Pazartesi 21 Ağu 2006, 15:09

Not an exercise of snobbery, I just keep coming back to these records and have so few people to share the love with. Dig 'em up, they'll win you over. I'm opting not to give you the ever-expanding honorable mentions section.

here's a sampling

10 Poor Righteous Teachers - Pure Poverty

Preachy and political, there's a lot to love and scratch your head at here, as these guys rap about peace, racism, violence, spirituality, and misogyny, while seemingly practicing them all at one time or another. Whatever, they mean well and this is a great early blend of hip-hop and dancehall that makes for great listening. They flow and they rock, and have never gotten the respect they deserve.

9 Marvin Gaye - Love Starved Heart

I was living in Mexico for a couple of months and this was one of three or four tapes I had. It's a "rare and unreleased" kind of deal, but it's not just for the collector. These songs represent some of the best of what makes Marvin the master. Sad, sweet, uplifting, soulfull - it's all here.

8 The Greenhornes - Dual Mono

These guys are pretty much uniformly underappreciated, and this is their best album. From Cincinatti, but sounding like their from Detroit, they've been peddling their own brand of psychedelic garage revival rock for years. They've played with Jack White, Loretta Lynn, and Holly Golightly. One of them is even touring as a Raconteur.

7 BS 2000 - Simply Mortified

A Beastie Boys Adam Horowitz side project, consisting of tons of under-three minute tracks done entirely on cheap casio keyboards and drum machines. Very sill, but awesomely catchy. I think this was kind of lost because it doesn't necessarily appeal to BBoy fans and as I said, it's really silly.

6 Scraping FOETUS off the Wheel - Hole

This is kind of a holdout from my goth/industrial days. Pure sicko fun from Foetus, aka Clint Ruin. Puts Marilyn Manson to shame, and you know what? It actually rocks and still gets a chuckle out of me.

5 Immortal Lee County Killers - Essential Fucked Up Blues

Dirty blues-rock from the garage. "Said I'd Find My Way", "Won't Cook Fish" and "Let's Get Killed" are the highlights, but it doesn't let up for even 5 seconds. If you're looking for the real deal, this is it.

4 Beehive & The Barracudas - Plastic Soul with the White Apes

A genuine party album. Post-punk rock and roll, best of the best from your friends at Swami Records. I think it's rated 5 and 4 stars all the way through in my iTunes. So rockin' so fun. A little too raw for some, but the first seven songs are perfect gut-stompin deliciousness. It's even a great driving record, thanks to "Road in Sinaloa" and "So Strange" Actually, this is one of my favorites ever.

3 Hugh Mundell - Africa Must Be Free

A roots reggae gem. Hugh died really young, but managed to produce several albums with and with Augustus Pablo. This was the first one I ever heard, and it's great. Very political, and extremely beautiful musically. As my college roommate said once, "you seem to have found the most perfect non-Marley reggae album".

2 The Go - The Go

Detroit twinged classic rock, these guys are cursed by the awful name of the band. It's too short, and they are nearly impossible to find in a google search. This could be a lost Stones album - well maybe not, but "Come Back" is as good as an acoustic rock song gets. The rest of the album is almost as good as an electric rock n' roll album gets. This album is probably overlooked for a few reasons - for one, unlike their first album, it doesn't Jack White on the occasional guitar. Live, they suck, or at least they were horrible when I saw them at the Bowery Ballroom a few years ago. It's only due to my obsesiveness that I even listened to this second album.

1 Pianosaurus - Groovy Neighborhood

This album is straight up old style rock and roll - but the catch is that it's played on toy instruments. That sounds silly, and with songs like "(A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the) Toystore" and "Bubble Gum Music" it would be stupid to say that the music isn't silly. However, the lyrics are great, with some great songs about living in Greenwich Village, New York City, and there are three great covers ("Memphis", "Dimples" and "The Letter"), and you can't help but quickly roll with the tinny sounds of the Muppets drum kit and Sesame Street toy piano. Real blues, real rock. Highlights: "Ready To Rock" and… fuck it - the album is uniformly great. I've been coming back to it since I first heard it back in the 80's. I saw 'em play at the Ritz, and it was crazeeeee. A lost gem, doomed by the same concept that makes it fantastic.