Essential Studio Albums

[liebzz]

good stuff as always liebzz..I grew up with my dad always playing Ray Charles' modern country album for a a year or two..

Yeah, the foundational rock n’ roll stuff I feel like I was exposed to as a child, but I obviously never dove in this far, just like the jazz.

[liebzz]

Chuck Berry - One Dozen Berrys

The surprise on this album is the extensive amount of range Berry is showing off in this. I often think of his music working off one very brilliant riff recycled over and over again (I think The Great Twenty-Eight reinforces that concept). Here, he is all over the place with guitar instrumentals, classic Berry rock n roll, and different little atmospheres parading around - given his signature moves I can only imagine parading around. In any event, this is much more of a must hear than I anticipated. Fantastic little record here.

The Essential Track: Rock and Roll Music

Up Next: Bo Diddley

[doug rr]

I know how people hate requests but I'd love to read a review of Muddy Waters Folk Singer....carry on

[liebzz]

I know how people hate requests but I'd love to read a review of Muddy Waters Folk Singer....carry on

Added to the list!

[liebzz]

Bo Diddley

If Bo’s got one thing, and really his signature rhythm is one of those true foundations on which rock and roll is built, its swagger. This thing has numerous songs with Diddley in the title, and these songs are delivered with incredible confidence. This album in particular plays like a greatest hits: Bo Diddley, I’m a Man, Before You Accuse Me, Diddley Daddy, Diddy Wah Diddy, Who Do You Love - a powerhouse of early rock and roll hits. I’ve always been partial to Diddy Wah Diddy, even if it may not be the best song here it’s my favorite.

The Essential Track: Diddy Wah Diddy

Up Next: Bo Diddley - Go Bo Diddley

[liebzz]

Bo Diddley - Go Bo Diddley

From setting the standard rock and roll sound on his debut, Bo Diddley’s second album is eccentric as hell, a cabinet of entertaining curiosities, from his stock sound to a comedy bit trading insults in the middle, to finishing with a violin jam, this is a bit on the wild side. Bo’s Guitar is pretty killer as an instrumental track that follows its title, but my favorite here is the propulsive Don’t Let It Go (Hold On To What You Got).

The Essential Track: Don’t Let It Go (Hold On To What You Got)

Up Next: Muddy Waters - Sings Big Bill Bronzy

[liebzz]

Muddy Waters - Sings Big Bill Bronzy

For a guy as influential as Waters, who’d been around for ages already, it’s a little shocking that this would be his debut album. There’s the mere passage of 20+ years to begin with, and then there’s the choice to play the songs of his friend and contemporary as a first album statement. Even then, this is another where, from the opening notes, you can feel that legend just pouring out. It’s as if Muddy Waters doesn’t sing the blues, he is the blues. What a remarkable album.

The Essential Track: Baby, I Done Got Wise

Up Next: Lightnin’ Hopkins

[liebzz]

Lightnin’ Hopkins

About 25 years before there was a Nebraska, Lightnin’ Hopkins just straight recorded an album with just his guitar in a room and released it, and it became a classic blues album. He wasn’t a young pup by any imagination here, and the music feels lived in. Penitentiary Blues starts this and is emblematic of the vibe we’re going for here. Fan It and She’s Mine feature some real great sounding little jams in them that push this thing even further to the next level.

The Essential Track: Penitentiary Blues

Up Next: Howlin’ Wolf - Moanin’ in the Moonlight

[liebzz]

Howlin’ Wolf - Moanin’ in the Moonlight

Raw blues. All the shine taken off. Despite the rough recording here, this thing is really incredible and possibly my favorite of the blues albums covered so far. Here we can hear the direct line to Led Zeppelin and then beyond to the sound that came back in the early aughts. And it’s one killer song after the next. Smokestack Lightnin’, All Night Boogie, Evil (Is Going On), and How Many More Years were favorites but this is a top to bottom gem.

The Essential Track: Smokestack Lightnin’

Up Next: Chuck Berry - Berry Is On Top

[liebzz]

Chuck Berry - Berry Is On Top

If Diddley brought the swagger, Chuck Berry went full third rail electrified on this one. The first and most obvious piece of this are the mammoth hits on this that are all time classics. Carol, Maybellene, Johnny B. Goode, Roll Over Beethoven, and Around and Around are all huge, and essential listening for rock and roll’s formative years. Once you get past that, this is one odd record, with an instrumental attempting to sound both like the blues and whatever Berry imagines as island music, and Hey Pedro which I have no idea what to make of. Notwithstanding that, the top highlights on this album are as good as it gets.

The Essential Track: Johnny B. Goode

Up Next: Joan Baez

[liebzz]

Joan Baez

Now for something completely different. Generally speaking, folk music tends not to be my thing, possibly because I have always enjoyed music by feel and not really one to unpack lyrics. So this won’t be among my favorites, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t pack a ton of great things about it. Joan Baez’s singing voice is both bracing and beautiful at the same time. The guitar work on here is pretty stellar. The takes on House of the Rising Son and I Know You Rider are really strong. There’s a lot to unpack on this for sure, especially for an album featuring only guitar and vocals.

The Essential Track: House of the Rising Sun

Up Next: Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come

[liebzz]

Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come

Well, this was pretty wild. The use of the term “shape” in the album title seems like it was tongue in cheek, suggesting there’s a new way forward for the genre, yet the music itself on this is rather shapeless - a masterclass in improvisation and letting the music take you places without conforming to traditional notions of form or what makes sense. The drums and bass on this run at a fever pace because there’s simply no other way for there to exist any structure at all playing off of the horns that are squeezing out sounds unearthed from God knows where. If you get a sense of Coltrane as the Jordan of the sax, Coleman come barreling down like Dennis Rodman, upsetting the apple cart in essential and meaningful ways just by playing on feel, or at least so it seems.

The Essential Track: Congeniality

Up Next: Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - Moanin’

[VinylGuy]

oh yeah, i had a Coleman phase. I loved it, but his music its for a particular moment at least for me.

[VinylGuy]

by the way, that Bulls comparison was amazing

[liebzz]

by the way, that Bulls comparison was amazing

Yeah, I couldn’t think of a better comparison that made the point on that.

[liebzz]

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - Moanin’

This is another enjoyable Jazz album worth checking out. Moanin’ is a really strong start here, but my sense is that this album really opens up in the second half with The Drum Thunder Suite, Blues March, and Come Rain or Come Shine, which feature some A++ drumming that never falls off kilter but doesn’t need to. It’s probably just not possible to adequately follow Ornette Coleman, but this is a strong band nonetheless.

The Essential Track: Blues March

Up Next: Bill Evans - Everybody Digs Bill Evans

[liebzz]

Bill Evans - Everybody Digs Bill Evans

There’s a little bit of everything in this album of piano jazz with Evans trio. This is another where I see the value in all of it even though it is not something I’d typically be drawn to. Of course, the exception to that is Oleo, which is a killer piano jam.

The Essential Track: Oleo

Up Next: Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um

[Kevin Davis]

Is that the album with “Peace Piece” on it? Man do I love that song

[liebzz]

Is that the album with “Peace Piece” on it? Man do I love that song

It is.

[liebzz]

Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um

This was a bit surprising. I was expecting a bit more of an avant garde approach, but Mingus here shows incredible range in style and approach. Better Get Hit In Your Soul is funky and exciting, Boogie Stop Shuffle is maybe the most infectious jazz riff I have ever heard, Open Letter to Duke is fantastic, Bird Calls gets at that wild spirit, Jelly Roll is light and nearly humorous. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat is excellent. This is definitely one of the greats.

The Essential Track: Boogie Stop Shuffle

Up Next: Cannonball Adderly - Somethin’ Else