Favorite Albums

A favorite quote: Ray Charles when asked why his music varied in genre responded, I'm paraphrasing: There are only 2 kinds of music...good music and bad music.

I've been listening to and collecting music...vinyl, cassettes, CDs and now digital since I was around 16 years old. I confess to having rather eclectic musical tastes, but that kind of falls in line with my overall persona. There are those who are devoted to a specific musical genre, people who have  in-depth knowledge and who can name specific artists who back up specific artists, and then there is the other kind, like moi, who have a wide range of interests. One type of listener is not superior to the other, they just have different approaches to music.

I'm also not one to listen to an entire album, start to finish. Since I converted (and sold) my extensive CD collection to iTunes, and added even more, I now have some 60,000 songs. ITunes says I have 176 days of music...24/7. So I clearly have never listened to every cut. I generally find the few cuts I like and then put them into eclectic playlists, that is if I don't get lazy and use "Genius".

Anyway, there are some albums that almost demand full play. To name a few:

• Astral Weeks- Van Morrison 
• Astral Weeks Live- Van Morrison
• Dark Side of The Moon-Pink Floyd
• Moodance- Van Morrison
• The Circle Game- Tom Rush
• Abbey Road- The Beatles
• Revolver- The Beatles
• Rubber Soul- The Beatles
• Sgt Pepper- The Beatles
• Kind of Blue- Miles Davis
• Blinded By The Light- Bruce Springsteen
• Blue- Joni Mitchell
• Thunderclap Newman- Thunderclap Newman
• John Barleycorn-Traffic
• Red Headed Stranger- Willie Nelson
• Amadeus- Soundtrack
• Little Girl Blue- Nina Simone
• Sigh No More- Mumford & Sons
• Decade- Neil Young
• In Search of The Lost Chord- The Moody Blues
• The Band- The Band
• Music From Big Pink- The Band
• Night And Day- Joe Jackson

I know, this is almost all old stuff. And if I were to carefully go through the list of artists I would no doubt come up with a couple more.

I'm not anti new music, although I'd say the main reason why all the old and REALLY old guys are touring and doing well is that most music has reached a stasis. 

Note: I do not listen to rap, other than Gil Scott Heron. Most of what I hear, which comes gratis from passing cars that play it so loud that not only are the drivers on their way to hearing aids, but whatever is being said rapped is all but unintelligible. Unless it is done with some jazz or blues infused, it ain't music imo.

If you have full album play suggestions, send them along.