Updated Monthly
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AUGUST 2010: Ten of the most important/influential albums I have ever
listened to (in no particular order. There are way more, but this is a
good start)
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**The Beatles—Abbey Road







Released on September 26, 1969, Abbey Road is my all-time favorite Beatles
album. I know that most people like to say the White Album or Sergeant
Pepper’s was their best, but I disagree. I wasn’t on the planet yet when
this came out. In fact, The Beatles split up a month after I was born with
the release of the Let It Be album (which was actually recorded before
Abbey Road was, and is the only album of theirs released after my birth).
I have vivid childhood memories growing up with songs from Abbey Road
being played endlessly on the radio. And that, I suppose, is why I love it
so much.
My favorite track is Come Together, but of course you can’t go wrong with
the dark humor of Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, the playful innocence of
Octopus’s Garden, or the liberating and hope-filled Here Comes the Sun.
Frank Sinatra’s favorite track was George Harrison’s Something, which he
thought was written by Lennon/McCartney. In fact, he liked it so much that
he recorded a cover of it later on and called it the greatest love song
ever written.
And it goes without saying that the notorious medley of final songs on
Abbey Road(it starts with You Never Give Me Your Money and ends with The
End) was the ultimate sendoff for one of the greatest bands, if not THE
greatest band, of all time.
I was going to include a link so that if, by chance, you have been living
under a rock and haven’t heard any of the songs on Abbey Road before, you
could experience what I am talking about. However, it seems that the
mighty Beatles don’t even let you sample their stuff on Amazon. So this
link will have to suffice. Below is the promo video for Something.






























**James—Laid







Released on October 5, 1993, Laid was actually the sixth studio album from
the band James and it made way for a new genre in the 1990s known as
Alternative Folk. No, James is not a person. In fact, there are six
members in the band.
I had never heard of them prior to this album and, to be quite honest, I
haven’t really been a fan of most of their other recordings since that
time: with the exception of Hey Ma, released on April 7,2008.  
Laid changed my life. The largely acoustic and melancholic recording
really spoke to my soul the first time I heard/saw the video for the title
track on MTV, back when the ‘M’ in MTV actually stood for “Music” and not
“Mediawhore.”
Anywho, my favorite tracks are the sad and detached Out to Get You,
followed by the upbeat and “stormy” Sometimes. Also check out Dream Thrum,
Say Something, Five-O, Knuckle Too Far, and Lullaby.
The entire album, which was produced by the legendary Brian Eno, has a
very cohesive feel to it. It’s one of those rare creations where you can
put on a pair of headphones, close your eyes, and just get lost in some
strange and beautiful world where nothing else exists but you and the
music. Front man Tim Booth’s tenor voice is intoxicating and his lyrics
are poignant, poetry-filled spatters of thought: the stuff that dreams are
made of.
Here is the Amazon link for Laid (complete with samples). Below is a live
performance of the title track.





























**Fuzzbox—We’ve Got a Fuzzbox and We’re Gonna Use It!









Released January 1, 1986, this one-of-a-kind venture into all-girl punk-
pop was a huge influence on my old band, Chipmunks Go Punk. Fuzzbox were
an English band consisting of four 20-something women from Birmingham,
England. I first encountered the band when (mediawhore) MTV released the
video for their song Love is the Slug. I was sixteen at the time and had
just started playing electric guitar after two years of playing the
acoustic.
Their look hooked me first: girls with pink and blue Mohawks wearing mini-
skirts, showing off body piercings and jumping up and down while clearly
displaying a fantastic sense of humor. Their beats were raw and primal;
their buzzing, distorted guitars were comparable to listening to an insect
infestation as it devoured my ears and ate its way into my head. Not only
were these girls HOT (especially to a sixteen-year-old boy like me at the
time), they were very silly and down to earth. I could almost see myself
hanging out with the whole band because they seemed so real to me.
I ran right out and bought their debut album, We’ve Got a Fuzzbox and We’
re Gonna Use It! (it was called Bostin Steve Austin in the UK) and
listened to it endlessly.
Unfortunately, they hit the big time after that and in 1989 released their
follow-up album, Big Bang. What a disaster THAT was! Not only was it an
over-produced piece of pop trash crap, none of the band members played a
note on it. It was like Milli Vanilli all over again, only they at least
made the effort to sing for real. The album flopped and the band split
(they did, however reunite for a brief tour of the UK in 2010, minus two
of their members. But without all four members involved, I would hardly
call it a reunion).
You can only find their debut album on the internet now for a ridiculous
price brand-new, or fairly cheap if it’s used. I still have my cassette
from 1986, and I did find a bootlegged CD copy on E-bay for fifty bucks
(the album was never released on CD).
In any case, thank you Fuzzbox for the perspective you gave me: you made
it possible for me to go nuts and just be myself. And there is truly
nothing better than finding out that it’s okay to be different!
Here is the Amazon link to Fuzzbox’s BBC Sessions. You can hear some
samples of their stuff there, and even purchase a new copy of the sessions
for a measly $285 bucks. Below is the video that I fell in love with: Love
is the Slug.




























**
**Nirvana—Incesticide







I have to admit that when Nirvana’s music-world-altering Nevermind was
released in September of 1991, I didn’t get hooked right away like
everybody else did. It took a few releases from that album before I
finally went out and bought it. However, the more I got to know Kurt
Cobain through his music and interviews, the more I could relate to him.
He truly was (albeit against his will) the spokesman for my generation in
much the same way that John Lennon was for the Baby Boomers.
Nevermind changed the world (in the process displacing Michael Jackson on
the Billboard charts), but Incesticide, a collection of Nirvana B-sides
and covers, changed my life and influenced a lot of my early solo work in
the 1990s. The band released the collection in December of 1992 in an
effort to ward off bootlegging of the then-unreleased recordings. What I
love so much about Incesticide is its raw energy and simplicity. It's not
overproduced like Nevermind had been, and many of the songs were akin to
listening to myself throw a teenaged temper-tantrum (even though I was
twenty-two at the time). My favorite tracks are Sliver, Stain, Been a Son,
Turnaround, Molly’s Lips, and Son of a Gun.  
Here is the Amazon link to Incesticide, complete with samples. Below is a
live performance of Sliver.




























**Duran Duran—Medazzaland







I started listening to Duran Duran when I was fifteen, about a bazillion
years ago. Most of their recent stuff is crap compared to what they have
done in the past. This seems to me to be because they have abandoned good
songwriting in pursuit of the ever-elusive next big radio hit. And,
despite most people thinking that the band had disintegrated at the end of
the 1980s, such is not the case. In fact, they are still going strong
despite the comings and goings of many of the band’s members.
My all-time favorite album of theirs is actually their 9th album, released
on October 14, 1997, called Medazzaland. The album’s title (and first
track) comes from the street name for the drug Midazolam, which lead
singer Simon LeBon had been given during dental surgery.
The largely electronic collection of songs and the cohesion of the album
are what hooked me. The entire work flows like silk chocolate into my ears
until I can practically taste it on my tongue. Despite bass player John
Taylor leaving the band part way through the session after working on only
a handful of tracks (the song Buried in the Sand was written by Simon
LeBon about John's sudden departure; he has since returned to the band),
the album flows nicely and is largely reminiscent of Duran Duran’s early
career at the start of the ‘80s.
My favorites are the title track (voiced by keyboardist Nick Rhodes
instead of Mr. LeBon), Big Bang Generation, Electric Barbarella, Who Do
You Think You Are, Buried in the Sand, Michael…(written for INXS lead
singer Michael Hutchence after his suicide: Simon LeBon was good friends
with him), and So Long Suicide, which was written as a reaction to the
suicide of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain.
Here is the Amazon link complete with samples. Below is a video montage of
Michael... (embedding on youtube is disabled for the official Electric
Barbarella video. But you can see it here.






























**Love and Rockets—Express





Love and Rockets—the band, not the comic book—are by far one of the
biggest influences on me and my music, ever. But of the seven albums they
released before splitting in 1999, Express, which was released on
September 15, 1986, was life-changing for me. Much of what followed in my
own musical journey leaned toward the sound of this album and much of my
guitar playing has been influenced by Daniel Ash’s self-designed,
otherworldly soundwash, which is wonderfully balanced between his electric
and acoustic guitar playing.
The songwriting here is fantastic and timeless and the entire recording is
just as fresh-sounding today as it was when I first heard it in 1987. The
trio making up the band were also three-fourths of another band that
influenced me greatly: Bauhaus (see the next entry). I couldn’t possibly
list any favorites from Express because I love the album all the way
through. However, Kundalini Express is absolutely divine.
Here is the Amazon link, complete with samples. Below is the video for All
in my Mind.






























**Bauhaus—In The Flat Field






Ah, Bauhaus. Vocalist Peter Murphy, guitarist Daniel Ash, bassist David J,
and drummer Kevin Haskins single-handedly invented what we know today as
Gothic Rock (Peter Murphy, in fact, is today revered as the “Godfather of
Goth”).
The quartet from Northampton, England didn’t set out to create their
highly influential sound. Instead, they were busy following their glam-
rock, reggae, and punk roots. But with the release of their first single,
the nine-minute-long vampire requiem Bela Lugosi’s Dead, they were marked
for life and have been noted as a huge influence on many of today’s darker
rock bands.
Their long and sordid history began in 1979 with the release of the above-
mentioned requiem, but for me their first full-length album, In the Flat
Field, released on October 1, 1980, was their best. It isn’t over-produced
and has a raw, edgy, almost homemade sound to it. It is dark and
foreboding like something out of your childhood nightmares, yet warm and
comforting like a troubled friend that you probably shouldn’t be spending
your time with, but can’t help it because of her allure and promises of
refuge from the rest of the world.
My favorite tracks are the title track, Dark Entries, Stigmata Martyr,
Nerves and God in an Alcove.
Here’s the Amazon link, complete with samples. Below is a live performance
of Dark Entries from the Coachella Music Festival in 2005. It's both
frightening and amazing to watch. They have since disbanded...again.





























**Jim Morrison (Doors)—American Prayer










In 1969 and 70, Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors, sat down in a
studio with nothing more than a microphone and a sound engineer who was
sitting nearby in the recording booth, and recorded spoken-word versions
of his poetry. He had always wanted to release a poetry album, and whether
or not he intended to record it with the rest of the band can’t be known.
In March of 1971, however, Jim left the states for Paris with his
girlfriend, Pamela, in an effort to escape the hectic life that he had
come to know as the lead singer of one of the greatest bands of all time.
While in Paris, Jim tried Heroin and, most unfortunately, Mr. Mojo Risin’
was found dead at 27 of an overdose in the bathtub of his hotel room on
July 3.
Fast forward seven years. The three remaining members of the band reunited
and recorded backing music for Jim’s pre-recorded poetry, creating the
album An American Prayer, released November 17, 1978, effectively
resurrecting Jim and simultaneously reuniting the band one last time. This
album is unlike anything you will ever hear and Morrison’s words and
deliverance are amazing. Because of this album, I have been able to find a
voice for my own poetry. It’s fantastic all the way through.
Here is the Amazon link complete with samples. Below is the video for
Ghost Song.




























**Jakob Dylan—Seeing Things








Jakob Dylan may be the son of the legendary Bob Dylan, but he stands on
his own two feet as a prolific songwriter and lyricist without having to
ride on his father’s coattails.
He was (and is) great as the lead singer of the alternative group The
Wallflowers, but his recent solo stuff is what really speaks to me,
especially his June 10, 2008 acoustic release Seeing Things.
The largely upbeat but stripped-down album is a nice, soothing ride
through Jakob’s mind and his vocals are sublime. I can listen to it over
and over and never really get tired of it. My favorites are the optimistic
Something Good This Way Comes, the wary Evil is Alive and Well, and the
darkly sarcastic War is Kind.
If you like acoustic singer-songwriter stuff, this album will most
definitely appeal to you. It’s like a thirst-quenching oasis in the midst
of a desert of electronica, distortion, and nauseating American Idol pop
that currently saturates the airwaves.
Here is the Amazon link, complete with samples. Below is a live
performance for Evil is Alive and Well.  






























**Regina Spektor—Begin to Hope









Russian-born pianist and singer-songwriter Regina Spektor is one of the
most original acts to come along in a very long time. I am not a huge fan
of the piano, but Regina manages to make me want to listen to it.
Her voice and her instrument seem intertwined, as if the two are
inseparable and depend upon each other for survival. Her voice draws you
in, her words hold your attention, her melodies and piano speak to your
soul.
I especially like the fact that her vocals are typically mixed right up
front. If you are wearing headphones, it sounds as if she is singing right
into your ear.
Begin to Hope, my favorite so far of her albums, was released on June 13,
2006 and I was hooked from the first time I heard her voice after a friend
suggested that I visit her website. Her 2010 release, Far, was an
overproduced and preachy disappointment to me, but I am hopeful that
perhaps she may one day return to the simple kind of sound she achieved
with Begin to Hope, as well as her other previous ventures.
In any case, my favorite tracks are Better, Samson, Field Below, Hotel
Song, the comical That Time, and Summer in the City.
Of course, here is the Amazon link, complete with samples. Below is a live
performance of Fidelity.
(c) 2010 Steven Grames