20 Favourite Albums, Part 1

Over on BlogCritics, someone (can't remember who) suggested the reviewers came up with a list of their top ten albums to give people an idea of where they're coming from musically. He admitted the whole thing is a bit Nick Hornby-ish, but a lot of people like compiling lists, so here's the first part of mine. Mine's a top twenty because I couldn't pare the list down to ten, even by ruling that no artist could have more then one album in the list.

Anyway, without further ado, here are the first five, listed alphabetically

Anathema - Judgement

Anathema began life as a standard death-metal act, all grinding riffs and death-grunt vocals. But once their original vocalist left, and rhythm guitarist Vincent Cavanagh took over vocals, things started to change. By the time they recorded "Judgement", a strong Pink Floyd influence had crept in and they were sounding as much progressive rock as metal. "Judgement" is an atmospheric and emotional work, musically balancing light and shade, metal riffs contrasting with delicate acoustic passages.

Asia - Asia

Most critics scoffed at the idea of this supergroup, consisting of ex-Yes men Steve Howe and Geoff Downes, ELP's Carl Palmer John Wetton of King Crimson, Uriah Heep and UK fame. While many expected a prog-muso chops-fest, what we got was a superb AOR pop-rock album, with the instrumental breaks cut back to fit the songs. Great combination of good playing, good songs, and powerful production, sadly they were never able to repeat the quality of this debut.

Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell

I know I'm probably a heretic for prefering Ronnie Dio's operatic melodrama to Ozzy's angst-ridden howl, but to me Dio's voice and Toni Iommi's guitar seemed a perfect match. As much the follow-up to Rainbow's "Long Live Rock and Roll" as to "Never Say Die", this is a great metal album when considered on it's own merits rather than in comparison to the Ozzy canon.

Blue Öyster Cult - Secret Treaties

Blue Öyster Cult have always been my favourite American band, with their multi-layered sound, high wierdness lyrics and Buck Dharma's wonderful guitar playing. All their albums are good, most of them are great, and this album, their third, is their best.

Deep Purple - Machine Head

What can I say about Deep Purple? One of the defining groups of the heavy metal genre, with the riffs that inspired a generation of bedroom air-guitarists, some of whom would go on to pick up real guitars and form the next generation of bands in the 1980s and beyond, even if most guitar shop owners are sick of hearing "Smoke on the Water". Every song on this album is a classic; no filler at all.