Good topic slaw. I don't listen to it as much as I use to. Return To Forever / Romantic Warrior. It hits a lot of buttons for me.
Your (perfect) record
I have a few in mind but just finished listening to Brian Ferry "Boys and Girls" and I have to say..Awesome! this one gets my vote!
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This kind of topic invariably leads to a listing of primarily old albums from the 50’s. 60’s, and 70’s. Sorry youngin’s, but that’s when an album was more than a single and a bunch of filler. Actually, that’s an over-simplification. In Jazz, an album for many, many years was a single entity, a couple of compositions being part of a greater whole, if not a "concept" album at least one with a "theme". And in Country, Johnny Cash in 1964 made his tribute album to the Native American, Bitter Tears. Such was not the case in Rock ’n’ Roll until Brian Wilson came up with the idea for his "Smile" album in 1966, it’s concept or theme being the Manifest Destiny of The United States, set to music. Quite an ambitious undertaking! As it turned out, too ambitious. Tragically, that album was sabotaged by Beach Boy Mike Love’s resistance to Brian’s new music and the lyrics by Brian’s Smile collaborator Van Dyke Parks---which he was incapable of understanding, and by Brian’s deteriorating mental condition and eventual emotional collapse. Smile remained unreleased at the time, not seeing the light of day until many years later. The Beatles had already put out two albums containing all Grade A material---Rubber Soul and Revolver---before the Sgt. Pepper’s Hearts Club Band album. It is ironic that, though credited as introducing the idea of a concept or theme album, Sgt. Pepper, unlike Rubber Soul and Revolver, contains filler material. At least I think so. My collection contains quite a few albums I consider "perfect"---all good material, no filler. But for me, the two most perfect albums are, as I have made abundantly clear ;-), The Band’s debut---Music From Big Pink, and it’s follow up---the self titled "brown" album, two albums in my all-time Top 10. Others include Moby Grape’s s/t debut, Dave Edmund’s Get It, Iris Dement’s My Life, and Rodney Crowell’s The Houston Kid, an album about his childhood. That’s just off the top of my head. |
Simon & Garfunkel "Bookends" (It screams the moment in time in which it was recorded) Chicago "Transit Authority" (Their first & best lp. Ahead of it's time, still recalls past times.) Moving forward……… Tom Petty "Southern Accents" In the exact same vein as the lps above, this one brings all of the emotion, the history of a rock n roll star examining his roots and taking that to another plane. |
Where to start....lol. I suppose to start with my reference goto album which for me has not one single bad track on it. And bdp24, it's definitely not old school and not probably to many liking here but. Nightmare ... Avenged Sevenfold. If you have never listened to Victim or So Far Away, well you are missing out imho. |
However if we want to talk old school a little then a few candidates. 2112 ... Rush. Paradise Theater ... Styx Crime of the Century ... Supertramp Tubular Bells ... Mike Oldfield Deceptive Bends ... 10cc Rainbow Rising And on and on Truth be told I would say it is IMPOSSIBLE to pick just one perfect album for myself. |
A few more: Dylan's Blonde On Blonde, John Wesley Harding, and Blood On The Tracks, Rockpile's Seconds Of Pleasure, John Hiatt's Bring The Family and Slow Turning, Loudon Wainwright's Last Man On Earth, Weezer's s/t ("green" album), The Byrds Sweethearts Of The Rodeo, The Dwight Twilley Band's Sincerely, Emitt Rhodes' s/t debut, Ry Cooder's Bop 'Til You Drop (musically, not sonically, unfortunately---the very first digital Pop album). So much music, so little time. |
Roxy Music’s "Avalon" LP Blood Sweat & Tears - eponymous album Pink Floyd - "Wish You Were Here" import SACD Miles Davis - "Kind of Blue" John Coltrane - "Blue Train" Supertramp- "Crime of the Century" Steely Dan - "Aja" Donald Fagan - "The Nightfly" Patricia Barber - "Cafe Blue" (un-mastered SACD) Clark Terry - "Portraits" (get the SACD if possible) - Possibly the most beautifully recorded jazz album ever. No limits to soundstage with no "trickery". Fabulous music from a combo of guys totally in sync. Dmitri Shostakovich’s symphonies as conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy (he gets the emotional roller coaster that is a Shosty symphony) |
Rubber Soul (U.S. version) A number of others by the Beatles All Things Must Pass Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Avalon Sunset Blonde on Blonde Blood On the Tracks Oh Mercy Sittin' In Who's Next Zep II Woodstock The Concert For Bangla Desh Teatro The Band The Last Waltz Some Nights Let It Bleed Achtung Baby DSOTM Exodus Kiko Darkness on the Edge of Town That's a start off the top |
Oh, me too slaw, otherwise I wouldn't bother having them in my collection. I also have about 750 7" 45's, of individual songs I like a lot. There are currently quite a few young bands and solo artists making albums with at least mostly good material (which for me is the number one factor determining the quality of an album), but most really popular music these days is not made by "album artists". |
@slaw - Wrecking Ball came out at time when I did not have a TT, so I just have it on CD. Was just thinking that I need to buy it on vinyl. What do you recommend? Regarding where I've been: Traveling for the last 3 weeks. But I did manage to see 3 shows in the last week - Bettye Lavette, EmmyLou Harris and Courtney Barnett. Pretty good week..... |
@reubent, I missed you dude. I love Courtney and actually, I wanted to play her latest. Your post reminded me... I bought the Emmylou from www.insound.com Register with them and wait for their 55% off about 3 times a year. Now... Courtney...…….. |
Hard to pick one or even a dozen. I came of age listening to albums and didn't move the needle that much. Even now when choosing a CD I tend to listen all the way through. I agree with many already mentioned, I'll add a couple I bring out more often than others. Abraxas -Santana and Crosby Stills and Nash. |