Pick a genre and represent it with 10 worthy albums

BRITISH CONCEPT ALBUMS (MID 60'S-MID 70'S):
1. SGT PEPPERS LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND (The Beatles)
2. TOMMY (The Who)
3. VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY (The Kinks)
4. DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (The Moody Blues)
5. SF SORROW (The Pretty Things)
6. THE WHO SELL OUT (The Who)
7. ARTHUR (The Kinks)
8. QUADRAPHENIA (The Who)
9. OGDEN'S NUT GONE FLAKE (The Small Faces)
10. DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (Pink Floyd)

 

"THE NEXT BEATLES"
1. FRESH RASPBERRIES (The Raspberries)
2. MAGIC CHRISTIAN MUSIC (Badfinger)
3. GET THE KNACK (The Knack)
4. BAY CITY ROLLERS (Bay City Rollers)
5. ARGYBARGY (Squeeze)
6. BEE GEES FIRST (The Bee Gees)
7. DEFINITE MAYBE (Oasis)
8. MR. TAMBOURINE MAN (The Byrds)
9. KLAATU (Klaatu)
10. UP ALL NIGHT (One Direction)

 

I'll do it for my two favorite genres of rock: Heavy Metal and Progressive Rock.

Heavy Metal:
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
Judas Priest - Stained Class
Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance
Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast
Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time
Motorhead - Ace of Spades
Dio - Holy Diver
Def Leppard - On Through the Night
Megadeth - Rust in Peace

Prog Rock:
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Genesis - Foxtrot
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Yes - The Yes Album
Yes - Close to the Edge
Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick
Rush - A Farewell to Kings
Rush - Hemispheres

 

wow, 11 pages and no exotica, so.... exotica if including the fact that space is also pretty exotic.

1. frank hunter - white goddess
2. michel magne - tropical fantasy
3. russ garcia - fantastica
4. martin denny - hypnotique
5. yma sumac - mambo
6. les baxter - ritual of the savage
7. marrko polo adventurers - orienta
8. esquivel - latinesque
9. attilio mineo conducts sounds in space
10. can't do it, would mean i left too many off.

 

No Nevermind the Bollocks on a European punk list? Bollocks to that says I!

 

That Perpetual Groove album is simply awesome!!! Great list but I'd add Umphrey's Mcgee Anchor Drops and Live at the Murat.

 

Good metal list. Though I'm a man alone in that I prefer Dionno Maiden to Dickenson Maiden. And I'd swap Paranoid for the self-titled album.

 

Fusion/Alternative Fusion

Miles Davis- Bitches Brew
Santana- Lotus
Grateful Dead- Live/Dead
CAN- Future Days
Frank Zappa- Roxy & Elsewhere
War/Live
Cymande- s/t
+
Miles Davis- On The Corner
CAN- Ege Bamyasi
Grateful Dead- One From The Vault


And my definition of "alt fusion" basically extends to the belief that these guys were ~blending~ many different genres and creating something new and beautiful.


If you feel some other albums would be at home in this list, please by all means...

 

You know, if you want smooth, you want Steely Dan.

 

Electronic:

Kraftwerk - Minimum Maximum (live)
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Underworld - Beaucoup Fish
Air - Moon Safari
Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust
The Prodigy - Music For The Jilted Generation
Leftfield - Leftism
Goldfrapp - Black Cherry
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
Depeche Mode - Violator

 

i am saddened that no metal list has included mercyful fate

 

heck yes on swapping paranoid for their 1st

 

Saviors of rock'n'roll:

The Beatles - Please Please Me
Velvet Underground - VU and Nico
Boston - Boston
The Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks
REM - Murmur
Stone Roses - Stone Roses
Nirvana - Nevermind
Oasis - What's the Story?
The Strokes - Is This It?
The Whites Stripes - Elephant
bonus: Foo Fighters - Sonic Highways (well... hum... that's what they said on the local classic rock radio station when it came out...)

 

Canadian Folk/Rock

Old Dan's Records - Gordon Lightfoot
Court and Spark - Joni Mitchell
After the Gold Rush - Neil Young
Boulevard - Murray McLauchlan
North Country - The Rankin Family
Greatest Hits - Ian and Sylvia
Neon Rain - Ray Materick
Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws - Bruce Cockburn
Little Wheel Spin and Spin - Buffy Ste. Marie
Music From Big Pink - The Band

 

Progressive Rock:
The last six of the Moody blues classic 7
Yes Tormato
Emerson, Lake, and Powell
Invisible Touch
Electric Light Orchestra On The Third Day



and

Psychedelic era music:
Last 6 of the Moody Blues classic 7
12 Dreams of Dr Sardonicus
Bare Trees
Spark of a High Healed Boy
Dark Side of the Moon

 

Oh, I'm well aware of Steely Dan's smoothness. Check out my avatar and user name!

Really, it's Steely Dan's last two albums, 1977's "Aja" and 1980's "Gaucho," that comfortably fit in the "West Coast/AOR" genre, though it's probably too limiting to categorize them under that heading only. But I do think those albums, with their jazz influences and immaculate L.A. studio polish, meet the requirements. As I remember reading in a review once, those last two Steely Dan albums from the group's first run provided the soundtrack for many fern bars in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

 

3 Lots of Singer-Songwriters (various sub-genres) Part 2 (N-Z)

Nanci Griffith - One Fair Summer Evening
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
Paul Williams - Here Comes Inspiration
Pearls Before Swine - Use of Ashes
Pete Townshend - Who Came First
Phil Ochs - Pleasures of The Harbour
Ralph McTell - Easy
Richard Hawley - Coles Corner
Richard Thompson - Henry The Human Fly
Rick Nelson - Windfall

Rodriguez - Cold Fact
Rosanne Cash - Interiors
Sally Oldfield - Water Bearer
Sam Phillips - Omnipop
Sandy Denny - Sandy
Sarah McLachlan - Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
Shawn Colvin - A Few Small Repairs
Stephen Stills - Just Roll Tape
Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise
Tarnation - Gentle Creatures

The Milk Carton Kids - The Ash & The Clay
The Scud Mountain Boys - Massachusetts
The Thorns - The Thorns
Tim Hardin - Tim Hardin 1
Tom Rush - The Circle Game
Tony Kosinec - Bad Girl Songs
Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman
Vashti Bunyan - Just Another Diamond Day
Wayne Berry - Home at Last
Willis Allan Ramsey - Willis Allan Ramsey

 

Well... "Tapestry" is on the wrong coast. A quintessential NY album,IMO

 

Picking up a copy of Tapestry today as it is re-released, King, now 67, smiles. "This really was my living room in Laurel Canyon. These were my old Indian print curtains and my cat, Telemachus." She strokes the long-dead tabby's head with an affectionate thumb.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/helen-brown/5201808/Carole-King-interview.html

 

In the words of a wise man, Every wave is new until it breaks...

 

Nothing to do with her living in Laurel Canyon at the time.
The sound of "Tapestry", in my perception, is quintessential NY.
When i listen to it,i think about walking in Central Park or whatever related with that city.
Same as "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (well...maybe not "El Condor Pasa" )
They are New Yorkers and the music reflect this.

 

The Soft Machine got deep into the fusion sound by the end of the 60s. I tend to lean towards the Wyatt years (their first four albums), but they have plenty of interesting live releases, like the BBC Sessions and Noisette. That whole Canterbury scene (including bands like Hatfield & the North, Matching Mole, National Health) explored fusion quite a bit. Gong leans a little more towards the heady space rock end of the spectrum, but as a Dead fan you should be open to that! Angel's Egg and You are both stellar. After Gong's founder David Allen left, the band became even more fusion oriented, but they lost some of their early flair and imagination, IMO. You might also check out Italy's daring progressive outfit Area, who combine a strong jazzy sensibility with world and avant influences. Try Crac! or their live Are(A)zione. France's Magma is a peculiar kettle of fish but their early work in particular had a strong fusion influence. Try 1001 Centigrades or maybe even Live Hhai.

Also, it's hard to track down, but if you haven't heard it, I can't recommend Can's Peel Sessions highly enough. Drawn mainly from '72 - '74, with them improvising live in the studio, it's almost like the Great Lost Can album.

 

Thanks for the recommendations. You're the second person on here to suggest Gong.

And yes, CAN's Peel Sessions is stellar! I downloaded many many a bootleg release by them, live, outtakes, CAN't get enough of them!

 

Various Artists compilations, non-soundtrack:

1. The Indestructible Beat of Soweto
2. Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era
3. A Christmas Gift For You
4. Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music
5. The Best of the Girl Groups
6. Atlantic R&B box set
7. 100% Dynamite
8. Chess Blues 4 CD box set
9. The Sun Records Collection 3 CD box set
10. Rockin' Bones (50s rock 'n' roll box set from Rhino)

 

Weird Cult Music:

Bobby Beausoleil - Lucifer Rising (1980)

Beausoleil was arrested in 1969 for the murder of Gary Hinman, allegedly under the orders of Charles Manson (Manson has denied ordering the murder). Prior to joining the Manson Family, Beausoleil had played with Arthur Lee in an early version of Love (then called The Grass Roots, not to be confused with the other Grass Roots) In 1966, he was a founding member of the Orkustra, an occult-sounding dark instrumental psychedelic band of some renown; David Laflamme (later of It's a Beautiful Day) was also a member. He starred in the experimental occult film Lucifer Rising, by Kenneth Anger, in 1967. For a wide and colorful variety of reasons, the film was never released until 1980. Anger had asked Jimmy Page to do the soundtrack first, but after months, Page was unable to come up with anything usable. Beausoleil, still serving a life sentence for murder, was allowed to record the soundtrack himself in a studio he built at the prison, using other inmates as musicians.

It is undeniable that Beausoleil is a complex and intelligent musician, despite his ruined life, and the resulting soundtrack, recorded throughout much of the 70's, is a magnificent opus of darkly psychedelic music utterly in its own world, far removed from the usual hippie variety. Many of the instruments are improvised electronic devices Beausoleil had built himself in prison. Creepy, and atmospheric, it is eerie and essential listening for those attracted to the darker side of the 60's. The CD throws in a couple of vintage 1966 Orkustra tracks too, which are also very intense, non-derivative, deeply psychedelic recordings.

Ya Ho Wa 13 - Penetration: An Aquarian Symphony (1974)

Ya Ho Way 13 was a continuation of the house band of the Source community, which earlier recorded under the name of Father Yod & the Spirit of '76. Father Yod was the spiritual leader of the group, which formed in the Hollywood Hills and operated a very popular restaurant on Sunset Strip in the early 1970's; they later relocated to Hawaii. Sky Saxon of the Seeds joined the cult in 1973, and appeared on some of their numerous recordings. The two groups released 10 albums in a two year span, from 1973-1975, and all of them are highly prized collectors' items. The Source was relatively benign as far as cults go, living communally and promoting a very Age of Aquarius-style spirituality that promoted a "natural lifestyle" and organic vegetarian food. Father Yod was killed in a bizarre and untimely hang-gliding accident in 1975, and the group dispersed, although some still adhere to his philosophies.

The music is all over the place, but most of it is very mesmerizing. A lot of it features tribal drumming and chants, most have some decidedly psychedelic trappings, like distorted guitars and weird vocal miking. The material ranges from lengthy jams to tightly performed short songs. As with the Beausoleil album, it is really of its own world; it doesn't sound a lot like anything else, except maybe other music made by other cults. Any of their albums are good, but the one I listed is arguably their magnum opus, and is the easiest to find.

Wulf Zendik - Zendik (1972)

Wulf Zendik was something of a beatnik slacker; while he had composed some poetry and writing in the beatnik era, little of it was published. In 1969 he established the Zendik Farm commune/cult, which became famous for recruiting members via a newsletter they sold for donations in Haight Ashbury, Venice, and other hippie-dense areas thoughout the 70's and 80's. Another largely peaceful group, the commune largely promoted agricultural labor and living off the grid as a means of rejecting a corrupt society. Within the group, Zendik occupied a position akin to philosopher king; he was not seen as a diety, and the group was mainly secular. In alter years, accusations of abusive practices within the cult surfaced, but the cult managed to survive until 2009, when Arol Wulf, his wife, passed away.

The album is pretty weird. It straddles an uneasy perch between prog rock and raga rock; the primary instrument is an 8-string creation of Zendik's that was a cross between a guitar and a sitar. The lyrics are beatnik-isms with a science fiction flavor, half-sung, half-intoned. Not quite as good as the first two entries on this list, but a worthy addition to the genre nonetheless.

The Lyman Family with Lisa Kindred - American Avatar - Love Comes Rolling Down (1971)

Mel Lyman had been the banjo player in the Jim Kweskin Jug Band. In 1966, while still with the band, he founded The Fort Hill Community, a commune in a run-down area of Boston. Lyman was an authoritarian figure, who had considerable influence over how members conducted their lives. The group were not hippies; they dressed conservatively, and adhered to a fairly conservative (by 60's standards) view of sexuality and monogamy. However the group did use LSD on occasion. The group was most well known for publishing the Avatar, a renowned underground newspaper. In the 70's, Lyman became megalomaniacal, and proclaimed himself to be Jesus Christ. Mark Frechette and Daria Halprin, the stars of Zabriskie Point were members, as was Jim Kweskin. Lyman died in 1978 under fairly murky circumstances, but a vestige of the community still exists as a construction company, The Fort Hill Construction company, which has Jim Kweskin among its VP's.

The album, however, was a tremendous rip-off at the time, in a very peculiar way. Lisa Kindred was an established folk singer in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the mid-60's. This album was recorded as her intended second album for Vanguard records in 1966. However Lyman, who played banjo in the sessions, stole the master tape. Somehow Warner Brothers/Reprise saw fit to release the tape in 1970 under the Lyman Family moniker. In reality is is just a Lisa Kindred album with Lyman among the sessionmen. As such, it's a decent piece of folkie vinyl that reflects the Greenwich Village sound. Sadly, Kindred never got a chance to make another album until 2003.

Anton LaVey - Satan takes a Holiday (1995)

LaVey founded the Church of Satan in San Francisco in 1966 and briefly enjoyed a period of notoriety, including a small coterie of celebrity followers. The Chuch of Satan really can't be considered a cult, since its members did not live communally and were free to come and go as they pleased. However the Chuch's success made it influential in any number of weird, occult groups that sprang up in the wake of the hippie/LSD era. He enjoyed a revival in notoriety in the 1980's when he was a quest on the daytime TV talk show circuit. LaVey passed Church leadership on in 1993, and died in 1997.

An accomplished theremin player, he recorded two albums. Satan Takes a Holiday is a collection of very strange, idiosyncratic cover versions of largely torch songs from the 1920's and 30's, done with synthesizer, with his wife assisting on vocals.

The Farm Band - The Farm Band (1972)

This is the house band of The Farm, a commune established by Wavy Gravy in 1971. While more a commune than a cult, the group did have rules regarding sexuality, marriage, birth control, and other personal issues. Members had to take a vow of poverty and own no personal possessions. Synthetic drugs were prohibited. Much of the commune life centered on farm labor. The commune eventually relaxed some of its rules. It still exists today, making it probably the longest running hippie commune anywhere.

The album, the first of several is a Ya Ho Wa 13-esque psychedelic/tribal freakout album of a secular nature, and also has a kinf of jamband vibe to it. It is very hippie, but the musicians on it know how to play, and toured around the country playing smaller venues. Several other albums have appeared from the commune, with differing lineups, but the first one is the generally accepted classic.

Charles Manson - LIE: The Love and Terror Cult (1970)

Charles Manson probably needs no introduction. His music career never got off the ground, but he did rub shoulders with enough people in the business in 1967-1968 that for awhile it appeared Manson's career might really happen. He and his family crashed in Dennis Wilson's mansion, until Wilson finally had to abandon it. Terry Melcher, producer of the Byrds, considered recording him, before backing out due to erratic behavior (which may or may not have cost Sharon Tate and the others their lives; they were living in Melcher's previous home. Manson was known in Laurel Canyon, meeting Neil Young, John Phillips, and Cass Elliott. One of Manson's songs, "Cease to Exist" was covered by the Beach Boys (under the title "Never Learn Not To Love", and as a single rode the back of the A-side, "Bluebirds Over the Mountain" which reached #61. Manson gave his songwriting credit to Dennis Wilson in exchange for a Jeep and some cash.

LIE was mostly recorded in two session in Hollywood, with most of the album (all but two songs) recorded in 1968. It was released in 1970 on Awareness records, and released on ESP records shortly thereafter. Trademark of Quality, the bootleg label, handled west coast distribution. As music, the album is polarizing. Some can't get past who Manson is, others point to the unfinished quality of the recordings. However, there is a talent there; Dennis Wilson and Neil Young heard it, and numerous songs from the album have been covered, making it something of an underground classic. Much of it draws from the traditions of West Virginia mountain music, reflecting Manson's roots. Roscoe Holcomb would be a fairly apt comparison.

Jeremy Spencer - Jeremy Spencer and the Children (1972)

The Children of God were a fairly insidious cult led by David Berg which promoted a Christianity that advocated childhood sexuality and incestuous sexual relations with children. This remained part of their doctrine until 1987, when the group reorganized under the name Family International, which is still in existence. The cult was international, and proselytized worldwide, attracting large numbers of followers int he U.K, U.S., Japan, and Australia. Jeremy Spencer, from his joining in 1971 was one of the cult's key members, in charge of the groups' music and also worked with young teens. The acting Phoenix brothers were raised in the Children of God as was actress Rose McGowan, and several other celebrities. Leader David Berg died in 1994. His adopted son, Ricky Rodriguez (known as Davido in the cult) later posted a YouTube video in which he railed against the sexual abuse he and other children had repeatedly suffered in the cult before shooting to death one of the church leaders, and killing himself.

One would kind of hope that with all of that drama, Spencer's album would be good, but it is the bland kind of Jesus Freak movement-style hippie music common among early-70's Christian musicians, full of devotional songs, with cult members joining on the vocals. As such it isn't especially good or bad. However the history of this cult, which is widely known, gives the album a kind of evil aura. Spencer has managed to avoid prosecution for whatever he may or may not have done while in the group (allegations have been made, but no charges ever filed) He remains affiliated with Family International to this day, doing missionary work and illustrating children's books.

The People's Temple Choir - He's Able (1976)

The People's Temple is notorious for the 1978 mass suicide in Guyana. Reverend Jim Jones founded the church in 1955 in Indianapolis, IN. By the 1970's the People Temple operated a dozen chapters up and down the west coast in California. Estimates vary as to the total number of members the church had at its peak, but they range from 5,000 to as many as 20,000 members in the mid-70's. Jones established a community in Guyana on land that he had purchased, intended as a kind of spiritual utopia and escape from what he described as "fascist" society. This land was renamed "Jonestown". In 1978, he ordered the mass suicide of his followers and their children by the drinking of cyanide-laced Koolaid, which resulted in over 800 deaths, with Jones committing suicide by gunshot.

A disturbing and eerie recording exists of the final night in Jonestown, which captures the moments leading up to the mass suicide, the suicide itself, and the aftermath (spooky silence, with only faint music playing in the background from a speaker, which had been present through the whole incident. It has been released as an album several times under various names.

This album is not that one, although reissue CD's often bundle the two together. This one, like Jeremey Spencer's albums, is fairly run of the mill evangelistic Christian music with somewhat fire-and-brimstone-ish lyrics interspersed among more welcoming ones. There is a children's choir, and a standard guitar-bass-piano-drums lineup that doesn't do anything freaky. In a way, it is almost remarkable how ordinary this albums sounds, considering what was soon to transpire.