Just one please. I know that might be tough, but try…
I will start with Tom Waits’ 2nd album, The Heart of Saturday Night. Just an incredible collection of songs. Waits’ discography is all over the place, but this is a phenomenal record. I don’t know how well known it is, but I’d guess many people haven’t heard it.
It’s very difficult to find but Sunrise by Bob Brozman and Debashish Bhattacharya is a gem.
American virtuoso slide guitarist meets up with Indian virtuoso slide-hybrid guitarist.
(Regardless of the scandal surrounding Brozman’s later suicide, the man was an amazing guitar genius.)
Jethro Tull Songs From The Wood…a melding of British folk and rock and really very beautiful.
Bending the rules a bit but their next album Heavy Horses continued in this vein before Ian Anderson decided to move on from the genre. In these anxious ugly times these albums take us back to a rural place and the beauty of nature.
Genesis-Wind and Wuthering. The average fan knows Phil Collins and maybe a few of the pop hits from the 1980s.
It’s a prog album but very accessible, this ain’t The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Grievous Angel by Gram Parsons.
I doubt if one in a hundred twenty year olds (in the UK, anyway) have even heard of Gram, which is sad. The album has some fine songs, and the “backing” singing by Emmylou Harris is astonishing. (I remember Gillian Welch describing it as Emmylou “wrapping her voice around” that of Parsons.)
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Gradually Going Tornado from Bruford Gradually Going Tornado - Wikipedia
Jeff Berlin’s bass will warp your mind.
I have spent quite a bit of the past few years making up for not hearing Starcastle’s “Fountains of Light” album for the previous 40.
They were an Illinois-based prog band, and after they broke up, their keyboardist became a renowned teacher of computer programming for laypeople, their main guitarist became a refrigeration company executive (and has resumed making music full-time now that he’s retired) and their drummer went to medical school.
Here’s the spectacular opening track. Enjoy!
And the back cover art: a gorgeous visual pun.
Chris Bell’s “I Am The Cosmos”. Chris Bell was the congenial partner and songwriter to Alex Chilton in Big Star on their first album “#1 Record”. He left Big Star and began to work solo, but like everything else around Big Star, got no appreciation and success during his lifetime. He also constantly struggled with depression. He died at age 27 (maybe the most unknown member of the 27 club) in a car crash. The album with his solo work only got released in 1992, but it perfectly showed that he was as important for the Big Star magic as Alex Chilton. If you love Big Star, listen to I Am The Cosmos.
I can think of many albums that fit this bill but the first one that jumped to my mind was Roy Harper’s “Flashes From the Archives of Oblivion.” I always felt it wasn’t appreciated enough here in the U.S.
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL94gOvpr5yt1sttLT9qpbeLWGiNI5F4mV
Bryter Layter and Pink Moon by Nick Drake. Two great examples of modern British Folk. Bryter Layter contains Drake’s most well known song, “Northern Sky”, but the whole thing is terrific, really. The closing instrumental, “Sunday”, is a personal favorite.
I agree with the love for Gram Parsons as well; the guy was a mess of a human being but could belt like few others. The Flying Burrito Brothers version of To Love Somebody is better than the Bee Gees version, at least IMHO.
Seconded. Grievous Angel maybe is the better of his two solo albums, but his first, GP, is almost as good and also has Emmylou Harris, the great James Burton on guitar and many other great players. I personally see these two albums always as a unit because I’ve long had the twofer CD and mostly listen to both in a row. Gram Parsons dueting with Emmylou Harris has a special magic that never got matched, at least I don’t know any example that comes close. Also look out for the live “Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels Live in 1973”, a radio concert document with a slightly deranged Gram, but beautifully harmonizing with Emmylou. The most hilarious moment is a short interview where he’s asked “Is it true that you were a Harvard scholar?” Gram’s answer “No, I’m a Harvard drop-out”.
One that I’ve nominated before in a thread like this: Sticks and Stones by The 77s. Many of the songs on it could have been staples of classic rock radio in a juster world.
Talking Timbuktu - A collaboration of the late Malian guitarist Ali Farka Toure and Ry Cooder; it won a Grammy for Best World Music Album of 1994, and is listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. It’s truly a tour de force by these two artists, typifying the best in West African music.
“Fun” by the Candy Skins. It was in major rotation on my local college radio station in the summer of 1993, and it sounds just as good now.
Here’s the one official video from the album, that I know of.
The Revolution Starts Now by Steve Earle
Steve Earle is country singer\songwriter, but make no mistake. This is rock and roll with a twangy voice.
Highlights are the two self titled tracks, The Gringo’s Tale and I Though You Should Know
Yes. Yes one thousand times. Excellent album!
Trio. Amazing set of songs by the trio of Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris.
Out of the Cool by the Gil Evans Orchestra, released on the Impulse! label in 1961.
Evans was a major figure in modern jazz composition and arrangement, not the flashiest side of the music world. He attracted the best musicians to his various big bands 1940s-80s…this one includes Johnny Coles, Budd Johnson, Jimmy Knepper, Ron Carter, and Charlie Persip. This is the sort of album that aficionados can hum all the way through, note by note. Gorgeous and haunting music.
This video is not the same band, but a similar one, including Miles Davis.
