Author Topic: Anguyen's Top 50 Albums v. 5. Six O'Clock on a Christmas Morning  (Read 24781 times)

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Offline Train of Naught

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Re: Anguyen's Top 50 Albums v. #48: Bring me back so that I can feel you again.
« Reply #35 on: February 19, 2016, 12:34:00 PM »
3/4 made it on mine, the only one that didn't was AB3. Fortress was even a contender for top 5 albums.
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Offline mikeyd23

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Re: Anguyen's Top 50 Albums v. #48: Bring me back so that I can feel you again.
« Reply #36 on: February 19, 2016, 12:49:17 PM »
3/4 made it on mine, the only one that didn't was AB3. Fortress was even a contender for top 5 albums.

Sounds about right.

Offline Accelerando

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Re: Anguyen's Top 50 Albums v. #48: Bring me back so that I can feel you again.
« Reply #37 on: February 19, 2016, 03:03:56 PM »
ABIII made it on my honorable mentions because there is still a lot to like about that record. It's not amazing as ODR, Blackbird, or Fortress, but in my opinion, some of Alter Bridge's best moments like that fuggin bridge on All Hope Is Gone are on ABIII

Offline Anguyen92

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Re: Anguyen's Top 50 Albums v. #47: I got everything I need.
« Reply #38 on: February 19, 2016, 07:22:29 PM »
Apologies for me not posting a write-up, this morning.  I had school stuff to take care of.  Also, I will probably not post a write-up tomorrow morning as well as I'm going to do a volunteer tax program and stuff. Anywho, I will leave this one though.

47. Zac Brown Band – Jekyll + Hyde (2015)



Country, country pop, hard rock, Southern rock, dance-pop, EDM (yeah, seriously.  This album had songs that incorporated these genres.)

You know, five years ago, I probably would have never cross paths into listening to something like Zac Brown band, but I'm willing to admit that I'm wrong and Zac Brown Band was one of the more surprise good bands for me to discover in the last few years.
 
I first heard about them while watching a live stream when they and Foo Fighters was doing this concert the day before The Super Bowl in 2014.  Seeing like 7-8 guys on stage playing some upbeat country stuff like their songs Unchained, Chicken Fried, Keep Me in Mind, Who Know, etc. and, in between, then they switched into covers like playing a snippets of Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir into transitioning into The Devil Went Down to Georgia, Metallica’s Enter Sandman, and Rage Against the Machine’s Killing in the Name Of and they were having a blast which was enjoyable to see.  Afterwards, I heard their catalog and it was solid to hear with some good lyrics to reflect on.  One of my favorites is Day That I Die as the lyrics are so good and I would like think that, oddly enough, that song probably reflects Lemmy well during his last few days.

So flash-forward to 2015, I hear word that Soundgarden vocalist, Chris Cornell, was going to do some vocals with these guys.  I knew that Chris Cornell is a great vocalist, and Zac Brown Band are great players so this was going to be an interesting experiment.  Was Cornell going to sing country, or is ZBB going to switch it up and go heavy rock?  For this track, they went heavy rock with their song, Heavy is The Head.  It started out with this nice meaty bassline with some of the verses reminded me of Black Sabbath’s War Pigs for some reason.   As for the song, both Zac Brown and Chris Cornell trading lead vocals really well and and Cornell hit some solid high notes on that one and that song convinced me well enough to listen to this album, Jekyll + Hyde.  It probably convinced others to do the same as that track hit #1 in Active Rock Radio (guys like Shinedown, Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace, and Five Finger Death Punch, etc. are the dominators of that category).

Anywho, one of the stronger points of Jekyll + Hyde was that it had huge variety to it from upbeat country single (Homegrown), excellent harmonizing vocals (Remedy),  island/Hawaiian vibe (Castaway), modern pop/electronic stuff (Tomorrow Never Comes), big band (Mango Tree), an acoustic ballad song that climaxed huge (Bittersweet), a damn good slow deliberate 7 min. song (Junkyard) that incorporated bits of Pink Floyd's "Is There Anybody Out There?" in part of their bridge and somehow they make each of these styles work well without looking awkward for a country band.  To me, Zac Brown Band was something different than my perceptions of country (hearing about beers and pickup trucks and what not) and they look very authentic and nothing like any pre-fab nonsense that big pop/country acts appears to look like. 

Here’s what Dave Grohl stated about them, while producing an EP with them, “They're unbelievable, the band is so good they can be tracked live; we didn't fuck with computers, we tracked live, four-part harmonies around one microphone. It's rocking. People are like, 'Oh, it's country.' 'No, it's not, it's like the Allman Brothers.' 'No, it's not, it's jam band.' I don't even know what you would call it, it's fucking great."  It all sounds good to me and I look forward to hear more from them.

Favorites: Junkyard, Heavy is the Head, Bittersweet, Castaway, and Remedy.
« Last Edit: February 19, 2016, 07:28:39 PM by Anguyen92 »

Offline Anguyen92

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Ok, then.  After I got through what I needed to get through in these last few days, I am now back to my usual album posting schedule, so let's continue on.

46. Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators – World On Fire (2014)



Hard Rock

This is the 1st of many albums on this list that will have Myles Kennedy playing a big role in it.  He is my favorite vocalist of all time, and one of two guys I claimed to be the biggest non-family inspiration of my life (it's obviously whose the other guy, but I'll get to him eventually in this list.)

Anywho, I first heard of the guitarist Slash when I heard word in 2010 that Alter Bridge’s lead singer, Myles Kennedy, did some songs for Slash’s solo album in 2010.  I first heard Starlight.  Thought the guitar work and the overall ballad, blusey, vibe really fitted well and thought, "Hey, that was a well-built song from Slash and Myles.  These two gel well together.  I wouldn’t mind hearing more of that."  Then I heard something different that I didn’t expect a guy like Myles to sing, but the results worked out well, Back From Cali, with its high energy vibe that totally sounded like a Slash hard rock song.
 
So then, Slash wanted to tour with a solo band, as the old GNR line-up was not happening, since he and Axl were in a big tiff at the time, and Velvet Revolver was not happening because the band did not trust Scott Weiland, may he RIP, at the time and could not really agree on a suitable lead singer.  They considered Corey Taylor at one point, I believe.  I also heard rumors that they wanted Myles do be in that role, but that would have marked the end of Alter Bridge, and that is a world I do not want to be in, so thankfully that did not happen.

So with Myles having a lot of free time, at the time, since Creed was doing their reunion tour/album (I wasn’t happy about that at the time) and he was only working on a solo album (I will guarantee that if he had released his solo album before I made this list, I would have included it.  I just trust and love the guy’s musical work that much), he decided to be Slash’s lead singer for his solo band joining Todd Kerns (bassist, backing vocals) and Brent Fitz (drummer) in the group.  What started off as a one-time thing has now became a full-on legit band with resulted in two (going to be three eventually) albums, I’m going to discuss the 2nd one.

World On Fire was probably one of the more, I don’t know if I’m using this word right but, ambitious albums that Slash/Myles/Conspirators had created.  With 17 songs and filling the disc at 77+ min., most people feared that there would be a good amount of filler.  Well, they were kinda right.  Getting out of the way, one of the things that I do not really like about Myles’ work with Slash is that he falls into the trap of cliché sleazy-sounding hard rock lyric tropes that I just do not like in their songs.  One of them in this album was Dirty Girl.  Now with the title like Dirty Girl, it just did not gel with me.  I mean look at these lyrics, "She gonna go all night yeah. She does like it when you take it real slow. All night, my dirty girl. She make me feel alright yeah. She runs clean until the lights are down low. Say all night, my dirty girl."  Yep, my inspiration, that had great lyrical content in Alter Bridge and the Mayfield Four, is not perfect. It's all right, no one is. 

All right, getting the negative out of the way, this album had a lot of good stuff.  We had a strong ballad-like song like Battleground with Myles hitting some good high notes, especially in the bridge.  They had a Hey Jude moment with them singing, "lalalalalala," on and on.  The lead single, World on Fire, was a solid high-energy lead single and it was no surprise it hit #1 on active rock radio and Todd Kerns filled in the rhythm vocals well.  Him and Myles gel well together when singing.  While my gripes about cliché sleazy hard rock tropes in the lyrics and sound holds strong in some of their songs, Beneath the Savage Sun was a different story.  Excellent instrument, great solos and bridge sound from Slash, lyrics was very clear and had deep meaning as it was about how disgusting elephant tusk poaching is (the whole band is all about animal rights).  The Unholy was probably their best crafted song from the album.  It was very dark and broody (I read from people in forums that stated that it was like a Black Sabbath/Soundgarden vibe to it with its lyrics and sound) and was about something regarding priests being pedophiles and child abusers or something.  30 Years to Life was a super fun song to hear right from the opening lines, “So the story goes. This is a tale that must be told. For what could be your destiny. You never know” describing a man’s perspective of being in prison.

Despite me disliking the idea that it feels like Slash is monopolizing Myles’ time working with him and the Conspirators and Myles not committing enough to other projects that I want to look forward to now (especially Alter Bridge and his potential solo album), I cannot deny that this band is solid which makes me look bad at times.  World on Fire was one of their stronger showings and they certainly made the most of it, in the touring end, and further establishes them of being a more legit band.  However, thankfully, they are currently taking a break due to Slash doing the GNR reunion and, most importantly, Myles working with everyone else in Alter Bridge for AB V and maybe he may release his solo album in the summer, it’s nice to dream.

Favorites:  30 Years to Life, Bent To Fly, Battleground, Beneath the Savage Sun, and The Unholy

Offline Accelerando

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Myles Kennedy is the man  :metal

Offline Tomislav95

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Still nothing I'm familiar with :/ but I have to check Alter Bridge. That's one band I'd surely like but I never checked.
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Offline Train of Naught

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Great update, I do like thus album and have spinned it many times.. Just one problem that kept me from putting it on my list.

...

17 songs?? Man, this album has some killer tracks, but you already mentioned Dirty Girl, which totally feels like filler to me. I have like 5 more of those in this album. I've never been a huge fan of Slash but I gotta say he impressed me with this album and Apocalyptic though, Beneath the Savage Sun, Anatasia and Battleground are some personal favorites.
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Offline Sacul

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Still nothing I'm familiar with :/ but I have to check Alter Bridge. That's one band I'd surely like but I never checked.
Check either Blackbird or Fortress.

Offline Anguyen92

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All right.  Time for something a little more classic and old.

45. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV (Zoso, etc.) (1971)



Hard rock, folk, blues, blues rock, rock and roll

Obviously, this is the oldest album I'm going to have on this list.  As a guy that has been listening to a lot of hard rock over the last decade or so, Led Zeppelin has to cross my paths, eventually.  I won’t bore you with the story of how I first heard of them (it’s probably because of I forgot or I heard one of their singles on the radio or something), but I have heard all of their albums thanks to a challenge that Jack Black mentioned called the Zeppathon where you have to listen to all of the Led Zeppelin albums, including Coda, in one sitting.  Well, I hadn’t completed that to the fullest yet.  The closest I got was listening to everything in a 24 hour span, so that doesn’t count. 

Anywho, one of the albums that did stood out to me, and probably stood out to everyone else that has heard and liked Led Zeppelin, is Led Zeppelin IV.  I’ve stated during the Led Zeppelin discography thread that if one band wrote any of Zeppelin's big songs on that album and released it before Zeppelin, their careers would be made.  Well, for this album, three of the songs are ingrained in people’s minds, pop culture, radio and the whatnots: Black Dog, Rock and Roll, and Stairway to Heaven.  I’ve always had a fondness for Rock and Roll since it had that big-time drum intro, and the opening lyrics "It's been a long time since I rock and rolled," and the closing moments of the song where John Bonham goes crazy with the drums at the end, and when I saw Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones play it with Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins during Foo Fighters’ Wembley Stadium show proshot, and you see Dave Grohl's grin when he's playing the drum opener to the song, and when I saw a youtube video of Alter Bridge doing a cover of it.  Black Dog just had a solid bad-ass aura and groove without feeling overproduced or anything.  Basic guitar, drum, bass, and vocal.  That's all they needed for this song, the aura of the song just looms large.  Back when I stated about AB’s Open Your Eyes being the first song I heard that had such an extensive instrumental/bridge/solo section, I would really like to think Stairway to Heaven was one of those songs that pioneered the format that led to extensive solos.  A very well-crafted song, great keyboard stuff from John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page's solo, obviously, was awesome where it's up there in terms of the greatest guitar solo of all time, Robert Plant's vocal work was at its peak.

The other non-big songs on it were solid as well.  I enjoyed Misty Mountain Hop and its upbeatness, and in the case of the Celebration Day version, Robert Plant and Jason Bonham harmonizing vocals and all.  I’ve seen here that Four Sticks was received to be not that great of a song, but I sure as hell enjoyed it.  Makes me think that I’m driving through a dessert, going on and on, driving without a care and whatnot and letting the road dictate its pace like a trance or something.  Going to California was a nice acoustic song. 

Overall, I can see why many people stated this as a classic album even without the long and epic, and ground-breaking at the time, Stairway to Heaven.  Had some catchiness and groove to it, got some upbeatness to it, and manage to bring the tempo down at the right time and continuing to influence the heavy rock genres that is been defined today.  To me, this album was the album that cemented Led Zeppelin's legacy as being eternal superstar legends.

Favorites: Black Dog, Rock and Roll, Stairway to Heaven, Misty Mountain Hop, and Four Sticks

Offline Tomislav95

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Awesome album :hefdaddy I can't choose my favorite from it since every song is great and it's quite diverse but usually I'm fond of bluesy part of IV.
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Offline Fluffy Lothario

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Classic album, etc.

Dunno if I could handle the Zeppathon though. I think I'd overdose on sugar baby mama darling honey-ness.

Offline Anguyen92

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Re: Anguyen's Top 50 Albums v. #44: Say you want to stay, you want me to.
« Reply #47 on: February 22, 2016, 12:11:22 AM »
From the old to the newer stuff.

44. Stone Sour – Audio Secrecy (2010)



Alternative metal, heavy metal, post-grunge, hard rock

All right, moving on to Stone Sour.  As stated before, I first heard of Stone Sour when I first hear Corey Taylor’s voice in the Sound City Soundtrack song, From Can to Can’t.  Not to be prejudice or anything, but I felt as though the sound that Slipknot brings would probably not be to my liking, so I asked around, “I do not think Slipknot would be the band for me, but I love Corey Taylor’s voice in From Can to Can’t. What songs or band from him should I look into?” and they told me Stone Sour.  Around that time, I heard House of Gold and Bones Part II and enjoyed it a fair amount.  After a while, I went backwards into hearing Part I and find that ok, and then I ventured into this album, Audio Secrecy.

My first impressions was that the first few songs had a strong heavy modern rock sound in songs like Mission Statement, Digital (Did you Know), and Say You’ll Haunt Me.  Then they went into something pretty ballady in songs like “Dying”, “Hesitate,” “Imperfect” and then I was like whoa whoa whoa, I didn’t wanted something too balls in the walls, but I didn’t expect anything like these sappy ballads.  However, when real life experience happens, certain songs you heard had a better meaning than you initally thought it would be, and to me, that was the case regarding Dying.  It’s odd, but around that time, I was dealing with a rough time regarding a certain dynamic/relationship with a person and I didn’t know what I was thinking regarding that person.  Makes sense in these lyrics, “If I can't live without you. But I can't breathe when I'm with you. What are we really doing here?” and that was really all I was feeling around that time and it was not a pretty feeling to go through.  The other ballads had its place and I really appreciate them for what it was on multiple listens. 

After Hesitate, the heaviness and the stuff that I love about alternative metal really kicked in gear once again, especially with Pieces which was to me, probably the strongest song of the album for me.  The drums in that intro verse has me anticipating for something strong and it certainly delivered.  I also liked it when Corey Taylor was switching from very clean and audible vocals into an effect that seems a bit muffled? during the verses.

Overall, I’m glad that there is a band like Stone Sour around for a vocalist like Corey Taylor.  If his only band was Slipknot, I probably would have casted him aside and I probably would not appreciate the range of emotions that he brings to the table regarding his vocal work and Audio Secrecy showcased that range well.  The guitar work between Josh Rand and Jim Root was strong as well.

Favorites: Mission Statement, Dying, Unfinished, Pieces, and The Bitter End

Offline Train of Naught

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Re: Anguyen's Top 50 Albums v. #44: Say you want to stay, you want me to.
« Reply #48 on: February 22, 2016, 06:34:49 AM »
Awesome update! I don't think Stone Sour is ever being mentioned around here with the exception of The House of Gold and Bones. For me personally, my favorite songs are scattered around all the albums so I never had a standout Stone Sour album, but Come Whatever May and House of Gold and Bones are probably my favorites if I had to pick. 30-30-150 is just :metal

I have to say I still prefer Corey on Slipknot, not even the full-out agressive Corey most people associate the band with, some of the most beautiful and heartbreaking songs in my library are from Slipknot.
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Offline mikeyd23

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Re: Anguyen's Top 50 Albums v. #44: Say you want to stay, you want me to.
« Reply #49 on: February 22, 2016, 07:52:35 AM »
Just catching up....

World on Fire is a great modern rock n roll record. Pretty much anything Myles Kennedy works on is an automatic buy for me, and I have really enjoyed consistently playing World on Fire since it came out.

Led Zep IV is a classic, period. Not much else to add.


Diggin the list man, keep them coming!

Offline Anguyen92

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Re: Anguyen's Top 50 Albums v. #43: Now you're fallen, fallen, fallen.
« Reply #50 on: February 22, 2016, 10:17:12 PM »
Again, sorry for not posting a morning album update.  The usual "school is hammering my ass at the moment," excuse applies here.  At this point, I do not know if I can guarantee two album write-up posts a day with the way the week's schedule is piling up on me, but I'll try to post when I can, and I will guarantee I will finish this album list within a month or so.  Anyway, let's move forward with this one.

43. Stryper - Fallen (2015)



Christian metal, Christian rock, hard rock, glam metal, power metal.

Let’s see, when was the first time I heard about Stryper?  Well, it all started when I was reading Chris Jericho’s first autobiography, "A Lion’s Tale: Traveling Around the World in Spandex," and aside from Jericho listening to the heavy metal bands like Metallica, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, etc. in his youth, he wondered what the sounds of Christian metal was like and whether it stacks up well with the classic bands.  Well, he was right regarding Stryper.  In fact, Stryper was technically an influence on him training as a professional wrestler as one of his first ideas for a wrestling gimmick is that he would be named Christian Chris Irvine and he goes around to the ring throwing bibles at people in the crowds (Stryper is known for throwing bibles to the crowd).  Yeeesh, the internet writers would have a field day with this one if there is any aspiring wrestler out there that has a gimmick of throwing bibles to the crowds and have Christian tones.  All right, all right, even though, the gimmick idea was stupid, Jericho decided to honor Stryper in a different way, by deciding to incorporate the black and yellow patterns that Stryper used in their clothes for his wrestling attire.  I believe he manage to get a wrestler friend’s mom, whose did his outfit, and make Jericho some wrestling tights that had Stryper colors.

All right, now that I bored you with that “pointless” story, fast-forward to 2013.  Jericho decided to plug Stryper vocalist, Michael Sweet’s solo song, The Cause, around September.  I took a listen to it, sent a tweet to Jericho on Twitter that states that this song rocks, and then all of a sudden, Michael Sweet gave me a follow.  I don’t know why, but he did.  So, since he gave me a follow, I might as well give a courtesy follow and check out Stryper’s latest album, at the time, No More Hell To Pay. When I heard it, that was a kick-ass classic metal sounding album built in modern times, with powerful vocals, kick-ass duel guitar work, and with them being a glam and Christian band, some sappy ballads, but at least these ballads had a lot of power to it in my view.  Afterwards, I thought, that was a good album.  I guess I’ll somewhat keep a look-out for them during the times they are going to have new material.

Flash-forward to 2015, I heard word that Stryper was going to do a track with Sevendust (more on that band later) guitarist, Clint Lowery for their next album, and the previews I heard from it sounded like Alter Bridge’s Cry of Achilles (more on that song and album that is on later) and had this epic feel to it.  So that got me excited in anticipation for they have to offer and that album was Fallen.  Now, I think they went another level higher in the heaviness for Fallen than in No More Hell to Pay and, in this case, it was for the better since they still retained a melodic sound, their Christian tone and talking about Jesus lyrics, and showcased Michael Sweet’s vocals excellently.  Yahweh showcased a more heavier, epic-feeling to it.  The title track was excellent and Sweet’s vocal delivery when he sings the chorus, “Now you're fallen, fallen, fallen. The end is calling, calling, fallen” was superb.  The track, Heaven, to me showed a solid Iron Maiden-vibe in the opening riff for some reason.  I'm not complaining about it though.  Then they went all Aerosmith-balladly with All Over Again, but they managed to deliver well on this one.  Then, I heard After Forever.  It was a cover of Black Sabbath’s song.  I wouldn't think Stryper would play a Black Sabbath song, but they killed it playing "Heaven and Hell" on their Covering album and it all kicks all sorts of ass anyway.  The album ended with King of Kings and with a title called King of Kings, it better be bad-ass sounding and it was.

Stryper delivered a solid album in Fallen that outdid their previous album, No More Hell to Pay, which was good already.  To me, it sounded like a classic metal album sound.  They went heavier, did not go too overboard with the sappy power ballads, the solos were stronger, and Sweet going in his 50s was sounding great.  Overall, I don’t know where people get the connotations that people playing Christian rock/metal music are wusses and do not know what it is like to be heavy, because Stryper has rocked hard and heavy as much of the classic metal bands, probably even better than the best of them in today’s age (with one exception, but I’ll get to those guys, eventually, in this list.)

Favorites: Yahweh, Fallen, Heaven, After Forever, and King of Kings



Offline sneakyblueberry

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Re: Anguyen's Top 50 Albums v. #43: Now you're fallen, fallen, fallen.
« Reply #51 on: February 23, 2016, 01:20:51 AM »
I used to love To Hell With The Devil when I was a kid, there were some killer tunes on that - I will have to check this out. 

Online wolfking

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Re: Anguyen's Top 50 Albums v. #43: Now you're fallen, fallen, fallen.
« Reply #52 on: February 23, 2016, 04:46:51 AM »
That's my fav Stone Sour album up there.  Just missed my 50.

That Stryper was a nice surprise last year, great album.
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Offline Anguyen92

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Continuing onward.

42. Geddy Lee – My Favorite Headache (2000)



Progressive rock, alternative rock, hard rock

So we now move on to My Favorite Headache, the solo album of Rush bassist, Geddy Lee.  I first heard this album when DTF was doing the Rush discography thread, took a listen to it, decided this is better than Test for Echo, and I liked Test for Echo.  Anywho, the events that occurred before the album was out are this.  After Rush finished their Test For Echo tour in 1997, tragedy stuck to Neil Peart as his daughter passed away due to a car accident and then his wife passed away, a year later, never really overcame the shock of her daughter’s passing.  During these events that most people would most likely never overcome in their life, Neil decided to take a long road trip across Canada and the nice roads of the West Coast of the states and other places and reflect on the "now what?" parts of life. Therefore, Rush was on their hiatus where they did not do anything Rush-related for about three years.  However, in 2000, Geddy Lee came out with this album, My Favorite Headache.

When listening to the album, I would like to think some of these musical ideas were something Geddy had in mind for the next Rush album after Test For Echo, but I think this solo album was for the best for numerous reasons.  One thing, Rush was inactive and if Geddy had ideas lying about, then he should strike while the iron was hot.  Another thing, at that point, Rush was rolling for 20+ years and it was quite clear that around the 90s, they pretty much were in a state of spinning its wheels around.  Most people found Test For Echo to be pretty bland for Rush standards.  I don’t mind it, but I can see what people mean about it.
 
For Geddy, this solo album gives him a chance to get outside of working with his Rush bandmates, Alex and Neil, and have a different perspective to work with.  For this album, he had Ben Mink on the guitars, a friend of Rush who is known for doing the electric violin on the song, Losing It.  He also had Matt Cameron of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden on the drums.  Sure, these guys are not Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart level of their craft, but I do not think they are no slouches as evident on My Favorite Headache.  The album starts off strong on the title track, with the bassline, and leads to a journey of the unknown with the lyric line, “One Man Standing On The Plains Of Abraham. Watching A Damaged Sunrise. One Man Standing Near The Edge. Of A Quiet Breakdown” and leads people to something different when the tempo shifts during the lyrics “Just Between The Ice Ages Anyway. I Want To Talk But I Haven't Got. Too Much To Say. I Don't Mean To Be So Nihilistic. Forgive Me If I Seem To Be Too Realistic,” before going back to a sense of paranoia tempo.

Working on Perfeckt was a very dramatic sounding that incorporated electronic elements and had strings.  The Angel’s Share is one of those tracks that that grabs me immediately and definitely had one of the more alternative rock vibe and the chorus just grabs me, “If We Are Only Members Of The Human Race . No Supernatural Beings. From A Supranatural Place. If You Can't Solve The Problem. Come And Tell Me To My Face.”  On another note, the outro solo was one of the finer moments of Mink on the guitar.  Home on the Strange had one of the more groovier sounding stuff that I heard, I think pretty similar to something like Roll the Bones (the song).

The last three tracks though was one of the better runs to close the album, I’ve have ever heard, and I think it all connects with each other well.  Slipping utilizes the piano great and the lyrics was solid highlighting the things that people have gone through in life and admitting about a person's faults and in spite of their best intentions, the person screws up and want something to change things for the better.  Still was one of those ballads that makes you think and gives you hope that the next day will be better from the last day.  Whereas Slippinggets a person to admit their faults and downfalls, Still was the transition where you find the realization that hope is still out there and you just got to keep going.  The album ends with probably my favorite track from the album, Grace to Grace.  A high-energy song that talks about despite a person's faults and horrible experiences, one can find the way to experience these events and still be able to present themselves with as much grace and beauty and composure as possible in the aftermath, and coming out feeling alive.

Even though this was the only album that any of the members of Rush made during their hiatus, from what I can tell, I like to think My Favorite Headache was a great album to hear.  Geddy looked very on with this one and seemed to look rejuvenated during the hiatus, which bold well for the guys in Rush, as they were approaching their next era of Rush, and what an era it was going to be that seemed to have just has much meaning as their 1st 20-25 years of their lineup.

Favorite: Working at Perfeckt, The Angel’s Share, Slipping, Still, and Grace to Grace

Offline Anguyen92

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Hurrah!  I can get an album write-up in this morning!

41. Chris Cornell – Higher Truth (2015)



Rock

Well, in recent times, I’ve been digging the living hell out of Chris Cornell's work where now I have placed him in my top five vocalists.  Of course, I have heard of him through his big Soundgarden tracks and some Audioslave tracks.  So when I hear the idea of him doing a solo album and it was going to incorporate acoustic elements and whatnot, I was instantly like, “Sign me up for it, baby.”  However, some people were still skeptic of what he was going to do after the debacle that was his Scream album.  I found the Scream album all right, but the biggest flaw from that album was that the role he was in and the musical styles incorporated just did not fit Chris Cornell well.  The elements in that album may have been suitable for a style like Timbaland or Justin Timberlake (nothing wrong with those guys), but a guy with the vocal powers of Chris Cornell just did not gel well.

Thankfully, Higher Truth immediately wiped away any of those skeptisms.  It did not sound anything like Soundgarden or Audioslave, but the vibe totally fit Chris Cornell.  Take the track, Nearly Forgotten My Broken Heart.  It incorporated all sorts of worldly instruments like a mandolin and having a folky vibe.  I first heard and I was like, “Yes, I shall listen to this album, please.”  Dead Wishes was one of those acoustic ballads that just keeps captivating me.  Before We Disappear, to me, was one of those songs that gets me thinking about life and, sure on 1st impressions, it sounded like a pop-ish acoustic track that gets people clapping on beat, but it sounds so authentic.  One of my favorite tracks was Josephine and, to me, that track was the essence of great acoustic Chris Cornell is.  The voice, the lyrics, it incorporated strings, and I think it was like a love confession and outright honesty.  Murderer of Blue Skies is also another good favorite from me as well.

Overall, sure, this album is not ground-breaking or anything, but at his early 50s, and numerous accolades and being in two big bands, Chris Cornell did whatever he wanted for his solo album, and it was at his best in an intimate setting so I'm happy with hearing Higher Truth.

Favorites: Nearly Forgotten My Broken Heart, Before We Disappear, Josephine, Murderer on Blue Skies, and Misery Chain

Offline Anguyen92

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Re: Anguyen's Top 50 Albums v. #40: Living on a lighted stage.
« Reply #55 on: February 24, 2016, 08:33:03 PM »
All right, enough of the solo albums write-ups for now.  Time for something a little more classic and known in these parts.

40. Rush – Moving Pictures (1981)



Progressive rock, hard rock

All right, now we move on towards, probably, my favorite acclaimed classic rock album of all-time, Moving Pictures and, to do that, I'll like to take the time to tell you guys how I got into Rush.  Oddly enough, the 1st time I heard a Rush song was when they did the cover of Summertime Blues as it was the theme song of the WWE PPV, Summerslam 2004.  My first impression of that song that the vocalist was weird, but it was a good song about yearning to get summertime feeling going that had a killer instrumental ending, and I thought that Rush was a decent band, although it’s going to be one of those bands that I’m probably never going to hear from ever again.  I was so wrong about that.

Flash-forward to late 2012, and the music channel that I just got into, Palladia, was doing a big rock marathon during Thanksgiving weekend and I was like, “Cool. I’m going to watch as many documentaries and concerts as possible and have a good time doing it.”  Two documentary/concert stood out to me above all else.  It was Rush’s Beyond the Lighted Stage and the Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland concert.  After watching the Time Machine concert, I was like, "Man, for a bunch of old guys, they played really well, despite the vocals sounding weird.”  Then I watched Beyond the Lighted Stage and heard the story of the ups and downs of Rush during their lengthy careers and found myself rooting for these guys to succeed as they talked about all of their eras and ended up to the point where they are one of the most revered bands of all time with the same line-up going on for 40 years.  I would like to think that their overall story is what got me really into Rush.  With that stated, since I mentioned the Time Machine tour, the main attraction for the show was this, playing their biggest album, Moving Pictures, in its entirety.  Now I’ll talk about the album.

Well, there’s not much to say anything different that others said before.  The 1st side of Moving Pictures are basically must-listen essentials when getting into Rush: Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, YYZ, and Limelight.  I particularly enjoyed Limelight from the bunch, cited that this is my favorite Rush hit ever, with that intro and the lyrics talking about having to deal with the success of being a rock superstar and dealing with the attention from the public, and how it could affect one's personal life.  The opening lines just sold it for me, “Living on a lighted stage. Approaches the unreal. For those who think and feel. In touch with some reality. Beyond the gilded cage.”

The other side of the disc is all right stuff.  I’m not too keen on The Camera Eye, but it was still a solid song and still has historical value as it was the last Rush song up to this point that crossed the 10+ min. mark.  Witch Hunt was ok with its opening and hearing the angry mob.  I enjoyed Vital Signs the most from that side.  I enjoyed the reggae vibe and the synths so it was a good closer for me.

Well, yep.  Moving Pictures.  Great Rush album.  Most recognizable.  Cemented their legacy, even though they still keep going to churning out solid stuff till the now.  Go listen to it if you hadn’t.

Favorites: All of the 1st side and Vital Signs are the really great tracks to me.

Offline Sacul

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Re: Anguyen's Top 50 Albums v. #40: Living on a lighted stage.
« Reply #56 on: February 24, 2016, 08:36:25 PM »
Only a bit familiar with Soundgarden but enough to know Cornell is a beast of a singer, so I'm noting that album  :metal

I'm not really into Rush, but YYZ is amazing.

Offline Tomislav95

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Re: Anguyen's Top 50 Albums v. #40: Living on a lighted stage.
« Reply #57 on: February 25, 2016, 01:29:21 AM »
Finally something I'm familiar with. Moving Pictures is great album but I like few their albums better.
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Offline mikeyd23

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Re: Anguyen's Top 50 Albums v. #40: Living on a lighted stage.
« Reply #58 on: February 25, 2016, 06:53:45 AM »
Moving Pictures is such a great record, good pick!

Offline Anguyen92

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Re: Anguyen's Top 50 Albums v. #39: When Angels Fall on broken wings.
« Reply #59 on: February 25, 2016, 11:12:24 PM »
And so the journey continues after getting out of the 40s.

39. Breaking Benjamin – Dark Before Dawn (2015)



Hard rock, alternative metal, post-grunge

All right, I’m going to talk about Breaking Benjamin’s latest album now.  Well, the first time I heard Breaking Benjamin was during my radio phase, and I heard The Diary of Jane.  I dig the sound, I dig Benjamin Burnley’s voice, I dig the lyrics.  Probably, it was one of the better mainstay modern radio rock songs I have heard.  In fact, during my superstitious ways, I think I played that song at least once a day before the hockey games where the Los Angeles Kings took on the New Jersey Devils in the Stanley Cup.

Flash-forward to 2015, a couple of people at the Alter Bridge Nation forums, I go to, were discussing the latest Breaking Benjamin songs that came out like Failure, Angels Fall, and Defeated and I took a listen to all of it, and I rather enjoyed it a lot better than I thought I would, so much that I considered giving the album a listen.

So I took a listen to Dark Before Dawn, and it was their first album released in 6 years, as Ben Burnley was having some legal matters to be taken care of regarding the name, Breaking Benjamin, as his bandmates sent some tracks to their record label to put on their compilation album, Shallow Bay, that he did not approve of, which lead to one big mess, which caused the whole line-up other than Ben Burnley to change.  Nevertheless, Dark Before Dawn was out and after I heard it, I was like, “Wow.  This is the album sound that I really want in my alternative metal radio bands, nowadays.”  To most people, they thought it sounded like a standard Breaking Benjamin album and, honestly, they were right.  That stated, a standard Breaking Benjamin album is what the band needed to reintroduce themselves and what I wanted to hear out of them and I think the public reception validated this album being received well as it hit #1 on the Billboard 200, sold more copies in their 1st week than their last album, and got some songs at #1 on active rock, cementing the fact that Breaking Benjamin is back and I'm glad they are.

So, onward to the album content, we start off with Dark, which was a small brief two minutes intro.  It was similar to a short intro that they incorporated with their biggest album, Phobia, which was called Intro.  Anyway, Dark set the tone for the album before leading to their next track, Failure.  I guess the best way to describe Failure is that it is along the veins of The Diary of Jane.  I do not know if the decision to make the song that way deliberate or as a way to reintroduce the band, but hey, I love the Diary of Jane so this was an easy winner of a song.  Angel’s Fall was really good, was very upbeat, loved the chorus.  Was one of the stronger songs of the album, to me.  Close to Heaven had this Alice in Chains vibe to it, I like to think.  The album then had a solid four song run that I really dig in Never Again, The Great Divide, Ashes of Eden, and Defeated.  Ashes of Eden was a touching ballad although I was waiting for something to take it to a crescendo, I guess. Defeated was probably one of the better “never give up, fight until the end,” sort of song I like.  The chorus just keep playing in my head a lot throughout last year. "As I fight for one last prayer. I keep holding on. No love to believe in. As I drag the Devil down. I will stand alone. No longer defeated."  Finally, the album ended with Dawn, another short instrumental song to close the album, similar to how Phobia ended with Outro.

Overall, I was happy to listen to this album.  I’m sure not a lot of people care too much about Breaking Benjamin in these parts.  I’m just thinking to myself, how could I have not dug any more deeper into this band, sooner?  They seem to have a sound that I really desire in my modern rock, alternative metal palate, nowadays, and, in times, where Three Days Grace's latest album was just so blah to me and Shinedown went probably a tad too overboard with a poppy sound in their latest album, Breaking Benjamin delivered an album that I really desired in times like these.  Dark Before Dawn was a good way to reintroduce Breaking Benjamin back to the rock world and I hope they keep going.

Favorites: Angels Fall, Hollow, Never Again, The Great Divide, Defeated
« Last Edit: February 25, 2016, 11:17:44 PM by Anguyen92 »

Offline Anguyen92

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Re: Anguyen's Top 50 Albums v. #38: Left to face this alone.
« Reply #60 on: February 26, 2016, 03:34:17 PM »
All right, it's go time.  This is going to be a lengthy write-up.

38. Alter Bridge – AB III (2010)



Alternative metal, hard rock, post-grunge.

All righty, then, we now move on to talk about the first Alter Bridge album on this list.  It is the ever-so polarizing among the fanbase, AB III.  What makes this album pretty polarizing?  Well, let’s go into some detail here.  No wait, that would take too long.  To sum it up, the year was around late 2009 – early 2010.  Creed reunited, GNR guitarist Slash wanted Myles Kennedy to sing lead vocals for his solo band, so where does that leave Alter Bridge?  Hard to say at the time.  Thankfully, Mark Tremonti, Myles Kennedy, Scott Phillips, and Brian Marshall assured us that Alter Bridge was going to release a 3rd album and out comes AB III.

Coming off the backs of their best album, at that point, maybe ever (hard to say), in the form of Blackbird, the follow-up sure does have a lot to live up to.  In the fans’ eyes, did it live up to the hype?  I want to say, not initially.  I don’t know what was up in the air around that period, but I can easily say when I first heard AB III, I was a bit disappointed.  I don’t know why.  Maybe it was because they didn’t have a near 8 min. song like Blackbird in AB III?  Maybe, them releasing their ending track, Words Darker Than Their Wings, as a free download ruined the album listening experience?  Maybe, there was too many radio-structured songs in the middle portion of the album thus had an ebb and flow to it where having the album be 66 min. and 14 songs didn't benefit the album but rather made it weaker?  Whatever the case, it was certainly a polarizing album for AB at the time.

However, looking back at the album now in 2016, I can appreciate it for what it is which is just another well-crafted album, didn’t top their last album though, from my favorite band that a lot of meaningful songs to me.  AB III, as the band described it, was kind of a loose concept album.  They structured it depicting a tale of a guy that was going into the lowest point of his life, trying to find meaning and, in 2011, I can relate to the story, because I felt like the guy that they were depicting, and it was not an easy feeling to go through at the time.

The album started off with Slip to the Void, a track that started off with some keyboard programming for 1:30 with Myles singing about the guy that has slipped so hard, to a point where he may not get back up, and the great kicker about that song was after that intro, the song kicked into high-gear and pretty much never looked back from here with a powerful chorus.  “Left to face this alone. Left to die with nothing you can own. Left to break in the cold. In the void that you made. The moment you let love go.”  The scary part about that song is that they kept kicking butt during the bridge verses with some awesome guitar licks into between words before going back to the awesome chorus, setting the tone really strong for the album (which sadly the album really couldn’t handle for the most part).

Then comes Isolation, the first single of the album, and I think it was a strong choice.  This song represents the high-energy single that they probably wanted to get out first as oppose to the more mid-tempo like (Open Your Eyes, Rise Today) songs in prior singles.  This was their biggest song in terms of mainstream rock radio media as the track hit #1 in active rock, first time they were able to do so, and got a guest appearance on Jay Leno.  To sum it up, despite the whole Creed reunion and Myles with Slash, this song represents that Alter Bridge is back, baby.

Ghost of Days Gone By was next, and yeah, it had some poppy flair to it which lyrics that hit me hard about yearning to go back to a time where things were well in life, and it seem way too poppy for an AB song, at the time, and then there was a shift during the bridge, when Myles sang “I don’t wanna DIEEEEEEEE!!!!!,” where all of a sudden the song got darker and darker which sets well to All Hope Is Gone.  To me, that song had this interesting pirate/medieval vibe with a very extensive instrumental bridge and another solid Mark Tremonti solo.

Show Me A Sign was probably their darkest and most broody song ever.  Clocking at 6 min., it was the longest song of the album and I think they had one of the more better bridge structures they had with the instrumental part, then a solo, then a bridge verse, and then they had this voice changing thing that sounded like Myles was a demon or something and a great closer.

Fallout was probably my favorite song from this album.  Had bit of a bluesy vibe in the pre-verses.  I think this is an example of an Alter Bridge style-song with regarding their usual structure done right.  I enjoyed the lyrics in the bridge a lot “He left behind, he's walking, a burning still he tries to unearth the meaning to this life. Cast aside, he's weary, a bleeding to behold. Disconnected, still he fights to belong.”  Also once again, Mark delivered another tremendous ending solo.

Coeur D’Alene was one of more deeper songs for the band.  Myles, being from Spokane, Washington, which was somewhat close to the lake, seemed very inspired when creating this song.  It was dark, it was yearning for some hope.  It’s all good.

Then comes out Life Must Go On.  Another one of my favorite tracks.  Sure, after the guitar intro when the drum kicks in, it sounded familiar to Creed’s My Sacrifice.  As I stated earlier with Geddy Lee’s Still, I like these sorts of songs that gives you hope to carry on with life, in light of all the wrong that has been experienced, and that we may find some form of light at the end of the tunnel.
 
Words Darker Than Their Wings is the closing track of this really long album for Alter Bridge.  It plays off as a conversation of the guy of the story, sang by Myles, talking with a friend of his regarding everything that has happened.  To make this work, we had another guy on the vocals.  For the 1st time ever, Mark Tremonti stepped up and did some lead vocals and, I think, while it was weird at first, he did well which may have give him enough inspiration to go ahead and do a solo band with him on lead vocals (more on that later).  The song was strong, obviously Myles and Mark’s voice molded well which Myles hitting probably his highest high note ever (legend has it that one of the reasons why they do not want to play this track live is that Myles is afraid he might blow his voice out trying to hit that note) and ended the album on a good note.

Well, after that long write-up, I think it’s safe to say that AB III was a damn good album for me.  Just not as good as the other albums I will talk about in this list, but this album still has done good for them.  After getting themselves on :soon: in areas outside of the US, they were finally able to get good promotion as themselves which help grew a bigger fanbase and got themselves playing in bigger venues than before, including arenas in the UK.  In the US, they got a #1 single for the first time.

Anyway,  AB III. Good album.  Helped further establish the band’s own identify and presence in this unpredictable music industry.

Favorites: Slip to the Void, Ghost of Days Gone By, Show Me A Sign, Fallout, and Life Must Go On

Offline Anguyen92

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Thankfully, this write-up won't be as long as the other write-up.

37. Trust Company - Dreaming In Black and White (2011)



Alternative metal, hard rock, and post-grunge.

All right, Trust Company.  Another band I got into via the WWE.  Heard their songs, Falling Apart and Downfall through PPV events.  At one point, they took a break after two albums that had some decent songs and came back around 2010-2011 with this album.

I guess to describe their style, they do incorporate some nu-metal tendencies, similar I would like to think the kind that people associates Linkin Park with and got some well-placed screams, I would like to think.  That's probably the only comparison I can make with regarding the lead vocals of Trust Company.  I think you can classify these guys under bands like Saliva or Drowning Pool and the likes where they got a good sound, and some good songs, but nothing that really took them the big time when the Nu-Metal era was over.

The lead single was Heart in My Hands, a type of song that would describes a relationship and how a person would be attracted over that person with everything they do, I guess, and how they have their heart or something.  Almost There reminds me on how we are chasing a holy grail, a prize, something like that, and how we just keep getting closer.  Liked the solo in it.  Stumbling is a ballad about finding comfort in a person, late at night, maybe lying down on each other's shoulder and all of that warmth and corny stuff.  I don't mind it.  Reverse and Remember, Dreaming in Black and White, and Skies Will Burn are probably more of the high-energy stuff from the album.  The album ends with the song Don't Say Goodbye which is about, obviously, a song that states that someone just do not want to say goodbye to another person that they adore and they do not want that person out of their life.

Overall, I can't quite describe in good detail how good this album is in comparison to the AB III write-up, but as I keep having the time to listen to this album, there's just a lot of fun songs in there to listen to.  Guitar work is fine.  Lyrics may have too much to do with relationships, but I like it and the vocals are not as annoying as Linkin Park's Chester Bennington.

Favorites: Almost There, Alone Again, Dreaming in Black and White, Skies Will Burn, and Heart in My Hands
« Last Edit: February 26, 2016, 11:25:52 PM by Anguyen92 »

Offline Sacul

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AB III i s the only AB album I have left to check  :metal

Offline ThatOneGuy2112

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I remember being into Breaking Benjamin way back when but teetered off even before all their legal issues, so I didn't even know they had a new one out. :lol

I might give it a shot, but I'm not so sure they'll appeal to me as much anymore.

Offline Train of Naught

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For some reason Breaking Benjamin always had the alternative elements that I didn't like about alternative metal, I never knew why, never will, just not my kind of thing I guess.

AB3 is great of course, but I rarely find myself listening to the whole album nowadays, Slip to the Void though, it has everything I love about Myles, the first verse and first chorus together is my favorite AB moment ever.
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Offline Accelerando

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Catching up!

- Led Zeppelin IV is such a classic. It has the best of Zeppelin, from the blues to the experimental, and all around great musicianship from all four members. When The Levee Breaks is their opus, even though they didn't originally write it. They reworked that song to perfection.

- I also had a hard time getting behind Geddy Lee's vocals, and probably why for so long I didn't get into Rush. But like you, I couldn't have been more wrong. Their music is fantastic, and I love Moving Pictures. Unfortunately for me, whenever I hear The Camera Eye, I think back to a horrible break up experience with an ex of mine, and this song was playing. Long story  :-X

- I didn't get into Breaking Benjamin when they first came out, but the more stuff I hear from them, the more I like them.

- I've said many times, some of the best musical moments in all of Alter Bridge's catalogue are in AB III. I fucking love All Hope Is Gone, and it's straight up a rock n roll pirate shanty, through and through. I think of Captain Jack Sparrow sailing on the Black Pearl when I hear it. That bridge is just solid gold. Isolation has one of the grooviest riffs of the past 5 years that's so fucking  :metal The one thing that I think hurts AB III that it has two or three songs too many. Also, there are few B-Side tracks like Home and Never Born To Follow that love more than some of the songs that made the final cut. All and all, it's a very good album.

Offline Anguyen92

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Re: Anguyen's Top 50 Albums v. #36: Spoonman, come together with your hands.
« Reply #66 on: February 27, 2016, 09:48:07 PM »
Thanks for the responses, guys.  Let's continue on then, shall we?

36. Soundgarden - Superunknown (1994)



Hard rock, Heavy metal, Alternative Metal.

All righty, now we move on Soundgarden.  As I stated earlier, I have gotten to appreciate Chris Cornell's vocal work in his big acts, in recent times, to the point where now he is in my top five vocalists of all time and his voice shines best during Soundgarden's peak and this album, Superunknown, was probably their peak.

I, first, heard of Soundgarden, during my radio phase, hearing their staple radio tracks: Spoonman, Black Hole Sun, Outshined.  The one song that sealed the deal, though, getting into them was Burden in My Hand.  So, going into 2014, I heard word that they were going to play Superunknown, in its entirety, in honor of its 20th anniversary of it being out, in a live stream for SXSW Music.  I watched the stream, was blown away with their performance which led to me to listen to the studio album and it was still good.

The main singles of the album were Spoonman, The Day I tried to Live, and Black Hole Sun.  I'm not as keen on Black Hole Sun for some reason, but Spoonman and The Day I Tried to Live were top-notch singles.  I enjoyed the fact that they incorporated actual spoons in the bridge of Spoonman.  As for the overall album tone, it was as good as blend of the Black Sabbath meets Led Zeppelin vibe as it can be with the album having dark tones in their sound and lyrics with Cornell's voice.

The non-single tracks are good as well.  Head Down, for some reason, reminds me of Burden in My Hands.  I don't know why, it just does.  Limo Wreck sounds cool.  Fresh Tendrils was great, especially with the "Long-time coming" parts.  Like Suicide is probably my favorite song from the album.  Clocking in at 7 min. and worked a very subtle style, great build-up, pretty depressing lyrics though, didn't go too crazy at all with the high-energy bits, and had a great solo in the end. 

Soundgarden, at the height of the grunge scene, didn't seem to compromise at all with watering down their style to accommodate new radio listeners and instead did that album that they want to make which so happened that it hit #1 on the Billboard 200 with Superunknown.  Lots of good songs, some of them mainstays on rock radio, and the album cemented their place as one of the more better bands of our time.

Favorites: Spoonman, The Day I Tried to Live, Fresh Tendrils, Limo Wreck, and Like Suicide

Offline Sacul

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Re: Anguyen's Top 50 Albums v. #36: Spoonman, come together with your hands.
« Reply #67 on: February 27, 2016, 09:52:29 PM »
I'm not very familiar with the album, but I know the title track is fantastic  :metal

Offline sneakyblueberry

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Re: Anguyen's Top 50 Albums v. #36: Spoonman, come together with your hands.
« Reply #68 on: February 28, 2016, 01:17:39 AM »
stellar album.  the only track I never dug was the title track, but even that's still killer, there are just some amazing songs all through the album.

Offline Train of Naught

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Re: Anguyen's Top 50 Albums v. #36: Spoonman, come together with your hands.
« Reply #69 on: February 28, 2016, 02:21:52 AM »
Great, great album, it's a lot of fun to listen to and it just barely got cut from my own top 50.

Though your favorite songs are almost entirely opposite of mine  :lol only Spoonman is among my favorites out of those.
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