Moby_Dick, Author at Lossless Music Archives

Duran Duran – Discography (1981-2015)

Duran Duran - Discography (1981-2015)

Duran Duran personified new wave for much of the mainstream audience. And for good reason. Duran Duran’s reputation was built through music videos, which accentuated their fashion-model looks and glamorous sense of style. Without music videos, it’s likely that their pop-funk — described by the group as the Sex Pistols-meet-Chic — would never have made them international pop stars. Continue reading “Duran Duran – Discography (1981-2015)”

Survivor – Discography (1979-2009)

Survivor - Discography (1979-2009)

Survivor’s brand of melodic, hard, album-oriented rock netted the group several hits during the 1980s, including two smash themes from Rocky films, but never quite matched the success or consistency of contemporaries like Foreigner. Survivor was founded in 1978 by guitarist/keyboardist Jim Peterik (formerly the lead singer of the Ides of March) with guitarist Frankie Sullivan; the two recruited lead singer Dave Bickler and recorded a self-titled debut album as a trio with studio musicians Dennis Johnson on bass and Gary Smith on drums. Continue reading “Survivor – Discography (1979-2009)”

Robert Plant – Discography (1982-2014)

Robert Plant - Discography (1982-2014)

In 1968, a naïve young singer from the Black Country hills in England named Robert Plant was discovered wailing the blues by veteran session guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones. When Plant recommended his friend John Bonham as the drummer, one of the most successful bands in rock history was born: Led Zeppelin. Continue reading “Robert Plant – Discography (1982-2014)”

Gene Vincent – The Gene Vincent Box Set: Complete Capitol and Columbia Recordings 1956-1964 (1990)

Gene Vincent - The Gene Vincent Box Set: Complete Capitol and Columbia Recordings 1956-1964 (1990)

Six CDs containing the complete Capitol and EMI-Columbia recordings by Vincent, from 1956 through 1964. The 151 tracks may seem excessive, but the sound glitters, and since most of the post-1962 material was never issued in the United States, this stuff could be revelatory to serious fans. And the booklet is filled with detailed notes, sessionographies, and great photos. Continue reading “Gene Vincent – The Gene Vincent Box Set: Complete Capitol and Columbia Recordings 1956-1964 (1990)”

Bob Dylan – Discography (1962 – 2018)

Bob Dylan - Discography (1962 - 2018)

Bob Dylan’s influence on popular music is incalculable. As a songwriter, he pioneered several different schools of pop songwriting, from confessional singer/songwriter to winding, hallucinatory, stream-of-consciousness narratives. As a vocalist, he broke down the notion that a singer must have a conventionally good voice in order to perform, thereby redefining the vocalist’s role in popular music. Continue reading “Bob Dylan – Discography (1962 – 2018)”

Norah Jones – Discography (2002 – 2012)

Norah Jones - Discography (2002 - 2012)

Vocalist and pianist Norah Jones developed a unique blend of jazz and traditional vocal pop, with hints of bluesy country and contemporary folk, due in large part to her unique upbringing. The daughter of Ravi Shankar, Jones grew up in Texas with her mother. While she always found the music of Billie Holiday and Bill Evans both intriguing and comforting, she didn’t really explore jazz until attending Dallas’ Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Continue reading “Norah Jones – Discography (2002 – 2012)”

Megadeth – Discography (1985 – 2016)

Megadeth - Discography (1985 - 2016)

After he left Metallica in 1983, guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine formed the thrash metal quartet Megadeth. Though Megadeth followed the basic blueprint of Metallica’s relentless attack, Mustaine’s group distinguished themselves from his earlier band by lessening the progressive rock influences, adding an emphasis on instrumental skills, speeding up the tempo slightly, and making the instrumental attack harsher. Continue reading “Megadeth – Discography (1985 – 2016)”

Joan Jett – Discography (1981 – 2013)

Joan Jett - Discography (1981 - 2013)

By playing pure and simple rock & roll without making an explicit issue of her gender, Joan Jett became a figurehead for several generations of female rockers. Jett’s brand of rock & roll is loud and stripped-down, yet with overpowering hooks — a combination of the Stones’ tough, sinewy image and beat, AC/DC chords, and glam rock hooks. Continue reading “Joan Jett – Discography (1981 – 2013)”

Tom Waits – Discography (1973 – 2011)

Tom Waits - Discography (1973 - 2011)

In the 1970s, Tom Waits combined a lyrical focus on desperate, low-life characters with a persona that seemed to embody the same lifestyle, which he sang about in a raspy, gravelly voice. From the ’80s on, his work became increasingly theatrical as he moved into acting and composing. Growing up in Southern California, Waits attracted the attention of manager Herb Cohen, who also handled Frank Zappa, and was signed by him at the beginning of the 1970s, resulting in the material later released as The Early Years and The Early Years, Vol. 2. Continue reading “Tom Waits – Discography (1973 – 2011)”

The Animals – Albums Collection

The Animals - Albums Collection

One of the most important bands originating from England’s R&B scene during the early ’60s, the Animals were second only to the Rolling Stones in influence among R&B-based bands in the first wave of the British Invasion. The Animals had their origins in a Newcastle-based group called the Kansas City Five, whose membership included pianist Alan Price, drummer John Steel, and vocalist Eric Burdon. Price exited to join the Kontours in 1962, while Burdon went off to London. Continue reading “The Animals – Albums Collection”

Stone Temple Pilots – Discography (1992 – 2013)

Stone Temple Pilots - Discography (1992 - 2013)

Stone Temple Pilots were able to turn alternative rock into stadium rock; naturally, they became the most critically despised band of their era. Accused by many critics of being nothing more than ripoff artists who pilfered from Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains, the bandmates nevertheless became major stars in 1993. And the influence of those bands was apparent in their music, although Stone Temple Pilots did manage to change things around a bit. STP were more concerned with tight song structure and riffs than punk rage. Continue reading “Stone Temple Pilots – Discography (1992 – 2013)”

Accept – Discography (1979 – 2014)

Accept - Discography (1979 - 2014)

With their brutal, simple riffs and aggressive, fast tempos, Accept are one of the top metal bands to debut in the early ’80s and a major influence on the development of speed metal and thrash. Led by the distinctive vocal stylings of Udo Dirkschneider, the band forged an instantly recognizable sound and were notorious as one of the decade’s fiercest live acts. Continue reading “Accept – Discography (1979 – 2014)”

Cheap Trick – Discography (1977 – 2017)

Cheap Trick - Discography (1977 - 2017)

Combining a love for British guitar pop songcraft with crunching power chords and a flair for the absurd, Cheap Trick provided the necessary links between ’60s pop, heavy metal, and punk. Led by guitarist Rick Nielsen, the band’s early albums were filled with highly melodic, well-written songs that drew equally from the crafted pop of the Beatles, the sonic assault of the Who, and the tongue-in-cheek musical eclecticism and humor of the Move. Their sound provided a blueprint for both power pop and arena rock; it also had a surprisingly long-lived effect on both alternative and heavy metal bands of the ’80s and ’90s, who often relied on the same combination of loud riffs and catchy melodies. Continue reading “Cheap Trick – Discography (1977 – 2017)”

Foreigner – Discography (1977 – 2014)

Foreigner - Discography (1977 - 2014)

While quite a few arena rock acts of the ’70s found the transformation into the ’80s quite difficult, several acts continued to flourish and enjoyed some of their biggest commercial success: Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, and especially Foreigner. Foreigner’s leader from the beginning has been British guitarist Mick Jones, who first broke into the music biz as a “hired gun” of sorts, appearing on recordings by George Harrison and Peter Frampton, and as part of a later-day version of hard rockers Spooky Tooth. By the mid-’70s, Jones had relocated to New York City, where he was a brief member of the Leslie West Band and served as an A&R man for a record company. Continue reading “Foreigner – Discography (1977 – 2014)”

Electric Light Orchestra – Discography (1971 – 2015)

Electric Light Orchestra - Discography (1971 - 2015)

The Electric Light Orchestra’s ambitious yet irresistible fusion of Beatlesque pop, classical arrangements, and futuristic iconography rocketed the group to massive commercial success throughout the 1970s. ELO was formed in Birmingham, England in the autumn of 1970 from the ashes of the eccentric art-pop combo the Move, reuniting frontman Roy Wood with guitarist/composer Jeff Lynne, bassist Rick Price, and drummer Bev Bevan. Announcing their intentions to “pick up where ‘I Am the Walrus’ left off,” the quartet sought to embellish their engagingly melodic rock with classical Continue reading “Electric Light Orchestra – Discography (1971 – 2015)”