Prince - Purple Rain (1984)

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to sing the praises of one of the greatest movie soundtracks of all time. In the movie he may have simply been known as "The Kid," but to everyone in Minneapolis, this album and many of his others cemented Prince as The King.

This album's ingenuity and rockabilly-funk production was so prominent upon the musical landscape at the time that it gave birth to a (short-lived) subgenre called "The Minneapolis Sound." Prince was a man possessed during this time period. He wrote 100+ songs for this film/album concept, not including the ones he wrote for The Time and Appolonia 6.

Any praise I heap upon Prince's writing or vocal talents on the record would only be redundant at this point. This is one of the undisputed classic albums of our generation. It would be pedestrian of me to mention the hard-rocking and demented Computer Blue, the steamy sex of Darling Nikki, or the stripped-down symphony that is When Doves Cry. But damn it, I just have to.

Even Prince must wonder how he did it. Last year he showed his longing for these days. He released an album called "MPLSound." It was critically panned and his fanbase treated it with embarrassment. Prince is at his best when he's plowing forward and not reaching towards his past. He's at his best when he's thinking about the innocuous images that catch his fancy: purple rain, crying doves and dirty girls who never call you back.

Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell (1977)

Not many albums can open with an eight minute opus and still keep the average listener's interest. Most albums that begin with an epic don't crank out a handful of smash hits that are still played today. The only thing Bat Out of Hell has going against it is the fact that, at times, it becomes a little bit too huge for its own good. The only thing that keeps the album from collapsing in on itself is the work of vocalist Michael "Meat Loaf" Adday and the arrangements of Todd Rundgren.

From the motorcycle gurgles on the title track to the rollicking and rocking riffage that covers "All Dressed Up With No Place To Go," Todd Rundgren is Bat Out of Hell's unsung hero. His playing saves Bat Out of Hell from being too dramatic and overblown. Rundgren manages to evoke a quirkiness in his playing which also gives this album something that other Meat Loaf albums desperately need: a sense of humor. This humor translates to the vocal department as well. "Loaf" spits, mumbles and sneers his way through several lyrics. He sounds like he's aware of how ridiculous it is for him to sing "And now my faded levis are bursting apart," on the closing ballad "For Crying Out Loud" and yet he doesn't care because he still believes in what he's singing. In his other work, Meat Loaf stares you dead in the eye and begs you to love him, here he is daring you not to.

Though Adday was a classically-trained singer who, by the time Bat Out of Hell was released, had performed on Broadway... he is not the star of this album. Though his name adorns the cover, it is Jim Steinman's gift for bombastic melodicism that made Bat Out of Hell one of the few albums to stay on the top 100 for more than 85 weeks.

The Beatles - Abbey Road (1969)

As children born of unhappy marriages prove, people don't have to like each other to create something wonderful together. By April of 1969, The Beatles reportedly could not stand each other anymore. There were creative disputes, degrading remarks made at each others' expense and a sense that the band could not even function any more. This album was an attempt to make records “the way they used to,” free of the bickering and tension that had been growing ever since The White Album. Unfortunately, this admirable goal was not met and this album would be the last thing The Beatles recorded together, (though Let It Be would be the final record they released.)

Side one of the record is pretty standard Beatles fare in terms of its construction. Concise, pretty, faultless pop songs full of gorgeous harmonies and wonderful lyrics and vocals. Each member of the band's voice is on top form on side one. Side two is where the magic really begins. It is home to a suite full of amazing musical ideas unlike any The Beatles had done before.

Abbey Road features very little in the way of collaboration between members. Each song serves as a singular extension of the songwriter behind it. This sounds like it could be a detriment but it works in the album's advantage. Each song works as a great “last word” from the Beatle that wrote it. And could there be any greater last word than Come Together? O Darling? Something? Octopus' Garden? Okay well, not everyone's last words are meaningful are poignant.

Olivia Tremor Control - Black Foliage (1999)

Olivia Tremor Control's album Black Foliage is the type of record The Beatles would have made if they stuck together after Abbey Road, took even more insane amounts of psychoactive drugs and wrote music whilst their brains were slowly deteriorating. In short it is a beautifully psychedelic mishmash of gorgeous melodies, innocuous lyrics and a sense that you are experiencing a beautiful nightmare from which you can not wake.

Black Foliage feels cold and calculated in the warmest possible way. Random horn overdubs come blaring out of nowhere, string sections jut in and out, over and under recordings. It's host to some amazing key-changes as well, taking a section that used to feel peaceful and beautiful and turning it around to feel its insidious inner darkness. Every transition, as jarring as weird as it can seem, somehow feels right. The album is littered with four second segueway tracks which don't feel like anything more than the organic bumpiness in an otherwise smooth train-ride. This is one album you need to listen to multiple times before forming an opinion on.

Most albums can be classified as either a summer or winter album. This album is an anomaly because it sounds different depending on the season you play it in. Its inhuman, strange and industrial qualities make it a fitting listen for Winter but its soothing vocals and cutesy lyrics make it a great album to listen to in the sunshine.

Oasis - What's The Story, Morning Glory? (1995)

Noel Gallagher, lead guitarist and songwriter of Oasis, has often said in interviews that he does not understand the meaning of his own lyrics. He is not alone in that, as many fans will admit that Oasis lyrics are oftentimes nonsense. Emotion-inspiring nonsense, but nonsense but nonsense nonetheless. So how is it that for a decade or so, these lyrics were shouted in arenas across the world? How did Oasis become, for a short time anyways, the biggest band in the world?

The answer lies in the album "What's The Story, Morning Glory?' This album is the perfect synergy of two brothers who couldn't be more different, are constantly at odds with each other, and yet are still brought together by the power of their chemistry.

Liam's voice, though blown now, was an amazing gift for rock and roll. It had all the clarity and sentimentality of John Lennon with an aggression and pack-a-day grit all its own. Noel's guitar-playing is tasteful and melodic whilst being soul-sweepingly epic. These siblings may have run their mouths in interviews at the expense of their reputations, but they never treated their songs with anything but care and respect.

This album is a thick Manchester slab of emotion and a perfect capsule of the way the world was moving in the late nineties. So when Champagne Supernova starts up, don't be surprised if you feel a lump in your throat, even if you don't know what Noel is going on about. Oasis teaches us that words aren't nearly as important in a great rock song as soul is.

Muse - Origin of Symmetry

Due to its anti-religious statements, Matt Bellamy had to change the lyrics to the final track on Origin of Symmetry in order to get a church's permission to record the song with their organ. It's quite ironic then that this album has some of the most deeply spiritual and powerful moments in the entire Muse canon.

The album may have beautiful, psalm like melodies, a transcendent falsetto by Matt Bellamy, a unique and crushing rhythm section and thoughtful lyrics, but for the most part it does not cover religion (they would tackle that subject on their next album, Absolution). No, Origin of Symmetry is based on the fact that we are envious, weak and powerless creatures who are separated further and further due to technology.

The songs that best exemplify this are "Screenager," "Bliss" (a song in which Matt pleas with the listener to "give me all the peace and joy in your mind"), Micro Cuts (which uses the metaphor that technology is our puppetmaster) to great effect, and Dark Shines (which seems to be about an abusively destructive relationship. "Your innocence, I will consume."

It's some of the most mind-altering music you can listen to and you will be forever changed after listened to it. It's the musical equivalent of a disturbing film like A Clockwork Orange, only a little less disturbing and rape-filled.

Imagine an album with the raw, weird funk and sexuality of classic Prince, the pop-stylings of The Doobie Brothers. Oh and also imagine that the song "What A Fool Believes" by the Doobie Brothers is covered on said album. Now imagine that the album was recorded only with kids toys and instruments.

So goes the story behind Gizmodgery by Self. Gizmodgery is a unique album, featuring appearances from a one-string Children's guitar, a Sing 'N Speak Keyboard and countless other children's percussion instruments.

The songs (and most of the instrumentation) belong to the frighteningly talented Matt Mahaffey. The production is disturbingly high-class. The children's keyboards actually sound fantastic, their warm analog sounds in harsh contrast to the cold compressed digital keyboard sounds used in music today.

Matt's lyrics and vocals are cynical and oftentimes rooted in humor as is the case on Trunk Fulla Amps, which features several parodies on world-famous bands.

The album is stylistically rich. Between Hip-Hop, Funk, 90's Alt Rock and Heavy Metal, you'll feel full by the time Ilovetoloveyourlove, the album's romantic doo-wop closer, plays you out. This song features the most amazing guitar solo played ever played on one string. The next time you visit a newborn baby's house, maybe you and him can jam to some of the songs on here together (though definitely not Trunk Fulla Amps due to its gratuitous use of "the f word.")



(I can't stress how brilliant the rest of the songs on the album are. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Make sure to check out some of the other tracks which that youtube user has kindly uploaded.)