100. 9 by Public Image Ltd. (1989)
I've never been a huge PiL fan, but I've always liked this album. Every song feels completely different than every other song, yet as a whole they all seem to fit together nicely. "Happy?" opens it up on a pretty stellar note, a really good song. "Disappointed" was one of PiL's biggest hits in the U.S. and is an awesome song about someone screwing over their friends, basically. "Warrior" is okay, not bad, not good, just there. "U.S.L.S. 1" is a nice mellow song, almost an instrumental with very subdued vocals, and a very good song. It's also a very creepy song. It's about the Pan Am flight that was blown up by terrorists over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten... Lead singer of PiL) and his wife were supposed to be on that flight but missed it. "Sand Castles In the Snow" is just a stupid goofy song. Worthless. "Worry" has a nice throbbing beat, and is one of the catchier songs on the album. "Brave New World" and "Like That" are more filler, it seems, than anything else. Decent, but both could have been better. "Same Old Story" is a good song, but also seems like it could have been a bit better if given more time to develop. "Armada" closes the album, another decent but not great song. Overall, it's a pretty good album. Not a classic, like Album was, but still a good listen. Again, it is a lot better than I am making it sound. Ah well. What can you do, right?
5 Best Songs:
5. "Armada"
4. "Worry"
3. "Happy?"
2. "U.S.L.S. 1"
1. "Disappointed"
"Armada"
"Worry"
No video. Really?
"Happy?"
"U.S.L.S. 1"
"Disappointed" (Not the best quality and there's an interview at the beginning, but it's the only one I could find that I could embed.)
99. The Best Of James by James (1998)
If you ever wanted to get a James album just to get a taste of what they are like, this would be the perfect starting point. While it does ignore the band's first two albums, Stutter and Strip-Mine, neither of them are missed because, well, neither was very good. It is also an extremely balanced album. There are 2 new songs and one early single that was previously unavailable on an album. The other 15 songs are divided almost perfectly between the four preceding albums: Gold Mother, Seven and Laid get four songs each, Whiplash gets three. And since Seven and Laid will be featured later in the list, I'll stick to talking about the songs not from those two albums. The two new songs are "Runaground" and "Destiny's Calling". Both are very mellow and very good, especially "Runaground". "Hymn From a Village" was the band's first single, and while it's not the best song it's not too bad, either. The four songs from Gold Mother are kind of uneven. "Come Home" is a good song, but can get annoying at times. "Sit Down" is one of the band's trademark songs and usually closes their shows, and is a phenomenal song. "Lose Control" is the worst song on this album as well as one of the worst on Gold Mother. Just a crap song. "How Was It For You?" is a pretty superb song, even if it was used in Melrose Place a few times. (It's even included on the Melrose Place soundtrack. Ghastly.) The Whiplash songs are a lot more even. "She's a Star" is a great tune, good lyrics and vocals and great music. "Tomorrow" is one of my favorite James songs. It originally appeared on Wah Wah in a very raw form then got polished up for Whiplash. Although I like the raw version better, the Whiplash version is still a great song. "Waltzing Along" is the weakest of the three songs from Whiplash, but is still a really good song. Screw it, I'm going with the songs from the other two albums, as well. The four songs from Seven are all awesome. "Born Of Frustration" was the first James single that really got noticed in the U.S., in 1992, 7 years after "Hymn From a Village" was released. "Seven" is one of the most hopeful songs James has recorded, a really pretty song. "Sound" and "Ring the Bells" are two more of my all time favorite James songs. Both of them are outstanding and I can listen to them daily and never get sick of them. Finally, the songs from Laid. "Laid" is obviously here, the biggest hit the band has had in the States. "Say Something" and "Sometimes" are both very good, and "Out To Get You" is just an amazing, awesome song. While there are a few songs that could have been included here when talking about "Best Of", it in no way feels like an incomplete collection. Plus, it just makes you hungry for more, instead of giving you everything in one sitting, so it serves its purpose there, too. Awesome Best Of album.
5 Best Songs (excluding Laid and Seven):
5. "Runaground"
4. "She's a Star"
3. "How Was It For You?"
2. "Sit Down"
1. "Tomorrow"
"Runaground"
"She's a Star"
"How Was It For You?"
"Sit Down"
"Tomorrow"
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