3 Must Haves

[Glennboy]

Axis bold as love - the jimi Hendrix experience

Led zep 4

Disintegration - the cure

 

That's my rock

 

3 feet high and rising- de la soul

New York state of mind - nas

ill communication - beastie boys

 

Me hip hop

 

Everybody knows this is nowhere - Neil young

Alas I cannot swim - Laura marling

Courage of others - midlake

 

Hard to choose as there is so much good music

 

 

[Amused]

Thanks for the replies thus far...there's a lot of stuff for me to check out. I'm also happy to see that I have a fair amount of the recommendations.

Please keep them coming.

 

[RankStranger]

Not necessarily the best or most listened to albums in my collection but the ones I couldn't live without and the ones that I can keep listening to over and over without getting tired of them and being confident that I'll hear something new every time I listen.

 

In no particular order:

 

Tom Waits - Mule Variations

 

Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator)

 

Tex, Don and Charlie - Sad But True

 

You might have trouble finding the last one anywhere but Australia (you might even have trouble in Australia) but they're all well and truly worth it.

 

Stand-out tracks:

 

Black Market Baby on Mule Variations. Spooky americarny (yep, just made that up!) with a blistering guitar solo from Marc Ribot.

 

I Dream A Highway on Time (The Revelator). Almost 15 mins of a dead simple chord progression that goes by in a timeless dream-state.

 

Postcard From Elvis on Sad But True. Messages from beyond the grave courtesy of Elvis, Norma Jean and Buddha. A quiet, gentle reflection on taking time for quiet, gentle reflection... beneath the hood of a red Monaro.

 

Cheers,

 

RS

 

[Jud]

Classic Rock - Don't get more classic than The Beatles, but a bit of a modern twist - "Love," the Martin pere et fils Cirque du Soleil thing. Some of what they've dusted off from the vaults is sans a lot of production and thus revelatory, even through my current 16/48 system. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Strawberry Fields" especially knock me out, but there's much, much more.

 

Modern Rock - My favorite "modern rock" act by leaps and bounds is pretty countrified, so I'm going to leave this for the Country category.

 

Jazz - Got to be Miles Davis. I'll pick "Amandla," because back 25 years ago when I was first auditioning high end speakers, I ran this LP around everywhere. If the opening trumpet scream on "Catembe" didn't raise the hair on the backs of my neck and arms, I moved on to another pair of speakers. The initial CD version was a disappointment, but looking at Amazon, I notice there's a 2002 remaster available. Hmmm....

 

Classical - Bach Brandenburgs. If you haven't heard the Jordi Savall version, you haven't heard them at their best.

 

Electronic - Sorry, just can't think of anything with sufficient soul.

 

Folk - Howlin' Wolf, the Chess Box. "You'll Be Mine" has ordinary lyrics, but that voice(!) is nasty enough to undress any object of your affection within reach. Runnerup, any of the great old Pogues albums. Regret never having seen them live before Shane McGowan kicked off - reportedly sometimes a party, sometimes a disaster, always drunk as lords.

 

R&B - Damn. I mean, just damn. Soul and The Beatles were it for me as a kid, it's just so impossible to choose. Smokey Robinson, especially "The Tracks of My Tears," is like to make me cry every time I hear him. But maybe from the sonic standpoint, the Marvin Gaye Collection on DVD-A. (Find his performance of the Star Spangled Banner at the NBA All-Star game on YouTube. Best. National. Anthem. Evah!) Also (though yeah, it's jazz at least as much as R&B), Cassandra Wilson's "Blue Light 'Til Dawn," especially "Come On In My Kitchen," will make strong men weak.

 

Country - Ryan Bingham, "Junky Star." Songs are absolute knockouts. "Hallelujah" is something 99 of the Billboard Top 100 would give their left something-or-other to've written. Conscientiously produced by T-Bone Burnett. (Bingham's first, "Mescalito," is also amazing.)

 

Hip-Hop - When I hear hip-hop on the radio and think "Hey damn, that's pretty good," it's Eminem a lot of the time. So I'll take "Recovery" as the latest and greatest.

 

Pop - Sorry, just can't think of anything with sufficient soul.

 

[Glennboy]

L.A woman - the doors

Who's next - the who

Rubber soul - the Beatles

My classics

 

Stax collection my only notable best of

Talking book - stevie wonder

Superfly - Curtis Mayfield

My r&b

 

 

 

[REShaman]

3?

Easy!

Miles Davis: Kind of Blue

Dave Brubeck: Time Out

Wait! Did I say easy? Meant easier said than done.

Never mind.

Best,

Richard

 

[RankStranger]

"Regret never having seen them live before Shane McGowan kicked off"

 

Point 1: He's not dead.

 

Point 2: Having seen him with the Popes a few years back in Melbourne, he's not far off. Would have loved to see him at his peak in the 80's but now it's more a sad old drunk going through the motions than any sort of firey rebellion. Alcoholism is a disgusting disease. If you have the opportunity to see him live, stay home and listen to Rum, Sodomy and the Lash instead.

 

RS

 

[Brian A]

I've changed my mind about my list above. My interests this week are different from last week's. I think that goes with the territory; enjoyment of music is very personal.

 

I read a Rolling Stone magazine from early 2010 a few weeks ago. It had an interesting list of "The 50 most important albums of the last decade" (ie. 2000 to 2010). Quite interesting; I am chipping at the list (Moby, White Stripes, Arcade Fire, Amy Winehouse etc). It's worth looking at.

 

Likewise yesterday, I bought one of those weird one-off periodicals I spotted sitting between "Princess Diana at 50" and "National Geographic Photos of Cuddly Animals" at the grocery store magazine rack. Title: "Special Edition Rolling Stone - The Beatles, The Ultimate Album-by-Album Guide". $9.99. There is a brief paragraph for each song with all kinds of intersting information. I'm pretty impressed. I've been reading it while rediscovering the Beatles music. You need ALL the Beatles.

 

[Jud]

Point 1: Oh. "I'm not dead yet."

 

Point 2: Might be why I thought he'd joined the choir celestial.

 

Thanks. :-)

 

[Jud]

Title: "Special Edition Rolling Stone - The Beatles, The Ultimate Album-by-Album Guide". $9.99. There is a brief paragraph for each song with all kinds of interesting information. I'm pretty impressed. I've been reading it while rediscovering the Beatles music. You need ALL the Beatles.

 

Saw it at the grocery store, thought about buying it.... Maybe it'll still be there.

 

Yeah, I've always thought you've gotta have 'em all. Their stuff is just untouchable - no one since has come close to Abbey Road IMO. Thinking about getting Let It Be - Naked, but if I do there's sure to be a higher-quality version out soon after.

 

[Amused]

I'll be looking out for this issue, thanks.

 

[Brian A]

I don't think it's an actual issue of Rolling Stone. It's a "special edition", which may not actually be mailed to subscribers. (I don't have a subscription.)

 

Browse it at the magazine racks to see if you like it. Personally, I think it is very well done.

 

[bleedink]

Can I get the Chipmunks at HDtracks?

 

[audiozorro]

or mother when I asked them to choose which of their children do they love the most. Their answer was I love them all the same.

 

Just 3 albums - you've gottta be kidding.

 

Anyway here's my must have music picks:

 

1. Legend: The Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers

 

2. Harry Belafonte at Carnegie Hall

 

3. Complete Ella Song Books

 

[Sik_Lescinovid]

Electronic albums:

 

Massive Attack - "Mezzanine"

Squarepusher - "Hard Normal Daddy"

SleepResearch_Facility - "Deep_Frieze"

 

Jazz albums:

 

Miles Davis - "Kind Of Blue" (2009 Legacy Edition)

Dave Brubeck - "Time Out" (1997 Legacy Edition)

Pat Metheny Group - "Still Life (Talking)"

 

Rock albums:

 

Tool - "Lateralus" (check out that Fibonacci sequence in syllables during the verse)

Rage Against The Machine - "Rage Against The Machine"

Pink Floyd - "The Wall" (CBS-SONY 40AP1750~1 vinyl)

 

Other great sounding music:

 

Roxy Musix - "Avalon" (SACD)

Dire Straits - "Dire Straits" (Japanese SACD, it's incredible)

Porcupine Tree - "In Absentia", "Up The Downstair"

Peter Gabriel - "So", "Up"

Janis Ian - "Breaking Silence"

Nik Bärtsch's Ronin - "Holon", "Stoa", "Llyrìa"

etc.

 

Pay special attention to the release if present in parentheses.

 

 

 

 

[carelessethiopian]

1. Money Jungle - Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Max Roach

2. Sticky Fingers - The Rolling Stones.

3. Beethoven String Quartet Op. 131 - The Lindsay Quartet.

 

[ksjeff]

. . . this is tough, but here goes:

 

Miles Davis -- Kind Of Blue

Keith Jarrett -- The Koln Concert

Shelby Lynne -- Just A Little Lovin'

 

Because I can't imagine ever tiring of these three.

 

[crisnee]

Can I get the Chipmunks at HDtracks?

 

Only at 768, meticulously crafted from Blu-ray, originally remastered to cd from 45 rpm vinyl, by Stubbs Munchip, for less than $13 per track or $299.98 the entire Chip Fest.

 

-Chris

 

P.S. It is guaranteed to activate Audacity if properly loaded.