The Flying Burrito Brothers - The Gilded Palace Of Sin

"Hey Chris,"
"Yes Gram?"
"Now that The Byrds have fallen apart, would you like to join my group The Flying Burrito Brothers? I want to explore the country side of music more."
"Hmmm alright…"
"But I want to go further with the rock part than on Sweetheart of The Rodeo."
"Oh okay, sounds interesting"
"Maybe we should add two covers of soul classics, like Do Right Woman and Dark End Of The Street…"
"Good idea! That will turn out great I guess!"
"Oh and let's use some crazy titles…

Blood, Sweat & Tears - Blood, Sweat & Tears

Can a group who starts and ends his album with a variation on Erik Satie really do something wrong? No of course not, and so they already win my heart from the first song on. :)

Not that Blood, Sweat & Tears make it that easy. They were one of the first groups to combine rock and jazz. I can say one thing: sometimes it's absolutely rock(/pop), something it's absolutely jazz. Mission succeeded. My problems lie of course in the jazz part… but thanks to the rock/pop part I liked those…

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Crosby, Stills & Nash

Yeah well, who doesn't know these guys, especially in the combination Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Talking about a fancy group, this is one: David Crosby (The Byrds!), Stephen Stills (Buffalo Springfield!) and Graham Nash (The Hollies!). Add Neil Young and there's a group you can use as a decent headliner… But on this debute album it's just the three of them, doing perfectly well. Coming from three different groups, and probably having three strong personalities, this seems like it could be a repeat of Buffalo Springfield's 'Buffalo Springfield Again': a…

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bayou Country

Creedence Clearwater Revival must be one of the only bands whose songs you can easily fill a 3 or 4-disc Best Of with. And, in contrary to a band like The Beatles, half of those songs are songs you didn't even know were theirs.

If you would ask me what "real pure" rock music sounds like, I would say Creedence Clearwater Revival (although there is also a blues factor involved… but let's ignore that). The raw voice of John Fogerty (one of the ultimate rock music voices), the great guitars, and the catchy riffs……

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica

Alrighty. This was tough. Really tough.
Encouraged by my brother who totally adores this album I listened to it once… and was glad when it was over (after 28 songs). Sometimes a song of it passes by on my Itunes shuffle… and I'm always glad when it is over. If it weren't for this list, I would never ever have listened to it again. But it's on the list so it has to be done. My brother will be happy: he doesn't understand why I don't like it. "There's phenomenal…

Neil Young with Crazy Horse - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

I love Neil Young. I really do. I love his unique higher voice. I love his sublime guitar playing. I love his lyrics. And Heart of Gold is one of the most beautiful songs ever made.

Strangely enough I have only one album of Neil Young in my cd collection. And even worse, it's a Best Of. I love every song on it. But I should be ashamed of myself. I just never got around to buying a true Neil Young album. I once had After the Goldrush in…

The Mothers Of Invention - We're Only In It For The Money

This is crazy shit. Where the previous album on this list by The Mothers Of Invention (Freak Out!) went from just silly to really weird, this album isn't so very weird. But crazy it definitely is. And fun. A lot of fun.

Go to San Franciscooooo (Who Needs The Peace Corps)
Zappa laughs with the hippies, the sixties, America and The Beatles. The cover art of this album is really hilarious and so are the lyrics.

Hi Boys and Girls, I'm Jimmy Carl Black, and I'm…

The Beatles - The Beatles

Aha, here are The Beatles again. Slowly falling apart. This album is a collection of songs made by John Lennon, songs made by Paul McCartney, a few songs made by George Harrison and even one by Ringo Starr. Reading the story about this album is learning the story of songs recorded without all of the other band members even knowing about it (Julia, Why Don't We Do It In The Road?,…) and there's only one song on which John Lennon and Paul McCartney sing together (Birthday). Out of 30 songs!…

The Byrds - Sweetheart Of The Rodeo

Exit: David Crosby and Michael Clarke
Enter: Gram Parsons and Kevin Kelley

Exit: Rock - folk - psychedelic music
Enter: Country!

Yes, The Byrds take a U-turn here, surprising friend and enemy by bringing out a country album. Well, to be exact, the first country-rock-album. The Byrds are still the Byrds, and their harmonic singing style is still intact, but typical country tunes are added and yes, even my big friends The Louvin Brothers are covered. Yay!

Given my dislike for country, trading your musical style for country music is not the best…

Van Morrison - Astral weeks

This is happiness. The kind of tears-in-your-eyes-beauty happiness.
Like
- riding your bicycle on a sunny day (with a light summer breeze)
- the euphoric feeling when you're running in a rain storm (occuring suddenly after you have been swearing all awful things you can think of to the sky)
- watching cats play on the roof of the building opposite to you
- passing a parent who is just giving his child an answer to a question that was probably not so obvious (like "Yes, but birds have mommies and daddies too")
- the…