What are the 10 best rock era albums?

[Elliot Luber]

Andrew,
No Beck? You're representing your generation here.

[luckylarue]

Not many contemporary artists or women, for that matter.

Here's a mix of new and old:

The Clash - The Clash
The Clash - London Calling
Drive-By Truckers - The Dirty South
Whiskeytown - Stranger's Almanac
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels...
The Replacements - Let It Be
Minutemen - Double Nickels On the Dime
Pearl Jam - 2nd
Beatles - White Album
Husker Du - Eight Miles High (single)
The Stones - Let It Bleed
Green Day - American Idiot
Patti Smith - Horses
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

[PatrickH]

Allman Brothers - Live at Filmore East
Allman Brothers - Eat a Peach
Allman Brothers - Brothers and Sisters
Boston - Boston
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Peter Frampton - Frampton Comes Alive!
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Second Helping
Yes - Fragile
Charlie Daniels - Fire on the Mountain
Led Zeppelin - II, IV
Aerosmith - Toys in the Attic
Van Halen - Van Halen
Dire Straits - Dire Straits
U2 - Joshua Tree
Eagles - Hotel California
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Deep Purple - Made in Japan
Yes - Yes Album

[mandopete]

No Beck? You're representing your generation here.

Soy un perdedor
I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me?

Some very interesting lists!

[Paul Kotapish]

What the heck was going on in the '60s, anyway?

A rhetorical question...

(IMO) There was a big confluence of conditions to spawn the "perfect storm" which all of which fed and heightend each other in an intensifying feedback loop.

. . . (Niles goes on to list some very interesting points to support his thesis. Check out the original post at the top of page 2.)".

I like your thinking on this, Niles, and I generally agree with you.

I am guilty of misreading the original post and thinking that the query was for '60s-era rock only--perhaps because the bulk of the first examples were from that decade. And also, perhaps, because I haven't heard anything in the intervening years that matched the breadth and depth of that particular cultural explosion. I'm sure most of that has to do with coming of age in that era and learning to play music during that time, but I do think there was something magic happening at the time beyond the blossoming of my little imagination.

I haven't always been a rigorous student of all of the subsequent and divergent threads of rock and pop music since the summer of love, but I do try to keep my ears open and pay attention to who's playing what. Certainly there have been some artists in the following years that have excited as much--or nearly as much--as the Beatles, Band, Byrds, Dylan, Stones, Who, Dead, Airplane, (original) Genesis, Kinks, Traffic, Ten Years After, Doors, Floyd, Zeppelin, Zappa, et al ad nauseum (including most of what came out of Motown and Memphis at the time) did.

Talking Heads, Police, XTC, Elvis Costello, Richard Thompson, Nirvana, Beck, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, Lucinda Williams, Dire Straits, Prince, and even the young Michael Jackson leap to mind and having the same lasting power as did my old-fogey heroes, but no other five-year period seems to have had the same embarassment of riches.

Just one old geezer's opinion.

[mandopete]

How old were you in the 60's?

I was born in 1957, so most of what I heard during the 60's was listening to the radio in my mom's station wagon. #I recall hearing The Beatles and Beach Boys and such, but I was too young for much of that to be an influence.

What I think is interesting in these sort of lists is the both how the various recordings affected us and how we even came up with the list in the first place.

For me if there is one rock music recording that had more effect on me than any other recording I would have to say it's Selling England By The Pound by Genesis. #In high school I played electric guitar and was very drawn to the English progressive rock sounds of bands like ELP and Yes. #When I heard Genesis I said "That's it, that's what I hear in my head!". #

Every now and then I will go back and listen to this recording and I'm still reminded of why I liked it so much. #When I listen to the guitar arpeggios at the end of "Dancing With The Moonlit Knight" I still get a chill up my spine. #I have even tried to incorporate some 7/4 harmonized arpeggios in the a bluegrass format (ain't had much luck tho.)

A couple of years ago I was heading up to bluegrass festival in Canada with my oldest son who was in high school at the time. #I had a copy of Selling England By The Pound in the car and I put it on for him. #I told him we were gonna listen to "..some English bluegrass" <grins> #I'm not sure he got it. #He never said much, but I think think he liked it. #I haven't exactly seen him seaching eBAY for a double-necked Rickenbacker 12-string guitar-bass, but perhaps it will soak in some day.

So let's get personal - how did this music affect you?

[Alex Orr]

As a complete rock music nerd, this is too hard a question. #However, several years ago I once took a stab at the best 101 British rock albums...with several well-placed ties to keep me from having to cut some favs # #Here's what I came up with:

1. Exile on Main Street – The Rolling Stones
2. The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
3. London Calling – The Clash
4. Revolver – The Beatles
5. The Queen Is Dead – The Smiths
6. OK Computer - Radiohead
7. Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd
8. Loveless – My Bloody Valentine
9. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles
10. Sticky Fingers – The Rolling Stones
11. Beggars Banquet – The Rolling Stones
12. Led Zeppelin IV – Led Zeppelin
13. Parklife - Blur
14. Led Zeppelin II – Led Zeppelin
15. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders
From Mars – David Bowie
16. Village Green Preservation Society – The Kinks
17. The Smiths – The Smiths
18. Live at Leeds – The Who
19. The White Album – The Beatles
20. Never Mind the Bollocks – The Sex Pistols
21. My Aim Is True – Elvis Costello
22. Abbey Road – The Beatles
23. Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs – Derek and the
Dominoes (yeah, I know Clapton is the only Brit in the
group, but it was his brain-child and he was the star
performer)
24. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin
25. The Holy Bible – Manic Street Preachers
26. Maxinquaye – Tricky (tie)
# # Spirit of Eden – Talk Talk (tie)
27. Modern Life Is Rubbish – Blur
# # All Mod Cons – The Jam
28. The Clash – The Clash
29. (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? – Oasis
30. Face to Face – The Kinks
31. Power, Corruption, and Lies – New Order
32. To Bring You My Love – P.J. Harvey
33. With the Beatles – The Beatles
34. Bryter Later – Nick Drake
35. Physical Graffitti – Led Zeppelin
36. Zenyatta Mondatta – The Police
37. Pink Flag - Wire
38. Beatles For Sale – The Beatles
39. Country Life – Roxy Music
40. Unknown Pleasures – Joy Division
41. Entertainment! – Gang of Four
42. The Bends – Radiohead
43. Disraeli Gears - Cream
44. A Hard Day’s Night – The Beatles
45. My Generation – The Who
46. Piper at the Gates of Dawn – Pink Floyd
47. Mezzanine – Massive Attack
48. Up The Bracket - The Libertines
49. Costello Music – The Fratellis
50. Houses of the Holy – Led Zeppelin
51. Let It Bleed – The Rolling Stones
# # In The Flat Field - Bauhaus
52. Rubber Soul –The Beatles
53. Urban Hymns – The Verve
54. Paranoid – Black Sabbath
55. Ladies and Gentlemen…We Are Floating In Space –
Spiritualized
56. The Specials – The Specials
57. Black Sea - XTC
58. Help – The Beatles
59. This Nation’s Saving Grace – The Fall
60. Here Come the Warm Jets – Brian Eno
61. Screamadelica – Primal Scream
62. Hunky Dory – David Bowie
63. Dummy – Portishead
64. Shoot Out the lights – Richard and Linda Thompson
65. Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake – The Small Faces
66. Arthur or the Rise and Fall of the British Empire –
The Kinks
67. The Beatles – The Beatles
68. Bandwagonesque – Teenage Fanclub
69. Pink Moon – Nick Drake
70. Rock ‘n Roll – The Mekons
71. Who’s Next – The Who
72. Odyssey and Oracle – The Zombies
73. Every Picture Tells a Story – Rod Stewart
74. Skylarking - XTC
75. Something Else By the Kinks – The Kinks
76. Quadrophenia – The Who
77. No Sleep To Hammersmith – Motorhead
78. Plastic Ono Band – John Lennon
79. Synchronicity – The Police
80. Crocodiles – Echo and the Bunnymen
81. Disintegration – The Cure
82. Blue Lines – Massive Attack
# # Richard D. James Album – Aphex Twin
83. Psychocandy – The Jesus and Mary Chain
84. Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
85. The Great Escape – Blur
86. The Man Who Sold the World – David Bowie
87. All The Young Dudes – Mott the Hoople
88. Different Class - Pulp
89. Definitely Maybe – Oasis
# # Pills Thrill and Bellyaches – The Happy Mondays
90. A Nod is as Good as a Wink to a Blind Horse – The Faces
91. Treasure – The Cocteau Twins
# # Liege and Leaf - Fairport Convention
92. The Wall – Pink Floyd
93. Band on the Run – Paul McCartney and Wings
94. Metal Box – PiL
95. Animals – Pink Floyd
96. Led Zeppelin III – Led Zeppelin
97. Master of Reality – Black Sabbath
98. Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me – The Cure
99. This Year’s Model – Elvis Costello
# # Electric Warrior – T. Rex
100. The Perfect Prescription – Spacemen 3
101. The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys – Traffic

[luckylarue]

Big Crunch,

Glad you put the smiths up near the top - "Hatful of Hollow" would make my extended list, as well.
However, Let It Bleed at #51 ?!?! Charlie Watts' drumming on "Monkey Man" alone should qualify this lp for anyone's Top Ten, not to mention Ry Cooder's mando.

[groveland]

(mandopete) So let's get personal - how did this music affect you?

Good question.

Rock is a huge category.

I listed those recordings I felt were breakthroughs. #Ten thousand recordings would make my favorites list, but there were only a few that altered the course of the music I was interested in. #And that's an important qualification, too. #I was interested in those pushing the improv electric guitar (rock) to the musical limit or exerting big musical and technical influence, so the list is rather short. #Popularity contestants need not apply! My list, I guess, is more accurately "The most important album by the most influential Rock Guitar prototypes."

Within that criteria, I would say most guitar players over the last several decades are basically derivitives of a few prototypes - Hendrix, Clapton, and a few others. #For example, someone mentioned Satriani and someone mentioned Van Halen. #But if you hear Holdsworth in 1974 on the Gorgon album, you'll hear that Satriani, Van Halen, et.al., derived heavily from him over a decade later. #And within that group of prototypical players, there were only a handful of breakthrough recordings, usually the first album. #It's interesting to trace the lineages. So my list was short and certainly excludes a lot that happened in the bigger Rock context.

So these are the guys I learned the most from because they just blew me away when their stuff came out. That's what my list means to me.

[mandopete]

Some milestone rock era recordings for me...
Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin
Blue Cheer - Vincebus Eruptum
Tempest - Gorgon
Cream - Wheels of Fire
Santana - Caravansarai
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire
Tony Williams Lifetime - Believe It
...

I see we have Mahavishnu Orchestra in common. #I hesitated a bit about putting that group into a category called "rock" as opposed to "jazz". #I also see you have Tony Williams Lifetime listed, not sure if that belongs in rock either - thoughts?

I hear you on the guitarist thing. #I have always felt that Allan Holdsworth's influence on rock players like Eddie VanHalen, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai cannot be overlooked. #My middle son is now into "shredding" on the guitar and I tell him all the time to go to source - Holdsworth.

I remember the first time I saw Mahavishnu and John McLaughlin. #It was a concert billed as "An Evening Hosted by Clive Davis" at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion in L.A. #This was a venue not known for popular (let alone rock) music and the bill also featured Louden Wainwright IIIrd. #To say that listening to Mahavishu was a spiritual experience would be an understatement. #I was virtually speechless for days. #I could barely comprehend what I had heard and seen. #I had never heard a violin played they way Jerry Goodman did. #And what can you say about Billy Cobham..OMG! #I tried very hard to learn those guitar parts and I think the only one I ever mastered was Dance Of The Maya. #When I went to Berklee College of Music for the summer in 1975 I was lucky enough to fall into a band that was playing this music. #We had a violin player that also played guitar and he showed me most of the parts. #Funny thing, he was from the same small town in Southern California that I was - small world.

Anyhow, that's what I meant by "personal".

[groveland]

I hesitated a bit about putting that group into a category called "rock" as opposed to "jazz".

Me too.

That era was a tapestry woven of various styles woven into Rock - Latin, Jazz, Classical - An antidote to the Plague of Disco and prior to the Dark Ages of Happy Jazz. Tony Williams Lifetime featured a rock guitar player in a near-Jazz context (Holdsworth) and a Jazz keyboard player in a near rock context (Alan Pasqua, who went on to form Giant and other rock acts). Mahavishnu Orchestra took a jazz guitar player in a near-Rock context (McLaughlin), injected that fiery violin, impossible percussion, and insane organic wailings of Hammer's keys.

I saw Tony Williams Lifetime at the Quiet Knight in Chicago. A friend told me Holdsworth said to him, "It's all rock to me."

[mandopete]

A friend told me Holdsworth said to him, "It's all rock to me."

That's great. Years ago when Peter Gabriel was touring after his first solo recording he had Robert Fripp playing with him. Someone asked him about Fripp and Gabriel replied "oh, he's just a good blues player!" - love it.

[JeffD]

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band celebrated it's 40th anniversary last weekend (released June 1, 1967).

So that means:

It was sixty years ago today,
Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play

[JeffD]

What? No Don McLean?

[Hans]

Hot Tuna 1 (acoustic live) and 2 (electric live with that X rated cover art)
Ry Cooder, #Into the Purple Valley, Boomer's Story
Hound Dog Taylor! Who could forget "Gimme back my wig"!
Not Rock, but Koerner, Ray and Glover all
Byrds all

[Bob Sayers]

Impossible question, but here are a few that I still listen to after all these years:

1. Buddy Holly, "The Buddy Holly Story." #This was the first LP that I ever bought, back when I was in grammar school around 1958. #Still great!

2. #Fleetwood Mac, "Fleetwood Mac" and "Rumours." #A tie.

3. #The Byrds, "Greatest Hits."

4. #Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, "Deja Vu."

5. #Dillard & Clark, "Through the Morning, Through the Night." #

6. #The Beatles, "Abbey Road."

7. #The Band, "The Band" (second album), although the first four Band albums are all terrific.

8. #Cheap Trick, "At Budokan." #Mainly for the cut, "I Want You to Want Me."

9. #"Saturday Night Fever." #I admit it, a guilty pleasure.

10. #Laura Nyro, "Eli and the 13th Confession."

All-time favorite rock song: #Either Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day" or "Angel Baby" by Rosie and the Originals.

I mostly listen to bluegrass, folk, and Brazilian music these days. #But every once in awhile something in the pop vein catches my attention. #Future classics: #John Mayer, "Continuum," and Corinne Bailey Rae, "Corinne Bailey Rae." #

Bob

P.S.: I looked over my list and realized I'd left out all the great R&B and soul artists. But maybe that should be another category. And international? How about Akiko Yano's first CD on Nonesuch, as well as her follow-up "Piano Nightly." Both great. And Anggun's first album, "Snow on the Sahara." And Djavan's "Ao Vivo." And Salif Keita's "Moffou." Well, I said this was impossible.

[8STRINGR]

I was born in '63 so growing up in the 70's with three older brothers I was exposed to all kinds of "rock era" music. There were a lot of bands/ albums that I can't even begin to list.

But out of them all, three bands stand out as being my favorites when you meantion 70's Rock Era music...


Three Dog Night... (everything released by them)

The Beatles (everything released by them)

And...

"You Wanted The BEST and You've Got The Best! The HOTTEST BAND IN THE WORLD.... KISS !" (up until their line up and direction of music changed in the 80's)

Since then (the 80's) I been turned on to Bluegrass music and picked up the mandolin.

[fatt-dad]

Rock of Ages - The Band
Europe 72 - The Dead
I Robot - Alan Parsons
Quicksilver Messanger Service
Blood Sweat and Tears - First Album (Al Kooper)
Peaceful World - The Rascals
Little Feat - Sailing Shoes
Crown of Creation - Jefferson Airplane
Low Spark of High Heeled Boys - Traffic
Santana's White Album (with the cosmic yodeler - Leon Thomas)

I must admit that I was really into the folk, bluegrass and jazz scene in the early 70s and just left out alot of influencial records. #I also need to add Rubber Soul, #Meet the Monkeys, Pet Sounds, Sgt Peppers, Revolver, Serrealistic Pillow (sp), James Gang Rides Again, Smoker you are the Player you Get, Vanilla Fudge, Whatever that Mountain album is with Mississippi Queen, Bonnie Raitt's First (wow!), pretty much all of the CSN/CSNY/Buffalo Springfield stuff (more folk if you ask me), 10 Years After (Schoolgirl), Pink Floyd (Meddle). . . #

Heck I need to get my phonograph back up and running!

f-d

p.s., Here here for Alice in Chains, Metallica, Janes Addiction, Radiohead, Beck, Van Halen and that Uli John Roth (isn't he with the Scorpions?). #I also like Guns and Roses.

Now on to funk, soul, jazz (trio/combo), fusion (where I'd put Mahavishnu Orchestra),etc.

[Daniel Nestlerode]

Cheating here by dividing it into two lists...
I'm picking stuff that stopped ME in my tracks, and I make no claims to any of these stopping anyone else in their tracks.

Mostly acoustic:
• Cat Stevens: Teaser and the Firecat
• Croby, Stills, & Nash: CSN
• Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young: Deja Vu
• Dan Fogelburg: Souvenirs
• James Taylor: Sweet Baby James
• Melissa Etheridge (self titled)
• Neil Young: Harvest Moon
• Peter Case: Torn Again
• Tom Waits (picking only one): Closing Time
• Graham Nash: Songs for Beginners

Mostly Rock
• Del Amitri: Twisted
• The Police: Synchronicity
• Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick
• Richard Thompson (picking only one): Shoot Out the Lights
• King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King
• The Band (picking only one): The Band
• Cowboy Junkies: Trinity Sessions
• Living Color: Vivid
• Marshall Crenshaw: Life's Too Short
• Paul Simon: Graceland

Daniel

[Elliot Luber]

I find all these lists really interesting. Just when you think you have someone pegged they surprise you with one album. Like Tom Waits (who is great, mind you) with all those people who can actually sing! I think the wild pairings speak to the fact that musicians (if I may generalize) are more interested in the art than a more casual listener, and won't pick as "Correct" a list. I also think folks are being honest as many are semi anonymous. I'm going back to listen to a whole bunch of good stuff I may have forgotten about.

[mandopete]

...growing up in the 70's with three older brothers I was exposed to all kinds of "rock era" music.

Ain't that the truth. #I think my earliest exposure to rock was going through my brother's record collection. #He had stuff like The Who "Live at Leeds" and Led Zepplin 1 and Jethro Tull's "Benefit". #The very first rock concert I saw was#Ten Years After with my brother when we were living in Atlanta in 1972.

And it was the Ten Years After recording "Undead" that caught my fancy. #It was a live recording and really captured (for me) what I'll always think of as a classic English blues-rock feel. #From that point on Alvin Lee was my hero. #I tried in vain to learn to play like that, but there was another guitar player in town that had Lee's sound down cold so I opted to play bass in his band.

I recently found a copy of that recording on CD and I bought it as a Christmas gift for my oldest son as he was sorta into the dinosaur rock thing. #I was hoping that he might be inspired to learn someting like Woodchopper's Ball, but so far I don't think he's gotten into it. #Perhaps if his older brother had bought it instead <grins>

[Yonkle]

1.Art Linkletter "Unplugged" Concert For DeaD PEOPLE
2.Perry Como "Cocktail lounge" (slight return)
LOL Just kidding!

1.Beatles Srg.Peppers
2.Beatles White Album
3.Beatles Magical Mystery Tour
4.Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick
5.Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers
6.Pink Floyd: The Piper at the gates of Dawn
7.The WHO Tommy
8.Cream Disrali Gears
9. Led Zepellin 1st.
10.Country Joe and the Fish: Feel like I'm fixin to die

[Austin Clark]

And still, nobody has mentioned Hot Tuna.....

[mandopete]

I think you just did!

[Elliot Luber]

I love Yorma's acoustic work, but I can pass on Tuna songs like Jelly Roll.