In late 2004, i got into music. from there, the number of albums i purchased over time grew and grew until early 2006 when i was buying around 10 albums per month... but two things happened around that time that slowed my album purchasing by amazing amounts. a jobless girlfriend (with amazing taste by the way), and, even more expensive, a car.

now my way of discovering music is buying albums. so since picking up such expensive responsibilities, my knowledge of music has reached a plateau. last year i bought a mere 30 albums.

so just recently i was lucky enough to score a damn good job so i've been thinking that it's time to get back into buying albums and expanding my musical knowledge. unfortunately i think i've grown accustomed to being poor because i hardly even have a list of albums to buy anymore. but today i had a brilliant idea! i thought "why not ask for recommendations from people on the forum!?" so that's what i'm doing (and i'm going to try to turn it into a bit of a game).

so here's how the game works. below is a list of the top 100 albums that i don't own (don't laugh). each week i am going to buy one of them based on your recommendations. now since the chance of me buying the album that you recommend will be approximately 1/100, everyone will probably be recommending the same album week after week until i finally buy it (quite boring if you ask me). so to combat this, each week i will chose 10 from the top 100, based on some theme like "10 albums i'm convinced just can't possibly be good", or "the top 10 that i don't own" etc. however, for the first week, that simply isn't necessary so feel free to recommend anything from the list below! now this isn't a vote! i will buy an album based only on what people say, not how many people recommend it.

although i have started this topic on a monday (here in sydney anyway), i will stop taking recommendations, announce the winner, and post the albums for the next week at some point on a saturday (friday for most of the world). during the next week, i will buy the winning album, and i will give my opinion of it when i post the next week's topic (ie. i will give my opinion of the winner of week one when i announce the albums for week 3).

Thanks in advance to anyone who chooses to participate! good luck!

(i hope artist names aren't necessary)

1. Blonde on Blonde
2. Exile on Main St
3. What's Going On
4. Never Mind the Bollocks - Here's the Sex Pistols
5. Highway 61 Revisited
6. Astral Weeks
7. The Beatles ("The White Album")
8. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
9. Born to Run
10. Horses
11. Blood on the Tracks
12. Abbey Road
13. Sign 'O' the Times
14. Rubber Soul
15. IV
16. Beggar's Banquet
17. Let It Bleed
18. Who's Next
19. The Band
20. Live at the Apollo
21. Songs in the Key of Life
22. Innervisions
23. Blue
24. The Stone Roses
25. Sticky Fingers
26. Forever Changes
27. There's a Riot Goin' On
28. The Clash
29. Rumours
30. Trout Mask Replica
31. Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul
32. John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
33. Murmur
34. Hunky Dory
35. Tapestry
36. Appetite for Destruction
37. Bringing It All Back Home
38. II
39. Graceland
40. A Love Supreme
41. Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
42. Unknown Pleasures
43. 3 Feet High and Rising
44. Music from Big Pink
45. This Year's Model
46. Moondance
47. Psychocandy
48. I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You
49. Hotel California
50. Fun House
51. Elephant
52. My Aim Is True
53. Low
54. Bitches Brew
55. Physical Graffiti
56. Imagine
57. Dusty in Memphis
58. Raw Power
59. Funeral
60. At Fillmore East
61. Swordfishtrombones
62. Return to Cookie Mountain
63. Back in Black
64. Parallel Lines
65. Talking Book
66. Darkness on the Edge of Town
67. Lady Soul
68. Tommy
69. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
70. Paul's Boutique
71. Harvest
72. Elvis Presley
73. Maxinquaye
74. Slanted and Enchanted
75. Rain Dogs
76. Fear of a Black Planet
77. Rust Never Sleeps
78. Nebraska
79. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
80. Straight Outta Compton
81. Led Zeppelin
82. Saturday Night Fever
83. Aftermath
84. Court and Spark
85. The Marshall Mathers LP
86. New York Dolls
87. Grievous Angel
88. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
89. The Chronic
90. Tonight's the Night
91. Born in the U.S.A.
92. Superfly
93. Every Picture Tells a Story
94. Parklife
95. The Gilded Palace of Sin
96. Catch a Fire
97. Déjà Vu
98. Five Leaves Left
99. Pretenders
100. Axis: Bold as Love

Hey Moeboid, congratulations on the new job. As somebody whose employment yields a shit wage with job satisfaction to match, I must say that this experiment seems like a cool way to invest (or piss away) some of that new found disposable income.
Anyway, it will come as no surprise that my recommendation is that you fritter away this weeks funds on 'Slanted and Enchanted'.
You won't be disappointed. Or maybe you will. But then that's the beauty of having disposable income, if I remember rightly.

Well, you can probably guess what I'm going to recommend, but seeing as you don't have either of the 3 greatest Bob Dylan albums.. you should really get at least one of them.

As I can see that you don't own my favourite Top 3 I think I will begin with this:
1. Ziggy Stardust
2. White Album
3. Blonde on Blonde

I'm with Neoptolemos. Although there are albums left on your list which I enjoy more than any of the three of Dylan's, I would recommend going with one of those next. This forum (at least those who contributed to the poll last month) seems to like Highway 61 Revisited best, but Blonde on Blonde is my favorite, and Blood on the Tracks was the album that got me interested in Dylan. I'll recommend Blonde on Blonde out of sheer favoritism, but, truthfully, you won't go wrong with any of the three.

I was referring to Bringing It All Back Home as the third, but I suppose Blood On The Tracks will work too.

Blonde on Blonde, Ziggy Stardust, and Horses

Heh, I got into cool music about the same time you did. Basically until 2001 or so I listened to mostly mainstream, then I asked my dad to buy me a bunch of really great classic rock albums for every birthday and christmas. It wasn't until 2004 I started looking at critic sites to find cool newer music.

One thing I may suggest, do it year by year. That's what I did. One month I bought all the cool album suggestions from 1980, next month 1981, next month 1982, etc.

Actually, replace Ziggy Stardust on mine with Exile on Main St. It's a crime if you like rock and haven't heard it.

(p.s., the reason I started at 1980 is because that's when my dad lost touch with current music)

There's A Riot Goin' On.

Here's my comment from the album poll that never made it to (electronic) press:

Yes, it marks the beginning of the end for Sylvester Stewart (and by all indications from his recent appearances, the end was, in fact, the end). But, while the exuberance of the 60's material is lowered, it's replaced by something slinkier and more seductive and edgier. Sly's new serpentine groove on this album was very special. Alas, he could not hold it together to take it farther.

1. Blonde on Blonde
2. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
3. Abbey Road
4. Highway 61 Revisited
5. The Band
6. Born to Run
7. Exile on Main St
8. The Beatles ("The White Album")
9. IV
10. Let It Bleed

I'm not sure from the instruction if we just pick 10 from the list of 100 or wait for Moeboid to pick a top 10.

As a side note, I'm catching up on Bob Dylan thanks to the local library. Listened to Highway 61 Revisited last week and shot forward 40 years, as I'm listening to Modern Times right now.

Is it just me, or does this new Dylan sound a lot like Destroyer, in particular Destroyer's Rubies? Amazing that Dylan can have such an influence to sound like modern indie rock.

The geometry of innocent flesh on the bone
Causes Galileo's math book to get thrown
At Delilah who sits worthlessly alone
But the tears on her cheeks are from laughter

Answer: Highway 61 Revisited

for all weeks bar this one, i will chose 10, and you will pick one of those 10. but for this week, recommend any album from that top 100. i'm choosing a new 10 each week so that people don't get bored recommending the same album week after week.

by the way, you can recommend more than one but the aim is to convince me to buy an album so telling me how great an album is is probably going to convince me more than a simple list.

You seem to have a Dylan hole that needs filling. And what better place to start than where he first plugged in? 'Bringing It All Back Home' gives more chronological context to 'Highway 61 Revisited' and 'Blonde on Blonde.'
The advantage of 'Bringing It All Back Home' is that you have half electric Dylan and half acoustic, folksy Dylan. Except in a few cases, I think it's better to start at the beginning of the time line. Besides, if you don't like the electric half, you probably won't like 'Highway 61 Revisited' or 'Blonde on Blonde.' But you might like the acoustic half anyway, and that way your purchase won't be a total loss.