Essential Studio Albums

[liebzz]

David Lee Roth - Skyscraper

There’s this little section of the album, Skyscraper and Damn Good, where I was starting to wonder if DLR was growing up a little. I mean, these songs are sonically complex and seem to tap into something more. Then Hot Dog and a Shake comes on and we know where we are, and it’s still fun. Add in Stand Up and Just Like Paradise and we have another fun and solid album.

The Essential Track: Just Like Paradise

Up Next: Talking Heads - Naked

[liebzz]

Talking Heads - Naked

No question in my mind Talking Heads had one helluva run - a nearly spotless set of albums over their decade plus. This one was probably my least favorite of the bunch, but even still there’s so much here that’s solid from them. Blind, Totally Nude, (Nothing But) Flowers, The Facts of Life, Mommy Daddy You and I, and Cool Water stuck out as immediate favorites, where intoxicating rhythms and interesting instrumental choices really came through nicely. This is one, I think, with repeat listens could really be rewarding.

The Essential Track: (Nothing But) Flowers

Up Next: Sugarcubes - Life’s Too Good

[liebzz]

The Sugarcubes - Life’s Too Good

Let’s put it right out front that this band sounds great. The rhythms that defined post punk and the best of the early 80s meet a band that’s part silly but also seemingly curious about the boundaries that they can take these sonic textures. It sounds cool as hell. Really, I say upfront because it’s really hard not to focus on Bjork, who we know goes on to a big solo career, but also because she’s a revelation on this album, a fresh voice in rock music here that’s both unlike anyone else but also incredibly compelling. She can make any other rock singer jealous in one moment with epic wails, can be sultry, or be insanely silly like she’s hanging out with the B-52s, and both sound completely natural in her voice. She is indeed invincible on this album.

The Essential Track: Traitor

Up Next: Jane’s Addiction - Nothing’s Shocking

[liebzz]

Jane’s Addiction - Nothing’s Shocking

I couldn’t even fashion a guess at how many times I have heard this album before. Still, I get something new out of this album every time I hear it. This time, off the heels of that RHCP doc focusing on Hillel Slovak, I hear a lot of them in Idiots Rule. But then upon further inspection, I am drawn to and realizing the funkiness of this band laying underneath the sheer massiveness and power of the foundation that’s layered under Dave Navarro’s huge solos and Perry Farrell’s vocals. On Up the Beach, Ocean Size, Summertime Rolls, and Mountain Song, this band sounds as massive as Led Zeppelin, but that funk underneath brings something entirely different. Had a Dad, Standing in the Shower…Thinking, and the aforementioned Idiots Rule bring a pace that feel breakneck comparatively, and Jane Says, a tragic ballad of a sex worker with big dreams who just can’t catch a break, became a huge classic for them. The brilliance on this album seems instinctual almost, like this band is unconsciously tapping into something new and different while maintaining those connections to their contemporaries and musical descendants. Just a brilliant album.

The Essential Track: Ted Just Admit It

Up Next: Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation

[VinylGuy]

Yeah thats one of the greatest for me… a mix between Led Zep, funk and a very obscure 80s vibe.

Avery and Perkins probably setting up the sound for the next decade too.

[liebzz]

Yeah thats one of the greatest for me… a mix between Led Zep, funk and a very obscure 80s vibe.

Avery and Perkins probably setting up the sound for the next decade too.

Yeah, I intentionally queued up a few massive albums in a row. This is the first - and the one I am most familiar with since I have been listening to this album for maybe 32 years and it never disappoints.

[VinylGuy]

They also found a way to play those songs live and not change a bit, they still sound as vital as when they were released.

[bada]

David Lee Roth - Skyscraper

There’s this little section of the album, Skyscraper and Damn Good, where I was starting to wonder if DLR was growing up a little. I mean, these songs are sonically complex and seem to tap into something more. Then Hot Dog and a Shake comes on and we know where we are, and it’s still fun. Add in Stand Up and Just Like Paradise and we have another fun and solid album.

The Essential Track: Just Like Paradise

Up Next: Talking Heads - Naked

Hina's a cool song on that one too...

[liebzz]

David Lee Roth - Skyscraper

There’s this little section of the album, Skyscraper and Damn Good, where I was starting to wonder if DLR was growing up a little. I mean, these songs are sonically complex and seem to tap into something more. Then Hot Dog and a Shake comes on and we know where we are, and it’s still fun. Add in Stand Up and Just Like Paradise and we have another fun and solid album.

The Essential Track: Just Like Paradise

Up Next: Talking Heads - Naked

Hina's a cool song on that one too...

I keep expecting the other shoe to drop on DLR and it just hasn’t yet. He really was a world class entertainer in the 70s and 80s.

[liebzz]

Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation

I have seen this band I think 4 times live, and spent countless hours listening to their music, and yet somehow, I can’t say I have ever heard this album cover to cover despite owning it forever. Weird thing to be true, but I guess that’s how things go. In the top third of this, I could have told you I was so mind blown I was highly considering this as the top of the mountain of all albums, and not that it doesn’t have its place by the end along the very best we’ve heard here, but I’ll admit to a little calming down in the second half. But Teenage Riot (one of my personal favorites with no apologies) > Silver Rocket > The Sprawl > ‘Cross the Breeze is a top 5 ever run for me right now. Simply on another level. Eric’s Trip, The Candle, Hey Joni, and The Trilogy (especially Eliminator, Jr.) are similarly major all time highlights on an album that belongs way way up my list. I had just so much excitement hearing this album that it was nearly impossible to contain. An all timer.

The Essential Track: Teenage Riot (‘Cross the Breeze came very close)

Up Next: Pixies - Surfer Rosa

[liebzz]

Pixies - Surfer Rosa

I think here is really where you are seeing that influential sound of a band that understands a poppier rock sound, but delivers it abrasively - both in its juxtaposition of guitars and drums against the cadence of the vocals, but also in Steve Albini’s production and mastering, which would soon be emulated by Nirvana and make them superstars. There are some great highlights here, though I am not convinced this album, beyond creating the formula for success over the next decade, is quite a great songwise as it is given credit. Still an excellent album and Kim Deal’s turn on Gigantic is what makes this for me. And I still enjoyed Bone Machine, Break My Body, the really phenomenal Where Is My Mind?, and Oh My Golly. It’s still relatively strong on my list, but my expectations were probably too high. I still can’t wait to see what the next albums by these guys bring.

The Essential Track: Gigantic

Up Next: Dinosaur Jr. - Bug

[VinylGuy]

oh boy those last two....

Like you, Daydream Nation wasnt my first SY album but i reach out almost immediately once i was interested on this band. I had to grab a pirate copy because it wasnt really available here, and i was just blown away.

Of course Teenage Riot is a classic.

Surfer Rosa was different it was already a favorite because it was probably my first Pixies album to actually listen.

[liebzz]

Dinosaur Jr. - Bug

Another band here that feels like they are changing the landscape of rock music in this moment, albeit under the radar. They too have a sense of pop while pushing the pace - a more than punk rock sound that taps into what’s great about punk, classic rock, and even still kind of doing their own thing - but that thing is so damn good. The closer, Keep the Glove, is perfect poppy rock music, while the band just shines in this middle section of Let It Ride and Pond Song. The opening three tracks, Freak Scene, No Bones, and They Always Come, just pulls you in right away and doesn’t let go. Really enjoying everything by this band at the moment.

The Essential Track: Let It Ride

Up Next: Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff

[liebzz]

Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff (and early singles)

From the ashes of Green River…is the debut EP from Mudhoney. This is altogether very solid as a debut, showing that frankly Mudhoney’s sound and concept, more cohesive than Green River, is also a big upgrade. Of the assorted stuff, including originals, covers, and b-sides off the singles, there’s a few things here really worth your attention, including Touch Me I’m Sick (off that non-album single), Mudride and In ‘n’ Out of Grace (from the actual EP), The Rose (Sub Pop 200), and Burn It Clean (b-side). The material noted from the EP is particularly excellent, showing a band that can not only play, but sets the stage for how good this band gets.

The Essential Track: In ‘n’ Out of Grace

Up Next: Soundgarden - Ultramega OK

[liebzz]

Soundgarden - Ultramega OK

This is Soundgarden first real proper studio album and it’s a scorcher, of course. Flower and All Your Lies start this thing fabulously, and then we get into the sludgier Beyond the Wheel, the layered Mood for Trouble, and highlights Smokestack Lightning, Head Injury, and Incessant Mace. Incessant Mace is remarkable in that it could have easily been a Black Sabbath song from the mid-70s. Actually, much of this pulls from a variety of metal elements, and they do everything completely naturally - a heavy metal superhero band that can tackle any sound well, from Sabbath to Zeppelin to just about anything else. Already in album one, they are a powerhouse.

The Essential Track: Incessant Mace

Up Next: Ministry - The Land of Rape and Honey

[VinylGuy]

fuck yeah

those two are fucking A. I still listen to them regularly and i even liked them more now than when i was a kid.

Flower is a top 10 songs for SG

[liebzz]

fuck yeah

those two are fucking A. I still listen to them regularly and i even liked them more now than when i was a kid.

Flower is a top 10 songs for SG

I was so close to putting down Flower, in large part to its opening, which is the perfect way to open an album.

[VinylGuy]

fuck yeah

those two are fucking A. I still listen to them regularly and i even liked them more now than when i was a kid.

Flower is a top 10 songs for SG

I was so close to putting down Flower, in large part to its opening, which is the perfect way to open an album.

yeah i love that intro. Super mysterious and psychedelic.

[liebzz]

Ministry - The Land of Rape and Honey

There have been a handful of these: albums that I know are very influential but still don’t end up appealing to my senses. Granted, this is not a total rejection from me - I liked Golden Dawn and You Know What You Are. In the end though, I have never been much for industrial metal - I often can’t hack NIN beyond short bursts, so it is not surprising. But certainly worth a shot.

The Essential Track: You Know What You Are

Up Next: Social Distortion - Prison Bound

[liebzz]

Social Distortion - Prison Bound

Whatever the line is where you cross from a more classic rock style punk like The Clash and a more hardcore style punk, Social Distortion seems right in some kind of sweet spot. Musically, the songs have depth and texture, the kind of stuff that’s just missing from pop punk and hardcore punk, and draws me most to classic rock, but this still has a punk swagger and moments of aggression that fit the genre like a glove. It’s this level of balance that makes this album great. The middle part of this album - the title track, No Pain No Gain, and On My Nerves was particularly good for me. Add Indulgence to that list and these are exactly what I’d want to hear from a band at the crossroads of all those particular styles and influences. Top notch album.

The Essential Track: No Pain No Gain

Up Next: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts - Up Your Alley