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

@mahgister: All taken in the spirit it was offered!

Another factor that muddies the water in the matter of music lover vs. audiophile is the fact that the better the system, the deeper one is able delve into the music itself, not just enjoy the sound of it. I mean c’mon, music IS sound. The two are inextricably joined at the hip, so to speak.

That’s why being an audiophile in not antithetical to being a music lover. THAT’S what the rabidly anti-audiophile crowd (mostly Classical music purists in my experience) doesn’t seem to understand, or at least want to accept as true.

For sure you are right... Most audiophile love music...

It is why i agonized and dreamed about a good audiophile sound all my life ....

With no money but worst, no idea how to create one with no money...I learned it really after my retirement 7 years ago...

The problem ( i must say here that i am a classical-jazz-world music traditions-purist) the pr9blem is most audiophile did not know how to create an audiophile experience at low cost using acoustics , mechanical and electrical basics...

Then they obsess with sound ... They become dependant of their purchase not of their acoustic experience and experiments when they pose a judgement... What a serious audiophile here can think about 4 inches speakers box paid 100 bucks and modified by me ? Do you think that he can judge this an "audiophile" system ... Myself i judge it audiophile quality because of my aqcoustics modification , electrical one and even mechanical modification of the speakers box.. My sound is extraordinary... For sure i dont have a sub but i dont need one anyway... If i say how i created an extended bass and a better soundstage , "audiophiles" will laugh at me BY IGNORANCE...I did it with straws simple materials... I created an acoustic corner too... My soundfield is so good that it is better than most headphones , and my only one headphone beat most speakers in a living room...

Total cost 700 bucks...

This is why even if your other post alternative between 1,000 bucks sytem and 10,000 music or the reverse had no real meaning as serious alternative it means something about "audiophiles"...And it is why you used it ...

I am also an audiophile but not obsessed with sound because i learned how to create a good experience by myself not by purchasing .then i never entered into the upgrading wheel....

Acoustics basic science  matter not the design specs of the newest costlier last product hyped by most... 😁

@mahgister: All taken in the spirit it was offered!

Another factor that muddies the water in the matter of music lover vs. audiophile is the fact that the better the system, the deeper one is able delve into the music itself, not just enjoy the sound of it. I mean c’mon, music IS sound. The two are inextricably joined at the hip, so to speak.

That’s why being an audiophile in not antithetical to being a music lover. THAT’S what the rabidly anti-audiophile crowd (mostly Classical music purists in my experience) doesn’t seem to understand, or at least want to accept as true.

Hypothetically, it’s all good and healthy to maximize the fidelity of the media that supplies the thing you want; attention to acoustics & attention to gear made for music reproduction—> music…if one is a cinema lover, the equivalent for cinema, etc. etc.

In reality, inordinate attention to sheer fidelity at the expense of actually appreciating the beautiful, wondrous art (the part in bold italics being, supposedly, the whole point of the whole shabang) is a very real and very common hazard of saying, “I’m gonna achieve ‘the best!’”

Also, just wanted to add that Willie Nelson is a boss.  
He’s super beloved, super respected, and yet, in light of his resume, still seems a tad underrated from where I’m sittin’

@tylermunns you are so right about Willie, he is a national treasure as far as I am concerned.  Like you, I think he is underrated, maybe more that a tad.

@vandy357 I remember seeing an advanced-age version of Willie on Austin City Limits a few years back and his fluidity as a performer with his guitar and voice was just remarkable. Beautiful. A true artist. 

Willie’s catalogue of songs…fuhgettaboudit. 

One real "problem" for me is that a fair amount of my favorite music was recorded "indifferently" or worse. And if a system is a little "too good" (i.e ruthlessly revealing), those kind of recordings may become somewhat unpleasant to listen to.

In my experience, a very transparent tweeter like a planar-magnetic, electrostatic, or ribbon may not make poor recordings unlistenable, but a metal-done tweeter might. I think that is a result of the tendency for some metal domes to "ring" a little. That is of course a broad generalization, so no offense intended, metal dome tweeter owners. 😊

Do many of us work towards building a system transparent enough to serve the music well, but not so unforgiving that less-than-superb recordings lead us to not listen to them as much as we would like to?

When Audiogon member Simon (folkfreak) had me over to his Portland home to hear his outstanding system, the sound of the tweeters in his Magico Q3 loudspeakers (augmented with Townshend Audio Maximum Supertweeters) contributed to a tonal balance I am not accustomed to. I had heard Magico’s before (I don’t remember which model), but in a bigger room and at a greater listening distance (in Simon’s old room the distance was about six or so feet, maybe a little more. Is that correct Simon?). And Simon’s room was very neutral (it was fitted with ASC products, including the WallDamp used in the construction of the room’s structure), "cooler" than the somewhat warm room I listen in. I hadn’t before heard the Townshend tweeter, and of course had no knowledge of the spl/crossover frequency, etc. it was being used at.

The LP’s I brought along (Richard & Linda Thompson’s Shoot Out The Lights on UK Hannibal Records and Cat Stevens’ Tea For The Tillerman on UK Island) sounded probably the over-all best I have ever heard them (both are excellent recordings), with not a trace of hardness, glare, or other nasties (Simon’s ARC and VTL electronics share in the credit 😉). But the higher frequencies were more prominent than I am accustomed to. Interestingly, Simon---having traded his Q3’s for M3’s---no longer feels the need for the Townshend tweeters.

I have long felt that the popularity of the Vandersteen Model 2 (well earned and deserved, imo) was in part due to it’s slightly forgiving nature (in comparison to some competing loudspeakers); that is, just slightly on the warm side of neutral. Vandersteen owners may prefer them to, for instance, Wilson’s for that very reason. Vandersteen’s can be listened to for hours with no listening fatigue, even with somewhat bright recordings. I’ve never owned a pair, but have heard many hours of music through them.

Everything sound better in a well optimized and well embedded system...

If not, there is a synergy problem or perhaps an acoustic factor not well done...

Everything sound good in my 2 system even the worst recording ... They sound better than they ever did...

Then..........

One of the reason for this "problem" is that many audiophile confuse musical natural sounding system with "more detailed" one and especially brighter one...

One real "problem" for me is that a fair amount of my favorite music was recorded "indifferently" or worse. And if a system is a little "too good" (i.e ruthlessly revealing), those kind of recordings may become somewhat unpleasant to listen to.

@bdp24 This is a great point you make about super-revealing gear causing less-than-stellar recordings to be more pronounced in their less-than-stellarness.  
Tough thing about such listening habits.  
I suppose if one only listens to music that was recorded immaculately, the high-end stuff pays off marvelously.  
Listening to roughly recorded music exclusively makes the money, time and effort spent on maximized fidelity with home audio a really dicey proposition. 
Really tough for folks who have a super diverse taste for music.

"Super revealing gear" is not necessaraly a true qualitative system ....

True audiophile system/room make any recording better even the bad recording...

Many confuse details and bright...

Natural timbre sound  is the mark of a great system not  "details" coming from brightness...

Acoustics basic...

I've made my "desert island list" many times. Yo Lo Tengo is a perennial pick. "We Be Sailin'" by B W Stevenson HAS to be there, and John Prine, my sing along records... it's lonely on a desert island. Today, Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks" Flat Duo Jets. The Residents, Silver Apples, Red Crayolas, Stereo Lab, George Antheil, Zappa, Ornette Coleman, Sarah Vaughn, Patsy Cline, Beethoven's 3rd.... But this is a WISH list, right?

Is it about my favorite music, things I already have, or can get? Like, give me a pristine copy of something I have? I don't like to be limited, I don't want to be boxed, what a chance to explore. So, I would ask a Djinn for the obscure, the rumored, the forgotten, the runs of 100 pressings, the things a Djinn would have in their collection... not record club or played to death on FM. Not my favorites, so much, but things that could become favorites. I might say something like, "I want 100 albums I didn't know existed, so surprise me" and then add them to the shelves, after auditioning...and being surprised ;)

but that's just me. go ahead, make it 100 copies of signed "Born in the USA" and I'll sell them on Fleece bay

Without a doubt, my list would be a little different if I could use box sets (Howlin' Wolf, James Brown, Ornette, etc.) or best ofs (Creedence, George Jones, etc.) and would be subject to endless editing upon closer inspection, but this was nevertheless a fun exercise of compiling a hundred albums I will always play fondly and that have shaped me, for better or worse:

1. Big Star – “Radio City”
2. Beatles  -- “Rubber Soul”
3. Flying Burrito Brothers – “The Gilded Palace of Sin”
4. Yo La Tengo – “I Can Still Hear the Heart Beating as One”
5. Miles Davis – “In a Silent Way”
6. Miles Davis – “Kind of Blue”
7. Television – “Marquee Moon”
8. Rolling Stones—“Sticky Fingers”
9. Rolling Stones – “Exile on Main Street”
10. Thelonious Monk – “Brilliant Corners
11. James Carter – “Chasin’ the Gypsy”
12. Billie Holiday – “Lady Day”
13. Lucinda Williams – “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road”
14. Lucinda Williams – “Sweet Old World”
15. R.E.M – “Murmur
16. R.E.M – “Automatic for the People”
17. Joni Mitchell – “Blue”
18. Los Lobos – “Colossal Head”
19. Richard and Linda Thompson – “Hokey Pokey”
20. R/L Thompson – “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight”
21. R/L Thompson – “Shoot Out the Lights”
22. The Replacements – “Pleased to Meet Me”
23. The Feelies – “The Good Earth”
24. X – “Wild Gift”
25. New York Dolls – S/T
26. Sonic Youth – “Daydream Nation”
27. Jason and the Scorchers – “Fervor” (EP)
28. Ornette Coleman – “Of Human Feelings”
29. Ornette Coleman – “In All Languages”
30. Wussy – “Attica”
31. Massive Attack – “No Protection”
32. James McMurtry – “It’s Complicated”
33. George Jones – “Tenth Anniversary”
34. Minutemen – “Double Nickels on the Dime”
35. The Greencards – “Viridian”
36. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” Vol.1
37. Neil Young – “Decade”
38. Neil Young – “Rust Never Sleeps”
39. Neil Young – “Tonight’s the Night”
40. Sparklehorse – “It’s a Wonderful Life”
41. Bob Marley and the Wailers – “Legend”
42. Steely Dan – “Can’t Buy a Thrill”
43. Steely Dan – “Pretzel Logic”
44. Tom Waits – “SwordfishTrombones”
45. Velvet Underground – S/T (third album)
46. Velvet Underground and Nico
47. Lou Reed – “The Blue Mask”
48. Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins – “Rabbit Fur Coat”
49. Pavement – “Brighten the Corners”
50. Sleater Kinney – “Dig Me Out”
51. Creedence Clearwater Revival – “Cosmo’s Factory”
52. Creedence Clearwater Revival – “Willy and the Poor Boys”
53. Howlin’ Wolf – “Moanin’ in the Moonlight”
54. Leonard Cohen – “Songs of Leonard Cohen”
55. Leonard Cohen – “Ten New Songs”
56. John Prine – S/T
57. Richard Hell and the Voidoids —“Blank Generation”
58. Iris Dement – “My Life”
59. Silos – “Cuba”
60. Gram Parsons – “Grievous Angel”
61. Husker Du – “New Day Rising”
62. Husker Du – “Zen Arcade”
63. Bill Evans – “Sunday at the Village Vanguard”
64. Sonny Rollins – “Silver City”
65. Charlie Parker – “The Legendary Dial Masters”
66. Professor Longhair – “Crawfish Fiesta”
67. The Ramones – “Road to Ruin”
68. Elvis Costello – “King of America”
69. Oliver Nelson – “Blues and the Abstract Truth”
70. Willie Nelson – “Spirit”
71. The Jayhawks – “Rainy Day Music”
72. Fleetwood Mac – “Rumours”
73. Dave Holland – “Conference of the Birds”
74. John Coltrane – “Live at the Village Vanguard”
75. John Coltrane – “A Love Supreme”
76. Fountains of Wayne – “Welcome Interstate Managers”
77. The Go-Betweens – “Liberty Belle and the Diamond Express”
78. The Go-Betweens – “Tallulah”
79. Grant McLennan – “Horsebreaker Star”
80. The Band – S/T
81. The Band – “Music from Big Pink”
82. Pink Floyd – “Wish You Were Here”
83. The Pixies – “Bossanova”
84. Van Morrison – “Moondance”
85. Van Morrison – “Astral Weeks”
86. Luna – “Penthouse”
87. Led Zeppelin – “III”
88. Archers of Loaf – “Vee Vee”
89. Prince – “The Gold Experience”
90. Prince – “Sign o’ the Times”
91. The Pretenders – S/T
92. Nirvana – “MTV Unplugged Live in New York”
93. Bob Dylan – “Highway 61 Revisited”
94. Bob Dylan – “Blonde on Blonde”
95. Freedy Johnston – “Can You Fly?”
96. The Stooges – “Funhouse”
97. The Modern Lovers – S/T
98. Old 97s – “Fight Songs”
99. Talking Heads – “Remain in Light”
100. The Wrens – “The Meadowlands”

@bdp24

I'm very sensitive to harsh highs and as I don't have the option of following the embedding advice of  @mahgister (my system in in our living room), I try to be very careful with gear choices. Nevertheless, I unintentionally ended up with too forward a presentation earlier in the year., after replacing my Moon transport with a Jay's.

At first, I was seduced by the significant increase in resolution. Resolution had never been a top priority for me, so this level of detail was a novelty. However, as time went on, I found myself listening less and less. I reached a point where after 30 seconds of music, I had to turn off the system.

Utilizing advice from forum members, I was able to identify and address the problemmatic parts of the signal chain. It's hard to say whether the system has any less detail, now. If it does, I don't miss it. Still, there are some particularly poor-sounding CDs I've had to get rid of. So, for those who don't have a well treated room, it would appear to be a balancing act -- having enough resolution to make for a convincing presentation, without pushing it so far that it becomes fatiguing. 

@waltersalas...excellent choices sir!  Some great titles on there!!!

I took out "Best Ofs" & "Box Sets" so we would have to really think about the "album" as a whole.

Also, I see a lot of titles from the lists that I love, but remember, these 100 albums are all we have to listen to...forever.  I like quite a few of the choices, but once or twice through would be more than enough for me.

waltersalas, Spirit is such a wonderful record!

@waltersalas: Your list contains not only many of my favorite artists, but the same album from each I myself would choose. Iris DeMent's My Life, for instance. I wasn't going to contribute to this discussion, but I feel  myself weakening. 😉

I would do it by starting at "A" and moving forward through the alphabet (my Pop albums are so organized), rather than coming up with 100 albums from memory. 

@mofimadness 

nice list !!!! 
 

did you know Styx is not in the rock & roll hall of fame !

bridge of sigh’s.      Classic 

jeff

Only one jazz album is worthy of being on your list? No John Coltrane’s Blue Train even? Hmmm. 

Well,

I've just made a discovery today on Geometric Lullaby label

their list of albums is not large, but I want them all NOW. I'll try to chat with my close friend record store owner on how to get discounted bundle deal of all at once on vinyl, simply because I really cannot wait for Genie and my turn is only in about several years :)

There's also a documentary on these albums. It would seem like the author of these albums of music and lyrics was on the path of committing suicide, but since it was just an illusion, these albums can be purchased at relatively affordable price :)

DISCLAIMER. I'm absolutely in NO WAY neither trying to sell those on discogs nor trying to sell pretty much anything. I do only share experience and my current "target"