My 5 Favorite albums

Alright, I'm just warning anyone who reads this, I'm not great at describing the way an album makes me feel, I wrote most of this while I was tired, and therefor it might be a bit random. Having said that, here you go, my five favorite albums.

You know I've have conversations about my five favorite films with people countless times, but I don't think I ever talk about my five favorite albums, so I decided to write a little entry about them.

5- Bing Crosby "Merry Christmas" 1945
To me, no Christmas is complete without this album. Seriously, I've been listening to this album since I was born pretty much, I've listened to every type of music my entire life, and while I enjoy a little of everything, When it comes down to it Bing is one of my favorite artists of all time and probably will be, this album to me is the essential Christmas album, It's soft, it's sweet, and it has sentimental value to me. When I was in... I'd like to say either second or third grade (two years of my life for whatever reason I don't remember very much of...) my class participated in the Christmas show and we sang 'Christmas in Killarney' and 'Mele Kalikimaka' years later I would hear those songs and smile to myself, at the time I had no idea who we were singing along to, but now it just makes me smile to think that even then I knew that whoever was singing those songs I had to memorize was going to be a part of my life for a long time.

4- The Beatles- "Abbey Road" 1969
For the most influential band in the world, I think that the second side of this album is one of the most amazing collections of music I've ever heard, the Abbey Road medley, made up of eight short songs is one of my favorite collections in an album, it's hard to describe, I mean, describing the Beatles music is near impossible, how do you describe the sun to someone who's blind? I'll admit it, I like Maxwell's Silver Hammer, I know many people don't, they call the song Campy, and just plain silly, and sure, it's not the greatest song they've got but I do still like it, the only thing that still bewilders me is how some people think that that's a children's song. People just need to listen to lyrics. All in all, Abbey Road is an amazing album, I'm going to be honest, I've got three copies of Abbey Road on LP, all for different reasons, and I love all three of them. For a long time a few years ago I was obsessed with the hippie culture, I would rant to anyone who would listen how things were better back then, wish to anyone with ears that I could go back, but now I'm pretty happy with where the universe put me and I'm even happier to just sit back, turn this album on and listen.

3- Buck Brothers "Me" 2006
I know it might be a little odd for me to post a band I've actually met and had in my home as the creators of one of my favorite albums of all time, but I have to say I really love this album, I first heard the Buck Brothers on the Rodney on the Roq show when I was still obsessed with listening every Sunday, back when I didn't have to work Monday morning and had the energy to listen every Sunday from Midnight 'till three. Sometimes when I'm driving home from Hollywood on a Sunday night I'll catch part of it but it's very rare for me to listen to the whole show. Anyways, it must have been about 2008 that I first heard them, their song (which is track number 7 on the album) 'Girls, Skirts, Boots, Bikes' has a very pop punk sound that would make the Ramones proud (and seeing as Marky Ramone apparently played them on his radio show recently it does). Seeing as I'm not one to review albums or movies for that matter I'll stop pretending I'm writing a review and just tell you my honest opinion, I love this album, to me this album is poppy, and fun, and just a great album, it's one of the only albums that I can sing along (not well mind you) to all the way through, the Buck Brothers have this great pop sound that you don't hear very much in groups these days and kind of remind me of like The Kinks or The Who or one of those types of bands from the sixties, which I guess is why Rodney Bingenheimer played them in the first place. I also totally love their cover of Pop Musik which is available on iTunes, all of their stuff is on iTunes so I suggest you check them out, they're totally worth it.
I had the Buck Brothers on my radio show in 2008 when they were on tour and had a gig canceled, they were a ton of fun and three of the sweetest guys, So to Andy, Dom and Craig, keep up the great music!

2- The Monkees "The Monkees" 1966
I know this might be an odd choice considering with the exception of "Sweet Young Thing" and "Papa Gene's Blues" none of the Monkees played their own instruments, one of the things that people now say is the reason they don't like the Monkees "Because they didn't play their own instruments" well, keep in mind America, neither do any of the pop stars people are so intent on worshiping nowadays. I love this album though, not only because it's pop, or because Michael Nesmith wrote some of the songs on it, but because this album has one of their less heard of songs "Let's Dance on" It's a great song and I never did understand why it wasn't one of their hits, I mean, Valleri was a hit and to be honest, that's the only one of the Monkees songs that I can't stand! I don't know what it is about that song, but I honestly can't stand it. Another thing that I like about this album is the misprint, I've never actually seen it, but I'm always on the lookout, rumor has it the first printings of the album on the cover, "Papa Gene's Blues" is misspelled as "Papa Jean's Blues". Another song I totally love is "Saturday's Child" and of course the totally fun "Gonna Buy Me a Dog" that sounds like it turns into just complete chaos in the recording studio. It makes me laugh, and the whole album makes me happy. No matter what people continue to say about them, the Monkees will always be one of my favorite bands.

1- Tom Waits "Rain Dogs" 1985
Seriously, this is the greatest album of all time. Not only is it one I grew up with, my mom being a huge Tom Waits fan, she got me started listening when I was young, but it has this gritty true rock and- Well, I wouldn't say jazz, but jazz-ish sound. If a jazz musician took a peice of a 2X4 and slammed it against a chest of drawers in a bathroom which is apparently what Waits did to get some of the sounds heard in the album, which in my opinion shows he's creative and crafty. I love the entire album but my favorite song on it has got to be "Tango 'Till They're Sore" In my opinion, that song is like The Godfather of the music world, it's just perfect. My second favorite is the spoken word "9th and Hennepin" that sounds like the internal narration of an old noir with a disturbing soundtrack, the kind of film that's shot in black and white and makes you depressed while watching it. One that takes place in some alter LA or Chicago or New York where it rains all the time and there's long shots of the narrator walking down wet alleyways just missing the rain, or a shot of a lone dame standing at a train station as the train leaves taking her lover away, the kind of film that takes place in a coffee shop with some old time jazz musician playing in the background, the kind of character who's seen it all. The entire album reminds me of a film like that, someone moving out with a plan only to find city life to be more then what they expected or something like the plot to the film "Trouble in Mind" This album in my opinion is perfect, from the first note to the last, Tom Waits' gravley voice is one I can always look to for a trip to my past or a trip to a different state of mind.
"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king" - Tom Waits, Singapore