List Your FAV FIVE: Albums

FAV FIVE Series

Songs • Albums • Singer-songwriters • Rock 'n' Roll Bands • Guitar Players 
Beatles Songs • Bob Dylan Songs • Rolling Stones Songs • Neil Young Songs

Last week's blog, LIST Your FAV FIVE Songs was a lot of fun! I'm so thankful to the people who participated and made Monday Monday Music a little more interactive. For the little music blog that could, I got a larger number of hits than most weeks, as I think that some readers passed along the blog to family and friends who may have cast a silent ballot at home.

The feedback I got from several people was that it was really hard to pick only five songs, and that's why I liked it so much! So if you either electronically responded or silently made your list on a napkin, I thought I'd continue the reader participation theme this week by stepping it up a notch. This week let's all put our heads together and list our five favorite albums of all-time.

As I write this on the weekend before the Monday post, I've started a brainstorm list (on recycled printer paper) of 33 albums and initially only knew one album that would will make the final five. My suggestion- just start looking through your vinyl album/CD collections, or music streaming service favorites. That should get you going.

After studying my list of 33, it came down to:

• Which Beatle album(s) to pick;
• Which singer-songwriter album(s) to pick;
• and most importantly, what albums did I know every song and played them into my heart and soul.

Paul Hobbs texted me last week after participating in the FAV FIVE Songs blog and wrote, "It would be interesting to hear what made one choose a particular song. As music is a time machine, specific incidents and events can certainly play a role in creating a list such as this." I couldn't agree more; and so my third bullet point above and Paul's words lead me to this list of five albums that have stayed with me since "the era" of the 60's and 70's. 

1. The White Album, The Beatles
2. After the Gold Rush, Neil Young
3. Who's Next, The Who
4. Late For The Sky, Jackson Browne
5. Buffalo Springfield Again, Buffalo Springfield

This week I will forgo why I chose these five albums as your list will also come to me without an explanation to the "time machine, specific incidents and events" that influenced your short list. 

What makes your list and my list interesting, is that we may or may not have some background information of 'why' one made a specific album selection, but the mystery and our speculation may be enough to make our music week a little more intriguing. So share this blog with friends and family as it may spark an interesting conversation. 

Note- For kicks, you might be interested in 'my weekend brainstorm' of 33 albums and I've included it here at the end of the blog. I made my list within a hour and then put my pen down and did that on purpose because knowing myself, it quickly would grow to fifty, then one-hundred and hey thats' a horse of a different color.

One last thing before I turn you loose to think and create your own list; I want to simply make the distinction between 'best' and 'favorite.' Citizen Kane is often ranked by critics as the best movie of all-time and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is similarly ranked as the best album of all-time. My list could have easily included Sgt. Pepper, but the emotional impact of The White Album for me comes from a place in the time machine that makes it an extra special favorite.

Now it's your turn.


If you do not see the Google Form in this blog from your browser, use this direct link -
https://forms.gle/6efiGQv7wrgPeXCu7

I'll be looking forward to making and posting Your FAV FIVE Albums playlists this week, so come back to see everyone's playlists! (note- I will create the playlists in the order I receive them on my end.)

Doug McIntosh's FAV FIVE Albums












Mary Kit McIntosh's FAV FIVE Albums












Paul Hobbs' FAV FIVE Albums












Ron Ouellette's FAV FIVE Albums

Desperado, Eagles (on Spotify, as the complete studio album is not available on YouTube)

Desperado (pieced together with various studio and live song versions)











Shawna McIntosh's FAV FIVE Albums












Vicki Forman's FAV FIVE Albums












Ken Forman's FAV FIVE Albums












Ron Zieman's FAV FIVE Albums








Are You Experienced • Jimi Hendrix (This link is available on Spotify as there are only a few original studio tracks from the album available on YouTube)

Note - Ron suggested I get this album as I purchased Are Your Experienced and Buffalo Springfield Again at the same time in 1968 as these two albums were the first albums I actually bought with my own money (from my paper route). It's so fitting to find it here as one of Ron's FAV FIVE along with my Buffalo Springfield Again pick above.




Roger Demchak's FAV FIVE Albums












Jane Hobbs' FAV FIVE Albums


Hotel California • Eagles

(This link is available on Spotify as there are only a few original studio tracks from the album available on YouTube)










____________________________
Doug's Brainstorm List of 33 FAVorite Albums
(Listed in the order they came into my head)

1. Late For The Sky, Jackson Browne
2. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles
3. Who's Next, The Who
4. The White Album, The Beatles
5. Abbey Road, The Beatles
6. Innervisions, Stevie Wonder
7. Buffalo Springfield Again, Buffalo Springfield
8. Desperado, Eagles
9. Tumbleweed Connection, Elton John
10. Madman Across the Water, Elton John
11. John Prine, John Prine
12. After The Gold Rush, Neil Young
13. Deja Vu, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
14. Sail Away, Randy Newman
15. A Hard Day's Night, The Beatles
16. There Goes Rhymin' Simon, Paul Simon
17. Tea For The Tillerman, Cat Stevens
18. Court and Spark, Joni Mitchell
19. Sweet Baby James, James Taylor
20. Talking Book, Stevie Wonder
21. Moondance, Van Morrison
22. Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon and Garfunkel
23. Tapestry, Carol King
24. Blue, Joni Mitchell
25. Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan
26. Blood On The Tracks, Bob Dylan
27. Revolver, The Beatles
28. Cover Girl, Shawn Colvin
29. Prisoner in Disguise, Linda Ronstadt
30. Nilsson Schmilsson, Harry Nilsson
31. Karla Bonoff, Karla Bonoff
32. Damn The Torpedoes, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
33. If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears, The Mama's and the Papa's

1967-1968 and two albums

Fifty years ago in 1967 was the "Summer of Love." During that time, I was about to enter Fesler Jr. High in Santa Maria, California. My next door neighbor, Ron Zieman was one year ahead of me and about to enter the 8th Grade. My family had moved to Tunnell St. when I was in 5th Grade, so by 1967 Ron and I were fast friends. I would have to say, Ron was my first mentor. As both of us wanted to be hippies, Ron actually set course to accomplish this mission by growing his hair a little longer and wearing his Levi's a lot looser. His mother Ruth, would have none of this, but Ron fought the good fight in rocking our conservative christian upbringing in our little but growing farming town, starting with the dress code.

Another pillar to fall our way was music. In both of our houses, we were not allowed to mess with the stereo console in the living room. Ron lead the way with getting a portable record player for his room and by starting a record collection. Anyway, sometime in 1968 Ron came up with the idea for us to join the Columbia Record Club. (The Columbia Records manufacturing facility was actually only several blocks from our house.) As mentioned in an earlier blog, I had only one record at that time, The Beatles Hard Days Night, which I had clipped from my grandfather.  He for some reason had gotten it in his Columbia Record Club subscription as it probably got included with him buying so many records. My grandfather passed away in 1967, and I like to think he was giving Hard Days Night to me in a gracious posthumous gesture.

So I think Ron's scheme was- we join the Record Club and get several free records by just joining, and then, we quit the Club... like nobody ever thought of that before. I don't remember as Ron was the brains of the operation, but I do remember (with his help) the first two records I ever purchased, (or think I purchased) - Buffalo Springfield Again and The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced, which were both released in 1967. Fifty years later, I'm looking back to listening to those two records with Ron in his room and I'm thinking, "If you had to pick two records that hold the test of time, these two make the cut."

This past week, I'm on my trail run with my Amazon Music shuffling the songs on my phone and Expecting to Fly comes on. It made me think of what you're reading right now. A couple of nights ago, I'm flipping through the channels on TV and the Showtime documentary, Jimi Hendrix: Electric Church comes on. Electric Church is Jimi's performance at the Atlanta Pop Festival in 1970 with 300,000 people. I've watched this documentary two times already, and you know Jimi never gets old and it's always a good place to come back to. Jimi Hendrix and Buffalo Springfield forever! In 2017, my summer of love includes upcoming concerts with Tom Petty, Eric Clapton and the Eagles. This time around, I get to be part of the crowd, even if it's a hair shade of gray. Happy summer my friends!