0015: The 100 Best Rock Albums (81-90)
Submitted by lbangs on Tue, 02/20/2001 - 10:25
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- 81. Earth and Sun and Moon - Midnight Oil: If you only know Midnight Oil from Beds Are Burning, be prepared to hear the group re-invent themselves before your ears. Guitars are turned up, tempos are quickened, and passion is unfurled rather than hinted at. Rarely does a band completely revamp their sound while retaining the very traits that made them special in the first place. Now, along with Achtung Baby, Earth and Sun and Moon can join that rare club of bands that pull that tricky conversion off.
- 82. Her Wallpaper Reverie [EP] - The Apples (in stereo): What if Magical Mystery Tour was created in the late 90s? Perhaps it would sound similar to this obscure EP. Songs lurch from psychedilia to pure pop, cemented by odd instrumental pieces between. It may sound slight and familiar, but the songs are impossible to forget, and the catchiness of the melodies masks an experimental spirit underlying the entire album. Pick up this short album and make a new friend today.
- 83. Rubber Soul [UK] - The Beatles: With Rubber Soul, The Beatles largely left behind the classic Liverpool sound they had created in favor of more experimental fare. Here, those excursions into the musical unknown were largely more folk and acoustic based, but the songwriting matched the music. The killer set of songs, including Drive My Car, Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown), and Nowhere Man, may well have been there best up to this point. If The Beatles had broken up before Rubber Soul, they would largely be remembered as a great band who created a new sound for rock. With this album, they began their journey to become rock innovators of the nth degree. Luckily, the fans bit their finely crafted hooks and were trailed along with them.
- 84. Rain Dogs - Tom Waits: Rain Dogs is the sound of sad, drunk ghosts crashing through bedrooms in the dead of night. Waits was able to focus his writing and songs like never before, and the eclectic instumentation fills the spaces left by his cracking voice with exotic, foreign mystery. He has made several excellent albums before and since, but he has never equaled the spooky power of this unique vision.
- 85. Fruit Tree - Nick Drake: Recently rediscovered thanks to a popular auto ad, Nick Drake deserves his time in the spotlight. This sad boy was able to underplay his songs of folk bliss to perfection, and his quiet vocal delivery conveys a magnitude of emotion. This set collects all three of his albums with many rarities, pretty much making this a one-stop journey to Drake's fascinating world.
- 86. Definitely Maybe - Oasis: Once every so often, the perfect pop/rock album arrives, the one where every song feels like it is a hit waiting to happen. Although Oasis would have to wait for the next album to score any real American hits, their debut may well be their greatest moment yet. Unfairly derided as Beatles copies, Oasis actually play an invigorating mixture of the Fab Four, Bowie, the Sex Pistols, and the Rolling Stones, somehow managing to mix their influences to create music you swear you've heard before, only you haven't. Anybody who gave their breakthrough second album several listens should check the birth of the band out.
- 87. We're Only in It for the Money - Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention: Imagine flipping radio stations in a world ruled by radical satirists. That's pretty much the experience this disjointed album offers. Zappa never wrote better songs than here, and his gleeful skewering of hippies, oppression, and other hot issues of the late 60s provokes both thought and laughter. As fun as most albums get.
- 88. OK Computer - Radiohead: From a mediocre debut and an interesting if heavily influenced sophomore attempt, Radiohead appeared to be a decent band that had peaked. They hadn't. A quiet album with a tightly-wound paranoia and a dark melancholy generating an incredible amount of beautiful friction, this masterpiece points out an excellent path for for the future of alternative rock. Sadly, few followed, and most of the ones that did take the road (Travis, for instance) lost much of Radiohead's substance along the way.
- 89. Every Picture Tells a Story - Rod Stewart: At this point, Stewart has squandered his talent to the point of being a joke, but, although it sounds hard to believe, he once was great. On this album, Rod roots down in the dirt to find a perfect combination of folk, blues and rock. He also came up with a fantastic collection of original and borrowed songs, including the immortal Maggie May. He never approached this level again, and hearing his current work, one can only wonder how an artist can fall so far so fast. This disc represents a level of brilliance he seldom approached again.
- 90. Greatest Hits [US] - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Tom Petty never set out to shatter the conventions of rock & roll; he simply wanted to be one of the best rockers ever. This disc makes a pretty good case for his attempts, including such great songs as American Girl, Refugee, Waiting, and Into The Great Wide Open. For once, one of the bonus tracks on a compilation (Mary Jane's Last Dance) is easily among the artist's best work.
Author Comments:
Influence and historical importance mean nothing here. Each and every album is ranked based solely on its own artistic merits. All official releases are fair game; only bootlegs are not considered. This is it - the best rock albums ever.
I will be adding entries as time allows. The list is complete, but I wish to write a bit about each album, so it may be a week or two until all albums are listed. I hope to add at least two or three entries each weekday and more if I have the chance.
Creating this list hurt. Great albums were left on the cutting room floor, and sadly, I fear albums near the bottom of the list may be looked down upon. Make no mistake - any album on this list is a fantastic work well worth your time. The difference between closely ranked albums was microscopic at best.
To prevent this list's size from becoming prohibitive, I am breaking the hundred entries into blocks of ten.
I am glad to see Tom Petty on the list, Ditto Rod Stewart, though I would put Every Picture much higher. My question is-Where's Motown? Just for their rythm section alone they deserve some mention. Temptations, Four Tops at least Smokey?
Once again great list.
Jim
Motown. My hardest challenge with Motown is that my favorite material from the label is strewn between several different artists and albums. I couldn't find one single album to put on this list. Of course, I don't have every Motown compilation created. Perhaps the perfect 'Motown Story' is out there somewhere. I just haven't found it yet. For what it's worth, Smokey Robinson's Anthology and Stevie Wonder's Innervisions almost made the list. I hate to admit it, but I am still not as up on Wonder as I need to be. I plan on purchasing several of his albums soon, and I'm willing to bet that at least one Wonder album will make it onto this list whenever I get around to revising.
One life, so many albums to hear... Ah, well.
Thanks again. Great to hear from another fan who remembers Rod when he was great.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
"Songs in the Key of Life" could have been top 20 if he had made it only one album. Editing, Editing, Editing...
I would think the Temptations Anthology should be there somewhere. Take out the REM stuff, pretentious preening that it is..
I am sure that will lessen any positive opinions you may have been forming about me.
I love Rod's Gasoline Alley too.
Jim
From my few listens of the album, I can definitely relate to your comments about Songs in the Key of Life. That album has some terrific songs on it, even if it also contains some less than stellar work.
My positive opinion about you still stands, even if I love Murmur and Automatic for the People. I'm not a fan of everything REM has produced.
I do like the Temptations quite a bit, but millions of albums, 100 slots... sigh.
Gasoline Alley is also an excellent disc, and it was on my original 200 album list I cut down to these 100 albums.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Do you have any idea what the hell is up with Radiohead's Website????
Where's News? Discography? Anything that means something?
I forgot to ask Thom about that last time we spoke on the telephone. I will check with him next time he rings. ;)
No, I don't know what's up over there.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs