046 BOB MARLEY-LEGEND

I grew up in Jamaica and as a teenager I can recall seeing the posters at the bus stop advertising an upcoming concert... and The Wailers were headliners. But I never truly listened to Bob untill the Live album came out.

I remember sitting in my room one Saturday listening to the horse races on the radio, and in betweem each race the DJ would play No Woman No Cry. The words were haunting.. "And I remember when we used to sit... In a Government Yard in trenchtown..." The vouce and lyrics seemed magical... so simple yet so beautiful. That was about 30 years ago and I have been a fan ever since. Bob's music spoke to me personally, as it did to people all around te world. As it will speak to you once you play this album. But don't stop there... buy more... listen to songs like Concrete Jungle; Talking Blues, and Roots Rock Reggae. In fact let your next album be the Live at the London Lyceum and you will get a flavour for the infectious Bob.

If you have a Jamaican friend have him/her explain the lyrics (if needed). But regardless, just enjoy the music. Enjoy it with fans from Africa, Europe, Canada and now the USA. I saw Bob once in Tampa and was amazed at the 'good old boys' in Cowboy hats and bandanas that screamed for Bob and sang his songs. I knew then that Bob's music was truly intended for the world to love.

When Bob died I heard the news over BBC radio. I was 20+ years old then but I cried. I had lost a good friend. Then I reached for my records and played Rastaman Chant, and cried some more when Bob sang... "One bright morning when my work is over I will fly away home.", the background containing soulful conga drumming. But as the song ended I felt better.. bob's music made me feel better. Fly on BOB. And you my friend... listen to the Music on Legend and experience an upliftment... fly with Bob. Enjoy Legend! But remember there is more great Marley music awaiting you. -AMAZON.COM

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045 METALLICA-METALLICA

Regardless of their commercial intent, Metallica had to make The Black Album. Their previous album "And Justice For All" had many brilliant moments, but it also edged toward excess. It's important to keep in mind that many of Metallica's influences wrote punchy 3-4 minute songs with a killer riff and solo. And their Garage Revisted album demonstrated their love to do something like that. But, they hadn't really done that since their early days, and they had gotten so far away from that by the time of "And Justice For All." As a result, The Black Album was an artistic, as well as commercial, commitment. Keep it simple; keep it memorable; keep it real.No doubt, the craft paid off; Metallica's singles (Enter Sandman, Wherever I May Roam, Sad But True, Nothing Else Matters, Unforgiven) have become hard rock classics. Each song has killer hooks; they groove even, and the latter ballad is as powerful and moving as any song they've ever done. Sure, Bob Rock's production is a bit too smooth, but listen to the demos and realize that The Black Album is still thrash. Dismiss its difficult, then, consider that similar efforts by thrash outfits like Megadeth, Testament, and Anthrax were much, much less successful.If there's any substantial flaw to The Black Album, it's that it reveals what true metal aficionados already know -- Metallica is an average thrash band with world-class compositions, The Beatles of the long-form composition. When you compare The Black Album with Pantera's "Vulgar Display Of Power." Where The Black Album waters down thrash's edge (relentlessly midtempo, simpler rhythms, production), "Vulgar Display of Power" distills it, retaining the creativity, craft, yet making it even more vicious. And compare it to Metallica's older work, and you miss out on the richness, dynamics and depth.As a whole, though, The Black Album is a great kick-a** album. As close to the perfect mainstream heavy metal album anybody has ever gotten to. It also suggested that if Metallica could combine The Black Album's discipline with their 80s richness, their best work would lay in the future. Boy were we wrong . . .

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036 SINEAD O'CONNOR-I DO NOT WANT WHAT I HAVEN'T GOT

I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got is the second album by Sinéad O'Connor released
in 1990 on Chrysalis Records.

The critically-acclaimed album contains her most famous single, "Nothing Compares 2 U", and was one of the best selling records in the world in 1990, topping the charts in many countries, including the US, UK, and Canada. The single "Emperor's New Clothes" found more moderate success, although it did top the Modern Rock Tracks chart in the US.

The album includes O'Connor's rendition of "I Am Stretched on Your Grave," an anonymous 17th century poem (originally written in Irish) translated into English by Philip King. The first song, "Feels So Different", starts with The Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr.

The inner sleeve notes acknowledge Kabbalah teacher, Warren Kenton: "Special thanks to Selina Marshall + Warren Kenton for showing me that all I'd need was inside me."

The album was nominated for four Grammy Awards in 1991, winning the award for Best Alternative Music Performance. O'Connor refused to accept the nominations and the award.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 406 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The album sold 7 million copies worldwide.

Sinead announced on her web blog that a deluxe anniversary edition of the album will be released in April 2009. She says it will contain "an extra cd of some unreleased tracks and b sides and hard to find mixes on so on".-WIKIPEDIA

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More 1990 albums!

022 MICHAEL JACKSON-THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION

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Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection is a limited-edition box set of Michael Jackson's music, consisting of four audio CDs and one DVD.

Much of the music is drawn from the height of Jackson's career, particularly from the main five albums: Off the Wall, Thriller, Bad, Dangerous and HIStory. Notable tracks on the compilation include the first release of the demos of songs such as "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" and "Shake Your Body Down to the Ground", and rarities such as "We Are Here to Change the World" (from the film Captain EO), "On the Line" (from the film "Get on the Bus"), "Cheater" and "Monkey Business" (from the Dangerous sessions), and the original demo of "We Are the World", featuring Jackson as a soloist. The set also included four new songs, "In the Back", "Beautiful Girl", "The Way You Love Me" and "We've Had Enough", all written by Jackson.

The fifth disc is a DVD of a Dangerous concert in Bucharest, broadcast by HBO in 1992 which was released again in 2005 as Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour.

020 PAT METHENY DAVE HOLLAND ROY HAYNES-QUESTION AND ANSWER

On December 21st, 1989, at the end of a busy year on the road and in the studio with the Pat Metheny Group, guitaristy-composer Metheny joined bassist Dave Holland (Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Theolonius Monk) and drummer Ray Haynes (Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughn, Chick Corea) at the Power Station in New York City for a single day's, let's-see-what-happens jam. The result is a thrilling, live-in-the-studio disc, documenting the creatively charged encounter among these stellar multi-generational players. This newly remastered version is the latest vintage title to be added to Metheny's growing Nonesuch catalogue.

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011 BECK-MUTATIONS

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If you've been keeping up with your reading, you've by now ingested a glowing review or two of Beck's latest release, Mutations. No doubt, you've read that he recorded the album's twelve songs in fourteen days after completing the Odelay tour. And surely you know that the album was co-produced by Nigel Godrich, who was at least partially responsible for Radiohead's OK Computer. All this background information was most certainly followed by heaps of praise for the songs on the album and the treatments they get at the hands of Godrich and Beck.

So I'm in a bit of a spot here. How can I tell you something about the album you don't already know? How about this one: it's better than Odelay. Now let me qualify that statement. There are some who will tell you that Beck's last album is a masterwork of late 20th century American culture; I'm not one of them. On that landmark 1996 release, Beck fully realized his oft-heralded command of an unfathomable range of musical genres. It was a fantastically successful album, both financially and musically. But slightly lost in that jumbled collage of sounds and influences was the synergy of the album as a whole. In his efforts to plaster his genius credentials as subtly as a billboard, he failed to create the sense of unity that is a trademark of every true masterpiece. Ultimately, Odelay was a somewhat disjointed collection of great songs.

On Mutations, Beck's traded in his two turntables and microphone for a Moog synth and a copy of the Kinks' Muswell Hillbillies. Here, he fully explores his obsession with the 60s. He's always shared Ray Davies' ear for a tune and flair for the theatrical, but on "Bottle of Blues", he manages to co-opt the old Brit's voice, too. Yet, what makes Beck special is his ability to infuse his own musical identity into the lifted lines. Like Davies' Hillbillies and even Neil Young's Tonight's the Night, Mutations initially flows so easily that it sounds rudimentary. It's that very flow that's missing on Odelay, and subsequent listens reveal the complex details creating it. It's like pressing your nose against an impressionist painting to examine the thousands of meticulously placed brush dabs that make up the seascape.

If the backbone of the album is a string of rootsy melodies-- some of the best Beck has ever penned-- its mood is definitely driven by Godrich's patented pre-millennial assortment of buzzes, bleeps and quirks, giving it the spacy urgency of OK Computer, and leaving us with a beautifully futuristic roots album. A perfect example of this is the addendum to the album's last track, on which dueling lasers fire over a riff swiped off of the Beatles' Revolver.

Unfortunately, with the music biz buzz awaiting the release of Odelay's proper follow-up (due next year), Mutations will most likely be praised and then forgotten. Its low budget, soft-spoken demeanor, and lack of a standout single will surely count against it. For that to happen would be tragic. Beck is clearly working on a level most others can only dream of, and Mutations is proof of that. It seems impossible that his next album could be any better, but I can't wait to find out.

- Neil Lieberman, November 1, 1998 (PITCHFORK)

007 GUNS N' ROSES-USE YOUR ILLUSION I+II (MSFL VERSIONS)

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