the album project

No discussion of my collection of “A” artists could possibly be complete without AC/DC.  They were my first favorite band–literally, I was 12 years old when I got into AC/DC.  Prior to then, I’d listened to random stuff, mostly classic 70’s, all  at my older brother’s behest (we shared a room and he owned the stereo).

Once he moved out, I was free to listen to my own agenda, and I immediately got a Columbia House subscription.  (Later on, we’ll cover how absurd this actually turns out to be, in light of my father’s struggles to keep his stores afloat trying to compete with crap like free cassettes direct from the label, but I digress.)

In the first batch came AC/DC’s Back In Black.  After hearing it, I immediately ordered everything in the Columbia House catalog, which amounted to Highway to Hell and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.  I eventually got my hands on High Voltage, Let There Be Rock, Powerage, ‘74 Jailbreak, and If You Want Blood….  Angus Young seemed the embodiment of rock guitar to my young ears, and I spent many afternoons jumping around my parent’s apartment with my Dad’s stereo jammed up to speaker-blowing volumes, air-guitaring his solos (I’ll come back to this story more when we get to M and Metallica…).

I  have to admit that I felt very late to the party: by the time I got into AC/DC, Bon Scott had already killed himself with alcohol, and the tide had turned to Brian Johnson.  Bon Scott’s snotty aussie tone was far better, and it was never gonna be heard again.  I was sorta disappointed with For Those About To Rock…, and I was buying out of duty by the time Flick Of The Switch rolled along.  That was the last AC/DC album I ever bought.

But, for years afterwards, I listened to Dirty Deeds and, more than any other album, Highway To Hell.  Ultimately, I sold a big chunk of my cassettes at Zia Records in Arizon (mostly in Tempe, but there were other locations around Phoenix), but I kept the AC/DC stuff until it simply stopped working.

Now, I have every album AC/DC has ever recorded, all on MP3.  I feel no compunction about it at all–I’ve paid for those licenses!  I bought those cassettes just as compact discs were first coming out (see Flim and the BB’s for a CD from that era), and the labels promised that CDs would utimately become cheaper–they’re still $18 for a new CD, twenty years later.

Other “A” acts include:

- Aerosmith, Toys In The Attic: this was literally one of my first albums ever, given to me by my dad for Christmas in 1975.  I was 6 years old.  (In the same set of gifts, Kiss Alive I and II , Angel’s first self-titled album, and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon, which my brother promptly stole from me.)

- Aerosmith, Permanent Vacation: I beat this disc to death, and I have no idea where it is today.  Saw Guns and Roses open for Aerosmith at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.

- Aerosmith, Pump: I bought this CD, and liked it more than Permanent Vacation.  Again, I have no idea where this disc is today–possibly it was traded in for something else.

- Al di Meola, Electric Rendezvous: had this on cassette, loved the latin guitar work.  I should listen to more of stuff like this, but don’t get enough.

(A quick note: you’ll have to put up with my filing approach–Al is an “A” artist to me, not a “D” or “M”.  Get over it, we got a lot to cover here.)

- Alan Parsons Project, I Robot: I stole this from my brother; “Breakdown” is my favorite song ever done by APP.

- Alan Parsons Project, Tales of Mystery and Imagination: kind of silly, the operatic lilting of “Thus quoth the raven, Nevermore!”

- Anal Cunt, I Like It When You Die:

- Aphex Twin: Analogue Bubblebath, Analord, Classics, Come To Daddy, Drukqs, I Care Because You Do, Richard D. James Album, Selected Ambient Works II.  All downloaded.

- Army of Anyone, self-titled: I own this CD, I just haven’t ground it into the folders yet.  Produced by Ken Andrews (Failure, On, Year Of The Rabbit, Ken Andrews).  AWESOME album, really good, maybe one of the best of 2007.

- Art Of Noise, In Visible Silence:

- Audioslave, self-titled:

- Audioslave, Out Of Exile:

There are maybe 40 other  “A” artists that have been downloaded.  Most of them I should delete because I don’t listen to them.

At The Drive In, Relationship Of Command

I must admit, the hype machine got me to buy this album. I fucking hated it. I never got these guys, and I guess I’m just not cool enough. Boo hoo.

(B to be picked up once I shoot those pages.)

The Apex Theory, self-titled

This is great stuff, and apparently, they’re still churning out music (including a new album this year titled Faces). “Shh…Hope Diggy” got some airplay, but my favorite track of theirs is “Apossibly” (only on the pre-release Random Bursts–see previous page–or on Topsy-Turvy).

Aphex Twin, Come To Daddy EP

So, I got this disc, because Mike Patton and Dillinger Escape Plan covered “Come To Daddy” on their EP Irony Is A Dead Scene. This album was enjoyable, but I have to be honest, it’s not something I would seek out.

The guy behind Aphex Twin, Richard D. James, is a prolific little bugger, with several dozen releases over the last decade.

I will say this: this is good coding music (I’m a programmer, and when one hits their stride in coding, there is a particular type of music that is ideal for the kind of flow–”Come To Daddy” is a great example). Is it wrong for me to download him, if I never intend on actually buying anything else he does?

What if what I download causes me to go buy an album? What, then, is the real cost of my downloading activities?

Atari Teenage Riot, 60 Second Wipeout

Bought it, listened to it once, really should have traded it in, but broke it down thinking I’d like it later. That didn’t happen, and here it sits.

Anthrax, The Threat Is Real

This portion of the collection is heartbreaking, because I had almost everything Anthrax had released up until 1998, and the whole lot got taken in the Oz Cleanoutm, including Spreading The Disease, Among The Living, State Of Euphoria, Persistence Of Time, and Sound Of White Noise.

Again, immoral to download, considering I paid for the discs? Is there any reason why that license should ever expire?

A Perfect Circle, Mer De Noms

Side project between Maynard (Tool) and Billy Howerdel, guitar tech for Failure and bitchin’ songwriter in his own right.

Somewhere, I have The 13th Step still in its case (grinding new CDs into the book is sometimes a batch job I wait on). Quite possibly on my Top Ten list.

Apex Theory, Random Bursts

This was an interesting score, as it was an advance for an album that was ultimately remixed and released as an eponymous EP and the album Topsy-Turvy (see next page). I have this mostly as novelty.

Alice In Chains, Sap
Alice In Chains, Jar Of Flies
Alice In Chains, Dirt

I bought Sap in Tempe, Arizona, from the Zia Records in Deer Valley. Zia was a great store–they traded high (3 got 2), and they were careful to check the CDs before shelving them.

I bought Sap immedately after getting Facelift, which had their breakout hit “Man In The Box”. Facelift was out a full year before Nirvana’s Nevermind or Pearl Jam’s Ten (one of my person Top Ten discs), but those bands are more credited with starting grunge. Meh.

I love Sap way more than just about any other stuff Alice In Chains put out. The acoustic mellow vibe was a balm amongst all of the screaming. And the additional voices from Soundgarden, Mudhoney, and even Heart. Great stuff.

Sap was one of the discs that got me through my drive from Phoenix to Hopewell, where I left Arizona on the 24th and needed to be in New Jersey by the 26th. It was a hairy ride, me in a Ryder truck pulling a TBird on a trailer with my cat in the car. Sap is also the reason I bought just about every disc they put out.

I lost my original copies of Sap, Facelift and Alice In Chains in the theft in Oz. Obviously, I never replaced Facelift or AIC. I did, at one point, own them, but had them taken from me. Is it morally wrong to download these two discs then?

Jar Of Flies and Dirt both have some great tracks on them, and I love singing along to their more melodic tunes, but for me, Sap is what really defines the best of Alice In Chains for me.

Ken Andrews, Secrets Of The Lost Satellite

Ken Andrews was half of one of my favorite bands, Failure. (Their album Magnified is another of my Top Ten all time favorite albums.)  He and Greg Edwards teamed up for three of the greatest discs you’ve never heard before they split.  (Greg is now involved in a project called Autolux.)

Failure was Ken Andrews’ first act. After they split, he released some solo material under the rubric On, and then did a rock album with a full band as Year Of The Rabbit.

This is his most recent work, and has him at the top of his songwriting game. As all of his work has been, critically acclaimed, but he doesn’t see a lot of commercial success.

Ken is also a talented producer, having worked with bands like Blinker The Star, Tenacious D, and more recently, Army of Anyone (another really great band).

The Accident Experiment, United We Fear

Marco Curiel was thrown out of POD (the “Southtown” POD sings about is south San Diego), and formed this band. I got this CD at the release party. He had a good rhythm section (former rhythm section of Sprung Monkey), and the front was good, too, but they just didn’t have the songs. This disc proved it.

The release fizzled, and Marco was eventually brought back into POD.

Acid Bath, When The Kite String Pops

This is an awesome, scary album. Very heavy, super good, mega evil. “Cassie likes it in her hand / Cassie’s dead inside / I came to fuck the open wound / So hold it open wide.” Not for the kids.

Top Ten?  Mebbe.

Acid Bath, Paegan Terrorism Tactics

More evil Acid Bath, but not as strong as Kite String.

1000 Homo DJs, Supernaut

I love that the first disc I get to write about is an Al Jourgensen project. I call him Papa Al–he is as close as I get to a personal hero, all the way out to his own personal penultimate response to the music industry.

This is an early side project with Jello Biafra–it basically is Ministry with Jello, but there was also supposed to be a contribution from Trent Reznor. He was cut out because his label at the time wouldn’t release him. The backstory is that Jourgensen ran with Reznor’s original vocal, processed so they couldn’t be identified, but later Jourgensen asserted that the version on this disc is his performance. (The version with Reznor’s vocals was released several times later.)

This was released in 1990, just as Ministry was beginning to hit its stride, a year before Psalm 69 was released.

311, self-titled

One of the few high points of the rap rock scene, these guys sound the same that they did when this album came out in 1995. I played bass in a cover band that played “Down” pretty damn well, if I do say so myself. I like the vocal performance, but the rap stuff gets a bit tedious.

36 Crazyfists, Bitterness The Star

This was given to me by the then-publisher of Revolt In Style magazine. I spun it a couple times and never really looked back. I think it’s kind of heavy, maybe? I’m a big fan of heavy music, but most of what’s been released in the last decade has been really fucking boring.