88. Cream - Disraeli Gears (1967)
Track Listing1. Strange Brew2. Sunshine Of Your Love3. World Of Pain4. Dance The Night Away5. Blue Condition6. Tales Of Brave Ulysses7. Swlabr8. We're Going Wrong9. Outside Woman Blues10. Take It Back11. Mother's LamentReviewRock, baby, yeah! Ok, you are bound to know this album even if just the riff from Sunshine Of Your Love, probably one of the most famous rock guitar riffs ever. While that song is possibly a bit overplayed and sounds a bit silly now (not helped by being used as a basis for Spinal Tap's Big Bottom) the rest of the album is actually pretty good.Another thing which adds to the overall tackiness level is Mr. Eric Clapton, who was at the time actually quite good instead of the purveyor of Wonderful Tonight style ditties. Yeah, it's a pretty good album and there are some hidden gems here which are really worth listening to. And if Giles (in the Buffy episode where old people become young, he listens to Tales of Brave Ulysses while smoking a J) likes it, then so do I! Clapton was really a guitar genius, but lyrically this is also a pretty good album, going from the poetic in Ulysses to the really quite funny in Mother's Lament, which although a traditional song is an inspired choice for the end of the album, and is played with a particularly funny attitude. Ulysses is actually written by the cover artist, and this album definitely has one of the trippiest covers ever to hit the shelves. Me likes. Still the album has dated quite a bit and at times sounds like a caricature of psychadelic 60's rock and maybe even a bit cliched, but that is just a sign of how era defining the album is. You can stream it from Napster or buy it at Amazon UK or US.
Track Highlights1. Tales Of Brave Ulysses2. Sunshine of Your Love3. Dance The Night Away4. Mother's LamentFinal Grade 8/10TriviaWhen Cream played the Royal Albert Hall in 1968 as their final shows, Clapton became the first person ever to smoke a cigarette on its stage.Props for Clapton.
The Girlfriend just pointed out to me that Giles is listening to Ulysses with Buffy's mother, Joyce. Oooooh.
87. Love - Forever Changes (1967)
Track Listing1. Alone Again Or2. House Is Not A Motel3. Andmoreagain4. Daily Planet5. Old Man6. Red Telephone7. Maybe The People Would Be The Times8. Live And Let Live9. Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This10. Bummer In The Summer11. You Set The SceneReviewThis album comes shortly after Love's previous effort, Da Capo, yet it is infinitely better. Forever Changes is an inspired and original work of what you can call some kind of weird psychadelic folk-rock that is still very accessible to a mainstream audience. The songs are simply beautiful. It is not a flawless album however, but most of the criticism come from personal taste rather than an objective criticism of the work. On of the best tracks in the album, Alone Again Or is in my opinion marred by it's reliance on flamenco guitar which always sounds tacky to my Portuguese ears trained to dislike all things Spanish from an early age. My criticisms of this album are however a bit petty considering the fact that it is a great piece of work. It has dated a bit since 1967 but not enough for that to be a considerable problem with the album. I have read plenty of reviews that say that it sounds as fresh today as when it was made... which is a bit of sycophantic bollocks. It belongs to its time, but is good enough to transcend it. Arthur Lee shows a beautiful knack for composing here but one must not disregard the very good lyrics indeed, which although quite downbeat are very fun and at times provocative. So, hear it today on Napster, or just buy the little fucker at Amazon UK or US.
Track Highlights1. Maybe The People Would Be The Times2. Alone Again Or3. A House Is Not A Motel4. Bummer In The Summer
Final Grade9/10TriviaRock Out With Acoustic Guitars!From Wikipedia:"When I did that album," commented Arthur Lee, "I thought I was going to die at that particular time, so those were my last words." This is borne out by perhaps the most famous lines from the album, on the song "The Red Telephone": "Sitting on a hillside Watching all the people die I'll feel much better on the other side."A September recording session finished the album, sweetening the final mixes with horns and strings (arranged by David Angel with each song's respective songwriter), as well as some additional piano from Randi, who played all the keyboard parts on the album as the band now had no keyboard player.The album was released in November with cover art by Bob Pepper and disappeared, rising to a lowly #154 on the Billboard charts. It did however reach the Top 30 in Britain. Only well after the group's break-up would the album be recognized as a masterpiece by the rock journalism press. It was re-released in an expanded version in 2001 on Rhino Records, featuring alternate mixes, outtakes and the group's 1968 single, "Your Mind and We Belong Together"/"Laughing Stock", the last tracks featuring John Echols, Ken Forssi, Michael Stuart and, in most likelihood, Bryan MacLean. As for Arthur Lee, he would reform the group in late 1968 with all-new members and carry on the Love name for a few more years.In 1998 Q magazine readers voted Forever Changes the 82nd greatest album of all time. In Joe S. Harrington's Top 100 Albums it comes in at #69. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Forever Changes 40th in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in the December 11, 2003 issue. In a special issue of Mojo magazine, it was ranked the second greatest psychedelic album of all time. Forever Changes was ranked 83rd in a 2005 survey held by British television's Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time.
86. Tim Buckley - Goodbye and Hello (1967)
Track Listing1. No Man Can Find The War2. Carnival Song3. Pleasant Street4. Hallucinations5. I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain6. Once I Was7. Phantasmagoria In Two8. Knight-Errant9. Goodbye And Hello10. Morning GloryReview
This is a great album, I know many will not agree and find Tim Buckley to be too whiny etc. You could say that but you couldn't criticise much more about this album. The music is great, his voice although whiny is a great versatile instrument and the lyrics are probably the best thing about the whole album. There is not a bad track here, and there is not a mediocre one, it is all ranging from very good to excellent. Buckley is firmly in the folk-rock corner of the spectrum but with a very different sound to Bob Dylan, you could say that Buckley is schmaltzy and likes to make epic ballads when compared to Dylan's understatedness and this is why Buckley is not and never was as good as Dylan.Actually very little is understated in this album, Buckley suffers like a little girl who has had all her Barbies put on a bonfire. But he writes very well and composes music excellently and therefore gets away with it. This is truly a great album, but as I've said it has its faults. It is however an album that I would reccomend that everyone tries, if it really grates on your nerves let it be. Buy it at Amazon UK or US.Track Highlights1. Phantasmagoria in Two2. Goodbye and Hello3. Pleasant Street4. Morning GloryFinal Grade9/10TriviaFrom Wikipedia:On June 28, 1975 after returning from the last show of a tour in Dallas he decided he could relax and snorted heroin at a friend's house. Having diligently controlled his habit while on the road, his tolerance was lowered, and the combination of a small amount of drugs mixed with the amount of alcohol he'd been consuming all day to celebrate the tour's end was too much. His friend took him home thinking he was merely drunk. Tim was put to bed by his friends, who told his wife that he'd also used some barbiturates. As she watched TV in bed beside him, Buckley turned blue. Attempts by friends and paramedics to revive him were unsuccessful. Reportedly, Buckley's last words were "Bye Bye Baby," delivered in a way reminiscent of the line in Ray Charles' "Driftin' Blues." Buckley was 28.
85. The Monkees - Headquarters (1967)
Track Listing
1. You Told Me2. I'll Spend My Life With You3. Forget That Girl4. Band 65. You Just May Be The One6. Shades Of Gray7. I Can't Get Her Off My Mind8. For Pete's Sake9. Mr. Webster10. Sunny Girlfriend11. Zilch12. No Time13. Early Morning Blues And Greens14. Randy Scouse Git
ReviewThe Monkees are better known as one of the first fabricated bands, where the members were mainly actors and didn't even play their own instruments. In Headquarters, however, they do play their own stuff, and write their own music and become a real band. Strangley enough it is not that bad. Yes, it is derivative and I am sure that they all were listening to a lot of Beatles, Kinks and one or two Mothers of Invention albums. Basically this album sounds a bit like a not very talented Beatles-Zappa hybrid. There's lots of sounds of the Monkees monkeeing around and there's even a kind of a cappella experimental non-sensical track called Zilch, that is worth the price of admission by itself. However they also make some very nice and listenable straight up pop music. This is not however a brilliant album, you feel very much that you've heard all this before, drawing from the easier listening Beatles tracks. The experimental element that is here is never really taken far enough or done expertly enough to be anything above average, although it is a lot of fun to hear the Monkees trying to do it. It is also something that I won't be listening too many more times by my own volition, but I wouldn't be offended if it came on on the radio or someone put it on. It's not bad, and it is particularly impressive that is is in actuality their first effort at music making... but still. Check it for yourself by streaming it from Napster or buying it from Amazon UK or US.
Track Highlights1. You Just May Be The One2. Zilch 3. Shades Of Grey4. Randy Scouse GitFinal Grade
6/10TriviaFrom Wikipedia: 1. Had the top-selling American single of 1967 ("I'm a Believer"). 2. First rock band to extensively use the Moog Synthesizer on a pop album. 3. First rock band to extensively use the pedal steel guitar on a pop album. 4. Outsold The Beatles and Elvis Presley combined in 1967. 5. Hold the record for most #1 albums in one year. Four of their albums (The Monkees, More of the Monkees, Headquarters, and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, & Jones, Ltd.) hit #1 in 1967. 6. First TV sitcom to make political and social comments defending the youth of America. 7. First use of solarisation in a major motion picture. 8. First television series to show teenagers living on their own. 9. First rock band to use a multimedia live concert show. 10. Gave the Jimi Hendrix Experience their first US concert appearances. 11. First "manufactured" rock band (The Pre-Fab Four). 12. First American band to play in Thailand. 13. First rock band to win two Emmy awards. 14. First male leads in a television series to have long hair. 15. The Monkees reunion tour was the largest grossing tour of 1986. 16. Re-charting various albums simultaneously during 1986 is an accomplishment shared only with The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. 17. Last music artist to win the MTV Friday Night Video Fights by defeating Bon Jovi 51% to 49%.
84. The Beau Brummels - Triangle (1967)
Track Listing1. Are You Happy2. Only Dreaming Now3. Painter Of Women4. The Keeper Of Time5. It Won't Get Better6. Nine Pound Hammer7. Magic Hollow8. And I've Seen Her9. Triangle10. The Wolf Of Velvet Fortune11. Old Kentucky HomeReviewAnd i'm back! I actually missed this.This is an album that I had never heard, and a band I really wasn't aware of, even though I've since found out that they have had an appearence in the Flintstones. From my trawling in the Internets this seems to be a quite divisive album, for reason's I really don't understand. It is really a lovely album. Not really edgy or raw or any of that but a very above par pop-folk album.So, if you can imagine what would have happened to Nick Drake if he was a happy American guy this is possibly what Five Leaves Left might have sound like, there are great orchestral arrangements here, some very good lyrics and lots of stuff you are soon able to sing along to. This does not mean, however, that quality has been sacrificed at the altar of the tyrannical god of pop. In fact there is not a bad track in the whole album.Sal Valentino's voice is great, and sometimes sounds like a cleaner Dylan (or at least it does to me). And all the tracks are wonderfully evocative, particularly by its use of original orchestration like french-sounding accordion or a more rednecky banjo. More than anything it is a very enjoyable album to just listen to. And that is really what you should be doing. Buy it at Amazon UK or US.Track Highlights 1. The Wolf And The Velvet Fortune2. Magic Hollow3. Only Dreaming Now4. Painter Of Women
Final Grade9/10TriviaMy girlfriend wanted me to give it a 10 and she states for the record that "It's lovely".From Wikipedia:The band took its name from a 19th Century English dandy, Beau Brummell, as a way of identifying with the British music scene. Additionally, band members figured that since everyone was looking for and at Beatles records, having a name that naturally followed Beatles alphabetically would be a shrewd move. In addition, the band took to wearing British-influenced "Mod" clothes. As a result of their sound and look they were often mistaken for an English band, especially in their first few years. However, as their music progressed they mixed the British sound with American folk and country music and created a distincly American sound. The Beau Brummels are considered to be the first folk rock group, and influenced numerous other acts in the genre, particularly later San Francisco groups including Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead.
