Hey it's the end of the year and time to start doing up those lists that everyone loves to read come every December. I didn't get a lot of listening done to much new music in 2010, but that's OK. Who cares about that when there's so much stuff to still write about from years gone by? Indeed! So now I'd like to dump my five fave double albums on you kids. You probably have your own top five. That's groovy and I'm sure you have a place to talk about them as well. I can guarantee you, though, this list does not contain any albums by Chicago. So there you have it. And yes, these are ranked.
1. The Clash: London Calling
My very fave double album of all-time goes to The Clash and their tail end o' the '70s blast of goodness London Calling (at least in the UK; in the US it was released in January of 1980). Sometimes I don't want to hear this album. Sometimes I have gotten sick of it. But man, every time I sit down and listen to the thing all the way through, I cannot deny its greatness or its scope. It's funny, it's moving, and it rocks. I love every note and every tune on it. My faves would be "The Right Profile," "Lost in the Supermarket," "Revolution Rock," "Lover's Rock," and "Koka Kola." Hell, it's all good, nay, great! Punk rock could've begun and ended here. It didn't, of course, but it's almost all you need, I think. Yeah, I never was much of a Pistols fan, and the Ramones didn't do much for me past their debut album. And I say "almost" in this case, because we have to add the second album in this list...
2. Minutemen: Double Nickles on the Dime
Like London Calling, this album encompasses a whole lot of lyrical and musical ideas and is enjoyable through and through. Almost more funk than punk, the Minutemen didn't really ever court the whole punk attitude that the music must be loud and abrasive and be about being pissed off. For them, it was about a deep love for music all around and getting it out on SST via the DIY method. Hell, they cover (depending on which version you have) Van Halen and Steely Dan here, with no tongue in cheek. But the highlight for me has always been "#1 Hit Song" and D. Boon's hilarious reading of the lyrics "Love is leaf-like / You and me, baby / Twinkle, twinkle, blah, blah, blah / E...T...C...!" Lots of songs, lots of info, lots of grooves. And a shitload better than Husker Du's Zen Arcade.
3. Original Movie Soundtrack: Saturday Night Fever
When I was five and six years old in 1977 and 1978 respectively, my older brother brought home basically the albums that would turn me into the music fan I am to this day. Billy Joel's The Stranger, Steely Dan's Aja, The Blues Brothers' Briefcase Full of Blues, and this beastie right here. Now this is the beginning and ending of disco. Of course, it isn't literally, and there were plenty of other fine disco tunes compiled elsewhere, but not in the way Saturday Night Fever delivered. You had all those Bee Gees hits on there (new mixed with old, like "Jive Talkin'" and "Stayin' Alive"), plus Bee Gees tunes as covered by other artists on the same damn collection (Yvonne Elliman's "If I Can't Have You" and Tavares' "More Than a Woman")! THEN you had all the other great stuff like "Boogie Shoes," "Open Sesame," "A Fifth of Beethoven," "Disco Inferno," and instrumental goofiness written for the movie like "Night on Disco Mountain" and sill other grooves such as "Calypso Breakdown." Whew! Yeah, my older bro was into the disco thang heavily, and I even convinced my mom and dad to buy me a white disco outfit from a Sears catalog like the one Travolta wore in the flick. Hell, I even had a "kid's" version of the album released on the Kid Stuff label entitled Night Fever. All these years later and this shit still holds up amazingly well.
4. The Beatles: The Beatles
Perhaps this is one of those ringers that is to be expected in a list like this. But it is my favorite Beatles album. Now, the last entry was thanks to my older brother, but it was my older sister who first sat me down at around age three and spun this one for my ears. Actually, vividly remember her playing "Revolution 9" for me, strapping me in for the full experience by slapping the giant brown headphones on my skull that we had back then and just being amused. Well hell, she knew I'd enjoy some crazy sound effects, and I did. But it was also songs like "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da," "Back in the U.S.S.R.," "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill," "Rocky Raccoon," and "Piggies" that pleased my ears as a tot as well. So when I got into middle school and started my Beatles infatuation in earnest, this was the album I was most excited about rediscovering. I still love it. And for those who bitch about "Number Nine," all I can tell you is I've heard far crazier and far crappier things in my life than that.
5. Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band: Trout Mask Replica
I first heard this wonderful, weird album when I was in high school and my buddy Mark Zecchini burst into my room telling me and some other pals that we had to listen to this tape right now. So we did. And we laughed. And we laughed. And I immediately wanted a copy for myself. So I wound up borrowing it and made a copy, and then later that year on my birthday got my brother to buy it for me on CD (along with the Modern Lovers' debut, if memory serves correct, aaaaand The Carl Stalling Project's first volume, too). What can I say? There is no middle ground with this album, and that's the way it will always be. It is unto its own musical universe. I understand when people say they hate it. But I also understand why it is loved as it is, too. The Cap hadn't done anything remotely like it leading up to it, and though the followup Lick My Decals Off, Baby is sometimes cited as the better and more focused album, you couldn't have had it without having this first. And now that the dear Cap has passed away, its influence will only be felt deeper.
