Ot - music- albums

I have probably spent more $$ than I should have on CDs over the past 20 years. Recently I have been pulling out older ones and giving them a new listen. Some for the life of me I can;t figure out why I bought - but some are fantastic albums - from beginning to end nearly every some great - and unfortunately I had forgotten about them.

My quick list of exceptional albums…

Beatles - St. Peppers - no need to explain.

REM - Fables of the Reconstruction - REM at it height, can’t understand 1/2 of what Mike Stipes is singing - haunting - solid all around.

Clash - London Calling - WOW the Clash hitting on all 4 cylinders. I saw them in a gym at Carnegie Mellon Univ. in the early 80s and this album brings that back. This is what good punk/alternative was all about at its relative start.

Dead - 100 Year Haul Disk #1 - Live (of course) Dead show from the 70 (I think) On this night they had their shit together during an era when they really had some bad nights. Even if you are not into the dead this one is good.

Elvis Costello - This Year’s Modle - One of Elvis’s first albums (2nd or 3rd??) Shows why he is the lyrical master - but very catchy too.

These are just a few as I go through a few 100 DCs

So - what is on your list - I’m talking albums that are 15 (or so) years old and are excellent through and through (not just a couple great tunes and a bunch of crap).

Solid Top Five:

The Who - Qudrophenia

Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St.

The Clash - London Calling

Talking Heads - Fear of Music

Hendrix - Electric Ladyland

Six through Ten move around …

U2 - (realize there are more than one U2 … there is U2 - War; USA2 - Joshua Tree; Uro2 - Actung Baby; and U2K - ATYCLB)

Santana - Abraxas

Miles - Kind of Blue *or *Bitches Brew (depends on the day)

Van Halen - Women and Children First

Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

Stevie Ray Vaughn - Texas Flood

Buddy Guy - Damn Right I Got the Blues

Frank Zappa - Apostrophe

Many, many more …

Top Ten Bootlegs …

The Who - Toronto, 1982-12-18 (last show of 1st Farewell Tour)

Grateful Dead - Philadelphia, 1978-05-13 (my 1st Dead show)

Phish - IT 2003-08-02, Loring AFB

Phish - 1984-12-01 (oldest known Phish boot)

Phish - 1994-10-31 (The White Album)

Talking Heads - Boston, 1979-08-08

Jimmy Buffett - 2000-11-04, East Hampton (a RARE “Margaritaville-Free” Performance)

Zappa - 1976-10-24, Boston

Trey Anastasio - 2003-05-31, Warfield Theater, SF (w/ Carlos Santana)

Bob Marley - 1980-09-23 Pittsburgh (his last show)

My personal evergreens :

The Kinks - One for the road

The Bollock Brothers - Never Mind The Bollocks

Lou Reed - Live

The Velvet Underground - Live

REM - Green

Rage Against the machine - RATM

The Clash - Sandinista!

The Residents - Hank Wiliams Vol. 2

Keith Jarreth - The Kölner Concert

All film music from Michael Nyman

All from Philip Glass

ABBA - Geatest Hits (serieus)

Frank Zappa - Sheik Yer Bouti

Madre Deus - O Pastor

Tindersticks - Tindersticks

Cabaret Voltaire - No Escape

And so on, and so on

Green Day - American Idiot. This is the best “album” to be produced in years.

Other top albums IMO (no particular order):

Smashmouth - Fush Yu Mang
Pixies - Dolittle
Led Zepplin - IV
AC/DC - High Voltage
The Who - Live at Leeds, disk two, Tommy
U2 - Under a Blood Red Sky
Eminem - The Slim Shady LP
Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill
The Smiths - Strangeways, Here We Come

so many to choose from - all time favorites:

Johnny Cash - folsom prison

Dead - workingmans dead

U2 - boy

Smiths - queen is dead

Squeeze - singles

Clash - sandinista or london calling

Elvis Costello - my aim is true

AC/DC - back in black

in the IPOD now:

string cheese incident

flogging molly

audioslave

leftover salmon

new radicals

rage against the machine

great music everyone - thanks for sharing
.

I like Randymar’s list and taste. I’m mostly a jazz freak so I’ll spare you a best-of jazz list and go for rock and pop, in no particular order. All of the following are pretty much strong all the way through, the way Gordo paces a race:

-Jeff Buckley: Grace
-Joni Mitchell: Blue, Ladies of the Canyon, Night Ride Home
-U2: The Joshua Tree, Atchung Baby
-Bruce Springsteen: Nebraska
-Elvis Costello: King of America
-REM: Murmur, Automatic for the People, Life’s Rich Pageant
-Suzanne Vega: Suzanne Vega
-Joe Jackson: Big World
-Prince: Sign 'O the Times
-Peter Gabriel: So
-The Cure: Pornography
-Steely Dan: Aja
-Radiohead: OK Computer
-Matthew Good Band: Beautiful Midnight

i grew up in the 90’s so these are 10yo
imho:
beatles revolver
beastie boys lic to ill
ben harper fight for your mind
glove-yeah its that easy
hole live through this
breeders last splash
dmb crash, under the table
nirvana
radiohead bends
rhcp
weezer blue, pinkerton
fiona apple tidal
abba greatist hits
nin downward spiral
liz phair exile
sublime
rancid and out come the wolves
semisonic semisonic
soul coughing ruby vroom
j5 quality control
zeppelin iv
theres prob more…