The full range of Ben Harper's influences would not come to bear until later albums, but his debut, Welcome to the Cruel World, lays a strong foundation. "Like a King" and "Take That Attitude to Your Grave" burn with a political conviction rarely heard during the 1990s. "Forever" has a tenderness which demonstrates Harper's emotional range. Lackluster hippie jams that cultivated his early following may have served a purpose but feel fluffy by comparison when compared to the meatier tracks. Ben closes the album with a song that frequently closes his concerts, "I'll Rise." This song, built around Maya Angelou's 1979 poem "And Still I Rise," reminds one of art's ability to pierce through society, self, and the soul.© Ryan Randall Goble /TiVo

Judas Priest rebounded from the shaky Point of Entry with Screaming for Vengeance, arguably the strongest album of their early-'80s commercial period. Having moved a bit too far into simplistic hard rock, Vengeance found the band refocusing on heavy metal, and achieving a greater balance between commercialism and creativity. The results were catchy and accessible, yet harder-hitting, and without the awkwardly apparent calculation that informed the weakest moments of the album's two predecessors. Ultimately, Screaming for Vengeance hangs together better than even the undeniable landmark British Steel, both thematically and musically. There's less of a party-down feel here -- the remaining traces of boogie have been ironed out, and the lyrics return to the darkness and menace that gave the band its mystique. Sure, if you stop to read the lyrics, all the references to demons and devils and monsters can look a little gratuitous, but the music here is so strong that there simply aren't any seams showing. Even the occasional filler is more metallic this time around -- in place of trite teenage rebellion, listeners get the S&M-themed "Pain and Pleasure." In fact, "Pain and Pleasure" and "Fever" are the only two songs here that have never shown up on a band retrospective, which ought to tell you that Priest's songwriting here is perhaps the best it's ever been. The midtempo grooves that enlivened British Steel are here in full force on the band's signature tune, "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" (their only American chart single), as well as "Bloodstone," "Devil's Child," and unfairly forgotten single "(Take These) Chains," all uniformly great. But there's a nearly equal emphasis on uptempo headbanging, thanks to the classic "The Hellion/Electric Eye," the terrific album track "Riding on the Wind," and the stupendously high-velocity title cut, which is the closest they ever came to thrash metal (at least in the '80s). Despite a one-album misstep in between, Screaming for Vengeance managed to capitalize on the commercial breakthrough of British Steel, becoming the first Priest album to be certified double platinum, and reaching the Top 20 in America and the U.K. alike. Along with British Steel, it ranks as one of the best and most important mainstream metal albums of the '80s.© Steve Huey /TiVo

With two years, numerous radio sessions, and incessant gigging under their belts since their debut single, "In Shreds," the Chameleons came to the studio determined to make a great first album with Script of the Bridge. To say they succeeded would be like saying Shakespeare did pretty well with that one Hamlet play of his. Script remains a high-water mark of what can generally be called post-punk music, an hour's worth of one amazing song after another, practically a greatest-hits record on its own: the John Lennon tribute "Here Today," "Monkeyland," "Pleasure and Pain," "Paper Tigers," "As High as You Can Go," the breathtaking closer, "View From a Hill." Starting with the passionate fire of "Don't Fall," Script showcases how truly inventive, unique, and distinctly modern rock & roll could exist, instead of relentlessly rehashing the past to little effect. The scalpel-sharp interplay between the musicians is a sheer wonder to behold, the Dave Fielding/Reg Smithies guitar team provoke nothing but superlatives throughout, and John Lever and Mark Burgess make a perfect rhythm section -- while the crisp production of Colin Richardson and the band adds delicate synth lines and shadings, courtesy of early touring keyboardist Alistair Lewthwaite, and just the right amount of reverb and effects on the guitars. Add to that the words of Burgess, one of the few lyricists out there who can tackle Big Issues while retaining a human, personal touch, and it all just adds up perfectly. The best one-two punch comes from "Second Skin," a complex, beautifully arranged and played reflection on the meaning of music and fandom, and "Up the Down Escalator," an at once harrowing and thrilling antinuclear/mainstream politics slam. [An important note: avoid at all costs the original U.S. vinyl issue on MCA, which not only switches the song order but removes a full third of the songs.]© Ned Raggett /TiVo

The full range of Ben Harper's influences would not come to bear until later albums, but his debut, Welcome to the Cruel World, lays a strong foundation. "Like a King" and "Take That Attitude to Your Grave" burn with a political conviction rarely heard during the 1990s. "Forever" has a tenderness which demonstrates Harper's emotional range. Lackluster hippie jams that cultivated his early following may have served a purpose but feel fluffy by comparison when compared to the meatier tracks. Ben closes the album with a song that frequently closes his concerts, "I'll Rise." This song, built around Maya Angelou's 1979 poem "And Still I Rise," reminds one of art's ability to pierce through society, self, and the soul.© Ryan Randall Goble /TiVo

The full range of Ben Harper's influences would not come to bear until later albums, but his debut, Welcome to the Cruel World, lays a strong foundation. "Like a King" and "Take That Attitude to Your Grave" burn with a political conviction rarely heard during the 1990s. "Forever" has a tenderness which demonstrates Harper's emotional range. Lackluster hippie jams that cultivated his early following may have served a purpose but feel fluffy by comparison when compared to the meatier tracks. Ben closes the album with a song that frequently closes his concerts, "I'll Rise." This song, built around Maya Angelou's 1979 poem "And Still I Rise," reminds one of art's ability to pierce through society, self, and the soul.© Ryan Randall Goble /TiVo

Consolidating their position as satin-clad seductors, Dr. Hook gets sweet and saccharine on Pleasure & Pain, a record that opens with the one-night-stand anthem "Sharing the Night Together" and ends with the novelty boogie "You Make My Pants Want to Get Up and Dance." In between, Dr. Hook touch upon almost every other kind of quickie, celebrating infatuations, flirtations, and broken hearts, sometimes getting close enough to melancholy to register as a sadness but most of the time happy to sell heartbreak as seduction. And so, Pleasure & Pain is supremely slick, a record designed to play in the post-Saturday Night Fever discos of 1978 and destined to remain in its time, and yet the sheer cravenness of Dr. Hook retains an inexorable appeal. These guys never attempted to be anything more than what they were: hippies happy to make the transition to polyester, just as long as they can keep bedding hot young things. The sleaze is appealing and alienating in equal measures and redolent of the late '70s.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Recuperating a bit from The Black Album's uneven impact while still aiming to try whatever they want in studio, here the same four members, along with soon-to-be regular Roman Jugg on various keyboard parts, come up with their strongest album since Machine Gun Etiquette. By turns sprightly and cheerful, dark and dramatic, energetic and snarling, or all that and more at once, Strawberries defies usual expectations to be yet another good rock album from the band, resisting easy attempts to categorize it. Older punk fans would likely appreciate the album's initial blast of "Ignite," a driving thrasher with a fine chorus and some hilarious vamping in the end from Vanian. Immediately following is the superior "Generals," which beautifully combines piano and a crisp arrangement with Vanian's powerfully smooth mode. From there, it's almost a case of strength-to-strength as the album continues: the brass-driven "Stranger on the Town," sassy and sharp; the giddy keyboards and crunch of "Dozen Girls"; the gentler psych-pop experiments of "Gun Fury" and "The Pleasure and the Pain"; the Reagan-baiting "Bad Time for Bonzo"; and the bright beauty of "Under the Floor Again," at once mysterious and gorgeous with a particularly winning instrumental break merging some of Vanian's most positive lyrics. Captain Sensible gets two fun moments for himself in the ruminative "Life Goes On" and the album-closing fun goof, "Don't Bother Me." Meanwhile, at the album's center is the darkest, most haunting thing the band ever recorded, "The Dog." It's an astonishingly effective chiller based on the character of Claudia from Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire. Cleopatra's welcome 1993 re-release added five bonus tracks, including the Captain's brief piano piece "Torture Me," which tackles the same subject as the Smiths' "Meat Is Murder" but with arguably less hectoring and more affecting results. The 2005 Deluxe Edition includes three more extra cuts, including "Mine's a Large One Landlord," "Rat vs the Omni" and "I Think I'm Wonderful."] © Ned Raggett /TiVo

Ben Harper is a road dog. He and his band, the Innocent Criminals, travel around the world playing nearly 200 shows a year; therefore, it was only a matter of time before this guitar virtuoso made a live album. Live From Mars, an enigmatic two-disc set of 25 songs, celebrates the rise of Harper, his incredible live presence between 1998 and 2000, and the appreciation between him and his audience. His fragile acoustics have been thrown into a massive guitar storm on disc one, a thunderous combination of his signature folky blues-funk rock & roll. He's soulful and approachable on "Excuse Me Mr." and "Burn One Down," but he reaches for something tangible on Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing." The vibe is calm and cool while Harper's vocals scale between a sweet falsetto and a rugged twang. "Faded" exudes Harper's electric twitching, and its perfection swaggers into a riveting cover of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" for a near ten-minute car crash of pure rollicking. He switches from his electric to an acoustic for disc two, making his informality even more enticing. "Waiting on an Angel" is delicate, similar to the likes of Jeff Buckley, but it's the beauty of the Verve's "The Drugs Don't Work" that truly captures the standard of excellence that Harper depicts as a performer. Acoustically, he's honored and such praise is deserved. He's practically flawless. He's a modest artist, and such humility is found among his songs. He's achieved respectability with his fans that only so many artists are able to attain. Live From Mars is a proper release and certainly an inviting look into Harper and the showmanship he projects while spending time on the road.© MacKenzie Wilson /TiVo

This album is a terrific 12-track compilation of the Australian duo's early- and mid-'80s singles. The Divinyls' Essential includes such songs as "Pleasure and Pain," "Temperamental," "Back to the Wall," and "Boys in Town," offering a good overview of their pre-"I Touch Myself" records.© Stephen Thomas Erlewineì /TiVo

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