If you have a tough time narrowing it down to just one, go ahead and list as many as you like—and look here for my picks.
Wednesday 8th February 2023
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If you have a tough time narrowing it down to just one, go ahead and list as many as you like—and look here for my picks.
Goody…I love this question!
Petula Clark’s 1964 album with the hit “Downtown” which my parents played and is my first memory of listening to an album. I also remembers mom playing Harry Belafonte’s “An Evening with…” and I loved that she loved him…
Cat Stevens “Catch Bull at Four” (and all the other Cat albums)
Elton John “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”
Jackson Browne “The Pretender”
Those are the ones that stand out and take me up to high school and the brilliant appearance of the cassette tape…
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Sticky Fingers-Rolling Stones
White album-Beatles
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Whole album, considered in its entirety? The Cure, Disintegration.
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I am excited to see what everyone says!
Picking just one is hard so here are my top 5:
The National – High Violet
Joan Baez – Vol. 2
The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
Bob Dylan – The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
Joni Mitchell – Blue
p.s. I am 30 and feel like I should have at least one more current one but alas these are my favorites
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Freewheelin’ is my favorite Dylan. It and Blood on the Tracks were on constant rotation in my house growing up.
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Blood on on the Tracks is also really wonderful, to be honest I love all of his stuff really!
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Elton John, Goobye Yellow Brick Road.*
Blondie, Parallel Lines
Fleetwood Mac, Rumours
Elvis Costello, This Year’s Model
Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon
Queen, Night at the Opera
long hiatus with work marriage kids…
not much time to enjoy whole albums
Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville
Matisyahu , Youth
*first album i ever bought. $5.95.
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gah i forgot Squeeze, Argy Bargy, Portishead, Joy Division..undoubtedly more…
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For some reason I’m always drawn to soundtracks, and love the soundtracks for Stealing Beauty (90s magnificence), and The Last Kiss, but I’ve always said if I had to pick one to take to a desert island, it would be the Garden State soundtrack. I think Zach Braff is pretty genius in curating the soundtracks for his films.
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Yes such an amazing soundtrack!!!! I am going to listen to it right this moment now you made me remember it.
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R.E.M. — Murmur
New Order — Substance 1987
Purple Rain soundtrack
Fleetwood Mac — Rumours
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Michael Jackson, Off the Wall
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Favorite of all time? Lucinda Williams Car Wheels on a Gravel Road – can’t believe it’s in your list too! Every single song is brilliant. No one ever knows her when I mention it usually…
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Lucinda Williams Car Wheels on a Gravel Road – can’t believe it’s on your list too. Every single song is brilliant.
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Oh this one is so great, indeed…
I didn’t list anything from my adult years because I kept thinking album rather than CD…
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Lucinda Williams is brilliant. I get to go to her concert here in Austin in April. Very excited.
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She’s SO good live too, you will have a blast.
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I saw her in NY 2 weeks ago – from start to finish a great show!
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I had my top five albums all set then I looked at Kim’s list and the lists here and my top five becomes more like my top 100 so I give up.
I’ll shamelessly give a shout out to my daughter’s EP, however, since it is being played on Spotify fairly regularly. Her name is McClain Sullivan and her EP is Rachel.
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Born To Run- Springsteen
I was 13 in 1975 when this album was released. It changed my world. It changed the way I listened to music. It changed what music meant to me.
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It changes weekly but my constants are:
Court and Spark – Joni Mitchell
Eden – Everything But The Girl
Moon Safari – Air
Brother Sister – Brand New Heavies
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Bob Dylan – Nashville Skyline
Mingus, Mingus, Mingus
Any Leadbelly
Al Green – Let’s Stay Together
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
And so much more!
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A big YES to all of these!!
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Al Green – I DIE for album. I should have put it on my list when I commented. Thanks for this one.
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Ditto almost all that is on your list plus:
Avalon – Roxy Music
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o how could i forget Avalon…
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Ugh, why does this have to be so hard?! Ok ok, here goes…
The Beatles – Rubber Soul, Revolver, Let it Be (can’t choose, sorry)
Jimi Hendrix – Jimi Blues
Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense
Devo – Are We Not Men?
The Kinks – Village Green Preservation Society
Laurie Anderson – Big Science
Cat Power – Moon Pix
The Clean – Anthology
Dolly Parton – Coat of Many Colors
Edith Piaf – The Legendary Edith Piaf (live!!)
Alice Coltrane – Journey in Satchitananda
Os Mutantes (self-titled)
Taj Mahal – Taj’s Blues
Arthur Russell – Love is Overtaking Me
Van Morrison – Astral Weeks
Fela Kuti – Expensive Shit/He Miss Road
PS, I feels weird that some of my fave artists aren’t represented here (Nina Simone! Toots and the Maytals! Otis Redding!), but that’s a whole different list, I guess.
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(BTW, this was the short version! Yikes…)
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I just got hit with a giant sense memory of Big Science -the sight and the feeling of the album in my hands. And the feeling of being fundamentally cooler than I was before I bought the album.
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Agree especially with Court and Spark and Car Wheels (still listen to them all the time), but my most favorite is Hejira, by Joni Mitchell.
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Blue – Joni Mitchell
closely followed by:
Born to Run – Springsteen
Rubber Soul – Beatles
Madman Across the Water – Elton John
Tapestry – Carole King
Rumours – Fleetwood Mac
The Koln Concert – Keith Jarrett
As Falls Wichita So Falls Wichita Falls – Lyle Mays & Pat Methany
The Art of Tea – MIchael Franks
Geronimo’s Cadillac – Michael Murphy
Harvest – Neil Young
Willis Alan Ramsey – Willis Alan Ramsey
Bookends – Simon & Garfunkel
Something/Anything – Todd Rundgren
I’m showing my age.
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It’s a good age.
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Except for Michael Franks, your list is almost precisely like mine.
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Bah – you just know what’s timeless, is all.
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Exactly since there was crossover with me and Blue came out 14 years before I was born.
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These albums reflect a very specific period in time for me: high school, transition to college, and college. That said, I still listen to these on a regular basis and stand by the musical artistry represented by each. I’ve provided some additional tidbits on each choice.
Van Halen – Van Halen (I had a teenage obsession with the photo of David Lee Roth on the back cover and would stare at it while playing “Runnin’ with the Devil” over and over again. . .)
Chic – C’est Chic (Even now, I enjoy listening to this while drinking too many vodka tonics and, at the appropriate moment, breaking out some disco moves all by myself in my tiny apartment. I’ve still got it, btw. )
Michael Jackson – Off the Wall (Taking nothing away from Jackson’s talent — this was the first time I fully grasped the musical genius of the incomparable producer, Quincy Jones.)
Pink Floyd – Dark Side of Moon (Religious-affiliated university. Hanging with the preacher’s sons and daughters. Enough said.)
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I am super duper over-commenting on this thread (gah, sorry, everyone!), but – CHIC! Oh man. And DSotM – my parents used to listen to that in our hippie van when I was little, and the part where the woman scream-sings used to scare the bejeezus out of me (thankfully they saved Animals for when I was a little older).
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Pink Floyd = sunbathing, drinking pina coladas with my best friend in college.
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Lucinda Williams, Lucinda Williams (her first, self-titled one)
Lucinda Williams, Car Wheels on a gravel road
Close seconds: James McMurtry, Complicated Game
David Broza, Parking Completo
also love The Cure, Disintegration,
Billy Joel, Glass Houses
San Saba County, It’s not the fall that hurts
Bryan Ferry, Avalon
Van Morrison, Enlightenment
Everything but the Girl, Amplified Heart. This thread gives me more joy than any of the previous ones on this blog, and that’s saying a lot.
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U2 – Achtung Baby
R.E.M. – Automatic for the People
Tori Amos – Little Earthquakes
Kate Bush – The Sensual World, Aerial
Prince – Purple Rain
Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
The Beatles – Abbey Road
Arcade Fire – Funeral
The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Bjork – Debut
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Lucinda Williams, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Lucinda Williams, (self-titled)
James McMurtry, Walk Between the Rain Drops
Jimmy LaFave, Austin Skyline
David Broza, Parking Completo
The Cure, Disintegration,
Billy Joel, Glass Houses (I was very young)
San Saba County, It’s not the fall that hurts
Bryan Ferry, Avalon
Van Morrison, Enlightenment
Everything but the Girl, Amplified Heart.
Talking Heads, Little Creatures
Elvis Costello, Greatest Hits
Dire Straits, Making Movies
Hampson & Ramey, No Tenors Allowed
This thread gives me more joy than any of the previous ones on this blog, and that’s saying a lot.
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And Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
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Ohhhh, so many good ones already listed!
I will always worship The Cure’s Disintegration album (my first concert in 1989).
Lush-Gala
Cat Power- What Would the Community Think
Lloyd Cole-Mainstream & Love Story
Helium-The Dirt of Luck
The Smiths-all their albums!
Patti Smith, Unrest, Catherine Wheel, Ride, Velvet Underground, Dead Can Dance, Sebadoh, Nick Cave, Luna, Deerhunter.
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My farvorite Lloyd Cole was Don’t Get Weird on Me, Babe. Loved that. The more comments I read, the more albums I want to add: Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Pretty in Pink soundtrack, early Daniel Lanois and the Wrecking Ball, which was Emmylou Harris but produced by Daniel Lanois. Holy cow, I forgot Annie Lennox, Diva, which was my grad school soundtrack, even though it came out earlier.
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Elvis Costello – Imperial Bedroom
David Bowie- Sound + Vision (kind of a greatest hits, but c’mon…Suffragette City is on it! And Jean Genie! whooo!)
Buzzcocks- Singles Going Steady
and from my beloved Boston 80s scene…
Human Sexual Response – Fig. 15
and thanks to Susan for the shout-out to the very great and under-appreciated Lloyd Cole.
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Bob Dylan: Blood on the Tracks. Full stop.
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The Stone Roses by The Stone Roses 1989. Hippy, dippy, groovy, rockin and every other awesome adjective to describe this album. I was totally into music but when this album came out it changed my life.
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YES! I still do the Ian Brown dance in the privacy of my own house.
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Second side of Tattoo You, Rolling Stones
Joni Mitchell Court and Spark
Natty Dread Bob Marley
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I’m a freak for Side B of Tattoo You too! The best!
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Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
Eagles – Hotel California
Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Patti Smith – Horses
Talking Heads – 77
Elvis Costello – This Year’s Model
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Classics all.
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Off the top of my head, my two favorites are
Horses-Patti Smith
One Nation Under A Groove-Funkadelic
There are many many many MANY others I love, but these are the two that have stood up to 40+ years of listening without my getting tired of them.
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Moondance – Van Morrison
Revolver – The Beatles
This Side – Nickel Creek
Party Doll and Other Favorites – Mary Chapin Carpenter (it’s a greatest hits so it sort of doesn’t count but it is just SUCH a good album)
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The Unforgettable Fire–U2
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Can we have a GOACA playlist on Spotify? Because I would listen the hell out of that.
Damn, you wimmin have great taste in music.
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I love that first Cibo Matto album too. My two favorites are Brian Eno’s “Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy” and Robert Wyatt’s “Rock Bottom.”
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Taking Tiger Mountain (and Another Green World) were on my long list! So happy someone mentioned Eno here. (Also, I’ve had Robert Wyatt’s version of Biko stuck in my head for a week!!)
I swear I’m going to stop commenting now. This topic has me really excited, what can I say?
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DeDe, you have so many of my favorites on your list: The Kinks, Os Mutantes, Cat Power, Fela Kuti, Arthur Russell, and Nina Simone. I totally relate to your taste in music. And please comment more!
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Aw, thanks, Yoshiko!
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X- Los Angeles
Nirvana- Smells Like Teen Spirit
Elvis Costello- The First 10 Years
The Clash-London Calling
Yeah Yeah Yeahs- It’s Blitz
The Style Council- At Home and Abroad
New Order- Bizarre Love Triangle
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Yah!! I don’t have time today for albums, but artists:
X is my absolute fave, joined by Pretenders, and Bowie (although I don’t listen to X too much these days, due to having to share overhead speakers with family members.)
I also ADORE and listen to Neil Young and Little Feat (only with Lowell George.) constantly.
What a fun list to continue to expose my 11 year old daughter to!!
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Funeral – Arcade Fire
Mezzanine – Massive Attack
Feed the Animals – Girl Talk
The Memory of Trees – Enya
Violator – Depeche Mode
Siamese Dream – The Smashing Pumpkins
Goodbye – Ulrich Schnauss
Californication – The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Reflections – Paul Van Dyk
Everything is Wrong – Moby
Chimera – Delerium
Trans Canada Highway – Boards of Canada
Thriller – Michael Jackson
and all the David Bowie, of course.
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There are many favorites, but when it comes down to it (“it’s down to you…”) there are only two that are essential to my being in this world. As in, I don’t even know who or what or where I would be if these things hadn’t entered my world — or I entered theirs? — when I was in college in the 80s. They are, in no particular order:
Joni Mitchell, Court and Spark
Joni Mitchell, Blue
Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks and Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks are also important to me, for sure. But Joni, dear, Joni — she is in my blood like holy wine…
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Tom Waits -Real Gone
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Ramones (first one)
Paul Simon – Graceland
Fleetwood Mac – Rumours (like so many on this list)
Nirvana Unplugged
The Beatles – the red & blue albums, I’m afraid, as they are compilations
God, there’s so much good music on this thread, I would *love* a GOACA Spotify list!!
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EEK I forgot Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band!
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Laurie Anderson: Mister Heartbreak
Annie Lennox: Medusa
Lyle Lovett: Joshua Judges Ruth
Prince: Batman Soundtrack
Counting Crows: Films about Ghosts
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Laurie Anderson: Mister Heartbreak
Annie Lennox : Medusa
Marillion: Misplaced Childhood
Steely Dan: Aja
Lyle Lovett: The Road to Ensenada
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Steely Dan Aja is my all time favorite
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Richard & Linda Thompson – Pour Down like Silver – Richard is a great songwriter and Linda’s clear, elegant voice is devastating. There are beautiful songs and musical moments on all their albums but this one is my favorite since I discovered them at 13.
Duncan Sheik – Phantom Moon
The Flamingos -The Best of the Flamingos – vocals like pure silk
Van Morrison – Astral Weeks
Phil Ochs – I ain’t marching anymore. When I was about 8 or 9 I used to take the album out of my Dad’s collection and stare at the cover. I thought it was the coolest ever.
The Beatles – any album
Laura Nero -Eli and the Thirteenth Confession
Nina Simone – anything
Tim Buckley – Dream Letter, Live in London 1968
The Dave Brubeck Quartet – Jazz at Oberlin
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I like so many of these that people have listed! Mine would have to be:
Tom Waits, Closing Time
Tracy Chapman (first album)
Billy Joel, The Stranger
Stevie Wonder, Songs in the Key of Life
Prince, Sign of the Times
Ani DiFranco, Living in Clip
Cassandra Wilson, Blue Moon Daughter
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maybe Jeff Buckley Grace and anything Jackson Browne
also My Aim is True
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Abbey Road, the Beatles
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So much good stuff up there^^^. I’ll add:
Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space – Spiritualized
Power, Corruption, and Lies – New Order
Fox Confessor Brings the Flood – Neko Case
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Oh, and one more thing: I like that Elastica is on your pinterest list… I LOVE that album, too.
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Bob Dylan, Nashville Skyline
Neil Young, On the Beach
The Who, Who’s Next
John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman
Miles Davis, In a Silent Way
The Jimi Hendirx Experience boxed set (worth the money)
Van Morrison, Astral Weeks
Springsteen, Born to Run
Aretha Franklin, Aretha’s First 12 Sides
Keith Jarrett (anything)
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Just off the top of my head:
The Smiths – Meat is Murder
The Smiths – Strangeways here we come
Morrissey – Vauxhall and I
Morrissey – Bona Drag
Depeche Mode – Violator
Oasis – (What’s the Story) Morning glory
Duran Duran – Rio (I will stand by that for ever!!)
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I was wondering when I would see MY favorite album…Rio!!! Love it!!! I’ll stand by that forever too.
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August and Everything After – Counting Crows
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Sparks- Kimono My House
Roxy Music – Stranded
David Bowie- The Rise and Fll of Ziggy Stardust
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I love you choices!
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The Who – Who’s Next
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Reading entries on this blog for the first time I feel like I am among people I have known for a long time, bonded through the soundtracks to our formative years
For me
Joni Mitchell – Court and Spark, Blue, Hissing of summer lawns
Van Morrison – Moondance, Astral Weeks, Tupelo Honey
and the pick of the sounds down south
Crowded House – Recurring Dream
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Joni Mitchell, Blue, Court and Spark
Nick Drake, Pink Moon
Rolling Stones, Hot Rocks ( because I can!)
Lucinda Williams, Car Wherls on a Gravel Road
Wilco, Sky Blue Sky, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Deja Vu
Neil Young, Harvest
Bob Dylan, Blonde on Blonde
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Jewels for Sophia – Robyn Hitchcock
The List – Roseanne Cash
Chips From The Chocolate Fireball – Dukes Of Stratosphere
The Lion and The Cobra – Sinead O’Conner
It’s A Shame About Ray – The Lemonheads
Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana
Dusty In Memphis – Dusty Springfield
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Oh, and how could I forget:
Ziggy Stardust – David Bowie
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I still, to this day, love the Allman Brothers Band, “Eat A Peach.” ‘Melissa’ has to be one of my favorite all time song’s, too. But, ‘Ain’t Wasting Time No More,’ ‘One Way Out,’ and ‘Blue Sky’ among others, are wonderful, too. Of course, I’m old enough to remember the gate fold art for the vinyl. wow! Hard not to love all the album extras!
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sparks – kimono my house
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