Three Albums you Highly Recommend...

[Erik Rupp]

Think about it. We've all got albums that we really, really like, but weren't huge hits, or may have been forgotten as they've gotten older.

What three albums (in any genre) would you recommend to the other board members, and why?


Here are mine...

Buddy Rich - The Roar Of '74: It's a great album that combines Big Band Jazz/Swing with Rock and Funk elements, and the band is just amazingly powerful and tight.

Thin Lizzy - Live And Dangerous: One of the best live albums of the 70's (even if it was highly overdubbed). Great songs, great performances, and a lot of energy.

Badlands - Badlands: When slick Pop Metal or ultra heavy Thrash were the vogue, these guys came out with an album heavily influenced by Bad Company, Jimi Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin. Kingdom Clone these guys were not - they made the style their own. And the songs were just fantastic.



(IF I could cheat and list one more it would be Armored Saint's Symbol Of Salvation album - one of the best straight ahead Heavy Metal albums ever.)

[hokeyboy]

Blow by Blow -- Jeff Beck. The master of microtonality brings his patented rock/fusion to its ultimate heights. I can never get enough of this album.

Songs in the Key of Life -- Stevie Wonder. My favorite album of all time. Sprawling, epic, ambitious, self indulgent, unforgettable.

Aqualung -- Jethro Tull. Oh this hasn't been forgotten, it was a huge hit, most of its album hits were COMPLETELY overplayed. But listened from front to finish, it's nothing short of absolute greatness.

[hokeyboy]

EDIT: Replace Aqualung with Sabotage -- Black Sabbath. It NEVER gets enough love and it's my personal favorite Ozzy-lineup album. So many awesome songs, ESPECIALLY Megalomania (37 tons of awesome). Not to mention the greatness of Hole in the Sky, Symptom of the Universe, the wacky instrumental/choral bombasticity of Supertzar, and the killer closing of The Writ. The only song I was never too crazy about was Am I Going Insane with those dated, silly 70s "Save my life I'm going down for the last time" keyboards, but even as filler its OK.

[John, Your Pal]

I'm gonna give you more than three, and you probably won't like most of them but here goes...

Jayhawks, Tomorrow the Green Grass---absolutely magical lyrics and vocal harmonies

Rush, Permanent Waves---accessible yet progressive

Robert Plant's first solo album, Pictures at Eleven---better than at least two Zeppelin albums; Robbie Blunt fantastic GTR. (Ignore EVERY other Plant solo album by the way.)

The Who, My Generation---the first and last great album by what I consider to be what the Who represented

The Byrds, Younger Than Yesterday---Skip the hits (although they're fine) and go to the Gene Clark stuff.

Yes, Time and a Word---concise, creative, and melodic

Small Faces, There Are But Four Small Faces---more influential than most realize

Chicago, Chicago V---their musical and compositional peak; don't let what they did in the 80's dissuade you from hearing this

Elton John, Tumbleweed Connection---one of the rare good concept albums

Judas Priest, Stained Class or Hell Bent for Leather---They get it perfect twice; skip everything else of theirs till you've heard these.

Foreigner, Head Games---I just like it.

Eagles, One of these Nights---their only great album, the last real Eagles album

Blue Oyster Cult, Mirrors---not the favorite of most of their fans, but it has a distinctiveness, diversity, and sonic clarity lacking in most of their other stuff

Big Star, Radio City---founding fathers of power pop

The Knack, Get the Knack---Skip "My Sharona" if you wish, but listen to this album again.

James Taylor, Mud Slide Slim---for lack of a better term, sweet all the way through