Having listened to 35 albums durring this Lenten project previous to hearing this one, I've not yet felt the need to re-listened one. This is the first record that required me to take a second listen.
In hopes of not selling this record short or over-hyping it, I'm not going to go into great detail as to why I really dig this record so much. The combination of light, ambient, mello, and airy music that is mood and thought provoking just works in a fresh and new way.
I'll just say this. At least one of these two things will happen when you listen to this record: 1) You'll go deep into your head or 2) you'll go sleep in your bed.
37. Chickenfoot "Chickenfoot" ★★
Even though this is a supergroup of sorts, Chickenfoot is a Sammy Hagar rock 'n' roll band 100 percent. I'm not trying to sell these guys short or cleverly crack jokes. Sammy really only has two modes: pre- and post-Mexico. Once that Cabo Wabo took hold of him, he just can't seem to shout "¡Arriba!" enough.
Something I found strange was the Red Rocker does on this record exactly what David Lee Roth did on several tracks on Van Halen albums: talk, (as if in a casual conversation), to the other band members. Sammy, that's copy written DLR material.
No, it's not the most talented or invented record, but it's exactly what you would expect and want if you are a Van Hagar or Sammy solo fan.
38. Misfits "American Psycho" ★★★★
The opening track: crazy good and sinister. The evil mood is set right from the beginning. Ten songs in and this is a solid, solid album. Granted, the songs aren't but two to three minutes on average, but these are fully fleshed out songs. They don't feel rushed or lacking inspiration.
In its entirety, "American Psycho" is very well produced without the extra shine and polish. Again, this album is full of short, sub-four minute songs but isn't that typical for most songs from The Beatles, too?
39. Pantera "The Great Southern Trendkill" ★★★
The boys of Pantera are bringing the weight and speed they're best known for again on this record. But this is its own record, not some copy or extension of a previous album. Two distinct differences between this record and previous Pantera records are the leads are more thoughtful and more musically and rhythmically sound and Anselmo's vocals take on a new tone. On "Suicide Note Part I" are very similar to Eddie Vedder's typical haggard and downtrodden vocal style.
The previous song is stuck right in the middle of the album which is perfect. For the most part, everything that came before and everything that follows is in near constant fury, with the exception of "Floods". But slow doesn't equal bad.
40. John Frusciante "From the Sounds Inside" ★★★
When listening to this record, certain things just didn't sound right. Little things like the track ending abruptly, volume shifts (not stereo shifts), electronic distortions, etc plague this album. Well, perhaps plague is too strong a word. Riddled. That's better.
I did some research to find out why all these very unclean sounds were showing up all over the album. My first reaction was that I
With that being said and the arrant non-musical sounds here and there, this is a pretty inventive album, musically speaking. The vocals are poor at times, but the guitar work is pretty impressive. Not just the finger work either. The effects and layering is something very new to my ears. Had the production been a little more involved and the vox a little more on key, I would have really dug this album more.