Welcome to the homepage of Steve Allen
- Engineer, Musician, Photographer and Adventurer.
Thought of the day
(My web page - my opinions)
Top Ten Albums of the Last 30 years
(that you might not know)
I've been thinking for a while that it
would be interesting to listl what I consider to be 10 albums that made
a difference in the music industry and on me personally, but that you
might not have ever heard. Specifically I wanted to escew "popular"
and say these are albums that mattered for assorted reasons. In fact,
you probably only know a few, if you are like most people. These are
in order of their impact (Wikipedia has lots more info on all of these
bands).
Joe Satriani - Surfing With The Alien (1987)
You may not know who Joe Satriani is, but you have
him to thank for bringing the guitar back into front and center of
popular music in the 80's and 90's.. By the mid to late 80's synthesizer
music and pop had all but drowned everything else out. Guitar music
was declared all but dead by the USA but most people. Then comes Joe
with an album 100% devoted to the guitar! Surfing with the Alien hass
no lyrics, no synthesizers, and is a no holds barred rock album that
made no pretense that a guitar in the right hands could rip your head
in half with blazing fast riffs one second and serenade you with well
constructed melodies another second. This album is considered by some
(including me) to be the reason that some other guitarists (some listed
below) even got a chance to publish their albums. Classic guitarists
like Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen, etc had their own twists but Joe
has the speed and musical talent and he brought the guitar back from
the dead. Top that!
Alan Parson Project - I Robot (1977)
You may not know Alan Parsons, but you know his work.
He was the recording engineer on the Beatles Abby Road and Pink Floyd's
Dark Side of the moon (see WikiPedia
for a more complete Bio). Bands he worked with often credited
him personally as being an important part of their process. So it
should be no surprise that he had his his own group of regular and
wandering musician he worked with, so teaming up with partners Eric
Wolfson and Andrew Powell brought forth "The Alan Parsons Project".
I Robot was his second album, which featured a very refined mix of
orchestra, synthesizers, and instrumentals. While the Moody Blues
have the distinction of the first pop stereo album, The Alan Parsons
Project made technical sonic perfection as important as great music.
His work stands up today as some of the best recordings ever.
Peter Gabriel - So (1985)
This is the most popular album on this list, but
that shouldn't distract from this albums importance. Peter Gabriel
left Genesis before their rise to fame, and was more commonly known
by the masses for esoteric music. What he really created was complex,
soulful, intelligent music that, by some degree, the public was barely
ready for. So has several big hits on it, with Peter's vocal and keyboard
talents front and center along with Tony Levitt's on the bass (possibly
one of the best and most versatile bass players of the 20th century).
This album showed the world that it was okay to have a soul and to
care about your music. Pop was fun for a few listens and one hit wonders
ruled the day, but few bands wrote music that holds you attention
even today. With guest appearances by many and a tour with Paula Cole
to follow his next album, Peter Gabriel was a part of american music
history, and he wasn't even from america! All in all, it was a great
year for music as the album of the year was Steve Winwoods Back In
The High Life, another UK export to the USA.
Stevie Ray Vahaun - Couldn't Stand The Weather (1985)
Again with the guitars, I know. SRV hit the scene
and hit it hard! One of the most soulful texas boogie and blues players
to come out of the south for, well, almost forever! Stevie was a hard
playing, flashy guitarist who made his guitar sing, yell, and sometimes
scream for mercy but all the while making it sound effortless. He
brought soul back into music, and he was admired by talent was diverse
as Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones as a truly talented and unique
guitarist. Adding to the story was his tragic death in a helicopter
crash 1990. Again, lots of info on wikipedia, but if you haven't heard
this album and you ever liked guitar based blues and rock, you must
have this album.
Electric Light Orchestra - Out Of The Blue (1977)
Jeff Lynn, the leader of ELO has been one of the
most prolific musicians of our times. As one of 5 members of the Traveling
Wilburys, he played and wrote along with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy
Orbison, and George Harrison. He may have seemed like the odd man
out to many, but Jeff talent is shown front and center on Out Of The
Blue, a two album set. ELO, know for being orchestra and string heavy
(as the name implies) was a sound that many people liked, but probably
kept them out of the upper tier. But this album came out with a beautiful
double wide double sided album cover and possibly the best intermixing
of strings with guitar and synthesizers ever. Sometimes you just have
to push what you do best to make a project hold it's own over time,
and this is an excellent one with great tunes and great production
quality. The strings are the sound and to this day, no band has as
successfully integrated the orchestral sound with rock and pop music
so completely and intractably.
John Miles - Rebel (1976)
It's possibly no coincidence that this heavily orchestrated
rock heavy pop album came out about the same time as ELOs Out Of The
Blue. Strings where in, but very few bands could use them as anything
other than an after thought. With more of a pop sound, especially
the vocals, this album is a classic with good basic rock as well as
roll :) This album is a good reminder of how people used to have to
depend on song writing and collaboration to write good music.
Kraftwerk - Computer World (1981)
This german techno pop band made more waves with
earlier albums with their unapologetic 100% technology driven synthesizer
sound. Computer World was probably their biggest success financially,
though it was late in their discography, but used the latest synths
and used them well. This album is a driving techno attack with one
of my favorite tunes of all times "Pocket Calculator". If
there is only one Kraftwerk album to own, this is it.
Extreme - Pornographitti (1990)
Extreme is possibly known by many folks as that band
that had that singer that Van Halen used for one album (Gary Cherone).
But Extreme's talent lay, like Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth,
in guitarist Nuno Bettencourt and Vocalist Gary Charone in combination.
While this will anger many, Nuno's guitar prowess and the bands song
writing abilities far exceeded Van Halen's in all fronts (except possibly
for originality). Pornographitti is a hard rocking album with searing
guitar riffs and melodic songs that is easily one of the best rock
albums of the 20th century. It's funny also that they are probably
best know for a ballad titled "Whole Hearted" off their
next album "Three Sides". In a different time (say 10 years
earlier) people would have been listening to Extreme and we'd all
be saying "Eddie Who?". Regardless, this is an excellent
album and worth your listening time.
Green Day - Dookie (1994)
Three young kids with a hardcore work ethic play
trashing rock music with great melodies. Before they were rock darlings
and emmy award winners, they played concerts to sell out halls with
no light show and no back up bands. I saw them (age spoiler) in 1995
right after Dookie came out in a 20,000 seat stadium where the tickets
where $27 each!!.. Other bands management were already trying to get
$100+ out of you, and Green Day comes on and plays for more than two
hours (including a somewhat famous stunt the guitarist pulled often
- coming out onto stage wearing nothing but his guitar!!!). So what's
a few misdemeanor citations as a result of a good show! Rocking tunes
that you probably still know all the words to...
Midnight Oil - Diesel and Dust (1987)
This band of Aussies wrote intelligent thoughtful
music with a edge no one had ever heard before. A long career of great
albums with a focus on the Australian outback, aboriginals, sea life
and the general "it's it then or now or here or there" songs
that make you think and feel made this band epic. "Beds Are Burning"
put them on the charts and they rocked for many years...
The Police - Zenyatta Mondatta (1980)
Do I really have to elaborate? The Police were a
completely unique sound, and still are. Sting is still a very prolific
musician today: Women love him, men want his talent and prowess, and
he and the police wrote many classic songs.
Blue Oyster Cult - Secret Treaties (1974)
Another band you may not have heard of, and again,
guitar heavy. BOC was famous for hard rock, heavy metal shows with
a flair for the occult but a solid notion that these guys where just
having fun. One of their more famous stage tricks was to cover "Born
To Be Wild" and play their own song "Astronomy" and
bring all 5 members of the band to the front of the stage playing
guitar and jam until your ears bled. It was just plain wacky, and
their music is hard driving and fun. This album was not their most
popular but it was the one that put them on the radar. These guys
*still* rock today!
There is no instance of a nation
benefiting from prolonged warfare.
Sun Tzu - The Art of War
The general who wins the battle
makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The
general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.
Sun Tzu - The Art of War
The next president -
will be responsible for either driving the country deeper into debt
and recession, or uniting us and restoring our image to the world. I
won't be shy in saying I think the current administration could not
have done much more to alienate us from the world. We are in two wars
now, and the US is heading towards being all but owned by China and
Japan as we borrow money faster than we will be able to ever pay it
back.. But on the plus side, who ever is the next president will at
least be able to complete a full sentence! Regardless of what you believe
about politics, GO VOTE !!!!! If you don't, you don't have a say and
you don't get to complain when Washington isn't doing what you want.
If we learned anything from 2000, it is that your vote DOES matter!
Even that dubious moment in history of having a president not elected
by the majority vote could have been avoided if more people had voted
on either side to make the win more obvious.
Why
can't auto manufacturers accept that they can meet better gas mileage
standards and still be profitable. The federal government is not
leading the world (or the country) - the states are because the white
house refuses to act. For the first time in history, a US auto manufacturer
(GM) is not the biggest car manufacturer in the world. The world wants
and needs cars that are cheap and efficient, and consumers will accept
the trade offs necessary. At this rate, in 20 years there will be no
US auto industry and we will wonder how it happened. American has always
had vision and been the country of change for the better. When did we
become so self centered? Ignore the dullards in Washington and think
about the future. They will be gone is a few years and WE will
have to carry on. We are capable of more than our leaders give
us credit for. Decide for yourself what is right. Have the courage to
stand up and do what it right for everyone so that we can all find peace.
America is the greatest nation in the world.
Let's lead into a healthy sustainable future.
Life thoughts:
Life is short! If you aren't living
on the edge, you are wasting oxygen!
This earth is the only planet we have:
Let's not ruin it.
The existence of man (so far) has
been a microscopic slice of time in the history of the world. That
doesn't mean we can change history for better or worse.
Believe in whatever god you like,
but a majority of people in the world don't believe what you do.
Every person under the age of 25 should
see the world for at least one year.
How can you tell someone else what
is good for them if you don't even know them ?
There are opinions in the world other
than your own. But you have to live with yours.
Just because everyone believes something,
doesn't mean it can't be changed.
The only person you have to like is
yourself.
And if you don't like yourself, it's
never to late too change!