Here we are folks! Finally at my number 1 album, which I think some of you already guessed
Drum roll please!
#1
Blackbird
Alter Bridge
2007
Never was there an album that had affected me personally and personified my tastes in music more than Alter Bridge’s sophomore effort,
Blackbird. It is everything I want in rock music – electrifying, with soaring vocals and tailored solos, backed by a talented and thunderous rhythm section. There are many groups with those same characteristics, so why Alter Bridge, and specifically, Blackbird? I think it’s the point in time of my life in which this album came out, where I was in college and there were a lot of personal things that were going on in my life, and things I needed to overcome. Also, I think about listening to music with my family, and breaking into my uncles’ record collection to listen to Led Zeppelin, Queen, and The Who, and having that moment with him. I feel like Alter Bridge, and Blackbird, are essentials for me to share with my kids, and my grandkids. I truly feel that this band and this album will go down as one of the early greats of this century.
Alter Bridge left Wind-Up records after
One Day Remainsto start fresh. Wind Up at that time was trying make a quick buck by releasing doomy outlook, minor key bands like Evanescence and Seether, while trying to make Alter Bridge duplicate the Creed sound instead of coming into their own. While I didn’t think
One Day Remains beared any resemblance to the Creed sound musically, the production quality did. With Blackbird, under the Universal Republic label and produced under the hands of Michael “Elvis” Baskette, Alter Bridge’s sound became more raw rock and roll.
Now, here we have Alter Bridge operating as a two-guitar tour de force. Myles Kennedy is now fully integrated into the songwriting process, which in
One Day Remains was mostly written by Mark Tremonti. For the first time in his career Tremonti has someone to play off of other than himself, and this fact as really caused a big degree of explosion of high-caliber songwriting. Tremonti, who is probably the only guitarist in mainstream rock who has an instantly recognizable songwriting and playing style, gets all the support he needs from Kennedy. He's free to kick around vibrato-laden, squealing guitar riffs and fills, while Kennedy compliments by playing stuff that is quite opposite of Tremonti’s metallic sound; he likes to play the blues. With his buesy sound, and often drenches the songs in effects and atmospherics, both him and Mark Tremonti had established themselves as one of the best duo guitarists in rock music. Both styles, so different, yet completely works.
That album launches a grenade at you with the first few tracks, commanding your attention. “Ties That Bind” and “Come To Life” are ter-RIFF-ic songs with a metal edge, prerequisite melodic choruses, and an abundant amount of guitar layering. “Ties That Band” has a Spanish edge to it, like “Cry of Achilles” on Fortress, or their instrumental b-side exclusive to Total Guitar Magazine, “Ahavo Rabo Taco Salad.” I really like the vocal intergration with Myles and Mark in the chorus to “Come To Life.” With these two heavy numbers come a softer song in “Brand New Start.” It uses acoustic guitars for it’s main arpeggio hooks, while using lots of effects-laden background effects that for a moment reminded me of latter-day Alex Lifeson. This song contains Mark Tremonti’s best solo. It’s very blues inspired and chalk full of emotion.
Another highlight is “Coming Home”, one of Alter Bridge’s most progressive songs to date. The groove quickly gives way to very heavy snaking 6/8 metallic riffs. No solo, but there is a breakdown in the bridge that's very heavy and intricate. The song with the biggest metal balls goes to “White Knuckles”, with a complex yet beautiful chorus and a great shift in dynamics with the song writing. It is definitely the most aggressive song on
Blackbird. In the middle of this record you’ll find the more commercially written tracks, like “Rise Today”, a fan favorite, and “Before Tomorrow Comes.” The softest song on the album is also one of the best. “Watch Over You” glistens in beautiful acoustic guitar work and even better vocal performance from the great Myles Kennedy and im going to put the best live version of this song riiiiight
here, because you really have to feel this beautiful and powerful ballad.
Then, there is “Blackbird,” the great 8-minute epic title track. Folks, this is truly one of the best rock songs of the past 15 years. It’s tough to describe how amazing this song is; a song dedicated to a friend of the band who passed away, and they do it justice with Myles’ most impassioned vocal performance on the album, using the metaphor of a bird taking flight to represent death, with effective lyrical imagery: “Let the wind carry you home, blackbird fly away, may you never be broken again.” The song begins with a clean melody that builds to a emotional break into the chorus that Pink Floyd would be proud of. The bridge just builds into quite possibly, in my opinion, one of the great duel solos of all time. Myles’ pours all the sadness in his solo, as if he is crying, but using his gift as a guitar player to cry out those emotions. Mark provides the perfect climax, as if his guitar is telling Myles’ that it’s not the end of the world; that their friend is in a better place. In this powerful song, when combined with the lyrics, the solo truly sounds like a bird taking flight. After the intensity of the last chorus, with a hell of a wail from Myles, it fades out, and the song comes full circle by dropping back to the clean opening riff before fading out for the last time.
SO. DAMN. GOOD.
I have said in my
Fortress write up that I think that record is Alter Bridge’s best to date. I still say that is true.
Fortress doesn’t have the few fillers that
Blackbird does like “Break Me Down.” That’s my minor quibble with Blackbird, especially when there are b-sides written from Blackbird that are just so much better than some of the songs on the album, like “New Way To Live” and “Damage Done.” However,
Blackbird is still a great album, and one of the best of the modern era. With this album, Alter Bridge became Alter Bridge. It’s my favorite, without question.
Favorite tracks:
Blackbird,
Ties That Bind,
Coming Home,
Come To Life,
White Knuckles
Topic: Accelerando's Top 50 Albums v. COMPLETED (Read 19418 times)
