Help me find Great artists and Great albums

As you might know from a thread I started friday, I was robbed in my apartment last week. Bad day for me. But after talking with my insurance company today I'll get between 5000.00$ and 6000.00$ to spend on cds and dvds.

I already know wich dvds I'll get for myself but I want to buy a ton of music.

What I'd like from the great posters of CFC is some suggestions.
Maybe an artist in particular and their best work/album. Some new stuff, some old stuff. I want to have a great music library with classics and some recent material. I have access to all kind of music store so don't be afraid to go in various directions from different genre, from independant to commercial music.

Who knows? Maybe some artist or album will forever be identified in my mind to a particular poster or you'll get to help me discover something great.

Well, I'll throw out a few things (Groups, not specific albums...):

Rock : The Who, Oingo Boingo, The The, Jethro Tull (pre 1974).

Jazz : Art Blakey, Louis Armstrong.

Two of my favorite rock bands: Arizing and Dream Theater

For my taste, these should not be missed:

Incredible String Band: Hangman's Beautiful Daughter
Phil Ochs: Pleasures of the Harbor
Joni Mitchell: Blue
Bob Dylan: all up to Nashville Skyline and Blood on the tracks
The Who: Tommy
Tyranosaurus Rex (Marc Bolan & Steve Perigrin Took): Unicorn
The Doors: The Doors (first album)

Plus all the standard greats

Well, it's hard to give you some advices without knowing what kind of music you enjoy.

Anyway, I'll give you the name of my two favourite artists :

Björk. Her best album is certainly "Homogenic", if you don't know her well, you should maybe try to hear the song "Jòga" from that album which is breath-taking. After "Homogenic", "Post" is also a wonderful album. And if you're becoming a fan, then you should also buy "Debut", "Selmasongs" and "Vespertine". Well, I'm not necessarily objective, I've felt in love with her voice.

Serge Gainsbourg. He's French but as you're a French speaker I won't bother to talk about him. Maybe you know him already. Anyway, he's best album is certainly "Melody Nelson" and his best song is "La ballade de Melody Nelson". I advise you to buy a best of with all his songs if you want. You should enjoy classics like "Je t'aime... moi non plus", "Initial B.B", or "La Javanaise", which you certainly know already. I won't make you a list of all his great songs because, here again, I'm not necessarily objective. I would still add that Gainsbourg was a lot better in the 60's and the 70's than after.

Marla, you left out Francoise Hardy???

Thanks people!
This is exactly the kind of stuff I'm looking for. Keep them coming.

@Marla: Of course I know Serge Gainsbourg. But I actually forgot about him when I started to do my list, merci.

Birdjaguar said:

Marla, you left out Francoise Hardy???

Click to expand...

What Françoise Hardy ? She's not one of my two favourite artists !

Well anyway, François Hardy indeed made several valuable songs... songs like "Comment te dire adieu" (written by Serge Gainsbourg), "message personnel" or "mon ami la rose". Anyway, I'm not sure that's what De Lorimier is looking for.

Miles Davis, from his jazz days to his fusion days. Practically all classics.

I'll assume you know the rock legends, Zeppelin, Stones, Queen.

I'll recommend Deep Purple, Yes, Pink Floyd, Guns N Roses, Van Halen.

If you want to get some really interesting music, check out the King Crimson albums "The Court of the Crimson King", "Red", and "The Nightwatch". Great 70s progressive rock.

In my opinion, you can't go wrong with Dave Matthews Band. Start off with "Crash" or "Under the Table and Dreaming". If you like either of these pick up some of the others, and if you even like it a little bit I highly recomend "Live at Luther College" where it is just Dave and Tim Reynolds with acoustic guitars, it is amazing.

Also the Who, can't go wrong with them.

Miles Davis.... Dark Magus - 1974, originally released in Japan, only released on CD in America in 1998 I think - this is really hardcore funk/jazz/rock/metal- one of the most amazing albums of all time... if you really like good music... this album will blow your mind, it's the best and most creative album Miles ever did in my opinion.. he plays the trumpet and keyboards on this album and is absolutely out of his mind on coke and who knows what else... He's got 3 guitar players who all think they're Jimi hendrix, 2 percussionists, a bass player, two sax players... who are all twisted out of their minds and playing like their on another planet. it represents the end of Miles serious recording career... after finishing the tour with the band off this album, he stopped playing music for 5 years!!! he said didn't even touch the trumpet anymore.... He came back in the 80's but only as a commercial artist... for me this is the pinnacle of all his music and as far as he ever got. im telling you that you gotta check out this album

and if you like funky music - try the re -released double cd "Superfly" by Curtis Mayfield... it's the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film and one of the all time soul classics....

you can't go wrong with these two suggestions

Do yourself a favour and get a copy of 'Bryter Layter' by Nick Drake. It's beautiful, melancholy and uplifting all at the same time.

misfits, johnny cash, the mighty mighty bosstones, alice in chains, everlast system of down, white stripes, black flag, hellacopters,
creedence clearwater revival, danzig
fugazi, velvet underground, nick cave and the badseeds, john lee hooker,
otis redding
al green, tom petty, tom waits, primus ,leonard cohen, millencollin
faith no more, MC5, cake, queen, dwigh yoakam, the clash, bad religion
rollins band, dead kennedys, pantera


i wont mention reallyfamous artists, youve most likely heard huge ones like metallica/michael jackson/madonna (like non of them) and you know if you like the music or not

these are the ones that i can come up with right now that arent very famous or old and therefore not in public light anymore

ps.click on the link in my sig for a cool song and video, shockwave required

Like metal? Try out Nightwish and Sonata Arctica.

Go out right now and get Metallica - ...And Justice for All. Greatest album ever.

Jimi Hendrix, T-Rex, The Prodigy, Elton John.

you need "tommy" and "quadrophenia" by the who. two of the best albums ever. i also recommend "thyrty" by lynyrd skynyrd. its the thirty year anniversary two disc album.

If you want some decent metal bands then I recommend Machine Head www.machinehead1.com (Burn My Eyes is a really good album), Fear facory (I only have Demanfacture, industrial metal ) and Sepultura (Brazilian metal band. 'Roots' is their finest work, they are for the more hardened metal fan though). Marilyn Manson has 3 quality albums also (Antichrist Superstar, Mechanical Animals, Holywood).

And of course the grunge genre is full of great albums, I would recommend Pearl Jams 'Ten'

Mayfield's Superfly is a great suggestion for some funk
On that note, check out Tower Of Power's OakLand Stroke album

for some great retro swing, I highly recomend Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's newest album Save My Soul