Must listen albums..?

[Cudzoziemiec]

Is the Joni a Little Green one and do the Janis and Jimi self-destruct at 27 kph? 

(Real shame about all concerned, bikes and musicians)

At midnight, the Janis becomes a Mercedes-Benz, and the Jimi disappears in a purple haze.

[ian]

This will probably turn into a "my list is more obscure/seminal than yours" contest.  Mine is fairly mainstream except one 

The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Furniture - The Wrong People
Green Day - American Idiot
Nirvana - Nevermind*

*I'm going to admit I haven't listened to it for years but it is certainly a "must listen".

I'm afraid all current music is ruined for me by autotune, whatever other merits it may have.  Whiny attenuated vocals actually hurt my ears.

Actually, you did remind me how sublime The Wrong People is, I remember buying for £3.49 from Our Price in Nottingham before Stiff went belly up and copies became career-tanking unobtanium. Is now available on Apple Music, though the follow-up, which I also remember as being rather good, Food, Sex and Paranoia, is not. Which means it's on vinyl in the attic.

Some other must-listens:

Curve Doppelgänger, a splenetic wall of guitars that never left a decent hook behind.

Guns n' Roses, Appetite for Destruction. Probably not my genre, but for reasons I saw them live at Nottingham Rock City back in the day and Axl Rose did a characteristic hissy fit 20 minutes in and I don't think he came back.

Nine Inch Nails, Pretty Hate Machine. Probably not the sort of record to get your gran on the dancefloor at a wedding bash.

[Jaded]

Peter Hamill - Nadir's Big Chance (although several others fit the bill)
Biosphere - Dropsnode (although several others fit the bill)
Van Morrison - No Guru, No Method, No Teacher
Joy Division - Closer
The Comet is Coming - Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam (although several others fit the bill)

There are loads more...

[Afasoas]

Lists like this are difficult ... with so much good music out there.

Out of the albums I own:

In Rainbows - Radiohead
This Is Hardcore - Pulp
MTV Unplugged in New York - Nirvana
Rumours - Fleetwood Mac ... for The Chain


Still compiling a 'want' list and there's 207 titles on there currently. So this may change.

Currently enjoying Mannequin P*ssy's Patience. Not a likely contender but very enjoyable none-the-less.

[Robh]

Johnny Hartman & John Coltrane - Lush Life
Duke Ellington & Johnny Hodges - Side by Side (and Back to Back also)
Otis Redding - Otis Blue
Another Saturday Night - a compilation put together by the late, great, Charlie Gillett
Motown Chartbusters Vol 3

[rogerzilla]

Actually, you did remind me how sublime The Wrong People is, I remember buying for £3.49 from Our Price in Nottingham before Stiff went belly up and copies became career-tanking unobtanium. Is now available on Apple Music, though the follow-up, which I also remember as being rather good, Food, Sex and Paranoia, is not. Which means it's on vinyl in the attic.

I have the CD and also a high bitrate MP3 rip if you want to listen again.

[CAMRAMan]

Back in the DHSS - Half Man Half Biscuit A brilliant set of takedowns of 'celebrity' status.

The First of a Million Kisses - Fairground Attraction - Really.

Alla Får Påsar - Magnus Uggla. A bit niche, and it sounds like Europop to the uninitiated, but it's as savage a commentary on '90s Swedish culture, as Back in the DHSS was of the '80s in Britain.

[sam]

Van the Man, Astral Weeks & Enlightenment

[ian]

Actually, you did remind me how sublime The Wrong People is, I remember buying for £3.49 from Our Price in Nottingham before Stiff went belly up and copies became career-tanking unobtanium. Is now available on Apple Music, though the follow-up, which I also remember as being rather good, Food, Sex and Paranoia, is not. Which means it's on vinyl in the attic.

I have the CD and also a high bitrate MP3 rip if you want to listen again.

I'll ping you at some point, I don't think I'm ready to brave the loft until it's time for the Christmas decorations and, erm, I'm not sure I have a functioning record player up there. Well, I do have one, but I loaned it to my sister and it looks like she had sex wit a fat bloke on top of it. Knowing her, she probably did, in some perverted squelchy rendition of Dead or Alive's signature hit.

[sam]

I don't know if it's a must listen, but it does qualify as a classic:

Schoolhouse Rock! is an American interstitial programming series of animated musical educational short films (and later, music videos) which aired during the Saturday morning children's programming block on the U.S. television network ABC. The themes covered included grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics.

Many of the songs are still engraved in my brain.

Interjections!
Unpack Your Adjectives
Three is a Magic Number
Figure 8
Elbow Room - It was only much later that I read A People’s History of the United States and began thinking hmmm...
As someone in the comments put it: "Watching this as a kid: *happiness*
Watching this as an adult: *sadness*
The Preamble

[Legs]

Carrie and Lowell - Sufjan Stevens
Lady's Bridge - Richard Hawley
Catch Bull at Four - Cat Stevens
Use Your Illusion II - Guns N' Roses
Sweet Baby James - James Taylor
The Circle Game - Tom Rush
52nd Street - Billy Joel
Goodbye Jumbo - World Party
The Royal Scam - Steely Dan

[rogerzilla]

We all once did the conga around the house to "You Could Be Mine".  I don't think.alcohol was involved.  Highly rrcommended

[citoyen]

Lists like this are difficult ... with so much good music out there.

It would be easier if the parameters of the question were more tightly defined.

[Afasoas]

Lists like this are difficult ... with so much good music out there.

It would be easier if the parameters of the question were more tightly defined.

Maybe some genre specific threads?

[sam]

genre specific

Like best of science music?

- Tom Lehrer's "The Elements" obvs
- Bohemian Gravity, A Capella Science
- Big Bang Theory, Barenaked Ladies

[IanDG]

 

...Echoes  - Pink Floyd...

Triggered my pedantry 

Stop meddling with the post Mr P.   

[JonB]

Five albums,

Love - Forever Changes
Scott Walker - Scott 4
tindersticks - tindersticks
Low - Things We Lost In The Fire
Robert Wyatt - Shleep

Bubbling under,

Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express
Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
Autechre - LP5
Godspeed You! Black Emporer - F#A#∞
Minutemen - Double Nickels On The Dime

[IanDG]

Astral Weeks, Forever Changes, Tapestry, Space Ritual - already mentioned so I'll add:

Nick Cave and Bad Seeds - Ghosteen
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
The London Howling Wolf Sessions
Bob Dylan - Bringing it all Back Home
Jackie Leven - The Mystery of Love is Greater Than the Mystery of Death
John Mayall's blues Breakers - Bare Wires

[IanDG]

There's no such thing as "must listen albums"...

Are people just listing (some of) their favourite albums, which is an entirely different thing.

Not Exactly, I have favourite albums that I wouldn't say are "must listen to". The albums I've listed are ones that stir something inside emotionally.

Edit: ZZ Top - Eliminator is one of my favourite albums but I'd never recommend it as a "must listen"

[citoyen]

There's no such thing as "must listen albums"...

Are people just listing (some of) their favourite albums, which is an entirely different thing.

No, I have favourite albums that I wouldn't say are "must listen to". The albums I've listed are ones that stir something inside emotionally.

Edit: ZZ Top - Eliminator is one of my favourite albums but I'd never recommend it as a "must listen"

Similarly, there are albums I might consider must listen that aren't necessarily among my personal favourites. It comes back to the question of what you mean by "must listen" - what is it about listening to these particular albums that makes it an edifying experience? I think the qualifying criteria should be along the lines of it has something important to say, or that it's a definitive example of a genre, stuff like that.

These criteria are all subjective to some extent, I don't know if it's possible to be wholly objective, but emotional response is entirely subjective - what stirs something inside you might just bore me to tears.

But in saying this, I'm probably just putting myself forward for Pseud's Corner and really this should just be about what are your favourite albums...

[Cudzoziemiec]

Blue ~ Joni Mitchell

Hell yeah

I was drafted into the bookchazzer today, where my fellow chazzer turned out to be a third-year uni student. I can't remember who suggested playing some music (but we always have music), but I said she could pick whatever she felt like. And she played Blue. Said she always does whenever she's there.

Late nomination: Talking Heads '77. Psycho Killer would be enough on its own, but then you've got The Book I Read, Happy Day and others... Pulled Up is pure musical tiramisu.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Catch a Fire.

[fd3]

Bowie: Blackstar *
Siouxsie and the Banshees: Hyaena **
Pixies: Surfer Rosa
The Cure: Head on the Door
They Might Be Giants: Join Us
I forgot to add
Bauhaus Mask

* You could make a case for any one of his other albums, but this is the best album ever - you could argue but you would be wrong.
** You could make a case for any one of their other albums, and you would have a valid point as almost all of their albums are arguably their best.

[Steph]

So many on here I love, so I will do my best to add some new ones.

I want To See The Bright Lights Tonight---Richard and Linda Thompson
Nantucket Sleighride---Mountain
Pungent Effulgent--Ozric Tentacles
Aqualung--Tull
Ogden's Nut Gone Flake---Small Faces
Boys for Pele--Tori Amos
Sensual World--Kate Bush
Electric Music for Mind and Body--Country Joe and the Fish
Thank Christ for the Bomb--Groundhogs
Hejira--Joni
Songbook Vol 1---Eric Bogle
Back in Line--steeleye

[IanDG]

So many on here I love, so I will do my best to add some new ones.

I want To See The Bright Lights Tonight---Richard and Linda Thompson
Nantucket Sleighride---Mountain
Pungent Effulgent--Ozric Tentacles
Aqualung--Tull
Ogden's Nut Gone Flake---Small Faces
Boys for Pele--Tori Amos
Sensual World--Kate Bush
Electric Music for Mind and Body--Country Joe and the Fish
Thank Christ for the Bomb--Groundhogs
Hejira--Joni
Songbook Vol 1---Eric Bogle
Back in Line--steeleye

No Hawkwind (and you saw Stacia on stage)?