Your 12 Desert Island Rock Albums

[George]

Thank You!  To be fair, I think almost any Doors album will do, but Morrison Hotel has always been a beloved record of mine since first hearing it.

Along with "The Soft Parade," It will be remastered later this year by Steve Hoffman and released on the audiophile label "Audio Fidelity." 

[chasmaniac]

Cool old thread! I've kept my idea of "rock" pretty narrow to make this doable.

Yes - Close to the Edge
Supertramp - Crisis? What Crisis?
Rheostatics - Whale Music
The Weakerthans - Left and Leaving
Queen - Sheer Heart Attack
REM - Fables of the Reconstruction, Lifes Rich Pageant
Aimee Mann - Bachelor No. 2, Lost in Space
Dire Straits
XTC - English Settlement
Genesis - Wind & Wuthering

[Ataraxia]

The Beatles - A Hard Day's Nacht
The Beatles - Help!
The Beatles - Rubber Soul
The Beatles - Revolver
The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's...
The Beatles - White Album
The Beatles - Abbey Road
David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True
Devo - Q: Are We Not Men?
The Stranglers - Rattus Norvegicus
Talking Heads - Fear of Music

[Papy Oli]

very tough one indeed... In no particular order :

Tim Buckley - Dream Letter
Depeche Mode - Violator
Eric Clapton - Rainbow Concert
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
Cowboy Junkies - Trinity Sessions
Grant Lee Philips - Virginia Creeper
Bob Dylan - Bringing it all back home
Serge Gainsbourg - Ballade de Melody Nelson
Gillian Welch - Time the revelator
Lambchop - Is a Woman
Ray Lamontagne - God willin' and the creek don't rise
Rage against the Machine - 1st album

damn, it's 12 already.... 

[chasmaniac]

The Beatles - A Hard Day's Nacht
The Beatles - Help!
The Beatles - Rubber Soul
The Beatles - Revolver
The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's...
The Beatles - White Album
The Beatles - Abbey Road

Seems to be a theme here... can't quite put my finger on it!

[Karl Henning]

Mighty fine list, 'axia.

chas, very interesting list (at least, insofar as I know the albums . . . a minority, actually)

[Ataraxia]

Seems to be a theme here... can't quite put my finger on it!

Damn skippy.  0:)

[chasmaniac]

very tough one indeed... In no particular order :

Tim Buckley - Dream Letter
Depeche Mode - Violator
Eric Clapton - Rainbow Concert
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
Cowboy Junkies - Trinity Sessions
Grant Lee Philips - Virginia Creeper
Bob Dylan - Bringing it all back home
Serge Gainsbourg - Ballade de Melody Nelson
Gillian Welch - Time the revelator
Lambchop - Is a Woman
Ray Lamontagne - God willin' and the creek don't rise
Rage against the Machine - 1st album

damn, it's 12 already.... 

Nice to see the Junkies represented.

[chasmaniac]

Mighty fine list, 'axia.

chas, very interesting list (at least, insofar as I know the albums . . . a minority, actually)

I excluded a whole lotta faves for want of "rockiness", including from the fab four, joni mitchell, tom waits, bruce cockburn et al. If any titles pique you, ask and I shall provide. (Information, that is!)

[kishnevi]

Here's where not being in pop and rock as a teenager really hurts. I didn't get into it until I was in college, and even then not that deeply. Nowadays, I listen to it strictly in the car, especially commuting to work.  At home, it's all classical.  I'm not sure I can name 12 rock albums I really like. 

Journey--Frontiers
Def Leppard--Hysteria
Pink Floyd--A Momentary Lapse of Reason
the greatest hits albums from Aerosmith, Queen and Guns n Roses
Yes--90125
Yes--Big Generator
any Beatles album, picked more or less at random
Fleetwood Mac-Rumours
Bruce Springsteen--The River
Bruce Springsteen--Darkness at the Edge of Town

rounded off by two from my favorite pop band, the Backstreet Boys: Nevergone and Unbreakable.  If those weren't allowed,  I'd pick another random Beatles album and some sort of greatest hits compilation of all the 80s metal bands like Poison, Warrant, etc., who all have one or two songs I like, but not near enough to make an album out of on their own.

[bwv 1080]

in no particular order

Dark Side of the Moon
Eat a Peach
Sabbath vol 4
Swans - Great Annihilator
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Agalloch - the Mantle
Immolation - Majesty & Decay
Enslaved - Vertabrae
Meshuggah - Catch 33
Negura Bunget - OM
Alcest - Ecailles de Lune
Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss

[drogulus]

   
     I just like the pictures.

[chasmaniac]

Top 12 Rock Albums (in no particular order):

1. King Crimson - Beat
2. Rush - Signals
3. Marillion - Brave
4. Iona - Beyond These Shores
5. Genesis - Wind & Wuthering
6. Toad the Wet Sprocket - Dulcinea
7. Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
8. Cocteau Twins - Victorialand
9. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
10. REM - Life's Rich Pageant
11. The Police - Synchronicity
12. Eric Johnson - Venus Isle

Beat, Wind & Wuthering, Synchronicity, Lifes Rich Pageant... our tastes overlap! And a registered Rushhead? Interesting pick there. What was the second song on side A? I liked that as much as Subdivisions. Very hard for me to name a favourite Rush album, but it might be Grace Under Pressure.

[North Star]

In no particular order:

1. Deep Purple - Machine Head
2. Deep Purple - Fireball
3. Led Zeppelin - II
4. Led Zeppelin - III
5. Rainbow - Rising
6. Queen - A Night at the Opera
7. The Who - Who's Next
8. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
9. Eagles - Hotel California
10. Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
11. Thin Lizzy - Live & Dangerous
12. Dire Straits - Dire Straits
13. Megadeth - Rust in Peace

[chasmaniac]

11. Thin Lizzy - Live & Dangerous

Memories! I was particularly fond of Dancing in the Moonlight on this album.

[Antoine Marchand]

In no particular order:

1. Deep Purple - Machine Head
2. Deep Purple - Fireball
3. Led Zeppelin - II
4. Led Zeppelin - III
5. Rainbow - Rising
6. Queen - A Night at the Opera
7. The Who - Who's Next
8. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
9. Eagles - Hotel California
10. Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
11. Thin Lizzy - Live & Dangerous
12. Dire Straits - Dire Straits
13. Megadeth - Rust in Peace

I would be quite comfortable with all these discs. Although I would include Thin Lizzy and Dire Straits among the ten, maybe for the second Deep Purple and Queen. 

[canninator]

in no particular order

Dark Side of the Moon
Eat a Peach
Sabbath vol 4
Swans - Great Annihilator
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Agalloch - the Mantle
Immolation - Majesty & Decay
Enslaved - Vertabrae
Meshuggah - Catch 33
Negura Bunget - OM
Alcest - Ecailles de Lune
Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss

Verily thou dost haf grate taste in metal

BUT....

Vertabrae....really. IMO that is one turd of an album (and all that followed). I like everything from Vikingligr Veldi to Beneath the Lights (except Frost which is way below the curve) and Isa onwards becomes the law of diminishing returns.

You like Drudkh?

[bwv 1080]

Verily thou dost haf grate taste in metal

BUT....

Vertabrae....really. IMO that is one turd of an album (and all that followed). I like everything from Vikingligr Veldi to Beneath the Lights (except Frost which is way below the curve) and Isa onwards becomes the law of diminishing returns.

You like Drudkh?

I like Enslaved's prog turn, have not listened to much pre-Beneath the Lights.  Vert is the best, did not like the last one as much. 

Do like Drudkh - like most of that folk-black metal stuff

[Mirror Image]

Beat, Wind & Wuthering, Synchronicity, Lifes Rich Pageant... our tastes overlap! And a registered Rushhead? Interesting pick there. What was the second song on side A? I liked that as much as Subdivisions. Very hard for me to name a favourite Rush album, but it might be Grace Under Pressure.

Yes, we like many of the same albums. I've always been fond of Rush's Signals album. It had some interesting songs on there: Subdivisions, The Analog Kid (the second song on the album), Losing It, Chemistry, New World Man, etc. I loved Grace Under Pressure too. It seems I like their 80s albums the best. Hold Your Fire seems to get some flack from fans, but I've always enjoy this recording.

[jowcol]

I'll play.  I'll try to pick stuff that is not too obscure, and try to keep it two one per artist.  Also try not to go too far into blues or fusion.  I've also spent too much time with Floyd fans and Deadheads to need one of their albums on my list-- but they both have their moments.




\
Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore East.
If I could only have one rock album, it would be this.  Even if I only had sides 3 and 4 of the vinyl album.  The latter half of the album is 45 minutes of music with only two minutes of vocals, a seamless blend of rock, jazz, and blues.  The first solo on Elizabeth Reed (that starts around 3:10)  is gorgeous, despite the fact that I think that Dickey Betts is a total sleazeball, it is truly a thing of beauty.  Clean, fluid, with a strong sense of longing, and builds up nicely.  As much as I like Duane Allman, his solo was only second best on this song.

http://www.youtube.com/v/DcpwMZKPsQM












Santana- Caravanseri.
The Debut and Abraxas are also close on the same level.  But the first half of this album is fused into an epic suite.





Velvet Underground and Nico
The mixture of street smarts and avante garde.  Its hard not to love "Heroin" and "Venus In Furs" I can listen on endless loop.

http://www.youtube.com/v/7WLvFvl8qPY



I was tempted to pick the album White Light Wight Heat,  as the 17 minutes of Sister Ray  may  be the 9th Symphony of youthful aggression, and you have to love "The Gift"






Devo: Are We Not Men?
What a breath of fresh air when this came out.  If I had to pick a favorite song form this it would be Gut Feeling-- but the deconstruction of Satisfaction and Mongoloid are classics.   
http://www.youtube.com/v/Cwx_Qq56YTA





Of course, I discovered the B52s first album at the same time. 
http://www.youtube.com/v/OsGWWsCzl4E





Black Sabbath, Paranoid:
After the 4th album, they sort of lost me, but this album was a lot of fun.  For all of the people criticizing Sabbath, just compare all the number of Riff's in War Pigs to Led Zepplin's Whole Lotta one. 

http://www.youtube.com/v/pZCyOWLrRTE




Hendrix: Band of Gypsies  Have to have some Hendrix.  The tightest album would be Bold as Love, and you gotta love the the breadth of Electric Ladyland. But the first side of this album is the best successive 20-30 minutes of Hendrix  I can name.
http://www.youtube.com/v/vSqb-oS1ueA




Iron Butterfly: In a Gadda Da Vida
Somebody already picked QMS's Happy Trails, so I'll pick this one for a psychedelic album even though there are at most 2 tracks I can bring myself to listen.   Yes it's campy, and often unintentionally hilarious, but the title track is just groovy.
http://www.youtube.com/v/GzmmUZ9D9Uk





Kyuss: Blues for the Red Sun.  This is probably the first band to check out if you are into Stoner, which takes some of teh Black Sabbath downtunings and fuzz, but adds a lot more instrumental exploration.  This song is a good taste-- not some much for the opening part, but they way it morphs at the halfway  point. .

http://www.youtube.com/v/DfWI-yV7TUY

Welcome to Sky Valley is just as solid-- more instrumental and less songs. 

I won't list any other stoner on my selections, but if the idea of ultra heavy, jazz influenced Argentinian pscyhedelic rock appeals to you,  the album La Ciudad de Brahma by Los Natas is a Masterpiece.  Hell, he's a song by Los Natas:

http://www.youtube.com/v/U11xz55lSuI






If it was only one Beatles Album, I'd have to take the White Album-- for the variety if nothing else.







Byrne and Eno's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts really opened up my head in a lot of ways, and I love the way it used "found" recordings for vocals.  The most memorable track for me is "The Jezebel Spirit", where a most funky beat is applied to a real live radio exorcism.
http://www.youtube.com/v/ysGjmm648ds  I'd have to give this album the nod over Fear of Music by the Talking Heads for this slot.




I could not imagine being on my desert island without a copy of this album, so I could listen to "The End" and wash the blood of my felllow survivors off my hands as the sun sets.





The album is uneven, but Days of Wine and Roses by the Dream Syndicate updated the Velvet Underground sound with the the totally hayware, liquid sludge guitar of Karl Precoda.  The title track for me has one of the best hooks in rock lyrics:

"The word from outside is she's on the ledge again,
drawing a crowd ,
and threatening everything,
I'm here wondering just where I fit in."

The sludgy solo around the three minute mark is fun. 
http://www.youtube.com/v/f-_G7A0RbjU






For Clapton, I'd reach first for the Bluesbreakers album, but I'll consider that Blues and off limits.   Blind Faith has some great moments, but I'd settle for Live Cream Vol 2.  It doesn't meander as much as the first live album, and the Tales of Brave Ulysses here simply blows the studio one away. It also has good versions of White Rome, Politician, and Sunshine of Your Love.
http://www.youtube.com/v/z8sdaCTBpCw



Last one would be the Debut album by Govt Mule-- I'm guess a band most of you haven't heard of.  It was a spin-off of the some of the people that joined the 90s incarnation of the Allman Brothers, but wanted to make an ass-kicking power trio.   That added a lot of heavy (which turned off the Tie-dye crowd), and their live shows were great-- the mixed improv and some good chops with the sweaty essence of Rock with some metal and a strong blues sensibility.   Their covers were great.   I must admit after some personnel changes and attempts to "refine" their sound, I lost touch with them in 2003.  But their debut album is definitely, as they put it "Music for your ass."  But they would also covers by bands like the Mahavishnu Orchestrat.

http://www.youtube.com/v/V7RbkUIvUcA 
Note. They are very free in trading of their live music , but they pull most of their studio stuff off of youtube.   This link may not last.  There is a bewildering amount of their live material on Youtube.



I'd better call it here.   I know I've left out a lot...