For starters:
The Gotee Brothers: EraceThe instrumentation on this disc is a feast for the ears--a Southern feast, the kind with fried chicken and grits. In other words it's not exactly haute musique, but it makes you feel good deep down inside. The lyrics are great, too, dismantling racism ("colors don't hate") and celebrating the simple life ("nothing like a fat cup, sweet tea and ice").
Fleming and John: Delusions of GrandeurFleming and John's style was like nothing I'd ever heard when it first tickled my ears back in '97, and there's still nothing quite like hearing Fleming's voice soar and swoop over John's eccentric rock backgrounds (he plays all the instruments, alone it would still be something worth hearing).
Johnny Cash: American RecordingsThe first of five collaborations between Cash and legendary producer Rick Rubin, the first American Recordings is still the best. There's nothing here but Johnny's guitar and his voice, cracked and weathered, carrying the weight of the world, but still somehow finding enough strength and conviction to carry an album.
There are a plethora of records out there that require no skipping: Radiohead - OK Computer, The Postal Service - Give Up, The Pixies - Surfer Rosa, Rage Against the Machine - The Battle of Los Angeles, Ben Folds - Songs for Silverman, Dave Matthews Band - Crash, and Counting Crows - August and Everything After.
But I think an album can still be great, even if there's just one song you have to skip. One song doesn't diminish these: The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan, Jurassic 5 - Power in Numbers, Brainwash Projects - The Rise and Fall, Soulfood 76 - Original Soundtrack, and Medeski, Martin, and Wood - The Dropper. The Dropper is particularly noteworthy; even though Martin's percussion-only "Illinization" is awful, the rest of the disc is pure improvisational genius. It's like a great puzzle that your mind unlocks after a few listens, and inside is a brand-new, joyful paradigm.
Have I missed anything? (I mean, besides the whole U2 and BeeGees catalogues.)
More after the jump.
2 comments:
Also, I think there are certain genres that just can't be held to the no-skip standard. With rap/hip-hop, you're lucky if half of the songs are worth listening to. 50% success means a good rap album, because 100% is never achieved (see Jurassic 5). These albums have lots to skip over, but the highs more than atone for the lows: Control Machete - Artilleria Pesada Presente, The Neptunes - Clones, Danger Doom - The Mouse and the Mask, and Dr. Dre - 2001. Heck, I consider 2001 to be the greatest rap album ever created. The beats sound natural and are almost always catchy and cool, and Dre speaks the language of the streets, stripping "swear" words of their offensiveness by sprinkling them like Lowry's over the entire juicy album (cussing is credibility in rap). There are a few tracks there that I almost always skip, but this is one CD I've been listening to weekly for almost two years, and I'm still not tired of it.
What is there to skip on "Rise and Fall?"
I always skip tracks. Its a disease.
Although I have never listened to Surfer Rosa, Debaser is by far the best Pixies record. It also requires no skipping.
Tha Chronic Deuce? This Masterpiece is why I nevah leaf tha house widout a murdah weapon.
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