Paul Winter's Common Ground. Not even my favorite album, but one I've shared with the most friends, on account of the effect it had on me as a musician. Winter and his Consort hole-up in the woods, not just to write and record an album focused on nature, but the Pauls (Winter and McCandless) expand on melodies and song sung to them by eagles, wolves and whales...and the royalties are shared by groups that care for them as species. Discovering this album led to me realizing I didn't have anything worth contributing to the world with my own saxophone voice, after 19 years of thinking I might. (And believe me, for many who both appreciated how this album made me feel about my own music - and those who have heard me play! - this was indeed a gift to the world in itself! )
The Soundtrack of our Lives (Behind the Music). It seems like it should appeal to fans of classic rock as well as music omnivores. The album has elements of Who, Stones, Beatles, Floyd, and Love. Still can't understand how this band never made it big outside of Sweden.
To the average Joe - Ro Sham Bo by The Grays To a higher level musically - In Absentia by Porcupine Tree
I did a small web-related job for Paul many years ago. I'm a huge fan of his Prayer for the Wild Things album.
Living with Ghosts by Patty Griffin. I would buy the CD for people because I thought it was the most amazing album I’d ever heard. I don’t think I converted a single person to a fan.
Donald Fagen - The Nightfly, Kamakiriad Robin Trower - Bridge of Sighs Klaatu - 8:47 E.S.T., Hope Steve Vai - Passion and Warfare Joe Satriani - Flying in a Blue Dream Sonny Landreth - Live on Grant Street Pink Floyd - Meddle Alan Parsons Project - On Air Planet P Project - Planet P Project, Pink World Joyce Cooling - Third Wish, This Girl's Gotta Play Jeff Lorber Fusion - Prototype, Space-Time
Getz & Gilberto - bar none. Most none music people of never heard of this album, or even this type of music. But I've found that it's almost universally loved and understood/appreciated.
I've always thought the Bossa Nova influence was one of the best things to happen in America at that time. Between The Day The Music Died and The Day Walter Cronkite Cried, we were in this malaise of sugary pop music that slowed our progress as a culture down somewhat. The highly-accessible rhythms and multiculturalism of Brazilian music was something fresh that the Neo-Suburban could latch onto, if the Tiki craze wasn't making any headway. A soothing balm it didn't take a major re-calibration to absorb. Almost the "anti-folk", folk movement.
Over the years I would think it would have been one of the Nick Drake albums. More recently I have been recommending Israeli bassist, Adam Ben Ezra
Lee Oskar - Before The Rain. He was the harmonica player with War. This is not like most of my collection but I've recommended it to several people and they've all taken to it.
Pet Sounds. By far. I know I went over the line when I was drunk outside a MacMenamin's in Corvallis, OR talking to a Romanian girl and two friends of hers about how damn great Pet Sounds is. I have no idea who they were.
Before I recommend anything to anybody, I always ask them to first give me an example of an album they love and an album they hate. If they're into stuff like Pet Sounds and Rubber Soul, I always tell them to check out Harry Nilsson's first three RCA albums, preferably with a good set of headphones.
John Prine—Fair & Square Buddy Guy—Sweet Tea Martha Argerich/Michel Béroff /London Symphony Orchestra/Claudio Abbado—Ravel: Piano Concertos Willie Nelson—You Don’t Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker Luna—Penthouse Emmylou Harris—Wrecking Ball
On the off-chance there are any forum members not familiar with one of the handful of greatest live albums ever, please enjoy Danny Gatton’s - The Humbler, perhaps starting around the 1:25 mark https://youtu.be/XB9XJKL4WmA
Surprising the number of people I didn't recommend Nick Drake to, on the basis that I felt they just wouldn't get it.