Please Recommend Some Great Albums!
 

Hi Everyone. I'm looking to listen to some new albums. I like The Beatles (I spend a majority of my listening time to them).... What are some albums that you think are just amazing?? Thanks!

Remember The Cardigans? "Lovefool" and all that? People think they're a one-hit wonder, which may technically be true, but I think their 2004 album "Long Gone Before Daylight" is their masterpiece. It's pretty much rock and country, with the band largely ditching the catchy lounge/'60s kitsch they played on "Emmerdale"/"Life" and "First Band On The Moon". I think it's a secret gem and one of my favorites.

Yikes, how many pages do I get? :)

Are you looking for music that will remind you of the Beatles, or any particular genre or style?

Something similar to The Beatles would be nice but I'm open to other types of music. Suggest as many as you'd like! Thanks!

Well, fast forwarding about 50 years, but still in the signer/songwriter genre, I would recommend "Southeastern" by Jason Isbell.

I'm also an avid Beatles fan, and while I don't think there's any band that has their sound I've found a few albums over the years that had a healthy dose of musical creativity and a pop sensibility that gave me a Beatle-esque vibe. One that immediately comes to mind is an album by XTC called Skylarking. A couple of others that are worth a listen are Spirit's The Twelve Dreams of Doctor Sardonicus and Marshall Crenshaw's eponymously named album from 1982.

Since you like The Beatles, give Badfinger a listen.

Try Min Xiao-Fen’s The Moon Rising album for some mostly traditional pipa and ruan playing. Then check out her more jazzy Blue Pipa Trio (band) videos on YouTube.

Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever.

In the vein of a "concept" or theme album (like some of the best by The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper, Magical, Mystery Tour, Abbey Road), I would recommend a record that came out in 1998, unbeknownst to me (and many, I suspect...), it is a piece on America, all different facets of life, from past to present, with the recurring theme of Dvorak's great work, "Symphony For The New World". Definitely NOT a classical music record!

Entitled LARGO... it features a band called the Hooters as the "house band", with key singers and players showing up throughout. The Largo Theme is performed by a 3 or 4 of the different layers, from the Chieftains through Garth Hudson (of the Band) and more... Taj Mahal, Cyndi Lauper, Joan Osborne, Leven Helm, Garth Hudson, Carole King, all have wonderful songs on this record... it is truly a masterpiece, from start to finish...

However, if you want "toe-tapping la la la", this ain't your record. This is one to actually LISTEN to and absorb and enjoy, in all the various sonic facets displayed...

HIGHLY Recommended!

Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers (1967). Clark’s solo effort after leaving The Byrds. Good tunes and solid musicianship. I came across it the other day by chance (looking for Clarence White) and have only listened once, but I thought I’d include it here because I was surprised at how good it sounded. Anyone agree?

Mentioning these because all or most of the tracks on the album are very good:

Deep at Night by Alex De Grassi (1991). Modern acoustic fingerstyle, unusual tunings. Aptly titled dreamlike music. Very well written, played and recorded.

Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappelli: I Got Rhythm (2006). Compilation of 24 instrumental swing singles released in the 30s to the 50s, totalling over an hour. I’ve had a few similar compilations and hadn’t heard many of these tracks. Good from start to finish is a bit of an understatement because of the order in which the tracks play. It just keeps getting better.

Aja by Steely Dan (1977). Jazz-pop fusion. Well worth repeated listening, especially if you like some parts but aren’t sure about others. After 40 years, I’m still greatly impressed by the craftsmanship all around. There are YouTube videos about the making of the album.

11-17-70 by Elton John (1971). Live radio broadcast, some of which was released as his fifth album. Voice, piano, bass and drums, rocking hard all the way through (if that sounds unlikely, give it a listen, you’ll be surprised). The 1971 release featured six tracks and now there’s a 13-track reissue of the whole performance.

Odessey and Oracle by The Zombies. Great record from the same time frame as the best Beatles. Under-rated songwriting displayed in that record. Like the Beatles best albums also a range of musical styles.


Basket of Light by The Pentangle. Lots of acoustic guitar on this one, and the most "Pop Song" like album any of the this great bands members ever made.


Forever Changes by Love An extraordinary LP full of the desire for strangeness and experimentation of the year 1967. A good deal of acoustic guitar use.


Of course there, to my mind, about 10,000 interesting records out there, but these are three from the Beatles times that you might not run across unless I listed them.

Forever Changes is one of my favorite albums. Dominated by horn arrangements unlike anything else before or since, and dark, determined acoustic guitar it is as you've characterized it "full of the desire for strangeness and experimentation..." while somehow comforting and unsettling at the same time.

I'd second the recommendation of XTC, particularly Oranges & Lemons, Skylarking, Nonsuch, and The Dukes of Stratosphear Chips From the Chocolate Fireball, which is XTC in disguise as a '60s psychedelic band.

Love's Forever Changes is a classic and also a great recommendation.

Jefferson Airplane is worth checking out as contemporaries of the Beatles.

"One of the greatest albums ever made." So say many critics, but it was never the commercial success it should have been. It is often quoted that Jim Morrison wanted the Doors to be "as big as Love", but they easily surpassed Love in terms of popularity, which was unfair. I am lucky enough to have seen Love, in all its versions, a dozen or so times in the past fifteen years or so, both with Arthur and Johnny and without and the songs are just phenomenal. Love were one of the first bands I really got into after The Beatles and The Monkees and remain one of my favourite bands and it's rare when I pick up a twelve string that I don't play 'Live & Let Live' or 'A House Is Not a Motel'. '¡Que Vida!' from Da Capo (a candidate for best Side 1 of an album ever) is also my tester for how comfortable a neck is on a guitar and my barometer for how well set up the action is.

My suggestions for the OP are the UK's Kaleidoscope (not David Lindley's, though I like them too). 'Tangerine Dream' is a near perfect album and their 'From Home To Home' album as Fairfield Parlour is in my all time top 3 albums.



And of course, you must also check out The Pretty Things, who had an influence on everyone from The Who, Pink Floyd, Soft Machine and The Moody Blues to David Bowie, who did two Pretties songs on his Pin-Ups album. They started as an r'n'b band arguably at least as good as the Stones, who morphed into psychedelic heroes who delivered the world's first rock opera in 'SF Sorrow' and until recently were still delivering the goods live. Phil's death this year was a real blow.