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The Ten Greatest Albums Of All Time


Levis

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My second nom, I gave it some hard thought

Pavement-Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

Now... this might be a little 'out there' but I decided that everyone else was gonna get classic rock covered, so I figure I can get some modern in here.

This album is spectacular, now for any of the older fellows that read this, here is my message to you;

If you really like punk back in the late 70s, but felt that it just lost it's style, it's appeal, felt that everyone went too new-wavey... or just stopped making good original music... get this album, like right now, get it, either go out find it and buy it, or get onto your internets and download it, I don't care, and I doubt Pavement really does either, besides after you hear this, you're going to want to buy everything else they ever did.

Now, to the album itself.

It's hard to describe the magic of this album to anyone who hasn't heard it... I imagine it would be like trying to explain Led Zep IV(or insert really good inexplainable album of your choice) to someone who hadn't heard it... but I will try.

Pavement have been described as 'slacker gods' which is unfair... as they undoubtedly tried quite hard to make something this good...but it's style is just so laid back... but godlike :)

The opening track, starts off with heavy distorted guitar playing what appears at first listen to be pure randomness... but then the drums kick in, and a melodic line starts floating over... and all of a sudden those 'random chords' start to kick some major buttocks! Then comes Stephen Malkmus' instantly recognizable voice... I admit, it's a stretch to get used to, but once you do, you fall in love with it... and if you could get used to Joe Strummer and whatnot....

The lyrics are a big part of pavement lore... as they are ridiculous, nonsensical, yet Malkmus' use of language is brilliant, everything has such great flow and it fits the music perfectly... picture if Dylan had spent his whole career writing songs with lyrics like 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'

So the first track (silence kit)= pure rocking awesomeness

Then there's the civil war song, Stop Breathin' which is essentially just a four chord vamp... but the interplay between the guitar and the drums and the vocals...chilling.

Then there is 'elevate me later' which has to be one of my fave songs of all time, it's ballad-ish, midtempo, but the lyrics the voice are beautiful...check it out.

other gems ( I forget the exact order)

Gold Soundz= it sounds so good, and once again the lyrics are amazing... there's this one moment in the first or second verse where you can tell he's just kinda adlibbing, and it ends with 'And we're comin' to the chorus now!' cut to chorus.... you really have to listen to appreciate :)

did I mention they also do country/blues :)

There are two great songs in the album 'Range Life' and 'Heaven is a Truck'

Heaven is a truck is a bit more bluesy- the lyrics are great and it even has a lennonish mantra near the end

'Range Life' is a song that is sung from the perspective of an aging hippy looking at the modern ('93 anyway...) music scene, it's really country-ish and it's great, it's also the song that almost stopped Lollapolooza '94 from happening, as Billy Corgan was going to withdraw the Smashing Pumpkins from playing if Pavement was allowed to perform, as one of the lines in the song was 'As for the smashing pumpkins, I don't really give a f---'

They didn't get along very well, there's some really fun feud material between Corgan and Malkmus.

Then the album ends with the guitar driven 'Fillmore Jive'

Right here they showcase the musical skill that is really behind these 'easy' songs... Malkmus is actually a great guitar player.. a great great great great guitar player... at a jazz level, in fact numerous Pavement jazz tribute groups have been put together in the last decade,

anyway, back to the guitar prowess, Malkmus knows how to play 'out' of a key, and then suck you right back into it... for anyone not familiar with theory just take my word... it's hard to do, and this song showcases the guitar skillz rather well... it's the longest pavement song (excluding live jam cuts) at around six and a half minutes, it rocks...

okay, that might not have been the most convincing of arguments on it's own... but go out, listen to the album a couple times thru.... and then my ramblings will make sense.

I own this on CD, Cassette, plus a special edition 2 disc CD (which is sweet by the way, it costs as much as the regular, but has 1 and a half discs of b sides and outtakes added to it) and I have it on vinyl, it's that good.

(and if you can, pick up the vinyl....)

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^ yes!!! :rockon: :rockon: :rockon:

I LOVE that album. Apart from the fact that it has my theme song 'Cut Your Hair' , 'Elevate Me Later' is one of my favourites by Pavement. And there's just something so inherently likeable about Range Life even if the melody doesn't grab you at first. It's just a 'comfortable' song. And it's a great album! :thumbsup: You've grabbed the essence in your review. Thanks!

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The Doors

The%20Doors%20-%20The%20Doors.jpg

1. Break On Through (To The Other Side)

2. Soul Kitchen

3. The Crystal Ship

4. Twentieth Century Fox

5. Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)

6. Light My Fire

7. Back Door Man

8. I Looked At You

9. End of the Night

10. Take It As It Comes

11. The End

Shocking that I would nominate this, right? Forget Sgt. Pepper's, this is the greatest album of what is possibly the greatest year rock and roll ever saw. The Doors took the summer of love and revealed that yes, there is a dark side, and it should be embraced, not feared. This introduction to Jim Morrison's poetry and otherworldy howl, Ray Manzarek's leading organ, Robbie Krieger's flamenco-influenced guitar, and John Densmore's highly underrated drums is the masterpiece album among the six brilliant albums they released in their sadly short career. It opens with their statement of purpose, and closes with the darkest epic ever laid down on vinyl, with acid-tinged imagery and Oedipal themes. Light My Fire (penned by Krieger) was the hit, but every song on this album is genius and influential, from the ode to LSD Crystal Ship, to the show tune Alabama Song, to the blues cover Back Door Man (given a more twisted meaning by Morrison's preferred manner of sex). The Stones told the establishment that they were tired of them, The Who went as far to say they hoped to die before they became like the establishment, but The Doors were the first to proclaim "F*** off, we're taking over".

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Holy crap- I can't believe I forgot Cut Your Hair... you know it's an awesome album when you're explaining all the awesome songs and forget one of the awesome songs :)

"ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo oooooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo oooo" haha

Levis testify! How awesome is the Fillmore Jive guitar solo(s)?

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I've been trying to track down Elevate Me Later... my favourite after Cut Your Hair.

Pavement's sound is a little 'lazy' but I think that's what makes them special and kinda accessible. They're like eccentric friends.

And yes, yes.. Fillmore Jive! I need to sleep, why don't you let me?

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Guess what mode I'm in now?

IMPORTANT: These aren't songs... these are albums. Support your nomination with video or audio clips and try to tell us WHY you picked it. Does it mean something to you? Does it mean something to the world? What's your nomination got to offer that the others don't?

Gist: Campaign

:beatnik:

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Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen

BruceSpringsteenBorntoRun.jpg

Side one

1. "Thunder Road" - 4:49

2. "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" - 3:11

3. "Night" - 3:00

4. "Backstreets" - 6:30

Side two

1. "Born to Run" - 4:30

2. "She's the One" - 4:30

3. "Meeting Across the River" - 3:18

4. "Jungleland" - 9:36

The Boss's breakthrough! Like The Doors, he's never released anything short of brilliance (except maybe Lucky Town), but this is and always will be his shining gem. Springsteen wanted this album to sound like "Roy Orbison singing Bob Dylan, produced by Phil Spector", yet he somehow managed to make an album greater than anything put out by those legends. Each side starts out uplifting (Thunder Road/Tenth Avenue Freeze Out and Born To Run/She's The One) and then ends on more sober notes (Night/Backstreets and Meeting Across the River/Jungleland), but every song has a quality of realism and passion that only Bruce Springsteen, New Jersey's poet laureate, can produce. What teenager/20-something can listen to Born To Run and not relate to it? What adult can't listen to it and think back, whether fondly or regretfully, on days past? Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street combined the rock and roll of the 50's with the social awareness and introspectiveness of the 60's all wrapped neatly in a shiny 70's package, therefore giving us, in one album, a rock and roll history. He set out to make the greatest rock and roll album of all time. He may have done it.

Well, even if they don't win, I'm very happy with my two nominations. If I could only listen to those two albums for the rest of my life, I could live with that.

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Ahha, another faithful to the Pavement cult!

I'm telling you, anyone who hears these will fall in love! If you're a modern kinda guy... love 'em, and if you're into the power of classic rock...love 'em.

In a matter of a month or so you will become so obsessed that you will have to buy all their stuff...

for anyone interested, I recommend getting Crooked Rain Crooked Rain first, then their first LP Slanted and Enchanted, now both of these come in two disc collector sets that I cannot explain how awesome they are.

Then I would go for Brighten the Corners, their second to last, which marks the start of a more 'polished' sound.. then their last album Terror Twilight... which is good, a little less punky, and loses some of the magic, but it's still better then most of the stuff you'll find from the last decade

and then if you're still into it... you can try and climb the mt. everest of pavement... Wowee Zowee, the follow up to Crooked Rain Crooked Rain, which is also available in a two disc.... the thing about wowee zowee is... pavement was actually poised to make it, they had a mtv vid rotation with cut your hair, they were on lollapalooza... but it seems like WZ was done just to spite anyone who wanted to see them become mainstream... cuz people, it is WEIRD.... they manage to cover every genre imaginable on the album, but it is also very good.... if you can handle it :)

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