My Top 250 Albums (141-150)

141. ANBERLIN – NEW SURRENDER

(2008 – T12 G10 B3 UB1)

 

 

This is Anberlins 3rd of 4 albums to appear on my list and this one was seen as a bit of a return to form after their 3rd album “Cities” (which is not in my list…. just). It has the usual mix of “heavier” songs and acoustic and sometimes string filled songs to set the perfect balance, the downfall of Anberlin is sometimes a bit of over production and unnatural sounds but that is a bit more dialled back on this album. The album kicks off as most Anberlin albums do with one of the faster, heavier songs in “The Resistance” which has a big chorus with a great little riff behind it. In the middle of the album Anberlin do a bit of cheating and have a slightly different mix of a song from their 2nd album, in the form of “Feel Good Drag” included, so they gain from its glories twice. “Retrace” and “Breathe” are soft rock ballads which they just about get away with, but are 2 of the weaker songs on the album. The 2nd half of the album is the better half with “Burn Out Brighter (Northern Lights)” being a highlight and “Younglife” being a catchy if slightly cheesy little acoustic lead number.

 

142. CAN’T SWIM – FAIL YOU AGAIN

(2017 – T12 G10 B3 UB1)

 

 

Can’t Swim are kinda like a darker sounding Hot Rod Circuit (when they were good) or Get Up Kids. They smash out songs that in the main appear to have downtuned guitars or higher bass in the mix which gives them a unique sound. They now have 2 albums, the latter of which I haven’t had much chance to check out yet due to doing this list mainly, but this is their debut after a great EP released a year before. It kicks off with the rumbling high pace and aggression of “What’s Your Big Idea?” before the primary single and poppiest tune on the album “We Won’t Sleep” comes on which is great stuff with its choir backed choruses at the end. Some songs seem to leave a bit on the table which prevents this album from going higher in my chart, but its a good debut. Eventually I’ll find out how the sophomore effort compares.

 

143. GRATITUDE – GRATITUDE

(2005 – T12 G10 B3 UB1)

 

 

Gratitude are yet another Jonah Matranga band, though they weren’t originally, he was the replacement for another singer from Crumb (?). There is also another ex-member of Get Up Kids in the band and they converged for a short time and made this one self-titled album. Now in terms of song “quality” or “importance” this should probably not be above Far’s “Water & Solutions” but this is a list of my personal liking for albums, also in this area of the chart, there appears to be a clog of similarly ranked bands, probably the most in flux area. One extra or less banger and you could move up or down up to 40 places. So position is much of a muchness at this point. Gratitude basically do emo-rock almost to a too perfect formula, so its all a bit safe but its good stuff. There’s a couple of songs early on that are very skippable but things properly kick off with “This Is The Part” which is the most aggressive song on the album. “Sadie” and several of the songs make great summer driving songs, or thats what they always remind me of.

 

144. THE LUCKY NINE – TRUE CROWN FOUNDATION
(2005 – T12 G10 B3 UB1)

The Lucky Nine were a were kind of a Brit-rock super group made of members of Hundred Reasons (singer- Colin Doran) and A, Cable, Earthtone9/Sunna. They popped out one album in 2005 and that was is. Colin went back to Hundred Reasons for 2 more albums with them. As a result of his iconic vocals it does make it sound like a Hundred Reasons album, just a lot heavier in places. “The Program” being the best, fastest and heaviest song and my fave. “A Lucky Hit” is the closest to Hundred Reasons fair and throughout the album there are some proper nice riffy moments. Maybe on the whole some of the songs could be more coherent but its still an enjoyable riff ride.

 

145. THE LIVING END – THE LIVING END
(1998 – T13 G10 B4 UB0)

At 145 its Aussie-lands own punk trio The Living End straight out of Melbourne an all 3 of the band are called Bruce (some statements may not be true). This was their debut and 1 of 2 that make the list, that being their first 2. They have 8 albums over all but after the first 2 they haven’t been quite so strong. Their debut is full of stereotypical punk material, rebellion, hating work, Dunblane massacres (see “Monday”) and is delivered via a rock n roll style of punk which involves a stand up double bass, which some how makes a great racket when seen live. They make shout along gang vocal choruses with mental Back To The Future “Johnny B Goode” style solos. “Prisoner of Society” was the big hit from the album and a particular highlight from Reading ’99. “Bloody Mary” takes you on a Film Noire style journey and there are several ska based songs such as “I Want A Day”.

 

146. WEEZER – EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT IN THE END
(2014 – T11 G9 B3 UB1)

At 146 we find Weezer’s 4th album of the chart (3 more to come). This appeared after a 4 year break and was their 9th of their career and represented a shift back towards the original Weezer sound, but not quite there yet, that would wait till the next album. The main single for the album is by far the naffest on the album unfortunately in “Back To The Shack” which is like a poor “Beverly Hills” which doesn’t say much but the sound contradicts everything its saying. That song aside the start is ok, with “Ain’t Got Nobody” sounding like Maldroit should have sounded and “Lonely Girl” sounding how the Green Album should have sounded. Then comes “I’ve Had It Up To Here” which is one of my bangers which was written with Justin Hawkins of The Darkness and you can tell some of this influence in the falsetto singing style in parts of the song. Then comes a run of 4 great songs starting with “Da Vinci”, “Go Away” which is awesome and sounds just like a Blue Album B-side (almost literally) with the female co-lead vocals and “Cleopatra” which is let down by a bit of counting in the song but doesn’t spoil it. “Foolish Father” I’ve possibly ignored a bit and could develop into one of my faves. Then the album finishes on a 3 song, near instrumental, collection which some Weezer fans say is the best stuff on there. I can understand why as its very Pinkerton guitar wise in many parts, but the vocals when they do happen aren’t great and I would quite happily cut this threesome from the album.

 

147. SAY ANYTHING – ANARCHY, MY DEAR
(2012 – T11 G9 B3 UB1)

This is the first Say Anything album to hit the list, they are an odd creation and don’t really sound like anyone else, partly due to the bands creator and singer Max Bemis’ bile spitting style of vocals. They have released 8 albums with mixed results. 4 make my list and the other 4 are way off it. They’ve done albums from the very rough sounding debut to an album were guitars were exchanged for fuzzy sounding keyboards or other instruments, to an unnecessary double album. Their style can probably be just best described as alternative rock, with punk/emo elements but its a mixed bag, often with themes about breaking from his Jewish heritage and rants about hipsters. This album was their 5th one and started to lead to the shift in style to more weirdness. The big favourite of mine on the album is simply called “Say Anything” and is the most standard of songs but it’s just great, the video must have took forever to do with it being made of a series of still images put together to create the illusion of movement (at which point I feel the need to say “hello to Jason Isaacs”). The album kicks of with “Burn A Miracle” which ends with the title morphing to “Burn America”. “Admit It Again” is a continuation of the rant filled angst of “Admit it” off their best album “…. Is A Real Boy”, with its chorus of “And your crap rains down”. Another fave of mine on the album is “overbitter” which is a funky ass thing with boppy piano hooks and co-vocals with Max’s wife.

 

148. EMERY – I’M ONLY A MAN
(2007 – T11 G9 B3 UB1)

So we get our 3rd Emery album in the space of a month (30 positions) and 4th so far on the list overall. This one is very much the bridge between the more cohesive, conventional structure songs of the first 2 albums (and better ones in this case) and the more bi-polar ones of Emery’s latter career. “Rock-N-Rule” kicks is all off with a wierd sounding riff before the emoting screaming and melodic sections all mixed up ensues. “The Party Song” is an awesome song and even has “Party-on” as a central lyric, which is maybe cool… maybe. The album has a couple of dark slow building songs also the best of which is “Can’t Stop The Killer” which i think is written from the point of a husband (a bad one, presumably) whose lost it and about to shoot his wife, it’s a great song with no chorus. In fact I think the whole theme of the album is about someone trying to escape an abusive relationship. Things go a bit werid with “Don’t Bore Us, Get To The Chorus” in the middle of the album, which has dance beat sections and kinda “Bohemian Rhapsody” bits-ish. it don’t work though. Overall though its the 3rd best Emery album which is good enough for me.

 

149. CRACKOUT – THIS IS REALLY NEAT
(2001 – T12 G9 B4 UB0)

Crackout were a pop-punk-brit-rock-indie band from that hotbed of UK talent Bicester (?!). They first hit my radar in 2001 with 2 EP’s called EP 1 and 2 which you would recieve a numbered copy of with cardboard sleeve and a wax seal on, which you had to break to open, which was pretty awesome. Their best songs were alway fast stuff with quiet sections and then big chunky but very simple riffs usually to finish off the songs. Their debut album “This Is Really Neat” came out later that year and although it has some misses on it has some great songs, primarily “Joey Lost His Mind” and the delicately titled “You Dumb Fuck” which it appears MTV2 played the video for once (see below). They were kind of a new Symposium / Idlewild (when they were mental). they did a 2nd album which was a bit more of a quirky indie album but still had some catchy tunes. They then split which was a shame as the only song that came out after was called “Believe Me Now” and is a Ultimate Banger, but they probably weren’t ever going to match the quality of those first EPs.

 

150. FAR – WATER & SOLUTIONS
(1998 – T12 G7 B4 UB2)

Far are back with their seminal album “Water & Solutions” which influenced a generation of bands with is post hardcore stylings. The album very much has a dark, kinda ominous, atmosphere to it which kicks in straight away on “Bury White” with its godzilla marching riff which builds and builds throughout the song. The title track in part sounds like Pixies “Where’s My Mind?” before picking up the pace on and off. “Mother Mary” and “The System” are a pair of rip along songs, with The System being particularly awesome with its aggression going up to 12 in the final stages. The 7 tracks that made my good list are all the first 7 tracks so in a similar way to the New End Original album (also Jonah Matranga) its very much an album of 2 halves. The 2nd half of the album is more atmosphere than song in my opinion. If I could somehow combine the first 7 of this with the 5 belters off New End Original the album would have been number 33 but we don’t live in that world. Either way, some awesome tracks on this.