Classic Rock Albums

edited November 2011 in General
I had a conversation with a work colleague recently about classic rock and pop albums albums. Her son who is the Upper Sixth (Final Year at school before university, as GP will recognise) aged nearly 18. He is well into indie rock, but has asked his mother (my colleague) to buy him some classic rock and pop CDs for Christmas. She's not into music at all, so asked me for some ideas. Whist I am OK on some ideas for the 60s and 70s, and probably more recent too, there are major gaps in my knowledge for the 80s and 90s, and anyway my view, like everyone's is skewed by what I like. So far I've come up wit Beatles Sgt Pepper, Beach Boys Pet Sounds, Bob Dylan, probably Highway 61 Revisited, maybe Blond on Blond, Neil Young After the Goldrush or Harvest, Bruce S Born to Run, Thriller, Fleetwood Mac Rumours, something by the Jam, probably Beat Surrender, maybe something by the Stranglers. But I should include REM - not sure what though. So I'm open to suggestions. I'm looking to giving her a list of 12-15 CDs, from which she'll choose a number to buy. Thanks in advance for your ideas

Comments

  • My rec's for the 80's-90's....

    Violent Femmes - S/T (1983)
    Hüsker Dü - Zen Arcade (1984)
    Morphine - Cure for Pain (1993)
    Wilco - Being There (1996)

    Ok, not heavy on the "Classic" Rock end of things but these are a handful of albums that struck me during those years that could be "safe" for mainstream airplay.
  • edited November 2011
    Scratch Sgt. Pepper, go with either Revolver or Abbey Road.
    Scratch Gold Rush, go with Everybody Knows This is Nowhere or Tonight's The Night
    Scratch Thriller, go with Off the Wall
    Scratch Beat Surrender, go with All Mod Cons


    Repalcements -- Let It Be
    Eurythmics -- Touch
    Yaz(oo) -- Upstairs at Eric's
    Smiths -- The Queen is Dead
    Talking Heads -- Little Creatures

    If he's really into indie, I think he'd go for the more ragged records by these artists.
  • edited November 2011
    First off, have to agree with BT's suggestions r.e. Abbey Road (more coherent musically, although I do love Sgt. Pepper's), and Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere which is more raw and intense.

    Representing the dinosaurs, I would recommend -
    Led Zeppelin - either Physical Graffiti or Led Zep II which is the one I'd take to the desert isle.
    Pink Floyd - I wish there was an album that combined the best tracks from Dark Side Of The Moon with Shine On/Wish You Were Here from the Wish You Were Here album, but in lieu of that I'd go with Wish You Were Here. Actually, it's cheating but the 2 disc live album Pulse has all that and more and is one of my favorite live albums (sorry Roger) -
    51vjBfMiYPL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
    Procol Harum - their first, entitled Procol Harum, but since you're over there if you can find the one I got as an import called The First Four (albums in one set) that would be killer and it was very reasonable.
    It has this cover 51thGR4-aHL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
    The Kinks - again since you're there, this compilation (which I picked up at Virgin when they were still here) is hands down the best collection of this perennially underrated band -
    51EVJY5E02L._SL500_AA300_.jpg
    I also have an abiding love for The Who - Live At Leeds.
  • Prince - Purple Rain
    Nirvana - Nevermind
    U2 - Joshua Tree
    Wu Tang Clan - Enter the Wu Tang (36 Chambers)
    REM - Out of Time
    Weezer - Blue Album
    Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
    Fugazi - 13 Songs
    Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
    Guns and Roses - Appetite for Destruction (I don't even have this, but there's no denying it's a classic of the '80s - '90s) (I should get this)

    From the 70s you need a good punk album too - Ramones maybe? Television?

    This maybe should have been under "fight club" ...
  • edited November 2011
    When I was a kid, we were all forced to listen to Dark Side of the Moon, Aqualung, Breakfast in America, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Toys in the Attic, the first Van Halen LP (entitled simply "Van Halen"), and Led Zeppelin IV (aka, "ZoSo"). Refusal usually meant facing severe punishment, such as having to listen to an early AC/DC album or (ugh) Uriah Heep or even the horrific Lynyrd Skynyrd. Of course, I grew up in the United States, so YMMV.

    When I could, I'd sneak away to listen to Ziggy Stardust, Raw Power, Badfinger's Straight Up, Roxy Music's Stranded, and the first New York Dolls album, though of course I had to be careful with some of those because someone might see the album covers and think I was some sort of pansy-wansy (except for Stranded, which they probably would have stolen instead to use as a masturbatory aid). I also had all the Beatles' albums, a copy of the first Herman's Hermits' album (the US version with "I'm Into Something Good" as the leadoff track), and a "Good Vibrations" single that someone gave me for Christmas, which has since been lost. (It probably wasn't collectible anyway, since so many of them were pressed.)

    Of course, if your colleague buys any of these for her son, there's a chance his childhood will wind up being similar to mine, which would mean he'll become a bitter, disillusioned cynic with a penchant for behaving derisively towards self-appointed authority figures. So, there's that.
  • From the Eighties:

    The Police - "Ghost in the Machine"
    The Kinks - "Give the People What They Want"
    Spacemen 3 - "Perfect Prescription"
    Sonic Youth - "Daydream Nation"
    Jane's Addiction - "Nothing Shocking"
    The Clash - "London Calling"
    Tom Waits - "Rain Dogs"
    Tom Petty - "Full Moon Fever"
    Peter Gabriel - "Security"
  • edited November 2011
    - A true classic rock live album from around 1970:
    617gSnp3ovL._SS500_.jpg
    - Featuring the awesome Duane Allman on guitar (the guy who played some of the greatest solos on Claptons Leyla album)
    Allman Brothers - Whipping Post @ Youtube - (excellent video !)
    ETA: it's Duane playing the first solo.

    ETA 2: In Memory of Elizabeth Reed
    ETA 3: Oh boy Oh boy ! ! !
    ETA 4: If you do not at least listen to this track, I will never speak to you again ;-)

    - Or the Brothers and Sisters album:
    61rY78hNU7L._SL500_AA300_.jpg

    - Or maybe this one:
    51F4qeGnsXL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
    Blind faith - S/T
    - Stevie Winwood, Eric Clapton and was it Ginger Baker ?

    BLIND FAITH - Sea of Joy @ Youtube - (Me wonders who plays the fiddle on this track)
  • Beck - Odelay
  • 80s:
    Japan - Tin Drum
    OMD - Architecture and Morality
    (both in some ways a little on the fringe but classic pop nonetheless)
  • Many thanks all. I'll take these back to my friend and discuss them with her. There are some great picks here - some of which I hadn't thought of including. Personally BT I prefer After the Goldrush over Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, but maybe it is because it means more to me, but I see the point you are making, especially about Cowgirl in the Sand and Down by the River. I included Thriller mainly as it was so succesful and consequently has a significant part in pop history
  • @Greg: no apologies necessary. I approach these types of recs in terms of how it helps the specific person understand something about music history rather than what is essential. Personally, Rust Never Sleeps is my Neil Young of choice, and the songs on Thriller are so well known that the their place my not necessarily be obvious (disclosure: I own zero MJ albums).
  • Perhaps my confession that I own several MJ LPs and CDs is a much bigger confession!! I have Bad and Thriller as LPs and Thriller as a CD
  • Unfortunately, our two MJ recs are the only that (barely) try to account for Disco.
  • edited November 2011
    What, no Radiohead? It's the tail end of the 90's, but how about The Bends or OK Computer?
    Jayhawks--Hollywood Town Hall or Tomorrow The Green Grass. Or maybe instead of them Uncle Tupelo--March 16-20, 1992.
    Van Morrison--Moondance. Astral Weeks is probably too sui generis.
    Bob Dylan--maybe an indie kid would like Bringing It All Back Home better than H61R or BoB, I don't know.
    ditto for Bruce--maybe Nebraska instead of BtR. Or to go in the opposite direction, Darkness.
    Love--Forever Changes (at the risk of sounding like I'm a broken record).
    MC5--Kick Out The Jams
    Pixies--I've never liked anything they did, but I'm surprised no one else has mentioned them.
    Rolling Stones--Exile On Main Street or Let It Bleed
    Iain Matthews--If You Saw Thro' My Eyes. Kind of a left field rec, I know.

    edits: Anything by the Velvet Underground.
    Richard and Linda Thompson--Shoot Out The Lights.
    Something by The Raspberries.
    Something out of the Nick Lowe/Dave Edmunds/Rockpile nexus.
  • The Blind Faith album cover is likely to appeal to an 18 year old boy.
  • I can't believe I forgot Radiohead.

    I was just going to say Rolling Stones too - I'd say Sticky Fingers though.
  • edited November 2011
    Elvis Costello?
  • Summation of all these recommendations: a bunch of white males (with the exception of amclark2).
  • No, I'm a white male. I was feeling bad about no women.

    How about the Best of Diana Ross and the Supremes? Usually not a best of person, but they were so singles based...

    And Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man (the Way That I Love You)

    And Bjork - maybe Debut?
  • No, I meant that you included Prince, Wu Tang Clan, and Public Enemy.
  • Liz Phair Exile in Guyville or something by Throwing Muses?
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