The soundtrack of your life - albums that remind you of golden days

[ThomasKDye]

So it's been brought up in other threads that some people have strong feelings for albums that they discovered during their golden years. Every time they play this album, it either reminds them of a happy time or brings about the feelings of young energy, and thus can't help but make them feel good. I know exactly how that feels; there are some albums that get disdain here on a musical level but I love them anyway because they came around at the right time. So I'd be interested in seeing anyone else's lists of such albums, with the appropriate context. I'll begin.

Though I got into prog a lot earlier, some of my best memories are of my college years, 1989 - 1991. During that time I was working on my cartooning skills and had pie-in-the-sky visions of becoming a famous cartoonist. In the meantime I was going to school in a pleasant area of the Bay Area - Orinda - and have wonderful memories of taking walks there while listening to the following albums on my Walkman. It felt like a fresh new beginning in my life. I discovered the following albums during that period and as a result they always make me happy, musical merits or no:

Kansas - Kansas, Song for America, Masque and Monolith. These were the years I discovered Kansas in general. I'd already listened to Leftoverture/Point of Know Return but these four albums, for some reason, felt more "magical" to me.
Yes - Drama. I'd put off buying this album because no Jon Anderson. It was quite a revelation.
Asia - Alpha. My favorite album for some time. Good pop songs and great Steve Howe solos.
Rush - Presto. It was Rush and it came out during this period in time.
Emerson, Lake and Palmer - Tarkus. First ELP album to click with me. I was basically dipping my toe into ELP then so I bought The Best of Emerson, Lake and Palmer, so that means a lot to me as well.
Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe. - The "it sounds digital" or "eww Teakbois eww eww" had no resonance for me then. The band was made up of Yes people and the songs were multi-part suites. That alone made it special and magical to me.
GTR. I really liked the songs quite a lot at the time. The magic of this album has faded a little for me but in the right mood it can bring back those days again.
Steve Hackett - Voyage of the Acolyte, Spectral Mornings and Defector. Hackett's solo career was also a revelation. Nothing he's done since then has felt anywhere near the same.
Jon Anderson - Olias of Sunhillow and Song of Seven. I was given a tape of these, one album on either side. As a result they've always felt like one work to me.

There are particular magic moments - the keyboard solo in Kansas's "Incomudro" - that transport me even higher, but in general all those albums remind me of when my mind was fresh and young, and as a result get the old endorphins going more than similar albums in my collection. There are also albums that I listened to then that don't have the same effect on me (Yes's Union -- yeah, just... no on this one).

So who else has some special music that matches a special moment in their lives?

[saucyjackstl]

Interesting, when I read the title, the first 3 I thought of were: Kansas, Allman Brothers, and Neil Young. When I first started buying music in the 70s these were my standards. Let's find bands that sound like them and try to buy everything they put out. These 3 were the soundtrack of my 70s.

[Halmyre]

I don't have a lot of stand-out memories, but one is listening to Tim Buckley's "Dream Letter" in the car on the way to an event that would lead to me meeting Mrs H.

[nycsteve]

Pink Floyd ,Wish You Were Here , DSOTM
Yes , Relayer , CTTE
ELP Pictures , BSS
Tull , Aqualung

[MudShark22]

Buggles Age of Plastic -

any tune from this disc brings back memories of my Dad driving me from SW London to St Johns Wood to play football(soccer) with my friends from school. The best....

Beethoven's Fifth - Vienna Philharmonic

- again listening in our flat. So moving / soulshaking that I wanted to write music that moved someone like that. 9 years old.

[arturs]

^^^ yeah, Beethoven's 6th for me. It was the only tape my dad brought to Cape Cod one summer and we listened to it for a month straight whenever we were in the car. I was around 10. Sirius XM Symphony Hall played it a few weeks ago and it brought back a lot of good memories.

As for music I discovered on my own at a young age, like prog, I still love a lot of it but don't have specific memories associated with it.

[tommy_n_chucky]

I dedicate this one to Jed, since he hates on Mitch Murder.

Sonically cradling you with deep and honest 80's emotions Mitch Murder creates addictive retro synth masterpieces. As the story goes Mitch is an overworked Wall Street I.T. from the 80's who dreams at night other realities for himself. These are the soundtrack to his dreams.

‘The Real Deal EP’ is a throwback to the golden days of Wall Street and the five tracks were written “with the intention of re-creating that 80s Wall Street feeling; the feeling a stockbroker gets when scoring a deal.”

Loveable opener ‘Call Waiting’ is a glossy and euphoric slow-disco jam with radiant chords and retro drums that cannot fail to get you up on your toes. The jubilant ‘Digital Market Place Strategy’ then steps it up with rigid bass stabs and neon Casio keys and is an unmistakably retro disco stomper. Always sitting on the fun side of cheese, ‘Breakway’ is another gem with skittish analogue synths stepping up through the scales and twinkling off into the night.

Getting more romantic and coy, ’Outpost Alpha’ slows the pace and sinks into a still colourful but more cuddly groove before ‘Prime Operator’ closes out in a frenzy of pixelated chords and tightly programmed drums that reflect and refract bright hues all around you. It’s unashamedly joyous and celebratory stuff that brims with nostalgia.

This is an evocative and authentic offering that immediately transports you to a vibrant scene in 80s New York and does so with a real sense of charm.

released: October 21, 2016
https://dxseven.bandcamp.com/album/the-real-deal

[progmatist]

The albums which evoke the actual "feelings" I felt back in the day are Black Sabbath Sabotage, Rush s/t, Deep Purple Perfect Strangers, Kansas Power, Emerson Lake & Powell, and Triumph Surveillance.

[proggy_jazzer]

I'm sure there will be a lot of cross-over between this thread and "Descent into Prog", for obvious reasons, but if I read the OP's intent correctly, the album that really fits for me is Olias. It's such a joyous set, and puts me in a happy place every time, even after all these years. Others that have a similar effect and transport me to different stages of my life are Abbey Road, Dregs of the Earth, Waiting for Columbus, Dave Holland's Triplicate, and CGT's Live at the Key Club.

[Supersonic Scientist]

Some strong "emotion generators" for me...

Grand Funk - LIVE
Sabbath - SBS
Yes - TFTO / Yessongs
Deep Purple - Made in Japan
Rush - Grace Under Pressure

maybe even Led Zep III

edit: Holy crap, how could I have forgotten Beatles - Abby Road

[markwoll]

My freshman year of college found a bunch of guys from our dorm wing collecting together most nights at 9pm for a 'study break'.
Rush's 2112 was a regular spin, Be Bop Deluxe Live! in the Air Age, Weather Report Heavy Weather, Steely Dan's early output ( pre Aja ).
Good times.

[luvyesmusic]

https://youtu.be/VCnlU-92sn4

[Fracktured]

I find it quite interesting reading what music brings good memories to people because that music doesn’t always have to be music that you consider to be the best music ever written, just music that brings back good memories of when you originally heard it. For me it’s

Robin Trower - Bridge of Sighs

Yes - Close to the Edge Relayer TFTO and Yessongs

Leo Sayer - Just a Boy

Jethro Tull - This Was thru Thick as a Brick

Chicago Transit Authority

The Allman Brothers Band - Filmore East Eat a Peach and Brothers and Sisters

The Doors - LA Woman

Santana III and Caravanseria

ELP - s/t thru BSS

As you can see it’s mostly music from about 69 to 75. Those were the years that I have the most fond memories of.


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[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Chicago: First seven, but especially Carnegie Hall
Various versions of Tommy, but mostly the original and the LSO versions.
Quadrophenia and various bootlegs from the associated tour
Jesus Christ Superstar
Honky Chateau and Rock of the Westies

That's about it, after that I got seriously into progressive music but my golden yout' was the above.

[Vic2012]

Chicago Transit Authority
Santana
Led
Beatles
Black Sabbath

[Lopez]

I started buying albums in earnest in 1968. So albums of that era do it for me:

The Byrds - The Notorious Byrd Brothers
Moby Grape - Wow!
The United States of America - s/t
Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced?
Eli Radish - I Didn't Raise My Son to Be a Soldier
The Moody Blues - In Search of the Lost Chord

[tommy_n_chucky]

Boston - self titled
King's X - Faith Hope Love
Joe Satriani - Surfing with the Alien
Stryper - In God We Trust
Dream Theater - Awake
Echolyn - As the World, Suffocating the Bloom
Tribal Tech - Illicit
Triumvirat - Illusion of a Double Dimple, Spartacus

[Zeuhlmate]

There are so many, but in the proggish department

Gentle Giant - Three Friends
Zappa - Hot Rats
Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
Johnny Winter - Second Winter
Hansson & Karlson - Monument
Colosseum - Valentyne Suite
Terje Rypdal - Odyssey

[Rarebird]

There are 2 kinds of memories for me. Either albums that remind me on when and where I bought them or albums that remind me on a certain time. Those are sometimes related.

When I listen to In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, I see myself sitting in a chair, reading books on model trains.

When I hear Streetmark - Dry, or Romy Haag - So bin ich I'm reminded on times when my life was in turmoil.

Songs from Karat - Albatros and Schwanenkönig and Octopus - Hart am Rand reminds me on a vacation in Freiburg and Dittishausen, when I bought those albums. These memories are also present if I hear tracks from those Karat albums on another CD.
Some songs from Karat - 25 Jahre - Das Konzert and Brings - Superjeilezick remind me on the vacation when I bought these albums.

Some songs reminds me on a friend of mine, who often played those songs.

Welcome back my friends... I bought after I heard Jerusalem and Karn Evil no 9 for the first time in English class. I also remember playing that album the day after watching The Last Night Of The Proms (those who know what is played during that concert might understand why).

[winkersnufs]

Good Evening.... Interesting thread!

Perhaps a singular soundtrack/LP that brings back fond memories of my youth. My second job, ones with an actual paycheck/taxes out etc, was at the Camelot Music record store chain. I often drove home from a workday, in my bright orange VW Beetle, and an appropriate song always seemed to be Highway Star by Deep Purple/Machine Head. Yeah.... I just loved that Beetle (bought it at 16)!

Carry On
Chris Buckley

[bill g]

Yeah I have a few that retain the magic of how I heard them then:

Genesis - Selling England
Pink Floyd - Meddle
ELP - Tarkus
Bo Hansson - Lord of the Rings

I liked being outside then (still do) and these had various aspects of the feelings I had when I was outside then. Selling England was very visual for me, particularly. But all of these I listened to at about the same age, 14 or 15ish, and that seemed to be an influential time for me. I was also stoned a lot, I don't know if that makes a difference. I think it might

[Garden Dreamer]

Chicago: First seven, but especially Carnegie Hall

Same here, plus Chicago VIII. Brings back memories of high school years, which still consisted of all the usual things that can stress a teen, but the times spent playing in bands with my friends doing much of the music from those 8 albums are golden days for me (and "Old Days" now, lol). Recently reconnected with a guitarist and drummer from those days and sent them copies of our old rehearsals that I had on cassette tape. The guitarist said, "wow, we were a happy band." And he was right, because the tapes are full of non-stop banter, joking and laughing. Golden days, indeed...

[nosebone]

Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath hit me like a ton of bricks.

[progeezer]

The first time I heard Love's Forever Changes, I commented to my then wife, "I have a new favorite album and one from which to measure everything else".

52 years later nothing has replaced it and it remains my favorite album of all time.

[rich]

My Turn... I can firmly say Genesis and Yes are my top two... the rest are not in order but these all make me think of my youth.

Genesis, Selling,Lamb and Trick
Yes, CTTE, The Yes Album, Relayer
Camel Moonmadness, Rain Dances
Caravan Land of Grey and Pink
Supertramp Crisis What Crisis, Crime of the Century, Even in the Quietest Moments,Breakfast
Floyd Dark Side and Wish u were Here
Return to Forever Romantic Warrior
The Who Quadrophenia, Who's Next
Led Zeppelin 4
Chris Squire Fish out of Water