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Harrier
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Nature's Way
Featuring the great, late Randy California, the man who wrote Stairway to Heaven. Randy was born Randy Wolfe and played with Jimi Hendrix in his band, The Blue Flame. Hendrix named him California to distinguish him from the other Randy in the band who hailed from Texas. Hendrix and California went to Europe together to "find Jeff Beck." Randy California drowned while rescuing his twelve-year-old son from a rip current at Molokai, Hawaii in 1997. His son survived.
People talk about Pet Sounds and Sergeant Pepper, Love's Forever Changes as perfect albums. I would stick Let it Bleed in the group. But I would put Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus right up there with the whole stack. Maybe at the top.
Postscript 12.7.11 - What is wrong with me? How in the hell did I leave my desert island disc "Blood on the tracks" off this list? Head of the class, most perfect album ever written. And assuming the island had a turntable and power supply of course.
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7 comments:
Randy California did not write Stairway to Heaven. The melody and guitar work was stolen by Jimmy Page from a early acoustical song he wrote for Spirit.
That's the Twelve Dreams of Doctor Sardonicus.
How about Dark Side of the Moon?
or as you mentioned in your blog, Moby Grape's debut Moby Grape.
Curious what other albums your readers would say were perfect?
Randy California wrote Taurus, an instrumental version of Stairway when he was 16. His mother has corroborated this. Zeppelin was playing songs from the first Spirit album that included Taurus on their first tour.
Dark Side doesn't even rank in my favorite three Floyd albums, I was an Umma Gumma, Atom Heart Mother, Meddle fan. Dark side was the beginning of the end for me and a signal of their slippery descent into commerciality. Careful with that axe, Eugene.
Quadrophenia
I agree... "Twelve Dreams" should be right up at the top.
WD
Beatles: Hard Day's Night, Help, Rubber Soul.
The Band (second album)
Workingman's Dead
Pendulum (Creedence)
The Times they are a Changin (Bob)
Pet Sounds/ Smile (the Boys)
In A Silent Way/Bitches Brew/ Jack Johnson/ Live Evil/ On the Corner (Miles)
Sweetnighter/ Heavy Weather (Weather Report)
...and so on and so forth...
For sure Blood On The Tracks one of those few albums with only very good songs start to finish. Aqualung has to be up near the top of the list as well. Zep one. And I am rowing my ass off in circles.
Deli Guy.
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