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First LP to keep you in genre for life

I started in jazz-rock when all my buddies were in rock. All my rocker friends thought I was nuts and called it con-fusion music. I dragged them to shows and converted quite a few. One time, I had buddy who thought Ginger Baker was the greatest (no disrespect) and I took him to see Billy Cobham. Cobham started with a short solo and halfway through it he turned to me and shook my hand. Once Jazz-Rock digressed I then quickly took on jazz as my main music of choice. It took awhile to open the ears.

Inner Mounting Flame (Jazz-Rock) - The Mahavishnu Orchestra. The interplay, spirituality, ragalike repetition and volume was otherworldly and never to be matched. In this style McLaughlin and Cobham were the masters of their genre.

A Love Supreme - Coltrane (Jazz). Why go to church when you can just play this classic? My favorite jazz is still modal with a spiritual bent.

Rock and Roll Animal - Lou Reed (Rock). Dark and angry. The guitar interplay is fantastic. I always picture myself in a subterranean, urban bar; it's 2:00 am and raining outside and everyone is as pasty as Casper; when seeing this band. I'm glad I survived.
richardmr
richardmr OP
90 posts
 
The first 3 LP's I purchased were The Beatle's Rubber Soul, Herman's Hermits Greatest Hits and The Kinks You Really Got Me. That was at about 1965-6 when I was 11. I listened in our Chicago basement on my folks console. I also listened to WLS. For some reason I remember shoveling the driveway, with my transistor radio in my coat pocket, and listening to Stevie Wonder's My Cherie Amour. It's funny what pops up in those brain synapsis's.
mrpresident
45 posts
 
C.C.R.- Cosmo's factory!
duanegoosen
355 posts
 
A few that cracked things open/made a light bulb go on, (can't pin down what came first):

The Who- Live At Leeds
Mahavisnu Orch.- Inner Mounting Flame
Capt. Beefheart- Trout Mask Replica
King Crimson- Larks Tongues In Aspic
Can- Future Days
Ornette Coleman- Art Of Improvisers
Edgard Varese- Deserts
Herbie Hancock- Sextant
iseekheils
131 posts
 
I think Milestone LPs is a way to put it for me.
Meet the Beatles- Started me playing the guitar.
Blood, Sweat and Tears- Now I'm playing the Trumpet.
Chicago Transit Authority- How could any band be better than B,S&T?
Mahavishnu Orchestra- Playing an instrument now seems futile.
Octopus, Gentle Giant- This album changed music for me forever. I became an audiophile because of this album. I started listening to it on a $300 system and went through every system in the store until I was in the back room. You know, where they put the multi thousand $$$ systems. So I bought one!
All these years later, I still listen to these groups along with some of the ones mentioned above. Fusion, horn bands, Tull, Brand X, Steely Dan, all progressive to me.
But Gentle Giant represents the high water mark for bands in my humble opinion. I am a fan of prog rock and of the equipment that's necessary to make it sound right, because of them.
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