Everyone should be made to share their top five Life-Changing Albums. Most of mine have to do with my early years, especially my teenage years. This is not necessarily in order of their ranking, but just as they occurred to me. In the case of the vinyl, the grooves are probably very well-worn, due to repeated listenings. As always, this list is subject to change.
1. Tommy: The Who. I remember where I was, who I was with, and how I felt when I first heard this. When Tommy starts singing "See Me , Feel Me" for the last time, to this day, I get misty-eyed. And yet, for all of it's incarnations and re-interpretations, I'm never sure exactly what's about.
2. Jesus Christ, Superstar: For shame, to be emotionally attached to anything from Andrew Lloyd Webber. But, as with Tommy, I remember the first listening vividly and get the same feeling when I hear it today.
3. Growing Up In Public by Lou Read: Same criteria. Also, the first time I "got" Lou Reed.
4. Sandinista: The Clash. Damn! What can I say? Damn.
5. Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music. Soundtrack to her one-woman Broadway show back in the 80's. Choice songs sung with passion.
6. Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention: Uncle Meat. If you only listen to "King Kong," it's worth it.
7. Madam Butterfly: Verdi. My Mom played that record while she cleaned house and her children played with their Tinker Toys. I think that opera set the tone for my musical life.
Ok. That's seven. Read. Discuss. Submit your own.
I know that I'll probably change my mind at some point.
14 comments:
Ooh, good subject!
1. My Fair Lady, Original Broadway version; Julie Andrews had an enormous influence on me as a singer. We had this album when I was pretty little. It's an awesome performance.
2. Stringing Along With Chet Atkins; This record has melded with my DNA. When I hear it I am four years old again.
3. Jesus Christ Superstar; Got this for my 15th birthday. Played the hell out of it. We saw the live Broadway touring show at Swing Auditorium. Freakin' blew me away.
4. Meet The Beatles; How old was I, maybe 7? The first album Debbie and I bought that wasn't Disney or one of those story records like The Little Engine That Could. Played the hell out of that one, too.
5. James Taylor- Sweet Baby James; The first album I ever bought on my own. I got it because I thought he was cute. Got lucky. The music was really good.
6. Steeleye Span- Parcel Of Rogues; Sheeeit! I never heard music like that before. It really turned me on to the whole English/Irish folk thing. Which led to working at Renaissance Faire, which led to all sorts of things. Maddy Prior is another vocal influence.
I'm sure there are more. I guess the Godspell soundtrack would also be in there someplace.
Farewell to the First Golden Era The Mamas and The Papas: My dad brought it home, he'd won a contest. We played it on our hi-fi.
Houses of the Holy Led Zeppelin: One of the party albums of my teenage years.
Quadrophenia The Who: The very first huge album I bought with my own money. At the ABC Union store.
The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars David Bowie: More teen year memories. Loved him, wanted to marry him when I saw him on SNL or was it Midnight Express?
Never Mind the Bollocks Sex Pistols: Headbanging, angry and so on the edge of insanity.
The Ramones: The Ramones: More headbanging fun, no insanity, just plain bopping.
Devo's very first single on Boogie Boy records. Dancing in Licorice Pizza. Man, too much fun.
White Music XTC: This is pop, what can I say?
The entire Stiff Records collection.
Absolute Torch And Twang k.d. lang: Country? Pop? Smoky lounge singer? Her voice makes you cry.
Yikes, Donita! You got married on the same stage you saw Jesus Christ Superstar and I saw Iron Butterfly! There is a Gawd!
My life altering LP's are these, and, like Nuff's, it changes now and then. In no particular order:
1.Ziggy Stardust. I was living in this big Victorian on N. Orange with a bunch of fruitarian musician friends. Nothing but music and raw fruit. And Spike lived in the garage. My friend Ferris came over late one night and said in his reedy voice "You gotta hear this! It's really freaky!" So I did and a month later saw him at the Santa Monica Civic. I think Journey opened for them. I attended every concert after up 'til Dodger Stadium.
2. Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bullocks. Another boodle of songs that fundamentally changed the course of music like an iceberg to the Titanic. My friend Shapey says backstage at a show we were doing "Hey! You gotta hear this! It's really freaky!" Shapey collected novelty records and Nazi paraphernalia. He thought the Sex Pistols were a novelty record. 300 beers later at a party, Shapey, who was in charge of the music, yells "Sit Down! This is it!" I sat on the couch and heard God Save the Queen at 107 dbs. Closest I've ever come to God. And I haven't been able to comb my hair forward since.
3. Electric Lady Land."Turn that damn gittar down!!!" Saw him twice on the same wood Donita was married on. There was nothing left to be done with a guitar. Everyone else is a hack.
Billy's Favs Pt. 2
4. Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life. Love's in Need... is one of the most beautiful songs ever. Right after Sept. 11 Stevie and Take 6 sang it a cappella on one of those soothing concerts on TV. I wish I could sing that high.
5. Freak Out - Mothers of Invention. Albie Schneer, a guy I met when we were 13 years old, drags me down to Gillete's one day after school and says "You gotta hear this!" We stood in one of those black phone booth listening chambers with the blacklights and heard FZ's Help I'm a Rock. It CAN happen here!
6. Hard Days Night. All of creation exists with that first chord.
We were soooo into Todd Rundgren in the 80's. Tom Waits is awesome in concert. He lives in Santa Rosa. Jim ran into him of the street once. He was walking into a music store as Tom was walking out. Love Oingo Boingo. My kids have played that to death. That and They Might Be Giants. TMBG is big at our house.
Big.
It's odd that UF or MT or what ever he's calling himself these days starts off by saying he's from a different generation and then lists artists who are primarily my generation. Not a criticism, just an observation.
Rundgren is was a god for awhile. Something/Anything and Wizard A True Star are lovely and bitchen. I think Nuff and I will agree that Song of the Viking is one of the best songs ever magnetized.
I have to disagree with MT about Lloyd Webber, whom I find trollish, silly and the ex of Sarah Brightman (ew!). His strength was that there wasn't anyone writing decent musical theatre except for Sondheim and everyone was afraid to produce Sondheim's stuff. For cryin' out loud, the only good song in Cats was written by someone else!
Sting made his mark with an 80's band and since going solo is known in our house as Stink. Precocious Fathead! He should put some Tantra into his dreary songs.
Elton's first issues were his best, up to and including Yellow Brick Road. After, he became sorta soft and squishy, for my entertainment dollar. By the by, about 2 weeks after his famous Troubador gig in LA, he played Landis Auditorium in the Happyside and couldn't sell the place. But we could tell that he was going to be huge. One of the best I've seen.
I would also urge MT to explore further the 80's and the wealth of superb music which sallied forth from the loins of said decade. Here's a starter list: Elvis, X, Blasters, Camper Van Beethoven, Nick Lowe, Sex Pistols, Ultravox, REM, etc. etc. Some of this stuff is sorta edgy, but that's what it's about.
xo
billy
UF, who are you to say...oh, never mind.
UF, never heard of REM? Wow. I didn't particularly like them but they were pretty big on the radio. So now I'm curious, how old are you?
Oh and on a general note, Sting is NOT known as Stink in this entire house. Only by Billy Canary. I swooned over Sting during a concert where I was just -----> far away from him while he sang away at us. Oh yeah and he's an Ashtangi yogi too. Wooooo.
But Stink was a Police-man then, honey. Then he was Sting. After the Police he is Stink.
Didn't mean to sound crabby in the post MT.
32 huh? And you feel old? You shouldn't in this crowd of ahem, aged-like-fine-wine group.
To my honey, no, no, no, he's still not Stink to me, I do so still love Sting no matter if he's solo or not. Although I have to admit, it ain't his singin'.
Aged like fine wine? You mean sitting in the dark getting moldy and dusty?
Only on the outside. :-)>
Okay, my tour through my ages. My tastes tend to be, uh, somewhat unconventional. I expect most folks won't like something in this list; oh well. I can't say that these are authoritatively what I consider the finest, but these are albums that had a big impact on me and which I listened to many many times. This is roughly chronological instead of best-to-worst, because that's how I'm thinking today.
1. Napoleon XIV: They're coming to take me away, Ha Haaaa! / !aaaaH aH, yawa em ekat ot gnimoc er'yehT
- The first record I bought (1st grade, I think). The beginning of my love of novelty songs. I memorized it sonically (ie, by sound not words) both forwards (side A) and backwards (side B). Recently I've been marching down Mount Rubidoux, listening to it in my head. Perfect march cadence for that purpose. Maybe I'll perform it one of these days.
2. Walter/Wendy Carlos: Switched On Bach
- I first heard this album when I was twelve. It flipped my musical mind inside-out and began an obsession with electronic music synthesis that continued until the 80's, when it went in a direction that was generally unpleasant to me. Anyway, although I'd heard Bach before, I'd never heard anything like Carlos' realization of the 3rd Brandenburg Concerto; all those sparkly notes, individually and consciously placed, using sounds that at the time seemed more impactful than any orchestral sounds. And the young nerd in me just went "What Was THAT???" which was a challenge for my young, inquisitive know-it-all mind. Eventually, I became a prety good synthesizer designer (yeah, I built 'em as fast as they could steal 'em!) programmer and player out of my experience of this (and the next) album.
3. Iron Butterfly: In A Gadda Da Vida
- Unique use of Vox combo organ in a rock setting. I later bought a Vox Jaguar, not yet knowing what a Hammond was. At the time, learning the organ part for the title song was an educational challenge.
4. Emerson, Lake and Palmer: Emerson, Lake and Palmer
- In 1970, when my brother first showed me this album, I had already played in a summer-resort-based rock band with my brother and cousins. I'd been studying the playing of some great rock keyboardists, for example, Nicky Hopkins (Rolling Stones), Lee Michaels, Doug Ingle (Iron Butterfly), Jon Lord (Deep Purple), Ray Manzarek (The Doors) and Steve Winwood, as well as folks like Scott Joplin and Oscar Peterson. I was also interested in classical, electronic, jazz, etc. But I'd _Never_ heard writing and playing like this! Keith Emerson combined the styles I loved, put the keyboard out front in a high-ability aggressive rock style, with very creative writing (I know, I know, your mileage may vary; I like The Ramones too.). This started my second big obsession (after synthesizers) and first fandom: Keith Emerson. What can I say? I'm a fan! For years, I wouldn't mention it, but I later decided to go with it. Here's how big a fan I am: I co-created and edited the ELP digest, which has become the premiere ELP discussion group on the Web. I could go on... for days. Maybe I'll blog about ELP some time... Although I could fill my list with Emerson, I'll resist that twisted urge and just mention a few more right here: Tarkus amazed me with more writing/playing that resonated with me, and REAL ROCK SYNTHESIZERS!; On Trilogy, they became mostly less frenetic, and more orchestral. And Brain Salad Surgery created a new singular rock genre, which has (sadly to me) not been further explored since then. And then there's Emerson's work with The Nice...
I really oughta mention Tommy, JC Superstar, and Steeleye Span here, but this is a "Top 5" list, and those have been mentioned above. So I'll end with:
5. Jane Siberry: The Speckless Sky.
- Okay, most folks have never heard of Canadian songwriter Jane Siberry, so they don't know what they're missing. To me, this is an album in the same class as The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper, and Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, except nobody's ever heard of it. Brilliant songwriting from beginning to end, cinematic, emotional, and overall uplifting. If you'd like to hear more of her, ask me.
So much more that I'd like to mention, but I'll just end this list right here and go for a walk with Doni.
I'm clearly going to have to do a "favorite music" posting or maybe series on my blog.
Ob Testosterone: Alice Cooper! ZZ Top! Zappa! Oh, speaking of Zappa, if you haven't heard "Sheik Yerbouti" or "Joe's Garage Part 1", and you like Zappa, you should.
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