Best Albums- The Joshua Tree

U2- The Joshua Tree
March 1987

My wife and I went to see U2 in concert last night in Boston, so I absolutely have to mention their best album, the Joshua Tree. War and the simultaneous spread of MTV brought U2 to the attention of the world's youth, but The Joshua Tree made even the adults pay attention. This album was a monster and you've probably (hopefully) already spent a lot of time with this album playing in the background.
(If not, click on the album cover and buy a copy from Amazon, you can thank me later).

Though the biggest hits on this album are "Where the Streets Have No Name", "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "With or Without You", I think that the strength of the album is that the rest of the songs are just as good, if not better than, the big radio hits. "Red Hill Mining Town," "Trip Through Your Wires", "One Tree Hill" and of course the rocking "Bullet the Blue Sky" are all fantastic songs. Give this album a listen soon. Whether you've heard it a zillion times and got sick of it or have never played it all the way through, put it on and be amazed with these lads all over again.




1. Where The Streets Have No Name
2. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
3. With Or Without You
4. Bullet The Blue Sky
5. Running To Stand Still
6. Red Hill Mining Town
7. In God's Country
8. Trip Through Your Wires
9. One Tree Hill
10. Exit
11. Mothers Of The Disappeared

Ps- for a quick review of the u2 show last night, including their set list, go to my blog, Kicked Puppies.

Best Songs- This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)

Talking Heads- This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)
Speaking In Tongues
June 1983

In the comments on my previous post, reader Megan said that she saw the john Butler Trio and their show caused a dance craze, which made me think of the dancing-est concert I've ever been to...

I went to see Talkingheads guys on this tour and it was a dancapalooza. (It was, I believe, the tour that became the "Stop Making Sense" album and film). If you can get 10,000 or so Mainers shaking their usually tight asses, you must be doing something right, and this band definitely did something right on this album.

Normally, I'm not one to go for synthesizers and other instruments that don't actually sound like "real" instruments, and for that reason I'm not as fond of Speaking In Tongues and Stop Making Sense as I might be, but this stupid little ditty always makes me smile. I really think it would be hard to listen to this song and be in a bad mood at the end of it, which is kind of what music is supposed to be about I think.

One of my chums once said that the members of the band switched instruments for this song, I dunno if that's true, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

Great Songs- Zebra

John Butler Trio- Zebra
Sunrise Over Sea
March 2005

This song absolutely rocks. I don't have the album, but I downloaded a couple of his songs from iTunes. Go buy the album, (click on it and you'll go to Amazon.com and I'll get a cut!) Buy two and send me one copy. You'll love Zebra, at least.

Best Albums- Sgt. Pepper

The Beatles- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
June 2, 1967

This is another of the "well, duh" series


Click it and Buy It!


1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
2. With a Little Help from My Friends
3. Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
4. Getting Better
5. Fixing a Hole
6. She's Leaving Home
7. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
8. Within You Without You
9. When I'm Sixty-Four
10. Lovely Rita
11. Good Morning Good Morning
12. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
13. Day in the Life

Best Albums Ever- White Ladder

David Gray- White Ladder
March 21, 2000

If Van Morrison and Bob Dylan had a child, it would be one butt-ugly kid. If it's a boy, he might well grow up to sound just like David Gray. Gray's voice on this album sounds a lot like Dylan's of the mid-eighties vintage. (I find Bob's current voice to be skating that Munchkin Tone a little too much). Gray has Dylan's lyrical abilities (maybe not quite, but he's really good) and a voice that sounds like Bob. He also has Morrison's knack for phrasing and jazziness. (He's also, like Morrison, from the British Isles. I believe he's Welsh). (Now that I think about it, he also works some lyrics from Morrison's Into the Mystic into this album).

Anyhow, this is a great album. The lyrics and melodies and craftsmanship on the songs is far better than anything else Gray has done. Like Jack Johnson's album listed elsewhere on this page, I find this to be a great album to put on for any occasion- whether I need something playing in the background or I want to hear one of those incredibly catchy songs I've become hooked on.

If you've never listened to David Gray, do yourself a huge favor and click on the album cover and go buy it from Amazon. You can thank me later.


1. Please Forgive Me
2. Babylon
3. My Oh My
4. We're Not Right
5. Nightblindness
6. Silver Lining
7. White Ladder
8. This Years Love
9. Sail Away
10. Say Hello Wave Goodbye
11. Babylon II

Best Albums Ever- Dark Side of the Moon

Pink Floyd- Dark Side of the Moon
March 31, 1973

Well, duh.

Click on the album cover and buy a copy from Amazon if you've worn yours out, or if you're one of the three people on the planet who don't have it. Buy yourself a copy of the Wizard of Oz DVD at the same time and play them together. (seriously).



1. Speak to me
2. Breathe
3. On the run
4. Time
5. Great gig in the sky
6. Money
7. Us and them
8. Any colour you like
9. Brain damage
10. Eclipse

Best Songs- Gimme Shelter

The Rolling Stones- Gimme Shelter
Track 1- Let It Bleed
Recorded by the Stones on February 23, 1969
Album released-November 29, 1969



From that funky weird choppy guitar opening to the kickstart drums to the heroin lyrics to Merry Clayton wailing away with the background vocal, this may be the ultimate rock and roll song in all its gritty grungy squalored best.

Best Albums Ever- Who's Next

The Who- Who's Next
August 25, 1971

As with a lot of these groups I'm lauding here, there are some seriously rabid Who fans. There are scores of people who know all the lyrics and the history behind the songs and who seek out B-sides and have conventions. I ain't one of those, especially with the Who. Pete Townshend seems to jump back and forth between "cool" and "super prick" depending on the interview. The "musical genius" tag fits him for a lot of stuff, but also gets hard to defend when VH-1 shows some of his cheesier '80s videos. (Seen "Rough Boys" lately? It gives me the creeps). (To be honest, I've not been able to stay awake through all of Quadrophenia, though some day I intend to). In my humble but correct opinion, Pete rocked hard with the Who and got a little full of hisself the rest of the time, with sucktacular results

All the other Who baggage aside, this album freakin' rocks. Listen to Keith Moon pound the drums on Baba O'Riley, that alone is worth the price of admission. Look at the songs on this album (listed below). Each and every one of them is a staple of classic Rock. Listen again, all the way through. You'll be amazed at what the lads were doing back in '71. The big hits you've heard a zillion times, the lesser hits you've heard a million times. That's all there is on this album, there's no "throwaway". One of my faves on the iPod lately has been My Wife, probably because it's a great song that I never played much as a youth with Baba O'Riley and Bargain competing for my attention on the very same side of vinyl. I should mention that I had this album for several years before I actually noticed that they were peeing on the cover. Who's Next indeed.


Click on the pic to buy this album
from Amazon if you don't have it
already. You can thank me later.

1. Baba O'Riley
2. Bargain
3. Love Ain't For Keeping
4. My Wife
5. The Song Is Over
6. Getting In Tune
7. Going Mobile
8. Behind Blue Eyes
9. Won't Get Fooled Again

Best Albums Ever- Brushfire Fairytales

Jack Johnson- Brushfire Fairytales
February 6, 2001

Jack Johnson's Brushfire Fairytales is not a huge moment in rock history like Exile on Main Street or Led Zeppelin I, but it is a damn fine album for listening, which is kind of the point of music. It's mellow, a little funky, and though there's not a lot of uptempo here there is a lot of bounce. This album is great because it can serve as lively background music, or as the album that you put on because you want to hear those incredibly catchy and addictive songs you've grown to love (Flake, Bubble Toes, Inaudible Melodies, Posters). Jack Johnson hails from Hawaii and is apparently a pretty good surfer, and this album definitely has that perfect mellow surfer vibe.

Click on the pic to buy this album
from Amazon if you don't have it
already. You can thank me later.


1. Inaudible Melodies
2. Middle Man
3. Posters
4. Sexy Plexi
5. Flake
6. Bubble Toes
7. Fortunate Fool
8. The News
9. Drink the Water
10. Mudfootball
11. F-Stop Blues
12. Losing Hope
13. It's All Understood

Best Albums Ever- Led Zeppelin I

Led Zeppelin I
January 12, 1969

Led Zeppelin really didn't make any bad albums. They made a few that weren't as good as some of their others, but that's far different than saying they made a bad album. For that reason, I'm starting with their first rather than jumping to their best albums, (II, IV, Houses of the Holy). Because the fourth album has been completely killed for a lot of us by FM radio overplay, and because "II" was killed for a lot us by tape-deck and FM radio overplay, "I" isn't a bad place to start anyhow. There are a number of great great songs here that (thankfully) got overlooked by a lot of the classic radio station playlists, so a lot of it still sounds as fresh as it did way back in the day.


Click on the pic to buy this album
from Amazon if you don't have it
already. You can thank me later.

1. Good Times Bad Times
2. Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
3. You Shook Me
4. Dazed and Confused
5. Your Time is Gonna Come
6. Black Mountain Side
7. Communication Breakdown
8. I Can't Quit You Baby
9. How Many More Times

Best Albums Ever- Exile on Main Street

The Rolling Stones- Exile on Main Street
May 12, 1972


Click on the pic to buy this album
from Amazon if you don't have it
already. You can thank me later.

It took me a long time to "get" this album.
Firstly, since I'm moderately cheap, it took me along time to purchase it because this is an album full of songs you've never heard of.
Secondly, critics love it and it's widely lauded as the best Stones album ever by critics, which is usually a good reason to stay away from an album.
Thirdly, once I did purchase the album, it took me a number of listenings to figure out why this album is 'sposed to be so good. I was an enormous fan of the Some Girls and Let It Bleed albums, and I was pretty sure that even Sticky Fingers was better album than this one.
... and then one day as the disc changer did its thing and that little riff that opens Rocks Off kicked in, I just got it.

Tom Wolfe is supposed to have said something like "the Beatles want to hold your hand, the Stones want to burn your town." Whether he said that or not, it seems pretty perfect to describe this particular album. The opening song, Rocks Off, is one of my favorite Stones' songs and it sets the tone of the album perfectly, it's nasty and rough, full of attitude and more than a little dangerous. This is what Rock and Roll is supposed to be; edgy, punky, raunchy and a lot unpredictable. (Listen to the grittiness of Exile and then the polished gloss of Some Girls. It's like they're by two totally different bands).

The album doesn't always rock, it winds its way through some country and blues too, but the rock and roll attitude dominates. This album is hard core Stones.

1. Rocks Off
2. Rip This Joint
3. Shake Your Hips
4. Casino Boogie
5. Tumbling Dice
6. Sweet Virginia
7. Torn and Frayed
8. Sweet Black Angel
9. Loving Cup
10. Happy
11. Turd on the Run
12. Ventilator Blues
13. I Just Want to See His Face
14. Let It Loose
15. All Down the Line
16. Stop Breaking Down
17. Shine a Light
18. Soul Survivor

Best Albums Ever- Crash

Dave Matthews Band- Crash
Released April 30, 1996


Click on the pic to buy this album
from Amazon if you don't have it
already. You can thank me later.

This album freakin' rocks. From the funky opening riff on So Much to Say through Two Step and on through the album, which includes the rockers Too Much and Tripping Billies, this is the most uptempo of all the Dave Matthews Band albums to date, and for that reason it may be their best. (Though that's a close call based on the strength of Under the Table and Dreaming and Before these Crowded Streets). The biggest hit on the album, Crash Into Me, is one of my least favorites of all the DMB repetoire, but that might just be because I've heard it so many times through the years. This is one of the great rock and roll albums of all time, without question.

1. So Much to Say
2. Two Step
3. Crash Into Me
4. Too Much
5. #41
6. Say Goodbye
7. Drive in Drive Out
8. Let You Down
9. Lie In Our Graves
10. Cry Freedom
11. Tripping Billies
12. Proudest Monkey

The Best Music Ever

The Village Idiot is, and always has been, a giant fan of rock and roll music. He also occasionally dips into other genres, but he's mostly a rock guy. Rather than muck up his main blog, Kicked Puppies, with music geekiness all the time, he's started a blog about music.

Enjoy!