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100. THE BEST OF THE ART OF NOISE - The Art Of Noise - Get the blue-cover version (if you can find it): it has "Beatbox (Diversion One)", "Moments In Love", and "Close (To The Edit)", all of which were - bizarrely - left off the pink-cover version (which still has Tom Jones butchering Prince and Max Headroom reveling in madness).
99. FOREIGN AFFAIRS - Tom Waits - A gin-soaked guy pretending to be a drunken beatnik sits down at the stool next to you and starts spinning tales hilarious ("Jack & Neal/California Here I Come") and chilling ("Burma Shave") over the jazz combo onstage - he just happens to be brilliant and charming (evens wins over a reluctant Bette Midler).
98. BEYOND THE CALICO WALL - Various artists - a Nuggets-style compilation of extremely underground artists with names like Rasputin & The Mad Monks or The Waterproof Tinkertoy, some of whom never made it out of the garage but managed to record one mad glorious blast of demented acid-damage called, say, "Sewer Rat Love Chant" or "The Electronic Insides And Metal Complexion That Make Up Herr Dr. Krieg", then fading into oblivion before the 60's were over.
97. RUNNING IN THE SUMMERNIGHT - The Mecki Mark Men - Swedish psychedelic rock band's 2nd album from 1969: there's less LSD craziness and more developed songwriting from the 1st album (which is coming up), not to mention more fuzz guitar and Hendrix-imitation.
96. SEEKING OTHER BEAUTY - Bayete Umbra Zindiko - Jazz keyboardist and friends, minds expanded and fuzz-wah pedals at full blast, whip up some wild and wooly acid funkadelic 1972 space-jams. Sweet nastiness, and tough to find: click the link for some Youtube.
95. THE THIRD TESTAMENT - The Godz - See #41.
94. BACDAFUCUP - Onyx - Lowdown, gritty and griiiiim-ee: the mad face invasion came, we shaved our heads, we threw our gunz, we slammed, we screamed and hollered til we were hoarse.
93. THEY SAY I'M DIFFERENT - Betty Davis
92. BETTY DAVIS - Betty Davis - She was this fine big-afroed free-spirit who bewitched Miles Davis enough for him to put a ring on her finger. She then got him wearing freakier clothes and listening to Sly and Hendrix (which led to Bitches Brew, which led to...) before becoming too much for Miles (Miles Davis - !) to handle, becoming a model, then recording these albums ('73 and '74, respectively) of raw, sex-soaked funk with Graham Central Station and the Tower Of Power horns, purring like a panther, screaming like a banshee, detailing sexual conquests, having the occasional orgasm and generally making Janis Joplin sound like Joni Mitchell.
91. GIANT STEPS - John Coltrane - Classic session, producing near-untouchable standards for bebop (the title cut) and ballads (the touching "Naima").
90. HEAVEN AND EARTH - Repercussions - Nicole Willis (still doing her thing today with the Soul Investigators) and members of the Groove Collective do a Brand New Heavies-style thing. Great hooks: check out "Find Your Way" (which my band performs live ever so often), "Test Of Time", "Turn Your Card", "Promise Me Nothing"... and all the rest of it, actually.
89. BUHLOONE MIND STATE - De La Soul - A less-sprawling, more focused 3rd album, as solid as hip-hop gets.
88. MAMA'S GUN - Erykah Badu - She annoys me - you could say she's my least favorite part of her music. But whatever she's doin' is usually interestingly against-the-grain, and I appreciate that; this is a height she'll hopefully scale again soon.
87. PURPLE IMAGE - Purple Image - Only album (1970) by an obscure bell-bottomed blackrock band from Cleveland. Like a heavy Sly Stone, or War with acid and fuzz guitar. Sounds like the cover looks: a naked four-armed woman with purple flames shooting out of her afro, showing you her globes. I love this frickin' album - click the link.
86. GOOD HUMOR - Saint Etienne - Brits infusing lush 60's EZ-listening pop with modern dancepop and great hooks - every song a gem. Their fans don't seem to like this one; of course, it's their only one I have any use for.
85. CONSTELLATIONS & INTERFERENCES - Bengt Hambraeus - Great ambient space music (1962) from a Swedish avant composer who made freaky sounds with organs, electronics, and tape recorders. The hilariously impenetrable liner notes go on and on forever like this: "{and also, what about the alteration of any one (two, three, four, five, etc.) of these determinants (in respect to these parameters that remain unchanged/"unchanged") as regards the position/situation [(in space and time) (internally & externally with respect to human beings or "living organisms" -organic; or terrestrially/universally situated)] of a sound (the sound) in (!?) sound-space [a (total) sound*continuum)/(the (total) sound*continuum?///? sound*space*time*continuum: galactic*system*of*sound?///?] ?????? What are the changes/alterations (possible/actual)? What are the changes like? What are changes? Do these questions make any sense?"
84. THE ROYAL SCAM - Steely Dan - Their funkiest album, thanks to the addition of Bernard Purdie and others to the session cat roster. The one with "Kid Charlemagne", "The Fez", "Green Earrings", etc.
83. KATY LIED - Steely Dan - The one with "Black Friday", "Doctor Wu", "Everyone's Gone To The Movies", etc.
82. PETER GABRIEL - Peter Gabriel - The one with the melting face on the cover. Production's way ahead of its time (1980), and you learn that he could be kinda creepy (check "Intruder")...
81. HEAVY RHYME EXPERIENCE: VOL. 1 - The Brand New Heavies - Rappers that were making moves in '92 (Main Source, Gang Starr, Black Sheep, my friend Ed O.G., others) rhyme over some live funk loops from the Heavies, a big concept at the time. Someone needed to tell Kool G Rap to cool out; otherwise, it's a lotta fun and still holds up, plus the Pharcyde makes their first appearance.
80. DE LA SOUL IS DEAD - De La Soul - You've heard ad nauseum about how they tried to kill their image or something with this one... whatever. All we have umpteen years later is one of the best hip-hop albums anyone could've made.
79. SONG OF THE SECOND MOON - Tom Dissevelt and Kid Baltan - A collection of amazing short instrumental pieces two electronic composers cooked up in 1957 (!), sometimes cute and catchy ("Song Of The Second Moon") , sometimes abstract and threatening ("Pianoforte", which sounds like a Steinway falling down multiple flights of stairs). All manner of groovy gadgets zap and burble away, giving your more creative hip-hop producers 30+ minutes of sample material.
78. EXUMA II - Exuma - Mad Bahamian folk shouter chastises Baal for getting too ambitious, informs you that your wife is actually a big black bird in disguise, howls, grunts, screeches, and scares up some creepy voodoo (raising someone from the dead along the way) that might turn ya ass into a newt if you listen to it in the dark.
77. LE MYSTERE DES VOIX BULGARES VOL. 3 - Various artists - More spine-freezing moments of loveliness from assorted Bulgarian women's choirs. Seek "Sekoi Fali", "Altan Mara", and everything else you can find.
76. BIZARRE RIDE II THE PHARCYDE - The Pharcyde - When hip-hop was fun, dammit: playful raps about weed, girls, ya mama, jerkin' off, a quick proto-horrorcore rap about eating someone's brains, and a treasure trove more.
75. (WHAT'S THE STORY) MORNING GLORY? - Oasis - I still love it, despite the fooking coonts responsible for it and despite all the boldfaced musical "tributes" inside: as long as "Champagne Supernova", the title track, "Roll With It", "Cast No Shadow", etc. hit those sweet spots, what do I care.
74. INNERVISIONS - Stevie Wonder - Stevie pumps the inspiration another five or six notches (he still had plenty left in him); my favorites are "Too High", "Golden Lady", "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing", and yeah, all the rest of it.
73. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - The United States Of America - One of the most psychedelic albums the 1960's produced: avant-rock coated with a thick layer of brain-frying electronic wizardry, grounded by the honey-rich voice of Dorothy Moskowitz. Ear-scrapingly weird and abrasive ("Hard Coming Love"), then breath-takingly lovely ("Cloud Song", "Love Song For The Dead Che"), always mind-boggling. To quote some guy on Amazon: "To be appreciated it MUST BE HEARD THROUGH HEADPHONES. [It] hops around your head like a rattlesnake on a skillet in an attempt to simulate an orgasm between your ears!"
72. PARANOID - Black Sabbath - Ground zero for metal (punk, too: the Stooges, MC5, et al. rarely played as fast as "Paranoid").
71. AT LAST - Charles Austin & Joe Gallivan - Also known as MINDSCAPES, mad rare 1975 independently-released album of other-worldly free-jazz sax and Moog improvisations. Fans of stuff like the Art Ensemble of Chicago will adore this, and folks who have never heard of the Art Ensemble of Chicago will have their worlds expanded.
70. SAM SUFFY - Marc Moulin - Belgian fusion keys maestro serves up a rare album of Herbie/Cobham-esque jazz-funk, with a trumpet/hippopotamus duet for good measure. "Tohubohu" gets my vote in the Dopest Song Ever Sweepstakes.
69. GROOVE COLLECTIVE - Groove Collective - Funky, challenging, creative, debut album from jazz/funk/latin/jam band - 100x more rewarding than whatever doodling hippie band that smelly guy you know collects bootlegs of.
68. PEBBLES VOLUME 3: - "THE ACID GALLERY" - Various artists - A complilation like the NUGGETS album above (#98), only more underground, more amateurish, and more demented. Highlights include "Five Years Ahead Of My Time" by the Third Bardo, "Reality Of Air-Fried Borsk" by the Driving Stupid, "Voices Green And Purple" by the Bees, and many other freaked-out 3-minute horror stories.
67. GODZ 2 - Godz - See #41.
66. THE EARLY YEARS - Parliament - Compilation of the stuff they did in 1970: all of the OSMIUM album, plus b-sides and unreleased tracks. More a Funkadelic sound than the slicker, later Parliament stuff: loud, raw, lumpy psych-funk-rock gumbo.
65. EFIL4ZAGGIN - N.W.A. - Ice Cube jetted, and they decided to fill his void (and the lyrics he took with him) by amping the raunch, carnage, and mayhem past overload levels, with darker beats.
64. NASTY GAL - Betty Davis - Her third album doesn't get much respect among the hardcore funk fiends (I guess for the slick major-label sound), but it's her, well, nastiest one: she growls like a demon and purrs like a panther about f.u.n.k. and f.u.c.k.i.n.g. over popped basses and plucked clavinets - you gots ta feel this. Ex-hubby Miles is somewhere on here, too.
63. VOODOO - D'Angelo - There are actually good songs buried under all the ambience here, but that ambience they worked so hard for is what makes it; dark, blunted, at once current and vintage (you can almost smell the dust on the amps), so laid-back that the snapped snares and tinkled Rhodes notes practically trip out of the speakers and stumble around in the air.
62. WHAT UP, DOG? - Was (Not Was) - To reiterate: One-of-a-kind jokesters who I love and miss dearly: Two goofy white guys making dance-pop beats (with free-jazz mixed in there now and again) underneath two smoky black soul singers crooning surrealist lyrics about the misfits of the world - gave this alienated Mississippi teenager something to relate to.
61. 3 FEET HIGH AND RISING - De La Soul - Changed hip-hop: after the initial scoffs and cock-eyed glances went away, everyone realized, hey, you don't have to rhyme hard if you're not, you don't have to exclusively sample James Brown's 30 Golden Hits. Regular-joe rhymes about dandruff, high-school crushes, talking animals, and being misunderstood over samples of Johnny Cash, Hall & Oates, and French instructional records produce a movie for your ears that never gets old. (Blame for the "rap skit" can also be laid here, yes.)
60. SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE - Stevie Wonder - I used to be one of those who thought Stevie should've left his masterwork's weaker songs on the editing-room floor, shortening it by about half; now I'm one of those who think there ain't no weaker songs. Hidden jewels: "Summer Soft", "Black Man", "Ngiculela - Es Una Historia - I Am Singing", and of course, "As".
59. BLACK WOMAN - Sonny Sharrock - Oh, what noises this man made. (And good lord, what noises his wife made...)
58. STANDING ON THE VERGE OF GETTING IT ON - Funkadelic
57. COSMIC SLOP - Funkadelic - These two are the best of their middle-70's albums: a happy middle-ground between the fried ghetto acid nightmares of their early stuff (which you'll see later) and the disco-era stompers (which you've already seen - you can tell where my priorities lie). Essential.
56. STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON - N.W.A. - It's all this album's fault: When you say "alright, let's take it all the way out" and succeed, anyone who tries to top you just sounds cartoonish (N.W.A. sure did when they themselves tried to top it later). An album whose historical significance outweighs a weak track or two; for a quick minute, it was Cube writing rhymes for Eazy's bratty whine over Dre beats - nuff said.
55. HOT HORNY AMATEURS - Groovasaurus - 1998 album from a Boston band that was ubiquitous on the local scene in the 90's (when it came out, I reviewed this album for a local music rag, raving and hyping it to the moon. Then they broke up). Imagine Natalie Merchant singing over HOUSES OF THE HOLY-era Led Zep riffs and beats, with catchier hooks and a brighter disposition. Modern rock radio sure could use 'em now.
54. FUNHOUSE - The Stooges - This one should get the proto-punk classic status that RAW POWER gets - it's louder and hairer, plus there's a screechy blast of free-jazz (the real proto-punk) at the end.
53. A LOVE SUPREME - John Coltrane - I'm not a guy who's usually in awe of peoples' "spiritual" pursuits, but infidels like me can be forgiven for thinking A LOVE SUPREME came from somewhere transcendant and powerful. (Because it did: John Coltrane.)
52. I AM SHELBY LYNNE - Shelby Lynne - Alabama shit-kicker gave us the new millenium's first classic album: bluesy Dusty Springfield soul (with a Sheryl Crow spit-shine on it). Deep-blue, melancholy, heart-pouring, every song a winner (especially the barn-burning opener, "Your Lies").
51. MYSTIC VOYAGE - Roy Ayers Ubiquity - Jazz, funk, and good vibes from Roy - his best album all the way through for me.
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