The 55 Best Albums of 2011 (45-55)

For the week I will count down my favorite albums of 2011.  Like a holiday advent calendar I will only give you a little taste of the good stuff one day at a time.  There's no denying that this year dubstep broke through to the mainstream like a ADD little boy hopped up on food coloring.  For those of us listening to Burial years ago, this was an overwhelming "duh" moment.  But for the rest of the world, it was like a 100-yard dash to the marketing finish line.  Within a matter of weeks of Skrillex's creative video (and it was a great video) every marketing campaign chucked their pop songs hoping they could be the first to latch onto this hip young trend.  There was a dubstep version of the White Stripes in the new Battleship trailer.  Verzion has a little kid tweaking out to dubstep on his cellphone with his grandma.  What's next?...will Tim Tebow pray to a dubstep beat?  I wouldn't doubt it.

Now...I WANT YOUR HELP.  Send me your lists of your favorite albums of 2011.  Top twenty.  I will compile all your votes into one master list.  So send it via email...or just post it in the comment box.  Will post on Dec. 31st the final result.

Here are the 44-55 Best Albums of 2011:

45.       Cage The Elephant - Thank You Happy Birthday

46.       R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now

47.       Shabazz Palaces - Black Up

48.       Skrillex - More Monsters and Sprites EP

49.       Stevie Nicks - In Your Dreams

50.       Drake - Take Care

51.       Duran Duran - All You Need Is Now

52.       David Lowery - The Palace Guards

53.       Rival Sons - Pressure & Time 

54.     Jane's Addiction - The Great Escape Artist (End To the Lies)

55.     Red Hot Chili Peppers - I'm With You

Buy these albums and more...now!!!  (all albums under $5 for a limited time)

The 11 Best Songs By Jane's Addiction

One of my friends in college, praised Jane's Addiction as the greatest rock band of all time.  He said there has never been a band like them and there will never be another like them.  When Jane's Addiction broke up in 1992, he said he would never see the band reunite or buy another album if they got back together.  To him, Jane's would always be that eclectic spirit that was frozen in time between 1988-1992.  There was something mysterious and magical about that band and trying to recapture it would only be insulting to what the original did.  I didn't really get what he was saying until their album, Strays, came out.  I like the album.  But it's not a Jane's Addiction album.  It's a rock album.  Jane's was something more.  Song structures were just suggestions.  Conforming was for glam metal.  You could maybe compare them to the alternative vision of a Velvet Underground but even that would be forced.  There was something pure about their music.  And it belonged to our generation.  As I grow older and see the world of music evolve around me, I can always look back to the days when Perry Ferrell could do no wrong because you had no expectations about what he would or could do.  Whatever path he chose, you would follow and you were better for it.  I always welcome a new Jane's Addiction album (especially when it's released on my birthday) but I think what I'm most excited about is going back and re-listening to what made them so great in the first place.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Jane's Addiction:

1.  Three Days (Ritual de lo Habitual)
2.  Had A Dad (Nothing's Shocking)
3.  Whores (Jane's Addiction)
4.  Ted, Just Admit It... (Nothing's Shocking)
5.  Standing in the Shower...Thinking (Nothing's Shocking)
6.  Summertime Rolls (Nothing's Shocking)
7.  Been Caught Stealing (Ritual de lo Habitual)
8.  Ain't No Right (Ritual de lo Habitual)
9.  Pigs In Zen (Nothing's Shocking/Jane's Addiction)
10.  Stop (Ritual de lo Habitual)
11.  Jane Says (Nothing's Shocking/Jane's Addiction)


Buy the new Jane's Addiction, The Great Escape Artist...now!

The Unknown: Jane's Addiction - 11-29-88

Depeche Mode wasn't the only 80s giant to make a return splash this week. Jane's Addiciton, another massively influential 80s band, released a box set of outtakes, b-sides, demos, and live tracks. Though most of these tracks have floated around on bootlegs and blogs, they finally get the proper mastering treatment with this release. I've never been a fan of tracks pulled from concerts...always prefered the full concert...but this is a good start. I think of this like the Nirvana box set from a few years ago. It's really for fans only...but if you're a fan, it's something you have to have.

Hopefully, the full reunion this summer, will offer some more broken punk that they so brilliantly fostered in their early days. Probably not...but one can hope.

Here is the concert where one of the box set tracks (Bobhaus) was taken from:

Trip Away 11-29-88

1. Kettle Whistle

2. Obvious

3. Whores (mistitled Romeo)

4. Idiot's Rule

5. Bobhaus/Pigs in Zen

6. Ted Just Admit It

7. Standing in the Shower

8. Had A Dad

9. I Would For You

10. Ocean Size

11. Trip Away

12. Mountain Song

13. Chip Away

Buy the box set, Cabinet of Curiosities now!