50 Best Rock Albums of the ’90s
5. Bob Dylan – Time Out of out Mind
To prove that both Guns ‘N Roses and Bob Dylan fit in the same genre, look no further than GNR’s cover of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” (Let’s face it, all one has to do is listen again to Highway 61 Revisited to remind what a ruthless, in-your-face SOB Dylan can be at times.) Some of that Dylan firepower is here, but Time Out of Mind finds him ruminating on end times (again) through the thick murk of Daniel Lanois’ production. It’s vintage Dylan, and while it’s not as strong as 2001’s “Love and Theft” it still represents a continuation of his excellent work since 1989’s career renaissance Oh Mercy. The spooky “Love Sick” opens the album with an almost unrelenting since of bitterness and isolation. There are several Dylan classics here… the tender (but still ambiguous if you really listen to the lyrics) “Make You Feel My Love” has been covered by everybody from Billy Joel to Adele. “Trying to Get To Heaven” is notable track, as is the reflective ballad “Not Dark Yet” which seems a call of defiance. Perhaps the album’s most powerful track is its hardest-rocking, the searing “Cold Irons Bound.” Dylan is hard to compare to anybody else because, well, he’s Bob Dylan. Anything he puts out is already going to be behind a mythological wall; but just because it’s surrounded in mythology doesn’t mean it’s a great rock album. Dylan was handed three Grammy’s, including Album of the Year, Best Contemporary Folk Album, and the richly-deserved. Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for “Cold Irons Bound.”
4. Lucinda Williams – Car Wheels on a Gravel Road (1998)
Lucinda’s world-weary drawl can’t help but pull you in. She sings from the point of view of someone who’s seen it all, and much of it is sadness and heartbreak. Listen to her vulnerability on tracks like “Metal Firecracker,” in which she is now reduced to entreating a lover who had once professed undying love “all I ask is don’t tell anybody the secrets that I told you.” The characters she develops in these songs are often vulnerable; like the woman drifting in the remarkable “2 Kool 2 B Forgotten,” or the touching “Lake Charles” in which she makes sure a dying man has at least one friend to hold his hand and ease his way into the night. There’s the anguished “Drunken Angel” about a talented man unable to extinguish his demons, and sadly gone too young. There are also numerous ruminations on love – like the exuberant opener “Right in Time” to the heartbreaking “Jackson” to the long country ballad “Still I Long For Your Kiss.” Williams blends blues rock (listen to “I Lost It” and “Can’t Let Go” at full volume), folk stories and remembrances (the title track, “Concrete and Barbed Wire”), and character portraits of individuals who are in need of some healing (the exquisite “Greenville,” sung with incredible feeling with Emmylou Harris). Car Wheels on a Gravel Road wears its emotions on its sleeve; it’s mostly hard-times and heartache, and Williams’ ragged but beautiful voice wraps around these tales with complete and unquestioned authenticity and heart. It’s a remarkable achievement in modern songwriting and Car Wheels on a Gravel Road has rightly been hailed as one of the ‘90s great albums, no matter the genre. And don’t pass up the chance to see Lucinda Williams live – she is a marvel.
3. Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Sleeps with Angels (1994)
Neil Young is a guy you always gotta pay attention to. Some of his albums don’t work, but then he’ll put out a gem like Silver and Gold or Chrome Dreams II. Sleeps with Angels, which turns 20 this year, should be recognized as one of the legend’s great achievements. There is an ominous vibe to the whole thing, with spooky whispered voices, touches of reverb on the guitar and piano, songs about death and fear and desperation… The sadly haunting “Driveby,” the desperation and doom in “Trans Am”…. Moments of pure beauty, like “My Heart,” “Train of Love” and “A Dream Than Can Last.” There’s even the long motoric Crazy Horse jam accounted for, and it’s a good one: the lumbering, 14-minute epic “Change Your Mind.” The only jarring moment is the aptly-titled “Piece of Crap,” which is a punked-out blot on what is otherwise a tense, mournful and sadly beautiful album. That prank aside, Sleeps with Angels is Neil Young at his most mature and ambitious. It’s his State of the World circa 1994, and frankly most if it is dire. But we’re still 20 years later, so…
2. Metallica – Metallica (1991)
With the possible exception of Master of Puppets, this is the Metallica album. Starting with the ominous guitar, a powerful locomotive rhythm and then that unmistakable wall of sound guitar on “Enter Sandman” – Metallica is sledgehammer overdrive. Unlike …. And Justice for All, which is largely made up of long and intricate pieces with extended precision guitar solos (and very little bottom-end), Metallica is the full picture of the band in all its fury. Never before and never again did they put together an album with such power sonically that they matched from a songwriting perspective. So much press was given the ballad, “Nothing Else Matters,” and rightfully so – – it’s an exquisitely crafted song. “Sad But True” is a blunt force of monster riffs, as are “Holier Than Thou” and “Wherever I May Roam” (which is one of the best on the album.) “The Unforgiven” takes Metallica’s songwriting to another level and proves they can pull off a serious piece. Metallica has all the components of what rock and roll is all about. Producer Bob Rock puts it together so that the heavy riffs thunder out of the speakers, and the solemn acoustic bits sound as serious as they should. It’s a blast to play now, as it was in 1991.
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