0017: The 100 Best Rock Albums (61-70)
Submitted by lbangs on Tue, 02/20/2001 - 10:25
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- 61. Tri Repetae++ - Autechre: This may not be the future of music, but you can bet the music of the future will steal from it for quite a long time. Completely electronical, Tri Repetae manages to hone the band's strange, nonorganic noise into long, flowing song structures that can both excite and soothe. Machines simply shouldn't sound this warm or alive, but on Tri Repetae, it breathes. Of course, it also cranks, sputters, and steams, but that's part of the miracle.
- 62. 1965 - Afghan Whigs: They always strived for it - the perfect grunge-soul album. They came very close, but with grunge waning and disappointing releases such as Black Love, the chances of success seemed to fade into oblivion. Then, from nowhere, BLAM! They did it. 1965 is an invigorating, lustful album that manages to lasso soul's emotional longing and pain and to rustle it into the fold of grunge / post-grunge music. Greg Dulli sings with libido and arrogance, but on this fantastic album, he delivers the goods. Few bands have ever rocked with such purpose.
- 63. Marquee Moon - Television: Geek post punk, perhaps, but astounding and vital as well. This album may not knock the listener over the head, but Tom Verlaine and company pull off enough visionary music and inspired songcraft to render the listener dazed all the same. Beautiful, challenging, and indispensable.
- 64. Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix Experience: Jimi always had an excess of talent, but this record firmly rooted that ability in his esoteric vision, and the result is breathtaking. Appropriate space is given for each song, whether a pop song or an insturmental jam, to grow to its full potential, and the band follows Jimi every track along the way. Jimi's guitar may be the most obvious instrument here, but in some ways, the studio is almost as important. Layered feedback, echoes, and spacey sound effects pop up across the album, and Hendrix's focus and experimentation were never in finer balance.
- 65. Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division: Songs from the depths of hell, perhaps, if hell was an abandoned concrete warehouse full of old recording equipment and a sythesizer or two. The friction of this album's insturments jarring against each other creates a gravity that utterly sucks a listener into the group's stripped world of pain and alienation. Ian Curtis sounds more doomed than Trent Reznor ever could.
- 66. The Joshua Tree - U2: The Joshua Tree is a haunting album that still managed to rock. Thanks to Eno and Lanois' visionary production, The Edge's innovative guitar work, and Bono's sterling, searching, personal, and political set of songs, this album managed to capture critics and the world at once, and alternative music was forever changed. They may have topped this album in the years since, but this disc is where the obviously talented post punk band begin to morph into the world's largest alternative band, and that creative sense of exploration can still be heard today. Rarely have commercial and artistic success met as blissfully as this.
- 67. Blue Lines - Massive Attack: Ground zero of trip-hop, one of the best musical inventions of the 90s, Blue Lines stole rap, slowed it down, layered it with sheets of soul, and shaped it into songs that played as well at home as it did on the dance floor. One of the most influential albums few have heard, this album was another product of 1991, the year which also gave us Nirvana's first major release and Pavement's Slanted, Enchanted. Was this really 9 years ago? Even so, these discs still reside on the cutting edge.
- 68. Goodbye Jumbo - World Party: Prince, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and the energy of punk get whipped up in a blender and poured into this incredibly melodic and inventive album. Somehow, Wallinger has managed to create an unique sound from all of these obvious influences, and the album spins like the masterpiece it is. Way Down Now should have been a number one hit for months. If Beck began recording before rap's rise, he might sound like this. If he was lucky.
- 69. The Trinity Sessions - Cowboy Junkies: This is the music of after-hours reflections, of longing and the pain of loss. Recorded with a single microphone inside of an empty church, The Trinity Sessions captures melancholy while presenting the future of quiet country and blues. The songs are strong, but the glory of Margo Timmins' unearthly voice and the barely audible strands of music create an eerie atmosphere that elevate the tunes to mythical porportions. Essential for anybody who has suffered lost love and remembers.
- 70. Perfecta - Adam Again: Although slightly marred by two impressive yet disrupting jams shoved into the center of the album, Perfecta contains some of the most harrowing and healing songs ever recorded. Fusing a massive attack of wild guitars with strong melodies and lyrics that manage to evoke emotions through the fewest of words, this album, Adam Again's final release before the death of Gene Eugene, strikes at nerves and manipulates them with the utmost skill. If you spy this out of print and sorely missed album, buy it with your last dollar.
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.
"Ian Curtis sounds more doomed than Trent Reznor ever could."
Excellent! This hits it right on the nose. What are your excpectations of the upcoming Anton-Corbijn-directed biopic of Curtis? It's Corbijn's first film, but I'm betting the cinematography will be pretty kick-ass...
Johnny Waco
I have high hopes, and early rumors about the film are very promising. I haven't heard an arrival date yet; have you?
Thanks!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs