(The writer at age 16, photo by Kevin Seaman)
These are the top 50 albums that defined the beginning of my journey in music. I was always the kid with a massive record collection. These are the ones that have lasted, the records that defined the time I was living through and continue to be a compass to guide my efforts with storytelling and the art of recording and song craft.
I’m sure my friends from junior high and high school will have some distinct memories of me evangelizing about these records, and blasting them on cassette mixes in my first car, a beat up old Volvo station wagon. These long plays are true journeys in sound. In all of my favorite works I can simultaneously hear the song narrating my own life story. That’s the true power of music.
I have some notes that I will add here before everyone dives in. I didn’t truly get into the Beatles and World or Classical music until I arrived in New York City in the summer of 1996 at the age of 20. I also never really got Pink Floyd until I heard the “Animals” album and then I was truly hooked, and that is thanks to Connor Kennedy when we met in 2010 (though I always adored the guitar playing of David Gilmour).
It wasn’t until 1998 when my good friend Sean Dixons mother, a truly gifted classical pianist, gave me Glenn Gould’s 1955 recording of Bachs Goldberg Variations record as a birthday present that I was finally hooked on the classical masters. Once I put that on my world exploded. For The Beatles, it was my mid 20s. I knew all the hits of course. But it was Paul McCartneys “She’s Leaving Home” and George Harrisons solo albums that got me indoctrinated into the sounds of the worlds favorite band. I finally became a true believer, better late than never.
So here it is, with all of the above caveats to aide digestion. I went ahead and made a fun, and enormous, Spotify playlist with selections from these albums (and Boxed Sets). The playlist dips and dives around a bit, I also included some extra tracks by each artist for the albums that I consider to be the deep cuts.
As a child of the 1980s/90s, boxed sets count as albums! They were a very popular way to discover tracks and albums that had been previously out of print at the time, and yes they were on compact disc or cassette, and no, there was no internet… a lot of these albums I had to buy on vinyl used and then transfer to cassette at the time. The CD reissues could never keep up with my crate digging in that era. Now they are all there for you to enjoy online, and most have even been remastered for streaming.
I also want to take a moment to acknowledge what an honor its been to join the extended musical families of Gregg Allman, Little Feat and Levon Helm. As I complied this list it dawned on me again that the core of my rock and roll DNA was assembled by some guys who would become my band mates, neighbors, travel companions and brothers of the road. From the beginning my 3 favorites bands were co led by these cats, and in the case of Little Feat, what a tremendous task to be at the wheel with the fellas and my buddy From NYC, Tony Leone, to add some more albums to the catalog, coming very soon… I guess if you study well and keep your nose clean some great things can happen. As Joel Dorn said, “Keep a Light in the Window…”
Scott Sharrard
1/30/24
Spotify Mix-Scott Sharrards Top 50 albums of my youth
Chuck Berry- Berrys on Top
Jimmy Reed-Found Love
Los Lobos-Colossal Head
Jeff Buckley-Grace
Led Zeppelin-Boxed Set (Crop Circles)
Jimi Hendrix-Band Of Gypsys
John Coltrane-The Gentle Side of John Coltrane
Grant Green-Alive
Chris Whitley-Living with The Law
Little Feat-Sailin Shoes
Little Feat-Waiting for Columbus
The Allman Brothers-Dreams Boxed Set (Shout out to Dangerous Dan Toler on the “Liz Reed”!)
The Rolling Stones-Exile on Main Street
The Latin Playboys- Latin Playboys
Elvis Costello-Brutal Youth
Jimi Hendrix-Cry of Love
Paul Weller-Wild Wood
The Band-Music from Big Pink
Bob Dylan-Blood On The Tracks
Otis Redding-The Soul Album
Al Green-Im Still in Love with You
James Brown-Say it Live and Loud in Dallas 1968
Prince-Sign of the Times
The Meters-Uptown Rulers Live on the Queen Mary
Billy Preston-Encouraging Words
Bobby Womack-Understanding/Communication
Donny Hathaway-Live
Sam Cooke-Night Beat
Ray Charles-Atlantic Records Boxed Set
Stevie Wonder-Inner Visions
Sly and the family stone-There’s a Riot Going On
Miles Davis-Kind of Blue
Aretha Franklin-Amazing Grace
Allen Toussaint- Life, Love and Faith
Jeff Beck-Wired
BB king-Live at San Quentin
Johnny guitar Watson-A Real Mother For Ya
D Angelo- Brown Sugar
Me’shell N’Degeocello-Plantation Lullabies
The Roots-Do You Want More?
Maceo Parker-Life on Planet Groove
Bob Marley and the Wailers-The King of Reggae
Van Morrison-Astral Weeks
Jack Kerouac and Steve Allen-Poetry For The Beat Generation
Tom Waits-Big Time
Eddie Harris and Les McCann-Swiss Movement
Ronnie Earl-Language of the Soul
Alice Coltrane-Journey Into Satchidananda
Marvin Gaye-The Master 1961-1984 Boxed Set
Bjork-Post
See the Astrology of Jeff Buckley
https://open.substack.com/pub/karlskellenger/p/the-astrology-of-jeff-buckley-a-study?r=fjmlo&utm_medium=ios
Most of those albums are on my list, as well. I'm a little older, so there would be more Motown (especially Temptations and Contours) on my list, as well of what we called "oldies" in the 1960s (blues and r&b ... although albums were not a common medium for those artists). I'm so freakin' old that I made 4-track mixed tapes and had so many, I never purchased an 8-track player. Then came cassettes and then CDs and I just kept playing the game. I sold my old cassette recorder/player and CD recorder/players in August before moving from Oregon back to California. Thanks for the list ... I'll check out the things I am missing