The 100 Best Rock Albums, 2002 Edition (61-70)
Submitted by lbangs on Mon, 10/07/2002 - 12:02
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- 61. Fruit Tree - Nick Drake : Rediscovered in the late nineties 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.
- 62. John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band - John Lennon : Harrowing is the word most often attached to this work, and the painfully honest and broken songs on this disc certainly earn that label. Few albums ever approach stripped pain as openly as this album, and Lennon manages to write some of his greatest, catchiest songs despite the bleakness of his subject matter. This album was the album we always knew Lennon had deep down inside himself, and while he never shone this bright again, few have ever come close to his masterpiece.
- 63. O.K. 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 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.
- 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 instrumental 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. Led Zeppelin IV - Led Zeppelin : Much of Led's achievements might be over-stated, but this is the album that lives up to the hype. Adding elements of folk to their already mighty fusion of blues and rock, Zep created an huge album capable of encompassing the strange strands of The Battle of Evermore as well as the complicated-yet-straight-forward Black Dog. Stairway to Heaven needs no comment, but the best song here is actually When the Levee Breaks, a song that manages to combine the kinetic blow of metal with the creepiness of their folk experiments. It's the perfect end to Led's greatest album.
- 66. Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen : Bruce knew what to do. He threw everything together, layering instrument on top of instrument, belting epically from his gut, creating a projected, wide screen story of the largest proportions, and in short did everything but use a cannon to make the grandest, largest music he possibly could, and then, he sang about the little, normal people whose could still just barely dream in color while their lives crashed continually down in a grimy black and white world. Bruce gave it his all, and it is all right here. He knew a normal life often still hungers heroically, and in affirming this, he crafted some of the most stirring rock music mainstream American radio has ever accommodated. He hammered together the huge, Spector-produced music of his audience’s youths and hard-edged lyrics reflecting their current lives, and America responded as it seldom ever does.
- 67. Everclear - American Music Club : Mark Eitzel is one of the greatest contemporary songwriters, and with American Music Club, he found the perfect band to bring his haunted tunes of lost love and found bottles to life. Mining the rich soil of country to find new jewels to adorn their alternative rock with, AMC peaked with this disturbing album. Like Waits at his best, the band plays sad songs without lapsing into maudlin sap, and Why Won't You Stay is truly one of the saddest songs ever recorded.
- 68. Live at the Apollo - James Brown : While his boxed set, Star Time, manages to tell his life story with remarkable ease, this is the one-shot, concentrated dose of soul and funk which stands as one of Brown's crowning achievements. Backed by the Flames, Brown's kinetic energy knocks the listener over like hammer blows, and he seems to suck in every bit of energy from the live crowd present that night and sling it back over the speakers. Bursting with hits, Brown knew he was the hardest working man in show business that night, and this album proves he was one of the all-time best.
- 69. Paul’s Boutique - Beastie Boys : The album that foretold Beck and influenced countless rap and electronica outfits of the 90s, Paul's Boutique is an endlessly fascinating brew of music as disparate as rock, hip-hop, folk, and country. The samples seamlessly meld with the songs, and those songs mix wild effects and melody with an amazing grace. Licensed to Ill might have caught the world's attention, but it in no way hinted at the magic fusion of alternative rock and rap on display here.
- 70. The Man & His Music - Sam Cooke : Cooke is a forgotten pioneer of rock music. Listening to this superior (but sadly out-of-print) collection, a new fan is usually shocked to discover how many great, famous songs he wrote, but his legacy is more than just that. His voice became the model for many soul singers who followed (Otis Redding, Al Green), mastering both gospel, soul, and pop, and his productions were highly influential on Phil Spector and, therefore, on much of the music of the 60s. If he wasn't the first, he was certainly almost the first artist to believe that gospel and pop music could be combined into a wonderfully emotional, kinetic force that could storm the airwaves. This music became soul, and this disc is one of the best examples of this man's innovations and talent. He was also one of the greatest songwriters and singers of all time.
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.