Rock — All Formats  

A strong statement from drummer Dylan Ryan and Sand – Dylan's trio with guitarist Timothy Young and bassist Devin Hoff. This is in a more paired down setting than we've heard Dylan in recently and it's damn strong stuff! Chicago-bred musician Ryan has never been one to heed stylistic boundaries – mixing up free jazz and avant rock into a unique, compelling sound. Now a citizen of LA, he's sounding as fresh as ever. The rhythmic interplay between Ryan and Hoff is equally invigorating in tightly walloping arrangements and the looser ones, and Young's fiery electric guitar is awesome to behold – particularly on the feedback-flavored rave ups. Includes "White Nights", "Barocco", "Psychic Journey", "Mayan Sun", "White Magic", "Soft Rain On A Dead Sea", "Time Stalkers", "Translucent Spheres", "Dreamspell" and "Sky Bleached".

Wire's amazing second album – and a pretty astonishing creative leap for the band! Nowadays, Chairs Missing can be seen as a transitional point between the rawer art punk genius of the preceding Pink Flag and the icy synth flourishes of the 154 album to follow. That said, it's an almost unbelievably great album all on its own. Pink Flag's title track and another couple of songs hinted at the sparer, more brooding possibilities of their music, and they go deeper into that on Chairs Missing, without compromising the immediacy. Essential! Titles include "Heatbeat", "Practice Makes Perfect", "Being Sucked In Again", "I Am The Fly", "Outdoor Miner", "Sand In My Joints", "I Feel Mysterious Today", "Marooned", "French Film Blurred", "Mercy" and more.

The "biggest" album of Lou Reed's career – in the grand sense – with epic production and a small army of superstar session players and production by spectacle specialist Bob Ezrin – but that's paired with arguably the darkest, gloomiest songcycle ever composed by Lou Reed! The dichotomy works, and Lou apparently agrees, having revisited the material in the mid aughties to great acclaim. Ultimately, this and the previous year's Transformer makes for one of the strangest and most incredible transitions over a short period of time in pop music history. Titles include "Berlin", "Lady Day", "Men Of Good Fortune", "Caroline Says" (I & II), "The Kids", "The Bed", "Sad Song" and more.

A pair of overlooked albums from Clover – a great Bay Area group from the start of the 70s – best known for later work with Elvis Costello and Huey Lewis! Clover is a great start for a very cool group – a set that definitely draws on some of the "out of the city" sounds of the post-Haight scene in SF – as you might guess from the cover – but which also has some funkier undercurrents too, and almost a garagey mix of soul amidst the rootsy elements – one that really shows the evolution of a group like this from the styles of a few years before! Titles include a cover of "Shotgun", plus "Come", "Could You Call It Love", "Southbound Train", "Going To The Country", and "Stealin". Fourty Niner shows a wonderful growth in Clover – a record that really has the group coming into their own, and hitting some of the best Marin County vibes of the time! There's a definite rootsy feel to the record – some of those Bay Area transmogrifications of sounds from the south, into much more hippie-oriented styles – but there's also a sense of confidence and care with songwriting that should have made these guys huge – a quality that easily rivals the best work from the late Byrds or early Eagles camp – with maybe a bit to challenge The Band too – served up with a great Fantasy Records rock approach all the way through. Titles include "Mr Moon", "Harvest", "Old Man Blues", "Sound Of Thunder", and "Love Is Gone".