THE GREATEST ALBUMS OF NO EXPIRATION'S LIFETIME

This is my 2,000th post! It feels like a big deal to me.  I've really enjoyed doing this blog, reading your comments (both here and on the No Expiration Facebook page) and occasionally meeting people who read the blog in person.  Thanks for your support, I'm going to continue doing No Expiration, and maybe add a video element to it at some point. I am in my early 40s, and love music as much as I ever did.

It was difficult to decide what to write about for my 2000th post.  I decided to do a list of the best albums that have come out since I launched this blog in the fall of 2007.  Some of my friends have a laugh over the fact that so many of the artists I listen to are "old" (which is silly and ageist), but in fact there are some newer artists, some who are celebrated by the hipster elite.  In fact, one of these albums topped the Village Voice "Pazz & Jop" album list!

1. The Drive-By Truckers - The Big To-Do was my favorite album of 2010, and also my favorite album of the past few years.  The DBTs is a band I was hardly aware of until a few years ago.  It was basically listening to SiriusXM's Outlaw Country that turned me on to them, and for that, I'm grateful. Once I started hearing a couple of songs, I started buying albums, and then attending concerts.  I'm in: I'm a fan for life. The Big To-Do is one of their best albums.  If my peers ask me about "new" bands to get into, I'll mention the Truckers.  They're not new, but they're new to a lot of people.

2. Bob Dylan - Together Through Life was my favorite album of 2009. It's amazing to me that Dylan still is adding to his unbelievable body of work. He was 68 (I think) when this came out.  How many 68 year olds are still putting out classic LPs? Well, I guess you can't compare anyone to Dylan anyway. The songs on this album were incredible - instead of writing them all on his own (as he usually does), he collaborated with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter.  But the secret sauce here is in the musicians he assembled for this record: Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and Los Lobos multi-instrumentalist David Hildago.

3. Bruce Springsteen - Magic He's as relevant as he ever was, and he drove that point home with this album. By this point, he'd driven away lots of his politically conservative fans, and goes hard at the bu$h administration.  And he did it with some of his best songs ever.  I love "Long Walk Home." The line "The flag flying over the courthouse, certain things are set in stone: who we are, what we'll do and what we won't."  The song has one of Clarence Clemons' last great sax performances.  Actually, the live version is even better than the one on Magic, it has great vocal performances by Steve Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren. On the same album is "Girls In The Summer Clothes" which is pretty self-explanatory. This was around the time that lots of younger acts, from Arcade Fire to Gaslight Anthem, were citing Bruce as a major audience.  For a long time you didn't have young artists referencing Bruce that much, around Magic that started to change.

4. Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals - Lifeline My favorite album of 2007.  It was an album that they recorded in Paris over a (I think) two week period while touring for 2006's Both Sides Of The Gun, but it it totally a different album. The Innocent Criminals were really gelling as a band at this point... so it's weird that this is the last that we've heard of them (Ben has recorded either with Relentless7 or Fistful Of Mercy since then). I really hope we hear more from Ben and The Innocent Criminals in the future (I love R7 and Fistful though).  The album has a laid back but really soulful sound.  It's one of my favorites by Ben (who is one of my favorite artists ever).

5. Cocktail Slippers - Saint Valentine's Day Massacre There are two bands that I won't shut up about when people ask me about good relatively recent bands: The Drive-By Truckers and The Cocktail Slippers. Saint Valentine's Day Massacre is just a classic rock record, it actually blows my mind that more people haven't heard of them.  Little Steven, who produced the album, said it is one of the best albums he has ever worked on.  Think about that for a second.  By the way, I agree with him.  This album would be considered a classic and they would be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame if this came out in the '60s, '70s or '80s.

J. PERIOD'S Q-TIP MIX TAPE: CHECK IT OUT!

I've never been too familiar with the hip-hop mixtape scene. Most mixtapes aren't, strictly speaking, legal. But J. Period is a producer who has done a bunch of mixtapes... I don't know if they are "authorized" per se, but they are "commissioned." His latest mixtape is J. Period/Q-Tip The [Abstract] Best.

It's kind of like an audio documentary/podcast/tribute hybrid with pieces of songs, clips from interviews with Q-Tip as well as artists who he has worked with and influenced. There are new versions of some songs from his career (De La Soul cover "Excursions," Dres from Black Sheep gives his take on "Jazz" and a bunch of remixes that feature Questlove on drums). I found this collection on iTunes, where I also found a Roots mixtape by J. Period.  He occasionally posts other mixtapes at his website, if you love hip-hop, you should check it out. 

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: ALBUM ANNIVERSARIES: ALICIA KEYS, RYAN ADAMS, NIRVANA, MEGADETH, R.E.M.

Tomorrow morning on SiriusXM OutQ's Morning Jolt with Larry Flick, I'm talking about some albums that are being reissued in special anniversary editions.

First off, Alicia Keys' Songs In A Minor, which celebrates its tenth birthday this year. I wrote about this one the other night, I think it's a great LP.  To me, it heralded the arrival of a major artist who is going to be making important music for decades.  People rip on her for lots of things.  I guess the fact that she was a star pretty much the minute the album hit stores (thanks to both Oprah's endorsement and also an undeniable first single, "Fallin'") made her seem like an overnight star. (In fact, when she signed to J Records, it was her third record deal, she'd been signed and dropped twice previously). And, more recently, people have criticized her for more personal things which I won't get into.  I'll say that she seems to try and have a positive effect on the world with her money and fame, and I think she makes great music. I'm glad she's a star, and I always look forward to hearing what she's going to do next.

Also turning ten this year is Ryan Adams' Gold. I wrote about this one recently also. When Elton John released his 2001 album Songs From The West Coast (one of my favorite Elton albums, and one that is totally underrated), he said it was influenced by Ryan (although I think he was specifically referring to 2000's Heartbreaker). He wanted to take his band into the studio and do an album in two weeks. Around this time, Elton and Ryan were supposed to film an episode of CMT's Crossroads in New York City.  I was fortunate enough to get tickets.  Ryan, for some reason, didn't show up, but his band did, as did Elton. Elton started off with a solo piano set, and then Ryan's band joined him for a set of Ryan's songs. It was amazing. I'll always remember Elton's version of "La Cienega Just Smiled" from Gold. Ryan has put out lots of albums since then, but I think this is his finest moment.

Nirvana's Nevermind turns twenty this year. Wow. I remember hearing "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for the first time.  I was driving my car on the Meadowbrook Parkway in Long Island while I was in college.  I was listening to WDRE and wondering why they were playing a band that was heavy like Metallica, but of course the singer sounded nothing like Metallica or anyone else. I got Nevermind when it first came out. Obviously it is a classic album.  I loved "Lounge Act," I thought it sounded like The Smithereens (I later read that they were, in fact, an influence). At some point, I found Kurt Cobain a bit too precious and annoying (wearing a "corporate magazines still suck" shirt while doing a corporate magazine cover was cute, but complaining about Pearl Jam bugged me), and I stopped listening to them for a bit. That was dumb of me.  They are one of the greatest bands ever, and Nevermind is an incredible album. There's a deluxe version coming out later this year, but for now, Spin magazine has curated a tribute album called Newermind with The Meat Puppets, The Vaselines, Charles Bradley and Butch Walker, among others.  You can get it for free by liking their Facebook page.

R.E.M. has released a 25th anniversary edition of Life's Rich Pageant.  Having listened to it a bit lately, I've concluded that it is probably their best album (although I also love Automatic For The People). I'm going to do a separate post about this album.  The reissue comes with a second disc of demos and some songs that didn't come out on the album (some were re-recorded years later, others are being released for the first time here). Honestly, the bonuses are cool but kind of academic. But you need to have at least the album proper, if you don't already.

Finally, Megadeth's Peace Sells, which also turns 25.  Unlike the R.E.M. album, I remember this one coming out (I wasn't really aware of R.E.M. yet in 1986).  I knew they were led by a guy who used to be in Metallica, and lots of people were talking about it (I think I also knew that frontman Dave Mustaine was actually credited as a co-writer on a number of early Metallica classics). I listened to this album over and over, just as I did with Metallica. I felt Mustaine had the ability to take metal even further than Metallica did. They seemed to be a bit more political, which I was interested in at the time.  To me, this is one of the best speed metal albums ever. The bonus disc is a poorly recorded live concert from the era.

I know U2 will be releasing a Achtung Baby/Zooropa box set later this year, I can't wait to hear what they put on it (I have most of the b-side and remixes from the era though). I look forward to bringing that one onto a later episode of Larry's show.

GUITAR WORLD'S 100 GREATEST (MY ADJUSTMENTS) (part 2)

This is part 2 of my "adjustments" to Guitar World's list of 100 Greatest Classic Rock Guitar Songs. Part 1 is here.

26. The Stooges - "1969" I just inserted it here. The Stooges kick the shit out of most bands that "classic rock" radio plays.  I could have chosen lots of Stooges songs, but "1969," leading off their self-titled debut from that same year, was a roaring counterpoint to lots of the hippie Woodstock stuff going on at the time. More people need to check out The Stooges.  I'm glad they finally got into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  R.I.P guitarist Ron Asheton.

27. KISS - "Detroit Rock City (live)" I moved this up a few notches, GW had it at 33. And I replaced the studio version with the one from Alive II. "You wanted the best, you GOT the best! The hottest band in the world..."

28. Neil Young & Crazy Horse - "Cinnamon Girl" Neil and the late Danny Whitten were a great team. This song is really simple, but if it was easy, everyone would write songs like this. Incredible riff. GW had this at 31, I bumped it up.

29. Led Zeppelin - "Whole Lotta Love" which shows off Jimmy Page's godly power, not just as a guitarist but as a producer. Moved up from 35.

30. Yes - "Starship Trooper" Well, I may come off as a bit of a snob sometimes, but on the other hand I am a huge Yes fan. I'm glad GW choose this song instead of one of the more obvious ones. From their third LP, but their first with guitarist Steve Howe, The Yes Album. I never get tired of this song.

31. Derek & The Dominoes - "I Looked Away." Of course GW went with "Layla," but "classic rock" radio has kind of driven that one into the ground for me also. It's a great riff, a great anthem (and a great piano song as well as a great guitar song). To me, Derek is Eric Clapton's best period ever. Putting Eric and Duane Allman on the same record, it's still incredible to hear them together. I think "I Looked Away" is one of the most underrated songs in the Clapton cannon.

32. Bill Haley & The Comets - "(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock" It sounds quaint now, but in 1954, I'm sure it was pretty radical.  And the guitar is tasty as hell, props to Danny Cedrone who played guitar on the track.

33. Iron Maiden - "Iron Maiden" GW had "Run To The Hills" at #37, but I replaced it with this song, because I prefer the Paul Di'Anno era to the Bruce Dickinson era. Iron Maiden is creepy and evil sounding.  At the same time, "Run To The Hills" was the first Maiden song I'd ever heard, and really turned me on to them, so lets call it a tie, OK? I knew Maiden's imagery was very horror-film-like, and I was surprised to hear them do such a political song. Anyway, guitarist Dave Murray rocks on both songs.  On "Iron Maiden," he plays with co-guitarist Dennis Stratton, and on "Run..." with Adrian Smith.

34. The MC5 - "Kick Out The Jams" in the place of "Carry On Wayward Son." It's just a matter of opinion, but I think "classic rock" radio would actually rock more with more Stooges and MC5.

35. Cheap Trick - "Surrender" They always seem a bit underrated. GW had it at 39, I moved it up four spots.

36. Alice Cooper - "School's Out" Glen Buxton and Michael Bruce were a great guitar team, and Alice Cooper was a great BAND. This song is also a bit overdone, but it's timeless (at least as long as there are schools and summer break).

37.  Michael Jackson - "Beat It" I was glad to see GW include this song, even though no rock stations would ever play a Michael Jackson song.  The fact that he used Eddie Van Halen on this song was pretty radical at the time.  Michael often choose cool guitarists to work with, including Steve Stevens and Slash, but this was his best rock moment.  The fact that you couldn't hear this song on rock radio made rock radio, to me, seem old and out of touch (their very limited playlists didn't help either).

38. The New York Dolls - "Personality Crisis" I used this song to replace a Motley Crue song that was included by GW.  I don't like GW, but I respect that Nikki Sixx has always given a lot of credit to the Dolls for their influence, and even gave them the opening slot on their summer tour (which I think is still going on). But the Dolls are another great, underrated band. They deserve to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and they deserve to be on the radio also. Sylvain Sylvain and the late Johnny Thunders: great guitar team.

39. Bob Dylan - "Subterranean Homesick Blues" I'm not sure who the guitar players were on this song, but it's got great playing. Also, it marks one of the most radical artistic departures from a major popular music artist.  Going from folk to rock (or funk) like this... these days, everyone plays electric and acoustic music, but it was a radical idea back then.

40. The Rolling Stones - "Jumpin' Jack Flash" I moved this up from #46. Yes, it's a bit overplayed, but what a classic.  Undeniable riff. Keith Richards and Brian Jones on guitars.

41. AC/DC - "Hells Bells" Obviously "You Shook Me All Night Long" and "Back In Black" are bigger songs from the Back In Black album, but I love how this song opens the album. It's their sendoff to Bon Scott, and the first time we hear his replacement, Brian Johnson. As always, Angus and Malcolm Young are devastating.

42. Dick Dale & The Del-Tones "Miserlou" I moved this up from 50.  It's truly an iconic piece of music, and bless Quentin Tarantino (one of the greatest soundtrack curators) for putting it in Pulp Fiction.

43. Crosby Stills Nash & Young "Carry On" I used this to replace CSN's "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes." I think this is better, and, plus, Neil Young is on it (I think: I know all four guys were on every song together on Deja Vu). When you see it live, it's cool to watch Stephen Stills and Neil go back and forth on lead guitars. David Crosby is a good rhythm guitarist, and Graham Nash is just a great musician. It's a great song to open a concert with.

44. The Grateful Dead - "Bertha (live)" I replaced "Truckin'" with this, I don't need to hear "Truckin'" anymore. This live version opens the "Skull Fuck" album, and they opened with this the first time I ever saw them. I'm not always into the hippie/jam band thing, but Jerry Garcia was a cool guitar player.

45. Link Wray & His Wray Men - "Rumble" Another badass instrumental used in Pulp Fiction, but not included on the soundtrack. I moved this up from 62.

46. The Beatles - "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" Another great George Harrison composition, and in this one, the Fab Four gets an assist from Eric Clapton. I moved this up from 63.

47. Heart - "Barracuda" Yes, also driven into the ground by radio, but what the hell, it's  great riff.  Nancy Wilson is an underrated guitarist, and in the interest of fairness, it's worth mentioning that Roger Fisher was the other guitarist in the band at this point. I moved this up from 64.

48. Pearl Jam - "Corduroy" GW choose "Evenflow," which is a great (and has a monster riff that I think Stone Gossard came up with), but "Corduroy" is probably my favorite Pearl Jam song. When they play it live, it just raises the entire arena. People don't talk about Mike McCready enough when they talk about the best lead guitarists around today, but he is one of the best.

49. Van Halen - "Hot For Teacher" You just can't deny how huge Van Halen were in their day, and how great they were. I used to sort of "blame"them for hair metal, but I realized that was ridiculous.  This song is one of Eddie Van Halen's coolest moments.

50. The Yardbirds - "Over Under Sideways Down" This is from the Jeff Beck era, which is my favorite.

RYAN ADAMS "GOLD" TEN YEARS ON

Ryan Adams had been around for a while when he released his breakthrough album, Gold, in 2001. In the '90s, he fronted the alt-country band, Whiskeytown, and in 2000, he released his solo debut, Heartbreaker.

The first single from Gold, "New York, New York," was great on its own. The video was shot, weirdly, with the Twin Towers in the background, days before 9/11. It's hard not to think of those horrible days when I hear that song.  Still, it's a great song.  And the album holds up even without that song. "When The Stars Turn Blue" is a classic (it's been covered by Tim McGraw as well as The Corrs with Bono), but my favorite is "La Cienega Just Smiled." The album sort of set Ryan up for stardom, which he seemed determined to avoid at all costs.  Well, he was successful.

I remember interviewing him a few years after Gold, you could just tell that he absolutely didn't care about being popular, but he cared a lot about his music. In some ways, he reminds me of Prince. He kind of operates on his own terms, releases more music than even his fans know how to deal with.  I think Gold is Ryan's Purple Rain. I don't know if he's released his Sign O The Times yet.

The label that released Gold, Lost Highway Records, is also celebrating its ten year anniversary this year. To celebrate, they have been reissuing some of their important albums on limited edition clear vinyl. Gold is among those and the vinyl reissue has some bonus tracks.

I've been thinking about Amy Winehouse for the past few days; at one point, it seemed like Ryan was on that same kind of dark path.  I'm glad he seems to be doing a bit better these days, it's always interesting to see what he does next. (Right now, for some reason, he's posting covers of Vampire Weekend songs to his website. Next on his list: KISS).

ALICIA KEYS "SONGS IN A MINOR" 10 YEARS ON

After yesterday's sad news of the death of Amy Winehouse, I'd like to celebrate another young female singer who has successfully survived fame at an early age. Ten years after the release of her stunning debut, Songs In A Minor, Alicia Keys has an impressive body of work that just keeps growing.

She's just released a 10th anniversary edition of her debut, and I have to admit, I'd forgotten how good it was.  The singles ("Fallin'," "A Woman's Worth," her cover of Prince's "How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore") are of course amazing, but there are great album tracks on the LP.  I don't know that all contemporary pop artists care about full albums anymore. But Alicia Keys has always had a vision.  When this album came out, she was 19.  She was an exec producer, which is rare for new artists, especially artists of her age. She wrote or co-wrote all the originals.   At that point in her career, she needed to have that kind of control: she'd already been signed by, and dropped by, two record labels.   She was accepted to Columbia University, and dropped out after four weeks.  She knew what she needed to do: she knew she needed to control her career.  She had to focus and the discipline and the wisdom to be able to pull it off. I guess a lot of artists want to do that, but they aren't necessarily capable of doing it. Time has proven Alicia knew what she was doing all along.

So the anniversary edition of Songs In A Minor has the full album. It was definitely a product of Alicia's vision, but she was fortunate enough to have some great contributors: Isaac Hayes did the arrangements and played Rhodes piano on "Rock Wit U" and Brian McKnight produced and played all the instruments on "Goodbye" (but Alicia wrote it).  They're just two of the non-singles that are worth revisiting.

There's a second disc with alternate versions of songs from the album and other rarities.  There's the remix of "A Woman's Worth" (featuring Nas), an early and very funky version of "If I Was Your Woman," a different version of "Fallin'" and a live cover of The Doors' "Light My Fire." Finally, it comes with a DVD with a documentary about the album and some of the music videos. There's a great essay by the writer Alan Light, and also Alicia herself writes about every song on the collection, as well as an essay about the album itself.

Songs In A Minor holds up really well today, as does much of the music she's made since.  Ten years deep, Alicia Keys is still adding to her catalog of excellent songs, and we should be grateful for that.

On a personal note, I'll mention that I interviewed Ms. Keys when I was at VH1, she was one of my favorite interviews.  I figured, if someone that young has to have that much success, I'm glad it's her, she handles it with such grace, and remains a really cool person (I said the same thing about Norah Jones also). I told her I wanted to write the liner notes for her box set and she said "let's do it" or something like that.  Here's hoping she remembers that!

GOODBYE AMY WINEHOUSE, REST IN PEACE

By now, everyone knows that Amy Winehouse has died. She was a very good singer, and she could have been great. Maybe even a legend. Sadly, it wasn't to be.  We don't know how she died yet, but I'm sure most people suspect some sort of substance abuse.  It's just a shame. She had a great voice, and she knew how to use it. She had lots of charisma, people bought into her, they were emotionally invested in her.

I'd actually heard some songs from her first album, 2003's Frank, because I read British magazines and they were writing about her back then. I thought the album showed promise, and "Fuck Me Pumps" definitely showed that she had more edge and attitude than most other mainstream singers.

A few years later, I heard Ghostface's "You Know I'm No Good" which sampled Amy, which led me to seek out her new album, Back To Black. It was a great album, won a ton of Grammys, sold millions, it made her one of the biggest stars in the world.  Ultimately, though, it didn't get her what she wanted... whatever that was.

I know a lot of media outlets will be writing about Amy because it will lead to pageviews, copies sold, ads sold, whatever. People have been as interested in the spectacle and trainwreck of Amy Winehouse as they are in her music. Maybe more.

She wasn't a legend. Yes, she died at 27 like some other legendary rock stars.  She left one pretty good album and one pretty great one. I think there could have been some classics from her. So, I'm just sorry that we won't hear any more new music from her. That's all.