There Ain't Half Been Some Great Albums: W Quiz

Answer: Venom

"Welcome to Hell" was Venom's debut album. The group's reputation as one of the most influential heavy metal groups of all time rests almost entirely on this and its follow-up, "Black Metal" (1982). I think "Welcome to Hell" had the edge over "Black Metal" because of its production, or lack of it. I remember hearing it for the first time in the early 1980s and being flabbergasted at the cacophony coming from the speakers. What Venom had which some later extreme metal bands lacked was a primal sound, something as primordial as the evil they sang about. Of course many later groups did get that, the early Norwegian black metal bands for example.

Venom didn't really manage to go anywhere new with their sound and by the mid-1980s almost everybody had lost interest in them. Among the disillusioned was guitarist Mantas who left after the disappointing fourth album, "Possessed". Venom staggered on over the years, splitting up and reforming several times. Nevertheless, those two early albums were something so special that nobody can ever take their importance away from Messrs Cronos, Mantas and Abaddon.

Answer: Alice Cooper

"Welcome to My Nightmare" was the first album on which Alice Cooper meant the singer born Vincent Furnier as a solo artist rather than the group fronted by him. It was the sixth album released by an artist known as Alice Cooper. The original Alice Cooper band had left, but the new guitarist Dick Wagner wasn't new at all and had been playing on Alice Cooper albums as a guest since "School's Out" (1972), and the other guitarist Steve Hunter had also been playing with Alice Cooper as a session musician since "Billion Dollar Babies" (1973). The other musicians were new to Alice Cooper, other than producer/keyboardist Bob Ezrin of course. He'd been involved since 1971.

The album itself was a watershed in the Alice Cooper discography and steered things down a much more theatrical route. It was a much cornier affair than earlier stuff, but it was highly entertaining all the same. There were moments of something quite sophisticated lyrically, such as the surprise hit "Only Women Bleed", but the music lacked edge. Indeed, the aforementioned hit single ushered in the Alice Cooper of soft rock ballads, and the album had more than its fair share of cheesy orchestra sounds. Still a lot of fun though.

Answer: Kyuss

"Welcome to Sky Valley" was Kyuss's third studio album and the one that broke them into the mainstream, sort of. The group's previous album, "Blues for the Red Sun", had been widely acclaimed but didn't sell well, partly because it was very difficult to get hold of. "Welcome to Sky Valley" also garnered critical acclaim but was picked up by the Elektra label, thus getting widespread distribution.

Kyuss have been attributed with "inventing" stoner rock, which is quite a far-fetched claim since such a sub-genre must have developed as much as anything. However, what Kyuss did do was nurture their very own distinctive groove which took a lot from the heavy bands of the 1960s and 1970s, something from punk rock, and apparently a lot of inspiration from Palm Desert, California. You might ask what Palm Desert has to do with it; a music scene developed there which revolved around loose jam session/gigs, possibly some recreational drug use, and a unique landscape. What Kyuss did with all that was something very special, and in my opinion best heard on "Welcome to Sky Valley".

Answer: Marvin Gaye

"What's Going On" was Marvin Gaye's eleventh studio album and signaled a massive shift in his approach, sound, and even image. As much as I love all his stuff prior to "What's Going On", that shift meant he became one of the greatest artists of all time as opposed to "just" one of the greatest performers. Indeed, on "What's Going On" there was a sophisticated structure to the whole album as an artistic, and also political, statement.

Equally significant, "What's Going On" was the first album to acknowledge Motown session musicians The Funk Brothers. It's astonishing to think that it took so long for the musicians who played on so many huge hits to be given credit.

At the end of the day, "What's Going On" was simply magnificent, and it hasn't aged a bit.

Answer: Killing Joke

"What's THIS For...!" was Killing Joke's second studio album and it came out a year after their eponymous debut album. It followed on in much the same vein as the debut, i.e. prosaic thumping rhythms from the drummer and bassist, and poetry from the balmy vocals and mesmerizing guitars. Like many post-punk outfits, Killing Joke embraced funk from a musical point of view but turned it into something stiff and awkward rather than the smooth, sensual African-American funk from the 1960s and 1970s. I think it's fair to say that Killing Joke's funk was anxious and dirgeful rather than celebratory or swaggering.

Killing Joke's influence was not only deep but also wide-ranging. It's hard to imagine industrial rock without their seed-sowing.

Answer: Gene Clark

After leaving The Byrds in 1966, Gene Clark recorded "Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers" as a solo album despite the title, before rejoining The Byrds for a couple of weeks. Gene then got together with Doug Dillard as the unimaginatively named Dillard & Clark for two wonderful albums, "The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark" (1968) and "Through the Morning, Through the Night" (1969). It might have looked like Gene Clark was done with at that point since he had a steady income from royalties, a family, and a drinking problem. Luckily for us, he came back better than he'd ever been and graced the world with "White Light". The mood was rather solemn, but the tone of both the vocals and the music had a depth throughout the album most would give their right arm to manage for just one song.

The album was a commercial flop, just like most of Gene Clark's solo work. It's inexplicable to me how in the music world so such sentimental mush gets taken for genuine empathetic emotion yet our Gene is all but forgotten.

Answer: The Velvet Underground

"White Light/White Heat" was The Velvet Underground's second studio album. It came out just one year after group's debut, "The Velvet Underground & Nico", but maverick manager Andy Warhol had gone, as had Nico. They hadn't shed their avant-garde leanings though and after the fairly straightforward, albeit frighteningly raw, rock 'n' roll title track which opens the album, we were straight into "The Gift". "The Gift" had John Cale telling a Gogol-esque tale while the group trudge through a fuzzy instrumental. Two more smutty ditties later, we got one of the wildest, frenetic, noisy rock tracks of all time: "I Heard Her Call My Name".

Here, Lou Reed practically begot noise rock in less than five minutes. That started side two, and the next track "Sister Ray" almost ended rock music for ever. Fantastic.

Answer: The Who

"Who's Next" was The Who's fifth studio album and is thought by many to have been the group at their best. It all just came together perfectly on this one, although it didn't seem like that was going to be the case when it was still a rock opera called "Lifehouse". Personally, I've never been able to stomach rock opera so am infinitely pleased that "Lifehouse" was abandoned and cannibalized into the much more palatable "Who's Next".

The Who had a tendency to put silly songs to balance out their volatile or melodramatic moments, which sometimes worked but often didn't (especially with the luxury of hindsight), but on "Who's Next" I think even stuff like "My Wife" and "Going Mobile" worked. Indeed, the whole album was top-notch and one of the finest rock albums of all time.

Answer: Dead Can Dance

"Within the Realm of a Dying Sun" was Dead Can Dance's third studio album. At that point the group was practically a duo, Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, who both played various instruments and sang. They also had a host of other musicians helping them out on various woodwind, brass and percussion instruments.

Dead Can Dance had already thrown down the gauntlet to challenge the accepted forms of music that made up post-punk gothic music by incorporating classical influences, but this was the album that really made their mission clear. It was all done brilliantly as they created deeply moving atmosphere with a breadth of sounds others could only dream of. Later albums delved even deeper into so-called neoclassical dark wave, but this one had some extra bite.

Answer: White Town

"Women in Technology" was White Town's second album. Although White Town had several members, it has always been Jyoti Prakash Mishra's project. "Women in Technology" was recorded in his home studio in the East Midlands of England. The album was released on a major label and had a surprise hit single in the fantastic "Your Woman", which used a sample from Mozambican Al Bowlly's song of the same name.

The whole album, and White Town's output, was overshadowed by this one hit wonder status, which is a shame since there was something really special about the other songs therein. On later albums Jyoti proved that it wasn't just momentary and he continued to open his soul up in a way that rarely happens in mainstream pop culture. Unfortunately, very few people were listening anymore and White Town will always be remembered, if remembered at all, for the one song.