The Eagles exploded on the charts in 1975 with One of These Nights, the first of four straight albums by the band to reach No. One. The album was their most varied to date, with the discofied title track, the stately waltz "Take It To the Limit" and the tough, cynical country rocker "Lyin' Eyes". The album contains a couple of unusual numbers as well, including Bernie Leadon's psychedelic banjo showcase "Journey of the Sorcerer" and "I Wish You Peace", which Leadon wrote with his then-girlfriend, future first daughter (by virtue of her parents, Ron and Nancy Reagan) and nude model (courtesy of Playboy), Patti Davis. -Daniel Durchholz.

Cruelly denied the Number One slot when an administrative cock-up at the UK chart returns office credited thousands of album sales to The Police, 1979's The Raven-now re-issued with bonus tracks-found tuneful toughnuts The Stranglers striding purposefully away from the faltering punk scene with a renewed artistic agenda and a head full of hard drugs. A new direction and an overhauled musical vocabulary (gone was the growly bass and the organ, in came futuristic keyboard sounds, odd time signatures, intricate arrangements and extended instrumental passages) The Raven-as perennially acknowledged by the band's large and dutifully black-garbed cult following-is The Stranglers magnum opus. From the epic title-track-a questing, valorous Norse saga adorned by Dave Greenfield's wuthering Artic synths and sung in breathless fashion by JJ Burnel-to the quirky prog-rock science of "Genetix" (on which former biochemist Hugh Cornwell got to show-off his knowledge of pioneering 19th-century Austrian geneticist Gregor Mendel). The Raven was-and remains-enthrallingly fresh, musically daring and downright ominous. Paranoia abounds-there's the grimly pretty (but rather hypocritical) anti-heroin lament "Don't Bring Harry" and the helium-inhaling vocal freakinessof "Meninblack", a portentous slab of psychedelic lethargy detailing the existence of a black-suited extraterrestrial mafia. But there's pop too-"Duchess" (a Top 20 UK hit later covered by My Life Story) and the doleful "Baroque Bordello", a song almost compassionate and empathic compared to the leerier lyricisations of old but also featuring a keyboard intro which seemed to be cribbed from-of all things-"Inchworm" from the Danny Kaye film Hans Christian Anderson. Blame the drugs? Whatever reason, The Raven is The Stranglers' finest achievement. -Kevin Maidment.

On their 1967 debut album, the Doors more than fulfilled the promise of their infamously challenging gigs around Los Angeles throughout the previous year. Whether belting out a standard like "Back Door Man" or talk-singing such originals as "The Crystal Ship" and "I Looked at You", leather-clad vocalist Jim Morrison exuded both sensuality and menace. The mixture, on the outsize album finale, "The End", helped rewrite the rules on rock song composition. None of this would have worked, though, were it not for the highly visual instrumental work of keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robbie Krieger and drummer John Densmore, whose work on tracks such as "Take It As It Comes" and the lengthy hit "Light My Fire" virtually defined the rock- blues-jazz-classical amalgam that was acid-rock. -Billy Altman.