the beatles - wubbah soul, wehvolva, & everything prior.
ya know, in retrospect, they wore their influences on their sleeves like the rest of us. it's just that at a very direct point in time, something crystallized for them, and they became this machine that seemingly landed from another planet. they quite literally invented guitar-pop as we know it today. funny how unfresh they, to this day, make other artists sound.
cream - wheels of fire (studio album)
clapton's guitar sound on sittin' on top of the world remains etched into my brain to this day. but in hindsight, i've come to realize that it was jack bruce's writing that made clapton stand out the way he did; he woulda just been another blues player otherwise. and "as you said" still gives me chills.
jimi - band o' gypsies, cry o' love, & electric ladyland (c'mon dave, you can't seriously listen to rainy day dream away & not lose control of your head from doin' the serious bop)
this guy just had the feel. yeah, he was all over the map as far as continuity, but that feel & groove in his playing trancended the excess, in a very major way. voodoo chile (the slow jam) is quite magical. i kinda picked from that point on in his career, as i've always felt billy cox brought out jimi's real groove, & by the time mitch was back in the fold (buddy who? ugh-h-h), he had his finest band. hence cry of love, which is a wonderful album. i think his most heartfelt.
jeff beck - ola & the orange album
my 2 fave beck bands. rod was awesome, & cozy powell never played better.
miles davis - nefertiti
what makes this record such a milestone (no pun), is the fact that miles had it in him to totally re-invent music (little did we know, he wasn't through) a 2nd time. and, at 17, tony williams did the best & most intuitive playing he's ever done, to this date.
mahavishnu orch - inner mounting flame
these guys were an explosion. yeah, they rung in the fuso excess to follow, but for that one moment in time, they were untouchable. just consider for a moment that these guys could hold a crowd in the palm of their hands that'd come to see poco & johnny winter. people used to sitting around the campfire singin' cat stevens' or elton john songs. what a sleight of hand!
stevie wonder - songs in the key of life
to me, this album was the real sgt. pepper's. people will squak about this or that of his other records being much better; don't listen to 'em. this is the one.
todd rungren - a wizard, a true star, initiation & hermit of mink hollow (and dave, todd's noiz is the reason there's a prince. sometimes we muso's like to hear our music stretched to the limits. it can't all be simplistic, all of the time. that'd be a yawn)
egg - civil surface
this is musician, composition stretchin stuff. you won't get it. and it's killin'. mont cambpell's bass playing & writing are one muscle. and dave stewart (the original one) is what keith emerson shoulda been.
henry cow - unrest & living in the heart of the beast
what i said for egg goes double here. this was fred frith's 1st band. and they were on virgin.
xtc - oranges & lemons, skylarking
as far as i'm concerned, these are the only guys that learned from the beatles, & then took it to a new plateau. chalkhills & children is about the most exquisite tune written in the last 20 years. andy partridge is a genius with a heart on his sleeve, & colin moulding is the most inventive, yet believable, bass player in the pop domain, bar none.
the who - tommy & LIVE AT LEEDS
these 2, & next, are the extent of my who liking. they're very singular, both for the writing, & sonically, and that damn drug company advert gets me every bloody time!!!
jack bruce - out of the storm
the 1st side of this album will make you weep. gorgeous songs with wonderful changes, pete brown was past his picture has a moustache period, and that meant it was all paired down to jack's voice & the most poignant of lyrics. & steve hunter does very admirably.
focus - live at the rainbow
this is the guy who showed me that a flatted 5th was so much more than a passing tone in a blues run.
hatfield & the north - rotter's club
side one starts off with a tune called "john wayne socks psychology on the jaw." what's not to like about that.
robert wyatt - rock bottom & ruth is stranger than richard
this guy was one of the greatest rock drummers (term "rock" used very loosely) to sit behind a kit (with a band called soft machine), that had an accident (he jumped out a bathroom window at a party, where he was gettin' a bj, because his wife came knockin' on the door.), which left him paralyzed from the waist down. with only a fertile imagination, and a very unique voice left at his disposal, the guy produced these 2 wonderful lp's. ever heard shipbuilding? that's robert. legend has it he can sing any miles solo, note for note.
the police - regatta de blanc & ghost in the machine
reggae & rock; who woulda thought! many before, that's who. what made these guys so ingenious, is that they really sounded like neither. and they had this knack for finding the center, kinda like the beatles, no matter how far out the music went.
i'm gettin' too tired to think. i know i'm forgettin' stacks. as for van halen, it always seemed to me that the guy had just figgered out how to play the same ol' rock riffs faster; the writing was rather pedestrian...not a whole lotta boundary pushin' goin' on there. and by then, as a geetar player myself, i'd already discovered holdsworth. eddie was a bit anti-climactic for me.
btw, if any of you'ze guys haven't already heard him, you really have to check out lewis taylor's 1st album. yowza!!!
ml