Mos Generator knows how to rock out, and they do it loud. In celebration of the rocker’s tour that’s about to kick off, guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Tony Reed is counting down his top ten hard rock and heavy metal albums, along with a full stream of the band’s album Abyssinia.
Grab a copy of the album here, then keep reading for his list and Mos Generator’s tour dates.
I picked these records because they had the most influence on me as a young musician and a seeker of music. I grew up in a very remote small town and didn’t have access to a lot of music. In 1977 my cousin came to visit and brought a cassette of Kiss Alive! That kicked it all into high gear. I knew what I wanted to do after that.
Black Sabbath – Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)
This album is the highest mark in heavy rock. It has all of the elements you could ever want in this genre. power, beauty, crushing riffs, intelligent lyrics and seamless arrangements. It’s everything I’ve strived for as a songwriter.
Rainbow – Rising (1976)
Great records are albums that have no throw away tunes. This is the best example of that. I can’t remember who turned me onto this record but I hold it very high in my list of greatest albums. All elements are there. Performance, songwriting, lineup and production are all perfect.
Rush – Fly By Night (1975)
The first Rush album I ever owned was the live album All the World’s a Stage (1976) and I found myself gravitating towards a few cuts from “Fly By Night”. “By-Tor & the Snow Dog” and “Anthem” in particular. On the inside of ATWAS it has a list of the previous albums and the songs that are on them. I Searched out Fly By Night and ended up trading a copy of Pat Benatar In the Heat of the Night for a slightly warped copy of Fly By Night. A fair trade I would say. Rush has been in my top 3 favorite bands since that fateful day in 1979. I think the album cover might be my next tattoo.
Kiss – Alive! (1975)
As I said in my opening paragraph, my cousin brought a cassette copy of Kiss Alive! to my house in 1977. From the opening riff of “Deuce,” I was floored. He also did not have the cassette cover so I couldn’t see what they looked like. When I finally saw what they looked like, my destiny was complete. I wanted to be a musician. I’ve never turned back. Thank you, cousin Jeff.
Iron Maiden – Number of the Beast (1982)
I will remember this day for the rest of my life. I remember my bedroom (I was 13), the posters, my first guitar in the corner and then “Run to the Hills” comes on the radio and everything around me stops. For the next 3 minutes and 51 seconds, I’m frozen in complete awe of what I’m hearing. An epiphany for sure. I was a total fan from then on.
Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath (1970)
This album has a very special story. On the day I lost my virginity, when I was leaving the house of the girl I was with, she gave me a choice of what record I wanted, like a prize or something :). My choices were, Alice Cooper’s Welcome to My Nightmare or Black Sabbath’s Black Sabbath. Obviously I chose the Sabbath record and immediately took it home and made a cassette copy of it so I could play it in my walkman. I still own that copy of the record.
Van Halen – VHI (1978)
I had another cousin that turned me on to music as well and in her ever changing world at one point she told me to listen to this new band Van Halen. At 10 years old I couldn’t comprehend what was happening with the guitar playing but I really liked the energy of the music and the crazy vocals. For me Van Halen is all about great songs.
Saxon – Strong Arm of the Law (1980)
I saw Saxon open up for Iron Maiden at the Seattle Center Coliseum on June 29, 1983. From the first note Saxon blew my mind and gave Maiden a real run for their money. When I got home, the next album I bought was Power and the Glory, then I found others from there. Over the years, I have realized that Strong Arm is my favorite. I think it’s my favorite because it has the most high energy songs of any Saxon record.
Judas Priest – Sad Wings of Destiny
I remember not liking Judas Priest when I first heard them. It was somewhere around the time of Screaming For Vengeance and for some reason I was turned off by the fact that everybody liked them. Unleashed in the East turned me onto their back catalog and that’s how I discovered Sad Wings of Destiny. It’s considered a classic album for a reason and many of the songs are still in their live set today.
Black Sabbath – Mob Rules (1981)
I first heard the Dio era Sabbath from the movie Heavy Metal. The first time I saw the scene where Mob Rules is playing, it was another epiphany moment. Completely floored! I recognized the voice (probably from Man on the Silver Mountain) but I couldn’t place the band. I waited for the credits to roll and I was like “wait… What?!!” Black Sabbath? You have to remember that I was 12 and lived in a small, remote town where heavy metal wasn’t very popular so it was hard to get information about metal music. I immediately started to investigate what was going on with Sabbath. From that, of course, I found Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules, two album that had a huge impact on me as a songwriter and a guitar player. I saw them on the Mob Rules tour April 23, 1982.
Catch Mos Generator on tour:
11/25/2016 Funhouse – Seattle, WA
11/26/2016 The Shakedown – Bellingham, WA w/ Year Of The Cobra
11/27/2016 Obsidian – Olympia, WA w/ Year Of The Cobra
11/28/2016 the Raven – Portland, OR
11/29/2016 Old Nick’s – Eugene, OR
11/30/2016 G Street – Grant’s Pass, OR
12/01/2016 Thee Parkside – San Francisco, CA
12/02/2016 Blue Lagoon – Santa Cruz, CA
12/03/2016 The Garage – Ventura, CA
12/04 /2016The Complex – Los Angeles, CA
