I am GENUINELY drunk (caps lock is cruise control for cool, and the bold just means I am fucking heart attack serious) and in a good mood, which means I am rocking out to Little Feat. Going to crank a little Dead and then crash. It seems like it has been forever since we had one of these threads, but I want to have another just for shits and giggles.
Every time I listen to Little Feat, Waiting for Columbus, I think it is the most perfect album ever. If I had to choose five perfect albums, I would list them in the following order:
1.) Little Feat- Waiting for Columbus
2.) Frank Zappa- Fillmore East 1971
3.) Ben Folds Five- The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner
4.) Yes- Relayer
5.) Pink Floyd- Animals
Those are my top five. I’d like to add Guru- Jazzmatazz, and Alice in Chains Dirt is up there, but this list has been tight for me for years. Mind you, this has no Stones or Zeppelin, which are high on my list of first plays whenever I want to crank music. I’m not sure how stable my list is. Maybe some have gone up and down, but I really do think that these five have been solid for years.
So what are your top five perfect albums? And I don’t mean favorite albums. I mean perfect, complete, listen from start to end lp’s. Or do you people even know what a fucking lp is anymore? I just read that Sony is no longer making cassette decks, so YOU FUCKING KIDS GET OFF MY GOD DAMNED LAWN.
The prophet Nostradumbass
Okay, here are five of mine:
1) The Clash – London Calling
2) Living Colour – Vivid
3) The Beatles – Rubber Soul
4) Belly – Star
5) Blue Öyster Cult – Secret Treaties
burnspbesq
Kind of Blue, Miles Davis
Shoot Out the Lights, Richard and Linda Thompson
Bach Complete Brandenburg Concertos, Munich Bach Orchestra, Karl Richter cond.
The Telluride Sessions, Strength in Numbers
By the Light of the Moon, Los Lobos
Mike E
In no particular order:
Sgt Pepper
Nevermind
Dark Side of The Moon
Never Mind The Bollocks
Graceland
El Tiburon
1. Journey – Evolution
2. Pearl Jam – 10
3. The Cars – The Cars
4. Tom Petty- Long After Dark
5 Rush – 2112
Short Bus Bully
1. Lyle Lovett – Pontiac
2. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Mother’s Milk
3. David Allan Coe – Greatest Hits
4. Willie Nelson – Sings Kris Kristofferson
5. Ice Cube – Amerikkka’s Most Wanted
John Cole
@burnspbesq: Los Lobos has always received critical acclaim, but they were never rewarded with the audience they deserve. They were a fucking exceptional band.
Pope Ratzy
Byther Smith – Addressing The Nation With The Blues
Chuck Ragan – Covering Ground
John Hiatt – Stolen Moments
Dire Straits – Alchemy
Billy Bragg – Back To Basics
Steve V
Relayer? Better than Close to the Edge? Hmm.
Polish the Guillotines
Not in any particular order:
Back In Black, AC/DC
Who Are You, The Who
Get The Knack, The Knack
Time Out, Dave Brubeck (RIP)
Van Halen, Van Halen
Joel
Generally speaking, I think albums are worthless. Usually a few good singles and a bunch of filler. That said, there are a few albums that really work for me:
My Pink Floyd pick is Wish You Were Here…
Felix Laband – Dark Days Exit
Arcade Fire – Funeral
Just off the top of my head…
Short Bus Bully
I’m just going to go ahead and call it now:
EPIC FUCKING THREAD.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Short Bus Bully: Spatula will probably have an aneurism.
Disco
in no order:
Steely Dan – Gaucho
Pet Shop Boys – Behaviour
Simple Minds – New Gold Dream
Dire Straits – Dire Straits (self-titled)
Herbie Hancock – Head Hunters
Pink Floyd – The Wall
Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here
BonnyAnne
please forgive me: I only have one album that I would listen to over and over, without skipping a single song, and never ever get tired of. That album is Joshua Tree by U2, and I always feel ashamed of that but I’m not sure why.
If I was cooler I would probably say something edgy or underground. Led Zepplin or whatever. I’m not.
If could possibly come up with three, they would be:
Joshua Tree — U2
Achtung Baby — U2
Under the Table and Dreaming — Dave Matthews Band
fuck.
reality-based
jeezh, where is everybody? I’ve never been this close to the top in years of BJ reading?
Top 5 (totally different genre from JC’s, Of course:
1. Joni Mitchell: Blue
2. The Band: The Last Waltz
3. Bonnie Raitt: Sweet Forgiveness
4. Springsteen: Nebraska
5. Springsteen: We Shall Overcome: the Seeger sessions
redshirt
Tom Waits – Raindogs
Radiohead – OK Computer
Camper Van Beethoven – Key Lime Pie
Kyuss – Welcome to Sky Valley
Thelonious Monk – Monk’s Dream
Alison
@John Cole: Agreed – Hidalgo is a pretty amazing songwriter, and they put on a damn good show. Saw them as an opening act once and not even half the seats were full yet, because people are dumb. And I say this as someone whose main musical tastes tend towards stuff waaaay different than Los Lobos, but I’m no idiot :P
The prophet Nostradumbass
I thought of another album:
Jethro Tull – Aqualung
Alex
Beatles – Revolver
The Clash – London Calling
Springsteen – Darkness on the Edge of Town
REM – Reckoning
The Replacements – Pleased to Meet Me
Pope Ratzy
When I was a bit younger:
Ramones – Rocket To Russia
Social Distortion – Social Distortion
Jim Carrol Band – Catholic Boy
The Clash – Combat Rock
The Fixx – Reach The Beach
freelancer (iPhone)
Weezer – Blue Album
Daft Punk – Discovery
The Black Keys – Brothers
Coheed & Cambria – Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness
Explosions in the Sky – The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place
Disco
Police – Zenyatta Mondatta
Stones – Sticky Fingers
Paul McCartney – Ram
something from this century:
Bear in Heaven – I Love You It’s Cool (2012)
Harley Peyton
1) Allman Brothers, Live At Fillmore East
2) Joni Mitchell, Blue
3) Jeff Buckley, Grace
4) Bill Fay, Life Is People
5) Public Enemy, It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back
Turgidson
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
Rolling Stones – Exile on Main Street
The National – Boxer
Nick Drake – Bryter Layer
Built to Spill – Perfect From Now On
edit: oh and Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
Disco
@Harley Peyton:
1) Allman Brothers, Live At Fillmore East
I know pretty much every note on that album. Probably backwards and forwards.
Another one for the list:
Miles David Quintet 1965-1968 box set
(most perfect jazz ever recorded)
The Dangerman
Pink Floyd is getting the love (well deserved); Animals, Dark Side, Wish are all phenomenal…
…but each and every time I listen to The Wall, I hear something new.
Let’s see, 4 more. In no order:
2) U2, Joshua Tree
3) Van Morrison, Hymms To The Silence
4) Live, Throwing Copper
5) Marc Cohn, self-titled
All of them, top to bottom, fucking brilliant
ETA: See U2 is getting some love in others lists; Achtung Baby vs. Joshua Tree is a close one (as with the Pink Floyd choices)
Q
(Not in order)
Kind of Blue, Miles Davis
The Awakening, Ahmad Jamal
Moondance, Van Morrison
Rubber Soul, the Beatles
Aja, Steely Dan
Sailor
No Order:
The Clash – London Calling
Led Zepp – Houses of the Holy
Guns Roses- Appetite for Destruction
Miles- Kind of Blue
U2 -Actung Baby
eclecticbrotha
Stop it! This is hard. It really is, but here goes:
1. Parliament/Funkadelic – Parliament Live: P-Funk Earth Tour
2. Pink Floyd – Animals
3. Stevie Wonder – Songs In the Key of Life
4. Al Di Meola – Electric Rendezvous
5. Sade – Lovers Live
piratedan
i’d like to say good pick burnsie on Los Lobos and El Tiburon on The Cars, very solid picks that I have listened too endlessly myself….
for me…this is pretty representative
Raspberries Best
Nick Lowe – Labour of Lust
The Lovin’ Spoonful – Daydream
Elvis Costello – Armed Forces
Marshall Crenshaw – Marshall Crenshaw
Jason P.
Neutral Milk Hotel- In the Aeroplane over the Sea
Smashing Pumpkins- Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Tenacious D- Tenacious D
Mana- Mana MTV Unplugged
Explosions in the Sky- The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place
PigInZen
The Who – Live at Leeds
Van Halen – Fair Warning
Echo & the Bunnymen – Porcupine
The Clash – Give ‘Em Enough Rope
The Cult – Love
Johnny Coelacanth
No order here, neither:
Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon
DJ Shadow – Endtroducing
Jane’s Addiction – Nothing’s Shocking
Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Liz Phair – Exile in Guyville
lewandorkski
1. D’Angelo – Voodoo
2. Bob Dylan – John Wesley Harding
3. Prince – Dirty Mind
4. Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (if it didn’t have the sketches)
5. Jay-Z – The Black Album
Short Bus Bully
Aw shit, forgot a couple:
6. Public Enemy – Fear of a Black Planet
7. WEEN – Chocolate & Cheese
eastvanhalen
The Clash – The Clash (US version)
Prince and the Revolution – Parade
Ellington, Mingus, Roach – Money Jungle
Fucked Up – David Comes to Life
Van Morrison – Astral Weeks
Disco
if you like Pink Floyd, you almost certainly would like the few albums by the Engineers. Great, great moody stuff.
Also, too:
New Musik – Anywhere
HI
The Band – The Band
Van Morrison – Astral Weeks
Joni Mitchell – Hejira
Neville Brothers – Yellow Moon
Cocteau Twins – Treasure
pacem appellant
My uncle (RIP) made me tons of floyd tapes back in the 90s when I was in high school. It was the music that kept me awake when driving my long commute to and from school and hanging out with friends at whatever coffee bar we were playing cards in that night. I’d forgotten until John Cole mentioned it that Animals was the best album for cruising. Start to finish, just a grand jam. I’d rewind that tape and start over two or three times before the sun came up.
Druid
With the added restriction that only one album is allowed from a given decade.
60s: King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King
70s: Yes: Close to the Edge
80s: King Crimson: Discipline
90s: Ani DiFranco: Little Plastic Castle
00s: Moon Safari: Blomljud
DPS
No Beatles or Dylan, because that isn’t fair.
Lauryn Hill, Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Stones, Exile on Main Street
Stevie Wonder, Talking Book
Radiohead, The Bends
The Who, Live at Leeds
redshirt
@Short Bus Bully: Fear of a Black Planet is one of the best albums of all time.
My new five:
PE – Fear of a Black Planet
Liz Phair – Exile in Guyville
Poe – Hello
The Breeders – Pod
NWA – Straight outta Compton
I am not a kook
The Clash – London Calling
The Beatles – Revolver
Joni Mitchell – Court and Spark
Sex Pistols – Never Mind The Bollocks
Bob Marley – any album – let’s say Survival this week
Crap, am I an old fart?
Agree on Jazzmatazz too. Also Clash – Sandinista (yes, really)
Omnes Omnibus
1. London Calling, The Clash
2. My Aim Is True, Elvis Costello
3. Coup De Grace, Mink DeVille
4. Exile on Main Street, The Rolling Stones
5. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Public Enemy
PPOG Penguin
Velvet Underground – Velvet Underground and Nico
Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited
Van Morrison – Astral Weeks
The Blue Nile – A Walk Across the Rooftops
Joanna Newsom – Ys
(I dithered about “Ys” because there’s one track on it that I always think, “meh, I’ll skip this one;” but when I do listen to it, I love it. So, perfect enough I guess.)
BonnyAnne
@The Dangerman:
I am drunk (like Cole!) but I still appreciate the validation. I pick Joshua Tree over Achtung Baby but only because I grew up with it and it’s part of basically every good memory I have as a young lass.
Omnes Omnibus
@I am not a kook: Sandinista is wonderful – both for the greatness and weirdness.
Steeplejack
@Q:
This is me. Goddamn housecat ass-typed my nym away while I wasn’t looking.
Got to add:
Feliciano!, José Feliciano
Black on Both Sides, Mos Def
DPS
Ugh. I already want to expand my list just from the reminders in the comments.
redshirt
Cracker – Kerosene Hat
REM – Fables of the Reconstruction (Reconstruction of the Fables)
Nirvana – Nevermind
Led Zeppelin – All of it. Even the live shows, bootlegs, reunions, all of it.
Mathew Sweet – Girlfriend
eclecticbrotha
@reality-based: Woot! My oldest bro (R.I.P.) was Bonnie’s Drummer on the “Sweet Forgiveness” album. My #Humblebrag of the day.
Irony Abounds
1. Hot August Night – Neil Diamond
2. Who’s Next – The Who
3. Born to Run – Bruce Springsteen
4. Come On Come On – Mary Chapin Carpenter
5. October Project – October Project
The Dangerman
Have to add Bob Marley, Exodus and Enya, Shepherd Moons; both are near Spiritual experiences…
burnspbesq
@John Cole:
Still are. Going to see them on 1/11.
burnspbesq
@piratedan:
Ahearty “hell yeah” for Marshall.
burnspbesq
@piratedan:
Ahearty “hell yeah” for Marshall.
Spaghetti Lee
Ooh, I love threads like this!
1: Vigil In a Wilderness of Mirrors – Fish
2: Bone Machine – Tom Waits
3: Violator – Depeche Mode
4: The Bends – Radiohead
5: Americana Deluxe – Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Just missing the cut is The Stone Roses, which is half the greatest pop songs ever written (Waterfall, This is The One, I Wanna Be Adored) and half stuff that kind of sags. It’s definitely no. 6 though
Mike E
About eleventy moar top five lists can be made from this thread via random generation…I keep reading y’all’s and saying, “Dammit! That’s anutter good’ern…shit!”
The Dangerman
@burnspbesq:
Switching from albums to best musicianship I’ve ever seen live (and it’s hard to go against Clapton), but Bela Fleck and the Flectones blow me away each time I see them. Bela and Victor Wooten are the absolute best at their craft; seeing them together is a must.
jayackroyd
I shouldn’t have read the posts first. Because I’ve been influenced
Kind of Blue (you should also read the book, The Making of Kind of Blue)
Live at Leeds
Type O Negative Bloody Kisses
Joy Division Unknown Pleasures
London Calling
Oh, no, Stop Making Sense has to be there.
The latest version of Live at Leeds has (I believe) the entire performance. I have it, and I’m glad I have it, but it weirds me out. I know every note on the original release, listened to it constantly as a kid, can hear it in my head as I write this, and when all of a sudden there’s this other shit in the middle, or even another song that wasn’t on the original release, I get kinda freaked.
Oh, and can I take a moment to thank Cole for sustaining this community. Twitter has done wholesale damage to the commentariat*, which was where I lived. It takes real effort to keep this going and I am grateful for it.
——–
*A week or so ago people here were criticizing eschaton commentary. That’s not, IMO, entirely fair–it’s also a sustained community. But it has lost many of the voices that made it the crackden–watertiger, CoT, 4legsgood et alia. You can find them on twitter, and they’re still funny as the dickens and have more people reading them. But it weakened that community.
Amir Khalid
Tori Amos, Scarlett’s Walk
Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Trio II
Bruce Springsteen, The River
Carole King, Tapestry
Any of Simon & Garfunkel’s studio albums
Short Bus Bully
@redshirt:
Yes.
And count me in on that Liz Phair album too. Holy SHIT, that was my soundtrack for years. Going to youtube it right after I finish with the WEEN I am currently rocking…
Rich (in Name Only) in Reno
1)Captain Beefheart – “Safe As Milk”
2)Cheb Khaled – “Kutche” (contains “La Camel” and “Chebba.”)
3)Pink Floyd – “The Piper At The Gates Of The Dawn”
4)The Rolling Stones – “Their Satanic Majesties Request”
5)Kaleidoscope – “Incredible Kaleidoscope” (it’s part of a CD compilation of all their Epic Albums called “Pulsating Dream.”
How Khaled got in there is a long story.
Omnes Omnibus
Dire Straits first album is damn near perfect too. Also too, Arctic Monkeys, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not is damn good.
Oooh, The Hold Steady, Boys and Girls in America.
burnspbesq
Honorable mention:
Backwaters, The Tony Rice Unit
Stage Fright, The Band
A Love Supreme, John Coltrane
Blues and the Abstract Truth, Oliver Nelson
Die Schone Mullerin, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Omnes Omnibus
@Amir Khalid: The River or Nebraska. Damn.
redshirt
Any other Camper Van Beethoven fans out there besides me? If so, in the spirit of this thread, check out their last album from 2004, “New Roman Times”. It’s a deliberate storytelling album, following a young conservative texan dude in the early 2000’s.
burnspbesq
@The Dangerman:
For sheer jaw-dropping musicianship, it’s hard to top Strength in Numbers. Fleck, Douglas, O’Connor, Bush, and Meyer. I would kill for a complete DVD of their Austin City Limits performance.
sharl
I’d steal from the lists of piratedan (#28) and Johnny Coelacanth (#31) – would probably add up to more that five – and add It’s A Beautiful Day (band & album name); it’s much more than just White Bird.
YellowJournalism
The Beatles – Abbey Road
Janet Jackson – janet.
Salt-N-Pepa – Very Necessary
Foo Fighters – There Is Nothing Left to Loose
Nirvana – Unplugged in New York
Omnes Omnibus
@Omnes Omnibus: FYWP. moderation for mentioning the names of two Springsteen albums? Seriously?
Steeplejack
@burnspbesq:
Seconded on Coltrane and Oliver Nelson.
moderateindy
Grateful Dead American Beauty
Clash London Calling
Van Morrison Moondance
Ray Charles Anthology
Scruffy The Cat Moons of Jupiter
Publius39
I’m listening to “Blue Rondo a la Turk” by Dave Brubeck.Full Dislcosure; I’m 29 years old, and I love jazz. This song is on repeat right now, and I’m lovin’ it. Cheers John.
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
Not only do I fucking know what an LP is, I know that listening to Abbey Road on CD/iTunes lacks a vital component of the LP listening experience: Having Lennon’s “I Want You” come to its abrupt end, leaving you to soak in the “fucking wow” of it all till you can get up and flip the album for Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun” to hit you like a rainbow after the cleansing storm.
Kids today, they wouldn’t know about that.
Also, too, I love the hell out of Simple Minds’ “New Gold Dream.” I’d have to root around my library for the other top three.
PJ
The Who – Quadrophenia
The Clash – London Calling
XTC – Black Sea
Tom Waits – Rain Dogs
The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
Hon. Mention:
The Go-Betweens – Spring Hill Fair
The Replacements – Let It Be
The Minutemen – Double Nickels on the Dime
The Stones – Exile on Main St.
Steeplejack
Looks like my alter ego is not getting released from moderation.
My original list (not in order):
Kind of Blue – Miles Davis
The Awakening – Ahmad Jamal
Moondance – Van Morrison
Rubber Soul – the Beatles
Aja – Steely Dan
And as I read this thread other “perfect album listens” come to mind.
The Turning Point – John Mayall
Santana – Santana
Deadicated – various artists (Grateful Dead tribute album)
And two for the season:
A Charlie Brown Christmas – Vince Guaraldi
Pretty Paper – Willie Nelson
jayackroyd
Extending my ramble to a second post, bmaz put up some Dave Brubeck tribute, http://www.emptywheel.net/2012/12/08/heisman-trash-talk/ which you should check out. Brubeck’s interest in odd time signatures is worth the price of admission.
And I have a question for the musicians among us. I don’t always hear a performer’s “sound.” But I can always hear Miles. I’ll be in some store playing what they think is elevator music, and say to myself, Miles. And the same is true of Paul Desmond. I can see how the trumpet can vary significantly between performers–you’re shaping the sound before it hits the mouthpiece.
Aw fuck, I give up. I just had one of Goodman’s solos go through my head, and that’s nobody but him. And there’s this reed management thing.
But how does this work? I guess this is arising partly because I’m reading Sam Wang’s book on practical application of neuroscience. (Talk to your kid in as many languages as you can, but fuck playing Mozart.) How do you make a sax sound distinct? How did Goodman sound different? (I’d post the solo if I could find it, but it’s a sing sing sing bit where he is transcendent. Can’t post my brain waves.)
RobertDSC-iPhone 4
1) Metallica: Master Of Puppets
2) Metallica: Metallica (The Black Album)
3) Evanescence: Evanescence (released in 2012)
4) Nirvana: MTV Live Unplugged
5) Danny Elfman’s score for Batman
6) James Horner’s score for Titanic
7) Hans Zimmer’s score for Gladiator
8) Metallica: Death Magnetic
9) Metallica: Ride The Lightning
10) Tan Dun’s score for Jet Li’s Hero
11) The soundtrack for the movie Collateral
12) The soundtrack for the movie Top Gun
13) Amon Tobin’s score for the game InFamous
14) Hans Zimmer’s score for the game Modern Warfare 2
scarshapedstar
Wow. I tried to list mine and somehow they got censored.
Shpongle – Tales of the Inexpressible
Arlo Guthrie – Runnin’ Down the Road
Hem – Rabbit Songs
Jenny Lewis – Rabbit Fur Coat (heh, never noticed that connection before)
Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
One for the road:
Psapp – Tiger, My Friend
Okay, one more:
The Bird and the Bee – Interpreting the Masters (Hall and Oates covers!)
Omnes Omnibus
@PJ: Tim , not Let It Be. For me…
jayackroyd
@PJ: Oh fuck. Quadrophenia. Have you seen the video of Entwistle playing the 5:15 solo.
I hate these things. And, yes, the Pistols. And the Dead Kennedys. And, as I jumped out of the couch of last night watching the ironically titled, in this context, The Kids Are All Right (Watch this movie!) Blue.
The scene where Annette Benning flips through her sperm donor’s record collection (TMI) features BOTH Joni’s Blue and Zimmerman’s Blood on the Tracks.
Which I’d put on the list if Cole asked us tomorrow.
Publius39
Here goes, in no particular order:
1. Things Fall Apart-The Roots
2. The Black Album-Jay-Z
3. The Essentials- Babyface
4. Time Out- Dave Brubeck
5. Anything by Jimi Hendrix.
Steeplejack
@RobertDSC-iPhone 4:
Just got done watching Collateral on HBO, and I was noticing that the soundtrack was really good, especially the techno track during the shootout in the Japanese club.
Collateral holds up surprisingly well, given that it’s Michael Mann at his most self-indulgent and the plot is ridiculous. It’s becoming one of those movies which if I happen upon it I have to watch it the rest of the way.
jayackroyd
@scarshapedstar: Arlo! Have you seen him live?
The Dangerman
@jayackroyd:
Running to Amazon now!
Over the Thanksgiving Holiday, I treated myself to an isolation chamber; no altered states, but some interesting as the Brain goes to Theta. Check out binaural beats sometime and how that plays with your brain; a most curious effect.
scarshapedstar
@jayackroyd:
Indeed I did, at Jazzfest last year! :D
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
OK, forget about the rooting, I’ll just go with what comes to mind for the other three:
Nirvana’s Nevermind
NIN’s The Downward Spiral
Dead Can Dance’s Within the Realm of a Dying Sun
burnspbesq
The best live concert video I’ve ever seen? The Metheny/Hancock/Holland/DeJohnette concert from 1991.
Runners-up: The Last Waltz, Shadows and Light (Joni with Metheny and Jaco), Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007, and the Metropolitan Opera production of Carmen with Elena Garanca and Roberto Alagna.
PurpleGirl
FYWP — it ate a comment. Let’s see if this works…
Don’t have five perfect albums but one album really is a complete experience for me. MeatLoaf — Bat Out of Hell. It is a complete experience of teenage male angst and lust.
Peter Murphy
The Smiths – Meat is Murder
Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures and Closer (or the first two CDs of Heart and Soul)
Underworld – dubnobasswithmyheadman
Neil Young – Ragged Glory
Public Enemy – Fear of a Black Planet
The Presets – Apocalypso
Hoodoo Gurus – Stoneage Romeos
Hüsker Dü – Zen Arcade
Frank Zappa – Hot Rats
Primus – Sailing the Seas of Cheese
piratedan
ty all for the reminders, especially those regarding Liz Phair, XTC, Joy Division and The Cult…. it’s such an iconic type of thread, makes it so hard to limit it to just five. I swear I could come up with another five with ease and then another 10 or so seminal albums in my life that helped me just live day to day….
I am not a kook
@The Dangerman: Agreed on Exodus – even though the religious wingnuttery tends to weird me out as I get older. But still, it is part of the package – you can rip people from their homes, enslave them, destroy their culture, pack them in slums in poverty and still geniuses emerge to create transcendentally beautiful art. Some others try to make sense of the world in religious terms. Listening to Marley gives me hope for humanity. This is of course the story of blues and jazz as well – just listen to Louis Armstrong.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@burnspbesq: a concert that stands out for me, because it basically hit me over the head with a hammer, was the Art Ensemble of Chicago at Dinkelspiel Auditorium on the Stanford campus, back in the early-mid 80’s. I was really skeptical before I went in, expecting to hate it, but was blown away by it.
ETA: Fixed the name of the group.
wasabi gasp
Making lists like this is too damn hard. Unless I limit it to live albums.
The Lounge Lizards – Big Heart: Live in Tokyo
Bnut
Guns and Roses- Appetite for Destruction
Led Zeppelin- IV
Incubus- Morning View
Eminem- The Marshal Mathers LP
Dr. Dre- the Chronic
Hon men.
Patti Smith- Horses
Drive By Truckers- Southern Rock Opera
The Who- Tommy
joel hanes
Electric Ladyland
end of list
Hugely
these are in my loop right now but I generally trend to what Tbogg likes (Stone Roses, Liz Phair, SFA) – which this thread reminds me of
1) Super Furry Animals: Hey Venus!
2) Aimee Mann: Im with Stupid
3) Solomon Burke: Thats Heavy Baby
4) Grant Lee Phillips: Nineteeneighties
5) Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
oh yeah and anything by the beta band – yea im a white dude
the dude
Five albums I can listen to without skipping any tracks or any bits within those tracks:
1. Joni Mitchell – Hejira
2. The Blue Nile – A Walk Across The Rooftops
3. Roy Harper – Stormcock
4. The Church – Heyday
5. Miles Davis – A Tribute To Jack Johnson
As for Yes – Relayer … comes close but the ‘cha cha cha’ vocals at the end of Soundchaser have always annoyed me.
Yutsano
@jayackroyd: Practice. Lots and lots and lots of practice. And taking what is considered “good” technique and throwing it out on its ass because what you’ve discovered sounds cooler. That and honestly saxophone is one of the easiest instruments to put a distinct sound signature on. Miles can do it on trumpet, but he does a lot with mutes and other effects to help him with that.
@Bnut: Hanukkah Samayach Dawg!
And I’m certain she has a few albums, but I will listen to ANYTHING by Yoko Kanno. Woman is a fucking genius.
PJ
@jayackroyd: Tom Waits at one point lamented focusing on the piano because it was a “square instrument”, in that it is very difficult to create a distinctive tone on it. How one shapes one’s mouth, or breathes, can create a very distinctive effect on horns, woodwinds, and vocals, obviously. How one frets and bends strings can create a distinctive effect on stringed instruments – I can spot a Richard Thompson solo at 100 meters. Timing is also something that effects all instruments, so Monk is readily identifiable even though he’s playing a piano. In improvisation, one’s sense of melody and harmonics is personal and idiosyncratic, and some people (like Monk or Miles) really shine, while others just sound like they are playing scales (which they are.) Ultimately I think that if one has sufficient command of an instrument, it is as distinctive as one’s own voice. But this can be a very hard place to get to (I haven’t managed it yet.)
redshirt
@The Dangerman: Explain please, with details. Like “Altered States” isolation chamber?
joel hanes
@Steeplejack:
The Turning Point – John Mayall
Chickie-chickie what?
There’s a bit of chicker-chicker in that one, actually, it’ll be all right.
Beth Ott
The Specials – The Specials
Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On
John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman – Self Titled
Black Keys – Attack and Release
Joni Mitchell – Court and Spark
Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures
Frank Zappa – Just Another Band from LA
The Smiths – The Queen is Dead
I am not a kook
I finally got around to listening to Sigur Ros and *paying attention*. I don’t know their albums yet, but damn, I get this feeling of “WTF just happened?” after every song. It’s like they do something to your brain. Need moar…
Oh yeah, somebody mentioned Shpongle upthread. Good for a green day definitely ;-).
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
@Steeplejack:
Agreed! Pure genius, start to finish.
@RobertDSC-iPhone 4:
Also agreed. The perfect score for the only flick that can tear my heart out the way Titanic does. I’m also really keen on his score for House of Sand and Fog (the intro to “An Older Life” is what I’ve set as my morning alarm on my phone).
Still need to check that our more thoroughly. This year, without a doubt, Zimmer’s score for Inception has been my most-listened-to recording.
Bnut
@Yutsano: Shalom brother! Not putting my menorah up since one of my neighbors is a (former?) Aryn Nation member. East Nashville, strange place…
Yutsano
@The Dangerman: When John Cage “composed” (it really does earn a Cavuto mark, there are still some music experts who don’t consider it actual music) 4’33”, he first submitted himself to an isolation chamber. He could only hear two sounds: the low thumping of his heartbeat and the very slight high-pitched hum of his electrical impulses in his brain. His conclusion is that true silence is impossible, so 4’33” is as much a philosophical statement as a serious composition. I personally think it’s total mad genius.
@Bnut: Better safe than sorry, even if you are the trained killer in that match-up. There better be latkes though. Lots and lots of latkes.
jayackroyd
@PJ: Thanks for mentionigng@scarshapedstar: He’s hilarious. And brilliant.
burnspbesq
@The prophet Nostradumbass:
I’m very much of two minds about that whole Chicago crowd. Serious, heavy-thinking shit, but its not easy to love. There are days when I’m in a certain frame of mind and I can listen to those guys and Anthony Braxton all day. But I can’t handle a steady diet of it.
Wadada Leo Smith has made some amazing records in recent years.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Dire Straits – Love Over Gold
Marillion – Happiness Is the Road, Vol I: Essence
Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On
Sylvan – Posthumous Silence
Rush – Different Stages
Gophers go to 20-0.
Steeplejack
@joel hanes:
Too true. And, to be honest, that’s my least favorite song on the album. I can listen to “California” over and over. In fact, I would do that right now, except I’m listening to Wes Montgomery’s Down Here on the Ground. Another “perfect album listen.”
PJ
By the way, I saw Os Mutantes for the first time tonight, and, if you have the chance, you should really go see them: an ebullient mixture of Beatles, psychedelic, garage and soul with their own Brazilian personality which transcends the influences and makes them something special. (I know there is just one original member in this touring band, but they were really really good.)
Steeplejack
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
Damn, What’s Going On! Ashamed I forgot that one.
Bnut
A better question than this topic is the one we discussed at work tonight. If you could see one concert in its time, who would it be and where? We were all torn between a 19th century Beethoven show or a seedy heroin filled 1930s Mississippi blues bar listening to Robert Johnson.
PJ
And if this comment posts in time, go to wfmu.org and listen to the really excellent version of I Can’t Stand It by the Velvets from some live show in 1968.
piratedan
ok… geez….my second five (no repeat artists allowed)
More of the Monkees – The Monkees
Repeat When Necessary – Dave Edmunds
Echo and the Bunnymen – Echo and The Bunnymen
Repeat Offence – The Inmates
Out of the Blue – ELO
The Dangerman
@redshirt:
Actually, I didn’t see Altered States, but I think it’s the same thing; go into a completely dark, silent tank and float in some epsom salt loaded water heated to body temperature. Along with some interesting effects on the brain (which can’t really be described and it’s probably different for everyone anyway; let’s just say your brain goes places without the normal stimuli), there was an interesting physiological response in that I had the longest breaths I can recall (which, of course, was the response to the relaxation, as well as a cause of it, I suppose). The tank I tried has the capacity for playing binaural beats, which is the next thing I’ll try when the time comes along.
Hugely
@PJ: i listen to Tom Ze a lot as well – if you like Os Mutantes and want to go a little further in Tropicalia/MPB give him a listen. Its like Julian Cope and Mercury Rev in Portuguese
Baron Elmo
This is my locked-in top five:
Rolling Stones – Beggars’ Banquet
Sly & the Family Stone – There’s a Riot Goin’ On
Van Dyke Parks – Song Cycle
Parliament – Osmium (the expanded CD edition)
Love – Forever Changes
some crucial runners-up, just off the top of my head:
Robert Wyatt – Rock Bottom
Joe Ely – Honky Tonk Masquerade
Velvet Underground – Velvet Underground and Nico
James Brown – Live at the Apollo
Del Shannon – Home & Away
Kate & Anna McGarrigle – Kate & Anna McGarrigle
and one essential various artist compilation:
The Anthology of American Folk Music
Omnes Omnibus
@Bnut: The Clash in ’77.
PJ
@Hugely: I will definitely check him out.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
I am not familiar with that one; I do have their first five albums, though. I kind of lost track of them.
burnspbesq
@Bnut:
I’d pick a concert that I have on vinyl: the 1953 Massey Hall concert with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach.
I wouldn’t have minded seeing Little Village in concert. Or the original David Grisman Quintet.
Ted Mills
1. Rock Bottom – Robert Wyatt
2. Time Out – Dave Brubeck
3. The Information – Beck
4. Another Green World – Eno
5. King of Limbs – Radiohead
check with me next week, it may be different! :-)
Steeplejack
I have to admit there are some “greatest hits” collections that have achieved “perfect album listen” status for me: e.g., Mitch Ryder, the Animals (Retrospective), the Lovin’ Spoonful, Barry White.
There are also some mix CDs I have put together to make my own perfect “albums” for some artists: e.g., Brasil 66, Charlie Parker, the Zombies, Gil Scott-Heron, Grant Green, Booker Ervin, Django Reinhardt.
redshirt
Animatrix – Sound track
Pulp Fiction – Sound track
BTVS:Once More with Feeling – Sound track
Star Wars – Sound track
Singles – Sound track
Spaghetti Lee
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
Marillion! WOOOOOO! Glad to see someone else likes them.
Steeplejack
@joel hanes:
Listening to “California” now. Bliss.
The Dangerman
@Yutsano:
I’ll have to check it out; new to me. As for true silence not possible and heartbeats, etc., probably accurate. Again, the mind goes places when one hears nothing (except, perhaps, a heartbeat or whatever).
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
More?
Annie Lennox – Diva
Paul Simon – Graceland
Alan Parsons Project – Gaudi
Queen – Made in Heaven
Red Elvises – I Wanna See You Bellydance
suzanne
Radiohead-OK Computer
Dylan-Blood on the Tracks
R.E.M.-Automatic for the People
New Order-Substance
Hole-Live Through This
Guided by Voices-Alien Lanes and Bee Thousand
Elliott Smith-XO
The Velvet Underground and Nico
Husker Du-Warehouse:Songs and Stories
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Spaghetti Lee: I do, or did, have the Season’s End album (their fifth, hint hint) somewhere on cassette. I liked it quite a bit when I was able to listen to it.
ETA: Okay, you deleted the part I replied to, I see.
Bnut
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, def early Clash. I never got into the later stuff. It lost the punk edge.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@The prophet Nostradumbass: I like their stuff with Steve Hogarth a lot more than the early stuff with Fish. Not that the Fish albums are bad, particularly Clutching at Straws and Misplaced Childhood. But their more recent work is a lot more interesting.
Gravenstone
Beatles – Abbey Road
Who – Who’s Next
Queensryche – Operation Mindcrime
Iron Maiden – The Final Frontier (edging Powerslave)
Alan Parsons Project – The Turn of Friendly Card
Yutsano
@Bnut: Sarah Vaughan at the Blue Note, 1989. Her last performance before her death the next year.
Keith
U2’s The Joshua Tree is probably the most perfect album I’ve heard. I’d throw in Pearl Jam’s “Ten” and Soundgarden’s “Superunknown” in there as well. #4 would be Tool’s “Aenima”. I can’t really come up with a fifth.
Gravenstone
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): Damn, and I figured I’d be the only one to call out Parsons.
Spaghetti Lee
Others that come to mind
Californication – RHCP (In a ‘peak of its genre and era’ sort of way)
All The Stars and Boulevards – Augustana (Same deal, and yes I admit that I have very whitebread tastes.)
Big Generator -Yes (What’s funny is that I love a lot of the ‘bad’ stuff that the great 70s’ prog bands put out in the 80’s. I’d take this over Fragile any day. I’d also take Power Windows over 2112 )
The Harsh Light of Day – Fastball (A really under-appreciated slice of late 90’s guitar rock.)
Dear Science – TV on the Radio
Running With Scissors – Weird Al Yankovic YEAH I SAID IT. Seriously, listen to the whole thing and try not laughing out loud.
Omnes Omnibus
@The Dangerman:
That is Cage’s point. Each performance is different. Random sounds and thoughts happen during each four minutes and 33 seconds so that no performance can be same. He is prioritizing the audience as a part of the concert experience. Deranged, but brilliant, in my view.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Gravenstone:
Yeah, that’s what everyone says. It’s good but, for me, comes in behind Gaudi, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, and, if you count the post Woolfson material as still being the same band, On Air.
Steeplejack
@burnspbesq:
I saw the original David Grisman Quintet in a weird venue: the Tonight show. I was in Los Angeles on a business trip for a software company with two extremely junior, extremely green coworkers, and somehow I hit on the idea of taking them to see the Carson show.
I was flabbergasted when Grisman turned out to be a guest. He did only two songs, but they were sublime. Come to think of it, that first album is another perfect album listen.
Yutsano
@The Dangerman: There are those who think that it is a joke, others an insult. But the performer or performers go onstage as normal, prepare to play, then stare at a watch or another timepiece for exactly 4 minutes and 33 seconds. Cage made the music all of the ammbient sound around us instead of the actual performers providing it. I never could get permission to do it at a recital. Shame. :)
@Omnes Omnibus: Or wot u said. :)
J R in WVa
OK, some really good music, I agree with the Frank Zappa picks, and Los Lobos, saw them a couple of times on Mountain Stage, wonderful. Far better live than on recordings, funny how some bands are like that. Zappa was a little like that too.
How about Sarah McLachlan, Surfaces? She too got a boost from Mountain Stage. Best romantic female singer maybe.
Miles Davis, my favorite is his Spanish album, Sketches of Spain.
The Dead, American Beauty may be my favorite, another band good in concert, but many of their albums are just as good.
Duke Ellington both big band and piano, Louis Armstrong [believe it or not, I saw him live as a kid!], Oscar Peterson, another Canadian.
There’s a lot of classical music I love, but I can’t pick and choose, there are too many that are transcendent. I love many piano concertos, a good pianist with a good orchestra often makes me cry from the beauty of it… the Russians esp.
Some great music on this thread, I’ll look here in the morning and see what I haven’t heard and look it up.
Spaghetti Lee
@The prophet Nostradumbass:
Sorry bout that.
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
Have you tried Fish’s solo stuff? I think it might be better than Marillion with Fish or Marillion with Hogarth. I put Vigil in my number one spot, and Internal Exile and Suits are also great.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): As I said, I do like the Season’s End album, and I have, or had, the Holidays in Eden album somewhere, but I guess I lost track of them when they were dropped by their American record label.
I got to see them, with Fish on vocals, at the Fillmore West in San Francisco on, I think, the Misplaced Childhood tour. I don’t think they’ve been back to the West Coast since then.
burnspbesq
Five More:
Grievous Angel, Gram Parsons
The David Grisman Quintet, The David Grisman Quintet
Bitches Brew, Miles Davis
Emergency, The Tony Williams Lifetime
A Year in the Wilderness, John Doe
Quicksand
Ah, too many to choose from!
Swans – Children of God
Meat Puppets – Too High To Die
Jesus Lizard – Goat
King’s X – Gretchen Goes To Nebraska
Voivod – Angel Rat
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Spaghetti Lee:
Ditto on Power Windows, which I think is the best Rush studio album. I’ll take some of their live stuff (Different Stages and Rush in Rio) aof it, though.
While I do like Yes’ 80s stuff more than the 70s, I don’t like it as much as the stuff they’ve done since 1990.
suzanne
Also must add:
Social D-White Light White Heat White Trash
Graceland
PJ Harvey-To Bring You My Love
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers-Greatest Hits
Magnetic Fields-69 Love Songs
Time out of Mind
Amon Tobin-Out From Out Where
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@The prophet Nostradumbass: Marillion was in Los Angeles this past summer. I saw them in Chicago.
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
@Disco:
Just brought up their “Home” on the Spotify. Getting a vintage Moody Blues vibe (a good thing, in my book), albeit with the Moody’s flourishes dialed back.
‘Nother contemporary band with their roots in the ’60 showing is The Helio Sequence, especially their “Com Plex.” Any other group that might come across as trying a tad too hard to cop a Beatles sound would be laugher, but this duo freaking pulls it off to the point that when the (almost inevitable) cover of “Tomorrow Never Knows” comes up, they’ve shown they’ve earned to the opportunity to give a straight-up cover a shot, and they attack it fantastically.
Gravenstone
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): I almost went Tales, but “To One in Paradise” never really clicked with me. And I found Gaudi a highly mixed bag.
Spaghetti Lee
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
I don’t like it as much as the stuff they’ve done since 1990.
Also great! Can’t believe I forget to mention The Ladder. GREAT ALBUM. It’s one of those prog albums that cuts through some of the fluff and turns into a life-affirming experience. Listen to It Will Be a Good Day and If Only You Knew back to back whenever you’re feeling down. Works like a charm.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Spaghetti Lee: I haven’t heard any of Fish’s solo stuff but I think it’s unlikely that I’d like it better than Marillion. It’s both that I have a hard time seeing him with better musicians but also that the concerns that stir Hogarth’s lyrics speak to me so much more than any of the Fish stuff did.
lol chikinburd
Tom Waits – Rain Dogs
The Minutemen – Double Nickels On The Dime
Boredoms – Soul Discharge
Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
Neutral Milk Hotel – In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
Next five:
The Smiths – Louder Than Bombs (more than a US repackaging of Hatful of Hollow and whatnot; for one thing, the song sequence works better)
Led Zeppelin – IV
The Clash – London Calling
Frank Zappa – Apostrophe
and I don’t really have a fifth…oh, okay: XTC – Black Sea
Steeplejack
Love Power Peace: Live at the Olympia, Paris, 1971 – James Brown.
Bnut
I listened to the released version of Smile for the first time last week. If Brian Wilson has not gone full retard (50,000 didgeridoos!) I wonder if there might have been something amazing we missed out on.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): Really, I’m surprised, it wouldn’t have seemed economical for them, to me anyway.
Yutsano
@Gravenstone:
My brain went right to the eponymous architect, and I realized for a lot of people this is quite true.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Spaghetti Lee: I like The Ladder, but not as much as either Union (now there’s a word that pisses off a lot of Yes fans) or Magnification, both of which have the same effect on me that The Ladder does for you. I also really enjoy Fly From Here and parts of Talk, although other parts of that one strike me as really weak.
Steeplejack
If I Could Only Remember My Name – David Crosby.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano: Rests and/or absence of playing are a part of music. Cage just really emphasizes that part.
Spaghetti Lee
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
I haven’t heard any of Fish’s solo stuff
I’m here to serve!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC4kqc04Hjc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gMo2tndm1Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaADsJHKglc
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): Love Gaudi (I think “Standing On Higher Ground” is one of their best singles). But if push comes to shove, I’m in Camp I Robot.
=o )
burnspbesq
@Steeplejack:
B.B. King Live at the Regal
Peter Whiteford
@reality-based:
|Reality based I like your taste – I would say
Blue
Blood on the Tracks
Wrecking Ball
Nebraska
Jacksonville City Nights (Ryan Adams – listen to it if you don’t know it!)
Spaghetti Lee
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
I haven’t heard any of Fish’s solo stuff
I’m here to serve!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC4kqc04Hjc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gMo2tndm1Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaADsJHKglc
Steeplejack
Them Changes – Buddy Miles
Back at the Chicken Shack – Jimmy Smith
Sunday Concert – Gordon Lightfoot
Count Ulster
The Blasters. Over There: Live at the Venue, London.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
More?
Asia – Aura
Tangerine Dream – Optical Race
Mark Knopfler – Shangri-La
Porcupine Tree – Fear of a Blank Planet
The Art of Noise – Below the Waste
PJ
@Bnut: You should check out everything from Smiley Smile (1967) through Holland (1973). All of these records are uneven, but at least half of each album is brilliant, and not just from Brian, but Carl and Dennis’ songwriting and production contributions as well.
Spaghetti Lee
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
Oh fuck they’ve put me in moderation twice now. Just look up ‘Credo’, ‘The Emperor’s Song’, ‘Cliche’, ‘The Big Wedge’, and ‘Dear Friend’ on YouTube.
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
@Yutsano: Seems I heard that the English translation for “Sagrada Familia” is “Pardon our dust,” although I remain dubious.
Oh, what I wouldn’t give for the chance to spend a day in Barcelona, photographing his iconic cathedral and other of his architecture.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn: I find “Standing on Higher Ground” the second weakest track on the album, after “Money Talks.” Still, weakest track on that album is nothing to sneeze at.
PJ
@Steeplejack: I considered David Crosby to be up there with Karl Rove in the baby boomer blight sweepstakes, but I picked up this album earlier this year, and it’s really good.
lol chikinburd
Third five:
Boredoms – Pop Tatari
Orbital – Snivilization
Naked City – Torture Garden
Tom Waits – Frank’s Wild Years
They Might Be Giants – Apollo 18
Had to go to a third five to find a list without near-total overlap with previous entries (which, I guess, speaks to how good those albums are).
burnspbesq
Five incredibly good records that almost nobody has heard:
Escenas, Ruben Blades
Homeland, Tish Hinojosa
Evening Comes Early, John Doyle
Crossing the Field, Jenny Scheinman
Gladwell, Julian Lage
The prophet Nostradumbass
A couple more albums:
Black Sabbath – Heaven and Hell
The Pogues – Rum, Sodomy and The Lash
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
Heh. Oh, well.
Agreed about “Money Talks,” which was so totes not necessary. “We get it, Alan – you were the recording engineer for DSOTM – no hitting over the head needed.”
Yutsano
@Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn: Well, it’s taking them a wee bit longer to finish than they originally planned. :) I haven’t checked, but I wonder if the depression in Spain has set the end date back even further now. It was just barely in my lifetime (2048!) last time I checked. The fortunate thing is so much of Barcelona is influenced and directly designed by Gaudi that it really is his city. I wouldn’t be shocked if the depression finally gives Catalonia the final push for true independence.
Steeplejack
@burnspbesq:
That’s a beauty.
Can’t think of the name, but what’s that two-LP set of Bill Evans at the Village Vanguard? That’s got to be way up there.
Damn, I keep thinking of more stuff.
Double Trouble or Texas Flood by Stevie Ray Vaughan. Take your pick.
Albert King, Born Under a Bad Sign.
A Long Time Comin’, the Electric Flag.
Song for Juli, Jesse Colin Young.
6- and 12-String Guitar, Leo Kottke.
Must. Stop. Now.
Origuy
Just throwing out a few that haven’t been mentioned:
Moody Blues – Days of Future Passed
The Pogues – If I Should Fall From Grace With God
Eagles – Desperado
Robin Trower – Bridge of Sighs
I thing I’ve dated myself.
James E. Powell
@burnspbesq:
B.B. King Live at the Regal
Something has happened, something bad. Because this album used to be on nearly every ‘essential’ list but in recent years I find most people I talk to have never heard of it.
Karmus
What a thread. A lot of great stuff, and so much music I’d love to listen to.
All I have to add that I don’t see mentioned is
Kirsty MacColl — Kite
totally fits for me Cole’s “perfect, listenable” criteria.
Recommended for fans of awesome female vocal harmony.
Omnes Omnibus
@The prophet Nostradumbass: Oh, that Pogues album…. fucking brilliant. Not a miss on it.
@Karmus: Kirsty MacColl was simply amazing. We lost her too soon and in such a stupid way.
Maude
Not favorites, but they did stand out.
Beatles:
Dr. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
The White Album
Hard Days Night
Meet The Beatles
Help
Moody Blues, Days of Future Past
Jesus Christ Super Star
Four Seasons First Album
Leslie Gore
Peter, Paul and Mary
Bob Dylan
Rhapsody in Blue
Glen Miller
Chuck Berry
Aretha Franklin
Supremes
I’m too tired to think of more.
Steeplejack
@PJ:
It really holds up. My only minor quibble is that I would move “Cowboy Movie” to the start or the end. It’s a great song, but it kind of breaks the thematic flow of the others.
Another “perfect” album from that period that I consider stylistically similar: Surrealistic Pillow by the Jefferson Airplane.
burnspbesq
@Steeplejack:
Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby. Essentials for anyone building a jazz collection.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Spaghetti Lee: I listened to “Credo” and “The Emperor’s Song.” Both are interesting enough that I’ll try some more but neither really grabbed me. Part of it is that I don’t really like my music heavily political. I mostly find that music is a weak way to make political arguments.
Steeplejack
@James E. Powell:
B.B. King has sort of faded from view. I hate to say it, but the probable next phase of his career is the “He just died” reappreciation and homage bump.
I saw him with Bonnie Raitt in Mobile, Alabama, one time. Excellent show, and they were well matched.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
More?
Chris de Burgh – Man on the Line
The Mystery – One Among the Living
Steve Hackett – Live Archive 70s, 80s, 90s: The Grand Theater (the 90s leg of a four album set)
Steve Howe – Turbulence
Gabriel Yared – The English Patient Soundtrack
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: I saw him a couple of years ago at Summerfest in Milwaukee. His hands weren’t as fast as they once were but his guitar playing became almost impressionistic at times. And when he did do true B.B. King solos they were real and true.*
*Sorry to have gone Hemingway at the end there but how else to describe it? Do you box?
Spaghetti Lee
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
I don’t particularly mind the political stuff (it probably helps that Fish is a big ol’ lefty) and when it comes down to it, I’d probably pick a random political song over a random love song, but the sheer musical awesomeness is what did it for me.
But if you really don’t like it, don’t bother with the Vigil album. It’s basically 50 minutes of ‘Capitalism sucks’. Internal Exile has more love songs and the like.
Spaghetti Lee
@Omnes Omnibus:
‘Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.’
wasabi gasp
Soundtrack:
Aimee Mann – Magnolia
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Your meaning was clear and strong and true because your writing was brave and clean and necessary.
the dude
Moar:
Julie London – Julie Is Her Name
Nat King Cole – Love Is The Thing
Frank Sinatra – Sinatra’s Swingin’ Session
Shirley Horn – Here’s To Life
John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman – s/t
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Spaghetti Lee: I like a good love song (although I define the term a bit differently than most) but that’s not what really hooks me, either. It’s a bit hard to articulate what I really like. To stick with Marillion, the very personal, psychological stuff like Happiness Is the Road or Marbles is right in my whellhouse.
An exception to my dislike of political music is Mark Knopfler who has both a very deft touch and a way of defining his targets narrowly enough that he avoids overreach.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: Okay then. Fight or drink?
Gogiggs
The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
Ride – Nowhere
The Softboys – Underwater Moonlight
Bob Dylan – Blonde On Blonde
Teenage Fanclub – Songs From Northern Britain
Yutsano
@Omnes Omnibus: I believe Ernest always answered that with yes.
the dude
As for Marillion: I effing love the first album Script For A Jester’s Tear (even got the LP hanging up on me wall). Second album Fugazi was a bit patchy, but third album Misplaced Childhood was effing brilliant. Never warmed much to Clutching At Straws aprt from the opening suite of songs, and once Fish left I lost interest (though Season’s End had one or two good tracks).
Oh, and Yes – Big Generator? I tried to listen to that last week. Meh.
DaveInOz
1) Dark Side of the Moon-Pink Floyd – perfect from end to end
2) Tales from Topographic Oceans – Yes (the one before Relayer). This one got me through my High School exams
3) Led Zeppelin II – well, it has got Whole Lotta Love on it
4) Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
5) Love Over Gold -Dire Straits. Private Investigations is the best thing they ever did.
Tubular Bells would have made it but I don’t like the second side much.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Fight, then drink. And remind me to go over there and punch that sissy Scott Fitzgerald in the nose. I don’t like the way he’s looking at us. Yeah, Zelda, if you want a real man, let me know.
Steeplejack
Okay, I’m dead. Have to be in the crypt before sunrise.
I think this thread has motivated me to finally unpack my receiver and CD/DVD player and connect them and the big-ass TV to the speakers and the subwoofer. The premium sound experience returns to Chez Steep!
Steeplejack
Here’s a weird thing. Apparently (but only sometimes) you can’t edit a comment when it’s the last one in the thread. So let me see if adding this one lets me edit the previous one.
ETA: Yeah, it did. FYWP. And now it let me edit this one, although after an interminable delay.
Yutsano
@Steeplejack: Or it’s just FYWP being FYWP.
AHH onna Droid
Sgt pepper,
Jefferson airplane
Jagged little pill
Superunknown
Pines of rome
Classical geeks need a symphony thread. One could argue that some traditional symphonies have filler, like Handel s slow movements. Throw in concertos, also, too.
@Joel:
jayackroyd
@PJ:
Thanks so much. Yes, I can hear Monk. Actually, I can hear Brubek. You say Waits says (and I’m a fan–gutsucking pup with a nose full of porcupine quills) the piano is hard, but I can hear Rubinstein, and distinctly, Pollini. So I think I’m just lost. Just a listener. But I really really appreciate your help in thinking about this.
jayackroyd
@PJ:
Thanks so much. Yes, I can hear Monk. Actually, I can hear Brubek. You say Waits says (and I’m a fan–gutsucking pup with a nose full of porcupine quills) the piano is hard, but I can hear Rubinstein, and distinctly, Pollini. So I think I’m just lost. Just a listener. But I really really appreciate your help in thinking about this.
Finn13
Meat Puppets – Up On the Sun
Stereolab – Random Transient Noise Bursts with Announcements
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
Yo La Tengo – And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out
The Replacements – Pleased to Meet Me
The B-52’s – s/t
Bad Brains- Rock for Light
Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation
Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin
Husker Du – New Day Rising
Built to Spill- Perfect From Now On
R.E.M. – Reckoning
Steeplejack (phone)
@Yutsano:
True dat.
Made it to bed, now waiting for the housecat to come aboard so we can get to sleep. Good night/good morning to all.
eastvanhalen
@suzanne: Good grief, how could I forget Alien Lanes? GBV! GBV! GBV!
GregB
Ted Nugent-Goat Fucker
Hank Williams Jr.-More Shit Than Brains
Pat Boone-Pasty White and Bitter
Lee Greenwood-Life in Cuba with Dear Fidel
Victoria Jackson-Of Course it is an Act, No One Could Possibly Be this Stupid
Evan Hurst
Tori Amos – “Boys For Pele”
Jeff Buckley – “Grace”
Ryan Adams – “Heartbreaker”
Indigo Girls – “Rites Of Passage”
Ani DiFranco – “Dilate”
This kind of question is so not fair because obvious reasons. I listen to all genres of music and have love for hundreds of records…those are the first five that came to mind though, desert-island-wise.
Petorado
There’s too much good music to ever have a definitive “top 5” list, but, damn, there are some great musical sensibilities on this thread. Here’s 5 good ones:
1 – Pat Metheny Group – Travels
2 – Tori Amos – Little Earthquakes
3 – Peter Frampton -Frampton Comes Alive (a mature selection, no, but it rocked my word for a time back in the day)
4 – Bob Marley – Babylon by Bus
5 – Toots and the Maytals – Funky Kingston
Maybe not the best albums ever, but 5 really formative ones for me.
Bruuuuce
Way late, but what the hell. Let me note that I don’t generally listen to canned music anymore; it’s almost all live albums and boots for me, because that album stuff gets old fast. Here are two lists, one studio and one live.
Studio albums:
Renaissance: Scheherazade and Other Stories
The Decemberists: Picaresque
Genesis: Selling England by the Pound (though I can also listen to almost any album of theirs from Trespass through A Trick of the Tail repeatedly)
Richard Thompson: Rumor & Sigh
Dire Straits: Brothers in Arms (just edges out Making Movies)
Live Albums (official):
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain: Anarchy in the UKulele
Grateful Dead: Europe ’72
Renaissance: Live at Carnegie Hall
Dar Williams: Out There Live
Pete Seeger: We Shall Overcome – Carnegie Hall 1962
Bruce Springsteen: Live 1975-1985
Oh, gods, I almost forgot to include the Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
Great. I sit up playing records (vinyl ones. Off my lawn!), then retire at a reasonable hour only to rise in the am to find that Drunk John has posted a thread on my favorite subject.
I’ll go sulk now.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
Okay, perfect records? Just looking over my shoulder here at the recent pile I’ll give you five, in no particular order.
Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks – Pig Lib
P. J. Harvey – Stories From the City Stories From the Sea
Elbow – Asleep in the Back
Cowboy Junkies – Trinity Sessions
Freedy Johnston – This Perfect World
Cat Power – Moon Pix
Liz Phair – Exile in Guyville
The Spinanes – Arches and Aisles
The La’s – The La’s
Okay, more than 5. Sue me.
Anne Laurie
Maddy Prior & Tim Hart – Summer Solstice
Judy Collins – Judith
Emmylou Harris – Ballad of Sally Rose
Steeleye Span – Below the Salt
The Very Best of Aretha Franklin, vol. I*
Tom Rush – Circle Game
Mary Chapin Carpenter (her first)
*What can I say, Berry Gordy prioritized speed over quality when it came to LPs.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
Last night I dragged out a 1949 London/D’Oyly Carte recording of Pirates of Penzance for the hell of it. Wet-cleaned the records and gave it a spin. I’m not a fan of operetta (or other tedious, too-clever bourgeois amusements) but I like the music to this. Kinda fun, and the production on this 64 year old recording is stunningly good.
Plantsmantx
Kind of Blue- Miles Davis
Somethin’ Else- Cannonball Adderley
Curtis Live- Curtis Mayfield
Babylon By Bus- Bob Marley and The Wailers
It doesn’t qualify, but still…the “slow side” of any Seventies Isley Brothers’ album.
Steve Shannahan
WFC is also my favorite album by The Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore. I’m too lazy to come up with the other three.
kd bart
Beatles-Rubber Soul
Bruce Springsteen-Darkness on the Edge of Town
Jackson Browne-Running on Empty
Marshall Crenshaw-Marshall Crenshaw
Pearl Jam-Ten
Odie Hugh Manatee
The Sweet: Desolation Boulevard
Def Leppard: High ‘n’ Dry
Great White: Once Bitten
Zappa: One Size Fits All
Boston (Debut Album)
sweaver
I tend to like songs, not albums. But my favorite album from soup to nuts is Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors. Every song is perfect.
The Ancient Randonneur
@burnspbesq:
Makes my Top Five as well. Excellent choice.
@Steve V:
He’s from WV so I’m surprised the list isn’t full of banjo music and squealing pigs.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@sweaver:
I have a ton of Fleetwood Mac records on vinyl for some reason. Went through a spell of cleaning up and listening to them. can’t recall the last time I’d heard Kiln House. Maybe the style doesn’t stand up too well, but the songwriting and performance were really strong. And Rumours is pretty much the perfect Fleetwood mac album.
kermit
@Steve V: exactly. Close to Edge is where it’s at
Bago
@Keith: Thank you. I found this thread’s lack of Tool. Disturbing.
Antonius
Not in any particular order and showing my age:
Tom Waits – The Heart of Saturday Night
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here
Jethro Tull – Songs from the Wood
Pink Floyd – Animals
The Who – Quadophenia
Billy
@Steve V: Easily :) Far and away.
Barney
Supertramp – Crime of the Century
Genesis – The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here
Genesis – Trick of the Tail
Suzanne Vega – Solitude Standing
and, if 2 albums from the same group aren’t allowed, A Curious Feeling by Tony Banks, to replace Trick of the Tail (no, having a solo album by a band member is definitely fine).
Concerned Citizen
No mention for these yet?
beastie boys: paul’s boutique
guns n roses: appetite for destruction
Perfect albums.
Billy
Wow I could never pick 5.
Beatles – Abbey Road
Joni Mitchell – Court and Spark
Brian Eno – Another Green World / Taking Tiger Mountain / Before and After Science
Squarepusher – Selection Sixteen
Magazine – Secondhand Daylight
Talking Heads – Remain in Light
Cocteau Twins – (anything pre 1993) but especially Heaven or Las Vegas
Allman Brothers – Idlewild South
King Crimson – Red / Starless / Larks’ Tongues
Yes – Relayer
Jethro Tull – Aqualung / Songs from the Wood
DJ Shadow – Endtroducing
Zombies – Odessey and Oracle
Wall of Voodoo – Call of the West
Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon
George Harrison – All Things Must Pass
Iggy Pop – New Values
Miles Davis – Kind of Blue
I love music. Really.
ChesterS
Britten – War Requiem – Britten, cond.
Maria Callas – Lyric & Coloratura Arias
Berg – Lulu – Boulez
Prokofiev & Ravel – Piano Concertos – Argerich, Abbado
Messiaen – Quartet for the End of Time – Tashi
RosiesDad
5 perfect albums. So many more omitted or forgotten.
Waiting for Columbus
Roxy and Elsewhere
Who’s Next
Led Zep 4
Katy Lied (or Pretzel Logic or Can’t Buy a Thrill or Royal Scam or Aja or Countdown to Ectasy. Pick one. They are all pretty much perfect.)
Also, as a matter of opinion, Relayer doesn’t hold a candle to Fragile or Close to the Edge.
RosiesDad
@Billy:
I got an email from a friend yesterday who was compiling a Top Ten Classic Album list. 10 was really hard. 5 nearly impossible; you just pick and choose from your favorite 50 or 100 and reconcile to omitting a ton of great music.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
Regarding Jethro Tull, I listened to Thick as a Brick, Aqualung and Songs From the Wood last weekend. Thick is still my favorite of that bunch and I was surprised to find I no longer like Songs from the Wood as much as I used to. Maybe the prog factor is too strong there.
Donna
Everything But The Girl—The Language of Life
Johnny Hates Jazz—Turn Back the Clock
Joni Mitchell—Night Ride Home
Dire Straits—Alchemy
Jackson Brown—Running on Empty
Ron
I think Pink Floyd just managed to create complete albums better than anyone else. Animals,Wish You Were Here, Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall. All just great complete albums. Other than those:
Rush: A Farewell To Kings
Barenaked Ladies: Gordon and Stunt
Led Zeppelin IV
Queen: The Game
Billy
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist: re Songs from the Wood
I picked that one for it’s sheer inventiveness, recalling old England with songs both bawdy and reflective. Lyrically some of Anderson’s best work.
Clearly all subjective though :)
Billy
@Billy:
And how, just how really could I have left out:
David Bowie – Low / Heroes / Lodger
The Stranglers – The Raven / Meninblack (criminally underappreciated in the US)
Boards of Canada – everything they have ever done
Wolfgang Press – Queer / Funky Little Demons
ok, I’m done now for real.
wonkie
Ry Cooder Paradise and Lunch.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@Billy:
I listen to The Campfire Headphase at least once a week and never get tired of it.
celticdragonchick
In no order:
Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon
Altan: Island Angel (Northern Ireland traditional Celtic band)
Def Leppard: Pyromania
Jean Sibelius / Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan – Finlandia • Valse Triste • Tapiola • Der Schwan Von Tuonela • The Swan Of Tuonela (One of the loveliest classical albums I have ever tried to wear out on continued play)
Bruce Springsteen: Born in the USA
Dire Straights: Brothers in Arms
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
Oy, how could I forget: Banco de Gaio’s Last Train to Lhasa.
honus
@Ron: Atom Heart Mother
COB
If I could have five albums on my semi-lush, electronically-wired tropical isle I would want:
Hendrix – Electric Ladyland
John Prine – John Prine
Springsteen – Born to Run
Derek & the Dominoes – Layla
Bonnie Raitt – Taking my time
and bonus pick – Waiting for Columbus and double-bonus pick, Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks.
My fantasy island comes with at least 2 bonus picks.
Montysano
I’m late to the party, but here goes:
Paul Simon – Rhythm of the Saints
Pink Floyd – Animals
Any one of several Joni albums
Any one of several Stevie Wonder albums
The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow (I’ve been obsessed w/TCW lately)
The Black Keys – Brothers
Gillian Welch – Time (The Revelator)
Allman Bros – Live at Filmore East
I could easily keep going.
tworivers
I could never pick 5 either. Here’s 37:
Byrds – Younger than Yesterday
Charles Mingus – Town Hall Concert (1964)
T. Rex – The Slider
Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Iggy and the Stooges – Fun House
The Clash – The Clash
Husker Du – New Day Rising
Meat Puppets – Up On the Sun
Spiritualized – Laser Guided Melodies
Augustus Pablo – King Tubby Meets the Root Rockers Uptown
Magic Sam – West Side Soul
Kinks – Something Else
Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy
Sir Douglas Quintet – Mendocino
Sun Dial – Other Way Out
Calexico – Feast of Wire
Neil Young – Everybody Know This Is Nowhere
Love – Forever Changes
Jimi Hendrix – Axis Bold As Love
Incredible String Band – Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter
Elvis Presley- Sun Sessions
Miles Davis – Kind of Blue
Eric Dolphy – Out There
Red Simpson – Roll, Truck, Roll
Pram – Museum of Imaginary Animals
Zombies – Odyssey and Oracle
Electric Prunes – Stockholm ’67
Labradford – Mi Media Naranja
Pink Floyd – Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Tim Buckley – Happy Sad
John Fahey – Days Have Gone By
Velvet Underground – Loaded
Raincats – The Kitchen Tapes
Dolly Parton – Coat of Many Colors
Braodcast – Ha Ha Sound
Fuxa – Accretion
Modern Jazz Quartet – Pyramid
if comps were allowed, I would have picked a Johnny Cash comp. Johnny rules, but his regular studio releases were a bit erratic.
RevDave
@James E. Powell: BB Live at the Regal should be required in every music education class and in everyone’s IPOD.
RevDave
Miles – Kind of Blue
Allmans – Live at Fillmore
Elvin Bishop Group – Feel It!
Dead – Europe 72
Dylan – Blood on Tracks
stuck in 70s this morning
RevDave
Miles – Kind of Blue
Allmans – Live at Fillmore
Elvin Bishop Group – Feel It!
Dead – Europe 72
Dylan – Blood on Tracks
stuck in 70s this morning
OmerosPeanut
I’m going by the standard of albums that I return to, time and time again over a period of many years. For instance, I first got a copy of “Dusk” fifteen years ago. And I still love every single song. In no particular order:
Brian Eno – Another Green World
Talk Talk – Colour of Spring
James – Laid
The The – Dusk
Remy Zero – The Golden Hum
I wonder if anyone else’s list gives a poor sense of their overall taste in music, or if it is tied to a particular time period. Also, how many albums did you discover well after their release?
FargoFan
@Steeplejack: “Jose Feliciano: you got no complaints” (Carl Showalter)
jayackroyd
I dunno. I think maybe I’d replace the easy Kind of Blue with Monk/Trane.
PanurgeATL
Yes, Close To The Edge (because JC already picked Relayer–or substitute any Yes album from The Yes Album to Going For The One)
echolyn, as the world (or substitute suffocating the bloom)
Jethro Tull, Songs From The Wood (or Minstrel In The Gallery, Thick As A Brick, or A Passion Play)
Chicago II (The album that got me seriously into music when I was 7–it belonged to my big sister, but I have it now. They’ve done better, but this is the most important to me.)
Berg/Webern/Schoenberg: Orchestral Pieces, Berlin Philharmonic conducted by James Levine
PanurgeATL
@OmerosPeanut:
I’ve spent my whole musical life catching up, it seems. Exhibit A is probably the first album (self-titled) by Hatfield And The North, which already seemed like a relic when I first came across it. Still a stone-cold classic.
danielx
Nothing like a music thread…
1. Allman Brothers Band – Fillmore East
2. Little Feat – Waiting For Columbus
3. Bruce Springsteen – Born To Run
4. Miles Davis – Kind Of Blue
5. annnnnd…gotta go for a tie
5a. Joni Mitchell – Blue (#1 depressing breakup album of all time, featuring River, most depressing breakup song of all time)
5b. Bob Dylan – Blood On The Tracks (which Jakob Dylan referred to in an interview as “my parents’ conversations”. Holidays must have been fun in that household.)
Kathy
@piratedan: I love the Marshall Crenshaw pick. His Mom was my English teacher in 9th grade so I had a front row seat on the beginning of his career.
Svensker
Joni Mitchel — Miles of Aisles
Van Morrison — Sense of Wonder
Michael Jackson – Thriller
Gap Band — Gap Band IV
Donna Summer – Bad Girls
Prince – 1999
George Clinton — Computer Games
Richard Thompson — Rumor and Sigh
CS&N – Crosby Stills & Nash
Simon & Garfunkel — America
Dylan — Nashville Skyline
Yes, I’m an Old who also loves 80s funk. Sometimes I wonder how I keep from going under.
Svensker
Oh fer gawds sake, i’m late to the party AND in moderation. And why? Guess FYWP doesn’t like da funk.
Kathy
Very late, not sure if I can even go all the way through, but here goes in no order
Bob Seager Live Bullit
Steely Dan Aja
Credence Clearwater Revivial Cosmos Factory
Arlo Guthrie Alice’s Restaurant
Marc Knoffler Sailing to Philadelphia
burnspbesq
@The Ancient Randonneur:
The entire Brad Paisley and Kathy Mattea fan clubs, all 30-odd million of them, would like a word with you.
martin schafer
In no particular order
Stop Making Sense Talking Heads
Alchemy Dire Straits
Between the Breaks Stan Rogers
Abbey Road The Beatles
American Beauty The Grateful Dead
Spike
The first one will probably banish me to moderation hell, but…
The New Pornographers – Electric Version
Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul – Men Without Women
Camper Van Beethoven – Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart
The National – High Violet
Steve Earle – Transcendental Blues
burnspbesq
Question for those of you who named a Jethro Tull album: why no love for Benefit?
Leeds man
Larks’ Tongues in Aspic
Relayer
Bitches Brew
Goldberg Variations, Gould, 1981
801 Live
cmorenc
Layla – Derek And the Dominos (Clapton)
Who’s Next – Who
Sergeant Pepper’s – Beatles
Crossroads 2007 concert (various, hosted by Clapton)
George Jones/Tammy Wynette Greatest Hits (when you’re in a tearjerking mood, nothing is better)
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@Leeds man:
Cult fave. People either adore it or have no clue. I wore out my vinyl copy.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@Spike:
I love that record. Challengers and Twin Cinema are pretty great as well. TNP are great musicians and songwriters but I wish they were better produced. The sound is all compressed and tinny. Sounds like it was downloaded via an AM radio in the dashboard of a Ford Pinto. Really a shame.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
I love listening to music but lately I spend as many evenings in hotels as I do at home. Really look forward to weekends when I can blow the dust off the needle and spin some platters. I have numerous ways I could have portable music, including a decent powered speaker that I designed for the purpose, but it’s just not the same. I like the way Chopin or Howlin’ Wolf sounds coming out of 200 lbs of wood boxes in a 900 square foot room. That’s music to me. maybe I’ll come to terms with headphones some day but for now they just make me sad.
ETA: plus I’d have to select the music to take on the road. At home there’s a wall of records and CDs to discover new or forgotten stuff in. That’s half the fun.
Forum Transmitted Disease
Relayer?
Great album but not one that’s on a lot of people’s “favorites” list. You kick ass, John.
huckster
@moderateindy: “Hello Angel” is a great fuckin’song.
Ron
@honus: I never got into Atom Heart Mother as much. Could be I’m just too young :P
Maude
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:
I swear I saw a turntable for sale in one of the mini mall stores. It was not what I would call a good turntable.
Is vinyl coming back? It would be worth having it.
I played a lot of music on a decent turntable and there’s nothing like it, IMHO.
Don K
Hard to hold it down to five, but here goes:
The Who – Who’s Next
Pete Townshend – Empty Glass
Genesis – Foxtrot
Husker Du – Zen Arcade
The Clash – London Calling
Forum Transmitted Disease
Only five, eh? I’ll try:
Rush – Moving Pictures
Cibo Matto – Stereotype A
Meatmen – Pope On A Rope
Kalishnikov – Oh Yeah, Motherfucker!
Steely Dan – Aja
catbutler
Fantastic thread. I usually just lurk here, but you brought me out.
Mountain Goats – Talahassee
Counting Crows – August and Everything After
Steve Lacy – Reflections
The O’Kanes – The Only Years (I could listen to this every day for the rest of my life)
Paul Simon – Graceland (still fresh today)
Warron Zevon – Excitable Boy
Sun Ra – Sun Ra Visits Planet Earth
I couldn’t keep it to five.
These are about the only things I listen to that don’t wear out for me over time.
vtr
Born to Run, of course
Court and Spark – Joni Mitchell
Take 5 – Brubeck, because we’re remained recently how great he was.
Flatt and Scruggs at Carnegie Hall 1963
Charles Ives 2nd Symphony – Bernstein and NY Phil
Oops, there’s no room for J. Tull’s Songs From The Wood, or Sinatra’s Come Fly With Me.
Disco
David Crosby – Voyage (box set)
The man pretty much never did a bad song. Even newer stuff is really good.
Citizen_X
The Damned – Machine Gun Etiquitte
Stooges – Funhouse
Black Sabbath – IV (or Master of Reality? Ask me in five minutes)
Kyuss – Welcome to Sky Valley
Discharge – Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing
And bonus round-a tie for best live album ever:
Hendrix/Miles/Cox – Band of Gypsys
Ramones – It’s Alive
vtr
And the eighth in my top five is Port of Morrow by The Shins
burnspbesq
@RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:
801 Live’s been reissued. I found a copy in a store in Seattle last summer.
Raenelle
Forever Changes, Love
American Beauty, GD
Deja Vu, CSN&Y
Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack, Richard O’Brien
Blonde on Blonde, Dylan
huckster
This is impossible.
In no particular order
Beatles- Revolver
Stones- Exile
REM- Life’s rich pageant
Whiskeytown- Faithless Street
Cars- Candy O
Robert Gordon- With Link Wray
The Dream Syndicate- The days of wine and roses
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers- Hard Promises
John Coltrane- My favorite Things
The Replacements- Tim
Chet Baker- Sings
Lucinda Williams- car wheels on a gravel road
Blasters- American music
X- Los Angeles
burnspbesq
@Maude:
Oh heck yeah. The entry-level turntables from Rega and Pro-Ject, which cost about $400 with cartridge pre-installed, are better than 99 percent of what was around in the 1970s. Lots of new records are being issued on vinyl, and indie labels are making it easy for you to have your vinyl and your iPod by sticking a coupon for a free download in the album cover. And you’ve got the greatest used record store on earth, Princeton Record Exchange, less than an hour away. Go for it!
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@Maude:
Avoid Stanton, Numark and the DJ-wannabe ‘tables. TDK makes one that’s as good as 75% of what was sold in the ’70s. Looks nice as well.
There are hundreds of millions of records out there and many can be had for peanuts if not free. I’m way deep into phono technology these days and I love playing records. But I get that it’s not for everyone.
huckster
A few more
Steve Earle- Guitar Town
Neil Young- After the Gold rush
Squeeze- Singles
Chuck Berry- The Great 28
Marvin Gaye- What’s goin’ on
Bill Murray
To keep from getting too long a list, I am sticking to those yet to be named, so no Clash, Replacements etc.
Mission of Burma — Signals, Calls and Marches
The Connells — Boylan Heights
Idlewild — The Remote Part
The Housemartins — London 0 Hull 4
The Wedding Present — George Best
Old 97s — Fight Songs
The Reivers — Translate Slowly
Paul Kelly and the Messengers — Under the Sun
PJ
@burnspbesq: I bought one of the entry level Pro-Jects (the Debut III), and it’s been a complete lemon. It runs backwards whenever it feels like it, and it usually makes a terrible grinding noise. I sent it off to be repaired when it was under warranty (which was a complete hassle in itself, as no one in the supply chain wanted to take responsibility – retailer said it had to go to the importer, importer said it had to go to the retailer), but the problem has rearisen now that the warranty has expired.
Mom Says I'm Handsome
1) Zappa – One Size Fits All
2) Clash – London Calling
3) Meat Puppets – Too High to Die
4) Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros – Global a Go-Go
5) Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique
Robert Lukens
Jeff Beck – Blow by Blow
Pearl Jam – 10
Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon
Zappa – Overnight Sensation
Mitch Hedberg – Any album
Spike
@Bill Murray:
This is just all kinds of awesome. “Tell Me Ten Words” and “Live In a Hiding Place” are two of my favourite songs ever.
I loved this band. Saw them live at Club Dada (or was it Clearview? I forget) in Dallas back in 1989 or so, and instantly developed a mad crush on Kim Longacre that I’ve never fully gotten over. I was very happy to learn that they’re back together and planning a new release.
Xjmueller
So many great albums listed, but I didn’t see
Lucinda Williams -Car wheels on a gravel road
Dixie Chicks – Home
Stones -Let it bleed
Also missing ( or I missed them ) Doors (any) Joe Jackson ( Look sharp or others) , John Hiatt (any) Traffic (John Barleycorn or others)
eclecticbrotha
@eclecticbrotha: Two alternates would be:
Band of Gypsys – Band of Gypsys
Marvin Gaye – “Trouble Man” movie soundtrack album. I dare you to play it while you’re driving.
Al Brito
Radiohead and no Paul Simon? Really?
earl in ca
in no particular order-
zappa – make a jazz noise here
zeppelin – physical graffiti
phish – junta / all of 93/94 tour
miles – live evil
pink floyd – animals
divF
Albums as an art form had not really made it to DC in the 60’s (my high-school time and place), but were in full flower in 1969 when arrived in Berkeley. Here are a few that hit me up side the head that first year.
Beatles – Abbey Road. Literally the first thing I heard when I arrived – it was blaring out of every room in my dormitory.
Van Morrison – Astral Weeks. Perfect music to get drunk by – time your drinks correctly and you start passing out during “Slim Slow Slider”.
Kottke – 6&12 String Guitar. As pure instrumental music each track flows into the next perfectly.
Kinks Kronikles. Yes, a compilation, but the Kinks told stories with their music better than any band in the 60’s.
Pentangle – Basket of Light. Live album, an exemplar of British folk-rock, surpassed only by Fairport Convention’s Liege and Lief, which came out the following summer.
Dan Hicks – Original Recordings. A Bay Area product. Over time the band evolved from Haight-Ashbury to Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross.
Judy Collins – Who Knows Where the Time Goes.
Larkspur
Late to the party, so late, but hey, party still seems like it’s going on.
Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense and Remain in Light
Paul Simon: Graceland
Pixies: Trompe le Monde
PJ Harvey: Dry
Aimee Mann: Lost In Space
Taj Mahal: Natch’l Blues
earl in ca
@john cole –
do something with this collection of lists!!! i’ve found so much xlnt music from the comments. my ipod is going to be busy this holiday season. #war on xmas
Wheezy
U2: Joshua Tree
Springsteen: Born To Run
Dire Straits: Making Movies*
Steve Earle: (live/unrealeased) Byron Bay, Austrailia show (1998) (downloaded off of Dimeadozen)
Clash: London Calling
*One song on it I don’t like, so technically this might not qualify
burnspbesq
@PJ:
Wow. Sorry to hear that. Based on what I’ve heard from other Pro-Ject owners, your experience is uncommon, which I’m sure doesn’t make you feel any better.
I went Rega because there was a Rega dealer 10 minutes from my office at the time. Started with a P1, and later upgraded to a P3 with the external power supply. I’m holding on to the P1 in case the kid decides ha wants it.
reboho
Imagine – John Lennon (and I do believe in Beatles)
and not that I lack a sense of irony
Rust Never Sleeps – Neil Young (lots to Harvest here, including Trans)
Anything Brian Eno did, touched, had a cup of tea with
So – Peter Gabriel (good records to start shaking the tree)
Seconds Out – Genesis (or anything, really)
Heroes – David Bowie (pick an era, all good)
Graceland – Paul Simon (He shines like a National guitar)
Life’s Rich Pageant – R.E.M. (too many to choose from)
The Royal Scam – Steely Dan
Katy Lied – Steely Dan
The Nightfly – Donald Fagen
Sonia Dada – Sonia Dada (so good)
Brain Salad Surgery – ELP
Thick as a Brick – Jethro Tull
Aqualung (ok, nearly everything Tull)
Combat Rock (OK, nearly everything Clash)
The Bends, OK Computer; (absolutely everything Radiohead)
Fear of Music (everything Talking Heads)
Quadrophenia, Live at Leeds – The Who
Then there is Pink Floyd – everything
Absolute NEW Favorite in the vein is Riverside
Second Life Syndrome – Riverside
Out of Myself – Riverside
Rapid Eye Movement – Riverside
Porcupine Tree – In Absentia (OK, everything)
Tangerine Dream – Force Majeure (Lots to choose from)
Talk Talk (everything)
Crowded House – Crowded House
Neil Finn – Try Whistling This
Philip Glass – Koyaanisqatsi
Too many to list, leaving too many artists and records off my list but then I’d listing my collection; haven’t mentioned any Jazz or Classical.
tl;dl (too long; do listen)
Thanks for the thread, much can be gleaned by your taste in music…
handsmile
Just now getting to the after-party of the after-party to this thread. Will be going through the three hundred-plus previous comments here, but this is such a delightful (and revealing) topic (impossible too! only five!), I wanted to post my contribution.
Rock/pop “top five perfect albums” only. Jazz albums would have to be considered separately, and there’s simply no way I could come up with only five perfect albums of classical music (even if I were to limit myself just to Bartok). With those caveats then, alphabetically:
Drunk with Passion (The Golden Palominos)
This Way Out (Idaho)
Pretzel Logic (Steely Dan)
Pour Down Like Silver (Richard and Linda Thompson)
The Yes Album (Yes)
And because this is just too difficult, three more:
A Walk Across the Rooftops (The Blue Nile)
Robin Holcomb (Robin Holcomb)
Fear of Music (Talking Heads)
I’m really looking forward to now reading others’ lists!
burnspbesq
ETA: Stephen Mejias wrote a terrifically funny column a couple of months ago about the first time he tried to install a new cartridge on his turntable. I’m sure you vinyl guys and gals can relate.
http://www.stereophile.com/content/entry-level-23
divF
@divF: Correction: it seems that Basket of Light was a studio album; the album prior to that, Sweet Child was (at least partially) live. Both great, though.
Jacel
@John Cole, if you rank Zappa’s Fillmore East 1971 album as one of your favorites, I hope you’ve heard the first Phlorescent Leech & Eddie album. It’s essentially the same crew backing up the former Turtles singers. Great flow of songs magically played and sung. I’m so glad it was finally issued on CD:
http://www.amazon.com/Phlorescent-Leech-Eddie-flo-Double/dp/B0010ZR0CA/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1355076013&sr=1-2&keywords=flo+eddie
Southern Beale
I love Waiting For Columbus.
I don’t know if I have five perfect albums because my tastes change all the time. One month I’ll wear the hell out of one album on my iPod and then I move on to another. Right now I’m really into jazz. I’m listening to jazz almost exclusively these days. Love Chris Standring, and also a group called Four80East. But then in a few months I’ll switch to something else.
Spaghetti Lee
Had no idea there were so many fellow prog-heads here. I thought the genre was kind of disliked in these parts.
BGinCHI
In a desperate attempt to catch up, I’ll post a top five.
Pavement: Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Richard Buckner: Since
The Replacements: Let It Be
Graham Parker: Squeezing Out Sparks
Silver Jews: American Water
BGinCHI
Wait, now that I think about it:
Uncle Tupelo: Anodyne
The Byrds: Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Steve Earle: Train a Comin’
Loomer: Songs of the Wild West Island
Old 97s: Hitchhike to Rhome
Bill Murray
@Spike:
They are now called Right or Happy, here they are at SxSW in 2009. Kim Longacre is still crushworthy. I did not until looking through their website today that Hootie and the Blowfish covered 3 of their songs as single b-sides
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WkiS9Z4khY
PJ
@burnspbesq: Yeah, I can understand that defects happen, but their customer service was so unpleasant (initially denying that they had any responsibility under the warranty) that I will never deal with them again.
Ed Dunkle
KImono My House by Sparks
Siren by Roxy Music
Velocity of Sound by Apples in Stereo
The Boy With the Arab Strap by Belle & Sebastion
The Coast is Never Clear by Beulah
and an honorable mention because it always makes me laugh:
There’ll Be No Tears Tonight by Eugene Chadbourne
denali
Court and Spark – Joni Mitchell
Diamonds and Rust – Joan Baez
Abbey Road – Beatles
Layla – Derek and the Dominoes
The Portable Kate Campbell
Svensker
@divF:
I wore out Sweet Child.
Ivan X
Five albums I would not want to alter in any way:
New Order — Brotherhood (but, really any of their first four albums)
Swans — Children of God
Comsat Angels — Sleep No More
Curve — Cuckoo
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry — Nothing Wrong
MuckJagger
@BGinCHI:
I likes the way you thinks.
MuckJagger
I’m more of a find-the-best-song-or-two-and-make-a-playlist kind of guy, but as far as entire albums go, here’s my Fab Five:
John Prine: Sweet Revenge
Reckless Kelly: Bulletproof
Bruce Springsteen: Thunder Road
Warren Zevon: Excitable Boy
Rockpile: Seconds of Pleasure
MuckJagger
Sorry – have “Thunder Road” on the brain today from a trivia sheet I’ve been working on. It’s “Born to Run,” of course, but “I do not have permission to edit this comment.”
celiadexter
Way too many to pick just 5, but here are some that I love, each from a different genre:
Wayne Shorter — Speak No Evil
Emerson String Quartet — Brahms String Quartet #3, String Quintet
Ruben Blades, Willie Colon — Metiendo Mano
Laura Nyro — Eli and the 13th Confession
Derek and the Dominos — Layla
...now I try to be amused
Jean-Luc Ponty – Cosmic Messenger
Frank Zappa – Hot Rats
Joni Mitchell – Hejira
Tosca Tango Orchestra – Waking Life soundtrack
Crosby, Stills, and Nash – (self-titled)
Death Panel Truck
Miles Smiles, Miles Davis
We’re Only In It For the Money, The Mothers of Invention
Coltrane, John Coltrane (the 1962 LP, not the 1957 one)
Out to Lunch, Eric Dolphy
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
catcaul
I will play..
American Beauty, Grateful Dead
Good Taste is Timeless, holy Modal Rounders
Rueben and the Jets, Frank Zappa
Johnny Cash Live @ Folsom Prison.
Greeting from Asbury Park, E Street Band.
This post reminded me why i pack those boxes full of plastic all over the country..
zonker
Steve Earle-Guitar Town
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes-Hearts of Stone
Go Gos-Beauty and the Beat
Chris Isaak-Forever Blue
Cheap Trick-Heaven Tonight
Dire Straits Making Movies would be on the list except for the last track Les Boys, never seemed to go with the rest of the album for me. Just one hillbilly’s opinion.
Spencer
Any list that has Ben Folds Five between Frank Zappa and Yes, regardless of the topic of the list, is clearly the product of a diseased mind. Sorry, John. No mentally healthy person does that.
Will
1) Who’s Next by The Who
2) Abbey Road by The Beatles
3) In Through The Out Door by Led Zeppelin
4) Quadrophenia by The Who
5) Time Out Of Mind by Bob Dylan
Sorry for being so obvious. But they really are amazing albums.
Comradde PhysioProffe
Talking Heads ’77
Tlazolteotl
@the dude:
The Blue Nile – A Walk Across The Rooftops
A million times YES
I’m surprised to see no love anywhere for The Comsat Angels, the greatest band nobody ever heard of. Most people name “Sleep No More” as a favorite, but I have a real fondness for “Chasing Shadows” myself. ;-)
Update: I see someone did indeed mention “Sleep No More” ;-)
Lojasmo
Lamb lies down on broadway-Genesis
Animals- Floyd
Echoes and silence, and patience and grace-foo fighters
plan your escape -hey rosetta
fear of music -talking heads
dobrojutro
Big Star – #1 Record/Radio City
Smashing Pumpkins – Gish
Sleep – Dopesmoker
Sharon Van Etten – Epic
Drive Like Jehu – Yank Crime
bowz
1. Peter Gabriel – So
2. Love & Money – Strange Kind Of Love
3. Steely Dan – The Royal Scam
4. 13 Cats – Zoétrope
5. Beatles – Abbey Road
bowz
1. Peter Gabriel – So
2. Love & Money – Strange Kind Of Love
3. Steely Dan – The Royal Scam
4. 13 Cats – Zoétrope
5. Beatles – Abbey Road
Tommymet
Rum, Sodomy and the Lash by the Pogues
Blue – Joni Mitchell
Katy Lied – Steely Dan
All Mod Cons – The Jam
Seconds of Pleasure – Rockpile
Nancy B.
Nico – The Marble Index
Bailter Space – Robot World
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
Christina Carter – Bastard Wing
Swans – Soundtracks for the Blind
PanurgeATL
@burnspbesq:
Benefit is a really good album, and an important one, too–the one that brought forth the classic Tull style, attitude, and sound as we know it (even though Ian Anderson himself apparently prefers its predecessor, Stand Up). It’s just that (IMHO) they’d go on to do even better in the years afterward. But I’ll gladly admit that they might not have gotten where they did artistically without Benefit showing the way.
darkmatter
David Bowie: The Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars
The Rolling Stones: Let It Bleed
Beastie Boys: Paul’s Boutique
The Band: Music From Big Pink
Grateful Dead: Workingman’s Dead
Pink Floyd: Animals
Dr. John: Dr. John’s Gumbo
Quicksilver Messenger Service: Quicksilver
Eric Burdon & WAR: Eric Burdon Declares WAR
Any Steely Dan Album
Silversun Pickups: Swoon
The Band: Music From Big Pink
Supertramp: Breakfast In America
The Doobie Brothers: Toulouse Street
Alien Ant Farm: ANThology
Fallout Boy: From Under The Cork Tree
Panic! At The Disco: A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out
Sugar Ray: 14:59
Rob Zombie: Hellbilly Deluxe
The Alan Parsons Project: Vulture Culture
Jethro Tull: This Was
Guns N’ Roses: Appetite For Destruction
Stereo MCs: Connected
Gerry Rafferty: City To City
Dire Straits: Dire Straits
Spoon: Gimme Fiction
Gorillaz: Demon Days
Cut Copy: Zonoscope
The Dust Brothers: Fight Club OST
The Donnas: Gold Medal
Def Leppard: Hysteria
Positive K: The Skills That Pay The Bills
ICE T: O.G. Original Gangster
Ice Cube: The Predator
Parliament: Mothership Connection
unspiek
Crown of Creation, Jefferson Airplane
Red Roses for Me, The Pogues
Bringing It All Back Home, Bob Dylan
Speaking in Tongues, Talking Heads
Wheels of Fire, Cream
Lists of five are generally impossible. This one’s all pretty old stuff, sorry.
Learjet
1)Bob Marley,Legend;2)Beach Boys,Pet Sounds,3)The Who,Quadrophenia;4)Dire Straits,Making Movies;Stevie Ray Vaughn,Texas Flood.
Kate
Harley…you are posting on my favorite blog!!who knew you read Balloon Juice. I just came back from seeing Lincoln with Gordo.
zamphuor
@reboho:
apparently, because I want to marry you & I don’t even know if you’re a guy or a gal ;)
gttim
@Pope Ratzy:
Nice call on the Jim Carroll Band. I was listening to his entire discography last week. Incredible lyrics!
Top Five Live (Since Waiting for Columbis may be the best live album ever.)
Little Feat – Waiting for Columbus
Lynyrd Skynyrd – One More From The Road
Elbow – Seldom Seen Kid (Live at Abbey Road)
Rush – All the World’s a Stage
Joe Bonamassa – Live from The Royal Albert Hall
tworivers
@divF:
Good call on Basket of Light. I love that platter
Jernal
Carol King – Tapestry
Neil Young – Live Rust
Grateful Dead – Europe Live ’72
Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes
The Jayhawks – Hollywood Town Hall
Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks
Have to agree with the Van Morrison shout outs, GNR Appetite for Destruction, Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here
MCA1
@Jernal: 349 posts before we get a Hollywood Town Hall? Criminal neglect. So, I’ll second that one.
Additions under consideration include:
– Gillian Welch, Time (The Revelator)
– Paul Simon, Graceland
– The Shins, Chutes Too Narrow
– U2, Joshua Tree
– Beastie Boys, Paul’s Boutique
– Radiohead, OK Computer
– Counting Crows, August And Everything After
– Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus
– Zeppelin I
– Blood on The Tracks
– Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
– Dark Side of The Moon
Narrowing to just 5 is impossible, but I guess I’ll go with Graceland, Joshua Tree, Blood on The Tracks, OK Computer and Dark Side of The Moon. Too conservative, probably, but there’s a reason they’re all considered all-time greats.
Lex
Top 5 Single Albums
Graham Parker & the Rumour — Squeezing Out Sparks
R.E.M. — Murmur
Rolling Stones — Let It Bleed
The Brains — The Brains
The Who — Who’s Next
That leaves out a ton, from Bach to Blink 182, Dave Brubeck to Dire Straits, Public Enemy to the Pistols, but five is five.
mr_gravity
Wow. Live music IS better.
Little Feat – Waiting for Columbus
The Band – Rock of Ages
The Who – Live at Leeds
Hendrix – Band of Gypsys
Beatles – Let It Be
Remember concerts in the seventies? When the lights went down?
The future held such promise.
mr_gravity
Fuck. I left out Warren Zevon.
Jernal
I forgot Ike Reilly – Salesmen and Racists
If you have never heard it, take a listen (also a great live band)
mr_gravity
And Jackson Browne.
Will R.
Rufus & Chaka Khan – Rufusized
Sly & the Family Stone – There’s a Riot Goin’ On
Patti Smith – Horses
Gang of Four – Entertainment!
Pretty in Pink – Motion Picture Soundtrack
ankh hotep
Now let’s wrap up this fun game, but everyone should go back and read the instructions. The man said five PERFECT albums, from start to end. That means no deadwood anywhere in the album tracks. So from this criteria, I would rule out Waiting For Columbus, because Apolitical Blues kills the momentum for me on the last side of an otherwise perfect album. I would also disqualify Sgt. Peppers and Abbey Road, because these almost perfect albums get sidetracked when the Beatles take on novelty tunes like When I’m 64 or Octopuses Garden. And sad to say, Beggars Banquet does not make the cut due to the inclusion of Street Fighting Man (I never bought the Stones’ revolutionary act and it sounds too much like Jumping Jack Flash anyway).
So then a very subjective perfect five would be:
1. Allman Brothers Band – Live at the Fillmore East
2. Grateful Dead – Live Dead
3. Santana – Borboletta
4. Lou Reed – Rock and Roll Animal
5. Van Morrison – It’s Too Late To Stop Now
A five album limit leaves no room for Who’s Next, Quadrophenia, Let It Bleed, Eat a Peach, or a number of worthy Steely Dan LPs. But if I can slip in a compilation album as a bonus, then I’d go with This Is the Moody Blues.
Thank you all for playing and good night.