Essential Studio Albums

[Ello Sailor]

This is another of those classic albums I just never heard before today.

Well this series has been a roaring success, based off of this alone.

[liebzz]

As we near the end of the 60s we will likely need to go year by year from 1970-73 at least as I think this is the largest number of albums on my list over those 4 years. Feel free to suggest additions to the list.

1970:

The Beatles - Let It Be
John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band
Bob Dylan - Self-Portrait
Bob Dylan - New Morning
Joni Mitchell - Ladies of the Canyon
Willie Dixon - I Am the Blues
Curtis Mayfield - Curtis
Isaac Hayes - The Isaac Hayes Movement
Van Morrison - Moon Dance
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Deja Vu
Neil Young - After the Goldrush
Faces - First Step
Traffic - John Barleycorn Must Die
Ten Years After - Cricklewood Green
John Coltrane - Sun Ship
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
B.B. King - Indianola Mississippi Seeds
James Brown - Sex Machine
The Velvet Underground - Loaded
The Doors - Morrison Hotel
Grateful Dead - Workingman’s Dead
Grateful Dead - American Beauty
The Band - Stage Fright
The Allman Brothers Band - Idlewild South
Credence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo’s Factory
Credence Clearwater Revival - Pendulum
Led Zeppelin III
Santana - Abraxas
Derek and the Dominoes - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
Faces - Long Player
Faces - A Nod and a Wink is As Good As a Smile
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
Van Morrison - His Band and the Street Choir
Cat Stevens - Tea for the Tillerman
Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
Kris Kristofferson - Kristofferson
Little Feat
Fleetwood Mac - Kiln House
The Kinks - Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneyground
Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother
The Stooges - Fun House
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath - Paranoid

[liebzz]

This is another of those classic albums I just never heard before today.

Well this series has been a roaring success, based off of this alone.

Yeah, this is largely the point of at least half of this - discovering the classics in real time that I missed. We sometimes focus so hard on what is next and new that we miss what’s already great.

[Happy Trees]

This is another of those classic albums I just never heard before today.

Well this series has been a roaring success, based off of this alone.

Yeah, this is largely the point of at least half of this - discovering the classics in real time that I missed. We sometimes focus so hard on what is next and new that we miss what’s already great.

[tragabigzanda]

[wease]

1973- The Marshall Tucker Band

[liebzz]

1973- The Marshall Tucker Band

I think that’s on there when we get there.

[liebzz]

The Stooges

We follow the precision of King Crimson with the visceral rock and roll of The Stooges. This is (again!) another classic album I just never got around to hearing, and I once again missed out for really opposite reasons. On pure piss and vinegar, this album largely nails it, though there’s also some serious dirge for lack of a better term on We Will Fall and Ann. My dollars are on 1969, I Wanna be Your Dog, No Fun, and Little Doll - sketches of classic rock and a preview of punk rock to come.

The Essential Track: 1969

Up Next: Santana

[VinylGuy]

both of those Crimson and Stooges are so fundamental really. Amazing albums i keep forgetting sometimes to go back to.

Also you are not interested on The Stones from the 70s? Also Funkadelic's Maggot Brain should be included.

[liebzz]

Santana

There are few bands that really do jam so well that the songs are sort of besides the point. Santana is one of those bands, especially on this debut album. Waiting, Savor, Jingo, Persuasion, and Treat all have epic jams. None are so epic as Soul Sacrifice though, which is just a blast. Evil Ways is otherwise the most known song taken from Fleetwood Mac. The band soars on this one.

The Essential Track: Soul Sacrifice

Up Next: The Beatles - Abbey Road

[liebzz]

both of those Crimson and Stooges are so fundamental really. Amazing albums i keep forgetting sometimes to go back to.

Also you are not interested on The Stones from the 70s? Also Funkadelic's Maggot Brain should be included.

Those would be 71 no?

[VinylGuy]

Oh yeah yeah, sorry

[wease]

Do you have Steely Dan on there anywhere? I know you’ve mentioned a Dan-centric dive before.

[liebzz]

Do you have Steely Dan on there anywhere? I know you’ve mentioned a Dan-centric dive before.

There’s some I think. Will double check. I had at one point consulted some set of lists for greatest prog rock albums so I am sure there are some.

[liebzz]

The Beatles - Abbey Road

The last recorded Beatles album, and it is of course an epic swan song featuring some of the greatest rock and roll music ever. Few songs can match the sheer beauty of George Harrison’s Something, or even Here Comes the Sun for that matter. The groove on Come Together is legendary and untouchable. The blues rock opus I Want You (She’s So Heavy) is a mic drop on that sub genre mixing in a bit of psychedelia for good effect. The final medley is like an exclamation point on their entire time together. It’s a stunning album even with a few silly spots baked in. It might have fallen off the top perch for me on Beatles albums on this journey but it didn’t fall far as it’s still one of many Beatles masterpieces.

The Essential Track: I Want You (She’s So Heavy)

Up Next: The Beatles - Let It Be

[liebzz]

That is likely a wrap for the 60s. Perhaps a good time to share a new top 50:

50. Grateful Dead
49. Grateful Dead - Aoxomoxoa
48. Otis Redding - Dock of the Bay
47. Sly and the Family Stone - Stand
46. Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding
45. Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
44. Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
43. Credence Clearwater Revival
42. Credence Clearwater Revival - Green River
41. The Band - Music From Big Pink
40. Credence Clearwater Revival - Willy and the Poor Boys
39. The Band
38. Credence Clearwater Revival - Bayou Country
37. Led Zeppelin
36. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
35. The Doors
34. Miles Davis - The Birth of the Cool
33. Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners
32. Dr. John - Gris Gris
31. Cannonball Adderly - Somethin’ Else
30. Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
29. Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder
28. Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home
27. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
26. Led Zeppelin II
25. Jimi Hendrix - Axis: Bold As Love
24. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
23. Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come
22. Charles Mingus - Pithecanthropus Erectus
21. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
20. Miles Davis - In a Silent Way
19. Thelonious Monk - The Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1
18. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
17. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
16. The Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet
15. The Allman Brothers Band
14. The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
13. The Kinks - Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire
12. Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
11. The Beatles - Rubber Soul
10. Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde
9. Thelonious Monk - The Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 2
8. Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain
7. John Coltrane - Blue Train
6. The Beatles - Abbey Road
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

[liebzz]

The Beatles - Let It Be

The end of an era. It really is fascinating watching the documentary and Paul’s vision for a more organic, and more performance based sound over the last few years deeper dives into sonic experimentation. It’s there that you find meaning in the parts of this album that feel a little bit like a let down, like the Long and Winding Road. That said, there’s no shortage of brilliance on this album, with Two of Us, Dig a Pony, Let It Be, I’ve Got A Feeling, One After 909, and Get Back all highlight and favorites, some of which I’d put on a Beatles final playlist. These guys were never short on songs or talent, and it will be interesting to contextualize that with their solo works the rest of the way.

The Essential Track: Get Back

Up Next: John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band

My definitive Beatles ranking…for now so not definitive:

The Beatles
Revolver
Abbey Road
Rubber Soul
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Let It Be
Help!
A Hard Day’s Night
Please Please Me
With the Beatles
The Beatles For Sale
The Magical Mystery Tour
Yellow Submarine

[Happy Trees]

Evil Ways is otherwise the most known song taken from Fleetwood Mac.

Black Magic Woman. Not Evil Ways.

[liebzz]

Evil Ways is otherwise the most known song taken from Fleetwood Mac.

Black Magic Woman. Not Evil Ways.

Yup. You’re right. That was a mistake.

[liebzz]

John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band

“I don’t believe in Beatles…the dream is dead” is a helluva way to pretty much close out this solo album with the Beatles recently disbanded. This solo effort is a mix of really wonderful and powerful songwriting, in taking chances maybe he felt he couldn’t take as a vocalist and writer in the Beatles, and also a statement on his own independence. It is also not nearly as good as the Beatles because of the magic and balance his songwriting needs with Paul McCartney. That notwithstanding, this is a damn good album. Mother, I Found Out, Working Class Hero, Isolation, Remember and Well Well Well are all highlights, and while they vary greatly sonically, they all have jagged edges, as if to demand that perfection is wrong, and acceptance of Lennon for who he is at that moment is what this is about. It’s the statement on God that wraps this up (save for the actual closing My Mummy’s Dead as the counterpart to the opening Mother). I could never place this with the Beatles best stuff, but that wouldn’t be the point of this anyway. A great album nonetheless.

The Essential Track: Working Class Hero

Up Next: Bob Dylan - Self-Portrait