Better yet: Breathe Me (KCRW, 2006).
The cast album to Stephen Sondheim’s '94 musical Passion is the first that comes to mind.
Wilco for me too, but it was “Being There”. Several years ago, when my step-son was still living with us and I was going through a “I need something new to listen to” phase, I grabbed his CD wallet and just started picking some random things to listen to. Radiohead? Meh. Rage Against The Machine? I can live without ever hearing that again. Wilco? Whoa! I need to play that again. And again. And again.
Neither “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” or “A Ghost Is Born” grabbed me on the first listening, but grew on me considerably after re-listening. In fact, “YHF” is probably not only my favorite Wilco album but one of my favorite albums of all time. But I’ll always have that special memory of the first time I heard “Being There.”
The title song especially.
Also The Way Up by Pat Metheny Group and Amnesiac by Radiohead.
We should all add: “When I was younger I would have said…”
When I was younger I would have said Sgt. Pepper’s.
I was fortunate to grow up with my parents’ immense record collection (which, of course, was all sold by the time I was maybe 11, and about 1/3 of it had been replaced by CDs). I’ve been listening to so much great stuff since before I can remember, and so this is almost an embarrassing story.
I was driving to give a kid a piano lesson when I was about 17, listening to the classic rock station on the radio. About a minute before I get to the kids house, this relaxed piano-based song comes on, with a vocalist with a kind of high pitched nasally voice that I didn’t recognize. I was for some reason captivated, and drove past the kid’s house so I could hear the song play out. And, when the slow piano part transitioned into the power chord and bombastic drumming at the B section of Come Sail Away by Styx I was mesmerized. I didn’t know who it was, but went into school the next day and asked some buddies of mine until someone knew what I was talking about (this was before the song had hit retro cool status, at least around here). He brought me a tape the next day with that song on it and a number of other 70s and 80s songs I hadn’t heard, mostly in the prog rock tradition. That was all definitely very eye-opening to me. Lots of keyboard and synth-based hard and prog rock. Awesome!
This is a similar story to mine, only put in Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. I mean, holy goddamn! I had to mop up my cerebral cortex after that 'un.
The first time I ever heard Live’s Throwing Copper album I felt like I was touching the face of God. I was quite religious at the time and found it to be the most honest, genuine, beautiful thing I’d ever heard. It’s hard to explain but… the album comes from a place of complete intimacy with suffering and hardship, but manages to transcend all of that, to be an opus to compassion and love in spite of it all. It’s idealistic without being naive and sheltered, idealistic in spite of witnessing some bleak reality, which is exactly how I might describe myself. The band in general has this effect on me, and I’m still very deeply spiritually and emotionally moved by their music, but nothing ever hit me quite as hard as the first playthrough of that particular album.
No.
Valete,
Vox Imperatoris
Being There was the last Wilco album I acquired–my husband gave it to me for Christmas that year I discovered them. I fell so hard for Sunken Treasure. The month before that, I saw Wilco live for the first time and that was the first time I heard Misunderstood, which is really, really intense live. sigh God I love Wilco. I heard they plan to release a new album this April. I wish it would be April right now.
I heard YHF after I heard A Ghost is Born. I agree about the need to mop up the cerebral cortex. I’m quite convinced that if I had heard YHF first, I still would have fallen hard.
Was there a point to that?
Aaron Copeland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man.”
My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless.
Beach Boys Pet Sounds. (Actually, this one took a little while. I heard it a few times, went away from it for several years, and when I came back it completely caught me off-guard with its genius.)
The first time I heard Massive Attack’s “Teardrop,” I was completely floored and mesmerized by the texture of the song and Beth Fraser’s vocals. Actually, I think the entire Mezzanine album would qualify. I still think it’s one of the most textural and atmospheric albums.
I was just answering the poll question. I don’t think I’ve ever had the experience the OP is talking about with a song.
Valete,
Vox Imperatoris
Edgar Winter’s Frankenstein. A buddy of mine had a quadrophonic stereo (eight track, of course) with big, loud speakers in his crappy old Malibu; it was one of my first, and best, experiences combining weed and loud music.
I’d probably go with Exit Planet Dust - One Too Many Mornings might be my favorite electronic song ever - but this is a great one too. The Chemical Brothers are extremely underrated in my opinion. They have been quietly getting the job done for over 10 years and every album they put out has at least SOMETHING that grabs me.
Seconded, although I like the song much more than I like the album. If you like these guys, check out The Go! Team. Similar vibe, and their song Ladyflash is fantastic.
Seconded.
My contribution: Modest Mouse. The best band alive from 95-05, they blew my mind time and time again. Best lyrics in rock history.
The 9th
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells. I got it for Christmas in `74, and listened to it incessantly. I was just amazed that someone could play all those instruments, even though I knew it was overdubbing. I was in Grade 7 at the time, and it influenced me hugely.
Then in `77, it was Return to Forever - Light as a Feather. My first exposure to the band had been listening to two friends sight read the ‘Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy’ at about half speed. The real thing just left me stunned. Never mind that Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke are Scientology crazies - holy shit they can both play!
I was visiting North Carolina and got a pre-release version of Ben Folds Five’s Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner. I popped it in on my drive home on a beautiful sunny day, driving through the mountains. I almost cried, the album blew me away so hard. I had been a die-hard fan before that but this album was completely different.
Of course, they broke up shortly thereafter and my dreams were dashed. But it was a magical moment for sure.
I’ll say that OK Computer and Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots kicked my ass too. They definitely made me feel different, and still do.
Epiphany-producing songs? Not really. However, there have been songs that upon first hearing, I knew I was in the presence of greatness. For instance, I remember very clearly putting on U2’s War for the first time just after it came out and hearing “Sunday Bloody Sunday” come exploding out of the speakers. It’s the kind of song that you just know right away is a classic.
God, was it really 25 years ago? Seems like yesterday to me.
Bob Dylan, Bringing It All Back Home.
I was fifteen. My dad decided to dig out one of his old vinyl records and put it on the stereo for some reason (and music is not a big part of my parents’ lives; I think they use the stereo about once a year, so this was weird and unprecedented). It hit me like a case of chills and fever. “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” speaks to you where you are when you’re fifteen, and of course I was totally convinced that my high school was Maggie’s Farm.
You know, most of the time I think I wouldn’t be a teenager again for any amount of money, but I do miss feeling and experiencing music with that much intensity.