The TAC Top 50! v. Old guys talking about music!

[TAC]

Love that album 

Me too!! 

[Big Hath]

yes, awesome album.  And only the second mention in a list.

[Nekov]

[jingle.boy]

Boy I really need to pay me some attention to Dio.  Again, another one of those acts that was just a few years out of my wheelhouse.

[jjrock88]

If somebody wanted an example of what heavy metal was all about, I would hand them Rising, Heaven & Hell, Mob Rules, Holy Diver and Last in Line.  This is the definition of metal and Dio is the voice of metal.

[Mladen]

That's my favorite Dio solo album as well. Good job for picking Shame on the night as one of your favorites, I've always thought it was a bit underrated.

[crazyaga]

I just heard the first 6 songs of Holy Diver.
I thought it was emotionless and pretty generic.
fully respect the fact you love it though! I just have odd taste in music lol >.<

[Mladen]

How would you feel if I told you that you missed out on the three best songs? 

[TAC]

Dio
June 18, 1986
Providence Civic Center

[TAC]

If somebody wanted an example of what heavy metal was all about, I would hand them Rising, Heaven & Hell, Mob Rules, Holy Diver and Last in Line.  This is the definition of metal and Dio is the voice of metal.

Rising is great but you are right about the run from H&H to LiL. Incredible.

Boy I really need to pay me some attention to Dio.  Again, another one of those acts that was just a few years out of my wheelhouse.

I am not sure how much Dio you need, but Holy Diver and Last In line (his first two albums) are really all you need.

. Good job for picking Shame on the night as one of your favorites, I've always thought it was a bit underrated.

It is an incredible song. Fantastic.

[wkiml]

The man was and forever will be the "Voice of Heavy Metal"

[TAC]

So, to recap 11-50:

50. Judas Priest-Screaming For Vengeance
49. Blackfoot-Siogo
48. Heavy Pettin' - Lettin, Loose
47. Heavenly- Dust To Dust
46. Led Zeppelin- Physical Graffiti
45. Y&T- Mean Streak
44. Anthrax- Stomp 442
43. Aerosmith- Night In The Ruts
42. Tesla- Mechanical Resonance
41. Hammerfall- Legacy Of Kings
40. The Sweet- Desolation Boulevard
39. Armored Saint- Symbol Of Salvation
38. Flotsam & Jetsam- No Place For Disgrace AND When The Storm Comes Down
37. Dream Theater- When Day And Dream REunite
36. Kiss- Hotter Than Hell
35. Megadeth- So Far So Good So What
34. Gary Moore- Corridors Of Power
33. Queensryche- Warning AND Operation Mindcrime
32. Saxon- Power And The Glory
31. Lucifer's Friend- Mean Machine
30. Dream Theater- A Dramatic Turn Of Events
29. Rush- Hemispheres
28. Metallica- And Justice For All
27. Def Leppard- High n Dry
26. Iron Maiden- Piece Of Mind
25. Ozzy Osbourne- Blizzard Of Ozz AND Diary Of A Madman
24. Waysted- The Good The Bad The Waysted AND the Waysted EP
23. AC/DC- Let There Be Rock
22. Thin Lizzy- Bad Reputation
21. UFO- Walk On Water
20. Rainbow- On Stage
19. Accept- Metal Heart
18. Riot- Narita & Fire Down Under
17. Alice Cooper- Welcome To My Nightmare AND Go To Hell
16. Iron Maiden- A Matter Of Life And Death AND The Final Frontier
15.  Iron Maiden- Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
14. Rush- Moving Pictures
13. Black Sabbath- Heaven And Hell
12. UFO- The Wild The Willing And The Innocent
11. Dio- Holy Diver

Top 10 coming within the hour!

[Lowdz]

From Rising to Dream Evil is one awesome run of albums that probably no-one has beaten. I know some don't care for Sacred Heart and Dream evil but they are as good as Holy Diver for me.

Played the hell out of Holy Diver when it came out. DTTS is DIO's best solo song.

[TAC]

From Rising to Dream Evil is one awesome run of albums that probably no-one has beaten. I know some don't care for Sacred Heart and Dream evil but they are as good as Holy Diver for me.

Played the hell out of Holy Diver when it came out. DTTS is DIO's best solo song.

I agree with you on Don't Talk.

I love Dream Evil too! Sacred Heart was an obvious step back. It was clear when it was released. I will say though that it has aged very well. There a few great tunes on there.

[wolfking]

I really liked Holy Diver, but the Dio album for me is Sacred Heart, just really loved that one for some reason.

[Rattlehead]

Nice list so far... I'd be very surprised to see if Rust In Peace and Master of Puppets weren't in your top 10 based off of 11-50. 

[TAC]

@ wkiml

I was thinking of the Paul Chapman conversation..
On my list a few albums ago, I listed Waysted's 1985 album The Good The Bad The Waysted. Have you ever heard that? The band is Chapman, Way, and Jerry Shirley on drums, along with Fin on vocals. The production gives Chapman a real dirty sound. But his solos and fills are fantastic. Very well written and melodic.

Manuel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32_fnAe2Wms

Land That's Lost The Love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJFcgPzJenI

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

[jingle.boy]

Back in Black?  Please don't allow Let There Be Rock to be your favorite AC/DC album.
Paranoid?  That's the grand-daddy of all metal albums.
There's got to be another Priest album!?
Almost surprised there's no Savatage.
Going out on a limb, maybe Whitesnake or QR from the mid-80s.
From 1981?  Allied Forces?  Killers?  Fair Warning?  Too Fast For Love?

[TAC]

Hey, that is uncalled for!
Post reported!!

Anyway... here we go into the Top 10.

10. Alice Cooper- Killer (1971) AND Schools Out (1972)





I debated whether I wanted to pair Killer up with School's Out or let it stand on its own. I will present both, because other than the title track, School's Out is one the most underappreciated albums as a whole of all time. But this pick is all about Killer, an incredible journey. Probably if you have Alice Cooper's greatest hits, you are probably familiar with Under My Wheels and Desperado. But this album is so much deeper. Halo Of Flies, in my opinion, is the first PROGRESSIVE METAL song on record. If you have never heard Halo Of Flies, you MUST listen to it now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWUskypc1EY
And then of course there is Dead Babies. But it is not what you think. It is an ANTI abuse and neglect song, long before it became fashionable. The album concludes with the title track, which really has to be heard to be believed. A story of an execution ending in the sound of death. Yikes!! But don't be scared. It a musical journey not soon forgotten.
And School's Out is another incredible album detailing Alice's view on high school years. Kind of like a hard rock musical, if you will.
Not counting the first two albums that are simply noise, these are albums #2 and #3 of the 5 albums the original Alice Cooper band made. Alice Cooper was known as a BAND back then. To me they are the most underrated and underappreciated American rock band of the 70's. I know Alice has his whole persona that he portrays, but these original Alice Cooper albums have song writing light years ahead of its time.

This is one time where if you are not familiar with, please do yourself a favor and check out my fave tracks. If all you know are School's Out and 18 and No more Mr. Nice Guy, those do not even scratch the surface of what this band does.

Killer fave tracks: Halo Of Flies, Dead Babies, Killer, Desperado
School's Out fave tracks: Blue Turk, Alma Mater, Luney Tune, My Stars

[TAC]

Back in Black?  Please don't allow Let There Be Rock to be your favorite AC/DC album.
Paranoid?  That's the grand-daddy of all metal albums.
There's got to be another Priest album!?
Almost surprised there's no Savatage.
Going out on a limb, maybe Whitesnake or QR from the mid-80s.
From 1981?  Allied Forces?  Killers?  Fair Warning?  Too Fast For Love?

Sorry J-Boy..negative on all accounts.

Let There Be Rock IS my favorite AC/DC album. Back In Black is fantastic. Should make the v2 thread.
I would take Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Sabotage over Paranoid...easily.
No more Priest. I think I talked about that at Pick #50.
I am NOT a Savatage fan. I have no idea what the hubbub is about. Next to Faster Pussycat, Savatage was the worst live act I ever saw. I know the TSO stuff is pretty good, but Savatage was just not good enough to pull off the lofty ideas that they had.
Already had QR on the list. Whitsnake..nope.
Fair Warning was already listed as an HM.
Hey..Too Fast For Love is awesome!

[Lowdz]

Back in Black?  Please don't allow Let There Be Rock to be your favorite AC/DC album.
Paranoid?  That's the grand-daddy of all metal albums.
There's got to be another Priest album!?
Almost surprised there's no Savatage.
Going out on a limb, maybe Whitesnake or QR from the mid-80s.
From 1981?  Allied Forces?  Killers?  Fair Warning?  Too Fast For Love?

Sorry J-Boy..negative on all accounts.

Let There Be Rock IS my favorite AC/DC album. Back In Black is fantastic. Should make the v2 thread.
I would take Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Sabotage over Paranoid...easily.
No more Priest. I think I talked about that at Pick #50.
I am NOT a Savatage fan. I have no idea what the hubbub is about. Next to Faster Pussycat, Savatage was the worst live act I ever saw. I know the TSO stuff is pretty good, but Savatage was just not good enough to pull off the lofty ideas that they had.
Already had QR on the list. Whitsnake..nope.
Fair Warning was already listed as an HM.
Hey..Too Fast For Love is awesome!

Ooh. I can't totally agree with that. The band were great players. What I always felt was that Jon Oliva wasn't a good enough singer to pull off the songs they were writing on Gutter Ballet- the first Sava-album I heard. He sounded better on Streets though. Vocals got better with Zak but Chris was gone by then and the music suffered a bit.

[wolfking]

I'm not gonna coment on these Savatage comments, because it probably won't end well. 

[TAC]

I'm not gonna coment on these Savatage comments, because it probably won't end well. 

That's OK Wolf, I know you're a big fan as are a lot of others around here.
Things like Streets and Gutter Ballet I think are great ideas and both very creative. But from idea to final execution, there just seems to be a let down. I always felt that the musicianship was just adequate for an average heavy metal band of the 80's even though their vision is truly commendable.

[wkiml]

@ wkiml

I was thinking of the Paul Chapman conversation..
On my list a few albums ago, I listed Waysted's 1985 album The Good The Bad The Waysted. Have you ever heard that? The band is Chapman, Way, and Jerry Shirley on drums, along with Fin on vocals. The production gives Chapman a real dirty sound. But his solos and fills are fantastic. Very well written and melodic.

Manuel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32_fnAe2Wms

Land That's Lost The Love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJFcgPzJenI

Actually have the album buried away somewhere ....not a go to album for me, but as you know my tastes leaned more to the thrash/crossover albums of that era

[LudwigVan]

Believe me, I tried getting TAC into the Savatage.  No dice.

I bought Holy Diver and Last In Line on vinyl when they were 1st released, both are great albums.   I've always been fascinated by the confluence of events that shaped Dio's career arc, and how it spanned from playing with Blackmore to Iommi to Campbell.   

I recently went back to the well and re-listened to HD and LIL, which inspired me to pick up Sacred Heart, Dream Evil and Lock Up the Wolves (which I never bought or listened to).   Sacred Heart is decent enough, but I really like Dream Evil.  There's a generic 80s metal sound to it that came across as cheesy at first listen, but there's a certain endearing charm to it that I've grown to love.   And LUTW has an interesting sound and groove, probably due to the complete overhaul to the players in band.

[Zydar]

Invisible Touch will be #1

[TAC]

Yeah, you never back to me on LUTW! Dio sounds great on it.

Invisible Touch will be #1

I couldn't decide between that and abawtfcab!

[Lowdz]

Re-listened to LUTW recently after discussion here and nothing had changed for me in the last 20 odd years. Poor album.

And I like Savatage. 

[TAC]

Re-listened to LUTW recently after discussion here and nothing had changed for me in the last 20 odd years. Poor album.

And I like Savatage. 

It's all good!!!

[TAC]

Jeesh..not much Alice Cooper love, huh?
Seriously..try it!

Anyway, I guess it's on to #9!

9. Thin Lizzy- Renegade (1981)




This is easily my favorite Thin Lizzy album. This would be the second album they made with Snowy White on guitar. Somehow, I really just connect to this musically. The final track, It's Getting Dangerous, is one of my favorite songs of all time. Lyrically, Phil Lynott takes you in and out of different characters to make some real interesting tunes like Mexican Blood and Fats. But the strength of this album really lies in the title track, the very heavy Angel Of Death, and the single from the album Hollywood (Down On Your Luck). This is an album that simply takes me away, where I can truly forget about the outside world. This album would ultimately lead into Thunder And Lightning, which will absolutely make the v2 list, and probably will top it.

Fave tracks: It's Getting Dangerous, Renegade, Hollywood, No One Told Him

[wkiml]

Love me some Lizzy but I'm all over the place with them....every album seemed to have some great songs , but than lots of other songs that didn't click with me

Angel of Death.....top 5 Lizzy song for me

Shit had too make a top 6 songs

Thunder and Lightning
Holy War
Angel of Death
Cold Sweat
Chinatown
Still in Love With You

[TAC]

Shit had too make a top 6 songs

Thunder and Lightning
Holy War
Angel of Death
Cold Sweat
Chinatown
Still in Love With You

Off the top of my head I'd go with:
It's Getting Dangerous
The Cowboy Song
Dancing In The Moonlight
Chinatown
Thunder And Lightning
No One Told Him
Emerald
Heart Attack
The Boys Are Back In Town
Massacre

[TAC]

Love me some Lizzy but I'm all over the place with them....every album seemed to have some great songs , but than lots of other songs that didn't click with me

Yeah, they're similar to UFO in that respect. I love both bands, UFO being a Top 3 band for me, but I certainly recognize there were some inconsistencies. But I always find that when I go back to those songs, I can still find a certain charm that both Mogg and Lynott were capable of portraying.

[jingle.boy]

Jeesh..not much Alice Cooper love, huh?
Seriously..try it!

I did.  clicked right to the link you provided.  Alice still doesn't do much for me.  I don't mind the radio hits for AC, but for the most part, he doesn't really float my boat.