100 Albums You Would wish for...from a Genie


This thread was inspired by this thread:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/building-a-100-album-vinyl-collection-3-must-have-albums-are

Please add to the above list. Thanks!

 

Okay, here is my premise for this:

I find an very odd, really old record in the $.99 cent bin in the back corner of some old, dusty record store. I pull the LP from the sleeve and a Genie appears. He says I can have any equipment/gear I want. Speakers, amp, preamp, etc. Just name it, (mbl Master Reference System and a custom room for it please.)...

...but, I can only have 100 albums forever to play on it. No "Best Of" or "Greatest Hits". No Box Sets or Compilations. Soundtracks are fine if original score, no Compilations. Double and Triple LP’s count as one album. (This Genie was very detailed in his instructions. He kinda looked like Donald Fagen).

 

What 100 albums would they be?

(I know I fudged on a rule or two, on a few of mine).

 

  1. Allman Brothers-Idlewild South

  2. Amazing Rhythm Aces-Too Stuffed To Jump

  3. April Wine-Harder, Faster

  4. Atlanta Rhythm Section-Red Tape

  5. Bad Company-Straight Shooter

  6. The Band-The Last Waltz

  7. The Beatles-Abbey Road

  8. The Beatles: Rubber Soul

  9. Jeff Beck-Live At Ronnie Scott’s

  10. Blackberry Smoke-The Whippoorwill

  11. Blackfoot-Strikes

  12. Karla Bonoff-Restless Nights

  13. Boston-Boston

  14. Jackson Browne-Late For The Sky

  15. Jimmy Buffett-Songs You Know By Heart

  16. Charlie-Lines

  17. Chicago-Chicago Transit Authority

  18. Eric Clapton-461 Ocean Boulevard

  19. Eric Clapton-Slowhand

  20. Marc Cohn-Marc Cohn

  21. Shawn Colvin-Fat City

  22. Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Sessions

  23. Creedence Clearwater Revival-Cosmo’s Factory

  24. Crosby, Stills & Nash-Daylight Again

  25. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young-Deja Vu

  26. Christopher Cross-Christopher Cross

  27. Miles Davis- Bitches Brew

  28. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue

  29. Dire Straits-Making Movies

  30. Doobie Brothers-Toulouse Street

  31. Eagles-The Long Run

  32. Electric Light Orchestra-Out Of The Blue

  33. Emerson, Lake & Palmer-Works Volume 1

  34. Melissa Etheridge-Brave And Crazy

  35. Donald Fagen-The New York Rock And Soul Review

  36. Donald Fagen-The Nightfly

  37. Fleetwood Mac-Rumours

  38. Foghat-Foghat

  39. Genesis-Invisible Touch

  40. Hall & Oates-Private Eyes

  41. George Harrison-All Things Must Pass

  42. Head East-Flat As A Pancake

  43. Heart-Dreamboat Annie

  44. John Hiatt-Slow Turning

  45. Hootie And The Blowfish-Cracked Rear View

  46. Bruce Hornsby & The Range-The Way It Is

  47. Indigo Girls-Nomads, Indians & Saints

  48. J. Giles Band-Bloodshot

  49. James Gang-Straight Shooter

  50. Jefferson Airplane-Red Octopus

  51. Billy Joel-The Stranger

  52. Elton John-Goodbye Yellowbrick Road

  53. Rickie Lee Jones-Rickie Lee Jones

  54. Kansas-Leftoverture

  55. Kiss-Dressed To Kill

  56. Mark Knopfler -Shangri La

  57. Alison Krauss-Forget About It

  58. Little River Band-First Under The Wire

  59. The Liz Barnez Band-Inkmarks On Pages

  60. Shelby Lynne-Just A Little Lovin’

  61. Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays-As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls

  62. Steve Miller-Book Of Dreams

  63. Joni Mitchell-Hissing of Summer Lawns

  64. Van Morrison – Moondance

  65. New Riders Of The Purple Sage-The Adventures Of Panama Red

  66. Stevie Nicks-Bella Donna

  67. Tom Petty-Damn The Torpedoes

  68. Poco-Legend

  69. The Police-Zenyatta Mendatta

  70. Queen-The Works

  71. REO Speedwagon-Ridin’ The Storm Out

  72. Robbie Robertson-Robbie Robertson

  73. Linda Ronstadt-Simple Dreams

  74. Roxy Music -Avalon

  75. Rush-2112

  76. Sawmill Creek-Wild Western Windblown Band

  77. Bob Seger-Night Moves

  78. Paul Simon-Still Crazy After All These Years

  79. Bruce Springsteen-Born To Run

  80. Steely Dan-Aja

  81. Steely Dan - Gaucho

  82. Steely Dan-Two Against Nature

  83. Styx-Crystal Ball

  84. Cat Stevens - Tea for the Tillerman

  85. Joss Stone-The Soul Sessions

  86. Supertramp- Crime of the Century

  87. Richard and Linda Thompson- Shoot Out The Lights

  88. Toto-Hydra

  89. Traffic-Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys

  90. Trooper-Knock ’Em Dead Kid

  91. Robin Trower-Bridge of Sighs

  92. The Wallflowers-Bringing Down The Horse

  93. Joe Walsh-The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get

  94. Wings-Band On The Run

  95. Wings-Venus And Mars

  96. The Wonderful Sounds of Female Vocals

  97. The Wonderful Sounds of Male Vocals

  98. Yes-Fragile

  99. Warren Zevon-Warren Zevon

  100. ZZ Top-Tres Hombres

 

This is just for fun. I found a ton of albums off the thread, listed at the top, that I had forgot about. Was hoping to find even more. If you want to participate, cool! If not, please don’t.

I’m by no means expecting everyone to add a list of 100 titles. I thought it was a blast, but did take some time.  I've also had a blast going back and relistening to a lot of these.  Man, I sure missed them.

Play if you want...

 

(This is by no means a final, definitive list. Probably hundreds of more albums await...)

128x128mofimadness

One real "problem" for me is that a fair amount of my favorite music was recorded "indifferently" or worse. And if a system is a little "too good" (i.e ruthlessly revealing), those kind of recordings may become somewhat unpleasant to listen to.

In my experience, a very transparent tweeter like a planar-magnetic, electrostatic, or ribbon may not make poor recordings unlistenable, but a metal-done tweeter might. I think that is a result of the tendency for some metal domes to "ring" a little. That is of course a broad generalization, so no offense intended, metal dome tweeter owners. 😊

Do many of us work towards building a system transparent enough to serve the music well, but not so unforgiving that less-than-superb recordings lead us to not listen to them as much as we would like to?

When Audiogon member Simon (folkfreak) had me over to his Portland home to hear his outstanding system, the sound of the tweeters in his Magico Q3 loudspeakers (augmented with Townshend Audio Maximum Supertweeters) contributed to a tonal balance I am not accustomed to. I had heard Magico’s before (I don’t remember which model), but in a bigger room and at a greater listening distance (in Simon’s old room the distance was about six or so feet, maybe a little more. Is that correct Simon?). And Simon’s room was very neutral (it was fitted with ASC products, including the WallDamp used in the construction of the room’s structure), "cooler" than the somewhat warm room I listen in. I hadn’t before heard the Townshend tweeter, and of course had no knowledge of the spl/crossover frequency, etc. it was being used at.

The LP’s I brought along (Richard & Linda Thompson’s Shoot Out The Lights on UK Hannibal Records and Cat Stevens’ Tea For The Tillerman on UK Island) sounded probably the over-all best I have ever heard them (both are excellent recordings), with not a trace of hardness, glare, or other nasties (Simon’s ARC and VTL electronics share in the credit 😉). But the higher frequencies were more prominent than I am accustomed to. Interestingly, Simon---having traded his Q3’s for M3’s---no longer feels the need for the Townshend tweeters.

I have long felt that the popularity of the Vandersteen Model 2 (well earned and deserved, imo) was in part due to it’s slightly forgiving nature (in comparison to some competing loudspeakers); that is, just slightly on the warm side of neutral. Vandersteen owners may prefer them to, for instance, Wilson’s for that very reason. Vandersteen’s can be listened to for hours with no listening fatigue, even with somewhat bright recordings. I’ve never owned a pair, but have heard many hours of music through them.

Everything sound better in a well optimized and well embedded system...

If not, there is a synergy problem or perhaps an acoustic factor not well done...

Everything sound good in my 2 system even the worst recording ... They sound better than they ever did...

Then..........

 

One of the reason for this "problem" is that many audiophile confuse musical natural sounding system with "more detailed" one and especially brighter one...

 

One real "problem" for me is that a fair amount of my favorite music was recorded "indifferently" or worse. And if a system is a little "too good" (i.e ruthlessly revealing), those kind of recordings may become somewhat unpleasant to listen to.

@bdp24 This is a great point you make about super-revealing gear causing less-than-stellar recordings to be more pronounced in their less-than-stellarness.  
Tough thing about such listening habits.  
I suppose if one only listens to music that was recorded immaculately, the high-end stuff pays off marvelously.  
Listening to roughly recorded music exclusively makes the money, time and effort spent on maximized fidelity with home audio a really dicey proposition. 
Really tough for folks who have a super diverse taste for music.

"Super revealing gear" is not necessaraly a true qualitative system ....

True audiophile system/room make any recording better even the bad recording...

Many confuse details and bright...

Natural timbre sound  is the mark of a great system not  "details" coming from brightness...

Acoustics basic...

I've made my "desert island list" many times. Yo Lo Tengo is a perennial pick. "We Be Sailin'" by B W Stevenson HAS to be there, and John Prine, my sing along records... it's lonely on a desert island. Today, Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks" Flat Duo Jets. The Residents, Silver Apples, Red Crayolas, Stereo Lab, George Antheil, Zappa, Ornette Coleman, Sarah Vaughn, Patsy Cline, Beethoven's 3rd.... But this is a WISH list, right?

Is it about my favorite music, things I already have, or can get? Like, give me a pristine copy of something I have? I don't like to be limited, I don't want to be boxed, what a chance to explore. So, I would ask a Djinn for the obscure, the rumored, the forgotten, the runs of 100 pressings, the things a Djinn would have in their collection... not record club or played to death on FM. Not my favorites, so much, but things that could become favorites. I might say something like, "I want 100 albums I didn't know existed, so surprise me" and then add them to the shelves, after auditioning...and being surprised ;)

but that's just me. go ahead, make it 100 copies of signed "Born in the USA" and I'll sell them on Fleece bay