One Man, 500 Albums

Introducing... Albums That I Own

2008-06-12T13:05:00.002-04:00

The next step in this little site's progression isn't, in fact, going to be on this site. I'm keeping One Man, 500 Albums up, but it will be dormant. I will not be posting here much in the future, if at all.

However, I will be continue to write about records, though not a specific list. Not unlike the unlisted albums on this site, I will be writing about various albums on the new site/blog/whatever, Albums That I Own.

As I wrote on the new site's welcome post:

But, I do want to bring out some of my favorite, odd and misplaced (within my collection, I mean) albums. This site gives me the opportunity to explain my interest, for example, in a Dixie Chicks record. No, I'm not joking.

As such, the first post on the new site is, indeed, a Dixie Chicks record. Though that album doesn't portend the type of music I'll be writing about -- I don't like country music much -- it does show that I'll be stretching a lot in my writing. It won't just be classic rock, but rather genres I enjoy (post-rock, for example) and quirky records in my collection.

Please, go check out Albums That I Own.

Unlisted: We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes

2008-06-10T13:02:00.004-04:00

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, this site's future is still unwritten. I'm not doing another list, as the work is too much for me right now. With that said, I'm going to continue to post unlisted pieces and here is an album I adore from a band I'm ashamed to admit I love.

Band: Death Cab For Cutie
Album: We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Well, Death Cab isn't a band that everyone knows, so I guess this album shouldn't be here. I imagine it's just a personal love of mine.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: "We Have The Facts" is a wondrous romp through what appears to be an on-again/off-again relationship of hipsters in Seattle. Emotionally charged, the barbs fly ("For What Reason") while bitterness remains until the end of the album("Scientist Studies"). Musically, the perfect combination of emo-style vocal whining, angular Northwest guitars and four-piece production gives the lyrics more resonance.
Best song: "For What Reason" is vitriolic on a wonderful level; The song's opening lines give fuel for dumped boyfriends for ages: "This won't be the last you'll hear from me: it's just the start."
Worst song: There's no really bad song on here. It's a wonderful record.
Is it awesome?: Absolutely.

"I don't think I ever noticed."

I was standing with a tape recorder in my hand, about a foot away from Death Cab for Cutie guitarist and producer Chris Walla. Nervous, I'd just asked Walla what he thought of lead singer Ben Gibbard's dance moves. To me, a 21-year-old who was seeing the band a second time, Gibbard's strange foot motions were notable. To Walla -- a lanky cross between Prince Valiant and Spike Jonze -- this was just the way the show went.

I've never been a good interviewer -- my favorite interview I've ever conducted was with Built to Spill frontman Doug Martsch and was almost entirely about basketball -- but this particular event with Walla was exceptionally awkward. I stopped being a real college radio person and turned into simply a fanboy, staring a member of one of my favorite bands down.

This was March 2002. I'm not sure I'd act any different six years later.

---

Despite growing up in the north suburbs of Chicago, my parents raised me a White Sox fan. Being a sports fan in general torments me -- it's a generally stupid group -- but being a White Sox fan torments me in particular. The Sox' fanbase is a lower class than many baseball fanbases, drawing from the group of fools who rush the umpire and try to beat up a coach. It's a group that includes the main guy from Styx. It's a group that asks questions about stolen bases of Mark Gonzales.

It's not a club I'm proud to belong.

Simlarly, I love Death Cab for Cutie. The aforementioned 2002 show was attended mostly by female Rock Bridge and Hickman High School students, with a smattering of University of Missouri people, mostly affected skinny men or squealing women. It's probably sexist, it's certainly stupid, but this annoyed me.

This fanbase, of course, connects to the band and the band's frontman. Gibbard, chief songwriter and lead singer, crafts music of a mostly adolescent nature. I don't know another way to describe it. Songs like "Photobooth" -- an indie rock update of "Summer Nights" -- tells the tale of teenage love, while Gibbard's voice falls between matter-of-fact snark and the whispery tenderness of a brooding sophomore. It's brilliant in its potential to draw both men and women into the mix. Drawing on relationship experience, the songs have an overly emotional feel, though it is one that we've felt. It's sensitive, but grave enough to have heft.

Gibbard's writing defines this. His lovelorn and simple lyrics hardly have the tone of McCartney, Lennon or fellow Washingtonian Cobain but rather read like overwrought prose, albeit pleasant and relatable overwrought prose. Side project The Postal Service was a an exercise in such lyrics (Sample 1: "I want so badly to believe that there is truth and love is real." Sample 2: "I am thinking it's a sign. That the freckles in our eyes. Are mirror images and when we kiss they're perfectly aligned.") and his Death Cab work -- while more nuanced -- relies on similar emotive responses.

This is both Gibbard's blessing and curse. Death Cab is an anomaly in the current irony-centric indie rock climate due largely to Gibbard's huge sincerity. Death Cab's music isn't like Pavement's; love is good, songs about girls are encouraged and Gibbard's breakups make for great song fodder. You'll find very few non-sequitors in Gibbard's songwriting and words aren't chosen solely because they fit rhythmically.

Of course, it's not the sincerity that makes Death Cab stand out. It's the quality of said sincerity. "Photobooth" is both ridiculous and wonderful at once. It reflects a reality none of us have ever known but have yearned for, the reality of emotional fuck buddies within a three-month constraint. "Send Packing" -- a song from Gibbard's pre-Death Cab solo album All Time Quarterback -- is among the greatest breakup songs ever written. "We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes" is a brilliant breakup album. The band's first record is full of fun metaphors and dancing guitar pieces.

But, it's also the sincerity that opens the band up for criticism. In an indie rock world that celebrates the obtuse non-sequitir (Malkmus), the overly dark (Jason Molina), the overly political (Sleater-Kinney), the genre quirky (Devendrea Barnhart, Will Oldham) and the ironic (The Go! Team, etc.), a sincere angular guitar rock band doesn't always have a place. Torquil Campbell summed it up well in an AV Club interview a while back:

God bless Animal Collective, but they really have, in their own strange way, made indie rock a much more conservative place than it should be. If you can create intellectual distance from your work, then critics will feel clever for getting it and give you good marks; if you create music that fucked-up 13-year-old girls might enjoy, then critics will feel like you're trying too hard and not give you good marks.

Death Cab doesn't get the criticism within the blog/Web community that Stars does -- Death Cab is a better band, after all. But, I've heard it many times from pretentious friends and I understand why. I often feel a little ashamed that I am a Death Cab fanboy. And I don't mean sorta fanboy. I mean I have every single thing the band has ever released, including the extremely rare split 7" with Fiver, the "Wait/Prove My Hypothesis" 7", the original "You Can Play These Songs with Chords" cassette and the limited edition "John Byrd" EP. I prefer to listen to music that's above the fray, instrumental post-rock like Mogwai and Tortoise. But, being a melodramatic asshole, Gibbard's songwriting hits my buttons. At my heart, I'm still a 16-year-old getting dumped, wanting to know why. Wanting some answers.

---

Simpsons creator Matt Groening has a theory that anything serial is looked at by fans as being constantly deteriorating from the point which that specific fan first encountered the particular thing. He uses "The Simpsons" as the example, in that the first generation viewers of the show -- myself included -- found the third, fourth and fifth seasons to be the best. Whatever you first saw is what you will love the best.

Another Simpsons writer (I'm blanking on whom) mentions on the same DVD commentary that something serial will have to change things soon enough, because everything else has been done. For example, charges of Homer being too stupid were levied at the show as early as season six, mostly because the writers needed to continue to push some sort of envelope. This is how "22 Short Films About Springfield" was made, as well. Someone had to do something to break new ground and find new humor.

This isn't to say that later work isn't good. It almost always is. But, it's tough to grow with a band or a TV show. Someone who first knew "The Simpsons" via the 15th season is going to have a completely different view of the show than I. That's just life.

A lot of people have gotten into Death Cab via "Plans" or their latest, "Narrow Stairs." I like "We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes."

---

One notable thing about Death Cab's success is its slow burn. The band's debut album was well-received, though under the radar. "We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes" was critically acclaimed, but arrived at a time when the Web did not dominate music (and therefore independent music was still not as accessible via iTunes and such). "The Photo Album" and "Transatlanticism" grew the band's popularity, albeit slowly. Eventually, of course, Death Cab signed with Atlantic and "Plans" debuted at Billboard's no. 4 position. "Narrow Stairs," released earlier in May, debuted at no. 1.

So, I don't know if I'd call "We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes" as the band's breakout. Today's music climate doesn't necessarily make for good breakouts; fellow Pacific Northwesters Modest Mouse's "breakout" was simply when they got a video on MTV. I don't know that Death Cab has ever had a video on MTV, as the channel rarely shows videos anymore.

Like any band that achieves success within its time, Death Cab is a product of said time. The band's best work takes from the other angular guitar music of the time while combining it with the pleading lyric style of the region. Put simply, the best of Death Cab's work sounds most like the lovechild of Modest Mouse and Elliott Smith.

"We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes" is the best of Death Cab's work. Writing about the album in 2000, I compared it to my favorite songwriter:

The total irony of this album is that it came out within a month of Elliott Smith's album, "Figure 8." Where "Elliott Smith" SHOULD HAVE gone with "Figure 8," Death Cab for Cutie perfected.

I stand by this. Elliott Smith's brilliance was in his ability to use the rhythms of everyday language in his songwriting. His songs weren't repetitive in word, he never used cliches and the pullout lines were always ones we all use in conversation.

Gibbard often gets a little cute with his lyrics, but "We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes" has the same conversational quality. My favorite song on the album -- and my favorite of his compositions -- uses this strategy in its opening line. while "This won't be the last you hear from me, it's just the start" isn't epic and sweeping like so many Cobain lyrics, it has a mid-career Dylan quality (this, of course, is without mentioning Gibbard's splendid delivery). The album is full of similar lyrics, slowly sang over Walla's brilliant melodic-meets-mathy guitars. The album's opening track lyrics end on Gibbard repeating "I rushed this. We moved too fast, and tripped into the guestroom."

The album's breakup theme is near universal. Tiny Mix Tapes compared it to Annie Hall and listeners (well, one listener. Me.) extrapolated it to their breakup emotions. The escapism ("What ghosts exist behind these attic walls?") and the forgotten love ("Misguided by the 405 'cause it lead me to an alcoholic summer. I missed the exit to your parents' house hours ago.") all inhabit the album in various places.

While Elliott Smith's great work was able to reconcile breakups with still-in-love infatuation, Gibbard's is more sinister. Like the brilliant "Send Packing" (final lyric: "I've nothing to say that we haven't gone already."), multiple tracks on the album. The record's centerpiece, the dual "Company Calls" tracks, recount a wedding in which the protagonist lambastes the entire experience, culminating in a raucous chorus.

Set your sights destroy this partyline,
'cause it's so tired.
Set your sights! Destroy this mock-shrine,
'cause it's so tired

The same song repeats the album's theme of a resentful breakup, as the narrator recounts the arguing and unhappiness in the brilliant opening lyric:

I'll take the best of your bad moods
and dress them up to make a better you

The second track in the diad, "Company Calls Epilogue" is more sedate. A morning after of sorts, the song is no less unhappy, using the "Title Track" method of delivering somber lyrics over the song's ending while lamenting said wedding. Slow and melodic, the almost-chorus teems with resentment:

Crashing through the parlor doors, what was your first reaction?
Screaming, drunk, disorderly: I'll tell you mine.
You were the one, but I can't spit it out when the date's been set.
The white routine to be ingested inaccurately.

---

I generalize a fair amount when I write. Part of that is playing the part of a polemicist, part of it is our culture ingrained in me. Part of it is trying to be a relatable writer and mostly, it's much more interesting than the "on one hand, on the other hand" method that often inhabits my head. It's more fun to write "country music sucks" than "country music generally sucks, but artists like Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard make interesting and great music. Also, the Meat Puppets take a great deal from country. What is considered alt-country is also great, specifically Uncle Tupelo..."

And so on.

But, this record remains a wonder. Whereas later Death Cab albums fall into the overarching (The band's latest single "I Will Possess Your Heart") or the weirdly dark ("What Sarah Said"), "We Have the Facts" is specific and smart. As a concept album, it's easy to follow, but as a thematic one (slight difference), it's brilliant. It's easy to extrapolate. I first experienced the album during a breakup and personalized it to an outrageous extent. I acted like a child and took to the album as such. It was idiotic, immature and a time I wish I had back.

But, on some level, I'm glad I shared that time with the album, as strange as that sounds. It's not a place I want to revisit, but that was a time when I was able to achieve a depth of emotion I'm not sure I can access as easily anymore. The album makes me remember, on some level, why extreme teenage emotion can be fun.

Done.

2008-05-23T14:54:00.002-04:00

And so it ends.

It's been 51 weeks since I started this project. It started as a test of baby boomer logic and my own discipline and it ends as a repudiation of the former and a confirmation of the latter.

I made it through the entire list, though somewhere my piece for "Armed Forces" got lost in the Internet. I'll rewrite it within the next week. Nevertheless, I got through about 490 records (after considering help from Padraig, Taft and Ellen) in under a year.

What did I learn? I learned that this type of list is ridiculous. We live in a culture wherein we rank everything constantly for no reason other than we need to fill column inches and TV time. The Web has followed suit with a constant barrage of 10 best this and 10 best that. It's an odd cultural entry to a variety of content, which is good. But, it also discourages serious criticism and analysis.

Gone are the days of the pullout stories and in its place are shorter pieces. I'm not one of the dinosaurs who laments these stories; this is the nature of information in 2008. I'm cool with that. Hell, I'm a Web producer by profession. But, I do appreciate great in-depth writing and we have lost a lot of that in the mainstream press.

Of course, I'm a total hypocrite being that none of my reviews are particularly in depth. But my point is mostly that these lists are an easy way to generate a lot of copy.

---

I mentioned above that the list has problems with the term "great." Like the MVP in sports, "great" is essentially meaningless. It could mean influence on other bands, it could mean records sold, it could mean groundbreaking sounds. It could mean any combination of those factors.

I've spoken a little about records that need to be on the list in lieu of some of the lesser albums (Quicksilver Messenger Service, for example). I'll just throw some more out there now with the caveat that this list is horrible incomplete.

Something by Mariah Carey. If only because Carey's vocal style is the most imitated in all of music. If Whitney Houston is there, Mariah needs to be there.

Anything by Garth Brooks or the Dixie Chicks. Country music, especially popular country, is wildly popular and not represented on the list.

Any music not from Britain or the U.S. This is a little more abstract, as the list doesn't make any claims about putting "world music" on it, whereas there are definitely jazz and country records there. Still, it'd be nice to see some Fela Kuti on there.

More jazz. Simple as that.

Anything by the Foo Fighters. I actually don't like the Foo Fighters, but I do think they're one of the bigger bands of the past 15 years and at least as important as the last few Springsteen and Dylan records on the list.

Something by Tupac Shakur. Tupac is rightly considered one of hip hop's greatest MCs and he is not represented on this list.

This is not counting my particular bent of having more indie rock and metal on the list (two genres I enjoy).

---

So... What now?

Despite suggestions, I am not going to tackle another list anytime soon. No AFI movie list, no RS 500 songs list. It's just too much work in too little time for me.

I haven't finalized what I'll do, going forward. I've got some ideas, but in the interim, I'll simply be writing some small reviews like the unlisted stuff from this site.

Obviously, thanks to everyone who has read, commented and helped with the project. It has been a blast and I've learned a ton.

No. 500: Touch

2008-05-23T10:15:00.000-04:00

Band: Eurythmics
Album: Touch
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Despite not having two of the band's biggest hits, "Touch" is Eurythmics' strongest record.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: The record isn't great. I could think of a lot of other albums to sit in this spot.
Best song: "Here Comes the Rain Again" is brilliant.
Worst song: "Aqua" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: Nah.

Annie Lennox had something of a solo career in the early 1990s with her album "Diva," wherein she sang tons of easy listening-type songs. The album's videos were a mainstay of VH1 back when VH1 was a place for AAA music and not a repository of over-the-hill celebrities acting like children for five more minutes of fame.

I bring "Diva" up only because that was my first exposure to Lennox. I wasn't aware of Eurythmics when I was a lad. For whatever reason -- my parents' listening habits tending towards the Beatles, our not having cable until I was 10, etc. -- I never really knew about the band until way after knowing about "Why" and "Walking on Broken Glass."

There's no question that Lennox has an amazing voice. Her low register croon is decidedly feminine, despite the androgynous qualities it has. "Regrets" is her best exercise of said voice on the album, while "Here Comes the Rain Again" is an amazing tale of unrequited love. "Who's That Girl" is straight synth pop with David Stewart bringing fine drum programming and even finer synth work. "The First Cut" is a genre-bending funk track, though the piece falls a little short of great funk.

It's overkill, I'm sure, but there's no question this album is a product of the times. Elecro pop is fun, but it's hardly timeless. Lennox' voice is fantastic, but Stewart's production is layered and cool. It also sounds like the 1980s.

No. 499: Born Under a Bad Sign

2008-05-23T09:00:00.000-04:00

Band: Albert King
Album: Born Under a Bad Sign
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Albert King's 1967 is a later edition of blues, with the tight Stax house band. While not navigating the breadth of blues' styles like earlier blues records, the album's title track remains a classic.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: I hate to sound repetitive here, but why complain about this album when it's no. 499? The title track is a classic and the
Best song: The title tack is fantastic.
Worst song: The tail end of the album is pretty boring.
Is it awesome?: It's close.

Again, the Stax House band, Booker T. and the MGs, make an appearance on the list. The band backs up King's awesome interstellar playing as tight as they are on the Otis Redding records of the same vintage. Duck Dunn's bass is clean and bright and Booker T. Jones' piano nearly carries "As The Years Go Passing By."

It's not in the same category as the classic blues masters (Muddy Waters, B.B. King, etc.), but it's pretty good stuff. The title track, of course, is a classic.

No. 498: Tres Hombres

2008-05-22T10:47:00.000-04:00

Band: ZZ Top
Album: Tres Hombres
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Before they were the guys with the crazy car, ZZ Top played hard blues riffs over and over. "Tres Hombres" is an album of hard blues riffs, played over and over.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: There's not a lot to hate here. It's ot one of the best 500 albums of all time, but at 498, is anyone really complaining?
Best song: "La Grange," a song about a whorehouse, is a classic. "Waitin' For The Bus" is pretty good.
Worst song: Once you get to "Have You Heard?" you're pretty tired of the same three riffs.
Is it awesome?: Nah.

Before ZZ Top was the ZZ Top we all know, the band was simply a three-piece from Houston. Playing inexplicably simple blues-rock, the band released "Tres Hombres" in 1975, to minor fanfare.

The album is actually quite pleasant for what it is. It's blues rock as filtered through a solo-happy guitarist and a rhytymn section happy to fall into the background. So, you have songs like "La Grange," a three and a half minute guitar solo, with some stolen John Lee Hoker riffs in between.

That's not to say "La Grange" is a bad song. It's not. It's tons of fun and that song's opening -- lifted or not -- is iconic in rock and roll music. You know it the minute you hear it.

"Jesus Just Left Chicago" is a similar blues song, in that the riff is lifted and the lyrics are thematically typical of the genre. "Waitin' For The Bus" isn't bad and "Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers" has a decent populist streak (though I still dislike blue collar rock).

It's not the worst thing in the world, but it's pretty standard blues

No. 497: Yo! Bum Rush the Show

2008-05-22T09:00:00.000-04:00

Band: Public Enemy
Album: Yo! Bum Rush the Show
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Public Enemy's debut is a product of its times. It features some young, angry men practicing hip hop in a great way. It's not as solid as the group's later work, but it remains excellent.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Again, it's a dated record.
Best song: "Timebomb" is great.
Worst song: "Too Much Posse" is what happens when you give Flavor Flav a mic. This is a bad thing.
Is it awesome?: It's not totally awesome, but it's the precursor to something awesome.

As with almost all debut albums, "Yo! Bum Rush the Show" portends the general sound that Public Enemy would later perfect on albums like "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" and "Fear of a Black Planet." Chuck D's low rap and the Bomb Squad's production flow through the album.

With that said, the record is also a product of its time and its producer. Rick Rubin executive produced the album, despite actual production from the Bomb Squad. The record echoes LL Cool J's "Radio" in its old school feel. With all that said, the Bomb Squad's attachment to the samples and scratches of Terminator X. Some of the record sounds old, there's no way around it. "Public Enemy No. 1" is ridiculous and "Miuzi Weighs a Ton" is to gangsta rap as cro-magnon man is to a modern human.

Here's the other thing, Flavor Flav's prescence on the record is a little grating. "Too Much Posse" is a Flav track and he's awkward and stupid, rhyming "cool" with "fool" at one point. Flavor Flav is, in and of himself, a total joke. The hype man is one of the worst inventions in popular music. The Dickipedia entry on him sheds light on the silliness within, so I'll just link to it.

Again, I look to PE as the group many liberal boomers see as the extension of black people they knew from the 60s and 70s: The Panthers. They're mad, but they're old now, so they're harmless.

No. 496: Destroyer

2008-05-21T11:09:00.001-04:00

Band: Kiss
Album: Destroyer
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Wow, well. People like Kiss, right? I mean, they've sold tons of records and every time they tour, scores of makeup-covered morons push into the nearest stadium to proclaim their love of partying.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Bah.
Best song: "Detroit Rock City" is stupid, but fun.
Worst song: "Beth:" Worst song ever? I'd say maybe.
Is it awesome?: Not even close.

I haven't written extensively about my favorite current video game (only referencing it once), but I am an avid player of Rock Band. I love playing that game. I bought a Playstation 3 largely to play that game and that game only.

Anyway, there's a phenomenon in that game which I normally compare to Stockholm Syndrome. If you play Rock Band enough, you start to know -- backwards and forwards -- songs you wouldn't otherwise know or like. The game's soundtrack is extensive and there are tons of downloadable songs online. Nevertheless, in order to do well in the game, a player has to play a lot of goddamned songs the player doesn't like.

The game, for example, features songs by Molly Hatchet, the Killers, the Hives and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, all bands I wish would fall off the face of the earth. Still, I know those songs up and down because I've had to get the rhtymns down for playing the drums, the lyrics for singing and some semblance of the melody through playing the Rock Band guitar.

And so goes "Detroit Rock City," the first song from "Destroyer." It's a ridiculous song, written about a
Kiss fan who drank, drove and ended up dead after colliding with a truck in Michigan. It's based on a repetitive guitar riff and some wildly stupid lyrics, but I've come to know it as well as I know some of my favorite songs. know all the words. I can rock about a 90% on it

---

I like Pitchfork Media a fair amount -- I find myself defending it to friends and haters all too often -- but this review of "Destroyer" is an example of why people hate Pitchfork. Granted, it's an old review (and the site has moved away from this style of review recently), but the self-indulgent reference to a fictional "Troy" is stupid.

---

The rest of "Destroyer" is basically dung. "Beth," despite its popularity, is overwrought and dumb. "God of Thunder" is threatening in the same way an angry child is threatening; it's more cute than scary. "Flaming Youth" is awkward and stupid. "Shout It Out Loud" is clunky, due to some pretty mediocre singing.

Kiss is more of a phenomenon than a band. Their place in music history is important, but I'd hardly call their music great.

No. 495: New Day Rising

2008-05-21T10:19:00.000-04:00

Band: Hüsker Dü
Album: New Day Rising
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: One of the preeminent 1980s underground bands, Hüsker Dü was fast and furious before that term had soemthing to do with cars. Bringing pop melodies to hardcore speeds and muscianship to the Minutemen's ethos, "New Day Rising" is a classic.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: I'd suggest "Zen Arcade" is better, but I'm generally happy with this placement.
Best song: "Terms of Psychic Warfare" has a great guitar solo, the title track is awesome and "Celebrated Summer" shows the band's ability to branch out.
Worst song: I don't love "Whatcha Drinkin'".
Is it awesome?: Sure.

I am a liar. Earlier this week, I said Pearl Jam was the only band on this list without its best album on the list. Hüsker Dü also holds that distinction with "New Day Rising" here at 495 and "Zen Arcade" not on the list.

---

Hüsker Dü's influence is grand and "New Day Rising" backs up the band's reputation. The band was part of a wonderful blooming trio of bands in the 1980s out of Minneapolis/St. Paul including the Replacements and Soul Asylum (before they started to suck). Hüsker Dü was the hardest of the bands, starting as a hardcore band, all screams and distortion. As the band matured, vocals became more sing-songy and the guitars became more melodic, all while keeping the general aesthetic.

"New Day Rising" hitches up where "Zen Arcade" left off. The album's works themes like ambivalence and lost love are wonderful and tender. Bob Mould's voice is never better than on "Perfect Example" and Grant Hart's sadness is palpable on "The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill."

Of course, the bass lines roll ("Terms of Psychic Warfare") and the buzzsaw guitars on the title track show off the band's hardcore roots. Melody is wonderful, but thrashing is also awesome.

No. 494: She's So Unusual

2008-05-20T23:04:00.001-04:00

Band: Cyndi Lauper
Album: She's So Unusual
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: In another example of style trumping substance, "She's So Unusual" became a huge seller on the back of four huge videos and Lauper's crazy style.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: It's a typical 1980s record. There are bad compressed drums and crazy keyboards. Also, way too many backup singers.
Best song: "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" is great and "Time After Time" is a nice ballad.
Worst song: "I'll Kiss You" stinks.
Is it awesome?: No.

Cyndi Lauper's current popularity -- however small -- is more a product of the times than it is of her talents. That's not to say that Lauper doesn't have some talent; she's a decent songwriter and can sing a song within her limited range pretty well. But, for all intents and purposes, she should have been a one- or two-hit wonder. Instead, because of her strange style and quirky music videos, she's stuck around.

The album was released a scant two years after MTV's debut, so videos were incredibly important. Fighting with Madonna, Michael Jackson and Prince for airplay, Lauper fashioned a somewhat bizarre image -- layers of bright colors and giant hair -- that proved to be iconic.

She eventually became a gay icon, touring for the Human Rights Campaign recently. As an aside, I don't really understand who the gay community lauds as icons. Obviously, the "gay community" assumes that all gay people move as one, which is obviously not true. Nevertheless, individuality seems to be a big part of gay icon-ness, but I'd be lying if I said I understand what that means. Prince, for example, is quite the individual and wrote much better songs. Plus, you know, he's omnisexual. But, he's not a gay icon. But, Cyndi Lauper is?

As such, Lauper probably has the single most annoying speaking voice in the history of humanity (barely edging out Fran Drescher). The version I own of "She's So Unusual" has a few live tracks on it, and as Lauper introduces "She Bop," her ridiculous New York-via-nursery-school accent makes me want to stick a fork in my ear. Someof that comes through in her singing voice, but it mostly gets lost in the 1980s production.

"Campy" would be a fine word to describe much of the album. The album is over-the-top and pronounced, with the most famous single being a nod to femininity ("Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"). Only "Time After Time," a gorgeous ballad, remains understated. The backbeat keyboard from "All Through the Night" sounds like something out of a German disco, "Money Changes Everything" is yet another in the genre of "I hate the music industry" songs. "When You Were Mine" is a Prince-penned song that Lauper nearly ruins with her screech.

(Of course, "She Bop" is one of the more famous songs about masturbation. The video has Lauper dancing around the topic. That this video got airplay years before "I Touch Myself" really confounds -- and delights -- me.)

This album is probably the sneakiest 6x platinum album. Other than myself, I do not know a single soul that owns this record. Crazy, eh?

No. 493: That's the Way of the World

2008-05-20T09:00:00.000-04:00

Band: Earth, Wind & Fire
Album: That's the Way of the World
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The best selling and best album from Earth, Wind and Fire features the group's famous harmonies and their signature funk sound.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Parts of the record get a little repetitive.
Best song: The first two tracks -- the title track and "Shining Star" -- are brilliant. Africano is also awesome.
Worst song: "All About Love" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: It's close.

Earth, Wind & Fire is perfectly pleasant. Again, because I'm a product of my time, EW&F has been a band good for three things:

Dusty stations

Advertisements for older people

Hip hop samples

I guess I could add "background music" to that list after living with "That's the Way of the World" for two days. It's a perfectly fine album, it's just not memorable after the first two tracks. Certainly, the title track and "Shining Star" are amazing songs, but the album is just good enough after those two. "Happy Feelin'" is a more upbeat number, but has the same harmonized vocal style that came to be the band's trademark. "Yearnin' Learnin'" is a Stevie Wonder knockoff, though a good one. The instrumental Afrocentrism on "Africano" starts off with a nice little flute.

It's the type of album we should all have, but it's largely forgettable if you're not a fan already.

No. 492: Vitalogy

2008-05-19T11:05:00.000-04:00

Band: Pearl Jam
Album: Vitalogy
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Delayed by the band's fight with Ticketmaster, "Vitalogy" was recorded mostly as the band toured the country. Problems within the band created a strange dynamic and some eclectic stuff.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Pearl Jam is still Pearl Jam. It's not great music.
Best song: "Nothingman" isn't bad.
Worst song: Bah. "Corduroy" stinks.
Is it awesome?: Nope.

Bands that are on this list, but without their best effort on the list:

1. Pearl Jam

That is all.

(Honestly, is Pearl Jam the only band without its best album on the list? I guess you could argue one of the early Soundgarden records, but I'd still go with "Superunknown." Maybe someone could claim "Chocolate City?" I don't know. "Vs." is the superior of the Pearl Jame records.)

---

Here's another question: Is Pearl Jame the most misrepresented band of its era? There's a feeling that Pearl Jam had a "grunge" sound, which is nowhere near true. The band's distance from the Seattle sound is large, considering Pearl Jam's entire being is one of anthematic classic rock. Instead of taking influence from the hardcore and punk bands of the '80s -- as Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden did -- Pearl Jam took influence from Neil Young and the Who.

Similarly, Vitalogy is Pearl Jam's more "punk" record, though that's a very relative concept. "Spin the Black Circle" is the analog-as-savior song, built on a high octane riff. "Not for You" and "Corduroy" is are classic Pearl Jam songs, all dirge and whine. The band branches off into the eclectic zone on a couple of tracks, trying to be Tom Waits on "Bugs" and a sonic scrap band on "Hey Foxymophandlemama, That's Me." Save for the weirder songs, the album is simply another Pearl Jam record. The songs run together and are entirely forgettable.

No. 491: All the Young Dudes

2008-05-19T09:02:00.002-04:00

Band: Mott the Hoople
Album: All the Young Dudes
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: At the brink of breaking up due to shiftless sales, Mott the Hoople decided to take a decent cover and a David Bowie song and build an album around them. This is the result.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Save for those two songs, the album is forgettable.
Best song: Title track. No question.
Worst song: "One of the Boys" stinks.
Is it awesome?: Nope.

Is Mott the Hoople the worst band on the RS 500 list? My first thought is yes, but upon further reflection, Mott isn't the worst thing in the world. The worst artists on the list remain Meat Loaf or Quicksilver Messenger Service (of course, outside of U2 and Springsteen).

Still, "All the Young Dudes" is the second album on this list from the band, on top of six Bowie albums. Mott the Hoople were, essentially, Bowie proteges, and this album has the band's biggest hit. Written originally by Bowie for Mott, the album's title track wasn't even Bowie's first choice to give to the band. In fact, the band rejected the original choice, "Suffragette City" and opted for "All the Young Dudes" instead. Bowie, of course, sang backup on the record and the rest is sorta history.

The song is often misinterpreted as a positive song, though it's mostly about things like suicide, teenage rebellion and the apocalypse. The song dismisses the Beatles and Rolling Stones as, essentially, old people's music while lauding T. Rex. Certainly, an odd choice.

Still, like "Cherub Rock," the song's message is not what makes it fun. Bowie's skill at crafting a melody is evident by the singalong chorus. The song makes for a wonderful singalong -- it's easy to see 30 people crooning along to "carry the news."

But, you know, one song does not an album make. End of the list or not, this record shouldn't really be here.

No. 490: Entertainment!

2008-05-16T10:54:00.001-04:00

Band: Gang of Four
Album: Entertainment!
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Sitting in a place with the Modern Lovers, Television and other such post-punk bands, Gang of Four's debut is a wonderful amalgam of the dominant music of the 1970s, filtered through an intelligence unforeseen until the record's release.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: I guess I could see why some people don't like it, but that's not easy. More importantly, this album is far too low considering the music that followed it.
Best song: "Ether," "Return the Gift" and "Guns Before Butter" are all great.
Worst song: I don't love "Contract."
Is it awesome?: Yes.

Scores of words have been spilled on "Entertainment!" by writers far more talented than I. Robert Christgau says of the record "No matter how merely liberal their merely critical verbal content, the tension/release dynamics are praxis at its most dialectical."

The greatest bands were able to fuse forms while still maintaining a melody and catchy ethos. Gang of Four do this in spades. Each song is danceable in the same way current bands like The Rapture are catchy. It's the kind of catchy that won't get you on the radio -- Go4 never really got on the radio -- but it is the kind of catchy that could get you in an iPod ad or over credits on an episode of "Bones." As Jess Harvell of Pitchfork said in a review of the album, "They had attitude, energy, the big beat, skilled players funneling their virtuosity into the necessary notes, a handy way with a catch phrase, and sweaty live performances. Sounds like pop to me."

And that's how the record sounds. While Public Image Ltd. did a similar thing, their music was harder on the ears. Andy Gill's razorblade guitar on "Not Great Men" is rhythmic and fun, while the chorus is fun. Each is, indeed, a hook. It's the type of thing a listener hums soon after and never forgets.

Yes, catchiness/pop sensibility isn't the only thing important to a band, but songs with no hooks are the ones most forgotten. I recently got two albums by two of my favorite bands; both are bands known for considerable hooks. The first -- Death Cab for Cutie's latest -- is entirely forgettable. That's too bad, because DCFC is a favorite of mine, but they're fallen into a trap of boredom. So it goes.

The other album is Nine Inch Nails' latest, "The Slip." The record is much more hook-heavy and fun. Like Go4 -- from who Reznor has taken great influence -- the album is danceable, yet still maintains a line of heaviness.

Go4's ethos is much more punk rock and much more political (not to mention smarter) than NIN. "Damaged Goods" builds to a dance-rock fury while the Marxism "Guns Before Butter" is better than anything Rage Against the Machine ever released (not mention its around-the-world drumline. "Ether" stands along any great rock of the past 30 years and "5.45" bemoans the media and industrial life we live in, while utilizing the simplest of intros. Sounding like a better version of Fugazi, the album's message is clearer than its peers.

It's sad, really. Go4 was so ahead of its time, it's a shame the band never achieved the heights Fugazi did. Still, "Entertainment!" holds up so much later as a testament to their genius.

No. 489: Guitar Town

2008-05-16T09:02:00.000-04:00

Band: Steve Earle
Album: Guitar Town
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Steve Earle was one of the earlier pioneers of alt country and his debut album still sits near the top of the genre's esteem. In 2006, it was ranked 27th on CMT's 40 Greatest Albums in Country Music.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: I am not a country music fan, nor a fan of 1980s production techniques. "Guitar Town" has both.
Best song: The title track isn't bad.
Worst song: "Down the Road" stinks.
Is it awesome?: Nah.

Again, let me first preface all I'm about to write by saying that I am woefully ignorant in the ways of country music. Certainly due to a classist bent, I was always under the impression that country music was for hill people and poor whites.

(This stereotype has moved, if our entertainment is correct, onto 1980s metal and the Chevy Camaro.)

So... I experienced much in the way of country music -- save for Johnny Cash and Richard Buckner (who is only country if you squint) -- until my college years when I was exposed to fellow Illinoisans Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy and the alt-country movement they helped spawn. Uncle Tupelo -- a band not on this list, by the way -- is always going to be my starting point when these discussions arise.

This means my appreciation for Steve Earle is minor. I know of him more from his "Jerusalem" album -- a record I reviewed for my college radio station -- than for this record.

"Guitar Town," to my ears, sounds a lot like the decade from which it spawned. It is the rock and roll of the time, with arrangements similar to Springsteen's. "Goodbye's All We've Got Left" has the same organ sound as "Glory Days" while "Someday" speaks of the blue collar blues evident on every Springsteen record.

The more country-sounding songs don't have any Springsteen in them, as "Hillbilly Blues" and "Think It Over" sound like something from a Hank Williams songbook (albeit overly produced). Neither is particularly good.

Earle's music certainly appeals to someone, but I prefer my country in the vein of Merle Haggard, Cash and Uncle Tupelo. This one is just too much a product of its time.

No. 488: Voodoo

2008-05-15T12:27:00.001-04:00

Band: D'Angelo
Album: Voodoo
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: I don't know enough about the Soulquarians to write about the whole of this album, but D'Angelo's thing is that he's a modern, slower Prince. "Unitled (How Does it Feel?)" is the grand example of this.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: I actually think this should be higher.
Best song: "Playa Playa" and "Unitled (How Does it Feel?)" are wonderful.
Worst song: "Spanish Joint" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: Sure.

Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson executive produced "Voodoo." This is a fact easily found not only by reading the album's liner notes or looking it up on our good friend Wikipedia, but also by listening to the record.

Thompson's hand is all over the album, with his downtempo drumming style absent from R&B and hip hop, save for the things he touches. The album's opening track

?uestlove was able to utilize what he called "human imperfections" in his drumming, turning off some (Lenny Kravitz was originally slated to appear on the album, but chose not to because he couldn't sing with the beats), but making for a cooler sound. the record is slightly Roots-esque, with "Playa Playa" sounding the most like a

Of course, D'Angelo's voice is the draw to the record. Sounding partially like a Prince cover singer, he lilts and moves through notes like a male Mariah Carey. "Chicken Grease" is a silly little song that features his entire range while "The Root" is soulful and great.

The guests are similarly good on the record. "Left & Right" is an odd sex song, considering the guests on the song are, um, Method Man and Redman. No offense to anyone who's had sex with either gentleman, but neither are exactly sexy.

Plus, of course, there is this:

A fine, fine record.

No. 487: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

2008-05-15T09:00:00.002-04:00

Band: The Smashing Pumpkins
Album: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: If you listen to the throbbing mass of Pumpkin fandom, this album is "Sticky Fingers," "Dark Side of the Moon," "Revolver" and "The Wall" all rolled into one. This, of course, is nonsense. MCIS is a picture of ego, though I'd suggest that ego isn't the worst thing in the world. The album has its highlights but is not some epic masterpiece.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: See above.
Best song: "Zero" has a great riff, but is lyrical nonsense.
Worst song: "Fuck You (An Ode to No One)" is dumb.
Is it awesome?: Not really, but it's better than I remembered.

"Alternative" is an odd term and one that lost, basically, all meaning during its run. By definition, it has to be the non-dominant form and, clearly, "alternative" was the dominant form of music for much of the 1990s. "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" was the height of pomposity for alternative music.

Like all double albums, the record bites off more than it can chew, but, MCIS is a wonderfully post-modern look at double albums. Taking elements from many of the classic double albums of the past, it reprocesses a lot of concepts record buys know and love. The goodbye/goodnight track reflects the White Album, the opening overture-type song is "Tommy"-esque, the concept of life and death reflects a non-double (but a classic concept album) in "Dark Side of the Moon" and the nihilism often played out in the lyrics reflects "The Wall." In fact, Corgan himself called the record "The Wall for Generation X."

In short, MCIS is, like "The Simpsons," a reflection of much of what has been stuck in our heads as music buyers.

---

With that said, let me lay out some of my feelings in a single paragraph, as I did in an e-mail to some friends last year:

I have to say, I like "Siamese Dream" some (specifically, the singles), but the masturbatory nature of Billy Corgan's writing just bugs the hell out of me. I specifically mention "Zero" as his last good composition largely because I only like that song and "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" as decent tracks from the disaster that is "Mellon Collie." It's a double album (almost always a mistake, as double album=lots of filler), but it also has the wannabe nostalgia of "1979" and the symphonic nonsense/whinefest that is "Tonight, Tonight."

The piece on this project that garnered the most on-topic comments is "Siamese Dream," which entirely proves my point that Smashing Pumpkins fans worship the band to a larger degree than most bands. To sum up, I once wrote a column calling the fans of certain bands 'fanboys' and mocked them for it. The bands were Nine Inch Nails, Tool, Radiohead and Smashing Pumpkins. When I wrote said column in college, I got tons of hate mail -- more than I'd ever received.

The funny thing, of course, is that I praised "Siamese Dream." Despite it being an arena-rock record, it has ridiculously good hooks, including a song I diametrically oppose (lyrically), but love to sing.

Smashing Pumpkins, at this point, is mostly in the past. No one claims that Billy Corgan -- well, I'm sure someone does, but I don't want to meet this fictional person -- is currently making good music. The band's best work is clearly "Siamese Dream" (though some would say MCIS is the band's best work) and "Siamese Dream" was released 15 years ago.

But, like a lot of artists who still exist in the past -- despite dragging a rotting a corpse of a back catalog around -- the Pumpkins have their defenders. It's tough to criticize their top work without getting hit by the fanboys and fangirls. Criticizing their bald genius is akin to stomping on these morons' collective foot.

And maybe I do hold Corgan's most self-indulgent moments against his better work. MCIS isn't the worst thing I've ever heard, to be honest, and there are decent songs on it. It raises a pretty simple question: How much should we hold our annoyance from an artist against said artist's work? How much should our separate the people from the music?

It's difficult, certainly. Billy Corgan annoys the hell out of me and his fans are even worse. His conceit that he's the greatest songwriter in this planet's history makes me want to punch him in the head. That his fans suck it up bugs me even more. They act like he's a great producer when all he's ever really done is -- gasp! -- hook up a flanger and Superfuzz and layer guitars. Oh my! I've never heard Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Kim Thayil and every other fucking guitar player -- save for Kurt Cobain -- do the same thing.

Also annoying is Corgan's whining voice. Sounding like someone with his nuts in a vice, Corgan's pitch is somewhere above a cat being slaughtered as he screamed "And I still believe that I cannot be saved" at the end of "Bullet With Butterfly Wings."

This is all without mentioning Corgan's obnoxious lyrics. His pseudo-nihilism is both annoying and rampant through the record. Two of the record's biggest singles -- "Zero" and "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" -- are almost nonsensical in their angst. "Fuck You (An Ode to No One)" is probably as much a nod toward Corgan's critics (Hello, Mr. Albini!) as it is inner monologue.

With all that said, MCIS isn't a terribly offensive record. Taken as a whole, it's bloated and annoying. The whole concept of Corgan trying to place the life cycle into an album makes me want to smash all my CDs. But, taken individually, the songs have their merits.

"Tonight, Tonight" is not as terrible as I remembered it last year. The CSO's strings are beautiful and actually work with Corgan's voice more than the band does. "Here is No Why" is pretty little riff and the duel fake Nietzschism of "Zero" and "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" is built on wonderful riffs. "1979" has cool samples and is a decidedly not-Pumpkins record.

Like all double albums, the record would be best-served to be cut down to one disc. There are about five or six good songs on the record and a whole lot of filler.

It bugs me to even remotely endorse this album, but there are some good songs on it.

No. 486: Maggot Brain

2008-05-14T11:27:00.000-04:00

Band: Funkadelic
Album: Maggot Brain
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Funkadelic's third album is a harder brand of funk than earlier records. Touching on classic 1970s themes -- empowerment, drugs, etc. -- the album is strong lyrically and darker musically.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Eddie Hazel's guitar is the signature of the record and it gets tedious.
Best song: "Hit It and Quit It" is great.
Worst song: The title track is way too long.
Is it awesome?: It's OK. I don't love it.

"Maggot Brain" is a wildly challenging album. Like many things George Clinton, it's pretty bizarre, but gone are the hits of previous Clinton-led work ("Atomic Dog," etc.) and left is a darker, more out-there record.

One needs to look no further than the opening title track to see this shift. The album opens with a 10 minute guitar solo. Sprawling and cool, "Maggot Brain" is a song that's not really a song. It's "Eruption" on heavy sedatives. The album's later tracks all carry guitarist Eddie Hazel's sound. His screaming wail dots the record.

It's a far musical cry from the Meters or Sly and the Family Stone, that's for sure. Lyrically, though, it works with similar themes. "You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks" is a song about unity among the poor. The song takes its refrain from a folk rhyme originally published in 1922. "Super Stupid" takes on the drug problem and takes influence from Jimi Hendrix. "Wars of Armageddon" is strange, long and fun. The lyrics are mostly about social power among the poor, as well as the politicians sending those to war.

It's not the records you know -- though you may know "Hit It and Quit It" -- but it is a good record. Worshipped by some, it takes a bit to resonate. But, when it does, look out.

No. 485: All Time Greatest Hits

2008-05-14T10:20:00.000-04:00

Band: Loretta Lynn
Album: All Time Greatest Hits
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: One of country's biggest stars, Loretta Lynn's 2002 compilation is a one-stop shop for anyone learning to love her music. She sings of booze, men and jealousy with aplomb.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Maybe it's just my bias against country, but I could not get really into this record. It's pleasant enough, but it's not as good as the other country on this list, be it Haggard, Parton or Cash.
Best song: "You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man)" is great.
Worst song: "Trouble in Paradise" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: Bad timing. I can't enjoy this as much as I should, due to recent listens to Merle Haggard.

Loretta Lynn is basically worshiped by Jack and Meg White of the White Stripes. It's understandable, as she's, clearly, a tough lady. Her songs don't fuck around. She will cut you if you cross her. In the grand country tradition, she has big hair and an even bigger voice.

"All Time Greatest Hits" is the definitive single-disc country compilation of Lynn's. An accomplished gospel singer, her grit is evident on the record. She threatens a potential interest in her man on "You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man)," and the divide between two in "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man."

For a gospel singer, Lynn's amorous songs are a little striking, but fun nonetheless. "Out of My Head and Back in My Bed" and "Wine, Women and Song" and "One's on the Way" are such songs.

The music isn't entirely new and listening to this one directly after "Branded Man" is not good timing. It sounds less than Haggard's masterpiece, though that could just be my untrained-to-country ear. Nevertheless, a fun set.

No. 484: Branded Man

2008-05-13T12:02:00.002-04:00

Band: Merle Haggard
Album: Branded Man
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: In the same way Johnny Cash was a romantic vigilante, Merle Haggard was a badass who could knock your ass to the floor. His introspective laments dot the album and his beautiful manvoice portray the lyrics perfectly.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: It should probably higher, but this is a decent placement. The sound isn't wildly divergent, so I can see why people don't like it. It is a genre piece.
Best song: The title track is brilliant and "Gone Crazy" is an amazing uptempo number. "I Threw Away the Rose" is aching and pretty.
Worst song: I like every song on this record.
Is it awesome?: Yes.

You know, I've complained over and over about the lack of hip hop on this list, but where's the country music? I'm not a country fan, but the genre was one of rock and roll's most influential precursors. Yes, there is a little more country on the list, but country has had a longer lifespan. Save for Hank Williams and Johhny Cash, there isn't much country here.

Moreover, there's absolutely no modern country. None. Now, I'm woefully ignorant of this particular genre, but shouldn't Garth Brooks make an appearance here? Or Faith Hill? Or the Dixie Chicks? Or someone from that genre? Instead of 50 Dylan albums and every band that ever set foot in San Francisco in 1967?

---

Merle Haggard is a badass. Like Cash, Haggard came into country when the idea of a noble cowboy was giving in to the Leone-style mythos of the 1960s. Cowboys, for many, were more about badasses and gunslingers than the Roy Rogers of the world. Haggard's version of "Loneliness Is Eating Me Alive" is buttressed by the album's title track -- about being misaccused -- and the not very subtle "Don't Get Married," a song in which the protagonist is in prison and asks Julie to remain faithful. After all, "someday, I'll be free." Similarly, the album wraps up with "I Made the Prison Band."

Hell, even the love songs are salty. "Go Home" is the tragic love story of Maria, a Mexican woman, and the protagonist, presumably Haggard. Set against a slight mariachi guitar line, the song is a cool crossover and a wonderful lyric.

---

Haggard's voice is strong and manly. "Somewhere Between" features his and Bonnie Owens' wonderful vocals playing off one another. The album's instrumentation is straight-up country, with layered guitars, an upright bass and a slide working the melody. It's a perfectly pleasant listen and a great surprise. This one is a classic.

No. 483: Life After Death

2008-05-13T09:39:00.000-04:00

Band: Notorious B.I.G.
Album: Life After Death
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Released a few days after B.I.G.'s death, "Life After Death" has an oddly prophetic feel. The album art features him next to a funeral hearse and the songs about death dot the album. Armed with tight street flow and better production than "Ready to Die," the album's a fine two discs.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: It's a double, so there is filler. Sometimes the guests do more of the heavy lifting than B.I.G. does, as "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems" shows.
Best song: "Notorious Thugs" is great.
Worst song: "What's Beef" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: Yes.

The Source rarely gives five mics to a record and "Life After Death" is one of those albums. It puts the record within

The sad fact about this album is that it's biggest hit -- "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems" -- was problematic for two reasons. First, it's hardly the best song on the record. More importantly, the song introduced the pop music world to Puffy rapping. Puffy is annoying and his verse on "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems" just serves as an example of this.

---

"Life After Death" is certified Diamond, but that's kind of a misnomer, as each disc gets counted and it's a double. So, it's really only sold, like, 5 million copies. Sadly, B.I.G. didn't get to see the album's release, as that nonsense East/West Coast stuff culminated in his death two week's before the album dropped.

B.I.G.'s wit is the draw of the album, with him dipping into self-deprecation, over-the-top threats and ridiculous sex romps. "Fuck You Tonight" is an R. Kelly-style smooth jam, featuring the voice of, well, R. Kelly. "Sky's the Limit" features a 112 hook, but works a sweet backbeat and B.I.G.'s sad inspirational message. "Going Back to Cali" features a Zapp sample (!) and has one of B.I.G.'s better flows in his career.

Of course, the opening track from the second disc is the highlight of the album. "Notorious Thugs" was part of a soundtrack to my freshman year of college, largely because my roommate (and longest-running friend) loves the song and played it a lot (along with, oddly, the first Boston record). Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's Krayzie Bone's verse is easily the best thing he ever did and B.I.G.'s normally smooth flow gets broken up by his aping of the Bone Thugs style. It's amazing.

---

As is the way, a double album is just too much. There are far too many skits and far too many filler songs, but that's mostly the nature of the double album beast, isn't it? Considering B.I.G. is one of the three best rappers ever, it's forgiven. This album is a must-have.

No. 482: Armed Forces

2008-05-12T10:52:00.000-04:00

">
Band: Elvis Costello and the Attractions
Album: Armed Forces
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: "Armed Forces" is one of Elvis Costello's great early albums, stoking political fires and using a very, very obscene word on "Oliver's Army."
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: I'm generally happy with this placement. It's a fine album and Costello deserves his due.
Best song: "Oliver's Army" is great.
Worst song: "Busy Bodies" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: Sure.

"Armed Forces" is the final of Elvis Costello's albums on this list. Gaining three albums on the list, he's treated with the same respect as Black Sabbath, Big Star, Marvin Gaye and Tom Waits.

With that said, Costello's new wave staccato and posturing rock act likely hit its early apex on 1979's "Armed Forces." The record is decidedly political -- "Two Little Hitlers," "Senior Service," and "Oliver's Army" all snap at the British establishment -- and Costello's voice is distinct and clever. "Oliver's Army," a class-warfare anthem, is brilliant and sharp and the Attractions are at their best.

The U.S. release of the album includes one of Costello's most popular tracks, "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding." The Nick Lowe-penned track remains a hit and is intimately fun.

Much of the album runs together as Costello's guitar work was never the stuff of legends, but the album's tone is clever and worthwhile. It's one of his best.

No. 481: The Smiths

2008-05-12T08:49:00.000-04:00

Band: The Smiths
Album: The Smiths
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The band's first album, "The Smiths" is a clever little record highlighting the band's two great strengths: Morrissey's vocals and Johnny Marr's guitar.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: There's a certain sound and it's repeated. The lyrics aren't Moz' best. The band's sound isn't refined as it could be or later would be.
Best song: "This Charming Man" is among the band's best songs.
Worst song: I don't like "Miserable Lie"
Is it awesome?: Nah.

Like many debut albums, the Smiths' eponymous record is a hint at the band's later work while the band clearly works through its sound. Largely a contrast to the synth-pop of the time, Johnny Marr's guitar is still finding its voice.

Morrissey's affect gets a little tired. While his angrier work dots later records, "The Smiths" appears to be a bit more mopey and something less. Still, the lyricism i solid. Working off, I presume, his own pretentious mind, Moz drops references to "Ulysses," Al Jolson and Thomas Noel in "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle," a song some misinterpreted as possible Dateline-worthy."Hand in Glove" is sweet and pretty, with Morrissey singing of a unique love.

The band's highlight, though, is "This Charming Man." An ode to the underground scene of the day, the song is built off a jangly riff and uptempo drumline. Morrissey's vocals -- including his sustain on the chorus' "maaaaaaan" bit -- are unparalleled. An uptempo, jazzy bassline keeps the song moving. Like many Smiths songs, an ambiguous sexuality flows the the song, a specialty Morrissey utilizes often.
"The Smiths" is a fine record, but not perfect. "Meat is Murder" and "Louder than Bombs" are superiour albums, but "The Smiths" is certainly a good start.

A programming note

2008-05-05T13:33:00.002-04:00

Because I've done two albums every weekday for almost a year now, it is high time for me to take a slight vacation from this project. I am doing so this week. I'll have a couple of unlisted albums for your perusal, but otherwise, we will resume the list with the first Smiths album on Monday, May 12.

No. 480: Faith

2008-05-02T10:56:00.002-04:00

Band: George Michael
Album: Faith
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Oddly good, "Faith" is a wonderful intersection of white-guy soul and dirty pop. George Michael's thinly veiled -- or not veiled in the case of "I Want Your Sex" -- sexuality powers the album, along with his strong voice.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: It's certainly dated.
Best song: The title track is great, as is "Monkey.
Worst song: "Hard Day" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: Actually, yes.

As I mentioned in a recent piece, one of the joys of this project is seeing how certain albums were received, despite my ignorance of said reception when the album came out.

"Faith" was released just before my seventh birthday and "I Want Your Sex" was wildly popular. In a rare show of parental censorship -- one thing my parents did really well was let me sister and I see/hear just about everything we wanted -- my parents (I don't remember if it was a combined effort or one or the other) weren't comfortable with two popular songs. One was Salt 'N Pepa's "Push It" -- which confused us, because we didn't understand the innuendo as 6- and 8-year olds -- and George Michael's "I Want Your Sex."

To this day, my purchase of this album was held up by this notion. I, like 10 million others, probably would've had this album before last month had my parents treated the song the same way they treated so many movies, CDs and TV shows.

So, my parents' ruling is one of the things I remember about "Faith," not the acclaim it apparently received. I mean, wow. I'm really struck by the reviews from Rolling Stone and AllMusic. AllMusic's review begins as such:

A superbly crafted mainstream pop/rock masterpiece, Faith made George Michael an international solo star, selling over ten million copies in the U.S. alone as of 2000. Perhaps even more impressively, it also made him the first white solo artist to hit number one on the R&B album charts.

The Rolling Stone piece ends this way:

It's a sentimental dead end. But the rest of Faith displays Michael's intuitive understanding of pop music and his increasingly intelligent use of his power to communicate to an ever-growing audience.

---

As for me, I understand the love for the album. It's actually incredibly smart, taking on contemporary issues like spousal abuse ("Look at Your Hands"), 1980s British politics ("Hard Day"), drug use ("Monkey") and, of course, religion ("Faith"). Yes, most of it is couched in Michael's easy sexuality, but that largely makes the records catchy.

It's a nice listen, but it's hardly the masterpiece it was found to be when I was a wee lad.

---

One final thing: "Faith" is a 1980s album, so it comes with the normal caveats that the 1980s were a decade of strange compression, big strings, horns and cheap drum machines. There's a lot of that stuff on this record and I imagine a lot of those songs would be better served by cover songs being produced by different artists.

Um, of course, other than this shit:

That's just wrong.

No. 479: I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight

2008-05-02T10:35:00.000-04:00

Band: Richard and Linda Thompson
Album: I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: More interesting than the band's other album on the list, "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight" has a couple of strong songs.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: The album is full of annoying voices, overwhelming folk string instruments and mediocre lyrics.
Best song: The title track isn't terrible. "The Calvary Cross" isn't awful.
Worst song: I hate "We Sing Hallelujah."
Is it awesome?: Nope.

I think I voiced my concerns well as to my feelings about Richard and Linda Thompson. "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight" is stronger, if only because the album has some interesting guitar sounds.

The arrangements echo some combination of Neil Young's pacing with Donovan's instrumentation. Mandolin and dulcimer dot the drug/spiritual journey of "When I Get to the Border" while "Down Where the Drunkards Roll" features a strong organ.

More often than not, the combination of Richard Thompson's whine and the eccentric folk instruments don't go together. Notable, "We Sing Hallelujah" features a concertina playing off Richard's voice to a point of whining and annoyance.

I'm generally unhappy with this album and I'm not sure how it ended up here? Sorta religious folk music? Really? Instead of any dub, early ska or Mariah Carey (more on her next week)? Really?

No. 478: Radio

2008-05-01T13:56:00.000-04:00

Band: LL Cool J
Album: Radio
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Rick Rubin's first album produced, "Radio" is a killer early rap record with LL Cool J rhyming about his 'hood, his radio and his skills.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Yep. Dated. Old-sounding. LL isn't a great rapper.
Best song: "Rock the Bells" is fantastic.
Worst song: I don't love "I Want You."
Is it awesome?: It's a lot of fun.

When I was 17, I almost failed out of English, I was doing high school radio and I was in a band with some friends. I have recordings somewhere, but we did songs about MacBeth, Gene Roddenberry and Denis Rodman.

When LL Cool J was 17, he was hanging out with Rick Rubin and recording "Radio."

---

LL is kind of joke nowadays, but this first record is actually a delightful place in time. Rubin's beats are tough and typical -- this was the 80s after all. The record scratches are sometimes added to the hi-hat/snare/bass drum 4/4 rhythms laid down by bearded maestro.

LL actually sounds pretty quick on the take. His a cappella rap at the end of the end of the first side (It's about the last 45 seconds of "Dangerous") is one of his better bits and on CD is rolls right into the most modern song on the record, "Rock the Bells." Taking samples from AC/DC and Trouble Funk, Rubin's production is closest to that which he would perfect with Run-D.M.C. and the Beastie Boys.

---

MTV called Rick Rubin the most important producer of the past 20 years recently. I'm not sure I totally agree, but his hands have been in so many things, it's hard to find total fault with it.

Rubin was, in some ways, Steve Albini before Albini was himself. Despite it being the 1980s, Rubin eschewed reverb, string sections and excessive synths. For more of hist career, he's mostly stuck to two types of music: metal and hip hop. He's also done with older singers like Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond.

Rubin's big strength is stripping all the noise out of a band and getting it "back to basics," as it were. Jay Z's "99 Problems" is a great example of this. Instead of having tons of jacked-up dance beats, Rubin simply did the same thing he did with the Beastie Boys: He took a heavy rock riff and had Jay rhyme over it.

"Radio" is his first production effort and Rubin's style has made the album a bit more timeless than dated. Sure, the beats are sparser than the best hip hop, but it's still a fine record.

---

LL is a more of an extreme case of my biases than the Coldplay record. LL is in an episode of "30 Rock," playing a hip hop entrepreneur feuding with Tracy Jordan. It's pretty funny and it really made me warm up to LL.

"Radio" is a pretty fun, from "If I Ruled The World" to the insult rap of "Dear Yvette" to the general greatness of "Rock the Bells."

No. 477: The Score

2008-05-01T10:06:00.000-04:00

Band: The Fugees
Album: The Score
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: One of the classic hip hop records of the 1990s, "The Score" produced three big hits and brought the world Lauryn Hill. Smart and catchy, the album sold well while still showing intelligence.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: This record just doesn't resonate with me.
Best song: "Killing me Softly" is great.
Worst song: "The Mask" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: It belongs here, despite my disinterest.

"The Score" introduced us to Lauryn Hill and Wycleaf Jean, so, it's basically a wash. The record revolves around some sparse-ish beats (speaking to Jean's lack of talent as a producer in my mind), but has the formidable talents of Hill throughout the album.

"How Many Mics" is a fine record, while "Zealots" is a little thin. Of course, "Killing me Softly" is a classic, done by Roberta Flack or done by the Fugees.

There's merit in the album's staying above the gangsta fray of the time. Moreover, the socially conscious undercurrent of the record ("The Beast" is a stidently anti-government song) could have kept the album out of kids' CD collections, as Common and Nas' early records mostly did. It didn't, as RapReviews.com explains:

It's more like The Fugees did almost everything right here. Where Nas' Illmatic and Common Sense's Resurrection succeeded in producing top-notch material but ultimately failed to achieve any sort of crossover success, The Score did both.

---

It's pretty cool and pretty strange to see records on here that I lived through (as an adolescent or adult). On one hand, it's a little easier to put in context, while still reconnecting with the albums.

On the other hand, it's strange to hear a record I didn't like in the first place. "The Score" has an imprint in that it was one of the more popular backpack hip hop records of the time. Certainly, Lauryn Hill's talented and the record shows her off pretty well. But, her solo album is much better.

I can basically do without Wyclef, though I respect his political activism. The message on "The Score" is something to enjoy, but the album's hooks leave me a bit empty, just as they did when the album came out.

No. 476: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band

2008-04-30T14:19:00.000-04:00

Band: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Album: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The white-man blues genre was largely birthed from Chicago-born Paul Butterfield and his band. The uptempo craziness and harmonica took from the Stones and influenced later music.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: This white guy blues rock is nice, but it wasn't popular and it wasn't groundbreaking. In fact, it's not really much of anything.
Best song: "Last Night" isn't bad.
Worst song: Their version of "Mellow Down Easy" is crappy.
Is it awesome?: Nope.

This, John Mayall and Blood, Sweat and Tears? Come on.

I see that the these records are the bridge between American blues and the rock of the 1960s, but that's also the role of, I don't know, Cream, the Stones, Hendrix, etc. About a million bands helped bridge that gap.

Perhaps it's me being a curmudgeon, perhaps it's music that I don't understand. But, all in all, the only good coming from it is Mike Bloomfield's debut on an album.

No. 475: Tunnel of Love

2008-04-30T13:35:00.002-04:00

Band: Bruce Springsteen
Album: Tunnel of Love
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Argh.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: "Born in the U.S.A" has its moments, but the follow up is very, very bad. Written largely about Springsteen's failing marriage, the album is disjointed and tortured. It's "Nebraska," but about love.
Best song: Blah.
Worst song: Just about all of them. Tons of horns, fast silly tempo.
Is it awesome?: Nope.

Divorce albums always have something to enjoy on them, but, because I can;t stand Springsteen, all I can find is junk on "Tunnel of Love." I know album covers aren't important, but Springsteen's ridiculous suit and bolo tie combo is indicative of just how dumb this record is.

I realize I'm not the person to judge this album, but I will say this: Springsteen's prescence on this is too great. As we've examined, the last 50-100 or so records on the list are basically throw-ins from the RS editors. There are a lot of random-ish bands or bands with no other albums on the list.

Look, I know I am not the average RS reader or musico. I understand that my disdain for Springsteen is atypical. And, honestly, my taste is my taste; It's not universal. And I'm not a moron. I know that Springsteen is a huge foigure in rock music. Having his albums on this list is reasonable.

But, "Tunnel of Love?" Please.

---

From a conversation I had with a huge Springsteen fan yesterday:

RJG: What can you tell me about Tunnel of Love?
Springsteen Fan: Not much. It's one of the only ones I don't own. It's not on the list, is it?
RJG: It's tomorrow.
SF: Whoa. I always thought it was generally considered to kind of suck. I remember my mom had it when I was maybe 10. Someone got it for her. Neither of us liked it much at all.

That sums it up very well.

---

Just to get the other side, I'll link to Robert Christgau's review

No. 474: Live in Europe

2008-04-29T11:09:00.000-04:00

Band: Otis Redding
Album: Live in Europe
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Otis Redding's last album released before his death, "Live in Europe" has several of Redding's best songs. Backing band Booker T. and the MGs rock Redding's hits and the power of his voice fills the album.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: I'm happy with this placement.
Best song: "Try a Little Tenderness" is a classic.
Worst song: I like every song on this record, though "Shake" isn't as strong as the rest of the tracks.
Is it awesome?: Sure.

"Live in Europe" was the final Otis Redding album released during his lifetime. On the tour, Otis pulled out all his hits and the popular songs of the time. Not surprisingly, he absolutely hit each song out of the park; Working the crowd perfectly and lilting his voice to each note.

The great thing, of course, about "Live in Europe" is Redding's backup band. Because they were the studio band for Stax/Volt, Booker T. and the MGs played on most of Redding's studio records, but hearing them tear through "Respect," "Satisfaction" and "These Arms of Mine" is striking and perfect.

The set closes with "Try a Little Tenderness" and Redding shows why he's one of the defining voices of soul. His voice fills the pressured silence perfectly as the crowd -- I assume -- watches in amazement.

It's a fantastic live record and one that showcases Redding's amazing talent shine.

No. 473: A Rush of Blood to the Head

2008-04-29T09:05:00.001-04:00

Band: Coldplay
Album: A Rush of Blood to the Head
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: A huge record that cemented Coldplay as a huge band, "A Rush of Blood to the Head" was a giant hit. Featuring three huge singles, the album sold 3 million copies.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: I think this album doesn't belong on the list, but the record is often slammed for no good reason.
Best song: "The Scientist" is lush and pretty.
Worst song: I don't like "God Put a Smile upon Your Face."
Is it awesome?: I really like this album.

(Let me first disclose something: Coldplay has a cameo in my favorite comedy film of all time. On one of the post-zombie news reports in "Shaun of the Dead," Coldplay makes an appearance touting a fictional Zomb-Aid charity record. I will always like them a little for that appearance.)

Coldplay gets a lot of shit around indie rock parts because of their incredibly earnest songwriting style. Pitchfork's review of "A Rush of Blood to the Head" called the album "boring," almost entirely in comparison to "Parachutes," the band's debut.

I'm not going to argue that "A Rush of Blood to the Head" isn't boring. It is. Coldplay isn't rewriting the rule book on rock and roll. Being a British band, Coldplay never put huge roots down in college radio and indie blogs, though "Parachutes" was revered by both camps.

---

Again, it's trendy to mock Coldplay, partially for the band's popularity, partially for lead singer Chris Martin naming his kid "Apple" and partially because he's politically outspoken (in the British way of writing "fair trade" on his piano).

Still, "A Rush of Blood to the Head" has highlights. The grand example is the rabid worldwide popularity of entirely British "In My Place," a tome on social class, friendships and life. "Clocks" is a rapid-pace tour de force with a great Martin vocal and piano line. "Politik" has a deluge of guitar, fitting the LOUDquietLOUD thing. "The Scientist," literate and charming, is based on the combination of a George Harrison song and Nathaniel Hawthorne short story.

The record isn't great. The production is a little thin and the tail end of the record is repetitive. Still, it's often shit upon and I don't think that's fair.

No. 472: Hysteria

2008-04-28T10:47:00.001-04:00

Band: Def Leppard
Album: Hysteria
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: "Hysteria" is one of the diamond-selling albums on this list, notching over 12 million in sales. It's full of hooks, pop guitars and easy drumbeats, as well as strong harmonies.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: The record is not metal, it's not difficult and it shares the aesthetic of a commercial jingle.
Best song: The title track is the most metal on the album, though still a pop song. Once upon a time, I was a big fan of "Pour Some Sugar On Me." Not really anymore.
Worst song: "Rocket" is a little much.
Is it awesome?: Not really.

There's something slightly unpleasant to think about a record written with the decided goal of producing hit singles. Producer Robert "Mutt" Lange and the band tried to write songs with the purpose of charting.

In the process, of course, Def Leppard faced the criticsm of mainstreaming their sound. "Hysteria" is not as hard as the band's earlier work and metal fans found themselves unhappy with the band.

Of course, none of this matters today. All that matters today is "Pour Some Suger On Me." The song, in my experience, seems to be the most popular karaoke song today. I don't frequent karaoke bars often, but every time I've been to one, I get to hear some very drunk people yelling "Oooooo, in the name of looooooooove!" to a simple electronic drumbeat.

This annoys me.

---

"Hysteria" is catchy, sure. Hell, it's a good record. But, damn right it should be good. It took three goddamn years to complete. Within the time the record was being recorded, Rick Allen lost his arm.

Some of the songs took the whole three years. The production of "Animal" took the entire time, while "Pour Some Sugar On Me" took only two weeks. The title track took somewhere in between the obvious two extremes.

---

I have a pretty soft place in my heart for "Hysteria." The album was one of the first my parents bought on CD for my sister and I. We listened to it a lot, mostly with me not understanding anything about the album. I just remember knowing all the words and playing my cheap-o electronic drum set while listening to "Hysteria" on headphones.

As as child, I loved "Pour Some Suger On Me" and it has since been ruined by karaoke and VH1. Too bad.

No. 471: Heaven Up Here

2008-04-28T10:20:00.000-04:00

Band: Echo & the Bunnymen
Album: Heaven Up Here
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The Liverpool band took psychedelic guitars an dark, Morrison-esque lyrics together to become one of the stalwarts of post-punk.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: The album is not even Echo & the Bunnymen's best. I hear it as an amalgam of better records.
Best song: The title track and "Show of Strength" are great.
Worst song: "All I Want" isn't good.
Is it awesome?: Nah.

Post-punk gets mostly tuned down within the confines of a magazine like Rolling Stone. It's a function of sales and someone like Echo & the Bunnymen didn't sell as many records as the more New Wave bands.

(Take all this with the caveat that genre is mostly meaningless. I'll use the post-punk/New Wave distinction here largely on the basis of record sales, hooks and popularity. Talking Heads were popular, therefore, New Wave. Echo & the Bunnymen didn't sell as many records, therefore, post-punk.)

"Heaven Up Here," though, is delightful and raucous. Partially a predecessor to grander records like My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless," the album features psychedelic guitars, though to a smaller extent than "Loveless." As with PiL, Echo & the Bunnymen is decidedly dark, though not in the way John Lydon's lyrics are.

"Heaven Up Here" is the Echo & the Bunnymen record with the fewest hook and the band's least accessible. Still, the album is mostly taking other pieces from better record and I'm not impressed.

No. 470: Document

2008-04-25T11:00:00.000-04:00

Band: R.E.M.
Album: Document
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: R.E.M.'s great strength was intelligent lyrics backed by souped-up Byrds-style indie rock. The political lyrics and Stipe's tenderness back up R.E.M.'s further implementation of difficult instruments into the mix.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Along with “Automatic For The People,” “Document” is the band's strongest album. This should be higher.
Best song: “Welcome to the Occupation” is a classic Stipe protest song. "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" is great, though overplayed.
Worst song: I don't love "Lightnin' Hopkins."
Is it awesome?: Yes.

One of the great things about ambigous lyrics is that we all can project whatever we want onto the lyrics. Michael Stipe's greatest strength in songwriting is his ability to create these ambiguities while still injecting the songs with passionate, emotional vocal tracks.

Sarcasm is similar. I've misinterpreted my fair share of lyrics (hello, Eric Clapton!) simply based on the sarcasm of the lyric. “The One I Love” and “Finest Worksong” have similarly been misconstrued. “The One I Love” is often seen as a love song, while Stipe's other lyric "A simple prop to occupy my time" isn't exactly complimentary.

“Document” sticks out because the songs finally got an easy-to-understand focus that was missing in earlier records. Ambiguity stopped being the playbook and Stipe's criticism of the socioeconomic situation of the mid 1980s became a theme of a few songs on the record. “Exhuming McCarthy,” “Finest Worksong” and “Welcome to the Occupation” all criticized the Reagan years.

Stipe, of course, isn't the only reason to love “Document.” Peter Buck's guitar riffing is at its riffy best on “Document.” The arpeggio of “Disturbance at the Heron House” contrasts well with the dark-toned Stones-style riff of “The One I Love.” Mike Mills' harmonies fill “Exhuming McCarthy.” Bill Berry's supercharged drums fill “It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” and the wole band shows its skills with their cover of Wire's “Strange.”

--

“Document” was the band's first real commercial success and the record was the final one for independent IRS records. In the early 1990s, a lot of R.E.M. fans found that the band has lost its way by signing to Warner Bros. This, of course, is ludicrous, as the band produced – in my humble opinion, obviously – three of its greatest songs (“Man on the Moon,” “Drive” and the brilliantly perfect “Losing My Religion” on Warner Bros. and a contender for the band's strongest album in “Automatic for the People.” An independent label is always great, but an indie band can move to a major and not lose its creativity, there's nothing wrong with making a little money.

No. 469: Metal Box

2008-04-25T10:51:00.003-04:00

Band: Public Image Ltd.
Album: Metal Box
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Released as three 45s in, well, a metal box in 1979 (and a year later in conventional vinyl as "Second Edition"), "Metal Box" is disco meets punk meets Captain Beefheart, all with a melody.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: It's challenging, certainly, but worth it. I'd probably pop it up a bit higher.
Best song: "Albatross," the album opener, is great. "Careering" is tons of fun, too.
Worst song: "Chant" isn't really great.
Is it awesome?: It's pretty excellent.

After the breakup of the Sex Pistols, John Lydon's next band is rooted in a totally different -- yet strikingly familiar -- style. Avant disco in a way that hasn't been approached since, "Metal Box" is often challenging and classically anti-social.

Maybe ironically, but Lydon's lyrics are actually the worst facet of "Metal Box." His misanthropic stream-of-consciousness gets tired, though it fits the post-apocalyptic songwriting. Throbbing, disco-style bass and drums propel parts of the album -- "Memories," the album highlight, features some of the best versions of this. The cadre of drummers -- PiL drummer Sam Ulano had quit after the band's debut album -- on the record dance between slow-burn cymbal-based rock beats ("Poptones") to dance-rock ("Careering," "Graveyard," "Memories," etc.) to straight rock ("No Birds," "Chant").

This being 1979, no album would be complete without a fierce lead guitar and synth combination and "Metal Box" has it in spade. Taking cues from Can, a song like "Socialist" has a computer-sounding synth that meanders around the disco rhytymn section and "Albatross" has a Modern Lovers-esque post-punk guitar.

Solidly challenging and danceable, "Metal Box" is a wonderful record.

---

As is always the case with PiL, comparisons abound about the band as compared to the Sex Pistols. The Sex Pistols, I'd suggest, are pretty overrated -- though, I'm not the world's biggest punk rock fan. Allmusic puts it as such:

"Metal Box" might not be recognized as a groundbreaking record with the same reverence as "Never Mind the Bollocks," and you certainly can't trace numerous waves of bands who wouldn't have existed without it like the Sex Pistols record.

That's probably true, but bands like the Faint, !!! and Hot Chip are the reminders that PiL had an impact on rock music.

No. 468: Elton John

2008-04-24T11:06:00.000-04:00

Band: Elton John
Album: Elton John
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Elton John's first American album (his actual debut wouldn't be released until 1975) is his most subdued and pretty. The opening track is one of Elton John's greatest songs, if not his best.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: There are a ton of mediocre midtempo rock songs on the album.
Best song: "Your Song." Of course.
Worst song: "No Shoestrings on Louise" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: It's uneven.

I've mentioned that I don't like love songs and I tend to stand by that. Of course, there are great loves songs and those are the ones I adore. The opening song from "Elton John," "Your Song," is one of those songs.

What makes "Your Song" one of pop music's the greatest love songs?

There are love songs that end up on big lists that don't really work. "Wonderful Tonight," as we learned, was written in sarcasm. "You are so Beautiful" isn't good, it's patronizing. "Brown Eyed Girl" is just mediocre. "Nothing Compares 2 U" is mentioned in several lits I've seen and, uh, that song's about a breakup.

I guess my own predeliction is to songs that speak to a visceral, unmeasurable feeling about love. I like songs that contain some level of humility. "I Will," a McCartney-penned Beatles track, is a favorite of mine because it speaks to the undying love a man has for his lady. It's been bruised and dinged, but it remains and the song's protaginist will "wait a lonely lifetime" for her.

Similarly, George Harrison's "Something" is not a song that proclaims a woman's beauty or any particular quantifiable quality. It's just... something. It's in the way she moves and the way she is. That, to me, is beautiful and romantic.

But, of course, lyrics aren't the only part of a great love song. "I Will" is lilting and a little quick, lead by an acoustic guitar. "Something" has a gorgeous lead guitar line and features Harrison's soft vocal.

"Your Song" is similar in its beauty. Elton John's tenor is pleasant and pretty, while the large orchestral arrangement lifts his voice. Bernie Taupin's lyrics are gorgeous in their confessional style, as Elton John croons the final verse wherein he can't describe his lady's eyes. The chorus' humility -- both in lyric and voice -- is striking in its simplicity.

It is the pair's greatest composition.

No. 467: Love and Theft

2008-04-24T09:45:00.001-04:00

Band: Bob Dylan
Album: Love and Theft
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Dylan's songs about the South span genres and have him producing interesting lyrics about history, emotion and stories. Touching on mortality and conflict, "Love and Theft" is excellently layered.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Dylan's recent (the last 10 years) records are mostly masturbatory. Interesting? Sure. But, also really silly.
Best song: "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum" isn't bad.
Worst song: "Floater" sounds like a floater. (rim shot)
Is it awesome?: Not really.

Oddly enough, we have two albums this week released on the same exact day, a rather important day in American history. Both "The Blueprint" and "Love and Theft" dropped on Sept. 11, 2001.

"Love and Theft" is, like "Time Out of Mind", Dylan's fall into Tom Waits territory. The idea of the album is the American South, from the Mardi Gras hop of "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum" to the religiosity of "Sugar Baby." "High Water" speaks of the great Louisiana flood, "Summer Days" has a Southern R&B feel and "Mississippi" is, well, about the state.

It's not a horrible record, but it can get annoying. "Bye and Bye" is a sweet ballad, but Dylan's voice hurts it. "Po' Boy" isn't impressive. The self-immolation of "Floater" was lifted from a Japanese novel.

Dylan was a great songwriter and records like this are interesting. He knows how to construct intelligent songs, but he cannot sing them with any semblance of grace. His band is pretty good, but the music often meanders.

It's not fantastic, but it's interesting.

No. 466: Live Through This

2008-04-23T12:39:00.001-04:00

Band: Hole
Album: Live Through this
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Kurt Cobain's wife's band's album was released just days before his death and probably received a bit of a sales bump because of it. The album's moderately catchy and brought some of the riot grrl stuff to the mainstream.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: The album is hardly the best of the genre and there are rumors that Cobain wrote much of the record. Courtney Love's voice is annoying, too.
Best song: "Plump" has a good riff.
Worst song: "Gutless" stinks.
Is it awesome?: Nope.

As I referenced in my piece on "How Will The Wolf Survive," the tail end of the list contains a ton of records that are simply placeholders for a small fad or scene of music. There's a Loretta Lynne record and a Merle Haggard record to try and make up for the lack of country. There's some punk. There's "Faith." There are a couple of old school hip hop records.

And here we have the riot grrrl culture that came out of the Pacific Northwest in the early 1990s. The aesthetic of punk ran rampant through riot grrl and Hole -- despite not being a good representative by any means -- is the magazine's nod to that culture.

---

Looking back, riot grrl showed a really nasty underside of punk rock culture. When Bikini Kill, L7, Bratmobile and the like came on the scene, any number of slurs were tossed about within the punk rock community, most of them implying homosexuality or an anti-male feeling. "Man-hater" and "dyke" were popular ones to hurl at the Kathleen Hannahs of the world, solely for their expression of emotion. They were hated all for being the personification of a quote from Bongwater's Ann Magnuson: "Except for Joan of Arc and Anne Frank, the thoughts of teenage girls have rarely been taken seriously."

And because this whole site is about one thing (me), I have to say that I've always been a big fan of riot grrl fashion, though I prefer its evolved counterparts. There's a real edge to it, something that's been lost in the "let's glorify the old idea of the feminine" girl power that came after riot grrl.

The fashion mirrors the message, often. As the original fashion sense of riot grrl was loud, dirty and decidedly in your face, the message was similar. Just on "Live Through This," there is little in the way of metaphor or implication. Bikini Kill and Bratmobile were overt in their message ("Suck My Left One" being one of Bikini Kill's first records), just as the band's early style was all baby doll, dyed hair and ugly SuicideGirl chic.

This will always be -- to me, a self-described (though that may be a misnomer, as I'm probably just being pompous about my politics) feminist -- segment of any movement that is incredibly annoying and, quite frankly, incorrect. It doesn't mean that these people are fully wrong in everything, but it means that

A quick diversion: For an grad school assignment, I had to attend the anti-war rally here in D.C. back in the fall. It was pretty big, though not huge. I'm not one for protests, personally. As a free speech absolutist, I like the idea of them, but it's not my scene.

The reason I don't like protests is because protests -- left, right, whatever -- almost always attract the most extreme of any movement. In the case of the religious ones, you find the folks who would like to bomb every abortion provider and the crazy people who believe the U.S. government should shoot anyone speaking Spanish. In the case of leftie protests, you get the people I saw at the anti-war rally.

Whatever you say about the right, they tend to stay on message. You will not see someone arguing for lower taxes at a pro-life rally. You probably won't see someone who wants to democratize Iraq at a pro-life rally.

But at an anti-war rally? Every single subgroup of the left's big tent was there. There were lots (lots) of socialists. There were a bunch of Sept. 11 conspiracy crackpots who believe the U.S. government caused the attacks. There were a fair amount of free Palestine people. The gay rights folks were there. The environmentalists were there. A man holding a mic hooked to a battery-powered amp preached socialism with the message that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton wouldn't change anything from the Bush administration.

I can see the connection with the free Palestine people, however hard that connection is to make. It's not a direct connection, but it's Middle East policy. Fine. But gay rights? The Bush environmental policy? Socialism? What the hell do these things have to do with Iraq? Not much.

Even the people who were on message were obnoxious and distracting. I saw not one, but two papier mache devils meant to represent, I guess, Bush. I saw scores of SDS kids wearing bandanas as though they were banditos in an old Western. I saw people wearing Bush masks. There were more dreadlocked white guys there than at all the head shops in North America.

This, of course, is the downside of early riot grrl culture. Someone like Nomy Lamm, for example, is incredibly annoying. She makes annoying, dissonant music and she preaches "fat acceptance."

(Not to get further on my tangent here, but "fat acceptance" is patently ludicrous. Being extremely overweight is not healthy. Hell, being overweight in the first place isn't healthy -- I'm probably 20 pounds overweight and it shows up in the knee problems I've had recently. Eating because of depression is often something that can be treated, but being fat isn't good, sorry, BBW magazine.)

But, Lamm is correct in the way that she presents riot grrl in this particular quote:

I'd never had feminism presented to me in any way that was interesting at all, like all I knew of feminism was that it was like you can then work in a corporation and get paid the same amount as a man.

This, of course, gets to the central issue that most men have with radical feminism. Radical feminism -- and I'm probably totally wrong here, as I'm coming from a man's perspective -- posits that the entire system needs to be shifted. Often, this is associated with the queercore and androgynous movements, suggesting that gender doesn't need to be binary.

I don't agree with all of those things, but I'm incredibly glad that these people exist. There are too many religious organizations that subjugate women. These are the people who believe that women are only able to have children and can't speak to their own needs. These people hold great sway still and those of us in the mainstream aren't going to evoke change without some pushing from those on the wing.

Basically, what I'm saying is that I'm a gutter punk at heart. Just not in practice.

---

"Live Through This" has all the unfortunate trappings of this early riot grrl stuff. Lyrically, it's not subtle. "Plump" has the line "They say I'm plump, but I throw up all the time," "Jennifer's Body" has the bridge of "They found pieces of Jennifer's body" and "Asking For It" is, well, all about rape.

The music is mildly catchy, possibly reinforcing the rumor that Kurt Cobain wrote some or all of the record. None of it is particularly exciting, but it's perfectly pleasant soft/loud grunge. Love's voice is grating, but fitting of the music as riot grrl stuff.

---

"Hole" was famous because Courtney Love was married to Kurt Cobain. They're hardly the best band of their ilk, as L7, Bikini Kill and (especially) Sleater-Kinney are the best of this bunch. Sleater-Kinney is a brilliant band. Hole is just OK.

No. 465: Golden Hits

2008-04-23T09:02:00.002-04:00

Band: The Drifters
Album: Golden Hits
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The Drifters vocal style was one that stuck in pop music for a long time. The other side of girl groups, the band sand simple romantic songs for nice folks in the late 1950s.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Oldies are not really rock and roll. I understand having this type of music here as a place for early vocal rock vocal styles, but the record is just OK.
Best song: Pick one, they're all perfectly pleasant.
Worst song: Pleasant, but not great.
Is it awesome?: Blah.

I am far too young for this album. It comes from the same place as Dick Biondi and "Jingle Bell Rock."

The songs are pleasant and there's a lot of value in Lieber and Stoller's contributions to music. But, mostly, this is the type of thing Tony Kornheiser hypes up on his local radio show. It's radio for people who remember pop music before guitars.

No. 464: The Blueprint

2008-04-22T13:00:00.000-04:00

Band: Jay-Z
Album: The Blueprint
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: After a string of three decidedly pop-oriented albums, New York rapper Jay-Z took to a new producer to record part of his next album. The result was the album's first single ("Izzo (H.O.V.A.)"), the album's best battle song ("Takeover") and Jay's most evocative song to date ("Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)").
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: This is a timing situation, in my mind. I prefer Jay's subsequent album, "The Black Album."
Best song: "Takeover" is the most aggressive on the album and "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" has probably my favorite rap lyric ever.
Worst song: "Renegade." Eminem is not a good producer.
Is it awesome?: It's pretty great.

In an interview with MTV before "The Blueprint" was released, in typical fashion, Jay-Z told the interviewer he had perfected the ability to make a hit song. He cited "Change Clothes" as an example and was predicting "The Blueprint" to be less commercial and more soulful.

It was. Released September 11, 2001, the album was the soundtrack for a depressing fall. Coming off a misdemeanor plea to stabbing Lance Rivera (and another gun charge), the album was set to establish Jay -- in classic hip hop fashion, even when the rapper is the king -- as the front runner. The giant chip on Jay's shoulder may have been manufactured, his producers brought more soul samples to his work, foregoing the Neptunes-style pop to which he'd based so many of his recent hits.

Similarly, Jay found a new protege to help him back to the top. Kanye West produced the album's three best tracks with an ear for sound. Let's be clear, "Takeover" isn't really a production job, but rather a full-on lift, as West takes the Doors' "Five to One" nearly note for note. Still, West's choice of the song is remarkable and fitting and one that accents Jay's full-on venom toward Mebb Deep and Nas.

West's lift of Bobby "Blue" Bland's "Ain't No Love In the Heart of the City" is similarly great and Jay's soulful rap is great. The melancholy of the record is striking and it provided a nice soundtrack. Of course, "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" is one of the best songs Jay ever recorded, including my favorite line Jay ever uttered: "He who does not feel me is not real to me/Therefore he doesn't exist/So poof, vamoose son of a bitch."

The album is not solely West's. "Girls, Girls, Girls" is a more subdued commercial track while "Song Cry" is similarly tender. "Jigga that Nigga" was a single of consequence, though it's mostly just a really repetitive record.

The album has some of Jay's most interesting songs and was the soundtrack for a moment in time for hip hop. It partially bridges the gap between soulful rap of the backpack set and the pop rap of the late 1990s.

No. 463: Tumbleweed Connection

2008-04-22T09:05:00.001-04:00

Band: Elton John
Album: Tumbleweed Connection
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Elton John's third album has Bernie Taupin writing about the American West, though John remains a piano singer/songwriter. Some of his earlier lush arrangements are perfected on "Tumbleweed Connection," as evidenced by "Come Down in Time."
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: The album isn't perfectly conventional, so it's not accessible. Most Elton John records have a hit or two, this one has none.
Best song: "Country Comfort" is the closest to C&W, with its slide guitar. "My Father's Gun" is epic-sounding.
Worst song: "Where to now St. Peter" isn't very good.
Is it awesome?: Not really. It's fine.

Elton John is someone I can't really imagine as an actual cowboy, but his album of cowboy songs is actually pretty good. Large and lyrical, the songs often trend over five minutes.

The songs go out there in a way Taupin and John would explore later on "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road." The harder rock of "Son of Your Father" foreshadows "Saturday Night's All Right for Fighting" and the large sound of "Come Down in Time" is the type of thing they would explore on multiple occasions later.

The album is certainly spotty. "Love Song" is a guitar/vocals track that doesn't fit anywhere near an Elton John record. And overall, it's a record of piano songs masquerading as cowboy songs. An ambitious record, certainly, but not executed really well.

No. 462: Here, My Dear

2008-04-21T11:41:00.001-04:00

Band: Marvin Gaye
Album: Here, My Dear
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Despite being hated at the time, Marvin Gaye's album based on breakups (specifically his divorce) is mean, but great. It's been sampled a million times and rightfully so.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: As double albums go, this is one of the best, but it remains a double album. It has some filler and the topic (Gaye's ex-wife) gets a little old.
Best song: The title track is great and "Anna" is wonderful.
Worst song: "Somebody Needs Love" is boring.
Is it awesome?: Sure.

Marvin Gaye and Anna Gordy -- Berry Gordy's sister -- split in 1976. The divorce was quite acrimonious and resulted in a negotiation for Gaye to give half of the royalties from his next album to Anna. Gaye, in interviews, suggested he had two options. The first was to make what he called "a lazy album." The other -- the path he eventually chose -- was to make an album largely about the divorce.

THe result is as pretty as anything Gaye ever put out, but lyrically as vitriolic as ever. "Here, My Dear" is to be read sarcastically, as someone handing over a piece of themselves. Here, he says. "Take this. The double album is a point in time; it's Gaye at his most exhausted while still energetic. Angry, but still soulful, Gaye's pain makes for a great record.

"Anger" is funky and fun, but the lyrics speak of a different Gaye. Sounding something like a Sly Stone record on quaaludes, the track's famous line (Someday soon I'll hope and pray like Jesus/I'll reach that wiser age/hope I will learn I never profit from things I do in rage) speaks volumes about Gaye's state in 1978.

Gaye's voice is such that he can sing just about anything and sound great. The album opener, the title track, is more narrative in its tone -- speaking of Anna using their adopted son against Gaye -- while still angry. "Anna" is sometimes repetitive, but always compelling, as Gaye sings "What's it, husband, makes you so stubborn?" "Sparrow" is similarly harsh, but sonically more of a soul song, with a gorgeous sax line.

While Anna was topic A on the record, her brother did not escape without harm. Gaye's line about Barry Gordy, "you know you had a brother who thought he was cool/when really I was a dumb little fool," is a solid put-down and works well with the "Is That Enough."

(Say it with me...) As with all double albums, "Here, My Dear" has its share of filler. The lore says that the final two minutes of "Is That Enough" is simply Gaye going off to smoke a joint and have the sax player solo for a bit. "Somebody Needs Love" largely apes the guitar riff from "Let's Get It On." "Time to Get it Together" is full of cool harmonies, but ultimately shallow. "A Funky Space Reincarnation" is a mediocre attempt a Parliament-style bassline.

"Here, My Dear," like many great breakup albums, is often an exercise in overkill. The theme of divorce and bitterness is slightly overdone, but Gaye's voice makes up for it in spades.

No. 461: How Will the Wolf Survive?

2008-04-21T10:11:00.001-04:00

Band: Los Lobos
Album: How Will the Wolf Survive?
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The first full album from East Los Angeles' Los Lobos is a neatly concocted combination of rock music and Latin music. Full of ranchera accordions and Mexican influences, "How Will the Wolf Survive?" is cleanly produced (by T-Bone Burnett) and fun.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: The record is not necessarily great. The first two songs are pretty boring and if you don't have an ear for Mexican music, this record is not for you.
Best song: "I Got Loaded" is fun and the title track is smart and excellent.
Worst song: "I Got to Let You Know" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: Maybe. I really don't know.

The history of Hispanic-Americans in rock and roll isn't super short, but in the same way AFrican-American music (hip hop, soul, R&B, etc.) is distinct from mainstream rock and roll, what is known as Latin music has never broken through into the mainstream. Richie Valens was an early rocker with Mexican roots. Certainly, Carlos Santana is one of the more famous Hispanic-Americans to incorporate Central American styles and music into his work, but he is mostly on an island. There was a bit of a Latin pop boom about 5-10 years ago, but that didn't really last.

Los Lobos are probably the only group -- save for Santana -- to have any semblance of success in adapting Mexican music into the full rock mainsteam. Unlike Santana, Los Lobos really wore their heritage on their sleeves, adding accordion and other Tejano elements into the songs.

---

The first two songs from "How Will the Wolf Survive?" lull the listener into thinking that the band is a simple rock band populated by Mexican-Americans, doing totally mainstream rock. Oh, no. The fourth song, "Our Last Night," is no different from the type of music I've heard living in Hispanic-American neighborhoods. It's full of accordions, the classic Tejano/Ranchera singing cadence and the Mexican rhythms. Though the lyrics are done in English -- a very bold move -- the music is classic Ranchera.

Like the white-boy-copping of Calexico, 15 years later, Los Lobos often sing about border topics. "Serenata Nortena" is a traditional Mexican folk song and "A Matter of Time" speaks to the border separation of lovers beautifully. The wonderful allegory of the title track is moving and cool.

---

As we move toward the end of this list, we'll see a lot of records like this one. Good ones, yes, but solely on the list because the magazine loved it or it symbolizes something or other. In this case, we have a record from a genre not represented on the list.

No. 460: Love it to Death

2008-04-18T11:04:00.001-04:00

Band: Alice Cooper
Album: Love it to Death
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The band's third album is where it became the shock rock/teenage anthem band the band's leader would eventually become. The crazed, updated "My Generation" song "I'm Eighteen" is heavy on riffing and a staple of the singer's set.
Why Rolling Stone gets it right:
Best song: "Is It My Body?" is amazing, as is "I'm Eighteen."
Worst song: "Black Juju" isn't good.
Is it awesome?: Not really.

In the early 1970s, Alice Cooper was both a band and a man, in the same way Marilyn Manson was originally both a band and a man. In 1974, Vincent Furnier changed his legal name to Alice Cooper and the original band disbanded.

Frank Zappa signed Alice Cooper to his Straight Records label in 1969 and "Love it to Death" was the final album of the three-album deal. Zappa found the band's energy exciting and was fully in support of their shock rock mystique. Reportedly, after the "chicken incident" was reported, Zappa told Cooper not to deny anything. The publicity could only help the band.

Shock rock was relatively new, being influenced by Arthur Brown's craziness and fellow Michigander Iggy Pop's on stage cutting. Cooper took it to a new level, as he started incorporating an electric chair into his performances and using his on-air persona to vent out adolescent ragings. The lead single from "Love it to Death," "I'm Eighteen," was the singer's anthem at the time and backed up said persona. Acting as a made-up villain, Cooper was able to become threatening and thus had his hook.

"Is It My Body" is a great, sensitive song about the shallowness of sex in rock and roll. "I'm Eighteen" is defiant and cool. But, the rest of the album's actual songs aren't fantastic. "Black Juju" is the band's attempt at psychedelia and it solely takes the worst aspects (organ solos from Iron Butterfly, slow riffing, etc.) and runs with them for far too long. "Ballad of Dwight Fry" is similarly tedious. "Caught in a Dream" is entirely forgettable.

Alice Cooper has a place in rock music history, certainly. Like KISS, there is import in the band's stage presence. But the actual record? Not so great.

No. 459: Strictly Business

2008-04-18T09:10:00.001-04:00

Sadly, this is Padraig's final contribution to the site. Read his other three pieces here, here and here.

Band: EPMD
Album: Strictly Business
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: A high point of 1988, one of hip hop’s greatest years, that basically defined the blueprint for classic Golden Age albums – funk/classic rock breaks + dope rhymes.
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: This is about right, even if it’s better than many of the albums RS ranked higher.
Best song: “You Gots to Chill” or “It’s My Thing”.
Worst song: “The Steve Martin” is kind of a novelty song.
Is it awesome?: Yes.

They weren’t the first to popularize the newer complex style of rhyming – that honor goes to the likes of Kool Moe Dee, KRS-One & Rakim. Nor were they pioneers of sample-based production like Marley Marl or Ced Gee. What Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith did do was make one of the most solid and enduring hip hop albums of the 80s. Even today it manages to be all things to all people; rough and rugged enough for discerning heads but still smooth as hell, great house party music but still funky and raw as hell. It’s also one of the hip hop records mostly frequently sampled by other rappers and producers.

How did they accomplish this formidable task? Well, first off, as I mentioned, they made good use of the hip hop toolkit circa ’88. Classic breaks from familiar sources like The J.B.s and Mountain show up, not to mention possibly the first sampling of Zapp’s electro-funk masterpiece “More Bounce to the Ounce” (since used for “Going Back to Cali” and roughly a trillion G-Funk songs). The beats are still stripped-down and minimal by modern standards but at the time they were as advanced as anything out besides the Bomb Squad and possibly Prince Paul’s work for De La Soul.

EPMD were also, along with those aforementioned producers and the Ultramagnetic MC’s, among the first to look to classic rock for loops. They began a long tradition of hip hop producers flipping terrible, generic rock (and later on, terrible easy listening as well) into great beats, here copping from Eric Clapton’s version of “I Shot the Sheriff” and especially our boy Steve Miller. Ah, the early and glorious days of sampling when dudes could get away with rapping for “Fly Like An Eagle” on two different songs on the same album (!) and still make it sound awesome. They also sample Kool & The Gang’s “Jungle Boogie” on three different songs, but hey, what’re ya gonna do?

On the rhyming front they come correct as well. Neither is on the level of a Rakim or Big Daddy Kane (though, who is?) nor do they constantly wow you with jaw-dropping wordplay. On the other hand, both have good flow and breath control and the rhymes are consistently on point and entertaining over the course of all ten songs. In true late 80s fashion they mostly stick to destroying wack MCs and talking about how great they are, but damned if it doesn’t sound fly as hell. They even do a little storytelling and flip the typical player anthem on “Jane” (over, of course, a loop from Rick James’ supremely funky ode to marijuana), initiating a series of songs that would run through all their albums.

The formula of “Strictly Business” was in fact so successful that Erick & Parrish decided to basically copy it for their next three albums, which are all, especially the follow-up “Unfinished Business”, worthy of attention if not quite on the level of the original, until breaking up in 1993 (there are a couple of predictably bad reunion albums as well). They also, through their crew The Hit Squad, released a bunch of great rap in the early 90s from the likes of Redman, Das EFX and K-Solo among others.

Finally I’d like to mention one more thing of possible historical interest – this album and “Unfinished Business” both came out on Fresh Records, subsidiary of Sleeping Bag Records, which was founded by none other than avante-disco legend Arthur Russell. The A&R for both Sleeping Bag and Fresh was Kurtis Mantronik of electro titans Mantronix. Fresh also put out albums by the likes of T La Rock (one of the originators of the modern style of rapping), original gangsta Just-Ice and Nice & Smooth, whose sex jams prefigured Snoop’s whole Don Magic Juan worshipping shtick. Maybe I’m the only one finds this interesting but I find it fascinating that so many different hip hop trends co-existed side by side on the same indie label not only with each other but also with a variety of weird 80s NY disco and garage house.

No. 458: John Prine

2008-04-17T11:04:00.002-04:00

Band: John Prine
Album: John Prine
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: John Prine's recounting of ant-war sentiments is played against a country sound. Wonderfully narrative and literate, the album is the great example of songwriting.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: The record's a little too country for me.
Best song: "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore" and "Paradise" are fantastic.
Worst song: "Angel from Montgomery" is popular, but I don't care for it.
Is it awesome?: It's pretty good.

Hey, John Prine is from Maywood, Illinois. That's on the other side of Chicago from where I grew up. That's kind of cool.

---

John Prine's sound is decidedly more country than I can really handle. Nevertheless, I think his political statements on the record are right on and amazing-- "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore" is ridiculously awesome anti-Vietnam song that could easily be applicable today. "Sam Stone," while not as appropriate today, is much more of a well-formed song. It's stark and melancholy, thanks to a wonderful church-like organ. Prine's tale of a drug addict coming home from the war is striking largely because it told the complex tale long before the anti-war sentiment had reached anything other than catchphrase-style songs (Jefferson Airplane, for example).

"Paradise" is a wonderful song about development and the effects on the virgin countryside. Prine speaks of a farm and Kentucky backwoods that had been taken over by big business and lost the "green river where paradise lays." As AllMusic says, the song "became an environmental anthem without ever using the word 'environmental.'"

Prine also wrote about other topics. "Donald and Lydia" is an allusion to masturbation and "Six O'Clock News" deals with suicide. "Pretty Good" is strange song that sounds moderately rock-ish. Over a slight rock guitar, Prine sings of making love to an alien and a woman getting raped by a dog. It's pretty catchy, but, um, weird.

Maybe it's just my untrained-to-country ear, but the songs aren't terribly different-sounding. "Spanish Pipedream" and "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore" use, essentially, the same slide guitar and drum setup. "Paradise" is more of a simple country/bluegrass song, but one that sounds far too familiar.

How this all came out from a dude from Maywood, I'll never know. Still, a pretty good record. That the Eagles and Jackson Browne became popular and this record didn't bugs me.

No. 457: For Everyman

2008-04-17T09:02:00.001-04:00

Band: Jackson Browne
Album: For Everyman
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Um...
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Jackson Browne was one of the leaders of the "California"
Best song: "These Days" is the best song on the album and the best song Browne has ever written.
Worst song: The rest of the album is basically dung.
Is it awesome?: Nope.

I am not really familiar with the rationale behind three Jackson Browne albums on this list. His songwriting, I guess, is sometimes interesting and I'll definitely give that to him.

This album has a few decently-written songs. "Our Lady of the Well" is a nice little religious thing and "These Days" is a well-manicured song. Of course, Browne's version of the song pales in compared to the original version, when he wrote the song as a teenager for Nico.

Still, the first song on the album is the song co-written with the hateable Glenn Frey, "Take it Easy." Probably my least favorite song in history, "Take it Easy" is ridiculous in its simple stupid message and laid-back quasi-philosophy.

---

You know what's amazing? Jackson Browne has some seriously famous folks helping him on this record. Along with Bonnie Raitt, Joni Mitchell, David Crosby and his friends the Eagles... Elton John (!) helped out on the album. That's pretty damned impressive.

---

I can't stand the "California sound" and have made no real bones about that. There's a certain amount of boredom involved and the actual themes of the songs are remarkably boring.

No. 456: Third/Sister Lovers

2008-04-16T12:56:00.000-04:00

Band: Big Star
Album: Third/Sister Lovers
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Big Star's final record isn't really a full record, per se. Rather, it's the equivalent of Alex Chilton's doodles. There are a few great tracks.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Again, it's more of a sketchpad than an album.
Best song: "Nighttime," "Holocaust," "Dream Lover" and "Kanga Roo" are all very good songs. "Jesus Christ" isn't terrible.
Worst song: Much of the rest of the record is just blah.
Is it awesome?: Nope.

It seems, for bands that aren't deemed by Rolling Stone as super-duper important, the magazine jams the records together. All but one of the Roxy Music albums occur within 20 positions of one another. All three Big Star records come within 50 positions. Maybe not.

---

"Third/Sister Lovers" isn't great. It's got a few very good songs, but it's mostly just the dissolution of the band put to a record. Chilton's delusions of grandeur appear to be the larger theme of the album, as experiments abound.

"Kanga Roo," "Nighttime" and "Jesus Christ" all hit, while "Take Care" and "O, Dana" don't really. The guitar sound isn't as clean as Chilton's power pop from the first two Big Star records. His voice isn't nearly a soft, either.

For the most part, it full of songs better fit to a rarities compilation.

No. 455: Synchronicity

2008-04-16T09:00:00.001-04:00

Band: The Police
Album: Synchronicity
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The Police's best-selling album is similarly the band's best-known. It has a few hits and is emblematic of the band's end.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Like all things during this time period, there are too many synths on the record.
Best song: "Wrapped Around Your Finger" is great.
Worst song: "Synchronicity I" and "Synchronicity II" are both stinky.
Is it awesome?: Bah.

So... This album contains this song:

That video is kind of ridiculous and it kind of typifies the early 1980s. The zeitgeist appears to have been "Why wouldn't we have the guys in ridiculous costume?" I like that.

---

"Synchronicity" is the Police's best-known album and, of course, is the band's final album. It's a little self-indulgent -- hence the Jungian theme of the two (!) title tracks -- but it also has the band's most creepy and famous track.

The travesty of "Every Breath You Take" is that it's been sampled by Puffy and misinterpreted by many, many people. It's a creepy, creepy song, one based on Sting's divorce that other songs take lyrics from ("King of Pain" is the other big one).

The arrangements are the problem with these songs. The large majority of the songs have synthesizers on them. Despite being well-written songs -- "Wrapped Around Your Finger" being the operative one. The song is a wonderfully written love(ish) song covered by many, sans synthesizers. It's awesome, but the Police version is much worse.

That's the final album's problems. Sting decided he was more than a singer. He got so self-indulgent. That's a problem.

No. 454: Getz/Gilberto

2008-04-15T10:13:00.000-04:00

Band: Stan Getz and João Gilberto
Album: Getz/Gilberto
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Along with "Kind of Blue," "Getz/Gilberto" is my favorite jazz album. It's beautiful in a way that soft, melodic music can only be.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Jazz is a tricky thing on this list, obviously, and
Best song: The whole album is great. "Doralice" is a great upbeat song while "The Girl from Ipanema" is a classic regardless of genre.
Worst song: There are no bad songs on this one.
Is it awesome?: Absolutely.

It's an excuse you've heard from me multiple times. I cannot, with any real substance, write about this album eloquently. It is striking in its softness, beautiful in its dissonance and rhythmic in its syncopation.

In the early 1960s, Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd took a trip down to Brazil via a State Department trip. Getz came back with an appreciation for bossa nova -- the new style -- and cut "Jazz Samba" with Byrd in 1962. The lead song, "Desafinado," (English: Off key) is an Antonio Carlos Jobim number considered to be an iconic bossa nova song. Getz and Byrd's version of the song is nice; both are excellent players.

But, in 1964, Getz hooked up with João Gilberto and Jobim (two Brazilians superstars of the genre) to start a small bossa nova craze in the States. "Getz/Gilberto," as the album was called, took many of Jobim's best songs and brought the brilliant genre to the masses.

The album made a star of Gilberto's wife, Astrud. A fantastically beautiful young woman from Bahia, Gilberto's low(ish) voice fits the mellow classic bossa nova instrumentation (classical guitar, bass, piano and drums) among Getz' expressive sax. Her interplay with her husband on the lead single, "The Girl from Ipanema," is brilliant and is largely what made the song the classic it is.

The song's bilingual lyrics (first in Portuguese, then in English) make for an exotic sound, but the genre's conventions are evident. Soft vocals -- not the harsh, obnoxiuosness of Frank Sinatra's later cover that makes me want to stick knives in my ears -- and Getz' saxophone doubles Astrud Gilberto's, well, sultry vocals.

Sonically, there are few things better than "Getz/Gilberto. Maybe it's the romance of it, but the record can best be described as smooth, despite the odd-rhythms. "Só Danço Samba" and "Doralice," the most upbeat numbers on the album, feature Getz' fantastic solos and a quick beat. "Para Machucar Meu Coração" is a tender ballad and the English-language "Corcovado" highlight's Astrud Gilberto's voice.

Of course, the album also has a redo of Jobim's classic "Desafinado." The song is something like a statement of purpose of the bossa nova genre. The song was written as a reaction to critics putting down the genre as off-key and ar rhythmic. The metraphor of a man simply proclaiming his love -- for his lady, for the genre -- is soft and elegant. Like "The Girl from Ipanema," it's one of the classics of bossa nova.

---

I adore bossa nova. I took a class in college on Brazil and we did a whole week on the genre. The music permeates a lot of 1950s/1960s Brazilian culture, including one of my favorite films, "Orfeu Nefro." I love the Sea and Cake, a band that simply updates bossa nova with a more rock and roll sound.

"Getz/Giberto" is my favorite jazz album, by far. I can listen to it, front to back, any time.

No. 453: Ritual de lo Habitual

2008-04-15T09:02:00.001-04:00

(original cover)

(clean cover)
Band: Jane's Addiction
Album: Ritual de lo Habitual
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Jane's Addiction's second album was the record that broke the band into the mainstream. The band worked different genres -- again, this was the 1990s, when jester hats and huge pants were cool -- and did so masterfully.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Jane's Addiction is a thinking man's Red Hot Chili Peppers, but that still doesn't make them the Beatles.
Best song: "Stop!" is great, "Classic Girl" is great and "Three Days" is fantastic.
Worst song: "Of Course" is too long and not great.
Is it awesome?: It's close.

Jane's Addiction is a strong, strong band and "Ritual de lo Habitual" is a strong, strong record. The album starts great with the band's best song, "Stop!" and ends on a great note with the beautiful ballad, "Classic Girl."

"Nothing's Shocking" is a nice record, but "Ritual" is far better. The disjointed rhythm of "Ain't No Right" is a great testament to that part of the band while "Stop!" is Dave Navarro's best work. "Three Days" is a strange but great true story of Perry Farrel's bizarre personal life.

The album is great, but I can see why people don't love it. It's not perfect, but it's tons of fun.

No. 452: Music

2008-04-14T10:49:00.002-04:00

Band: Madonna
Album: Music
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: People love this record and it does have tons of vocoder. There are a couple of good songs on the record.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: With another late-career Madonna record, I think RS is simply trying to boost more classic boomer situations.
Best song: "Don't Tell Me" is cool.
Worst song: I don't care for the title track.
Is it awesome?: No.

I went to university in Columbia, Missouri. As with many land grant Midwestern college towns, Columbia is not, uh, Paris. There's a lot to like about Columbia -- the downtown is great, the Midwestern sensibility is real, the clubs are cool, the college radio station is fantastic, etc. -- but it's not a huge city. So... There are two strip clubs in Columbia.

(A quick aside... I've been to two strip clubs in my life: One in Chicago and the one I'm about to describe, in Columbia. I did not enjoy either trip. I enjoy naked women as much as the next guy, but I am wildly uncomfortably being aroused around anyone in whom I have no romantic interest. Maybe I'm a prude, but I just equate arousal with intimacy.)

I've only been to one of the strip clubs in Columbia, Club Vogue. Vogue is the nicer of the two strip clubs. As Columbia isn't Paris, Vogue is not the Moulin Rouge. It's kind of dark and dingy. The women have stretch marks and bad tattoos. They wear clown-ish eyeliner and have had bleach jobs.

(This brings up the question of what Regina's, the lesser of the Columbia strip clubs, is like. I've heard it's just dirt bag filthy, though I'm very glad I've never been there.)

With all that said, the last 20 years have seen strip clubs being sort of glorified even with women. This came to a head in 2000 with Madonna's "Music" video. Featuring Sacha Baron Cohen, the video has Madonna going to a well-lit, quasi-glamorous strip club with a large runway-style stage. She's got on a silly outfit (more on that in a minute) and a "Sex in the City" group of friends. It looks, I imagine, somewhat attractive.

I had a female friend in college who tried -- kinda -- to emulate this video. She and her best friend headed down to Vogue -- the club welcomes women and, if she is willing, will try to get them on the stage -- and wanted to see what it was like. They barely got in the door before they saw Vogue's nastiness. They headed out and never looked back.

The point? Strip clubs are gross.

---

I think part of the draw in being a female pop singer is that you can spend about 90% of your time playing dress up. Madonna has little to no acting skill, but she's spend the last 30 years playing different characters in various outfits. Just in the past 10 years, Madonna has dressed up -- in videos, at least -- as a gothic priestess ("Frozen"), a strip club patron ("Music"), an aerobics person with some nasty camel toe ("Hung Up") and a cowboy ("Don't Tell Me").

I can see why that's attractive.

---

"Music" is not a fantastic record. It's largely a disco record with a couple of decent tracks. The title track is stuttering and crappy, though it has a decent vocoder. "What It Feels Like for a Girl" is decent. "Don't Tell Me" is very good, though largely because of its production.

Late-career Madonna pales in comparison to early Madonna, basically. She's doing similar things -- mindless pop music -- but she's not doing great stuff anymore.

No. 451: Back in the U.S.A.

2008-04-14T09:16:00.000-04:00

Band: MC5
Album: Back in the U.S.A.
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The middle of the Motor City Five's three albums is also the band's cleanest-sounding. Though it is more political than "Kick Out the Jams," the record shows more of the band's clear influences -- American blues rock -- than any other MC5 record.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: I can appreciate the political songs, but the album's sound isn't as raw and therefore not as distinct. In short, many of these songs would be fine on the Nuggets box. (Yes, I know I've said that before.)
Best song: "Teenage Lust" is fun.
Worst song: "Let Me Try." No good.
Is it awesome?: Nope.

"Back in the U.S.A." producer Jon Landau was a huge fan of 1950s rock and its clean sound. When he was doing this record, he made it his goal to shed the band of its noisey roots. The result is a pretty accessible record, though it was hated at the time.

The album starts and ends with covers and both songs are nice. "Tutti Frutti" is a frenetic tear through the Little Richard classic and the title track is a fine cover of the Chuck Berry classic. Both songs show the band's straight musical ability.

The political songs -- one could argue that "Back in the U.S.A" is a political song when done by the MC5 -- are clever, with "The Human Being Lawnmower" a strong indictment of America's Vietnam policy. "The American Ruse" is more broad, but similarly anti-1970s foreign policy.

The MC5 is still the MC5, so the protopunk remains, albeit in a restrained form. "Teenage Lust" is kind of silly, but tons of fun. "High School" has similar roots, though is less than "Teenage Lust." "Shakin' Street" is pretty good, but shallow.

The MC5, in a lot of ways is a lesser Nirvana. The band was looked upon as one of the standard-bearers of an entire movement -- psych protopunk -- while it was solely a lucky piece of the movement's pie.

No. 450: Fly Like an Eagle

2008-04-11T11:04:00.001-04:00

Band: The Steve Miller Band
Album: Fly Like an Eagle
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Steve Miller had been recording music for eight years before his seminal work was released. Well-produced and catchy, the album is a very 1970s thing...
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: ... which is probably why I could do without it. It's not terrible like a Meat Loaf album, but if "Fly Like an Eagle" fell off the face of the earth, I would not be upset. It's mindless, catchy radio-friendly junk.
Best song: The title track is pleasant.
Worst song: "Wild Mountain Honey" is awful.
Is it awesome?: Nah.

Because I find Steve Miller to be mostly junk, I'll keep my feelings on this album brief. Miller's infusion of easy blues and even easier stoner vocals into straight rock and roll is somewhat attractive if boring. It is, like so much popular music from the 1970s, pleasant and mindless. "Fly Like an Eagle" is a song that says essentially nothing while attempting to sound like philosophy. It's "Free Bird," only infinitely worse. "Rockin Me" is a song about rocking -- these songs are almost always terrible -- complete with a thin guitar sound. "Take the Money and Run" isn't terrible, but like the rest of the album it's simply sugar.

I can appreciate the use of synthesizers; Miller clearly embraced the demon technology that so many mainstream rockers feared. That he overlayed it with an organ is even better. But, again, "Fly Like an Eagle" is nice record for stoners and I don't smoke weed.

---

I know I'm a terrible writer. I'm not a writer, actually. By trade, I'm a Web producer for a magazine, a journalist. For this project and for my baseball blog, I'm simply opinionated. That's my gift. I have tons of opinions. If I had my way, I'd be ranting on the radio; it is my best medium. But, unfortunately, those jobs are scarce and require a lot of hard work to get. Work, as it turns out, that I'm not willing to do.

Anyway, the point is that I'm not a skilled writer. Maybe my saying that is a defense system to deflect any criticism hurled my way. I know I'm not good. I'm trying to get better.

Nevertheless, overwriting is a pox on record criticism. I often reuse my own clichès because I worry about falling into the trap of using terrible metaphors in describing a mellotron. If I sound repetitive, I apologize, but the rapid-fire nature of the project makes for repetition and, more importantly, my aversion to overwriting is strong.

Which brings me to a review of the 2003 "Fly Like an Eagle" reissue from Rolling Stone magazine. The opening paragraph reads as such:

Fly like an Eagle may be the most complete and effective musical statement Steve Miller has ever made. Always enigmatic, always eclectic, Miller's albums have usually been ill-fitting jigsaw puzzles, but in this latest album he puts all of his cards on the table, face up. The result is a full house of rock & roll.

Any writer knows that mixing metaphors is bad. How the jigsaw, the cards and the table fit together, I'm not sure. More importantly, the card metaphor is ridiculous. For one, it assumes that the album is somehow akin to a card game to Miller & Co. I imagine it is not, but I'm not in his head.

Also, the drama involved in the writer's depiction is problematic. The conceit of laying one's card on the table is normally a last chance situation. Miller was not against the wall (to use a metaphor) in 1976, he was simply a struggling songwriter who had yet to break out.

Most importantly, though, the card metaphor is a tiredclichè. It's horrible and it has been used so many times in writing, my brain turns off the second I see it. I'm not a great writer and I should not be a better writer than someone who is writing for Rolling Stone.

No. 449: The World Is a Ghetto

2008-04-11T09:02:00.001-04:00

Band: War
Album: The World Is a Ghetto
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: War's third album sans Eric Burdon is the band's finest. Smart and funky, the album was a revelation in the early 1970s.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: I think I'm too young to see the import of the record. I guess I'm just desensitized to this type of music.
Best song: The title track is great.
Worst song: "So Good to See You" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: It's good, but I don't know if it's great.

I guess it's a testament to the times that a band made of many races of people playing crossover funk/rock stuff is boring to me. "The World is a Ghetto" is basically boring to me. Even the band's hits -- "Why Can't We Be Friends?" and "Low Rider" -- are more quaint than they are great.

At the time, the band was certainly seen as something. The album's lead single, "The Cisco Kid," was a funk song about the main character from a Hispanic TV show. The title track, not surprisingly, is fantastic and socially conscious.

Again, it's a nice record. I'm sure it belongs here in the mid-400s, but I am just not feeling it.

No. 448: In Color

2008-04-10T10:21:00.001-04:00

Band: Cheap Trick
Album: In Color
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Embracing the irony of power pop music and the zeitgeist of the late 1970s, "In Color" is full of catchy choruses, harmonies and great guitars. Transitioning from "Cheap Trick" to the band's later, hook-laden work, "In Color" features one of the band's most-famous songs.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: "Heaven Tonight" is better and the band's debut is more interesting. Still, a fine record.
Best song: "Southern Girls" is a great record.
Worst song: "So Good to See You" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: Nah.

Cheap Trick's sense of irony is glorious. While Jimmy Page was playing a doubleneck guitar for pompous rock songs, Rick Nielsen played a five-necked guitar.

The cover art for "In Color" shows off that sense of irony. The front cover features bassist Tom Petersson and lead singer Robin Zander on Harleys while the back cover shows the two stranger/nerdier looking members in black and white. They, of course, are on mopeds.

---

"In Color" was the turning point in sound for Cheap Trick. While the band's first album was more of a punk rock affair, "In Color" was produced by Tom Werman, with whom the band fought ferociously. Werman's ear for hooks and production was seen by the band as overproduction while Werman found the band to be too difficult.

In short, Cheap Trick went from being a Midwest punk rock band to the preeminent power pop band on "In Color." The seminal "I Want You To Want Me" has a different from than the well-known "At Budokan" version, with the "In Color" version having strong backing vocals. "Hello There" is harder, but is more of a catchy song than those on the band's debut. "Southern Girls" is similarly catchy with an almost overwhelming hook.

"In Color" is a fun, fun album. It's not the band's best, as "Heaven Tonight" is much better. "In Color" is nice, though, and a picture of a band in transition.

No. 447: Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

2008-04-10T09:02:00.001-04:00

Band: Devo
Album: Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Devo is smart, smart, smart. Looking at humanity from 30,000 feet, the band laid out its world view -- humanity is devolving and we're worse off than we were 100 years ago -- in the song. The band borrows from other rock, literary influences and the scientific community on "Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!"
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: The album isn't as good as later work by the band. It's clever and interesting, though.
Best song: "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" is great and "Mongoloid" is awesome, too.
Worst song: "Come Back Jonee" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: It's not the band's best work, but it is pretty great.

It always surprises me how many people haven't heard this version. It's a great song.

---

In the mid-late 1970s, Mark Mothersbaugh and Co. had built a following around the Midwest. Their movie, "The Truth About De-Evolution," won the Ann Arbor Film Festival and was championed by Iggy Pop and David Bowie. This eventually lead to a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records and this record.

The recording of Devo's debut was wrought with problems. Brian Eno and the band fought the entire time, with Devo wanting to structure everything as they did their demos and Eno wanting to freewheel the whole thing (Eno's recording style was very informal).

Devo is... Devo is... Devo is... How does one describe Devo? The band is, well, strange. Based on the theory that humans have devolved into mindless sheep (check the band's bio here), the band satirized modernity with electronic instruments, jerky rhythms and odd time signatures. Like a punk rock progressive band, Devo had themes and

Oddly enough, good comparisons can be made to Kiss and Genesis. Like the Peter Gabriel-era Genesis, the band performed in character (Mothersbaugh's Booji Boy) and utilized masks, hats and costumes. Like the famous Kabuki-faced rock quartet, Devo performed as a whole. Sometimes, the band would wear bright yellow radiation suits. Other times, they wore matching shirt/shorts combos. Famously, they wore red stackable hats in the era of the band's best album.

Unfortunately, the band fell into the one-hit wonder camp, thanks to the success of "Whip It." Most people don't know that Devo has any other records or that they had a whole conceptual show surrounding their music. Most people don't know that the band was highly sarcastic, with the famous single being about masturbation. Hell, most people don't know that Mark Mothersbaugh now scores films (doing all but one of Wes Anderson's films).

Devo is a smart band. Like Weezer after them, Devo embraced a nerd-rock affect that was far before its time. Kraftwerk and Neu! were huge influences and the band helped usher in the wave of synth pop. The band addressed the issues of consumerism, sex and society. As art students at Kent State, the band had witnessed the Kent State shootings in 1970 and became almost reactionary. Like many in the punk/New Wave movement, Devo wasn't sticking around for complacency.

---

As an album, "Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!" is somewhat spotty. The highs are remarkably high, but the band's attempts at more conventional song styles weren't particularly effective (the band would perfect this dance on "Freedom of Choice"). "Space Junk," for example, isn't wonderful, though it's a nice attempt at a pleasant rock song.

Where "Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!" really shines is in its weirdness. "Jocko Homo," one of the band's signature songs and the centerpiece of their early live shows, was named after a pamphlet that posited that humankind was devolving into a half-man/half-ape creature (hence "Jocko Homo"). The call-and-response nature of the song was inspired by a section in "The Island of Doctor Moreau." Almost a lecture, the song is largely the band's theme song and statement of purpose.

The album's opener is one of the band's best songs and their best early attempt at a conventional punk rock song. "Uncontrollable Urge" is furious and energetic. Driven by a quick-action guitar and Mothersbaugh's manic "yeah"s, the song's sexual nature is rivaled only by Van Halen's Roth-era stuff.

Like "Uncontrollable Urge," "Gut Feeling/Slap Your Mammy" is a furious song about sex and masturbation. Mothersbaugh's crazy vocal style and the band's guitar-driven punk shines on the track.

The album's most controversial -- and one of its best -- songs is "Mongoloid." The song's message is that someone who is mentally disabled ("Mongoloid" being a ridiculously outdated term for someone with Down Syndrome) is on the same mental level as a "normal" human being, thanks to devolution. With a sweeping synthesizer and a motorik beat, the song glorifies the subject while putting down society.

Oddly enough, a lot of people have not heard the band's cover of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." It is, without a doubt, the most interesting version of the song. Almost Brak-like in his delivery, Mothersbaugh's vocals are crazed. He spits out the verses like a cartoon Tourette's patient while the slide-like bass and manic guitar pieces put the song together. All of this wraps itself around a Rube-Goldberg-sounding drum line that utilizes the weirder parts of the kit. The song's arrangement mocks the Stones' original meaning -- consumerism and young adulthood -- and does so beautifully. Mick Jagger calls it his favorite version.

---

"Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!" is not Devo's best record. "Freedom of Choice" is the band's best record and is worlds better than this one. "Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!," however, shows where the band started and where it would go. Like many New Wave records of the time, it was challenging and smart, two traits the band possessed in spades.

No. 446: Suicide

2008-04-09T11:00:00.001-04:00

Band: Suicide
Album: Suicide
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: One of the more influential albums of its period, "Suicide" is the precursor to any punk rock that uses synths. It's often haunting, often destructive and always brilliant.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: It could probably be higher, but not enough people have heard of the album.
Best song: "Frankie Teardrop" is 10 minutes of awesome.
Worst song: "Che" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: It's a hard listen, but it's worth it.

"Suicide" is a tough listen. It is, at times, grating, frustrating and sparse. Alan Vega's voice is caustic and often screeching. He works between crooning and screaming while Martin Rev's almost-Kraftwerk

While mostly progressive and German rock bands used synthesizers (see the Kraftwerk reference above), Suicide was the first real anti-band to use the synths in a DIY fashion. "Frankie Teardrop," based on a bass synth groove and a political tome about a Vietnam vet, is amazing and absolutely punk rock. "Ghost Rider" is short and quick, featuring a buzzsaw lead line.

As such, one of the great No Wave records was released.

---

Not to get into this again, but Suicide's record is lower on the list than "Tragic Kingdom." "Tragic Kingdom" is sugary nonsense and the Suicide album is challenging, smart and fun.

Certainly, the Suicide record is great, but not a lot of people have heard it. It influenced a ton of musicians. The Cars cited it as an influence (Ric Ocasek himself produced the album). Joy Division, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Spiritualized, Radiohead, Nick Cave and the Sisters of Mercy have cited the album as a favorite or influence. Like the Velvet Underground, not everyone has heard the Suicide album, but almost everyone who did eventually started a band.

"Tragic Kingdom," however, influenced more regular folks. Tons of women almost certainly started rock bands and joined rock bands because of Gwen Stefani's preening face. Our culture took tons of cues from the band and certainly the Avril LaVignes/Ashlee Simpsons of the world are largely born from Stefani's womb.

Here's the question, though: Do we really want to pump up the Avril LaVignes, Ashlee Simpsons and, ultimately, Gwen Stefanis of the world? Isn't the mass commoditization of third-wave feminism enough?

It harkens back to my views on college radio (a concept that has no real traction today, as college radio goes down the drain). I've always felt that college radio was the place for unheard music to find a home. In a time wherein the PR machine that is the music industry still holds a lot of sway, it was important to showcase the unheard music to someone.

A lot of the new DJs at our college station wanted to play whatever the hell they wanted. They looked at it with a "whatever taste I have" mind set, which is perfectly within the bounds of our format, but I didn't encourage them. A KCOU listener didn't come to the station to hear *NSync (we had one DJ who played them). The listener came to be challenged a little bit.

One of the biggest fallacies in my criticisms is based on that notion. Rolling Stone, in and of itself, is not a voice of the underground. It's current cover features Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (and Jack White), the picture of mainstream Boomer love. It was the voice of mainstream subculture even when it started up; It wasn't Creem. Hell, it isn't even Spin.

In fact, the magazine's place as the voice of the culture is the problem. When RS puts out a list like this, there are people -- stupid people, but people nonetheless -- who see it and fancy it law. Like the music industry machine, most consumers don't know any better. They need someone to tell them what's good/important/whatever, hence this list. The albums are "great," according to the all-important magazine.

The unfortunate fact is that RS -- by putting "Tragic Kingdom" ahead of "Suicide" -- is simply reinforcing the industry position. At the risk of sounding melodramatic, this is akin to a political news reporter not vetting what a politician says. The journalist is there to question and relay information and when RS simply repeats the party line ("Gwen Stefani is pretty and No Doubt is full of substance") despite facts to the contrary -- critics have collectively panned "Tragic Kingdom" -- is a dereliction of duties.

No. 445: Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash

2008-04-09T09:05:00.002-04:00

Band: The Pogues
Album: Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Shane McGowan is a wonderful songwriter and the record is a testament to the Irish folk music in which he dabbled. The band's Irish style is popular worlds over.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: This record does not hit me. I have never really enjoyed Irish culture, so I can't speak to the greatness of the record.
Best song: Ugh.
Worst song: Ugh.
Is it awesome?: Someone else needs to rate this. Commenters, go!

I hate to be this person, but I can mostly do without the Irish love that sometimes pops up in the United States. I don't have anything against the Irish, per se. I'm sure Ireland is a nice place. I don't drink beer, so I can't speak to the tastiness of Guinness. I'm not a fan of Notre Dame or the Boston Celtics. I am very brand-loyal toward Irish Spring soap (I am not kidding), but that's about the extent of it.

(A particular pet peeve of mine is St. Patrick's Day v. Cinco de Mayo. I feel like Cinco de Mayo should be as big a holiday as St. Patrick's Day. It's a similar thing -- ethnic holiday based around drinking -- with much better food. Why isn't Cinco de Mayo more popular? Because it comes from Mexico and Americans now, apparently, hate Mexicans.)

So... The Pogues don't speak to me. It doesn't help that Decemberists lead man Colin Meloy -- a human and a band that annoy me more than just about anyone -- cites it as his favorite album. Pitchfork -- an organization of which I am a fan -- ranked the album 67th best album of the 1980s.

I like Sinéad O'Connor's record, but the rest of the Irish culture in America situation never really hit me.

Still, the traditional Irish vocal cadence, the tin whistle and the thematic elements are not my favorite things. Like many records, I'm wildly unqualified to write about this stuff, so I'll simply point you to two things:

A search of "Pogues" on YouTube.

The band's Web site

Sorry readers, I have failed you.

No. 444: Criminal Minded

2008-04-08T09:26:00.003-04:00

You've read him twice, here he is for a third time. Take it away, Padraig...

Band: Boogie Down Productions
Album: Criminal Minded
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Well, it’s a hip hop milestone from the beginning of the Golden Age of hip hop featuring arguably the greatest MC of all time. I think it should be much higher. I also like hip hop way more than Rolling Stone.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: A lot of the production, unsurprisingly, sounds dated. Also, BDP’s 2nd album “By All Means Necessary” is better.
Best song: My favorite is probably “Poetry” but I feel compelled to mention both “South Bronx” and “The Bridge Is Over” for their historical importance.
Worst song: I’ve never been too into “P Is Free”.
Is it awesome?: There can be no doubt that it is.

“Criminal Minded”, along with “Paid In Full” by Eric B. & Rakim and Public Enemy’s debut, marks the beginning of the Golden Age of hip hop that lasted roughly from the end of 1987 until, depending on your view, 1993 or so. It was a groundbreaking release mainly because of KRS-One’s immaculate, intricate rhyme schemes. It was also widely misinterpreted, mainly based on the cover, seeming almost designed to scare the wits out of white people unfamiliar with hip hop, showing a very serious KRS and late Scott La Rock armed to the teeth. I’d imagine that still had some shock value 20 years ago.

(A quick aside here, for anyone not familiar with KRS/BDP – Boogie Down Productions was originally a duo with KRS as MC and La Rock as DJ. Tragically, shortly after the release of “Criminal Minded” La Rock was gunned down trying to stop a fight from breaking out. After that BDP became KRS and a rotating cast of his wife, brother and various associates for several years until in 1992 he decided to just record under the name KRS-One.)

That cover is very appropriate, however, as it symbolizes rap’s transition from the safer confines of electro and silly costumes to the far more serious and threatening (to some) world of gangsta rap and Afrocentrism, the two themes that would define this Golden Age, KRS having influenced both. In fact, many critics consider this album to be a frontrunner of gangsta rap (again, because of the cover), which I’d disagree with. If you want to find the roots of gangsta rap I think you’d do better to look at Schoolly D, Ice T & Too Short as well as the devastation wrought by crack cocaine in the 80s and the larger than life crime figures it birthed, like Kenneth McGriff and Felix Mitchell.

The production will probably seem underwhelming to anyone not familiar with that period of hip hop. In 1987 sampling was just beginning to gain popularity and the beats generally mix drum machine programming with a sample or two, mostly from obvious sources like James Brown as well as reggae artists like Yellowman and producers Sly & Robbie. The aptly named “Dope Beat” is probably the most egregious offender, as it seems inconceivable now that someone could get away with rhyming over the main riff from “Back In Black” but it was a different time, before the lawsuits against De La Soul and Biz Markie made sampling considerably more difficult. I like the stark, minimal structures of the beats, but I can see how they’d turn some people off. There are almost no catchy hooks and 90% or more of the album is just KRS rhyming over cracking loud drums.

That’s not so bad though, as the main attraction is KRS’ skills on the mic. He didn’t just come out of the blue, having been influenced by earlier lyrical MCs like T La Rock and especially Kool Moe Dee, but he and Rakim were the guys who really took it to the next level combining internal rhyming, multi-syllabic rhyme patterns with more complex and serious topics. Even when his rhymes aren’t complicated KRS just sounds great. His cadence and flow are impeccable.

Right off the bat he’s on a mission to elevate hip hop to the level of poetry, as the title of the first song suggests – “Poetry is the language of imagination/Poetry is a form of positive creation”. There’s KRS as teacher, an element that would become more prominent in his later work following Scott La Rock’s death.

There’s also a noticeable Jamaican influence on songs like “9mm Goes Bang”, with KRS’ lilting flow evoking the chatting done by dancehall DJs. That’s not surprising, as both of his parents are from the island and he clearly inherited their taste. This is another element that would continue to be prevalent in his music.

I’d be remiss if I don’t mention KRS as the quintessential battle rapper. And make no mistake, from the very first moment he’s on a neverending mission to crush all opposition, a theme that is endlessly repeated. The PSA about sucka MCs at the beginning of “Word to Our Sponsor” is hilarious even though I’ve heard it 50 times.

The famous battle cuts are “South Bronx” and “The Bridge Is Over”. They’re from the Bridge Wars which was, in a nutshell, one of the greatest feuds in the history of hip hop, between BDP and members of The Juice Crew from Queens (a legendary group in their own right), which KRS also used to launch his career by battling and crushing the, at the time, better known MC Shan. “The Bridge Is Over”, KRS’ finishing blow, is particularly devastating and for my money the best diss song ever (other contenders would be “No Vaseline”, “Hit Em’ Up” and “Ether”).

You’ve probably heard this album by now. If you haven’t, find a way to do so, even if you don’t like hip hop at all.

No. 443: Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963

2008-04-08T09:02:00.002-04:00

Band: Same Cooke
Album: Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Sam Cooke's albums were great, but he was truly in his element in the Harlem Square Club. His interactions with the crowd are fantastic and the record remains one of the great live albums of all time.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: I'm satisfied with this placement. I imagine it should be a little higher.
Best song: "Having a Party" is the best.
Worst song: "Somebody Have Mercy" is good, but not great.
Is it awesome?: It is.

Sam Cooke's studio-recorded work is pretty amazing, but this disc shows off what kind of charismatic singer Cooke could be. He works with the Harlem Square Club audience like a patriarch addressing his extended family.

Many of the great hits are here. He starts the record with "Feel It" and brings the screaming crowd to its feet. He rocks "Bring It On Home To Me" with the fervor of a man possessed. "Twistin' the Night Away" starts with Cooke's almost preacher-esque odes to the crowd, when he then hits the song out of the park.

Of course, he ends the set with his greatest song, "Having a Party," as the crowd nearly explodes out of the club. They sing along, breathlessly, as Cooke eggs them on. King Curtis' sax works off Cooke's graveled-voice soul perfectly. While the crowd erupts, Cooke feeds off its energy.

No. 442: Boys Don't Cry

2008-04-07T10:29:00.001-04:00

Band: The Cure
Album: Boys Don't Cry
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Before the Cure became a 1980s staple and a Goth-rock institution, they were a post-punk trio. Full of angular guitars, great hooks and thwomping bass ines, the record is tons of fun.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: The production on the album isn't just thin, it's anorexic. The drums sound like they are played on a Toys R Us dum kit.
Best song: The title track is brilliant and "Killing an Arab" is great.
Worst song: "Three Imaginary Boys." Meh.
Is it awesome?: Not really.

As a freshman in college, my then-girlfriend and I would often rent movies and watch them in her dorm room. Often, they were sweet movies that were good for boyfriends and girlfriends to enjoy together. Other times, they were new releases or recommendations. One such recommendation was the film named after this film.

I remember looking up the film on the Web and seeing that it had gained an R rating for a "brutal rape scene." Not just a rape scene. A brutal rape scene.

Not a great date movie.

---

"Boys Don't Cry" is an interesting record to juxtapose against "Disintegration." "Disintegration" is a lush record while "Boys Don't Cry" is more a post-punk record. The production on "Boys Don't Cry" is so different, I had some trouble listening to it.

The grand example is "10:15 Saturday Night." The guitar on the song sounds thinner -- even though Smith dual-tracked the guitar -- than later Cure records. The drums, specifically, are problematic, as the cymbal work sounds very thin. Quite frankly, the production started to eventually distract me.

With that said, "Boys Don't Cry" is really a nice record. The title track is wonderful and the hook has been in my head for several days. The lyric is s similar theme the band would reuse, but poignant nonetheless. "Subway Song" has a great bass line and "Jumping a Train" is jumpy and punk. "Killing an Arab" -- on Clear Channel's list of banned songs after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks -- is wonderful. Based on Albert Camus' "The Stranger," the song is pretty and clever. I'm kind of a sucker for songs based on my favorite books, so I have to love that song.

"Boys Don't Cry" is a nice record and a picture of a band finding its feet. The post-punk angular guitars are something the band would mostly abandon, but make for a fun record.

No. 441: Tragic Kingdom

2008-04-07T09:00:00.002-04:00

Band: No Doubt
Album: Tragic Kingdom
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Almost emblematic of the carefree mid-1990s, "Tragic Kingdom" is slightly ironic, slightly post-modern and incredibly catchy. It was the soundtrack for many a teenager's 1997, from the breakup anthem "Don't Speak" to the relationship-on-the-rocks hooks of "Spiderwebs." Video-centric and energetic, the album introduced the world to Ms. Gwen Stefani.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: There's a certain resonance of bubblegum pop here. Like Eric Clapton's mainstream-ing of Delta blues, "Tragic Kingdom" is a sorta ska record, capitalizing on the trend while not staying true to its roots.
Best song: "Don't Speak" is really pretty.
Worst song: "World Go 'Round" stinks.
Is it awesome?: Nah.

Diamond-certified albums on the top 500 list:

Nevermind (10)

Dookie (10)

Eliminator (10)

Faith (10)

Legend (10)

Led Zeppelin (10)

Tragic Kingdom (10)

The Immaculate Collection (10)

Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (11)

Houses of the Holy (11)

CrazySexyCool (11)

Abbey Road (12)

Led Zeppelin II (12)

Hysteria (12)

Whitney Houston (13)

Purple Rain (13)

Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits (14)

Metallica (14)

Bat Out of Hell (14)

Appetite for Destruction (15)

Saturday Night Fever (15)

The Dark Side of the Moon (15)

Born in the U.S.A. (15)

Physical Graffiti (16)

Jagged Little Pill (16)

Hotel California (16)

Elton John's Greatest Hits (16)

The Beatles (19)

Rumours (19)

Back in Black (22)

(Untitled) (23)

The Wall (23)

Thriller (27)

Looking at the diamond-certified album list, it really brings into focus the issues of this list. When albums like "Tragic Kingdom" comes up, I can't help but think it's simply on the list for the fact that more than 10 million people bought it.

How much did populism factor into making up the list? I can't imagine it's the only factor, as Garth Brooks and Shania Twain aren't on the list. Hootie & the Blowfish is not on there, either. The Backstreet Boys. Creed. Mariah Carey. Boys II Men. Phil Collins. Jewel. Britney Spears. Celine Dion. Journey. Essentially, the records that the critics and list-makers consider mindless or not worthwhile don't make the list.

Certainly, the largest selling albums on the RS list are the intersection of popular and truly great. Few would argue, for example that "Thriller" is detritus.

Of course, influence is also important, though tricky. "Thriller" is partially a hugely influential album because everyone had a copy. A great deal of that was due to non-musical things (a classic video, strong label promotion, a person who had been famous all his life, etc.). What's to say that another album could've gained similar traction with the same support? The music industry -- even in today's age of viral Internet chatter, blogs and social networking -- is not a pure meritocracy.

And so goes "Tragic Kingdom." It was a right place/right time situation for the band. The third wave of feminism was making it into the mainstream commercial culture (The Spice Girls record would come out a year later) after finding traction in punk and folk rock. The music climate was such that the ska craze had taken hold in the underground and punk rock's place in the culture was important (this was, after all, a couple of years after Kurt Cobain's death).

"Just a Girl" came out and blew up. The band's lineup -- as of "Tragic Kingdom," at least -- was something out of a casting director's dream. Gwen Stefani was (is?) '50s pinup pretty and armed with a radio-friendly Pat Benatar-style voice. The bass player -- raised in England for half his life to Indian-born parents -- had formerly dated Stefani and helped write the album, despite much of it being based on their relationship. The guitar player was tall, lithe and handsome, with bleach-blond hair. The drummer, slightly dangerous with his parent-approved wackiness, was often shirtless.

The album's quasi-ska hooks ("Different People"), heartbreak ballads ("Don't Speak") and sorta-empowerment anthems ("Excuse Me Mr." and "Just a Girl") were a lethal combination for teenage girls looking for a mentor and teenage boys entering their masturbation wheelhouse. Sanitized (by way of Orange County, Ca.) and a harmless, the album was parent-approved across the land.

---

Is "Tragic Kingdom" a bad album? Of course not. The singles are tons of fun and when the band doesn't fancy itself a female-fronted Less than Jake (Please, guys, cool it with the horns), No Doubt can light up a stage. Stefani, certainly, has tons of star power.

But, is it a great album? Hardly.

No. 440: Sea Change

2008-04-04T22:43:00.004-04:00

Band: Beck
Album: Sea Change
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The face of one of the first Apple's iPod ad campaigns, “Sea Change” is one of Beck's records in which he's a folk troubadour, instead of a pop culture machine gun/b-boy. The song has a reserved brilliance, full of confident sadness and scored to lush strings and acoustic guitars.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Saying this album is good is like saying the sky is blue. It's brilliant and it should be higher.
Best song: “Lost Cause” isn't just the best Beck song. It's one of the best songs ever written. By anyone.
Worst song: Eh. I like every song on this record.
Is it awesome?: Yes.

Beck is known for records like “Odelay.” People love his ability to be a human VH1 show – regurgitating old culture while simultaneously mocking it and revering it. Beck is the man who invented “I'm so ironic, I've become sincere” culture that permeates my generation.

Despite this, his best work is decidedly romantic, hopelessly pretty and tender. One of my five favorite songs ever, “Lost Cause” isn't just pretty, it's perfect. “Baby, I'm a lost,” Beck sings. “Baby, I'm a lost cause.”

Full of multiple tracked acoustic guitars playing a soft melody, the song's easy rhythm fits the melancholy of the song's theme. The walking bass line sets a backbone like a jazz record. The synths and atmospheric keyboards fall away for the verses as Beck's soft Drake-ish vocals bring out the perfect lyrics.

Like the antihero in a 1950s movie, Beck is reassuring while exuding the exhaust of a man done with it all. “I'm tired of fighting,” he sings. “Tired of fighting for a lost cause.”

The song permeates you. Soundtracker extraordinaire Zach Braff understandably used the song for a “Scrubs” episode of heartbreak and futility. It's confident in its sadness; there's no feeling sorry for this particular lost cause. He'll land on his feet, cause more pain and continue.

--

The whole album follows the lead of “Lost Cause.” “Paper Tiger” is slightly funky as the strings swirl around a Bootsy Collins-style bassline. “Lonesome Tears” is melancholy and soft with the production of a disco track on quaaludes. “End of the Day” reminds one of a Neil Young song without the Neil Young riff (yes, that's a good thing). “Already Dead” has Beck channeling Nick Drake's guitar playing and John Lennon's vocal style. “Guess I'm Doing Fine” has the attitude of “Lost Cause” with a similarly impressive arrangement.

Beck wears many hats -- DJ, spaceman, lyrical comedian, Scientologist, etc. -- but his "singer/songwriter" hat fits him best. "Lost Cause" is his best album and an absolute classic.

No. 439: In Utero

2008-04-04T09:05:00.001-04:00

Band: Nirvana
Album: In Utero
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Recorded with Steve Albini, the final proper Nirvana album is dingy and great. "Heart Shaped Box" was the lead single, but hardly the great song, as the album also had "Rape Me," "Dumb," "Scentless Apprentice" and the classic "All Apologies." Nirvana's look towards harder rock was tailor-made for Albini's touch and he did not fail.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: It's a great album and should be higher.
Best song: "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" is great, great, great.
Worst song: "Milk It" is mediocre.
Is it awesome?: Absolutely.

The first words sung on "In Utero:"

Teenage angst has paid off well. Now, I'm bored and old.

Cobain's lyrics on "In Utero" have two main themes. Several songs deal with medical issues, apparatuses and such. "Scentless Apprentice" talks of medical issues (the song is based on a horror novel), "Milk It" and "Pennyroyal Tea" both speak of tonics. Hell, the album's artwork is full of womb-influenced.

The other theme is the media and fame. Cobain references his wife's image in the press (the "My favorite inside source" is a nod to the Vanity Fair story alleging -- via an unnamed source -- that Courtney Love was using heroin while pregnant), Frances Farmer's problems and, well, the first lines of the album. The biggest dig is "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter," two phrases mashed together to indicate the vapid, economic-based commercial radio formula.

---

The saga of Albini's entrance into Nirvan's orbit is an odd one. This is, after all, a guy who was not a fan of Nirvana. Albin has often said he'll record just about anyone who asks -- he did, after all, record Bush's "Razorblade Suitcase" -- and "In Utero" was another one of those projects. Let's have our good friend Wikipedia tell it:

Months before the band had even approached Albini about the recording, rumors had been circulating that he was slated to record the next Nirvana album. Albini eventually sent a disclaimer to the British music press refuting the allegations, only to get the call from Nirvana's management a few days later. Although Albini considered Nirvana to be "R.E.M. with a fuzzbox" and "an unremarkable version of the Seattle sound," he told Nirvana biographer Michael Azerrad he accepted because he felt sorry for the band, whom he perceived to be "the same sort of people as all the small-fry bands I deal with" at the mercy of their record company.

Albini used his usual habit of only listening to the band while recording, choosing to keep the label people at bay.

The actual tracks turned out to sound far too much like an Albini record for anyone's liking. The vocals were, of course, too low in the mix. The bass guitar sounded off. So, despite Albini's touch, the band remastered some of the songs with Scott Litt before the album was actually sent to stores.

What would the original, Albini-produ-er,engineered record sound like? Would it be harder and less accessible? Is Albini's style that bad for a hook-heavy band like Nirvana?

Who knows? I'd like to hear that record, though.

---

"In Utero" is sometimes looked at as some sort of oracle into Cobain's death. That's really stupid. Cobain was always on the precipice of suicide and/or an overdose. Nevertheless, it's a fine album, straddling the line of punk rock and catchy pop rock.

No. 338: #1 Record

2008-04-03T11:30:00.002-04:00

Band: Big Star
Album: #1 Record
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Big Star's debut record is a revelation of pop hooks and guitar riffage. It's full of songs you know or think you know, including a song made famous by a non-Big Star band (more on that in a bit).
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: I fancy "#1 Record" more than "Radio City," so this one should be higher.
Best song: The first four tracks are unstoppable. "The Ballad of El Goodo," specifically, is a classic. "Give Me Another Chance" is also great.
Worst song: "Try Again" is the worst song.
Is it awesome?: Yes.

I'm not much of a fan of "American Idol" -- my old laundromat showed the series every time I was there last year, so I followed the show then among the sound of clothes dryers -- but some of my coworkers are avid viewers. Because of this periphery, I know that this season had the contestants do two weeks of slaughtering Beatles songs and last night, they did Dolly Parton songs. These "theme weeks" are kind of cool, even though those kids entirely fuck up classic songs.

How does this related to "#1 Record?" I think Big Star would be a fucking awesome theme week. Now, Big Star isn't a big enough act to do it. I could find 10 great Big Star songs, but I'm pretty sure everyone would only know "September Gurls," "In the Street" (though not by Big Star) and maybe "Thirteen." Still, I think Alex Chilton's voice (or Chris Bell's) is ripe for imitation and some of the contestants would do very well with the songs.

---

The beginning of "#1 Record" misleads a listener a little. "Feel" is a raucous romp, for sure, but it's hardly the type of song Chilton and Bell were so adept at crafting. The song's hard edge is only echoed on "Don't Lie to Me" later on the record.

(That's not to say that both songs aren't absolutely brilliant, because they are.)

But, all is back to power pop with the perfect "The Ballad of El Goodo." The song's earnestness could only be pulled off by a band like Big Star, whose sense of irony is clear within the band's name and album title. Who else would be able, with a straight face, to sing "and at my side is God?" The song's protagonist is Rocky-esque in his determination, backed by an jangly, melancholy guitar line. It's one of the songs on the album that's been covered many times -- notably by Matthew Sweet on the "Big Star, Small World" record -- and always emerges perfectly.

"Thirteen" is similarly popular as a cover, with Elliott Smith, Garbage and Wilco being the most popular acts to do it. The song's point of view comes from an early teenager, singing the almost universal emotion of young love. As AllMusic says, it's Chilton's best performance:

The gentle guitar picking on "Thirteen" can be heard audibly quickening in tempo after the song's instrumental bridge. Whether by design or by accident, the effect is to add even more nervous tension to the third verse, wherein the narrator asks for a decision from the girl.

"Give Me Another Chance" is a close second, though. Among the great sad love songs, the hook fits among the album in terms of catchiness. It, like much of the album, has been far too overlooked within modern music-goers. In fact, the only song not overlooked by mainstream music fans is "In The Street," the theme song from "The 70s Show." Of course, the actual theme song is a cover done by Cheap Trick. I love Cheap Trick, but their version of the song is far inferior to the original. Again, it's a lyrical wonder, simple as hell, but evocative of anyone who has been in high school.

---

"#1 Record" is a fantastic album. While it falls off toward the end, the first half is on par with any pop records. Catchy and emotional, the record is amazing.

No. 437: All Things Must Pass

2008-04-02T14:35:00.001-04:00

(original cover)

(remaster cover)
Band: George Harrison
Album: All Things Must Pass
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The most successful and best of the post-Beatles work, "All Things Must Pass" is essentially the outpouring of all of George Harrison's pent up great songs. The record contains many tracks he wrote while in the Beatles, to the hooks remain, while Phil Spector's production make for an arrangement that simply surrounds and permeates the listener.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Three discs is a lot, certainly.
Best song: "What is Life?" is amazing, "If Not For You" is great. The whole album is amazing.
Worst song: I can see why people don't like the jams on the final disc of the set.
Is it awesome?: Absolutely.

As I mentioned in the piece about "Band on the Run," being in a band with greater songwriters is probably incredibly frustrating. George Harrison, of course, normally got one or two songs on each Beatles record. To that point, George Harrison told Dick Cavett -- in an appearance on the show show below -- the band would've had to release 100 Beatles albums to clear out the songs he'd written.

And so came "All Things Must Pass." Harrison had a backlog of songs he was never able to record with the Beatles. These songs, of course, came from a time that Harrison was writing top-shelf-level work. His Beatles work of that period -- "Old Brown Shoe," "Something," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Here Comes The Sun," etc. -- is on the same level of anything Lennon or McCartney produced. I would argue that "Here Comes The Sun" can stand alongside any single Beatles song, save for "A Day in the Life" and "Tomorrow Never Know." "Something" is in the same category, though, I'd suggest it's the greatest love song ever written.

"All Things Must Pass" is full of songs a small notch below that work. Produced by Phil Spector, the album is a barrage of guitars and arrangements. The musicians on the record are top-notch, with Billy Preston, Ringo Starr, Alan White and Eric Clapton all helping with the album. In fact, a 19-year-old Phil Collins played percussion on "Art of Dying."

---

The grand story from "All Things Must Pass" -- save for it being the only great post-Beatles work from an ex-Beatle -- was the copyright suit filed against Harrison over "My Sweet Lord." The publishers of "He's So Fine" claimed that Harrison had plagiarized the song, eventually ending in a judgment that said he'd plagiarized inadvertently.

"My Sweet Lord" is a sweet religious song with a pretty melody -- yes, it does sound a little like "He's So Fine" -- about God/Lord Vishnu, eventually finishing the song with the vocalists all singing chants in Hindi. Harrison and his close friend Bob Dylan collaborated to write the album opener, "I'd Have You Anytime," a gorgeous love song. "Isn't It Pity" is a two part song about the existential crises we all face. Long, somber and driving, the song is one of the great philosophical tracks on the record ("Art of Dying," "All Things Must Pass" and "Beware of Darkness"). "All Things Must Pass" was written during the "Get Back" sessions, with help from John Lennon and a demo appeared on one of the Beatles "Anthology" records.

"Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)" is kind of a mock on Christianity (and organized religion in the first place), taken from the fact that Harrison's estate was originally Sir Frankie Crisp, who had installed various anti-religious statuary throughout the estate. It's certainly a little strange for the song to be on the album with such devout Hindu tracks dotted throughout the album.

"Wah Wah" is a guitar romp that showcases the beautiful relationship between Harrison and Spector. The wall of guitar effects is amazing and shows off Harrison's guitar playing, a skill for which he still gets little credit.

"If Not For You" -- a beautifully lush and melodic Dylan cover, about one thousand times better than Dylan's version -- might be the album's highlight were it not for "What Is Life?" The horn and guitar riff-driven romp is a carnival of sound and sits among the best Harrison work. It's a sweet love song lyric backed by unparalleled energy.

The last disc of the three-record set was simply a bunch of jams. It's certainly overkill and I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't say it hurt that album. But, on some level, the third disc doesn't hurt the album. While the first two discs are full of ridiculously strong conventional songs, the final disc shows the kind of magic that can be found between ridiculously talented musicians.

So, I love that disc. I'm a hypocrite, I guess.

---

"All Things Must Pass" is the best selling and most universally praised post-Beatles album by an ex-Beatle. It is a masterpiece and, sadly, Harrison never came within a mile of the album's brilliance.

No. 436: Here Come the Warm Jets

2008-04-02T10:07:00.003-04:00

Band: Brian Eno
Album: Here Come the Warm Jets
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Brian Eno's name evokes tons of great things and this album was his first foray into solo work. With King Crimson's Robert Fripp and John Wetton, the album has a slightly progressive feel.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: The album is spotty and some of the songs are pretty mediocre.
Best song: "Needles in the Camel's Eye" is brilliant.
Worst song: "Driving Me Backwards" isn't very good.
Is it awesome?: Nope.

Bryan Ferry must be the reason I don't love Roxy Music. "Here Come the Warm Jets" is essentially a Roxy Music album, with Robert Fripp (of King Crimson) replacing Ferry. Fripp's guitar work, of course, is brilliant and Eno's production is amazing. The album's title track's guitar sound is where the title comes from, as Eno found the guitar to evoke the sound of a jet engine.

It's not to say that "Here Come the Warm Jets" is a great album. It isn't. It doesn't seem fully realized, with some tracks feeling like extended guitar solos -- Fripp does his best David Gilmour impression on "Baby's on Fire" -- and others as full-on pop songs. "Needels in the Camel's Eye," for example, is a strikingly good record. "Cindy Tells Me" is tons of fun and a glam rock staple.

Eno's voice gets tiresome, as well. Somewhere between Roger Waters and David Byrne, Eno sometimes gets his snark on too much, as he does in "The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch" and "Dead Fiks Don't Talk." "Blank Frank" is a snide, brilliant garage rock record, but Eno's voice hurts the track.

I prefer it to the Roxy Music records, that's for sure.

No. 435: To Bring You My love

2008-04-01T12:59:00.002-04:00

Band: PJ Harvey
Album: To Bring You My Love
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: PJ Harvey's greatest work is dark, wet and awesome. Song topics range from bastard children and sex to work spirituals and infanticide, as Harvey's band dials up the low end and Harvey wails.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Few albums are better. This should be in the top 100.
Best song: "Long Snake Moan" is a great modern blues record. "Meet Ze Monsta" is what the White Stripes wish they could do.
Worst song: I like this whole album.
Is it awesome?: Yes.

Rid of Me is brilliant and the follow up, "To Bring You My Love" is similarly brilliant. While "Rid of Me" has the standard Albini product- er, engineering of a straight live band, "To Bring You My Love" is more produced. That's not to say it isn't raw -- it is. But the sound is more mature and much more misanthropic.

Where "Rid of Me" is punk rock, "To Bring You My Love" is nouveau blues. The title track is slow and building with a lyric that recalls Southern U.S. religion (Harvey sings "I've cursed the devil" in a low burn). "Working for the Man" has similarly religious overtones ("God of piston, god of steel/God is here behind the wheel") over a metronomic 4/4 and a Pixies-on-quaaludes bassline. "C'Mon Billy" stands out as something of a folkier record, while Harvey's voice falls into a more desperate tone as strings frame the song.

On "Rid of Me," her raw sexuality powers the record, but the guided, lush misanthropy of the lyrics are the signature of "To Bring You My Love." Some of that still exists, as "Long Snake Moan" can attest. But, the darker side of humanity is where Harvey truly shines. "C'Mon Billy" is sung from the point of view of a woman who has birthed a child with an absent father (the title's protagonist). The album's sorta hit, "Down by the Water" is a tale of a woman dropping her daughter into the sea to drown. The song's draw, of course, is Harvey's delightfully scary whisper lyric over the last minute of the song ("Little fish, big fish, swimming in the water/Come back here, man, gimme my daughter"). Like a maniac on a killing spree, Harvey's voice is measured and scary.

---

"To Bring You My Love" is about as universally acclaimed as a non-Beatles album can be. Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, The New York Times, People, USA Today, Hot Press and the Los Angeles Times all named it the no. 1 album of 1995. Spin, New Musical Express, Melody Maker and Mojo all placed the record in their year-end 1op 10 lists. Hell, even "Down By The Water" got decent rotation on MTV. It's understandable, as the album is amazing. It sounds wet, echoing Harvey's image on the cover.

Like Tom Waits, PJ Harvey is great at constructing crazy, catchy, experimental looks at the dark side of human nature. "To Bring You My Love" is her opus.

No. 434: Outlandos d’Amour

2008-04-01T11:09:00.002-04:00

Band: The Police
Album: Outlandos d’Amour
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The Police's debut album is arguably the band's best, with high-energy songs from the first note to the final one. Despite controversy surrounding the album's two singles, the album was a huge hit and remains a classic.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Energy doesn't equal great songs, necessarily. The low spots are low and the band sounds as young as it was.
Best song: It's a tough call, as "Roxanne," "Can't Stand Losing You" and "Next to You" are all classics. Personally, I'd go with "So Lonely," the band's earliest messing of reggae and punk rock.
Worst song: "Born in the 50's" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: Absolutely.

From the department of "useless facts about Ross": I think Sting's and my falsetto are within the same range. "Roxanne" is the only song in the unstoppably great video game "Rock Band" which I can consistently get 100% on the vocals. Noel Gallagher's vocal range is similar to mine (limited as that may be), but I've never scored 100% on an Oasis song in the game.

---

In the late 1970s, the Police were one of the bands that crossed between punk/new wave and pop. They did so remarkably well, actually, as the band was just punk enough to attract the mohawked crowd and just catchy enough to attract the mainstream crowd.

"Outlandos d’Amour" has tons of hooks, for sure. Sting's nasal voice fits the music perfectly, even when he's singing about prostitutes or suicide.

In fact, those two singles -- "Roxanne" and "Can't Stand Losing You" -- earned the band some controversy in England. The lyrics of "Roxanne," of course, go straight to the point, as the words "red light" are all over the song. "Can't Stand Losing You" lays out suicide only once (the final verse: "But you'll be sorry when I'm dead/And all this guilt will be on your head/I guess you'd call it suicide/But I'm too full to swallow my pride"), but the, uh, cover of the single attracted some talk:

---

The album isn't just those two singles, though they are both wonderful. "Truth Hits Everybody" has Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland singing perfect backup old-time backup vocals over a punk rock thrash. "Next To You" is a high octane romp with Copeland showing off his considerable chops. "Peanuts" is sporadic, but fun. "Hole in My Life" has the classic reggae tinge, a signature of the band.

"So Lonely" is the highlight of the album. Slightly slow with an awesome reggae beat, the song features some of Sting's best harmonies with Copeland and Summer. It also has a simple lyric inflected with Marley-esque tone, as Sting explained in 2000:

People thrashing out three chords didn't really interest us musically. Reggae was accepted in punk circles and musically more sophisticated, and we could play it, so we veered off in that direction. I mean let's be honest here, 'So Lonely' was unabashedly culled from 'No Woman No Cry' by Bob Marley. Same chorus. What we invented was this thing of going back and forth between thrash punk and reggae. That was the little niche we created for ourselves

The album isn't perfect. "Born in the 50's" is a turd and the spoken word nonsense of "Be My Girl - Sally" is terrible.

Still, the album is the band's best. Full of piss, vinegar and energy, it was a shape of things to come.

No. 433: Another Green World

2008-04-01T09:00:00.003-04:00

Band: Brian Eno
Album: Another Green World
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Before he was an award-winning producer and after his time in Roxy Music, Brian Eno's solo work stands alone as beautiful and evocative background music. Coupled with a few pop-styled experimental pieces, "Another Green World" plays like a masterpiece.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: This is one of the records that was more influential than popular, so I'd put it a little higher than, say, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' two albums.
Best song: I know "St. Elmo's Fire" is considered his great work, but I adore "I'll Come Running."
Worst song: The album works well on the whole, so I would suggest listening to it as such.
Is it awesome?: Hell and yes.

Is Brian Eno's music indescribable? Is it simply a problem on my part?

Eno's rightly celebrated as someone who was able to synthesize beautiful electronic music at the start of the digital age of music. His work asa producer with the Talking Heads is some of the band's best work and I still contend that Roxy Music wasn't nearly the same without him.

The tracks on "Another Green World" fall between atmospheric soundtrack-score type songs ("In Dark Trees") to more conventional pop song-like tracks ("I'll Come Running"). Indeed, the former is more prevalent on the album and the album's strength is the soundtrack quality of it. The record is more evocative than anything, specifically in Robert Fripp's beautiful guitar pieces.

---

I recently saw the Moog, the documentary on the invention of the first popular electronic instruments and their inventor, Dr. Robert Moog. In the film, Moog mentions that his instruments were met with huge resistance simply because people believed that electronic instruments took the humanity out of music. Moog argues -- rightfully, I believe -- that the humanity remains in how the instruments are played. Analog synths, specifically, have as much soul in them as an acoustic guitar.

Some bands, of course, embrace the coldness of synthesized sound. Kraftwerk, certainly, made what they considered "computer music." Trans Am, a wonderful post-rock band, has added vocoder to the mix to sound even more computer-like.

Brian Eno's music, however, combines the best of lush acoustic instruments and analog electronics to create a wonderfully emotive group of songs that would preview music to come. The title track's strong melody and short form is gorgeous and forceful. The electronics "Sky Saw" falls around a rhythmic bassline while the melody hits like, well, a saw. The praise heaped on "St. Elmo's Fire" is not undeserved, as the song is warm and pretty, while the album's other great pop song, "I'll Come Running" is sweet and catchy.

---

"Another Green World" is one of the albums I'm ashamed to admit I did not know before I started this project. Of course, now I'm incredibly thankful the record is part of my collection.

No. 432: Sleepless

2008-03-31T10:41:00.000-04:00

Band: Peter Wolf
Album: Sleepless
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Despite J. Geils Band's reputation as a one-hit wonder, Peter Wolf's songwriting was long praised by critics. His solo work has been celebrated and as a rock troubadour, you can do worse.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Honestly, why is this record on here? The record came out in 2002 and it's hardly an instant classic. Is it simply because the Wonder Twins help Wolf out?
Best song: "Run Silent, Run Deep" is very good.
Worst song: "Oh Marianne"is boring.
Is it awesome?: Nope.

There are some records on this list that I don't like, but I'd be hard-pressed to argue that they're not wildly important or hugely popular. Any of the Springsteen records, for example, are records that millions of people adore and scores of popular musicians (CouGHArcadeFireCOUGH) cite as heavy influences.

Peter Wolf's "Sleepless" is not an example of this type of record. "Sleepless," rather," is an example of the Rolling Stone fallacy, that if all things are equal, Baby Boomer icons and styles trump everything else.

"Sleepless" is a record of blues and country standards and songs written by Wolf himself. As leader of the J. Geils Band, Wolf was considered a master songwriter in a band that flew under the popular radar (save for, of course, "Centerfold). I guess a good modern comparison would be Nada Surf, a band that has been a critical favorite, despite only having one hit (a gimmick one, at that). Nevertheless, Wolf has held that title for ages and this album, his sixth, brings together other Boomer gods to make Jann Wenner light-headed.

It's not to say that "Sleepless" is a terrible albums. It's not. It is, essentially, what Jackson Browne should be. It's harmless soft rock with some very good influences (again, roots country and blues). With Keith Richards helping on a few songs and Mick Jagger lending his vocals, the record gets thrown into Boomer love territory.

No. 431: Anthology

2008-03-31T09:02:00.001-04:00

Band: The Supremes
Album: Anthology
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The Supremes are the sound of many oldies stations and rightfully so. The group was a picture of hits in the 1960s and Diana Ross' lead vocals are beautiful.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: This should probably be a little higher.
Best song: “Where Did Our Love Go?” is brilliant.
Worst song: Eh. I like every song on this record.
Is it awesome?: Yes.

Rock and roll//pop music movies I've never seen and should:

Almost Famous

Help!

Dreamgirls

OK, so the list isn't terribly long, but I clearly should see “Dreamgirls,” as it is based on the Supremes and Diana Ross' ego.

I'll say this, though, the girl group sound never got better than the Supremes. The Motown never got better than the Supremes. Pop vocal performances? Few are better than the Supremes.

This album should be higher. It's all the great songs we've all heard in one place. Normally, I'd be against any and all greatest hits collections, but the Supremes were a singles group and this collection pieces the singles together beautifully.

No. 430: At Budokan

2008-03-28T11:03:00.001-04:00

Band: Cheap Trick
Album: At Budokan
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Cheap Trick's power pop soundtracked much of the late '70s/early '80s and "At Budokan" was the record that brought them into stardom. "I Want You to Want Me" and "Surrender" became giant hits and propelled the band into some level of stardom.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Eh. This is about accurate.
Best song: "Surrender" is one of my favorite songs. It's bizarre and amazing.
Worst song: I don't love "Big Eyes."
Is it awesome?: It's a classic live album, so, yes.

Nippon Budokan is a martial arts venue. It's located in Central Tokyo and it has become something of a landmark for bands to perform there. The Beatles were the first band to perform here, so when Cheap Trick came in 1978, it was something of a homage.

Cheap Trick is known mostly as a joke band, thanks to Rick Nielsen, a man who owns a guitar with five necks. He sometimes wears silly hats and bow ties. He brings out a box of guitar picks, simply so he can throw them out to the crowd during the show. He mugs like a moron.

Here's the thing, though: He also has a wonderful ear for hooks.

"At Budokan" brought the band into the forefront and is the reason most people know the band. Either "I Want You To Want Me" or "Surrender" is the band's signature song. Similarly, "On Top Of The World" also charted.

The record isn't a revelation, on any level. It's simply four dudes with classic rock instrumentation. It's great hooks and easy guitar riffs.

The only striking thing is the amount of crowd noise. I cannot imagine that it was piped in or added to the record, but it sounds overly enthusiastic. Considering the band had no hits before "At Budokan," it's crazy to think the Budokan crowd loved the record that much.

---

This next song... is the first song on our new album... it just came out this week and the song is called... "Surrender."

So ends "I Want You To Want Me" as the band starts to play "Surrender." I found the song's lyrics to be incredibly confounding, as they appear to make no sense. The chorus of "Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright/They just seem a little weird/Surrender, surrender, but don't give yourself away" is about as catchy as they come, but the verse is bizarre.

The war? Kiss records? Huh? What is he talking about? Does it matter?

Nope.

No. 429: Grievous Angel

2008-03-28T09:05:00.001-04:00

Band: Gram Parsons
Album: Grievous Angel
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Gram Parsons' final album was recorded just weeks before Parson's death. Teaming with Emmylou Harris, Parsons' voice fills the country tracks he wrote and the country standards they played.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: I like the Flying Burrito Brothers, but Parsons' solo stuff is way too country for me.
Best song: "Hearts on Fire" is a great, great track.
Worst song: I don't love "Ooh Las Vegas."
Is it awesome?: Eh.

Gram Parsons is a wonderful songwriter and Emmylou Harris has a beautiful voice. Parsons' writing is wry and clever, his band is tight and cool. Their sound is clever.

But, here's the thing: I hear this record and all that fills my mind is the episode of the Simpsons where Homer becomes an agent for a country singer. The episode features a country-western bar and a TV show called "Ya-Hoo!," a parody of "Hee-Haw."

So... I, uh, can't really speak to the efficacy of this record. I really like "Hearts on Fire" and the "Medley Live from Northern Quebec," but this enjoyment came solely from the vocals. Fiddles and slide guitar just don't do it for me.

I hear this record and I think of the townie bar where I went to college, full of toothless truckers and cheap American beer. It's down the street from the gun shop and Regina's, the grosser of the town's two strip clubs.

I, as you can see, am an extremely prejudiced man.

No. 428: Kid A

2008-03-27T11:00:00.001-04:00

Band: Radiohead
Album: Kid A
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Radiohead's change from "atmospheric British rock band" to "modern day Pink Floyd with computers" Extending the moves in "OK Computer," "Kid A" is a polarizing record that set Radiohead's track for years since its release.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: A lot of the chances the band takes do not succeeds. While there are great tracks, the bad ones are pretty awful.
Best song: "The National Anthem" and "Idioteque" are great.
Worst song: The title track stinks.
Is it awesome?: Yes.

I've expressed my affections for Radiohead on this site before. Despite Johnny Greenwood's reluctance, the band is the closest modern equivalent to Pink Floyd that we have. The band combines electronic equipment and conventional instrumentation to make music about the disconnect humans feel towards one another. The increasingly reach of technology both sustains and hurts the band, and Radiohead is happy to meet this head on. Floyd did the same thing.

But, boy, did I hate "Kid A" when it came out.

During my time as our college station's program director, anything our DJs overplayed became a hated record to me (save for Cat Power's "You Are Free," I think). Much of my disdain was drawn by the sheeplike nature of many of our DJs; They simply wanted to jump on the hot band bandwagon. There was, I imagine, also some resentment that our DJs didn't always love the same things I did -- specifically when The Sea and Cake wouldn't get as many plays as I expected. Sadly, I came late to the party on a lot of bands (Radiohead and the Strokes being the operative ones), though in other cases -- The White Stripes, Rufus Wainwright, etc. -- the bands were not as great as our DJs claimed.

I'd always liked Radiohead, but "Kid A" struck me as self-indulgent. It is self-indulgent and echoes the type of records Björk makes. They have soaring production, small pieces of piano/voice sections and robust themes. In the case of "Kid A," my complaint always fell in the disaffection for the robot voice. While I love the vocoder, Thom Yorke apparently fell in love with the effect at some point and peppered the album with it.

Again, in some cases, I come back to a band to appreciate them. It only took me about a year to fully appreciate Radiohead ("Amnesiac" and the band's live album did it for me). But, those are other albums. In the case of "Kid A," I don't think I was wrong.

Save for a few songs, the album is too slow and meandering for me to really appreciate it. It lacks coherence and the album's sound is too sparse even for me. Hooks aren't the do-all and end-all of a band like Radiohead, but tis is a band that rose out of a scene where hooks were treasured. More importantly, Radiohead is a band that has shown a serious skill at writing hooks.

Radiohead is great, but the band is often overpraised. In one of its very rare 10/10 reviews, Pitchfork used this analogy to describe the album:

The experience and emotions tied to listening to "Kid A" are like witnessing the stillborn birth of a child while simultaneously having the opportunity to see her play in the afterlife on Imax.

While I'm a fan of the site, I think this is the reason people hate Pitchfork. For one, "Kid A" is not a perfect album; The list of perfect albums is short and probably only includes "Revolver." Moreover, an analogy like that makes little to no sense. The only people who understand it are probably high on mushrooms.

There's no doubt about it, "Kid A" is polarizing. It's a wonderful record in a lot of ways. It's challenging (I love challenging) and it's slow. It's painful and it's tender. I love those things.

But in experimenting, one has to succeed in one's experiment more often than not. Many of the chances the band takes on "Kid A" -- the tempo of the title track, the production on "Treefingers," the instruments on "Motion Picture Soundtrack" -- just don't succeed.

That's not to say the album is terrible. "The National Anthem" is one of the only songs with saxophone that remains awesome and doesn't delve into Clarence Clemons territory. "Idioteque" is an experiment in electronic music that hits the bullseye both musically and lyrically (it's a political song on the coming climate apocalypse). "Morning Bell" is pretty and tender, despite having Charles Bronson-level violence in the lyrics.

---

Though I've lumped them in this group, Radiohead is a different brand of band than the superfan fandom bands. Radiohead's biggest fans are often critics and pretentious fuckheads in golf shirts as opposed to mouth-breathing, pushy morons.

Many thoughtful, intelligent music listeners don't like Radiohead. It's not because they don't get Radiohead, they just don't like them. I like the band, but no one should feel guilty for not liking them. As Carrie Brownstein says, Radiohead fans are often so to show off "evidence of their sophisticated taste in music."

That's annoying, but it's no reason to not enjoy the band. I think that was my first aversion to "Kid A." It's got highlights and it's a good record, but it's not as good as the band's previous work.

No. 427: Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica

2008-03-27T09:00:00.002-04:00

Band: The Ronettes
Album: Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Led by Phil Spector's then-wife Ronnie, the Ronettes were the "dangerous" girl group. The band's harmonies and Spector-signature wall of sound made for girl group classics like "Chapel of Love," "Baby, I Love You" and "Be My Baby."
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: I like this placement. The girl group phase of American popular music is sometimes forgotten, but is well-represented in the list.
Best song: "Be My Baby" is a classic.
Worst song: "How Does It Feel?" isn't very good.
Is it awesome?: Yes.

Phil Spector is a giant in rock and roll history, though I wonder how many people actually know much about him. I imagine most people my age who know about him are only familiar with his ridiculous hair experiments and murder trial than his place in rock and roll.

With all that said, he was clearly a bad dude. He threatened his wife Ronnie and... well, I'll just quote a large chunk of our good friend Wikipedia:

Spector's domineering attitude led to the dissolution of their marriage. Bennett was forbidden to speak to the Rolling Stones or tour with the Beatles, for fear of infidelity. Bennett claims Spector showed her a gold coffin with a glass top in his basement, promising to kill and display her should she leave him. During Spector's reclusive period in the late 1960s, he reportedly kept his wife locked inside their mansion. She claimed he also hid her shoes to dissuade her from walking outside, and kept the house dark because he didn't want anyone to see his balding head. Spector's son later claimed that he was kept locked in his room, with a pot in the corner to be used as a toilet. Ronnie Spector did leave the producer and filed for divorce in 1972. She wrote a book about her experiences, and said years later, "I can only say that when I left in the early '70s, I knew that if I didn't leave at that time, I was going to die there" [3]. She and Spector separated in 1973 and divorced one year later.

That's O.J. territory, ladies and gentlemen. That's Ike territory. Not good.

---

As my astonishment of previous American culture continues, the Ronettes were considered "bad girls" in their time of popularity. They wore beehives, short skirts and heavy eyeliner. Today, if a singer wore a beehive, a short skirt and heavy eyeliner, she's be... Hmmm... Amy Winehouse. Is she a bad girl?

OK, so, don't answer that. My bigger point is that Amy Winehouse isn't a bad girl because she wears a beehive, dark eyeliner and a short skirt. She's a bad girl because she smokes crack, doesn't want to go to rehab (no, no, no).

Bad girls in 2008 use drugs and they go out sans panties and they make sex tapes with camera phones.

---

The Ronettes came at the end of the girl group phase of American popular music. The era wasn't long; Everyone seemed to fall off into Motown and the Beatles within a couple of years. This record culls the singles from the Ronettes -- Spector-produced Wall of Sound soundscapes that still sound resonant today. Ronnie's voice is exquisite on songs like "I Wonder" and Phil Spector's "Be My Baby" is his masterpiece of masterpieces.

Sadly, this album is way out of print. However, if you can get your hands on a Ronettes greatest hits compilation, get it. It's worth it.

No. 426: The Battle of Los Angeles

2008-03-26T11:12:00.003-04:00

Band: Rage Against the Machine
Album: The Battle of Los Angeles
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: RATM's final album is full of the band's fury and Zack de la Rocha's hot fire-spitting. "Sleep Now in the Fire" and "Guerrilla Radio" are both classics in the band's canon and "New Millennium Homes" isn't bad.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: It's formulaic, certainly. The hooks aren't as hook-y as the band's earlier work and de la Rocha is pretty mediocre.
Best song: "Sleep Now in the Fire" and "Guerrilla Radio" are the best songs on the record.
Worst song: "Ashes in the Fall" stinks.
Is it awesome?: Not really.

"Wait. That album is on the Rolling Stone list? Not 'Evil Empire?' Really?"
"Yep."
"Dude. That album sucks. 'Evil Empire' is much better."

And so went a conversation I had with an actual RATM fan this weekend about this album coming up on the list.

While the band's first album was a revelation, this record -- the band's final before breaking up -- is more repetitive. While Tom Morello's expanse of effects and guitar sounds had opened up for "The Battle of Los Angeles," the general feel of the album is one of repetition.

In an odd way, the album is decidedly listenable. When most of the songs sound the same (heavy riff, guitarless bass part, scream/sing chorus, bad rapping, etc.), the formula gets to be pretty familiar. It's not a bad formula, so, the record ends up being pretty decent. Lyrically, it's focused, but that focus is not as chantable as the first record. Therefore, the record didn't sell.

Also, the video for "Guerilla Radio" is very clever. The band quotes Orwell in three tracks on the record, which I always support. But, overall, it's repetition of the same formula.

---

I wrote a really long political rant here (that I've since deleted for fear of getting fired from my real job), but the gist of it was this:

In my piece about RATM's first record, I used the phrase "socialism doesn't really work well." I stand by this, with the caveat that I don't believe in market capitalism, either. Market capitalism is wildly destructive and I am not one of those people who's all "market will fix everything." A mix of the two is the best way to go about a state's economic policy.

No. 425: ChangesOneBowie

2008-03-26T09:05:00.001-04:00

Band: David Bowie
Album: ChangesOneBowie
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: David Bowie's first real compilation was a giant hit, selling three million copies.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Well, it's a greatest hits compilation.
Best song: Well, it's a greatest hits compilation, so the whole record is great.
Worst song: Eh.
Is it awesome?: Sure.

Blah.

Greatest hits compilations aren't my favorite thing and Bowie isn't my favorite artist.

Certainly, 1976 was around the height of Bowie's art and when he released "Station to Station." It was, from an economic perspective, smart for Bowie to release the "ChangesOneBowie" to capitalize.

Look, it's a nice little collection. Every song on the compilation is good -- that's the nature of greatest hits records. I simply have a problem with the concept of putting a hits record on here. An album is a work in time and a piece of art in and of itself. A greatest hits collection is like a clip show.

No. 424: King of the Delta Blues Singers Vol. 2

2008-03-25T11:01:00.000-04:00

Band: Robert Johnson
Album: King of the Delta Blues Singers Vol. 2
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Like the first volume of this set, this record is half of Robert Johnson's recording history. Johnson is one of the fathers of rock and roll and is certainly on the Mount Rushmore of blues singers.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Well... See below.
Best song: "Sweet Home Chicago" is a wonderful, wonderful song.
Worst song: "Drunken Hearted Man" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: Sure.

Here's an interesting question: What would be the beginning of the modern musical era? Is it defined by genre? Is it defined by technology (digital v. analog, eight-track recording v. four-track recording, etc.)?

I say this because I called Buddy Holly "dated" earlier this week. I stand by this, but in listening to Robert Johnson, I wouldn't necessarily call it that.

Robert Johnson's music is so far in the past -- 20 years before Buddy Holly -- that comparing it to modern music is foolish. The best comparison I can make is to cars. A car from the 1980s and 1990s (and, maybe the 1970s) looks silly. A car from the 1950s is history.

(Of course, this isn't entirely true, even to cars. Some people find that era of American culture to be cool. This is the nature of our post-modernist culture.)

In the same way that a 1950s car is history, Robert Johnson is history. The car from the 1950s needs tons of care and it can't get to the speeds needed on the highway. It isn't usable in the same way that a new car is, but it's the precursor to the cars we use. It's interesting and fun to learn about. Robert Johnson's music isn't listenable in the same way that more modern stuff is. Modern music is recorded in multitrack. Modern music doesn't have tons of tape hiss in it. Modern music has more than the 12-bar blues.

But, still. It's history.

---

Notable on the record is "Sweet Home Chicago," a song with lyrics very different from the ones we know. Instead of "Back to the same old place," Johnson sings "Back to the land of California." Some people have suggested that Johnson was combining the places of California (great weather) and Chicago (north, no Jim Crow) to create a utopia for African-Americans at the time.

"Sweet Home Chicago" is the standard of standards in blues and listening to Johnson's version, it really opens your eyes to the tenderness of the song. As with many of Johnson's songs, despair is the order of the day.

---

It's a historical document more than a modern record. It's enjoyable and something to study, but I wouldn't walk around listening to it.

No. 423: Greatest Hits

2008-03-25T09:05:00.001-04:00

Band: The Mamas And The Papas
Album: Greatest Hits
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The Mamas And The Papas were one of the premier groups of their period. Many members of my parents' generation love the group and hold many of these songs in high regard...
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: But, I don't like them.
Best song: "California Dreamin'" is a classic, even if I don't like it.
Worst song: "You Baby" is terrible.
Is it awesome?: Blah.

I've stated my feelings on this group before. To reiterate, this stuff is as dated, if not more dated than the early rock and roll stuff. The multi-voice harmony-laden folk music was mocked in a Christopher Guest film, and for good reason. That stuff is pleasant enough, but with other groups doing it better (Simon and Garfunkel, specifically), why would you listen to this stuff? The lyricism is pretty boring and the arrangements are nothing to love.

Really, it's just a boring greatest hits compilation.

No. 422: The Best of the Girl Groups

2008-03-24T11:31:00.000-04:00

Band: Various Artists
Album: The Best of the Girl Groups, Vol. 1 & 2
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The girl groups of the early 1960s had an incredibly distinct sound and these collections cull most of the records we know as the girl group hits of the time. Many of the groups were one-hit wonders, but the whole of the collection is fantastic. Twenty-one of the 36 songs were top 10 hits, including seven no. 1 songs.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: The compilation sounds dated, but is still a grand collection.
Best song: I like "Leader of the Pack."
Worst song: "He's Got the Power" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: Yes.

I think I've mentioned that I am a total and complete sucker for female singers. I've got everything recorded by a slew of female indie artists, between Nina Nastasia, Cat Power and Tara Jane O'Neil. I love female voices.

These two records collect all the great early 1960s female group records we've all heard on our local oldies station. Little Eva's "The Loco-Motion" is on here, as is The Exciters' "Tell Him." It's got "Chapel of Love," "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," "One Fine Day" and "The Boy from New York City."

"The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)" is a classic, even before the CHer version. The song's simple yet beautiful lyrics describe the perfect man. Great arms/warm embrace, great eyes/size and charms/face. He acts great and she can squeeze him tight. What a man this fellow is.

My personal favorites are "My Boyfriend's Back" and "Leader of the Pack." The Angels tell the story -- later made into a pretty awesome/terrible 1980s zombie movie -- of a man angling towards a lady with the warning that her man is going to kick this dude's ass. The best lyric? "You're gonna be sorry you were ever born/'Cause he's kind of big and he's awful strong."

That, ladies and gentlemen, is awesome. Threatening violence.

I love "Leader of the Pack" if only for the awesomeness that is the sound effect. One of my complaints about modern music is the lack of sound effects. I love "Yellow Submarine" partially because the breakdown has a whole portion with longshoremen and nautical sounds. "Leader of the Pack" has a motorcycle revving with every chorus. How can you beat that?

---

Sadly, these collections are difficult to find, because having all these songs in one place is great.

No. 421: The "Chirping" Crickets

2008-03-24T10:42:00.000-04:00

Band: Buddy Holly and the Crickets
Album: The "Chirping" Crickets
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: One of early rock and roll's first stars, Buddy Holly's slight Texas twang and easy combination of rockabilly, pop and R&B made for some classic early records.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Early rock and roll nearly always sounds primitive. The records were made in such a way that any production involved dubbing tons of vocals. I still don't understand that.
Best song: "Not Fade Away" is great.
Worst song: "An Empty Cup (And a Broken Date)" isn't all that good.
Is it awesome?: How about "wildly dated?"

This album game out 51 years ago, so to call it dated is probably an overly obvious assertion, but I still can't really get over how slightly produced early rock and roll -- pre-Phil Spector, I guess -- sounds to modern ears.

There are so many doo-wop style harmonies and such a thin guitar sound, it's hard for me to love the songs with more emotion. "Last Night," for example, is a doo-wop vocal number and would probably sound better with a more robust arrangement, but it sounds like the type of thing I'd hear in a Looney Tunes cartoon.

Certainly, Holly's use of the Bo Diddley beat in "Not Fade Away" is great and the song is one of early rock and roll's great hits. "Oh Boy!" is similarly rocking. "That'll Be The Day" is sorta prescient, but it's mostly overrated.

And so goes Holly's catalog. Some great songs, but a whole lot of backing vocals passing as production.

No. 420: With The Beatles

2008-03-21T11:33:00.000-04:00

Band: The Beatles
Album: With the Beatles
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The second Beatles album is some of the greatest early rock and roll on record.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Having this and "Meet The Beatles!" is overkill.
Best song: The whole album is great, but "Don't Bother Me" is a favorite.
Worst song: "I Wanna Be Your Man" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: Yes.

I complained about having both "Meet The Beatles!" and "With The Beatles on the same list before. That was kind of stupid, because I missed an opportunity to talk about Beatlemania there and the actual album here.

So it goes.

Anyway, "With The Beatles" was the band's second record in Britain, so the craziness that met "Meet The Beatles!" wasn't evident with this record. The tracklist is slightly different, as "With The Beatles" is the better of the two.

A few things to keep in mind in regards to the album:

There are several covers on "With The Beatles" and all of them are, in a word, awesome. "Money," "You Really Got a Hold on Me" "and "Please Mister Postman" are John-led songs that show his range. George tears through "Roll Over Beethoven" and "Devil in Her Heart" and Paul's often-overlooked softness peppers "Til There Was You."

"With The Beatles" also features the first Geroge-penned song, the angry "Don't Bother Me." It's snide and clever, as is George's way.

The album also features the first Ringo-sung song, the Lennon/McCartney track "I Wanna Be Your Man." The song was played by the Rolling Stones, released a month before the Beatles' version, and was a hit single for the Stones.

"With The Beatles," like "Please Please Me," doesn't have the depth of "Revolver" or "Rubber Soul," but the record is the near definition of early rock and roll. It's mop tops and dancing and girls screaming and suits and excellent harmonies. It's harmonic guitar lines and 4/4 Ringo beats. It's not "A Day in the Life," but no one was doing records like that in 1963.

---

And we've come to the last Beatles record on the list. The Beatles are, in my mind, the greatest rock and roll band in history. The Rolling Stones had more of an edge, Led Zeppelin were more of a one-trick pony and the Who became self-indulgent and pompous after a few years. The Kinks were more clever, but also considerably less catchy and interesting.

I love Pink Floyd and I consider Floyd to be a more challenging and interesting band. I often cite Floyd, Mogwai and Tortoise (as you can see on this site) as my favorite three bands, but those three are my favorites with the assumption that I consider the Beatles the greatest band of all time.

I've never not been in a Beatles mood. There is, basically, no emotion that can't be amended, fixed or helped by a Beatles song. The Beatles ruined love songs for me because they wrote about 95% of the greatest love songs, including two of my favorites ("I Will" and "Something"). The band's ability to create those records at such young ages astonishes me.

As we saw with "Band on the Run," the whole was always greater than its parts. Even the best post-Beatles work by any of the four -- in my eyes, George's "All Things Must Pass" -- isn't near even mediocre Beatles songs. Even though John and Paul mostly wrote on their own post-1965, the songs got clear input from both songwriters. And each had their strengths to the process.

And the songs were unparalleled. Any Beatles record stands up to just about any band. They're the best.

No. 419: Dummy

2008-03-21T09:00:00.001-04:00

Band: Portishead
Album: Dummy
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The 1995 Mercury Prize winner is a more impressive record than the Massive Attack records also on this list. Beth Gibbons' voice is great and the samples/drumbeats are fantastic.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: It's not the best thing I've ever heard and the songs certainly run together. The songs are very similar.
Best song: "Mysterons" and "Wandering Star" are great. "Sour Times" was the hit and is a great song.
Worst song: "Roads" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: Sure.

There are a few easy ways for me to enjoy something. The first is to have a real downbeat rhytymn. The second is to have an anticipitory song build. Also, I like female singers. The final is to be literate by using literay phrases and themes.

The last point can be abused (the Decemberists annoy me), but when I heard this line: "Wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." That, ladies and gentlemen, is from the Epistle of Jude, chapter 1, verse 13. Pretty cool.

"The Bristol Sound" (or trip hop or whatever) can be incredibly effective when done well and "Dummy" is done very well. As AllMusic.com puts it, "Portishead crossed over to an American, alternative audience, connecting with the legion of angst-ridden indie fans as well."

I was (and probably still am) one of those angst-ridden indie fans. So, this record really resonates with me. "Sour Times" was the hit, but it's hardly the best song on the record. "Mysterons" is the better song and "Wandering Star" are both fantastic songs.

The record works as background music really well, though when you examine it a little more, it's excellent in the foreground.

No. 418: Band on the Run

2008-03-20T10:17:00.001-04:00

Band: Paul McCartney & Wings
Album: Band on the Run
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Paul McCartney's legacy is nearly unmatched and he didn't stop being a great songwriter once the Beatles dissolved. His first two post-Beatles works were decent, but "Band on the Run" is his best work after leaving the Fab Four.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: McCartney's legacy is, uh, not based on his work with Wings.
Best song: "Jet" has some amazing harmonies. "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five" is pretty great.
Worst song: "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)" is pretty bad.
Is it awesome?: Not really.

I used to work with a woman who claimed that her mother is a huge Wings fan, but can take or leave the Beatles. This, of course, is patently ridiculous. People get annoyed when I make fun of Paul McCartney's smiley, happy songwriting, but the truth is that I love McCartney's songwriting. He's one of the best five songwriters in the history of rock and roll; to deny the quality of his work would be foolish. The only problem is that he was in a band with John Lennon, who was better.

Lennon and McCartney's post-Beatles work each showed that the band was the sum of its parts. You'd be hard-pressed to find a Wings or solo Lennon song that comes close to even the worst Beatles songs.

So, when you look at songs like "Jet" or "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five" and compare them to, say, "For No One" or "Blackbird" or any of the other scores of great McCartney-penned songs, you'll inevitably going to be disappointed. "Band on the Run" is a wonderful song, but it isn't even in the same universe as "The Night Before," "Yesterday" or "Drive My Car."

Does that mean that "Band on the Run" is terrible? Of course not. "Jet" has some great harmonies, "Let Me Roll It" is pretty cool and the title track is wildly fun. But, does it compare to the Beatles? Not favorably.

No. 417: Boy

2008-03-19T16:48:00.001-04:00

Band: U2
Album: Boy
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Well, "I Will Follow" isn't the worst song I've ever heard.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: It's U2's first record, which means it's the beginning of the end for decent music. It's self-indulgent and annoying.
Best song: Blah.
Worst song: Blah.
Is it awesome?: Come on, now.

I'm sorry, I really have nothing to say about this honking piece of junk. It was popular with the gay community, for what that's worth. Otherwise, I hate U2 and I hate this album.

No. 416: Mule Variations

2008-03-19T11:45:00.001-04:00

Band: Tom Waits
Album: Mule Variations
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Possibly his best work, "Mule Variations" is classic Waits: Grimey, clever and bizarre. Coming off a five-year hiatus, Waits played off his folk/blues roots by using mostly odd householf items for percussion.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: As with all things Waits, it's not an easy listen.
Best song: The opener, "Big in Japan," is brilliant. "Get Behind the Mule" is amazing.
Worst song: I know people like "Filipino Box Spring Hog," but it just doesn't resonate for me, for some reason.
Is it awesome?: Yes, actually.

"Mule Variations" was released after a five-year layoff from Tom Waits and the first for him on the independent Anti Records. Waits is looked at by many independent artists as the ultimate in independents, as he clearly does whatever the hell he wants.

"Mule Variations" is Waits at the crossroads of his independence and his best artistry. His songwriting (assisted by his wife Kathleen Brennan) is in top form and his growl is similarly near its apex. The album, again, is full of strange, old instruments and carnival melodies.

The album starts out with "Big in Japan," a raucous song with the Primus backing Waits up. "Hold On" has Waits at a more tender moment. "Get Behind the Mule" is a more folky situation, one where Waits' softer vocal work can thrive.

As explained by AllMusic.com, "Get Behind the Mule" is partially a nod towards Robert Johnson.

Tom Waits explained in his press material for his 1999 album Mule Variations that "Get Behind the Mule" is a reference to something that bluesman Robert Johnson's father once said about his son: "He said, 'Trouble with Robert is he wouldn't get behind the mule in the morning and plow,' because that was the life that was there for him. To be a sharecropper," said Waits. "But he ran off to Maxxwell Street and all over Texas. He wasn't going to stick around. Get behind the mule can be whatever you want it to mean. We all have to get up in the morning and go to work."

Overall, it's a fantastic song on a great album.

No. 415: Van Halen

2008-03-19T09:00:00.001-04:00

Band: Van Halen
Album: Van Halen
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The first Van Halen record is about as good as party rock gets. David Lee Roth's ridiculousness is the perfect compliment to the steady rhythm section and, of course, the manic guitar soloing of Eddie.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Due to the list's mostly anti-metal bias, this record is kind of low.
Best song: "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" is probably the best song on the record, though "You Really Got Me" is up there, also. "Eruption" is great, as well.
Worst song: The second side isn't great, save for "Ice Cream Man" and "Janie's Cryin'."
Is it awesome?: Yes!

Here's something you probably didn't know: There are five rock bands with two albums that have achieved diamond status (10 million records sold). They are Def Leppard (I know...), The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and... Van Halen.

---

I love Van Halen's first six (aka the "Roth years") albums. Well, love may be a little strong for "Women and Children First" and "Fair Warning," but they're still very strong albums.

"1984" is the more celebrated of the two diamond-selling records with huge singles like "Hot for Teacher," "Panama" and "Jump." The videos for each song made were perfect for the time -- mid-1980s -- and made the album a huge, huge hit.

But, the band's debut is better.

"Van Halen" is a knockout record and nearly a revelation.

---

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Eddie's style influenced a type of guitar-playing that annoys just about everyone. Without Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai and Joe Satriani never move outside their respective basements. Speed and technical skill over melody is not attractive, on any level.

---

Even with the horrid Van Halen knockoffs, "Van Halen" is a wonderful combination of unabashed hard rock and party music. The band's rock and roll songcraft pits awesome melodies (and great musicianship) against David Lee Roth's ridiculous vocals.

To tell the tale of "Van Halen" is to tell the tale of "Eruption." The guitar-solo-as-song was not much of an entity and tapping wasn't really a big guitar form until "Eruption." It was a big part of the band's stage act before being recorded for the band's debut and Eddie was strange in trying to keep a hold on his new technique. Our good friend Wikipedia explains it well:

When performing live before the release of their first album, Eddie would place his back to the audience to prevent other guitarists from stealing "his" technique. His brother Alex had warned him that other guitarists would "rob him blind" if his tricks were exposed before a major album release. Afterward he was indeed widely emulated, but was comfortable displaying his techniques once credit had been firmly established on vinyl.

Strange, but pretty cool.

---

"Eruption" is awesome and rolls into the band's cover of, in my opinion, the greatest rock and roll of the early rock era, the Kinks' "You Really Got Me." Eddie's side bends and taps are as skilled as anything on the record, including "Eruption" and his use of effects after the solo evoke the sexuality inherent in the song. Of course, Diamond Dave's moaning and screaming helps being the point home: This ain't your parents' rock and roll.

"Runnin' with the Devil" has been sampled about a thousand times and rightfully so. The interplay between the Van Halens makes for a delightfully fun song and, of course, the guitar solo is amazing.

"Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" is the album's highlight in that it's the near-perfect Roth song. Diamond Dave's yells and screams about the difference between love and sex are fantastic.

---

The RS list doesn't have a lot in the way of metal. I wouldn't call the first Van Halen record a metal one, but Eddie's style has been imitated by most metal guitar players. To place it this low on the list is something of an insult to hard rock, a genre that's not just Sabbath and Zep.

No. 414: 20 All Time Greatest Hits

2008-03-18T14:14:00.000-04:00

Band: James Brown
Album: 20 All Time Greatest Hits
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: I mean, it's James Brown and it's his hits.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: The placement makes almost no sense to me. This disc is, basically, a sampler from "Star Time," the Brown boxed set. You know my thoughts on greatest hits packages, I'm even more down on this sort of thing.
Best song: "Hot Pants." Classic.
Worst song: Whatever. It's a greatest hits collection.
Is it awesome?: Come on.

Considering the fact that the boxed set this album is culled from is already on the list, I'm not going to elaborate.

No. 413: Beauty and the Beat

2008-03-18T09:05:00.001-04:00

Band: Go-Go's
Album: Beauty and the Beat
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Oddly enough, the Go-Go's are more punk than most people know. Their pop chops are not questioned and the band's debut has some excellent pop tracks on it.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: This is probably a fitting place for an album of this caliber.
Best song: The singles, "Our Lips are Sealed" and "We Got the Beat"
Worst song: "Skidmarks on My Heart" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: It's good, but it's not worth it.

It's pretty easy to mock this record as the Go-Go's are kind of joke. The drummer was a contestant on the "Surreal Life" and Belinda Carlisle posed nude in Playboy a few years back.

I did not expect guitar lines from this record. I did not expect the start/stop-ness of it. The lyrics aren't much more than a party record.

The band's got more of a punk sensibility than I anticipated. Oddly enough, this record really reminded me of Sleater-Kinney. Belinda Carlisle's voice sounds remarkably like Corin Tucker, though not Tucker's wild screams. The tone of both singers' voice is excellent and dances between power and pretty.

Is it the Minutemen record? No, of course not. But, it's still damned good.

No. 412: Mezzanine

2008-03-17T11:27:00.001-04:00

Second verse, same as the first. Here's Padraig again:

Band: Massive Attack
Album: Mezzanine
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Though not quite as innovative as their debut Mezzanine is Massive Attack’s best album and a high point for electronic music in the 90s.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: By the time it came out Portishead, Tricky and a host of 2nd-stringers had cluttered the playing field with releases heavily indebted to MA and time (or rather, the fickle music press) was beginning to pass them by.
Best song: "Teardrop" is probably the best MA track of all time.Halen classic.
Worst song: "Dissolved Girl," maybe?
Is it awesome?: Pretty much.

First things first, let’s be clear that "trip hop" is a meaningless term fabricated by the British music press to fulfill its’ longstanding fetish with inventing silly terms in order to divide music up into micro-genres that don’t really exist in the first place. It quickly devolved into a lazy catch-all for a wide variety of artists who may or may not have had anything to do with its’ original meaning. That isn’t too awful in and of itself – after all, the music press’ raison d’etre is finding new ways to make music sound exciting so people will buy it and the journalists will then get paid to write about it. What’s unfortunate is that in this case it made a handful of music innovators like Massive Attack, their Bristol compatriots and DJ Shadow look like purveyors of a cheap, gimmicky novelty, which they most certainly were not.

MA’s debut, "Blue Lines," stands alone in time – a jumble of soul and funk breakbeats and spaced club tunes, presided over by legendary roots reggae singer Horace Andy (solidifying the reggae/dub connection) and a rotating cast of divas, many of them, like Tracey Thorn of Everything But The Girl fame, renowned in their own right – all of it never rising above a languorous drift. That formula, which would be repeated to great success, was several years ahead of it’s time and I imagine at the time it sounded like nothing else. The strands are there for anyone interested to pull apart; the pulsing minimalism of acid house, dub’s negative space, the breakbeats from American hip hop, all informed by the avante-garde tendencies of Bristol post-punk O.G.s like The Pop Group (frontman Mark Stewart has collaborated with both MA and Tricky).

Parts of "Blue Lines" and "Protection," MA’s second album, sound dated today. "Mezzanine" doesn’t suffer from this nearly as much – nearly all of it still sounds reasonably fresh more than a decade on. The reggae influences are more subdued and thus better integrated with other elements. It’s an incredibly dense record (the Pitchfork review quite accurately describes it as "light-absorbing"), compressed, the beats pounding away over a sea of intricate studio touches and effects. In fact at times it threatens to collapse under its’ own weight. Fortunately by that time MA had really perfected their form and all that heaviness is mostly alleviated by their delicate touch and attention to detail.

One marked difference from their earlier work, and supposedly a great source of friction between band members, is the increased prominence of epic guitar riffs. "Teardrop", for example, sounds somewhat like an re-imagined inversion of the bombast of 80s arena rock. The vocals are, as ever, fantastic, like Horace Andy’s piercing falsetto soaring over and around "Man Next Door" (actually a remake of a reggae standard, penned by John Holt, that Andy recorded himself in the early 70s). The female vocalist is Liz Fraser from the Cocteau Twins, whose trademark indecipherable phrasing and haunting voice fit like a glove with the general sense of compression and paranoia.

It’s a shame that many people, in the US at least, probably associate Massive Attack if they even know who they are in the first place. "Mezzanine" isn’t as ground-breaking as their debut but is their most focused, resonant work. For lovers of soul, dub and hip hop alike.

No. 411: Double Nickels on the Dime

2008-03-17T09:59:00.000-04:00

Band: The Minutemen
Album: Double Nickels on the Dime
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: You'll find few records as smart as "Double Nickels on the Dime" while still being unabashedly punk rock. Between "Anxious Mo-Fo" and "Love Dance," the record spans straight rock and roll to a John Fogerty cover to some songs co-written by punk rock friends like Henry Rollins.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: As all double albums, "Double Nickels" is too long. Too much filler.
Best song: "Corona," "The Roar of the Masses Could be Farts," "Toadies," "Ain't Talking About Love" and "Untitled Song for Latin America" are all great. "Corona," for the uninitiated, is the "Jackass" theme song and "Ain't Talking About Love" is 40-second cover a Van Halen classic.
Worst song: "Shit From an Old Notebook" is basically gutter punk politics.
Is it awesome?: Yes. A classic.

Rolling Stone quotes "Our band could be your life" -- the now famous line in "History Lesson -- Part 2" -- on their page about this record on the 500 albums list. You won't hear me agreeing with the magazine much, but that line has become emblematic of the hardcore movement.

Like the grunge trend that followed, the hardcore scene was populist in its heroes. The Minutemen didn't look like rock stars and, more importantly, didn't act like rock stars. The band's mantra of "We jam econo" became a symbol of the DIY feelings among the punk rock of the time.

Oddly enough, punk rock historian Steven Blush has called the album "either the pinnacle or downfall of the pure hardcore scene" because of its sonic distance from much of the hardcore at the time. Unlike the Black Flag, Hüsker Dü and TSOL records of the time, "Double Nickels on the Dime" finds the band bringing jazz rhythms and more laid-back arrangements, at times. The band's lower-class San Pedro upbringing peppers the album, as class-based political songs make for some interesting, though muddled, messages. Songs like "Maybe Partying Will Help," "This Ain't No Picnic," "The Politics of Time" and others were ways of Mike Watt and company to speak out.

It's an epic record -- 43 songs over two discs -- and has been widely acclaimed from the second SST took it off the presses. It's the point in which hardcore punk rock finally matured out of the adolescent ramblings of the late 1970s. Sadly, the genre reverted mostly to that style, leaving the Minutemen as one of the most unique bands ever and "Double Nickels on the Dime" as the one of the best records as well.

No. 410: Pink Flag

2008-03-14T11:04:00.002-04:00

In order to cast a wider line of opinion, I've enlisted a few people to help out in writing some of the pieces on this site. That tradition continues today with noted commentor Padraig, who gives us his take on Wire's "Pink Flag." Enjoy.

Why Rolling Stone Gets It Right: Smarter than the Clash and infinitely more musically progressive than the Pistols this album very much prefigures post-punk’s re-imagining of traditional guitar rock. Along with Marquee Moon and Gang of Four’s first album pretty much the template for weird, arty dudes with guitars.
Why Rolling Stone Gets It Right: It could stand to be a lot higher – unfortunately then we’d have to bump that Moby Grape album down a few spots and we all know what an awful tragedy that would be, right?
Best Song: They’re all great, particularly "Mannequin" a fantastic, chilling anti-love song
Worst Song: I don’t know. "Commercial", maybe? It’s a joke based around the title. Even if you don’t like a song only 5 of them break the 2-minute mark so they’re over quickly.
Is It Awesome?: Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.

"Pink Flag" is the point where the British punk equation of Ramones 1-2-3-4 + rotten attitudes and dumbed-down politics (and a more than a bit of Malcolm Maclaren’s impresario sleight of hand, natch) takes a turn inward, toward uneasy spaces where self-doubt can creep in and fester. It takes the minimalism of early punk rock to an entirely new level, and as the AMG review bluntly states, "If a musical hook or lyric didn’t need to be repeated Wire immediately stopped playing". However, despite their brutally spare economy the songs still pack a devastating wallop. Nothing is wasted.

It certainly helped that, unlike most first wave punk bands, Wire could really play. They were not, at the time of their debut album at least, virtuosos, but they were legitimate musicians who get into a groove and hold it. Unlike most of their contemporaries Wire weren’t just reaching back to Chuck Berry and the garage rock bands of the early to mid 60s. Rather, they were breaking rock and roll down into its’ individual parts, paring away the excess and rearranging the remnants to suit their own needs.

Within a year or two a slew of white guitar bands would follow in their wake, putting out their own interpretations of various forms of black music through punk’s harsh, searing lens. Where Gang of Four took on funk, Public Image Ltd. did a loving piss-take of disco and everyone professed an undying love of dub reggae, Wire did rave-up robotic R&B, twitchy, spastic & bug eyed. The groove of "Strange" for example, almost sounds like a more experimental Motown b-side circa 1968 or so slowed down to the pace of molasses – oh, and with a nasally British guy singing, of course.

The lyrics are equally great and they touch on themes that had always simmered beneath a lot of popular music but would really come to the forefront in the wake of punk rock’s scorched earth campaign against everything pompous and grandiose. Alienation and paranoia are prominent themes and the never-ending Cold War gets a number of oblique references. But the best songs, ironically enough are their love songs, which like their music, take classic, timeless tropes and flip them on their heads. "12XU" only has two lines "Saw you in a mag (smoking a fag), kissing a man/I got you in a corner (cottage), got you in a corner", but they communicate more than some bands do over their entire careers.

No. 409: 461 Ocean Boulevard

2008-03-14T09:05:00.001-04:00

Band: Eric Clapton
Album: 461 Ocean Boulevard
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Despite immense label pressure, Eric Clapton's second solo album turned out well and sold even better. Including three Clapton classic reimaginings, "461 Ocean Boulevard" remains a popular record.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: It's Eric Clapton, so I'm not the world's biggest Clapton fan.
Best song: "Motherless Children" is the classic example of Clapton's strength: Blues arrangement and nimble fingerwork.
Worst song: It's not the worst song -- actually, the song holds up anywhere because it's one of the best written-songs around -- but Clapton's arrangement of "I Shot the Sheriff" isn't nearly as good as Marley's.
Is it awesome?: Not really.

Much of the recording of "461 Ocean Boulevard" was done after Clapton's Derek and the Dominoes broke up and Clapton has just gotten clean after years of heroin use.

The album isn't particularly strong. The first track, "Motherless Children" is a great arrangement of a classic delta blues song. Clapton's hard-charging guitar fits into the song as well as anything he's done.

The rest of the album is uneven. Clapton works Robert Johnson's "Steady Rollin' Man" a fine, fine song, but Clapton's take on Johnny Otis' "Willie and the Hand Jive" -- despite being a minor hit -- isn't great. Somewhere in the middle is "I Shot the Sheriff," a far inferior version of Marley's original.

No. 408: Time Out of Mind

2008-03-13T10:05:00.002-04:00

Band: Bob Dylan
Album: Time Out of Mind
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The record is the first of Dylan's recently lauded albums and it does not disappoint. The album's tone is darker and the production is better than Dylan's 1990s work.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: Dylan decided he didn't care about anything, I think, and started just stringing weird phrases together. Also, his voice remains terrible.
Best song: "Not Dark Yet" is good.
Worst song: "Highlands" is too long and not good.
Is it awesome?: Nope.

Two things come up when talking about Bob Dylan:

At some point, Bob Dylan stopped caring about being Bob Dylan and decided to be a totally incomprehensible version of Tom Waits.

At some point, critics stopped caring about what Dylan was actually doing and decided to cast all his work as great.

I'm not sure if the second point builds off the first, but the second point is more in effect now than it was when this record came out. Maybe this record made critics realize that Dylan was turning into Tom Waits.

Whatever happened, "Time Out of Mind" is a pretty decent record, though one that is wildly overpraised. Dylan himself has said he wasn't comfortable with the band and there are tons of stories of Dylan screwing with the band.

In fact, "Time Out of Mind" is an odd juxtaposition for a Dylan record. It's wonderfully produced by Daniel Lanois, with an atmospheric tone and cool stylistic choices ("Love Sick," in particular, sounds like a Waits record), but the lyrics are anything but Dylan-esque. "Dirt Road Blues" is a similar situation. The lyrics are OK, but the fast-paced 12-bar blues of the song is loose and fun.

"Not Dark Yet" is the example of such a wildly overpraised song. It's a great sounding song, but the lyrics are of no real quality relative to Dylan's work. The macabre, introspective song was heralded as a work of genius when, in reality, is was simply a pretty decent production job.

It's not, by any means, a great record. It's nice and it's a cool little look into the man, but it's hardly close to any of his earlier work.

---

Not for nothing, but "Time Out of Mind" is Bob Dylan's 30th (!) studio albums. That's just really impressive.

No. 407: Strange Days

2008-03-13T09:00:00.001-04:00

Band: The Doors
Album: Strange Days
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The Doors' second album is more eclectic and experimental than their debut. The results are fun, as the band gets funky on "Moonlight Drive" and bluesy on "Love Me Two Times." The signature darkness remains on the title track, as well.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: None of the songs are nearly as good as the band's best tracks. The experimentation makes for an uneven sound.
Best song: "Love Me Two Times" is probably the best track on the album.
Worst song: I find Jim Morrison's poetry to be putrid and "Horse Latitudes" is a spoken poem by Morrison as the band creates a cacophony in the background.
Is it awesome?: Nah.

I loved the Doors in my early teens and a lot of these songs are very familiar. My big task here is to determine the difference between familiar and good. I'm not sure I can do that well.

"Strange Day" isn't a great album, by any means. It's uneven and was something of a commercial bomb. The band experiments a little on the record as dark songs like the title track and even "People Are Strange." Both songs are nice little records, but not the pinnacle of alienation, as John Densmore later called "People Are Strange."

"When The Music's Over" is, in both time and theme, a crappier version of "The End." "Moonlight Drive" is a pleasant, pop-oriented song that sounds almost nothing like a Doors song. The blues guitar riff in "Love Me Two Times" is one of Robby Krieger's best, but nevertheless, not a great song.

Of course, Morrison's idiotic poetry also appears on the album, on "Horse Latitudes." That anyone gives a crap about the poetry is beyond me, but

It's a nice record and one of a band in transition, but it's hardly on the same level as the band's debut.

No. 406: I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got

2008-03-12T11:00:00.001-04:00

Band: Sinéad O'Connor
Album: I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Thanks to an infamous incident on SNL, Sinéad O'Connor is probably ostracized more than she should be. Her voice is certainly distinct and beautiful and the span of sounds on the record is amazing.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: About half the record hits and about half of it misses.
Best song: Outside of the obvious, "The Emperor's New Clothes" is a fine, fine song. "Black Boys on Mopeds" is a brave song.
Worst song: "The Last Day of Our Acquaintance" isn't great.
Is it awesome?: I don't really know.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: The 1990s were a very, very odd decade. To pull a Bill Simmons and quote myself, "it was perfectly acceptable in 1991 to wear a velvet top hat, a tuxedo jacket, no shirt and parachute pants" during that decade.

"I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got" has a sonic similarity to that time. The album has powerful missed-love songs, a few rockers, Celtic balladry, political messages, dance beats and an a cappella album ender.

"Feel So Different" begins the album and it's striking in the power behind O'Connor's voice. In fact, her vitriol in "I should have hatred for you/But I do not have any" and the chorus speaks to a young, vulnerable woman in pain.

"Black Boys On Mopeds" is a stark political song about a police incident. The song's indictment of the racial issues in the U.K. and the hypocrisy of the Thatcher government foreshadowed the later political stances O'Connor would have.

"I Am Stretched on Your Grave" is a dance number of sorts. While a valiant move, it doesn't totally work. Like Portishead after her, O'Connor tries to mesh the melodic and long with the short, quick dance beats of early 90s club music. Portishead does it better.

"Three Babies" has a distinctly Irish sound and O'Connor's natural accent only helps push the song along and "The Emperor's New Clothes" is a song without a chorus. A rocker, the song remains one of the greats on the record and one of O'Connor's best tracks. "I will have my own policies/I will sleep with a clear conscience" is the signature lyric of the song and one that nearly defines O'Connor.

---

One of the claims critics make of "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got" is that it was influential
In fact, AllMusic.com says "foreshadowed the rise of deeply introspective female singer/songwriters like Tori Amos and Sarah McLachlan, who were more traditionally feminine and connected with a wider audience."

I guess that's a compelling argument, though, I would give another argument for inclusion on this list:

"Nothing Compares 2 U" is a song written by Prince and perfected by O'Connor. Certainly, the song's arrangement offers a reverential tone as choirs provide backup vocals and an string synth/organ synth combination is almost celestial. Over it all, O'Connor's broken, sad voice lilts around the breakup song's lyrics. Quite simply, it's among the greatest breakup songs ever and the video is a perfect compliment to the song.

If nothing, the album should be on the list if only for that song.

No. 405: Rid of Me

2008-03-12T09:00:00.001-04:00

Band: PJ Harvey
Album: Rid of Me
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: British singer Polly Jean Harvey's second album didn't fit the grunge/riot grrl scene nor did it fit into Britpop of the era. Produced by Steve Albini, "Rid of Me" has the sound of the tightest band playing a show for only a few people, featuring Harvey's desperate vocals and piercing guitar.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: This is a record that could really stand to be higher just on quality.
Best song: It's probably cliche, but "50 Ft. Queenie" is a force of nature. "Yuri G" is great, and the title track is a classic.
Worst song: The Dylan cover is terrible. I mean, just awful.
Is it awesome?: Yes.

When signed to a major label, how would an artist send a message to said label that s/he isn't the label's puppet? Call Steve Albini.

Rid of Me was when I'd first signed to a major label and I felt that I wanted to—more than ever—demonstrate that I was not going to be the kind of usually expected major artist material [laughs]. So, I chose to work with Steve Albini, who is definitely not a particularly commercial engineer and I made a very difficult record. And I'm glad I did because I think it really did set the tone

Polly Jean Harvey's 2004 quote to Filter magazine mostly sums up the album. It's controlled fury, guided by the masterful hand of Albini's "band playing live" sound. Hired on the basis of his work with the Pixies, Albini's signatures (vocals low in the mix, deep distorted guitars, well-mic-ed rhytymn cymbals, etc.) are all over this record and it remains his best product-, er, engineering work.

---

It's probably sexist for me to sound as though I am putting this record's greatness on Albini. Albini's engineering fits the album well, but the greatness remains in Harvey's songwriting and powerful voice.

"Rid of Me" shares the aggressive third-wave feminism with much of the riot grrl music of the similar time, though the album's confident pomposity separates it from the amelodic punk rock of the Pacific Northwest.

The wave of guitar, for example, of "50 Ft. Queenie" almost overtakes a listener like few other hard rock songs. As Harvey counts up the inch count ("I'm 20 inches long" to "50 inches long" eventually), the song ramps up into a full-forced tsunami.

The album's lyrics, of course, are nearly the picture of third wave aggressive feminism. Like Liz Phair, Harvey's lyrics suggest a woman about to tear you apart. Between the lyrics of "Dry" and the explosive nature (and title) of "Rub 'Til It Bleeds," Harvey's sexual prowess and demand isn't questioned.

The title track, of course, is both timeless and a product of the musical landscape from which it came. The Pixies-esque dynamics and production certainly date it from a time, as does the forwardness of the lyrics. Still, Harvey's screaming inquisitions of "don't you wish you had never met her?" are catchy and interesting, while the snare drum snaps of the quiet segments fill the space between Harvey's perfect lyrics regarding her being on fire and her command to lick her legs.

It's a rollick and a near-perfect song. Like the whole record, it's aggressive, full of feeling and powerful.