LEGEND Your Song of the Day

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Prime Time

Prime Time

PT
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Alan said:
So I was thinking about this and decided to try and make one myself. Couldn't do it. Best I can probably do is get it down to about a top 30. Maybe top 40. I'd think of 20 or so and try to pare it down but couldn't find a good reason to subtract any. Then I'd remember another one and I'd have to add it to my list. I've decided to give up. :( :LOL:

If you know your top 10 off the top of your head I'd love to know what they are. If you share I promise not to say but what about ________. :LOL:
Click to expand...

These are my top ten albums based on how they affected me emotionally and especially as a musician. They still get listened to today and hold a special place in my heart. As a young man it was my dream to become a rock star. Instead I got married young and took crappy jobs to support us while getting more interested in getting drunk and getting high. Before I knew it I had missed my window of opportunity and complacency settled in. Still the love of the music and the artists that created it remains.

1. Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles

This album was released right after I turned 16. I was a teenager during the Summer of Love and living right smack dab in the middle of the best place to be if you loved going to concerts, and I most certainly did - the SF Bay area. Then along came this album and made me realize that you could write your own songs, record them and play them live. Before the Beatles came along most songs were written by songwriters hired by the record companies and then parceled out to the artists. The Beatles changed all that.

George Martin's production work along with the Beatles creativity was astounding. 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'Penny Lane,' released as singles were originally intended for this album. That would have been something had they been included.

Favorites: 'A Day in the Life,' 'Getting Better,' 'Fixing a Hole,' 'Within You, Without You.'



2. Abbey Road - The Beatles

No band affected me more than the Beatles so I could include just about every one of their albums on this list but I'll leave it at two. They are to me in music what the Rams are to me in sports.

George Martin is at it again. One has to realize that in those days musicians and producers didn't have the recording tools that we have today. Sgt. Pepper was recorded on a 4-track machine while Abbey Road used 8-tracks. Today I have the ability to record hundreds of tracks using the software I have on the computer. Martin and the Beatles were extremely limited in what they could do recording wise but pulled off another magnificent work.

Favorites: 'Come Together,' 'Something,' 'Oh Darling,' 'Medley.'



3. In The Court of the Crimson King - King Crimson

I bought this album based solely on the cover art. I had never heard them before and was blown away once the needle hit the record groove and on came ''21st Century Schizoid Man.' I love every song on that record and listen to it from beginning to end. I have it on CD and play it mostly in the car while driving.

It is the mellotron, a synthesizer that uses tapes of actual instruments to reproduce the sounds, that does it for me, as well as Robert Fripp's guitar playing and the vocals of Greg Lake.



4. Are You Experienced - Jimi Hendrix

What else can be said about Jimi Hendrix? He was one of a kind. Hendrix stretched the possibilities of guitar playing.

Favorites: 'Foxy Lady,' 'Manic Depression,' 'Purple Haze,' 'The Wind Cries Mary,' 'Fire.'



5. Loosen Up Naturally - Sons of Champlin

Whenever I get depressed it's time to put on 'Freedom' and dance around the room. 14:41 minutes of joy. It works every time. The whole album is one uplifting song after another. Hippies with horns singing tunes about love and peace.




Albums 6 - 10 coming later. :)
 
Prime Time

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6. Tumbleweed Connection - Elton John

His finest album, imo, and that's saying something. I was a sophomore at San Jose State while living with my friend John, who's dad had rented us his cottage, when this album came out in 1970. The songs still speak to me today after all these years.

Favorites: 'Come Down In Time,' 'Where To Now St. Peter,' 'Love Song,' 'Amoreena.'


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ri96HlRCKI


7. Time Passages - Al Stewart

A collection of gorgeous songs that emotionally slayed me. This came out in 1978 and I had just gone through a brutal divorce. One day I was driving home from work in the rain and the song 'Time Passages' came on the radio. I had never heard it before and the truth and beauty of the lyrics so stunned me that I had to pull over and weep.

"A girl comes towards you
You once used to know
You reach out your hand
But you're all alone, in these
Time passages"

Excellent sax work by Phil Kenzie and produced by the wonderful Alan Parsons of Pink Floyd fame.

Al Stewart is one of the few artists I know of that blends lyrics about history with music. He has one of the biggest wine collections in the world and is apparently a bit of snob. He hated 'Time Passages' and said he just wrote it because the record company wanted another hit like 'Year of the Cat.' Shut up Al. :)

Favorites: 'Time Passages,' 'The Palace of Versailles,' 'Song On The Radio,' 'End of the Day.'


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS-1ZTSCqio


8. Who's Next - The Who

Eight great songs with one filler 'My Wife' by John Entwhistle. Keith Moon, Entwhistle, Townshend, and Daltrey in their prime peak of creativity. I won't name my favorites because they all are.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6-3rnD7FSc


9. The Doors - The Doors

Another great album that came out in 1967. It was the antithesis of the hippie culture mantra of peace and love. Jim Morrison wasn't flashing peace signs at the crowd, only his middle finger and sometimes his lower appendage. The album was dark and brooding just like the man who wrote the lyrics and sang the songs.

Favorites: 'Break On Through,' 'Soul Kitchen,' 'Light My Fire,' 'Back Door Man.'


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxizIrbcSuU


10. Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd

This album came out less than a month after my father passed away unexpectedly at age 43, and a few months before I got married. To say that was a stressful time would be an understatement. Along came Pink Floyd to soothe my shattered nerves, along with copious amounts of psychedelics and good herb. :)

Alan Parsons engineered the album but it was produced by the members of Pink Floyd. It's a classic and it still works to calm me today even without the blacklight and the illegal smokes.

Favorites: 'Money,' 'Us and Them,' 'Time,' 'Breathe.'


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpbbuaIA3Ds
 
CodeMonkey

CodeMonkey

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Prime Time said:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4JWqK6r6N4
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Thanks. What an incredible story her life is. Doing gigs at age 13 to help support mama. She's been so impactful on so many things in music that you hear all the time but is just so modest. Regular people. Clearly an amazing talent that saw the birth of rock and roll and was a pioneer in it's development. It's funny the contrast between her looks and the powerful funk she makes. She looks like grandma. I liked her telling how she practiced with a metronome with all forms of music until her timing was impeccable. And it is.
 
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Alan

Alan

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Great finish PT! I know and love all those albums. The only album in your top ten that was unfamiliar to me was the Sons of Champlin album. Don't know why but I'd never even heard of that group until you turned me onto to it. I'll have to spend some time listening and getting to know it. Thanks for sharing! (y) :)

Here's something I meant to add to the Santana clip but forgot:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8LcqwL8a00
 
Prime Time

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PT
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Alan said:
Great finish PT! I know and love all those albums. The only album in your top ten that was unfamiliar to me was the Sons of Champlin album. Don't know why but I'd never even heard of that group until you turned me onto to it. I'll have to spend some time listening and getting to know it. Thanks for sharing! (y) :)

Here's something I meant to add to the Santana clip but forgot:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8LcqwL8a00
Click to expand...


The Sons were an obscure SF band. I saw them at a New Year's Eve show at Winterland and was hooked. Their music is infectious. Bill Champlin went on to sing with Chicago and then put out all sorts of shmaltzy duets and singles. They're all old now but reunited and still doing gigs.

One morning I was woken up by the clock radio and on came the song 'Freedom' which is almost 15 minutes long. I laid there listening to it and was in a good mood the rest of the day. I've used that song and band to pick me up ever since.
 
CodeMonkey

CodeMonkey

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this is funny (and sad)... I like where ozzy goes... What's This? lol

 
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