Fuckin' A's every ESSENTIAL album you should own thread

[Fuckin' A]

So I was going to start a blog like so many others, but I didn't want the risk of getting a lawsuit and I'm too lazy for that shit. I'm even too lazy for this.

but I love music and have a pretty eclectic taste so I thought I'd just start a thread here of albums I feel everyone should own, and at the very least, listen to. I'll also be adding albums that I feel are very good-great. I plan to keep this going for a while, so keep checking as I will be adding more and more albums.

So I'm basically going to have the album followed by an online review. I'll be uploading albums of all genres: Rock, Jazz, Metal, Soul, Ambient, Folk, ect. Everything except for hip-hop because that already has its own forum.

Enjoy and stay tuned.

[Fuckin' A]

Joni Mitchell - Blue (1971)



Bitrate: VBR
Genre: Folk-Rock

1 All I Want 3:33
2 My Old Man 3:35
3 Little Green 3:28
4 Carey 3:03
5 Blue 3:04
6 California 3:51
7 This Flight Tonight 2:52
8 River 4:05
9 A Case of You 4:23
10 The Last Time I Saw Richard 4:16

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Sad, spare, and beautiful, Blue is the quintessential confessional singer/songwriter album. Forthright and poetic, Joni Mitchell's songs are raw nerves, tales of love and loss (two words with relative meaning here) etched with stunning complexity; even tracks like "All I Want," "My Old Man," and "Carey" ג€” the brightest, most hopeful moments on the record ג€” are darkened by bittersweet moments of sorrow and loneliness. At the same time that songs like "Little Green" (about a child given up for adoption) and the title cut (a hymn to salvation supposedly penned for James Taylor) raise the stakes of confessional folk-pop to new levels of honesty and openness, Mitchell's music moves beyond the constraints of acoustic folk into more intricate and diverse territory, setting the stage for the experimentation of her later work. Unrivaled in its intensity and insight, Blue remains a watershed.

[Fuckin' A]

Television - Marquee Moon



Year: 1977
Genre: Punk
Bitrate: VBR

1 See No Evil 3:58
2 Venus 3:54
3 Friction 4:45
4 Marquee Moon 10:47
5 Elevation 5:10
6 Guiding Light 5:37
7 Prove It 5:05
8 Torn Curtain 7:10

Television, along with the other 70s legends that inspired the recent reintroduction of guitars, punk and garage-rock to the mainstream, are continually rediscovered by new breeds of NYC hipsters looking to start their own bands. The group's place in history has been resacramented again and again, so by now the backstory's old hat-- you know, the one about them kicking Richard Hell out of the band before they cut their first single, playing gigs and publishing verse with Patti Smith, and talking the owner of the then-unknown CBGB's to host shows of other genres than just "country, bluegrass, and blues" (which also makes them largely to blame for all those people that wear the club's t-shirts).

You can read first-hand accounts and second-hand analyses of all these events, and one thing you'll uncover is the debate over how "punk" Television was. Sure, they joined the movement from the beginning, playing out as early as 1973, and they harnessed the energy you associate with punk, even as they crossed it with art-rock and the poetic urges of frontman Tom Verlaine (nee Miller, renamed after the French poet-- but not in a fey way). But they were also a rock band that roared through long, tense jams: When I first heard "Marquee Moon", it somehow felt like I'd already been exposed to it on a classic rock station wedged between Steve Miller and Skynyrd.

With all that context, the most interesting thing about picking up Television's Marquee Moon-- today, for us folks who weren't old enough to buy the first edition vinyl-- is how ahistorical it sounds. If you listen to their original Brian Eno-produced demos, you hear a scragglier, faster band that's less confident and more... punk? If nothing else, the band at least sounded closer to the sometimes-sloppy Bowery clubrats Eno must have taken them for on those early tapes. Their sound on Marquee Moon, though, is clean, raw and simple. The band never breaks for a squall of energy, yet the whole record crackles with it, and they never rely on atmosphere to make their case. Billy Ficca's drums and Fred Smith's bass are extra lean and crisp, and the band's so tight that even the "Did you feel low?" call-and-response on "Venus de Milo" sounds amusingly rehearsed. The only rough edge is Tom Verlaine's striking warble, a somewhat choked-off tenor influenced either by Patti Smith or by someone kicking him in the throat.

But the things that make the record so classic, that pump your blood like a breath of clean air, are the guitars. This whole record's a mash note to them. The contrast between these two essential leads is stunning: Richard Lloyd chisels notes out hard while Verlaine works with a subtle twang and a trace of space-gazing delirium. They play lines that are stately and chiming, rutting and torrential, the riff, the solo, the rare power chord, and most of all, the power note: the second pang on the riff to "Venus de Milo" lands like a barbell; the opening bars of "See No Evil" show one axe rutting the firmament while the other spirals razorwire around it.

If Jose Feliciano had rearranged "Marquee Moon" the way he ruined "Light My Fire"-- by emphasizing the melody and lyrics and ditching the solos-- he'd have failed Television even worse than he did The Doors; every part of the song is a bridge to the monstrous Verlaine showpiece, and yet his guitar solo has no bombast: it climbs and soars in tangible increments, edging its way up scales and pounding like a contained explosion. The structural integrity makes this an Eiffel Tower in a world of Burning Men: in a decade full of guitarists spraying sweat on the arenas, Verlaine comes off like a man punching through ceilings.

Rhino's remastered release of 1977's Marquee Moon adds a few alternate takes; for example, you can hear "See No Evil" with guitar solos scrawled all over the verses. But you also get the first-ever CD release of "Little Johnny Jewel", a raw single that twangs and skitters around Verlaine's bug-eyed singing. So if you're new to Television but shy about picking up this bedrock masterpiece for the first time, just tell the cutie at the record store that you're buying it for that single, which alone would be worth the price.

With Marquee Moon entrenched in the canon, it's more interesting to revisit their 1978 follow-up, Adventure. This record has always suffered by comparison, mainly because it's so easy to relate it to the first record: the arrangements and the aesthetic are roughly the same, but the music is quieter and more reflective, and that means less horsepower. It's not weak or even very different from their debut, but you might be disappointed when the earth doesn't cave beneath your feet.

There isn't a weak song here, even if you count the abandoned title track, which is restored here as a bonus cut. "Carried Away", the best ballad on either album, floats away on an organ instead of a guitar; "The Fire" sounds as melodramatic as "Torn Curtain" but a lot less Stygian. And while "Foxhole" and "Ain't That Nothin'" wouldn't have broken the flow on Marquee Moon, there's a sense that they're going in a different direction but with the same tools. The reissue is great-- especially for the bonus "Ain't That Nothin'" instrumental runthrough-- but a new Television listener would probably be tempted to check out a whole different experience by picking up the live albums, The Blow-Up or Rhino Handmade's new Live at the Old Waldorf.

Television broke up after Adventure, and like typical mid-level rockers who fade away instead of dying, they went on to other projects, cut a reunion album in 1992, and still play occasional shows to this day. Writing this up now, it's hard not to feel out of place as someone too young to have caught their shows while the world is bursting with tributes and nostalgia from the people who loved them back when. But if my generation only inherited the band, then this release enshrines it again as something timeless, like that Greek sculpture the band once namechecked that shows motion and grace no matter what museum it's displayed in. Rhino and labels in the future will keep carbon-dating and explaining Marquee Moon, but sometime in the future, some Martian kid who can't get dates and hates sports will look past the plaque and sit in his room, blaring this music and wondering how life can possibly sound this great.

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[Fuckin' A]

King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King



Year: 1969
Genre: Progressive Rock
Bitrate: VBR

1 21st Century Schizoid Man (Including Mirrors) 7:24
2 I Talk to the Wind 6:05
3 Epitaph (Including March for No Reason and Tomorrow and Tomorrow) 8:47
4 Moonchild (Including the Dream and the Illusion) 12:12
5 The Court of the Crimson King (Including the Return of the Fire Witch and the Dance of the Puppets) 9:22

There are certain problems to be encountered by any band that is consciously avant-garde. In attempting to sound "farout" the musicians inevitably impose on themselves restrictions as real as if they were trying to stay in a Top-40 groove. There's usually a tendency to regard weirdness as an end in itself, and excesses often ruin good ideas. Happily, King Crimson avoids these obstacles most of the time. Their debut album drags in places, but for the most part they have managed to effectively convey their own vision of Desolation Row. And the more I listen, the more things fall into place and the better it gets.

The album begins by setting the scene with "21st Century Schizoid Man." The song is grinding and chaotic, and the transition into the melodic flute which opens "I Talk to the Wind" is abrupt and breathtaking. Each song on this album is a new movement of the same work, and King Crimson's favorite trick is to move suddenly and forcefully from thought to thought. "Epitaph" speaks for itself: "The wall on which the prophets wrote/Is cracking at the seams ... Confusion will be my epitaph."

"Moonchild" opens the second side, and this is the only weak song on the album. Most of its twelve minutes is taken up with short statements by one or several instruments. More judicious editing would have heightened their impact; as it is, you're likely to lose interest. But the band grabs you right back when it booms into the majestic, symphonic theme of "The Court of the Crimson King." This song is the album's grand climax; it summarizes everything that has gone before it: "The yellow jester does not play/But gently pulls the strings/And smiles as the puppets dance / In the court of the Crimson King."

This set was an ambitious project, to say the least. King Crimson will probably be condemned by some for pompousness, but that criticism isn't really valid. They have combined aspects of many musical forms to create a surreal work of force and originality.

Besides which they're good musicians. Guitarist Robert Fripp and Ian McDonald (reeds, woodwinds, vibes, keyboards, mellotron) both handle rock, jazz, or classical with equal ease. Bassist Greg Lakes and drummer Michael Giles can provide the beat, fill in the holes, or play free-form. While Dylan and Lennon are still safe, lyricist Peter Sinfield does show a gift (macabre as it may be) for free association imagery.

How effectively this music can be on stage is, admittedly, a big question. The answer is probably not too well. Still, King Crimson's first album is successful; hopefully, there is more to come.

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[Fuckin' A]

Sam Cooke - Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963



Released: 1985
Genre: Soul
Bitrate: 320

1 Feel It 3:48
2 Chain Gang 3:09
3 Cupid 2:45
4 Medley: It's All Right / For Sentimental Reasons 5:12
5 Twisting the Night Away 4:19
6 Somebody Have Mercy 4:40
7 Bring It On Home to Me 5:42
8 Nothing Can Change This Love 3:45
9 Having a Party 4:07

For anyone who thought they knew Sam Cooke's music based on the hit singles, this disc will be a revelation. This is the real Sam Cooke, doing a sweaty, raspy soulful set at the Harlem Square Club in North Miami, FL, on Jan. 12, 1963, backed by King Curtis and his band, a handful of local musicians, and Cooke's resident sidemen, guitarist Clifford White and drummer Albert "June" Gardner. To put it simply, it's one of the greatest soul records ever cut by anybody, outshining James Brown's first live album from the Apollo Theater and easily outclassing Jackie Wilson's live record from the Copa. Cooke's pop style is far removed from the proceedings here, which have the feel of being virtually a secular sermon. The record opens with the frantic, desperate chant-like "Feel It," followed by a version of "Chain Gang" that has all of the gentling influences of the single's string accompaniment stripped from it ג€” Cooke's slightly hoarse voice only adds to the startling change in the song, transformed from a piece of pop-soul into an in-your-face ode to freedom and release. "Cupid," perhaps the most sweetly textured song that Cooke cut during the 1960s, gets the full soul treatment, with horns and Curtis' sax up front and Cooke imparting an urgency here that's only implied in the studio rendition. "Twistin' the Night Away" gets two hot King Curtis sax solos, the highlights of a pounding, rippling performance with a beautifully vamped extended ending (with the drums, bass, and White's guitar wrapping themselves ever tighter around the central riff) that never would have made it to the floor of the Copa. "Somebody Have Mercy" leads into a long vamp by Cooke, a brief, soaring quotation from "You Send Me" that could easily have been a high point in sheer intensity ג€” and then Cooke and the band crank the tension and the spirits several notches higher with the greatest version of "Bring It On Home to Me" ever done by anybody. It all ends with a version of "Having a Party" that manages to be both soothing and wrenching at the same time, Cooke luxuriating in every nuance as the crowd joins in singing, reaching a higher pitch to the gently swinging tune, the drums kicking in harder, the rhythm guitar rising up, and Curtis' sax and the horns rising up slowly while Cooke goes on with his singing, which is more like preaching and the group sounds like it could play the riff all night. It's one of the cruel ironies of the recording business that this unique and extraordinary concert recording went unreleased for almost 22 years, in favor of the more polished (but also more antiseptic and duller) Sam Cooke at the Copa.

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[Random Sample]

I am 3 for 4 so far. good idea, and I look forward to reading more.

[Fuckin' A]

Jellyfish - Spilt Milk



Released: 1993
Genre: Power Pop
Bitrate: VBR

1 Hush 2:10
2 Joining a Fan Club 4:03
3 Sebrina, Paste and Plato 2:23
4 New Mistake 4:03
5 Glutton of Sympathy 3:49
6 The Ghost at Number One 3:37
7 Bye Bye Bye 4:02
8 All is Forgiven 4:10
9 Russian Hill 4:45
10 He's My Best Friend 3:44
11 Too Much, Too Little, Too Late 3:15
12 Brighter Day 6:12

For their second album, Jellyfish replaced the departed Jason Falkner with Tim Smith on bass. Jon Brion also came aboard with Lyle Workman to add to lead singer Andy Sturmer's guitar work. With Sturmer and keyboard player Roger Manning in place, however, Jellyfish managed to outdo their impressive debut with 1993's Spilt Milk. Spilt Milk expands on the sound of Bellybutton and is much more a studio creation than its predecessor. Dreamy vocal harmonies, circus-like swirling organ passages, and crunchy guitars are layered in a manner that evokes the best of the Beatles and the Beach Boys. "Hush," the lead track, particularly recalls the Beach Boys with its luscious vocal harmonies, as does the pure pop of "The Ghost at Number One." And, as expected from this cast, the infectious, melt-in-your-ear melodies are accompanied with clever lyrics like those on the raucous "Joining a Fan Club " and the masturbation ode "He's My Best Friend." Spilt Milk is a flawless pop gem from start right through the unbridled optimism of the closing "Brighter Day."

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[Fuckin' A]

Stevie Wonder - Innervisions



Released: 1973
Genre: Soul
Bitrate: 192

1 Too High 4:36
2 Visions 5:23
3 Living for the City 7:22
4 Golden Lady 4:58
5 Higher Ground 3:42
6 Jesus Children of America 4:10
7 All in Love Is Fair 3:41
8 Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing 4:44
9 He's Misstra Know-It-All 5:35

When Stevie Wonder applied his tremendous songwriting talents to the unsettled social morass that was the early '70s, he produced one of his greatest, most important works, a rich panoply of songs addressing drugs, spirituality, political ethics, the unnecessary perils of urban life, and what looked to be the failure of the '60s dream ג€” all set within a collection of charts as funky and catchy as any he'd written before. Two of the highlights, "Living for the City" and "Too High," make an especially deep impression thanks to Stevie's narrative talents; on the first, an eight-minute mini-epic, he brings a hard-scrabble Mississippi black youth to the city and illustrates, via a brilliant dramatic interlude, what lies in wait for innocents. (He also uses his variety of voice impersonations to stunning effect.) "Too High" is just as stunning, a cautionary tale about drugs driven by a dizzying chorus of scat vocals and a springing bassline. "Higher Ground," a funky follow-up to the previous album's big hit ("Superstition"), and "Jesus Children of America" both introduced Wonder's interest in Eastern religion. It's a tribute to his genius that he could broach topics like reincarnation and transcendental meditation in a pop context with minimal interference to the rest of the album. Wonder also made no secret of the fact that "He's Misstra Know-It-All" was directed at Tricky Dick, aka Richard Milhouse Nixon, then making headlines (and destroying America's faith in the highest office) with the biggest political scandal of the century. Putting all these differing themes and topics into perspective was the front cover, a striking piece by Efram Wolff portraying Stevie Wonder as the blind visionary, an artist seeing far better than those around him what was going on in the early '70s, and using his astonishing musical gifts to make this commentary one of the most effective and entertaining ever heard.

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[Conscious]

Cool

[Fuckin' A]

Big Star - Third/Sister Lovers



Released: 1978
Genre: Pop/Rock
Bitrate: VBR

1 Kizza Me 2:44
2 Thank You Friends 3:06
3 Big Black Car 3:36
4 Jesus Christ 2:39
5 Femme Fatale 3:30
6 O, Dana 2:35
7 Holocaust 3:49
8 Kangaroo 3:47
9 Stroke It Noel 2:06
10 For You 2:43
11 You Can't Have Me 3:11
12 Nightime 2:53
13 Blue Moon 2:06
14 Take Care 2:47
Bonus Tracks
15 Nature Boy 2:30
16 Till the End of the Day 2:15
17 Dream Lover 3:35
18 Downs 1:51
19 Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On 3:21

A shambling wreck of an album, Big Star's Third/Sister Lovers ranks among the most harrowing experiences in pop music; impassioned, erratic, and stark, it's the slow, sinking sound of a band falling apart. Recorded with their label, Stax, poised on the verge of bankruptcy, the album finds Alex Chilton at the end of his rope, sabotaging his own music long before it can ever reach the wrecking crew of poor distribution, indifferent marketing, and disinterested pop radio; his songs are haphazardly brilliant, a head-on collision between inspiration and frustration. The album is a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, each song smacking of utter defeat and desperation; the result is either one of the most vividly emotional experiences in pop music or a completely wasted opportunity, and while the truth probably lies somewhere in between, there's no denying Third's magnetic pull ג€” it's like an undertow. Although previously issued on a variety of different labels, Rykodisc's 1992 release is the initially definitive edition of this unfinished masterpiece, its 19 tracks most closely approximating the original planned running order while restoring the music's intended impact; in addition to unearthing a blistering cover of the Kinks' "At the End of the Day" and a haunting rendition of Nat King Cole's "Nature Boy," it also appends the disturbing "Dream Lover," which distills the album's messiest themes into less than four minutes of psychic torment.

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[Career Over Like Mike(NJJ)]

Cool.

Always meant to check that King Crimson LP since it's an album a lot of people talk about and Rorschach's particularly blistering cover of 21st Century Schizoid Man is one of my favorite songs ever.

Good thread.

[Fuckin' A]

Billie Holiday - Lady in Satin



Released: 1958
Genre: Jazz
Bitrate: VBR

1 I'm a Fool to Want You [edited master] 3:23
2 For Heaven's Sake 3:26
3 You Don't Know What Love Is 3:48
4 I Get Along Without You Very Well 2:59
5 For All We Know 2:53
6 Violets for Your Furs 3:24
7 You've Changed 3:17
8 It's Easy to Remember 4:01
9 But Beautiful 4:29
10 Glad to Be Unhappy 4:07
11 I'll Be Around 3:23
Bonus Tracks
12 End of a Love Affair [mono version] 4:46
13 I'm a Fool to Want You [take 3] 3:24
14 I'm a Fool to Want You [take 2 - alternate take] 3:23
15 End of a Love Affair: The Audio Story 9:49
16 End of a Love Affair [stereo] 4:46
17 [pause track] 0:06

This is the most controversial of all Billie Holiday records. Lady Day herself said that this session (which finds her accompanied by Ray Ellis' string orchestra) was her personal favorite, and many listeners have found her emotional versions of such songs as "I'm a Fool to Want You," "You Don't Know What Love Is," "Glad to Be Unhappy," and particularly "You've Changed" to be quite touching. But Holiday's voice was essentially gone by 1958, and although not yet 43, she could have passed for 73. Ellis' arrangements do not help, veering close to Muzak; most of this record is very difficult to listen to. Late in life, Holiday expressed the pain of life so effectively that her croaking voice had become almost unbearable to hear. There is certainly a wide range of opinion as to the value of this set. [The 1997 CD reissue adds two alternate takes of "I'm a Fool to Want You," part of which were used for the original released rendition, plus the stereo version of "The End of a Love Affair" (only previously released in mono) and examples of Lady Day rehearsing the latter song, including a long unaccompanied stretch.

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[Fuckin' A]

Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul



Release: 1969
Genre: Soul
Bitrate: 192

1 Walk on By 12:04
2 Hyperbolicsyllablicsesquedalymistic 9:41
3 One Woman 5:12
4 By the Time I Get to Phoenix 18:41

Released at the tail end of the '60s, Hot Buttered Soul set the precedent for how soul would evolve in the early '70s, simultaneously establishing Isaac Hayes and the Bar-Kays as major forces within black music. Though not quite as definitive as Black Moses or as well-known as Shaft, Hot Buttered Soul remains an undeniably seminal record; it stretched its songs far beyond the traditional three-to-four-minute industry norm, featured long instrumental stretches where the Bar-Kays stole the spotlight, and it introduced a new, iconic persona for soul with Hayes' tough yet sensual image. With the release of this album, Motown suddenly seemed manufactured and James Brown a bit too theatrical. Surprising many, the album features only four songs. The first, "Walk on By," is an epic 12-minute moment of true perfection, its trademark string-laden intro just dripping with syrupy sentiment, and the thumping mid-tempo drum beat and accompanying bassline instilling a complementary sense of nasty funk to the song; if that isn't enough to make it an amazing song, Hayes' almost painful performance brings yet more feeling to the song, with the guitar's heavy vibrato and the female background singers taking the song to even further heights. The following three songs aren't quite as stunning but are still no doubt impressive: "Hyperbolicsyllabicsequedalymistic" trades in sappy sentiment for straight-ahead funk, highlighted by a stomping piano halfway through the song; "One Woman" is the least epic moment, clocking in at only five minutes, but stands as a straightforward, well-executed love ballad; and finally, there's the infamous 18-minute "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" and its lengthy monologue which slowly eases you toward the climactic, almost-orchestral finale, a beautiful way to end one of soul's timeless, landmark albums, the album that transformed Hayes into a lifelong icon.

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[ackbar]

thanks..

[GM Dizzy Skillespie]

this shaping up to possibly be the dopest thread Rick Rubin has ever had.
the only one I'm skeptical of downloading so far is Jellyfish.

[Career Over Like Mike(NJJ)]

Hot Buttered Soul = top 5 album of all time

[Fuckin' A]

Jeff Buckley - Grace



Released: 1994
Genre: Singer-Songwriter
Bitrate: VBR

1 Mojo Pin 5:41
2 Grace 5:22
3 Last Goodbye 4:35
4 Lilac Wine 4:32
5 So Real 4:43
6 Hallelujah 6:53
7 Lover, You Should've Come Over 6:43
8 Corpus Christi Carol 2:56
9 Eternal Life 4:52
10 Dream Brother 5:26

Jeff Buckley was a diva. And a particularly fanciful one at that. I remember reading about the late soprano Maria Callas and Buckley fave Edith Piaf, the fragility of their demeanors, and the notion they were more precious, tender than the world around them; that every moment within earshot of their voices was like hearing the song of the most rare and beautiful bird in the world. In fact, Piaf as the "Little Sparrow" was the most obvious blueprint for Buckley's flighty, unabashedly emotional expression; in both cases, whether your reaction was to adore or abhor the often raw (but never adolescent) bouts of melo- and other kinds of drama, no one could say they held their hearts in check. Consequently, they needed lots of maintenance. In Buckley's case, it was a steady stream of collaborators, girls, gigs and an impressive reserve of torch songs from way back when. He really wasn't built for the strand of rock music borne of rebellion or release; he was a songbird, like the kind that used to receive roses and blown kisses from the debutantes in the balcony after performances.
Unlike Callas and Piaf, Buckley grew up in an age when the chanteuse didn't need an orchestra or a symphony hall to get their message across. After having cut his musical teeth in Los Angeles, he came to New York in 1991 and soon hooked up with guitarist Gary Lucas, eventually joining his band Gods & Monsters. Lucas and Buckley established a partnership that produced some very good songs (including "Mojo Pin" and Grace's title track) in a very short time, but before they had a chance to make it out of the city, Buckley quit the band over a disagreement regarding his future loyalty. Afterwards, he played solo gigs, sometimes incorporating friend and bassist Mick Grondhal, and assisted by a growing legion of nighthawk fans, was soon signed by Columbia as a solo artist.

1993's Live at Sin-e EP gives the best idea of what Columbia's A&R rep must have seen in Buckley at the time. At shows, he was the picture of a high diva: sprawling, boundless and with more than a pinch of self-conscious glitter. However, as he revealed in The Making of Grace, the behind-the-scenes feature that leads off the third disc DVD in Columbia's new "Legacy" edition reissue of his debut full-length, he needed a band. He already had Grondhal, met drummer Matt Johnson through Grace executive producer Steve Berkowitz, and, midway through recording the album, brought in guitarist Michael Tighe (who eventually contributed "So Real", to which Buckley added a chorus and put on the record in place of the bluesy "Forget Her"). Producer Andy Wallace speaks on the documentary about his concerns over how much of the record should reflect Buckley's solo performances, but true to form, the singer wanted it all.

Somehow, despite an overflow of ideas-- they needed three different band setups available at all times to accommodate Buckley's various moods-- the record got done. And it was released. And thousands of open-heart romantics heard their ship come in. As it happened, Grace was received with mixed feelings from critics who probably thought they were getting the next great alt-rock savior, and instead felt they'd received dinner theater for the moody crowd. They had a point: For all its swells of emotion and midnight dynamics, Grace was not a record to rally the post-grunge alternation. It made a jazz noise where a rock one was expected and a classical one where a pop one might have sold more records. MTV snagged "Last Goodbye", Grace's most radio-friendly song by a considerable margin, but Buckley was predestined for a cult stardom.

Grace's strengths have been well-documented over the years: The flawless choice of cover songs, including the definitive reading of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" (that we learn on the documentary was actually chosen based on John Cale's 1991 version from the Cohen tribute I'm Your Fan); the mystic, blue textures of "Mojo Pin", "So Real" and "Dream Brother" that seemed as related to Led Zeppelin as to Scott Walker as to Buckley's father; Wallace's sympathetic, intimate production and the band's equally sensitive following of Buckley's lead. And of course, he sang the hell out of those songs. His voice turned upward songs that naturally leaned inward; his reading of Nina Simone's "Lilac Wine" transformed from misty cocktail lament into transcendental experience, and the unlikely recasting of English composer Benjamin Britten's "Corpus Christi Carol" into ambient lullaby.

So, the question becomes how frustrated you are willing to be with Buckley. His posthumous releases suggest what Grace did: that he was one of the most talented musicians of his generation, while also being one of the most impulsive and, often, maddeningly inconsistent. Is he really being served by the uncovering of outtakes, B-sides and live performances? Fans certainly think so, but I won't cop to listening very beyond his lone completed record these days. And it bears emphasizing that its rewards have lost nothing in 10 years. Grace remains one of the most engaging, inspired records ever made, and its 10 original songs serve as the best possible portrait of Buckley as a diva, songwriter and artist.

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[drizzle]

Hot Buttered Soul = top 5 album of all time

[Fuckin' A]

the only one I'm skeptical of downloading so far is Jellyfish.

I'm going to have DLG come in here and school you on some Jellyfish. Classic/Near Classic pop album.

[Fuckin' A]

Curtis Mayfield - Super Fly



Released: 1972
Genre: Funk
Bitrate: 192

1 Little Child Runnin' Wild 5:25
2 Pusherman 5:04
3 Freddie's Dead 5:28
4 Junkie Chase (Instrumental) 1:39
5 Give Me Your Love (Love Song) 4:16
6 Eddie You Should Know Better 2:18
7 No Thing On Me (Cocaine On Me) 4:54
8 Think (Instrumental) 3:45
9 Superfly 3:53

The choice of Curtis Mayfield to score the blaxploitation film Superfly was an inspired one. No other artist in popular music knew so well, and expressed through his music so naturally, the shades of gray inherent in contemporary inner-city life. His debut solo album, 1970's Curtis, had shown in vivid colors that the '60s optimist (author of the civil-rights anthems "Keep On Pushing" and "People Get Ready") had added a layer of subtlety to his material; appearing on the same LP as the positive and issue-oriented "Move On Up" was an apocalyptic piece of brimstone funk titled "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go." For Superfly, Mayfield wisely avoids celebrating the wheeling-and-dealing themes present in the movie, or exploiting them, instead using each song to focus on a different aspect of what he saw as a plague on America's streets. He also steers away from explicit moralizing; through his songs, Mayfield simply tells it like it is (for the characters in the film as in real life), with any lessons learned the result of his vibrant storytelling and knack of getting inside the heads of the characters. "Freddie's Dead," one of the album's signature pieces, tells the story of one of the film's main casualties, a good-hearted yet weak-willed man caught up in the life of a pusher, and devastatingly portrays the indifference of those who witness or hear about it. "Pusherman" masterfully uses the metaphor of drug dealer as businessman, with the drug game, by extension, just another way to make a living in a tough situation, while the title track equates hustling with gambling ("The game he plays he plays for keeps/hustlin' times and ghetto streets/tryin' ta get over"). Ironically, the sound of Superfly positively overwhelmed its lyrical finesse. A melange of deep, dark grooves, trademarked wah-wah guitar, and stinging brass, Superfly ignited an entire genre of music, the blaxploitation soundtrack, and influenced everyone from soul singers to television-music composers for decades to come. It stands alongside Saturday Night Fever and Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols as one of the most vivid touchstones of '70s pop music.

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[drizzle]

^^ literally my favorite album of all time

[Fuckin' A]

Nick Drake - Pink Moon



Released: 1972
Genre: Folk
Bitrate: VBR

1 Pink Moon 2:06
2 Place to Be 2:43
3 Road 2:02
4 Which Will 2:58
5 Horn 1:23
6 Things Behind the Sun 3:57
7 Know 2:25
8 Parasite 3:36
9 Free Ride 3:06
10 Harvest Breed 1:37
11 From the Morning 2:30

After two albums of tastefully orchestrated folk-pop, albeit some of the least demonstrative and most affecting around, Drake chose a radical change for what turned out to be his final album. Not even half-an-hour long, with 11 short songs and no more ג€” he famously remarked at the time that he simply had no more to record ג€” Pink Moon more than anything else is the record that made Drake the cult figure he remains. Specifically, Pink Moon is the bleakest of them all; that the likes of Belle and Sebastian are fans of Drake may be clear enough, but it's doubtful they could ever achieve the calm, focused anguish of this album, as harrowing as it is attractive. No side musicians or outside performers help this time around ג€” it's simply Drake and Drake alone on vocals, acoustic guitar, and a bit of piano, recorded by regular producer Joe Boyd but otherwise untouched by anyone else. The lead-off title track was eventually used in a Volkswagen commercial nearly 30 years later, giving him another renewed burst of appreciation ג€” one of life's many ironies, in that such an affecting song, Drake's softly keened singing and gentle strumming, could turn up in such a strange context. The remainder of the album follows the same general path, with Drake's elegant melancholia avoiding sounding pretentious in the least thanks to his continued embrace of simple, tender vocalizing. Meanwhile, the sheer majesty of his guitar playing ג€” consider the opening notes of "Radio" or "Parasite" ג€” makes for a breathless wonder to behold. If anyone needs confirmation as to why artists like Mark Eitzel, Elliott Smith, Lou Barlow, or Robert Smith hold Drake close to their hearts, it's all here, still as beautiful as the day it was released.

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[b0mbs_of_death]

Nice thread, thanks.

[Fuckin' A]

Robert Johnson - King of the Delta Blues Singers



Released: 1961
Genre: Blues
Bitrate: VBR

1 Cross Road Blues
2 Terraplane Blues
3 Come on in My Kitchen
4 Walkin' Blues
5 Last Fair Deal Gone Down
6 32-20 Blues
7 Kind Hearted Woman Blues
8 If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day
9 Preachin' Blues (Up Jumped the Devil)
10 When You Got a Good Friend
11 Ramblin' on My Mind
12 Stones in My Passway
13 Traveling Riverside Blues
14 Milkcow's Calf Blues
15 Me and the Devil Blues
16 Hell Hound on My Trail
17 Traveling Riverside Blues [alternate version]

Reading about the power inherent in Robert Johnson's music is one thing, but actually experiencing it is another matter entirely. The official 1998 edition of the original 1961 album was certainly worth the wait, remastered off the best quality original 78s available, of far superior quality to any of the source materials used on even the 1991 box set. Johnson's guitar takes on a fullness never heard on previous reissues, and except for a nagging hiss in spots on "Terraplane Blues" (the equalization on this disc is extreme, to even sport some minute turntable rumble in the low end), this really brings his music alive. If there is such a thing as a greatest-hits package available on Johnson, this landmark album, which jump-started the whole '60s blues revival, would certainly be the one. The majority of Johnson's best-known tunes, the ones that made the legend, are all aboard: "Crossroads," "Walkin' Blues," "Me & the Devil Blues," "Come On In My Kitchen," and the apocalyptic visions contained in "Hellhound On My Trail" are the blues at its finest, the lyrics sheer poetry. And making its first appearance anywhere is a newly discovered (in 1998) alternate take of "Traveling Riverside Blues" that's appended to the original 16-track lineup. If you are starting your blues collection from the ground up, be sure to make this your very first purchase.

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[Zeed Stun]

thread =

[Fuckin' A]

Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime



Released: 1984
Genre: Punk
Bitrate: VBR

1 D's Car Jam 0:30
2 Anxious Mo-Fo 1:15
3 Theatre Is the Life of You 1:28
4 Viet Nam 1:27
5 Cohesion 1:57
6 It's Expected I'm Gone 2:07
7 #1 Hit Song 1:52
8 Two Beads at the End 1:50
9 Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Truth? 1:46
10 Shit From an Old Notebook 1:33
11 Nature Without Man 1:43
12 One Reporter's Opinion 1:47
13 Mike's Car Jam 0:33
14 Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing 1:29
15 Maybe Partying Will Help 1:57
16 Toadies 1:38
17 Retreat 1:55
18 The Big Foist 1:27
19 God Bows to Math 1:18
20 Corona 2:29
21 The Glory of Man 2:52
22 Take 5, D. 1:41
23 My Heart and the Real World 1:03
24 History Lesson - Part II 2:12
25 George's Car Jam 0:33
26 You Need the Glory 2:00
27 The Roar of the Masses Could Be Farts 1:21
28 West Germany 1:49
29 The Politics of Time 1:08
30 Themselves 1:18
31 Please Don't Be Gentle with Me 0:46
32 Nothing Indeed 1:20
33 No Exchange 1:54
34 There Ain't Shit on T.V. Tonight 1:35
35 This Ain't No Picnic 1:54
36 Spillage 1:48
37 Three Car Jam 0:14
38 Untitled Song for Latin America 2:02
39 Jesus and Tequila 2:56
40 June 16th 1:47
41 Storm in My House 2:02
42 Martin's Story 0:51
43 The World According to Nouns 2:10
44 Love Dance 2:02

If What Makes a Man Start Fires? was a remarkable step forward from the Minutemen's promising debut album, The Punch Line, then Double Nickels on the Dime was a quantum leap into greatness, a sprawling 44-song set that was as impressive as it was ambitious. While punk rock was obviously the starting point for the Minutemen's musical journey (which they celebrated on the funny and moving "History Lesson Part II"), by this point the group seemed up for almost anything ג€” D. Boon's guitar work suggested the adventurous melodic sense of jazz tempered with the bite and concision of punk rock, while Mike Watt's full-bodied bass was the perfect foil for Boon's leads and drummer George Hurley possessed a snap and swing that would be the envy of nearly any band. In the course of Double Nickels on the Dime's four sides, the band tackles leftist punk ("Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing"), Spanish guitar workouts ("Cohesion"), neo-Nortena polka ("Corona"), blues-based laments ("Jesus and Tequila"), avant-garde exercises ("Mr. Robot's Holy Orders"), and even a stripped-to-the-frame Van Halen cover ("Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love"). From start to finish, the Minutemen play and sing with an estimable intelligence and unshakable conviction, and the album is full of striking moments that cohere into a truly remarkable whole; all three members write with smarts, good humor, and an eye for the adventurous, and they hit pay dirt with startling frequency. And if Ethan James' production is a bit Spartan, it's also efficient, cleaner than their work with Spot, and captures the performances with clarity (and without intruding upon the band's ideas). Simply put, Double Nickels on the Dime was the finest album of the Minutemen's career, and one of the very best American rock albums of the 1980s.

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[slimebucato]

Gonna check out Big Star, Jellyfish, and Robert Johnson. Thanks.

You happen to have any Thelonius Monk?

[Fuckin' A]

Slint - Spiderland



Released: 1991
Genre: Post-Rock
Bitrate: 192

1 Breadcrumb Trail 5:55
2 Nosferatu Man 5:34
3 Don, Aman 6:28
4 Washer 8:50
5 For Dinner... 5:05
6 Good Morning, Captain 7:39

More known for its frequent name-checks than its actual music, Spiderland remains one of the most essential and chilling releases in the mumbling post-rock arena. Even casual listeners will be able to witness an experimental power-base that the American underground has come to treasure. Indeed, the lumbering quiet-loud motif has been lifted by everybody from Lou Barlow to Mogwai, the album's emotional gelidity has done more to move away from prog-rock mistakes than almost any of the band's subsequent disciples, and it's easy to hear how the term "Slint dynamics" has become an indie categorization of its own. Most interestingly, however, is how even a seething angularity to songs like "Nosferatu Man" (disquieting, vampirish stop-starts) or "Good Morning, Captain" (a murmuring nod to "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner") certainly signaled the beginning of the end for the band. Recording was intense, traumatic, and one more piece of evidence supporting the theory that band members had to be periodically institutionalized during the completion of the album. Spiderland remains, though, not quite the insurmountable masterpiece its reputation may suggest. Brian McMahan softly speaks/screams his way through the asphyxiated music and too often evokes strangled pity instead of outright empathy. Which probably speaks more about the potential dangers of pretentious post-rock than the frigid musical climate of the album itself. Surely, years later, Spiderland is still a strong, slightly overrated, compelling piece of investigational despair that is a worthy asset to most any experimentalist's record collection.

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[Fuckin' A]

You happen to have any Thelonius Monk?

Coming right up...

[slimebucato]

Also, for people who don't know: Spiderland, Television, Double Nickels on the Dime, and Pink Moon are all fantastic albums