Queen: "Queen" (1973), "Queen II" (1974), "Sheer Heart Attack" (1974), "A Night At The Opera" (1975), "Innuendo" (1991)
Of these albums "Sheer Heart Attack" is easily my favourite.
In listening to these albums I'm constantly reminded of Ween... but obviously Ween are an extension of Queen (or more specifically bands like Queen from the 70s and 80s).
Queen's parody side is far clearer listening to entire albums. It isn't necessarily clear when listening to their Greatest Hits compilations. There are a lot of style-parodying songs on these albums, all of which force me to re-evaluate the songs I do know. Are they jokes?
Some of the albums I find hard to review. About half of Innuendo is found on Greatest Hits II or Queen Rocks, and so I automatically dismiss them, as I'm interested in the album tracks I haven't heard. As such, I found it hard to really like... while the early albums aren't particularly well covered in the Greatest Hits albums, and so I enjoyed them more. It's hardly fair...
I hope to put together my own "Greatest Hits Rejects" CD as a replacement for "Greatest Hits III" (which in reality is more "the more listenable stuff not found on our albums").
I still need to dig up "A Day At The Races", "Jazz", "The Works" and "The Miracle". I've decided against "Flash Gordon", "Hot Space" and "The Game" based on various reviews (although may change my mind one day) and I already have "News Of The World" on vinyl (and I really don't like it).
Queen, "Live Killers" (1979)
Queen's first live album is great, serving as a good representation of the quality of their live shows and as a mini best-of. It's mix is unusual compared to live albums I've heard, probably due to it's age. It's mostly mono and when stereo is used it's almost like a gimmick. It is mixed much like the audio for a video or TV broadcast, and perhaps it was... Listening to it just makes me wish for visual. It's fun, but like experiencing to only half the story...
Midnight Oil, "Midnight Oil" (1978)
The Oils' first album and one of the only CD of theirs I didn't already have (the other being "Head Injuries"). I had previously avoided buying it mostly because it is only 7 tracks and felt a little ripped paying full price for it.
I surprised how much I enjoyed this album. It's short, sweet and full of energy. The production is dirty but clear. I'd always been a little confused by their reputation as a punk band in the late 70s, but this album explains it. I'll definitely be getting Head Injuries soon.
Rivers Cuomo (Weezer), "Alone II" (2008)
I enjoyed this far more than "Alone I" but I don't really know why. The songs are probably of similar quality... although I enjoyed all the in-between sections. It made the album flow well. I believe I listened to the Nirvava rarities CD shortly before "Alone I" and I was particularly down on CDs of bad quality songs full of tape warp, tape hiss etc.
Sparks, "Exotic Creatures Of The Deep" (2008)
I enjoyed this about as much as I enjoy any Sparks album, except this time I didn't find any particular song I really enjoyed. Usually there is at least one great song. Not this time. I was also hoping for a direction change. The last three albums have been rather similar.
Trivium, "Shogun" (2008)
Katie grabbed this after seeing a Trivium video on Rage. It's very well produced metal, sounding to me like a good mix between Dream Theatre, Slipknot with more than a dab of Metallica. As per most metal I enjoy, this has some fantastic riffs, but some awful singing. It's either too try-hard heavy, or too not-try-hard-enough sweet. Overall it's a good listen though. Perhaps a little too long.
Fall Out Boy, "Folie à Deux" (2008)
The media and fans apparently love this album, but for me it wasn't anywhere as good as their previous album. It seemed too linear, too "well produced", too much over-singing, not enough heavy. It does have a decent alterna-cover of Michael Jackson's "Beat It" as a bonus track, but it's a decade too late.
Full Metal Garage: The Songs That Drove Metallica
A compilation of original versions of songs Metallica have released as covers, unfortunately missing a few obvious songs like Queen's "Stone Cold Crazy" (for which Metallica won a Grammy).
It's an interesting listen. On the whole I feel Metallica improved the songs they covered in the 80s and early 90s, mostly due to improved production values. Many of the songs they covered were by fairly obscure or old bands and the original recordings are pretty bad. I was fairly surprised at how bad the original versions of some of the tracks covered on the newer "Garage Inc." compilation are.
The whole experience made me want to listen to the "Garage Days Re-Revisited"... Helpless!
Mogwai, "The Hawk Is Howling" (2008)
Wikipedia says it better than I could, "[Mogwai] typically compose instrumental, often lengthy guitar-based pieces in the post-rock tradition. They are usually focused around the elaboration of a single theme and are known for dynamic contrast, melodic bass guitar riffs, their use of guitar distortion and effects."
That's what this album is. The themes are very simple, the "dynamic range" typically means bits too quiet to hear properly walking to work and a mix that is so bass heavy my headphones distort even at fairly low levels.
I really enjoyed the music, I love the fact it's instrumental, it's the perfect soundtrack for the commute, but it's hard to love because it's hard to really listen carefully to. Perhaps I need better equipment.
Pivot, "O Soundtrack My Heart" (2008)
A similar album in many respects to Mogwai's album. Instrumental jams, but with a dance/noise theme. This band remind me constantly of Pre-Shrunk's instrumental tracks... in that I'm sure they're amazing live, but on CD there is something missing. In fact, I bought the album based on see their "O Soundtrack My Heart" video on Rage which includes the band playing the song live. I don't know if the video version uses the live soundtrack or the recorded album version. I really enjoyed the album for much the same reason as the Mogwai one, with a couple of tracks standing out. It's perhaps (from a production point of view) slightly more listenable than Mogwai.
The Chemical Brothers, "Dig Your Own Hole" (1997)
I thought I'd love this, but I was wrong. I really like "Surrender" (their third album), but not this.