I’m constantly rotating my perfect desert island albums, but here’s my current state. My criteria is start-to-finish works, no shuffle or skip allowed, that are a joy to sit and listen through.
Jethro Tull - Aqualung
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies
Love and Rockets - Express
Bjork - Debut
Concrete Blonde - Concrete Blonde
Sonic Youth - Goo
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Belly - Star
Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
I’ll see you in court! Because I would have included Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake as well, if I could have turned the knob up to eleven!
What a fabulous album! And one that I find myself listening to about once a month, even after all these years. I don’t know of anyone who plays a better Hammond B3 than Ian McLagen, Steve Marriott’s vocals are amazing, and you can see why the Who tapped Kenny Jones as their substitutue drummer when Keith Moon died. Plus, it’s got the greatest song EVER about a prostitutue! (“Rene” - the docker’s delight!) Oh - and then there’s the late great Ronnie Lane!
If y’all have never heard this gem, by all means find it and listen. And don’t worry, eventually the whole story of “Happiness Stan” will make perfect sense!
This turned out to be a lot harder than I thought. There are so many that I’ve liked, that narrowing it down to ten was difficult. But I think the following are the ones that I’ve listened to the most, and appreciated the most. It was a little distressing to look back over the list and discover that most of these date back thirty years or more. I’ve never been of the school of thought that says “They don’t write 'em like they used to”…there’s still plenty of good music being published. Rather, it’s probably a reflection of my own state of mind changing, becoming more cynical and harder to please.
Several of the selections are “concept albums”, a format I’ve always enjoyed. In fact Gideon is included in the list not because it is a particularly memorable work, but because it, along with *Red Headed Stranger *which I bought simultaneously, was my own introduction to this type of album.
SeldomSeen’s Top Ten
Ian Tyson…Cowboyography
John Prine…Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings
Bruce Springsteen…The River
Willie Nelson…Red Headed Stranger
Emmylou Harris…Wrecking Ball
Bob Dylan…Infidels
The Traveling Wilburys…Traveling Wilburys Vol.1
Kenny Rogers…Gideon
**The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band **(et.al.)… Will the circle be Unbroken
Dire Straits…Brothers in Arms
10 favorite albums? Damn if I know. I got old, CDs pretty much died, I got married and had to be considerate of other people’s ears (2 a.m. means earphones… which I don’t like), my work changed to things I can’t do without silence, and I got worn out on a lot of great albums.
Anyway, I seem to remember some things (no order).
Abbey Road: Beatles
Blue: Joni Mitchell
Beatin’ the Heat: Dan Hicks
They Might Be Giants: TMBG
Blood On the Tracks: Bob Dylan
Little Creatures: Talking Heads
Arkansas Traveler: Michelle Shocked
You Shoulda Told Me You Were: Kid Creole & the Coconuts
Pirates: Rickie Lee Jones
Pretzel Logic: Steely Dan
Graceland: Paul Simon
Stardust: Willie Nelson
I feel I must invoke cjepson’s No-Beatles Rule as well. I am also limiting myself to no more than one selection per artist.
As I look over my list, I am struck by how innovative most of these selections are. With the possible exceptions of ‘Harvest’ and maybe ‘Shoot Out the Lights’, I consider each of these completely original and groundbreaking.
In no set order:
Elvis Costello – Imperial Bedroom
Neil Young – Harvest
Richard and Linda Thompson – Shoot Out the Lights
The Velvet Underground – Loaded
**Beck **– Odelay
Bob Dylan – Blonde on Blonde
John Lennon – Plastic Ono Band
**Eminem **– The Marshall Mathers LP
Paul Simon – Graceland
**Joe Jackson **– Look Sharp!
mmm
Also invoking 1 album per band rule:
Pink Floyd - The Wall (more would be on there)
Coheed and Cambria - In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3
My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade
The Promise Ring - 30° Everywhere
Odds - Nest
Led Zeppelin IV (close amongst their others)
Heart - Dreamboat Annie
Sloan - Navy Blues
Townes van Zandt - Live at the Old Quarter
The TV Sound - The TV Sound.
I also debated including Source Tags and Codes since it is so epically great but I thought that since I just discovered it after losing it for a year that might cloud my thinking.
This is difficult, and I could easily have gone for a dozen, or 15, or 20. I’ll add that some favourite artists, such as Led Zeppelin, The Who, and Aerosmith just barely missed the cut; and I have excluded some local artists who have recorded albums but who would not be known to the board at large. Anyway, in no particular order:
Pink Floyd, The Wall
Al Stewart, Year of the Cat
The Beatles, Abbey Road
Moody Blues, Days of Future Passed
Van Morrison, Moondance
Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Genesis, Foxtrot
Meat Loaf, Bat out of Hell
John Lennon, Double Fantasy
Billy Joel, The Stranger
Before I give my list…
Disclaimer #1: I make no claims that there are objectively the best albums, or even subjectively the ones I like the most. These are albums that came along at just the right time in my musical life, did something special for me, and have held up over the years as favorites. (For example, The Kinks’ Arthur or Lola may well be better albums than Village Green, but VG was the first one I fell in love with.)
Disclaimer #2: It really bothers me that there’s no Stevie Wonder, Moody Blues, or Beach Boys (among others) on my list; on a longer list of favorites they would be represented not once but several times.
In the chronological order in which I encountered them:
Keep Moving - Madness
One Step Beyond - Madness
Abbey Road - The Beatles
The Village Green Preservation Society - The Kinks
Completely Unglued - Something Fierce
Lulu - Trip Shakespeare
Apollo 18 - They Might Be Giants
Motor Cycle - Daniel Amos
Sticks and Stones - The 77s
Songs of the Heart - Daniel Amos
Very difficult. Any of them could move a spot or two up or down.
The problem with this kind of question is, I don’t have ten favorite albums, I’ve got forty or fifty that I could rattle off in a few minutes, and yes, they are all my favs! But, since it’s top ten lists, you’re asking for, here are my my ten all-time favorites as of late Wednesday morning --okay?
Roky Erickson -*The Evil One
*
Monster Magnet - Powertrip
The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
Patti Smith Group - Radio Ethiopia
Black Oak Arkansas - High On The Hog
Royal Trux - *Cats And Dogs
*
The Flesh Eaters - Dragstrip Riot
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Street Survivors
Sister Double Happiness - *Sister Double Happiness
*
The Repo Man soundtrack album
I’ve done this before, but it always seems to change. Here’s today’s version:
Well, as of today my top ten would be (in no particular order):
Volunteers - Jefferson Airplane
Court & Spark - Joni Mitchell
Remain in Light - Talking Heads
Horses - Patti Smith
Out of Range - Ani Difranco
the Unforgettable Fire - U2
Victory Gardens - John and Mary (they were a spin-off “band” - duo actually - of 10,000 Maniacs)
Pungent Effulgence - Ozric Tentacles
Sketches of Spain - Miles Davis / Gil Evans
A Love Supreme - John Coltrane
Runner-up:
Lady In Satin - Billie Holliday
In no particular order, just off the top of my head:
If I sat down and really went through it thoroughly, I’d probably make a change or four, but that’s what came to mind. I could pretty easily have a top 10 all-Prince albums list as well.
In no particular order
Patty Griffin-Living With Ghosts
Barenaked Ladies-Gordon
Bran Van 3000-Discosis
Cheryl Wheeler-Sylvia Hotel
Ferron-Testimony
Nanci Griffith-Flyer
Greg Brown-The Poet Game
Janis Ian-Between the Lines
The Stone Roses-The Stone Roses
John Wesley Harding-Why We Fight
Josh Rouse-Subtitulo
I’ll try. And I’ll certainly change my mind in two minutes.
I’m choosing not to include more than one album by any artist
Are You Experienced - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Bat Out of Hell - Meat Loaf
Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
The Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
London Calling - The Clash
My Aim Is True - Elvis Costello
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars - David Bowie
Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles
Who’s Next - The Who
Almost included an album each by the Bonzo Dog Band, the Kinks and the White Stripes but I couldn’t decide which one of theirs was the standout.
In no particular order. And you can tell I’m not posturing because I have included the Gin Blossoms in the list. It HAS to be real, right?
Ani Difranco – Little Plastic Castles
They Might Be Giants – Flood
Paul Simon – Graceland
Gin Blossoms – New Miserable Experience
Moxy Früvous - Bargainville
Push Stars – Back to the Party
Dar Williams – End of the Summer
Ben Folds – Rockin’ the Suburbs
Cracker – Countrysides
Tori Amos – Little Earthquakes
Also, I will think of more as soon as I hit “Reply”, and curse myself.
Of note, I left out live albums because that was just a copout for my favorite bands. But I have seen everyone but Paul Simon on that list live. Everyone but Gin Blossoms multiple times (they were horrible in concert.)
“The Papas & The Mamas”(1968) by The Mamas & the Papas. Featuring “Dream a Little Dream of Me”
“Procol Harum Live with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra”(1972) by Procol Harum. Featuring “Conquistador” & “A Salty Dog”
“Klaatu”(1966) by Klaatu Featuring “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft”
“Flee”(1979) by Jeremy Spencer. Featuring “Cool Breeze” and “Travellin’”. Jeremy Spencer had been one of the original members of Fleetwood Mac and this album had a very Fleetwood Mac feel.
“The Young Rascals”(1966) by The Young Rascals. Featuring “Good Lovin’”, “Mustang Sally” & “In the Midnight Hour”
“The Highwaymen”(1961) by The Highwaymen. Featuring “Michael”, “Santiano” & “Big Rock Candy Mountain”.
“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” by The Beatles. 'nuff said.
“Greatest Hits”(1970) by Sly & the Family Stone. Featuring “Stand!” & “Everyday People”
“Who’s Next”(1971) is by The Who. Featuring “Baba O’Riley”, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” & “Behind Blue Eyes”.
“Carpenters”(1971) by The Carpenters. Featuring “Rainy Days And Mondays”, “For All We Know” & “Superstar”.
Eagles - Hotel California
Earth, Wind and Fire - All ‘N’ All
Boston - Boston
Nat King Cole - The Christmas Album
Prince - 1999
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
America - Greatest Hits
George Benson - Breezin’
Weather Report - 8:30
Miles Davis - Doo Bop
Runners Up:
Laurie Anderson - Big Science
Van Halen - Van Halen
Rick James - Street Songs
Off the top of my head and in no particular order:
[ol]
[li]Who’s Next - The Who[/li][li]Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen[/li][li]Sticky Fingers - The Rolling Stones[/li][li]Blacklisted - Neko Case[/li][li]Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan[/li][li]Abbey Road - The Beatles[/li][li]Blood on the Tracks - Bob Dylan[/li][li]What’s Going On - Marvin Gaye[/li][li]Murmur - R.E.M.[/li][li]Revolver - The Beatles[/li][/ol]