Ok this is a bit much but here it is.
Everybody is making lists these days.
I like music lists. Always have and always will.
This list is not definitive but it is rather long.
This is not a best of list in any way.
This is a list of 500 albums that if I did not hear, and hear over and over again, I don't think I would have been a songwriter.
Just a couple of things about this list:
1. I have listened to each of these albums dozens if not thousands of times
2. If asked (don't ask) I could describe why this album is on the list, probably where I was the first time I heard it, and to some degree why is belongs here. Nothing is here just because it hip or something. So just so you know I love listening to Trout Mask Replica and Moray Eel. Love them. And I love Lou Reed, but Metal Machine Music is NOT on this list because although I owe a copy I have never been able to listen to it.
3. There is an accompanying Spotify playlist which contains a song from each of the records if the album is on Spotify. The song on the playlist is certainly a favorite and a song that contributed to me moving along as a writer.
4. If an artist has many albums on the list, well the reason is probably obvious – that artist was key to me
5. The order here matters little.
6. I spent more time on this than I intended to. It is a fairly considered list. By making it long I didn’t have to cull it much.
7. If you have thoughts about this list…feel free to share them with me. Maybe I’ll comment back. We’ll see.
8. My own albums are not on this list for obvious reasons. But lotsa my friend's records are.
9. Enjoy?
1 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
2 Alfred Deller Three Ravens /Waggle Taggle Gypsies Folk Songs
3 Almanac Singers Talking Union
4 Andrew Calhoun Hope
5 Andrew Calhoun The Gates of Love
6 Anthony Newley Who Can I Turn To?
7 Arlo Guthrie Amigo
8 Ars Antiqua Konrad Ruhland (not on Spotify but I added a track that was)
9 Art Laboe’s Oldies But Goodies albums all 14 volumes
10 Barbara Streisand Debut
11 Bascom Lamar Lunsford Smoky Mt Ballads
12 BB King Live at Cook County Jail
13 Beach Boys Greatest Hits
14 Bedazzled Soundtrack
15 Belle and Sebastian If You’re Feeling Sinister
16 Bessie Smith Columbia Complete Collection
17 Betty Hutton Somebody Loves Me
18 Biff Rose Thorn in Mrs Roses Side
19 Billie Holiday Complete Commodore Recordings
20 Billy Bragg Brewing Up With Billy Bragg
21 Billy Bragg Don’t Try this at Home
22 Billy Bragg Life’s Riot with Spy v Spy
23 Billy Bragg Mermaid Avenue V1 & 2
24 Billy Bragg Talking to the Taxman about Poetry
25 Billy Joel Turnstyles
26 Billy Jonas Life So Far
27 Billy Murray and Ada Jones Tin Foil Recordings
28 Bix Beiderbecke Compilation
29 Blind Blake (The Calypso one)
30 Blind Lemon Jefferson Classic Sides
31 Blind Willie Johnson Dark Was The Night
32 Blind Willie McTell Statesboro Blues
33 Bob Dylan A variety of early bootlegs
34 Bob Dylan and the Band Basement Tapes
35 Bob Dylan Another Side of
36 Bob Dylan Blonde in Blonde
37 Bob Dylan Blood in the Tracks
38 Bob Dylan Bringing it All Back Home
39 Bob Dylan Desire
40 Bob Dylan Freewheeling
41 Bob Dylan Highway Revisited
42 Bob Dylan Times They Are A’Changing
43 Bob Marley and The Wailers Live
44 Bobbie Darin That’s All
45 Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band Gorilla
46 Box Scaggs Silk Degrees
47 Brian Belknap Lucky Me
48 Bruce Springsteen A live bootleg from the Darkness tour at Winterland
49 Bruce Springsteen Born to Run
50 Bruce Springsteen Nebraska
51 Bruce Springsteen The Wild The Innocent and E Street Shuffle
52 Buck Owens My Heart Skips a Beat
53 Buddy Guy Complete Vanguard Recordings
54 Buddy Holly Gold
55 Burt Bacharach Look of Love Collection
56 Captain Beefheart Doc at The Radar Station
57 Captain Beefheart Safe as Milk
58 Captain Beefheart Trout Mask Replica (not on Spotify by I put a lo-di live version of Moonlight in Vermont on Spotify)
59 Casablanca Soundtrack
60 Cat Stevens Tea For The Tillerman
61 Charlie Patton King of the Delta Blues
62 Cheap Trick Heaven Tonight
63 Chet Atkins Class Guitar
64 Chris Farrell Night Ballads (not on Spotify)
65 Chuck Berry The Great Twenty-Eight
66 Cliff “Ukelele Ike” Edwards Singing in the Rain
67 Clodagh Rodgers Rodgers and Heart (Not on Spotify)
68 Comedian Harmonists Best of
69 Counting Crows August and Everything After
70 Credence Clearwater Revival Cosmos Factory
71 Crystals He's a Rebel
72 The Cure Wish
73 Daniel Johnson Welcome to my world
74 Dave Van Ronk Van Ronk
75 David Ackels Debut
76 David Bowie Aladdin Sane
77 David Bowie Heroes
78 David Bowie Hunky Dory
79 David Bowie Young Americans
80 David Bowie Ziggy Stardust
81 David Johansen David Johansen
82 David Johansen David Johansen
83 David Massengill First Tape
84 De Wolfe Music Presents Monty Python’s Flying Circus (the incidental music)
85 Dead Kennedys Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegtables
86 Dean Martin Capitols Collection
87 Derrick and Clive Live
88 Desmond Dekker This is Desmond Dekker
89 Devo Are We Not Men?
90 Dinah Washington September in the Rain
91 Dion Best of
92 Dire straits Making Movies
93 Disney Classics
94 Disney's Pecos Bill LP With Roy Rogers and Sons of the Pioneers
95 Dolly Parton Ultimate Collection
96 Don McLean American Pie
97 Don Williams 20th Century Masters
98 Donovan What Bin Did
99 Dwain Story Private Tape (I have included a version of Wendigo I found on Spotify)
100 Edith Piaf Best of
101 Elton John Honky Chateau
102 Elton John Honky Yellow Brick Road
103 Elvis Costello Almost Blue
104 Elvis Costello Armed Forces
105 Elvis Costello Blood and Chocolate
106 Elvis Costello Delivery Man
107 Elvis Costello Imperial Bedroom
108 Elvis Costello My Aim is True
109 Elvis Costello Spike
110 Elvis Costello This Year’s Model
111 Elvis Costello Trust
112 Elvis Costello Get Happy
113 Elvis Presley Elvis in Memphis
114 Elvis Presley Elvis Presley
115 Elvis Presley Sun Sessions
116 Emily Kaitz Middle Age Rock and Rollers are So Damn Cute
117 Every Bros Best of
118 Fairport Convention Unnhalfbricking
119 Femmes de Paris - Ye Ye Girls Collection
120 Fiddler on the Roof
121 Flanders and Swann At The Drop Of A Hat
122 Flatt and Scruggs Story of Bonnie and Clyde
123 Flying Burrito Bros Gilded Palace of Sin
124 Folkways Classic Folk Music Anthoiogy
125 Follies
126 Frank Sinatra Strangers in the night
127 Frank Sinatra Wee Small hours
128 Frank Zappa Hot Rats
129 Frankie Lane Call of the Wild
130 Fred Holstein - Live (Not on Spotify)
131 Funny Girl
132 Gang of Four Entertainment
133 Gene Pitney Best of
134 Geoff Muldour- Futaristic Ensemble Private Astronomy
135 George Formby Best of
136 George Harrison All Things Must Pass
137 George Jones Songbook
138 Glen Campbell The Capitol Years
139 Godspell
140 Gracie Fields Best of
141 Graham Parker and The Rumor Heat Treatment
142 Graham Parker and The Rumor Howlin Wind
143 Graham Parker and The Rumor Squeezing Out Sparks
144 Graham Parker and The Rumor The Pink Parker
145 Gypsy
146 Hair
147 Hank Williams MGM Collection
148 Harry Nilsson Nilsson Sings Randy Newman
149 Hello Dolly -Movie soundtrack
150 Herb Albert and The Tijuana Brass Whipped Cream and other delights
151 Herman’s Hermits Retrospective
152 Holy Modal Rounders Have Moicy
153 Holy Modal Rounders HMR 1 & 2
154 Holy Modal Rounders The Moray Eel Eats the Holy Modal Rounders
155 Holy Modal Rounders Too Much Fun
156 Homer and Jethro American Song Butchers
157 Howlin Wolf Chess Collection
158 Hugh Blumenfeld Strong in Spirit
159 Humphrey Littleton Bad Penny Blues
160 Ian Hunter You Are Never Alone with a Schizophrenic
161 International Submarine Band Safe at Home
162 It's a Small World - Songs from around the world Disneyland Boys Choir (not on Spotify)
163 Ivor Cutler Essential masters
164 Jack Hardy Civil Wars
165 Jack Hardy The Passing
166 Jackson Browne For Everyman
167 Jackson Browne Running on Empty
168 Jackson Browne The Pretender
169 Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (OCR)
170 Jacques Brel Olympia Live ‘61
171 Jacques Brel Olympia Live ‘64
172 James Browne Live at The Apollo
173 James Browne 20th Century Masters
174 James McCandless Out West Somewhere
175 James McCandless Sea of Freedom
176 James Taylor James Taylor
177 James Taylor Sweet Baby James
178 Jean Redpath Songs of Robbie Burns
179 Jeffrey Lewis City and Eastern Songs
180 Jeffrey Lewis Last Time I did Acid I went Insane
181 Jerry Lee Lewis Live in Hamburg
182 Jesus Christ Superstar
183 Jim Croce I’ve Got a Name
184 Jim Croce Life and Times
185 Jim Croce You Don’t Mess around with Jim
186 Jimmie Rogers Complete
187 Jimmy Cliff 20th Century Masters
188 Jimmy Cliff The Harder They Come Soundtrack
189 Joan Baez Diamonds and Rust
190 Joanna Newsome The Milk-Eyed Mender (not on Spotify)
191 Joe Jackson Look Sharp
192 John Cage Indeterminacy
193 John Cale Fear
194 John Denver Rocky Mountain High
195 John Fahey Blind Joe Death
196 John Jacob Niles Folk Love Songs
197 John Lennon Plastic Ono Band
198 John McCormack Sings
199 John Prine Diamonds in the Rough
200 John Prine John Prine
201 John Prine John Prine Live
202 John Prine Sweet Revenge
203 Johnny Cash Live at Folsom Prison
204 Johnny Cash Sun Sessions
205 Johnny Ray Most Requested Songs
206 Johnny Rivers Greatest Hits
207 Johnny Rivers Touch of Gold
208 Jonathan Edwards Debut
209 Jonathan Richman Back in Your Life
210 Jonathan Richman Jonathan Sings
211 Jonathan Richman Modern Lovers
212 Joni Mitchell Blue
213 Joni Mitchell Clouds
214 Joni Mitchell Court and Spark
215 Joy Division Unknown Pleasures
216 Judy Collins In My Life
217 Judy Collins Who Knows where the time goes
218 Jug band anthology
219 Junior Wells Hoo Doo Man Blues
220 Kate and Anna McGarrigle Dancer with Bruised Knees
221 Kate and Anna McGarrigle Kate and Anna McGarrigle
222 Kay Starr Collector's Series
223 Kiss Me Kate
224 Knickerbocker Holiday
225 Knob Lick Upper 10000, Debut (Not on Spotify)
226 Kurt Elling Close your Eyes
227 Kurt Elling Folk Song Demos (not on Spotify)
228 LeadBelly Library of Congress Recording
229 Lennie Bruce The Carnegie Hall Concert
230 Leonard Cohen New Skin for the Ceremony
231 Leonard Cohen Songs
232 Leonard Cohen Songs of love and hate
233 Limeliters Tonight In Person
234 Little Richard The Georgia Peach
235 Little Walter Chess Anthology
236 Lonnie Donegan Rock Island Line (Anthology)
237 Loretta Lynn 20th Century Masters
238 Lou Reed and John Cale Songs for Drella
239 Lou Reed Berlin
240 Lou Reed Blue Mask
241 Lou Reed New York
242 Lou Reed Rock and Roll Animal
243 Lou Reed Street Hassle
244 Lou Reed The Bells
245 Loudon Wainwright III Attempted Mustache
246 Louis Armstrong Complete Hot Fives and Sevens
247 Louis Jordan Anthology
248 Louis Prima The Wildest
249 Louvin Bros Satan is Real
250 Lulu To Sir with Love
251 M Ward End of Amnesia
252 Marianne Faithful Broken English
253 Mary Gauthier Drunk Queens in Limousines
254 MC5 Back in the USA
255 Melanie Best Of
256 Merle Haggard Anthology
257 Michael Hurley Long Journey
258 Michael Hurley Watertower
259 Michael Nesmith Essentials
260 Michael Smith Love Stories
261 Mississippi John Hurt Avalon Blues
262 Mississippi Sheiks anthology
263 Moe Bandy Bandy the Rodeo Clown
264 Monty Python Sings
265 Mose Allison Best of
266 Mothers of Invention Uncle Meat
267 Mott the Hoople All the Young Dudes
268 Mott the Hoople Mott
269 Muddy Waters - Chess Anthology
270 My Fair Lady OCR
271 Nat king Cole Songbook
272 Neil Young After the Gold Rush
273 Neil Young Everyone Knows This is Nowhere
274 Neil Young Rust Never Sleeps
275 Neil Young Tonight’s the Night
276 Neutral Milk Hotel In an Aeroplane over the sea
277 Nick Drake Five Leaves Left
278 Nick Lowe Jesus of Cool
279 Nick Lowe Labour of Lust
280 Nico Chelsea Girl
281 Nina Simone Best of
282 Original Nuggets album curated by Lennie Kaye
283 Otis Redding Anthology
284 Patsy Cline Debut
285 Patti Smith Group Easter
286 Patti Smith Group Horses
287 Paul Kotheimer Songs about Everything 1-50
288 Paul Kotheimer Songs about Everything 51-100
289 Paul McCartney Band on the Run
290 Paul McCartney Paul McCartney
291 Paul Simon Hearts and Bones
292 Paul Simon Graceland
293 Paul Simon There Goes Rhyming Simon
294 Paul Simon Paul Simon
295 Pete Seeger Carnegie Hall Concert
296 Peter Paul and Mary Debut
297 Peter Stampfel You Must Remember This
298 Petula Clark Greatest Hits
299 Phil Ochs Anthology
300 Phil Spector Christmas Album
301 Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here
302 Public Enemy Fear of a Black Planet
303 Public Image Ltd Second Edition
304 R Crumb and the Cheap Suit Serenaders Chasin’ Rainbows
305 R Crumb and the Cheap Suit Serenaders Singing in the Bathtub
306 R.E.M. Automatic for the People
307 R.E.M. Document
308 R.E.M. Murmur
309 Ramones End of the Century
310 Ramones Ramones
311 Ramones Rocket to Russia
312 Randy Newman Good Old Boys
313 Randy Newman Sail Away
314 Randy Newman 12 Songs
315 Ray Charles What’d I Say
316 Rev Gary Davis Harlem Street Singer
317 Rhino Punk Anthology
318 Richard and Linda Thompson Hokey Pokey
319 Richard and Linda Thompson I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
320 Richard and Linda Thompson Pour Down Like Silver
321 Richard and Linda Thompson Shoot Out The Lights
322 Richard Shindell Sparrows Point
323 Richard Thompson Hand of Kindness
324 Richard Thompson Mock Tudor
325 Richard Thompson Rumor and Sigh
326 Ricki Lee Jones Pirates
327 Ricki Lee Jones Ricki Lee Jones
328 Rilo Kiley Execution of All Things
329 Ritchie havens High Flying Bird
330 Robbie Fulks 13 Hillbilly Giants
331 Robbie Fulks Country Love Songs
332 Robbie Fulks Georgia Hard
333 Robbie Fulks Let’s Kill Saturday night
334 Robbie Fulks South Mouth
335 Robbie Fulks Upland Stories
336 Robbie Fulks Very Best of
337 Robert Johnson’s Complete Recordings
338 Roberta Flack First Take
339 Rolling Stones Aftermath
340 Rolling Stones Beggar’s Banquet
341 Rolling Stones Exile On Main Street
342 Rolling Stones High Tides and Green Grass
343 Rolling Stones Tattoo You
344 Rolling Stones Some Girls
345 Ross Berman IV Folk City Hustle (not on Spotify but its on bandcamp)
346 Roxy Music Siren
347 Roy Orbison Monument Singles
348 Roger MIller Greatest Hits
349 Ry Cooder Chicken Skin Music
350 Ry Cooper Paradise and Lunch
351 Sam Cooke Best of
352 Secret Museum of Mankind especially V4
353 Serges Gainbourg Monsieur Gainsbourg Orginals
354 Sergio Mendes and Brazil ‘66 Debut
355 Shel Silverstein Anthology
356 Simon and Garfunkel Bookends
357 Simon and Garfunkel Bridge over Troubled Water
358 Simon and Garfunkel Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme
359 Simon and Garfunkel Sounds of Silence
360 Skiffle Anthology
361 Skip James Hard Time Killing Floor
362 Smiths Louder than Bombs
363 Songs of World War One
364 Songs That Got Us Through World War Two
365 Sonny Boy Williamson II Chess Masters
366 Spanky and our Gang Greatest Hits
367 Stampfel & Weber Goin’ Nowhere Fast
368 Stan Getz Getz and Gilberto
369 Steely Dan Aja
370 Steely Dan Katy Lied
371 Steely Dan Pretzel Logic
372 Steve Forbert Alive On Arrival
373 Steve Forbert The American in Me
374 Steve Goodman Somebody Else’s Trouble
375 Steve Goodman Steve Goodman
376 Sweeney Todd
377 Talking Heads ‘77
378 Talking Heads Fear of Music
379 Television Marquee Moon
380 Tex Beneke Miller Mood
381 The Andrew Sisters Complete
382 The Animals Respective
383 The Badmen Time life LP (I found one song by Pete Seeger which was like a track on it)
384 The Band Music From Big Pink
385 The Beatles Abbey Road
386 The Beatles Meet The Beatles
387 The Beatles Revolver
388 The Beatles Rubber Soul
389 The Beatles White Album
390 The Byrds Mr Tambourine Man
391 The Byrds Sweetheart of the Rodeo
392 The Carter Family Complete
393 The Clancy Bros and Tommy Makem A Spontaneous Performance
394 The Clancy Bros and Tommy Makem Live at Carnegie Hall
395 The Clash Give ‘em Enough Rope
396 The Clash London Calling
397 The Clash The Clash
398 The Drifters Best of
399 The Faces Ooh La La
400 The Fantasticks
401 The Farmers The Red Blue and Yellow tapes (Not on Spotify)
402 The Fugs First Album
403 The Fugs It Crawled into my Hand Honest
404 The Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music
405 The Impressions Best of
406 The Ink Spots Best Of
407 The Jam All Mod Cons
408 The Jam The Gift
409 The Kinks Arthur
410 The Kinks Kinda Kinks
411 The Kinks Lola Vs The Powerman and the Money go Round
412 The Kinks Misfits
413 The Kinks Muswell Hillbillies
414 The Kinks Something Else
415 The Kinks The Kinks
416 The Kinks The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society
417 The Mills Brothers Best of
418 The Monkees Debut
419 The Mountain Goats All Hail West Texas
420 The New York Dolls The New York Dolls
421 The New York Dolls too much too soon
422 The Persuasions Chirpin’
423 The Pogues If I should fall from Grace with God
424 The Pogues Poguetry in Motion
425 The Pogues Red Roses for You
426 The Pogues Rum Sodomy and the Lash
427 The Prince Myshkins Shiny Round Object (not on Spotify but I found a song from the CD on Spotify)
428 The Prince Myshkins Total Myshkins Awareness (not on Spotify)
429 The Producers – The movie soundtrack
430 The Raincoats The Raincoats
431 The Rascals Time Peace
432 The Roches Debut
433 The Seekers debut
434 The Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks
435 The Slits Cut
436 The Soul Stirrers anthology
437 The Specials The Specials
438 The Stooges Fun House
439 The Stooges The Stooges
440 Blood Sweat and Tears Blood Sweat and Tears
441 The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground
442 The Velvet Underground Loaded
443 The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground and Nico
444 The Velvet Underground White Light White heat
445 The Washington Squares The Washington Squares
446 The Weavers at Carnegie Hall
447 The Who My Generation
448 The Who The Kids are Alright soundtrack
449 The Who Who’s Next
450 The Yardbirds Five Live Yardbirds
451 The Zombies Odessey and Oracle
452 Them Story of Them
453 They Might Be Giants Flood
454 They Might Be Giants Lincoln
455 Those 3 LP Motown anthologies – Marvin Gaye, Miracles, Stevie Wonder, Temps, Supremes, Junior Walker, Martha and the Vandellas, etc
456 Three Penny Opera
457 Tom Jones Along Came Tom Jones
458 Tom Lehrer An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer
459 Tom Lehrer Songs by Tom Lehrer
460 Tom Lehrer That Was The Year That Was
461 Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers Damn the Torpedos
462 Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
463 Tom Robinson band TRB
464 Tom Rush The Circle Game
465 Tom T Hall Greatest Hits
466 Tom Waits Bone Machine
467 Tom Waits Closing time
468 Tom Waits Mule Variations
469 Tom Waits Night Hawks at the Diner
470 Tom Waits Orphans
471 Tom Waits Raindogs
472 Tom Waits Small Change
473 Tom Waits The Black Rider
474 Toots and The Maytals Funky Kingston
475 Trout Fishing in America Over The Limit
476 Urinetown The musical OCR
477 Van Morrison /The Chieftains Irish Heartbeat
478 Van Morrison Astral Weeks
479 Van Morrison Into the mystic
480 Van Morrison Moondance
481 Van Morrison Veedun Fleece
482 Van Morrison Wavelength
483 Vernon Tonges Journey Through Obscurity (his first three tapes) not yet on Spotify but soon
484 Vintage Children's Songs (this album isn't on spotify but I added a track that was - Run Rabbit Run)
485 Vintage Japanese Pop 1950-1951
486 Warren Zevon Excitable Boy
487 Warren Zevon Warren Zevon
488 Waylon Jennings Ol Waylon
489 Waylon Jennings Waylon and Willie
490 Weird Al Yankovich The Essential
491 West Side Story
492 Willie Nelson Red Headed Stranger
493 Willie Nelson Stardust
494 Wilmoth Houdini Poor but Ambitious
495 Woodstock triple album
496 Woody Guthrie Dust Bowl Ballads
497 Woody Guthrie Library of Congress recording
498 X-Ray Spex Debut
499 Yankee Doodle Dandy
500 Young Marble Giants Young Marble Giants
Of couse Ill add more as I realize I forgot something
501 Rufus Wainwright Rufus Wainwright
502 The Rolling Stones Second LP
503 Performance movie soundtrack
504. Aretha Franklin Lady Soul
505 Bobby “Blue” Bland Two Steps from the Blues
506 Al Green Let’s Stay Together
507 O’Jays Backstabbers
508 Wild Tchoupitoulas Debut
509 Arthur Alexander You Better Move On
510 Tom Paxton Ramblin’ Boy