(Fewer Than) Ten Albums

There’s a Facebook thing that’s been going around for years (alas, I can’t think of a better word than thing – gimmick?) in which someone is asked to post ten albums that have made a difference in his or her life. Not necessarily a Top Ten list; just influential. It goes something like this:

I have been nominated to post ten albums in ten days that have had an impact on my life. Only one album per artist. Post only the album cover without saying anything else.

Lots of recordings fall into the category influential, and in compiling my own (unnominated) list I am unable to narrow it down to ten. Therefore I’m bending the rules a wee bit. I’ll only mention a handful – fewer than ten, and in no particular order. Also, I shall annotate each entry. First, the list itself:

• A Guitar Recital, William Gomez
• African and Afro-American Drumming, various
• In Concert, Oregon
• Cumbia and Jazz Fusion, Charles Mingus
• Homage to Liszt, Vladimir Horowitz
• Sgt. Pepper
• ...plus honorable mentions...

A Guitar Recital, William Gomez. This album reached me just as I got interested in guitar playing (around age sixteen), and it made all the difference. It has tunes that I love to this day, such as Danza Pomposa, by Alexandre Tansman. (The William Gomez version does not appear to be streamable; the link above is to a really good performance by someone I never heard of.) Also on A Guitar Recital are excerpts from the Tansman guitar suite, In modo polonico. The full suite had a really big impact, too.

African and Afro-American Drums, various. Released in 1954, so it was already quite old by the time I got my copy as a surly teen. This two-disc Folkways album totally blew me away. Field recordings, apparently, from Africa, the Caribbean, South America, and the United States. Lots of beautiful stuff. Includes a brilliant drum solo by the great Baby Dodds, which FWIW has also been released on other discs.

My vinyl copy is long gone, but in searching the Internet for info, I see this album is available on CD.

In Concert, Oregon. Not to be confused with In Performance (also really good). I saw Oregon live at Pease Hall on the EMU campus back in the olden days. Also on the bill  that night: Don Cherry and Leon Thomas, who performed with Collin Walcott before Oregon took the stage, in what must have been an early incarnation of Codona.

In Concert includes a version of Silence of a Candle with probably my very favorite Ralph Towner guitar solo (on a 12-string), as well as a wonderful bass solo by Glen Moore. You should listen to it. Be forewarned, it begins with a lengthy sitar sequence that some listeners may find tedious. Worth the wait. (Whole Earth Chant (Morphogensis!) from The Winter Consort is a close cousin to all of this.)

Homage to Liszt, Vladimir Horowitz. During the period when I loved bravura piano, this album preoccupied me. I wore my copy out. I was especially knocked out by Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6, with the Rakoczi March (Hungarian Rhapsody No. 15) a close second. The somber dirge Funerailles is also on this album. Caramba. Stop me before I listen again!

Editorial note: A dirge, by definition, is somber – no? So the above phrase is redundant. Why do I not correct it? Because I am filling some empty space with words, in order to better format the text and images in this post.

Cumbia and Jazz Fusion, Charles Mingus. The title track of this album is great. No other word for it. It’s about 30 minutes long, but you should listen to it (with headphones) in full. Everyone on earth should listen to it. Who says mama’s little baby likes shortnin’ bread?

Sgt. Pepper. My token Beatles entry. Back in what some people refer to as the day, I pasted a photo of my mug to the cover. Yikes! The White Album might go here, too. We have all heard Sgt. Pepper too many times, so no links and no further description included.

Never Mind the Bullocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. Is this an honorable mention? Or does it belong on the list? Of course it belongs. So does In God We Trust, Inc, Dead Kennedys.

It should be needless to say (and is – but I’m saying it anyway) that there are countless more albums that have made a difference; also that albums, as a delivery system, no longer exist. CDs, too, are obsolete. No matter. I constantly discover new music that makes a difference to me; that shapes me in ways I might not have anticipated a week ago, or once upon a long gone time ago. A subject, perhaps, for a future post.