jbacardi

The title is self-evident, and I'm taking it to mean 25 albums that were most influential in shaping my music-listening tastes for all time, or at least for the duration. This is, as many I've seen have noted, VERY DIFFICULT- mostly because I'm trying to list albums that were truly influential, rather than just being a favorite. Case in point: The Flaming Lips' SOFT BULLETIN, one of the best albums I've ever heard in my misbegotten life- I love it dearly, but it didn't really shape my musical tastes to speak of, since it's a relatively recent (app. 5 years ago) discovery...so it will not be on the list. Another: Eels' DAISIES OF THE GALAXY.

Enough blather- here goes nothing, and in no particular order other than when I though of them:

1. MEET THE BEATLES- ever since hearing my dear Aunt Lavana's copy at the tender young age of four. Other candidates: REVOLVER (my favorite), ABBEY ROAD.

2. VEEDON FLEECE- Van Morrison. Evocative, heartfelt jazz/R&B/blues/folk release by the Celtic Soul Brother at the height of his powers. Opened my eyes and ears to a whole different style of music.

3. SCHOOL'S OUT- Alice Cooper. This was my first classic Cooper Group album, and as so often is the case it stuck with me. I love 'em all, but you never forget your first.

4. SOLOMON'S SEAL- The Pentangle. The final 70's release by the great British Folk/Jazz group, although I didn't know it at the time. Wonderful mix of styles, from modern to traditional, and you can't beat the combination of Bert jansch and John Renbourn on guitars, and the great Danny Thompson on bass.

5. ELEMENT OF LIGHT- Robyn Hitchcock. Arguably the best album by the benignly loopy pop-rocker, I picked it up after reading a rave review in CREEM magazine. His Syd Barrett meets John Lennon circa 1970 style hit me in just the right place, and helped me to appreciate a lot of other great alternative music that was popping up in the mid-1980s.

6. MASTER OF REALITY- Black Sabbath. My first exposure to Ozzy & Co, and by extension what was just beginning to be called heavy metal. I was fascinated by Ozzy's weird, nasal voice and the droning guitar sound of Tony Iommi. I was also impressed by how easily they could segue from sludge to lovely acoustic ballads, done to greater effect on subsequent releases.

7. A WIZARD/A TRUE STAR- Todd Rundgren. Todd at his most creative and playful.

8. MOTHERSHIP CONNECTION- Parliament. Listening to this in the kitchen of Carmen's Pizza, I gave up the Funk and became born again hard in the P-Funk Army.

9. STARLESS AND BIBLE BLACK- King Crimson. I liked other Prog bands, like ELP, whose BRAIN SALAD SURGERY should probably be on this list, but KC were the Prog genre's leading light, in my opinion. Loved everything about this record, from Robert Fripp's guitar sound to the complicated arrangements. When I went exploring further into their catalog, I found others I liked even more, but again, this was the first.

10. DIRTY MIND- Prince. After I saw Prince perform "Partyup" on SNL back in 1980 or so, when he slammed down the mike and stormed offstage after the acapella ending, I knew I had to check this guy out. This spare, minimal but still very funky album holds up well to this day. Of course, as far as I'm concerned, anything he did from 1979 till 1994 or so is golden.

11. PUSSY CATS- Harry Nilsson. I already owned the 45 of the goofy but endearing "Coconut", with its excellent gospel/rock b-side "Down", but this was my first Nilsson long player. I think it was John Lennon's co-producer credit which enticed me to bum 6 bucks off my mom to buy it off the rack in 1974. Came to find out it was a bit of an atypical album, with a somewhat complicated backstory, but I came to love it and was a steadfast Harry fan until he died in 1995.

12. TIM- The Replacements. Another album, like R.E.M.'s LIFE'S RICH PAGEANT, the Rainmakers' TORNADO, Matthew Sweet's GIRLFRIEND, and the Rave-Ups' TOWN AND COUNTRY, which opened my ears to the by the late 80's-early 90's in full force alternative, and alternative country, scene. Hard to explain how much I love this album. I consider myself fortunate to have seen these guys twice, but unfortunately never with original guitarist Bob Stinson, who bowed out on this release.

13. IV- Led Zeppelin. For memories of sitting cross-legged in the floor, burning incense, listening to this on my old 8-track player, and reading all kinds of books and comics, if nothing else. They never did a bad album, and I love III and HOUSES OF THE HOLY almost as much.

14. APOSTROPHE (')- Frank Zappa. Actually, I like HOT RATS and BURNT WEENY SANDWICH a bit more, but again, this was my first exposure to FZ, surely one of the great American composers. And a right fair guitarist.

15. A PASSION PLAY- Jethro Tull. People either loved or hated this album-length suite of songs; I found it amazingly clever, both lyrically and arrangement-wise. Of course, i was 13, whaddaya expect?

16. THE GREAT LOST KINKS ALBUM. This was an odds-and-sods 1973 release by Reprise records, who the Kinks owed one more album when they signed with RCA. The Kinks didn't know that Reprise was going to do this, and didn't approve of it, so it got deleted real fast. Of course, I didn't know that, and fell in love with this amalgam of B-sides, TV/movie soundtrack cuts, and selections from an unreleased Dave Davies solo album.

17. GOAT'S HEAD SOUP- The Rolling Stones. As with Dylan, who (surprisingly) doesn't make this list although I love many of his albums, I was really slow to dig into the Stones' catalog. My first was the kinda sorta best of MADE IN THE SHADE (Junior year in High School, I think it was, we listened to "Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)" a LOT when we were building homecoming floats, and it stuck with me), but this, surprisingly, was the first Stones album I owned. Features the aforementioned "Doo Doo Doo" song, as well as the lovely "Winter", "Starfucker", one of the best Chuck Berry nicks ever, and of course big hit "Angie". That said, EXILE ON MAIN STREET is by far (well, not THAT far) their best and my favorite.

18. SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE'S GREATEST HITS. Not a bad cut on this best-of. I'll always be in debt to WT Stinson for bringing the cassette to school in 6th grade, so we could listen to it through our headphones when we were supposed to be listening to reading lessons or some crap like that.

19. DRAGON FLY- Jefferson Starship. This was the first release by the reconfigured Airplane; I knew nothing of their past history (except "White Rabbit", which I heard on the radio), but I loved the album cover...and as is the case so often, I liked the music within even more (see album #2 above). They got really crappy not long after, but this record cuts almost everything else in their catalog, even the Airplane stuff. In my opinion.

20. THE HOOPLE- Mott The Hoople. My first was the best-of from Atlantic Records, ROCK AND ROLL QUEEN, but this was from their more creatively fertile Columbia days, and when I brought it home at age 14, I had never heard anything like it in my life.

21. BOULDERS- Roy Wood. Creative, inventive, playful, and always melodic. I had already heard ELO, and had picked up the grab-bag BEST OF THE MOVE (Roy's previous engagements), but nothing I heard on those records prepared me for this amazing one-man-band effort.

22. ON THE BEACH- Neil Young. Had a Wet Willie album here, but I simply could not leave this album, which meant so much to me as a kid, off the list. I'm a little dismayed that I overlooked it when I was trying to come up with the entries here anyway. Neil's glum masterpiece, it helped me through a lot of down times as I tried to navigate high school.

23. SONGS FOR THE NEW DEPRESSION- Bette Midler. Go here: http://johnnybacardi.blogspot.com/2003/02/songs-for-new-depression-1976-release.html

24. ON THE THIRD DAY- Electric Light Orchestra. I loved all the early ELO albums, but this one stands out in my mind and cemented my fandom, which admittedly flagged in their Bee Gees-lite disco late 70's period and beyond.

25. THE SLIDER- T.Rex. My first exposure to the meteor that was Marc Bolan, thanks to Keith Martin, who gave me one of his brother's old 8-tracks of this record that his bro didn't want anymore. To this day, I dig Bolan as much as any musician I've ever listened to.


I left off a LOT of excellent records which I loved as a kid and on up; no Elton, Rod Stewart/Faces, Beefheart, Beach Boys, Donovan, Dylan, Maria Muldaur, Wendy Waldman, Bonnie Raitt (HOME PLATE), and so on. I could probably do a 50 or 100-long list. You wouldn't want me to do that, would you?

Again, I will tag no one but If you're foolish enough, I mean want to do it, please tag me so I can read yours.