OK kiddies top ten time!

[horsehead]

Been listening to some of my old albums today & realised in my opinon how classic some of these are are (IMHO). The players, the tones, everything to me screams...BLOoDY AMAZNG!


Ok so on we go...

1) Amorica - The Black Crowes   Rich Robinson & Marc Ford in beautiful harmony, in between the Faces-esque 'Southern Harmony & Musical Company' & the drug addled 'Three snakes & one charm' the brothers created the masterpiece. If you want the Allman Brothers in their prime without the 15 minutes of guitar solos (who doesn't...come on own up!)  Then this is it. Guitars & music in perfect harmony.
2) Cry Of Love - Brother   It's 1993 grunge has taken over the world but in the midst of this angst comes a band that might well have been touring with early ZZ top, Hendrix & Free, Cry of Love. Based on the near perfect guitarist musings of Audley Freed with the solid bass of Rober Kearns they created a sound that hadn't bee n heard in a while. Minor hits  like 'Peace pipe' managed to get them onto the Donnigton Monster of Rock tour & create a bit of buzz. All the best bits of zeppelin, lynyrd, the allmans were neatly packaged together with cracking songs & catchy riffs. After the singer left they managed 1 more album but nothing will beat this one album for pure classic rock. Audley went on to become my hero.



it's late & more will follow!!!

[noodleplugerine]

Brother is really an amazing album.

I don't even like that style of rock - But the work is bloody astounding.

Top ten albums?

In no particular order...

Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against The machine
             Pretty much one of the undisputed best albums of all time imo - So many amazing tracks, brilliant guitar work, great songs - Just awesome.

Pantera - Cowboys from Hell
             Same as above pretty much. Who can dispute Pantera?

Mnemic - The Audio Injected Soul/Mechanical Spin Phenomena
             I can't choose between them, so I'll say both. An absolute personal fave of mine - I think I've listened to them more than any other album, over the last few years. Absolutely bloody brilliant.

Machine Head - The Blackening
             A modern classic perhaps, not so much "classic" as just bloody awestrikingly brilliant.

Iron Maiden - Brave New World/The Number of The Beast
             A classic Maiden album and a new Maiden Album - Both brilliant, in their own way, and don't expect me to say that the new maiden is better or worse than the classic maiden overall, but I'll still say Wickerman is the best song they have ever written imo.

Fear Factory - Demanufacture
            Another absolute classic. Revolutionary and interesting even 12 years on.

In Flames - Reroute to Remain
            Most In Flames fans will disagree with this, and most music fans will say it doesn't deserve to be in a top 10 - but damnit, this imo is the PERFECTION in album form - May not be classic per sé, but the quality, and production is perfect, and EVERY song is absolutely great, clayman has a couple of brilliant songs, and some weak ones, as does Colony, but Reroute To Remain is totally consistent in it's awesomeness.

Van Halen - 1984
            It has Hot for Teacher. Nuf said.

SikTh - The Trees are dead and Dried out - Wait for something Wild
            Absolutely pure awesomeness, again, not a classic - But still one of my personal fave albums of all time. Brilliant production - AMAZING Guitar work, and brilliant songs!


I know I ought to have some Zep, ACDC, etc but meh - I know everyone else will add them...

[Oli]

The first album listed is my definite number 1, the rest are in an arbitrary order.

Opeth - Still life
A very special album for me, it's just perfect. The first i'd heard from them, and in the first track (The Moor) has the most incredible buildup intro. A bloody great album, the solo in Godheads Lament sends a shiver down my spine every time I hear it, something just really connects with me there :)

Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse
Again, another superb album from Opeth, not quite on the monumental scale of Still Life, but it's hot on the heels of it.

Anathema - Serenades
A classic album, full of greatness. Anathema still had 'it' for a few more releases, but their latter stuff is not so great.

Esoteric - Subconcious Dissolution into the Continuum
Wow. If there is one word to describe this album, it would be 'huge'. Immensely long and powerful tracks with unsurpassed depth of sound. A real treat for the ears :)

Akerc--ke - The Goat of Mendes
Raw metal, as it should be. No messing from the London lads, easily their best record to date.

Indesinence - Ecstatic Lethargy
Technically a demo, but the tracks on this are on their album (along with a couple of others which aren't as good, hence it's not included). Good doom, good sound :)

Mourning Beloveth - The Sullen Sulcus
Again, good stuff be here.

In Flames - The Jester Race/Black Ash Inheritance
For me, classic In Flames at their peak. Not knocking their recent stuff, it is pretty good, but this is the real deal :)

Autumn - Oschen Vechna
Russian doom metal with classical bits. Love this album, even if it is in Russian!

The Prophecy - Revelations
I've been a fan of this Yorkshire band for a few years now, and their albums get better and better. Really looking forward to the next, but this one is chock-full of great tracks, great production too :)

A selection from my collection... yes, no rock and roll there- although i do enjoy some when i hear it on the radio every now and again, it's not really my bag. Honourable mentions that didn't fit into the top ten are Sabbath and Maiden, both classic bands with too many albums to pick a best from :) Wintersun get a mention too for a cracking fast-paced album. Most won't have heard of many of those, but if you're into your metal, they're good stuff :)

noodle: I'll dispute Pantera if you want :oops: Never been a fan of theirs to be honest, I don't get what all the hoo-har about them is!

[ilÿti]

Good thread. There's nothing more boring that just reading people's "what's your favourite X" lists, but for some reason it becomes a heartfelt experience when just a few words are added to it.

Jason Becker - Perpetual Burn
The Bibel of neoclassical guitarplaying. Every lick is just perfect and performed with a deep passion for music.

Dream Theater - Awake
The album that got me into progressive metal. It just has it all. Excellent songwriting, awe-inspiring performances from evey member of the band, poetic lyrics, and enough balls'n'chunk for straight up metalheads to enjoy. Possibly the most diverse metal album I've heard.

Whitesnake - Slip of the Tongue
This album is everything Led Zeppelin did, only better in every aspect.

Shawn Lane - Powers of Ten LIVE
One of the greatest masters playing some of his greatest song with his greatest band.

Steve Vai - Fire Garden
I could have picked almost any Vai record and said it was a masterpiece. But Fire Garden is, to me, his best effort. So much depth, soul, and passion but never without losing his little quirks and experimentation.

The Who - Who's Next
Every second, every passage, every song and the album as a whole is just plain brilliant.

Opeth - Morningrise
It's always a hard choice to pick one Opeth album out of the other. I went with this because as far as my estimation goes, it has had the most spins on my stereo.

Tool - Lateralus
This was my favourite album for a long time. Lately though, I seem to have forgotten it. Maybe one of these days I'll get back to it.

Eagles - Hotel California
No explanation needed is there?

Ayreon - The Human Equation
This album just makes me happy. That's all there is to it.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Ayreon - The Human Equation
This album just makes me happy. That's all there is to it.

I've been singing this album's praises since the day it was released!
I have the collector's edition with the big booklet, interviews, and bonus DVD that shows the making of, which is probably now on Youtube. PDT_008

Fabulous album!!

[ilÿti]

Haha, yep that's what I have too. And I had it about a week after its release. :P

[horsehead]

some cool picks in here. Here's some more.

3) Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker     What happens when your up & coming star alt country band implodes? You become the next big alt country singer/songwriter. This was Ryan Adams first ablum after all the hoo-haa of Whiskeytown going bang & it's beautiful! Ryan know's just how to tug at your heart strings with nar more than an acoustic & a knowing nod. Simplicity is rarely this lovely to listen to.


4) Mick Ronson - Slaughter on 10th avenue    How do you get over playing with one of the biggest stars in the world? You become one yourself. Yes he's not the fastest nor the most precise but when you can make 'love me tender' not sound like 60 tonnes of cheese your doing well. Anything else on this album shows how gifted Mick was.

[sgmypod]

MMMM hard one to do

But...in no order(and will change my mind later)

1. Nickel Creek - This Side

2. Ac/Dc - Either T.N.T. or Back in black

3. Q.O.T.S.A. - Songs for the deaf(or any QOTSA/Kyuss)

4. Marillion - Brave

5. Aerosmith - Rocks(hard to choose on there albums)

6. Warren Zevon - A quite Normal life

7. Journey - Departure

8. Colin Hay - Man at work

9. Dire Staits - Dire Straits

10. Van Halen - I

[sgmypod]

Ahhh..couldn't fit foo fighters, System of a down, iron maidens first album, Pro's and cons of hitchthiking, cream, scissor sisters, Hives, bravery, Jeff Buckley, Joe bonnamaso, SRV, RHCP, Kansas, Skynard, Neil Young, R.E.M., Stereophonics, Rolling Stones, Velvet revolver..or a weird one of here The Tritones......can we change rules and have top 50 or even 100 *L*

[Crazy_Joe]

In no particular order:

1. Van Halen - VHI
2. Metallica - Kill Em All
3. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
4. Guns N Roses - Appetite for Destruction
5. Ozzy Osbourne - Tribute
6. Pagan's Mind - Celestial Entrance
7. Annihilator - Never, Neverland
8. Children of Bodom - Hatebreeder
9. Dio - Holy Diver
10. Judas Priest - Painkiller/Screaming for Vengeance

I could fill another list, but unfortunately i can only pick 10
 :(

[Muso]

current 10 fave albums in no particular order:

1. Whitesnake - 1987

2. Faith No More - angeldust

3. Ludovico Einaudi - Eden Roc

4. Roxy Music - Avalon

5. David Bowie - Scary Monsters

6. Thin Lizzy - Roisin Dubh

7. Yngwie Malmsteen - Rising Force

8. Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygene

9. Enya - Shepherd Moons

10. Jason Becker - Perpetual Burn

[Orkestra]

Top 10 most musically influential albums for me are:

edit; descriptions:

PanterA - ALL... that officially counts as one.
I used to listen to a lot of Punk until I heard these guys, Dime's solo's and riffs just inspired me to create ever more challenging music.

Death - Human:
I remember sitting, speeding my tits off on a #10 bus going around bath listening to this album over and over again, being mesmerized by how utterly brilliant it was/is. It still gets spun every so often to remind me that ill never be as clever musically as Chuck.

Cryptopsy - None So Vile
My first taste of what 'real' death metal is capable of. Riffs and melodies, brilliant lyrics and smart song structures. Blasphemy made Flesh was also greatly influential but I hated everything after NSV.

Testament  - The Gathering/Joe Satriani - Surfing with the Alien. TIED!
Testament for the pure energy and fun they possess, Satch for his uncanny knack of making a guitar speak with the eloquence of a professor.

Psycroptic - Scepter of the Ancients
I saw these guys live with Anata and partied with them after the show, i hadn't listened to them before that night but i was $%&#ing hooked. My favorite song of all time: The Valley of Winds breath and Dragons fire made me work on my picking harder than when I listened to Petrucci and Angelo-Batio. The importance of tight picking is more evident here than on and toilet LOG album.

Charles Mingus  - Mingus Ah Um
A man tied with Pass on my lead phrasings, the importance of melody in madness and singable licks. Mingus's albums are so important musically it's all I really listen to these days. Each instrument is as important as the next, especially during solos.

Sepultura - Arise
Man I love this album, such riffage and intensity, yet beauty. Pure adrenalin.

Joe Pass - Virtuoso/Shawn Lane - Powers of Ten
I might have to stick Emperor - Anthems in here too. But Joe Pass taught me the importance of feeling and 'going with it', rather than sitting in your room, wanking over the same lick 1,000 times. However, Shawn Lane taught me that mastering that one lick and adding feeling to each note is the most important aspect of soloing

Van Halen  - All DLR Era albums... and DLR solo albums with Steve Vai.
I love Eddie's style and phrasing, its something i've been trying to attain for years. Also, Vai's work with Roth is far superior to anything he's done on his own I would wager.

Motley Crue - Dr. Feelgood
The. Party. Record.

there are many more, Motorhead, Zeke, Winnebago Deal, Black Flag but you said only 10 and these are the most influential to my writing.

[dave_mc]

3. Ludovico Einaudi - Eden Roc

good call there. le onde is awesome.

Mine, in no order, and I've probably forgotten something way too obvious...  :oops:

VH1 Van Halen

Appetite for Destruction G 'n' R.

Ah Via Musicom- Eric Johnson

SRV- best of (i'd pick an album, but it's easier to pick the best of)

Extreme- Pornograffitti

megadeth rust in piece

ozzy blizzard of ozz

vai fire garden

satch surfin' with the alien.

struggling to think of a tenth... not that i can't think of 10 albums, but i can't think of any others offhand which really stand out above any others... i'm tempted to say winger, but i'll probably regret that. unless philly leaps in to my rescue...

[jt]

:D In no particular order :

1  AC/DC - Powerage - if you want to play Metal this is the album to study as it`ll show you how to arrange it as well.

2 Black Sabbath - Heaven & Hell- Simply the best thing they ever did. And its got the best guitar sound iommi ever got.

3 Rainbow - Rising - The blue print for all that was to come. Blackmores finest moment.

4  Tears For Fears - Songs From The Big Chair - Arguably the finest pop album ever. Great songs, great playing, great lyrics & great production.

5  Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffitti - The best collection of songs they ever did. Page`s best moment.

6   Extreme - Pornograffiti - Nuno`s playing here is simply gob smacking, and its full of great catchy tunes to boot.

7  Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzaed Of Oz - Randy showed us the way.

8  Van Halen - 1st - I Cant Wait To Feel Your Love Tonight, enough said

9  Saxon - Strong Arm Of The Law - One of the greatest Metal albums ever made. Power, Great disciplined playing, great mixture of song tempos & every songs a killer you`ll be singing for months later.

10  Autograph [ USA ] Sign In Please - The most fun Metal Album of the 80`s.

Of course this list will change by next week !!  :P

 :D  8)

[Antag]

OK, here's mine.  Choosing it was easy as when I got my 300 CD changer by I started by loading it with my all-time top 40 :-)

Opeth: My arms, your hearse (1998)
Interesting to read Oli's comments, I think the opposite :)  This, their third album is the one where they found their sound.  It's massive, monumental & IMO they've never quite topped it (much as I love Still Life, Black water park et al).  Also, it made a very unhappy time in my personal life bearable, so it has some extra poignancy to me....

Exodus: Force of habit (1992)
Reckoned by many to be their weakest album, but I've always loved it.  Really good production (even by today's standards) with some fantastic playing from the "H-team" :)

Obituary: The end complete (1992)
The last word in death metal sludge.  Absolutely awesome riffage & menacingly heavy from start to finish.  Nobody (& I mean nobody) else could have written & recorded this....

Bolt Thrower: ...For Victory (1994)
Really under-rated British death metal band who have always stuck to their sound.  Some people criticise them for being a bit samey (almost all their songs follow the same structure/formula), but I really like their sound & I've always enjoyed this album.

In Flames: Soundtrack to your escape (2004)
Interesting to read Oli & noodle's comments, much as I like Reroute, Clayman & Jester (& all the other IF CDs), Soundtrack is by far my favourite.  It's MASSIVELY heavy, with some great songs & is the only 21st century release in my all-time top 10 (rearranging the CD changer to get it in was a real pain in the arse :lol:)

Napalm Death: Fear, emptiness, despair (1994)
They slowed down slightly for this one, but that's a good thing.  The songs have a really "up" tempo to them that just makes you want to jump around the room :twisted:

Machinehead: Burn my eyes (1994)
Are there any metal fans who don't own a copy of this? :)

Iron Maiden: Powerslave (1984)
Even in '84 I disliked the thin production on this album, but it's more than made up for by some great songs.  One of the first albums I ever bought ('Piece of mind' was actually the first :)), I have good memories of this album - the first gig I ever went to was on the "Slavery tour".

Rush: Exit stage left (1983? got mine in 1986)
OK, a bit of a cheat to include what it basically a "greatest hits with crowd noises" album, but this was what got me into Rush & I still listen to it loads.  2004's Rush in Rio is a far better live album, but Exit stage left made a very big impression on me, so gets into my top 10.

At the gates: Slaughter of the soul (1995)
Real shame that they split after this album :(  It's a masterpiece of fast yet melodic death metal.