10. Blood, Sweat & Tears - Blood, Sweat & TearsBlood, Sweat & Tears are probably most well-known for their hit single Spinning Wheel. This song, by no means, is the only thing they have to offer. Their self-titled second album is filled with skilfully played pop-rock songs with strong influences from soul, funk and jazz. The horn section is really talented as yo can probably hear the best in More and More. In best parts the music evolves into wild jams showing amazing vocals, great guitars and skilful drum-work. I've only listened to Blood, Sweat & Tears quite little, so I don't know how my relationship with the band will evolve, but for now it seems to be very enjoyable. This is a great album from a band full of talented musicians combining their jazz skills to more pop-sounding songs. Listen to the album on Spotify.
I, like I'm sure many others, found this band trough The Simpsons. Bart Simpson changes the hymn sheet music at church to In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by changing the title to In a Garden of Eden by I. Ron Butterfly. This, over 17 minute, title-track is the best part of the album. It is one of the first progressive rock songs also showing signs of future sound of heavy metal. Other songs on the album are a bit more traditional hippy age pop-rock. They're fairly good, but there's nothing really special about them. Iron Butterfly may, quite rightfully, be called a one hit wonder, but considering that one hit is over 17 minute epic, it's not similar to those bands that got their 15 minutes in fame from commercial radio stations. This album is a classic and I think everyone should hear it. Listen to the album on Spotify.
As with all the other Rolling Stones albums in this blog, Beggars Banquet is noticeably a good Stones album, but it does not impress enough to be one of the best in the year. There's no wow-factor. Still, hits such as Sympathy for the Devil and Street Fighting Man show what Rolling Stones are capable of. There's a strong country-folk sound on the album. It's weird, though, how an English band manages to sound so much like southern rock. Beggars Banquet is the first album that has the sound that has become so familiar throughout the decades of The Rolling Stones albums. As a whole the album is one of the band's greatest albums, but it lacks the genius of songs like Paint It Black or She's a Rainbow. Maybe I'm just too much of a Beatles-man to understand The Rolling Stones. Nevertheless, this is among the best Stones albums. Listen to the album on Spotify.
The Kinks have always been among the best melodic pop bands, but they were overshadowed by The Beatles and Beach Boys, so they never got the appreciation they deserve. Still they have quite a lot of hits and even more great songs. This album sounds really British and I really do like that. The songs are beautifully melodic with catchy hooks and unexpected turns. Do You Remember Walter is one of the best songs on the album. There are no super well-known songs on the album, but as a whole it works brilliantly. I really need to get me a few Kinks albums to really get into the albums properly. Before I've mainly listened to greatest hits compilations, but the real strength of the band is in albums that have quite a coherent sound on them. This is one of the best Kinks albums as far as I can see. Listen to the album on Spotify.
The Pretty Things has mainly been unknown to me before, but in the last two years I've really got into their music and especially this album. This is a concept album telling the story of S.F. Sorrow. Music is mainly pretty basic pop-rock, but there are some psychedelia influences as well as folk influences there. The vocal harmonies are really beautiful and skilful. The Beatles influences are quite evident, but still the band manages to sound like themselves rather than a cheap copy of The Beatles. The sounds have some similarities also to some The Who albums, especially in a bit more rock-oriented songs. The guitars on this album are really great. Again, this is one of the bands that I really need to listen to a bit more, since I'm not yet completely familiar with all of their material. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Simon & Garfunkel are among my all time favourite folk artists. Their vocal harmonies are probably the most beautiful in the world. Also their guitar-work is quite amazing. Bands like Kings of Convenience would probably not exist without Simon & Garfunkel. Bookends is probably the duo's most iconic album, probably because it includes their super-hit Mrs. Robinson. Still, in my opinion, it's not as good as some of their earlier albums. Songs like America, Old Friends and Punky's Dilemma are among the best songs by them. A Hazy Shade of Winter is a completely different kind of song from the rest, but I love this song as much as I do the more quiet ones. Both Simon & Garfunkel have had long solo careers after their duo-years, but the sound is just not the same. There's something magical in the sound of their voices together. Listen to the album on Spotify.
This was my first The Doors album. For that reason it has some sentimental value to me, but it's probably not the best The Doors album. Saying that, The Doors never made a bad album and there are some fantastic moments on this album. Quiet beauty of Love Street, shamanistic absurdity of Not to Touch the Earth, lazyness of Summer's Almost Gone and wild aggressiveness of Five to One show the diversity of the Doors. The guitars in Spanish Caravan are fantastic! It's amazing how many hit songs there are on this album. At this time, I guess, Jim Morrison was still sane enough to really be able to sing a bit more subtle songs as well. And the compositions of the rest of the band are truly innovative. This album is definitely among the best albums of the year and of the decade for that matter. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Jimi Hendrix was one of the people to change our perception on how to make music. He took especially the sound to the different level. On Electric Ladyland you don't hear instruments as they would normally be played. There are various effects on the guitars and studio techniques make all kinds of tricks. Obviously also Hendrix's skills on a guitar make those sounds happen. I don't think there has ever been another guitar-player quite as him. he can play rhythm and solo guitars simultaneously. Electric Ladyland is his most artistic album with hit songs such as Crosstown Traffic and Voodoo Child. There's also an amazing cover version of Bob Dylan's All Along the Watchtower. The best song, however is 15 minute Voodoo Chile, which is full of amazing guitar jams. Listen to the album on Spotify.
The Beatles' self-titled white album is most peculiar piece of work. It has probably the best songs by The Beatles, but it also has the worst songs by them. The double album is a mixture of experimentations. This was the first album to really show individual members as solo artists rather than as band members. Songs such as Ob-la-di Ob-la-da and Piggies should really have been left out of the album. If you would make just one album out of the best songs on this album you would end up with the best Beatles album ever. Now it's a collection of individual songs that have nothing to do with each other. Still, the arsenal of amazing songs is so vast that this album gets the second place on this list. Songs, such as Glass Onion, Happiness Is a Warm Gun, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Blackbird and Helter Skelter make this a classic that will last through the ages. Listen to the album on Youtube.
For a long time my experience on The Zombies was just an amazingly hypnotising hippie song Time of the Season. I'm glad, though, that I really started listening to their other songs as well, since Odessey and Oracle is one of the best albums from the flower power era and, indeed, ever. The beautiful melodic baroque-pop songs are masterpieces one after another. The vocal harmonies are fantastic, bass-lines innovative and piano and organ parts skilful. The title of the album was originally misspelt by the artist and it was then decided to leave it like that. It's a shame that the genius of The Zombies is only found on this one album, since it remained their last before the comeback in the 90's. Still, if you've made an album this good, you've guaranteed your name in pop music history. Listen to the album on Spotify.
No comments:
Post a Comment