Republican Music Police
Monday, April 17, 2006
SOOOOO sorry for the delay...it's not as though I had OTHER things to do
31. The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers (1971)
In many ways this is the best "Rolling Stones" album – as in the seminal Rolling Stones album, the one that embodies what the Stones are all about – balls to the wall, very little pretense, a diverse range of styles and some of the most rocking songs they ever put down on wax. The thing about this album is it raises the question: can good rock be unoffensive? Isn’t it cutting straight to the core of rock and roll to say that it’s all about pissing people off. I feel like that’s a pretty defensible position. And this was the album that really pissed people off.
Opening with Brown Sugar is a bold move, in some ways. In some ways it’s a no brainer. That goddamned up down riff is one of the most famous in rock and roll. But then again, a song about slavemasters ( and Mick) loving their slaves replete with the “brown sugar, how come you taste so good…just like a black girl should?” It’s a good question, but could possibly have been raised more tactfully. Then you have Bitch and Can’t You Hear Me Knocking,. Which extols the virtues of “cocaine eyes,” among other things. It’s all good though. Honestly, what I like most about this album is how they mix styles up so flawlessly. You go back and forth between the R&B and Rock numbers to the slow jams of Sister Morphine, Wild Horses, and Sway, and even the country genius of Dead Flowers. If ever we were going to try to claim “the best band in rock and roll” we’d need to list this album among the prime evidence
32. Gza/Genius – Liquid Swords (1995)
Of all the first-wave Wu solo albums listed earlier this is the best. It’s not just the best, but it does everything the other albums do well best. It has better guest shots than Ironman. It carries the samurai theme better than Cuban Linx does the mafia theme. It's even a better lyrical showcase than Tical. Basically this album’s fucking dope. From the cover art, of Gza merkin’ mc’s on a chessboard to the chilling samples, the only thing this album does wrong is get the track listing fucked up, something that happens surprisingly frequently on Wu joints.
I can’t think of a Wu sample more famous than the one that opens Liquid Sword. That little Japanese kid talking about his father cutting off the heads of 131 lords makes its reappearance in Kill Bill vol. 2 and all I could think about was Rz and Gza jumping off with those infamous lines that light off Liquid Swords: "When the MC's came to live out their name/ and to perform some had/ to snort cocaine/to act insane/ before Pete Rock-ed it on/ with the mental flame/ to spark the brain/ with the building to be born/ yo Rza flip the track" jumping immediately into the sharpest lyrical darts since Rakim:
"Fake niggaz get flipped/ in mic fights I swing swords and cut clowns/ shit is too swift to bite you record and write it down/ I flow like the blood on a murder scene/ like a syringe on some wild-out shit to insert a fiend/ but it was you out the shop, stolen art/ catch a swollen heart from not rollin smart/ I put mad pressure on phony wack rhymes that get hurt/ that shit's played like zodiac signs on sweatshirt"
You get samurai lore mixed with b-boy grandstanding - it's the ultimate mixture of mc0ing with the texture the Wu-Tang made famous. And besides the incredible guest appearance s by Rza, Dec, Ghost, and even Killah Priest, Method Man comes down to drop one of the best PERFORMANCES, much less guest performances in Wu-Tang history on the ultramagnetic "Shadowboxing":
"I breaks ya down to the bone gristle/ ill speaking scud missle heat seeking/ johnny blazin'/ nightmares like wes craven/ niggas gunnin/ my third eye seen it comin'/ before it happened/ you know about these fucking staten/kids, we smashin/ everything - huh. in every shape form and fashion/ now everybody talkin bout it, laughin/ hmmmm/ is you bustin steel or is you flashin/ hmmm/talking out your asshole/ you should have known about the flow and peasy afro/ ticallion stallion/ chinky eyed snot nosed/ from my naps to the bunion on my big toe/ I keeps it movin'/ know just what the fuck I'm doin/ rap insomniac, fiend to catch a nigga snoozin/ slip to cardiac arrest me/ excorcist: hip hop possessed me/ crunch a nigga like a Nestle: YOU KNOW MY STEEZ"
much sampled, much quoted. And Gza comes hard on that track too, like he does on the entire albums. There's just too goddamned much to quote.
33. NaS - Illmatic (1994)
Generally recognized by most to be the best rap album of the 90's. I clearly don't agree. However, that doesn't diminish how good this album is. Production by Preemo, Q-Tip, Pete Rock and Large Professor made this the Black Album before the Black Album was the Black Album. The album begins with an intro that is superfluous, like every album intro ever, except for the fact that it includes a muted version of NaS's career-making verse from "Live at the Barbecue" wherein he claims "When I was 12, I went to hell for snuffin' Jesus". That verse is not on Illmatic, but deserves mention nonetheless.
The album begins with "New York State of Mind" the most famous rap song most people have never heard of. Over a piano loop and a Rakim sample (passing the torch?) Nasty drops lines about coke trade, gunplay (piece gets jammed!) and insomnia. The ablum goes on from there, classic track by classic track, from Life's a Bitch featuring the verse that singlehandedly made Az tha Visualiza's career, to Halftime, which reminds us that most people owned this album on cassette, to One Time For Ya Mind, with its swing beat and trademark smooth flow ("I try to stay mellow/ but acapella rhymes/ will make me richer than a slipper made Cinderella, fella") to It Ain't Hard to Tell which might be the best track on the album, with it's "the rap game reminds me of the crack game" line that got so much mileage. Oh, and it's got that Dead Presidents line that Jigga ripped. This album is classic, if a little overrated.
34: Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang(36 Chambers) (1994)
I don't think there's much to say about this album except that it's much too short.
35: The Velvet Underground - Velvet Underground (1968)
Can you believe this album came out in 1968? As in, this album came out before Led Zeppelin even dropped an album, before the Beatles broke up, before Let it Bleed, before oh God, before pretty much everything. It's not as much a phenomenon in that respect as their other two albums that came before it, but still...it bears mentioning. This was right after John Cale left the band and frankly, I couldn't care less. I was never much for experimenting for the sake of experimenting, and that's what he sometimes seemed like he was all about. But of course, then Lou had to put Murder Mystery on this album, kind of cutting my legs out from under me.
Anyway, this albums got all the really good pop songs the VU ever did, and of course since it's the VU they're just twisted enough to be really really interesting. For instance, Candy Says, the song Lou would rewrite about 800 times (Stephanie Says, Caroline Says II) is about as saccharine sweet a melody as you might find but consider that it's about a woman who's "come to hate [her] body". Then consider the fact that it's most likely about drag queen Candy Darling who hung out around Andy Warhol's factory in the 60's and it becomes a little bit twisted. Pale Blue Eyes is likewise charming in its dulcet melody, but is shockingly specific (She said, Money is like us in time,/It lies, but can't stand up/ down for you is up"). AMG claims Sterling Morrisson told Lou "If I wrote a song like that, I wouldn't make you play it." And he's right. "It was good what we did yesterday," Reed sings, "And I'd do it once again/ The fact that you are married/ only proves you're my best friend/ but it's truly truly a sin." Christ, and all over a melody Paul Simon might have written. Then you have Murder Mystery and the album just becomes such a fucked up ordeal of brilliance.
Jesus.
36. Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die (1994)
1994 must have been the best year ever if you were older than 11, which I was not. Everything but Cobain's death, and even that, as macabre as it must sound, was probably great in its own way. If you get my drift. And the way in which Cobain's death was great is the same way it's great to listen to Biggie. If you get my drift. But this album is just hype as crack-cocaine whether it's by Biggie or someone who wasn't martyred in a turf war. I said before I preferred Tupac in the G.O.A.T. debate, but clearly this album gets the nod over anything Pac dropped. It's funny how a rapper who didn't have the charisma or skill Pac did could drop an album so much better than anything Pac dropped. But at the same time, maybe it's just hunger. And forgive the cheap shot but if Biggie had ANYTHING it was hunger.
This album just rolls, beginning to end. Things Done Change jumps it off with one of the most famous lines Biggie ever dropped (besides of course that, "if the head right, biggie there e'r' night" line made famous by Nelly): "If I wasn't in the rap game/ I'd probably have a ki knee deep in the crack game/ cuz the streets is a short stop/ you're either slanging crack rock or you got a wicked jump shot." Whether or not Boiler Room was a good movie is besides the point. Biggie jumps out the gate showing off his flow. And on "Gimme the Loot," arguably the best song on the album, he shows off his slooooow flooooow. The album goes on and on with hot tracks (including yet another incredible guest shot by Method Man on "the What") including some bonafide classics like "Big Poppa" and "Warning," before settling into the chilling final track "Suicidal Thoughts." When Biggie hangs up the phone at the end to Diddy's protests we can't help get goosebumps. Is that because we know he's dead or is the song just that good? We'll never know, and in a way, I guess it doesn't really matter.
37. Richard Hell and the Voidoids - Blank Generation (1977)
He could not sing or play an instrument to save his life. But this is more punk than just about every album I've ever heard and the title track puts "Stray Cat Strut" to SHAME
38. The Replacements - Tim (1985)
My understanding is that if you live in Minneapolis and do not like the Mats you are summarily ostracized. That is how it ought to be nationwide
This is the album to get. Kiss Me on the Bus should be canonized, as should Swinging Party and I'll Buy. I like the rest of the songs, but to be quite honest they don't add up to all that much on their own. Those three songs, like the more numerous but less definitive Pentateuch of Ziggy Stardust are enough to merit classic status despite the languishing of the rest of the album (and yes, I am taking Bastards of Young) into consideration.
39. Jay-Z - The Blueprint (2001)
I refuse to talk about 9/11. All I'm going to say is that yes Jigga you made the top 40. No Jigga you did not top Illmatic and the fact that you have released more quality albums than NaS isn't going to change that.
40. Neil Young - Everybody Knows This is Nowhere (1969)
When I was like 10 or something I saw an infomercial for a 60's and 70's rock comp and it featured, among many many other songs, Cinnamon Girl. Really? Was there really a point where this was as big a hit as "Seasons in the Sun"? This really surprises me. I mean, it's certainly a catchy song, and it's not like it's my favorite song on the album, but jeez.
About this album - it's really good. The fact is, besides Cowgirl in the Sand's length, I don't know that I can say too much about it in criticism. It doesn't get me all that excited, especially compared to a certain other one of his album, but the title track is among my top 5 favorite Neil songs. Really, it is.
In many ways this is the best "Rolling Stones" album – as in the seminal Rolling Stones album, the one that embodies what the Stones are all about – balls to the wall, very little pretense, a diverse range of styles and some of the most rocking songs they ever put down on wax. The thing about this album is it raises the question: can good rock be unoffensive? Isn’t it cutting straight to the core of rock and roll to say that it’s all about pissing people off. I feel like that’s a pretty defensible position. And this was the album that really pissed people off.
Opening with Brown Sugar is a bold move, in some ways. In some ways it’s a no brainer. That goddamned up down riff is one of the most famous in rock and roll. But then again, a song about slavemasters ( and Mick) loving their slaves replete with the “brown sugar, how come you taste so good…just like a black girl should?” It’s a good question, but could possibly have been raised more tactfully. Then you have Bitch and Can’t You Hear Me Knocking,. Which extols the virtues of “cocaine eyes,” among other things. It’s all good though. Honestly, what I like most about this album is how they mix styles up so flawlessly. You go back and forth between the R&B and Rock numbers to the slow jams of Sister Morphine, Wild Horses, and Sway, and even the country genius of Dead Flowers. If ever we were going to try to claim “the best band in rock and roll” we’d need to list this album among the prime evidence
32. Gza/Genius – Liquid Swords (1995)
Of all the first-wave Wu solo albums listed earlier this is the best. It’s not just the best, but it does everything the other albums do well best. It has better guest shots than Ironman. It carries the samurai theme better than Cuban Linx does the mafia theme. It's even a better lyrical showcase than Tical. Basically this album’s fucking dope. From the cover art, of Gza merkin’ mc’s on a chessboard to the chilling samples, the only thing this album does wrong is get the track listing fucked up, something that happens surprisingly frequently on Wu joints.
I can’t think of a Wu sample more famous than the one that opens Liquid Sword. That little Japanese kid talking about his father cutting off the heads of 131 lords makes its reappearance in Kill Bill vol. 2 and all I could think about was Rz and Gza jumping off with those infamous lines that light off Liquid Swords: "When the MC's came to live out their name/ and to perform some had/ to snort cocaine/to act insane/ before Pete Rock-ed it on/ with the mental flame/ to spark the brain/ with the building to be born/ yo Rza flip the track" jumping immediately into the sharpest lyrical darts since Rakim:
"Fake niggaz get flipped/ in mic fights I swing swords and cut clowns/ shit is too swift to bite you record and write it down/ I flow like the blood on a murder scene/ like a syringe on some wild-out shit to insert a fiend/ but it was you out the shop, stolen art/ catch a swollen heart from not rollin smart/ I put mad pressure on phony wack rhymes that get hurt/ that shit's played like zodiac signs on sweatshirt"
You get samurai lore mixed with b-boy grandstanding - it's the ultimate mixture of mc0ing with the texture the Wu-Tang made famous. And besides the incredible guest appearance s by Rza, Dec, Ghost, and even Killah Priest, Method Man comes down to drop one of the best PERFORMANCES, much less guest performances in Wu-Tang history on the ultramagnetic "Shadowboxing":
"I breaks ya down to the bone gristle/ ill speaking scud missle heat seeking/ johnny blazin'/ nightmares like wes craven/ niggas gunnin/ my third eye seen it comin'/ before it happened/ you know about these fucking staten/kids, we smashin/ everything - huh. in every shape form and fashion/ now everybody talkin bout it, laughin/ hmmmm/ is you bustin steel or is you flashin/ hmmm/talking out your asshole/ you should have known about the flow and peasy afro/ ticallion stallion/ chinky eyed snot nosed/ from my naps to the bunion on my big toe/ I keeps it movin'/ know just what the fuck I'm doin/ rap insomniac, fiend to catch a nigga snoozin/ slip to cardiac arrest me/ excorcist: hip hop possessed me/ crunch a nigga like a Nestle: YOU KNOW MY STEEZ"
much sampled, much quoted. And Gza comes hard on that track too, like he does on the entire albums. There's just too goddamned much to quote.
33. NaS - Illmatic (1994)
Generally recognized by most to be the best rap album of the 90's. I clearly don't agree. However, that doesn't diminish how good this album is. Production by Preemo, Q-Tip, Pete Rock and Large Professor made this the Black Album before the Black Album was the Black Album. The album begins with an intro that is superfluous, like every album intro ever, except for the fact that it includes a muted version of NaS's career-making verse from "Live at the Barbecue" wherein he claims "When I was 12, I went to hell for snuffin' Jesus". That verse is not on Illmatic, but deserves mention nonetheless.
The album begins with "New York State of Mind" the most famous rap song most people have never heard of. Over a piano loop and a Rakim sample (passing the torch?) Nasty drops lines about coke trade, gunplay (piece gets jammed!) and insomnia. The ablum goes on from there, classic track by classic track, from Life's a Bitch featuring the verse that singlehandedly made Az tha Visualiza's career, to Halftime, which reminds us that most people owned this album on cassette, to One Time For Ya Mind, with its swing beat and trademark smooth flow ("I try to stay mellow/ but acapella rhymes/ will make me richer than a slipper made Cinderella, fella") to It Ain't Hard to Tell which might be the best track on the album, with it's "the rap game reminds me of the crack game" line that got so much mileage. Oh, and it's got that Dead Presidents line that Jigga ripped. This album is classic, if a little overrated.
34: Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang(36 Chambers) (1994)
I don't think there's much to say about this album except that it's much too short.
35: The Velvet Underground - Velvet Underground (1968)
Can you believe this album came out in 1968? As in, this album came out before Led Zeppelin even dropped an album, before the Beatles broke up, before Let it Bleed, before oh God, before pretty much everything. It's not as much a phenomenon in that respect as their other two albums that came before it, but still...it bears mentioning. This was right after John Cale left the band and frankly, I couldn't care less. I was never much for experimenting for the sake of experimenting, and that's what he sometimes seemed like he was all about. But of course, then Lou had to put Murder Mystery on this album, kind of cutting my legs out from under me.
Anyway, this albums got all the really good pop songs the VU ever did, and of course since it's the VU they're just twisted enough to be really really interesting. For instance, Candy Says, the song Lou would rewrite about 800 times (Stephanie Says, Caroline Says II) is about as saccharine sweet a melody as you might find but consider that it's about a woman who's "come to hate [her] body". Then consider the fact that it's most likely about drag queen Candy Darling who hung out around Andy Warhol's factory in the 60's and it becomes a little bit twisted. Pale Blue Eyes is likewise charming in its dulcet melody, but is shockingly specific (She said, Money is like us in time,/It lies, but can't stand up/ down for you is up"). AMG claims Sterling Morrisson told Lou "If I wrote a song like that, I wouldn't make you play it." And he's right. "It was good what we did yesterday," Reed sings, "And I'd do it once again/ The fact that you are married/ only proves you're my best friend/ but it's truly truly a sin." Christ, and all over a melody Paul Simon might have written. Then you have Murder Mystery and the album just becomes such a fucked up ordeal of brilliance.
Jesus.
36. Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die (1994)
1994 must have been the best year ever if you were older than 11, which I was not. Everything but Cobain's death, and even that, as macabre as it must sound, was probably great in its own way. If you get my drift. And the way in which Cobain's death was great is the same way it's great to listen to Biggie. If you get my drift. But this album is just hype as crack-cocaine whether it's by Biggie or someone who wasn't martyred in a turf war. I said before I preferred Tupac in the G.O.A.T. debate, but clearly this album gets the nod over anything Pac dropped. It's funny how a rapper who didn't have the charisma or skill Pac did could drop an album so much better than anything Pac dropped. But at the same time, maybe it's just hunger. And forgive the cheap shot but if Biggie had ANYTHING it was hunger.
This album just rolls, beginning to end. Things Done Change jumps it off with one of the most famous lines Biggie ever dropped (besides of course that, "if the head right, biggie there e'r' night" line made famous by Nelly): "If I wasn't in the rap game/ I'd probably have a ki knee deep in the crack game/ cuz the streets is a short stop/ you're either slanging crack rock or you got a wicked jump shot." Whether or not Boiler Room was a good movie is besides the point. Biggie jumps out the gate showing off his flow. And on "Gimme the Loot," arguably the best song on the album, he shows off his slooooow flooooow. The album goes on and on with hot tracks (including yet another incredible guest shot by Method Man on "the What") including some bonafide classics like "Big Poppa" and "Warning," before settling into the chilling final track "Suicidal Thoughts." When Biggie hangs up the phone at the end to Diddy's protests we can't help get goosebumps. Is that because we know he's dead or is the song just that good? We'll never know, and in a way, I guess it doesn't really matter.
37. Richard Hell and the Voidoids - Blank Generation (1977)
He could not sing or play an instrument to save his life. But this is more punk than just about every album I've ever heard and the title track puts "Stray Cat Strut" to SHAME
38. The Replacements - Tim (1985)
My understanding is that if you live in Minneapolis and do not like the Mats you are summarily ostracized. That is how it ought to be nationwide
This is the album to get. Kiss Me on the Bus should be canonized, as should Swinging Party and I'll Buy. I like the rest of the songs, but to be quite honest they don't add up to all that much on their own. Those three songs, like the more numerous but less definitive Pentateuch of Ziggy Stardust are enough to merit classic status despite the languishing of the rest of the album (and yes, I am taking Bastards of Young) into consideration.
39. Jay-Z - The Blueprint (2001)
I refuse to talk about 9/11. All I'm going to say is that yes Jigga you made the top 40. No Jigga you did not top Illmatic and the fact that you have released more quality albums than NaS isn't going to change that.
40. Neil Young - Everybody Knows This is Nowhere (1969)
When I was like 10 or something I saw an infomercial for a 60's and 70's rock comp and it featured, among many many other songs, Cinnamon Girl. Really? Was there really a point where this was as big a hit as "Seasons in the Sun"? This really surprises me. I mean, it's certainly a catchy song, and it's not like it's my favorite song on the album, but jeez.
About this album - it's really good. The fact is, besides Cowgirl in the Sand's length, I don't know that I can say too much about it in criticism. It doesn't get me all that excited, especially compared to a certain other one of his album, but the title track is among my top 5 favorite Neil songs. Really, it is.
posted by Chris W # 8:04 PM 
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