Okay, anyone care to enlighten us? I've posted this elsewhere, but I'm curious to see the responses here at AH. What are your personal "
Top 20 Albums That You Should Have Yet Probably Don't"? They needn't be your twenty favorites, just good stuff that's perhaps a bit off the beaten path. I'm always looking for something new and interesting, and you rarely hear anything good on the radio.
Many of the bands on this list are things I discoved thru the recommendations of fellow forum brothers in arms.
Here's mine, in no particular order:
1.
Iron and Wine-
Our Endless Numbered Days: This is sorta folksy, mellow stuff, pretty low fi but interesting. I&W is just Sam Beam and his trusty 4-track, but very compelling. Listening to it daily will make you a better person.
2.
Built to Spill -
Ancient Melodies of the Future: Good hard alt rock with smarts and killer guitar riffs. Very catchy stuff with great songwriting and lots of hooks,
Ancient Melodies of the Future might just convince you that Doug Marsch is a friggin' genius.
3.
Flaming Lips -
The Soft Bulletin: This one is honestly the
Dark Side of the Moon for the modern day. The followup album, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, is killer too, but
The Soft Bulletin is a great intro to the band.
4.
Jesus & Mary Chain -
21Singles: I normally wouldn't recommend a greatest hits as an intro to a band, but I can't otherwise decide where to begin. These guys were very influencial yet criminally underrated in the US.
5.
Alison Krauss -
New Favorite: If you don't listen to newgrass you may have never heard Krauss. She's a fiddle phenom, but even if she didn't play a note, her angelic voice would still justify her recording contract. This is a real treat if you have any affinity for folk, country or bluegrass at all and can appreciate a great voice.
6.
Joe Satriani -
Engines of Creation: This one's a fist in the gut from the first note. The Satch is a modern day guitar legend, and this one is pure glorious noise. Do yourself a favor and crank Attack on something that can play some bass.
Engines is easily his best post-
Surfing With The Alien work.
7.
Johnny Cash -
The Man Comes Around: Despite the fact that the years had taken their toll on his voice, Cash was never more powerful than on this one. In a long career filled with great music, this was among his finest work. Chocked full of some of his best songs, including the apocalyptic title track, this one shouldn't be missed, even if you don't listen to country.
8.
Liz Phair -
Exile in Guyville: I love all her stuff (well, not the new S/T one- I'm pretending that one doesn't exist! ), but Exile, her debut, is arguably her finest. She basically started the whole Lillith Fair/Grrrl power movement, but if you don't hold that against her too much this one's an instant classic from my favorite Potty Mouthed Girl.
9.
The Clancy Brothers With Tommy Makem -
Ain't It Grand Boys: The Clancy's were almost singlehandedly responsible for the folk explosion of the 50's and were very influencial. In fact, Bob Dylan cited them as a primary influence and even recorded some of their songs. While all the material here is available elsewhere, the Clancy's were always at their most compelling while playing live, so Ain't It Grand Boys, a double live set, is the perfect place to start.
10.
Cantus -
Let Your Voice Be Heard. Cantus is a mostly-classical vocal group from Minnesota.
Let Your Voice Be Heard is a collection of secular and religious songs from around the world, magnificently performed and immaculately recorded in the Great Hall of the Washington Pavillion in Sioux Falls, SD by John Atkinson, the editor in chief of Stereophile magazine. It's hard to see how this CD could be improved. This album will blow your mind and show you the power of the human voice.
11.
Roger Waters -
Amused To Death: The latest project from former Floyd frontman and songwriter Roger Waters,
Amused To Death will show you who the
real heart of Pink Floyd really was. Nothing in Floyds catalog of post-81 fluff can match this one.
12.
Sonny Rollins -
Way Out West: Most would say if you only buy one real jazz records to make it Miles Davis' Kind of Blue- and it's hard to argue with that choice. But for my money, I'll take tenor-sax-god Sonny Rollins
Way Out West. This one's simply more compelling to me than anything by Davis. Go for the XRCD version if you can; it's spendy, but the sound is fantastic.
13.
Dave Brubeck -
Time Out: Okay, I'm not 'Mr Jazz' by any means, but to me Time Out is the greatest album in jazz history. Filled with catchy tunes and wild experiments in rhythm, this one at once accessible and eccentric. Listen to it once before you decide you don't like jazz.
14.
Sigur Ros -
() : This is a strange one- the album has no name, and there aren't even names for the songs nor any credits. The whole album is an odd electronic experiment in glacially unfolding sounds and strange wordless chants (in a nonsense language the band calls "Hopelandic"). It's not an easy listen at first, but patience really pays off. This isn't one you'll blast this on your car stereo- it's more like an excercise in sonic meditation.
15.
The Raveonettes -
Whip It On: This disc really sounds like a collision between the
Beach Boys and
Jesus & Mary Chain's tour busses.
Glorious 3 minute slices of feedback and fuzzed out noise that's basically a homage to the music of the 50's mixed with
Jesus and Mary Chain. In fact, imagine
J&MC recorded by Phil Spector and you'll be close. Not everyone digs this, but it's certainly something different.
16.
Kaki King -
Legs to Make Us Longer : While she's far from a household name, Kaki King makes some wonderful guitar noises. She hammers on it, whacks it as a percussion instument and picks it nearly to peices, but she actually has learned to do it within the context of real songs. She'll probably never sell a lot of records, but she's damned fun to listen to.
17.
Beck -
Sea Change: Beck is probably mostly thought of as a sardonic jokester (much like me
), but this rare album of totally sincere and un-ironic music is quite a departure for Bech, but very powerful. Especially good on DVD-A.
18.
Steely Dan -
Two Against Nature: This recommendation is conditional- you should only buy this on DVD-A. The music is fine, if a bit less ambitious than their older stuff. No, you should buy this one to hear what can be done with modern recording technolody. If you have surround sound and a decent rig, you'll be treated to one of the best sounding discs ever recorded.
19.
XTC -
Skylarking: This one's a tough call- I could as easily recommend
Apple Venus Vol I or
Nonesuch, but
Skylarking has stood the test of time. Combining the bouyant harmonies of the Beatles with a heavy dose of sardonic wit and irreverance, XTC has created a string of classic records. This one's a great intro to their charms.
20.
Porcupine Tree -
In Absentia: This disc combines poetic lyrics and angst with a hard rock uppercut to the jaw. Nominally a prog band, PT collaborated with the Swedish metal band Opeth to create a very dark masterpeice in In Absentia. Go for this one on DVD-A and you won't be disappointed.
While I'm a big fan of classical music, for this list I'm sticking to rock and pop. There's a lot of great stuff out there, and of course this isn't meant to be comprehensive.
Please list the most overlooked classics you think should be in my collection. The idea is to expand each others' musical horizons by adding everyone's hidden gems.
