#43: King Crimson - Red

Release Year: 1974

King Crimson in the 70s was an interesting band.  Each album was stylistically completely different, and the lineup was a revolving door for musicians (only Robert Fripp was in the band throughout that whole era).  Red was their last album recorded before Fripp finally declared King Crimson to be "completely over for ever and ever," and it was actually released after they broke up.

This album is notable for being the only heavy Crimson album, and the only album they recorded as a trio.  Without any flutes, violins, saxophones, or other more classical instruments remaining, King Crimson took on a sound far more akin to the typical 1970s rock band.

Red still has many of the progressive elements that made earlier Crimson albums so interesting–the last two tracks in particular feature some improvisation–but I find it far more accessible than anything else they've done.  While it's not the most brilliant work they've done, it's a one-of-a-kind album in the King Crimson world, and probably the one I'd recommend for people who want to ease into the King Crimson way of doing things.

Standout tracks:

• Fallen Angel
• One More Red Nightmare 

#44: Leftover Salmon and Cracker - O Cracker Where Art Thou?

Release Year: 2003

What happens when you take David Lowery and Johnny Hickman from Cracker, and give them a jamgrass band as their musical accompaniment?  You get one of the coolest novelty albums ever recorded.

Cracker had a few hits back in the early nineties, the most well-known being "Low."  Cracker has always been considered a rock band, but they've always had threads of country throughout their music.  So, they seem like a natural choice for making an entire album of bluegrass covers (well, maybe adaptations, since I'm not sure it can be a cover if it has the original singer).

This album really works for me for two reasons: (a) I really like Cracker, and (b) I really like bluegrass.  The other reason this album has sentimental value for me is that it really introduced me to the bluegrass genre. Furthermore, it taught me that bluegrass music and rock music can be compatible (for more on that, check out Keller and the Keels, who cover Amy Winehouse's "Rehab," Butthole Surfers' "Pepper," Marcy Playground's "Sex and Candy," and an alternate version of Cracker's "Teen Angst."  Also, Punch Brothers versions of The Strokes' "Reptilia" and "Heart in a Cage," Beck's "Sexx Laws," and several Radiohead covers).

Standout tracks:

• Get Off This
• Low
• Eurotrash Girl
• Teen Angst (What The World Needs Now) 

#45: Radiohead - OK Computer

Release Year: 1997

I didn't really start getting into Radiohead until Kid A came out in 2000, but I was a fan of the two Radiohead songs I heard on the radio: "High and Dry" and "Karma Police" (I never much cared for "Creep").  The former was from their straightforward rock album The Bends, and the latter is found on OK Computer.

When I finally decided to further investigate this Radiohead band, I started with Kid A, since it was their new album at the time, and then worked back.  If I enjoyed Kid A, I was blown away by OK Computer.  This was an album that had some of the straightforward rock elements of its predecessor, but it had a killer atmosphere.  They took it to a level where they weren't just assembling a few random songs they had written, without any thought as to how they fit together.  For the first time, they wrote an album, which had a distinct aura and thematic elements, and where each piece became a necessary component of a single coherent unit.

I get tired of all the bleeps and bloops on their post-Kid A work, but I never get sick of this album.  There's really not a bad cut here (except for "Fitter Happier," of course).

Standout tracks:

• Paranoid Android
• Exit Music (For A Film)
• Karma Police
• Climbing Up The Walls 

#46: Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson - Waylon & Willie

Release Year: 1978

Sometimes when getting to know people, the question comes up: "Do you listen to country music?"  To that I am often tempted to respond, with a silent jab at what passes for country nowadays, "I listen to country music.  Do you?"

I hate that new crap that passes for country music, and so does the Rolling Stone editor whose comments are pasted on the back of the vinyl edition which I possess: "Some of the stuff that's passing for country these days...is nothing but a disgrace.  The world needs a lot more Waylon & Willie right now and a whole lot less of that other crap."  Yes, I hate what I typically refer to as country pop, which is what most modern country is.

That's not to say "Waylon & Willie" wasn't popular.  It was.  In fact, this came at the height of the outlaw country movement, and it topped the country charts for several months.  But this was legitimate country.

 The music here is solid, with the highlights being two songs written by another outlaw country stalwart, Kris Kristofferson: "Don't Cuss The Fiddle" and "The Year 2003 Minus 25."  I first fell in love with these tunes when I heard them performed by the lighthearted bluegrass cover trio Keller and the Keels.  This is probably not the greatest country album ever, but it is the one that introduced me to both Jennings and Nelson, and the outlaw country movement in general.  More importantly, it showed me that country music can be enjoyed, if done correctly.

Standout tracks:

• Don't Cuss The Fiddle
• The Year 2003 Minus 25
• The Wurlitzer Prize 

#47: Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

Release Year: 1975

Pink Floyd had a pretty awesome run there in the 70s, with Meddle (1971), Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977), and The Wall (1979).  Dark Side and The Wall are easily the two most well-known, but to me, their best album is Wish You Were Here.

This album borrows a format that has become a mainstay in progressive bands throughout the decades, where they sandwich a few standard-length songs in between two extended, and usually related, song suites (the earliest similarly structured album I can think of off the top of my head, without doing any serious effort, is King Crimson's 1973 album Larks' Tongues in Aspic).  Here, it is the excellent "Shine On, You Crazy Diamond."

But it's not "Shine On" that makes this album a winner... In fact, it's rarely those extended bookends that make these albums work... It's actually the three middle tracks.  I cannot think of a more diverse and enjoyable mix of songs than "Welcome to the Machine," "Have A Cigar," and "Wish You Were Here."  "Machine" has an aura that no other Pink Floyd song achieves, "Cigar" features one of The Floyd's greatest grooves and guitar solos, and the title track is brilliant in its simplicity.

I've been listening to Pink Floyd since I was in high school.  Twelve years after I first heard Dark Side, this is the Pink Floyd album I like the most (and writing this review is really making me wish I had placed it higher than #47).

Standout tracks:

• Welcome to the Machine
• Have A Cigar
• Wish You Were Here
• Shine On, You Crazy Diamond
• (yes, that's the whole album) 

#48: Ben Harper - The Will to Live

 Release Year: 1997

Ben Harper has evolved a lot over time.  For me, The Will to Live was where he was at his artistic peak.  This album has the perfect blend of folk, gospel, and rock.  It has a level of sincerity he hasn't touched since then, and a level of entertainment he hadn't reached in his previous two albums.

I probably have listened to Burn to Shine considerably more than this, but I like this one more.  It's hard to explain, but it all comes down to art.  This album is legitimate art.

Nothing Ben did after Burn really inspires me, though it is, for the most part, solid.  I'll take the folksy, gospel-singing Pleasure and Pain Ben Harper over the rocking Relentless7 Ben Harper any day of the week.

Standout tracks:

• Faded
• Roses From My Friends
• Glory and Consequence
• The Will to Live 

#49: Beck - Sea Change

And now for my 49th favorite album of all time... Beck's Sea Change.

 Release Year: 2002

This is an interesting one... I haven't heard it a whole lot of times.  I rarely listen to it, because it is incredibly mellow.  This is melancholy on a disk... and that's why I like it so much.

In case you've only heard Beck's sample-heavy radio hits ("Where It's At," "Sexx Laws," "Loser," etc.), this isn't your normal Beck Hansen.  This is all acoustic, sample-free, and backed by strings.  And it's really dark.

This album is what really turned me into a fan of Beck's.  Yeah, I liked some of the Odelay stuff.  It's an excellent album.  Here, Beck ditched the expectations and used a vehicle that is absolutely perfect for the message he was trying to get across.

 And that's what good art is.

 Standout tracks:

• Paper Tiger
• Guess I'm Doin' Fine
• Sunday Sun