Time for my top 50 albums list, and like some others have done, I will be featuring only one each per band/solo artist, that way, it isn't a flurry of albums by mostly my favorites, with a few handfuls of albums by others. 50 different artists (although some might argue that there are duplicates, since certain songwriters might see an album by the band they are in and an album they did as a solo artist).
This top 50 will be based on not only greatness, but also how much influence the album had on me as a music fan. In certain cases, I might not even necessarily list what I think is the best album by that artist, but maybe the album listed will be the one that had more influence on me during a certain time of my life or got me into the band or some other circumstance. I do know that, even going with only one per artist, it was still tough to get it down to 50.
On that note, away we go:
50. Steely Dan - Aja (1977) Ah, the summer of 1992. I knew several Steely Dan songs at this point, but they were the ones that were (what I viewed as) straight classic rock: Do It Again and Reeling in the Years. Then in June of 1992, my cousin Dan introduced me to this album, which completely caught me off guard, as it more laid back jazz rock than the classic rock I knew by them already. It was unlike anything I knew or liked, but I loved it right away. It didn't take long for me to buy my own copy of it on CD, and it has gotten a lot of play over the years. I can still listen to it and be amazed.
Favorite songs: Aja, Deacon Blues, Black Cow and Josie49. Sigur Rós - ( ) (2002)This was the album that really got me to love any post rock in the mid 00s, which I largely credit to Ray/Vintage Eyes, who doesn't post here anymore, but he used to post on the old dt.net a lot, and we had frequent AIM chats, and I have him to thank for my love of just about anything called post rock. This album was the one that really made me realize how awesome the genre could be.
Favorite songs: Popplagið (Untitled 8), Samskeyti (Untitled 3), E-bow (Untitled 6) and Njósnavélin (Untitled 4)48. Van Halen - Van Halen (1978)I didn't hear this whole album until years after first hearing the band in 1984, but there is no doubt that this is the best thing they have ever done. It has an energy, feel and power that is just absolute money. I still wonder what it was like for fans who heard this when it was first released in 1978...
Favorite songs: Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love, Runnin' with the Devil, Atomic Punk, Little Dreamer and I'm the One