Essential Studio Albums

[wease]

Katy Lied is one of my favorite things in the world. The best work Dan ever did.

And I love you for it.

Best track on there?

Bad Sneakers

Those Mike McDonald harmonies. So fucking perfect.

[wease]

Doctor Wu is a wonderful morning song while everyone is still kinda sleep and you already got your coffee ready.

Love it so much

[liebzz]

The Doobie Brothers - Stampede

What separates Stampede from the other Doobie Brothers albums is that is lacks a classic hit, and that where the song craft of the prior albums always seemed primary, here the instruments take the front seat. While there are guests here, the chemistry on every track’s instrumental breakdowns and bridges is just phenomenal. Sweet Maxine opens this and is the one sort of outlier in that it checks all the boxes of an early Doobie’s album. Neal’s Fandango, Music Man, I Cheat the Hangman, and Double Dealin’ Four Flusher all take the music to the next level, and the instrumental songs though short show the band dexterity.

The Essential Track: I Cheat the Hangman

Up Next: Parliament - Mothership Connection

[liebzz]

Parliament - Mothership Connection

If the Doobie Brothers album does a great job of setting up a nice groove, this album simply takes it to a whole new level - I can’t say I deliberately planned it that way since I have never heard either album in full, but it worked out nicely that way. In fact, this may be one of the true high water marks in funk music, more than foreshadowing disco and hip hop (just ask Dr. Dre). The three immediate classics on here are P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up), Mothership Connection (Star Child), and Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off) - all of them extended jams that land in killer grooves. The remaining 4 songs, however, live in a similar space, and there’s no drop in quality as each of those tracks feels as essential as the classics. They played with a goofy outer space motif on this record, but that’s beside the point of what is a downright unstoppable moment for this kind of music.

The Essential Track: Mothership Connection (Star Child)

Up Next: Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run

[liebzz]

Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run

There’s an unmistakable charm to Springsteen’s first two albums of an artist sort of f@ckin’ around and finding his sound. Those albums are loose and fun beyond Bruce’s own storytelling, which he primarily told on those records through his lyrics and endearing musical whims. All that failed to deliver the commercial success expected of him and he was suddenly in a place where the next album had to deliver.

And so, with his rock and roll dreams on the line, Springsteen delivered Born to Run, an album whose songs, performances, and scale are built on everyone pushing themselves as if their lives depended on it. The album itself is impossibly gargantuan, with the instruments all taking their turns emerging larger than life in just the right moments. All this fits stunningly with an album loosely themed around that one last chance to escape life’s mundanity by taking the last chance to get outta dodge, and become something bigger entirely.

Thunder Road starts this thing with a piano intro that builds into big dreams, Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out recalls the timeless duo of Springsteen and Clarence Clemons connecting and from there the album takes off into the stratosphere of epic rock ‘n’ roll, tall tales of friendship, love, escape, and longing. You’d be hard pressed to find even individual songs on other albums as sweeping and epic as Backstreets and Born to Run, a back to back dramatic blast that’s nearly exhausting by the title tracks closing coda. And all of that, in this sweeping masterpiece, feels like it’s building to the album’s coda - Jungleland. Jungleland is so big and emotionally powerful, it nearly dwarfed the rest of the album, particularly in its second half. If ever you had a doubt about Clarence Clemons, the solo that ties together the start and end of this song is one of the great moments in rock music. Not only would I argue it is one of the greatest sax moments in a rock song, but it may be one of the great solos for any instrumentalist in any rock album, a sax solo to rival Hendrix and Page, where Clemons fully bares his soul over those huge notes in gigantic breaths, and then ultimately brought home by Springsteen himself, a final stamp on an epic journey. As much as I am drawn to albums that have those imperfections that make art appreciation a journey in itself, every once in a while a perfect record appears, merging the brainy attention to notes with the emotional gut punch that makes rock music so damn essential. This is one of those albums.

The Essential Track: Jungleland

Up Next: Patti Smith - Horses

[liebzz]

Patti Smith - Horses

Punk and poetry. This album has a fascinating vocal delivery that recalls a sort of spitfire spoken word with largely sung choruses. In each of these songs, Smith’s delivery intensifies with her band that is delivering a simple, yet expertly reactive sound. Patti Smith is the clear leader here with the band keeping up, and it feels like they are responding on the fly to her lyrical improvisation, even if that isn’t necessarily the case. It’s the longer tracks that hold this the best, with the multi part Land, Birdland, and Gloria in Excelsis Deo all featuring this approach. Redondo Beach, another big highlight, nearly recalls reggae musically behind Smith’s approach. A strong debut here.

The Essential Track: Land

Up Next: Fleetwood Mac

[liebzz]

Fleetwood Mac

It sort of makes sense for them to release this as a self-titled album - they get a fresh new start with Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham in the fold. Gone are the days of Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, and in is the pop rock they would forever be associated with as a band. Monday Morning is that clear announcement, Blue Letter and Say You Love Me feel like they are opposite sides of the same coin, as if Buckingham and McVie had the same great idea and delivered it just slightly different. Rhiannon is one of two masterpiece works here by Nicks along with Landslide. Yet the pure piece of rock heaven here is I’m so Afraid, filled with the sort of impending doom that serves as a hook, and the closing solo delivers on that promise. Excellent second debut.

The Essential Track: I’m so Afraid

Up Next: Bob Seger - Beautiful Loser

[epilogue]

Patti Smith - Horses

Punk and poetry. This album has a fascinating vocal delivery that recalls a sort of spitfire spoken word with largely sung choruses. In each of these songs, Smith’s delivery intensifies with her band that is delivering a simple, yet expertly reactive sound. Patti Smith is the clear leader here with the band keeping up, and it feels like they are responding on the fly to her lyrical improvisation, even if that isn’t necessarily the case. It’s the longer tracks that hold this the best, with the multi part Land, Birdland, and Gloria in Excelsis Deo all featuring this approach. Redondo Beach, another big highlight, nearly recalls reggae musically behind Smith’s approach. A strong debut here.

The Essential Track: Land

Up Next: Fleetwood Mac

Literally not a bad moment on this album.

[coptheriotact]

Doctor Wu is a wonderful morning song while everyone is still kinda sleep and you already got your coffee ready.

just finishing this album for the first time this morning with my coffee, its wonderful

[wease]

Doctor Wu is a wonderful morning song while everyone is still kinda sleep and you already got your coffee ready.

just finishing this album for the first time this morning with my coffee, its wonderful

While not my favorite, it really is their best. (And if one could be said to have two favorites, then it’s for sure one of them.)

[liebzz]

Bob Seger - Beautiful Loser

Bob Seger has just the right combination of rock, and 60s pop about him. In a song like Katmandu, you can almost hear a Little Richard nudging him along, and it makes for a fun listen. Nutbush City Limits was another fun one here. He’s got a pretty solid band around him here, and while I can’t say there were too many songs on this one that were extremely memorable, I walked away feeling positive about this overall.

The Essential Track: Katmandu

Up Next: The Doobie Brothers - Takin’ It to the Streets

[liebzz]

The Doobie Brothers - Takin’ It to the Streets

This is really the Doobie Brothers I had in my mind, the debut here with Micheal McDonald. Unlike the last album that felt totally loose, this one is a little tighter with the exception of 8th Avenue Shuffle, which is really loose and easy. Also, unlike the last one, this one has two pretty big hits in Takin’ It to the Streets, and It Keeps You Runnin’. Wheels of Fortune and Turn It Loose are also highlights. With this and likely Katy Lied, rock was making its big soft rock turn - really the yacht rock loose jazz inflected songwriting. With these two albums the start of this movement off to a good start.

The Essential Track: Takin’ It to the Streets

Up Next: Bob Dylan - Desire

[wease]

The Doobie Brothers - Takin’ It to the Streets

This is really the Doobie Brothers I had in my mind, the debut here with Micheal McDonald. Unlike the last album that felt totally loose, this one is a little tighter with the exception of 8th Avenue Shuffle, which is really loose and easy. Also, unlike the last one, this one has two pretty big hits in Takin’ It to the Streets, and It Keeps You Runnin’. Wheels of Fortune and Turn It Loose are also highlights. With this and likely Katy Lied, rock was making its big soft rock turn - really the yacht rock loose jazz inflected songwriting. With these two albums the start of this movement off to a good start.

The Essential Track: Takin’ It to the Streets

Up Next: Bob Dylan - Desire

And what’s the most common link between Katy Lied and this Doobies album? Mike McDonald baby! Over to the Doobies fresh from his Steely Dan stint.

[liebzz]

Bob Dylan - Desire

It’s the album like these where you can be reminded that Dylan’s talent is nearly limitless. Even falling in love with the mandolin on this one, Dylan brings huge amount of musical range and his personality to this album that’s uniquely his. Hurricane and Isis start this album on an epic one-two punch. One More Cup of Coffee, Joey, and Sara are also big highlights here. Even the changes in genre here are fantastic - Like Romance in Durango and the slightly off kilter folk of Mozambique. I may not rate it with Blood on the Tracks but it’s really a damn fine album.

The Essential Track: Hurricane

Up Next: Tom Waits - Small Change

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Tom Waits - Small Change

Something seems to have happened between Nighthawks at the Diner and this album, where Tom Waits drowned out on whiskey and cigars - or at least that’s how it sounds. This is the deep gravelly howl that I was expecting from him albums ago, but it seems to have arrived suddenly. What’s not different is the motif between albums, in which this one sheds the small audience and the character defining intros and gets right to the point of it. Step Right Up is some killer jazz bass behind Waits’ good dark humor. I Wish I Was in New Orleans, The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me), Invitation to the Blues, and Bad Liver and a Broken Heart (In Lowell) are both a natural progression from his last album and reminiscent of a belligerent Dr. John or Louis Armstrong (who also sounds quite belligerent in his delivery). It’s all still a stroke of genius even if I’d take Nighthawks over this.

I am still quite enjoying the smoke filled jazz lounge vibe he’s got going.

The Essential Track: Step Right Up (it’s very close with The Piano Has Been Drinking)

Up Next: Warren Zevon

[Jorge]

To me Nighthawks is the very worst TW album, the absolute nadir of the extremely contrived jazz-cat persona he had going on early on. There's still some of that in Small Change, but the songs are better, and it's a step in the right direction. The next few albums are interesting

[liebzz]

To me Nighthawks is the very worst TW album, the absolute nadir of the extremely contrived jazz-cat persona he had going on early on. There's still some of that in Small Change, but the songs are better, and it's a step in the right direction. The next few albums are interesting

Funny how we can all read things differently. I like the jazz lounge character he embodied, and see Nighthawks not only as his best so far (there’s a long way to go) but among my favorites of all the albums I have heard in here.

[wease]

To me Nighthawks is the very worst TW album, the absolute nadir of the extremely contrived jazz-cat persona he had going on early on. There's still some of that in Small Change, but the songs are better, and it's a step in the right direction. The next few albums are interesting

Funny how we can all read things differently. I like the jazz lounge character he embodied, and see Nighthawks not only as his best so far (there’s a long way to go) but among my favorites of all the albums I have heard in here.

Yeah, but Mike McDonald isn’t on it, so…

[VinylGuy]

To me Nighthawks is the very worst TW album, the absolute nadir of the extremely contrived jazz-cat persona he had going on early on. There's still some of that in Small Change, but the songs are better, and it's a step in the right direction. The next few albums are interesting

Funny how we can all read things differently. I like the jazz lounge character he embodied, and see Nighthawks not only as his best so far (there’s a long way to go) but among my favorites of all the albums I have heard in here.

I also miss his jazz and blues music side a lot

[VinylGuy]

Doctor Wu is a wonderful morning song while everyone is still kinda sleep and you already got your coffee ready.

just finishing this album for the first time this morning with my coffee, its wonderful

It is!! Great vibe. Very chill