Favorite Albums

I figure this can be the opposite of the "I can't believe I bought that" thread. I'll start by listing the Rolling Stones "Exile on Main Street" album. While it doesn't have many songs that a casual Stones fan would recognize, the album as a whole is one of the greatest blues-rock albums ever. No self-respecting Stones fan should be without this album.

I'll start with AC/DC's "Highway To Hell". A true balls-out rock classic from start to finish. This was before Bon Scott's untimely death. It's too bad he died so young as I feel he was better than Brian Johnson (who I still like) by leaps and bounds. If the song "Beating Around The Bush" doesn't get you pumped, check your pulse because you may be dead!

I'm going to start with Van Halen's self-titled debut. I love it as much today as I did the first time I heard it.

Next up for me is Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime.
It was one of the first concept albums I ever heard, and it has a sound that is still fresh today. It really sucks that the digital age is killing the concept of albums ... and thus concept albums.

Another one of my favorite albums is Alter Bridge's Blackbird. Alter Bridge is basically Creed, but with singer Myles Kennedy instead of Scott Stapp ... and I think they're 10 times better than Creed. I loved their first album, One Day Remains, and it could be on this list as well. But Blackbird is even better. Every song on the album kicks ass.

Being as they are my favorite band, I'm going with Clutch's "Transnational Speedway League- Anthems, Anecdotes and Undeniable Truths". This was the first Clutch album I ever bought back in 1993 and it holds a special place in my heart as my favorite. Great songs like "A Shogun Named Marcus", "Binge And Purge", "12 Ounce Epilogue", "Rats", "Earthworm" and "Walking In The Great Shining Path Of The Monster Trucks". Ass-kicking album from start to finish from Maryland's best band ever!!

favorite album is tough but i would probably have to go with this one

metallica - master of puppets

The album that created Glam Rock:

Boasting such classic headbangers as "War Pigs", "Paranoid", "Iron Man", "Hand Of Doom" and the moody, trippy "Planet Caravan", this album is one of the all-time best from these heavy metal pioneers of sludgy doom rock. What more needs to be said after just one listen?

My favorite Drive-By Truckers album is "The Dirty South". This Athens, Georgia bred band is a kick-ass mix of country, southern rock and alternative rock. The band members are multi-talented taking turns on the vocal duties and songwriting as well as all playing instruments. "The Dirty South" includes great tracks like "Where The Devil Don't Stay", "The Day John Henry Died", "Tornadoes", "Danko/Manuel", "Daddy's Cup", "Lookout Mountain", "Never Gonna Change" and more. Their best to date IMHO.

I'd have to say my favorite live album would be Face To Face's "Face To Face Live". It is a fast paced, tight set of great punk songs with pop sensibilities. I've liked this band for quite awhile and got to see them live once. They didn't disappoint.

Slayer's "Reign In Blood" damn near blew me into another dimension in high school and forced me to re-evaluate what I had considered "heavy metal" up to that point. It was the first album I ever purchased of their's. It is a non-stop barrage of Tom Araya's tormented, shrieking vocals, Kerry King's and Jeff Hanneman's shredding guitars and Dave Lombardo's head-busting, double-bass heavy drums. It feels like one short, furious day in Hell surrounded by the most killer metal ever! Clocking in at a mere 28 minutes and 58 seconds, it is a complete whirlwind of thrashing anger and hate that is hard to believe when finished listening, but oddly won't leave you feeling cheated.

Blind Melon - Soup
Sublime - 40oz to Freedom
Pop Will Eat Itself - Dos Dedos Mis Amigos & This Is the Day...This Is the Hour...This Is This!
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures & Closer
Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde & Blood on the Tracks
The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground and Nico

Soooo many more I'm not thinking of right now.

Another one of my all-time favorite live albums was/is Iron Maiden's "Live After Death". I used to love rocking that cassette back in high school and banging my head till it hurt! Still stands up as one of the best live albums ever.

And who can beat Maiden's album cover art? No one.... that's who!

This album sticks out in my mind as one of my favorites not only for the songs but the memories of it as well. It was the summer after I graduated undergrad and my buddy lived in a house by the bars. We would go to the bars Friday night and Saturday night, get bombed, and then head back to his house and play video/drinking games while listening to this album. Memories.

Kanye West: 808s & Heartbreaks.

I'm a big fan of proto-punk music, which is basically the music that set the foundation for punk back in the 70's. Artists like Patti Smith, Television, and The Stooges set the bar pretty high with these albums.

The Misfits' album "Earth A.D." was the first album of theirs that I ever owned. I loved everything about the Misfits. The horror themed song titles/lyrics, the awesome goth-monster look complete with devilocks, the attitude, the killer logos and Crimson Ghost "mascot" and most of all, the catchy punk classics.

They evolved from a goth-rock type sound to a straight hardcore punk sound to a more metal/punk hybrid version. "Earth A.D." was the album that I thought steered them toward a more crunchy, metal edged sound that they fully adopted during their reformation (sans Glen Danzig) in the 90s.

The album contained such Misfits classics as "Mommy, Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight", "Die, Die My Darling", "We Bite" and "Green Hell". It also had other blistering tunes like "Devilock", "Earth A.D.", "Wolf's Blood" and "Death Comes Ripping". Great album!

this is another one of my faves....tool undertow, these guys are so freaking good after listing to the drummer it makes me never want to pick my sticks up again. i could practice 24 hrs a day for a hundred years and never would i be that good

vasteeler wrote:

this is another one of my faves....tool undertow, these guys are so freaking good after listing to the drummer it makes me never want to pick my sticks up again. i could practice 24 hrs a day for a hundred years and never would i be that good

Good call, VA! Tool rocks!

Tomahawk's "Mit Gas" is a killer album from start to finish. The band consists of Faith No More frontman Mike Patton on vocals and keyboards, guitarist Duane Denison (The Jesus Lizard), drummer John Stanier (Helmet, Battles) and bassist Kevin Rutmanis (The Melvins). They have a great blend of all of the sounds from the members other bands while still maintaining their own original sound.

I got a chance to see them live at the 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. a few years ago and they blew me away. They have released 3 albums to date with this one being far and away the best yet.

Probably at the top of my list (Bob Dylan would own all the top 5 spots though):

Good call on Television's Marquis Moon!

Favorite records

Jane's Addiction- Hard to choose between Ritual and Nothings shocking

My Bloody Valentine- Loveless

Spiritualized- Live at the Royal Albert Hall

JSBX- Can't decide between Extra Width and Now I Got Worry

There are soooo many to choose. These are my top 3 because I could listen to every one of them all the way through. Each one has a different feel. I also chose these because I actually owned the albums (not cd nor cassette). I eventually bought cd's of each of these because they were so scratched up from playing them too often.

Buddha Bus wrote:

The Misfits' album "Earth A.D." was the first album of theirs that I ever owned. I loved everything about the Misfits. The horror themed song titles/lyrics, the awesome goth-monster look complete with devilocks, the attitude, the killer logos and Crimson Ghost "mascot" and most of all, the catchy punk classics.

They evolved from a goth-rock type sound to a straight hardcore punk sound to a more metal/punk hybrid version. "Earth A.D." was the album that I thought steered them toward a more crunchy, metal edged sound that they fully adopted during their reformation (sans Glen Danzig) in the 90s.

The album contained such Misfits classics as "Mommy, Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight", "Die, Die My Darling", "We Bite" and "Green Hell". It also had other blistering tunes like "Devilock", "Earth A.D.", "Wolf's Blood" and "Death Comes Ripping". Great album!

I still have the Earth AD vinyl buried somewhere. I bought that and Legacy of Brutality in 1987 with money saved from mowing lawns. I ordered it straight from Plan 9 Records from an ad in Thrasher Magazine. It took months to get to me. Back then hardcore records were nigh on impossible to find in the record stores where I lived.

Earth AD was always my favorite Misfits recording (along with the Die Die My Darling EP.) I've got all that stuff in my computer now, and in recent years have been listening to it around Halloween time. But music coming from a computer somehow lacks the charm it did coming from my old record player or from a faded old cassette. But it's become a platitude to say that now. It's probably more a yen for my youth than anything else. And I'm sure glad all this music is easier to come by these days.