Volume 1 - September 2005

A simple theme to start: that of the beginning itself.

We all know and love albums that are a coalescence, an organic whole that seems complete when heard from beginning to end. Those albums have great beginnings, middles and ends. The ten songs chosen for this, the first, collection are not necessarily to be found on those perfect albums. What they do have in common is that they kick off their respective albums with a fury. They’re a slap in the face.

You’ll know many if not all of these songs, so I’m not blowing any minds with my first collection, but there is something about a thundering start to an album that is to be admired. And in honoring them, I honor this, the first of our CD of the month selections.

All of these songs come from actual albums and not from soundtracks or greatest hits collections. The tracks date from the beginning of me all the way up to the present.

1 Go Pearl Jam Versus 1993
2 Army of Me Bjork Post 1995
3 American Idiot Green Day American Idiot 2004
4 Seven Nation Army The White Stripes Elephant 2003
5 London Calling The Clash London Calling 1979
6 Zoo Station U2 Achtung Baby 1991
7 Black Dog Led Zeppelin IV (Zoso) 1971
8 Smells Like Teen Spirit Nirvana Nevermind 1991
9 Tom Sawyer Rush Moving Pictures 1981
10 Stop Jane’s Addiction Ritual de lo Habitual 1990

Go:

A kick-ass start to a kick-ass album; and an obvious choice for the first track in this collection. This is Pearl Jam slightly removed from the acclaim of Ten and Jeremy. They’re still angry, and for a follow up album to a stratospheric first album, they do not disappoint. Full blast vocals, guitars and drums all the way through..

Army of Me:

Bjork at her most demonstrative, which is certainly no match for the testosterone fueled explosions in some of the other tracks, but still, pretty rocking. She’s got lyrics that everyone should love coupled with a relentless drum, bass and synthesizer under it all. Listen for the Super Mario power-ups.

American Idiot:

Pure Green Day, but with a slightly more political bent from an album with a more cohesive structure than their usual 3 minute catchy thrash collections. They seem to have done a bit of a concept album, though nothing like those from the 70’s. They still manage to get as many beats and notes into each measure as humanly possible on this track, and with their usual gift for a great hook, what’s not to like?

Seven Nation Army:

Once this bass line gets in your head, it’s almost impossible to shake out. A great start to an unbelievably good album. Jack White seems to be able to channel a glam rock god and put it all to a stripped down straight ahead rock tune, without all the glam rock hysterics. If this band can manage anything close to the quality of Elephant on future releases, the world will be a better place.

London Calling:

A classic from a classic. Punk never sounded so polished. It amazes me that the Clash gets classified in that genre. Yeah, they’ve got the lyrics for punk, but their songs are way more complicated than the usual three chord romps you get from The Ramones and The Sex Pistols. These guys weren’t just angry guys with a garage full of instruments. They could play.

Zoo Station:

Can’t have a Mixdorf collection without U2 in the mix. This album is one of those perfect ones, but it took some listens in the fall of 1991 to get it to sink into my Joshua Tree mind. This song also found a home in Ulla’s Garden’s repertoire, which gives it a special place in my heart. Not really rocking out of the gate, but it definitely twists your perceptions and gets you in the mood for what’s to follow.

Black Dog:

One of those songs that yahoos in dorms everywhere love to blast until your ears bleed, and until you’re sick of it. Too bad. This song kicks ass, and in so doing created the public face of a band who sang more mid or low tempo songs than anyone gives them credit for. Hard Rock? People were afraid of what this was doing to their children? Good lord! All the while ABBA was making their children gay.

Smells Like Teen Spirit:

Many songs evoke memories specific to the time they saw ridiculous airplay. This is one of those songs. It was a bridge between shitty hard rock and pop. It has a hook that you can’t resist, but bludgeons you over the head with its chorus. It feels like college to me. And what an album this kicked off. Nearly every song could have been or was a hit, and not because they followed any sort of formula. They were just phenomenally good songs.

Tom Sawyer:

Ahhh, Rush, the undisputed kings of concept albums. Every one of their albums is a concept album. If they’d ever just sat down and wrote songs just for the fun of it, their albums might have appealed to more than just hard rock nerds and guys that lived in their parent’s basement smoking pot. There’s a ton to like here, particularly the quality of their playing. These guys could play. The voice may not appeal to everyone, but in the end it’s the ridiculous lyrical concepts that drove normal people away. Still, a kick ass song, even if it makes almost no sense.

Stop:
No question this baby should be in this collection, It grabs your attention and never lets go. It’s certainly too bad that Jane’s Addiction couldn’t hold themselves together. They too created a bridge between crappy hard rock and pop. They could rock, but did it in a way that people not drinking Bud Light and sporting mullets could dig. They were way more manly than those make-upped, lace and spandex wearing crap bands of the late 80’s early 90’s ever were.

So that’s it, pretty straight forward. Ten songs to get your juices flowing, with enough variety of styles to hopefully keep it interesting. You probably couldn’t make a perfect album out of 10 songs like this, perfect albums require moments of pause and reflection, but for those times when you need a pick me up, this batch should do it.