I enjoyed and was challenged by my last list so much that I’ve decided to do another. This is my 50 favorite albums of all time. I can tell you now that there will be some Beatles, Bowie, Waitts, and ok, Ben Folds on here. It’s just who I am and I won’t apologize for it. I am going to spread it out over five blogs so that 1. I can devote more time to thinking about it and 2. More blogs makes me feel like I am accomplishing more even though I am not. And now… the first 10.
50-41
50. Songs of Love and Hate (Leonard Cohen) – It’s a fairly dreary album, and yet, it’s been known to get me through many of my “little black rain cloud” moments. I particularly love ”Avalanche” and “Love Calls you by your Name.”
49. Violator (Depeche Mode) – Come on. “Personal Jesus.” “Enjoy the Silence.” Great stuff. I also really like “Sweetest Perfection” and “Waiting for the Night.”
48. The Crow (The Soundtrack) – This was sort of the soundtrack of my summer of 1994. It seems like every time I drove around with friends, this was in the cd player. It has some great STP and The Cure and Joy Division songs. “Big Empty” was the big song from the soundtrack though I love “Burn” more.
47. Joshua Tree (U2) – Here’s a weird thing. When I think of this album, I think of mowing the lawn. That was one of my chores as a child. I actually enjoyed it. I would hook into a Walkman and kind of lose myself in the back and forth patterns of various yards. Joshua Tree was one of those albums I would use to stay in the trance. Even today, when I hear “Where the Streets Have No Name” I can smell freshly cut grass.
46. Ten (Pearl Jam) – This one, along with Nevermind, signaled the moment where my generation got serious. OK, it’s not technically my generation. Apparently Gen X is a couple of years older than me, but I was in high school when everything started shifting. High school is the time when you start defining who you are. Pearl Jam came up with a great soundtrack for those changes and choices.
45. Captain Fantastic… (Elton John) – I love “Someone Saved My Life Tonight.” I think it’s one of the best pop songs ever. And I have no idea what the lyrics mean. They are clearly personal to John or Bernie Taupin. I think a lot of them are dirty. That is awesome.
44. Velvet Underground and Nico (Velvet Underground and Nico) – And speaking of dirty. This entire album is sketchy. It’s about all kinds of deep pockets of debauchery. It’s also superb in its ability to show me what it was like to be a heroin addict in the 60s.
43. AEnima (Tool) – I really like Tool. I’ve never been much of a hard metal kind of guy. Yeah, Tool is hardcore. But they are also mucho artsy. AEnima is about the philosophies of comedian, Bill Hicks, another one of my favorite performers. Tool proved that you could have something to say that wasn’t just angry or despondent. Good and forward things can come out of that which we struggle with.
42. Heart of Saturday Night (Tom Waitts) – Tom Waitts. Holy shit. There isn’t a weak song in there.
41. Sgt Pepper (The Beatles) – People give Paul McCartney a hard time. They say that Lennon was the artist, Harrison was the real talent, Ringo was… the drummer, and McCartney was the one who pushed them into the mainstream. That he helped build the hype and hysteria and sold out in the process. I disagree with that. I think he was the one who saw what the Beatles were. What they were capable of. The rest of them wanted to make great music. He wanted to change the game completely. Sgt Pepper is a good example of that. It wasn’t just a bunch of great songs. It was a strange and lovely musical story. And that was because of Paul McCartney.
