I love lists. I am always making them. They give me a sense of order, of direction, of purpose, and of peace. Even the silly lists do these things for me. When I was off reading unsatisfying books one of the post ideas I had was to share some of these lists. Not only would such posts be fairly easy and quick to write up, but they would also hopefully give me insight into the lives of my lovely friends and readers as you disagree, argue, or suggest things that should have made my lists--so argue away.
I thought I would start out by creating a list of my favorite albums. Now I'm not saying that these albums are the best albums ever produced--I checked and none of them even make the top 10 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and I think only 1 even makes the list at all--this is a list that right now, in this moment, is made up of my go-to albums. So without further ado, here is my list (in no particular order--also am keeping the list to 5):
1. The #1 Puccini Album This album includes the brilliant Nessun Dorma performed by Luciano Pavarotti and is a general masterpiece. While some of the albums on this list will probably not be permanent list toppers, I'm pretty sure this will always be one of my favorite and one of my go-to albums--except for not in the car because I tend to speed with it playing cause, yeah, opera has that effect on me.
2. Something's Gotta Give Soundtracks tend to be pretty high on any favorite music list I might create because they give me variety--1 artist for 1 hour tends to bore me. This one is especially great as is contains quite a bit of Jazz (I love Jazz) and not only that but it is French Jazz--big sigh. (Please ignore the creepy Jack Nicholson version of La Vie En Rose)
3. P.S. I Love You Another soundtrack--and probably my true number 1 go-to album right now. About 5 years ago my go-to soundtrack was the Sliding Doors soundtrack. I imagine that this one will eventually follow Sliding Doors into the recesses of my iPod but for now I'm really loving all the amazing vocals.
4. Forever Cool As far as I'm concerned Dean Martin is the king of vocals (sorry Elvis, Bono, MJ, and the rest). This album is a remix and reworking of a few great Dean Martin songs turned duet with some current greats. Some of the duets don't really work (as in I Can't Believe You're In Love with Joss Stone) but others (like King of the Road with Kevin Spacey) are pure joy in music.
5. War by U2. You might actually say that this position is held fairly equally by several U2 albums but I threw War up because it is the one I've listened to a couple of times over the last few days. This might also be the spot that you might be able to get a replacement into because as much as I love U2, and am convinced of their being the greatest band ever, even U2 bores me occasionally.
So what are your top albums? What should I be listening to that maybe I haven't been?
As a bonus here a the two albums that have also been getting a lot of play time but haven't convinced me to put them in my top 5 just yet:
Crazy Love by Michael Bublé--as a Dean Martin fan I just can't resist Michael.
Splendor in the Grass by Pink Martini--even features NPR's Ari Shapiro as a guest vocalist.
I thought I would start out by creating a list of my favorite albums. Now I'm not saying that these albums are the best albums ever produced--I checked and none of them even make the top 10 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and I think only 1 even makes the list at all--this is a list that right now, in this moment, is made up of my go-to albums. So without further ado, here is my list (in no particular order--also am keeping the list to 5):
1. The #1 Puccini Album This album includes the brilliant Nessun Dorma performed by Luciano Pavarotti and is a general masterpiece. While some of the albums on this list will probably not be permanent list toppers, I'm pretty sure this will always be one of my favorite and one of my go-to albums--except for not in the car because I tend to speed with it playing cause, yeah, opera has that effect on me.
2. Something's Gotta Give Soundtracks tend to be pretty high on any favorite music list I might create because they give me variety--1 artist for 1 hour tends to bore me. This one is especially great as is contains quite a bit of Jazz (I love Jazz) and not only that but it is French Jazz--big sigh. (Please ignore the creepy Jack Nicholson version of La Vie En Rose)
3. P.S. I Love You Another soundtrack--and probably my true number 1 go-to album right now. About 5 years ago my go-to soundtrack was the Sliding Doors soundtrack. I imagine that this one will eventually follow Sliding Doors into the recesses of my iPod but for now I'm really loving all the amazing vocals.
4. Forever Cool As far as I'm concerned Dean Martin is the king of vocals (sorry Elvis, Bono, MJ, and the rest). This album is a remix and reworking of a few great Dean Martin songs turned duet with some current greats. Some of the duets don't really work (as in I Can't Believe You're In Love with Joss Stone) but others (like King of the Road with Kevin Spacey) are pure joy in music.
5. War by U2. You might actually say that this position is held fairly equally by several U2 albums but I threw War up because it is the one I've listened to a couple of times over the last few days. This might also be the spot that you might be able to get a replacement into because as much as I love U2, and am convinced of their being the greatest band ever, even U2 bores me occasionally.
So what are your top albums? What should I be listening to that maybe I haven't been?
As a bonus here a the two albums that have also been getting a lot of play time but haven't convinced me to put them in my top 5 just yet:
Crazy Love by Michael Bublé--as a Dean Martin fan I just can't resist Michael.
Splendor in the Grass by Pink Martini--even features NPR's Ari Shapiro as a guest vocalist.
4 comments:
Heaps. But earlier today I was thinking about The Power of One soundtrack and the soundtrack from Hope Floats.
Other Essentials:
Rattle and Hum/Joshua Tree (hey, most of the songs are the same!) by U2
Blue Sky Mining by Midnight Oil
Golden Road by Keith Urban
Songbook by Trisha Yearwood
I'll just quit there. It is YOUR post after all.
Let's see:
Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid - Collective Soul
All That I Can't Leave Behind - U2
If we have to choose albums, then Everything to Everyone by Barenaked Ladies. If we can choose compliation albums, then Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits (1991-2001).
Cosmotron by a Brazilian band named Skank.
And a surprise 5th - Wide Open Spaces by the Dixie Chicks.
STM--I totally knew that you would suggest a Midnight Oil album and Joshua Tree is probably my true favorite U2.
Kirk--Oh, I love Barenaked Ladies so they would totally make my top 10. I've heard good things about Brazilian music so I'm curious about Skank.
Oh how I love your lists! And I'm so excited to see Trisha Yearwood on Science Teacher Mommy's list! I could listen to any of her albums anytime. She's my all time favorite! I also love the One Fine Day album and My Best Friend's Wedding album. Michael Buble's new album is great and I love the Wicked soundtrack. I can't wait to try out some of your selections!
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