Music
is big around my house. It is very rare
that we don’t have something playing in the background. Because of this my daughter, Emerson, who is 3.5
years old, has started to appreciate music and recognize specific artists. As a result, I have been thinking about all
of the musical artists/albums that I have loved over the course of my life (and
also hope that she will appreciate). I
decided to put together a list of the 25 (or so) albums that I consider to be
essential listening. I have limited this
list to albums from rock artists only (jazz, blues, alternative and indie all
require their own lists). I am sure that
I am going to forget something and this list is definitely not for everyone but
all of these albums have meant something to me.
So without further ado, here goes (in no particular order):
The Grateful Dead Live/Dead: I first saw the Grateful
Dead when I was 13 and it changed my life.
To this day it remains one of the most important and formative
experiences that I have ever had. Live/Dead
(recorded in January and February of 1969) is, in my opinion, the peak of
psychedelic Grateful Dead. This version
of “Dark Star” is absolutely perfect and highlights Jerry Garcia at the height
of his improvisational powers. The Dead
played other shows that were this good but never better. If I were trapped on
an island and only allowed a single album it would be very difficult for me to
not pick this one. I would bet that I
have listened to it (in its entirety) over 1000 times.
Other Essential Dead:
Europe ’72, American Beauty, Two from the
Vault, Blues for Allah, Wake of the Flood, Terrapin Station, the entire Dick’s
Picks series.
Pink Floyd Meddle: Pink Floyd is one of my favorite bands. I love most of their stuff but Meddle has always been my favorite Pink
Floyd album. Released in 1971, this
album is really at the transition between their insanely psychedelic stuff from
the late 60s and the more commercially successful music from 1973 on. “Echoes” remains one of my all time favorite
tunes. Although I am ranking Meddle as the most essential Pink Floyd
album, I also want to mention Dark Side
of the Moon. I never understood the reverence
for that album that everyone else seemed to have when I was in my teens. However, now that I am in my 30s I completely
appreciate the themes that the lyrics from that album put across. You just can’t appreciate lyrics like “Tired
of lying in the sunshine, staying home to watch the rain/ You are young and
life is long and there is time to kill today/ And then one day you find ten
years have got behind you/ No one told you when to run, you missed the starting
gun” when you are 18 and immortal. It
also doesn’t hurt that David Gilmour plays blistering solo after blistering
solo on that record. In retrospect, I definitely
consider Dark Side to be one of their
best albums.
Other Essential Pink
Floyd: Wish You Were Here (!!!), Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Atom Heart Mother (for the select few that
appreciate serious psychedelia), Animals
The Jimi Hendrix
Experience Axis: Bold as Love: All of Hendrix’s releases are essential
listening but Axis: Bold as Love is
my personal favorite. This album covers
every theme from the surreal “Spanish Castle Magic” to individuality “If 6 was
9” and it does so with amazing instrumental work and stellar songwriting. I would put the album closer, “Bold as Love”,
in my list of the top 10 songs of all time.
Other
Essential Jimi Hendrix Experience: Are
you Experienced?, Electric Ladyland,
Blues
The Allman Brothers Band At Fillmore East: One of the best live albums ever recorded. This
album definitively represents the peak of one of the most musically gifted
bands that ever existed. Duane Allman’s
solo during “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” is what Coltrane would have sounded
like if he had played the guitar instead of the sax. I probably spent the better part of my teens
trying to learn the guitar solos from this album (and it was time well spent). I would pretty much give up an appendage to
go back in time and attend this run of shows.
Other Essential ABB:
Eat a Peach, Idlewild South
The Rolling Stones Exile on Main
Street: The Stones clearly had a
number of phenomenal albums but for my money Exile on Main Street is their best.
It’s a masterpiece from start to finish.
Ironically, other than “Tumbling Dice”, this album gets almost no radio
time. That’s absurd given that many of
their best tunes (“Shine a Light”, “Torn and Frayed”, “Ventilator Blues”) come
from this album.
Other Essential Stones: Sticky Fingers, Beggar’s Banquet, Let it
Bleed
Neil Young Everybody Knows this is Nowhere: Neil’s best album which pretty much says it
all. This album could simply consist of
“Down by the River” and “Cowgirl in the Sand” and still have made this list. The fact that the rest of the album is also
fantastic is just icing on the cake.
Other Essential Neil Albums: Harvest (this is definitely second only
to Everybody Knows…), Zuma, Live at Massey Hall, Weld, Harvest Moon
Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti: You
could argue that every Zeppelin album (except Coda) is essential listening but if forced to pick one then mine is
Physical Graffiti. Some of Zeppelin’s best known tunes (i.e.
“Kashmir”, “Houses of the Holy”) are on this album but it’s the “lesser known”
tunes (“Ten Years Gone”, “Down by the
Seaside”, “Bron-yr-Aur”, “In the Light”) that keep me coming back. I am pretty
sure that I could listen to “Ten Years Gone” on repeat for two weeks straight
and never get tired of it. Jimmy Page’s
guitar work on that tune is nothing short of brilliant.
Other
Essential Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin I-IV
Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde: I am
positive that just picking one Dylan album was the hardest decision to make
when putting this list together. He has
so many albums that should be poured over in great detail that it’s nearly
impossible to pick just one. Blonde on Blonde has long been a
favorite of mine but I could just have easily picked Highway 61 Revisited or The
Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.
Other Essential Dylan: The Bootleg Series, Volume 4 and pretty much
every album from 1963-1977
James Taylor Sweet Baby James: I am a
native North Carolinian so of course I love James Taylor. I grew up listening to this album and still
find myself going back to it again and again.
This is great music for just hanging out on a warm Summer night. It just
doesn’t get much better than JT singing “There’s a song that they sing when
they take to the highway/ A song that they sing when they take to the sea/ A
song that they sing of their home in the sky/ Maybe you can believe it if it
helps you to sleep/ But singing works just fine for me”.
Other
Essential JT: Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon
Simon and Garfunkel Bookends/Bridge Over Troubled Water: I realize that there are two albums here but
I honestly couldn’t pick one over the other and since this is my list I don’t
have to. It’s easy to understand why
these guys called it quits after releasing Bridge
Over Troubled Water as they would never have topped it. “The Only Living Boy in New York” is one of
the most beautiful songs I have ever heard.
Other
Essential S&G: Live 1969
Blind Faith
(Self-Titled): Any essential music list that I generate has to have Eric
Clapton on it. Blind Faith, widely
considered the first “super group”, formed in 1969 after the breakup of Cream.
This album has it all: fantastic guitar riffs, jazzy guitar solos, fantastic
drumming, killer vocals (courtesy of Steve Winwood), you name it. Though they only released this single studio
album they didn’t need to really follow it up with anything…they got it right the first time.
Other Essential Clapton: Derek
& the Dominos Live at Fillmore East
(Clapton’s guitar work is unbelievable on this release), Derek & the
Dominos Layla & Other Assorted Love
Songs (impossible to go wrong with a Clapton and Duane Allman combo), Cream
Wheels of Fire or Disraeli Gears
Traffic The
Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys: Traffic
was an incredibly great band that always seems to be overlooked. This is my favorite album of theirs simply
because the title track is a masterpiece (not that their aren’t other killer
tunes on the album, see “Light up or leave me alone”). Steve Winwood plays some of the jazziest
piano solos ever to appear on a rock album on “Low Spark” and that alone make
this worth the listen.
Other Essential Traffic: John Barleycorn Must Die
The Doors (Self-titled): This is definitely one of the best (if not
the best) debut albums in rock. Recorded
in just under one week’s time it is quite simply a work of art. “Break on Through”, “Light My Fire”, “Soul Kitchen”,
“Alabama Song”, “Backdoor Man”, “The End”, just pick one at random, press play
and prepare to have your mind blown.
Other Essential Doors: LA Woman, Morrison Hotel, Strange Days,
Waiting for the Sun
Van Morrison Moondance: This is the
ultimate “hanging out on a lazy afternoon” album. Van Morrison is one soulful guy and this
album is just packed with amazing vocals and incredibly good songwriting. Every
song on the album is flawless but for me the clear stand out is “Into the
Mystic”. That song is so good that it
you can’t help but smile while listening to it.
Other Essential Van: Astral Weeks
Rod Stewart Every Picture Tells a Story:
Of all of the albums on this least I can see people viewing this one as
the most controversial. Before Rod Stewart
started covering show tunes he was pretty cool.
What I love about this album is how a lot of the tunes deal with growing
up and the lessons that you learn as you get older. The title track is about a young man that
can’t wait to blow out of his small hometown and see the world only to find out
that it isn’t all as romantic as he’s built it up to be in his head. It has this great line “I firmly believed
that I didn’t need anyone but me/I sincerely thought I was so complete/Look how
wrong you can be”. That line just nails
how many people feel when young and “constrained” by their roots (not that I
can relate to this at all but it’s what I’ve heard from others). This album also has fantastic musicians (Ron
Wood plays guitar on the whole album) and just great songs (“Maggie May”,
“Mandolin Wind”) in general.
Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsys: The Band
of Gypsys is a completely different incarnation than the Jimi Hendrix
Experience and I am therefore counting them as two separate bands (which they
are). The music on this album was
recorded at the Fillmore East on New Year’s Eve 1969/1970. It was released as a throwaway album to
fulfill a contractual obligation but you would never know it. The band cooks from the second that the
announcer finishes his intro until the last notes of “We Gotta Live Together”.
In my opinion, “Machine Gun” has the single best electric guitar performance in
the history of rock music and you will NEVER convince me otherwise. I’m pretty sure that Hendrix wasn’t human.
Other Band of Gypsys Essentials: Jimi
Hendrix Live at Woodstock
David Bowie Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars: David Bowie is an artist’s artist. He’s basically the Miles Davis of rock as he
is constantly changing and never afraid to completely move to a new sound. Ziggy
Stardust stands as his shining achievement for both stage persona and
musical prowess. It’s a great album.
Other Essential Bowie: Hunky Dory, Santa Monica ’72 (“Waiting for the Man”!)
The Who Who’s
Next: The Who are one of those
bands that just kill it. Though there
are a number of great Who albums, Who’s
Next is definitely my favorite. It
has killer (and epic) rock tunes (“Won’t Get Fooled Again”, “Going Mobile”,
“Bargain”), amazing ballads (“Behind Blue Eyes”), and some of the best synth
use in rock history (“Baba O’Riley”).
You can put this one on during any mood and find something that fits.
Other Essential Who: Tommy, Quadrophenia, Live at Leeds
Phish A
Live One: If you are reading
this blog then chances are that you already know that I am massive Phish
enthusiast. I’ve been seeing them live
for almost 20 years and I never seem to get tired of seeing them (although I
have gotten sick of the audience at times…).
A Live One, is a seriously
great live album and contains (in my opinion) the definitive versions of
several of their staples: “Slave to Traffic Light” (one of my all time favorite
tunes), “You Enjoy Myself”, “Harry Hood”, “Stash”, and “The Squirming
Coil”. This album is so good that I have
gone through 3 different copies and I still listen to it regularly.
Other Phish Essentials: Lawn Boy, Hoist, Hampton/Winston-Salem
’97
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Déjà Vu:
This was the first studio album that CSN recorded with Neil Young
and it is quite the debut. Every song on
it could be a lesson on how a song should be written, performed, and recorded
for any aspiring musician in about 6 different genres (rock, singer/songwriter,
pop, etc.). Furthermore, this album
probably has the best ensemble vocal work from any rock band in history. It’s really a shame that ego got in the way
of these four guys staying together in the long run as this album really shows
that they could have done great things!
Wait a minute, they did do great things but on their own.
Other CSN(&Y) Essentials: Crosby, Stills and Nash and 4 Way Street
Black Sabbath Paranoid: Black Sabbath
is a truly iconic rock band. They are
probably surpassed only by Led Zeppelin in the number of killer guitar riffs in
their songs. If you have ever played an
electric guitar then chances are that you learned several of their tunes. When I was approximately 16 years old I
listened to Paranoid on repeat for
probably 4 months straight. “Iron Man”,
“Paranoid”, “War Pigs”, “Fairies Wear Boots”…it just doesn’t get any better than
that. Paranoid is absolutely the best heavy metal album that was released
in the 70s. I would say of all time but
Metallica’s Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning make it too close to
call.
Other Black Sabbath Essentials: Black Sabbath (self titled)
Widespread Panic Light Fuse, Get Away: I
feel like any list of mine would be incomplete without Widespread Panic on
it. When I was in college I lived to go
to WSP shows and had the good fortune to see a great many of them. Light
Fuse, Get Away is their first live album and really does a great job of
capturing the energy that this lineup of the band was able to put out in the
live setting.
Other WSP Essentials: Space Wrangler, Everyday, Live in the Classic
City
Elton John Honky Chateau: Before he
became a Disney cartoon soundtrack puppet, Elton John was pretty much one of
the best musicians in the game. Together
with Bernie Taupin he wrote some truly wonderful songs. I discovered Honky Chateau shortly after I turned 18 and I instantly fell in love
with it. “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters”
should be required listening for everyone.
Other Elton John Essentials: Tumbleweed
Connection
My Morning Jacket It Still Moves: About 10 years ago, a friend of mine dragged me
a show at the Cat’s Cradle (in Carrboro, NC) to see a band that I had never
heard of called My Morning Jacket. There
were approximately 50 people in attendance (at a venue that holds 800) but that
didn’t stop the band from killing it.
They were completely into it and it really made an impression on
me. I have listened to MMJ every since
and really love all of their albums. It Still Moves is probably the album
that I have listened to the most and I think it is probably their best overall
(even though it got panned by critics).
It’s hard to argue with the genius of tunes like “Steam Engine”, “Golden”,
and “One Big Holiday”. It’s all good
stuff.
Other
MMJ Essentials: At Dawn, Z, Okonokos, Evil Urges, Circuital
Big Head Todd & the Monsters Sister Sweetly: I’m putting this one on this list purely for
selfish reasons because this was the album that I was listening to heavily when
I first met my wife Julie (my sophomore year of college). Because I was listening to Big Head Todd a
lot during that period, Julie started to listen them and it kind of became our
unofficial soundtrack. Besides, Sister Sweetly is really a great album
and criminally underappreciated by the general public.
Okay, that's the end of the list. Now go to listen to some music.