I see a problem here!!

I'm seeing a bewilderingly huge array of great stuff that I haven't had much chance to enjoy yet either!

The problem as I see it; is the probable fact that three weeks from now this thread may be burried never to be(hardly)seen again

We can always find Wall-O-Fame!

We need to find threads like this one just as easily

Here are five essential blues recordings; I could easily do twenty:

Muddy Waters, The Chess Box
Robert Johnson, The Complete Recordings
Howlin' Wolf, His Best
Elmore James, Shake Your Moneymaker
Men are Like Streetcars (a compilation of women blues singers from 1928-1969)

OK, a genre that most of y'all probably havent even heard of(except from me)!! my favorite, top 5 albums in the Texas Country Genre...

Bruce Robison- 'Country Sunshine'
Jason Boland- 'Pearl Snaps'
Cross Canadian Ragweed- 'Purple'
Jack Ingram- 'Electric'
Cory Morrow- 'Double Exposure'

if you have nothing from this "genre", any of these would be a good start!!

bigjohn

Mark, "basic repertoire" lists typically contain more than 100 items, and it's probably impossible to fairly pick 5 "most inportant" discs. Instead I'll list 5 containing colorful music likely to attract those unfamiiar with the music to explore farther. Brahms Hungarian Dances ; a Gershwin collection ; Holst, The Planets; Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances; Tchaikovsky Swan Lake .

What! No Jimmy Dale Gilmore?
http://citypaper.net/articles/021998/sixpick1.shtml

Very well recorded CDs, BTW.

I thought about it, can't do it. It would seem like such a betrayal to choose only five...from each genre...

So much music and only a single lifetime with which to listen.

/Jack

Early heavy metal must haves-

Iron maiden (number of the beast, piece of mind)
Judas Priest (stained class)
Black Sabbath (Sabbath Bloody Sabbath "ozzy")
Black Sabbath ( Heaven and Hell "dio")
AC/DC (Back in Black, Hiway to hell)

80's "hair" metal

Gun's n Roses (use your illusion)
Skid Row
Motley crue (dr. feelgood)
Lynchmob (wicked sensation)
Def leppard (hysteria)
Van Halen (women and children first, 1984)

Category unknown (maybe pop?)

Billy idol (rebel yell)
Rush ( power windows, force ten)
Night ranger
Van Halen (5150)

Classic

Stevie ray Vaughn (couldn’t stand the weather)
Led Zepplin (1,2,4)
Jimi Hendrix (purple haze)
Rolling stones (too many too mention)

Live

Judas priest unleashed in the east
Roger waters
Kiss Alive
SRV
Rush (exit stage left)

Newer

Billy Idol (devil’s playground)
Queens of the stoneage
Audioslave
Velvet revolver
Greenday (American idiot)

Alternative

Alice in chains
Pearl jam (ten)
Soundgarden (badmotorfinger, superunknown)
Stone temple pilots

Thanks Big John. Hadn't heard Boland or Robison before. It's getting harder and harder to smuggle the new CDs past my wife. Luckily she loves most of the stuff I'm bringing home.

(favorite genre?) How about just 5 favorite bands and or solo artists... In my collection you'll find Motor Head to Nana Mouskouri...

Tough one but,,,
In no particular order:

-Led Zeppelin \ In Through The Out Door (and ofcourse more)

-Weezer \ I like a couple releases.

-Nana Mouskouri \ Mostly like "Song For Liberty" (but I do other releases also)

-David Wicox \ (The Canadian David Wilcox)

-Sarah Mclachlan

-----------
Clearly I could go on, but that's just what popped into my head while sitting here...

Although I listen to much more than jazz, here is my classic jazz list:

Louis Armstrong and His Hot Fives and Hot Sevens
Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie - The Quintet Live from Massey Hall
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Dave Brubeck - Time Out
Miles Davis - Complete Bitches Brew Sessions