Henry Gross -Plug Me Into Something
Eno- Here Com The Warm Jets
Elf - Elf
Steve Harley - Love’s A Prima Donna
Mason Ruffner - Gypsy Blood
Those rare albums that are great on first listen.
You know the ones. They blow your mind and make you glad you're an audiophile.
Share your favorites.
For me it’s usually some style or vibe I haven’t heard before. My list so far is around 20, but I’ll keep it to my top 5. Feel free to share as many as you like.
!. Poe ‘Haunted’
2. Spirit “Twelve dreams of Dr. Sardonicus’
3. Midlake ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’
4.Tori Amos ‘Little Earthquakes’
5. Skindive ‘Skindive’
124 responses Add your response
Not sure how you are defining "great", but if a CD doesn't make a strong positive impression the first time I hear it, I pass. If I were a person who often changed their opinion of music after initially disliking it, that could warrant a different approach. However, I'm not that type of person -- it's extremely rare that I change my assessment.based upon further listening. Therefore, 99.9 % of CDs in my collection are music I liked immediately at first exposure. Why spend money on music that doesn't completely satisfy? |
I agree with @pinwa that listing a song as a "starting point" for that album and/or artist is a good idea. If "a picture is worth a thousand words," then listening to a song will likely yield better results than reading about someone else's impressions of that artist, album or song. So, with that in mind, I've listed a song from each of the albums in my prior two posts, in case anyone wants to delve further: Jackson Browne - "These Days" Lloyd Cole & Commotions - "Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken?" Crack the Sky - "Ice" Dixie Dregs - "Ice Cakes" Mark Eitzel - "Southend On Sea" Robin Lane & Chartbusters - "Send Me an Angel" Leadon - Georgiades Band - "Glass Off" Love - "You Set the Scene" Joni Mitchell - "Just Like This Train" Prefab Sprout - "Hallelujah" ________________________________________________________________ David Bowie: "Hang On to Yourself" Echo & The Bunnymen - "All That Jazz' Michael Franks - "Monkey See - Monkey Do King Crimson - 21st Century Schizoid Man" Lou Reed - "Vicious" Renaissance - "Black Flame" The The - "Good Morning Beautiful" Paul Westerberg - "A Few Minutes of Silence" Wishbone Ash - "Warrior" XTC - "All of a Sudden" |
There are many records I loved the first time for the music and still do. Focusing on Audiophile SQ, here are a few more. Roseanne Cash. The River and the Thread. SQ is breathtaking. Sarah McLaughlin. Mirrorball Sarah Jarosz. Build Me Up From Bones Tom Petty. Wildflowers Pat Matheny. One Quiet Night Bill Frissell. Everything he’s ever recorded plus many he plays on.
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@bdp24 @immatthewj I'm not intending to maintain the playlist. I made it collaborative so that you and anybody else here can add their choices. I decided to ignore posts with more than 5-6 albums because it was too much work but if you want to add a dozen albums that meet the criteria of "great on first listen" feel free. I've never tried a collaborative playlist but I assume you can just make changes in your Qobuz account and it will propagate to the playlist but maybe that isn't how it works. |
For he who wants no more than five, here are five more:
- Rockpile: Seconds Of Pleasure. A true super-group (Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, Billy Bremner, Terry Williams). - The Beat: s/t. Fantastic Power Pop! - Los Lobos: How Will The Wolf Survive? - Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks: Striking It Rich. - Mary Gauthier: Mercy Now (produced by Gurf Morlix).
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Oops! Sorry, @pinwa , I wasn’t paying attention to detail. I’ll come up with five songs from five of my many picks. From Linda Ronstadt/Simple Dreams: Carmelita (tough to pick just one from that LP/CD) From Jackson Browne/Running On Empty: Cocaine From Cowboy Junkies/Black Eyed Man: Southern Rain From Josh Ritter//Live At The Record Exchange EP: Girl In The War (however it is probably a cleaner sounding recording from the Josh Ritter/Girl In The War CD) From Steve Earle/Guitar Town: Guitar Town And since you said "5 or 6 picks" I will add Bob Dylan/Blood On The Tracks for my 6th pick, and the song I would choose from that is Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts I am leaving my Lucinda Williams picks out of it, because for me to pick five songs by Lu would kill me . . . I would not no where to start. |
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Going back in time again, I remember I felt that way about Jimmy Buffet: Changes In Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes and Son Of A Sailor Warren Zevon: Exciteable Boy Dire Straits: the first side of Making Movies and all of Love Over Gold and a bit more contemporary: Bruce Springsteen: The Ghost Of Tom Joad Josh Ritter Live At The Record Exchange EP |
Here are a few: Every US Beatles album as it was released in the 1960s Linda Ronstadt: Hasten down the Wind, Simple Dreams, Prisoner in Disguise, Heart like a Wheel, Mad Love Kind of Blue - Miles Davis Forever Changes - Love It's a Beautiful Day - s/t Warren Zevon - s/t Mahler Symphonies 6 & 8 - Leonard Bernstein (first CBS CD release) Mahler Symphony No. 2 - Simon Rattle CBSO; Bernstein DG; Abbado/Chicago Mahler Symphony No. 3 - Bernstein, first CBS CD; Abbado/Vienna The 35-minute sequence on disc 2 of the Beach Boys’ 1993 Good Vibrations box set that comprised what might have been released as SMiLe, had that LP been released in 1967. All I had known previously was the single "Heroes & Villains," which I dearly loved, even as the rock press of the day was referring to the Boys as "Doris Days on surfboards." Oh, what we had missed. |
I made a playlist of some of the suggestions. I got a little bored so stopped after the first page. I also ignored posts with more than 5-6 suggestions and I did exercise a tiny bit of editorial discretion. Also, if the album didn't come up immediately in Qobuz I didn't research it further. The playlist is supposed to be collaborative so feel free to add ONE song from the album you are recommending. Please don't delete anything. |
About 45 years ago when I bought The Who//Who’s Next my impression was, "Wow! This is a great album from start to finish!" Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player Fleetwood Mac/Rumors and The Eagles Hotel California struck me the same way Jackson Browne: Running On Empty Linda Ronstadt/Simple Dreams Aliota, Haynes and Jeremiah: I believe was self titled. It had Lake Shore Drive, Uppers And Downers, Snow Queen, Long Time Gone on it. I wish I had a TT and still had that LP. Quite some time later I’d say the same thing about Lucinda Williams/Happy Woman Blues and her selftitled and Sweet Old World and Car Wheels On A Gravel Road and Essence. (Yes, I used to be a Lucinda Lunatic.) Steve Earle: Guitar Town and Exit Zero. Cowboy Junkies: Black Eyed man John Prine: The Missing Years I am sure there are others, but those are just a few that struck me as great stuff the first time I listened to it, and I couldn’t wait to listen to it again.
On edit I’ll say that when Bruce Springsteen/Darkness On The Edge Of Town came out I was not getting Bruce, but now I do not know why and it should have been on that list. |
So, so many mentioned that I already own. That makes me feel very good. Quite a few that I probably need to get. Stanley Clark School Days Jeff Beck Truth Paul Simon There Goes Rhymin’ Simon Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall By the way, for those who mentioned Spirit, Twelve Dreams of Dr Sardonicus, it was reissued by Music On Vinyl, white vinyl and limited number of copies. It sounds really good and I highly recommend getting a copy, if they are still available. |
David Bowie - "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars" Echo and The Bunnymen - "Crocodiles" Michael Franks - "The Art of Tea" King Crimson - "In the Court of the Crimson King" Loe Reed - "Transformer" Renaissance - "Turn of the Cards" The The - "Mind Bomb" Paul Westerberg - "14 Songs" Wishbone Ash - "Argus" XTC - "English Settlement" Yes - "Fragile"
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Muddy Waters-folk singer Traffic-low spark of high heeled boys Rodney Crowell-Aint living long like this Little feat- Dixie Chicken & Sailin Shoes Level 42-first & World Machine Donald Fagen-the night fly Allman Brothers-eat a peach Chet Baker-Chet Steve Earl-the mountain Alison Krauss & Union Station -New Favorites John Prine- john prine I could go on...
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Anything by Bill Evans David Crosby- If I Could Only Remember My Name Talk Talk- Laughing Stock Fleetwood Mack- Tusk Beck- Morning Phase Arthur Russell- World of Echo Leonard Cohen- You Want it Darker Phillip Glass- The Photographer Henry Cow- II Can- Future Days Serge Gainsbourg- Melody Nelson Miles Davis- Jack Johnson Sun Ra- Languidity Etta James- At Last & so much more . . . |
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Jackson Browne - "For Everyman" Lloyd Cole & Commotions - "Rattlesnakes" Crack the Sky - "Crack the Sky" Dixie Dregs - "What If" Mark Eitzel - "60 Watt Silver Lining" Robin Lane & Chartbusters - "Imitation Life" Leadon - Georgiades Band - "Natural Progressions" Love - "Forever Changes" Joni Mitchell - "Court and Spark" Prefab Sprout - "Two Wheels Good" (aka, "Steve McQueen") |
Greg Brown - "Dream Cafe" album. Hans Theesink - "Songs of the Southland" album. David Munyon - "Big Shoes" album. Frank Sinatra - "Wee Small Hours" album Jerry Garcia and David Grisman - "Jerry Garcia and David Grisman" album. Leonard Cohen - "Old Ideas" album Deuter - "Goddess." Aretha Franklin - "Let Me In Your Life" album. John Zorn - "A Garden of Forking Paths" album. Linda Ronstadt/Nelson Riddle Orchestra - "What's New" album Madeleine Peyroux - "The Blue Room" album Stop me before I kill again!
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@mahgister thanks for the Four Seasons recommendation. I'm in no way shape or form a classical music listener, but have heard clips of these songs and have been looking to pick up a LP. This will be the version added to my want list on Discogs. Thank you! |
Had to wrap Kevlar around my head this morning to keep my (blown) mind from escaping. Lots of great work(s) here. Got me thinking: I can think of many albums, in the first THIRTY-SECONDS, that woke up my senses offering a high level of creativity, uniqueness, and command of instruments and/or voices that made it apparent there was something truly extraordinary going on here. From the 31 second mark thru the remainder of album, it just built, and built, unfolding a musical masterpiece that will endure well beyond this lifetime. |
Jimi Hendrix Band Of Gypsys Mike Bloomfield And Al Kooper – The Live Adventures Of Mike Bloomfield And Al Kooper Nektat Tab in the Ocean The Word Of Life – Further Ahead The Velvet Underground & Nico Various – Peter And The Wolf |
