Ten Albums That Have Stayed With You

[Principled Man]

9 hours ago, Principled Man said:

Quadrophenia - The Who

 

2 hours ago, goose said:

For the longest time I didn't really care for the Who.  Then Lorraine got me into this album and everything changed

 

I don't know how other Who fans feel, but for me, Quadrophenia out-classes Tommy.  It's Pete Townshend's greatest work. 

In just a few years, Townshend went from writing 3-minute ditties to magnificent rock operas with long instrumentals.  Extraordinary!       

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Okay I'm biting the bullet and making a list. Trust me, there are way more than 10 that have been there for me time and time again, but these ten in particular I want to call out here today. Also I gave myself the rule of only one album per artist, or else this list would quite literally be entirely Queen.

 

I am 25 years old.

 

1. Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream (first heard around 2014/15)

 

     This is the easiest one to choose for this list, because I have a little ritual. About half of every time I get on an airplane, I choose this record to soundtrack my takeoff and the first hour and change of flight time.  Mostly, this is because the opening track is just perfectly timed to kick into high gear high about when the plan lifts off the runway, but it's also because the guitars all over this thing just sound like massive machinery defying gravity, and the drums hit as hard as you dare imagine the plane would if it hit the ground.  It always feels fresh and never fails to bring me some excitement when I travel. I actually don't play it much anymore outside of that context, if only to keep its utility in flight. But over the years I have become super close with this record as a result.

 

2. Jeff Buckley - Grace (first heard around 2015/16)

 

     My dad played this for me for the first time in his van in the winter, and told me it was just incredible. I had my doubts at first (it didn't *look* like one of the greatest rock albums ever, and I hadn't heard of it before), but I listened patiently. That patience has paid off time and time and time again.  This record has been my shoulder to cry on countless times, and inspired me and my own writing and singing countless more.  It seems every chapter of my life so far since hearing it, Grace has played an integral role, and each time it does I seem to pick up on a new aspect of its greatness.

 

3. Genesis - Selling England By The Pound (first heard 2015/16)

 

     Not my favorite Genesis album. No, some days it doesn't even make my top 5. And yet, over and over I keep returning to try to parse out what makes this record tick.  It's like scratching an itch.  I can't tell you how many times I've been walking around and started singing the first couple verses of Dancing Out With The Moonlit Knight to myself. Often enough that leads me to finish out the track and then try to finish out the whole album. Though I usually get stuck somewhere in the middle of The Battle Of Epping Forest.  I'm not sure what it is about this one that just can't stop playing through my head once it's started, but it doesn't get old to me.

 

4. MisterWives - Superbloom (first heard 2020 on release)

 

     Ask me point blank what my favorite MisterWives album is (they have four now so it's a relevant question) and I'll reliable tell you it's the one directly before this one, Connect The Dots.  But the truth is Superbloom is what I keep listening to repeatedly.  A slight concept album about emotional journey undertaken by the lead singer leading up to and following her divorce from the drummer, the tracks are ordered to take the listener along for that ride, and show step by step how she found herself and her happiness again, and was able to come out the other side.  As such, this album makes an excellent listen when I'm feeling anxious or defeated or scared and need to find someway to get myself back on my feet again. 

 

5. Queen - A Day At The Races (first heard 2013 on Easter Day!)

 

     What? Not A Night At The Opera?? No! In fact I rarely spin my very favorite album of all time, saving it for special occasions or when just the right mood strikes. I even tend to treat the next two or three Queen albums in my personal ranking the same way, and so it turns out that A Day At The Races, which has always been a more middle of the pack album for me, has kept me coming back over and over.  First off that production. In many ways Queen never sounded fuller, more lush, more beautiful than they do across these ten songs. It's also a very thematically consistent album, in that pretty much every song here is a love (or lust) song of some kind. Not that that's super important, but it adds to the very romantic feel of the music.  Stylistically diverse, but maybe not quite as chaotic as many of Queen's other masterpieces.  And it has these incredibly deep moments to hide your imagination away in: the screaming midsection of White Man, the lazy verses of Drowse, the haunting a cappella ending of You Take My Breath Away... so many more.  This is probably my most lived in Queen album, for that reason.

 

6. Muse - Black Holes And Revelations (first heard 2013/2014)

 

     I knew I had to pick a Muse album, but I struggled to choose one.  With Muse, as with many of my favorite bands, I rarely play my very favorite albums, and it's those slightly middling ones that I wind up spending the most time with, almost like they're puzzles I just can't quite finish and put away.  So in this case, it had to be between Black Holes and Absolution, and I chose Black Holes today. Maybe it'll be Abso tomorrow. The point with this one is a trick of the bright and shiny production has alway both captivated me like summer sun, and held me at an arm's length away (insert painful sunglasses metaphor here).  But the songwriting is really the most admirable thing here. BH&R may have the highest percentage of all time great songs of all of Muse's albums.  Even at it's corniest it just delights and inspires me (see Soldiers Poem and Invicible) and at it's heaviest and most emotional it resonates palpably (Map Of The Problematique, City Of Delusion, Assassin), plus it's just a lot of fun (Supermassive Black Hole, Starlight, Knights Of Cydonia). I always have a good time with this.

 

7. Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head (first heard 2013)

 

     Coldplay inhabit a piece of my heart that no other band touches. This record is at the center of it. I don't really have a lot of words for this one, it just moves me.

 

8. Dream Theater - Awake (first heard 2016/17)

 

     I had to include Dream Theater, and Awake seemed like the obvious choice. This is the record that turned me from a casual DT enjoyer, who easily tired of their whole everything, into a massive fan.  James' voice here is off the charts, and even if he was never able to sing quite so powerfully and freely again, I don't mind a bit since he laid this down first.  The soundscape still has the more analog feel of an 80s or 90s record, without all the cliche bells and whistles I&W fell back on.  The songs are deep and heavy and powerful, and I don't need to examine the playing, lol. The only caveat I'll add to this choice is I do have to call out one other very important DT song that isn't on this record, but has stuck with me just as much if not more: Octavarium. I could take or leave the other 7 songs on its album, but that epic has made me cry on more than one occasion, something very few songs ever do.

 

9. Paramore - After Laughter (first heard 2018)

 

     Not quite my favorite from Paramore, but close. After Laughter I think has had the most tracks make that immortal connection with me over the time I've spent with it than any other emo or emo adjacent record (though trust me, there are a lot of close seconds, especially Brand New Eyes).  But what sets this further apart is of course the style. Bubbly 80s synth pop and disco blended with modern post punk and just a dash of their pop punk past.  There isn't another album quite like it in DNA, and it lends a unique perspective to the songwriting, which is some of Haley's most vulnerable and relatable.  It's not the happy album it sounds like, and it doesn't even really try to be.  It's just the sound of exhausted perseverance. Continuing past the point of really knowing why you aught to anymore, and putting on the mask that lets you do it. 

 

10. Rush - Moving Pictures (first heard 2014/2015)

 

     I almost didn't include Rush. Really enough has been said on this forum about every one of their albums, *especailly* MP.  All I'll say is this. When I pick up a guitar, I feel Alex and Geddy's parts guiding my hands. When I go to write, I see the ghost of Peart's pen on the page. When I sing, I feel Geddy's phrasing and vibrato in my throat. If I were a drummer, well, you know. MP is perhaps the prime example of all of those things.  

 

Honorable mentions: My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, Fall Out Boy - From Under The Cork Tree, Green Day - Nimrod, Mumford & Sons - Babel

[pjbear05]

The overall set::

1. The Bob Seger System:-Ramblin' Gamblin' Man/Eponymous 1st album
2. MC 5 Kick Out The Jams
3. Jimi Hendrix Experience-Electric Ladyland
4. ELP-Trilogy
5. Lee Michaels-Lee Michaels (3rd album, "live in studio")
6. Marvin Gaye-What's Goin' On?
7. Rush-Moving Pictures
8. Cream-Fresh Cream
9. Quicksilver Messenger Service-Quicksilver Messenger Service (1st album)
10. The Allman Brothers-Live At Filmore East

This is the overall list.  I could likely drop a tenner of primarily live albums, working on it.

Edited June 17, 2024 by pjbear05

[pjbear05]

Yup, the live set:

1. Rush-Exit Stage Left
2. MC 5 Kick Out The Jams
3. ELP-Welcome Back My Friends...
4. Jimi Hendrix-Band of Gypsys
5. The Who-Live At Leeds
6. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band-Live Bullet
7. The Allman Brothers Band-Live At Filmore East
8. Humble Pie-Performance/Rockin' The Filmore
9. Peter Frampton-Frampton Comes Alive
10. The Grateful Dead-Live/Dead

[Mithrandir]

K-Tel Country Hits various albums (first listened to in early 1970;s

Beatles - 1962-1966 (first listened to in 1976)

KISS - Alive (first listened to in 1977)

Rush - All the World's a Stage (first listened to in 1977)

Zeppelin - TSRTS (first listened to in 1977)

Hendrix - Are you Experienced (first listened to in 1977)

Dvorak - Symphony #9 (first listened to in 1978)

Pat Benatar - In the Heat of the Night (first listened to in 1979)

REM - Murmur (first listened to in 1983)

Bob Mould - Black Sheets of Rain (first listened to in 1990)

 

 

[grep]

In no particular order:

Scenes From A Memory
Operation Mindcrime
Live At Leeds
ATWAS
Back In Black
Thunder Seven
Zeppelin IV
Under A Blood Red Sky
Malmsteen's Rising Force
Pearl Jam - Yield
 

[blueschica]

13 hours ago, pjbear05 said:

Yup, the live set:

1. Rush-Exit Stage Left
2. MC 5 Kick Out The Jams
3. ELP-Welcome Back My Friends...
4. Jimi Hendrix-Band of Gypsys
5. The Who-Live At Leeds
6. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band-Live Bullet
7. The Allman Brothers Band-Live At Filmore East
8. Humble Pie-Performance/Rockin' The Filmore
9. Peter Frampton-Frampton Comes Alive
10. The Grateful Dead-Live/Dead

That's a great live album list!

[Wandering Hermit]

2112

Tool - Lateralus

Floyd - Dark Side

Sabbath - Black Sabbath

Maiden - Piece of Mind

Wagner - der Ring des Nibelungen (comprises 15 CDs)

Beatles - Revolver

Mahler - Symphony N. 6

Lana Del Rey - Born to Die

Alice in Chains - Dirt

 

[tangy]

First 10 rush studio records. No else come close. 

 

Besides rush these are the earliest records I got into circa age 11 or 12 that I still enjoy.

 

Animals

Zeppelin 1

Paranoid

Never mind the bullocks

Foghat live

Second helping

 

 

[BigBob]

I’m 39

these aren’t in any order
1. Jock Rock Vol 1 - first cassette I ever owned

2. Queen - A night at the Opera - 2nd cassette I ever owned

3. Weird Al - Running with Scissors - Weird Al at his best

4. Styx - Grand Illusion - As a young man through adulthood I feel I identify with reversing on this album…maybe not Miss America

5. Rush - Power Windows - First time I was blown away by lyrics. Every time I hear Manhatten Project I get chills

6. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

7. Genesis - Selling England By the Pound

8. Donnie Iris - Greatest Hits 

9. ELO - Out of The Blue

10. Moody Blues - To Our Children’s Children

 

 

 

 

[tangy]

On 7/11/2024 at 1:00 AM, BigBob said:

I’m 39

these aren’t in any order
1. Jock Rock Vol 1 - first cassette I ever owned

2. Queen - A night at the Opera - 2nd cassette I ever owned

3. Weird Al - Running with Scissors - Weird Al at his best

4. Styx - Grand Illusion - As a young man through adulthood I feel I identify with reversing on this album…maybe not Miss America

5. Rush - Power Windows - First time I was blown away by lyrics. Every time I hear Manhatten Project I get chills

6. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

7. Genesis - Selling England By the Pound

8. Donnie Iris - Greatest Hits 

9. ELO - Out of The Blue

10. Moody Blues - To Our Children’s Children

 

 

 

 

Had to look Donnie iris up. Had no idea who he was but know a bunch of his songs. 

[Pressure/Hopenosis]

Love this thread!  Music opens so many doors to the past.  this is so cool.

 

53 years young

 

1. Kenny Rogers: The Gambler

 

First record given to me by my mother.  Played it over and over on my little record player that came with the small nursery rhyme records.

 

2. Journey: Escape

 

First rock record given to me by my mom.  She was a school teacher and asked her class for most popular new rock record.  Excellent choice!

 

3. The Outfield: Play Deep

 

Front to back excellent eighties pop rock.  We played volleyball in the park and I always brought my ghetto blaster and this cassette played front to back many times over.  The chicks really liked it and that made it even better!

 

4. Prince and the Revolution: Purple Rain

 

Holy Shit!  What a gifted artist!  Catchy and the chicks really liked this one too.  Yes I was a horn dog!  Sue me!

 

5. Rush: Grace Under Pressure

 

What dark themes and so heavy!  I must've went through 3 cassettes before I bought a CD player.  Front to back for hours/days/weeks at a time.  

 

6. Pink Floyd: The Wall

 

Wood shop, burnouts, weed, enough said.

 

7. Iron Maiden: Powerslave

 

Woodshop part two: Burnouts, weed and holy crap I never heard anything so heavy and different!  Instantly hooked!

 

8. Tesla: Mechanical Resonance

 

What a rocker!  Kid in drafting class had this album and one listen to the title track and I begged him to borrow it.  A week later he loaned it to me. WOW and yes I did give it back.

 

9. Metallica: Master of Puppets

 

Couldn't put this album down.  Absolutely blew my mind!  Bought the whole back catalog with my next paycheck.  This pushed me to heavier and heavier artists.

 

10. Slayer: Reign in Blood

 

The first moment I put on headphones from the dude next to me in class.  "You gotta hear this, it's insane!"  Never been punched in the face like that before!  This also answers the question: Do you think we'll still be listening to Slayer when we're older?

 

YYYYEEEESSSSS!!!!!!!!   SSSLLLLAAAAYYYEEEEERRRRR!!!!!!

 

I'll be f***ing eighty!  Downside I have to wear headphones or wait till my beautiful wife isn't home to properly enjoy this album.  Also great on the treadmill.  She HATES Slayer.  She did buy my friends and I Slayer tickets one year so that was awesome!

 

 

[tangy]

On 8/4/2024 at 9:38 PM, Pressure/Hopenosis said:

Love this thread!  Music opens so many doors to the past.  this is so cool.

 

53 years young

 

1. Kenny Rogers: The Gambler

 

First record given to me by my mother.  Played it over and over on my little record player that came with the small nursery rhyme records.

 

2. Journey: Escape

 

First rock record given to me by my mom.  She was a school teacher and asked her class for most popular new rock record.  Excellent choice!

 

3. The Outfield: Play Deep

 

Front to back excellent eighties pop rock.  We played volleyball in the park and I always brought my ghetto blaster and this cassette played front to back many times over.  The chicks really liked it and that made it even better!

 

4. Prince and the Revolution: Purple Rain

 

Holy Shit!  What a gifted artist!  Catchy and the chicks really liked this one too.  Yes I was a horn dog!  Sue me!

 

5. Rush: Grace Under Pressure

 

What dark themes and so heavy!  I must've went through 3 cassettes before I bought a CD player.  Front to back for hours/days/weeks at a time.  

 

6. Pink Floyd: The Wall

 

Wood shop, burnouts, weed, enough said.

 

7. Iron Maiden: Powerslave

 

Woodshop part two: Burnouts, weed and holy crap I never heard anything so heavy and different!  Instantly hooked!

 

8. Tesla: Mechanical Resonance

 

What a rocker!  Kid in drafting class had this album and one listen to the title track and I begged him to borrow it.  A week later he loaned it to me. WOW and yes I did give it back.

 

9. Metallica: Master of Puppets

 

Couldn't put this album down.  Absolutely blew my mind!  Bought the whole back catalog with my next paycheck.  This pushed me to heavier and heavier artists.

 

10. Slayer: Reign in Blood

 

The first moment I put on headphones from the dude next to me in class.  "You gotta hear this, it's insane!"  Never been punched in the face like that before!  This also answers the question: Do you think we'll still be listening to Slayer when we're older?

 

YYYYEEEESSSSS!!!!!!!!   SSSLLLLAAAAYYYEEEEERRRRR!!!!!!

 

I'll be f***ing eighty!  Downside I have to wear headphones or wait till my beautiful wife isn't home to properly enjoy this album.  Also great on the treadmill.  She HATES Slayer.  She did buy my friends and I Slayer tickets one year so that was awesome!

 

 

Woodshop, burnouts and weed!

 

 

Lol

 

A universal high school experience 

[Wandering Hermit]

The following have not "stayed with me" the way various "perfect" albums have, but they were the early albums I owned and made huge impressions for various reasons:

 

Steve Miller Fly Like and Eagle - Something about that Strat twangy sound and his unique voice was perhaps my first taste of having musical taste, of thinking, hey, these musical elements sound good together. It wasn't just a catchy melody anymore.

 

Kiss Love Gun - It included a paper "gun" that made a snapping sound. The album had a short stay in the house because my parents found it and decided it was demonic and threw it away.

 

Styx Paradise Theatre - I remember because I spent my own money for both the LP and the 8-track. There was an 8-track player in my mom's Ford Galaxy (yes, that is what she drove) and when I was 13 or so I opened it up and soldered in a 1/4in jack so I could plug my headphones into it. This for a road trip from SLC to Denver with her and my grandmother. I wanted to listen to Styx cranked up and knew they'd want nothing to do with it. It all worked wonderfully. But it was the first and only 8-track and I hated how several songs would fade out and fade in as it switched tracks.

 

Moody Blues Days of Futures Past - around 1980, the Salt Lake Astronomical Society has many 'star parties' that I was a fixture at. Long nights with huge telescopes revealing all manner of celestial beauties. One member was nuts about music and played mix tapes with space-related songs, and Nights In White Satin was always in the mix. This must have been my very first prog. I bought the album immediately. The idea of it, rock music and an orchestra. It was brilliant then and brilliant now, even if the album feels dated.  

 

2112 - First heard on cassette tape in a boom box carried around by a nerdy kid at Alta High School in Sandy, UT, in 1982 or so. I soon was following him and his boom box everywhere, unable to believe what I was hearing.

 

Addendum: not an album, but Sultans of Swing was the first song I heard on a good stereo and I will never forget the impression it made. I'd heard the song previously plenty of times in mono through an alarm-clock radio. But when revealed in modest hi-fi and with all that stereo space, something snapped into place.

 

Edited August 7, 2024 by Wandering Hermit

[Union 5-3992]

Here's my long-winded response.

 

Age: 30

 

Rush - Clockwork Angels (First Listen: 2012)

This was the first album released after I became a fan, and most of it was played the very first time I saw the band. It isn't my absolute favorite anymore but it was a part of some major moments of my life. It encouraged me to travel west when I was a teenager and related to a lot of Owen Hardy's desire to leave his life behind. Having said, that I still can't say I'm a big fan of the book. But to this day, whenever I take a trip facing a new frontier, I often play this album.

 

Rush - Vapor Trails (First Listen: 2013)

Despite joining this forum in 2011, I had admittedly never really listened to this one before the remix came out, but the remix forced me to give it new attention. I often played this album when I went through my own personal crises. It was the soundtrack to many solo adventures where I needed to escape myself and get away from my problems.

 

The Rolling Stones - Flashpoint (First Listen: 2008)

I played this album a lot with my dad when we went on trips to New Hampshire. It was right around the time I started discovering classic rock and it was the first time we were able to bond over music. Whenever I listen to the Stones and this album in particular, I am transported back to NH with the thick smell of pine in the air

 

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Live Anthology (First Listen: 2009)

Another album where I bonded with my father. I also played this album to death in anticipation of seeing them live for the first time in 2010 (also my first ever concert). I lost my mind when he busted out a cover of "Oh Well" by Fleetwood Mac.

 

Dio - Live at Donington 1983 and 1987 (First Listen: 2010)

The very CD that started my music collection. A friend of mine worked relentlessly to try to get me into metal/hard rock when I had only ever been interested in more straightforward classic rock/psychedelic stuff from the 1960s. After Dio died, he sent me a bunch of his stuff and it helped me get into heavier music. I still think about him whenever I listen to one of his favorite bands (Iron Maiden/Baroness/Dio/Judas Priest/Sabbath). He had a remarkable impact on my tastes today.

 

Baroness - Yellow & Green (First Listen: 2013)

Probably my least favorite album by them today, but this album represents a treasured memory with that same friend above. He bought me a ticket when I had never heard of them just because he wanted to experience them with me. I subsequently listened to this album and also became a massive fan.

 

David Gilmour - Rattle That Lock (First Listen: 2015)

I listened to this album a bit after the aforementioned friend passed in 2016. To this day, I still can't listen to A Boat Lies Waiting without tearing up.

 

Devin Townsend - Empath (First listen: 2019)

Probably the most recent pick I'll have. It has a similar effect that Vapor Trails does on me. Whenever I listen to it, it fills me with an overwhelming sense of longing to see something new in the world. I listened to the album and saw the man live the same month I traveled around the world for the first time. It is the soundtrack to a very transformative period for me.

Slim Cessna's Auto Club - Cipher (First listen: 2019)

This band helped me get into country music, a genre I've always disliked. For the longest time, I stereotyped it as pick-up trucks and beer. This band has a wonderful blend of Americana, gothic/supernatural lyrics, and some fun twists on traditional rhymes/songs.

 

Porcupine Tree - The Incident (First listen: 2011)

Nothing super special about this. It was the first time I got into a "modern" band. When i was a teen, I was obsessed with classic rock and refused to venture far beyond the early 80s. Getting into PT and heavy metal helped break that barrier down and help me get out of my comfort zone.

Edited August 7, 2024 by Union 5-3992

[yyz305]

4 hours ago, Union 5-3992 said:

Here's my long-winded response.

 

Age: 30

 

Rush - Clockwork Angels (First Listen: 2012)

This was the first album released after I became a fan, and most of it was played the very first time I saw the band. It isn't my absolute favorite anymore but it was a part of some major moments of my life. It encouraged me to travel west when I was a teenager and related to a lot of Owen Hardy's desire to leave his life behind. Having said, that I still can't say I'm a big fan of the book. But to this day, whenever I take a trip facing a new frontier, I often play this album.

 

Rush - Vapor Trails (First Listen: 2013)

Despite joining this forum in 2011, I had admittedly never really listened to this one before the remix came out, but the remix forced me to give it new attention. I often played this album when I went through my own personal crises. It was the soundtrack to many solo adventures where I needed to escape myself and get away from my problems.

 

The Rolling Stones - Flashpoint (First Listen: 2008)

I played this album a lot with my dad when we went on trips to New Hampshire. It was right around the time I started discovering classic rock and it was the first time we were able to bond over music. Whenever I listen to the Stones and this album in particular, I am transported back to NH with the thick smell of pine in the air

 

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Live Anthology (First Listen: 2009)

Another album where I bonded with my father. I also played this album to death in anticipation of seeing them live for the first time in 2010 (also my first ever concert). I lost my mind when he busted out a cover of "Oh Well" by Fleetwood Mac.

 

Dio - Live at Donington 1983 and 1987 (First Listen: 2010)

The very CD that started my music collection. A friend of mine worked relentlessly to try to get me into metal/hard rock when I had only ever been interested in more straightforward classic rock/psychedelic stuff from the 1960s. After Dio died, he sent me a bunch of his stuff and it helped me get into heavier music. I still think about him whenever I listen to one of his favorite bands (Iron Maiden/Baroness/Dio/Judas Priest/Sabbath). He had a remarkable impact on my tastes today.

 

Baroness - Yellow & Green (First Listen: 2013)

Probably my least favorite album by them today, but this album represents a treasured memory with that same friend above. He bought me a ticket when I had never heard of them just because he wanted to experience them with me. I subsequently listened to this album and also became a massive fan.

 

David Gilmour - Rattle That Lock (First Listen: 2015)

I listened to this album a bit after the aforementioned friend passed in 2016. To this day, I still can't listen to A Boat Lies Waiting without tearing up.

 

Devin Townsend - Empath (First listen: 2019)

Probably the most recent pick I'll have. It has a similar effect that Vapor Trails does on me. Whenever I listen to it, it fills me with an overwhelming sense of longing to see something new in the world. I listened to the album and saw the man live the same month I traveled around the world for the first time. It is the soundtrack to a very transformative period for me.

Slim Cessna's Auto Club - Cipher (First listen: 2019)

This band helped me get into country music, a genre I've always disliked. For the longest time, I stereotyped it as pick-up trucks and beer. This band has a wonderful blend of Americana, gothic/supernatural lyrics, and some fun twists on traditional rhymes/songs.

 

Porcupine Tree - The Incident (First listen: 2011)

Nothing super special about this. It was the first time I got into a "modern" band. When i was a teen, I was obsessed with classic rock and refused to venture far beyond the early 80s. Getting into PT and heavy metal helped break that barrier down and help me get out of my comfort zone.

Full marks for mentioning 'A Boat Lies Waiting' - has the same effect on me!

[grep]

Gonna be 57 in a couple of days.  IDK if I've responsed to this thread in the past...but here's where my head is today with sticking albums. I consider them all to be perfect records.

Some may find my choices here 'shallow' or 'limited' or maybe even 'juvenile'. . Sure there are better records - grander things with better production and songs and social statements.  But these are mostly records from my formative years, and yeah - this is the style of music I like best and keep coming back to. Even though I am aware of and like many other things, these are the current top 10 of maybe 50 that resonate with me permanently and are more or less in constant rotation..

ACDC - Back in Black.
For some this was the first album with the new singer. For me it was my first ACDC record. It's also the first record I bought with my own money,

Triumph - Thunder Seven.
I first heard Triumph on Rockline in December 1984. It was actually the song "Time Goes by" that hooked me. Then I got a huge hardon for Triumph and for a while I was digging them more than Rush,

Rush - ESL.
My first 'new' Rush album, and my first live one. Some don't like the sound, the way it was recorded. I get that. But the flow of the songs is now burned into my brain, this one and ATWAS are the live albums that I compare other live albums to.  Side note, I would always sing the 'words' to LVS when I saw the band play it live. Sometimes people would look at me funny when I did that. It was the instrumental with words before the fans in Rio had their way with YYZ. :)

Rush - ATWAS.
You all know why.

Zebra - Zebra.
Another power trio. I just like the band, and the record. Some really nice deep tracks on side 2.  I've seen Zebra play live over 20 times. Only band I've seen more is Rush.

Ozzy - Blizzard of Ozz
Breakout comeback album for Ozzy, sounded fantastic in the day - still does. Part of the Randy doubleheader. But I like this one better than Diary of a Madman.

Dream Theater - Scenes From a Memory.
Prog metal goodness from Long Island. Peak DT.

Led Zeppelin - IV

Where would the world be without Black Dog?

Queensryche - Mindcrime.

Prog metal goodness from Seattle. Peak Queensryche.

Pink Floyd - The Wall.
Soundscapes, production, concept record.  The template for albums like Mindcrime and SFAM.  It never gets old.
 

Edited August 10, 2024 by grep