The Non-Jazz, Non-Blues Albums That Changed My Life, part one
So these are not desert island discs per se, unless of course I had a huge solar driven cell for my iPOD or a hut full of shelves for my vinyl...These records represent big slices of time and memory, connection and discovery. And yeah, I own them all and rarely listen to many of them but I know they are there and most importantly, I know how they make me feel, even just the recalling of the sounds within them...so in no particular order, off the top of my head. Inspired by Rob Grant.
Beatles – every Beatles album in order of release, American versions
David Crosby – If I Could Only Remember My Name
Bob Dylan – Great White Wonder; Blonde on Blonde; Bringing It All Back Home; Blood on the Tracks; Desire; Time Out of Mind
Van Morrison – St. Dominic’s Preview; Common One; Moondance
Gram Parsons – Grievous Angel
Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
Stephen Stills & Manassas - self-titled
Joni Mitchell – Hejira; Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter; Blue
Neil Young – On The Beach; Harvest; Time Fades Away; Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere; Comes A Time; Tonight’s The Night…for starters
Willie Nelson – Sings Kristofferson; Red Headed Stranger; Teatro
Bob Marley & The Wailers – Burnin’; Catch A Fire; Exodus; Natty Dread; Rastaman Vibrations
The Dream Syndicate - Medicine Show; The Days of Wine & Roses
Ryan Adams - Cold Roses; Easy Tiger; jacksonville City Nights; Gold
Graham Nash – Songs For Beginners; Wild Tales
Eric Clapton – 461 Ocean Blvd.
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Sky Blue Sky
The Who – Meaty, Beaty, Big & Bouncy; Live at Leeds; Tommy; Quadrophenia; Who’s Next
Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True; King Of America; Imperial Bedroom
David Bowie – The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust; Station To Station; Aladdin Sane
The Grateful Dead - Skull and Roses; American Beauty; Workingman's Dead; Europe '72; One From the Vaults
Rain Parade - Emergency Third Rail Power Trip
Uncle Tupelo - Anondyne
Crosby, Stills & Nash – self-titled (1st album)
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Déjà vu; Four Way Street
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Green River; Born On the Bayou
Spiritualized -- Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space
Opal - Happy Nightmare Baby
Lou Reed – The Blue Mask
Jerry Garcia - Garcia
Fear - The Record
Whiskeytown - Stranger's Almanac
Simon & Garfunkel – Bookends; Bridge Over Troubled Water
George Harrison – All Things Must Pass; Concert For Bangladesh; Living in the Material World
Patti Smith – Horses
Old & In The Way - self-titled
Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs – Pigus, Drunkus, Maximus
Peter Tosh – Equal Rights; Legalize It
Dwight Yoakam - Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc
The Blasters -- The Blasters
Neville Bros - Nevillization, Fiyo On the Bayou
X – Los Angeles, Wild Gift
Aretha Franklin – that there isnt a boxed set is a sin..so Young, Gifted & Black; At Fillmore West; I Never Loved A Man...
Velvet Underground & Nico
Rock n Roll Gumbo – Professor Longhair
James Taylor – Sweet Baby James
Al Green – Call Me, I’m Still In Love With You
John Mayall – Turning Point
The Kinks – Schoolboys In Disgrace
Stevie Wonder – Innervisions, Anthology, Songs in the Key of Life
Marvin Gaye – What’s Goin’ On, Let’s Get It On, Anthology
Massive Attack -- Mezzanine
Bruce Springsteen - The Wild The Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, Born to Run, Nebraska
Todd Rundgren – Something/Anything
Violent Femmes - selt-titled
R.E.M. -- Reckoning
Talking Heads – Fear of Music
Steely Dan – Countdown To Ecstasy, Pretzel Logic
Prince - 1999
Jefferson Airplane – Crown of Creation, Surrealistic Pillow, Volunteers
The Pretenders – The Pretenders, Learning To Crawl
Public Enemy -- Fear of a Black Planet
Dusty Springfield – Dusty In Memphis
Brian Eno – Apollo sdtk
Jimi Hendrix – Axis Bold As Love, Band of Gypsys, Electric Ladyland
Elton John – Madman Across The Water, Honky Chateau
The Clash – Sandinista
My Bloody Valentine -- Loveless
Los Lobos -- How Will The Wolf Survive; La Pistola y El Corozon; The Neighborhood; and basically all of the rest
Carole King – Tapestry
Dr. Dre -- The Chronic
Merle Haggard – That’s The Way Love Goes
Roxy Music – Avalon
Santana – Caravansari, Abraxas
The Byrds – Greatests Hits, Untitled
Buffalo Springfield – Retrospective
The Pogues -- Rum, Sodomy & The Lash
Husker Du - New Day Rising
Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here
Cream - Disraeli Gears, Wheels of Fire
Derek & The Dominos – Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs
Big Brother & The Holding Company – Cheap Thrills
The Minutemen - Double Nickels On The Dime
Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation
Led Zeppelin - II, IV, Houses of the Holy
Jethro Tull – Aqualung
Allman Brothers Band – At Fillmore East, Eat A Peach
Duane Allman -- Anthology
James Brown - Love Power Peace
John Lennon – Imagine, Plastic Ono Band
John Lennon & Yoko Ono – Double Fantasy
King Crimson - Discipline
Tom Waits – Nighthawks at the Diner, Foreign Affair, Small Change
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles – Anthology
The Band - Big Pink, The Band, Northern lights Southern Cross
The Doors – The Doors. L.A. Woman
Frank Zappa - Overnight Sensation
Nilsson -- Nilsson Schmilsson
John David Souther – Black Rose
Ramone – Ramones
Buddy Holly – 20 Golden Greats
Dr. John – Gumbo
King Sunny Ade -- Juju Music
Jane's Addiction -- Nothing's Shocking
The Eagles – The Eagles, Hotel California
Richard Thompson – Hand of Kindness
Richard & Linda Thompson – Shoot Out The Lights
Spacemen 3 -- Playing With Fire
Meat Puppets -- Up On The Sun
Red Hot Chili Peppers – BloodSugarSexMagik
The Temptations – Anthology
The Police – Synchronicity
Stone Temple Pilots - Tiny Music..Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop
Steve Earle -- Guitar Town
Sam Cooke – The Best of…
Linda Ronstadt – A Heart Like A Wheel
John Prine – Common Sense
T-Bone Burnett – self-titled
Paul Simon – There Goes Rhymin’ Simon, Graceland
Chuck Berry – Chess Box
Big Star -- #1 Record
Green On Red -- Gas Food Lodging
ELO -- Eldorado
Various Artists -- Phil Spector: Back To Mono 1958-1969
The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers, Let It Bleed, Exile On Main St, Beggar’s Banquet..etc.
Rod Stewart – Every Picture Tells A Story
Johnny Winter – Still Alive & Well
Television - Marquee Moon
Fela Anikulapo Kuti & Africa '70 -- Expensive Shit
Nirvana – Nevermind
Yes - Close To The Edge; The Yes Album
Sly and the Family Stone – Greatest Hits
Jackson Browne – Late For the Sky, For Everyman
Parliament - One Nation Under A Groove, Mothership Connection
Emmylou Harris - Luxury Liner; Elite Hotel
Guy Clark - Old No. 1; Old Friends; Keepers
Townes Van Zandt - Live at The Old Quarter, Boston; The Late, Great Townes Van Zandt
Joe Ely - Live Shots; Musta Notta Gotta Lotta
Elvis Presley - Sun Sessions; The Memphis Record
please stop me before I lose my mind...
coming soon...the jazz and blues list..
What You'll Find Here: Music, Movies and Me
Since May 1976, I have written in journals. When I have nothing particularly resonant to say about my own inner turmoil, philosophic ramblings, sexual peccadillos or whining on about the state of the world around me...I have always fallen back on reporting the cultural time consumption that takes up in inordinate portion of my daily goings on.
In the 40+ years since my first concerts seeing Children's Symphony presentations on Sundays at the Pasadena Civic or The Hot Jazz Society's monthly Dixieland romps in an old meeting hall on the edge of the L.A. "River" across from Griffith Park, I have been sold heavily on the magic of live music. As Neil Young so aptly put it, "Live music is better bumper stickers should be issued."
Growing up a few orange groves and canyons length away from Hollywood also contributed greatly to my family's addiction to movie going. From the time I was a small there were weekly trips to the drive-in theaters that dotted the landscape, or the local Temple theater for the Saturday matinees. Once in a while we'd drive the 12 miles into Hollywood and see something in one of the magnificent old movie palaces like Grauman's Chinese, the Egyptian, The Pantages or later the Cinerama Dome. My dad loved Westerns and War movies, as if he didn't get enough shoot-'em-up as an L.A. County Sheriff in his day gig, my mom adored musicals and comedies. My brother and I loved them all.
At SDSU, I played in my first gigging band and began booking concerts on campus as part of the well-funded Cultural Arts Board, kindling for my future life in and around music.
So it's not surprising that my first jobs out of college were working in local video rental places (which were all the rage) or managing a couple of Sam Goody record stores in Mall's on the East Coast where we marveled at the new CD format and sold the first home computers and video games (yes Commodore and Pong and Atari).
So these are really just extensions of all of those journal entries talking about the great new movies I was seeing and LPs/CDs I was listening to.
Though iPODS/iPADs, apps, smart phones and downloads now make music and movies accessible in your own pocket, there is still nothing like sitting in front of a stack of speakers with a room full of people swaying to music created before your eyes. Nor is there anything that works quite so well for me to escape the real world and all of it's pressures just outside than two hours in a dark theater, absorbing the stories flickering across that wide screen as they pull you into their world.
But a really good taco runs a close third...
In the 40+ years since my first concerts seeing Children's Symphony presentations on Sundays at the Pasadena Civic or The Hot Jazz Society's monthly Dixieland romps in an old meeting hall on the edge of the L.A. "River" across from Griffith Park, I have been sold heavily on the magic of live music. As Neil Young so aptly put it, "Live music is better bumper stickers should be issued."
Growing up a few orange groves and canyons length away from Hollywood also contributed greatly to my family's addiction to movie going. From the time I was a small there were weekly trips to the drive-in theaters that dotted the landscape, or the local Temple theater for the Saturday matinees. Once in a while we'd drive the 12 miles into Hollywood and see something in one of the magnificent old movie palaces like Grauman's Chinese, the Egyptian, The Pantages or later the Cinerama Dome. My dad loved Westerns and War movies, as if he didn't get enough shoot-'em-up as an L.A. County Sheriff in his day gig, my mom adored musicals and comedies. My brother and I loved them all.
At SDSU, I played in my first gigging band and began booking concerts on campus as part of the well-funded Cultural Arts Board, kindling for my future life in and around music.
So it's not surprising that my first jobs out of college were working in local video rental places (which were all the rage) or managing a couple of Sam Goody record stores in Mall's on the East Coast where we marveled at the new CD format and sold the first home computers and video games (yes Commodore and Pong and Atari).
So these are really just extensions of all of those journal entries talking about the great new movies I was seeing and LPs/CDs I was listening to.
Though iPODS/iPADs, apps, smart phones and downloads now make music and movies accessible in your own pocket, there is still nothing like sitting in front of a stack of speakers with a room full of people swaying to music created before your eyes. Nor is there anything that works quite so well for me to escape the real world and all of it's pressures just outside than two hours in a dark theater, absorbing the stories flickering across that wide screen as they pull you into their world.
But a really good taco runs a close third...
