5. Avalon by Roxy Music
Let's face it: the peak of Roxy's brilliance was the 1973 release For Your Pleasure. That was the pinnacle of the Bryan Ferry/ Brian Eno collaboration: one that melded Ferry's lounge-y charm and Eno's obsession with tape recorders. After tensions and egos got out of hand, Eno left for his own solo career. Since then, Roxy has struggled to produce work that feels focused and cohesive.
They did pull off a few great albums after the schism (namely Country Life and Siren), but in the late 70s Roxy fell off the map with a few life-less, direction-less albums, namely the abysmal Flesh+Blood. Then, in 1982, Avalon happened. Arguably the most focused and well-crafted album after Eno's departure, Avalon was Ferry showcasing his skills and passions. It was to be his perfect swan song, laying Roxy to rest at one of its highest musical peaks.Sample track: "More Than This"
4. This Nation's Saving Grace by The Fall
Mark E. Smith is probably responsible for influencing the creation of more alternative bands than anyone this side of The Velvet Underground.The Fall started out primarily as a punk act, though Smith was never one to simply write songs depicting anger and anarchy. Instead, his approach was much more fragmentary-- in a way that sounds almost Dylan-esque. But after a handful of successful albums (leading up to the fantastic Grotesque), their music began to enter a short period of stagnancy.
So, Mark brought in Brix Smith, his wife guitarist and singer extraordinaire, and the group started to retool it's approach with an eye towards a more pop oriented sound. After a few albums of varying success and quality, the group perfected the technique and emerged with This Nation's Saving Grace, which would garner and solidify their American cult following.The album was a wonderful pastiche of post-modern excessivism with an eye towards the partying, drug-worn, and ironic. The group would continue to make great albums (even after Brix's departure), but none would ever match the one that brought them back into the [alternative] fold.Sample track: "Cruiser's Creek"
3. Mock Tudor by Richard Thompson
Richard Thompson's career is so full of great music that it's hard to believe that he would even have released an album that might fit this criteria. After a long, successful, and critically acclaimed career (starting with Fairport Convention then recording albums with his now ex-wife), he accepted a contract with Capital Records.
Though he recorded many great songs during his stay with them, most of his recordings from this era (most of the 90s) were lacking in a way that his work never had. However, the last album he produced under contract, Mock Tudor was a gem the likes of which his fans hadn't seen since he and Linda completed Shoot Out the Lights in 1982. Tudor wove a wonderfully complex narrative of suburban life that was almost Chaucer-like in it's presentation. The album showed that the fusing of Thompson's folk roots and remarkable songwriting skills was still capable of producing fantastic music.Sample track: "Cooksferry Queen"
2. Mezzanine by Massive Attack
In 1991, they were visionaries. Their debut, Blue Lines, had almost single-handedly created trip-hop, a genre that celebrated the fusion of hip hop beats and British club music. Their jams were smooth, calculated pieces that would gently rise and fall in an unusually ethereal way. Despite the rush of critical and commercial success, Massive Attack became increasingly ignored over the next few years. They continued to produce work, but it often fell to the background of the trip hop scene.
In a way, the bands they inspired into existence were threatening the very existence of Massive Attack: they were behind a curve that they had created. But all of that changed in 1998 when the group released Mezzanine. The album has a warm feeling that is remarkably contrasted by dry electronic beats and drum machines. The first four songs make for the most irresistible opening punch to one of the most original albums of it's era: "Angel", "Risingson", "Teardrop" (better known now as the theme from the tv show "House"), and the album's crescendo, "Inertia Creeps" Sample track: "Inertia Creeps"
1. Learning to Crawl by The Pretenders
When the Pretenders hit the scene in 1980, they wowed everyone in their path. Chrysiie Hynde as the punk rocking, guiar bearing songstress with guitar virtuoso James Honeymoon-Scott backing her up. It was new wave, rock n'roll, and punk all rolled into a neat package of hooks and cynical lyrics. But when the band's sophomore effort hit the stores, everyone complained of the seeming lack of ingenuity so ever-present from their debut. Most simply wrote off the effort as a copy job and the band as a one trick pony (though the album certainly did have it's high points).
But the reason this is the best Return-to-Form album ever has less to do with the band being unable to maintain the intensity of their work than their (Chryssie Hynde's) persistence. After the release of The Pretenders II, the group's bassist, Pete Farndon, was kicked out of the group due to drug abuse. Shortly thereafter, Honeymoon-Scott overdosed on cocaine. It wasn't long until Fardon did the same. Hynde, now pregnant with Ray Davies' baby, was overwhelmed and had only a drummer remaining. Two years later, a re-vamped Pretenders emerged from the ashes and released Learning to Crawl. Though perhaps not quite as consistent as their debut, Crawl showed the world that Chryssie Hynde was more than the snarling punk rocker they had fallen in love with 4 years before. The breadth of songs on this album are amazing with the highlight being perhaps their most famous tune: "Back on the Chain Gang".Sample track: "Back on the Chain Gang"
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