Some stunning albums (and Rudebox :o ).

 

Surprised Portishead's Dummy and Goldfrapp's Felt Mountain are so far down the pile, though... and Actually is one of my least fave Pet Shop Boys albums.... also, no mention of ABBA's The Visitos, Yazo's Upstairs at Erics, Associates, Siousxie and the Banshees... but a hugely interesting thread all the same... great stuff.

27 Kate Bush - Aerial (2005)

 

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"Sunset" has Bush approaching jazz, but it doesn't swing so much as it engages the form. Her voice digging into her piano alternates between lower-register enunciation and a near falsetto in the choruses. There is a sense of utter fascination with the world as it moves toward darkness, and the singer is enthralled as the sun climbs into bed, before it streams into "Sunset," a gorgeous flamenco guitar and percussion-driven call-and-response choral piece — it's literally enthralling. It is followed by a piece of evening called "Somewhere Between," in which lovers take in the beginning of night. As "Nocturne" commences, shadows, stars, the beach, and the ocean accompany two lovers who dive down deep into one another and the surf. Rhythms assert themselves as the divers go deeper and the band kicks up: funky electric guitars pulse along with the layers of keyboards, journeying until just before sunup. But it is on the title track that Bush gives listeners her greatest surprise. Dawn is breaking and she greets the day with a vengeance. Manic, crunchy guitars play power chords as sequencers and synths make the dynamics shift and swirl. In her higher register, Bush shouts, croons, and trills against and above the band's force.

 

Nothing much happens on Aerial except the passing of a day, as noted by the one who engages it in the process of being witnessed, yet it reveals much about the interior and natural worlds and expresses spiritual gratitude for everyday life. Musically, this is what listeners have come to expect from Bush at her best — a finely constructed set of songs that engage without regard for anything else happening in the world of pop music. There's no pushing of the envelope because there doesn't need to be. Aerial is rooted in Kate Bush's oeuvre, with grace, flair, elegance, and an obsessive, stubborn attention to detail. What gets created for the listener is an ordinary world, full of magic; it lies inside one's dwelling in overlooked and inhabited spaces, and outside, from the backyard and out through the gate into wonder.

 

King Of The Mountain video

 

Nocturn

 

How To Be Invisible

 

what a fantastic review... and Nocturn STILL sounds absolutely, drop-dead gorgeous... how she ever chose King of the Mountain over this, or Siunset, will always remain an utter mystery to me......

 

8 Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)

 

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The older I get, the better this album gets and the more it makes sense. Timeless (UK#2, USA#1).

 

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

5 Stars

 

By condensing the sonic explorations of Meddle to actual songs and adding a lush, immaculate production to their trippiest instrumental sections, Pink Floyd inadvertently designed their commercial breakthrough with Dark Side of the Moon. The primary revelation of Dark Side of the Moon is what a little focus does for the band. Roger Waters wrote a series of songs about mundane, everyday details which aren't that impressive by themselves, but when given the sonic backdrop of Floyd's slow, atmospheric soundscapes and carefully placed sound effects, they achieve an emotional resonance. But what gives the album true power is the subtly textured music, which evolves from ponderous, neo-psychedelic art rock to jazz fusion and blues-rock before turning back to psychedelia. It's dense with detail, but leisurely paced, creating its own dark, haunting world. Pink Floyd may have better albums than Dark Side of the Moon, but no other record defines them quite as well as this one.

 

Breathe/On The Run video

 

Money video

 

Us and Them video

 

Brain Damage (discussion & Roger Waters acoustic performance)

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7 U2 - Joshua Tree (1987)

 

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The sound of an Irish four-piece becoming the biggest Rock-Band inthe World (UK#1, USA#1).

 

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

5 Stars

 

Using the textured sonics of The Unforgettable Fire as a basis, U2 expanded those innovations by scaling back the songs to a personal setting and adding a grittier attack for its follow-up, The Joshua Tree. It's a move that returns them to the sweeping, anthemic rock of War, but if War was an exploding political bomb, The Joshua Tree is a journey through its aftermath, trying to find sense and hope in the desperation. That means that even the anthems — the epic opener "Where the Streets Have No Name," the yearning "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" — have seeds of doubt within their soaring choruses, and those fears take root throughout the album, whether it's in the mournful sliding acoustic guitars of "Running to Stand Still," the surging "One Tree Hill," or the hypnotic elegy "Mothers of the Disappeared." So it might seem a little ironic that U2 became superstars on the back of such a dark record, but their focus has never been clearer, nor has their music been catchier, than on The Joshua Tree. Unexpectedly, U2 have also tempered their textural post-punk with American influences. Not only are Bono's lyrics obsessed with America, but country and blues influences are heard throughout the record, and instead of using these as roots, they're used as ways to add texture to the music. With the uniformly excellent songs — only the clumsy, heavy rock and portentous lyrics of "Bullet the Blue Sky" fall flat — the result is a powerful, uncompromising record that became a hit due to its vision and its melody. Never before have U2's big messages sounded so direct and personal.

 

With Or Without You (Rattle & Hum version)

 

Where The Streets Have No Name (live 1988)

 

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For video

 

One Tree Hill (live 2006)

 

Running To Stand Still (live 1987)

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6 Smiths - The Queen Is Dead (1986)

 

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The perfect collaboration between Stephen Patrick Morrissey & Johnny Maher (Marr) (UK#2, USA#70).

 

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

5 Stars

 

Meat Is Murder may have been a holding pattern, but The Queen Is Dead is the Smiths' great leap forward, taking the band to new musical and lyrical heights. Opening with the storming title track, The Queen Is Dead is a harder-rocking record than anything the Smiths had attempted before, but that's only on a relative scale — although the backbeat is more pronounced, the group certainly doesn't rock in a conventional sense. Instead, Johnny Marr has created a dense web of guitars, alternating from the minor-key rush of "Bigmouth Strikes Again" and the faux rockabilly of "Vicar in a Tutu" to the bouncy acoustic pop of "Cemetry Gates" and "The Boy With the Thorn in His Side," as well as the lovely melancholy of "I Know It's Over" and "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out." And the rich musical bed provides Morrissey with the support for his finest set of lyrics. Shattering the myth that he is a self-pitying sap, Morrissey delivers a devastating set of clever, witty satires of British social mores, intellectualism, class, and even himself. He also crafts some of his finest, most affecting songs, particularly in the wistful "The Boy With the Thorn in His Side" and the epic "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out," two masterpieces that provide the foundation for a remarkable album.

 

The Queen Is Dead video

 

Bigmouth Strikes Again video

 

The Boy With The Thorn In His Side video

 

Frankly Mr Shankly (live 1985)

 

There Is A Light That Never Goes Out original video

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5 Radiohead - OK Computer (1997)

 

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The greatest and most inventive album of the 1990s (UK#1, USA#21).

 

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

5 Stars

 

Using the textured soundscapes of The Bends as a launching pad, Radiohead delivered another startlingly accomplished set of modern guitar rock with OK Computer. The anthemic guitar heroics present on Pablo Honey and even The Bends are nowhere to be heard here. Radiohead have stripped away many of the obvious elements of guitar rock, creating music that is subtle and textured yet still has the feeling of rock & roll. Even at its most adventurous — such as the complex, multi-segmented "Paranoid Android" — the band is tight, melodic, and muscular, and Thom Yorke's voice effortlessly shifts from a sweet falsetto to vicious snarls. It's a thoroughly astonishing demonstration of musical virtuosity and becomes even more impressive with repeated listens, which reveal subtleties like electronica rhythms, eerie keyboards, odd time signatures, and complex syncopations. Yet all of this would simply be showmanship if the songs weren't strong in themselves, and OK Computer is filled with moody masterpieces, from the shimmering "Subterranean Homesick Alien" and the sighing "Karma Police" to the gothic crawl of "Exit Music (For a Film)." OK Computer is the album that establishes Radiohead as one of the most inventive and rewarding guitar rock bands of the '90s.

 

Paranoid Android (live)

 

Karma Police video

 

No Surprises video

 

Airbag (later @ Jools Holland)

 

The Tourist (live)

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4 Led Zeppelin - IV (Four Symbols) 1971

 

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The best Rock album ever made, by the best Rock band that ever existed (UK#1, USA#2).

 

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

5 Stars

 

Encompassing heavy metal, folk, pure rock & roll, and blues, Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth album is a monolithic record, defining not only Led Zeppelin but the sound and style of '70s hard rock. Expanding on the breakthroughs of III, Zeppelin fuse their majestic hard rock with a mystical, rural English folk that gives the record an epic scope. Even at its most basic — the muscular, traditionalist "Rock and Roll" — the album has a grand sense of drama, which is only deepened by Robert Plant's burgeoning obsession with mythology, religion, and the occult. Plant's mysticism comes to a head on the eerie folk ballad "The Battle of Evermore," a mandolin-driven song with haunting vocals from Sandy Denny, and on the epic "Stairway to Heaven." Of all of Zeppelin's songs, "Stairway to Heaven" is the most famous, and not unjustly. Building from a simple fingerpicked acoustic guitar to a storming torrent of guitar riffs and solos, it encapsulates the entire album in one song. Which, of course, isn't discounting the rest of the album. "Going to California" is the group's best folk song, and the rockers are endlessly inventive, whether it's the complex, multi-layered "Black Dog," the pounding hippie satire "Misty Mountain Hop," or the funky riffs of "Four Sticks." But the closer, "When the Levee Breaks," is the one song truly equal to "Stairway," helping give IV the feeling of an epic. An apocalyptic slice of urban blues, "When the Levee Breaks" is as forceful and frightening as Zeppelin ever got, and its seismic rhythms and layered dynamics illustrate why none of their imitators could ever equal them.

 

Thanks to Warners removing a ton of Led Zeps' videos it is a struggle to find decent examples of the album.... :arrr:

 

Rock'n'Roll (live)

 

Page & Plant - Battle Of Evermore (live 1994)

 

Page, Plant & Jones - Misty Mountain Hop (live 1988 Atlantic Records Anniversary show)

 

Foo Fighters "Covering" - Stairway To Heaven :D

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3 The Beatles - Abbey Road (1969)

 

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The greatest pop band ever, saved their best work to last with this fantastically constructed album (UK#1, USA#1).

 

Review by Richie Unterberger

5 Stars

 

The last Beatles album to be recorded (although Let It Be was the last to be released), Abbey Road was a fitting swan song for the group, echoing some of the faux-conceptual forms of Sgt. Pepper, but featuring stronger compositions and more rock-oriented ensemble work. The group was still pushing forward in all facets of its art, whether devising some of the greatest harmonies to be heard on any rock record (especially on "Because"), constructing a medley of songs/vignettes that covered much of side two, adding subtle touches of Moog synthesizer, or crafting furious guitar-heavy rock ("The End," "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," "Come Together"). George Harrison also blossomed into a major songwriter, contributing the buoyant "Here Comes the Sun" and the supremely melodic ballad "Something," the latter of which became the first Harrison-penned Beatles hit. Whether Abbey Road is the Beatles' best work is debatable, but it's certainly the most immaculately produced (with the possible exception of Sgt. Pepper) and most tightly constructed.

 

Something video

 

John Lennon - Come Together (live 1972)

 

Here Comes The Sun video

 

Because video

 

Paul McCartney - Golden Slumbers/Carry The Weight/The End medley (live 1990)

 

 

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2 Kate Bush - Hounds Of Love (1985)

 

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An album that sounded timeless and out of this world in 1985, has just got better & better with time. Truly, truly wonderful, listen to this album and get swept away with the music and lyrics. (UK#1, USA#30) Kate, I want my compiliation DVD!!!

 

Review by Bruce Eder

5 Stars

 

Kate Bush's strongest album to date marked her breakthrough into the American charts, and yielded a set of dazzling videos. The material ranges from the sensual ("Hounds of Love," "Running up That Hill" — the latter one of the most sensual recordings ever made) to the mystical ("Hello Earth," "The Morning Fog"). This was also the first album produced by Bush entirely at her own home studio, and the results are spellbinding, the layered instruments recalling the Beatles at their most ornate, but also displaying an exquisite timbrel range, bringing out the richness of the individual instruments. [in 1997, as a part of EMI's 100th anniversary, Hounds of Love was reissued, augmented with a bunch of rare singles, B-sides, outtakes, and more from the same period.]

 

Running Up That Hill video

 

Cloudbusting video

 

The Hounds Of Love video

 

The Big Sky video

 

Hello Earth "video"

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1 David Bowie - Hunky Dory (1971)

 

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I bought this album when I was 16 back in 1987, and I doubt nothing I hear in the future will surpass David's finest album IMHO. It is apparently also Damon Albarn's (Blur/Gorillaz), Neil Hannon's (Divine Comedy), Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran) & Guy Chambers (ex-World Party/Lemon Trees, turned top songwriter with Robbie Williams, Melanie C, etc) all time favourite album as well (UK#3, USA#93).

 

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

5 Stars

 

After the freakish hard rock of The Man Who Sold the World, David Bowie returned to singer/songwriter territory on Hunky Dory. Not only did the album boast more folky songs ("Song for Bob Dylan," "The Bewlay Brothers"), but he again flirted with Anthony Newley-esque dancehall music ("Kooks," "Fill Your Heart"), seemingly leaving heavy metal behind. As a result, Hunky Dory is a kaleidoscopic array of pop styles, tied together only by Bowie's sense of vision: a sweeping, cinematic mélange of high and low art, ambiguous sexuality, kitsch, and class. Mick Ronson's guitar is pushed to the back, leaving Rick Wakeman's cabaret piano to dominate the sound of the album. The subdued support accentuates the depth of Bowie's material, whether it's the revamped Tin Pan Alley of "Changes," the Neil Young homage "Quicksand," the soaring "Life on Mars?," the rolling, vaguely homosexual anthem "Oh! You Pretty Things," or the dark acoustic rocker "Andy Warhol." On the surface, such a wide range of styles and sounds would make an album incoherent, but Bowie's improved songwriting and determined sense of style instead made Hunky Dory a touchstone for reinterpreting pop's traditions into fresh, postmodern pop music.

 

Life On Mars video

 

Changes (live 1976 Rehearsal)

 

Queen b**ch (live Old Grey Whistle Test)

 

Quicksand (live 1997 with Robert Smith (The Cure)

 

Oh You Pretty Things (live Old Grey Whistle Test)

 

Andy Warhol (1997 live)