Category: Rock
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Grateful Dead ‘Cornell 5/8/77’ (1977)
As probably the greatest jam band of all-time, doing a live album listen of Grateful Dead (and nearly a three-hour experience at that) is pretty much a requirement if you’re listening to a full album each day for an entire year. The band is legendary for its extended live sets and Cornell 5/8/77 is no…
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Foals ‘Total Life Forever’ (2010)
Total Life Forever hits the perfect blend of spacey math-rock guitar lines, catchy vocal melodies, and drum/bass grooves that sound like they’re pulled straight out of a trendy London nightclub at 2am. It’s as good as it was when it dropped in 2010. Keyboardist Edwin Congreve, bassist Walter Gervers and drummer Jack Bevan are incredibly…
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John Mayer ‘Continuum’ (2006)
At one point in his career John Mayer was a great dichotomy. He soared to incredible mainstream popularity with a rogue smile, a holier-than-thou intellectual superiority, and catchy pop tunes. His virtuouso guitar playing was alluded to, but never really focused on, the press focus instead covering his lurid dating history. In other words, one…
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Alexisonfire ‘Otherness’ (2022)
Alexisonfire is the band that best encapsulates what I love most about melodic post-hardcore sound. The drop-D tunings, heavy riffs, and distorted screams interspersed with gorgeous clean vocals and euphonic guitar melodies. It’s a recipe that is pretty much irresistible for me. 13 years on since their last studio album, Otherness is an emphatic statement…
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Orleans ‘Waking and Dreaming’ (1976)
Orleans is one of those “your favorite band’s, band” kinda, well, band. Their eclectic blend of pop, yacht rock, blues, and Dixieland jazz led to some pretty massive hits in the 1970’s, the most prominent being “Still The One” which is featured on this record and at one point was actual the damn theme song…
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Audioslave ‘Audioslave’ (2002)
With all due respect to Robert Plant, Axl Rose and Bon Scott, Chris Cornell is the GOAT of pure rock-and-roll vocalists. In fact, I would argue it’s not even very close. Along with his incredible four-octave range, Cornell’s ability to hit that distorted gravel scream in an explosive chorus after an intimate verse delivered in…
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Atlanta Rhythm Section ‘Are You Ready!’ (1979)
Whenever someone says the words “classic rock” the sound I hear in my head is Atlanta Rhythm Section. Their sound is a perfect encapsulation of what makes the genre so evergreen– the smooth lead vocals, layered background harmonies, reliance on major chord progressions, overdriven guitar solos, tasteful piano, and drum fills that feature the toms…
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Blind Faith ‘Blind Faith’ (1969)
Blind Faith managed to get rock icons Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, and Ginger Baker together to write a full length album, play their first show in front of 100K people, tour the globe, and eventually break up over creative differences, all in the span of less than a year. If that’s not the most 60’s…
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