20. Oysterhead- The Grand Pecking Order
There was a phase in my late-high school early-college musical fandom that I basically bought every CD by my favorite musicians if they were at a decent price. Upon finding Oysterhead’s The Grand Pecking Order used at FYE one day I bought it without question because I knew Primus frontman Les Claypool was in the group. What I didn’t realize was that Phish frontman/god to modern hippies Trey Anastasio was the guitarist and Police drummer Stewart Copeland was behind the skins. Three men that drive their respective bands coming together to form some sort of musical orgy of jam band, metal and 80’s pop rock. The end result is divine. Trey’s free flowing playing alongside Copeland’s offbeat drum hits and Claypool’s over the top bass playing make one of the most surprisingly amazing combinations in my mind. Claypool has a dozen side projects with a dozen great musicians (Buckethead, Bernie Worrell, Warren Haynes and Tom Waits to name a few) but this one stands out as him stepping out of the spotlight to let the talent of the other 2 players take the lead just as frequently as him. And the best part is that the album doesn’t sound like Primus, Phish or The Police, it sounds completely unique and it is highly unlikely we’ll ever see anything from this group again.
19. Tomahawk-Tomahawk
Copy and paste the first sentence from the last issue but replace Les Claypool with Mike Patton and you have the story of me discovering Tomahawk. Mix the Mr. Bungle/Faith No More frontman with the guitar player from The Jesus Lizard, the drummer from Helmet and the bassist from The Melvins and you have this godly metal beast. Their 2001 debut is easily the best album of their trilogy, and it’s tense moodiness really sets up for the nasty breakdowns and scream filled choruses that populate most of the album. Jesus Lizard alum Duane Denison brings his slithery playing to a much heavier zone and the bass/drums compliment it perfectly, giving Patton uniquely insane music to sing/scream/growl over. I’m not a metal expert, in fact I consider myself a novice at best, but I can’t deny this album a spot on this list, as it’s one of those albums that makes any mundane moment that much more exciting.
18. Incubus- S.C.I.E.N.C.E
Funk, at the end of the day, is my favorite kind of music. And early Incubus certainly has its share of funk in it. I came into Incubus the wrong way, starting with the mellow MTV friendly Morning View, going a step back chronologically to the brilliantly commercial Make Yourself and then finally arriving on the schizophrenic, genre jumping S.C.I.E.N.C.E. This album, to me, is Incubus at their best. The grooves between Guitarist Mike Enziger, drummer Jose Pasillas and god of bass Dirk Lance, are so incredibly tight yet retain the grooviness of so many improv-heavy grooves. Add to that the slick turntabling and beautifully chaotic voice of the then dreaded Brandon Boyd and you have one of the coolest albums I’ve ever heard in my life. While I may not bump it so much these days, as a player and a listener, this album deserves all the respect I have to give.
17. The Roots-Game Theory
Prior to this album, my main Roots experience was their 1995 jazz heavy album Do You Want More?!!??! and while I respected that album for what it did musically, I never really loved it. Game Theory however, changed the way I thought about the group for the better. The music is dark, when it’s positive it still feels like something bad can happen, and the raps are honestly some of the best I’ve ever heard. This album made me respect Questlove as more than just a drummer, and it made me realize that Blackthought is my favorite rapper in the game today. While Def Jam didn’t do a great job making this album the commercial success it could’ve been, I kind of appreciate the fact that it’s a tad more cult-ish than the rest of their work.
16. Biffy Clyro- Only Revolutions
The most recent album on the list, and the one I had the hardest time justifying putting on here. While I listened to this albums predecessor Puzzle more than Only Revolutions, something about this album stands out. I listened to it twice upon downloading it and thought it wasn’t as good as Puzzle, but then at the beginning of the summer I started listening to it. Every day. No album has made me put it on every single day since middle school, yet the great songs on this album kept calling me back over and over and even though it’s still freshly classic in my mind there is no doubt that it will stay that way. While it is sort of generic in a sense that it doesn’t change the way rock and roll is looked at, it’s epic. The arrangements, the lyrical content, the energy, and the fact that it’s three guys making the music, really makes this band, and this album, great.
Stay tuned for more!
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