Combined & Condensed Albums, Part 1

It's awesome when a band/artist you love suddenly releases a deluge of new material, isn't it? Whether it's a double album or a trilogy of EPs, hearing new material for the first time sure is exciting. But later on once the afterglow has worn off I often wonder what a more condensed collection of this material might sound like. If all the fat were trimmed away and one standard-length album was assembled from all that we got, would we be left with an undisputed masterpiece of art? Join me as I explore this theory today with some of my favourite artists. Think of these as playlist ideas if you want. I'll even try coming up with fancy names for them too.

Choose Your Illusion by Guns N' Roses (1991)

One complaint I hear a lot from people who don't like Guns N' Roses (i.e. weirdos) is that it took them too long to make their second/third full-length album(s) and when they finally did it was a bloated wreck with too much filler and that if it was just one album of songs it would've been pretty good. While I agree that the four years' wait was too long, I still think Use Your Illusion I and II are fine albums that are worthy additions to the GNR discography. But if those thirty songs are too much for you I understand; allow me to trim it down to twelve. This was not an easy playlist for me to make up since I like both albums so much – although I clearly prefer I over II as you can see by the eight-to-four split – but these twelve songs best represent where the band was at musically in 1991. I've included the big hits (“You Could Be Mine”, “Civil War”), the ballads (“November Rain”, “Don't Cry”), and the hard rockers (“Locomotive”, “Right Next Door to Hell”). I also wanted to bring to light songs like “Bad Apples” and “Bad Obsession” which I think decent under-appreciated rock tunes that remind me of the Rolling Stones. I left off the cover songs and the drawn-out “Estranged”; I never much cared for them. And if you were expecting to see “My World” on this list then you must be out of your mind! So here's to you, non-GNR fans. If you're still not satisfied then I'm afraid I can't help you.

Approximate run time: 1 hour 15 minutes

1. “Right Next Door to Hell”, I

2. “Civil War”, II

3. “Bad Obsession”, I

4. “Don't Cry”, I

5. “Breakdown”, II

6. “Locomotive”, II

7. “Dust N' Bones”, I

8. “Double Talkin' Jive”, I

9. “November Rain”, I

10. “Bad Apples”, I

11. “You Could Be Mine”, II

12. “Coma”, I

Machina 1.5: The Gods of Modern Music by The Smashing Pumpkins (2000)

In 2000 the Smashing Pumpkins put out two albums: Machina/The Machines of God and Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music. They were OK. As far as I'm aware Machina II never got a physical commercial release – instead it was available for free on the internet, possibly the first major album to do so – and as a result lots of people never heard it. True, the band's glory days had just recently come to an end but both Machina albums still had a lot of good songs on them with a variety of tones and sounds. This goes double for the marathon second album: almost half the songs there are B-sides and alternate versions. This made it difficult for me to decide which songs should go where, what a good order for them would be, so I tried starting out with the heavier songs and ending with the gloomier ones. All in all I ended up with thirteen songs – seven from Machina I and six from Machina II – out of a possible forty for an approximate run time of 57 minutes. With these two albums together I think we've got a pretty good collection roughly on par with Pisces Iscariot. Not as great as my made-up title suggests, but still worth your time.

1. “The Everlasting Gaze”, I

2. “Raindrops + Sunshowers”, I

3. “Dross”, II

4. “Real Love”, II

5. “Let Me Give the World to You”, II

6. “The Sacred and Profane”, I

7. “Try, Try, Try”, I

8. “In My Body”, II

9. “Here's to the Atom Bomb”, II

10. “If There is a God (Piano)”, II

11. “Age of Innocence”, I

12. “The Crying Tree of Mercury”, I

13. “Blue Skies Bring Tears”, I

Not the Actual Witch Violence by Nine Inch Nails (2016, 2017, 2018)

Last decade Nine Inch Nails announced that they would put out a trilogy of EPs: Not the Actual Events, Add Violence, and Bad Witch (later re-branded as a full-length album even though it's only 30 minutes). Each of the three works had their focuses: Not the Actual Events returned to the abrasive industrial sound of the band's earlier material, Add Violence adopted a calmer, more electronic approach, and Bad Witch took both avenues and drowned them in a darker atmosphere (with some unexpected saxophone to boot!). The three releases produced a total of 16 songs. One could argue that that would be enough for a single long album – 1999's The Fragile included 23 – but for this one I decided to cut out the fluff and present only the essentials. And so we end up with a roughly 49 minute collection of ten songs (split 3-2-5) which I think is pretty good, but you're probably better off just listening to the three original recordings anyways.

1. “Less Than”, AV

2. “Shit Mirror”, BW

3. “Ahead of Ourselves”, BW

4. “Play the Goddamned Part”, BW

5. “She's Gone Way”, NTAE

6. “The Idea of You”, NTAE

7. “This Isn't the Place”, AV

8. “I'm Not From this World”, BW

9. “Burning Bright (Field on Fire)”, NTAE

10. “Over and Out”, BW

My 10 Favourite Albums of the 2010's

 

Yeah, I know I'm late to the whole “Top 10 ______ of the Decade” list trend, but 2020 has been a most unusual year, wouldn't you say? I've still got some energy to spare and not many movies to write about and since I find writing about music to be a fun challenge I've decided to take a look at some of the 2010's standout albums. Most of my preferred music comes from past decades and since I didn't listen to nearly enough of last decade's tunes to comment on the music scene as a whole this will simply be my list of personal favourite albums from the 2010's. This list will cover full-length albums released from 2010 to 2019, and will focus mostly on major label stuff. Compilations, remixes, live albums, and film soundtracks don't count.

Honourable mentions: The Great War by Sabaton, Weapon by Skinny Puppy, King Animal by Soundgarden

10. Apocalyptic Love by Slash (2012)

I've written about this album before (April 2016) and mentioned that I thought it was “OK... not great”, but every time I hear Apocalyptic Love I appreciate it just a little bit more than before. Slash's second solo album – the first to feature Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators on every track – sees the man slip into conventional hard rock album trappings as opposed to the jumbled guest star hodgepodge that was the previous album. This second recording is much more focused, better paced, and better written and it gives the guitarist more room to show off his chops. There's your standard hard rocker tunes like “One Last Thrill”, slower moody songs like “Far and Away”, and even a classical-sounding epic, “Anastasia.” Altogether the Slash man released four solo albums in the 2010's but for my money Apocalyptic Love beats them all thanks to its superior variety and pace.

9. Tattoos & Tequila by Vince Neil (2010)

That's right, I've listed a Vince Neil solo album as one of my top 10, and I'm not ashamed to say that I quite enjoy Tattoos & Tequila. It seems like most aging rock stars eventually go the live albums and cover songs route once their sales decline but Vince isn't just going through the motions on this record; this collection of songs delivers more rawness, energy, and fun than almost any other covers album I've heard. The songs range from classic rock staples like Cheap Trick's “He's a Whore” and The Hollies' “Long Cool Woman” to glam metal versions of unexpected gems like Elton John's “The Bitch is Back” and even “Viva Las Vegas” from Elvis. A real highlight comes in the form of “Nobody's Fault” from Aerosmith; it's easily the heaviest song of the bunch and the talk-box guitar solos were a nice touch. However I'd be technically incorrect in saying that Tattoos & Tequila is a full covers album. There are two original songs and they're easily this recording's weakest points, missing the energy and rowdiness found in the rest of the tracks. It makes me wish that Vince Neil did some more covers albums because his selection of some old classics fed through his patented L.A. sleaze-rock approach made Tattoos & Tequila surprisingly fun.

8. 13 by Black Sabbath (2013)

In 2013, the godfathers of heavy metal assembled to record one last collection of original songs and they did not disappoint. Any fan of Black Sabbath's first eight albums will feel at home listening to 13, with its doomy/spooky mood, long, intricate song structures, and excellent pacing. Ozzy's desperate, howled singing would fit neatly into 1978 and Tony Iommi proves that after 44 years he can still crank out heavy-duty riffs that you can't help but bang your head to. There's numerous callbacks to previous Sabbath classics; for example “Zeitgeist” bears undeniable similarity to 1970's “Planet Caravan”, “Live Forever” reminds me a lot of 1972's “Cornucopia”, and the closing track, “Dear Father,” shares many similarities with “Black Sabbath”, the first song from the band's first album. The only thing I can really knock 13 for is the production; the sonic range has been crushed under compression and artificial volume. Of all the albums in all the world, why did this one have to be a casualty of the loudness war? If it weren't for that blemish, 13 would've ranked much higher for me.

7. Collapse Into Now by R.E.M. (2011)

For their final album, alternative rock legends R.E.M. dial back from the hard rocker tone of their previous album, Accelerate (2008), and display a bit more variety in their songs. What we get is a broad sampling of all the styles and moods that the band has done throughout their past. There's songs reminiscent of Life's Rich Pageant (“Mine Smell Like Honey”) and New Adventures in Hi-Fi (“Blue”) and there's even direct lyrical references to at least one song on Accelerate (“Oh My Heart”). Speaking of lyrics, it's clear that this album is about the band coming to terms with the changing world around them while settling comfortably into middle age; more than once a mystified Michael Stipe refers to “the kids today”. Comfortable might be the best word to describe Collapse Into Now, in spite of the band members' talents on full display. It's a great band going out in style, doing what they do best.

6. ...Like Clockwork by Queens of the Stone Age (2013)

With the return of both past band members as well as an eerie – occasionally dreary – mood previously seen on Lullabies to Paralyze (2005) you might think that Josh Homme & Co. are coasting off of their glory days, trying to duplicate past success. This theory couldn't further from the truth. Instead ...Like Clockwork finds the band at a new level of maturity and focus; gone are the drug references and stoner vibes – with the possible exception of the groovy “Smooth Sailing”. What we get instead are lots of guest appearances, some top-notch production, and some tight, to-the-point songwriting. It's an album that's both complex and easily digestible and it easily ranks amongst the band's better works.

5. Welcome Oblivion by How to Destroy Angels (2013)

What genre of music of music is HTDA? Electronic rock? Post-industrial? Trip hop? Electronica? Whatever it is, I like it. After listening to every Nine Inch Nails recording I could find I figured I'd move on to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' side project featuring Mariqueen Maandig on lead vocals. Welcome Oblivion, the band's only full-length album to date, is dreamier and more mellifluous than your typical NIN recording thanks to Maandig's softer voice and the more melodic textures/arrangements. There are brief moments of drama and urgency and even some of the quieter songs have something going on in the background, like the ominous ringing in “Ice Age” which eventually builds up into a piercing crescendo. But moments like this only add to the sonic texture and aren't just there for the sake of being noisy. All in all, Welcome Oblivion was a pleasant surprise for me. It's a recording that's as soothing as it is hypnotic, perfect for listening through headphones with your eyes shut.

4. Hesitation Marks by Nine Inch Nails (2013)

In true Nine Inch Nails fashion it took five years for the next album to be released, and as always it was worth the wait. In the early/mid-2000's frontman Trent Reznor transitioned from bitter, angst-ridden young man with substance abuse problems to sober, industrious, and progressive artist exploring new themes and evolving his band's sound. The trend continues on NIN's eighth full length album, Hesitation Marks. The word introspective can be used to describe pretty much every NIN record, but this one does it from a more peaceful and mature – sometimes even hopeful – perspective which is unique for this band's discography. Sure, there are songs that are louder and aggressive (“Copy of A”, “In Two”) but there's also some calmer and contemplative ones (“Find My Way”, “Disappointed”). Overall I'd say Hesitation Marks most closely resembles a calmer, more mature, and more varied version of 2005's With Teeth. It's the sound of a band that's grown up.

3. Dystopia by Megadeth (2016)

After two underwhelming albums earlier last decade, Megadeth underwent a lineup change by adding lead guitarist Kiko Loureiro and drummer Chris Adler. Sometimes a little turmoil can do a band some good, as Dystopia is easily one of Megadeth's most energetic and aggressive albums since their glory days (the late 1980's to early 1990's). Fans of this band get exactly what they want: nearly every song hits hard and heavy with a furious level of speed, like in “The Threat is Real” and “Death from Within.” One exception is “Poisonous Shadows” which starts out with machine gun drumming and a chugging guitar riff only to give way to an orchestra and then a piano outro. And it all sounds great thanks to the top-notch production. Some listeners may be turned off by the lyrics' political themes or Dave Mustaine's voice but that's Megadeth for you; you should know what you're getting into by this point. All in all Dystopia sees Megadeth reaffirming itself as one of the Big Four of thrash metal with this menacing and blisteringly fast record guaranteed to please any of its fans. This is a dystopia worth living with.

2. Let England Shake by PJ Harvey (2011)

Let England Shake is easily the most ambitious album PJ Harvey has ever done. After mixing things up on 2007's White Chalk – a spooky piano-driven record where PJ sings in a much higher pitch than normal – the alt-rock legend struck with another starkly different recording. For starters her lyrics explore the themes of her English nationality/heritage and England's relation to the rest of the world – in particular its involvement in the First World War. Several songs are dedicated to the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign as well as the violence and tragedy of war; definitely a step away from Harvey's usual lyrical topics! Further experimentation is heard through her use of background vocals, autoharp, and brass instruments. Combined with the upper register vocals this makes for a soft sounding record – in spite of the often dreary subject matter – accentuated by the spacious production. I guess you could say it mirrors stereotypical British stoicism in masking its own disheartenment and outrage. Such complexity and harmonic grace make Let England Shake a surprising treat in PJ Harvey's catalogue. In fact one could argue that it's her best album to date but considering the strength of some of her previous efforts it wouldn't be an easy argument!

1. The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here by Alice in Chains (2013)

Dang, 2013 sure was a great year for music! By 2018 the new lineup of Alice in Chains had put out just as many full-length albums as the classic lineup and while the current band isn't quite as exciting or captivating as it once was it has still produced some quality recordings. 2009's Black Gives Way to Blue was AIC proving that they still had something to offer and it was quite good, showcasing a heavier, doomier sound. But the “new” band's second album, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here is where they truly show off their songwriting abilities. The doom and heaviness is still there – “Hollow”, “Phantom Limb”, “Hung on a Hook” – alongside a few catchier rockers – “Breath on a Window”, “Low Ceiling” – and even a few upbeat acoustic-led tunes like “Scalpel” and “Voices”. Needless to say this all makes for a listening experience that's varied and refreshing, bolstered by the glossy production and impeccable pacing which allows the expert instrumentation and the signature spine-tingling vocal harmonies to really shine. The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here is a darkly vivacious listen that goes by faster than its 67 minute length would have you think, perfect for driving to. I can't wait to see what this band does next.

Tier List: Nine Inch Nails Albums & EPs

I've recently gotten into Anthony Fantano's music reviews on YouTube. Let me rephrase that: I'm not so much glued to his album reviews as I am interested in his videos where he talks about general music trends and entire band discographies. This includes his Tier Lists in which he ranks all of a band's albums into tiers based on quality. This inspired me to do one of my own. I chose Nine Inch Nails because not only is it one of my favourite bands but it's also a band that has a large and diverse discography. For this ranking I've listed all fifteen of NIN's studio albums and EPs; live albums and remixes don't count. So let me explain in detail what this means.

• S Tier: They way I see it, an S-tier album is an exceptional album, one that is most essential to knowing an artist. I believe only one NIN album meets this criteria and it should come as no surprise that that album is 1994's The Downward Spiral. Straight from the pain factory comes a dramatic, machine-generated descent into anxiety and depression that isn't exactly easy to listen to. While it isn't for everyone, TDS is well-paced, heavily textured, and memorable.
• A Tier: To me an A-tier album is excellent, something no true fan should be without. One of them is this band's debut album, Pretty Hate Machine, a 48-minute sample of dark synthpop/machine rock whose hooky songwriting and defiant-yet-celebratory tone brought some mainstream appeal to industrial music. The other is 1999's The Fragile, a grandiose double album that offers a lot in the way of textured soundscapes – 7 of its 23 songs are instrumentals – but represents an evolution of NIN's sound and themes rather than a revolution. It wasn't quite as good as TDS but it was a damn good effort.
• B Tier: Next up we have the albums that I consider to be very good and by coincidence they all happen to be EPs. The band's first EP, Broken, is a focused buzz saw of intense rage and ferocity. It's as metal as the band ever got and it catapulted NIN into public consciousness. On the other end of the spectrum is Still, a toned-down set of eight songs some new and some deconstructed remakes of older NIN songs. I would argue that Still is a hidden gem in the Nine Inch Nails discography, the fulcrum around which the band's tone has matured. The other two are the first and third of the EP Trilogy (2016-18), Not the Actual Events and Bad Witch, respectively. NTAE is exciting for bringing back a bit of hard rocking aggression that NIN fans hadn't seen in years and Bad Witch features some ominous dread with its interesting arrangements (which even includes some saxophone!).
• C Tier: This tier is what I consider pretty good, above-average work. Starting it off is 2005's With Teeth, which is more focused yet less daring than The Fragile. Despite this it still has some great songs and remains one of my favourites. Next is The Slip, a lean, straightforward industrial rock album that's easy to enjoy. NIN's following release, Hesitation Marks, sounds like an amalgamation of all that came before it but with a more mature – even hopeful – tone. Rounding out this tier is the band's most recent release (from two weeks ago), Ghosts VI: Locusts, an instrumental album of dark, anxious background music. It's a genre that Nine Inch Nails has become quite at home with.
• D tier: Lastly we have the D-tier, albums that I consider OK or average. The first amongst them is 2007's Year Zero. I find Year Zero, NIN's second concept album, to be an alright listening experience but there's not much that makes it standout. One year later the band released Ghosts I-IV, a sprawling instrumental album full of 36 brief untitled songs. While it does have a handful of catchy tracks, most of the album is kind of boring. Things are mostly the same with the 2017 EP Add Violence. The difference is that Add Violence only has about 3 ho-hum songs on it instead of 28! Lastly there's the 2020 instrumental album Ghosts V: Together. It's the lighter, gentler companion to Locusts, but NIN has always been better at making listeners feel uncomfortable.

All Songs, Best to Worst: Nine Inch Nails

Time for another ranking of all of an artist's songs. This week I'm evaluating every song of one of my favourite bands of the past few years, Nine Inch Nails. What can you say about NIN? They're one of the greatest industrial groups ever and certainly the most commercially successful. With a career spanning approximately 28 years and eight full-length albums the group's sound has definitely evolved, covering such genres as dark synth-pop, industrial metal, art rock, electronica, and even dark ambient. It's not often that you'll hear two NIN albums that sound alike. What's really cool about Nine Inch Nails is that even though they're an industrial act their music isn't that hard to get into. While it often does include noise and distortion – as industrial groups are wont to do – NIN seldom shifts focus away from the melody and the dynamic and intense vocals of frontman Trent Reznor, making the music easier to digest. The lyrics are always captivating, focusing mostly on the exploration of the self (with occasional exceptions as with the album Year Zero). The first NIN album I listened to was 2005's With Teeth and I've been hooked ever since.

So let's rank these bad boys, shall we? The rules: what's included here is 7 studio albums as well as the one EP, Broken. I'm not including Ghosts I-IV, which is composed of 36 instrumental tracks that don't even have names. It's not a bad album, but I can't even remember half of its songs, let alone their titles! Also, no remixes, live tracks, or singles (like “Deep” or “The Perfect Drug”). Let's go.

1. “Closer”, The Downward Spiral (1994)

2. “Hurt”, TDS

3. “Mr. Self-Destruct”, TDS

4. “Down in It”, Pretty Hate Machine (1989)

5. “Happiness in Slavery”, Broken (1992)

6. “Reptile”, TDS

7. “Head Like A Hole”, PHM

8. “Wish”, Broken

9. “March of the Pigs”, TDS

10. “Sunspots”, With Teeth (2005)

11. “Even Deeper”, The Fragile (1999)

12. “Piggy”, TDS

13. “The Hand that Feeds”, WT

14. “Only”, WT

15. “Echoplex”, The Slip (2008)

16. “All Time Low”, Hesitation Marks (2013)

17. “Pinion”, Broken

18. “Last”, Broken

19. “Every Day is Exactly the Same”, WT

20. “La Mer”, TF

21. “Terrible Lie”, PHM

22. “All the Love in the World”, WT

23. “Copy of A”, HM

24. “Various Methods of Escape”, HM

25. “I'm Looking Forward to Joining You Finally”, TF

26. “Came Back Haunted”, HM

27. “Eraser”, TDS

28. “Ripe (With Decay)”, TF

29. “Where is Everybody?”, TF

30. “The Mark Has Been Made”, TF

31. “Gave Up”, Broken

32. “Right Where it Belongs”, WT

33. “Me, I'm Not”, Year Zero (2007)

34. “The Warning”, Y0

35. “Somewhat Damaged”, TF

36. “That's What I Get”, PHM

37. “Demon Seed”, TS

38. “The Downward Spiral”, TDS

39. “Letting You”, TS

40. “The Great Below”, TF

41. “Something I Can Never Have”, PHM

42. “Find My Way”, HM

43. “The Good Soldier”, Y0

44. “Help Me I Am in Hell”, Broken

45. “The Way Out is Through”, TF

46. “Discipline”, TS

47. “We're in This Together”, TF

48. “Sanctified”, PHM

49. “Beside You in Time”, WT

50. “Into the Void”, TF

51. “Satellite”, HM

52. “The New Flesh”, TF

53. “The Becoming”, TDS

54. “The Greater Good”, Y0

55. “The Day the World Went Away”, TF

56. “Starfuckers, Inc.”, TF

57. “Zero-Sum”, Y0

58. “Survivalism”, Y0

59. “With Teeth”, WT

60. “The Wretched”, TF

61. “The Frail”, TF

62. “Ruiner”, TDS

63. “No, You Don't”, TF

64. “The Fragile”, TF

65. “Everything”, HM

66. “Physical (You're So)”, Broken

67. “Capital G”, Y0

68. “Vessel”, Y0

69. “God Given”, Y0

70. “Head Down”, TS

71. “The Line Begins to Blur”, WT

72. “Just Like You Imagined”, TF

73. “Love is Not Enough”, WT

74. “Corona Radiata”, TS

75. “The Four of Us Are Dying”, TS

76. “Pilgrimage”, TF

77. “Complication”, TF

78. “+Appendage”, TF

79. “Getting Smaller”, WT

80. “Underneath It All”, TF

81. “1,000,000”, TS

82. “10 Miles High”, TF

83. “Please”, TF

84. “I Would for You”, HM

85. “Sin”, PHM

86. “The Collector”, WT

87. “In Two”, HM

88. “Ringfinger”, PHM

89. “I Do Not Want This”, TDS

90. “The Beginning of the End”, Y0

91. “Suck”, Broken

92. “Kinda I Want To”, PHM

93. “The Big Come Down”, TF

94. “A Warm Place”, TDS

95. “Lights in the Sky”, TS

96. “Disappointed”, HM

97. “You Know What You Are?”, WT

98. “Meet Your Master”, Y0

99. “Big Man With a Gun”, TDS

100. “The Only Time”, PHM

101. “Hyperpower”, Y0

102. “Running”, HM

103. “My Violent Heart”, Y0

104. “Home”, WT

105. “The Great Destroyer”, Y0

106. “In This Twilight”, Y0

107. “While I'm Still Here”, HM

108. “Black Noise”, HM

109. “The Eater of Dreams”, HM

110. “999,999”, TS

111. “Heresy”, TDS