Essential Studio Albums

[wease]

Cinderella - Long Cold Winter

I’m not going to sit here and tell you this thing is on the level of many of the great albums we’ve covered, but I will say for a glam metal album, this is pretty damn good. Bad Seamstress Blues/ Falling Apart at the Seams, Gypsy Road, The Last Mile and Coming Home are legit. Don’t Know What You’ve Got Til It’s Gone is their hit here, and it’s not terrible - not that I would really reach for it. Long Cold Winter is a bluesy track that really works well for them. In fact, this band itself is really good, and the only thing really keeping them from taking off is the vocals for me, which are basically like taking AC/DC, twisting their balls, and dumping a gallon of whisky down their throat. Maybe not as offensive as I put it but still.

The Essential Track: Long Cold Winter

Up Next: Kix - Blow My Fuse

Ah yes. Danced many a slow-dance to DKWYGTIG.

[liebzz]

Kix - Blow My Fuse

So they have a really good guitarist, at moments reminds me of a McCready even. That’s about it though. The songs are pretty awful given the best song here’s signature line is “she’s a boomerang” - not that I need good lyrics, but this was on another level bad. I usually say good lyrics don’t make a good song for me, but really bad lyrics can ruin it. That’s part of the problem here for sure, though I am not really sure much of anything works here that brings any real form of engagement.

The Essential Track: Boomerang

Up Next: Living Colour - Vivid

[wease]

Kix - Blow My Fuse

So they have a really good guitarist, at moments reminds me of a McCready even. That’s about it though. The songs are pretty awful given the best song here’s signature line is “she’s a boomerang” - not that I need good lyrics, but this was on another level bad. I usually say good lyrics don’t make a good song for me, but really bad lyrics can ruin it. That’s part of the problem here for sure, though I am not really sure much of anything works here that brings any real form of engagement.

The Essential Track: Boomerang

Up Next: Living Colour - Vivid

I didn’t remember anything about them so I listened to a couple of the tunes from the album including Boomerang. Extremely forgetful. Other than the name of the band, I still have no recollection of them at all.

It’s getting ready to get a WHOLE lot better for you tho.

[liebzz]

Yes. That I think is somewhat deliberate.

[liebzz]

Living Colour - Vivid

In my brain, and maybe in the way we as a collective remember it, alternative rock music saved us all from the exhausting lunacy of hair metal, a kind of movement that started around this time and then obliterated hair metal once those Seattle bands put the final nail in. Truth is the music that saved us truly existed alongside hair metal for quite some time, be it R.E.M. (we’re already several albums deep), the Chili Peppers, and more to come. Living Colour is a band that feels like it’s living alongside the times, coexisting and taking the parts worth salvaging from metal and hard rock, while injecting new purpose in incorporating jazz and funk. I knew the hit songs Cult of Personality and Glamour Boys, but I didn’t know the extent to which this band took a form and completely reinvigorated it. I kind of figured it was the Vernon Reid show with a capable set of musicians. I was wrong. Listen to the bass, and the drums in particular and you’ll find they push rock music forward by finding the perfect space to incorporate that jazz and funk. Desperate People is a great place to find that inspiration, such that hard rock becomes the canvass by which all these other great things are painting. And even if you don’t want that sort of granular listening and just want to hop on for a ride of great songs, you similarly won’t be disappointed. Stellar album here.

The Essential Track: Cult of Personality

Up Next: Bad Religion - Suffer

[liebzz]

Bad Religion - Suffer

I’ll admit I was a bit disappointed with this one, and I’ll get into that - but wanted to acknowledge what’s happening here, a sort of melodic punk that feels like the template for the pop punk future in the 90s that bands like Green Day would utilize to make this the driving force of mid-90s rock. That’s a worthy thing to be at the forefront of, especially for punk rock fans. I can’t even say that this is something that somehow bothers. Nothing about that is a problem, and in fact they are doing an admirable job of all that here. The problem for me was, especially following what I just posted on, this feels rather one dimensional, like I just listened to the same song for 26 minutes straight even though I was promised 16 songs. I don’t think this issue really existed for me with the punk rock on the 70s, but here it seemed like too much of the same thing.

The Essential Track: What Can You Do?

Up Next: Robert Plant - Now and Zen

[Jorge]

Suffer does feel like one long song, but it's an awesome song. It's a pretty revolutionary album, considered by many to be "the album that changed everything" with how it brought so much melody to the language of hardcore punk. And what really struck me the first time I heard it is how folky the melodies are. A lot of them sound like amped-up versions of something that could've been sung by some medieval bard.

Also taught me many new English words. Those lyrics are wild

[VinylGuy]

yeah, im not a fan of that one from Bad Religion.

[wease]

Living Colour - Vivid

In my brain, and maybe in the way we as a collective remember it, alternative rock music saved us all from the exhausting lunacy of hair metal, a kind of movement that started around this time and then obliterated hair metal once those Seattle bands put the final nail in. Truth is the music that saved us truly existed alongside hair metal for quite some time, be it R.E.M. (we’re already several albums deep), the Chili Peppers, and more to come. Living Colour is a band that feels like it’s living alongside the times, coexisting and taking the parts worth salvaging from metal and hard rock, while injecting new purpose in incorporating jazz and funk. I knew the hit songs Cult of Personality and Glamour Boys, but I didn’t know the extent to which this band took a form and completely reinvigorated it. I kind of figured it was the Vernon Reid show with a capable set of musicians. I was wrong. Listen to the bass, and the drums in particular and you’ll find they push rock music forward by finding the perfect space to incorporate that jazz and funk. Desperate People is a great place to find that inspiration, such that hard rock becomes the canvass by which all these other great things are painting. And even if you don’t want that sort of granular listening and just want to hop on for a ride of great songs, you similarly won’t be disappointed. Stellar album here.

The Essential Track: Cult of Personality

Up Next: Bad Religion - Suffer

Open Letter (to a Landlord) has long been a favorite, as well.

I pretty much discovered them via SNL. They played both Cult and Letter on there. Blew my mind. I watched it in my room and after they played, Papa Wease yelled out to me “did you just see that?!?” Went out a bought the cassette the next week. A fucking FANTASTIC band.

I also agree that they were a precursor to a lot of the 90s music we all fell in love with.

[VinylGuy]

yeah, Vernon Reid should be more acknowledged. He belongs in the same conversation as Morello, Kim Thayil or Frusciante at least.

[wease]

Fuck yeah he does.

[liebzz]

Robert Plant - Now and Zen

It took me a while to calibrate to this album but I did eventually warm up to it, particularly in the second half. Billy’s Revenge, Ship of Fools, and White Clean & Neat were my favorites, along with the first half’s Tall Cool One with the wild callbacks. It’s sometimes hard to square pop rock Robert Plant with Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, but there comes a point here where if you don’t treat them as totally independent items, the former never gets a fair shake.

The Essential Track: White, Clean, and Neat

Up Next: Steve Earle - Copperhead Road

[liebzz]

Steve Earle - Copperhead Road

With an American country rock stomp that would make his heartland rock buddies blush, Steve Earle absolutely owns the first half of this album. The title track, Back to the Wall, and Johnny Come Lately were particularly good. It’s not that this album falls apart in the second half, as the music is nearly as assertive as the first half, but turning to love songs seems like the left turn you aren’t pumped for after the societal and political first half primes you for. And of course wtf is up with the album closing Christmas song. All in all though this is fantastic country rock music.

The Essential Track: Back to the Wall

Up Next: spring break (be back in a week! I’ll still vote and chat in MM threads though!)

[liebzz]

Neil Young - This Note’s For You

…and we’re back! Neil Young had one wild decade in the 80s, experimenting on everything from country to rockabilly, synthesizers, and here with a blues/jazz band. And of those wild turns post-Reactor, this is my favorite. It doesn’t seem like it would fit at first blush, but Neil and his guitar give this format a grounding, which then leads these big band instruments a particular flavor. Life in the City and Hey Hey command your immediate attention and are great for it, but Ten Men Working is so perfectly balanced, One Thing simmers nicely, and Sunny Inside is almost pop in its brightness. Even in his Geffen days, Neil brought highlights to the weirdness. Here, finally free of all that, Neil still follows his muse and creates a gem.

The Essential Track: Ten Men Working

Up Next: The Dickey Betts Band - Pattern Disruptive

[liebzz]

Dickey Betts Band - Pattern Disruptive

If it feels like a long while since we talked about anything Allmans, well, it’s been a while. The 80s were a lost decade for a group that lost its footing a decade before, granted on the massive losses they faced, and solo careers followed with varying degrees of success, but nothing even remotely approaching their collective power. The closest we’d get is here, Dickey Betts providing an electrifying call back to the past while also pushing southern rock just a wee bit forward. Rock Bottom and Time To Roll are the strongest songs here, and both pack the firepower you’d hope for, especially with future Allman Warren Haynes in the fold to provide that twin guitar attack. Everything on this album is quite solid, and a preview of a reformed Allman Brothers Band that would return to its former glory, at least to the best extent possible.

The Essential Track: Rock Bottom

Up Next: U2 - Rattle and Hum

[wease]

Dickey Betts Band - Pattern Disruptive

If it feels like a long while since we talked about anything Allmans, well, it’s been a while. The 80s were a lost decade for a group that lost its footing a decade before, granted on the massive losses they faced, and solo careers followed with varying degrees of success, but nothing even remotely approaching their collective power. The closest we’d get is here, Dickey Betts providing an electrifying call back to the past while also pushing southern rock just a wee bit forward. Rock Bottom and Time To Roll are the strongest songs here, and both pack the firepower you’d hope for, especially with future Allman Warren Haynes in the fold to provide that twin guitar attack. Everything on this album is quite solid, and a preview of a reformed Allman Brothers Band that would return to its former glory, at least to the best extent possible.

The Essential Track: Rock Bottom

Up Next: U2 - Rattle and Hum

Great fucking album. Drums by Matt Abts who will go on to form Gov’t Mule with Haynes. Keyboards by Johnny Neel who will move over to the reunited Allmans with Dickey and Haynes.

[liebzz]

Dickey Betts Band - Pattern Disruptive

If it feels like a long while since we talked about anything Allmans, well, it’s been a while. The 80s were a lost decade for a group that lost its footing a decade before, granted on the massive losses they faced, and solo careers followed with varying degrees of success, but nothing even remotely approaching their collective power. The closest we’d get is here, Dickey Betts providing an electrifying call back to the past while also pushing southern rock just a wee bit forward. Rock Bottom and Time To Roll are the strongest songs here, and both pack the firepower you’d hope for, especially with future Allman Warren Haynes in the fold to provide that twin guitar attack. Everything on this album is quite solid, and a preview of a reformed Allman Brothers Band that would return to its former glory, at least to the best extent possible.

The Essential Track: Rock Bottom

Up Next: U2 - Rattle and Hum

Great fucking album. Drums by Matt Abts who will go on to form Gov’t Mule with Haynes. Keyboards by Johnny Neel who will move over to the reunited Allmans with Dickey and Haynes.

Yeah, I was hoping to give off the vibes of new beginnings because this is sort of the launching point for the next 25 years and beyond with this group of players.

[wease]

Dickey Betts Band - Pattern Disruptive

If it feels like a long while since we talked about anything Allmans, well, it’s been a while. The 80s were a lost decade for a group that lost its footing a decade before, granted on the massive losses they faced, and solo careers followed with varying degrees of success, but nothing even remotely approaching their collective power. The closest we’d get is here, Dickey Betts providing an electrifying call back to the past while also pushing southern rock just a wee bit forward. Rock Bottom and Time To Roll are the strongest songs here, and both pack the firepower you’d hope for, especially with future Allman Warren Haynes in the fold to provide that twin guitar attack. Everything on this album is quite solid, and a preview of a reformed Allman Brothers Band that would return to its former glory, at least to the best extent possible.

The Essential Track: Rock Bottom

Up Next: U2 - Rattle and Hum

Great fucking album. Drums by Matt Abts who will go on to form Gov’t Mule with Haynes. Keyboards by Johnny Neel who will move over to the reunited Allmans with Dickey and Haynes.

Yeah, I was hoping to give off the vibes of new beginnings because this is sort of the launching point for the next 25 years and beyond with this group of players.

It was interesting that no one was pulled from Gregg’s at the time band especially considering two of them had been in the ABB. And he was the one with the radio “hit”.

[liebzz]

Dickey Betts Band - Pattern Disruptive

If it feels like a long while since we talked about anything Allmans, well, it’s been a while. The 80s were a lost decade for a group that lost its footing a decade before, granted on the massive losses they faced, and solo careers followed with varying degrees of success, but nothing even remotely approaching their collective power. The closest we’d get is here, Dickey Betts providing an electrifying call back to the past while also pushing southern rock just a wee bit forward. Rock Bottom and Time To Roll are the strongest songs here, and both pack the firepower you’d hope for, especially with future Allman Warren Haynes in the fold to provide that twin guitar attack. Everything on this album is quite solid, and a preview of a reformed Allman Brothers Band that would return to its former glory, at least to the best extent possible.

The Essential Track: Rock Bottom

Up Next: U2 - Rattle and Hum

Great fucking album. Drums by Matt Abts who will go on to form Gov’t Mule with Haynes. Keyboards by Johnny Neel who will move over to the reunited Allmans with Dickey and Haynes.

Yeah, I was hoping to give off the vibes of new beginnings because this is sort of the launching point for the next 25 years and beyond with this group of players.

It was interesting that no one was pulled from Gregg’s at the time band especially considering two of them had been in the ABB. And he was the one with the radio “hit”.

Blame it on Cher.

[liebzz]

U2 - Rattle and Hum

Taken in totality, this is a pretty insufferable album. Driven by ambition so large you can practically hear them scraping away at stone, trying to etch their faces on the Mount Rushmore of rock stars, this album feels like a forced experiment where combinations of covers and originals are given the live treatment interspersed with new studio tracks. This probably could have done without the live tracks and without other artists’ music on it. If they just released Desire, Hawkmoon 269, Angel of Harlem, Love Rescue Me, When Love Comes to Town, Heartland, God Part II, and All I Want Is You, they would have had an 8 song shortish album, but one that would have made the more lasting impact, and would have given the proper nod to the artists they were covering without overt expression that they belonged with that company. And those songs are largely excellent, as I was really feeling Hawkmoon 269, When Love Comes To Town, and All I Want Is You. Desire is such a great hooky pop rock song. Once it invades your brain it’s there for the long haul.

The Essential Track: Hawkmoon 269

Up Next: Guns N’ Roses - GN’R Lies