Essential Studio Albums

[epilogue]

Steely Dan - The Royal Scam

This wasn’t originally on the list despite an attempt to include Steely Dan in the journey from the outset - I had just never seen anyone really discuss it - an almost under the radar release. This is really a high quality album from them, and while it doesn’t push the envelope quite the same as their other releases, the songs here are strong. Kid Charlemagne, The Caves of Altamira, Sign in Stranger, The Fez, Green Earrings, and The Royal Scam are all excellent highlights, though for some inexplicable reason, Haitian Divorce was my favorite - a very cool mix of reggae rhythms, jazz inflections, and that wild talking box guitar thing that made Peter Frampton a star in this time period. That’s the kind of weird stuff I almost always appreciate most from Steely Dan - just something a little unexpected.

The Essential Track: Haitian Divorce

Up Next: Rod Stewart - A Night on the Town (how the f@ck did so many of his albums end up on this list!?)

Green Earrings is the only song on this album I care about.

[Ello Sailor]

LV, you gonna let him talk his shit or should I get the tool.

[LoathedVermin72]

[liebzz]

Led Zeppelin - Presence

I was 15 years old when I borrowed this compilation from my father’s CD rack that was a 25th Anniversary collection of Atlantic Records thing. It was 2 of the 3 discs, one of which had Dazed and Confused and the other Whole Lotta Love. I don’t think I ever even bothered listening to the rest of the discs, but it was the start of a more than 30 year obsession with Led Zeppelin that’s waxed and waned over the years. Somewhere in that time, I heard Achilles Last Stand, which was essentially 10 minutes of pure Zep vomited onto the speakers - all the visceral power, the pounding drums, the huge riffs, Plant’s wail. It seemed at the time like their high water mark, and really there’s no song on the planet more Led Zeppelin than that. Achilles Last Stand is really an album’s worth of this band all on its own.

And yet there’s also a whole album that follows it. It doesn’t quite reach the same level of its opening 10 minute epic, but there are certainly spots where it comes damn close - particularly on For Your Life and Nobody’s Fault But Mine, and the massive blues riffs in Tea For One. In addition there is some tinkering with the formula on Royal Orleans, Candy Store Rock and Hots on for Nowhere. In the end, it belongs with the best of their works, though for me probably a bit below Physical Graffiti, IV, II, and III. Damn incredible album though, and a reminder that sometimes Led Zeppelin’s greatness is so obvious it gets taken for granted. They were a beast.

The Essential Track: Achilles Last Stand

Up Next: Muddy Waters - Hard Again

[LoathedVermin72]

Hell yes, always happy to hear love for Presence. Their best, for my money.

[epilogue]

Hell yes, always happy to hear love for Presence. Their best, for my money.

No doubt

[Ello Sailor]

You've lost your minds. Also, this is a Physical Graffiti jamily. We all agreed on it.

[liebzz]

I mean, relistening here (I haven’t gotten to In Through the Out Door yet but I will reassess at that point), I now have it

Physical Graffiti
IV
III
II
Presence
I
Houses of the Holy
In Through the Out Door

[liebzz]

Muddy Waters - Hard Again

Perhaps it’s the more modern recording technology, Waters’ undoubted enthusiasm, the pure rawness of this electric blues - whatever it is, this kind of spark is rarely found on a studio album. It sounds amazing, this legend in his purest state just riffing on the blues, with a band that backs his natural raw delivery with exceptional skill, but also on the knife’s edge of feeling like they are just barely hanging on off each other. The kind of stuff you hear in live recordings that never seem to translate to the studio. Muddy Waters more than pulls it off here, a no frills no alternate perspective album of pure electric blues.

The Essential Track: Mannish Boy

Up Next: Billy Joel - Turnstiles

[liebzz]

Billy Joel - Turnstiles

So this is Billy Joel in his prime doing Billy Joel music. It reads a little less soft rock and a little more piano based rock, recalling everything from Sinatra (“New York State of Mind”) to Jerry Lee Lewis, but it’s not just retreading forgotten sounds, but building his own stamp on it. Ballads, reggae, frequent tempo changes. This album displays a lot of range and an ability to incorporate different sounds into his repertoire. None more effectively than Miami 2017 (I’ve Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway), which seems to finish the album by throwing it all in one pot to watch it boil over. This is a very nice album, though it leaves the impression there’s more to come.

The Essential Track: Miami 2017 (I’ve Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)

Up Next: Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life

[Kevin Davis]

Hell yes, always happy to hear love for Presence. Their best, for my money.

No doubt

It's definitely the most played Zeppelin record of my adult life, and the fact that it isn't overloaded with classic rock radio staples has definitely kept it fresher longer. Physical Graffiti is not far behind.

[liebzz]

Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life

It’s sort of well documented that I have had a harder time than expected with Stevie’s albums on this journey. He’s got hits so great you can’t really argue with that, and in a couple of occasions, he seems to mostly put it together, but no album I could say blew me away. Until now.

Sonically, this album nods to past, present and future. He’s got odes to Duke Ellington, inflections of jazz all over, and he combines that with the soul of the present and even disco to come. And all that never distracts from the songs themselves (there are certain moments where things like kids playing in the background are maybe a little too much but on an album that’s 105 minutes long, you’re gonna have a few moments that don’t cater to everyone). From a musical perspective it’s a genius of a record, and the songwriting matches that genius in his maneuvering between social commentary and the experiences in a lifetime.

On the first half (it’s broken in halves on Spotify so I am going to rely on that), the jazz fusion of Contusion gives way to Sir Duke and then I Wish, which for me is the high point for that half, and while the combo of As and Another Star in the second half is beyond excellent…and if you can hear Pastime Paradise without wrongly singing Coolio’s lyrics, you deserve a pat on the back. Just an excellent album here.

The Essential Track: Another Star

Up Next: Bob Marley and the Wailers - Rastaman Vibrations

[coptheriotact]

Muddy Waters - Hard Again

Perhaps it’s the more modern recording technology, Waters’ undoubted enthusiasm, the pure rawness of this electric blues - whatever it is, this kind of spark is rarely found on a studio album. It sounds amazing, this legend in his purest state just riffing on the blues, with a band that backs his natural raw delivery with exceptional skill, but also on the knife’s edge of feeling like they are just barely hanging on off each other. The kind of stuff you hear in live recordings that never seem to translate to the studio. Muddy Waters more than pulls it off here, a no frills no alternate perspective album of pure electric blues.

The Essential Track: Mannish Boy

Up Next: Billy Joel - Turnstiles

You sold me on this one , I’ll check it out shortly

[liebzz]

Muddy Waters - Hard Again

Perhaps it’s the more modern recording technology, Waters’ undoubted enthusiasm, the pure rawness of this electric blues - whatever it is, this kind of spark is rarely found on a studio album. It sounds amazing, this legend in his purest state just riffing on the blues, with a band that backs his natural raw delivery with exceptional skill, but also on the knife’s edge of feeling like they are just barely hanging on off each other. The kind of stuff you hear in live recordings that never seem to translate to the studio. Muddy Waters more than pulls it off here, a no frills no alternate perspective album of pure electric blues.

The Essential Track: Mannish Boy

Up Next: Billy Joel - Turnstiles

You sold me on this one , I’ll check it out shortly

That’s what I’m here for. It’s fantastic!

[liebzz]

Bob Marley and the Wailers - Rastaman Vibrations

This album features and different and more expansive lineup, backup singers and all. It also features a bunch of classic Marley songs, though not on the level of some of his iconic hits. Roots Rock Reggae, War, and Who the Cap Fit are all here, but highlights Crazy Baldhead and Rat Race are just as strong. Another more than solid album from Bob Marley even if the new lineup seems slightly less sharp.

The Essential Track: War

Up Next - Max Romeo and the Upsetters - War Ina Babylon

[liebzz]

Max Romeo and the Upsetters - War Ina Babylon

Bob Marley is the sort of canonical figure that transcends the reggae genre, and Max Romeo is one of the OGs for the genre as we collectively know it in the mainstream, but obviously not nearly as well known. This album really plays like the non-Bob Marley stereotypical reggae album, probably in part because of Lee “Scratch” Perry’s sound but also because this seems like the median of the sound. One Step Forward, Chase the Devil, Tan ane See, and the title track all sound like your typical fare, but they are really good versions of that.

The Essential Track: One Step Forward

Up Next: David Bowie - Station to Station

[liebzz]

David Bowie - Station to Station

This is maybe the least easily accessible album from Bowie so far, but that’s of course not to say this is problematic. The title track here immediately stuck out, but when I go back and look at the tracklist, I after the fact realized I really liked all of it. Without any loss of cohesion, there’s a lot of sounds going on here, and maybe the distant feel of it all is what makes it less immediately demanding of attention, but there’s no weakness here. A front to back real solid album.

The Essential Track: TVC15

Up Next: The Runaways

[liebzz]

The Runaways

Admittedly, I had never really heard of this before compiling this list - though famous rock stars like Joan Jett and Lita Ford are a part of this band. This is the sort of pushing forward garage rock that I haven’t even touched yet. It’s tempting to note women can rock out too (and I guess I am doing that anyway), but that statement takes away from an album that really just rocks with no pretense. As uncompromising as punk rock and the song writing is easy and fun, while the subject matter might have wrinkled a few noses in 1976, but to me, many folks would seem to owe a debt of gratitude to the ground covered here. Really enjoyed this one.

The Essential Track: Cherry Bomb

Up Next: The Modern Lovers

[liebzz]

The Modern Lovers

This is a fascinating record as it seems to bridge the past and the near future/present. There’s no question this heavily recalls The Velvet Underground. The cadence and vocal delivery are very close, as is the guitar chords. But even with that very heavy influence, there’s a punk rock sneer in here, and sense of humor that could even push the through line past punk and into a Sonic Youth at their most accessible moments. She Cracked and Modern World are prototypes for this proposition.

The Essential Track: She Cracked

Up Next: Patti Smith Group - Radio Ethiopia

[liebzz]

Patti Smith Group - Radio Ethiopia

Whoever reminded me to put this in here is well appreciated this morning. If Horses was blending the poet and the rock star, this one goes full rock star and it’s glorious in so many places. Ask the Angels and Ain’t It Strange provide a real strong start to this, but this hits the pocket of rock perfection for me in Pissing in a River, Pumping, and Distant Fingers. Yeah, we finish with a bit of art noise rock, and that stuff is also quality here, but middle section of the album, hot damn!

The Essential Track: Pissing in a River

Up Next: The Ramones