Top Ten - 1985

Of the 54 albums I rated in 1985, only about 1/3 were by popular bands. This is reflected in the top ten as well, as only Saxon, Mötley Crüe, and Megadeth are the big names there. Not surprisingly, the lack of top talent meant lower ratings, with most bands scoring below 80. 1985 may just be the weakest year in rock and roll.



Top Ten - 1985
89.56 -- Fates Warning - The Spectre Within
87.89 -- Aria - Megalomania
86.42 -- Saxon - Innocence is No Excuse
86.20 -- Manilla Road - Open the Gates
85.90 -- Mötley Crüe - Theatre of Pain
84.93 -- Paul Di'Anno's Battlezone - Fighting Back
84.91 -- Blackmayne - Blackmayne
84.39 -- Overkill - Feel the Fire
84.05 -- Anthem - Anthem
83.91 -- Megadeth - Killing is My Business...and Business is Good!

Other 1985 releases:
83.11 -- Savatage - Power of the Night
82.03 -- Attacker - Battle at Helm's Deep
81.91 -- Ratt - Invasion of Your Privacy
81.86 -- Piledriver - Metal Inquisition
80.79 -- Dio - Sacred Heart
80.69 -- Aerosmith - Done with Mirrors
80.64 -- Rough Cutt - Rough Cutt
80.63 -- Nasty Savage - Nasty Savage
79.89 -- Avenger - Prayers of Steel
77.93 -- Exodus - Bonded by Blood
77.12 -- W.A.S.P. - The Last Command
76.49 -- 220 Volt - Mind Over Muscle
76.05 -- Blitzkrieg - A Time of Changes
75.99 -- Rottweiller - Screams of the Innocent
75.47 -- Ostrogoth - Too Hot
74.42 -- Kix - Midnight Dynamite
74.10 -- Armored Saint - Delirious Nomad
73.12 -- Nightmare - Power of the Universe
73.06 -- Stevie Ray Vaughan - Soul to Soul
72.01 -- Helloïse - Cosmogony
71.62 -- ZZ Top - Afterburner
70.90 -- Dokken - Under Lock and Key
70.77 -- Hawkwind - The Chronicle of the Black Sword
70.43 -- Y&T - Down for the Count
70.38 -- Malice - In the Beginning...
69.82 -- Thor - Only the Strong
69.66 -- Twisted Sister - Come Out and Play
69.51 -- Kiss - Asylum
68.69 -- Running Wild - Branded and Exiled
68.68 -- Bon Jovi - 7800° Fahrenheit
68.42 -- Bow Wow - Cyclone
68.12 -- Krokus - Change of Address
67.79 -- Triumph - The Sport of Kings
66.07 -- AC/DC - Fly On the Wall
65.93 -- Grim Reaper - Fear No Evil
64.30 -- Gravestone - Back to Attack
62.54 -- UFO - Misdemeanor
62.01 -- Rush - Power Windows
61.60 -- Vandenberg - Alibi
61.25 -- Uriah Heep - Equator
59.10 -- Alcatrazz - Disturbing the Peace
58.33 -- Icon - Night of the Crime
58.12 -- Demon - British Standard Approved
52.71 -- Demon - Heart of Our Time

To Cry You A Song - Numbers

With so many songs to choose from, the themes for these posts are limited only to my imagination (and I have a great imagination)! For this compilation, I gathered songs with numbers in their titles and began listing them consecutively, intending to stop when I couldn't find a number. I honestly expected to compile a single CD ending around the number 14, but instead I found songs that included numbers up to 22*. Rather than ignoring anything that wouldn't find on a single disc, I included all 22 songs on two CDs.

*If anyone knows of a song with the number 23 in it, please let me know and I'll add it to the list. I already have songs with "24" and "25" in their titles, so I can take this a bit further if possible.

As before, this is actually a good collection of songs wrapped around a theme. I really like all but one song, and even included a few Desert Island songs (marked with an *).

Number Tracks:
Disc 1
1. Fates Warning - One (4:27)
2. Doors - Love Me Two Times (3:16)
3. Three Man Army - Three Man Army (5:23)
4. Aphrodite's Child - Four Horsemen (5:53)*
5. Megadeth - Five Magics (5:39)
6. Silent Force - Six Past the Hour (4:44)*
7. Helloween - The Bells of the Seven Hells (5:22)*
8. The Beatles - Eight Days a Week (2:46)
9. Aerosmith - Nine Lives (4:1)
10. Mötley Crüe - Ten Seconds to Love (4:17)
11. Yngwie Malmsteen - Eleventh Hour (8:03)
Disc length - 54:51

Disc 2
12. Goddo - Twelve Days (3:24)
13. Anvil - This is Thirteen (6:40)
14. Guns 'n' Roses - 14 Years (4:17)
15. Highway Robbery - Fifteen (2:58)
16. Kiss - Christine Sixteen (3:14)
17. Kingdom Come - 17 (5:26)
18. Alice Cooper - I'm Eighteen (3:0)
19. Angel Witch - Flight Nineteen (5:55)
20. BillyLee Janey - 20 Miles Bad Road (3:27)
21. Annihilator - 21 (4:25)
22. Iron Maiden - 22 Acacia Avenue (6:37)
Disc length - 49:23

Albums:
Fates Warning - Disconnected (2000)
Doors - Strange Days (1967)
Three Man Army - A Third of A Lifetime (1971)
Aphrodite's Child - 666 (1972)
Megadeth - Rust In Peace (1990)
Silent Force - The Empire of Future (2000)
Helloween - Gambling with the Devil (2007)
The Beatles - Beatles for Sale (U.K.) (1964)
Aerosmith - Nine Lives (1997)
Mötley Crüe - Shout at the Devil (1983)
Yngwie Malmsteen - Perpetual Flame (2008)
Goddo - Goddo (1977)
Anvil - This is Thirteen (2007)
Guns 'n' Roses - Use Your Illusion II (1991)
Highway Robbery - For Love or Money (1972)
Kiss - Love Gun (1977)
Kingdom Come - Kingdom Come (1988)
Alice Cooper - Love It to Death (1971)
Angel Witch - Angel Witch (1980)
BillyLee Janey - Soul Driver (2008)
Annihilator - King of the Kill (1994)
Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast (1982)

Stranger In A Strange Land...

Very few rock and metal bands maintain a single member line-up throughout their history. More often, members come and go. And sometimes, there is an unlikely pairing of an artist's past with his present; for example, Robert Plant touring with (bluegrass country singer and fiddler) Alison Krauss.

There are 20 such pairings listed below. Can you name the band member who was in both groups? Some may be (should be) easy, but I'm guessing there are some you never knew. I will give you one hint: in some cases, the artist was a touring member of the band but did not record an album with the band.

Post your answers in the comments or the chat box. Good luck!

1. Black Oak Arkansas & Ozzy Osbourne
2. Vanilla Fudge & Blue Murder
3. The Cult & The Doors
4. Cream & Masters of Reality
5. Jethro Tull & Yngwie Malmsteen
6. Dust & Ramones
7. Electric Light Orchestra & Black Sabbath
8. Heart & Whitesnake
9. Jefferson Starship & UFO
10. Trapeze & Judas Priest
11. Hawkwind & Motorhead
12. Strawberry Alarm Clock & Lynyrd Skynyrd
13. Billy Squier & Kiss
14. Meatloaf & Ted Nugent
15. Jeff Beck Group & Rainbow
16. Savoy Brown & Michael Schenker Group
17. Billy Idol & Dream Theater
18. Humble Pie & Fastway
19. Manfred Mann's Earth Band & AC/DC
20. Journey & Axel Rudi Pell

Top Ten - 1986

I rated 51 albums from 1986, which saw releases from Metallica, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne, W.A.S.P., AC/DC, and many other top acts. It's unfortunate that these bands overshadowed some other great, but less well-known, albums released that year. That only Iron Maiden made the top ten (and Metallica came in at number 11), should give you an idea of the quality of some of these other releases.



Top Ten - 1986
88.47 -- Sword - Metalized
87.64 -- The Rods - Heavier than Thou
87.46 -- Helloween - Walls of Judas
87.29 -- Cinderella - Night Songs
86.48 -- Elixir - The Son of Odin
86.41 -- Desolation Angels - Desolation Angels
86.17 -- Vanadium - Born to Fight
84.58 -- Crimson Glory - Crimson Glory
84.30 -- Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time
84.05 -- Anthem - Tightrope

Other 1987 releases:
83.34 -- Metallica - Master of Puppets
82.24 -- Queensrÿche - Rage for Order
81.94 -- Manilla Road - The Deluge
81.74 -- Hexx - Under the Spell
81.55 -- Obsession - Scarred for Life
80.62 -- Waysted - Save Your Prayers
80.04 -- Great White - Shot In the Dark
79.87 -- Black Sabbath - Seventh Star
79.71 -- Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin
77.88 -- Ted Nugent - Little Miss Dangerous
77.78 -- AC/DC - Who Made Who
77.59 -- Samurai - Weapon Master
77.39 -- Accept - Russian Roulette
77.25 -- Fates Warning - Awaken the Guardian
77.10 -- Omen - The Curse
76.55 -- Savatage - Fight for the Rock
75.87 -- Blue Öyster Cult - Club Ninja
75.35 -- Tension - Breaking Point
74.51 -- Megadeth - Peace Sells...but Who's Buying?
73.78 -- W.A.S.P. - Inside the Electric Circus
73.72 -- Saxon - Rock the Nations
73.38 -- Steeler - Strike Back
73.35 -- Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet
73.14 -- Cirith Ungol - One Foot in Hell
70.98 -- Aria - Whom Are You With
70.97 -- Angel Dust - Into the Dark Past
70.69 -- Alice Cooper - Constrictor
70.51 -- Motörhead - Orgasmatron
68.65 -- Van Halen - 5150
68.63 -- Ratt - Dancing Undercover
67.57 -- Queen - A Kind of Magic
66.74 -- Bow Wow - III
66.18 -- Judas Priest - Turbo
64.85 -- Zebra - 3.V
62.66 -- Gravestone - Creating A Monster
62.23 -- Poison - Look What the Cat Dragged In
61.68 -- Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Criminal Tango
60.20 -- Rage - Reign of Fear
55.98 -- Box of Frogs - Strange Land
47.33 -- Forgotten Child - Forgotten Child
34.68 -- Piledriver - Stay Ugly

Spotlight On: Road

Road was an American power trio formed in Los Angeles, California. Band members included Rod Richards (guitar, vocals), Leslie Sampson (drums, vocals, percussion), and former Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist Noel Redding (bass, vocals).

Road formed in 1970 following the break up of Redding and Sampson's band Fat Mattress. The pair joined with Richards, who had recently left Rare Earth. They released their self-titled album in 1972 and disbanded shortly thereafter.

After the demise of Road, Redding and Sampson formed The Noel Redding Band while Richards went on to a solo career.

Album Review:

Great 70s hard rock, featuring plenty of wah-wah guitar, thundering bass, and even a drum solo (which I believe was a requirement for early 70s hard rock bands). Opening track I'm Trying alternates between slow and fast, with the wah wah really kicking in during the fast parts. I'm Going Down to the Country, a slow song with country-flavored twangy guitar, is the album's weakest track. The hard-rocking Mushroom Man is next, with Redding's bass up front and heavy as hell. Man Dressed in Red is a mid-paced rocker that features Richards' soloing throughout the song. Spaceship Earth is the standout track, full of heavy riffs and wah wah guitar goodness. Friends starts and ends heavy, with the aforementioned drum solo in the middle of the song. Closing track Road has a Black Sabbath-style heavy riff, lots more wah wah guitar, and a pretty good bass solo (I guess Redding didn't want to feel left out). Needless to say, this album is highly recommended for anyone who loves early 70s hard rock.

Overall and individual song ratings:

Road (87.89)

1. I'm Trying - 4

2. I'm Going Down to the Country - 2

3. Mushroom Man - 4

4. Man Dressed in Red - 3

5. Spaceship Earth - 6

6. Friends - 4

7. Road - 5

Ratings Key:

0 - Hate It

1 - Dislike It

2 - It's Ok

3 - Like It

4 - Like It A Lot

5 - Love It

6 - Desert Island Song

Long Way To Go...

So here we are, 71 posts into my blog, and I've only covered 992 ratings. Why so few, you may wonder? Am I lazy? (well, yeah, but not about this.) Do I procrastinate? (Let me get back to you on that.) Do I have a short atten... ooohh... shiny............

Sorry about that. Now where was I? Oh yeah. Do I have a short attention span? (Sometimes.) Actually, I'm anxious to display my results. I enjoy writing about them and sharing them. I even see some people are reading them (and hopefully enjoying them).

And that's what this is all about. I'm trying to do something both informative and fun. Sprinkled between the album ratings are some on-going posts that I like to write:

• Top Ten lists cover a range of topics such as ratings by year, country of band origin, genre, etc. I'll often include more than just the Top Ten albums in the list, and in the ratings by year posts, I actually list all the albums from that year (which means I'll eventually post all 2,200+ ratings.) So far, I posted album ratings from 2008 to 1987. I'll continue back to 1967, then probably write a single post for 1963 - 1966. The 2009 ratings will be posted soon after the year ends. I'll handle 2010 posts differently, probably as a single post with periodic updates.
• Discographies are self-explanatory. I've rated many band's complete studio discographies, and plan to post them all. The posts include the albums sorted by rating (highest to lowest), the year they were released, brief comments, trivia, or other interesting or noteworthy tidbits, and my favorite tracks.
• To Cry You A Song posts are compilation (audio) CDs based on a theme, band, year, genre, etc. This may already be an outdated concept given the proliferation of high-capacity MP3 players, but it's more fun (and more challenging) to limit myself to 80 minutes of music.
• Spotlight On features obscure (or less well-known) bands I like. I delve into the band's history and also list the albums and individual song ratings. Some of the albums are definitely worth owning if you're into that genre or style of music.

Additionally, I posted commentaries, thoughts, updates, a multi-part story, and even some word games. These posts all have one thing in common: the name of the post is always a song title. (Including this one... or did you notice that already?) I'll continue posting these at random.

As always, if there's anything you'd like to see, I take requests.

Top Ten - 1987

I rated 50 albums from 1987, and there was a major upset at the top spot as relative unknown Angus bests one of my personal favorites, Savatage. But hey, a great album is a great album, and finding them is part of what this three-year effort has been all about.



Top Ten - 1987
88.82 -- Angus - Warrior of the World
87.39 -- Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King
86.39 -- Malice - License to Kill
86.22 -- Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt. 1
86.21 -- Testament - The Legacy
85.80 -- Alice Cooper - Raise Your Fist and Yell
85.25 -- Guns 'n' Roses - Appetite for Destruction
85.20 -- Grim Reaper - Rock You to Hell
85.10 -- Dark Quarterer - Dark Quarterer
84.90 -- Ostrogoth - Feelings of Fury

Other 1987 releases:
84.52 -- Krokus - Heart Attack
83.52 -- Anthem - Bound to Break
83.24 -- Black Sabbath - Eternal Idol
81.58 -- Dokken - Back for the Attack
81.48 -- Matakapos - Coming Out Ahead
81.26 -- Aria - Hero of Asphalt
81.24 -- Dio - Dream Evil
81.22 -- Great White - Once Bitten…
81.10 -- Manilla Road - Mystification
80.39 -- Deep Purple - The House of Blue Light
79.07 -- Metal Church - The Dark
79.05 -- Viper - Soldiers of Sunrise
78.78 -- Warlock - Triumph & Agony
78.16 -- Rage - Execution Guaranteed
78.12 -- Overkill - Taking Over
78.10 -- Anvil - Strength of Steel
76.40 -- Sanctuary - Refuge Denied
76.10 -- Whitesnake - Whitesnake
75.86 -- Twisted Sister - Love Is for Suckers
75.11 -- Motörhead - Rock 'n' Roll
74.70 -- Manowar - Fighting the World
72.82 -- Armored Saint - Raising Fear
72.73 -- Stormwitch - The Beauty and the Beast
72.22 -- Aerosmith - Permanent Vacation
72.12 -- Pretty Maids - Future World
71.88 -- Def Leppard - Hysteria
71.70 -- Jethro Tull - Crest of A Knave
70.34 -- Running Wild - Under Jolly Roger
69.68 -- Demon - Breakout
68.72 -- Bow Wow - Vow Wow V
68.52 -- Girl - Killing Time
67.71 -- Kiss - Crazy Nights
66.82 -- Toxik - World Circus
66.08 -- Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason
65.52 -- Mötley Crüe - Girls, Girls, Girls
65.28 -- Fastway - Trick or Treat
64.83 -- McAuley Schenker Group - Perfect Timing
58.35 -- Leviticus - Setting Fire to the Earth
54.68 -- Blackfoot - Rick Medlocke and Blackfoot
52.60 -- Picture - Marathon