Eminem said:
See, The Doors are in my top 10 favorite bands ever, easily, but not a single one of thier CDs ever struck me as brilliant. Combining a few of them, yeah...but there was not an individual CD that I could listen to every track and think "wow, this is great"
Kinda sucks, since they had so many great songs.
thing about the doors is, their first two albums, "the doors" and "strange days" are both fantastic albums. my favorite albums criteria is similar to jinx's, in that, i dont like filler material, i can ignore some filler songs if the rest of the album is very good. on that note, the s/t album of the doors is top notch. there is not a single track i dislike.
whereas, say zeppelin iv isnt all that up there for me, as i only like the few well known tracks.
i'll add some more offbeat favorites here:
ed alleyne johnson - inner city music. if you like ambient, you must try it. he is an electric violinist. the tones he creates from his violin are just supernatural, very haunting. he makes sounds you wouldnt normally assume a violin could be capable of.
junoon - azadi.
a fantastic mix of sufi poetry and 70's arena rock, mixed with a hint of islamic classical music. the mix of tablas and guitars create a unique soaring, rocking and at times very melancholy, ambiance. their subsequent albums havent been as good, this was more of an experimental album to fuse rock with sufism. it worked.
Best Of Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
this 2 cd set gathers all their best duets. ella's angelic vocals provide a sharp contrast to armstrong's raspy vocals. its just utterly fantastic all the way through.
in the same vain,
Verve Jazz Masters 53: Bossa Nova
i recommend this more as introductory material, as a culmination of the "best of" material among stan getz, joao gilberto and astrud gilberto.
aztec camera - High Land, Hard Rain
aztec camera pioneered and "perfected" the britpop sound, before britpop existed!
if you are a fan of crystal clear guitar tones, catchy melancholy lyrics, or a britpop fan in general, you owe yourself to check this album out.
