Showing posts with label Armored Saint. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Armored Saint. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

To Cry You A Song - Trains

Another unusual theme, but maybe not quite as bad as the To Cry You A Song - Colors post. The songs are a mix of blues rock, hard rock, and metal, but like the other post, it works due to the strength of the high song ratings and the inclusion of six Desert Island songs (marked with an *).

I almost listed the songs in a random order, but as I was looking over the titles, they seemed to form a interesting "story."

Update: This morning I realized I didn't include a train song by Grand Funk Railroad. This was a mistake, as they have three songs that qualify, not to mention that their name alone implies they should be included here. After dismissing the instrumental T.N.U.C.*, I was left with the hit The Loco-Motion or the less popular but better Railroad. This was actually an easy decision. But now I also needed to remove a song and somehow find extra time because Railroad is longer than all but two tracks. After some deliberation, I came up with a solution. I removed the Badlands' track Rumblin' Train (a good song, but not as good as Railroad), and also sacrificed the harmonica intro to Blackfoot's Train, Train. It hurt me to do that, but it was now necessary.
*By the way, if you've ever wondered what this song title means, read the letters backwards.
Anyway, without further ado, here it is, the new and improved TCYAS - Trains CD:

Train Tracks (a purely unintentional, and admittedly awful, pun):
1. Grand Funk Railroad - Railroad (6:07)
2. Scorpions - Catch Your Train (3:38)*
3. Ten Years After - Standing at the Station (7:11)*
4. Vanderhoof - Nowhere Train (5:09)*
5. Blackfoot - Train, Train (3:32)
6. Saxon - Princess of the Night (4:01)*
7. Aerosmith - Train Kept A-Rollin' (5:33)
8. Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train (4:58)
9. Bow Wow - Get On Our Train (5:07)
10. Deep Purple - Slow Train (5:36)
11. Foghat - Jump that Train (5:16)
12. Mogg/Way - Gravy Train (4:55)
13. Savoy Brown - Hellbound Train (9:07)*
14. George Thorogood - Hellbound Train (4:56)*
15. Armored Saint - Last Train Home (5:18)
Disc length - 79:48

Albums:
Grand Funk Railroad - We're An American Band (1973)
Scorpions - Virgin Killer (1976)
Ten Years After - Rock & Roll Music to the World (1972)
Vanderhoof - A Blur in Time (2002)
Blackfoot - Strikes (1979)
Saxon - Denim and Leather (1981)
Aerosmith - Get Your Wings (1974)
Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz (1980)
Bow Wow - Signal Fire (1977)
Deep Purple - Fireball (25th Anniversary Edition) (1971)
Foghat - The Return of the Boogie Men (1994)
Badlands - Badlands (1989)
Mogg/Way - Edge of the World (1997)
Savoy Brown - Hellbound Train (1972)
George Thorogood - Half a Boy/Half a Man (1999)
Armored Saint - Symbol of Salvation (1991)

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Top Ten (+15) - The 1990s

Now that I've finished posting my ratings for albums released during the 90s, I want to wrap it all up with a post of the top 25 releases of the decade. The posts from 1990 - 1999 included 382 albums released by 170 bands (low numbers when compared to the decades before and after, but ones that I'm sure will increase in time).

What surprised me most about this list is that only two bands -- Running Wild and Metal Church -- had more than one album here, while some bands that I like a lot (such as Megadeth, Dream Theater, Helloween, Gamma Ray, Stratovarius, and others) had only one or even none.

Should this list change, I'll be sure to let you know. In the meantime, I'll continue with ratings from the 1980s, and will also post my top ten from 2009 and the best of the 2000s soon after the year ends. Stay tuned!



Top 25 Albums:
93.55 -- Megadeth - Rust in Peace (1990)
91.18 -- Iced Earth - Something Wicked this Way Comes (1998)
91.18 -- Armored Saint - Symbol of Salvation (1991)
91.04 -- October 31 - Meet thy Maker (1999)
90.85 -- Black Sabbath - Tyr (1990)
90.55 -- Saxon - Metalhead (1999)
90.28 -- Rage - The Missing Link (1993)
90.18 -- Saviour Machine - Saviour Machine I (1993)
90.04 -- Blind Guardian - Tales from the Twilight World (1990)
89.74 -- Helloween - Better than Raw (1998)
89.64 -- Dream Theater - Images and Words (1992)
89.52 -- Running Wild - Black Hand Inn (1994)
89.52 -- Warrior Soul - Last Decade Dead Century (1990)
89.18 -- Mägo de Oz - La Leyenda de la Mancha (1998)
89.16 -- Jeff Healey Band - Hell to Pay (1990)
89.13 -- W.A.S.P. - Helldorado (1999)
89.12 -- Seven Witches - Second War in Heaven (1999)
89.12 -- Wuthering Heights - Within (1999)
88.96 -- Lefay - Symphony of the Damned (1999)
88.59 -- Molly Hatchet - Silent Reign of Heroes (1998)
88.57 -- Savatage - Dead Winter Dead (1995)
88.40 -- Running Wild - Blazon Stone (1991)
88.38 -- Metal Church - Masterpeace (1999)
88.29 -- Metal Church - The Human Factor (1991)
88.28 -- Aria - Blood for Blood (1991)

Friday, November 6, 2009

Top Ten - 1991

Looking at the 41 albums in this list, you'll see over 3/4 are metal or metal-related (including an all-metal Top Ten). Not a whole lot going on classic rock-wise. Also, if you look closely, you'll find one of the few Grunge albums (Nirvana's Nevermind) that will appear in this blog.



Top Ten - 1991:
91.18 -- Armored Saint - Symbol of Salvation
90.26 -- Metal Church - The Human Factor
88.40 -- Running Wild - Blazon Stone
88.28 -- Aria - Blood for Blood
87.94 -- Warrior Soul - Drugs, God and the New Republic
85.78 -- Galactic Cowboys - Galactic Cowboys
84.40 -- Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears
84.39 -- Bride - Kinetic Faith
83.12 -- Gamma Ray - Sigh No More
82.79 -- Venom - Temples of Ice

Other 1991 releases:
82.37 -- Alice Cooper - Hey Stoopid
82.28 -- Metallica - Metallica
81.61 -- Saxon - Solid Ball of Rock
81.46 -- Iced Earth - Iced Earth
81.44 -- Motörhead - 1916
81.20 -- Krokus - Stampede
79.18 -- Great White - Hooked
78.76 -- Savatage - "Streets" - A Rock Opera
78.61 -- Cirith Ungol - Paradise Lost
78.43 -- Badlands - Voodoo Highway
77.47 -- Skid Row - Slave to the Grind
77.42 -- Helloween - Pink Bubbles Go Ape
77.06 -- Demon - Hold On to the Dream
76.46 -- Van Halen - For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
75.60 -- Crimson Glory - Strange and Beautiful
73.87 -- Pink Cream 69 - One Size Fits All
72.65 -- Kik Tracee - No Rules
72.53 -- Blues Traveler - Travelers and Thieves
72.31 -- Guns 'n' Roses - Use Your Illusion II
71.53 -- Guns 'n' Roses - Use Your Illusion I
71.45 -- Reverend - Play God
71.29 -- Anvil - Worth the Weight
70.87 -- Nirvana - Nevermind
69.22 -- Queen - Innuendo
68.90 -- Uriah Heep - Different World
68.71 -- Fates Warning - Parallels
67.64 -- Praying Mantis - Predator in Disguise
65.99 -- Axel Rudi Pell - Nasty Reputation
65.07 -- Jethro Tull - Catfish Rising
63.68 -- Golden Earring - Bloody Buccaneers
61.33 -- Stevie Ray Vaughan - The Sky is Crying