Essential Studio Albums

[liebzz]

Yeah there was a brief period where in interviews one Jeff Ament said he would like Pearl Jam to release 3 albums a year. They aren’t even hitting that per decade anymore.

[wease]

Kinda surprised you have Skynyrd above the Allmans. Especially that album. They get so much better.

[liebzz]

Kinda surprised you have Skynyrd above the Allmans. Especially that album. They get so much better.

It’s interesting because I had the same thought when I saw that. I mean, I am 100% certainly a bigger fan of ABB, but as I do it in real time to listening to the album, I think the comparables I was really considering were Harvest, American Beauty, and What’s Going On, at least in my head.

I was in my mind able to justify this by the fact that against At Fillmore East, if I included live albums, would likely be sitting at #1 on this list.

Also, it’s possible I could reconsider once I get to the list next time - it would at worst be just below those three albums in hindsight.

I will also note there was a level of excitement for had hearing the Lynyrd Skynyrd album that may have inflated its place on the list.

[liebzz]

King Crimson - Larks’ Tongues in Aspic

The bookends of this album are the title track split in two parts, which is reminiscent of Lizard in its breadth and approach (and quite possibly even better?). Mind blowing stuff really. Sandwiched in between them is an excellent album that jumps around a bit but feels maybe a bit more cohesive than Lizard and stronger than In the Wake of Poseidon. Constantly creative and shifting expectations, this is a great band who here feels somewhere between prog, kraut, and classical music. Easy Money also just rocks.

The Essential Track: Larks’ Tongues in Aspic (Part II)

Up Next: Genesis - Selling England By the Pound

[liebzz]

Genesis - Selling England By the Pound

No doubt we’re sitting in the midst of some cerebral albums. This one really impressed me - I don’t know if I didn’t expect Genesis to be able to hang with King Crimson, or what, and they are obviously very different bands, but Genesis finally really gets their moment here. I still sense some awkwardness in them, but in deep AOR territory, this album stands pretty tall. Dancing With the Moonlit Knight, The Battle of Epping Forest, and even the synth heavy The Cinema Show that leads into the close of the album are all fantastic and epic, though I can’t help but absolutely love Firth of Fifth, which absolutely slays over 9 minutes. This feels like the band on their way to perfecting their sound (at least their first prog iteration).

The Essential Track: Firth of Fifth

Up Next: Steely Dan - Countdown to Ecstacy

[liebzz]

Steely Dan - Countdown to Ecstasy

If you get the sense from progressive rock that it’s rock bands trying to steer rock towards jazz and classical, Steely Dan here feels like a jazz outfit looking to play rock music. There’s moments in songs like Your Gold Teeth where they can’t hold back anymore and play some intricate stuff that certainly at least feels like jazz. Yet, this album has a lot more to it. Show Biz Kids is bluesy in its flourishes, King of the World really harkens back to Can’t Buy a Thrill, My Old School seems like a yacht rock preview in all the right ways and really takes off in its instrumental moments. That leaves Bodhisattva, which seems to incorporate some element of swing into its groove, and really hits the mark. This is pretty fantastic, and shows much more range than I was expecting.

The Essential Track: Bodhisattva

Up Next: Emerson, Lake and Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery

[wease]

You didn’t even mention King of the World.

[liebzz]

You didn’t even mention King of the World.

I did! It was weirdly the song that most reminded me of the first album, mostly because it vibes with Do It Again and Reelin in the Years. Laid back but kinda not.

[VinylGuy]

Im listening Kool And The Gang´s Wild And Peaceful.

Damn this groove!!! loving it.

Also started my morning with Steely Dan´s The Royal Scam. Very enjoyable.

[wease]

You didn’t even mention King of the World.

I did! It was weirdly the song that most reminded me of the first album, mostly because it vibes with Do It Again and Reelin in the Years. Laid back but kinda not.

Shit you did. Don’t know how I missed it. That was the track that flipped the switch for me. That breakdown in the middle then again as the outro? First time I heard that, it was like achieving that place where music and person blend and you can’t even tell which is which. After that, I was all in, no matter what.

Gold Teeth is pure bliss. I’m still working on learning the keyboard solo.

They still kinda go in different musical directions but this is the first real glimpse of what’s to come later. A popular theory holds it’s the first album of an LA Trilogy which is about the various undesirables that inhabit the West Coast, LA lifestyle.

When they announced they would be playing the full album during their Beacon Run in 2018, there was no way I was missing it. I’m sure it was probably the worst attended of the run but it was a blast and I knew I’d never get most of the tunes ever again.

[liebzz]

Funny because while King of the World is a track I definitely got into, it was Your Gold Teeth, the opening track, and My Old School that I thought were the most convincing and the songs I was choosing between as my favorite.

[wease]

After listening to those shows from the ‘74 tour, it’s hard for me to listen to the studio version of My Old School. Skunk sings it and I prefer him over Fagen. Plus, it’s just more energetic live. Same for Show Biz Kids. Michael McDonald sings it live and they add some actual chord changes for the solo section. Much better than the studio version. Much more soul-inspired.

My Gold Teeth is just perfection captured brilliantly.

[liebzz]

Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery

We are fully immersed in the more is more vibes of the mid 70s here. Synths, keys, guitars, and the kitchen sink are all here, and this is a fun album to that extent. Toccata rocks at pretty full throttle, at least way more than I was expecting. The key to this album though is Karn 9, delivered over 4 tracks in 3 impressions, and it just takes it as far as I think this sound could possibly go. Purely bonkers, but quite enjoyable. I can’t remember ever putting on ELP before, so this is quite the new thing.

The Essential Track: Karn 9 1st Impression, Part 2

Up Next: Loggins & Messina - Full Sail (as in full sail into yacht rock)

[liebzz]

Loggins & Messina - Full Sail

I think I found this searching for yacht rock classics on the internet in an effort to include as many sounds as possible. And surely, this is a stack of easy to listen to, rock but not too hard, pop songs. The main surprise on this is You Need A Man/Coming To You which is a 9 minute epic that breaks the mold and finds the band here stretching out quite a bit. It’s otherwise and forgettable but pleasant album.

The Essential Track: You Need A Man/Coming To You

Up Next: Mott the Hoople - Brain Capers

[liebzz]

Mott the Hoople - Brain Capers

This is one of those bands I heard of but never listened to, but for the hit song All The Young Dudes, which I had no idea was by them - but that’s for the next album. This is a pretty straightforward rock album, particularly compared to the brainy stuff that’s been on this list for the last week or so. Death May Be Your Santa Claus is the perfect way to snap back into cathartic rock mode, with this band seemingly finding a fine line between Lou Reed and The Stones. The Journey is a wonderful epic, Sweet Angeline is the sort of cool as hell quasi-slow song that’s simultaneously rocking and creepy. The Moon Upstairs is a great hard rock song. They may have evolved in subsequent albums under the influence of David Bowie, but their vibe is pretty awesome right here.

The Essential Track: Sweet Angeline

Up Next: Mott the Hoople - All the Young Dudes

[liebzz]

Mott the Hoople - All the Young Dudes

Mott the Hoople take the vibe of Brain Capers and up their game on this one. Their immediate nod to the Velvet Underground on their cover of Sweet Jane sets the tone for an excellent album where everything hits the mark. Momma’s Little Jewel, One of the Boys, and Ready for Love/After Lights hit particularly hard and are the real big highlights here. I had no idea they were the artists on All the Young Dudes, and the song is good, but doesn’t quite compare to the real heavy hitters on here.

The Essential Track: One of the Boys

Up Next: Mott the Hoople - Mott

[liebzz]

Mott the Hoople take- Mott

The last of this trio of Mott the Hoople albums sees them taking yet another big step towards a David Bowie sound and away from the more Stones-like grooves of prior albums. For the most part, this is still a really great sound, as most of the tracks here are keepers. Whizz Kid and Violence seemed like the big keepers on the first half of the album, while the slower tracks Ballad of Mott the Hoople, I’m a Cadillac/ El Camino Dodo Roso, and I Wish I Was Your Mother close this thing really strong, with the last track sounding almost Dylan-esque in its delivery.

The Essential Track: I’m a Cadillac/El Camino Dodo Roso

Up Next: Lou Reed - Berlin

[liebzz]

Lou Reed - Berlin

That time the rock minimalist went over the top. Backed by I think horns at one point, an orchestra, a rock band, and whatever else Lou Reed could conjure up, this album is the lushness that maybe he felt the freedom to explore without the Velvet Underground. There’s moments where this is some real good stuff, really from the opening track through How Do You Think It Feels, but then it gets real morose real fast, The Kids basically derailing this, and The Bed taking it even further down a dark path. Sad Song is a beautiful orchestral piece, but the sick damage was done on the prior two songs. He may have set out to create the most upsetting album of all time, and he might well have succeeded in that. The front two-thirds, however, are quite good.

The Essential Track: How Do You Think It Feels

Up Next: New York Dolls

[liebzz]

New York Dolls

This feels like the original punk rock album. The MC5, The Stooges, and even elements of the Who early on have moments that could be interpreted as the genesis of the genre, but this is perhaps the first time, and definitely the first time in this journey, that it’s fully realized. There’s a particular sleaziness that seems to take the seediest elements of the Stones swagger taken well over whatever line they were holding. Personality Crisis is the public service announcement of this new rock revolution, and songs like Vietnamese Baby, Frankenstein, Trash, Private World, and Jet Boy show the immediate range these power chords can demonstrate. The shock value of the cross dressing cover might overshadow how badass this band was.

The Essential Track: Trash

Up Next: The Stooges - Raw Power

[Jorge]

You're not wrong. The Ramones and the Sex Pistols were both hugely influenced by The New York Dolls. I'd say the Ramones distilled the sound further and brought the crazy tempos most associated with the genre which is why they're often looked at as the start, but there's a lot of Dolls DNA in what they did