Name a few albums which helped determine your musical tastes
How about a short list of albums that shaped your listening from early on in your life?
Not just albums that became favorites (though they could be now). Let's call them historical turning points for you that shaped you as a listener, now.
al jarreau - we got by/glow michael franks - art of tea crusaders - southern comfort coltrane - my favorite things miles davis - sketches of spain dire straits mingus - tijuana moods kenny burrell - guitar forms
Not only albums, but WNEW FM in New York early 70’s with Alison Steele (the night bird). She was a big Moody Blues fan. She introduced me to On the Threshold of a dream. That shaped my listening and inspired me to look for bands with orchestra backing. Some others... Time Out Take Five - Dave Brubeck Sargent Peppers - and early stuff from the Beatles 2001 Movie soundtrack really introduced me to classical music.
Janis Joplin - Cheap Thrills Cream - Wheels of Fire Steve Miller - Nr 5 Dave Brubeck - Time Out Allman Brothers - Live at the Fillmore East Jethro Tull - Aqualung Rolling Stones - Beggers Banquet Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited John Lee Hooker - Hooker and Heat ZZ Top - Tres Hombres
I left out my classical side and only took the top ten of what truly influenced me as I heard 9 out of 10 of these when they were released and very much formed my musical preferences.
Cannot help but to comment on Lyle and his large band: in the summer of (about) 2004 in Madison, WI, Aretha cancelled with short notice as the headliner in the summer MusicFest on the lake. I had two tickets, and decided to go even though I could not see the Queen. Lyle and large band subbed. Holy crap. Their comprehensively massive soundstage was mind-blowing. The power, balance, articulation, and precision of every musician was flawless. Barely noticed Lyle singing, leaning up against things in his body cast after breaking his hip in a bull ring(?). His audio engineers have to be the best around.
Black Sabbath - Paranoid Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon Van Halen I Judas Priest - Hell Bent For Leather Robin Trower - Bridge of Sighs Rush - Permanent Waves Beach Boys - Endless Summer Led Zeppelin II & Houses of the Holy
Even though I moved on to heavier metal later on, I still play songs from all these albums (except Beach Boys) on guitar.
"Dodgealum"...I love your taste. I have four albums framed and on the wall of my audio listening room including "Hasten Down the Wind" and "Karla Bonoff"...with the latter signed by the artist! I told her when she was signing that she was responsible for me spending too much money back in the 70's in upgrading my speakers. And you can guess what song on the album was most instrumental!
Polygon Window - Surfing on Sine Waves Newcleus - Jam on Revenge Beastie Boys - License to Ill Suicidal Tendencies - Suicides an Alternative House Hallucinates Pump Up the World
I remember the late night after getting off work at midnight . A friend told me to try Genesis new album Trick of the Tail, I had picked it up but never had a chance to play it. I came home and in a dark room fired that album up. Stunningly amazed at what I was listening to, I was thinking "What the hell did I just listen to" ! ? Their next one Wind and Weathering was just a "different". I think that was the beginning of my Allman Bros, Supertramp and such type albums. But nothing reached out and grabbed me on the first go round like Trick of the Tail
in Grade school - I had a brother 4 years older The Beatles (aka white album) Jefferson Airplane - Crown of Creation (Lather :) ) Mothers of Invention (Anyway the Wind Blows)
in JR High - Frank Zappa
in High School (very high) Roxy Music David Bowie Pink Floyd Fog Hat Alice Cooper
in U S Army Pink Floyd Kraftwerk Boston Queen Bowie
then suddenly BAM right at the end of my service! DEVO Talking Heads Elvis Costello Police Sex Pistols
now Returned to America all of the above plus Joy Division Throbbing Gristle Caberet Voltaire
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band - Nightingales And Bombers Gregg Allman - Laid Back The Replacements - All Shook Down Bread - The Best Of Bread Stevie Wonder - Innervisions Carole King - Tapestry Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band - Live Bullet Steely Dan - Aja Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks Radiohead - OK Computer Dave Brubeck - Time Out UFO - No Heavy Petting Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak
Thanks for your note - yes, it’s not something you recover from, but something you survive.
Re Bonnie Raitt, yeah, she first hit my radar with “Give it up”, in 1972; my sister had it, and I would “borrow” it from time to time.
Re Lyle Lovett, have remained a huge fan - my wife and I try to see him every year at Wolf Trap (great outdoor venue near DC). This year we also had tix to Lovett with John Hiatt at the Strathmore before Covid put the kebosh on it. What a bummer. If you’ve never seen him live, you should do it. Great band - he often would have both Leland Sklar and Russ Kunkel playing with his large band; great musicianship.
Oops how did I forget the first real rock music album I ever bought which of course is “Machine Head” by Deep Purple (quad version) followed by “Demons and Wizards” by Uriah Heep.
Allman Brothers - Live at Fillmore East Cat Stevens - Tea for the Tillerman CSN&Y - Deja Vu Boz Scaggs - Silk Degrees John Mayall - The Beano Album Derek and the Dominos - Layla Steve Miller - Brave New World Pink Floyd - The Wall Grand Funk Railroad - Closer toHome Supertramp - Crime of the Century Jethro Tull - Aqualung
Grand Funk 'Closer to home'Supertramp 'Crime of the Century'Beatles 'Sgt Pepper'Van Morrison 'Veedon Fleece'Joni Mitchell 'Blue'Beach Boys 'Pet sounds'Klaatu 'EST'Aretha Franklin's greatest hitsSinatra 'September of my years'Cloud Cult 'The meaning of 8'The Shins 'Whincing the night away'Hendrix 'Rainbow Bridge soundtrack & first album'Tull 'Aqualung'Wishbone Ash ‘Argus’Stones 'Flowers'
Jimmy Reed The Troggs Paul Revere & the Raiders The Animals James Gang - Rides Again The Band - II The Brandenburg Concertos - Rampal Beatles - White Album Who's Next Tull - Aqualung Hendrix - Smash Hits CSNY - Deja Vu Miles - Kind of Blue Stones - through '72 Pink Floyd - through '77 The Crusaders Spirit - 12 Dreams Weather Report - Black Market the list goes on and on.......
1967-68 - The Byrds, the 45, “Hey, Mr. Spaceman”: my first purchase of music, at 7 or 8 years old, at The Grande Place in Brussels, Belgium. I was the youngest of 4, didn’t have my own record player at the time, but by God I was gonna keep up with my older siblings.
1972 - Emerson, Lake & Palmer, “Trilogy”: ok, definitely not my style now, but it was my first lp (as a Record Club of America member).
1973 - Pink Floyd, “Dark Side of the Moon”: My family stayed for a week at the beach in Bethany Beach, Delaware. The condo had a record player and one lp. We listened to it a lot! I think this may have been the same week I experienced my first serious kiss, and my first beer; the kiss was great, the beer was awful - a Colt malt liquor, and warm to boot.
1975 - Jeff Beck, “Blow by Blow”: It would take me about 30 years to recognize it, but this was a harbinger of my future passion for jazz.
1977-78 - Elvis Costello, “My Aim is True”; The Cars, “The Cars”,; Bruce Springsteen, “Darkness on the Edge of Town”: A collective delivery from disco hell.
1978 - Mighty Joe Young: Not an lp, but my intro to chicago blues, freshman year (at a frat party of all places!), and definitely life-changing.
1989 - Lyle Lovett, “Lyle Lovett and His Large Band”: Was in grad school, and saw him perform “Here I Am” off that lp on Austin City Lights. Jazz, blues, country and even a little rock all in one place. Opened my eyes not just to the possibilities of country, but bluegrass and roots music more broadly.
1991 - Bonnie Raitt, “Luck of the Draw”: didn’t really happen until 1995, but “Something to Talk About” off that lp became a little bit of a soundtrack of my life as I wooed my future wife (the love of my life)
1996-99 - Bob Marley, “Legend”: Ok, so this was released in 1984, but as my soon-to-be wife (1999) and I blended our 5 children into one family, this CD played frequently on the cd player in the 7-seat Mitsubishi Montero (nicknamed “the beast”) that we hauled the kids around in - much dancing in seats ensued whenever we put it on: “No woman, no cry....”
2013 - Pachelbel, “Canon”: This was the piece my ex-wife and I listened to frequently at lamaze class when she was pregnant with my oldest son in 1984-85. We played it at the celebration of his life after he died in June, 2013.
Lots of great choices so far. Here's a few others worth considering:
Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced Love - Forever Changes The Doors - The Doors Renaissance - Turn of the Cards Roxy Music - Siren Rickie Lee Jones - Rickie Lee Jones The Cure - Seventeen Seconds Talking Heads - Remain in Light XTC - English Settlement
...then as a young man in high school DSOTM WYWH and Animals by Pink Floyd. Also “The Yes Album” and “Genesis Live” and “This is the Moody Blues”. Not to mention “The White Album”. Also DSMIOTPP by Elton John. In college lots of new influences. “The Outlaws”, “Brothers and Sisters” by Allman Bros. “The Cars”, Sex Pistols “NMTBHTSP”, and Talking Heads 77. Country rock and emerging new wave was big.
Also had a lot of exposure to “The Kingston Trio” as a kid. Lots of good stuff!
"Quadrophenia" and "Who's Next" "Frampton Comes Alive" "Got to Get You Into My Life" (45) "Dark Side of the Moon" "War" and "Live at Red Rocks"; but especially "The Unforgettable Fire
Mozart, Clarinet and Oboe Concertos, L'Oiseau-Lyre Mozart, Serenades (I Musici)
"A Love Supreme" "Kind of Blue" Tord Gustavsen, "The Other Side" Bill Evans, "Live at the Village Vanguard" set
Had to be The Chipmunks Song Book back as a wee lad.
Peter and the Wolf (Bernstein version on Columbia Masterworks) probably influenced me as well as in scaring the bejeebers out of me along with the cool music. Yes, we are talking childhood nightmares there! The wolf was after me!
Too many to list! However here's my entry into the world of Jazz: June 1970 I bought Bitches Brew at Woolworths! At the age of 18 I perceived it to be on a higher artistic plane than the average rock alblum! And tried to get some of my peers to listen to it!
Emy Lou Harris “Wrecking Ball” Steely Dan “Aja” Frank Sinatra “September of my Years” Doors “LA Woman” George Winston “Autumn” MN Orchestra “ Pines of Rome”
Floyd-wish you were here Black Sabbath- sabbath bloody sabbath Queen-Night at the opera AC/DC-Powerage Stevie Ray- Texas Flood Tull-Thick as a brick Vanhalen- first album Doors-LA Women Floyd-The wall
This post is a joy because it is so packed with great listening ideas. I have several in different eras of my life but most have been listed above. When I was a child, six or seven years old, my parents took me to the movie theater to see Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. I was so enthralled by the images and music even if it didn't exactly have a narrative aimed at kids. That Christmas, in the early '70's, I received my own copy of the MGM soundtrack. I played it on our Sylvania phonograph hundreds of times; I was allowed to use the stereo from a young age. I've loved stereos and music since.
Yes, Fragile Genesis, Foxtrot King Crimson, Court of the Crimson King Miles Davis, Kind Of Blue Dave Brubeck, Time Out The Allman Brothers, Live At the Filmore The Doors, First album Led Zeppelin, II Blood, Sweat and Tears, First album Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon, Aaron Copeland, Appalachian Spring Dmitry Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5 and all the countless stuff my dad exposed me to. He listened to everything (except Country).
Kate Bush - Kick Inside Graham Parker - Stick to Me Any Dylan after 1966 Roxy Music Avalon Willy DeVille - Miracle GNR Use Your Illusion 1&2 Clapton - Slowhand Van Morrison - Wavelength Willie Nile - Willie Nile The Band - The Last Waltz REM - Automatic for the People Concert for Bangledesh Against Me - New Wave Social Distortion - Sex Love Rock and Roll Elvis Costello - Get Happy Warren Zevon - Sentimental Hygene Bruce Cockburn - World of Wonders
Now this is an interesting question! I’ll probably have a boring answer, but the question is fascinating.
This is slightly odd for me, because my life has two very distinct parts. I’m going to focus on the things that have shaped me in the second part. Nothing in the first part is worth focusing on, and not much in it was worth listening to (and I don't just mean the music).
Gillian Welch / Revival
Greg Brown / Slant 6 Mind
Townes Van Zandt / Rearview Mirror
Wilco / Summerteeth
Jim White / No Such Place
Beatles / Rubber Soul
Mississippi John Hurt / (can’t remember the album name)
Alligator Records / (I think it was their 20th Anniversary compilation)
Miles Davis / Kind of Blue
Derek & The Dominos / Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs
Frank Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim / Francis Albert Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim
Neil Young / Harvest Moon
Rufus Wainwright / Poses
Spoon / Kill the Moonlight
Van Morrison / Astral Weeks
Bob Dylan / Time Out of Mind
There are others, but I imagine this list is already long enough nobody will read it. :)
Music that opened my eyes to different directions (in order): Simon & Garfunkel - Bookends; The Who: Who’s Next; Yes: Close To The Edge; Elvis Costello: Imperial Bedroom; Peter Gabriel 3; Debussy’s Tonal Works- my introduction to classical; REM: Chronic Town - single-handedly saved the world from White Snake; Jane’s Addiction: Ritual de lo Habitual; Beethoven’s 9th - one of those epiphanal moments; Radiohead: OK Computer; The Shins: Oh, Inverted World; Ralph Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis; Sun Kil Moon: Ghosts of the Great Highway; Sufjan Stevens: Illinois; Gorecki’s 3rd
CCR - Chronicle Chuck Berry - Greatest Hits AC/DC - Back in BlackLed Zeppelin I G N’ R - Appetite for Destruction Neil Young - Harvest Nuggets box set Metallica - Ride the Lightning Steve Young - Seven Bridges Road The Dream Syndicate - Medicine Show
Pink Floyd Weather Report: Mysterious Traveler, Black Market, Heavy Weather Chick Corea: Romantic Warrior Brian Eno: Another Green World and his collaborations!! Peter Gabriel: 1-6 or 7 Led Zeppelin 1-6 Frank Zappa Talking Heads first 5 albums Kraftwerk
James Taylor (Apple) Jimi (Eddie Kramer) - Axis.. 5th Dimension (Jimmy Webb) - The Magic Garden Brian Protheroe - Pinball Al Jarreau (Jay Graydon) - Jarreau Wondermints - Mind If We Make Love... Mahsvishnu - Adventures In Radioland Kevin Gilbert -The Shaming Of The True Scofield - AGoGo Ray Chen live anywhere
Boston-self titled police- outlandos, ghost in the machine, all of them sex pistols- never mind bob Marley-kaya peter tosh- mama africa the smiths- meat is murder the cure- head in the door stooges- fun house roxy music- Avalon
Silly Sisters - June Tabor & Maddy Prior et al. The Power of the Organ - Robert G. Owen, organist Fire on the Mountain - The Highwoods Stringband The Bothy Band 1975: The First Album - The Bothy Band Medieval Roots - The New York Pro Musica Historic Organs of Spain - E. Power Biggs Their Satanic Majesties Request - Rolling Stones Anthology of American Folk Music - The Harry Smith Collection The Doors - The Doors Switched-On Bach - Wendy Carlos, Rachel Elkind Several titles - David Munrow & The Early Music Consort of London The Dillards – Live... Almost - The Dillards Et many al.
As a guitarist, stumbling across Mississippi John Hurt's 1928 recordings on Okeh Records was life altering in terms of a vibe I wanted to integrate into my playing. It became total comfort food for my soul while playing it or listening to it. Country blues and John Hurt really only make less 1% of what I listen to now as my interests are truly diverse but that was a lifechanging album for me for sure.
Caravan- in the land of grey and pink Robert Wyatt- Rock bottom Magma- self titled McDonald and Giles- self titled Kevin Ayers- Whatevershebringswesing Cream- Disraely gears Edgar Broughton band- self titled Pete Brown and Piblokto- Thousand on a raft Lovecraft- Valley of the moon NIN- Pretty hate machine Pretty things- SF Sorrow Procol Harum- Shine on brightly Red hot chili peppers- blood sugar sex magik Spirit- twelve dreams of Dr. Sardonicus Tempest- self titled Supertramp- Crime of the century Zappa- Apostrophe To name a few :)
As I look back at my list, I can’t believe I left off Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, Jackson Browne, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Moody Blues, Van Morrison, CSNY...it never ends! I still feel like I’m forgetting someone.
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