A contemporary who has been a close friend since the late 70's and I compiled a list of every record (we think) one should have if one wants to recapitulate the early "explosion" years in R & R. Though our list includes releases well before 1967, that was the magical year of the beginning of the FM Rock Revolution. AOR didn't stand for "Adult Oriented Rock," it was used to denote ALBUM (non-hit) OR. Sometimes songs or artists could be both, but you would never hear deep cuts on AM, let alone new album releases played front to back, w/o interruption, the second the station got it in-hand.

So, basically, we're covering '66 through about '82, though there may be a few artists before and after those years, 'cause we would want to include them on every list. More importantly, we went from AOR to MTV's early, yet most influential times. There IS no sucky decade. There's tons of 70's in here and almost none of it is disco.

We met and hit it off in college because of R & R. We were both Beefheart fans, so that sort of sealed the deal.

This list includes "Kevin things" I can't stand, and "Bob things" that he can't. We wanted to try to keep as much on the table as possible. Disagree at will. It's just the ramblings of 2 geezers (who were THERE when you weren't, punks!), so play it at is lays. Outrages for omissions or inclusions encouraged. I said we were geezers, so we may have made omissions because of dementia precox.

Our individual lists were in alphabetical order, not by decade. We tried to pick not nec. our faves (sometimes we just had to!), but which albums by which artists we felt are the best examples of their sort. A great deal of these recordings were in EVERYONE'S 'plank and cinder block' book cases, cool, hip, or dweeb. No matter your musical mainstays, everyone owned Carol King's "Tapestry," everyone owned "Rumors," by Fleetwood Mac, most people had Beatles AND Stones albums, unless you were some die-hard, "them or us" person and couldn't understand any personality that allowed for BOTH Beatles AND Stones, and they were not in short supply. I am the only person in the world who owns "Orchestra Luna." Yeah, they were that gifted and unusual. We did try to stay away from "obscura" like that, but allowed each other a couple, otherwise, no "Buzzcocks!"

AC/DC Power Age
Adam Ant Viva La Rock
Aerosmith Toys in the Attic
Argent In Deep
B52's 1st release
The Band Music from Big Pink
Blind Faith 1st release
Beatles Meet the..
Jeff Beck Truth
BeeGee's Greatest Hits II
Big Brother & The Holding Co. Cheap Thrills
Big Star #1 Record
Bloodwyn Pig A Head Ring Out
Bowie Ziggy
Buffalo Springfield Again
The Byrds Mr. Tambourine Man
Bauhaus The Sky Gone Out
Buzzcocks Singles
Bronski Beat Age of Consent
Captain Beefheart Troutmask Replica
The Cars 1st release
Cream Disraeli Gears
Culture Club Kissing to be Clever
Cheap Trick 1st release
Alice Cooper Pretties for You
Credence Clearwater Revival Cosmos Factory
CSN 1st release
Elvis Costello My Aim is True
The Cure Standing on the Beach
Joe Cocker A Little Help from my Friends
Donovan Catch the Wind
Dylan Hgwy 61 ...
Doors 1st release
Devo Are We Not Men?
Deep Purple Machine Head
Delaney & Bonnie & Friends
Derek & the Dominoes Layla
Depeche Mode Some Great Reward
Dire Straits 1st release
Eno Here Come the Warm Jets
Eurythmics Touch
Eagles Desperado
ELO New World Record
Faces A Nod is as Good as a Wink
Aretha Franklin Gold
Foreigner 1st
Four Seasons Hits
Peter Frampton A Wind of Change
Geo. Harrison All Things Must Pass
Marvin Gaye Hits #1
Genesis Selling England by the Pound
Grass Roots Golden Grass
Ritchie Havens Mixed Bag
Hendrix Electric Lady Land
Hollies Hits
Richard Hell Blank Generation
Elton Caribou
Jethro Tull Aqualung
Joy Division Closer
Janis Pearl
M. Jackson Up Against the Wall
Etta James Rock the House
Billy Joel Turnstiles
Tommy James Hits
Kinks Everybody's a Star
Kraftwerk Trans Euro...
Kansas Masque
Little Feat The Last Record Album
Led Zep II
Lovin' Spoonful Hits
J. Lennon Imagine
Mammas & Papas If You Can Believe...
Joni Blue
Mothers of Invention Uncle Meat
Steve Miller Band Fly Like and Eagle
P. McCartney 1st solo
C. Mayfield Back to the Wall
Harry Nilsson Nilsson Schmilsson
Orchestra Luna only release
Nazz Nazz Nazz
Prince Sign o' the Times
PIL First Issue
Pink Floyd DSOTM
Poco 2nd release
Psychedelic Furs 1st release
Procol Harum Home
Quicksilver Messenger Service 1st release
Queen Queen II
Lou Rawls Tobacco Road
O. Redding King & Queen
Rascals Hits
Ramones The Ramones
Todd Rundgren Something/Anything
Lou Reed Transformer
Paul Revere and the Raiders Hits
Roxy Music Country Life
Linda Ronstadt Hits
Rolling Stones Let it Bleed
Stooges Raw Power
Soft Cell Non-stop Erotic...
The Smiths The Queen is Dead
Patti Smith Horses
Supertramp Breakfast in America
Sweet Desolation Blvd.
Sex Pistols Never Mind ...
Steely Dan Can't Buy a Thrill
Simon & Garfunkel Bookends
Cat Sevens Tea for the Tillerman
Supremes Hits
Squeeze Argy Bargy
T-Rex Slider
Talking Heads 77
The Temptations Hits
James Taylor Sweet Baby James
10cc Sheet Music
Traffic John Barleycorn Must Die
The Tubes The Tubes
Stevie Wonder Innervisions
Neil Young Harvest
Yes Fragile


So you made it this far, huh? Well there's your summer reading list to review what so many were listening to in the mid-60's to the very early 80's. It runs the gamut from R & B, early garage rock through prog to new wave and punk---all in less than two decades. I was paying a lot more attention then. It's not definitive (i.e. neither of us liked early metal, so no Sabbath), but with these you'd get a great idea about what was going on in R & R and a bit of the world, too.

Edit: The proper spacers between artist name and title was lost when I copied from Word, sorry.

Boston and America omitted? Turnstiles over Stranger? Ok ok, I'll shut up.

This list is sick! Bob, once again, you emit awesome!

Could've put more effort into this, Bob.

That's funny!

I have to agree regarding The Stranger from Billy Joel.

And Led Zep II instead of IV?

I think Bob is going to arouse more ire here than if he had brought up politics or religion!

Hurry! To the pitchforks!

No Yellow Brick Road?

Yeah, replace Led Zep II with their best album...Physical Graffiti.

Van Morrison? Doobies? Cap't and Tennille?

Back in the day

Foghat
Humble Pie
Ten Years After
Nazareth
Golden Earing
Led Zep III
Grand Funk Railroad
Santana
Atomic Rooster

Great list. Although, there are some I like less than others, I wouldn't disagree with any of them.

Found it interesting that you listed CSN's FIRST album. The consensus seems to be that the second album, Deja Vu, was their benchmark album. Personally, though I loved Deja Vu, I always preferred the first album. Of course that was my first exposure to CSN. I was in Vietnam at the time, and that was my first exposure to reefer as well.

I had a cassette of that album which I played on a portable, monaural cassette player. If I placed KNOW I was hearing the album in stereo and nobody could convince me otherwise.

Glad you included Joni's "Blue." One of my very favorite albums. "I could drink a case of you.....darlin', and I would still be on my feet, oh I would still be on my feet."

Great list, Bob. Brings back a lot of memories. I'm a little younger than you, but that period was certainly formative for me.

It looks like you are enforcing a one release per artist rule, which compels me to quibble with some of your choices. I can only guess that you are prioritizing cultural impact over artistic excellence by taking Breakfast in America over Crime of the Century, for instance. And I certainly like both Completion Backwards Principle and Remote Control better than the first Tubes album. How you got the Genesis pick correct is a mystery.

My list would also include Rush and The Who, whose omissions render you dead to me. Again.

Why would he need something by the Who when he already has a choice for the preferred Led Zep?

Thanks Bob. I clipped the entire thing into an Evernote list I keep of my music wishlist. I was only born in 69 but I actually had many of those on vinyl or cassette Sadly, almost all of them were stolen off a truck during a move and many deserve to be found again. The 3 boxes of music were the only thing that were stolen, which is testament to your list, perhaps.

Has anyone questioned how Bob happened to have come across so many albums and cassettes that were in YOUR collection Andy?

That's a good point. We actually knew it was somebody "from away...." as they didn't have Island plates.

It's a funny story actually, we caught they guys piling the boxes into the back of a Chevette so we thought we could easily catch up to them and <text removed in case it's being monitored by law enforcement>, I mean... "negotiate with them".

We piled into the big Dodge pickup my buddy owned and chased them but we forgot to close the tailgate and a bunch of other stuff started sliding off the back of the truck. We decided to cut our losses before our limited electronics and furniture hit the pavement. Not that it was worth anything, but it was all we had.

I've been in a car with Bob at the wheel in downtown Boston.

I call him Bob K. Foyt when he's out of earshot.

Jus' Sayin'.

So what I got out of this is that Bob and Kevin have been friends for almost as long as I have been alive, and they are old geezers. Sound about right?



OK, so I actually listened to a good amount of those albums. Should be worthy of a revisit as some point... I do try to put music on my phone to listen to while mowing the grass in the summer. There is enough here to get me through the whole mowing season and not listen to a repeat.

It's true that much of that music is better with some grass in the mix.

Once again, Tom, we are, as you have said, sympatico.

Bob, I dig the list. I'd add these:

Blondie - Parallel Lines (vs Eat to the Beat)
Rush - 2112 (vs Moving Pictures)
The Who - Tommy (vs Who's Next or Quadrophenia)
Warren Zevon - Excitable Boy

You're wrong about Tommy. But we're still friends.

I know you're a Quadrophenia guy. Trying to pick between Tommy and Quadrophenia is like trying to pick between a million 1969 dollars and a million 1973 dollars. Both awesome, and I'd take either one gladly.

I would take The Wall over Dark Side of the Moon, but that's just me.

My two favorite Rush albums are actually Hemispheres and Power Windows, but I adjusted for the masses.

Well, if we're adjusting for the masses, I think you have to take "Who's Next".

I guess Bob stipulated "best of their type" or some such. Now, I don't know exactly what that means and maybe he thinks that the "types" we're trying to cover with Rush, The Who and others are already covered.

Other than the suggestions already offered by others, I think this is a pretty amazing and complete list of important works during that time period. How about Tower of Power - Back to Oakland?

Putting the Smiths on there - who I like a lot - really pushes it into the 1980s, where you could also lobby for R.E.M and U2. Maybe the Police - too pop?

I cannot believe Kevin and I forgot The Whom!!!!!!

For him I KNOW it's Tommy and for me, for sure, Sellout.

I have every Who record!!! How'd I do that? Thanks for pointing that out.

Kevin and I did that over an entire weekend at my house "doon nuthin.'" There was a LOT of discussion. (He'll croak when I tell him we forgot Pete and Co.!) We left Boston out, because we're from here and we know that they were never real until they had a record out. None of us in working bands had ever heard of them at the time. But, yes, indeed, everyone in the world had the first and second one (7 years later; 10 more for the 3rd).

Rush just wasn't all that here for most of us. I know of no one who doesn't respect them, but I also have no friends here who own one. I tell you, it's that g.d. clarinet!

And, yes, it was very much an "if you buy only one record by______,then..." A lot of these are not my faves by these artists, just the ones that we thought would tell the listener the most important things about their part(s) in the bigger picture.

I do not like The Ramones, or a ton of others here. That's why I wanted to do it with Kevin. Someone who knows us both could look at that list and tell if the choice was mutual or, if not, exactly whose inclusion it was. Kevin would not have included 10cc. They were just never on his radar. You know how that is. I loved Kansas. AOR Ambien for him.

We also left out tons of mega, word-wide hit albums by the likes of Al Stewart, Christopher Cross, Men at Work and hosts of others. Yes, for the same reasons you are thinking right now.

We could have, should have included Blue Cheer, "Vincibus Eruptum," if only because we all fell for it (i.e. bought it) and it is STILL out there, on 180g and remastered, even.

You should hear it, all the way through, once in your life. No 3-piece had ever used 3,500 watts worth of amps before, AND they were from SF, so we were all sold right away. What they do to "Parchment Farm" should have included jail time. Poor Mose Allison! He wasn't even dead then!

So, it really is a melding of two peoples' tastes, but with, like, a 70% crossover rate (common ground).

And you're correct. Choosing the artists was often way easier than just one album by them. (I would have conceded "Sellout" for Kevin's "Tommy" choice.)

Thanks to all for your "Notices of Omission." Was hoping to see some passion! Pissah!

Cam: lol!!

Another good catch. We have both become so disavowed of Sting, that we forget he was in a band, a great one at the time, too.

Kevin would totally concur. First album is in the late 70's, right. Your inclusion. YOU pick one Police album.

Maybe we considered them too "cuspy?"

The Police - Outlandos d'Amour
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Damn the Torpedoes
The Allman Brothers Band - at Fillmore East
ZZ Top - Eliminator
The Clash - London Calling

I gotta agree with PJ- Those five should all be on there.

Van Halen - Van Halen (by a hair over 1984).

I guess you lumped Journey and Styx into the popular abyss with Fleetwood Mac and Boston. Fine with me!

P.S. - I found my outrage, Bob. I'm sure you'll be happy to hear it. Here goes.

Ahem.

Yo, Yankee boy - where's the Southern Rock - the Lynyrd Skynyrd, 38 Special??!

Never mind. I don't do outrage very well. Carry on.

Had they been included, those are EXACTLY the ones I would have picked. All really good ones.

See, neither of us really liked the Allmans, so they completely missed our list radar, but that IS the one!

I would have, but they were among Kevin's "unchallenged" vetoes. I like 'em both. See, we Yanks never got over that "you people" thought long hair was for fags and so was rock/pop. Then a whole decade later, you give us group after group of Yetis, all drooling onto Gibson Les Paul's.

We can always count on you Southerners to arrive to the party all hoopin' and a hollerin' when it was actually held last month.

Yeah, it's Who's Next" for me. I plead guilty, unashamedly, to being a part of the masses.


Good call!

Deja Vu was the first album I owned, but I absolutely love CSN's first.

I know most of the list Bob, but for some reason I completely missed Eno the first time around.

America's debut album is a glaring omission though.

No Springsteen?

And I just know that leaving out the Dead was an oversight.

Bob, I'm not seeing enough passion here, so here goes........

Springsteen gets on the list when he stops using vocal weigh to pretend he has more than three notes in his vocal range!!!

<<Runs away hugging as many fire extinguishers as he can carry.>>

Your point is well taken, Murph. Nonetheless, he has put out several songs I really like.

Long ago, I learned to divorce "good" and "bad" from "like" and "dislike." There are plenty of not-so-good songs and artists I enjoy, and plenty of really good (great?) music and talented artists I don't. What's even better, I feel no need to justify my opinions.

It's OK, Jack. You shall remain one of my favorite plebians.

Damn it Jack! Your logic totally diffused my attempt to start a big fuss.

You and you're damn luvability and all!!!

Only Tom is allowed to give me hugs. Well......... he wasn't allowed to.....but he did..... and when I was trying to disguise my healthy Murphshine glow and talk seriously on camera even!!!

Thankfully neither made it to the edited piece.

For another $50 US, it won't end up on YouTube either!

I miss you, Murph.

I'll readily admit to any oversight, even a minor one. I just couldn't include them on any list. To me, they were Neil Young for people who didn't like Neil Young---A Neil Young cocktail w/o the alcohol.

I now know that there were some that got dropped by mistake when I smashed the lists together. "The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle" WAS on my list, but Kevin hates Springsteen for the same reason I like him. He watered down the Dylan cocktail that Kevin loved and I wanted to hear only by the Byrds. Springsteen gave me another way to appreciate Dylan w/o having to like him...still.

Keep 'em coming! We should finish the list with an 80's-present list.

There it is, Jack!

And you're right, you don't have to justify your opinions, 'cept that's where the discord lies and that's where I get to use most of my material.

Yeah, I'm so "middle class" it's disgusting. But, there ya are. What you see is what you get (cliche #467)

Apologies. I enjoy a good tussle now and then Myself. SPRINGSTEENSUCKS!!!!! There! That should help

Edit: Did I actually capitalize the word "myself?" OY! Next thing you know I'll be using the royal "We." Sheesh.

You have excellent material, too. Though I would prefer a more gentle phrasing, I don't mind anyone saying my opinion sucks cuz that's just their opinion and they are welcome to it and welcome to express it.

Fred, since you're here, the Dead left no descendants. No pun intended. They are not really an influential band, unless you count Phish.

Recapitulation, if done correctly leaves descendants?

The Dead were disciples of the turn on, tune in, drop out movement that was at the core of the late 60s youth movement. If you are to recapitulate (safely) that era, you must include the Dead.

Nope. Quadriplegic. You were close.

Dude!.....Whoa! If a Quadriplegic listens to Quadrophenia in Quadraphonic surround......Like....Whoa!......

::runs away from Colorado with mind blown::

I know you're right, but we really don't like them. However, I like you, so OK, they're in. Now pick a single album to include.

Damn, now you're making me work. My favourite album is Blues for Alah, but its a studio album and the dead were renouned for their live shows, albums and bootlegs.

Hmm, since the Philmore was ground zero for the movement (deadheads and hippydom) it should be one of their bootleg live at the Philmore west releases. I don't know that I can narrow it down more than that.

That WOULD be like....WOW. The universe might explode.

Fred, you are the only person I've known to grandiosize the Fillmore by spelling it with a "Ph, "like "Philharmonic." I am sufficiently amused that we shall leave a permanently open
space for the inclusion of any Dead album you fancy on any given day. (I owned "Oaxoaca," however the hell it's spelled.)

It's spelled with a "PH".

Thank you Mark. Bob. My teachers never appreciated my creative talents either. At least you let me pick a dead album.

How do you know when deadheads have been staying with you?
They're still there.

Where do you hide things from deadheads?
Under the soap.

How many deadheads does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Two, one to twist it and one to light it


What do deadheads say when they run out of dope?
"What is this awful music

MONEY! Those are great, Murph!

I especially like the last one.

Tom, aren't you supposed to be attending to important conference business in DC about now?

Today's prospective vendor did not pass the technical spec requirements test. So I get to type and conference call from my hotel instead. Whoopee!