Some of my favorite albums (Page 3)

Frenchman Victor Hugo wrote the novel upon which this musical is based. It was published in 1862, some thirty years after the events it describes. It tells the story of Jean Valjean, who spent 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread (and various escape attempts), his years-long pursuit by the police inspector Javert, and the lives of prostitute and unwed mother Fantine and her daughter Cosette. The musical is one of the most popular musicals in the world. The music was written by Claude-Michel Schonberg, and the original French lyrics were written by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel. The English lyrics are by Herbert Kretzmer. We saw a traveling Broadway version of the musical live here in Roanoke, and it was excellent. The movie starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway is also excellent. Perhaps the most famous song from the musical is "I Dreamed A Dream" (thanks, Susan Boyle!), but for my selection I picked "A Heart Full Of Love", a trio by Marius (Michael Ball), Cosette (Judy Kuhn) and Eponine (Lea Salonga). I first encountered this play when I bought the video of this concert, and my wife and I watched it one New Year's Eve (I think). We both sat in silence for a while, then looked at each other and said, "This is REALLY good". And sometime after that I bought this soundtrack CD. This is a truly spectacular piece of music.
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Roy Rogers is just a great guitarist, and this live album proves this. My selected track is an old Robert Johnson song that Roy absolutely kills. The album was released in 2005. I bought it on CD - not sure when.
Special bonus: A video of Roy playing this track which I believe is the same recording: HERE
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David Crosby, Steven Stills and Graham Nash already were stars when they got together to form this early "supergroup" in 1968. Crosby had been in the Byrds, Stills in Buffalo Springfield and Nash in the British group The Hollies. This album was released in May 1969, and I bought it in June 1970. It peaked at #6 on the Billboard album chart. My selected track here was written for his girlfriend at the time, singer/songwriter Judy Collins. This cut has made a number of lists of the all-time great rock and roll classics.
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This album was the fifth British and seventh U.S. album for the Stones. Released in early 1967, it reached as high as #2 on the U.S. Billboard album chart. I bought it in March 1967. It featured two single hits, "Ruby Tuesday" and "Let's Spend The Night Together". To me, it's one of their most rocking albums of the 1960s. I chose "Miss Amanda Jones" as my selection here.
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This album, the followup to "Between The Buttons", is about as different from that album as you can imagine. It has distinctly "science fiction" and psychedelic elements to it, and it features unusual instruments played by Brian Jones. There has always been discussion as to how much the Stones were influenced on this album by the Beatles' "Sergeant Pepper". It has had a mixed critical history, but I love it. It was released in December 1967, reached the top 5 in charts around the world, and I'm not sure when I bought it - probably early 1968. My selection here is the very "spacey" "2000 Man".
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Mostly disco sucked - but not all of it. I heard the extended track "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" - a redo of the Animals' hit (done originally by Nina Simone) on album radio sometime in 1977, and I loved it. The album was released that year, and I bought it in January 1978. The title track is just too long to highlight here (at 15 minutes), but it's available on YouTube if you're interested. Instead, I chose the rocking "Black Pot".
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"Aja", the sixth studio album by Steely Dan, was released in September 1977. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen were the creators of the band and wrote all of the songs on this album. In their early days Steely Dan was generally a complete band featuring mostly rock tunes such as "Reeling In The Years", "Ricky Don't Lose That Number", and "Do It Again". By the time of this album, however, they had pretty much replaced any formal band with a wide selection of top-flight session musicians such as Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour, Steve Gadd, Chuck Rainey and many others. Wayne Shorter solos (saxophone) on the selected (title) track. This album has been listed on many "all-time great" album lists. I bought it in July 1983.
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When I was starting to learn guitar I spent a lot of time listening to the first album from the Ventures. Their twangy and reverb-laden playing essentially started the surf music craze. I think their lineup of two guitars, bass and drums was an influence on later groups. The title track from that first album is a rock 'n' roll classic, but I've selected the first track, the beautiful "Morgen (One More Sunrise)". This track has a distinctly Duane Eddy feel to it. The album was released in December 1960 and reached #11 on Billboard.
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Rod Stewart had been a member of the English band "Faces", and this album is more or less a continuation of that group, since all of them participated in it. It was released in May 1971, and I bought it in November 1972. The album precedes the time when Rod discovered disco and the "Great American Songbook" - thankfully. It has a strong country flavor, I think, with mandolin, fiddle and steel guitar, but still rocks. The selected track, "Maggie May", is preceded by a brief guitar solo which was written by Martin Quittenton, who was also co-writer of "Maggie May".
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This album is another of those rare double albums - like "Jesus Christ Superstar" and Steve Miller's "Anthology" listed above - on which I pretty much like every track on it. It is divided into four thematic sections. One is basic rock and Latin sounds, two is mostly country-flavored, three is mainly folk-rock, and four is blues-rock. The album had a somewhat mixed critical reception, but it achieved gold record status a month after being released. The band included, among others, Chris Hillman, who was an original founder of the Byrds. My selection, "Right Now", is a rocking number from side 4 that features slide guitar.
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I bought this album as a CD, and I'm thinking it is one of the first, if not the very first, CDs I ever bought. It was originally released in 1986, although the version I have is dated 1987. I don't know when I bought it. By the way, the CD is labeled "Volume 9", not because it was the ninth anything by Supertramp, but was the ninth in the A&M Records 25th Anniversary celebration collections. It is not a universally critical favorite, but I like it. My selection is "Goodbye Stranger" which appeared in the big hit album "Breakfast In America" from 1979.
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I love the old Hawaiian steel guitarists from the 1920s and '30s. I never get tired of Jim & Bob ("the genial Hawaiians"), Sol Hoopii, Roy Smeck and many others. But for me Benny Nawahi is the best. My selected track is pretty doggone close to my most favorite guitar track ever. This album was released sometime in 1976, and I bought it in July 1976.

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This album was released (I believe) in 1974, and I bought it in December 1975. It features many of the same artists as "Hawaiian Hotshots". My selection is the "Twelfth Street Rag" with Sol Hoopii and O.T. Coffin. I'm not sure when this was recorded, but it's the only electric guitar on either of these two albums, so that probably makes it somewhat later. The "Twelfth Street Rag" was apparently a mainstay of steel guitarists of those days, as I have at least three other versions in my library, including an accoustic one by Sol Hoopii. Sol had some licks!
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Rodney started as a club circuit comedian, made his big career jump on TV shows such as Carson's "Tonight Show", and eventually advanced into starring movie roles such as "Caddyshack" and "Back To School". His self-deprecating comedy routines generally centered around his trademark catch phrase "I don't get no respect". His one-liners sometimes came so fast that you were laughing so hard at one that you missed the next one. This album was released in 1980, and I probably bought it a year or two after that. My selection is an extract from side one. (May not be considered suitable for children under 16.)
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This very strange album was released in October 1974. It satirizes UFO theories and "New Age" paranormal beliefs. My selection is a 5-minute extract from side 2. I bought this album in December 1974. I'll note that near the end of side 2 we get a local news broadcast featuring two deadpan newscasters who I'm sure were a direct tribute to the radio and TV humorists Bob and Ray. If you're not familiar with Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding, here's a free sample of their work from the Tonight Show. Click Here and watch it to the end!
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This album, the second by the Firesign Theater, was released in July 1969. Side one features several short tracks that basically follow the misadventures of the narrator as he buys a new car. Side two, from which I've extracted a portion for my selection here, is "The Further Adventures Of Nick Danger", a sendup of old-time radio mystery shows. I think it's hilarious. I bought this album in June 1975.
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This amazing album was released in May 1973. It was recorded by the then 19-year old Mike Oldfield at the Manor Studio (reportedly in only one week) in the village of Shipton-on-Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England, and it was the first recording for Virgin Records. Oldfield plays virtually every instrument on the album. Side 1 begins with the familiar music which was used in the soundtrack to the movie "The Exorcist". It ends with a repeating bass riff on which another riff is overdubbed one at a time by all the instruments including the titular "tubular bells", then concludes with a quiet guitar solo. This ending extract is my selection here. Side 2 is most notable for its ending piece, the "Sailor's Hornpipe", which is repeated several times at a faster and faster pace. I bought this album in December 1973.
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This album and the next two on the list reflect some of my classical music favorites. I'm nowhere near being a classical music expert, so I can't say if these versions are anywhere on the list of all-time great recordings and performances of these pieces. They are, however, the ones I have and the ones I listen to. I believe that if I was stranded on a desert isle with just two or three CDs (and a way to play them!) a copy of Dvorak's "New World" would be one I would choose to have. I believe there are more terrific melodies in this symphony than in any other musical piece of any kind. This particular CD was released in 1988, and I don't know when I bought it, although I had an LP recording of the symphony at least as early as 1970. My selection is the second movement "Largo" which is widely known as the song "Going Home".
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This CD was released in 1990, and I'm not sure when I bought it. The "Concierto" was written by the Spaniard Joaquin Rodrigo in 1939. Rodrigo was blind from the age of three. He played piano, and, although he did not play guitar, he did capture the essence of the guitar in Spain. The second movement, the "Adagio", is the best-known music from the symphony, with versions having been recorded by many artists, including Jim Hall (see my list above) and Miles Davis. I chose, however, the first movement, the "Allegro" for my selection here. The CD also has Rodrigo's "Fantasia para un Gentilhombre", which is excellent, and the "Concerto pur guitare et petit orchestre" by Villa-Lobos.
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There were a number of choices I might have made. But I love the violin - I took lessons trying to learn (unsuccessfully) to play it. This album is one of those I play regularly, so it made the list. This CD was released in 1990 - not sure when I bought it. I picked the last movement, "Allegro giocoso", as my selection here.
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