Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde

 Blonde on Blonde, is one of the most iconic albums in the folk-blues genre, the album mixes Dylan's lyrical style with his brash use of the harmonica and one of his early electric albums. Kicking off the album is 'Rainy Day Women #12 & 35', this song straight away captures the sound and essence of the album, the lyrics are about the drug marijuana, Bob Dylan even used to pass a joint around before recording and playing this song, as it en-captured the meaning of the song. Blonde on Blonde has a few of Bob Dylan's biggest singles on the album, with half of the songs on the double LP being released and gaining huge popularity, songs such as 'Just Like a Woman' and 'Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat' gaining much commercial success. The song 'Visions of Johanna' is a standout for me and transmits the Bob Dylan sound the most, with his nasal singing style, and lyrical genius, he creates an atmosphere that is enticing, with a fairly simple back beat, the attention is solely on Bob Dylan and that famous harmonica. I give this album a 9/10, it only just misses out on full marks because although it transmits the atmospheric Dylan sound, it lacks the quality some of his earlier work has.

The Smiths - The Queen is Dead

This album is my favourite of The Smiths 4 studio albums and other numerous compilation albums, this album has claimed it's place in music history as it has become a cult classic and is still being thrived throughout a huge amount of todays aspiring teenagers. Released in June 1986 this album reached #2 in the UK charts and maintained a residency in the chart for a further 22 weeks, and has consistently sold worldwide since it's release. I cannot find a faulty song on the album, and it appeals to many different emotions and moods, for a more melancholic sound there is the emotional 'I Know It's Over' and despite it's upbeat tune, like many a-Smiths song, 'There Is a Light That Never Goes Out'. For the more light-hearted songs the album offers 'Frankly, Mr. Shankly', 'Vicar In a Tutu' and 'Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others'. Although these songs create an atmospheric album, my hit of 'The Queen Is Dead' is track five 'Cemetery Gates', portraying an almost literary battle to the mental image, in which i have the view of Morrissey and The Smiths on one side of the Cemetery with the poet Oscar Wilde opposing a stranger and Keates and Yeats on their side. The album has the classic sound representative of The Smiths style, I rate this album 8/10, just short of a full 10 because every now and then Morrissey's beautiful yet depressing lyrics can be too much.