I do that. I'm a geek.
Normally when I read best-ofs and must-haves, they tend to include major albums that a lot of people have heard of. Like Springsteen’s Born to Run and Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. Which are great albums, sure. But everyone knows them. And I think people like learning new stuff.
So, in the spirit of recommending essential albums that I’m guessing not a lot of people know about, it is my humble suggestion that each and every household in the world that has the means to play back pre-recorded music go out and immediately get the following three albums, and then play them often.
Dennis Hopper’s 1990 noir was a pretty good movie, but this soundtrack is absolutely brilliant. It pairs John Lee Hooker with Miles Davis, along with Taj Mahal and Roy Rogers and some others. You heard me right: John Lee Hooker and Miles Davis. You can imagine it, and it is as you think: smokey, ethereal genius.
Maybe people have heard of this one. It did win a Grammy after all. But I’ve only met one other person who has it –- my friend Greg. It’s a supergroup of sorts -– a couple guys from Los Lobos, plus Freddy Fender and Ruben Ramos and others -– who got together and recorded what I think is the best Tex-Mex album ever. Some songs are wicked sad, some are straight-out blazing, all make me sing along, even though I don’t know Spanish.
The five tracks on this album are actually only two of Arvo Part’s amazing minimalist compositions played a few different ways. Tracks one, three and five are takes on Spiegel Im Spiegel, and two and four are different slants at Fur Alina. There are only three instruments used on the album: piano, violin and cello. Hypnotic, quiet and intense, best ingested via headphones. Hands down the most beautiful music I have ever heard -– and I’ve heard a lot of music. You must have this album.
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