Tuesday, October 10, 2006

List: My 100 Favorite Albums: Part 1 100-80

What ? Only 100, you say ? Can that possibly cover it ? We will find out, no matter how painful it may be.
I did make myself adhere to some rules, well, one rule, I guess, I didn't include Greatest Hits packages. Don't get me wrong, I love me some "Best ofs" and some "Greatest Hits", but it just did not seem right for this list. Perhaps that will be another list altogether. Hmmm....
I DID, however, include a few "Live" albums, because it's my god-damned list, and I wanted to include some Live albums.
Oh well, I suppose I should get on with it.

100.Anthem Of The Sun- Grateful Dead:What the...A Grateful Dead album ? Who woulda thunk it ? This is a strange record, as it is a "studio album" but is actually mostly live performances edited together. It produced "The Other One" which was a concert staple until the end.

99. Eddie & The Cruisers Soundtrack- John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band: What can I say ? A great bad movie, a great soundtrack. Sure, they're Brooooce knockoffs, but it's a fun record anyway."if we can't be great, there's no point to us ever playing music again!"

98. Gold- Ryan Adams: Okay, so Ryan Adams has proven himself to be a bit of a flaky weirdo, but this is a great fucking record. It's great for "When the Stars Go Blue" alone, but then there's "La Cienega Just Smiled", "Firecracker" etc. Great album. He's a big Deadhead, too, apparently.

97. Out Of State Plates- Fountains Of Wayne: Outtakes, B-sides and cover tunes. Fun two disc set from a fun band. Love their version of Britney's "...Baby One More Time"

96. Power- Ice-T: That's right, before he played the kangaroo man in "Tank Girl", Ice-T was a rapper, and a pretty damn good one. One thing I always liked about Ice-T, besides his flow(wow, that even sounds white when I TYPE it) was that there were usually consequences for the lawlessness in the songs, plus, his rhymes just kick ass. "Fuckin' blue lights/Read 'em their rights/Drama"

95. Rabbit Fur Coat- Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins: Great,great modern country-esque record form Rilo Kiley's frontwoman. Some of the songs are almost conversational, and a great cover of the Traveling Wilbury's "Handle With Care". "Rise Up With Fists!!" is a brilliant song. I've actually listened to this record four times today.

94. Hard Promises- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Good ole, dependable TP. This is really a great record, it has "The Waiting", "A Woman In Love(It's Not Me)" and a great duet with Stevie Nicks called "Insider".

93. Exile In Guyville- Liz Phair: Oh my, what a dirty mouth. I still don't fully understand how his was a song by song answer to "Exile On Main Street", but I love this record. Not just because she talks dirty(though that is fun, too), but because it's a great listen from start to finish. The only unfortunate thing is that she built up such expectations with this debut, that her other albums(all pretty good in their own right- an unpopular opinion, I'm FULLY aware) pale in comparison. Rock on, Liz.

92. Everything's Different Now- 'Til Tuesday: This album is almost like an open wound. Aimee Man had just split from Jules Shear, and this album is the plainly stated devastating aftermath of that breakup. It's fucking fantastic.

91. Abbey Road- Beatles: You ever heard of these guys ? Great album. "Come Together", "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", etc.

90. The Best Band You've Never Heard In Your Life- Frank Zappa: Zappa= GENIUS. I have one sentence as to why you should hear this album: It contains a version of "Stairway To Heaven" with the guitar solo played by the horn section.

89. Weezer(Green Album): An album I can listen to over and over and over again. Great power pop. A lot of fun.

88. The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion-Black Crowes : Another great, underrated band. This is their second record, and has some great, great funky little tunes on it. "Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye" is one of my all time favorite songs.

87. Tao Of Steve Soundtrack: Brilliant movie, great soundtrack. Soundtrack has great songs AND dialogue from the movie.Superman by Laszlo Bane, (the Scrubs theme song) is on this soundtrack.

86. August & Everything After- Counting Crows: I know a lot of people hate this band, but I think this is a great album. "Perfect Blue Buildings" Raining In Baltimore","A Murder Of One". The only way it could be better would be if "A Long December" was on it as well.

85. The Velvet Underground:Sweet Lou,though my favorite Velvet Underground song, "After Hours" is sung by Maureen Tucker, the drummer. This album also has 'Pale Blue Eyes" and "Jesus" and "Beginning To See The Light" on it.

84. JailBreak- Thin Lizzy: Another waaaay underrated band. The best Irish band ever. This one has "The Boys Are Back In Town" and the title track. Also, a great tune called "Cowboy". Phil Lynott is a genius.

83. Aha Shake Heartbreak- Kings Of Leon:Kickfuckingass rock n roll album. Sure the lead singer is a bit obsessed with bodily fluids and his receding hairline, but this album is flat out fantastic." Kick The Bucket" is great great song. The whole album is great. I look forward to their next record.

82. Pearl- Janis Joplin:As Robert Hunter wrote of her "All I know is something like a bird within her sang". "Move Over", "Me And Bobby McGee", and of course, "Mercedes Benz". Janis was an asskicking, blues belting angel. "That's it."(laughs)

81. Electric Ladyland- Jimi Hendrix Experience: what is there to say about Jimi ? There never was anyone like him before, and there never will be anyone like him again. "Voodoo Chile", "All Along the Watchtower", "Crosstown Traffic". I probably could have put any of their three albums up here, and defended each one. This one just happens to be my favorite at the moment.

80. Layla- Derek & The Dominoes: Clapton ? Allman ? Are you fucking kidding me ? Besides the title track(which is fantastic) there's "Keep On Growing" and "Bell Bottom Blues", "Anyday" and of course, their majestic cover of Hendrix's "Little Wing"

Okay, there's the first 20. Fear not, there are 80 more on the way. Ain'tcha all excited ?!?!?!? How many more Dead albums will there be ? 30 ? 40 ? There's only one way to find out. Come on back for more !!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Oh, it's too bad you aren't still in Chicago, Brigid and I went to see Jenny Lewis last week at the Vic and it was such a great show. Wish you could have joined us.