Your Music Collection ESSENTIALS

[Oni Koneko Damien]

VNV Nation: Empires
VNV Nation: Standing, Burning Empires
VNV Nation: Future Perfect

Easily my favourite band. As I probably wouldn't have time to dig out all their albums *and* carry the cats to safety while the house is burning down, these are the three I'd lunge for. Combining ungodly awesome electronica with lyrics that can actually be inspiring.

Vast: Music For People
Vast: Turquoise and Crimson

Some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard, period. That and John Crosby's voice is pure sex.

Venetian Snares: Rosst Csillag Allag Szullutett

Breakcore combined with an orchestra, how could I not be completely in love with it? Besides, it holds to the rule that a scarily large percentage of my favourite bands begin with the letter 'v'.

[YT300000]

Most of my actual favourite tracks are considered mediocre-to-bad by the population at large. I would however recommend without reservation;

Dire Straits : Alchemy
Their only live album, it has a unique pace and most of their best tracks, including extended versions of 'Sultans of Swing' and 'Telegraph Road' with really excellent guitar solos.

They actually have three live albums: Alchemy, On The Night, and Live at the BBC. On The Night has some truly amazing performances like Romeo and Juliet, and Private Investigations, but Alchemy is overall the better album.

As for my essentials... the list would be pretty bloody long, so I've resisted posting it for a while. Maybe I'll do so after I'm finished with exams.

[Phantasee]

Most of my actual favourite tracks are considered mediocre-to-bad by the population at large. I would however recommend without reservation;

Dire Straits : Alchemy
Their only live album, it has a unique pace and most of their best tracks, including extended versions of 'Sultans of Swing' and 'Telegraph Road' with really excellent guitar solos.

They actually have three live albums: Alchemy, On The Night, and Live at the BBC. On The Night has some truly amazing performances like Romeo and Juliet, and Private Investigations, but Alchemy is overall the better album.

As for my essentials... the list would be pretty bloody long, so I've resisted posting it for a while. Maybe I'll do so after I'm finished with exams.

A long list would defeat the purpose, wouldn't you think?

[YT300000]

Not really, I've got a decently-sized collection of music I absolutely love, so the essentials of that would be a significant list as well. But fine, I'll strip it down to only the stuff that's emotionally meaningful to me. That means no Aerosmith - I love Toys in the Attic, Rocks... but they don't move me. So this longish thing is an utterly bare-bones list for me, in no particular order.


First, the classical stuff, including my favourite conductor/orchestra and/or soloist for each piece.

Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 6 (Pletnev, RNO)

Rachmaninoff - Concerto No. 1 (Chailly, BPO, Argerich on piano)

Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 (Kleiber, VPO) - Wilhelm Furtwangler's classic recording is a close second, but this is just so much more powerful. Also the 7th, same conductor.

Beethoven - several piano sonatas, say... 14, 21 and 23. Waldstein does a fantastic job with him.

Barber - So many of his pieces, Adagio, Vanessa, etc. Schippers seems to conduct him the best.

Dvorak - Symphony No. 9 (Kertesz, LSO)

Shostakovich - God, anything really. The modernism of the fifth and sixth symphonies, the morass of the Violin Concerto, the soul-crushing defeat of the ninth. I can't pick a conductor off the top of my head.

Sibelius - Violin Concerto and Suite. Isaac Stern seems to be the benchmark violinist for this, but I think that Jascha Heifetz really played this piece the way it's meant to be.

Stravinsky - Firebird... I don't own a recording, so I can't say my favourite, but it was very powerful when I saw it performed live.


Okay, now for the more modern stuff.

David Bowie - every studio album between The Man Who Sold the World and Scary Monsters (other than Pin Ups, of course). They sound totally different, but they're all the same album, really, on the same themes which evolve and transmogrify as he does. Ultimately, it comes full circle, as he attains the knowledge he was searching for.

Blue Oyster Cult - Hmm... Agents of Fortune, duh. Also Spectres, Cultasaurus Erectus, hell, even Imaginos. The perfect balance of rock n' roll with other styles, seeing Buck play live also affected my own playing.

The Beatles - It's too easy to say Revolver until Let It Be, but that's the truth of it. Add in Magical Mystery Tour and Love (which was like hearing them for the first time), and those are their essentials.

Eric Clapton - The very reason I picked up a guitar. For convenience, I'm putting all these bands under him in my list. Here we go:
Cream - Disraeli Gears, Wheels of Fire, Goodbye.
Blind Faith - Blind Faith
Derek and the Dominoes - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (one of the best albums ever)
Eric Clapton (solo) - Pretty much from his debut until Backless, then it slipped a bit. Money and Cigarettes is overproduced. Pilgrim is just icky.

Led Zeppelin - Everything. That's right, even Coda. Even The Song Remains the Same and BBC Sessions, and all the bootlegs I have. Every last riff, every last squib note, every last bass drum squeak is essential. But if I had to single something out, it'd be Zeppelin II, which was like a rock n' roll awakening for me. I'd already heard those songs, but hearing them in that specific order made it a million times better, and finally convinced me about proper production.

Black Sabbath - Master of Reality. The heaviest album ever, and I don't care. No hissy distortion, no thin sounds, just solid impact.

The Who - Aha! Who's Next, Quadrophenia and The Who By Numbers are essential. Live at Royal Albert Hall is close.

Roger Daltrey - Under a Raging Moon. This album alone makes me dread having to age.

Guns N' Roses - The reason I was able to translate my emotions into the guitar. Appetite, both Use Your Illusions, and a dozen listens on, it's looking like Chinese Democracy belongs on this list too.

Jimi Hendrix - All three Experience albums, Band of Gypsies, Live at Woodstock. Of the various compilations of the songs he was working on when he died, First Rays of the New Rising Sun is the best, though maybe not as essential.

Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon, obviously, the greatest album ever made. Also Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall, The Final Cut, Pulse, and Meddle.

Radiohead - OK Computer and In Rainbows. I think I could live without Kid A, though it'd be pretty hard to let go of Amnesiac. And I still don't understand Hail to the Thief, though the voice in the back of my head tells me it's valuable, just botched.

Johnny Cash - American IV. If this didn't make you cry, you're not human.

The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St. Yes, I know. Shut. Up.

[Thanas]

Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 (Kleiber, VPO) - Wilhelm Furtwangler's classic recording is a close second, but this is just so much more powerful. Also the 7th, same conductor.

Which Kleiber and which Furtwängler recordings are you talking about, specifically? Because both have recorded them more than once, with varying quality.

[YT300000]

Well, for the Furtwangler I mean the 74 minute long 1951 performance. I can't recall which Kleiber recording it is, I believe it was packaged with recordings of the 5th and 7th as well, all from the early 90's.

[Thanas]

Well, for the Furtwangler I mean the 74 minute long 1951 performance.

Well, congratulations, you just happened to get the worst of his three recordings, but which DG keeps marketing as the best Furtwängler recording to Oblivion. Seriously, look at the 1954 Lausanne recording. It is way, way superior in every regard to the 1951. Less crowd coughing and the orchestra doesn't try to get away from Furtwängler in the fourth movement (Especially the horn player annoys me to no end in the 1951 version).

Note that Furtwängler said about the 1954 recording "I was with one foot in the other world at that time" (translation by me) and that it was AFAIK the only recording he ever really felt comfortable about.

I can't recall which Kleiber recording it is, I believe it was packaged with recordings of the 5th and 7th as well, all from the early 90's.

Would it be part of his overall Beethoven cycle, released by the DG?

[YT300000]

Alright, I'll check that one out, thanks. What interested me the most about the recording was in how different it was from the way in which I was used to hearing the Ninth, and I'd definitely welcome a better version thereof.

Yes, I think the Kleiber must have been from the overall cycle, because I've never actually seen an individually packaged record of the Ninth conducted by him.

[TimothyC]

Most of what I would recommend has been mentioned, but I'd add "Bukra Wba'do" as done by Pink Martini.

[bozazz]

Queen - Greatest Hits. I've been listening to this album for years and it never gets tired.

Simon and Garfunkel - I am a Rock

Peggy lee - It's A Good Day

The Platters - Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

The Inkspots -I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire (finally they got them into Fallout )

The Beatles - all of it. But who doesn't like them?

Chilliwack - My Girl,Gone,Gone,Gone

The Everly Brothers - When Will I Be Loved

[Akkleptos]

I second many of the entries here... The Beatles, Queen, David Bowie, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin... All in all, the greatest of the greats.

But your list would not be really complete without:
Depeche Mode - Music for the Masses (What you listen to on a cloudy day, in a pensive mood)

Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygene (What "electronic music" really means)

Issao Tomita - Snowflakes are Dancing

and sooooo many other, but these will have to suffice by now...

[The Vortex Empire]

KISS: Destroyer
God of Thunder. Need I say more?

The Very Best of KISS
Most of their very best songs from all throughout their career.

Jethro Tull: Aqualung
Simply a great album.

Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon
This one explains itself.

Led Zeppelin II
The best Zeppelin album, in my opinion.

Led Zeppelin: Mothership
All of the best songs.

[Phantasee]

You know, saying an album is self-explanatory might work with other people who've heard it, or are familiar with it, but it doesn't help people who have no idea what you're talking about.

[The Vortex Empire]

You know, saying an album is self-explanatory might work with other people who've heard it, or are familiar with it, but it doesn't help people who have no idea what you're talking about.

If somebody doesn't know what Dark Side of the Moon is, I don't think they can be helped.

[Stark]

If somebody doesn't know what Dark Side of the Moon is, I don't think they can be helped.

You're stupid, and I don't think that can be helped.

[J]

You know, saying an album is self-explanatory might work with other people who've heard it, or are familiar with it, but it doesn't help people who have no idea what you're talking about.

DSOTM is generally regarded as the Pink Floyd album to have since it's so groundbreaking, influential, etc. etc. I don't agree with the critics and hold the opinion that Meddle and Wish You Were Here are both better albums.

[Count Chocula]

I'd be happy on a desert island with just two works:

1. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
2. Haunted by Poe

I've memorized all my other essentials, and most of them are on this list already.

[YT300000]

You know, saying an album is self-explanatory might work with other people who've heard it, or are familiar with it, but it doesn't help people who have no idea what you're talking about.

DSOTM is generally regarded as the Pink Floyd album to have since it's so groundbreaking, influential, etc. etc. I don't agree with the critics and hold the opinion that Meddle and Wish You Were Here are both better albums.

And let's not forget the criminally underrated Animals and The Final Cut (which has some of Gilmour's best playing). Personally, I think Meddle is a bit uneven, and I really appreciate the more dynamic nature of Dark Side, but it's unquestionably the first of their classic records. Atom Heart Mother was ambitious, but didn't quite get there.

[charlemagne]

And let's not forget the criminally underrated Animals and The Final Cut (which has some of Gilmour's best playing). Personally, I think Meddle is a bit uneven, and I really appreciate the more dynamic nature of Dark Side, but it's unquestionably the first of their classic records. Atom Heart Mother was ambitious, but didn't quite get there.

In my opinion both Meddle and Atom Heart Mother (closely followed by Wish you were here) are better than DSOTM. The 23-minute-tracks Echoes and Atom Heart Mother are what Pink Floyd is all about, and the only thing that makes DSOTM "better" is that it sold/still sells more copies.

Also DSOTM doesn't have dog feat. blues harp. Can't beat that

[YT300000]

Yeah, but Meddle doesn't have Roger "short, sharp shock" Manifold, now does it?

For me, what makes Dark Side better is that despite being completely sober the first time I heard it, I just had the most intense physical and mental reaction, like I did to Beethoven's Ninth. And the same happened the first time I heard it stoned, the first time I heard the version on P.U.L.S.E., and when I saw Waters and his band play it live two years ago. All these years after having first heard it, it's still my favourite record by far, and a goal to aspire to in my music.

[Phantasee]

You know, saying an album is self-explanatory might work with other people who've heard it, or are familiar with it, but it doesn't help people who have no idea what you're talking about.

DSOTM is generally regarded as the Pink Floyd album to have since it's so groundbreaking, influential, etc. etc. I don't agree with the critics and hold the opinion that Meddle and Wish You Were Here are both better albums.

Thank you for that useful answer, J. I appreciate it.

[Alferd Packer]

I'll limit myself to my top three albums:

3. Static-X - Wisconsin Death Trip. Cannibal came close, but the original Static-X album is still the best. People ask me what this band really is: nu-metal, grindcore, whatever other silly names there might be, but the lead singer, Wayne Static, describes it best. It's evil disco.

2. Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe. This played on basically an infinite loop the year I got my drivers' license, and ten years later, it still holds up. Most albums have a song or two that you feel meh about, but not this one.

1. Rage Against the Machine - Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium. RAtM's last two live shows before they broke up in 2000, this is the definitive Rage album. And since I have to pick a single one, this is it. My only gripe is no "Ghost of Tom Joad," but hey, nothing's perfect, right?

[Akkleptos]

If somebody doesn't know what Dark Side of the Moon is, I don't think they can be helped.

You're stupid, and I don't think that can be helped.

"Stupid" beyond help would be overlooking this.
Exemplia gratia:

Just saying "The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), 'nuff said" doesn't really tell me anything

What? Did you just crawl from under a rock?

I'm not such a huge Floyd fan, but even so, I still think that (as any serious rock/pop music critic in the civilised world you can think of will agree) if anyone didn't know the relevance of The Dark Side of the Moon, they'd be in dire need of some "20th Century Music Milestones 101 remedial course".