Faves 1993

Favorite Albums By Year: 1993

I don’t know why 1993 [like 1968] seems to be not very memorable musically. I guess I was still enjoying all of those 1992 releases. The highest “charting” of my 1993 favorites is 83 [Anodyne] but I didn’t find it in 1993, I got the re-issues about a decade later. But I have never been afraid or cared about being on the wrong side of musical fashion or uncool.. I mean look at 1993’s hot releases: Nirvana – nope then, still nope now. Wu-Tang Clan – not for me. Bjork? Makes me gag. Smashing Pumpkins is good. Snoop Dog? No. P.J. Harvey, Depeche Mode, Pearl Jam, Type O Negative. Nope, nope, nope. So what did I like?

1. Friday Night Is Killing Me – Bash & Pop

Let’s face it, Paul Westerberg was undoubtedly the face, voice and talent of the Replacements. But with his band Bash & Pop, Tommy Stinson proved that he learned a lot of tricks sitting tt the feet of the master. I love this album so much, it’s hard to explain. It’s just a good god damned rock and roll record. It just starts off with a same lightning crack drums and then Tommy starts in “tried to keep the party rolling, it rolled over me…” Jim Dickinson said “Everybody thinks Keith Richards is rock and roll but Keith is like some outlaw cowboy. There’s some country back in there somewhere. But Tommy is 100% rock and roll, it’s all he knows.” Half the time you can’t make out what the hell Tommy is singing about but then again you can’t tell what Mick Jagger is singing either. Sometimes though things creep out, sometimes deep things, touching things. Nothing is one of those: “Use up your youth / you’re only second guessing the end / doesn’t make it easier to be nothing / in her eyes.” Tiny Pieces: “I couldn't help myself to you / More different than we knew / And every word I thought I should have said / Was chokin' me.” A lot like Don’t Tell A Soul – something in it just touched my heart and I fell in love. 

2. Superstar Car Wash – The Goo Goo Dolls

The one before their hit record. The record that Sire wished the Replacements would have made. This trio managed to take the Replacements formula to the top. [I guess the hard lesson for Mr. Paul Westerberg was that innovators get critical accolades and their imitators make the bread.]  Maybe skipping the “drunken buffoon” years was a good first step. Letting the bass player contribute songs and sing took some of the pressure off of Johnny Rzeznik [the pretty one].  Falling Down and the even better Cuz You’re Gone [which sounds like the progression of Falling Down played in reverse] sound a little similar. Self avowed ‘Mats fan Reezeznik copped his hero’s sound pretty well on So Far Away, Girl Right Next To Me, and Stop the World. Westerberg even wrote the lyrics to We Are the Normal [“It's a beautiful life, and I've got it in my sights  / And that ain't for all of us  / It's a beautiful sound  / When my life comes crashin' down  / That ain't so obvious  / It's a beautiful sin, and I'm doin' it again  / And that ain't for all of us  / It's a beautiful life, and I've got it in my sights  / Ain't that so obvious?”] Most of the Robbie Takac sung tracks are pretty good [Lucky Star, Don’t Worry. Domino, Close Your Eyes] and Already There and Another Second Time Around is good, just not great. Still 45 minutes of great power pop.

3. The New Old Me – Slim Dunlap

There’s nothing super special about Slim Dunlap’s style or songs or vocals or anything. But it’s the greatest bar band album that ever was. Completely lo-fi. But somehow brilliant in its simplicity. Imagine Keith Richards fronting a pick up bar band instead of his X-Pensive Winos. Take for example The Ballad Of the Opening Band.  Somehow Slim takes the down and out, stuck here and doing this again for people who don’t care of Creedence’s Lodi and takes it DOWN another notch.  

4. 14 Songs – Paul Westerberg

Round one went to the students. Not to say that 14 Songs is bad record. The opening salvo  - the wreckless Knockin’ On Mine, the aching memories of  First Glimmer, the rocking World Class Fad [“this 9 to 5 bullshit don’t let you forget the suicide you’re on…”], more Achin’ ToBe in Runaway Wind and the pure Westerberg-ness of Dice Behind Your Shades [“everybody tryin’ to make you feel stupid / But you know they’re lyin’ / Because their lips are moving…”]  is as good as any the ‘Mats put out. I like this record but I played it far less than these others - maybe I just needed fresher voices. But Westerberg proved the only one able to keep producing.  

5. Anodyne – Uncle Tupelo

I missed this when it first came out but following back the histories to Jeff Tweedy [Wilco] and Jay Farrar [Son Volt] plus a dose of Whiskeytown led me back to this. The back story is that Farrar grew to despise Tweedy and refused to play his songs live, which led to fistfights, yadda yadda. It’s kind of apparent listening that Farrar favored darker, minor key things whereas Tweedy seemed to be ready to step out and rock a little. Although the roles seem reversed on Farrar’s Chickamauga and Tweedy’s New Madrid. Farrar’s Anodyne [it refers to a pain killing drug] is one of the greatest songs the Rolling Stones never cut – could Jagger and the boys pull off “Two fingers on the trigger / Can break the heart of any day / Foolish to believe / It would turn out okay / ,Anodyne Anodyne / Tossed it out for me to find  / Without a word you're out the door  / Without a reason anymore / Anodyne…” They tried to com up with a word to describe this mixture of country and rock and called it Americana although the late Gram Pasons had already coined the perfect term: Cosmic American.

Faves 1992

Favorite Albums By Year: 1992

I have a lot to say about the music, so no yakking up here.

1. The Southern Harmony & Musical Companion – The Black Crowes

The album that made my friend Marty buy a CD player because it was not issued on vinyl [in the U.S.] in 1992. But it was worth every penny you paid for that CD player wasn’t it? [I hear a “Hell yeah” blowing in on the wind.] The Robinson brothers and company put out a slice of pure 1972 style rock and roll a full generation later. The Crowes came out and acted like the 80s never happened musically – like rock and roll stopped about 1976 wherever they grew up. It was because of this album that I dove into the treasure trove that is Humble Pie. The Crowes take a whole lot of the style found on the Pie’s double disc Eat It including finding some background singers ala the Blackberries. [The Crowes released a cover of Humble Pie’s 99 Pounds as a B-side.] There was another guy who worked at Forever Young when I was there part time [95-96] and he played Eat It at least once a week. SH&MC has myt favorite Crowes song, Thorn In My Pride, as well as rippers like Sting Me, Remedy, Black Moon Creeping, No Speak No Slave and the powerhouse My Morning Song as well as the slow burning Bad Luck Blue Eyes. The only questionable call on this is the final cut, a cover of Bob Marley’s Time Will Tell, but it’s easy enough to skip over that and start it again at the top.

2. Izzy Stradlin & the Ju Ju Hounds

In Guns N’ Roses, Izzy Stradlin was the Ron Wood to Slash’s Keith Richards [as master of riffery not in playing style]. Being sober [he had stopped drugs, detoxing in his mom’s home in 1989 but when GNR opened for the Stones in 1989, Keith and Ronnie waived some Rebel Yell around and he could not pass up the offer. But those were his last drinks.] He grabbed Rick Richards out of the recently deceased Georgia Satellites to play Woody’s role in his own band - as well as Charlie “Chalo” Quintana of the Cruzados and Broken Homes bassist Jimmy Ashurst. Like the Black Crowes, Izzy and company lay down some old school rock and roll, leaning more towards the Rolling Stones and the Faces [Sticky Fingers / A Nod Is As Good As A Wink] than Humble Pie. The record even features former Faces keyboardist Ian “Mac” McLagen on 6 tracks, frequent Stones side man Nicky Hopkins on the Stones-ish Come On Now Inside and Ronnie Wood dueting on the Ju Ju Hounds take on Ronnie’s Take A Look At the Guy which is one of the funnest tracks on the album. This is another album that is an instant bond with people – anyone who owns this record is an immediate friend. 

3. Love Songs For the Hearing Impaired – Dan Baird

While Rick Richards was off with Izzy, the main mouth of the Georgia Satellites, gap toothed Dan Baird released his first solo record. [Fun fact: one of Baird’s main guitars is a 1957 Fender Esquire formerly owned by Humble Pie’s Steve Marriott] Rather than aping his heroes [well, maybe Chuck Berry] ala the Black Crowes / Izzy and the Ju Jus, Baird just kept rocking in the same style he had with the Satellites. You might recall the almost top 20 track I Love You Period, a VERY Chuck Berry [or Faces-like] like tale of the kid who drops a love letter to his teacher who tells him “the spelling was a masterpiece / the punctuation should be better… “ and explains how to punctuate it and make his love letters really great. Rolling Stone quipped “This is how… rock ought to be serve sizzling hot and extra lean, seasoned with a sneaky sense of humor.” The songs they had in mind were the tale of a shotgun wedding ion Knocked Up and Dixie Beauxderant [from Thibodaux Louisiana] who stayed in school long enough to say she quit, worked midnight shift with her aunt at the Curad plant, saved up her money for a bus ticket and went to Pensacola where she and her friend Tina wound up at a bar on wet T-Shirt night – which Tina failed to win “because she danced to Twisted Sister / but when Dixie told that DJ Gimme Three Steps mister / all the gentlemen in the audience began to rise.”  And unlike the other two bands, Baird NEVER drops a ballad on you.  Personally,I doubt that his voice / singing style would allow it. He’ll slow it down some – the tale of the troubles of Julie & Lucky [“from Waste Your Time Kentucky”] and Baby Talk. But then he’ll kick it back up with a Lost Highway or Seriously Gone. There’s even a modernish sounding song in Pick Up the Knife [modernish as in maybe the Smithereens or the Long Ryders]. But by and large you get the same basic meat and potatoes or blue collar sandwich, chips and a cola rock & roll. Ain’t nothing wrong with that!

4. Out Of the Cradle – Lindsey Buckingham

After raiding his third solo album in progress for songs for Fleetwood Mac’s 1987 masterpiece [yes I love the record] Tango In the Night but refusing to tour causing the most stable of Fleetwood Mac’s line ups to fall apart [and opening the door to many more reunion tours of various incarnations of the most famous line up – seeing the Say You Will tour made me realize that Buckingham and Nicks alone could not carry a show and how badly the needed the break that McVie’s great songs and vocals provided ], Lindsey tinkered away over his garage or pool house for a few more years before finally letting this 13 song magnum opus out to play. Apparently a perfectionist Buckingham played almost all of the instruments himself. It’s not too far off of Tango sound wise – except missing the input from McVie, McVie, Nicks and Fleetwood. And there is no denying the man’s talent but jeez – at least Brian Wilson trusted the Wrecking Crew to help him get the sounds he heard in his head! But if Lindsey wants to spend his days banging tissue boxes and recording himself singing then speeding and slowing tapes to get all the harmonies, he’s earned the right. Do you see that cover - that smirk  is a guy who knows he’s smarter than you and is about to prove it and prove it he does. The results are amazing, Buckingham’s distinct playing style on his unique Model One guitar are the bed on which all the tracks are laid but the icing of layers of vocals and instruments as evidenced on the opening cut Don’t Look Down.  [When he appeared on PBS in 1992, he had a lineup of 6 or 7 other persons playing guitar parts and singing and I’ll bet he drilled them for months before touring and issued $ 50 fines for clam notes and missed cues].  Countdown was the radio song, like much of the album, middle of the road, like I said not too far off the last FM record. There’s a wonderfully layered and ethereal version of the Kingston Trio’s All My Sorrows, the softly loping Soul Drifter and Surrender the Rain and the occasionally heavy This Is the Time. But it’s the last two tracks that sum up the beauty – an instrumental take of Rogers and Hammerstein’s This Nearly Was Mine followed by the Beach Boys like Say We’ll Meet Again.

5. Mother Love Bone

While I have eschewed compilations and will do so again, I am making an exception here. Mother Love Bone features two of the people who would go on to form Pearl Jam after the death of front man Andrew Wood – guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament. Wood’s death shortly before the release of their debut album Apple in effect killed the band before it really got started, although their 1989 EP Shine contributed to the growing buzz about the Seattle scene. Ironically one of the lines from Apple’s opener This is Shangrila is “I don’t believe in smack, so don’t you die on me.” In the guitars of Gossard and Bruce Fairweather [Green River, Love Battery] one can hear the foundations of Pearl Jam’s sound or “grunge” in general. Stadog Champion has a heavy swirling riff akin to Soundgarden [Chris Cornell was Wood’s room mate – he would be the force getting Amment and Gossard and Gossard’s friend Mike McCreaady to record a couple of tribute songs for Wood which turned into the Temple Of the Dog album. Temple of the dog is referred to in Man Of Golden Words.] Stargazer is a great song about Wood’s girlfriend. Wood likened Heartshine’s multiple modes and quickly changing riffs to Led Zeppelin’s Achilles Last Stand. The lyrics are about one of Wood’s brothers – and maybe himself: “A sad hello to death / I'm a stubborn goat on trial / No more no less / I said time will tell / If love is gonna have the strength to push it  / The strength to push my pain away” Mindshaker Meltdown and Half Ass Monkeyboy channel some lost Aerosmith songs right down to Wood’s swagger. U the highlight of the set is Shine’s Chloe Dancer / Crown Of Thorns, which would appear on the Singles soundtrack as well. [see Also noted]. Wood’s girlfriend explained “"He wrote it about our near breakup, and how I tried to control him and the drugs-hence his allusion to being tied to the ceiling. Andy was always ashamed of his addictions, choosing to lose himself in his music and poetry, bathing himself in concepts of real love and acceptance."

You ever heard the story of Mr. Faded Glory?
Say he who rides a pony must someday fall
Been talkin' to my alter
Say life is what you make it
And if you make it death well then rest your soul away
Away away yeah child
It's a broken kind of feeling
She'd have to tie me to the ceiling
A bad moon's a comin' better say your prayers, child
I want to tell her that I love you
But does it really matter?
I just can't stand to see you dragging down Again

6. Dirt – Alice In Chains

From one addict to another. Alice In Chains unleash one of the heaviest, darkest albums of all time. With Jerry Cantrell torturing his guitar [see the Hendrixian into to Rain When I Die] and Layne Staley’s troubled tortured singing bringing real pain to Cantrell’s songs – yes, Jerry Cantrell wrote most of the album. Staley contributed two songs and co-wrote five others but Them Bones? “ I believe them bones are me / some say we’re born into the grave / I feel so alone gonna end up a big ol’ pile of them bones.” All Cantrell.

Also of Note:  The soundtrack for Cameron Crowe’s Singles, filmed in Seattle in 1991 features a who’s who of the Seattle scene just prior to Nirvana busting the whole thing wide open – with the exception of Cameron’s dream musical director Paul Westerberg from Minneapolis who added two of the main themes - the opening Dyslexic Heart and the closing Waiting For Somebody. Crowe noted that Nirvana was set to contribute a song but once they got huge things got weird [like sending copy of the half finished film to the band in Australia] and the idea was nixed. But there is Pearl Jam, Soundgarden [and Chris Cornell who wrote and performed all the songs on Matt Dillon / Cliff Poncier’s tape which became a favorite in the editing room. The gorgeous Seasons appears on the original, Spoonman would appear on Soundgarden’s next and Flutter Girl on Cornell’s Euphoria Morning.], Mother Love Bone, Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, Alice In Chains and the original Seattle sound king Jimi Hendrix. Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart contribute a cover of Led Zeppelin’s The Battle Of Evermore from their side project the Lovemongers.  And Chicago’s Smashing Pumpkins contribute the oddly beautiful Drown.

Favorite Albums By Year: 1991

1990 went pretty fast – changed jobs 3 times [twice by choice, once not so much], saw a few shows, etc. 1991 was a bit more stable. Many trips to Dallas to hang with my friend but I would stay and drink! In a stable, fairly well paying job at “The Lab” - the industrial soap place I drove the truck for - I bought my second new vehicle - the red Sonoma pickup [which I had for 9 years, Dad for another 9 and he sold it to someone. My boss at the time, Steve had recommended starting on synthetic oil - take care of your motor and your motor will take care of you!] 

1. Badmotorfinger – Soundgarden

Hands down my favorite album of this year. And not even close. Soundgarden would become a favorite band for long drives from Burleson to [basically] Addison. Heavy, layered and sometimes swirling guitars and the amazing Chris Cornell on vocals and lyrics. Yes please and on repeat.

2. Strangeitude – Ozric Tentacles 

My friend Tracey turned me on to this. Ozric Tentacles is a British mostly instrumental pseudo psychedelic band, still going strong since 1983. The brainchild of Ed Wynne, heavy on keyboards, echoed parts and guitar solos. And flute. Yes, I know even the thought of this makes some people cringe but I like adventure in my music.

3. Tin Machine II

When I saw Tin Machine at the late great oft lamented Bronco Bowl [I believe a giant box cutter Home Depot stands on the site now], there was a T-shirt proclaiming “Fuck you, I like Tin Machine.” While I did not purchase that shirt, I must agree with the sentiment.  A lot of you were “David Bowie wants to be in a band? WHY does David Bowie want to be in a band?” Why not? Since guitarist Reeves Gabrels stayed with Bowie to the end of the decade, maybe that was the key, although the Sales brothers [who backed Iggy Pop on the Bowie Produced Lust For Life] were certainly veterans of the rock and roll scene. Maybe this is a late delayed reaction to NOT making the Ronson-Bolder-Woodmansey 1971 i.e. the Spiders From Mars equal partners?  Anyway, the record itself is most famous for “castrating” the Kroisos Kouros statues on the cover in the U.S. [but NOT Canada? I guess the Canadians have no problem with statue penises. But that’s America for you.]  And bad reviews. I know, some people don’t like anything new or adventurous in their music. And by 1991, they should have known better than to judge anything Bowie did right away – sometimes it took time for “the rest of us” to catch up to Bowie. It appears that time and review of the Bowie catalog in the wake of his passing has allowed some of you to catch up with my progressive view on this record. But it still remains unavailable for purchase since the label Victory Music folded. 

4. Achtung Baby – U2

While David Bowie was roasted for making a more progressive, noisy record U2 were lauded for "clanging, knob-twisting sound effects and the Edge's metallic, head-snapping guitar." I admit at first I was confused by this record claiming to be the new U2 record. The Fly? Mysterious Ways? Zoo Station? This is nothing like War, Unforgettable Fire or Joshua Tree. But in the end, it was One and Ultra Violet [Light My Way] that made me come around. The last GREAT U2 record. 

SIDE STORY: So I am working at Sound Warehouse when The Joshua Tree [fun fact: TJT was the first new release to be made available on the compact disc, vinyl record, and cassette tape formats on the same date!] dropped. For some reason, I had decided to try and judge the album in whole, on my own not from just the bits and pieces I would hear on the radio or in the store. So for a week I avoided With Or Without You on the radio but I was fretting about hearing the record in the store. Fortunately fate intervened on my side and the three letter delivery service with brown trucks didn’t drop it into the store until late in the afternoon – I want to say about 4:30. By the time the order was checked in and priced and put into the racks, it was time for me to split, so I plunked down my bucks on my original vinyl copy and headed home. At first listen, Bullet the Blue Sky was my favorite track. Nashville argued for Trip Through Your Wires. At this time, Bullet, In God’s Country and One Tree Hill stand out. Unfortunately I have become so burned out by Where The Streets Have No Name, I rarely put on that record anymore and is a large reason why it was not on my list for favorites of 1987.

Also of Note: 1991 was the year the box set came into its glory years. In my own collection I have [or once had] Aerosmith’s Pandora’s Box, James Brown’s Star Time [still an EXCELLENT overview of the Godfather], Clash On Broadway and the Ray Charles set The Birth Of Soul. Also a couple of really good compilations: The almost all you really need Allman Brothers Band set Decade Of Hits 1969 – 1979 [I would have dropped Revival in favor of Hot ‘Lanta] ,  The Jam’s Greatest Hits and the 8 volume set Atlantic Rhythm & Blues 1947 – 1974. Probably the second most essential R&B / Soul set after 1992s Hitsville USA The Motown Singles Collection 1959 – 1971. Because Atlantic distributed Stax records through most of the 60s, there is a lot of crossover but the third would have to be The Stax Story [2000].

Faves 1990

Favorite Albums By Year: 1990

Saw a couple of great shows in 1990 – David Bowie, Neil Young & Crazy Horse w/ Social Distortion and Sonic Youth, Iggy [again. At this show he let his pants fall and loosed the famous Cock In His Pocket for a minute or two – before noticing a young child in attendance. I also remember someone offering a program to sign – but no pen so Iggy proceeded to give a DNA sample by spitting on it.] – but one night myself,N8 and a couple of his buddies went to see the Rave Ups at 2727 Canton St., corner of Canton & Crowder. The place alternately know as Tommy’s, The Venue, The Institute and finally Deep Ellum Live. [My ticket says it was schedule for Club Clearview so maybe it was moved?]  I guess it is still alive – it’s currently listed as Canton Hall. I saw a few shows here: Violent Femmes, Fishbone, Johnny Winter [more straight blues than roock, kinda disappointed], Todd Rundgren, part of a Rocket From the Crypt show which the cops shut down because the club did not have a “Dance License” and people were dancing. Anyway, sometime during the show or ride left us and we hopped a ride with another friend – jamming three people in the cab and two in the covered bed of his S-10 sized pick ‘em up. Hilarious.

1. Ah Via Musicom – Eric Johnson

A mere four years after his debut and on a new label Johnson finally deemed the record ready for release. It would take six years for his next project to reach the stores. This record focused more on songs as a whole rather than being a setup to just crank up and “honk” as Johnson would say. Three of the eleven tracks clock in at two minutes or shorter and one of those is a “noise” building intro to the album. Three of the remaining eight tracks are instrumentals. Probably still more of a guitarists / guitar loving record than broad crossover appeal of a Stevie Ray Vaughn & Double Trouble.

2. Bloodletting – Concrete Blonde

I knew an Amazonian red headed girl – seriously about 5’11’ and seriously into martial arts – who loved the title song. She was one of those people who just listened to the same song over and over and over again.  Not to say that I don’t – I could and occasionally do play Caroline back to back to back to back. This alternately ethereal [Lullaby, Caroline, Tomorrow Wendy] and punchy [The Sky Is A Poisonous Garden. Days And Days] record is dark and mysterious and amazing.

3. All Shook Down – The Replacements

What started as Paul Westerberg’s first solo album [management convinced him to make it a band record, probably using the words “contractual obligation” a lot], it features most of the Replacements on most of the tracks. Drummer Chris Mars is only on about half of the album. Stylistically it’s like a band with Attention Deficit Disorder. It wanders all over the place. It’s short and to the point [only two songs cracks the three and a half minute mark] and full of Westerberg’s trademark odd tunings, 12 string guitars and lyrical twists. [“Hush was the first word you were taught / I watched you wear the clothes they claimed that they bought…”,“A little Sleepy Time tea stifles another heart ache”] Nobody is a near perfect guy at the wedding of an ex or ex-best friend [“you like the frosting / you just bought the cake / your eyes can’t fake / still in love with nobody … / and I used to be nobody”] And just like Don’t Tell A Soul, the fans of the band’s “drunken boobs” years hate it. But like Westerberg kicking alcohol about this time, some things just need to be left behind. 

4. Songs For Drella – Lou Reed & John Cale

Released on my 23^rd birthday, this unlikely cycle of songs about Andy Warhol . Per Wikipedia “Drella” [a cross between Dracula and Cinderella.] was a nickname for Warhol used by those around Warhol that he never particularly cared for. Incredibly sparse – just Cale on keyboards and viola and Reed on guitar – it roughly follows Warhol’s life “escaping from Pittsburgh [Small Town], arriving in New York and discovering his own art [Open House, Style It Takes] and working in The Factory and advising the Velvet Underground [Work]. Trouble With Classicists written solely by Cale seems a dialogue between Warhol and another art lover, a critic, an interviewer or just a friend winding down after a party is over. Cale’s solo compositions Style It Takes, Trouble With Classicists, Faces and Names and Forever Changed are some of the better songs on the record. Of course, Lou Reed hot off the New York album and tour is just Lou. Nobody But You sounds like it could have been on New York. The cycle of songs on the back half of the album [Slip Away (A Warning), It Wasn’t Me, I Believe, Nobody But You and Forever Changed] address the end of The Factory era. A Dream is an odd meandering ethereal stream of conscious ramble. Hello It’s Me closes the cycle seems an admission of someone who never got to reconcile with an estranged friend and mentor. ‘Well now Andy, I guess we’ve gotta go / I wish I knew somewhere somehow / You liked this little show / I Know it’s late in coming but it’s the only way I Know/ Hello it’s me / Goodnight Andy…” Amen, Lou & John.

5. Rust In Peace – Megadeth

Like anyone who was listening to music at this time, I dabbled in some hard rock and “heavy metal” [and soon also known as “Grunge”]. Albums like Judas Priest’s Unleashed In the East and British Steel, Metallica’s Master Of Puppets and Ride the Lightning and Iron Maiden’s Powerslave and Number Of the Beast as well as Ozzy’s first solo albums, AC/DC’s late 70s and early 80s records and the two records in the early 90s that Anthrax cut with John Bush [Sound Of White Noise, Stomp 442] ALL have variously treasured places in my collection. But this album from Megadeth in my mind is absolutely one of the best of the “heavy metal” or “thrash metal.” [I originally had a promo cardboard “rusting coffin” copy which I messed up trying to glue in the thing that held the CD in place with Superglue – I don’t know what ever happened to it but I suspect I tossed it because the CD was f’ed up.] Newly sober Dave Mustaine – as much as a egotist and total prick that he seems to be - turns his eyes to a world in chaos and on the edge: Holy Wars… The Punishment Due  [“Brother will kill brother/ Spilling blood across the land/ Killing for religion / Something I don't understand / Fools like me, who cross the sea / And come to foreign lands / Ask the sheep, for their beliefs / Do you kill on God's command?” – is really about Northern Ireland, although it seems to also apply to the Middle East] and  Take No Prisoners address war; Poison Was the Cure and Tornado Of Souls addiction and the mighty Rust In Peace…Polaris and it’s potent “chorus” [“I spread disease like a dog / Discharge my payload / A mile high - rotten egg air of death / Wrestles your nostrils / Launch the Polaris / The end doesn't scare us / When will this cease / The warheads will all rust in peace”] nuclear holocaust. And around Mustaine’s mighty lyrics the band lurches, stops and starts in fits and suddenly leaps sideways of shifts gears like a demonic eighteen wheeler on high octane and crack. Amazing record.

Also of note: Fantasy Records [who bought Stax records in a shady deal in 1977] released two recordings of Albert King  from the Fillmore [later the Fillmore West] in 1968, the remaining tracks recorded the same nights as his marvelous Live Wire Blues/ Power album as Wednesday Night In San Francisco and Thursday Night In San Francisco. ANY fan of the blues and / or Stevie Ray Vaughn should own all three of these records.