Everyone list one album that you think everybody should hear at least once in their life. Kinda like a favorite albums thread, only with just one. Don’t worry about building up to anything, though. (For instance, someone new to The Rolling Stones should probably listen to Forty Licks and Let It Bleed before Exile On Main Street, but the latter would be the most important of the three. List it rather than the others.)
(Note: The Beatles go without saying, so don’t everyone list Abbey Road and Revolver)
I’ll start: Radiohead - O.K. Computer
So Long Bannatyne by The Guess Who
Universal Juveniles by Max Webster
Tinseltown Rebellion by Frank Zappa
Rockpile by Dave Edmunds
(ask me tomorrow and they’ll all be different!)
Young Americans by David Bowie
Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd
A Day At The Races by Queen
Peter Cincotti by Peter Cincotti
Automatic For The People by REM
I’m not into music enough to be able to list five that I think are must-have so I will list the three I would have had to choose between for number one.
Those would be : Undertow, Aenima, and Lateralus… all by Tool.
I’m an unabashed fanboy and everyone ele should be too.
Can’t go wrong with O.K. Computer, but if we’re going with Radiohead, I’d have to pick Kid A. While the individual offerings (song-wise) aren’t quite as high-quality, the album as a whole is far more coherent and, IMHO, representative of Radiohead’s “style”.
As for my own recommendation: The Seeds of Love, by Tears For Fears. Yes, I know you’ve heard Sowing the Seeds of Love, but that’s the single off the album, and those of you who know music know what that means. The rest of the album is a true work of complex and beautiful art, with Orzabal’s genius shining through at its finest.
As per OP, one album:
Stereolab, Emperor Tomato Ketchup
Just because no one else will pick it. But if you were going to ask me four more, I’d say Moon and Antarctica by Modest Mouse, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain by Pavement, Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys, and Hour of the Bewilderbeest by Badly Drawn Boy. And Revolver by the Beatles.
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
David Byrne - Look Into The Eyeball
Roger Waters - The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking
Pink Floyd - Animals
Air - Moon Safari
Neutral Milk Hotel - “in the aeroplane over the sea”
Nick Drake- “bryter later”
the Magnetic Fields - “69 Love Songs”
John Zorn/Naked City - self-titled
Leonard Cohen - “songs of love and hate”
Let it All Out/Pastel Blue - Nina Simone
A Kiss in the Dreamhouse - Siouxsie and the Banshees
Be Yourself Tonight - The Eurythmics
Music for the Masses - Depeche Mode
Diva - Annie Lennox
Beautiful Midnight (Canadian Release, Please) by Matthew Good Band
While The Last of the Ghetto Astronauts, Underdogs and The Audio of Being all have rockin’ tracks, I find that Beautiful Midnight is more consistant in quality of the tunes.
The other Four:
Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos – Classic Tori, by far and away the pinnacle of the stuff I’ve heard from her.
Fumbling Towards Ecstacy by Sarah McLachlan – The darkest album and the first one where she had full control over it. Also from before she got happy and married so is more “angsty” [in a very good way].
Crash! Boom! Bang! by Roxette – Not too overproduced, good ballads and rockers. Seems more mature than the first 4 albums, not as “dancey” as the latter two. While I like the greatest hits compilations, the non-single tracks from C!B!B! are gems.
Gravity by Our Lady Peace – Not as “weird” as the previous albums, this is unapologetic alterna-pop-rock with catchy hooks and some decent lyrics and ballads thrown in. A good starter for those unaquainted with Raine Maida’s vocal idiosyncracies.
The Velvet Underground and Nico
Fear of a Black Planet
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols
London Calling
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Pearl
Ah, five is cheating! A real man would only pick one and stick with it. So, here’s my one. Not necessarily my favorite album ever, but I think everybody should be required to listen to it at least once:
Some of the best songs from Caetano Veloso, Jorge Ben, Maria Bethania, Gilberto Gil (the current Minister of Culture in Brazil), Chico Buarque, and Milton Nascimento all on one CD!!!