No. 17

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/38/GunsnRosesUseYourIllusionII.jpg

 

Artist: Guns N' Roses

Album: Use Your Illusions II

Released: 1991

UK Chart Position: 1

Genre: Hard-Rock

 

Description: It is easy to forget just how big a band Guns N' Roses were in the early 1990s. The release of the two Illusions albums ranks up there with some of the most hyped releases of all time, with queues forming around street corners awaiting for record stores to open. On both sides of the Atlantic and in many countries around the world, the albums hit the top of the charts in positions 1 and 2 - it was UYI II that usually came out on top, thanks to the storming lead single 'You Could Be Mine', which was also featured prominently in Terminator 2. It was in many ways the end of an era from that point of view, as few albums would capture the public's imagination in such widescale fashion after it's release - and, equally importantly, it was also the last Guns N' Roses album recorded by the classic line-up of Axl, Slash, Izzy and Duff (Appetite for Destruction drummer Steven Adler had already been fired), and therefore for many fans, the swansong of classic Guns N' Roses. GNR fans remain fiercely divided even today on a 50/50 basis as to which was the better album. Generally speaking, the concensus is the UYI I is the 'harder' album, but features a great deal of filler, while UYI II is experimental and varied, with songs taking influences from blues, country, jazz, funk, and in the case of the album's utterly bizarre closing track, even hip-hop. But, for me, UYI II shows why Guns N' Roses were more than just a run-of-the-mill hard-rock band - there is real songwriting variety and talent here from all of the band's members. The blistering rock of 'You Could Be Mine' and 'Get In The Ring' showcase GNR at their vicious best, particularly Axl's verbal abuse of as many journalists as he could name in the latter song providing one of the albums most memorable, yet surreal, moments: "That means you Andy Sesher at Hit Parader, Mick Wall at Kerrang...what you pissed off because your Dad got more p*ssy than you?". Yet it is when GNR step outside their comfort zone that one really sees the songwriting talent that they had in abundance; from Izzy's Stradlin's blues ode '14 Years', to Slash's jazz influenced riffs in 'Locomotive', to the (arguably now definitive) cover of Knockin' On Heavens Door, to Axl's anti-war rallying call in 'Civil War', this album really offers something that was not found in Appetite From Destruction. We see a softer, dare I say it, emotional side to the 'most dangerous band in the world', but without sacrificing the quality songwriting that made them such a success in the first place. This is most obvious in 'Estranged', a 9 minute epic of piano, guitar and Axl's best ever vocal performance - indeed, it frequently tops GNR fan polls as their best ever song, and perhaps more than any other GNR track shows why Axl was just as indispensable to Slash, Izzy and Duff as they proved to be to him. Use Your Illusions II may not sound like 'classic' GNR all the time, yet it is indisputably one of the most varied and complex hard-rock albums ever released, with songs that appeal to a very broad spectrum of listeners.

No. 16

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8f/BHARCOVER.jpg

 

Artist: Muse

Album: Black Holes and Revelations

Released: July 2006

UK Chart Position: 1

Genre: Alternative Rock/Progressive Rock

 

Description: When I first started this thread, one of my Top 40 albums was Muse's Origin Of Symmetry, an album which I described as their best. Yet as months passed, my mind began to change...for me, this is Muse's finest hour. The main reason is that Matt Bellamy is on fire on each and every one of these tracks, with outstanding riffs and technical virtuosity. From the tapping solo in Invincible to the spaced out riffs of Map of the Problematique, this is perhaps the one album where the guitar really takes centre-stage. Of course, you can't talk about this album without mentioning Knights Of Cydonia, almost unquestionably a 21st century rock masterpiece that straddles an invisible line somewhere inbetween Queen, Pink Floyd and Metallica. BHAR undoubtedly divided Muse fans, in a similar way to Metallica's Black album, but I sit on the side of the fence that says while it was different, it was still bloody good. It is stadium rock at it's best, and I have no doubt that decades from now, rock fans will still be discovering and rediscovering this excellent album.

Black Holes and Revelation was Muse's pop album and that is what the problem was for some people. It took me a while to love as I thought it was just Muse-by-numbers at first.

Edited May 17, 201114 yr by tonyttt31

Black Holes is also my favourite Muse album, partly due to the way it feels so concise - the first half is a complete whirlwind of great 'pop' moments; then the second is equally rewarding and "Knights of Cydonia" is, for me, the best album closer ever and one of my favourite songs of all time. Saying that, you can't truly appreciate it until you've heard it live. That goes for Muse in general really, "The Resistance" is a bit hit-and-miss for me but it's still stunning live (the title track especially).