1001 Album Club

When the Beatles famously said Nilsson was their favorite artist. He went from a great songwriter to a world renown stardom. Nilsson was one of the few major pop-rock recording artists of his era to achieve significant commercial success without ever performing major public concerts or undertaking regular tours. The craft of his songs and…

One of the most celebrated singer/songwriters of his generation, John Prine is a master storyteller whose work is often witty and always heartfelt, frequently offering a sly but sincere reflection of his Midwestern roots. While Prine’s songs are often rooted in folk and country flavors, he’s no stranger to rock & roll, R&B, and rockabilly,…

Clark took time to hone his songwriting to its barest essentials. The focus on these tracks is intense, they are taut and reflect his growing obsession with country music. I think it sounds a little too much like Bob Dylan, but as far as influences you could do worst.

While they first rose to fame in San Francisco in the late ’60s, they had little interest in the psychedelic music that was all the rage in the Bay Area and instead focused on pure roots rock and Rhythm and Blues. It’s simple straightforward and fun as hell.

There are few records that feel like a never-ending party like A Nod.  When you consider that the band also had Long Player to their credit and had their hands all over Every Picture in 1971, it’s hard to imagine another band or singer having a year more extraordinary as this.

Originally released in 1971, this LP had Fela Kuti solidifying the format that would take him into international visibility in the years to come: extended tracks with grooves that mixed African and funk rhythms, punctuated by rudimentary lyrics.  –  AllMusic Review by Richie Unterberger We can’t stop grooving to this album! its great.

One last great album for the troubled singer songwriter. This one cooks. She left $1500 in her will for a funeral party. It was held at The Lion’s Share in San Anselmo, California, on October 26, 1971. The Grateful Dead performed.

What a crazy funky album. As the story goes, George Clinton, the leader of Funkadelic, told guitarist Eddie Hazel to imagine he was told his mother died and later on learned it was not true, this all under the influence of LSD. Once Clinton realized how powerful the solo sounded he faded the bass played…

Joni Mitchell provides us with an amazing introspective album. The album employs sparse musical arrangements leaning heavily towards the folk genre, with Mitchell playing acoustic guitar, piano, or dulcimer as the primary instrument to accompany her vocals. Lyrically, each of the songs on Blue hone in on a specific feeling, situation or, in many cases,…

Songs of Love and Hate captured Cohen in one of his finest hours as a songwriter, and the best selections rank with the most satisfying work of his career. If Songs of Love and Hate isn’t Cohen’s best album, it comes close enough to be essential to anyone interested in his work. Brilliant.

One of the seminal documents of the progressive rock era, a record that made its way into the collections of millions of high-school kids who never heard of Modest Mussorgsky and knew nothing of Russia’s Nationalist “Five.” It does some violence to Mussorgsky, but Pictures at an Exhibition is also the most energetic and well-realized…

Rod Stewart perfected his blend of hard rock, folk, and blues on his masterpiece, Every Picture Tells a Story and it’s hard to deny the easy going rocker Maggie May.

Histoire de Melody Nelson is arguably Serge Gainsbourg’s most coherent and perfectly realized studio album, with the lush arrangements which characterize the majority of his work often mixed here with funky rhythm lines which underscore the musky allure of the music.

This album is sheer perfection. The album was a commercial and critical success and is Led Zeppelin’s best-selling, shipping over 37 million copies worldwide. It is one of the best-selling albums in the US, while critics have regularly placed it highly on lists of the greatest albums of all time.

Prog is here. “Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s 1970 eponymous LP was only a rehearsal. It hit hard because of the novelty of the act (allegedly the first supergroup in rock history), but felt more like a collection of individual efforts and ideas than a collective work. All doubts were dissipated by the release of Tarkus…

“Don McLean’s second album, American Pie is dominated by its title track, a lengthy, allegorical history of rock & roll that topped the singles chart putting the LP at number one. “American Pie” has remained as much a cultural touchstone as a song, sung by everyone from Garth Brooks to Madonna while the record itself…

The title song, “Coat of many colors” about Dolly growing up poor is good enough to make this record part of the 1001 albums you must hear, but then she proceeds to craft smart and insightful collection of songs that has all the making of a classic album.  Rob and Ben talk about the time…

Trading the cinematic aspirations of Tumbleweed Connection for a tentative stab at prog rock, Elton John and Bernie Taupin delivered another excellent collection of songs with Madman Across the Water. Like its two predecessors, Madman Across the Water is driven by the sweeping string arrangements of Paul Buckmaster, who gives the songs here a richly…

We get some first time listeners of this album and they are very very happy. Can might be the most underrated band from the 70’s and this album is not merely one of the best Krautrock albums of all time, but is probably one of the best albums ever, period.

The final album with Jim Morrison in the lineup is by far their most blues-oriented, and the singer’s poetic ardor is undiminished, though his voice sounds increasingly worn and craggy on some numbers.  The seven-minute title track was a car-cruising classic that celebrated both the glamour and seediness of Los Angeles; the other long cut,…

Following the success of their tour to support their previous album, The Yes Album (1971), the band regrouped in London to work on a follow-up. Early into the sessions, keyboardist Tony Kaye was fired over his reluctance to learn more synthesizers and was replaced with Rick Wakeman of the Strawbs, whose experience with a wider…

Wrapped up in a mess of contradictions, Surf’s Up defined the Beach Boys’ tumultuous career better than any other album.

Lennon is back for another great album with it’s iconic song for all the dreamers. Imagine there’s no heaven It’s easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people Living for today… Aha-ah… Imagine there’s no countries It isn’t hard to do Nothing to kill or die for…

With its offhand mixture of decadence, roots music, and outright malevolence, Sticky Fingers set the tone for the rest of the decade for the Stones.