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Best of 2011 so far


Jez

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Following on from the the Work Of Art thread and the discussion around what's good and what's not this year, thought I would bring it over here for people to discuss their best of's so far this year.

 

 

A good year so far for me, but my list is, as usual, pretty mixed stuff genre wise, with a few AOR/MR releases in the mix. Night Ranger is fab, as is Miss Behaviour, Lionville is a strong disc, as are Willliams/Friestedt, Robin Beck and Shadowman and special mention to Airrace which was a real surprise too. Apart from that, Lovex is fabulous, Within Temptation have produced their best album yet, Sixx A.M have produced a pearler of Modern hard rock, with Black Country Communion following their excellent debut with an even better 2nd release, Saxon getting back to what they do best with a pure unadultarated Brit metal album, whilst Prog fans have been treated to marvellous discs from Pendragon, Presto Ballet, Neal Morse and surprsingly Yes.

 

Work Of Art and Toby Hitchcock I am praying will be great and what I have heard of them so far, WOA especially will not disappoint, so both I am confident will be near the top. Apart from that, I don't see a whole heap of stuff arriving AOR wise blowing my tiny mind, but plenty of others to be added from other genres of course.

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2011 has been a stellar year so far, IMO.

 

For me the ones I've played the most are:

 

FarCry - Optimism

Whitesnake - Forevermore

Warrant - Rockaholic

Mr. Big - What If

Black Stone Cherry - Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea

 

And I'm currently loving Neal Morse's new one.

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I thank you for this thread for getting me off my ass a bit in this regard. I haven't really maintained a list this year, at all. So I just got myself a little prepared, and will show what I came up with. I'm just getting to the real tail end of hearing the massive backlog of CDs I'd had sitting in my spare room waiting to be listened to, so once I'm done with that I will give the 2011 albums a real workout and get a bit more accuracy in these lists. At the moment, though, my top 30's would look a little something like this:

 

MHR:

 

1 . Miss Behaviour - Last Woman Standing

2 . Bad Habit - Atmosphere

3 . Human Zoo - Eyes of a stranger

4 . Bai Bang - Livin' my dream

5 . Hell In The Club - Let the Games Begin

6 . Wicked Jester - Royalty sux

7 . The Poodles - Performacracy

8 . Farcry - Optimism

9 . Outloud - Love catastrophe

10 . Lionville - s/t

 

11 . Alyson Avenue - Changes

12 . Lovex - Watch out!

13 . Dynazty - Knock 'em down

14 . Beautiful Beast - Adult orientated candy

15 . Victory - Don't talk science

16 . Serpentine - Living and dying in high definition

17 . Within Temptation - The unforgiving

18 . Rob Moratti - Victory

19 . Diamond Lane - World without heroes

20 . Myland - Light of a new day

 

21 . Pompei Nights - Rather die than living in boundaries

22 . Elevener - Symmetry in motion

23 . Blackrain - Lethal dose of…

24 . Eden's Curse - Trinity

25 . Night Ranger - Somewhere in California

26 . Robin Beck - The Great Eascape

27 . Warrant - Rockaholic

28 . King Kobra - s/t

29 . Big Life - s/t

30 . Black N' Blue - Hell yeah

 

Modern:

 

1 . Destrophy - Cry havoc

2 . Trust Company - Silence in black and white

3 . Adelita's Way - Home School Valedictorian

4 . Forever the Sickest Kids - s/t

5 . Stealing Eden - Truth in tragedy

6 . Simple Plan - Get your heart on

7 . Save Your Breath - Vices

8 . David Cook - This loud morning

9 . The Blackout - Hope

10 . The Friday Night Boys - Everything you ever wanted: The B-sides

 

11 . Close to Home - Never back down

12 . Sixx AM - This is gonna hurt

13 . Bowling For Soup - Fishin' for woos

14 . There for Tomorrow - The Verge

15 . A Change of Pace - It could be worse

16 . Coldrain - The enemy inside

17 . All Time Low - Dirty work

18 . I See Stars - End of the world party

19 . Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows - D.R.U.G.S.

20 . Yellowcard - When you're through thinking say yes

 

21 . The Click Five - TCV

22 . Madam Adam - s/t

23 . 3 Doors Down - Time of my life

24 . Junior Doctor - Clumsy words and bad pick-up lines

25 . FM Static - My brain says stop, but my heart says go

26 . Go Radio - Lucky street

27 . The Bigger Lights - Battle hymn

28 . Venus Vegas - Morning still life

29 . Forget Me In Vegas - Get gone, stay gone

30 . Farewell Fighter - The way we learn

 

I should add, that there is still some good stuff to be had on each list, after the 30 mark. Moreso the modern stuff.

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2011 has been wonderful to me so far, a completely awesome decade-opener, and not only in AOR or hard rock, almost any genre had produced magnificent albums as well. With still 5 months left, I'm anticipating more than 20, or even 30, great albums to fill in my shelf, and right now, my top 10 consisted of Lionville, Symphony X, The Poodles, Within Temptation, and Bad Habit to name a few. Outside the top 10 range, there are names like Serpentine, Whitesnake, John Waite, Tesla, and Williams/Friestedt.

 

Well honestly i have a hard time to arrange my top 30 albums at the moment just because simply there are too many great albums competing to be on top. Several albums that I predict are going to shake my top ten are Work of Art, Toby Hitchcock, Eclipse, Vega, etc.

 

While I'm hoping the trend will continue running in the next few years, I'm afraid 2013 or 2014 is probably going to be the max for melodic rock as maybe we're swarmed with too many mediocrity later just like what the late 80s or early 90s did to our beloved genre, but of course we can always find the diamond in the dust, so hopefully this decade is gonna be a blast :party421:

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still lot's i haven't heard but a few i've liked this year...

 

Sister - Hated

Hell In The CLub - Let The Games Begin

Blackrain - Lethal Does Of...

Falling Red - Hasta La Voctoria Siempre

Heavens Basement - Unbreakable

Revolution Hazy - Radio Slaves

Hollywood Burnouts - s/t EP

Rakel Traxx - Bitches Palace

Syndicate - s/t

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  • My Little Pony

Hell, I never make lists. They're too much work. And, I'm a wrong to suggest some of my favourite releases were from the late 80s to the mid 90s?

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still lot's i haven't heard but a few i've liked this year...

 

Sister - Hated

Goddamn, I knew I'd forget at least one. That one would be pretty high on my list.

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Poor year for MHR so far IMO, especially compared to last year. The years best albums have come outside this genre entirely (Trivium and Unearth). A few gems worth noting across MHR and Modern Rock are below, but nothing has yet blown me away and outside of these there is a lot of crap...

 

Alyson Avenue

Farcry

Night Ranger

Bad Habit

Miss Behaviour

David Cook

Simple Plan

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Alyson Avenue

If I had to pick an "under-rated" album in 2011 so far, this would probably be it. I had it at 11 in my list, but I'd bet it would only move up if I get time to listen to all the albums over again.

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Alyson Avenue

If I had to pick an "under-rated" album in 2011 so far, this would probably be it. I had it at 11 in my list, but I'd bet it would only move up if I get time to listen to all the albums over again.

 

Backed, killer hooks on it and plenty of nice-sounding keys. Outside the "big" releases this will be one of the best...

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No point in even trying to compile any sort of list as most of the best releases of 2011 are still to come, but suffice to say that even based on the rough MP3s I have, the new Toby Hitchcock pretty much destroys any disc so far this year and last year for that. Cant wait to get this in a couple of weeks, a good production and this will be a stunning disc.

 

Glad this thread was started tho as I now know I need to check out Alyson Avenue (something I wouldnt have done) and maybe even Human Zoo (who'd have thought eh!!).

 

Cheers

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No point in even trying to compile any sort of list as most of the best releases of 2011 are still to come, but suffice to say that even based on the rough MP3s I have, the new Toby Hitchcock pretty much destroys any disc so far this year and last year for that. Cant wait to get this in a couple of weeks, a good production and this will be a stunning disc.

 

Glad this thread was started tho as I now know I need to check out Alyson Avenue (something I wouldnt have done) and maybe even Human Zoo (who'd have thought eh!!).

 

Cheers

Yeah mate, don't get too excited about Human Zoo. If you've heard what they do, or you loved Subway's 'Taste the difference,' it's pretty much what to expect. They don't do anything outrageous, but they do do the melodic hard rock thing very well. One of the more consistent bands in recent history, imo.

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Due to circumstances beyond my control, I haven't bought and checked out nearly as many new CDs this year as I normally do, but some of the ones I have really enjoyed so far are...

 

Dynazty - Knock You Down (Probably my fave of the year so far; kickass stuff!)

Night Ranger - Somewhere in California (A close second; nice return to form)

Journey - Eclipse

King Kobra - S/T

Legion - Code of Honour

Sixx AM - This is Gonna Hurt

Stryper - The Covering

Tesla - Twisted Wires

Mike Tramp - Stand Your Ground

Vains of Jenna - Reverse Tripped (I know most will detest this one, but I enjoyed their sleazy take on the songs they chose to cover)

Whitesnake - Forevermore

Victory - Don't Talk Science

Rubicon Cross - EP (Only 4 songs, but I enjoy them all)

 

A few that are already out, that I must pick up soon are Rob Moratti, Arabia, and Human Zoo.

 

Some releases set for later this year that I'm looking forward to:

Anthrax - Worship Music

WORK OF ART - In Progress

SERPENTINE - Living And Dying In High Definition

SEBASTIAN BACH - KICKING & SCREAMING

HOUSE OF LORDS - Big Money

 

The worst thing I've heard this year? No competition here... Queensryche - Dedicated to Chaos.

I got the "special edition", and I seriously stopped listening at about the half way point in disgust.

WTF were they thinking???

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Journey - Eclipse

 

Good to see someone still mentioning this - a great album IMO. I can still only find one maybe two fillers.

 

I still can't make my mind up about the damned thing yet and I am on about spin number 20!

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Journey - Eclipse

 

Good to see someone still mentioning this - a great album IMO. I can still only find one maybe two fillers.

 

I still can't make my mind up about the damned thing yet and I am on about spin number 20!

 

Yeah but that says it all - it grows with every listen! Everytime I listen to it I hear something new. The musicianship is amazing and there are some great hooks on this album contrary to what some might say

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Journey - Eclipse

 

Good to see someone still mentioning this - a great album IMO. I can still only find one maybe two fillers.

 

I still can't make my mind up about the damned thing yet and I am on about spin number 20!

 

Yeah but that says it all

Agreed! If you've tried to force yourself to like it 20 times and it still hasn't worked... yep, you know it sucks. ;)

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Journey - Eclipse

 

Good to see someone still mentioning this - a great album IMO. I can still only find one maybe two fillers.

 

I still can't make my mind up about the damned thing yet and I am on about spin number 20!

 

Yeah but that says it all

Agreed! If you've tried to force yourself to like it 20 times and it still hasn't worked... yep, you know it sucks. ;)

 

Yeah but at least I havent got Black n Blue in my top 30.........now that sucks ;-))

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Journey - Eclipse

 

Good to see someone still mentioning this - a great album IMO. I can still only find one maybe two fillers.

 

I still can't make my mind up about the damned thing yet and I am on about spin number 20!

 

Yeah but that says it all

Agreed! If you've tried to force yourself to like it 20 times and it still hasn't worked... yep, you know it sucks. ;)

 

Yeah but at least I havent got Black n Blue in my top 30.........now that sucks ;-))

:lol: It's not that bad.

 

But that's a good point actually My full list is about 60 albums, and I just had a quick look what was behind Black N Blue, and these are all better than Black N' Blue, so my list will change, no doubt about it:

 

Reece-Kronlund - Solid

Gunner - Desire

Shakra - Back on track

After Hours - Against the grain

Voodoo Circle - Broken hearted syndrome

Million - Sane and insanity

Bonfire - Branded

Danger Zone - Line of Fire

 

 

Anyway, the Journey disc is still worse than all of these! ;)

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Journey - Eclipse

 

Good to see someone still mentioning this - a great album IMO. I can still only find one maybe two fillers.

 

I still can't make my mind up about the damned thing yet and I am on about spin number 20!

 

Yeah but that says it all

Agreed! If you've tried to force yourself to like it 20 times and it still hasn't worked... yep, you know it sucks. ;)

 

Yeah but at least I havent got Black n Blue in my top 30.........now that sucks ;-))

:lol: It's not that bad.

 

But that's a good point actually My full list is about 60 albums, and I just had a quick look what was behind Black N Blue, and these are all better than Black N' Blue, so my list will change, no doubt about it:

 

Reece-Kronlund - Solid

Gunner - Desire

Shakra - Back on track

After Hours - Against the grain

Voodoo Circle - Broken hearted syndrome

Million - Sane and insanity

Bonfire - Branded

Danger Zone - Line of Fire

 

 

Anyway, the Journey disc is still worse than all of these! ;)

 

The Journey album is NOT worse than Bonfire.....you evil evil man ;-))

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Journey - Eclipse

 

Good to see someone still mentioning this - a great album IMO. I can still only find one maybe two fillers.

 

I still can't make my mind up about the damned thing yet and I am on about spin number 20!

 

Yeah but that says it all

Agreed! If you've tried to force yourself to like it 20 times and it still hasn't worked... yep, you know it sucks. ;)

 

Yeah but at least I havent got Black n Blue in my top 30.........now that sucks ;-))

:lol: It's not that bad.

 

But that's a good point actually My full list is about 60 albums, and I just had a quick look what was behind Black N Blue, and these are all better than Black N' Blue, so my list will change, no doubt about it:

 

Reece-Kronlund - Solid

Gunner - Desire

Shakra - Back on track

After Hours - Against the grain

Voodoo Circle - Broken hearted syndrome

Million - Sane and insanity

Bonfire - Branded

Danger Zone - Line of Fire

 

 

Anyway, the Journey disc is still worse than all of these! ;)

 

The Journey album is NOT worse than Bonfire.....you evil evil man ;-))

Oh... but it is. At least there are a few stand-outs on the Bonfire CD. ;)

 

The Ten album's much better than the Journey one too. I didn't rate it too high as there's as many fillers as there are gems, but the Ten one is overall a pretty good release.

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the new Ten is better than my first impression but i think quite hard to pass the 7.5/10 mark and probably already max-ed out on that score for me

 

btw Geoff, how about Blackrain, probably you missed that one on your top 10?

and Lovex and John Waite discs, aren't you diggin' it as well?

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