Essential Studio Albums

[LoathedVermin72]

Yeah it’s “The Logical Song” for me

[wease]

Goddammit

[Ello Sailor]

It's clearly "Take The Long Way Home".

[liebzz]

Breakfast is America is tearing RM apart!

[liebzz]

Sparks - No. 1 in Heaven

Now we turn to a more electronic dance music, and despite this being well outside my wheelhouse, I quite enjoyed it. The music is pretty hypnotic with a lot of electronic elements but with a substantial amount of vocals, which separates it from the electronic pack of albums we’ve covered, not to mention the faster pace. Not something I would have otherwise run to, or may run to again, but I found it to be a strong album nonetheless.

The Essential Track: La Dolce Vita (there were 3 or 4 that could have been here)

Up Next: Joe Jackson - Look Sharp!

[wease]

It's clearly "Take The Long Way Home".

You sonnuvabitch

[LoathedVermin72]

No 1 in Heaven is probably my favorite Sparks album. Could have possibly been a perfect album if it weren’t for “Beat the Clock”, which I really don’t like. “Tryouts for the Human Race” is incredible.

[liebzz]

That was no. 650, so it’s time for an updated list of favorites. 50 won’t cut it anymore so we’re expanding (sorry, still no Steely Dan but they were close).

100. The Band - Music From Big Pink
99. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Street Survivors
98. The Beatles - Let It Be
97. Black Sabbath
96. Mott the Hoople - All the Young Dudes
95. Bob Marley and the Wailers - Kaya
94. Deep Purple - Machine Head
93. Credence Clearwater Revival - Willy and the Poor Boys
92. The Band
91. Credence Clearwater Revival - Bayou Country
90. Heart - Little Queen
89. Led Zeppelin
88. Led Zeppelin - Presence
87. Santana III
86. Black Sabbath - Vol. 4
85. Bob Marley and the Wailers - Catch a Fire
84. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
83. Muddy Waters - Hard Again
82. Bob Marley and the Wailers - Exodus
81. Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
80. The Doors
79. Miles Davis - Birth of the Cool
78. Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners
77. Dr. John - Gris Gris
76. Cannonball Adderly - Something Else
75. Funkadelic - One Nation Under a Groove
74. Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
73. Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder
72. Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home
71. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Skynyrd’s First: The Complete Muscle Shoals Album
70. Rolling Stones - Some Girls
69. The Allman Brothers Band - Brothers and Sisters
68. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
67. Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
66. Led Zeppelin II
65. Jimi Hendrix - Axis: Bold As Love
64. Led Zeppelin III
63. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
62. Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come
61. Charles Mingus - Pithecanthropus Erectus
60. Miles Davis - A Tribute to Jack Johnson
59. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
58. Dr. John - Dr. John’s Gumbo
57. Dr. John - In the Right Place
56. Miles Davis - In a Silent Way
55. Jerry Garcia - Garcia
54. Television - Adventure
53. Thelonious Monk - The Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1
52. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
51. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
50. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd
49. Derek and the Dominoes - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
48. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Second Helping
47. Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet
46. The Who - Who’s Next
45. The Kinks - Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround
44. Van Halen
43. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
42. The Allman Brothers Band
41. The Allman Brothers Band - Idlewild South
40. The Allman Brothers Band - Eat a Peach
39. Credence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo’s Factory
38. Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
37. The Kinks - Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire
36. Tom Waits - Closing Time
35. Neil Young - After the Goldrush
34. Marvin Gaye - What’s Going On
33. Television - Marquee Moon
32. Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town
31. Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
30. Grateful Dead - American Beauty
29. Neil Young - Harvest
28. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Damn the Torpedoes
27. George Harrison - All Thing Must Pass
26. Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
25. The Beatles - Rubber Soul
24. Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde
23. Led Zeppelin IV
22. The Who - Quadrophenia
21. Tom Waits - Nighthawks at the Diner
20. Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle
19. Thelonious Monk - The Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 2
18. Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain
17. John Coltrane - Blue Train
16. The Clash - London Calling
15. The Beatles - Abbey Road
14. Pink Floyd - Animals
13. Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
12. The Beatles - Revolver
11. The Beatles
10. Neil Young - On the Beach
9. Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
8. Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
7. Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced?
6. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
5. Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street
4. Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
3. Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
2. Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
1. Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run

[Jorge]

Cool to see Mingus in the top 5. That album is a masterpiece

[liebzz]

Cool to see Mingus in the top 5. That album is a masterpiece

I mean we are probably halfway there and I don’t know of 2 albums that would drop it out of the top 5 but you never know.

[liebzz]

Joe Jackson - Look Sharp!

I wasn’t sure what to expect beyond Is She Really Going Out With Him? I was very pleasantly surprised by this - a slightly more rocked out and sneering vibe as compared to what I am sure is inevitably his contemporary comparison, Elvis Costello. The start of this album, with One More Time, Sunday Papers, and the aforementioned single, is a great start, and it never really backs down from there with my main highlight after being Pretty Girls, but you can’t go wrong anywhere here.

The Essential Track: One More Time

Up Next: Joe Jackson - I’m the Man

[wease]

[liebzz]

Joe Jackson - I’m the Man

This one follows directly in line from the last one, almost as if they were part of the same album. On Your Radio, Kinda Kute, Get That Girl, and Friday all are nice highlights, though for me this came down to Its Different for Girls, and the title track that really brings the house down. Another really good effort here.

The Essential Track: I’m the Man

Up Next: Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Armed Forces

[wease]

Glad you dug him.

[liebzz]

Glad you dug him.

As I will note momentarily, especially so getting Armed Forces next.

[liebzz]

Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Armed Forces

I really love This Year’s Model, and the Joe Jackson albums felt like a good primer to give Armed Forces, an album I was previously lukewarm on, a new and fresh listen. I don’t think that it helped, as I sort of felt the same. Certainly, there are songs I like on here - Oliver’s Army, Green Shirt, Goon Squad, and Two Little Hitlers are all fantastic, and (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding is essential listening, but I still get a bit worn out across this album, so I think the parts are just greater than the whole.

The Essential Track: (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding

Up Next: Van Morrison - Into the Music

[liebzz]

Van Morrison - Into the Music

There’s moments in this album that flash the brilliance that Van Morrison exhibited regularly in his earlier albums. Bright Side of the Road is just wonderful (Jerry Garcia Band had added even more in their live covers in its more sparing version). Steppin’ Out Queen, Troubadours, and Its All in the Game/You Know What They’re Writing About are also highlights from this album.

The Essential Track: Bright Side of the Road

Up Next: The Cure - Three Imaginary Boys

[LoathedVermin72]

Rupert Holmes - Partners in Crime

Before I started this album, I asked myself who in the hell is Rupert Holmes, and you may have the very same question. But if you like pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain…you might have a clue. This is really a bizarre yacht rock album whose subject matter (see Lunch Hour) is I think meant to be laid back while at the same time mundane. It’s like the Seinfeld of yacht rock albums - an album about nothing. Whether that works is up to the listener and for me it was largely mixed - some good, some bad.

The Essential Track: Escape (the Pina Colada Song)

Up Next: Kool & the Gang - Ladies’ Night

Listening now. Title track is so good, oh man

What a crazy album, the lyrics are very strange

"Lunch Hour" is fucking insane

[liebzz]

The Cure - Three Imaginary Boys

This band would distinguish itself in time, and this felt like a serviceable debut. Songs like Grinding Halt, Object, and It’s Not You establish nice hooks, but the sound seems a bit tinny, like it’s coming out of an old school answering machine or something. And for a band I thought of super emotional and drawn out, these songs are quick and sort of disconnected for lack of a better term.

The Essential Track: Grinding Halt

Up Next: Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

[liebzz]

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

This was a real curiosity to me - an album I had never heard but always seemed to have a cult-like following around it. It felt going in that you were faced with rejecting the album altogether or taking it like religion. Of course, neither happened on this first listen. The album itself is very good. I particularly loved the second half of the album - She’s Lost Control, Shadowplay, Wilderness, and Intrazone is an extremely impressive run of songs. There’s a constant foreboding vibe throughout the album, but notwithstanding that, the bass riffs are really what carry this and they are not the sort of slow booming lines that say a Roger Waters would use for that, but more intricate and interesting.

The other thing I would note on this, and I owe a lot of this to the suggestion of folks on this thread, as the electronic and kraut rock bands we invested in see a bit of payoff here, as if their ideas now become fully realized within this album, turned into something new and unique amid the din of the rhythms defining this thread of late 70s rock music.

The Essential Track: She’s Lost Control

Up Next: Talking Heads - Fear of Music