1001 Album Club

353 Boston – Boston

The story of a man, his basement recordings, and the record label he tricked into putting them out.

Let’s talk Boston, Boston!

352 Joni Mitchell – Hejira

Joni Mitchell continues to expand her career into jazz / folk with a young Jaco Pastorius in a wonderful and “mature” album.

Lets talk Joni Mitchell Hejia

351 David Bowie – Station to Station

Only a man as gifted as David Bowie can eat nothing but peppers and cocaine completely forgetting he created a classic album.

Let’s talk David Bowie Station to Station

350 The Modern Lovers – The Modern Lovers

John Cale of The Velvet Underground produces a teen band that sounds like their music was beamed to them from the future.

Lets talk The Modern Lovers, The Modern Lovers!

349 Tom Petty – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

The John Cougar Mellencamp of Gainsville. The Bob Seger of the Swamp.
Maybe that only good thing to ever come out of Florida, Tom Petty, was one of America’s greatest song writers ever;
full-stop.

Thirteen studio albums with The Heartbreakers.
Three as a solo artist. A couple with The Traveling Wilburys.
More platinum and gold status recordings than you can shake a stick at!
EIGHT Saturday Night Live appearances, and a GD SUPERBOWL HALFTIME SHOW.

His influence on rock music CANNOT be over stated.

So why is it that this limey nightmare of a tome only giving us one (and not even his best) album?

Let’s talk Tom Petty, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers!

348 Curtis Mayfield – There’s No Place Like America Today

The book delivers an outstanding work of art by Curtis Mayfield that is completely of time and yet, sadly, ours as well.

Let’s talk Curtis Mayfield, There’s No Place Like America Today.

347 Earth Wind and Fire – That’s the Way of the World

Sporting six members and yet, somehow, still two elements shy of summoning a Captain Planet, Earth Wind and Fire, wrote a great soundtrack to an awful film… of which they also starred.

In the immortal words of record producer Coleman Buckmaster:

“They’re just gonna keep cranking out that same kind of garbage. Right now the idea is to have me produce fast-buck bubblegum shit. Then when they think the drug supplies are loosening up, then they tell me to produce some music for kids to freak out by.”

Let’s talk Earth Wind and Fire, That’s the Way of the World!

346 Willie Nelson – Red Headed Stranger

“It was the time of the preacher,
in the year of 01
Now the preachin’ is over
and the lesson’s begun”

Lets talk Willie Nelson, Red Headed Stranger!

345 Queen – A Night at the Opera

Known bicycle enthusiasts and Star Wars haters, Queen, made their definitive statement in the Fall of 1975.

Recorded for the princely sum of 40,000 pounds sterling over the course of four months, A Night At The Opera is purported to be the most expensive album (up to that point) ever put to tape.
It just so happens to be (arguably) their best work, too.

Let’s talk Queen, A Night at the Opera!

344 Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here

Five songs, forty four minutes and eleven seconds of rock n roll perfection.

Let’s talk Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here!

343 Patti Smith – Horses

Cultural icon, friend to Robert Mapplrthorpe and progenitor of the French Tuck, Patti Smith, went and made the first ever punk rock record with her debut album.

During a two month residency at CBGB w/ Television, Smith and her band got solid traction in the New York scene, eventually catching the ear of an industry exec who signed them to Arista Records.

Once signed, the band headed into the studio, got John Cale on board to produce, and in a month’s time, made music history in the early Fall of 1975.

It’s a seminal work, a must listen, and one of the most important albums ever pressed to wax…

…some of us are here for it.

Let’s talk Patti Smith, Horses!

342 Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks

Uncle Robert is back and he is feeling all the things.

Coming off an early 1974 tour with The Band, Dylan began an affair with a Columbia Records employee, took some art classes and, more or less, began the ending of his union with then wife, Sara Dylan.

Hashed out on his Minnesota farm with mistress in tow and recorded in the fall of 1974, the subsequent seventeen songs may well be the most intimately autobiographical accounting of a marriage falling apart ever put to tape.

Let’s talk Bob Dylan, Blood on the Tracks!

341 Neil Young – Tonight’s the Night

The best part of Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young but always getting fourth billing, Neil Young, continues heading right into the ditch with his sixth studio album.

Recorded in 1973 but released in 1975, Tonight’s the Night finds Neil in full on grief and mourning following the deaths of Crazy Horse guitarist, Danny Whiten, and friend/roadie Bruce Berry. The songs were written and recorded in the few months following those tragic events.

It is both a bummer and beautiful.

Let’s talk Neil Young, Tonight’s the Night!

340 Rahul Dev Burman – Shalimar

R.D Burman’s musical contribution to Indian cinema cannot be overstated. He has 331 scores to his name and the soundtrack to Shalimar absolutely rules.

The book delivers a singular gem we’d never have heard other wise.

Let’s talk R.D Burman, The Shalimar Soundtrack!

339 Tom Waits – Nighthawks at the Diner

Nobody asked for a fake double live album by a degenerate poet and a pack of jazz musicians in 1975.

Turns out, it’s exactly what we all needed.

Let’s talk Tom Waits, Nighthawks at The Diner!

338 Joni Mitchell – The Hissing of Summer Lawns

On this seventh studio outing, Canadian treasure and best artist to come out of the folk scene, Joni Mitchell, continues the domination of her contemporaries.

Beating Paul Simon to the world music biz by ELEVEN YEARS, AND being the first commercially released album featuring a sample w/ Jungle Line, the record’s influence cannot be overstated.

Let’s talk Joni Mitchell, The Hissing of Summer Lawns!

337 Dion – Born to Be With You

In 1975, a middle aged singer teamed up with a murderer to make a record that was only released in the U.K.

Lets talk Dion, Born to Be With You!

336 Emmylou Harris – Pieces of the Sky

The once and future duchess of country music, Emmylou Harris, suffers nary a sophomore slump with this second solo outing.
The backing band is great, her takes are solid, and the live tracks are solid gold.

Let’s talk Emmylou Harris, Pieces of the Sky!

335 Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run

“woah ah oh woah,
mmm mm m mmmmmmm,
huh huh ha ha oh o woah,
wah ha ho ho oh oohhhhhh,
mmm mm m mmmmmmm,
woah ah oh woah,
woah ah oh woah,
wah ah ha ah woah ohhhhhh”

– The Boss 1975

Lets talk Bruce Springsteen, Born To Run!

334 Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey

If you like roots reggae you’re gonna dig this record.

Let’s talk Burning Spear, Marcus Garvey!

333 David Bowie – Young Americans

Known left-handed guitarist with god given ass, David Bowie, continues his musical chameleon ways this time going the blue eyed/ plastic soul direction.

It’s rad, but of the seven Bowie records in the book, is it required listening?

Let’s talk David Bowie, Young Americans!