Favorite Albums: 100 - 99

Woo hoo! Cracking the top 100! About damned time!

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"

Favorite Albums: 128 - 127

128. Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge by My Chemical Romance (2004)

I wasn't too much of a fan of this album until seeing them in concert on tour for The Black Parade. My wife had this CD, and other than "Helena" and "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" I wasn't really interested in hearing it. I liked The Black Parade, just not this one as much, for some reason. It has definitely grown on me though over the last couple years, and now, well, here it is among my favorite albums, even if it is toward the rear. "Helena" starts the album off with a bang, just an absurdly cool song. The next two songs, "Give 'Em Hell, Kid" and "To the End," are a double shot of anger and adrenaline. "You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison" is a jazzy little number with one of the best titles ever. "I'm Not Okay" is awesome, and it's impossible to think about "The Ghost Of You" without visualizing the cool ass video. After that, though, the rest of the album just kind of steadily goes downhill. "Thank You For the Venom" is pretty much the only good song out of the whole second half of the album. Overall, this is an okay album. Not bad for a major label debut. And after hearing this, there was no way to expect the awesomeness that would follow on The Black Parade. But that's all right. Sometimes those little surprises are pretty pleasant.
5 Best Songs:
5. "Give 'Em Hell, Kid"
4. "To the End"
3. "The Ghost Of You"
2. "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)"
1. "Helena"

"The Ghost Of You"


"I'm Not Okay (I Promise)"


"Helena"


127. James by James (1991)

This album was originally released in the U.K. as Gold Mother, then released in the U.S. in a slightly altered arrangement (but still the same songs) as James after "Sit Down" became a surprise hit on college radio stations. "Sit Down" starts the album off, an insanely catchy song about all the misfits and outcasts coming together for comfort. It is easily the best song on the album, which isn't easy since there really aren't any weak spots on this disc, other than "Government Walls," which is a pretty sad attempt at a protest song. "God Only Knows" is a pretty brilliant song, a very biting attack on televangelists. "Come Home," "You Can't Tell How Much Suffering (On a Face That's Always Smiling)" and "Lose Control" are all pretty standard James songs in that they don't try to be anything that they're not. "Gold Mother" is kind of a weird song, but very interesting. It's basically about a child being born, but at varying points, as well as some overlapping points, singer Tim Booth is singing from the points of view of the mother, father, and baby. I love the line from "Gold Mother" that is basically asking how the baby is going to fit out of the woman: "How do you sail the ship from the bottle?" Ha ha. "How Was It For You?" is a pretty stellar tune as well, a nice upbeat song that in essence is calling the song's subject a jack ass, more or less. The two ballads on this album are awesome. "Walking the Ghost" is about a ghost (obviously) trapped in her former home and being upset with the changes the new residents have made and how generally sad she is. "Top Of the World" closes the album and has an air of... reluctant optimism, I guess? Not really sure how to describe this one. Just let it be known it's an awesome beautiful song.
5 Best Songs:
5. "Gold Mother"
4. "How Was It For You?"
3. "God Only Knows"
2. "Top Of the World"
1. "Sit Down"

"God Only Knows"


"Top Of the World"


"Sit Down"

Favorite Albums: 150 - 149

So, it's the first post of the new list, and I'm already contradicting myself. In the intro, I said I'd only be doing one album per post, but... well... One album per post, three posts per week, 150 albums equals fifty weeks before this list is done. Yeah, not taking until the end of next January to finish it. Therefore, I'll be doing 2 albums per post. 25 weeks is a lot more doable, plus with how bored I get sometimes I may do more than 3 posts a week.
Oh, and the reason I've started this as a separate blog from the songs list is just to keep it separate, really. Give it its own feel and character, if you will.
So here's how this one's going to work. I will do a basic review of the album, then share videos of what I think are the 3 best songs on that album. Was going to do 5, but not with 2 albums per post. I'll still list the 5 best, but only put videos for the top 3. Other than that, same basic rule applies - they have to be albums I actually own. Other than that, live albums, greatest hits albums, studio albums, soundtracks - all fair game. And away we go.

150. Hack by Information Society (1990)

This album is actually kind of a mess. The debut Information Society album had a couple decently popular singles, "Walking Away" and "What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)," but they kind of fucked around on this album too much to let the several good songs shine. "Think," the only song that got much radio time at all, is a pretty groovy dance tune that would have fit very well on the debut, and "Come With Me" and "How Long" could have done quite well as singles if it weren't for the massive overproduction of the album in general.
The biggest problem with this album is the lack of focus. It seems like they couldn't decide if they wanted to be a techno band or a pop band, so they just kind of fused the two to the point where they don't even sing on about a third of the songs, instead just using samples and repetitive hooks.
Also a problem is that the entire album is a bit cluttered with little filler pieces between nearly every song, stuff ranging from computer samples (still a hot-shit kind of thing in the late '80s/early '90s) to fake radio ads to random babble. However, in the end, it's still a fun album to throw on every once in a while. Just wouldn't be able to listen to it daily.
5 best songs:
5. "If Only"
4. "Chemistry"
3. "Slipping Away"
2. "Come With Me"
1. "How Long"

"Slipping Away"
Not the best quality, since it's live, but not the worst either.


"Come With Me"
Same here.


"How Long"
And again. At least this one's from '91, when he was still skinny. Ha.


149. Wah Wah by James (1994)

This was another cluster fuck type album. Basically, while James were in the studio recording Laid, producer Brian Eno decided to try capturing the band in a more intimate setting, pretty much just recording their jam sessions in studio. The result is... interesting. There are 23 songs on the album, varying in length from 4 seconds (seriously) to almost seven minutes. Some of them are full songs, but most are just little experiments. There's even one song, called "Laughter," that is, indeed, just 30 seconds of someone laughing with a hint of guitar in the background.
Throughout the whole album, though, you can hear hints and echos of songs either from Laid itself or later albums. The most obvious is the song "Tomorrow." It shows up in a pretty raw, and much more powerful, form here, then again on Laid's follow up, Whiplash. One of the highlights on Wah Wah is "Pressure's On." It is one of the few completed songs, and could have fit in very well on Laid. "Say Say Something" is a companion to the song "Say Something" that appeared on Laid. "Bottom Of the Well" was an interesting little piece that could have really been something had it been developed a little more. In the end, this could have been an absolute disaster of an album, just because it was so absurd an idea. There were two things that kept that from happening though. First, it was a pretty limited release, so there wasn't too much money going into it. Second, it was actually really good, overall. It may have had its fair share of "what the hell" type moments, but, really, what albums don't? Very good stuff.
5 best songs:
5. "Frequency Dip"
4. "Jam J"
3. "Bottom Of the Well"
2. "Pressure's On"
1. "Tomorrow"

Couldn't find videos for songs 3-5, so there are only two videos for this album.
"Pressure's On"


"Tomorrow"
Again, this is the version off Whiplash, not Wah Wah. He messes up the words too much in live versions, though.