Gems
Artist: Aerosmith
Community Score: 7.55

With 1987's Permanent Vacation successfully restoring Aerosmith's reputation as one of hard rock's finest, Columbia Records (their first record company) decided the time was right to issue a follow-up of sorts to their 1980 compilation, Greatest Hits. The result, 1988's Gems, features almost all the tracks that were missing from the first... Read More

The Collection
Artist: Uriah Heep

Over an hour of most of the better tracks -- and certainly most of the best known tracks -- by Uriah Heep, with a strong emphasis on their early-70s repertory, when they could scarcely make a wrong move. The sound is excellent and the order of the material is ideal, starting with their most successful rockers ("Love Machine," "Easy Livin'" etc.)... Read More

My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama
Artist: Dweezil Zappa
Community Score: 9.20
Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich
Artist: Warrant
Community Score: 9.48

Other bands were bigger, other bands were better, but no other group embodied the spirit of late-'80s hair metal as much as Warrant. They were slick and tuneful, cheerfully shallow and gussied up to look prettier than they actually are. It was the era in a nutshell -- proud to be all surface and no depth. That aesthetic is what drives their... Read More

The Best of the Rest
Artist: UFO

The title of this compilation may as well have been "No Schenker," as it collects the best (or least worst, as it were) moments of UFO's mostly lackluster career sans the mad axe-man. Sad but true, for try as he might, vocalist Phil Mogg never quite duplicated the volatile but thrilling chemistry he enjoyed with Schenker with any other guitarist... Read More

Hurricane Eyes
Artist: Loudness
Community Score: 8.00

Heavy metal Japanese style, "Hurricane Eyes" was their best effort. Earlier albums were slightly tacky, while later efforts lost the chances of Loudness becoming a household name. The album was good and it didn't sound typically Japanese, American or European. ~ John Book, All Music Guide Read More

Vivid
Artist: Living Colour
Community Score: 8.12

In 1988, few heavy metal bands were comprised of all black members, and fewer had the talent or know-how to inject different musical forms into their hard rock sound (funk, punk, alternative, jazz, soul, rap) -- but N.Y.C.'s Living Colour proved to be an exception. Unlike nearly all of the era's metal bands, the group's music has held up over... Read More

Junkyard
Artist: Junkyard
Community Score: 10.00

Comprised of ex-Dag Nasty/Minor Threat and future Bad Religion guitarist Brian Baker, Junkyard's 1989 debut is a rollicking, good time, if somewhat disjointed, affair. Produced by veteran classic rock knobster Tom Werman, the band's self-titled debut puts a different spin on the late-'80s hair rock mantra. Dirtier and certainly blusier than most... Read More

Once Bitten...
Artist: Great White
Community Score: 7.80

With their third album, Once Bitten..., Great White finally perfected their blend of bluesy Aerosmith grind and Van Halen hard rock flamboyance. It all comes to a head on "Rock Me," a minor hit single that brought them to a broader audience, but there are a couple of other moments -- such as the sleazy "Lady Red Light" or "Save Your Love" --... Read More

Last of the Runaways
Artist: Giant
Community Score: 6.17
The Disregard of Timekeeping
Artist: Bonham
New Jersey
Artist: Bon Jovi
Community Score: 8.45

Bon Jovi had perfected a formula for hard pop/rock by the time of New Jersey, concentrating on singalong choruses sung over and over again, frequently by a rough, extensively overdubbed chorus, producing an effect not unlike what these songs sounded like in the arenas and stadiums where they were most often heard. The lyrics had that typical pop... Read More

Pump
Artist: Aerosmith
Community Score: 7.20

Where Permanent Vacation seemed a little overwhelmed by its pop concessions, Pump revels in them without ever losing sight of Aerosmith's dirty hard rock core. Which doesn't mean the record is a sellout -- "What It Takes" has more emotion and grit than any of their other power ballads; "Janie's Got a Gun" tackles more complex territory than most... Read More

Wanted Dead or Alive
Artist: Bon Jovi
Community Score: 10.00

This single was released on all three formats only in Europe. The CD single is preferable for the two extra tracks it offers. ~ David Jehnzen, All Music Guide Read More