Dez's Five Star Albums: the M's, Pt. 1

The M's are a bit lengthy, so I need to split them into two posts. I'm really having a blast writing these up and rediscovering so many of these great records. I was hoping for a bit more discussion, though. JMW said it was tough to comment due to the subjectivity of the list. But I don't mind. Disagree, agree, tell me why you don't like a selection or why you also love it. Part of why the listmaking process is fun is the discussion that the list can foster. And with the death of the album, this is really like a preservation project. Anyway, more great five star records...

Baaba Maal – Firin’ in Fouta (1994): Senegal’s great pop singer Baaba Maal’s finest record bursts open with dance grooves and singalong choruses (even though I don’t understand most of what he is singing about), there’re also supposedly some politically charged lyrics too.

Madness – Madness Presents…The Rise & Fall (1982): A blip on the one hit wonder radar in the States, but one of the biggest selling bands in British history; Madness expands their sound from their ska roots to incorporate jazz and pop elements on this concept album that was favorably compared to The Kinks’s Village Green Preservation Society at the time (at least thematically), which in English circles is high praise indeed.

Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame (1971): John McLaughlin and co. make a fusion record that combines the chops of jazz improvisation with the drive and beat of rock and roll, it is full speed and intense from start to finish.

Dave Matthews Band – Under the Table and Dreaming (1994): I have had no desire to listen to DMB for many years, but the fact remains that when they hit the scene in the 1990’s, they had a unique sound and the musicianship in the band (especially Matthews’s guitar playing and Carter Beauford’s drumming) is quite impressive.

MC5 – Kick Out the Jams (live) (1969): Forget the dated politics, is anything more rock and roll than the title track, which starts with the immortal command to “kick out the jams, mother*ckers!” and then proceeds to live up to the opening with brutal, nearly Neanderthal rock and roll?

James McMurtry – Where’d You Hide the Body (1995): Great writing must be in the genes, the son of author Larry McMurtry has carved out a respectable career as a Texas-based songwriter, and this is his most compelling record.

John Mellencamp – The Lonesome Jubilee (1987): Where Mellencamp finally forged his own sound and found his own rural/working class voice, breaking away from the “second-rate Springsteen” tag that had dogged him up to this point.

Men At Work – Business As Usual (1981): The first album (outside of KISS) that I ever really got into, it still holds up as a wonderful 80’s pop record featuring Colin Hay’s stellar and quirky vocals.

Mermen – A Glorious Lethal Euphoria (1995): Taking the surf music template and then obliterating the rules, Jim Thomas and his band create a thrilling blend of surf, psychedelia and Crazy Horse.

Mermen – The Amazing California Health and Happiness Road Show (2000): The creative peak of one of the most eclectic, melodic and creative instrumental groups of the last several decades; this is epic stuff here.

Metallica – Master of Puppets (1986): In the running for the definitive heavy metal album of all time, this is Metallica before they were tamed.

Charles Mingus – Mingus Ah Um (1959): A difficult and complicated artist in a musical genre (jazz) that is full of complicated cats, Mingus’s biggest triumph is also his most accessible and catchy, featuring such wonderful jazz/soul fusions as “Better Git It In Your Soul” and the lovely “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” (a tribute to Lester Young), but it really excels with the musical portraits like “Open Letter to Duke” (Ellington), “Bird Calls” (Charlie Parker), “Jelly Roll” (Jelly Roll Morton) and the wicked, savage takedown of segregationist Arkansas governor Orval Faubus, “Fables of Faubus.”


ABOVE: I am probably more familiar with Men At Work's debut album than any other record I own. It was given to me in 1982 or '83 as a birthday gift from a friend (along with Duran Duran's debut), and I fell instantly in love with it. Other than my KISS records in the late 70's, those two were the first rock/pop records I ever owned. (My first 45 single, by the way, was "Our House" by Madness, from the Madness record listed above.) I can still listen to the Men At Work album all the way through today and love it just as much.