The Beatles' 'White Album' and The Nine Inch Nails , 'The Downward Spiral is an extremely interesting combination.

Well, it’s kind of hard say. I think the synth bass usage is part of it, as well as the funk sound. The drums are also key. I just can’t get over the opening of Chameleon with the bass and drums. But I’m also a fan of just weird sounds, like how Watermelon Man begins. Like all music, I’m sure it’s the combination of everything, but those are the parts that stick out to me the most. Thanks for the compliment :smile:

Okay, here are two albums from before and the follow-up to Head Hunters:

A Tribute to Jack Johnson, Miles Davis (1971)

Return to Forever, Chick Corea (1972)

Thrust, Herbie Hancock (1974)

Enjoy. :cool:

I "decluttered" my vinyl collection back in the 90s before the vinyl renaissance. Well, CDs were the thing, no streaming yet (which low bit-rates make almost all mp3 noise shit anyway), and I needed the money ... to buy more CDs. I've even "decluttered" by swapping out CD albums for CD compilations – consolidating to fewer CDs with more "hits" per – where it made aesthetic sense to do it. Again, used the money to buy ... DVDs. Yeah, I'm that guy. Cut the cord more than a decade ago. If I can't (sample) stream it or DVD it, I don't watch it or even know about it. Over 2k DVDs and just over 1k CDs. Why? I'm not a "collector" by any stretch but I love to roam libraries and love having my own library even more. Books? Down to 3-3.5k so far. Minimally furnished, pet-free, 2 large bedrooms with lots of space to pace among shelves & stacks. (No roomies or guests ever, there's a fine little boutique hotel around the corner.) I hope I can half everything down again before my move to Oregon this fall. — 180 Proof

Physical media is really the way to go. My last book count landed me a little under 400 books across three book shelves and a built in shelf next to my bed. I have room for just one more book shelf in my NYC apartment which I'll probably be getting later this year.

I actually only have one room to myself in a shared house, but I probably have about 3000 CDs, so perhaps I am really crazy. I have narrowed my paper books down to about 200, by using E books.

But, I just feel so sad that the bookshops and music shops are closing down. I went inside what used to be one of the biggest chains yesterday and it was so deserted. I haven't stopped buying physical music, but I certainly want to buy much less.

When I lived on W 23rd & 8th in Chelsea for almost 18 months back in the late '90s, I'd shared a spacious three bedroom duplex with 2 roommates and barely had enough space in my bedroom for a bed, clothes or to dress myself crammed in there with wall-to-wall stacks piled to the ceiling. Most of my "library" at the time was in storage over near the Chelsea Piers, but still wtf ... I vowed never to live like a pack-rat again (so far so good, I think). Damn, though, like you say, Maw, "physical media" is the only way to go; a project for next year, however, will be for me to digitize and store hard drive copies of all of my books, CDs & DVDs as back-ups in case of flood fire theft etc – yeah, home / renter's insurance is all well and good but filthy lucre ain't no substitute (especially for what's rare and out-of-print). Curious aside: how large is your apartment?

I'm in a one bedroom/one bathroom around 750 sq ft.

Thanks! :up:

I think that 'Don't Let the Devil Take Another Day' by Kelly Jones, the lead singer from Stereophonics is great. It is a live album covering most of their hits, but he sings them so well alone.

Has anyone heard any really good albums for 2021 yet?

Re: favorite albums (looking back to my favorite quarter-century of music 1955-1980*) – "I can't go on, I'll go on."

:sweat:

1950s

Afro, Dizzy Gillespie (1955)
Lady Sings the Blues, Billie Holiday (1956)
Ellington At Newport, Duke Ellington (1956)
Ella & Louis, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (1956)
Blue Trane, John Coltrane (1957)
Here's Little Richard, Little Richard (1957)
Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane, T. Monk (1957)
Soulville, Ben Webster (1957)
Moanin', Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers (1958)
Little Richard, Little Richard (1958)
The Best of Muddy Waters, Muddy Waters (1958)
Mingus Ah Um, Charles Mingus (1959)
Moanin' in the Moonlight, Howlin' Wolf (1959)
Giant Steps, John Coltrane (1959)
Kind of Blue, Miles Davis (1959)
The Shape of Jazz to Come, Ornette Coleman (1959)
T-Bone Blues, T-Bone Walker (1959)
Ben Webster & Associates (1959)

1960s

Howlin' Wolf, Howlin' Wolf (1962)
Night Train, Oscar Peterson, (1962)
Please Please Me, The Beatles (1963)
MoneyJungle, D. Ellington, M. Roach, C. Mingus (1963)
A Love Supreme, John Coltrane (1964)
The Sidewinder, Lee Morgan (1964)
Monk's Dream, Thelonious Monk (1964)
See You at the Fair, Ben Webster (1964)
Free For All, Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers (1965)
Rubber Soul, The Beatles (1965)
Sinatra At The Sands, Sinatra with Count Basie (1966)
Revolver, The Beatles (1966)
Chuck Berry's Golden Decade, Chuck Berry (1966)
Real Folk Blues, Sonny Boy Williamson (1966)
Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles (1967)
The Doors, The Doors (1967)
Strange Days, The Doors (1967)
Are You Experienced (UK), Jimi Hendrix (1967)
Are You Experienced (US), Jimi Hendrix (1967)
The Beatles, The Beatles (1968)
Electric Ladyland, The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1968)
Abbey Road, The Beatles (1969)
Led Zeppelin I, Led Zeppelin (1969)
Led Zeppelin II, Led Zeppelin (1969)
In A Silent Way, Miles Davis (1969)
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Neil Young (1969)
Let It Bleed, The Rolling Stones (1969)

1970s

Bitches Brew, Miles Davis (1970)
All Things Must Pass, George Harrison (1970)
Led Zeppelin III, Led Zeppelin (1970)
Abraxas, Santana (1970)
Greatest Hits, Sly & The Family Stone (1970)
Live At Leeds, The Who (1970)
I Am the Blues, Willie Dixon (1970)
At Fillmore East, The Allman Brothers Band (1971)
Aretha's Greatest Hits, Aretha Franklin (1971)
LA Woman, The Doors (1971) 
Blue, Joni Mitchell (1971)
Led Zeppelin IV, Led Zeppelin (1971)
A Tribute to Jack Johnson, Miles Davis (1971)
Sticky Fingers, The Rolling Stones (1971)
Santana III, Santana (1971)
Who's Next, The Who (1971)
Amazing Grace, Aretha Franklin (1972)
Return to Forever, Chick Corea (1972)
Talking Book, Stevie Wonder (1972)
Catch A Fire, Bob Marley & the Wailers (1973)
Head Hunters, Herbie Hancock (1973)
The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd (1973)
Natty Dread, Bob Marley & the Wailers (1974)
So Far, Crosby, Stills & Nash (1974)
Thrust, Herbie Hancock (1974)
It's Only Rock 'n Roll, The Rolling Stones (1974)
The Road Goes On Forever, The Allman Brothers (1975)
Blow By Blow, Jeff Beck (1975)
Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin (1975)
Mothership Connection, P-Funk (1975)
Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd (1975)
Wired, Jeff Beck (1976)
Changesonebowie, David Bowie (1976)
Chronicle, Credence Clearwater Revival
Hejira, Joni Mitchell (1976)
Heavy Weather, Weather Report (1976)
Exodus, Bob Marley & the Wailers (1977)
Solid Gold: 30 Golden Hits, James Brown (1977)
Greatest Hits, Etc, Paul Simon (1977)
Animals, Pink Floyd (1977)
Aja, Steely Dan (1977)
Equalize It, Peter Tosh (1977)
Hard Again, Muddy Waters (1977)
Outlandos d'Amour, The Police (1978)
Some Girls, The Rolling Stones (1978)
London Calling, The Clash (1979)
Mingus, Joni Mitchell (1979)
The Wall, Pink Floyd (1979)
Regatta de Blanc, The Police (1979)
Rickie Lee Jones, Rickie Lee Jones (1979)

1980

Back in Black, AC/DC (1980)
Aretha Sings the Blues, Aretha Franklin (1980)
Peter Gabriel (Melt), Peter Gabriel (1980)
Zenyatta Mondatta, The Police (1980)
Sinsemilla, Black Uhuru (1980)

*release not recording years

NB: Artists like Peter Gabriel, Mutabaruka, Stevie Ray Vaughan, U2, Tom Petty, The Traveling Wilbury's, Rage Against the Machine et al belong to 1981-2021 which is why their albums didn't make the cut. Same with Big Bands from the Swing & Dixieland Eras or Bebop combos of the 40s and Delta / Country Blues players all of whom came before 1955. Yeah, I love a lot of music, and sure I left out plenty of "my favorites" above. Other great musicians like Elmore James, Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, John Lee Hooker, etc are not on my list because I know their work only on compilations released after 1981 and decades since their best music was recorded.

I am very impressed by your list. I know about half of it. The main ones which I don't know are the 1950s and jazz. I do plan to listen to a lot more jazz, but just haven't managed to do so at the present.

Some of the artists which you mention, such as Bob Marley and the Police, I know mainly from compilations. I definitely love Bowie and I think that my favourite album by him is Aladdin Sane, but I do love all his early singles.

I notice that U2 get a mention, even though they are 1980s. They are probably one of my favourite bands and I do love the early albums', especially 'War'. You refer to the Travelling Wilburies; and I do love the first album. I think that Jeff Lynn and Bob Dylan are the only 2 still alive. I am a big Bob Dylan fan and one of my favourites of his is, 'Oh Mercy'. He is probably a better songwriter than singer really.

Glad you appreciate a bunch of those albums (or artists). Yeah, I'm a fan of eighties era U2 (esp. War, The Joshua Tree & Rattle and Hum). There is just so much good, even great, music I've been lucky to enjoy through recordings and live performances; I can only share a fraction of it here, especially Jazz, and other genres (e.g. Classical, World Music, Chants, Ragas) which I had to exclude to keep 'my list' as short as possible. Dizzy Gillespie, George Harrison/Ravi Shankar, Fela Kuti, Peter Gabriel et al turned me on early to non-western soundscapes and musical ideas which are inexhaustibly soulful. A very great gift :fire: even to a non-musician like me!

Btw, I posted this list only today because I accidently came across it on a notepad in my phone which I'd forgotten to post 3-4 months ago. I think I was traveling at the time or wrestling with the damn virus (or both).

I once had a bandcamp where I listed my sole influence as "The Beatles", referring to the White Album, in jest.

My second-favorite song is Fairport Convention's cover of a song that Bob Dylan wrote for Nico Sterling, "I'll Keep It With Mine". I can't tell you my favorite song for reasons that I can't explain.

I don't have a list of favorites, but I really like the Lemon's Chair album, I Hate? I Hope?, Galaxie 500's On Fire, Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation, just about everything by Bob Dylan, The Complete Recordings of Black Tambourine, Bridget St. John, Otomo Yoshihide, The Strapping Fieldhands, Azusa Plane, etc. As the cliché goes, the "list goes on".

Cool list. I at least recognize everyone’s name, but can’t say I’ve listened to many of the albums in full. Cool to see Little Richard in there, I think he’s under appreciated. AC/DC seems surprising somewhat considering the rest of the list. Do you have a similar list for 1980-now?

No. I only listed my favorite albums (though I left out quite a few more) from my favorite quarter century of popular music. 1981 till now has comparatively very few "favorites" and is not the larger share of my library which is three-quarters or more compromised of recorded music from about 1940-1980 (mostly blues, jazz, R&B, soul, rock-n-roll). Btw, if I had to pick my favorite decade of music, it has to be 1957-1967 (otherwise 1963-1973).

NB: AC/DC's Back in Black is a sentimental favorite from fun times with my college freshman roommate who was a real "head banger". His name was a Brian, natural comic and killer on guitar; we came from completely different worlds and were thrown together in a dorm room (both studying engineering which neither of us stuck with) and became good friends for a couple of years after. Unavoidably, living in such close quarters, we listened to a lot of each other's preferred musics which irritated us almost as much as it entertained us respectively. I'd lost a wager to him about I don't remember what and so he made me go with him to an AC/DC concert in Rochester, NY in the winter of 1982 when his identical twin brother caught the flu from his girlfriend. It was their Back in Black tour. LOUDEST fuckin' show of my life, almost deaf for a few days afterwards, good good time! :naughty:

I think that Sonic Youth's 'Daydream Nation' is a wonderful album. I think that the late 80s was a great time for music and I love The Fall. But, I am also a big fan of psychedelic music, which had its roots in the 60s and the Beatles. But, as you suggest there is so much of it. I like a lot of prog psychedelia too, including Hawkwind and Gong.