My top 20 Artists and Albums
As our vision for Spectrasonic Vinyl focused, a realization that simply promoting and selling every record we could get our hands on was disingenuous, not to mention extremely difficult. Collecting vinyl records, even for a retailer hoping to make a living off the industry HAS to be a personal endeavor. No one, not even a vinyl record store, should just be accumulating everything. Where’s the journey in that? Music is magical, collecting music on vinyl should feel that way.
Most simply put: Collect, trade and sell the albums you love. Seek out new music and albums by looking for what you like, what looks weird, what seems cool.
I tried very very briefly to understand what collectors wanted, what other people thought was cool, what gems could be found in every niche that for whatever reason fetched high prices and was sought after. Then I realized that I already know a lot of music. I could just start seeking out my favorites, the albums that made an impact on me in one way or another.
Focusing my time, energy and money on seeking out vinyl records that I loved, that I already knew were absolutely amazing works of art made this endeavor the joy that it is. I want to get more records, in more peoples hands, and what better way too start by trying to get records I love on turntables.
In this collection you find my thoughts and experiences with both the artists featured, and what I consider to be their most essential album. Narrowing this list to 20 artists and just one of their most essential albums was more difficult than sitting down to reflect on and write about each.
All of these artists not only had a personal impact for myself, but I feel their music, their artistry and their personas changed and impacted the world for the better.
All albums and artists discussed here are available in our store. I curate a selection of the best presses from originals to 180g remasters. If you love anyone from my top 20, You can find a repress/reissue or usually an original of one these albums in our store.
White Blood Cells by The white Stripes
This album could smoke the resin out of God’s bong and not even get high.
I found white blood cells on CD right before another Elephant was released and the hype over the white stripes was at a swelling peak. I wanted a previous album before I inevitably grabbed Elephant, to you know, see what all the fuss was about to be about.
And rock and roll came back to me.
For me personally at that time rock and roll had just simply became pop music. Formulated, calculated and pretty. I actually kind of slipped away from even caring all that much about what new music was coming out. Nothing made me feel what rock used to make me feel. I figured I was just getting older (A decrepit old 24 year old me and all) and the sexy rebellion of rock was a phase I had grown out of.
Nah, it wasn’t me. Jack and Meg and their vision of the white stripes reminded me and a lot of other folks that rock wasn’t gone, that indescribably sultry, raw sex and power and coolness that was rock was still a thing, it just needed Jack White to plug into an amp and wail it back out at us.
From the opening riff of Dead leaves and the dirty ground, with its tale of love lost, a vague sense of surprise betrayal, followed directly by the warm hopeful acoustic love of Hotel Yorba, all the way through 16 tracks and 40 minutes of simplistically jarring guitar hooks, drums, and lyrics Bob Dylan once praised.
White Blood Cells may not be universally praised as The White Stripes best work, as with all the artists on my top 20, their discography is deep, but White blood Cells, to me, demonstrates fully the absolute cool, and simply powerful aesthetic the White Stripes unloaded on us all in the early 2’s.
OK Computer by Radiohead
Madonna by Madonna
Paul’s Boutique by The Beastie Boys
Ridin’ Dirty by UGK
