Lo siento pero no puedo, es superior a mi. Escuchar a estos australianos y pensar en “este riff me suena a...”, “esta melodía vocal me recuerda a...” o “la letra de esta canción se parece a...” es todo uno.

Serán un grupo animoso en directo y su estilo tendrá muchos seguidores. Resultará fresco su rock descarado y macarra, pero que quieren que les diga. Uno a estas alturas de la película, si quiere sensaciones de este tipo, recurre a los clásicos y no a estos aprendices de Bon Scott. Porque aquí ya no se trata de la disparidad en las gustos de la gente. Aquí se trata de que por mucho que se esfuercen los chicos, jamás podrán superar obras de grupos como AC/DC, Motörhead o Rose Tattoo, grupo este último en el que se escudan los Airbourne cada vez que algún que otro plumilla regala sus oídos con el consabido parecido de su música con el de la banda de Angus Young.

Que si, que la música de, por ejemplo, The Punishers, grupo fetiche de quien escribe, también tiene reminiscencias de entre otras, las bandas arriba citadas, pero para nada suenan tan descaradamente pretenciosos como la banda de los hermanos O'Keeffe y puedo dar fe de que su directo, deja en bragas al de los jovenzuelos australianos. Será que no es lo mismo grabar discos para un sello independiente, que para una multi como Capitol, pero sea como fuere, a los astures me los creo mucho mas que a los del país de los canguros.

Por si fuera poco, ese circo del absurdo llamado Northern Kings, formado por el incapaz de Jarkko Ahola de los no menos incapaces Teräsbetoni, el jodegrupos Marco Hietala, Mr afonías Tony Kakko y un tipo de unos tales Charon que pasaba por allí, amenazan con un nuevo engendro repletito de versiones de usar y tirar. Como si no tuviéramos suficiente con sus otras bandas, atronarán nuestros oídos con uno de esos subproductos que tanto gustan por el frío norte europeo. Como si con el primer disco no fuese suficiente.

Pónganse a cubierto y ni se les ocurra decir que no les avisé.

"Get the top 3 artists of your top 6 neighbours, and write down those 3 artists' placings in your top artists chart."

#1 pwmosquito
1. Ozric Tentacles *1*
2. Kingston Wall *2*
3. Pain of Salvation *-*

#2 goatnaut
1. Ozric Tentacles *1*
2. Kyuss *483*
3. Alice in Chains *-*

#3 lauradaniela
1. Leevi and the Leavings *4*
2. Coldplay *3*
3. Apulanta *-*

#4 Jesa87
1. Zen Café *-*
2. Leevi and the Leavings *4*
3. Kingston Wall *2*

#5 CharlesHenryC
1. W.A.S.P. *6*
2. Deep Purple *370*
3. Motörhead *82*

#6 GuyMontag451
1. Ozric Tentacles *1*
2. Depeche Mode *-*
3. Eloy *-*

So I'm trying to put together my "best of 2008" list, starting with albums. I have a month to finish up, so I'll re-listen to the albums that were released this year that I've actually purchased or listened to, and come up with some sorta list. Here's the list of 2008 records I've gotten:

Carla Bruni - Comme si de rien n'était
Tarja - My Winter Storm
Animal Alpha - You Pay For The Whole Seat But You'Ll Only Need The Edge
Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line
of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping
Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts
My Teenage Stride - Lesser Demons
The Long Blondes - "Couples"
Flogging Molly - Float
Elf Power - In a Cave
Ani DiFranco - Red Letter Year
Brian Eno & David Byrne - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Does It Offend You Yeah? - You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into
Edenbridge - My Earth Dream
Lou Reed - Berlin: Live at St. Ann's Warehouse
Stars - Sad Robots
Fish - 13th Star
Mars Volta - Bedlam in Goliath
British Sea Power - Do you Like Rock Music
Sonic Youth - SR7 j'accuse Ted Hughes
Portishead - third
Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Mötley Crüe - Saints of Los Angeles
Scars On Broadway - Scars on Broadway
Motörhead - Motorizer
Marillion - Happiness is the Road

Looking over the list, my faves so far are the Long Blondes and Carla Bruni, but I have a month to change my mind. I know it won't be Tarja, Motley Crue or Mars Volta. All three of those records severely underimpressed me.

Iron Maiden / The Trooper / Piece of Mind (5) / May 1983

sablespecter's Album of the Year for 1983 (RDF: 89%)

Three in a row?! Ah, you must think this is getting boring! Well, lookit it my charts and it's no surprise, is it? I'm only being honest. This is in fact my favorite album of the original Dickinson era. (Tough to compare to the present, but give 25 years of listening to the albums from this decade and then check back. PoM could still be my favorite, then, too!)

So how come it only scores an 89% RDF? The only reason that this album doesn't reach a perfect 100% RDF isn't because I don't like one track. As explained in a discussion with Grant (about a week or so before the 25th anniversary of this album!), it's because two tracks earn pink dots. If you look at the rules for the AotY awards, you see that pink dots count for a half-point, leaving us with 8/9 or 89%.

OK, so why is POM the AotY over the runner-up, which scored 100%? Am I just playing favorites since Maiden is my favorite band? I'll be honest: could be at a subconscious level, though I'm not intentionally gaming the process. Really, this is another case like we had in 1972 when a 100% RDF album got passed over by one with a lower RDF. In this case, it's the strength of tracks. The first six songs on Maiden's album are infrared dots, verus only five on the runner-up. And over the years, I have listened to the complete POM far more times than the runner-up, for which I have tended to listen more to selected tracks.

This album came at the end of my first year of junior high school, just in time for the summer soundtrack. That was my first real school year as a buying music fan, and looking back I feel so very lucky to have just started buying albums right at this time when there was so much good stuff to choose from. POM is one if five key albums that I purchased during the spring of seventh grade and kept me sane at that crazy time.

This track is definitely not one of the pink tracks! I've been saving this track for the day I would formally announce this album as the AotY for 1983! The mental images of Bruce running around in the trooper jacket and waving the Union Jack are one of the defining iconic images of my personal music life, and will always be one of the best high points of a live Maiden show. I never tire of it and it's usually with this song that I blow out my voice.

Fun fact: I mentioned in the entry for 1981 that BÖC's "Burnin' for You" was the second video that I ever saw on MTV. This one was the first. We didn't have cable when I was growing up, but I remember the day that I visited my cool uncle (the one that got me started on my vinyl collection a couple of years prior) at his place shortly after he got it, and the first channel I turned on was MTV. And this was what I saw!

--------
Rounding out the Top Five of 1983 (in order of descending RDF):

Dio: Holy Diver (100% RDF): Had this been released in most any other year than going head-to-head with my top Maiden albums, it would have been and AotY. It is still to this day the best Dio album. This was the second of my five key albums from the spring of '83.

Metallica: Kill 'em All (90% RDF): As strong as the spring was, I had no idea what was being recorded during that time! The best of the five that would be my key albums from the back half of 1983! (The others are noted in the honorable mentions with a ‡)

Def Leppard: Pyromania (90% RDF): The third of my five key albums from the first half of 1983. (The other two are noted in the honorable mentions with a †) I have mentioned purchasing this album before, but never that I did so accidentally. Sometime in late 1982 I joined the RCA record club. You remember, right? One of those clubs you join where you get a whole bunch of albums for almost nothing, in exchange for a pledge to buy so many more before a certain time? And then they send you that card each month that you have to return if you don't want that month's selection? This album was the selection of the month for RCA, but I didn't quite have the cash when I got the card. I forgot to return the card, though, so it showed up before long (mine selections came on vinyl). By the time I did get it, though, I wanted it so bad I kept it...and skipped lunch for a week to pay for it! Skipping a week's worth of school lunches in exchange for a lifetime of good memories of spinning this vinyl, which I still have? Priceless!

Thin Lizzy: Thunder and Lightning (89% RDF): Though none of these rankings were assigned at the time, this one would not have been in the Top 5 had I been doing these back then. In fact, they wouldn't have been even in the honorable mentions, because I didn't even like Thin Lizzy back then. I've told the full story before of how I came to this album and Thin Lizzy generally, around 10-15 years after the album was released and long after Phil Lynott was gone. Makes me wonder if there's something else out there that I've missed that would be high on this list? It'd be hard to believe there's something that great that I've missed for 25 years, though!

Honorable Mentions (in not-entirely-correct alphabetical order by band/artist name):
AC/DC: Flick of the Switch‡
Accept: Balls to the Wall
Alcatrazz: No Parole From Rock N' Roll
Black Sabbath: Born Again‡
Blue Öyster Cult: The Revölution by Night
Bryan Adams: Cuts Like a Knife
Dokken: Breaking the Chains
Fastway: Fastway
Genesis: Genesis
Journey: Frontiers†
Krokus: Headhunter
Mercyful Fate: Melissa
Mötley Crüe: Shout At The Devil‡
Motörhead: Another Perfect Day
Ozzy Osbourne: Bark at the Moon‡
Quiet Riot: Metal Health†
Slayer: Show No Mercy
Steeler: Steeler
Suicidal Tendencies: Suicidal Tendencies
Triumph: Never Surrender
Yes: 90125
Zebra: Zebra
ZZ Top: Eliminator

Is your favorite album from 1983 on this list? Are there any others you would add?

\m/ (ò_ó) \m/

Iron Maiden / The Number of the Beast / The Number of the Beast (5) / Mar 1982

sablespecter's Album of the Year for 1982 (RDF: 87.5%)

Well, this is where it all started for me! That's in terms of concerts and my Maiden obsession. When I saw them open for Scorpions at my first concert it was a bit frightening and thrilling at the same time. I won't claim to have a photographic memory of it nor can I remember everything they played since I didn't even know who they were at that point, but I do remember being especially enthralled when they played today's selection. With that forboding intro and that line, "six-six-six! The one for you and me!" I couldn't wait to get ahold of this. And I've never looked back. I still have every copy of this album that I have purchased over the years, even including the totally worn-out, squeally cassette that never left my car for so many years.

The only track that I never got into all that much is the album opener, Invaders. They've only played that track live once ever, I believe, so it's not a broad fan favorite either.

Over all the years of buying CDs, I have only ever purchased two CD singles. Both of them by Maiden and one of them being the 2005 special edition of the single for today's track (the other to be revealed some other time!)

I highly recommend the NotB edition of the Classics Albums series for a very good look at the making of the album. Then follow it up with your own viewing of Damien: Omen II and see if you get a similar dream of your own!

--------
Rounding out the Top Five of 1982 (in order of descending RDF):

Judas Priest: Screaming for Vengeance (80% RDF): And with this began the constant question than ran in all the metal rags in the mid-80s that asked some sort of variation of, "Who rules metal? Maiden or Priest?" As if it was some sort of competition to "win." However, these two classics - which are probably the two albums that brought the two bands their most "mainstream" attention - are two different inflection points. For Maiden, their 1982 album was the one that started their upward trajectory to massive worldwide success, while for Priest it was downhill afterward. So while the two bands were somewhat contemporaries, Priest had achieved most of their best work before this point, while for Maiden it was just beginning. So if you think it was a competition to be won, it would depend on how you define the winner, I guess. If it was having a huge body of classic metal work, it would have been Priest. But as the 80s went on, it would have been Maiden if you define it in terms of massive worldwide fandom.

Asia: Asia (78% RDF): I see looking at the SotD archives that I have never chosen a song from this. I just don't listen to it as much as I did in past years, but still enjoy a full seven of nine tracks. This was the first album that I bought with my own money, during the spring of sixth grade, but it doesn't sound dated to me. Off the top of my head I wouldn't have thought it would make it into the Top 5 of 1982, but when I went back and reviewed the collection during the process of writing these up, that's indeed how it turned out. It has aged well!

Scorpions: Blackout (78% RDF): THIS was who and why I went to that concert in the late summer of 1982. The album had already gone gold by that point and was in heavy rotation in my own collection during that summer of 1982. Favorite song is not the title track of most-often-played "No One Like You" but the lesser played "You Give Me All I Need." One of my favorites in their entire catalog and a song I never skip.

Dire Straits: Love Over Gold (80% RDF): This one manages to sneak past some others on the strength of only four songs, but that's out of five and they actually account for 86% of the album length. It's kind of a short album but opens with my favorite Dire Straits track, and "Private Investigations" is an outstanding smoky, film-noir-on-vinyl!

Honorable Mentions (in not-entirely-correct alphabetical order by band/artist name):
Accept: Restless and Wild
Billy Squier: Emotions in Motion
Eddie Money: No Control
Fleetwood Mac: Mirage
John Mellencamp: American Fool
Krokus: One Vice at a Time
Michael Jackson: Thriller
Motörhead: Iron Fist
Night Ranger: Dawn Patrol
Robert Plant: Pictures at Eleven
Rush: Signals
Sammy Hagar: Three Lock Box
Steve Miller Band: Abracadabra
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Long After Dark
Tygers of Pan Tang: Crazy Nights
Uriah Heep: Abominog
Whitesnake: Saints & Sinners

Is your favorite album from 1982 on this list? Are there any others you would add?

\m/ (ò_ó) \m/

Black Sabbath / Heaven and Hell / Heaven And Hell (4) / Apr 1980

sablespecter's Album of the Year for 1980* (RDF: 100%)

Just as Sabbath's first album scored a perfect 100%, the first one with Dio does the same! It's amazing to me that this album was able to come together at all, let alone becoming one of the greatest albums of the entire Sabbath catalog and in all of heavy metal. After the firing of Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler's divorce, and Bill Ward being so heavily inebriated that he doesn't even recall the recording of the album, it was a first test of the iron will of Tony Iommi that held it together, a will that would keep hloding it together during the unsteady 80s (for better and often for worse). Geoff Nicholls also makes his first appearance, and has been with them ever since.

This particular track is Dio's all-time favorite composition from any era, solo or from and any band that he has been in. I think it nicely sums up his outlook on life generally, and you can see one or more elements of this song in almost any song that he has written (even if you look between all the fantasy imagery of his solo work). Of course, best heard live, when it gets stretched out with solos etc. and even spliced with other songs, as done nicely on Live Evil.

And yet, not my favorite track from the album, which will be revealed some other time.

--------
Rounding out the Top Five of 1980 (in order of descending RDF):

Def Leppard: On Through the Night (100% RDF): Two 100% RDF albums in a single year? Sure! Must have been a common occurrence during the 80s, right? Nope. Did it ever happen again? Maybe (stay tuned)! My third album from the Lepps, only picked up after I bought the next two in early '83, which was probably pretty common at least here in the States. I can't explain why I like every track on this album. Partly because it's a variety of styles, and perhaps partly because of the warm production of Colonel Tom. And definitely because of the playing of Pete Willis. It doesn't get nearly the attention it deserves, possibly because the band have practically disowned it. Why? They need to rediscover some of this formula.

Iron Maiden: Iron Maiden (89% RDF - calculated from the nine-track U.S. release): Also a third album to enter my collection, purchased after the next two. I had no idea who they were when this was released. Did anybody? Certainly no one stateside. Yet it's one of the greatest debuts ever. Not entirely pure metal - too much punk attitude and dirty riffs à la Motörhead to be just that. And yet they set themselves apart from other punk-influenced NWOBHM brethren with a couple of the most arresting, melodic, polished departures from expectations that you could find on an album like this with "Remember Tomorrow" and "Strange World" (the latter still one of my all-time Maiden favorites). Establishes from the start that the future will be interesting, deep, and exciting.

Van Halen: Women and Children First (87.5% RDF): More back-to-basic raw sound of the debut album, less pop that the second, and the reason why I like so much of this. It ain't all a big party; there's a dark side to this life. Well, the 70s are over...welcome to the 80s.

AC/DC: Back in Black (80% RDF): Probably considered the "Album of 1980" at least in the heavy metal circle. And the #2 to MJ's Thriller. Despite the fact that I can't listen to Track Number Seven now after so much overplay, it is a damn good album and features three of my Top 5 AC/DC tracks ("Shoot To Thrill," "Let Me Put My Love into You," "Have A Drink On Me"). I wonder how far they would have gotten with Brian Johnson had this not been as successful as it turned out to be. I'm glad it did, because I'm one of the minority (?) that prefers the Johnson-era songs over the Bon Scott-era songs.

Honorable Mentions (in not-entirely-correct alphabetical order by band/artist name):
Angel Witch: Angel Witch
Blue Öyster Cult: Cultösaurus Erectus
Dead Kennedys: Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
Diamond Head: Lightning to the Nations
Journey: Departure
Judas Priest: British Steel
Krokus: Metal Rendez-Vous
Michael Stanley Band: Heartland
Motörhead: Ace of Spades
Ozzy Osbourne: Blizzard of Ozz
Rush: Permanent Waves
Saxon: Wheels of Steel and Strong Arm Of The Law
Scorpions: Animal Magnetism
The Alan Parsons Project: The Turn of a Friendly Card
The Pretenders: The Pretenders
Whitesnake: Ready An' Willing

Is your favorite album from 1980 on this list? Are there any others you would add?

\m/ (ò_ó) \m/

*So if y'all have been wondering where I went for the past 2+ weeks...sorry - especially those of you that may be frustrated when I do that since I used to be so damn timely - but by now you should know that when I vanish I'm usually up to something. And then you might have remembered, oh yeah, he said he was going to post the AotY Awards for the 1980s sometime in November.

The Eighties! Holy crap, covering this decade is difficult. Not because it's hard to announce the ten AotY Awards from this decade, but because (as usual) I just can't keep it simple and stop there. I have to do things the hard way and cover the all the other favorites from each year, too! Lookit at that list...so many good albums in the 80s! I could easily expand to a Top 10 for each year, but that's even farther than I want to go, since this should really be about the personal top selection for each year, and the rest just for context. But keep on reading...all of these will eventually be covered in more detail in their own right...someday!

Sa., 29. Nov. – Colour Haze, burning motors
Evil Evening. 6 Stunden Stonerrock, Sludge, Doom. Boah!

Gegen halb 9 angekommen spielten bereits Smoking Engine aus Dresden. Junge, waren die gut. Mit der Mischung aus Doom, Metal und Sludge haben die 3 odentlich was hingelegt. Zugabe wollte ich! Bekam ich! Geil!

Danach spielten mountains of the green desart. Mit Psychedelic/Rock brachten auch sie den Fuß zum Wippen. Und deren Bassist ist geisteskrank ;D

Da ich mich auf einen Stonerrockabend vorbereitet habe, haben mich die anschließenden nevAmind aus Leipzig weniger vom Hocker gerissen. Netter Rock mit einem ganz kleinen Bisschen Punk, wären sie aber sicher ein richtig guter Act für ne Indie-Party. Eher eine Band zum Spaß haben und Tanzen.

Und dann kam Band Nummer 4! burning motors! Alter! Nach nem viel zu langen Soundcheck ging's ab. Und zwar ordentlich! Zwischen Melvins, Black Sabbath und Motörhead brachten sie mit Sludge und Doom das gesamte Publikum zum einheitlichen Vor-und-Zurück. Die wabernde Masse aus Köpfen und Haaren schrie nach Zugabe. Zugabe kam. Wahnsinn!
"WER IST HIER FÜR COLOUR HAZE?" - "..hier ich.", "ich", "whoo"..
"UND WER IST HIER FÜR BURNING MOTORS" - "UUUHÄÄÄÄÄYEAAAHÄÄÄÄÄ!!!!"

Eigentlich hätte man ja jetzt Feierabend machen und können und zeitig ins Bett gehen. Aber ich hab ja nunmal bezahlt.

Es war langsam spät und gegen 2 Uhr fingen Colour Haze an. Am Anfang dachte ich mir noch so "Joar.. naja, netter psychedelic. Kann man schonmal haben" Nachdem zweiten Song (ich glaub das war das großartige Moon), hat sich kurz meine Kondition verabschiedet und ich hab mich sitzend einer ganz neuen Perspektive aus Ärschen und stampfenden Beinen hingegeben. Kurz darauf war ich aber wieder dabei. Zwischendurch hat mir jemand gesagt "Mann.. ging der Song jetzt echt 20 Minuten? Bei der Musik bleibt ja die Zeit stehen!". Und dann folgten noch schätzungsweise hundert andere Wahnsinns-Songs, die aus 20 Minütigen Outros mit Gitarrensolo und und reichlich Abgeh bestanden. Der Letzte Song sollte kurz vor 3 Uhr das 10-Minütige Love sein. Ging ab! Aufwiedersehen! Zugabe! "Wir spielen noch 3!"
...
Ok.. dagegen hab ich nichts. Und so kam noch mal ne ca. halbstündige Zugabe, bis dann wirklich nach insgesamt 7 Stunden Konzerte Schluss war.

Das letzte Mal, als ich wirklich so glücklich darüber war, Ohrstöpsel dabei zu haben war damals bei Sunn O))) (Colour Haze hatten übrigens Sunn-Verstärker :D ).
Laut war's geil war's. Sehr geil. Aber jetzt hab ich ehrlich gesagt erstmal keinen Bock mehr auf Stoner-Psychedelic-Kram. War Gut und Viel. Morgen dann erst wieder.

mehr gibt's auf blog.staticfields.net

Sa., 29. Nov. – Evil Evening Stoner
Evil Evening. 6 Stunden Stonerrock, Sludge, Doom. Boah!

Gegen halb 9 angekommen spielten bereits Smoking Engine aus Dresden. Junge, waren die gut. Mit der Mischung aus Doom, Metal und Sludge haben die 3 odentlich was hingelegt. Zugabe wollte ich! Bekam ich! Geil!

Danach spielten mountains of the green desart. Mit Psychedelic/Rock brachten auch sie den Fuß zum Wippen. Und deren Bassist ist geisteskrank ;D

Da ich mich auf einen Stonerrockabend vorbereitet habe, haben mich die anschließenden nevAmind aus Leipzig weniger vom Hocker gerissen. Netter Rock mit einem ganz kleinen Bisschen Punk, wären sie aber sicher ein richtig guter Act für ne Indie-Party. Eher eine Band zum Spaß haben und Tanzen.

Und dann kam Band Nummer 4! burning motors! Alter! Nach nem viel zu langen Soundcheck ging's ab. Und zwar ordentlich! Zwischen Melvins, Black Sabbath und Motörhead brachten sie mit Sludge und Doom das gesamte Publikum zum einheitlichen Vor-und-Zurück. Die wabernde Masse aus Köpfen und Haaren schrie nach Zugabe. Zugabe kam. Wahnsinn!
"WER IST HIER FÜR COLOUR HAZE?" - "..hier ich.", "ich", "whoo"..
"UND WER IST HIER FÜR BURNING MOTORS" - "UUUHÄÄÄÄÄYEAAAHÄÄÄÄÄ!!!!"

Eigentlich hätte man ja jetzt Feierabend machen und können und zeitig ins Bett gehen. Aber ich hab ja nunmal bezahlt.

Es war langsam spät und gegen 2 Uhr fingen Colour Haze an. Am Anfang dachte ich mir noch so "Joar.. naja, netter psychedelic. Kann man schonmal haben" Nachdem zweiten Song (ich glaub das war das großartige Moon), hat sich kurz meine Kondition verabschiedet und ich hab mich sitzend einer ganz neuen Perspektive aus Ärschen und stampfenden Beinen hingegeben. Kurz darauf war ich aber wieder dabei. Zwischendurch hat mir jemand gesagt "Mann.. ging der Song jetzt echt 20 Minuten? Bei der Musik bleibt ja die Zeit stehen!". Und dann folgten noch schätzungsweise hundert andere Wahnsinns-Songs, die aus 20 Minütigen Outros mit Gitarrensolo und und reichlich Abgeh bestanden. Der Letzte Song sollte kurz vor 3 Uhr das 10-Minütige Love sein. Ging ab! Aufwiedersehen! Zugabe! "Wir spielen noch 3!"
...
Ok.. dagegen hab ich nichts. Und so kam noch mal ne ca. halbstündige Zugabe, bis dann wirklich nach insgesamt 7 Stunden Konzerte Schluss war.

Das letzte Mal, als ich wirklich so glücklich darüber war, Ohrstöpsel dabei zu haben war damals bei Sunn O))) (Colour Haze hatten übrigens Sunn-Verstärker :D ).
Laut war's geil war's. Sehr geil. Aber jetzt hab ich ehrlich gesagt erstmal keinen Bock mehr auf Stoner-Psychedelic-Kram. War Gut und Viel. Morgen dann erst wieder.

mehr gibt's auf blog.staticfields.net