The only comment I can think to make is that some of these lists are inspiring me to do a little research. (As in, "If that person likes those bands that I enjoy, and they also like those other bands I’ve barely heard of, maybe I ought to look into those other bands too.) And that I got a chuckle from cazzle’s list, seeing the Disney Family Christmas in such incongruous company.
Here’s my 20, chosen completely at random from the non-classical CD’s I own:
Madness: The Rise and Fall
Five Iron Frenzy: Quantity Is Job 1
Matthew Sweet: Son of Altered Beast
The Swirling Eddies: Outdoor Elvis
The Darkness: Permission To Land
The Choir: Wide-Eyed Wonder
Finn Brothers (self-titled)
John Lennon: Imagine
Adam Again: Ten Songs
The Moody Blues: The Present
Cheap Trick (self-titled, from 1997)
Queen: Sheer Heart Attack
The Kinks: Kinks-size Kinkdom
Chris Mars: Anonymous Botch
Sloan: Smeared
Paul McCartney: Tug of War
Redd Kross: Phaseshifter
Warren Zevon: Mr. Bad Example
The Turtles: 20 Greatest Hits
The Bangles: All Over the Place
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Jerry Cantrell - Degradation Trip Vol. 1 and 2
Fleetwood Mac - The Dance
RHCP - Californication
Eagles - Hell Freezes Over
Audioslave - Audioslave
Alice in Chains - MTV Unplugged
Evanescence - Fallen
Bill Hicks - Arizona Bay (ok, so one stand-up CD snuck in)
Weird Al - Dare to be Stupid
The Beatles - 1
MST3K - Clowns in the Sky
Hootie & The Blowfish - Cracked Rear View
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Gold & Platinum
Alanis Morrisette - Jagged Little Pill
Sheryl Crow - Tuesday Night Music Club
Bob Seger - Greatest Hits
Alice in Chains - Dirt
Pink Floyd - PULSE (not actually mine)
Kid Rock - Devil Without A Cause
Wow, there’s a lot of crap on that list. Of course, some of those discs are leftover from high school.
It’s hard to critique lists when you haven’t heard of 9/10 of the bands listed!
brianjedi - I can hang with this list. Some good stuff there, along with the weird. Thudlow - As long as you play the last three CDs on your list, we will be fine. Warren Zevon forgives all sins. Dax - Nice list of some semi-obscure stuff. If that is randon, I’m sure there are some gems in your collection. Mr. Blue Sky - Have you stolen my collection?
woodstockbirdybird, you are a poster after my own heart. Of the albums on your list, I own or own other albums by the same artist for more than half of your list. 69 Love Songs and Entertainment! are both in my top 5 albums. What’s a good Go-Betweens album to start with? I love “Going Blind” and “Bachelor Kisses” is pretty good, but I’m afraid I haven’t heard much else by them.
There’s a lot of music on these lists that I’m not familiar. I don’t do jazz or industrial or metal. I do like Alison Krause and have recently falled hard for alt-country. I also go for psychedelica and electronica but guess that my tastes tend to be fairly mainstream but a little eclectic. I have a lot of cds so I decided to pick my 20 from among what I’ve purchased lately. Here they are: Grateful Dead- The Grateful Dead Movie James Mcmurtry- Live in Aught-Three (it’s criminal that this guy isn’t ranked up there with Bob Dylan and other great singer-songwriters) Leonard Cohen- Field Commander Cohen, the live 1979 tour Jann Arden- Love Is the Only Soldier Ryan Adams and Cardinals- Cold Roses Rolling Stones- It’s Only Rock n’ Roll Warren Zevon- Live at Parker’s Tom Waits- Used Songs Bruce Springsteen- Devils and Dust Mary Gauthier- Mercy Now West Indian Girl- West indian Girl Van Morrison- Astral Weeks Whiskeytown- Faithless Street Black Tape For a Blue Girl- Remnants of a Deeper Purity Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter- Oh, My GIrl Kate Campbell- The Portable Kate Campbell Rufus Wainwright- Rufus Wainwright Hem- Rabbit Stories Laura Viers- Carbon Glacier Kasey Chambers- Wayward Angel Joe Henry- Tiny Voices (This IMHO is one of the greatest albums of the decade. Imagine a bunch of carnival performers, musicians etc. sitting around after the lights have gone down and the crowd’s gone telling each other stories. It’s a brilliant album and nobody’s ever heard of this guy.)
Well there’s my list. Do with it what you will.
I’d like to recommend 2 sites for anybody who loves music as much as those who’ve posted seem to do. The first is allmusic.com. They do tend to like everything a little too much but it’s a great place to find artist’s who are not known by you but are similar to ones that you like.
The second is yourmusic.com. You can buy new cds for $5.99 with no shipping charge. They are fairly mainstream but sometimes there are unexpected treasures. To those of you that work in used record stores, I shop there too. I’m not trying to turn people against what you do. The chance to listen to a disc before buying is a wonderful service. My cd collection would be much smaller without you. I’ve also had some great conversations about music with people who work there. I don’t know how to code or I would’ve included links.
As for the lists I’ve seen posted, I think silenus’s list is probably the closest to mine overall but I find them all interesting. Snowboarder Bo, I think musically you and I don’t have in common but I’d you a beer just based on what you’ve posted in other threads, especially the one about near-death experiences… Hell, I’ll buy you all beers.
Chosen at random from the stack of discs on my desk:
Underworld – dubnobasswithmyheadman
They Might Be Giants – Then: The Earlier Years
A Mighty Wind – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Various Artists – Wipeout XL (the soundtrack to a car racing video game, I gather…lots of loud, thumping techno)
They Might Be Giants – The Spine
They Might Be Giants – John Henry
Orbital – Middle of Nowhere
Les Rythmes Digitales – Darkdancer
The Who – Tommy
They Might Be Giants – Mink Car
The Phantom of The Opera – Original Broadway Cast Recording
Igor Stravinsky – The Firebird Suite
Radiohead – Kid A
Lifestyle – At The Risk of Sounding Pretentious
Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral
Every Little Thing – Eternity
Kraftwerk – The Mix
The Sisters of Mercy – Floodland
Jonathan Richman – Having a Party with Jonathan Richman
Daft Punk – Discovery
Quick critique: There are a couple popular artists up there that I like – for instance, Pink Floyd and Echo, but few albums I actually own. And the unpopular bands I’ve never heard (mostly.) But I’d agree that most of these are eclectic in and of themselves, and yet are different from the other lists.
My randomized 20:
1- Songs in the Key of Springfield
2- The Best of Fairport Convention
3- Jethro Tull - Songs from the Wood
4- Elvis Costello - Imperial Bedroom
5- Joy Division - Substance
6- Ween - Chocolate and Cheese
7- Elvis Costello - Brutal Youth
8- Pink Floyd - Meddle
9- Odds - Nest
10- Dropkick Murphys - Do or Die
11-Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour
12- Smashing Orange - No Return in the End
13- Archers of Loaf - Vee Vee
14-Concrete Blonde - Bloodletting
15 - Rush - Chronicles
16 - Deathray
17 - Saves the Day - Stay What You Are
18 - Echo and the Bunnymen - What are You Going to Do With Your Life?
19 - Xymox - Subsequent Pleasures
20 - … and You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Source Tags and Codes
Whiskeytown was a great band; I miss them. Fortunately, David Ryan Adams has maintained the same standards since he began recording solo.
Joe Henry has been around for about 20 years now, but I’d have to second your opinion. Tiny Voices is his finest moment (thus far).
Thanks for the beer offer, marque elf! I don’t drink, but I’d be happy to take you up on the offer and watch you drink my beer. What say we meet about, oh… 4:20 or so?
I’m sorry I can’t seem to keep up with critiquing… 20 CDs is a lot of samples for each person, and for me this thread is a kudzu… it grows too fast for me to keep up. A lot of what I see is strictly mainstream, and although it’s not necessarily my cup of tea it’s by no means all bad. As always, tho, I would encourage everyone to try shopping at a small, locally owned record store rather than at a place in the mall or a chain shop. The employees at a SLO shop are there because they love music and can often help you find an artist who isn’t billboard (or Billboard) worthy but who is infintely more talented and emotive than the Sheryl Crows or Hootie & the Blowfishes of the world.
And if that doesn’t float your boat, there’s plenty of (bad) electronica-rock-jazz-weirdness at my website. I am a shameless self=promoter.
meenie7: If I ignore your obsession with TMBG, and don’t look at that Radiohead album, you’ve got a nice collection.
Downward Spiral is Trent’s best so far. Orbital is hit or miss for me; they have some really cool tunes but a lot of what I hear is just kinda uninspired dance music.
But Underworld! WOOT! dubnobasswithmyheadman is THE best electronica-techno-rave-thump-thump-thump-BOOM album I know. It’s still a pleasure to listen to after all these years. Have you seen their live DVD? It’s freakin ASWOME! Hard to believe that they can do all that live, but there it is.
btw, ASWOME was used in a review of one of my songs many years ago. It struck me as a hilarious typo, and I’ve used it ever since.
Also… I think a few of you out there might like Radio Rumpus Room.
It’s my favourite online radio show. It’s broadcast out of Minneapolis / St. Paul, and plays all sorts of good country, psychedelic, rockabilly and garage rock. Most importantly, they archive their show so you can listen to it any time. The only annoying bit is that one of the DJ’s puts some stupid effect on his/her voice so that he/she sounds like they’ve been huffing helium. Personally, I’m mostly able to ignore it.
In fairness, I suspect those comments about them sounding like the Pixies are from the fanboys who claim that every indie rock group from the past 20 years has been ripping off the Pixies. In re their music being milquetoast–yeah, nobody’s gonna be claiming that they push the boundaries; but what the hell, there’s always a place for well-done straight indie rock. And they do put on a good live show.
Snowboarder Bo: Thanks for the pointers to stuff by Laswell. I’ll do some poking around.
PapSett: Dixie Chicks? Keith Urban? Heh heh heh…
Several times–They’re local to me. For example, I was at their last run-through gig a day or two before they went into the studio to record Dignity & Shame, and then at their homecoming show when they got back from touring to support the album. I’m frankly not that fond of the album, and I think the rougher presentation when they were still working on the songs actually worked better than what they ended up with. (On another note, I really wish they’d record the song “Red Devil Dawn”–I’ve only heard it live, and it rawks.) (On another another note: JFTR, Snowboarder Bo, you do know that Crooked Fingers is the new project from Eric Bachmann, right?)
marque elf: Ooh, a fan of Jesse Sykes and Laura Veirs! Cool! I don’t know Laura personally, but I run into her every so often, and Jesse is a real sweetie. You might want to check out the Transmissionary Six if you’re not already familiar with them, and you should keep an eye out both for Blackwood Hymnal and for Vivian Linden & the Latecomers (I don’t know if either of them have any official releases out yet).
Still a fuckin’ diva, though…
Thanks–I haven’t been there yet, but I’ll have to check it out the next time I’m in Vancouver.
Hunter Hawk thanks for the tips. None of those you’ve suggested are familiar to me but I will look for them next time I hit the record store.
vl mungo The radio rumpus Room sounds interesting. I’ll give it a listen and let you know what I think.
When I review the lists I see that nobody has mentioned the Cowboy Junkies, my favorite band. Margo Timmons has the best voice in all of current rock music. If morphine could give voice, it would sound like her; warm, soft, powerful and very addictive. I want to marry her voice and have its children and I’m male.
I kind of stumbled across them. I was in a used book store that also sells cds. I’d never heard of them and it was from Projekt who also do Love Spirals Downward and I like them. It had a naked woman and a sticker with some interesting quotes so I bought it. I guess I’m easily influenced but a naked woman always gets my attention. I could always take it back if I didn’t like it. I liked it. They’re sometimes terribly pretension but I listen to them when I’m down. It’s like personal mood music for my depression. I’m not a musician but I love music. Since I can’t create my own, I let others do so and then i pick what fits my mood.
Entertainment! is in my top 5, too - it’s weird, because even though it seems too abrasive for most people, everyone I play it for loves it, no matter what kind of music they like.
For the Go-Betweens, I’d start with Tallulah or 16 Lovers Lane - or, if you don’t want to shell out for the recent 2-disc reissues of their back catalogue, the new one, Oceans Apart, is good, as is 2000’s The Friends of Rachel Worth, which has “Going Blind”.
I am simulataneously impressed and intimidated by those of you whose lists are made up almost entirely of artists that I’d never heard of. Here’s my 20, which I got by shuffling ~240 albums in iTunes and clicking “Next” a bunch of times:
[ol][li]The Rembrandts - Untitled[/li][li]American Musical Theater I (part of a 4-CD set issued by the Smithsonian)[/li][li]Iron Maiden - Fear of the Dark[/li][li]Prince - The Hits[/li][li]Grant Lee Buffalo - Copperopolis[/li][li]Wicked (soundtrack)[/li][li]Glenn Miller - The Best of Glenn Miller[/li][li]wish - fustertated (an old friend’s old band)[/li][li]Blood, Sweat & Tears - Blood, Sweat & Tears[/li][li]Classic Jazz Piano (1927-1957)[/li][li]Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill[/li][li]A Little on the CD Side, Volume 12 (part of an annual CD series issued by the old Musician magazine)[/li][li]Light Jazz Christmas[/li][li]Sting - Fields of Gold[/li][li]Yo-Yo Ma - 6 Suites for Unaccompanied Cello[/li][li]Rent (soundtrack)[/li][li]The Music of Disney - A Legacy in Song (part of a 3-CD set)[/li][li]The Corrs - Live in Dublin[/li][li]Iron Maiden - Brave New World[/li][li]Cutting Edge Vol. 2 (Best of Modern Rock)[/ol][/li]I have a buttload of albums by three particular artists, so whenever something by one of them came up I skipped it, but even still I don’t feel that this list is terribly representative. But I like everything listed – except #18, which was a gift. #1 was a freebie, too, from their record label (where I interned for about 2 weeks once upon a time), but I liked it very much when I got it . . . now it’s a little too “pop,” even for me, but I still like it for the nostalgia factor.
Thanks for the beer offer, marque elf! I don’t drink, but I’d be happy to take you up on the offer and watch you drink my beer. What say we meet about, oh… 4:20 or so?