449. Public Image Ltd. - Metal Box (1979)















Track Listing

1. Albatross
2. Memories
3. Swan Lake
4. Poptones
5. Careering
6. No Birds
7. Graveyard
8. Suit
9. Bad Baby
10. Socialist
11. Chant
12. Radio 4

Review

So another PiL album on the list, and probably their most famous one, although it really did not make the same impression as their first album. This is probably also more famous for its crazy cover, made to look like a film canister which was good to protect the vinyls from scratches, but made it quite expensive to produce.

This is, however simply a development of the previous album, and therefore not as original as their self-titled début. It does have one advantage over that album, however, the fact that this isn't as relentlessly experimental also means that they have focused on their sound and the whole thing sounds tighter, but this is not really enough to make it a better album. And there is nothing as gratingly pubescent as Religion.

The sound of an apocalyptic disco club is what they go with here, thoroughly explored in their first album, particularly in Fodderstompf, so if you were into that album (and I was) this is a good place to go to. Although never as exciting and possibly overly long. But always, always, infinitely more interesting than the Sex Pistols.

Track Highlights

1. Memories
2. Albatross
3. Chant
4. Poptones

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

The Metal Box packaging was innovative and surprisingly inexpensive, costing little more to the label than the cost of printed sleeves for equivalent 12" releases (although Virgin did ask for a refund of 1/3 of the band's advance due to the cost). After an initial release of 60,000 units, the album was re-released in 1980 as Second Edition, a double LP with a gatefold sleeve.

The original metal canister idea caught on a few years later during the compact disc era. By the late 1980s a number of CDs were packaged in metal canisters, including Prince's special edition of the Batman soundtrack. In 1990 the concept came full circle, with the compact disc release of Metal Box employing a smaller version of the original metal canister, containing a single disc and a small paper insert.

The Second Edition sleeve art consists of distorted photographs of the band members, achieving a funhouse mirror effect. (The front cover is a photo of Keith Levene.) The lyrics are provided on the rear cover; these were originally printed in a magazine advertisement and not included with Metal Box. The band initially wanted the album released with a lyric sheet but no track titles; the United Kingdom version of Second Edition appears as the band intended, with lyrics on the back cover, but no titles, and "PiL" logo labels on all four sides of the vinyl. The American edition of Second Edition has track titles both on the back cover and the labels.

Memories:

448. Pink Floyd - The Wall (1979)

















Track Listing

1. In The Flesh?
2. Thin Ice
3. Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 1
4. Happiest Days Of Our Lives
5. Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2
6. Mother
7. Goodbye Blue Sky
8. Empty Spaces
9. Young Lust
10. One Of My Turns
11. Don't Leave Me Now
12. Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 3
13. Goodbye Cruel World
14. Hey You
15. Is There Anybody Out There
16. Nobody Home
17. Vera
18. Bring The Boys Back Home
19. Comfortably Numb
20. Show Must Go On
21. In The Flesh
22. Run Like Hell
23. Waiting For The Worms
24. Stop
25. The Trial
26. Outside The Wall

Review

This is a long, long album and a completely anachronistic one at that. What are Pink Floyd thinking still doing their thing while the world has moved on? This is not such a great album, it is overly long, overly self indulgent and just plain pretentious.

Firstly I don't really care for the concept of it, secondly does it really need to be 80 something minutes? There are plenty of good tracks here, but also plenty of filler, the album would have been much better served by a judicious editing. But was going to tell that to Roger Waters. Thankfully they could thank the populous for being as undiscerning as them and so this was extremely successful.

If you compare this to Dark Side of the Moon it looks like a big glass bauble on a fancy dress crown next to the Koh-i-Noor. There is none of the refinement of that album here, it is flashy allright, but just that. Unfortunately there are a handful of really good tracks here which get lost in the concept. Some of the best music by Pink Floyd is here, but is is drowned out by all the filler.

Track Highlights

1. The Trial
2. Comfortably Numb
3. Mother
4. Nobody Home

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

"Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" was the band's only number one single, reaching #1 in both the UK and the US. Around the world, the album produced a number of hit singles for Pink Floyd, including "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)", "Young Lust", "Hey You", "Comfortably Numb" and "Run Like Hell". The Wall was the last Pink Floyd album to feature Rick Wright until his return in 1987. During the recording, Roger Waters demanded a great deal of artistic control, which led to tensions. The album is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, and in 2003, Rolling Stone placed it 87th on their 500 greatest albums of all time list.

The Trial (NSFW):

447. Fleetwood Mac - Tusk (1979)

















Track Listing

1. Over & Over
2. The Ledge
3. Think About Me
4. Save Me A Place
5. Sara
6. What Makes You Think You’re The One
7. Storms
8. That’s All For Everyone
9. Not That Funny
10. Sisters Of The Moon
11. Angel
12. That’s Enough For Me
13. Brown Eyes Never Make Me Cry
14. I Know I’m Not Wrong
15. Honey Hi
16. Beautiful Child
17. Walk A Thin Line
18. Tusk
19. Never Forget

Review

I never thought I'd really like a Fleetwood Mac album until today. This is a really great collection of songs, there is no single bad track here, some better than others, but they are great and all reveal the individual sensibilities of the different members.

In a sense this is quite similar to a CSNY album in the way that different tracks display the different talents in the band, this is also a symptom of how band dynamics work... or how they don't work. But great things come from conflict and this is one of them.

This is a very long album, and therefore all the more surprising for its consistent quality. Forget Rumors, this is the album you want, it hasn't been overplayed, and allows you to appreciate Fleetwood Mac in a fresh way. This is also a considerably more experimental album particularly in its mixing, frequently bringing the rhythm section up front giving some of the tracks a distinct stomp, which really suits them. Highly recommended.

Track Highlights

1. Tusk
2. Beautiful Child
3. Save Me a Place
4. The Ledge

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The unusual title track, "Tusk", featuring the University of Southern California's Spirit of Troy marching band, proved to be a hit, reaching both the US and UK Top 10. The accompanying promotional film was often played as a fill-in segment by Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) TV channels during the 1980s (the single had enjoyed its highest international chart placing in Australia, peaking at #3 in the singles charts).

The album was one of the first to employ digital mixing.

The project had apparently made some record executives nervous, not only for its million-dollar production budget, but the label had expected a similar formula to that which had made Rumours so successful. The luxurious packaging and product that resulted did top the UK album charts on 10 November 1979, but only reached #4 in the US. Warner Bros attributed this to the record being "over produced" by Buckingham, making it less commercially viable. However, Fleetwood himself stated that matters were not helped by a major US radio station playing all 20 of the tracks in their entirety just prior to the album's release, thus allowing for home taping.

Tusk:

446. Cheap Trick - At Budokan (1979)
















Track Listing

1. Hello There
2. Come on, Come On
3. Lookout
4. Big Eyes
5. Need Your Love
6. Ain't That a Shame
7. I Want You to Want Me
8. Surrender
9. Goodnight
10. Clock Strikes Ten

Review

This is the famous Cheap Trick live album, and it it decidedly meh. It just goes to show that Japan has an insane market for any old poop flung their way. Still there are a couple of good songs here, none of them justifying the mass hysteria of girls on the background.

So this is pop-rock at its blandest for most part, not offensive, original, inspired or interesting, just quite competent and slightly mediocre. Then there's the two jewels at the core of this album, I Want You To Want Me and Surrender, none of the two is particularly good, but they are both great fun.

So if this is your kind of thing, good for you, but it definitely eludes me why they were so popular, or particularly deserve to be in this list.

Track Highlights

1. Surrender
2. I Want You To Want Me
3. Ain't That A Shame
4. Need Your Love

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Illinois rock band Cheap Trick found early success in Japan, and capitalized on this popularity by recording At Budokan in Japan on April 28, 1978 (see 1978 in music) with hordes of screaming young Japanese girls nearly drowning out the band at times. This album (which appeared in Japan many months before being issued in the U. S. where it had sold briskly as a Japanese import, and which was issued with a concert program in both English and Japanese) broke the band into global pop stardom with their first hits.

Surrender:

445. Gang Of Four - Entertainment! (1979)
















Track Listing

1. Ether
2. Naturals Not In It
3. Not Great Men
4. Damaged Goods
5. Return The Gift
6. Guns Before Butter
7. I Found That Essence Rare
8. Glass
9. Contract
10. At Home He's A Tourist
11. 5.45
12. Love Like Anthrax

Review

This is a great, great album. Go4 are doing so many things here in what is one of the best debut albums in British music, that it is hard to know where to start. So let's start with the music itself.

The staccato guitars are one of the most original but also most influential things that Go4 do here, they sound like many bands would sound later, Franz Ferdinand owe a deep gratitude to them for example. Then there's the great mixing bringing the bass right up front on equal footing with the other instruments, giving you a whole new sound to the rhythm section. But then this is pop, the song constructions are completely poppy but with a twist, the twist comes from how it is played and what it is saying.

Lyrically as you would imagine from a band named after the 4 people who controlled the Cultural Revolution in Maoist China, this is quite a subversive album. Of course, like most subversive music it runs the gamut from naive to insightful, but the heart is always in the right place, even if they are quite angry. Remember there's Thatcher and Reagan looking at each other across the ocean, life isn't rosy for the left.

And then the music is really catchy, after a couple of listen-throughs you will always remember all the songs, be able to quote from them, and just love it. This is a band which can sit at the pantheon up there with Pere Ubu in the great avant-garde punk bands of all time.

Track Highlights

1. Natural's Not In It
2. At Home He's A Tourist
3. Damaged Goods
4. Love Like Anthrax

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The album has attracted praise from rock musicians. Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers stated that the first time he heard the record, "It completely changed the way I looked at rock music and sent me on my trip as a bass player." In 2003, the album was ranked number 490 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In March 2005, Q magazine placed the track "At Home He's a Tourist" at number 52 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.

The Dresses of Marie Antoinette to the sound of Natural's Not In It,,, and there's a half naked Kristen at the beginning: