Monday, August 30, 2010

15 Favourite Albums

The rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen influential albums you've heard that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag fifteen friends, including me, because I'm interested in seeing what albums my friends choose. (To do this, go to your Notes tab on your Facebook profile page, paste rules in a new note, cast your fifteen picks, and tag people in the note.)

"Collective Soul" by Collective Soul - This album is their best album they put out. It has some great songs like "Gel," "December," "Where The River Flows," "She Gathers Rain," "Bleed," "Smashing Young Man," and my personal favourite "The World I Know." This a great album from the 90s from a great alternative rock band who are AWESOME in concert! It is always a good listen!

"Take Everything" by Seventh Day Slumber - This is a great album from a band I discovered by listening to this very album in store. I listened to it twice before buying it. This album is chalk full of worship songs and hymns in rock music form. What got me to buy it is the fact that they managed to do these songs in a way that wouldn't make me get sick of listening to them. That is beauty of it all with this album.

"Crossroads" by Bon Jovi - This is their first greatest hits album and is the first Bon Jovi album I got. I actually wanted it for my birthday all them years ago and got it. It has such great hits as "Always," "Keep The Faith," "Wanted Dead Or Alive," "Lay Your Hands On Me," the great hit "Livin' On A Prayer" among others. It is a must for any Bon Jovi fan and I still listen to it whenever I can.

"Sonic Firestorm" by DragonForce - This is an album is listened to some of in college. I got into DragonForce because of Ian Coglan and Scott Yaremko. I was a fan before the whole "Through Fire And Flames" came out on Guitar Hero 3 made that song popular. This is the best DragonForce album in my opinion. "Once In A Lifetime" and "Prepare For War" are the best songs on the album. You might think DragonForce is cheesy because Herman Li shreds and wanks a lot, but it is a great album. Whenever I feel in the mood, I give it a listen.

"Warning" by Green Day - Unlike a lot of other people who list either "Dookie" or "Nimrod," I find "Warning" as one of their most underrated albums and it is really good all at the same time. This album was before they went truly commercial with "American Idiot" and "21st Century Breakdown." I give it a listen for nostalgia reasons. It has many good songs whether or not they were hits. This album takes me back to my high school days.

"Satellite" by P.O.D. (Payable On Death) - This is the first album by P.O.D. that I listened to. It seemed like everybody had it and there are a number of great songs on this album. This is the album that launched P.O.D. into the secular/mainstream music market. The great thing about it is that they remained true to themselves being Christian. I finally bought this album when I went to CBC in 2006-2007. A purchase I don't regret making.

"Don't Bore Us Get To The Chorus" by Roxette - This was an album that I listened to a lot in CBC. Just ask my friend Mark Jensen and he will confirm that. Great mix of hits from the successful Swedish duo. If you want that 80s and early 90s sound, then this is a great album to listen to. "Joyride" is perhaps their best known hit on the album. The album of the same name ("Joyride") is a great one as well.

"Joyride" by Roxette - This is an album that was released in the early 90s and listened to this on tape so much that the tape broke. The title track "Joyride" is a great song. It also has other great hits like "Big L.," "Spending My Time," "Knocking On Every Door," and "Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave)." It was just an album I loved at that time and if I could find it on CD I would buy it because it is such a great album from my childhood.

"Tuesday Night Music Club" by Sheryl Crow - "All I Wanna Do" is listen to this album. That's what I did when I first got it. It was her breakout debut album which is underrated in my opinion. I even underrated it for a time. But as I would listen to this album I found that there were some great songs that were not even hits like "I Do What I Can." That song has a nice jazz feel to it. I heard a Christian band or artist (I truthfully don't know the name of the band or artist) cover "What I Can Do For You" which was a pretty good version of it. But if you want a good rock/soft rock album, then give this one a listen.

"Hell Freezes Over" by Eagles - This album took me such a long time to like, but now I can say I do. If you look past "Hotel California" then you will see that there are a number of great songs. You want like all of them like me. "Desperado" is a song that took me a while to like it. When I heard Johnny Cash's cover of it, I got to liking the song. Most of the album is live album except the first four tracks. "Learn To Be Still" is one of the studio recorded tracks that is very good. All around great album chalk full of classic rock.

"Amanda Marshall" by Amanda Marshall - I am a huge Amanda Marshall fan. She doesn't get nearly enough airplay in my opinion. This album I listened to a lot. My mom thought Amanda Marshall would sound more like Alanis Morrisette on her "Jagged Little Pill" album. But she surprised that she sounded nothing like her. I told her that she didn't. I made a great choice in picking up this album. All of the songs on this album are top notch. Seeing her in concert was just amazing when she was promoting this album.

"Twentysomething" by Jamie Cullum - I heard some of this album back in CBC. Jamie Cullum is just an amazing jazz pianist and vocalist. His cover of "Singing In The Rain" is awesome. His cover of Jimi Hendrix' "The Wind Cries Mary" is also good. He has this great jazz voice and can skat pretty well. Just an amazing piece of modern jazz work from future legend in jazz. Cullum can make almost anybody a fan of jazz. He is one of the few artists that got me into liking jazz more.

"Lean Into It" by Mr. Big - This was a big album for me in my childhood. I had it on tape and I listened to it A LOT! Pretty much every song except "To Be With You" was great. Even then "To Be With You" was a decent song. That song was their big power ballad for the album. They have song fast paced get you pumped up songs to songs that let mellow out because they are ballads. It is just a great album from start to finish. This is another album I need to find again. Paul Gilbert is a great guitarist and his use of a drill on this album is sheer innovation.

"Christmas Album" by Boney M. - You might think "WTF?" But this is an album I grew up listening to, especially during the holidays. It has all the classic Christmas carols and songs. I especially enjoy "Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord" which if you listen to the tape version of the album, then it is the last song on the the first side or side A. It's just an all around great Christmas album.

"Jagged Little Pill" by Alanis Morrisette - This is the album that made Alanis Morrisette HUGE! She sold a lot of copies of these albums. The basis for this album was her being jaded over an ex-boyfriend. Some of the songs if you read the lyrics clearly point that out.

"Dangerous Minds Soundtrack" - This is the only album I have which is urban, rap, and R&B mixed. The only reason this soundtrack sold anything is because of "Gangsters Paradise" by Coolio. Since then Coolio hasn't been able to re-produce the same level of success. I actually took the album from my sister who bought it for whatever reason. I listened to a bunch and I only mentioned this because this sort of album is in genres, if you know me, that I don't like much or at all. Don't you find it odd that I have a soundtrack to a movie I've never seen? I think so. But also, it's always good to have albums outside of your musical comfort zone. I try to listen a wide variety of music, but some genres I just can't do it.

So there you have it. Those were 15 of my favourite albums out of countless favourite albums.

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