Re: top-ten for special friends

ok...forget the clever labor of love mix tape for your girl or the well-intentioned recommendations to your friends...

which recent (last 20 years or so) greats (full albums not singles) would you push if a determined and curious new friend stumbled onto your collection, was overwhelmed by so many "unheard of/new/unfamiliar" artists and asked for a care-paket to take home? the goal is to get your new friend "hooked" so remember it's gotta be a pleasure, not a direct lesson!

so, the catch is, all "classics" need to be enjoyable (that is, fairly accessible) and must also chip away at the historical burden a newbie often feels the need to overcome when starting out as a music fan (i realise here the members of this forum generally fall far outside the range of what normally passes for fandom, but there you have it.)

my list just happens to be the 10 discs in my car's changer at the moment, so it is very casually thrown out there:


1.beta band ---3 eps
2.sloan --- between the bridges
3.soft boys ---underwater moonlight
4.belle & sebastian --- arab strab
5.new pornographers---electric version
6.house of love---babe rainbow
7.architecture in helsinki--in case we die
8.journey--captured
9.beulah--when your heartstrings break
10.waitresses--best of compilation

How about just 5, but all are accessible ! ...... Replacements "Tim" (not my fave but appropriate here); Pavement "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain" ; Sugar "Copper Blue" ; The Libertines "Up the Bracket" ; The Futureheads debut.

new christs - we got this
martin gordon - the baboon in the basement
yeah yeah yeahs - show your bones
art brut - bang bang rock & roll
ordinary boys - over the counter culture
richard thompson - mock tudor
plaintiffs - la familia
neko case - fox confessor
rockfour - another beginning
rocket from the tombs - rocket redux


oh, but i don't do care-packets...this ain't no fcc'ing library!!! haha

Richmond Fontaine - Post To Wire
Mescalito - One Path In A Million
Lost In The Woods - Down With The Sun
Dirty Three - Sad and Dangerous
Damien Jurado - On My Way To Absence
Fourtet - Rounds
Camper Van Beethoven - My Bloody Revolutionary Sweetheart
Mark Eitzel - Sixty Watt Silver Lining
The Handsome Family - Singing Bones
Tortoise - TNT

I like the idea of a Camper Van/My bloody Valentine mash-up, but have got to correct the title on that one: "beloved," not "bloody."

I must have been in a cranky mood when I typed that one. But let's get a DJ to give it try anyway.

1. Belle & Sebastain - The Life Pursuit
2. REM Reckoning
3. Beta Band 3- eps
4. Massive Attack - Mezzanie
5. Lloyd Cole & Commotions Easy Pieces
6. Flaming Lips - Soft Bulliten
7. The Replacements - Let it be
8. Spoon - Gimme Fiction
9. Wilco - Summerteeth
10. Afghan Whigs - Black Love

I turned my G/F to alternative music with most of those listed

In no particular order, here are some of mine that no-one else is likely to list ...

Love & Theft - Dylan (obscure Minnesota guy)
Finn - Finn Bros.
Post-Minstrel Syndrome - The Negro Problem
Ludlow 6:18 - Cockeyed Ghost
Eye - Robyn Hitchcock
Submarine Bells - The Chills
Wormwood - The Residents
Envy of Angels - The Mutton Birds
Sawbones - Rick Shea
Petra Haden Sings The Who Sell Out

1. Mudhoney- Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge
2. Yayhoos- Fear Not The Obvious
3. Nick Lowe- Basher: Best Of Nick Lowe
4. Wipers- Box Set
5. Cheap Trick- Cheap Trick '97
6. Pearl Jam- Riot Act
7. Grateful Dead- Without A Net
8. Jesus And Mary Chain- 21 Singles
9. Screaming Trees- Sweet Oblivion
10. Social Distortion- S/T
11. Surf Trio- Forbidden Sounds
12. Neil Young & Crazy Horse- Ragged Glory
13. X- Under The Big Black Sun
14. Dead Kennedys- Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables
15. Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros- Streetcore
16. Pre-Crash Condition- New York Dolls
17. Iommi- Tony Iommi (and Friends)
18. Dharma Bums- Bliss
19. The Jam- Sound Affects
20. Pell Mell- Star City

Journey? For Reals?
Here's my stupid list.

Lisa Germano-Happiness

Los Lobos-Kiko

Steve Hillage-Fish Rising

Neil Young-After The Gold Rush

Rickie Lee Jones-Ghostyhead

Tom Verlaine-Flashlight

Traffic-Mr Fantasy

Olu Dara-In The World

David Crosby-If I Could Only Remember My Name

J.J. Cale-any of the first five or so.