My 22 favorite pieces of music

I saw people doing this on Facebook … Music has been such an integral part of my first 27 years, it seemed like fun to pull together. It was way harder than I thought it would be. So, without further ado; here are the 22 albums/symphonies that have effected me.

• R.E.M. :: Automatic for the People / Monster – my first favorite albums
• Phish :: a Live One / Billy Breathes – my first musical obsession
• Miles Davis :: Kind of Blue / Sketches of Spain – my 1982 datsun in hs had these two albums on a tape, listened every day for 3 months … two classics
• Miles Davis :: Live Evil – Michael Henderson’s bass is unreal on this … incredible playing by Miles
• Cannonball Adderley :: Somethin’ Else – perfection
• John Coltrane :: Blue Train – Lee Morgan’s solo on Blue Train is unreal
• John Coltrane :: a Love Supreme – the absolute best expression of spirituality I’ve ever heard/seen/felt
• MMW :: Combustication – didn’t know jazz was going to progress to modern times until I heard this
• Radiohead :: Amnesiac – late to the Radiohead train, this was my first. I’m obsessed now.
• Wilco :: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot – a band I’m looking forward to getting old with
• Stravinsky :: The Rite of Spring – Listened to this obsessively in the spring of 03 … reminds me of the strange tension and lies that brought us to an ill conceived/illegal war.
• Mahler :: Das Lied Von Der Erde – Nobody ends a symphony like Mahler. The end of the final movement is breathtaking. I stop whatever I’m doing now and stare at the wall when I hear this.
• Bartok :: Symphony for Orchestra – intensity
• Black Star :: Black Star – my first introduction to hip hop …
• Joni Mitchell :: Blue – grew up with this album. This album defines beauty and the disappointments of youth.
• Van Morrison :: Moondance – the other album I grew up with. a classic
• the Beatles :: Rubber Soul – My first Beatles album. Any self respecting person ought to remember the first time they heard the Beatles.
• Clifford Brown :: with Strings – he recorded this at 24, just a year before he died. He played it with the maturity of a grown adult … a shame.
• Lee Morgan :: Sidewinder – Lee Morgan has the technique of a high flying gymnast.
• Flaming Lips :: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots – A modern classic
• The Roots :: Things Fall Apart – I had no idea hip hop could sound like this before I heard it.
• Elliot Smith :: xo – I remember walking around Fremont smoking after work to stay warm while I waited for the bus to get home in the cold. This was the soundtrack.