I've got hundreds of CDs and my addiction keeps me buying them all the time, but despite this there are a few albums that have left permanent marks in my soul. I think I probably have a prism-shaped scar on my heart thanks to Pink Floyd.
Which leads me to Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon, undoubtedly my favorite album I've ever heard. Cliche? I give no fuck... this album changed my life and I don't think I'll ever hear an album as perfect as this. The production is flawless, the musicianship is heavenly, the lyrics are brilliant and no album has ever or will ever flow in the way DSOTM does. It's one of the few albums that goes beyond "concept album". It's more than a concept. It's more than my words or the words of anyone else could describe. It's more than an album, certainly more than a collection of songs. It's a place in time... a place we can't get past. It's a feeling that's indescribable and a beauty that eyes can't know. It's the greatest musical and social accomplishment ever created, and there's no better way to spend 45 minutes. It's Dark Side Of The Moon, and I'll never get tired of it.
The next album I think is perfect in different ways. It's Bob Dylan's 1964 album, The Times They Are A-Changin'. It was my first Dylan album, and it'll always be my favorite. From top to bottom the songwriting and raw emotion is flawless. I can't think of an album that says as much as this one, and it doesn't even stop with the studio album- the outtakes are mindblowing too! Moonshiner and Lay Down Your Weary Tune would undoubtedly be gems on any other album, but they didn't even make it onto Times. Someday I'm going to play this whole album live. I've wanted to for years, but honestly I never get a set long enough to do it!
My third favorite album is actually only a couple of years old. It's Bright Eyes' alt-folk masterpiece I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning. I'm a fan of Conor Oberst in general, but this album started it. This album starts off with the best intro ever- a living-room monologue about a plane crash which leads to one of the best pieces of social commentary ever written: At The Bottom Of Everything. The album builds and builds with astonishingly good songwriting up until it all erupts with Road To Joy. Conor's guitar gradually bursts into an explosion of chaos with the band wailing behind, while the final verse of the album sums him up entirely: I could have been a famous singer if I had someone else's voice, But failure's always sounded better... let's fuck it up boys, MAKE SOME NOISE!
If that's failure, Conor, I never want to succeed.
With that, I'll stop my rambling. If for some reason you haven't heard any of these albums, you really need to. You might die if you don't. No lie.
Good choices. I'm actually a bit in limbo as to what my favorite album is right now, although I know that number 2 is Highway 61 Revisited. I'll have to think about it.
Hmm, the credibility of this list goes out the window because of the lack of Black Crowes. For shame.
On a more serious note, I agree with every word of what you said about Dark Side. I've never heard anything by Bright Eyes, but they're on my list (you know, the list), and I have Highway 61 Revisited, but I haven't listened to it yet...uh...yeah...look, it's David Gilmour! *runs*
And I just realized I meant to say The Times They Are A Changin', not Highway 61 Revisited. I don't know what I was thinking. I don't actually own Highway 61, but I do have The Times They Are A Changin', although I haven't listened to that yet.
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