The best album most people will never hear
596550
What can i say that has not already been said in every other review? This album is truly a masterpiece and shows what hip-hop should be: clever lyracism, jazzy tunes, and most importently: fun on the mic. Every track is an excellent dislpay of these, and blend together to create a magically relaxed and happy atmosphere, plus chucking in a few facts along the way (in the song intevals). ATCQ managed to capture the spirit of old school hip-hop in this album which is a MUST HAVE for any hip-hop heads or music lovers.

However it saddens me that due to the rise of commercial/bling "hip-POP" brainwashing the community most people will never be able to appreciate music like this, calling it "boring" and/or "bland" and opting for stuff like eminem or chingy instead.

My Top 3 Tracks:

1. Midnight

2. We Can Get Down

3. Award Tour

Also: Sucker Nigga, Oh My God, Electric Relaxation.
4055445
This is the greatest album you never heard of. Recently in a Boston Globe interview - Angus and Malcolm both stated that "Powerage" was AC/DC's best album, and I cannot agree more.
Not really the heavy metal feel of the two albums that came after this (Highway 2 Hell and Back In Black, respectively). Think more of it as hard rock meets Chuck Berry. All the songs are terrific - my personal favs are "Gimme A Bullet - What's Next to the Moon - Kicked In the Teeth."
Do yourself a favor - get this album/CD now!
976904
When listening to this album you get a sense that Chris Martin has the underlining theme of "What A Wonderful World."  Never has there been an album to affect me as much as this one. Not to say that there never will be or has there been...I mean Radiohead ranks right up there in my list.  But this album has something in it that no other album I have heard has. I can't put my finger on it or verbally explain what it is but its something.  I recommend this ablum to any one, it doesnt matter if your a metal-head, dead-head, or just like rap. ANYONE can benefit from this album.
3869326
I can't believe I haven't reviewed this album! It was one of my favorites growing up and that hasn't changed on iota since I became an adult. III Sides to Every Story is one of those odd albums that you can listen to today without feeling like you've entered into a 1990s time warp (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Like a lot of people, I wasn't fully aware of Extreme until "More Than Words" was released. That song a huge hit that is still pretty popular, but not entirely indicative of the kind of music Extreme is capable of. Don't get me wrong, it's a great song but it became one of my least favorite Extreme songs once I got my grubby hands on&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Pornograffitti/dp/B000002GJ7/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Pornograffitti</a>. That album made me a fan and, of course, I couldn't wait to get this album. Since I was a broke teenager when this album was released, I had to wait awhile until Colombia House (gee, remember them?) got this in stock and my dad would allow me to get it (yeah, get that logic!). III Sides is one of those albums I liked instantly. I vividly remember listening to this on my Walkman - on cassette tape no less - endlessly and undoubtedly crying about some teenage dilemma I was in. When I wasn't dwelling on a zit or a boy that didn't like me back, I actually realized what an epic album this truly is.

The album, of course, is divided into three "sides". The first, "Yours", features songs that are mostly songs about political topics and other social issues. The second side, "Mine", are more in the vein of love/relationship topics. The third side, "The Truth", features three epic songs that are basically blended into one long opus. "The Truth" is the standout side for me because all three songs are simply put, beautiful. The first, "Rise and Shine", is like nothing I had ever heard before or since. It is lush and over the top but not manages to avoid being pretentious. The second, "Am I Ever Gonna Change", is easily one of my favorite songs on the album. It's the most simple song on that side but the lyrics speak to virtually everyone. It's one of those songs I still listen to when I'm irritated with myself (so yeah, I listen to it frequently!). The final song, "Who Cares", is another standout that invokes religious imagery and can be interpreted in different ways. I always imagined a video for this being along the lines of "November Rain" in scale and grandeur but alas, no video was ever made.

Unfortunately, this album wasn't as massive as it should have been because it was released around the time that grunge music was coming into fashion. All the bands/singers associated with "hair metal" were considered cheesy and silly. While I agree that some of them were, there were a lot of amazing bands and musicians that were tossed aside unfairly. I believe III Sides got good reviews but it didn't sell well for obvious reasons. Bands like Extreme were pretty much considered old hat by MTV at that time so the only place I ever heard this album talked about was in issues of Metal Edge (a Tiger Beat-esque magazine for the hard rock/metal crowd) and maybe Headbanger's Ball. I think MTV played the video for "Stop the World" a whopping five times and pretty much ignored the band after that. It's a pity because Extreme is still one of the greatest bands out there and this album should be all over those "Best Albums Ever" lists.

III Sides is one of those rare albums you can put on and listen to from start to finish. I rarely do that with albums because there's always a few clunker songs, but this album has none. The vocals are amazing, the music is amazing and the grabber - there's REAL orchestral music. It's really like nothing I've ever heard before or since.
1206167
My favorite album of all time. Not a single song that is boring, or that you would want to skip. Before buying, listen to "The Sinner" and "The Unfaithful" as those are good representative tracks or the whole album. If you are in love with "Unconditional" you will most likely not like "The Hollow" as much. Religious themes are sparsely placed, it has a much heavier sound overall than "Unconditional."
115781
This is, without a doubt, one of the most remarkable things I've heard in what seems like a lifetime. I honestly can't stop listening to it. It's been on infinite repeat since the moment I brought it home. It's not an album so much as an experience. It doesn't really have tracks - most of the tracks are under a minute and barely "songs" under any definition of the word. It's not like you can put this on and say "hey man, listen to this one", you just have to put it on and experience the whole. It's just this collection of ebbing, flowing beats and samples and rhymes. It's unlike anything I've ever heard. I go to put on another album, and somehow I just end up playing this again. You'd do right to check it out.
2815647
Crocodiles is the Bunnymen's great debut album and exposes a level the band would never reach in their career again. "Echo" would never again release such a cohesive album, without a single mediocre track. No fillers here! Unfortunately the Bunnymen in general and this album in particular are still fully overlooked by music fans. Probably the Bunnymen are the most underrated band ever!

Echo & The Bunnymen are definitely inspired by the music of The Doors and Television, the Marquee Moon album in particular. On "Crocodiles", though, the Bunnymen overshadow their music-heroes. The gorgeous bass-lines, the dark melodies, the melodramatic singing: it all comes together on this album that consists of 10 cohesive tracks that never become boring.

The title track is known for the fastest bass-line the Bunnymen would ever use to compose a song. "All that jazz" strongly reminds us of their Manchester contemporaries Joy Division (listen to Joy Division's classic song "Shadowplay"). "Villiers Terrace" is a breathtaking track, not only for its catchy intro and melody, but also for the bleak lyrics about (drugs) addiction ("people rolling round on the carpet - mixing up the medicine"). These three tracks are absolute highlights on an overall (nearly) perfect album. One of the very few albums that do not force you to ignore some dross /fillers. Rock 'n' roll / wave would never become better than this! I am sure that if you are prepared to take the eighties' sound / echo for granted (why should that be a problem if Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs etc. are so amazingly popular today...?) this album becomes an instant favourite in your CD-collection. Highly recommended; I give it five stars!
994910
Soundgardens "Superunkown" is without a doubt one of the best albums of all time.

With so many outstanding songs "My Wave" "Fell On Black Days" "The Day I Tried To Live" "Spoonman" "Black Hole Sun" who could seriously argue.

There is only one bad song on this album which you won't want to hear more than once which is "Limo Wreck", although its far from absolutley terrible.

What more canm I say, just a brilliant album from a brilliant band.

Check out "Down on Thge Upside" as well. In a way its even better than this.
4482214
This is one of the best albums to come out of the ninties. Breathtaking, stunning, worthy of adjectives not yet created. It must be played start to end, without skipping tracks to find your favorite track ( IMO, 'Zooropa', 'Lemon', 'Stay', 'The First Time' and 'The Wanderer' ).

Like Pop, Zooropa is a bit strange because it's so different from mainstream music, but it's fantastic. You must be open to listening to music that's unlike anything else and be willing to give it a chance. By listening, I don't just mean allowing the music enter your ears; you need to HEAR the music for what it is and feel the artistic expression in it.

Truly Recomended. Period
3426322
Excellent album, probably will not be appreciated by majority of rap fans, but all of Kid Koala's long time followers will be stunned by this excellent "book on tape".  It is good to look at the book, listen to the album, then do them both at the same time (as it is intended to do so).  The combination of lazy synth and sampling is something that has never been done before.
You Will Buy This Album
2423939
I am appalled at how many people I have introduced to this astonishing album.  How can so many erstwhile music fans not be aware of this masterpiece?  Even in 1989, when it came out, few people seemed to know about it, despite accolades from folks like Robert Christgau, the only slightly self-proclaimed dean of American rock critics, who declared in the VILLAGE VOICE that year that they were the greatest rock and roll band in the world--not greatest "unknown" band, but greatest period.  And I'm not sure I disagree with him.  In 1989 and 1990 and years thereafter, as Mekon leader Jon Langford and drummer Steve Goulding relocated to Chicago, where I live, I saw the band in endless concerts in various venues, most of the time appearing under fake names to avoid attracting crowds too large for the small venues--I saw them once at Lounge Ax where they came onstage and immediately denied that they were the Mekons, but were instead a Mekons cover band.  My favorite Mekon concert may have been the week after Bill Clinton was first elected president.  Upon introducing the members of the band, Jon Langford, improbably wearing silver lame short shorts introduced himself as Bill Clinton (to whom he actually bears a resemblance, especially in body type, which is why the short shorts were so surprising), Tom Greenhalgh as former president George Bush, and either Sally Timms (she of the floozy visage but angelic voice) or Susie Honeyman (whose fiddle playing sonically sculpts every song) as Ross Perot's daughter.  Nothing could illustrate the anarchic spirit of the Mekons more.
But the Mekons are more than anarchistic and rowdy.  They are an impeccably gifted and creative rock band, and after over twenty-five years together, they are still producing stunning music.  The twin highpoints of their remarkable career has been the phenomenal FEAR AND WHISKY, which single-handedly invented country punk, and ROCK N' ROLL.
The key song on this album is the second, "Club Mekon."  The first song, "Memphis, Egypt," is a stunning intro, but as fine as it is, the second is just as great, which immediately cues the listener that this isn't a case of a band putting its only good foot forward.  "Club Mekon" is a riveting rock song, but as one looks carefully at the lyrics, it becomes obvious that it is a searing social critique of capitalistic society (there has always been a far leftist edge to their music).  The selling and marketing of the basic components of humanity leads to the dark verse that concludes the song ("I live alone and I walk the dark edge / Of the shoplights shadow, / In each display a private hell /Name your price you're up for sale").  The rest of the album lurches irresistibly through a string of amazing diatribes targeted at American consumer culture, where not merely sex is a "commodity to be bought and sold like rock and roll."  If FEAR AND WHISKEY was directed more at American foreign policy, ROCK N' ROLL focuses on the role America plays in the commodification of all aspects of life.  No wonder the corporate record companies didn't market their albums!  But despite the deep political elements in the album, it is never subjugated to the music, nor so far front that one can pay attention to nothing else.  That is the joy of this disk:  it possesses great intellectual depth that the casual fan might miss, but the music is so extraordinary that one won't get a sense of having missed anything by not picking up on the subversive message.
The album doesn't let up at all until it finally comes to an end.  One phenomenal song after another rolls off the disc:  "Learning to Live on Your Own," "Only Darkness Has the Power," the blistering "Amnesia," "Echo," and finally to "When Darkness Falls."  There really isn't a bad cut on the album, and most of them are great.
If you are a fan of rock and rock (or even rock n' roll), please do yourself a favor by getting this extraordinary album, and then do me a favor and spread the word about it, so that I won't feel any longer that I'm doing it alone.
4041123
strange and a bit odd to write down that sentence but Audioslave's self titled album is the album of my life,the music that changed everything. I never thought that I ever gonna hear such a great and soul filled music in my life again. My all time favourite album was Make yourself from Incubus but this one is the best I've ever heard. Why?I gonna tell you. The first song Cochise is only the gate to the world full of ghosts and feelings,if you only heard this song and say:"Nothing new" you make a big mistake couse this songs are simply perfect and embace the whole music scene itself. If you don't know this album you don't know anything about music. Chris Cornell's voice is filled with the pain of humanity and as you hear songs like "I am the highway" goosebumps begin to prickle your skin. I never ever felt this before,simply the PERFECT album,and I think the most important one of our decade.
2187242
No one is going to love this album the first time they hear it.  You will fall into one of two categories when first hear it.  You will either say "That's weird, but kind of cool." or " I'm going to turn this off now." It takes time to like and I can't really blame anyone for not liking it.  The songs are very distorted and fuzzy and the vocals are tuned low into the mix, making the lyrics almost impossible to decipher.  It is not something you will love right off the bat, but it will grow on you once you listen a few times. My favorite track is "When You Sleep" because it is the closest thing to catchy this album could ever get.  I Would recommend The Jesus and Mary Chain's PsychoCandy and if you like that, you could definitely learn to love this.
869431
This is the album I've always wanted.  It's so quiet that sometimes I can't even tell that it's playing (especially on Will The Real Danny Radnor Please Stand?).  It's the type of album you can crank up really loud and still not bother anyone.  It has a nice confluence with every track more or less running into one another and the repetitive melodies never wear on my patience, along with the droning hum from the keyboards. A Good Friend Is Always Around is brilliant and the 4 part New Drifters is a nice mini-masterpiece. I've never heard an album like this before and I probably won't hear another one, which leaves this album a pure gem.  I recommend this to anyone who loves to be hynotized by sound.
4098578
There's no accounting for taste, I guess.  I first heard "The People's Key" on the best little AM radio station ever, WCAS in Boston in the 1970's - it was a quirky, clever, funny little song, so I had to have it, and brought the LP.  Once I played it all the way through I was completely hooked.  This is one of the catchiest albums I have ever listened to.  Fast forward about 30 years, what a thrill to find this as a CD.  One of my all-time favorite albums.  I almost don't even want to know of they ever recorded anything else, as I would not want to risk hearing them fall short of the perfection achieved on this album.  An amazing work!
3264208
Nevermind is a classic. Still, I'm finding it difficult to write a review that can express just how truly exceptional this album is for several reasons: first, I usually list stand-out tracks in my review. This simply can't be done with Nevermind, because quite frankly, every track is a masterpiece. Second, I'm not sure what exactly you'd call this record. Is it simply a rock record? Is it a pop record? Is it simply grunge, and nothing more? The fact is this album truly rocks, but there's nothing especially alienating about it, so it's also a pop record. And of course, this album has come to define grunge itself. In the end, it probably doesn't matter. If you haven't heard any of Nirvana's music, chances are you have been dead for some time. I'd get that checked out if I were you. Anyway, if you like anything you've heard by Nirvana even remotely, I can promise you that you'll love this entire album. And don't be fooled by the negative reviews. Even a classic album isn't for everyone (is there a single record in the entire world that is universally loved because I can't think of one). Fact is, this is one of the greatest albums ever made, and the only proof I can offer is that 14 years after it's release, it's still hugely popular. I still hear kids listening to Nirvana, and the band has never left my CD player for an extended period. This is the album of the 90's and thus far, nothing to come along in the 00's can dethrone it.
4451449
I will admit for many people this is an album that takes a little time to get used to, but once you do you will see the sheer genius of this musical and lyrical masterpiece. Criminally underrated, overlooked band and album that influenced more bands than you can count at the record store. Bivouac is raw, intense, gut wrenching, heartbreaking and honest and I do not use those words lightly. Buy it or else!!