bl5150's Top 50.........TOP TEN ...#1

[jjrock88]

Awesome choice with the Headless Cross, it's amazing.

I've tried to get into Extreme, but just don't care too much for them.

[Lowdz]

Err, it was The Headless Children jj. Headless Cross is a great album too. 

[jingle.boy]

paying attention: Jay sucks at it.

[wolfking]

Okay, Final Countdown is such a stellar album, it probably the best of their earlier stuff IMO, great rock, great guitar playing.

Jaded Heart are pretty good solid melodic metal, but nothing mind blowing.  I have a couple of their albums and their decent.

Chad was responsible for getting me into Harem Scarem, and I'm glad he did.  Easily their best album and since discovering it, it would possibly make my top 50, it's awesome.

Toto is a band I should know but just never really got around to checking out.  I know all their singles and hits though and I do have the last one, which wasn't bad.

Extreme have always been pretty hit and miss to me, but that album is pretty good.

I acquired Too Hot to Sleep a few months back and love it.  Great solid AOR with amazing vox from Jimi.  The title track is incredible.

Headless Children would probably be top 3 for me.  I love this band so much, I adore every single one of their albums.  Headless Children had so many highlights and I love the proggier elemnents in the title track.  Mean Man, Rebel, Thunderhead, Bomber all quality.  And Forever Free is one of the most underrated amazing ballads ever.  Don't forget the bonus tracks, they are just a high quality as the album songs.

Don't know Stage Dolls.

Awesome choice with the Headless Cross, it's amazing.

Fuckin' great album that one. 

[Big Hath]

lol at Headless Cross!


Mood Swings 

[jjrock88]

Ha, I can honestly say that I haven't heard any album yet that starts with Headless C, that I don't love

[bl5150]

Well here we are folks - Top 10.   If I had not implemented the "one placing per artist" rule then you would've seen plenty of these bands already (really a domination by the Top 15-20)  .  The albums that follow are extremely close in terms of my love for them all , so the rankings are in large part a reflection of my Top 10 artists over a lifetime and my most influential album/s from each. 

Thanks for all the cool feedback above - possibly the only thing that surprised me was the apathy towards Extreme by a few who I assumed would be all over them.

I'll drop the pace back a bit now Paul    -  I still need to finalise my write ups for No's 1 & 2 and am pretty short for time.  I don't expect there to be any amazing discoveries for you guys from here on the main list but there may still be some chance in the HM's.

Where I'm sure most of you know the songs I won't bother linking favourites.

On with the show.............



#10 KISS: Killers
Released 1982
Tracks
1. I'm A Legend Tonight
2. Down On Your Knees
3. Cold Gin
4. Love Gun
5. Shout It Out Loud
6. Talk To Me
7. Sure Know Something
8. Nowhere To Run
9. Partners in Crime
10. Detroit Rock City
11. God of Thunder
12. I Was Made For Loving You
13. Shandi
14. Rock & Roll All Nite (Live)
-   


I expect I won’t get away with this without someone accusing me of cheating  – yes it is a compilation/best of but it also contains 4 extra tracks not available anywhere else , 2 of which happen to be among my top 10 KISS songs ever . That's a whole side (half an album for those young 'uns  ) of new music .  If you still think I've cheated then - ah -- tough titties 

I am certain that this was my first album ever (1982 ish – so age 7yo) and I think it was the only piece of music I had until I spent my pocket money on Van Halen’s 1984 3 years later.  I was a big collector of KISS cards in primary school and have a complete set or two somewhere .  So I listened to almost nothing but KISS for  2-3 years and this album was really a perfect introduction to the band – many  of their most essential songs and four extra tracks .  The best of + bonus tracks was a format demanded by the record company after the relative failure of Unmasked (the first album not to go platinum since DTK) and The Elder , which was a worldwide flop.  Nowhere To Run was supposedly one of the first tracks written for The Elder but it was shelved when the concept took shape.

When it comes to KISS I like them best when Paul is belting it out and the new tracks on this find Paul at the peak of his powers and the songs do a good job of bridging the gap between their 70’s sound and the heavier stuff to come on Creatures. Paul really is in top form and Bob Kulick out-Aces Ace with some of the solos.  Nowhere To Run (especially)  and  I’m A Legend Tonight are two of my all time favourites  ,  Down On Your Knees (a Bryan Adams co-write) is a good steady rocker – only Partners In Crime lets it down a bit.

The Australian version that I have has two extra tracks – Shandi (an Australia-only hit) and Talk To Me.  Some of the songs also have slight edits/fade outs not on the original.  There’s plenty of cover trivia with this one too – aside from the dodgy fashion it was the first cover to feature Eric Carr and also features Ace frehley who doesn’t play on the new tracks. There is also a German version with the altered logo due to SS upsetting the boat on the Nazi side of things.




This album is a special one for obvious reasons and seeing as I find most KISS albums half killer , half filler at best it’s one of the few I can just throw on and enjoy without needing to press Skip.............all KILLERS     

Favourite Tracks (from the exclusive ones):  Nowhere To Run , I'm A Legend Tonight, Down On Your Knees



Honourable Mention:  Clockwise - Nostalgia ......................those who liked the Glory album earlier and/or 2 Forgive IS 2 Forget (as noted) might be up for this one.  Another project by Jan Granwick with Benny Soderberg on vox and the rhythm section of Europe (Haughland/Leven).  Cool guitar heavy melodic rock. 
 

[jjrock88]

That is easily the best "best of" from Kiss. I have no idea how many greatest hit sets have been released for the band, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's in the 30 range.

The 4 new tracks on Killers are four of the best tracks ever from Kiss and are worth the price alone.

Very cool pick.

[jingle.boy]

A compilation was also my intro to KISS - Smashes, Thrashes and Hits. That also got me to get the albums around that release - Crazy Nights, Hot In the Shade, and Revenge. Otherwise, don't have anything else from them. I should probably do something about that someday.

[bl5150]

Oh - and here's the list pre Top 10

 
#50 : Shy-Shy
#49: Vanden Plas- Colour Temple
#48: Icon: Night of the Crime
#47: Pink Floyd: A Momentary Lapse of Reason
#46: Noiseworks-Noiseworks
#45: Red Dawn-Never Say Surrender
#44: Annihilator-Never Neverland
#43: Place Vendome-Place Vendome
#42: Riverdogs-Riverdogs
#41; Symphony X - The Divine Wings of Tragedy
#40: Armored Saint: Symbol of Salvation
#39; Bon Jovi: Slippery When Wet
#38: Metal Church: Hanging In The Balance/Blessing In Disguise
#37: Angra: Angels Cry
#36: Elegy: Supremacy
#35: Gary Moore: Wild Frontier/Corridors of Power
#34: Stratovarius: Fourth Dimension
#33: Threshold: Psychedelicatessen
#32: Conception: In Your Multitude
#31: Judas Priest: Painkiller
#30: Crimson Glory: Transcendence
#29: Giant: Last Of The Runaways
#28:After Forever:s/t
#27: Lillian Axe: Poetic Justice & Psychoschizophrenia
#26: Labyrinth: Return To Heaven Denied
#25: The Doobie Brothers: The Captain & Me
#24: Trail of Murder: Shades of Art
#23: Ten : The Name Of The Rose
#22: Unruly Child: s/t  & Signal: Loud and Clear
#21: XYZ: s/t
#20 :Streets: Crimes In Mind & Seventh Key : This Raging fire
#19 : Tesla : The Great Radio Controversy
#18: Skid Row :s/t
#17: House of Spirits: Turn of the Tide
#16: Dokken : Beast From The East
#15: Joe Satriani: The Extremist
#14: Europe: The Final Countdown & John Norum: Face The Truth
#13: Harem Scarem: Mood Swings
#12: Extreme II : Pornograffiti
#11: WASP: The Headless Children


 

[bl5150]

#9 Whitesnake: 1987
Released 1987
Tracks
1.     Still of the Night     6:36
2.     Bad Boys     4:06
3.     Give Me All Your Love     3:31
4.     Looking for Love     6:33
5.     Crying in the Rain     5:37
6.     Is This Love     4:43
7.     Straight for the Heart     3:39
8.     Don't Turn Away     5:10
9.     Children of the Night     4:24
10.     Here I Go Again 87     4:34
11.     You're Gonna Break My Heart Again     4:11
        
And my winner for best studio album of 1987 goes to……………………..1987! (released as s/t in US , "1987" in Europe)  But boy – what a year in rock/metal. I won’t bother with band names but check out this list :  Appetite For Destruction, Hysteria,Permanent Vacation,Pride, Surfing With The Alien,Fireworks,Wild Frontier,The Eternal Idol,Hall of the Mountain King, Freight Train Heart,Keeper of the Seven Keys 1, Back For The Attack,Leatherwolf, Once Bitten……,Excess All Areas, Crazy Nights, Abigail,  Girls Girls Girls and so on………………and some lighter stuff – Kick , Tunnel Of Love, Into The Fire, Joshua tree, AMLOR -  truly the golden years right about then.

So……….. Whitesnake made a big play for the American market with a harder rocking yet commercial sound and boy , did they succeed.  The album reached #2 on Billboard and they had a number one hit with Here I Go Again , which was my favourite song to play for many months.  And seriously – what more could you want?   Huge hair , huge choruses, huge hooks, huge guitars and a huge woody watching Tawny Kitaen writhe around on car bonnets.   And of course those vids featured basically nil actual players from the album as they’d all been given the ass by then.  We got to see Viv Campbell and Vandenburg miming John Sykes’ parts (although AV did actually guest solo once on the album). And of course seeing as everything about Whitesnake/Here I Go Again was huge we got 3 keyboardists in the video too – too cool! 

Like many my age (around 13-14 at the time) I was unaware of the earlier more bluesy rock in their catalogue -  once I’d digested this album I raced to the record store to pick up Saints and Sinners only to be shocked at how “wimpy” it sounded in comparison , and also that Crying In The Rain and here I Go Again were actually covers of said earlier material.  Two freaking awesome covers mind you of tracks long forgotten by most. I also didn’t realise I’d been jibbed an extra two tracks (Looking For Love and You’re Gonna Break My Heart Again) that were on the Euro version until decades later.   Only one track on this I might skip (Children of the Night) – the rest are either fantastic ballads or humongous rockers – truly one of the biggest guitar sounds put on tape and , for the time , a pretty damn heavy album if you allow for the ballads.

It's a shame the Coverdale/Sykes team was limited to this one outing (not counting the Slide It In remake).  Sykes has been a massive disappointment ever since and must go down as a bit of a wasted talent in my book.

The remake of Here I Go Again with Dann Huff  was one of the few Huff related songs I'm not a fan of.  The original with Sykes is far better.

Favourites:  Still Of The Night, Crying in the Rain, Here I Go Again, Bad Boys, Straight For The Heart, You're Gonna Break My Heart Again


Honourable Mention: Hurricane- Slave To The Thrill.     Hansen /Aldrich = awesome.  Interesting album cover too 


PS - On revisiting 1987 today I don't think I'd skip Children of The Night either   Used to back in the day though.

[Bolsters]

[BlobVanDam]

That is easily the best "best of" from Kiss.

No, that would be Kiss Alive!

Very odd choice for a Kiss album, and never one I'd choose, but you still get points for including Kiss at all.

And to Whitesnake. Killer album from start to finish. Slave To The Thrill ain't bad either.

[wolfking]

Never got into Kiss at all.

Love that Whitesnake, and just to show how strong the album is, my fav is actually Looking for Love.

[jingle.boy]

That's a helluva list of albums from '87, and you missed Crazy Nights, Future World, Hold Your Fire, Surveillance... and on the softer side - Gowan!  Love his album from '87.  Wouldn't call it the best from '87, but man it still holds up.  Song for song, one of the best from the 80s.  For Whitesnake, I gave the nod to Slip of the Tongue in my list, with the s/t getting an honorable mention.  Still, both are as good of a great back-to-back effort as you can get.

Yet another HM from you I don't know.  Gonna have to try and tackle that list sometime.

[bl5150]

and you missed Crazy Nights

Did not!  and the others were covered by "and so on" 

[wolfking]

Some other amazing 1987 albums;

The Legacy, Speed Metal Symphony, Dream Evil, Visual Lies, Contagious, Out of the Sun, Second Heat, Mind's Eye and Maximum Security.

Brent, have a squizz at your PM's please.

[jingle.boy]

Brent, have a squizz at your PM's please.

sounds dirty

[wolfking]

Brent, have a squizz at your PM's please.

sounds dirty

Sort of.  It was a question about Virgin Steele.   

Was gonna send you one too but can't remember if you were a fan.

[jingle.boy]

Don't know 'em too well.  Someone gave me a song of theirs (JJ?) in my roulette's.  Never went any further with them.

[wolfking]

Forgot to mention that Hurricane was another one that was on my list to check out.

[jjrock88]

Whitesnake s/t has to be one of the ultimate 80s metal albums

[King Postwhore]

Kiss Killers?!  Must be a Bob Kulick fan.

Great Whitesnake album.  Just a killer of an album.

[Lowdz]

Another class update though Killers is a surprise. My favourite KISS compo was Double Platinum. Two of those new songs were awesome and 2 sucked a big one. I am a huge KISS fan so no arguments from me. I love unmasked and The Elder 

Whitesnake 1987 is a great album. I was a big fan of their earlier stuff, from Come & Get It onwards. I was fine with the shift to a more American sound, and Sykes was a great guitarist.

1987 was my favourite year for music for all the albums you named and more (Keel's 1987 album!  )

The Hurricane STTT album is a cracker too.

Not heard that other HM but will check it out as I enjoyed the first two Glory albums (and bought the 2nd one).

Will do the math on where I'm up to at a later date - we're getting ready to go away for a few days but I'll still check in, though I'll be on the phone so I apologise in advance for crap spelling etc.

[bl5150]

#8 Def Leppard : Pyromania
Released 1983
Tracks
1.     Rock! Rock! 'Till You Drop     3:52
2.     Photograph     4:12
3.     Stagefright     3:46
4.     Too Late for Love     4:30
5.     Die Hard the Hunter     6:17
6.     Foolin'     4:32
7.     Rock of Ages     4:09
8.     Comin' Under Fire     4:20
9.     Action! Not Words     3:52
10.     Billy's Got a Gun     5:27
        
 This was one hell of a tight contest between High n Dry and Pyromania (Hysteria never came into it , although I like that too) -  for me Def Leppard were at their peak on these two albums.  An awesome combination of ballsy rock and melody that they (and pretty much nobody else) ever really matched.

Actually come to think of it , I’d also rate Retroactive higher than Hysteria – some fantastic leftovers on that.

In recent years it seems that DL have almost tried to distance themselves from their early “metal days” with comments that they’d always intended to be a popular rock band etc….I know they upset a lot of people in the British scene with their push for the US pop charts. Anyhow - they seem to have got their wish because when it comes to discussing the band these days they’re usually lumped in with bands like Bon Jovi and Posion.    To me though they were always in a much more "metal" category than those bands  – and what most of their post- Pyromania output would indicate.   Their debut was generally considered NWOBHM and , although the same attitude wasn’t quite there and things were polished up by Mutt Lange ,  the harder edges of HnD and to a lesser extent, Pyromania were in many ways at least  as heavy as bands like ACDC,  Motley Crue and Judas Priest were producing at the time.

In the end I’ve gone for Pyromania as I think it has just a few more stellar tracks and it was , by quite some way , my most played Def leppard album.    It really has everything I want in a melodic rock/metal album – great songs, melodies, playing and no filler in site. It’s hard to pick a favourite track  but if forced to I would lean toward deep cuts like Comin Under fire and Stagefright. 

A classic album and the perfect balance between the rawer style of the first two albums and the OTT poppier production of Hysteria…. and for the first time we got Phill Collen and those really HUGE backing vocals too.( not that HnD was shabby there either)

Speaking of Phil Collen he had a nasty fever during the recording of Pyromania, took off his shirt to keep cool and hasn’t put it back on since 


Favourite Tracks:  Stagefright, Comin Under Fire ,Diehard The Hunter, Too Late For Love, Foolin


Honourable Mention: Masquerade-s/t .........Swedish cock rock that was a cut above most of it.  Typically 80's style Scandi lyrics but heavier guitars than most.  Possibly hasn't dated as well as some but got plenty of listens back in the day.  The linked track is one of the mid range more wimpy tracks.

[King Postwhore]

Too Late For Love, Foolin' & of course photograph are absolute classics.  Great Pick!

[jjrock88]

The first three Def Leppard albums are classics; this is my favorite of the three.

I'm not interested in any of their material after this one though.

[jingle.boy]

Awe, c'mon Jay.  Retroactive is actually really good.  Give it a shot.

I give Hysteria the slight edge over Pyromania, despite Love Bites - easily my most despised power ballad from that era.  Let's just forget that track ever was recorded, ok?  Still, these albums are pretty much a coin toss for my tastes.  Pyromania has a bit more edge to it; Hysteria is a little more polished, and suffers a little from over-commercialization.  But, it is what it is.

Not a bad song on Pyromania.  Great choice.

And yet ANOTHER HM I have to check out.

[wolfking]

You know Def Leppard was a band I never really got into.  I know their hits but they never really grabbed me enough to check out their albums.  Photograph though was a song that makes me think I should check this album out.

[Accelerando]

Yes, Stagefront!

[jingle.boy]

You know Def Leppard was a band I never really got into.  I know their hits but they never really grabbed me enough to check out their albums.  Photograph though was a song that makes me think I should check this album out.

For your tastes, definitely go with this over Hysteria.

Damn... just looking at this track list reminds me how incredible this album is.  Haven't spun it in a while.  Will rectify that.  I did Whitesnake s/t today.  Felt like I needed a smoke after it.   

[King Postwhore]

I would say that Pyromania is the last album that DL made that wasn't "slick" in production.  it had a raw edge to it.

[wolfking]

You know Def Leppard was a band I never really got into.  I know their hits but they never really grabbed me enough to check out their albums.  Photograph though was a song that makes me think I should check this album out.

For your tastes, definitely go with this over Hysteria.

Damn... just looking at this track list reminds me how incredible this album is.  Haven't spun it in a while.  Will rectify that.  I did Whitesnake s/t today.  Felt like I needed a smoke after it.   

Alright, I'll have a listen.

[bl5150]

Apologies in advance for the triple tie - I couldn't separate these no matter how hard I tried as they're each so different , yet so good.   There will be no studio albums tied within the Top 5  , so I'm not going to wimp out on the very top rankings, although it was tempting 




#7 Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force: Rising Force/Marching Out/Odyssey (TIE)
Released 1984/1985/1988

We're now well and truly into the realm of bands that, absent the "one place per artist rule" could easily have 2 or 3 albums in my Top 50 and Yngwie Malmsteen is no exception........in fact I've included three and still had a hard time excluding Trilogy and Eclipse. The run of Rising Force, Marching Out , Trilogy, Odyssey and Eclipse is about as good as it gets .

A little history might be in order for the donut munching leviathan.    His given first name is actually Lars which is actually quite a good tip in regards to his personality.    He was Swedish born but was scouted out by Mike Varney of the famous Shrapnel label and brought over to the USA where he was paired up with Ron Keel for the Steeler album and then the No Parole From Rock'n'Roll album with Alcatrazz which is a bit of an old classic .  Malmsteen left Alcatrazz after the success of his debut album , to be replaced by Steve Vai.

Some comments on the individual albums:

Rising Force:  To understand how big this album was in the guitar playing community you really had to be there. I was a ten year old and I'd heard of him among my shredding pals    Here was a relatively unknown Swedish guy playing neoclassical guitar shred who not only cemented a new genre (although he's clearly influenced by Blackmore) but debuted an album in this style that cracked the Billboard Top 100 and won a Grammy.  Unheard of!   Now the guy's a total cock but I' happy to give him his due.

Whatever you say about his sacrificing of melody for speed (more of a problem later in his career IMO) I think that album contains some fantastic songs and , rather ironically, the two big weak points for me were the vocal tracks featuring none other than the guy who was later to become one of my all time favourite singers...Jeff Scott Soto.  At this point though I found his vocal style very annoying.

Marching Out: When I picked up Marching Out I was relieved to hear that they'd recruited a new singer who sounded fantastic    - I soon realised that it was the same guy , he'd just matured in leaps and bounds .  It also saw Yngwie move towards a more song oriented format with the odd instrumental , which he has maintained for the most part to this day. In terms of the albums that mean anything to me I'd say this is clearly his heaviest effort - it really is a blistering set of songs and there's a real aggression in the playing that goes beyond pure speed.  The power of this little supergroup can be seen in this live footage - allowing for the time , technology and lack of backing vocals it's really a powerhouse performance.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y16UkdXQLgA  This band also brought together the two guys that would form the nucleus of another of my favourite bands.

Odyssey Once again a very different album to the others .  This one saw the legendary Joe Lynn Turner join forces with Yngwie to create his most commercial and most successful album ever . It's much more melodic rock/AOR than Marching out but with a heavy edge to it and quite possibly Joe Lynn Turner's best ever vocal performance.  Unfortunately Yngwie basically disowns this album but almost everyone but him seems to think it's fantastic.  JLT's another "interesting" personality - I would've loved to be a fly on the wall in the studio with those two egos out of control.  Lots of fucking fury unleashed I'd imagine.




Favourite Songs (Rising Force): Far Beyond The Sun , Black Star , Icarus Dream Suite Op 4, Little Savage

Favourite Songs (Marching Out):  I'll See The Light Tonight, On The Run Again , Soldier Without Faith, I Am A Viking

Favourite Songs (Odyssey):  Rising Force, Deja Vu , Crystal Ball , Now Is The Time, Heaven Tonight




Honourable Mention: Tony Macalpine : Premonition ..............doesn't get mentioned very often but contains a lot of his best playing IMO.

[wolfking]

Just finishing up a listen to Pyromania and it's actually really quite good.  I'm surprised how much I enjoy it.  Besides the first track which is too ACDC for me, it's solid, might pick it up.

Anyway;

 

Yes, 3 perfect albums right there.  Out of the three, I'd probably take Odyssey.  Perfect mix of shred and melodic rock.  I love Yngwie's playing on this one, and it shows glimpses of variety in his playing that I wish we saw more of.  (Crystal Ball intro for example.)

As you mentioned the introduction of Marcel and JSS on Marching Out is spectacular.  Also, that album has one of the most star studded lineups ever, with Strato and Hammerfall members also.

Also, love the Macalpine mention, that definitely is most probably his most underrated album, great stuff.