I want to know your favorite albums. Or least favorite. Or just what albums knocked you on your asses. Here is a list in no particular order. Ok so I'm getting a little carried away...
Pavement- Slanted & Enchanted
Beach Boys- Pet Sounds
Beatles- The White Album
The Raincoats- The Raincoats
Erik Satie- Played by Ciccolini
My Bloody Valentine- Loveless
Wu Tang Clan- Enter The 36 Chambers
Aphex Twin- I Care Because You Do
Aphex Twin- Ambient Works Vol II
Panda Bear- Person Pitch
Charles Mingus- Pithecanthropus Erectus
Pavement- Crooked Rain Crooked Rain
Billie Holiday- As Time Goes By (a generic CD my Mom got in the mail from the Bravo Network for some reason, but the recordings are amazing)
Nick Drake- Pink Moon
Elliot Smith- XO
Sonic Youth- Daydream Nation
Public Enemy- It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back
Eric B & Rakim- Paid in Full
Van Morrison- Astral Weeks
Rolling Stones- Exile on Main Street
Can- Future Days
Love- Forever Changes
Zombies- Singles Collection
Mercury Rev- See You On The Other Side
Pavement- Brighten The Corners
Velvet Underground- Velvet Underground
Husker Du- New Day Rising
The Stooges- Funhouse
Lisa Germano- Happiness
Nas- Illmatic
Suicide- Suicide
Sonic Youth- Experimental Jet Set Trash & No Star
Joanna Newsom- The Milk Eyed Mender
Animal Collective- Sung Tongs
Animal Collective- Feels
Panda Bear- Young Prayer
Charles Mingus- The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady
A Tribe Called Quest- The Low End Theory
Lee 'Scratch' Perry- Arkology
The Fall- A Sides
Tricky- Maxinquaye
Plug- Drum & Bass For Papa
Wagon Christ- Tally Ho
Dances With Wolves- Soundtrack
Since no one wants to play, here are some albums that knocked me on my ass:
ReplyDeletePatti Smith - Horses
Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat Pavement - Brighten the Corners
Beach Boys - Smile Bootlegs
Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me
Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica
Tyrannosaurus Rex - Unicorn
Neil Young - Tonight's the Night
John Cale - Paris 1919
Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians
The Champs - III
The Sea and Cake - Nassau
Elliot Smith - Either/Or
Palace - Lost Blues and Other Songs
Television - Marquee Moon
Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
Nick Drake - Fruit Tree Box set
Fairport Convention - Unhalfbricking
Neu! - Neu!
Otis Redding - Otis Blue
The Roches - The Roches
Black Dice - Beaches and Canyons
John Fahey - America
Pere Ubu - Dub Housing
Junior Mervin - Police and Thieves
NWA - Straight Outta Compton
Nas - Illmatic
Godspeed You Black Emperor - Slow Riot for New Zero Canada
Built to Spill - There's Nothing Wrong with Love
Judee Sill - Heart Food
Judy Henske and Jerry Yester - Farewell Aldebaran
Uncle Tupelo - March 16-20
I think I might have meant to say Either/Or on my list. Whichever is the one that comes first and's more lo fi is the one I like. The Dinosaur Jr is definitely my fav by them too. I'd have to go for the 'quieter' VU album tho. Alot of personal angst has been invested in that one over the years. Do you like the first Sea & Cake? I wish I still had that one. And some Godspeed would definitely have to be on my list too.
ReplyDeleteOh and Nas! Yeah!! That one's awesome. Have you heard Lee 'Scratch' Perry's Arkology? I wish I still had that one too.
ReplyDeleteeither/or is earlier, but is not necessarily more lo-fi than XO. I think that the later is just more sonically ambitious. they're both pretty damn good.
ReplyDeleteto boot, here are some TRACKS that knocked me on my ass, or picked me up off it:
The Old Haunts - Fallow Field
Adem - Homesongs
Andrew W.K. - I Get Wet
At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command
At the Drive-In - in/Casino/Out
Band of Horses - Everything All the Time
Bedhead - Beheaded
Bedhead - Transaction de Novo
Bedhead - WhatFunLifeWas
The New Year - Newness Ends
The New Year - The End's Not Near
Belle & Sebastian - The Boy With the Arab Strap
The National - Boxer
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
Bruce Springsteen: Born to Run
The Books - Lost and Safe
Caribou - The Milk of Human Kindness
Cloud Cult - The Meaning of 8
cLOUDDEAD - Ten
Clue to Kalo - One Way, It's Everyway
Crooked Fingers - s/t
Elbow - Asleep in the Back
Explosions in the Sky - Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever
Explosions in the Sky - The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place
The Microphones - Song Islands
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
The Faint - Media
FannyPack - See You Next Tuesday
The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?
Kind of Like Spitting - Bridges Worth Burning
Kind of Like Spitting - hundred dollar room
Loney, Dear - Citadel Band
Soltero - Science Will Figure You Out
Manu Chao - Proxima Estacion Esperanza
Manu Chao - Clandestino
Menomena - I Am the Fun Blame Monster
Menomena - Friend and Foe
Micah P. Hinson - The Gospel of Progress
Immortal Technique - Revolutionary, Volume 2
Modest Mouse - Building Nothing Out of Something
Pele - Enemies
Pedro the Lion - It's Hard to Find a Friend
Paul Simon - Rhythm of the Saints
Pinback - Blue Screen Life
Pit Er Pat - Emergency
Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
Radiohead - Kid A
Rilo Kiley - Take Offs and Landings
Rilo Kiley - The Execution of All Things
Rock Plaza Central - Are We Not Horses?
Sigur Ros - Takk . . .
Sigur Ros - ( )
Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun
Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche
Sufjan Stevens - Welcome to Michigan: the Great Lakes State
Sun Kil Moon - Ghosts of the Great Highway
Sunny Day Real Estate - LPII
Takako Minekawa - Fun9
Tarnation - Gentle Creatures
Tom Waits - Mule Variations
Thee More Shallows - More Deep Cuts
The Weakerthans - Left and Leaving
The Weakerthans - Reconstruction Site
Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles
Xiu Xiu - A Promise
Hey Mike, I was just thinking of albums that really knocked me out when I first heard them, not necessarily my favorite albums by a particular artist, you know. A lot of those albums--like Horses, WL/WH, and Smile--totally changed the way I thought about music. Either/Or was the first E.Smith album that I heard and I just totally fell in love w/it... although my favorite Smith album is probably the self-titled one... I was thinking about doing a list in chronological order of albums that blew me away, but I got lazy...
ReplyDeleteOh and yeah, I dig the first Sea and Cake album. I actually like them all, but Nassau is the first one that I heard and still my favorite.
Rob man, you have to send me a mix cd or something.
ReplyDeleteKathy keeps reminding me that the ipod killed the album, and that I ought to embrace the age of the track, but there's still something to be said about the form of the album in the age of irrelevancy. Some albums that knocked/knock me on my ass (in no order):
ReplyDeleteTownes Van Zandt -- Live at the old Quarter
Bob Dylan -- Nashville Skyline; Bringing It All Back Home; Highway 61 Rev.
Bruce Springsteen -- Darkness on the Edge of Town; We Shall Overcome; Nebraska
Big Star -- #1 Record; Radio City
Miles Davis -- On the Corner; Kind of Blue
Charles Mingus -- Ah, Uhm! Mingus; Revenge
Thelonius Monk -- Misteriso; Solo Monk
The Beastie Boys -- Paul's Boutique
The Rolling Stones -- Beggars Banquet; Exile on Main St; Between the Buttons
Sonic Youth -- Daydream Nation
Leonard Cohen -- Field Commander Cohen
Leadbelly -- Take This Hammer
The Velvet Underground -- Loaded
Soul Asylum -- Clam Dip & Other Delights
Replacements -- Sorry Ma...
Otis Redding -- Live at the Whiskey Go-Go
Johnny Cash -- At San Quentin; American I
John Lee Hooker -- It Serves You Right to Suffer
Steve Earle -- El Corazon
Mark Lanegan -- Whiskey for the Holy Ghost; Field Song
Screaming Trees -- Clairvoyance
James Brown -- Mother Popcorn; Please, Please, Please
Dizzie Gillespie -- Live at the Newport
Muddy Waters -- Live at the newport 66
Iggy and the Stooges -- Raw Power
BB King -- Live from the Cook County Jail
Elvis Costello -- My Aim is True
Billy Bragg & Wilco -- Mermaid Ave. Vol I
The Kinks -- The Village Green Preservation Society
The Who -- Who's Next
John Coletrain -- A Love Supreme
John Cage -- Music of Changes, Books I-IV
More Recently:
The National -- Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers
Low -- The Great Destroyer
Comets on Fire -- Comets on Fire
Detroit Cobras --Mink, Rat or Rabbit
Ryan Adams & the Cardinals -- Jacksonville City Nights
Andrew Bird -- Weather Systems
BRMC -- Take them On, On Your Own
The Mountain Goats -- All Hail West Texas
The Black Keys -- The Big Come Up
Neutral milk Hotel -- The Airplane Over the Sea