#645 - Brain Salad Surgery, Emerson, Lake & Palmer

"The main focus, thanks to the three-part "Karn Evil 9," is sci-fi rock, approached with a volume and vengeance that stretched the art rock audience's tolerance to its outer limit, but also managed to appeal to the metal audience in ways that little of Trilogy did. Indeed, "Karn Evil 9" is the piece and the place where Emerson and his keyboards finally matched in both music and flamboyance the larger-than-life guitar sound of Jimi Hendrix." (allmusic guide)

#644 - Cure For Pain, Morphine

"With their cult following growing, Morphine expanded their audience even further with their exceptional 1994 sophomore effort, Cure for Pain. Whereas their debut, Good, was intriguing yet not entirely consistent, Cure for Pain more than delivered...(it) was unquestionably one of the best and most cutting-edge rock releases of the '90s." (allmusic guide)

#643 - Izzy Stradlin & The Ju Ju Hounds, Izzy Stradlin

"Axl may have had the angst and Slash may have had the chops, but Izzy had the smarts and the heart. On his debut album, the traditional elements that had always formed the backbone of Stradlin's music with Guns N' Roses comes to the forefront -- it's Stones and Faces all the way, but it is done well. Izzy Stradlin & the Ju Ju Hounds is terrific only half of the time, which is good enough for a debut album." (allmusic guide)

#642 - This Is The Sea, The Waterboys

"Expanding the epic, multi-layered sound of A Pagan Place, This is the Sea is a more ambitious yet a more successful record, since it finds Mike Scott at his melodic peak. Consequently, the album has enough strong, accessible moments to make his indulgences forgivable." (allmusic guide)




#641 - Live At The Apollo (1963), James Brown

"While James Brown would later make more amazing music in the studio, Live At The Apollo left no doubt in anyone's mind that he was a live performer without peer, and that his talent could communicate just as strongly on tape as in person; a watershed album, both for James Brown and for the burgeoning soul music movement." (allmusic guide)

#640 - Dulcinea, Toad the Wet Sprocket

"One of the thematic threads of Toad's music has always been a certain spirituality, a sense of awe and wonder in regard to life and death. Dulcinea exploits and explores that theme with reverence and humility, going so far as to close the album with "Reincarnation Song," a delicate examination of a soul's transition shrouded musically by a veil of electric guitar feedback." (allmusic guide)

#639 - Something Else By The Kinks, The Kinks

"Some fans argue that this 1967 release is one of head Kink Ray Davies's middle-period masterpieces, while others regard it as an uneven collection of great singles and inconsequential filler...Something Else does boast one of the great one-two punches in rock history: the rumbling tale of social envy, "David Watts," and "Death of a Clown," a slurring pub sing-along warbled by brother Dave. Elsewhere, the quartet dives headfirst into droning psychedelia ("Lazy Old Sun"), whimsical balladry ("Afternoon Tea"), suburban soap opera ("Two Sisters"), and one of the most poignant singles in rock history ("Waterloo Sunset")." (amazon editorial review)