Best Ever Albums

Re: Best Blues/Country/Roots Rock/Americana Albums

AfterHours — Mon, 28 Jan 2019 23:06:04 GMT

Author: AfterHours

Posted: 01/29/2019 04:06

Most recent updates...

RE-RATED:
Our Mother the Mountain - Townes Van Zandt (1969) Not Rated to 7.3/10
Old No. 1 - Guy Clark (1975) 7.1/10 to 7.0/10
March 16–20, 1992 - Uncle Tupelo (1992) Not Rated to 6.9/10
Red Headed Stranger - Willie Nelson (1975) Not Rated to 6.9/10
White Blood Cells - White Stripes (2001) Not Rated to 6.9/10
Green River - Creedence Clearwater Revival (1969) Not Rated to 6.8/10
Johnny Comes Marching Home - The Del Lords (1986) Not Rated to 6.8/10
The Trinity Sessions - Cowboy Junkies (1986) Not Rated to 6.8/10
Scarecrow - John Mellencamp (1975) Not Rated to 6.8/10
Flyin' Shoes - Townes Van Zandt (1978) Not Rated to 6.8/10

Re: Best Blues/Country/Roots Rock/Americana Albums

AfterHours — Sun, 20 Jan 2019 17:42:44 GMT

Author: AfterHours

Posted: 01/20/2019 22:42

Most recent updates in bold / bold + italics...

Also mid revisiting Creedence Clearwater Revival, Del Lords, Lambchop and others, so should have more ratings coming soon

Re: Best Blues/Country/Roots Rock/Americana Albums

YoungPunk — Wed, 4 Apr 2018 17:50:29 GMT

Author: YoungPunk

Posted: 04/04/2018 21:50

What about the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band! Edit: Oh, I see you haven't heard of them. They're basically super-raw country music that I feel is super cool.

Re: Best Blues/Country/Roots Rock/Americana Albums

AfterHours — Tue, 3 Apr 2018 23:59:43 GMT

Author: AfterHours

Posted: 04/04/2018 03:59

Romanelli wrote:

I'm looking at your list...and I'm not seeing much of the following:

Blues
Country
Roots Rock
Americana

You've got some of it here...but you're really not touching much blues at all.
Country...Emmylou and not much else.
Roots Rock: Eagles and...????
Americana: A little Gram, some Neil, The Band...

...Captain Beefheart , and a lot of classic rock.

So...do you want to get into these genres?

Blues:

Robert Johnson
Howlin' Wolf
Big Bill Broonzy
Elmore James
Jimmy Reed

Country:
Hank Williams
George Jones Kitty Wells
Waylon Jennings
Steve Earle

Roots Rock:
The Allman Brothers Band
Uncle Tupelo
J. J. Cale
John Butler Trio
Son Volt

Americana:
Jason Isbell
Dwight Yoakam
Ryan Adams
The Jayhawks
John Prine

By no means complete lists...but if you're going to dive into these, you should at least have some decent starting points. Hendrix and the Airplane and Beefheart are not going to take you there...and Neil and Bruce and Zeppelin are not the most direct roads to take. If you want to get into Blues, Country, Roots Rock and Americana, there are much better avenues than what you have listed to turn down to get you into some really great music.

Btw, if one is just starting out or wants the basics, a starter kit, or what-have-you, I would also agree that your recommendations are the better road to take. My selections are what I feel are the most amazing (most extraordinarily creative and emotionally/conceptually significant) examples (per my criteria).

Re: Best Blues/Country/Roots Rock/Americana Albums

AfterHours — Tue, 3 Apr 2018 23:55:50 GMT

Author: AfterHours

Posted: 04/04/2018 03:55

YoungPunk wrote:

Scaruffi definitely strikes me as the sexist type :(

I dont know, he champions more female artists (including obscure ones) than anyone I know of.

Re: Best Blues/Country/Roots Rock/Americana Albums

AfterHours — Tue, 3 Apr 2018 23:54:26 GMT

Author: AfterHours

Posted: 04/04/2018 03:54

YoungPunk wrote:

@Romanelli

I like the Allman Brothers...

Yes, they have an album or a few that should be included. An example of a band I havent revisited in years.

Re: Best Blues/Country/Roots Rock/Americana Albums

AfterHours — Tue, 3 Apr 2018 23:52:02 GMT

Author: AfterHours

Posted: 04/04/2018 03:52

YoungPunk wrote:

What do you think of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's

Will the Circle be Unbroken,

the album I am getting the most current enjoyment from at the moment?

No idea, dont think Ive heard them. What would you compare them to?

Re: Best Blues/Country/Roots Rock/Americana Albums

AfterHours — Tue, 3 Apr 2018 23:49:54 GMT

Author: AfterHours

Posted: 04/04/2018 03:49

Romanelli wrote:

Though it is very true that the examples youve provided are the either stripped down, early/fundamental, or more concise/basic examples of these genres, we're going to have to agree to disagree here that my selections are not part of those genres. And, in my opinion, far superior examples in most regards. I do appreciate the recommendations however, and Ill consider revisiting some of their various works.

Re: Best Blues/Country/Roots Rock/Americana Albums

YoungPunk — Tue, 3 Apr 2018 21:36:35 GMT

Author: YoungPunk

Posted: 04/04/2018 01:36

rkm wrote:

How about some assessment of works by female artists? Emmylou Harris (sans Gram), Lucinda Williams?

Scaruffi definitely strikes me as the sexist type 🙁

Re: Best Blues/Country/Roots Rock/Americana Albums

YoungPunk — Tue, 3 Apr 2018 21:14:39 GMT

Author: YoungPunk

Posted: 04/04/2018 01:14

@Romanelli

I like the Allman Brothers...

Re: Best Blues/Country/Roots Rock/Americana Albums

Romanelli — Tue, 3 Apr 2018 19:48:41 GMT

Author: Romanelli

Posted: 04/03/2018 23:48

I'm looking at your list...and I'm not seeing much of the following:

Blues
Country
Roots Rock
Americana

You've got some of it here...but you're really not touching much blues at all.
Country...Emmylou and not much else.
Roots Rock: Eagles and...????
Americana: A little Gram, some Neil, The Band...

...Captain Beefheart , and a lot of classic rock.

So...do you want to get into these genres?

Blues:

Robert Johnson
Howlin' Wolf
Big Bill Broonzy
Elmore James
Jimmy Reed

Country:
Hank Williams
George Jones Kitty Wells
Waylon Jennings
Steve Earle

Roots Rock:
The Allman Brothers Band
Uncle Tupelo
J. J. Cale
John Butler Trio
Son Volt

Americana:
Jason Isbell
Dwight Yoakam
Ryan Adams
The Jayhawks
John Prine

By no means complete lists...but if you're going to dive into these, you should at least have some decent starting points. Hendrix and the Airplane and Beefheart are not going to take you there...and Neil and Bruce and Zeppelin are not the most direct roads to take. If you want to get into Blues, Country, Roots Rock and Americana, there are much better avenues than what you have listed to turn down to get you into some really great music.

Re: Best Blues/Country/Roots Rock/Americana Albums

YoungPunk — Tue, 3 Apr 2018 16:31:51 GMT

Author: YoungPunk

Posted: 04/03/2018 20:31

What do you think of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's

Will the Circle be Unbroken,

the album I am getting the most current enjoyment from at the moment?

Re: Best Blues/Country/Roots Rock/Americana Albums

AfterHours — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 01:26:20 GMT

Author: AfterHours

Posted: 03/29/2018 05:26

boyd94 wrote:

Decided to give Eagles a real chance after this recommendation.

Maybe I'm a product of the postmodern world but music this insistent and earnest makes me queasy. It feels inauthentic no matter how much it tells me otherwise. I can handle it from someone like Bruce Springsteen perhaps because he hits a rebellious working class nerve that's more universal and relatable beyond it's distinctly American mythic qualities, but Eagles are talking about a world and way of life that's completely remote to me, and is in no way seductive or interesting.

Fair enough, no worries 😄

Re: Best Blues/Country/Roots Rock/Americana Albums

boyd94 — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 17:45:06 GMT

Author: boyd94

Posted: 03/28/2018 21:45

AfterHours wrote:

Both are beautifully sun-drenched, presenting (particularly in their slower songs, epitomized by Hotel California, Desperado...), wilting stories of nostalgia, of the wanderer, of the lonely souls wandering into the sunset never to be heard from again, or searching for existential truths, the myth of American folklore... They reinvigorate a bit of the sound of the dying sun and wilting flowers of Love's Forever Changes (albeit with Love, it's more dangerous, striking a more extraordinary middle point between beauty and death), though with more elegance and perhaps more class, majesty and poetry (with idiomatic, sparkling, expansive and lyrical guitar work, banjo, mandolin...). The country-rock/harder songs (especially in Desperado) are excitedly in the boogie tradition, while in Hotel California they have a more polished and honed (and probably Pop-Rock) quality... They are both the sound of California, its fading mythology represented in the stories of its protagonists. They are the sound of lonely and nostalgic hippies, distraught by drug addled death and revolutions lost, forging their way into sunsets as outcasts.

Re: Best Blues/Country/Roots Rock/Americana Albums

AfterHours — Tue, 6 Mar 2018 15:12:26 GMT

Author: AfterHours

Posted: 03/06/2018 20:12

Tha1ChiefRocka wrote:

Quote:

it is very rare for its earliest incarnations to rate very highly on my lists because I generally prefer those forms when theyve been a bit more developed and less restricted creatively, emotionally and conceptually.

I just went through and read this because I was curious as to why no delta blues, hillbilly music, or any other kind of pre-war music.

As someone who has spent a long time reading about and studying various forms of traditional American music, I've got quite a few issues with that statement. I would say that there is nothing more emotional than a Lomax recording from a prison camp, or a long lost recording of some dude sitting on his porch playing a banjo. There is no artistic pretense to the music. Sometimes it was for money to barely make a living, but mostly it was purely because they had a song in their heart and soul to sing. i understand this might sound a little sappy, but I can't see it any other way.

But to each their own I suppose.

I understand the view, and you're of course entitled to your opinion, but I don't see that it works out in actual practice. The creativity, expressive depth and conviction of the works on this list far outstrips any album length works I know of that you may be referring to, with only few possible exceptions that may hold up to the 7/10s.

Re: Best Blues/Country/Roots Rock/Americana Albums

Tha1ChiefRocka — Tue, 6 Mar 2018 01:10:17 GMT

Author: Tha1ChiefRocka

Posted: 03/06/2018 06:10

Quote:

Re: Best Blues/Country/Roots Rock/Americana Albums

AfterHours — Mon, 5 Mar 2018 22:20:49 GMT

Author: AfterHours

Posted: 03/06/2018 03:20

ADDED:
The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle - Bruce Springsteen (1973)
Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen (1975)
Pearl - Janis Joplin (1970)
Red Dirt Girl - Emmylou Harris (2000)

RE-RATED:
Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen (1984) 6.8/10 to 7.2/10
Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground - Bright Eyes (2002) 6.9/10 to 7.1/10
Hotel California - Eagles (1976) 7.0/10 to 6.9/10
After the Gold Rush - Neil Young (1970) 7.1/10 to 6.9/10

Re: Best Blues/Country/Roots Rock/Americana Albums

AfterHours — Tue, 27 Feb 2018 20:41:12 GMT

Author: AfterHours

Posted: 02/28/2018 01:41

rkm wrote:

I’ll add

Wrecking Ball by Emmylou Harris

Red Dirt Girl by Emmylou Harris

Sweet Old World by Lucinda Williams

Time (The Revelator) by Gillian Welch

And anything by Patty Griffin

Thanks, I've only heard some songs by Welch and Patty Griffin, no complete albums. I'll look into them and might check them out further.

I did already add Emmylou Harris' Red Dirt Oak album earlier today. She may have another one or two from her early career, as you guys are alluding to.

Re: Best Blues/Country/Roots Rock/Americana Albums

rkm — Tue, 27 Feb 2018 19:29:30 GMT

Author: rkm

Posted: 02/28/2018 00:29

I’ll add

Wrecking Ball by Emmylou Harris

Red Dirt Girl by Emmylou Harris

Sweet Old World by Lucinda Williams

Time (The Revelator) by Gillian Welch

And anything by Patty Griffin

Re: Best Blues/Country/Roots Rock/Americana Albums

AfterHours — Tue, 27 Feb 2018 17:41:37 GMT

Author: AfterHours

Posted: 02/27/2018 22:41

Mercury wrote:

AfterHours wrote:

List isn't updated yet, I still have lots to revisit... Lucinda Williams' self-titled will be added, and Emmylou Harris has at least one (maybe 2 or 3) that will be added, though I don't recall which at the moment.

Regardless, the higher ratings, particularly on this list, will be dominated by men more than on the other lists. Just the way it is, I guess. I make no efforts to ensure women or men are more or less represented, one way or the other.

There are many woman represented on my overall list, and additional entries on the other genre lists.

Luxury Liner by Emmylou Harris

Car Wheels On A Gravel Road by Lucinda Williams

Are both all timers for me. Lucinda's s/t is great as well.

Right on, thanks 😁