Apparently you all like your music, if last night’s thread is any indication. Looking through the comments, I notice that almost no one is savaging my picks, which would lead me to think that at worst, they are ok. However, I do want to note that several albums were mentioned (albums that I even own) that could easily make the list:
The Police- Synchronicity. Not sure if there is another album out there that so totally captures the zeitgeist of the era (is that redundant?).
Beastie Boys- Paul’s Boutique. I think in fifty years, music historians will be on whatever the equivalent is then of NPR/PRI explaining how this album changed everything for rap-hip/hop-sampling.
Fleetwood Mac- Rumors.
I’m sure there are others, and I notice my list is lacking a lot of recent music. Over he past twenty years, I would say the pickings are just very slim. Maybe NWA- Straight Outta Compton or, for a different twist, Dangermouse’s The Grey Album. I guess I would have to think about it.
/music critic
BTW- my sister’s cat died today, and I will have an obit up later, but pet your furry friend and think of Sid.
jshubbub
For another recent candidate you may want to consider Green Day’s
“American Idiot”. What it lacks in subtlety it makes up for by being the only protest album of the Bush years released by a mainstream pop act. That’s got to be worth something.
You may also want to take a closer look at “Girlfriend” by Matthew Sweet.
Lilly von Schtupp
Condolences to your sister. Losing a furry friend is always sad. We become so attached. Wish they lived longer. Sid is a good name for a kitty. Better than Mr. Purr Puff.
kim
condolences.
and yes, nwa straight out of compton (and perhaps ice t original gangster) should be considered for the list.
bago
No love for frontalot?
Timely.
Wait.
Here’s Fronting.
And hearting fags.
Fronting the most.
scarpy
Sorry to hear about your sister’s cat. Hope she’s doing OK.
Someone in the last thread mentioned Chris Whitley, and I want to beat that drum a bit. Dirt Floor and his last release (while living; he’s had two posthumous) Soft Dangerous Shores are my faves. Anyone who likes blues-country should check the first, and the second has to be the most haunting album I’ve ever heard, especially b/c you can hear how cancer has totally wrecked his voice.
lost in GA
Glad to see you remembered Paul’s Boutique (the 20th anniversary remaster sounds phenomenal and is well worth picking up). Sorry to hear about your sister’s cat; my wife and I recently lost one of ours to cancer. Fortunately the memories don’t die.
dr. bloor
Synchronicity has aged in a very odd and unexpected manner for me. I listened to it religiously for a long time after its release, but at this point it almost seems too much of its era to really engage me. It’s a great album, but it evokes a “been there, done that” reaction.
Sorry to hear about Sid. Sympathies to your sister.
BruceFromOhio
After NWA and Public Enemy, I gave up on rap, but everything else you’ve got playing is pretty damned spiffy. 380+ comments? Sheesh.
Music is like oxygen, the higher brain functions are severely impaired without it.
Goodbye, Sid. Somebody loved you and cared for you, and that’s all any of our fellow creatures in this life really want.
Jay
The Quintet: Jazz At Massey Hall would be my nominee to the list. Dizzy just knocks my socks off every time I listen.
Mojotron
Straight Outta Compton doesn’t hold up as well as 3 Feet High …. or Nation of Millions… has.
Also adding Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream. I don’t really care for anything they’ve done since or prior (except the Peel Sessions) but that was an extremely solid album all the way through. Same with GnR’s Appetite for Destruction– not normally my type of music but awesome anyway.
JL
So sorry to hear about Sid. Hugs to your sister.
Joel
I actually wonder if it was De La Soul and Biz Markie who changed sampling forever — and not intentionally. As it turns, they were sued for lifting samples more or less wholesale. Ironically, the Turtles sample that De La Soul lifted was pointless, and used for one of those crappy self-indulgent tracks that I detest so much. So in a way, they deserved it. Since then, all samples cleared, and artists have favored shorter, layered samples.
I think Ta-Nahesi needs to be consulted here.
Speaking of samples, ever heard the Avalanches’ “Since I Left You?” The entire album is samples. It’s pretty incredible.
WereBear
Sorry to hear about Sid.
Music has a lot of subjectivity to it. Even so, I don’t regard my ennui regarding recent music a product of my geezerism as much as the fact that the music industry is in one of its Music Chow periods, and I just cannot listen to the radio.
Far better to find good music from its fans, like on the previous thread.
Jay Andrew Allen
I notice that almost no one is savaging my picks
That’s because few of your commenters are 12 years old.
Ditto on Paul’s Boutique, Synchronicity and Rumors. On the more recent front, I’d also add:
Queensryche, OPERATION: MINDCRIME
Spiritualized, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN WE ARE FLOATING IN SPACE
Alanis Morissette, JAGGED LITTLE PILL
Guns N Roses, APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION
Yo La Tengo, ELECTR-O-PURA
Kathy McCarty, DEAD DOG’S EYEBALL: SONGS OF DANIEL JOHNSTON
Of Montreal, HISSING FAUNA, ARE YOU THE DESTROYER?
M.I.A., KALA
The first is probably not everyone’s cup of tea, and the third will make me look like a poser, but – fuck it. I likes what I likes.
salparadise
In case nobody said it in the last thread – Wilco’s “Yankee Foxtrot Hotel” is on of the best albums in the last 20 years.
“Sky Blue Sky” is right up there as well.
Jennifer
Great albums of the past 20 years?
Well, Beck has done more than one of them in that time frame…
Jennifer
If we want to talk about really great, mostly-unheard albums of the past 20 years, my nod would go to Chumbawamba’s Jesus H. Christ.
And I have one of the only 7500 copies released on vinyl before the band got sued by Sir Paul and had to pull back the release.
The Grand Panjandrum
@Jennifer:
Odelay, is an excellent album. He was on Austin City Limits a couple of years ago and had the Flaming Lips as his band that night. It was great!
And I can’t see anyone having too much problem with your selections. They may think differently about what is the perfect, or near perfect, album but your picks were pretty solid.
Another album I didn’t see on the last thread was:
Big Pink, The Band
Fulcanelli
In years to come, I just don’t see “oldies” radio stations playing 98% of the stuff that’s become popular over the 20 or so years. It’s not much more than product, and lousy product at that.
People still like and listen to the 60’s beatles, motown and brit invasion pop, jazz from the 40’s, 50’s & 60’s and country from the 50’s, 60’s & 70’s because it was kind of a golden age of music as opposed to rise of the “star maker machinery behind the popular song”.
Gimme a break. An artist has a monster first album, a so-so follow up and the third’s a greatest hits collection. WTF.
I guess it’s because I grew up in a time when there was a top 40 and then a top 10 and I watched the Beatles have 5 of the top 10 songs on the charts simultaneously and damn near everybody I knew, myself included, knew the words and could and would sing along with every one of ’em.
Music is too segmented into categories. Ever see the lineups playing at the old Fillmore East and West?. Those were the days.
I saw the Who in 1975 and Toots and the Maytals got booed off stage. I saw Kiss and some asshole through a lit sparkler into Leslie West’s hair during his opening set.
Montysano
Au contraire. Recent music I’ve enjoyed:
– Iron and Wine, “Our Endless Numbered Days” or “Shepherd’s Dog”;
– Fleet Foxes self-titled and “Sun Giant”.
– Calexico “Black Light” and “Feast of Wire”. Fabulous stuff.
– John Mayer…. yeah, I said John Mayer. His “Trio Live” is great, and the latest live one “Where The Light Is” is not bad.
– Raconteurs
– Any Gillian Welch (Gillian, where are you?)
Was Alice in Chains mentioned in last night’s thread? How about War? I recently got “World is a Ghetto” and “All Day Music”. “Ghetto” is my favorite, but geez what a band.
Rex
I would have put Close to the Edge for the Yes album over Relayer. This avoids the whole Moraz/Wakeman and Bruford/White controversy. Did you ever listen to King Crimson or did it not strike your fancy? Their work in the mid-70s and mid-90s was incredible.
Fun fact about Synchronicity, the album was recorded without the members ever being in the same room together.
cleek
new perfect albums…
Gillian Welch – Time The Revelator
Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot or Sky Blue Sky (as mentioned above)
Shins – Chutes Too Narrow
Spoon – Girls Can Tell
Sea And Cake – Nassau or The Biz
Elliot Smith – XO
White Stripes – White Blood Cells
Radiohead – OK, Computer
also Tribe Called Quest – Midnight Marauders
in canaduh
i noticed very little early american punk/indie
no Mission of Burma? Pixies? Black Flag? Flipper? Meat Puppets? Husker Du? etc etc
I worry about your readers
different church-lady
FEAR… OF A BLACK… PLANET!!!!
Still sonically magnificent, more socially relevant than ever, in ways they probably never imagined.
Wha’ else… Court and Spark… The Downward Spiral… Dark Side is more perfect than Animals (and Wish You Were Here is over rated, suckas…) English Settlement… Starless and Bible Black… the first UK record… Hounds of Love…
Brachiator
I’m not too sure about that. I think it’s more that most of us tend to overvalue the music we discovered from the period of our teens through young adulthood, simply because we had more time to devote to listening to music during this period.
I note in passing that there has been almost no mention of classical music in the various threads on music topics, which either argues for the acknowledgment of the supremacy of pop culture uber alles, or a common culture ignorance.
Anyhoo, of albums of more recent vintage, I heartily endorse second jshubbub’s endorsement of Green Day’s American Idiot.
There is also the work of Outkast, particularly Stankonia and Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. “Hey Ya!” from the latter album is as perfect a piece of infectious pop as anything from the early Beatles, and one of my iTunes playlists yokes Outkasts “B.O.B.” to The Clash’s “Rock the Casbah,” Neil Young’s “Rockin in the Free World” and the Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get Want You Want.”
Also of relatively recent vintage could be much of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, particularly one of their later (and somewhat atypical) works, By the Way. And, by the way, there is some tasty guitar work on their DVD, Live at Slane Castle, as hot and delicate as the best of Hendrix.
I have a soft spot for the underrated Beirut.
A taste here, “Elephant Gun”.
And of very recent groups, try a little White Lies.
A taste here, “To Lose My Life”.
Everybody mambo!
My sincere condolences on your sister’s loss.
AkaDad
I usually don’t post twice but the other one is dead.
Music is so subjective and I suppose what is “perfect” is really all in the ear of the beholder.
If I were stuck on a deserted island with a solar-powered Ipod, I’d want to have these albums:
Aerosmith – Get Your Wings
Pink Floyd – Dark Side Of The Moon
AC/DC – Back In Black
Motley Crue – Shout At The Devil
Dio -Holy Diver
Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
CCR – Chronicle
Deep Purple – Machine Head
Kid Rock – Devil Without A Cause
Judas Priest – Screaming For Vengeance
Twisted Sister – Stay Hungry
Y&T – Black Tiger
Metallica – Black
Styx – The Grand Illusion
Tesla – The Great Radio Controversy
Iron Maiden – Piece Of Mind
Rush – 2112
Pearl Jam – Ten
Serj Tankian – Elect The Dead
robertdsc
Dr. Dre’s The Chronic stands up over time. I can listen to so many of those tracks today without missing a beat.
Just Some Fuckhead
Bloodhound Gang – One Fierce Beer Coaster
Bob In Pacifica
“Girlfriend” by Matthew Sweet was a great album. Great power pop. He’s got a great catalog for someone who never broke big (“100% Fun,” and “Altered Beast” are great songwriting, too). I thought “Some Other Sucker’s Parade” by Del Amitri was another great one in that genre. Then there’s the first two albums by Marshall Crenshaw. Going back to the sixties, there’s Love’s “Forever Changes,” especially if you can graft “Always See Your Face” on the end. Probably because of the mention of “Waiting For Columbus” I was reminded of an early Robert Palmer album, “Pressure Drop,” which mixed a little reggae, some New Orleans along with pop, had some Little Feat covers and some Little Feat themselves on it. At one point I wore down the grooves on that LP.
Along with Bruce From Ohio I diverged from rap early, preferring shoe-gazing over relating to inner-city angst and misogyny. I got “Paul’s Boutique” on recommendation from this blog but cannot get it at all. But I’m a geezer. I tried, maybe I’ll take it back down off the shelf on my 60th birthday.
It’s funny, maybe it’s how we listen now, but since the end of LPs I find that fewer albums feel whole. Maybe listening on the iPod where things can be easily shuffled destroys the fabric of an album, but the coherence of an album just doesn’t seem to happen anymore.
Jose C
oh, and added to my thread ender to the last: Reich Remixed
Iron-Ick-Ally
The Chemical Brothers produced both Odelay (Hotwax is one of my fave songs ever) and Paul’s Boutique. I’m convinced that PB wasn’t a huge commercial hit because it was way ahead of its time.
BTW, there’s a good, much more smack talk intensive demo of Car Thief over heyah.
Billy K
I would’ve savaged your picks, John, but I didn’t want to be a dick. Just a couple notes, since you brought it up:
• Synchronicity was the second-worst Police album. I prefer Zenyatta Mondatta, though I don’t know if it’s “perfect.”
• The Beatles made a couple “perfect” albums. Abbey Road was nowhere close. Rubber Soul is the one you seek.
• Not really a Pink Floyd fan, but I’d say “Wish You Were Here” is at least twice as good as the clearly-not-perfect “Animals.”
• Still haven’t heard Ben Fold’s “Unauthorized Biography…” Need to do that.
• Yes sucks.
• So does The Dead.
• Velvet Underground may have been important, but they also mostly sucked.
• Never grokked Little Feat, but I won’t argue with you. Respect.
Since you asked.
P.S. All kitties go to heaven.
P.P.S. WTF? no [LI]?
tripletee (formerly tBone)
390 comments last night and only one person mentioned Steve Earle … fail. In the late ’80s he released “Guitar Town”, “Exit 0”, “Copperhead Road” and “The Hard Way” in a five-year span. In the late ’90s he peeled off “Train a’Comin”, “I Feel Alright”, “El Corazon” and “The Mountain” in the space of four years. Eight amazing albums in 13 years – and he still had time to descend into full-time junkiedom and get thrown in prison in the midst of it. Recognize, bitches!
groovinator
here’s my list:
– Grateful Dead: Reckoning and Europe ’72
– Jimi Hendrix: Are You Experienced?
– Steely Dan: Aja
-Hariprasad Chaurasia and Zakir Hussein: Possession, Live at Osho Commune International
– Allman Brothers: Eat a Peach
– Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and friends: Will the Circle Be Unbroken
– Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited
– Led Zeppelin IV
– Bob Marley and the Wailers: Live!
– Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon and Animals
– Red Hot Chili Peppers: Blood Sugar Sex Magic
– Pearl Jam: 10
– Professor Longhair: Rock n Roll Gumbo
– REM: Fables of the Reconstruction
– Widespread Panic: self-titled album
– Townes Van Zandt: Rear View Mirror
– U2: War and Joshua Tree
– Rolling Stones: Exile on Main Street
– AC-DC: Back in Black
– Joni Mitchell: Blue
– Beatles: Abby Road
– Van Morrison: Moondance
– Stevie Wonder: Innervisions
– Willie Nelson: Red Headed Stranger
– Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: Deja Vu
– Neil Young: Harvest
– Cypress Hill: Black Sunday
– Sly and the Family Stone: Stand!
The Pale Scot
Thanks for hooking me up with Dengue Fever, that was you? right?
WeeeeeeDSssss… Whitess and Wine,
and you show me a signang,
I’ll be willin, to be movin”
redbeardjim
The only one of my “perfect album” choices that I haven’t seen mentioned yet is Sarah McLachlan’s Fumbling Towards Ecstasy. I could listen to that shit forever.
LD50
Aren’t there supposed to be like two or three umlauts in that?
Steve V
Re: zeitgeist, I’d say maybe the same goes for Joshua Tree.
Billy K
@Bob In Pacifica: Matthew Sweet is great Power Pop for people who only dabble in Power Pop. As a former fan, let me say, there’s a lot better out there.
South of I-10
@The Pale Scot: Saw Dengue Fever last weekend, they were great. Other fav bands from last weekend, Rupa and the April Fishes, Locos por Juana and Rachid Taha. I have a girl crush on Rupa.
Rob
Sade- every CD/album she has blessed her voice with
Sting- Soul Cages
Michael Franks- Tiger Lilly
Notorious BIG- Ready to Die
Patsy Cline- Best of…
Talib Kwali- all CD’s
Dwele- Neo Soul
Billy K
I think the idea of a “whole album” is more of an aberration than the norm. We just grew up in that era. There really was no such thing prior to 1966 (unless you count Les Baxter sort of bachelor pad stuff), and the number of “complete albums” since then is statistically pretty low anyway.
If you survey the entire course of recorded music, our society has mostly been about individual songs. I’m not saying either way is superior, just it is what it is.
El Tiburon
On topic, is anyone familiar with any studies or work on the psychology of music?
In other words, it seems there are periods in our lives when we are more susceptible to latch onto a genre or artist. Specificall,y your high school years go without saying.
It seems there are periods in our lives, traumatic breakups or starting a new relationship, that opens our senses to really connecting with a new piece of music.
Has anyone ever considered thsi?
slightly_peeved
Purely psychosomatic? The boy needs therapy…
Or, it’s a greatest album thread, and most people (except your dedicated classical music aficionado) would refer to their favourite classical performance or piece rather than their favourite album. Though it might be worth discussing classical as well, if only to shut up the people who think Tool is complex. When the performers start using compound time with their left hand and simple time on their right hand at the same time (see Rachmaninov Prelude Op. 23 No. 4), then we can talk about complexity.
Bob In Pacifica
in canaduh: Flipper? Dunno. I liked “Sex Bomb Baby” and “Ha Ha Ha” but I don’t think that “Generic” or whatever it was called was a perfect album. I actually walked in and out of a show of theirs South Of Market back then. I think they were taking volunteers from the audience to play their instruments. Interesting for five minutes.
Agree with Fulcanelli about the segmentation of popular music. Cross-pollination back in the sixties could give you Dusty Springfield and Aretha. You could listen to top forty and get Junior Walker, the Kinks and the Four Seasons and the Doors and the Supremes in a fifteen-minute span.
By the way, for inspiration go back and listen to the guitar on Junior Walker’s “Roadrunner.”
Someone mentioned “Fleet Foxes.” I agree. That album feels like an album. Maybe not perfect, but complete.
Bob In Pacifica
True, Billy K.
Now I gotta go buy groceries. But they have a good satellite station tuned in at Trader Joe’s.
different church-lady
@Billy K: au contraire: Sinatra was doing albums that were quite “whole” — he kinda started the idea.
Bob In Pacifica
Billy K, list them. I’m game.
eglenn
Recent stuff I think I’ll still be listening to 20 years from now:
Belle and Sebastian – The Life Pursuit (others would say If You’re Feeling Sinister but it never caught me)
Bellowhead – Burlesque and Matachin
Elbow – Leaders Of The Free World
Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – F# A# (Infinity)
Zoe Keating – 1 Cello X 16
I wanted to keep going, but I only got to the K’s before I realized that there is just as much great music being made in the last 20 (my inner geek wanted to do a histogram but I gave him a jar of peanut butter and the 4E D&D Manual, so we’re safe for now).
But it’s like we were in the disco era (how much disco do you hear unironically these days?). The main action is not going on in the front lines…
Disclaimer: I’m in my fifth decade and have enough music here to gag a goat.
geemoney
Since my day has been corrupted by thinking about this, here is what I have to say:
New Order – Substance
Live – Throwing Copper
Tool – Aenima, Lateralus
Peter Gabriel – Us (not So, haters)
System of a Down – System of a Down
And I know it’s cheating a bit, but if you haven’t heard
Putumayo Presents – Americana
Putumayo Presents – Republica Domincana
you’re missing out. Most all the Putumayo stuff is great, really.
I’m sure there’s other stuff, I just can’t think of it.
One last that springs to mind:
Panic at the Disco – A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out
For the folks on this blog, it seems like Pretty. Odd. would also be liked.
@peeved – What’s with the Tool hate? I think that most people are comparing it, complicated-wise, to stuff like Appetite for Destruction, no?
different church-lady
*slaps forehead* Duh! ESQUIVEL! — “More of Other Worlds, Other Sounds”
lost in GA
@Iron-Ick-Ally:
Not to be an ass, but it was the Dust Brothers, not the Chemical Brothers, handling production duties on Paul’s Boutique and Odelay. Just want to make sure credit is given where credit is due.
Steve V
Actually, thinking about zeitgeist again, for the early ’80s I think the Go Gos’ record (the big one with all the hits … the name escapes me) is right up there with Synchronicity. That stuff was just everywhere you went. It’s held up pretty well over the years too.
Billy K
@different church-lady: Mmmm…. maybe “In the Wee Small Hours.” Maybe.
Jennifer
@AkaDad:
I’m sorry, but when you listed Styx, this thread officially jumped the shark.
Not harshing on your guilty pleasure, just pointing out that it should be, you know, guilty.
Terri
Currently stuck on Death Cab for Cutie. Great cd. One of the few recent bands to write somewhat thoughtful lyrics. their latest, “Grapevine Fires” is one of the better songs on the cd. Also “Cath” except the radio station played it to death
I agree with a lot of the choices above, but didn’t see Marvin Gaye listed.
John Cole
@Steve V: Beauty and the Beat.
wasabi gasp
Rap doesn’t make a big showing in my collection, but Mystikal does.
AkaDad
Here’s a music fact you may or may not know:
Tool sucks.
I’m surprised no one ragged on me for Kid Rock.
wasabi gasp
I give Yes two thumbs up for complete suckage.
PanAmerican
Bob in Pacifica:
Try Check Your Head. It doesn’t have the “I was into these guys before everyone” douchester cred but it does have more approachable and better collection of songs.
Billy K
@Bob In Pacifica: A rudimentary list of decent Power Pop</b/
Girl Trouble
Eugene Edwards
The Plimsouls
Roger Manning
The Wrens
Adam Schmitt
The Jags
Marked Men (more punk pop, but they’re so good I’m including them)
Media Whores
The Alice Rose
The Busy Signals
Fabulous Poodles
Velvet Crush
Sugarbomb
Tommy Keene
David & The Citizens
Bear Quartet
Greenberry Woods
And some more well-known acts:
The Posies
New Pornographers (as well as A.C. Newman’s other projects)
Fountains of Wayne
Sloan
Apples in Stereo
Pigeon Detectives
The Fratellis
Jellyfish
Early-mid GooGoo Dolls (really)
And probably the best guy doing Power Pop today is Jason Falkner. His stuff is essential.
Also, if you haven’t heard it, get The Knack’s “Zoom.” I don’t really care for them, but this is – to me – a perfect Power Pop LP.
But it really also depends on your definition of the genre. There are so many bands that blur the lines of “Power Pop.” If you’re really interested, try these blogs:
http://powerpopoverdose.blogspot.com/
http://powerpopcriminals.blogspot.com/
Jennifer
I mentioned Chumbawamba upthread as a band sorely underappreciated, especially here in the US. If the only thing you’ve ever heard by them is Tubthumper, you’ve no idea what you’re missing. Here’s a sample.
Billy K
How is it possible to claim douche cred for a band that released “Fight for Your Right to Party” in 1986? (Not saying no one did, just…it’s inexplicable.)
Jim
(Relatively) Recent excellent albums:
The Dixie Chicks – “Taking the Long Way”
The Wreckers – “Stand Still Look Pretty”
Matt Nathanson – “Some Mad Hope”
Mindi Abair – “It Just Happens That Way”
Also, am I mistaken in thinking I didn’t see a single reference to Dave Matthews in the prior thread? I have a love hate feeling with respect to his albums, but given the fervor of his following I am surprised he wasn’t mentioned.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
Ah man, I’m sorry to hear about Sid. It must be awfully wrenching for your sister right now.
There’s always Death Cab for Cutie, for anyone suffering any loss. This is a heartfelt amateur cover by Tom Meny, with some of the same illustrations from the original Monkmus video that is no longer available on YouTube. (For completists: the original Monkmus video with commentary here.)
Damn it, if there’s anything YouTube is good for, beyond giving a bunch of fuckwit lawyers something to do, it’s the chance to see and hear a lot of lovely amateurs.
Billy K
@Bob In Pacifica:
Also, this blog is great for 80s Power Pop. Dudes are hardcore.
http://descargapowerpop.blogspot.com/
Brachiator
@different church-lady:
It’s all a function of technology. 78s limited a recording to about 4 minutes, which encouraged conciseness in all kinds of popular music, from jazz and blues to country and pop.
The age of the LP began in 1948, and record companies pushed classical music and Broadway shows big time.
And Wikipedia includes this little gem, in regard to Sinatra: “the first catalogue number for a ten-inch LP, CL 6001, was a reissue of the Frank Sinatra 78 rpm album set The Voice of Frank Sinatra.” This was in 1946, but other singers had been releasing thematically related 78s as early as 1939.
I’m a bit surprised that more musicians haven’t taken advantage of digital by releasing more variable length works.
Everything, including music, is dramatically important when you’re an adolescent. The Daily mail had a charming article of notable Brits writing letters to their teen selves (Dear Teenage Me: Writers’ letters of advice to their younger angst-ridden selves).
Here’s a taste of Joan Blackwell:
Which brings us back to music…
Wise Up – Aimee Mann
Gebghis
I chose some specific cuts so you can check them out without having to get the whole album.
Crowded House, “Woodface” – what the Beatles could have become. Mixed by Bob Clearmountain, reportedly his favorite record of all he’s worked on (Roxy Music, Stones, Springsteen, and on and on.) If you haven’t heard this, get it asap. (But buy it please.) “Fall At Your Feet”, “It’s Only Natural”
Donald Fagen, “Nightfly” – should have won album of the year over Toto IV. “IGY”, “Maxine”, “Ruby Baby”
The Who, “Who’s Next”. Listen to “Going Mobile”. It was recorded live with Townshend singing and playing acoustic. Amazing trio performance. (Yes, I know, the solo guitar was overdubbed.)
Little Feat, “Dixie Chicken”, “Down On The Farm”. Both flawed, but great.
Dave Mason, “Alone Together” – the first of the “band member makes a solo album”, band included Ringo, Eric Clapton, Leon Russell. MUCH better than the later ballad heavy crap he did. “Waitin’ On You”, “Only You Know And I Know”
Leon Russell, “Superman” album – the one with the picture of the egg with the Superman logo on it. Another great band, Ringo, Clapton, etc. Best cuts are “Roll Away The Stone”, “Delta Lady”
10cc, “Sheet Music” – another alternate universe version of the Beatles. This is their Sgt. Pepper’s. “Wall Street Shuffle” and “Oh Effendi” are eerily prophetic.
Depeche Mode, “Violator” – dark as hell, perfectly constructed. “Policy Of Truth” is genius.
and many others! Best…H
JenJen
The album for me that says “80’s Zeitgeist” more than The Police’s “Synchronicity” is U2’s “War.”
And hey, if this is the open thread for now, I would like everyone to know that I just finished watching “The Reader” after much anticipation. My review?
“Meh.”
Billy K
@Brachiator: different church-lady was responding to me with her comment, so I’ll respond back to you.
My point isn’t that it was possible to release a themed album (in the literal meaning) in the 40s, or that it wasn’t done before the mid-60s. Sinatra’s “In the Wee Small Hours” may have been a thematic, cohesive work, but listening to just one of the songs alone was no big deal. It was a group of songs related by theme. But Sgt. Peppers and/or Pet Sounds touched off a trend where albums were released where the individual songs did not stand alone from the LP (and before someone brings it up, I’m not talking about those records specifically. I’m saying they started it. I think it’s perfectly possible to listen to “Wouldn’t it be Nice” apart from the LP and not lose anything).
Which brings me back to my original point: there really haven’t been a lot of “whole albums” anyway, and the entire “oh no, no one listens to complete albums anymore – music is doomed!” thing is ridiculous in a historical context.
R-Jud
@eglenn:
I prefer Tigermilk for sentimental reasons, and also for The State That I Am In.
A few of mine that I’ve not seen mentioned in this thread:
*Pills Thrills N’ Bellyaches (The Happy Mondays)
*Twin Cinema (The New Pornographers)
*Paul Simon’s first solo album
*Hatful of Hollow (The Smiths)
*The Stone Roses (self-titled)
*Speaking in Tongues (Talking Heads)
*Lost and Safe (The Books)
*The Tigers Have Spoken (Neko Case)
*This Tropicalia compilation
JK
John,
In my book, The Beatles, Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd, and Little Feat are simply unassailable. I am a little disappointed though that you didn’t show any love for the Velvet Underground, the Rolling Stones, and the Who.
For me any list of this type, has to start with my 5 most essential bands: in descending order – Beatles, Rolling Stones, Who, Grateful Dead, and Pink Floyd
Overly abbreviated. Too many bands and solo artists from the 1960’s to list
Beatles: Hard Day’s Night, Help, Magical Mys Tour, Let it Be
Rolling Stones – Beggar’s Banquet, Let it Bleed, Exile on Main St, Sticky Fingers, Get Yer Ya Ya’s Out
Who – Tommy, Who’s Next, Quadrophenia, Live at Leeds
Grateful Dead – American Beauty, Europe 72, Dead Set, Skull and Roses, Live Dead
Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon, Animals, Ummagumma
Velvet Underground – White Light/White Heat, 1969
Frank Zappa- Joe’s Garage Vol 1, Freak Out, Hot Rats
Bob Dylan – Blonde on Blonde, Blood on the Tracks, Desire, Nashville Skyline
Neil Young – After the Goldrush, Live Rust
Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced
Clash – Sandinista, London Calling
Police – Outlandos d’Amour, Ghost in the Machine
U2 – Under a Blood Red Sky, The Joshua Tree
Pretenders – The Pretenders, Pretenders II
Joe Jackson – Look Sharp
Elvis Costello – This Year’s Model
Ramones – Ramones, Leave Home
Sex Pistols- Never Mind the Bullocks Here’s the Sex Pistols
REM – Document, Green
Jam – In the City, This Is the Modern World
Talking Heads – More Songs About Buildings and Food
Television – Marquee Moon
djork
Good list here, Cleek. I’d probably substitue The Fawn for Nassau, though.
Jennifer
You know, Television reunited back in the early 90s to record another album, which was simply title “Television” – and it’s quite excellent.
passerby
Of course your taste in music is ok. And actually, no one savaged anyone’s picks except one or two The Beatles haters.
But taste in music is like personal preferences in beer or tv or a host of other things.
Examples:
“You like Abita dark? I don’t drink that crap. I drink this crap: Rolling Rock”.
“You watch American Idol? I don’t watch that crap. I watch this crap: NFL Football”.
“You listen to “Rush” ? I don’t listen to that crap. I listen to this crap: Jerry Rafferty”.
And so on.
There’s no accounting for taste.
douglasfactors
It seems I’m the first to mention The Kinks Are The Village Preservation Society.
What is wrong with you people?
JK
Note to any Beatles fan
I intentionally left out the obvious Beatles albums on my list, figuring that many others would already be citing them.
For me, every Beatles album is great and worthy of inclusion in any list of essential rock albums.
douglasfactors
And Bee Thousand.
Christ.
Corner Stone
@geemoney:
Peeved is an only child, born to a slightly older couple. Dad was a psychologist and Mom a Homemaker active in the local charity/arts scene. Mom had thought having a child would save her failing marriage, but Dad had only grown more remote after Peeved’s birth. In the middle of a frigid home atmosphere, Peeved was largely ignored.
The only time Dad ever seemed to engage Peeved or display any passion at all was at breakfast, where he played classical music before work and held forth in lively and animated monologues. Mom had retreated further and further into her charity work and music scene. A lonely and socially shy child, Peeved quickly understood the only way to earn father’s love was to become a great pianist. Peeved set out on a course to become the greatest pianist of all time!
Relentlessly Peeved practiced, day after day. When a piano wasn’t available Peeved would drill both hands independently, playing 70/5ths time with the left and inverse time with the right. Unfortunately, a series of tragedies befell the young Peeved. The night before the big audition Peeved developed a serious blister between the primary and secondary adagio fingers. This caused Peeved to badly mangle the transition from the intro of All in the Family to Family Guy. Devastated, Peeved ran home, only to compound the tragedy.
Mom had grown tired of suppressing her primal urges and had hooked up with a wildly talented teenage drummer in a HS rock band. Hysterical from the audition failure, barely able to see through the tears streaming down, Peeved burst into the house just in time to see Mom and the drummer changing time signatures from Good to Hell Yeah! on the kitchen floor.
As the drummer scrambled to put his clothes back on and flee the scene the last image Peeved can recall from that life altering day is the blurry TOOL logo imprinted on the drummer’s t-shirt……
JK
@Jennifer:
The other day, I found a new video for Venus on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umd0XnRdNhs
I was always surprised that song never became a major hit
Iron-Ick-Ally
@lost in GA:
[Casey Kasem] Is Don on the phone? I want someone to use his %^^&)* brain and FIRE MY PROOF READER! [/Casey Kasem] @lost in GA:
douglasfactors
@JK:
It’s on my hit parade, but Tom Verlaine’s voice is an acquired taste.
Common Sense
It makes me very sad that out of 500 comments or so sprad among two threads only two people have mentioned Stevie Wonder.
I’ll also be the first to say it (on this thread anyway): Rumors sucks. Any album with Stevie Nicks is by definition imperfect. Gimme old school Fleetwood. Dire Straits is a thousand times better. Oh well, at least no one is flogging the fecking Eagles.
Oh and also:
My generation’s music can kick your generation’s ass.
Mike S
I’ve seen Steely Dan’s Asia mentioned a lot, mostly in last nights mega thread. I prefer Gaucho. 3rd Word Man is one of those songs that transports me somewhere else.
Newer rock bands don’t do much for me. I do like St. Germain and Thievery Corporation.
And he may be an old guy but Neil Young’s newer stuff has been great. He never settles down and always looks for new styles to try out. In the 80’s he was sued by Geffen for not putting out commercial enough music.
He said that that was better than winning a Grammy.
Jennifer
At least a couple of people mentioned Stevie Wonder.
NO ONE mentioned P-Funk. And they rule.
geemoney
@Corner Stone: That was awesome.
Linkmeister
@Jim, I was late to the Dave Matthews bandwagon, and I’m still unsure about him. He’s a helluva guitarist, but somehow I have a hard time getting past his voice.
If we’re going to insist on “themed” albums, I’d put Sinatra’s “Songs for Swinging Lovers” with Nelson Riddle up there among the forerunners.
John, condolences to your sister on the loss; my pooch has been gone for six months and I miss her terribly.
Mwangangi
Most of my list falls in the last 20 years, I think hip-hop is a super genre like rock is a super genre. Most of you grew up with rock as it was developing all its spin offs, subgenres, back alleys, and dead ends. So it’s a living part of your memory.
It’s that way for me and hip-hop. I look at rock like a tourist looks at a city. I like Jimi Hendrix but even that came from my father’s love of the Band of Gypsies so I heard Changes before I heard Purple Haze and didn’t even realize it was the same kid on guitar, so he’s like that place they told you to go. The Beatles are like some sort of monument that everyone takes a picture with before hanging out elsewhere. The Rolling Stones’ library is like… a library; some books you like, the rest? eh.. and there are some more for reference.
Instead of picking up a guitar or the drums, I was on my kitchen linoleum trying to figure out the transition from an uprock into a windmill into a backspin without kicking the table and having the crib scream on me; I was spending the night at my cousin’s house on the top bunk going bar for bar while we drifted off to sleep. Out in the street with my boys devising what we were going to do (dance wise) when the kids from the next street over stepped to us again (the only other thing we were as inter-street competitive about was football, later this competition would devolve into the fighting, stabbing and shooting that everyone has heard about). I remember when house beats WERE rap beats. I remember Beat Street feeling like a documentary, and sneaking into the theater to see it.
The whole time I didn’t even consider myself a “hip-hop” kid. I liked 70’s music: E,W&F, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Kool and the Gang, Ohio Players. The first album I ever owned was the Thriller album, my dad bought it for me from the $5 record man (sound familiar) because I liked the Off the Wall album so much. I remember listening to Prince on a Smurfs AM radio.
I suppose I’m saying that my background is the hip-hop background but I didn’t even become aware of it until junior high (I suppose some people call it middle school). I left my homogeneous part of reality and interacted with kids not remotely close to my neighborhood. I heard 80’s rock for the first time and didn’t get it. They didn’t get why all of us would bang out the My Adidas beat on the table and take turns rhyming.
By the time I got to High School, our brains started finding similarities in music so you could seek out that experience outside of your genre, oddly enough it seems like my taste in friends tracked my taste in music. But to fall back on the city analogy, it’s like having a pen pal from that city to show you around. You’re still not from there.
This is what happens when I have nothing to do on Saturday morning. I’m going to play my scrabble turn now.
JK
@JenJen:
Agree with you on War vs Synchronicity. Thanks for saving me the trouble of picking up a copy of The Reader.
@douglasfactors:
I don’t know. To my ears, Verlaine’s vocals are head and shoulders over virtually any lead singer for a band that formed after 1981.
Turgidson
@douglasfactors:
I adore Village Green Preservation Society. I just adore Something Else by the Kinks more.
Common Sense
@Jennifer:
You are correct. Cat Lady jumped in late with Talking Book. So we’re up to three. Which apparently puts him somewhere in league with the Pogues as a musical genius, and a bit below Tool, GnR, and the New Pornographers (I am a fan of the first and last ones, by the way, and I don’t detest Guns ‘N Roses. But seriously….)
BTW big time yes to P-Funk. That is a bit shocking.
JK
@Mike S:
Have you seen any of the videos on YouTube of Neil Young performing A Day in the Life? I was surprised he chose to cover that Beatles song.
Mwangangi
@Common Sense: Whatever gramps, my generation will be the RNs in your retirement community banging your generation’s freshly ripened CNA great nieces while you’re propped up in the day room drooling jello and watching Gilligan’s Island reruns.
JK
@Turgidson:
@douglasfactors:
Totally agree about the Kinks and glad to see others mentioning them. That’s the thing with threads like this.
I could go on a tear listing great albums by bands and solo artists who started recording in the 1960s.
JenJen
@JK: Obviously, people are different; I agree with John that “Synchronicity” is an excellent album, and every time I hear it, it does take me back. But nothing like “War.” And even “Achtung Baby,” which came out in 1991, I think, but for me, it seems to mark the end of the 80’s, in the way “War” marked the beginning of them.
Yeah, “The Reader” disappointed me. And I feel that Kate Winslet only got that Oscar because, you know, it was “time.”
Common Sense
@Mwangangi:
I’m 31 bro. I grew up on Pavement, PE, the Pixies, and Jane’s. De La Soul changed my life. Any of their first three albums I can listen to straight through (Buhloone Mindstate is seriously underrated BTW).
I know I’m harping on the Stevie thing, but it just amazes me that people can go gaga for Jackson Brown and completely ignore one of the most consequential artists in history.
Oh and I loved your comment at #89. Thriller was my first as well. Still own it in fact.
A question for all: What is the sexiest song ever?
I’m voting Stevie Ray Vaughan’s cover of “Little Wing.” Even if I did lose my virginity to “In Your Eyes.”
Mike S
@JK: Not until now. I like it. The songs right up his alley. He likes songs that have both slow tempo and the chance to thrash the sh** out of it.
His version of Imagine at the 9/11 benefit was breath taking.
On his Arc/Weld tour he did a 27 hour version of Blowing in the Wind. It got a little boring. That whole show was kind of out there. Every song was super long with crazy feedback and distortion.
JK
@JenJen:
I think that U2 and the Police are both great bands and I hope their music will still be held in high regard many, many years down the road.
iluvsummr
Wow, not even going to look over that thread with over 400 comments.
Hard to pick, but albums I like best, in no particular order:
Bob Marley: Natural Mystic
Fela Kuti: Black Man’s Cry
White Stripes: Get Behind Me Satan
Beats International: Excursion on the Version (a Norman Cook/Fatboy Slim concoction)
Orishas: El Kilo
Angelique Kidjo: Black Ivory Soul
Goapele: Even Closer
Fugees: The Score
DJ Rekha: Basement Bhangra
Mafikizolo: Sibongile (Kwaito – South African hip hop)
Aphrodite: Urban Junglist
James Blunt: Back to Bedlam
Africando: Gombo Salsa
Gregory Isaacs: Night Nurse
Beth Orton: Central Reservaton
Cassandra Wilson: Belly of the Sun
Common: Finding Forever
Chiwoniso: Rebel Woman
Zap Mama: Adventures in Afropea
U2: All That You Can’t Leave Behind
Asa: Asa
Loketo: Extra Ball
Dixie Chicks: Taking the Long Way
Zero 7: Simple Things
BruceFromOhio
@passerby:
When I’m watching the NFL with the sound off, listening to Rush and drinking Rolling Rock, that’s pretty much what me missus tells me.
tripletee (formerly tBone)
@Jennifer:
Haven’t seen many Prince mentions, either. Sign ‘o the Times is one of those albums I never get tired of, just because it’s so damn awesomely weird.
Mwangangi
@Common Sense: Alright, my bad; usually when I hear that comment it from people older than me, can you tell I’ve worked in many nursing homes and etc. I always joke back that the new generation doesn’t have to fight you, we just have to hang out until you die. It goes over better with the cats from the VA.
89 is one of those comments that’s gets away from you; I really just wanted to say one thing, but I had to explain what I was trying to say and it turned into a damned book.
JK
@Mike S:
A few months back, Neil Young was a guest on the Charlie Rose show where he spoke at length about alternative energy.
Seeing your earlier post reminds me that the first video I ever watched on YouTube was Neil performing The Needle and the Damage Done.
Screamin' Demon
There are no perfect albums. None.
I have to chuckle when people declare Kind of Blue to be Miles Davis’ best work. It is merely his most accessible LP; nowhere near his most challenging. Miles Smiles, ESP and Filles de Kilimanjaro are far more rewarding. Bitches Brew would be, if it didn’t sound like mud. My personal favorite is In A Silent Way. It’s the bridge between free bop and full-on fusion.
Maggot Brain puts Metallica to shame. Mothership Connection is a whole lot of fun. And One Nation Under a Groove is a disco-era masterpiece.
But not perfect. There are no perfect albums.
joe from Lowell
Nine Inch Nails, “The Downward Spiral”
Nirvana, “In Utero”
Sonic Youth, “Sister”
Violent Femmes, “Violent Femmes”
Just Some Fuckhead
Agreed, but when I got to the local music superstore and look at the Used CDs there are usually a few groups/artists that are over-represented, indicating to me that when the chips are down this music is the first to go:
Grateful Dead
Dave Matthews Band
Ramones
Van Morrison
OTOH, *no* APP.
CMcD
@douglasfactors:
Thank god you mentioned “Village Green Preservation Society” — great album!
Another classic that no one’s mentioned yet is the Zombies’ “Odessey and Oracle.” It really belongs in the same class as “Sgt. Pepper’s,” “Pet Sounds,” etc. Wonderful melodies, strange lyrics, psychedelic cover… must’ve been 1968!
And along the same lines, check out the XTC “alter ego” band “The Dukes of Stratosphear” collection “Chips From the Chocolate Fireball.” Somewhere between loving tribute to, and gentle mockery, of late 60’s psych. “Pale and Precious” is the best song Brian Wilson never wrote.
Screamin' Demon
Neil Young. Wasn’t he the guy who proudly announced he voted for Reagan?
Terri
Shit. Just listening to ipod.
Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon,
Elton John’s Madman across the Water and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
Mother’s Finest
Allman Bros Live at the Fillmore, Brother’s and Sister’s
Common Sense
@Mwangangi:
No offense taken. I kind of meant it as an ironic statement, referring to the fact that most people tend to think the music they listened to when they were 16 is the best it’s ever been, a visionary improvement over everything prior, and it’s been downhill since.
JK
@Just Some Fuckhead:
I would love to have seen the Grateful Dead and the Ramones on the same bill.
Van Morrison is on my unabridged list.
JenJen
@Just Some Fuckhead: Grateful Dead and Dave Matthews Band’s studio work is not what makes either of those bands great, so I think I have to disagree with your hypothesis, at least when it comes to those two.
Common Sense
@JenJen:
Hence it’s a little odd to consider those two for greatest albums ever, no? Maybe greatest live performers (although both are IMO completely ruined by their fan base. Frat Boys and Trustafarians showing up in Daddy’s Cherokee and bumming money for nugz annoy me so much I have a hard time just enjoying the show).
JK
@Screamin’ Demon:
Neil Young has changed his perspective over time. He gave a moving account of his reaction to reading a newspaper story about US casualties in Iraq. Regardless of his vote for Reagan, he clearly was no fan of George W. Bush.
Good point about Miles Davis. Big fan of all the titles you mentioned.
@Terri:
Second all of those choices.
cokane
FWIW
with rap, I think Nas’s “Illmatic” is probably one of the best ive ever heard
Just Some Fuckhead
@JK: I’m not a hater. I like stuff from all of them. I was just pointing out they’re showing up in the Used CDs bin more than everyone else – Grateful Dead prolly two or three orders of magnitude over the others.
BruceFromOhio
@Mwangangi:
This one of the most lucid statements I’ve read in reference to music in these X00+ comments. “There’s no accounting for taste” and “everyone is different” and “it’s like talking about food” don’t put it into the right context, IMO.
There was a dance competition in the market square a couple of springs back. The kids brought big pieces of cardboard so the cement didn’t injure, the dj had a decent sound system under the tent in case it rained, and they went at it. By the time the last two contestants were going at it, there were almost a thousand people crowded around cheering these guys on. I found a spot on top of a brick wall where my two young daughters had a perfect view, and they were absolutely transfixed, as was I. I cannot recall anything since as beautiful, energetic and spontaneously creative. At the end, one took the prize, but they were both grinning like idiots as they shook hands while the rest of us screamed our heads off. No parallel.
Oh, and Todd Rundgren is/was a frakking genius. And I can’t get that Clash song from the opening credits of “Rescue Me” out of my head.
Common Sense
Dunno if we are still discussing soundtracks or not, but one of the most undderrated ever IMO is Judgement Night. Every song is a compilation of hip hop and rock, with the best being “Fallin'” (De La Soul and Teenage Fanclub). “Just Another Victim” (Helmet and House of Pain) kicks major ass as well. The soundtrack also features Fath No More (Christ what a great band), Sonic Youth w/ Cypress Hill, Dinosaur Jr. w/ Del the Funky Homosapien, and Mudhoney with Sir Mix A Lot.
JenJen
@Common Sense:
Oh, absolutely. I never pop in a studio album from the Dead, Phish, DMB, String Cheese, what have you; if this were a “greatest live acts” thread though, for my money you have to put the jam bands at or very, very near the top.
I agree with you about the fanbase. I had an awful lot of fun at those shows back in the day, though. As far as DMB goes, one advantage to their fanbase is it’s so young, there’s never a line at the beer booth, and they’ll never run and get security if they happen to smell the mighty ganj. :-D
Billy K
@douglasfactors:
I’ll second “Bee Thousand.” Good call.
Billy K
Thread has devolved from “Perfect Albums” to “I like this artist a lot, why hasn’t anyone mentioned them!?”
Inevitable, I suppose.
Cain
@Fulcanelli:
Exactly! Record industry have ruined the music industry in their pursuit of high volume music to the younger generations. The real money makers are bands like Rush or something like that who after so many years are still able to fill up large venues. (sorry, picked Rush, but there are probably other examples as well)
Frankly, I can’t remember any “good” song from the 90s and 2000s that sticks in my mind honestly. I fucking hated the “alternative rock” shit that came in. I was 22 and I felt like an old man yelling “back in my day, the music rocked”. Bah.
cain
Bob In Pacifica
Billy K., thanks for the references. I’ve pasted them to a file and I’ll be checking them out. Some I have already, like A.C. Newman in various forms, others I tried but never connected with, like the Plimsouls. I know there’s a Fountains of Wayne constituency and I invested heavily in their catalog but they’re too smarmy and cute for me, as opposed to M. Sweet, whose songs often reflect the kind of self-loathing that really makes for great songs. I mean, “I’m superdeformed, but my blood is still warm,” eh? Or, “I Need Someone To Pull The Trigger.” This hole in my heart getting bigger. Or, “I’m Sick Of Myself.” Self-hate doesn’t get much better than that.
Sloan, YES! “Never Hear The End Of It” is a complete album.
Let’s face it, music tastes vary. I have no explanation why I like The Rubinoos’ “Hey You, I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” and Husker Du’s cover of “Eight Miles High.” And the original Broadway cast version of “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying” with Robert Morse. And that two-CD set of Dyke and the Blazers.
Music is like that.
+++
Someone mentioned Beatles albums, and I listened to “Something New” all the way through for the first time in decades. Listening on CDs you sometimes hear the lyrics clearly for the first time.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Billy K: Fuck you, I read all yer comments without complaining.
Mwangangi
@Billy K: Well it is a kind of a spin off, morning after, what did I do last night thread… The previous thread is more cohesive.
Bob In Pacifica
Guided By Voices’ “Isolation Drills” is a perfect album, in my mind.
R-Jud
@Common Sense:
THIS.
Also, I was going to edit and mention the Zombies, but then the delivery guy turned up with our curry. Mmmm, curry.
When I went downstairs Mr Me was listening to David Bowie. Which reminds me: Diamond Dogs.
Bob In Pacifica
The Motors’ first album, “Approved By The Motors” is something I can listen to all the way through without skipping cuts. Pretty good.
Bob In Pacifica
I used to listen to Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks” all the way through. Haven’t heard the recent live version, but really don’t need it with the original album.
JK
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Hate is a strong word.
I’ve seen posts on last nite’s long thread for essential music with certain people really trashing some bands or artists.
I don’t get it. Someone liking a band I don’t appreciate does not affect the quality of my life. I don’t see the need to get worked up about it.
On the other hand, someone saying they’d vote for Sarah Palin for President if she runs in 2012. Now that’s something worth getting pretty damn worked up about.
different church-lady
@Billy K: Songs for only the Lonely too.
Maybe one could consider “Come Fly/Dance/Swing With Me” concept records of a sort. September of My Years was undoubtedly thematically oriented.
At any rate, Sinatra was clearly thinking in terms of whole-album listening. Which showed in his later sales: million and millions of albums sold, but few hits.
Just Some Fuckhead
@JK: The music threads are generally an unholy combination of metooism and hipperthanyouism. Last night’s was pretty tame compared to ones in the past.
JK
@BruceFromOhio:
The song played during the opening credits of Rescue Me is C’mon C’mon by the band called the Von Bondies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGoxmrMUY1k
Last week’s episode ended with The Guns of Brixton by the Clash
Bob In Pacifica
There was an album by The Move, it was an American release, “Split Ends,” which glommed together most of their British “Message From The Country” album with a bunch of the band’s last few singles. Opened with the original version of “Do Ya” which in my humble opinion kicks ass over the wussified ELO version. I get chills thinking about the first four notes followed by that massive, crushing Bev Bevan snare hit. United Artists, in my opinion, made a better album than the original. That was utterly perfect. Ended with “Tonight.” Wow. I ground down that LP into dust.
baddesignhurts
long time reader, never-before-seen commenter….
“bee thousand” is excellent, as is “alien lanes”.
hole’s “celebrity skin”.
tom petty & the heartbreakers greatest hits.
rem’s “new adventures in hi-fi” is just as great as “automatic for the people” or “murmur”.
husker du’s “warehouse”….also bob mould’s “workbook”
i can’t believe no one’s mentioned “doolittle”, for fuck’s sake.
“crooked rain, crooked rain”, anyone?
x’s “los angeles” is faboo.
p.j. harvey’s “down by the water”.
modest mouse “the moon and antarctica”.
mark knopfler and emmylou harris’ album is a masterpiece as well.
the magnetic fields’ “69 love songs”
lucinda williams “car wheels on a gravel road”
jimmy eat world “clarity”
elliott smith “xo”.
amon tobin “out from out where”.
have some fun.
Bob In Pacifica
Someone upstream mentioned XTC. The one with Pan playing his flute on the cover was a complete album. Same with “Oranges & Lemons.” Same with “Nonsuch.”
Dulcie
I missed all the fun last night!
Here’s my list by decade. I could go back to the fifties (Frank, Nat, Dean, Frankie Lymon, etc.) but I won’t!
60’s
Beatles – Sgt. Pepper
Rolling Stones – Beggar’s Banquet/Let It Bleed
The Band – Music From Big Pink
Sly and the Family Stone – Stand!
70’s
Stevie Wonder – Songs In The Key Of Life
AC/DC – Highway To Hell
Aerosmith – Get Your Wings
Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On
Tower of Power – Tower of Power
War – The World Is A Ghetto
Bad Company – Bad Company
Nick Lowe – Labor of Lust
The Isley Brothers – The Heat Is On
Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
80’s
Robbie Robertson – Robbie Robertson
Midnight Star – No Parking On The Dance Floor
Jon Butcher – Wishes
The Cult – Sonic Temple
Genesis – Duke
Rick James – Street Songs
Joe Jackson – Look Sharp
90’s
AIC – Dirt
Pearl Jam – Ten
RHCP – Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic
Dr. Dre – The Chronic
Live – Throwing Copper
RATM – Battle of Los Angeles
Tony! Toni! Toné!- Sons of Soul
00’s
Green Day – American Idiot
TVotR – Return to Cookie Mountain/Dear Science
Adele – 19
Amy Winehouse – Back to Black
White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan
Raphael Saadiq – Ray Ray
passerby
@Just Some Fuckhead:
An interesting list JSF. The Dead and the Ramones have quite a cult following. Here’s my theory for why these artists turn up used:
A bunch of people wanted to be hip, hoping that having these artists as part of their collections, for various attributes, would put them in the “in” crowd, make them cool by association. You know posers.
Once they realized that it wasn’t really their kind of music, they dumped them.
Take Dave Matthews for instance. I caught his act at the first Jazz Fest after Katrina. Well I had always heard of the DMB but had never seen him in concert. My impression was that this is the coolest guy with the coolest band and the coolest music in the world. It was a great set.
But, although I enjoy watching him live, I can’t seem to get any traction for liking his music. Even though I’d love to be a fan (that would be cool), his music doesn’t do it for me and being a poser is not my style.
So I’m theorizing that a bunch of folks took a stab at being fans but realized they only liked one or two cuts from these CDs which they ripped onto their computers and sent the rest to the bargain bin.
…or not.
different church-lady
@Bob In Pacifica: Bob, you’re thinking of “Skylarking” — a concept record about summer. Sadly that one didn’t age well to my ears.
However, I think we’re getting away from John’s original concept: a “perfect” album with no bum tracks on it, one that holds together brilliantly when you play it all the way through — not just concept records.
I would say that means it doesn’t even have to be a concept or theme album.
APS
I saw it mentioned a few times in the previous thread, but my vote for perfect album has to be Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. One thing that makes it so amazing is the fact that it was almost entirely improvised – Miles gave everyone a set of modal sketches and the rest is history. I can listen to KOB over and over again – I never tire of it.
I first heard it when I was 14 and it changed my life (I was big into Rush, Iron Maiden, Black Flag, etc.). If you have never heard it, head to Amazon and buy it – you will not regret it.
Dr. Rockso
Great hip hop you may not have heard of:
Jurassic 5 – EP
Digable Planets – Blowout Comb
Spearhead – Home
MC Solaar – Prose Combat
Rap amateur friendly titles.
Sorry to hear about Sid, as usual, someone else said it better than I could.
“When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.” ~Kahlil Gibran
bago
I can’t even understand a universe in which Tool sucks.
AkaDad
Fine, Sober is a pretty good song, so they don’t completely suck.
iluvsummr
@Bob In Pacifica: Now I’ve got “here comes president kill again” stuck in my head. Thanks.
Corner Stone
@AkaDad: Wait a sec here AKADad – you dig *Kid Rock* but can’t get down with Tool?
I’m pretty sure that says it all.
Comrade Baron Elmo
John: A suggestion. How’s about a thread in which we list our favorite lesser-known albums… you know, the ones that we devote our little lives to sharing with everyone we know, in hopes that they achieve some richly-deserved adulation.
It’s always cool to read people’s take on well-known classics, but I’d like to see the hidden treasures that lurk in the collections of Balloon Juice denizens. I myself could plug such sonic arcana as New Kingdom, R. Stevie Moore, Rev. Fred Lane & His Hittite Hotshots, Magic Hour, Koenjihyakkei, Joe Harriott, Tappa Zukie, Ivor Cutler, The Chrysanthemums, Charles Tolliver, Uncle Dave Macon, Volcano the Bear, Charizma, Howard Tate, Shockheaded Peters and many, many more.
(My exasperated mom, two decades ago: “It’s not a hobby, it’s an obsession!”)
Corner Stone
@Corner Stone: 46 & 2?
I don’t want it! I just need it!
My everlovin goodness. FSM keep me and protect me.
Comrade Baron Elmo
One additional brain nugget: How ’bout a thread for great various artist compilations? The right one can change your life, after all. Well, it can if you’re a music nerd.
AkaDad
Have you tried playing Tool in Guitar Hero: World Tour on expert?
It sucks.
douglasfactors
@Bob In Pacifica:
Some people don’t like late GBV, but I think Isolation Drills and Half Smiles of the Decomposed are as good as anything Bob has done. (And he’s still on a tear.)
Jennifer
@Comrade Baron Elmo:Already mentioned upthread, but I have one of the exceedingly rare copies of Jesus H. Christ by Chumbawamba, which most assuredly deserves to be heard far and wide but never was thanks to the band being sued by “Sir Paul” McCartney for sampling the opening of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band for a song about a woman who stitches her drunken, abusive husband into the bedsheets one night after he passes out, and the proceeds to beat the holy shit out of him.
That’s just a smattering of the goodies available on this album – they sampled both music and lyrics from a wide variety of sources and creatively re-combined them into new songs of their own. Another highlight was their song about a woman who claims to see Jesus walking across the sky, while flying in a plane high over Indiana – being that they are atheists, they were pretty cutting in their portrayal.
It’s most excellent, and you can’t buy it anywhere…unless you manage to turn up one of the 7500 vinyl copies that were released prior to McCartney’s suit…which I managed to do…but only because I knew it was worth looking for.
Brachiator
@Billy K:
We pretty much agree. There was a time when technology limited music to singles, with an A and B side. The popular music was stuck on this model even after the LP caught up with the ability to do longer forms. And when rock acts began doing their own music, the album became king. FM radio probably helped midwife the popularity of albums.
With the increasing irrelevance of FM and digital technology, it is almost weird for groups to think that they have to come up with an album worth of music before they release something.
And you are right that the idea that music is doomed if there can’t be albums is ridiculous.
Anne Elk (Miss)
Oh gods, psychology of music – the most sedating class I ever took on my way to a degree in music therapy. (fault of the instructor, though – the subject matter is actually pretty interesting)
But yes, there’s been a pretty good amount of work done in this area. It’s generally accepted in the music therapy business that the music of a person’s “young adulthood” is where you want to aim to find music that is relevant to them. Thus, if you’re working in a nursing home with folks born mostly in the 1920s, you need to study up on the big hits of the 1940s. However, the splintering of “popular” music into so many different genres and “markets” is going to make this a more difficult task as time passes. Not unlike what’s happened to TV – everyone pretty much watched the same stuff until we got 100s of channels – the ratings that make a show a “hit” today would have made it a dog in the 60s or 70s. So figuring out a “greatest hits” list for folks born in the 90s or 00s will be much more difficult.
And as long as I’m here:
Rare Silk – New Weave
Pat Metheny Group – First Circle
Manhattan Transfer – Vocalese
Sonny Rollins – Saxophone Colossus
Modern Jazz Quartet – Django
Donald Fagen – The Nightfly
Glenn Gould’s Goldberg Variations
all of Beethoven’s symphonies, piano concertos and piano sonatas
Professor Longhair – Rock N Roll Gumbo
Steve V
Anyone mention Eno? In my book any of his first five records are pretty near complete. You need to be in the mood for them, but they’re really good.
Chuck Butcher
Since they’ve not been mentioned,
Johh Hammond
Roy Rogers (no, not the guy with the horse)
Blues.
Jennifer
Oh, as for really good albums?
Cat Stevens, Tea for the Tillerman. With the added bonus that listening to it or copping to liking it automatically makes you an islamofascist.
Jess
@Steve V:
Yes, Eno! Music for Airports is amazing.
I’m surprised none of you old-school rockers have mentioned Iggy Pop: “The Idiot” is absolutely brilliant. Weird and dark, but brilliant.
Who else?
Smashing Pumpkins’ first album.
Pink Floyd “Wish you were here”
U2 “The Unforgettable Fire” (produced by Eno)
Sonic Youth “Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star”
Afghan Wigs “Gentlemen”
Cypress Hill’s first album
PJ Harvey “Is This Desire?”
and my all-time favorite (revealing what a degenerate freak I truly am):
Swans “Children of God”
Corner Stone
@AkaDad:
No. Contra to my incessant postings at this hole, I actually have a life that does not include video games.
It does however include quite a bit of alcohol.
Doug
I agree with Animals, Relayer (plus Close to the Edge). Please don’t leave out Thriller (I know, I KNOW), Duran Duran for Notorious, Steely Dan for Aja, and George Michael for Faith ( yeah yeah yeah… I know)…
Tattoosydney
@slightly_peeved:
Very nice, but “Since I left you” still wins for me.
Beethoven 5, Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic, 1963, on DG
I can listen to the first movement over and over.
AhabTRuler
MC 900 Ft Jesus: Welcome To My Dream. Phenomenal album from start to finish.
Same thing can be said about:
St Germain: Tourist
Stereolab: Emperor Tomato Ketchup
Tortoise: Millions Now Living Will Never Die
I think that “Dum Dum Boys” really harms the album, prevents it from really coming together. Other than that, it is a great one.
Bruuuuce
Sorry about your sister’s cat. It’s always sad when someone in the family dies.
For a more recent perfect album, I recommend The Decemberists: Picaresque. There isn’t a weak cut on it, and the tunes are amazing in both the tunes and lyrics. (The Decemberists are easily the most literate band currently out there.) (But don’t tell Colin Meloy, the band’s lead singer and writer, lest his head expand beyond the capacity of the larger venues they’re now playing :-)
Their two albums following that one are also spectacular (The Crane Wife and their current one, The Hazards of Love), but Picaresque is both the most accessible of those three and has the two best songs (IMO) on it: “The Mariner’s Revenge Song” and “Eli, The Barrowboy”.
For an older perfect album, Richard Thompson’s Rumor and Sigh (the one with “1952 Vincent Black Lightning”) sounds like something you would like.
Bob In Pacifica
Different Church Lady, I agree that concept albums don’t equal perfect albums, but I think that if there’s a flow to the tracks that you are more likely to listen to it all, thus, no bum tracks to the ear. The other two XTC albums I mention have no thematic structure.
Of course, this is all personal opinion anyway.
jTh
@ in canaduh
I love almost all of that (though I don’t know Flipper), but I don’t think there are many perfect albums among them. Burma’s Vs. is my favorite album of all time, but it’s not perfect.
@ Billy K
It think that it is!
Nyah, you just can’t hear it, and I don’t mean that in a snotty way at all. But I’d say denying Velvets’ greatness is nearly on par with denying Beatles’ greatness – some people just don’t get it. Check out the live “What Goes On” from 1969 if you wanna another crack at it (or really, the whole first disc of that live set).
@ Steve V
We didn’t mention Eno specifically, but we got to 801 Live in the previous thread. (Do you know that live “Third Uncle” on there? OMFG) I worship his first four albums, but I’m not sure any of them are perfect – I always have to skip “I’ll Come Running” on Another Green World. Apollo might be perfect though.
@Jess
We sang some Fun House praises in the last thread. Personally, I think that’s way cooler than any of the solo Iggy.
@ AhabTRuler
Millions Now Living is great, but I think Standards is the optimum Tortoise. I’d kill for ten more discs like that.
@ joe from Lowell
THANK YOU for reminding us all of truly one of the timelessly perfect alt-rock records of all time, Violent Femmes. I cannot believe that I forgot that in the previous thread. It might lose one point of perfection for Blister in the Sun itself, but the rest of it is utterly impeccable (and the anniversary remaster beyond belief).
El Tranquilo
My list can change from day to day.
Here’s today’s:
Bill Evans-Live at The Village Vanguard (complexity disguised as exquisite simplicity)
Trouble Funk Live (brings back funky memories of Georgia Ave.)
Marco Antonio Solís-La Historia Continúa… (incredible aching sentiment)
Metallica-Death Magnetic (intelligent brutality)
The Mac Wiseman Story (The Voice With A Heart)
Julius Hemphill-Coon Bid’ness (The Hard Blues)
Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy (two giants of American music)
The Buzzcocks-Singles Going Steady (Great fun)
Tim & Mollie O’Brien-Away Out On The Mountain (comfortable as an old shoe)
Pastor López-Vacaciones Tropicales (sweet memories of a Cartegena heartbreaker)
CT
Tough decisions. As others have said, many of my favorite albums have a track I’d leave out (“Mother” on Synchronicity, for example). That said, I’d offer my dittos for:
Graceland (Paul Simon), Blood on the Tracks (Dylan), Kind of Blue (Miles), Giant Steps (Coltrane), Born to Run (Bruce), Darkness on the Edge of Town (Bruce), War (U2), Achtung Baby (U2), Yankee Hotel Foxtot (Wilco), Sky Blue Sky (Wilco), Chutes Too Narrow (The Shins), Dancing In the Dragon’s Jaws (Bruce Cockburn).
Saw a cite for John Hiatt’s Bring the Family that’d I’d absolutely like to second (toss up for me between that and Slow Turning).
Not sure if anybody’s mentioned Reckoning by REM-they put out a stellar first several albums-Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, Lifes Rich Pageant, etc.
Also have to have Ellington at Newport, Soul Junction by the Red Garland Quintet, and Brilliant Corners by Monk.
Transcendental Blues by Steve Earle also makes the list
slightly_peeved
I don’t hate Tool. They’re good. It’s just that complexity’s a lousy basis for comparing pieces of music, especially when it’s already well-established that some of the most complex forms of music are the most boring. Fugues are known as the form of music where the voices come in one after the other and the audience leaves one after the other.
People saying “I like music (x) because it’s complex” are looking for quantitative measures to justify their qualitative like. Why bother? Why, especially, get into arguments about it (well, unless you’re trolling a blog, in which case gold star)?
Ben
Music threads are my favorite. It’s really the best way to get a handle on the kinds of people that populate the comment section.
A recommendation: for one of the most unique albums I’ve heard in the last five or ten years, try Tomahawk – Anonymous. As a general rule, you can’t go wrong with anything involving Mike Patton (Faith No More).
Some others:
Tom Waits – Mule Variations
The Cure – The Head on the Door
Peter Tosh – Equal Rights
Bad Religion – Against the Grain
Joy Division – Closer, Unknown Pleasures
Johnny Cash – At Folsom Prison
Jimmy Cliff – The Harder They Come
Tool – Lateralus
Faith No More – Angel Dust
Devotchka – How It Ends
Deltron 3030 – Deltron 3030
Comrade Nikolita
Rumors is such an awesome album.
MEKONS MEKONS MEKONS
i didn’t read through all of these, but…
mekons rock ‘n roll
yo la tengo may i sing with me
sebadoh iii (far from a perfect album, but really fun)
sonic youth washing machine
sugar copper blue
chiggins
I can’t pick which Radioheads. OK Computer is a phenomenal album from beginning to end. Kid A changed the way I looked at the world. I kept expecting to be let down as they kept releasing, it never happened, and now I think In Rainbows might be their best. Except the days I think it’s one of the others.
Odelay just finished playing. Goddam, front to back, unreal.
Little surprised not to find Jeff Beck Blow by Blow here anywhere either?
But I think the quintessential perfect album has to be Steely Dan’s Aja, doesn’t it?
chiggins
@MEKONS MEKONS MEKONS:
You put Washing Machine over Daydream Nation? For real?
MEKONS MEKONS MEKONS
re washing machine: above dn? not necessarily above, but dn was almost expected in its majesty–everybody was ready: the band, the world, while wm was an unexpected and unexpectedly grand and majestic artifact. good good goods.