Today’s random thoughts were inspired by a thread over the Relevant Boards. Namely, pick out the records from your collection that you consider to be absolutely essential. So here you go, faithful readers. I’m inflicting the list on you. And I’m going to attempt to write a bit about each album over the next few days to explain just what each one means to me.
First the list. I know this might seem a tad on the long side, but keep in mind that my music library numbers over 1,000 albums at this point. Narrowing it down to these 20-odd picks was a little tough…but I think it’s a pretty good representation of my tastes and such:
Sunny Day Real Estate - How It Feels To Be Something On
Thrice - Vheissu
Foo Fighters - The Colour and The Shape
The Mars Volta - De-loused in the Comatorium
Bleach - Astronomy
The Beautiful Mistake - Light A Match, For I Deserve To Burn
Stavesacre - Speakeasy
At The Drive-In - Relationship of Command
Copeland - Beneath Medicine Tree
The Beatles - Abbey Road
Model Engine - The Lean Years Tradition
MxPx - Slowly Going The Way Of The Buffalo
Five Iron Frenzy - Our Newest Album Ever
The Juliana Theory - Emotion Is Dead
Common - Electric Circus
The Verve - Urban Hymns
Switchfoot - The Legend Of Chin
U2 - Pop
The Fire Theft - s/t
Led Zeppelin - IV
Oasis - Be Here Now
Queens Of The Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf
And there you have it. Now for the whys and wherefores:
Sunny Day Real Estate - How It Feels To Be Something On
Talking about why I like this album is a little like trying to expound on why hot, fresh chocolate chip cookies and ice cold milk are so perfect together. You know it’s awesome, you know they’re meant to be together…just take it at that. Jeremy Enigk and Co. loom large in my musical influences. I love his voice and the art that SDRE created was incredible. Moody, moving, passionate, this was truly heartfelt music before the “emo” tag came along and completely trashed the scene. While I dig all of SDRE’s music, this record stands just a bit taller than the rest of their work…though it was really tough picking this over The Rising Tide (I tried to limit my picks to one album per artist. Otherwise this list would be two or three times as long).
Thrice - Vheissu
Thrice blew me out of the water with this one. Again, I love just about everything they’ve ever released. But this album took the hardcore/metal/punk foundation that the band laid on their first few releases and transformed it into something transcendent. This record moved beyond the boundaries of the genre game by blending new influences (electronica, music boxes, piano/keys) into the mix. Dustin Kensrue (lead vocalist/guitarist) also brought his lyrics to a new level. Pulling influences from Scripture, literature, C.S. Lewis and many more, he infused the songs with depth and true pathos for the human condition.
Foo Fighters - The Colour and The Shape
And finally (for today), my beloved Fighters. I’m sure you guys are getting sick of all my talk about them lately, but did you honestly think I’d have a list like this and not mention them? In simplest terms, I think this album is one of THE best rock records. Ever. From front to back, this bugger kicks out the jams and just keeps going. While I love everything Foo Fighters has put out, there are just too many classics on this bad boy. Monkey Wrench, Walking After You, My Hero, Everlong (the best romantic rock song ever), February Stars, New Way Home…every track fits and leads perfectly into the next. One of the things that has always appealed to me about Dave Grohl’s writing is that he strikes a terrific balance between being pissed off and yet hopeful. That’s the theme of this album and I feel like, in many ways, that’s the theme for much of my life. I guess that’s why this strikes the chord that it does for me.
Tomorrow: More albums! More goodness! More useless opinion!
i tried real hard when Leo was born to create essential song lists by genres and couldn’t. i have a modest collection of 12,000 songs and couldn’t really come up with a way of narrowing it down to something useful.
i do balk at your inclusion of “pop” on here. out of all U2’s albums, i cna’t honestly believe that it’s the best one. maybe i’ll take another listen. (I hated U2 when this album came out, so i have to rediscover it)
You forgot Hanson, you tool…
Yes, I admit that the lack of Hanson is a glaring omission. For me to poop on!
I know what you mean Jason…it’s tough to whittle it all down.
And I guess I should clarify a bit, concerning “Pop.” It’s my favorite U2 album, out of all the albums of theirs that I’ve heard. I’m not necessarily trying to say that it’s their best, but it I think I could make a good case for it. It’ll be interesting to see what reaction I get when I get around to explaining that pick. A number of my buddies are huge U2 nuts and I’m not sure where this falls on their lists…
random hanson bashing must end.
re: pop. great album, great experimental sound for U2…but best? not sure about that.
re: fif. interesting pick, there jhunt. i, personally, would have picked electric boogaloo as best fif album.
yeah, again the Pop pick was my personal best. you’ll see my reasoning very soon.
as for FIF, it was definitely a tough decision. i love Boogaloo too. actually, i could have gone with their final album too. it’s a fantastic record as well.
true…i forgot about ‘end is near/here’. that is tough. though you bringing that up all the more says you picked the wrong fif album, my friend.
unless of course it’s for purely sentimental reasons.
granted ‘newest..’ does have every new day on it…
i don’t know man…”Newest” has Superpowers, Handbook for the Sellout, Blue Comb ‘78, Oh Canada, and Every New Day. it’s an outstanding records. i don’t think i picked the “wrong” album…i think FIF just wrote a lot of right ones.
rip fif…rip… sniff
*sob*
it’s fun looking down the page of comments at our dueling head avatars.
very interesting, but I don’t agree with you
Idetrorce