Recommendations for your listening pleasure
Recently somebody sent me a list of 20 albums that played a special place in his youth. It wasn’t even his list; it was his brothers’. But it got me thinking about making my own list.
But rather than make a list that would be similar to one that a lot of people my age would make, I thought I’d do it a little differently.
First, because my iPod is how I listen to music these days, I have a portable record collection that these days has more than 8,000 songs on it. And because I almost always just play those songs on “shuffle,” a rarely think in terms of whole albums anymore.
Second, I could do a list that includes “London Calling” by the Clash and “My Aim in True” by Elvis Costello and it would be true that I love all the albums on the list. But so do most music aficionados (that’s a much nicer term that music snobs, something I’ve been accused of before).
So, rather than give you a long explanation of why I picked “Moondance” over “Astral Weeks” for my Van Morrison selection, I thought I’d give you a list of 20 albums I really like that you might not have heard of. It's not a top 20 list, it's just a list of great albums.
These are some of the albums that helped me realize great music is still being made, and not just for our kids. Here they are in alphabetical order by artist (if I’d tried to rank them 1-20 it might take me the rest of the month):
“Sea Saint Sessio
ns” by Tab Benoit — Great blues guitarist and singer with just enough gumbo thrown in.
“Down Home Live” by Buckwheat Zydeco — Speaking of gumbo. You can really tell Stanley “Buckwheat” Durrall Jr. is having a good time on stage.
“Cracker” by Cracker — Alt rock with a sense of humor. Songs like “Mr. Wrong” and “Can I Take My Gun Up to Heaven?” are catchy and hilarious.
“Find a Door” by Pete Droge & the Sinners — Droge is a great songwriter and the cover of “Brakeman” is worth the price of the entire album.
“Live and the Pachyderm Studios” by Indigenous — Guitarist Mato Nanji (the entire band is made up of Native Americans, but it’s pure blues rock) is channeling Stevie Ray Vaughan.
“El Rayo-X” by David Lindley — I saw Lindley during this period in the mid ’80s and again recently. Two completely different shows, both great.
“Senior Blues” by Taj Majal — Alphabetically, does Taj belong on the Ms or the Ts? Either way this is a great and funky album.
“The Harmonica According to Charlie Musselwhite” by Charlie Musselwhite — I saw Charlie at a blues festival in Indiana a few summers ago. I took my 14-year-old son. If you're 65 years old and you can impress a 14 year old, you’re doing something right.
“Hill Country Review: Live at Bonaroo” by North Mississippi All-Stars — Young guys paying tribute to their musical elders, many of whom are their actual parents.
“Relish” by Joan Osborne — “What if God was One of Us?” is on this album and it’s completely different that the rest of it. Even if you hated that song, give the rest a chance.
“Ozomatli” by Ozomatli — I have a friend that calls it “that crazy Mexican rap music,” and that’s when he’s asking to hear some more. The rapping is all in English, most of the singing is in Spanish and all of the music is an eclectic mix you’d expect from a band from East Los Angeles.
“The Law of the Fish” by The Radiators — “The big ones eat the little ones, the little ones got to be fast. That’s the law of the fish now momma, you got to move your (rear end).” I don’t know what it means, but I like it.
“A Day at the Beach” by Sonia Dada — It’s a band, not a person like Lynyrd Skynyrd. Only it’s nothing like Lynerd Skynerd. It’s not like anything else really. “Alternative soul” it the best description I can come up with. Check it out.
“Just Won’t Burn” by Susan Tedeschi — This is not the voice you expect to come out of a small, pretty woman; and she plays a mean guitar too. Powerful.
“Rumor and Sigh” by Richard Thompson — Thompson is a critically acclaimed British singer, songwriter and guitar player. Not enough people own a copy of this record.
“Toots in Memphis” by Toots & the Maytalls — Toots Hibbert, the greatest voice in reggae, bring his band to Tennessee and they record Otis Redding and Booker T & the MGs songs.
“Family Style” by the Vaughan Brothers — Stevie and big brother Jimmie put this album out before Stevie died. It’s not really like either of them sound solo. There’s a song called “Hillbillies from Outer Space.” Pretty much says it all.
Everybody’s Gettin’ Some” by Junior Wells — The late blues legend infused a lot of soul into one of his final albums. When Wells died, he left the title “greatest living harmonica player” to Musselwhite.
“Jackassolantern” by Widespread Panic — The jam band legends play nothing but covers in the annual Halloween night show. This is a selection of those including Nelly’s “Hot in Herre” and Blue Oyster Cult’s “Godzilla.” There are also James Brown and The Doors covers.
“Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” by Lucinda Williams — I saw her open for Neil Young a few years ago. I’d love a chance to see Williams at a smaller venue. The more you listen to it, the better it gets.
So, there you have it, 20 albums that helped me come to the conclusion that music isn't dead. Our generation doesn't have to look back to find good music. If you have any money left on those iTunes or Amazon gift cards, buy one of these. It doesn’t matter which one, you can’t go wrong.
