Posted on

50 Albums you must hear before you buy a house 3.0 (6)

Happy New House Year:

GVZ:

5. (23) Bob Dylan – Blonde on Blonde (1966)
“Here we are: the melancholic romanticist, some morally omniscient cynics and the one that just tells me to get stoned. Unfortunately I don’t have a basement, my friends.”

4. (5) Radiohead – In Rainbows (2007)
“The completion of that download, the uncompromising support tour: for the first time in my life I consciously witnessed rock history being written.”

3. (8) Love – Forever Changes (1967)
“Who gives a shit about forever? The Now Album.”

2. (2) The Beatles – Revolver (1966)
“If they would have replaced ‘Yellow Submarine’ by ‘Paperback Writer/Rain’, this list would have been a dictatorship.”

1. (1) The Velvet Underground and Nico – The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
“What has become of democracy anyway?”

RKH:

5. (20) DJ Shadow – Endtroducing… (1996)
“Technological deconstruction leading into organical reconstruction. The first true musical collage that actually sounds great.”

4. (4) The Beatles – Revolver (1966)
“The Big Bang. The start of an ever expanding revolution that’s still being felt today. But tomorrow? It’ll never know.”

3. (2) Van Morrison – Astral Weeks (1968)
“Ying. Mysticism, conjured by a 23 year old seer. The musical definition of The Divine Touch.”

2. (1) Radiohead – Kid A (2000)
“We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity. We shouldn’t flee from this revelation, but embrace it with every fiber of our being. Let this album be your guide.”

1. (9) Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On (1971)
“Sitdown and listen, really listen. Take it all in. Poignant lyrics, passionate singing and subtle yet overwhelming melodies. A sum greater than it’s parts, which 43 years later still makes me wonder why the most relevant questions are often times the least asked ones.”

GF:

5. The Who – Who’s Next (1971)
“Een oerkracht van protest en  schreeuwen in de verre wildernis.”

4. The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers (1971)
“Verslavend, strak en geil, van de platenhoes tot de nummers.”

3. Radiohead – In Rainbows (2007)
“Zang, teksten en instrumenten verweven tot een magisch geheel, zoals het samenkomen van zon en regen.”

2. Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (1969)
“Zware gitaren, fluisterende stemmen, pakkende melodieën en teksten over gevoelens die ieder kent maar nog nooit zo mooi gehoord heeft.”

1. Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks (1975)
“And every one of them songs rang true and glowed like buning coal.”

Posted on

50 Albums you must hear before you buy a house 2.0 (5): 30-26

Concluding the bottom half of our lists this week with a lot of undisputed classics. Of course there’s The Dark Side of the Moon, classic among classics, appearing in the lists of both DOK and GvZ after already having conquered a spot in RKH’s selection (#38). Moreover, GvZ finally put his sixties fetish aside, presenting his first eighties and nineties albums and a brand new entry by The Rolling Stones.

DOK:

26. Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
27. Blind Faith – Blind Faith (1969)
28. Santana – Abraxas (1970)
29. John Lennon – Plastic Ono Band (1970)
30. Talking Heads – Remain in Light (1980)

GvZ:

26. (36)  Talking Heads – Remain in Light (1980)
27. (*)    Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers (1971)
28. (20)  Pink Floyd –  The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
29. (39)  Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Déjà Vu (1970)
30. (34)  Radiohead – OK Computer (1997)

RKH:

26. (39)  Panda Bear – Person Pitch (2007)
27. (19)  The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds (1966)
28. (*)    Neil Young – After The Gold Rush (1970)
29. (*)    Cream – Disraeli Gears (1967)
30. (*)    Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run (1975)

RKH also welcomes a bunch of new albums, including the first albums of Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen that come around this year. Thanks to a total of eight albums this week, the seventies are the leading decade with half the albums behind us now (23/75, equally distributed among the three professors).

Posted on

Shuffle of the week #8

This is an ode to the shuffle. How better to get a good insight in your digitized album collection than by a classic shuffle? Finally discover the albums you never got into, finally throw the ones away you will never get into and worship those classics that never grow old again. The Shuffle of this week:

1. Rolling Stones – Dead Flowers (Sticky Fingers, 1971) [singlepic id=108 w=80 h=50 float=left]

Opening with the Stones this week, which is already quite remarkable, considering the two albums being in my collection. However, this famous one (with possibly even more famous sleeve from Andy Warhol) is an absolute gem. This song from it was covered later by Townes Van Zandt, which version was used in The Big Lebowski.

2. Electric Light Orchestra – Starlight (Out of the Blue, 1977) [singlepic id=101 w=80 h=50 float=left]

Delighted of course with this choice, from one of my favorite albums. Written and produced by Jeff Lynne, obviously. Although you might think that the Bee Gees are also some kind of involved.

3. My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges (Evil Urges, 2008) [singlepic id=107 w=80 h=50 float=left]

Title track of the homonymos album from 2008. Just like I said last time about Wilco, one of those bands that try to transcend the contemporary mediocrity by searching for new directions. Sometimes of course this ends up wrong (like on this album imho), but they would strike back hard three years later with one of their best albums (Circuital). Great band.

4. Grinderman – Go Tell the Women (Grinderman, 2007) [singlepic id=103 w=80 h=50 float=left]

Going back one more year with this debut album from Nick Cave’s project Grinderman. Strange strolling song that nonetheless draws your attention when your shuffle hits it on a lost Tuesday afternoon.

5. Monks – Oh, How to Do Now (Black Monk Time, 1966) [singlepic id=106 w=80 h=50 float=left]

Another curious song from an album I one day had to add to my collection because, just like 1000 others, it would be one that I absolutely had to hear before I die. It still has to prove that.

6. Jackson Browne – Rosie (Running On Empty, 1977) [singlepic id=104 w=80 h=50 float=left]

Track from the album with the famous live ending. This song, to the contrary, was recorded backstage.

 

7. Golden Earring – Turn the World Around (Naked III, 2005) [singlepic id=102 w=80 h=50 float=left]

Song from Holland’s rock pioneers that originally appeared on their 1989 album Keeper Of the Flame, when the band’s success was shrinking. That success returned in the nineties with the acoustic live trilogy, of which this is the final part.

8. Booker T. & The MG’s – Stranger on the Shore (Green Onion, 1962) [singlepic id=100 w=80 h=50 float=left]

Way back in time then with this song from a classic album. The atmosphere of this song perfectly describes the scene of a stranger standing on the shore.

9. Mogwai – Sine Wave (Rock Action, 2001) [singlepic id=48 w=80 h=50 float=left]

We’re still instrumental, but have travelled some 50 years in time meanwhile. Remarkably enough, this song also describes the atmosphere of a stranger standing on the shore, although the wind rages a little harder.

10. Lemonheads –  Rockin Stroll (It’s a Shame about Ray, 1992) [singlepic id=105 w=80 h=50 float=left]

Another recommendation from my album bible, leading me through life by telling me how to walk through history. Gonna give this album also a next try.