Press Play and Sit Your Ass Down: Volume 7
It’s the age of the ipod, shuffle and playlists. But for some artists, albums matter. Some musicians don’t just write and perform songs, they create whole albums to be a start to finish listening experience. Here’s another great list of albums where you just have to press play. Want more? Press Play Vol 1 , Press Play Vol 2. , Press Play Vol. 3, Press Play Vol 4, Press Play Vol 5 and Press Play Vol. 6.
So just press play. Sit your ass down. And listen.
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Neil Young, After the Gold Rush
Fans will endlessly argue about Neil Young’s peak and if After the Gold Rush isn’t his peak it has to be a part of Neil’s 70’s plateau of greatness . It sets a mood and sounds just as fresh as it did when it came out in 1970. After the Gold Rush , Southern Man and Don’t let it Bring you down are all stand outs but play the whole album. It’s much better than most singer/songwriters greatest hits.
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Deltron 3030, Deltron 3030
This is the masterpiece of the explosion of the independent Hip Hop scene of the later 90’s/early 2000s. The supergroup Deltron 3030 comprised of Del the Funkee Homosapien(Ice Cube’s cousin), DJ Kid Koala, producer Dan the Automator and Blur’s Damon Albarn(Del would later collaborate with Albarn on the Gorillaz first single “Clint Eastwood”). They created a science fiction hip hop space opera with their one and only album. Del has never been better than on these tracks, especially with the brilliant production of Dan the Automator behind him. There have been rumors of a follow up to Deltron 3030 ever since the first album was released and the first single dropped in June, “City Rising from the Ashes”.
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Traffic, John Barleycorn Must Die
Traffic’s most successful album almost didn’t happen. Following the break-ups of Traffic and Blind Faith (both in within a one year span), Steve Winwood got together with producer Guy Stevens to begin work on his first solo album. They cut two tracks – ‘Stranger To Himself’ and ‘Every Mother’s Son’ with Winwood playing all of the parts except drums. However, Winwood was itching to collaborate with other musicians again & invited former bandmates Jim Capaldi (who co-wrote both songs) and Chris Wood to the sessions. Just like that, the Steve Winwood solo album became a full on Traffic project. The band flexes its jazz-influenced skills on the one-two punch that opens the album (‘Glad’ and ‘Freedom Rider’), while ‘Empty Pages’ is funky blue eyed soul. The de facto title track is a traditional English folk song which Winwood skillfully re-arranges to show off the late Chris Wood’s flute work. An instant progressive rock radio classic, John Barleycorn Must Die kicked off the 2nd phase of the band’s career and remains Traffic’s most beloved work.
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The Beatles, Rubbersoul
Rubber Soul is the Beatles the great transitional album moving from Teen Idols into serious artists. Imagine the shock today if Justin Bieber made an album that just blew you away. You can’t because he can’t. This is a true album instead of a collection of singles and filler. Norwegian Wood, Drive My Car, If I needed Someone were a leap ahead of mop top teen pop that the Beatles were doing just a year or two before. A classic album that every teen star should emulate before their audience grows up without them.
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System Of A Down, Toxicity
Fusing Middle Eastern rhythms with tuned-down sledgehammer riffs, Toxicity influenced veterans (Metallica, Rage Against The Machine) and contemporaries (Korn, Linkin Park, Slipknot) alike when it was released in the fall of 2001. It also proved yet again that you can be politically aware and heavy as hell at the same time. Tracks like ‘Chop Suey’, ‘Bounce’, ‘Jet Pilot’ and ‘X’ start and stop at breakneck pace, while songs like ‘Prison Song’, ‘Needles’ and ‘Psycho’ rail against the prison system and drug abuse. The album also made fans of those outside of the music world: Director Michael Moore was strongly influenced by the album and would later direct the video for their song ‘Boom!’. Comedian Chris Rock noted that he would listen to Toxicity to get himself amped up before going on stage. Toxicity would set the direction for hard rock/metal for the next decade and breathed new life into the genre.
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De La Soul, 3 Feet High And Rising
De La Soul’s debut album flipped the hip hop world on its head when they released their debut album in March 1989. Just as ‘gangsta rap’ was taking hold of the scene, De La Soul infused peace and harmony based philosophy, individualism, and a LOT of humor into 24 tracks. Working with noted hip hop producer Prince Paul, the group rapped around a blizzard of samples that included everything from Liberace to Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Starship to Richard Pryor and The Turtles to Ben E. King. Anchored by the hit singles ‘Me Myself & I’, ‘Eye Know’ and ‘Buddy’, 3 Feet High And Rising took the hip hop album – and album form in general – to extraordinary new heights.
