My Current Favorite Albums!

'Cause I am sitting around on a day off with nothing important to do, and I have been monkeying around with my website, I figured "Hey! Time for a new list!" So here is a list of the albums (keeping in mind that "album" is the generic term for a collection of songs, and not a specific term referring to a vinyl record, which is generally referred to as an "LP") that are currently at the top of my CD pile, and why:

Have a Ball Me First and the Gimme Gimmes: Sure, they are effectively a goofy, novelty punk act that exists to put out funny albums of funny punk covers of songs inappropriate for the genre, but man, they rock! Have a Ball, their first actual album is all covers of 70's soft rock hits and/or Simon and Garfunkel tunes. Let me tell you, nothing says "excellent" like a 2 minute, three chord rendition of Mandy or I Am a Rock.

Road to Ruin The Ramones: This, The Ramones 4th album, the last of their good ones, is, well, just super. According to the extensive liner notes by Leggs McNeil on the recent Rhino Archives release, they were really pissed off when making this album (due to getting jerked around by their record label), and so it is filled with amazing, uplifting tunes like I Just Wanna Have Something to Do and I'm Against It. That, and it is home to the Ramones song featured on National Public Radio (as well as pretty much everywhere else), I Wanna Be Sedated. The newest release has a bunch of extra tracks, including the entire live set featured in the Roger Corman cinematic tour de force, Rock and Roll High School.

Blonde on Blonde Bob Dylan: So one day a few months ago, I said to myself "Self, you are a very bad person for not owning any Dylan albums. A bad person.", and seeing as Tower Record was selling his entire back catalog for, like, $9.99 a pop, I bought all his really good albums. Blonde on Blonde is, however, for my money, simply his best, if not one of the best rock albums ever. Adrianne, my sister in law, disagrees, and claims Blood on the Tracks kicks Blonde on Blonde's ass, but I stand by my choice. Opening with the stupidly goofy Rainy Day Women #12 and rapidly getting weirder and darker, closing out with the melancholy Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands is a brilliant procession, what with all the great songs in between.

The Sword of God Quasi: This is a really weird album by a combination of a guy named Sam Coomes (who apparently plays pretty much everything on the album) and Janet Weiss, the drummer from Sleater-Kinney (still one of the best bands ever--I'm waiting eagerly for their upcoming album). I don't really know how to describe it except as kooky, organ heavy, melodic avant garde rock with excellent harmonies. I gotta get some more of their albums.

The Fury of the Aquabats! The Aquabats: The Aquabats are clearly the most powerful band in the universe, what with their cool outfits, super powers, and ice cream truck and all. This is their second album, and the release I have manages to actually contain versions of about half their first album as well (including Martian Girl!, Idiot Box!, and Playdough!). All these, plus the radio friendly Super Rad! and My Skateboard! make for a fantastic ska-pop album. That, and all of their songs have exclamation points!

The Velvet Underground & Nico The Velvet Underground: Always pegged as an incredibly influential album, this is one good collection of songs. I'm Waiting for the Man, Run Run Run, and Heroin (the best low end song about drugs there is) alone make the album worth listening to, and the rest of the songs are all fabulous too. That, and the cool Andy Warhol album cover is one that I constantly get mileage out of in my Printmaking class.

Raising Hell RUN-D.M.C: I always enjoy goofy, old school, East Coast rap, and this album is just super. It's Tricky and You be Illin' are easily two of the best pop songs out of the 80's, and everyone loves their cover of Walk this Way, the song generally blamed for the vast acceptance of rap and hip-hop by the mainstream. I'm always saddened that Jam Master Jay never got the front line billing he deserved, but hey, what are you gonna do?

There's a 1 in 8 Chance I'm Your Father The Blackouts: Ok, the title sucks, but this excellent low budget ska outfit from upstate NY puts together a solid album. As they are totally a local band, I get to see them on a moderately regular basis, and they always put on a very entertaining show. If you can catch them anywhere, and like the ska, go see them. And buy this album, especially as it is probably only going to be five bucks. Their hallmark song Jedi Master (hallmark in the sense that it got local radio play for a while) is as good as you'd hope with a title like that.

Goddamnit Alkaline Trio: This post punk trio are totally boss. See, as I always say, you really only need three people with instruments in a band, and unless you have something really special going on (or legitimately need a horn section), those extra instruments are a privilege, not a right. I suspect there are those who would peg Alkaline Trio with the "emo" label, and if that is the case, so be it! Cringe and Clavicle are both brilliant popish/punkish tunes that should be eating up alterna-rock radio, but sadly they aren't. Damn that Man!

Calling the Public 59 Times the Pain: So apparently there was this kinda low concept punk/hardcore band from somewhere like London or Sweden or something, and they weren't really getting anywhere, and one day one of them said "I have an idea! Let's make an album that sounds just like the missing Clash album!", and so Calling the Public was born. When I say they sound just like The Clash on this album, the phrase "just like" probably isn't doing what it should be. If we could go back in time, and quietly insert this collection right between The Clash and Give 'em Enough Rope no one would ever notice. Anyway, this album is really good, with very tight songs and clever lyrics. And a cool, subtle, unassuming cover photo and accompanying graphics. I heard some of their earlier stuff at some point, and wasn't really impressed, but then I love The Clash and don't really like hardcore so much.

Once More, With Feeling Buffy the Vampire Slayer: To be fair, this isn't really an album so much as a desperate cry for help. The all musical episode of Buffy was simply so fantastic and so, like, the best hour of TV ever, my wife and I felt compelled to find all the songs on line, download them, burn CDs, make cool Photoshop covers, and give them out as gifts to all of our friends. This sound track, if you will, is just amazing. Sure, Sarah Michelle Gellar doesn't have the best voice ever, but it is very endearing that every character actually sings all of their songs (Anthony Stewart Head, Amber Benson, and James Marsters all can really sing, however), and the episode was so durned good that this CD gets far more play in our house than I would like to admit to.