Michael Colley's Favorite CDs

Every once in a while a buy a CD that completely grips me, the kind I listen to all the time and never wear it out. I used to try to rank them into the top whatever CDs of all-time, but there's so many different genres out there it's impossible to compare them. So this is just a list of albums that I have particularly enjoyed.

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The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds 1966. The first album masterpiece and still one of the best. Although Sgt. Pepper is generally considered as rock's first concept album, Pet Sounds clearly predates it: the wishful romantic yearning of "Wouldn't It Be Nice" gradually gives way to the unfulfilled reality of "Caroline, No."
The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. 1967. There's not much I can say about this one that hasn't been said before. No one in the history of music has sewn so many diverse influences in such a seamless package.
James Brown - Star Time. 1991 (1956-1984). Disc 1 of this 4-CD set contains some of the best R&B songs of the 50s and 60s, including "Please Please Me", "Try Me", and "Lost Someone". On disc 2, things start to get funkier with "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" and "I Got You (I Feel Good)". But at the root, those are still pop songs. Gradually, Brown strips his music of its pop elements and concentrates on the rhythm. With "Cold Sweat", a new genre--funk--was born. All funk bands to follow, from Sly and the Family Stone to Parliament-Funkadelic, were influenced by James Brown. But Brown's music never went in the direction of P-Funk's zany antics; Brown always kept things simple and emotionally overpowering. Discs 3 and 4 show him perfecting his style. Grooves like "Funky Drummer", "Sex Machine", and "The Payback" sink deep into your soul and grip you in a way that no other music can.
Jackson Browne - For Everyman. 1973. James Taylor may be the true epitome the 70s singer/songwriter movement, but I've always found Jackson Browne's words and music to be more dense and moving. For Everyman is a fantastic song cycle.
The Clash - London Calling. 1979. The Clash were one of the first punk bands to push punk-rock beyond its own limitations. The mixture of punk and reggae is just one of the interesting touches to this eclectic album.
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue. 1959. One of the first jazz albums I ever bought, largely because it is one of the most famous. I won't say that this is the single album that converted me into a jazz fan, but it's one that I return to often and never get tired of. And despite the unusually high-art status that the album has attained, it remains immensely beautiful and moving.
Derek and the Dominos - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. 1970. Eric Clapton explores and lives the blues, expressing his unrequited love for Pattie Boyd.
Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde. 1966. Rock's first and perhaps finest poet, Dylan incorporates his Beats-influenced words into some of the most stunning and witty songs ever written.
Bill Evans - Waltz for Debbie 1961. Absolutely beautiful. Bill Evans doesn't always rank as high as he should high on lists of the greatest jazz musicians. With this album playing, everything else in the world seems to stand still. Its companion piece, Sunday at the Village Vanguard, which is also a great album, focused more on bassist Scott LaLaro, who died shortly after these recordings. This one tends to highlight Evan's more romantic side, and it is definitely my favorite.
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On. 1971. It's not enough to say that What's Going On is the Sgt. Pepper of R&B, even though that analogy is certainly accurate. The concept is simply an album about society's problems, but unlike most of such albums, this one is also deeply personal and emotional. In fact, the album is so emotionally powerful, it makes Sgt. Pepper sound apathetic in comparison.
Gilberto Gil - Quanta Live (Quanta Gente Veio Ver). 1998. Along with Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil is the leader of a Brazilian musical style called tropicália, which incorporates many different styles of music from all over the globe and reinterprets them from a Brazilian point-of-view. This music is sometimes hard to find in the United States, but this live album includes some of Gil's best work. His best studio album I've heard is Parabolic (aka Parabolicamará), which, unfortunately, is out of print in the U.S. Also recommended is Tropicália 2, recorded with Caetano Veloso.
Guns n' Roses - Appetite for Destruction. 1987. Never mind the Sex Pistols, here's G N' R. Axl and co. add a bit of pop savviness to 70s punk rock without diminishing its raw impact.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland. 1968. Aside from being the ultimate pioneer of the electric guitar, Jimi Hendrix also was the master of psychedelic rock. On Electric Ladyland, Hendrix welds funk, jazz, blues, rock, and psychedelia into an masterpiece double-album, climaxing in the astonishing "Burning of the Midnight Lamp".
Michael Jackson - Thriller. 1982. Thriller is more that just Pop's perfect album. This is one of the few times we get a glimpse into Jackson's world. The title track can be seen as a frightening metaphor for life as a pop star, while "Billie Jean" is just plain eerie.
Led Zeppelin - [Fourth Album]. 1971. Led Zeppelin had been doing strange things with the Blues for several years prior to this album. But with their version of Memphis Minnie's "When the Levee Breaks," they virtually re-event the genre. For me, it's the epitome of Led Zeppelin's sound: louder and more complex than the Blues, but every bit as emotional. Throw in "Stairway" and the other classics, and this is almost perfect album. Subsequent albums moved towards a more funk-based sound, though they remained eclectic.
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. 1970. The most open and intense display of emotion ever recorded, Lennon gradually and painfully comes to terms with life as an ex-Beatle.
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks. 1968. Free form folk and jazz with elusive, poetic lyrics.
Milton Nascimento - Minas. 1975. Milton Nascimento is not just one of the greatest musicians to come out of Brazil. He easily ranks right up with any person you can name in Western pop music. But this is not your ordinary pop album. It's grandiose, ambitious, at times a little weird (though not as weird as its predecessor, Milagre dos Peixes), but it is always rewarding.
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here. 1975. Pink Floyd is one of the few rock bands skilled at creating album-long suites. Sticking to a simple, effective structure, Wish You Were Here avoids the song-collage technique that most bands use (and which Pink Floyd themselves use, to a certain extent, with Dark Side of the Moon).
Elvis Presley - The Sun Sessions CD. 1987 (1954-1955). Arguably the most important document of early rock n' roll. Elvis may not have had the roar that Little Richard had, not the songwriting genius of Chuck Berry. But the stylistic and emotional depth that Elvis brings to these songs surpasses anything else from this period. Elvis probably didn't invent rock n' roll, but he was the first to take it seriously and elevate it from its novelty origins. Elvis's roots are as deep and varied as those of rock itself. His sources include blues (Big Boy Crudup's "That's All Right"), country (Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky"), and jazz (Wynonie Harris' "Good Rockin' Tonight"). But Elvis moved far beyond his sources, making the songs his own and pioneering a new genre in the process. For an ever deeper appreciation of Evlis' genius, check out the original versions of some of these songs collected on The King's Record Collection.
R.E.M. - Automatic for the People. 1992. Two of the most breathtaking songs ever written-- "Nightswimming" and "Find the River"--form an astounding climax to this flawless album.
The Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet. 1968. The Stones get down to the heart of rock n' roll, alternating between raw bluesy rockers, and sweet country-ish ballads. And this is merely the first in a series of four of the greatest rock n' roll albums ever made. The others are Let It Bleed (1969), Sticky Fingers (1971), and Exile on Main Street (1972). That last one is certainly not the Stone's most consistent album, but it's best songs represent the absolute pinnacle of rock n' roll.
Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bullocks Here's the Sex Pistols. 1977. Punk's triumph, the Pistols fire away at nearly an entire decade of lame pop music.
Paul Simon - Rhythm of the Saints. 1990. Probably the most brilliant use of world music by a Western musician. Sure, it helps that these are the best songs that Paul Simon has ever written. But the Olodum-style drumming propels them ever further. Anyone accusing him of copying the Brazilian band Olodum obviously hasn't heard Olodum's music. This is what World Beat should be--a blending of old styles to create something new and powerful.
Sly and the Family Stone 1971. Like many of my favorite albums, I didn't like this one when I first heard it. The melodies don't always jump out at you, but they grow on you with time. This is very dark, moody funk. Somehow, Sly and Family Stone manages to make music that is rhythmically intense and melodically beautiful at the same time.
Phil Spector - Back to Mono 1991 (1958-1969). A four-CD box set collecting songs from the many artists whom Spector produced. Phil Spector himself is the true artist, however. Spector liked his music loud with layers of strings, horns, percussion, and whatever else he could get his hand on. Disc two covers his triumphant years, mostly with his work with The Ronettes and The Crystals. Another great production of his not included here is George Harrison's first solo album, All Things Must Pass.
U2 - Achtung Baby. 1991. Flirting with techno and hip-hop beats, U2 augments its sound and establishes itself, along with R.E.M., as the greatest rock n' roll band of the 80s and 90s.
Sarah Vaughan -- Sarah Vaughan. 1954. Also known as Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown, this is one of the all-time great vocal jazz albums. Vaughan is, needless to say, in top form. But what really pushes this album over the edge is her accompanying musicians. It's a shame she didn't record with them more often, though it makes this CD a particularly rare treat.
The Velvet Underground & Nico. 1967. During the Summer of Love, while the rest of the pop world celebrated peace, love, and harmony, the Vevelts explored the grim reality of the world around them: drugs users, prostitutes, and "Femmes Fatales."
Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life. 1976. A two-disc masterpiece finding room for songs about virtually every aspect of life. Despite (or, more likely, because of) his blindness, Wonder paints a very vivid picture of life with his words, music, and other sounds. He is also a very talented musician, mastering the use of the synthesizer on songs like "I Wish", "Pastime Paradise," and "Have a Talk with God".
Neil Young - Tonight's the Night. 1975. Like John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band, Tonight's the Night is Neil Young's cry for mercy. But unlike Lennon, Young turns his emotions inward on this depressed and personal album.
Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention - Uncle Meat. 1969. It's a shame you can't just buy disc 1 of this two-disc set, for, on its own, it's one of the most creative and original albums ever made. It consists mostly of instrumental jazz-rock passages, but interspersed among these are odd conversations, unusual sounds, and non-sensical doo-wop songs. Disc 2 consists of, among other things, a dirty Italian song and over 40 minutes of excerpts from the film Uncle Meat.

Internet Sources for Cheap CDs
If you're used to paying over $15 for your CDs, stop! Unless you enjoy throwing your money away.

Music Clubs (Columbia House and BMG): Sure, those reply cards are a little annoying. But if you do it right, your CDs average out to about $8 each.

Amazon.com: You'll always get an average (=expensive) price on new CDs here, but they also have used CDs from independent sellers.

Half.com: Associated with E-Bay, but without the hassle of online bidding. Great source for used CDs.

SecondSpin.com: Used CDs. Not a great selection for my tastes, but good for popular stuff.

Spun.com: Another site with used CDs. This one lets you exchange your old CDs for new ones.

E-Bay: An on-line auction.

Gemm.com: Ever been frustrated trying to find an out-of-print or import CD? If they don't have it here, it probably doesn't exist! Very expensive, though.