Dez's 100 Favorite Rock/Pop Records (#'s 95-91)

In case you missed the first post in this weekly series, check it out here. What makes a great album? It can’t be merely lots of good songs, they have to hang together in some way as a whole. I am not saying that they have to tell a story like The Who’s Tommy, but there has to be some logic as to why they are together on this record. This “logic” might just be an inherent mood arc that the tunes take you on. It is hard to express musical ideas in words here, but you know it when you hear it.

#’s 95-91…

95. a-ha – Minor Earth Major Sky, 2000
This is one of those cases where your level of surprise at a-ha’s inclusion on my list depends on where you live. In the U.S., they were a one-hit 80’s wonder. But internationally, a-ha is a respected band that has filled arenas for decades. #95 wasn’t even released in the U.S., but in the UK it went Platinum and had four #1 singles. The tune “Summer Moved On” went to #1 in 17 countries. Anyway, singer Morten Harket’s voice has lost none of its range that you remember from the “Take On Me” days; if anything he has learned to use it more expressively and in more subtle ways. #95 has a remarkably coherent feel to it, maintaining a midtempo dreamlike quality from start to finish, in large part due to the soundscape laid down by Magne Furuholmen and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (from the names, you can correctly surmise they all hail from Norway). There isn’t a bum track here. Fun fact: Harket holds the record for longest sustained vocal note in a British single, over 20 seconds in “Summer Moved On.”


ABOVE: Minor Earth Major Sky is a far cry from “Take On Me” (a good thing)

94. The 13th Floor Elevators – Easter Everywhere, 1967

The 13th Floor Elevators are the very definition of cult favorite. This mysterious Texas psychedelic band only released three studio records, but they are revered in garage and psychedelic circles. The original master tapes for their first two records have long since disappeared somewhere in Houston, so #94 is only available in its lo-fi glory, which only adds to the overall mystique. While Stacy Sutherland’s underrated guitar work and Tommy Hall’s signature electric jug playing contribute to their uniquely queezy psychedelic sound, it is really all about Roky Erikson’s otherworldly wail and fragile psyche. A favorite track is the haunting cover of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" (entitled "Baby Blue" here), while the epic opener "Slip Inside This House" may be the ultimate Elevators manifesto. To be honest, it’s a toss-up between #94 and debut The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators.

93. Michael Jackson – Thriller, 1982

Say what you will about Wacko Jacko these days, but there was a time when he could not be touched. Thriller is the perfect pop record. The stats are well known, but impressive all the same: 37 weeks at #1 on the Billboard charts (holding a record that will unlikely ever be broken), staying within the Top 10 of the Billboard charts for over one year, the best-selling record in the U.S. for two consecutive years (the only record ever to do so, with continued U.S. sales of 60,000/year to this day), and seven Top Ten singles. But look beyond the stats, and this is pop music without peer. “Beat It” was innovative for its cross-genre pairing of heavy metal god Eddie Van Halen on a ripping guitar solo and Jackson’s pop perfection. The title track is fun with the campy ‘rap’ from Vincent Price. “Human Nature” is one of the prettiest R&B ballads ever. But “Billie Jean” is Jackson’s finest moment, a song of gripping paranoia bathed in a groove that will stand the test of time a century from now. And…the doggone girl is mine.

92. The Buffalo Springfield – Again, 1967

The Springfield was a (too) short lived band. Neil Young and Stephen Stills really begin to diverge on their second and best outing. Neil only delivers three tunes, but they are all seminal Young songs. “Mr. Soul” starts things off, with its razor sharp “Satisfaction”-like riff and paranoid lyrics. Then he joins forces with orchestrator Jack Nietzche for the soaring “Learning to Fly”, one of the prettiest songs Neil’s ever done. Finally, the experimental, psychedelic hodgepodge “Broken Arrow” makes no sense, but it is a great listen nonetheless. As for Stills, this record is his finest hour. “Rock and Roll Woman” sounds like the best Byrds single they never made, full with chiming 12-string guitars and tight vocal harmonies. “Everydays” is off kilter, pensive and unsettling. But the opus “Bluebird” is where it is at, Stills pulls out all the stops and records his unquestionable masterpiece, featuring the greatest acoustic guitar solo ever laid down in a rock song. Then he tops things off with the unexpected but sweet bluegrass coda. In a band without Young or Stills, Richie Furay would have been recognized as a major talent. Richie contributes the great country-rocker “A Child’s Claim To Fame” and the lovely “Sad Memory”.

91. The Kinks – Face to Face, 1966

For the first time, Ray Davies harnesses his songwriting genius for the length of an entire record. Also emerging here is Davies’ unusual traditionalist values perspective. Rock and roll is rife with songs celebrating teenage rebellion, but how many songs side with the worried parents of a selfish, rebellious daughter, such as on “Rosie, Won’t You Please Come Home”? The Kinks also get out of the three-chord ragged glory garage of their early records and begin to explore many different sonic textures: check out the English music hall of “Dandy”, the Hawaiian guitar and beach sound effects of “Holiday in Waikiki”, the groovy back porch acoustic jam of “Little Miss Queen of Darkness” and the lovely harpsichord and Eastern drones in “Fancy.” “Too Much On My Mind” is one of the great forgotten Ray Davies gems, a hypnotic song of mental exhaustion. And “Sunny Afternoon” is the best look at middle class malaise I’ve ever come across:
“My girlfriend’s run off with my car
And gone back to her Ma and Pa
Telling tales of drunkenness and cruelty
Now I’m sitting here
Sipping at my ice cold beer
Lazin’ on this sunny afternoon”


ABOVE: Could The Kinks’ Face To Face be the best British pop record of the 1960’s by a band that is not The Beatles? Dez thinks so