Essential Studio Albums

[liebzz]

Weird to list Chronicle as an album since it is a greatest hits compilation - and one of my all time favorite greatest hits albums at that. Knew that one backwards and forwards before I ever properly explored CCR.

[Happy Trees]

Weird to list Chronicle as an album since it is a greatest hits compilation - and one of my all time favorite greatest hits albums at that. Knew that one backwards and forwards before I ever properly explored CCR.

An album is a collection of songs, regardless of being a compilation or not.

Your terminology discrepancies are weird. Sorry Boo.

[liebzz]

I mean I am not exactly a purist, but there’s a difference between Tom Petty’s Greatest Hits and Damn the Torpedoes.

[liebzz]

Muddy Waters - Fathers and Sons

Speaking of compilations, this is Muddy Waters with some folks from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and some others working through Waters’ back catalogue, complete with a killer side of live tracks at the end. The band is pretty good here, no doubt, and the youth brings to life Waters’ classics. The live Baby Please Don’t Go here is the winner on this listen.

The Essential Track: Baby Please Don’t Go

Up Next: Janis Joplin - I Got Dem Ol’ Kosmic Blues Again Mama

[liebzz]

Janis Joplin - I Got Dem Ol’ Kosmic Blues Again Mama

This might be best known for being the album in between Cheap Thrills and Pearl, but this album brings a unique flavor not found on her other albums, with a focus on soul out front of the rock and blues. Try (Just a Little Bit Harder) starts this very strong, and As Good As You’ve Been to This World nearly matches it in the band’s big energy. It’s up for debate whether the horn section and bigness of this band is too much distraction when Janis is the queen, but I think it largely works, even if by the end of this you can feel ready to move on. Her voice is of course as powerful as ever, even if the songs here don’t reach the heights of the albums that sandwich it.

The Essential Track: Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)

Up Next: Ten Years After - Stonedhenge

[Happy Trees]

I mean I am not exactly a purist, but there’s a difference between Tom Petty’s Greatest Hits and Damn the Torpedoes.

Of course, but they're both albums.

[Leatherhead]

I mean I am not exactly a purist, but there’s a difference between Tom Petty’s Greatest Hits and Damn the Torpedoes.

Of course, but they're both albums.

Compilations are not the same as albums.

[Happy Trees]

I mean I am not exactly a purist, but there’s a difference between Tom Petty’s Greatest Hits and Damn the Torpedoes.

Of course, but they're both albums.

Compilations are not the same as albums.

Oh Jesus.

So when someone bought that release in 1976, what do you think they called it?

Fill in the blanks for me...

Hey man, I just got the new Creedence hits ________.
It's a double ________ and it has all our favorites on it, come over and listen.
I'll let you borrow it if I can borrow your copy of that new Frampton live _______.

[liebzz]

I love madlibs!

[liebzz]

Ten Years After - Stonedhenge

This is a really entertaining album, and one I think will open the door for deeper listening with this band. There’s a blues boogie underpinning an otherwise well stoner album full of deep bass, instrumental interludes, and solid tracks throughout. Going to Try has a big intro but is sort of an opening builder, Hear Me Calling is probably the stand out here, No Title is 7 minutes that builds into a nice break, and Speed Kills rumbles along until it weirdly crashes, but somehow that works. One of those bands I never got to.

The Essential Track: Hear Me Calling

Up Next: The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed

[wease]

I mean I am not exactly a purist, but there’s a difference between Tom Petty’s Greatest Hits and Damn the Torpedoes.

Of course, but they're both albums.

Compilations are not the same as albums.

Yes they are. The first record albums were compilations of actual 78 singles.

[wease]

Weird to list Chronicle as an album since it is a greatest hits compilation - and one of my all time favorite greatest hits albums at that. Knew that one backwards and forwards before I ever properly explored CCR.

You even call it an album in your second sentence.

[Jorge]

Obviously the definition of albums and the approach to making them has changed a little since the days of the 78s

[liebzz]

The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed

No more hinting or scratching at the surface, the Stones on this one explore their id on this one: it’s deep seeded in the sex and drugs of their moment, pushing sleaze and seediness to its limits. The title track alone is a great example of a song just descending into some pretty exotic places in the sheen of what starts as a pretty innocent track. They also manage to kick around a lot of range on this album too, from blues to gospel to country. And there’s a ton of all time classics here - Gimme Shelter, Midnight Rambler, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, a phenomenal cover of Robert Johnson’s Love in Vain. This is basically one huge high, where everything is pretty amazing…and I haven’t even mentioned Monkey Man which is one of my favorites here.

The Essential Track: Gimme Shelter

Up Next: The Flying Burrito Brothers - The Gilded Palace of Sin

[Jorge]

Nowadays we have terms to describe albums that are compilations of previously released material; we call them compilation albums or greatest hits albums. What's the term for albums that are conceived and recorded as cohesive standalone pieces of work? "Studio" albums?

[liebzz]

Nowadays we have terms to describe albums that are compilations of previously released material; we call them compilation albums or greatest hits albums. What's the term for albums that are conceived and recorded as cohesive standalone pieces of work? "Studio" albums?

I mean, I guess that’s largely the point of this thread. I grew up on greatest hits because you needed money to buy CDs and tapes, so it was a way to get the sense of an artist without having to spend hundreds of dollars as a teenager to have access. This is more a chance to dig a little deeper and find the artists in their general snapshot in time, though even that has to be elastic when a band throws on material they already had in the bank, like Tattoo You.

[liebzz]

The Flying Burrito Brothers - The Gilded Palace of Sin

Country rock to the fullest here, and leaning heavily on the country part of that. It is a really nice album that serves as their debut. The cover of Do Right Wonan is an early highlight, though I was predominantly drawn to the second half, especially Hot Burrito, both Parts 1 and the more rock focused Part 2. Juanita is also a nice highlight here.

The Essential Track: Hot Burrito Part 2

Up Next: Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline

[liebzz]

Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline

It only stands to reason that Bob Dylan, who decides on a whim to try on new musical clothes, would take an entire genre and do it as good if not better than everyone else. Ditching the rock and the nasal vocals, Bob goes country and nails it. The opening Girl From the North Country is as good as it was on Freewheelin’ and features no other than Johnny Cash dueting. Lay Lady Lay is a Dylan classic. To Be Alone With You and Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You are more big highlights. Crazy what this man can do.

The Essential Track: Girl From the North Country

Up Next: Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left

[liebzz]

Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left

It’s been a long long time since I last visited Nick Drake’s music. Far back enough we’re talking about when I could only get the Greatest Hits/Best of collections and his was one of them. I never got to dive into those albums though, so now’s as good a time as any. These compositions may be sparse, but somehow they are lush and stunning, filling the air with a laid back but at times foreboding atmosphere. Way to Blue is simply stunning, Cello Song picks this bag up a bit nicer. River Man is also excellent. On this listen Man in a Shed grabbed me as well. There’s not really a weak track here at all, even though it tends to exist outside my basic comfort zone. It’s just simply beautiful music. This is the kind of stuff that comforts isolation.

The Essential Track: Way to Blue

Up Next: Crosby, Stills & Nash

[liebzz]

Might get to one more but taking a week off for a trip, but we’ll be back in due course. I’ll leave you with my top 50 so far on this journey:

50. Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You
49. The Who - Sell Out
48. The Beatles - Help!
47. The Beach Boys - Wild Honey
46. Aretha Franklin - Lady Soul
45. Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
44. The Rolling Stones - Out of Our Heads
43. The Rolling Stones - Aftermath
42. The Grateful Dead
41. The Grateful Dead - Aoxomoxoa
40. Otis Redding - Dock of the Bay
39. Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding
38. Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
37. Credence Clearwater Revival
36. Credence Clearwater Revival - Green River
35. The Band - Music From Big Pink
34. Credence Clearwater Revival - Willy and the Poor Boys
33. The Band
32. Credence Clearwater Revival - Bayou Country
31. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
30. The Doors
29. Miles Davis - The Birth of the Cool
28. Thelonius Monk - Brilliant Corners
27. Dr. John - Gris Gris
26. Cannonball Adderly - Somethin’ Else
25. Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
24. Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder
23. Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home
22. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
21. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis: Bold As Love
20. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
19. Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come
18. Charles Mingus - Pithecanthropus Erectus
17. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
16. Thelonius Monk - The Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1
15. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
14. The Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet
13. The Allman Brothers Band
12. The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
11. Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
10. The Beatles - Rubber Soul
9. Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde
8. Thelonius Monk - The Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 2
7. Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain
6. John Coltrane - Blue Train
5. The Beatles - Revolver
4. The Beatles
3. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced?
2. Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
1. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland