Big Hath's Top 50 Albums v. #1: -.---.----..

[Big Hath]

YES! Amazing pick. Mars and Jupiter especially are two of the greatest and most influential pieces of music ever. The raw crushing power of Mars is almost like metal in orchestral form, and Jupiter is exceptionally beautiful.

definitely.  Mars is HEAVY.

I actually had the opportunity to play Jupiter (among several other great pieces) as part of my church's orchestra a couple years back.  Awesome experience.  We were going to try Mars as well, but couldn't fit it in the rehearsal schedule enough to do it justice.

[Dr. DTVT]

Fucking auto-correct...I do know how to use your and you're correctly.

It's gotten to the point where I can't post in the "What full-length album did you just listen to" thread anymore, as I'm verifying the candidates for my list.

Go ahead, I stay out of spam threads like that one.  I like my posts to be meaningful    You won't spoil your list for me. 

[jingle.boy]

Fucking auto-correct...I do know how to use your and you're correctly.

It's gotten to the point where I can't post in the "What full-length album did you just listen to" thread anymore, as I'm verifying the candidates for my list.

Go ahead, I stay out of spam threads like that one.  I like my posts to be meaningful    You won't spoil your list for me.

How awfully egotistical of you to think her comment was for you!   

[Big Hath]

I do know how to use your and you're correctly.

ha, I didn't even catch that earlier.  Usually it sticks out to me like a sore thumb.  It's to the point now where I feel like giving out prizes to people who use them correctly.

[Big Hath]

#37 - Extreme - Pornograffitti (1990)



This is possibly the most fun album I've ever heard.  It is also one of the most diverse albums out there.  It is obviously well known for the two major hits "Hole Hearted" and "More Than Words", and while those are good songs in their own right, they were totally unrepresentative of the rest of the album which runs the gamut from pop-folk, acoustic ballad, and vocal crooning to funk-metal, power ballad, and all-out guitar shredding.  Extreme, like Winger, was unfortunately lumped in with hair metal back in the early-90's, but, also like Winger, they were clearly skilled musicians that had musical ambitions that were much more than the run of the mill hair metal band, or even their own top 40 hits.
 
This album is also one of my favorite guitar performances of all-time.  Nuno Bettencourt is at the top of his game on this album with inventive riffing and insane fills he throws in all over the place.  Stop reading now and go listen to the first track "Decadence Dance", he throws just about everything into that song including the kitchen sink.  But it's not all flash and shred, he makes it work and it sounds great.  His playing displays a looseness and originality that fits perfectly with Cherone’s tongue-in-cheek lyrics and delivery which goes right along with the funness (if that's even a word) of the album.  Every track on this album has something great to offer so I'm not going to bother naming them all - just go check it out!

I often wonder what it was like at the time for someone to buy this record based on the two hits expecting more of the same or maybe some other tame hard rock, I always wanted to see their faces as they were slammed in the face with the pyrotechnic guitars and sleaziness of songs such as “Suzi”, “Li’l Jack Horny”, “It’s a Monster”.

[DebraKadabra]

Fucking auto-correct...I do know how to use your and you're correctly.

It's gotten to the point where I can't post in the "What full-length album did you just listen to" thread anymore, as I'm verifying the candidates for my list.

Go ahead, I stay out of spam threads like that one.  I like my posts to be meaningful    You won't spoil your list for me.

How awfully egotistical of you to think her comment was for you!   

LOL, nice comeback!
 
Doc - even though it's considered a spam thread, I'd rather not take a chance and have part/all of my list spoilered.  That could just be me and Hath, though.
 
Oh, and Hath - GOOD call on Extreme.

[Big Hath]

thanks.  This was also my first of the "clever thread subject changes".  What better way to sell the new post than with sex!

[Cedar redaC]

My dad has a copy of this album, I'll have to check it out.

[Mosh]

Porno! Nuno is my favorite guitar player, and this album is truly a great.

[DebraKadabra]

thanks.  This was also my first of the "clever thread subject changes".  What better way to sell the new post than with sex!

Another good call.

[jingle.boy]

Pornografitti made my top 50 (#43).  Except for maybe Vito Brata, Bettencourt was the most under-rated axeman of that era/genre - and killer head of hair too!  Top to bottom, I love this album.  My writeup was pretty similar too, regarding how diverse, and how shocking it would be for radio-hit fans to listen to this album based on those two tracks.  He-Man, Woman Hater is probably my fav, but they're all awesome.  Nuno puts on quite an auditory show.

[Lowdz]

Great album. A classic. I got into Extreme with the first album, which I liked- but this just blew it out of the water- along with just about every 80s US hard rock album.
Features in my top 50 too.
And Nuno wasn't overrated. All the guitar mags kissed his ass back in the day. He spent the last 20 years trying to get rid of the guitar hero tag and he's been pretty successful at it.
This list is picking up nicely.

[WebRaider]

Pornografitti was good but Extreme III was their best album by far IMO.

[jingle.boy]

No complaints with III Sides, but I will respectfully disagree.

[Big Hath]

No complaints with III Sides, but I will respectfully disagree.

yeah, that was always my feeling.  Good, but not their best.

[Big Hath]

#36 - Chicago - Chicago Transit Authority (1969)



Before the power-ballad/pop-single 80's, and even before the 70's hit-machine the band would become, this was their first album and for me it is the pinnacle of jazz-rock.  It was originally released as a self-titled album when the band was known as Chicago Transit Authority or CTA.  However, when the band went on the road to tour the album, they received a threat of legal action from the actual Chicago Transit Authority so they shortened their name simply to Chicago.  The band was born out of the jazz fusion movement that began in the 60's led by Miles Davis, and the experimentations of Cream and the Grateful Dead with extended free-form improv using traditional rock and roll instrumentation.  Chicago joined jazzy instrumentals, latin percussion and extended jams with heavy guitar distortion and a soulful/R&B rock feel.  Another hallmark for the band was the number of capable lead vocalists they could pull from within the group as keyboardist Robert Lamm (rich baritone), guitarist Terry Kath (rough, raspy vocals), and bassist Peter Cetera (syrupy sweet tenor) shared the duties.

The album opens, naturally, with "Introduction" and a great organ/horn call and response.  The song does serve as a great intro as many of the band members get to solo at some point.  Next comes "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It is" which didn't become a hit until after they had released their SECOND album.  The third song, "Beginnings", is one of my favorite Chicago songs - nice acoustic strumming, cool brass chords and licks.  Guitarist Terry Kath shines on "Poem" with an extended solo which really shows off his bluesy lead sound.  Then things take a very (VERY!) experimental turn with "Free Form Guitar".  It's 7 minutes of Kath basically coaxing every type of sound he can get out of his guitar which apparantly had a broken neck and was held together with a radiator hose clamp.  "South California Purples" is a really great blues number that gets the typical Chicago treatment with the horns accentuating the rythmic pulse and Hammond B3 providing the counterpoint.

Because of what the band would later become (which now basically a cover band of themselves), I don't feel like they ever really get properly remembered for how cutting edge and experimental they were at the time.  It's not going to be for everybody here, but give it a listen, you might be surprised.

[TAC]

Extreme was a great live club band. Unfortunately, I never thought their energy translated to their studio albums. Very similar to Armored Saint in that regard.

[ColdFireYYZ]

I just recently discovered this Chicago album and I was surprised how much I liked it. It was way better than I was expecting it to be.

[Cedar redaC]

I don't know too much about early Chicago, but songs like 25 or 6 to 4 and Saturday in the Park are great jazz rock tunes. The horn section was epic as well! I didn't enjoy the power ballad period as much, but that era contains some great tunes.

[Big Hath]

I don't know too much about early Chicago, but songs like 25 or 6 to 4 and Saturday in the Park are great jazz rock tunes. The horn section was epic as well! I didn't enjoy the power ballad period as much, but that era contains some great tunes.

You should really check this one out then.  Other ones I would recommend are Chicago (aka Chicago II) which contains "25 or 6 to 4", Chicago III, Chicago V ("Saturday In The Park"), and Chicago VII.

[Unlegit]

Awesome pick! 

[pain of occupation]

checking out a few chicago transit authority tracks. i must be baked; i cant even count this song, time sig's got me all fucked up.

[Pols Voice]

Cool stuff. The more well known songs are my faves: Does Anybody Really Know What Time it Is?, Beginnings, and Questions 67 and 68. I find the first half of the album noticeably better than the second. Free Form Guitar is just...uh...

[Big Hath]

Free Form Guitar is just...uh...

Yeah, it really is just a lot of noise.  I'm pretty sure he was channeling Hendrix on that one.

[DebraKadabra]

OMG, YES!!!  I love that album, including Free Form Guitar.  South California Purples is the shizz.  I will forever love my Dad for playing this album for me and making me listen to it.  Old Chicago is AWESOME!

[wkiml]

Terry Kath is so underrated as a guitarist, but than again, he didn't want the spotlight he was more a team player

Interesting tidbit...take it for what its worth

Did Jimi Hendrix like Kath?


Hendrix once told Chicago saxophonist Walter Parazaider "Your guitar player is better than me." The two guitarists knew each other, and when Hendrix took Chicago on tour, he reportedly jammed with Kath on stage.

A long-time Chicago fan has reported that at one Hendrix concert, Jimi made a reference to Kath out of the blue, saying something to the effect, "You gotta check out this guy Terry Kath. His band is CTA. He's the best guitar player in the universe."

[Elite]

I'm listening to The Planets now, damn; this is some awesome stuff!

[Big Hath]

I'm listening to The Planets now, damn; this is some awesome stuff!

very nice!  Your first exposure to it?

[Lowdz]

No complaints with III Sides, but I will respectfully disagree.

yeah, that was always my feeling.  Good, but not their best.

II wins over III for me, but both are top drawer stuff. Let's not t alk about WFTP...

[King Postwhore]

I've always loved III Sides.

Old Chicago is the bomb.  Big Hath, do you have the Rhino, 4 disk Carnegie Hall set?!  It is killer.

[Big Hath]

Big Hath, do you have the Rhino, 4 disk Carnegie Hall set?!  It is killer.

Unfortunately I never did get that one.  I was in high school when I was doing my deep dive into older Chicago and never did have enough money at one shot to buy the CD boxed set that was out at the time.  I'll need to track down a copy of the Rhino reissue.

[Elite]

I'm listening to The Planets now, damn; this is some awesome stuff!

very nice!  Your first exposure to it?

Yes, it was

[DebraKadabra]

Big Hath, do you have the Rhino, 4 disk Carnegie Hall set?!  It is killer.

Unfortunately I never did get that one.  I was in high school when I was doing my deep dive into older Chicago and never did have enough money at one shot to buy the CD boxed set that was out at the time.  I'll need to track down a copy of the Rhino reissue.

Yeah, I need to get that one too - 15 minute version of South California Purples OMG

[King Postwhore]

Deb, I will put that version on a playlist when I'm outside tomorrow winterizing the yard tomorrow.

[senecadawg2]

I'm loving the amount of variety in your list! Definitely some stuff on here that I'm going to have to check out once I have some time off.