Harryfan 20 Posted October 17, 2009 Posted October 17, 2009 .....I think a favorite albums list would've been more helpful. ..... Good idea; you can always start a topic Okay, list your 20 favorite albums, give or take 10. Anybody wanna start it off? I need to think about this. 1 1
elgrau 84 Posted October 17, 2009 Posted October 17, 2009 This an easy "do" for me! When I "scored"* all of my songs from ALL of my albums back in early '07 (in order to determine the "top 240" to put in my Ipod "Shuffle") I then was able to "rate" each album I own by simply doing a "score" for each album based on the sum of the "scores" for each cut on the album....doubt if much has changed in my tastes and sadly in my CD collection since then (a few new additions, but none that would probably "crack" my top ~35- wrong!-.ed..). add: I added the albums added since '07 and a few did pop intp my top picks (kind of "tainted" as not the same evaluation time as the others, but whatever: e.g., "Best of Simon&Garfunkle" now my "#1": could just be because I not heard them for a while, and also because this CD has about 30 songs on it!). So here is my top 35 or so albums/CD's (I have the entire list but will just do the top 35...can chop it off at whatever "break-point" you want!): Album Name (GH=greatest hits; ST=soundtrack) Artist Rating (100=best) Raw "Score" Best of Simon&Garfunkel Simon/Garfunkel 100 41 Oh Brother Where Art Thou ST Various 95 39 Dylan's GH III B. Dylan 90 37 Self Portrait B. Dylan 85 35 Unplugged N. Young 85 35 Live Rust N. Young 83 34 The Beatles #1's (rating divided by 2 because 27 #1's) The Beatles 83 34 Roy Orbinson's GH I & II R. Orbison 76 31 Hendrix J. Hendrix 76 31 Sgt. Pepper Beatles 76 31 Star Songs W. Nelson 76 31 John Wesley Harding B. Dylan 73 30 Dark Side of the Moon P. Floyd 73 30 Very Best of Everly Brothers Everly Brothers 71 29 So Far CSN&Y 68 28 In Search of Lost Chord Moody Blues 68 28 Malt Shoppe Memories II Various oldies 68 28 Blonde on Blonde B. Dylan 66 27 Zuma N. Young 66 27 Nashville Skyline B. Dylan 63 26 Hag M. Haggard 63 26 Harvest Moon N. Young 61 25 Harvest N. Young 61 25 Patsy Cline's GH P. Cline 59 24 Legend B. Marley 59 24 1959 Various oldies 56 23 Greendale N. Young 56 23 Hell Freezes Over The Eagles 56 23 Best of Doors II The Doors 54 22 Aqualung J. Tull 54 22 Buddy Holly's GH B. Holley 54 22 The Wall I P. Floyd 54 22 Desire B. Dylan 54 22 Highway 61 Revisited B. Dylan 54 22 Freedom N. Young 54 22 Kink's GH The Kink's 51 21 *system I used was: 5 points for each "#1" song (songs you cannot live without), 4 points for a "circled" #2 song, 3 points for a dashed circled #2 song, 2 points for a "plain" #2, and 3 points for a #3 song. "Circle" thing to help make it easier to decide between 5 rating levels.
Harryfan 20 Posted October 17, 2009 Author Posted October 17, 2009 Hmm…this is tougher than I thought. I’m gonna limit mine to one album per artist to keep it from getting out of control. I may be editing this throughout the night. Harry - Pandemonium Shadow Show The Zombies - Odessey & Oracle The Beatles - Abbey Road Argent - Argent George Harrison - All Things Must Pass Derek and the Dominos - Layla MC5 - Back in the USA Paul McCartney - Ram Todd Rundgren - Something/Anything? Badfinger - Straight Up T. Rex - The Slider Joe Walsh - Barnstorm Supertramp - Crime of the Century Talking Heads - 77 Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express The Kinks - Misfits Al Stewart - 24 Carrots Dire Straits - Making Movies Roger Hodgson - In the Eye of the Storm Michael Shrieve / David Beal - The Big Picture 1
elgrau 84 Posted October 17, 2009 Posted October 17, 2009 Yep, Harry, Abby Road is a VERY good album. It (and the "White Album"!) would have made my top list as well IF I still had these CD's! (I "loaned" my entire Beatles CD collection to one of my daughter's friends years ago: I got about half of them back!). So I no have them to do a "scoring" using my system. But thanks for reminding me: probably should replace BOTH of these and get them back into the "rotation"!
Balok 1,539 Posted October 17, 2009 Posted October 17, 2009 Choosing one's "favourites" is always nearly impossible. Here are 20 albums that I think are good. (and I can think of right now). No particular order. The Band The Band Naturally J.J. Cale Dancing in the Dragon's Jaw Bruce Cockburn Toulouse Street Doobie Brothers Working Man's Dead Grateful Dead Minstrel in the Gallery Jethro Tull Honky Chateau Elton John To Our Children's Children's Children Moody Blues Let It Bleed Rolling Stones Abraxas Santana Gaucho Steely Dan Rust Never Sleeps Neil Young and Crazy Horse Low Spark of High Heeled Boys Traffic Who's Next The Who Band on the Run Paul McCartney and Wings 24 Nights Eric Clapton Giant Step Taj Mahal The Stranger Billy Joel Live at the Regal B.B. King Blind Faith Blind Faith
TNRabbit 370 Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 Steely Dan: Gaucho Kansas: Leftoverture Donald Fagen: The Nightfly, Kamikiriad, Everything Must Go, Morph the Cat Collective Soul: Disciplined Breakdown
elgrau 84 Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 Balok, I'm aware of "Live Rust" and "Sleeps with Angels" as NY albums (and "Live Rust" is on my list), but never heard of "Rust Never Sleeps"? Is it an album or did you mean "Live Rust" or "Sleeps with Angels"? Ed
BluesMan57 1,340 Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 Kinda early , but off the top of my head. Thick as a Brick Jethro Tull 2112 Rush Private Eyes Tommy Bolin Crime of the Century Supertramp Animals Pink Floyd Benefit Jethro Tull Black Sabbath Black Sabbath Live at Leeds The Who Band of Gypsys Jimi Hendrix Sloe Gin Joe Bonamassa More to Come ................ 1
Blues Pwr 765 Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 I came up with these Robin Trower Bridge Of Sighs Joe Bonamassa Live From Nowhere In Particular Stevie Ray Vaughan Couldn't Stand The Weather Blue Murder Blue Murder Elton John Madman Across The Water Scorpions Animal Magnetism Alvin Lee Pure Blues Gary Moore Still Got The Blues Rory Gallagher Live @ Montreux Deep Purple Perfect Strangers Rainbow Long Live Rock And Roll Jethro Tull Aqualung Great White Greatest Hits Ian Gillan Glory Road Jeff Beck Live @ Ronnie Scotts Ronnie Montrose Gamma 1 & 2 Led Zepplin Presence Tommy Bolin Private Eyes Supertramp Crime Of The Century Foghat Fool For The City Foreigner Foreigner Blackfooot Strikes Outlaws Green Grass And High Tides Pink floyd Animals & A momentary Lapse Of Reason
elgrau 84 Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 From the cover it looks to be a "live" album. So is "Live Rust" the same album (by a different name) as "Rust Never Sleeps"? Please excuse my ignorance; I'm pretty sure I don't have "Rust Never Sleeps"; if it is not the same as "Live Rust", then I want to get it! I like "High Tides and Greengrass" too, B-Power! And "Animals" too, Bluesman! Maybe I need to "rescore" some of my albums!
Balok 1,539 Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 From the cover it looks to be a "live" album. So is "Live Rust" the same album (by a different name) as "Rust Never Sleeps"? Please excuse my ignorance; I'm pretty sure I don't have "Rust Never Sleeps"; if it is not the same as "Live Rust"' date=' then I want to get it! [/quote'] RUST NEVER SLEEPS: Side one (acoustic) "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)" (Jeff Blackburn, Young) – 3:45 "Thrasher" – 5:38 "Ride My Llama" – 2:29 "Pocahontas" – 3:22 "Sail Away" – 3:46 [edit] Side two (electric) "Powderfinger" – 5:30 "Welfare Mothers" – 3:48 "Sedan Delivery" – 4:40 "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" – 5:18 Some songs are the same as Live Rust. I don't know if the two are from the same concert series or not. I think they were released around the same time. (?). Note: do not click on the hilighted songs. ERROR occurs.
RichP714 3,158 Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 Rust Never sleeps was an Album release, some of the tracks are LIve. Live Rust was a 2 disc record, covering a concert set (not just music from the latest Rust never sleeps album) which was later turned into a movie (great DVD by the way).
Balok 1,539 Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 elgrau/Rich Found this: The groundbreaking Rust Never Sleeps is the half live offering, containing all previously unreleased music. Side one of the LP is all acoustic music, typically introspective, beginning with a laid back "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)" and proceeding through the now classic "Thrasher" and "Pocahontas". Side two'side two is another story altogether. Opening with the remarkable "Powderfinger," Young establishes his vision of the 1980s, one that is on the bleak side. This release ends with an electric "Hey, Hey, My, My (into the Black)" that pounds English Punk rock into a handful of dust. ...with a big red beacon and a flag and a man on the rail... Right on the heels of Rust Never Sleeps is Live Rust, an all-live recording containing many of Young' earlier songs. It is this added completeness and the period of the recording that gives Live Rust the edge over Rust Never Sleeps in this list of the top ten best live rock albums. Live Rust, was originally released as a double-LP live album, on the streets just four months after Rust Never Sleeps. It was the soundtrack to the concert film recounting Young's Rust Never Sleeps tour and was recorded Oct. 22, 1978, at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Live Rust reprises four songs from Rust Never Sleeps in different performances. In spite of this apparent redundancy, Live Rust is an excellent Neil Young live album and retrospective, illuminating Young's career from the early "Sugar Mountain" and arriving at then-new songs like the scathing "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)" and "Sedan Delivery".
elgrau 84 Posted October 18, 2009 Posted October 18, 2009 Thanks for the great album info Rich /Balok!
monte3x 4 Posted November 24, 2009 Posted November 24, 2009 Basing this on the notion that an album is meant to be played from the first song on side A to the last song on side B with no interruptions. I'm sticking to rock as a genre otherwise it will get out of hand and my head will explode: LZ III -- Led Zeppelin Revolver -- Beatles Quebec -- Ween Wired -- Jeff Beck Let It Bleed -- The Rolling Stones Tepid Peppermint Wonderland -- The Brian Jonestown Massacre Live At Leeds -- The Who Alien Lanes -- Guided By Voices Muswell Hillbillies -- The Kinks Listen To This Eddie -- Led Zeppelin Raw Power -- Iggy & The Stooges SF Sorrow -- The Pretty Things The Spotlight Kid -- Captain Beefheart In Color -- Cheap Trick A Day At The Races -- Queen Faithless Street -- Whiskeytown Leave Home -- The Ramones The Madcap Laughs -- Syd Barrett Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain -- Pavement Rocks -- Aerosmith
xavionics 1,673 Posted November 26, 2009 Posted November 26, 2009 Here's a list of usual favorites, in no particular order: Beatles - Abbey Road Little Feat - Time Loves A Hero Rush - Moving Pictures Kansas - 1st album or Leftoverture Steely Dan - The Royal Scam Acoustic Alchemy - Against The Grain Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon Jethro Tull - 20 Years of... (which is now at least 20 years old!) Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Tarkus Stevie Ray Vaughan - Couldn't Stand The Weather Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All Buckingham Nicks (Before they joined Fleetwood Mac) Yes - The Yes Album So much music, so little time...
Guest nclh77 Posted November 26, 2009 Posted November 26, 2009 Ahh, the deserted island question, BOSTON, the original self titled album, you guys know, More than a Feeling, etc...
elgrau 84 Posted December 5, 2009 Posted December 5, 2009 "elgrau/Rich Found this: The groundbreaking Rust Never Sleeps is the half live offering, containing all previously unreleased music. Side one of the LP is all acoustic music, typically introspective, beginning with a laid back "My My, Hey ......." Hi Balok, Daughter snagged me a copy (LP!) of "Rust Never Sleeps" at a garage sale today. I have "Live Rust" and as good as that is, this is better! I'm kind of "ashamed" at just getting around to getting a copy of this NY album: have all the cuts on other of his albums of course (except perhaps the very awesome "Thrasher"), but nothing like the "original"! Luv the version of 'Pocahontas' on this album: it has some funky instrumentation that is not in the Live version....liner notes has the lyrics as well and this another example of LP vs CD and again, LP has "something" better about them then the CD versions of these great songs. She was planning on re-selling all the albums she picked up; I told her I'd give her 2x whatever was the most she got for any of the others that she sells on ebay (a P. Floyd and a Rolling Stones LP in absolutely pristine condition! You can find some great LP's out there sometimes!), Thanks for steering me "back" to this GREAT LP! - Ed
weitrhino 1,440 Posted January 4, 2011 Posted January 4, 2011 I have a couple of Los Lobos CD's that I really like, and some not so much. I find I really like The Ride and Kiko but By The Light of The Moon leaves me a little cold. Can anyone familiar with their catalog steer me to another good choice, please?
SteveFord 1,070 Posted January 4, 2011 Posted January 4, 2011 I have some of their stuff but am not too crazy about them. They were pretty good in the Crossroads 2007 DVD if you haven't already seen it.
zumbini 6,146 Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 I like How Will The Wolf Survive? but I haven't heard anything else that you aren't already familiar with.
weitrhino 1,440 Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 Thanks Geoff, I may dig deeper to see how Cruzados stack up. @zumbini, I believe I have Wolf on a hard drive somewhere so I'll have to revisit. Here's the song that just nailed it for me about Los Lobos, high craft and excellent arrangements.
Guest donquixote99 Posted March 27, 2011 Posted March 27, 2011 Classical CD List for Jazzman53 Here is the list of ’10 Classical CDs’ in response to Jazzman53’s request in the welcome thread. It’s a suggested-listening-order list, and it’s programmed to lead a ‘jazzman’ into various realms of what is called ‘classical.’ I certainly don’t claim it’s a ten best list, not of compositions, and definitely not of performances, and least of all of recordings. I don’t have the depth of collection or the depth of knowledge make such a selection, especially on the latter aspects. The selection is based on recordings I happen to have. These are recordings I listen to. 1. The Segovia Collection, Vol. 1, Andres Segovia, guitar. MCA, MCAD-42068 Segovia performs his own arrangements of Bach works originally written for lute, violin, and cello. Brilliant music, brilliantly played. And a great opportunity for the exercise of thinking about what is different, and what is the same, in the jazz and classical ways of making music, while listening to a display of pure, uncluttered musicality on an instrument common to both. 2. Copeland: Appalachian Spring (suite), Rodeo (Four Dance Episodes), Billy the Kid (Ballet Suite), Fanfare for the Common Man. Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic. MK42265. Copeland combines 20th century verve and inventiveness, with powerfully-understood classical idioms of narrative and melody. Also much in evidence is the classical tradition of borrowing from ‘rural’ and ‘religious’ roots. 3. Joshua Bell, Poème. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Litton. London 433 519-2. The program here, including Saint-Saëns, Ravel, and other French composers, highlights both the passion of the violin in the hands of an inspired performer, and the powers and abilities of the symphony orchestra. 4. Holst: The Planets. The Toronto Symphony, Andrew Davis. EMI, CDC 547417. Speaking of the powers of the symphony orchestra, this piece showcases them in all their glory, along with a gifted composer’s ability to create clear exposition on diverse themes. 5. Beethoven, Favorite Piano Sonatas. Alfred Brendel. Decca, 4387302. These are literally the masterpieces, and Brendel plays them with complete understanding, and technique that fully meets the challenges. This solo piano music makes clear what is meant by the saying ‘it’s not the notes, it’s the spaces between them.’ 6. Vivaldi, The Four Seasons. National Orchestra of France, Lorin Maazel. Sony B0000025XD. The joy of the baroque string concerto. 7. Bach, Great Organ Works. Virgil Fox. RCA Victrola, 77362-RV. The big Bach organ pieces are nothing less than forces of nature. This will test how well your system plays notes under 30 Hz. 8. Joshua Bell, The Romance of the Violin, Academy of St. Michael in the Field, Michael Stern. Sony, SK 87894.This compilation of great violin melodies will captivate you if you have any romance in your soul at all. Inspired playing by Bell reflects both the romance in his soul, and his high on having just scored a ‘lost’ Stradivarius. 9. Brahms, Symphony No. 4 in E Minor. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Fritz Reiner. Chesky Records, CD6. Brahms will have you with the first four notes. 10. Strauss, Four Last Songs, 12 Orchestral Songs, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, George Szell, Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, London Symphony Orchestra. EMI, 5 66960 2. One of the supreme examples of classical vocal art. The “12 Orchestral Songs” are great. The “Four Last Songs” are devastating. This is one where I will very strongly endorse this particular performance. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf’s interpretation exquisitely combines the beauty and desperate stoicism of these pieces.
zumbini 6,146 Posted March 27, 2011 Posted March 27, 2011 That's an excellent starter list donquixote99. I have recordings of most of your selections. For something fun I'd add "Chiller" by Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra (Telarc CD 80189). It contains classical compositions with a Halloween theme that most people will recognize and is extremely well recorded (though not necessarily all that well well played). The opening sequence, a prelude to Andrew Lloyd Webber's Overture to Phantom Of The Opera, is a live recording of a thunderstorm that will test the best speakers to their limits. Here is a review: A campier beginning could not be conceived for this album of horror music than the one Telarc cooked up for Erich Kunzel & the Cincinnati Pops -- an opening sequence of thunder and frightened running in ear-splitting digital sound, followed by the hilarious haunted-house blast of an organ from The Phantom of the Opera. Yes, this is your worst nightmare come true, a symphonic Halloween album -- complete with sound effects -- that was evidently successful enough to spawn an SACD sequel, Scary Music, in 2002. In true "pops" concert fashion, Kunzel opens with classical selections with horror-related stories and eventually moves on to filmland for the rest of the package. Alas, Kunzel's relaxed way with the classics here isn't exactly calculated to raise the dead from their graves. Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain" is a bit tame, made more palatable by the excellent sound; Berlioz's "March to the Scaffold" from Symphonie Fantastique is downright sluggish. "Pandemonium" from Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust (an imaginative choice) and Saint-Saëns' "Danse Macabre" are sturdier, though still too laid-back. Only Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" delivers sufficient energy. Many of the film cues, particularly those by the classic Hollywood composers, are more compellingly presented and surprisingly potent in musical interest, like the short reconstructed suite from Franz Waxman's The Bride of Frankenstein that ends up in the air. In "Sleigh Ride" from The Devil and Daniel Webster, Bernard Herrmann does inventive things with a fiddle tune that Copland famously used in "Rodeo," and his music for Psycho has already earned lots of respect in many circles (watch out for the over-the-top sound effects in the notorious shower scene!). Even though the classical numbers could use more pep, it's an engaging idea for an album, executed with dignity and some cunning. ~ Richard S. Ginell, Rovi
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