#retronaut selects

[generationclash]

Retronaut Selects: Queen - The Works (1984)

This is Queen, so I won’t tell you my whole Queen story today, but I will at some point in the future.

Anyway, I acquired “The Works” as a promo LP from eBay a number of years ago.

This album includes “Radio Ga Ga”, “Hammer To Fall”, and “I Want To Break Free”, all of which were included in the iconic Live Aid performance!

Man On The Prowl has always been a standout track on this album ever since I first heard this album.

I’ve always thought that this album has an interesting momentum to it, there’s just a certain greatness to how each song leads into the next.

Each song is it’s own little universe and as a whole it is excellent.

The Works is just one of the many amazing chapters of Queen.

Essential Tracks: Man On The Prowl, I Want To Break Free, Keep Passing The Open Windows

Listen on Spotify: The Works

[generationclash]

Retronaut Selects: Judas Priest - Sin After Sin (1977)

I got insanely into Sin After Sin in 2014 after Redeemer Of Souls was released and I felt inclined to rediscover all the Priest albums.

Judas Priest was all I listened to that summer, and I gained a new love for their work.

I recall getting super into Ram It Down, Point Of Entry, and Hell Bent For Leather.

From Starbreaker to Dissident Aggressor to Diamonds and Rust, Sin After Sin is an amazing listen and an underrated classic in the Priest catalog.

Essential Tracks: Starbreaker, Dissident Aggressor, Call For The Priest/Raw Deal

Listen Here: Sin After Sin

[generationclash]

Retronaut Selects: Rory Gallagher - Top Priority (1979)

I first found out about Rory Gallagher after my dad lent me a cassette tape that had four Rory Gallagher albums taped onto it.

It was taped onto an Ampex tape and it would stop in certain parts of the tape when I played it, which is strange because the tape would always play but it would just stop on it’s own.

Due to this, I never got to hear what was on that tape as full albums, only certain songs.

Eventually, I found a copy of “Top Priority” to listen to online and it’s an excellent album!

It has this amazing flow to it, and it’s so cool.

Checking out this album is top priority. (I’m not phasing out the bad puns.)

Essential Tracks: Follow Me, Philby, Bad Penny

Listen here: Top Priority

[generationclash]

Retronaut Selects: Riot - Born In America (1984)

2013  was the year that Riot took over my life.

It all started one day when my day played “Narita” on our home stereo, and I needed to know who this band was.

I got into all the albums one after another, and something happened after I heard “Born In America”, and I knew it was something special.

It’s an album that I love hearing in full, because it has a great flow to it, and it feels like the album is telling a story and each song is another piece of the puzzle.

Essential Tracks: You Burn In Me, Running From The Law, Devil Woman

Listen Here: Born In America

[generationclash]

Retronaut Selects: UFO - No Place To Run (1980)

This is an album that my dad had an extra vinyl copy of, and he let me incorporate it into my collection.

This album is an album that I can't listen to only one song on. If I listen to it, I have to listen to the whole thing because it's too good not to.

There's this amazing atmosphere and flow to No Place To Run and it's such an experience when you do. There's a softness and heaviness to it that few albums have. It makes this balance and this album becomes it's own universe due to that.

To this day, this album is one of my favorites and I know it always will be. It was actually among the first albums I got into on vinyl as a whole.

Essential Tracks: This Fire Burns Tonight, Mystery Train, Take It or Leave It

Listen on Spotify: No Place To Run

[generationclash]

Retronaut Selects: Jack White - Blunderbuss (2012)

I first got into this album after I heard my dad playing it on our home stereo.

I remember being really into the song, "Love Interruption" and in time, I started getting into the rest of the album too.

It has a fascinating album because it has an excellent flow to it.

All of the songs are so good, individually and together, resulting in a timeless album.

Essential Tracks: Sixteen Saltines, Trash Tongue Talker, Love Interruption

Listen Here: Blunderbuss

[generationclash]

Retronaut Selects: Riot - Fire Down Under (1981)

I’ve been wanting to write this feature for quite a while, and I was inspired to finally feature it this week since I listened to this album for the first time in a quite a while this past weekend.

This was an album that I got into when I was 15. I’m 21 now. I found out that I still know every second and every single lyric on this album.

It blew my mind to know that because I didn’t google the lyrics, I just listened to this album so many times that I have it memorized.

I’m not exaggerating  when I say that this is one of the greatest albums of all time. It’s such an amazing, original metal album and it was the soundtrack to my teenage years.

Every song is so fantastic, whether you listen to them singularly, or altogether. I consider it to be a great thing when you can listen to songs from an album on their own or in the album’s intended order, as a sign that an artist is great. Great albums are made up of great songs....and Fire Down Under is one of the greatest.

Essential Tracks: Feel The Same, Outlaw, No Lies

Listen On Spotify: Fire Down Under

[generationclash]

Retronaut Selects: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium (2006)

I got into Stadium Arcadium in 2012.

It's an album that means a lot to me because I listened to it so many times when I was growing up, and I remember being so into this album that I had phases with every song!

Some of my earliest tumblr url's were named after this album, like "step-to-the-road", and even "rhcp-foo-queen", which was a reference to my three favorite bands at that time: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, and Queen.

This album has so many different types of songs, and I've always found it to be fascinating.

I've listened to Dani California, Wet Sand, Charlie, Slow Cheetah, Snow (Hey Oh), so many times I've lost count.

This album fascinates because it's a double album, and I always loved the idea of listening to each part, because each album was it's own universe.

Since this is a double album, I'm going to pick out six essential tracks instead of three!

Essential Tracks: Dani California, Hump De Bump, Wet Sand, 21st Century, So Much I, Storm In A Teacup

Listen Here: Stadium Arcadium