10 Best Sophomore Albums of a Given Lineup

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

It is in my Top 10, I haven't finalised positions yet, so I might as well get it out of the way now....

#6
Black Sabbath - Paranoid

We know what the cover looks like!

Take what Zs and Charger said... and I can't really add anything to it! It's an Iconic album.

Best Tracks: War Pigs, Hand of Doom and Fairies Wear Boots

[Zzzptm]

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAA

IT GOT RANKED

6

6

6

 

 

[Charger]

Now that's EVIL!


#5

BENEDICTUM - SEASONS OF TRAGEDY




Benedictum put out one hell of a debut album in 2006 with Uncreation which was a great old school really heavy heavy metal album. Their second outing saw the band experiment bit more and put out some more complex songs like the epic title track which runs over 10 minutes! Shell Shock, Beast In The Field, Within The Solace and the Accept cover Balls To The Wall demonstrate the vocal excellence of lead lady Veronica Freeman. The guitar mastermind Pete Wells again pushes out killer riffs like there's no tomorrow! Veronica also shows her softer side with a brilliant version of Rainbow's classic Catch The Rainbow featuring Jeff Pilson and Craig Coldy on bass and guitar!
Absolutely suberb album from a suberb band that never made it like they should have!

[Zzzptm]

My number five (5) goes over to the world of classic soul...



This is bending things a bit, as they had a few other albums before 1972 that were pretty much records to have on hand at shows for interested buyers. They went nowhere. But after signing with Philadelphia International Records, the O'Jays finally got nationally-released albums with proper label support, getting a super smash with Back Stabbers. As a follow-up, Ship Ahoy took things to the next level, with a much darker tone throughout the album. That shouldn't be surprising, as it was a concept album about slavery - which is why their epic track "For the Love of Money" is so powerful as part of the mix with the other tracks. As a standalone, yeah, it's a tough tune with a killer bass line. With the context of the rest of the album, it's one of the best songs about evil and its enticing temptations ever recorded. There's still room for love and hope - Put Your Hands Together and Now That We Found Love burn brightly those flames - but there's still a tinge at the edges that we seek for such things in a world of hurt, pain, and injustice.

I tend to like songs that represent a grappling with reality, as it's a struggle that resonates with me. And while I greatly enjoy metal songs about the possibility of nuclear war, this album that confronts the actuality of human slavery is far more chilling and thought-provoking to me. It's on the same level as songs about drug abuse, but in this case, it's the choices of others that apply the harshest impact, not one's own choices. Ship Ahoy is a masterwork of an album.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

#5
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman




As good as the debut is I always preferred Diary of a Madman. I felt it was a little more refined and more thoughtful! He never really hit these heights again.

Best tracks: Over the Mountain, Tonight, S.AT.O. and the title track

[Charger]

#4

WOLFSBANE - DOWN FALL THE GOOD GUYS



Wolfsbane blasted to the world with a great debut in form of Live Fast, Die Fast and especially their suberb EP All Hell Is Breaking Loose At Little Kathy Wilson's Place but it's with their second album that they really hit the jackpot! Tracks like You Load Me Down, Black Lagoon, Cathode Ray Clinic and especially the brilliant Temple Of Rock smashed through the heavy metal community and the energetic preformances of especially the lead singer Blaze Bayley caught the eye of one Steve Harris and soon they were asked to support Iron Maiden and reportedly in some places blew Maiden (who were on the decline at the time) off the stage!

Suberb album of fast heavy metal with a humoristical edge that was/is always present in the band!

[Zzzptm]

One more funk and soul album before I head back into metallic territory... my #4 is...



Chocolate City is not a concept album, just a concept song to go with that album wrapper. It's a celebration of life, no matter how tough it may be for those living it. Lots of fun funk on this platter. Title track rocks out, second track Ride On gonna make you DANCE, sucka!, and the party just keeps on going. And in that partying, there's some lyrics to think about. My favorite couplet is from Ride On: "It ain't what you know, it's what you feel / It ain't about being right, it's about being real"

This is Parliament just before they launched the mothership, and it's all coming together with the multiple voices and duplicate instruments creating some amazing layers. There's a drum machine to go along with two or more drummers, it's insane. Good horn work from the Brecker Brothers, anticipating their joining with Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley on the next album for even more brassy fire.

This is one of those albums that once I start, I gotta finish. I was thinking of just playing a bit of each song as I typed this up, but, nope. I'm only on track 4, Side Effects, after a great ride thru track 3, Together, and this ride gonna keep going. Long pauses between typing as I just take it all in...

Upbeat funk all the way through side one with What Comes Funky putting a dip in my hip and some glide in my stride. Awwwww yeaaaaaah

Side Two starts off with the eccentric Let Me Be, which is where people comparing George Clinton to Frank Zappa REALLY starts to click. That's right, this song is some Zappa-level crazy and it's GOOD. These cats got their unlistenable stuff out of their veins on earlier Funkadelic experimentations, so now it's all good from here on out until they build up a tolerance to all the drugs they're doing.

Back to the fun funk with If It Don't Fit Don't Force It, which is some good advice in the title right there. Things go a little cold with I Misjudged You, a slower psychedelic piece that has more of that Zappa feel to it. But we end with the massive party song Big Footin' that is as awesome a closer as anything out there.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Well my original No. 4 was scuppered by the fact that I now realise it was their 3rd album... bummer!

#4
Tony Martin - Scream



I'm not familiar with Martin's debut solo album (except for the song Jerusalem). but this basically goes to show that he could produce good songs without help of established artists. Except for some guests he plays all the instruments.

Best Tracks: Raising Hell, I'm Gonna Live For Ever, Scream, Surely Love is Dead, The Kids of Today

[Charger]

^^^
Surprising but great choice there! I actually totally forgot about that album! It's a belter so I am bit ashamed of myself now leaving that out.


#3

JON OLIVA'S PAIN - MANIACAL RENDERINGS




This was also a contender in the solo albums category but since Jon always insisted this was a proper band I left it out but here it is proudly in the top 3! This album was the start of a 3 album journey that featured quite a bit of music from Jon's late brother Criss. Riffs, solo bits, interludes everything he found that were recorded..some dating back all the way to the Avatar days. This is a suberb album from start to finish. It kicks off with a something of a sequel to the Savatage classic Hall Of The Mountain King called Through The Eyes Of The King which features an incredible riff...that leads to the epic title track which has to be THE best JOP song. This album captures both sides of Jon, the belting heavy metal side and the softer ballady side perfectly. No weak tracks here!

[Zzzptm]

Stoner metal shows up on my list at #3...



Psychedelonaut from Wo Fat is a tremendous crusher of an album, as fierce and wild as the cover art promises. When you look at the song lengths, the first reaction might be "are these guys excessively noodling on their recordings?" The answer is no, they are not. Just guitar bass 'n' drums all the way through with solidly blues-based 70s-style metal jamming. Guitar solos that make you want to do your air guitar thang and grooves for dayyyyyys. Strong tracks throughout, my favorite is "Analog Man", a love-letter to old-school studio wizardry. "I'm an Analog Man / I know digital's a scam"

Tasty stuff from my home town of Dallas, Texas!

[Charger]

Hmmmm....that's something I am not familiar with at all....I think I'll be hitting the youtube!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I perhaps should mention that apart from the number 1 most of these choices are interchangeable, it's more as I thought of them!

#3
Marillion - Fugazi



Their first four albums with Fish on vocals are all extraordinary. But I would rank this third after the debut - Script for a Jesters Tear - and the fourth album - Clutching At Straws. But Fugazi, even being a dificult second album is still full of imagination, musicianship and new prog promise!

Best Tracks: Assassing, Punch & Judy, Fugazi

[Zzzptm]

In second place on my list...



Armored Saint's epic, Delirious Nomad. I got into them via their Raising Fear album, which was good enough, but finding this one was a real treasure. Band really checked all the boxes and then went for greatness, like a team taking the field and in the first moments of play you know, "Oh yeah, they're gonna win easily". Long Before I Die opened up with that promise and then the greatness continued to flow after that. My favorite side is the first, followed closely by the second.

Best tracks? It's like looking at a table full of favorite foods and then picking out the favorites among the favorites. If I could only have two tracks, it would be Long Before I Die and The Laugh. If only one, that's when I get desperate and find a way to cheat by recording the whole thing as a single MP3 or something like that. Awesome awesome ambassador of 80s metal.

[Charger]

My #2 is going to be the same as my #1 from the Solo albums list so you can read my thoughts from there..

#2

BLAZE BAYLEY - TENTH DIMENSION



This is just a SUBERB album.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

#2

Geezer - Black Science



Also in my solo album top ten, the second solo album from our favourite bassist and lyricist: Geezer Butler. This was so much more accessible than the debut (although I have played Plastic Planet a couple of times recently and it sounds better than I remember!). His love SciFi growing up comes through here, and being a fan of SF myself may help me appreciate it more.

Best tracks: Mysterons, Area Code 51, Among The Cybermen, Xodiak, Trinity Road