Recorded at the same time as Fly Like An Eagle. Book Of Dreams is what was left over from the sessions after the first batch of songs were selected. So, this is actually an album of outtakes.
That explains why the two albums sound so similar. It wasn't all leftovers, though, he recorded some new stuff after 'Fly Like an Eagle' was released and added it to the stew.
BEA Ranks: 14th of 1991; 118th of the 1990s; 572nd of All Time
Ranked highest by LaineJ, 2nd of All Time.
"If GNR had combined and trimmed Use Your Illusions I & II together into one disc, they'd have something as good as, maybe even better than, Appetite for Destruction. As they are though they're still ALMOST as good, which is a pretty amazing feat." --lightmyway
"Axl Rose tore the shit out of his voice touring for Appetite For Destruction. The results are that both Use Your Illusion albums have what may be the whiniest sung through the nose vocals ever recorded. For me, unlistenable." --Romanelli
On I
"The best Guns n Roses album in my opinion. It's the only one that doesn't contain a bunch of overplayed radio hits and it transcends the typical arena rock sound they established in the 80s." --louisjwyatt
"I was always confused by the Use Your Illusion albums. This one isn't as strong as II, but does have a handful of good tunes. Like many people, I'd have preferred they pared them down to one awesome album. But even allowing for rock star hubris, I don't get why they sequenced the albums the way they did. This one feels like it has more filler than not, and it's much weaker for it." --zdwyatt
"The guitar solo in "November Rain" may be my favorite guitar solo ever, or at least it's up there. Slash made his guitar weep and moan like the people of Nineveh and it's hard not to get goosebumps listening to it. It's the most beautiful tone and a perfect example of how you don't have to shred like a machine to have an awesome solo (though there's some great shredding in it too). " --RockyRaccoon
On II
"The only way to assess this record is to not compare it to I. There are some real gems on here-Breakdown is probably their single most underrated song. Lots of filler? Sure-but even some of the filler is fun. Nothing wrong with an alternate version of "Don't Cry" (not like they were the first band to do that) and "Get in the Ring" is kind of hilarious." --Decurso
"November Rain" was the big radio hit from this pair, and that's too bad, because any of the metal tracks on UYL2 would have been a much better showcase for GnR." --Listmeister
"My World is one of the the ugliest and worst closing tracks ever." --TracyJacks
These two albums had been on my wish list for a long time, and finally last spring I listened to both of them. I was so impressed with them that I put them into my top 100. I'd wanted to get more Metal into my rankings, having only recently discovered that I like the genre, more because of the intricate guitar work than anything else. And Slash might be the best guitarist in the whole genre.
So, I listened to them again for the "Listens" segment. The UYI1 did not grab me at all. I was going to demote both of them to Threshold status. UYI2 is much much better. The songs are better, Axl's singing is better, the guitar work is way better. It's the difference between being in the Top 100, and not so much. There's just too much competition at this level.
83. Live at the BBC
84. Now & Then
85. The Resistance
86. Stone Roses
87. Fly Like an Eagle
88. Very
89. Tragic Kingdom
90. The Life Pursuit
91. One Step Beyond...
92. Eldorado
93. Book o Dreams
94. Actually
95. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
96. Use Your Illusion II
97. On the Third Day
98. London Calling
99. Don Quixote
100. American Graffiti Soundtrack
101. The Fame Monster
102. I Walk the Line
103. The Visitors
104. Rocky Mountain High
105. Use Your Illusion I
106. Pure Heroine
BEA Ranks: 45th of 2016; 2,247th of 2010s; 14,945th of All Time
Ranked highest by Listmeister: 6th of 2010s
"Strong effort, much better than the trilogy albums. The sound is raw again and most of the songs are good enough to take this between Green Day's best albums. Not top level, but still a high point in their career" --ricco94
"Whatever expectations I had from the album, it very conveniently exceeded them." --vastal
I don't just listen to my top 100 (or ELO). But I had not figured out yet what I would do if I ran into an album that may be Top 100-worthy, until now.
A couple of years ago, I listened to all the Green Day albums, one after the other, hoping I'd find something spectacular like I'd heard with American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown. Back in the 90's Green Day was just (to me) another whiny alternative band, so those early albums, including the legendary "Dookie", were a chore to get through. "American Idiot" came along, and, well, I'll be writing about that toward the end of this Top 100 survey. 21st Century Breakdown was in the same league, and while it wasn't as good as Idiot, it was good enough to make me a Green Day fan. Uno, Dos, and Tre', were mostly better than their 90's stuff, but not top 100.
Then I heard that Green Day had produced another album. I was blown away. It was the best thing they'd done since 21st Century Breakdown certainly, maybe better than that. I tried to rank it. It's the best I've heard from 2016 so far (to be fair, I've been sort of slacking on the new albums this year). Within 2010's, to my surprise, it's better than Pure Heroine (Lorde).
So that means, it goes ahead of that threshold album. Let's see, we'll put it in the 90's.
90. The Resistance
91. Stone Roses
92. Very
93. Tragic Kingdom
94. The Life Pursuit
95. Actually
96. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
97. Revolution Radio
98. On the Third Day
99. London Calling
100. Don Quixote
Parallel Lines by Blondie
BEA Ranks: 4th of 1978; 88th of 1970s; 313th of All Time.
Ranked highest by: Rockyayesyes, Best Of All Time. orzolino, Best of All Time
"A greatest hits package on one album. Debbie Harry taught the other girls how to sweet, sexy and tough at the same time. Wonderful stuff." --junodog4
"The greatest pop achievement to ever crawl out of NYC's underground." --jstreets
"Man this album's a hoot. " --lanadeleswift
"One of the catchiest albums I've ever heard. I love it so damn much. Guaranteed to have a good time with this album." --JasonConfused
Deborah Harry, we'll get to you in a minute. Blondie, the band, is a group of really talented musicians. The riff on Heart Of Glass alone will never be forgotten. "Will Anything Happen" was, like, the fourth best track on the album, and it gains a level in awesome with its own riff.
But of course this band is not remembered for the band members, it's remembered for its namesake, the very blonde Ms. Deborah Harry. Her voice is, to use two adjectives I've never used to apply to the same thing, tough and sensuous. With the range she demonstrates between "One Way Or Another" and "Sunday Girl", she embodies everything that is sexy about New York City.
82. Live at the BBC
83. Parallel Lines
84. Now & Then
85. The Resistance
86. Stone Roses
87. Fly Like an Eagle
88. Very
89. Tragic Kingdom
90. The Life Pursuit
91. One Step Beyond...
BEA Ranks 81st of 1980; 668th of the 1980s; 4,132nd of All Time
Ranked highest by: TrekkiELO (13th of All TIme)
"Irresistible 80s pop, and criminally underrated. But yeh, the movie does suck." --Xavygravy
"Both ELO and Olivia were in their prime when this album was made and I personally love both halves of the album." --nf0603
"In the interests of admitting my biases up front: I love this movie. It's effects, costumes, sets, plot lines, all encapsulate that moment when the 1970's turned into the 1980's." --Listmeister
My full review is here. Short version: I loved the movie, loved the album. Loved the Olivia Newton-John part, liked the ELO part. I thought it was awesome when the two of them got together on the last track, "Xanadu".
81. Live at the BBC
82. Parallel Lines
83. Now & Then
84. The Resistance
85. Stone Roses
86. Xanadu
87. Fly Like an Eagle
88. Very
89. Tragic Kingdom
90. The Life Pursuit
BEA Rank: 197th of 1968; 1,031st of the 1960s; 17,965th of All Time
Ranked highest by Listmeister (80th of All Time)
As far as I can tell, this album has never been mentioned in the forums before, and there aren't any comments on the album page. First!
Some three hundred years ago, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote the book on modern music theory. I don't know if that last sentence is literally true or only figuratively, I don't really know that much about classical music. It doesn't matter, he taught the rest of the Western world how to do music, and everything before Bach is just musical pre-history. The twelve-note octave with its steps and half-steps and which notes sound harmonious together, Bach figured it out. The music he wrote brought these notes together in series and in parallel was in its essence divine.
It also tended to be fairly digital, dependent on the notes themselves and not on the intensity of the playing or subtle emotional expression. Which means that it translates really well to modern electronic instruments. But the idea of playing old compositions on new instruments were unheard of in 1968.
Enter Walter Carlos, an experimental musician.
I quote here from the liner notes:
Quote:
"Two years ago [in 1966] this album could not have been made. With the equipment then available, to obtain the qualities that make up a good performance was a thankless, time-consuming, and ultimately futile exercise... Limitations were in evidence any time an electronic composition contained a line at all instrumental in nature.
It was at this impasse that Walter Carlos implored Bob Moog, the originator of the first commercially packaged synthesizer, to work with him in evolving new subsystems with which the production of more sophisticated nuances of expression would be a practical matter. The modified synthesizer resulting from their collaboration was a musical instrument.... Playing it beautifully requires as much skill, practice, talent, and taste as playing any instrument beautifully, plus the need for a composer's ear for new and different sounds."
The result is music that hooks directly into the brain, stimulating the intellect and the imagination.
80. Switched-on Bach
81. Live at the BBC
82. Parallel Lines
83. Now & Then
84. The Resistance
85. Stone Roses
86. Xanadu
87. Fly Like an Eagle
88. Very
89. Tragic Kingdom
BEA Ranks: 12th of 1967; 44th of 1960s; 310th of All Time.
Ranked highest by kookio (Best Of All Time)
"This is sooooo 1967, I love it." --Deckiller
"Terrific from start to finish, with psych classics White Rabbit and Somebody To Love contrasting with beautiful acoustic tracks Today, Comin' Back To Me and Embryonic Journey. Critically acclaimed and commercially successful, there is no reason why this shouldn't be regarded amongst the very best in the top 100." --flamingeyesdept
"Fantastic music - it literally put west coast psychedelia on the charts - and just for that is and remains a landmark album" --NickVolos
"I allowed this album to consume my soul for 34 minutes. It feels like I'm swimming in acid where the beach is made out of candy." --HazeyTwilight
The call it Acid Rock, and i guess Somebody To Love can sound pretty acidic. But then you have the much more alkaline Today and How Do You Feel. White Rabbit is both, and its lyrics will blow your mind.
But besides being an artifact of the Summer Of Love, the music itself is glorious, the harmonies (especially between Grace Slick and Marty Balin) are beautiful, the acoustic bits are stimulating, the rock and roll is electrifying. It's a product of it's time, sure, but we're still enjoying it 50 years later.
79. Switched-on Bach
80. Live at the BBC
81. Surrealistic Pillow
82. Parallel Lines
83. Now & Then
84. The Resistance
85. Stone Roses
86. Xanadu
87. Fly Like an Eagle
88. Very
BEA Ranks 1967: 73rd; 1960s: 430th; All Time 6,279th.
Ranked highest by trajis: 63rd of All Time
"Groovy psychedelic pop from the golden age." --Coconut
I didn't plan to have two psychedelic albums back to back, they just fell that way. Strawberry Alarm Clock (Strawberries Mean Love, as one of the tracks claims. Wake Up to Love, get it?) is sort of the poster band for One Hit Wonderland, as they came out of nowhere, then Incense and Peppermints became a Number One Song, then they disappeared again.
Incense and Peppermints, the song, was definitely worthy of it's high critical praise and Number One spot. The instrumentation was intricately psychedelic and the lyrics read like a hippie manifesto:
Quote:
Good sense, innocence crippled mankind. Dead kings, many things I can't define.
Occasions persuasions clutter your mind. Incense and Peppermints, the color of time.
Who cares what games we choose? Little to win but nothing to lose.
Incense and peppermints, meaningless nouns.
Turn on, tune in, turn your eyes around. Look at yourself. Look at your self.
So, did they successfully extend the tone of the hit song across an entire album? Well, not lyrically. Lyrically, Incense and Peppermints is much more intricate than anything else on the album, although you get the occasional clever turn of phrase on the other tracks. However, instrumentally, this is a very tight band, and they know how to make psychedelic music at the time when the genre was just getting invented.
I'm going to have to drop it below Surrealistic Pillow, now that I've heard these two albums back to back. Nothing against SAC, but Jefferson Airplane is just way better.
78. Switched-on Bach
79. Live at the BBC
80. Surrealistic Pillow
81. Parallel Lines
82. Now & Then
83. The Resistance
84. Stone Roses
85. Incense and Peppermints
86. Xanadu
87. Fly Like an Eagle
88. Very
The song "Incense And Peppermints" was a song that the band hated the lyrics to so much that they brought in an outsider to sing it. It was sung by Greg Munford...his only professional recording. The music was co-written by band members Mark Weitz and Ed King, neither of whom was given credit.
Ed King went on to become one of the three lead guitarists in the classic lineup of Lynyrd Skynyrd. _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
BEA Ranks 28th of 2002; 304th of 2000's; 1428th of All TIme
Ranked highest by tlancaster8 (2nd of All Time)
"Really different than current Maroon 5. Way more laid back. Lot more soul and rock than expected. The guitars are more complex and Adam actually displays some good vocals. Even the lyrics are better; more subdued and explore much more believable dysfunctional relationships." --GawdDontKnow
"Best from them, probably forever unless they can get back to this feeling and sound." --DDrizzles
It was the first album for Maroon 5, as Maroon 5, although they had recorded previously as Kara's Flowers. It was not yet Adam Levine and the Maroon Four, so the other band members can shine, like they do on "Not Coming Home."
But whatever the band is doing, sometimes, you feel the music in your throat, and you are driven to sing along. Now, Mr. Levine's vocal range exactly matches my own, except it's an octave higher. I first noticed this with "I Won't Go Home Without You." (2007/08 ).
Now, I had missed the early 2000's. What with the election of 2000, 9/11, various wars, etc., I had become a news junkie. Stopped listening to pop music all together. Long story, but I started listening again in December 2007. Then I went back and tried to catch up on the years I had missed, but in the 2001-2003 range, I found little that I could enjoy. The three hits from this album (Harder to Breathe, This Love, She Will Be Loved) saved 2002 for me.
So, I guess that's why I like this album. Like the best pop music, it pulls a song out of my lungs and makes me feel good. What more do you want?
77. Switched-on Bach
78. Live at the BBC
79. Surrealistic Pillow
80. Songs About Jane
81. Parallel Lines
82. Now & Then
83. The Resistance
84. Stone Roses
85. Incense and Peppermints
86. Xanadu
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