About these Top 10 album posts

With all due respect to my Facebook friends, there’s no way I could ever pick my 10 favorite albums of all time. I mean, such a list would almost depend on the time of day I wrote it or the day of the week or the particular mood I was in or the season of the year. For example, if I was feeling mellow and relaxed, it could be everything Paul Simon ever wrote, or Carole King or James Taylor. If I was jacked up and ready to rumble, I’d go for Steppenwolf or The Who or most of the Jethro Tull catalog.

And don’t even get me started on Van Morrison, Elton John or the Rolling Stones.

See what I mean?

And realistically, how could someone my age not just pick 10 Beatles albums and be done with it?

So I’ve been googling the covers of a small number of albums that have one thing in common: The first time I heard them, they completely knocked me out. I mean, there was a physical, mental and emotional reaction to the music I heard. It was both visceral and intellectual at the same time. These were albums I played more than once on the day I brought them home, replayed them again and again until they wore out and replaced them with one or more new copies – and now have them on both vinyl and compact disc.

Spoiler alert (since I haven’t posted all of them yet): They are also albums that for the most part were groundbreaking in their genre. When I first played “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme” by Simon and Garfunkel it was unlike anything I had ever heard before. The same goes for “Aqualung” and “Moby Grape.” My reaction was, “Wow. This is something new…and I like it.”

Moving on, Carole King’s “Tapestry” of rich and royal hues was just exactly that. There wasn’t a bad song on the album and after a first listen, it was hard to pick a favorite tune.

Another favorite was Steppenwolf’s “The Second,” with “Magic Carpet Ride” followed by that kick-ass Side 2 medley of five songs “strained through a Leslie” and building to a climax before fading out like a rising and ebbing tide.  

“Super Session” – the famous rock and blues jam recorded by Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills – is notable for the musicians who played on it, the songs they choose, the beautiful Harvey Brooks composition “Harvey’s Tune” that closes it and for the curious sentences in the liner notes that say, “The music was performed spontaneously by the personnel as listed. The horns were added later as an afterthought.” I say it’s curious because the horns are such an integral part of the record.

Then there’s the first Chicago album, “CTA.” A neighbor who was also a co-worker bought it and invited me across the street one night, saying, “I’ve got something you’ll want to hear.” We played it over and over and the next day I bought my own copy. So tell the truth, did you ever think a hard rock band would succeed using trumpets and trombones to carry the tunes?

And then there are the Byrds. If the Beatles and Stones had never existed, the Byrds would have been my all-time favorite band by a long shot. The Byrds were a country-tinged band of folk musicians who took Bob Dylan songs and created a whole new category of music. I can still hear the opening notes of “Mr. Tambourine Man” echoing off the high stone walls of the 12^th Street municipal swimming pool the summer following my sophomore year in high school. When I hear that song today – more than 50 years later – I can still smell chlorine and taste wet Zagnut and Zero candy bars.

And on and on we go. The Allman Brothers’ “Brothers and Sisters” introduced me to a 7-minute instrumental that was so powerful that I named my younger daughter “Jessica.” I’ve learned the guitar chords to virtually all of the Creedence Clearwater songs and had a deep affection for the Eagles until they started having reunion tour after reunion tour and jacked up the price of concert tickets until I could no longer afford them.

Honorable mention has to go to Fleetwood Mac; the Beach Boys; Crosby, Stills and Nash; Gordon Lightfoot; the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band; Gin Blossoms; Toad the Wet Sprocket; Atlanta Rhythm Section; and Pure Prairie League.

Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell could easily find a way into the Top 10, and when it comes to groundbreaking albums, can anybody top “Jesus Christ Superstar?”

I’ve got my top albums selected for the Facebook challenge and there may be 12 or 15 before I’m finished. I’m going to include two that only locals will recognize but which definitely belong on my list: “Long Overdue” by Elderberry Jak and “Lost in America” by The Gathering Field. If you’ve never heard them, I suggest you try to find a copy and listen. I promise you won’t be disappointed.