10 Albums That Changed My Life
(these albums are not necessarily my favorites or even the best albums by these bands, but they are albums that affected me so profoundly that I can actually remember thinking differently before and after I heard them. Listed roughly in the order they came to my attention)
the Beatles – Rubber Soul
the Beatles –Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits, Vol 1
the Rolling Stones – High Tide and Green Grass
The Byrds Greatest Hits
John Lennon – Plastic Ono Band
Van Morrison – Astral Weeks
Neil Young – Young Man’s Fancy (live bootleg but the recent release of Live at Massey Hall is similiar and almost as good)
Elliott Murphy – Aquashow
Bruce Springsteen – Winterland (live bootleg)
Should Be Household Names
Dave Alvin – King of California
Bill Morrissey – North, Standing 8
Butch Hancock – No 2 Alike
Jon Dee Graham – The Great Battle
Jimmy LaFave – Austin Skyline
Bill Mallonee & the Vigilantes of Love – Jugular, Blister Soul
Richard Thompson – Across A Crowded Room, Shoot Out The Lights
Eliza Gilkyson – Land of Milk and Honey, Lost & Found
Paul Kelly – Foggy Highway, Under the Sun
James McMurtry – Live in Aught Three, Childish Things
Michael Fracasso – Back to Oklahoma
Troy Campbell – American Breakdown, Live Texas Radio (The Highwaymen)
Great Albums You May Never Have Heard
(in addition to those already listed above or below)
Ian Hunter – Welcome to the Club, YUI ORTA,
Little Steven – Men Without Women, Voice of America
Marshall Crenshaw – Marshall Crenshaw, Life’s too Short
Gene Clark – American Dreamer
Graham Parker – Howlin’ Wind, Deepcut to Nowhere
David Johansen – Live It Up
Steve Forbert – Alive on Arrival
Joe Grushecky – American Babylon
Tommy Keene – The Real Underground (where the entire Places That Are Gone CD can be found plus lots of other great stuff)
Leonard Cohen – Live (1994)
The Replacements – Tim (produced by our friend Tommy Erdleyi)
The Blasters –Testament
Jon Dee Graham – The Great Battle
Tim Hardin 3 – Live In Concert
Ron Flynt – LA Story; Big Blue Heart
John Handy – Live at the Monterey Jazz Festival
Karen Abrahams – For the Love of the Song
Jeff Talmadge – Blissville, Ein Abend Unter Freunden
K.C. Clifford – Orchid
Dirk Hamilton – More Songs From My Cool Life
Jaime Michaels – Crooked
Jules Shear – Dreams Don’t Count
The Fabulous Ginn Sisters – You Can’t Take a Bad Girl Home
John Lilly – Live on Red Barn Radio, Cold Comfort
ESSENTIALS
Chuck Berry – The Great 28
Elvis – The Sun Sessions
Ray Charles – The Birth of Soul
Big Joe Turner’s Greatest Hits
T-Bone Walker – T-Bone’s Blues
Aretha Franklin’s 30 Greatest Hits
The Howlin’ Wolf Box Set
Velvet Underground Live
Jefferson Airplane – Surrealistic Pillow
Creedence – Chronicle
The Who – Meaty, Beaty, Big, & Bouncy
Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited
the Grateful Dead – Europe ’72
The Pretenders – Learning to Crawl
Hank Williams’ 24 Greatest Hits
John Coltrane – Afro Blue Impressions (esp. “My Favorite Things”)
The Ultimate Otis Redding
The Buddy Holly Collection
Miles Davis – Kind of Blue
Bob Marley – Legend
The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
The Band
Jim Patton & Sherry Brokus 