Essential Studio Albums

[liebzz]

I did a deep dive a couple of years ago in the Beastie Boys thread, and I can’t remember which was my favorite, though I think Paul’s Boutique and Ill Communication were the front runners and Hello Nasty was a sleeper.

[oasisfan35]

I did a deep dive a couple of years ago in the Beastie Boys thread, and I can’t remember which was my favorite, though I think Paul’s Boutique and Ill Communication were the front runners and Hello Nasty was a sleeper.

Hello Nasty is such a stellar album

[VinylGuy]

yeah Hello Nasty is pretty damn good

i cant get into 5 boroughs tough

[liebzz]

The Rollins Band - End of Silence

Call this the first album of two from rock stars I would not want to cross paths with in a dark alley, this one from the Rollins Band is pure aggression. Henry Rollins is pissed. Actually, the music is a pretty interesting mix of hard rock, funk and some other stuff in there, especially in the first part of the album. By virtue of his delivery though, this is 100% Henry Rollins. Low Self Opinion was pretty good, it I couldn’t find myself really enjoying anything else given that constant spit fire. To each their own I guess.

The Essential Track: Low Self Opinion

Up Next: Danzig - Danzig III: How the Gods Kill

[VinylGuy]

I remember watching the Low Self Opinion video on MTV, yeah it was intense

[liebzz]

Yeah, I just vaguely remember a really menacing looking dude pushing some serious intensity.

[liebzz]

Danzig - Danzig III: How the Gods Kill

Perhaps it’s just that Henry Rollins and Glenn Danzig are intimidating looking dudes, but I had somehow, pre-this thread, kind of lumped the two together, but in direct contrast, they don’t too much more similarity than that. Rollins is pure aggression and Danzig actually reminds me more of a Jim Morrison for the metal genre. I really enjoyed this album, perhaps due to the comparison and the more nuance this seems to have. And when they break it down a bit, like on the title track and Sistine, they show an even greater dimension to their sound. Impressed once again with them.

The Essential Track: How the Gods Kill

Up Next: The Lemonheads - It’s a Shame About Ray

[liebzz]

The Lemonheads - It’s a Shame About Ray

This is another of those important alternative rock albums that I feel like didn’t live up to the hype for me. I mean, it’s fine, but the songs seem pretty vanilla with a vocalist who seems to be stream of conscious going about whatever silly ideas pop into his mind. Rudderless and Bit Part stuck out to me as pretty good, and that is a pretty solid cover of Mrs. Robinson - but as a whole it seemed relatively vanilla, though perhaps because they took a part in inventing the sound that would just be everywhere in the middle part of the decade.

The Essential Track: Mrs. Robinson

Up Next: Lilys - In the Presence of Nothing

[liebzz]

Lilys - In the Presence of Nothing

This album sends us back into the distant vocal droning and driving rhythms of shoegaze. It might sound a bit like My Bloody Valentine, but it also sounds a bit like Velvet Underground in its search rhythms, particularly on The Way Snowflakes Fall - a long instrumental that kind of just hangs around forever. Elizabeth Colour Wheel, Collider, and Tone Bender are what caught my attention here. This is overall a certainly good enough album, though hard to shake the instinct to say “sounds like…” rather than credit them for their own deviations.

The Essential Track: Elizabeth Colour Wheel

Up Next: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Henry’s Dream

[Ello Sailor]

Danzig - Danzig III: How the Gods Kill

Perhaps it’s just that Henry Rollins and Glenn Danzig are intimidating looking dudes, but I had somehow, pre-this thread, kind of lumped the two together, but in direct contrast, they don’t too much more similarity than that. Rollins is pure aggression and Danzig actually reminds me more of a Jim Morrison for the metal genre. I really enjoyed this album, perhaps due to the comparison and the more nuance this seems to have. And when they break it down a bit, like on the title track and Sistine, they show an even greater dimension to their sound. Impressed once again with them.

The Essential Track: How the Gods Kill

Up Next: The Lemonheads - It’s a Shame About Ray

I don't care for Danzig's music but that Giger album art is sick as fuck.

[liebzz]

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Henry’s Dream

Finally I feel like I’m on a bit of a roll with this band. The last few albums really hit the mark and this one adds to that run of excellent albums. Driving almost like a stripped down punk, but there’s much more to this than that. This is dark but approachable, and the feeling is almost as if Nick Cave is quickly becoming a Lou Reed of this generation. Papa Won’t Leave You Henry, I Had a Dream Joe, Straight to You, John Finn’s Wife, and Jack the Ripper were immediate favorites but nearly all of this promises to open up on further listens. Hope this keeps going.

The Essential Track: Jack the Ripper

Up Next: Ride - Going Blank Again

[liebzz]

Ride - Going Blank Again

A lot of the shoegaze stuff has been falling somewhere in the middle for me, but this band proves again to be an exception to that. They really explode out the headphones, shoegaze by definition perhaps, but with a natural buoyancy that makes them something more engaging. And really the band carries this - one phenomenal song after the next. Cool Your Boots may be the initial favorite here, but it’s hard to choose given all the excellent material here.

The Essential Track: Cool Your Boots

Up Next: PJ Harvey - Dry

[liebzz]

About two dozen more for ‘92 but in keeping with creating an order that works listen-wise, time to get a head start on the list for ‘93. So far, we got:

Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
Nirvana - In Utero
Pearl Jam - Vs.
Sonic Youth - Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star
The Breeders - The Last Splash
Dinosaur Jr. - Where You Been
Porno For Pyros
Phish - Rift
Primus - Pork Soda
Fugazi - In On the Kill Taker
Sugar - Beaster
Revered Horton Heat - The Full Custom Gospel Sounds of the Revered Horton Heat
A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders
Cypress Hill - Black Sunday
Snoop Dogg - Doggystyle
GURU - Jazzmatazz Vol. 1
Ben Harper - Welcome to the Cruel World
Us3 - Hand on the Torch
Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne
The Lemonheads - Come On Feel the Lemonheads
The Black Crowes - Amorica
U2 - Zooropa
Brad - Shame
Coverdale-Page
The Auteurs - New Wave
Guns N’ Roses - The Spaghetti Incident!?

[Kalevi]

Wu tang
2pac
Bad Religion
Waits
yo lo tango
S crow
Janet jackson
Counting crow
Tool

[liebzz]

All added

[oasisfan35]

Afghan Whigs Gentlemen
Cranberries Everybody Else is Doing it So Why Can't We?
Daniel Lanois For the Beauty of Wynona
Dave Matthews Band Remember Two Things
John Hiatt Perfectly Good Guitar
Morphine Cure for Pain

[coptheriotact]

type o negative - bloody kisses
swervedriver - mezcal head
paw - dragline
catherine wheel - chrome
jon spencer blues explosion - extra width

[Birds in Hell]

swervedriver - mezcal head

[liebzz]

PJ Harvey - Dry

Yet another artist for me who lived more in legend than ever actually hearing, for reasons largely unknown. I wish I knew what I was missing. This album rocks. This trio gets a ton of sound out of them for a trio, and there’s one great rock track after the next here. While it certainly keeps with the alternative rock sound of the early 90s in full explosion, they really lack a comparison of real note - at least any attempt at one would feel somewhat superficial given that this feels fresh and original even now, 34 years later.

The Essential Track: Dress

Up Next: Polvo - Cor-Crane Secret

[liebzz]

Polvo - Cor-Crane Secret

This is another really nice album - somewhere between the hard rock of the moment and an alternative/indie rock of the future. The highlight of this album for me is the sprawling interlocking guitars here - sometimes delivering long instrumental passages just short of jamming without ever noodling. It’s those guitar that sometimes make the vocals seem besides the point, though the vocals do provide a sort of framing in the songs to keep things from straying too much. This just breathes potential throughout, a band I had vaguely heard of but long forgot about. Definitely more than worth the listen.

The Essential Track: Can I Ride

Up Next: Pulp - Separations