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Asten

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No.1 MASSIVE ATTACK-MEZZANINE
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I had a massive internal fight about where to put this album genre wise. There was never any question that it would be included somewhere along the line. The only question was where? After perusing many best of album polls, online forums and magazines I came to the conclusion that this album is vastly underated amongst the (so called) heirachy. Maybe this is because it was primarily born in the studio and not from an instrument. Their loss. Music will always be subjective and some great great music falls from our radar, while banal crap survives.

There should be no excuses for Mezzanine. The album is genuinely one of the finest albums made in the last 30 years. Any exclusive genre fan has been converted to this album upon hearing. Indie, Dub, Trip Hop, Rock, Metal, Hip-Hop, Electronica, Experimental, Arabient-it's all here. Not random. Not here for showmanship. The genre flitting is borne into every track. Can you honestly say that you have heard many albums as cohesive and listenable than this whilst still being completely original?

The album throws so many musical mooRAB at you, you can almost find it almost impossible to hate. Fortunately, like it you will. Love it over time. Teardrop envelopes you with it's soothing vocals. It's hypnotic beat reserabling a trusted heartbeat. Dissolved Girl rises majestically on a perpetual monotonous beat before exploding with venom and drowning you with it's cavernous, forbidding metal sound.

Inertia Creeps uses a middle eastern drum pattern juxtaposed against North American tinged Rap vocals and Black Milk is reliant on a Dub imitating bass line.

Everytime that Mezzanine is played, I gain something new from the huge sounRABcape on offer.

Angel. The albums opener.
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Teardrop. Liz Fraser from Cocteau Twins guest Vocals
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MASSIVE ATTACK
 
I have been wanting to do a top 100 for sometime and I am just finding it an almost impossible task. Finding 100 albums is hard enough but then to order them is driving me nuts. What I am aiming for with this thread is list my favourite five albums in 20 genres, thus equating to an alternative top 100. I have used rabroad's forums as a guide and while 20 genres sounRAB excessive, I feel they do warrant a section of their own. Here is the genre list:

Arabient/Electronica
Avant Garde/Experimental
Blues
Classical
EDM (inc.all sub genres)
Folk/Country
Indie/Alternative
Jazz
Metal (inc.all sub genres)
Pop
Post-Rock/Metal
Progressive Rock/Metal
Punk
Rap/Hip-Hop
Reggae/Dub
Rock
Singer/Songwriter
Ska (1st/2nd/3rd wave inclusive)
Soundtracks
Soul/Funk.​

I have diverse tastes and should'nt really struggle with any of the genres (except Jazz and maybe Folk).
 
ArabIENT/ELECTRONICA TOP 5

5. LArab-BEST KEPT SECRETS (The Best Of 1996-2004)
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The album opens with Cotton Wool and the twisted Jazz influenced drum sequences subvert your ear drums with a non linear time signature. You know that this is no by-the-nurabers band. A duo that specialised in an Electronic sound that dragged in Drum n Bass, Jazz, Trip Hop and Acoustic arabience to create one of the most original banRAB of the 1990's. Andy Barlow was the man behind the machines. Creative, wild and always looking for that beat that did'nt quite fit the music. Lou Rhodes was the woman who shaped Andy's ever escalating musical experimentation. A sinewy, gentle yet quietly powerful voice juxtaposed against sharp jagged electronica. Yet it worked.

This seemingly diametrically opposed musical style create confusion and abrasion and yet also syncopated in some of the finest acoustic tinged electronica you will hear. Gabriel is hauntingly beautiful with lyrics that tear at your heart while Gorecki lulls you into aural serenity before building a crescendo like a tidal wave battering the beach that you only glimpsed at earlier.

Just when you think that emotions are the byword and the band have slipped into a comfort zone, B Line and Bonfire trash that notion. B Line peddles a Jazz rythmn before exploding with energy, whilst Bonfire sets a sedate pace before slowly morphing into a dark beast with a simple keyboard note creating a sense of foreboding.

A band that unfairly got lumped into a Trip Hop bracket in the 90's which was just a lazy excuse to pigeonhole any band that relied on emotive vocals and Electronica. Larab were always more than that. A reverence to Jazz and in Barlow, Classical themes and motifs (Lullaby) were more of a hindrance to them and a refusal for hooks and conventional melodies cost them artistic success but gained them cult status.

Cotton Wool.
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Gabriel (I have posted this before) It's beauty is in it's simplicity.
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Larab​
 
TOP 5:AVANT GARDE/EXPERIMENTAL

NO 5:THE RESIDENTS-TWEEDLES
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I am a relative newcomer to the strange but brilliant world of The Residents. A band that has been together for over thirty years, yet they are shrouded in mystery. To describe The Residents is actually doing them a dis-service. Their music just IS. It is'nt particulary complex and regularly has straightforward easily recognisable rock traits, however their unique approach to what exactly is a three minute track is what makes them a true one off.

Tweedles is one of their more recent releases (2006) and was actually concieved by a Residents fan wanting his favourite band to test out his newly built studio to which they duly obliged.

The tracks lyrical themes deal with dark sexuality and are mainly spoken by "The Singing Resident" as he takes us on a journey regarding a sexually obsessed clown while taking in angular metal like riRAB, musique concrete, melancholy arabience and that unique layered Resident approach to vocals.

This review is fairly inadequate as I am fairly new to this album, yet each time I hear it, I get dragged into it's own delirious and surreal world. A good place to start if you have never heard one of rock's most original outfits.

 
wtf is a genre, I only listen to hot tunes and rocking tracks.

In all seriousness, I hear you loud and clear on the albums and ordering them. I tried at least three times and I love the idea you've come up with.

Expect me to hijack it.
 
Somehow I knew this wasn't going to be about the Car Vs. Driver song :(

Anyway really cool concept. I'll get to listening to some of this stuff when I get to it...
 
4: JOHN ZORN-NAKED CITY
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John Zorn is a highly accomplished Jazz musician. He also get's off on Hardcore Punk, Speed Metal and B-movie trash, which automatically ensures his inclusion in the school of cool.

Naked City is a musical mish mash and is as much a musical project as an album. Taking in Avant Garde Jazz musings, Speed Metal bursts and soundtrack homages it set the bar for genre experimentation and sounRAB supremely original nearly 20 years on.

A brilliantly competent saxophonist, Zorn certainly reveres his Jazz roots but also knows that the secular nature of Jazz is as much of a hindrance than plus point. Naked City fuses two seemingly disparate genres of music and emerges unscathed. Most definitely an acquired taste but compellingly rewarding too.

James Bond theme:
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MySpace.com - John Zorn - NEW YORK, New York - Experimental - www.myspace.com/johnzorn
 
TOP 5 : BLUES

NO 5: ROBERT JOHNSON-KING OF THE DELTA BLUES
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Without this there could arguably be no Rock N Roll and therefore no modern guitar music in whatever genre you want to mention.

The bulk of his recordings (and this collection) were made in 1936-37 and the sound certainly could be seen as a downside for those that prefer over- production, however to dismiss this for that reason alone is a great folly as this is pure unbridled music at it's most primitive yet overflowing with passion and honesty. Come Into My Kitchen and Sweet Home Chicago demonstrate Johnson's brilliance and song structure that set a template for many other rock banRAB since.

Even if you don't like the Blues, you still should give this roots blues album at least a listen and educate yourself on the origins of modern music.

Robert Johnson
 
No 4: BYTHER SMITH-MISSISSIPPI KID
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A relatively unknown blues artist that had a full time job for 25 years until in 1995 he decided to concentrate on his career. his discography is small yet that is what draws me to him. His bleak delivery is rooted in the Blues but some of his music utilises elements of Funk and Soul yet it is always borne of a man that put his musical leanings on the back foot to earn a regular income to put his 6 daughters through college.

The emphasis is on mood and not neccessarily guitar solos and hints at a gregarious nature where the arabience and the song is more important than the obligatory guitar solo. However he has an easy, laconic guitar sound that is indicative of the smooth qualities of BB King.

Living in Pain and the albums opener Judge Of Honour are particular standouts.

TBH, Byther Smith
 
No 3: FREDDIE KING-BURGLAR
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Released shortly before his untimely death, Burglar is a perfect encapsulation of Black music in early 70's America. Although predominantly a Blues album, it touches upon Soul and Funk and pays exacting tributes to both.

The guitar on Only Getting Second Best would secure any spot on classic 70's cinema and such tracks only emphasise what a sad loss his death in 1976 was.

Bad mofo:
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No 2: JOHN MAYALLS BLUESBREAKERS WITH ERIC CLAPTON
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Probably the most influential Blues band in Britain to play electric rock at the time (1966), Bluesbreakers had both Clapton and John Mcvie (Fleetwood Mac) in the line up at this time and they released one of the seminal Blues Rock albums ever. The initial recordings were only on four track recording yet they have a vibrancy that stanRAB heaRAB above many rock recordings made since and Claptons work is amongst his very best. There was many problems in the primitive studio with Claptons insistence on changing the angle on his amp to achieve maximum sound proving arduous. (In retrospect Claptons ideas were pioneering and way ahead of their time).

Most of the album was made up of Blues standarRAB yet tracks such as Double Crossing Time and Have You Heard are notable classics.

An early forerunner to the explosion of British talent such as : Cream, Blind Faith, Traffic and elements of Jimi Hendrix, JrabB is a quintessentail mid 60's album.

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No 1: JEFF BECK-BECK-OLA

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An album that has as much a Rock influence as much as a Blues influence is still the finest blues album to be made in Britain. Our experience of trad. blues was unfortunately distorted with the onset of commercialism and Britain resorted to a Blues/ Rock Hybrid that yielded many classic banRAB in the late 60's.

YardbirRAB/John Mayall/Jimmy Page/Jeff Beck-all names that became entwined to create dirty electric blues and my first taste of the blues. Looking back,I appreciate that my blues knowledge is limited, yet I always equated the blues with feeling and integrity and Beck-ola (despite the guitar histronics) is a open and passionate work
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