What's the top album that changed your world when you first listened to it?

[cycloner29]

If the thread title was a song it would be “Scarecrow” from John Mellencamp. Really hit close to me on the mental health aspect. As in some previous posts I’ve had about losing my dad to suicide. It was during the farm crisis in the ‘80s it happened so this song just sends shivers through me every time I hear it.

 

[clonechemist]

1.) Superunknown from Soundgarden. I was in middle school at the time and my musical sampling at the time was driven by radio and MTV, so I hadn’t listened to many albums straight through. I borrowed this cd from my older brother and distinctly remember it was the first time I felt compelled to listen to an album straight through. Like it was taking me on a journey, and every song served a purpose. Still a banger of an album that I play through occasionally.

2.) Kid A from Radiohead - dropped shrooms with friends in college and someone put this on. It might’ve been the drugs hahaha but this whole album still hits something deep.

3.) Yoshimi from Flaming Lips - I somehow missed this one by about 20 years and only discovered it recently. This one has been one of my top plays recently

This whole thread reminds me that I’ve found myself preferring to listen to whole albums recently (especially while working), rather than just shuffling on Spotify. I love the concept of the full album and sadly I probably haven’t listened to a full album made in the last 20 years with very few exceptions.

 

[Sigmapolis]

Gosh, imagine if Penny Land and Strawberry Fields were actually on St Peppers. The Album was already epic, ground breaking, amazing. With them, how could it not be considered the best of all time?

"Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" kind of sort of are on a Beatles album. It depends on if you consider the U.S. version of Magical Mystery Tour a canonical Beatles album or not.

For the affirmative, the "modern" Beatles catalog treats it like it is one. That is, the Beatles have twelve studio albums (including three psychedelic ones with Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's, and Magical Mystery Tour) plus one half-album half-soundtrack (Yellow Submarine) and then the two Past Masters compilations of nonalbum singles. Having those you have "everything" (at least everything produced and released in the 1960s).

Doing it that way is "clean" in the sense extending the Magical Mystery Tour half-album into a full album soaks up a lot of the nonalbum singles from 1967 (and boy are there some notable ones)...

"Hello, Goodbye"
"Strawberry Fields Forever"
"Penny Lane"
"All You Need is Love"

...and while it was never intended that way, those four songs (and the much less notable "Baby, You're a Rich Man") "fit" with one another and with the psychedelic content of the original EP version...

"Magical Mystery Tour"
"The Fool on the Hill"
"I Am the Walrus"

etc.

It's not an actual Beatles album, but it has become something of an honorary one. Subsequent generations of music fans have been exposed to it as such (e.g., the CD releases) and it was convenient because it helps shorten the songs for Past Masters to the point you can put them on two LPs or CDs.

For the negative, the group never intended it to be that way. I know for a fact they were annoyed at the way Capitol Records kept chopping up their U.K. albums and mixing in nonalbum singles, releasing them with different names, and even messing with the sound mix within the songs themselves.

Would that annoyance extend to taking the Magical Mystery Tour EP and appending a few of its nonalbum contemporaries to it to make it a full album? I'm not sure. I doubt Paul/Ringo would care now.

I still think it is fair that their nonalbum singles be consider de facto parts of the album from the same recording session because nobody ever considers a compilation like Past Masters or a half-compilation like Magical Mystery Tour a "real album" and therefore a contender for the greatest of all-time.

Thus you would add these songs to the following albums...

Please Please Me
---
"Love Me Do" (the single version with Ringo on drums)
"From Me to You"
"Thank You Girl"

(Nothing too notable here, though I think a few of their weaker covers might have benefited by being replaced by some of their early and catchy if fluffy originals.)

With the Beatles
---
"She Loves You"
"I'll Get You"
"I Want to Hold Your Hand"
"This Boy"

(This album would have greatly benefitted from those four songs.)

A Hard Day's Night
---
"Long Tall Sally"
"I Call Your Name"
"Slow Down"
"Matchbox"

("Long Tall Sally" is at least better than half the songs on the actual album. I wouldn't consider any of the other three as "essentials," but they're fine enough songs.)

Beatles for Sale
---
"I Feel Fine"
"She's a Woman"

(Both of these greatly aid that album.)

Help!
---
"Yes It Is"
"I'm Down"

(Meh, par for the course.)

Rubber Soul
---
"Day Tripper"
"We Can Work It Out"

(One of the best albums of all-time becomes even better.)

Revolver
---
"Paperback Writer"
"Rain"

(One of the best albums of all-time becomes even better.)

Sgt. Pepper's
---
"Strawberry Fields Forever"
"Penny Lane"

(One of the best albums of all-time becomes even better.)

Magical Mystery Tour (U.K. soundtrack EP, not the full U.S. LP)
---
"Lady Madonna"
"The Inner Light"
"Across the Universe"
"You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)"

(Makes the original material on the album version even better.)

The Beatles
---
"Hey Jude"
"Revolution"

(**** me the level of material they don't have on their albums.)

Abbey Road
---
"The Ballad of John and Yoko"
"Old Brown Shoe"

(Meh. Abbey Road is perfect as it is.)

Let It Be
---
"Get Back" (the full single version, not the chopped up one on the album)
"Don't Let Me Down" (same deal, the superior single version)
"Let It Be" (single version)

(The whole Get Back production was just a mess. Let It Be is almost a compilation as it is.)

 

[Jer]

View attachment 132736

Absolutely loved that album. Still one of my favorite soft/melodic hard rock albums along with Metallica's S&M orchestra albums.

 

[clonehenge]

I have a few and they're all over the place musically but these 4 come to mind...

 

[Mr.G.Spot]

White Album.

 

[Clone up North]

1. “Disintegration” -The Cure
2. “It Take a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” -Public Enemy
3. “The Soft Bulletin” -The Flaming Lips
4. “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” -Neutral Milk Hotel

 

[t-noah]

The first album I ever listened to top-to-bottom and then understood what an album can be...

View attachment 132662

White album, the beginning of the end for the Beatles. And probably not the beginning but more near the end.

 

[NorthIowaCy]

I’m a lot older than most of the people posting on Cyclone Fanatic. So, my top album that changed my world, is very different than most people. My favorite album was
“Animalism” by the Animals with lead singer Eric Burton. This was during the time of the “British Music Invasion”. Most were listening to The Beatles but I went a different direction. And songs by The Animals were just what I was looking for. It was the first time a rural, farm boy from western Iowa, heard southern blues music redone to a different beat. I realized that most all Rock and Roll music was just old blues music reproduced.
After my government all-expense paid trip to Vietnam, when I returned home, I loved listening to “LED ZEPPELIN II”. Once again it was old blues music set to a Rock and Roll beat. These two albums continue to be some of my favorites. And because of these two albums and educating myself as to the origins of all music, I am now a huge Blues Music fan.

There’s an old saying in music that is so true:
“Blues music had a baby and they named it Rock and Roll”.

 

[Sigmapolis]

I’m a lot older than most of the people posting on Cyclone Fanatic. So, my top album that changed my world, is very different than most people. My favorite album was
“Animalism” by the Animals with lead singer Eric Burton. This was during the time of the “British Music Invasion”. Most were listening to The Beatles but I went a different direction. And songs by The Animals were just what I was looking for. It was the first time a rural, farm boy from western Iowa, heard southern blues music redone to a different beat. I realized that most all Rock and Roll music was just old blues music reproduced.
After my government all-expense paid trip to Vietnam, when I returned home, I loved listening to “LED ZEPPELIN II”. Once again it was old blues music set to a Rock and Roll beat. These two albums continue to be some of my favorites. And because of these two albums and educating myself as to the origins of all music, I am now a huge Blues Music fan.

There’s an old saying in music that is so true:
“Blues music had a baby and they named it Rock and Roll”.

Blues music as played by (mostly) black and southern (and occasionally with forays into midwestern cities like Chicago and St. Louis) artists in the first half of the 20th Century is one of the strongest influences on what became rock 'n' roll, sure. I do not think it is quite as linear as that notion, though.

The white/Appalachian folk tradition had just as strong of an influence (maybe not during the initial British invasion, but artists like the Beatles come to it through Dylan and his minions). Tin Pan Alley pop and even Broadway musicals of the same era also had their influences on the growing genre.

So, yes, the blues was one of the strongest influences on rock 'n' roll, but it wasn't an exclusive one.

 

[cyclones500]

"Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" kind of sort of are on a Beatles album. It depends on if you consider the U.S. version of Magical Mystery Tour a canonical Beatles album or not.

For the affirmative, the "modern" Beatles catalog treats it like it is one. That is, the Beatles have twelve studio albums (including three psychedelic ones with Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's, and Magical Mystery Tour) plus one half-album half-soundtrack (Yellow Submarine) and then the two Past Masters compilations of nonalbum singles. Having those you have "everything" (at least everything produced and released in the 1960s).

Doing it that way is "clean" in the sense extending the Magical Mystery Tour half-album into a full album soaks up a lot of the nonalbum singles from 1967 (and boy are there some notable ones)...

"Hello, Goodbye"
"Strawberry Fields Forever"
"Penny Lane"
"All You Need is Love"

...and while it was never intended that way, those four songs (and the much less notable "Baby, You're a Rich Man") "fit" with one another and with the psychedelic content of the original EP version...

"Magical Mystery Tour"
"The Fool on the Hill"
"I Am the Walrus"

etc.

It's not an actual Beatles album, but it has become something of an honorary one. Subsequent generations of music fans have been exposed to it as such (e.g., the CD releases) and it was convenient because it helps shorten the songs for Past Masters to the point you can put them on two LPs or CDs.

For the negative, the group never intended it to be that way. I know for a fact they were annoyed at the way Capitol Records kept chopping up their U.K. albums and mixing in nonalbum singles, releasing them with different names, and even messing with the sound mix within the songs themselves.

Would that annoyance extend to taking the Magical Mystery Tour EP and appending a few of its nonalbum contemporaries to it to make it a full album? I'm not sure. I doubt Paul/Ringo would care now.

I still think it is fair that their nonalbum singles be consider de facto parts of the album from the same recording session because nobody ever considers a compilation like Past Masters or a half-compilation like Magical Mystery Tour a "real album" and therefore a contender for the greatest of all-time.

Thus you would add these songs to the following albums...

Please Please Me
---
"Love Me Do" (the single version with Ringo on drums)
"From Me to You"
"Thank You Girl"

(Nothing too notable here, though I think a few of their weaker covers might have benefited by being replaced by some of their early and catchy if fluffy originals.)

With the Beatles
---
"She Loves You"
"I'll Get You"
"I Want to Hold Your Hand"
"This Boy"

(This album would have greatly benefitted from those four songs.)

A Hard Day's Night
---
"Long Tall Sally"
"I Call Your Name"
"Slow Down"
"Matchbox"

("Long Tall Sally" is at least better than half the songs on the actual album. I wouldn't consider any of the other three as "essentials," but they're fine enough songs.)

Beatles for Sale
---
"I Feel Fine"
"She's a Woman"

(Both of these greatly aid that album.)

Help!
---
"Yes It Is"
"I'm Down"

(Meh, par for the course.)

Rubber Soul
---
"Day Tripper"
"We Can Work It Out"

(One of the best albums of all-time becomes even better.)

Revolver
---
"Paperback Writer"
"Rain"

(One of the best albums of all-time becomes even better.)

Sgt. Pepper's
---
"Strawberry Fields Forever"
"Penny Lane"

(One of the best albums of all-time becomes even better.)

Magical Mystery Tour (U.K. soundtrack EP, not the full U.S. LP)
---
"Lady Madonna"
"The Inner Light"
"Across the Universe"
"You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)"

(Makes the original material on the album version even better.)

The Beatles
---
"Hey Jude"
"Revolution"

(**** me the level of material they don't have on their albums.)

Abbey Road
---
"The Ballad of John and Yoko"
"Old Brown Shoe"

(Meh. Abbey Road is perfect as it is.)

Let It Be
---
"Get Back" (the full single version, not the chopped up one on the album)
"Don't Let Me Down" (same deal, the superior single version)
"Let It Be" (single version)

(The whole Get Back production was just a mess. Let It Be is almost a compilation as it is.)

Solid summary.

I'm curious to get assessment/augment from @MeanDean.

One element for me, I've become so "accustomed" to those singles being omitted from specific albums of the period, it'd seem strange to have them formally incorporated into the LPs.

An enjoyable exercise, for sure, but geeky things like, e.g., Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane - would you just add those to Pepper, or purge two songs from the actual? And where do you place the songs on the album?

Feels like SPLHCB/WALHFMF is a must for album starter 1-2. Would we place Strawberry Fields next? (instead of Lucy) - realistically it has to be a "John song," to follow customary Beatles album practices, then maybe sequence changes somewhat after that. Then put "Penny Lane" at beginning of side 2.

 

[Sigmapolis]

Solid summary.

I'm curious to get assessment/augment from @MeanDean.

One element for me, I've become so "accustomed" to those singles being omitted from specific albums of the period, it'd seem strange to have them formally incorporated into the LPs.

An enjoyable exercise, for sure, but geeky things like, e.g., Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane - would you just add those to Pepper, or purge two songs from the actual? And where do you place the songs on the album?

Feels like SPLHCB/WALHFMF is a must for album starter 1-2. Would we place Strawberry Fields next? (instead of Lucy) - realistically it has to be a "John song," to follow customary Beatles album practices, then maybe sequence changes somewhat after that. Then put "Penny Lane" at beginning of side 2.

I have always found it strange the Beatles have to compete in these "best albums of all-time" contests... while having many of their most popular and well-regarded songs not on any of their albums.

I'm genuinely curious -- are there any other groups or albums who did it the same way?

Obviously they released the albums that they did to either hit the 14-song "standard" of the early 1960s or to conform to needing to fill but not overfill what the two sides of the LP could handle for them.

That's less of a concern now with CDs and of course zero concern with digital music.

Assuming you need to cut two songs then I probably drop "Lovely Rita" (Paul) and "Good Morning Good Morning" (John) to B-sides or later release on Yellow Submarine and sub in SFF and PL like this...

"Sgt. Pepper's / With a Little Help" (Paul/Ringo)
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (John)
"Getting Better" (Paul)
"Fixing a Hole" (Paul)
"Strawberry Fields Forever" (John)
"She's Leaving Home" (Paul with some John backing)
---
"Penny Lane" (Paul)
"Within You Without You" (George)
"When I'm Sixty-Four" (Paul)
"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" (John)
"Sgt. Pepper's (Reprise)" (group)
"A Day in the Life" (mostly John with one Paul section)

I put "Strawberry Fields Forever" on side one to 1.) put it opposite "Penny Lane" and 2.) break up the Paul sequence while 3.) mostly respecting the original opening sequence (which is great).

Ending Side 1 with "She's Leaving Home" is just so obvious.

Start up Side 2 with "Penny Lane" and move "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" to Side 2 to break up the Paul sequence and lead (I think effectively) into the reprise and grand finale.

Everything else is unchanged.

 

[Cyguy94]

Back In Black. I was 10 years old.

 

[cayin]

I have always found it strange the Beatles have to compete in these "best albums of all-time" contests... while having many of their most popular and well-regarded songs not on any of their albums.

I'm genuinely curious -- are there any other groups or albums who did it the same way?

Obviously they released the albums that they did to either hit the 14-song "standard" of the early 1960s or to conform to needing to fill but not overfill what the two sides of the LP could handle for them.

That's less of a concern now with CDs and of course zero concern with digital music.

Assuming you need to cut two songs then I probably drop "Lovely Rita" (Paul) and "Good Morning Good Morning" (John) to B-sides or later release on Yellow Submarine and sub in SFF and PL like this...

"Sgt. Pepper's / With a Little Help" (Paul/Ringo)
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (John)
"Getting Better" (Paul)
"Fixing a Hole" (Paul)
"Strawberry Fields Forever" (John)
"She's Leaving Home" (Paul with some John backing)
---
"Penny Lane" (Paul)
"Within You Without You" (George)
"When I'm Sixty-Four" (Paul)
"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" (John)
"Sgt. Pepper's (Reprise)" (group)
"A Day in the Life" (mostly John with one Paul section)

I put "Strawberry Fields Forever" on side one to 1.) put it opposite "Penny Lane" and 2.) break up the Paul sequence while 3.) mostly respecting the original opening sequence (which is great).

Ending Side 1 with "She's Leaving Home" is just so obvious.

Start up Side 2 with "Penny Lane" and move "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" to Side 2 to break up the Paul sequence and lead (I think effectively) into the reprise and grand finale.

Everything else is unchanged.

to make room for Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever, I would move Within You Without You and She is leaving Home off of the album. Or, if a George song has to be on there take For the Benefit of Mr Kite off for Strawberry Fields. Make the songs that get left off for those PL and SFF B-sides to the singles.

 

[Nococy]

View attachment 132666

The first album I ever bought back when I was in junior high in the 70’s. Fell in lve with rock and roll.

 

[Cy4Lifer]

Meat Loaf Bat Out of Hell 180 Gram Vinyl LP [New & Sealed] | eBay

Bat Out Of Hell. A1 Bat Out Of Hell 9:48. 180 Gram Black Vinyl LP. A3 Heaven Can Wait 4:38. B2 Paradise By The Dashboard Light 8:28. B2-I Paradise. New & Sealed. A4 All Revved Up With No Place To Go 4:19.

www.ebay.com

 

[JSmoove]

This thread is eye opening to the age demographic on CF.

 

[[email protected]]

I also am getting on in years and the Beatles had the biggest influence and for me it is a tossup between Revolver and Sgt. Peppers as their best work. I cannot tell you how much of a turn my musical tastes took with Jimi Hendrix "Are you Experienced" and Clapton, Bruce and Ginger Baker's Cream album "Disraeli Gears". I was hooked. Soon to be followed by Bowie's Ziggy Stardust.

 

[singsing]

That's tough
Pink Floyd "The Wall"
Led 2 &4
Soundgarden "Badmotorfinger"
U2 "Joshua Tree"
These are some of my favorites

 

[Rabbuk]

American Beauty was the album I listened to the most probably growing up because my dad is a deadhead. But dark side of the moon is up there for the reasons people mentioned upthread just a perfect flowing album.