 | Another Green World by Eno
Buy new: $13.99 / Used from: $10.88 After several decades, I still find things in this album. Variety of musical points of view, subtlety and fun.
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 | Veedon Fleece by Van Morrison
Buy used from: $8.08 My favorite Van album. It gets dissed in books and reviews for reasons I can't fathom. Listen to "Fair Play" and buy it. (Though I see it's almost 40 bucks!? I didn't spend that much!)
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 | 1969: Velvet Underground Live, Vol. 1 by The Velvet Underground
Buy new: $8.98 / Used from: $5.89 I don't know why they split this into 2 volumes, but buy both. It's not the most hi fi album, but a great record of a great band. Great version of "Sweet Jane." The Ocean, Waiting For My Man stand out as well.
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 | Penguin Cafe Orchestra by The Penguin Cafe Orchestra
Buy new: $11.98 / Used from: $2.49 Ever since a friend turned me onto Penguin Cafe in college, they've been in heavy rotation at my house(s). Unlike anything you've ever heard. Beautiful acoustic fun. Instrumental, ukulele, fiddles, cellos...
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 | Leos Janácek: On An Overgrown Path/In The Mist
Buy used from: $24.95 This is the one I couldn't find before. The one my wife and I fell in love with. I'm sure there are others that are beautiful as well, but this one's lovely. Just the titles invite you in: Our Evenings, They Chattered Like Swallows, My Word Stops, A Blown-Away Leaf... I arranged one of these for our wedding, and it was perfect.
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 | Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook, Vol. 1 by Ella Fitzgerald
Buy new: $11.97 / Used from: $2.85 Both volumes of this are fantastic. As a friend said years ago, "No matter what state you're in, or were in the night before, these albums put your feet softly back on the ground."
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| Morton Feldman: For Christian Wolff - Eberhard Blum / Nils Vigeland
Buy used from: $149.99 OK. The Feldman I recommend is "For Philip Guston." I couldn't find it here, but avoid the California Ear Unit recordings, in my opinion. But these Hat Art label things are great. For Philip Guston is 5 hours plus in length, but you won't be counting!
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 | Kind of Blue by Miles Davis
Buy new: $8.97 / Used from: $3.49 Well, I was going to put another Miles album here, just for variety's sake, since this album gets so much hype. But that would have been disingenuous. The fact is, this record is all everyone ever says it is. And it was these sounds, not E.S.P., or In a Silent Way, that saved me!
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 | LKJ in Dub by Linton Kwesi Johnson
Buy new: $15.99 / Used from: $8.41 In 1980 a friend moved away and gave away all of his things. He gave me some of his favorite records, including this one. I still have it, and bought it on CD, too. Not mere background music, but unfolding Dub grooves that make you dance, even if only inwardly.
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 | Bach: Sonatas & Partitas
Buy used from: $28.00 Hear this astounding recording. The recording itself is incredible- no washes of swoon-inducing reverb (I'm looking at YOU, Mr. Perlman!) Played by someone unafraid to use some rubato, or to let a note sit still and rasp into silence without a vibrato you could drive a truck through.
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 | Al Green Is Love by Al Green
Buy new: $7.97 / Used from: $4.99 This album went nowhere, and it is a crime. The times had shifted out from under Al Green's success. But this one is worth the price of admission for "I Didn't Know" alone. 8 of the most soulful minutes ever laid down. Gotta Be More and Rhymes are also standouts.
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 | Portrait in Jazz by Bill Evans
Buy used from: $7.43 Bill Evans at his best. With Motian and LaFaro. Endlessly inventive, rewarding, graceful and adventurous without seeming to reach.
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