from a facebook meme

15 Albums that Changed My Life

Here goes. It's going to be hard not to fudge. A more honest list would be much more embarrassing and less music criticky. Listed in the order of acquisition. Consider yourself tagged.

1. The Beatles - "Sgt. Pepper's" - from digging around my dad's old records. listened to it a lot and can't really hear it anymore. Needless to say, I prefer "Revolver" but my dad didn't own it. Other favorites from my dad's records were "Catch the Wind" by Donovan and "I Ain't Marchin' Anymore" by Phil Ochs. All of them are in my musical DNA.

2. The Bangles - "Different Light" - First cassette I bought with my own money. I still like it even though I have no way to play it. The cover of "September Gurls" prefigures my love for Big Star.

3. Grant Lee Buffalo - "Mighty Joe Moon" - One of the first current releases that I bought after years of listening to nothing but oldies. If the oldies station had not decided to add the Eagles to their playlist, I might still be listening. After about six months of listening to the alt-rock station, I switched to college radio. MJM is still a solid record and I have endured mockery from roommates throughout college for owning it. I also bought "Slanted & Enchanted" during this period of my life, and for my money that's still the best Pavement album.

4. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - "Orange" - To my freshman year roommate, I am so sorry. You played G. Love and Bjork incessantly but you didn't deserve this. A love for soul music and an inability to express that love without an ironic explosion of minstrelsy do not make this a classic. A lot of '90's indie-rock is a musical dead-end. In the great American Studies doctoral thesis explaining why that is, a chapter will be devoted to this album. But still, BLUES EXPLOSION!!!

5. Big Star - "#1 Record/Radio City" or "Third" - Don't make me choose. A twist on Eno's dictum: "Not many bought Big Star's first record, but everyone who did became a music critic." Still a favorite. December boy's got it bad.

6. This Mortal Coil - "Blood" - this album rather than the first because it's the first of theirs I bought. I love druggy displaced pop music. This and the Big Star were like an induction into the music geek brotherhood. This is as much an advertisement for Ivo's favorite music as it is an album in its own right. I dutifully tracked down the originals by the Apartments, the Byrds, Syd Barrett, Mary Margaret O'Hara, and Rodney Crowell. Great stuff!

7. The Zombies - "Odessey and Oracle" - listened to this compulsively freshman year. A great cute album. It's funny that today's indie-rock owes a lot more to this than to, say, Fugazi.

8. Sun Ra - "Atlantis" - another selection that irritated freshmen-year suitemates. This one I won't apologize for. Even for the tracks that sound like caffeinated monkeys beating on drums and chihuahuas convulsing on organ's keyboards. Incredible in a lot of ways and the ensuing discussions/arguments with suitemates prompted a lot of my thinking about music. Have to confess that I don't listen to it a lot and now prefer Sun Ra's albums that sound like music. So ends the freshman year selections beginning at 5.

8. Chet Baker - "The Best of Chet Baker Sings" - still my go-to album when I'm feeling depressed.

9. DNA - "DNA" - part of an extension of my conception of music. Also acceptable is the Fall or Pussy Galore. For artistic purity, I've picked DNA.

10. Van Morrison - "Astral Weeks" - anything I say will be cliche. Please see Lester Bangs's essay.

11. Gram Parsons - "GP/Grievous Angel" - As has been noted by every rock critic ever, this does not stand the test of time and I don't know when the last time I listened to it was (let alone actually heard it). But it was a good indie-dork-friendly introduction to country music and I did do an alt-countryish radio show.

12. Neko Case- "Furnace Room Lullaby" - A wonderful album. I got it not too long after it came out. Reminds me of a period of my life when I went to shows once a week back in '02. First record I played on my radio show.

13. Os Mutantes - "Everything is Possible" - this is the Luaka Bop compilation. Just amazing. It's funny that it wasn't until I was 26 that I realized that good music doesn't have to be in English.

14. Sam Phillips - "A Boot and a Shoe" - I do love this album, but it's on this list because it reminds me of a friend who passed away. Not a friend I knew very well but the first (and only, knock wood) friend of mine to die. It is about loss and longing but I happened to be listening to it one time I was out with this friend. So many of the albums on this list are tied into the experiences of adolescence or are separated from any experience, but this is one that relates to an adult albeit a sad experience.

15. Cibelle - "The Shine of Dried Electric Leaves" - a beautiful album and one that I like more with every listen. Yes, my music tastes are starting to move in a worldy direction. Comes with age, I guess.