Essential Studio Albums

[liebzz]

Hank Mobley - The Turnaround!

During the course of listening to this album, I just kept thinking that this was just a beautiful sound. Well-balanced, even keel smooth jazz but never boring. The title track and East of the Village were both particularly nice to start. Pat N’ Chat is a great finisher, and while I can’t say I can point to a moment where things get mind blowing, I can say that there wasn’t a moment I didn’t thoroughly enjoy for enjoyment’s sake.

The Essential Track - The Turnaround

Up Next: Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage

[liebzz]

Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage

This is the second straight album here that I was immediately taken by the beauty of the album. This one felt like a fusion of hard bop and that cooler jazz in the realm of Miles Davis. Maiden Voyage as a track was up there with the Turnaround and The Sidewinder as epic title tracks that are just stunning. Same with Eye of the Hurricane, though I also really loved the piano and trumpet workouts in Survival of the Fittest, which plays more into hard bop, but the dueling solos are really awesome.

The Essential Track: Maiden Voyage

Up Next: Smokey Robinson and the Miracles - Going to a Go-Go

[liebzz]

Smokey Robinson & the Miracles - Going to a Go-Go

This is a solid Motown album that is really dominated by the larger than life singles. Tracks of any Tears, Going to a Go-Go, and Ooo Baby Baby are here, immediately recognizable and their greatness in the history of soul music is undisputed. After that, it’s basically good album tracks that don’t sniff that level of greatness but still easily enjoyable.

The Essential Track: Going to a Go-Go

Up Next: Otis Redding - Otis Blue

[Kalevi]

I love maiden voyage

[liebzz]

I love maiden voyage

I came into it with no expectations since I had never heard it before. I thought it was really enjoyable. The first part feels soulful through that ballad in the middle, and then the dueling solos just kicks up the fun aspect.

[VinylGuy]

yeah Maiden Voyage is a very smooth listen.

[liebzz]

Otis Redding - Otis Blue

This classic album is comprised of nearly all covers, but Otis brings so much to the table on these songs, from Sam Cooke to The Rolling Stones and B.B. King, that these songs may as well have been his own. His own Respect would soon explode in the hands of Aretha Franklin, and his cover of My Girl and Satisfaction are particularly great, but his version of Sam Cooke’s Shake is crazy great. Picking one song in this is tough. Almost forgot to mention A Change is Gonna Come, which is phenomenal also!

The Essential Track: Shake

Up Next: Nina Simone - I Put a Spell on You

[liebzz]

Nina Simone - I Put A Spell On You

This was even better and more varied than I expected. Crossing between Jazz, soul, and blues, Nina Simone shows she can hold it together with a huge band or in more intimate settings with barely any instrumentation. Her voice is soulful and direct, a sense of confidence and power that’s individual yet relatable. The title track is good, but there’s better on this. Tomorrow Is My Turn, Marriage is for Old Folks, Gimme Some, and Take Care of Business are all highlights where she really shines, but the crown jewel on this one is Feeling Good. Damn. Also for a vocal artist to tack a solid jazz instrumental (Blues on Purpose) is pretty cool. Really enjoyed this.

The Essential Track: Feeling Good

Up Next: Skatalites - Ska-Boo-Da-Ba

[liebzz]

Skatalites - Ska-Boo-Da-Ba

Early ska music, as a precursor to reggae, is an interesting thing. This one is all instrumental, with the audial roots to reggae quite apparent, but also hearing a ton of jazz in here as well. The horns take the place of vocals, but they veer from being vocal replacements to being improvised in the same manner as the jazz of the time. There are moments where it is admittedly difficult to parse one song from the next, but overall they put together a strong set of songs that does more than just jam in repeated phrases, a big win in this genre sometimes.

The Essential Track: China Town

Up Next: Them - The Angry Young Them

[liebzz]

Them - The “Angry” Young Them

This band wouldn’t last long with Van Morrison, but this is one of the grittier, hard rocking albums we’ve covered so far. With the chops and swagger of a Rolling Stones, the rhythm and blues undertones, the potential for the psychedelic sounds that would come a couple years later from the Doors, this is an ultimate cocktail of early classic rock. The thing is really anchored by Mystic Eyes and the iconic Gloria, but everything in here is pretty damn special and certainly gives the Stones a run for their money (which is a compliment of the highest order coming from my tastes).

The Essential Track: Gloria

Up Next: The Rolling Stones - No. 2

[liebzz]

The Rolling Stones - No. 2

Unintentional, but the comparison between The Stones and Them is pretty fantastic. Makes for a great run. On the Stones, this is their second UK album, and already it’s hard as hell to keep it straight because the songs cross pollinate between the US and UK albums. This one basically contains a chunk of 12x5 and more than half of Now! (Up next). This too has some great grit and little hints of sleaze. Time Is On My Time has a sinister vibe to it that makes it almost a tongue in cheek cover. Down Home Girl has that little riff in it that keeps it off kilter. Down the Road Apiece can tear just about any house down. The Stones are refining their craft, even through the lense of largely covers. The balance will shift on that very shortly, but I always find it really cool to track their development from this period through the 60s and early 70s. What a band.

The Essential Track: Time Is On My Side

Up Next: The Rolling Stones - Now!

[liebzz]

The Rolling Stones - Now!

The Stones would come to, I think, understand and ultimately treasure the power of the LP, but at this point they were alternating between US and UK versions of albums with partially overlapping tracklists. The intention on the US side was to include the hit singles to get folks to buy the full record while the UK versions often left those off. The Rolling Stones, Now! shares DNA with the previous album, which served as sort of a cross between this and 12x5. Yup, keeping this straight is no easy feat. So what’s on here that was not on No. 2? The single Heart of Stone that has that great bass line, Do Diddley’s Mona (I Need You Baby), Surprise Surprise, and a couple others. The best of the bunch here, which also was on No. 2, is Down the Road Apiece, which is a romp of blues and rock that showcases the Stones on what they do best.

The Essential Track: Down the Road Apiece

Up Next: The Beatles - Help!

[liebzz]

The Beatles - Help!

If there is such a thing as a Beatles album that is underrated, this is the one I have always felt doesn’t get its fair due. It serves to me as a transitional album for them from the poppier and covers laden first four albums with sophistication approaching or at least hinting at the direction they would move toward starting with Rubber Soul. The pop is here in Help! and Ticket to Ride, the covers are here in Dizzy Miss Lizzy that approaches the vocal intensity of Twist and Shout. But the more adult themes also emerge in You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away, the folkier I’ve Just Seen a Face portends future tracks like Blackbird, Yesterday channels an understated orchestration they’d pull off on an Eleanor Rigby. The change is coming here, but they didn’t jump into the deep end just yet.

The Essential Track: Yesterday (begrudgingly since I do love I’ve Just Seen a Face)

Up Next: The Who - Sings My Generation

[liebzz]

The Who - Sings My Generation

A whole essay could be written about My Generation. The song is an instant blast of the kind of energy that just never has seemed to exist before, a exhilarating blast of youth, and the kind of piss and vinegar that would define rock music for decades. And that’s not to mention the assault of the most astonishing drums and bass ever in rock music. The song sort of stands on an iconic pedestal that it forces you to think of that, and then the rest of the album, which is pretty fantastic. The Kids Are Alright, Out in the Street, A Legal Matter, and La La La La Lies all bring that youthful blast. The Ox is an instrumental beast that can’t be tamed. This is most rock album yet, even with a few R&B covers thrown in there.

The Essential Track: My Generation

Up Next: The Rolling Stones - Out of Our Heads (US Version)

[liebzz]

The Rolling Stones - Out of Our Heads (U.S. Version)

In the realm of iconic songs from big rock bands, if My Generation sits on a pedestal, right next to it is (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. This is the best of the Stones all balled up in one song, a corkscrew of energy blended with a sinister motive, and an unmatchable groove. And if similar to the extent that nothing else on this album can really stand up to that level of perfection, this one has some really great songs on it as well, including the slow burn Play With Fire, the blues workout of The Spider and the Fly, the straight ahead The Last Time, a sick cover to Cry to Me, and the strong cover of Good Times. Nothing on this falls flat, and it comes with a sense that the Stones are getting really good now as they explore at least more of their own voice in songwriting.

The Essential Track: (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction

Up Next: Bob Dylan - Bring It All Home

[McParadigm]

I fucking adore that version of That’s How Strong My Love is.

[liebzz]

I fucking adore that version of That’s How Strong My Love is.

Yeah, this album is that first step in the direction they’d go, and it’s really quite good.

I would note that at this point in time, there wasn’t much touching my favorites thus far, but things are really starting to cook and these rock albums are going to start breaking into the wall of jazz at the top of my current list, in countdown style:

25. Otis Redding - Otis Blue
24. Chuck Berry - Berry Is On Top
23. Howlin’ Wolf - Moanin’ in the Moonlight
22. Them - The “Angry” Young Them
21. The Rolling Stones - No. 2
20. The Rolling Stones - Now!
19. John Coltrane - Giant Steps
18. John Coltrane Quartet - Crescent
17. The Beatles - Help!
16. Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
15. The Rolling Stones - Out of Our Heads
14. Miles Davis - The Birth of the Cool
13. Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners
12. Cannonball Adderley - Somethin’ Else
11. Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
10. Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder
9. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
8. Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come
7. Charles Mingus - Pithecanthropus Erectus
6. Thelonious Monk - The Genius of Modern Music Vol. 1
5. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
4. Thelonious Monk - The Genius of Modern Music Vol. 2
3. Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain
2. John Coltrane - Blue Train
1. Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady

[coptheriotact]

Really enjoying these little reviews, liebzz

I have a lot of listening to do

[LooseGroove927]

Manfred Mann - Mann Made

So these guys have some disparate interests. From soul, rock, and jazz, this album jumps around a lot, and the arrangements seem to completely change from song to song. Hearing a bit of Miles Davis in Bare Hugg, and a bit of the blues (One Way Out?) in LSD. Stormy Monday Blues is great. I also really liked Since I Don’t Have You, Look Away, and You’re For Me. Abominable Snowman was the left turn at the right moment. So this thing was quite good.

The Essential Track: Stormy Monday Blues

Up Next: Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil

This is very good, but the Manfred Mann Album, with Do Wah Diddy as the opening track, is even better. I enjoy it more than some of the early Stones records.

[liebzz]

Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home

One thing we know, with now 60 years of hindsight to look back with, is that Bob Dylan’s musical spirit is a restless soul. He was never going to be content working on one sound, playing with one band, or writing particular types of songs for too long. He’s gotta switch it up and take control of other forms at his pace and on his terms. But even preceding his Judas moment performing Like a Rolling Stone, there was this album, a masterful change-up that veered from folk into rock music, and even then, he redefined the genre in his terms. This album is littered with all time classics and wonderful asides, but the impact is most greatly felt at the start of this with Subterranean Homesick Blues. The rest goes down in history with it, no doubt, but the song and the statement come together and change the world…again.

The Essential Track: Subterranean Homesick Blues

Up Next: The Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man