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.