Thin Lizzy-Johnny the Fox (1976)

Johnny The Fox was published in 1976 and composed almost entirely by Lynott that same year during his recovery from a hepatitis that left him for a few months off the road (they had to cancel the American Jailbreak presentation tour that had nothing more program and nothing less than with Rainbow).

It is the most Lynott album of Thin Lizzy since the themes of slow and melancholic cadence predominate (Old Flame, Borderline, Sweet Marie) and the fussion with Pop or funk sounds, like the addictive Jimmy The Fox Meets Jimmy The Weed. Eclectic sonorities all very liked by the iconic bass player. The album was recorded by the classic line-up of Thin Lizzy: Lynott, Downey, Gorham and Robertson and contains some of the band's essentials, which never stopped playing live, like the adrenaline-fueled Massacre or the mythical Do not Believe A Word. This theme was conceived by Lynott as a half-time with a certain air of blues, as it appears in the album Back On The Streets (1978) by Gary Moore or in the posthumous live performance of the band Live / Life (1983), but final was recorded in an accelerated version, courtesy say of the always mischievous Brian Roberston. In fact Robertson got pissed off because he is not mentioned in the credits as co-author of the subject.

The two initial themes show that, despite Lynott's recent illness, the group is in top form. Hard rock with all the characteristics of the Lizzy: the melancholy voice of Phil, the unmistakable melodies of the double guitars and stories of rockstars charmingly losers (Rocky) and characters with very bad luck (Johnny). Recurring themes in the discography of the group.

Greenslade-"Greenslade" (1973)

Once the first Colosseum project was dissolved, two of its members, keyboardist Dave Greenslade and bassist Tony Reeves founded Greenslade, for which they recruited former King Crimson drummer Andrew McCulloch and keyboardist Dave Lawson, which turned this band into an unusual case as it had two keyboardists and no guitarist (at least in England, since the Italian group Banco already had a similar formation).
The debut album "Greenslade" was released in 1973 and is considered a classic of progressive rock, both for the music and for the cover art by the legendary Roger Dean.
The use of two keyboardists allowed them to create a texture and a very dense sound atmosphere rich in details, which at no time saturated the sound, partly reminiscent of the Yes for their constant changes of time signature but without the complexity of the latter.

Frank Zappa-"Hot Rats" (1969)

Frank Zappa's genius is unquestionable, considered one of the most complete artists that have ever existed in rock history, his forays into almost all musical styles give him a level that very few can reach.
"Hot Rats" was his second solo album, with such a fresh and current sound, it was very advanced for his time, where he perfectly blends his experimentation with jazz and progressive rock.
An album that was one of his biggest commercial successes, reaching a ninth place on the UK charts.
Entirely instrumental, it offers an amalgamation of jazz, rock, experimentation and shows a melodic Zappa as he rarely was in his entire career.
In this work Zappa also shows his great technical variety with the guitar, with virtuosic and spectacular solos where the virtues with the six strings are outstanding.

Bill Bruford-"One Of A Kind" (1979)

Bill Bruford's track record in the 1970s was impressive; drums of the mythical Yes, King Crimson and U.K., playing on a dozen albums, in addition to having participated in albums by Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Roy Harper or Albsolute Elsewhere among others.
Even so he had time to publish several solo albums, "One Of A Kind" released in 1979 was his second work where he had the collaborations of Allan Holdsworth, Dave Stewart and Jeff Berlin.
The talent of all these musicians, the variable melodies and keyboard solos of Dave Stewart, together with the sensational guitar of Holdsworth well supported by the rhythm section of Bruford and Berlin make up a collection of progressive pieces seasoned with a lot of jazz experimentation, with a magnificent result between jazz rock and progressive rock.

Ryan Adams-"Gold" (2001)

"Gold" is Ryan Adams' second album, a work more patriotic and more American than his debut, where the influences of Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen are even more evident.
If a year before Ryan Adams had set the bar very high with his superb "Heartbreaker", with this "Gold" he would hit again with a very bright and energetic album, very close to the true canons of American classic rock.
An elegant album that shows us brilliant compositions such as "New York, New York", which unintentionally became a tribute to the city, when the promotional video for the song was recorded in front of the twin towers four days before the fateful 11 ​​of September.
An album with deep sound where acoustic guitars stand out and some careful lyrics as in "La Cienaga Just Smiled" or in "When The Stars Go Blue", or in the rockers "Firecraker", "Gonna Make You Love Me" or "Tina Toledos Street Walkin´Blues" or the beautiful blues "The Rescue Blues" that gained a lot of relevance when it was included in the movie "Proof of Life".

The Moody Blues-"Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" (1971)

For many this is the masterpiece of The Moody Blues, although weighed down in part by the immense success of their previous "Days of future Passed" and their huge single "Nights In White Satin".
However, this is one of his most versatile, varied and superbly performed works, where the single and rocker "The Story In Your Eyes" would catapult him to the top spot on the UK charts and a staggering second spot on the US Billboard.
Here stands out the mellotron of Mike Pinder, which includes the Moog synthesizers, Hayward's guitar does the rest to make a work of art in which there are sublime and mystical moments such as "My Song" or "Emily's Song", with that bucolic sound very characteristic of this huge and essential progressive rock band.

Jethro Tull-"The Broadsword and The Beast" (1982)

Framing in the most techno era of the band, which included in addition to this "The Broadsword and the Beast", the album "A" and the later "Under Wraps", it would be a work where the wise mix of hard rock with the sounds of very avant-garde synthesizers, a risky but effective gamble by Ian Anderson.
Without being a concept album to use, the theme of the album leads us to Viking mythologies and Tolkien's tales with acoustic guitars and flutes taking a leading role, combining commerciality with the quality of the songs introduced here.
From the vigorous "Beastie" to the epic "Broadsword", passing through superb songs like "Pussy Willow", the intense "Clasp" or the extravagant "Watching Me Watching You" show an album as forceful as it is commercial that, however, was something despised by his most purist fans.

Jefferson Airplane-"After Bathing at Baxter's" (1967)

The third album of the Jefferson Airplane would mean their most psychedelic work, where they did a great exercise in reflection compared to their enormous and superb "Surrealistic Pillow", without giving the least importance to the fact that it meant a less commercial album.
An album that is full of complex themes and a great diversity of nuances, with melodies that contain a series of diverse and in some cases chaotic sounds.
As proof of this is "The Ballad Of You & Me  Pooneil" which is the perfect demonstration of how surprising this complex but great album is.

Kiss-"Love Gun" (1977)

With his sixth album "Love Gun" published in 1977, Kiss closed his stage of best creativity and for many of his fans, the best of his entire career.
This superb album contains part of the history of the band with songs like "I Stole Your Love", "Shock Me" or "Love Gun" demonstrating the enormous amount of songs they composed in only three years in which they released five fantastic albums.
From here the bad addictions of its members, in particular Ace Frehley and Peter Criss and the egos of the rest of the band would take their toll on them, turning their environment into their own creative tomb.

Bon Jovi-"Slippery When Wet" (1986)

For many it was the best hard rock album of the 80s, especially because of the popularity that this album would generate, a statement perhaps exaggerated when checking the endless list of great albums that came out in that decade, but even so, this is undoubtedly the best work by one of the bands that best knew how to combine addictive songs with contagious refrains and great melodies, all with a plus of pop sound that made them tremendously popular.
"Slippery When Wet" is full of compositions with a spectacular commercial vein, highlighting above all of them "Livin'On A Prayer" and "You Give Love A Bad Name", two huge songs that were the creative pinnacle of Bon Jovi.
The rest maintained a very high level like the epic "Wanted Dead Or Alive", or the rock "Raise Your Hands" and "Wild In The Streets" where he showed the influence of his mentor Bruce Springsteen.

Blue Oyster Cult-"Cultösaurus Erectus" (1980)

"Mirrors" had been a step back in the career of the Blue Oyster Cult, to the point of losing some credibility and the trust of their fans, so for their next album they hired producer Martin Birch to put them back on the record. level they deserved.
And partly thanks to the album "Cultösaurus Erectus" they would achieve it, with a powerful work and a brilliant and impeccable production.
Here the instrumental developments return and they are the main resource of this magnificent album, as from the beginning with "Black Blade" it is intuited, a song with a very hard sound, "The Marshall Plan" is a visceral rock full of power and quality, and there are even times for some interesting extravaganza like jazz rock "Monsters"

Electric Light Orchestra-"Zoom" (2001)

The Electric Light Orchestra, published in 2001, "Zoom" which was the first album published after "Balance of Power" fifteen years ago, thus re-floating the group after some fruitful years of its leader Jeff Lynne, who had participated in many projects during all that time.
With the collaboration of Richard Tandy, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, Lynne produces, composes, arranges, sings and plays virtually all instruments.
An album that is close to his post-ELO style, highlighting guitars and keyboards, especially in more rock songs like "Alright", "Meting In The Sun", "Easy Money" or "All She Wanted".
But there are also elegant orchestral passages that take us back to the best era of the band like "Ordinary Dream", "Moment In Paradise" or the sober "Strangers On A Quiet Street" or "A Long Time Love".

Cream-"Fresh Cream" (1966)

"Fresh Cream" was Cream's debut album, a historic recording that contains innovation and at the same time is an overwhelming album of pure rock.
The first album of the first super band in history, is one of the best debuts ever recorded. Although the best of the band was yet to come, we must not fail to recognize that for this reason it does not lose any of the attributes as a masterpiece, despite having only half of the songs as own compositions and the rest by versions, in the you can already see the powerful conjunction between blues and rock, with psychedelic influences as in "I Fell Free" or "N.S.U".

Deep Purple-"Who Do We Thing We Are" (1973)

Known mainly for the song "Woman From Tokyo", this album was accused by critics of repeating the same formulas as the previous "In Rock", "Fireball" and "Machine Head", but without its forcefulness.
However "Who Do We Thing We Are" offered great moments in the purest line of the most classic Deep Purple, as in "Mary Long" and "Smooth Dancer", while a song like "Rat Rat Blue" foreshadowed the immediate future from the band.
The handicap of this great album is the lack of classic themes that would enhance it to the same level as its predecessors.