Essential Studio Albums

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Good god man

[liebzz]

Good god man

Were you in the mood for a melody?

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Everyone is!

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Stevie Ray Vaughan - Texas Flood

Despite the fact that Stevie Ray Vaughan is playing an electric blues that’s been around for what seems like ages, there still seems to be something revolutionary and ambitious about this album. The out of this universe guitar work by Vaughan is probably the most obvious piece of that, but also that it just seems like the OG blues folks rarely if ever sat down to put out a planned album, and even more rarely did the energy in the studio replicate the sense of delivering the blues in person in a live setting. I think this is as close as it gets. There are quite a few classics here: Love Struck Baby, Pride and Joy, and his version of Mary Had a Little Lamb. I’m Cryin’ might sound almost exactly like Pride and Joy, but there’s such a liveliness to his playing - even in the studio - that he gets away with it.

The Essential Track: Pride and Joy

Up Next: Marshall Tucker Band - Just Us

[liebzz]

Marshall Tucker Band - Just Us

This album starts with a serious amount of promise with 8:05. I was all in at that track. From there, there’s a couple of highlights: Testify, Long Island Lady, and the jazzy Paradise, but this sort of quickly loses its shine. They really threw the epic top track right up front and I don’t think the rest of the album lives up to that promise. Granted, it can’t be bad if I am name checking nearly half the album right away, but a whole album of 8:05s would have been pretty incredible.

The Essential Track: 8:05

Up Next: Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Punch the Clock

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Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Punch the Clock

For most of this album, Elvis Costello seems like he’s working on a pop record that’s more focused and straightforward, rather than the slightly off kilter and punchy stuff he’d bee putting out. This probably makes Punch the Clock a more divisive album than it needs to be. The songs are largely good, except for a few real winners here: Shipbuilding and Pills & Soap. Granted, Every Day I Write the Book is a very strong pop song. But Shipbuilding in particular is one of Costello’s most remarkable songs and makes this album worth it in the end.

The Essential Track: Shipbuilding

Up NeXT: R.E.M. - Murmur

[flavdave]

Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Punch the Clock

For most of this album, Elvis Costello seems like he’s working on a pop record that’s more focused and straightforward, rather than the slightly off kilter and punchy stuff he’d bee putting out. This probably makes Punch the Clock a more divisive album than it needs to be. The songs are largely good, except for a few real winners here: Shipbuilding and Pills & Soap. Granted, Every Day I Write the Book is a very strong pop song. But Shipbuilding in particular is one of Costello’s most remarkable songs and makes this album worth it in the end.

The Essential Track: Shipbuilding

Up NeXT: R.E.M. - Murmur

This is a "no skips" record for me. It's one of his strongest which is saying a lot considering all the records that precede it.

[liebzz]

Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Punch the Clock

For most of this album, Elvis Costello seems like he’s working on a pop record that’s more focused and straightforward, rather than the slightly off kilter and punchy stuff he’d bee putting out. This probably makes Punch the Clock a more divisive album than it needs to be. The songs are largely good, except for a few real winners here: Shipbuilding and Pills & Soap. Granted, Every Day I Write the Book is a very strong pop song. But Shipbuilding in particular is one of Costello’s most remarkable songs and makes this album worth it in the end.

The Essential Track: Shipbuilding

Up NeXT: R.E.M. - Murmur

This is a "no skips" record for me. It's one of his strongest which is saying a lot considering all the records that precede it.

I mean, there are some spots where the horns and backup singers are way too loud. I really think that is what keeps this from being as good as the ones immediately before it from Costello.

[VinylGuy]

Stevie Ray Vaughan´s Texas Flood was integral in my love for PJ back then. My dad had a SRV´s live aboum with The Double Trouble and i got hooked with Mike´s bluesy solos around 91-92 because of this.

I was like ¨ey this dude is playing like Stevie¨

[liebzz]

Stevie Ray Vaughan´s Texas Flood was integral in my love for PJ back then. My dad had a SRV´s live aboum with The Double Trouble and i got hooked with Mike´s bluesy solos around 91-92 because of this.

I was like ¨ey this dude is playing like Stevie¨

Yeah, you can certainly hear the influence in Mike’s playing on Ten and Vs. I think.

[liebzz]

R.E.M. - Murmur

This is another of those moments when a band I’ve spent a lifetime with arrives in this journey. It almost feels like more pressure to talk about this album juxtaposed to the ones I am just discovering. Weirdly, I have never over-listened to this one. The 90s ones definitely a million times over, but the IRS years I enjoyed but never overindulged. This works in my favor a bit, not for the feigned objectivity, but for a true appreciation of this moment, and they certainly rise to it. Most of the tracks here are absolutely brilliant, a mix of the sort of jangly pop rock a few bands we have already discussed would kill to have created with little flecks of creativity that further give these songs life and character. Talk About the Passion, Pilgrimage, Moral Kiosk, Catapult, Sitting Still, Shaking Through and We Walk are all brilliant songs. And as hard as it is to pick a favorite, a special place in this world goes to Radio Free Europe, an album opener that just feels like busting through a door that’s never been opened. Such great energy and a sense of arrival all wrapped up in that one.

The Essential Track: Radio Free Europe

Up Next: U2 - War

[VinylGuy]

I had a moment were pretty much all i listened was the IRS years. Even got the greatest hits and the b sides compilation too, dvds, everything. I love those years, they were a truly magnificent band.

[liebzz]

U2 - War

If Boy is an excellent debut, and October a bit of a let down but good enough, War is the moment when U2 find their voice. The album starts with one of the most iconic U2 tracks, Sunday Bloody Sunday, and they would not let up in intensity for the next 35 minutes. Seconds, Like a Song…, Drowning Man, and Refugee are immediate and powerful, as is the other major classic off this album, New Year’s Day, which seems like the moment of invention of that guitar riff that Edge would spend the next few albums revisiting as a signature. Two Hearts Beat As One and Surrender are also legitimate highlights here from a band hitting its stride and fueled by their political climate. A true gem and one of their finest.

The Essential Track: Sunday Bloody Sunday

Up Next: Violent Femmes

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Violent Femmes

I apparently hit a really good run of albums here. This one sort of reminds me of a Stooges album, but nearly acoustic. Even with the more sparse instrumental spacing (you can really hear each instrument as it’s played rather than sort of meshed together), they lose none of their fire. Blister in the Sun is an all timer, and Gone Daddy Gone is not only fantastic but may be the first or only punk rock xylophone solo. Kiss Off, Add It Up, Confessions, and Prove My Love are also killer tracks. And even with all the aggression of youth pushing out here, there’s still room for thoughtful layering of sounds - almost psychedelic in spots, like the album closer Good Feeling. This is great stuff.

The Essential Track: Blister in the Sun

Up Next: The Replacements - Hootenanny

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The Replacements - Hootenanny

A couple years ago I listened to their love album and couldn’t even make it through given it just sounded like pure chaos. I didn’t have high hopes for this but figured we all deserve second chances. While this certainly would never lack for energy, I was much more capable of deciphering what was going on here and it helps immeasurably. Mixed in with the punk rock propulsive spark here is some song structure nuance that makes this quite enjoyable. Willpower and Within You Reach I was particularly impressed with, and Mr. Whirley is also an impressive cover, turning pop into punk in a way that isn’t overly ham fisted or goofy, but still fun.

The Essential Track: Within Your Reach

Up Next: The Police - Synchronicity

[liebzz]

The Police - Synchronicity

This is the last album from The Police, but you’d hardly know it from the quality of what’s in here. There’s an epic run of great songs (and hits no less) in Synchronicity II, Every Breath You Take, King of Pain, and Wrapped Around Your Fingers - that run could be albums worth of excellent singles. Synchronicity I, Walking In Your Footsteps, and the album closing and jazzy Murder By Numbers close our chapter with The Police in what is ultimately their finest album for me.

The Essential Track: King of Pain

Up Next: Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues

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Agreed

[liebzz]

Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues

I’m not sure if it’s that I love Stop Making Sense or what, but this album just feels so familiar. Obviously, the big hits Burning Down the House and This Must Be the Place are baked in my brain, but Making Flippy Floppy, Girlfriend is Better, and Moon Rocks really stuck out here. Even then, Slippery People, I Get Wild/Wild Gravity and Swamp are excellent songs. I feel like this album doesn’t have the reputation of Remain in Light or Fear of Music, and maybe it’s not quite that, but it seems just about as enjoyable. They really had a phenomenal run in this period.

The Essential Track: Burning Down the House

Up Next: Yes - 90125

[Ello Sailor]

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

[liebzz]

"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.