10. Jimi Hendrix - Axis: Bold as Love
With "Spanish Castle Magic," "Little Wing," and "Castles Made of Sand," this often overlooked Hendrix album is also my personal favorite. If you are a Hendrix fan, this should already be in your collection.
My Top Track from This Album:
09: Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV (Zoso)
The Fourth untitled album from Zeppelin, this included perhaps the most famous Zeppelin song, "Stairway to Heaven". But with "Black Dog" and "When the Levee Breaks," this is also, arguably, the best example of Led Zeppelin's eclectic style.
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08: Robert Johnson - The Complete Recordings
The original Delta Blues musician, Robert Johnson is a staple of American Music. Everyone from Clapton to the Stones to Dylan to Zeppelin has been influenced by Johnson. This posthumous set is one of the few albums you can get of Johnson's, and it is a must have for any Blues or Americana fan.
Top Track:
07: Tom Waits - Nighthawks at the Diner
This "live" album was recorded in a sound studio, which is a little insight to what Tom Waits the person is like, someone completely different. Essentially an entire album of Waits joking around and telling stories, there's some real good jazz in here, and the atmosphere of the album is something so special, you feel like a part of it by just listening.
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06: Eric Clapton - From the Cradle
Clapton's first all blues album features covers of some of the greatest blues songs put to vinyl, including Muddy Waters', "Hoochie Coochie Man." This album has some fantastic songs on it, and is a straight record, with almost no overdubs, (Dobro on one song and Drums on another), I think this captures why Clapton loves the blues, and through feeling that, the listener starts to love the blues just as much.
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05: The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
The Flaming Lips, to me, are like the underground Radiohead that has been around longer. That said, I like Radiohead, so I like the Lips. This album however, is a fantastic piece of work, and in the 5.1 surround format, which it was created for, it sounds even better. The album, while not entirely a concept album, is a partial one, with the first 4 tracks telling the story of Yoshimi, defending earth from this incoming robot attack. If you are a Radiohead fan, I highly recommend this album.
Top Track:
04: Kanye West - Late Registration
This is the sophomore album in Kanye's "College" 3-Album series. It was named Rolling Stone's Album of the Year, and one of the few Hip-Hop albums to get a 5-Star rating from them. With samples from Shirley Bassey's "Diamonds are Forever," Ray Charles' "I've got a Woman," and Otis Redding's "It's Too Late," it's an album that knows it's roots. Kanye obviously knows where he comes from shown in the skits on the album, and the track, "Hey Mama," which is, in my opinion, the best mother tribute song put on a track.
Top Track:
03: Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
"Part dance, part rock, something we haven’t done before," is how lead singer, Matthew Bellamy, describes this album. "Black Holes" really runs the gamut of genres for one album. There are many different influences that you can hear from song to song on the album. Bellamy, himself, said there is a mixture of "Africa, Croatia, Turkey and Italy" in the album. That said, it is a fantastic piece of work, from a musical standpoint, a lyrical standpoint (which, is also a political standpoint as well), and an art standpoint. It's a rare album where It works as a single unit, but it also works astoundingly well track to track.
Top Track:
02: Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons (You Paint that Shit Gold)
Atmosphere is a semi-underground Hip-Hop duo from the Midwest, that has recently had a big success with the afore mentioned album. The genius thing about this album is that it is, at it's core, a concept album, but you don't really realize it until your upteeth listen through. Slug, the producer, uses live instruments in the songs, which is a nice departure from the synth heavy hip-hop songs that you hear day to day. In fact, "Guarantees" is just Ant, the emcee, and a guitar throughout the song. The album is about the trials and tribulations of many different people, both real, imaginary, and a mixture of both, and it's the first album that Ant has rapped about himself. There is also a lot of irony in the songs, with the listener sure what Ant is talking about, until the very last line, where there is a great payoff, and the listener suddenly gets it.
Top Track:
01: Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
"Like a Rolling Stone," "Ballad of a Thin Man," "Desolation Row," and the tituar track, "Highway 61 Revisited." There is not a track on this album that is not good. It is like Apple, it just works. There isn't a single thing off in this album, and it shows, "Like a Rolling Stone" reached #2 on the US Pop Singles chart and #4 in the UK, also receiving the accolade of being placed #1 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The album itself was ranked #4 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
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