Albums you've owned for a while...

[الله أكبر]

...but have only recently become acquainted with.

I guess my most notable one is Metallica's "Ride the Lightning." I've owned the album for almost as long as I've had "Master of Puppets," but neglected to recognize the depth of songwriting and cool riffing held within "Ride." As some of you may know, "Master of Puppets" is my favorite album of all time, so "Ride" has always stood in its shadow.

Album openers are a big thing for me. If I don't like the opening track, chances are I won't give much thought to the rest of the album. "Fight Fire with Fire" has seen the largest jump in play counts on iTunes. It is one of the roughest, balls to the wall thrashers I've ever heard. Starting off in the style of 80's Metallica (clean intro bars, explosion into thrash madness), the  verse riff is one of the heaviest I've ever heard. I think it has one of the coolest endings, in which Hetfield yells the title over and over again, followed by a whammy bar dive into an explosion. Pure metal bliss.

"Ride the Lightning" features one of the more catchy choruses, if not morbid ones ("flash before my eyes/now it's time to die/burning in my brain/I can feel the flames). About halfway through, the song transitions into a cool metal groove with a signature Kirk Hammett solo. It's funny how in any other setting, I would probably think of this as wanking, but when set against the groove and chord progression, everything works perfectly.

"For Whom the Bell Tolls" just goes without saying. It feels too short, despite clocking in at 5:09. The song is pretty much a buildup, which works. I want to say Metallica could've done more with the song, but then I'd also say the song doesn't need anything more.

"Fade to Black" features one of the more famous metal riffs of all time. It's probably the most introspective song on the album, as it was written in response to the band's equipment being stolen while on tour. This is one of my favorite songs to play on drums.

Right after "Fade" is where I usually drew the line when listening to "Ride the Lightning." Little did I know how much more cool material was held within the last four tracks. Furthermore, this is where the songwriting comes into play. All these songs have very logical flows, and much thought was put into harmonization and that sort of thing.

"Ride the Lightning" still doesn't trump "Master of Puppets" for me, but it is quickly becoming number two. Even if you're a casual Metallica fan, I'd say check it out.

[Violent Unrest in Allentown]

Fight Fire with Fire is such a good opening song for a metal album. At the end of the track -  when James is shreiking the track's name in a 6/8 rythm - I always get chills down my spine.

[Jelone]

In recent memory, i've owned Pavement's Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain for almost a year, but couldn't get into it until just now. i think i put too many expectations on it, because everyone i know that likes Pavement pretty much wants to jerk off Stephen Malkmus forever and a day, but like a month ago it just really rocked my soul with its indifference.

Back in '94, my aunt gave me the soundtrack to Empire Records, and at the time i was like, "This isn't Boyz II Men. Fuck this shit!" The CD just kinda sat on a shelf until i got to high school in fall 2000. i'd finally begun to ween myself off of the radio, and popped the soundtrack in one day just for the heck of it, and that's when it dawned on me that Gin Blossoms and The Cranberries totally rule. So, it took like 6 years and nu-metal and modern r&b phases before i learned to love "Sugar High."

[Violent Unrest in Allentown]

I did this back in high school to PJ Harvey's "Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea." It was Christmas present from my Mom. She may have also given me Incubus' "Make Yourself" that same year, and that CD was telling of my tastes at the time. I grew a little older, and I had more reasons to mope around my room and listen to depressing music. Scanning my CD shelf, I saw the CD and popped it in to listen to it for the first time since I got it. This'd be around 11th grade. The CD has a lot of typical PJ Harvey moments: shreiking about love lost and New York City, but unlike a lot of her other work, the songs are constructed in a fashion that creates a total feeling instead of many separate ones. Thom Yorke is a guest vocalist on two of the tracks, which is great, as they're two peas in a pod.

[Larry Flyntz]

I stole a few of my Dad's old Allman Brothers LPs a couple of years ago, but I've only recently given them a shot, and man, I was missing out! Same thing happened with the Zappa LPs I stole from him. I'm not a huge Zappa fan by any means, but I definitely appreciate him more now than I did when I actually took the LPs.

[Violent Unrest in Allentown]

Yeah, my next pick was going to be Zappa's "Hot Rats." This album actually makes me respect Captian Beefheart more. Also, it filled the hunger that I had for old school scratchily recorded aimless Zappa guitar solos. His style is a lot more genuine from this period. Sure his late seventies and early eighties stuff was technical and amazing, but some of his concept albums don't hold a candle to Peaches en Regalia.

[Famous Hogbert]

I dont mean to be repetative (cause I really hav broadened my musical horizons in the last year or so), I keep coming back to Wishbone Ash. While their Argus album is considered their finest moment, they have many other Ron Paul masterpieces in their catalogue as well. One of their greatest assets (especially in the Mark II era) is the amazingly subtle sound textures they incorporate in every track, without it ever becoming muddy. The best example of this is their 1977 offering, Front Page News. Its not regarded widely as one of their best ones, and when it came out it was recieved with mixed reviews. Just give a listen to the last track, Diamond Jack. Besides being a practically perfect rock song, its got so many things coming at you that more listenings are required to grasp it all. Which is ofcourse why I keep coming back.

[CadmiumYellow]

stereolab- margerine eclipse

newer stereolab that doesn't suck! and it is Extremely acessible. likeable even for those who aren't familiar with stereolab already (like my mom!). the likeable-ness for established fans of stereolab is basically instantaneous. i actually decided that i liked this a few months ago- it wasn't until very recently, though, that i realized just how much. anyway now i play it all the time, even more than some of the older albums i initially thought i liked more.
i also recently found out that stereolab has put out more than ten albums, and the number is even higher if you include their compilation-things! this is something i should have known long ago, because they've been around since the beginning of time, but i never really put two and two together? somehow? all i know is that i only have five of their albums, and that makes me want to quit school and not eat until i have successfully purchased them all.

[Smiff]

I've had the "Lost in Translation" soundtrack for quite a while now, and listened to one or two songs on it only, but recently I've come to realize it's quite calming and soothing.  Air, Jesus and Mary Chain...good stuff.

The movie was kind of ART SKOOL and boring, but it was pretty, and its surprising I didn't notice the music the first time around.

[Violent Unrest in Allentown]

Too Young is a great song on that album and not too boring. If you like that song, make sure to get Phoenix's newest release, "It's Never Been Like That." Awesome stuff. They were actually found out by the duo that is Air when they used them for some session playing on Moon Safari. Which explains why they're on the same label, Astrelwerks.

[Jelone]

i'm assuming everyone here owns the Batman Forever soundtrack. Like, i haven't listened to it in years, but it just dawned on me that it might be one of the greatest things in the world. Like, it's got those U2 and Seal songs, but like it's got P.J. Harvey, Flaming Lips, and Sunny Day Real Estate? THE FUCK?! i used to be so much hipper in 1996 or whenever the eff this movie came out, even if i didn't like any of those songs at the time.

i always liked Method Man's rap about The Riddler, though.

[Violent Unrest in Allentown]

That was my first CD ever.

"The Ridlaaahhhh!!!"