Musical Alphabet
Joining in on bdar's and hannibalv's fun:
Sort your iTunes Library by album title. Select one album for each letter, A-Z, (ignore "a," "and," and "the") to create a list of 26 albums that you consider indispensable. Do not repeat artists on your list.
I'm also going to refrain from doing greatest hits albums or anything like that. Except for one compilation, which will be discussed:
A - August & Everything After, Counting Crows (I was late coming to this one, but love it.)
B - Bachelor No. 2, Aimee Mann (my favorite Aimee album, inspired large portions of my play Benefits
C - Court and Spark, Joni Mitchell
D - Death and the Maiden/Black Angels, Brodsky String Quartet (One of my favorite classical albums, a combo of Robert Schumann's "Death and the Maiden" quartet and George Crumb's modern, electric and very creepy "Black Angels" which quotes from the previous quartet)
E - Electro-Shock Blues, Eels (because how can you not?)
F - Floyd Collins Soundtrack, Adam Guettel (One of my very favorite musicals)
G - Give Up, The Postal Service (honorable mention to Gordon by BNL)
H - Help!, The Beatles ("You've Got to Hide Your Love Away". Enough said.)
I - It's Yours to Keep, Loquat (a SF-based indie band. Not brilliant all the way through, but a few of the tracks are among my all-time favorite songs.)
J - Jesus Christ Superstar, Andrew Lloyd Webber (the original concept album was probably the last "rock musical" that really rocked until Hedwig and the Angry Inch.)
K - Kid A, Radiohead (I like OK Computer more, but I'm using something for O.)
L - Luck of the Draw, Bonnie Raitt (I've listened to this album hundreds of times. L is a strong one, though, with "The Last Five Years Soundtrack", "London Calling", "Lost and Gone Forever". I think I settled on Bonnie because I don't have any Union Station on this list.)
M - Maybe You Should Drive, Barenaked Ladies (picking which BNL album to use is as hard as picking a Ben Folds album. Maroon was also a possibility.)
N - Nomads Indians Saints, Indigo Girls (awesome, awesome album)
O - Once Soundtrack, Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova (just had to.)
P - The Permanent Way Soundtrack (okay, this is a compilation of various songs put together by nickkeenan for New Leaf's production of David Hare's play. I played this album a lot during some difficult times last year.)
Q - Dont' have anything for this one.
R - Raising Sand, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant
S - Songs About Jane, Maroon 5 (also a lot of great choices here)
T - Tapestry, Carole King
U - The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, Ben Folds Five (amazing)
V - Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend (so fun)
W - Where the Pale Girls Go, Matt Reed (a friend of mine, but I think his album is brilliant)
X - nada
Y - You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown, Revival Broadway Cast (lack of choices, but I do like this one)
Z - Zooropa, U2
Sort your iTunes Library by album title. Select one album for each letter, A-Z, (ignore "a," "and," and "the") to create a list of 26 albums that you consider indispensable. Do not repeat artists on your list.
I'm also going to refrain from doing greatest hits albums or anything like that. Except for one compilation, which will be discussed:
A - August & Everything After, Counting Crows (I was late coming to this one, but love it.)
B - Bachelor No. 2, Aimee Mann (my favorite Aimee album, inspired large portions of my play Benefits
C - Court and Spark, Joni Mitchell
D - Death and the Maiden/Black Angels, Brodsky String Quartet (One of my favorite classical albums, a combo of Robert Schumann's "Death and the Maiden" quartet and George Crumb's modern, electric and very creepy "Black Angels" which quotes from the previous quartet)
E - Electro-Shock Blues, Eels (because how can you not?)
F - Floyd Collins Soundtrack, Adam Guettel (One of my very favorite musicals)
G - Give Up, The Postal Service (honorable mention to Gordon by BNL)
H - Help!, The Beatles ("You've Got to Hide Your Love Away". Enough said.)
I - It's Yours to Keep, Loquat (a SF-based indie band. Not brilliant all the way through, but a few of the tracks are among my all-time favorite songs.)
J - Jesus Christ Superstar, Andrew Lloyd Webber (the original concept album was probably the last "rock musical" that really rocked until Hedwig and the Angry Inch.)
K - Kid A, Radiohead (I like OK Computer more, but I'm using something for O.)
L - Luck of the Draw, Bonnie Raitt (I've listened to this album hundreds of times. L is a strong one, though, with "The Last Five Years Soundtrack", "London Calling", "Lost and Gone Forever". I think I settled on Bonnie because I don't have any Union Station on this list.)
M - Maybe You Should Drive, Barenaked Ladies (picking which BNL album to use is as hard as picking a Ben Folds album. Maroon was also a possibility.)
N - Nomads Indians Saints, Indigo Girls (awesome, awesome album)
O - Once Soundtrack, Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova (just had to.)
P - The Permanent Way Soundtrack (okay, this is a compilation of various songs put together by nickkeenan for New Leaf's production of David Hare's play. I played this album a lot during some difficult times last year.)
Q - Dont' have anything for this one.
R - Raising Sand, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant
S - Songs About Jane, Maroon 5 (also a lot of great choices here)
T - Tapestry, Carole King
U - The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, Ben Folds Five (amazing)
V - Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend (so fun)
W - Where the Pale Girls Go, Matt Reed (a friend of mine, but I think his album is brilliant)
X - nada
Y - You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown, Revival Broadway Cast (lack of choices, but I do like this one)
Z - Zooropa, U2