100. Deep Purple / Bananas. 2003. 3.5/5.

The first ever Deep Purple album without Jon Lord – who would ever have thought that would happen? Don Airey is, of course, a great replacement.

Before I got this album, the word was that it was different, heading in a different direction as their most recent albums had gone. It concerned me a bit.

Of course, I then got the album, and all fears were washed away. This is another great effort from Purps, and continues their resurgence since the acquisition of Steve Morse as guitarist. The band continues to keep up with the times, almost 40 years after their formation. They do it by writing songs such that appear on Bananas – rocky, with a beat, and perfect assimilation between drums, bass, guitar and keyboards. No instrument stands out, but it would not be the same if one was taken away.

Rating : Still able to cut it in the 'modern' world. 3.5/5

99. Bruce Dickinson / Balls To Picasso. 1994. 3.5/5.

If you believe press, sometimes it will lead you up the garden path. When Bruce left Maiden to record this, Steve Harris was quoted somewhere as saying he had heard this, and that he had gone soft. This steered me clear of this album, until much later (explained below).

And so – we have a different album again from his first effort, Tattooed Millionaire. It is a mixture of average and brilliant, with Bruce appearing to be trying to move in a different direction from his Maiden days. Songs like Cyclops and Hell No, Laughing In The Hiding Bush and 1000 Points Of Light are still in the heavy direction, while the brilliant Tears Of The Dragon is probably the song that made his solo career.

I can admit that when I first got this, I was suitably unimpressed. Why? Well, now, I can't tell you. It was one of those albums that just didn't pass muster on the first round of listening (there have been a few like this that are in the top eschelon – Megadeth's Youthanasia was one, if you can believe it...). Perhaps, on maturing, I accepted it for what it is, rather than trying to judge it with the words of musicians I held almost complete respect for foremost in my thoughts.

Memories : Working at Shell Select Ryde, always listening to metal. One of my regulars spent six months trying to talk me into buying this album. “It's bloody brilliant! I can't believe you haven't got it yet!”. I finally relented, listened to it, didn't like it, and told him so. He now, of course, has the last laugh...

Rating : 8 years ago, probably 1 or 2. Today...3.5/5.

98. Gary Moore / Ballads & Blues, 1982-1994. 1995. 1/5.

OK, look...this is getting ridiculous. How many Blues bloody albums did this guy do? I don't know, and I've probably got all of them!!

This hits release seems to me like an excuse to re-introduce Parisienne Walkways to another generation.

No need to go any further with this. It's average. Some may like it. I am OVER it!!!

Rating : I may be poorly biased in this respect. 1/5.

97. AC/DC / Ballbreaker. 1995. 3/5.

The years are beginning to lengthen between new albums for AC/DC, and no doubt there were a number of reasons why this began to occur. Importantly though, it was surely one of their main talking points to ensure that the material for a new album release was up to the standards they required to keep their fans happy, and their bank accounts increasing.

The 1980's had been a tumultuous time for the band, with varying degrees of success, and a rise and fall in popularity as a result. The good press for their previous album The Razors Edge would have heartened the band, and after an exhaustive touring schedule and well earned breaks they returned with Ballbreaker.
The songs here are generally strong. The opening track and first single "Hard as a Rock" gets the album underway in a solid way, exhibiting all of the elements that make the band what it is. That rhythm section is hammered into place, where it sits at the same tempo for the majority of the next 45 minutes, never straining itself and never losing a beat along the way."Cover You in Oil" may only be an average follow up, but I have always enjoyed "The Furor". "Boogie Man" is rooted very much in the blues. "The Honey Roll" is as basic as it gets for AC/DC, the backbeat  rumbles along for five and a half minutes, while Brian's vocals magnetise themselves over the top, except for the 45 seconds or so that Angus plays his basic and formula solo. You could feed the basic AC/DC components into a computer, and it would write this stuff for you. As has always been the case with this band, this could be seen as a positive or a negative. Truly, in this case, this song has no inspiration, and any kid with a guitar and a drum machine could have composed it.
Things improve a little with "Burnin' Alive", which is still simple, but with an improved tempo and a better melody line throughout it gets your feet tapping more enthusiastically. So does the next song, which was the second single from the album, "Hail Caesar". "Love Bomb" doesn't really excite me at all. "Caught With Your Pants Down" settles into formula music and lyrics again, just to show that it isn't something you can easily escape. "Whiskey on the Rocks" leads into the album-concluding title track "Ballbreaker", which at least gives off some energy before we wave goodbye.

Ballbreaker is a reasonable effort for a band in their third decade. I may well be proven wrong, but the final peak of this band's career may well have been their previous effort. I don't know what the future holds for them, but one can still find enough good stuff on an album like this to believe that they may have more left in the tank, if they can just push harder at the faster songs than they necessarily do here.

Rating:  Unpack my bags, and take a drag.  3/5

96. Van Halen / Balance. 1995. 3/5.

This was the final album for the Sammy Hagar era, and the second-last of Van Halen, unless they miraculously revive themselves in the future.

Like a lot of the albums they made with Hagar at the helm, the songs have gone to more a candy rock type of sound, which they do well. The blistering Eddie Van Halen solos are a long way in the past though, and the keyboards continue to have their presence prevalent.

Still, they had some catchy songs here. Can't Stop Loving You did some time in the charts. The Seventh Seal, Strung Out and Aftershock are also good songs.

The great thing about Van Halen is that all of their albums (perhaps apart from their final one) are albums that you can put on at any time, and enjoy. The hallmark of a good band.

Rating : Still better than Van Halen III. 3/5.

95. Iron Maiden / When It's Time to Rock [Bootleg]. 1986. 4.5/5.

It’s always interesting when you come across a bootleg of a concert by a band you love that was recorded on your birthday. It makes you wish firstly that you had been there, and secondly wonder what it was that you were doing on that day when this was happening. Well given that this bootleg was recorded on my 17th birthday on the other side of the world from where I live, I guess therein lies the reason why I wasn’t there. As to what I was doing… well… unfortunately it was a day at high school followed by an afternoon and evening of listening to Somewhere in Time. Which is the album this tour was promoting.

The album had only been out for a week or so before this concert was played so it is interesting hear both the new songs off the album, as well as the reaction from the crowd to them. The set list is brilliant, combining the new with the old and the recent. The fact that the previous tour was the World Slavery Tour that was released as Live After Death turns some people off this bootleg because they say they have heard the majority of it before. But the chance to hear songs like “Caught Somewhere in Time” and “Sea of Madness” and "Stranger in a Strange Land" and "Heaven Can Wait" live is surely too good to miss. Add in "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", "Where Eagles Dare" and "Phantom of the Opera" and you have some major epic songs in the mix. Honestly, the set list is just brilliant!

The quality of the recording is not soundboard, so if you don’t like such bootlegs then you probably won’t enjoy this. But for those that can appreciate a true bootleg, and want to experience the band in all its glory on this tour, then this is the perfect place to start.

Rating: "Caught somewhere in time".   4.5/5

94. Brian May / Back To The Light. 1992. 4/5.

There’s no doubt that the members of Queen knew long before we as an adoring public did that the band had an end date, and it wasn’t due to internal conflict or tensions. When this came to pass, and the organisation and performance of the Tribute concert that followed, it left all three to their own devices for the first time in two decades. Whereas Roger Taylor had done his own solo material at different times during the years, Brian May had done surprisingly little. There had been a project called “Star Fleet Project” which had been a mini-album back in 1983 that had also involved Eddie Van Halen, but apart from that his endeavours had mainly stuck with Queen. He contributed guitar solos on several band’s songs, including “When Death Calls” for Black Sabbath’s “Headless Cross” album, and had also helped on songs for other artists on a very minimal basis.
This didn’t mean that Brian hadn’t composed songs during that period. Indeed, the writing and recording period for this album is said to have stretched over four years, from 1988 through to 1992, at times that holes appeared in Brian’s schedule. It’s interesting that, in composing and recording an album in this way, over such a length of time, it must be quite difficult to make it come together to sound as though it is cohesive. Try and piece together some of your favourite bands songs from such a time frame, and see how difficult it would be to have a seamless album. Styles change, moods change, technology even changes.
However, it is understandable that it had to be done this way. Queen as always was the number one priority right up until Freddie’s passing at the end of 1991, and once all of that had passed, it seems like it was a reasonably short period that Brian pulled this material together and brought it to be focused as the album it became. Does it feel that way? Not initially. But for me I can certainly class these songs into two or three separate bundles, which may or may not have been the differing times that those songs were written and recorded to become “Back to the Light”.

Just about everyone, despite your musical bent, will find something on this album that appeals to them. The quieter numbers here play their part as well. The instrumental guitar piece “Last Horizon” was one of the earliest recordings used on this album, coming as it did back in 1988. It is reminiscent in some ways of a Gary Moore instrumental.
“Let Your Heart Rule Your Head” has a simple beat and rhythm, sounding like an old folk song, though perhaps the addition of jug blowers would have made it more like a ‘dixieland’ kind of song. It might be simple but it is effective, with lyrics that put a positive spin on the song. “Just One Life” is another maudlin, in memorium kind of song, soft and mournful with the choir-like vocals backing up Brian’s vocal performance. These three songs, all in the latter part of the album, tend to change the course of the adrenaline of the album. Prior to these the songs had ben faster, more powerful, and energetic, the way most of Brian’s songs are. But these three serve as a much quieter and more reflective time, and in many ways can change the way you may feel about the album as a whole. Even given the final track of the album, the cover of The Small Faces song “Rollin’ Over”, which is a much more rollicking track that the original, allows the album to finish on a more upbeat note with plenty of May guitar tricks, those few songs feel out of place in a way. And whether or not that is because of the fact the album was recorded over such a length of time, or just how the producer decided to arrange the tracks, it does play on just how the album come about. Along with this on the quieter side of the album is the cover of Cozy Powell’s “Somewhere in Time”, which Brian has cannibalised and added lyrics to, to create “Nothin’ But Blue” - all very unusual given that Cozy played drums on this track and several others on the album.
So, much of the second half of the album is very much toned down in style, both in speed and in hard core energy. That does NOT downgrade the quality of the songs or the musicianship, but it does feel like a comedown after the first half of the album. The opening mostly- orchestral-styled opening of “The Dark” segues into the opening title track “Back to the Light”, a grandiose opening to the album that immediately showcases what Queen fans in particular are looking for. It’s large, it fills the room, it has passion and emotional value, and that Brian May guitar that is what we have all come here for. The initial foray of May’s vocals, where one may have been waiting for Freddie to chime in, may not sound as strong but are no less impressive throughout. “Love Token” is an immediately heavier track both in guitar and Cozy Powell’s drumming, with his atypical heavy hard beats dominating throughout combining perfectly with Brian’s riffs. “Resurrection” comes from a faster pace, where the synths and keys combine with the guitar to create a perfectly balanced anthemic vibe, again utilising those emotive vocals to bring the song home. “Driven By You” was the first single released from the album, ironically perhaps the day before Freddie Mercury’s death in November 1991, ten months before this album was actually released. It’s arguably the heaviest song on the album, a great rock song with plenty of that trademark May guitar slinging and emotionally charged lyrics, and it has always been a favourite. All of these songs give the first half of the album the hard rock attitude that Brian always contributed to Queen, and showcase that to great effect. In fact, the songs “Headlong” and “I Can’t Live With You”, both written by Brian, were supposed to be for this album. Reportedly though, once he heard Freddie sing the vocals on both of them, he knew they were meant to be Queen songs, and both appeared on the “Innuendo” album, and are two of the best tracks of that release.
The other song to appear here is “Too Much Love Will Kill You”, a song written by Brian along with two others, Elizabeth Lamers and Frank Musker. It was initially written for Queen’s “The Miracle” album and was actually recorded with Freddie singing it, however it was eventually rejected for that album when the band agreed that all of the songs on that album should be credited to the band rather than individuals, which ruled this song out. Instead, Brian played this on the piano at the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert, and then for this album, which was released as the second single. Freddie’s version was eventually released on the “Made in Heaven” album three years later, but it was Brian’s that went on to the best success in the singles charts.

I was a bit slow out of the blocks on getting this album. In fact, it wasn’t until the US release in early 1993 that I actually came across a copy of it. It probably didn’t help at the time that I was in my own small business with my then fiancé, so we were a bit low on resources that allowed me to go out and buy albums whenever I wanted, like I had when I was single. But I still remember the day it came in the mail, and I put it on my stereo in the small two room unit we lived in when we first got married, and turned it up and heard it for the first time. I was spellbound from the outset, especially those first seven or eight tracks. I mean, I loved Queen, and I knew Brian could sing, but hearing him do his own stuff, in his way, on his own accord, with his flying guitar and his own vocals, was just amazing. I’ve never really forgotten how this album sounded to me that first time I heard it. I remember the afternoon, the blue sky overlooking the ocean in mid-autumn, and being blown away by “Back to the Light” and “Love Token” and “Resurrection” and “Driven By You”. All of it was... magical.
Why? I don’t know. I just didn’t know what to expect I guess, now that Queen was over (or so we thought), and what would this amazing musician do, and could it match what he and his previous band had been able to do. And the scale of what came out of those speakers that day was beyond my expectations.
Do I still feel that amazement of this album, 30 years later? Well firstly, consider the fact that it is now longer since this album was released than Queen actually performed together. That is a little scary to consider. Queen played for 20 years. It is 30 now since this album was released. So even taking that into consideration... yeah, I still get the same tingles whenever I listen to this album. Sure, the second half of the album doesn’t jump out at me as much, but that first half is still just terrific. And a few years later I was extremely fortunate to see Brian and his band live in Sydney, touring on what would be his follow up album to this, “Another World”. And listening to him play Queen songs was just brilliant, but I got just as much enjoyment out of hearing the songs from this album live as well, because I loved this album so much. And I guess I still do.

93. Gary Moore / Back To The Blues. 2001. 2/5.

The reason I chose to listen to all of my ALBUMS in alphabetical order, and not in ARTIST alphabetical order, was to avoid listening to one artist for several albums in succession. As you can see, that hasn't stopped it happening here...

Another blues album from Gary. Generally it is the same as his other ones. And I like his blues music. It is well written and well played. But I don't like blues that much. Especially when comparing it to the previous two albums reviewed.

Rating : Blues is blues. 2/5.

92. Gary Moore / Back On The Streets : The Rock Collection. 2003. 4.5/5.

Unlike the album just reviewed, this is a best-of collection released a couple of years ago. It seems that it was to cash in on Gary's rock years, which he had left behind long, long ago. Or to remind his blues fans that he had a rock base.

I don't know what the whole reasoning behind it was, but it is an excellent album. The collection contains most of his best hits, and even gives you the better, live versions of Wishing Well and Back On The Streets, whihch was extremely well thought out.

So why, you may ask, does it only get four and a half? Well, they forgot Victims Of The Future and Hiroshima, to name two glaring omissions. There were probably a couple of others also, but those two especially.

Apart from that, as good a best-of collection as you could make to honour Gary Moore's best years.

Rating : Great music. 4.5/5.

91. Gary Moore / Back On The Streets. 1978. 3/5.

This was released a long, long time ago, back when Gary was still (basically) thinking like a rock star, and not a blues star.

There's a lot to like about this release. For a start, it has Phil Lynott playing bass and helping out with vocals. Secondly, most of the songs are good. The title track is a typical Gary Moore rock song, and is helped along with other such songs on the album. Thirdly, he shows he is not afraid of playing instrumentals, of which there are a number on the album. And fourthly, there is his most famous ballad, Parisienne Walkways, which probably launched his career to a new level, and gave him the kick along he needed.

I like the raw production of the album (somewhat to be expected in the era and the cost), and looking back (listening back, I guess...), you can see all of the elements that made Gary the star he soon became.

Rating : Not bad at all. 3/5.

90. Dokken / Back In The Streets. 1979. 3/5.

The first release for the Dokken boys, an EP recorded an eon ago.

There is nothing startling on this release. It is a band still trying to find their feet, and is of interest mainly from a historical perspective, and of what they became.

Rating : Just starting out. 3/5.

89. AC/DC / Back In Black. 1980. 5/5.

I was too young in 1980 to know or hear anything about AC/DC, their successes with original vocalist Bon Scott, or his sudden demise very early in that year. I don't recall anything about the band then recruiting a new vocalist named Brian Johnson, on the insistence of Bon family that they not disband and continue on, as he would have wanted. I only vaguely recall hearing a song about being shook all night long on the radio around that time. It wasn't until a couple of years later, as I reached my teenage year and my own search for music of my own to enjoy began that I came across the legacy of AC/DC, the story of that fateful year, and the album Back in Black.

Has there ever been a better known or more appropriate beginning to an album than the gong ringing off at the very start of the first track, "Hells Bells"? What a brilliantly atmospheric song to start off a new album, and a new era of the band. One can only imagine what the fans thought back when this was released when they first heard this coming out of their speakers. i know when I first heard it I was hooked from that moment. "Shoot to Thrill" has always been my favourite song off the album. I love the pace of it, how it starts off at that cracking pace, before the quieter more sedate guitar part in the middle of the song, before exploding into the conclusion. It's a great song. Then there is the high energy vocals from Brian in "What Do You Do for Money Honey". It is the perfect follow up to the first two tracks, keeping the drive of the album rushing along. Phil Rudd's drums crash here in earnest. The continuity of the album is exacerbated with "Given the Dog a Bone", with the rhythm section continuing to pump out that jaunty backbeat that is the staple of the album. Side One finishes with the slower impact of "Let Me Put My Love Into You".
Side Two begins with a bang, straight into "Back in Black" with its distinctive staccato style and Brian pulverising you with his words. Terrific stuff. This is followed by "You Shook Me All Night Long", one of their biggest and most popular singles, one that everyone sings along to even today whenever it comes on. "Have a Drink on Me" was always a favourite for those I socialised with whenever we went out somewhere, singing it in the pub to whomever's shout it was to get him up to the bar. This is then jacknifed by the hardest and fastest song on the album, "Shake a Leg". This comes screaming out of the speakers after an average paced start, really showcasing the old fashioned Aussie pub style fast rock that the band grew up on. Angus lets fly at the end of the song, you can almost see him jumping around the studio as he is playing that solo break. After this session of speed, the album ends more sedately with the anthemic "Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution", which was often sung around school halls when teachers complained bitterly of music being played too loud.

Is this the perfect hard rock album? Arguably, it is. The lyrics of all of the songs deal with those things that young males of all generations relate to. The music, as always with AC/DC, is spectacular in its amazing rhythm section which doesn't miss a beat, and is solid and hard in its base, making it easy to keep time in whatever way suits you best - tapping your foot, playing air drums on the table, or just banging your head along with the beat. Angus Young's solo's are perfectly positioned in each song, enhancing each song without dominating them. The final piece of the puzzle comes to be Brian's vocals, which given how he came into the band could have been heavily scrutinised. However, he fits in perfectly, and his obvious love of blues rooted rock n roll is the same place the rest of the band came from too. The strongest songs that are most referenced here - "Hells Bells", "Shoot to Thrill", "Back in Black", "You Shook Me All Night Long" and "Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution" - make the biggest mark, but it is the songs around them that help make it a top shelf album. They are still strong songs that help enhance what they fit around, maintaining the excellence without necessarily being as heavily recognised as those songs mentioned here. That's what makes this (probably) the finest moment of the AC/DC story.

Rating:  Shoot to thrill, play to kill, I got my gun at the ready, gonna fire at will.  5/5

88. Dokken / Back For The Attack. 1987. 4/5.

Dokken had taken a long and winding road on its way to finding its place near the top of the 1980’s hair metal scene. Having initially moved to Germany in order to land a recording deal, it had come in the form of the debut album “Breaking the Chains”. With Juan Croucier leaving the band after its recording to join Ratt, the introduction of Jeff Pilson on bass brought about the band’s classic line up, and also brought about great success with their following two albums, “Tooth and Nail” and “Under Lock and Key”. Both had contained successful singles, and showcased the best the band had to offer, in the great rhythm section of Pilson on bass and Mick Brown on drums, the electrifying guitaring of George Lynch and the pulsating vocals of Don Dokken. “Tooth and Nail” eventually reached #49 in the US and “Under Lock and Key” up to #32. Along with bands such as Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, W.A.S.P and Ratt, Dokken had found their niche in the hair metal market and found their popularity well and truly on the rise.
At the start of 1987, Dokken had recorded a song for the soundtrack of “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors”, a song that became the title track of the film and increased their standing as a result. After a constant touring and recording schedule that had stretched over recent year, the band decided to take a six month break before returning to write and record their follow up album. Moreso for this album than what had occurred on their previous albums, there was a mixture in the writing grouping of the songs. In fact, four of the songs do not credit band leader Don Dokken at all. Some of this has been put down to the increased tension within the group and between certain members, with the more obvious example of that between Dokken and Lynch. Despite this, the band managed to create their longest album to date, at over an hour in length, with songs ranging from the soft metal ballads that were a major part of the scene at the time, along with some heavy material that showcased the part of the band that could play with the best around when they wanted to.

“Back for the Attack” has a great range of songs that touch most genres of the metal scene that Dokken played in during the mid-to-late 1980’s. In the effort to find radio airplay, and perhaps even more important, MTV airplay, it was the pop friendly songs that found themselves released as singles. “Burning Like a Flame” was the first single released from the album, and it was followed the following year by “Heaven Sent” which was the most ballad-typed class of song that appears here.
The great advantage Dokken had during this time was that Don Dokken’s voice lent itself to both forms of the metal songs that the band was producing, able to croon away on songs like the singles, but also punch out great harder vocals and hit the real heights with his pitch on the top shelf songs on the album. And along for the ride is George Lynch, whose guitaring had been a highlight on the earlier albums and continued in the same vein here. Some fans have felt he was wasted in Dokken, and only truly came to the fore in his following band Lynch Mob, but that would be to take away just how good he is on these songs. Let’s face it, his intro to the album, the opening guitar riff on the opening track “Kiss of Death”, is what really gets you into this album, and the track is one of Dokken’s best. Lynch’s performance on that song alone is enough to convince you that he is not being wasted in this band. Then there is the instrumental “Mr Scary”, written by Lynch and Pilson, and completely focused on Lynch’s guitaring. These are two examples of where his guitaring is in fact the centrepiece of the band, not the lack of focus of the band. And that is not to draw the shades on the performance of both Pilson and Brown here as well. This foursome is a tightknit unit – musically at least – and every song here oozes with their magic.
This album became Dokken’s biggest selling worldwide, reaching #13 in the US and having each of its singles gaining significant airplay. And given the fact that the singles were, at least to me, the least attractive of the songs on the album, proves that it is the strength of the entire album that pushes the greatness of “Back for the Attack”, and not just one song that drives those sales. And “Mr Scary” is the epitome of that.

Life is often cruel when it comes to my music tastes, and once again I feel I didn’t get the rub of the green when it came to Dokken and especially this album. Because despite all of the wonderful music and albums I was exposed to during my latter high school years, Dokken and “Back for the Attack” somehow missed me. And that is a crying shame, because when this album was released I was just completing my final year exams, and while it would then have missed being a part of that year’s music soundtrack that still exists in my head, it would surely have become an awesome addition to the Summer of Bill that followed prior to going to university the following year.
As it was, I didn’t come across this album until the turn of the century. Sure, I had heard and seen the singles and music videos on MTV, rage, Beatbox and the such, but I had never gotten around to finding their albums, especially once we moved into the 1990’s and the grunge slash industrial slash power metal scene. So it wasn’t until the nostalgia stage of coming up quick on the age of 30 that I thought ‘I really must check out bands I’ve missed’. And it was the nostalgia that drew me in, chasing old NWoBHM bands and old hair and glam metal bands to bring back the memories of those high school years.
And “Back for the Attack”, from its first moments, was a hit for me. And by the end of that first listen, recalling the great age of Nightmare on Elm Street movies, I was wondering how on earth it had taken me this long to finding this album, and this band, something I very quickly rectified. And it has been over 20 years now since I first got this album, and I still play it often. It remains at the high end of my music rotation when I’m looking for a CD to put on the stereo at home. And I still can’t believe I didn’t have it back in the day.
The band broke up following the tour for this album, and has never been the same since. This was the third of the great trilogy of Dokken albums, and is a must for anyone who loved that hair metal scene of the 1980’s - in fact, it’s a must for anyone who lived through the 1980’s. Where great music and horror movies went hand in hand.

87. Masterplan / Back For My Life [Single]. 2004. 4/5.

Singles are hard to rate – and I am only including them because to leave them out would make this process feel incomplete.

This contains two songs from the album Aeronautics, which are both great. It also includes two songs not on the album, one which is great, the other which is average.

Rating : Good for a single. 4/5.

86. Live / Awake : The Best Of Live. 2004. 3/5.

When Live first came along, I became a big fan, especially of the album Throwing Copper. It was new, different, and a style of its own.
With each subsequent release, I have found less to enjoy. I thought the following two releases were good, but since then it has been very opaque.

This collection contains what they claim to be their best, but is generally just a singles package. Not that that detracts from its release, just that many of their singles I wasn't beholden to, and some of their other songs I believe are a lot better.

Rating : About average. 3/5.

85. Dream Theater / Awake. 1994. 4/5.

There are examples everywhere of bands made up of wonderful musicians, but who can't wrire a song for shite. (Listing them here may be unfair, as a couple of them appear later on...). Dream Theater are not one of the aforementioned bands.

Awake is a brilliant mix of song and instrumental. Caught In A Web was one of the first songs from Dream Theater that caught my attention. It is, to me, a quintessential Dream Theater song.

As an album, it took me some time to appreciate its complexities. It wasn't an easy “sit down, listen twice & love” kind of album for me. However, over time, it grew on me, as did the band themselves. The rest is history, of one type or another.

Rating : How do these guys play this stuff?! 4/5.

84. Audioslave / Audioslave. 2002. 3.5/5

When Audioslave came together, there were quite a few people around who wondered if it would work. Could the two extremes - the voice of Soundgarden, in Chris Cornell, and the band formerly known as Rage Against The Machine – come together to form a partnership?

As it turned out, the answer was “Yes”.

This debut album is a good start for the new band. Everyone's tastes are catered for throughout, without any undue strain. There was even chart success, especially with Like A Stone.

As a first up effort, it is a good album. Word from the concert was that they were even better live, which one would expect.

Memories : The first time the clip for Cochise came on, I was at Kearo's watching Rage at an ungodly hour of the morning. The start of that song was what got me excited about getting this album.

Rating : Pretty good. 3.5/5

83. Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force / Attack!! 2002. 4/5

Another Yngwie album means more of the same thing. Great guitaring, including riffs and solos. A great vocalist, who suits the written songs to a T. A teriffic band around him, who are great musicians themselves.

Earlier in his career, Yngwie longed for commercial success, and began to write songs with verses and choruses. To a degree, and it is here in this effort, he has gone back to guitaring, and writing guitar pieces, and fitting in the vocals to the gaps. It still works, but sometimes the songs feel like instrumentals with lyrics thrown in to make it a 'song'.

This is another great album from Yngwie, who seems to have grown more comfortable with himself in recent years, and just keeps pumping out great material.

Rating : Excellent stuff. 4/5.

82. Anthrax / Attack Of The Killer B's. 1991. 3.5/5.

This was brought out following the highly successful Peresistence Of Time album and tour, and the success of Bring The Noise. This album, though not actually containing actual B side tracks, is full of that kind of material.

There is some good stuff on here. The update on S.O.D's Milk is better than the original. The update of their own I'm The Man is OK too. The live versions of Keep It In The Family and Belly Of The Beast are also good to hear.
The rest is all of novelty value, and worth a chuckle. Certainly, when I first purchased the album, I thought it was brilliant. Older age has brought a different version of events, and my earlier thoughts are now not as enthusiastic.

Still, it is above average in an age where there are an abundance of below average albums.

Memories : When this album came out, in our band days, we used to laugh ourselves silly at Starting Up A Posse and Dallabnikufesin. And though I can still see the humour, I don't laugh like that anymore when I listen to them. The advent of middle age...

Rating : Oddities and rareities. 3.5/5.

81. KISS / Asylum. 1985. 2.5/5.

Kiss of the 1980's is a very different beast to that which dominated the 1970's in a blaze of pyrotechnics, blood and makeup.
Their faces (the two originals remaining) had been opened up for public viewing, and the band was competing in a whole new market.

To a certain degree, it feels to me that the band are trying to find themselves in amongst the new changes. Some of the songs here are up with the usual Kiss quality stuff – King Of The Mountain, Anyway You Slice It and Tears Are Falling. But there is some 'filler' in there too, and it seems to me they were running out of ideas.

Rating : Not quite up there with some of their other stuff. 2.5/5

80. Michael Schenker Group / Assault Attack. 1982. 4/5.

Three years after leaving his successful gig in the British band UFO, Michael Schenker and his namesake band, the Michael Schenker Group, had released two studio albums and a live album to both critical and popular acclaim. Both albums had combined a number of popular heavy tracks alongside guitar-laden instrumentals and some songs that could be described as experimental and progressive.
It was at this point that Schenker, alongside drummer Cozy Powell and the band manager, felt that the band needed a different singer. Gary Barden had been the frontman, but it was his live performances that caused concern, with his voice not considered strong enough for the live setting. Cozy had put forward David Coverdale as the perfect man, though he was currently fronting his own band Whitesnake. Schenker himself however wanted to recruit Graham Bonnet, whose most recent gig had been on the brilliant Rainbow album “Down to Earth”. Schenker eventually won out, and Bonnet was brought in for the new album. Unfortunately, Cozy and former UFO member Paul Raymond then left the band at this point, with both being replaced by session musicians.
Also coming on board for the album was legendary producer Martin Birch, who came into this album straight off having finished producing the little known band Iron Maiden’s new album, an obscure album called “The Number of the Beast”. With a new powerful voice and co-writer out front, and one of the great producers in charge of the dials, the Michael Schenker Group went forth to produce an album that would stretch what they had produced before, and hope to make a deep impression on all who would listen to it.

There is no doubt that, from the very beginning this is a much heavier album than what the band had produced before. And several things contribute to that. The first immediate one is Bonnet’s vocals. The imposing and strong presence from the start of the opening track “Assault Attack” are the kickstart to the album, and at the time must have been a real eye opener for the fans. This is exacerbated by the heavier tone in the song from what had come from most of the preceding two albums. And then we have Schenker’s guitar, which becomes the focal piece as it should be in this band. Later down the track it seemed to fade into the background as the band chased a more commercial sound, but here on “Assault Attack”, where the band was looking to bring a much harder and heavier presence to their music, Schenker’s guitar becomes as prominent as it should be. With these three focuses combining on this album, it draws together exactly as it should.
The first side of the album brings together a varying array of this revamped style of the MSG music. “Assault Attack” is essentially as the title suggests, an assault and attack both vocally and with the shredding guitar. “Rock You to the Ground” dials back the tempo to a more blues-based riff that is still ramped up by Schenker throughout, and Bonnet gives a great performance on hard core vocals. “Dancer” is a lighter tune, in fact has more in common with Bonnet’s future band Alcatrazz, before we delve into “Samurai”.
The second side opens up with what for me is still one of the best songs ever written. The brilliant “Desert Song” tops this album and most others with the MSG insignia on it. It is one of the most amazingly moody tracks ever written, building from the sublime to that first brilliant Schenker guitar riff, into the verse and bridge, and Bonnet’s vocals just supreme throughout. It is probably the highlight of Bonnet’s career, along with “Eyes of the World” from his Rainbow days. This is the star attraction of the album, one of legendary status. “Broken Promises” is followed by the song that feels like it should have been the single released from the album, “Searching for a Reason”, as it has the right lyrical content without compromising the heart of the album, and again showcases the best parts of the band in the process. While you can understand why “Dancer” was the single released from the album, I’ve always felt this would have been a better option. The album then closes with the Schenker instrumental “Ulcer”, something he excels at throughout his career in producing.

My introduction to this album was in fact back in the cassette sharing days – surprise surprise. My metal music dealer had recorded Dio’s “Holy Diver” for me, but with space remaining on the C60 tape, he put down three tracks from the “Assault Attack” album – the title track, “Desert Song” and “Samurai”. And – as much as “Holy Diver” is still one of the greatest ten albums ever released – those three songs blew my mind. And, as you will have guessed by now, it was “Desert Song” that just stuck out like a sore thumb. The switch to getting a copy of the whole album followed, and it was another album that was played to death over the following couple of years. There is a certain day that sticks in my mind, sometime when I had started Uni back in 1988. And in those mid-year days I was less than enthused about the tasks at hand nor attending the campus at all. The result was, during a five hour break I had between lectures, driving my car to Wollongong Harbour up near the lighthouse, buying $2 worth of chips, and playing this album and the following album, “Built to Destroy”, over and over, at a very loud volume, for three hours or so, looking out at the water and eating my chips, and wondering just where I was going in life. And that afternoon often comes back to me, not only through what I was feeling at the time, but how much this album made me feel so much about where I was at during that time. And it still does to today, reminds me of how much this album in particular at that time was a constant in my life.
Sadly, it was the only album Bonnet produced with the band. At the first gig they played to promote “Assault Attack”, a drunken Bonnet decided to expose himself to the crowd on stage, and was pretty much immediately fired, with Gary Barden returning to the fold in his place. And that remains a real shame, because given how terrific this album is with his writing and vocals, just wat would a follow up have produced?

79. B L A Z E / As Live As It Gets. 2003. 4.5/5.

Though this was not my first taste of B LA Z E (I had a couple of songs off their debut album, Silicon Messiah), it was the first lengthy listen I had had of the band, and of most of their songs. And it is a worthy first listen.

This was recorded on the Tenth Dimension tour, and is a veritable best-of the band's two albums released to that point, as well as some Iron Maiden songs from Blaze Bayley's era, and a Wolfsbane song as well!

The band are excellent, and the live versions of all these songs are awesome. Blaze sings his stuff fantastically well. The whole double album is a tribute to a band that have found a niche in the metal market, and filled it admirably.

Rating : Great live album, that would also act as a great starting point for the unindoctrinated. 4.5/5.

78. Michael Schenker Group / Armed And Ready : The Best Of The Michael Schenker Group. 1994. 4/5.

Releasing this in 1994, the title of the album conveniently allows the releasers to avoid anything from the latter day McAuley Schenker group – which is a shame, as there was a lot of good music that came from that partnership.

As such, this album concentrates on the early years of the group, which is not such a bad thing anyway. It was strange to sit down and listen to this again. Sometimes, if you are only looking at a track list, you can think “I can think of a dozen better songs that should be on this!” - which, of course, is what i did. And, then, you listen to the album, singing along to every song, and saying “Yeah – this rocks!”

Still, there are a couple of songs I would have exchanged with others. Overall though, a good collection of MSG favourites. Attack Of The Mad Axeman, Assault Attack, Desert Song. These are just great songs, and hold a lot of memories.

Rating : A collection of 80's memorabilia. 4/5.

77. Anthrax / Armed And Dangerous (EP). 1985. 4/5.

This was released prior to Spreading The Disease coming out, I guess primarily to introduce Joey Belladonna to the masses as Anthrax's new lead singer.

It contains the single and another track that didn't end up making the album (Raise Hell), re-recordings of Metal Thrashing Mad and Panic, as well as God Save The Queen and a couple of B-sides from the very first Anthrax single.

Hey, for an EP, it's good. The two songs at the start are great, God Save The Queen is OK, the remakes of the songs off A Fistful Of Metal are great, and so are the original B-sides. Can't be faulted for quality!

Rating : A good lead-in to the Joey era. 4/5.

76. Fear Factory / Archetype. 2004. 4/5.

Though I had heard a little Fear Factory before this, Archetype was the first album I really sat down and listened to. And perhaps I like it because it was the first.

There is no denying the musicianship of the lads. How the drummer has any legs to stand on is a constant source of amazement to me, such speed does he expel behind that kit of his.
The songs are raw and aggressive, but with melody as well. Though, I must admit, I have tried to understand what was behind the recording of Ascension, and am still at a loss. It sounds like 7+ minutes of silence. Am I mistaken? What was behind this?

Fear Factory had had some dramas leading up to this album, but Archetype puts them right back at the top of their game.

Rating : A great return to form. 4/5.

75. Michael Schenker Group / Arachnophobiac. 2003. 4/5.

Yet another formation of the old MSG, with Schenker himself the only person to retain his position. On this occasion, it doesn't detract from the music.

On first listen, in fact, I swore it was Chris Cornell singing. Of course, I was mistaken (his name is Chris Logan), but the songs themselves are great. This is almost like it has been taken straight from the golden years of MSG, in the 1980's. The style of the album is straight from that era, which of course means it incorperates Schenker guitar style perfectly. Rather than trying to update and upbeat this album to the new millenium, the band has stuck to their strengths, and come up with an excellent album. So long as you like that style, of course!

I am impressed with it. The vocals are great, Schenker's guitaring is as good as ever, and the songs are good (for a change...). Overall – an impressive effort.

Rating : MSG back in force. 4/5.

74. Guns N' Roses / Appetite For Destruction. 1987. 5/5.

Where the hell did Guns N’ Roses appear from? It’s an interesting story, but my intention is not to go through the entire history of the lead up to the band coming together. In short, the members of two bands, Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns, came together to form a new band, taking a piece from each of the band's names to create a new name – Guns N’ Roses. As the band progressed, all of the members of L.A. Guns moved on back to their original grouping (and of course did their own thing with some success), and as each member left, another former member of Hollywood Rose came in to replace them. As it turned out, a number of Hollywood Rose songs would turn up on releases by Guns N’ Roses, including on their debut album, “Appetite for Destruction”.
The band eventually signed on to Geffen Records for less money than they were offered by other record companies, but with Geffen they were offered the ability to do their own things, whereas other companies had wanted to change the band and image and music to their own terms. Having signed in March 1986, the band had released a four track EP, “Live Like a Suicide” in December of that year, in order to keep peace with their record company as well as keep their name in the minds of the fans out there, as Geffen had feared that the band didn’t have enough material to release a full album. The writing and recording of “Appetite for Destruction” took place over the first six months of 1987. Several producers came in and help produce songs, in order to gauge their suitability to work with the band. In the long run Mike Clink was the man who got the job, a producer with a wide experience and with different genres of bands. With songs from a wide variety of timelines of the band and its members, in hindsight it probably always boded well for the album to have a varied and interesting progression. The album was eventually released on July 21 1987, to the massive sound... of crickets...

For an album that has become one of the biggest sellers of all time, it is amazing how little anyone knew about it for so long. There’s little doubt that much of the album was uncommercial, songs whose subject matter and explicit language made them impossible to play on the radio. It was also one of those albums that had the ‘explicit language’ sticker prominently displayed on the cover, which may or may not have hindered its sales.
Eventually, it was two singles that broke the band firstly into the mainstream, and then into the stratosphere. The alternative flavoured “Sweet Child O’ Mine”, not a ballad but with lyrics that makes radio stations stand up and think ‘that’s a hit’, was the first to make a splash, with Slash’s uniquely harmonic guitar riff to open the song, and then his solo later on, making a song that atmospherically made the band marketable on the basis of it being a great track that ticked all those commercial boxes without being the atypical radio hit. This was the song that powered the album sales, such that it finally reached top ten around the world, a year after its release. Six months on from that, the band then released “Paradise City” as its next single, and this sent sales soaring again. “Paradise City” had a film clip of Guns N’ Roses playing live, and the song drew on that to continue the sales surge of the album, with its repeatable lyrics and rock sensibilities, giving kids of all ages a chorus that they could cling on to. These two songs were the driving force that propelled the sales of the album well into two years after its initial release.
And the thing is, once people bought the album, they discovered that the rest of the songs on the album weren’t really like those two songs at all. Some found disappointment in this, but many found the true joy of what Guns N’ Roses had compiled for their debut opus. The incredible energy of the tracks throughout is something to behold. The lyrical content and in your face style of each song is like a freight train, or perhaps even a Nightrain, bearing down on you. Both the album opener “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Nightrain” were released as singles, but both had more impact on people once they began buying the album. The opening trio of songs in “Welcome to the Jungle”, the hard rock jingle “It’s so Easy” and the rollicking “Nightrain” make for a terrific start. “Out Ta Get Me” and “Mr Brownstone” leave nothing to the imagination as to their lyrical content, and the excitable enjoyment that they are performed at both musically and by Axl’s vocals make them fantastic songs to sing along to. Both have such brilliant riffs, and the groove of “Mr Brownstone” is awesome. After the lengthy overhaul of “Paradise City”, the two songs sandwiched between it and “Sweet Child O’ Mine” are probably my favourites on the album. “My Michelle” and “Think About You” are arguably the most unlikely songs to appear on this album, and perhaps that’s why they attract me so much. At opposite ends of the scale when it comes to the lyrical aspects of singing about the ‘girl in your life’, for me they have always picked up that middle part of the album. And of course, once we’ve crossed over “Sweet Child O’ Mine” you have the three closing tracks, with the fast paced “You’re Crazy”, the hard jumping of “Anything Goes” and the lengthy extolling of “Rocket Queen”, a song I’ve always felt may have fit better on one of the Illusion albums. But what it does do is close out a most remarkable album given the circumstances of its release and growth over the years.

I know full well I didn’t have this album until well into 1988, because no one in my high school had this album, to my recollection, in our final year of high school. I know I had this on cassette recorded for me by someone in the first half of 1988, and I don’t think I bought this until sometime in that year, probably at the time they really began to get noticed. I remember seeing the album in record shops that I frequented in those days, with the big warning sticker on the front, but because I hadn’t heard anyone who listened to them, or heard any of the songs off the album, I ignored it and looked at the other wares in the racks. And I guess I followed the crowd a little when it came to finding and enjoying this album. I don’t feel any problem with that. Sometimes being a sheep is a good thing and leads you to something you may otherwise have missed, and I think this album in particular is a good example of that. I know the band toured Australia at the end of 1988 and I didn’t feel overwhelmed to attend, so I know my feelings on the album were still ambivalent at that stage, some 18 months after it had been released. One of my funniest memories of the time is when one of my best mates bought the UK 12” single of “Welcome to the Jungle” because he loved that song, but found that “Nightrain” was on the B side, and he claimed he was going to go home, and drag a razor blade right across the B side to make it unplayable, because he hated that song so much. Of course, within a few months he then claimed that he did actually enjoy the song after all. Funny times.
It is an eclectic and unique album that has crossed genres, and indeed is one that cannot be categorised into any one format as a result. It’s a metal album, and hard rock album, a rock album, an alternative album, a post punk rock album... and probably another half a dozen genres rolled into that as well. One thing that I’ve always attested to is that I love the album much more than those two songs that drove its eventual popularity, “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “Paradise City”. They are good songs, but not in the best half of songs that appear on this album. They did their job in getting the album airplay, and for me it was discovering everything else here that is the real bonus.
In the years since this album has held up surprisingly well, perhaps because there has been so little other material released beyond 1991, that it doesn’t have much to stand up against in the GNR discography. Maybe that’s it. Or maybe this is just a unique album that stands the test of time because it had to fight so hard to be recognised in its time. Whatever the reason, 35 years on – or in reality I guess 34 years on, from the time most of us actually discovered it – this album is still a pretty damned good listen.

73. Anthrax / Anthrology : No Hit Wonders 1985-1991. 2005. 5/5

In line with the Big Reunion Tour of 2005, Anthrax brought out this double CD compilation of the best of their years together - basically, the albums Spreading The Disease, Among The Living, State Of Euphoria and Persistence Of Time.

The song selection is perfect (I mean, they condensed 4 albums into 2, and added a couple of extra tracks, so you should certainly have the best!), and the remastered editions have great sound quality.

There is little else really to say. Great songs, great performances. Of course, if you already have the albums, as most people will, it is money spent on items already procured.

Rating : You can't beat it. 5/5

72. Brian May / Another World. 1998. 2.5/5

Brian's second solo album is, in my opinion, not as solid as his first. Having moved on from Queen and its retirement, he has put together an album that seems to move away from the elements that made Brian May a great guitarist.

Don't get me wrong. It isn't a bad album. But it is different from anything he has released before, and it struggles to hold my enthusiasm for the entire album. It doesn't contain the same Brian May guitar pieces that I remember, and while his vocals are still good, the songs to me are not as strong as in the past.

Memories : Seeing Brian May in Sydney on this tour. Having never seen Queen (unlike some corkheads like Kearo...) it was brilliant to see him. Not only doing his own stuff, but Queen stuff as well. Terrific live performance.

Rating : Worth a listen, and to decide for yourself. 2.5/5

71. Motörhead / Another Perfect Day. 1983. 3/5

I’m sure that after the success that Motörhead had had with their first five albums that it was an unexpected occurrence when ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke decided to move on just after the tour to support the Iron Fist album began. Given that the band seemed to find plenty of faults with that album almost immediately, perhaps it wasn’t unexpected. It did give drummer Phil Taylor the opportunity to coerce Lemmy into agreeing to hire former Thin Lizzy guitarist Brian Robertson as his replacement, who then went on to help write and record the follow up, Another Perfect Day.

The most obvious thing to say about this album is… it is different. For everyone who has heard the first five studio albums, the style is immediately different. But all of those five albums had a degree of change along the way, none of them were an exact match for the previous one, so if you take this album as just a natural progression and not focus too much on the different guitaring styles of the previous guitarist and the new guitarist, you are halfway there to being able to appreciate this album for what it is rather than just dismissing it offhand because of the change. I know that I initially went down this path, completely put off by the change in guitar style especially. But once I sat down and just listened to it as an album, and not an album that Clarke had had no part of, I found a lot to like. Indeed, having been a fan of sections of Thin Lizzy’s work over the years I admired most of what Robertson has to offer here. I don’t think it always works, and I don’t think it really settles into what you would call a Motörhead sound, but there’s no denying it is catchy. There is almost none of the typical Lemmy bass lines and even the drumming appears much less frantic and rebellious.
Was the world ready for piano on a Motörhead album? Robertson contributes this on the songs “Shine” and “Rock It”, and while it isn’t a big thing it is a noticeable thing. Opening track “Back at the Funny Farm” has that classic bass sound to start, as does the closing track “Die You Bastard!”, but apart from that there is little that makes it stand out. “Dancing on Your Grave” is probably the closest this album has to a song that fits in with the past.
The most irritating song on the album is “One Track Mind” which closes out the first side of the album. It feels like five and a half minutes of the track title being repeated over and over and over again, and it is so different to most of the other material on the album. It sticks out like a sore thumb. Both “Just Another Day” and “Marching Off to War” are dominated by long instrumental breaks, including long solo sections from Robertson. The length of these is another point of difference between earlier albums. While Clarke had solo breaks they didn’t dominate songs by their length. That is not the case here, Robertson seems to have plenty of time to ensure he is noticed. It’s not unlikeable at all, in fact for the most point they are enjoyable, except maybe they just sound a bit too similar to each other? Perhaps. “I Got Mine" follows on a similar vein, with plenty of upbeat tempo, while “Tales of Glory” is a short, sharp burst of what has come before.
By the end of the album, and in real comparison to the other albums that preceded it, what really pulls this back just a little bit ends up being those extended solo breaks from Robertson. It feels a bit formula-oriented, a bit too try-hard for what would make it a better or equal album to the first albums. They are not bad or Malmsteen-esque in the show-off department, but they do perhaps tend to over dominate which was not a trademark of the earlier material. Overall the songs are good. Lemmy’s vocals are as good here as they probably ever got, and Taylor’s drumming sounds good as well, though it feels as though it has lost its intensity and is more interested in just keep time in places. Robertson is excellent, but his style eventually holds firm that it is indeed a different era that the band has moved into. Given that it was the only album he played on, no doubt the other extenuating factors proved to be a problem as well.

I enjoy this album more now than I did when I first listened to Motörhead and that probably has more to do with my maturing years and willingness to accept change than I used to in my youth. This is a good album (barring one notable song), but you need to take it on trust to get the most out of it.

Rating: “Let me hear it 'til the end of time”. 3/5

70. Sevendust / Animosity. 2001. 3/5.

This again was a pleasant surprise when I first heard it. Having been pestered by young cricketers (21 year olds...) that I play cricket with of a Saturday that I should listen to this album, I finally got around to getting a copy of it.

What I heard was not what I had expected. Indeed, it was in fact an album that immediately showed the various strengths of this band, and their versatility in the music they produce.
The early songs are very raucous (along with some of the trademark screaming that bands used at the turn of the century). As the album moves along, the songs flatten out into a more melodic metal sound, that is pleasing to the ear (at least, more pleasing to the ears of those who came in to work tonight when I was playing it at 1000 decibels).

In some ways, they are an updated, perhaps heavier version of Faith No More. They share a lot of similar characteristics with them, which certainly come through to me in songs such as Redefine.

I was very impressed with both this album, and the band as a whole. Great stuff from a more modern metal band than this dinosaur is used to listening to.

Rating : One of the better recent arrivals. 3/5.

69. KISS / Animalize. 1984. 3/5.

This falls into the exact same category as album #68.

Kiss had by this time moved on without Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, and were delving into the part of the career where they decided make-up was no longer necessary.

This album is no frills. It has no standout songs. There is no new direction for the album, it is an a-typical Kiss album in every regard. Well, except perhaps that there is no song here that jumps out at you and says - “We Are Kiss!!!”

Again, this is not to say it isn't enjoyable. It is just that nothing makes in unusual from a billion other albums out there in the universe.

Rating : Average for the game. 3/5.

68. Scorpions / Animal Magnetism. 1980. 3/5.

Following up the brilliant Lovedrive was always going to be dodgy. Whether the boys meant to or not, they have moved direction a little here again, in order not to have the style compared to their previous release.

This is your good, everyday, type of album release. There are no surprises, no out-of-the-ordinary tracks. Just nine solid Scorpions songs, some better than others. The tempo is probably a bit slower than I would like, but a lot of Scorps stuff is like that.

I particularly like The Zoo, Make It Real and Animal Magnetism. They, for me, are the strongest songs on the album.

Rating : It sits right there in the middle. 3/5.

67. Dio / Angry Machines. 1996. 1.5/5.

Seriously – what the hell was Dio thinking when he released this album? It is, in general, one of the vilest pieces of junk it has ever been my misfortune to spend money on. I never imagined that I would ever say that about something that involved Ronnie, but Angry Machines has done it.

The direction of Dio's music had been heading towards slow and grunge for a while, but this took it too far. And it is a shame, as some of the songs could probably have been saved by a half decent producer with a love of Dio and the ability to deal with the man himself!

The lyrics are not the typical Dio, but the music is nothing like it was at this band's peak in the 80's. There are songs with some merit here, but not enough to save it. This is what I would consider to be the unfortunate black mark in Ronnie James Dio's stellar career.

Rating : It only got this much because of my undying respect for the man. 1.5/5

66. Judas Priest / Angel Of Retribution. 2005. 3.5/5

Much as had been the reaction in 1999 when Iron Maiden had announced the return of Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith to the band after a lengthy absence, when Judas Priest had announced the return of Rob Halford to the band in 2004 the masses went wild. The experiment with Ripper Owens had passed, and now that the band was back together again everyone could expect a massive new album and world tour. Not only that, Roy Z had come on board to produce the new album, and after what he had done for the solo releases of both Dickinson and Halford, you could only expect that the album was going to be outstanding. Well… no…

Hey, I can admit it. I got way too excited and was looking forward to this far too much. I hyped it up in my head so much that I didn’t see where problems could lie until they had already passed. And they were there, no doubt. Because so many people had problems with the two albums that were done without Halford, it was almost forgotten that they had been almost completely written by both Downing and Tipton, and they were again two-thirds of the writing team for this new album. OK, so Halford had returned to bring back the triumvirate that had composed so many legendary tracks in the past, but still, his recently released second album under the Halford banner Crucible was in my opinion very hit and miss. Mostly miss. So the recent history of song writing wasn’t in the most popular class.
Did I want something comparable to Painkiller? Yep, I’m not ashamed to admit it. That’s what I wanted. I wanted Roy Z to make sure this band produced another album exactly the same as that. They did not. Is it all bad? No, and far from it. It’s just that the best songs on the album in no way approach the great songs from previous albums.
“Judas Rising” is a good starting point, giving us a little bit of everything we were looking for – a Halford scream, fast drums, heavy guitar. “Deal With the Devil” comes back to the heart of the best Judas Priest songs with a great drum back beat, perfect bass line running underneath while Downing and Tipton riff over the top, and Halford gives a great vocal performance. It’s a hard rocking song that grabs your attention. “Revolution” sounds like it is trying to parallel the T-Rex song “Children of the Revolution”. It has a very 70’s sound to it and is not what you would call a typical Priest sound. To be honest I can’t say I love it, but it isn’t the worst available here. On the other hand, “Worth Fighting For” is very understated, and I love the mood that the music creates for the song, along with Halford’s moody vocals. It’s a real changer for Judas Priest, it doesn’t hit you with speed or heavy attitude or off the scale guitars, but it has a great heavy and brooding mood about it all the way through, and the solo break adds so much to the atmosphere. This is probably my favourite song on the album which is a surprise to me, but it works.
“Demonizer” comes with a rush, full of that great Scott Travis double kick and Rob Halford screaming vocals all overlaying the hard ripping riff and a super solo section from Tipton and Downing. Honestly, if the whole song had been like this it would have been a classic. As it stands it is one of the better songs through the back half of the album, even though I feel it could have been so much better if it started like it finished. “Wheels on Fire” doesn’t do anything fancy and doesn’t proclaim itself to be the fastest or heaviest track around. Indeed, it is a solid Judas Priest track that sticks to its own pace throughout while Rob discerns his vocals in a sedate but forthright manner. It seems pretty standard, but I think its simplicity is its strength. It’s a good song that can sometimes be glossed over. “Hellrider” leaves nothing in the bag, giving us more screams and energy in the vocals than “Demonizer” does which probably lifts it above that song for me.
“Angel”, “Eulogy” and “Lochness” are three of the final four songs on the album, and this is where I think there is a huge letdown. “Angel” is very much the power ballad of the album, and while it isn’t terrible I just think it doesn’t fit with what has come before it. But this doesn’t even compare when you talk about the closing tracks. “Eulogy” is the quiet contemplative song that feels so out of place. I know bands feel as though they have to do songs like this, but this is where other artists fall down, because they get trapped thinking this is a great move. This segues slowly and quietly into the final track, the ‘epic’ track “Lochness”. I have ‘epic’ in quotes, because to me this is a poor finish. The track is thirteen and a half minutes long, it meanders along like a slow moving stream, lazily trying to gain momentum without ever able to do it. This is not “Beyond the Realms of Death” or “Victim of Changes”. This is a somewhat painful way to end the album. It was probably a great idea in the studio, but for me it really does not work.

My opinion of Angel of Retribution has mellowed over the years. In 2005 I had great reservations about it and was probably overly harsh in my rating of it. I have played it twenty times over recent days in revisiting it and I find that the first half of the album is much better now that I probably thought it was a decade ago. My opinion of the close of the album hasn’t changed, but as an album overall this is above average. The plus marks are the rediscovering of the Judas Priest sound that wasn’t overly prevalent on the two Ripper-era albums. It won’t rank as one of their best ever but it still has plenty to offer to fans of the band.

Rating: “From what I knew before, some things are worth fighting for”. 3.5/5

65. Faith No More / Angel Dust. 1992. 4/5.

I guess after The Real Thing, Faith No More had to sit down and wonder, “Where do we go from here?”.
The answer is Angel Dust, an album that quickly sorted out who was a fan of the band, and who had just come on for the popularity of the previous release.

Full of great guitar riffs from Jim Martin, the 'maturing' vocals of Mike Patton and the pounding drum beats of Mike Bordin, this is as far away from The Real Thing as this band could muster. There was no doubting their intentions. They wanted to shake things up.

This is a real shock to the senses. From Land Of Sunshine, Midlife Crisis and Everything's Ruined, to Be Aggressive, Crack Hitler and Jizzlobber, this is an album that you literally either love, or abhore to the depths of hell.

Memories : In 1992, friends of mine were living in a house in Kiama Downs. I walked in one day to hear this insane album being played at a million decibels upstairs. It was my indoctrination to Angel Dust.

Rating : Madness. Absolute madness. 4/5.

64. John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess / An Evening With John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess. 2004. 1/5

Well, this certainly wasn't what I expected. I was hoping for some drilling solos and fast driving music. Instead, what you get here is mainly classical.
And don't get me wrong. What they play is brilliant. There is no doubt both are brilliant musicians, who are just unbelievable at what they do.

The problem here is – I was expecting something completely different when I acquired it.
And even now, listening to it again, and knowing what it was, I was unable to like it.

Rating : Ooooohhh...nasty. 1/5.

63. Anthrax / Among The Living 1987. 5/5.

A lot of bands tend to find their feet by the time they come around to writing and recording their third album. Think about it, think about your favourite bands, and think what their third album is, and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Everything just seems to come together. And that is exactly what occurred for New York thrash legends Anthrax when they released their third studio album “Among the Living”, an album built on the kind of live and life experience that can only come from both touring with a band at their peak, and the tragedy that can sometimes follow it.

Anthrax had made quite a jump in quality from their debut album “Fistful of Metal” to their follow up “Spreading the Disease”, not just from the acquisition of Joey Belladonna as lead singer, but in the refinement of their sound and the tightening of their music. On the rise at the same time as bands of their ilk like Exodus, Slayer and Metallica, you get the feeling that they were learning on the go, and by being around these bands they found a way to improve their own skills in order to get to that next level.
No doubt being asked by Metallica to support them on their European tour promoting “Master of Puppets” must have been eye opening, seeing that band as they were hitting their theoretical peak, and watching them destroy audiences night after night. And who wouldn’t have wanted to see that tour, with Anthrax thrashing serious carnage as the support act? The amount that the band must have improved on that tour is immense. And then the tragedy struck, with the bus crash that killed Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, and the shock that came with that, and how the members of Anthrax rallied around the members of Metallica in the days and weeks afterwards.
How does something like that change you? How do you cope with it? How do you move on deal with the consequences. For Anthrax, with the remainder of that tour cancelled, they entered the studio to record their follow up to “Spreading the Disease”, and the emotions that had built up over recent weeks all went in with them. But that wasn’t all. There was a fury in the new songs, something that had begun on “Spreading the Disease” but had reached a whole new level on the new album. There was fury in the guitaring and drumming and there was anger and emotion that mixed in with that as well. In a 2012 interview, Scott Ian was quoted as saying that part of the reason the album sounds so angry is because Cliff died. They’d lost a friend and it was so wrong and unfair. The album itself is dedicated to Cliff Burton’s memory, and there seems little doubt he would have been proud of what the band produced. Indeed, it became one of the greatest thrash metal albums ever released.

The more you listen to this album, and the more you break it down, the better and more impressive it becomes. Each song has its own ability to build the tension and momentum, to drive the speed of each song and to draw the listener in to participate in the while process. The way that the songs are structured lyrically are the crowning jewel of the production, because not only are they designed in a way that they become instant crowd favourites, but they utilise that to get the fan involved just by listening to the album at home, or in the car, or on their way to work. And it is literally impossible not to join in. With Joey Belladonna creating the lead vocals, and guitarist Scott Ian and bassist Frankie Bello chanting in the back up lyrics, the whole album comes across like you are listening to it in a live setting.
From the opening bars of the title track “Among the Living”, you are dragged in, and it is still an anticipatory exchange that collectively occurs as the song builds to the beginning of the vocals.
And the subject matter of the songs is just brilliant. From riffing on their love of Stephen King novels with “Among the Living”, which is based on the antagonist of The Stand, and with “A Skeleton in the Closet” which is based on the novella “Apt Pupil”, to their love of comic book literature with “I Am the Law” based on the Judge Dredd character in the graphic novels. All of this is mixed in with social conscience issues such as “Indians” which harps on the plight of the native North American Indians, to “One World” which talks about the risk of nuclear war, to NFL (Efilnikufesin) which deals with drug abuse which from a 2019 interview was inspired by the death of John Belushi. All of the lyrics are terrifically written, serious when they have to be, laced with humour when they don’t have to be. It all helps make the mixture of songs so interesting and intricate in developing the mood of the album.
And that mood? Well, it is fast, furious and generally without a resting point. “Among the Living” kicks it off in style, scintillating guitars and Charlie Benante’s hard hitting drum beats. And there is no way you can’t chant along to “I’m the Walkin’ Dude!, I can see all the world”, and the at the end once Joey has said “follow me or die”, and Scott and Frankie chant along “Among! Among! Among! Among!” through to the song's conclusion. Truly awesome. This is then followed by the headbangers anthem “Caught in a Mosh” which takes this to a different level. Frank’s brilliant solo bass riff into the main guitar riffs, before Charlie’s solo drum smashing launches the song proper is a fantastic way to give every member of the band a piece of the action so early in the album. And of course, the chorus again unleashes the crowd participation chanting with the duelling vocals of “Ain’t gonna live my life this way” and “STOMP STOMP STOMP!”, before the chorus of “What is it?” “Caught in a mosh”. Brilliant. And we leap into the opening riff of “I Am the Law” which again showcases everything the band has to offer and the crowd surfing chants and lyrics again enhance the song from the outset.
“NFL (Efilnikufesin)”, apart from hilariously having some people believe it is a song about American Football, and “A Skeleton in the Closet” both close out the first side of the album superbly, ripping lyrics that confused those that believed all heavy metal music was about the devil, instead being thoughtful, provocative and meaningful while the music was fast and thrashing.
“Indians” opens the second half of the album and is probably the least thrash song on the album but one where the heart is the lyrics. And then you get to the middle of the song, and Scott Ian starts stomping along to the drums and cries out “WAR DANCE!” and the song leaps to another level. Charlie’s drumming throughout this song is also just superb, it truly sets the mood perfectly for the subject matter at hand. And it doesn’t let up there. “One World” is ridiculously thrashing, and then climbs into “Horror of it All”, which was written about Cliff Burton, and having to deal with his death, before “Imitation of Life” concludes an album that, even for 1987, was an absolute triumph.

It will forever be one of those dark questions that hangs over my head until it is my time to leave this existence as to how I did not find either this band or this album until about 18 months after this had been released. 1987 was my final year of high school and it was during this and the preceding year that I had been exposed to and experience so many new and exciting bands and albums, that it is really quite remarkable that Anthrax and “Among the Living” was not one of them. And I often wonder to myself just how much that final year of high school would have been significantly improved if I HAD had that album to help me through those final few months.
Instead, it wasn’t until mid the following year that I bought my first Anthrax album (which happened to be ‘Spreading the Disease’) before picking up this album after that. And to say that I had my mind blown would be an understatement. At that point in time the peak of thrash for me had been Metallica, but this just went way beyond that. Songs such as “Caught in a Mosh” and “Skeleton in the Closet” and “Horror of it All” were just amazing, there is no restraint, those drums just fly and drag the guitars along with them, and somehow Joey not only has to keep up, but then hit those high notes in the same instance. I still can’t get over “Horror of it All”, it is just an amazing song.
And like I said, the ability of these songs to draw out crowd participation is immense. Driving to Sydney or just around our hometown with four people in the car, singing these at the top of our voices, is still such a strong memory, as well as seeing the band for the first time at the Hordern Pavilion in 1990 and jumping around like madmen at these songs.
All five members star on this album. It is still incredible at times to think that Charlie not only plays the drums as amazingly as he does, but creates the guitar riff and melodies as well for the majority of Anthrax’s songs.


As with the majority of bands who were labelled as thrash metal in the early to mid-1980's, Anthrax’s sound did revert to a more traditional heavy metal appearance over time. But this album, this moment in time, when they were on the ascendancy and when they were firing and when they had fury and anger to deal with, stands as a testament to the greatness of the band and the joy of thrash metal. Because this is pure unadulterated genius, where the combination of live interaction onto a studio album to create a perfect moment in time cannot be faulted. Except that I didn’t discover it until 18 months later.

62. The Offspring / Americana. 1998. 4/5.

Following on from the spectacular success of their previous two albums, The Offspring released Americana, which came with the outrageously popular single-made-popular-by-video (Pretty Fly For A White Guy), and the popular single used in humour by all walks of life (Why Don't You Get A Job).

However, apart from and including these two, the album again has a great feel and tempo. The songs just keep coming without respite, and the raucous Offspring beat keeps the mood swinging. Have You Ever, Staring At The Sun and The Kids Aren't Alright are the usual tip-top Offspring tunes, with the right amount of angst in the lyrics, without ever dragging the mood down.

The album continues the formula used in their previous efforts, and once again they have produced a great slab. The infectious groove is always easy to put on and infuse.

Rating : Great for all tastes. 4/5.

61. L.A. Guns / American Hardcore. 1996. 3.5/5.

When you first hear this album, it is quite amazing the change that L.A. Guns have made from their first two releases. If you didn't know their history, you would be hard pressed to be convinced that they began their lives in the heyday of L.A glam metal.

American Hardcore is the name of the album, and the direction they have taken their music. And some of these songs really rock. And yet, there is the classic 'metal' ballad (a slight contradiction in terms I know, but you know what I'm getting at) with Hey World, which, given my usual contempt of such songs, isn't bad.

What I've Become, Pissed and I Am Alive are great tracks, that are the norm on an album that is a significant release in the order of a band who came from an era of glam, and has transformed themselves into a band of higher standing on a different plane.

Rating : Still a pleasant surprise to be had. 3.5/5.

60. Fozzy / All That Remains. 2005. 4/5

After two albums that were generally laden with great metal covers, Fozzy got serious, and put out this album full of only originals.

The combined talents of wrestler Chris Jericho and former members of Stuck Mojo have put together a great 'debut' album. Special guests such as Marty Friedman and Zakk Wylde appear here also, but the songs the band has written and performed hold up well.

Nameless Faceless, Enemy, It's A Lie and Born Of Anger are just some of my favourires from the album. It's interesting to see that, despite what could have been made of the 'novelty factor' of a wrestler doing an album, that the success of this has nothing to do with that at all. The songs are good, Jericho's vocals are good, and the whole package comes together well.

Rating : We knew they could play, but they proved a whole lot more with this. 4/5.

59. KISS / Alive! 1975. 4/5.

This was probably the album that started it all for Kiss. The double live blast of the band live on stage caught the imagination of the world, along with the make-up and the pyrotechnics and the stageshow. But being captured in their element – the live music – was what transformed their popularity to skyrocketing proportions.

This contains the best of their material that they had released to that time, and most of them are classics that are still so to this day. Any KISS best-of would have Deuce, Strutter, C'mon And Love Me, Parasite, Cold Gin and Rock 'N' Roll All Nite on it.

I don't believe it holds up today as well as other live albums of the period, but for the time, it was something...

Memories : My older cousin David was a mad Kiss freak, back when I was just a kid. At one stage, he was living at our grandmother's when he first got work in Newcastle. I well remember his collection of Kiss records at Nan's house whenever we went up there for the holidays, and was exposed to them at a rather early age as a result.

Rating : Not too shabby. 4/5.

58. Bruce Dickinson / Alive In Studio A. 1998. 4/5.

This actually contains two live albums – the titled Alive In Studio A, which features Bruce and his band playing live in the studio, and Alive At The Marquee which, surprisingly, features Bruce and his band playing live at The Marquee – this time in front of an audience. Both albums contain the same songs, in a different order, and with a different vibe.

The Studio A live recordings sound great, and have no outside audience interference or noise. As such, it comes across as an excellent live sound, with the live interpretation of his early songs.
The Marquee live recordings are like most other live recordings. The audience is loud and grateful, Bruce interacts during and between songs, and you get that real grunt that you get when pumping out the music through amps and p.a's.

Both discs have their benefits, and are successful in showing the strengths of Bruce's live capabilities. How he can sing that well live is still beyond me. Songs like Tattooed Millionaire, Son Of A Gun and Tears Of The Dragon are just sensational in these two sets.

Rating : Good to hear Bruce's early songs given the justice they deserve live. 4/5.

57. Iced Earth / Alive In Athens. 1999. 4/5.

It must be unusual (it is within my knowledge of the subject) to release a live album over three discs. Not only is it a lot of work, you have to have played three hours worth of music live in order to do it!

This is just a great live album. It covers the entire span of Iced Earth's career to this point, and does it live. From this you learn that :

1. Iced Earth's back catalogue contains a truckload of great material.
2. It sounds better live
3. Iced Earth can play.

As an introduction to Iced Earth, if you haven't heard them before, this is your best bet. If you know their stuff, then this is just as necessary, to hear how much better the songs sound in a live environment. If you have it all, you already know what I'm talking about.

Memories : Standing in Utopia in 2001, looking through the Iced Earth section, trying to decide on the first album of theirs that I should buy, having never heard any of their music before. I pick up Alive In Athens, and remark to Kearo that, with three CDs, this should be value for money ($44.95 I believe it was). He agreed, and remarked that it would certainly give a good overview of the band. In the end, I baulked at the price, and went for the newly released Horror Show instead.

Rating : An excellent live 'history' of the band. 4/5.

56. Motörhead / Ace Of Spades. 1980. 5/5.

There would be a fair majority of people who have listened to Motörhead that would cite Ace of Spades as their introduction to the band. Not just the album but no doubt the title track. This is pretty much true for myself. My first taste was of the band playing this song of the “Bambi” episode of the irreverent British comedy “The Young Ones” back in the mid-1980’s. That raucous and amusing two and a half minutes eventually led to looking for more of the band and with it this album itself.

Like many bands there is a period where you need to become acquainted with the music that they produce, a timeframe to get used to the style and the nuances of the music. Motörhead are no different, and this album for me was one where I came in too amped up and initially left disappointed. I wanted everything to be a repeat of “Ace of Spades”, to be high octane and breathlessly easy to jump around to, and not everything here is like that. So I would listen to it for awhile and then put it away and forget about it. It wasn’t until I had left it for a couple of years and gravitated back that I came to realise just how good an album it really is. Because it’s not really a heavy metal album in the classic sense of either a Black Sabbath poise or an Iron Maiden machine gunning. It’s a rock album, but it is a heavier version of that without pushing itself into that easily defined category of ‘metal’. And for me that’s what really gives it the extra kick.
Away from the utter glory that still revolves around “Ace of Spades”, there is so much more here to catch your ear. “Love Me Like a Reptile” has a great groove and pace about it and is the perfect follow up song to the opening track. I love Eddie’s riff in this song, it comes across as guttural in places, and is followed by his perfect foil of a solo. “Shoot You in the Back” slots into a perfect tempo and rocks along jauntily. The pace and tempo jumps up enthusiastically with “Live to Win” which is one of my all-time favourite Motörhead songs with a great riff from Eddie and Lemmy’s vocals. “(We Are) The Road Crew” is a classic, a great tribute to the band’s roadies and to roadie’s everywhere. “Jailbait” is driven by a great drum fill from Phil and solid riffing from Eddie again. “The Chase is Better Than the Catch” slugs along on a constant momentum while Lemmy croons over the top, and the album ends with the fury of “The Hammer” that fires all the way to its conclusion.
The three members are at the top of their form. Lemmy’s rumbling bass and grating vocals never sounded better than they do here. Phil’s drumming is terrific, and even when he sounds like he is just playing along and keeping the band in time he is doing it with a style and a presence. Eddie guitaring is street core, mixing the great rhythm riffs with fast paced and high energy solos that cut through the middle of the songs. Such is the sound the band creates on this album it is hard at times to believe that it is just a three piece.

I’m not sure the band want people to cite this as their favourite Motörhead album. In many ways it changed people’s opinions of the albums that were to come throughout the rest of the decade, in that they were constantly compared to this one. It’s a tough call as this is a hard act to follow. It might seem like I climbed aboard the bandwagon myself when I say this is what I consider Motörhead’s finest album, but for overall strength of songs and their arrangement on the album, and the fantastic production which brings every element of the band out in front of the mix and not hiding in the background, this is the one where it all comes together the best.

Rating: “Read ‘em and weep, the Deadman’s hand again”. 5/5