relatives would say, "Nollaig Shona Duit", and my Italian relatives would reply, "Buon Natale"; but whatever the language, color or creed, I hope you and yours have a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Peaceful New Year. Thank the imaginary, bearded deity floating benignly up in the clouds that this miserable year is almost over!

The Greatest Rock Albums of the 1970s, Part I

2011-10-23T18:53:00.008-04:00

To be honest, this was one of the more difficult lists I’ve had to compile. If ever there was a schizophrenic decade, it was the 1970s, a ten-year span that saw the majority of the greatest rock albums ever made, right along with the most banal and insipid. It was an iconoclastic era, a broken image of splintered fractionalization, of wretched excess and then oversimplification in opposition, and hundreds of great musical ideas that were seldom put into practice for any length of time. But before I slip off into a Dickensian "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times" diatribe, let us consider my thought processes in making this list, the first 35 albums of the greatest 70 albums of the 1970s (diabolical, I know).

As in the previous article The Greatest Rock Albums of the 1960s, Part I, there is no enumeration in this list, because a great album is a great album, whether it is 8th or 18th on a list. Hell, I could talk about 200 albums all deserving of recognition as eminently important and each great in one form or another; but time is fleeting, and in the words of Robert Frost, I have "miles to go before I sleep". However, with some degree of certainty (and depending on my listening habits for the day), I can say that the first ten albums listed are, in my estimation, the greatest of the 1970s. Inevitably, someone can argue minutiae, or even claim another album from a specific band deserves greater adulation than the one chosen, and I can sympathize - up to a point - and then I would suggest making your own damn list for your own personal edification. But, as with most such compilations, you can't please everyone - nor should that be the basis for consideration. One reviewer's landmark is another's dung heap, and I am merely digging for gold in the manure pile. Yet from a comparative standpoint, one can't but help discern - no matter what one's musical proclivities may be - what is distinctive, what is amazing and what is truly great from a compositional, instrumental or vocal standpoint.

The evident transformation in the mid-to-late 1970s towards the punk/new wave ethic did indeed offer intriguing, rebellious and thought-provoking albums, and a new musical direction was certainly necessary, given the collective and nearly simultaneous brain fart of many of the great rock bands of the 1970s: Led Zeppelin released In Through the Out Door (the worst album of the bunch) and John Bonham died (probably of embarrassment), Pink Floyd released the prophetically titled The Final Cut, ELP made Love Beach (with one of the tackiest album covers in rock history), Yes decided to piss off fans with the mediocre Tormato and Drama, The Rolling Stones and Queen went disco, Genesis started making absurd pop albums, and Tull alienated many fans with the A album before going completely off the deep end and releasing the wretched Under Wraps (where it should have remained). Let's also not forget the corporate rock scene of the late 70s as well, with the commercial merger of the ForeignerStyxBostonJourneyREO abomination conglomeration. Basically, the rock industry suits gained unprecedented control of the recording process, yoked bands with a one-size-fits-all marketing plan and, like musical mosquitoes with floral ties, sucked creativity and innovation dry. It would take decades for any discernible change, mostly due to the enormous potential of the Internet.

But whether you see the "punk revolt" as a hard-edged return to rock's roots that saved rock and roll from its own bloated pretensions, or a regressive and simplistic three-chord reiteration by untalented slackers growling guttural nihilisms, is a matter of conjecture, and the point where most rock music fans begin to deviate in their opinions. One thinks that either the resultant musical mutation of the MTV 80s sucked monkey balls, or that hiccupping vocals or Flock-of-Seagull swooping hair was meaningful, even revelatory. I tend to lean towards the former, as I see little of intrinsic value in the latter, particularly when one considers the musical virtuosity of the progressive rock movement of the early 70s (undeservedly underappreciated and ignored by a coterie of conniving critics), the seminal rumblings of early punk from the MC5 and Iggy and the Stooges (or even the untalented, dress-wearing New York Dolls), the glam rock and/or art rock of Bowie, T-Rex, Mott the Hoople, Roxy Music and Alice Cooper, great blues rock of Derek and the Dominos, The Allman Brothers, Robin Trower and The Stones, the rise of the singer/songwriter movement, hard rock, heavy metal, space rock, southern rock, jazz rock, kraut rock, and a host of other musical innovations that were not defined by addled genres back then. Because things were simpler...either rock was good or it sucked - without the qualifiers, quantifiers and equivocations.

As with most of my articles, certain caveats apply. For instance, I am only listing those albums considered "rock" or "rock and roll" in the specified era, not soul, jazz, jazz-fusion, blues, country or polka; therefore, I won't be discussing superlative and undeniably great albums like Marvin Gaye's What's Going On or Stevie Wonder's Innervisions, Mahavishnu Orchestra's The Inner Mounting Flame, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Willie Nelson's Redheaded Stranger or Muddy 'Mississippi' Waters Live. The list is apples-and-oranges enough without plopping in every genre known to humankind, and I am uninterested in the revisionist cant that nearly everything recorded in the last 40 years is "rock". And unlike The Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums (which is a revisionist mess and subjective in the extreme), I ignore greatest hits packages altogether, and have kept live recordings to a minimum (those live albums that can exist solely by themselves in an artist's catalog, and which surpass the artist's studio recordings).

But I promised myself I would eliminate as much rhetoric as possible and get to the point. So, here are the first 35 greatest albums of the 1970s (with the next 35 album installment coming later):

The Who - Who's Next
The greatest rock album of the 1970s and one of the five best ever made. I didn't stutter. I didn't mince words (much). If one considers rock music in its simplest formula, with guitar, bass, drums, powerful singer and overt rebelliousness, then there really is no contest here. Nearly every song on Who's Next is epic (it is, indeed, the most epic-filled rock album of all time), and most of the songs on Who's Next are memorably anti-establishment (even the album cover is an epic "fuck you" moment). From the frenetic violin closing of the monumental "Baba O'Riley" (known to casual listeners as "Teenage Wasteland") to Roger Daltrey's immortal primal scream on the anthem of all anthems "Won't Get Fooled Again", this is an album made to be played at maximum volume and feel damned good about it in the process.

Of course, there is more to Who's Next than merely guitar, bass and drums, but Pete Townshend's use of piano, organ and keyboards (VCS3 and ARP synths) is brilliant in its minimalistic effect as a colorful backdrop for the thunderous anthemic avalanche known as The Who (and you can't get a much better rhythm section than Keith Moon on drums and John Entwistle on bass). Yet there are stunning moments of reflection and beauty on the album, as evidenced by "Behind Blue Eyes", "Getting in Tune" and "The Song Is Over". Throw in another epic like "Bargain", the acoustic-driven "Mobile" ("I don't care about pollution, I'm an air-conditioned gypsy" - Oh, the irony!), and John Entwistle's delightfully wicked "My Wife", and Who's Next offers the fundamental blueprint for a legendary rock album.

Even its original concept, the overambitious "Lifehouse Project" (a rock opera album, a scripted film and a live concert event all rolled into one) - doomed to failure and almost causing Pete Townshend's suicide - gives the album a larger than life quality. But The Who managed to record a greatest hits package while simply trying to record their next album; which, I suppose, is why it is called Who's Next.
Worth the price of admission: Won't Get Fooled Again, Baba O'Riley, Behind Blue Eyes, Bargain, Song Is Over

Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
Sonically perfect, The Dark Side of the Moon (or DSotM if you're acronymally inclined) is a masterpiece of studio recording. People have literally worn out their vinyl, eight-tracks, cassettes and CDs and continued to repurchase this album in the newest format available. Along with Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, DSotM is perhaps the greatest studio recording of all time, with more technical innovations than occurred during the NASA lunar program. Okay, I am exaggerating about NASA, but there is a direct tie to the studio work of The Beatles and Pink Floyd: Alan Parsons, the studio engineer for The Dark Side of the Moon, was also responsible for engineering work on The Beatles' Abbey Road and Let It Be albums (it is Parsons who was completely responsible for the multitude of clocks ticking and chiming at the beginning of the song "Time" - he had gone to an antique shop and laboriously recorded the distinctive sounds of several old timepieces).

The working title for this album was Dark Side of the Moon: A Piece for Assorted Lunatics, mirroring Roger Waters' idea that the songs should deal with things that "make people mad": war, anger, isolation, greed, regret, aging, death and mental illness. And madness pervades the songs, played as continuous pieces of music on both sides of the album. Of particular note is the clever interplay between the songs and the accompanying background dialogue that runs throughout - sometimes mumbled, sometimes drunken, and other times forthright - culminating in the final ironic statement: "There is no dark side of the moon, really; as a matter of fact, It's all dark." There is the quirky "Money" (with the cash register tape loop and odd 7/4 beat), the melancholy truth of "Time", the incredible vocal improvisation of guest-singer Clare Torry on "Great Gig in the Sky", the anti-war sentiment of "Us and Them" (with the soulful sax of long-time Floyd collaborator Dick Parry), and the almost biblical cadence of "Eclipse". The greatest concept album, in my opinion, and one of the best "headphones-only" albums ever.
Worth the price of admission: Time, Us and Them, Great Gig in the Sky, Brain Damage/Eclipse.

David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
So, let me get this straight, Ziggy Stardust is the story of "the human manifestation of an alien being who is attempting to present humanity with a message of hope in the last five years of its existence", but unfortunately becomes overly enamored of sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll and the rabid fans who egg him on, and he eventually burns out and destroys himself? My friends, only the rock chameleon David Bowie could invent a story so ludicrous but have it succeed so wildly. Perhaps because Bowie was so outlandishly alien in his appearance and proclivities that a suspension of disbelief was not required to imagine him in the role. After all, he was later cast as a melancholy alien in the movie The Man Who Fell To Earth. But if one was to measure a superlative concept album like Ziggy Stardust merely by plot, then The Wall and Quadrophenia would also be mercilessly flayed by constipated literary critics, measuring plots points down to the last comma and question mark.

But aside from stretching the limits of science-fiction to Rocky Horrorific proportions, from the first tentative chords of "Five Years" to the violin and cello outro of "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" this album packs a galactic wallop. One can divine the height of glam-rock (and bands like Mott the Hoople are ever indebted to Bowie), hard rock and punk all given the delicious deviant twist by Bowie in his guise as Ziggy. Of special note is the rasping, razor-sharp guitar licks of Mick Ronson. Not one bad song in the whole damn lot, and songs like "Lady Stardust" and "Moonage Daydream" are revelatory, but my particular favorites are the one-two-three punch of "Ziggy Stardust", "Suffragette City" and "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide". Just remember, "you don't eat if you've lived too long". Bowie's masterpiece.
Worth the price of admission: Hang On to Yourself, Star, Rock 'n' Roll Suicide, Ziggy Stardust, Suffragette City, Lady Stardust.

Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV
The perfect storm of Led Zeppelin music, more mature than Vols. I and II, but maintaining the hard rocking mania of those albums, while at the same time infusing the more acoustic elements of Vol. III. The results are phenomenal, a bold blend of rock, blues and English folk that blisters and balms at intervals. Incredibly, both Zeppelin IV and another classic album of the 1970s, Jethro Tull's Aqualung, were being recorded simultaneously in the same studio, which precisely mirrors the astounding creativity of the rock scene during that era. As far as the album itself, even the cover was unconventional, marking the first time a major band did not advertise its name or a title anywhere on the cover. Referred to as Volume IV, Runes or ZoSo (the first of four symbols that graphically define characteristics of each band member), the unnamed and untitled album was said to be "professional suicide" as Jimmy Page later recalled, and sparked a good deal of controversy amongst greedy record execs who insisted it was a terrible business idea. Naturally, the nameless album has sold 32 million copies worldwide.

And although the album is nameless, it certainly is not featureless. Volume IV includes the greatest one-two punch to start off a hard rock album ever recorded, the relentless "Black Dog" and the booming "Rock and Roll" (Lordy-lordy, do I enjoy John Bonham beating the hell out of the drums!). Then there is the reverential nod to Tolkien "The Battle of Evermore", which features the mystical duetting of Robert Plant and the late, great Sandy Denny of Fairport Convention, the vaguely Middle-Eastern air of "Four Sticks", the pastoral "Going to California" and the hippy marriage of marijuana and Middle-earth in "Misty Mountain Hop". But, to my ears, the best song on Vol. IV is "When the Levee Breaks", an important composition because, unlike direct lifts of blues songs on Vols. I and II, it is a totally different take on the blues, an unworldly progressive jam with fantastic phased harp (backward looped at times), echoing drum backbeat and an innovative guitar line that changes at every 12 bar interval. Oh yeah, and then there's that "Stairway to Heaven" song, which you may have grown tired of hearing (decades ago), but which you cannot ignore as one of the truly great rock songs of all time.
Worth the price of admission: When the Levee Breaks, The Battle of Evermore, Black Dog, Rock and Roll, Going to California.

The Rolling Stones - Exile On Main Street
A toss up between Exile on Main Street and Let It Bleed as the Stone's best album. I think I actually favor the more cohesive sound and feeling of Exile, and in particular I enjoy the stripped-down and raw nature of most of the blues tracks. Keith Richards and Co. are in fine drunken swagger on such tunes as the roadhouse rave-up "Rip This Joint", Slim Harpo's sinewy "Shake Your Hips", the country blues "Sweet Virginia", and Robert Johnson's "Stop Breaking Down". Although it sounds amazingly focused, the recording sessions in France were anything but cohesive and well-rehearsed; in fact, it's amazing the album was completed at all, considering Keith Richards' astounding heroin addiction (it was said that weekly thousands of dollars in heroin passed through the mansion The Stones were recording in), and the other members, Jagger, Wyman, Watts and Mick Taylor only made occasional visits to lay down tracks. It wasn't until the sessions moved to Los Angeles and Mick Jagger took charge that the album was engineered in its present form.

And oh what a form it is! Richard's song "Happy" was purportedly recorded in one drug-induced sitting in the basement of the French mansion (with overdubs added later at a safe distance), the songs "Shine a Light", "Tumbling Dice" and "Loving Cup" found there inspiration in a evangelical church Jagger attended in L.A. (although it seems almost blasphemy for Mick to step inside a church), and the list of hall-of-fame worthy pianists who played on the album is mind-boggling: Dr. John, Billy Preston, Ian Stewart and Nicky Hopkins. There are so many great songs on this double album that any list I offer would be extensive. So I'll be brief. In additions to several songs I've already mentioned, other favorites include "Sweet Black Angel", "All Down the Line" and "Ventilator Blues". Exile on Main Street represents the last masterpiece The Stones made before mediocrity set in. Mick Jagger started hangin' with Bianca at Studio 54 and turned to disco. After that, they became a parody of themselves, or, in Keith Richards case, a parody of a pirate. Too bad. Great album.
Worth the price of admission: Tumbling Dice, Rip This Joint, Shake Your Hips, Sweet Virginia, Happy.

Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
One of Dylan's finest albums, and my personal favorite. Blood on the Tracks was a comeback album of sorts, as Dylan suffered through a drought of creativity and cohesion in the late 60s and early 70s. There was not much on par with the great mid-60s albums Blonde on Blonde or Highway 61 Revisited, and some of Dylan's releases during the period (like Self Portrait and Dylan) were nothing short of dreadful. But along came the album Planet Waves, which offered a brief glimpse of rejuvenation, and then the stunning Blood on the Tracks, which represented a full-fledged renaissance (to be followed by another great album Desire, before Dylan drifted off again into idiosyncratic inconsistency).

As if Dylan wished to lay bare his personal demons, free from ostentation and grandiose instrumentation, Blood on the Tracks is as spare and lean, musically speaking, as they come, and the personal nature of the songs offer a gratifying glimpse into Dylan's sometimes obscurant psyche. Certainly, Dylan's lyrics are, as always, suffuse with allegory and symbolism, but there is a fragile nature to the compositions that is uncharacteristic of Dylan's former brash bravado and cynicism. The best love songs Dylan ever wrote are on this one, each tinged with sorrow and regret, and the sparse accompaniments add to the solitude and inner reflection Dylan espouses in his lyrics. "Tangled Up In Blue", "Shelter From The Storm", "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts", "Idiot Wind" and "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome" are masterpieces of the songwriter's craft. There is an outpouring of poetry here ("And the one-eyed undertaker, he blows a futile horn") that is unprecedented in rock lyrics, transcending the genre and once again showing why Dylan has so often been considered a poet laureate of the genre.
Worth the price of admission: Shelter from the Storm, Tangled Up in Blue, Buckets of Rain, Simple Twist of Fate (the paucity of original versions of Dylan tunes on YouTube is abhorrent).

The Clash - London Calling
To call this a punk album is simplistic...or disingenuous. London Calling is, rather, a political dissertation sung at street level (or the gutter, depending on one's social status), with elements of punk, ska, rockabilly, reggae and pop melded into an angry synthesis of disparate elements that mirrored the disaffected subculture of lower-class youth in Britain at the time. It is a damning document of that period, with more social awareness (and greater compositional skills) than the more nihilistic rage of the Sex Pistols. And it is the political nature of London Calling that sets it apart from the inchoate rantings of the Sex Pistols or vacant three-chord assaults of The Ramones, and I again must stress that the musical content is far greater than the other paragons of punk. London Calling may well have embraced the punk ethic, but it also acknowledged the constraints of that limited musical form, and went far beyond the base and elemental structure of punk and progressed onward (again, something The Six Pistols or The Ramones never managed). It is with amusement that I note, many years later, Green Day was castigated for leaving the "punk establishment" (a contradiction in terms, but you get what I'm saying), but The Clash had already opened the door at the height of this supposed anti-movement.

The album cover of London Calling is, in itself, compelling and iconic, an approximation of the graphic style of the cover of Elvis Presley's first album, juxtaposed with the violent burst of guitar-smashing rock energy of The Who. This nod to the past is evident in the kaleidoscopic amount of influences, allusions and covers (Vince Taylor's "Brand New Cadillac", and "Stagger Lee", a version of the old folk tune as played by the reggae band The Rulers, integrated into "Wrong 'Em Boyo"). The album seethes with tried and true concepts of rock 'n' roll rebellion and political protest, but updated by The Clash. They aren't sing about love and peace and flower power. Hell no! This is the 70s, with its own laundry list of societal woes: unemployment, drug abuse, alienation, class warfare, racism, the rejection of parental authority (which is eternal), and coming to grips with adult responsibilities (which I still dread).
Worth the price of admission: London Calling, Brand New Cadillac, Wrong 'Em Boyo, Rudie Can't Fail, The Card Cheat.

Carole King - Tapestry
The greatest single album from a female singer/songwriter ever produced. Nothing against Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Patti Smith or Joni Mitchell, but from a compositional standpoint, Tapestry is astounding. In addition to being one of the greatest selling albums of all time, songs King composed and which appear on the album garnered singles hits for King personally ("It's Too Late"/"I Feel the Earth Move" and "So Far Away"/"Smackwater Jack"), as well as additional top ten hits for other artists: The Shirelle's "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", Aretha Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", and James Taylor's "You've Got a Friend". Incredibly, although Carole King was already an influential songwriter (with her main collaborator Gerry Goffin, and also Jerry Wexler and Toni Stern), she had to be coaxed into making her own album by James Taylor. Thank goodness Sweet Baby James knew a great thing when he heard it!

There is a frailty and sense of urgency in the vocals - an earnestness that is genuinely touching. Certainly, Aretha Franklin and Barbara Streisand have issued unforgetably powerful releases of Carole King songs, but the immediacy of the recording and the simplicity of the instrumentation on Tapestry gives the album a homely feel, as if Carole King was playing piano in your living room (if you could fit a Steinway in your living room), and was merely playing for a few friends over for the weekend. That the album itself was considered empowering for women was echoed in King's statement (during the time she was writing songs for the album with lyrcist Toni Stern) that "we women didn't need to follow our men anymore". It may seem trifling in the 21st century, but such a consideration was a fundamental concern in 1971, and Tapestry was a major influence for hundreds of female songwriters to follow.
Worth the price of admission: It's Too Late, I Feel the Earth Move, So Far Away, Will You Love Me Tomorrow, You've Got a Friend.

Neil Young - After the Gold Rush
Critics rarely rise above their own stupidity; they merely cover their tracks and act like they were right all along. For instance, Rolling Stone Magazine attacked After the Gold Rush when it was first released in 1970 saying, "none of the songs here rise above the uniformly dull surface." Of course, the hypocritical rag eventually did a complete about-face, suddenly proclaiming the album a "masterpiece" (about 5 years after the rest of the world). Whatever. Assholes. With so many excellent Neil Young albums to choose from in the 70s (and one would have to put him and David Bowie together on a pedestal as single artist/performer of the decade), I finally chose After the Gold Rush as representative of Neil's earlier albums (and then further down this list Rust Never Sleeps for a later album). Harvest, the album that follows After the Gold Rush is certainly great, but I believe it mirrors its predecessor in both style and delivery (one could call it Gold Rush II or After After the Gold Rush).

The acoustic and electric balladry of After the Gold Rush is timeless and a perfect take on Neil Young's eccentric genius. From the apocalyptic and spare "After the Gold Rush" (which has more allegory and allusion in a few stanzas than a whole canto of Dante's Inferno) to the poppy and pretty "Only Love Can Break Your Heart", to the haunting "Don't Let It Bring You Down", to a sad interpretation of the Don Gibson/Chet Atkins standard "Oh Lonesome Me", to the upbeat "Cripple Creek Ferry", the album is a milestone in rock history and blueprint for Neil Young albums to follow; so much so, that the biting look at American racism "Southern Man" is copied in both premise and execution in the song "Alabama" on Harvest. As I've stated elsewhere, Neil is my favorite Martian.
Worth the price of admission: After the Gold Rush, Don't Let It Bring You Down, Southern Man, Birds, Oh Lonesome Me.

Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
One of the few albums in rock history to actually live up to an absolutely ridiculous amount of pre-release hype (which usually destroys albums thus over-marketed), Born to Run is an electrified Bob Dylan epic played through a Phil Spector "Wall of Sound". It is an immense, intense, incredible ride through the swamps of Jersey and onward down the highway to Anywhere, USA. If anyone besides Dylan could make Americana a Homeric adventure, it was Springsteen. Of course, his schtick and obligatory headband, leather jacket and blue jean uniform with matching American tunes got quite wearisome by the time he got to Born in the USA, but it was refreshing and innovative in 1975. Buoyed by the bellowing bluster of Clarence Clemons on sax, Springsteen's sound was unique for the mid-70s, until, of course, the inevitable clones like John Cougar (nee' Mellencamp), Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, The Iron City Houserockers and John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band began coalescing into a genre known as "Heartland Rock" (eventually sucking Bob Seger and Tom Petty into that abysmal vortex as well).

The standout songs are the now legendary title tune, "Jungleland", and "Thunder Road", but there really isn't anything less than good on Born to Run. "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out, "Backstreets", "She's the One" - they all have their stunning moments, and aside from the cohesive, layered sound, the album is extraordinary for the carefully planned interrelationship of songs: an epic bit of escapism to start off each side ("Thunder Road", "Born to Run"), and ending with bitter ballads of love lost and the hero beaten ("Backstreets", "Jungleland"). The silly hype that surrounded Bruce at the time (prominent critic Jon Landau in The Real Paper gushed, "I saw rock 'n' roll's future—and its name is Bruce Springsteen!") was a tad presumptuous, and not quite sibyllic prophecy-wise, but the album Born to Run is damn good, for all that blarney.
Born to Run, Thunder Road, Jungleland, Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out, She's the One.

The Allman Brothers - At Fillmore East
With all due respect to Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers were the first and greatest of all Southern bands, and At Fillmore East is a remarkable recording: a big ol' heaping helping of Southern-fried blues, and one of the top five live albums ever. The 2003 release of the Deluxe Edition of the Fillmore East Concerts finally puts the shows in the proper context, and includes all the pertinent songs from the concerts (for decades, the missing songs were available only in separate anthologies or on the Duane Allman requiem Eat a Peach). Forget about the Grateful Dead and their vaunted propensity for extended jamming, The Allman Brothers run circles around them (that, and Gregg Allman can actually sing, which is something no member of the Grateful Dead seemed able to accomplish in key). In any case, Duane Allman is wicked on slide-guitar, Dicky Betts does his best fleet-fingered accompaniment, and the addition of Thom Doucette on blues harp is an added bonus. Of course, the dual drums of Butch Trucks and Jai Johanny Johanson add another dimension to the Brother's sound that would later be exploited by bands such as Genesis. The Allman Brother's propensity for improvisational jams proved highly influential to later bands (Wilco, Phish, Gov't Mule, etc.) who integrated some of that downhome Southern style into their live acts.
Worth the price of admission: One Way Out, Trouble No More, Whippin' Post, Hot 'Lanta, Stormy Monday, Mountain Jam, Pt. I.

Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Yes, the album cover is incredibly silly, and no, this isn't my favorite Sabbath album (those would be Sabbath Vol 4 and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath), but Paranoid represents the crux of all things Sabbathic, and is the defining album of the band, and perhaps of all heavy metal. Everything metal nowadays is merely Sabbath sped up with inane death growls (and I discount and ignore every band with those stereotypical death growls). But Sabbath, like Old Nick the devil himself, has spawned legions of disciples, due in great part to this album (it is their most accessible release). The heavy metal anthems on Paranoid have become standards, as cozy and comfortable as an old pair of slippers (well, as cozy and comfortable as one can get with song titles like "War Pigs" and "Rat Salad"). The proto-punk blast "Paranoid" (rather like Sabbath's version of Zeppelin's "Communication Breakdown"), "Iron Man" (upon first hearing bassist Geezer Butler's heavy riff, Ozzie Osbourne said that is sounded "like a big iron bloke walking about", and thus the title), and the heroin epic "Hand of Doom" are all noteworthy tunes. Oh, and by the way, the fairies in "Fairies Wear Boots" refer to skinheads. The band despised them, and mocked them in this song.
Worth the price of admission: War Pigs, Paranoid, Planet Caravan, Hand of Doom, Iron Man.

Queen - A Night at the Opera
An essential Queen Album, and their masterpiece. There is a sequential amping up of great elements that appear in parts and pieces on Queen's three previous releases - the stepping-stones for the stunning release of A Night at the Opera. Even the cheesy English vaudevillian numbers, "Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon" (all one minute of it) and "Seaside Rendezvous" (with the kazoo solo) are immensely fun. The album has its share of hits, "I'm in Love With My Car", "You're My Best Friend", "Sweet Lady" and, of course, the monster tune "Bohemian Rhapsody". But my favorites are songs with less airplay, but which are infinitely more satisfying, like "'39" (my personal favorite), "Good Company" (great ukulele!) and "Death on Two Legs" (the greatest 'Dear John' blow-off song of all). The two epic pieces on the album are "The Prophet", with the patented Queen overlayed vocal harmonies(TM), and "Bohemian Rhapsody". The song is the defining moment in Queen's history - their "Stairway to Heaven". To this day I am sure there are radio programmers and record execs who still scratch their heads as to how a six minute-long rock operetta (actually composed in rhapsodic form), became such a sensation. And like all operas in England, the album ends with "God Save the Queen" offered in an austere and respectful manner.
Worth the price of admission: Death on Two Legs, '39, Good Company, Sweet Lady, The Prophet's Song.

Jethro Tull - Aqualung
The brilliance of Aqualung is that it transcended what was termed 'hard rock' back in 1971. Rather than the droning four-chord assaults of such bands as Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, Jethro Tull presented virtuosity, variation and volume in Aqualung, making it one of the greatest examples of 1970s rock. The lyrics are dryly witty and sarcastic at times, particularly regarding Christian hypocrisy (like in "My God", "Hymn 43" and "Wind Up"), whimsical ("Mother Goose"), reflective ("Wond'ring Aloud"), or vulgar ("Cross-eyed Mary"), but the overall effect is a seamless travelogue of England itself, where we hobnob with whores, pedophiles, losers, and bums, as well as schoolboys, nurses, and bishops at tea. The title song is a microcosmic mini-epic of the album itself, reminding us that the death of the homeless beggar, snatching his last rattling breath with "deep-sea diver sounds", is the reason the song is called Aqualung in the first place (an 'aqualung' is a breathing apparatus used by deep-sea divers with a distinctive echoed gasping sound as oxygen is breathed in from a mouthpiece). John Evan's ominous piano intro on "Locomotive Breath" is stunning, but what really sets Aqualung apart from the run-of-the-mill 70's stock rock albums is Ian Anderson's numerous introspective interludes on acoustic guitar that act as narrative asides winding through epic heavy rock passages, and is integral to the overall cohesion and ambience of the album.
Worth the price of admission: My God, Up to Me, Aqualung, Locomotive Breath, Cheap Day Return/Mother Goose.

Cat Stevens - Tea for the Tillerman
Once upon a time, long before he adopted an unforgiving, wrong-headed and ultra-conservative brand of Islam, Cat Stevens was one of the best singer/songwriters on the planet. Say what you will about Cat Stevens' adoption of the Islamic faith (he's now known as Yusuf Islam), Tea for the Tillerman is one of the greatest acoustic albums ever recorded, as well as being part of one of the best film soundtracks ever made (4 songs from the album can be heard in the touching black comedy Harold and Maude, along with several other Stevens songs). Cat Stevens' recording history can be seen as a spiritual journey in search of the Truth (which led him eventually to becoming a Muslim), and nowhere is this more plain than on Tea for the Tillerman. Songs such as "Wild World", "On the Road to Find Out", "Father and Son" and "Miles From Nowhere" all speak to a yearning for internal peace and harmony. Add in the achingly beautiful "Sad Lisa" and the social conscience of "Where do the Children Play?", and Tea for the Tillerman is one of the best acoustic rock albums in both instrumental artistry and sublime melodies, with a lyrical depth and meaning for the lost generation after the Vietnam War who, like Cat Stevens, were searching for themselves. You may disagree with his current views, but Tea for the Tillerman is a truly remarkable achievement.
Worth the price of admission: Father and Son, Miles from Nowhere, Where do the Children Play, Wild World, Sad Lisa.

Yes - Close to the Edge
One of the three or four essential albums from Yes and their progressive masterpiece, Close to the Edge is a cohesive, masterfully played and remarkably balanced recording. The album Fragile may have sold more albums and garnered more airplay, but it is fragmented with fluff that is nowhere apparent on the visionary Close to the Edge. "And You and I" in particular is hauntingly beautiful, and I don't believe Jon Anderson's voice has ever been used to such great effect. "Siberian Khatru" is an obvious nod to Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" ("Le sacre du printemps"), and the composition serves its major influence well, offering up a complex structure full of polyrhythms and polytonalities with Howe, Wakeman and Squire trading off dueling barrages of sound. Part III of "Close to the Edge" ("I Get Up/I Get Down") is a great passage of this monumental album, particularly the august and cathedral filling organ sequences of Rick Wakeman, but, as I inferred earlier, "And You and I" is, in my estimation, the single greatest composition Yes ever released. During the "Eclipse" section of the "And You and I" suite, Yes reaches a crescendo so stunning that few bands have ever reached such heights - not even Yes, who descended into obscurant complexities on their next two albums (Tales from Topographic Oceans and Relayer).
Worth the price of admission: And You and I, Close to the Edge (I Get Up, I get Down/Seasons of Man), Siberian Khatru.

John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band
This album is devastating, simply devastating. It may have lost some of its effect in the last 40 years, but in context with its release in 1970, everyone one knew that this album was the final nail in the Beatle coffin - which was an incredibly huge thing at the time. This was a cathartic album for Lennon, an attempt to exorcise demons: his dead mother, his stardom, his isolation, the long shadow of The Beatles, etc. It is a deeply felt and psychologically intriguing album. It merits inclusion with the greatest rock albums of all time on the strength of the songs "Working Class Hero" (Lennon drops the F-bomb!) and "God" (the renunciation of messiahs of any sort, including Jesus, Hitler and The Beatles). This aint yer mother's Beatles, and it transcends anything except George Harrison's All Things Must Pass as far as Post-Beatle solo material. As far as Lennon's mother fixation, Roger Waters dealt with the death of his father on at least three or four albums. Lennon at least kept it to one album (and the song "Julia" from the White Album). "Mother" represents the summation of the primal-therapy sessions Lennon attended prior to the recording of this album, and he lets out all his repressed feelings in anguished screams. Balance that with the simple and beautiful "Love", and you have a riveting look into Lennon's psyche.
Worth the price of admission: God, Working Class Hero, Mother, Remember, Love.

My Aim Is True - Elvis Costello
Again, the critical choice would be the follow-up album This Year's Model, but Elvis Costello's great debut My Aim is True is more varied and shows Elvis's ability to go from mellow to malicious in the space of a song. It doesn't hurt that the best song Costello ever wrote "Alison" appears here (beautiful, and certainly one of the best new wave compositions ever), and the reliance on big thumping drums and bass are not necessary as they are on nearly every song on This Year's Model. You want a rock song with a bite? Try "I'm Not Angry". Reggae/Ska? How about "Watching the Detectives". Apocalypse with punk beat and blues slide? "Waiting for the End of the World". 50s-style new wave? "Welcome to the Working Week". A song about strange fashion sense involving celestial beings? There's "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes". And then of course, one of my favorites, "Blame It on Cain", which shows Elvis's deliciously twisted humor. Elvis Costello was what he would later call "an overnight success after seven years", and worked at his day job as a data-entry clerk while he was recording (having to take sick days whenever he and his backing band, The Clovers, had practice), and still worked his 9 to 5 even after singles from the album were released. The moral: Never quit your day job until your album goes gold.
Worth the price of admission: I'm Not Angry, Alison, Watching the Detectives, Waiting for the End of the World, Welcome to the Working Week, Blame It on Cain.

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
For an album released right after a monumental hit like The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here is just as memorable, and not Floyd's greatest album only by degree (perhaps because it offers a bit less musical distinction than DSotM). But Wish You Were Here's title song is perhaps my favorite Floyd tune, and one can't help feeling some regret listening to that song. "Welcome to the Machine" showcases Richard Wright's underrated abilities, as he creates a cyborg-like feeling of sterility and isolation that outdoes anything from The Wall. "Have a Cigar", a sly dig at the recording industry, is sung by Roy Harper (unfortunately known more for being named in the title of "Hats of to Roy Harper" on Led Zep III), who does a wonderful turn as a smarmy, kiss-ass record exec who knows about as much about music as he does of the band ("The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think -- oh, by the way, which one's Pink?"). "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" is an epic 9 part tribute to Syd Barrett, who actually appeared in studio during recording sessions, but was so drastically changed from the effects of drug abuse and his subsequent mental illness, that the band at first did not recognize him. It is fitting that "Shine on" contains a funeral march in 4/4 time during Part IX (the band never saw Barrett again afterwards, as Syd went into self-exile and lived in seclusion until his death in 2006).
Worth the price of admission: Wish You Were Here, Have a Cigar, Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Part I, Welcome to the Machine.

Court and Spark - Joni Mitchell
Yes, yes, yes - I'm quite aware of the critical adulation and the compositional importance of Joni Mitchell's Blue album, but after much hemming and hawing, I put Court and Spark in place of Blue because I firmly believe the song selection is better and more accessible here. And Blue is not as witty as Court and Spark either. For instance, a Joni Mitchell album is the last place where one would expect Cheech and Chong to show up, but lo and behold! they appear on Court and Spark. Buoyed by the hit single "Help Me", Mitchell's jazzy and brilliant dialogues and monologues are enhanced by stellar backing musicians: "Free Man in Paris" (David Crosby and Graham Nash), "Raised on Robbery" (Robbie Robertson) and, as I mentioned previously, even Cheech & Chong on "Twisted". Interior miniatures like "Car on the Hill" and "Down to You" make Court and Spark a fascinating album, and certainly my favorite from Joni Mitchell's folk-rock period. This is also a transitional album, offering a decidedly more jazz-inflected approach than on previous albums. Mitchell's tendency towards creating jazz compositions would become more pronounced on her next studio release, The Hissing of Summer Lawns, leading to further experimentation on the albums Hejira and Don Juan's Reckless Daughter.
Worth the price of admission: Free Man in Paris, Car on the Hill, Help Me, Down to You, People's Parties/Same Situation.

The Who - Quadrophenia
The Rock Opera was long a province reigned o'er by The Who and their leviathan scion Tommy. Yet the somewhat exaggerated reverence and undeniable genius of The Who's Tommy has overshadowed a better album: Quadrophenia. Heresy, I know, but I believe that Quadrophenia presents Peter Townshend and The Who as mature composers, and the music itself is far more complex and emotionally intense. The album deals with Jimmy Cooper, a 'mod' with schizophrenia (in this case, four different personalities, Sibyl, and each is represented in song) living in 1964 London. The album tells the story of Jimmy's disillusionment with his parents, society and eventually his mod lifestyle. After a particularly destructive binge, Jimmy takes a train to the Brighton, a Brit sea resort, to relive happier times. But depression, drugs and alcohol overwhelm him and we see him rowing a boat out to sea, ostensibly to drown himself. The outstanding songs on this double album are "I Am the Sea/The Real Me" "Quadrophenia", "The Punk and The Godfather", "5:15", "Bellboy" (featuring Keith Moon's manic and marvelous Cockney vocals), and the grande finale "Love, Reign 'Oer Me", a monumental song and the great pinnacle of the Who's career.
Worth the price of admission: 5:15, Quadrophenia, The Punk and the Godfather, Bell Boy, Love, Reign O'er Me.

Genesis - Foxtrot
Counter to the opinion of most progressive music zealots, who would have either Selling England by the Pound or The Lamb Lies Down Broadway on this list, I believe Foxtrot is far less constrained by Peter Gabriel's eccentric vagaries and flights of fancy. There is no absurd "Battle of Epping Forest" or mundane "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" as on Selling England, nor is there a full album-side of obscure mythological drivel like on The Lamb. And although these other albums have stunning moments, they also have tedious half-hours. Foxtrot is a more cohesive album than previous efforts from Genesis, and less prone to mind-numbing obscurities as on later albums (although I consider Trick of the Tail, minus Gabriel, as their 2nd best album). "Watchers of the Skies" and "Can-Utility and the Costliners" are absolutely beautiful compositions, and 'Horizons' is one of the nicest thefts of a Bach cello suite in the history of rock (not that there were that many). Of course, the centerpiece of the album, "Supper's Ready" is a 23 minute-long magnum opus, full of allegory and biblical allusions and a stunning grand finale mirroring John of Patmos' Revelations. There is nothing in the progressive canon more proggier. Foxtrot is an album by which all other prog-rock releases can be measured.
Worth the price of admission: Can-Utlity and the Coastliners, Horizon's, Supper's Ready (Complete), Watcher of the Skies

Derek and the Dominos - Layla and other Assorted Love Songs
One of the greatest blues-rock recordings of all time. As a guitarist, I have to tip my hat to Clapton and Allman, who offer something beyond the "super-group" hype of lesser combinations (Blind Faith leaps instantly to mind), and the result is an astounding set of songs. The depth of sorrow in the blues here is palpable, an anguish that often is missed in white-boy blues (as if simply knowing the notes results in a good blues recording -- it does not). I would point to three transcendent blues covers, Little Walter's "Key to the Highway" (one helluva dueling lead jam), Freddie King's "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" and Jimmie Cox's "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" as prime examples of Clapton not merely knowing the blues but revelling in it and living it. And as far as covers go, the version of Hendrix's "Little Wing" is gloriously dramatic. And then there is the song "Layla". The composition is brilliant, with its two separate movements, the first featuring Clapton's signature guitar riff, and the second with Jim Gordon's piano coda, interspersed with the improvisational duetting of Duane Allman's slide and Clapton's slowhand bent notes. Couple these elements with Clapton's languishing lyrics of unrequited love, and "Layla" is one of the iconic songs in rock and roll history.
Worth the price of admission: Layla, Nobody Knows You When You're Down out, Key to the Highway, Thorn Tree in the Garden, Why Does Love Got to Be so Sad, Little Wing.

Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
On their fifth and final album as a duo, Simon & Garfunkel could have rested on their laurels simply by showcasing the stunning "Bridge Over Troubled Water", one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded in any genre, as well as offering one of the greatest vocal performances by Art Garfunkel (his singing of final note is one of the classic moments in rock history). But there is more to this album than a single song. For instance, "The Boxer" is an epic that outdoes even Dylan in the folk-rock storytelling department ("I have squandered my resistance for a pocketful of mumbles, such are promises"). "The Only Living Boy in New York" and "Song for the Asking" are both exquisite personal miniatures, and "Cecilia" and "El Condor Pasa (If I Could)" reflect Simon's burgeoning interest in world music, which he would explore in greater detail during his solo career. "Keep the Customer Satisfied" and "Baby Driver" are both up-tempo and humorous, while "Bye Bye Love" looks back on The Everley Brothers, a group Simon & Garfunkel patterned themselves after very early in their career. Like The Beatles, who ended their partnership at around the same time, Simon & Garfunkel went out on top of the charts.
Worth the price of admission: Bridge Over Troubled Water, The Boxer, The Only Living Boy in New York, Song for the Asking, Baby Driver.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was not originally planned as a double album, but the amazing amount of remarkable songs culled from the sessions at Château d'Hérouville (where Elton also recorded Honky Château and Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player) made this release a no-brainer. In any case, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is the height of the songwriting collaboration of Elton John and Bernie Taupin, and is a nostalgic and epic look at the collaborators' youth. The fond rememberances embrace the movies ("Candle in the Wind", "Roy Rogers" and "I've Seen that Movie Too"), old-school bands ("Bennie and the Jets"), and their first pub experiences ("Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" and "Sweet Painted Lady"). The epic here, of course, Is "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding", but my favorites are "This Song Has No Title", "Grey Seal", "Harmony" and the explicit "All the Girls Love Alice. As I mentioned, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road represents the acme and apex of Elton John's career. He got increasingly more annoying after this, eventually hitting rock bottom with such boorish blandities as "Philadelphia Freedom" and "Island Girl". Bah!
Worth the price of admission: This Song Has No Title, Grey Seal, All the Girls Love Alice, Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding.

Neil Young - Rust Never Sleeps It can be said, with some justification, that Pink Floyd's morose magnum opus The Wall marked the death of 1970's rock music. If that is the case, then Neil Young's Rust Never Sleeps nailed the coffin shut. A decade that began with the death of the Beatles ended with Neil's brilliant reinvention of himself. The album walks the knife's edge between electric guitar savagery and beautifully rendered acoustic imagery. The dualistic paen to Johnny Rotten "My, My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)"/"Hey, Hey, My My (Into the Black)" mirrors the schizophrenic song selection to a tee. But there is also an autobiographical allusion to Young's career. His last few albums released in the 70s were fair-to-middling efforts, and Neil Young was heading for irrelevance. But unlike other great 70s bands that went into the 80s with a whimper, Young released a backlash of violence that outpunked punk, yet drew from his vast acoustic repertoire to offer an album that renewed the faith of longtime fans and won over a whole new generation of listeners. The lush imagery of such songs like "Thrasher", "Ride My Llama" and "Pocahontas' are as good as anything from his After the Gold Rush period, and side two, features the indictment of war, Powderfinger, the wry social jest "Welfare Mothers", and rockers "Sedan Delivery" and "Hey Hey, My My", offering both sides of Neil Young's persona: folk troubadour and rocking Crazy Horse.
Worth the price of admission: Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black), Thrasher, My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue), Powderfinger, Sail Away.

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
As a die-hard blues fan, I have more of an affinity for Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac of the 1960s (an underappreciated epoch in the band's history); however, you have to tip your hat to Mac for Rumours, which is an undeniably great album, and the phenomenal sales of the Rumours was not due to some fad or blind luck (this aint the Ace of Base), but the skill of a solid contingent of songwriters in the band, Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and, in particular, the fey and beautiful Stevie Nicks. Nicks, either in total or in part, had a hand in the three best songs on the album: the sultry "Dreams", the netherworldly "Gold Dust Woman" and the group effort "The Chain", with its haunting harmonies, intricate guitar, and the classic bass line of John McVie. That the album was made at all is amazing, given the fact that half the group was sleeping with the other half, but not the partners they were originally sleeping with, and separations and cocaine abuse caused tension and animosity in the studio. Nearly all the songs reflect the personal traumas, anguish and anger of the time. There's hits like "Go Your Own Way" and "Don't Stop", as well as Christine McVie's beautiful "Songbird" and Buckingham's acoustic piece "Never Going Back Again."
Worth the price of admission: Gold Dust Woman, Never Going Back Again, The Chain, Songbird, Dreams.

The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
As I have mentioned elsewhere, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street are the Stones' best albums. Those three consecutive studio albums (with the live Get yer Ya-ya's Out sandwiched in-between) represent the Stones at their peak. I was never enamored of Mick Jagger's voice nor his rooster strut, nor have I considered the Rolling Stones to be "The Greatest Rock Band in the World(TM)", particularly since they were overshadowed by The Beatles in the 60's and Led Zeppelin in the 70's. For me, longevity does not equate to greatness.That doesn't mean, however, that the Stones did not produce great albums. A case in point would be Sticky Fingers, which offers such standout songs as the countrified "Dead Flowers" (which answers the question: what do you give your dead girl friend?), the raunchy slide of "You Gotta Move", the reflective "I Got the Blues", and the feverish "Sister Morphine" ("Why does the doctor have no face?"). Other notable songs on the album are the hit "Brown Sugar", the great acoustic tune "Wild Horses", and the jazzy extended jam "Can't You Hear Me Knocking". Besides the sleazy blues on Sticky Fingers, my personal favorites on the album are "Bitch" (great, memorable guitar line) and and the ferocious "Moonlight Mile".
Worth the price of admission: Dead Flowers, Bitch, Can't You Hear Me Knocking, Wild Horses, You Gotta Move.

Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
This is my favorite Zeppelin album. Is it their best? Tough call, but I suppose Led Zeppelin IV (ZoSo) deserves the nod based on reputation and influence alone. Physical Graffiti is certainly ambitious and sprawling , but I have to scratch my head when I read reviews bemoaning "throw away songs" and "filler" on Graffiti. I can only shrug and wonder what they think about Led Zeppelin I, II, III and Houses of the Holy, all of which have a higher incidence of filler, or at least odd choices ("The Crunge" and "D'yer Maker" automatically come to mind). From the ethereal acoustics of "Bron-Yr-Aur" to the piano and mandolin blues of "Boogie With Stu" (complete with the crazy trash can cymbals), from the Eastern influence of "Kashmir" to the monstrous funk of "Trampled Under Foot" (an apt title if ever there was one), Physical Graffiti represents Led Zep at their creative crest. This is 1970s hard rock at its best. How often can any band rattle off songs like "In the Light", "Ten Years Gone" (both favorites), "Custard Pie", "The Rover", "The Wanton Song", "Black Country Woman" and "In My Time of Dying", along with the other tunes I've already mentioned, and not consider this an essential album? Presence and In Through The Out Door mark Zeppelin in gradual decline. Not so with Physical Grafitti.
Worth the price of admission: Bron-Yr-Aur, Ten Years Gone, In the Light, Trampled Underfoot, The Rover, The Wanton Song.

Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick Thick as a Brick should rate highly simply for having the best album cover ever designed: a fold-out newspaper complete with articles, comics, ads, crossword puzzle and a rather bawdy connect-the-dots game! One cannot underestimate the effect Thick as a Brick had on folks growing up in the 70s. It was irreverent! It was rebellious! It mentioned both blackheads and peeing oneself in the night in one line! Only in the early 70s could this album (and Tull's follow-up A Passion Play) be released and go to #1 on the charts. It had no single! It was 44 minutes of continuous music! How do we market the goddamned thing? Hell, we can't get radio airplay because there isn't a single! The epic poem around which the music is composed concerns the trials and travails of growing up, and is slyly superb throughout. And it is very sly: according to Ian Anderson, Thick as a Brick was a send-up of progressive rock of the time, holding up a cynical mirror to Tull's pompous rock counterparts (and the band itself). Even the album cover parodies the small minds of small town journalism. The music itself is extraordinary - a chiaroscuro of heavy electric and acoustic interludes - a progressive masterpiece from a band that never considered themselves prog. The entire package succeeds magnificently. Many reviewers didn't get the joke, and took it at face value, which is even more ironic. Or thick as a brick, as the case may be.
Worth the price of admission: Thick as a Brick (in its entirety).

The Doors - L.A. Woman
L.A. Woman, the last Doors studio album (released in 1971), was their best since their Strange Days release in 1967 (although I have sentimental attachments to both The Soft Parade and Morrison Hotel). Three months after the release of L.A. Woman, Jim Morrison's bloated corpse was found floating in a Paris bathtub (either that, or his death was a cover-up and he can be seen eating at a Burger King in Kalamazoo with Elvis). In any case, the album contains some of Morrison's best poetic imagery, particularly on the two rock epics "Riders on the Storm" (with its eerie lyrics punctuated by thunderstorms and jazz cadence) and "L.A. Woman" (with the greatest anagram in rock history Mr. Mojo Risin' = Jim Morrison). But blues is king on L.A. Woman. I fondly recall my indescribable, jaw-dropping joy upon hearing "Been Down So Long" for the first time. Of course, I was stoned out of my mind at the time, but that's beside the point. The album is literally seething with blues, like the demented "Crawling King Snake", the devilishly playful "(You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further" sung by Ray Manzarek (finally available on the 40th anniversary remaster), and the ode to impotence "Cars Hiss By My Window". Add in the hit "Love Her Madly" and the ominous "The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)" and you've got one phenomenal swan song.
Worth the price of admission: The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat), Been Down So Long, Riders on the Storm, L.A. Woman, The Changeling.

Alice Cooper - Killer
Killer was an album that parents and principals utterly loathed (and the more adults hate a rock album is directly proportional to how great an album is, isn't it?). Don't believe me? Play "Dead Babies" to an adult unfamiliar with Alice and watch their skin crawl. It is a delight! If you listen to a secondary song on Killer, like "You Drive Me Nervous", for instance, the chord structure, lyrics and delivery seems especially composed to drive parents crazy. And even more so than the atmospheric and deadly Cooper masterpiece Love It to Death that preceded it, Killer is a recording that truly influenced the likes of Marilyn Manson, Jello Biafra of The Dead Kennedys and Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols (who praised Killer as the greatest album of all time). This is the true beginning of rock theatrics, before Peter Gabriel's Genesis or Kiss. This was dangerous (even banned in a few countries) and subversive before subversiveness became commonplace in the MTV era. And aside from the big hits on the album, "Be My Lover" and "Under My Wheels", the greatest songs here are the magnificent "Halo of Flies" (Alice's progressive magnum opus), the Jim Morrison-goes-western swagger of "Desperado", and the epochal grande finale "Dead Babies/Killer" (which should always be played consecutively). Remember the Coop!
Worth the price of admission: Halo of Flies, Desperado, Dead Babies/Killer, You Drive Me Nervous, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.

Larks Tongue in Aspic - King Crimson
The platform from which Robert Fripp launched such memorable musical experimentations as Starless and Bible Black and Red; in fact, one could say Lark's Tongue was the first of a trilogy of albums with like objectives. Yet, for all the furious fretwork and metallic moments of the album Red, it is merely the logical outcome of the ideas derived from Lark's Tongue in Aspic, save that the latter maintains the sense of harmony and acoustic passages from earlier Crimson albums, such as In the Court of the Crimson King. In addition, David Cross's violin and viola add another intriguing layer to the musical mix, particularly the passages of the instumental "Lark's Tongue in Aspic, Part I" that were influenced by Ralph Vaughan William's classical composition "Lark Ascending". Three superb vocal tracks, "Book of Saturday", "Exiles" and "Easy Money" feature bassist John Wetton singing the lyrics of Richard Palmer-James (formerly of Supertramp). Lark's Tongue in Aspic is a remarkable synthesis of progressive rock, jazz-fusion, heavy metal, orientalism and classical composition, full of surprising and exotic percussion by Jamie Muir and Bill Bruford, and the biting, eccentric guitarwork of Robert Fripp, who influenced a wide array of bands, such as Tool, Nirvana, Mudvayne, Iron Maiden, Porcupine Tree, Voivoid and Bad Religion.
Worth the price of admission: Lark's Tongue in Aspic, Part I, Book of Saturday, Easy Money, The Talking Drum, Exiles.

Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power
Except for The Sex Pistols and a few other notable punk bands, there is nothing that holds a candle to this as far as nihilistic rock anarchy; in fact, having heard Iggy and the Stooges or MC5 in the late 60s/early 70s, I could never really understand the supposed punk revolution of the mid-to-late 70s. It had already been done - and done better - by a blood-stained, rabid and spitting Iggy, and nearly everything else is wash, rinse, repeat. Raw Power from 1973 was produced by David Bowie, and his slight touches add a bit of panache to the utter madness (but not so Bowiesque as on Lou Reed's Transformer where, thankfully for Reed, Bowie took over and saved the album). From the first blasted notes of "Search and Destroy" to the last bit of guitar distortion on "Death Trip", this is one rollercoaster heading down a bottomless pit. Songs like the pure punk of "Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell" and "Raw Power", and the bluesy "I Need Somebody" are the reasons Kurt Cobain said that Raw Power was his favorite album, and why Henry Rollins has a "Search and Destroy" tattoo. The name of the album should actually be "Raw Distortion" as that is the overriding quality of the recording, relieved only by the acoustic "Gimme Danger" which is very reminiscent of the band Love, if Love had Iggy Pop singing instead of Arthur Lee.
Worth the price of admission: Search and Destroy, Raw Power, Gimme Danger, Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell, Penetration, I Need Somebody.

Deep Purple - Made in Japan
Deep Purple was once the loudest rock 'n' roll band on the planet, and if ever a band's essence was encapsulated on a single album, then it would be Made in Japan. Nearly every cut on this live album is better than the studio versions; in fact, Made in Japan is so good that, honestly, if you own this you don't really need another Deep Purple album. There's the maniacal Hammond of Jon Lord on "Lazy" (not to mention Ritchie Blackmore playing a vamp on "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf"), Blackmore's blistering lead on "Highway Star" (the measuring stick for aspiring young lead guitarists in the 70s), Ian Gillan's ear-piercing shrieks on "Lazy", the prog fan epic "Sweet Child in Time", and even the 190 minute long "Space Truckin" (I jest, it only seems 190 minutes long -- it's probably 75 minutes long, tops) is cosmically fun. That early 70s combo of Strat and Marshall stacks (modified by Marshall to kick out even higher wattage), with the incredible fuzzy warmth so characteristic of Blackmore, is a sound to treasure. And we mustn't forget "Smoke on the Water"! Well, we actually can't forget "Smoke on the Water", seeing as it has been played so often on the radio that the memory of it is indelible. Gillan sums up the performance when he asks a soundman, "Yes, can we have everything louder than everything else?"
Worth the price of admission: Highway Star, Child in Time, Lazy, Strange Kind of Woman.

The Greatest Rock Albums of the 1960s, Part I

2011-09-18T20:14:00.013-04:00

To present a greatest albums list is always a difficult proposition. No single list I have ever seen anywhere is completely objective, and most rely more on conventional (read: commercial) wisdom, influential opinion (usually flatulent New York critic types) and personal preferences. The subjectivity of the list I have compiled is no different, I suppose, but on a gut level I am quite content to say that the albums listed herein were all extraordinary at the time of their release, and all are essential to anyone's music collection. Beyond that, you can argue about rankings until doomsday. You can rant about omissions until you are blue in the face. I don't really give a damn. Any greatest albums list is merely an educated guess (some more educated and some more guess) and a point of reference for further discussion.

I have also eschewed the usual and seemingly obligatory numbering process inherent in these lists because I have difficulty with anyone who can pronounce (with a straight face) that Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is a better album than Are You Experienced, or that Highway 61 Revisited is far more meaningful than Let It Bleed because Dylan has a better vocabulary. Whatever. But I do know that actually going through the process of selecting albums for a "greatest" list is, in fact, making some determination as to the overall quality of a recording. So be it. I will then say that the first ten albums (and certainly the first five) on this list are, in my estimation, the best rock albums from the 1960s. It gets sketchier the further one goes onward, but I am okay with that.

As with all of my features, certain caveats apply. For instance, I am only listing those albums considered "rock" or "rock and roll", not soul, jazz, blues, country or polka. It gets exceedingly weird discussing the merits of Iggy Pop over Aretha Franklin, or the musicianship of Miles Davis as opposed to the harmonies of the Beach Boys. In addition, I will not include any greatest hits packages (so you can forget about seeing The Monkees here), and live albums will be used sparingly, and only if they are an important historic document that better exemplifies a band or includes songs not available on a studio album (besides, I have separate live album articles here and here). So, the recordings on this list are nearly all first release studio albums, because they are easier to discuss on a comparative basis.

Also, this is the first part of a planned two-part article, with 60 albums (60 albums for the 60s, clever, eh?) reviewed in total (a two-parter, so as not to be such an enormous time sink!). I will be doing the same for the 1970s (70 albums) and the 1980s (sorry, only 40 albums, because that was all I cared enough to talk about). So, by my limited mathematical skills, that means 170 great albums in all. I have decided to go by decade, rather than lump everything into one giant greatest musical conglomeration, because each decade had a different vibe, and even within decades there were radical musical changes (like between 1970-75 and 1976-80, for instance). But I believe rankings by decade at least provides a better perspective and a certain amount of fairness to the albums I am discussing.

And so, without further blather and bombast, here are the first 30 Greatest Rock Albums of the 1960s:

The Beatles - The Beatles (White Album)
A ragged and glorious double album that shows the inevitable disintegration of the working relationships within The Beatles, yet showcases the individuals of the band perhaps better than any other album. The White Album (nobody calls it "The Beatles") can also be seen as a revolt against the perception of the Beatles as 'safe' or 'lightweight' or a mere hit-factory churning out endless pleasant tunes for mass consumption on public airwaves. There are certainly many hits on the album, but it is the long list of disturbing, hard-hitting and in your face material that makes this their greatest album, rather than a safe and sensible choice like Sgt. Pepper's. This aint the tight, syncopated, perfectly tuned Sgt. Pepper's, this is the Beatles fucked-up at 4:00 in the morning, jamming their asses off - certainly the type of venue I'd prefer to see them in as opposed to being dressed in those garish and gimmicky Pepper uniforms singing "Getting Better" or "When I'm Sixty-four". This is the anti-Sgt. Pepper's and Un-Fab Four Beatles at their best.

The White Album is a kaleidoscope of different musical genres which are treated masterfully by the band, a deft outpouring of elements that no other band even comes close to performing, let alone attempting in one sitting. There is blues, psychedelics, dance-hall burlesque, vaudeville crooning, country, folk, reggae, hard rock, social commentary, nihilism, expressionism, chamber music, 50's rock 'n' roll -- the list is extensive and the album hits on all cylinders. Where else can one find the most played version of a happy birthday song in any bar in the U.S., U.K. or Canada, alongside a blues tune that has the desperate words "feel so suicidal, even hate my rock and roll"?

I'm not much of a Paul McCartney fan (and "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Di" pretty much shows the banal direction his solo career went), but his acoustic work on the White Album is stellar ("Blackbird", "Mother Nature's Son", and the campfire sing-along "Rocky Raccoon"). And as far as writing perfect pop ballads in 2:00 minutes or less, I can only offer "I Will" (1:46) as an example of McCartney's greatest ability. John Lennon is erratic, but anyone who has dropped acid can appreciate his more psychedelic work here ("Revolution 9" is downright disturbing when listened to stoned!). Favorite Lennon tunes on the album are "Yer Blues", "Revolution 1" (better than the more frenetic version that appeared on the B-side of "Hey Jude"), "Cry Baby Cry", and "Julia", which is a great atmospheric piece that certainly influenced Pink Floyd's "A Pillow of Winds" from the album Meddle (don't believe me? Listen to them side by side). George Harrison and Eric Clapton dueling leads on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is a particular highlight of the album, and I enjoy the food-induced "Savoy Truffle" with its funky Carnaby Street groove.

The White Album is rather like taking a shotgun full of various songs, styles, commentary and emotions and splattering a canvas with it. This is the album's appeal. It is not neat. It is not tidy. But each song has its place and a meaning for those who listen (even crazy folk like Charles Manson got the message...sort of). The album can be damned funny ("Piggies" and "The Continuing Adventures of Bungalow Bill" always crack me up), satirical ("Sexy Sadie", "Happiness is a Warm Gun"), heartwarming ("Martha My Dear", "Goodnight"), polarizing (is there any Beatles' song that makes for more disagreement than the over-the-top pastiche of Euro-minimalism "Revolution 9", which still acts as a lightning rod for controversy and debate over 40 years later?), pastoral ("Mother Nature's Son"), or just great rock 'n' roll like "Helter Skelter" and "Back in the USSR" (where the Beatles trump the Beach Boys at their own game). This is The Beatles I remember and identified with as a rebellious teen. Fuck Sgt. Pepper!
Worth the price of admission: While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Blackbird, Revolution 1, Helter Skelter, Julia, Piggies, I Will.

Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
Speaking of reinterpretations and innovation (well, I haven't really spoken of them yet, but I'll start here), Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited gave rock and blues an unexpected kick in the pants in 1965 and started a revolution. Dylan chose the fabled "Highway 61" as the connector for the songs on this album, as the fabled road is a touchstone of blues legend and the main thoroughfare for dissemination of the blues (Robert Johnson supposedly sold his soul at the crossroads of Highways 61 and 49, and blues belter Bessie Smith died in a car accident on 61). Dylan's lyricism expanded the blues-rock format and was influential to the likes of Hendrix, Cream and The Beatles.

Of course, the album's most notable song "Like a Rolling Stone" is a touchstone of 1960s music and one of those unforgettable tunes that defines a performer, as well as redefines what rock music "is". "Like a Rolling Stone" eschews the traditional format of a love song, and instead offers a bitter sneer and a vengeful leer at a former lover. "How does it feel?" Dylan crows triumphantly, and haven't we all felt like that at one time or another? But it is not merely the abandonment of a traditional love ballad that sets this song apart, it is the poeticism of Dylan and the stark images he conjures in the tune ("You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat/Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat" or "Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people/They're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made") that were utterly unique for rock music in 1965.

In addition, the scathing "Ballad of a Thin Man" takes a bite out the establishment, and the ignorant "Mr. Joneses" who neither understood what was happening in the 60s, nor grasped the concepts Dylan was presenting. Elsewhere, the rowdy highway song "From a Buick 6", the poetic (and slightly out of tune) "Queen Jane Approximately", and the carnival of the absurd epic "Desolation Row" complete a wild ride down Highway 61. A magnum opus among several Dylan masterpieces.
Worth the price of admission: Like a Rolling Stone, It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry, Highway 61 Revisited, The Ballad of a Thin Man, Desolation Row.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced
Are You Experienced is one of the most important debut albums in the history of Rock and Roll (right up there with Meet The Beatles! and Elvis Presley's first album). In and of itself, it is a veritable greatest hits package, a primer on rock guitar, and an integral expression of the 1967 psychedelic music scene. Other rock musicians of the time (Pete Townshend, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Papa John Phillips, etc.) were in awe of Hendrix, and rightfully so. No single musician so forcefully imprinted his style and abilities on rock like Jimi.

There was nothing like him prior to his sudden ascendance, bursting onto the scene at the Monterey Pop Festival like a fiery ball of flame, and there has been nothing like him since he crashed and burned only a few short years later. No other guitarist has been so influential, and no other has been more imitated. Relatively speaking, if one listens to other guitar-heavy releases of 1967 (even from guitar-gods like Clapton and Jeff Beck), the results are often tinny, almost amateurish, in comparison to Are You Experienced. It was as if Hendrix was operating on another plane of existence than his rock and roll comrades. Are You Experienced represented a fundamental change in how guitar was played.

The album is notable for how Hendrix coaxed exotic sounds out of his beloved Strat - a living, breathing thing - that is at times cajoling, playful, searing, strident, staccato, dancing, severe, lewd, triumphant and deadly. Of course, the blues tune "Hey Joe" and "Purple Haze", that anthemic ode to hallucinogens, have been played into oblivion, but Hendrix is so lascivious on "Foxy Lady" and "Fire" that the mere act of playing guitar is almost obscene. Of particular interest is the effortless fretwork on "The Wind Cries Mary" and "Remember", the towering blues of "Red House" (a favorite), the trippy "Love or Confusion", the scorching funk of "Stone Free", and the psychedelic masterpiece "Third Stone from the Sun". Of special note is the innovative drumming of Mitch Mitchell who, like Ginger Baker of Cream, always seemed to be under-appreciated performers.
Worth the price of admission: Red House, Foxy Lady, Third Stone from the Sun, I Don't Live Today, Are You Experienced

The Beatles - Abbey Road
It is unfortunate that the sub par album Let It Be was released after Abbey Road (even though it was recorded prior to, and intended for release before Abbey Road), because it gave a false impression of The Beatles' final recording sessions, and ended the 60s on a sour note (in combination with the disastrous and deadly Rolling Stones concert at Altamont). For Abbey Road, The Beatles put aside their animosity and bitterness and told producer George Martin they wanted to make an album "the way we used to" and "go out on a high note". The result was staggeringly beautiful, and not only a testament to the songwriting skills of McCartney and Lennon, but it finally gained George Harrison equal footing as a composer.

The songs "Something" (the first Harrison song on the "A" side of a Beatles' single) and "Here Comes the Sun" represent Harrison's greatest achievements as a Beatle, and are highlights of the Abbey Road album rather than secondary songs of limited importance in the grand Beatlesque scheme of things. Harrison's growing maturation as a writer in the band was reflected on The White Album ("While My Guitar Gently Weeps" most notably), but on Abbey Road his songs became important. This is the single reason I have rated Abbey Road over Revolver.

Along with Harrison's contributions, the album has two great Lennon tracks "Come Together" and the one of the best Beatles hard rock pieces "I want You (She's so Heavy)", while McCartney, who had already clearly taken the lead in the group from a recording production standpoint, offers "Oh Darling" and "You Never Give Me Your Money" principally, and the harmonies of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison on "Because" are astoundingly beautiful. But it is the shared aspect of the 16 minute "Medley" (which includes "You Never Give Me Your Money", "Sun King", "Mean Mr. Mustard", "Polythene Pam", "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window", "Golden Slumbers", "Carry that Weight" and "The End") which acts as the culmination of all things Beatles, a stunning climax to an unequaled string of successes and superlative albums.
Worth the price of admission: Abbey Road Medley, I want You (She's so Heavy), Here Comes the Sun, Something, Because

The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
From the first sinewy insinuation of guitar on "Gimme Shelter" to the final grand flourishes of "You Can't Always Get What you Want", Let It Bleed was The Stones' defining album of the 1960s (just as Exile on Main Street was for the 1970s). Keith Richards' bluesy guitar squawk and Mick Jagger's sleazy ramblin' talk ("Yeah, we all need someone we can cream on/And if you want to, well you can cream on me"), as well as the overt references to drugs throughout the album, cemented their bad-boys-of-rock image that had only been hinted at on previous recordings. Even a song with the silly title "Monkey Man" leaves no doubt what The Stones were about ("Well, I hope we're not too messianic/Or a trifle too satanic/We love to play the blues").

The archtypical heroin-shootin', pill-poppin, booze-swillin' antichrists of rock 'n' roll were at the top of their game, and their take on the blues is downright filthy, with great renditions of "Midnight Rambler" (a personal favorite, and one of the best blues-rock tunes ever written), "Love in Vain", and "You Got the Silver". This is guitarist Mick Taylor's first album with The Stones (he was only 20 years old at the time!), replacing Brian Jones, who had already slipped too far along into a drug-induced stupor to continue playing with The Stones (in fact, Jones was to die in July, 1969 and only recorded on two tracks during the Let It Bleed sessions). In any case, The Stones were never better than when Taylor played guitar for them (with stellar turns on Let It Bleed, Get Yer Ya-Yas Out, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street - the best albums in The Stones' catalog).

Also of note, there was a stellar cast of side musicians who contributed to Let It Bleed, including Ry Cooder, Ian Stewart, Leon Russell, Al Kooper, and Nicky Hopkins, who does his best tinkling piano boogie on several songs. But it was the blistering and utterly unforgettable singing of Merry Clayton on "Gimme Shelter" that ranks as one of the staggering (if overlooked) highlights of 1960s music. In one of those fortuitous accidents, Bonnie Bramlett was originally scheduled to duet with Jagger on the song, but because of illness she opted out, leaving Merry and her landmark set of pipes to belt out the song. Looking back, it seems to be a bit of divine intervention. Or perhaps sympathy from the Devil.
Worth the price of admission: Let it Bleed, You Can't Always Get What You Want (with kindly assistance of the London Bach Choir), Midnight Rambler, and Gimme Shelter.

The Doors - The Doors
If ever there was a band that was representative of the Dionysian excesses of the psychedelic 60s, Jim Morrison and The Doors lived the part to the hilt. Even the band name "The Doors" was taken from Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception (in which Huxley describes his mescaline experiences). When Morrison sang "Break on Through (To the Other Side)", there was no doubt that boundaries were being broken, and with the surreal and serpentine phrasing of the Oedipal epic "The End" ("Mother, I want to FUCK YOU!"), those lines were shattered altogether. You won't find many albums that include a Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill tune "Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)" alongside a Willie Dixon blues number "Back Door Man", but somehow it all works, pulled together by Morrison's overtly sexual baritone growl.

The Doors album was the height of 1960s escapism. Nearly every song deals, in one way or another, with a trip ("The Crystal Ship"), a journey ("End of the Night"), or drug experimentation and the breaking of sexual taboos ("The End", "Break on Through", "Take it as it Comes", "Back Door Man"). In context, even the song "Light My Fire" takes experimentation to another level, where even death itself is a possible outcome ("The time to hesitate is through/No time to wallow in the mire/Try now we can only lose/And our love become a funeral pyre"). Indicative of Morrison's literate manner (he was a frustrated poet all his life), Morrison took up where Dylan left off and creates lush imagery and dark passages perfect for the drug-addled college campuses of the time, where Ginsberg and Kerouac were the patron saints ( "The cars crawl past all stuffed with eyes/Street lights share their hollow glow/Your brain seems bruised with numb surprise/Still one place to go..."). Morrison, shirtless and brooding, was an icon of the decadent 60s.
Worth the price of admission: Break on Through (To the Other Side), Soul Kitchen, The Crystal Ship, End of the Night, The End.

The Beatles - Revolver
Is this The Beatles greatest studio achievement? Perhaps so, as nearly all the innovations from the landmark Sgt. Pepper's album were already present on Revolver. The Beatles had the EMI studio engineers working overtime on this album, and Revolver is as much a testament to the remarkable recording abilities of George Martin as is it is to the superlative songcraft of The Beatles. Nowhere is this creative confluence more discernible than on McCartney's "Eleanor Rigby" (in my estimation, one of the top five rock songs ever composed). Martin's choice to use the stark strings of Bernard Herrmann's Psycho as the major influence to the score he composed was revelatory, and the string octet (the usual quartet doubled) is striking (no Beatle played an instrument on the number). Likewise, Lennon's "Tomorrow Never Knows" (the title being one of Ringo Starr's many malaprops) is also extraordinary in its innovations. Besides Lennon's references to the Tibetan Book of the Dead (alien subject matter for the time), the song features vocal processing, tape loops, reverse guitar tracks, and automatic double tracking (ADT), which EMI engineer Ken Townsend invented at the request of John Lennon, and which was first used extensively on Revolver.

Other than the many studio innovations on the album, Revolver also features the first integration of a wholly Eastern composition into rock music, George Harrison's "Love You To", with its adherence to classical Indian instumentation and musical structure. "Got to Get You into My Life", in addition to "Eleanor Rigby", represents McCartney's full maturation as a composer, and "Here, There and Everywhere" is simply beautiful. Even Ringo's contribution "Yellow Submarine" is memorable (c'mon, you sing along with it, don't you?).
Worth the price of admission: Eleanor Rigby, Tomorrow Never Knows, Love You To, Here, There and Everywhere, Taxman.

Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II
The heaviest album from a very heavy band. Like two other important albums from 1969, King Crimson's Court of the Crimson King and The Stooge's debut album, Led Zeppelin II can be seen as a launching point for 1970s music and three divergent paths rock would take during that decade (King Crimson with progressive rock, The Stooges with punk, and Zeppelin with hard rock/heavy metal - with the further diversification of metal genre appearing most prominently in Black Sabbath's 1970 debut). Like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin's first album in 1968 was universally panned by critics as pretentious and copy-cat, but the fans adored them. Yet by Zeppelin's second album, the critics had to eat their words (a dietary staple of rags like Rolling Stone Magazine, it seems); in fact, the mammoth rifs of Led Zeppelin II literally buried the critical crap like compost in a rock garden. Helped along by their first monstrous hit, "Whole Lotta Love", Zeppelin was well on it to ascending to the lofty heights of rock deities.

What can one say about an album where even the obligatory late 60s/early 70s drum solo (a thing nearly extinct on rock albums these days), "Moby Dick", is memorably heavy, with John Bonham nearly destroying his bass drum and punching cymbals with his bare hands? And then there's Jimmy Page's multi-hammer-on technique (notably used on "Heartbreaker"), which was expanded upon by such avid fans as Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai and Slash of Guns N' Roses. Well, you get the idea. But the intriguing thing about Led Zeppelin II (and all Zeppelin albums, really) is that for all the brash blues tunes (like "Bring It On Home", "The Lemon Song") or frenetic rock pieces ("Heartbreaker", "Living Loving Maid"), there are sublime instances of pastoral quiessence that offer a chiaroscuro of light and dark, heavy and heavenly, that breaks up what would otherwise be an ultimately monotonous and booming wall of sound (a concept most hard rock and heavy metal bands never grasped). Such lighter elements can be found on the lush "Thank You", the Tolkienesque "Ramble On" and that singular adventure into stereophonic speaker shuffling "What Is and What Should Never Be".
Worth the price of admission: Heatbreaker, Thank You, Bring It on Home, What Is and What Should Never Be

The Who - Tommy
Alright, Tommy is not necessarily an opera in the strictest sense (musicologists have said it more resembles a cantata or an oratio, like Handel's Messiah), but it certainly was something quite different for 1969. And even though The Pretty Things' S.F. Sorrow predated it as the first "rock opera" (1967), Tommy was far greater in scope and compositional skill, as well as having reached a broader audience than the three people who purchased S.F. Sorrow. The story of the deaf, dumb and blind pinball wizard has left its indelible mark on music, and was a crowning achievement of rock in the 1960s (every subsequent rock opera from Jesus Christ Superstar to Bat Out of Hell to Operation: Mindcrime owes a debt of homage to Tommy). Tommy was also the impetus in the early 1970s for Peter Townshend to create The Who's greatest works, Who's Next and Quadrophenia (itself another rock opera).

Of course, Pete Townshend had prepared us all for greater things on the mini-opera "A Quick One, While He's Away", but what was a lark has turned into more serious business here, and Tommy's structure might as well be called opera because most rock fans do not give a damn about opera, oratori or classical music. Tommy has a French horn, which is foreign enough for rock & roll. The album has many Who standards, such as "The Acid Queen", "Pinball Wizard", "I'm Free" and "We're Not Gonna Take It", but it's some of the incidental music that is most striking and memorable: Peter Townshend's inspired acoustic guitar on "It's a Boy", the slightly skewed background vocals on "Christmas Story" and the carnie-gone-mad turn by Keith Moon on "Tommy's Holiday Camp" (not to mention the homosexual overtones of "Fiddle About"). Taken in context of the era, Tommy was relevatory, and still amazes new generations who have just discovered it.
Worth the price of admission: Overture/It's a Boy, Acid Queen, Pinball Wizard, We're Not Gonna Take It, I'm Free.

Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
It has been said that Dylan came up with the enigmatic title "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35", the first song on the Blonde on Blonde album, because no radio station in the world would play a song called "Everybody Must Get Stoned". You can't argue with the logic, nor can you argue with the achievement. Blonde on Blonde was the final album of Dylan's 1960s rock trilogy - the first two being Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited - a remarkable string of masterpieces that marked the height of Dylan's music career. After Blonde on Blonde, Dylan's offerings over the next decade would become oddly hit and miss affairs, with more misses (Planet Waves, Dylan, Self-Portrait, etc.) than hits (John Wesley Harding and New Morning are the most substantial), until his mid-70s renaissance with the brilliant Blood on the Tracks and the satisfying Desire. One could almost say that Dylan "blew his wad" on this immense double album (one of the first important two-record rock releases), and it took him nearly ten years to recharge his creativity. Needless to say, he never again was as consistent as with his trilogy.

Blonde on Blonde is extraordinarily witty, at times perverse, and at other times contemplative, readily mixing biblical proverbs with counterculture drug jargon, and the profusion of allusions could give one's brain contusions. The song "4th Time Around" is Dylan's reply to The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood" (in which Lennon used Dylanesque lyricism), written in the same time signature and dealing with a love affair in the same ambigious wording. The bulk of the songs on Blonde on Blonde are impressions of relationships: "Just Like a Woman", "Absolutely Sweet Marie", "Temporary Like Achilles", "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands", "I want You", etc. The album is notable for the contribution of "The Hawks" (who would eventually be known simply as "The Band"), and my personal favorites are the long, winding "Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again", the beautiful and haunting "Visions of Johanna", and the sarcastic "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat".
Worth the price of admission: Rainy Day Women #12 & 35, 4th Time Around, Visions of Johanna, Just Like a Woman, Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again, Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat.

Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland
The full psychedelic flowering of Hendrixian improvisation on a grand scale. If Hendrix's Are You Experienced was a primer on rock guitar, then Electric Ladyland is a doctoral thesis. The album is suffused with guitar mastery and studio innovations (I don't think any guitarist has ever used the wah-wah peddle to such effect as Hendrix). Breaking from the reliance on Mitch Mitchell (drums) and Noel Redding (bass) that made up The Jimi Hendrix Experience on his first two albums, Hendrix also brought in long-time friend Buddy Miles, members of Traffic (Steve Winwood, Chris Wood and Dave Mason), Jack Cassady of Jefferson Airplane, Al Kooper of Blood, Sweat & Tears, and a host of others, to create a loose, improvisational series of sessions that offer Hendrix and friends in a fiery jam mode (as Hendrix would say elsewhere, "You can leave if you want, we're just jamming!").

On Electric Ladyland, even the cover songs are extraordinary, including Earl King's blues tune "Come On (Let the Good Times Roll)" and Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" (the greatest, most transcendent cover in rock music -- the final, sustained note is astounding and goes on forever), as are Hendrix's forays into psychedelia, "...And the Gods Made Love", "1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)" and the Motown-on-LSD "Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)". But, in addition to "All Along the Watchtower", the four other songs that make this album essential to any guitarist are the manic funk of "Gypsy Eyes", the baroque psychedelic wah-wah overdose of "Burning of the Midnight Lamp", the funkified rock of "Crosstown Traffic", and the utterly savage "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" -- one of the best blues tunes ever written. The greatest guitar-based rock album ever released.
Worth the price of admission: Gypsy Eyes, Burning of the Midnight Lamp, Crosstown Traffic, Voodoo Chile (Slight Return), All Along the Watchtower

The Beatles - Rubber Soul
It sometimes gets quite impossible, juggling Beatles' albums in a quantitative list, trying to ascertain the merits of one over another. I really like Rubber Soul; in fact, I prefer it to Revolver, but I think Rubber Soul is more of a transitional album where the mop-top Fab Four turn into something extraordinary. Rubber Soul is indeed a departure point where one can look back (songs like "Michelle", "Wait", and "Girl" ), and look forward ("Drive My Car", "Nowhere Man" and "Norwegian Wood", for instance). The importance of this fundamental change in musical direction would not be fully recognized until their next album, Revolver, was released.

The dichotomy is particularly strong with John Lennon, where the maturity of his songwriting skills leap out in his paean to Dylan "Norwegian Wood" (with a nod to George Harrison for his first use of the sitar in a commercial rock recording) and especially the profound and beautiful "In My Life" (one of his greatest compositions); however, he is still mooning over a bitter teenage love affair in "Girl" and he sounds ludicrously immature in the oddly misogynistic and abusive "Run for Your Life". McCartney offers an acoustic based classic "I'm Looking Through You", but in one of the infuriating methods of crass record industry promotion, another great acoustic song "I've Just Seen a Face" appears on the U.S. release of Rubber Soul and not on the U.K. version. The intent for the U.S. was to give the album a more folk-bent in line with offerings from Dylan and the Byrds. McCartney also wrote the bright "You Won't See Me", and the album has one of my favorite Ringo Starr tracks "What Goes On" (with some great Nashville riffs). Not appearing on the album but released as a single, "We Can Work It Out" and "Day Tripper" clearly show The Beatles quickly entering the most creative phase of their career.
Worth the price of admission: In My Life, Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown), Nowhere Man, I'm Looking Through You, What Goes On.

The Band - The Band
On the Band's follow-up to their great debut album Music From Big Pink, their second release, titled simply The Band represents the greatest compilation of Americana (rock, country, blues, New Orleans jazz) by any single band, bar none. The output is phenomenal and the songwriting sublime, with a sound that transcends the era when it was recorded. Does The Band sound even remotely like something on AM pop radio stations in 1969? The timeless nature of the recording is a direct result of The Band's interest in documenting music that was perhaps no longer in vogue, concentrating on the styles of earlier ages of American experience.

Like Big Pink's "The Weight", The Band album includes an American song of epic proportions in "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", a tour de force of composition and lyrical defeat that mirrors the American divide from an historical basis. "Up on Cripple Creek" is indeed a drunkard's dream if I ever did see one, "Rag Mama Rag" should be played loudly whenever one's wife starts griping, and "King Harvest" is a sublimely rendered song with historical context. "Jemima Surrender", "Across the Great Divide", "The Rocking Chair" and "The Unfaithful Servant" flesh out The Band's wide-ranging love of music from across North America. It is no wonder that the album The Band has been preserved by the National Recording Registry because the album was "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or informs or reflects life in the United States." It is history put to music.
Worth the price of admission: The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Up on Cripple Creek, Rag Mama Rag, King Harvest, Jemima Surrender.

Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
Imagine, if you will, James Joyce or T.S. Eliot writing an acoustic rock album. Astral Weeks is just as earth-shattering, groundbreaking and rule-bending as any accomplishment by the aforementioned literary masters, except you can hum along to it (which is something you certainly cannot do with Finnegan's Wake or The Wasteland). The interesting thing about Astral Weeks is that Van Morrison knew very little about the practical applications of jazz, but he knew the type of album he wanted. The members of the session band were all veteran jazz men, and while Van sang and played acoustic guitar, the group merely played along with an improvisational style that gave the album an indelible depth and evocative nature that broached the jazz form while retaining its pop sensiblities. The approach was a stunning success.

Released in 1968, there was nothing comparable to this superb concoction of rock, jazz, blues and folk (with an occasional classic string arrangement). Van Morrison's stream-of-consciousness scatting is revelatory on "Astral Weeks", "Cypress Avenue" (a reverie of Belfast in Morrison's youth), the sentimental "Madame George", the jazzy and jumping "The Way Young Lovers Do" (a personal favorite), and the incomparable "Sweet Thing". For a young composer of 23 short years, it seems impossible for Van Morrison to have arrived at such a point without a muse, the Irish Leannan Sidhe, the faery mistress who trades inspiration for a love that borders on madness, and eventually drives the artist to an early death. Well, Van did nearly drink himself to death. Just saying.
Worth the price of admission: Sweet Thing, The Way Young Lovers Do, Cypress Avenue, Astral Weeks

The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
The most overrated album in the history of mankind. Yes, yes, I understand. Iconoclastic. State-of-the-art. Visionary. The album by which all other great albums are benchmarked (hence its remaining in the top 25 here). But it is certainly not the best Beatles album (see the four above). There is a reason Lennon complained about McCartney's "granny music", and it is fully evident with songs like "Lovely Rita", "Getting Better" and "When I'm Sixty-Four", and there really isn't much concept to this alleged 'concept album' (Precisely conceptual: the first song, a segue into the second song, and a reprise of the first song towards the end of the album). But for all my harping, there are several transcendent moments on this album. But, as I am in a curmudgeonly mood, I shall harp.

First, Sgt. Pepper's lacks acoustic tunes. I realize this is an odd complaint, but the other four Beatles albums I mentioned all have stellar acoustic tunes. The acoustic tracks offer more reflective and individualized efforts -- a different ambiance that is lacking in Sgt. Pepper's. And even considering George Harrison's Indian-influenced "Within You Without You"- isn't Revolver's "Love You To" simply a better rendition of Indian music? I certainly think so. And speaking of George, he certainly gets short-shrift on this album (just one song!), which also is a negative to me as I enjoy the differentiation in songwriting and varying point of view, rather than being bombarded by Paul McCartney for most of Sgt. Peppers. In addition, there are a few songs on the album I can't stand and could live without hearing ever again, particularly McCartney's "granny music". "Good Morning" and "Fixing a Hole" are standard Beatles tunes that you could plug into any Beatles album and not notice. "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" does not rate well against other Beatles' psychedelic classics either; tunes like "Tomorrow Never Knows", "Glass Onion" and "I am the Walrus" are far better and more significant. The best songs on Sgt. Pepper's are, of course, 'A Day in the Life' (which is songwriting at its best, a sublime composition), and, surprisingly, 'She's Leaving Home' which offers a stunning bit of counterpoint straight out of Greek tragedy. "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" is also a satisfyingly complex composition, with its swirling carnivalesque atmosphere and lyrics Lennon reads nearly verbatim off a real circus poster (for Pablo Fanque's Circus Royal). A great album, but not the greatest.
Worth the price of admission: A Day in the Life, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite, She's Leaving Home, Within You, Without You, With a Little Help from My Friends.

The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
The fourth most overrated album in the history of mankind: Sgt Pepper's first, Thriller second, The Velvet Underground & Nico (Nico and Lou Reed are the most dreadful singing duo ever - I cringe) third, and Pet Sounds fourth. For all its layered harmonies (and there are exceptionally beautiful harmonies here), psychedelic experimentation and unconventional instrumentation (theremin, bicycle bells, ukuleles, etc.), Pet Sounds is a glorified version of beach music which had already become archaic and passe' by the time the album had been released.

Pet Sounds was a quaint album when it came out (and certainly The Beach Boy's greatest achievement), but Dylan, The Stones, The Beatles, The Who and The Kinks had already progressed past the boy-meets-girl cuteness of early rock and roll, and had opted for darker, more edgy material filled with social commentary that The Beach Boys simply could not master, and I think Brian Wilson knew it, and he said so on "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times". But one can still revel in the last flowering of The Beach Boys style of music, particularly in the adaptation of the folk song "Sloop John B" (perhaps the greatest rock harmony of all time), the quintessential "Wouldn't It Be Nice", the Beatlesque "God Only Knows", and "Good Vibrations" (recorded during the Pet Sounds sessions, but for some unknown reason was not included on the album).
Worth the price of admission: I Just Wasn't Made for These Times, Wouldn't It be Nice, God Only Knows, Sloop John B

King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
The musical structure, the lyrical content, even the album cover was shocking and awesome for 1969. There was really nothing to compare it with at the time -- and it is still incomparable. From the acid rock-jazz of "21st Century Schizoid Man" to the towering mellotron-infused fantasy "In the Court of the Crimson King", Robert Fripp and King Crimson put the nail in the coffin of 60s flower-power and psychedelia. There is also the tone poem "I Talk to the Wind", the minimalism of "Moonchild", and the apocalyptic "Epitaph". It can be argued that releases that preceded this album were the first progressive album (such as The Nice's Ars Longa Vita Brevis, The Moody Blues Days of Future Passed, or Procol Harum's Shine on Brightly), But In the Court of the Crimson King was the presage of all things to come in the progressive movement, the album by which all future progressive recordings were measured (it is amusing to note that Robert Christgau rated this album a D+, which just goes to show you what pretentious twats New York rock critics are.
Worth the price of admission: 21st Century Schizoid Man, In the Court of the Crimson King, Epitaph, I Talk to the Wind.

Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - Safe as Milk
The strangest album in the bunch (even Floyd, Zappa and The Stooges sound tame in comparison), but one I prefer over the even more odd, if critically acclaimed, Capt. Beefheart album Trout Mask Replica. There is a strange bit of voodoo running through Safe as Milk, part Delta blues, part psychedelic madness, and Captain Beefheart's gravel and grit voice is reminiscent of later rusted bourbon crooners like Tom Waits, who acknowledges the Captain's influence, and which is recognizable in both the quirkiness and vocal qualities of "Sure 'Nuff 'N Yes I Do" and "Grown So Ugly" (great riffs by Ry Cooder). Other quirky material includes the mock Motown of "I'm Glad" (ummm...this is Capt. Beefheart?), the Zappaesque "Autumn's Child", the great phased harp of "Plastic Factory" and an avant garde ménage à trois of Robert Johnson, Bob Dylan and Ornette Coleman wrapped in baby Zappa swaddling cloth on "Electricity". Then, of course, there is the greatest homage to a cigarette paper ever written, "Zig Zag Wanderer". All this in 1967?!?! Yet another 60s musical masterpiece that has gone underappreciated.
Worth the price of admission: Sure 'Nuff 'n Yes I Do, Zig Zag Wanderer, Grown So Ugly, I'm Glad, Where There's a Woman.

Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home
Is the world's first rap song "Subterranean Homesick Blues"? Hmmm...not very gangsta, perhaps, and a bit too literate, but the cadence is there. Bringing It All Back Home was immensely influential in 1965, and includes one of Dylan's greatest epics (and my favorite) "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" which, along with "Masters of War", ranks as his most powerful poem of social condemnation. As far as elusive allusions, the Rimbaudian surrealism of "Mr. Tambourine Man" set the stage for a flowering of psychedelic lyricism that was to envelope rock music for the next five years, influencing The Beatles, The Byrds, The Stones, Cream, Hendrix, The Doors and a host of other lesser lights (of course, it became utterly ridiculous, even commercialized, after awhile, but that's not Dylan's fault - by then he had moved on to other musical ventures). Pointing towards the greater achievement Highway 61 Revisited, on the song "Outlaw Blues" Dylan howls the immortal line "I might look like Robert Ford, but I feel just like Jesse James!"
Worth the price of admission: Subterranean Homesick Blues, It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), Maggie's Farm, Mr. Tambourine Man, Outlaw Blues.

Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow
The ultimate Haight/Ashbury album of psychedelic folk rock, and the departure point for other bands of the same genre in San Francisco,like It's a Beautiful Day, and in Britain, Fairport Convention. Buttressed by two classics of the psychedelic era, "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love" (both of which Grace Slick collaborated on with her first band, The Great Society), Surrealistic Pillow was the first big hit for a Haight/Ashbury counterculture band, and swept their style into national prominence (soon, every damned band was playing the same wonky and wailing psych guitar sound). But if one were to choose a single song that best represented the Psychedelic 60s, wouldn't it be "White Rabbit", that superb bit of sly allegory that mirrors Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland as a reflection of the counterculture movement's unabashed drug experimentation? Aside from the psychedelics, the real gem on this album is Jorma Kaukonen's sublime and pastoral acoustic instrumental "Embryonic Journey". Also of note, the superb folk of "How Do You Feel", and one of Marty Balin's best ballads "Today". I love many songs from Jefferson Airplane's follow up releases (such as "Rejoyce", "Crown of Creation", "Volunteers", etc.), but I don't believe that any of their album so indelibly left its mark as Surrealistic Pillow.
Worth the price of admission: White Rabbit, Somebody to Love, Embryonic Journey, How Do You Feel, Today.

Pink Floyd - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Syd Barrett was one of the myriad casualties of 1960s excesses, but he didn't go out in a blaze of glory like Hendrix, Morrison, Joplin or Brian Jones; on the contrary, his body remained for decades but his mind hovered off into the ether (and the solo album Madcap Laughs is a sad reminder of a creative genius sounding like a blithering idiot). But for at least one Pink Floyd album Barrett managed to keep it together, and the results are astounding, and The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (a chapter heading from one of Barrett's favorite books, Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows) remains of the most influential albums of all time, a masterpiece and archetype of psychedelic rock (or the subgenre "space rock") that hundreds of bands have drawn on for inspiration. As far as the art of psychedelia, the two exemplary compositions are "Astronomy Domine" and "Interstellar Overdrive", which are highly adventurous (the lyrical cadence of "Astronomy Domine") and experimental ("Interstellar Overdrive"). For some asinine marketing reason, the original U.S. version of the album omits "Astonomy Domine" and "Bike", while the UK version lacks "See Emily Play" (which never made it on the reissues either). The most commercially acceptable tune is "Bike", but even there Barrett is utterly warped (a mouse named Gerald?). Much of the album is Fractured Fairy Tales on acid, favorites include the James Bondesque "Lucifer Sam" (originally titled "Percy the Rat Catcher") and "Matilda Mother".
Astronomy Domine, Interstellar Overdrive, Bike, Lucifer Sam, Scarecrow, Matilda Mother.

The Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed
A musical treasure and an essential concept album for anyone who does not live in a cave and scratch his/her private parts in public. This is an album that bridges generations and spans genres; in fact, the longtime (and decidedly conservative) classical musical critic of the Detroit Free Press, the late John Guinn, said simply that 'Days of Future Passed' was an album he 'cherished', and that speaks volumes for the reach of this recording. Days of Future Passed is the best of all orchestra/rock band collaborations, and 'is hauntingly beautiful throughout. Nowhere is this more evident than on "Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)" and "Nights in White Satin", two of the greatest love songs ever written. Also of note is the exquisite "Dawn is a Feeling" and "Twilight Time". The use of the London Festival Orchestra is an integral part of the album as a whole, rather than an afterthought to give an album a classical flair. The orchestra and band have separate parts and themes throughout the album, and only during 'Night in White Satin' do the two mesh together for a magnificent crescendo as the song reaches its climax. The poem 'Late Lament' is also a memorable moment in rock history, and an appropriate ending for a day in the life as written by the Moody Blues. Without question, the first progressive rock album (argue amongst yourselves, if you wish).
Worth the price of admission: Dawn is a Feeling, Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?), The Sunset/Twilight Time, Nights in White Satin/Late Lament.

Simon & Garfunkel - Sounds of Silence
There is a sincerity and an exuberance on this, Simon & Garfunkel's second album (and first big hit), that transcends their more slickly produced and highly touted albums of the 1960s (Parsley, Sage Rosemary & Thyme and Bookends). The world-weary New York cynicism and studio intensive layering have not crept into this album, and there are still vestiges of Greenwich Village folk clubs, long-vanished like the curling trails of cigarette smoke trailing from worn wooden tables, and buskering on the sidewalk for beer money and a box or two of Kraft Mac and Cheese. Simon & Garfunkel still have the air of street troubadours and maintain their folk sensiblities here. Nowhere in early 1966 will you find more beautiful love ballads than "Kathy's Song" or "April, Come She Will", or the social commentary brimming from the "Sounds of Silence", "Richard Cory" or "I am a Rock". This is an album that liberal nuns would play during class at conservative Catholic elementary schools. I should know, that's where I first heard it.
Worth the price of admission: April, Come She Will, Kathy's Song, I Am a Rock, Sound of Silence, Anji.

Big Brother & the Holding Company - Cheap Thrills
From the R. Crumb album artwork to the amateurishly acidic guitar to the album title as originally proposed (Sex, Dope and Cheap Thrills), this is a quintessential 1960s album; in fact this album could not exist outside of the 60s. It is a time capsule of a certain warped vibe that only existed for a few short years (and parts are quite painful to listen to nowadays). However, this is, for all intents and purposes, a Janis Joplin album, and truthfully the sloppy 60's psychedelic backup band is virtually meaningless. "Four gentleman and one great, great broad" is the introduction at the start of the album, and no better epitaph can be delivered here. Janis Joplin was a runaway train of booze-soaked ballads and a fiery ball of blues. The energy and emotion Joplin delivered is unparalleled in musical history -- you can literally feel it emanating from the speakers. One only has to hear "Summertime" or "Ball and Chain" to understand how Joplin inspired countless female vocalists over the past 40+ years. Honestly, there are very few singers, either male or female, who have been so influential.
Worth the price of admission: Ball and Chain, Summertime, Piece of My Heart, Turtle Blues.

Frank Zappa - Hot Rats
Free from the snarky sarcasm, counterculture polemics and topical witticisms of The Mothers of Invention that, to me, are utterly hilarious and endlessly inventive, but tend to minimize Frank Zappa's musical genius and relegates many of his albums to novelty act status and comedic sideshows, Hot Rats is almost entirely without barbed lyrics (except for a brief bit by Capt. Beefheart on "Willie the Pimp"), and the brilliant playing foreshadows the rise of jazz fusion and progressive rock in the 70s. The sound, composition, studio innovation and jazzy improvisation are entirely foreign to 1960s rock circles. Using a newfangled 16 track recorder (a technology rigged especially for the sessions), Zappa not only could use a limited amount of trusted (and extremely talented) musicians to gain the sound of a much larger band, but he was also one of the first to record a stereo version of the drums wherein every piece of percussion was recorded separately (and the sound is phenomenal for such an early release). Zappa's guitar is particularly ferocious on many tracks (he out-metals much that would later be termed "heavy metal"), and the contributions of Ian Underwood (organ, clarinet, flute, piano, saxophone), Don "Sugarcane" Harris (violin), Max Bennett (bass), and several others (like Jean-Luc Ponty, for instance) are incredible. An essential album for anyone who loves jazz fusion or progressive rock.
Worth the price of admission: Peaches en Regalia, Willie the Pimp, The Gumbo Variations, Part I, It Must Be A Camel.

Cream - Fresh Cream
Eric Clapton was a "guitar god" of the 1960s, and nowhere is this more apparent than the album Fresh Cream. The particularly heavy sound punctuated by the eccentric drumming of under-appreciated Ginger Baker, the improvisational bass and howling blues harp of Jack Bruce, and the chunky hard rock riffs of Clapton were a revelation for 1966. Yes, I didn't stutter, 1966. It is a very mature blues rock album for the time, and the sound was revolutionary (along with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band release of 1965, the most important of the era). Listen to "N.S.U." or "Sleepy Time Time" - this aint the mop-top Beatles or the tinny-sounding Stones, but a hard rocking blues band in heavy-duty mode. And, of course, it is a powerful set of blues, driven just as much by Jack Bruce's wail and howl as Clapton's guitar: the ominous "Spoonful" (which does ol' Willie Dixon proud), the absolutely crazy "Rollin' and Tumblin' (just try to keep up with Bruce on blues harp for the full 4:42 - I dare you), Muddy Water's "Four Until Late" (Clapton singing), and the quintessential rock version of "Cat's Squirrel". Then there's the anticipatory psychedelia of "I'm So Glad" and "Dreaming". One of the greatest blues rock albums of all time.
Worth the price of admission:Spoonful, Four Until Late, Rollin' and Tumblin', I'm So Glad, N.S.U..

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Crosby, Stills & Nash
An integral album of the 60s, one that melded the talents of members of The Byrds (David Crosby), Buffalo Springfield (Stephen Stills) and The Hollies (Graham Nash) that inagurated the acoustic singer/songwriter ethic that became pronounced in the 70s (James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell, Jim Croce, etc.). There is not a clinker in the bunch here, as the album resembles a greatest hits package: "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" (for Still's ex, singer Judy Collins), the haunting "Guinnevere" (by Crosby), the beautiful "Lady of the Island" (by Nash), and one of the greatest rock harmonies ever on "Helplessly Hoping" (again, Stevens). The apocalyptic "Wooden Ships" is one of the first of many CSN battle cries, as the band brought the protest song to an art form, and "Long Time Gone" also mirrors the turbulent anti-war scene of the late 60s. One of the greatest acoustic rock albums ever, and one of the few instances where a band labeled a "supergroup" actually lived up to the billing.
Worth the price of admission: Helplessly Hoping, Long Time Gone, Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, Guinnevere (alternate version), Lady of the Island.

The Kinks - Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)
The album, perhaps the best the Kinks have ever done, deals with one Arthur Morgan, a carpet-layer in a lower class suburb of post-War London. Not the plot for an epic perhaps, but Ray Davies knew his subject well (it was based on his brother-in-law, husband of his beloved sister, Rose), and the fundamental, under-stated British flavor of this album creates a profound character study and a melancholy glance back at a time and a place that is no longer there in Britain ("Shangri-La"). It is nostalgic, but not cloying. It deals with the death of a loved one in war ("Some Mother's Son"), that is not as overwrought as Roger Waters' musings on The Wall. The recollections are typical of snarky Ray Davies, who succinctly defines an era in "Victoria" as "Long ago, life was clean/Sex was bad, called obscene/And the rich were so mean/Stately homes for the Lords/Croquet lawns, village greens/Victoria was my queen". And I don't think Winston Churchill was ever so represented as on Arthur. One of the best concept albums of the 1960s.
Worth the price of admission: Victioria, Some Mother's Son, Shangri-La, Mr. Churchill Says, Arthur.

Jethro Tull - Stand Up
Tull's second debut album. The first, the bluesy This Was, has really nothing to do with the second, Stand Up. Tull had just parted ways with guitarist Mick Abrahams, and chose Martin Barre in his place. The result? Tull the Second is a stunning folk-rock opus. I have long been of the thought that no one in rock really writes beautiful, reflective tunes anymore. Ian Anderson can turn them out by the bucketful but still rock on the same album. "Look Into the Sun", "Reasons for Waiting" and "For a Thousand Mothers" are just beautifully rendered, mellow pieces (and the string arrangements by David Palmer are heavenly). Conversely, "Nothing is Easy" (one of the great endings in rock), the heavy "A New Day Yesterday" and "We Used to Know" (which The Eagles blatantly copied in "Hotel California") rock along quite well. Top it off with the important Classical-fusion of "Bouree", and the frenetic, Eastern-influenced "Fat Man" (another favorite), and one finds the direction Tull took was an important step in becoming one of the greatest prog-rock bands of all time. Or folk-rock band. Or concept band. You get the general idea -- if you get Tull. Stand Up is an important late 60s album that synthesized several different musical elements and genres into the rock idiom: jazz, blues, classical, folk. It is a hidden 60s gem that presages the 70s and deserves a much wider audience.
Worth the price of admission: Nothing Is Easy, Bouree, Reasons for Waiting, Fat Man, A New Day Yesterday.

Love - Forever Changes
How does one explain this eccentric album to someone who's never heard it? Well, after a long pause, followed by a heavy sigh, on the heels of a bewildered shrug, you mumble something about the Moody Blues led by Syd Barrett singing Herb Alpert and Burt Bacharach songs while on acid. A lot of acid. I mean fistfuls of acid. Now, where were we? Oh yes, Forever Changes by Love. This is as good or better a psychedelic album than Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, particularly since the lyrics are intelligible (although Albert Lee would do justice to Floyd's "Arnold Layne"). But enough of comparisons. Forever Changes is really different than any other album from 1967. The acoustic guitar flourishes are timeless and the strings are achingly beautiful. Albert Lee's lyrics are familiar but off-kilter, like the mind's ability to recgnze wrds wth mssng lttrs. The boy aint all there, but he sings so nicely you overlook his obvious dementia. And the titles exemplify the songs themselves: "A House is not a Motel" (a favorite), "Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale" and "The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This" (another favorite). Make sure to listen to the 2001 expanded CD version by Rhino, which includes "Laughing Stock" wherein Albert Lee harmonizes with none other than Jim Morrison.
Worth the price of admission: A House is not a Motel, The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This, Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale, Alone Again Or.

50 More Great Epic Rock Songs

2011-08-10T17:04:00.009-04:00

Evidently, the epic song theme is a very popular topic on the World Wide Web, and I've received many requests to continue what I started in a previous article 50 Great Epic Rock Songs, in which I listed some qualifiers as to just what makes a rock song 'epic':

First, let us define the word 'epic': very imposing or impressive; surpassing the ordinary (especially in size or scale); "an epic voyage"; "of heroic proportions". So, an 'epic rock song' is one of imposing structure, one in which the proportions of the song are in size and scale greater than the average 2:30 minute rock tune. In particular, the compositions include movements with variations and coloration in the composition. An 'epic' rock song must have both a powerful and memorable hard rock chord structure and an equally stunning reflective and quiescent section -- it is not simply rattling off a blinding lead in the middle of an up-tempo rock tune.

I then went on to list several songs that illustrate those criteria, such as "Stairway to Heaven" (actually, several Zeppelin tunes), and described in detail those specific elements in Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" and Derek & The Dominos' "Layla". Other secondary considerations bantered about on the Internet would include song length (the arbitrary minimum time limit for an epic rock song seems to be 5 minutes, generally speaking, although I have found songs that are epic in nature with shorter recording times), "uniqueness" (although that is highly subjective - one listener's unique is another's garbage), and "emotionality" (but I could get teary-eyed at a 2 minute-long song).

Yet when one compiles all the relative terms synonymous with epic rock songs, grandness, legendary stature, monumental passages, etc., there is also a required narrative - a lyrical story or musical theme - that seems to be present in these songs that differentiates them from the run-of-the-mill rock tune. Loudness and length do not necessarily work as definors; on the contrary, often it is the varying time signatures and the chiaroscuro of dark and light in the compositions which separate them from the herd. But for all that, there is an indefinable quality (I guess 'uniqueness' does sort of scratch the surface) that is an exemplification of 'epic'.

With so many great epic songs to account for, I will offer a separate post-1980s 50 epic song article at a later date. Maybe sooner than later. I've already got a trove of tunes in mind.

ALICE COOPER
Dead Babies/Killer
- In the early 70s, this song was guaranteed to give your mother seizures, and have your father go off into a rant on "the decline of Western Civilization". I made to sure to play it extra loud. By the way, the band name is "Alice Cooper", and Vincent Furnier, the lead singer, had not yet legally changed his name to A.C. in 1972; hence, I use the first name of the band in alphabetizing this list, and not the surname as when listing a real person.

THE BEATLES
I Want You (She's so Heavy)
Abbey Road Medley
- "She's So Heavy" is indeed the heaviest song The Beatles ever attempted (besides "Helter Skelter", perhaps). The bottom is so deep in this composition, it's more like an abyss. The "Abbey Road Medley" is actually a series of short songs culled from The White Album and Let It Be recording sessions, and marks the brilliant ending to The Beatles' final album.

BLACK SABBATH
Hand of Doom
Megalomania
- Heroin addiction and insanity - what better topics for Sabbath to compose epics around? Megalomania was a particular favorite of mine in the 70s. The type of song one would put the speakers right up to one's ears as it was blaring. What was that again?

THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN
Fire
- At 2:54, the shortest song on the list, but "Fire" is a bit of musical mania from 1968 that is indeed epic. The guy is wearing a flaming helmet for Christ's sake! You can't get much more epic than that. Not to mention the frequent time signature changes, horn section, mesmerizing organ and a good deal of acid.

DEEP PURPLE
Child in Time
- I really prefer the Made in Japan version of this song, but couldn't find the proper one on YouTube (annoyingly, there are now more than one CD of the famous live album, featuring different dates of the same tour and different versions of songs than on the 1972 release). But whichever version, this is just a monstrous song. Love Ian Gillan's shrieks.

DIRE STRAITS
Sultans of Swing
- One of the greatest applications of fingerstyle picking in the rock genre. I also love Knopfler's "Industrial Disease", but I'll have to save that for a future article.

THE DOORS
Riders on the Storm
- "There's a killer on the road/His brain is swirling like a toad"...how eerie and evocative (particularly if you've swirled a toad's brain with a pin prior to dissection in biology class). "Riders on the Storm" is dark and creepy, right down to the rain track that continues at intervals throughout the song.

BOB DYLAN
Hurricane
- An epic story given ample musical coloration (Scarlet Rivera's mournful violin is perfect), Dylan chooses to fight for a specific cause (the acquittal of convicted murder Rubin "Hurricane" Carter), rather than his usual windmill tilting.

THE EAGLES
Hotel California
- An allegorical tale of excess in L.A., or as Don Henley put it, "It's a song about the dark underbelly of the American Dream". The dueling guitar outro between Don Felder and Joe Walsh is legendary.

ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA
Fire On High
- A primer on how to compose an epic rock instrumental. Backward masked message? Check. Acoustic interludes? Check. Strings? Check. Chorus of heavenly voices? Check. Snatches of Handel's Messiah? Check. Just add electric guitars and drums and you've passed Epic Balladeering 101.

FAIRPORT CONVENTION
Matty Groves
- A traditional folk ballad from the 17th century (compiled in the 19th century by Francis Child, Ballad #81), made into a legendary epic by Sandy Denny and Fairport Convention. The fiery fiddling of David Swarbick and Richard Thompson's guitar picking during the instrumental grand finale is rousing and reeling.

FLEETWOOD MAC
Oh Well (studio uncut version)
The Chain
- I have been waiting for someone to post the original version of "Oh Well" to YouTube. It is a brilliant composition by Peter Green that starts with a blistering acoustic/electric blues tune that segues into a beautifully rendered bit of Spaghetti-Western classicism. "The Chain", featuring John McVie's memorable bass line, is the height of Mac during the Stevie Nicks/Christine McVie period...era, I mean.

GENESIS
The Musical Box
Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
- So many epic Genesis tunes, so little space. "The Musical Box" is about a Victorian-era girl who beheads a boy with a mallet during a croquette game. The boy's ghost returns to his nursery via a musical box (which plays "Old King Cole"), and tries to seduce the girl, much to the nurse's dismay. And a good time was had by all. "Dancing with the Moonlit Night" has nothing to do with murderous croquette games, but it's a great song in any case.

GENTLE GIANT
In a Glass House
- A song that meanders from modern to medieval and from jazz to rock, with enough time signature changes to confuse even the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. I also love the ten-second medley of the whole album after the song ends (it's there, be patient).

GOLDEN EARRING
Radar Love
- A head-bobber if ever there was one. The bass line, the strident drumbeat, the guitar, the horns - all epic for 1973. Weird thing about Golden Earring, they wouldn't have another hit until nearly ten years later, with the song "Twilight Zone" in 1982.

GRAND FUNK
I'm Your Captain/Closer to Home
- Whether this Grand Funk tune is about the effects of drug addiction or merely a ballad of a sea captain losing his ship to a mutiny, it certainly is moving and in spots downright captivating.

HEART
Crazy on You
- "Crazy on You" is epic enough with Ann Wilson's titanic vocals, but her sister Nancy's superb classic guitar intro drives this song into the stratosphere. As Barry Fitzgerald would say, "Sure, 'tis Homeric."

JIMI HENDRIX
All Along the Watchtower
- The sustained guitar note at the end of the song after a magnificent Hendrixian crescendo has always enthralled me. It goes on forever. Like I wish this song would. Hendrix's epic take on Dylan is by far the greatest cover ever done in rock music.

IAN HUNTER
All American Alien Boy
- Backed by a stellar band including Jaco Pastorius, David Sanborn and Aynsley Dunbar, Hunter delivered an immigration epic that managed to refer to every famous Indian in American history. He must've been reading Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

JETHRO TULL
Thick as a Brick
Baker St. Muse
- With Tull, of course, one could merely offer the entire Thick as a Brick album as an example of an 'epic' song. And it is, which is why I offer it in its entirety here. "Baker St. Muse" is another example of Ian Anderson's compositional skills, with sly lyrics, breakneck time changes, beautiful interludes and a rousing finish.

KING CRIMSON
Lark's Tongue in Aspic, Part I
21st Century Schizoid Man
- The word "crimson' is an epic synonym for the mundane "red"; therefore, "King Crimson" is synonymous for epic in terms of rock. Yeah, well, I don't much care for metaphor either, but these two Crimson songs are mammoth and exemplary of the progressive movement away from simple three or four-chord rock songs standard at the time.

LED ZEPPELIN
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
In the Light
- "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" is a blueprint for all the Zeppelin epics to follow (all the ingredients are there if you listen closely), and "In the Light" from Physical Graffiti is a tour-de-force performance by unheralded and under appreciated John Paul Jones on synths and clavinet.

JOHN LENNON
God
- Of course it's epic, the title is "God" for Christ's sake! But this is the song that officially ended The Beatles and Beatle worship, and sent Lennon on a long strange trip where he battled inner demons (and deportation), exiled himself from music, and then made a triumphal return, only to be murdered by a nutcase on the steps of The Dakota in NYC.

GORDON LIGHTFOOT
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
- It's not about the Titanic on the Atlantic, but stories about sinking ships always have a sad and epic nature about them. This ship, the Edmund Fitzgerald, sank in a wicked gale in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. And fortunately, Gordon Lightfoot was moved enough by the story to write a tremendous ballad in honor of the good ship and crew.

DAVE MASON
Look at You, Look at Me
- Former Traffic member Dave Mason composed this solo magnum opus in 1970, and it still gives me goosebumps. It may sound like an old curmudgeon grumbling about a golden age of rock lost forever, but I merely point to a song like this and ask the question: Where in the last few decades has a performer recorded such a song?

THE MOODY BLUES
Nights in White Satin
- The epic grand finale to an epic progressive rock album, "Nights in White Satin" is one of the most moving and lovely rock ballads ever written. Add in the superb orchestration and the great poem "Late Lament", and there you have it. Epic, that is.

VAN MORRISON
Moondance
- This Van Morrison song spans so many demographic lines and has touched the lives of so many varied and usually apposite listeners that it is almost an anomaly in rock history. Van Morrison at the top of his artistic skills.

PINK FLOYD
Us and Them
Sheep
- With Pink Floyd, epic songs are second nature. A list of those I haven't mentioned yet, "Pigs", "Interstellar Overdrive", "A Saucerful of Secrets", "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", etc., could take up an entire article by themselves. But here are two supplements that will fill your recommended digital allowances for the Vitamin P.

QUEEN
Liar
Brighton Rock
- "Liar" is the first of many Queen epics and can be found on their criminally under appreciated debut album. "Brighton Rock" ranks with another demented Queen epic "Ogre Battle" as one of the craziest rock songs ever recorded. Brian May is righteous!

GERRY RAFFERTY
Baker Street
- Yes, yes, I know, Gerry Rafferty. What shall we do with Gerry Rafferty? Well, I couldn't help it - "Baker Street" is one of those infectious tunes that get stuck in your head, and the sax and guitar riffs are indeed epic; ergo, my one (and probably only) mention of Gerry Rafferty on this blog.

RENAISSANCE
A Trip to the Fair
- What a grand composition. Brilliant piano intro, ethereal vocals by Annie Haslem - and a carnivalesque atmosphere with jazz overtones. Not your usual rock exposition, but we aren't looking for the ordinary on this list.

RUSH
La Villa Strangiato
- I like this epic Rush composition best of all. Because Geddy Lee doesn't sing.

SANTANA
Singing Winds, Crying Beasts/Black Magic Woman - Gypsy Queen
- Atmospheric, sinewy and sensuous, this is everything-Santana-and-the-kitchen-sink, complete with a great cover of Peter Green's blues tune "Black Magic Woman" and a full-blown latinized Hendrix outro.

SUPERTRAMP
Crime of the Century
- One of my favorite concert bands of the 70s and early 80s. Mind-blowing show. The piano-driven sequence starting at approximately 2:13 that keeps building and building, layer upon layer, is what, to me, defines an epic presentation.

ROBIN TROWER
Bridge of Sighs
- A truly transcendent bit of progressive blues from Trower. Everything from the majestic guitar riffs to the phased bells is awesome and definitely not of this world. The title "Bridge of Sighs" was inspired by the Ponte dei Sospiri bridge in Venice, were condemned prisoners would walk to their place of execution and glimpse one last vista of freedom. Hence, the sigh.

URIAH HEEP
Gypsy
- Bludgeoned to death by an epic. Beaten black and blue by a ballad. Slapped silly by a song. Uriah Heep were never one for a nuanced, subtle performance. The title of the album is Very 'eavy...Very 'umble, which defines the band to a tee. Great turn on the Hammond organ by Ken Hensley. Hensley and Jon Lord of Deep Purple were the best on the Hammond.

THE WHO
Love Reign O'er Me
- The greatest song on one of the greatest concept albums ever, Quadrophenia. Pete Townshend's composition and arrangement is entirely majestic, and Roger Daltrey's powerful vocals set the stage for not merely a song but an overwhelming event everytime one hears it.

YES
And You and I
Close to the Edge, Part I
Close to the Edge, Part II
- Two compositions that make up almost the entire Close to the Edge album, itself one of the most epic rock albums of all time, and one of the top five progressive albums in my book. Or blog, as it were.

NEIL YOUNG
Cowgirl in the Sand
- I could have easily added "Like a Hurricane" or "Down by the River" to this list of epic Neil Young compositions, but "Cowgirl in the Sand" is Neil's longest piece, and I really love the guitar distortion on Young's extended leads.

FRANK ZAPPA
Montana
The Gumbo Variations, Part I
The Gumbo Variations, Part II
- Uncle Frank may have done himself a disservice by being so bitingly sarcastic and at times downright silly (not to mention hilarious), because he was one of the greatest musicians and composers of the 20th century. Underlying the nonsensical lyrics of "Montana" is a monumental song, and Zappa set the music world on its ear by releasing the album Hot Rats in 1969. Listen to "The Gumbo Variations" and hear the seminal beginnings of jazz fusion, progressive rock and even metal. The solos by violinist Don "Sugarcane" Harris and saxophonist Ian Underwood are amazing and totally out of context for a 1969 release.

P.S. Even immersed as I've been with an innundation of epics, I had completely forgotten several songs worthy of making the list. For instance, there's the great jam by Blackfoot Highway Song, which follows the noble tradition of Southern rock epics like "Whipping Post", "Freebird" and "Green Grass and High Tides".

The Greatest Acoustic Rock Albums of All Time, Part 2 - A Dark Elf File 1st Anniversary Special

2011-07-12T17:58:00.015-04:00

One year ago yesterday (July 11, 2010), I unleashed the Dark Elf File on the unsuspecting wired world of the Internet. In that year, I have managed to piss off any number of dim-witted disco bloggers, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame sycophants and brown-nosers, and even an overzealous prog-rock aficionado with a failing memory. I hope to do more of the same in the years to come; it is what we old-school curmudgeons do - in a most unapologetic and offensive, but highly literate manner, I might add.

In regards to the creation of this list, the specific caveats and qualifiers for the acoustic rock albums I chose can be found here: The Greatest Acoustic Rock Albums of All Time, Part 1 - A Dark Elf File 1st Anniversary Special, as there was definitely a method to my obsessive madness.

And so, without further ado, here is the second half of The Greatest Acoustic Rock Albums of All Time. Below, please find an additional 30 albums for you perusal which, with the 20 recordings that were reviewed in the first part of this article, make a full 50 albums in all for your aural edification:

Court and Spark - Joni Mitchell
Not as groundbreaking as Mitchell's confessional Blue album, perhaps, but two albums removed from that landmark release, Court and Spark offers more accessible songs and the album itself was her biggest seller. And for good reason. Buoyed by the hit single Help Me, Mitchell's jazzy and brilliant dialogues and monologues are enhanced by stellar backing musicians: Free Man in Paris (David Crosby and Graham Nash), "Raised on Robbery" (Robbie Robertson), and even Cheech & Chong on Twisted. Interior miniatures like Car on the Hill and Down to You make Court and Spark a fascinating album, and certainly my favorite from her folk-rock period.

John Wesley Harding - Bob Dylan
Dylan dragged the folk establishment kicking and screaming into the 20th century with his use of electric guitar on Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde, and just when everyone got settled in with the amplified status quo, what does Dylan do for an encore in 1967? He goes back to Woody Guthrie-style acoustics on John Wesley Harding. This took a lot of balls for Dylan at a time when Are You Experienced, Sgt Pepper, Strange Days and After Bathing at Baxter's revelled in the electric psychedelia of the era. Dylan would go into a funk after this album, and not produce any further masterpieces until 1975's Blood on the Tracks. Here are the few songs I could cull from YouTube from this album (I am sure they'll be deleted soon): All Along the Watchtower, I Dreamed I saw St. Augustine and I Pity The Poor Immigrant.

Déjà Vu - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
The addition of "Y" to "CSN" not only added a sometime vowel to a series of consonants, but a different voice and compositional style to an already immensely talented group. Of course, along with immense talent comes immense egos, and the fistfights backstage at CSN&Y concerts were legendary (at least according to Frank Zappa), but that didn't stop them from recording the great Déjà Vu before they ended up killing each other. Each artist made wonderful acoustic contributions to the album: Déjà Vu (Crosby), 4+20 (Stills), Teach Your Children and Our House (Nash), and Helpless and Country Girl (Young).

Teaser and the Firecat - Cat Stevens
How did Cat Stevens follow-up his masterpiece Tea for the Tillerman? By releasing another masterpiece, of course. Teaser and the Firecat offers memorable hits like Peace Train, Moonshadow, and Morning Has Broken, but it's the other songs on the album that leave an indelible mark: The Wind, Tuesday's Dead, Changes IV, and the infinitely sad How Can I Tell You. The height of the singer/songwriter movement in the 1970s, and an amazing artifact of a time when one could write beautifully sensitive songs of social import and inner meaning and still have a mega-hit.

Moondance - Van Morrison
Like Cat Stevens, Van Morrison followed-up a masterpiece with another and even bigger hit. After Morrison released the critically acclaimed Astral Weeks, his next album in 1970, Moondance (the title song, mystifyingly, was not released as a single until 1977), continued Morrison's unique compositional style, albeit with a more pastoral flair. The rustic appeal of And It Stoned Me, the rousing Caravan, and the timeless Into the Mystic all reflect a gypsy-like return to the land. Other notable tracks are Crazy Love and These Dreams of You.

Songs from the Wood - Jethro Tull
The last truly superb Tull album, Songs from the Wood is the cumulative apex of electrified British folk-rock pioneered by Fairport Convention, Pentangle and Steeleye Span. The acoustic compositions are outstanding, particularly the thinly-veiled sexual escapades of Velvet Green and the rousing The Whistler. There is also the sentimental Fire at Midnight, the pastoral paean to the English Pan Jack-in-the-Green, and a stunning baroque acoustic instrumental passage in the long metallic composition Pibroch (Cap in Hand). The next two albums Heavy Horses and Stormwatch would complete a folk-rock trilogy that marked the end of Tull's brilliantly eccentric classic period.

The Master and the Musician - Phil Keaggy
Phil Keaggy is criminally overlooked and undervalued due to his Christian beliefs. Had he decided to take a secular road during his career, he would be hailed as one of the greatest guitarists ever; but since the media absolutely abhors anyone even mentioning their faith, they pigeon-hole the artist, or worse, ignore them altogether. The Master and the Musician is strictly instrumental (so as not to offend any one's avowed separation of church and Strat), and is one of the most beautiful and contemplative acoustic albums ever recorded. Listen to Pilgrim's Flight, Medley: Evensong/Twighlight/Forever Joy, The High and Exalted One, The Castle's Call, or Wedding in the Country Manor, and you will find that words are not necessary when Keaggy's compositions speak for his soul.

Sweetheart of the Rodeo - The Byrds
A landmark country rock album that influenced every band in the genre from the Eagles to Wilco. The addition of the great Gram Parsons to the Byrds line-up was so pronounced an effect, that the band completely deviated from the psychedelia and Dylan covers that marked their earlier albums for a completely countrified release that few actual "country" artists could ever come close to performing. Y'all just sit yer be-hinds on that there front porch and give a listen to Pretty Boy Floyd (with cinematic embellishments), I Am A Pilgrim, You Don't Miss Your Water, Life in Prison, and Hickory Wind. Y'all come back now, here?

Rust Never Sleeps - Neil Young
A decade that began with the death of the Beatles ended with Neil's brilliant reinvention of himself. Rust Never Sleeps walks the knife's edge between electric guitar-driven savagery and beautifully rendered acoustic imagery, and the dualistic paean to Johnny Rotten My, My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)/"Hey, Hey, My My (Into the Black)" mirrors the schizophrenic song selection to a tee. But as a subtext to Rotten's meteoric rise and fall, there is an autobiographical allusion to Young's career, with the lush lyrical imagery of such songs like Thrasher, "Ride My Llama" (a personal favorite not available on YouTube), Sail Away, and Pocahontas at odds with the albums more brutal pyrotechnics.

Unhalfbricking - Fairport Convention
This Fairport album marks the transition point from the bands earlier albums influenced primarily by the American folk movement to a decidely more British take on folk rock, eventually culminating in the masterpiece of electrified British folk Liege and Lief. Unlike Liege and Lief, Unhalfbricking is primarily acoustic in delivery. The album is notable for the incredible Sandy Denny composition Who Knows Where the Time Goes, Richard Thompson's Genesis Hall, and some remarkable takes on Dylan: Percy's Song and Si Tu Dois Partir. The first inkling of a Liege and Lief-style turn towards British folklore is on the epic A Sailor's Life.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme - Simon & Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel could rattle off stunningly beautiful compositions with netherworldy regularity, and nowhere is this more discernible than on Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme: the great war protest/medieval love song Scarborough Fair/Canticle rises skyward like a prayer, while Homeward Bound is grounded along the long, dreary road; The Dangling Conversation records the emptiness of a dying relationship, yet For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her exults in the first blush of love; The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) is a bright bit of 60s pop, but 7 O'Clock News/Silent Night juxtaposes a beautiful and calm Christmas Carol with grim reminders of the turbulent world as it truly is.

Cruel Sister - Pentangle
Overshadowed by Fairport Convention's electrified British folk masterpiece Liege and Lief (1969), guitarist extraordinaire Bert Jansch and Pentangle released Cruel Sister - and it was a huge flop (I'm not sure if even Jansch's mum bought the album). But flops in one generation can be a masterpiece in another, and this is certainly the case for Cruel Sister, with the sublime vocals of Jacqui McShee and the medieval lilt that pervades the album. Lord Franklin details a disastrous expedition to find the Northwest Passage, Jack Orion features Jansch's beautiful picking, and When I Was In My Prime is a beautiful a cappella highlight by McShee.

Fisherman's Blues - The Waterboys
Many folks consider This is the Sea to be the Waterboys' best album. I would cordially disagree. Fisherman's Blues represents a watershed moment in 1980's Rock, much like the Pogue's If I Should Fall From Grace With God (save without the overt whiskey and heroin abuse). Fisherman's Blues is a heady concoction of Irish folk, American country and roots rock, that is diverse in influences (Beatles, Van Morrison, Hank Williams Sr., and even William Butler Yeats), but cohesive in its delivery. Of particular note are And a Bang on the Ear (one of the best reminiscences of different lovers ever written), Has Anybody Here Seen Hank?, Sweet Thing and The Stolen Child (a beautiful reworking of W.B. Yeats' poem, and the best use of the spoken word in a rock album since the 1960s heyday of the Moody Blues).

Led Zeppelin III
"Unledded" Zeppelin. Both Plant and Page shake their heads to this day over the critical attacks on this album. It seems the critics expected "Whole Lotta Love, Part II" and when they got an acoustic album instead, they attacked Zeppelin as "imitating the music of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young". So much for creativity and eschewing formulaic hit-making. In any case, there is a wide range of great acoustic material here: Gallow's Pole, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, Friends, That's the Way, Tangerine, and Hats Off to Roy Harper. The infuriating thing is that the great Hey What Can I Do, which was recorded during the same sessions, only appears as a single and not on the album itself.

The Hazards of Love - The Decemberists
A folk-rock opera that is as dark, daring and in the end, deathly, as Bizet's Carmen or Mozart's Don Giovanni, but Colin Meloy injects a bit of poignancy and sardonic wit into the grand and grave album to lighten the proceedings a bit. Of special note are the two female vocalists, Shara Worden (the malignantly jealous Fairy Queen) and Becky Starks (the innocent heroine, Margaret), who sing their parts brilliantly. The gallows humor pervades The Rake's Song (the evil antagonist who kills his children, played by Meloy with wicked zeal). Worden is revelatory in The Wanting Comes in Waves (an eerie reincarnation of 60s-era Grace Slick), and Starks is beautiful in Isn't It a Lovely Night. The best acoustic passages are Annan Water and The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned). One of the best albums of the last ten years.

Henry the Human Fly - Richard Thompson
Thompson has always been a bit of an anomoly. After radically altering the British folk rock landscape with the landmarks Unhalfbricking and Liege and Lief, he set out on an inconoclastic solo career that never quite fit comfortably in any specific genre. His first solo effort, Henry the Human Fly is a blueprint for any number of albums he recorded with then wife Linda Thompson, a hybrid recording integrating British folk, rock and bits of American roots music. There is the Poor Ditching Boy, the savagely witty attack on British government The New St. George, and several other songs that showcase his brand of acoustic picking and sly lyricism, such as The Old Changing Way, The Angels Took My Racehorse Away, and Nobody's Wedding (live radio version).

Illinois - Sufjan Stevens
Being from Detroit, I have an emotional attachment to Sufjan's ethereal and reverent album Michigan, but I have to admit he did a superior job on Illinois (the bastard!). Sufjan's second state-themed album (god, I hope the next one isn't Ohio), Illinois is a sprawling and epic release that is both weird and wonderful. Songs like John Wayne Gacy Jr. (a beautifully warped song about the clown mass-murderer) and Casimir Pulaski Day (about a girlfriend who died of bone cancer) are not the usual faire for a baroque pop album (or indie folk or folk rock or whatever the proper tag is). The titles are hilarious and as outrageous as the lyrics: The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us! and Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!, but this is one magnificent album.

In Search of the Lost Chord - The Moody Blues
I preface this by saying that I am reviewing the 2006 In Search of the Lost Chord (Deluxe Edition) with bonus tracks. What was one of the truly superlative and unforgettable psychedelic albums of the 1960s, with such great acoustic songs as Visions of Paradise, The Actor, The Word/Om and Legend of a Mind, becomes a revelation with beautiful additional tracks like What Am I Doing Here?, King and Queen, and A Simple Game (which isn't an acoustic song, but I thought you'd enjoy it if you've never heard it). Extraordinary.

Rum, Sodomy and the Lash - The Pogues
The title comes from a Churchill quote: "Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy, and the lash." The album picks up where the quote left off, starting with epic drinking ballad The Sick Bed of Cúchulainn (Then they'll take you to Cloughprior and shove you in the ground/But you'll stick your head back out and shout "we'll have another round"). There's a bit of everything for your various drinking moods, from the somber semi-hit Dirty Old Town, to the unintelligible Billy Bones, to a bit of Southern hospitality on Jesse James, to a traditional Irish piss Sally MacLennane, and a breathless, boozy turn by Cait O'Riordan on the traditional I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day. As Brendan Brehan would say, "Guinness makes you drunk." So do The Pogues.

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel
In the Aeroplane over the Sea is a wonderfully warped bit of 1960s psychedelic folk transplanted into the jaded and cynical 1990s. Throw together some Nick Drake, Tim Buckley and Syd Barrett, shake well, and drop a hit of acid. Or not. It is an intriguing album nonetheless. There is a growing bit of insanity and tension on Oh, Comely that is genuinely disturbing. The lyrics are to-the-point yet surreal in their depiction of dysfunctional American home life in King of Carrot Flowers (Parts 1-3). Love the distortion juxtaposed against the acoustics on Ghost, and where would a self-respecting psych-folk album be without a ballad about a two-headed boy? Well, thank god that Neutral Milk Hotel (Jeff Magnum, really) includes one: Two-Headed Boy (Pt 2).

Si on avait besoin d'une cinquième saison - Harmonium
Progressive Quebecois elevator muzak? Au contraire, mon frère! This progressive folk release is a pastoral water color of seasonal changes. Mellifluous and enchanting, "If We Needed a Fifth Season" (a translation of the title) has some beautiful acoustic music, such as Histoire sans paroles (Part I), Vert, and En Pleine Face. If you enjoyed this album, then definitely peruse L'Heptade, the double album follow-up, which expands on the sound of this release.

Mermaid Avenue - Billy Bragg & Wilco
Woody Guthrie's daughter Nora allowed Billy Bragg and Wilco the unprecedented use of Guthrie's unscored lyrics (literally thousands of poems without any music, stretching from Pre-WWII to the time of his death in 1967), and the resultant contemporary adaptation, Mermaid Avenue, is a brilliant homage to Guthrie without merely mimicking the great folk artist's style. California Stars, Walt Whitman's Niece, At My Window, Sad and Lonely, and the hilarious Christ for President are relevant to when Mermaid Avenue was released in 1998, even though the lyrics go back nearly 70 years. They are also a testament to the sly and immensely talented Woody Guthrie.

Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws - Bruce Cockburn
Poor, ignored Bruce Cockburn. The underappreciated Canadian songwriter has toiled in anonymity for decades and never achieved stardom. Some performers are just too damn good for their own good. Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws is, in my estimation, Cockburn's best album, and a reflection of Cockburn's Christian mysticism, with allusions to another Christian mystic, the British fantasist Charles William, noted Inkling and companion of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Cockburn's greatest "hit" was Wondering Where the Lions Are, but other songs like "Northern Lights", After the Rain ( great live version - there is a dearth of his songs on YouTube), Incandescent Blue, and No Footprints reflect Cockburn's spirit and rich acoustic stylings.

Songs of Leonard Cohen
Confessional singing was a novel idea in the folk rock movement for 1967, but along came this Canadian poet and writer Leonard Cohen gifted with a "golden voice" (a jest Cohen made himself on a later tune "Tower of Song"), with a handful of melancholy compositions that were highly literate, decidely not psychedelic, and lacking in social import (not a protest song in the bunch). Cohen was never a hitmaker, but his influence among songwriters is tremendous, as is his poetic powers of perception: Winter Lady, Suzanne, So Long, Marianne, Sisters of Mercy, and Master Song

The Secret Language Of Birds - Ian Anderson
Definitely not a Tull Album (much quieter and introspective). It was a toss-up, really, between this Anderson solo album and the superb follow-up Rupi's Dance, but I think The Secret Language of Birds offers a better introduction into Anderson's intricate acoustic stylings (his guitar playing is grossly underappreciated). The compositions are tempered at times with Middle-eastern influences like on The Water Carrier, at others suffused with classical strings Sanctuary, a bit of jazzy Gaelic Stormont Shuffle, or spicy themes from South of the border, such as Habanero Reel and Panama Freighter.

All Things Must Pass - George Harrison
George Harrison released what could possibly be the best post-Beatle solo album of them all (John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band would be the other contender). And All Things Must Pass is chockfull of great acoustic compositions, such as My Sweet Lord (the hit lifted from the Chiffon's He's So Fine), Apple Scruffs (a personal favorite), Isn't It a Pity, Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp and Dylan's If Not For You. The "Quiet Beatle" exploded from the immense shadow of the "Fab Four" with a glorious recording.

The Voyage of the Acolyte - Steve Hackett
Ex-Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett's first and best solo album. The album is a rich tapestry of progressive and classical themes (with a bit of hard rock thrown in). The pastoral Hands Of The Priestess, Part 1 & 2, the netherwordly quaver of The Hermit, the ethereal Shadows of the Hierophant, the spectral The Star of Sirius, and the haunting The Lovers have caused me to run out of apt synonyms for this album. Where is that cursed Roget when one needs the fellow?

Our Endless Numbered Days - Iron & Wine
One of those tranquil albums made for drinking coffee out on the patio on an early summer Sunday morning. The songs are reminiscent of several different aritsts: Sunset Soon Forgotten (Nick Drake), Each Coming Night (Simon & Garfunkel), and Sodom, South Georgia (Nick Drake accompanied by Neil Young on guitar). But some songs bear more of a direct inspiration: Teeth in the Grass and Free Until They Cut Me Down. Stress relief, thy name is Iron & Wine.

First Utterance - Comus
A progressive-folk cult classic and certainly an album for acquired tastes (like eating monkey brains or Rocky Mountain oysters). The lyrics are as violent and disturbing as the contorted album cover illustration. But for all the weirdness (and the utterly psychedelic and in places downright irritating vocals), the underlying medieval/Baroque acoustic compositions are remarkable. For instance, deduct the satanic chipmunks on LSD singing from Song to Comus and you have a compelling song. Dark Age rapine, ritual murder and Luciferian apostasy runs through the album like malignant shit from an evil goose: The Herald (the album's best song, featuring the ethereal Bobbie Watson), The Prisoner (about the travails of shock therapy), Drip, Drip, and Diana are all songs to play loudly to annoy your neighbors...or your in-laws if they happen to be visiting.

Living in the Past - Jethro Tull
A most curious relic of progressive-folk paleontology. It's not a greatest hits package, not a live album (except for three songs), not wholly a rock album, and not even a career compilation. Imagine being able to release a record of cast-offs, B-sides, and EP tracks this magnificent, but only having been a band for merely four studio albums up to that point (1968-72). Amazing. And although it's not an all-acoustic album either, there is an album-worth of great acoustic tracks: The Witches Promise, Life is a Long Song, Nursie, Up the Pool, Christmas Song, Just Trying to Be, Dr. Bogenbroom, and Wondr'ing Again. There is nothing else like it.

Post-script:

I wish to give a heartfelt thanks to all the kind folks who commented, collaborated and offered timely suggestions during the first year of this blog. Hell, I'll even thank the dolts with rude or disparaging editorial comments (and decidedly poor taste in music, obviously) who enlivened the site with their inane bits of buffoonery. It takes all kinds, and a passion for music, which I will readily agree is highly subjective, oft leads us all astray. Besides, I'll argue with just about anyone.

Sláinte!

The Greatest Acoustic Rock Albums of All Time, Part 1 - A Dark Elf File 1st Anniversary Special

2011-07-03T17:35:00.211-04:00

Welcome to the 1st Anniversary Edition of the Dark Elf File. One year ago (July 11, 2010 to be exact), I finally got around to haunting the blogosphere. And so, in honor of such an august occasion (august, even if it's July), I decided to blow my wad on one mega-article in two parts devoted to a single theme. Based on in-depth statistical analysis (I clicked over to the Blogger stats page and looked at the most viewed articles), it was obvious that acoustic songs were a favorite music subject among the bleary-eyed audiophilic zealots who follow my rambling rants on this idiosyncratic but grammatically impeccable site. And since I hit the century mark in regards to individual acoustic songs (Fifty Great Acoustic Rock Songs and Great Acoustic Rock Songs -- The Next Fifty), the logical progression would be to discuss which, in my estimation, would be the greatest acoustic rock albums of all time.

So, you may well ask, what exactly makes an acoustic rock album a rock album that is acoustic, kind sir? Well, my dears, I reply in kind, it is basically an album that may contain all the elements of rock music (drums, electric guitars, keyboards and electronic gadgetry), but there must also be a particular emphasis on acoustic guitar that is not found in your run-of-the-mill rock offering. I am not talking about a hard rock or metal album that has one or even two acoustic ballads merely to get the girls moist at concerts, as that is pretty standard fair (every band from Pink Floyd to Bon Jovi has a few acoustic songs to throw at you).

On the contrary, an acoustic rock album, if not employing acoustic instruments entirely (as many of the albums I have chosen are so composed), then the album must have at least half of the compositions comprised of acoustic arrangements to meet my stringent (if wholly subjective) requirements. I have decided to eliminate all live recordings (such as "Unplugged" events - which is cheating) and greatest hits packages or compilation sets, opting strictly for original studio albums. Although I offer, here and there, an album of strictly instrumental music (Kottke, Hedges and Keaggy), I am more interested in the compositional aspects of acoustic songs: the lyrics, melody lines and various treatments of the material.

In addition, the artists herein listed must be known primarily as rock performers to fit the bill. Therefore, important acoustic blues albums from Robert Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt or Leadbelly aren't on this list, neither are superb acoustic jazz albums like Djangology by Django Reinhardt or Friday Night in San Francisco (featuring Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía), nor will you find great country/bluegrass performers such as Merle Travis and Doc Watson, or fine folk artists like John Fahey, John Prine, Martin Carthy or Bert Jansch (although Jansch appears as part of Pentangle and one pre-electric Bob Dylan album is noted here as well - I'll save folk albums for another time). Such an all-encompassing acoustic endeavor would require more research and time than my lazy ass is willing to expend and, besides, such a list could go on for a hundred or more albums, becoming simply too convoluted, out of context and unwieldy to manage.

In any case, I wouldn't do justice to all the great acoustic albums ever recorded, so I'll just stick to acoustic rock. And so, without further digression (and if you've followed this blog at all, you'll know that I am a progressively aggressive digressor), here are the first 20 greatest acoustic rock albums of all time:

Tea for the Tillerman - Cat Stevens
Say what you will about Cat Stevens' adoption of the Islamic faith (he's now known as Yusuf Islam), Tea for the Tillerman is one of the greatest acoustic albums ever recorded, as well as being part of one of the best film soundtracks ever made (4 songs from the album can be heard in the touching black comedy Harold and Maude, along with several other Stevens songs). Cat Stevens' recording history can be seen as a spiritual journey in search of the Truth (which led him eventually to becoming a Muslim), and nowhere is this more plain than on Tea for the Tillerman. Songs such as Wild World, On the Road to Find Out, Father and Son and Miles From Nowhere all speak to a yearning for internal peace and harmony. Add in the achingly beautiful Sad Lisa and the social conscience of Where Do the Children Play?, and Tea for the Tillerman is one of the best acoustic rock albums in both instrumental artistry and sublime melodies, with a lyrical depth and meaning for the lost generation after the Vietnam War who, like Cat Stevens, were searching for themselves. A truly remarkable achievement.

Astral Weeks - Van Morrison
Imagine, if you will, James Joyce or T.S. Eliot writing an acoustic rock album. Astral Weeks is just as earth-shattering, groundbreaking and rule-bending as any accomplishment by the aforementioned literary masters, except you can hum along to it (which is something you certainly cannot do with Finnegan's Wake or The Wasteland). Released in 1968, there was nothing comparable to this superb concoction of rock, jazz, blues and folk (with an occasional classic string arrangement). Van Morrison's stream-of-consciousness scatting is revelatory on Astral Weeks, Cypress Avenue (a reverie of Belfast in Morrison's youth), the sentimental Madame George, the jazzy and jumping The Way Young Lovers Do, and the incomparable Sweet Thing. For a young composer of 23 short years, it seems impossible for Van Morrison to have arrived at such a point without a muse, the Irish Leannan Sidhe, the faery mistress who trades inspiration for a love that borders on madness, and eventually drives the artist to an early death. Well, Van did nearly drink himself to death. Just saying.

Blood on the Tracks - Bob Dylan
One of Dylan's finest albums, and my personal favorite. Blood on the Tracks was a comeback album of sorts for Dylan, and the personal nature of the songs offers a gratifying glimpse into Dylan's sometimes obscurant psyche. The best love songs Dylan ever wrote are on this one, each tinged with sorrow and regret, and the sparse accompaniments add to the solitude and inner reflection Dylan espouses in his lyrics. Of course, Dylan and his recording label are quite ruthless in disallowing studio versions of his songs on YouTube (and the live takes are, as a rule, either vocally annoying or outright excruciating), but buy the album anyway, because "Tangled Up In Blue", "Shelter From The Storm", "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts", "Idiot Wind" and "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome" are masterpieces of the songwriter's craft.

Blue - Joni Mitchell
Perhaps the greatest recording by a female singer/songwriter ever (right up there with Carole King's Tapestry), Blue was a landmark recording for both lyrical innovation (a stream of internal monologues, dialogues of lovers and autobiographical revelations), as well as the use of jazz-inflected vocal intonations in a folk rock format, and the title song Blue itself highlights the characteristics of the album. Song composition like that found in A Case of You or The Last Time I Saw Richard was unheard of when Blue was released in 1971: confessional lyrics and sparse instrumentation highlighting the main instrument on this album, Joni Mitchell's four octave voice. With limited accompaniment, multi-instrumentalist Mitchell breezes through her songs using an acoustic guitar, piano or Appalachian dulcimer. Other songs of note are Little Green and River, about a miserable break-up just before Christmas (ho-ho-no!).

After the Gold Rush - Neil Young
Critics rarely rise above their own stupidity; they merely cover their tracks and act like they were right all along. For instance, Rolling Stone Magazine attacked After the Gold Rush when it was first released in 1970 saying, "none of the songs here rise above the uniformly dull surface." Of course, the hypocritical rag eventually did a complete about-face, suddenly proclaiming the album a "masterpiece" (about 5 years after the rest of the world). Whatever. Assholes. The acoustic balladry of After the Gold Rush is timeless and a perfect take on Neil Young's eccentric genius. From the apocalyptic and spare After the Gold Rush to the poppy Only Love Can Break Your Heart, to the haunting Don't Let It Bring You Down (live version), to a sad interpretation of the Don Gibson/Chet Atkins standard Oh Lonesome Me, to the upbeat Cripple Creek Ferry, the album is a milestone in rock history and blueprint for Neil Young albums to follow.

Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel
On their fifth and final album as a duo, Simon & Garfunkel could have rested on their laurels with the stunning Bridge Over Troubled Water, one of the greatest songs ever recorded in any genre. But there is more to this album than a single song. For instance, The Boxer is an epic that outdoes even Dylan in the folk-rock department. The Only Living Boy in New York and Song for the Asking are both exquisite personal miniatures, and Cecilia and El Condor Pasa (If I Could) reflect Simon's burgeoning interest in world music, which he would explore in greater detail during his solo career, while Bye Bye Love looks back on The Everley Brothers, a group Simon & Garfunkel patterned themselves after very early in their career.

Aqualung - Jethro Tull
Although variously listed as everything from "hard rock" to a "concept album", Aqualung offers one of the first and greatest examples of a rock band using acoustic passages to seamlessly move from one aspect or theme of an album to the next. And the acoustic artistry of both the principal composer Ian Anderson and lead guitarist Martin Barre is readily apparent on short reveries such as Cheap Day Return, Wondr'ing Aloud and Slipstream, as well as on the more expansive and fully realized compositions Mother Goose and Up to Me. Additionally, the hard rock epic Aqualung has a memorable extended acoustic passage, and My God has one of the most exquisitely dark acoustic intros ever composed in rock.

Aerial Boundaries - Michael Hedges
If you care anything at all about the contemporary acoustic guitar idiom, but you've never heard of Michael Hedges, then you are missing a great part of your education. Hedges does not just play acoustic guitar, he transforms the instrument. You listen, and then you ask yourself: 'just how many musicians are playing on this piece?' And then the stunning realization: 'that's just Hedges playing? WTF!' Eccentric and visionary, Hedges' Aerial Boundaries actually has no bounds. As far as the annoying "New Age" tag often associated with Hedges' music, this is not Enya singing "Orinoco Flow", this is a revolutionary reinterpretation of guitar and finger-style playing. Other notable songs are Bensusan, Ragamuffin, Spare Change, and Rickover's Dream.

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Dylan's second album was literally a radical departure from the first. In both polemic lyrics and composition, Dylan struck a chord with millions of disaffected youths across the world and gave a movement its voice. Within three years, Dylan would strap on an electric guitar and drag the movement, kicking and screaming, into a counterculture rock revolution. "Blowin' in the Wind", "Masters of War", "Oxford Town" and "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" reflect growing discontent and outrage against war and racism, while "Girl from the North Country" and "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" are about love in the cold and a love grown cold. Other Dylan albums may have greater critical acclaim, but this is the wellspring where Dylan found himself, and in the process a generation found a prophet.

The White Album - The Beatles
Wait a moment...The White Album is a choice for a great acoustic album? You're damn right it is. Within the two records there is a an entire album of absolutely superb acoustic tunes: Julia, Cry Baby Cry, Rocky Racoon, I Will, Mother Nature's Son, Piggies, Blackbird, The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill, Dear Prudence, and Revolution 1. Throw in the haunting acoustic outtake of While My Guitar Gently Weeps (recently edited and remastered for the Love album), and there you have it: one of the greatest acoustic albums ever recorded.

6- & 12- String Guitar - Leo Kottke
Leo Kottke's 6- & 12- String Guitar may be classified as a "folk album", but you'll never hear a guy soloing on an acoustic guitar rock so hard. One listen to Vaseline Machine Gun and you'll see what I mean. If you are still somehow undecided, then give a listen to Coolidge Rising. Of course, there is mellower fare here, like The Brain Of The Purple Mountain and even a fine version of Bach's Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring. But what the hell, you know you want more jamming -- so here: Jack Fig. And here: Busted Bicycle. Okay, I'll stop now.

Crosby, Stills and Nash
My favorite counterculture hippies. CSN's debut is a marvellous ramble through various moods and melodies with exuberant harmonies and bright acoustic strumming, including the crazy "Bruce Palmer Modal Tuning" (which is EEEEBE) that can be found on Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (written for singer Judy Collins, Stephen Stills ex-girlfriend with the striking azure orbs) "and 4+20" (from the Déjà Vu album). There are some absolutely beautiful songs on this album: Guinnevere (from Crosby), Lady of the Island (from Nash) and Helplessly Hoping (from Stills). One of the few bands tagged as a "Supergroup" that actually delivered on the title.

If I should Fall From Grace With God - The Pogues
This is what happens you when you mix whiskey, heroin, punk rock and traditional Irish music. The Pogues' masterpiece, If I should Fall From Grace With God was a primary influence for the Gaelic-rock renaissance in the 90s, featuring such bands as The Dropkick Murphys, The Young Dubliners, Flogging Molly and Ashley MacIsaac. Thank god Shane McGowan had better songwriting skills than dental hygiene! And McGowan's skill's are nowhere more apparent than on this album. Some highlights are Turkish Song of the Damned, the fun drunken sing-along Bottle of Smoke (count how many times Shane drops the F-bomb), the instrumental Metropolis, the rousing South Australia and The Lullaby of London. Oh, and perhaps the greatest Christmas song ever written Fairytale of New York. And 'nary a one o' them damn electric guitars in the lot!

Sweet Baby James - James Taylor
James Taylor is another tightfisted artist who, along with his nearsighted record company, refuses to allow studio versions of his songs on YouTube (based on the mistaken assumption that showcasing songs on such a venue would reduce their record sales). Whatever. So, having seen Mr. Taylor on several occasions (and thoroughly enjoying the show each time), you might as well listen to live versions of the songs from this album, as they are just as good: Sweet Baby James, Country Road, Steamroller, and the great Fire and Rain, which is based on the suicide of a friend and the resultant depression over her death, his drug addiction and the dismal failure of his first band "Flying Machines", which caused him to stay at a mental institution for a while. "Fire" refers to shock therapy, and "Rain" references the cold shower afterwards.

Tracy Chapman
A stunning acoustic rock debut and one of the best albums of the 80s, winning two Grammys and going multi-platinum in sales. Not bad for a recent graduate of Tufts University (she earned a B.A. in Anthropology) who began busking around Harvard to make ends meet. Fast Car is the biggest hit from the album, but I prefer Talkin' Bout a Revolution, Across the Lines, For My Lover and Mountains O' Things. Then there is the thoroughly chilling a cappella song Behind the Wall, one of the most moving protests against domestic violence I have ever heard. Entertaining, thoughtful and provocative, Chapman's first album helped begin a renaissance of female composers in the late 80s and early 90s.

Nebraska - Bruce Springsteen
As American as politicians with broken promises and bad hair, driving a block to buy cigarettes at the party store, and buffalo shit on the great plains, Springsteen's Nebraska reeks of the heartland and a bygone era of folk music from the likes of Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. Surprisingly, it succeeds on several levels and is perhaps one of Bruce's best 2 or 3 albums. Like Bob Dylan and James Taylor, two other musicians who obviously haven't made enough money in their careers, Bruce's studio albums are unavailable on YouTube, so here's some noteworthy live versions: Johnny 99 (Bruce plays harmonica like Dylan, meaning sloppily), My Father's House, Nebraska (about Charles Starkweather and his girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate, and their murder spree across Nebraska in 1958), and Mansion on the Hill.

Stormcock - Roy Harper
Roy Harper? Isn't he the Brit whose claim to fame was being named in a Led Zeppelin song title ("Hats off to Roy Harper"), and as vocalist on "Have a Cigar" from Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here? Yes, he is that but much more. Stormcock is as spare as they come, and contains only four songs (ranging from seven to thirteen minutes long), but despite the sparsity of material and lack of musicians (there's only Harper, with appearances by Jimmy Page appearing incognito as "S. Flavius Mercurius", and David Bedford on organ, with occasional orchestral arrangements) this is an expansive listening experience. The Same Old Rock, One Man Rock and Roll Band, Me and My Woman, Part 1 and Hors D'oeuvres are each a precious bit of progressive acoustic balladry.

Forever Changes - Love
How does one explain this eccentric album to someone who's never heard it? Well, after a long pause, you mumble something about the Moody Blues led by Syd Barrett singing Herb Alpert and Burt Bacharach songs while on acid. A lot of acid. I mean fistfuls of acid. Forever Changes is really different than any other album from 1967. The acoustic guitar flourishes are timeless and the strings are achingly beautiful. Albert Lee's lyrics are familiar but off-kilter, like the mind's ability to recgnze wrds wth mssng lttrs. The boy aint all there, but he sings so nicely you overlook his obvious dementia. And the psilocybinic titles exemplify the songs themselves: A House is not a Motel, Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale, The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This and Andmoreagain.

Harvest - Neil Young
One more Neil Young album savaged by critics when it was first released, but later hailed as a masterpiece. Make up your damn minds or, better yet, shut the hell up! Harvest is and always was an acoustic gem. Two of my Young favorites, the poignant Old Man and the haunting Needle and the Damage Done, are on this album, as is the fan favorite Harvest, and the international hit Heart of Gold. There is also the beautiful but decidedly warped A Man Needs a Maid featuring the London Symphony Orchestra. What Neil Young was doing hanging out with the LSO, I have no idea - an odd mismatch that somehow worked.

Five Leaves Left - Nick Drake
Many Drake zealots have huge erections for the album Pink Moon, Drake's final studio recording before he died of an overdose of antidepressants; however, Five Leaves Left, with top notch backing by band members of Fairport Convention and Pentangle and the lush strings of Robert Kirby is, in my estimation, a more consistent album than Pink Moon (which is a completely solo endeavor). The winsome Time Has Told Me (with Richard Thompson on lead guitar), the strident picking on Cello Song, the ethereal and ghostly Three Hours, the jazzy and whimsical Man in a Shed, and the elegiac Fruit Tree all point to a wonderful performer shrouded in depression, insomnia and melancholy, a sadness that consumed him before he truly met his postential.

STAY TUNED FOR PART TWO, COMING SOON TO YOUR LOCAL GROCER'S SHELVES.

The Greatest Blues Rock Albums of All Time, Part II

2011-06-19T10:36:00.004-04:00

In this, the second installment of my overview of blues rock (the first found here: The Greatest Blues Rock Albums of All Time, Part I), I will continue on my own merry, subjective way, choosing to include albums here and there that are certainly personal favorites; nonetheless, they were (and maybe even are) influential to the blues or blues rock genres.

But hey, in some of the music lists that litter the Internet, I wonder if those that made the selections even listened to the albums they picked (hearsay is often the main criterion for inclusion, it seems). Perhaps it is because I actually own all the albums I include in my overviews that I have gained a familiarity with and a greater respect for the material, than if I merely heard a few songs, or read a blurb somewhere on the awesomeness of the release. There is something about knowing songs intimately that allows for a sense of reflection hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mudshark in your mythology -- here it goes,the circular motion, now rub it! (apologies to Frank Zappa for the direct lyrical lift -- I was just seeing if you were paying attention).

As in the first fifteen selections, the material here (17 albums in all) is not necessarily all blues, but there is enough of a bluesy feel suffusing the albums to make them germane to the conversation, and at least a few songs can be found on each that are essential to the blues lexicon. And there you have it:

Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix
One of the greatest albums of the 1960s, Electric Ladyland is just as much a blues album as it is psychedelic rock. The improvisational, 15 minute long studio jam Voodoo Chile (featuring Steve Winwood on organ and Jack Cassady on bass) is great, but the scorching five minute Voodoo Child (Slight Return) is one of the best blues tunes ever written, and its violence and innovation in guitar dynamics was an influence to nearly every great guitarist who came after. In addition, there is a grand version of Earl King's Come On (Let the Good Times Roll), the wah-wah explosion of Still Raining, Still Dreaming, the boundary-breaking heavy funk of Gypsy Eyes, the syncopated blues strut of House Burning Down, and the titanic baroque chamber blues of Burning of the Midnight Lamp. No one stretched the blues form in so many surprising directions as Hendrix. Exceptional and without equal.

Sticky Fingers - The Rolling Stones
As I have mentioned elsewhere, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street are the Stones' best albums. Those three consecutive studio albums (with the live Get yer Ya-ya's Out sandwiched in-between) represent the Stones at their peak. I was never enamored of Mick Jagger's voice nor his rooster strut, nor have I considered the Rolling Stones to be "The Greatest Rock Band in the World(TM)", particularly since they were overshadowed by The Beatles in the 60's and Led Zeppelin in the 70's. For me, longevity does not equate to greatness.That doesn't mean, however, that the Stones did not produce great albums. From a blues standpoint, Sticky Fingers offers such standout songs as the countrified Dead Flowers (which answers the question: what do you give your dead girl friend?), the raunchy slide of You Gotta Move, the reflective I Got the Blues, and the feverish Sister Morphine ("Why does the doctor have no face?").

Taj Mahal
Buttressed by the inestimable talents of guitarists Ry Cooder and Jesse Ed Davis, Taj Mahal released a rockin' debut album that owes just as much to R&B as blues. This is blues that gets your head noddin' and your butt boogyin'! Let's start off with a great rendition of Blind Willie McTell's Statesboro Blues, then sashay down the road with Leaving Trunk, where we can do some Checkin' Up on My Baby. EZ Rider is great slice of 60s R&B, and then after all that, take a rest on the front porch with the traditional blues of The Celebrated Walkin' Blues. One damn good album!

In Step - Stevie Ray Vaughan
I could've offered every damn one of Stevie Ray's albums for your consideration, but I think In Step is perhaps a good place to start without getting some greatest hits package that is not necessarily in context like a specific album. Plus, the 1999 reissue offers five blistering live versions of songs in the bargain. Listen to Vaughan simply reinvent the blues on Wall of Denial, or simply having some fun on The House is Rockin', and then go watch some video of this guy jamming live (one of the 10 best concerts I've ever seen!). SRV's reverence for Hendrix shows through on the starstruck live version of Live Without You, there's the crazy country/western licks of Travis Walk, and the jazzy Riviera Paradise, a pleasant change of pace from the high-testosterone Stratocasting. For some straight electric blues, SRV doffs his cowboy hat to one of his biggest influences, Buddy Guy, in the tune Leave My Girl Alone.

Pearl - Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin with actual, accomplished musicians! No more muddy and sloppy psychedelic meandering with Big Brother and the Holding Company or the Kozmic Blues Band, Janis finally gets the correct studio treatment and releases a superb album. From the first song on Pearl, the seductive Move Over, Joplin is given a vehicle to really stretch her talents, while maintaining the funky 60s stylings, like on Buried Alive in Blues. There is the reflective A Woman Left Lonely, the playful Mercedes Benz, and the full-tilt Cry Baby. You've got R&B Half Moon, and...ummmm...oh yeah, the mega-hit Me and Bobby McGee.

Recorded Live - Ten Years After
This one is for bloomin' British rock 'n' blues connoisseurs who would like a great primer on the underappreciated Alvin Lee and Ten Years After, but don't wish to spend archival bucks on the more expensive (and tediously longer) Live at Fillmore. Recorded Live (1973) is a damn good album, and certainly puts to shame Alvin Lee's sloppy performance at Woodstock. Compare the version of the classic "I'm Going Home" from Woodstock and then here -- the Recorded Live version is infinitely tighter, faster and better. The really great blues tracks on this recording are the absolutely ferocious Help Me (play at maximum volume only), the extended I Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes (brief clip of the 15 minute jam),and Slow Blues in C. Old chestnuts like Good Morning Little Schoolgirl and Choo Choo Mama are genuinely fun, and depending on your version of the album, it may or may not contain the drum solo "The Hobbit", which is passably interesting but really has nothing to do with Tolkien.

Led Zeppelin I
A great rookie outing from Led Zeppelin, and the blueprint for all their monstrous hit albums that followed. Some really good blues on this one, particularly You Shook Me (love the blues harp and organ solos), I Can't Quit You Babe, and the booming How Many More Times. Of course, there is the glowering psychedelic gorilla in the room, Dazed and Confused, which was once all the rage in outrageousness, but which now sounds terribly dated and over-the-top. But hey, hey, what can I do?

Irish Tour '74 - Rory Gallagher
If you have a chance to see the award-winning film of this series of concerts directed by Tony Palmer, it is definitely a worthwhile view of Rory Gallagher and a document of "The Troubles" in Ireland of that period. The late, great Irish bluesman is at the top of his game here, and is truly an underrated guitarist. When a reporter said to Jimi Hendrix, "How does it feel to be the best guitar player in the world?" Jimi smiled and replied, "I don't know, ask Rory Gallagher." Lend an ear to Rory's reverent version of Muddy Waters' I Wonder Who, the masterful acoustic piece As the Crow Flies, the wicked slide of Who's that Coming?, the sleazy Cradle Rock, or Walk on Hot Coals (Part I). I'll leave off here with a bit of improvisation from the start of the film.

Dixie Chicken - Little Feat
A little slice of funky New Orleans heaven. Imagine, if you will, Dr. John and The Band having a love child. Okay, forget that ghastly image, this is a fun album, maybe one of the funnest of all time. Start out with the Dixie Chicken strut, and boogie on from there. Some of the standout tunes are a version of Allen Toussaint's On Your Way Down, the acoustic Roll Um Easy, the funky R&B of Two Trains, the sad Southern rocker Juliette, and the even sadder Kiss It Off. Okay, maybe it isn't as fun as all that, but it is a great album!

Roger the Engineer - The Yardbirds
I would have preferred Having a Rave Up with The Yardbirds in this spot, but not all the songs are available on YouTube, and there has been no CD release (except a poor sounding Japanese version). So, the critical choice would be The Yardbird's album entitled The Yardbirds (later known as Roger the Engineer, or the alternate U.S. title Over Under Sideways Down). The Yardbirds went through guitarists like drummers go through sticks (first Eric Clapton, then Jeff Beck and lastly Jimmy Page), but Roger the Engineer is interesting because it's The Yardbirds only album of all original material. And Jeff Beck is at his distorted best (well, his best for 1966 -- he got better). There's Jeff's Boogie (poor sound quality, but fun), The Nazz are Blue (that's Beck singing), Lost Woman (love the bass and phased harp), and What Do You Want.

Tres Hombres - ZZ Top
Perhaps Jim Morrison was prophetic when he stated, "Let me tell you about Texas Radio and the Big Beat", because that is the personification of the lil ol' band from Texas, ZZ Top, and which is best defined on their 1973 double-barreled blues release Tres Hombres. Just one listen to Waitin' for the Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago, and you'll understand what I mean. The redneck, down-home rock 'n' blues ethic is blazin' south of the Mason-Dixon line on Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers, and gospel music is reinterpreted by the irreverent Top in Have You Heard. Top off your big ol' heapin' helpin' of the Texas twist with La Grange. Have mercy!

Idlewild South - The Allman Brothers Band
The great country blues song Midnight Rider, with its mournful harmonies but bright guitars, is reason enough for blues enthusiasts to own this album, but the rollin' and tumblin' licks on Muddy Water's (I'm Your) Hoochie Man let everyone know where The Allman Brothers were coming from on their second album. From the sad and bluesy Please Call Home to the funky Don't Keep Me Wonderin' to the band defining sound of Revival, The Allman Brothers defined Southern Blues, and no one that followed thereafter could Betts them. Ummm...I mean Best them. Of course, some of you might be aware of the creepy bit of trivia regarding the jam "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed". On a stroll, Duane Allman saw a tombstone in the Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, Georgia with that epitaph on it, and decided to record an instrumental around it. Rose Hill Cemetery is also where both Duane Allman and bassist Berry Oakley were later buried.

Smokin' - Humble Pie
Some folks would prefer Humble Pie's Performance: Rockin' The Fillmore in this spot, but for me, Smokin' is far tighter, diverse, and the best album the band ever made (with or without Peter Frampton -- he is not needed here). From the rave-up R&B of Hot 'n' Nasty, to the transcendent You're So Good for Me, to the awesome acoustic blues of Old Time Feelin', Steve Marriot and the boys are in fine form, and offer a wide array of blues-inflected material. Of course, there is the immortal sleaziness of 30 Days in the Hole, the monster version of Eddie Cochrane's C'mon Everybody, and Marriot at his howlin' and heated best in I Wonder. This is rock and blues in its most primal form, with the Pie's funkified version of (I'm a) Road Runner the shriekin', stompin' proof.

Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton
I could point to Another Man, the traditional chain gang clap and stomp that tells the tale of a death of an inmate, as a departure point in this album from more commerical uses of the blues in rock. Mose Allison's Parchman Farm, Robert Johnson's Ramblin' on My Mind, and Freddie King's Hideaway show Mayall and Clapton's reverence for the masters who had gone before them, and Ray Charles' What'd I Say is just plain fun. Mayall and Clapton co-wrote Double Crossing Time, featuring some vicious licks from Eric.

Truth - Jeff Beck
Fresh from leaving The Yardbirds, Beck picked up Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood (then a bassist), and conjured up a blues storm on Truth. Beck's innovations in guitar dynamics and heavy distortion led this album to be revered as the progenitor of heavy metal. Speaking of distortion (and more importantly, wah-wah), crank up the phenomenal Aint Superstitious. For more traditional takes on blues tunes (as trad as Beck gets), listen to Nicky Hopkins great turn on the piano in Blues Deluxe or on Willie Dixon's You Shook Me (with Beck taking the guitar where no bluesman has gone). Rod Stewart even does a wonderful turn on Ol' Man River. I'll leave off with Rock My Plimsoul.

This Was - Jethro Tull
Oh no! not another 1960's British blues band! One would think the English invented the blues the way these Muddy Waters-wannabes proliferate. Wait a minute...wait a minute! There's something off here -- this blues rock band is playing jazz! If my ears don't deceive me, that's Serenade to a Cuckoo by Roland Kirk. Yes, that Roland Kirk: the guy who plays a nose flute. Hey! Now that Ian Anderson fella is playing flute AND harmonica in A Song for Jeffrey! You can't play flute and harmonica in a blues song, it just isn't done! Oh yeah, you're right, there's flute and blues harp in John Mayall's "Room to Move". Damn British innovations! But as far as innovations, listen carefully to "A Song for Jeffrey". It does indeed present the embryonic Tull of the future, complete with separate musical passages in varying time signatures, vocal effects and manic instrument changes. I really like Mick Abrahams and Ian on Some Day the Sun Won't Shine For You'. Then there's the requisite version of Cat's Squirrel, the chamber blues of Move On Alone, and the great My Sunday Feeling.

Raw Sienna - Savoy Brown
A superb album of big band blues from the criminally underappreciated Kim Simmonds and Savoy Brown, Raw Sienna features great horn and string arrangements, great guitar licks from Simmonds and great vocals by Chris Youlden. In fact, I'll just shut up so you can boogie to the blues: I'm Crying, That Same Feelin', Needle and Spoon, Master Hare.

The Greatest Blues Rock Albums of All Time, Part I

2011-06-07T22:54:00.005-04:00

It is a regrettable fact that I, like many Americans in my generation, learned about the blues from "British Invasion" bands, and only came to appreciate the grand old masters of the blues second-hand. But while many purists claim bands like The Bluesbreakers, Cream, The Animals, The Stones, Zeppelin, etc., were merely grave-robbing ghouls, stealing songs because of weak copyright protection, I am personally thankful that they resuscitated a dying art form in the 60s, a revival that brought the blues to unheard of popular heights.

There were lawsuits in regards to copyright infringements (the most notable being Willie Dixon's successful out-of-court settlement with Zeppelin over the song "Whole Lotta Love"), but the blues, in and of itself, has been a cannibalistic genre since the beginning. As I noted in a previous article, Big Bill Broonzy made the ultimate comment about the parasitic aspects of blues music when he stated emphatically in the 1930s: "You take one song and make fifty out of it...just change it a little bit."

In most cases, there was genuine respect between the grizzled old guard and the fledgling upstarts. One only has to listen to the incendiary musical exchange between John Lee Hooker and Canned Heat, or various other phenomenal pairings of old and new, like Sonny Boy Williamson with Jimmy Page, Fleetwood Mac with Willie Dixon, Otis Spann and Buddy Guy, or Muddy Waters with Johnny Winter, to see the mutual musical repartee and devotion. There is a camaraderie among blues performers that is rather unique, and only jazz comes close to that kind of feeling.

In addition to reviving the careers of such greats as Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon, Sonny Boy Williamson, Howlin' Wolf and Lightnin' Hopkins, the British and American blues revivals brought to light music of late, great departed musicians such as Robert Johnson, Elmore James, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Mississippi John Hurt and Ma Rainey. I own at least one album (and in some cases several) from each of the blues masters I mentioned in the last two paragraphs just because Keith Richards and Eric Clapton decided the blues was "cool" when they were teenagers. Aint it strange how things work out?

The differentiation between blues and blues-rock is perhaps trivial, and often there is really no perceptible difference (in many cases, blues-rock is simply amplified blues); however, in the albums I have chosen, I was interested in offering the blues in a rock context, and in the sometimes not-so-subtle variations that stretched the genre beyond the mere 12-bar conventions of the form -- the reinvention of the standard, in much the same way progressive rock reinterpreted classical and jazz music with an amplified aesthetic for a new generation. In fact, many of albums herein are not entirely blues but an amalgam of different styles; yet the bluesy aspects of the releases are nevertheless pronounced and proved influential to later musicians.

In any case, whether you consider "blues rock" to be an evil misappropriation or a reverent adaptation, here's the first part of my overview of the greatest blues rock albums of all time (a future article will deal directly with the blues masters of the first half of the 20th century):

At Fillmore East (Deluxe Edition) - The Allman Brothers
At Fillmore East is a remarkable recording, a big ol' heaping helping of Southern-fried blues, and the 2003 release of the "Deluxe Edition of the Fillmore East Concerts" finally puts the shows in the proper context and includes all the pertinent songs from the concerts (for decades, the missing songs were available only in separate anthologies or on the Duane Allman requiem Eat a Peach). Forget about the Grateful Dead and their vaunted propensity for extended jamming, The Allman Brothers run circles around them (that, and Gregg Allman can actually sing, which is something no member of the Grateful Dead seemed able to accomplish in key). In any case, Duane Allman is great on slide-guitar, Dicky Betts does his best fleet-fingered accompaniment, and the addition of Thom Doucette on blues harp is an added bonus. There are so many important tunes here, I'd have to list them all to be fair. Okay, I'll list a few, One Way Out, Trouble No More, Drunken Hearted Boy and Stormy Monday.

Layla and other Assorted Love Songs - Derek and the Dominos
An essential album, and one of the greatest blues-rock recordings of all time. As a guitarist, I have to tip my hat to Clapton and Allman, who offer something beyond the 'super-group' hype of lesser combinations (Blind Faith leaps instantly to mind), and the result is an astounding set of songs. The depth of sorrow in the blues here is palpable, an anguish that often is missed in white-boy blues (as if simply knowing the notes results in a good blues recording -- it does not). I would point to three transcendent blues covers, Little Walter's Key to the Highway (one helluva dueling lead jam), Freddie King's Have You Ever Loved a Woman and Jimmie Cox's Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out as prime examples of Clapton not merely knowing the blues but revelling in it and living it. And as far as covers go, there is no better rendition of Hendrix's 'Little Wing' than on this album.

Exile on Main Street - The Rolling Stones
A toss up between Exile and Let It Bleed as the Stone's best album. I think I actually favor the more blues-tinged sound of 'Exile', and in particular I enjoy the stripped-down and raw nature of most of the tracks. Keith Richards and Co. are in fine drunken swagger on such tunes as the roadhouse rave-up Rip This Joint, Slim Harpo's sinewy Shake Your Hips, the country blues Sweet Virginia, and Robert Johnson's Stop Breaking Down. A very cohesive, focused recording and one of the last great Stones albums before Mick Jagger started hangin' with Bianca at Studio 54 and turned to disco. After that, they became a parody of themselves. Too bad. Great album.

Are You Experienced - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
One of the greatest debuts in the history of rock. Hendrix tore up the rock establishment at the Monterrey Pop festival, and then proceeded to shred the public's ears with this album. This single album is a greatest hits package for most bands, and most bands wish they had this many memorable songs -- in a career! For all that, this isn't even Hendrix's best album, which shows you the phenomenal talent that Hendrix had. Every song is good in its own particular way, but from a blues perspective, get the 1993 remaster which contains all the songs and singles from the annoyingly different UK and US original releases. Songs that have become standards of the blues idiom like Red House and Hey Joe, the funky, syncopated Highway Chile, and the psychedelic blues of I Don't Live Today are all superb examples of Hendrix's blues-drenched style. This album eclipses The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's as the best album of 1967, one of the greatest years for rock releases.

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
One of the earliest and best emulators of the original Chicago blues, Paul Butterfield and his band (including future legends Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop) released this milestone album in 1965. Butterfield's blues harp is blistering and is an essential primer for harmonica enthusiasts (check out Born in Chicago), and Bloomfield is a guitar virtuoso, which is readily apparent on Blues with a Feeling. More blues traditionalists (like the early Bluesbreakers and Fleetwood Mac) than innovators, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band was an important link between the original blues form and later rock reinterpretations. I just love the riffs on Our Love is Drifting and the muddy, marvelous distortion on the harp in Thank You, Mr. Poobah.

Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan
Speaking of reinterpretations and innovation, Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited gave the blues an unexpected kick in the pants in 1965 and started a revolution. I'd offer you clips from the album, but it seems Bob and his record company have gotten parsimonious in their old age (no YouTube for you). Dylan chose the fabled "Highway 61" as the connector for the songs on this album, as the road is a touchstone of blues legend and the main thoroughfare for dissemination of the blues (Robert Johnson supposedly sold his soul at the crossroads of Highways 61 and 49, and blues belter Bessie Smith died in a car accident on 61). Dylan's lyricism expanded the blues format and was influential to the likes of Hendrix, Cream and The Beatles. Notable blues numbers: It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry (yes, I found a clip, which may soon be gone), "Tombstone Blues", "Highway 61 Revisited", "Just Like Tom Thumb Blues".

L.A. Woman - The Doors
L.A. Woman is the bluesiest of all Doors releases and is perhaps in a dead heat with their 1967 debut and Strange Days as their best album. I fondly recall my indescribable, jaw-dropping joy upon hearing Been Down So Long for the first time. Of course, I was stoned out of my mind at the time, but that's beside the point. The album is literally seething with blues, like the demented Crawling King Snake, the jazzy blues of Riders on the Storm, the devilishly playful (You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further sung by Ray Manzarek, and the ode to impotence Cars Hiss By My Window, featuring Jim Morrison's vocal approximation of a blues harp.

Cheap Thrills - Big Brother and the Holding Company
"Four gentleman and one great, great broad" is the introduction at the start of the album, and no better epitaph can be delivered here. Janis Joplin was a runaway train of booze-soaked ballads and a fiery ball of blues. The energy and emotion Joplin delivered is unparalleled in musical history -- you can literally feel it emanating from the speakers. One only has to hear Summertime or Ball and Chain to understand how Joplin inspired countless female vocalists over the past 40+ years. Honestly, there are very few singers, either male or female, who have been so influential. Just give a listen to Joplin playing the honky-tonk chanteuse on a song she wrote Turtle Blues, and it's no wonder the original title of this album was Sex, Drugs and Cheap Thrills (which Columbia Records, with their best 1967 corporate conservatism, declined).

Second Winter - Johnny Winter
Yes, it was a three-sided album (yup, the fourth side was left intentionally blank), but damn if it aint one of the best three-sided albums in existence! Of course, I can't name many three-sided albums, but you get my point, or rather you will once you crank up Second Winter. Like Hendrix's towering version of "All Along the Watchtower", Johnny Winter also outdoes Bob Dylan with his legendary slide masterpiece Highway 61 Revisited and lights up Chuck Berry's jheri curl on Johnny B. Goode. In additon, he belts out a wonderful Chicago-style swing blues tune on Miss Ann, and shuffle-slides along on I Love Everybody. An incendiary potpourri of slide guitar mastery.

Led Zeppelin II
Led Zeppelin's hardest rocking album, full of mean licks, catchy phrasing, and wild-ass rides from the left to the right speaker. It also features there heaviest blues riffs, such as on Whole Lotta Love which was, of course, the required hit that sent the band into the stratosphere. But I prefer the titanic Bring it on Home, the barely-concealed sexuality of The Lemon Song, and the frenetic blues landslide Heartbreaker. Hell, even the drum solo Moby Dick has a heavy blues riff. Anyway, not a clinker in the bunch, and Led Zeppelin II is essential for any fan of hard rock, blues rock, or followers of the noted blues fanatic J.R.R. Tolkien, who will enjoy the Gollum and Mordor reference in 'Ramble On', even if it is totally out of context (as was my mention of Tolkien's musical preferences).

Bridge of Sighs - Robin Trower
Listening to Bridge of Sighs, one can well understand why Robin Trower left Procol Harum. Simply put, Procol Harum's neo-classical compositions did not give Trower enough room to jam. One gets hints of his virtuosity on songs like 'Simple Sister' and 'Whiskey Train'. But the Harum sound is primarily keyboard driven, and Trower had to take a back seat. Not so on Trower's second solo effort, which is a masterful reinvention of the blues. The title song, Bridge of Sighs, is just such a chilling and ethereal walk along the borders of blues innovation. The shimmering percussion of Reg Isidore, the mournful baritone of bassist James Dewar and Trower's effects-drenched guitar meld into a sorrowful and brilliantly executed tone poem. Too Rolling Stoned and Little Bit of Sympathy are also notable and powerful explosions of blues variation.

Fleetwood Mac
Unbridled enthusiasm, immense talent and a deep reverence for Elmore James. What more could you ask for from a young blues rock band? Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer and Fleetwood Mac (yes, they were a great blues band before female singers started coming out of the woodwork) were raucous and rowdy, and songs like Elmore James' Shake Your Moneymaker and Spencer's Heart Beat Like a Hammer are incredibly fun. But song slections such as No Place to Go, The World Keep on Turning, and Robert Johnson's Hellhound on My Trail hint at Peter Green's own inner demons, the schizophrenia and drug addiction that would interrupt his career and cause him to fall out of music for most of the 1970s, with only sporadic releases thereafter. But in the 60s, Peter Green was awesome, as a listen to the Fleetwood Mac albums English Rose and Then Play On will attest.

Fresh Cream - Cream
One of the greatest "Supergroups" of all time, Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton (who was in just about every supergroup ever created in the 60s and 70s) exploded onto the scene in 1966 with the album Fresh Cream, which has a decidedly different take on the blues than the more traditional Paul Butterfield Blues Band or John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Fresh Cream is heavier and obviously not homogenized. Songs like Cat's Squirrel and Muddy Water's Rolling and Tumbling are much rougher and more free form (and playing blues harp on "Rolling and Tumbling" requires a good set of lungs, I can tell you), and worked as a template for later groups like Led Zeppelin and early Jethro Tull. Add in the immortal version of Willie Dixon's Spoonful and Robert Johnson's Four Until Late, and you have the shape of things to come.

Bonnie Rait
At the time only 21 years-old, yet with the soul of an old blues picker, Bonnie Raitt's debut album is indeed soulful, with Bonnie's voice halfway between heavenly angel and hellish temptress. YouTube unfortunately has no clips of her first album, but I can give you approximations of the tunes from live recordings in the Sigma Sound Studios a few months after the original release. Of note are Finest Lovin' Man, Steven Still's bluesy acoustic number Bluebird, and Robert Johnson's Walkin' Blues (where Bonnie shows her mean slide skills). But it is on the Sippie Wallace song Women Be Wise that the young chanteuse really struts her stuff. The song became one of her trademark tunes, and the big, booming Sippie and the little redeaded Bonnie later would become fast friends, as often happens in blues circles. If you can't find Raitt's debut, then by all means pick up her second album Give it Up, which is just as damn good.

Safe as Milk - Captain Beefheart
The strangest album in the bunch, but one I prefer over the even more odd (if critically acclaimed) Capt. Beefheart album Trout Mask Replica. There is a strange bit of voodoo running through Safe as Milk, part Delta blues, part psychedelic madness, and Captain Beefheart's gravel and grit voice is reminiscent of later rusted bourbon crooners like Tom Waits, who acknowledges the Captain's influence, and which is recognizable in both the quirkiness and vocal qualities of Sure 'Nuff 'N Yes I Do and Grown So Ugly. Other space-blues material includes Plastic Factory and an avant garde ménage à trois of Robert Johnson, Bob Dylan and Ornette Coleman wrapped in a Zappaesque swaddling cloth on Electricity. All this in 1967?!?!

Boogie With Canned Heat
Of course, this album is renowned for a psychedelic blues classic, the scintillating On The Road, but this is the tip of the iceberg. Featuring guest pianist and horn arranger Dr. John, this eclectic blues album includes perhaps the only blues ballad for an ice rink Fried Hockey Boogie (and if you notice, Norman Greenbaum lifted the main riff for his hit "Spirit in the Sky"), an ode to a type of varnish cleaner/alcoholic beverage Turpentine Moan, and the dangers of speed Amphetamine Annie. No one takes themself seriously, save for seriously jamming, and a good time was had by all. The 2005 CD release also contains the Woodstock anthem Going Up the Country, so this is about the only Canned Heat album you'll ever need, because they were annoyingly inconsistent over the years.

STAY TUNED FOR PART II OF THIS ARTICLE, WHICH WILL BE AVAILABLE SHORTLY -- GOD WILLING, AND AS LONG AS THE COFFEE AND CIGARETTES ARE AMPLE.

Manic Digressions! The Greatest Albums from the Progressive Rock Era, Part III

2011-05-25T13:13:00.013-04:00

Finally! After a nearly three month sabbatical (which I spent earnestly researching the book I am writing), I offer you the final 20 album installment of the "Greatest Albums from the Progressive Rock Era" (albums forty through sixty on the comprehensive list). I won't bore you reiterating the criteria I used in choosing these selections, my process is explained fully in PART I and PART II, which are also available for your perusal on The Dark Elf File.

In this article, under a separate section below, I've also included my picks for later, greater neo-progressive releases that I've enjoyed over the past 30 odd years (and they have been odd, havent they?). So without further blathering or bitching, here's the list:

Nursery Cryme - Genesis
Genesis' first two albums, From Genesis to Revelation and Trespass, have their fleeting moments of grandeur, but Nursery Cryme is their first release that truly encompasses the sound and remarkable compositional structure of later great albums. The Musical Box throttles Mother Goose, squeezing out a symphonic epic with a monumental finish, while The Fountain of Salmacis adapts Greek mythology in the tale of Salmacis' attempted rape of Hermaphroditus (a rather heady literary undertaking for a rock album). Peter Gabriel's ongoing trysts with whimsy appear here in The Return of the Giant Hogweed the apocalyptic tale of maniacal, sentient weeds destroying England, and also the black comedy operetta Harold the Barrel.

A Passion Play - Jethro Tull
A Passion Play is a bold statement of 1970's progressive rock, which defied the 'conventional wisdom' of the recording industry, and went to #1 anyway. A Passion Play is a 'concept' album with no hit single and no real segue from one movement to the next, only interrupted by an Aldous Huxley meets Lewis Carroll while humping Beatrix Potter pseudo-children's story The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles smack dab in the middle. The lyrics are filled with allusions and allegory hearkening to the polemic 'passion plays' performed on the streets of English towns in the late Middle Ages. A Passion Play would not be released currently because mass-produced music has all but destroyed creativity and innovation. Thumbs up for Tull and the middle finger to commercialized, pre-packaged muzak!

A Night at the Opera - Queen
S.T. Erlewine at Allmusic.com hit the nail on the head when he observed that A Night at the Opera is "prog rock with a sense of humor". What is astounding about the album is that it achieves its majestic sound without synthesizers, but rather on multilayered vocals and instrumentation; in fact, the vocal effects -- most notable on "The Prophet's Song" -- are more spectacular than a roomful of Moogs and mellotrons. Of course, "Bohemian Rhapsody" (composed in actual rhapsodic form) is a prog masterpiece. Vaudeville, Dixieland jazz, kazoo solos, ukuleles, the titanic "Death on Two Legs", and "'39", a sci-fi ballad based on time dilation in Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity. Galileo!

Voyage of the Acolyte - Steve Hackett
With such a bold statement as Ace of Wands to open his first solo album, Steve Hackett seemed to burst from the constraints of Genesis in much the same way Peter Gabriel did (exploding in a Zeppelinesque fury at about 3:20 of the song). But Voyage of the Acolyte can be viewed as lost Genesis album as well, with Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins playing throughout the album. The heavy fusion filtered through The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway production of A Tower Struck Down (with the odd Nazi crowd chant) is juxtaposed with netherworldly beauty of Hands of the Priestess, and the pastoral calm of Star of Sirius is contrasted with the ever-rising grandeur of Shadow of the Hierophant. An awe-inspiring album.

Going for the One - Yes
Unlike Emerson, Lake & Palmer, who never recovered from the pompous conceits and overblown orchestrations of Works I and II, Yes must have realized that the pretentious and long-winded Relayer and Tales from Topographic Oceans albums bored their fans to death. And dead fans do not buy albums. So Yes took the hint and offered Going for the One, a stripped down and lyrically elegant effort that was their best album since Close to the Edge. Less turgid, more accessible songs like Turn of the Century and Wondrous Stories are beautiful, while Parallels and Awaken, Part I hearken back to the joyous, rollicking jams of Yes from 1971-1972.

Scheherazade and Other Stories - Renaissance
No, this album is not based on Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, but the intent to mirror and draw inspiration from it are evident on the intro to A Trip to the Fair. Like Fairport's Sandy Denny, Renaissance's Annie Haslam is, unfortunately, a nightingale in shadow, obscured by record industry marketing machinations. A beautiful song like Ocean Gypsy is simply to good for radio airplay. Renaissance's magnum opus, the 24 minute "Song of Scheherazade", is sublime, and John Tout's keyboards are top notch. Here is a small snippet. What the hell, here is the whole damn piece recorded live at Carnegie Hall. Eat your heart out, Keith Emerson!

Wind & Wuthering - Genesis
Wind & Wuthering was the last important progressive album Genesis released. Genesis did just fine when Peter Gabriel took his football and went home, but it took Steve Hackett leaving to really end an era for the band. Hackett's virtuosity is nowhere more apparent than on Blood on the Rooftops, an incredibly well-crafted song that is one of the highlights of a superb, if totally underrated, album that takes up where the masterful Trick of the Tail left off. Two beautiful love songs "Afterglow" and "Your Own Special Way" hint at the later dumbed-down Genesis post-Hackett, but the instrumentality of the album is as good as anything in the Genesis canon, particularly the epic One For the Vine (with a clever fantasy storyline as well) and Unquiet Slumber for the Sleepers/In that Quiet Earth. And thus ends an epoch.

Per Un Amico - Premiata Forneria Marconi
Perhaps the most successful of all Italian progressive bands, PFM offered an unconventional mix of Italian traditional music, symphonic themes and rock sensibilities. The result on Per Un Amico is both haunting and virtuosic. The opening piece, the mellotron-infused Appena Un Po' is an ever-evolving pastiche of many styles and moods. In fact, throughout the album you can swear you catch snatches of Genesis, The Moody Blues, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Tull and ELP, but PFM deftly synthesizes the sound of the English prog movement into a savory Italian stew, like on the title track, Generale (a personal favorite), or Geranio. Per Un Amico is an excellent primer for those with an interest in the Italian progressive movement.

On the Threshold of a Dream - The Moody Blues
An enthralling early progressive album. Yes, it is progressive, not psychedelic. From the opening poetic salvo and homely welcome of In the Beginning/Lovely to See You Again, to the extraordinary sequence of Are You Sitting Comfortably and The Dream/Have You Heard (Part I)/The Voyage/Have you Heard (Part II), On the Threshold of a Dream is a progressive concept album (the concept, of course, being dreams) that is both lush and intensely beautiful, with Mike Pinder's masterful mellotron taking center stage. The apocalyptic Dear Diary ("Been quite a nice day...somebody exploded an H-bomb today...really wasn't anybody I knew.") and Never Comes the Day are also memorable tracks.

Trilogy - Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Demonize ELP if you wish, but this is a lovely album. The song Trilogy itself mirrors the more introspective side of the band quite nicely, as does the all-time great acoustic song From the Beginning. The requisite ELP interpretation of a classical piece, Copeland's Hoedown is one of the band's most stunning successes (and one of my favorites). Abaddon's Bolero is a nice nod to Ravel (as well as having the most overdubs of any ELP tune), and then there's The Sheriff, one of a long line of lighter songs ELP used to try to infuse some humor into their ofttimes constipated repertoire.

Leftoverture - Kansas
It seems rather odd to have so few American bands on this list (ELO and Santana are the others), but during the 70s bands from the U.S. simply did not develop in the direction of progressive rock (Zappa, Return to Forever and later Santana albums were more notable for their jazz-fusion work). But the boys from the Midwest, Kansas to be exact, offered some excellent prog albums, Leftoverture being their best. Kansas was prog with a Christian conscience, and nowhere is their fundamental morality better portrayed than on the majestic The Wall. Simply beautiful. Of course, their megahit "Carry on My Wayward Son" is on this album, but songs like the soaring What's on My Mind, the sprawling Magnum Opus and the Southern-tinged prog of Miracles out of Nowhere gave a bit of panache and musical diversity to the Cornbelt.

Darwin! - Banco del Mutuo Soccorso
Just listening to the Twilight Zone stridency and nervous thrum of La Conquista Della Posizione Eretta, a listener can garner much appreciation for the Italian prog band Banco. There is something slightly askew with Darwin! (and perhaps it has to do with Italian genetics, which tend towards musical genius bordering on instability). I don't know what vocalist Francesco Di Giacomo is singing about in Cento mani e cento occhi ("One Hundred and One Eyes"), but it isn't about daisy chains and laughs. There is a decided edginess than runs through the entire album, such as on songs like L'Evoluzione and Miserere Alla Storia that is both unnerving but invigorating.

The Six Wives of Henry VIII - Rick Wakeman
A 1973 impressionistic masterpiece from on-again, off-again Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman, and the best of his thousands of instrumental albums (okay, I'm exaggerating, hundreds). From the somber and sometimes cacophonic elegy for Catherine of Aragorn to the melancholy intro of Ann Boleyn to the reeling reel of Catherine Parr, Wakeman gives subtle shading and intriguing depth to each of Henry's unfortunate partners. Hell, he even makes the German non-entity Anne of Cleves interesting.

II (Moving Waves) - Focus
For most Americans, the wild, yodeling rock anthem Hocus Pocus is the beginning and end of their acquaintance with the Dutch band Focus. And truthfully, once you've crafted a tune with such mad and frenetic interludes interwoven with the absolutely wicked leads of Jan Akkerman, you might just not have anything left to top it. But the interesting thing about Focus II (titled Moving Waves in the U.S.), is that Focus certainly wasn't a one-trick pony. There is an enthralling breadth of music here, from the Allman Brotherly aspects of the second portion of their Eruption Suite (Part II) that segues into a church chorale, to a beautifully rendered acoustic piece Le Clochard, from a pastoral flute reverie Janis, to the jazzy Focus II. There's more here than meets the ear.

Stormcock - Roy Harper
What the 'ell? Progressive acoustic? Roy Harper? Isn't he the Brit whose claim to fame was being named in a Led Zeppelin song title ("Hats off to Roy Harper"), and as vocalist on "Have a Cigar" from Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here? Yes, he is that but much more. Stormcock is as spare as they come, and contains only four songs (ranging from seven to thirteen minutes long), but despite the sparsity of material and lack of musicians (there's only Harper, with appearances by Jimmy Page appearing incognito as "S. Flavius Mercurius", and David Bedford on organ, with occasional orchestral arrangements) this is an expansive listening experience. The Same Old Rock, One Man Rock and Roll Band, and Hors D'oeuvres are each a precious bit of progressive acoustic balladry.

Living in the Past - Jethro Tull
A most curious relic of progressive paleontology. It's not a greatest hits album (although "Living in the Past" was a bestseller), not a live album (yet "By Kind Permission Of" was recorded at Carnegie Hall, featuring John Evan's superb classical piano thievery), not an all-acoustic album (still, "The Witches Promise" and "Life is a Long Song" are stellar), not hard rock (yet "Sweet Dream" is a jam), and it's not a career retrospective because it was released in 1972. It is an explosion of talent from the first years of a band that could not contain their creativity in the four albums they released up to that point. There is nothing else like it.

Si on Avait Besoin D'une Cinquième Saison - Harmonium
Progressive Quebecois elevator muzak? Au contraire, mon frère! This progressive folk release is a pastoral water color of seasonal changes. Mellifluous and enchanting, "If We Needed a Fifth Season" (a translation of the title) has some beautiful acoustic music, such as Histoire sans paroles (Part I), Vert, and En Pleine Face. If you enjoyed this album, then definitely peruse L'Heptade, the double album follow-up, which expands on the sound of this release.

Hemispheres - Rush
This album makes the list based on the strength of La Villa Strangiato alone. It is the best instrumental Rush has ever released (probably because it is in may ways so un-Rushlike). Oh, and there are other songs on the album as well! Cygnus X-1, Part I and Part II are a lot of fun (even with Geddy Lee's hysterical vocals), and Circumstances is reminiscent of earlier Rush albums like Fly By Night and 2112, which is really the era of the band I prefer.

Lizard - King Crimson
The jazziest of all early Crimson releases, while at the same time, perhaps its most orchestral. This dichotomy, this medieval John Coltrane on acid as conducted by a trashed Toscanini is best exemplified in the third section of the "Lizard" suite, The Battle of Glass Tears. The band didn't get along very well during recording (which isn't a real surprise for King Crimson), and the only song they still play live is the demented Cirkus, and it's this dementia that is perhaps the reason I find this album so endearing. Weird, yet beguiling. The entire 23 minute "Lizard" is superb, particularly Bolero - The Peacock's Tale. Even Jon Anderson of Yes makes an appearance. As I said, weird.

Third - Soft Machine
I was tempted not to include this in a progressive rock list, being that Third so heavily favors jazz-fusion (which I have so scrupulously tried to keep separate up to this point), but listening to Facelift (Part I)/Facelift (Part II), one cannot help but see the obvious similarities to King Crimson (and even Jethro Tull in spots). So, for the last album on the list, I will derail my train of thought momentarily and offer up this mind-blowing array of progressively-free-form-Canterbury-jazz-fusionistic-whatever-the-hell-it-is. It does have some vocals, like on Moon in June (Part I), but even the singing is discordant. Slightly all the Time (Part I) is nearly unadulterated jazz, while Out-Bloody-Rageous is far more psychedelic...ummm...then Zappaesque. It's all over the place.

SEVENTEEN SUGGESTIONS FOR PROG ALBUMS FROM THE POST-PROGRESSIVE ROCK ERA

Yes, I know, covering 32 years of the post-progressive era (I usually account Floyd's The Wall as the death knell in 1979) with a mere seventeen albums does not in any way offer the proper perspective for the scope of progressive music since the 1970s, but such an endeavor would require a good deal of research. Perhaps I will offer a more extensive list in a later article.

Let me just say that I am not at all enamored of 1980s progressive rock, so you can knock a decade off the 32 years right off the bat. Okay, I may be exaggerating a bit, but I cordially despise Marillion, Pendragon, Saga, Hawkwind, Queensryche and Pete Hammill (with Hammill, I am not even cordial). Tull, Genesis and Yes were also major dissapointments in the 80s, and Floyd was nearly nonexistent. Let's be honest, most of the albums released in that period aren't even in the same conversation as the progressive music of the 1970s, and things did not really begin looking up for prog again until the 1990s, when new bands with fresh ideas took center stage and the old guard either retired or puttered around on endless reunion tours.

I am also deducting another five years due to the countless arguments I have had regarding the purported progressivity of death metal, extreme metal, deathcore and math rock. If there is any stereotypical death growls or inane guttural Linda Blair grunts, I immediately turn off the song. Sorry, it is stupid - almost a parody of itself at this point in music history. Thus, bands like Maudlin of the Well or Opeth, although profoundly talented, just can't be taken seriously with their over-the-top Halloween antics (please take note that a band like Sabbath didn't require death growls to be the preeminent purveyors of metal madness).

So, if I do my subtraction from 32 correctly, I eliminate 10 years for the 80s, dock another 5 years for death growls, and that leaves a total of 17, give or take a year. Thus, seventeen suggestions for your aural gratification:

Lateralus - Tool
To put it simply, Lateralus is a mathematical puzzle -- the lyrics, the polyrhythmic drumming, the compositional time signatures -- everything is placed precisely to...to what? Ah, there's the rub -- and the puzzle. Beneath the syncopation, medieval minor pentatonic scales and anisotropic acoustics lies geometric patterns that repeat and spiral...like a Fibonnaci sequence. See, I know the pieces fit!

Hybris - Änglagård
This is one of those "greatest albums you've never heard". Änglagård only recorded two studio albums and one live album between 1992 and 1996, and Hybris is their best release. An intriguing mix of prog-rock, Swedish folklore and folk music themes, and symphonic arrangements, Hybris is well-worth a listen.

Discipline - King Crimson
Robert Fripp is an odd bird, even by rock standards. Throwing a monumental musical hissy fit, he disbanded King Crimson in 1974, and didn't decide to restart the band until 1981. Discipline was the result. If the album sounds like "The Talking Heads Play King Crimson", it's because Adrian Bellew, a former Head, handles the vocals and plays guitar. Allegedly, Discipline has influenced every prog musician in the known universe.

Stardust We Are - The Flower kings
A double CD set that is actually worth the extra plastic. There isn't one clinker in the bunch! This Swedish group has also released other fine albums, such as Retropolis and Space Revolver, but I enjoy Stardust We Are for its wide array of influences: 70s prog, blues, psychedelia, baroque, folk -- hell, there's even a little reggae thrown in.

Lightbulb Sun - Porcupine Tree
In my estimation, Lightbulb Sun is the best Porcupine Tree album (you may argue amongst yourselves). On this album, Porcupine Tree shows that progressive rock does not need to consist of 15 minute compositions of just intricate (and often boring) instrumentals. The songs are catchy, and in places almost capturing Beatlesque pop sensibilities, with a chiaroscuro of light acoustic passages and heavier rock leads.

De-Loused in the Comatorium - The Mars Volta
Let me just say right off the bat that the lyrics make no sense. But that's okay, you can't understand what vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala is saying for most of the album anyway. This high-watt exploration of progressive rock, Latin rhythm and jazz themes is astounding in its complexity and intensity, and is the best album The Mars Volta ever did. Some bands only have one great album in them.

Amused to Death - Roger Waters
Roger Water's best effort post-Wall. Amused to Death is a concept album (Waters with a concept album? No way!), and once again Mr. Waters is disillusioned, this time with society in general and the power of mass media (has Roger ever composed a friggin' happy song?). But the imagery and poetic lyricism of the album is superb, even if for the most part tragic and sad. Hey, it is Roger Waters, after all.

About Face - David Gilmour
I get what Gilmour was trying to do: release a solo effort that didn't sound like another Pink Floyd album. I think he succeeded admirably, particularly on the songs he co-wrote with Pete Townshend, "Love on the Air" and "All Lovers are Deranged". But the song "Murder" is the standout here. It is the best single composition of any Floyd band member post-Wall; but, amusingly, it also sounds the most Floydish of any song on the album.

The Division Bell - Pink Floyd
I think The Division Bell was treated unfairly by most critics, but then most critics type with their heads up their asses. The album is an unusually frank and honest look at relationships (particularly the animosity between Gilmour and Waters). It certainly was a better effort than the abysmal The Final Cut. Songs such as "High Hopes", "What Do You Want From Me" and "Poles Apart"are worthy additions to the Pink Floyd canon.

The Hazards of Love - The Decemberists
Progressive folk rock with a razor's edge. Acoustic that will cut you. And a prog-folk-rock opera at that! Okay, there's a bit more to it than a few neo-hippies playing psychedelia on acoustic guitars while the synthetic patchouli oil burns. The Hazards of Love is decidedly heavier and harsher than The Decembrist's previous releases, and rightfully so. It's about love, and Colin Meloy is pissed, damn it!

Fear of a Blank Planet - Porcupine Tree
An exceptionally strong concept album from Porcupine Tree that deals with a morbid kid who hides in his bedroom all day playing Xbox and watching porn on the Internet (ie., the majority of American teenagers). Aside from the dreary concept, the music is like a netherworldly shape-shifter, striking and biting at times, while at others very shadowy and surprisingly melodic.

V - Spock's Beard
This, I believe, is the best album from the American band Spock's Beard. "The Great Nothing" suite is sublime and hearkens back to many of the great prog bands of the past. I also enjoy the strong acoustic guitar work, and Neal Morse does a great balancing act between pop and prog. Who says American bands can't be progressive?

The Viewing Point - The Future Kings of England
Pink Floyd's illegitimate redheaded step-sons. Trippy, psychedelic and a whole lot of fun, you will not be hearing The Future Kings of England on the radio anytime soon. But that's okay. I am happy to be one of the 3 or 4 fans who own one of their albums. This is a great instrumental CD for a post-Atom Heart Mother world.

Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory - Dream Theater
I suppose I could have gone with Images and Words (the critic's darling), but somehow that album is reminiscent of all the "big-haired" bands of the 80s I deplored. Metropolis is a bit more expansive, compositionally speaking, and John Petrucci is just one helluva lead guitarist. I also think the addition of Jordan Rudess on the keyboards is an upgrade.

Rupi's Dance - Ian Anderson
And now for something completely different. After foraying through all the heavier neo-prog albums, I think I'll just relax out on the patio with a cup of coffee while I listen to Rupi's Dance. This is Ian at his most introspective, an album that deals with the simple joys of life like cats, home repair and a damn good cup of coffee. The musicianship is stellar and Anderson offers some of his finest compositions since Tull's glory days.

Rush in Rio - Rush
Everything you ever needed from Rush in the last 30 years, Rush in Rio is a huge compilation, but it's really the audience that is the star here. They not only sing along with enthusiasm, but you actually can hear them humming to Alex Lifeson's leads! This is one fine live album, and for once the audience is a focal point, and reminds us just what "live" means.

Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue - Kayo Dot
Eccentric, eclectic, defying explanation, Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue as a title best fits the inexplicable nature of this release by Kayo Dot, an American band that formed in the wake of the disbanding of Maudlin in the Well. It is mesmerizing but not in the droning sense of mind-numbing kraut-rock, and it is both reverent and referential to many older musical forms: free-form jazz, avant-garde classical composition, progressive rock and chamber music.

Odds and Ends, or the Blog Version of too many Cigarette Butts in an Ashtray

2011-05-15T10:46:00.004-04:00

Sorry for the lack of articles, but I have been incommunicado for the last couple months due in large part to the inordinate amount of time I have devoted to researching the book I am writing, a fantasy novel set in 14th century France, England and the Papal States (sorry, no spoilers here). Being anal retentive and compulsively obsessive when it comes to attention to detail, my research has taken me beyond the mere scope of Internet resources, and as a wordwraith I have found myself haunting university libraries and local bookshops in search of obscure medieval tomes and chronicles (adequately translated due to my piss-poor skills in deciphering medieval Latin, Middle English and Old French).

And what with an already established career and family, my writing time is that minuscule fragment of the day that I must deduct from a sound sleep; ergo, I have had to rob Peter to pay Paul in regards to prioritizing my various creative endeavors and projects (having given up writing fan-fiction altogether at this point). As it is, I have hit the snooze button once too often on many mornings. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and it is not a runaway train. The book is finally coming along nicely and I once again have some time to devote to music. So, expect the third installment of "The Greatest Albums of the Progressive Rock Era" shortly.

Thank you for your patience in this matter.

ONE HOUSEKEEPING NOTE:

I will no longer be updating the YouTube video links found in the various album and song lists and essays on The Dark Elf File. It is simply too labor intensive to continue editing old articles with new links to the songs I have discussed. Personally, I believe these links are integral in citing important songs and albums, allowing you, the reader, a quick reference to the music I am discussing. However, damn song links go up and down on YouTube all the time, and record labels are getting more and more miserly when it comes to free access to music on the Internet.

So, I will continue to offer links to YouTube with every new song or album article, I just will no longer be updating older articles when those links have gone dead. In any case, you will have the opportunity to look the songs up yourself if you are interested.

Have a great day!