The 100 Best Rock Albums, 2002 Edition (41-50)
Submitted by lbangs on Wed, 02/12/2003 - 06:30
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- 41. R.E.M. – Murmur : Where did this album come from? Or, perhaps the real question, when did this album come from? Despite titles of their other works, this is truly the disc out of time, sounding both ancient and contemporary at once. The guitars rang like the Byrds, the bass and drums are swampy, and Stipe's cryptic vocals sound like messages from the afterworld whispering during a seance. Like that kudzu on the cover, the music grows over you until it claims you forever. One of rock's greatest debuts, Murmur is an eternal mystery.
- 42. Pavement – Slanted & Enchanted : While Nirvana revolted against the airwaves, this was the other riot tearing through rock music, although this revolution was not televised. Choosing to use awful equipment to an aesthetic advantage, Pavement basically created lo-fi, and this album was their first major attack on the music world. Slanted & Enchanted drenched its grooves with layers of feedback and noise, but like Nirvana, knew how to write a killer pop tune to skittle beneath the waves. Despite the onslaught of noise, hints of various genres, including country and folk, can be heard strung throughout this album, and while legions of poor rockers aimed to recreate this shot of lo fi glory, no one else even came close. Even now, with the decade milestone in the rearview mirror, Slanted & Enchanted somehow hasn't aged a day.
- 43. The Band – Music from Big Pink : For some perverted reason, whenever the names of great and influential bands get bandied about, somewhere in the midst of mentioning the Beatles, the Rollng Stones, and the Who, the Band often gets left out. Had The Band kept up the quality of their first two albums, there really wouldn’t even be any use in arguing the issue; everyone would realzine that The Band is the greatest group in rock history. As it is, they still put up a hell of a fight. Music from Big Pink, their debut, almost begged to sell poorly. The album opens with a slow song, the band never really shows off, and the music defied the contempory electric craze to explore the rustic music of America's Southern heritage. Of course, the band wrote some of the greatest songs of the 60s, and their harmonies are one of the strangest and most delightful inventions of rock music. Each voice is strange and eccentric, yet somehow, blending with the others, adds to a ragged, glorious mix of melody flowing like sandpaper and honey. If that makes no sense to you, you need this album.
- 44. The Smiths – The Queen Is Dead : The Smiths always delivered innovative and vital singles, but this album is their finest monument. While maintaining their novel approach to song arrangement and insturmental work, The Smiths managed to vary the tempo and tone on The Queen Is Dead, creating an eclectic yet cohesive album that sums up all their past strengths and conquers new territory. Morrissey's lyrics have grown more subversive and sharper, and Marr nearly rewrites the book on rock guitar, creating power pop out minor chords, adding energetic buzz to ballads, and fashioning some fantastic hooks out of the strangest notes. The Smiths kickstarted British alternative pop in much the same way REM did for American alternative, and this album shows the talent and skill that pulled this feat off.
- 45. James Brown – Star Time : He helped shape soul, may have created funk, and definitely planted the seeds for rap music. James Brown is a true American genius whose value has been obscured by his albums' scatter-shot quality. This box set corrected this, collecting his best work and making a compelling case for Brown as one of the greatest musical inventors and performers of all time. He sang it loud and proud, and our debt to him is beyond measure. This set is long and exhaustive, but it never feels lengthy, and it is only exhausting if you are shaking while it spins. And you will be. Brown will funkify your life.
- 46. Adam Again – Perfecta : 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.
- 47. Chuck Berry – The Great Twenty-Eight : These are the guitar licks that you still cannot escape. Berry is perhaps the only artist who can compete with Elvis Presley as the creator of modern rock, and the songs on this disc ("Maybellene," "Brown Eyed Handsome Man," "Roll Over Beethoven," and "Johnny B. Goode," for example) gave the new genre some of its best and most-covered classics. Now sadly out-of-print, this disc simply lays out 28 of his best in chronological order, and you can hear the songs that still ring, in some form or another, on the radio today. This is not the perfect Berry collection (or else this would probably rank much higher), but it is the best one released so far.
- 48. Blur – Parklife : If you lived in England during the mid-nineties, you most likely know this album by heart. If you were in America, you probably don’t know it at all. Surely, it is the colonies’ loss. Parklife is the album that ushered in the Brit-Pop age, making it beloved by some and hated by others. While the movement made pop songs popular again, it is easy to miss the more rock and punk based sensibilities bursting from this album. Playing perhaps a bit like a Smiths for the 90s, with Graham Coxon providing wicked yet extremely creative guitar licks over Damon Albarn's brilliant songs examining life and love of Britain's working class, Parklife concluded Blur's quantum leap of quality from the previous Leisure and Modern Life is Rubbish. The band manages to race through many different styles of music without a bad song in the lot, and as a result, Parklife stands supreme as one of the finest albums of the 90s. If you have only heard Blur's Song 2 (and how could you not have), you certainly should check out the band's finest hour.
- 49. Neil Young – Decade : Neil Young’s Decade is one of the odder attempts to tell the story of ten years out of a great artist’s career. It was three records long, and while it included plenty of famous tunes, it was strangely loaded with rarities and non-LP songs, not to mention cuts that Young may have wrote but were recorded by one of the many bands he has been associated with. Truth is, however, Neil Young odd approach was an incredible invention. Decade is not only wildly brilliant, it is also one of the earliest and best prototypes for the box set. Charting the past while staying a decade or two ahead of his time (box sets would really take off in the CD era), Decade perfectly sums up the most vital period of one of the giants of the rock age.
- 50. Todd Rundgren – Something / Anything? : If Rundgren were a normal person, this album would be simply horrible. It would sound something akin to Air Supply’s Greatest Hits. Rundgren, however, is a mad musical scientist, equal parts pop a la Elton John and Motown and eclectic lunatic similar to Sly Stone and Prince in his do-it-yourself-and-throw-plenty-of-your-mad-psyche-in-it-while-you’re-at-it approach. Sure, most of the double album opus is soft rock, but aside from a single or two, it is twisted, askew soft rock that leaps across the musical map of the sixties and the seventies. Listening to Something / Anything? is a trip, one you might never wish to return from.
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'm impressed to see Perfecta this high up on the list; I didn't realize that you thought so highly of it. It's been awhile since I've listened to it, but I always felt that it built up a lot of steam with the first few songs, but then with a couple of exceptions, sputtered to an end. Unfortunately I can't remember the song's name, but the one about him dealing with his recent divorce--"when I'm in a bar/ Or driving in my car/ I don't think of you at all"--is in my opinion one of Eugene's top five songs. Good choice!
Johnny Waco
Hey, JohnnyW! Yeah, I think that first song is called Stone, and it is a killer. Believe it or not, even my mom likes that song!
I've read certain critics complain about a few Greek dramas having a broken back. I think that could sum up my feelings about Perfecta. The opening salvo of songs is terrific, and the last eight songs (especially the final four) may well be my favorite piece of music the band ever recorded. In the middle, though, are those two jams, Air and Dogjam. Both are great jams sadly orphaned on an album that doesn't need or want them. It cracks the album in two, and that fracture robs the Perfecta of the unity which elevates Dig to its near-perfect status (at least in my little world...).
Flawed, but my, there are some incredible songs on Perfecta!
Thanks for the comments! I love Adam Again; the all-too-early loss of Gene is a horrid shame.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
My perverted reasoning says that The Band suffers from the "Nothing in his/[its] life became him/[it] like the leaving it" Syndrome. The Last Waltz was such a tremendous farewell that it is difficult to remember why they should be missed... plus the weaker later albums, drug addictions, suicide and a poor reincarnation. But you can't have everything.
My perverted searches have made me think that, in this Googilian Age, The Band will soon be reb(r)anded as **the musical group "The Band"** in order to avoid seven figure results ...oh yeah! I've said nice things to AJDaGreat about you (and your taste) and perverted things about this list.
I always enjoy Waltz more as a film than an album, and perhaps that keeps my attention focused on the opening two platters (I just bought Music From Big Pink on DVD-A, and it makes me smile). You are right, though; when they started rolling down hill, they had no brakes.
The name is always problematic, especially in conversations. "Who are some of your favorite bands?"
"The Stones, The Beatles, The Band..."
"Oh, as opposed to their solo works?"
I always adore your posts; feel no need to weed out any perversion.
But do feel the need to audition Parklife...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs