#1.
And now, my favorite album of all-time:
Tool - Ænima
Released: October 1, 1996
Members:
Maynard James Keenan - vocals
Adam Jones - guitar
Justin Chancellor - bass
Danny Carey - drums/percussion
Personally Acquired: November 22, 2002; purchased at Best Buy
Summary
This is it. Of the now 405 deep CD collection of mine, this one is better than all 404 of the rest. The absolute measure of what an epic album should be. And quite possibly the greatest 80 minute audible odyssey one could possibly engage in. This has the distinguished honor of being my favorite CD of all fucking time. It's so great, I don't know where to begin. Do I begin with the amazingly crafted guitarlines and well-timed feedback shrieks that Adam Jones emits? Or how about how this is powerfully deeper than the Grand Canyon? Or do I mention how Maynard's song writing ability has the uncanny ability to blow the next best songwriter to shreds? No. I begin the praising by just saying how the songs just reach out and penetrate into your mind. Even now as I listen to it, I find myself getting sidetracked from writing this review because I just get lost in the sway of the music. It's amazing how I just find myself closing my eyes and bobbing my head while I listen to it, sometimes without even noticing that I'm doing it. With that thought in mind, one of my favorite things to do is put this album in my CD player, put on my headphones, shut off the lights, turn on my blacklight, and lie in bed and slip into subconscious. Not sleeplike, but like this level between consciousness and sleep where all I can recognize is the music, my mind free and clear of everything else. It sounds strange, I admit, but it's amazing. And I stay in that state for the entire duration of the album. When it's over, I "awaken" and I just feel like my mind is a lot clearer. I've done it with other albums too, but this one is by far the easiest and best to do it with. Now, this being my favorite album, you'd expect me to listen to this 12 times a week. But actually, I only really put it on once, maybe twice a month. Reason being, first off, that's really all I need to quench the Tool thirst, so to speak. It's such a fulfilling album, it'd be almost too much to listen to it every other day. Second reason is that this definitely seems like an album that you could get bored of if listened to too much. And while it would take a lot for that to happen to me and to this album, I could see it happening.
Onto the the content of the album, which you will see makes this the greatest album conceived. Let's start with the droney rockdom of "Stinkfist". This one doesn't fully evolve into the whole mind-altering mantra yet. In fact, it sounds like it would fit in well with the tracklisting of Undertow. But this kind of raucous intro is what's needed. That goes into the otherwordly epic "Eulogy". 8 minutes of nirvana. From the cricket-quiet intro to the explosive outro, unbelievable the entire way. When people ask me what Tool tracks they should get, "Eulogy" is usually the first track I tell them. Some of my alltime favorite lyrics are found in this song.
"You claimed all this time that you would die for me
Why, then, are you so surprised when you hear your own eulogy?"
"H." is a great track to come out of the monster of "Eulogy". It starts off slow and gooey with a raw bassline, and some slow tomming from Danny. A solid album track. "46 & 2" is another great slow-yet-slammin' track that transforms into a tubthumping smasher in the end. After an interlude, we get the most rockingest track on the album, "Hooker with a Penis". Rock the fuck on. The outro makes you want to smash your face into a brickwall ... (in a good way). "Jimmy" is the next track. This track reminds me a lot of Pink Floyd, or at least the intro of the song reminds me of them. It's a very spacy, echoey song. Around the bridge and onward, Adam riffs out this very distant line, and it sends chills up my spine every time. "Die Eier Von Satan" is like the soundtrack to a nightmare. Open, silenced bassline pounds out as with some weird, creepy machine like wail as someone (Maynard?) creepily recites in German. "Pushit" has to be one of the greatest songs, not only done by Tool, but of the 90s. Slow, but so full of emotion and raw power. Godly is a good word for it. Part of what makes the album is unabashadly incredible is the remarkable outro, starting with the doomsday summance "Ænema". The definition of Tool was born with this song. Following a creepy electric wave interlude, we hit the last track, "Third Eye". 14 minute long outro. And, until the unbelievable craftsmanship of "Rosetta Stoned" on 10,000 Days, this was the greatest display of chemistry and musicianship by the band ever heard. How can a band possibly put together a 14 minute outro and keep the listener around until the end? By being Tool. Again, housing some of my favorite lyrics of all time. And quite possibly my favorite ending ever. The band hypes up the tempo and delivers wail after wail, building and building. You know something huge is coming listening to it. Finally it erupts, Maynard just yelling "Prying open my third eye!" over and over while the band drills off some off-syncopated blasts. I am left amazed every single fucking time. Every time. This is not an album that you just listen to. It's an experience every single time.
Four Good Tracks: "Third Eye", "Eulogy", "Ænema", "Pushit"
And there we have it. My 25 Favorite CDs have been announced. Upon realizing that my Saturdays will become meaningless again, I went ahead and drew up another Top Favorite Countdown. So keep an eye every Saturday night as now I count down my Top 20 Favorite Bands! Huzzah!
Tool - Ænima
Released: October 1, 1996
Members:
Maynard James Keenan - vocals
Adam Jones - guitar
Justin Chancellor - bass
Danny Carey - drums/percussion
Personally Acquired: November 22, 2002; purchased at Best Buy
Summary
This is it. Of the now 405 deep CD collection of mine, this one is better than all 404 of the rest. The absolute measure of what an epic album should be. And quite possibly the greatest 80 minute audible odyssey one could possibly engage in. This has the distinguished honor of being my favorite CD of all fucking time. It's so great, I don't know where to begin. Do I begin with the amazingly crafted guitarlines and well-timed feedback shrieks that Adam Jones emits? Or how about how this is powerfully deeper than the Grand Canyon? Or do I mention how Maynard's song writing ability has the uncanny ability to blow the next best songwriter to shreds? No. I begin the praising by just saying how the songs just reach out and penetrate into your mind. Even now as I listen to it, I find myself getting sidetracked from writing this review because I just get lost in the sway of the music. It's amazing how I just find myself closing my eyes and bobbing my head while I listen to it, sometimes without even noticing that I'm doing it. With that thought in mind, one of my favorite things to do is put this album in my CD player, put on my headphones, shut off the lights, turn on my blacklight, and lie in bed and slip into subconscious. Not sleeplike, but like this level between consciousness and sleep where all I can recognize is the music, my mind free and clear of everything else. It sounds strange, I admit, but it's amazing. And I stay in that state for the entire duration of the album. When it's over, I "awaken" and I just feel like my mind is a lot clearer. I've done it with other albums too, but this one is by far the easiest and best to do it with. Now, this being my favorite album, you'd expect me to listen to this 12 times a week. But actually, I only really put it on once, maybe twice a month. Reason being, first off, that's really all I need to quench the Tool thirst, so to speak. It's such a fulfilling album, it'd be almost too much to listen to it every other day. Second reason is that this definitely seems like an album that you could get bored of if listened to too much. And while it would take a lot for that to happen to me and to this album, I could see it happening.
Onto the the content of the album, which you will see makes this the greatest album conceived. Let's start with the droney rockdom of "Stinkfist". This one doesn't fully evolve into the whole mind-altering mantra yet. In fact, it sounds like it would fit in well with the tracklisting of Undertow. But this kind of raucous intro is what's needed. That goes into the otherwordly epic "Eulogy". 8 minutes of nirvana. From the cricket-quiet intro to the explosive outro, unbelievable the entire way. When people ask me what Tool tracks they should get, "Eulogy" is usually the first track I tell them. Some of my alltime favorite lyrics are found in this song.
"You claimed all this time that you would die for me
Why, then, are you so surprised when you hear your own eulogy?"
"H." is a great track to come out of the monster of "Eulogy". It starts off slow and gooey with a raw bassline, and some slow tomming from Danny. A solid album track. "46 & 2" is another great slow-yet-slammin' track that transforms into a tubthumping smasher in the end. After an interlude, we get the most rockingest track on the album, "Hooker with a Penis". Rock the fuck on. The outro makes you want to smash your face into a brickwall ... (in a good way). "Jimmy" is the next track. This track reminds me a lot of Pink Floyd, or at least the intro of the song reminds me of them. It's a very spacy, echoey song. Around the bridge and onward, Adam riffs out this very distant line, and it sends chills up my spine every time. "Die Eier Von Satan" is like the soundtrack to a nightmare. Open, silenced bassline pounds out as with some weird, creepy machine like wail as someone (Maynard?) creepily recites in German. "Pushit" has to be one of the greatest songs, not only done by Tool, but of the 90s. Slow, but so full of emotion and raw power. Godly is a good word for it. Part of what makes the album is unabashadly incredible is the remarkable outro, starting with the doomsday summance "Ænema". The definition of Tool was born with this song. Following a creepy electric wave interlude, we hit the last track, "Third Eye". 14 minute long outro. And, until the unbelievable craftsmanship of "Rosetta Stoned" on 10,000 Days, this was the greatest display of chemistry and musicianship by the band ever heard. How can a band possibly put together a 14 minute outro and keep the listener around until the end? By being Tool. Again, housing some of my favorite lyrics of all time. And quite possibly my favorite ending ever. The band hypes up the tempo and delivers wail after wail, building and building. You know something huge is coming listening to it. Finally it erupts, Maynard just yelling "Prying open my third eye!" over and over while the band drills off some off-syncopated blasts. I am left amazed every single fucking time. Every time. This is not an album that you just listen to. It's an experience every single time.
Four Good Tracks: "Third Eye", "Eulogy", "Ænema", "Pushit"
And there we have it. My 25 Favorite CDs have been announced. Upon realizing that my Saturdays will become meaningless again, I went ahead and drew up another Top Favorite Countdown. So keep an eye every Saturday night as now I count down my Top 20 Favorite Bands! Huzzah!