Greatest Hits 2: Ammonia, Black Sabbath, Everclear

I'm back for another installment of "Greatest Hits"...remember, these aren't necessarily the bands' "top hits", but some of my personal favorite releases by them!

Ammonia's "Mint 400" - Referencing back to Greatest Hits 1's entry of Silverchair, I first heard this band when they opened up for 'Chair in 1996. They were definitely similar in sound (a post-grunge alternative rock style) and something I was looking for at that time in my life. The songs on the cd are catchy, especially tracks like "Drugs", "Little Death", and "Lucky No. 3". Other stand-outs include the opener, "Ken Carter", and the distortion-filled instrumental "Burning Plant Smell". Unfortunately, the band's 2nd album wasn't released in the US (to the best of my knowledge) and they broke up soon afterwards.

Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" - This is a given for any hard rock/heavy metal fan. How can you NOT love this album? Of course, I wasn't alive when it was released, but I was well familiar with at least half of the songs on it before actually owning the album. I actually bought "Paranoid" on cassette from a gas station my senior year of high school; it was $5 and a surprising omission from my collection. At the time, I was driving a pretty sh***y Blazer that would regularly die on me. To top it off, it had no working radio or tape player. I remember keeping a portable tape player that ran off batteries in the backseat, blasting this cassette (or a few others I had in the car) just so I had some music! No sense in mentioning stand-out songs, because every one of them is great!

Everclear's "World of Noise" - Like a large majority of people, I didn't hear Everclear until "Santa Monica"'s video started getting regular airplay on MTV. I thought the band was great and not long after buying "Sparkle & Fade", I went back to purchase "World of Noise". As much as I love "S&F", the band's debut album is much better! The entirety of it had to be blasted at full volume in the car, from the awesome opening guitar riff of "Your Genius Hands" to the punk-inspired finale, "Evergleam". I still listen to this album regularly, and it remains their absolute best (in my opinion).


Til next time,
Matthew