Essential Studio Albums

[flavdave]

"Burning Down the House" wouldn't even make my top 5. That album is stacked to the rafters.

I grew up with that song so it has an unfair advantage. But it is indeed a stacked album.

I feel the same way about This Must Be The Place. Obviously a great song, but I've heard it so much it doesn't hit the same way for me anymore.

[flavdave]

"Burning Down the House" wouldn't even make my top 5. That album is stacked to the rafters.

I grew up with that song so it has an unfair advantage. But it is indeed a stacked album.

I feel the same way about This Must Be The Place. Obviously a great song, but I've heard it so much it doesn't hit the same way for me anymore.

[liebzz]

Yes - 90125

It’s really weird to me that Yes’s most successful album from a pop perspective is the hardest for me to get through. They indeed sought out a more commercial sound for this one while trying to maintain some level of the complexity they are known for, but to my ears it sounds dated, even by 1983 standards, a sort of late 70s/early 80s arena rock reach that shares as much in common with Boston and Journey as it does with Genesis. Ultimately, it just feels largely unappealing to me, even if Owner of a Lonely Heart is the one Yes song everyone surely knows.

The Essential Track: Owner of a Lonely Heart

Up Next: Genesis

[liebzz]

Genesis

Speaking of Genesis, they continue on this album their slow march towards more digestible pop rock. There’s still plenty of elements of their old prog rock brainy selves, particularly on Home By the Sea and Second Home By the Sea, but we’re also seeing a lot more of the pop styles Phil Collins has been working on in his solo career, most successfully on Mama that opens the album, but also on the hits That’s All and Taking It All Too Hard. There are other cool moments on here as well, but I don’t find that they ultimately stick to the memory in the way you’d hope. Solid album though much stronger in the first half.

The Essential Track: Mama

Up Next: Huey Lewis & the News - Sports

[wease]

Lots of nostalgia for That’s All. Mama is fucking fire, tho.

[liebzz]

Lots of nostalgia for That’s All. Mama is fucking fire, tho.

If Mama wasn’t there I would have probably picked That’s All.

[liebzz]

Huey Lewis & the News - Sports

Between watching Back to the Future on an endless loop in the 80s (I can name check a few more movies in that endless rotation but the don’t feature Huey Lewis), MTV, and sitting in the back seat of my mother’s car every day, I am pretty sure I believed Huey Lewis & the News were the biggest band of all time. The Power of Love (not on this), The Heart of Rock & Roll, Heart and Soul, I Want a New Drug, and If This Is It are all songs I grew up hearing voluntarily or not. It brings with it the nostalgia that really is positively attached to this, a pop rock record with expert hooks.

I remember working at Sears in the mid/late 90s and a middle aged colleague broke out dancing at the end of the night as Heart and Soul played on the Sears overhead radio. At the time I probably laughed a bit at her, but now I’m hearing my music in the supermarket and I get her in ways I never thought I would.

The Essential Track: The Heart of Rock & Roll

Up Next: Billy Joel - An Innocent Man

[wease]

I know a lot of people don’t like them, but I goddamn love Huey Lewis & The News. They’re not technical. They’re not virtuosos. But they’re a lot of fun.

[liebzz]

I know a lot of people don’t like them, but I goddamn love Huey Lewis & The News. They’re not technical. They’re not virtuosos. But they’re a lot of fun.

Sure as hell was a fun album:

[liebzz]

Billy Joel - An Innocent Man

Speaking of a collection of songs baked into my brain from being a child passenger with a parent whose radio dial was on Lite FM, An Innocent Man has a boat load of hit songs drawing back from 50s and 60s pop. Easy Money, the title track, Tell Her About It, Uptown Girl, Leave a Tender Moment Alone, and Keeping the Faith is like a greatest hits collection. Do I think this is his best work? No, but the nostalgia listens are flowing.

The Essential Track: Easy Money

Up Next: John Cougar - Uh-HUH!

[liebzz]

John Cougar - Uh Huh

Another solid heartland rock addition to the catalogue for John Cougar Mellencamp. Crumblin’ Down is a legit strong hit song, and Pink Houses is pure classic rock delivered exactly as John Cougar Mellencamp would. Authority Song keeps things rolling, but at least Mellencamp was willing to push a little here, with Jackie O being a new take for him. I’ll never be knocking down doors to go find this guy, but I have to admit he has an effortless enjoyability to his music - a Springsteen lite.

The Essential Track: Crumblin’ Down

Up Next: New Order - Power, Corruption & Lies

[wease]

I know I’m a real good dancer

[liebzz]

New Order - Power, Corruption & Lies

This album is maybe the first to really sound almost nothing like Joy Division. While the bookends of this album really give you that layered guitar rhythms that made the entirety of the sub-genre so listenable and addicting, everything in between announces a departure into a very synth heavy, krautrock centered bounce - electronic and dance music fusing with post punk in a way that feels fresh and new. Granted, those tracks that bookend the album are probably my favorite here, but that doesn’t take away from the creativity and innovation coming here.

The Essential Track: Age of Consent

Up Next: Stevie Nicks - The Wild Heart

[liebzz]

Stevie Nicks - The Wild Heart

I thought perhaps this would feel like a big shift from just listening to New Order, but this too is pretty heavy (less so than New Order) on the synths. I feel like I had a little bit of a struggle getting through the first half of this album, though I did like the title track and Enchanted. Starting with Stand Back, this album feels like it gets into its groove, with that hit song, I Will Run to You which features another duet with Tom Petty, Nothing Ever Changes, and Sable On Blond all fantastic. That all brought me back in, even if this ultimately is uneven for me.

The Essential Track: Stand Back

Up Next: Madonna

[wease]

There’s only one true choice on The Wild Heart.

[liebzz]

There’s only one true choice on The Wild Heart.

Given the history in this thread I am going go out on a limb and say the Tom Petty duet?

[wease]

Negative. Don’t really care for that one at all.

You chose correctly.

[liebzz]

Madonna

Michael Jackson’s Thriller is likely the start of dance music post-disco, and this album opened the door for dance pop’s dominance after that. Madonna would become an iconic pop star, and it’s interesting to hear her at her beginnings. Granted, 5 songs on this album of 8 became hits, so it’s not unknown territory. I was never much a Madonna fan myself, and still wouldn’t count myself as one now, but it’s also a fresh and different album than the ones that came before it.

The Essential Track: Borderline

Up Next: New Edition - Candy Girl

[Higgs]

Holiday is a bop.

[liebzz]

New Edition - Candy Girl

This Candy Pop group of kids sort of fashioned themselves after the Jackson 5. And I don’t generally see myself as the smug type that needs to feel vindicated by talking about music as pure art, but this was a pretty miserable listen. All of it is synthetic, leaving it feeling almost like a joke in its plasticity. It all feels like a prelude to the boy bands that exploded cyclically in the late 80s/early 90s and then again in the late 90s that were the first signs my own music taste was out of step with the masses. But hey, the title track is kinda fun!

The Essential Track: Candy Girl

Up Next: Kano - Another Life