Essential Studio Albums

[wease]

Marshall Tucker Band - Southern Spirit

Southern rock makes its return to the essential studio albums thread with a few selections here. This album is the proper build up, mostly because I already am aware I will like it the least of this particular trilogy, but also because it’s a good return to the southern blues rock standards of the 70s. Stay in the Country, Destruction, and Country Road were the big highlights for me here, and the rest was sort of middle of the road but it helps that it’s a fresh sound after a lengthy layoff.

The Essential Track: Country Road

Up Next: Allman Brothers Band - Seven Turns

Ive never even heard this album. Toy was already gone by this point.

[liebzz]

The Black Crowes - Shake Your Money Maker

It’s hard not to make the comparisons between classic rock’s next generation and the one before it, and maybe the Black Crowes are the epitome of this. They seem on the surface to be part Allmans southern rock, part Stones, part Faces - and there’s certainly a point to all that. They are also their own beast, something expounded much more on subsequent albums. But even here, they’ve still got their own swagger and power, and this is surely an essential album of theirs and from this new decade. The hits are well known in their cover of Hard to Handle, Jealous Again, She Talks to Angels, and Twice As Hard, but just as essential is Stare It Cold, Sister Luck, Thick N’ Thin, and Struttin’ Blues. There’s no weak spot on here - a band hitting the ground running, even if that ground seems like it’s been run on before. They frankly do this thing just as well as those other folks.

The Essential Track: Sister Luck (just have been feeling this one lately)

Up Next: Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Ragged Glory

[liebzz]

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Ragged Glory

We’ve had a few notes here and there on the expansive nature of album lengths into the CD era, and this one clocks in as a single album at 62 minutes. This, however, is one of those albums you wish would never end. Fully electric and at full throttle, Neil Young, in my mind, blows away every album he did in the 80s with this, an absolutely masterful example of the brute force he is capable of. I really enjoy every track here, from Country Home to even Mother Earth (Natural Anthem), though the tracks that rise even further above for me are Over and Over, F*!#in Up, Love to Burn, and for me the clear winner here, Love and Only Love - though this is not to diminish any single track here, all of which are fabulous. This is prime Neil Young, and the music from him the type of which I love most, even if by a hair at most I might choose some of his 70s albums.

The Essential Track: Love and Only Love

Up Next: Robin Holcomb

[liebzz]

Robin Holcomb

This album was an exceptional surprise and treat. Hearing some rock and some jazz and some folk on this, it’s an absolutely killer album from front to back. I am not sure what I was expecting, but this blew whatever that was away. A wonderfully multidimensional album where This Poem is in Memory Of! was my favorite because I just loved the sound of it despite it being maybe the least rock song on here. It’s just great music, full stop.

The Essential Track: This Poem is in Memory Of!

Up Next: Bela Fleck and the Flecktones

[VinylGuy]

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Ragged Glory

We’ve had a few notes here and there on the expansive nature of album lengths into the CD era, and this one clocks in as a single album at 62 minutes. This, however, is one of those albums you wish would never end. Fully electric and at full throttle, Neil Young, in my mind, blows away every album he did in the 80s with this, an absolutely masterful example of the brute force he is capable of. I really enjoy every track here, from Country Home to even Mother Earth (Natural Anthem), though the tracks that rise even further above for me are Over and Over, F*!#in Up, Love to Burn, and for me the clear winner here, Love and Only Love - though this is not to diminish any single track here, all of which are fabulous. This is prime Neil Young, and the music from him the type of which I love most, even if by a hair at most I might choose some of his 70s albums.

The Essential Track: Love and Only Love

Up Next: Robin Holcomb

My first Neil album and a favorite from the 90s. The band is fucking awesome here.

[liebzz]

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones

I bought this band’s greatest hits album somewhere close to 25 or so years ago, and it was my first real introduction to jazz music. Seeing them live close then as well, this is one of those bands I have always had a soft spot for and it is evident from this listen that this hasn’t changed. They are a wild fusion of jazz, bluegrass and rock, and this debut is an excellent example of the things they can do. The Sinister Minister is probably the jazz track I have heard the most, Sunset Road and both Mars Needs Women are so good, as is Tell It to the Gov’Nor. This was a highly enjoyable album for me - virtuosic banjo never sounded so damn good, and of course Victor Wooten is amazing to listen to as well.

The Essential Track: The Sinister Minister

Up Next: Living Colour - Time’s Up

[liebzz]

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Ragged Glory

We’ve had a few notes here and there on the expansive nature of album lengths into the CD era, and this one clocks in as a single album at 62 minutes. This, however, is one of those albums you wish would never end. Fully electric and at full throttle, Neil Young, in my mind, blows away every album he did in the 80s with this, an absolutely masterful example of the brute force he is capable of. I really enjoy every track here, from Country Home to even Mother Earth (Natural Anthem), though the tracks that rise even further above for me are Over and Over, F*!#in Up, Love to Burn, and for me the clear winner here, Love and Only Love - though this is not to diminish any single track here, all of which are fabulous. This is prime Neil Young, and the music from him the type of which I love most, even if by a hair at most I might choose some of his 70s albums.

The Essential Track: Love and Only Love

Up Next: Robin Holcomb

My first Neil album and a favorite from the 90s. The band is fucking awesome here.

Amen.

[wease]

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones

I bought this band’s greatest hits album somewhere close to 25 or so years ago, and it was my first real introduction to jazz music. Seeing them live close then as well, this is one of those bands I have always had a soft spot for and it is evident from this listen that this hasn’t changed. They are a wild fusion of jazz, bluegrass and rock, and this debut is an excellent example of the things they can do. The Sinister Minister is probably the jazz track I have heard the most, Sunset Road and both Mars Needs Women are so good, as is Tell It to the Gov’Nor. This was a highly enjoyable album for me - virtuosic banjo never sounded so damn good, and of course Victor Wooten is amazing to listen to as well.

The Essential Track: The Sinister Minister

Up Next: Living Colour - Time’s Up

Been a fan of Bela Fleck and Victor Wooten since this album.

[liebzz]

Living Colour - Time’s Up

I am not at all familiar with Living Colour’s post- Cult of Personality career, which is goofy because I have always loved that song, and as covered here, pretty much all of Vivid. Album number two doesn’t match the awe-inspiring blend of rock, funk, and jazz - but it’s got it own flavor, more memorably hard rock here. Information Overload, Elvis is Dead, Type, Pride, Love Rears Its Ugly Head, and Solace of You are the most memorable here, and there are some quick interludes here and there, but this holds together quite well - certainly more than their post- Vivid anonymity would suggest.

The Essential Track: Type

Up Next: A Tribe Called Quest - People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm

[liebzz]

A Tribe Called Quest - People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm

This album seems like a moment where sampling and instrumentation came together to create essentially a new form of jazz. Where Paul’s Boutique is a genius level but frenetic album of whiplash sampling, People’s Instinctive Travels has a more laid back atmosphere, one that feels open space where there’s tons of room for Q-Tip to operate. I am not sure how I just didn’t make the connection between Lou Reed and Can I Kick It?, perhaps because I have never heard both songs within probably decades of each other, but there it is. Elsewhere, though the album is not a concept, it is thoroughly tied together such that a full listen is more than warranted - it’s nearly mandatory to envelop yourself in the atmosphere and flow. This could be among the best I have heard in hip hop this far, or ever really.

The Essential Track: Youthful Expression

Up Next: Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet

[liebzz]

Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet

If Tribe feels almost like jazz, Fear of a Black Planet is something else entirely, an abrasive and aggressive album filled densely with samples, scratches, beats, and raps. This full on assault of the senses is really no less brilliant, and brings power and meaning to this musical movement, as tough as it can come across. While the imagery can be rather controversial, the message here is an expose of life in 1990 - a realness the evaded many artists at this point. Chuck D knows how to spit truth, with Flav as an essential counterweight - if either were missing this comes off the rails, but together provides a highly combustible cocktail that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I do think there’s a section in the final third of the album that could have been cut to maximize the impact of this approach, but also feel that the final duo of War at 33 1/3 and Fight the Power are also the most essential moments on this album. On top of that, 911 is a Joke, Welcome to the Terrordome, Power to the People, and Fear of a Black Planet are pretty unforgettable statements.

The Essential Track: Fight the Power

Up Next: Prince - Music From Graffiti Bridge

[liebzz]

Prince - Music From Graffiti Bridge

This is more of a Prince & Friends deal, with The Time, George Clinton, Tevin Campbell and more contributing, though apparently Prince took the lead in writing and arrangement. New Power Generation, Release It (The Time), We Can Funk (Prince & George Clinton), Joy in Repetition, and Tick Tick Band are the songs in immediate memory that I really enjoyed, but I thought this was really largely very good. I will say I generally did prefer the Prince songs on this, but the other musicians certainly held their own.

The Essential Track: Joy in Repetition (New Power Generation and We Can Funk were both really close for me)

Up Next: Megadeth - Rust in Peace

[liebzz]

Megadeth - Rust in Peace

It may not be really fair that this band would be inextricably tied to Metallica’s career evolution, but given Dave Mustane’s history, is there really any other way. Here, the comparison is not an album for album discussion, but the idea that Metallica, after managing a massive fusion between thrash metal and the dramatic classical like movements of Master of Puppets, had started moving away from a pure thrash metal sound in earnest by …and Justice for All. They were still loud, but it seemed to signal movement nevertheless. In that vein, Megadeth by comparison remains here the true purists of thrash, with not an inch given to other ambitions other than playing as loud and as fast as possible. The ideals of Kill ‘Em All as channeled through this band. Face melting solos, and songs about the crumbling of society through all manners or political and social ills that frankly have impact in today’s world. Megadeth here is in their best stride, and maybe forging their own identity through that sense purity of form with something to say.

The Essential Track: Hangar 18

Up Next: Slaughter - Stick It To Ya

[liebzz]

Things can (and do) almost always change on this thread, but from my very brief look at the list, we may very well be entering our final pure hair metal digression of the thread. Are we going to miss it when it’s gone? Did we give up on these bands too soon? Well, probably not, but hey, it marks a moment of progress (and perhaps some relief).

[Kevin Davis]

Robin Holcomb

This album was an exceptional surprise and treat. Hearing some rock and some jazz and some folk on this, it’s an absolutely killer album from front to back. I am not sure what I was expecting, but this blew whatever that was away. A wonderfully multidimensional album where This Poem is in Memory Of! was my favorite because I just loved the sound of it despite it being maybe the least rock song on here. It’s just great music, full stop.

The Essential Track: This Poem is in Memory Of!

Up Next: Bela Fleck and the Flecktones

So glad you liked this!

[liebzz]

Robin Holcomb

This album was an exceptional surprise and treat. Hearing some rock and some jazz and some folk on this, it’s an absolutely killer album from front to back. I am not sure what I was expecting, but this blew whatever that was away. A wonderfully multidimensional album where This Poem is in Memory Of! was my favorite because I just loved the sound of it despite it being maybe the least rock song on here. It’s just great music, full stop.

The Essential Track: This Poem is in Memory Of!

Up Next: Bela Fleck and the Flecktones

So glad you liked this!

That one was really good.

[Matters]

The Black Crowes - Shake Your Money Maker

It’s hard not to make the comparisons between classic rock’s next generation and the one before it, and maybe the Black Crowes are the epitome of this. They seem on the surface to be part Allmans southern rock, part Stones, part Faces - and there’s certainly a point to all that. They are also their own beast, something expounded much more on subsequent albums. But even here, they’ve still got their own swagger and power, and this is surely an essential album of theirs and from this new decade. The hits are well known in their cover of Hard to Handle, Jealous Again, She Talks to Angels, and Twice As Hard, but just as essential is Stare It Cold, Sister Luck, Thick N’ Thin, and Struttin’ Blues. There’s no weak spot on here - a band hitting the ground running, even if that ground seems like it’s been run on before. They frankly do this thing just as well as those other folks.

The Essential Track: Sister Luck (just have been feeling this one lately)

Up Next: Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Ragged Glory

This was one of the first major albums BOB worked on, no?

[LoathedVermin72]

Things can (and do) almost always change on this thread, but from my very brief look at the list, we may very well be entering our final pure hair metal digression of the thread. Are we going to miss it when it’s gone? Did we give up on these bands too soon? Well, probably not, but hey, it marks a moment of progress (and perhaps some relief).

I can confidently say I will not miss it

[Ello Sailor]

Hair metal was shit from a butt.

[liebzz]

The Black Crowes - Shake Your Money Maker

It’s hard not to make the comparisons between classic rock’s next generation and the one before it, and maybe the Black Crowes are the epitome of this. They seem on the surface to be part Allmans southern rock, part Stones, part Faces - and there’s certainly a point to all that. They are also their own beast, something expounded much more on subsequent albums. But even here, they’ve still got their own swagger and power, and this is surely an essential album of theirs and from this new decade. The hits are well known in their cover of Hard to Handle, Jealous Again, She Talks to Angels, and Twice As Hard, but just as essential is Stare It Cold, Sister Luck, Thick N’ Thin, and Struttin’ Blues. There’s no weak spot on here - a band hitting the ground running, even if that ground seems like it’s been run on before. They frankly do this thing just as well as those other folks.

The Essential Track: Sister Luck (just have been feeling this one lately)

Up Next: Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Ragged Glory

This was one of the first major albums BOB worked on, no?

I think so. The guy certainly had his helping of working with great bands in the 90s and I don’t have any recollection of him doing the same with the 80s.