10. Buckethead - COLMA
The first all instrumental album I ever listened to (its been awhilz now). Although it stands out like a sore thumb in terms of style compared to what this incredible guitarist has done with his collaborators, COLMA was simply gorgeous to hear at times. Oh, and Big Sur Moon+Machete is kickass.
9. Comus - First Utterance
Showed me that folk music was more than just acoustic pandering. Dense, dark/disturbing, beautiful and heavy all at once, there is nothing out there like
First Utterance, even after over 30+ years.
8. Yes - Relayer
Ah
Relayer, where would we be without the freak-out jazzy "Sound Chaser" and your War-and-Peacey epic "The Gates of Delirium"? Not very well off I'd say. Although admittedly it was the track
South Side of the Sky from
Fragile which really got me into Yes, it was this album that made me love them (and got me into jazz-fusion too).
7. The Residents - Not Available
Hmn. What to say about one of the weirdest albums of all time, even by the standards of The Residents? This was
the album that got me into avant-garde. May not be the best experimental music of all time, but I recommend it anyway.
6. Radiohead - Amnesiac
I could praise Radiohead all day and night for a billion different opiniated and biased reasons, but while
Amnesiac was not a landmark work by any means, it was the album that introduced me to the more complex, "post-modern" side of music. Even now "Pyramid Song" and "Life in a Glasshouse" give me chills when I hear them, and I just think "Christ, these guys are in a league of their own". But that's just my opinion.
5. Faith No More - The Real Thing
Although more radio-friendly than Angel Dust and perhaps less "F-U" than his pet project Mr. Bungle, this album was my introduction to a rediculously talented individual named Mike Patton, who was FNM's vocalist from this album to the band's breakup in 1998. While I don't revere him as a god like people in some circles do, I will say he's pretty darn close.
4. Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
It's Led Zeppelin for God's sake, what can I say? It has "No Quarter", "Over The Hills...", and six other incredibly kickass tracks. Nuff' said.
3. Opeth - Blackwater Park
People can spout off whatever bull**** they want about whether or not Opeth is overrated (they really aren't), but ultimately this was, atleast for me, the record that DEFINED death-metal's possibilities as a genre. Sorry kids, but there's more to the world of music than "WE HATE MELODY" and thrash guitar. XD
2. Tool - Aenima
An album that defined the 90's (cliche phrase, but who cares). I'm not doing a damn review though; go to ALLMUSIC for that junk.
1. Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
Okay, while I don't listen to that much of it anymore ("Time" and "Us and Them" withstanding), TDSOTM was the album that truly made me interested in music. My dad listened to this back when 8-tracks were the bomb in his army days, and he told me it changed his entire view on music too. But, although Pink Floyd went on to do plenty of great stuff down the line, I suppose it was this album (along with Meddle) that defined my spacy tastes in music. Strangely enough, its also the 3rd highest selling album on the planet...go figure eh?