100 Favorite Albums Part 4: #25-1

25) Slayer- God Hates Us All

This album was released on September 11, 2001. How f****n' metal is THAT?!!

24) Richie Kotzen- Live In Sao Paulo

For years I dismissed Richie as a mindless shredder who had a short stint in Poison once. A recipe for dismissal. But now I'm kicking myself for having my head so far up my rear. I took a chance on this album after reading an interview in Guitar Player magazine and as you can see it's in my Top 25. Incredible guitar playing with a tone to kill for, soulful singing and great songs. My new guitar hero. I'm now in the process of getting everything this man has recorded.

23) Seal-Live In Paris
People are always surprised I'm such a huge Seal fan after they find out what other music I'm into. But my only requirement for music is that I "feel" it and I certainly do with Seal's music. To me, he's the heir to the throne of Otis Redding, Al Green and Marvin Gaye. He's what modern R&B is, not the other garbage that passes for it nowadays. And on this great live set he shows he can bring it live just as well (maybe even better) as in the studio. A claim VERY few so called modern R&B artists can make these days.



22) Blue October- Foiled
This is Blue October's masterpiece, IMO. The culmination of all I've ever liked about them. The albums leading up to this one showed significant progress and growth. And it all leads up to this album. But I hope this isn't where the band has peaked and they've begun their downhill slide as the album that came after this one (Approaching Normal) is far from the quality of this. But if it is, then that's okay because they gave us this to remember them by.

21) Judas Priest- Screaming For Vengeance

The album opener "The Hellion" is THE coolest intro EVER. If we were able to have theme music in our daily lives, "The Hellion" would blast forth everytime I entered a room. That and the track it leads to, "Electric Eye", is one of the best one-two punches in metal.

20) Slayer- Seasons In The Abyss
For some reason, I'm having a hard time thinking of something to write about this stellar album. So I'll just say this: It's Slayer....songs like "War Ensemble", "Dead Skin Mask" and the title track inhabit this disc....it will rule you. Go listen to it NOW.




19) KISS- Creatures Of The Night
After the glory days of the '70's, KISS kinda lost their way once the '80's dawned. KISS was more of a polished pop act at that point rather than the raw rock n roll band they began as. But towards the end of 1982, KISS released a sonic beatdown that reminded everyone (including themselves) who they were. That album was Creatures Of The Night. KISS had finally arrived in the '80's with a loud, bombastic and ferocious album that rivaled the intensity of the early years. The line-up that was introduced on this album (Eric Carr on drums and Vinnie Vincent replacing Ace Frehley, who was on the cover but did not play on the album) could've been to the '80's what the original four were to the '70's. But it wasn't to be, as we only got one more great album from this line-up before Vinnie Vincent was out of the band.





18) Tom Waits- Rain Dogs
This album is a classic for so many reasons and it deserves to be. Brilliant songs, great production and his choice of co-musicians is perfect. One of the best choices he ever made is having Marc Ribot play guitar. Ribot's guitar is as identifiable as Waits' voice and is an essential part of the sonic stamp of this album.

17) Clutch- Blast Tyrant
"Don't worry, it's just stigmata

Pass me a napkin

And don't you dare tell my mother"

I got aboard the Clutch train with the Elephant Riders album and haven't looked back. IMO, this is their most solid, consistent and entertaining album. I love every minute of it.

16) Otis Redding- Love Songs
If I could sing, I would want to be a cross between Tom Waits, Paul Stanley, Rob Halford and Otis Redding. I could listen to Otis sing the ingredients off a bag of chips. But he was at his best when he sang a love ballad. Nobody can sing them like he did. This album is dedicated solely to Otis doing just that. Any romantic song you would ever need to melt a heart with is contained on this disc.




15) Alice Cooper- Love It To Death
This was hard. All of the early Cooper albums are brilliant and could occupy this spot. All are essential listening. But I find myself going to this one the most because it contains "The Ballad Of Dwight Frye", one of the greatest pieces of rock n roll theater ever put to tape.



14) ZZ Top- First Album
Back before they became a synth pop novelty band in the mid-80's, ZZ Top was a tight, lethal blues rock band. Billy Gibbons isn't considered a guitar god because of stuff like "Legs" or "Sharp Dressed Man" but because of the monster playing on albums like this.





13) Leslie West-Mountain
This is technically the first Mountain album, as the next album Leslie West did was with the band Mountain, which took it's name from this Leslie West album. Get it? Even if you don't just take my word for it that this is a terrific album worthy of your attention. Listening to his big voice and even bigger blues-injected guitar playing you'd swear he was from the Bayou rather than a nice Jewish boy from New York.




12) Govt. Mule- Govt. Mule
I was close to giving up playing guitar around the time this came out. I was just bored with it and wasn't really finding much inspiration in anything. Then my Dad sent me this one day in the mail because he had bought it, listened to it and thought I'd be into it. Boy was he right! Warren Haynes single-handedly saved me from selling all my guitars and calling it quits. He lit that flame in me again. Warren is one of those rare players who I could could listen to wail all night and never get bored. And he's also one of those even rarer players whose singing voice is as strong as his playing. He's rounded out with Matt Abts on drums and the late Allen Woody on bass. Unfortunately lost Allen a couple albums after this, their debut. I'm still a big Mule fan and love their other albums they've recorded since, but it still hasn't gotten any better than this one for me.




11) KISS- Ace Frehley
I worship at the altar of Ace Frehley. He's the reason I started playing guitar and is my all-time favorite member of KISS . And there's a reason this album sold more than the other KISS solo albums did....it friggin' SMOKES (yes, that was a smoking Les Paul pun).








10) Metallica- the first 4 albums
Kill 'Em All, Ride The Lightning, Master Of Puppets, ..And Justice For All
These four comprise one long string of perfect metal ass-kickery and I'm going to count them all as one album. It's my blog, so suck it. I'll do what I want. If you think I'm drunk with blog power, go play all four of these albums back to back and tell me I'm wrong.




9) Black Sabbath- The Black Box
Okay, I used my get out of jail free card on the Metallica posting above , but this is a boxed set of the first eight Sabbath albums so it counts as one album. Repeat: the FIRST EIGHT SABBATH ALBUMS. You can't f**k with that. Go ahead and try, I dare ya.




8) Ramones- RamonesMania
This compilation was my first introduction to the Ramones and I've collected every full album they ever put out since hearing it, but this is still my favorite. A near perfect document of the period of the band from the first album all the way up to right before the great Brain Drain album. I say near perfect as they left off "Judy Is A Punk", " I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You","Questioningly" "Mental Hell" and "Something To Believe In". But that's nitpicking. This is a great album for anyone who wants a superb overview of what the Ramones were about.




7) Jimi Hendrix- Jimi Plays Monterey
Like with Alice Cooper, this was hard. I was going to go with "Are You Experienced?" or "Axis: Bold As Love". But when I really thought about it, this is the Hendrix album I listen to the most. It was my first Hendrix album and when I first became in awe of him. This was his first big show in the U.S. as THE Jimi Hendrix and it shows what alot of balls, attitude and just a Strat, a Marshall stack and fuzzbox (this was pre-wah) can do.

6) Motorhead- Sacrifice
For some reason, this one tends to get overlooked by alot of 'head fans and I've never understood why. There is nothing weak about this album and is full of material I'd give a body part to hear live ('Make 'em Blind" is at the top of that list). Not to mention it's one of the coolest 'head album covers ever. This line-up of Motorhead with Lemmy (of course!), Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee is, to me, the classic line-up of the band.

5) Slayer -South Of Heaven

Everyone typically heralds Reign In Blood as their favorite Slayer album. Not hard to see why. You can't deny that album's influence..it is one of the foundation stones of thrash metal. I love that album; it's speed and brutality is unmatched. But after the kind of onslaught Slayer provided with Reigning, what could they do next? This one. They combined their skin-searing speed and aggression with slower grinding tempos and more dynamics. Slayer is known for their speed, but they were always much more intimidating when they slowed it down a bit and let their groove come through. The inherent evilness in their music is allowed to shine through a bit more when it's not being washed out with pure speed.

4) Iron Maiden- Live After Death

As you may have gathered already, I have a thing for live albums. This perfect piece of metal chronicles Maiden on the legendary World Slavery Tour. This is the two disc version, with the second disc containing such essentials as "Wrathchild" and "Phanton Of The Opera". Now SCREAM FOR ME!!!!

3) Judas Priest- Painkiller

One continuous, relentless ass-kicking from front to back. Never fails to pump me up, especially the title track. The boys were honed to a razor's edge on this one. It will bite your head clean off. I promise.

2) Tom Waits-Bone Machine
This was my first exposure to the genius of Waits. When I want some Waits and am not sure which album to choose, this is my go-to album. Brilliant from beginning to end. "Goin' Out West" would be my theme song if I were a much manlier man than I actually am.

1) KISS- Alive!

This is it. This was my gateway to all things hard n heavy and is still my all-time favorite album. Being without this album would be like missing a limb. This album is embedded in my DNA and part of my blood, sweat and tears. The only thing that would have made this album even better (as if you could possiby improve upon it) would be live versons of "Strange Ways" and "Goin' Blind".