May 23 2006
Top 14 Albums (Phillip)
Music is so intimately connected to our memories that our judgement of the quality of music is often based more on nostalgia than on the actual music. I don’t think you’ll find many 40-year-old converts of The Doors, Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin, The Eagles, or Super Tramp. If you didn’t discover the music when you were young, you wonder what all the fuss is about. When I sent J-Walk my album list last week, I did my best to avoid nostalgic picks.
There are so many excellent artists who didn’t make my list, my final choice seems almost arbitrary. I reduced it to all-time favourite albums that I still listen to as albums (not on random play), and a few current favourites I think will stand the test of time. At least in theory that’s what I did.
Earlier this week when Whole Wheat Radio was down, I recorded a nearly 3-hour show where I played selections from these albums and provided some dull, uninsightful commentary as to why I chose the albums. If you see the “Mud Radio is on the air” sign blinking anytime this week, it means I’m webcasting the show. Here’s the big list:
Bob Marley’s Survival - The peak of Bob Marley’s solo work. The one album where all the elements come together perfectly. The harmonies, the horns, the lyrical content, the complex rhythms. The best example of what Marley and his band could produce when Chris Blackwell wasn’t watering down their sound.
Daniel Lanois’s Acadie / Shine - Impossible to pick one album over the other, so I picked them both. My favourite Canadian musician. His albums are journey’s. Fans of Emmylou Harris’s Wrecking Ball will likely enjoy these albums.
Gillian Welch’s Soul Journey - Country, folk, rock, whatever. One of the best albums of the past 10 years.
Greg Brown’s Honey in the Lion’s Head - I want to be like Greg Brown. He’s replaced Townes Van Zandt as my favourite down-to-earth songwriter. This is what I mean by mud songs.
Israel Vibration’s The Same Song - Best reggae album ever recorded, with a vocal style all their own. Sadly, like most classic reggae artists, they’ve gone way downhill over the years.
John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band - The first time I heard “Working Class Hero,” I had no idea John Lennon did songs like that. His first post-Beatles album, and his best.
Peter Gabriel’s Passion - Non-pop Peter Gabriel. “World music” got a bigtime kickstart from this album. My favourite headphones album.
Randy Newman’s Sail Away / Good Old Boys - One of the most intelligent, funniest, insightful songwriters alive today. Couldn’t pick just one album.
Sonny Boy Williamson (#2)’s The Essential - Master harp player. The king of the blues. Done.
Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee’s Sonny & Brownie - Simple, straightfoward blues, but it does the job. Goes great with The Blues Never Die, by Otis Spann.
The Wailers’ Catch a Fire (Jamaican version) - Non-watered-down reggae with the original Wailers, which included Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston. They were the best and this proves it.
Tom Waits’s Raindogs - The voice might be hard to handle at times, but he is a hell of a songwriter who knows how to pull out the best from so many traditions, it’s amazing.
