Dez's 5 Star Albums: X-Y-Z (Other Than Neil Young)

There will be one more post in this series after this one, a wrap-up post that will choose 15 additional records that, as I’ve gone through this project, I neglected to include but in hindsight wish I had. It is kind of a clean-up opportunity. So hold on to your seats, because if I have committed the unpardonable sin of omitting your favorite, perhaps I have seen the error of my ways and will include it in the Final 15. And what list would be complete without a statistical analysis/breakdown by decade, etc. I know how excited you must be to know that analysis is only a day or two away for your reading pleasure. But in the meantime, here’s “X-Z (Other Than Neil Young).”

Yes – The Yes Album (1971): Somewhat (but only somewhat) less ambitious than what was to come later in the decade, I really like this early record because while still featuring complex arrangements and intricate parts, it is still based in a certain rock and roll energy that their later works sometimes lacks.

Yes – Close To the Edge (1972): Indeed, right on that edge of being ambitious and thrilling progressive rock vs. prog-rock parody; here they stay on the right side of that line and produce a landmark for the genre.

Yes – 90125 (1983): Left for dead in the dustbin of 70’s prog-rock, Yes reinvents itself for the 80’s by keeping some of the complexity that Yes fans love, but also injecting a healthy dose of New Wave via new guitarist Trevor Rabin, making for an unlikely rebirth and their biggest seller.

Pete Yorn – Musicforthemorningafter (2001): Multi-instrumentalist Yorn’s debut heralded a new and exciting rock artist with all the right influences, equal Springsteen and equal Smiths, who has not been able to live up to the promise of this wonderful debut, but who has come close a few times.

Pete Yorn – Nightcrawler (2006): Yorn’s third record comes the closest.

Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention – Freak Out! (1966): Zappa’s debut was only the second double album in rock history (Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde was the first); the first half brilliantly deconstructs pop music of the early and mid-60’s, reframing it in a cynical and witty way, while the second half really is, as advertised, an experimental freak out.

Frank Zappa – Hot Rats (1969): Many fans, including myself, prefer it when Zappa, to quote his own later series of records, shuts up and plays his guitar; HR remains one of the most exciting and influential fusion records ever made, and allowed Zappa to move into the pantheon of guitar greats.

The Zombies – Odyssey and Oracle (1968): Beautiful, baroque pop with touches of psychedelia.

Zucchero – Oro, Insenso e Birra (1989): America and Britain do not have a monopoly on rock stars, Italy’s Zucchero Fornaciari has been thrilling European audiences and selling millions of records for decades, featuring his gritty vocals and irresistible melodic rock and funky grooves.

Zwan – Mary Star of the Sea (2003): Billy Corgan’s shortlived band released just this one record, and it basically sounds like the best Smashing Pumpkins record you’ve ever heard.

ZZ Top – Eliminator (1983): To me, ZZ Top’s Eliminator is as great a reinvention as any other in rock, while keeping the gritty fundamentals intact, on the most memorable tracks they toss aside the bass guitar and instead fill the bottom with the thickest and lowest synths you’ve ever heard, creating greasy blues/rock music at home in the slick MTV age.

ZZ Top – Tres Hombres (1973): The photo on the inside gatefold sleeve of the LP describes the music contained therein better than anything I can write: