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12/18/2004 Entry: "My favorite albums"

Daev's Faevs: Albums

I've been meaning to do this for months. I should write down a list of all the of my favorite records. Consider this more of as an incomplete draft.

Sonny Sharrock: Ask the Ages

I love this album so much I bought it a second time after the first copy got smashed at a party. Critics who know this album are quick to say it is not a jazz album, but I think they are stiffs.
Admittedly the form is either ABAB or just AA, and all compositions are modal, but look at the lineup: Charnett Moffett on bass, Elvin Jones on drums, Pharoh Sanders on Tenor. Damn. Right there you have three of the most artistic jazzcats ever backing up the late king of fusion. Sonny's compositions are like two-stanza Heine poems. In just a few sentences, they fill up with fire, newborns, browned leaves and yellowed pages. His tone is of a slightly distorted Les Paul. His phrasing is of signature stammering and stuttering around avoid tones. The band sweats grunts and swings to the bone marrow, waving banners, sitting through sermons fidgeting, and whispering rumors. This is not so much an album but a series of six master paintings. This is the most beautiful jazz album I ever heard and owned. Twice.

Soundgarden: Bad Motorfinger

Symbol (aka Prince): The Gold Experience

A lot of my friends tell me they hate dogs. Well, then they say, the bigger ones are okay but the little yap-yap breeds suck. Okay. Also, I hear over and over again how people hate Prince, but then... his older stuff was cool. I beg to differ. This album was in my bumbled opinion his greatest yet. It's a conceptual album tied together with a femine multimedia interface. The songs are full of great stories, the recordings full of wry allusions and nods to R&B greats (like Break it Down to the Ohio Players) and the overall presentation suggests a world that will probably never exist. Prince is dead. Long live Prince.

Miles Davis: In a Silent Way

The Carter Administration: High on Voting

Primus: Sailing the Seas of Cheese

Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon

Metallica: Ride the Lightning

Living Color: Vivid

Rush: A Farewell to Kings

Mahavishnu Orchestra: Inner Mounting Flame

Tower of Power: Back to Oakland

Gavin Degraw: Believe

Beasty Boys: Paul's Boutique

Little diary note: As I was writing this, the doorbell rang a hairfine ring. It was David (dah-feed), my neighbor on the second (BE) floor. He was all shy and looked at his feet then gave me a CD he burned. Of one L.V.B. His story was he heard at the party that last night someone had a birthday. He thought it might be me but it was actually Owen; I never grow older. Anyway, it turns out that Owen shares his birthday with Ludwig van Beethoven, who is truly the greatest composer ever. He is a all of these: disciple, wedge, fulcrum, lever, prophet, god, and bitter deaf guy. So David burned us a cd. Isn't that sweet? Anyway, I have to leave for the airport in an hour, so I can't finish this entry today. Keep posted. And feel free to add a comment...