Am I your caucasian?

There are few albums that can be played without being tempted to flick through tracks your not enjoying, however, I can categorically state that the ten timeless masterpieces I have chosen, there is no need to move from the hammock or the armchair. Unfortunately, many of the recent classic albums contain only a few hit-worthy songs and far too many fillers, included just to make up the numbers.

There are numerous ‘best of ‘albums (hence no Eagles/Simon and Garfunkel/Cat Stevens) ‘live’albums (no classic concerts by Queen/Bob Dylan/Bruce Springsteen) and soundtracks (so no Tarantino movies/Neil Diamond’s Jazz Singer/Platoon) worth including -but in my rules they don’t make it-And no Coldplay which was indeed difficult.

1. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band-The Beatles

It was tough going to choose one album from the Fab Four but for me this one narrowly edges out Revolver and The White Album as it changed their style considerably just as Beatlemania was on the wane. The album took four months to record in the studio and gave them the chance to become alter-egos of themselves-as Damon Albarn has done recently with the Gorillaz. It also is book-ended with a title song and reprise-much like Coldplay’s recent Viva la Vida. It crosses all boundaries from the Indian influenced use of the sitar on Within You Without You and even a harpsichord on Fixing a Hole. The album also continues The Beatles love for writing about everyday life with tracks such as Lovely Rita and When I’m Sixty-Four. The outfits, the album cover, the controversy behind the lyrics in Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and ending with one of the best songs of all-time, A Day in the Life, there can be no doubt this deserves to be in any top ten album list.

2. Astral Weeks-Van Morrison

Forty years after its release, Morrison played the entire album live at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles last year in two back to back concerts. When asked why he chose this particular album, he responded by saying the record label never promoted the album so he never got to play it live. Forget some of his weaker moments (Whenever God Shines his Light with Cliff Richard) on his more well-known Greatest Hits album, this record exudes class from start to finish. Sweet Thing, Cyprus Avenue and Madame George stay in the soul and on a hot summer evening only Astral Weeks and Exodus (see below) can do the weather justice.

3. Exodus-Bob Marley

Much of Exodus was recorded in 1977 in London, while Marley recuperated from an assassination attempt in his homeland Jamaica. Although difficult to position it above any other of his records with such an impressive back catalogue, this has to the reggae legend’s greatest work. Jamming, Waiting in Vain, One Love/People Get Ready and Exodus were all major international hits and are still hugely popular songs today. The opening track Natural Mystic is also up there as a classic although never released as a single. Although there have been a few cover versions of Bob Marley’s songs it is a testament to his genius that it must be one of the toughest asks in music for any singer or group who dares to attempt it.

4. Tapestry-Carole King

My music choice is generally very male dominated so I felt it important to include a female artist and although Tracy Chapman’s debut album came very close I just couldn’t leave this out. I grew up hearing Tapestry repeatedly played on vinyl around my parent’s house and it is filled with so many well-known tracks. The award-winning album also won four Grammy Awards in 1971 including; Album of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, Record of the Year -It’s Too Late and Song of the Year-You’ve Got a Friend. King wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on the album but it was singer James Taylor, who encouraged her to sing her own songs, and who also played on the hauntingly beautiful, Tapestry. The album has sold over 25 million copies worldwide.

5. All Eyez on Me-2 Pac

Rap music’s first double-album was released soon after Tupac was released from jail and was his debut album for Suge Knight and his West-coast record label, Death Row Records. With so many posthumous releases and six movies completed before his tragic death in 1996, he left behind a body of work to be proud of for a man who died at only 25. Highlights include Picture Me Rollin’, Check Out Time, All Eyez On Me, Heartz Of Men and Life Goes On, but all 27 songs are well worth listening to.

6. What’s The Story Morning Glory-Oasis

I know it would have been cooler to name Definitely Maybe as the greatest album from the band of the nineties, but for me an album with truly great songs such as Cast No Shadow and Champagne Supernova has to be in the list. Not forgetting the classic anthems Wonderwall and Don’t Look Back In Anger. I have also been reliably informed that the album was made in two weeks whilst the band were fuelled by a diet of snake-bite and black, getting back to the days of proper rock-and-roll. There have been numerous first-class Oasis songs released since its release in 1995, but there haven’t been so many on one record. Let’s hope Noel and Liam manage to come up with another killer album during their own respective careers.

7. The Wall-Pink Floyd

Despite the power struggle and the band’s break-up in the mid eighties, the fact that lead vocalists and composers Dave Gilmour and Roger Waters continue to tour this album solo around the world, indicate how 30 years later it remains a classic. As with most of their previous albums, The Wall is a concept album, that deals largely with the theme of personal isolation. It is one of the best-selling double albums of all time, and is in the top five best-selling albums of all time in the USA. It contains 26 songs and is much like a soundtrack for a theatrical production and it actually went on to become a film of the same name in 1982. Highlights for me include; Hey You, Comfortably Numb, Is There Anybody Out There and Another Brick in the Wall. Like all of their music, this album represents pioneering original material in an era where there glam rock and punk dominated the charts. No top album list can be complete without a record by the British progressive rock gurus.

8. The Black Album-Jay Z

It was billed as his last ever, but thankfully the rap mogul has continued to push boundaries and has delivered a further three albums since the release of his masterpiece, not necessarily in terms of containing all of his best tracks, but as an album in it’s entirety with no weak links. Every song represents a mixture of old school and the new generation of rap. The album featured a variety of producers, including Jigga’s favourites; Kanye West, Just Blaze and Pharrell Williams. There are numerous unforgettable songs, but for me; Encore, Public Service Announcement and Moment of Clarity show the true genius of a man at the top of his game. The fact he got his own mother on the final song, My 1st Song, a rare feat for any musician, together with the current President of the United States, recently acknowledging the sign-language of Dirt Off Your Shoulder, indicate there are no boundaries Jay-Z cannot reach.

9. Urban Hymns-The Verve

Like Pink Floyd it’s a tragedy the lead singer and the band can no longer communicate as it’s us music lovers who miss out. According to a friend in the business, Ashcroft is about to release his best work since this exceptional album -the band’s third-released in 1997-at the height of  the Britpop era. Complex and original anthems such as; Bittersweet Symphony, The Drugs Don’t Work, Sonnet, The Rolling People and Lucky Man capitulated the band into commercial success and then it was all over, as they split before a fourth album could be made. The original line-up recently reformed for a tour, but sadly it was to be short-lived.

10. Face Value-Phil Collins

His debut solo album, released in February 1981, was inspired from the pain and anger during his first divorce. It heralded his rise as one of the UK’s leading solo artists in the eighties and yet in the press it was ironically his second divorce, famously by fax, that seemed to end his legendary status as rock icon during the mid nineties. From start to finish this album as it all, together with an excellent tempo throughout. We start with the atmospheric In The Air Tonight with it’s well known drum solo and chinese whispers about it’s meaning and then we get taken on the ride with it’s ups; Thunder and Lightning and I Missed Again and the downs; The Roof is Leaking and If Leaving Me Is Easy. Add the moody instrumental Droned and all in all you have a underrated classic.

~ by leonfbutler on January 5, 2010.

Posted in Music, Top Choices List
Tags: 2 Pac, Coldplay, Damon Albarn, Pink Floyd, Tarantino, The Beatles, Top 10 Albums