This “Best Album Of All Times” needed an Index since it will be kept as a separate category. After some thoughts I also rearranged some albums to my final list, so here’s the final list updated with both initial and final positions.
If you click on the link you’ll be redirected to each review.
So the final post in this series – that’s been my most enthusiastic project on this blog – has been written! I’ve spent almost four weeks on this project, with 2-8 hours of music listening, reading lyrics and moving albums up and down every day, but what an amazing journey it has been! I’ve always dreamt of doing this, and now it’s done.
The hardest part was to stay true to the rules. The Best Album, not just an album with 5 good tracks with 3 bad ones; the full album was what counted.
In retrospective I think that Sixx A.M should change place with Toto. Heroin Diaries is an amazing album that no one should miss. Since it’s also a true story, with such a good purpose it may even be higher up. I also placed both Keane and Journey on a shared number 1-place, but I think that Journey is the true number 1. It’s almost silly how perfect that album is. Every single note is so good, on all instruments and the vocals from Steve Perry are truly amazing.
So, do I miss any albums on the list? Yes I think that Simply Red, Magnum, Don Henley, Frank Ocean, Iron Maiden and The Hooters should be somewhere on the list, but I’m not sure where. The lack of full albums without a track that you just want to skip is hard to find with those artists. Maybe Magnum is closest?
Thank you all that have followed this top-list. It’s been a pleasure to hear your thoughts both in person, on the blog and in e-mail.
I leave this series with a great track that actually wasn’t on the list; Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey
I hope you all get a good start of your week.
P.S If you want to go back in the series, there is a new menu at the top of this blog where you can find all the posts D.S
This is an album that have followed me ever since it was released back in 1986. The album was supposed to be called Freedom, but the title later changed to Raised On Radio. Some of the line-up were changed from the previous album, Escape, due to some internal disturbances.
Following their two most successful albums, lead singer Steve Perry began to take more control over the band’s direction. First, Ross Valory and Steve Smith were fired from the band, against the wishes of manager Herbie Herbert. The two were replaced by various studio musicians for the recording of Raised on Radio, including Randy Jackson (bass guitar) and Larrie Londin (drums). Smith did record three tracks with Journey on the album, and he and Valory still received revenues from the record and subsequent tour.
If you recognize one name from American Idol, you’re right; Randy Jackson, on bass.
Band members
Steve Perry – lead vocals, producer
Neal Schon – guitars, backing vocals, keyboard on track 10, guitar synth
Jonathan Cain – keyboards, backing vocals, additional vocal co-production
Additional musicians
Randy Jackson – bass, backing vocals
Larrie Londin – drums, percussion
Bob Glaub – bass on tracks 2, 10 and 11.
Steve Smith – drums on tracks 2, 10 and 11.
Mike Baird – drums on tracks 12 and 13 (2006 CD reissue only)
Dan Hull – saxophone on tracks 2 and 7, harp on track 7
Steve Minkins – percussion on track 3
Source: Wikipedia
In 2009 the group had a major hit with the formerly released “Don’t Stop Belivin‘” (from the Escape-album) which became the ever most sold track on iTunes in 2009. Many people argue that Escape is a better album, but I can’t see that. Raised On Radio is as perfect as it get’s.
So, the album? Well what can I say? This is music at it’s very very best, and in my mind there is actually no downsides. Every single track, except the title track, is a five-star track in my mind. Just listen to the guitars, the vocals of Steve Perry which definitely is one of the world’s best vocals, the piano, the rhythm.
All the “time stamps” are based on the time in Spotify which may affect the YouTube-times slightly.
***** Girl Can’t Help It: The piano starts of slowly, and soon the guitar kicks in before we hear the first words from Steve Perry. Relaxed and controlled.. Don’t miss the bass line that’s so solid. The guitar break after 2:57 is so good, and listen to the final seconds.
***** Positive Touch: Bass, and a rhythmic guitar accompanied by a piano that follows the guitar. Listen to the guitar at 1:00, and 1:11 together with the solo at 1:50! The background vocals are also so good all the way through. The saxophone, guitar and vocals that are “answering” each other after 3:02 is another delicacy.
***** Suzanne: A bass and keyboard intro before “I see your face at the movies”. Listen to the bass line, and the articulated “Suzanne”! The solo after 2:00. Full of energy.
***** Be Good To Yourself: The track that you should play before going on vacation, need a break or just some positive words. The track starts of with a keyboard-intro, then a great solid verse before the amazing chorus at 0:40. Don’t miss the guitar in the background, and the backing vocals!
***** Once You Love Somebody: Just listen to that cooperation between guitar, bass, vocals!! Brutal! After 45 seconds the bridge to the chorus. The little delicacy with guitar at 1:28!
***** Happy To Give: This is a singing lesson of Steve Perry. “I was born a believer, played the fool, lonely dreamer left to choose”. Listen to the vocals after approximately 3 minutes together with the keyboard!
**** Raised On Radio: An amazing track, but the least good one in my opinion. Really like the guitar handling, and the “blues-ish” sound.
***** I’ll Be Allright Without You: A little slower track, but oh, this is soo good. The keyboard after 0:38, the guitar intro, the backing vocals “It’s all because of you” “Try not to think of you”. Just listen to it!
***** It Could Have Been You: Almost tired of writing how amazing this album is. There isn’t a single second that’s amazing. In this track. Just listen to the guitar after 1:49, and the break at 2:10! Then “Where are you…. ” BAAM “Now”! Guitar solo with the incredible bass line.
Time washes over, memories
I can’t look back no more
Change has forsaken, our promises
There’s someone else for you to hold again
***** The Eyes Of A Woman: Once again we’re all going into singing class in with our class teacher Steve Perry.
***** Why Can’t This Night Go On Forever. Romantic. Subtle. A song for a wedding? OMG! This is brutal! The atmosphere, the performance from the musicians. One of the most “perfect” songs ever?
Lost in twilight, the memories
Precious moments, you and me
We’ve been old friends, all through the years
Picture postcards, sharing tears
What’s in our hearts, there’s never time, to say
Need you tonight, lover don’t fade away
I’ve seen your city lights
As I walk away
Why can’t this night…go on forever
Some other tracks from other albums:
Open Arms, originally made for “The Babys” and John Waite, but released by Journey
Number 1?! Yes. You haven’t missed number 2. The truth is, I can’t possibly separate this album and the next one. While this is an album that you may need one or two “listenings” to, the last one is one of those that get you struck’d by straight ahead. Both albums are still one of those that you can listen to for decades and still just enjoy the awesome production, the atmosphere, the small subtle changes, the vocals, the bass, the guitar, the drums and so on.
Keane, with Tom Chaplin (on lead vocals, organ, piano, acoustic and electric guitar, Tim Rice-Oxley (on piano, keyboards, synthesisers, electric guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals, Richard Hughes (on drums, percussion, backing vocals and Jesse Quin (on bass guitar, electric guitar, synthesisers, percussion, backing vocals) is playing
Keane achieved mainstream success with the release of their debut album, Hopes and Fears, in 2004. The album won multiple awards, including the Brit Award for Best British Album, and was the second best-selling British album of the year.
Keane are labeled as alternative rock, and I guess its hard to give them a better reference. With its typical piano / bass sound together with some amazing vocals, Keane is Keane. The more often used reference is Coldplay, and there the similarities are more obvious.
This album, Hopes and Fears has been a huge success.
In May 2008, both Hopes and Fears (number 13) and Under the Iron Sea (number 8) were voted by readers of Q magazine as among the best British albums ever, with Keane, The Beatles, Oasis and Radiohead the only artists having two albums in the top 20.
So lets dig into this amazing album
***** Somewhere Only We Know. The first track kicks of with some really characteristic Keane-sounds, and then after 0:24, the verse. This song is amazing. Also, listen for those subtle changes all the way up to 1:10. The bass that sometimes helps the piano, the steady increase in volume, and it accelerates all the way. This is Keane as its best. Working with changes in tempo, strength and feelings.
***** Bend & Break. The same kind of piano-groove as on Somewhere Only We Know kicks of the second track as well, and once again they are slowing things down, to be able to lift the track at 0:50, with a strong amazing chorus.
If only I don’t bend and break
I’ll meet you on the other side
I’ll meet you in the light
If only I don’t suffocate
I’ll meet you in the morning when you wake
***** We Might As Well Be Stranger. A slow, subtle song with a steady rise to the crescendo after 2 minutes. Listen to the always present Keane piano, the variations in the vocals.
***** Everybody’s Changing. Once again, an awesome track. The difference between 1 and 2 may be the more heavy use of synthesizers in the verse. Look for the break at 2:47.
**** Your Eyes Open. A four!? A Simple four on the Best Album Of All Tracks. Well, its still a four, isn’t it? This may be weakest track on this album but still an amazing song. What is it that makes this song less good than the others. Well this is just personal. I have some difficulties with the start of the track. The groove isn’t that good, in my book. But hey, things are repaired once they got thing going and the chorus is great!
***** I’ve used the word subtle a number of times already and when I’m trying to describe one of the best groups in the world when it comes to variations musically the words soon starts to be running out. The track is built around the great vocals of Tom Chaplin and Richard Hughes drums. Beautiful.
***** Can’t Stop Now is a paring of traditional Brit-Pop and the Keanish sound. Just listen at the chorus at 0:53 with the vocals and the piano’s totally awesome harmonies.
**** Sunshine sounds a lot like Harry Nilsson. Have you heard him? The guy that almost was a “Beatle”. If you haven’t heard him. Check him out here. Back to the song. The influences from Beatles are evident. The song is not as characteristic as many others on the album, but still a great track with some awesome harmonies.
****** This Is The Last Time. Another hit from this album, and No I didn’t miss out on the stars. This must be a six! The vocals starts of straight away with the piano, and later bass / drums. After 0:30 it starts to build, before the… aaaaamaaazing chorus. The harmonies, the piano, the drums, the bass. Just listen to it!! Perfect!
***** On A Day Like Today. A relaxed track, with slow changes and heavy use of Tom Chaplin’s voice.
***** Untitled 1. Drums kicks of this album, followed by almost an Abba-Sound on the keyboard (?). Nowadays great tracks are used in the gaming industry. This track could definitely be used as such. Great atmosphere, with strong characteristics.
***** Bedshaped. To put it in a few words. This is so DARN good!
To be honest, its not that easy to write a review around Keanes music. The all small great changes, the subtleness, the arrangements and so on. Its so good, and if every great move in the music would’ve been described it would take years.
When I was in my late teenage years, and I guess until I was 30, there wasn’t so much more music than Hardrock, Heavy Metal and Westcoast. I knew most of the bands, the musicians (which at least in the westcoast-genre many times are the same on many records with different artists).
Toto, has always been a group with amazing musicians. The guy/woman at vocals have changed over the years, but somehow they’ve always maintained a great standard, but they have never been a “band of the critics” (at least in Sweden), and I guess that’s partly due to the lack of “deepness”, but on the other hand, if you like technical stuff like amazing guitar solos, great bass play, amazing percussions/drums, keyboards and so on; Toto surely delivers always.
The line-up for this album:
Joseph Williams – lead vocals (except on “Anna” and “These Chains”)
Steve Lukather – guitars, backing vocals, lead vocals on “Anna” and “These Chains”
David Paich – keyboards, backing vocals, co-lead vocals on “Home of the Brave”
Mike Porcaro – bass
Jeff Porcaro – drums, percussion
and as guest musician:
Steve Porcaro – keyboards, electronics
So, why the album Seventh One? I like almost all songs on all albums, so it wasn’t an easy choice. After my first cut, where I left out the albums that I thought had 1 or 2-star tracks, I had to choose from the albums:
Toto (1978)
Toto IV (1982)
Fahrenheit (1986)
The Seventh One (1988)
At first I picked Fahrenheit as the best of those four, but after a number of listenings I think The Seventh One must be the final pic. The average for all tracks are the best, in my opinion.
***** Pamela; with that amazing soft beginning, and the sudden “AHHHH” after 20 seconds. “Side by side”.. together with the rhythm section. The keyboard at 1:03, followed by the guitar afterwards. Nice! After 1:30, the chorus. Great, relaxed and the groove in the background just keeps on pushing. Don’t miss the solos after 2:50 with keyboard and guitar. Awesome!
*** You Got Me; in my opinion a great track, but the weakest on the album in my opinion. Highlights: the chorus after 0:50, and the horn section after 1:15 and forward. Really good.
**** Anna; one of two amazing soft ballads on the album. The place on the album is as good as it gets. Romantic, soft and gentle, and some nice strings of hope in the chorus. Beautiful! Listen especially to the guitar solo at 2:40 – 3:00
***** After some romantic feelings, the album once again get’s up to speed with Stop Loving You, and the acceleration is done superbly. A short intro in 20 seconds, then a stop followed by percussion and a verse that’s up to par with the amazing chorus. One of those tracks where at least I know almost every single tone. At 2:50 when they incorporate some Jazz-influences, the track reaches its peak.
***** Mushanga. I’ve tried to find out what the word Mushanga means but haven’t been able to find it. The only two explanations i’ve found:
“Mucu Mushanga, their 27th king, was credited with the invention of fire, and he was the first to make clothing out of bark cloth. Shamba Bolongongo (c. 1600), the 93rd king, who introduced weaving and textile manufacture to his people, was…”
Well, I guess it doesn’t matter that much. After all this is an amazing track with (as so many times before) a great rhythm section, and the Spanish-influenced guitar solo after 3:05 is probably one of the most beautiful one’s by Steve Lukather, then followed by a Keyboard solo followed with a pairing of the two. Awesome!
**** Stay Away starts of with a guitar and drums / cow shells. Highlights, the chorus after 1:12 with a great backing vocals.
**** Straight for the heart. Pushed, upbeat drums, paired with vocals starts this track, followed by a great chorus with some amazing horn sections.
***** Only The Children. Great guitar intro which is connected to the end of the last track of the album. The verse has a gentle pace, while slowly accelerates to the great chorus, after the equally amazing break at 0:50. After 2:50 there is a long break followed by the always great guitar solos of Steve Lukather.
***** A Thousand Years. The albums second ballad, once again well placed on the album. Not as romantic as “Anna”, but a nice gentle track with some amazing performances by the musicians. Once again, Beautiful!!
**** These Chains is a slow, almost jazzy track. I really like the vocals at “What should direction should I go”. One of the places where I always here my self sing along (and no that will not improve the song at all 😉 ).
***** Home Of The Brave. 6:48 of total pleasure. My favorite track on the album, and an awesome track live where they are using the guitar section after 3:10 / 5:34 to alter the sound between right and left in the concerts. Some flavors of Peter Gabriel in that section? And the crescendo on the album after about 3:50, the break! Totally awesome. I know that this may be more enjoyable for those that really enjoys the technical parts, but this is so good!
This is not an album, this is not poetry, this is not a story. This is all of them combined together in an amazing soundtrack, written as the music to the book with the same name, The Heroin Diaries. An album that describes the life as a Heroin addict.
All the tracks on the album represents one month of Nikki Sixx life in the period from December 1986 to December 1987, which truly shows in the lyrics, and was written after Nikki Sixx had done in total six drug overdoses.
Sixx A.M; as Sixx from Nikki Sixx, DJ Ashba (currently Gun’s and Roses) and James Michael has put together an epic album with Heroine Diaries. An album that may grow in popularity over the years, and an album that I think is absolutely one of the best albums ever. If the album would’ve been released back in the days when records were solely sold as complete albums, this would’ve been one of the really big ones!
The Music could be described as Musical-inspired Hard Rock.
It’s one of those albums that’s hard to listen to, just track by track. Instead it’s a complete history with all parts of a hard, struggling life well described; happiness, sadness, hope, failing, anxiety…
If the schools should use music as drug awareness, this album would be the best pick.
In my opinion Nikki Sixx is amazing at writing lyrics, and before we’re digging in to the lyrics of Heroin Diaries, I must share these rows from the track “Oh My God”, on the following album “This is Gonna Hurt”
And we sit in our highrise apartments and complain about things that don’t matter,
And we race through this life just to see who can die with as much as we can gather,
And a few blocks away a teenage mother plays Russian Roulette with her daughter,
Is this the best that we can do, is this the best that we can do.
Back to Heroin Diaries:
To fully understand the lyrics, it might be good to know some “drug slang”
blue – Crack Cocaine; depressants; OxyContin
ex – ecstasy
golden eye / Persian – Heroin
My own thoughts about the album, combined with small parts of the lyrics
As I previously wrote, all the tracks on the album represents one month of Nikki Sixx life in the period from December 1986 to December 1987, which also is described on the first track, X-Mas In Hell:
December 25th, 1986 – Van Nuys.
Merry Christmas,
That’s what people say at Christmas, right?
Except normally they have someone to say it to.
They have friends and family,
And they haven’t been crouched naked under a Christmas tree
with a needle in their arm like an insane person in a mansion in Van Nuys.
They’re not out of their minds, they’re not writing in a diary,
And they’re definitely not watching their holiday spirit coagulate in a spoon.
I didn’t speak to a single person today.
I figured why should I ruin their fucking Christmas.
I’ve started a new diary and this time I have a few new reasons.
One, I have no friends left.
Two, so I can read back and remember what I did the day before.
And three, so if I die, at least I leave a nice little suicide note of my life.
If you’re wondering about Van Nuys when you listen to this track, it’s a popular place in California where many celebrities have lived/lives. Link
Van Nuys is also the title of the next track. In this track there seems to be a fragment of fighting spirit starting to grow. Even though it’s still very melancholic.
I don’t want to die out here in the valley
You don’t have to lie, I know that’s what I’ll do
I don’t want my mom to know
That I never loved my life and I sold my soul
Third track, Life Is Beautiful the anxiety over dying and the reflection of life’s beauty is starting to grow, and I guess due to an eye-opener while visiting someone else’s funeral (I will check this while reading the book which I think is a must to fully understand it all and to be able to question comments on the internet). The music on this track is a little more on the hard side Listen especially to the guitars and arrangements.
Alive
just open your eyes, just open your eyes
And you see that life is beautiful
Will you swear on your life
That no one will cry at my funeral?
Pray for me; the searching for help have started. The anxiety is evident.
Cross your heart and hope
That I won’t die before the best day of my life
Just pray for me tonight
Tomorrow. A sign that the hope has started to grow. The thoughts are more around future plans, a commitment to choose life, and accept what’s been said and done. First track where Nikki Sixx is starting to use words about the future.
Tomorrow we’re gonna have to live with the thing you say
Tomorrow we’ll have to cross bridges that you burn today
Tomorrow everything you do is coming back for you
You’ll never outrun what waits for you tomorrow
The track “Accidents can happen” is a beautiful track about when you slip, and about accepting that we all do make mistakes, and it’s fine that we make them. One of the tracks on this album that works really well by it’s own.
And you know that accidents can happen
And it’s okay, we all fall off the wagon sometimes
It’s not your whole life, it’s only one day
You haven’t thrown everything away
Intermission; the pause
When I first placed my hands
On these diaries, scraps of paper
There were notes and scribbles
And all kinds of shit
A lot of feelings came bubbling up
But mostly this one
‘How the hell am I still alive?’
Dead Man’s ballet is true death anxiety and the question why God have deserted him
Oh God, how could you have let this
Happened to such a lovely young child?
I was their only son and I tried, tried, tried
Heart failure; a track about what it’s like to take drugs, and be a drug addict. For those of you that have followed this series of posts, Mötley Crüe was at place 14. In that post I wrote “Nikki Six was in an academic way dead for two minutes before found by Slash in his hotel room 1987, and the injected with adrenalin in the heart and survived. This was actually the background for the track “Kickstart my heart” on the Dr Feelgood album.”
If I could have a guess, and it isn’t far-fetched, I guess that this song is from that time.
Like I was saying
To look into the eyes of death was intoxicating
Taking it into our lungs, laughing at ourselves
Where a loser’ll probably cry
And more importantly, had probably just died
Since all the tracks reflects one month of his live 1986/1987, the lyrics Heart Failure, Girl With Golden Eyes, Courtesy Call and Permission are closely linked together.
While Heart failure is describing the consequences, Girl with golden eyes is about being in love with Heroin, and how he struggles to get rid of “her”. True signs of hope are starting to show, and the music composition is absolutely beautiful! For those that don’t know what this album is all about this track may pass by as any other love song. Courtesy call is about preparing for the next step, being without drugs…
This is just a courtesy call
This is just a matter of policy
This is just an act of kindness
To let you know that your time is up, up
Permission: He has reached the goal. He’s free, and has to start taking care of what have been, and live a new life, fight against being caught again and just focus.
The album ends with the track “Life After Death”.
So here we are at the end,
And at the same time we’re at the beginning
Of this misadventure.
Why I had to go down a dead end street
At two hundred miles an hour
Screaming for vengeance and embracing death,
That’s still something I’m trying to figure out.
You know a part of me thinks this is some big master plan
To expose the raw nerve endings of dysfunction so I can heal.
But you know addicts, we think everything’s about us, don’t we?
Man it got so convoluted, polluted, and distorted
I ran with the only information I was given
I turned it into my armour, my defence mechanism,
And my weapon of self destruction.
Yeah, I had a fucked up childhood. And I was a troubled teen.
Those are facts.
How I got there? That’s a story told by many voices.
It’s not my job to blame anybody anymore,
I just need to accept the path I was given.
This is, without a doubt,
My life after death.
When I first started making this list. This was one of the albums I really looked forward to penetrate. To have time to really dig into it, and understand it.
I hope you like it as much as I do, and after all. This is not an album, this is not poetry, this is not a story. This is all of them combined together in an amazing soundtrack
Whenever I discuss music with friends and acquaintances about Best Album Ever, this comes up as one of those that should be on the list. With no big dips, and an album that shifts in tempo but still keeps it together as an album. Awesome.
The sound is on the more modern hard-rock style like Tool and Alice in Chains, but I think there’s also some similarities with Green Day, and even though I’m not a big fan of Green Day, I really like their sound. Easy Accessible Modern Hard Rock. This is not an album that will keep you occupied in analyzing the lyrics, and try to think about every single word, or note for that matter. But it’s really good in it’s simplicity and youthfulness.
So why the name Hoobastank and how did they end up together? I found this print-out from an interview where this was discussed:
Purcell: Let me start off with the obvious question, where did the name “Hoobastank” originate?
Lappalainen: Hoobastank was an inside joke between us and now we think there’s no real meaning of it. It’s like Jamiroqui. What is Jamiroqui? What does Jamiroqui mean? We have different interpretations of it. One definition is an ice-skating term for when you try to do a triple axle and fall on your butt. That’s Hoobastank. I heard a couple of kids on ESPN say that it’s two monkeys having sex. It’s up to your own interpretation.
Purcell: Why was the spelling of Hoobastank changed? I noticed it used to be HoobUstank and now it’s HoobAstank. What’s the deal with that?
Lappalainen: The whole thing with the “u” to the “a” was we just kept getting “Hoo-Boo-Stank” and there were totally different spellings of our name. It made it a whole lot easier with HoobAstank.
Purcell: That’s pretty interesting. Where’d you guys meet?
Lappalainen: Dan and I we met in ’92 and we used to be in a band called Idiosyncratic. Then Dan and I went our separate ways. When I left, Dan and Doug got together and started writing music. Then one day I saw Dan’s number in the paper and I called up and said “Hey Dan, what’s going on?” He was like “Ah nothing,” so they both came over to my house. Dan and Doug showed me some of their stuff. I thought “wow this is actually kind of cool.” I showed them my stuff and Dan and I just started clicking again. We found Chris a couple months later in a recycler (a newspaper for musicians). Three months later, Hoobastank was formed.
Ok, so we’re getting close to the absolute top! On 6:th place I’ve put an album that, at the time when it hit the market, sounded like nothing else! This was the time when the grunge had hit the market massively, and the audience weren’t looking for a new amazing pop act.
Influences from Beatles, Queen, pop, folk lore… the list goes on, but still a pop-album. This is an album that sounds like anything else.
So, who are Jellyfish? The band members:
Andy Sturmer – Drums / Vocals / Guitar / Keyboards
Roger Manning Jr – Harpsichord / Keyboards / Piano / Vocals / Backing Vocals
Jason Falkner – Bass / Guitar / Vocals
Even though the band has received some amazing reviews from the critics over the years, they’ve never been a big hit in the wider streams or commercially. But my feeling is that the few that have discovered the album, are all true fans. Even the later Split Milk, which sounds like a true continuation of Bellybutton is a must-hear.
What I really like with every album that’s left on this list, is that they are well kept together. Every song has it’s place, and everything is well collected. This also goes for this amazing album, Bellybutton by Jellyfish.
So, if you haven’t heard them yet (which the most people haven’t) you should check them out, straight away.
Joshua Tree (album of the year 1987) was the first album where I really discovered this supergroup, U2. Many U2-hardcorefans holds their third album – War – higher than this, the fifth – Joshua Tree, but I count this as the best. U2, formed in 1976 was named after a word game with “You Too” as well as the name of a U.S spy aircraft. The name was first not liked by Bono, but slowly accepted.
Musically U2 has its roots in post-punk, but later incorporated more popular music and with this album many other influences (more about that later).
For me U2 is all about a clean crisp sound, but most of all, a clean crisp sound that’s absolute unique. With “The Edge” (David Evans) on guitar, Adam Clayton on his solid base, Larry Mullens drive on the drums, and of course Bono’s (Paul Hewson) voice. Things can’t be much better, and more unique.
During this “Best Album Of All Times”-trip I’ve read quite a lot about the artists, and each album. What I found fascinating with this particular album was that U2, before this album described themselves as root less. Roots that they searched before making this album.
Realising that “U2 had no tradition” and that their knowledge of music from before their childhood was limited, the group delved into American and Irish roots music. Friendships with Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and Keith Richards motivated the band to explore blues, folk, and gospel music and focused Bono on his skills as a songwriter and lyricist. U2 interrupted the album sessions in mid-1986 to serve as a headline act on Amnesty International’s A Conspiracy of Hope tour. Rather than being a distraction, the tour added extra intensity and focus to their new material. Later that year, Bono travelled to San Salvador and Nicaragua and saw first-hand the distress of peasants bullied in internal conflicts that were subject to US political intervention. The experience became a central influence on the new music.
Source: Wikipedia
The search for roots is also described in this interview with The Edge, and the live recordings with the Gospel Choir; for the song With Or Without You (watch video down below)
After releasing the “Joshua Tree” album U2 quickly got two number one singles in U.S: “With Or Without You” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m looking For”. Two epic songs at the time, and still is. The tour after the album Joshua Tree was portrayed in the movie “Rattle and Hum”.
What I truly enjoy with U2 (and many of the best bands) is their strive for perfection, and at the same time passion and honesty for what their music/work is about. I’ve always believed that there are no shortcuts for success. It’s all about hard work, and I think that U2 truly reflects that opinion. I hope you like this album as much as I do.
Rare clip with U2 and Bruce Springsteen – Still Haven’t Found What I Was Looking For
Carole King, Patti LaBelle, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Faith Evans, Al Green, Beyoncé, Diana Ross, Sheena Easton, Toni Braxton, Michael Jackson, Michael Bolton, Paula Abdul,Eric Clipton, Pebbles, Tevin Campbell, Bobby Brown, Whitney Houston, Brandy, Mary J. Blige, Tamia, Shola Ama, 3T, Sisqó, Dru Hill, Fall Out Boy, Céline Dion, Honeyz, Katharine McPhee, Mariah Carey, Vanessa L. Williams, Chanté Moore, En Vogue, Kenny G, Kristinia DeBarge, Lil Wayne, Japanese singer Ken Hirai, P!nk, Marc Nelson, TLC, and Phil Collins among others.
That’s not a bad list of experiences for a producer/song writer, and it’s only a part of the “legacy list” of Kenneth Brian “Babyface” Edmonds.
My first experience with Babyface came the first day when I spent some time in New York back in 1997. On the first day of the trip I bought this CD “Babyface Unplugged NYC 1997” in the largest record store . It was love at first listening. An album that’s so impressive, from start to finish, with a musician line-up that’s absolute top class.
This album is like the finest bottle of red wine. The subtle tones, the power, the different flowers… they are all there.
What I really enjoy with this album is the atmosphere that he manage to set through all the tracks. The small talk between some of the tracks is also a great way to create that special atmosphere.
I don’t know if I ever experienced such a “listening-punch”, as the first time I heard this record at an acquaintance back in the 80’s (in Bergsviken Piteå). The vocals were awesome and the album was well kept together, and it was one of the first heavy metal albums that I discovered where normal and modern (at the time) synthesizers were used in such a good way.
Phenomena was not a regular “group”, but rather a “supergroup”, put together by producer Tom Galley, Wilfried Rimensberger and Mel Galley guitarist in Whitesnake) with many great musicians as contributors, among them Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath amongst others), Brian May (Queen) and John Wetton (Uriah Heep) and many others.
Phenomena’s production of rock songs based on a story line running through a whole album, attached to artworks and other multi-media aspects was credited for the “return of the concept album” in the 1980s.
There isn’t so much information about Phenomena to Discover, but an interesting news is that the recently formed “Tom Galley’s Phenomena” will perform live for the first time in Sweden 2014, at Swedish Rock.
Source: Wikipedia
Tracks in this YouTube-video (according to “Piwtoad”):
01 (00:00) Kiss Of Fire
Backing Vocals — Alison McGinnis, Pete Green, Bass — Neil Murray, Drums — Cozy Powell, Guitar — John Thomas, Keyboards — Richard Bailey, Galley Songwriter — Richard Vocals — Glenn Hughes
02 (04:57) Still The Night
Backing Vocals — Pete Green, Drums — Ted McKenna, Guitar — John Thomas, Mel Galley, Keyboards — Robin Smith, Vocals, Bass, Songwriter — Glenn Hughes
03 (08:24) Dance With The Devil
Backing Vocals — Alison McGinnis, Pete Green, Bass — Neil Murray, Drums — Cozy Powell, Guitar — John Thomas, Guitar, Songwriter — Mel Galley, Lyrics By, Songwriter — Tom Galley, Songwriter — Richard Bailey, Violin [Fiddle] — Rick Sanders, Vocals — Glenn Hughes
04 (13:07) Phoenix Rising
Backing Vocals — Alison McGinnis, Pete Green, Bass — Neil Murray, Drums — Cozy Powell, Guitar, Songwriter — Mel Galley, Keyboards, Songwriter — Richard Bailey, Lyrics By, Songwriter — Tom Galley, Vocals — Glenn Hughes 4:45
05 (17:52) Believe
Backing Vocals — Alison McGinnis, Pete Green, Bass — Neil Murray, Drums — Cozy Powell, Guitar — John Thomas, Keyboards, Songwriter — Richard Bailey, Lyrics By — Tom Galley Vocals — Glenn Hughes Vocals [Boy Soloist] — Neil Willars
07 (27:26) Hell On Wings
Backing Vocals — Alison McGinnis, Pete Green, Bass — Neil Murray, Drums — Cozy Powell, Guitar, Songwriter — Mel Galley, Keyboards, Songwriter — Richard Bailey, Lyrics By, Songwriter — Tom Galley, Vocals — Glenn Hughes
08 (31:20) Twilight Zone
Backing Vocals — Alison McGinnis, Paul Robbins, Pete Green, Bass — Neil Murray, Drums Cozy Powell, Guitar — John Thomas, Mel Galley, Keyboards, Songwriter — Richard Bailey, , Lyrics By, Songwriter — Tom Galley, Vocals — Glenn Hughes
09 (35:33) Phenomena
Arranged By [Choral Arrangements], Songwriter — Paul Robbins, Choir — Midland Boys Singers, Keyboards — Richard Bailey, Lyrics By, Songwriter — Tom Galley, Other [Musical Director] — Alvena Grant, Pete Grant, Vocals [Solo Vocalist] — Neil Willars
So, we’re getting close to the top. So far we’ve covered places 40-11, and it’s time to enter top 10. It’s almost impossible to compare the albums so close to the top but I’ll give it a go.
So, this will be an outsider. But an awesome outsider…
First out, in the top 10:s is the album Red Eden, by Sara Isaksson.
If Stephen Simmonds is a well-kept secret internationally in the category male singers, Sara Isaksson is almost an even more kept secret in the female singers category.
The album Red Eden is a quite low-key album where Sara:s incredible voice truly has the ability to shine. This will never be the album to listen to before a night out on town, but a great album to listen to when you get back home.
I guess in some sense it’s an album for musicians, but on the other hand it’s just an easy listening country, singer/song-writer album put together for everyone.
I couldn’t find any YouTube tracks from this particular album so I settle with the Spotify playlist.
Who could believe that a group, named after Malcolm and Angus sister Margaret had seen the initials AC/DC on a sewing machine, would be one of biggest groups in history? (in Australia they are commonly called Acca Dacca”)
When I started to arrange this top 40-list, it was obvious that AC/DC would end up on the list. A band that have pretty much gone their own way over time, and for instance never have produced a commercially ballad like many other Heavy Metal bands. AC/DC always stays true to their concept, straight on, pub-rock inspired heavy metal, with guitar, bass, drums and vocals.
In my opinion this is their best album (so far?); Back in Black. With over 40-50 million (both figures can be found on internet) records sold this is the second, or fourth most sold album in history (depending on source).
Back in Black was the first album with Brian Johnson on vocals, after the tragic death of Bon Scott (after a tragic night of severe drinking 1980). It’s been said that the band was about to quit at the time, but Bon Scott’s family wanted them to continue.
Various candidates were considered for his replacement, including: Buzz Shearman, ex-Moxy member, who was not able to join because of voice problems, ex-Back Street Crawler vocalist Terry Slesser and then Slade vocalist, Noddy Holder. The remaining AC/DC members finally decided on ex-Geordie singer Brian Johnson.
Angus Young later recalled, “I remember the first time I had ever heard Brian’s (Johnson) name was from Bon. Bon had mentioned that he had been in England once touring with a band and he had mentioned that Brian had been in a band called Geordie and Bon had said ‘Brian Johnson, he was a great rock and roll singer in the style of Little Richard.’ And that was Bon’s big idol, Little Richard. I think when he saw Brian at that time, to Bon it was ‘Well he’s a guy that knows what rock and roll is all about.’ He mentioned that to us in Australia. I suppose when we decided to continue, Brian was the first name that Malcolm and myself came up with, so we said we should see if we can find him.” For the audition, Johnson sang “Whole Lotta Rosie” from Let There Be Rock and Ike & Tina Turner’s “Nutbush City Limits”. He was hired a few days after the audition.
The album was named Back in black as a sign of mourning, and respect to the late Bon Scott.
This may be the greatest artist that have ever lived, and this album is for sure one of the best albums ever. It’s really impressive to follow the making of the album in the Youtube-clip (attached later in this post). All the details, all the thoughts and Michael Jackson’s amazing touch for everything, together with Quincy Jones as a producer. An unstoppable team.
What was interesting at this time in music history, was the importance of music videos. This may be one of the albums with the most music videos produced from it.
Five of the tracks from the made it to number one in U.S.
I Just Can’t Stop Loving You
Bad
The Way You Make Me Feel
Man In The Mirror
Dirty Diana (don’t miss out the amazing guitar play on this one)
I will not go into details for every song in this post, since it’s so well described in the documentary. Don’t miss that one, if you haven’t seen it before.
Oh, now things are heating up. Thirteen albums left, and I think every one of them are totally awesome. At 13:th place I’ve placed an album, that I think I’ve said in every post, could/would’ve been placed higher up. This album is one of those that I return to every now and then, in short a real goldie, literally; the album Gold from the Swedish Music Collective, Blacknuss.
Blacknuss plays a combination of RnB, Soul and Jazz in a great mix, and among the musicians you find many of the Swedish elite. Only one person have played on all albums, the drummer Martin Jonsson.
I’ve been fortunate to watch Blacknuss live at Mosebacke in Stockholm, and when it comes to rhythmic experiences, and “people just can’t be standing still”-experiences, that’s still my nr. 1.
It’s hard to point out some favorites, since all tracks has its place on this awesome album, but if I should try, you shouldn’t miss Thinking Of You, Rising To The Top (with the amazing Lisa Nilsson on vocals), Dinah, Last Night a DJ Saved My Life, It Should Have Been You… or… just listen to the album. This is one of those albums, that after a few plays will stay in your library forever and really hasn’t any big weaknesses.
Nikki Sixx (Frank Ferrana), Vince Neil (Vince Neil Warton), Mick Mars (Robert Allen Bippus) and Tomme Lee (Tomme Lee Bass) may be the band that have lived the rock’n roll life to its absolute maximum. Success, fame, glam, women and party on one hand. Drugs, jail, trash, crash, burn and even dead band members. Nikki Six was in an academic way dead for two minutes before found by Slash in his hotel room 1987, and the injected with adrenalin in the heart and survived. This was actually the background for the track “Kickstart my heart” on the Dr Feelgood album.
Back to the album. This is after all a “Best album of all times”-list. Shout at Devil was released in 1983 and was Mötley Crües biggest hit at the time. The sound, with its roots in Blues, and old school rock n’ roll, played on speed became part of the beginning of a new era in the hard rock / heavy metal scene; Glam rock.
Many parents in Sweden were really afraid of Mötley Crüe and other bands at the time (especially W.A.S.P), and even Swedish Television arranged a talk show around this matter (Swedish), and even though Nikki Sixx tried his best to explain the lyrics in a more down to earth way, the parents hated the album, which always is a good reason for the teenagers to do the opposite. “What a crock of shit! There was nothing demonic about Shout at the Devil. All we were saying was that everyone should stand up and shout at those people who are holding them down, whether it’s their parents, their teachers, or their bosses.” Nikki Sixx (source: nikkisixx.tv).
The highlights on the record, except for the title track is, in my mind “Looks that kill”, “Helter Skelter” (Beatles Cover) and “Too young to fall in love”.
I really like the full sound of Mötley Crüe at this stage in their career, with the crisp guitar, the always amazing drums, Nikki Sixx (as the most frequent writer of the tracks) bass lines and of course the falsetto voice of Vince Neil.
Some other facts:
Nikki Six played with Slash and Izzy Stradlin (later part of Gun’s n Roses) before forming Mötley Crüe
Vince Neil appeared in the MTV-show “The remake of Vince Neil” which was aimed at getting Vince Neil back in form after years of food abuse
11:th of June 2008, Coldplay released the Brian Eno produced album “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends”. For me, this album was the first time I really started to enjoy Coldplay. As often when I come across new artists it takes a little while to get used to the sound, the atmosphere and of course the lyrics. What really makes this album complete, is the fulfillment of all those categories.
In short, the album covers the aspects of life, death, war and love. Not the typical “easy going topics”, to say the least.
The album starts off with Life in Technicolor, which is a long intro to the rest of the album. In my opinion this intro works perfectly as an atmosphere leveler.
Cemeteries of London; a typical track about the topics of the album, was recorded in a Barcelona church, and if you listen closely you can hear some spanish “clapping” in the song, while “Bass player Guy Berryman told Entertainment Weekly: When I imagine the song in my head, I see London in 1850. A hell of a lot of rain and men in top hats.” (reference Entertainment Weekly)
Lost! is really well described by “Floridaguy” on song meanings:
This was one of the first songs Coldplay worked on for the record. The band were originally inspired by the song “Sing” by Blur, which they were listening to in their dressing room before performing in a gig in Detroit. They tried to write a song like it and it ended up evolving in various ways with lots of different versions before the final recorded rendering. Chris Martin explained to MTV News: “That’s often how we write, is we listen to something and we think it’s incredible, and we feel stupid for not having anything as good as that, so we go and try to play it. And then, of course, because we don’t know how to do that, we often come up with something new.”
42 is a quite melancholic track with many of the big life questions asked. So far in this review I’ve kept much focus on the lyrics, but the album musically is really amazing. What’s different with this track is that it doesn’t contain a chorus. Instead it’s divided into three parts.
Lovers in Japan. When asked about the development of the song, during a track-by-track reveal, drummer Will Champion said:
We were in a studio in New York, this place called the Magic Shop, and it had this thing called a tack piano there, which sounds like an old honky-tonk piano, where you put little tacks in the hammers, so it sounds like more of a harpsichord almost. And so we wanted to use that kind of sound, but we didn’t have a tack piano, so rather than sample it, we went and bought an old piano from the shop up the road from our studio, and we bought a load of tacks, and me and Guy and Jon spent a couple of hours pushing tacks into the piano hammers. (Source Wikipedia)
Yes: As many of the tracks on this album, this track also have it’s completely own identity. The vocals by Chris Martin are really low.
Viva La Vida is the big top hit from this album reaching the top in both the UK singles chars as Billboard Hot 100. I guess almost everyone who reads this blog at least have heard the typical strings intro. The lyrics carry many biblical references but seems to be more aimed at the conflict between people and government, and especially around war.
Violet Hill. Also a track about a soldier going into battle. The first rows in the lyrics are truly amazing, and gives the rest of the track its atmosphere.
Was a long and dark December
From the rooftops I remember
There was snow
White snow
I really like the contrast in this song (which I may write about almost all the tracks on this album)
Strawberry Swing is a low-key track with african drums, a guitar melody that almost runs throughout the track as a thread.
The last track, Death And All His Friends somehow share some identity with the Swedish pop band Kent.
In the later part of the track the summarize the album beautifully with the sound of “Life in Technicolor”
As I think I’ve written in all my posts, this album should’ve ended up higher in this list, and I begin to feel that I will have a correction post afterwards where I will rearrange all albums. This album is truly great!
Gary Moore (1952-2011), is probably one of the “all greatest guitarists so far”. Maybe not always the fastest, but the combination technical skills, incredible melodies and a 6:th sense to catch an atmosphere has brought him to the absolute top.
As I wrote in the first post in this series – The Best Album of All Times – I will only post one album per artist and I guess that Gary Moore could hold more places than one. The hard part is to choose between the three of them Wild Frontier, After the war and Run for Cover.
In my opinion Wild Frontier is the best when it come to a complete album without any big dips, and oh’boy this album is on the safe side all the way. The difference between this album and the earlier ones are obvious but an interesting detail is the use of a drum machine instead of a human drummer.
The album kicks off with the famous “Over The Hills And Far Away” (later covered by many others for example Nightwish), followed up by the title song “Wild Frontier”. These both songs marks perfectly the change in Gary Moores style after the previous mentioned albums. The Heavy Metal is more popilicious, and the overall sound more friendly.
It continues with “Take A Little Time”. Still a really good song, but a bit after the first two tracks. In my opinion this track get’s a little bit to flirty with the new style and the chorus isn’t far away from many other Dance-tracks.
The Loner is a true epic track with Moore showing of his rare sensitivity in creating emotions / feelings with a guitar. An awesome track!
The weakest part of this album may be the start of “Friday On My Mind”, and it doesn’t really kick off completely, but still is an okay track.
Strangers In The Darkness is a track that may be influenced by Billy Idol (?). The atmosphere, and even more, the vocals are pretty close.
Thunder Rising; a track with a heavy guitar adrenaline stamina that runs almost through the whole song, a punchy chorus and after approx 3:30 a guitar that almost sounds like a bagpipe.
Johnny Boy; a sad track with beautiful melodies dedicated to his friend Phil Lynnot that passed away 1986.
Don’t miss the last track (since it’s hidden behind a second version of “Over the hills and far away”). I’m not really sure how to comment on this track. This track is really different from the others. Some West Coast influences (?), some pop and a bit of a 70’s sound at the same time. In short, Great track! Don’t miss!
If you want to explore more songs from his previous albums I suggest:
Stephen Simmonds may be one of the best kept secrets internationally when it comes to male singers. Stephen is a Swedish singer and is appearing frequently in tv-shows, back other artists but rarely plays on his own stages. I’ve never figured out why he hasn’t made it to the big stages in the BIG world, but sometimes I guess it’s a choice of his own.
His album, For Father, released in 2002 is absolutely amazing, and while I’m writing this I’m starting to think that it might be higher up in the list, but as always prioritizing is hard and music can never be “absolute”.
actually I didn’t discover this album until the 2010’s within Spotify, and I directly got struck by it. The album is low key and as a rich full red wine perfect for long evenings at home.
If you like me enjoys his voice, he uses his full potential on all tracks. The high notes in the album, in my opinion is the title song For Father, Where is your heart, Always in my head and More to do and I guess I could list them all.
If you haven’t given Stephen Simmonds a chance before, now you have the chance. Don’t miss it out.
Explanation of the image: As some of the followers of this blog have figured out, I’m a big F1 fan, which is inherited from my father and an interest we both share with intense conversations over the F1 weekends.
Best album of all times – Number 18: Ratt – Out Ot The Cellar (1984)
Ratt, the band with the name that’s a synonym to Steering Wheel in Swedish was one of my big favorites as a teenager, and they still are. Risen from the L.A Glam scene, in competition with bands like Mötley Crüe, Van Halen and its likes, Ratt was a solid contender of the heavy metal scene back in my youth. In Sweden they had a few hits, but my feeling is that the group didn’t get the attention that they deserved, and experienced in other parts of the world.
The guitar sound from this record may be one of the most “cold” guitar sounds ever, and the tempo slow for this kind of music, while the vocals are “slow”; but wow this is a great album from start to finish. An album that’s solid and well-kept together as a whole. This was one of those albums that could’ve ended up on many places in this 40-top list; both higher and lower.
In my opinion Round and Round is the most significant contribution of all songs on this record. The song is almost a summary of the rest of the tracks.
I guess the lyrics won’t be mentioned in the lyrics classes in the 2100:s, but the clean crisp sound may end up in the musical classes.
If you want to explore more music by Ratt, check out the track Lay it down from the “Invasion of your privacy album” (1985), and while you’re at it, their more recent albums.
In my opinion the more recent contributions doesn’t share the same quality as before but still some good music to explore… and yes, they are (as a brand at least) still active with new albums on their way.
Aldo Nova, a Canadian artist became a huge success in the early-/mid 80:s with his albums “Aldo Nova” and “Subject..”.
Even though the first two albums are really good, I think Twitch is the one that’s the most complete, and keeps a certain atmosphere through the whole album with its 80’s Gary Moore influenced guitars and easy straight rock in the flavor of Bryan Adams, and maybe also Bon Jovi. If I’ve read the facts right this album was not a huge success in the world, but in Sweden it became the most successful one when it was launched in 1985.
As mentioned earlier the album is really solid, and if there is one song that lacks behind it may be the title song – Twitch. Other than that it’s an album that can be kept on replay a number of times.
On the other side it’s harder to pick a favorite, which often is the case with “Best albums”.
Aldo Nova has also been a successful song writer to a number of artists such as Jon Bon Jovi, Céline Dion, Blue Öyster Cult, Chantal and Clay Aiken’s “This Is the Night” (co-written with Chris Braide and Gary Burr), which in the U.S. was a number one hit and the best selling single of 2003. (Source: Wikipedia)
I will never forget the first time I heard this album. It was, at the time, my svärbror (brother-in-law) who have spotted it and played it loud. For quite a long time I thought he was kidding. NO ONE can like this. So rough, a wicked singer who rap-singed, and a guitar player that made the most strange noises ever.
Then it started to grow…
What an amazing album this is. Full of energy. An awesome guitar player, and a sound that (together with Clawfinger) created a new musical era.
What I didn’t knew at first was that most parts of the music brought political stories. Since I’ve always been a friend of that the human life is sacred, and no other man shall have the right to take another persons life, Killing in the name certainly stroke a chord.
The sound on this album was also at the time unique. It’s almost as RATM is a modern studio version of number 21, Dire Straits. Crisp clear guitars, a bass that sounds like a bass. Dry drums, and as I’ve mentioned a guitar that’s (still) like nothing else recorded before.
Even though I’m not a fanatic political wise I
If I could change history Bulls on parade from the album “Evil empire” also would’ve been included. Otherwise, a great album!
Today I started wondering about which albums, no matter the category, that are the best of all times in my opinion. With “best” I don’t necessarily mean the most historic or changing. I just mean, the best albums for me. The albums that I come back to time after time, some of them just for the memories connected to them, and others simply for the amazing music.
It might be good to know that my musical background has its roots in west coast/AOR, old school heavy metal and more instrumental genres, even though I listen to almost everything nowadays. In my music tab you can find my current favorites.
So instead of just posting them all in one post I figured that I’ll split them up in 11 separate posts, and today I begin with those that didn’t make it to the top-20 list and a special around the runner-up for top-20.
Some of my favorite artist would have more than one album on this list, but I’ve chosen to keep just one album from every artist, and mention others worth noticing.
And remember, best album doesn’t mean best two or three songs that are good or maybe even awesome. Best album is “Best album all together”.
So, here we go…
Which albums didn’t make it to the top-20 list? (Spotify linked)
P.S I also try to post a photo of my own that I think is connected to each album in some kind of way. D.S
Runner up, Nr 21: Dire Straits – On every street
This album is, as Brothers in Arms one of the albums that are heavily used as a reference album when it comes to demonstrating sound in HiFi-shops. The sound is really clear, and you can separate all the instruments really well, and I guess the subtle music also makes some sense in a public place.
I guess many listeners would’ve voted Brothers in arms as the better album of the two, but I favor this album since I think the feeling / atmosphere as a complete album is more tight. Brothers in arms holds many of Dire Straits top selling hits but the album feels straggly compared to the more collected On every street.
This is maybe not one of the albums that I’ve listened to the most, but it’s an album that I come back to every now and then and the title song, On Every Street is one of my long time favorites.
The high points, except the already mentioned title song, is Iron Hand, Calling Elvis, fade to black and the country inspired The Bug.
Dire Straits were a British rock band, formed in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals and lead guitar), his younger brother David Knopfler (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar and backing vocals), and Pick Withers (drums and percussion). Dire Straits’ sound drew from a variety of musical influences, including jazz, folk, blues, and came closest to beat music within the context of rock and roll. Despite the prominence of punk rock during the band’s early years, the band’s stripped-down sound contrasted with punk, demonstrating a more “rootsy” influence that emerged out of pub rock. Many of Dire Straits’ compositions were melancholic.[3] Dire Straits’ biggest selling album, Brothers in Arms, has sold over 30 million copies.[4]
They also became one of the world’s most commercially successful bands, with worldwide album sales of over 120 million.[5] Dire Straits won numerous music awards during their career, including four Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards—winning Best British Group twice, and two MTV Video Music Awards.[5] The band’s most popular songs include “Sultans of Swing”, “Lady Writer”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Tunnel of Love”, “Telegraph Road”, “Private Investigations”, “Money for Nothing”, “Walk of Life”, “So Far Away”, “Your Latest Trick” and “Brothers in Arms”.
Dire Straits’ career spanned a combined total of 15 years. The band originally split up in 1988, but reformed in 1991. Dire Straits disbanded for good in 1995 when Mark Knopfler launched his career full time as a solo artist. There were several changes in personnel over both periods, leaving Mark Knopfler and John Illsley as the only two original bandmates who had remained throughout the band’s career.
Saarimner.com 