Note: this is not a top 10 list of albums that came out in 2007, but rather things from the past I discovered this year.




I don't know why it took me this fucking long to discover Van Halen beyond the hits. Thank god Eddie Trunk was feeling particularly snotty one night ("I can't believe Blondie got inducted to the R&R Hall Of Fame before Van Halen did!") and decided to play 3 soul owning deep cuts in a row (Sinner's Swing!, Light Up The Sky, and In A Simple Rhyme). Unfortunately the assholes at ticketmaster decided to supercharge ticket prices for the reunion show. NO concert in my book is worth $100, much less $150. What's more absurd was the price ranges. $40-150. What the hell is ticketmaster gonna do with that extra $110? Probably wipe their bloody dicks on crying 5 year old girl's teddy bears. Worse is probably the fact that they came the closest they are ever gonna come to Bloomington and my laziness had to completely fuck up my expereince of seeing them. Oh Lord, when they are planning 2008 dates, please have them come to the Fieldhouse again, as I do not have a car, and my only mode of transportation is a friend's van!

But yes, Van Halen's music. Those of you kooky "alternative" types who think that Van Halen is all "Hey man that suit is you!" and less musical substance clearly need to back up off the old girl with acoustic guitar schtick (and wasn't that already perfected by Joni Mitchel and Joan Baez anyway?). Sure David Lee Roth can be obnoxious from time to time, but he's just trying to crack a smile out of you that's all. I have never hear a more consistent back catalogue of riffage, melody, and ass kickery in my life! When people think Eddie Van Halen, they don't so much think consistent songwriting as much as they did meedlee-meedlee-meedlee. So you can imagine their surprise when they hear the absolutely flawless riffage of "I'm The One" (complete with vocal bee-bop breakdown) "Romeo Delight" "Somebody Get Me A Doctor", and are subsequently sent into kill mode against Fall Out Boy and Kanye West types.

Speaking of Kanye West, why spend your hard earned money on "she ain't messin with no broke niggas" when A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and Outkast were basically putting out the same thing years ago? Albeit with much better MC skills. My expansion into Rap has taught me a thing or two about what "real street credibility" is, syncopation, and above all how I hear lyrics now. Whereas before I listened for a good melody and dissected lyrics later, now hip hop has me thinking about rhyme scheme, versatility, storytelling and concepts. There's also the fact the smooth laidback vocal deliveries (such as the likes of Q-tip, Rakim, and Snoop Dogg) make a rather nice contrast with my Rob Halfords and Kai Hansens.

On the concert front, I got to see a Led Zeppelin tribute band twice, which casts the blackest of shadows over the washed-up and unnecessary reunion. They look and sound like the real thing in its prime! "You get your money's worth the first 15 minutes, and the rest is free!" (Identify that quote, win a prize). I also got to see Slayer for the first time (well, second but I was less familiar with the catalogue), which was unfortunately kind of a dissapointment with an oddball setlist to say the least. I'm still not over hearing "Metal Storm" over the PA and them going into "Flesh Storm." I bet that looked so hilarious on paper, Kerry. I also experienced my first hip hop show with Rakim; hip-hop's golden god! (I also saw there a kid in a Blind Guardian shirt give me props for my Priest shirt :horns: ). What's funny to me is in this book of MC's I was reading they listed live performance as Rakim's one weakness. Ha! Lethal rhymes + a 10 piece backing band = I don't fucking think so!

Sometime next year I hope to get myself involved in jazz (particularly the Django Reinhardt variety) and maybe some symphony music.

Top 14:

14-7 (too annoying to put in order).

ERIC B. & RAKIM: FOLLOW THE LEADER
RUSH: GRACE UNDER PRESSURE
NAS: ILLMATIC
THE ROLLING STONES: LET IT BLEED
DIO: HOLY DIVER
JIMI HENDRIX: ARE YOU EXPERIENCED?
BEATLES: REVOLVER
DEATH: SCREAM BLOODY GORE


6. GAMMA RAY: SOMEWHERE OUT IN SPACE
5. A TRIBE CALLED QUEST: LOW END THEORY
4. JAMES BROWN: 20 ALL TIME GREATEST HITS!
3. PINK FLOYD: THE WALL
2. HELLOWEEN: KEEPER OF THE 7 KEYS
1. VAN HALEN: VAN HALEN



dissapointments:

BLACK SABBATH: ETERNAL IDOL (Tony Martin is an awesome vocalist, but Tony Iommi just doesn't sound right playing 2nd rate 80's metal)
PUBLIC ENEMY: FEAR OF A BLACK PLANET (There were 13 great tracks, what was with the other 11?)
MASTODON: REMISSION (Boring, but not every band's debut is Van Halen 1)
BOB DYLAN: HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED (great lyricist my ass)

I only put one album per band as I practically bought the entire catalogues of several bands this year including Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd, so multiple albums would just convolute this thing.