Best album (pt.3) - The Waterboys, Room To Roam

I was going away for the weekend, camping... inside my dear friend's Fiat, a tape was playing and the sound was definately adventurous and irish. Mike Scott's voice became there and then a reference, for I only know him as the guy who sang "The Whole Of The Moon".

The weekend soon passed and I immediately dove into a record store to find the album... and hearing the first sounds and listening to "Where will I wander and wander ?... Nobody knows..." kept me glued to the speakers until the last sounds of "Further Up, Further In".

Incidently, the album back cover has an error as "Kaliope House" is stated as the fourth song, when in fact it's on the end of the record/CD.

That weekend, I also decided to pick up David Byrne's (then) latest album, Uh-Oh. Two strange decisions for a guitar addict.

Best album (pt.2) - Extreme, III Sides To Every Story

After being labelled a "hard rock, metal, hair band" for songs like "Get The Funk Out" and "More Than Words", Extreme came up with their best album. This was definately a concept album.

The album is divided in three distinctive chapters properly named "Yours", "Mine" & "The Truth". The first part focus on war issues, the second is more about day-to-day issues and problems (not always love related) and the final chapter is about life itself, our part in it and the existence of a superior entity named God by us.

Naturally, "Tragic Comic", "Our Father" and "Am I Ever Gonna Change" became instant favourites, soon followed by "Rest In Peace", "Stop The World" and "Cupid's Dead". And after that, glueing all the bits and pieces, I realized the whole album was already a favourite.

But more than being a favourite of mine, there is an immense amount of musical and lyrical quality in so many aspects. Adjectives are not the best tool for me to honour the album, so please hear it yourselves.



Nuno & Gary played the part once played by John & Paul... a unique combination of music and lyrics... am I repeating myself ?!

Go get the album.
Period.

Best album (pt.1) - Phil Collins, Face Value

First thing's first... this sequence of "best albums" is in absolutely no particular order. It was hard enough to choose ten albums only. The guitars were a different story... obviously one cannot purchase as much guitars as albums... duh!

In the summer of 1990, I tried to learn everything I could about a girl... I listened, paid attention, asked, looked for... there was nothing I was neglecting (other than the fact I was too immature to "read" certain things).

One thing I learned is that she (mais oui, c'etait une fèmme qui... vous savez!)... well, she told me she liked Phil Collins (my guess is that it was the commecial stuff, but I couldn't care less) and so I went and bought the cheapest CD there was available.

Incidently, this was his debut album and it took me quite a while to like it. Other than "I Missed Again" (that I already knew from an NBA advertisement), the album was strangely different from everything I had heard before; there were two singles could get some air-play (the first song of the album, "In The Air Tonight" and also "I Missed Again"), but otherwise, it was a sequence of stories, much like the seventies concept albums.

As I and she became increasingly apart from each other, the album remained increasingly more and more important. Songs like "The Roof Is Leaking" or "Thunder And Lightning" instantly became favourite, because I could identify with several aspects in the lyrics. And, naturally, that's a big plus for any album.

And the cover to The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" is the cherry on top of the cake. I'm not a big fan of the song (neither version) but I do appreciate Phil Collins' view.



All in all, a great album from a great writer and drummer.