top ten guitar albums...and yours?

Off the top of my head - a weird list, I admit.

Duke Levine - Country Soul Guitar
BB King - Live at San Quentin
Dire Straits - Alchemy
Del Fuegos - Boston, Mass
Keith Richards - Talk Is Cheap
James McMurtry - It Had To Happen
Police - Regatta de Blanc
Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
The Replacements - Tim
ZZ Top - Tres Hombres

 

1. Dire Straits (1st album)...Knopfler's debut
2. Deep Purple - Machine Head. Blackmore's finest hour, so much more than "Smoke on the Water"
3. Yes - Yessongs. 6 sides of incredible live stuff from Steve Howe
4. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon. Gilmour is money
5. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Chronicle. the best of CCR and Fogerty. classic riffs.
6. The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night. dynamic early stuff from George and John
7. The Beatles - White Album. strange and varied later stuff + plus Paul's "Blackbird"
8. Tony Rice - Manzanita. beautiful playing from an acoustic master
9. Norman Blake - Whiskey Before Breakfast. brilliant folk/old-timey flatpicking.
10. Dixie Dregs - Free Fall. amazing work from Steve Morse

 

Albums that got me into electric guitars and playing in bands from an early age (and in no particular order):
1. Super Session (Bloomfield/ Stills/ Cooper)
2. Benefit (Jethro Tull)
3. Best of Cream (compilation, not sure of correct album name)
4. Best of Hendrix (compilation, not sure of correct album name)
5. Rock and Roll (Vanilla Fudge)
6. Hawaii Five O (The Ventures)
7. Most of The Beatles Albums
8. Ummagumma (Pink Floyd)
9. In search of the lost chord (Moody Blues)
10. In the Court of the Crimson King (King Crimson)

plus many more

 

Ay! How could I forget CCR and Floyd?!

 

reigniting this one

my faves right now are (no particular order, and only one per artist):

Joe Satriani -Surfing with the Alien
Steve Vai -Alien Love Secrets
Andy Timmons -That was then this is now
Robert Cray -Heavy Picks
Jeff Beck -Blow by Blow
Wes Montgomery -The Incredible Jazz Guitar
Hendrix -Band of Gypsys
Eric Johnson -Venus Isle
SRV -Texas Flood
Kenny Burrell -with John Coltrane

really hard to limit it to only one per artist.

 

In no special order:
Tal Farlow - "The Swinging Guitar of Tal Farlow"
Kenny Burrell & Jimmy Smith - "Blue Bash"
Leo Kottke - "6 & 12 String Guitars"
Jimi Hendrix Experience - "Axis: Bold As Love"
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers - "Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton"
John Scofield - "A Go Go"
Charlie Christian - "Genius of the Electric Guitar"
SRV & DT - "Soul To Soul"
Danny Gatton - "Unfinished Business"
The Fabulous Thunderbirds - "Girls Go Wild"

 

Dire Straits "Dire Straits"
The Plimsouls "Everywhere at once"
The Smithereens "Especially for You"
Johnny Smith "The Sound of the Johnny Smith Guitar"
Chet Atkins "Chet Atkins: Guitar Legend: The RCA Years"
Jack Knife and the Sharps "Hot Rocket"
Les Paul and Mary Ford "Hits of Les Paul and Mary Ford"
Chuck Berry "After School Session"
Allman Bros. "Beginnings"
Freddie King "Best of Freddie King"

 

Allman Brothers "Live at Fillmore East"
Beatles "Abbey Road"
Pierre Bensusan "Intuite"
Kelly Joe Phelps "Shine-Eyed Mr. Zen"
Roy Buchanan "Second Album"
Santana "Santana III"
Richard Thompson (most everything..)
Dire Straits "Brothers in Arms"
Eric Clapton "From the Cradle"
Jimi Hendrix "in the West"

 

In order:
The Clash - London Calling.
The Who - Quadrophenia.
The Stooges - Fun House.
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses.
Dr Feelgood - Malpractice.
The Jam - All Mod Cons.
Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced?
Jeff Buckley - Grace.
The Who - Who's Next.
Nirvana - In Utero.

 

01. Rainbow Bridge - Jimi Hendrix
02. Houses of the Holy - Led Zeppelin
03. Live At The Filmore East - The Allman Brothers
04. Almost Alone - Chet Atkins
05. Venus Isle - Eric Johnson
06. Hot Wired - Brent Mason
07. The New Boss Guitar of George Benson - George Benson
08. John Mayall's Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton - John Mayall/Eric Clapton
09. Strangers In The Night - UFO with Michael Schenker
10. 88 Elmira Street - Danny Gatton

 

No particular order:

David Grisman Quintet- 1st album
Tony Rice- Guitar
SRV- Texas Flood
Fabulous Thunderbirds- Girls Go Wild
Eric Clapton- 24 Nights
David Grier- Got The House To Myself
Brad Paisley- Play
Clarence White- Nashville West
Rolling Stones- Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out
Lynyryd Skynyrd- Platinum and Gold

 

In no particular order...

Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced
Derek & The Dominos - Layla
Paul Butterfield Blues Band - 1st album from '65, Mike Bloomfield on fire
Allman Bros - Live At The Fillmore
Stones - Exile On Main Street
Led Zep - BBC Sessions
Neil Young - Everybody Knows This Is Nowehere
Muddy Waters - Hard Again
Ryan Adams - Cold Roses
Gillian Welch - Time The Revelator

 

Dire Straits - 1978
ACDC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Led Zep - II
Marrilion - Misplaced Childhood
Steve Hackett - Momentum
SRV - Couldn't Stand The Weather
Van Halen - 1984
Joe Satriani - Surfing With The Alien
Fleetwood Mac - Pious Bird of Good Omen

 

I'm going to say ditto to pretty much all the classic music that has been mentioned. It got me started and they go without saying. For newer music that changed the way I thought about guitar:

White Blood Cells - The White Stripes: minimalist but with enough attitude to carry the album. My second most listened to album of all time.

Battle For Los Angeles - Rage Against the Machine: very industrious for a bunch of communist. Tom Morello was doing solos when it wasn't cool anymore.

Most anything Explosions in the Sky.

Most anything Brad Paisley.

Most anything John Frusciante.

(Okay I know that cheating but what do you do?)

Pork Soda; Primus I like listening to Larry LaLonde play "around" Les Claypools wackiness.
It taken some serious musicianship to be that off the wall and still successful.

Weezer's Blue Album: My first most listened to album of all time. Name any other album ever where it was cool to rock out about drinking tea with your grandma. It is also one of the loneliest albums of all time- Hank Williams would be proud.

Sublime: Sublime- you get to see a lot of the bands various musical influences.

The full custom gospel sounds of the Rev Horton Heat: He kept Rockabilly alive for another generation.

Van Halen, best of volume one.

 

I ran across this list from a guy who plays guitar better than I do:

 

Hotel California - Eagles
Sticky Fingers - Rolling Stones
Back In Black - AC/DC
Toys In The Attic - Aerosmith
Street Survivors - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
II - Led Zeppelin
Appetite For Destruction - Guns N' Roses
Beano - John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers
Fire And Water - Free

 

Lots of good stuff. I'll list the stuff I didn't see yet :

Tommy Emmanuel, "Only"
Either of the first two Bad Company albums. That's why I started playing electric guitar.
Lee Ritenour, "The Captain's Journey"
The Pat Metheny Group (white album)
Joe Ely, Live at Liberty Lunch

 

I'll add a few of my guitar instrumental favorites that I don't think are listed...

Joe Robinson - Birdseed
The Sound of the Johnny Smith Guitar
John Petrucci - Suspended Animation
BB King - Spotlight on Lucille
Michael Hedges - Beyond Boundaries
Larry Carlton - Alone/But Never Alone
Jing Chi - (Ford/Haslip/Colaiuta)
The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery
Barney Kessel - Soaring
Chet Atkins - Please Stay Tuned
Jim Campilongo - Orange

And I must admit that I love Andy Timmons Band - Sgt. Pepper

If I had to pick one with vocals I'd go with Johnny Winter or King Crimson - Discipline.

If you've read through this thread you should pick up the Lee Ritenour Blue Ray from a couple of years back.

 

Ten ain't enough.............

 

Clapton / Derek & the Dominoes layla& other

SRV / Texas Flood

Allman Brothers band/ live at the Fillmore

Allman Brothers band / back where it all begins

ZZ Top/ Best of

The Rolling stones / Sticky Fingers

Zack Wylde/ Pride & Glory

Tab Benoit/ Nice & warm

Van Halen/ Women and Children first

Santana / Best of