Quarter Century Review: The Ultimate Sin

Ozzy Osbourne
The Ultimate Sin
Epic
Produced by Ron Nevison

I found listening to this album as a pleasant surprise. I always regarded The Ultimate Sin to be terrible other than "Shot In The Dark," and "Lightning Strikes,". While the rest of the album isn't great, it is passable. And when compared to the next album, "No Rest For The Wicked", it's brilliant.

Jake E. Lee's guitar work is impeccable, as usual, as is the late great Randy Castillo (his first with Ozzy) on drums. Ozzy was pretty consumed with drugs at this point (he did snort ants, for heaven's sake) but that doesn't seem to effect his performance. Bassists in Ozzy's band have usually been interchangable but Phil Soussan did co-write "Shot In The Dark,". Because of legal issues with Soussan (is there anyone Ozzy and Sharon haven't forced into legal action), the album is out-of-print.

No question the 2 hit singles did positively impact the grade of this album and, if not for those two songs, the album would not be terribly missed. Even with that...

Overall Grade = 7.59

Quarter Century Review: Atomizer

Big Black
Atomizer
Homestead
Engineered by Iain Burgess

A perfect first album for this year's 25 year reviews. Atomizer is the album where Steve Albini and Santiago Durango figure it out. Their guitars never had or would gel together better than this again. The sound of this album is what would come to define Big Black and all subsequent Steve Albini bands. Albini made a very industrial sounding album with some help from his mentor Burgess. Burgess's work with Durango's previous band Naked Raygun was inspiring to Albini. The guitars are very tinny and driving. It also marks the last time Albini used excessive effects on his vocals.

Surprisingly, this album is not musically as aggressive as Lungs was and Songs About Fucking would be. Even with the unrelenting beats of Roland, the drum machine, mid-tempo rockers "Bad Houses," and "Fists Of Love," serve as almost calming points sandwiched between the assaults of "Big Money," and "Stinking Drunk,".

Atomizer, in its glory, never manages to top its first two tracks: "Jordan, Minnesota," and "Passing Complexion,". The sound of these songs embodies what was great about Big Black: pounding, metallic, and screamy. The middle is great but it ends with two more-or-less throwaways with the instrumental "Strange Things," and a live version of the Bulldozer track "Cables,". It is still a very powerful album that would shape the sound of what industrial would become (that, along with Albini's public ripping of then-electronica artist Ministry) as well as influence Nirvana's Kurt Cobain. Atomizer is confrontational, angry, poignant, and nearly perfect.

Overall Grade = 9.04

Quarter Century Review: Psychocandy

The Jesus And Mary Chain
Psychocandy
Blanco y Negro
Produced by The Jesus And Mary Chain

What to say about this? Loud, cacophonous, poppy, shoegazey, lovely. There are few albums off the top of my head that are this drenched in distortion and feedback while being this breathtakingly beautiful. This is widely accepted as the first album in the rock subgenre of shoegaze and definitely one of the greatest.

Psychocandy, with its huge wall of sound and mumbled vocals, is an album that is enjoyable in spite of itself. Upon listening, you try to decipher lyrics or if there even are any words but the feedback keeps you just out of earshot. It is as if the lyrics contain the answers to life's great mysteries but the guitar's first line of defense disorients you and the monotonous beats are further pummeling your senses into submission. These secrets belong to the brothers Reid and they are not for you to know. It doesn't stop us from searching, though, does it?

Overall Grade=9.0

Quarter Century Review: Spreading The Disease

Anthrax
Spreading The Disease
Island Records
Produced by Anthrax and Carl Canedy

My issue with early Anthrax has never been the songwriting. It is quite impressive the amount of melody they managed to jam into all the heaviness. The first half of Spreading The Disease is especially impressive. Concert staple "A.I.R.," and classic "Madhouse," are massive achievements and are widely considered the band's flashpoint.

My problem, while always, present truly rears its ugly head in the second half of the album. Joey Belladonna's voice is that ugly head. While this is his first album with the group, he never did much more than hold the band back from truly breaking through. "Lone Justice," and "S.S.C.," could have been amazing if they weren't hampered by hair metal vocals. Even Pantera used to sound like this and it took them the better part of a decade to figure out that a stylistic change was necessary. Eventually, Anthrax would follow their lead but it wouldn't be for 8 more years. The result is a very top-heavy album that hints at a greater ability and reveals the measures it would take for the band to realize its potential.

Overall Grade = 7.92

Quarter Century Review: Frankenchrist

Dead Kennedys
Frankenchrist
Alternative Tentacles
Produced by Jello Biafra

This, the last studio album by the Dead Kennedys, is largely devoid of anthem quality. There are plenty of great messages. Right off the bat, "Soup Is Good Food," is a Eastern-tinged musical adventure that expands the idea of Punk or Hardcore as well as good advice for kids and their diets. "MTV - Get Off The Air," is a request that, unfortunately, was never granted.

Frankenchrist, great song titles not withstanding, sounds called in. East Bay Ray's guitars are well done but uninspired. Jello Biafra's vocals sound as they always do but without spitting vitriol. The Dead Kennedys were a band that motivated punks to riot and be counted. There are no moments of such revolutionary sincerity here. A good album but hardly a worthy sendoff for such an awe inspiring band.

Overall Grade = 7.83