Malignant Narcissist

Just for fun off the top of my head:- Spiral Architect War Pigs Symptom of the Universe Supernaut Wheels of Confusion Under the Sun Iron Man Fairies wear boots Black Sabbath Into the Void Just Ozzy period. Will do Dio era at some point. Love both eras. Love all of the Sabs stuff for the most part to be honest. Must listen to the Headless Cross again soon. Not really heard the 1st album and Masters of Reality - just heard the main tracks on best-ofs and live albums so I'm probably missing out on a few tracks. Children of the Grave is one that is just outside the top 10 I guess that I know of from MoR.

Castle Roogna by Piers Anthony - massive series about a land of magic with lots of puns and wordplay. This is the 3rd in the series I think and he's done over 10 or so. The first couple were fun adventure-type comic fantasy and I wonder if he keeps the level up throughout the series. Weaveworld by Clive Barker. Just finished the Damnation Game so was interested in continuing with a bit of Barker because I got hooked with the Damnation Game. One hand clapping by Anthony Burgess. Burgess is a bit of a literary favourite of mine even though I've only read 2 books by him. Partly his reputation of being inventive and being able to more or less turn his hand to different genres of writing is what makes me a fan I have to shamefully admit but I loved the 1st book I read by him (The End of the World news) so was eager to believe the reputation as well. The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies. Sounded like an intriguing plot and another writer with a good reputation so I was eager to try this out. Only just started in parallel with the others but seems good so far. Was tempted to read the Kraken Awakes by John Wyndham aswell but I think I'm spreading myself a bit thin at this point!

Brian Johnson's book caught my eye in the local supermarket. Had a quick flick through it but i got the feeling it was heavy on his Geordie years. I understand that might have been a big part of his life but I was hoping it was big on the AC/DC years. How is or was it for you?

Bread Peters and Lee Sade Celine Dion Johnny Mathis Barry Manilow Nana Mouskouri The Carpenters Shirley Bassey Tom Jones and because one has to go to 11.... Anita Baker

61 Too many dodgy looking bands I've never seen pics of e.g. Meshuggah And not hot on the Scandi or black metallers. The Annhilator main main (jeff waters?) threw me with his short hair). Never effin seen Crimson Glory - would have remembered those dodgy masks. Couldn't make out Marilyn Manson - must have been a old shot. Nice to see Raven and Venom with their own t shirts or back drops! lol didn't get to the end. Would have got Voi Vod which I see were at the end when you're allowed to review your mistakes

Good because I've just started to read Weaveworld!

I've got The Magus knocking about and I mean to read it at some point as well as some of his other stuff (e.g. French Lieutenants Woman etc). It does look a bit of a doorstop of a book but I've heard he's an interesting writer.

Gawping/Gawking at Monica Bellucci all day notwithstanding, I took some time out to say that I finished Clive Barker's The Damnation Game recently. I've not read anything else by him but have seen a lot of the films based on his books - Hellraiser, Nightbreed, The Midnight Meat Train, Candyman and even Rawhead Rex! I enjoyed it but thought it was starting to wane a bit midway through. But then it picked up and was pretty good and ended up being a bit different to what I expected. Hints of Lovecraft in there which was good. I read a Night Hunter series by a Robert Faulcon a while back which I really enjoyed too. Anybody heard of it or him? Well it's a pseudonym for an author Robert Holdstock who has written under a few different names by the sounds of it. Night Hunter was a good series though although ended a bit abruptly and not quite how I expected it. The main idea is a man's family is violently attacked and his wife and child are abducted for some unknown reason and he has to figure out how to find them and what was it all about. It becomes clear that it was a cult group with supernatural abilities that has done it and he has to learn quickly about these things, recover and try to get his family back. Maybe a bit pulpy but I enjoyed the series.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte The End of the World news by Antony Burgess The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov Matter by Iain Banks Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons Hard to choose a 'greatest' but these 5 were very enjoyable and page turners. The End of the World news was my introduction to Burgess and I didn't really know about Clockwork Orange. But it is 3 stories in parallel, one of which is sci-fi, a genre which he thought had a lot of mileage despite it's 'pulpy' reputation. But even though I liked to read, this really got me back into reading more interesting authors. Due to some studying, I had a pause in reading and then started back with Jane Eyre and really enjoyed it. I've got a stack of 'classics' knocking about that I mean to read but seem to default to sci-fi, action and horror since then and the last 3 here were once again, ones I couldn't put down. So which was/is the greatest? Maybe Matter wouldn't be at the top of the list but all the others here were very enjoyable in their own way and the 'best' I've read up until now.

Opeth - The Drapery Falls (Live on 'tube Copenhall)

Dub War - Gorrit https://youtu.be/ZGlveCnLV-I

A couple more I've found since delving through my CD collection:- I was surprised to see Dare have been going up until 2022 and have released 10 albums so maybe this part is the 'hidden' part..to me! Great AOR-style 1st album. Main man Darren Wharton was the keyboard player for Thin Lizzy at some point. This might be a bit of cheat as well. This band, Dub war, produced a couple of albums but I didn't hear much about them after this album which I have and love. It's Alt Metal with Raggae/Ragga ovetones I would say. The singer, Benje, a Welshman, whose parents were of Jamaican origin, formed a new band Skindred after Dub War broke up and they're still going strong and have had some success I believe although I'm not over familiar with their stuff. Must check it out further..

Dub War - Strike it

Eric Matthews - Fanfare

Well I was only answering with respect to the albums that have made it to this round. But I think most would agree we have the perceived best of the these bands in this round. Sure, there are other bands and albums that could or should have made it through. Love Heaven and Hell and Back in Black. BiB's definitely Johnson's best with AC/DC. I personally think Mob Rules is on a par with HaH even though the tracks Heaven and Hell and Children of the Sea alone can defeat whole discographies of other bands! Blizzard's good but too but not quite at the top for me. And much as I'm appreciating Priest these days (and I know there's a lot of love for them on here), I can't vote for Screaming as an album to match some of the others on offer here. Looking at ranking lists for Priest, interestingly there seems to be a lot of variation - Screaming is top on 1, British Steel on another etc. You don't like Queensryche or Mindcrime in particular? The albums is, I would imagine, thought of as their magnum opus whatever you think of them as a band. Personally, I'm still sad that Dumpy's Rusty Nuts didn't make it through but hey ho!

What I believe is undisputed is that the perceived masterpiece by each of these bands is represented here and for me, it's difficult to choose between them. Although in the case of each band, I wouldn't be surprised if some fans of each them might argue for another album (Ride The Lightning - jostles with Master for my Metallica fave; Use you Illusion - not overly familiar with it but it was a grand 2 album undertaking; Empire is a worthy follow-up to Mindcrime so someone might argue for that....). Similiar for Moving Pics and Perm Waves. Always had a pref for the Wavey one but I can't argue with the popularity and brilliance of Moving Pics either, even with factoring in over-hearing side 1 via Radio etc. As for whether MP or PW should be in the poll, the 1001 Album Club podcast reviewed MP and said that it was quoted somewhere that Rush is for those who want the technicality of Yes married with the riffs of Black Sabbath. So surely the intersection with Black Sabbath makes them a worthy competitor in this poll! Really difficult to pick a 1,2,3 because I love all of these albums notwithstanding my pref for others in their catalogues. Not the biggest Guns n Roses fan but I love Appetite and could easily have all albums share no.1 position although PW and MP would have to squabble and take turns as to who's on the podium at any one time! Veering towards 1. Mindcrime, 2. PW, 3. Puppets but Moving Pics and Appetite can both take their turns on 2 & 3 respectively after a rolling 5 minute timeout.

I have a theory that given enough time on a Rush thread, it will eventually get to a stage where TaiShan is mentioned whatever the topic! A Rush-forums version of Godwin's Law if you will.

The Camera Eye

Black Sabbath - Spiral Architect

Marillion - Sliante Mhath (trying to spell it from memory...)

I've only got The Sentinel on LP (so haven't played it for a long time) but I've always loved the track Arrive Alive and don't remember what the rest is like. Didn't they stop for a bit after that album before resuming? Are all the albums worth a listen?

Yeah, of course being the Rush forum then these albums are getting probably a much higher vote than they would on the Maiden, Sabbath, Metallica, Van Halen etc forums. It's nice to think they would still be up there in the voting but I suspect not.

A bit of light vs dark:- Bloodgood - The Messiah (Christian Rock Band singing about Jesus I think) vs Van Halen - Runnin' with the Devil (Dave riffin on living fast with the Devil - yeah I know, he's being metaphorical...I think! Too scared to learn a Slayer or black metal song so this will have to do for balance!) Plus The Beta Band - Dry the rain (seen Hi Fidelity?) Cinderella- Gypsy Road

A nice selection of tunes there and if you can play like Wolfie did at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts then I'll pay good money to see/hear it!