Our Favorite Albums (31 – 40)
31. Prince – Sign o’ the Times [1987]
Nominated by Rob of Chocolate Cake and DJ Lukey G of The Guest List.
Rob says: Prince at his most ambitious. Everything from pop, funk, psychedelic garage rock and slow jams make for an intoxicating mix that could have only come from His Royal Purple Majesty.
32. The Who – Live at Leeds [1970]
Nominated by Psychedelic Rick of The Psychedelicatessen and Rob of Chocolate Cake.
Rob says: Crunchy, ear shattering rock ‘n’ roll.
33. Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells [1973]
Nominated by Rob of Chocolate Cake and Leith of The Light Fandango.
Rob says: New Age music starts here. But it’s New Age done right. Don’t blame him for what followed.
34. The Cranberries – Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? [1993]
Nominated by DJ TJ of Punkadelic and DJ AmorOso of WTF: What the Funk & Storytime.
Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? is the debut studio album by Irish alternative rock band The Cranberries. Released on 1 March 1993 after four EPs, it is both the band’s first full-length album and major label release. The album was written entirely by the band’s lead singer Dolores O’Riordan and guitarist Noel Hogan. (wikipedia.org)
35. Stevie Wonder – Talking Book [1972]
Nominated by Michael Benson of 75% Folk and DJ Lukey G of The Guest List.
Relying less on Motown’s head Berry Gordy for musical direction and expression, Talking Book is often considered as the beginning of the turning point in Wonder’s career from a youthful prodigy to an independent and experimental artist. Speaking on the album in 2000, Wonder said, “It wasn’t so much that I wanted to say anything except where I wanted to just express various many things that I felt—the political point of view that I have, the social point of view that I have, the passions, emotion and love that I felt, compassion, the fun of love that I felt, the whole thing in the beginning with a joyful love and then the pain of love.” (wikipedia.org)
36. Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks [1975]
Nominated by Andy Chatfield of Center for the Arts Radio Hour, Rob of Chocolate Cake, DJ Deni of Lovin’ the 70’s, and Bill Revill of Acoustic Blender.
Bill Revill says: Bob returned after an extended absence in 1975. He had not lost anything.
37. Steely Dan – Aja [1977]
Nominated by Michael Benson of 75% Folk, Rob of Chocolate Cake, and DJ Jagged Little Thrill of What the Funk & Word on the Street.
Rob says: No band ever mixed rock, pop & jazz better than Becker and Fagen did on here.
38. The Who – Who’s Next [1971]
Nominated by Johnny Ganache of Pint O’ Comics, Richard Kamins of River Valley Rhythms and DJ Deni of Lovin’ the 70’s.
Johnny Ganache says: Great record. Bargain may be my favorite Who song.
Richard Kamins says: One of the great English bands!
39. The Zombies – Odessey And Oracle [1968]
Nominated by Leith of The Light Fandango and DJ Cheshire Cat of Wonderland.
DJ Cheshire Cat says: In 1967, the Zombies recorded an album of beautiful psychedelic pop with lyrical content ranging from pining for an imprisoned lover (“Care of Cell 44”) to the inability to shake free from a nighttime vision of world peace (“Hung Up on a Dream”) to a lurching harmonium-accompanied tale of the trenches (“Butcher’s Tale (Western Front 1914)”) – eat your heart out, Decemberists! The breathtaking beauty of the music comes with the sad realization that this critically acclaimed album failed to be appreciated at its release, leading to the break-up of the band.
40. Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here [1975]
Nominated by Leith of The Light Fandango and Psychedelic Rick of The Psychedelicatessen.
Wish You Were Here is Floyd’s second album with a conceptual theme written entirely by Roger Waters. It reflects his feeling that the camaraderie that had served the band was, by then, largely absent. The album begins with a long instrumental preamble and segues into the lyrics for “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, a tribute to Syd Barrett, whose mental breakdown had forced him to leave the group seven years earlier. Barrett is fondly recalled with lines such as “Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun” and “You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon”. (wikipedia.org)
