I'm collecting CDs of the music I used to have on LP before I sold my albums back in the '80s. Plus I want CDs of music I never had on LP before I sold my albums, but have always wanted to have anyway! I want to get these things before I die. Hence, bucket list.
Even though I know that's not how music is consumed these days. You're supposed to give your life over to the Internet and AI to get music. I understand that. It's the "new way," as they say in Clockwork Orange. A new broom sweeps clean.
But nah. Let the youngs do that. I'm old, and how I learned to appreciate music was off Top 40 radio in the '60s. Which made me buy a component stereo system with my newspaper-route money in the '70s. And buy albums up to and through the '80s, while I listened to AOR FM radio stations. I went to sleep every night through high school listening to King Crimson and Mott the Hoople on FM 103 in the glow of the radio dial of my $150 receiver, and via my $200, knee-high speakers, that I had bought myself. And you want me to listen to commercials on Pandora? Where's the magic in that?
And, boy howdy, I had a great record collection back then. I had the "Thick as a Brick" album with the fold-out newspaper inside. I had the "Sticky Fingers" album with the working zipper. And so forth.
But I was in my 20s and kept moving from job to job and state to state. While carting all those albums around. And they were HEAVY and FRAGILE, which is a bad combination. You couldn't trust them to friends or movers. You had to personally cart them to your car, and drive them to your new place, and cart them inside. When you had about 300 other things to worry about. So when CDs came along, I thought, "albums have become the new 8-tracks or casette tapes." And I had already gone through those transitions. And, to paraphrase Men In Black, I had already bought the White Album about three times.
TBH, I didn't really believe that LPs had become obsolete, like 8-tracks. But I was tired of carting the LPs around and wanted to believe it. Plus, with CDs, you didn't have to get up from the couch and turn the record over. So, in the late '80s, I sold hundreds of original 1960s and 1970s rock 'n' roll albums to some resale place in Panama City, Florida. Or maybe Memphis. For about $200.
Yeah, it still stings.
So now I'm going to fix it. Before I die. I'm going to get all the albums that I plan to listen to for the rest of my life. Many of which are albums I used to have on LP. Now I have to get them on CD. But I DON'T want to get more CDs that I'll just listen to once, and never again. (I already have plenty of those.) I want the classics. Or, more to the point, the songs that I grew up with, and now want to grow old with.
Which means this list won't be universal. In fact, I don't expect ANYONE to have the same bucket list as me. But I do hope everyone will chime in with their own choices, and to discuss mine. Because this is a forum! So here we go:
THE BEATLES
To me, the Fab Four are ground zero. Every time I listen to their catalog, I learn something new -- not necessarily about THEM, but about the times they produced their music and the times I grew up in. The insight, brother, the insight!
But also I do, actually, learn more about the songs when I listen to them as an old grown-up. (How could I have made all those Ringo jokes as a kid? He's PERFECT.) As I get older, The Beatles just get better and better. How could those twentysomethings have been so good? How could they have leaped forward album to album, and dragged the world with them? They were, in fact, just four working-class kids from a second-class port in England. But they changed the world. They certainly changed mine.
So I have to have:
- Please, Please Me
- With the Beatles
- A Hard Day's Night
- Beatles for Sale
- Help!
- Rubber Soul
- Revolver
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
- The Beatles
- Yellow Submarine
- Abbey Road
- Let It Be
Amazingly, if you buy all these albums, you still won't have all the major Beatles songs. Singles like "Paperback Writer" never appeared on an album, U.S or UK, because of the economic mechanics of the time. You have to get CDs like "One" and "Past Masters" to get them all. I have those, but I'm still not sure I have everything. I do have the two songs they sang in German (which are a hoot), on whatever album they were on, so I have some variants. But I'm not sure if I have everything. Not that it matters. I recently inherited "Anthology" from a friend who died, and I haven't been able to push through it. I don't need all the variants. I just need to tap my toes to what I already know.
THE WHO
I used to have the entire Who catalog through "Who Are You," which is about when I stopped buying vinyl. And you know what? I don't need to replace it all. There was a lot of genuine crap I don't need to listen to again. But I do need these:
- My Generation
- A Quick One/Happy Jack
- The Who Sell Out
- Tommy
- Who's Next
- Quadrophenia
- The Who by Numbers
- Who Are You
- Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy
Holy cow, that turns out to be the band's discography before 1980! I guess I can live with the crap for all the great stuff there. Especially now that Keith Moon and John Entwhistle have died. And I hear that "Live at Leeds" is the greatest live album of all time, from any band, so I guess I have to get that. (I have never heard it.) But I can pass on "Face Dances" and later work. I do want some of Townshend's solo work like "Empty Glass" and "All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes." Most of it is pretentious, self-indulgent crap, but there are some remarkable and unforgettable songs there like "Gonna Get Ya." And I don't know what album "Eminence Front" is on, but I need that.
THE ROLLING STONES
When some department store in Memphis was closing (I don't remember which one), they had a clearance sale, and my wife and I happened to be there, and it happened to be at the same time that the entire Stones catalog was being re-packaged and re-sold, so they were all there, at dirt-cheap prices. So we bought the whole Stones catalog! The whole damned thing! I mention this, because I would never have bought some early Stones LPs otherwise.
And I have listened to them. Some of which I will never bother to listen to again. The Stones started out as a blues cover band, and they weren't very good until Paul McCartney showed them that writing their own songs was the way to go. Also, they had to get rid of Brian Jones. After which, they exploded.
Which is not to say that I don't love the Stones. I do, I do. I love them more than The Who. I listened to "Exile on Main Street" non-stop for about a year in college. I have seen them in concert three times. (I never go to concerts. Unless it's the Stones.) But the Stones have fewer must-have albums than The Who, so they have ended up here, at No. 3. Here are the ones I can't live without:
- Aftermath
- Sticky Fingers
- Black and Blue
- Let It Bleed
- Some Girls
- Exile on Main Street
- Beggars Banquet
After the "Big 3," everyone else is pretty interchangeable. Some bands I only want "best ofs," like The Doors and Doobie Brothers. Because the majority of their albums are crap, except for the songs you know.
BLIND FAITH
They only made one album, "Blind Faith." You know every song on it. You know every member of this band, from other bands.
CREAM
They made four albums. I only need the last three:
- Disraeli Gears
- Wheels on Fire
- Goodbye Cream
LED ZEPPELIN
I don't know what's on any individual Led Zeppelin album, because I bought a box set years ago and just listen to some of the CDs over and over. Some discs I don't need to listen to ever again ("In Through the Out Door," "Coda"). But the first four or five albums are must-haves. "Whole Lotta Love" and "Immigrant Song" alone.
PINK FLOYD
- Animals
- Wish You Were Here
- Dark Side of the Moon
- The Wall
MOODY BLUES
- In Search of the Lost Chord
- Day of Future Passed
VELVET UNDERGROUND
- Velvet Underground & Nico
BOB DYLAN
- Blonde on Blonde
- Highway 61 Revisited
- Blood on the Tracks
CSNY
- Crosy, Stills & Nash
- Deja Vu
JETHRO TULL
- Thick as a Brick
- Aqualung
NEIL YOUNG
- Harvest
- After the Gold Rush
KING CRIMSON
- In the Court of the Crimson King
DEREK & THE DOMINOS
- Layla & Other Love Songs
MOTT THE HOOPLE
- All the Young Dudes
TRAFFIC
- The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys
- John Barleycorn Must Die
DAVID BOWIE
- Ziggy Stardust
FRANK SINATRA
- In the Wee Small Hours
BEACH BOYS
- Pet Sounds
- Surf's Up
HEART
- Dreamboat Annie
- Little Queen (for "Barracuda")
TOM PETTY
- Wildflowers
- Damn the Torpedos
- Full Moon Fever
BEETHOVEN
- Ninth Symphony
- Fifth Sympony
STRAVINSKY
- Rite of Spring
MUSSORGSKY
- Night on Bald Mountain
ELVIS PRESLEY
- Elvis
- Elvis Presley
WARREN ZEVON
- Warren Zevon
- Excitable Boy
THE CLASH
- The Clash
- London Calling
- Sandinista
JOHN LENNON
- Plastic Ono Band
- Imagine
- Shaved Fish (best of)
GEORGE HARRISON
- All Things Must Pass
- Living in the Material World
RINGO STARR
- Ringo
PAUL MCCARTNEY
- McCartney
- Ram
- Venus & Mars
- Band on the Run
I've never heard "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard" or "Flaming Pie," but they keep popping up on "best of" lists. I guess I'll have to listen to them at some point and decide.
YES
- Close to the Edge
- Fragile
Now we get to the part where I'm really ignorant. What Roy Orbison do I need ("Pretty Wonan," obviously)? What Buddy Holly?
Also, Granny's getting tired (Missouri Breaks reference). I can't remember all the bands and/or singers I like. So I've probably forgotten a few. Which is what you guys are going to remind me of, right?
EDIT: LEGIONNAIRE RECOMMENDATIONS
- The Who - Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy - a collection of their Sixties singles and EP tracks.
- Jethro Tull - Stand Up
- Mott the Hoople - Mott
- Beach Boys - Today and Summer Days/Summer Nights
- Roy Orbison: The All-Time Greatest Hits of Roy Orbison
- Roy Orbison: A Black and White Night
- Buddy Holly: The Buddy Holly Collection
- Brian Wilson: Smile
- The Who: The Who Hits 50!
- The Who: FACE
- Traveling Wilburys: Volume 1
- Traveling Wilburys: Volume 3
- Moody Blues: The Concert at Red Rocks
- John Lennon - Double Fantasy
- Paul McCartney - Tug of War
- George Harrison - Somewhere in England
- Ringo Starr - Stop and Smell the Roses
- Chicago: Chicago IX
- Eagles: The Long Run
- Eagles: The Very Best of the Eagles
- Chicago: The Very Best of Chicago - Only the Beginning
- Stevie Wonder: Music of My Mind
- Stevie Wonder: Talking Book
- Stevie Wonder: Innervisions
- Stevie Wonder: Fulfillingness First Finale
- Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life
- Joe Walsh: But Seriously Folks
- John Lennon: Lennon
- Eagles: Desperado
- Tom Petty: Hard Promises
- Jethro Tull: Original Masters
- Elton John: Elton John
- Elton John: Tumbleweek Connection
- Elton John: Madman Across the Water
- Elton John: Honky Chateau
- Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
- Elton John: Made in England
- Elton John: The Union
- Elton John: Captain Fantastic
- Elvis Costello-- the greatest hits compilation from the late 90s would do, though I like My Aim is True.
- Bruce Springsteen: Born to Run.
- Marvin Gaye: What's Going On
- The B-52s: Time Capsule: Songs for a Future Generation
- The Pogues: Rum, Sodomy, and the Last, If I Should Fall From Grace With God, Hell's Ditch
- Indigo Girls - Rites of Passage
- Tears for Fears-- Songs from the Big Chair
- Mary Margaret O'Hara - Miss America
- Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
- The Tragically Hip - Yer Favourites (unless you're really into the band, this will cover it)
- Ringo: Photograph: The Very Best of Ringo Starr
- Don Henley: Building the Perfect Beast
- Glenn Frey: The All-nighter
- Don Henley: The End of the Innocence
- Pete Townshend: The Best of Pete Townsend - coolwalkingsoothtalkingstraightsmokingfirestoking
- Pete Townshend: Truancy - The Very Best of Pete Townsend - (17 songs, 2015)
- Otis Redding: The Soul Album
- The Doobie Brothers - Best of the Doobies
- The Dog Night - 20th Century Masters, the Millennium Collection
- The Monkees - Greatest Hits
- Kinks: The Village Green Preservation Society
- Kinks: Best of 1964-1970
Replies
We have a lot of overlapping tastes (and CDs), but I would add (with some selectivity) the Kinks, Hendrix, and lesser-known psychedelia. Not so much Yes or Tull, though, particularly.
Granted, I also have a (mostly downloaded) idiosyncratic assortment of old surf and rockabilly, along with stuff from the 70s-present, with my selections diminishing after 2001. I used to read over student work in the 90s with MuchMusic (Canada's MTV) in the background, and I rather liked a fair bit of what they were listening to then.
Ahh Andrew, your music collecting journey mirrors my own quite closely.
Of the performers on your list there are albums I would recommend beyond what you have noted -
The Who - Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy - a collection of their Sixties singles and EP tracks.
Jethro Tull - Stand Up
Mott the Hoople - Mott
Beach Boys - Today and Summer Days/Summer Nights
Yes, McCartney's Flaming Pie and Chaos and Creation albums are among his best.
For Roy Orbison and Buddy Holly there are a variety of "Best of" collections to choose from and they are all good. After all, it is Orbison and Holly!
Cap, I have more albums (on vinyl and CD) than I do comic books. I could spend an hour (or more) responding to most of the groups or artists on your list. Instead, I'll limit my responses (for the most part) to questions you specifically asked.
I've never heard "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard" or "Flaming Pie"...
Chaos and Creation in the Backyard is better than Flaming Pie, but before you buy either of those I recommend Tug of War. [More information available on request.] I just so happened to have listened to Chaos and Creation just last week on my way to my LCS. (This isn't as much of a coincidence as it seems as Sir Paul has a new album coming out next month, and I've been "listening up" to it.) I have all of John and Paul's solo albums on CD, and most of George and Ringo's. (Ringo's latest, Long Long Road, was released two days ago.) I used to have all of the ex-Beatles' solo albums on vinyl (up to a point), but like you I got rid of them when I converted to CDs and have regretted it ever since.)
What Roy Orbison do I need?
I think you'd be safe with just The All-Time Greatest Hits of Roy Orbison ("20 original recordings from the original Monument masters"), however... Mystery Girl (the last album he released before he died) is worth owning, too. In addition to his work with the Traveling Wilburys, there is the 1986 release Class of '55 (Rock and Roll Homecoming) by Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. It took me a moment to remember I have Roy Orbison filed under "S" for "Sun Studios." Speaking of Sun Studios, on one of my trips to Memphis for the Mid-South Con, Tracy and I made a pilgimage there there. I bought The Sun Story on CD, but was disappointed to discover it was missing eight cuts in comparison to the vinyl version. Before moving on from Sun Records, I should mention Good Rockin' Tonight - The Legacy of Sun Records, which is one of those tribute albums by a variety of artists.
What Buddy Holly?
Again, I think you'd be safe with The Buddy Holly Collection ("50 Classic Recordings"). In addition to that, though, his self-titled debut album is well worth having. If you're a big Buddy Holly fan (as one of my college roommates was), it's not too difficult to obtain a box set of everything he ever recorded.
And here's an unsolicted recommendation: the legendary Smile by Brian Wilson (there's also a Beach Boys version if you'd prefer). Back when he was touring this album, he and his band came to a small venue in Grand Prairie, TX, about ten miles from where we live, but I didn't find out about it until after it was done. I checked his website and found that the next week he would be in Phoenix, AZ. We had friends at the time who lived nearby (Queen Creek), so we flew there just to hear it performed live.
Also, the Albums as Cohesive Works thread might give you some ideas.
The Who - Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy - a collection of their Sixties singles and EP tracks.
Wait, I remember having that one on vinyl! And I do indeed want it on the list, so I've added it. Thanks!
I'll sample the others you mentioned, since I'll probably like them as well. I may have had Stand Up on vinyl -- I had a lot of Tull, but I don't remember specifically which ones I had outside of Aqualung and Thick as a Brick.
We have a lot of overlapping tastes (and CDs), but I would add (with some selectivity) the Kinks, Hendrix, and lesser-known psychedelia. Not so much Yes or Tull, though, particularly.
I forgot those two (Kinks & Hendrix) entirely. I think I had a Kinks hits album, but surely you can recommend some full LPs? And Hendrix had, what, three albums total? Those should all be included.
I had a friend give me all her LPs when she moved to California in the late '70s, and she was a big Yes fan and gave me a lot of Yes albums (whatever they had made to that point). So, perforce, I heard a lot of Yes and grew to like a lot of it. I wouldn't want my collection to be without "Roundabout," at any rate.
And I forgot The Police! They only had five albums, and all of them have some great songs (and some not-so-great songs). I'm not sure if I'd be better served getting all five, or getting a best hits. Probably the former, but I don't remember what I liked and what I didn't, and what the proportion was.
I also forgot about Steely Dan. I remember having and enjoying Can't Buy a Thrill and Aja, but I don't remember if there were others I had, or want now.
Somehow I left Fleetwood Mac's Rumours off the list, and I definitely want that. I remember having Fleetwood Mac and Tusk in vinyl, but I don't remember anything about the former, and being somewhat disappointed in the latter. That I remember the disappointment 50 years later I think is probably significant.
Chaos and Creation in the Backyard is better than Flaming Pie, but before you buy either of those I recommend Tug of War.
Anything you want to tell me about any Beatles solo album, I'm keen to hear. I tried to winnow the list down to essentials, but if I have an opportunity to get them all, I probably will. I inherited some that aren't on the list, like some lesser Harrison LPs and Lennon's much-derided Rock 'n' Roll. Sometime in New York City is supposed to be terrible, too, isn't it? I don't know if I've ever heard it.
I hear that "Live at Leeds" is the greatest live album of all time...
That is certainly Pete Townsend's opinion. I'm a big Who fan, but I'm underwhelmed by it.
But I can pass on "Face Dances" and later work... And I don't know what album "Eminence Front" is on, but I need that.
It's Hard. The Who released two albums after Keith Moon's death: Face Dances and It's Hard. I consider It's Hard to be the "final" Who album, although "The Who" continued to release albums well into the 2Ks. I remember the discussion we had on this board in 2004 after Endless Wire about "Is it still The Who?" My opinion was (and is) that it's The Who as long as Pete Townsend and Roger Daltry say it is.
The BEST Who greatest hits package is 2014's 2-CD deluxe retrospective The Who Hits 50! The first disc goes from the beginning to "Behind Blue Eyes," and the second disc from "Baba O'Riley" to some of the most "recent" stuff, "Real Good Looking Boy," "It's Not Enough" and "Be Lucky." (If you want "Old Red Wine," the only CD it's on is Now and Then (2004), a pretty good single disc greatest hits package.) The Who Hits 50! also includes "Eminence Front" as well as songs from Face Dances, such as "You Better You Bet."
The most recent Who album is Who (2019).
Sometime in New York City is supposed to be terrible, too, isn't it?
I wouldn't call it "essential." Do you ever read Dagwan's "What are you listening to RIGHT NOW?" thread? I posted about Mind Games there just last Thursday. I also had quite a bit to say about Jimi Hendrix (as well as the re-release of Who Are You) last year on p.216.
That's enough from me for tonight.
No Eagles?
The one problem with greatest hits albums that I see is that you don't get everything that a famous act recorded, just what was successful. The Beatles are a perfect example for there were a lot of great songs between all their records that were never officially released but fans know by heart.
For Roy Orbison, if it's available, I would seriously suggest the soundtrack to A Black and White Night. It was basically a greatest hits concert for PBS fund raising, but with an all star cast of backing musicians and singers including Bruce Springsteen and KD Lang.
In regards to George Harrison, you might want to consider at least the first album of The Traveling Wilburys. Orbison and Tom Petty were both members.
Your Moody Blues section might benefit from The Concert At Red Rocks. The group in an accoustically atuned outdoor ampitheatre with a full backing orchestra, although they moved The Late Lament to the end of the overture instead of concluding Nights In White Satin ala Days of Future Passed.
But just out of curiosity, I have to ask. Why no Chicago (1-9 are the best in my personal opinion), Jim Croce or Credence Clearwater Revival?
SOLO BEATLES (Pt. 1):
By December 8, 1980, I owned only one album by any of the former Beatles: Band on the Run. I had every intention of buying Double Fantasy before John Lennon was killed, but it had been out for only a month and I hadn't gotten around to it yet. I soon bought it at Rounder Records on "The Strip" in my hometown. Soon after that, I set out to buy more of the Beatles' solo work, and by the time I graduated high school I had all of their solo albums. My Saturday nights back then usually consisted of Saturday Night Live followed by The Three Stooges followed by Wrestling at the Chase (if I could stay awake that long) . If I couldn't, I watched wrestling when it was re-broadcast at 10:AM Sunday. A used record shop called "Vintage Vinyl" used to advertise in those pre-dawn hours. (It's still in business, but is now located a couple of blocks down from where it was then.) I was only 16 years old and din't have much experience driving "on the other side of the bridge" (i.e., St. Louis County), but I set out to find it armed with only the address and and a folded paper map. I asked directions from an attendant at a gas station along the way. (I'm sure those here can remember doing that in those pre-Googlemaps days.) But I digress.
Like I said, I soon had all of the former Beatles' solo albums. These are the best:
All Things Must Pass is generally considered to be the best of their solo work, with Band on the Run a close second. After John Lennon was murdered, all three of the other former Beatles released pretty decent solo albums, and I have bought every album released by a former Beatle since.
McCartney and Harrison's albums each featured a song specifically about Lennon's death. Lennon's first postumous album was Milk and Honey. Like Double Fantasy, it was half Yoko Ono, symbolizing their relationship. It's possible to buy just John's songs on a single release, but if one does that instead of (as opposed to "in addition to") the actual albums, that is a mistake. John and Yoko had been working on the songs for both albums simultaneously, and were even considering making Double Fantasy a double album, but chose instead to release them separately. Oftentimes, a strong release by any group or artist is follwed by a weaker follow-up for exactly this reason. I think that's the case with Paul McCartney.
Tug of War was a very strong release, especially in light of its immediate predecessor, the disappointing McCartney II. (For my initial thoughts on McCartney III, see p.196 of the "What are You listening to RIGHT NOW?" thread.) I was initially disappointred with the follow-up, Tug of Peace, until both albums were released as part of the "Paul McCartney Archive Collection" (both with an extra disc of demos so the listener can hear the albums take shape).
And that's all I have to say about the Beatles' solo work right now. If my pupose holds, I'll later add posts dedicated to each of them individually.
I remember going to the midway (which hit our town every Spring) the year Band on the Run came out, and they played it continuously over the speaker system. My brother bought the vinyl, and I later got it in cassette and then CD.
I had the "Thick as a Brick" album with the fold-out newspaper inside. I had the "Sticky Fingers" album with the working zipper. And so forth.
I have a Sticky Fingers CD with a working zipper. I also have The Beatles' 1962-1966 on red vinyl, 1967-1970 on blue vinyl, Sgt. Pepper on marble vinyl, and The Beatles on white vinyl. And speaking of the "White Album," my vinyl version doesn't have a serial number but my CD version does (272008). You should really consider buying the 2023 re-issue of the red and blue albums with lots of extra songs not on the original release.
Here's my favorite Beatles joke:
QUESTION: How many Beatles does it take to screw in a light bulb?
ANSWER: Four.
No Eagles?
Another oversight. I had Hotel California on vinyl back in the day, and that's a must-have. I'm iffy on the rest; I'm not much of a country music guy and the Eagles kinda straddled the rock/country divide. (It's not actual country music I don't care for, but the associations I had with country music in my youth -- i.e., the Confederate-lovin', dangerous, dumb-as-dirt rednecks you simply can't avoid in the South -- and now that mindset has taken over the country. If I could disassociate my memories of the times and places I initially heard counry music and listen to it on its own merit, I'd probably like it. But as a lad, whenever I heard country music in Arkansas and Tennessee, I knew I had to get out of there fast.)
If I were to get more Eagles, what does the Legion recommend? I also had some Eagles solo albums I liked, from Joe Walsh and the guy who did "Dirty Laundry," but I don't remember the names of the albums. Or, obviously, the name of the artist! I loved "Life's Been Good to Me So Far," whose album had a cover of a fully-dressed Joe Walsh at the bottom of a swimming pool. I think? I might be conflating. But that one might be named "Life's Been Good to Me So Far." I believe I'd like to have that one, whatever it's called.
And here's an unsolicted recommendation: the legendary Smile by Brian Wilson (there's also a Beach Boys version if you'd prefer).
I know the history of Smile, as the opus that Brian Wilson never finished (and it might have driven him over the edge) and that parts have come out. And yes, I'd sure like to listen to that, or as much of it exists, and imagine what could have been. But I don't know what's available where. You say there's two versions, which explains my fuzziness on the issue. And didn't some of the songs make their way to individual Beach Boys albums? I could Google this, I suppose. More fun to talk about it, tho, with Legionnaires who know their onions.
The Who released two albums after Keith Moon's death: Face Dances and It's Hard. I consider It's Hard to be the "final" Who album.
I've checked The Who's discography, and I think your opinion shades right on into objective truth. I was already of a mind to get The Who complete through 1978 ("Who Are You"), the last Keith Moon abum. But it wouldn't hurt to have Face Dances and It's Hard, just for the couple of songs I assciate with fond memories of my youth ("Eminence Front," "You Better You Bet"). Then stop. Yes. Townshend and Daltrey are still alive, and presumably doing material. But my best days, and theirs, are behind us. Then again ...
The Who Hits 50! also includes "Eminence Front" as well as songs from Face Dances, such as "You Better You Bet."
I must investigate this!
Your Moody Blues section might benefit from The Concert At Red Rocks.
I must investigate this!
Why no Chicago (1-9 are the best in my personal opinion), Jim Croce or Credence Clearwater Revival?
I never owned any vinyl of them, so my knowledge of which albums to get is non-existent. I am familiar with a lot of songs from those three artists, so I know I want something. But what, you'd have to tell me.
I soon had all of the former Beatles' solo albums.
Very impressive! And great dedication! I'm not sure I could sit through all 22 Ringo albums. I'm likely to get Ringo and call it a day. I see no reason I shouldn't get all the Lennon and Harrison solo albums, though -- Lennon simply didn't have many (eight, I think|?) and I've already got most of Harrison's discography, most of which were given to me.
Although I feel like Harrison dropped a level after Living in the Material World. Like he'd shot his shot with the first two, and had nothing left in the tank. I enjoyed stuff from Dark Horse and Cloud Nine, for example, but they were just ... fine. Professional, pleasan. Not All Things Must Pass level, or Beatles level. And Lennon seemed much the same to me as a lad, with his work seeming to drop off after Plastic Ono Band and Imagine. I wasn't even a big fan of Double Fantasy -- It was just OK to young me when it first came out. (Yes, I bought it.) It was, to me, mediocre Lennon. Which is still a level above most artists. But nothing truly memorable. (Also: Too much Yoko.) I was looking forward to his next, when he'd have his sea legs back under him, and then we all know what happened. Which catapulted Double Fantasy into the statosphere on radio, which eventually started to annoy me.
But I'm judging both men mostly by what was on the radio, and we all know that what songs record studios chose to release as singles is a mysterious and arcane process which rarely results in the best track being selected. For example, the first single from Exile on Main Street was "Tumbling Dice," my least favorite on a two-album set. The first single from Sticky Fingers was "Wild Horses," about which I feel much the same. Not only were there stronger songs on those albums. but those two country-inflected singles weren't representative of the the albums as a whole. You have to wonder what they were thinking!
Anyway, I'm probaly three-four LPs away from having all of Harrison, and I'm missing Living in the Material World, so I might as well run the table.
Which leaves Paul, and much like Ringo, I'm not sure I should get all his work. I don't know for sure, but I suspect several fall into the "listen once and never again" category, and I'm trying to avoid filling up my shelves with those. Of course, being a comics collector, I am infected with the completisit disease and once I stop I may not be able to stop. And if so ...
Both albums were released as part of the "Paul McCartney Archive Collection"
... this is probably the way to go. I've never owned Ram, for example, on vinyl, CD or casette. I mean to have it. I might as well get the super-spiffy version.
In regards to George Harrison, you might want to consider at least the first album of The Traveling Wilburys. Orbison and Tom Petty were both members.
Absolutely! I had forgotten about the Wilburys! (Probably since most of them are dead, so you don't hear much about them any more.) I like every song I've ever heard from them, so I'm game for the whole catalog ... which appears to be two albums? Weird, as I've heard so many Wilburys songs. I guess most of both albums made it to radio. Definitely fine wine territory, which I'll enjoy for a long time.
Man, I am having some fun with this thread. And I'm learning a ton! Every one of you is more of an expert than I am on all of this, so I love hearing what you have to say. Also the anecdotes! I feel like we're sitting around a dorm room shooting the breeze about music, except that you guys know what you're talking about. (As opposed to college students.)
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