Recently a Face Book friend, whom I got to know through a group which discusses music, approached me to list what could possibly be my top twenty favourite albums. At the outset I must say, that while the 6-7 albums will not change in the foreseeable future, there may be changes in the listing as I go through life. So, all I can do is list them as I feel about them, now.
At the bottom are a few more albums, that I feel strongly about, but do not fit into the twenty at the moment. Am sure they were in the top twenty in times gone by, and may make a re-entry at some point.
1- Wish You were Here – Pink Floyd: It is my default album to listen to, when I
need a virtual journey on my own, in my own home. Preferably with lights switched
off, and resting in my reclining chair. By the time, the final parts of Shine
on you crazy diamond come on, it is as
if I’ve experienced a once in lifetime experience (again), which somehow cannot
be put into words.
2- OK Computer – Radiohead: It doesn’t
have the same cohesiveness of the experience that Wish you were here has, but
it comes close. There is more variety in the mood created on the listener in
the first half of the album. The second half, after the interlude ( which
strangely doesn’t hurt the listening experience as interludes go ), is more
like one song, and there have been at least one instance, where I’ve been moved
to tears by the time “The Tourist”, (
the best album closer ever IMHO ), finishes.
3- Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd: It probably would’ve been at number two, if
not for Us and Them, and Money. Both excellent tracks, no doubt, but creates a
deviation in the mood of the listener, especially money. Again, Brain Damage and Eclipse bring in the
completeness of the overall mood, and one can get up from the reclining chair
with a satisfaction and a feeling of
melancholy, that only great music can bring.
4- Seconds Out – Genesis: The album that
made me fall in love with pre-Invisible Touch Genesis, and search for their
full discography of that era. Strangely enough, the fact that the tracks have
been picked from many albums doesn’t create a variety in the moods created in
the listener, to a considerable degree. Maybe the Genesis albums of the time
had a common characteristic which stretched across albums. It is too long an
album, for a single sitting, unless am on a long drive. Hence I listen to the
two CDs separately, with the second part being my favourite.
5- Listen Without Prejudice – George Michael:
The album with which things started going wrong for poor George, but
unmistakably his best album. Rolling Stone stated that “If Listen Without Prejudice starts a
trend among Michael's pop generation to move beyond image to integrity, it
could make 'rock and roll TV' sound more consistently and
convincingly like music". But it didn’t. Michael then 27, showed enormous
courage to give up his poster boy status, for an attempt to build up his image
as a serious artiste. And the songs, IMHO were up for it – cowboys and angels,
heal the pain, waiting for that day, mother’s pride and soul free all qualify.
Yet the fans didn’t embrace the album as a whole. For me, this album sounded so
good back in the early nineties as a teen, and has retained it’s value.
6- Purple Rain – Prince and The Revolution:
If I am to name a single album, which initiated me to look at music other than which
reaches the top 40. True, about half the album cracked the top 40. Yet When
Doves Cry sounded much better in its entirety, with his characteristic yelps.
Computer Blue sounds great, with its minimum lyrics. I think I heard the album
in its entirety as late as 1991 – seven years late, but at sixteen. It has
stuck with me, and it has been the most influential album for me, to treat
music as whole albums.
7- Achtung Baby – U2 : The album with which U2 started
experimenting, and it really worked. It worked with their next album “Zooropa”. But then U2 had a fall with "Pop", and I am not quite convinced that they regained their strength to pre-pop days, irrespective of however much Grammies they may have bagged since. One, So cruel, Acrobat, Mysterious ways and
Zoo Station sound so refreshing even today, and this is one of the albums that
find its way to the player ever so often. For me, U2 upped themselves from even
the great Joshua Tree with this, and that’s no mean feat.
8- Automatic for the People – REM: For me
the lush, yet sad harmonica of “Find the River”, the album closer defines the album, while Man
on the Moon, Everybody hurts, Monty got a raw deal and Sweetness follows,
ensure just that - that sweetness follows - from Drive to Find the river. Would probably rate this with Wish you were
here, OK computer and Dark Side of the Moon, as those albums which maintain a
uniformity of mood right across an album, with success.
9- Ten – Pearl Jam: The debut album, which
Pearl Jam to date has found unable to surpass, although they came quite close
with Vitalogy ( if not for the filler ). An album which doesn’t have any weak
tracks, and for me the ultimate alternate album – meaning that it super
ceded Nirvana’s Nevermind.
10- Joshua Tree-U2: U2’s big moment, is
sure to be included in any worthy rock album collection. An album of arena
rock, that never dates, and including some of their biggest hits, plus some
stellar album tracks such as One Tree Hill. An album, that is difficult, not to include and no earthly reason not to include given its quality.
11- The Man who sold the World – David Bowie: A
pure Rock N’ Roll album from the early seventies, before he became a household
name. I suspect the this album was Bowie's per-chamelion era, stuff. All the mad men, Black Country rock and the title track can sound only
better with each listen. I for one am quite confident that this album can
contest Bowie’s subsequent bigger albums.
12- A few Small Repairs – Shawn Colvin: A
gem, and Shawn’s best album to date, despite pretty solid albums once in every
few years. One of those albums, that a listener will invariably return to, to
live in, breathe in, appreciate the ups and downs of life, and get up from the chair satisfied, to move on.
13- August and Everything After – The Counting
Crowes: The album that established The Counting Crowes as a rock band to
depend on and have made me listen to every single studio outing since. It all
started here, with this great album which literally has not a single track
of filler. "Rain King" is a song I never grow tired of.
14- Amorica – The Black Crows: A Southern
rock gem, that gives the impression of one extended experience and grows better
with each listen. While “Wiser Time” by itself is a timeless classic road song,
I suspect that there hasn’t been enough time spent by most listeners to
appreciate the album’s true beauty - for it is an album which grows on you, unlike their previous obvious big hits, "Southern Harmony and the Musical Companion" and "Shake your money maker".
15- Little Earthquakes – Tori Amos: The
early Tori Amos albums - "Little Earthquakes", "Boys for Pele" and "Under the Pink"
are all stellar albums. This one just leads by the number of songs that has
more appeal to me than the other two. But they too are great albums. China,
Precious Things, Crucify are some of my favourite songs of her's.
16- Before the Frost… Until the Freeze – The
Black Crows: Twenty new songs recorded live, all sounding warm irrespective
of the cold environment that it was recorded in. The album which after "Lions",
and "War Paint" ( which for all the good reviews, didn’t quite impress me),
reminded me how good the Black Crows can be. Since those days the album has
remained a firm favourite of mine.
17- Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King – Dave Matthews
Band: The band released this album in the aftermath of the death of the
band’s Saxophonist, LeRoi Moore. It is one of the bands’ most consistent and
enjoyable albums, and a welcome return to form after the lack lustre "Everyday". I found the
tunes more distanced from folk roots than "Under the Table and Dreaming" and "Before these crowded streets" – my other
two favourite DMB albums.
18- The Bends – Radiohead: When Radiohead
proved that they were more than a one hit one wonder with “Creep”. And boy, did
they prove it big time. Studded with gems across the 12 song span, this is
possibly Radiohead’s last proper Rock album, in the traditional sense. After so
many years, it is among their top albums along with OK computer, In
Rainbows and Kid A.
19- The Raven who Refused to Sing and other stories – Steven Wilson: One of
those albums that one will cherish for life, and the album that converted me to
a Steven Wilson fan, despite listening to a few Porcupine Tree albums,
previously. A beautiful work, including the artwork.
20- Lateralus – Tool: A powerhouse of an
album, which is a journey through many a heavy track, to a three song cycle
which conclude, leaving a sense of a
satisfaction, if not a sense of saturation. The last really heavy album that I play
frequently, with "Master of Puppets" and "..and justice for all" moving down, with
my own age.
Other
noteworthy albums in no particular order:
After the Gold Rush - Neil Young
Nevermind
– Nirvana
Sea
Change – Beck
Exciter
– Depeche Mode
Phantom
Moon – Duncan Sheik
13-
Blur
Rumours
– Fleetwood Mac
Master
of Puppets – Metallica
…
and justice for all – Metallica
Under
the Pink – Tori Amos
Scarlet’s
Walk – Tori Amos
Unplugged
in New York – Nirvana
Tracker
– Mark Knopfler
Try Whistling This - Neil Finn
Boys for Pele - Tori Amos
In Rainbows - Radiohead
Meddle - Pink Floyd
The Piper at the Gate of Dawn - Pink Floyd
Morning Phase - Beck
Then Play on - Fleetwood Mac
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