Instant Record collection (My Top 25)

[Whitey80]

A fella over on another forum was getting going in vinyl asking for recommendations of must haves. I thought about it, and, if just starting out, needing to get a good, broad range in just a small collection, this is MY answer (trying to restrict myself to no more than one album from an artist, otherwise, Dylan and the Stones would take up half the list)......what're yours? (must be available on 12")

The Lumineers - Lumineers : Roots revival band from Denver. Great, reverb-filled acoustic sound. Story telling lyrics
Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues : Modern acoustic folk band. 2nd album, well produced
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Tender Prey : Excellent and creepy. Includes one of their biggest, "The Mercy Seat". Up Jumped the Devil is one of my favorite songs of all time
Bon Iver - Bon Iver : Hard to describe in short form. Eerily beautiful sound. Worth looking up
Muddy Waters - Folk Singer : Waters acoustic 3 piece studio session. My favorite blues recording
Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast : Can't say much about this, just the best metal album ever!
10 Years After - Space in Time : An often passed-over rock band from the early 70's. "I'd Love to Change the World" is a great song and should be in every collection
Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine :Their first LP release and still Reznor's best. Biting and loud.
Nirvana - Bleach : The recent double LP is a great collection including early live performances
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures : Droning and depressing, in them moods sometimes, worth having around
Charlie Parker - Very Best of the Bird : Good mix of some of his high points, includes studio and live sets, double LP
Hank Williams III - Straight to Hell : Bringing back good ol' fashioned rebel country, just like his name-sake
Cake - Fashion Nugget : Alt/Rock masterpiece. Every song is memorable. Exceedingly clever songwriting.
Chuck Ragan - Covering Ground : Alt/Country hero. Former singer of punk band Hot Water Music, now a 3 piece doing heartfelt ramblin songs
Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man : Heavy on synth compared to his previous work, but that voice is perfect. "Everybody Knows", "I'm Your Man" and "Tower of Song" are standouts
Frank Sinatra - In the Wee Small Hours : No record collection can be called worth it's salt without this one. Exceptional concept album of loneliness.
Deep Sea Diver - History Speaks : Seattle Indy Rock act. No major label, but easy to find online.Grungy and Pop at once, NWO is the winner on this one.
Elvis Costello - My Aim is True : One of my favorite albums. Starts strong with "Welcome to the Working Week" and keeps the pace beautifully through punk-inspired blasters to ballad-y tracks like "Alison"
Huey Lewis and the News - Sports : Pop/Rock radio bait. Still great though. "I Want a New Drug" is just such a fun song.
Segovia - On Stage : Gifted classical guitarist live performance, expertly recorded.
Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited : His jump to rock was controversial and massively important to American music. Sarcastic and thought provoking lyrics. Entire books have been written about this album.
The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street : Double LP packed with blue riff perfection, layered presentation
The Beatles - White Album : Highly regarded for good reason. The recent remaster on 180g is the one to get for sound quality
Seu Jorge - Carolina : Brilliant Brazillian groove session sound. One of my favorites
Buena Vista Social Club : Collaboration of the best Cuba has to offer. Rythmic, nuanced and memorable. Even though I can't understand a single word, I love to listen.

 

[Brokenhill]

I would swap 'Highway 61 Revisited' with 'Bringing it All Back Home' since you get the contrast between his Folk-Rock sound and his just Contemporary Folk sound, plus it seems to be a bit more personal.
Also, 'Im Your Man' isn't a good representation of Cohen. 'Songs of Love and Hate' is where its at!

I don't think I could list 25 of what I felt were truly essential, but I could try to list few:

Bark Psychosis - 'Hex' [Post-Rock/Ambient]
John Coltrane - 'A Love Supreme' [Avant-Garde Jazz]
Pink Floyd - 'The Dark Side of the Moon' [Progressive Rock]
Talk Talk - 'Spirit of Eden' [Post-Rock]
Michal Jackson - [Pop/Contemperary R&B]
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven' [Post-Rock/Experimental Rock]
Joy Division - 'Unknown Pleasures' [Post-Punk]
Slint - 'Spiderland' [Math Rock/Post-Rock]
GZA/Genius - 'Liquid Swords' [Hardcore Hip-Hop/Boom Bap]

Not 100% sure on those though, since I have a lot more music to experience. I'll have a better idea in a couple decades, haha.

I would want to add something ambient/drone but I haven't heard enough of it...maybe something like 'The Tired Sounds of...' by Stars of the Lid. 'Music for 18 Musicians' by Steve Reich would probably be an honorable mention as well as 'The Shape of Punk to Come' by Refused (gotta have something hard).

 

[Hobbit]

These lists are hard to quantify, so I don't:-D It seems to me Zeppelin 4, Mingus' Ah Hum, Brubeck's Take Five should be on the list. Of course, then you have the watershed albums like Nirvana's Never Mind, Van Halen's first, PF Dark Side of the Moon (which has been mentioned), possibly even G&R's Appetite for Destruction. I better stop writing now or I'll have 50 additions to your 25!

edit: noticed no swing albums listed. I would go with The Atomic Basie, but gotta have a Glen Miller thrown in there too.

 

[Ponzio]

While I might have shot off a list like this in my teens in a heartbeat, to do so now would be a study in frustration. I'm lucky if I could keep it under a Top 500.

A friend (Ricky Ricardo ) and myself hold an annual listening party; The Summer Solstice Shebang, held on the weekend of June 21st. It started back in '83 and continues to this day, starting at 6 in the evening till the wee hours the next day with a rolling cast of friends. The idea is to bring the latest artist/music but also unearthing old gems. Originally we might have swapped a cassette or two but as our musical libraries grew and grew, it got a bit out of control. I should say I got out of control. I actually submitted 9 CD-R's of mp3 songs 3 years ago. So Richie, rightfully, insisted that we limit ourselves to 3 WAV Cd's, forcing us to be more critical and sparing our guests a musical overload. Here's one of my favorite submissions, from last year.