Our Favorite Albums (181 – 190)
181. Tut Taylor – Friar Tut [1972]
Nominated by Bill Revill of Acoustic Blender who says: Dobro instrumentals with backup guitar from Norman Blake.
182. The New Deal – The New Deal [2001]
Nominated by Andy Chatfield of Center for the Arts Radio Hour.
The New Deal is a live album released by the Canadian electronic music trio The New Deal in 2001. The bulk of the album was recorded at performances in Atlanta GA, Ithaca NY, Northampton MA, and Montreal QC, though it was sculpted into a larger piece in the studio. (wikipedia.org)
183. Parliament – Mothership Connection [1975]
Nominated by DJ Jagged Little Thrill of What the Funk & Word on the Street.
Describing the album, George Clinton said “We had put black people in situations nobody ever thought they would be in, like the White House. I figured another place you wouldn’t think black people would be was in outer space. I was a big fan of Star Trek, so we did a thing with a pimp sitting in a spaceship shaped like a Cadillac, and we did all these James Brown-type grooves, but with street talk and ghetto slang.” (wikipedia.org)
184. De La Soul – De La Soul is Dead [1991]
Nominated by Big Bent of Dub Revolution (and many more!) who says: representing the daisy age of hip hop.
185. Jonathan Richman – I, Jonathan [1992]
Nominated by DJ TJ of Punkadelic.
As the founder of influential protopunk band The Modern Lovers, Richman had strived to convey authentic emotions and storytelling with his music. I, Jonathan continued this aesthetic with simple and sparse rock and roll arrangements, and straightforward lyrics about mundane topics. (wikipedia.org)
186. Brittany Howard – Jaime [2019]
Nominated by DJ Lukey G of The Guest List.
The album is the first solo work from Howard, who has previously recorded with Alabama Shakes. It is dedicated to her sister Jaime, who died of retinoblastoma as a teen. After experiencing writer’s block, Howard put Alabama Shakes on hold to pursue side projects and to have complete control over the recording of Jaime in 2018. After taking a long road trip, she reflected on her life as her 30th birthday approached and decided to record an album that explored her personal history and beliefs. In addition to discussing the death of her sister, the album explores growing up poor, the prejudice that her parents faced as an interracial couple and her struggle with religious faith. She began recording the songs in a greenhouse in Topanga, California before heading to two Los Angeles-based studios to finalize the album. (wikipedia.org)
187. Unwound – Leaves Turn Inside You [2001]
Nominated by Rick Reaction.
Unlike previous Unwound albums, Leaves Turn Inside You was recorded in 2000 by the band members at their own built studio, MagRecOne (“Magnetic Recording One”), in Olympia, Washington. As singer and guitarist Justin Trosper explains, “Every record, we tried to raise the bar to some degree by asking, ‘What can we do to make this better?’ Usually that was just increasing the amount of time we spent in the studio. So the idea with the last record is that we would build a studio to record ourselves and break out of the pattern we’d established with [longtime producer] Steve Fisk and we’d have as much time to do it as we wanted — for better or worse”. All songs were written and recorded by Unwound, with the production being handled between the band and Phil Ek. (wikipedia.org)
188. Frank Critelli – Both/And [2002]
Nominated by Robbie of Homegrown.
189. Otis Redding – Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul [1965]
Nominated by Richard Kamins of River Valley Rhythms who says: Sweet Soul music from Memphis!
190. The Turtles – Save the Turtles: The Turtles Greatest Hits [2009]
Nominated by Leith of The Light Fandango.
