My Top 666 Albums Ever Part 33

Two entries today because I'll be away tomorrow...

90) Tool - 10,000 Days (2006)

Tool's follow-up to 'Lateralus', in which Maynard writes some of the most personal lyrics of hi career. The two part 'Wings For Marie'/'10,000 Days' is written for his late mother, who spent approximately ten thousand days of her life paralysed. 'Jambi' is written for his son, Devo, in which he admits to regretting some of the topics of his previous work - "the devil and his had me down, in love with the dark side I'd found, dabblin' all the way down, up to my neck soon to drown. But you changed that all for me, lifted me up, turned me around". There is some of the usual cutting social satire often found on Tool albums, though, most notably on the first single 'Vicarious' which takes aim at humanities hypocrisy, watching real life death and destruction on the news as if it's entertainment... "I need to watch things die, from a distance, vicariously I live while the whole world dies, you all need it too, don't lie". It's not the strongest Tool album, but that's forgivable.
Best Songs: Jambi; The Pot

89) Weezer - Pinkerton (1996)

Weezer's second album saw Rivers Cuomo briefly turn away from the light-hearted pop-rock of their debut for a far heavier, more abrasive sound. To say it alienated people at the time is an understatement, with Rolling Stone famously labelling it one of the worst albums ever recorded. Nowadays, though, it's most often considered the best album of Weezer's career. Rolling Stone issued a retroactive review years later, in which they recognised the album's brilliance. Ironically, Rivers Cuomo now considers it to be one of the worst albums ever recorded and refuses to play any of the songs from it live. Can't please some people.
Best Songs: El Scorcho; Pink Triangle

88) Metallica - Reload (1996)

Can't please some people... probably the sentence that best sums up the reaction from Metallica fans to their entire post-'Master Of Puppets' career. 'Reload' was recorded alongside 'Load', and released later the same year. As such, the album's stylistic deviations are just as prevalent here as they were on that previous album. Of the two, this is the stronger, though.
Best Songs: Fuel; The Unforgiven II; Low Man's Lyric

87) Bumblefoot - Normal (2005)

A kind of a concept album based upon the guitarist's actual experiences. Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal has been plagued by bipolar disorder all his life, and this deals with his struggle with medication. Whilst medicated, he found himself completely unable to be creative, which ultimately led him to conclude that he'd much rather deal with being miserable some times than spend a life without the ability to write music. The lyric "It was so nice to be normal, to be normal for a change" is a direct reference to this. A few months after the release of this album, Ron made his debut as a member of Guns N' Roses, replacing the departed Buckethead (yes... you read that correctly).
Best Songs: Real; Rockstar For A Day; The Colour Of Justice

86) Queen - Jazz (1978)

Some people say it's 'Queen II'. Others say either 'A Day At The Races', or more likely 'A Night At The Opera'. But I firmly believe that this is the best album in Queen's catalogue.
Best Songs: Fat Bottomed Girls; Bicycle Race; Don't Stop Me Now

85) Nightwish - Imaginaeurm (2011)

Nightwish returned in 2011 with 'Imaginaerum'. This was something I never expected to hear from this band... a few of the tracks retain the symphonic metal sound the band had become known for, but the majority of the album delves into other sounds that sound like nothing the band had ever done before. For example, 'Slow Love Slow' is a jazzy track, and 'Scaretale' is kind of a dark cabaret track as written by Danny Elfman for a Tim Burton movie. In fact, Danny Elfman's work with Burton is an influence that can be heard all over this album. This all may have something to do with the fact that it was written as a soundtrack/companion piece to a movie of the same name, co-written by keyboardist and Nightwish's lead songwriter, Tuomas Holopainen. The movie was released in Finland last December, and has received positive reviews from what I have seen. I look forward to seeing it.
Unfortunately, this will be the last album to feature singer Anette Olzon, who amicably split from the band late last year.
Best Songs: I Want My Tears Back; Scaretale; The Crow, The Owl, And The Dove

84) Soundgarden - Screaming Life (1987)

The first release from Soundgarden (this is before Ben Shepherd had joined the band, with bass instead being played by Hiro Yamamoto) gives listeners a general idea of what to expect from the band's future. One of the most impressive early "grunge" records. Unfortunately, when it came to releasing their debut full-length album, they delivered the almost unbearable 'Ultramega OK', but this was soon rectified.
Best Song: Hunted Down

83) Smashing Pumpkins - Machina/The Machines Of God (2000)

The final conventionally released album from the original version of the Smashing Pumpkins (although bassist D'Arcy Wretzky left the band halfway through recording). It's still the object of unbridled hatred among many music fans to this day for some reason. It combines the more raw material from their early period with the electronic/industrial music they'd been dabbling with since the release of 'Mellon Collie', and as far as I'm concerned it does it extremely well. I can understand Billy Corgan's problems with it, though, as this pretty much signalled the end of the Pumpkins as they were, with the band breaking up at the end of that year.
Best Songs: The Everlasting Gaze; Stand Inside Your Love; The Crying Tree Of Mercury

82) Motorhead - Ace Of Spades (1980)

Motorhead are one of those band's that are definitely an acquired taste. If you can forgive the fact that they're still exactly the same now as they were in 1977, with absolutely zero progression then you can love them. I've been entertained by their live performances, but I can't really decide whether I love them or hate them. But I can tell you that this album is a brilliant slice of heavy metal.
Best Songs: Ace Of Spades; (We Are) The Road Crew; Jailbait

81) Foo Fighters - Foo Fighters (1995)

Following the suicide of Kurt Cobain, Nirvana's drummer Dave Grohl entered the studio to record an album as a brief distraction before he decided what he was going to do next. Playing everything himself (except for a couple of guest appearances from Barrett Jones and Greg Dulli), this was the logical progression of his former project, Late!
Releasing the album under the name Foo Fighters, Grohl quickly formed a band to tour... by the time they played the second stage at the Reading Festival in a tent that was surrounded by a huge crowd of people who couldn't fit into, he must have realised that this was what he was going to do next.
Best Songs: This Is A Call; Big Me; Alone + Easy Target

80) Aerosmith - Toys In The Attic (1975)

Aerosmith's first album was when they really started to live up to their potential.
Best Songs: Toys In The Attic; Sweet Emotion

79) Aerosmith - Permanent Vacation (1987)

The early to mid-80's weren't kind to Aerosmith. Internal strife and drug addiction combined with increasingly dwindling sales had almost destroyed the band. However, after the breakthrough of re-recording 'Walk This Way' with Run-DMC, the band returned with a more commercial sound in 1987 with 'Permanent Vacation' and found a new lease of life. It didn't come easy, as on the tour promoting this album people would turn up to watch the opening act (Guns N' Roses) and then leave before Aerosmith hit the stage. I think Axl Rose threatening to wait outside the venue and beat the shit out of anyone leaving before Aerosmith started after he got annoyed at this may have helped a little bit...
Best Songs: Heart's Done Time; Hangman Jury; Permanent Vacation

78) Slash - Slash (2010)

Slash's first proper solo album (Slash's Snakepit doesn't actually count) saw him taking a leaf out of Carlos Santana's book and bringing in a group of guest singers. Some of the people involved were quite obvious (Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop), others were more surprising but inspired (Andrew Stockdale, M. Shadows), and others raised a few skeptical eyebrows (Fergie of the Black-Eyed Peas, Maroon 5's Adam Levine).
And the big surprise was that each and every track worked! Fergie's track 'Beautiful Dangerous' convinced me that she should quit that Black-Eyed Peas lark and become a full-time hard rock singer. Adam Levine's track sounded a little bit like Maroon 5, but it also sounded unmistakably like Slash. One of the highlights though was actually an instrumental featuring Duff McKagan on bass, and Dave Grohl on drums called 'Watch This'. My only real criticisms are Myles Kennedy's voice on 'Starlight' which in the chorus sounds horrible, and the subject matter of 'Crucify The Dead'. The lyrics were written by Ozzy Osbourne about "what I'd say to Axl if I were Slash"... I just don't think that has anything to do with Ozzy, and he should have kept out of it.
Best Songs: Beautiful Dangerous; By The Sword; Watch This

77) The Dead Boys - Young, Loud And Snotty (1977)

A brilliant punk rock album from the US. 'Sonic Reducer' is one of the genre's greatest songs.
Best Songs: Sonic Reducer; All This And More

76) Tommy Stinson - One Man Mutiny (2011)

Tommy Stinson's second solo album was written and recorded in gaps between touring with Guns N' Roses (who have actually been pretty active since 2006, with hardly any gaps in touring). This is a great straight-up rock 'n' roll record which features contributions from fellow Guns N' Roses members Dizzy Reed, Richard Fortus and Frank Ferrer, as well as his wife Emily Roberts. It was also supposed to feature a duet with former Replacements bandmate Paul Westerberg, but Westerberg recorded his parts using the wrong file format, so it had to be re-recorded by Emily. The song was 'Match Made In Hell', which would have been appropriate for the Westerberg/Stinson relationship. Hopefully not so appropriate for his relationship with Emily.
Best Songs: Destroy Me; One Man Mutiny

75) A Perfect Circle - Thirteenth Step (2011)

The second album by A Perfect Circle sees Billy Howerdel, Maynard James Keenan, Josh Freese and new member Jeordie White take a turn away from the "alternative metal" found on their debut, as they found it to be too similar to Maynard's work with Tool. Instead this is album is more in the tradition of The Cure. Perhaps for the first time, for the entirety of the album Maynard's voice is at the forefront, really driving home how great a singer he really is.
Best Songs: The Package; Weak And Powerless; Pet

74) Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking (1988)

the first studio album from 'Nothing's Shocking' (somewhat confusingly, their first release was actually a live album), features the band on the top of their game. It's a shame that they never again released a full album as great as this.
Best Songs: Ted, Just Admit It...; Mountain Song

73) The Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet (1968)

The golden period of the Stones' career officially began here. From this point until the mid-70's The Rolling Stones were the greatest rock band in the world, and actually did no wrong (well... not musically). It's quite amazing that a band can release so much classic material in such a short space of time. And it all started with the opening chords of 'Sympathy For The Devil'.
Best Songs: Sympathy For The Devil; Jigsaw Puzzle

My Top 666 Albums Ever Part 32

108) Lynyrd Skynyrd - Second Helping (1974)

Lynyrd Skynyrd's second album may not feature as many instantly recognisable tracks as their classic debut, but it remains the quintessential southern rock album. 'The Ballad Of Curtis Loew' is among Skynyrd's finest tunes.
Best Songs: Sweet Home Alabama; The Ballad Of Curtis Loew

107) Evanescence - Evanescence (2011)

The third album from Amy Lee and co. (this time consisting of Terry Balsamo, Will Hunt, Tim McCord and Troy McLawhorn). It's less adventurous than the 'The Open Door', but is far more successful (musically at least) than their debut. Evanescence now sound more similar to their less commercial European equivalents.
Best Songs: Made Of Stone; The Other Side; End Of The Dream

106) Smashing Pumpkins - American Gothic EP (2008)

A four track acoustic EP, consisting of tracks written during 'Zeitgeist' sessions but not included on that album.
Best Songs: The Rose March

105) Aerosmith - Aerosmith (1973)

Aerosmith's debut album was critically maligned when it was first released. Upon later inspection, though, it shows a young band with great things in their future. 'Dream On' and 'Mama Kin' are the strongest indicators of what was to come in the band's future.
Best Songs: Dream On; Mama Kin

104) Smashing Pumpkins - Teargarden By Kaleidyscope Volume 1: Songs For A Sailor (2010)

Towards the end of 2009, Billy Corgan announced alongside the departure of drummer Jimmy Chamberlin that the band would be releasing their next project one song at a time as a free download, with EP's being released every time four tracks have been issued. This idea proved to be short-lived, but while it lasted, it was an interesting experiment. A lot of people were left underwhelmed by the songs released, but as far as I'm concerned you've just got to leave behind any preconceptions about what the Pumpkins are supposed to be. Corgan (and the Pumpkins with him) have always defied pigeonholing into any one sound, with each album being vastly different to the last, and the one-track-at-a-time format of 'Teargarden By Kaleidyscope' provided the perfect opportunity for him to really push the boundaries of what the Smashing Pumpkins can be. Recruiting the young new drummer Mike Byrne, and the now-deceased Electric Prunes bass player Mark Tulin, 'Songs For A Sailor' is an eclectic mix of psychedelic rock tracks, with the highlight being the first song in the collection 'A Song For A Son', which features a guitar solo that once again shows that Billy Corgan is one of the most under-rated lead guitarists in the world.
Best Song: A Song For A Son

103) Metallica - Metallica (1991)

Metallica's self-titled 'Black Album' is the moment when Metallica first hit the big-time, and of course this resulted in early Metallica "fans" feeling alienated and beginning their incessant cries of "sell out" that can still be heard today.
Best Songs: Enter Sandman; The Unforgiven; Nothing Else Matters

102) Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)

Black Sabbath's fifth studio album, in which they introduced keyboards and orchestral arrangements to their trademark sound.
Best Songs: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath; Killing Yourself To Live

101) Nirvana - In Utero (1993)

What would become Nirvana's final studio album returned the band to their raw roots, though kept the hooky-songwriting that made them stars creating a record that's kind of halfway between 'Bleach' and 'Nevermind'. It also shows Kurt Cobain at his emotionally lowest, with lyrics like "teenage angst has paid off well, now I'm bored and old", which in retrospect could sound like it should have been an indicator of what was to come. There's a lot of speculation about where Nirvana would go next (including that Kurt planned on firing Krist and Dave and forming a new line-up with R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe), but unfortunately, Kurt's suicide less than a year after the release of 'In Utero' means that we'll never know.
Best Songs: Heart-Shaped Box; Rape Me; All Apologies

100) Smashing Pumpkins - Adore (1998)

After the epic 'Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness', and the (temporary) firing of Jimmy Chamberlin, the Smashing Pumpkins took a 180 degree turn for this mostly acoustic album that strong features trip-hop influenced electronic beats and channels more than a little of the tone of The Cure's "Trilogy". 'Adore' is a divisive album, with many feeling it was the beginning of the end for the band, and others considering it the band's best album. I'm in neither camp myself, but as different as it is to the rest of the band's catalogue, I do enjoy it a lot.
Best Songs: To Sheila; Ava Adore; Perfect

99) Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue (2009)

In April 2002, Alice In Chains vocalist Layne Staley was found dead in his apartment where he lived alone with no contact with the outside world except for his drug dealer. His heroin needle was still in his arm, and it was estimated that he had been dead for two weeks. Transcripts of his final interview are some of the most heartbreaking things I have ever read, and it baffles me that anyone could read them and still do heroin.
It was thought to be the end of any chance of a return for Alice In Chains, and for good reason. In 2005, however, Jerry Cantrell, Mike Inez and Sean Kinney played together as Alice In Chains for the first time in nine years, with vocals handled alternately by Pat Lachman (Damageplan), Ann Wilson (Heart), and Maynard James Keenan (Tool), and the following year a permanent singer was found in William DuVall of Comes With The Fall.
Extensive touring followed, including an opening slot for Velvet Revolver, and in 2008 it was finally decided that the band would enter the studio to record a new album. Reaction to all of this was mixed, with many considering Layne Staley's legacy as sacred, and not feeling that it would really be Alice In Chains without him.
I admit, I was of that opinion myself, until the first music by the reconstituted Alice In Chains was finally released. To put it simply, I have no idea what myself and all of these other people were worried about. 'Black Gives Way To Blue' is an absolutely brilliant album that absolutely deserves to be released under the Alice In Chains name. William DuVall was the perfect choice to fill Staley's shoes, as the vocal interplay between him and Jerry Cantrell is every bit as great as it was between Jerry and Layne. I am now eagerly anticipating the just announced new album, 'The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here', due for release in May.
Best Songs: Check My Brain; Last Of My Kind

98) Deep Purple - In Rock (1970)

Before 'In Rock', Deep Purple were an awful band. I'm not putting it too bluntly, there was just not a single good thing about their first three albums which were a mess of ideas executed better by practically every other psychedelic rock band around. But exit Rod Evans and Nick Simper, to be replaced by Ian Gillan and Roger Glover, and suddenly Deep Purple were one of the greatest hard rock band's of their generation.
Best Song: Speed King

97) Green Day - Dookie (1994)

With both 'The Downward Spiral' by Nine Inch Nails, and Korn's self-titled debut album I mentioned that they were one of three albums to be released in the year of Kurt Cobain's death that took different aspects of Nirvana's sound and between them became the "new" voice of the generation. 'Dookie', with it's poppy hooks, and punky sound was the third of those albums. It introduced Green Day to a whole new audience, and added a much sense of humour to modern rock music that had been missing for a while. Pop-punk had finally hit the mainstream. It was probably difficult to imagine Green Day ever becoming bigger than this after this album was successful at the time.
Best Songs: Longview; Basket Case; When I Come Around

96) Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath (1970)

Down-tuned guitar, with blues influences. Dark, gothic atmospherics. The haunting and unique voice of Ozzy Osbourne. 'Black Sabbath' is the album, the song and the band that set the tone for what would become known as heavy metal. The title track was possibly the eeriest opening to any album released until that point.
Best Songs: Black Sabbath; Evil Woman (Don't You Play Your Games With Me)

95) Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)

The crowning achievement in Elton John's extensive discography, 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' is seventeen tracks of rock and pop perfection... or close to it. Kicking off with the epic 'Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding', John rarely stops to come up for air before delivering another classic track.
Best Songs: Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding; Candle In The Wind; Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

94) Filter - The Trouble With Angels (2010)

The latest album from Richard Patrick's band, which this time also features drummer Mika Fineo, guitarist Mitchell Marlow, and bassist John Spiker. I really didn't expect an album that I liked this much when I first heard this.
Best Songs: The Inevitable Relapse; The Trouble With Angels

93) Weezer - Weezer (1994)

The first of three self-titled albums by Weezer, this - their debut album - introduced the world to the songwriting talents of Rivers Cuomo. His expert touch with a hook turned what would otherwise have been another generic pop-rock album into something far better.
Best Albums: My Name Is Jonas; Only In Dreams

92) Oasis (What's The Story) Morning Glory? (1995)

The second album by Oasis was a record that was everywhere when I was a kid. And with good reason... pretty much every track is great. It's a shame that despite moments of greatness, they never again recorded an entire album that was as worthy of praise as 'Morning Glory' is.
Best Songs: Hello; Morning Glory; Champagne Supernova

91) Queen - A Day At The Races (1976)

This album, and the previous year's 'A Night At The Opera' are often grouped together. For some reason, the latter is the one that's most often placed on a pedestal, though, despite this album being vastly superior in almost every way. Is it because 'Opera' has 'Bohemian Rhapsody' on it? Because I can't think of any other reason, despite the fact that I am also a fan of that record. 'A Day At The Races' is one of the crowning moments of 70's rock music.
Best Songs: Tie Your Mother Down; Somebody To Love

My Top 666 Albums Ever Part 31

Today's entry at the moment doesn't feature any write-up's for the simple reason that after spending ages writing them up, I clicked on "publish" and some technical hitch meant that it didn't publish, and I also lost every word that I'd written. I may edit some write-up's into it later, but at the moment, here we go...

126) Rage Against The Machine - The Battle Of Los Angeles (1999)

Best Songs: Testify; Calm Like A Bomb; Sleep Now In The Fire


125) Soul Asylum - While You Were Out (1986)

Best Songs: Freaks; Crashing Down


124) The Replacements - Pleased To Meet Me (1987)

Best Songs: The Ledge; Skyway


123) Within Temptation - The Heart Of Everything (2007)

Best Songs: The Howling; Final Destination


122) Pantera - Vulgar Display Of Power (1992)

Best Songs: Walk; Hollow


121) Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar (1996)

Best Songs: The Beautiful People; 1996; Man That You Fear


120) Alice Cooper - The Last Temptation (1994)

Best Songs: Stolen Prayer; Unholy War


119) Perfect - When Squirrels Play Chicken EP (1997)

Best Song: Alternative Monkey

118) Green River - Dry As A Bone (1987)

Best Song: This Town


117) Bumblefoot - Barefoot: The Acoustic EP (2009)

Best Song: She Knows


116) New York Dolls - Too Much Too Soon (1974)

Best Songs: Who Are The Mystery Girls?; Human Being


115) Joss Stone - LP1 (2011)

Best Songs: Karma; Somehow


114) Avenged Sevenfold - City Of Evil (2005)

Best Songs: Bat Country; Trashed And Scattered


113) Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine (1992)

Best Songs: Know Your Enemy; Wake Up


112) Tool - Undertow (1993)

Best Songs: Prison Sex; Flood


111) Lacuna Coil - Unleashed Memories (2001)

Best Songs: When A Dead Man Walks; 1.19


110) Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine (1989)

Best Songs: Head Like A Hole; Sin


109) Dio - Holy Diver (1983)

Best Songs: Holy Diver; Don't Talk To Strangers