"Ten" albums

In the same spirit as a recent post about my favorite books, I thought it'd be fun to do a similar listing of my favore albums of all time.

1. “Random Access Memories” by Daft Punk- this is probably the most recent on the list, but definitely a favorite. I've probably relistened to this album a few hundred times since getting it when released. The best way I can describe this is that it's Daft Punk's love letter to seventies funk. It's got a great vibe, and definitely carries the period flavor, helped by their collaboration with icons like Giorgia Morodor, Paul Williams, and Nile Rogers, along with more contemporary talent like Pharrell Williams and Julian Casablancas. This album is pure genuine fun in a bottle, and is what took me from passively liking Daft Punk to considering them one of my all time favorite acts. I can't wait to see what they do next.

2. “Alive 2007” by Daft Punk- If RAM is what made me take a second and deeper look at Daft Punk, "Alive" was what made me realize what I'd been missing all along. Again, it's a ton of fun and retools some of their more classic hits in a new way. Great album for driving down the highway to late at night.

3. “Pet Sounds” by The Beach Boys- I'd have to say this was my first "grown up" album experience. I'll never forget listening to Pet Sounds on my 8 track stereo in my bed room(yes, I really was that cool, it was a hand me down gift from a friend of my mother's) The different tonalities, the flow of the lyrics, it was amazing. I remember many long nights in high school spent sitting in the dark listening to this. I lived too far out in the country to have access to emo, and I just couldn't get into Hank Williams, yet, so this was my album of teenaged angst.

4. “The White Album” by the Beatles- I honestly struggled with which Beatles album to put on here, and I could have easily filled the list with their stuff. While Sergent Pepper is generally the go-to for great Beatles albums, there was something fundamentally different about the White Album, both emotionally and technically.  Worth hours of listening.

5. “The Jesus Record” by Rich Mullins- I can say with absolutely no embellishment that this album changed my life. I found this album at a tremendous time of change in my life, when I was going through a period of stress and depression. It spoke to my difficulties and had an honest and bare addressing of the faith that hasn't been equaled in any book for me. It has emotional ups and downs much like life itself, and it echoed in my soul in a really unique way. Made all the more powerful by the fact that this album is the last recorded by Mullins, done using a tape deck just a few days before he died, there is an emotional weight to the worship contained there in, like an ancient vessel, preserved in clay, we can join in the very visceral and raw exposed prayers that make up the fabric of this album.

6. and 7. “Dwell” and “Refiner’s Fire” by Vineyard Music- sometimes, what makes an album last for us isn’t just the quality of the music, but also the time and place in which we first heard it. Such is the case with these two albums, which I’m grouping together. “Refiner’s Fire” is the Vineyard Music album that was released just before my first “Summer of Service” conference at the Vineyard Church in Cincinnati. That conference was when I first experienced the joy that came from not only spending dedicated time with God in worship and prayer, but also from sharing his word. I was surrounded by awesome people, some of whom made such lasting impressions that they’ve remained fixed points in my life now literally over a decade later. Similarly, “Dwell” was the album released by Vineyard Music years later when my life had come full circle. In the intervening time, I’d moved to Cincinnati to pursue a career in ministry, attended Bible college, worked as an associate pastor in Indiana, then left ministry due to heart break and financial struggles so that I could pursue a career in food service management. After two years of working in the food service industry, I again made the decision to quit my job and go back to school, this time through the Vineyard Leadership Institute, while also again working in staff position at a local church. The “Dwell” album became the sound track of my personal redevotion, as a sense of energy and place was infused in my life again. As is so often the case, a few years later, I found myself going back into a dry place as repeated layoffs and the struggles of trying to start a family set in, but the refreshing worship I experienced at the time made sure I didn't forget the foundation that had been set, and made it that much easier to make sure I not only didn't drift too far away, but that I could all the more easily find my way back again when the time came. (ok, this entry got a little long, but it was two albums, so it's allowed)

 8. “Greatest Hits” by John Denver- This is a total cheat entry, but it was a greatest hits album that first introduced me to the music of John Denver. There's something about the poetry of his music that I can't pass up. It's infused with a deep love of place that's quite frankly enchanting. As someone who grew up in the country, but the moved to the city for my adult life, these songs not only lift me up but also remind me of the wide open spaces I grew up in, when the highway traffic and the noise of air traffic overhead(I live five minutes from an international airport these days) Even my hometown is far less "country" than it was when I was growing up, so these songs and my dreams are just about the only way to ever really go "home again."

9. “My Mother’s Hymn Book” by Johnny Cash- What can I really say about Johnny Cash that hasn't been said already?  The man was a consummate musician, from a very different time in pop music. Over the course of his career, he reinvented himself many times, with several "comeback tours." This album though, lies at the end of all of that. The one of last albums recorded before his death, "My Mother's Hymn Book" is about as bare as Johnny got. It consisted of him sitting in his private studio with his guitar and literally his mother's hymn book, singing songs that he'd carried with him his whole life. There's something bare and well aged in this, like a glass of high quality american whiskey served neat. It's Johnny's talent and devotion, his heart laid out beating for you to share in.You feel his age and his weariness, along with his secure knowledge that he's about to head home. When you feel lost and beaten, give this a listen and at the very least know you're not the only one there.

10. and 11. “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby and “Christmas Together” by John Denver and the Muppets - I could have easily done this list as "albums I listened to on my Dad's record player" and kept about half the list. Growing up my father had this big old stereo with ancient bose speakers and a turn table. I wasn't supposed to touch it without him around, and I couldn't have been very old when I first started breaking that rule with utter impunity. I adored the thing. It was my first real access to a wide selection of music(my dad had worked briefly in radio and at a music store before I came along, and even played in some bands in his early days, so he had quite the collection) While summer afternoons spent alone in the living room listening to the Beatles, Beach Boys, and Queen are by far some of my favorite memories growing up, it was the Christmas season that really let loose. My mother is probably one of the biggest fans of Christmas you'll ever meet, and she'd gladly have decorations up in October if she could, but as it is the Friday after thanksgiving inevitably was an all day decoration fest around the house, and Christmas filled the place for the rest of the calendar year. A deep and abiding part of that was the music, and my dad had plenty to offer, Nat King Cole, the Andrews sisters, Elvis, Beach Boys, they all had their parts to play, but these two albums are by far my favorite. It isn't Christmas until I've heard Bing sing "Christmas in Kilarney"("White Christmas" may be the classic, but the Irish tune stole my heart) and "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was belted out by the entire Muppet crew, lead by John Denver. There's plenty of joy in these albums and lots of memories. As an additional note, the "Christmas Together" also represented the first time I heard "The River Meets the Sea," from Emmit Otter's Jug Band Christmas, which probably remains one of my all time favorite tunes, which gets a listen on pretty much any night I feel alone or depressed.