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Albums That Are 30 Years Old in 2026 -Pick # 11

Sea of Tranquility | May 21, 2026



Join Pete Pardo as he looks back on his favorite albums from 1996 that are celebrating their 30th birthdays here in 2026.
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Written by Sea of Tranquility

Comments

This post currently has 31 comments.

  6. @albertkienberger2349

    May 21, 2026 at 10:35 pm

    pick 11 – day 21
    Deep Purple – Purpendicular
    First album with Steve Morse. They certainly didn‘t miss a beat after Mr. Blackmore left. Another great album from those guys (Lord, Paice, Gillan, Glover) plus this new guy on guitar.

  7. @carl-johanfougstedt199

    May 21, 2026 at 10:35 pm

    My pick for day 21 is The Cardigans : First Band On The Moon. Pantera didn´t make my list. I´ve never liked Pantera because in my opinion their music is completely unmusical. It´s just crushingly heavy without any musical purpose.

  11. @thedarkwizardroom

    May 21, 2026 at 10:35 pm

    Day 11= The Beatles = Anthology 3.. I have the CD and yes tomorrow will mention Anthology 2 as have the CD set and do have Anthology 1 in previous year or so on Set CD as well. CDs Of various outtakes and demos and unreleased tracks on the CDs. This a 3.5 to 4 star set album. Take Care. Love Ya I am here. Pete great Pantera thanks my friend and prayers and have a blessed day.
    🎶🎶❤❤🤗🙏☮

  13. @damiankarras

    May 21, 2026 at 10:35 pm

    11. Cranberries – To The Faithful Departed
    12. Chris Isaak – Baja Sessions
    13. Rush – Test For Echo
    14. Kiss – MTV Unplugged
    15. Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers – She’s The One Soundtrack
    16. Fiona Apple – Tidal
    17. Type O Negative – October Rust
    18. Katatonia – Brave Murder Day
    19. Social Distortion – White Light, White Heat, White Trash
    20. Porcupine Tree – Signify
    21. Screaming Trees – Dust
    22. Amorphis – Elegy
    23. Imperial Drag – S/T
    24. Alice In Chains – MTV Unplugged
    25. Tool – Ænima
    26. Johnny Cash – Unchained
    27. Metallica – Load
    28. Steve Earle – I Feel Alright
    29. Deep Purple – Perpendicular
    30. Marilyn Manson – Antichrist Superstar
    31. Pearl Jam – No Code

  19. @garykelly9475

    May 21, 2026 at 10:35 pm

    Day 21 so today and tomorrow are bands that it took me a long time to be aware of, even longer to actually get into, probably due to this channel. I am highlighting them even though at this stage in their careers what they had been playing wasn't what I was into- more extreme for my taste and less evolution and progression than was to follow. I am aware that long time fans dismiss their journey while I love what they currently do (I would include Evergrey in this generalisation too. So much so that I may have elevated these above their true standing, but compared to lots of the thrash etc featuring this month, I find them superior.

    Katatonia- Brave Murder Day. The seeds are sown. Akerfeldt steps in on vocals and surely at this point Renske realises what might become of his voice. The journey begins towards progressive metal of a doomy, beautiful forlornly melodic melancholy where songs and dynamics matter above all else. They had to be here first, so they get a pass

    Day 1 Shawn Colvin- A Few Small Repairs

    Day 2 Tori Amos- Boys for Pele

    Day 3 Asia- Arena

    Day 4 TEN- X/Name of the Rose

    Day 5 Mike Oldfield- Voyager

    Day 6 Suede- Coming Up

    Day 7 Morcheeba- Who Can You Trust?

    Day 8 Eels- Beautiful Freak

    Day 9 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- Murder Ballads

    Day 10 Black Crowes- Three Snakes and One Charm

    Day 11 Tool- Aenima

    Day 12 Spock's Beard- Beware of Darkness

    Day 13 Ulver- Kveldssanger

    Day 14 Flower Kings- Retropolis

    Day 15 Opeth- Morningrise

    Day 16 Deep Purple- Purpendicular
    Day 17 Blue Nile- Peace at Last
    Day 18 Arena- Pride
    Day 19 Pendragon- Masquerade Overture
    Day 20 Richard Thompson- You? Me? Us?

  23. @nightdrive89

    May 21, 2026 at 10:35 pm

    11. Cradle Of Filth – Dusk And Her Embrace
    This second album is probably my favourite of theirs. I'd describe it as Symphonic Black Metal, with a dark atmosphere and of course Dani's… unique vocals. Also, let's not forget that earlier in 1996, they released the awesome EP "Vempire Or Dark Faerytales In Phallustein" which might just contain some of their finest music.

    12. Lunar Aurora – Weltengänger
    13. Stratovarius – Episode
    14. Burzum – Filosofem
    15. Axel Rudi Pell – Black Moon Pyramid
    16. Bathory – Blood On Ice
    17. Ulver – Kveldssanger
    18. Dark Funeral – The Secrets Of The Black Arts
    19. In Flames – The Jester Race
    20. Borknagar – Borknagar

    Day 11: Old Man's Child – Born Of The Flickering
    Day 10: Arcturus – Aspera Hiems Symfonia
    Day 9: Grave Digger – Tunes Of War
    Day 8: Amorphis – Elegy
    Day 7: Lanvall – Auramony
    Day 6: Iced Earth – The Dark Saga
    Day 5: Darkwoods My Betrothed – Autumn Roars Thunder
    Day 4: Journey – Trial By Fire
    Day 3: X Japan – Dahlia
    Day 2: Greenland Whalefishers – The Mainstreet Sword
    Day 1: Tim Feehan – Pray For Rain

  26. @andrewcarr5923

    May 21, 2026 at 10:35 pm

    Bad Company – Stories Told and Untold
    The twelfth and final studio album from this great band, Brian Howe departs and Robert Hart assumes singing duties, he's no Paul Rodgers but he proved a great fit for the band at the time, standout tracks include "One on One" "Love So Strong" and "Simple Man" he also puts his own style on the classics "Can't Get Enough" "Ready for Love" and "Shooting Star"

  27. @davidholmes6119

    May 21, 2026 at 10:35 pm

    11. Casanova by the Divine Comedy
    12. Coming Up by Suede
    13. Endtroducing….. by DJ Shadow
    14. Naughty Little Doggie by Iggy Pop
    15. Reasonable Doubt by Jay-Z
    16. Roots by Sepultura
    17. The Score by Fugees
    18. Tiny Music… Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop by Stone Temple Pilots
    19. All This Useless Beauty by Elvis Costello and the Attractions
    20. Being There by Wilco
    21. Bilingual by Pet Shop Boys
    22. Dr. Octagonecologyst by Dr. Octagon
    23. Episode by Stratovarius
    24. Fuzzy Logic by Super Furry Animals
    25. Ironman by Ghostface Killah
    26. The It Girl by Sleeper
    27. Load by Metallica
    28. No Code by Pearl Jam
    29. Overnight Sensation by Motörhead
    30. Placebo by Placebo
    31. Supernatural Birth Machine by Cathedral

  30. @StevenDavid-4q2

    May 21, 2026 at 10:35 pm

    My thoughts and prayers are with you Pete Pardo. Looking forward to hear a result of complete remission and you're healthy. Hang in there, stay positive and keep an open mind to other options outside of medical procedures. There are more than one way to the end you're looking for. You sound great, thoughts are coherent and well spoken. You're wearing a hat is either because you are losing your hair or because you can for the first time. You have color and you are yourself and (stay) positive. All good in my book. You are going to beat this!

  31. @titusgeorge9280

    May 21, 2026 at 10:35 pm

    I see how popular Pantera is here, but they weren’t my thing, and haven’t really gone back to revisit. I think I mentioned before how I saw them on their Vulgar Display of Power tour, where for one night in Chicago they were paired with Fates Warning —whose bright idea was that?!? They said they were worried they would take away from each other’s ticket sales, but I doubt that would have happened. It was mostly Pantera fans and they booed FW off the stage…and since I was there to see FW, needless to say wasn’t too happy with that).

    My #11 pick is kind of cheating, I don’t know, as they were separate CDs when I got them, but apparently were released as one double CD later, so that’ll be my excuse, but it’s Asia’s “Archiva (Volume 1 & 2)”. Now this, THIS is what I wanted from Arena, less “proggy” and keyboard heavy and more arena rock style like their first album with singer John Payne, “Aqua”. That one is actually my favorite album by them and one of my favorite albums from the 90’s. While I loved their big hits with John Wetton on the debut, “Only Time Will Tell” and “Heat of the Moment”, overall I love the whole “Aqua” album.

    As for this album, they called it “Archiva” because after they had finished recording “Arena” in late 95’, they came back from the holidays in Jan ‘96 to find that a water pipe had burst and destroyed hundreds of thousands of pounds (that’s pounds, not dollars, so multiply that by around 1.6 for those of us in the US) worth of equipment. But a box of old tapes with archived tracks survived, recorded at various locations from 1988 to 1995, and they were mixed by keyboardist Geoff Downs and Payne. The cover art was done by Rodney Matthews, who also did the artwork for “Aqua” and “Arena”, which I think are gorgeous, this one is a little grimier, but probably intended, since the tapes were in the basement, hence the spider. Kinda clever, I guess.

    As for the music, like I said, enjoy it much more than “Arena” (which sad to say, didn’t make this list as it only had a score of 6.3846 or C+), as there’s a lot of variety, in styles, tempo. Vol. 1 starts with a driving rocker, “Heart of Gold”, to pump you up with the lyrics as well as the music “With a mind of steel but a heart of gold, the winds of change you can move the stone”. The next favorite is a couple tracks later, “Fight Against The Tide”, starts with the chorus sung a cappella by the group, or at least layered vocals, before going into the first verse. Another motivational number “Sometimes, to break away the ties, you have to find the strength to carry on”.

    “A.L.O.”, or “Asiatic Light Orchestra” reminds me of Jerry Lee Lewis once it gets going, so it’s a little different and fun. The other favorite on Vol. 1 is “I Believe”, the last song with vocals (both volumes have instrumentals in the middle and at the end), more of a straight ahead rocker, bouncy, another upbeat motivational number. There are some love songs on these albums, but a lot of it is positive, life-affirming themes.

    Favorites from Vol. 2 include “Obsession” (rocker), “Love Like The Video” (rocker) and “That Season” (mid-tempo ballad). Another song worth mentioning is “The Higher You Climb”, originally with Max Bacon of GTR on vocals, and he did release it as well on his solo album by the same title. I prefer Bacon’s version, but this one is pretty good, too.

    A lot of music on the two CDs, but nothing bad or skippable. You could argue that they could have trimmed a few songs, but happy to have this much good music from them, in the style that I like, since they went a different direction with the next album, “Aura”.

    Song grades and album score (system courtesy of Andy Mudrock):
    Vol. 1:
    Heart of Gold: A+
    Tears: A
    Fight Against the Tide: A+
    We Fall Apart: B-
    The Mariner’s Dream (instrumental): n/a
    Boys From Diamond City: A-
    A.L.O.: A
    Reality: A
    I Can’t Wait A Lifetime: A-
    Dusty Road: B+
    I Believe: A+
    Ginger (instrumental): n/a
    Overall Score: 10.5 A-
    Vol. 2:
    Obsession: A+
    Moon Under The Water: A-
    Love Like The Video: A+
    Don’t Come To Me: A-
    The Smoke That Thunders (instrumental): n/a
    Satellite Blues: B+
    Showdown: B
    That Season: A+
    Can’t Tell These Walls: A-
    The Higher You Climb: A
    Right To Cry: B+
    Armenia (instrumental): n/a
    Overall Score: 10.3 A-
    Combined Score: 10.4 A-

    11. Asia — Archiva (1 & 2)
    12. Ten — The Name of the Rose
    13. Journey — Trial By Fire
    14. Dante Fox — Under Suspicion
    15. The Clarks — Someday Maybe
    16. The Why Store — The Why Store
    17. The Refreshments — Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy
    18. BoDeans — Blend
    19. George Strait — Blue Clear Sky
    20. Hootie & The Blowfish — Fairweather Johnson
    21. Stir — Stir
    22. The Wallflowers — Bringing Down the Horse
    23. Toby Keith — Blue Moon
    24. The Violet Burning — the violet burning
    25. Mr. Big — Hey Man
    26. Todd Snider — Step Right Up
    27. Zakk Wylde — Book of Shadows
    28. Chantal Kreviazuk — Under These Rocks and Stones
    29. Screaming Trees — Dust
    30. REO Speedwagon — Building the Bridge
    31. Better Than Ezra — Friction, Baby

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