Your favourite albums

Okay, plain and simple, throw some names out there. I've very quickly run out of music to listen to, and I need some new ideas. I also need to do my homework, but that's another matter.

Well go ahead then!

I'll throw one out - The Band by wait for it... The Band. AKA The Brown Album.

Masterpiece.

Donald Fagen's The Nightfly is pretty worthwhile, IHMO.

To that I'll raise you Miles Davis's BITCHES BREW.



Pure sex.

Sharky wrote:

I'll throw one out - The Band by wait for it... The Band. AKA The Brown Album.

Masterpiece.

Listened to this the other day. I've tried getting into The Band before, but they've never been an instant click for me. I really loved 'Whispering Pines' off the album, though.

FourDot wrote:

Donald Fagen's The Nightfly is pretty worthwhile, IHMO.

Steely Dan's everywhere in this music forum. I'll have to give some of their/Fagen's stuff a go.

Anything by Stones, Who or Zep. Can't go wrong. And for your punk tastes, can't miss with Pistols, Clash, or Hamilton's own legendary Teenage Head.

As for albums: Stones; Sticky Fingers or Some Girls

Who: Who's Next or Who Are You

Zep: 4th album or Led Zep II

Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks, obviously

Clash: London Calling or Combat Rock

Head: Frantic City, or the latest, Teenage Head with Marky Ramone.

oh what the heck, some glam too.........

Bowie: Aladdin Sane or Diamond Dogs are required listening

and Sweet's, Desolation Boulevard.

tiffanywint wrote:

And for your punk tastes, can't miss with Pistols, Clash, or Hamilton's own legendary Teenage Head.

Not to forget The Dead Kennedys, Velvet Underground, The Misfits, The Ramones, Sham 69, Buzzcocks, Anti-Flag, A Wilhelm Scream, Sonic Youth, U.K. Subs, Black Flag, Uniform Change, Circle Jerks, The Damned, The Fugs, Suicidal Tendencies, Descendents, Talking Heads, Pennywise, Siouxsie Sioux & The Banshies, Agent Orange, Bad Brains, Social Distortion, Minor Threat, Bad Religion, The Offspring, Patti Smith, T.S.O.L, DI etc.

Even as a patriot and a huge punk rock fan, I've got to admit that while we Brits invented it, it was the west coast yanks who perfected it. While I don't agree with a lot of the leftist politics of these bands (especially Bad Religion), I think their music transcends that.

I'll get my Steely Dan-related pics out of the way: Steely Dan's THE ROYAL SCAM and Donald Fagen's MORPH THE CAT (yeah, MORPH is better than NIGHTFLY).

Elton John's GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD.

Stan Kenton's STANDARDS IN SILHOUETTE.

Tom Waits' BLOOD MONEY.

Scott Walker's SCOTT 3 and SCOTT 4.

Sharky wrote:

tiffanywint wrote:

And for your punk tastes, can't miss with Pistols, Clash, or Hamilton's own legendary Teenage Head.

Not to forget The Dead Kennedys, Velvet Underground, The Misfits, The Ramones, Sham 69, Buzzcocks, Anti-Flag, A Wilhelm Scream, Sonic Youth, U.K. Subs, Black Flag, Uniform Change, Circle Jerks, The Damned, The Fugs, Suicidal Tendencies, Descendents, Talking Heads, Pennywise, Siouxsie Sioux & The Banshies, Agent Orange, Bad Brains, Social Distortion, Minor Threat, Bad Religion, The Offspring, Patti Smith, T.S.O.L, DI etc.

Even as a patriot and a huge punk rock fan, I've got to admit that while we Brits invented it, it was the west coast yanks who perfected it. While I don't agree with a lot of the leftist politics of these bands (especially Bad Religion), I think their music transcends that.

That's an impressive list of punk bands there Shark. Agreed, the music transcends the idealism of the politics. You can even argue, the left wing rants against injustice and an unfair world, helps fuel the music. I don't think Joe Strummer and the Clash would have been half as entertaining if Strummer wasn't so driven by the "revolution". Johnny Rotten struck me as more of an iconoclast, who doesn't suffer fools gladly, lashing out at an unfair world, but not under any delusion that he was going to change anything. I saw the Pistols in 96 on their Filthy Lucre tour. God was he funny. He says, "how do you like us now, we're fat, famous and forty?" and then they roar into their first song. He even told a couple of local reporters to fuck off, basically for asking inane questions. He made it clear the Pistols were back, but this time they were in it for the cash, which was probably the truth, first time around, but the whole thing came unraveled.

Hardly an original choice, I know, but I'd say that THE STONE ROSES (1989) is the best album ever, although my favourite is their followup, SECOND COMING (1994).

SCREAMADELICA by Primal Scream (1991) rounds out my top three.

A rough top twenty of my favourite CDs:

AUGUSTUS PABLO: "East Of The River Nile"
BARRINGTON LEVY: "In Dub: The Lost Mixes From King Tubby's Studio"
THE BEACH BOYS: "Pet Sounds"
THE BEATLES: "Rubber Soul"
THE CURE: "The Head On The Door"
ELECTRONIC: "Electronic"
HAPPY MONDAYS: "Bummed"
IAN BROWN: "Music Of The Spheres"
JOHN SQUIRE: "Time Changes Everything"
LED ZEPPELIN: "How The West Was Won"
MARVIN GAYE: "What's Going On"
MILES DAVIS: "In A Silent Way"
MORRISSEY: "Bona Drag"
MY BLOODY VALENTINE: "Loveless"
NEW ORDER: "Substance"
PET SHOP BOYS: "Behaviour"
PRIMAL SCREAM: "Screamadelica"
THE SMITHS: "The Queen Is Dead"
THE STONE ROSES: "Second Coming"
THE STONE ROSES: "The Stone Roses"

Rock is a medium better suited to singles than albums. Eddie & the Hot Rods prove my case.

Yep. I might be alone on this, but I thought rock n roll went down the drain with the Geneses, Pink Floyds, and Emerson, Lake & Palmers of the 70s. Prog/art rock can suck my hairy balls. Thank God for punk, new wave, hip-hop and electronica.

That's gonna be a point of contention, Sharky. As of right now, I love prog rock's style and focus on album oriented music. Then again, I haven't gotten to the more pretentious albums where bands like ELP and Yes composed their heads straight into their ass.

My favorite album is between The Who's Tommy and Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here.

Sharky wrote:

Yep. I might be alone on this, but I thought rock n roll went down the drain with the Geneses, Pink Floyds, and Emerson, Lake & Palmers of the 70s. Prog/art rock can suck my hairy balls. Thank God for punk, new wave, hip-hop and electronica.

you are not alone (and I don't mean the Michael Jackson song)

Louis Armstrong wrote:

Okay, plain and simple, throw some names out there. I've very quickly run out of music to listen to, and I need some new ideas. I also need to do my homework, but that's another matter.

Well go ahead then!

I like to try most flavours of pop music and make compilations of things I personally feel go together

last week I was listening to my Frank and Deano cds, and a Rat Pack live cd
Deano was the master when it comes to audience patter, I've listened to it many times and I still picked up a couple of new double meanings I'd not registered before
Frank's albums with Count Basie are my favourites of his
also a 60s / 70s compilation of my favourite James Bond tracks, supplemented by other genre tracks like The Avengers and Mission Impossible themes
and sundry other songs I feel fit with the mood I'm hoping to create for myself, like Astrid Gilberto singing "Shadow Of Your Smile" or Roberta Flack singing "Killing Me Softly"
also another 60s compilation combining Burt Bacharach, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass and sundry Bosa Nova tracks

this week I'm listening to Britpop, the best of the first two Oasis albums with some of their better B sides
Blurs "Modern Life Is Rubbish" and Supergrass "In It For The Money"
a compilation of Pulps best songs mixed in with sundry others by the likes of Sleeper
Echo Belly's great album "On"
and so on

tonight I'm off to see a Steve Winwood / Steely Dan double bill, should be good!

Sharky wrote:

Yep. I might be alone on this, but I thought rock n roll went down the drain with the Geneses, Pink Floyds, and Emerson, Lake & Palmers of the 70s. Prog/art rock can suck my hairy balls. Thank God for punk, new wave, hip-hop and electronica.

I basically like all forms of rock music including the prog rock. The classic 70's Genesis stuff is quite invigorating as is much of Yes' music, although it can be hit and miss. Floyd is so well produced and original sounding, its hard not to put them on from time to time, especially Wish You Here (their best album IMO)

I did like the punk rebellion though. The bombast of the big 70s rock-god worship-us bands was a bit much. In fact in the 80's I tuned out the old bands and listened almost exclusively to punk, new-wave and the dance stuff played in the clubs (that's where the girls were, not in the dive rock bars playing Led Zep)

I think Sharky could help me on this one: what's k.d. lang's best album? Popular consensus seems to say Ingénue (I haven't heard it all yet), but I'd like to hear a more informed opinion.

Sharky wrote:

tiffanywint wrote:

And for your punk tastes, can't miss with Pistols, Clash, or Hamilton's own legendary Teenage Head.

Not to forget The Dead Kennedys, Velvet Underground, The Misfits, The Ramones, Sham 69, Buzzcocks, Anti-Flag, A Wilhelm Scream, Sonic Youth, U.K. Subs, Black Flag, Uniform Change, Circle Jerks, The Damned, The Fugs, Suicidal Tendencies, Descendents, Talking Heads, Pennywise, Siouxsie Sioux & The Banshies, Agent Orange, Bad Brains, Social Distortion, Minor Threat, Bad Religion, The Offspring, Patti Smith, T.S.O.L, DI etc.

All those in bold are among my favourites (Dead Kennedys being my absolute number 1) but there are some good under-the-radar bands such as Subway Sect, The Skids and The Dead Boys (pure filth) that are worth checking out. Also the early Joy Division stuff (when they were known as Warsaw) is terrific. Have to say though, I think The Ramones are incredibly overrated and I'm not too big on the 'Oi' punk stuff either, though Sham 69 are just about tolerable, as are The Professionals.

It's a sad state of affairs that the general idea of punk now is Green Day, Paramore or some other pseudo-punk sh**e.

G section wrote:

Sharky wrote:

tiffanywint wrote:

And for your punk tastes, can't miss with Pistols, Clash, or Hamilton's own legendary Teenage Head.

Not to forget The Dead Kennedys, Velvet Underground, The Misfits, The Ramones, Sham 69, Buzzcocks, Anti-Flag, A Wilhelm Scream, Sonic Youth, U.K. Subs, Black Flag, Uniform Change, Circle Jerks, The Damned, The Fugs, Suicidal Tendencies, Descendents, Talking Heads, Pennywise, Siouxsie Sioux & The Banshies, Agent Orange, Bad Brains, Social Distortion, Minor Threat, Bad Religion, The Offspring, Patti Smith, T.S.O.L, DI etc.

All those in bold are among my favourites (Dead Kennedys being my absolute number 1) but there are some good under-the-radar bands such as Subway Sect, The Skids and The Dead Boys (pure filth) that are worth checking out. Also the early Joy Division stuff (when they were known as Warsaw) is terrific. Have to say though, I think The Ramones are incredibly overrated and I'm not too big on the 'Oi' punk stuff either, though Sham 69 are just about tolerable, as are The Professionals.

It's a sad state of affairs that the general idea of punk now is Green Day, Paramore or some other pseudo-punk sh**e.

I left off a lot off great stuff there, especially post-punk (Public Image Ltd, Gang of Four, Wire, The Fall, Killing Joke, Echo & the Bunnymen, Subway Sect, The Stranglers, The Raincoats, Joy Division, Cabaret Voltaire etc.) - which I probably prefer to "true punk." It was more open to outside influences.

Louis Armstrong wrote:

I think Sharky could help me on this one: what's k.d. lang's best album? Popular consensus seems to say Ingénue (I haven't heard it all yet), but I'd like to hear a more informed opinion.

My favourite KD Lang album is definitely All You Can Eat. Damn sexy.



Her early pre-Ingénue work with The Reclines is very country oriented, a lot of it being covers. One of my favourites is "Johnny Get Angry", found on the 25 Anniversary edition of A Truly Western Experience.

I was surprised to find I liked that second track better. Fantastic, actually.

I listened to All You Can Eat. The album doesn't lack cohesion, at least. The songs started to feel a bit samey, particularly near the end. But the general vibe was enjoyable and there weren't any real clunkers.

I always find it overwhelming getting into an artist's work, so thanks =)

4- Foreigner (1981)
Foreigner- Foreigner (1977)
Double Vision- Foreigner (1978)
The Grand Illusion- Styx (1977)
Pieces of Eight- Styx (1978)
Pump- Aerosmith (1989)
Boston- Boston (1976)
Don't Look Back- Boston (1978)
Moving Pictures- Rush (1981)
Who's Next?- The Who (1971)
The Cars- The Cars (1978)
1984- Van Halen (1984)
Van Halen- Van Halen (1978)

Those are some of the best in my opinion

Harmsway wrote:

Tom Waits' BLOOD MONEY.

I've been having a hard time getting into Waits beyond his more accessible things (like Hold On, Downtown Train), and then I remembered... Harmsway. He could help. So I listened to Blood Money yesterday, and now I have it on repeat. So good.

According to Google Play...

EXILE ON MAIN ST (Stones)
LET IT BLEED (Stones)
SOME GIRLS (Stones)
WISH YOU WERE HERE (Pink Floyd)
DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (Pink Floyd)
PET SOUNDS (Beach Boys)
JAZZ IMPRESSIONS OF NEW YORK (Dave Brubeck)
JAZZ GOES TO COLLEGE (Dave Brubeck)
A LOVE SUPREME (John Coltrane)
MILES AHEAD (Miles Davis)
MILES IN BERLIN (Miles Davis)
RUMOURS (Fleetwood Mac)
HUNKY DORY (Bowie)
LET'S DANCE (Bowie)
MONEY JUNGLE (Ellington/Mingus/Roach)
CHANGES ONE (Mingus)
ERIC CLAPTON: UNPLUGGED
461 OCEAN BLVD (Clapton)
SUNDOWN (Gordon Lightfoot)
RECENT SONGS (Leonard Cohen)

Bloody hell, Brown, do you like anything made in your own lifetime?