Essential Studio Albums

[Jorge]

Good headphones album

[Kevin Davis]

I really love that album. My favorite tracks are the bookends — “IGY” and “Walk Between The Raindrops.”

[liebzz]

Phil Collins - Hello, I Must Be Going

There are a few tensions abound here. The first feels like an overt effort to record the next In the Air Tonight, and I think 2 of those efforts, I Don’t Care Anymore and Do You Know Do You Care, are pretty successful in that build and release, even if it’s not quite In the Air Tonight. I found Thru These Walls a little too overt in this task, almost feeling forced into that pattern. The next tension is Collins’s almost aching desire to move to pop, and when he does let go, his cover of Can’t Hurry Love seems really natural and freeing. The last piece of tension I sense here is the effort to try to write conventional songs without fully giving up on the sound in Genesis that made him famous. Face Value I think tried to marry these ideas, but he seems to be trying harder here to be more conventional, and it creates a sort of discord you can feel him grappling with. Is he going to let it go and create the easy pop he’s dying to unleash, or be constrained by the brainy history of his former identity? I don’t think this album answers that question, but it certainly sets the stage for the future by framing this dilemma.

The Essential Track: I Don’t Care Anymore

Up Next: Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel 4: Security

[liebzz]

I really love that album. My favorite tracks are the bookends — “IGY” and “Walk Between The Raindrops.”

Steely Dan albums are great, but theirs is a distinct coldness or impersonal almost nature to them - it’s part of that draw. This feels like breaking through and finding charm and personality. It’s not so dissimilar to the way early Van Morrison albums can be transporting into a whole different place.

[wease]

Donald Fagen - The Nighfly

Just when I thought maybe some of this soft rock was losing its touch with me, Donald Fagen delivers a stunning jazz pop rock album that is really all the things I want from the genre. The jazzy touches set against catchy choruses, the utilization of more session musicians than you can possibly keep track of, and arrangements that are meticulous but feel loose. I also like Fagen perspective on this album, a sort of look back in vibe to his late 50s child while ever pressing jazz and pop forward. This is a really phenomenal album. The opening 3 own this thing (along with the title track which I was tantalizingly close to picking here). I.G.Y., Green Flower Street, and Ruby Baby are all fantastic - the opening track in particular really just barely taking this one for me.

The Essential Track: I.G.Y.

Up Next: Phil Collins - Hello, I Must Be Going

Right on. I actually prefer it to Gaucho.

[liebzz]

My rankings all things Steely Dan so far are all over the place, but I have it just behind Pretzel Logic and just ahead (yes, sorry don’t shoot) of Aja.

[LoathedVermin72]

You think Pretzel Logic is better than Aja?!

[liebzz]

According to my list, yes. Remember that this is really off one listen. Certainly could change based on subsequent listens. I also heard them months apart meaning the moment I listened to Aja, it was up against my memory of Pretzel Logic.

[wease]

My rankings all things Steely Dan so far are all over the place, but I have it just behind Pretzel Logic and just ahead (yes, sorry don’t shoot) of Aja.

So Pretzel Logic over Aja?

Oops. I see LV has asked the same question.

That’s a bold move, my friend.

[LoathedVermin72]

To be fair, every Dan album is great.

[wease]

Well, yeah. But there’s great and then there’s great.

[liebzz]

Peter Gabriel 4: Security

I really didn’t think Melt could really be followed, but this album comes pretty damn close. The drums and percussion immediately stick out in this album, in part because they are so dynamic, up and down the mix in exactly right places. But the songs are really good here too, with Peter Gabriel creating atmosphere that for me is leaps and bounds ahead of anything he did with Genesis. I can really hear the genius in his solo albums thus far. I’m sold. As far as my favorite tracks, The Rhythm of the Heat, San Jacinto, I Have the Touch (mind blowing), Shock the Monkey, Lay Your Hands on Me, and Kiss of Life all immediately jumped out of the headphones.

The Essential Track: I Have the Touch

Up Next: Simple Minds - New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84)

[liebzz]

Simple Minds - New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84)

If I use term sometimes it comes down to taste, that is probably not a good sign for how I felt about an album. I did find some highlights here that I did enjoy, like Someone Somewhere, Promised You a Miracle, and Somebody Up There Likes You, but the rest wasn’t really much for me. I can get behind the sort of new wave of pop and all that if the mood and the album strikes me, but I just didn’t find it here. Probably doesn’t help that it comes immediately off the heels of another brilliant Peter Gabriel album.

The Essential Track: Promised You a Miracle

Up Next: INXS - Shabooh Shoobah

[VinylGuy]

Donald Fagen - The Nighfly

Just when I thought maybe some of this soft rock was losing its touch with me, Donald Fagen delivers a stunning jazz pop rock album that is really all the things I want from the genre. The jazzy touches set against catchy choruses, the utilization of more session musicians than you can possibly keep track of, and arrangements that are meticulous but feel loose. I also like Fagen perspective on this album, a sort of look back in vibe to his late 50s child while ever pressing jazz and pop forward. This is a really phenomenal album. The opening 3 own this thing (along with the title track which I was tantalizingly close to picking here). I.G.Y., Green Flower Street, and Ruby Baby are all fantastic - the opening track in particular really just barely taking this one for me.

The Essential Track: I.G.Y.

Up Next: Phil Collins - Hello, I Must Be Going

yeah, this one is great. Ive been super into Steely Dan this year and this one is also a favorite.

[liebzz]

INXS - Shabooh Shoobah

I know these guys have a bunch of quality singles in their career, particularly as the 80s progress, and this album features none of those, so a clean listen to this Australian band. Somewhere in Old World New World the similarity to Midnight Oil hit me, albeit maybe a bit more pop friendly and less politically agitated. The bookends of this album are what I really walk away with though, as The One Thing and Don’t Change are really fantastic.

The Essential Track: Don’t Change

Up Next: Midnight Oil - 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

[liebzz]

Midnight Oil - 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

The Oils fourth album feels like a big moment. They had been improving I think overall album to album, but this is a huge leap. Outside World immediately gives you the sense that musically this album isn’t going to be as straight forward as what came before, and that promise is delivered upon here, but it also brings a constant flow of great hooks to keep you engaged. Only the Strong, Short Memory, and Read About It is a phenomenal run of songs that seem both familiar and fresh at the same time. Scream in Blue is approaching some good art rock territory, while US Forces and Power and the Passion meld that with the hooks that make them who they are. There’s just an unending stream of excellent songs here, and so far on this newest run the best of the bunch to my ears for Midnight Oil (I do really like a whole bunch of their albums so this is subject to change of course).

The Essential Track: Power and the Passion

Up Next: Marshall Crenshaw

[Higgs]

That ^^ is a truly great album.

And Shabook Shoobah is just OK but Don't Change is INXS's best song by some way imo.

[liebzz]

Marshall Crenshaw

What a wonderful little jangly pop rock record this is. Part 50’s rock & roll, part Elvis Costello/Big Star/REM jangle, this thing is great fun from top to bottom and goes by so quickly. Someday Someway, Cynical Girl, Soldier of Love, and Brand New Lover jumped out at the outset, and you could easily listen to this twice in a row and probably not get bored. Sometimes the direct answer can be the right one.

The Essential Track: Solider of Love (gotta pick this cover for obvious reasons)

Up Next: Elvis Costello - Imperial Bedroom

[wease]

Don’t think I’ve ever heard anything other than Someday Someway but I’ve always liked that one.

[liebzz]

Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Imperial Bedroom

This album feels maybe a touch lighter in sound than his last few, and I remember really loving this album in the context of the Costello deep dive I did a few years back. Admittedly, it loses a little shine here, but it’s still Elvis Costello doing what Elvis Costello does circa the early 80s. Shabby Doll, Man Out of Time, and Town Cryer were my favorites here, with Man Out of Time sudden shifts and moves proving the most impressive to my ears. Still a great album, though I think there are other Costello albums from this period this time I seem to be preferring.

The Essential Track: Man Out of Time

Up Next: Joe Jackson - Night and Day