Top 10 records ever(as of 12/1/2006)

[spzretent]

Since I have found someone with polar opposite opinions for some of my favorite bands I want to do yet another of these lists. And because they change over time. A lot.

1. Rolling Stones- Exile On Main Street
2. Spiritualized- Lazer Guided Melodies
3. The Band- Music From Big Pink
4. Verve- Storm In Heaven
5. Velvet Underground-3rd
6. Neil Young- Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
7. Roxy Music- Country Life
8. Stooges- Funhouse
9. Flaming Lips- In A Priest Driven Ambulance
10. Eno- Discreet Music

Anyone else care to join in the fun?

[bunnyben]

Since I have found someone with polar opposite opinions for some of my favorite bands I want to do yet another of these lists. And because they change over time. A lot.

1. Rolling Stones- Exile On Main Street
2. Spiritualized- Lazer Guided Melodies
3. The Band- Music From Big Pink
4. Verve- Strom In Heaven
5. Velvet Underground-3rd
6. Neil Young- Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
7. Roxy Music- Country Life
8. Stooges- Funhouse
9. Flaming Lips- In A Priest Driven Ambulance
10. Eno- Discreet Music

Anyone else care to join in the fun?

--- these are my current favorites if we're only looking at one album per artist (in no particualr order). the list may have changed in a few hours!

1. bob dylan- highway 61 revisited
2. spiritualized- ladies and gents...
3. joy division- permanent
4. richard hawley- lowedges
5. echo and the bunnymen- more songs to learn and sing
6. the velvet underground- the velvet underground and nico
7. leonard cohen- recent songs
8. can- tago mago
9. greig- peer gynt
10. chuck berry- gold
11. neil young- best of

[mojo filters]

Off the top of my head:

1. Forever Changes
2. Blood on the Tracks
3. Revolver
4. Pure Phase
5. Ladies and Gentlemen...
6. Push Barman to Open Old Wounds
7. Piper at the Gates of Dawn
8. Hatful of Hollow
9. Dark Side of the Moon
10. Rank (if live albums count)

...will have changed by tomorrow though.

[duppyconquerer]

the records that define my taste, can't really put them in order but...



*Alexander Spence - Oar

*Wu - Enter The Wu Tang (36 Chambers)

*Guns n' Roses - Appetite for Destruction

*Aphex Twin - drukqs

*Misty In Roots - Wise And Foolish

*Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain

*Scratch and The Upsetters - Super Ape

*Love - Forever Changes

*Amadou & Mariam - Dimanche A BAMAKO

*Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited (I suppose...)





.

[runcible]

A top 10 of sorts.

Sorry but I can't whittle out any of these so I have a top 13, not in any order:


Rolling Stones – Exile on Main St.

Hawkwind – Space Ritual

Congos – Heart of the Congos

Spacemen 3 – Perfect Prescription

Spiritualized – Lazer Guided Melodies

Damned – Machine Gun Etiquette

Bardo Pond – Bufo Alavarius

Heads – Everybody Knows We Got Nowhere

Verve – A Northern Soul

Beatles – Revolver

Plasticland – Wonder, Wonderful, Wonderland

Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young – Deja Vu

[They Transmit]

Blimey this is hard work, so at time of posting it would be , not in order of favourite...Runcible got extra so I pushed my ten a bit as well to 10a and 10b

Kraftwerk- Autobahn
Verve-Northern Soul
The Heads- The Time is now
Velvet Underground- VU
Spacemen 3- Playing with Fire
Spiritualized- Lazer Guided...
Led Zep- 4 Symbols
Rory Gallagher- Irish Tour 74
Pink Floyd- Obscured by clouds
My bloody Valentine- Loveless
Laurie Anderson- Big Science
Neu- Neu2

[moop]

right now...

1. Mercury Rev - Yerself Is Steam (tied with their harmony rockets lp!)
2. Boo Radleys - Giant Steps
3. Mansun - Six
4. Can - Tago Mago
5. Manitoba - Up in Flames
6. Dead Meadow - s/t
8. Spacemen 3 - Taking Drugs…
7. Brave Captain - All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace
9. Elbow - Asleep in the Back
10. Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland

[ebbsandflows]

at this second . . . and in an utterly changeable order

spiritualized - ladies and gentlemen
my bloody valentine - loveless
jon spencer blues explosion - now i got worry
boards of canada - music has the right to children
Third eye foundation - semtex (or i poo poo on your ju ju)
Black dice - broken ear record
Spacemen 3 - freebie three (i know - not an album but it kinda is to me)
Jeoff wayne etc - war of the worlds
Death in vegas - the contino sessions
circe - prospekt (although i hear they have a better one i just haven't been able to get hold of it. . . yet)

[gimperella]

Top 10 in no particular order (well, except alphabetical) as of this second in space and time

The Black Angels - Passover
Brian Jonestown Massacre - Take It From The Man
The Dirtbombs - Dangerous Magical Noise
Lee Hazlewood - Forty
Peter, Bjorn & John - Writer's Block
Sex Pistols - Nevermind The Bollocks...
Soledad Brothers - Hardest Walk
Spacemen 3 - Taking Drugs...
The Stooges - The Stooges
The Stone Roses - The stone Roses
Velvet Underground + Nico

And 3 that should be in my top ten, but I've left out cos they're Best Of's / compilations:

Johnny Cash - The Legendary Sun Recordings
Jesus & Mary Chain - 21 Singles
The Chess Story 1947-1975[/list]

[10ent]

Spiritualized - Laser Guided Melodies
Stone Roses - Stone Roses
Boo Radleys - Giant Steps
Charlatans - Up To Our Hips
Lo Fidelity Allstars - How to Operate With A Blown Mind
Super Furry Animals - Phantom Power
Delakota - One Love
Teenage Fanclub - Grand Prix
Madness - One Step Beyond
New Order - Low Life

Probably be different tomrrow though.

[spzretent]

Delakota. Wow! I love that record too. It never, ever gets mentioned. How did that go so un-noticed?

[BzaInSpace]

Ok...


Nirvana - 'In utero'
Miles Davis - 'On the corner'
Wu-Tang Clan - 'Wu-tang forever'
Sam Cooke - 'One Night Stand'
Primal Scream - 'Vanishing point'
Jimi Hendrix - 'Electric ladyland'
Sly & the family stone - 'There's a riot goin on'
Prince - 'Parade'
Lee Perry/Upsetters - 'Reggae greats'
Leila - 'Coutesy of choice'
The Kooks - 'Inside in/inside out'

[sonic124]

Todays
1 Spiritualized - Lazer Guided melodies
2 Spacemen 3 - Performance
3 The Heads - Everybody Knows We Got Nowhere
4 Spectrum - Soul Kiss Glide Divine
5 Stooges - Funhouse
6 Velvet Underground - Live 69
7 White Heaven - Out
8 Byrds - Notorious Byrd Brothers
9 Hawkwind - Space Ritual Vol 2
10 Electric Prunes - Stockholm 67

wow that was way to hard!

[mojo filters]

Todays
1 Spiritualized - Lazer Guided melodies
2 Spacemen 3 - Performance
3 The Heads - Everybody Knows We Got Nowhere
4 Spectrum - Soul Kiss Glide Divine
5 Stooges - Funhouse
6 Velvet Underground - Live 69
7 White Heaven - Out
8 Byrds - Notorious Byrd Brothers
9 Hawkwind - Space Ritual Vol 2
10 Electric Prunes - Stockholm 67

wow that was way to hard!

Nice to see roger mcguinn, hawkwind and the elec prunes getting a mention!

[jack white]

here's one i made earlier (in the year):

10: The Dirtbombs – Ultraglide in Black
9: Chris Bell – I am the Cosmos
8: Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited
7: The Rolling Stones – Exile on Main Street
6: Van Morrison – Astral Weeks
5: Dennis Wilson – Pacific Ocean Blue
4: Love – Forever Changes
3: Spiritualized – Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
2: The Stooges – Fun House
1: Guns N’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction

[twentysixdollars]

OK, but if we're going to say "best", many of my choices are going to be obvious. Aren't sentimental lists more interesting? One list for pop; one for jazz. I don't think any of these albums are overrated; but in many cases they're not necessarily my favorites by these artists. One per artist.

Both lists are alphabetical and limited to 10. -b- denotes what will probably strike most people as boring choices.

Pop:
The Beach Boys - Smiley Smile *
Byrds - Mr Tambourine Man
Sam Cooke - Night Beat
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On -b-
Love - Forever Changes -b-
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks -b-
Television - Marquee Moon -b-
Mayo Thompson - Corky's Debt to His Father
The Velvet Underground -b-
Verve - A Storm In Heaven

* By far the most controversial choice on my list, but I'm quite adamant that it's superior to Pet Sounds. There's more variety on here than on my jazz list - only 7 (count 'em) sixties albums. Two from the seventies, one from the nineties.

Jazz:
John Coltrane - Interstellar Space
Miles Davis - Round About Midnight -b-
Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch! -b-
Herbie Hancock - Empyrean Isles -b-
Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady -b-
Lee Morgan - Search for the New Land
Oliver Nelson - The Blues and the Abstract Truth -b-
Sonny Rollins - The Bridge
Wayne Shorter - JuJu
McCoy Tyner - The Real McCoy

All but two choices on this list are '60-'64. (The others, '57 and '67.) That gives me pause. As well, all but one is a small group, although you might argue that Nelson's is just barely a mid-size. There's also way too much Coltrane - one under his own name, one on which he's a featured soloist (Davis's), two very much in his style and with his sidemen (Tyner's and Shorter's). I am quite torn up over whether to include Duke Ellington & John Coltrane on this list, at the expense of either Shorter or Tyner. The rest ain't goin' nowhere.

[bunnyben]

here's one i made earlier (in the year):


9: Chris Bell – I am the Cosmos

one of richard ashcrofts fav albums

[olliemorr]

1. Six.By Seven - The Things We Make
2. Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible
3. Radiohead - Hail To The Thief
4. Elbow - Asleep In The Back
5. Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights
6. Mercury Rev - Deserters Songs
7. Six.By Seven - The Closer You Get
8. Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
9. JJ72 - I To Sky
10. Spiritualized - Lazer Guided Melodies

[Hedspace]

No order

Lazer Guided Melodies: Spiritualized
Give it back: Brian Jonestown Massacre
Stooges: The Stooges
Beauty & the Beat: Edan
Programmed: Innerzone Orchestra
Turn on the Bright Lights: Interpol
Dubnobasswithmyheadman: Underworld
The Specials: The Specials
Purephaze: Spiritualized
Stone Roses: Stone Roses
Perfect Prescription: Spacemen 3

[mc]

I'll try and stick to one per artist, here goes (in no particular order):

Ladies and Gentlemen... - Spiritualized
Tigermilk - Belle and Sebastian
Mogwai Young Team - Mogwai
Electro-Shock Blues - eels
Joe's Garage Acts I, II and III - Frank Zappa
1st Album - Tindersticks
(No Pussyfooting) - Fripp and Eno
New Adventures in Hi-Fi - R.E.M
Future Days - Can
Animals - Pink Floyd
and for the naughty eleventh, I'll go for The Perfect Prescription - Spacemen 3

This will no doubt change in a few hours.

Of my recent purchases, two may well trouble this list in the near future:

Ys - Joanna Newsom (thanks to all here for recommending this!)
A Tribute to Jack Johnson - Miles Davis

[moop]

can't believe i forgot to put any sabbath in my list! shocking..
oh and vanishing point should certainly be in there too...

but isn't it strange how the albums you hold in highest regard you almost never listen to? or is that just me?

[bunnyben]

can't believe i forgot to put any sabbath in my list! shocking..
oh and vanishing point should certainly be in there too...

but isn't it strange how the albums you hold in highest regard you almost never listen to? or is that just me?

yeah but it great 'cos when you do you're blown away all over again!

[twentysixdollars]

but isn't it strange how the albums you hold in highest regard you almost never listen to? or is that just me?

True. Only a few of the albums of either of my lists get more than a couple of plays a year, if that.

[duppyconquerer]

but isn't it strange how the albums you hold in highest regard you almost never listen to? or is that just me?

True. Only a few of the albums of either of my lists get more than a couple of plays a year, if that.

yeah, I just picked the ones that were most special to me.

[toomilk]

Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen...
Can - Ege Bamyasi
Primal Scream - XTRMNTR
Fugazi - Red Medicine
The Beatles - Revolver
Spacemen 3 - Playing With Fire
Spiritualized - Pure Phase
The Verve - A Northern Soul
The Clash - London Calling
Mojave 3 - Spoon and Rafter


looks about right...

[jack white]

here's one i made earlier (in the year):
9: Chris Bell – I am the Cosmos

one of richard ashcrofts fav albums

ha! well played.

i tend to listen to the majority of my favourite albums (particularly my top 10, particularly appetite) quite a lot. weekly i'd go back to at least one of them. still go through "phases" of them and all that malarky.

anyway, i wanna substitute my number 10 entry (the dirtbombs - ultraglide) for dio - holy diver.

[mojo filters]

I want to change one of mine to BJM's Methodrone...just don't know which one. Currently listening to 'And This is Our Music' and can't get over how it takes me back to Koko earlier this year.

I assume it's been noticed how often revolver features in these lists...I'm interested to know what folks think about the new 'Love' album, which as a Beatles' fan I can't get over how good it sounds and how clean it is...George Martin might be getting on these days, but he sure knows how to make the best of Beatles' recordings...better than P. Mc's remix of Let it Be which whilst interesting as a fan, essentially showed how Phil Spector tuned their basic studio output into some very nice tracks, despite having a broad mix of strong and weak tunes to work with.

[scratch]

tom waits - swordfishtrombones
lee perry - all versions/compilations/variations of "blackboard jungle dub"
cure - pornography
hawkwind - doremifasolatido
talk talk - laughing stock
van der graaf generator - pawn hearts
nick cave & the bad seeds - your funeral my trial
david bowie - low
genesis - nursery chryme
jack bruce - songs for a tailor
------------------------------
Didn´t make it into the top 10 mainly because they have been mentioned too many times in this thread already:

stooges - funhouse
verve - a storm in heaven
spacemen 3 - perfect prescription
spiritualized - lazer guided melodies
pink floyd - piper at the gates of dawn

[ash]

I'm going to be somewhat parochial and select my favourite local albums of all time. If you've heard of any of these, or better yet really like 'em, then I doff my cap to you.

(in rough order of preference)

heligoland - shift these thoughts
adam cole - like endora
art of fighting - second storey
the morning after girls - shadows evolve
sodastream - sounds like a russian
even - free kicks
gersey - hope springs
team jedi - pilot sessions
snout - the new pop dialogue
you am i - hi fi way
rocket science - welcome aboard the 3c10
augie march - sunset studies

[ro]

van der graaf generator - pawn hearts
nick cave & the bad seeds - your funeral my trial

yeah!

[radioshack]

The Beatles-The Beatles
Pure Phase-Spiritualized
Red House Painters (Rollercoaster)-Red House Painters
Playing with Fire-Spacemen 3
The Stone Roses-The Stone Roses
Maggot Brain-Funkadelic
Howl-BRMC
The 3 EPs-The Beta Band
Bringin' it all Back Home-Bob Dylan
The Bends-Radiohead

[bunnyben]

Howl-BRMC

Bringin' it all Back Home-Bob Dylan

two greats!

[scratch]

Bringin' it all Back Home-Bob Dylan

my favourite dylan album as well

I sold maggotbrain and only kept the two first records.. bad move.

[nukisarocknrollstar]

Bringin' it all Back Home-Bob Dylan

my favourite dylan album as well

mine too

1. dylan (as above)
2. st. etienne - foxbase alpha
3. mercury rev - all is dream
4.marvin gaye - new best of

just decided to do my fav dylan album and the 3 albums I'm listening to at the moment. sorry.

[veiko]

in no certain order:

Suicide "Suicide"
"Get Carter" OST
Aphex Twin "Selected ambient works" (all of them)
Primal Scream "Screamadelica"
Sonic Boom "Spectrum"
Spacemen 3 "Playing with fire"
Spiritualized "lagwafis"
Spectrum "Forever alien"
Diamanda Galas "The Singer"
Throbbing Gristle "In the shadow of the sun"
Dark Throne "A blaze in the northern sky"

in and out of the blue.

[Spamela DeBarres]

Pop:

Jazz:

Segregation, yeah, I don't dig. Bop and McGuinn blew that apart already.

9: Chris Bell – I am the Cosmos

one of richard ashcrofts fav albums

Figures. He's always been about weighing an album down with 10X too much selfpity and introspection.

IATC is over heralded. Good for what it is, a way unfinished album project that it's creator couldn't get off the ground (not just due to the frequently mentioned industry hassles, but because he'd fallen majorly and couldn't get the shit together), but nowhere near the classic that people make out. It's more a posthumously compiled set of demos and works in progress than an album.
"There Was A Life/Light" was already a depressingly Beatley drag when Big Star deemed it too mediocre/unformed for release. The subsequent version on IATC is pasty enough to make that earlier pass sound like Funka-fuckin-Delic by comparison, to the point where you're wondering if the ambition was to write Hurricane#1's "Let Go Of The Dream" 25 years before Andy Bell dribbled it.
Where CB's stellar "#1Record" contributions offered affirmation, swelled the heart and inspired empathy, too much of the stuff on IAMTC only reeks of Mama's boy type "I'm a genius and nobody knows it" indulgence. And not in a compelling way.
Don't mean this to be cruel, because I'm a big admirer of Chris' talents at their most exalted, but when he whines the line "spending all my time, waiting to die" you just wish someone would put him out of his misery/apathy. For his sake. It IS possible to scream of suicide while still betraying a deep desire for life (YER BLUES, IN FREAKIN UTERO), but Chris just says he wants to die and that's it. Bye then, see you in the next one.
And that IS sad...not heroically, as most seem to think, but pathetically.

Of the good stuff..."Speed Of Sound", You And Your Sister" and "Look Up" are stunning, complete productions. The superior 45 mix of the title song is left off. And roughly tuned guitars, guide vocals and nonexistant production that the Beatles obsessed studio-perfectionist in Bell would've built over (use the quantum leap of "Get Away" into "I Don't Know" as your proof) relegate brilliant tunes like "Better Save Yourself" and "Though I Know She Lies" to unfinished gem status.
Jody Stephens' void is massively felt, the dynamics and propulsion required to send potential-fat slabs of boogieNsnarl like "Make A Scene" into the stratosphere completely absent from Rosebrough's lifeless drubbing.
"Fight At The Table" is just rancid.
Kinda like half of a great album -- still essential, but a frustrating non-contender in trueblue LP terms.

[twentysixdollars]

Pop:

Jazz:

Segregation, yeah, I don't dig. Bop and McGuinn blew that apart already.

Agreed, but splitting things up turns a list of ten into a list of twenty, which suits me much better. Besides, as much as I love McGuinn and every hair on Old Reedy's McChinny-chin-chin, it's not like he ever did an LP with Albert Ayler, or even Max Roach.

(He did do at least two with Charles Lloyd, but c'mon. Charles Lloyd doesn't count.)

[Spamuel L. Jackson]

Agreed, but splitting things up turns a list of ten into a list of twenty, which suits me much better.

Good point.

Besides, as much as I love McGuinn and every hair on Old Reedy's McChinny-chin-chin, it's not like he ever did an LP with Albert Ayler, or even Max Roach.

(He did do at least two with Charles Lloyd, but c'mon. Charles Lloyd doesn't count.)

He did cut a tune with Trane, tho... (metaphysically speaking !)

[Spamuel L. Jackson]

5: Dennis Wilson – Pacific Ocean Blue

Yes!

Some unbooted greatness from the POB sessions.
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?a ... C32E609944

And neatly summed up here:
"Recorded with what sounds like the Double Rock Baptist Choir (who perform on River Song), this fragment might be part of an intended larger composition. Variations on the 4-bar phrase "My love is comin' down on you" sung by the choir alternate with 2 bars of Dennis growling a rough "C'mon, C'mon, C'mon, C'mon" ! An inspiring fragment of music."

This page might be of interest if you never cruised by there before.

[twentysixdollars]

He [McGuinn] did cut a tune with Trane, tho... (metaphysically speaking !)

Trane wasn't even dead yet! I agree with giving the Byrds exactly as much credit as they deserve for their innovations in the genre of rock and roll - and they deserve, in my opinion, more credit than any other single act save the Beatles - but not more. Yes, McGuinn's guitar playing circa 1966 is amazing. Yes, it probably is the first instance anywhere of "jazz-rock", and a much more germane direction for that genre than The Inner Mounting Motherfucking Flame. Still, you can't reasonably say that it was The Byrds who led to the boundaries between rock and jazz being dissolved (or, as was really the case, diluted). The blame for that rests with Miles.

[mojo filters]

He [McGuinn] did cut a tune with Trane, tho... (metaphysically speaking !)

Yes, McGuinn's guitar playing circa 1966 is amazing. Yes, it probably is the first instance anywhere of "jazz-rock", and a much more germane direction for that genre than The Inner Mounting Motherfucking Flame

Can't dispute the quality of McGuinn's playing and contribution, but I still prefer John McLaughlin/Mahavishnu Orchestra - whilst they might tend towards sounding overtly pompous, the epic nature of their fusion soundscapes brought lots of people on board with this cause.

[Spamuel L. Jackson]

Still, you can't reasonably say that it was The Byrds who led to the boundaries between rock and jazz being dissolved (or, as was really the case, diluted).

But, POP and jazz? When a flaxen haired popster starts blowing Holy sheets of space-communicatory morse-code sound all over his bandmates' prettiest songs, that comes on just a lil' witchier to my mind. I mean, pinups who BLOW? Shiiiiiiiiiiit.
Was just throwing out a name, and for me, McGuinn's is synonymous with a few of the most *courageous* musical steps ever taken. With you on the wider and sustained impact of Miles, though, so nothing to contest there, except to point out that it always intrigues me that bit more when the pop kids go freaky (that's not to support the view that the Byrds were as flimsy as many supposed at the time, tho).

Channeling that instrumental kinesis in and around melodies that Paul Simon wouldn't have shunned is about a billion times more interesting, subversive and unifying than the labored fusion-for-dummies of TIMF, too, so word on that call.

[scratch]

than The Inner Mounting Motherfucking Flame..

Inner mounting motherfucking excellent flame!
If I´m considered a dummy for appreciating that record then so be it.
If the music is good then I don´t care if it´s pompous or pretentious.
spz are both at times and it doesn´t bother me at all..

Graham bond mixed jazz and pop successfully around 64-66 (blues and R&B and rock too of course)

but adding jazz layers on top of songs that obviously are just pop?
Uuuuurgh then you get crap like Sting..

[Spamuel L. Jackson]

If I´m considered a dummy for appreciating that record then so be it.

Nah, appreciate on. I know of lotsa people who dig that record, too. Not a dummy among them. I guess I meant that it comes on like a "look, we're doing something BIG" spelled-out kind of thing to me, almost as if the music itself (or it's creators) considered the audience dummies.

Uuuuurgh then you get crap like Sting..

His whole career has been one big exercise in disingenuous chin-stroke affectation, agreed.

But that's a million miles from the instinctual (involuntary?) brilliance of what guys like Rog were doing.
Absolutely no way anyone could mount a serious case for 5D's more searing 12-string pyrotechnics being in any way tacked-on or contrived. It ain't 'jazz' in any studied sense, it's the essence as McGuinn received it from the vinyl embedded grooves of "Live At The Village Vanguard", filtered through his own mind-cosmology, tapped from the neck of his Rick like metagalactic code, which says way more than if he'd just tried to do some Charlie Christian solos over the breaks. That's the barrier breaker, the thing that snaps the listener out of their box and leads them to the beautiful oneness of it all, that makes nonsense of how we spend so much time deifying terms that were only ever coined in innocence and verbosely debating stuff that should be digested as naturally as a person takes breath...not just neatly sidestepping, but careering galaxies from the milquetoast contrivance you were (correctly) damning with the Sting remark.
If the Mahavishnu Orchestra does all that for you, too, cool. Always just rang as too unsubtle and self-concious to my ears/soul.

[LunarTunes]

Well, here's 10 albums I would take to the ol' desert island:

Spiritualized -- Lazer-Guided Melodies
The Flaming Lips -- The Soft Bulletin
The Velvet Underground -- The Velvet Underground & Nico
Prince -- Sign "O" The Times
Low -- Secret Name
Songs:Ohia -- The Magnolia Electric Co.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds -- Live Seeds
Tom Waits -- Bone Machine
Spacemen 3 -- The Perfect Prescription
Miles Davis -- In A Silent Way

Ask me again in an hour...

Peace.

[twentysixdollars]

I still prefer John McLaughlin/Mahavishnu Orchestra - whilst they might tend towards sounding overtly pompous, the epic nature of their fusion soundscapes brought lots of people on board with this cause.

It's not McLaughlin I set out to pillory - it's "this cause". "Fusion", I mean - a disastrous union of all the worst aspects of "rock" and "jazz". Whereas the Byrds' version of the same was a union of the best aspects of both.

Anyway, I've got nothing left to say about The Byrds, because (as anyone who's frequented this board for a while would know) they're not only my favorite performers of any kind of music, ever, but they're also the most innovative and influential and underrated "rock" band that ever was, better than anybody else at _anything_ except songwriting, which they were still better at than the Buffalo Springfield; I also cherish almost everything they ever recorded, even Byrdmaniax. The only Byrds album I rarely listen to is Younger Than Yesterday. Cuz it's the only one of the first six that's not bracingly innovative. (And maybe Untitled, the studio half of which is mostly silly.) And that's that.

[Spamuel L. Jackson]

It's not McLaughlin I set out to pillory - it's "this cause". "Fusion", I mean - a disastrous union of all the worst aspects of "rock" and "jazz". Whereas the Byrds' version of the same was a union of the best aspects of both.

Yep, you pretty much nailed it in those three sentences. One's a misguided and ungainly pass at 'fusion' (spot-welding?), the other is a seamless (subliminal) and sexy union.
Pretty much what I meant by "verbosely debating things that should be digested as naturally as a person takes breath" -- soon as you begin making some lofty cause out of it, you're more or less fucked. Rog, Hillman and Co. just accepted the baton, ran with it and passed it on.
Very well, and succinctly, articulated, 26$.

p/s: i love 'em (The Byrds) too

[Edukator]

In no particular order:

Spiritualized - LAGWFIS
The Cure - Disintegration
Echo and the Bunnymen - Heaven Up Here
This Mortal Coil - It'll End In Tears
Primal Scream - Screamadelica
The Clash - The Clash
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy
Siouxsie and the Banshees - The Scream
Joy Division - Closer

[bunnyben]

In no particular order:

Spiritualized - LAGWFIS
The Cure - Disintegration
Echo and the Bunnymen - Heaven Up Here
This Mortal Coil - It'll End In Tears
Primal Scream - Screamadelica
The Clash - The Clash
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy
Siouxsie and the Banshees - The Scream
Joy Division - Closer

more goths there than at a 50% off eyeliner sale in boots. very good list mind you. i'm intrigued to why you chose heaven up here as your favorite bunny album. i, myself, prefer the lushness of ocean rain but the first time i heard the drums from show of strength coming out of my speakers in a dark room i was floored completely...like i said, very good list!!

[BzaInSpace]

The 'fusion' argument...such bollocks gentlemen!

'Fusion' itself, a lame term invented by some dull journalists somewhere. {kinda like 'jazz']

Like most music 90% of any particluar 'style' is probably gonna be crap.

Look for the other records. 'Birds on Fire', Bitches Brew', 'Mwandishi', 'Disco 3000', 'On the corner' et al are probably all described by wankers as "fusion" but to me that stuff is immortal, soulful, psychedelic music that matters.

Not convince by the Byrds*...yeah I said it.
Hendrix in '1983' mode was doing a far more liquid, jazz-rock- future/now thing than they ever managed. {see BAND OF GYPSYS}

* Gene, and probably David's solo gear is to these ears much better. But hey, its only opinons

[Spamuel L. Jackson]

'Fusion' itself, a lame term invented by some dull journalists somewhere. {kinda like 'jazz'].

Yah. I don't have as big an allergic reaction to the J-word as when I hear some dipshit dribbling on about "fusion", not having that same ponderous baggage in origin...but I'm with you in that it's an essentially worthless mean-nothing term anymore.

'Birds on Fire', Bitches Brew', 'Mwandishi', 'Disco 3000', 'On the corner' et al are probably all described by wankers as "fusion" but to me that stuff is immortal, soulful, psychedelic music that matters.

With you on all but "BOF", which sucks tool.

[mojo filters]

Look for the other records. 'Birds on Fire', Bitches Brew', 'Mwandishi', 'Disco 3000', 'On the corner' et al are probably all described by wankers as "fusion" but to me that stuff is immortal, soulful, psychedelic music that matters.

Not convince by the Byrds*...yeah I said it.
Hendrix in '1983' mode was doing a far more liquid, jazz-rock- future/now thing than they ever managed. {see BAND OF GYPSYS}

Wow...my 'Birds of Fire' must be one of those rare misprints....[/pedant]

With you all the way on Jimi - it's such a cliché but he was way ahead of his time on many different fronts...and my mate will still argue 'til the proverbial cows come home that Chuck Berry was a better and more innovative axemeister

[BzaInSpace]

Birds On Fire.

Byrds...On Fire.

Birds Of fire.


My title is better though.

I loved the violin/drums/guitar madness on that album. I haven't heard any of the others but they have awesome titles.

Someone who used to post here gave me a fantastic term for that record...wish I could remember it now!
But i can only heartily recommend it.

Blues for astronauts.

[mojo filters]

Birds On Fire.

Byrds...On Fire.

Birds Of fire.


My title is better though.

I loved the violin/drums/guitar madness on that album. I haven't heard any of the others but they have awesome titles.

Someone who used to post here gave me a fantastic term for that record...wish I could remember it now!
But i can only heartily recommend it.

Blues for astronauts.

Jerry Goodman is an ace fiddler, up there with John Luc Ponty who played on Hot rats, blending the genres well there too.

Blues for all I say...


good things are coming my way...

[jadams501]

In something like the correct order of the moment, mixing masterpieces with things I love:


-------Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks (New York Sessions)

Always thought the Minnesota rerecordings pale before the originals, maybe not for "you're a big girl now" but certainly for "tangled" and "if you see her"



------Derek & The Dominos - Layla

Self-explanatory



------Spacemen 3 - Perfect Prescription

Most perfect album J Spaceman has ever been involved with --- hopefully in a few months I won't be able to say this anymore.



-----Spiritualized - Lazer-Guided Melodies

Same as everyone else, I'm sure



------The Verve - A Northern Soul

A difficult choice because, although Verve are one of my favorite bands, I don't think they ever managed to quite transfer their power onto a full-length LP. Still, there's nothing like that McCabe-Ashcroft-Jones-Salisbury magic.



-----The Beatles - Abbey Road

Revolver has always been a little too precious and silly for me, but this is where the Beatles mix the studio craft with the grit of the "Get Back" sessions with a raft of great, great songs. Def. my favorite Beatles song.



-----Nirvana - In Utero

Glad to see this pop up on these lists so much because this was one of my absolute favorites in high school, though I never listen anymore. Devastating stuff.



-----The Strokes - Room on Fire

I'll probably get flamed for this, but for my money this is one of the tightest and most engaging pop albums i've ever heard... somehow sounds mechanical and completely human at the same time.



-----Al Green - Call Me (or maybe I'm Still In Love With You)

I can never make it all the way through any of Marvin Gaye's albums in one sitting, but Al is always engaging and usually captivating



-----Tim Buckley - "Greetings From LA"

Great lyrics and great voice without too much of the self-indulgence (either hippie or avant-garde) that marked his earlier records. "Sweet Surrender" is particularly ridiculous.



-----Bob Marley - Exodus

I'd still have this on the list if the album only consisted of "Waiting In Vain"




Honorable mentions: Nebraska, No Code, the as-yet-unreleased well-conceived Jeff Buckley live album, multiple Dylan records (including BIABH, World Gone Wrong, Slow Train Coming), Fucked Up Inside, and Let It Come Down.

[natty]

Spacemen 3 - The Perfect Prescription
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
The Velvet Underground and Nico
Joy Division - Closer
Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works '85-'92
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Bob Marley - Exodus
Spectrum - Soul Kiss (Glide Divine)
13th Floor Elevators - Easter Everywhere
The Stooges - The Stooges
GZA - Liquid Swords

Sorry it's 12.

[scratch]

With you on all but "BOF", which sucks tool.

Blues for astronauts.

I think they usually play "here comes the sun" when they wake up the astronauts on their first "morning" in space.

back to MO: that violin/drums/guitar madness is usually better on live recordings in my opinion..

I like the live album from the same year (Between nothingness & eternity) better than birds of fire which I always found a little stiff.. it was going to be the third studio album but they did an "mc5" and only released it live.

there´s also a very good bootleg from cleveland -72 called "wild strings" that mclaughlin wanted to release but CBS said no..

The second and third line-ups of the band are not as good imo but some of the live shows from 75 are cool.. (or rather the opposite- total rage)
and they have Michael Walden (who later worked with other great fusion artists like whitney houston, mariah carey and al jarreau and the excellent fusion soundtrack to bodyguard ) who is an insane drummer although I prefer Billy Cobham.
That line-up didn´t have Jan "miami vice-theme" Hammer either..

[moop]

however you spell them, for a few years i was OBSESSED with
"agarta" and "pangea" by miles davis... just listened to them ALL the damn time.. they're kinda where bitches brew was heading/ended up (i seem to recall that these were recorded just before his kinda retirement/breakdown/rehab thingy..

just insanely great in my opinon. very very highly recommended..
haven't listened to them in a few years.. might be time to make a large cuppa and revisit 'em!

[twentysixdollars]

The 'fusion' argument...such bollocks gentlemen!

'Fusion' itself, a lame term invented by some dull journalists somewhere. {kinda like 'jazz']

Like most music 90% of any particluar 'style' is probably gonna be crap.

Look for the other records. 'Birds on Fire', Bitches Brew', 'Mwandishi', 'Disco 3000', 'On the corner' et al are probably all described by wankers as "fusion" but to me that stuff is immortal, soulful, psychedelic music that matters.

Not convince by the Byrds*...yeah I said it.
Hendrix in '1983' mode was doing a far more liquid, jazz-rock- future/now thing than they ever managed. {see BAND OF GYPSYS}

* Gene, and probably David's solo gear is to these ears much better. But hey, its only opinons

We're never going to agree, and I hope that through my sententiousness it comes out that I'm by no means averse to a crossbreed of "jazz" and "rock"; it's just that most (all?) of the music commonly described as a "fusion" of those two genres is dreadful, drawing only on their worst aspects. From "rock", "fusion" tends to take only its harmonic banality and conceptual pretension, rather than its physical abandon or economy or anything else that's good. From "jazz", it takes self-indulgence. I've heard exactly two great fusion albums in my life - one is by Tony Williams and it's called Emergency!, and the other is by Freddie Hubbard and it's called Red Clay. The latter is so much an electrified modal jazz record that it barely qualifies.

In a way, it's a relief that Coltrane died when he did, so that he was never tempted to shake his forty-something ass to tepid Sly-inspired funk grooves like his erstwhile employer. But, listening back over Coltrane's oeuvre, I honestly can't hear any indication that his taste would lapse so catastrophically. Maybe he would have had a couple of freer Red Clays up his sleeve, but I doubt it. I figure he would have gone deeper into African music and maybe free (or collective) improvisation or hung things up to teach and produce.

Gene Clark in my opinion released one really great solo album and that was his first one. None of the rest measure up, not even No Other, which is not bad, just pompous, and overbaked. I much prefer Byrdmaniax, which is smaller, warmer and funnier. And I've come to really dislike the elliptical, relentlessly bafflegabby White Light. It certainly has nothing left to say to my condition. And Crosby's brain turned to offal after he quit the Byrds, if not before - apparently nowadays he's an old-fashioned gun-totin', immigrant-hatin', obscenely wealthy American libertarian. If only I could forget that languorous version of "Laughing" on If Only I Could Remember My Name.

[scratch]

I've heard exactly two great fusion albums in my life - one is by Tony Williams and it's called Emergency!

tony williams lifetime´s emergency!

larry young and mclaughlin!

one of my favourite jazz-rock albums.. the second album is not as good even if it has my hero, Jack Bruce, joining on bass..

[twentysixdollars]

I've heard exactly two great fusion albums in my life - one is by Tony Williams and it's called Emergency!

tony williams lifetime´s emergency!

And I don't think I contradicted myself by saluting a record with McLaughlin. Remember, it wasn't McLaughlin I'm anti, per se.

[mojo filters]

I've heard exactly two great fusion albums in my life - one is by Tony Williams and it's called Emergency!

tony williams lifetime´s emergency!

And I don't think I contradicted myself by saluting a record with McLaughlin. Remember, it wasn't McLaughlin I'm anti, per se.

That's good to hear as he is criminally underrated as a genius guitar player as well as composer/arranger..though maybe he likes it that way

[eeee22]

no real order

The Beatles - Rubber Soul (you all prefer Revolver but I literally just stole that from a friend 2 days ago so that would seem a bit premature)
The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Tepid Pepperment Wonderland (Again, only just got my first proper album from them last week but I love this collection)
Explosions in the Sky - The Earth is not a Cold Dead Place
Greg Ashley - Medicine Fuck Dream
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy
Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain
Modest Mouse - Lonesome Crowded West / This is a long drive... (can't decide)
Spiritualized - All
Stone Roses - Stone Roses
Yo La Tengo - I can hear the heart beating as one
Velvet Underground - Any
The Unicorns - Who Will Cut our hair when we're gone

[dexterfp@utas.edu.au]

Lotsa people round here with good taste

Mine in rough order

1. Astral Weeks (Van Morrison)
2. The Basement Tapes (Bob Dylan)
3. Songs of Love & Hate (Cohen)
4. Lazer Guided Melodies
5. De Stilj (White Stripes)
6. What's The Story Morning Glory (Oasis)
7. Neil Young Unplugged
8. Live At Leeds (The Who)
9. Bone Machine (Tom Waits)
10. Pink Moon (Nick Drake)

[toomilk]

1. Astral Weeks (Van Morrison)

Really? I would have never guessed. It's a great album, but the GREATEST? I don't know.

[One Asian Under A Groove]

Spiritualized - Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space - that would be my favourite album, full stop. After that, the following are in no particular order, Kate Thornton-styleee:

Dusty Springfield - Dusty In Memphis
Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You
U2 - Achtung Baby
Primal Scream - Screamadelica
Asian Dub Foundation - Community Music
The Earlies - These Were The Earlies
Kraftwerk - Minimum Maximum
Hope Of The States - The Lost Riots
Rufus Wainwright - Want One
The Avalanches - Since I Left You
Public Enemy - Fear Of A Black Planet
Doves - The Last Broadcast
Richard Hawley - Lowedges
The Delgados - Hate
The Arcade Fire - Funeral
Spiritualized - Let It Come Down
U2 - Zooropa
Super Furry Animals - Phantom Power
Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul

I am rubbish at limiting myself in this type of survey...