THE BEST OF - SUGAR RAYanother heralded party band...The Best Of reveals that Sugar Ray's music is the perfect soundtrack for relaxing and having a good time...OR rocking out at a beach fest with omnipresent thongs and bikinis and free-flowing beers :))
Mark McGrath and company made their major impact for a brief period in the 90s...while they have made some great catchy jingles, they arguably came almost close, but not quite, to attaining rock greatness...
still this is a very worthwhile addition to any collection...with standout tracks such as the unbelievably infectious
EVERY MORNING and WHEN IT'S OVER, the twangy riffs and reggae overtones of FLY and the punkish ANSWER THE PHONE...
ALL STAR SMASH HITS - SMASHMOUTHthe 90s brought with them a tidal wave of feel-good party bands such as sugar ray and the offspring and smashmouth can be listed here together with the best of them...feel-good pop music is just soooooo wonderful innit? :D
truth is, we need bands like smashmouth, we need bands that are fun, and we need good music when it's time to party, hit the beach and get well and truly hammered...some call it frat boy music, but i just call it happy rock ;) this 20 track compilation obvious is a great selection of all their essential hits including my fave
WALKING ON THE SUN, their biggest smash (excuse the pun hor) ALL STAR, HOLIDAY IN MY HEAD and their cover of the neil diamond hit I'M A BELIEVER (a stellar inclusion in the soundtrack of shrek)...
THE VERY BEST OF - SHERYL CROWthere are very few remaining artists who can really showcase true talent and acclaim while still making an impact on the charts...the mrs eric clapton to-be is one of these very few. since her 1993 breakthrough debut album "Tuesday Night Music Club," she has proven time and time again that women can really make it big in this business....she's a critics' darling with ordinary looks and an average, sometimes nasally voice, but strap a guitar on her, and she'll prove why she's lasted for ten years in this tough and competitive world of music...the words ROCK CHICK never seemed more apt...
one of the best compilation hits album that has come along in a while...almost every song is a winner and a genuine hit (except maybe THE DIFFICULT KIND)...personal fave is her re-do of the old stones hit
THERE GOES THE NEIGHBOURHOOD...uptempo and absolutely rockable...perfect for a drive with the top down and stereo at unearthly volumes :D
UNPLUGGED IN NEW YORK "LIVE" - NIRVANAso much has already been said about THE grunge band nirvana and their charismatic frontman kurt cobain that i do not feel the need to introduce them already...this is the very last collection of songs recorded before the untimely death of cobain...
nirvana caught many people out with this offering of stripped-down, neo-acoustic live recording which barely disguises the incandescent passion and unbridled fury of the classic nirvana sound...haunting and chilling to listen to at times, it provides both new and old fans with a renewed appreciation for the nuances of one of the greatest bands of recent times...to me, unplugged is undoubtedly nirvana at its most majestic!
COME AS YOU ARE and
JESUS DON'T WANT ME FOR A SUNBEAM are my picks of first amongst equals...
RIP kurt... :(
THE GREATEST HITS - LENNY KRAVITZcontains the seminal hits of one-man rock & soul revivalist lenny kravitz...the 15 tracks found here provide a surprisingly coherent reminder of just how much the artist has accomplished in a relatively short time...there are fast songs that rock ass, there are great slow songs to groove to, and a mix that falls right in between...showcasing a talent whose postmodern pop should play well into the new century...
i lurve all of them...least of which is black velveteen (quite a weird offering from him)...personal fave is
MR CAB DRIVER, a cheeky ditty at the apathy of the modern world obsessed by racial-stereotyping :D
GARBAGE - GARBAGEno no, not the music....just the self-titled album of this wonderful band fronted by the delectable (in a goth sense) shirley manson :D i think anyone who likes rock, punk, pop, techno, and eeriely meaningful lyrics will find their personal nirvana in this band...
garbage has many elements in its sound contributing to its broad appeal - incredibly infectious and danceable tracks almost pop-pish in nature but undeniably a rock album, first and foremost...in an era of post-grunge, where many up-and-coming bands were clearly derivative of such luminaries like nirvana and pearl jam, garbage's brand of rock/pop/retro offered a refreshing change of pace...
the album's massive hit, the super infectious
ONLY HAPPY WHEN IT RAINS is without doubt, one of the greatest rock songs from the 1990s....both epitomizing and mocking the self-involvement and narcissistic outlook of generation X...other standouts are QUEER, SUPERVIXEN and STUPID GIRL...
get this....you'll never regret it :D
AMERICAN IDIOT - GREEN DAYgreen day first burst into prominence primarily as a rock band playing rowdy, trashy yet sublimely catchy music but with this album, they tear up the blueprint and comes up with something unexpected: a punk rock concept album built around elaborate melodies, odd tempo changes, and a collection of songs that freely reference classic rock warhorses like the Beatles and Pink Floyd.
...akin to an operatic masterpiece :)) the worst song on the album is american idiot (which is a personal fave as i dislike dubya!) and that's actually pretty damned good...best song is
BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS...
ok, so they might not be universally appreciated by one and all, but then again, this is MY list :P haha...
BIG ONES - AEROSMITHi wasn't listening to music yet when aerosmith hit the big time in the 70s and subsequently faded out of the scene a bit towards the early 80s...but then these blokes never stopped rockin'from the 70's to the present...
they never failed the rock fans with their infectious blues-inspired rock music from gen X to Y, from the unsurpassed style of rock vocals in each track courtesy of Steven Tyler's howling voice to the ass kickin' riffs of Joe Perry...
for the beginners, this is a great introduction to aerosmith....the best....so far...best song is
JANIE'S GOT A GUN...a spine-tingling song addressing the pain and torment of sexually-abused kids...won critical acclaim when it first came out...others are DUDE LOOKS LIKE A LADY, LOVE IN AN ELEVATOR, RAGDOLL and EAT THE RICH...