OK, here is the second group of my top 50 favorite albums of all time. This one has some good rock stuff and two Beck albums. Enjoy.
40-31
40. Astral Weeks (Van Morrison) – I don’t sleep well. I had a real low period near the end of high school and haven’t managed a full nights sleep since then. The only exception was one rainy summer day several years ago. I was staying at this house that had a tin roof. The sound of the rain on tin made it seem like I was in a loud, beautiful snow globe. Or rain globe. I settled down on the floor, put on some headphones, and turned on Astral Weeks. Those elements, Van Morrison’s haunting Irish voice and the vibration of hard rain, put me in a state of relaxation that I had never experienced. I woke up 9 hours later.
39. Mellow Gold (Beck) – Of course Mellow Gold has “Loser” on it. They over-played it, but I still always found the song amusing when I was 19. Now it takes me back to that time. “Pay No Mind” is a great driving around song as is most of the album. It’s a great collection of songs for someone who doesn’t know what they are supposed to do next with their life.
38. Billion Dollar Babies (Alice Cooper) – My father was a roadie for Alice Cooper before he settled down and had a family. It’s true. Like many people, he liked to relive his days of freedom. That meant there was a lot of Alice Cooper playing in the house. People tend to think of Cooper as just a shock guy. But he was more clever than that. The songs are a weird assortment of anthems and perverse desires.
37. Ritual de lo Habitual (Jane’s Addiction) – Ritual represents my early high school years. I was trying to grow up and was reaching for anything that would help. I latched on this album. Some of my older friends were really into it and that became my way of absorbing myself into that world.
36. 1999 (Prince) – Say what you will about his Royal Purpleness. And there is a lot to be said. He did kind of go off the rails with the Jesus stuff. He can be a bit of a douche with his music. But 1999 is badass. ”Little Red Corvette” is one of my favorite songs of all time.
35. Let it Bleed (Rolling Stones) – The best of the Rolling Stones. It’s essentially a bunch of rock songs drowning in sad, angry blues.
34. Disintegration (The Cure) – Oof. It is said that Robert Smith wrote all the songs on Disintegration as a reaction to the depression he felt for turning 30. He felt like he hadn’t accomplished, artistically, what he hoped for and wanted to make something great before he peaked. That gives me hope. If any of us can create something half as good as Disintegration because of our fears and anxieties of being left behind, there could be a lot of great art in the world.
33. Let it Be (The Beatles) - Let it Be is sad. The breakup of the Beatles is right there in the songs. It ranges from looking back on relationships, “Two of Us, ” to the saying goodbye before one knows that the other is leaving, “The Long and Winding Road.” They were done after that. It shatters the heart.
32. Sea Change (Beck) – This could easily be called “Beck Hanson Grows Up and Bums Out.” Beck has always been an extremely gifted songwriter. But this was the first album that showed that he was a man of massive depth.
31. Armed Forces (Elvis Costello) – Oh man, do I love this one. It covers all kinds of tangled frustrations. “Accidents will Happen” is a personal favorite as is “Oliver’s Army.”
