Album: Document
Artist: R.E.M.
Released: September 1st, 1987
Highlights: Finest Worksong, Welcome to the Occupation, Exhuming McCarthy, Disturbance at the Heron House

Something really odd must have happened to R.E.M. between 1986 and 1987. In one year they were releasing an album of political activism that was filled with positive messages. "Lifes Rich Pageant" offered a great deal of amazing songs that showed an unshakable belief that the world can be changed, things can be fixed and the knowledge of our past can be a building block in the construction of a better future, and it all started with you. Then 1987 came, and all of a sudden "Document" painted the picture of a world that was awfully bleak. Gone was the hope that the insurgence youth could bring down the governing powers, and in came the idea that we are all doomed for good and the desire to change was replaced by the conformity displayed in "It's the end of the world" where Michael Stipe looks at the end of humanity through the eyes of a mad hurricane and proclaims that he feels fine all the trash is finally being flushed down the toilet.

"Document" is often regarded as the best album to come out of the band's early alternative underground career, on which they produced five astonishing albums in exactly five years. However, personally, the album comes off as the weakest of that output due to the fact that songs like "Fireplace", "Lightnin' Hopkins" and "Strange" are just not up to par with other tunes released by the band at the time. However, the reaming eight tracks that populate the album are nothing short of amazing. Aside from the famous duo of "The One I love" and "It's the end of the world", which launched the band onto mainstream stardom, other songs like the sitar-led march on humility of "King of Birds"; the surprising arena rock of "Finest Worksong" and, especially, the glorious political core of the album "Welcome to the Occupation", "Exhuming McCarthy" and "Disturbance at the Heron House" are responsible for deservingly carrying the album straight onto its classic status.

Album: Sandinista!
Artist: The Clash
Released: December 18th, 1980
Highlights: Something About England, Somebody Got Murdered, Up in Heaven, Let's Go Crazy, The Equaliser, Washington Bullets, Charlie Don't Surf

With "London Calling", The Clash abandoned the sinking Punk Rock boat and embarked in 19-song experiment with a whole bunch of styles. With "Sandinista!", they took that concept even further and embraced a whole world of music. Through the thirty-six songs that spawn the album, the band shows their uncanny versatility in composing and performing gospel, soul, dub, reggae, ska, rockabilly, funk, calypso, jazz, folk, R&B and even rap, in a time where the genre was only known in a few dark alleys of New York City. The album does feature a certain number of pieces that feel more like unfinished experiments than actual songs, but, even without those tunes, there are at least twenty-five fantastic songs - even including a couple of Punk numbers - that find the band at many different moods; even occasionally displaying the political acidity they were known for.

In spacey, echoing production, the album's songs are filled with great lyrics that touch on a big range of subjects. "Something About England" is a folk telling of England's fall from grace in the midst of both world wars. "The Magnificent Seven", the album's long opening number, is a rap tune - sang by a white British man - about the routine of factory-working Londoners. "The Washington Bullets" is a vicious attack against the American, Russian and British governments on their exportation of violence and weapons to third-world countries. "Rebel Waltz" paints a romantic picture of soldiers sitting in the quiet of night by a fire. And "Up in Heaven" is a critic against the building of poor apartment towers in the suburbs of London in order to take the poor out of the downtown area. It is easy to compare "Sandinista!" to The Beatle's "White Album" due to its extension and variety of genres, but "Sandinista!" is somehow even wider in its approach and more ambitious in its execution. And, most surprisingly of all, it was done by a Punk Rock band.

Album: Goats Head Soup
Artist: The Rolling Stones
Released: August 31st, 1973
Highlights: 100 Years Ago, Coming Down Again, Angie, Star Star

Between the late 60s and early 70s, The Rolling Stones found themselves in the middle of their creative peak, stringing together a pretty much unparalleled sequence of albums, starting with "Beggars Banquet" in 1968, continuing with "Let It Bleed" in 1969, then "Sticky Fingers" in 1971 and their ultimate epic, "Exile on Main Street" in 1972. "Goats Head Soup" comes right at the end of that incredible streak, and it shows that, sometimes, good albums are buried down and overwhelmed by the context on which they are released. While it is by no means as good as those unreachable four works, "Goats Head Soup" is a great group of songs that is often forgotten. Due to the fact that it followed four great masterpieces, the album might be seen as the beginning of a never-ending decline by some, when it was actually a much-needed slow down into a more sustainable pace of quality that allowed the band to move on without self-destructing.

The album marks the departure from a reckless jovial attitude into a more laid-back introspective approach. They never sound quite as dangerous as they were during the first decade of their career, even though they come kind of close in "Heartbreaker" and "Dancing with Mr. D". And, in an odd turn of events, it is possible to even catch Mick Jagger mouthing words of kindness to a lover in "Angie", something he hadn't done since "Sticky Fingers" and its "Wild Horses", and "Lady Jane" in their early-career masterpiece that was "Aftermath". Other strong numbers like the Chuck Berry-like "Star Star" and the melodic slow-tempo ballads like "100 Years Ago", "Coming Down Again" and "Winter" show that The Rolling Stones still had a lot left in their tank back in 1973, as they would prove in the albums they released in the years to follow, they had just chosen to start consuming that fuel in a different less-frantic way.

Album: Highway 61 Revisited
Artist: Bob Dylan
Released: August 30th, 1965
Highlights: Like a Rolling Stone, Ballad of a Thin Man, Queen Jane Approximately, Desolation Row

Bob Dylan is often considered to be the greatest modern composer, and that is most likely a resounding truth; but, if there is one title that cannot, under any possibility, be taken away from him, is that, among all musicians, he is by far the best storyteller there is. In "Highway 61 Revisited", just like he does in all of his great albums of the 60s, the man is able to spin some incredibly engaging tales. Sometimes he deals with female figures that stir a large variety of feeling inside him, from despise, as seen in "Like a Rolling Stone", or sympathy for the woman's fall from grace, as he sings in "Queen Jane Approximately". However, he mostly embarks in adventures where, like a mad painter randomly throwing paint at a while screen, he creates scenarios where a ridiculous assortment of characters collide to create an outlook that, while seemingly chaotic and meaningless, is frequently underline with some sort of concise commentary.

"Highway 61 Revisited" stands out from the rest of his output in the 60s because with the exception of the eleven-minute epic that wraps up the album, "Desolation Row", the record is dominated by songs that feature Dylan outside his man-and-guitar approach of his early career, playing alongside a band with electric guitars, keyboards and drums. The more fleshed out execution does take away some of the folk value of the songs, which makes the whole thing more accessible for current generations, but Dylan's lyrics protect that vibe, whether he is describing the sinister happenings that go down on Highway 61; depicting the visions of a man that is either plain insane or has a heavy conscience in "Ballad Of A Thin Man"; or when he seamlessly drops pop icons and historical figures into the same universe in "Desolation Row".

Album: The Velvet Underground & Nico
Artist: The Velvet Underground
Released: March 12th, 1967
Highlights: Femme Fatale, Venus In Furs, All Tomorrow's Parties, Heroin, There She Goes Again

The Velvet Underground is the American version of The Beatles. Lou Reed's band was, by no means, as commercially successful as Lennon and McCartney's crew; their sound was just way too experimental and weird for that. They did, however, pushed a large portion of the few youngsters who listened to their music to go out there and create their own sound, making The Velvet Underground the only band that can be compared fairly compared to the Liverpool boys in terms of the influence they had in modern music. Their oddly tuned guitars, their jangly riffs, the recited poetry that served as the band's lyrics and their classy approach towards music and showmanship planted the seeds that would many years later flourish into alternative rock in the fertile ears of many generations, and it all began with "The Velvet Underground and Nico".

The German guest singer that leads the band in "Sunday Morning", "Femme Fatale", "All Tomorrow's Parties" and "I'll Be Your Mirror" serves as an interesting counterpoint to Reed. Where her interpretation is personal and melodic, which is aided by the slower pace and brighter theme of the tunes she sings; Lou is distant, rough and cynic, with the sole exception of "Heroin", where the song's sudden change of tempo and dynamics accurately portray an overdose, crumbling down into a chaos of sound and fury in the end. The Velvet underground weren't daring just in the sound and moods crafted by Morrison, Cale Reed and Tucker, they were also extremely bold in the themes their songs touched upon, with lyrics filled with references to drugs, promiscuity and sexual fantasies. Initially ignored by both the critics and the public, listening to "The Velvet Underground and Nico" isn't just worth it because it is historically important; it is a welcome listen to anyone who appreciates excellent music.