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
I could have sworn I had two Kinks GH collections, and early and a later one, but it turns out I have three:
I have no idea why I have both "Best of" and "Greatest Hits," but I must have had a reason at the time. I'm sure I did my "due diligence" at the time, but I don't feel compelled to do so now (unless there's an interest).
I am still working my way through the initial post to this thread (which is liable to take some time yet), but I will also try to keep up with more recent posts.
THREE DOG NIGHT: I had one record on vinyl, It Ain't Easy (which I think I inherited from my brother, come to think of it), and one on CD.
DOOBIE BROTHERS: I have Best of the Doobies on vinyl, and duplicated on CD.
THE MONKEES: The Monkees is one of Tracy's bands that became one of mine. Prior to meeting her, the only Monkees album I had in my collection was 1986's Then and Now... The Best of the Monkees, a greatest hits collection with three new songs. Seeing the Monkees perform at the Fox Theater in St. Louis was one of out first dates (more of a "show" than a "concert" per se). We have their entire discography on CD, culminating in 2016's Good Times! Their '60s albums started strong, then got progressively weaker, until they started writing their own songs and playing their own instruments, at which time the quality dropped precipitously. It is truly a fascinating phenomenon to observe. EDIT: They also have a Christmas album.
Bottom line: I think you will be well-served by one album each, specifically...
I see you are going back and editing your original post.
Who's Missing and Two's Missing are to The Who as Past Masters is to the Beatles (and yes, I know I've already made a similar comparison with respect to the Riolling Stones). Along those same lines is Odds & Sods. The original Odds & Sods was compiled by John Entwistle (in no particular order), but the CD reissue is double the length and arranged in chonological order.
While I'm here, speaking of Joe Walsh's Got Any Gum? (as I was the other day), you may be interested to know that the cover features the Memphian.
I really hadn't given any thought to suggesting The Archies Captain, since this does appear to be a more serious music discussion than anything you might have heard during a Saturday morning cartoon. If you do want to discuss that aspect of music, I'm open to it but that might be better for another thread.
The trio that composed Three Dog Night never claimed to play any musical instruments. They were upfront from their first song that they were singers with a backing band. But there was some great music in their career. ♫Joy To The World♫, ♫Shambalah♫, ♫Black and White♫, ♫Just An Old Fashioned Love Song♫ and so much more. You can check them out here.
If you want to consider another group of just singers, there's always The Blues Brothers.
As already mentioned, not being able to play their own music was a sticking point for The Monkees. While Peter Tork and Mike Nesmith were accomplished musicians, they couldn't participate as often as they wanted to in the creative and recording processes because of all the time involved between filming the television series and concert tours of the day. Mickey Dolenz did learn the drums and I have seen him in concerts since the show ended where he does play the skins himself. You can learn more and consider possibly adding some of their music....
And of course the Doobie Brothers have been around since the 1970s, but I personnally would NOT recommend their Cycles album. To me it seems like just basically their original releases' music tracks with new lyrics. More information can be found here.
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.
Much of my taste in music early on was shaped by my older brother (and sister, to an extent). At one point, I asked my brother for specific suggestions from his collection to transfer to cassette tape. I was struck, appalled, by the condition his albums were in: all worm and scratchy. I asked him how they got in in such bad condition, and he replied, "That's what happens when you take them to college." Not me, buddy! I would later take mine to college, and mine are still in pristine mint. (Like my comic books, I keep them in plastic sleeves.)
Anyway, at one point a helped him move from Missouri to Colorado, and DAMN were those albums heavy! A few years later, I helped him move from Colorado to California and I did not want to move those goddamn albums again. "How many times have you listened to these in the past X years?" I asked. As I expected: none. And they were in crap condition. I convinced him to sell them at a local record shop so we wouldn't have to move them.
I sold hundreds of original 1960s and 1970s rock 'n' roll albums... For about $200.
They gave him FIVE dollars... for the entire crate. They were in such bad condition the owner wasn't even going to prcoss them, just leave them in a box buy the register for $1 apiece. What gripes me is that we tried to get his wife to sell hers as well, but she refused (mostly Elvis, the Monkees and the Jackson Five, as I recall). We ended up moving them, and she never listend to them again in her life. There's a moral in there somewhere.
I want the classics. Or, more to the point, the songs that I grew up with, and now want to grow old with... I just need to tap my toes to what I already know.
I will try to keep that in mind, but I hope you won't mind if I continue to push the envelope (into the 21st century from time-to-time). To that end...
THE WHO (revisited): I've been biting my tongue, but there are better greatest hits packages than Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy (14 songs). Compare it to Who's Better, Who's Best (19 songs). Once you eliminate the duplication, MBB&B has three songs not on the other (The Seeker, A Legal Matter and Boris the Spider), whereas WBWB has the following eight: Who Are You, Won't Get Fooled Again, I'm Free, See Me Feel Me, Squeeze Box, Join Together, You Better You Bet and Baba O'Riley. Just sayin'.
PETE TOWNSEND (revistied): I almost mentioned these two earlier but held back as they are beyond the scope of your preferences:
ROGER DALTRY: While I am here, I might as well cover a couple of his solo albums.
After the "Big 3," everyone else is pretty interchangeable.
I call them the "British Heavyweights," but I have five: The Beatles, the Stones, the Who, Pink Floyd and Led Zepplin (pretty much in that order). Speaking of the two songs they sang in German (as you were in your initial post to this thread), have you heard the two '60s covers of the Stones' "Under My Thumb" and "The Last Time" by the Who? If you've ever wondered about the difference between the "Mods" and the "Rockers," just listen to these. I've still got at least six posts to go of the Stones and the Beatles before I get to Pink Floyd and Led Zepplin, so I'd better get to it.
THE ROLLING STONES (Pt. 3 - The '80s): In addition to live albums and collections, the Stones released four new studio albums in the '80s:
Each of these albums had about two hits each. My personal favorite is Undercover, but only because it was the first Stones album I ever bought when it was newly released. (I know, that surprises me, too; I've bought every subsequent album the week (if not the day) each was released.) Frankly, you'd be better served by buying the well-known songs on any of a number of "greatest hits" packages. (I can reccommend one if you like.)
I bought them when they came out, with the exception of Dirty Work. I think that one just went under my radar.
Nice list, Cap! I would recommend Anthology for your Beatles list. There are now four volumes of it, new and remastered. It goes all the way from the Quarrymen and the Decca audition to the posthumous John Lennon songs.
I have the first three, and plan to get the fourth.
Wait, what? Why didn't I know about this? Damn! Now I've got 3½ hours to wait until my LRS opens!
Great liner notes!
You know, I have all of the "special edition" releases from Revolver forward (the ones with extra discs of demos and rehearsals), but I've been wondering what they were going to do with tyhe early releases (considering the Beatles recorded Please Please Me in only 12 hours, but spent more than 700 hours in the sudio recording Sgt. Pepper). Today I discovered that all of the early albums have been remastered, but with no "extras" other than a "mini-documentary" on each one that will play on a computer. Now I need to decide... Do I really need those remasters? Do I want them? (Two different questions with, likely, two different answers.)
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