Everything about Hair of the Dog, from its’ Roger Dean-like album cover, to the huge, mountain-air sounds contained within, screams large with a capital L. A few things to recommend here - "Love Hurts", their mammoth rework of the old ballad which was their contribution to power ballad-dom, the talk-boxin' title track, their greatest contribution to the data bank of sleaze guitar songs which would really come to prominence in the 80's, and a general heavy, hard-rock atmosphere that would prove to sell big in the 70's and be massively influential years later. There are Nazareth albums before and after this one that are far more representative of the band, but somehow, like it or not, Hair of the Dog has become the flag ship of the franchise. The U.S. CD edition omits “Guilty”. Subsequent editions contain this track and list “Beggar’s Day” and “Rose in the Heather” as one combined track, especially the 30th anniversary edition, if you happen to come across it.

Most decidedly on the more rambunctious end of the spectrum as far as music in 1967 went was Pink Floyd's debut album. Fronted by Syd Barrett and his cosmic-inspired (or drug-fueled) visions and guitar experiments, which quite often drew from childhood nostalgia, his performance has long been critically acclaimed, but I go the other way. Other than the space-grabbing "Astronomy Domine", there are just flashes of brilliance and nothing sustained, while the rest of the band struggles to keep up ("Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" has long been cited as a major weak point). Piper is no magnum opus – more like a window into the workings of a hyperactive, unsteady, borderline-dangerous mind, accentuated by copious amounts of drug-taking.

The majority of this album consists of reconstituted hip-hop beats, wanna-be Sabbath stock riffs, lots of Zach de la Rocha preachiness/screams, many scratchy solos from Tom Morello, and the occasional cool noise or riff which blows by in two seconds. I am sure Tom Morello is a nice guy, and by the sounds of things here he definitely knows some tricks here and there, but stop trying to make your guitar sound like a turntable when it comes time to solo.

A surprisingly sober yet highly entertaining and down-to-earth portrait of The Stooges, who somehow lived to see their reputation rise from the depths of being the world's most reviled band, to one of its' most beloved. Only in America!

Pretty much a business-as-usual record from Slayer, as it does not stray much from their 80's thrash template. "213" was named after Jeffrey Dahmer's apartment number; here's a sample line - “how I love to KILL YOU!!!”