THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL was nominated for a 1995 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance. "Hurt" was nominated for a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Rock Song. Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor became an instant alternative-music hero with 1989's PRETTY HATE MACHINE, an angry-yet-accessible album that appealed to rock fans and club kids alike. Record-label woes led to a five-year delay for Reznor's follow-up, with two hard-edged EPs (BROKEN and its remix disc, FIXED) issued in the interim. Finally released in 1994, THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL seethes with an almost unhinged industrial ferocity, due, in part to both Reznor's frustration with messy bureaucratic entanglements and time spent with Ministry's Al Jourgensen during the peak of that band's guitar-heavy phase.

Although, SPIRAL does reveal the influence of latter-day Ministry (particularly on the blazing opener, "Mr. Self Destruct," and the scathing, distortion-filled "March of the Pigs"), Reznor also incorporates elements of progressive rock and funk into the proceedings. More than any other Nine Inch Nails song, the provocative, groove-laden "Closer" (and its shocking video) established Reznor as a bold, audacious artist. In contrast, quiet and emotive songs such as Eno-esque instrumental "A Warm Place" and the spare, haunting "Hurt" (famously covered by Johnny Cash shortly before the country legend's death) revealed Reznor's sensitive side. Here the intense performer works with his largest sonic palette yet, and the results are fascinating.

Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.54) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's."
Rolling Stone (3/24/94, p.92) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...Nine Inch Nails achieve a new kind of loud on THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL: accessible hard rock moves overlaid with a scrim of electronic racket...THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL is music the Blade Runner might throw down to: low-tech futurism that rocks...."


  Master Of Puppets Vinyl LP Record
  by Metallica
Our Price: $15.39 Vinyl LP Record
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Metallica's irresistible rise to the top continued with this enigmatic 1986 album. Metallica was a constant touring unit by this point, and their combination of light and dark and their deft staccato delivery, especially on the title track, came brusquely through. Their ever-lengthening arrangements (three songs came in at over eight minutes), bolstered by the precise snap of Hetfield's vocals, testified to their undeniable power. The striding "Battery," the darkly lit "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)," as well as the complex instrumental "Orion" all gave powerful testament to their ever-developing skill and vision.

Recorded at Sweet Silence Studios, Copenhagen, Denmark from September through December, 1985.

MASTER OF PUPPETS was Metallica's last album with bass player Cliff Burton. Burton was killed in a traffic accident. He was replaced by Jason Newsted.


  Break Up The Concrete Vinyl LP Record
  by Pretenders
Our Price: $24.09 Vinyl LP Record
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The first Pretenders album after the longest recording layoff in the band's history (six years), BREAK UP THE CONCRETE finds Chrissie Hynde re-energized, fronting a new bunch of musicians on a fresh, arresting batch of new songs released on a new label. Original drummer Martin Chambers, still part of the touring outfit, is replaced here by session-drummer king Jim Keltner. Perhaps even more significantly, new arrival Eric Heywood (pedal steel) boasts a lengthy Americana resume (Son Volt, Jayhawks, Ray LaMontagne) and brings with him the highest quotient of rootsiness ever to occupy a Pretenders album.

While there are some driving rockers that recall the glory days of "Precious" and "Tattooed Love Boys," with Keltner employing ingeniously mutated New Orleans-cum-Bo Diddley beats, a striking number of tracks here roam a more roots-rock-oriented area. Warm, organic acoustic-guitar strumming and long, keening pedal steel lines frame Hynde's one-of-a-kind voice on the slow-burning country-soul waltz "Don't Lose Faith in Me," the rather Lucinda Williams-esque "Love's a Mystery," and other smartly conceived tunes, balancing out an album that's simultaneously earthy and urgent.

Rolling Stone (p.78) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he best Pretenders record in years, a mix of galloping rockabilly and country & western songs, delivered in Hynde's trademark snarl..."


  Exit Planet Dust Vinyl LP Record
  by Chemical Brothers
Our Price: $11.19 Vinyl LP Record
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The Chemical Brothers were formerly known as the Dust Brothers. The name change seems particularly appropriate, as many observers viewing the disc's cover would be hard-pressed to perceive this as anything remotely electronic-based. Rave faves and flamboyant studio techies in their native England, the Brothers may be the '90s inheritors of Adrian Sherwood and his On-U Sound legacy.

EXIT PLANET DUST is a record concerned more with the urban jungle than space-time continuums, although there's no shortage of tripped-out effects, stereo panning, reverb, and a healthy amount of studio gimcrackery. Mobile fidelity is the nucleus here, so anyone expecting ambience need look elsewhere. With this record, one of the first to break so-called "electronica" mainstream and on Main Street, USA, The Brothers have assimilated so many dancefloor ideologies that their stance within the "big beat" genre should ultimately get them through the next musical revolution--and beyond. To many, this is the possible future of pop: Spock & roll, anyone?

Principally recorded at Orinoco Studios and Da Da Studios, London, England between August and November 1994.


  Master Of Reality Vinyl LP Record
  by Black Sabbath
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Digitally remastered and expanded double vinyl LP edition of this 1971 album from the British Heavy Metal band including a bonus LP containing nine previously unreleased tracks. . Master of Reality was the third album by Black Sabbath. The album's "darker" or "sludgier" sound was a significant influence on the Heavy Metal genres known as Doom Metal and Stoner Rock.Master of Reality was recorded at Island Studios in London, UK between February and April 1971. The album was produced by Rodger Bain, who had also produced their previous two albums. Sanctuary. 2009.

  Please Please Me Vinyl LP Record
  by Beatles
Our Price: $23.85 Vinyl LP Record
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Recorded in between a cup of tea and a cigarette, this album is raw yet dazzling. Here were four lads, highly experienced on stage, but with little or no idea of what a recording studio was like. They were subtly marshalled by the much-respected George Martin to deliver an entire album that was exactly what the fans wanted, but was still a surprise. Things were never as simple as this again, yet the genius is there. Examples are Lennon's unmatchable rasping on "Twist And Shout, " McCartney's graceful ease in singing "I Saw Her Standing There," Harrison's sparse but definite Gretsch chords, and Starr's ace vocal on "Boys."

Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.108) - Ranked #39 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "...For productivity alone, it is one of the greatest first albums in rock..." Paste (magazine) (p.58) - "It's difficult to put into words just how new and exotic these songs sounded in early 1963..."