Albums you never tire of....

[USUC]

Like?

But the thread was albums you could listen to and never tire of, and for me I've listened to those over and over and never tired of them.

If it was strictly just great albums, the list would have been more expansive. Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart, Bitches Brew by Miles Davis, Autobahn by Kraftwerk, Tago Mago by Can and a bunch of others in that vein I think are great albums, important in the history of music, and stuff every music fan should own, but they're not the kind of albums I can listen to over and over.

This albums you never tire of is a tough game, this is endless for me. Love the Krautrock inclusions. I have listened to Tago Mago almost weekly over the past year. It is a superb album. I would throw in Neu! '75 on almost equal footing. If an album is spacey and ambient, it will always have a place in my playlist Every album pre-"The Wall" from Pink Floyd has at one point or another been my favorite album over the past 17 years.

[Moliere]

I figured you might pick August, and then my next guess was Vitalogy, because they're probably not great in the way that some of the others are. August, though, like Donut said, is piled with nostalgia for me. I listened to that album constantly in high school; camping trips, road trips, late-night bbq's, just hanging out with friends, etc. For me it is lived in and worn and tied to so many great moments -- and even when I throw it on now all these years later, it's just so listenable. It's not a big and remarkable statement like Ok Computer, and it wasn't a cultural shifting behemoth like Nevermind; it's just an album that for me is full of great songs and never gets old (I'm looking at the track list right now and everything on there is just so great).

Vitalogy, well, PJ was my favorite band for the longest time in the 90s, and I've kind of since abandoned them. But during that time, I listened to their records non-stop, so I felt like I needed to give them two since all my other favorite bands had multiple. That album had some big hits (like Better Man), but it's the oddness of it that I always enjoy so much. For Pearl Jam, it was a strange record, and probably their most original. I enjoy it and after Ten it's generally the PJ record that I most feel like listening to over and over.

Appetite? Get out of town. That record kills from top-to-bottom. The massive success of the singles have maybe detracted from what it is as an album (that's the funny thing about singles -- once they hit a certain level, it almost starts to feel like they have become detached from the rest of the album), but that thing is a beast.

I only picked the first two that I saw real quick and probably would have included Vitalogy. Don't get me wrong, I like PJ and I like Vitalogy but I can't listen to it straight through. I can listen to No Code straight through though, which just shows that music is so personal and subjective that criticism of it is sometimes lame (except in the case of new country and Lady Gaga ).

I'll add one more to my list:

Transatlanticism - Wilco (I listened to this while I commuted by plane for 4 weeks. There is something amazing about listening to the album while at 38,000 feet and playing M.U.L.E. at the same time.)

[MarkGrace]

This albums you never tire of is a tough game, this is endless for me. Love the Krautrock inclusions. I have listened to Tago Mago almost weekly over the past year. It is a superb album. I would throw in Neu! '75 on almost equal footing. If an album is spacey and ambient, it will always have a place in my playlist Every album pre-"The Wall" from Pink Floyd has at one point or another been my favorite album over the past 17 years.

I actually don't have NEU! '75, looks like I should get it. The only record of theirs I own is the s/t debut. Also one that is think is a great album, but not something I'm going to play over and over.

This is kind of a kick:

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[MarkGrace]

I only picked the first two that I saw real quick and probably would have included Vitalogy. Don't get me wrong, I like PJ and I like Vitalogy but I can't listen to it straight through. I can listen to No Code straight through though, which just shows that music is so personal and subjective that criticism of it is sometimes lame (except in the case of new country and Lady Gaga ).

No code is great. One of my favorite PJ songs:

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I'll add one more to my list:

Transatlanticism - Wilco (I listened to this while I commuted by plane for 4 weeks. There is something amazing about listening to the album while at 38,000 feet and playing M.U.L.E. at the same time.)

You mean Death Cab?

My go-to airport/flight album is always OK Computer. Sitting there listening to "transports, motorways and tramlines, starting and then stopping, taking off and landing" is always kind of a surreal experience for me. Makes me feel like I'm in the Meeting People Is Easy video.

[Maximus]

Nightwish-The poet and the pendulum

[USUC]

I actually don't have NEU! '75, looks like I should get it. The only record of theirs I own is the s/t debut. Also one that is think is a great album, but not something I'm going to play over and over.

This is kind of a kick:

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Neu! 75 is great. Its almost two different albums in one. I guess there were tensions in the band so one side is composed by Rother and the other side by Dinger. Rother's tracks are very ambient while Dinger's is almost proto-punk. Neu! and Neu! 2 are decent albums, but as you say nothing I'm going to play over and over.

[MarkGrace]

Hey USU, not sure if you like Radiohead, or if you caught this song already, but they released this Krautrock inspired jam as single late last year:

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I've been in love with it since the moment I heard it. After how direct and approachable In Rainbows was (I don't mean that as a slight, everyone knows I think IR was a killer album), I was really excited to see them do something dark and weird again.

[MartyFunkhouser]

John Coltrane: Ascension
John Coltrane: Live at the Village Vanguard
John Coltrane: Blue Trane
John Coltrane: Giant Steps
John Coltrane: Interstellar Space
Ornette Coleman: Free Jazz
John Zorn's Masada: Live at Tonic
Medeski Martin and Wood: Live at Tonic
Medeski Martin and Wood: The Dropper
Critters Buggin: Host
Curtis Mayfield: Curtis/Live!
D'Angelo: Voodoo
Digable Planets: Blowout Comb
Garage a Trois: Live at Fox Theater
Groove Collective: We the People
Pharcyde: Bizarre Ride II
Pharcyde: Labcabincalifornia
A Tribe Called Quest: Midnight Marauders
Reflection Eternal: Train of Thought
Stanton Moore: All Kooked Out
Soulive: Turn It Out

I'm sure there are many that I missing right now but these are a few off the top of my head

[Scott R Nelson]

John Coltrane: Ascension
John Coltrane: Live at the Village Vanguard
John Coltrane: Blue Trane
John Coltrane: Giant Steps
John Coltrane: Interstellar Space
Ornette Coleman: Free Jazz
John Zorn's Masada: Live at Tonic
Medeski Martin and Wood: Live at Tonic
Medeski Martin and Wood: The Dropper
Critters Buggin: Host
Curtis Mayfield: Curtis/Live!
D'Angelo: Voodoo
Digable Planets: Blowout Comb
Garage a Trois: Live at Fox Theater
Groove Collective: We the People
Pharcyde: Bizarre Ride II
Pharcyde: Labcabincalifornia
A Tribe Called Quest: Midnight Marauders
Reflection Eternal: Train of Thought
Stanton Moore: All Kooked Out
Soulive: Turn It Out

I'm sure there are many that I missing right now but these are a few off the top of my head

Someone who apparently likes jazz.

I don't know anything about jazz, but would like to learn more about it and listen to the good stuff. Is the above a good starting list?

[MartyFunkhouser]

Someone who apparently likes jazz.

I don't know anything about jazz, but would like to learn more about it and listen to the good stuff. Is the above a good starting list?

Some of it is good stuff to start with, other albums are not stuff to start with. I now lean more towards the free jazz/avante garde jazz. I didn't start with this stuff and I think very few people would just jump into that stuff. The best stuff to start with jazz is be-bop. Bop is when jazz got great and IMO the pre-bop stuff is pretty bland and boring.

A few I would recommend:

Miles Davis: Kind of Blue. It has been years since I have listened to this album, but it really is a great album. Very nice and laid back jazz.

Freddie Hubbard: Red Clay. Another nice laid back album like Kind of Blue. I actually prefer Hubbard as a trumpet player to Miles, but Miles put out more good music than Hubbard.

Lee Morgan: Search for a New Land. Another one of the great trumpet players. Search for a New Land is a great track

Sonny Rolllins: Saxophone Colossus. St. Thomas is one of my favorite jazz standards

John Coltrane: Giant Steps. A nice bridge between Trane's early work and his more avante garde and free stuff. This is probably one of the more challenging albums on this list. Blue Trane is also great and a little safer.

Grant Green: Idle Moments. Green is one of my favorite jazz guitarists. He played on a lot of sessions and this is one of his better solo albums.

Just a few off the top of my head of the older stuff. I would also check out some newer stuff like Stanton Moore - All Kooked Out, Greyboy Allstars (any album will do), Soulive - Turn it out.

[Scott R Nelson]

Some of it is good stuff to start with...

A few I would recommend:

Miles Davis: Kind of Blue. It has been years since I have listened to this album, but it really is a great album. Very nice and laid back jazz.

Thanks for the useful information. I'm listening to Kind of Blue right now. It's good.

I'll start searching for the others on your list.