Everybody’s Top 5 - Vinyl

I know I’m supposed to like Richard Thompson.

And I do, as a person.

I listen to his work on his own, rarely.
I listen to his work with Fairport once a month.

In no particular order, but 5 of my favorites so far... I've purchased about 100 records since my wife bought me a record player last Christmas and haven't listen to them all yet. Probably will feel differently once I listen to some others.

PJ Harvey; To Bring You My Love

Desaparecidos; Read Music/Speak Spanish

Nine Inch Nails; The Downward Spiral

Underworld; Beaucoup Fish

Odesza; In Return

Out of 6,000 LPs? Really a useless question. The choices change from month to month, depending on mood, though I suppose some remain near the top most of the time. 
Nevertheless here goes, with 11:

- Sandy Denny: The North Star Grassman and The Ravens
- Tim Buckley: Live at The Troubadour
- Laura Nyro: New York Tendaberry
- Pergolesi: Stabat Mater (I have a dozen interpretations of this)
- Frederick Rzewski: Coming Together 
- Jefferson Airplane: After Getting Stoned on Acid (After Bathing at Baxter’s)
- Max Roach with Abbey Lincoln: We Insist! Freedom Now Suite
- John McLoughlin: Devotion
- Henryk Gorecki: Symphony #3
- Aaron Copeland: Appalachian Spring 
- Mark Almond Band: eponymous 

Definitely, first on the boat would be:

1. A Date with The Everly Brothers (this LP influenced them all- Beatles, Beach Boys…)

2. Beethovens Ninth

3. Nashville (soundtrack)

4. Santana (first LP. Difficult to find a well recorded copy)

5. Thelonious Monk

wish I could take a few more. Sometimes life isn’t fair. 

Impossible! But here’s a go…

The Kinks - Village Green
Sonny Rollins - Way Out West
Elvis Costello - My Aim is True
Big Joe Turner - Rock & Roll (Atlantic Original)
Hank Williams - Greatest Hits


That said, after watching the first two episodes of the new series with Paul McCartney and Rick Rubin, I’m reminded how one couldn’t go wrong just bringing Beatles records to the desert island…

pengun, Zappa would fart in your face for that comment. Zappa is an American Composer!

@waltersalas, people who have never seen Richard do one of his solo performances have no idea how good a guitar player he is and he is amazing. He is also a blistering electric guitar player. In 40 years he only made two Albums I could do without., Henry the Human Fly and Sunny Vista. He has 26 releases and this does not include the Fairport records. It should also be noted that he writes all his own songs. 

I have another record to add to the live performance list I totally forgot about. Return to Forever Returns. Chick Corea RIP. An amazing performance by an amazing band and an amazing recording! Does not get much better.

Very informative. Most people listen to pop, so be it. ;)

Zappa is god!

10 more personal favorites

Marvin Gaye - in our lifetime 
Sade - diamond life (in reality i'd pick every Sade. just perfect records, undefeated discography imho)
The best of john fahey on takoma. maybe i just lucked into an especially nice copy but this record is the closest to "he's literally right there in front of me" i've ever gotten from an acoustic guitar lp, and i've got a few 
Los Mirlos - los charapas de oro
Badfinger - straight up
Black Flag 82 demos bootleg lp
Ahmad Jamal - tranquility 
Mingus Black Saint and Sinner Lady
Gato Barbieri - latinoamerica vol. 1
Don Cherry - brown rice 

I'm a big fan of Richard Thompson's post-Fairport catalog. I consider Pour Down Like Silver, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight, Hokey Pokey, and Shoot Out the Lights all to be essential albums. While it's true that solo years have been spottier, there are some highlights. For example, Mirror Blue is a great album.I also enjoy the Acoustic Classics collections, both excellent. He's still a vital live performer, too. We saw him open for Jason Isbell a couple of years ago and he was in great form.

Poor Down Like Silver

Arctic Monkeys AM

Pour Down Silver….

clearthinker, I think you are being a little rough on Richard. Hand of Kindness and Daring Adventures are really great records. I do think he has gone soft in the last ten years or so but hey, everyone's entitled to get old. I forgot to mention Shoot Out The Lights with Linda. There are a lot of people who think that was his best album. 

Since OP is out, I am not limiting it to 5.

Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin II
Led Zeppelin III
Led Zeppelin IV
Houses of the Holy
Physical Graffiti
Presence
In Through the Out Door
Coda
The Song Remains the Same
How the West Was Won
BBC Sessions
Celebration Day
And all my bootlegs.

Mingus Ah Um (mono)
Evans Waltz for Debby (mono)
PF - Wish you where here
Led Zeppelin IV
Nina Simone and Piano

Hi mijo
Another thing about Yellow Shark is the brilliantly tight sound quality on a stock CD.  Utter pleasure to listen.

Those guys played because they were paid.  But I do hope they enjoyed the sessions.

Frank's orchestral music was modern but it is far more approachable than almost all the 'modern' 'classical'.  Strange isn't it that all his orchestral recordings are instantly identifiable as Zappa.  No-one else could have written or arranged them.

Yes Richard Thompson is big everywhere now but his golden years ended with Fairport.

RUSH - 2112
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Tragically Hip - Fully Completely
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Remain in Light

Honorable mention:
Alan Parsons Project - I Robot
Dire Straits - Dire Straits (first album)

Beatles White Album

Best of The Rolling Stones 

Saxophone Colossus with Sonny Rollins 

Surrealistic Pillow 

Best of Jethro Tull

Impossible to narrow it down to a top five.  At least it is for me.  But, is the question about sonic qualities or simply great music.  Some great music doesn't sound very good and some sonically superb recordings is just flat boring music.  I keep getting sonically wonderful recordings of great music almost weekly, hence why it is so difficult for me to chose a top five.

Clearthinker, all of them. I have everything Frank ever recorded and released. Certainly, The Yellow Shark is SPECIAL. The fact that he got those guys to play G-Spot Tornado blows my mind. 

Why Fairport and Sandy did not make it in the States is beyond me. Richard Thompson has a huge following here now. Anyway, Sandy threw herself down the stairs one to many times and Who Knows Where the Time Goes has been recorded and attributed to just about everyone else:-(

Clearthinker - most people have no idea who Sandy Denny was talking about tragic. My favorite work with her at the helm would be Liege and Lief. After about 1/2 hour of Shut Up my eyes start to cross. I guess I prefer Zappa's solos in the context of his songs. He gets so technical sometimes the sole is missing, the mirror image of Duane Allman. I do love Uncle Meat and Burnt Weeny Sandwich. Call Any Vegetable probably has his most famous guitar solo.  

Thanks for the response @Mijo

Here in the UK Sandy was far bigger than stateside.  She was born in Wimbledon where I grew up, just a couple of years older than I.  Her brother was at my school.
I agree about Liege and Lief.  I listen to it often.  It is Fairport's masterpiece and perhaps the centrepiece of folk-rock because it retains the folk idiom in a way that, say, Mr Tambourine Man does not.
It would be in my next 5 if OP had permitted.  But listen to Grassman again - it showcases her wonderful voice in a way L+L cannot, as well as some wonderful quiet introspective songs.

Zappa is surely by far the most under-rated rock guitarist of all time, tragically taken as he was about to break further into the world of serious orchestral music, financed by his rock career.  I take it you have heard the orchestral releases?

Spermbird- Common Thread.   Dag Nasty - Four on the Floor. Government Issue - Crash. Clowns - Lucid Again. The The - Soul Mining

Supertramp - Crime of the Century.
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon.
Boston - Boston (Defender).
Led Zepplin - ALL
Alan Parsons Project - I Robot.
** Bonus LP** - Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells. 

Poor OP is “out” after 5 months and 3 posts. Can’t take it anymore. He didn’t even get dumped on by MC for being a cultural Marxist and he’s still leaving. 

dweller - thanks for your input. Very informative.

actually, its why I'm considering dumping this forum...too many dwellers here.

I'm out. Mods need to do their job.

Here are some..

David Bowie: Hunky Dory
Jesus and Mary Chain: Psychocandy
Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest
Big Thief: UFOF
Neil Young: After the Gold Rush

Wayne Shorter: Speak No Evil
Cannonball Adderly: Something Else
Miles Davis: Nefertiti
Duke Ellington: Indigos
Sonny Rollins: Saxophone Colossus

@infection   100% agreed.It gets spun very often. Over the decades its as potent now as it ever was. I saw them with Danzig and Type O in like 94? 95? We were behind the stage when Godflesh came on and it was absolutely crushing, the opening to Spite, and when the guitar came in it sounded like it was the size of a school bus. Justin is a good guy too.
As for my other favorite band of all time, its The Jesus and Mary Chain.

These are what I'm spinning most right now. Anyone who knows me knows G O D F L E S H is mightiest of all and 1 of 2 all time faves of all time. Ever.
With Industrial back on vinyl my thoroughly destroyed, decades old cd an now be retired. Its barely left the 'table since I got it.

Got ya, I misconstrued. I first heard Godflesh when they released Streetcleaner & it floored me...changed my life!
So what is your other all time favourite?

@infection  These are what I'm spinning most right now. Anyone who knows me knows G O D F L E S H  is mightiest of all and 1 of 2 all time faves of all time. Ever.
With Industrial back on vinyl my thoroughly destroyed, decades old cd an now be retired. Its barely left the 'table since I got it.

Wow, lots of good stuff being proposed! Going to have to re-visit a few of those...

For a combination of Audio Quality, Content and Recent Frequency of Play:

Sally Oldfield - Water Bearer
Dead Can Dance - Dionysus
Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring
The Cinematic Orchestra - To Believe
Massive Attack - Heligoland

Bonus Pick...
George Crumb - Lux Aterna / Dream Sequence / Four Nocturnes

Echo- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers 
Wired- Jeff Beck
Highway 61 Revisited- Bob Dylan
Live at Leeds- The Who
Liege and Lief- Fairport Convention

…and 3 more…
The Road to You- Pat Metheny Group
Then Play On- Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac
Beggars Banquet- The Rolling Stones 

The list is endless... but a few songs
CLASSICAL
Boccherini String quartet C major G324 V:Powerful strings and guitar
Schubert: Schöne Müllerin Fritz Wunderlich.
Mozart: String quartet n14 G Major K387
Bach:Lorraine Hunt BWV 82 Ich Habe Genug
Haëndel Messiah Ev´ry valley
JAZZ:
Art Blakey: Moanin´
Paul Gonsalves meet Earl Hines: Over the rainbow
Count Basie: KC3 Sandman
Ralph Sutton :Partners in crime Swing that music
Joe Muranyi: Big Joe Jazz Swing that music
Zoot Sims You and Me: Improvisations for unaccompanied saxos
VOCAL JAZZ
Rosemary Clooney Show Tunes: Everything I´ve got (magic drums)
June Christy: The intimate Miss Christy: Fly me to the moon
Dinah Washington: I could write a book
.....

- Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy
(First vinyl purchase with my own money all those years ago.)

- Ramones - It’s Alive
(Recorded New Years Eve 1977 @ The Rainbow London. Originally purchased as a Dutch import early 198(?). Not officially released stateside until 1996. Say what you will, imo the greatest live rock n’ roll performance ever recorded. Full show-27 minutes. It’s on Youtube.

- Various Readers Digest box sets late 70’s early 80’s. Direct RCA/Columbia masters. (Thrift store find @ $4.00 a box. Obvious I was the first to take them out of their sleeves. As pressed condition.)

- Clapton Unplugged
- Sinatra At The Sands

@roadwhorerecords   Bongo Fury ha ha .  When I read that I had to pull out my copy and give it a spin.  She's not quite 200 years old and still sound great.  Thanks.

Will be hard to chose, so many great bands, singers  and musicians with great albums 
Slayer- Show no mercy 
Metallica- Kill’em all
Mercyful Fate- Don’t Break the Oath
Exodus- Bonded by blood 
Iron Maiden- Iron Maiden 

roadwhorerecords That would be Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart!

Interesting. There is a propensity for artificial studio records although the Allman Brothers at the Fillmore East is mentioned several times. Not the that the music isn't great. Perhaps we should divide this up into five favorite live albums and five favorite studio records. They are different artforms in a sense. They have to be both a great performance and a great recording.

Live;
Tower of Power Direct on Sheffield Records.
Little Feat - Waiting for Columbus
The Dead - Skull and Roses
Joni Mitchell - Shadows and Light
Roxy Music - The High Road

Studio;
The Pixies - Surfa Rosa
NIN - The Downward Spiral
Haley Williams - Petals for Armor
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Roger Waters - Amused to Death

And, thousands of honorable mentions. 

Clearthinker - most people have no idea who Sandy Denny was talking about tragic. My favorite work with her at the helm would be Liege and Lief. After about 1/2 hour of Shut Up my eyes start to cross. I guess I prefer Zappa's solos in the context of his songs. He gets so technical sometimes the sole is missing, the mirror image of Duane Allman. I do love Uncle Meat and Burnt Weeny Sandwich. Call Any Vegetable probably has his most famous guitar solo.  
  

[in alphabetical order]

If I Could only Remember my Name    David Crosby
The North Star Grassman and the Ravens   Sandy Denny
Blonde on Blonde         Bob Dylan
Sibelius   The Symphonies     Lahti Symphony Orchestra/Vanska
Shut up and Play your Guitar     Frank Zappa

John Coltrane "A Love Supreme
Wayne Shorter "Speak No Evil"
Rolling Stones "Let It Bleed"
Marvin Gaye "What’s Going On"
Janis Joplin "Cheap Thrills"
Emmylou Harris ""Wrecking Ball"

Okay, that’s six, but I couldn’t figure out which one to eliminate. Got Jazz, Blues, R&B, Rock and Roll, and Country in there anyway.

Gene Clark, White Light
Jimmy Cliff, The Harder they Come
Miles-Sketches of Spain or In a Silent Way
Stones, Exile on Main Street
Clash, London Calling

Very honorable mentions
 Nick Drake, Five Leaves Left
Santana, Caravanserai
Radiohead, Ok Computer

Right now my two favorites are two recent acquisitions:
1. Leonard Cohen—“Live in London”, and
2. Moby—“Reprise”

That said, I’m just now rediscovering my vinyl collection after a 39-year hiatus to digital. And I add more every payday. So, I expect my list of five favorites will evolve indefinitely.

The Beatles, Meet the Beatles
Allman Brothers, Live at the Fillmore
The Who, Who’s Next
Led Zeppelin, first
Jimi Hendrix, Are you Experienced

The last several months seem to see several plays of...
Donald Fagen- The NightflyRolling Stones- Exile on Main Street
Bob Dylan- Blood on the Tracks
Peter Kaukonen- Black Kangaroo
Frank Zappa- Bongo Fury   Next week it may be a different 5 that gets played to death for a few months.

I could never narrow it down to 5 but I'll put The Plasmatics in the top 10.

1. Pitchshifter - Industrial

How can you choose Industrial over 2 albums that influenced Industrial & are way better - self titled & Streetcleaner by the mighty Godflesh. 
But it's still refreshing to see your choices instead of the usual offerings...

@gochurchgo cool picks. napalm death and pulse demon (!) im a Scum guy myself when it comes to ND but pulse demon would be my merzbow pick as well (w/caveat ive only heard like 15 merzbow releases out the 400 or whatever). love your list 

New Order-Substance (recently found the vinyl)
Stones-Sticky Fingers 
Beatles-Revolver
Pink Floyd-Wish You Were Here
Led Zeppelin-Any

or Nirvana

-In the land of grey and pink.
-The raven that refuses to sing.
-McDonald and Giles.
-Anno domini.
-Babbacombe Lee.
All currently played multiple times both for music and sonics.

zz top-zz top's first albumsteve miller-circle of lovedeftones-adrenaline rushventures-walk don't rungeorge thorogood-first album self titled

Stones - Sticky Fingers
Miles Davis - In A Silent Way
Ry Cooder - Get Rhythm
J.R. Cash - Unchained
Savoy Brown - Street Corner Talking
 

Gene Ammons/Boss Tenor: GREAT album, I agree.