SPIN's 5 Albums I Can't Live Without

[batmagadanleadoff]

I'll agree with Willets.

I'll lock in another five:

REM: Murmur --> Reckoning --> Fables of the Reconstruction --> Life's Rich Pageant

As good as this is, I think there’s a compelling argument that the peak is Document, Green, Out of Time, and Automatic for the People.

I think that what's amazing about this post is that youse can debate REM's best four album run while proposing runs that don't overlap --- eight different studio albums!

[Edgy MD]

Doesn't have much to do with the SPIN series....

I know. I hijacked. I sorry.

[TransMonk]

Here's another one: Dark Side of the Moon, Wish you Were Here, Animals and The Wall.

I put Meddle on the beginning of this run instead of The Wall at the end...but it is one of the greatest album runs ever.

[seawolf17]

I love goofy lists like this. My five, even though nobody cares because most of them aren't terribly mainstream, are Thunder's "Laughing on Judgement Day," Dream Theater's "Images & Words," Tesla's "Psychotic Supper," Counting Crows' "August and Everything After," and Billy Joel's "Turnstiles."

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Mellencamp had a great run with American Fool, Uh-Huh, Scarecrow, and Lonesome Jubilee. And the two after that were pretty darn good, too!

[seawolf17]

As to the secondary question:

I know this place is weirdly anti-Smith, but there isn't a bad song on the first four Aerosmith records: Aerosmith -> Get Your Wings -> Toys in the Attic -> Rocks.

Also, Metallica: Lightning -> Puppets -> Justice -> Black Album. BOOM.

Surprise entry: Licensed to Ill -> Paul's Boutique -> Check Your Head -> Ill Communication

Yet-unmentioned bands that fall one album short: Def Leppard (Pyromania/Hysteria/Adrenalize is the best three-album run), GNR (yeah, UYI I & II were bloated, but they were great), Motley (Theatre of Pain, Girls Girls Girls, Dr Feelgood), Kiss (Destroyer/Rock and Roll Over/Love Gun), Pearl Jam (Vs/Ten/Vitalogy).

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I woulda suggested the REM opening 4-pack, and there's argument, though spo muxch evolved, beginning to end, Springsteen from GREETINGS... to DARKNESS.

HELP-->SGT PEPPER too.

I'm also fascinated with discrete but distinct, 3 or 4-album-long "eras" that some bands also have. My favorite curiosity is the early 70s Beach Boys, who were nothing close to the fun-and-sun hitmaking vocal group, nor the PET SOUNDS-SMILEY SMILE avant-garde critics-darling Wilson thing-- nor, the cruise ship cheese machine they eventually become then, but a kind of hippy/progressive ecology band, between SUNFLOWER-SURFS UP-SO TOUGH-HOLLAND.

Bowie fans, I always surmised, appreciate the same album-era phases on him too, but I never really got the sequence right, and the discovery is already ruined for me by knowing that.

[kcmets]

I put Meddle on the beginning of this run instead of The Wall at the end...but it is one of the greatest album runs ever.

Good point. The Wall was really a whole 'nother ball of wax.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Here's a controversial one, cuz none of them were undeniably great, but it was a strong run the produced probably 5 or 10 more songs you know by heart than you realize. And it goes from "i really like this song. But who the fuck are these guys" to "is this actually a band? Or like, a brand?

SHABOOH SHOOBAH--THE SWING--LISTEN LIKE THEIVES--KICK.

Or whack the first one and add X at the end.

And while we're down under in the 80s, Midnight Oil: "10-9-8...--RED SAILS-DEISEL AND DUST-BLUE SKY MINING . I'd put that up up in terms of creativity+passionate 80s guitar-based cause-rock, against U2's best 4-pack

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Now they're all coming to me that I'm back in the 80s.

Damn the Torpedoes--> Southern Accents
Or just starting with TP+H, and stopping at HARD PROMISES, is a pretty 😍

[batmagadanleadoff]

Now they're all coming to me that I'm back in the 80s.

Damn the Torpedoes--> Southern Accents
Or just starting with TP+H, and stopping at HARD PROMISES, is a pretty 😍

[RealityChuck]

1. Spirit -- The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus
One of the greatest rock albums, with plenty of variety and twelve terrific songs, in a variety of genres. Nothing is dull. The group was breaking up and they knew it, and wanted to go ut with a bang. They succeeded.

Blood Sweat and Tears -- Child is Father to the Man
This Al Kooper's BS&T, before he left and David Clayton-Thomas took over as lead singer. Terrific blues rock with a great horn section.

Soft Machine -- Third
When it came out, the Village Voice called it the best rock album ever. They weren't right -- it's jazz improvisations over a rock beat -- but the compositions (too long to be called songs) are great from start to finish.

Allman Brothers Band at Fillmore East
Certainly, one of the greatest live albums ever. I'm also fond of their Live at Ludlow's Garage. I listened to it all the time when I was in college, and I had to have it when it actually was released twenty years later. My college roommate ran the light show and had a tape.

The Band's Visit
Loved the musical. Just edges out La La Land, though it doesn't have anything as great as "Another Day of Sun." And there's also The Drowsy Chaperone;"The Bride's Lament" is one of the most surprising and poignant songs in any show.

[Edgy MD]

Now they're all coming to me that I'm back in the 80s.

Damn the Torpedoes--> Southern Accents
Or just starting with TP+H, and stopping at HARD PROMISES, is a pretty 😍

I'm taking the second one. That Southern Accents flag waving thing never sat well with me, and latter-day Petty pretending he didn't cotton to it felt insulting.

Listen to the first four Echo & the Bunnymen albums (Crocodiles --> Heaven Up Here --> Porcupine --> Ocean Rain) consecutively, on headphones, naked and in the dark, and you will see God.

Also, before you turn the lights out (or after you turn them back on), look long and hard at those four beautiful covers.

[kcmets]

Ramones Ramones
Ramones Leave Home
Ramones Rocket to Russia
Ramones Road to Ruin

[batmagadanleadoff]

1. Spirit -- The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus
One of the greatest rock albums, with plenty of variety and twelve terrific songs, in a variety of genres. Nothing is dull. The group was breaking up and they knew it, and wanted to go ut with a bang. They succeeded.

The folks at TCG agree and showed their appreciation for this great unsung album years ago when it created its first R&R set of cards.



Catalanotto was also featured in 2010's R&R subset, code named Graham Crackers.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Here's another one: Dark Side of the Moon, Wish you Were Here, Animals and The Wall.

I put Meddle on the beginning of this run instead of The Wall at the end...but it is one of the greatest album runs ever.

I can really relate to this post. Being a huge Pink Floyd, fan myself, I included The Wall on my list of great four album runs, almost out of a sense of obligation. The album is hugely popular with the public and critically acclaimed. It ranks 129 on Rolling Stone Magazine's most recent list of the 500 greatest albums. (Other PF albums to make RS"s list - Dark Side of the Moon - 55; The Piper at the Gates of Dawn - 253; and Wish You Were Here - 264).

But The Wall never really did anything for me. I've owned it practially since it came out, first on vinyl, amd then later on CD. And in the almost 45 years since its release, I don't think I've listened to it start to finish more than twice. Maybe it's because it's gotten so much airplay. I dunno. But I'm never really in the mood to ever listen to it. Recently, I read that David Gilmour's guitar solo on Confortably Numb is considered one of Rock and Roll's best ever. Which is stunning news to me because I wouldn't have ever imagined that if I lived to be a thousand years old.

Anyways, when I have some time, I'm gonna take another listen to Meddle, which I haven't listened to in many years.

In the end, I decided that Stevie Wonder's aforementioned four album run is the best ever. Others here agree. But Floyd, the Stones and the Beatles are close seconds in my book. Led Zeppelin III takes that band out of the running, if you're trying to come up with the best ever four album runs. But LZ I, II and IV (Zoso) AFAIC are Mount Rushmore material. And I'll take LZ one through four over anything KISS ever put out, by like a zillion miles.

[Gwreck]

Here's a controversial one, cuz none of them were undeniably great, but it was a strong run the produced probably 5 or 10 more songs you know by heart than you realize. And it goes from "i really like this song. But who the fuck are these guys" to "is this actually a band? Or like, a brand?

SHABOOH SHOOBAH--THE SWING--LISTEN LIKE THEIVES--KICK.

Or whack the first one and add X at the end.

Not controversial. INXS was undeniably great. (Agree that X should be included)

[Frayed Knot]

I'm not high on Floyd's The Wall either.
I mean, it was interesting to hear when it first came out, exciting even, but to me it doesn't stand up to repeated listenings as well as Dark Side or Wish You

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

I read a review of The Wall once that said if you were in high school when it came out, you think it's brilliant, and everyone else thinks it sucks.

So, I was in high school at the time, and I think it's really good. There are week spots, especially on the second and fourth sides -- though each have some great songs, like Young Lust and Run Like Hell. I think one and three are excellent. I saw Roger Waters and the full show, and it was spectacular. The Comfortably Numb solo was the high point.

That said. I don't really like Dark Side. I know it's beloved and was on the charts for years and years. It just doesn't do much for me. I know I'm in the minority.

[Frayed Knot]

It's tough for a double album to be great (which is part of what makes Songs in the Key of Life so special). Think of how much better the White Album would be minus the filler and experimental stuff. The Wall has the same issues.

Leaving aside compilation/live type albums, the number of double albums from the pre-CD days that garnered both critical and commercial acclaim is a small list.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Mellencamp had a great run with American Fool, Uh-Huh, Scarecrow, and Lonesome Jubilee. And the two after that were pretty darn good, too!

I'm not against that one either. It also showed how much a guy could evolve, when you're as driven as Mellencamp was with his musicians, and becoming more and more focused on issues, and pick the right guys to help to begin with.

The thing that sticks with me from reading his bio, was that before recording albums, Mellancamp would give his guys "homework" -' before Scarecrow, it was learning to play a bunch of Detroit rock n soul--whatever was stuck in his head at the time. Then before Jubilee it was, you have to learn how to play a new instrument. He was a dick boss and drove eveyone crazy because he couldn't express why this was important or precisely when it was right, or what was actually wrong when it wasn't right, but that's who Johnny Cougar is.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Here's a controversial one, cuz none of them were undeniably great, but it was a strong run the produced probably 5 or 10 more songs you know by heart than you realize. And it goes from "i really like this song. But who the fuck are these guys" to "is this actually a band? Or like, a brand?

SHABOOH SHOOBAH--THE SWING--LISTEN LIKE THEIVES--KICK.

Or whack the first one and add X at the end.

Not controversial. INXS was undeniably great. (Agree that X should be included)

I like many of their songs and in that period, they did just about everything right to become as big as they did, they were distinct, and sounded fresh for the era, and they sold it with charisma and sex. But to me there was always a hint of artificial ingredients to the taste and so I tend to think of them more of a singles band than an album band, as popular as they were. I don't often encounter people who want to go to the mat with the "undeniably great" tag on them. Maybe it was because Hutchence was so ridiculous or that their distinctiveness came off as a formula. I dunno. I think about inxs and get stuck on those questions 🤔

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I was never a Wall guy myself. I just think Confortably Numb is boring and too morose to really enjoy, plus it's ridiculously overplayed for such a boring and morose song.

I was also a high schooler then, and saw right away that
my peers, the burnouts who were PFs biggest suckers then, took "Another Brick" to mean "never bother to learn anything" as the message, and I'd bet anything, those guys today voted for Trump, if they voted.

[Edgy MD]

I was entertained that the guys at my school who were most committed to the disco-must-die ethos could embrace a disco song as their anthem as long it was played by fat, white, stoner-adjacent, growling British guys encouraging them to hate their teachers.

[Fman99]

I have inputs on all of these but I have to think them through. Luckily there isn't a Mets game until Friday so I have time.