100 Albums You Would wish for...from a Genie

My list will be made up of some pretty obscure recordings, comprised of: prog, jazz, and classical (mostly from the mid 20th century up through the present era).

My numbering got screwed up, but I believe there are 100.

Problem with list like these, since there are so many more pieces of music, that I consider at the same level as these, ask me a different day, and quite a few of these would be different.

Prog:

1) Yes - Close to the Edge

2) King Crimson - Larks’ Tongues in Aspic

3) Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

4) Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - Io Sono Nato Libero

5) National Health - Of Queues and Cures

6) PFM - Per un Amico

7) Magma - K.A (Köhntarkösz Anteria)

8) Arti e Mestieri - Tilt

9) Gentle Giant - In a Glass House

10) Änglagård - Hybris

11) Thinking Plague - In Extremis

12) Henry Cow - Western Culture

13) Univers Zero - Uzed

14) Hatfield and the North - S/T

15) Area - Arbeit Macht Frei

16) Eskaton - 4 Visions

17) Yes - Relayer

18) King Crimson - Red

19 ) Banco del Mutuo Socorrso - Darwin!

20) Il Balletto di Bronzo - YS

21) Pain of Salvation - Remedy Lane

22) Gentle Giant - Octopus

23) Deus Ex Machina - Equilibrismo da Insofferenza

24) Anglagard - Viljans Öga

25) Museo Rosenbach - Zarathustra

26) Echolyn - ...as the World

27) IQ - The Road of Bones

28) Art Zoyd - Symphonie Pour Le Jour Où Brûleront Les Cités

29) Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All

30) ELP - Brain Salad Surgery

31) PFM - Storia di un Minuto

32) Magma - Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh

Genesis - Selling England by the Pound

Echolyn - Suffocating the Bloom

Le Orme - Felona e Sorona

Van Der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts

Van Der Graaf Generator - Godbluff

Camel - Mirage

Magma - Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré

 

Jazz:

33) Mahavishnu Orchestra -Inner Mounting Flame

34) John Coltrane - A Love Supreme

35) Oregon - Out of the Woods

36) Return to Forever - Romantic Warrior

37) Weather Report - Black Market

38 ) Anthony Braxton - Six Compositions: Quartet

39) The Art Ensemble of Chicago - Urban Bushman

40) Brand X - Unorthodox Behavior

41) Ralph Towner - Solo Concerts

42) Eberdard Weber - Cholours of Chloe

43) John Abercrombie - Timeless

44) Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Lost Trident Sessions

45) Szobel - Szobel

46) McCoy Tyner - The Real McCoy

47) Alice Coltrance - Ptah, The El Daoud

48) Pharaoh Sanders - Karma

49) Kemasi Washington - The Epic

50) Keith Jarrett - Koln Concerts

51) Allan Holdsworth - Metal Fatigue

52) Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain

53) Miles Davis - Bitches Brew

54) Bruford - One of a Kind

55) Terje Rypdal - Whenever I Seem to Be Far Away

56) Steve Coleman and the Five Elements - The Sonic Language of Myth

57) Steve Coleman’s Natal Eclipse - Morphogenesis

58) Ralph Towner - Solstice

59) Allan Holdsworth - I.O.U.

Oregon - Roots in the Sky

Iceberg - Sentiments

Miles Davis - In a Silent Way

Weather Report - Heavy Weather

John Coltrane - Ascension

Dave Holland - Conference of Birds

The Art Ensemble of Chicago - People of Sorrow

McCoy Tyner - Sahara

Anthony Braxton - 4 Compositions: Quartet

 

Classical:

60) Elliott Carter - Concerto for Orchestra

61) Elliott Carter - Variations for orchestra

62) Elliott Carter - Piano Concerto

63) Charles Wuorinen - 4th Piano Concerto

64) Charles Wuorinen - Iridule – 2006, for oboe and six players

65) Joan Tower - Concerto for Orchestra

66) Joan Tower - Silver Ladders

67) Alban Berg - Violin Concerto

68) Bruno Maderna - 3rd Oboe Concerto

69) Charles Wuorinen - Microsymphony

70) Unsuk Chin - Violin Concerto No. 1

71) Krzysztof Penderecki - Violin Concerto No. 2: Metamorphosen

72) Ernst Krenek - Static and Ecstatic

73) Joseph Schwantner - Percussion Concerto

74) Milton Babbitt - Composition for 12 instruments

75) Milton Babbitt - Concerti for Orchestra

76 ) Magnus Lindberg - Concert for Orchestra

77) Magnus Lindberg - Piano Concerto

78) Arnold Schoenberg - Variations for Orchestra

79) Bartok - Music for percussion, strings, and celesta

80) Samuel Barber - Piano Concerto

81) Stravinsky - Rite of Spring

82) Augusta Read Thomas - Eos: Goddess of Light

83) Harrison Birtwistle - Earth Dances

 

@mofimadness 

Thanks!

There are quite a few avant-garde prog albums bands, avant-garde jazz, and atonal and dissonant classical in those lists. Not always an easy listen.

So, YMMV with a large part of my list, especially the classical.

@laoman

No Opera, no Beethoven, Bach, Mozart? No Jethro Tull, Rick Wakeman.? I really do not like your list much. There might be 5 or 6 on your list I would want.

 

I am not sure who this is meant for, but I will assume it was for me, since it closely follows my list, and it mentions a couple of prog artists, as well as classical composer.

First of all, as I stated in my 3rd paragraph before my list starts, there are quite a few other bands, musicians, composers that could have made my list. And Jethro Tull is certainly 1 of them. I could have easily had Thick as a Brick, or Passion Play on my 1st list. Wakeman, as great a musician as he is, his solo work does nothing for me. It sounds overblown, and a bit cliché to me. With Yes, he is phenomenal.

Second, as far as Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, and other tonal, "common practice" composers go, I find them boring and predictable. My interest in classical music didn’t start until I discovered: atonal, serial, avant-garde, 12 tone, spectralism, ’new complexity’, and, generally, ’thorny’, challenging classical music. Now I am almost obsessed.

And third, I have yet to really get into opera, and not for a lack of trying. I have listened to Alban Berg’s "LuLu" and "Wozzeck", Harrison Birtwistle’s "Minotaur", and while they do have some potential for me to get into them more, I am just so busy discovering non-opera classical music, I just do not have the time.

And for me, it is not because I do not like classically trained voices. I have quite a few contemporary classical pieces, that do have classically trained vocals, but it is not opera.

And lastly, I have a fair number of classical recordings from the likes of Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, etc, from when I was trying to get into classical music many years ago. And every once and a while, I will play something in hopes of having tonal, common practice classical music click with me, but so far, no go.

I will just stick with Carter, Webern, Babbitt, Berio, Maderna, Tower, etc, etc.

@mahgister

Music is not about tonality versus atonality... Etc...

I am just stating a personal preference, I am not making any statements on the musical theory.

I just know, that for me, classical music that does happen to be tonal, I find predictable and boring.

Music is about visible architecture and rythmical times ....And musical time is way more complex than physical time...

That is certainly part of what is about. And complex time signatures and rhythms is one of the things that draws me to post WWII classical music.

I prefer Persian and Indian music or chinese and japan to all dodecaphonic , seralism and other for me artificial written system with no possible historical emotional background for the musician interpretation ... It is music without history or feelings...Boring in a word... Silence is better..

I also like Indian and Persian music, Chinese and Japanese, not so much.

And it is nice for you, that you enjoy them more than serial music. I do not.

I am not sure why the lack of historical background is at all important. And I am also not conceding that that is even true. And I have no problems getting all sorts of emotional impact and content from post WWII classical music.

I also have to mention, that serialism is only a small part of the classical music I listen to. Elliott Carter is probably my favorite composer, and in his very long career (he lived to the age of 103, and was composing up until he died), and he never composed a serial piece in all that time.

 

Music is about feeling, willing, and thinking...It is a tool to put consciousness to another level...It is why musical time with his 2 dimensions, horizontal and vertical, instead of a line or instead of a timeless set of notes, is so complex...

I am 100% agreement!

While listening to the classical music that I like, I am constantly feeling, willing, and thinking, and I much more often than not, transported to different levels of consciousness. There have been more times than I can count, where my wife will come into my sound room, and I am so transported by the music of Carter, Wuorinen, Berio, or some other ’thorny’ sounding music, and I am completely unaware of her presence.

In serialism music is disconnected of the natural rythms of human metabolism ...Rythms and times may be cosmical but must not loose their link with the human body...

Again, you are talking only about serialism. The majority of the classical music I listen to, is not serial.

And, even if true, I am not sure why being disconnected from the rhythms of the human body are important, or why I should care?

It’s almost as if you think there is only one way to listen to music, and there is only a limited list of reasons to listen, or attributes that are important.

You’re not implying, that you have the ’correct’ way of listening, and I, and others that enjoy some atonal and thorny sounding music, are incorrect?

You cannot call Bach "art of the fugue " boring... You make me smile at least... 😊

You cannot call Beethoven quartets "boring" and hoping to be taken seriously...Sorry... 😊

I did not say they were boring. I said they were boring TO ME.

Correct me if I am wrong, but aren’t both of our musical tastes and opinions, subjective?

When I listen to those composers, all I hear, is emotions that are obvious and predictable. The classical music I listen to, for me, is also loaded with emotional content, but is not broadcast in neon. It takes some work to understand it, then it will reveal the emotional content. It just takes a different way of listening, than the obvious (to me) emotional content of Beethoven.

Boring means : no surprize, no complexities, no emotions...

I admit Beethoven and Bach have emotion in their compositions, it is just too obvious for me. And yes, I find both of them, (and Mozart, Mahler, Brahms, etc,) to be completely unsurprising.

The classical music I listen to is as complex as any you mention, it is just complex in different ways.

And once again, you continue to talk about nothing but serialism, which I will say again, is just a small portion of the classical music I listen to.

Most of the composers you like had no interest at all for me...Because they lost rythm and time... Musician playing this are robots...

They did not lose rhythm, they just express it in more complex ways. Sometimes over short fragments of music, other times, over the entire piece, with different rhythmic fragments returning, and being modified. There is quite a bit of symmetry in quite a bit of post WWII classical music, it is just expressed differently. It just takes a different way of listening.

I prefer Sun Ra to Schoenberg... Each one has his gods i imagine... 😊

As far as Philip Glass goes. I used to be a fan of minimalism, now, not so much.

As far as Indian classical music goes, I am a fan. I have a decent collection.

And I am also a fan of Sun Ra, although, I do like other avant-garde jazz musicians a bit better. Anthony Braxton, who I have on my list of 100. I probably own about 10 Sun Ra recordings, and saw him live a couple of times.

And again, you continue to go back to Schoenberg and serialism, when the vast majority of the classical music I listen to, is not serial. Not to mention, that Schoenberg, is nowhere near my favorite composer.

 

@mahgister 

I reacted to your provocative claim about Bach being boring for YOU....If you were in pop music i would have not reacted...

For sure , the music you call "thorny" is mostly boring for me...

Then we are on the same subjective footing ...

I, as you did , gave my take...

Music is for me always intimately related to a historical tradition... Be it Persian or classicaL OR jazz...

And for me music is related to body rythms and not only to the mind...

Then any composer who go to far and cut too much link with his tradition appear a bit boring to me and not healthy...

But as you said it is subjective and we even may like the same composer with our own different reasons...

But claiming to be "bored" by Bach art of the fugue and the last quartets of Beethoven is astounding for me coming from someone liking music...

It is a gesture ....😊

You like to be provocative , i reacted...

For me Scriabin or Sorabji or Robert Simpson are not less a giant than Carter...They are not "thorny" for sure...

Take my answer as a "gesturing" answer like your post was...😊

No one go on the same road to the same house... You are right about that...

My best to you...

I think the most important thing to consider, is context.

We are both debating about classical music, a genre that is only purchased by a few percent of the music buying public.

So, as much as you think the classical music you love is loaded with so much more emotion than the classical music I love, and I may think the the same about the classical music I love...the vast majority of the music buying public is almost oblivious about classical music entirely. 

I mean, all you have to do is look at the lists on this thread. You and I are the only ones to mention classical music at all. And this is a forum loaded with music lovers that listen to music that is not in the mainstream.

@stuartk 

I definitely recognize that I’m limited by my tastes -- as time goes on, I’m finding less and less music that I want to buy. As mentioned above, I’ve never enjoyed the sound of Classical Vocals. It’s not the music. It’s what I experience as an overall highly exaggerated, unnatural and off-putting quality of the sound.

It’s not clear to me how one could "learn to listen" to a sound that one finds inherently unpleasant/annoying. Care to expound further?

 

 

I know this post was not aimed at me, but since I was part of the conversation with @mahgister , I will reply.

Concerning your 2nd paragraph, my entire evolution in listening to music, has been one case of "learning to listen" to music I initially found "unpleasant".

When I first got into prog (Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, PFM, Banco, etc), which for the most part, is full of music that is pleasant sounding. Someone recommended the band Gentle Giant to me. When I tried to listen to them, I was initially taken aback by the dissonances they use, and it made no sense to me. It sounded wrong to me. So, I put their recordings on my shelf and ignored them for probably close to a year. Fast forward many months, and after listening to many other prog bands, I decided to take them off the shelf and give them another listen. It was like a light went off in my brain. What made no sense just months before, was brilliant now. They almost immediately became one of my favorite bands, and remain so until this day. 

It happened again with entire avant-prog subgenre of prog. This is an entire subgenre that, as described by ProgArchices.com, as:

Avant-prog is generally considered to be more extreme and 'difficult' than other forms of progressive rock, though these terms are naturally subjective and open to interpretation. Common elements that may or may not be displayed by specific avant-prog artists include:
- Regular use of dissonance and atonality.
- Extremely complex and unpredictable song arrangements.
- Free or experimental improvisation.
- Fusion of disparate musical genres.
- Polyrhythms and highly complex time signatures.
Most avant-prog artists are highly unique and eclectic in sound and consequently tend to resist easy comparisons.

I did not like anything in this subgenre for years, but then, after spending more time getting used to what these bands were doing, it just started making sense. 

And once again, it happened with atonal and avant-garde classical music, and a big part I think was brought about by love for the aforementioned, avant-prog. I guess my mind was already prepped to hear atonality and dissonance of avant-prog, the same attributes in classical music just made sense.

I guess, I didn't really explain how it happened, except to say, that it happened over time, and usually in quite small increments. 

At first, it was small bit of 'unpleasantness', maybe like a musical section that is supposed to represent war, death, or madness*, that, despite being 'unpleasant', in context to what the music is portraying, sounds 'right', and loaded with emotion.  Then, overtime, those dark and atonal bits, start to have their own sorts of beauty.

*For example: the instrumental middle section of 'Gates of Delirium' by Yes. It is meant to represent a battle. 

Or, 'Plague of the Lighthouse Keepers' by Van Der Graaf Generator. The 23 minute piece represents a lighthouse keeper slowly going mad, and suicidal, from loneliness and abandonment.

It's hard for me to imagine representing either, without using dissonance and atonality. Which some hear as unpleasant, but I hear as loaded with emotion. 

@mahgister

 

i will try Elliott Carter as suggested by simonmoon... I will go slowly because it is not my "taste"... But i will LEARN something and sometimes miracles happen, and our mind open to new unsuspected possibilities...

 

Hey!

I didn’t suggest anyone listen to anything from my list 😉

I just listed bands, musicians, and composers that I rate at the highest levels of artistry and skill.

It is totally up to you, if want to explore them.😄