Four or five of these are pretty much etched in stone, and the other five are subject to change and can be switched out at any time in favor of more obvious choices like “Are You Experienced?”, “Pet Sounds”, “The Beatles”, etc.
1) Rockpile-Seconds Of Pleasure – Released in the same year of things like The “Urban Cowboy” soundtrack and Van Halen’s “Diver Down”, this thing never stood a chance to sell. Which is one of the reasons its so damn timeless.
2) Love-Forever Changes – Arthur Lee’s magnum opus with a message that is still relevant today. That message being “Get your head out of your ass, sonny.”
3) Gene Clark-No Other- Gene was about three years ahead of the record buying curve when he recorded this. Incredible in every way.
4) Yes-Close To The Edge – The title track can damn near bring me to tears at any moment, and I defy even the haters to disagree that “Siberian Khatru” is flat out smoking hot.
5) King Crimson-Islands – The quietest moments on this record are what make it so devastating for me. The “ying” to the “yang” that was the “Court” album.
6)Traffic-second LP- (selftitled) Great songs, great production , great performances.
7) Ella Fitzgerald-Gershwin Album. No matter how many times i play this, there’s almost always a new discovery. Which is as much of a testament to Ella as it is to the mindblowing capabilities of the Nelson Riddle Orchestra.
8)Frank Sinatra-In The Wee Small Hours- It just spills out and fills the room with it’s matter-of-fact greatness.
9)Elvis Costello-Trust–it is here on this record where we are treated to the most consistent balance between future experimentation and the immediate punch of his earliest works.
10)Frank Zappa-Absolutely Free –a perfect marriage of music and comedy.