Table Of ContentTHE NEW
{ }
More Than 10,000 of the Best Rock, Pop, Hip-Hopr^^
and 8oul Records, Reviewed and Rated
'^ss^i.'nj'.fv^-
COMPLETELY REVISED AND
UPDATED FOURTH EDITION
NATHAN BRACKETT CHRISTIAN HOARD
EDITED BY WITH
Digitized by the Internet Archive
2013
in
http://archive.org/details/newrollingstoneaOObrac
I
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Jenny Eliscu, Nina Pearlnnan
RESEARCH EDITORS
Brian Gilmore Nicholas Messing
Jane Lerner Dara Pettinelli
Emily Lemanczyk Jessica Robertson
Will Levith Patrick Ryan
Steve Marzolf Janice Schiffman
Annelia McDonell-Parry Jason Stutts
EDITORIAL STAFF
Lauren Gitlin
CONSULTING EDITORS
Anthony DeCurtis, Joe Levy, HollyGeorge-Warren
THIRD EDITION EDITORS
James Henke,AnthonyDeCurtis, HollyGeorge-Warren
{THE NEW}
ALBUM
GUIDE
COMPLETELY REVISED
AND UPDATED
FOURTH EDITION
A FIRESIDE BOOK
PUBLISHED BY SIMON & SCHUSTER
NewYork London Toronto Sydney
ra
FIRESIDE
RockefellerCenter
1230AvenueoftheAmericas
NewYork, NY 10020
Revised edition copyright©2004 by Rolling Stone LLC
Copyright© 1992 byStraightArrow Publishers, Inc.
Copyright© 1979, 1983 by Rolling Stone Pressand Dave Marsh
All rights reserved,
includingthe rightofreproduction
inw^holeorin partin anyform.
First Fireside Edition 2004
Firesideand colophon are registeredtrademarksofSimon & Schuster, Inc.
Forinformation regardingspecial discountsforbulkpurchases,
pleasecontactSimon & SchusterSpecial Salesat 1-800-456-6798
[email protected]
Designed byJoyO'Meara
Manufactured in the United StatesofAmerica
987654321
10
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-Publication Data isavailable.
ISBN 0-7432-0169-8
Jntrqductipn
by Nathan Brackett
Welcome to The New Rolling Stone Album This is not a book for pop music historians,
Guide, your handbook to every record that mat- nor is it an encyclopedia (for that, see The
ters. This fourth edition covers more than Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll,
10,000 albums from the most important artists also published by Fireside/Simon & Schuster).
of rock, punk, hip-hop, techno, soul, dance, This is a book to be used and enjoyed. Because
blues, jazz, country, gospel, disco, reggae, and this is aconsumerguide,we'velimited ourselves
Top 40 pop, and is the product ofthree years of tocoveringdomesticallyreleasedalbumsthatare
workby more than 70writers and editors. currentlyinprint. Ourmaincriterionwasthatal-
It's been a long 12 years since our \astAlbum bums needed to be easily available from major
Guide, which was edited by Anthony DeCurtis, online stores such as Amazon.com and Barnes
Holly George-Warren, and James Henke. More andnoble.com. (One caveat: In special cases,
than 350,000 albums have been released. The we've included out-of-print or import albums if
record business has gone from big profits to they are essential to understanding an artist.) In
experiencing the worst recession since the early the case of nonrock artists with enormous
'80s. And, more important for a book about discographies, such as Miles Davis and Pete
albums, there are innumerable more ways for Seeger, we've included a selective list to serve as
peopletolearnaboutmusic: notjustfrommaga- a starting point forthe interestedbeginner.
zines anymore, but from fan websites; listening This book stands upon the foundation ofthe
kiosks at record stores; music websites such \992AlbumGuide, whichwaswrittenentirelyby
as AllMusic.com and RollingStone.com; on- just fourwriters: J.D. Considine, David McGee,
line music services such as iTunes Music Store; Paul Ev—ans, and Mark Coleman. Three o—fthose
and, notoriously, file-sharing software such as writers Considine, Evans, and McGee have
LimeWire and Kazaa. returned to update many of their old entries.
Sohowdo you make an album guide that fits Some entries have been cut (so long, Lobo;
into a book bag? Selectively. For the most part, farewell to the Vogues); hundreds have been
we've tried to limit the artists in this book to the added, tothepointthatapproximately70percent
peoplewethinkwe'llstillbelisteningtowhenthe ofthisAlbum Guideisentirelynew.
fifthorsixthedi—tionoftheGuidecomesout, orto In the introduction to the first RS Record
the artist—s who even ifthey're not well known Guide, published in 1979, editor Dave Marsh
anymore have madealasting, undeniable con- noted that "writing about performers as diverse
tributiontopopmusic. Everyoneinthisbookhas as Roscoe Holcomb, Elvis Presley and the Sex
moved the culturalneedlein one direction orthe Pistols ought to be confusing," but went on to
other; youwon'tfindmanyone-hitwonders, un- marvelthat "asweprogressed, thewholeofpop-
lesstheywerejusttoofascinatingtoignore. ularmusicbeganto seema seamlessweb."
I Introduction
Aswestarted this project, that notion seemed that in 25 years, these distinctions will seem
—
quaint pop is often described as a fragmented less funny, just as the idea (as any Uncle Tupelo
place today, where strange cliques form and fan can attest) of the Sex Pistols and Roscoe
multiply. As we got further into it, though, Holcomb in one place doesn't seem so radical
Marsh's original idea didn't seem soodd. Part of today. —
thejoyofabooklikethis isthestrangejuxtaposi- Above all despite the intimidati—ng pages of
tions: Papa Roach appears on the same page graytextand official-lookinglistings thisbook
as Charlie Parker; techno pioneer (uan Atkins is meanttobefun, and to makeyouwant tohear
follows Chet Atkins. But you also get the sense this music. Goodhunting!
Ratings
•••** ***
Classic: Essentiallisteningifyou'reevenmildly Average to Good: Albums in the three-star
curious about the artist or genre under discus- range will primarily be of interest to fans ofthe
sion. Not only are these albums worthy ofyour artistbeingdiscussed. Likea B-l- movie, theseal-
disposable income, they stand a good chance of bums are often pleasurable but not necessarily
enrichingyourlife. memorable.
*•*• •*
Excellent: Four-star albums generally repre- Fair to Poor: Albums inthetwo-starcategory
sent outstanding performances by immortal either fall below the artist's established standard
artists or peak performances by mere mortals. If orarefailures in and ofthemselves.
you'reafan oftheartistortypeofmusicinques-
tion, it's hard to go wrong with any ofthese al-
bums. Disastrous: Albums intherangeofonestaror
less are wastes of vital resources. Only maso-
chists and completists needapply.
