100 Albums, 100 Words (80-71)

80. Metallica – Ride the Lightning (1984)

At the opening of “Fight Fire With Fire” one may think that Metallica has gone soft; after a few seconds the song breaks into a rock-hard riff that maintains the melodicism achieved in the introduction. “For Whom The Bell Tolls” makes Cliff Burton’s case as the great lost bassist. “Fade To Black” is a great ballad. “Creeping Death” is speed metal. Metallica has songs which are better than just about anything here (“Master of Puppets,” “Unforgiven,” “One”), but on no other album have they been able to sustain such a high level of searing guitar work and excellent songwriting throughout.


79. Loretta Lynn – Van Lear Rose (2004)

Loretta looks like the queen she is gazing out from the front yard on the cover of Van Lear Rose. Jack White was able to revitalize her career, inspiring her to write the whole album and providing some fiery licks. As a result, the album includes some of her best material, including “Portland, Oregon,” (I need to try sloe gin fizz.) “Family Tree” and “Van Lear Rose.” “Mrs. Leroy Brown” is one of the funniest novelty songs ever, and one of the smartest – a post-modern response to the misogyny of men characterized by Jim Croce’s folk-hero “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.”


78. Hank Williams III – Straight To Hell (2006)

While I may not be quite the crazed drug addict Hank III paints himself to be, I’ll sure as hell drink to it, toasting Kentucky Deluxe to “Pills I Took.” We share so many things… a hate of mainstream country, a seething hate for Kid Rock, and a love of our “Country Heroes.” Also, anyone who makes a forty-two minute song, even if it is a medley, is cool in my book. Estranged from Wal-Mart, Hank Jr., and even his own record company, Hank III has space to be a “Crazed Country Rebel,” and makes this, the essential cowpunk record.


77. Aerosmith – Toys In the Attic (1975)

Permanent Vacation (before they added the wings logo to the cover) was my first tape, but Toys In the Attic was my second, and my first real introduction to what rock’n’roll could be. It established Aerosmith as my first favorite group, which they remained from 1987 through 1992. The song titles alone intrigued me; “Uncle Salty”? Best of all, this is the songwriter’s favorite Aerosmith album; not quite as rocking as Rocks, but better crafted and more melodic. “You Hear Me Crying” is the band’s best ballad and “Round and Round”’s circular riff makes it live up to its name.


76. Elvis Costello and the Imposters – The Delivery Man (2004)

Alternating between rockabilly rave-ups and tear-jerkers, Elvis Costello created one of the finest country albums ever, and perhaps too sincere in its aims to even label it alt. country or country rock. Of the rave-ups, “Bedlam” is the most mind-blowing, featuring a barnstorming bass line and jagged guitar riffs. Cameos from Emmylou Harris bring to life the best ballads, especially “Heart-Shaped Bruise.” Musically it could be King of America 2, but thematically it deals with heartache among the working class and the hot-button topic of religion and politics, most specifically the evolution-vs.-creationism thread that runs through "From Monkey To Man."

75. Bob Dylan – Oh Mercy (1989)

Although Time Out of Mind received more attention, this was the true beginning of Dylan’s comeback. Here Dylan first teamed with Daniel Lanois, who provided the swamp-like feel Dylan needed to examine the world’s moral compass, as he does on “Ring Them Bells” and “Man In the Long Black Coat.” “Most of the Time” features a killer bass line and heartbreaking tension in the lyric. “Where Teardrops Fall” is gorgeous. There are weaknesses: “Political World” gets preachy, though it rocks; “Disease of Conceit” is ick; “Born In Time” was left off. Still, this album holds its own among Dylan’s best.


74. U2 – Achtung Baby (1991)

Sometimes, sequencing is everything. On Joshua Tree, the hits are all front loaded, whereas here “One,” “Mysterious Ways” and “Even Better Than the Real Thing,” are spread out enough that the magnificent songs between them – “So Cruel,” but also the transcendent “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses?” and the intricate blaze of “The Fly” – receive the attention they deserve. Released as singles, these songs didn’t perform as well as some of the other songs on the charts, but their placement on the album makes them stand out in contrast to their surroundings; this is why Achtung Baby works so well.


73. Bob Dylan – Modern Times (2006)

Modern but not contemporary, this album conjures the ghost(s) of T. S. Eliot (and Henry Timrod) to help make sense of this mortal plane. In Chronicles, Dylan claims that he prays that he can be a kinder person, something that each of us wants. That idea is present throughout this album, an album haunted by the apocalypse as much as any other in Dylan’s career. Dylan’s wry observations, set to rockabilly boogies, mid-tempo shuffles and rich piano ballads, thrust the world’s flaws in our face and ask us to accept the world anyway; a brave solution in a troubled time.


72. June Carter Cash – Wildwood Flower (2003)

One experiences a slight twinge when hearing June Carter declare “all the injuns in them hills have gone berserk” in “Road to Kaintuck.” Eek! This pang comes not only from the slur she has just spouted, but also from the virile force of anger her voice ushers forth. It’s scary. Even at 73 June was the toughest lady on either side of the Mississippi. The duet with Johnny on “Temptation” makes “Jackson” pale in comparison. June’s homespun commentary, particularly her stories about Lee Marvin, tie the album together, giving the ancient songs a continuity and a place in American tradition.


71. Byrds – Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968)

Sweetheart of the Rodeo served as country rock’s coming out party, hosted by Gram Parsons. Perhaps the best track here is “Hickory Wind,” featuring an aching melody both sung and written by Parsons. McGuinn sings on the majority of the album, much to Parsons chagrin, though the results are as delightful as anyone could hope for. The song selection is another joy, mixing the traditional (“I Am A Pilgrim,” Guthrie’s “Pretty Boy Floyd”) with covers of contemporary material (Dylan’s “Nothing Was Delivered” and “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”). It is this album we have to thank for Wilco and The Jayhawks.

100 Albums, 100 Words (90-81)

90. U2 – War (1983)

Bleak and political, U2’s War features the band at their angriest and hardest. The guitars clash and thrash, the drums rattle like gunfire, and the bass pounds. “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” a song about the massacre of Irish revolutionaries, opens the album. On “New Years Day,” peace is only temporary and love occurs across a series of rendezvous beneath the “blood red sky.” “Two Hearts Beat As One” attempts to reconcile Ireland’s halves, but the title’s solution seems a long way away. The Bono we know first expressed himself on this album, and it contains the most intelligent things he’s said.

89. MC Paul Barman – Paulellujah! (2002)

The unheralded king of nerd rap, Paul Barman is a rhyming genius. His apocopated syllables, along with palindromical lines, before and afters (I. R. Skimo), and four syllable rhymes (“disarobe Lisa Loeb”) make him the game’s most literate MC. Unfortunately, his subject matter leaves a little to be desired – basically, he whines about why he hates feminists and how he plans to sleep with them. Still, the cartoonesque beats with quirky sound effects, as laid down by MF Doom and Prince Paul, provide the necessary backing for Barman’s silly yet offensive rhyming, and “Excuse Me”’s boasts are the best around.

88. The Who – The Who Sell Out (1968)

The first concept album by a group renowned for them, The Who Sell Out not only has one of the greatest album covers, but also a great collection of songs. The main songs – especially “Our Love Was” and “I Can’t Reach You” – are among Townsend’s best melodies. The hit, “I Can See For Miles,” opens with a superheavy chord. “Silas Stingy” is a great send up of misers. The advertisement songs are great too, though. “Odorono” is a story song almost as witty as “Tattoo.” The pirate radio spots between songs ensure the album’s anti-regulated radio concept won’t be forgotten.

87. The Doors – LA Woman (1971)

Widely regarded as signaling a creative resurgence which was never fully realized due to Morrison’s untimely death, this album features some amazing music and some truly experimental and groundbreaking songs. ‘L’America” features a weird scene dealing with slavery inside the gold mine. “Hyacinth House,” among the Doors’ most underrated songs, features excellent chord changes. “Texas Radio and the Big Beat” is Morrison’s best attempt to fuse his loves of rock and poetry. “L. A. Woman” should be the soundtrack to every scene of hopped-up, adrenalized freeway driving. Had Morrison lived, there’s no telling how eerily good it could have gotten.

86. Van Morrison – St. Dominic’s Preview (1972)

From the opening sprightliness of “Jackie Wilson Said,” the listener is both smiling and in heaven. This high-energy album finds a happy medium between Van’s mainstream-friendly fare such as Moondance and the more esoteric masterpieces like Astral Weeks. At once poppy and soulfully emotional, the album is able to hold two ten minute songs that never feel like they are lasting ten minutes. The album feels as open as an endless bazaar but retains its musical tightness, a strength few albums can hope to emulate. Unsurprisingly, this is the only Van Morrison album to produce two contemporaneous Hot 100 singles.

85. Michael Jackson – Thriller (1982)

Although it is generally accepted that Michael Jackson is the weirdest person alive, that doesn’t discount the fact that, when he was only semi-weird (who cuddles a tiger and wears a diamond-studded glove?), he made one of the most ass-shakable albums ever. From “Thriller” to “Billie Jean” to Eddie Van Halen’s solo in “Beat It,” this album is extremely danceable. The two best moments, though, are the least celebrated. The improbable dialogue between Michael and Sir Paul in “The Girl Is Mine” always leaves me in tears (of laughter). “P.Y.T.” features the most memorable melody and coined the term “tendaroni.”

84. Prince – Musicology (2004)

Prince is back! Not only is this album not filled with twenty-minute instrumental musings or anti-Semitic ramblings about why being a Jehovah’s Witness rules (okay, he does that a tiny bit), but the concise poppy hooks are sometimes accompanied by political lyrics of the kind Prince hasn’t achieved since “Money Don’t Matter 2night.” “Cinnamon Girl,” a song examining post-9/11 racism against Arabs through the eyes of a middle school student, hangs on a George Harrison inflected hook that recalls the Purple Reign. “Dear Mr. Man” is overpoliticized JB-style funk. The album is a science class in how groovin' is done.

83. Grateful Dead – American Beauty (1970)

Along with Workingman’s Dead, this album includes much of The Dead’s best work. “Box of Rain,” “Ripple,” “Sugar Magnolia,” “Friend of the Devil” and “Truckin’” are all essential staples of their catalog. The album takes the new country-rock sound The Dead had experimented with on their previous album and develops it with more complex instrumentation and more textured recordings. Garcia’s guitar work on “Friend of the Devil” is tender yet memorable. “Sugar Magnolia” features an endearingly romantic lyric. “Ripple” shuffles along with a pleasant, afternoon rhythm. Alternately laidback and rollicking, the album is perfect for smiling in the morning sunshine.

82. Woody Guthrie – Dust Bowl Ballads (1940)

Dust Bowl Ballads may be the first real album, the first collection of songs recorded to cohesively serve one purpose. Rather than just a hodge-podge of 78s, these Guthrie sides chronicle the depression as well as any other historical document or piece of art. Simultaneously fictional and non-fictional, Guthrie reports hardship with a journalist’s objectivity and a novelist’s eye for detail. Nothing is wasted and everything has meaning. Even the outlaw ballad “Pretty Boy Floyd,” not explicitly about the dust bowl, relates through Floyd’s mythologized generosity towards farmers. Meanwhile, “Do-Re-Mi” gives advice on how to persevere through economic hard times.

81. The Who – Tommy (1969)

Tommy was The Who’s third rock opera and the second full-length rock opera, but it is the most important example of the genre and set the pace for what was to follow. The storyline, in which a deaf, blind mute achieves celebrity through his pinball skills and later reveals himself to be the new Messiah after being miraculously healed, is absurd and highly unlikely, but so is much of rock. Musically, much of this is brilliant and the interlocking musical themes, which weave the story into a cohesive whole, work great. As a narrative, it bring eyesight to the ears.