I love sites with lists; like Best Albums of the 70's. Or the Best of all time. I can spend serious time at AllMusic, rateyourMusic, Rocklist. And I love the review sites. The ones done by 'regular folks'. Starostin, Adrian D. Scott F. and of course Prindle. It's too bad that some of them have shut down. It makes me appreciate the hardcores even more.
There have been tons of End of the Year lists. Bon Iver seems to top just about every freakin one of them.
So I have been seeing all these lists lately; great albums; greater albums, all the way up to the Greatest. And I think I am going to try and start a thread about Great Albums. Of all different periods. Not necessarily charted; as in "this one is better than the one before". But just say things that come to mind about a particular piece. And of course I hope others join in. In opinions, and in adding albums. I think I might just put one out per week.
And this is totally subjective. E.g. I realize that somewhere the album by the band Love is important; but to me "XTRMNTR" made much more of an impact in life. Or "Pet Sounds" - often considered the greatest album ever. It didnt figure with me all that much.
I don't think I need to do tracklisting, or repeat party line on many classics.
Not chronological at all, but the first one that comes to mind has to be Robert Johnson. There is only that one set of recordings.



I love the Stones, so I love the Blues. I had read about these recordings way before ever hearing them. The build-up was immense. Clapton who lost his way after hearing him, and Keith who swore it was two people playing. The cross roads and the deal with the devil. So when I heard it I was expecting fire and brimstone...
I think these are the lessons I slowly l;earned in life; that it is not about flash in the pan, and speed and volume. That lasting beauty will creep up on you. I am talking about teenager lessons. e.g. I first heard "Gimme Shelter" by Grand Funk Railroad. I was already a Stones freak, but only about 11 or 12. So when I heard LIB, and the Stones version I was let down. "Where is that loud Bass?"
Robert Johnson's music - I guess I really experienced it by proxy. I love listening to it today, and get caught up in the mastery of it. Most music I love is grown from here.

I am staying a bit chronological early on. I have to say that with the early 60's artists I never really went for Killer, Elvis, Cash, or even Chuck Berry. All my Chuck Berry came via Keith. And my real discovery of Elvis came later on.
I don't think 'Please Please Me' was my first Beatles album though. It may even have been the last one I learned about. It is one of my favorite. Much like the first Stones, a lot of covers, and basically the live set. So you know they were tight, and quick about it. It is startling to hear the harmonies at this point. And the writing, arranging. One can already tell the individual directions developing: Paul's love of the ballads; classic style "PS I love You" and "Taste Of Honey"; John's early mastery of the singles "Twist & Shout", "PLease Me" and "Love Me Do", George's chromatic runs on ""Secret"; but the overall exuberance and sophistication in the material is ultimately what gets me. "Theres a Place" and "Misery" both clock in under 2 minutes, and "Chains", "Anna", "Baby its you" are diverse covers.
I d say my faves are that opener with the classic 1-2-3-4 by Paul. What a charging number. And already has a unique Beatles twist with that minor chord in there, and of course a Beatles bridge. The other fave is "Ask me Why' - I love the harmonies, the echo on John's "I, I, I". And again - the harmonies.

Memphis Minnie was the Queen of Memphis and of Chicago too
Don't you forget Memphis Minnie
When you say you know the Blues
She chewed tobacco she never missed a beat
She was the playin'est woman you have ever seen

Memphis Minnie by Del Rey

Memphis Minnie is truly great but my first blues-lady will Always be Bessie Smith...

When it comes to Please Please Me it's my number one English Debut-album of all time..14 Smash Hits that I still listen to weekly..

2 1 2 0

Sister Rosetta deserves a mention as well.





[www.youtube.com]

Since I;m still starting this thread up, I am trying to build a bit of a library, and post a bit more often.
Again, this is not supposed to flow chronologically; or even logically. Just random greatest albums.
This next one is IMO unquestionably the greatest Box Set; peerless. Around 2000 I went through about a year where I did not listen to anything but James Brown. I mean - nothing else. His library of albums is huge. And there are actually many, many good ones. His discography is similar to Elvis, or Sinatra, in as much as there are tons of exploit Big Hit compilations. Cheap, and badly compiled. But along side - he was constantly touring and recording and releasing.
'Star Time' is a very well done overview of his soul music.
They divided it into 4 discs; 4 eras, each with their name and title. The first one with the Flames and the early Doo Wop. Disc 2 and 3 are insane funk workouts; a few choice live cuts. One "Brother Rapp' with 3 drummers. Disc 4 marks the end of his greatest years, and IMO it is wise they end with this.
Great book comes with it all.

This to me is classic. Pretty much all releases by Spiritualized.

You hooked me w/ your writing specifically 'lasting beauty that creeps up on you'
so I tried your recommend
'Spiritualized' group/ I'd never heard,
gotta say a big No for me. Tried 2 selections and, ah, no.
For being such a James Brown fan,
how did you like Mick's movie bio on him?
(I haven't seen it)

Quote
35love
You hooked me w/ your writing specifically 'lasting beauty that creeps up on you'
so I tried your recommend
'Spiritualized' group/ I'd never heard,
gotta say a big No for me. Tried 2 selections and, ah, no.
For being such a James Brown fan,
how did you like Mick's movie bio on him?
(I haven't seen it)

LOL, one of my very best friends, who is also a major Stones freak, and hardcore collector. As far as boots etc go he is way harder than me even. But with Spiritualized we are on different paths. He agrees with you: a big No, haha..
He is one of those artists where I like everything by him. It is to me a continuation of the Velvet Underground. (Now his latter albums are more song oriented) It more of an experience with them - the choir, maybe an Icelandic stage setting. I have a feeling that HisMajesty may like him.
35love - I saw the JB film a few times. Chadwick Boseman is astonishing. Very good. Overall? IMO Jagger should stay out of films. There is something he doesn't get right. It may even be an intangible; but he manages to convey an overall sheen to the proceedings - everytime; that throws it off.
One point I have decided that I've learned re. bios, is that I think it is better to grab just one small period of the person's life, and focus on it. And thus make your point.

Next I am thinking about Van Morrison. I can not decide what album to name. They all have their own personality, but the Man has this flowing, streaming brook of beauty and poetry, which keeps on going. I am listing most of his 70's output. But to me it could keep going throughout the 80's. Until '88 the quality remains tops. He is one of the very few artists from 60/70 who was not fazed by the 80's.


















Some of these flew under the radar.
Veedon Fleece" and "Hard Nose" went unnoticed at time of release. I am doing this through research. Did not experience it first hand. But I see that one of the reasons that the wonderful "Veedon Fleece"only came into it's own later, is because of over exposure. He had just put out a double live a month earlier.

Nick Cave has released many great albums; there are others I could have chosen. But w/ Van Morrison I really can not pick one. Nick Cave's albums all have their own personality. The thing about 'Murder Ballads', it is surely the most fun. the songwriting and playing is stellar; as mostly. The theme is what sets it apart. Kylie Minogue and PJ Harvey guest; to great effect. Yet, nothing outstages Mr Cave and his 'Stagger Lee'.

Never «got» Nick Cave, but the 70s Van Morrison-albums are absolutely superb. Moondance is my favourite right now (again)

No Easy Way Down: [www.youtube.com]
Full album: [www.youtube.com]

Oh yes,good call on Dusty.

So today I want to add one of my alltime favorite albums by one of my favorite groups. They only put out 3 proper aLBUMS; and I probably could have placed either one here. But I do think the first one is a bit better than the others. Now there have been a bunch of official looking live releases coming out not too long ago. nd Mike Doughty, singer,slacker, poet and writer has released many solo discs.
I always think of Mission of Burma (another favorite of mine) and these guys together, because they both featured a tape and sample manipulator as a full band member. MOB was about a decade earlier, so with them it really was tapes, and more sound sculptures; with SC way more use of magnificent, brilliant sampling.
The great pity with Soul Coughing is that they had DeGli Antoni on Samples, and then just one of the most lethal rhythm sections ever assembled by mankind in Sebastian Steinberg on Uprite Bass and Yuval Gabay on drums; then their frontman, guitar player and writer Doughty. So why a pity? The story goes that the band loathed Doughty; and I mean they hated him. Lifestyles...
They made it through 3 superb albums, and countless live shows. Doughty is very bitter about the SC days.
"Ruby Vroom" rocked me. I was so entranced by the imagination of the stories in the lyrics, the mad driving, irresistible grooves by the rhythm section; the ploinky guitar, and one can not say enough about the sampling. It has to be heard. I remember the first time I heard the seagulls in "Sugar Free Jazz" and Doughty going "she bomb she bomb'...I had to pull over.

This next selection is not regarded as a classic in any way. It came at a time when I was in between USA and Europe; back & forth. And I can't remember if I introduced this album to my friends on this side or that. Heavily into Glam at the time, and not familiar with any back story on the band, this one worked so well. IMO it is still their best release. The earlier albums, while all in the true spirit are patchy. And even the top songs don't quite have the fire of the live renditions. this was a top notch band. Very tight.
Pity about them is that there just is not all that much video testimony of those early day shows. I loved what they had; Kenny Ortega was choreographer, and very much involved in the stage shows. The main writers were Sputnik Spooner, Micael Cotton, Vince Welnick and Roger Steen. Any combination of them. Once Spooner left, which seemed to roughly coincide with their change of label in the dreaded 80's, they may have had they radio hits, they so craved, but they lost any kind originality and threat. Spooner was also a very good lead vocalist who took over when Fee was off stage changing, or he co-sang. Both of them with strong tenors, Spooner had the rasp, while Fee had the range and the stage craft.
This London show capped off a UK tour, while still in their hey-day; as one can tell from the audio recordings. So many great moments in the album: the intro morphing into "Got Yourself a Deal"; the infamous "What do You Want from Life" which Fee pulled off night after night; show stopper "Mondo Bondage/Dont Touch Me There" with Re Styles. One of my faves "Smoke". "Space Baby", "White Punks on Dope" etc. It doesn't let up. Also funny in many places.
[youtu.be] On "Smoke" right at the 5:00 minute mark there is a breakdown to bass and synth, guitars while Mingo Lewis and Prairie Prince go crazy on percussion. I spent about 12 hours rolling and tripping once with that riff hammering in my brain; just that riff, LOL. Anyway.
The Tubes "What do you want from Live?" Good album