Radiohead - Kid A (2000)

The weirdest Alt rock album to ever sell a million copies 

The English rock band Radiohead’s fourth studio album, the radically different Kid A severely divided critics when it was released, some ruing that it probably would not sell many copies. Cant blame them too much because this is indeed a challenging, often downright confusing piece of music that will leave even ardent Radiohead fans scratching their heads. The trademark guitar bits are few and far between, there are large chunks of experimental avantgarde orchestration, the vocals are often ambient & distorted, and the songs rely more upon mood and rhythm than actual melody. No wonder Radiohead chose not release a single from this album – there simply aren’t any either
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But while Kid A is a difficult record, it is also an extremely rewarding one. In fact, it is a reason why Kid A is still remembered as the best album of the year 2000 and a deserving winner of a Grammy award for the Best Alternative Album. One could say, no other album released in 2000 even came close to matching the daring and complex artistic vision that Radiohead brought to life with Kid A. While evidently a giant leap away from Radiohead’s early guitar-based brand of rock and roll, Kid A was as big a leap from 1997's OK Computer as OK Computer was from 1995's The Bends. At the time, OK Computer sounded like an exciting and entirely new direction for modern music. Instead, we now realize that Radiohead was just taking a small step forward with that release. 

On Kid A's hypnotic opener, “Everything in its Right Place,” lead singer Thom Yorke repeats the song’s title as a mantra. This song could be about our search for order in a society that is beginning to lack any semblance of order – a time when nothing was/is really in its right place. Even as Yorke sings, his own vocals are repeated back to him backwards and distorted – out of place. Later, the heavy bass line of “The National Anthem” propels Yorke to new heights of angst and tension. The last three minutes of this track is a wonderfully chaotic piece of experimental jazz – horns wail, screech and collide to create a sheer wall of noise. 

Kid A then returns to earth with “How To Disappear Completely,” a song that features acoustic strumming coupled with a simple, wailing two-note echo. Heartbreaking in its beauty and simplicity, this track ranks right up there with Radiohead’s best work yet. Yorke’s high-pitched vocals perfectly complement the other instruments as the song enters an achingly moving rhythm. 

While there’s technically not a “single” from Kid A, “Optimistic” was the first song sent to radio stations and has been called the “target track” by some of the band’s publicity. This claustrophobic-sounding track finds Yorke singing, “You can try the best you can/ The best you can is good enough.” Later, “Idioteque” opens with an electronic drum rhythm followed by a wash of keyboards. Yorke repeats the line, “Ice age coming” with a growing intensity as the track progresses. This psychotic episode is similar in form to OK Computer’s “Climbing Up the Walls.” Kid A closes with “Motion Picture Soundtrack,” an epic, plaintive ballad with Yorke singing, “I think you’re crazy/ Maybe.” 

Fifty years from now, young bands will still be inspired by the music Radiohead has created on albums such as The Bends, OK Computer and Kid A. With these three albums, Radiohead established themselves as one of the most important and most creative bands of the 90s/2000 era. So even if Kid A didn't please all critics, you can be rest assured that people will still be listening in the future to Kid A long after most of those other bands have long gone. As a matter of fact, it still ranked 67 on its Rolling Stone list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Paul Weller - Illumination (2002)

Chas Newkey-Burden warms up to the original Modfather

Illumination, the sixth studio album of celebrated English rocker, singer & songwriter Peter Weller released in 2002 can be described as Weller's boldest solo effort, bursting with soul, character and sentimentality. Weller's never been one to play the game in the music industry but you sense that this, more than ever, in this album. It as if he didn't give a hoot to the music industry or the critics or whether they like it or lump it. 

It opens, as did his last two studio albums Heavy Soul and Heliocentric, with a long, mellow and mysterious track - 'One x One' which clocks in at over five and a half minutes. Featuring Noel Gallagher and Gem Archer of Oasis, it builds into a pleasing crescendo and grows with every listen. After the many masterpieces he produced with The Jam, The Style Council and during his solo career, for a song to be called a 'classic Weller tune', it has to be something special. 

The album's second track 'It's Written In The Stars' is something very special - a soul jive Stevie Wonder would have been proud of. With interesting brass effects, it deserves to be the soundtrack for driving around on a sunny day, with the roof of the car back. Also oozing with soul is 'Standing Out In The Universe', which marked the welcome return of Carleen Anderson and Jocelyn Brown on backing vocals.

So too is 'Leafy Mysteries' which is one of the catchiest tunes on the album. If it's rocking tunes you're after, you'll enjoy 'A Bullet For Everyone' which takes us back to the territory Weller stomped over during his Stanley Road era. But it's on 'Call Me No. 5' that your air guitar will get some real punishment. Weller duets the song with Kelly Jones of the Stereophonics, and the senior statesman wins the who-can-sing-the-most-croakiest-and-bluesiest contest hands down. 

But such noisy moments are few and far between on the mellowest studio album Weller's ever released. There's lots of quiet, acoustic stuff going on here with 'Bag Man' and the title track 'Illumination' most enjoyable, particularly to those still hooked on his acoustic live album Days Of Speed. They're sound of a mature artist for sure, but one who is quite at ease with his age. 

There are a few tracks that don't quite do it. 'Who Brings Joy', the album's most sentimental moment, is the musical equivalent of being cornered by a slightly tipsy man who has just become a father and wants to show you his photos. It's so slushy, it makes his last weepie, 'Sweet Pea', sound like 'Eton Rifles' in comparison. Some people will enjoy the mysterious two and a half minute instrumental 'Spring (At Last)'. But for me, it sounds a bit too much like the background to a self-help hypnosis tape. The final track, 'All Good Books', is a decent enough gospel tune but lacks the importance to work as the closer to the album. 

Overall, though, a cracking album. Weller, his superb material oozing soul, humanity and musicianship, continues to stand head and shoulders over any other British artists of his time. Perhaps his best studio album since Stanley Road, Illumination reminds you that we bandy around the world genius with far too much aplomb nowadays. Weller's one of the very few around at the moment to richly deserve that title. So lets paray he doesnt go hanging up that guitar for a while.  

Hum - Downward is Heavenward (1998)

Undeniably one of the most underrated alt rock albums of the '90s

Hum, were a critically acclaimed Illinois based alternative rock band of the '90s  who had their 15 minutes of fame with their "Stars" hit single and Downward is Heavenward, their fourth and last album released in 1998 was expected to sell more than its 1995 predecessor -  You’d Prefer an Astronaut which quietly sold over 250,000 thousand copies on release mostly on account of the Stars hit track.

Unlike what was commercially projected, this album fared poorly but was appreciated by both fans and critics so much that its still ranked amongst one of the best alternative rock albums of the 90s. 

Evidently, the band’s fourth effort was a dramatic step forward and finds Hum here at the peak of their songwriting and musicianship. Hum’s music has been described as hardcore, psychedelia, and almost everything in between. The musical references here are numerous and diverse, including outfits such as Helmet, My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, and even a touch of R.E.M. (just listen to the melodies on "Ms. Lazarus" or "Comin’ Home" for proof of this). 

It would be unfair to label Hum as a hardcore band just because they have some heavy handed guitar lines here and there. Hum also has a soft side, a pop side, a shoe-gazer side, and a psychedelic side that each appear from time to time on this album. Despite the ferocious guitar lines on many of the songs on Downward is Heavenward, lead singer Matt Talbott never really sounds angry. He actually sounds a bit introspective and reserved. The odd pairing works, though, making Hum more interesting than many of the hardcore bands playing similar music of those days. This is a slice of genuine 90s alt rock that you all msut listen to.

Beastie Boys : The Sounds of Science (1999)

Greatest hits, B-sides and Rarities from the Hip Hop Rap Rock Superstars! 

Most fans and critics would agree that few rap bands shaped the course of music in the '90s as much as the hip hoppers Beastie Boys. In the '80s, the  radical Beasties Boys trio comprising of Michael "Mike D" Diamond, Adam "MCA" Yauch and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz  introduced rap to white high school kids when their Licensed to Ill broke down the barriers between rap and rock. Then, on the critically acclaimed follow-up, Paul's Boutique, the trio took sampling and rap song structure to brand new heights. Since then, the band fashioned a rap style that drew its inspiration from a multitude of musical genres - a distinctive sound that was comfortable borrowing riffs from just about any source, whether it be Cannonball Adderly, Zamfir, or even AC/DC. 

On their greatest hits compilation The Sounds of Science, the Beastie Boys packaged most of their  biggest hits along with a few new tracks and some rarities. Though it did well commercially, by trying to appeal to both die-hard and casual fans, the group ended up satisfying neither party. Casual fans didn't give a flip about hearing the insipid "Country Mike" material, while die-hard fans really didn't want to hear "Fight for Your Right" again. It's also a safe bet that only a small portion of the band's followers actually enjoyed their excursions into hardcore punk. The band would have been better off releasing The Sounds of Science as two separate CDs – one with the rarities and new tracks and one with the hits. 

As a collection of hits, the only noticeably absent tune was "No Sleep 'til Brooklyn." Perhaps the band was still bothered by the drug references in that song. As a collection of rarities, it's a shame that neither "Rock Hard" or "Spam" were included on The Sounds of Science. These songs had popped up on bootlegs for a while, and I'm sure many fans would loved to have clean recordings of these songs. Instead, they got a cover of Benny & the Jets that features a vocal by Biz Markie. It's funny the first time, annoying after that. 

From the start, the Beastie Boys knew they could never make a definitive "Greatest Hits" album. This is mainly due to the fact that their fans held widely varied opinions about which songs were/are actually the group's best. Some claim that Licensed to Ill is the band's best record, others argue that it's their worst. Knowing this, the band decided to let their fans even make their own custom CDs too. 

Whatever your reason, this anthology (in spite of all its inconsistencies) is a must for any fan of the 90s especially the hip hop genre that this uncustomary rap rock band truly redefined. 

Pink Floyd - The Final Cut (1983)

Rewinding the progressive rockers last album to feature Roger Waters

On my desk sits a copy of Pink Floyd's The Final Cut, a seminal concept album I haven't cracked since high school, when it was one of my all-time favorites. Needless to say, what I love and what I hate have changed a lot since then. In light of those changes - and for the edification of you, dear reader - I will now re-listen to The Final Cut for the first time in  more than a decade, commenting as I go, devoid of prejudice, trying to see whether or not it still stands up. 

0:19 - The Final Cut, I should note, was intended as a kind of spiritual sequel to Pink Floyd's classic double-album monument to overindulgence The Wall. On the All Music Guide, the ubiquitous Stephen Thomas Erlewine has this to say about it: "The Final Cut alienates all but the dedicated listener…it's damn near impenetrable in many respects...Distinctive, to be sure, but not easy to love and, depending on your view, not even that easy to admire." Bullshit! Erlewine obviously doesn't remember what it was like to be a teenager, because, as I recall, there was no album that more perfectly captured my sense of weltschmerz and all-encompassing egoistic pain and melodrama than The Final Cut. I loved Roger Waters' wounded-child yelping! I loved the aggressive, frightening dynamics! I loved the soothing instrumental textures! I learned how to bang out almost all of the album's 12 tracks on acoustic guitar. 

2:31 - "Oh Maggie, Maggie what did we do?", sings Waters near the end of "The Post-War Dream." Wondering who "Maggie" was in my pre-political ignorance, I always assumed her to be this kind of eternal rock archetype - the Maggie of "Maggie's Farm," by Bob Dylan, of "Maggie Mae" by the Beatles, of "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart - matriarchal and sad-eyed, a source of shelter and solace for cheeseball rockers the world over. Not knowing any better, this was how I interpreted Waters' "Maggie" in The Final Cut, as a meta-Maggie of sorts, appealed to with fervent and childish earnestness. This seemed, to me, inexpressibly touching - like praying to rock and roll to save you from real life. Which is an idea to which most every teenager can relate. 

3:02 - I now know that the weird spacey effect on the rhythm guitar in "Your Possible Pasts" is called "flanging," a word (and process) invented by George Martin, who, during his long tenure as the Beatles' producer, oversaw a tape operator named Norman Smith. Smith, in turn, went on to produce Pink Floyd's first album Piper at the Gates of Dawn, an album whose Syd Barrett-helmed psychedelic madness couldn't possibly be further removed from The Final Cut's Roger Waters-dominated manic bathos. Just an aside. 

4:03 - "Do you remember me? How we used to be? Do you think we should be closer?" This line kicks off what may be the classic Final Cut sadistically dynamic explosion, and shortly after it we get the album's first Searing David Gilmour Solo, that element of Pink Floyd which forever types them as a "classic rock" band. Personally, I was never much into Gilmour's wankery, though I acknowledge that he's a more substantial and emotional wanker than most. Back in those days, as band roles go, I was always more into the soul-baring songwriter than the wanking lead guitarist, probably because I was such a damn pussy. 

14:44 - "The Gunner's Dream" was probably my favorite song on this album back then. But, for one reason or another, the surging strings, the throat-shredding screams, the pitiful lines like "no one kills the children anymore" and "take his frail hand and hold on to the dream" aren't really having any effect on me this time around. Even worse, I'd forgotten entirely that this song is deeply marred by the skronking nuisance of a Bad Saxophone Solo. Traumatized, I must have blocked it out of my memory until now. 

16:55 - Now "Paranoid Eyes," on the other hand - beautiful! Sure, the lyrics are a little bit over-the-top, but the delicate, sensitive backing is gorgeous! 

17:42 - Oops. Said gorgeous backing was just compromised more than a little by a rattling vibraslap excessively panned - Foghat style - from the corner of one ear to the other and back again. I'm starting to realize that one problem with Pink Floyd in the twilight years of their Waters period is that the lush, effects-intensive "wet" sound they'd developed on Dark Side of the Moon and perfected on parts of The Wall soon devolved to the point where every single tearjerking line Waters uttered was accompanied by a wacky sound effect. He'd sing "phone" and a distant phone would ring; he'd sing "TV" and a distant 50's TV voice would chime in; he'd sing "half-empty bottle of Yoo-Hoo falling off a three-story Manhattan balcony onto the back of an ant walking south-west in mid-winter" and…you get the picture. The bad part of this is that, after awhile, it gets hard to tell the difference between latter-day Pink Floyd and classic-era Spike Jones. 

20:55 - Aah, "Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert," with its infamous exploding bomb sound-effect - still deafening after all these years. What's more interesting to these contemporary ears is Waters' little litany: "Brezhnev took Afghanistan, Begin took Beirut, Galtieri took the Union Jack," which segues into more talk of the doings of Eternal Rock Music Maggie. Just goes to show the past isn't past, as the sentiment "Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert" is still alive and well as I write this, and, come to think of it, Waters' bomb sound effect wasn't all that funny during this most recent hearing. 

21:48 - "The Fletcher Memorial Home" is the only song from The Final Cut that Capitol Records saw fit to include on Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd, whose assemblers had the unenviable task of trying to make the band that recorded both the playful and wacked-out "Bike" and the bland and radio-ready "Learning to Fly" seem somehow coherent. I wonder if they chose "The Fletcher Memorial Home" because of its Searing David Gilmour Solo, its relatively normal dynamics, or some other factor, because I can think of far better Final cuts to include on a best-of.

          

"Southhampton Dock," for example, is one of the most enduring and powerful songs on this record: simple, epigrammatic, and heartbreaking. Far from the crushing obviousness of this album at its worst, this gem contains wonderfully oblique and evocative lines like "no one spoke and no one smiled; there were too many spaces in the line" and "still the dark stain spreads between their shoulderblades." Lovely.

Meanwhile, the album's title track is a dead-ringer for an outtake from The Wall; the song overshoots all the strictures of taste and discretion and sails into the sun, incandescent and majestically melodramatic, ecstatically high on its own surging wave of world-obliterating pain. Any critical "distance" I could have from this admittedly bathetic song is wiped out by its force and its urgency. Let somebody else criticize it - I don't have the heart.

32:53 - I was never quite sure if "Not Now John" - which shamelessly comes on to disco where The Wall's "Another Brick in the Wall" just shyly flirted with it - is good or not. With its black-girl chorus that intersperses "ooh-laa"s and "shoop shoop"s with cries of "fuck all that!", it seemed like, whether the song succeeded or failed, you still had to hand it to Rogers. Listening to the requisite Searing Gilmour Solo (the album's third) this time around, I'm less inclined to be charitable and I think it's just kind of silly. Especially when it falls apart into distant and chaotic Waters yelping. 

40:24 - In the end, though, you've got to give Waters credit for the consistency of his vision. He concludes this album with the conclusion of the world; the breezy soft-rock account of nuclear holocaust that is "Two Suns in the Sunset" makes a brilliant, horrifically downbeat ending to this horrifically downbeat record. As an added bonus, we get some more beautifully grim Rogers imagery - "like the moment when the brakes lock…you stretch the frozen moments with your fear." 

40:30 - But, on the down side, Rogers has to go and mar this unassuming song with some more studio-recorded sound effects, this time of children screaming. Oh, yeah, and then there's another Bad Saxophone Solo. Yuck. 

43:01 - In the end, though, as that solo fades out, I'm realizing that The Final Cut is both better and worse than I remembered it. It's dated. I'm different. It's kind of ridiculous, just like I was kind of ridiculous. Still, though, it has managed, in 43 minutes and 10 seconds, to reach back through time and into my chest, find those dusty old heartstrings and, for old time's sake, give them a good hard tug. Will Robinson Sheff

Tori Amos - From the Choirgirl Hotel (1998)

Remembering Tori Amos best selling album again! 

While the multi-talented American singer, songwriter, pianist and composer Tori Amos’ 1996’s Boys for Pele, left most fans and critics scratching their heads, her stellar fourth studio album From the Choirgirl Hotel released in 1998 found her returning to the electronica infused baroque pop rock form that first made her originally famous. Tori crafted an inimitable style on the ground-breaking albums Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink, and From the Choirgirl Hotel has more in common with those discs than with Boys for Pele. 

Tori’s lyrics are still as complex and confusing as ever. On the radio hit "Jackie’s Strength," for example, Tori weaves an indecipherable web that involves her wedding, Camelot, black magic, anorexia, and mooning David Cassidy. I don’t claim to understand the song, and I wouldn't trust anyone who claims that they do. Even though the song’s lyrics are beyond comprehension, Amos gives them such a powerful delivery that it’s clear the song has some meaning (even if Tori is the only one who knows what it is). "Jackie’s Strength" highlights the core of Tori Amos’ appeal – she can sing just about any lyric and make her listeners feel that they can relate. She has such an emotional voice that she makes you feel the meanings more than you can comprehend them. 

From the Choirgirl Hotel features some of Amos’ most accessible songs since Little Earthquakes. The lush, atmospheric Top 40 hit "Spark" kicks off the album, and it contains a few fairly obvious references to Amos’ then miscarriage. It’s anything but your typical radio single, but then Amos is anything but your typical performer. This is the woman who had the nerve to cover Nirvana’s "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and the Stones’ "Angie" on the same single. 

Amos dabbles in numerous styles on From the Choirgirl Hotel, from the haunting sounds of "Black-Dove (January)" to the techno-influenced 2 Grammy nominated "Raspberry Swirl" to the rock-flavored "She’s Your Cocaine." But the album’s focus never strays far from its voice-and-piano center, giving all the songs on the album a sense of unity. From the Choirgirl Hotel is a complex and emotional album that gets better with repeated listenings. This is a great 90s alt rock album you don’t want to miss.

R.E.M. - Monster (1994)

The standout R.E.M album

Few bands can claim to have been the best in the world without sounding completely ridiculous. The American jangle pop alternative rock band R.E.M. was one of those bands. R.E.M not only won the respect of their musical peers but were also a huge commercial success and had and still have some of the most devoted fans in music today. And they made it stand out with Monster, their ninth studio album that was released in 1994.

If their preceding two albums, Out of Time (1991) and the best selling Automatic for the People (1992) were kind of slow rockish quiet records full of mandolins, pianos, and acoustic guitars, Monster is a powerhouse, completely unlike either of those records. Musically different, it is an ambitious album full of cutting electric guitars and distorted vocals that makes you sit up and listen. Sounding like early vintage R.E.M, the band takes the traditional guitar-bass-drums route and make it all seem new again but with a rocking edge.

The chart tapping first track, "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" sets the tone with its catchy appeal. Its indeed a great track with a lovely tune. Incidentally, it was also the fastest-rocking song R.E.M. had recorded in years. "Crush With Eyeliner" is next, and it's another guitar-driven rocker in which Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth also makes a guest appearance. In the lyrics to "Crush With Eyeliner," Stipe toys around with his often-questioned sexual orientation. In fact, Stipe's sexual preference also pops up again on "King of Comedy" in which Stipe sings "I'm straight, I'm queer, I'm bi." 

Many of the songs on Monster use the old R.E.M. trademark of burying Stipe's vocals under layers of music. Notably songs like "Circus Envy," "Let Me In," and "Star 69" all sound reminiscent of the band's earliest albums because it's hard to hear what Stipe is singing. On "Let Me In," Stipe sings about the loss of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain as guitarist Peter Buck lays a backdrop of distortion and feedback. 

Fans who hadn't discovered R.E.M. until "Losing My Religion" may have been in for a bit of a shock and a reason why the album didn't too well commercially, but Monster was also the album that old R.E.M. fans were waiting for. Its raw, full of contrast and a nostalgic reminder of the great sounds of the 90s! 

Jeff Buckley - Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk (1998)

An outstanding album (of sorts) from a star who died too soon 

Critically acclaimed Singer Songwriter and Guitarist Jeff Buckley (1966-1997) released only one EP and one full-length album Grace before his untimely death. Buckley drowned in Memphis in May of 1997 while working on his next album, tentatively titled My Sweetheart the Drunk. Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk compiles all of the raw demos and completed studio tracks that Buckley recorded with his band prior to his unfortunate death. 

Of the 20 tracks on Sketches... many are clearly rough demos but there are others which indicate that Buckley was recording a fantastic album. Buckley’s voice was a rare instrument, and it sounds as though he was testing its limits on these tracks. That voice takes the spotlight on the a cappella "You and I," one of a handful of dark, haunting tracks on this stellar album. 

The darkest moment comes on "Nightmares By the Sea." It’s a song that is sure to please the morbidly curious, as Buckley sings "I’ve loved so many times/ And I’ve drowned them all." On "Everybody Here Wants You," Buckley sounds like an old torch singer with an odd falsetto. One can only wonder if this little experiment would ever have seen the light of day if Buckley had lived. The set closes with "Satisfied Mind," the song which apparently was played at Buckley’s funeral. Just as the song summed up Buckley’s unfinished life, it also sums up this unfinished album. We are once again left wondering what might have been. 

The Top 20 Albums of 2000 - No.20 to No.16

Compiling the best Albums of the year 2000 - Lets starts with the bottom 5

Here's a rather ambitious attempt at listing the year 2000's best Albums! Why 2000 you may ask? I feel it was a momentous year with ground-breaking new music, brand new bands and brand new genres. The Y2K millennium bug doomsday clock made it even more enticing!

Anyway, lets say I have a love/hate relationship with these "best of the year" lists. I love reading other people's lists to see if there are any potentially great albums I might have missed, but I hate making my own "best of" lists. Part of the reason for this list loathing is that I know for certain I will regret making this list the moment it is published. By the time this issue hits the streets, I will have decided that some of these albums don't belong on the list or should have been ranked differently. 

Another reason I enter this endeavor with much trepidation is the fact that ranking Albums can be much like the fabled "apples and oranges" dilemma. How can you really compare a live techno album with some acoustic fingerplay? I wrote this list for one simple reason - to pay tribute to the albums that meant the most to me that year. I have literally spent weeks listening to some of these records, and I'm sure that I'll still be listening to them over the next several weeks (again). I hope that you'll read this list with the same spirit that it was created, and view it as a starting point for creating your own "best of" list. After all, the list you keep yourself is the only one that really matters. 

20. Elastica - "The Menace" 

British punk rockers Elastica followed up their bratty debut with a daring, bold, experimental sophomore effort. Too bad hardly anyone noticed. "The Menace" wasn't a great album, but it was one of the more consistently inventive and interesting discs I heard that year. Reviewed here. 

19. Rage Against the Machine - "Renegades" 

On "Renegades," one of rock's most incendiary alternative metal bands paid tribute to the forefathers of "revolutionary music" (as well as ... um ... Devo) on their first cover album and fourth studio album. Their reworkings of classics like "Street Fighting Man," "Kick Out the Jams," "Maggie's Farm," and "Renegades of Funk" made the band's final studio effort a memorable one and platinum rated success. Unfortunately, RATM lead singer Zach De La Rocha left the band before this album was released (laying the seeds for Chris Cornell's Audioslave)!

18. Richard Ashcroft - "Alone With Everybody" 

Former Verve frontman, the English singer-songwriter Richard Ashcroft's solo debut was a hit-and-miss effort. The moments that hit - most notably "A Song for the Lovers," "New York," and "You On My Mind In My Sleep" - were enough to propel this CD into the Top 20. 

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17. Modest Mouse - "The Moon and Antarctica" 

Many wondered if experimental indie rockers Modest Mouse could possibly work within the confines of a major label. On their Epic Records debut (and their their album), Isaac Brock and company made the album they always wanted to make but could never have previously afforded. "The Moon and Antarctica" is a difficult album to digest, and it reveals its secrets slowly, but the rewards are well worth the time that you'll have to invest in order to appreciate it. 

16. U2 - "All That You Can't Leave Behind"

Bono and the boys returned to their core strengths on their tenth studio album, making us remember why they were once the most popular and most critically acclaimed band on the planet. Lets not forget, this album sold over 12 million copies too!

MTV Unplugged In New York - Nirvana (1994)

Acoustic Nirvana for Nirvana Fans

When Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" reached millions of disenchanted young people in 1991, the grunge nation was born. When Nirvana's Kurt Cobain killed himself at the age of 27, that era started to fade. This acoustic performance, which was Nirvana's last time on television, is one of those rare records that defines an era in grunge rock music. 

On MTV Unplugged In New York, Cobain and company (including Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl) spend a lot of time paying tribute to their influences. Nirvana performs songs by the Meat Puppets, the Vaselines, and David Bowie. Cobain's blistering interpretation of Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World" is one of few remakes that sounds better than the original. One disturbing note is that, of the six remakes on this disc, all six are either about death, the price of fame, or both.

While many may disagree, Cobain did not possess a great voice, and he wasn't a virtuoso guitarist. What made Nirvana's music special was the amount of feeling that Cobain put into every song and performance. Kurt didn't just sing his songs, he felt them. Cobain preferred to hit a bad note with a bead of sweat than to sing the right note without emotion. For many, that quality made his music hard to listen to. For others, it made him the best performer of this decade. A prime example of this can be heard on the unplugged versions of "Pennyroyal Tea" and "Where Did You Sleep Last Night." 

MTV Unplugged In New York gives us a taste of what might have been had Cobain not decided to commit suicide. It is the profile of an artist who discovered that success does not equal happiness. Kurt Cobain took his own life before we were ready to lose him, but he left us with songs that will never be forgotten by those who really heard them.

Semisonic – Feeling Strangely Fine (1998)

Tuneful Alternative Power pop from the 90s

Rock critics love to gloat. It’s a critical part of their job, almost as significantly important as name-dropping and claiming to have the definitive opinion on every album ever recorded. Here’s how the story begins: In 1995, a rock critic friend picked the Minneapolis based, Alternative power pop rock band Semisonic as a "Band to Watch" for his year-end mag column. That was due to the band’s Pleasure EP. The band’s major-label debut, Great Divide, was later picked by Rolling Stone as one of the best albums of 1996, but for some reason he just never got interested in that second disc. Maybe he expected too much after hearing the band’s first EP. 

The opener on Semisonic's second studio album Feeling Strangely Fine (1998), "Closing Time," was a phenomenal No.1 Grammy Nominated Modern Rock hit - getting heavy rotations of alt-rock radio stations, and making you feel like how it was right back in ’98. Sure, it’s vaguely reminiscent of the guitar line from Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Bush’s "Little Things," for that matter, but the addition of the simple piano line is almost enough to make that riff sound new again. 

Next up is "Singing in My Sleep," a song that could easily have been written by Cheap Trick during their heyday (that’s a compliment, by the way). It’s about a long-distance love affair that’s kept alive by the couple’s trading of mix tapes. Have fun trying to spot all the songs referenced in the lyrics. On "Made to Last," singer/songwriter/guitarist Dan Wilson delivers a cryptic message to the band’s fans. "Never You Mind" is a bit too bouncy to really work, much like a Ben Folds Five track with less interesting lyrics (and without the really talented pianist). 

One of the many highlights on Feeling Strangely Fine is  the beautifully intense "Secret Smile" and "DND," a surprisingly touching song about a motel room rendezvous. In case you’re wondering, the song’s title refers to the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door. "Completely Pleased" may be a first of its kind in rock and roll - a song in which a male singer actually sings "I want to leave you completely pleased." How many times have we heard a singer focus only on their own pleasure? Kudos to Wilson for turning an old cliché on its ear. 

Semisonic worked closely to with English record producer Nick Launay (Arcade Fire, Nick Cave, Killing Joke) to strip their songs down to their essential elements. They succeeded, and recorded a disc that makes you think as much as it makes you want to sing along. 

Admittedly, there are a few bloodless tracks here, and Semisonic’s sound is too clean and too easy on the ears to appeal to modern heavy rock fans entranced by the jagged edges of say Trent Reznor or Billy Corgan or Indie acts like Arcade Fire. But Feeling Strangely Fine has plenty of well-written lyrics hiding behind that nice wall of ear candy. Maybe my friend was right back in ’95 after all. Yeah, rock critics love to gloat.

Listen to the entire Feeling Strangely Fine (1998) album now on Grooveshark here or watch the Closing Time Video below!

Tiny Music . . . Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop - Stone Temple Pilots (1996)

Reminiscing STP's third and their most musically diverse album.

Ripping off the Seattle grunge sound is second nature to a lot of new alternative rock renaissance bands these days, but Stone Temple Pilots often simply called STP was one of the first pioneering grunge rock bands to do so and pay the price. The Stone Temple Pilots were one of the most critically despised bands on the planet then because they were playing an entirely different style of music before grunge got popular. 

When the band changed their name from Mighty Joe Young and started to play grunge, the "poseurs" label seemed all too fitting. STP's debut album, Core (1992), was seen as little more than a blatant attempt to cash in on Alice in Chains' sound. Their second album Purple (1994) was a giant step ahead of Core, and even some of the band's biggest enemies in the press had to confess that Purple was pretty good. That's why Tiny Music...Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop(1996), their experimental third album was sort of a public statement to assert their musical talent and independent reputation.

This album unlike their predecessors was a complete departure from their trademark heavy grunge sound to new virgin territory mixing genres that included 60's style psychedelic rock,  jangle pop and even shoe gaze forcing the rock world to evaluate the band again. While many fans lambasted the album calling it a needless experimentation, STP critics considered this was proof of worthless imitators who had survived their questionable history. 

Tiny Music... only contains twelve tracks including 2 small instrumentals. "Art School Girl" is a strong remake of Tripping Daisy's "I Got a Girl" with Scott Weiland's trippy voice replacing Tim DeLaughter's smiling whimsy. "Lady Picture Show" uses the same guitar sound as "Interstate Love Song," but with a different flavour. However, Weiland's lyrics are the album's most glaring weakness. Consider this example: "My friend Blue he runs the show/ with hot pink purple China glow." Yuck. The best lyric on Tiny Music.. describes the Stone Temple Pilots almost perfectly: in "Ride the Cliché," Weiland sings "Just because you're so clichéd/ It don't mean you won't get paid." He should know. Scott Weiland was later fired from the band and its now called Stone Temple Pilots with Chester Bennington.

In spite of less than expected commercial success, mixed reviews and a failed promo tour, fortunately for STP, Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop garnered enough mainstream praise with Rolling Stone calling it the Best STP Album ever. Lets face it, nobody ever claimed that STP could play catchy pop music, and "Pop's Love Suicide" "Tumble in the Rough" and "Big Bang Baby" are all fine examples of tuneful bubblegum grunge. In fact, "Big Bang Baby", "Lady Picture Show", and "Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart" reached the NO.1 spots on the mainstream charts propelling the album to Double Platinum status. If you've only known STP for their grunge sound, at least for curiosity sake, you should definitely check it out.

The Devlins' Greatest Hits - A Websnacker Blog Exclusive Compilation

Melodic Alternative - Indie Rock from the Splendid Dublin Fourpiece

While the Devlins burst into the alt rock scene in 1994 with their spectacular debut album ‘Drift’ (produced by the award winning Malcolm Burn, a protégé of Daniel Lanois); I heard them first only in 1996 on the soundtrack of the Winona Ryder – Lukas Haas coming of age teen flick ‘Boys’. Like Ian Brown, another favorite of mine, the Devlins have constantly remained on my top 5 fav list since then. 

Led by the multi-talented Colin Devlin and seconded by his brother Peter, the Devlins have released 4 albums so far - Drift (1993/94), Waiting (1997), Consent (2002) and Waves (2004) with Colin Devlin’s solo album Democracy Of One (2009) being the most recent. All their albums have been certified gold best sellers and in 2010, Colin Devlin was also nominated for the prestigious Meteor Awards.

Notwithstanding the wrong comparison with their most famous Irish cousins – U2, the Devlins play an inimitable blend of mellow alternative rock, soaked in terrific melodies and intense lyrics that are enhanced by intricate guitar work - instant hook-ups in the first listen itself. No doubt, their most recognized songs have all been soundtrack hits. Their first international hit single “Crossing the River” was featured on the ‘Batman Forever’ soundtrack followed by “Waiting” in the Tom Cruise starrer ‘Magnolia’. A remix version of “Waiting” received phenomenal recognition when it was featured on the pilot of the popular HBO TV series ‘Six Feet Under’. Later, in 2004, they achieved more fame when their hit “World Outside” was featured on the soundtrack of Mike Nichols’ “Closer”.

You can now hear all of their most well-known hits including my personal favorites in this special and exclusive selection, encompassing music from all their albums and soundtrack appearances. While I eagerly await their fifth album, now is the time for you to fall in love with the Devlins. Enjoy the love!

Hear all the 24 tracks in this Grooveshark playlist NOW

1. The Devlins - Almost Made You Smile (4:57)

2. The Devlins - Alone In The Dark (5:14)

3. The Devlins - Big Decision (3:16)

4. The Devlins - Consent (4:48)

5. The Devlins - Crossing the River (4:45)

6. The Devlins - Don't Let It Break Your Heart (3:47)

7. The Devlins - Everytime You Go (4:49)

8. The Devlins - Five Miles To Midnight (4:10)

9. The Devlins - I Don T Want To Be Like This (4:21)

10. The Devlins - I Knew That (4:01)

11. The Devlins - In Seville (3:50)

12. The Devlins - Kill With Me Tonight (4:06)

13. The Devlins - Montreal (4:01)

14. The Devlins - People Still Believing (6:15)

15. The Devlins - Snowbirds (4:46)

16. The Devlins - Someone To Talk To (4:45)

17. The Devlins - Static In The Flow (4:57)

18. The Devlins - Surrender (4:37)

19. The Devlins - There Is A Light (3:52)

20. The Devlins - Turn You 'Round (4:37)

21. The Devlins - Waiting  (4:51)

22. The Devlins - Waiting (Tom Lord-Alge Remix) (4:51)

23. The Devlins - World Outside (4:22)

24. The Devlins - Years Could Go By (3.23)

This is a fan mixtape. If you like The Devlins, buy their original music via the official Devlins website or visit colindevlin.com.

Finding the Enemy of Rock and Roll

Johnny Rotten was right after all!

A recent  music review on the 70s Band - America attracted an unusually rancid response from readers of this blog's mailing list. While some questioned my authority to judge America, others have complained that I was doing die hard fans of America a big disservice (and possibly lose out a few readers too)! Some even called me the enemy of good rock and roll! Scathing criticism so to speak!

Well, one of my favorite quotes from Johnny Rotten (John Joseph Lydon), the lead singer of the Sex Pistols comes to mind. Rotten once told an interviewer that he wanted to "kill the hippies." When the interviewer asked him why, Rotten’s answer was simple: "Because they’re complacent." You see, Johnny Rotten recognized that the real Enemy of rock and roll was not lack of talent! Rotten’s own bandmates could barely play their own instruments, yet they recorded some of the most memorable and important music of the 1970s. No, the real Enemy of great rock and roll was the lack of passion. The lack of energy. The lack of desire. The real Enemy was complacency. 

After the sex-and-drugs party of the ‘60s, the early ‘70s were pretty much just an extended morning-after period. We’d been to the moon. We’d fought for civil rights. We’d pulled out of Vietnam. We weren’t really all that scared of the Russians anymore. It was a pretty complacent time for most Americans. Things were, for lack of a better word, boring. 

And the boredom of the early ‘70s can clearly be heard in the music of the time. We’d survived Woodstock and Altamont, and nobody really knew what to do next. The Beatles had broken up, so we couldn’t rely on them anymore. Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison had all passed away, too, making the void that much larger. 

Into this void stepped a gaggle of strum-and-ponder "singer-songwriters." They were the prototypical sensitive males who tried to make the girls swoon by pretending that they were above trying to make the girls swoon. Instead, these victims of the sexual revolution wore their hearts on their sleeves and tried to impress everyone with just how sensitive they could be. These are men who would have had all of their testosterone removed if they’d been given the option. Their songs were often considered "deep" and "insightful," but that’s more of an indication of just how hungover America was at the time than the it is of the quality of the music. Listening to these songs today can be a downright painful endeavor. 

I should know better– I’ve just finished (again) listening to 64 (yes, SIXTY-FREAKING-FOUR!!!) songs by the most complacent of all the ‘70s singer-songwriter outfits, ironically named America. It’s oddly fitting that this group, which represented the worst of our nation’s music at the time, would deem it appropriate to name themselves "America." Johnny Rotten was right after all. And now perhaps you know why my criticism!!!

Highway: 30 Years Of America (2000)

Supposedly the Very Best of this Classic Country/Folk Rock Duo

The compilation box set Highway: 30 Years of America is allegedly considered the "best" of this folk rock band’s output. To be honest, a more appropriate "best of" collection for America would be a vinyl single with "Horse With No Name" on one side and "Tin Man" on the other. Even those two songs aren't all that interesting, but they do have at least a little camp-humor value. The other 62 tracks on this three-disc box set include typical odes to "Woman Power" such as "I Need You," "Baby It’s Up to You," "Only in Your Heart," and "My Dear." 

There’s nothing wrong with uplifting songs about womanhood, but they all sound pretty forced when sung by a group of guys. Highway also includes quite a few songs with themes that still seem to be stuck in the ‘60s. How else could you explain song titles like "Nothing’s So Far Away (As Yesterday)," "You Can Do Magic," "The Last Unicorn," "Sister Golden Hair," and "Daisy Jane"? 

Some of these songs were recorded well after the band’s heyday – America continued to record will into the mid-Eighties, even though no one really cared about them after the mid-Seventies. Their last album "Here and Now" was released in 2007. Halfway through the second disc of this box set, you begin to realize that America really only wrote five songs. They just re-arranged each of these songs a few times and changed the words around a bit. 

Still, I can understood why someone would like to own a few songs by America – these songs are relaxing, smooth and non-challenging. It’s fine music for listening to when you’re in the lounge at a Holiday Inn, for example. But for the life of me, I cannot understand why anyone would want to own SIXTY-FREAKING-FOUR songs by America. 

Friday Flashback - Hits from the 80s & 90s - Part 1

Forgotten Gems from the 80s and 90s

Its Friday and the first post for 2014. What better way than listening to some great forgotten pop rock tracks from the 80s and 90s featuring Bruce Cockburn, Del Amitri, Big Dish, Geneva and more!

This is also a fulfillment of a long pending promise (to many reader requests) to repost all deleted music blog posts. Its a start of sorts but this is a promise the Websnacker intends to completely fulfill! Now, lets get back to the music..

Bruce Cockburn - If I Had a Rocket Launcher (4:59) 

Big Dish - Miss America (3:56) 

Geneva - If You Have To Go (4:07)

Jimmy Davis & Junction - Kick The Wall (3:38) 

Eddie and the Tide - One in a Million (4:07) 

Eight Seconds - Kiss You (When It's Dangerous) (4:05) 

La Marca - Hold on Blue Eyes (The Wraith Soundtrack) (4:01)

Del Amitri - Buttons On My Clothes (4:05)

Friday Flashback - Hits from the 80s & 90s - Part 1 from Websnacker on 8tracks Radio.