John Coltrane - A Love Supreme. This is not only Trane's brightest shining hour as one of the top jazz musicians all time but also for his bandmates in their 3rd year of existence as a quartet: pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison (whose extended, unaccompanied solo during the bottom half of Pursuance is beyond awesome) & drummer Elvin Jones. If there is a definite must have in your collection, A Love Supreme is definitely one album you can't overlook.
The Sea and Cake - Everybody. Four years seems like an eternity for a band to wait between releasing albums, but for one of Chicago's indie-rock greats, The Sea and Cake, this was definitely worth the wait. If there was ever a perfect soundtrack for road trips, lakeshore drives, or all things associated with summer, TSAC has made one for the ages...breezy, dreamy, rootsy & oh so danceable :-)
Sam Prekop - Who's Your New Professor. TSAC singer/guitarist/chief songwriter Sam Prekop has put out two solo albums: 1999 saw his eponymous (aka self-titled) solo debut & 2005's WYNP. Of the two I'd have to choose, Who's Your New Professor is the most accessible (at 38 minutes) & the most straightforward, a trend which Prekop continued with his TSAC bandmates on the last CD I just mentioned.
Talking Heads - Remain In Light. As good as David Byrne & company ever got; this 1980 effort is booty-shaking as much as it is trance-inducing. The perfect marriage between pop, post-punk & Afro-Beat for sure.
Stereolab - Dots and Loops. Around the same time that TSAC drummer/keyboardist John McEntire was engineering/mixing/playing on what would become (his other noteworthy band) Tortoise's 1998 release TNT, he found time to come up with one of post-rock's most danceable & funkier offerings from one of the more influential bands around in Dots and Loops. With Laetitia Sadier's hypnotic voice (singing in both English & French), never did post-rock sound so seductive & yet so quirky.
Shuggie Otis - Inspiration Information. Shuggie's 1974 release, though ignored commercially, stands out as an enduring album which sounds as fresh now as it did back then. Like Stevie Wonder & Prince, Shuggie could do it all & virtually all the instrumentation was played by none other than Otis himself. Like a sunnier version of Sly and the Family Stone's 1971 album There's A Riot Goin' On, Inspiration Information proved to be the start of something new in who knows how many musical genres: not just funk, R & B or soul, it was all of these & rocked out in a major way too.
Stevie Wonder - Talking Book. This 1972 release features Stevie at the top of his game both musically & in terms of songwriting. I've always loved musicians who do their music from the heart, & Stevie does exactly that.
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions. A close second to Talking Book as far as my fave Stevie Wonder albums go. With staples like "Living For The City" & "Higher Ground," Stevie once again made an awesome & relevant song cycle which has stood the test of time.
The Sea and Cake - One Bedroom. From 2003, TSAC made their leap in a more pop-oriented direction but wasn't afraid to either get their jam on as "Four Corners" brilliantly illustrates or make the listeners want to move, move, move... on tracks like "Hotel Tell" & "Shoulder Length." If there is an outstanding summer album in the indie-rock world, One Bedroom fits the bill perfectly.
Bob Marley and the Wailers - Exodus. One of reggae's classic albums, bar none, with plenty of longtime Marley staples worth listening to ad infinitum: "Jamming," the title track, & "Waiting In Vain" are just three familiar yet very outstanding songs Marley committed to tape. A masterpiece in not only reggae, but all of popular music.
...and of course there are more I'd love to add at the present time but this positively rounds out my top 10 favorite albums, ever.
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