What five albums define your musical taste and why?

[hippypants]

Tough question, I know believe me.

Here's mine I guess:

Beatles--perhaps Beatles '65, because it's the first album I ever owned and I still enjoy listening to it today, hard to go wrong with any of their other albums though, and I'd miss the other ones.

The Mother's of Invention--We're Only In It For the Money--it's such a crazy album, and when friends think they're so open minded I'd spring this crazy mind freakout on them. It would probably be this one or Freak Out.

Crosby, Stills, & Nash--their 1st album, still a wonderful blend of harmonies and song writinig.

Joni Mitchell's, Ladies of the Canyon--same here, sort of low key in tone, but I love the song writing and singing. Boy, I'd miss out on her other albums too.

Genesis--Their first live album, where Peter Gabriel appears wearing a pink triangle on his head on the cover. I just love that album & seem to never tire of listening to it.

[ThomasKDye]

Yes - Going For The One - arty prog rock that packs a wallop

Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway - conceptual prog mixed with the theatrical

Rick Wakeman - Criminal Record - instrumental prog rock that transits through many moods

The Beatles - White Album - Pop/rock with a quirky edge to it

Anthony Phillips - The Geese and the Ghost - Tranquil, arty, modern and beautiful

---

There's probably a few other angles, but if I was forced to, I could squeeze everything I own into one of these boxes.

[bob_32_116]

In the famous words of the computer Deep Thought from The Hitch hiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

I'll have to think about it.

[bob_32_116]

OK...

The Beach Boys - Sunflower or Surf's Up, either one. Extensively discussed in another thread.

Bob Lind - Don't be Concerned. My original love was "folk-rock", and Bob Lind was the best IMO. Too bad most people only know him for one song.

Richard Harris - A Tramp Shining, or The Yard Went On For Ever, take your pick. Jimmy Webb is in my top 5 songwriters, and Harris was the best exponent.

Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. No explanation required.

Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet. This was my first introduction to PT, and after many years of feeling that popular music had become a cultural desert, discovering this band, and through them many others, I found out how much interesting and original music is still being made.

[trurl]

Quick, down and dirty:

Magical Mystery Tour
A Passion Play
In A Glass House
Going For The One
The Green Album

Bonus:
Skin Tight (Ohio Players)
The Record (FEAR)

[presdoug]

Triumvirat-Illusions On A Double Dimple, my very favorite prog album, and the reason I got into progressive rock in the first place. The music therein is timeless, technically excellent, and beautiful in the same breath.

Libra-Musica e Parole-namely, the inimitable and very special atmosphere they create on this record. It does things for me that most other albums don't. Highlighted by the wonderful spirited musicality of the late Federico D'Andrea.

Helmut Koellen-You Won't See Me, I did not know until years after the fact of his death way back in 1977 at the age of 27, and the existence of this very special solo album. In a nutshell, simply lovely! Through it, Helmut became my favorite musician.

Dzyan-Time Machine, when I first heard this fusion classic, I was so incredibly impressed, that it became my favorite guitar based album I have ever heard. That was for me back in 1988, and it still applies today,

Anton Bruckner-Symphony 8-premiere recording. This very first Bruckner 8, recorded in the late 1930s, is both a prime example of why I love historical classical music recordings, and why it is my favorite symphony and composer. An incredible, and deeply moving listening experience for me.

[markwoll]

It is not that simple, given that my tastes have changed throughout my music listening life.
I prefer to refer to my collection of music and let you determine what my tastes are.
By appointment only.

mark

[PeterG]

This is impossible. I would have to do a list of five for each of the following:


1. synth,goth, industrial, EBM, EDM
2. new wave, post-punk, pronk
3. metal
4. folk
5. ska,reggae,soul
6. classical

[bill g]

Changes with the season, but for the most part:

Genesis - Selling England By The Pound
Anthony Phillips - The Geese and the Ghost
Brian Wilson - Smile
Mr. Sirius - Dirge
Advent - Cantus Firmas

on some days, albums might rotate in there by Ere G, Yes, Hatfield & The North, Swing Out Sister, Prefab Sprout, King Crimson, Thinking Plague, etc...

[hippypants]

Yeah, it is quite impossible. I regret that I had to leave off classical (one of my current favorite genres), and jazz. I agree with Mark in that overall our collection of music as a whole represents more who we are.

[Rufus]

BSS-ELP. The musicianship still blows me away.
CTTE-Yes. The greatest prog album ever recorded.
UH-Demons & Wizards. Prog can still be beautiful without complicated time changes & masterful musicianship.
Squawk-Budgie. Heavy metal but still very accessible & melodic.
TFTO-Yes. Still hear something new even after 'zillions' of listens

[Dave (in MA)]

Ozric Tentacles, Afterswish
Matching Mole, March
Tangerine Dream, Starbound Collection
Brand X, Do They Hurt?
Cream, Those Were The Days box

Because I use shuffle mode quite a bit, and those were the 1st 5 things that came up. My MP3 player has 4GB plus a 32GB microSD card in it and it's full, but has no Beatles or Beach Boys on it despite the fact that those are things you're Supposed To Like. I last bought a Beatles album almost 40 years ago and have never bought anything by the Beach Boys. Sick of the Beatles (overexposure) and never could stand all that falsetto harmony stuff by the BB. My other microSD is almost full, and it's all jazz and/or experimental stuff.

[JJ88]

The Beatles- Abbey Road; could have been any album of theirs. The first music I really remember responding to and I still consider them my favourite group...
Genesis- A Trick Of The Tail;...alongside these, of course. The first 'prog' band that made an impression on me personally, though I grew up hearing some of it.
Isaac Hayes- Hot Buttered Soul; I remember flipping out when I first heard what he did with 'Walk On By', amazing stuff. Could have been Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On', another all-time favourite now, though I didn't find it as instantly appealing. Either way these albums show innovation was in all forms of music at the time.
Carpenters- Horizon; over the years I've developed a love for well-written, well-executed pop music, and this quickly became one of my favourite albums.
Deep Purple- In Rock; definitely still play my heavy rock albums, though I've always been more for the more melodic end of the genre than the 'cookie monster'/blast beats end.

[Zeuhlmate]

Probably what I heard at home as a child.

Stravinsky
Ravel / Debussy
Bach
Orff
Jugoslavian folkmusic

And a lot more, but this was 5...

[undergroundrailroad]

There are waves - first the music that formed early taste -
Alan Parsons Project - I, Robot
Styx - The Grand Illusion
Rush - Moving Pictures
John Williams - Star Wars Soundtrack
Debussy - La Mer/Nocturnes (Martinon)

Second wave - music that expanded my horizons to pretty much where they are today.
Genesis - Selling England by the Pound
Gentle Giant - The Power and the Glory
Steely Dan - Gold
Henry Cow - In Praise of Learning
Messiaen - Turangalila-Symphonie (Fournet)

But I guess if I had to boil it down to the five most important from the above -
Rush - Moving Pictures
Debussy - La Mer/Nocturnes (Martinon)
Genesis - Selling England by the Pound
Gentle Giant - The Power and the Glory
Steely Dan - Gold

[bob_32_116]

Probably what I heard at home as a child.

Stravinsky
Ravel / Debussy
Bach
Orff
Jugoslavian folkmusic.

Classical could be a whole thread in itself. I have CDs with music by all the first three. Debussy is my favourite "classical" composer.

[Mikhael]

Five... that'll be tough...
The Monkees - some great songs that launched my path.
Woodstock - opened my eyes to the Who, Santana, CS&N, Hendrix, and an alternative culture.
Yes - Close to the Edge. Whoa; incredible place!
Al DiMeola - Land of the Midnight Sun. Wow. You can do that on a guitar?
Kansas - Masque. Symph prog of Yes combined with hard rock. Wow; this grabbed me.
Alan Holdsworth - IOU. Whoa - you can do that with a guitar?!?

That's six, I know, but there were a lot more. These particular ones caused a distinct left turn in both my playing and my musical appreciation. But there are SO many more; Genesis, Sabbath, Led Zep, Mahavishnu, the Beatles (I almost put Sgt. Peppers on there), Dream Theater (when I thought Prog was completely dead, they popped up unapologetically prog AND metal)... just SO many...

[WytchCrypt]

I have to leave so much off it just hurts, but here's my 5 in order of when they came into my life...

1) Beatles - Sgt Peppers - literally changed the world when it arrived and the most important album ever released IMHO...felt like everything before Sgt P was a boring black & white movie then it arrived to show what was possible in pop music. Kinda like in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy opens the door and the world is now in technicolor.
2) Black Sabbath - Paranoid - besides prog, my main love is doom metal and this was where it started for me. War Pigs on the '74 California Jam TV broadcast inspired me to play music.
3) ELP - Brain Salad Surgery - the 1st prog album I ever bought...I eventually wore out 3 vinyl copies...
4) King Crimson - USA - my fave album from my fave band. When I heard Crimso at 17 my world shifted on it's axis and has never been the same.
5) Ange - Le Cimitiere Des Arlequins - felt like I'd heard all the English lyric prog I could find so decided to go outside the box...the 1st time I bought a non-English lyric prog album and it opened up a gold mine and French prog has become my fave prog sub-genre.

[mogrooves]

Rock Division:

MoI - Absolutely Free. The "avant" comes to rock.
Hendrix - RUX. The world stuttered.
Soft Machine - Vol. II . Jazz+psych....and Wyatt
KC - In the Court of the Crimson King. An innovative band of innovative players. The seminal "Prog" document.
Henry Cow - s/t [Leg End]. Prog renewed.

[BobM]

No way I could pick any single album in any genre, so I will name the genre's themselves. Sorry, as close as I can come for my wide-spread eclectic tastes.

- classic rock/folk
- prog rock
- prog/jazz fusion
- jazz (modern, traditional, big band
- select classical

[Kim Olesen]

The Beatles - Help (could have been any of theirs)
Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time (Classic 80's metal albums such as Peace Sells But Who's Buying, or Reign In Blood)
Jean Michel Jarre - Equinoxe (Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode etc)
Genesis - A Trick Of The Tail (Seventies prog. GG etc etc)
Dire Straits - On Every Street (Laid back stuff like John Mayer etc etc...)

[Vic2012]

Meet The Beatles: Yes, the American release. That was the best we could do back then. I picked this Beatles album because it's the first visual I have of the them, and I think it was the first one that we, or some friends of ours owned. I could easily pick A Hard Days Night too. At any rate, the early Beatles is where it all starts for me.

Led Zeppelin IV: This was the album that really got me into electric blues, hard/rock and heavy metal. I don't want to argue about whether Zeppelin was "metal" or not. They were part of the movement, part of the progression to what became heavy metal. This was the first album I ever heard by them or ever owned.

Santana III: Actually, any of the first 3 albums but this one is my favorite. They were a gateway to discovering latin jazz and afro/cuban music for me. It was "rock" but it opened me up to a different world that wasn't rock at all, but had the same effect for me. I also fell in love with harmony, guitar leads because of this album.

For prog/rock representation I guess I'd probably have to pick Fragile or Close To The Edge. Kansas was my gateway, and I still love them but the two Yes albums really opened the floodgates to wanting to go further.

Master Of Puppets or And Justice For All: These albums blew my head off, and I still dig Metallica. They are my favorite heavy metal band.

Honorable mention: For Those About To Rock .... We Salute You! AC/DC

[NogbadTheBad]

Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (my teens I was into all things English and heavy)
Univers Zero - Ceux Du Dehors (for all those avant bands I love)
Mike Oldfield - Ommadawn (for the pastoral mellow stuff)
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (for all the jazz)
Zoe Keating - Into The Trees (for the modern classical minimalism)

That misses out all the Blues, Indie, Punk, Folk, etc but it'll do for now

[hippypants]

Ok, the RUX threw me for a minute...gotcha.

I ought to see if that Sabbath California Jam '74 is up on YT.

I agree classical could have been a whole thread in itself, as well as jazz or folk/singer song writer. I'd have to think about what were my early exposures to those genres. Jazz, maybe Bitches Brew.

I'm a Carpenter's fan, and I don't think I've ever heard Horizon.

Bob Lind? --not known to me, have to Google.

Good picks and unusual choices all.

[No Pride]

Acknowledging that it's impossible to represent my tastes with 5 albums, but here's the best I can do off the top of my head:

Genesis - Selling England by the Pound and Gentle Giant - The Power and the Glory: A tie. Most of what I love about prog is encompassed within these two albums.

Tribal Tech - s/t: The best fusion bands have virtuoso improvisers and at least one or two strong composers; these guys fit that criteria.

XTC - Nonsuch: The best pop/rock band since The Beatles, who I would've listed if I wasn't oversaturated by 50 years of listening to them.

Joao Bosco - Gagabiro: I fell in love with Brazilian music about 35 years ago and this guy is my favorite singer/songwriter from there other than Jobim, who isn't as good as a vocalist or instrumentalist.

Michael Brecker - Tales From the Hudson: Here to represent much of what I love about jazz; great improvising and composing; incredible technique married to soulfulness and a seamless integration of traditional and modern/avant garde styles.

Steve Vai - Passion and Warfare - Shred-rock guitar with intelligence and soul; often a great composer and always a great improviser.

I know I cheated a little; sue me.