Almost there. Already, during the quiet time in the morning on my deck, words start flowing in sequence; bits and pieces of the story. I’m feeling on the verge of stepping off “into the great wide open”, as Tom Petty sang. Words and lyrics keep floating by my mind’s eye and I clutch at them, wanting to find where they fit into the story of my mother.
Music has always been a powerful presence in my life. I have vivid memories of lying on my bed, opening up a new album for the first time; admiring the artwork, flipping the album over to examine the back cover, and carefully reaching inside that as of yet uncreased, incredibly thin, cardboard opening for the liner notes, which I read every single word of. I put the needle on the record, heard the hiss and pop, and leapt onto my bed with a running start to read along with the lyrics as the music blasted in my room, drowning out my reality beyond the bedroom door. I always loved listening to the entire album that first time, from start to finish; a complete story.
With iTunes and mp3 downloads, listening to music has become an entirely different experience. Songs are purchased and listened to individually, not as part of a whole album. While on the road, I am so looking forward to listening to albums in their entirety again, with the changing landscape rushing by my windows.
I need your help! I have 3,000 miles to cover on my road trip from here to there and back again, and I am looking for albums that you love or loved listening to, from start to finish. Maybe the album spoke to you at a crucial moment in your life, maybe you just really dig the music, maybe you listened to it over and over simply because it was one of the few you owned. I want to hear them! I want to listen to them from start to finish. You can share the album in the comments section with an explanation of why it is important to you, or just list albums, either way I so appreciate you sharing some music with me for this journey.
I request no particular musical genre. My taste is incredibly varied, from classic rock to latin hiphop, John Denver to The Fugees. I will put myself out there for musical scrutiny and list some albums that I have really enjoyed in order, from first song to last, for one reason or another, at some point in my life…
Peter Gabriel-US
Pearl Jam-Ten
John Denver’s Greatest Hits
Meatloaf-Bat Out of Hell
Joni Mitchell-Ladies of the Canyon
Ben Harper and the Relentless 7-White Lies for Dark Times
Rush-2112
Maroon 5-Songs About Jane
Dave Mathews Band-Crash
Foo Fighters- One By One
The Civil Wars-Barton Hollow
“Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand…”-Stevie Wonder
me on music
In the Margins 
I don’t know why, but for some reason Supertramp’s Breakfast in America comes immediately to mind. “Can we have kippers for breakfast, Mummy Dear, Mummy Dear” hmm, maybe that’s why. It was definitely one of those I listened to alot.
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Haven’t listened to that one in a long time…cool.
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Oooh what a juicy post! I love music too. Music from most of the 80s make me all schmoopy. Probably my not 80s hands down favorite are The Decemberists or any Colin Meloy solo work you can get your hands on. Can’t remember if you’ve heard of The Decemberists before but if you haven’t you should. I think you’d like it:)
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Heard of them but never listened much…yay!
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I loved listening to Alannis Morrisette’s ‘Jagged Little Pill’- During those days of a having 3 young boys- a grade school aged one, a toddler and an infant- filled with copious amounts of sweetness, snuggles, wonder, sleep deprivation and poopy diapers, something in those lyrics and vibes spoke to me- an encouraging whisper that the wild primal, creative spirit part of me not defined by motherhood and domestic bliss (and poop) was alive and well and ready to kick it. And not going anywhere.
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Loved that one too…I’ll put it on the iPod. Thanks : )
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The Kinks – Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround; Paula Cole – This Fire are the first two albums that come to my mind. Not feeling particularly wordy right now but am so excited that you are going on this journey and incredibly thankful to you for letting us be witness to it. Happy trails!
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Yes! To both : ) Been a long, long time…
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Okay…here goes: My favorite “never leaves the car” album is called ‘Word of Mouth’ by Jaco Pastorius. There a couple of tracks that are a little outside (one is actually called ‘Crisis’), but there is a gorgeous version McCartney’s Blackbird, and Toots Thielemans is great on harmonica. Really beautiful stuff.
Another eclectic jazz record is ‘Too Much Sugar for a Dime’ by Henry Threadgill. You’ve never heard anything like this. It’s like a New Orleans brass band mixed with spacey electric guitars….and funky, but weird funky. While I’m doing the jazz thing, let me just list the rest of them and get it out of the way- Charles Mingus- Mingus Ah Um, John Coltrane- Blue Train (A Love Supreme is everyone’s fav trane album and it deserves that rep, but Blue Train was my first jazz LP so I am attached), and Herbie Hancock’s ‘Speak Like A Child’. Those last two are on the Blue Note record label, and you could spend a lot of time just listening to records from that label, and it would time well spent….if you’re into that kind of thing I guess.
On to the rock stuff…I really love songwriterly stuff, so I like Crowded House a lot, always loved Split Enz and Tim and Neil Finn’s solo stuff, but the Woodface record by Crowded House is probably my favorite LP ever….even with that song ‘Chocolate Cake’ on it, which I never liked. Every other track is fantastic. Great harmonies, great songs.
Of all the Elvis Costello records, I really am attached to ‘King of America’. The songs are fantastic, it’s his first record w/o the Attractions. I am also a big fan of Joe Henry. Two of his records, ‘Fuse’ and ‘Scar’ are running neck and neck as to which I like best. I heard Fuse first…it just sounds so good production wise. And Scar has the most beautiful sax solo ever, played by Ornette Coleman on a song called ‘Richard Pryor Addresses a Tearful Nation’. How do you beat that? Both really strong records. My favorite songwriter is Sam Phillips, and I’m a little hesitant to name just one record, because they are all good. I’ll go with ‘Cruel Inventions’. Her first four or five albums are just perfect pop, in the Beatles sense of the word, and the later ones have become more stripped down. She seems unable to write a bad song. Another record I like is ‘Fox Confessor Brings the Flood’ by Neko Case. She has a great voice. If you’re into weirder rock stuff you might like Neutral Milk Hotel. They have an album called ‘In The Aeroplane Over the Sea’ which a great piece of work. Lots of layers to that one. I also really liked Wilco’s ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’ album. A lot of people kind of slag it off, but it’s still a really great album. I also like Ben Fold Five’s first album….but that might be a little male and undergraduate for your tastes. It’s kind of sloppy fun. And there are the records you probably know about already….like Blue by Joni, or Grace by Jeff Buckley. Those tend to wind up in my car stereo a lot. Sometimes I’ll slip in Glenn Gould playing the Goldberg Variations when I need a little classical fix, or some Arvo Part. I’ve always thought the Tabula Rasa album was beautiful.
Hope that gives your ear holes some fun. Take care and drive safe!
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My husband is a bass player and fan of Jaco..I’ll check it out. Excited about the others too. Thanks Larry!
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Anything by James. Especially loved the album “Laid” from start to finish. A spiritual experience. I can hook you up with a copy when you pass through the Midwest. 🙂
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never listened to James…thanks!
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Stand back, big list coming.
Going alphabetically-ish:
AC/DC – Back in Black
The Arc Angels
Bad Company – Bad Co and Straight Shooter
The Beatles – Abby Road, Let It Be… Naked (Not you, the album. Don’t get arrested.) Interesting if you have never listened to it.
Blues Traveler – Blues Traveler
Bob Marley – Legend
Bruce Hornsby – Harbor Lights
I am sure Bruce Springsteen goes here somewhere, but I am not the guy to pick an album.
CSNY – some of The Box Set (Someone might have the right album to recommend. We have the box set)
Deep Purple – Machine Head
Def Leppard – Pyromania
Dire Straits – Dire Straits
The Doobie Brothers – Sorry, only have “Best Of” collections. You will sing though.
The Eagles – Almost anything while driving across country
Edie Brickell & New Bohemians – Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars
Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Eric Clapton – Journeyman, Unplugged, or old skool stuff, I don’t know. Seems like he should be in the car.
Fiona Apple – Tidal
Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
Gretchen Lieberum – Three A.M.
Howard Jones – Live Acoustic America (Just selected tracks, you’d be surprised)
James Taylor – This another one we only have Greatest Hits of.
Jimi Hendrix – Axis Bold as Love
Joan Armatrading – Joan Armatrading
Joe Bonamassa – Sloe Gin
Journey/Kansas/Styx – hahahahaha
Led Zepplin – Not sure where to go here other then… I, II, III, IV
Lenny Kravitz – Let Love Rule
Mary’s Danish – Circa
Michael Hedges – Aerial Boundaries for an album (Beyond Boundaries for an amazing collection) Great for when you are tired of words. Forever thanks for introducing me to him.
Nirvana – Nevermind
Paul Simon – Graceland
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here and Dark Side of the Moon
The Red Hot Chili Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Ruch – Fly By Night
Steve Miller Band – Fly Like an Eagle
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble – Couldn’t Stand the Weather, Texas Flood
Sting – Nothing Like the Sun and/or Bring on the Night
Tears For Fears – The Seeds of Love
Tom Petty and the Hearbreakers – Damn the Torpedoes
Tower of Power – Back to Oakland
Tracy Chapman – Tracy Chapman
Us3 – Hand on the Torch
Van Morrison – Moon Dance
The Who – Who’s Next, Who Are You
Willie Nelson
Honorable mention to –
Scrapomatic
The Police
Madness
English Beat
Louis Armstrong
The Marshall Tucker Band
… and many more.
Sorry for the big post bomb. I love you, and there is nothing closer to my heart then you, the kids, and music.
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: ) I was gonna go through our collection in alpha order too!
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The Bruce Springstein clearly has to be Born to Run.
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Jesus, Mike, way to really narrow it down. Hee…
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You’ll notice that, even though the list is long, I did not push for Galactic, Phish, Gov’t Mule/Haynes, Victor Wooten, or some others that you have heard endlessly in my car.
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Hey hey! Journey time (the trip, not the band…totally not where I was going here). Alright, road music off the top of my head. I know you and you’re probably not going to do this, but when you are driving through a long dusty desolate brown stretch of desert I’m telling you, Pink Floyd The Wall simply works. Don’t pretend it doesn’t make sense! In general, Tom Petty always seems to work well on a long drive, especially the non-Heartbreakers albums. I know it seems I can’t enter a conversation about music without referencing The Who’s Quadrophenia but if you are taking in an album, beginning to end for the complete story instead of the individual songs, c’mon it doesn’t get any better. Mmm, catharsis. Other beginning to end albums: Paul Simon’s Graceland, Red Hot Chili Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magick, Phish Rift, and Led Zep Houses of the Holy. My even more off hand suggestion is anything in the Johnny Cash American series. These aren’t studio albums so much as collections of covers and his own songs done mostly acoustically. Yeah, he’s older and it can be hit and miss, but the good stuff is good and it is interesting. Bringing it back around American III has Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers as his backing band. OK, good trip…
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Elton John: Tumbleweed Connection.
Stevie wonder: Talking Book
Carly Simon: Hotcakes
Anything by Elvis, Bowie, Ed Sheeran and Justin
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I have one for you! It is an album that you have to listen to from start to finish because it goes from incarnation to birth through life struggles to enlightenment! It is one of my most favorites ever and has gotten me through the last 5 years. It has the best words and is a bit quirky…Cloud Cult is the band, Light Chasers is the album! I can put it on your iPod when you get here! 🙂 ❤ ❤ ❤
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I remember a road trip with… Carly Simon: Another Passenger and Ricki Lee Jones (the album). Also a time of self-discovery and wonderment. Enjoy! Be safe. xo
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Etta James – Dreamer
Fred Neil Sessions 1967
Roberta Flack – First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
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