Released in 1970, Emerson, Lake and Palmer was the first album from ELP. It is basically a solo album for all three members as only the first song was a combined effort. Extended solos and songs, complex time signatures and many classical influences make this album a definitive piece of progressive rock. However, many people do not like ELP. They think they are pretentious and overblown and boring. I say those people are welcome to their opinion, but that since much of ELP’s music is actual classical pieces or heavily influenced by classical music, then people who don’t like them probably have no appreciation for classical music either.

I have talked about ELP – Brain Salad Surgery before, which I think is one of their best albums.

I think Keith Emerson is an amazing pianist and composer. Plus the Hammond organ he uses is fantastic. I love that dirty Hammond sound. The best example of this sound is on Knife Edge, one of my favorite Emerson, Lake and Palmer songs.

Track Listing:

Side One:

1. The Barbarian
2. Take  a Pebble
3. Knife Edge

Side Two:

1. The Three Fates: (i) Clotho (ii) Lachesis (iii) Atropos
2. Tank
3. Lucky Man

Emerson, Lake and Palmer went to #18 on the Billboard charts, while “Lucky Man” went to #48 on the Billboard top 100.

You can buy Emerson, Lake and Palmer at Musicstack or at Amazon.

I am not a big fan of American Idol. I am one of those people who watch the auditions just to see how bad people can be. However, if you watch American Idol, you know Randy Jackson, and may be surprised to learn that he played bass on two tracks for this album.

Frontiers was a big hit for Journey, and spawned 4 Top 40 songs.

• Separate Ways at #8
• Faithfully at #12
• After the Fall at #23
• Send Her My Love at #23

These 4 songs helped the album reach #2 on the Billboard chart, and to sell more than 6 million albums.

One of the reasons I like Frontiers, is that there is a lot more keyboard playing on it. Well, I also like it less for that same reason. I am a keyboardist, so I enjoy it when rock bands use more, but at the same time, bands that start using more keyboards than guitars soon stop being rock bands. The reason for more keyboards is that Jonathan Cain helped write a lot more music, and had a lot more influence than on previous albums.

Journey – Frontiers Track Listing

Side 1

1. Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) MP3
2. Send Her My Love
3. Chain Reaction
4. After The Fall
5. Faithfully

Side 2

1. Edge of the Blade
2. Troubled Child
3. Back Talk
4. Frontiers
5. Rubicon

I included Separate Ways MP3 even though it’s probably way overplayed on the radio. It’s a good rock song, even with the keyboards, and it’s still a good example of Journey.

If you want to buy this album, you can find Journey – Frontiers album at Musicstack. You can also buy this album on Amazon.

Rush is one of those bands that dabbled in progressive music, but never fully became progressive, especially in their later years. This album, though, is considered to be an essential masterpiece of progressive music by ProgArchives.com.

Moving Pictures was one of Rush’s biggest successes, because (in my opinion) they started to drift from prog to more commercial and radio friendly music. In spite of this, Moving Pictures is still a great album. The album went quadruple platinum in January of 1995. It also went to #3 on the Billboard Pop Album charts.

Rush – Moving Pictures Track Listing

Side  One:

1. Tom Sawyer
2. Red Barchetta
3. YYZ
4. Limelight

Side Two:

1. The Camera Eye
2. Witch Hunt
3. Vital Signs

I know it may be cliche, but here is Tom Sawyer for your listening pleasure (you need Flash for this):

If you want to own Moving Pictures by Rush on vinyl, check out Musicstack. You can also find it at Amazon.

Don’t Say No also went triple platinum, because in addition to The Stroke, there were also great songs like In the Dark, My Kinda Lover, and Lonely is the Night.

If you have Flash installed, you can listen to the MP3 of Lonely is the night.

This was Squier’s (you think it would be spelled Squire, but it isn’t) second album, and one of his most popular. The biggest reason for it’s success is the song The Stroke. It really isn’t what you think it is about. It’s about the recording industry, where record execs want another “stroke”, or hit song. They don’t really care about artists, just hit songs and money. The song is, however, an innuendo. You are supposed to see the parallel between what you think it’s about, and record companies.

You can buy this album on vinyl at Musicstack. You can also buy the CD or download it at Amazon.

WYWH is the 7th album by Pink Floyd. Recorded in 1975, much of the subject matter is about Syd Barrett. His drug use and mental problems forced him to leave the band.

I have an original pressing of this album, and which is cool since the supply didn’t keep up with the demand.

The album also has a lot to do with the music industry and the feeling of the band towards each other.

WYWH went to #1 on both the UK album chart and the Billboard Pop album chart, and #2 on both the Austrian and Norwegian album charts. It went 6 times platinum in 1997.

It can be misleading to those who have never heard the album before because it only has 5 tracks.

Wish You Were Here track listing;

Side One

1. Shine on You Crazy Diamond (Parts I – V)
2. Welcome to the Machine

Side Two

1. Have a Cigar
2. Wish You Were Here
3. Shine on You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI – IX)

Buy Wish You Were Here on vinyl at Musicstack. Just click on Wish You Were Here in the description on the page and you will find many sellers of this album. It is worth every penny.

WYWH is also at #209 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Yessongs is a 3 disc (vinyl record discs) collection of live concert recordings. It was recorded during the Close To The Edge tour, and was released in 1973.

Yessongs features extended solos by most of the band, except for Jon Anderson and the (at the time) new drummer, Alan White. Because it is 3 discs, it has a lot more album art as you open it up. Of course, this art is done by Roger Dean, the legendary Yes album artist.

On the charts, Yessongs hit #7 in the UK, and #12 in the US. It also went Platinum in April of 1998.

Yessongs Track Listing

Side One

1. Opening (excerpt from ‘Firebird Suite’)
2. Siberian Khatru
3. Heart of the Sunrise

Side Two

1. Perpetual Change
2. And You and I

Side Three

1. Mood for a Day
2. Excerpts from ‘The Six Wives of Henry VIII’
3. Roundabout

Side Four

1. I’ve Seen All Good People
2. Long Distance Runaround/The Fish (Schindleria Præmaturus)

Side Five

1. Close to the Edge

Side Six

1. Yours Is No Disgrace
2. Starship Trooper

Yes was one of those bands, along with Genesis, that were responsible for bringing prog rock to the masses. Without them, our music would be bland today (of course, I think most of the pop music today is bland). If you are into Yes, but don’t have Yessongs, you need to buy it at MusicStack. They play these songs a bit differently live than they do in a studio, and it is a great album.

Led Zeppelin’s first, self-titled album (also known as 1) is a great album. It has songs on it that have lasted over these last 40 years. “Good Times Bad Times”, “Communication Breakdown” and of course “Dazed and Confused”. You can buy Led Zeppelin – 1 at Musicstack.

But Zeppelin is more than just the 10 songs or so that you hear on the radio. They were a rock band on the verge of metal (for the time) and were heavily influenced by blues. They also had the musical abilities to pull off just about any style they wanted. Jimmy Page actually learned how to play the 10 string steel guitar just for a song on this album, “Your Time is Gonna Come”. That is amazing.

It originally received some bad reviews when it was released in 1969, however, it’s obvious that no one listened to the reviews. The album went to #6 in the UK and #10 in the US. It has also gone 8X multi-platinum in the US. Rolling Stone named it #29 on it’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Wikipedia says;

Led Zeppelin’s [album] cover, which was chosen by Page, features a black-and-white image of the burning Hindenburg airship. The image refers to the origin of the band’s name itself: when Page, Jeff Beck and The Who’s Keith Moon and John Entwistle were discussing the idea of forming a group, Moon joked, “It would probably go over like a lead balloon”, and Entwistle allegedly replied, “…a Lead Zeppelin!”

If only all great ideas were that easy.

The track listing is as follows;

Side One:

1. Good Times Bad Times
2. Babe I’m Gonna Leave You
3. You Shook Me (MP3 available with Flash)
4. Dazed and Confused

Side Two:

1. Your Time is Gonna Come
2. Black Mountain Side
3. Communication Breakdown
4. I Can’t Quit You Baby
5. How Many More Times

“You Shook Me’ and “I Can’t Quit You Baby” are perfect examples of the blues influence on Led Zeppelin. Both were written by Willie Dixon. “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” was written by Anne Bredon.

I am a big fan of power metal and progressive metal. And Blind Guardian fits right in there in those categories. This album was actually named the Best Metal Album of 2002 by Metal-Rules.com. Some people might call this intelligent metal, as it is not just guys playing three chords over and over. There are arrangements, styles, choirs and more to make this more than just a metal garage band. Plus, their lyrics are almost all based on much more than death or hate or anything like that.

Blind Guardian – A Night at the Opera Track Listing:

Side A

1. Precious Jerusalem – About the final days of Jesus
2. Battlefield - Based on the Song of Hildebrandt
3. Under the Ice – About Cassandra in the Iliad

Side AA

1. Sadly Sings Destiny – About the Messiah in the Old Testament and the Crucifixion
2. The Maiden and the Minstrel Knight – From Tristan und Isolde, a Wagner opera
3. Wait for an Answer – a Story by Hansi Kürsch, the lead singer

Side B

1. The Soulforged – From a Dragonlance fantasy novel
2. Age of False Innocence – About Galileo Galilei
3. Punishment Divine – About Nietzsche’s insanity

Side BB

1. And Then There Was Silence – Based on Homer’s Iliad

You can see that the subject matter is so much more than your average metal band sings about. Hansi Kürsch sings with so much passion too, that it makes everything just sound awesome.

Buy Blind Guardian – A Night at the Opera at Musicstack.

But this blog isn’t about politics, it’s about music, and I don’t think anybody loves playing music as much as Ted Nugent. From playing with The Amboy Dukes, solo, Damn Yankees, and then solo again, he has done nothing but put out great Rock & Roll.

This is one of the greatest rock artists of all time. He doesn’t need drugs or alcohol to have a good time or to write great music. He writes what he knows.

Cat Scratch Fever was released in 1977, hit #17, and went platinum in September 1977. Although there are many people out there who do not like The Nuge, due to the sexual nature of his lyrics, or his political views, or his feelings about our 2nd amendment rights, or the fact that he kills and eats animals (“venison is the perfect food”), there are still enough out there to buy his albums and make him a successful musician for the last fifty years.

I picked up Cat Scratch Fever by Ted Nugent over at Musicstack (of course). This is pure American Rock. Play it loud, play it fast, and have fun. (I am not supporting the no morals lifestyle, just talking about it.)

Cat Scratch Fever Track Listing:

Side One:

1. Cat Scratch Fever (MP3)
2. Wang Dang Sweet Poontang
3. Death by Misadventure
4. Live It Up
5. Home Bound

Side Two:

1. Workin’ Hard, Playin’ Hard
2. Sweet Sally
3. A Thousand Knives
4. Fist Fightin’ Son of a Gun
5. Out of Control

The title song ‘Cat Scratch Fever’ has been covered by a lot of people; Nitro, Motörhead, Pantera and even Homer Simpson. It is also the 32nd best hard rock song of all time according to VH1.

Ted Nugent is also a writer, from hunting (Blood Trails I and II), to cooking (Kill It and Grill It), to gun control (God, Guns & Rock and Roll), to politics (Ted, White, and Blue).

‘Ted Nugent for President – 2012′

This album gets its name from the title track “Rain on the Scarecrow”, which is about farms that have been in families for generations that are being taken away. You can buy “Scarecrow” at Musicstack.

Of course, “Small Town” is the biggest and most well known (but didn’t chart the highest) track off of this album. It charted at #6 along with “Lonely Ol’ Night”. “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.” hit #2 in the US Charts. The album itself also went to #2, was named #95 on Rolling Stones 100 Greatest Albums of the 80′s.

I love the second track, which is just Mellencamp’s grandma singing along with a guitar. When artists do that, it says to me that they care about the music, and family, and not about commercialized and packaged music.

One thing about this album, is that the labels are on the wrong side. Side one label is actually on side two and vice versa. If only that made it rare and worth about $25,000 I’d be set.

Some of these songs are more applicable to America today than they were twenty years ago. For example, the lyrics of “Face of the Nation” are so appropriate to what is happening in the US today.

Track Listing:

Side one:

1. Rain on the Scarecrow
2. Grandma’s Theme
3. Small Town (MP3)
4. Minutes to Memories
5. Lonely Ol’ Night
6. Face of the Nation

Side Two:

1. Justice and Independence ’85
2. Between a Laugh and a Tear
3. Rumbleseat
4. You’ve Got to Stand for Something
5. R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.