This is the title of a book I found in a bargain bin today. I paid $4 but you can find most of it here:
http://www.1000recordings.com/

I found myself first reading up on the recordings in the book that I already have, learning a lot of new stuff about them. Then the nice thing is that in each article it also mentions related music on similar and tangential planes, making me curious about other recordings.

I think it is a great tool that will help focus my future music explorations and purchases. It covers all music genres.

Very, very cool. Thanks for sharing.

Yeah, I borrowed that from the library about a year ago. It had about 120 suggestions in the the classical category which were interesting to read, although I understandably had different choices for most of the compositions which were covered.

Kiss made the rock list? Ooooh, Kate and Anna McGarrigal did to.

Ha, Nilsson Schmilsson.

Dust, Screaming Trees: Never heard of it, but in my younger years I would have bought this one just for the cover art. There are some things about albums I really miss.

Johm Barleycorn Must die. Great album, bought that one for the title.

No Gentle Giant though. They were THE musicians musicians of the time. Surprising.

You could go your whole life without listening to Kiss and not miss a thing. I thought they were IT for a couple of years .... of course, I was twelve at the time and had not yet listened to Led Zeppelin.

I've never listed to Kiss. I don't feel like I've missed anything.

Just about every Genre I listen to today isn’t on the list.

This list might be the only time that you see Sinatra and Slayer as recommended material in practically the same breath.

Leather helmets arn't in fasion either.

Actually leather tanker helmets are quite fashionable amongst WWII re-enactors riding motorcycles and those looking for the “retro” look w/o going German as they were quite popular with GI’s riding bikes back then.

Any essential list that excludes Gentle Giant and includes Kiss is very dubious at best.

I'll give you 5 albums that you should definitely hear before you die:

1. The The - Mind Bomb
2. Jellyfish - Spilt Milk
3. Pre Fab Sprout - Jordan: The Comeback
4. Mike Keneally - Wooden Smoke
5. Crowded House - Temple Of Low Men

Of course I could go on and on and on...

I'm going to buy these all as MP3 albums just to mess with you.

I just realized that Soul Mining is one of my favorite albums and it is the only The The album I have. Why did I never explore more of their music???

I won't stop you. How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Not at all! I was born in 1962. Around the same time the Beatles started getting their sh#t together...

And here's 10 more essential recordings that are incredible (and you should hear before you croak!):

1. Porcupine Tree - Fear Of A Blank Planet
2. Squarepusher - Go Plastic
3. Super Furry Animals - Rings Around The World (surround version)
4. Liz Phair - Whitechocolatespaceegg
5. Frank Zappa - The Yellow Shark
6. Julian Cope - Interpreter
7. Sam Phillips - Martinis and Bikinis
8. Sloan - Never Hear The End Of It
9. Tom Ze' - Fabrication Defect
10. Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante

And since my recommendations were a bit top heavy with the rock/pop genres, here's 5 essential jazz recordings:

1. Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage
2. Chick Corea - Now He Sings Now He Sobs
3. Carla Bley - Musique Mecanique
4. Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil
5. Miles Davis - Kind OF Blue
6. Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
7. Thelonius Monk - Brilliant Corners
8. Sun Ra - The Magic City
9. Cecil Taylor - Conquistador
10. Pharoah Sanders - Karma

That looks like 10 to me, or are only 5 of the 10 essential?

Oops! Guess I should wait until I wake up to post one here!

So, Terry, now that you're awake, are you gonna delete 5 of 'em? I'm way more interested in seeing which 5 now have to go away.

Lolz... I'm more likely to add even more recommendations!

Now that I'm awake.. (and my girlfriend says it's time to bake!)

I love Sundays...

Boy, now that's a euphemistic motherload!

Ooooh!! a jazz top 10. Perfect. Though I have listened to Jazz for years, my collection is rather thin.

Do you have any Hiromi Uehara? I'm curious to know if you think she is top 10 worthy.

I finally got this. Holy cow it is awesome! It makes me sad that albums mastered as well as this are so rare.