If you could only keep 5 record albums, what would they be?


I am looking at my collection this evening and trying to determine my favorites.  If I had to narrow it down to 5 it would be: Dan Fogelberg...The Netherlands; Roy Clark...Yesterday When I Was Young; James Taylor...Flag; Talking Heads...77; and last but not at all least, Commodores...Greatest Hits. All oldies but goodies that I still enjoy listening to as much as when I bought them many years ago.
awhittington
I love these posts, been a long time since I thought about it but, in no order:

The Beatles - Abbey Road
Shelby Lynne - Just a Little Lovin'
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Led Zeppelin II
Sade - Promise
The Beatles - White Album
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Electric Light Orchestra - Out of the Blue
Nilsson - Nilsson Sings Newman
10cc - Original Soundtrack 
Sounds like we have a lot of old hippies with good ears among us who
do remember the 60's. I would be ok with most picks...but I would need
at least one Ray Charles album and a Roy Orbison would help. 

Coming at this topic from a different direction, there are some albums I have to possess just for one song; it’s a bonus if the entire album is good. Here are some of those songs:

- "God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys. On their Pet Sounds album, a pretty good one ;-) . There is a video on You Tube of a music teacher sitting at a piano, breaking down the structure and composition of this majestic Brian Wilson song. Watch it and have your musical consciousness raised!

- "What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted", written by William Weatherspoon, Paul Riser, and James Dean, sung by Jimmy Ruffin. A really, really great song, with a glorious chord progression and melody (and superb bass part by James Jamerson). Available on any Jimmy Ruffin Greatest Hits/Best Of album, or Motown V/A collection.

- "No Time To Cry" by Iris Dement. The wife of an old friend, knowing of my record collection, asked me for an album recommendation. She’s a professional therapist/counselor with her own clinic, is pretty smart and sophisticated, and a good dancer. I had just discovered and fallen in love with Iris, and told the wife to get her My Life album. When I heard back from the friend, he told me the wife found the album severely melancholy. For me, it’s like what the old Bluesmen said about their music: To sing about what they did helped soothe the pain. "No Time To Cry" is as heartbreakingly-beautiful as Pop music (non-Classical) can be. The entire album is fantastic, but not for those with a distain for Hillbilly music.

There are many other albums I have solely for one song (there are far more excellent musicians than songwriters), but that’s enough outta me.


Was going to mention that no one has mentioned the whole collection of Roy Orbison. @Fayetteville just did. What a set of pipes that guy had. If just one album, "a night in black and white" would be it. His back ups are Springsteen, Elvis Costello, KD Lange, Jackson Brown, and others. Filmed live and on YouTube.